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
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