Week Ninety-six (44 days/6+ weeks left...)

It won't let me read your email, Mom! OH NO! Like it just redirects from your email to a sign-in page super fast and I can't figure out how to read it. Oh well...

My last week was prima!

We found out that Elder Donner and I will be staying together in Hof until we go the way of all the earth...that is until January 8th. We also found a new friend that we're going to meet with! J from Nigeria. We talked to her on the street last week and she said we could come and give her the Book of Mormon at her house. So the next day, we went by and gave her the Book, and made out an appointment for the next day...so when we went back, we asked her if she had read. She said she couldn't read, because her friend saw the Book and snatched it from her and started reading. Apparently this friend had met with the missionaries before and saw the Book and lit up because he had been looking for one! So we're going to contact this guy soon. 

Knocking on doors in Hof

Hof got really cold. -1 degrees C now. It's snowed a couple of times, but nothing too intense. Elder Donner and I are doing well. We're eating very well haha and probably too much. But we also work out hard. We gotta look good when we come back! I'm totally kidding I'm so out of shape. I was on exchanges last week and got to know good old Elder Brown a little better. He's a great guy, serving in Plauen. Church was interesting. Not a lot of people showed up. And our investigator, Frau R, came back again! She feels good there, I think. It's good because the members here are really good at talking to her when she is there. She's getting into the groove of things and she knows she's welcome. We're also teaching English class once a week. We have about 4 students, and looking for more. Six weeks until I'm home. Getting ready for Christmas is cool, the market just opened up in Hof. Elder Donner and I have a Frank Sinatra best of Christmas album. PRIMO! It's actually making me really home sick. But we'll survive. The Montgomerys fed us thanksgiving dinner on Sunday! That was super super good.

Thanksgiving with the Montgomery's

That was about it....I left my old planner at home, so I tried my best to remember everything!

Elder Pollar's last mission planner...

I'm still doing good though! Fighting the cold in Hof - Germay's Siberia.

I love you all!

Have a good week and a good Thanksgiving!

Elder Pollard

Week Ninety-five (51 days/7+ weeks left...)

Hello friends and family! Your 'favorite Elder' is doing swell. Just another Monday at the Taj Mahal internet cafe and Indian restaurant. It smells like curry and people are screaming in strange languages. But to answer your questions, I am doing well and feeling great! Well I was sick last week for a day because my throat was killing me. It was the end of a long drag down haha and I needed to rest. I got these tablets from the drug store that make my mouth and throat numb. So it's going a lot better haha. And Elder Donner and I are seeing some cool miracles in Hof! This last week was slow, but still super good.

This is what it was like:

Mondays are super fun now because we go shopping in the morning, do emails, work in the afternoon and then go to family home evening at night as part of our P-Day. The sun goes down at like 5 now and it's really cold, so working in the afternoon is better for everyone involved. So we play games with our 'old lady' members after Family Home Evening now haha. It releases stress. And it's funny to hear Sister E cuss in Greek when she's losing.

Tuesday was good because we were able to meet with the less actives. We helped Sister S move some things in the morning. Actually, we helped her neighbor. But Sister S arranged this service project for us! Super cool all we had to do was put old things and trash in bags and carry it down the stairs to the street. It took about 2 hours and I think I might have gotten tetanus. But it's all good. We met with her after and talked about the gospel. We also met with Bruder R.

We were in Chemnitz on Wednesday (oh yea that violin guy with the long fancy hair that you like is coming to Chemnitz). We have zone training meeting! It was a nice meeting. And we ate at Vapianos after! It had been a long time. We had a crazy miracle that night. We have passed out a bunch of flyers for this English class we want to do in Hof and for like 3 weeks, only members came, but on Wednesday night we got a call and a guy named M came to learn English! He's new in Hof and is in the military. Cool guy. And after teaching him English, Frau R came and we taught her about the restoration. We talked about baptism and wanted to give her a date, but she is like really scared of dirty water or something, so she wouldn't agree to anything. We tried to explain that like it wasn't just a bath, that it's a promise to God. She wasn't getting over the water thing.

Thursday and Friday were both really boring days of 'grunt work'.

But Saturday was bumpin! We got a referral from a past investigator! He wants us to help his wayward son. He says he admires that we're so nice looking and well dressed and he wants that for his son, too. So he gave us all his info and we're going to try and get in touch with the son. After that, we were invited to a Romanian party! Woooo at M's house! We went and ate Indian food and talked to her friend. I practiced my Spanish (apparently Romanians speak Spanish too)...taco queso grande malo. We taught M and committed her to read more intensely in the Book of Mormon. And then her 3 year old daughter taught us Gypsie language. Me shinauto! means 'I will cut you'...

Sunday was interesting. We had branch council before church. It was kind of productive. But our branch kind of has problems with missionary work. Sometimes I feel like the bad guy telling them they need to do something before the branch will grow. But that's just how it is! We had TWO investigators at church! Like record breaking for Hof. Herr B and Frau R came. They both enjoyed it, too. We ate with Sister E after. Chili. Great. It really was good tasting. And then the rest of the day was work and we also cleaned the apartment.

Gooooood week. Especially because those two were in the sacrament meeting. They had a wine tasting across the hall from us in the Hotel Quality. It was hard for our non members to not be distracted.....

I miss you all so much! All this talk of everyone makes me want to see you real bad. I miss Dad and Mom and Emily and Matt and Christian and Thomas and Grandma and Grandpa and others too. I got Dad's post card with my news of landing at 4 pm in SD. That's exciting! Enough time to go to the hot tub that night! Wooo!

I did hear about the Philippines, but not too much. Hopefully everything's OK. Hof started setting up Christmas things already, and there has been Christmas snacks in the grocery stores for about a month now. It's coming!

Well.....that was my week! I'm doing good! Reading in the scriptures like I should. I was reading in Alma this morning when Moroni and Pahoran exchange letters and I love how Pahoran deals with Mornoi freaking out. Moroni thought Pahoran was just fat and happy on his throne and ignoring the fact that people were dying, which wasn't the case, so he sent him this dirty nasty mean letter and Pahoran realizes that Moroni had misunderstood so instead of freaking out, Pahoran is super cool about it and they work together in the end. I want to deal with situations better like that haha. The Book of Mormon is true.

Hope you all have a splendid week!

Elder Pollard

Week Ninety-four (58 days/8+ weeks left...)

I'm sorry to hear that you have to work on V-Day. But money is cool, too. It makes things easier haha. It's crazy to think that Javier is home. And that Momo is leaving. How many missionaries are there in the ward? It sounds like a lot. What ward are we even in? Is it Rancho Bernardo? I have no idea. The computer and my missionary profile says I'm in Del Sur and Bishop Whatcott is my bishop. Let me know if that is wrong....I assume that we're in RB with Bishop Brockbank.

There's like not much that you could send me mom! Haha save the money and use it for something else. I'll be home 2 weeks after Christmas, so I'm not going to be upset if I don't have presents. That's just more weight to bring home! Like I thought about it, and I can't think of anything that I NEED for the two weeks after Christmas! So I don't know!

Hof has started to feel the Christmas spirit. Especially in downtown and in the shops. Christmas starts at the beginning of November in Germany.

Well my last week was pretty cool. It went by really really fast haha.

This is what happened:

Monday night I went on exchanges with Elder Vaughan from Plauen. He's such a funny guy. We enjoyed our time on splits. We were together for all of Tuesday basically. He runs in school so I learned a lot about track and cross country. It was really motivating and made me want to get good at running. We'll see haha. Actually, Elder Donner and I have been going hard with our workouts. Usually every morning and night we're doing whatever exercises one could do in a small apartment. Slowly but surely haha. We ended our night with an English class though, which was pretty cool. Germans who learn English commonly make the mistake of saying the sound and a w instead of a v, so when I asked an older man what he likes to eat, he said wegetables. I died laughing! And then on Wednesday, we went by M in Hof and caught her at home. We were able to show her some cool things about the gospel, which helped her on that night. She is having problems with her daughter so it was nice when she told us that she believes that we're messengers of God who can help her. Thursday we went to Naile, a smaller city outside of Hof and got to know the area. It was an adventure.....to say the least. Our first order of business was to find a shop that would sell us a map of the city haha. Like we had no idea where we were. But it ended up well. Friday was just depressing. Hearing someone say they're giving up on God for reasons that prove to them why they need God more in their lives is frustrating. Pride is a powerful emotion. Naja. No names. We're working on it though ;) We also planned for the next week on Friday. Saturday we were in Oberkotzau, another little city outside of Hof. 

 

Elder Pollard and friends...

THAT WAS SICK! This 17 year old kid named C let us in and listened to our message. He totally understood what the spirit is and had a lot of good questions. But he didn't want to make out another app. We'll see! And then Sunday. During the sacrament, a random couple came in that I had never seen. Apparently Elder Donner had spoken to the lady while I was in Plauen and she came! We'll be meeting with her this week on Wednesday.That was a real miracle. We ate with the F's, this awesome family and got to know them a lot better. And then we met with Herr B that night. He's interesting and knows his Bible very well. He's read all the way to 2 Nephi, so good for him. We're working on that as well.

 

Overall, a good week. Like I said, time is flying by so fast. I feel like I was just emailing you all last week haha.

 

 

Free yogurt on P-day...

 Well that's about it! I love you all and pray for you daily. I know that God loves his children. I know that!

Elder Pollard

A note from the editor...

Elder Pollard is scheduled to return to San Diego on January 8th.  In the meanwhile, he and Elder Donner are working hard and enjoying the fine Autumnal weather in the Siberia of Germany (Hof)... 

That's our Elder on the right...

If you would like to send him a letter or card, his mailing address (letters or cards only...no packages) is:

Elder Tim Pollard
Kirche Jesu Christi
Ludwig Strasse 52
95028 Hof
Deutschland

Of course, you can always email our Elder at timothy.pollard@myldsmail.net.

Thank you so very much for your prayers and good wishes for Elder Pollard during the last 22 months.  Only 64 days left...

King Papi

Week Ninety-three (65 days/9+ weeks left...)

FLIGHT PLANS!?

What the heck, I still have 9 weeks left! That's all the time in the world. Really. I say that now, but I'm guessing that in 9 weeks I'll look back and it'll have been no time at all. I'm going to Paris? Great haha I heard that that airport is crazy. But, looking forward to it. I'll bring back better German candy, you don't need pansy french cookies. So don't worry about it. I haven't heard anything about an international gift card or anything, but I'm sure there's something like that. If not, cash is easy enough. I could pull out cash in Berlin from my debit card as euro and then just exchange it in America. Sounds like a plan? Or if you have some genius Mom idea, that'd probably be better. Ok, enough about flying home.

I did meet the Rusts! They were very nice people and gave me a little present. It was awesome haha we talked for a little, but didn't have too much time. 160 missionaries in Berlin....that's a lot of talking.

Uh suitcases....I'm determined that mine will last. They are beat up and one has no handle and the seam broke on the side....but I think it'll make it. If not....a new one will cost like 70 bucks or even cheaper. I don't know.

My last week was super interesting......and kind of crazy. Very unexpected haha because of what happened in Berlin. It was like this:

P-day was insane because we had NO money. ZERO haha. Well, actually 7 euro. So we went shopping for super cheap. After that, we did normal P-Day things. We had no money though so not much.

Tuesday was interesting because S M came home from Nepal. She's a member in the branch here and we hadn't seen her yet, so it was cool to see her again after a year haha. We ate delicious food, like we always do at the M's.

Then there was Berlin. We left Wednesday morning at 8 and drove up to Berlin. It took like 3 hours. When we got there, the Montgomery's dropped us off in the middle of the city. Elder Donner had served in Berlin, so no stress. First thing: Money. And YES! our money for November was already in! Good, then we went to Alexander Platz, where Jason Bourne hung out in the movies. And we saw the famous DDR Fernseher Türm, the big tower. 

That's a big tower...

And we saw like a bunch of famous German things. Then we went to Marzahn, to the elders apartment to meet up. We watched them eat lunch and talked about stuff. They gave us cards to do work. We went to Bahnhof to pick up the Plauen elders, and then went to M's place. M is a new convert that Elder Donner taught in Berlin. We ate at his house! It was super fun. Traveling in Berlin takes forever because it's so big. That was the end of the day! We slept in Marzahn. The next day was our conference. Elder Kearon from the Seventy talked to us about missionary work, it was really great.

Zone Conference (extra points if you can find Waldo Elder Pollard...)

After the conference, we were supposed to catch a train home, but when we got to Bahnhof there were NO trains going to Hof.......like it wasn't going to work. This happened to a lot of missionaries actually haha so we had to sleep over again, this time in Lankwitz, with the assistants. It was a rough 3 days but we finally got home at 5:30 on Friday......Craziness.

Saturday was awesome because we had a street display in Hof in the city. The members were there and it was way fun to see them talk to people.  It was good because they were talking to people with the missionaries and really bearing testimony and doing WORK!

Yesterday I felt super sick. Probably from standing out in the rain all day and talking to Germans about God.

This last week was just insane! We found a Polish man who knows his Bible front to back, but doesn't really understand is spiritually at all, and doesn't want to....Pride is a huge stumbling block for us all.

That's so crazy that my flight plans are already there..........kind of set in stone. Sucks that I have to go through Paris, I heard that place is a nightmare haha. We'll see! Am I really supposed to bring cookies back for Mom? How is this going to work? I'm nervous enough with my customs junk haha because I have a lot of German things....we'll see! What time am I going to be coming into good old San Diego?!?! That's important info. Don't let my flight plans burn a hole in your desk haha I'll be home soon enough. This is surreal. Especially because I still have 9 weeks! That's a long time.

Sister Stohs told me that your singing was very pretty. Tear jerking really.

I am also reading in Alma. I'm in 25 right now, I believe. We're reading the whole book and finishing before Christmas. I have a study journal with all of my thoughts and what not. I like studying like that. It helps me straighten things out in my head and really get the...so what out of what I read.

Well I'm doing pretty well in Hof. It's cold haha. I'm excited to not be cold......other then that, I'm living it up and working hard.

Well that was it really....Berlin kind of engulfed my whole week haha. It was fun though. I learned a lot.

I love you all family!

Elder Pollard