Family Blog

Arrived 3/29/10

2010-03-29T16:56:00.001-06:00

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

2010-03-27T23:17:00.002-06:00

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

2010-03-15T19:46:00.001-06:00

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

2010-03-08T15:40:00.002-06:00

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

2010-03-04T18:27:00.002-06:00

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

2010-02-23T19:56:00.001-06:00

Well hello there family!

So Präsident Uchtdorf is an Apostle of the Lord. Did you guys know that? We found that out all very personally as he shook each of our hands!!! :D BAM! Spiritual confirmation! No doubt about it. He spoke to us in German too!! His German is very good. I wonder where he learned it so well...

He talked to us a lot about preaching the Gospel with power and keeping the Spirit and being the best companions we could be and perfecting the language and all sorts of stuff. I'll share my notes with you when I get home :)

So that was way sweet. It DID feel a bit like a vacation heading up to Berlin and getting to see all of my mission buddies and seeing some sights in Berlin with the Ms afterwards and whatnot. Got some good photos. If ye treasure up those photos which ye have already received, ye may yet receive more added unto them....we'll see though, ay? ;)

Yeah, I hear from Danny. Every couple months. I'm a bit behind in replying to him, but he just has to deal with that. Life is busy here. Did you hear that J got called to Wisconsin or someplace like that on his mission??? Any idea where they are, those Langfords? A F told me about J. She must have some way to find them...

We hear stories now and then from members about the War, but mostly old ornry dudes on the street who use it as an excuse as to why there cannot be a God. Man, sometimes I wonder if the DDR stamped out everybody's ability to think reasonably...it certainly stamped out faith in a lot of people, that's for sure...

that man who resurfaced didn't show to the appt. we set with him. Shrug. Like that never happens :/ I shouldn't treat it lightly but let's be honest: one can only get SO down when appts fall out. about 1 in 30 go through, I'd say. That is the revised statistic I am working on. Outlying data suggests it is closer to 1 in 45, but I need more precise calculations to really get some precise measurements....stay tuned...but in any case, when appts do go through it a glorious day.

Looking forward to those pages, family...

Glad to hear things are going well, sisters. How is driving that new car there, Taylor? And how did midterms end up, Emma?...........you had a......pillowfight? Did you...uh......survive?

Well. Not much happened this past week, 'cept we were over at a member's house and she went into diabetic shock and fainted like 5 times in 45 minutes! We kept waking her up and forcing her to drink some juice, but she didn't really get stabilized until about 11:40.So it was a late night. I'll have to describe that one with pictures when I get home....man....but we went by again last night and she's doing fine. So. D S and S L are still doing great, and D's wife E is coming along as well. getting to that VERY pregnant stage. She'll be baptized, no worries. And they are teaching their daughters reverence and stories outta the Bible and the BoM! Cool cool.

Well I am outta change, and my time is dangerously low. I outta wrap this one up. Thanks so much for your love and support, and prayers, I have some Elders in the district here who are not getting along and I could use your prayers this week especially as I try and sort things out. That would be much appreciated. Love you all, be safe, and know that the Church is true. Be good! Tschüß!

---Elder Sterling Mason

P.S. Emma, if my Nordhausen address could get up on Facebook, that'd be wonderful.

Also, btw, I look really good in a nice suit... :D JK jk...

Arrived 2/15/10

2010-02-23T19:53:00.002-06:00

Hi!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh thank the Maker! I was worrying about those SD cards like none other...so it all worked out then. Haha, yeah, that district in Halle where Elder R mooned the cameras was just crazy. Lot of dead missionaries, lot of good memories...

I do like landscapes. And clouds, especially dark storm clouds...there's not THAT many pictures of sandwiches, c'mon...and certainly none with sauerkraut in them. For all my hatred of sauerkraut, I have only eaten it like maybe 5 times on my mission, and it's good here in the Fatherland. Germans eat a ton more rotkohl than sauerkraut, i think i can safely say...

Well, Taylor is getting her license....congrats, sis! Elder D and I should be getting our German licenses here at the end of Feb. or so. That only costed 55€... :P But it'll be good for life. Woot!

So THIS coming Saturday is the conference with Dieter. I'll be sure not to call him that when he's here :) We're driving up on Friday morning, and the Ms will drop us in Brandenburg cuz we are not allowed into Berlin itself until Saturday morning. So we'll spend the night there in my old city and have a nice evening with the good Elders there, and then on Saturday morning we'll ride up to Berlin! It will be exciting, man...I'll get some good pictures, don't you worry...

So you went through 'a few' of my pics? What does that mean? 9 GBs a little too much to handle in one go? :)

Oh man, I miss the old gang from back home. Was Brandon doing well? He is a good kid. I hope nothing happens to him in the Army. Was he starting to fill out? :) Be sure to let him know, though I don't even know how that 'week' before school will even work out...

Next transfer call is the 6th of March or so, that Saturday...and there is almost no chance that Elder D will stick around. It was unlikely this last time, and this next time, well, we are having our fun now cuz it is 95% likely he'll be gone. This one right now is his 4th here and our 3rd together overall...lot of time together. I'll prolly have one or two more here after this one ends, and then get bumped off someplace else for my last 2 or 3...and thereby ditch getting shipped off to Frankfurt mission.

Did you guys catch that part of my last letter? About the mission boundary changes? Big news, right? Any comments....? Hehe...

Well, yesterday D S blessed the sacrament and S L pased it, and they both did a great job and are really makin' good progress. I am way proud of them. They will be running the branch here one day...

Other than that, this past week we had a lot of appointments fall out, and that is always a bummer. we heard so much about German dependability and all that jazz and man maybe 1 in 25 appointments you make out actually goes through. It's quite a funnel...but this week we have some great stuff lined up and some neat people who will hopefully come to their appointments! ;) So it should be good. And then to cap it off with Präs Uchtdorf, my, what a week it will be...

The Lord truly does bless us though. Zum Beispiel: a man just showed up to church yesterday, and we had no idea who he was. turns out he used to come to church sometimes back like 5 years ago, but then the church moved location recently (like last September or so) and he couldn't find the building anymore. Well we talked to his son on the street at some point the past few weeks and gave his son a card, and the son gave the card to his father, and then the father was able to come again cuz he then had the new address. So he came and we talked to him a bit a made out an appt. for Wed! Good stuff. The Lord will always prepare a way :)

I know the Church is true. Thought you ought to know :D You all have a great week, don't wreck the new car, I'll do my best out here.

Just a few requests: could I get the application info to the school of fine art at BYU, parents? I'd like to know what is involved in that before it gets to much closer to registration.

Also, Emma, Elder C has a website from his past where he has some of his old stories up, and if you'd like to check them out, he said it's fair game. Reading, I mean, not stealing his story ideas :P :) I'll get you the link in a seperate mail. He has some very cool stuff. He also requests the next part of that little bit you did about Emmanuel visiting that angel on the beach as the baby turtles come out...I told him it was prolly just a one-off there but if there's more to that stroy feel free to mail that out here, we'd love to see it. Or anything else too. So yeah :)

Well. I think that is all. Love you all, pray for you, thank you for your support. Please don't lose my SD cards! Hee hee! Thanks for everything! Tschüß!

Elder Sterling Mason, Nordhausen

Arrived 2/8/10

2010-02-08T12:14:00.002-06:00

Well hello there!

So the pyramide came but not the other box yet???? That troubles me. I sent the other box a week earlier.....and it has my SD cards in it, so it really needs to get there ok...

Na ja. Hope and pray, right? yeah...

Yes, Uchtdorf will be the bomb. It will be extra cool getting back to Berlin as well. We are driving up there with the M's Friday evening, tho we are not allowed to be in Berlin til Saturday morning, so they will leave us in Brandenburg to sleep over there and then we will ride the train in that Saturday morning with those Elders. That train we'd take all the time when I was there not too long ago...Man that'll be fun. We'll see if I can get a pic with him! Na ja, a handshake would suffice, I think...

Wooo! Go Saints! I like the Saints. They have never gottn enough respect. Now they have to get some. I guess it is more that i just do not like the Colts so much. They fight the Patriots too much. Though i guess honestly i don't know if i can be a Pats fan anymore; i dont think Tom Brady is playing right now, and the old hero team is gettin taken apart and we'll see what happens. But if they got Brady back playing...

Well, now, what do you classify as best driver now, Mother dear? That's quite a broad term there............I see. So THAT'S why you went out and bought her a new car.... :D

There's a good article in the new Liahona/Ensign from Elder Holland that talks about the sin of Lot's wife and avoiding that in our day...very good article, just read it in a member's copy cuz ours don't come so regularly/on time...

P.S. there was no baby Jesus on there to begin with. Thought it a bit strange myself...just the empty space where there could be one...but I will not complain for the price i got it for...hey! you could make one with all you garage supplies! Yeah...

How'd you like my wrapping job there, eh? Hahaha Did my best with what I had...packaging from Post here costs 20 €...psssshhhh yeah right....

Cow tongue tacos are pretty strange. I have eaten some pretty weird things though: raw meat mashed up with onions and mayo...it's called hakepeter or somesuch. GROSS. or Blutwurst. It wasn't quite so gross as i expected but not my fav to be sure. Na ja, aside from eating that cow's intestine stuff at that one mutual activity back home (manudo?) things are fairly regular out here...

Hope this week goes well for you all! It has been a good week for us. We have really been blessed to see D S grow into his new priesthood responisibilites--he is making such progress and is doing so well. It is awesome to see. And he knows that now it's on to the next big goal: the temple. Gotta get his wife baptized and then in a year, to the House of the Lord! They'll make it, of that i am sure. And S L is still doing well. He blessed the Sacrament on Sunday and did a great job. He will do grea things as well :)

Wellllllll..........................................so we went into C&A last monday, checking out the sales......and they were having a suit sale...................and it was a very good sale.............ok enough of this. They had a beautiful Westbury business suit, the one i have kinda been eyeing for a month or so now, and it was marked down from 160€ to 99€. There were 5 left, it was a ''clearing out for the new spring shipment'' sale...and well, I bought me a new suit. I really look good in a nice trim suit :P :D So I am gonna hold onto it, wear it like once a tranfer maybe, and bring it home. It'll be my business suit for the future. I'll see if i can print you out a pic of it or something. Yeah. So. My bad. But it was a deal i did not want to pass up. shrug. yeah.

Well. Onto bigger news......

This is crazy--get this: The Hamburg mission is being dissolved on July 1st. They are getting eaten up by our mission, the Berlin mission, and the frankfurt mission is getting like one of their zones. We lose a zone to Frankfurt, namely the Zone where I am now, Erfurt Zone, and then the Munich-Austria mission and the swiss mission get realigned so that in the end there will be three missions in the german-speaking world: Germany North (Berlin and Hamburg) Germany South (Frankfurt and Munich) and then the Austira swiss confederacy does something else down south. Names subject to having been made up by me :P Well ANYWAY. Nws is, that our mission will double in size come July 1st. Other news is, whoever is going to Erfurt Zone for that transfer will actually be transferred to FRANKFURT MISSION. Aggggg! So we will be sending 20 somethin missionaries to Frankfurt mission come july. At which point in my mission i would have like a month and a half left. We will see what happens, eh? I personally would prefer to stay in the Berlin mission, for a variety of reasons, but whatever the Lord has in store....right? He he he....sigh.

crazy. It'd be weird to have 3 different mission presidents...

but yeah. Things are good for me, we got a bit of a cold spell here the past few days, but come March Winter should be movin off a bit...or that's what they say...

So Emma IS running an Elder Mason blog then...is it...tasteful? Hahaha!

I am glad too that I have two wonderful sisters who can apparently drive better than me and are there for me. And have the Mason family brand of humor. And you parents do pretty well too :P :D Hee hee! Thanks for being my silly family. I love you all very much and look forward to sharing all these experiences with you in person. Thanks again for the food! And the spagetthios! Haha good stuff.

You all have a wonderful week and I will talk to you soon. Be good, eat your OWN vegetables, and I'll do my best. Seeya!

Tschüß!

---Elder Sterling J. Mason, Nordhausen

Arrived 2/1/10

2010-02-08T12:12:00.001-06:00

Hello family!

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER! Wow, what are you now, 27, 28? Gettin' up there, soon it'll be the big 3-0! I hope it was a most fabulous birthday bash. What did you do for fun? Or was jabbing poor swiney people with needles all the fun you could handle for the weekend? Hee hee! Weeeelll I'd just like to thank you for all your years of nurture and love. I would not be the charming, humorous, finely-cultured dude I am now (haha yeah) had it not been for your constant support and encouragement and trying to read my MSN chats all these years. Thanks for being so persevering in love and for being diligent AND concerned at home. I certainly remember our righteous family traditions like prayer and FHE and watching Poirot (oh man i miss that...better have those ready for when i get home!) together. Good times, as they say. I am very grateful that you have been an example to me of living one's tesimony of the truth of the Gospel. It has been a powerful impact on me. So thank you. I love you Mom!

Love you too, Pops ;) P.S. I found a German model train catalog with lots of juicy stuff inside. I'll get it home to you somehow. Taylor can translate it all :D

Well we got D S ordained to the Priesthood on Sunday! e is now officially a Priest. And can start helping with the sacrament and stuff. WOOT! Man, finally gettin' some stuff done out here...it's nice to know you have actually accomplished something as a missionary...

Welllllll, Taylor can drive now.............I'll keep you all in my prayers more frequently :) HAHA! *dodges Taylor's swinging fist* Just kiddin'...

Wooooo, homework pileup! Love that feeling. Actually it makes me wanna die most of the time, Em. I hope i can find some way to better manage my time once i get back to school. Hopefully the mission will have left some sort of studying mark on me...

I believe latency in public opinion is an apathy or torpor (ooooh, check out that little word there! kinda just means apathy too so it is a bit redundant there, but...na ja, right?) towards an issue or whatever. Like the space program right now. Not so much national push to get anything really moving in THAT direction...too many people worrying more about the economy or war...yeah. Or i could be wrong. Seeing as I just made that definition up. But it seems right to me :P :D

I wish you all the best wishes on everything you have to accomplish up there though. College is fun tho, na? sorry I am boring this week too, almost everything we had fell out this past week, so we don't have much else cool to report. Met a dude from Pakistan, I think it was, who can speak Urdu and Hindi and English and a bit of German. Have an appointment for Tuesday morning. We found a lot of new people this past week so we have lots of appointments lined up for this week.

STILL NO PACKAGE?? Curse you Deutsche Post and your delivery estimations....I sent it on Wednesday two weeks ago. At least. Maybe it has been three weeks by now. Yeah, prolly has been. Hrmph. Well it better show up. Those pics on those SD cards are...precious to me...

Got the box!!! Thanks so much! Oh, fyi, those last socks you sent me were great. Are great. They are very nice. Good work. Thanks for all the stuff, I finally have Ami snacks again...and that round of Get Fuzzy is hilarious...!

So I got a cold on Friday. It has been loads of fun. Just the head mucus, fortunately, no phlucas...gettin over it by now tho. That sudafed has saved my life...

I have no idea if yaks can swim. Wonder if they ever encounter running water in their natural environs... :/ But specially trained Deutche Post yaks are trained to survive 20,000 foot HALO jumps from DP jets, so, like, if the chute failed, then i could see a DP yak landing on your car and...leaving a crater in the driveway too, prolly...

So. guess what. On Feb. 20th the entire mission is having a meeting in the stake center in Tiergarten in Berlin cuz guess who will be there to talk to us?? PRÄSIDENT UCHTDORF, BABY!!! WhaZham! All 120 somethin' missionaries in this mission together in one stake center with the left-hand man of the prophet. WOOT! We are all way stoked. Partly cuz we all get to get into Berlin. I love that city. Partly cuz we all get to see one another, all of us, every single one, and there are some photos i need to take :) And partly cuz it'S UCHTDORF!!! Hopefully he will speak some German to us...crazy. Later that day he will be presiding over a regional Priesthood conference there in Berlin, and on Sunday he will preside over the regional conference for all of at least East Germany, if not all of Germany...so it should be good. Read in the Church Handbook of Instructions (I AM in the branch presidency here, so we get bonuses) that we are not to ask GAs for autographs. Dang. Nix that idea. But a shaking of the hand is definitely in order! 8D

Well. Not sure there is too much else to cover. I am still hunting a suit. I am a very picky shopper, so i knew i outta start a bit early looking at what i want. went into a little shop last pday and tried stuff on but the lady there was very rude to us, prolly thought we weren't serious or something, and there's no way they're gettin my money now. But C&A always has good sales. So. I had a proposition. Instead of sending me a package next time you are thinking of sending me a package, you could just hold the money you would save on shipping and stuff and put it in my account? Would you be down with that? I don' know. I am a very hesitant buyer. But i do want to come home with a nice German suit. So I'm a-lookin'. well we'll see. in any case, I do really appreciate all you do for me, all y'all.
Thanks for the letters and boxes and stuff. Pops, if you could hit me with my account balance, that'd be great, and is Em or somebody really running a blog on me? What's it called? Other than that, I'm 'bout finished here. Good to talk to you all. Thanks once again, and know that i love and miss you very much. Take care, and know that the Gospel is true. Til next week, na?

Love! Tschüß!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 1/25/10

2010-01-25T19:28:00.000-06:00

Well, Family, I had been typing an email for the past half hour to you when my computer just shut down. And pooooff there goes pages of email. I HATE that. And as though i have the stamina now to retype it all. GRRRR! :´-( That is me crying, see...and now we don't have much more time...

Well ds got baptized, it was wondeful, elder downing did the baptizing and i confirmed him on sunday and it was just great! he is solid. his wife will be baptized as soon as she has her baby in march. so that is wonderful.
Yeah, we know about Haiti. Germans left and right use it for an excuse as to why there is no God. Sad that they do not understand His eternal purposes...

Man this sucks so bad. I had a bunch of advice for you, Em, but the gist of it was, hold a meeting and lay groundrules and talk openly but kindly about all of it. set up some cleaning schedules and individual food rights and divy everything up fairly and then have everyone agree to it and then don't cave if they get weak! Na ja. Write me somemore about it next week and then i'll put together a more coherant reply. You can complain to me. What are older brothers there for aside from annoyance and to lean on in times of roommate woes :D

Temple is in Freiberg. unless i serve in Dresden zone i pry will not have the chance to go there. but maybe when i come back to interpret for Pops on business, we could swing through :)

Love you family. Thanks for everything, hope you get my first package this week and that the SD cards come through ok. Looking forward to next week and another shot to write a real email. sigh. Sorry this will be such a short crappy email. Love you though, take care this week, mom get better! Don't worry, I'm smiling. The members here even point it out, that I'm a joyous child. Happy Australia Day (tmrw)! Bust out the temporary Aussie tatoos...P.S. how do Brennbury apartments look? Ok, until next week! bye!

Love, Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 1/18/2010

2010-01-24T21:21:00.001-06:00

Wellllll, time for another Monday installment of...The Elder Mason Show!

Gather 'round, kids...

''I didn't know babies came with hats...''

Haha I am glad you saw those pics. good times. It was fun walking those shoes into the ground...
so we got Elders back, na? I know some Elders who look like they are 12. No sisters though. Once you hit 21 I guess you can no longer look like a kid...I guess I hit 21 already...creeeeeeppppyyy....well are they good Elders?

New car buyers........you people. Well I hope it is nice. Is it an automatic? Dad and his insurance magic...you are goin to have to teach me all those things when I get home, Pops, you realize that, right? And how to file taxes...

Oooooh, there are some nice Mercedes' around these parts...all over the country, really. A Crown Vic, huh? We could have put some black motifs on the hood and scared the crap out of the town driving around :D Dang.

Got a real brief note from Dan Mason, he is alive, but was outta time and might contact me more this week. I guess that fact that he is alive is a good sign to start off with though, ay?

YAY! More scholarship! That is pretty much gonna save my life. Whew! Now if you could start a cursory, preliminary scan of housing options up in the Bubble, I would be most grateful. Just take some temperatures, see what the options are, the distance from campus, the levels of fine early baroque decor, etc. You know me.

HAHA. That was my not-actually-laughing-but-rather-scorning-laugh about your certain housing suggestion there, Father. :P

Well it seems like you have put a lot of thought into that there object lesson, Daddy-o. Now toss in a scripture and send that off to the Ensign! Do it! You know how cool that would be? We may not know everything, but we know enough ;)

Well. I am glad that Emma has all sorts of connections to shady campus services. Just hope the camera sharks don't come calling! Hee hee. I am glad though that it got fixed. Cuz ohne Notebook geht's nicht. Ay. And cool FHE bros! Do you guys have a 'Dad' or 'Mom' assigned to lead the group like we did?

Well, I am not sure I have much else. Sorry it's a bit short this week. I mailed off your smaller package last week, middle sometime, and it should be in this week. Berlin Jazz CD, maybe Em might like the saxaphone in it; räuchermänner, SD cards full of pictures!!! And that book. Enjoy. The pyramide is on it's way: finally got it off this morning. Expect another 10-12 days. Hope it makes it in one piece :/

Love you all! Thanks for the love and support and being-there-for-me! It means a lot. My left hand smells like sinky havarti cheese, mother. Guess what? I like cheese now! I mean, all sorts of cheese! we had a nice block of Brie this past week...but yeah, anyway. Love you all, and I will talk to you soon! Lebewohl!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 1/11/2010

2010-01-24T21:17:00.003-06:00

Whew! It's cold!

Hi!

It is below 0°, like -4 or so, most evenings by 5 PM...doesn't that just sound like fun, Mom? :D

S's baptism was wonderful. His dad got to baptize him and they are just beaming. He is really happier because of his decision and I am grateful to have been able to help out a bit and be a part of it all. It was truly a marvelous experrience. We got some great pics and you can check out Sis. M's blog to see some of them...also for pics of my shoes.... :P

Taylor can drive now, eh? Does she zip around blasting classic rock everywhere? Better get on that, Tayto...

''A gentleman caller???'' What is this, Sense and Sensability?? Hahaha that was hilarious. WELLLLLLLL.....Haiti is pretty exotic, I hear...good work there, Sistah.... :D

Yeah, so I HAVE to take poli sci 200 that first semester back if I am wanting to move forward in the Int. Rel major. Avoid a stupid hour if you can, like 8 in the morning :P That German class, and then yeah, New Testament. FromP if at all possible. Please on that one. He's one of my favorite professors. I WILL be willing to go to an 8 AM Parker class ;) But only if I have to! Other than that, maybe something historical? Like the second half of that one history class, 202 or whatever...I liked that professor too, what was his name...but yeah.

The...other Army?
I would kill for a good old can of Spaggetthio's with franks. Though if it'd be too heavy then no worries. Maybe some tasteful Star Wars stickers...for the back of name tags, see. I need a signature sticker...yeah, and Smore's poptarts :D And a Picture of Mom and Pops. That'd be nice too :)

YOU BOUGHT A NEW CAR???!!?? And both of you parents failed to bring that up?!?!? Aggg!!! I've been seeing these new Focuses all over Germany, they are pretty snazzy...did you get an S model? Or................. is this a joke?.............hmmmm.....you people...is this car for me to drive when I get back? :P :D

Sigh. Well, moving on. Hahaha, Em, ''group papers are unacceptable,'' that was great. How are going to do battle between the different emphases?? What does that even mean?

American History, ooohhh I love goofy professors...maybe I should just become a college professor...

Well, I am glad to hear it's going well out there. We are doing well. Elder D is a champ and we're having a good time. We went by on an investigator this past week and she told us she did not want us to come by anymore, and that was sad, but we made out three appointments in that time instead, and found a really cool young lady who had interest and is gonna read the Book of Mormon and pray! So there's always trials and tribulations, but we are persevering and seeing blessings for it. And that is neat.

I love you all, hope you all stay healthy this week, and know that I pray for you. The Gospel is true, Jesus Christ lives, and this is His work. May we ever press onward. Love ya, fam!

Tschüßchen!
Elder Sterling J. Mason, Nordhausen

Arrived 12/21/2009

2009-12-24T12:09:00.002-06:00

Hey, how are ya?? (name that movie...ok I know you don't know, it's Sahara...funny stuff...)

ANYWAY, so Nordhausen is actually bigger than LA, people wise. Maybe similar a bit to LA and WR packed together area-wise, but with 35,000 or so. So I have heard. No idea really :P

Elder D is great. This is his third transfer here, now with me, so he was here for about 3 months before I got here. Time flies. Man. There are about 12-15 members, something like that. We have a senior couple set of missionaries, the Ms (sounds german but they're Amis...uh, Americans), and elder M. is the br. Pres. and Elder D is the first C. I will prolly be made 2nd C. sometime. Several old ladies, a young mother and two kids, and a guy or two who are partly active. It is a nice area though. The city is big enough to have all the comforts a missionary needs, and Elder and Sis M. take care of us right dandy. so it's good. And Elder Downing is a blast. His good old farty laughy self, but he can speak German this time! So it's alllll good.

You people are hilarious. Thanks for passing on your humor ;)

The Chirstmas party was a blast. The three lower zones all met together in the Leipzig stake center, and that was like 70 missionaries, and many of my good pals were there. Elder Ca and Elder Cl and I all hung out the whole time and exchanged witty banter and the like. It was a nice program and I met a lot of the newer missionaries down here in the training grounds, as it were. Up in Berlin we always joked that the skilled and veterans got to come to Berlin zone, where we were the cream of the crop, etc etc, and most of the new Goldens were sent down south at the beginning, to get their baptism of fire and prove their mettle so they could come up to Berlin. Haha so there were plenty of newer missionaries that I had never met before and it was fun getting to meet them and chat and stuff.

So did you get an email from the Pls specifically about me? Or was it one of those group things? Guess I'll just ask you when we talk later this week!

It hit -20°C here the other evening. Like around 18 or 19 'o clock or so. The thermometer in the phone in Elder D's pocket registered -11°C. FUN STUFF! We're doing our best to stay warm ;)

Em, I had a surprise A or two as well in my time at the Y. Like my Poli Sci 150 class. I hoped to pull a B...and at the end, BAM! Some sort of a 94 or 95 or whatever. Crazy. I for one ain't gonna ask questions...

Primary sounds like fun, Pops! better not get toooo comfortable there!I pulled out some money in Brandenburg (100 € =$147??? Freak!) to cover some Christmas costs, which ended up helping me get out here to Nordhausen, as the mission reimbursements system is jacked up lately, and then yes, I bought a new camera. It is beautiful. I wasn't thinking about the exchange rate so much, 150€ sounded a lot better in euros...but all my old camera equipment works with this new one, cuz it's also a Samsung, and overall it was a nice deal, I believe. I am quite satisfied with it, which is big for me and my buyer's regret syndrome. I just really needed a camera, especially over the holidays here...

Got your stuff at the party! Thank you! I may or may not have felt the Cd in the big envelope and fished out my jazz cd...and the other things. But I'm leaving the box 'til Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I have stuff for you all. Some nice stuff, I think. Noooooootttttt really gotten around to shipping it yet, cuz I only finished, uh, acquiring it all. I'll give you one clue though: 9 GB of pictures! Freut euch!

I love you all, but I need to write Präsident, and we'll talk on Friday anyway. And that'll be more fun than writing emails. So take care til Friday, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Love y'all. Be good. Tschüß!

Kraft und Ehre,
Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 12/14/2009

2009-12-24T12:05:00.002-06:00

HI!

So. Big news. As I predicted I have been transferred. Right here before Chirstmas, hehe! Off to Nordhausen. About the most ostracized area in the mission...na ja, maybe not, but it's pretty much out there. Here's my new address:

I am going back with Elder D!!! Hahaha I am so stoked. I only trained the kid like 6 months ago...apparently the Lord sees fit to give me another chance...so it should be good. Very good.

We lost another engagement in the Ledgendary Battle of the Lamp--I mean, Wreaths? Dang! They're good, those rascals.

I am glad to hear my father is a bit of a showboat. As long as they remember that he made them laugh, while they were just asleep the rest of the time, that's a good thing, I think...

So I am sorely tempted to buy a new camera today while i am still in berlin cuz i am about to go off to the land of less than LA. Mine still ain'T hackin it and my good buddy elder clawson, who is a photographer, said it is prolly just toasted. like dead toasted. i am thinking of getting a sorta nice replacement as a bit of a christmas present to myself...yeah...

Elder Yoda, hehe, more like Präsident Yoda...maybe i ought to suggest that to Präs...''Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter!''

So our party is on Friday. I think your things have definitely gotten there. I hope so...it should be fun though. The three lower zones, Erfurt, Leipzig, and Dresden, all meet in the Leipzig stake center. It is gonna be packed...with like 70 missionaries at least...

Man, Pops is just full of good ol Mason humor today...

Finals are rough, Em. And deep cleaning. Not my thing :P But you'll make it just fine. Just include New Girl in your roommatey activities and she'll slip into your circle. It'll work out. And you could have deep, long conversations while walking around campus, you know, confide your hearts in one another, and bond that way. *shrug*

Hang in there for crazy LA finaly, Tayto. Lucky you and your snow day...what classes are you even taking this year??

Well, the work has been rough in the past little while. I truly needed this transfer. Elder S and I get along fine, it's just i'm in some sorta rut here and i need some new surroundings. And Elder D's cheery attitude again :D So it really is inspired, I think.

I love you fam, I am so grateful for your support and prayers and letters and all that. I love you all. Please send my regards to Gram and Gramps this Christmas season, I'll see if I can get a letter or something off to them. Ok, take care, know that I love you, and next week i'll get you the number to call me. Bis dann! Love you!

---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 12/6/09

2009-12-07T09:24:00.002-06:00

Hello! Sup.
The first week has been ok. We are still out of contact with all our old investigators, but we have been working with this older woman to help her quit smoking. Problem is, she's moderately mentally handicapped, and just can't seem to get it through her mind how she is supposed to quit. But there is this other young guy named G who is a bit of a rebel but has shown some real interest in finding out if God is really there. So we've been trying to work with him but he works so much that finding a time is pretty hard. But I have high hopes for him. Elder S was gettin pretty depressed the past few weeks, cuz all our old golden-looking investigators have dropped off the map, and so we've been fighting through that. Na ja. I've seen worse :P

Hahaha, that was a cool story, Em. I remember getting a call one night from some of the girls in the ward asking if we couldn't somehow help them get one of their big trucks (it was known as The Beast) out of the snow. It was all snowed in in one of the parking lots there by the lady dorms. So I wrangled Danny and Josh and a couple other guys and we went and pushed this massive vehicle out of the snow. It was lots of fun. Didn't get brownies though :P

Actually it's been FREEZING for several days this past week. Not too bad today, but it's pday so we can wear whatever we want, and don't have to trudge around in suits and dress shoes...

Father, have you been listening to my Good Morning Maxfield CD??? I don't even remember most of those songs. I just heard them playing in front of the WiLK my first semester and thought they were great and so I bought a cd...

No progress on my camera yet. I ought to just take it into the local media place and see if they can detect a problem and recommend anything...but yes, I'll be sending 9 GB of pics home for Christmas, so be excited!

Let's see. I had a really good döner this past week. We eat döner maybe once a week, but this one was noteworthy. Have Taylor ask Fr. Boshier about Balli Döner in Berlin. They ARE all they're cracked up to be. What else cool happened...not too much, apparently...

I have been trying to overcome a cold for the past few days. Lots of juice and sudafed...

So on Saturday we get called and told what's happenin with transfers. I'll be sure to let you know what's going down! I have no idea what is gonna happen--though Präs keeps making jokes about how long I have been here...so we'll see.

I may have some things to send home for you along with pictures...stay tuned..

I am really kinda out of things to share, so I think I'll wrap up. I love you cats and thanks for all your support. I do have a favor to ask, when I know where I'm gonna be next transfer, if my address could get up on Facebook, I am getting letters from the office with my Werdau address on them that the Elders there just put into the office mail at Zokos and it takes about an extra 3-4 weeks for me to get them. So that yould be excellent *coughEmmacough* Please and Thank you! Hehe. Well you all have a great week, and I will hit you with Calling information as soon as I know where i will be. Love and Tschüß!
---Elder Sterling Mason, Brandenburg

Arrived 11/30/09

2009-11-30T11:17:00.002-06:00

Hey family! *ducks thrown remains of turkey* Sorry bout last week, it was a long but excellent pday. I was pretty much in charge of the thanksgiving festivities here. Cooking had to be assigned, done, tables set, missionaries wrangled, potatoes mashed, etc. And it was quite a feast we had. there should be pictures somewhere, I'll need to get them from Elder N I think...so sorry, I failed to write back last week :(

Apply to BYU, Father! There, was that encouraging enough? Hehe! It would be cool. What is the position exactly?

Dear Emma, I am proud of ya. And I like airports/flying too. Dad says we don't really know what we are talking about, but i like the ambiance and the suspense and alles.

So, J's doin' well? Did he ask for Sterling, or Stanley? Or just skip it and go for Elder Mason? Haha.I sometimes get these weird flashback sensations walking around this country that remind me of places or things from before. Got a lot of them around Halloween, thinking back to old activities as i'd kick around leaves while walking down the streets here...kinda neat...

J gets back in July???? Maybe June. D just like 2-3 weeks before me. There IS talk around the mission that many of my generation (those to whom it applies) may get released a week early, since school starts like a week after our normal release date. No idea. I'm sure it'll come up sometime though. So D will be beginning of August or so. Haha! Feel free to get on Facebook--though I'm not sure it'd help you til at least J gets back.

I will need to start bringing it up with them. Contacts often need to be signed in like March :P this'll be fun!

Now to reply to the newer email:
You are all Thanksgiving heretics!!!!! I am glad that I somehow received the recessive Thanksgiving-appreciation gene! Hehehe jk jk...

School does become a home, though, don't it? Our circle of friends all referred to each other as ''the family'' and it was nice to have such close people even when away from the real home.

That picture of me with the 5 other elders is my district...well not my district, OUR district. Elder E is a hoot, Elder C is one of my best buds, Elders R and M are good guys, and that's my comp. At a district meeting.

Father, if you could print out that scripture chase and mail it over to me, that would be a most excellent spiritual thought. That was a very neat discovery.

I am kinda torn on whether I want to stay or not this coming transfer. To not switch right before Christmas would be nice, but I will be honest, I am tiring just a tad of this area. The people here are....mean. I am doing my best to keep a positive attitude and love the people. It's sometimes a challenge though, hee hee! S is being dumb of late (we call and he pretends to be someone else and say S isn't there) and our other investigators have dried up, so we spent the last week finding. Found some fresh blood, I'll let you know how things develop....

Thanks for the support and prayers and alles. It's been a strenuous couple of weeks. We are prolly gonna check out some of the huge christmas markets in Berlin today, is there anything I might be able to get for anybody? Unless I get suggestions I am gonna just shoot in the dark and that could be ugly...haha! Love you all and hope you didn't worry too much last week. But then again, you are my family. I know better ;) Haha!
Love you! Tschüß!---Elder Sterling Mason

Please take my survey!!!

2009-11-20T18:32:00.001-06:00

All of you passing by out there, please take my survey! It only takes a minute and it's for a class! I'd really appreciate it!

Here's the link: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/209054/globalization-survey-fall-09

Arrived 11/9/09

2009-11-09T16:18:00.000-06:00

Hey!
I'm ina bit of a rush today so my typing may go downhill...it is the 20th anni. of the fall of the Berlin Wall, so we are all gonna try and catch as many of the festivities today as we can...

I DO know the Elder G. He was my zone Leader while I was in Werdau and he's up in Eberswalde right now wo we see him in Berlin sometimes on pdays. We talked about our relationship through LA long ago, but always forgot to write home about it. Haha Mormon Bingo wins again! He is a short-fused firecracker of a kid. Hahaha I love him...

I do not know exactly who that other Elder might be, not knowing the picture exactly... could you hit me with the address of the blog? Might be Elder Hamilton...

CHRISTMAS BOX: hot cocoa, cider(important), fmaily photo (maybe just of you parents since I have the girls), a candy cane or two, Nat King Cole cd of the classics :) And maybe my Return of the Jedi soundtrack! If at all possible. And if my BYU jazz cd was nearby it...

I believe my tie was from C&A. Good quality, cheap prices. Good suits too......but it'll be a while yet before I think bout that...

Almost all of our investigators disappeared again. Do not know how that happens, but it's gotta end sometime, right? I know everybody has their agency, I just wnat to find someone who is willing to use it correctly :P So I am praying for that opportunity...

Well, what else. I love Julius Caesar! Emma puts my quotes up in her apartment?? Cool. I AM quite quotable, dontcha know... or maybe it was supposed to be ''our'' and not ''your''...na ja.

Colds at college stink. But drinking tons of orange juice helped me beat mine...and I took two poli sci classes my first semester...150 and 170. They were awesome. A bit of work but very rewarding...

Haha thanks for the birthday card. We bought a cake and a member mother baked me one too. And we got little räucherhäuser, little smoking houses like the man i sent you guys last year. It was an alright day. not too diff. from all the other days, cept for all the cake! Yum.

Well, we need to run, so I'm gonna jet and leave you with my testimony that the work is true. God lives, Jesus is the Christ, and the Church is His Church restored through Joseph Smith. This I know. And I wish you all a very fond farewell, til next week. OH AND I LOVE CHEWY CHIPS AHOY!!! P.S. Yeah. Love you!

---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 11/2/09

2009-11-05T13:55:00.001-06:00

Hey family!
Haha thanks for the wishes. I hope it'll be a good day tmrw. We had transfers this past weekend, but the Shiv and I are staying here for another 6 weeks at least, so yeah...

So the L family is messed up. I'm sorry, but they just are. So much alcohol and drugs and smoking and cursing. They need the Gospel and our prayers. We are meeting with them tonight and will be talking about the Restoration. We hope that we can help the mom be prepared for baptism by the 15th. That's our big goal. Apparently S still smokes. Don't know how he got that through the baptismal interview without lying, but we are gonna do the stop smoking workshop again with him and pray that it works. Man it's stressing me out. I could use your prayers as well, hehe.

No news on R. We simply cannot find him. I don't know what else to do. kinda at my wits end here. Sigh. Gotta rely on the Lord I think...

I'm glad Halloween went ok. It came and went here without notice, really, except a few kids out, not even dressed up, with little bags. Na ja. The germans can't steal everything from us :)

Tell Emma Congrats for me! It's good that she's havin success. And that she is good friends with her roommates. Em, sometimes the guys focus in on a floor or a group of girls. I did. There was a group of girls with whom I became pretty close. But if you want to get some guy friends too, maybe try and reaching out yourself. Invite them to watch movies. Bake things for them (haha!). Talk to them, simply. Guys kinda like it when someone other than their buds take an interest in them. Na ja. Some ideas off the top of my head.

I'm glad you are getting used to the travel game, Pops! So you'll be ready to take us all on a world tour :D But really, I am glad it is more peaceful for you now.

I do not know Elder S at all. I can try and find out somethin bout him...

Go Yanks!
Em, I would love the text from those CES firesides. I didn'T get to see too many...Hahaha and way to go on doing so well on things! It sure feels good, don't it? :D I am very proud o' you, sis! And you too, Taylor! Are you sick then? Why??? How is school back at good ol LAHS?

I have no big plans for tmrw. Other than teaching lots of lessons, that'D be sweet. I DID get your letter, Em! Thanks for that!

Well, several of my buds are getting transfered tmrw so we're gonna go have some last fun together today. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and know that I know that the Church is true :) Thanks for your love and support, and letters and crazy Get Fuzzy!! Hahaha it did cheer me up. Well I love you, and I'm gonna roll. So til next week, tschüß family!

---Elder Sterling J. Mason, almost 21... :D

Arrived 10/26/09

2009-11-05T13:52:00.001-06:00

Hey Leute!

So, great news #1--found my camera. Kind of an embarrassing story...it was hidden deep within the reccesses of my backpack. Like behind my folder and under the rain cover and all. Elder Ch joked that I really did lose it and then prayed it back into my bag. Who knows :) But all is better there and now i can quit worrying about it. That was last tuesday. Haha right after i reported it being gone. :P Sorry. Anyway, after i back up my cards onto my gig stick i'll send them home.

S is doing ok. Things simmered down and he's alright now. 'cept the kid really just is a punk. If I wasn't a missionary I wouldn't hang out with a kid like him. So we need to get him integrated into the ward and smooth out his jagged edges a bit...

We set a baptismal date with his mom this week! She actually kind of wanted it herself. She knew all along that our focus was on baptism, she just had to find the faith to overcome her fear of immersion. Guess she has :D But Sunday morning we found out she had an accident and couldn't move. She got a bit better by the end of the day, but we were told by S not to go by and bother her, so we are taking the RS ladies over on Tuesday and we're gonna offer her a blessing. She is pretty solid, just need to get her all taught and stuff. So good times.

And we found R again and set another baptismal date with him this past week! He has cancer now, somewhere in his neck, and lost 2000? this past week on a train he thinks, and things are generally terrible for him right now. But he still really wants to be baptized. And he knows that the Book of Mormon is true. He just needs a refresher course and to quit smoking and he'll be set. He could use some prayers though :)

So CB and her family are pretty much carried about with every wind of doctrine in Christendom, and the last appointment we had with them was this 'inane round robin' as Josh Lyman so aptly described. The father and mom and CB all have different beliefs in several regards, but all have different problems with our religion, blah blah blah...and they like to get hung up on details. Next time we meet, we're gonna lay down the law and bear testimony and if that doesn't work, we'll just have to kidnap CB and lock her in the chapel. Na ja. We'll see how it goes.

Way to go T! Was this your first talk? I hear it went quite well! So what new member missionary things are you going to be doing to be an example for the ward? :D

Awww, that is sad to hear about Br. B. I hope his last days are alright though, being home and all...

''Every time we come to California we are absolutely the Clampets!'' --Pres. Jed Bartlett

Yay! Get Fuzzy! So Transfer calls come in this next saturday, halloween i think, and if i get transferred i'll be leaving Brandenburg ON my birthday. Haha wouldn't that be lame. I hope to stay and seal off some of what I've blown open here...

Christmas wishes? Uhhhh....the finding nemo soundtrack? I swear I'll get a list or something together.

Our new...neighbors? are Brazilian...? Are they members?

Closer to the Heart...Closer to the Heart...(insert guitar jam)

Dear Emma: College is hard, ain't it? Don't give up hope though! You can do it! I took this one test at the Y and went down to see the screen and it was a 65. I was so downhearted. But it got better. And I didn't fail that class. So it's possible.

Well I think that's about it for me. Not much else to report. Except that Elder T is coming to see us on like the 6th or so. Should be good. Thanks for the letters and food (still got some Mateys!) and the jersey (it's sweet, good pday gear) and the Get Fuzzy. And for the prayers. They really do help. I love you, and hope you all know it. Keep working hard back there and I'll do the same out here. The Church is true, and I know it. We'll talk. And I'll try and work out this Christmas call better than last time :P Love you! Tschüß!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 10/19/09

2009-11-05T13:45:00.002-06:00

Hey family!

So. I have some kinda bad news. I'm really sorry, family, but i seem to have lost my camera. It happened between sat. and monday of last week, but i didn't notice til tuesday morning, which is why i didn't write anything about it last week. I have checked everywhere i can think of, as there are only a certain number of places it could be, but with no luck. I even checked the police station and the city lost and found. I'll be checking back at the city office again this week. I've been praying a lot to find it, and even included it in a fast i did this past week for Sebastian, so i have faith it'll turn up if it is supposed to...if you guys could pray for me too, i would really appreciate that. Honestly enough, i do not care as much about the camera as the memory card that was in the case. If that is all i can get back, then i'll be happy. But yeah. sigh. The beginning of last week was really hard. Losing all those photos is possibly worse than being Dear Johned :P Hope you guys won't be too upset with me. I've already beat myself up about it for almost a week now. I still have all my photos on my first card, from my first 4 transfers, and I'll protect that one in the apartment until I can send you guys a little package with the card in there.

So Sigh. I'm sorry. I don't know whatto do more than just keep praying and looking around. I won't consider getting another one this week. Naturally. But next pday? I don't know. Should prolly wait. Grrrr.....ideas??? Sigh. sigh....

Well. Moving on to less depressive things...this past week was pretty good. We found a young lady named CB and her family, and she is sweet. She is looking for the right church where she should get baptized! We had a long and very good appointment and are headed back there tmrw. I just have to not fall in love with her :P :D So it was an alright week, and we found R again! We should be meeting with him soon this week.

Well S got himself into some trouble this past monday, took some drugs, wanted to kill somebody who insulted his family, and we had a very tense chat several times this past week. And he failed to come to church. So we are praying a lot for him and trying to meet with him, but it might not happen til Friday. double sigh. Satan is attacking our area (and stealing my camera!!!) of late with extra force, and we are just trying to keep our program above water. The Lord is with us though ;)

Hey! Goood iddea with the cookies! How are the new neighbors?

Hahaha Em that sounds like quite a hay bale adventure you got yourself into there! I'm glad you don't scare easily. I would prolly just elbow people as well...And good on ya for keeping hard at work up there. It'll be rewarding.

Hahahaha activities planning, that was always a joke. You can'T gum drop anymore cuz of SAFETY?? I am so glad i lived in the earlier era. Among the legends of fugitive and gum dropping...And as if C knows how to play real fugitive, ba haha haha...

I did pull out 100 ?. For the miscellanious personal things i might have to deal with. Now I have to deal with the possiblilty of buying a new camera. GRRR.

I try to make sure Elder S feels appreciated. Cuz yeah, I know how the opposite feels. We are doing alright together. He is just very indecisive and that cannot last on the mission or things will go south sometimes. Hahaha na ja. We'll get through it.

I am trying to just focus on work here and not worry so much about the loss of my photographic device, but it is wearing me down. I am gettin some pics from Elder C today and that should alleviate a bit of it. Na ja.

I'll keep doin' my best though, and I thank you much for the prayers and help. and thanks for your mail. I love you all and wish you all the best this week, and hope this email doesn't rain too much on you all *sad smile* :D

Well love and all my best, give each other a hug for me! Bye!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 10/12/09

2009-10-13T00:18:00.002-05:00

Hi family!
Elder S is from Lehi. I forget if we know anyone in Lehi. Been here too long. So yeah, he's Ami, through and through. Pretty quiet, but he tries his best and is a hard worker. So he's good.

I will compile a list of my Christmas desires, but right now I only know two off the top of my head: hot cocoa mix, and....maybe some socks. And some photos of you all. I'm sure I'll think of something as soon as i get off here...

Halloweeen! There's already Christmas stuff out here, cuz there are no real holidays until then :) You guys should send some pics of the yard and costumes and stuff from Halloween.

Duty to God. Indeed a good program. When it came down to the crunch, I had to decide to work on my eagle or to do DtG stuff. I could have maybe done both, but senior year was...na ja. It's not your fault at all, I didn't have the hutspa to do it. That's what it came down to in the end...so don't worry about anything there. but now you can help the other wayward sons of the ward fulfill their duties to God ;)

I loevd it when a professor would say 'I am going on vacation a day early, so there will be no class on friday. have a good time this weekend, students!' That was always rad :D

P.S. Cubism is a lot easier to do with your eyes closed. Really. It is also better to analyze Cubism with your eyes closed...haha!

Well, family, it was a long hard week. Not gonna sugar coat it. We taught just a couple of lessons and could not come in contact with any of our once-solid investigators. Not keeping us from seeing the miracles and blessings of missionary work though! We are gonna work really hard to find new investigators this next week. We need some new people. if you could keep praying for Ralph, but also that we will find somebody new that is willing to learn and change, that would be stellar. thanks for the box, once again. That was a spirt-raiser, especially since i got a cold this past wekend. I'm getting over it today, but it's been a long weekend.

Well! Thanks a ton for all you guys do to help. it really is tremendous the impact you all can have. I really do appreciate it. OH! YOU NEED TO SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO OFFICE: I BELIVE IT WAS MENTIONED IN THE LETTER ATTACHED LAST TIME; ABOUT CHRISTMAS STUFF: OFFICE WANTS YOUR EMAIL. so yeah. that is all for now. love you all! Bis nächste Woche!---Elder Sterling Mason

Hey Sis!

Sooooo sorry I didn't respond to this last week....I read it and then read the parents' email and spaced replying to this one. Sorry!

Testing center! good times. I like the music room as well. It was always quite calming. Plus i love music while doing work. It's too bad they didn't play any Bon Jovi or Rush or anything though ;)

I am glad you love your school. You should. Find what you like and stick with it. I was just passing on my experiences, but it's best if you make your own here :)

I did not get to see Elder Holland's talk. We don'T get the afternoon one from sunday, cuz of the time diff. We do, but it is just too late for us. hopefully we'll get to see it sometime though. My love for Präs Eyring got a boost, though! :D We watched it in the Berlin stake center, so there are plenty of english speakers, so there was an english room. Good stuff.

Which is your favorite class so far? Any really cool professors? How big are your classes?

Ok, I best run, we are headed back into Berlin today and we gotta make our train. You keep working hard and know that I am proud of you! Love you lots sis! Be safe!
---Elder Sterling J. Mason, Missionary

Arrived 10/5/09

2009-10-13T00:15:00.000-05:00

Haha hi family!things are good. We just came out of a very long, tough week wherein we tought only 3 lessons. Bad bad numbers. Sigh. All of our investigators went missing this past week, and thus none could come to GC....sigh. But we did get to see all but the Sunday afternoon session, which is too late for us over here. but GC was WAY good, wasn't it? I love Präs. Eyring. He is my man. They were all great though. Präs. Monson's anger talk will become a legend. And Bednar made a joke!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! His talk was wonderful too, cuz i could relate it to our experience growing up :D Just a word there too: Thanks for all your efforts in raising us, parents. You guys did alright :) But no seriously, Elder Bednar was right: it aint particular lessons or prayers or somesuch that we remember, it's the consistency. And that is what i remember. So thank you :)

Equipment? my shoes are holding together, for the time...might need some new ones once winter really sets in. we'll see. socks......na ja, no worries. my blue suit is still just super, my blackish suit is gettin a few wear marks on the inside lining, and I'm getting some fray near the pant cuffs. I'm gonna need to get it laundered here sometime soon, and I think i will see if i can get some tiny repairs done. but the outside still looks great. I am entertaining the idea of getting a nice german suit next summer, before i come back. But not thinkin too much about that right now, cept when i see nice C&A suits for only 80?...

Yeah, we have some funny family inside jokes. We made pizza in the stake center 'tween conf. sessions, and i suggested that we cut it with scissors, and everybody was like, 'Huh??' but in the end agreed that it made sense. we just had no good scissors. But yeah, nobody seems to understand when i ask them what their mondi(sp?) is. Well, if she is rooming with a bunch of goodie Utah mormons that can't stand a little Led Zeppelin or 3 doors down or something, then pah! They don't deserve to like her music. We are certainly a bit peculiar, but i do prefere it that way ;)

Elder S and I are doing well. Having been treated like an idiot for a lot of my mission already, I am determined not to pass that on, don't you worry. We are gonna be in Berlin again today to eat some huge pizza with some other missionaries.

Well seeing as it was a good long week of little success, i am not sure i have much more to report. S is doing well (though having bad dreams...over and over...the kid has some freaky stuff happen to him) but he went to GC with some good members and he is gonna make it alright i think. The district is doing well, and i am mightily blessed to have a good district that supports me and that's full of friends. And good missionaries.

I love you! Hahaha there! Can'T say I never say it! Hahaha. Thanks for all you do for me. And I'll be excited about the box. I sent another quick email that was a letter from the präs and his wife, about christmas boxes. there was an attachment to his email, so let me know if that made it into my forwarding of his email. I am very grateful to have you all as my family. You mean so much to me. I know that the Gospel is true; that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Church was restored again in these latter days. These things are true. And I know they are true. Have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you all again! Tschüß!

Love, Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 9/28/09

2009-10-13T00:13:00.000-05:00

Hey fam! Things here are goin alright. Elder S, whom I shall simply refer to as the Deck from now on (:D) is...good. He seems pretty run down and a bit depressed. The other guys in the district commented on it too, we all know his trainer and he might not have had such a good time the past two transfers...na ja, I am doing my best to cheer him up and we're gonna have some fun today in berlin :)

S is great! He had a mandatory trip the sunday after and so we had to wait a week. We talked about missionary work with him this past week, and he invited a friend to the appointment! We got to talk about the gospel and give here book of Mormon and S says she is thinking about baptism! And we've been meeting with his mom! So he is doing great. Finally got all his smoking habits destroyed and he's comin' along well.

Well I am very happy Pops got home safe and sound. Oh, you didn't have to buy me anything...but since you did, mmm, sure, you could send it out! I will prolly be sending home some unused stuff, like a tshirt and some shorts and whatnot, at some point. Maybe around Christmas...na ja. If the jersy fits, feel free to send it, but again, don't worry too much about it :) Hahaha just don't let Tayto get a hold of that other shirt, Dad...you remember the All Blacks shirt... :P :D

All around it sounds like it was an alright trip! Got to see some sights too! Was the meeting successful and worthwhile? So now you know where to take us on our Scotland family tour? :D

I've been trying to really turn my prayers into conversations. It's not sooo easy but it has brought me a lot more fulfillment in prayer, I think. And it is more comforting to really try and talk to Heavenly Father. We talked to a JW (j-dub, jehovah's witness) on the street the other day (they are EVERYWHERE in germany), and their perception of God (''Jehovah'') is so cold. It just feels wrong. I am so glad we have a loving Father in Heaven who cares about each and every one of us.

dear sisters: Hahaha I love you guys...i mean gals...i mean, lasses :)It sounds like you are gettin right into the seam o things, Em. and that makes it fun, na? FHE was always a good experience, IMO. And it sounds like it'll be a blast to go to genral conference with everyone! I went with Danny and two of the girls from my circle for a pair of the April sessions last year; it was a wonderful memory, and a lot of fun with them :) P.S. I love hearing about your classes. I'm sorry i can't always respond so well, what with the time constraints in trying to get into Berlin, but i do love hearing about them. I will try and respond better about them next time, promise! I'll keep praying for you too, dont you worry. It works, dontcha know ;)

K, they are being nazis and kicking us off, so I love you all and take care and thanks for all your love and encouragement and help and letters and prayers! May god bless you, til next week! Tschüß! Love, Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 9/21/09

2009-10-13T00:10:00.002-05:00

Hey fam! Things are alright here in Brb. We just came out of a tough week wherein we only taught 5 real lessons, and most of our real investigators canceled on us the whole week. NOT COOL. Sat. night was transfer call night, and Elder B, my comp and the current district leader, is gettin bounced on up to Eberswalde. I am staying here, getting promoted (haha yeah right :P) to DL and getting Elder ; this will be his 3rd transfer. Another youngling! Hahaha I am excited. I like fresh blood. Maybe I'm gettin a bit jaded too, but that's why I like young ones, they keep things all positive and movin on up...so it should be a good transfer. As long as he likes to laugh. I'm not sure i could handle another elder who won't laugh...

Pop's off to Scotland without me. This is so unfair. Like Rush coming to Journal Pavillion right after I go into the MTC... :( But I will pray for him. I hope it works out well...

P.S. DEAR FATHER: I WOULD NOT MIND A SCOTLAND RUGBY JERSY :D If they have updated the style or something. BUT since that is likely way too expensive, I could go for a scottish flag tie or a tie in the Christeansen tartan or something obviously scottish on a tasteful tie...seeing as how ties are so in fashion for missionaries these days...

Mom, always on your toes, always ready to lead the Primary children...*sniff* I am so proud of you! As long as the Bishop didn't pull you aside, I'm sure you didn't do anything to wrong :D

Taylor! With what have you been sick? Like, really bad sick? Can you go on in life???

Dear Pops: I hope everything turns out alright. I'll pray for ya though, just in case ;) Don't worry too much about bringing me anything, if it doesn't work out. But if you do, well, hey, that's nice of you :D

One of the elders in the district here is also a BYUer and his older bro emails him about games. So I did hear a bit about that game, and it sounded intense! 20th in the nation ain't bad for the beginning of the season...

Hey sis! Seeeeeee!!!! Told you!!! stick by those girls. you all will get through whatever comes your way if you hold tight to one another and the Gospel. Promise. The first week is quite long, haha! But then it'll fly by, after a while...just you wait...yeah, well, stick with the german, I wann be able to chat when I get home! That'll be fun, won't it :) and we can talk like it's in code...

We were raised different from a lot of people. With manners too; the 'rents taught us pretty well, but that wasn't always the case with everybody that I met at school. And our wierd family quirks and words, like mom's bits of Japanese. Nobody else seems to get those things...na ja. We were raised well. We should be grateful too :D

S. met the missionaries long ago and learned a lot of truth and when we found him again (or when he found us), he was ready to accept everything. and we got him baptized! The priest who was supposed to do it was late coming so i got prepped as the backup baptizer and ended up doing it! It was simply an amazing experience! the other events of the day were a bit wacky and i was exhausted by 17:00 but it was a very fulfilling day. he's gonna get the Holy Ghost this next sunday. so we'll keep meeting with him and working through the after-baptism lessons...yeah. well I have given up using the crappy shift button on this keyboard. i love you all and am so grateful for your letters and support and prayers. IF you were to begin compiling a list of things i could possibly use in a package one day sometime in the future, it could include starburts (the tropical kind like last time) and a new set of face wash stuff. The selection here is not so hot. the duct tape is serving masterfully, thanks again for it :) Well, I best sign off and get moving, we're headed to Berlin today to see Checkpoint charlie. should be good. love you all, and give dad a big hug for me and say something in a scottish accent to prepare him, like i would. ok til next week! LOVE YOU!!! Tschüß!

Arrived 9/14/09

2009-10-13T00:07:00.001-05:00

Hellooooooo Family!
Newsflash 1. SL got baptized! By me! Haha! Impossible, you say? Not so! I was there! It really happened! And I am really stoked. It was a good Sunday. And that bit I just wrote reminds me of Jim Rome. I bet you guys don't know who that is....so I'll just move on.

Yeah, so it was a great weekend. Stake conf. and then S got baptized. He enjoyed it a lot. It was a long hard day for me, as I had to babysit all of our investigators and shepherd them around everywhere while Elder Bwas at this remote ward building in Berlin (where they had a font) filling the font up. But the baptism made it all worth it. And R came and enjoyed it and is making good progress. And S's mom, who used to be very anti, came along too and really enjoyed it all and wants to come to church. Whew. So it was good. Thanks for all your prayers.

Wow, Em, sounds like some struggles but in the end a good settle-in. That makes me happy. But you got a good class in to replace that other one? Yeah, group grades...most of my classes I would have been cool with that, but there are some bozos out there that would wreck those sorts of things...

It is quite weird to not have dogs...especially when the dorms are pretty empty and there's not much going on. But then after a year it might be weird to come home and have dogs again...Hahahaha Vienisch, it's not really legit Deutsch now is it...

I'm staying healthy, and the weather is gettin' a bit colder. It is gettin dark by 20:00 now, and the leaves are all fallin, slowly but surely.I can see Glory just hunting around the house for everyone, and no one being there anymore :P Taylor will have double duty with those two...

Thanks for your love and support, family. I know I promised to get photos off to you cats like, back when I was in Werdau, but I am out of stamps and envelopes and I need to get some more and then mail my cards home. I'Ve got tons of Belin and Potsdam pics on my latest card...so I need to get them home to you guys. I'll try my best this week...Well! Be good til next week! Take heart, have faith, know that this Church is true. Hahaha I know it is. I love you all and pray for you. I'll talk to you soon. Bis dann! Tschüß!---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 9/8/09

2009-10-13T00:05:00.001-05:00

Yo.Well, now that we have the formalities out of the way, on to business...Hahahaha Hi part of my Family! How is everything? Good?Things here are good. We set a new baptismal date this week! He has met with missionaries before and he talked to US on the street and we made out an appointment. We found out he already believes everything and wanted to be baptized, so we set a date for the 13th! This coming sunday! Rockin'!!! We are stoked. Way excited. It'll be my first baptism and I am very excited. He just needs to give up his last little bit of smoking this week. So if you could pray for him too, that would be splendid. He and Ralph are making great progress. Ralph is back on board and he is finally quitting smoking too. Whew. Other than those two, our investigators are either lazy or disappeared...

Emma is finally off...Hahaha, there is NO way to get everything the first time around. I am convinced of that. So many guys all coming around, ''hey, you guys got some tape? Or a stapler? or some gum?'' Hahaha but she'll be fine. I remember how hard my first couple of days were. I cried once or twice as well. It helped to have some people i knew not too far away...Yeah, I knew there was all sorts of crap...I mean, good old classic stuff in my closet; I only had like half of the thing for MY stuff, hahaha. No wonder I had boxes everywhere...

Hahahaha Taylor, get used to the crazy teachers...they stick around 'til you get to college at least...I know I had my fair share...but you can have some fun with them, that's for sure. I love and miss you too, Tay!

Aw, don't worry Em. Everything will be fine. Get all the girls in your room together and tell them you want to have a bonding movie night. Watch like pride and prejudice all together and get to know each other, and then tra and eat together a bit during the first little while and that'll give you a good basis to build off of. And find a goofy guy or two in the ward to say hi to when you see them around. Us goofy guys can always use some more Hi's... ;) And jut say your prayers and read some scriptures. Read D&C 6. Find where the Lord calls us his little flock. That's a great passage. I'll pray for ya, and just jump into all sorts of things. Ultimate frisbee in the dorm complex, zum Beispiel. You'll do great, have no fear. Love you too, sis.

Well, I love and thank you, peeps. You guys are so good to me...*sniff* we're almost like family! Hahaha No thanks really. Well I better run, but know that I love you, and tell Pops too. I will talk to you soon, fam! Tschüß!!!!

Arrived 8/31/2009

2009-08-31T10:31:00.001-05:00

Hi Family!
Life in Brb is alright. Good times, bad times, ugly times, etc. The works. We HAVE gotten back to meeting with Ralph! It's awesome! He finally got an apartment here in the city so we can meet with him regularly again. We are quite excited to actually get this train rolling again. He could still use your prayers though.

New stake Präs...well, I never thought I would see the day. That is a cool group there. I can imagine that there was little parking...hehe...

It is cool to know I'm fulfilling a promise. And it amazes me that another week has gone by too...tmrw is September...pretty soon it'll be february and then it'll be like gaaaa!!!

So it was a good SC all around then, na? That is good to hear. I'm sure Elders Nelson and Roberts did quite a fine job. BTW, are only LA and WR guys cleared to be in the Stake Präs. or something? Hahaha...

We also met this past week with the son of a member and this son's girlfriend. The dad is the only member in the family, and he brought the two of them to the open house thing we had a while back, and we had a cool appointment with them on Saturday. We watched the Restoration DVD and talked a lot about the promise in Moroni 10 and how they could find out for sure. They said they'd give it a go, so we are pumped for them. The only thing is he works in weird shifts and we don't know when we are gonna be able to meet with him regularly. Na ja. The Lord will prepare a way :)

Workless week and it was boring, Em? Hahaha yeah, just about set to go, then? When does school start, on the 7th or something? or is it this week? Hahahahahahahaha you'Re taking a rice cooker? Well I guess girls would need lots of cooking stuff...
Make sure you hit me up from your email address when you get up to school there, sis. Yous ain't gonna be able to jus' tack stuff onta the end o' Mom 'n' Pop's emails no more... :P

So what else. Thanks for the duct tape. it is working miracles. On all sorts of stuff. :) Man that is a large jar of peanut butter too...

Well, this past week we had a comp exchange with the Elders in Potsdam. Elder and Elder M. Yes, it's the Elder C who was once my companion :D Well Elder C came here to work with me and Elder B went there. Needless to say Elder C and I tore it up for our 24 hours back together again. We talked to some good people, finally had a platter of fine cheeses for lunch (we had been planning that one for forever) and had a sleepover in the study room. All without forgetting that we were missionaries working hard. But it was a very relieving exchange. Elder B had all of his fun beaten out of him by his West Point officers, I think...we're gettin' along ok, just like regular. *shrug*

Em: P.S. I picked up a jazz cd from a group outta Berlin. Their lead guy is a sax player. He's really good. I'll see if I can get a copy off to you once I know where you live :P

SO! Well. I think that is all from my end. I love you all. But that you know. I am very grateful for your support and prayers and all the rest. I pray for you guys too. 'Til next week, my best beloved family!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 8/24/2009

2009-08-24T09:10:00.001-05:00

Hey Family!
So...I wish I was going to Scotland...no more complaining from you, sir!WR and LA are kinda the backbones of the stake, aren't they? We always seemed to have pretty good numbers...even though numbers don't matter...keep hearing that all the time, wonder why, lol :D

I'm sorry! Please forgive me! Hey, listen, you get at least 60% of my email time, so take that...but I should try harder. We're headed into Berlin in a bit to do the Berlin Tour. All the goodies in the heart of the city. Ich bin way stoked. I think I'll buy a new SD card and keep it as my Tour Card...

Don't worry, Em, there will certianly be at least one cool girl. But also at least one crazy. Sorry. It is a college guarantee... :P :D

Tay passed Drivers Ed? Ohhhhhh no.....she's not driving OUR cars, is she????

So Mommy wants a truck too? I think it's not a bad idea...''but you must do what you feel is right, of course''...yeah, listen to Obi-wan.

Wow. The ward is growing. Any newcomers? Any investigators that look promising?

So we have been working with some new people this past week, as we haven't met with Ralph for about 3 weeks. We talk to him on the phone frequently, but no sit down teaching appointments. We do have one scheduled for Tuesday, if you could pray it goes through that would be wonderful... :)We had a big thing here in Brandenburg on Saturday, it's like a big city wide thing where buildings open up their backyards and people come around and see tzhem. well the Church has a nice one, so we did a little shindig and taught a couple of lessons as several hundred people flowed by to check it out! And we got some referrals. It was sweet.

And I got to speak in Church on Sunday! About the Gospel. Naturally. I sweat the whole time, it was so hot. I might have made a bit of a fool of myself because I sweat so much, everyone asked if I was ok, ahahaha! Good times. But it went well.

Thanks for everything, fam! That last round of Get Fuzzy was hilarious! Oh man. I thank thee richly. Well, we best be catching our train, so I ought to jet. I love you all and I'm so grateful for your prayers and love and support! Don't do anything Qui-gon wouldn't do! Love you lots! Bis zum nächsten Mal! Tschüß!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 8/17/2009

2009-08-17T10:36:00.002-05:00

Hey fam! Sorry I didn't have so much time last week...but it was a lot of fun with the Elders on their last pday.

So both Clark and Dave are home! When does Jeff get home, do you know? Oh and while I'm at it, can you guys get me Dan Mason's mission home address? I need to write him...

Well it sounds like the operation wasn't quite so bad then, Em, eh? I am glad. And don't worry TOO much about school. It is really intimidating, I know, and orientation days were long and not so fun cuz I was in a new place with all new people. BUT you'll make friends quick. I remember being invited to a risk game that first weekend with some guys a bit further down the hall, and they became really cool friends. So i guess too, just keep your eyes open for fun stuff like that. And invite other girls over for movie nights and stuff. That always works :) If you get sick, take some Motrin :D Or go to the student health center. They'll show you where it is. And you'll have maps. And just don't get locked out of your car :)
But yeah, when I get back I won't be SO far away from Rexburg, or if you do end up coming down...but a year by yourself will prolly be lots of fun, believe me...

Ok, I'll try and write you all a letter in response to last week's letter then...Oooooohhhh, the uninviting game! How is it going thus far? Philmont again. Who is the old in charge priest now? The one that Westley and I were in our days of reigning...

Well, this past week here in Brandenburg has been interesting. Oh, so transfers came and went, forgot if I told you all, but Elder B and I are sticking it out for another one here. We are getting along better, in most regards...

We haven't been able to meet with R, our baptismal candidate in the past 2 whole weeks, about. He keeps stiffing us for appointments and whatnot. There are some other old investigators with whom we are trying to work, but it's all taking it's sweet time for now...

ok well the librarian is kicking us out at 11 so I better write Präsident and then get off! I love you all, and thanks for all your prayers and help! Take care 'til next week and bis dann!

---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 8/10/2009

2009-08-16T16:50:00.000-05:00

Hey family, I love y'all, but we have not time this pday to really write. We have a bunch of missionaries goin home and we are having a field day in Berlin. Could you send this email again next week with the next weeks email on the end of it? I got the package and it is wonderful!!! Thanks for everything family, and I'll talk to you for real next week!!! Tschüß!!!
---Elder Mason

Arrived 8/3/2009

2009-08-16T16:47:00.002-05:00

Hey-o, family!

Good to hear Ed is still around. If you see him around tell him I miss him and hi and whatnot.Duct tape is just too useful. THere are all sorts of random things that it can be used for...and yes, we still do comp inventories, but not E. Burns and I so much, he doesn't like them too much...I wrote Em's appointment down in my planner, I'll pray ;)

WOW! That must have been pretty nasty hail!!! But we got money for it!!! cool cool...well you all are quite responsible, I always admired that about you :) Do you have estimates for costs as far as a Northern Euro trip would cost?

We've also been meeting this past week with this P. N. chap. He is very Christian, at least in faith, if not in practice, and we finally got him a BOM, after some appointments fell out. Then he came to see the church building here, and we watched the Restoration dvd with him. We are really liking the progress he is making and the interest he is showing. We want to commit him to baptism this week, and he has even asked us before, where he should get baptized. As in, in this other church he kinda likes, or into ours. We cannot give any sort of answer to such a question except an unequivical ''OURS!!'' So we did. He is thinking a lot about it...he could use some prayers too :D

Yes, the duct tape is a bit for the inside of shoes. But so much more too...Yep, I am healthy. Not really been sick since I got here. Then again Elder B is a clean freak and a germophobe, so...haha!

I'll pray for you Em! Don't worry, it won't be a big deal. When Elder A went to get his teeth pulled, it took like 20 minutes. I'm sure there won't be any problems! Are you excited for BYU? When do you have to head up there? Is Taylore excited to get back to school, or just tired of summer?

PS: it was 32 degrees C here yesterday. I was pretty soaking the whole day...with sweat...gross! But last night it rained hard-core right as we went to sleep and today it is cold and cloudy...oooh, I love it...

Transfer calls come on Saturday! Eek! Another 6 weeks almost gone...well, 5 weeks as of now...I can't believe how fast it has gone...

Oh! BTW! I got Basic Missionary Level in the mission German program this past ZoKo (last week)! It'S the first of four levels of German and Gospel...level-ness...it's hard to explain, but I had to do things like memorizing lesson outlines and reading the BOM and Bible and explaining planning tools, etc. So now I can work towards skilled level! Wooo! I know, I know, I'm great, don't need to tell me... ;)

Well! I think I should write Präs now. And then we want to go see if we can find discounted Hugo Boss ties here at this one store that is having a huge sale. So I'll wrap this one up. Thanks for the love and prayers! They sure do mean a lot. We're workin' hard out here and the work is pickin' up, so things are good :) I'll talk to you soon, na? Love you!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 7/27/2009

2009-08-16T16:45:00.001-05:00

Hey you guys! Stop arguing over there! I'm gonna come over there and then...oooohhhh, dann gibt's Schmerzen....

So hey! The ward here is really a branch and I'd say there are a good 30 or so in church each week, minimum. Some good weeks it is more like 40-45. Na ja. Certainly not a ward yet.

I have been to Berlin twice already on pdays and twice more for missionary meetings. It is a beautiful city. And huge. And they have very good döner. And there are people EVERYWHERE. Wow. We are so hitting up the zoo when (if) you guys come. Elder Burns refuses to go now, so it might have to wait for y'all...

It's good that Wes is doing well. Dave's home already? Cool cool...yeah, I remember when i got back from school, I was not quite ready then to relinquish my independence. na ja...

Box? Maybe some marshmallow mateys! Hahahaha I'm not sure that would be possible...oh, ps, got the latest Get Fuzzys. HAHAHAHAHA is all i can say. They were very good...so thank you!FINALLY!!!!!! GO BYU RUGBY!!!! Seriously man, 'bout time Berkley sat down and shut up...I hope that game is recorded somewhere...

Teach them real Fugitive. Fake fugitive is LAME. Tell them the Fugitive spirits of Hall of Famers like Kendal and Sterling and Ethan and Edwin and Brandon will haunt them if they play lame fugitive. That should be enough to convince them. ;) Or enlist Dave Parkinson's help...he's an Inner Circle member... :D

See, my problem is always getting the letter into the mailbox. I'll get Joe's letter off ASAP...Hey, put in Rush's Snakes and Arrows cd and give it a whirl one day for me, will ya?

Hahahaha, Taylor is caught in the classic summer limbo...just wait! It only get's better!Em, there is a new rugby movie? Like a major motion picture? Excellent! Details requested!

Well we taught Ralph the word of wisdom yesterday and he totally agreed to live it! We are super excited for him. He is making good progress, he just needs to not be so forgetful all the time. But he is coming along very well. He brought flowers to church again :) So that is cool. It is nice to FINALLY be teaching someone who is excited about the Gospel. Makes the rest of the hard stuff easier :)

We have had a ridiculous pday so far so we don't have too much time but thanks for the letters and emails and everything. So I could use some duct tape, maybe, if that were to find it's way into the box...but other than that, just the usual stuff is great. Well, I best be headin' out. Gotta write Präs and then we have some stuff to take care of. I love you all very much and thanks for the support and prayers. They work wonders :D Love you fam! Tschüß!

---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 7/20/2009

2009-07-20T18:55:00.002-05:00

Hey fam! So hey, right off the bat, here's a blog that our Madame Präsident Pimentel is running for the mission:www.germanyberlinmission.blogspot.com
Have fun with that! There's a picture of me in there...and click on ''older posts'' too, apparently...just what they said to tell our families...

Wellllllllllllllllllllllll.....where to begin...we are trying to head to Berlin today, so, this one might be a tad shorter, but I'll do my best...

Dear Parents: I love you. Thanks for...you know...that stuff you did in my life...

Dear Sisters: I love you too. Stop laughing! Really I do. I'll try and show it better as I get older :/ :D

Anyway. Elder Burns does not believe in using maps, so we don't have one except on the wall of the apartment. He just knows the city. I'm sorry I do not work like that. I am gonna buy a map one day soon so I can actually learn this city...

A change in the Stake pres....well I'll be...I thought they were in for an indefinite term there. I WOULD moan if I was an old guy...danger, Will Robinson, danger!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO....picking me up...what, me think about that??? Hahahaha, never....anyway, I believe it is fine. Considering that an Elder who served here in Brandenburg a few months back just came back a few weeks ago with his family as he was taking them on a tour of his mission. As they were picking him up :) So it should not be a worry...HOWEVER, that time window is EEEEEEEK tight, man. The policy on letting missionaries go a month early or so to get back in time for school, if the window is small, is active in this mission. My expected release date is Aug. 24...............and I would like to show you guys some things, but that's not much time. But if I was let go early for school and whatnot, there'd be time to see a few areas, but I am not sure I could justify that. Touring around while my time ain't 'technically' quite over, and such...I don' know. What are your thoughts? When would you need to start looking at flights and travel and stuff? I can work out some places to sleep, I'm pretty sure...I have connections :)

Oooh, this new library area by the computer sounds nice...
Don't worry about LA shirts--nobody here (well, like 4-5 I've met so far in the field) even know LA. But BYU...actually, a long-time investigator here could use one maybe. Her name is Innette. She is 15, Vietnamese by heritage, and knows the Church is true. Her parents are just very traditional and will not let her join until she is 18 and living her own life. So she plans to get off to BYU as soon as she gets out of the high school system here. She has a lot of it all planned out already, haha she's way cool. Anyway, maybe a Medium (I think a Small would be fine too, but a Med would be safer???...no idea) BYU tshirt of some kind could be kinda cool, yeah! Cool idea...

Well we set a baptismal date this past week! With a man named Ralph. He is very energetic and friendly, and he thinks that the BOM is true! He wants to get baptized on his Birthday so bad, so that's when we set it. the 3rd of Oct. A bit far away, but we'll try and talk him down to a closer date :) It was a very cool appoitnment. We still have a lot to teach him, and he needs to quit smoking and drinking, so we have some definite work, but I think he's pretty solid :D So if you could pray for Ralph, that would be excellent! and still for Fr. Nenner too, if you could....I need to find out how she is doing...

You're welcome for the card, Tay. It was fun :D I am glad you enjoyed it!Yay AP scores! Nice work in Euro and German (I have no experience in Lit so...no comment.... :P Naw, great work sis!) Yeah, so you are a good step into college, there my sister. Be proud of your hard work :)

I do what I can, na? Haha...

As for a box, I could use some duct tape. Yeah. And more of those heel liner things, I am going through them. And maybe some pictures of stuff from back home, just stuff like the family, or the dogs, or fun times or whatever. I finally got some postage so I can send you guys my sd card. I really am trying to get around to it. Pop tarts and peanut butter are always good too, but remember that you don't need to spend SO much to send me stuff all the time. Though I do appreciate it :D

Well time is short and I gots to run. 'Rents, tell me what you think about when you would want to come get me. You know me, my decision making is so terrible :P Love you all, and maybe hold off on the box for this week, I may think of something important this coming week. Or not. Either way, ahaha!

Ok, love you all, remember that the Lord is with us :) Tschüß!
Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 7/13/2009

2009-07-20T18:52:00.002-05:00

Hey fam! BrB is nice. Kinda an interesting city. It is largeish and has lots of amenities, but the people still behave a lot like small-town folks, as in going inside by 18:00 and so on. But it's nice here. THe ward is the smallest I have been in yet. About 40-45 people regular on sunday. You have to get to a very big city, like Leipzig or Dresden, or Berlin of course, to find multiple wards in one city.

Yeah, so my first week here, it was reallllllyyyyy hot. Like we would sweat all day, it was gross, and then we would go home and go to bed and lie in bed and sweat. It was a constant sweat-fest...and then this week it has been colder and rained at least once a day and has actually been nicer, cept that Germans head inside as soon as rain clouds loom. Anyway, today it is sunny and we'll see how this week goes.

Pops, what you were saying about wanting to be a rock star but not wanting to be a singer or musician reminded me of wanting to be a paleontologist but not wanting to go through biology or geology first...This past week has been better in the companionship. We've gotten a routine down that seems to suit us alright, and we'll see how things go these next weeks. Oh, BTW, I am getting a 'Team Halle' t-shirt through Elder Gundlach. Should be good :)

We got our new Präs at the beginning of this transfer, so two weeks ago! He is awesome! Präsident Pimentel. He is so excited. He is a lawyer from SoCal. If you look in the June 22nd issue of Time (thereabouts) there is a big article about Prop 8 and a feature about him and his family. We are stoked to work with him...

BrB German ain't too diff. than regular German. I can understand Sächsisch (the dialect in Sachsen, or Saxony as English say), so I have no problem with regular German. Elder Burns is in the Army, Emma. So you can let Eric know.

I was in a spot like that in my life...it was around the end of my third transfer, beginning of my fourth transfer out here, back when I was in Halle. I was NOT getting along with my comp and my best friend Elder Parsons was leaving for a new area and I was unsure about the future and whether I was gonna be able to handle much more. It helped to have the ZLs around to liven things up, and also to realize why I am really out here. As for you, I'd be excited for school. It will be a wonderful time, and you will make some amazing friends. And have lots of fun with them. And hey, just bug Mom and Pops about coming with over here to get me IF they do end up coming when I am done. Then you could spend some time here and meet some cool German Mormons :)

Yeah. So we are trying to rebuild this program after losing a lot of investigators that don't want to make anymore progress. We wanted to give out some bapt. committments this past week, but the potential people all shut down on us one way or another. Elder Burns was getting pretty darn depressed about all of it and so we are working hard to find some sort of success here. The poor little branch needs it...

I am not sure if I have anything else to mention, really...if my address on Facebook were to get updated, that'd be stupendous...oh and that last package was awesome. Kept me going, really. Thanks again for it, don't think I rightly said thanks enough for it.

Oh, yeah: Happy Birthday, Taylor!!! Tomorrow, right? May all your wildest birthday dreams come true! Know that your missionary brother loves you! Do you have any exciting plans?

So, thanks for alles, family, and I'll talk to you soon. I really do have pictures, believe me...pday is just always so crazy... :P

Love ya! Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 7/6/2009

2009-07-11T19:21:00.001-05:00

Hey fam!

Ohhhhhh, I miss big thunderstorms...man...
So yeah, I got transferred. I was a bit dissappointed, to tell the truth. I loved Elder Downing and the Werdau Gemeinde. He was a great boy, and they were amazing members. When you come pick me up (haha) we are commanded to come back down and see the ward on a sunday so I can bear my testimony and have a grill out behind the church and whatnot. We got along well... :D

So I am here in Brandenburg now. After one week, I am not ready to judge it yet :P It is about 70,000 so a good bit bigger than Werdau, but still not SO big. We were in Berlin (in Tiergarten, THE CENTER of Berlin......ohh man, it's beautiful) on Sunday for Distrikt leader meeting (for my comp.) and the other elders and I went out finding. Berlin is MASSIVE!!! Man. Anyway. But Brandenburg (BrB) has most everything you could need. But we'll be back to Berlin a lot, mark my words...so. Elder Burns is...interesting. He's a West Pointer.

Elder Parsons lived in Adelaide before he left but his fam moved to Darwin while he was out here...I asked him about Sis. Ornsby and he thought for a long moment and eventually said, I don't really know...

Well time is short here at the end of the day, but first I must wish Father a Happy Birthday! Alles Gute Zum Geburtstag!!!! One year older and wiser too, happy birthday...to you! Thanks for being there for me, Pops. It has been a great 20ish years :D

Well, we best be headin' out. Got to prepare some stuff. I love you guys, and I hope to have more time these next few weeks to really write a letter! Good luck this week, Emma! Everything will be fine. Love, Peace, Honor!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 6/29/2009

2009-07-11T18:29:00.002-05:00

So I had like a huge email written up and because this computer sucks it basically died. So now I don't really have the energy to write it all over again, so let me just hit you with my new address and I will fill you in next week.

...sorry, if i may take a moment. my name is elder parsons. im the reason why your sons email jjust crashed and wanted to formally appologise that this email wont be half as good as it could have been. but yeah...so ah...sorry. elder mason is a great missionary. he probably doenst say much of just how good he is but yeah. so i reckon i could take the mic for a sec and yeah just put it out there that hes a hard worker, has really done a great job at learning the language and doena a great job teaching. we were 3 transfers together in halle so yeah. i got to know him pretty well ay. i mean we werent companions but lived in the same house for that time and did get to do quite a bit together. so yeah. i will miss him very much...caus yeah...my mission is over ay. but just so you know you should be very proud of your son...well ah have a good one. say g'day to the rest of the family for me and we'll see ya later some time. hopefully sooner then later. cheers!

elder parsons

So, yeah, It's me again. There's a taste of the Parsons. I will miss him a lot :/ And it's not his fault, myldsmail is making IE freeze and shut down...that's why I am now on MSN...

Anyway, my new address is...oh that's right! I have to explain again! I was sure I would stay in Werdau, but I'm getting transferred and headed to Brandenburg, near Berlin! So my new address is: (censored...he's in Brandenburg jetzt)

So yeah, next week I'll fill you all in on the great new city of Brandenburg!!! I love you all, thanks so much for your support, please keep praying for Fr. Nenner and her Mann if you could. Thanks too for the box, I loved it! Ok I better run. Hope you get better soon, Pops! Liebe! Tschüß!Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 6/22/09

2009-06-22T08:22:00.001-05:00

Hallo Familie!

Springtime in Germany has meant rain every day for the past like 3 weeks. It is nice though. And green :)

I am really enjoying my time here, despite our lack of overt success. I think it helps to have a good energetic faithful companion. Elder Downing and I have been trying a lot of new things to find new people and keep us from going braindead by doing 5 hours of doors or walking around Werdau four times. We have been doing church tours in the past while, around 8 at night, cuz it is still bright out, we have a big poster and a tour all planned, but we have only given one so far. Cars driving by don't like to stop...

Those look like good classes, Em! I loved my BOM classes. And good on you for emailing the professor about that issue. When the university red tape holds you back, just talk to the professors and they can get things worked out. Poor Ian, yeah missing registration day is...terrible, lol! You are taking the Mazda? Ooooohhhh, I see how it is, family...

As for doodads I wish I had had, some plates/cups/utensils and so on. Tho you might have all that already. I could have used more of my books :D Hahaha jk, ummm...a set of school supplies is really useful. Ruler, scissors, good pencils/pens, highlighter is a must, whiteout if you need it, like in a box or pouch or something. That could be really useful when you need those little office supply bits...and tho du bist eine Dame, a little tool kit with at least screwdrivers of the two kinds and a pair of pliers or so is often needed. Tho I am a guy and our adventures often needed mechanical support :D I will try and think if there is anything else I needed...

Vater's Tag, or the German equivalent, was earlier, on Pentacost. The whole of Werdau was drunk senseless..........it was bad.......

Hahahaha, Pops, the ol' YM presidency had a bit of a bad rap? Well you all will pull it out of the mire :) You passed on your retentive-ness in planning to me, fyi... :D It is impossible for the YM to be prepared like the YW. It is a principle of the Gospel, doncha know?

I have 0 large purchases planned. I wasn't planning on glasses either, but it was good to get done. How do I have so much money still? You guys aren't still loading me, are you? Stop that! You need your money to do...other important things...haha. The only thing about my bike is the inner tube on the back tire. We replaced it but the new tube had puncture-preventing goo that somehow spurted out the valve and now the valve is broken so we just need to by a new and less gay tube. My layman's conclusion, at least. Br. Kosak in the ward said he would take care of it and came and looked it over yesterday and so things should be shaking up here shortly :)

An Aussie sister! Cool. There is one other Aussie in the mission, Elder Meixner, and he is a hoot. He is right next door in Zwickau so we get to have contact now and then and at Zokos. Maybe I'll get to serve with him and pull off the Aussie tour...

I love you family! I am a bit short on time this week but I wanted to share two more things. The big Evangelisch tent, you know from last week I talked about it I think? Well on Monday evening we decided to stop by (our though process was long and convoluted...anyway). We go in and this guy comes up and interrogates us for about 10 minutes about why we are there (whether it was just to watch or to check out who came so we could talk to them all later or some such nonsense). He was of the opinion that we had the ability to memorize everyone's faces and hunt them down later, or something. Well poor E. Downing had no idea what was going on, so I handled it and he eventually just gave up and let us sit down. After the program (it was so ''unsettlingly snotty Christian I am saved by just believing and you are damned for believing that you have to actually do something in life'' that I had a bad feeling the whole time) we found a few members of the ward who had come to check it out too, and we were chatting when this interrogator guy came up and then it really fired up. The conversation started off alright but he got more and more self-righteous and started really spitting game at the members and us, like how we were a sect and how the Bible and the BOM contradicted and how we didn't speak the language of love like he did. Hahahahahahaha it was so silly. And he kept talking about us, the missionaries, to the members in the circle as if we weren't there and couldn't understand. I was like, We are right here and can understand you AND you are telling lies about what we said to you (at the beginning when he interrogated us). In the end I was pretty pissed and so we just left so as to not leave a bad impression. I was pretty upset so I had E. Dowing give me a blessing, good chap. We talked with the members about it later that week and just chuckled about it. All in all it was a very interesting experience.

And now I have no idea what the other thing was and will prolly not remember til later today. Na ja. I love you and thank you for all your help and prayers and support. Fight the good fight back home and I'll talk to you soon! Tschüß!

---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 6/15/2009

2009-06-15T08:22:00.002-05:00

Hahahaha you all are a very hilarious family, you know that? Thanks for raising me in a houshold of humor :)

I bet the box will come tmrw or wed. Normally works out that way :PWe tried to go by on Hr. Nenner, but the address we had was wrong, and then when we got his real address, it is forever away, and my bike still has a flat tire. So we will either have to fix the bike again (tried once, new inner tube thing has a problem with the valve, sigh) or plan in a good chunk of time to walk there and back, haha. But we are going by tmrw, either way. I will let you know how it all goes :)

It took me like ages to figure out what your abbreviations there at the beginning meant, Mother dearest...but hahahahaha is that an inside joke you all have going on back there? I want in (iwi)!

It COULD be worse, Emma! You could be working as a bagboy/grounds-maintainance-boy-girl at Smith's!Did you guys just watch the RM again or something? Hahaha...

That was a cool realization, Pops. It really is a process to conversion, and the process doesn't end there, it continues until we have become perfect even as the Father. I was reading in Alma the other day, where it talks about the Lord not wlking in crooked paths, in like Alma 7:20 or so. But right before that, v. 19 I think, it talks about us needing to make the paths of the Lord straight. It also talks about that in Matt ch. 6 or so, don't rem. where exactly. But I thought it was quite interesting that it's as though our lives are the Paths, and the Lord can only walk in them if they are straight and pointed towards him. He cannot walk into our lives if our paths are crooked. We have the responsibility to make straight paths for the Lord to walk in, otherwise he won't help us. Just like where Mormon asked if the miracles had ceased, or if God had ceased to be a God of miracles, and they only cease when we destroy them through our lack of faith. Our paths are always left up to us. I thought it was interesting...

So did the girls get new phones again? Or did you mean the ones they got a few weeks before I left? I have no big problem with that phone I had, even if it is older. But if you want to, go for it. Technically it belongs to you :) But as long as I can keep that info I have on there that would be stellar. Na ja. It will all work out.

I don't really know anything about a new version of the Bible, but we missionaries (well, those who paid for it) are getting mini Triple combinations. About the size of your little English Bible that I have right now, but in German. A privilege that only Berlin missionaries will have :) The mision leadership contracted with a private publisher/binder to get a one-time run printed off and made. They cost 50€, but we could use our mission money, so it was all good. Anyway, that's what I was talking about earlier...I think...about a new Bible, I don't know...

My heels aren't wearing out on my black shoes. Not really, at least. And I don't really wear my cordovan ones at this time. Need to get the guy here to put some new heels on them before I'd really wear them again. But don't worry about it. No problems right now. I'll let you know if anything changes though.

Wisdom teeth!!! Get them out of there! Hahaha it shouldn't be too bad, Sis. Painless removal...I hear... :/It has been raining a lot here too. I don't understand our weather patterns either. It's crazy here. Raining one minute and then sunny, over and over and over...hahaha but it's nice to have rain :)

well now I am excited for this box!

We have a big Evangelisch tent set up near where we live and every night they have some sort of speech or talk or activity. I am so tired of talking to zealous Protestants and hearing about how we only need the Bible to be saved. Aaaaaaccctually, no. Sorry. Technically we are not saved by the scriptures, but by the things they teach us to do. I'll just be glad when the tent goes down in a few days...maybe check out Google earth and find our apartment and then look a tiny bit east and you might see a big white tent...

Anyway, this past week was good. We had a tausch (an exchange) with the distrikt leader and his comp. I went to Gera with his comp, and the DL came to Werdau with Elder Downing. Well guess who the DL's comp is! My trainer! Haha well there was a bit too much deja vu in that tausch...

We found this one lady who lives far outside Werdau in a smaller town named Königswalde. She is interested in learning more about the Church, but we haven't been able to really start teaching the lessons yet. So we will start that this week. And we have ZoKo on Wed, the last ZoKo with Präs. Borcherding. It will be VERY interesting to see this changeover. And sad to see Präs. go. He really is a hero to all of us.

Well, this has been a bit of a long email and I need to email Präs and I don't want to sit here by this smoking guy anymore. I hate smoking. So I am gonna go. I love you family, and thank you for your laughs and support. Keep praying for the Nenners please! Love you! Tschüß!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 6/8/2009

2009-06-15T08:19:00.002-05:00

Hey Family!!!
This was a good email. I chuckled numerous times.
First item of business: I don't think you are allowed to go to Scotland without me. Sorry :/
Elder Bednar's and Elder Scott's talks on the Temple were excellent this past April. I have some others I have found out here (I collect conference issues I find in apartments) but I cannot remember them off the top of my head. But what Elder Bednar began with this last time is way good. Everything we do as leaders in the Church should be to point members to temple worthiness and attendance.

It does sound like you are liking work better, Pops, even if it is more stressful...and haha rest up good, I'm sure they have something massive in store that just requires you rested...like the 'Priesthood and Auxilliaries party and activities and temple cleaning and home teaching Coordinator.' To take pressure off the other leaders, you see... :D

Much Ado About Nothing...that is certainly an epic list of actors, I am intrigued to be sure. I'll look forward to it. Write it down somewhere and we can check it out when I get back. I miss Pride and Prejudice Sundays, that's for sure. And WW. Na ja. Got other stuff to worry about for the time being :) But WW combined with Shakespeare, well, that MUST be good!

Is the front yard GI Joe movie worthy? Or Call of Duty worthy? Then it really has blown up, haha!

I am pretty sure Pipes and drums is on the comp so a copy would be fine, but either way, and I thought of something else too: if Elder Eyring's talk on cd's that you have somehow found a way to be copied, and mailed to me...well now, Christmas in July? Possible!

We are going this week to try and meet with the husband of the woman who wants to get baptized but he won't let her. I think I told the story. Fr. Nenner wants so bad to get baptized, but her Mann won't have it. Or at least he wouldn't several years ago. We will baptize and confirm Fr. Nenner. We set that goal. After 5 years we are finally going to get her this one last step into the Church. I don't know how, but the Lord will help us with the righteous desires of our hearts. Maybe not this week, but soon. Please pray for Fr. Nenner and Hr. Nenner. They need it, we need it, they need it, we really need it, etc.... haha! And pray for Elder Downing if you could, so he can at least for that one appointment have use of the German language to at least bear a strong testimony :)

I KNOW Christian Bale is amazing, but was Terminator cool? It certainly looked to be. Ah, just you and Logan.....well, don't let things get too out of hand, you know... :D Glory digging caves in your closet to sleep there, that is ganz lustig. I can just see her doing that too...

Branch visits are...fun! Yeah...there should be a group leader for your group, so get with him or her and figure out what the plan is. Or call the YSA leader and just ask him or her.

Elder Downing is doing well, he is still struggling to comprehend the German they speak here in Sachsen (or are we in Sachsen-Anhalt? No idea...). Sächsisch is a very strong dialect, like dirty southern US english. Even some Germans have trouble with a strong Sächsisch accent. Hahaha but he is doing ok. I am not sure he'd be understanding people better if it was hoch Deutsch, but he does his best :) And that is all I can ask of him. He played trombone for a long time, so a fellow bandie!

Home alone, Taylor? But it's summer! Aren't you at the pool most of the day every day anyway? :)

Well I got a flat tire on my bike this past week, and though I replaced the tube, the valve in the new tube is...cranky. And so we have been on foot for the past few days....and it is less fun. And not makes it hard to get places quickly :/ Other than that, not much news from our side. Are you still painting, Em? You should hook me up with some pics of stuff you are doing. You are way good...

Well, I should email Präsident, and I hate spending long periods of time here and not being out there or back at the wohnung...drawing...so I think I shall wrap this one up. But like always, I love you guys very much and am always appreciative of the emails. Em, if you could hit Mr. Thurston up on his Facebook and tell him I wish him all the best and I'll be writing him here soon, or something nice at least, that would be sehr nett von dir. I pray for you guys too and hope for a great week! Tschüß!
---Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 6/1/2009

2009-06-15T08:16:00.002-05:00

Wellll Helloooooo!

Glasses are good. Very good. I am a happy camper. They are quite sturdy too, I have pics for you. Should be coming soon. We had a mission tour on Thursday, and Elder Robert C. Oaks and Elder Shütze came and it was basically like a ZoKo where they and Präsident talked to us about all sorts of stuff. It was really good. Elder Oaks is quite a funny character when he's in a more personal setting like that...but anyway, people were noticing, like, ''Did you get new glasses?'' It was cool. Are you really putting a pond in the back??? The Dogs will prolly just pee in it...or ''bathe'' in it...or hide Mom's torn up plants and the wood pile in it...

Who are all these people marrying?? People from the ward, or aliens from Utah or somewhere? Sean Peterson got married? Bout time the Bawden boys got married, and Pratt?? Interesting...

Pops, it sounds like work is...fun? At least a good experience. You should get lots and lots of Monopoly money and try actually giving them a bucket full of money and see what they say to THAT!

I am looking forward to seeing what the front yard looks like when I get back! Or if I will even recognize the house at all! Gonna repaint it to throw me off?? Hahahahaha poor Taylor, she prolly HAS forgotten and it will come up in like 6 months and she will wonder why you never let her do it, hehe!

I know what you mean about being released but still thinking you have all these things to be doing. After coming home from school, where I had been Sun. School Pres, and had been one of the floor representatives on the Stover Hall Council, I found myself suddenly without explicit duties. It was weird and I would find myself worrying about this or that and then realizing: Oh. That is not my job anymore. :D

I have seen posters for the new Star trek. I was intrigued. I'll have to remember that. And the new Terminator looked awesome. Christian Bale is top notch. How was it, Emma?

So are you working like a full week of shifts and stuff, Em? What do you do? At least you can have music. Sometimes kids would bring their ipods when they were assigned to clean the bathrooms at Smiths, but then they would miss a call to come up front and someone would come find them and then it was trouble! Haha. Ne ja.

Yep, the circle of friends begins to break, much akin to the breaking of the Fellowship. But remember how the Fellowship all met up again in Minas Tirith at the end? Don't worry, you will see your Fellowship again :) And there is always Facebook!

Elder Downing is good. He is adjusting well, and he is working hard to improve his German, so he should be able to say things...soon :)
Naw, he is a good kid. He is excited and eager to work, so that is helpful. We have, unfortunately, not seen much success in the past two weeks, and we have had to bid farewell to a pair of older investigators that didn't want anymore visits. Sigh. But we did make a lot of contacts this past week and we have a very good week planned so it should be alright :)
P.S. I do not call him Air Bud, that is fo show. I DO, however call him Padawan. All the time, in fact. Not even kidding. As in, ''Padawan, fetch me that hydrospanner'' or ''Padawan, enter the living quarter access codes.'' OK so not quite like that, but I do call him Padawan a lot. It doesn't bother him so I am sticking with it for as long as I have got him :D

Well the Nazi Casino worker guy is on today so we have no leeway in time and I ought to get rolling and email president. I love you, thanks so much for the ensign and the money, it came the day after mission tour when I was totally broke. So it has already helped out :) And thanks for the Get Fuzzy. You know I love it :D I don't need anything too specific, but when it comes around, that best of scottish pipes and drums CD, maybe a copy of that could come along? That would be cool. I have missed hearing some pipes every now and then. Other than that, I am good. I am getting pics sent home, and anything else you guys need, just let me know! Love you, take care, thanks for everything! Tschüß!
Elder S.J. Mason

Arrived 5/25/2009

2009-05-25T10:05:00.002-05:00

Well, well, well, it sounds like you all have been having a bit too much fun without me back there... :D

Ok, ok, I will get my old sd card in the mail this week. I will force my golden (we have goldens here, not greenies, mind you) to pester me about it.

So my new companion is named Elder Downing. He is from American Fork, and he is just barely 19 as of February. P.S. yesterday I was told I looked 22-23. Alright by me. Wonder how old I would be with my beard back...anyway. He is a cool kid. His German is........well, he is working hard at it, so it will get going in no time. He is a good guy, and really wants to find people and be a missionary, so we'll do great things, I think. Plus he came in with money.... :D Hahaha jk...but he likes marching band, and plays the trombone, and likes playing soccer/bball with friends, but outside of that I have not found out too many of his hobbies. But it is going well, he seems to be good and tired at the end of our days, so he's fitting right in and we're getting work done:) It would just be nice to finally find some totally prepared person that we could teach. We will need to really just pray dafür...I mean, pray for that...

Sweet! New EQP! A good squad they got there, though trying to rebuild the Bulls after Jordan left didn't work so well...haha just kidding, they should do well. Br. Chandler is a hero...actually, they're all good. But I will miss getting to tell people my father runs the EQ back home...and we learned at our sunday eating appointment yesterday that Germans do not really understand the concept of Priest Quorum advisors. They don't have any here, and as I did not know the exact word for advisor, it was a bit hard to explain exactly. Na ja.

We certainly have a lot of ground to cover here in Werdau. Most of our investigators are not willing to make progress, and that means after a while we have to move on. it is sad but just the way it must be. Maybe I am a bit too much like Bond, a bit too unfeeling when it's time to move on, but we need to concentrate on finding and teaching the people who are ready for it. So we do a lot of finding. Actually we mostly just do finding these days. Elder Downing is settling in well, and his jetlag seems to be non-existant (lucky devil) so things have been good this first week. As a trainer I have a good chance of staying in Werdau for about the next 2 months, unless I do a really bad job and they get somebody professional in here to replace me :P

I will be going in to the optiker later today to pick up my glasses and pay for them, and then I will take some pics and send them home, ok? I am still melancholy about how expensive they are, but it will be nice to have a good pair again, and I really like them, so...na ja. I will update you. Thanks so much for the socks again, they are great. And the goldfish are already mostly gone. I am saving the cornnuts for Elder Parsons; I will see him at Mission tour on thursday and this is his last transfer, so...I am gonna miss him. Since he fell in love with cornnuts during our time in Halle, I figured he could use some 'fore he heads home. At zone konferenz in 4 weeks he is gonna give his farewell testimony and then head home a week later. But he said he'd be coming back to Germany in 2010 and so I think I might get to see him right before the end of my mission. Anyway. Good times, sad times...

I think I will send these glasses home for you to check them out and see if they can be repaired instead of a whole new pair. I don't want you guys spending more money like that...

Yeah, graduation? Who spoke? I still wnat to see if I can get a hold of the graduation peech from Mrs. Stewart from the year before I graduated. I hear it was ridiculous...

No more works required for salvation? So I can call it quits out here and just come home and wallow in sin? Excellent! No seriously, what was the answer, A? C? Who's leg was he pulling? I think 2 Nephi 26:23 is ''..we are saved by grace after all we can do...'' I think it is verse 23. Na ja. Controversy indeed...haha!

We discussed the life out of our AP tests. Then again we were a woeful and sinful generation, so...*shrug*

Skipping out on SAN??? No worries, it was an ok time when I did it, but if you had fun with other stuff than don't feel like you missed out too much.

I hope I train well. We are getting along well, it's just the language barrier makes it a bit harder now. It would be cool to be remembered as a good trainer. That is a good stimulus to do weel on my part, I think. We'll be working hard, believe you me...

Well, I think that is about it from my end. Glasses should be taken care of later today, I think I WILL get the extra 40 € of insurance, it is good for 2 years and a mission is a wild thing so I might need it, I will mail home my sd card, thank you for the packages! I was just thinking I could use some goldfish, and BAM! the package came. Cool beans. IMPORTANT ALERT:::In the future, I do enjoy S'mores pop tarts quite a bit. :::WE WILL NOW RETURN TO YOUR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING. Just when you come around to sending me something else. Far in the future.

Well, I love you all and thank you for your kind support and prayers. We will keep you informed about our crazy adventures here, and 'til next time! Tschüß!!!

---Elder Sterling Mason

P.S.
Leo-''...And Sam goes on the list.''
Sam-''What? What for?''
Leo-''For mocking the story...'' (or something like that)
--Toby makes mocking comment--
Sam-''Hang on-Toby doesn't go on the list?''
Leo-''No.''
Sam-''Why not?''
Leo-''I'm...unpredictable.''
Sam-''So it's just...me...on the list.''
Leo-''Yep.''

Nothing like a little WW to brighten your day :)

Arrived 5/18/2009

2009-05-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

Heyo! Lemme see if I can hammer this out in the 29 minutes I have left on my euro coin...

So: glasses update. I went into one of the three places we have here in Werdau. I chose the cheap mass chain place (there were two in Halle even, they are everywhere), as I don't need super flashy specs. The place is called Apollo optik. anyway, they remeasured me with this ghetto old bit where they stick different lenses into a big pair of glasses until it is the best match for my eyes. Sounds arcane but it was fine. The deal they had for 100 € glasses was if your prescription was within these bounds, and mine was outside a little. So I couldn't get in on the good deal. Sigh. But the lady was helpful and I got a good pair ordered. The problem: They are a tad expensive, as my lenses needed to be the composite ones and etc. And I don't have eye insurance here like back home.

So I hope you don't mail yourselves over here to kill me, but they are around 300 euro. 200 for the lenses and 100 for the frames. I tried to find frames for only 50 euro (they had 50s and then it went up to 100s) but there was NOTHING good. And I fell in love with the frames the salesperson suggested, Elder Cameron can back me up, they are sweet. Anyway, I decided I would fork out 50 extra bucks for frames that we actually good and that I wanted, than for some I just had to settle on. And these glasses should last me a few years as long as my eyes don't go crazy. So. They offer 2 year full coverage in case anything goes wrong for 40 €, and that will cover everything. I don't know if I should do it or not, I will have these ones as backup for sports and stuff so I needn't wear my nice ones. But it seems like good coverage for only 40 €. But it is just more money and I am hurting already. Sigh.

So I need to go in this week and pick them up and pay for them, so I am not sure if your advice will get to me in time, but offer it anyway on the off chance I have to wait and pick them up next monday or something.

Hope you're not too upset :/ Did the best I could, and it was the cheapest place in town...

Reeseeding again, eh...I hope the third time is the charm...

OH! So elder Cameron is getting transferred tmrw. We were bummed about that, we have really enjoyed our time together and were hoping for another transfer together. But the surprise in it all: I am getting a Golden! I am training a newbie in Werdau! Which means I have to go up to Berlin on Tuesday, tmrw, for the trainers conference and then get my Golden! And it is gonna cost an arm and a leg to go there and back cuz we are so far away from Berlin. And I am quite poor right now...sigh. My Golden is gonna have to buy groceries and pay for the train to DCM this week until my refunds come in on Friday...poor kid :)

Well last sunday we met these people that have a huge open air aviary. They are cool, not very religious, cept the man says he believes the Bible, but in talking with him, he totally does not. Hahaha I love that about German people. They claim to be very into the Bible and in reality have no idea what happens 'tween those covers. But na ja. They said we were always welcome back, even though they were not very excited to read the Book of Mormon. We will see how much progress they really want to make.

Naw, our Ward mission leader got us one of the gospel art books for free. He is a champ. He takes care of us very well.

''I will give away all my junk to know a clean garage.'' Hahahahahaha that was priceless...

So Emma is working for the hospital now? In Mom's office?

Well it was awesome to hear back from you guys, stay tuned for tales of Training in the coming weeks, there will certainly be some, I think! Just on Saturday, these two young guys were hounding us for like 20 minutes, til they finally ran up to us and said they were just wondering why we were talking about Christ. And so we had a good chat with them and made out an appointment for Church this coming weekend! Cool blessings from the Lord. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I've been realizing how fast it all zooms by. Starting my sixth transfer and I am 7.5 months in Germany, 9.5ish away from home. So crazy. Man...

Well I gotta write President and I have only a bit of time left (had to put more money in) so I need to get off doing that. We are actually in Jena today to play some district sports, to bid an Elder farewell who goes home on thursday. Elder Jüngling, remember me referencing him at all? Na ja. He goes home in a few days, so we ar4e celebrating his 'Pday Omega.' Should be fun. Thanks for the love and prayers and letters! Love you all! Tschüß!

Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 5/11/2009

2009-05-11T07:02:00.001-05:00

Hey again!

I forgot, in usual fashion, to wish you a happy Mother's Day! Thanks for being my mom and not having given up. I am sure I almost made you at some points :/ :) But know that I love you :)

It was great to get to talk to you, girls! I am glad you are working so hard. Don't let school get you down though, there's better things to come! Like work! Haha!

It is VERY eerie how much I sound like you, Father of Mine. I noticed when I was away at school how many of your voice mannerisms I had picked up. I think it's cool. I guess we should have clued in before when your counselors would call and WITHOUT FAIL address me as you. maybe we should have done something like ''Hi, you have reached the Masons, Mason male #2 speaking...'' and then they could have differentiated...hahaha! It really is a bit weird how many similarities I found in the way I speak and how you would. I would be saying something at school, and then think, Whoa, this is exactly how Pops would be saying this. And we got the same chuckle, I think. Cool stuff ;)

I really liked the front row too. It gave our family a name in the ward, a legend. 'Only the Mason clan was brave enough to venture to the front row every week...though the Peterson clan would try to make power plays after they became the ''second-row'' family...' Hahahaha I think Emma needs to do a piece about that...or at least about or front-row-ness...

BTW: That priece Emma did about Emmanuel and the turtles on the beach was superb! I would love to get some more stories now and again, if she's willing...

Well, all is well, and we found two new investigators last night doing doors after talking with you all, so that was cool! Though I was drained the whole afternoon. But it keeps moving on...got to keep on chasin' that dream, you know? Boston said it so well...

love you all, and thanks for the phone call, it was sweet! Thanks for the support and strength back on the home front. I mean to get a letter off to you all with my sd card and some other stuff, maybe, here soon. But I say that a lot. But I will try. Love you! As Josh says every week, Strength and Honor!

Tschüß!
-Elder Stering Mason

5/10/2009 - Mother's Day Phone Call

2009-05-10T13:56:00.002-05:00

We got to talk to our missionary today! He said a lot of good stuff, but here are the highlights:

"German machines don't believe in receipts."

"We're (Americans) so barbaric, we can put our direct object basically where ever we want."

(referring to the wives of the mission leaders) "we're not sure if they know German...they just smile...and other important things"

"I mean, we have a CD player, but it's this little ghetoo thing, manufactured by communist workers...or in the underground...I mean, the laser doesn't read the CD...it etches symbols on it...like hammers."

"Only took a second to see through their clever ruse (referring to this "One Payer" plan of Obama's and how it's socialist)...we republicans have cleverer ruses."

The play-by-play:
He told us a lot about his new area, about the "dorfs" and how expensive it is to use the S-bahn everywhere so they're on bikes a lot of the time.
We asked him about his glasses, and he's going in tomorrow to get them checked to make sure he can get them fixed. Apparently, the eye doctors had no idea what his prescription meant...they must use some other sort of denotation over there.
He told us about Elder Cameron, with whom he is getting along (like a house on fire), which is very good news for us here.
I asked him about vernacular use of "zu tun." He allievated my fears - Germans use it, therfore German students can use it. WAhahahaha...*cough*
We talked about AP tests and the ridiculously impossible free response portions.
I told him about one of the teachers at school who's sick...
Mom asked a lot about if he was getting enough sleep and to eat and whatnot.
He told us some funny stories about the branch and whatnot, and how one of the people in his branch really loves starbursts.
Dad made sure he was still in contact with the people who he's going to rent an apartment from when he gets home, because in about seven months, they need to have one picked and the paperwork in.
He told us he needed more peanut butter and a CD player (see quote above.)
And that was about it. We just chatted and had a good time. He said that in context of calling home and general conferences, he was now half done with his mission! He'll actually be half done next August!

Arrived 5/4/2009

2009-05-05T17:09:00.002-05:00

Heya, Familie!
Things here are pretty good. We are having some struggles finding new people, and we have not found a new investigator for about 3 weeks. We know there are people here just waiting for us, and we have decided to visit a new Dorf every day. Cuz we have hundreds in our area, and i doubt missionaires ever really go out there. So we will pray and see how this week goes.

Yeah, lots of craze over swine ful (die schweine Grippe) but na ja. It hasn't reached us yet, but lots of silly old German women are spinning their heads about it. Hahaha we will be ok.

So. Important business: Mothers day. If you could call me at 6 in the morning for you all, it would be 14 (2pm) here, right? 8 hour difference. That would work great for me. I know it is super early, but that would work well on my end. Here is the number you should dial:

If that does not work then I QUIT! Hahaha but that should work. We will be in the church building. So. Good!

Other important business: Emma, Elder Jüngling (from Oregon) says hi. He is the Distrikt frau in our distrikt (the district leader's comp) and he says hi to all the olderish sisters of other missionaries. So there ya go. Hehe...

Also, Father, I would like to know what size of model trains you ''normally'' collect. No reason, just wondering...

And lastly, I would like to have my priesthood line of authority, if you could just write it next week, that would be smashing!

Our lesson in Priesthood was about making the sacrament meeting more spiritual. It was good, despite the little arguments. Hehehe yeah...

I could use another pair or two of socks, those ones you sent were nice, and that tie was cool too, thank you much! Though don't worry about it TOO much. And goldfish and cornnuts and so forht are, well, always appreciated...hehehe....and if you do send something, could you slip my BYU jazz cd in there too? And if my Return of the Jedi soundtrack was around too, we could use sommore pday music...

I will send my memory card, I promise. It is just really hard in this smalll town to work with the post.

No baccalaureate??? Preposterous! Inconceivable! That sounds like LAHS, hehehe. It would be awesome if the gowns and stuff arrived late, I would need some pictures of that!

Well, Emma, I am supposed to give you anti-senioritis advice. Leider, have I nothing to say. Other than: Woot! Senioritis! It saved my sanity, and it can save yours too! Hahaha..

No more train tracks! Congrats! Sorry I made fun of you all this time...

Well, Taylor, that is pretty darn good! I don't think I was anywhere near that good back in my day. You like to play rugby? Since when? Are you playing for the womens club? You should! It is so much fun!

Well, I love you and thank you for alles. I need to email Präs so I ought to do that so we can get all our chores done today. Thanks for the letters and prayers, and I look forward to talking to you all next week!!!! Tschüß

PS: I think I am going to look for glasses later today...stay tuned...
---Sterling

Arrived 4/27/2009

2009-04-27T18:48:00.000-05:00

Hahaha hey!

I just have to start off by saying that Pops' comment about feeling more like Jed Clampette made me think of President Bartlett saying, ''Every time we come to California we are absolutely the Clampettes!'' Hahahahahaha and I laughed and laughed.

Anyway.

Lots of yard work...good! Get it all cleaned up for my return. I'll be expecting something magnificent now... :P :DOh, today we are headed to Zwickau so Elder Cameron can get his luggage repaired and so we can pick up a few things that Werdau just cannot provide. Should be fun to get back to a big town for a day.

We found out this morning that the mission is getting mini triples in German printed for us! Like the size of the English ones I have, but in German! They do cost 50 €, but I am jumping on that. With a small Bible, which we could order all along, as there are lots of small versions of the Einheitsubersetzung and the Luther Bibel, we can be carrying significantly less weight all over the place! Seriously, I took my little scriptures for granted all these years. A big old Triple and hefty Bible really weigh us down. So that should be cool. We have had mini Preach my Gospels (a bit smaller than a cd case) for quite some time now, and my are those handy...

Sorry you've been sick, sis. That is usually no fun. But congrats on the practice 3! That score on the real test should get you good credit in college. And 'I bet you could schaff a 5 if you really wanted. You seem to have worked at it a lot harder than I did.

So. All is well here in Werdau. Our GML (gemeinde misionsleiter, or ward mission leader) is getting us some of the new church picture compliations. Have you guys seen those? They are so cool. He is a great GML. And we are invited to his birthday bash this friday cuz it is a german holiday and there will be only drinking and tomfoolery around the town.My glasses are alright, but I think I may do something about it now that I have your go ahead. There are several optic places around town, and I have seen some good solid pairs for 100-150 €. Which is a lot, but if it works out then good. We'll see. I will use my best judgment.

Thanks so much for the boxes! I love goldfish and dove chocolate. And these socks are great! They have been doing very well the past couple days (I just got them on Friday or saturday, sometime). So thank you much. Yeah, I pulled some money out cuz I had to buy so many train tickets and the like, so I needed some money cuz my mission account was dry til the ticket refunds all came back in. Anyway.

We have been meeting some cool people here in Werdau, but not too many are seriously interested in learning more about the Gospel. But we keep looking and there are people here for us to find, otherwise we would not be here. Simple as that...

Well, I am doing well, healthy and enjoying the work. I have had a really itchy left eye for the past day or two, and I was terrified that I would come down with pink eye. My eternal arch nemesis. I HATE conjunctivitis. It is my most hated disease. Anyway, I found an eyelash secreted in my eye this morning and finally got it removed, and it has been feeling better so far. I hope that was the end of that. I will keep watch though, dont you worry...ps, is there any way to fight it if I think it might be coming? Any old wives treatments? Just wondering.

You guys take such good care of me, thanks for that. I best be off, as we gotta catch our train, but know that the Church is true and that I love you. Thanks for everything and I'll be calling home pretty soon! Don't get all teary on me! Love you! Tschüß!

Arrived 4/20/2009

2009-04-20T19:48:00.002-05:00

Heyoh!

Things are good. The work moves ever onward, no matter how slowly that might be...but yeah. Werdau is sorta rural, and our area includes many tiny little villages/towns all over that we will never really be able to visit cuz we have no good transport there. But I see as many people in about a week here as I would in a day, or maybe several busy hours, in Halle. WEIRD. Elder Cameron is from Toowoomba, but he went to college in Brisbane for 3 years before the mission.

I am glad Sunday was good. We had a sacrament meeting about the sacrament, and it was great. The branch is sweet here. Oh, by the way, the RS pres works in a pharmacy, and she regularly gives us lots of referrals. Like we have 7 right now. Wanna guess how she gets them? Hahahahaha I love it: the people who come in and complain about their lives while picking up medication, she prints out a little label with their info on it, like you would stick to a bottle of medicine, and gives them to us, and forbids us from mentioning to the person how we know about them! Hahahahahahahaha so illegal but it makes me laugh so hard...

That is a sweet story about the wolves. Maybe I could find some way to use it...

Apparently it snowed a foot or two for Josh out in Nevada too. He sadi it was warm for a few days and the suddenly snowed like crazy. Weird weather, man...

That missionary fireside sounds like fun. Let me know how it progresses...

Yeah, Werdau didn't have too much of a program when Elder Cameron came in, and now when I got in too. He has been here one transfer already, before this one where we are together. We have a pair of real investigators, and lots of contacts and people the miss. have met with before, but who don't really make progress. So we have a lot of work to do to find more people...but the branch is full of amazing members. If this branch was in Halle, Halle would explode with baptisms. But yeah.

I am glad Prom was fun, despite the never ending cycle of terrible music. It IS fun to make fun of it though, ain't it? Hahaha. It is so crazy that April only has like 10 or 11 days left. I don't know where the time is going...school will be out 'fore you know it, and then it's SUMMER!!! time for a JOB!!! Hahahahaha...

So I have indeed worn holes in about 90% of my socks. At the back of the heel, so it rubs at my skin unless I wear two pairs and unalign the holes so my heel is all covered. Hahaha no worries, if you sent some, that is GOOD. I will test them out and report back :)

Soooooo....I guess I should tell you, I may have possibly just a little bit broke my glasses a while back. Like several months ago. I hugged Elder Young in the Halle ward building/room, and my glasses popped off my face and hit the floor before I could catch them. It was carpeted and all, so it should have been no problem, but the left earpiece detatched itself from the main, uh, ''chassis'' of the glasses. I hoped it was just a screw, so it'd be an easy fix, but it was right after the screw. The earpiece just detatched. Nothing a bit of superglue/tape couldn't repair :) So that is what I did. though they do sit just a tad skewamp now, and I have to frequently adjust them back. So. I think there might be a warranty on them still? But that is likely only good back home, right? So further on when I ust can't be bothered anymore, I may just take my prescritption in and get a new pair made up here? Some nice black rimmed arty ones that would survive nuclear fallout, I'm thinking. So. For a while I just forgot to tell you, seeing as how I took care of it to a good extent, and then I just didn't want to worry you about it. But I figured I ought to tell you in case something warranty wise might be able to be done. So yeah. Don't freak out, I can see just fine still, all is in order, but in the future I may want to address it. Thought? Concerns? :)

So. I better write President, and then we need to buy some food. So I think we are going to roll. I love you all, and I thank you for your prayers and love and support and ward gossip (which I love), hahahaha. Have a great week and I'll talk to you soon! Tschüß!

Elder S. J. Mason

Arrived 4/6/09

2009-04-06T17:56:00.000-05:00

Man, does time fly on the Lord's errand! Hahaha. April already...

Halle 2 is now CLOSED! That's right, we are both transferred and no one is replacing us! the ZLs will take Halle on by themselves now. I am headed to Werdau, about a 1.5 hour train ride away.

I will be working with Elder Cameron, another Aussie! I met him at Zone council and ZoKo this past transfer, and he is awesome. This will only be his third transfer (it will be my 5th) so he is still a bit young...though I am too! Two still relatively noobies together! Hahaha I am sure it's gonna be intense! I do NOT feel old or experienced whatsoever. I think this transfer will be the metaphorical ''growing up and leaving home'' transfer of my mission. Then again, I am looking forward to an awesome transfer with an amazing guy (finally!) where we will tear the trash out of Werdau and baptize the devil out of them. Really, I am stoked to finally be working with someone who can be my friend. His accent is still really thick so it's a blast just talking to him. So. Anyway. That is my news.

Was Conference not AMAZING!?!? I will definitely need an Ensign when you get them, please. We did not get to see the Sunday afternoon session cuz of time change, so could somebody give me a brief rundown of the speakers? I know Emma always takes notes...Man, Pres. Eyring is the MAN. Both his talks were amazing. And Elder Holland and Christofferson and Pres. Uchtdorf's Gospel Path of Discipleship and so on. Wow was it good. Hr. Wozniak had to tend his grandkids so he couldn't come, which was a shame, cuz he needed it, but he is still making progress, as we taught the Word of Wisdom and prayer and scripture study this week, and he accepted them, though coffee is his problem. The ZLs will take care of him alright though, I'm sure *wink*

So I am glad to hear your trip went well. Hahaha trash art. That's what we get for allowing Democrats in the White House...*sigh*...hahahahahahahaha. We meet peeved people on the street so often who just want to rag on Bush and who think he is still the President sometimes and so on...it is all I can do to just be like, 'that doesn't matter to us, we are talking about Christ...' Man. Funny most of the time though. Especially with a German companion who doesn't like Americans either...hahaha.

''...slightly organized crap...'' We all got a kick out of that (I just quoted that little bit to the ZLs). Präsident gets the boot in the summer, yes. Around the 2nd of July, or something like that, I think. The zones in the mission got a tid bit rearranged, and reorganized from 6 zones to 5. So yeah.

Ohhhhh, I love that Reader's Digest WWII book. It is just about my favorite WWII history book I have ever seen, though the red book you gave me for Christmas a year or two back is very good too. Idaho used book stores seem to be treasure troves, man...

I am glad you liked the I, Em. And a tuition scholarship!!! Woohoo way to go! That is my sis! You show that NHS! I don't think it should prohibit transferring to BYU, but I have no idea really.

So as for cooking, we eat regular meals. We actually cook, especially with the four of us here in Halle. We often get these things called 'Maggi packs' (Maggi is just a brand) and it is mixings for some kind of sauce, and we make noodles or meat or...well those two normally feature prominently, hahaha. But I have been able to hone my cooking skills in the past 6 months. At school though, I ate in the cafeteria A LOT, and other than that we had bread and PB&J and snack food and yes, lots of Ramen, and we made cookies a couple of times, and ate in the Cougareat several lunches a week (Freschetta, baby!). I did alright, I think. Didn't get scurva, at least...hehehe.

I will check my other email for that pic!

How is school and seminary, Taylor? What is your favorite class?

Love you family, and I am ever grateful for your prayers and support. And letters and humor. I am leaving for Werdau tomorrow morning sometime, and may never see Halle again out here on the mission. *Tear* But that is how it goes! If you could send me my BYU Jazz CD when you send the Conf. Ensign, that would be awesome. I have been missing that, and the ZLs say jazz is fine, so...thanks for the peanut butter too, btw! And the red vines...I love red vines...they disappeared quick...

Well. Ok. I love you very much, and be excited for stories of wonderful success in the next weeks! Tschüß!!!

Elder Sterling J. Mason

Arrived 3/30/2009

2009-04-04T12:38:00.003-06:00

Hey family! So the box came, but no one was home to receive it so I have to go pick it up today. I am excited...

OOOOHHH! Of course they televise BYU rugby after I leave...sigh. When I get back I am so finding a rugby channel. I really don't need too many channels on tv: history, discovery, espn, some cable news, amc, tnt, and something with rugby...but yeah, USU is not known to have a very good team...we trounced them when I was there, as far as I know. Humiliation normally sets in around 100, I believe. At least on the college level. Or so I learned in the Inner Circle of Rugby Brethren...uh, I mean...

It sounds like that RS meeting was a bit like EQ here in Halle normally is...hehehe...our teachers here resort to just calling on people for answers.

Wow, Father of Mine, it sounds like things are moving up in the Mason family employment world! Do we get a familial cut of this 1.3 million? Hmm? Haha. Ahhh, delegation. What a fanciful ride that was. Though it was a great lesson all those years in 1. preparedness and 2. willingness to serve. Good lessons, I think, even though it was a bit exasperating....haha...

We like to think that pithy statement about rugby and soccer is at least partly true...(what he said was: soccor is a gentleman's sport played by savages and rugby is a savage's sport played by gentleman)

So no new areas are being opened, but there are several larger generations of Elders who will 'die' in the next couple of transfers (the mission is equated to life all the time-I was 'born' in Halle, my 'father' was so and so, etc) and there are not many Goldens (greenies) projected to come and replace them. So the mission is getting older and shrinking, manwise, a bit. No reassignment of current Elders here, but a little drought of replacements, is what we hear.

I do hear from several people. Josh and I email every week, and he is baptizing the devil out of those Nevadans. I hear from Ethan every now and then, and I write Danny about once a transfer cuz we are working with Mission home addresses and it's messy and takes forever. And most of the girls from school write pretty normally. I heard from Aubs (aubrey) a while ago and Jenn a WHILE back, but I imagine she is now pretty busy, lol :D I am always behind on letters, but that's life out here. I haven't heard from Ed for a while, but that's Ed. I really ought to write Ken-lad...oh, I mean Kendal...and see how things are going out there. So yeah.

Ohhhh, a hated snow day! I always despised situations like those. And you had studied so hard...well at least it is crammed in there now so re-studying won't be as bad, right? Hahaha see Facebook has it's perks...''I wants more points than that...'' Oh I love it, hahaha! That's how we do it.

You are welcome for the card. I hoped you would like it :) I am really brushing up on my craft skills out here what with cards and baptismal calendars and all that. It's really quite something...

Well so Hr. Wozniak is finally coming to terms with the fact that he has a brain tumor, and I think he will make it through the ordeal...whatever that may be. We were hoping to baptize him between sessions of conference, but he has not yet been to Church, so we can't do it this weekend. But the weekend after, Easter weekend is it? Then would be fantastic. As for the others, we let Hr. Priemeiro go. We called to schedule an appointment and he said it was all too hard and too complicated and he didn't think he could do it. We tried to convince him otherwise but he just doesn't want to make progress or keep the commandments...so, not much else we can do for him. Heidi is still pregnant, and thus AWOL. And Chuan up and left for München and didn't tell us til he was there. So the firld is trimming even more. But we found several new people in the past few weeks, and we are working with them. One of them is a Jehova's Witness (brusquely called 'J-Dubs' by the missionaries). He is very nice and polite.

Well. Anyway. Elder Arnold has been sick and a bit depressed the past three days, so it was a pretty unsucessful last half of the week.

Well, I love you family, and thank you ever so much for your prayers and words of encouragement and stories of merriment back home. I am trying my best to work as hard as I know how, and I pray that you all have a great week. Be safe and say hello to Gram and Gramps for me, ok? Tell them I am doing well and will try to write them soon. Love you all and 'til next time!

Tschüß!
Elder Sterling Mason

Arrived 3/23/2009

2009-03-23T18:23:00.002-06:00

Well hi there, family!

Hahahaha I am so glad I still have this email sometimes. Myldsmail is freaking out on this computer/today/all too often, and I cannot open any of my emails there today, so.......here I am!

Halle looked like it might get warm for a day or two, about two weeks ago, then it got cold all over again. I am still in my winter get-up: both parts of my coat, my scarf and gloves, though not the beanie most days now, I can handle some wind in the face. Last year Halle was the rainiest city in mainland Europa, and it is holding pretty well to that trend this year too. It snowed a bit a few days ago as well...but not really for real. I am looking forward to the summer and not even having to wear a suit jacket...

Oooh, looking forward to American peanut butter...

That is a great story from President Eyring. Did everybody know people called him Hal? I didn't realize til a recent First Pres message in the ensign/liahona about the voice of warning. Which happens to be a talk he gave in the 1998 Oct. Gn. Conf. I found that out cuz we happen to have that issue here in the apartment. Anyway. That is true. I often reflect back on why I came/wanted to come out here and much of it goes back to wanting to serve Heavenly Father and the Savior. I have tried to work on also really wanting to serve the people here, but that one ain't as easy :)

We get transfer calls not this saturday but the next one, so the 4th of April. After 6 months here, I don' know...I would like to stay if I could work with somebody happy and joyful and friendly; I have no problem with the city, I love knowing where things are and being the general ''old fox'' about things and there are many great people yet to be found here, but we also know that the mission is being downsized, as I mentioned earlier, and so all cities with two programs are getting a program cut. So there won't be a Halle 2 in the future. How soon this downsizing will happen, nobody knows. But we know it is coming. Which is sad. I love living with three other Elders. But I don't think a whitewash of our program is in store, so that means either I stay or he stays...or we both stay. Or we both go as the program is closed. So I have no idea, really *shrug*

Well no progress with Heidi. She is determined to wait til her baby is born. Not much else we can do...and she doesn't have much time to meet either. Hr. Primeiro has ditched out of Church for the third week in a row, and he doesn't connect that he has to stop drinking if he wants to get baptized. It is like teaching a 5 yr old that gets amnesia as soon as we leave and forgets everything we have talked about. We are getting really frustrated with him. Chuan has left for München, and Hr. Wozniak couldn't come to Church cuz he collapsed and then went to the doktor and found out he has a brain tumor. He was there again this weekend to find out if it is malignant or not. So he was crying this week as we met with him (a 60ish man crying in an appointment was an...interesting experience, to say the least) and we will have to see how we can proceed. He knows he needs to get baptized, I think, but we still have lots to teach him bfore that can happen, and he needs to come to Church...

But, this past week we finally made 21 Ballards! Lemme explain ballards. If I talk to at least 10 people in a day, we as a companionship get 1 point. If my comp does so too, that is 1+1 for 2 points. If we make out an appointment, that is another point, for a total of 3. 7 days in a week, an appointment made out every day, 21 Ballards! We actually made out lots more than 7 appointments, but yeah. We report those numbers in addition to all the other weekly numbers we report. We had most of the appointments we made out fall out (fall through?), but we also found 5 new investigators this week! So it was a great week as far as the work goes, though yesterday was hard. Elder Arnold didn't want to work for about a 2 hour block in the middle of the day, so I talked to people by myself. We barely made 21 this week cuz ysterday was rough. It is the first time on my mission I have made 21 ballards, and it's awesome! We are seeing some real blessings here during March Madness. P.S. Somebody wanna keep tabs on Duke for me this year? I heard they made the Sweet 16...anyway. But the week went pretty well for the poor start it had last Monday morning...

Ahhhh Brandon. Finally getting to live his dream. I am happy for him. He always wanted to join the military, so I am glad they finally gave him the chance. Should be good for him too, I think. Tell his mom to say hi for me, will you? I miss hearing from him. But our comm. break is understandable, haha!

Yeah Get Fuzzy! That last round about the spanish cookbook and movie reviews was hilarious. C'mon, Mom, how can you not be in on this? :)

Hey Em,Hahaha oh Brandyn, of course I remember him, after those years of us duking it out after seminary, before school. Give him a pat on the back for me, will you? That is a great story there. Hahaha, he is a clever one! Wow, give that boy a klondike bar!

Mom and Dad planned a surprise party? Well, things are movin' back home, I must say! I am glad you had a good time though, even if you had to miss a band party.

According to your advice I shall not attempt The Sound and the Fury. Elder Gundlach (the ZL who replaced Elder Parsons) has given me some good ideas though for books I should look into once I get back. Clive Cussler's adventure novels sound quite intriguing...

Thanks for the support, Em and Family. Hahaha, every time you say Brother o' Mine I think of that song Father of Mine by Everclear or whoever...haha. I am sure things will continue to move forward, I shall just trust in the Lord that they shall. I look forward to what the future holds in store, and I love you all and thank you for your prayers and support. They mean an awful lot. Watch some Poirot for me, aye? Take care, and I will talk to you soon! Sterling

Arrived 3/16/2009

2009-03-23T18:19:00.002-06:00

Hey famliy!

I am all better, it was a one-shot dealio...ooohhh, I miss KFC...not as much as Arby's, but pretty close...

Ah, now that does sound interesting, Father. Hahaha 'please do not shoot the nuclear weapons'...mmm good stuff. And so it is moving forward well? Is the ol' DOD cooperating well?

That is a good analogy with the road sign. Might come in handy out here...How'd the new bisopric do? There wasn't any mass rioting or looting, was there? There always seems to be looting...

My companion is named Marcel Arnold; he comes from Bömberg, I think that's how it is written. Arnold is a 'relatively' common name, but there is only him in this mission. Then again, Mason is sorta common roo but I am alone. There are only two Millers and only two Youngs in the mission as well...

I learned a while back that the mission will be getting quite a bit smaller in the near future. We have a good 145 missionaries at least right now, and soon it will go down to about 90ish, or so Elder Parsons and now Elder Young told me. It is nice to have ZL trust. It is not info for general consumption, however, so don't pass it around :P :D But it means that all the cities with two+ programs, like Halle (with Halle ZLs and Halle 2) will be chopped down to one program apiece as the mission thins. I have been blessed to have these great almost 6 months here with three other Elders, seeing as how that won't be the case in the future.

I remember episude! Never really worked it's way into my vocabulary though...it does sound self-inflicted though, I will say that, hahaha...

It's funny you mention lack of civil discourse about politics right now with being peace-makers. We have been experiencing a bit of that here. Elder Arnold seems to like to start (often political) arguments, which usually begin with the line 'You stupid Americans!' Then he yells and yells. Thanks for that paragraph there from EQ, Dad. I just re-read it and it's what I needed right at this moment...

Oooh, Em, the annual Starbucks trip. Did you have to speak German the whole time? It was so hard back then, but so everyday now, it's crazy...

Hahahaha not that you really NEED the bonus points, lol...

I remember the senior paper ridiculous-ness. The first time I got mine back, I BARELY pulled an A, and it was like 18 pages long of my much-treasured ancient Roman military knowledge. Then again, Mrs. Stewart was a buffoon, so...hahaha...

Taylor, that sounds like typical German for you! Haha! Water polo was fun, wasn't it?

So I don't have much stamina left to write about all the absurd things happening to our investigators at this moment, but I'll do what I can. Heidi needs to give birth and then just get baptized. Hr. Primeiro still has word o wisdom issues, as he isn't ever entirely alright in the head and we think it is from alcohol. He also refuses to pay tithing, as he is unemployed. So we are working with him a lot this coming week. He is planned to be baptized this next Sunday, and we hope we can get him/that he will be ready for it...Hr. Wozniak collapsed and has been in the hospital, and he is afraid he has a brain tumor. And Chuan is leaving for Frankfurt in a week and we willhave to pass his info and teaching record off to the Frankfurt mission. Other than that, we have some new and potential investigators, but not much to report about them. We are working to find new people this week, as the field is narrowing as to who is really ready for baptism. But there are always more people prepared for the Gospel... :)

Well! I love you all very much and thank you for your prayers and support. Say hi to Br. Forsyth and thank him for being so great. Turns out we were able to find some peanut butter here, but it is not very good. So......haha. yeah. wink wink. We are gonna hit up a schnitzel place for lunch today, so we are gonna jet. Love you! Tschüß!

Arrived 3/8/2009

2009-03-14T16:49:00.001-06:00

Hi!
Transfers aren't until April 5thish or so. We have about 4 weeks left in this one.Heidi is doing fine, she just refuses to be baptized until the baby comes, which could be any day apparently. We were told that she would have to wait a few weeks after the birth though, for some reason....sigh, so we are playing it by ear right now. She is essentially ready as soon as she just gives it the ok.

Our other investigators are doing well, we have three bapt. dates! We are doing this sacrifice thing this month, I cannot remember if I told you already so I will do it again. We get up a half hour earlier, so we can leave the house earlier, have a shorter lunch, we pray as a mission at 7 and at 22, and we are focussing on making out more appointments and teaching more lessons. It is hard but we are super loving it. We are also seeing these miracles, like 3 bapt. dates!

But this past week was hard. I got violently ill Tuesday night and threw up 8 times by 4 AM Wed. and the diarhea was around til much later on Wed. Needless to say I felt very bad. We had Zone Council on Thurs. so I dragged myself to that, and afterwards (it went til about 3) I couldn't really do much cuz I was so drained and still feeling pusely (ps, is that a family specific word? nobody here has heard it before, hahaha). Finally by Friday I was running at 85% and could get some work done. No idea what it was, the miss. pres's wife said it was a virus, but I am doing fine now.

I have that same feeling too sometimes, running and running but not making any headway. Like scrumming against another team that is as strong as you so you just sit there and push and push but don't go anywhere. I find myself HAVING to focus on the small victories. It is nice too that the Lord knows the desire of our hearts and that will all factor in too.

Pops, what is this project about, that you are working on? Or are you allowed to talk about it? It is military related, it seems...

Ooooh, I was trying to think of Br. Parker's name last time, I knew he'd be in there. That is an All Star Bishopric, to be sure. All of them. I think Bro. Painter will be awesome, I love him.

Con Law tests! Hahaha the untestliest tests out there. It was nice to have that class that was engaging and not so killer loaded with work like other classes...

...like AP Lit. You may be certifiably insane. Though you do like reading books like that, so there is pleasure in it for you, nah? (german filler words are creeping into my lexicon...)

The Ap Euro test is, as far as I remember, forty multichoice or so, then like twoish (maybe 3?) short essays based on questions about specific stuff, and then a DBQ. I hauled a 4 out of it cuz I can write essays and DBQs, and the mulit choice I always did not so well on when we practiced. But it is nicely balanced. The muliti choice is just specific questions about whatever. They tend to go in clusters of fivish about one general topic or time period, and the cluster starts easy and then gets hard. And so forth. That is what I can remember.

Yeah, a lot of Germans know British english more than american english...lol...

Well I love you all, family! We are going to go visit the local chocolate factory, the oldest one in Germany! I really only care about eating a lot of chocolate...hehehe. Thanks for the letters and prayers, they really do help. Keep working hard and I'll talk to you next week! Tschüß!

-Sterling

Arrived 3/2/2009

2009-03-04T19:48:00.002-06:00

Hey family!

Update: Heidi is back home, and all is ok, she was just in a lot of stress this past week...we are gonna try and work out an appointment some time this week. Baptism has just fallen a notch or two on her list of priorities...*sigh*

Stk. Conf sounded cool. Pres. Uchtdorf's three are really where it's at. I would add doing regular home teaching, but we can just wrap that into CTR...

So the missionaries and Sis. Pack, eh? And bad cake? Hmmm...is it still a sisters program?

As for growing up without going without things, it's ok, as we grow up we will realize what things are most important. As long as it doesn't go to our heads in our youth, we should be ok. I think we escaped that, IMO...I think you guys did a pretty good job, all around...

Reorganizing the bishopric, eh? Man...who could it be? Br. Peterson? Br. Clark? Pops???

That Chama situation sounds like most of the wards and branches here in Germany. Stuck in traditions and ruts and goin' mostly nowhere. Need some fresh blood. Guess that is what we are here for *smile*

Em,The insane German sub? She IS crazy...we always thought she was one of Hitler's.

So my companion is one of those Germans that doesn't like Americans/America very much. I found that out in the past two weeks. Needless to say I am tired of discussions on American politics for the time being, especially with people who have no idea what they are really talking about...

That reminds me too, Elder has been pretty angry this past week. The nicest thing he's said to me is, approximately in English, ''You are not the worst or craziest companion I have ever had.'' Hahahaha I just shook my head and went about what I was doing.

So not to complain or anything, but I look forward to the day when I'll get a companion ''that I'll want to write about in my journal'' (Elder Parsons' quote; he only writes positive/good/friendly things about his companions, and when he doesn't have anything good to write, he just doesn't write about them at all). I am working as best and as hard as I can with Elder Arnold, but he just doesn't really like me and let's me know it.

Sorry. I don't mean to complain, but I needed to vent it on somebody, and you were the easiest pick *smile*

Last season of Monk? Which season will it be now, 7th or so? Any word on Supernatural going farther? Better be...

I don't know, fast healing is a pretty awesome superpower...and flight...though being a Jedi is prolly the best, I think...hahaha...

No, it's not boring to hear from you, I quite enjoy it, so feel free to write whatever you want. This past week has been fairly boring too. I did tausch with Groitzsch middle of the week, and was with a missionary I knew from the MTC who was 6 weeks older. My German is actually better than his, thanks to my background, so it was interesting to have somebody with me where I was the better speaker, the one who had to handle the tough language. Interesting to say the least. We had some long days this week, and I don't have too much to write, I'm afraid.

Man, it's hard to get apostrophes in when typing on a German keyboard...it's a shift then another button and it makes it almost not worth it. Took me a while to get used to it, so that's why my first letters from out here had fewer contractions, cuz they were harder to type. Anyway...

What new books did you get, Taylor?

So the whole mission is doing this thing called March Madness, where we fasted yesterday, and are getting up early every day and praying at two specific times in particular, morning and night, and working harder in a lot of other ways, so that every program in the mission can see a baptism in March. We hope to see three at least, but yeah. It is cool. And anytime we all are together, the 4 of us, somebody is always like, 'March Madness?' And then everybody else is like 'March Madness!' The same with 'Taufe (baptism)?' 'Taufe!'

Well I love you all and thank you for your prayers and letters. One need I recently realized: I would KILL for some peanut butter. Just does not really exist here. Some regular old JIF would be much appreciated, non-chunky please. Ohhhhh man some pb&j's would be so good now and then. So that is my one request. Whenever it could happen would be fine by me...*smile* And the Get Fuzzy is always appreciated, by other missionaries too. Haha anyone who passes through the Halle apartment is subject to its grace...

So. Sorry I don' have anything really to report, we are just working hard, same ol' same ol' missionary work. It is going great nonetheless, and we are seeing success, and I know that the Lord will bless us this month with baptisms. He is seeing our sacrifices and we will reap the blessings, I am sure of it. I know this work is the Lord's work, and whatever happens, ''the Lord is in it.'' Love you all and I look forward to next week. Tschüß!

Arrived 2/23/2009

2009-03-04T19:44:00.002-06:00

Hey family!

So...Heidi's baby, in her tummy, is O+ and she is O-. Apparently that is dangerous. So she went into the hospital on Friday to have it monitored, and we are not sure when she will be able to come back out. And be baptized. She is also over 45 minutes away and we can't really visit her cuz the hospital is in this small town where her parents live and there are no trains down there that we know of. And the members here, aside from the Albrechts, don't really care enough for us to enlist one of them to take us. Actually, their appathy to her baptism (again, aside from the Albrechts, cuz they rock) is REALLY angering me...*cough*, I mean, annoying me...

So we have resorted to prayer and trust that the Lord will provide for her and us.

So, fyi, transfer calls came on Saturday and I am staying here in Halle for my fourth straight transfer! Elder Arnold is staying with me. On the upside, I think we will have about 5 baptisms this transfer. On the downside, Elder Parsons is getting transfered to Erfurt tmrw. I am gonna cry to see him go. He has been my best friend out here for the past 4.5 months. Especially when my real companions didn't like me that much. As is currently the case. Fortunately, Elder Young, E.Parson's current comp, is sticking around, and he is cool and we've become good friends. But E. Parson's replacement is Elder Arnold's companion from one transfer ago, and so the apartment is about to get divided...lol. I will keep you posted on the happenings...

Aubrey is about my age, I think, at least. So if her 21st birthday is say, in october, then she could put her papers in this summerish. She has talked to me about wanting to serve before, so I knew it was on her horizon...

WOOOO!!! BYU MEN'S BBALL!!! WE ROCK!!! UNM...IS POOPY!!!

Yeah, thanks so much for the package. Though I love them and the American snacks they contain, you guys don't need to send stuff so often...I know it is expensive so don't feel compelled to do so. But if you want to send stuff, by all means...*GRIN

Hey, Em, don't worry too much about the living away from home part. At some stage it just becomes natural. I can only speak from my experience, but I loved dorm life. My roomie and a friend drove up to Malad Idaho, right across the border, and it took about 2 hours. On to Rexburg, idk, maybe another 2 hours??? I am just guessing, Pops would know. There is something I learned about friendship while at school. The guys and I, back home, are tight as a sailor's knot. We got along like a house on fire (some Aussie talk for ya). We will always be the best of friends. But the friends I made at school, in only one year, are as close to me as the gang. Danny and Josh and the Gals...and then on the mission, I have made more friends in only 1.5-3 months. Elder Parsons and I were together for only 4.5 months and I love that guy. He is absolutely one of the best guys I know. Elder Clawson and Elder Graham, from the MTC, are up there too. And Elder Rackham, my Districtleader for the past 4.5 months (though we only went on exchanges together twice) is a great friend. So I guess all I am trying to say is: don't worry too much. Have faith that you will make more friends (not replacements, but more) at school and throughout life, and that knowledge will make it easier to work into the new life that is college. Be excited: it is a whole new world of opportunity and excitement and joy. And that is all I'm going to say about...poor Flick (was that his name?...).

Mrs. West, eh? say hi to her for me, would you? Just be like: Mrs. West! Please! Give me more!!!! Tell her I said that would work, and it will...trust me...

I still do not like sauerkraut, at all, really, but rotkohl is soooo good. I actually like vegetables to some extent now...crazy right? Hahaha...and I actually love green beans, ok? Hahaha...

Silly dogs...

So not too much to report, we are working with Hr. Primeiro to prep him for baptism. His date is in 4 weeks or so but he will be ready long before that, we think. Aside from that, the work moves on. I have to run to an eating appt. soon, so I best wrap up, but thanks for everything! Especially for the prayers. I love you all and I'll talk to you soon, alright? Tschüß!

Arrived 2/16/2009

2009-02-16T09:24:00.002-06:00

Hey! Just had a thought Pops: if you want me to stop sending these emails to your work address, just let me know. I just figured you might want them there for whatever reason...but just let me know.

I liked that bit about preaching the first principles and leaving the mysteries alone, lest we be overthrown...overthrown prolly by our inability to comprehend eternal magnitudes, or overthrown by the Lord when we jump into the deep end when we haven't even mastered the kiddie pool yet. Though I will say that sometimes we have pretty long prayers when the four of us get together and one of us prays for all of our combined investigators, hahaha...anyway it reminded me of one of our investigators, who asks all sorts of reandom questions about everything. We keep having to tell him that all that matters first is getting a testimony of the Book o' Mormon, and then all the rest will come. But all the details, all the mysteries, as it were, just keep bogging him down...

I do believe that the Bo'm comes in German on tape\CD, but I haven't seen any in person. I have a German JSmith Manual, actually the apartment does...I am not really in need of an English one. I can get along in the German one alright, but truth be told, we don't take them to Priesthood here. Priesthood meeting is a bit like SS there with Br. Peterson. Mostly just silly. Unless Br. Albrecht is teaching, then it's for real. I accredit it to him marrying a Utahn and having lived there for 10 years. Oh and to having served a mission.

Elder Parsons and I are thinking we'll get bounced, cuz he's been here for 4 and me for 3, but he was talking to the APs this morning, reporting numbers and all that, and promised that if the 4 of us got to stay together here in Halle, we would see at least 8 baptisms. And we so would. Heidi's is just this Sunday! But if the Lord wants us to part ways, then that's for the best then. It's funny, I have had three companions in three transfers, none of them have really wanted to work with me so much, and Elder Parsons has been here the whole time, keeping me sane. Not even my companion and so far the most constant companion I have had.

Anyway. Man, watching the RM should be a commandment they put on the temple recommend list...hahaha...

You all going to see Grandma and Grandpa over spring break? Cool, give them my love! I need to write them a letter...

Yes, my laundry is fine, my suits are good, C&A has a special on suits this week and they have really nice suits for like 35-50 €. A STEAL! I don't need one but I wanna go look and if there is something I just can't pass up...Sunday and baptism suit! Hahaha prolly not, you know me and making decisions, we'll see, lol.

I found that was all I could do sometimes at college. I was really blessed that the girls in our circle of friends all trusted me (some of them told me they looked up to me like an older brother, which was cool) and I got to talk with a lot of them about things they were having problems with, and lots of the time all I could really do was listen. Sometimes, oftentimes, they just needed someone who cared and who could listen. Fortunately I loved those experiences, and some of my fondest memories were just getting to talk and listen. I think sometimes that is the best help anyone can offer.

Thanks for going through with my committment! Means a lot to me. I hope to really be able to help the missionaries when I get back...

Yeah, Emma, don't worry about the worry worm, he'll be there 'til about a month into school. Hahaha...just give him a smackdown, WWE style...

I certainly know humanities was not on an AP level when I took it, lol...especially not with Mrs. Stewart. But try and find some part of the paper that you like writing about, and focus on that. Our senior paper was gay, cuz we had to tie in philosophical topics, but I still got to do it about Roman military, and that was awesome. I found it actually fun to write such a long paper.

It's ok, I complain to you guys too, so don't worry about it. I am glad I can listen and maybe be of some help.

Hahaha now Glory just needs to learn something useful to do besides moving the woodpile around the yard...

Well, Heidi is going to be baptized on Sunday, and we are so excited about it! She is going along just great. We only have to teach the ten comm. and the law of chastity on Tuesday and she will be all set! Keep praying for her though, she could use all the help she can get! Hr. Primeiro came to church again and enjoyed it. I think he'll get baptized for sure. Tim...is Tim. Until he prays with sincere desire, he will have questions and doubt. And not much more we can do for him. We have a few of other cool investigators, including a chinese guy named Chaun who agreed to a baptismal date on the 15th of March! So we have 3 bapt. dates right now. Good stuff. Thomas has disappeared. He won't meet with us or answer his phone, so we have had no contact with him in ages. I am afraid we might have to just out an out drop him. But the work goes on, and we are finding good people every week. *smile*

Well, gotta write Präsident (we found out that when he leaves, in July or june or so, we are getting an American lawyer to replace him! Crazy...), so I best be off. I love you all very much, remember who you are and what..he stands for (ahaha more RM), haha, and I wiull talk to you all next week. Pops, got that Get Fuzzy run on Tuesday or so, and it was hilarious. Elder Parsons and I laughed and laughed! Good work. Ok, take care! Tschüß!

Arrived 2/9/2009

2009-02-09T07:02:00.002-06:00

Hey guys!
So if Jenn is moving to Provo, she really doesn't have too many options: the Y, UState is in Logan, ain't it? UVU there somewhere...hmmm, well that is cool. I love Provo.

There are posters up everywhere for Operation Valkyrie. Or Operation Walküre, I think. Something like that.

I am actually liking rotkohl, it is red cabbage that has soaked in fruit juice of some kind I think. You could look it up...käse spätzle is good too...sauerkraut remains my mortal enemy, however...

Con Law is way fun, hahaha. He said the same thing to us too, that you have to argue sometimes for what you do not believe in.

So Ian is finally an Eagle. Tell him congrats for me! Hahaha the Packs always put a damper on the eagle dance...You people and your haikus that are hardly haikus sometimes...Emma, shape them up on their haiku contruction, will ya?

Three vacuum loads full of Max hair??? Where did it all come from?? That patch of ice out there will always be...one of those constants in life, like klondike bars and God working through prophets...

Brandon did not enjoy his summer job cuz it is brandon. He hates kids. He took it cuz it payed well and he hoped to learn to love kids...but he failed therein. I think Emma would really enjoy it. Get on that one as soon as April rolls around or so...

Hey clan, at least Father broke out of the haiku nonsense and mustered up a limerick. I expect tunes to all of them next week...hahaha...

Well we are preparing Heidi for baptism these next two weeks, and she is making a lot of progress. She has made it the whole week without smoking, but now she is pretty sick so we are going to give her a blessing tonight, all four of us. She is doing really good though.

We are meeting with this atheist named Tim, and he just cannot bring himself to pray. It is too easy and he says that without faith it is not worth it to try. So we have been having some long appointments with him, and we will have to see if he is ready to make some real progress. Thomas, our long-time investigator, has fallen off the radar again, and now he is not going to make his planned baptismal date. If he won't meet with us soon, we are gonna have to tschüß him (stop teaching him). So some good times, some bad times. We have a new guy named Hr. Primeiro, and he is cool. Very humble, not sure if he takes in a lot of what we say but he is willing to do what we commit him to do.

I am doing what I can to make things work...Elder Parsons and I were talking as we were shopping last pday or so, and I have had a very interesting start to my mission, so he said. Three companions, all very different, in three transfers. It has made me realize what all I have to do so when I am the older companion with the poor new greenie. It has been a good experience to help prepare me for the rest of my mission, I think. We get lots of work done despite it all, so that is the good thing.

I brush at least twice a day, thank you, and sometimes three times. Flossing, though...what is that again? I wouldn't be surprised if the Germans didn't believe in it...haha...

So we were at an eating appt. on sunday, and I swear if another German tries to tell me how American politics work or should work, I am gonna get sent home for strangling people. Some of the members here think they have an inkling of how things go and proceed to rant about politics for like 20 minutes. We just have to sit there and be like, sorry, we aren't interested. We are missionaries. Hahaha. They are lucky...and then we got ranted at about how we don't prepare for (by reading the lesson) and participate in priesthood meeting. Hahaha it was so funny...anyway, just a few of my recent experiences, lol.

Well, president didn't send out an email this week, but I best write him anyway or I'll get a call. So I best get that goin'. Thanks for the box, that was awesome, I\we are tearing through it. The Jentzsch's also wanted me to say thanks, they got your box. Apparently it had American chocolate in it, which the boys thought was funny...but they really enjoyed it. So thanks for doing that. Sch. Jentzsch said she'd be sending a letter back, but this needn't become some undending cycle of gift-giving...lol...

Well, I love you all! Thanks for the letters and take care this week! If you parents, maybe even Emma too, would offer to be available for the missionaries to take you along to appointments now and then, I can testify that would be an amazing help. I cannot tell you how hard it is to do missionary work in a city where none of the members have time to help us. If you did that I would be very grateful. See maybe what they need help with and go from there. I've just noticed since I have been out here how much the members ought to be involved and since I can't help as a member, I thought I might encourage you all to do so. WILL YOU (commit to 100% home teaching? hahaha love the RM) commit to ask the missionaries (sisteres, now, right?) how you can help them this week? Good, I know you will be blessed for doing so.

Hahahaha ok love you, bye for now, say hi to everybody for me! Tschüß!

and an extra note to me:
''A secwet Pwan to fight Infwation???''
''CJ, for a little while, you're gonna have to write things down...''

Hahahahahahahahaha oh I miss West Wing so much...do they know yet what Obama's secret plan is? I'd be interested to find out...

P.S. Em, If you want to send me etwas from your email address so I can get your personal one, that would be nifty...thanks!

Arrived 2/2/2009

2009-02-03T18:37:00.001-06:00

Hey Fam! So this one may be short, as we are running out of time here at the end of Pday, but I will try to keep it good.

No problem, Mum. It`s what I do... ;) Naw, haha, you are welcome. THought you deserved something. Found this awesome little statue and carving shop here in Halle and I might try and find you all some cool carved elephants or something...I got myself a dragon banner that is wicked cool...

See, Con. Law gets going. But yeah it is fun. I am not entirely sure where my cases are, though I think I might have taken them to college. So they might be with my college stuff, or they might be with some of my older school stuff. I am not sure they would be a ton of help, but who knows...maybe they could be like the Half-blood Prince`s potions book...

Congrats on acceptance though! That is way cool. So in April you will find out if the e-zine is gonna make it, or what? That is cool.

I LOVED the dorms. I do not know how an apartment would have been, but I did see Alex C. off in Wyview, and they are like apartments, and he knew like three people. I knew my ward so well, and loved those guys on my floor. It was the best school experience of my life. But that is of course just my experience. I think it is part of that first year college experience, and no, you can in fact despise your roommate and it can still be the best experience.

Dont worry too much about it, if you wann go with the dorms. It will work out. Apartments might too, but that could be tricky to work out...

I am glad your trip went well, Pops. How is it coming together? Are you getting to begin the project, or still working to get it funded and put together?

Heard about the Superbowl teams...Cardinals??? Who let them in??? Heard the Steelers were tearing it up this year though...Polish my shoes??? What makes you think that I am not??? Maybe you know me too well...lol...

Well Heidi is still progressing really well, and committed to live the Word of Wisdom last night. We are helping her quit smoking this week. Thomas has gone AWOL AGAIN. We are not sure what to do with him. We set a baptismal date with him last tuesday, and then could not get a hold of him again. So we are gonna have to push that date back...sigh...but we will keep at it :)

Well I need to email Pres and then Pday will be about over, so I better run. I love you guys and thank you so much for the prayers. I got your package today! It was at the Post office cuz no one was home to receive it. Anyway, thanks so much. I have snacks again!!! Hahaha well keep on keepin on, and I will talk to you all soon! Love and Peace in the Middle East (as Josh would say)! ---Sterling

Arrived 1/26/2009

2009-01-27T20:56:00.002-06:00

Hey all!

Elder Arnold and I are trying to work as hard as we can.

Tell Alex to have a good time. And to not worry too much. Everything works out.

So it is Episode 5, Pops. The Empire Strikes Back. 'Always looking ahead...to the future. Never his mind on where he was! Hmm. What he was doing! Hmmm.' Pretty close, I think. And then Obi-wan's spirit chimes in too. It's like Qui-gon says too, ''Be mindful of the *living* Force, my young Padawan.'' The Force is often refered to as having two aspects (aside from Light and Dark): The Living Force, and the Unifying Force. The first pertains more to the moment, to the immediate intereaction of all things. The second deals with the connection of all things through the past and into the future. Powers of telekinesis and such ''immediate'' abilities are tied into the Living Force, while powers of vision or prophesy are tied into the Unifying Force.

It is interesting to note that many on the Jedi Council before the Clone Wars began, before the Purge, may have been too mindful of the Unifying Force and not enough of the Living Force, and thus the Sith were able to insinuate themselves into the government without the Jedi sensing it exactly. Qui-gon's admonitions for more concentration on the present largely resulted in him being passed over for a seat on the Council, as he was seen as a bit of a maverick...anyway. I know you prolly don't want to hear much more, so I will move on. :)

That was a good talk by Sis. Dalton, though everyone in the apartment made fun of her endlessly for saying 'I can do hard things!' Hahaha it still makes me chuckle thinking about it now...Well, I am grateful I never had to experience that, as the Bookstore just never took my books back :P

So Heidi, our pregnant young mom of an investigator, whose husband left her 2 meeks ago and kicked her out, has moved into an apartment that I swear is bigger than our house...golly. Anyway, we were teaching the second half of the plan o' salvation last Sat., and we were explaining the celestial kingdom. And then we asked her if she wanted to live with God again, and she said yes! So we had explained baptism for a bit earlier in the lesson and she had some questions about how it was done and all, but no problems there. So we asked her then, at the end, 'Heidi, do you want to be baptized then, so you can live with Him again?' And she said yes!!! Baptismal date for the 22 of Feb! Wow are we excited. Then in Church we found out from her that her ex cleaned out her bank account, and she has no money or food for this week til Friday when she gets paid again. So we got some fast offerings from the Bishop and went shopping with her this morning. Got her enough food to last the week. Things are looking very good. She is ready and willing to quit smoking and has no problems with alcohol or coffee. Well very cool. We are meeting with this cool atheist dude each Sunday, and we finally got back into contact with the older guy we have been teaching for a transfer or so. Many miracles and blessings! :D

Oooh, TR. Oh well, not like I saw it most of my years back home anyways...Yeah, Con. Law is not too bad as far as HW goes. Don't worry, some will come, but it ain't like a math class or anything. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha that part about that class was hilarious. I laughed out loud at that...Yes, Con. Law is always epic. In fact, really any class with Easton is epic, lol. Give him my regards, would you?

Senioritis. gotta love it. Embrace it. It's less painful that way :P

So it may seem like a track assignment over summer or whatever might not be fun, but you will make friends in college (especially at a Y school) unlike anywhere else. The guys and girls I met in less than a year there are now as close as my life long bunch of guys from back home. Really, Josh and Danny and I are like this *crosses fingers* and will be living together at school when we get back, if we can get it to work right after the mission. So whatever works out will still be amazing, I can promise you. Being home by yourself could be hard, true, but that's just one semester, and then you can get on a regular track if you want (as far as I know). So yeah. See what happens.

Snacks are always appreciated. I know it is really expensive, so don't worry about it too much, but when you do send stuff, original Goldfish and cornnuts and other snacks are much appreciated. Othere than that, I think all is well. I haven't noticed too much else that I need, but I will keep you posted.

Well, time to write Präs, so I love you all, and take care this week! Thanks for the love and prayers, they are really paying off! Tschüß!

Arrived 1/19/2009

2009-01-19T10:19:00.002-06:00

Wow you guys write so much it is hard to respond to it all :D

Uh huh, as soon as I leave you all get more money. Typical. Just like getting Rockband after I leave. Sheesh! I can sing Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden and whatever Nirvana song is on that game like nobody else. Or so I found out at Ed's house last summer. I'm pretty good at Foreplay\Long Time too...lol...

Wow, it sounds like all you guys needed to get started on all these projects was to boot me from the house, hahaha. I look forward to seeing the garage floor when I get back, haha! and the side hall...wow...I am so *sniff* proud of you...P.S. That was a West Wing quote. I have to get them in now as nobody else here understands that facet of me...

I like to think I am pretty stress free, as far as getting along with me goes. The new ZL is tall and funny and great, from Wyoming (and you can tell, haha), though he does not like music as much so I have been dying for some music in the apartment...anyway.

Elder Arnold is pretty cool, I guess. He likes to sleep. I am determined to do all I can to make this transfer work out well.

The language is still pretty hard. I still struggle to express myself how I want, as I notice when we encounter an English speaker and I can just flow and talk. But that too will come in time. I have no doubts. Just gotta keep workin at it and pray for it and have faith. I do feel blessed to be as well off as I am, compared to some of the others in my group who came out here. So it's all good...

I think I am doing fine. We have a huge backlog of ensigns and liahonas...though we do not actually get the ensign anymore. Just the Liahona. Oh well. We don't do displays really, nor do we have flip charts...we do use pics on baptismal calanders, but I haven't made one of those yet...

American snacks are always good. Most things we can get here alright. But snackage is harder to come by...

''That is fallacy!!!'' Hahahahahaha. Something from college, and you reminded me of it. Hahaha...Man, I am sorry.

Hahaha, the ''expected'' acceptance to the I. Haha I remember that. I will still pull for the Y, but you should go where you want and where you feel you should go. I have heard good things abou the I too.

Oh, the scarf is great. I bought a Deutschland Fußball scarf but gave it to one of my MTC buds cuz he wanted one and couldn't find any. I planned to just get a new one, but then this one came and it's great! Thanks a bunch!

Have you still not received the box? It has pics...but they'd be hard to get up online, wouldn't they? Hmmm...well I might just send my card home or something...we will see.

Taylor! Play some Ballroom Blitz on Rockband for me,ok? Hahaha I hope you are feeling better. Why no school? Is it some American holiday? Hahaha I have no idea anymore...

We found a couple cool people this past week that we can teach, including Tim, this atheist guy who agreed to test the Book of Mormon. We had a cool appt. with him last night for like 2 hours. He is a cool guy.

Well, I really need to write president and then I have a ton of backed up mail to all the college friends I have GOT to reply to, so I best be on my way. Thanks for the prayers and stories, I really appreciate them! Love you guys!

Tscuß!

Arrived 1/12/2009

2009-01-15T20:48:00.002-06:00

Hey family!So Elder Lindsley is getting transfered to Görlitz (sp?) on the Polish border and is a bit unhappy to leave after so short a stay here. I am gettin' another transfer here in Halle, so that's cool. Elder Gerhardt is headed off to be ZL in Neubrandenburg, but Elder Parsons is staying for another one too. So Elder Arnold will be my new comp. A German who doesn't know much English...lol needless to say I am nearvous about this transfer. I am sure it will go well, just the communication might break down at times. And he is only a couple of transfers older than me, like 2, so we are both a bit new still. Elder Young will be E. Parsons new comp, and he is rumored to be a bit of a straight-lacer himself...we'll see what the apartment dynamic is like this next one...

Max tried to eat one of my letters once, I heard, so I'm not surprised he's movin' on to bigger fare... :P

Well, Mom, I won't be there so feel free to have free reign. I don't mind much what you tell them about me...if you actually want stories or something then let me know...

Hahaha excellent! E. Parsons and I are looking forward to the next installment in Buckyvania. (That bit about Max staring down the stuffed animals was hilarious)...E. Parsons and I came up with voices for movie version of Get Fuzzy, see what you think. Jack Black for Bucky, Bruce Willis for Satchel, and the tall skinny white blonde guy from Employee of the Month as Rob. With his hair dyed brown of course...

Ok, I can take money out for the call.You cleaned the garage??????? No, really??Our priesthood meeting is known for turning into arguments (even when the lesson is on unity) and apostate discussions. Then again I hear that's pretty common for Germany. I don't understand how it can be so bad, when it is th same Gospel, but somehow...Halle is actually an ok ward. We have a couple outstanding families and then some riffraff. The Leipzig ward that the Leipzig Elders attend has a Ward miss. leader who won't talk to them anymore. And home teaching is smoldering down around 25% I think...and no one seems to be able to change anything. I think we need Elder Holland to come out and say ''Do your home teaching or you will damn yourselves (and those you could have saved) for eternity!'' This ward has had the last two new members the Elders baptized here go inactive cuz no one visits them...

But anyway. All is not bad. In fact it's mostly great. One family, the Albrechts, are absolutly amazing (we think it's cuz the wife is from Utah and they lived there for the past 10 years 'fore moving back here about 3 months ago) and they help us so much. He just got made the new EQP so things should be looking up!

Emma ditched out of Geology? With Thurston??? Well, it kicked my butt, so good on ya. Seriously, senior year should include some relaxation. Hey now, Easton is a font of wisdom. Do not quarrel with him! Hahaha but I dare you to try and secretly do HW in that class. George Chertkov always did and always got caught too. Endless hilarious entertainment...

I think you would really enjoy the BYU ward, Emma. Lots of great young women, plus a few crazies just for some additional flavor :P Not like I'm pulling for my team or anything... :P

We had a ton of snow two-ish weeks ago and last sunday. Last tuesday it hit -20 degrees C. Pretty freakin' cold. We almost died. Poor E. Parsons is from Australia and really did almost die...and no, they are possibly worse at snow clearing. lots of the little alley roads here in town are still icy from that snow...I actually drove E. Parsons and myself to Kaufland today to go grocery shopping. It wasn't bad. After the first 10 minuts or so of getting used to the really touchy brakes and gas, it went fine. I actually still remember how to drive...

Taylor, I am sorry you are sick. But I am also glad that you had fun at the dance!

We are planning to commit Thomas to baptism tonight! He needs it. His little store is closing tmrw and he needs the Gospel to fill the hole in his life. Heidi's husband left her and she learned she is gettin' booted from her apartment here pretty soon, all within two days of her first attempt to pray! Oh man. But she still came to church with one of her little daughters and they really enjoyed it! So we will be helping her move all her stuff and repaint her apartment the original colors and all sorts of stuff. We'll just keep praying for her and I think she'll come to realize that the Gospel can make her the happiest.

Well this transfer will be intense, I think. I will definitely keep you posted on how it all goes. Pray for me, if you would. I'm sure I could use it. Love you all very much and really appreciate your letters and emails. Keep up the good work and I'll talk to you next week! Tscüß!

Arrived 1/5/2009

2009-01-15T20:44:00.002-06:00

Well hey!There is a diference, however slight, in American and European tie styles. Being in Germany, the other elders maintain that my ties are too American. And so I told them they should feel free to buy me European ones if it bothered them so bad, and well, they did! So all's well that end's well.

Board game cheaters are destined for a fate that haunts death's dreams!Oh, I laugh plenty. Falling through the bed was hilarious. And getting E. Lindsley when he showed up. And all the other random crazy stuff that happens in this apartment. For Example: I always seem to get caught reading the conference Liahona (no Ensigns here) when there is a picture of a girl on the page. Now I hardly hear the end of it, but that's ok cuz it's absolutely hilarious. I did the calculations and there is a picture of a young woman or older on approximately 1\3 of the pages (38\125 or whatever). But none of the others bought those odds of probability, lol.

Hope you feel better, Taylor!So it seems like there is this constant drama in your age group, Emma. I am afraid I just find it funny...how exactly was it resolved?

Well we are doing great here. We have two real investigators, Thomas and Heidi, who are doing ok but are just making slow progress. We just need to keep working with them as much as we can. Transfer calls are this saturday, so we'll see what happens, but I think I might stay here. Feels that way at least. One of the ZLs will almost certainly be transferred, and that will be sad to see either of them go. But change must come...

Well thanks so much for the love and support, hi-five Alex when you see him.

Well love and thanks, and I'll talk to you all soon! Good luck this year! Tchuss!

Arrived 12/29/2008

2009-01-15T18:49:00.000-06:00

Hey!It was great to talk to you guys too. Thanks for gettin' up for it.Did you see all the drunk people wandering around Markt too? You must have...hahahaha...I have missed the Christmas Story! Nobody here really knows it very well, so I cannot toss quotes out there.

I asked the mom to find out how much the call costed, and she said as long as it was less than 1000 € that it was no big deal. That's Sch. Jentzsch for ya. But I will get their address and email it next week; I think 35ish € should cover it, but then again I have no idea really.

Markt had the Weihnatchsmarkt up from about Nov 25th or so to Dez 23 in the afternoon. It was that big tree and all the little wooden vendor houses and a bunch of little cottage-y things showing classic German fairy tale stuff like Hansel und Gretel, Rumpelstiltzkin, etc. and a cool life size wooden nativity hut. I meant to get pics of that stuff but it just didn't happen :\So yeah, not so much historical stuff, but we did go see Don Giovanni on Christmas night! It was pretty cool. Of course, since they were singing in Italian, and the superscript was in Deutsch, I didn't follow a lot of the specifics, but it was still cool. Basically Don Giovanni chases every woman in town and then is thrust down to hell. Good basic storyline. Elder Parsons got tired of it by intermission and Elder Lindsley, like a good Utah Mormon (hee hee), got offended by the references to womanizing, and so they headed out and left E. Gerhardt and I to enjoy the art. He loved it and I thought it was pretty good too.

So I have like 5 sketchbooks of various sizes out here now, three that I came out with and then one from you guys and one that Tracy sent me while I was in the MTC. So I will prolly be good with that for a while :) I have finally got some good stuff drawn so that is cool...

P.S. English majors are indeed cool. Tracy is an English major. E. Gerhardt, OTOH, is an English Literature major. And we all know what happens to EL majors... :P

So our pday was moved to thursday again, to new years day, and so today we are just doing email and groceries (cuz everything will be closed on new years). I must say, I was excited to go to a country with big cities where stuff would be open til late, but no. Everything in Halle except for one grocery store or so closes by 8. Everybody goes inside and everything dies. And sundays and weekends? They may be good times in other countries to find people at home, but not here. People are indeed home, they just don't answer or listen to you. Hahaha good times getting chewed out for doing doors-''it is too late and you are molesting the people''-when it is only 6:30. Makes me chuckle every time. Or when people think they can throw us out of buildings or parts of the city. We just whip out our Geistlichenausweis (like our notation of being ordained ministers of our faith) and they can't do anything. We have almost as much free reign as the police...

well I need to write Pres. but I will get you the address for the Jentzschs and find out if that is really how one spells their name. Love you guys very much and thanks for the support! Keep me posted on the marital goings-on back home, it's crazy...

So.....what color is that tie exactly? All the guys say it is purple......and being colorblind I can never REALLY know for sure......they got me two ties for Christmas as well cuz they can't stand all my ''American'' ones....hahaha....but thanks for the box, I have so much good stuff to eat now...

Anyway. Love and I'll talk to you soon!Sterling

P.S. Can't wait for more Get Fuzzy! Will the next round get here before Jan 11th-ish?

Arrived 12/22/08

2009-01-15T18:48:00.001-06:00

So I have about 2 minutes to reply cuz pday got moved to christmas and so we just have a minute or two today to tell you when and where to call. I will be at the Jentzsch's on Wednesday, Christmas eve, the 24th. If you can call me there (that is the new policy...families call the missionaries wherever they are at) that would be great. Around 15:00 my time, so 3 in the afternoon, should be about 7 in the morning for you guys. I hope my math there is right :P if you would be able to wake up that early on the 24th to talk to me, that'd be stellar.

I am afraid you will have to get the German country code, but the ZLs said it would be on a calling card or whatnot if you were going to use one. Or it would be easy enough to look up...so I hope it works out. So at that number, around 7 AM your time. Hope that works. If not, I may just end up pinging you or something. But it should work. I will just be by the phone so don't worry too much about needing Emma to talk German to the family or anything :P

Arrived 12/15/2008

2009-01-15T18:46:00.001-06:00

We were not able to get my package...yet. No idea why they stopped it. It is off at this building about 25-30 minutes away and the first time we tried it was late in the day and we were on foot\with the tram, and we just couldn't make it. We called the place and they said it would be there, so we might try again today. Do not know for sure though. Was there anything I need in it? I did get the second one just fine though-and thank goodness, cuz it had my Mannheim Steamroller!!! It can finally be Christmas now :D So thank you for that. If you have my BYU Jazz CD around anywhere, it would be cool to get that one too if you ever get the chance. But it is not holiday urgent like the MS was :)

Mmmm, BYU is a cool place. I wouldn't mind living in Utah...but whatever works. The guys are back there in NM though...but it is not really up to me, haha. I think you guys will be able to make the right choice.

We have a bunch of wine vendors throughout the Christmas market in Marktplatz, and there are drunks all over later at night. It is at once both sad and a bit hilarious. Good roasted nuts and pastries though :)

Things are going pretty well with Elder Lindsley. He is a great guy. Doesn't laugh very much...and I have found I laugh possibly too much, lol. The ZLs are really funny guys and sometimes I laugh so much I cannot breath and they have to make sure I am ok. Anytime I just get laughing uncontrollably at something they are just like, ''Ope, we've lost Elder Mason!'' The 3 of us all know each other better, though, and he might just need to get to know us better, and us him. *shrug* We have a progressing investigator now though! His name is Thomas and he is 49 and all alone. I cannot remember if I have told you about this already, but anyway. We are meeting with him again tonight, and hopefully he has tried to pray about the Book of Mormon. He reads it just fine, and actually enjoys that part, but he is still a bit new to it all and is unsure about prayer. We will keep helping him though, and we would like to see him baptized before this transfer is over. Keep you posted ;) We also doored into this one young mother named Heidi, and we have had a good lesson with her, and hope to meet with her again later this week. She has two daughters and is expecting another baby sometime (i.e., she is pregnant and that is all we know). She is cool; not a lot of belief in God, but she believes in spirits and so there is a bit of background. She is open though and we are keeping the faith :)

Hahaha I love LA's logic. Reminds me of the day I tried to stay home and watch movies at Jenn's house but you made me go to school...and by then the roads were cleared :P

That sounds like a fun day driving to school :D A memorable adventure, at least ;) It is good to hear that Glory is continuing Hoby's legend. Max needs to learn it too...

I have about 70 pics to send home, but I will have to do it through the Post, so it might be a week or two before they get there. But look for them in a galaxy near you someime in the near future :)

Well I love you guys! Thanks for the emails and letters and packages, especially my MS :) I will look today through the Christmas Market to see if there is anything I can send home...maybe some little gnomes? Hahahaha...how is Beer Pong doing? Hahahaha...anyway. I will try to get my package. Let everyone know things are going well and we are finally having some success. I promise to get some pictures sent home very soon. THey are in fact sitting on my desk waiting for an envelope, so no worries. Next Monday I will email the number you guys can call and reach me here for our Christmas call, so be excited! Looking forward to hearing you all again! Love you and good luck on finals and work!!!Tchussie!

Arrived 12/8/2008

2009-01-15T18:45:00.000-06:00

Hey!Thanks for getting my address up. It's ok, I have received a letter here so I know people have seen it.Well, BYU prolly has it and they just haven't updated the site or whatev. You could call and check, or just trust it will be ok. Ask Dad. I dont rem. exactly but some things do take a while to just show up on their site.

We dont have much time today so this one might be shorter...just in advance.So is German 4 getting easier? Or is it still ridiculous? Hahaha good times.

Hahahaha I bet the dogs will chew open a lot of the presents...We are helping this older woman get her tree set up on tuesday. Normally it is tradition here to wait for Christmas eve, but she doesnt care.Elder Lindsley is from Springville (Mapleton, really), Utah and has been out about 13 months, in Germany for 11ish. He is quieter, but we have had some good times already and the program is already improving because he actually wants to work. We have a new investigator named Thomas; we showed him the Finding Happiness DVD and are teaching him a first later tonight. Sweet!

I am still trying\contemplating sending some things home for you guys for Christmas, but I cannot promise anything this week. The first box you sent (I assume its the first) got stopped in Schkopau about 25 minutes south of here and I have to go claim it today. I got a letter telling me it was being held there so we will go see what the big deal is. It was under the declaration limit so I have no idea why it got stopped. Is it loaded with contraband? Lol.So hopefully I can get it and the others will get through.Cool storm trooper models? Interesting...I am intrigued...

We had cheeze schnitzel again to welcome Elder Lindsley here to Halle...but he hadnt arrived yet, so he didnt get any...hahaha. That is what we had for lunch my first or second day here...I think if you pull the dash out of that you spelled it right! except it ends with -el...

Parents!!! You let Taylor dye her hair??? I cannot believe this world...

Well, things are great here. We are seeing some success now, and things are looking up. The ward is finally receiving us well and I am excited. But this cafe is gonna close soon and I need to write Präs, so I gotta jet. Love you guys! I will send some pictures home soon. Really. My camera is just dead today and so i cannot do it this pday. Sorry, but soon! Thanks! Love ya! Bye!

Arrived 12/1/2008

2009-01-15T18:43:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving, both of them, were great. We still have turkey :)Had some snow this last week too. Hahaha, I am quite the sculptor, I know...

Those silly dogs. Why is Max so itchy?Oh do not worry, we laugh plenty. Especially when pulling slats out from the bunk beds so Elders fall through when they jump up to their beds. Or throwing ice water and snowballs on Elders in the shower. Or filling Elders' beds with coat hangers. Or when the ZLs hid all the milk from me and I about died this weekend. So yeah :)

Hey Em, sorry I haven't been able to write back yet. We had our own thanksgiving at the church kitchen with our district, and then one at a member's house cuz the mom was American and they had lived in Utah for 10 years and wanted to have us over.

I knew a guy from my Star Wars forum who did that nanowrimo and he said it was a lot of fun. What did you write about?I will get pictures as soon as I can. I aim to send hopefully some things home for you all...

HAHAHA I love you too, Taylor. Hide some snow in Emma's bed for me ;)

Well! Great to hear from you! Love you all very much. Oh, BTW, my trainer is getting transferred tmrw. I am getting a new trainer, named Elder Linsley. I will keep you posted :) oh and Emma, have you been able to get my address up on Facebook yet? Sorry to bug. If you have just let me know and I will stop bugging you about it. Thanks! Love you guys!

Arrived 11/24/2008

2009-01-15T18:39:00.003-06:00

Hey Family! It sounds like your job is really intense now, Pops. I give you permission to give them a smack down...old school WWE style...Yeah, Jetlag owned my soul for about 2 weeks...i still am pretty tired most days...I cannot seem to get well rested out here. I imagine i will be tired for the next two years and then come home and sleep for a day or two...lol.

Transfers: We find out this coming friday, I think, and then we move on the next tuesday. It is extremely unlikely that I will be moving...that would be exceptionally cruel to a golden (greenie). It is tradition to stay in your birth town for at least two transfers. That and pres has said he is wanting to leave missionaries in cities for longer, so...but i think i will be staying...

Yay. Looking forward to the box! Oooohhh, I need those Steamroller CDs....haha looking forward to that one too.

I did buy that pack. It is a really nice Deuter Futura 28. It was a bit 'spensive, but it rocks so it should have been. I am looking forward to having a bag that will last me more than one year, exactly.

How is gas that cheap??? Did it fall gradually in the past little while, or was it a sudden drop?? It is down to around 1,20 Euro here, but that is crazy cheap...so the experts are saying the current administration's economic policies are doing the country some good? Really....what a change of heart... :P

It is ok, I am not sure I have too much profound to say either. We have not found really any success this past week.

Thanks for all the support. It is snowing this weekend like crazy, and it hasbeen bitter cold for the past couple of days. Members here say it does not snow in Halle, but it has snowed 5 times in the past 4 days...lol. Today we are having a thanksgiving dinner with our district. They all came out here to Halle. We are gonna stuff ourselves on turkey and potatoes and rolls and pie...mmmm! Even though Germans dont have or believe in Thanksgiving, we are having another such dinner on Thurs. with a family, the mom of which is American, so she will cook up some good classic American Thanksgiving food. Ohhhhh I am so hungry right now...

Floss? What is that?? Oh, I think i threw that out at the MTC to make sure my bags were under the weight limit... :P :D

Something BESIDES TURKEY???!!!??!? You always were the crazy child, Emma! :P Maybe one year the Bumpus hounds will come and eat ourn turkey and you can finally get some chinese duck or something...wrong holiday, I know, but it is close enough. Besides, the Christmas preparations are really underway here in Halle already, and Marktplatz is loaded with little cottagey buildings and vendors and a huge decorated tree and there is a carnival set up just a bit away and it is crazy. I will try to take some pictures and email them home, seeing as out here in the real world again i have access to that cool technology...I will try my best.

So good, eat some turkey (and force Emma too as well) in my honor :D

Where are you applying to, Emma? BYU ist am besten!!! C'mon, succumb to call of the the Provo bubble...but anyway, where are you looking?

HAHAHAHAHA I think i might just open the first box as well...Maybe it is time to install a doggy door in the garage door in the hall...

Who is Carol marrying? That boy who was here over the summer? If so, good for her. He was way chill and they were happy together. If not...well, too bad then...lol. I heard something about Brad Skidmore, but I don't know anything about it really. What are your opinions on those matters? Good, bad, other? You parents always have good (or funny, at least) things to say about such events...

Well it is getting really cold here, but we are doin' our best to stay warm. I may go out and buy some heavy duty super warm hiking socks if i need to, but we will see...

WE have an assigment from Pres to read 6 pages a day in the BOM and for us younglings, to highlight the referneces to Christ or his words. It is a really eye-opening experience to see just how often He is refered to in the BoM. Something like every .63 verses from 1 Ne to 2 Ne 14, or so Elder P said. Cool stuff. It does mean my reading of Jesus the Christ has slowed down, but Itry to get in as much of that as I can. It is almost like reading a really thick novel, like some Tolkien or something. 'Cept...it is about Christ, so...yeah. Really good book.

Well, we have things to prepare for our feast today and I have to write President, so I best be heading out. Thanks for the emails and the boxes (we have food, but it is mostly like stuff you would have to prepare, so it is good to have quick stuff), I really appreciate them. Thanks too for the prayers. Viel Gluck mit work and school and seminary and giving people shots (Jenn said she got her flu shot from you, of all people, Mom. Hahaha I thought the coincidence was great). Love you guys and pray for you. Talk to you soon!

P.S. I loved those Get Fuzzys! The anemone one was a riot. Always ready for more :D One of the ZLs is cultured too so he enjoys things like that as well.

Arrived 11/17/2008

2009-01-15T18:37:00.001-06:00

Hey Family!

Things actually inproved a lot this past week. I am not worried too much about it anymore. Thank you for the support though. I do not think it will be much of a big deal anymore. Those stories do sound pretty bad :) I am glad that you were able to survive them though ;) I am just staying positive and trying to work hard. We are finally getting accepted by members, so things are good as far as that is concerned. It is funny how the Church is essentially the same here, but in many ways so different. We dont have YM/YW, we have a Ward Activity evening. Home Teaching in East Germany is at like 20%, but some are really committed and work hard on that. The other elders tell stories about crazy church experiences. But its all still the same Gospel, and that keeps bringing people together.

That postcard was from the first eating appointment i went to. The older couple insisted on taking pictures and sending them to our families. My comp is the skinny white blonde kid. Elder Pa is the dark blonde Aussie and Elder G is the dark brown haired one. I could get a card to them, yeah.

Hahaha, yeah the house would be quiet without Taylor there ;) Is she having fun in NH? Where is Emma thinking of applying to?

We taught only one lesson this past week, to one of the ZL's investigators actually. We were walking back yesterday after an eating appt. and the Zls went off to do stuff and so we talked to their inv. (who had come with) for about two hours just on the street there. It was freezing and we couldn't feel our feet when we finally parted, but it was a great talk about finding faith and how we are not going to receive a really strong witness until after our faith is tried. She has been struggling with faith and so it was great to have that opportunity to talk with her. She was actually being taught by the elders in our program (Halle 2) but the ZLs stole her before E. Perry and I got there. Oh well. They are doing pretty well with her, so it aint a big deal really.

mentioned two things I kinda need in my last email, but there are a few other things i could use. The rest of my drawing stuff; so, really just the rest of that reddish bag of colors. I have some 0.3 lead for my drawing pencil stashed in a ziplock in that white drawer I had, but you do not need to hunt for it if you could just buy another little tube of it the next time you are in Hobby lobby or w/e. Also, I really need some Mannheim Steamroller. Could you maybe get the two CDs we have (Christmas Celebration and whatever the other one is) and send them to me? Really the green Christmas Celebration one is my favorite, but both are great too. Truthfully I have access to music here if I want it, but I dont have cds or a music player to download stuff to (actually considered buying one here, but I dont know German well enough yet). So, could you maybe get my Return of the Jedi soundtrack, Kirkmount, and our Fellowship/Two Towers ST and send them too? I am the only one who listens to the first two, and you can copy the others into Napster and them send them to me. Maybe Sounds of Wood and Steel 3, Dad? You guys could copy that one into Napster too and send it or a copy...I could really go for some Goldfish and Corn Nuts. I can happily report that the Mac and cheese is great. And nobody else here really likes it, so no having to share :)The power converter and more Nature's Cure facewash i mentioned last time are high on the list too.

So we walked by a shop the other day and saw a sweater in there that was just like stormtrooper armor. You can zip the front of the hood up and its like the helmet too, with mesh things in the viewplate so you can see out. Wicked awesome. We are going by today and I may just have to buy it :D Prolly not, knowing me, but we'll see...

Well. Not too many stories to tell. We talk to a lot of people, ring a lot of doorbells, go by on a lot of old contacts. We found a good contact last tues. and he is supposed to call us this week. We alos have about 5 new members to keep active, and right now they are not doing so well. So we have a good deal of work to do, but we would like to get some real investigators too. The ward expects us to find new people and keep working on these new members and we should, but they need ward contact and home teachers (and its been several months since some of them have been baptized, and they still dont have HTs) and friendships outside of the missionaries, who will eventually get transferred. *sigh* We will keep working though. After all, we are saved after ALL we can do (2 Ne 25:23?), right? ;)

So, thanks for the love and support! Lookin forward to the Get Fuzzy. Have fun in triage, Mom, and be safe in Cali, Pops! Work hard, sisters! Hahaha, yeah right, I know... :P 'Til next week! Bye!

Arrived 10/10/2008

2009-01-15T18:31:00.003-06:00

(There are a bunch from the same day, because if we can catch him, we can send letters back and forth while he's still on the comp)

Hey! Sorry about the short email last week, i had just typed for so long and then it disappeared and i was so frustrated. I hope to avoid that this week :)

So! I got the first box, 2 or three of your letters, and letters from a bunch of people at Zone Conf. on Sat. Apparently they dont forward the mail that gets sent to mission HQ. I will just get it all at the ZoKo each transfer. But mail with my actual address will come straight to me.

I dont know if you will get something like that every transfer. I doubt it, actually. Too much work for the APs. I'm actually keeping my journal every day, so I will have some sort of record at least...

Yeah, I had to pull out 200 € for the bike fund, which i will get back if i never use a bike. Here in Halle we ride the trams (streetcars, ''Strassenbahns'') everywhere, or walk. Most of our contacts\investigators (we dont actually have any real inv. right now) live out a ways from where we do. At least we can walk to church. If we had bikes here it would kill the program. After office told us we werent going to be able to use the trams anymore, those are the words we used and they backed off and let us still use them. I would like to have bikes somewhere, just not here...but I want that 200€ back, so I dont know... :)

So Elder P is my actual trainer and companion. Elder Pa and Elder G are the zone leaders and we live in the same apartment. Elder G got transfered into Halle at the same time I got here, and Elder P has never worked here, so it was three new (well, new to the area and me who is actually new) missionaries and Elder P in Halle. So no, elder P and I are just a normal companionship.

Are you calling me fat??? I didn't gain any weight in the MTC, and may have lost a pound or two. I got a bit hungry sometimes...it wasnt like school where I could just go out and buy some food if I was hungry.

I have already had a bit of that, that understanding beyond my means. Elder Clawson (roomed with him in the MTC, and he is in my district here, fancy that. Love the kid, it'd be awesome to be comps one day) and I went out to do a bit of street contacting after Dist. Council Mtg. last Thursday, and though we have only been here threeish weeks, we were able to understand all but this one old guy who just rambled about the DDR...it was really cool. We even made out an appt. with this one older guy. And we barely know German! Hahaha so that was a great experience...

Haha, I dont know how high school counselors remember kids for so long...but thats cool. Good ol' Ed, I need to write to those fools...and actually I am not surprised about that with Brandon. He has wanted to join the marines for forever, but they wont take him cuz he wears contacts. Good to hear he has found that though. He always was really good at airsoft and paintball... :P

Well, the work goes on here. We do a lot of talking to people on the streets, a lot of ringing door buzzers at the outside of apartments (Germany's form of knocking doors) and then trying to talk to people through the intercom box, a lot of going by on the billions of contacts that past missionaries have made but never contacted...so far i have taught one real lesson, a first, and it was in English, hahaha. Every single other appt. we have had has fallen out. And we have not been able to get in contact with the girl to whom we taught that lesson. But we are building a groundwork, and things will start to happen as long as we stay faithful. We do have some recent converts that we need to keep active, so there is a task we can keep working on.

I am glad to say I'm keeping in contact with my college friends. Just got a letter at ZoKo from Katelyn. She's in the same ward as the Perez kids. Funny how we all know each other, haha. Tracy is doing wonderfully, she's loving London and England and all that. She just wrote me from Edinburgh and is having a blast. Have not talked to the LA gang yet, need to get on that. But hey, we're guys, we dont need no mushy chit-chat, right? Lol...

I made a little list of some stuff I could actually need. A new set of that Nature's Cure face wash, and a power adapter that is flat where you plug in the American plugs. I bought one here, but the female part, where I would plug in my US plugs, is recessed down inside this ring and my camera charge plug does not fit. If that description did not make sense then let me know and I will try again. I can always go for goldfish and corn nuts if you need padding to fill boxes :P Thanks for the snacks and cereal in the last box, that is exactly what I needed. German food is pretty good all around, still a bit weird but good too. I am just eating stuff without caring too much what it is these days.

Which reminds me of a story from our eating appt. yesterday at the bishops house. They had some hot sauce, and E. Parsons loves hot sauce, and he put a bit in his chili-soup, and the bishop was like Oh no, stop, thats way too much. But he stirred it in and was eating it. Bout halfway through he has to stop and breathe. Then he just sits there and pants. He invites me to try it, so i get this big forkful of stuff and eat it. It was SOOO hot I started to cry and sweat like crazy. My mouth hurt so bad for almost ten minutes. My nose was just running and running. So Elder Parsons and I are here suffering, and the other Elders and the family are just rolling with laughter. It was pretty hilarious.

On that note, thanks for the Get Fuzzy. Those ones you mailed with the debate and the runaway english cat were awesome. Lookin forward to the next set...

So...on my birthday i found the sweetest leather jacket I have ever seen, and was ever so tempted to buy it...cept it costs 80 €. It is awesome, but like always I am hesitant to spend that much money. Plus I truthfully could only really wear it on Pdays...and I want to get me a good Deuter backpack, and that is lookin to be 60-80 €. So I was thinking one or the other, at least for right now...though its not like i really need the jacket, its just very nice. That is prolly the sign i dont need it, aint it? Haha...So I thought I would get your take on it and see what you think. As far as christmas boxes, we will need to get them before Dec 14th or something, so I will make sure to keep notes this week if theres something i really need.

Well I better write my letter to Präsident and then I have to write to all my other adoring fans too(haha), so I best be heading out. Thanks for the letters and boxes and prayers. They are much appreciated. I am doing great, so you can let everybody know. Love you lots! Tschuss!

Arrived 11/10/2008

2009-01-15T18:30:00.001-06:00

The ward here in Halle, which I finally went to, is pretty small from what I have seen, but it is good. We had a stake conference my first sunday and I was on exchange my second sunday, so yesterday was my first in my actual ward. The Bishop is nice, a little distant at first, but the lunch at his house yesterday was great and helped, i think, to break the ice. Though Elder P played playstation for half an hour with the kids while the other three of us talked about the ward and the investigators :P

We have some very supportive members, and we are finally getting integrated into the ward better. It was hard cuz three of us were new, but we are finally getting a ward mission leader and the people are getting to know us. So that is great.

I remember from an MTC devo the speaker said, in relation to not spending nights at other missionary residences: ''2 missionaries is a companionship, 4 is a party.'' Hahahaha and that is a good description of the time from 9:30-til bed in our apartment. We laugh a LOT. So don't worry about that at least... :P :)K love you lots! Bye!

Arrived 11/3/2008

2009-01-15T18:29:00.000-06:00

So I was just writing the longest email ever when it just shut down on me. I have no idea why. Sorry, but I am gonna have to keep this one short. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....but thanks for the birthday wishes!!! Birthday on a pday...we'll see how it goes :)

So I am on a weekend long exchange. I hear those are almost unheard of. It has been great. We are writing this in a public library, but usually, back in halle, we go to internet cafes.

Man, I wrote for an hour and it all just disappeared. I am sorry, but I cannot possibly rewrite it all. But its good to hear things are going well, and no, Ive only gotten the hilarious stormtrooper card. No other mail. But I think we do get Ensigns.

Congrats to the girls. Tell them to keep up the hard work. Things are not moving very fast in the work over here, but we are working hard and something will to come of it :)

Well I love you all too and I swear Ill write more next week. I may even try a letter later today to test the time it takes. Things are going fine, and I dont need too much of anything, unless you can send me more sleep, lol. Thanks for everything! Sorry once again to not really have replied to much but I still have to write to Präs in the next 20 minutes or so :O Haha but take care, know that I miss you and love you! Tschuss!

Arrived 10/27/2008

2009-01-15T18:26:00.004-06:00

Hey again. So ill try a little recap of this past week.Jetlag SUCKS. Ive been tired just about all the time except when its so cold outside that it keeps you awake. But it should pass soon.

We got whitewashed into this area, which means that my trainer and I are both new to the area. Our Area book is...bad. We spent the week hunting down contact after contact...and found one solid one we could keep. After all of our finding efforts we got one lesson on Friday. I stopped to talk with this young lady at a bus stop and after contacting her (vis a vis ''Entshuldigung, wir sind Missionare der Kirche Jesu Christi...is it vis a vis? By way of? anyway...) she was like ''Um, I dont know if it would be easier for you to speak in english, or what...'' And so we said ok and just talked to her for a minute in English. She was enthusuastic and also asked if she could bring a friend, and we said ''Yeah!'' Well her friend (neither of us can remember her name...terrible I know) and this girl, J, came to the church on friday morning. the church is the third floor of this business building. Its pretty cool. anyway. The lesson went pretty great, and she even teared up a bit as i read Joseph Smiths words from JSH. She said she didnt really feel anything, but i saw it, lol. She and her friend are really busy uni students so we have to call again on wed. or thurs. to shedule the next appointment...but at least shes open to keep going! so thats my only real success story weve had. this transfer looks like its going to be what the SF 49rs have had for the past ten years or so: a rebuilding season :P

Well! So my trainer is named elder p. Hes a cool kid. Im committed to staying positive and looking for the good and ways to serve him, but its been a rough adjustment for the first little bit. We'll keep at it though ;)

I swear, if I were not a missionary, I would die of second-hand smoke in a couple of weeks. Its terrible. And everywhere. It doesnt even bother the others cuz theyve been around it long enough, but ive always been a bit sensitive to it so constant exposure has been...gggaaagggg. But Im a missionary. I can make it. hahaha...

We had an eating appointment yesterday. It was really good. And I didnt have to eat very much sauerkraut at all, haha! I didnt have to eat dinner after how huge that lunch was. I was told over and over that s.kraut here was 100 times better than in the states...and no, its just about exactly the same :P maybe my taste just isnt refined enough, haha...

The apartment is really nice. The others like to keep it REALLY cold all the time though, so I have to keep bundled up all the time. No biggie. German beds are interesting. Just a fitted sheet and a thick comforter that you drape over yourself. and the pillow is like a big thick chunk like the comforter. hmmm cool....We take the tram all over the place, and walk all over too. my feet have been holding up ok. Ive got some good pictures of old buildings and such thatre pretty cool. Ill see if I can get some printed out to you, or i might just buy another card here since theyre so cheap and then send the other one home to you. we'll see.

So not having the stupid 30 minute timer here in the field is awesome. That being said, I still have to write Präsident, so I might need to jet. Thanks for the SW card, that was funny and much appreciated, lol. As for phone calling, i have no idea. Theres so much 'black' that goes on in this mission it wouldnt be that weird to call, lol, but yeah. I think its a good round 8 hours of time difference. Ill think what i need and let you know soon. Things are pretty good. I might need more american food, like goldfish or cornnuts or something though...and maybe some more cds. we'll see.

Well, I love you guys! Thanks for everything, I cant for sure say when Ill be on each monday, we were supposed to come to email around 11 here, but i fell asleep, so we didnt come til 1:15ish. We'll see if it gets more regular. Sorry. Well, ill talk to you soon! Love you all, bye!

Arrived 10/27/2008

2009-01-15T18:25:00.000-06:00

Hey Family! These German keyboards switched the y and the z on me and so it's a bit weird trying to type. My finger keeps goin to the y key but its a z here :P and the ' is much farther away, lol...So. It is 13:42 right now as I write this...I'll try to incluide my time right before I send it so you can know the time difference. The comp clock says that is 11:44, so i guess it's just wrong. So pday is on Monday. We were basically out of food, really down to just a jar or two of jam and some condiments, until the zone leaders went shopping today. Thank heavens. I am not sure Ive ever eaten more cereal in my life...I had it for all three meals one day :)Ill go ahead and send this one now just in case somebody happens to be on. Ill start another...bye! love you!

Halloween!

2008-11-07T12:57:00.003-06:00

I know I promise more pictures, and again, I promise, we'll have them! It was a crazy-dazy week last week (and this week, too!) Unfortunately, there was waaaaayyyy too much going on that weekend to have any really great turn out of kids. Usually, there's a mob, but this year, we (I wasn't at home, but at the home of a friend who lives in an even, supposedly better for candy region) only gave candy to maybe three of four groups of kids. Kind of a bummer. Oh well, our display was great! Pictures coming later...love you guys!

Arrived 10/16/08

2008-10-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

Hey! I got the letter from Emma today and thank you soooo much for the pictures and the letter. I DO send letters, it just takes a little while for them to get down there to you guys :P Ooooh, cheap gas when I leave town...
That Wells Fargo story reminds me of a scene from West Wing. Then again, just about everything reminds me of something from West Wing. And nobody here is well versed enough to banter with me. So all my quotes are for naught. Oh well :D

Why did you have to clean the Temple so much? Not as many volunteers that time or what?

Congrats on getting that job! I guess that means every time I write our Garver address in somebody's address book it may actually come in handy, lol. So you're gonna take it for sure then?

somebody is less of a morning person than I am? I'm not sure that's possible. Hahahaha....

Elder Scott came to our Tues Devo and he stayed afterwards so every missionary could shake his hand! He talked about the Spirit and learning and it was a great talk.

So: flightplans. We have a 2 hour layover in JFK, from about 4:40 'til 7. We are taking off at 7 so I guess it'll be not quite 2 hours really. I will do my utmost to call in that time, but if we have to get from gate A to gate ZZ...you know how that is. But I'll do what I can. I'll call home and hopefully the girls will be there, or I could call you at work too...it'll pry be collect, as I don't wanna buy a calling card :/

So, both Bru. Clark and Sis. Watson are German teachers AND gospel teachers. To teach a language-speaking district, you have to be an RM from that language. Each District just has at least two teachers.

I have been taking some pictures but the machine here is screwed up recently so I'm afraid I won't be able to send any home before I leave :/ But I do have some good ones!

Don't let the 'smart' kids intimidate you in Euro. There were lots of smart kids when I took it, but I had them all beat on military history...plus I had a life outside of school. So always make sure you have that to fall back on ;) Plus, like you said, you can be the religion kid in the class!

So our last 4ish days are going to be pretty insane, but I think we'll make it ok. Hahaha...

I'll see if there's anything I need, but as of now there's not, so don't worry too much. Thanks for the food, It is much appreciated. We're gonna have food eating parties these next couple of days to finish off all of our food, lol.

Bad Max!!! Well, thanks for not letting him eat my letter!

Well....I'm not sure what else I have to report....we're all excited/anxious to go, but more than a little sad to be splitting up after these 2 months. It'll work out alright though :)

Well, I'm outta time, so love you all, thanks so much for all the support and help, and I'll write as soon as I can! Thanks again, Tschuss

Frozen!

2008-10-14T18:34:00.001-05:00

Ach! It's gets so cold down here so fast. Two weeks ago we were in shorts and short sleeves, and now we're in winter gear! It's not so bad at home, but at school, where they absolutley refuse to turn on the heaters (to conserve energy, they say...) we very often are freezing during class. And during early morning seminary, they've stuck us in these portables -it's no good. We can hardly function! But it was cold in there even in August. We've prepared, lol. We have a stash of blankets in the "Mormon Cabinet" and everyone comes wrapped in blankets and boots and scarves and hats. It makes me smile.

I actually love cold weather, it's just a little shocking to my system when it is just suddenly cold.

Haha, my hands have finally thawed out. We were absolutely dying at school today. Everyone was frozen solid. I felt sorry for my friends who had to do XC or swim today. At least I got to come home and hide under a blanket with the dogs!

Halloween Decorations

2008-10-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

Here's the Frankenstein that Dad's made. He's not quite finished yet, but I'll put up completed pictures later.

This one is the Grim Reaper. We've done him up for a couple of years, and I think he's a street favorite.

Yay! This little ghoul, whom I cleverly named 'Tiny' is brand new to the display!

And last, but not least, the terrifying lawn gnome we have affectionatley named 'Pierpont' after the Pierpont of Gilmore Girls. Sterling has dubbed him "Beer Pong."

Arrived 10/10/2008

2008-10-12T19:27:00.001-05:00

Hey Emma!
Wir haben ein bischen Zeit zwischen General Konferens, so ich habe much entshieden dass ich zu Ihnen schreiben werde. Es ist komisch, "du-sprache" zu nutzen, und deshalb werde ich nicht machen. (Translation (via Emma): We have a little time between [sessions of] General Conference, so I decided that I would write to you. It’s strange to try “you-said,” therefore, I won’t do it.)

Es ist, für mich, schwerig mein ganze Brief auf Deutsch zu shreiben, aber ich werde ein bischen versuchen. (It’s hard for me to write an entire letter in German, but I will try a little bit.)

Wie get es Ihnen? Wie geht Deutsche Klasse jetzt? Macht es viel Spaβ? Ich brauche, dass Sie meine Neue Enlgand Patriots zu folgen. Und schreiben Sie, wie sie gehen. (How are you [He addresses me formally, for some reason, probably out of habit—that’s how they’ll address people when they talk to them on the street]? How’s German class going now? Is it really fun? I need to hear about my New England Patriots. And please write how they are doing.)

Okay, das ist alles, für mein Deutsch ich meinte. (Okay, that’s all, for my German anyway.) I have a favor to ask. Could you get on my Facebook and go to my profile pics and print me off 2 pics: the one I should have up now, of me and the girls in a big hug and the one of me in my black sweater and Tracy by the climb-on-thing-toy-whatever. If you could put the two on one page, but pretty big or on separate pages and include it in the next letter/package up here. I would mightily appreciate it. My email and password, if it has been forgotten: some secret stuff. Thanks very viel. Lol. Hehehe...

But really. Class is going well. Bro. Clark is an awesome teacher. He is an Int. Rel. major at the Y like me, so that’s awesome. He’s also pretty laid back, which is nice. Sis. Watson is a good teacher too, but she’s way strict and gets angry/fed up w/ us sometimes, but it’s not like we are disruptive or anything. Just a different style of teaching. But it’s good all the same. We are preparing to teach, auf Deutsch, the 2nd lesson this coming Tuesday (the 7th? Yeah...) The 1st lesson went well both times we taught it auf Deutsch. In fact the most recent one has been jus’ ‘bout our best lesson yet.

My companion, Elder A, has finally begun to open up more and let his personality show. He’s a funny kid. We’re finally teaching better cuz he’s gaining more confidence. So that’s good. We’ve been working hard to improve that and it’s paying off.

Apparently we get our flight plans this Friday. Hmmm! Crazy. I’ll thyink hard if there’s anything I really need ‘fore I ditch the country. *chuckle*
I reacquired my goalkeeping skills and have become once again the pre-eminent goalkeeper for our gym period. I’ll try not to let all my talent inflate my ego too much. :P

Are you the one w/ Marcotte? Is she weird?
How’s the rest of school going? Seminary?

Your German is very good. Better than mine was back then! Gut gemacht! So keep it up.
Very proud o’ you, sis. Have some fn amidst all the raging torrents of school + church + all else. Love you, take care, I’ll talk to you soon! —Big Brother
P.S. I am not sure if I remember my debit card pin #. If you all could remind me of it...soon...danke!

Arrived 10/2/2008

2008-10-12T19:24:00.001-05:00

Hey!

Yeahsorry, I had zero time last week. I got made the new district leader and thus I have more stuff to do on P-day. We have to write a letter to our Branch Pres every p-day, and that's a big enough theft of our time, but as DL I have to write another one talking about the district and things. So it was tough to get it all sorted last week, but I got on top of it today. So there's my excuse :/

How's Hannan been? You guys havin' a bunch of fun? Hahahahha...

Yeah, we've had lots of GAs here for devo. Pres Uchtdorf, Elder Cook, Elder Hinckley, etc...

Yes, thank you much for that talk from Elder Hafen. I haven't had too much opportunity to read it yet. We don't have enough time, really. My acne is...well, it's not the best it's ever been, and I blame the fact that we're only allowed 5 minute showers and I don't have enough time to properly treat it in the mornings and evenings. Well, whatever doesn't kill ya, right? Lol ;)

Got over my second cold. One of our Elders has caught pneumonia. He's one of my roommates. At first I feared for my life (jk) but he's doing ok. Don't freak out, mom. I'll be fine. Lots of liquids and hand washing, so I'll be fine ;) He sleeps a lot. Any suggestions for him?

So...BYU seems to be owning pretty handily. I guess that's what we get for being in the Mt. West.

Good luck with Halloween! Of course now that I'm gone it'll be only a shadow of it's former greatness...hahaha jk jk. You think your raise'll outpace inflation this year? That'd be sweet. I heard through a fellow elder that WaMu failed and AIG Health somethin' or other went under...how are things on the economy front? In Politics?

Story two: so about day 2 here, I get a mondo blister on my back heel of my right foot. It's very aggrevating for a week or so, then I switch to just wearing my Bostonians. I have to say, they are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. And they make a sweet clacking sound cuz of the leather soles. Anyway, I let it heal, and I'll get back to alternating shoes here very soon. The Rockports are very comfortable but the padded heel rubbed that exact spot just wrong so I'm takin' a break from them for just a bit longer. I may have to write you all at some point and have you send me another pair of the Bostonians in like a year or whatever. But anyway. My "gear" is working out well. Suits are great.

Emma, ich kann auf Deutsch schreiben, aber es ist nicht so schnell wie Englisch.(Emma, I can write in German, but it's not as fast as English) Aber ich werde meine Beste machen. (But, I will try my best.) Kanterbury Tales ist nicht so dumm, Schwester! (Canterbury Tales is not dumb, sister!) Also, vielleicht. (Well, maybe.) Ich habe Frau West geliebt. (I loved Mrs. West [my AP Lit teacher].) Sie ist eine gute Leherin. (She is a good teacher.) Deine Deutsch ist gut,aber now I have no time left so I gotta write fast. (Your German is good, but...) I love you all, I'll try to keep on top of writing better! Bye! I'll try and get a letter off soon. Tschuss!

Arrived 9/18/2008

2008-10-12T19:23:00.001-05:00

Hey Fam!

Things have been great. We got to hear from Elder Hinckley this past week at Devo. Good talk.

Just one quick question before I continue: did you mean to send me my old red Lobos shorts? They came in that package with some food, socks and a pair of boxers...they don't even fit me anymore, really...

So, seeing as I have nothing to reply to, I'll try and think of some things :P
I got a bit of a cold again just last night. I took some Vit-C and a multivitamin and drank tons of water (meaning I didn't sleep much last night) and it's passing pretty well today. We're all in such close quaters for so much of the day that when one person gets sick, it's all too likely it'll pass to somebody else. Even with all the sanitizing we do. But it's all good.

So the new Elders and Sisters are nice. It'll take a while before we really get to know them, but we're working on it. Today was their first P-day, so they were pretty excited. In the end they discovered that P-day is *almost* more stressful than relaxing. Got Temple and laundry and the required letter to the Branch Pres and so forth. But we got to see the newer video in the temple today, the one with the blonde woman and the younger Lucifer, and that was sweet. We're all basically in agreement that it's better than the old one. Not like it matters too much, but really it is. Anyway. We got through in record time today, which was surprising. The guy who was there to help me at the veil got confused at one point and tried to feed me something else to say, and so I just stood there and kinda looked puzzled, before he relized I was ok and we could continue. A bit amusing to me...haha...

Got me a haircut today. Stuff grows like crabgrass. It's hilarious that they stock the MTC barbershop with attractive young women. I think they must just do it to torture the poor Elders. LOL.

Hmmm...what else...I've been playing keeper during our almost daily games of Fussball, and the first couple of games went well. But lately whatever team I've been on hasn't been that great and so I get shot on prolly 3-4x more than the opponent's keeper. Naturally the odds are against me. I think I'll go back to playing Defense for a while.

An Elder tore his acl here during Sport one day, and he had surgery on it on like tuesday. He's on a lot of drugs now, and when he got back to the residence halls, he went around to all the rooms and found the ones that were unlocked and went inside and like smelled people's clothes. Hilarious. He was so doped up. His comp was just like "We can't do this Elder!" but he wouldn't listen. Hahahahaha made us all laugh a lot.

How are things back home? How is school and work? How are the dogs? Things are great here. We start teaching the lessons in german next tuesday, and everybody's pretty angsty. I'm sure we'll manage though;) We've taught the first and second lessons twice a piece so far, and now we're starting over with the first lesson auf Deutsch. I'll be needing to help Elder A feel more comfortable with the language so we can teach with a bit more unity. We'll be working on it ;)

Could I get you to send me some more smarties? I normally put one or two in my pocket in the morning and munch during the day. But I'm down to just a handful :/

Down to 2 minutes, and I can't really think of anything else, so I'll wrap it up. Thanks for everything, love you all, and hope to hear from you soon! Bis spaeter!

Arrived 9/11/2008

2008-10-12T19:21:00.001-05:00

c'mon mom, you should be sleeping if you have a cold :P
Mine is basically gone, I just have that bit of a residual cough. It'll pry last for a while :/

My comp, Elder A, is doing...good. We are getting along better. It's not that we weren't before, but he really is not social, so it's been a struggle. I've found that around other LDS kids I'm pretty un-reserved, but he is not. But we're working on it. Despite his 4 HS years of German, he is NOT comfortable with the language, and isn't really willing to try like the other elders who aren't any better than him. After we teach the 2nd lesson for the 2nd time this next tuesday, we're teaching in German. So far when we do German "tasks" before each teaching appointment, I end up talking for almost all of it. I hope that does NOt carry over to when we start teaching in German, but we're gonna have to work very hard. I, truthfully, am getting pretty tired of carrying the companionship. He works...hard, but so do the others so I don't understand what we need to work on more...anyway. I shouldn't complain about it, but I can't really do so here, so I'm venting on you guys. But we'll keep working ;)

I can't say I'm surprised about the county janitoring off our Church activities. Silly LA.

Max and Gloy sound good. Sounds like they're doin' their regular business :D

@Emma: I meant bold just in schoolish terms, like throwing a doughnut at the principal, not necessarily in conjunction w/ seminary...so give it some thought :P
Just keep working at German. You'll do fine there. Marcott is indeed a crazy. I can offer you no advice there :/

Thanks for the info on Palin. anything else you could dig up would be great.
Yeah, Sarah would have done that. ANd all the letters from the school crew have had the box # tacked on already, so I assumed it's gotten around. thanks though! If you could do one more favor in that regard, could you get back on and get me out of the LA summer ultimate group, it' gonna keep spamming me with messages and I don't wanna come back and have like 400 to delete :/ Thanks!
Keep me posted on how school goes!

@Pops: Don't be mean to my dogs! Then again I guess somebody has to make sure they keep loving me the most :P
Yeah, the clocks on the comps here are messed. *shrug*
So when we were in the referral center, placing calls and taking calls for items (like videos, BoMs, etc.), some people taked about hurricanes. But lol we haven't heard any real news about it other than that it's happened. Crazy.
Haha that comment from one of your coworkers made me laugh.
OOOOOOOOH, so EMMA gets a car at school, eh? Hahaha I see how it is. Jk jk. Oh, and thanks for the package! Fyi, we can only chew gum in our rooms :/ and we can't wear lapel pins either! We also have to be fully clothed to go to the showers and once we get out and go back to our rooms, fully clothed again. They put up little stalls in the "trees of life" and so showers take forever!!!! Plus we're supposed to be 10 minutes early to everything. That is impossible. No joke. Our branch rules seem a bit...ridiculous at times :/ Was it like this for you, dad or mom?

@Tay: Hahaha well keep egging Glory on ;)

K gotta run! Love you all, thanks for everything! Bis Spater!

(BTW, If you all could pull out the other Star Wars watch, the Luke/Stormtrooper watch, one of the elders here would like it and it would be great if you could mail it up here. Anyway...)

Arrived 9/4/2008

2008-10-12T19:20:00.004-05:00

So funny story, I typed for a like 12 minutes, and then another elder came and the computer next to this one is messed up, so they tried to restart it to fix that one, and it restarted mine too. So that was just too ridiculous for me to be upset. But anyway. This email will be shorter cuz now I'm tired of writing...

Seminary sounds like a...riot. lol. JK. It sounds even gayer than ever before. The administration, I mean. Do something bold and become a legend, that's what I say. Hahaha ah well.

Glory bit one of our new neighbor dogs? And they were cool with it? Interesting...

Feel free to send my Bosh's list. I can't print email here so a letter would be best. If you want i can write to you in German and stuff. We still haven't gotten to much past HS german for me so it's been breezy as far as the language goes thus far :) Tell Bosh thanks for that, I guess. And good luck. Ger 4 is hard. Just actually do the hw. Tonio was a better speaker than me but I got a better grade cuz I actually did HW :P

I'm estimated to leave Oct. 20th. FYI.

Sure, you can blog my letters if you'd like. I'll try and write more about what's actually going on here so it's more interesting.

Got over my cold, pretty much. Vit C pills and OJ, baby! and taking a break from Sport.

Yeah, Euro w/out Schick is like Oreos without milk. Good, but can't be enjoyed to the fullest of it's potential.

Emma, if you could log onto my facebook and find my note with my address here and comment that it's box 205, that'd be great. I might need you to do something else on there so hold onto those passwords.

Gov. Palin as McCain's VP, huh? I don't know much about her. Anything else you all could send me about here would be great.

I've got less than 5 minutes left, so I better wrap this up. I'll try and write an actual letter talking about actual mission stuff here later today. Love you all, thanks for the help and keep sending me food! Lol jk. But seriously. Bye for now!

Arrived 8/28/2008

2008-10-12T19:20:00.003-05:00

Hey family!

So i got my email account and I'm on for a little while here to fill you all in. First week went pretty great. Everybody kept saying that the first four days are super long but after that it gets better. I didn't think it was too bad, but they were long. Now the datys are going pretty quick. Thes four days here have gone pretty fast.

Hahaha, they have the 30 minute timer in the upper right corner of the screen, ticking down to my eventual kick-off. I'm not sure I have too much to tell you all about since my last letter, but I'll see what I've got. We've been learning some useful Deutsch like how to pray, share our testimonies, contact people, things like that, and it's only been the first week! Elder A (my comp) and I taught the first lesson to this old lady in the Teaching resource Center, or somethin' like that, and it went pretty well. But I like to pride myself on my command of the English language, and I think my skills will go down measurably once we have to switch to German teaching in three weeks. The District is great, as is the zone. We've got a lot of good guys. I've been playing soccer this week for Sport, and it's been super fun. Ther are some really good players here. I'm not that great but I try really hard and so the other guys have been giving me some props for playing so well. *shrug* so that's been cool. We went to the temple today and that was nice. The wife in the example couple started having a seizure halfway through the session, though, so we had a tense minute. Her husband was there though and there was an RN on the first row so it was fine. She yoinked a chair from that seating area by the altar and propped her feet up and stuff. There were prolly 60 people in the session! It was intense. Anyway, father, just wonderin' too if you'd had a chance to mail off that note/book I left you with...

I have time to email thursdays around 3:15ish or so, fyi. The laundry room is huge and super hot and stuffy, lol.

I got a bit of a cold here the last day or so. I think it's passing though. Drank lots and lots of orange juice and stuff. Oh could I please get another pair or two of gym shorts? We have sport 5 days a week and my gym pants get pretty hot out there in the sun. I also might enjoy a few pairs of my good old boxers if you could. Also, one Elder F is plumbing all of us for muddy buddies. Food and ties are the primary currency of bartering around here. If Mom happened to want to exercise the long-lost talent for making muddy-buddies...*cough*

Hahaha but don't worry too much about it. Hope my first letter got to you alright. It's been about five days since I mailed it so I was beginning to wonder. Love to hear from you guys when ever you get a chance. It's not been *particularly* lonely but I do really miss hearing from everyone.

Well I've got to go check my washers so I'll have to end it here. I love you all and thanks for everything. Miss you, can't wait to hear from you!
Tschuss!