iPads and Lauenburg

Lauenburg is...different. Dad was wrong, the city he mentioned in his email to me is indeed in our area, Lüneburg, or Lueneburg maybe in English, but I am in Lauenburg. Even smaller then Lüneburg. We are about 30 minutes from the last rapid transit train station in Hamburg...by car.

Yep, we have a car. That is how small Lauenburg is.

But there is a decent sized ward here, like 100 members or something, when they all come. But the bottom half of our area Never sees missionaries, because it is like 2.5 hours away by car, and we only
have 2000 kilometers a month, so we can't really make it down there.

This area, missionary work wise, is...dead. Yeah, there have actually been 2 or 3 baptisms in the last 2 or 3 years...but when I got here, there was a total teaching pool of 4...of which, 3 were less active
members. Ouch.

Also, in the last 6 weeks, the 2 programs in our district--us and Bergedorf, which is the east most  branch of Hamburg--have found a total of...4 new investigators. And 1 of those I found last week. Wow.

It was like this in Dresden too. Only 5 people were in the teaching pool there, and we had to work really hard for a long time to change that. But we did. And by the end, it was really picking up again.

And we are going to change Lauenburg. We already have made out appointments with 4 or 5 contacts from the phone and area book, a couple of which are really solid--if really far away. We also are going. To find new people, and baptize!! I baptized in my other 2 cities, ain't no one gunna tell me I can't do that here.

Also, notable towns in our area are:
Lauenburg
Lüneburg
Uelzen
Salzwedel
Geesthacht
Boizenburg
Schwarzenbek

..and I'm sure 2 or 3 others, but of those, Uelzen, Lüneburg, and Salzwedel are the biggest. Lauenburg is probably the smallest, except for Schwarzenbeck. Schnakenbek, apparently the source of weather
forecast for Lauenburg, is a village about 5 minutes northwest of us. Not too far off. But about 1/3 of the size.

Also, I found a cool street in Geesthacht, which I will now forward to you in an image:

Hamburg Zone receiving their iPads:

Transfers!

First Question. Anyone ever heard of Lauenburg? (Laow-en-borg is how you say that)
Me neither.
But!! That, my friends, is where I will be residing for the forseeable future. For further information, please google. If it helps, I believe the full name is ''Lauenburg on the Elbe'', and it is right in the area of Hamburg. It will actually be in the Hamburg Zone, which means I will spend significant amounts of time in the largest port city of Northern Europe. Cool cool.

But, unfortunately, that means I do have to leave Dresden. I really do love it here. I have met a lot of really amazing people, the ward here is really really great.

As You can see.
For your info, from Left to right that is: Pauline, Elder Burton, Judith, and Denise. Denise is serving in Italy Milan on her mission, reporting in July, and Pauline is submitting her papers next week. Judith is only 17, and isn't sure if she wants to serve a mission.

But aside from that, I love the Bishop here, the Ward mission leader is pretty cool, the missionaries aren't bad, the work is good, and the city is beautiful. IF you want a good look at the city, google: ''Church of our Lady, Dresden.'' I believe you'll see gorgeous pictures of the Old City.

That is really the major thing that happened this week. Still no iPads, still not sure when. OH, I will still be District Leader in Lauenburg, but only with 2 other Elders in my District, in Bergedorf, which is even closer to Hamburg. I am half-through packing, and actually have the package with me to send home as soon as we finish emails, so yeah...lots to do today...no energy to do it.

The longer I get on my mission, speaking of which, the less energy I have to do anything but missionary work, and the more energy I have for missionary work. At the beginning it was hard to find energy to go to appointments, or to church, or to go finding, and very easy to go do emails, or shopping, or packing, or preparation, or sports, or anything. But now it is opposite. I love going to appointments, I love talking to people, and church is like one of the highlights of the week. but Emails? Basketball? Shopping? Ugh. No energy. I believe this is a good thing, but it might be a sign that I need a LOT of sleep when I get home--which, in case you were wondering, is roughly 13 months from now. Not that anyone is keeping track.

Did I mention that I cut my own hair? With a little help from the Elders for the neck and the sides. But who has energy to go get their hair cut? Not me.