Week Sixty-two

This past week was good! Pretty normal, but there were just some gems and miracles here and there haha. It's been like crazy cold. Friday night it was like -13° Celsius. Das hat mir nicht gefallen. I don't like the cold. And all of you back home reading this in Southern California...I envy you. I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING! It should be here already. According to the calendar on my desk. But according to the snow on the ground outside, it's still cold as heck! I complain too much. The good thing about right now though is that the work is on fire! And getting better every day. Elder Collins and I have been working hard for the past 3 months and seeing some great things in Rostock.

Let me tell you about the week:

Montag: Last Monday was cold. We ate Döner! It was good. We also did some great grocery shopping. I think it cost like 11 euro this week. We don't really eat too much at home recently because we're so busy. Which is a good problem to have. But we did the usual perusing around the city. I bought a little Chia Pet guy. I'll send you the pictures. He's already growing. Technically,  our most progressing investigator haha. No just kidding. But P-Day was good and relaxing. I got to write a couple of letters. After P-Day we were going to wait for Brother E to come and fix something in our apartment, but he never came because of the crazy weather. So we figured out he wasn't coming after a while haha. We had started making bread. We make bread now. And got our area book in order. Like super organized. It's nice. And that's what we did on Monday.

Diesntag: Tuesday was a good day. A member took us out to lunch at Blockhouse, which is like a steakhouse!

...like a steakhouse...

 It was so good. We enjoyed our time and were very thankful. After that, we had an appointment with L, which ended up being real good. We talked about the pre-earth life and kind of about investigating. He is really interested in taking the free German class that Sister Holbrook does. Hopefully we can get him more involved with the church and the members. After Laxmi, we rode up to Brother S and had a lesson there. It was more like a spiritual thought. We talked about reading the scriptures and praying. It could have gone better now that I think of it. It's still kind of a weird relationship where we come and expect to teach and he expects that we hang out and chat. We want to help him though! Hopefully soon. There ended up being no institute because the weather was too bad haha but we went and ate the food that Sister Wunderli had already prepared. After eating, we had an appointment with Frank and taught the word of wisdom. It went pretty well.

Mittwoch: We worked on the area book/grid of the city to go by our contacts in the morning, then we were supposed to have Fufu with T, but she couldn't make it, so we decided to go out to lunch with T. We ate at a Chinese buffet. Mistake. After eating and getting kicked out actually because they were closing for a afternoon break, we all felt like death. That food was not good for the human stomach! We unfortunately just went home and did more paper work. I don't ever want to feel like that again. We then helped the sisters get luggage to Bahnhof, which was fun.

Donnerstag:Thursday was hectic! I had to go to Neubrandenburg in the morning for some meetings.

Neubrandenburg

  
Our train wouldn't leave Rostock though! How annoying is that? Like it just stood there for like 30 minutes. We were way late, but it's OK because they didn't start without us. It was cool to see the Zone leaders and Elder Duncan, the District Leader in Greifswald. We ate at Chinese buffet again in Neubrandenburg haha but this one was a little better then the one in Rostock. When we got home, we had an appointment with Schwester S and her home teachers we talked about prayer and 'wearying God until he blesses you' the parable in Luke 18. It was a good appointment and we got to know some members a lot better. After that, we went to Family Home Evening. Nobody showed up though haha. It was the missionaries, T, and his friend L. It was fun though!

Freitag: Friday was a busy busy day. We had district meeting in the morning, which was fun. It's weird leading district meeting. But everyone said it was good, so I'm happy. After that, we had planned on helping Schwester S with her grocery shopping, so we went and did that. It was great. She's such a saint haha. After that, a couple of appointments fell through, so we went and ate lunch and home. We went and had an appointment with a less active member and T came with. It went OK. We talked about families and about how the ward in Rostock is his family and they miss him. We invited him to come to church, but he didn't come. Hopefully we'll see some progress soon! We'll keep trying. We had a mini meeting with Frank in the church and then went and met with T, who made us Fufu! Pictures included. Fufu is a food from Ghana. They take like potato meal and make a big ball of goo basically. But it's solid and then there's a spicy soup and you eat with your hands. It's so great. I love Fufu. We had to run with T to catch his train after that haha that was an adventure.

Samstag: Saturday is a special day. It's the day Elder Pollard stays sane for the next week. BASKETBALL is intense. And it's good because we interact with investigators and show them that we're normal people who can still talk about God and stuff haha. I love it. We played basketball for a while, came back and had Gemiko with T and the sisters, and then had another lesson with T about the Word of Wisdom. She said she'd throw away her cans of coffee haha. She's so cool!

Sonntag: This Sunday was great. There were a ton of people at church, including 6 investigators. Solid. I gave a 5 minute talk about testimony. And I had to translate into English for 2 people, which isn't always easy. We ate with the A's after church. It was really good and they had Kool-Aid haha. After church we went and met with J, our newest investigator from Ghana. She is Muslim actually, but we had a great lesson and she wants to learn more! So we're going to help her with that. We're growing an English branch slowly haha. After that, we had to plan for the next week.

That was it!

I can't wait for mothers day! Time really does fly! We'll be talking in no time....maybe for the last time on my mission. Who knows! Staying in Rostock is so cool! I always wanted to be a 'bleiber' or someone who stays long times in areas. I was super upset when I had to leave Hof. But 5 transfers in Rostock makes up for it. We'll see some baptisms here, and have a good time helping the ward. The names of the senior sisters here are Sister Holbrook and Sister Wunderli. Easter is kind of big here, there's like a lot of days off and holidays. There's an Easter Market in Rostock just like the Christmas one, but in Hannover, there wasn't really too much going on. It's just like in America haha kind of cool but not a huge deal. I just remembered, I've been in Germany for over a year now! Weird! Germans know very well that the German Pope stepped down, but not too many people care. Religion is bad in Germany. Saying your from the church is like saying you're part of a street gang that wants to steal everyone money. So the Pope is more like a celebrity then a religious figure. There are some Catholics here though. There were more in Hof haha. They're all 'evangelisch' up here.

I had a good study last week! We've been listening to a Truman G Madson talk about Joseph Smith, which has been crazy cool. Joseph Smith is like my hero haha. I've been reading the Old Testament too. Deuteronomy is intense. There's a lot of references to being obedient and keeping the commandments. It all boils down to that though! Especially staying true to the sermon on the mount. If everyone kept the commandments we'd just be translated haha. They definitely are challenging, but it's nice to know that God never lets us be tempted more than we can handle. He knows we can keep the commandments! I know you all can too. We have such a crazy potential as humans. It's remarkable.

I love you all! Miss you too! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Elder Pollard

Week Sixty-one

SO. This is the news regarding the transfer call on Saturday. So President told us that we would get a call before noon. The assistants called Elder Collins and I at 12:15 haha. The news is...that Elder Collins and I are staying together in Rostock! Which is actually great. I'm going to be the District Leader here, which is fun. Not too much is going to change honestly haha. But Elder Pollard serves 5 transfers in Rostock! I've been here since October haha. I love it though! I actually wasn't too surprised when I hear I'm staying. Elder Collins and I will do some good work for the next 6 weeks. I'm really looking forward to it. And we'll get to see some baptisms! Let's Go!

So this last week was real fun/kind of weird just anticipating transfer calls.  To be honest, I forgot my old planner in the apartment, so I'm going to try my best to remember what we did this week. So here we go:

Montag: Last Monday was fun. We went to Ikea with the senior sisters, the sisters and T. I ate salmon. It was good. We walked about Ikea for a little like we usually do. Once a transfer we go and enjoy the Swedeshness that is Ikea. Sister Holbrook is actually Swedish haha so I like to ask her what the names of the things mean. It's more entertaining than it sounds. After Ikea, we did some shopping. I didn't buy anything. But we came back to the church later and I got some music from the sisters. Music helps haha. I really don't remember what we did that night. Sorry haha. I'm pretty sure we met with F. We meet with him a lot so it wouldn't surprise me.

Diesntag: Beats me.

Mittwoch: Wednesdy was District Meeting in the morning.

Elder Pollard with the gangster pose...

It went well. Then I went on tausch (exchanges) with Elder Barr to Schwerin. Schwerin is a good city. I like it a lot. It's small, but big at the same time. And there's a paöace/castle thin in the middle of a lake. Unfortunately, no pictures yet. We did some good work, walked a lot in the snow. We didn't get any lessons in, which was too bad, but it was still fun. Elder Barr is sweet.

Donnerstag: I came back from Schwerin Thursday morning. We went and ate cheese-leak soup with T in the church. It's always good to feed people haha. And we made bread. I don't remember what else we did on Thursday haha.

Freitag: Friday was great. We had Gemiko in the morning. We actually made bread before Gemiko. We like making bread. Germany has these packets where you just add water and it turns into bread the you bake. So we do that and give our investigators bread and the members. It's missionary work. But Gemiko was good. After Gemiko, we finished bread and I did some genealogy. I've been trying it out so I know what it is so I can talk to people about it haah. Like as a finding tool. I had no idea how it was done. But I'm working on our work! So good news. I probably won't do any more though because I know how it works now. We ate at Vapianos, which is like this cool Italian restaurant. It was so good. And We had an appointment with T, who' getting baptized on the 30th of March. And I get to see it! Woooo. T was there. We gave her bread. It was dandy.

Samstag: So Saturday was the day haha. We stayed in and waited for the phone call. Woo. Staying in Rostock haha. I'm actually stoked. After that, we went to Bruder S's and ate spaghetti. It was good. And a lot of food. We came back and made some reading calendars for our investigators for a while and then did Ping-Pong. After Ping-Pong we went and cleaned and studied.

Sonntag: Sunday was sick! We had a really good sacrament meeting and Gemeindeessen after. Like a break the fast pot luck kind of deal. But it was just a great Sunday, because so many people came and told me how happy they are that I'm staying. That made me feel good haha. It was also good because the ward really felt like a family yesterday. It's hard to explain but it was just great. We made out a lot of appointments with members. We had 3 investigators at church! T, F, and D came. That was way cool as well. I had to translate for T and another African, which is always kind of difficult because we have to try and be quiet. Hopefully we'll get some legit translators soon the the ear piece kind of deal. Gemeindeessen was way good. We helped clean up after. We had one appointment with F's friend, Frau K. She was way nice and really wants to meet with us haha. I'm super excited for the coming week!

Sorry for the super boring explanation of lat week haha I'll do better next time, I promise. It was a way good week though, and nothing really beats hearing that I'm staying in Rostock! I love it.

AH MOM I MISS YOUR BROWNIES WITH MINT FROSTING SO BAD.  Really though. It's exciting to hear about all the missionaries from the ward! So many haha. I'm feeling better kind of. The weather is just nasty. But I feel healthy. I haven't really lost any more weight. I'm around 195 still. But Morgen Sport is keeping me in shape! Haha.  Other then all that, I'm doing dandy!

Dad, I have to write this was fast, so sorry!

Frank can't get baptized yet because he has to have an interview with President Kosak first. Like yea. But T is being baptized on the 30th of March! Miracles!

I'm bummed I missed your chili. And I'm super impressed that you made 250 servings of chili. Wow haha good job.

The topic of human potential has been with my my whole mission, Dad. I'm going to tell you a story now. A couple of weeks ago I got up in the middle of the night and walked around and got some water and sat down in my desk. But I wrote something down in my planner. The next morning when I woke up I read what it said and it was like, 'Comparing yourself to anybody but Christ is selling yourself short of your potential. A Christ-like life should be our greatest goal and achievement.' Intense, right? I love the scriptures that say, 'Be perfect for I the Lord am perfect.' Along the lines of the Sermon on the Mount. It's a commandment, but also an invitation. We have this crazy potential. The only thing that ever holds us back from doing exactly what we want to is ourselves. Crazy stuff.

I love and miss you all!

Elder Pollard

Week Sixty

My 'potentially' last week in Rostock. It makes me sad. Change is never good! I was just talking with a member on the phone last night about how change just kind of blows on the mission. Actually, there are definitely pros and cons to change. It's always good to move one. Progression seems to be a huge theme of the gospel and of missions. It's hard to progress without change....It's impossible haha. But like leaving cities is hard. Especially leaving behind the ward and all the cool investigators. My opinion is that we should always work with our companions for at least two transfers. One transfer usually just isn't enough time to learn everything you need to from these people. So all I'm saying is that I would like to stay in Rostock with Elder Collins. Transfer calls are this weekend! We should all know where/if I'm leaving then. I just have too much that I still need to learn from Rostock/Elder Collins and the other people here. We'll see though.

This last week went by so fast. I can't even describe it any more haha. I had the same problem last week trying to describe this weird time vortex that I'm stuck in. The time just flies. Which is good and bad. I was on exchanges once in Schwerin, and another day we had a street display, and a BAPTISM! So that helped the week fly by.

I'll just tell you about it like I always do:

Montag: Monday was district P-Day, which is ALWAYS fun haha. We did emails in the morning, and Schwerin came to Rostock to hang out. We checked out this real big church in Innenstadt, called Marienkirche. (Church of St. Mary)



It's super huge and freezing inside. It actually has like the oldest astronomical clock in it. Pretty intense. There are a lot of like burial stone and catacombs and just like Indiana Jones style craziness. It was fun. We then ate at Vapianos, which is my new favorite restaurant. It's Italian food, but just so good and pretty cheap. After eating, we went up to Warnemünde, which is like the beach.



We ate really good ice cream and walked on the beach and stuff. It was a good day. We ended up doing some more shopping in the city and writing letters. Good P-Day. I bought a super indie dictionary haha. And a 3€ scarf from H&M. After P-Day we had two appointments. Sister Holbrook came to one with a guy named M. He's a really cool guy and super friendly, but didn't really want to listen to use. He's a 'new age heathen' so like he believes in Thor and stuff. Interesting. After that, we met with F in his apartment, it was a pretty good lesson about the gospel of Christ (baptism, holy ghost, enuring to the end.) GOOD DAY!

Diesntag: Tuesday was hard because I wasn't feeling good again. So like I had 'take a nap' scheduled into my day haha. I was just so beat and sick I had to take a rest. But we still got a way good lesson in! T is a champion. She is the African girl who found us and came to church haha. We've been teaching her for a couple of weeks and on Tuesday we taught about the gospel of Christ and baptism. And we made out a baptismal date with T! She should be getting baptized on the 30th of March! Hopefully I'll be able to see it! But it was such a good lesson. I love teaching her because she just gets everything we try to teach. And she even introduced us to her friend who wants to come to church with her! Solid. We got to eat some good food at institute that night, and had an appointment fall out after...kind of rough but OK.

Mittwoch: Wednesday. I don't remember what we did on Wednesday haha. Everything must have fallen out because I'm looking at my planner and don't remember doing anything that was written down.

Donnerstag: Thursday was good. Bruder S invited us over from lunch at the last minute, which I really appreciated. He's such a good guy. Hopefully he likes me haha. We had to do weekly planning on Thursday because we were on exchanges on Friday. We had a lot planned, and were looking forward to this one appointment with a less active member, but he wasn't home which is really too bad. We had family home evening that night, which was fun.

Freitag: Friday was tausch day. Exchanges. So we had Gemiko (ward mission leader/missionary conference) in the morning. After that, I got on a train to Schwerin.


Schwerin is a cool city. There's this huge palace in the middle of a lake right in the middle of town. Look it up on Google images or something haha. We had a good day. We did a lot of service, and ate at a member's house. We taught English, had a lesson with a cool girl, and played ping pong with hilarious Asian people. Good day.

Samstag: Saturday was a great day. In the morning, we had a street display in Rostock. It was about genealogy. It was good. I made out an appointment with this girl, but she was super shy and I hope I didn't like push too much for it. We'll see! After the street display, we went to Schwerin to see a BAPTISM! J, one of the sisters investigators got baptized. It was such a good meeting I really enjoyed it a lot. That was the day!

Sonntag: So between Saturday and Sunday, it snowed like 10 inches and dropped about 10 degrees. In Celsius. It was kind of intense. Our whole branch presidency got snowed in so they couldn't come to church. I was kind of nervous to see how everything played out, but it was a really great Sunday. I was able to confirm Justice as a member of the church! I've never done that before haha. I also gave a blessing that day too. Priesthood all around. I'm happy I can help. F and T came to church which is awesome considering how crazy the weather was. I appreciate that. After church, we had to scrounge up all the food we had and eat with the sisters haha. It was this weird makeshift meal of noodles and meat. mmm. We went by this older couple and they let us in, which was so nice because it was freezing. We talked for a little and then made out a return appointment. I love it.

These weeks just fly! There's no other way to say it. I always sit down on Monday and just don't really know what to say, so excuse me if it's boring. But that was the week! I enjoyed it.

I'm sorry that you all lost some sleep. I remember being in the MTC when we lost an hour of sleep haha. It was horrible. Döner is kind of hard for Americans to pronounce haha. But just say it like this: Dew-ner. That it almost right haha. It's right enough. Stick with the lamb Döner mom, it's solid. Ah I love reading about all the delicious food you guys make at home but it makes me so jealous! I want good food. We only get good food when we eat at members houses.

In all honestly, I'll probably be transferred this weekend. But I would love to stay. I have no idea though! I DID get my package on Saturday!!! Thanks so much family. I am so grateful. I love it. I'm doing better with staying healthy. And I don't feel too sick haha. But we'll see because the weather just changed so drastically. Germans are convinced that that makes you sick.

I loved my study this week, even though I didn't get too much study in. I read Elder Neal L. Anderson's talk from last conference about trials. I loved it. It's called 'Trial of Your Faith' and I really liked it. One thing he said is, 'These fiery trials are designed to make you stronger, but they have the potential to diminish or even destroy your trust in the Son of God and to weaken your resolve to keep your promises to Him. These trials are often camouflaged, making them difficult to identify. They take root in our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, our sensitivities, or in those things that matter most to us. A real but manageable test for one can be a fiery trial for another.' It makes trials just sound like crazy hard! But we too often call these 'trials' and 'hard times' when we should really be calling them 'opportunities'. So it's obvious that these times can be super hard. But God trusts us and loves us so much. He knows that these trials can really destroy us. But at the same time, he doesn't give us any hard times that he knows we can survive. I love the scripture in 1 Corinthians that says, ' There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' God is faithful and true, and won't let us carry a load that he knows we can't. Another thing about trials, Peter said; 'Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery atrial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you' You hear people in times of trouble saying 'Why is this happening to me?' In my opinion, the answer is, 'Because God knows that you're prepared enough to grow.' Don't ask for mountains to climb, but remember that these mountains are climbable, and the view on the other side will always change us for the best. I love the gospel and know that it's true.

I love you all!!! Have a great week and be good to each other.

Elder Pollard

Week Fifty-nine

Hey Family! And Friends!

This last week went by in one second. It's so strange and just mind blowing how fast the time is going by now. It's already March! For the second time! It's totally bittersweet though. Like long days and you just look at your plan and think that the night will never come...but it just does haha. I just can't blink too much or I'll look back and realize all the good times that slipped through my fingers. I love being here! I'm in this weird avatar-state of learning and progressing and being able to help other people through that. I don't ever want to look at my life and find myself being in no position to help the people around me. I really love that.

But thank goodness I write down my plan everyday! Or else I wouldn't be able to tell you what I did all week haha.

This is what I did:

Montag: Last Monday was good. It was pretty cold haha I remember that. I remember we ate Döner at the 2€ döner place. Döner macht schöner! That's what they always say! Monday was also interesting because we had like 15€ between us haha. The end of the month is always rough. So we didn't get to do too much shopping. We did get ice cream though, which never upsets. I tried to write some letters too but we didn't have enough time. So after P-day was over, we had a really good lesson with T! She's the girl from Africa who found us! We bring T along because we can't meet alone with women unless there's another man there. It's part of the missionary rules. But it's great, because T is a great teacher! So having him there is only a blessing. We taught about the plan of salvation. Her reaction was great haha because I said, 'T, did you know that you lived with Heavenly Father before you came to this Earth?' And she was like 'REALLY?!?!' it was just great. She's super cool and I'm so grateful that she found us.

Diesntag: Tuesday was a little different haha. A lot of what we planned for fell through. But we did end up going by on the S Family and getting to talk a little with them. I don't know how interested they are in investigating, which is too bad. But Herr S is doing not too great - health wise - and we really want to do anything that we can to help. We had an appointment with M that night. M is a pagan. Like literally. He worships Idols and believes in Thor and stuff. It's way cool haha. He had read a little bit in the Book of Mormon which is always great! We'll see if he can learn anything from us haha. It's going to depend on if he has an open heart. We got to go to institute after and eat some good food.

Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had district meeting. The Zone Leaders were there too, so that was cool. It was a good district meeting. The day was slow...some finding haha. But we did get to meet with M, a member here. He doesn't come to church, and has some other issues so we're really going to try and work with him. And our appointment was really promising! We talked about God haha, pretty general and talked about prayer,  too. He asked when we were coming back! Which was huge. It was a good appointment.

Donnerstag: Thursday was a good day. We had another joint teach with T! We went and met with T and taught the rest of the plan of salvation. She's making some good progress. Helping people come closer to God! Good stuff. We also got to meet with Brother G, and his wife who is not a member. We ate a lot of cake haha. They had a really nice house, which isn't too common in Germany. A lot of people live in apartments. Especially in the city. But there are a lot of really nice houses in Germany, too! And Brother G's got one. We ate cake and got to know them better. We had an appointment with F and we started talking about repentance with him. Then we had FHE that we taught haha it was a busy day.

Freitag: Friday was good, too. We had Gemiko in the morning and ate lunch with all the missionaries and T. We also planned that day for the week. After planning, we had a movie night with the branch. We watched 'Das Himmels Fenster' Which means "the Window of Heaven". It is about Lorenzo Snow when he went to St. George and talked about tithing. It was a super old movie. But kind of cool to watch in German. We met with Brother S that night. We helped him move some stuff in his apartment and shared a thought about following the commandments.

Samstag: Saturday we just did a lot of finding and played ping-pong.

Sonntag: Sunday was so nice. We had church. T and F came to church! We taught F and read from the Book of Mormon with him. After church, the E's realized that nobody signed up to feed us, so the invited us out to Neubukow. We ate a lot and saw the beach. Good times!

The week just went by so fast haha I can't explain it at all. But it was such a good week for me. I was pretty much sick the whole week, and am still sick now. I realize that I'm sick when I wake up every morning with a headache and my body is just weak. But the work goes on haha. I am especially excited about my study still haha. I love the scriptures! They're so cool. And I love them so much because the story is so applicable in life. And it should be haha that's why it's scripture. I have no doubt that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are from God. And that they're here for us to learn what we need to do in this life. 2 Nephi 32: 3 says  'Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.' I like how it mentions feasting upon the words of Christ (the scriptures) and from that, learning and knowing what to do. My study can kind of be described as feasting haha. But I've been learning a lot just from reading for an hour every day.

I read some really great scriptures this last week. Pertaining to Sunday, and keeping the Sabbath day holy. In Leviticus 23:3, God is speaking with Moses and telling him to remind Israel why we have a Sabbath day. It says, 'Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.' That word convocation is hard haha. In German it says that Sunday is a day 'of holy meetings'. Convocation means meetings. How applicable is that for us! Going to church is a commandment of God. And like all commandments, it's only there because we will benefit when we follow it. The interesting thing then is trying to find out how we can make Sunday a better day for US. Ezekiel 20:20 says, 'And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.' English uses the word sign, but German uses the word covenant. I thought about that for a while, that keeping the sabbath day holy and going to church is a covenant. Something between US and GOD. Everything we do on Sunday, not only going to church, but everything else we do the rest of the day is holy and should be between us and God. From waking up in the morning to coming home after church and going into 'relax mode', everything we do is between us and God. Let's remember that! It might change our attitudes when we want to run down to the store to buy soda, or when we want to go to the Chargers game. Are doing these things strengthening the relationship between us and God? Let's remember to keep the Sabbath day holy and to set apart this day and let's keep our actions and everything we do on Sunday in coordination with this sacred 'sign' or 'covenant'.

THAT'S WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK IN THE SCRIPTURES.


This segment brought to you by Elder Pollard.

Everything is going great family! Only two weeks until transfers....that's kind of scary.

I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all!

Elder Pollard

PS...

Daddio,

I wish I could say that I'm getting healthier haha. I'm not doing GREAT, but the work here is. We have 5 progressing investigators! I love that. A couple are harder to get in contact with because they're sick or busy, but all in all, it's going great. We still have a lot of finding to do. It's kind of hard to work with the ward here, because there are like two less actives that we can work with. Like literally haha and we do work with one of them. The sisters work with the other. So our work pretty much focuses on Finding and Teaching. But it's going well.

That's super exciting about the stake changes. Are Brother Clyde and Brother Romney in the same ward? Or do we have one of them?

Good luck making chili for 250 people. I thought you were in the High Priests group, not the relief society haha. Thanks for sharing with me what you've learned in the scriptures. I like the example that Ammon sets by staying 100% obedient and putting everything into his calling of being a missionary. Even after the arm incident, when King Lamoni's servants bring the arms to him, Ammon is taking care of his horses. There was no 'I just cut off a bunch of people's arms break'. But the point about the armless looking back at Ammon and how they felt is interesting. I like that. We always have to remember though, that some people aren't going to like it when we stand up for what we hold as truth. Christ himself was a stumbling block for A LOT of people, even though he stood for 100% truth and love. As long as we're standing up for the truth and being the best disciples of Christ, it's not going to matter what people think of us. We don't want to offend anybody, but if we do, hopefully these people will be able to look back at sometime and be glad that the 'stumbled' on the truth.

I hope some of the themas that I sent you and mom will be able to help in your weekly tradition now! I love being a missionary!