Week Seventy-six

Hey Family and friends! This last week was just hard haha. It was a good type of hard though and very rewarding. Elder Loitz and I (commonly known as the dream team) basically worked ourselves into the ground and at the end of the week I couldn't even keep my eyes open ahaha. We came home late almost every day this week because of appointments and work. And for some reason, I haven't been able to sleep super well lately. I wake up a lot at night. So I was running on low battery like every day. But we did work and saw a lot of miracles because of our efforts.

 

Montag: Monday was just great. We went bowling with the district and visited a really big and famous church in Hamburg called St. Michaelis. 

 

St. Michaelis Church

It was HUGE and like super old-school creepy style. #apostasy. It was good to spend time with the district and get to know them better and just enjoy the p-day. That night we did some work. We went by on Frau S. because we hadn't seen her in a really long time. She was home so we just kind of talked about her week and about meeting again. She is so nice and really likes missionaries and the church. The church plays such a big role in her life already. Like all her remaining family are members. We're going to be making some invitations soon!

 

Dienstag: Tuesday was a long day. We left early in the morning to go to an appointment (early is 10:30 haha). We went all the way out to this ladies house and there was just no way to contact her. The telephone number she gave us didn't work and there were so many names on the klingal that there was just no way! So we just doored the place instead. But nobody was home haha so we're going back later. We decided to mob some lunch at this Asian place called Thai foo. It was pretty good. But the Thai foo hurt our stomachs. We did some more doors in that area and then had an appointment with R B. We found her in the area book and we had a really solid first lesson with her. She was really listening and super attentive. But she wants to meet every 2 weeks......that's not enough! We have to tell her that next time. That night we had a bomb appointment with Bruder D, the recently baptized member here. He loves American football and I love him haha. We talked about missionary work. Because we love missionary work.

 

Mittwoch: Wednesday was district meeting in Lübeck. It went well and we got to do some sweet role plays and improve our teaching skills. Go team. We celebrated our county's independence by eating KFC. Good stuff haha. We then went to Bad Oldesloe, a city in our area. It felt like we walked about forever haha. And it was really really warm. We went by on some old investigators, found out some didn't live there, and talked to one lady on the street who took a Book of Mormon and wants to meet with us! Success in Bad O. We then came back to Ahrensburg and ate ice cream and met with Frau S. We really just had a good talk. After that, on the way home, we met another man who made out an app with us. Then we went to Berne and had a 'walk in' eating appointment with the R's. They're a family in the ward. The man is from Bolivia and she is German. Their kids all speak German, English and Spanish haha intense. And we just wanted to stop by but they fed us, too. It was cool.

 

Donnerstag: America day. It was wonderful. We did a lot of work. We doored a lot and had a great appointment at night with H. We made Hotdogs (Kind of) with him and talked about faith.

 

Freitag: Friday was weekly planning, doors, and gemiko.

 

Samstag: Saturday was great. We played soccer in the morning with the ward. We wrecked. The American missionaries are surprising everybody. After that, we got ready and got on a train to Hamburg/Kiel. We had district leader schooling in Kiel so that took the rest of the day. It was pretty fun.

 

Sonntag: Sunday was wonderful. We got to church super early because we thought ward council was happening....not haha. So we just kind of chilled and church was great. Frau S came and was in sacrament meeting and the investigator class. Bruder Z did an excellent job teaching it. And after we had a good elders quorum class. We ate at the N's house the afternoon, which was wonderful. They made really good chilli. We talked about the contacts that he wants us to go by on, too.

 

That was the week! It was a lot of work. A lot of dooring and talking to people on the street. And a lot of planning. We're doing well though.

 

I started reading the new testament in German. I love the scriptures. Every time you pick the book up, ´what it tells you means something different. It's non-stop and current, up-to-date, personal revelation for everybody. I find that pretty sweet.

 

Well I hope you all have a great great week. I love you all!

 

Elder Pollard

Week Seventy-five

Hey friends,

So this last week felt like a SUPER long time, but it was just capped off well. I'm feeling pretty good at this time and I'm just pretty stoked to still be here in Germany. Germany is a great place. I love being a missionary, too. Helping people in this special way is just like so fulfilling and really just a special thing.

Last week was long, but good. A couple of our investigators made some really good progress. I was on exchanges, and now it's p-day. Let me just tell you about it all.

Montag: Monday was solid. We had to switch around our P-Day time, because we had an appointment early in the morning with M. He is the man who works for Synergy, some company out of Provo. We had a good talk with him in a hotel haha. We talked about the whole gospel message and about what we as missionaries do. It turns out that he didn't really have a whole ton of interest, but it was still a good talk. He is a way cool guy and listened to us and took everything to heart. That's not too easy to find here haha. But it ended well haha. He totally can come into contact with the church whenever he wants when he feels like it's right. We then had P-Day and emailed at the W's house and ate there, too. We went shopping and just kind of chilled and took the time to zone out and nap. Good stuff.

Dienstag: Tuesday was fun. We were in Bergteheide for a long time. 

 

 

 

We went and at lunch with the M's. Dr.M was there...random...and we had a good talk for a little bit. We basically got from the talk that he's not too interested in 'investigating' the church like we expect him to. He needs some time to really ask himself like what he wants in life and what's important to him. It's crazy to see how the world today can like mold you into wanted, worldly things. A lot of people only want what media and stuff tells them to want. Kind of weird how we can't be too honest with ourselves. Naja. The M's made us bomb food. Like German food haha. It was the best. We had a good talk about the missionary work here (Bruder M is a former mission president). After that, we went by on some peeps and then met B V. She met the missionaries a while ago, but it sounds like there wasn't too much teaching and learning going on. More like hanging out. So she was surprised when we wouldn't come into her apartment (we had no joint teach and she is a single woman with no man in the house). But we had a good talk and said we'll meet when she gets back from vacation. Germans love vacation. After we got back from Bargteheide, we had an appointment with E! Bruder B was there and translated into French. E's faith is kind of strange. He interprets the Bible a lot. I don't see how the Bible has to be some fantastical book that you have to read into and make these crazy interpretations out of. It reads pretty simply, in my opinion. And when we don't pray about it, of course you're going to get these strange ideas. The lesson went ok haha.

Mittwoch: Wednesday was district meeting! In Lübeck. The zone leaders were there, too. We had a good meeting and the ZLs talked about finding and approaching people. Afterwards, Sister S made some delicious food and we had district finding in Lübeck. That took a while. After we got home, we had an appointment/ate/beasted member work with Bruder N. He is such a cool guy! We took us walking with his dog and showed us the homes of everybody that he wants to invite to take the missionary lessons. We bought us way too much pizza and then gave us 7 referrals....such a champion. I love that guy haha.

Donnerstag: Thursday was great! We met with Herr V early in the morning. We met outside at this Döner place and just kind of settled his concerns and got everything back on track. He is so great. We talked about really 'investigating' and trying to figure out if everything is true. And we set up plans to get him to church on Sunday. After that appointment, we went and ate with Schwester B at the Chinese buffet! That's always great. I feel sick after haha always. After eating, we kind of just walked around in the forest and let our stomachs settle. It was necessary. We did some doors in the area (the Bishop had picked this street out). And made out an appointment with someone. That night, we went to H's and had a BOMB lesson with him about following Christ and doing what Christ told us to do. He got us some Döner haha and we ate just way too much food.

Freitag: Friday was boring haha. We studied, ate lunch, planned, and then went on exchanges. We had to ride the train to Kiel, like 2 hours away. 

 

 

 

I came back with Elder Lüning from Kiel. And we had another appointment with E. This time was better and we talked about baptism. Eduardo is under the category of 'I've already been baptized' and we've already tried to explain authority, but he just didn't want to understand haha. So we're still working on that.

Samstag: Saturday was the most spontaneous day on my mission haha. Elder Lüning and I had to re-plan our day because soccer in the morning fell out. The Lübeck elders called and asked us if we could help with a move, so we basically jumped up, packed everything SUPER fast and rode our bikes as fast as we could to the train station. We made the train, by the grace of God haha. And we helped a member move like all day. We ate lunch in Lübeck where I met the coolest rasta guy and took a pic with him. I'm going to grow dreads. Elder Loitz and I got back very late that night.

Sonntag: Sunday was great. Herr V came to church! To understand how cool this is, I need to explain Delingsdorf. There's no way to get there without a car haha. The buses are really bad there. So Herr V got up super early and rode the train and got to Ahrensburg at like 8. We had to wait like an hour and a half to be picked up. I thought that was way cool. And he kept talking about how he wants to join the church! Haha it's great. We need to teach him a lot but I know he can do it. Church was just great. We watched the missionary broadcast thing, which just told the members to act up and start treating the missionaries like this work is real. I loved it. P.S. was Dallin Cutler in that video? I swear he was. After church we ate at the B's, who made tacos. Mmmm. I hadn't had guacamole and refried beans in so long. It was a miracle. And we actually spent the rest of the night planning.

It was a good week. Sunday was just great. And now it's P-Day, so blessings. Elder Loitz and I are getting to this focus of teaching members how to invite friends to church and going hard on finding ourselves. We're going to help somebody so much, that they'll just jump in the baptismal font. That's our goal! Always!

Was it really 129 degrees in SD? That's redonkulous. It gets up to like 90 here in Germany, but the humidity just kills. I'm super jealous that I'm missing the 4th of July again. Like my favorite holiday. I'll send a picture of my new suit and shoes. If your eyes can handle me.

I'm having a great time, and I hope you are, too! I love you all so much, and you just solicit my prayers haha. Thanks for being wonderful. One more week until I can email you again!

Love you all!

Elder Pollard

Week Seventy-four

Hello friends and Family! I'm happy to email you this week. I'm at the W's house right now. They are so nice and let the missionaries do emails! And Sister W just made some bomb chicken that we ate. So everybody wins. Well, we win twice. It's just nice, because otherwise we have to ride the train to Hamburg and do emails in a loud internet cafe. Naja, I'm just grateful that we can do them here.

 

Last week was kind of longer. For no real reason though. I'm just looking back to last Monday and it feels like a long time ago.

 

Montag: Last Monday was cool! We were in Hamburg and did a lot of shopping haha. I bought my new suit with the money from Grandma and Grandpa. It's like blue with stripes. And way too tight to wear in America. And then I bought a comp tie with Elder Loitz, some new running shorts, really cheap and nice shoes, and a sweet pin from Hamburg. My pin collection is going strong! I have a bunch haha. Other than shopping, we ate a delicious Döner, and then just checked out the shops. Being in Hamburg is nice. It's kind of stressful too, though. Naja. After that, we came home and had an appointment with M, who was this Free Mason guy who we talked to on the street. It turns out that he just kind of wanted to propose his business to us. He's way cool though.

 

Diesntag: Tuesday was wonderful. We emptied a 440 Liter fish tank that hasn't had a working filter for the past 10 years......I now know how Shrek smells. We got about halfway done haha. We were helping a member out. I learned from that experience that I never want to own fish. We then spent a lot of time trying to find the address of somebody that we were supposed to have an appointment with. We didn't find it haha. Well, we found the address that she gave us, but it was wrong. Kind of disappointing. We had another appointment with M that night actually but it was like the same thing. He's not too interested in the Gospel, but he likes the talks.

 

Mittwoch: Wednesday was Zone conference in Hamburg. Even though we're in the Neumünster Zone, we live and work in Hamburg. Our zone leaders live in Kiel. It takes about 2.5 hours to get to Kiel. It takes only 20 minutes to get to Hamburg haha. Kind of weird. The conference was fun. 

 

Neumünster Zone

We heard some good workshops and got to be with the other missionaries. I got to wear the new pimp suit. Too bad it was like 90 degrees with 99% humidity. It was hard just to sit haha. The night we went on exchanges, so I was with Elder Gleason in Delingsdorf. We came home and ate with the R's.

 

Donnerstag: So I was with Elder Gleason from Lübeck for the most part of the day. We were tired because we were up all night watching the lightning storm. It would've been useless to try on sleep haha. But we still went to work. We went to the W's, which was a good lesson. It was super hot that day too. The lesson went well. We're teaching Mrs. W mainly because Mr. W has some memory problems....he forgets like every 5 minutes. He's super cool and nice though. He just asks where we're from like 10 times an appointment haha. It was a good lesson. That night Elder Loitz came back and we had Gemiko with Bruder Z and then ate at the W's house. It was way good.

 

Freitag: Friday was fun haha we were in Bargteheide the whole day. We walked around a lot and had an appointment with a lady who really didn't want to listen to us. That was fun. She basically tried to get us to convert to whatever she was preaching. So many people believe that the church or institution is evil. I don't get those people. Naja, that night we had an appointment with E form the Congo. Bruder L came because we needed a French translator. It went well haha even though we didn't understand any of it.

 

Samstag: We played soccer in the morning. I love it haha. I'm defiantly not the worst there. So that makes it fun. We also had to go emergency shopping on Saturday haha. So we did that. Then we taught some African kids English and came home and studied/I prepared my talk.

 

Sonntag: Sunday was great. We went to church. There was a returned missionary there, fresh from the mission, so he talked. I talked and an ex-mission president talked, so it was like super missionary day in church, which was great. After church we had gemeinde essen, which was also great haha. After church we planned  for the week and then had an appointment with Herr F, which went well.

 

The week was like long haha. It even took me a long time to try and explain everything. But next week will be better. Like a lot of our investigators dropped this week haha. But this week coming will be Wunderbar haha.

 

Well I didn't get to see the missionary broadcast , but President sent out a letter so I think I got the big news. I have no idea how soon all this stuff will be happening in this mission. Probably not so soon. The Germany Berlin Mission is like one of the biggest in the world. I think we have the most missionaries. So like....that's a lot of kids running around with I-pads and stuff haha. There is over 70,000 missionaries right now. And I'm sure I-pads are expensive. But we'll see.

 

Well, I'm super jealous that you went to the San Diego County Fair again! The last time without me. I'm a fair fiend. Other then that, I'm doing well. I love Germany haha.

 

I hope you all have a good week! I pray for you.

 

Elder Pollard

Week Seventy-three

HEY!

SO this past week has just been primo. That's all I can say about it. We had some crazy weather...no flooding, yet. But we just went to work and saw some crazy cool things. Met with some sweet people. I love meeting new people and making new friends haha. I actually met some guy the other day who knows O F from Hannover (Free Mason buddies) and there was a member from Hannover in church....Hannover was a long time ago! Haha. But this last week was such a breath of fresh air. Let me tell you about it.

Montag: Last Monday was sick. We went bowling again actually haha. The Sisters in Lübeck didn't want to come, but the Elders did, so we bowled. I also got my haircut, because my hair was cray cray. Other then that, not much haha.

Dienstag: Tuesday was transfer day. I dropped Elder Lykins off at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof at 9 in the morning.

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof

Elder Loitz arrived at 4 haha. So I waited around Hbf for a while with the Elders from Hamburg. It wasn't a problem. I ate some delicious Döner. So Elder Loitz arrived and we rode back to Ahrensburg. We had to take care of shopping but we also got to meet with H that night. He bought us some chicken, which was way good. It was a good first day with my new companion.

Mittwoch: Wednesday was crazy. We were in Lübeck in the morning and had District meeting. We had to read the whole missionary handbook, so that took forever. Elder Loitz is the only new member of the District, so we're pretty tight and got to know each other well. After coming back from Lübeck, we ate with the K family. That was tight. They're super nice and make good German food. I showed Elder Loitz the Ward building, too. And we made out an appointment with an earlier investigator. It was goooood.

Donnerstag: Thursday was super good. We ate some delicious fried rice for lunch. We had an appointment with Frau W and her husband, who had a heart attack a couple years ago and it all somehow affected his memory. He has extreme short term memory loss. He asked us where we were from like 9 times. He's super nice though. He's funny and loves Americans. We taught a little and basically wanted to set up expectations. It was sweet. We then went by a BUNCH of older investigators, and walked around for like 3 hours. We talked to one guy and made out and appointment to come back. And then we did some doors and ate with the Z's. We had Gemiko after.

Freitag: Friday was weekly planning day. We ate some delicious bratwursts and had an appointment with Frau S. She is amazing. Her son in law is the grandson of Howard W. Hunter.....and is the guy who made the Singles Ward movies. We teach his mother in law hahaha. She doesn't want to be baptized though. We'll see about that. Hopefully she'll make some spiritual progress, because she's such a nice lady. She made us delicious ice cream. That was the day also that we met this super fancy rich Free Mason guy who is like a crazy successful business man. We made out an appointment to meet with him. SWAG. We ate at B's house that night, which was super good.

Samstag: Saturday was insane. We walked around SO MUCH. We had a really awkward appointment trying to teach English. We didn't prepare too much and the 3 kids who want to learn didn't really talk. So that was weird. We also found Y, this younger mom who accepted to meet with us and learn more about baptism. She was way cool and our miracle of the day. Right after we were done talking to her on the street, it started pouring. And we were wearing short sleeve white shirts. Mmmm. Not fun at all. But the day was just sick.

Sonntag: Sunday was also really good. We got to meet with the Bishop right before church, and there were like a lot of people there that we didn't know, because our members go hard in the month of June. Invite your friend to church month. We also asked in Priesthood for joint teaches, and WE GOT THEM. So good day. We ate with the Z's in Bargteheide on Sunday, and then tore up Bargteheide and went by on every contact and less active member. It took all day. We got one return appointment though, so worth it. The field is already white and ready to harvest.

The week was: new comp, new investigators, new suit. New new new. I loved it too. We were outside all day and talking to people. Elder Loitz is super cool and we already get along pretty well. We're friends. :D. Awkward smile.

Mother, I already bought a new suit. It's dark blue and kind of stripey and super shiny. Slim fit euro style. So I will go and buy some shoes today. And I'll write Grandma and Grandpa a nice letter. That's so nice of them.

Elder Loitz is from Pleasent Grove Utah. He knows Elder Thorley and went to school with him haha. He's way chill and cool. He's really Polynesian at heart. He plays Uke and Rugby. It's nice having him here.

I love you all and miss you a ton!

Elder Pollard

Week Seventy-two

How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Actually no, haha I'm sick. This last week was also very interesting. I can describe it very briefly.

Monday was really fun, we did District P-Day in Hamburg. We ate KFC........and then went bowling for like way cheap. We saw some cool things around Hamburg and it was just nice to be with the district and stuff. But after a Long day of walking Elder Lykins' toe was starting to hurt really bad (he kicked someone in soccer last Saturday) and we called Sister Kosak. So we were in the Hospital that night...not fun at all. It took FOREVER to be taken care of, and then they looked at it, said it was fine and told him to ice and elevate it for two days.

Tuesday: Icing and elevating.

Wednesday: Icing and elevating. I also like cleaned and studied and good stuff. We had district meeting that morning, which was nice. It was the last district meeting of the Transfer. It was good though.

Donnerstag: Thursday was good, we got to do some good work and had an appointment with Herr S. It went alright. That night we went on splits, so I was with Elder Gleason that night.

Freitag: Friday was spits with Elder Gleason. We got to make out one appointment and talked to people. But I got like sick that night ahah I couldn't even talk. My throat was just bad and it hurt to talk. I also had like an earache and a headache. So I was down and out.

Saturday was Transfer calls, and the news is that Elder Lykins is leaving. I am getting Elder Loitz. He's like as long on his mission as Elder Lykins and Elder Lykins says he's way cool. So I'm looking forward to it!

Sonntag was just kind of normal.  We went to church and then ate with Bruder S, who made delicious food. I'm now a fan of rubarb by the way.

But yea the week was SLOWWWW and we were injured and sick. Other then Transfer calls, nothing really exciting.  I have been realizing how short my time left is haha. LIke 7 months. It's all good though.  I'm not in a funk any more. Just kind of sick. I need to get healthy. The change in companions will be a good motivation to get back into the grind of things. I'm looking forward to it.

I pray for you, too all the time. I hope that me being here and working is Blessing you at home!

Love you,

Elder Pollard

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Week Seventy

Alright family, here we go! Another week of emails! To start everything out, it's important to know that for the past 3 weeks, I've had no money. The mission is getting a new system in for how they deal with the money, and we haven't been allowed to send in receipts and stuff to get reimbursements. Life has been real over here! We're looking at a week of eating a lot of rice....which is good and bad. This transfer has definitely taught me that you only really need a couple of dollars to stay not hungry haha. If you like eating rice it's just no problem.

This last week has been pretty good. It was pretty nice to meet with a lot of people and get out and do some good stuff! Oh it basically rained like the whole week. Non-stop. Let me just tell you about it.

Dienstag: I'm starting with Tuesday again. We were in Hamburg to email and enjoy p-day again. I had no money, so the term 'enjoy' is being used very loosely. It was still fun though. Elder Lykins paid for the KFC....yea KFC again haha. 

 

Hamburg Fried Chicken???

Worth it. Not much else. I took a nap. We had GEMIKO that night with Bruder Z.

Mittwoch: Wednesday morning was District Meeting in Lübeck. It was a good meeting! We didn't have too much to talk about in terms of our investigators and how we can help, but the Themas that were given were pretty good, in my opinion. I learned a lot. The Zone Leaders were there, which was good. When we got home, we changed right away, and went to the S's to help with the ceiling. We are so close to being done! Scraping the paint/stucco stuff off the ceiling is way harder than it sounds. She gave us some delicious pastries, so our efforts were rewarded. That took a while haha. We ended up coming home, getting changed, and getting back on a train to Kiel to go on exchanges. I was with Elder Rückauer, a German missionary from Freiburg. He's sweet. I spent a long time on trains that night! All the way to Kiel and all the way back was like 4 hours. Riding trains is so tiring....

Donnerstag: Thursday was way cool. I learned a lot of German hints and tricks from Elder Rückauer, who just happens to speak like perfect English. It's not fair at all. Americans are just at a disadvantage because English is our mother language..usually. Almost everybody in Germany can speak English, and if not, they can at least say a couple of words. But yea he helped me with some things. We had a couple of great appointments...one with Herr V. He was the referral from the other missionaries. He's way cool, I like him a lot. He's very open and honest about what he understands and knows. We just have to help him realize what he actually believes in. He has a family, so hopefully we'll be able to help the whole family! Elder Rückauer and I made a very interesting lunch, after he decided to challenge me to a hot chili eating showdown. I didn't have any problems....but oh man haha he did. Germans aren't the biggest fans of spicy food...as a general stereotype. Anyways we made some spaghetti, pea, carrot, spicy chili, egg pasta thing. It was good. After lunch we went by a couple of contacts in Ahrensburg. We got into contact with one man who told us to come by in a couple of weeks, which was sweet. We also had an appointment with Herr S, the man we found right when I arrived in Ahrensburg. He talks a lot....so it's hard to teach. That seems to be a problem with a lot of investigators. It turns from a teaching/learning environment into a sit and listen to me talk one...Oh well. After that appointment we had to race home, pick up Elder Rückauers bag, and ride the bikes back to the train station. No big deal. Elder Lykins was back in Delingsdorf area, and we had an appointment with the family W. They made us some delicious potato cheese thing. I just ate it up. After the eating and spiritual though, we went home and crashed.

Freitag: Friday was weird. We studied in the morning, went and had to carry a 50 pound package into the city and mail it.....my goodness that sucked. It was actually one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do. No big deal though. We came home and ate lunch, and started weekly planning. That went for a while until Bruder S from the office came and had us clean out our basement. That took a while haha. There's like this big push in the mission to make nasty old apartments nice again. With new furniture and painting and what not. It's a blessing and a curse. It usually takes like a lot of time and is annoying and hard work. But then you can just enjoy the nice new apartment! well after finishing planning, we had an appointment kind of far away with the family Thomas. They're way cool! They young and the have bunnies like Emily and Matt. I don't know if they still have their rabbits after the move...but it's cool anyways. They made us taco salad. Taco Salad is apparently like the most American thing you could make for the missionaries. It's really good, but we eat it a lot haha. We ate and gave them a Book of Mormon. They wrote their testimony in it and then we got them to promise to pass it out to one of their friends. Good stuff!

Samstag: Saturday was sweeeeeet. We started with soccer in the morning. There were these kids there from Spain or something. They couldn't speak any German but the were sooo good. It was incredible. Not too big of a deal though...still scored two goals. Be proud. It rained a lot and I was very tired afterwards. We had an appointment right before lunch with a man from Angola, who had grown up in the Congo, so he only knows French. His German is alright, but it was hard to communicate. We're going to try to bring a member from the ward who can speak French next time obviously. He was way cool though! We also had our weekly meeting with Dr. M. This time was a lot better. Bruder M went an hour early to talk and we could come in and start with teaching. We taught about reading the scriptures. It was good to focus on that. We learned a lot about where he stands right now with God and what he expects from him. We said he'd try to read in the Book of Mormon. That would be good progress. After that appointment, we walked around Bargteheide for a long time in the rain to go by on contacts there. 

 

 

We found a couple of them. We came home and ate and then something crazy happened.....I just passed out. I sat in my bed intending to sit there for like 15 minutes. I woke up on Sunday morning.....

Sonntag: Which just proves how tired missionaries really are! I felt bad, but am grateful for the 12 hours of sleep. We were intending on planning anyway. Elder Lykins said he just let me sleep because I seemed really tired. When's the last time you remember me being tired? I slept so much at home that I was never tired haha. But anyways Sunday was good. It was great to see some people at church that we've been trying to help come back. No investigators yet, but members that we've been working with. I love seeing that. Because members see their old friends and people they already know and everyone talks. It's like coming home for the one who's been staying away. H A came to church for the first time like a while. Probably like a month. Not SUCH a long time, but it was still good to see him there. After church we had to RACE our bikes home and RUN to the train station to catch our train. It was annoying. But we made it and were one time for our eating appointment with the family Z. Brother Z served in HOF a while ago! So it was super cool to talk about the city and the people there. We ate delicious lasagna. We came home and cleaned up the apartment a little, and then had an appointment with Herr Friedrich, who I met for the first time. The guy is so cool and he loves reading books about religion. He has so many of the same beliefs as us, just not hat he needs to belong to a church or anything like that. I loved the appointment. He's a smart guy.

So that was the week. I also talked to the Mission Doctor about my knee. The bad one haha. It was bothering me pretty bad yesterday and it was even swollen. He said that I could have some torn cartilage in my knee, but he really can't say anything. His prescription was to tough it out and not destroy my knee while I'm in Germany haha. Good stuff. The week was long and wet. So much rain...but it was also way good. I'm happy in Delingsdorf area. I'm super excited to get the work going here.

Oh by the way! Do you remember F from Rostock? He was baptized confirmed over the weekend! How cool is that?! I didn't get to go to the baptism, but it was just super good to hear that he finally made it. It seems that the Rostock branch is also pretty excited for him. I remember that night that he talked to us that night in the bahn! Like it was yesterday! the Lord is hastening his work.

I hope you have a good memorial day! Enjoy the day off of work. Eat good food for me.

Well anyway, things are still chugging along here in Germany! I love and miss you all and I pray all the time for you!

Have a great week!

Elder Pollard

Week Sixty-nine

HELLO

Emailing the world from Hamburg, Germany. It's a good place to be right now if you like grey skies and drizzle. It's been kind of bad weather for the past couple of days. But bad weather doesn't come into account when you're planning for the day. You just go and do....which is good. Annoying some times when it rains because come on....who wants to stop and talk when it's just pouring? The PREPARED people, that's who! Still doesn't make walking around in the rain fun...but oh well we do it anyway. I'm still super pumped from the Mother's Day call, too! It was really great and basically a small miracle that we got it to work at all haha. I apologize again for not telling you any information about when and how we were going to skype.....just slipped my mind haha. I feel very bad. But thank goodness everything worked out. It was the best Mothers Day gift for me too haha.

I've been riding the excitement wave of skyping this whole past week haha. This past week was just CRAZY! I'm telling you haha. It was super hectic and surprising. We had to travel a lot, too. Let me tell you about it.

Dienstag: (We did P-Day last Tuesday instead of Monday) P-Day was good. Elder Lykins and I were in Hamburg for a while and we had a district P-Day in Schwerin after. We got permission to all go and visit the castle in Schwerin, which was pretty cool. It was kind of boring on the inside haha, just like a small selection of art....wooooo. It was nice and cool but it was just because we could be with the district and all hang out. We ate lunch together and then came home. Not much else!

The castle at Schwerin

Mittwoch: Wednesday was day one of madness. Someone from the office called and wanted to come check out the mold in the apartment....there's a lot of mold in Germany. But he said that he was going to need like a lot of our help. I was thinking like why on earth would he need our help to check out mold? Well he basically walked in and started pointing out old furniture that was going to be thrown out. He said we were also going to paint the whole apartment and have to help build new furniture! Which is really a blessing. But when you have to do it all...it's pretty tiring. And we only had two days to finish everything. Well we started by like cleaning up a little and throwing a lot of old things away. We had to pull all the furniture away from the walls because someone was going to paint. It was kind of hectic. We had to leave in the middle of everything to go to a service project, but that fell through, so we went right back home to continue helping. That night we had an eating appointment with Bruder Z, our GML. It was way cool. They made like like different wraps and stuff. Just good. We were able to talk about some cool mission stories too. Bruder Z was in Manchester, England and Sister Z was in Temple Square. It was just way cool to hear the stories. Good stuff. We also had Gemiko.

Donnerstag: Thursday was more craziness. This time they brought a bunch of new furniture that had to be set up. We were able to get a bunk bed and 1 1/2 dressers set up before we had to go and eat lunch with Schwester B. She is so nice! I met her for the first time and we went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. It was pretty good. Chinese buffet in Germany is all the same.....average food for a great price. It's just a missionary favorite haha and there's so many of them. After that appointment, we met with Bruder D. We taught about how to stay happy in life. It was a good appointment and he gave us some cola which was very much appreciated because it got hot that day. We were busting out the short sleeve white shorts! After that appointment, we took a break and ate ice cream. It was good. Then me had an appointment with H A and Bruder M. H is a member that we're working with. He's super friendly and loves giving us food. Which is cool because he's a great cook. We ate rice and like lamb celery stew stuff. It was Persian food. So good. After that, we went home.

Freitag: Friday was kind of frustrating because we just didn't work a lot. We had planned two appointments, but one just didn't work and we couldn't get a joint teach for the other. That's just annoying. We should have planned better. But we didn't. We had weekly planning though, which was good.

Samstag: Saturday was fun. We played soccer in the morning, which was super fun as usual. I'm getting good. Watch out Wayne Rooney. We had an appointment fall out, which wasn't cool. But we had a good appointment with Dr. M that afternoon. His neighbor was also there and had some things to say. He's Albanian actually and said he would come to church haha so great. We missed out train out of Bargteheide though, so we had to wait a little more. And then another service project fell out. Not cool.

Sonntag: Sunday was church, which is always good. It was Pfingstsonntag, which is this big weekend holiday in Germany. Beats me why it's a holiday haha something to do with the Holy Ghost. Germany has a lot of religious holidays but not a lot of people know why. They just know that it's a day off haha. We did a lot of contacting the evening and were asking people if they knew why that day was a holiday. No idea usually. It was a good day though. We did a lot of work.

Montag: Monday was the highlight of the week. We got to play soccer again! Spontaneous ward soccer because it was a holiday. And there were people there the we as missionaries actually work with. So good stuff. We came home and studied and ate lunch. Elder Lykins was feeling sick so that was rough. The evening we contacted for like 2 hours. Walking around in the rain haha. It was great though. We made out an appointment with a past investigator and got the contact information for a referral for the Elders in Hamburg. That night we contacted and had an appointment with a referral. Herr V! It was a good appointment. He is very open and like wanted to learn. He said he'd be baptized if he can get an answer that everything is true. That is music to a missionaries ears. He has a small family too. So we were stoked.

And that was the week. It was actually pretty long and hard at times, but it was capped off with a great lesson and we got to meet an awesome guy. We also experienced cooking a lot of friend rice this last week. Getting fancy with our recipes haha. It was actually something that Christian and I cooked a lot at BYU. It's good food. I could sum up the week by saying: soccer, new furniture, contacting, and Herr V.

I've been doing this kind of intense study of the Book of Mormon from the beginning again. That's so much fun haha. It's just great to read and feel the spirit and testimonies of Lehi and Nephi always working together to improve the situation. I admire that! Whatever the situation was, they were both capable of saying yeah it's rough, but we know that what we're doing is true. I haven't gotten to the broken bow part where Lehi get's a little down yet though haha.

My adress is

Elder Tim Pollard
Kirche Jesu Christi

Hermann-Löns-Strasse 48

Ahrensburg 22926

Germany

I love you all so much! I miss you every day! I hope me serving this mission is having a positive affect on my family.