Well...pretty ordinary day today. Kind of just walked around talking to people in the city for a couple hours, then went door to door in a ghetto DDR area. East Germany ya know. I really should take more pictures, help everyone see it. I will next time.
We also had family home evening with a member family, and our new convert, Tina. We watched the movie "The Book of Mormon, how rare a possession" movie thing about Parley P Pratt and about the Italian Priest from Sicily. Tina got so excited when she realized that both times it was the Book of Mormon, she was like jumping up and down on the couch. Hilarious and cute. Very Un-German of her. She is just...such a sweet soul. Not German.
11.11.15
Went up to Wismar today, the Port town north of Schwerin. It was totally a Hanseatic Town, which Elder Fisher explained to me cause he knew, which is cool,..if you don't know, google it. If you're a missionary...ask a member to explain it to you or google it.
But it's a really weird town. Really run down is some parts, like never repaired since the wall fell, or more like WWII, but some parts are super new,..instead of fixing up, or tearing town and replacing, they are just leaving a lot of the old buildings. And building in other places.
There were also the ruins of a HUGE old church. Like huge. It was one of the biggest in Northern Germany I believe. Well...in Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. That's the names of the state most of our area is in--we have Brandenburg a little too. But It's just like 2 foot high walls now, and the repaired church tower, which isn't even as high as it was. Sad...but an effective reminder about the horrors of war, which is why it is still there.
Also met with Lars, a cool member who can't really afford to come to church.,,he moved from Saxony like 4 weeks ago, so I totally chatted with him about Dresden and the surrounding area. Fun.
12.11.15
Went to District Meeting in Rostock today. Kind of took up the whole time the sun was up...but was a lot of fun. I'll have to take a district photo next week too, cause this district is awesome. Elder Fisher and I, both from St George, then the Zone Leaders Elder Flack--from St Louis, and Houston TX--and Elder Barton, who is in my MTC group. Yeah. Elders Burton and Barton. Lovely. Oh, and Family Metzner is in our district too, a senior missionary couple from the area of Stuttgart. Really awesome. We met at their home, and they made us Mexican food afterwards, at our request. Delicious.
We also had to go around telling less active members about a funeral next week, cause the relief Society president couldn't get ahold of a couple of them. Apparently the Sister who died was like 91, but everyone knew and loved her, and one of the two we talked to started crying when we told her.,,which was really sad...and awkward...since neither of us knew her...yeah...
We thought we would have 2 appointments today...but they both fell out. One dude called us though. That was nice of him. The other dude was just old and ornery and not wanting to talk at the moment. Whatever.
13.11.15
So this day started out pretty normal...until personal study. We got a text telling us that we had a mission-wide conference call, beginning at 9:45. Um...ok. So we call in at 9:30, the role call takes until 10:00 cause there are 100 companionships to go through, and then President Fingerle explains why we actually had this call...
He says that last night--Thursday night--President Kearon, area president for the Europe Area of the Church, called and said he would like to visit this coming Sunday at 18:00 in the Berlin stake house, and President Fingerle was welcome to invite his missionaries...he also said he would be being Craig C Christiansen, a President of the Seventy, and another general authority...Elder M Russel Ballard.
So we are getting a visit from an Apostle. This Sunday. What?
Yeah. So a large part of the day way was taken up organizing stuff for that. Now we are going to Berlin Sunday for another mission conference, my 3rd, then sleeping in Berlin, and coming back Monday morning. Weird.
Oh, and we taught Tina, our new convert, but she was LITERALLY on sleeping pills, so I think she only got like 27% of what we said...which is a shame, we cleared up some pretty important questions I thought..,hopefully she learned something.
And had English class again...it was fun,..a new girl came I didn't know...did I even mention we teach English class? Yeah, we do. To 2 old guys who aren't members, the Elder's Quorum President, and apparently occasionally a random 17 year old girl who wants to practice more cause she gets bad grades for English. Cool.
Then talked to an investigator on the phone about Christmas and the Refugees. I haven't met her cause she lives like 1.5 hours from Schwerin and can't visit very well cause she lives in a village...but yeah. She had some questions, so we answered them. I hope she liked the answers...had to kind of explain that the church doesn't encourage those studies that are aimed at "proving" the bible, cause we want our members to rely on God and his answers, that he gives us. Yeah...we will see. Hard to get a read over the phone of an investigator you've never seen. And only talked to like 5 times. Yeah.
At least we had a lot to do today...
14.11.15
So we spent all day in trains today, but not to Berlin. That's tomorrow. We went to Neumünster today for Stake Conference. It took 4 hours to get there, cause one train was delayed 1 hour...but we still got there on time. So 3 minutes before it started. Saw some missionaries I hadn't seen in a while,,,had a spiritual meeting...then a family in the ward, he is in the branch presidency, was nice enough to drive us home cause their son was staying overnight so they had room. They actually gave us some really good advice on college...and on marriage...and choosing a spouse and everything. Really really fun. And interesting. I learn.
Yeah...that's pretty much it.
Oh, and we heard about Paris today. That was...weird. We read about it on the advertisement things in Hamburg Central Station, and were like: "what...?" So we asked the members and they explained about the bombings during the soccer game and everything,,,yeah. Feels really distant.
15.11.15
Well, Elder Fisher and I have certainly spent a lot of time on trains during out first 3 weeks together. In just half a transfer we've been to Hamburg, to Rostock, to Berlin, to Wismar, back to Rostock, to Neumünster--via Hamburg--and then back to Berlin. And we stayed the night in Berlin, so I am actually finishing this in the train--an ODEG, or East German Iron-Rail Company--on the way home from Berlin to Schwerin.
We were in Berlin this time, you will recall, for a surprise conference with Elder M Russell Ballard. I think he explained it in his own words the best: "we are going to be in Berlin, why don't we meet with the missionaries?" So they did.
Really, really neat experience. I learned a TON. and I think what we learned with help keep Elder Fisher from getting too trunky over the next 3 weeks--until he goes home, that is. But Elder Ballard talked about the importance of being a great teacher--not just good, but great--about being bold, and about....well, about being a missionary. And what that means. Quotes:
"Apostles are really in the end just missionaries. We travel around trying to lift people up, to inspire them, to encourage them to come unto Christ."
"Rarely does the Lord interfere (with our lives), unless he is invited to."
"And YOU shall go forth, and none shall stay YOU."
Yeah. We had a lot of fun. And then we went and stayed the night with the Berlin Zone Leaders, who live in this area of Berlin called Moabit, really really famous for drugs and stuff. I've been there like 4 times now. But there were 10 elders in that apartment last night, so kind of crazy and stuff.
Yeah...and that was our week. Pretty exciting, right?
Viele Grüße,
Elder Burton
