Arrived 3/29/10

Whew! Well hi there people!

I'll apologize perhaps a bit beforehand, this might be a bit of a shorter one, we're headed to Buchenwald today, nearby Wiemar. An old concentration camp. Should be an enlightening experience...maybe...

Anyway. Well, Elder V is gettin blitzed away! to Schwarzenberg. over near Freiberg. he is only kinda excited. I am getting elder P, from Twin Falls. His ancestors come from New Zealand. I hear he's a stud, so I'm excited. I'll let you know how things are going!

Before I get too much farther: HAPPY BIRTHDAY E!! Happy 19! Now I'm sorry Birthday bash hasn't been working out so far, but I have a present I think you might like...so if you hit me with your college address I can get it to you. Unless it'd just be faster to send it home, and then it can wait for you there...anyway, thanks for the support out here, E. And thanks for all the fun times back in the day. We'll talk some German when I get home, na?

Easter will be a big thing here, lots of big lunches and drinking and general peaceful celebration. World Cup will dwarf Easter Celebrations, though...

Well, gots to run. I love you all and thank you mightily for your support. Keep the faith and know that the Gospel is true! Love you guys,

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 3/22/10

Hey
'ow you doin'?

Things are going great over here in the NDH (that's Nordhausen for ya). This was again a fairly uneventful week, but good all the same. So E S had to go back into the hospital this week, as she developed some inflammation in one of her mammary glands. Daniel said that they pumped some milk from her and didn't quite get it all, so what little was left in there caused some pain and swelling and she got a bit loopy. Didn't know milk could be so powerful :P But she is doing much better now, should be back home again by middle of the week. Daniel is gettin a bit ragged looking after two little girls and a newborn all at the same time, but he is holding strong. We took him the sacrament last night and he was so grateful for that, it really is neat to see the power that ordinance has in his life. He will be a very solid member one day. And his wife too. Man they'll be running this branch. And Daniel talked with us about the World Cup for a while, about German soccer in general. It was cool to learn more about Fußball from a real German. I have so gotta get hooked up to a rugby chanel when I get back...I saw some bits about the Six Nations Tourney on a newspaper in the trainstation here...good 'ol Scotland...

So! School! Sweet, thank you so much for getting the apartment situation all worked out. I really appreciate it. Hope D still like me! Hehe jk jk. I talked to Elder C, one of my best mission buddies, just a minute ago (he is in my district again, over in Gotha) and he said Liberty Square is a nice place. He was looking into going there once he got back as well. He gets home in mid Nov, so he'll be coming on for Winter, I'll be looking to see if a spot opens in our apartment...

Classes look snazzy. Gotta have PS 200 to get moving in the IR major, so that's good, Hist 202 will be fun, VASTU 101, huh? That sounds familiar...is it mainly a drawing class? Na ja, I'm sure I would actually learn something in it as opposed to LAHS Fine Arts...sounds good. Let's go for it. Take a leap of faith. German...whew, alright. Gotta do that one, I guess.

Religion. Yes. New Testament first half, with P. Even if it's at 9 in the morning. Good good. I like the looks of that. Should gimme something fun to do each day. And hey, if you were to put most of them on Mon-Wed or Tues-Thurs setups, I could have most of Friday free again! Oooh now doesn't that sound nice...haha. However it works out. I don't mind a lighter day in there with only like one class period or something, though.

So. 9 minutes of change left. Don't know TOO much about the Honors program, to be honest. Honors English was cool lat year cuz the class was small, Honors History could be neat. Parker is more important than Honors in Religion, and Honors German just sounds harder...but what are your thoughts or insights?

ok. put another 2 € in. should have a bit more time.

Any Paintball classes at BYU? That'd be fun AND exercise...

Not so much follow up about early-coming-home-times, i used up all my Favor points this past week with Präsident in affirming my desire to stay in the Berlin mission and not get shipped to Frankfurt. He did say he wanted to hear our opinions on the matter, but I don't wanna bring up too many hefty things with him all at once. It will need to be addressed here soon if it's going to be addressed at all, but I don't think it would be such a bad thing to have more than 5 days 'tween mish and uni...Chidsey suggested I ask Präs if I could ''pretend'' I was going home with the July group, and then ''extend'' for an ''extra'' 4 weeks and then I'd just be leaving 2 weeks early. But that could be a very needed 2 weeks to get home and sort everything out. I don' know. I could use some very honest and/or whatever opinions you have on the subject. I doubt we are going to have large ''Layoffs'' this time around. There are currently too many closed programs that could use a set of Elders...so yeah. Please let me know what you think about this whole dealy-o.

Eatin' a lot of cereal this week to save some money so we can go to Erfurt next week...the things you'll do for a fun Pday...

So, Taylor, what is this thing that most people didn't know about you that people had to guess? Do I know it? :)

So Em, what kind of music does your English teacher listen to then? Muse? Fastball? :)

So. Dad. And Mom too. Dad, you remember Rachel, the girl we stopped by on in Twin Falls on our way down to the MTC? What do you think of her? If I may ask. She has been writing me very diligently and very...attached-ly...don't know how else to express that. I'm doing my best to follow Elder Ballard's advice and counsel with you, father of mine. I'm not having any problems staying focused out here, just been gettin letters from her pretty regularly, and I'd be interested in your thoughts in this general area. So yeah.

Thanks for all your help, family. I really appreciate it. You guys are more than an Elder could ask for :) Hope you are all staying healthy and having some fun too. How's the ward doing? Any cool missionary prospects? Elders or Sisters there right now? give 'em a pat on the back for me. Love you all, quote some West Wing or Supernatural or something for me, and I'll talk to you soon. Macht's gut! Tschüß!

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 3/15/10

Well hey there!

Things are going good here. Slow but well. Yep, so E had her baby cut out of her last Wednesday--C section it was. He was just a tall kid. like 51 cm. they are both in pretty good condition, should be released by Wed. D is excited but pretty scared too--so much more stuff to do now that J S is actually here. We'll do all we can to help them out.

We have daylight savings time on the 28th of March or so. Joy.

Hahahaha Mother that must have been quite an embarassment...bad Taylor! How dare you laugh?? :D

Pops, that science bit is very neat. We try an approach like that sometimes on the very ''I am a scientist and I can only believe in that which I see or can touch'' people...doesn't often work too well, they are just too closed-minded and unprepared...na ja. hehe.

Thanks about the haircut...Elder D hooked me up there :D I have a pair of trimmers out here and sometimes it is just easiest to save the 10€ and do it at home. Thanks on the pics too. Sis M went a bit teary over it, she was really into it :) Nice to be able to help out however I can.

As for my nice CTR ring, I bent it pretty...badly doing a service project at a member's house. It's not really werable at all anymore. So for a time i was wearing one of the standard ones, of which we have several in the apartment, but it kept cutting into the back of my finger when i would stick my hand in my pocket or in my bag. the shield is so sharp around the edge, see...well, so now i am just going around with no ring on anymore. Don't know if there's any way to get one from distribution in Freiberg or Frankfurt, don't worry about it too much, unless you want to :) I am a 10.5 I believe? The last one was an 11 i think maybe...na ja.

Elder C made me that planner, it is a comic of Jules Verne sending a letter to Edgar allen Poe (how'd you get that??? Wow good work there) and it meshed pretty well with our inside jokes from serving together/friendship. Making planners is a lot of fun, I'll have to show you some of my planners when i get back.

Some of the Elders in my group are coming back in July, perhaps a transfer early? I need to talk to Präsident this week and see what is up there. We'll see what he says/what all that jazz is about...

I eat a lot of stuff now that I would have never dreamed of eating back then. Carrot cake, veggies, meatloaf (still not so keen on that one, but if it must be...), i can take mushrooms now, but i do not like them still, it's mostly only tomatoes that I just don't do. They just don't work for me. But yeah...I'll see if I can cook some stuff up for you guys when i get back...

I hope the apartment situation works out...Wyview????? Are you crazy? :) I sure hope not...

Well the Ms found out about my companion's crush on that sister missionary and it was so not my fault, but man was that funny...jokes for the rest of the transfer outta that one...

Somebody ask us to raise our hands? No?? What do you mean, no??....

Well, I am almost out of money here, and I gotta write Em back real quick, so i best be off. I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers. Pray for the missionaries there in our ward too, ok? Thanks! Love you! Tschüß!

---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 3/8/10

Well, well, well....what a week it has been!

Elder 'B' (also known as V) and I are getting along well. He is a good kid from Holiday, Utah who went to the Y the year after I did and then came out here. He is very very dry...mostly. He has some wet humor too though, I have found. Well I knew him from the beginning of his mission, and we have some high hopes for this coming transfer.

But yeah. I see Pops is on the road a lot these days! Proud of you, sir ;)

As for Emma coming home soon, man was that a big retransition. Going from making your own rules to being under the rule of the 'rents once more is a hard one. Just maybe have understanding for the fact that she's gonna have to get used to that again, or give her a good bit of leash to do her own thing. Other than that...

Yeah, V and I are getting along great. We have a lot of deep conversations about our futures and the Gospel and so on. He is really a good kid...not many friends growing up, found some self-confidence on the mission, unsure about his future....ha ha! :) No, things are well. I was afraid for a bit that morning when Präs was setting the blitz up that i was gonna get another punk, but V is gonna be one of my mission friends, i think.

You found D's parents??? Excellent! I miss that boy. I hope he is doing well, not head from him in a while...prolly cuz i just barely wrote him back... :P I hope you all can find something...

So I ought to thank you for those little Lego Star Wars ships. They are delightful. Sometimes I just fly them around the apartment for personal study....just kidding. But after planning at night, you bet ;)

And I got your letter this past week. I am awfully torn by a lot of that info. Those track sheets you sent me just sound like the biggest blast one could have in school. however, I think I missed the Fall application deadline, so I would have to wait for the winter one in October(?) anyway...so we'll go ahead with my current major for now, and see what happens when i get back.

You still have that sticky note i left with important class info on it? i.e. which classes I would need to take this fall?

Emma, your FHE brothers are lots of fun, it sounds. Any keepers? :D Hey, you ought to send me some photos from your time up there. Hopefully you can see some of the ones I sent home...

ALSO: Parents, it would be neat to get a photo of you two, even if that means Taylor just takes one of you two sitting on the couch together...please??

Car still in one piece?

Disney people like LDS kids? Cuz of our good family values? Ok, so you go write for them , and I'll come back and draw for them. Plan? :)

So how's school, Taylor? Reeeeeeeaaalllllyyyy bad? Haha just wait 'til you get older :D How is the rest of life there for ya?

Well, as far as the work goes, it was a pretty regular week last week, and not TOO much to report. We are making out lots of appointments still but not having much follow-through. E S is gonna have her baby any day now---could be today. Good stuff. She'll be an awesome member. We'll get her wet as soon as she is a bit recovered. Other than that, we have this African dude named I who will hopefully start making some more progress soon. I have drawn some stuff for the Ms to use in less-active wokr, and I'll get some to send home to you...

Well, my money is almost out, so I'll be wrapping this one up. I love you all and thank you so much for your support and prayers and love in return. You guys are great. The Church is true. That's for sure. Good luck, fam ;) Love you!

Alles Gute,

Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 2/28/10

Haha hi!

My week has been...good. So get this: On friday morn Präsident gives us a call. Now that' not a common occurance, so we wondered what was up, maybe something with driver's license stuff (oh yeah, we got our licenses this past week!!! Cool stuff. Much cooler than my NM license) but it was really cuz Elder D was getting Blitzed! He had to leave Nordhausen Sunday after church to head up to Berlin to become a new office elder! Crazy crazy stuff. He had a lot of stuff to pack, man. And I got Elder VDB blitzed in to me. He is from UV, despite his crazy Dutch name (his uncle actually works on the Liahona staff, look in that intro section!). He was trained in Leest, in Brandenburg district back when i was up there. So I know him pretty well, and he is a good kid, though he has the driest sense of humor of anyone I know, and he pokes a lot of fun at me, so i may clock him one day.

But we're doing well. He is about 8 months out or so, so his German is comin along well, and he wants to speak German a lot, so it'll be good for us. Elder D and I tried to speak a lot of German, and succeeded often, but we had too many good times and laughs to share that had to be in English, but I think B and I will do well.

ES is expecting her baby very soon. Could be any day now, could be in two weeks, and as soon as he pops out and they have recovered a bit, she's getting baptized! We are very excited for her. She is coming along very well. They talked to us this past week, Elder D and I, about their experiences with tithing and how they set aside some money this past month to pay their tithing, knowing that they wouldn't make it without the money, and just trusted the Lord. Well, long story short, the made it just fine. Somehow :) And now they know that the Lord looks after His Own. And that the principle of tithing is true. So good!

Well, Präsident Uchtdorf dedicated Germany for the preacing of the Gospel on the 21st, the first time all of Germany has been dedicated! East Germany had been before, by Präs Monson, but not the West! Or the country as a whole. So Präs Uchtdorf got that done. Very cool to know we are proclaiming the Good News in a freshly dedicated land!

Well, Präsident Uchtdorf dedicated Germany for the preacing of the Gospel on the 21st, the first time all of Germany has been dedicated! East Germany had been before, by Präs Monson, but not the West! Or the country as a whole. So Präs Uchtdorf got that done. Very cool to know we are proclaiming the Good News in a freshly dedicated land!

That chapter of Alma, 37, is one of my favorites. A while back I was feeling a bit dumb that I picked a Bible scripture for my missionary plaque instead of a Bo'M one, and Alma 37:45 (?) about the Words of Christ carrying us to a far better land would have been a sweet one...but then I just got over my feelings and decided it didn't really matter. Besides, even Christ liked to quote Isaiah...right? Hehe.

I love that scene in the Fellowship where they are lost in Moria and Gandalf and Frodo are talking, and Frodo bemoans his fate at having received the ring, and says, ''I wish the Ring had never come to me...I wish none of this had ever happened.''

''So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that's been given you.''

Powerful stuff. Helps out here during the challenging times too.

Good on you, Pops and Tayto, for going to the temple. We are so blessed that it is so close.

Em, I have maybe been to Book City...I think maybe. found a crazy cool original printing of Heir to the Empire from like the early 90s...for 6 bucks too! We'll have to go hit it up together when I get back. Deal?

Well, I don't think I have too much else to report. We are actually in Erfurt today cuz after emails we are hittin up Wartburg, where Martin Luther translated the Bible and seeing the castle there and stuff. Berin is beautiful and certainly just about my favorite, but the south has castles. Should be sweet. I'll get some good pics for ya. Love you lots family, know the Gospel is true and the Christ lives. Godspeed to ya. Til next week, na? Love you!

Elder Sterling Mason, Nordhausen