Week One Hundred and one (9 days left...)

Skying was so cool guys! I'm happy that everyone could be there! Except Matt. It's a bummer he had to work. But I'll see him soon. I missed your beautiful faces you glorious people. I really enjoyed it! Now we only have to wait 9 more days! If we want to plan on going back, I would love to give your the tour of as much of Germany as I know haha. We'd have to go to Hamburg, Rostock, Berlin, and a day trip down to Hof haha. (you only need a day to see stuff down here.)

Hof at Christmas

Actually, the countryside is like really cool looking down here. So much an official visit to the 'Vogtland'. But good, we'll plan on coming back to Germany. I missed the Christmas traditions we usually do. Like BAGELS! Oh my gosh I miss bagels. Can we have bagels on the Sunday morning when I'm back. Please?

The week was pretty good for us. We had p-day, and then 3 days of holiday. Germans take Christmas seriously. It is three solid days of nobody on the streets. And it is strongly discouraged to go door to door by the mission. Sooooo....I studied a lot. We deep cleaned to apartment too! That was good. On Tuesday we went to the Montgomery's and ate sausage and potato salad and played games. Then we met with Sister S and taught her and went back the the Monty's to Skype. That is when I saw you. It was such a wonderful time to see you all and Rachel too! Blessings. Wednesday we ate at Sister E's house and she made many a duck for us. Like 3 or something. With Rotkohl and Klösen. Perfect. Then we had a cool lesson with a man named A. He's the coolest man from Iraq. He wanted to be baptized into a christian church. We're going to help with that. Then he came to church on Sunday. SOLID. He really liked it. Bruder L was also there at church, which was pretty cool. We ate with the G's on Sunday, which was just a hoot. They're a funny family. It was a good week! Like seriously.

And the biggest news, Elder Donner and I will receive a new companion haha. Today actually we're picking Elder Stoddard up from Bahnhof. He's super cool and we both know him. We're going to have to show him Hof before we leave on Sunday. We're both super excited. It's be a love triangle.

Elder Pollard on guitar with Elders Donner and Stoddard at Christmas

Well...one more week! I can't wait to see everyone!

Love,

Elder Pollard

Week One Hundred (16 days/2+ weeks left...)

Mom I'm so tired. I couldn't sleep last night for some reason. But, to remind you once more, I'm going to be able to Skype tomorrow at around 10:30 am your time. Tomorrow means the 24th of December, or in other words, Christmas eve. I really hope that still works for you. There could be a very small possibility that I could do it on the 25th, but the 24th is just going to be way easier for everybody involved.

I am craving an Oreo cheesecake, by the way...

I am really looking forward to meeting and helping the missionaries at home. It's like a little dream of mine.

Well......this is totally lame, but I'm just going to wait until we Skype haha I can't write emails every week! It gets hard to sit and focus on my past week. I could sum it up...tough. We were allowed to go to the temple on Saturday. That was great. I did the session in German. We had a couple of appointments with investigators and some with members. They were all really good actually. We ate at the F's house yesterday. The food they made us was delicious. And I finished the Book of Mormon this morning in German. That was my exciting week!

I'll be on the computer at around 10:30 AM (San Diego time), and while have an hour face time with you! Even though I'll be seeing you two weeks after that. It'll be good!

I'm good. I'm California dreaming. The work is going. We're trying to find. The health could be better, I have a little cold. Elder Donner is being dramatic and the people of Hof haven't changed. Good thing that Christian is home. I prayed the Campaign Showers (a lovely 1992 Mercury Topaz known and the Potatomobile...) wouldn't explode outside of Barstow. Hopefully he could get me a job at Nordstroms. That'd be primo. Tell him to start asking.

Well, I'm super excited to talk to you all!

Love you all!!!!!

Talk to you tomorrow!!

Santa?

Elder Pollard

Week Ninety-nine (23 days/3+ weeks left...)

These is the first of my last 4 emails home.  Enjoy!

Well this last week was slow, just slow. Work wise, that is. On Thursday, we had a sweet zone conference in Berlin. More deets later. And we were also in Plauen for a street explay and then had a ward christmas party. All those things were great! But everything else was just kind of slow.

We only had 2 lessons this whole past week and they were with members. No investigator lessons. That does not happen. Like ever! That was the first week of my mission without a lesson. Oh well, it wasn't too bad. Just kind of frustrating with everything falling out. And it was cold. My departure will be very timely. Winter is coming. Berlin was super cool. We drove up on Thursday, which means we had to leave at like 6 in the morning haha. But it was OK. Traffic wasn't bad until we got into Berlin. The stake house is literally in the middle of Berlin right next to all of the embassys and what. So driving through traffic towards the middle of Berlin is like trying to stuff a turkey through it's mouth. The conference was super good, though. We watched 17 miracles about the Martin and Wiley handcart companies. I cried. Totally. So sad haha. I got to see A LOT of really good friends. I was super happy. We also got presents from President and Sister Kosak! Haha pillows and pens. What missionaries need. I got my packages from home! All 3. THANKS! And then we were with M, a new convert from Berlin that Elder Donner knows. We checked out the Christmas market and talked with him. I have purchased gifts. We stayed over night at the Tiergarten Elders apartment. It was super nice. Then the Christmas party was sick. Elder Donner played Santa and it was a riot.

Soooo that was about it haha the highlights at least. OH MY GOSH I am bringing home such good presents. You have no idea. You'll love it.

My shoulder is a-ok. My health is also. Elder Donner says his feet are cold, but that he's superb. The weather in Hof is pretty spastic haha right now it's about 40 I would say. No clouds or anything. Last week there was a big snow storm, but it didn't stick on the ground. Kind of weird.

Dad, if I could ask you for any favor ever it's that you listen to the missionaries when they talk about member-missionary work. You can't imagine how frustrating it is to prepare really good lessons to try and help members with their work, and just get shot down from every angle. Super lame.

So I'm speaking in sacrament meeting on January 12. I think I could talk for the whole hour if they let me. But cool! I'm stoked for that experience. I would much rather have a topic to talk about though haha sometimes I just can't decide what I want to talk about. That's the hard part.

As for Skype, I don't know what account I'll be using, but if you send me your info, I can just find you. There are no plans yet as far as when I'll be doing it. Probably around the same time last year to be honest. Like 10 or 11 your time.

Other then that, life is bueno. sehr gut.

Love you all!

Elder Pollard

Week Ninety-eight (30 days/4+ weeks left...)

Last week's email was super lame, so I apologize. But I was in Chemnitz, getting ready to play our Turkeybowl. In an internet cafe with 10 missionaries and a bunch of Middle Easterners all yelling really loud. It was kind of stressful considering there were only like 12 computers. But I tried haha. This week will be better.

Plauen District at Zone Conference in Chemnitz...

That's so cool that you get to feed the missionaries in SD! I'm sure they're super excited for turtle brownies. At Zone Conferences, I was just happy that I had food haha I didn't really mind what it was. But the old German ladies always made SUCH good food for the missionaries. It was a blessing. So for advice....just food. I'm sure they'll like it.

What I would like to eat when I'm home......well:

Caramel Turtle Brownies

Mexican food of any type

Mac n Cheese

Stay away from things like spaghetti and Lasagne...I get that all the time haha

STEAK

STEAK
STEAK

Artichoke dip please

But most importantly, anything that YOU make Mom haha it's all good and you know that!

Elder Donner is honored by the invite, and plans to make it down at some point in time. He keeps saying that he wants Dad to teach him how to surf. There are some wrong preconceptions of life in San Diego.

My last week was super fast.

The highlights were playing football in Chemnitz, and not getting injured. Elder Donner, however did get a ticket on the bus for not having paid. It totally wasn't his fault, though haha we wanted to pay, but the driver just waved us through and didn't let us. I had a ticket, because a girl on the bus randomly gave it to me. It's a long story, but I think he won't have to pay the 40 euro fine. Chemnitz was super fun. That's where communism was born. Wooo. On Wednesday, we had president interviews. My interview was super good and I had some good bonding time with my favorite German mission president. He's amazing haha. We also got pizza from him, because our last appointment for interviews fell out, so he paid us back with food. Good pizza, too. Other then that, we found some cool guys from Syria and Iraq to teach! They read the bible and have a LOT of questions. Good thing Elder Donner and I can answer most of them. Gift of the Holy Ghost is crazy haha. But the week was pretty average. Only 3 weeks left of December! It's getting real!

Hey Papi!

Hope you feel better soon. I really have been pretty blessed on my mission that I haven't been sicker then having the cold for the last 2 years. Injuries is a different story. But it's a testimony builder! My patriarchal blessing says that I will be able to witness and experience how God strengthens his missionaries. He sure does. So I haven't had to experience being that sick in a while. I'm sure it's not fun. Especially if you have to miss Disneyland. Sad face...

I'm super excited to speak in church. I've learned to love talks and this opportunity to learn more on my mission. Learning and explaining something to somebody else helps me a lot to get it all together in my brain. The 12th it is....is there a topic? I guess I could start preparing now...but my study at this time is blowing me out of the water! Elder Donner and I study so much and we just talk like all day about the gospel and stuff. The mission as a whole is studying the BoM until Christmas...I just finished 3 Nephi this morning. Mormon's word at the end of the book are insane. Go read them haha. But I've been reading Matthew as well with a study guide. I love the gospel and I hope that excitement like never leaves haha. It keeps me going now! And it's great because my job and purpose in life right now is to explain what I learn. Double points. We should have many a study together Father.

Food for thought: In Genesis, after Adam and Eve had sinned, God asks, 'Adam, where are you?' (we know this from the Temple as well, and in the book of Moses God asks, 'Adam, where are you going?') Now, we know that God is all knowing, and we know that God even knew that the fall was going to happen in the way that it did. So why does he ask Adam where he is? It's interesting. In comparison with that, Jesus Christ says something very similar to Judas, when they meet again at the Garden of Gethsemane. As Judas walks up to give his sign, Christ asks him, 'Friend, wherefore art thou come?' We all know that Jesus was fully aware that Judas was the one who would betray him. So why are these people asked these questions? My understanding is that we will learn more in certain situations, when we will realize exactly what we're doing instead of being told. Adam had to learn something about Adam, and Judas had to as well. Even though his newfound knowledge wouldn't last long. Sometimes we should asks ourselves, 'Where are we?' 'Where are we going' or 'Why are we here?' in terms of the gospel and our eternal progress. 'Which road am I walking down right now?' and 'Is what I'm doing right now good for my eternal progress?' are both questions that can lead us back to the narrow path that leads to eternal life. God is our Father, Christ is his Son, and Jospeh Smith is their Prophet.

Well I'm doing well still. Healthy, happy, just swell. I hope you're all doing good as well. Have a great week!

An early Christmas present from the Branch members...

Elder Pollard

Week Ninety-seven (37 days/5+ weeks left...)

A note from the Editor:

Elder Timothy Pollard will be completing his mission and returning to San Diego on January 8th.  He is scheduled to speak during the Rancho Bernardo Ward sacrament meeting on January 12th; the meeting starts at 9am and will be held at the Poway Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (15750 Bernardo Heights Parkway, San Diego).  Everyone is invited to hear from Elder Tim.

And now, on to your regularly scheduled Timmygram...

I have to write this super fast, sorry.

Last week was gooood, but we didn't have too many appointments. We did eat DELICIOUS food at the Hemmans on sunday. That was like so good, Goose and american style stuffing for a german thanksgiving. We're doing good and are happy. We celebrated the first advent on sunday. It's a german thing. Look it up online. It was the first week of the last transfer. The missionaries that we were in the MTC with are already home...which is a weird feeling. But Elder Donner and I are just Hofin it up in Bayern ganz oben. Ok we actually have more time then I thought. So last week was just COLD! Oh my gosh negative 6 in the morning. Convert that to fahrenheit and you might understand. We had a couple of cool lessons with members and investigators together. We're making progress with the investigator pool, but nobody is too ready to baptized...they won't even accept a date...

We're doing real good though!

 

Elders Pollard and Donner being served Thanksgiving dinner by Elder Montgomery

Love you all!

 

Elder Pollard

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