Week 37
星期一,四月三十号(第251天)
Montag 30. April 2018
Our neighbor Sascha wanted to take us to a cool ice cream place outside of town. It happens to be like an hour bike ride from our place, so it was pretty much a day trip. When we started out, it was raining which I wasn't really liking, but not too long into the trip, the sun was out and everything was gorgeous. We rode through the streets, the parks, and then finally farmland. The ice cream shop was part of a farm and you can just walk in and find their main building and buy ice cream. I got a banana milkshake which was sooo good. Sascha doesn't take regular lessons from the missionaries much, so we slipped in a tiny spiritual thought about families at one point. It was a good long trip, almost 3 hours or so. Sascha is literally too much of a bro to be contained inside a single body. I don't get how he does it.
This random guy named Amir has been constantly calling us to find a time and place to meet. I don't know how he has our contact information (probably a pass-along card), but last week he called and said he wanted to meet at Domsheide. First off, to get to that point was hard because he told us he didn't care where we met and that we could choose. When we told him to meet at our church, he had a total problem with that. So obviously he did care where we met. But okay. We had gone to the Domsheide and he wasn't there. We called him and he said he was in another place far away waiting for us. He's just confusing to work with. Anyway we got another appointment set up and this time it was in front of the Park Hotel which is pretty fancy but he came to this one. His German is pretty good, but his native language is Persian even though he refused a Book of Mormon in Persian. It was a standard first lesson, with the exception of what he was telling us. When asked about who prophets were, he answered that he is a prophet. Oh really? He did also say that everyone is a prophet for their own lives, but it seemed like he was into the idea of being a prophet. Also, he happens to be in tune with other peoples' spirits. What's crazier is that he says claims to personally know King Solomon because he "has received his spirit". I mean I don't want to judge, but I feel like he's on something that lasts a long time. He's almost always like this. He also supports polygamy and was confused as to why we weren't. Interesting fellow. He also has apparently written a book on religion.
星期二,五月一号(第252天)
Dienstag 1. Mai 2018
Today was some weird random holiday so Elder Clemons and I decided to start making some Chinese points on our maps. We scoped out a few Chinese restaurants and stores; kinda like what I was trying to do in Tiergarten.
In addition to a Holiday screwing us over, Sophia has been sick and Harthmout was too busy to come to the English course. We're just getting wrecked!
星期三,五月二号(第253天)
Mittwoch 2. Mai 2018
District meeting was in Bremen today which made things much easier. Yaşlı King presented a great lesson on finding out exactly why we believe Christ was the Son of God, and how we personally know that He is our Redeemer.
As always, Yaşlı King couldn't decide on anything else but Döner; however, we found some great success in this. First off, the Döner place was run by real Turks so Yaşlı King could whip out some Turkish. The one Turk was interested in talking to us and might start taking English class lessons which would be dope. Second, there was a lady there who used to be an investigator a long time ago. She told us that since she wasn't ready to be baptized, the missionaries couldn't meet with her which sounds weird but whatever. She literally lives about a minute walk from us so we told her if she ever needed anything she could call us. Hopefully we can get her back into taking lessons. The thing that was weird was when she started talking about nanotechnology and her concerns with that such as how she fears nanobots will get into our bodies and then companies can patent us as their own. A little crazy but Germany is like summer camp and makes everyone a little crazy so what are you going to do?
We've decided to take a new approach with finding. Instead of just introducing ourselves and the church, we will tell people we're doing a survey about families. We ask them a few questions regarding their beliefs on families and such and then we take those answers and tie them in to the Book of Mormon. So far, it's seems fairly successful. We've got to spice things up more.
星期四,五月三号(第254天)
Donnerstag 3. Mai 2018
We keep getting texted by a lot of random crazy people. More so than normal. This week we've had many people just start talking about things and asking who we are. I guess missionaries attract the crazies.
We brought along Marcella to our lesson with Kaleb today. Kaleb speaks French as his mother tounge, and Marcella lived in France for a couple years, so they got along real well. It was a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation and his mind was blown away by all of the information. He used to be Muslim, but his parents don't know he was baptized into a Christian church, which can cause a lot of safety problems. But he joined Christianity anyways, aside from the risks. His conversion story is amazing, so if he desires to join our church I want to make sure I will do all I can to make this special for him, too.
星期五,五月四号(第255天)
Freitag 4. Mai 2018
We had a plan to meet with Arezoo again, but we needed an extra person to be with us. There has to be three of one gender, so all week we had been contacting people to help us out. All of them said that they were busy. There was one member, Bruder Pront, who hadn't said anything all week. But right before our lesson, and before we thought it might not even happen, we just called him one last time and he answered and was like yeah when do I need to be there. And everything was good. Whew. Arezoo showed up late, so Elder Neale our translator couldn't stay for too long which was fine. We only got to teach about faith and repentance, but we extended the commitments to repent and come to church and she was totally down for those. The lesson itself was a little rough because our German was a little cringy to hear, but Elder Neale didn't care, bless his heart. He knew what we were trying to say.
Oh yeah and May the 4th be with you!!
星期六,五月五号(第256天)
Samstag 5. Mai 2018
Bremerhaven asked us if we could come up to them and help out with a street display. We were fine with it, so this morning we headed on up. We actually took our bikes to the Hauptbahnhof and then locked them at a parking spot there. I've been in Germany for so long, yet never realized how little room there is to lock your bike since there are so many people who use them, too. But it made things easier to at least bike that far. For the street display, we set up in a little public square in their Innenstadt. Everything was great, we had a good amount of crazy people approached us, but the best part was when this American band set up right next to us and started playing some sick tunes. They were a little loud, but not to the point where people couldn't hear us. Still, I feel like it helped the people get a little more of a soothing sensation in talking to us. Towards the end, a big church nearby started ringing their midday bells to announce that it was noon. The bells were super loud and they started at 5 'till and and went until 5 after. For 10 minutes we couldn't communicate easily with people, but that didn't stop me. I ended up doing a street approach by basically screaming at them. It was great.
We hadn't had any good conversations with Chinese people all week, so we set out to look primarily for them. In just an hour or so we got to talk to 9 Chinese people and one of them took a Book of Mormon and gave us their contact information. The reactions Asians make is always perfect when a white guy comes up to them in German, realizes they don't speak German and switches to English to ask them where they're from, and then ends in Chinese because they're from China or Taiwan. The best comparison I can find is when a cat looks behind them and sees a cucumber, then springs away because cat.exe has stopped working. Most of the time they flip out and it's great. We met two guys who were from England and were totally baller. Gave them cards and told them to check out the missionaries in England because I know a few who speak Chinese there, too it was a good way to end the day.
星期日,五月六号(第257天)
Sonntag 6. Mai 2018
Church was great, we had a good amount of investigators come. But something surprised happened with some changes announced at sacrament meeting. I don't think I'm allowed to share them just yet so I'll most likely talk about it next week. But the changes aren't anything bad, they're rather unique and exciting.
After church, the Stelter family gave us a ride to their home. They fed us burgers from a grill! This had to be one of the most American meals I've had since being in Germany. They asked us what kind of meat we wanted on our burgers and we were like klar us Americans want beef. They were even nice enough to pull out some genuine bacon. Elder Clemons and I were some very happy missionaries.
For the fireside tonight, I got to teach the lesson. I went over service and need we have in our church to take care of each other. I would say it wasn't too bad.
星期一,五月七号(第258天)
Montag 7. Mai 2018
First thing on our list today was to see something called the Schnoor out in the Innenstadt. It's apparently something everyone needs to check out so we did. The Schnoor, as far as I could observe, was a neat little street of stores and other shops that is scrunched together like Diagon Alley in a way. Elder Clemons and I bought some ice cream and checked out the little nicknacks they had there.
Marcella took us and a friend of hers out to the Bürgerpark to row down its rivers. There's a stream of water that goes almost all through the park and it was beautiful. I got to row for a little bit of it. Some other time, she wants to take us through the rest of the land part of the park. We had a good time.
Catch you all later!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,四月三十号(第251天)
Montag 30. April 2018
Our neighbor Sascha wanted to take us to a cool ice cream place outside of town. It happens to be like an hour bike ride from our place, so it was pretty much a day trip. When we started out, it was raining which I wasn't really liking, but not too long into the trip, the sun was out and everything was gorgeous. We rode through the streets, the parks, and then finally farmland. The ice cream shop was part of a farm and you can just walk in and find their main building and buy ice cream. I got a banana milkshake which was sooo good. Sascha doesn't take regular lessons from the missionaries much, so we slipped in a tiny spiritual thought about families at one point. It was a good long trip, almost 3 hours or so. Sascha is literally too much of a bro to be contained inside a single body. I don't get how he does it.
This random guy named Amir has been constantly calling us to find a time and place to meet. I don't know how he has our contact information (probably a pass-along card), but last week he called and said he wanted to meet at Domsheide. First off, to get to that point was hard because he told us he didn't care where we met and that we could choose. When we told him to meet at our church, he had a total problem with that. So obviously he did care where we met. But okay. We had gone to the Domsheide and he wasn't there. We called him and he said he was in another place far away waiting for us. He's just confusing to work with. Anyway we got another appointment set up and this time it was in front of the Park Hotel which is pretty fancy but he came to this one. His German is pretty good, but his native language is Persian even though he refused a Book of Mormon in Persian. It was a standard first lesson, with the exception of what he was telling us. When asked about who prophets were, he answered that he is a prophet. Oh really? He did also say that everyone is a prophet for their own lives, but it seemed like he was into the idea of being a prophet. Also, he happens to be in tune with other peoples' spirits. What's crazier is that he says claims to personally know King Solomon because he "has received his spirit". I mean I don't want to judge, but I feel like he's on something that lasts a long time. He's almost always like this. He also supports polygamy and was confused as to why we weren't. Interesting fellow. He also has apparently written a book on religion.
星期二,五月一号(第252天)
Dienstag 1. Mai 2018
Today was some weird random holiday so Elder Clemons and I decided to start making some Chinese points on our maps. We scoped out a few Chinese restaurants and stores; kinda like what I was trying to do in Tiergarten.
In addition to a Holiday screwing us over, Sophia has been sick and Harthmout was too busy to come to the English course. We're just getting wrecked!
星期三,五月二号(第253天)
Mittwoch 2. Mai 2018
District meeting was in Bremen today which made things much easier. Yaşlı King presented a great lesson on finding out exactly why we believe Christ was the Son of God, and how we personally know that He is our Redeemer.
As always, Yaşlı King couldn't decide on anything else but Döner; however, we found some great success in this. First off, the Döner place was run by real Turks so Yaşlı King could whip out some Turkish. The one Turk was interested in talking to us and might start taking English class lessons which would be dope. Second, there was a lady there who used to be an investigator a long time ago. She told us that since she wasn't ready to be baptized, the missionaries couldn't meet with her which sounds weird but whatever. She literally lives about a minute walk from us so we told her if she ever needed anything she could call us. Hopefully we can get her back into taking lessons. The thing that was weird was when she started talking about nanotechnology and her concerns with that such as how she fears nanobots will get into our bodies and then companies can patent us as their own. A little crazy but Germany is like summer camp and makes everyone a little crazy so what are you going to do?
We've decided to take a new approach with finding. Instead of just introducing ourselves and the church, we will tell people we're doing a survey about families. We ask them a few questions regarding their beliefs on families and such and then we take those answers and tie them in to the Book of Mormon. So far, it's seems fairly successful. We've got to spice things up more.
星期四,五月三号(第254天)
Donnerstag 3. Mai 2018
We keep getting texted by a lot of random crazy people. More so than normal. This week we've had many people just start talking about things and asking who we are. I guess missionaries attract the crazies.
We brought along Marcella to our lesson with Kaleb today. Kaleb speaks French as his mother tounge, and Marcella lived in France for a couple years, so they got along real well. It was a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation and his mind was blown away by all of the information. He used to be Muslim, but his parents don't know he was baptized into a Christian church, which can cause a lot of safety problems. But he joined Christianity anyways, aside from the risks. His conversion story is amazing, so if he desires to join our church I want to make sure I will do all I can to make this special for him, too.
星期五,五月四号(第255天)
Freitag 4. Mai 2018
We had a plan to meet with Arezoo again, but we needed an extra person to be with us. There has to be three of one gender, so all week we had been contacting people to help us out. All of them said that they were busy. There was one member, Bruder Pront, who hadn't said anything all week. But right before our lesson, and before we thought it might not even happen, we just called him one last time and he answered and was like yeah when do I need to be there. And everything was good. Whew. Arezoo showed up late, so Elder Neale our translator couldn't stay for too long which was fine. We only got to teach about faith and repentance, but we extended the commitments to repent and come to church and she was totally down for those. The lesson itself was a little rough because our German was a little cringy to hear, but Elder Neale didn't care, bless his heart. He knew what we were trying to say.
Oh yeah and May the 4th be with you!!
星期六,五月五号(第256天)
Samstag 5. Mai 2018
Bremerhaven asked us if we could come up to them and help out with a street display. We were fine with it, so this morning we headed on up. We actually took our bikes to the Hauptbahnhof and then locked them at a parking spot there. I've been in Germany for so long, yet never realized how little room there is to lock your bike since there are so many people who use them, too. But it made things easier to at least bike that far. For the street display, we set up in a little public square in their Innenstadt. Everything was great, we had a good amount of crazy people approached us, but the best part was when this American band set up right next to us and started playing some sick tunes. They were a little loud, but not to the point where people couldn't hear us. Still, I feel like it helped the people get a little more of a soothing sensation in talking to us. Towards the end, a big church nearby started ringing their midday bells to announce that it was noon. The bells were super loud and they started at 5 'till and and went until 5 after. For 10 minutes we couldn't communicate easily with people, but that didn't stop me. I ended up doing a street approach by basically screaming at them. It was great.
We hadn't had any good conversations with Chinese people all week, so we set out to look primarily for them. In just an hour or so we got to talk to 9 Chinese people and one of them took a Book of Mormon and gave us their contact information. The reactions Asians make is always perfect when a white guy comes up to them in German, realizes they don't speak German and switches to English to ask them where they're from, and then ends in Chinese because they're from China or Taiwan. The best comparison I can find is when a cat looks behind them and sees a cucumber, then springs away because cat.exe has stopped working. Most of the time they flip out and it's great. We met two guys who were from England and were totally baller. Gave them cards and told them to check out the missionaries in England because I know a few who speak Chinese there, too it was a good way to end the day.
星期日,五月六号(第257天)
Sonntag 6. Mai 2018
Church was great, we had a good amount of investigators come. But something surprised happened with some changes announced at sacrament meeting. I don't think I'm allowed to share them just yet so I'll most likely talk about it next week. But the changes aren't anything bad, they're rather unique and exciting.
After church, the Stelter family gave us a ride to their home. They fed us burgers from a grill! This had to be one of the most American meals I've had since being in Germany. They asked us what kind of meat we wanted on our burgers and we were like klar us Americans want beef. They were even nice enough to pull out some genuine bacon. Elder Clemons and I were some very happy missionaries.
For the fireside tonight, I got to teach the lesson. I went over service and need we have in our church to take care of each other. I would say it wasn't too bad.
星期一,五月七号(第258天)
Montag 7. Mai 2018
First thing on our list today was to see something called the Schnoor out in the Innenstadt. It's apparently something everyone needs to check out so we did. The Schnoor, as far as I could observe, was a neat little street of stores and other shops that is scrunched together like Diagon Alley in a way. Elder Clemons and I bought some ice cream and checked out the little nicknacks they had there.
Marcella took us and a friend of hers out to the Bürgerpark to row down its rivers. There's a stream of water that goes almost all through the park and it was beautiful. I got to row for a little bit of it. Some other time, she wants to take us through the rest of the land part of the park. We had a good time.
Catch you all later!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 36
星期二,四月二十四号(第245天)
Dienstag 24. April 2018
We had a random bus driver in Delmenhorst ask us if we're from "that church in Findorff" and we were like klar dude and it turns out he lives near it. He saw some of the activities we do for the kids at the building during the summer and thought it was super cool and he wants to take his kids there. Good missionary work, Bremen.
Tonight we got to eat dinner with the Skwara family. The fed us some great food, but the best part was their German. It was clear and they enunciated a ton. They taught a spiritual lesson from a children's magazine (German version of the Friend) and I got most of what everything was about. This was the best German appointment I have had in terms of understanding German.
星期三,四月二十五号(第246天)
Mittwoch 25. April 2018
District meeting was again in Bremerhaven. We had a 2 Euro Döner which is the cheapest one I have ever received so I think my life has been accomplished.
For English course I taught Harthmout about adjectives which was going well for a little bit but then he got kinda bored. He's the guy who only likes it if it pertains to him or something he enjoys. I didn't want him to get bored, so I asked him to describe the elements of the Rocky Mountains. His eyes lit up! He went off on what you can find in the Rocky Mountains. We went over the alphabet with Sophia since she can't read yet. That's when I realized that English is freaking weird and hard when it comes to spelling. I mean I already knew that, but it just became more apparent tonight. You can't always merely sound out some of these words. Dog. Easy. Cat. Easy. Mouse. Hard. Even still, it's a magical experience to be teaching her how to read and write because she is soaking all of this information up and progressing so fast.
星期四,四月二十六号(第247天)
Donnerstag 26. April 2018
We met again with this amazing guy Kaleb. Because we had more time, we were able to complete a full lesson. With that, we found out that it would be best to get him a person who can speak French. We can teach him in English; he understands very well, but the problem is that it's a little difficult to get him to express himself properly in English or German. We made a group chat in WhatsApp with Elder Souza Lima who speaks French and they just go off on each other in this language. Elder Souza Lima tells us afterwards that he loves Kaleb to death and that he is one of the most amazing friends of the church he has met. I think we shall bring Elder Souza Lima to lessons through Skype or something from now on...
For the first time since Elder Bischoff left, we finally completed a full German lesson. Ridha met with us today and we taught him the Ten Commandments. It's chill because Ridha's German isn't perfect and neither is ours so he was completely understanding during the whole time. It was a fairly comfortable lesson even without an Elder Bischoff to fall back on lol. I can feel my German slowly getting better. But Ridha spent a lot of time talking about Ramadan and the details of it. He says he cheats sometimes and eats before the sun goes down in secret lol savage.
Eating appointment with Sister Prager. She and her home teacher (didn't catch his name) ate and chatted with us. She fed us vegetarian food since eating meat makes her tear up or something. I really can't get medical German into my vocabulary just yet.
星期五,四月二十七号(第248天)
Freitag 27. April 2018
The zone leaders came to Bremen today. I went with Elder Noland while Elder Clemons went with Elder Lorenzen.
Every week, all of the zone and sister training leaders skype in together for a meeting called Taufbesprechung (baptism discussion or whatever). This time was rare because the zone leaders were with us so they asked us to come join in because the investigators they wanted to talk about from the zone were ours. They totally threw me under the bus by having me explain everything about two of our investigators. The problem was that I had to do it in German since all meetings are held in German, and I wasn't ready to really talk in depth about investigators and their needs. Plus, I was talking in front of pretty much all the leadership of the mission so it was a little nerve wracking. All those worries I gave myself aside, I did just fine. At least, no one said anything so I made it through. Whew.
Elder Noland and I visited Souleyman today. He indirectly made things clear that he mainly wants to find out the differences between Islam and Christianity with us. That's fine by us since he still accepted the commitment to read in the Book of Mormon. We might just have to do small commitments one at a time with him. Afterwards, he asked if we could stay for a meal but we had to get going to Sport Abend so we unfortunately declined. Man, I am curious to experience cooking from a Gambian. He was a little sad that we couldn't stay which made me feel bad but I told him next time we meet we can discuss these topics over some food and he was okay with that. Souleyman is like the happiest man alive, too. It's really hard for him to stop smiling.
It makes me feel even worse because no one came to Sport Abend tonight; so we actually could have stayed for Souleyman. It has to be the cause of the warm weather. Why play inside when the outside is nice for playing ball? It's whatever, we did some finding on the way back to the apartment and stumbled on an Arabic restaurant which made Elder Lorenzen and Elder Noland excited. We decided to eat there tonight. They made a tiny mistake in that the place we were in was really fancy and expensive. But we were already committed after they brought us black tea and we turned it down. There's no going back from this. We're in too deep. We just kept saying that it would all right because this was "fine dining". That ended up becoming an inside joke for us. Only sip your water because it's fine dining. Don't eat your food until it's all there because this is fine dining. They made designs out of beads on our tables because fine dining. The waiter tried to roast us by talking to us in German and then saying that we probably didn't understand but to his surprise we answered saying we did understand in German. The waiter was an Arab, so Elder Lorenzen even tried speaking in Arabic but that made the waiter a little salty. Shouldn't judge Americans on languages, I guess. All in all, it was fine dining.
星期六,四月二十八号(第249天)
Samstag 28. April 2018
Elder Clemons and I made an attempt to do some straight up Asian finding but we ended up just finding Chinese places for shopping and eating. To our dismay, however, only Germans were found in these places. Chinatown is a hard place to find in this country.
Last night our neighbor Sascha asked if he could fix our bikes in our basement. We didn't even know we had bikes but it wasn't too much work to get them going. Today we rode our bikes for first time. I can say that it was absolutely amazing. Why have I not been doing this my entire mission? It made travel so much easier. Low key, it I was a little scary to ride in a city, though. I've only ever ridden in rural areas. The benefits outweighed the risks and we had a good time so all is well.
We felt very accomplished with this weekly planning as opposed to last week. Some appointments were set up today rather than us texting people and they get back to us like 3 days later and it becomes a last minute appointment. We even figured out a ride situation for Yvonne and Braden to come to church. Something that was really cool, though, was when we called an elderly lady who sounded like death because she was so sick, but she was so grateful we gave her a call.
星期日,四月二十九号(第250天)
Sonntag 29. April 2018
Rolling in with bikes this morning made us feel like the coolest kids on the block. All the members who saw us riding in were super happy to see us on bikes for some reason.
Since Yvonne and Braden were able to make it to church, we had a little class with them since they speak English. Antonio even showed up halfway through which was cool to see but we do have a potluck later and he might be coming for the free food. Nah, it was cool to have him, too.
After church, the ward put together a potluck as I mentioned before. Kaleb joined us for that, too. It was cool because he was attending his church today but still wanted to do something at our church so he made the compromise. A ton of good food and a ton of fun.
I had to lead Chinese Skype today again. It was a little rough starting off, but it wasn't too bad. I had everyone pick a scripture, talk about its context, discuss the doctrine or the message, and then bear testimony. Simple, but we all made it through. I realize my Chinese vocabulary is going down hill with so much German in my head. A little sad, but I'll be able to focus more on Chinese when my German is at a good level.
星期一,四月三十号(第251天)
Montag 30. April 2018
We're going to go on a bike trip later today with Sascha (might be the reason he fixed our bikes) hopefully the weather gets better. Last night I was up for two hours because the lightning kept lighting up the room almost every five seconds. It was crazy! But now it's just sprinkling. Germany, man! It was so hot last week and then mother nature just can't make up her mind. Bi-polar!
Hope everyone has a great week. Tschüss!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,四月二十四号(第245天)
Dienstag 24. April 2018
We had a random bus driver in Delmenhorst ask us if we're from "that church in Findorff" and we were like klar dude and it turns out he lives near it. He saw some of the activities we do for the kids at the building during the summer and thought it was super cool and he wants to take his kids there. Good missionary work, Bremen.
Tonight we got to eat dinner with the Skwara family. The fed us some great food, but the best part was their German. It was clear and they enunciated a ton. They taught a spiritual lesson from a children's magazine (German version of the Friend) and I got most of what everything was about. This was the best German appointment I have had in terms of understanding German.
星期三,四月二十五号(第246天)
Mittwoch 25. April 2018
District meeting was again in Bremerhaven. We had a 2 Euro Döner which is the cheapest one I have ever received so I think my life has been accomplished.
For English course I taught Harthmout about adjectives which was going well for a little bit but then he got kinda bored. He's the guy who only likes it if it pertains to him or something he enjoys. I didn't want him to get bored, so I asked him to describe the elements of the Rocky Mountains. His eyes lit up! He went off on what you can find in the Rocky Mountains. We went over the alphabet with Sophia since she can't read yet. That's when I realized that English is freaking weird and hard when it comes to spelling. I mean I already knew that, but it just became more apparent tonight. You can't always merely sound out some of these words. Dog. Easy. Cat. Easy. Mouse. Hard. Even still, it's a magical experience to be teaching her how to read and write because she is soaking all of this information up and progressing so fast.
星期四,四月二十六号(第247天)
Donnerstag 26. April 2018
We met again with this amazing guy Kaleb. Because we had more time, we were able to complete a full lesson. With that, we found out that it would be best to get him a person who can speak French. We can teach him in English; he understands very well, but the problem is that it's a little difficult to get him to express himself properly in English or German. We made a group chat in WhatsApp with Elder Souza Lima who speaks French and they just go off on each other in this language. Elder Souza Lima tells us afterwards that he loves Kaleb to death and that he is one of the most amazing friends of the church he has met. I think we shall bring Elder Souza Lima to lessons through Skype or something from now on...
For the first time since Elder Bischoff left, we finally completed a full German lesson. Ridha met with us today and we taught him the Ten Commandments. It's chill because Ridha's German isn't perfect and neither is ours so he was completely understanding during the whole time. It was a fairly comfortable lesson even without an Elder Bischoff to fall back on lol. I can feel my German slowly getting better. But Ridha spent a lot of time talking about Ramadan and the details of it. He says he cheats sometimes and eats before the sun goes down in secret lol savage.
Eating appointment with Sister Prager. She and her home teacher (didn't catch his name) ate and chatted with us. She fed us vegetarian food since eating meat makes her tear up or something. I really can't get medical German into my vocabulary just yet.
星期五,四月二十七号(第248天)
Freitag 27. April 2018
The zone leaders came to Bremen today. I went with Elder Noland while Elder Clemons went with Elder Lorenzen.
Every week, all of the zone and sister training leaders skype in together for a meeting called Taufbesprechung (baptism discussion or whatever). This time was rare because the zone leaders were with us so they asked us to come join in because the investigators they wanted to talk about from the zone were ours. They totally threw me under the bus by having me explain everything about two of our investigators. The problem was that I had to do it in German since all meetings are held in German, and I wasn't ready to really talk in depth about investigators and their needs. Plus, I was talking in front of pretty much all the leadership of the mission so it was a little nerve wracking. All those worries I gave myself aside, I did just fine. At least, no one said anything so I made it through. Whew.
Elder Noland and I visited Souleyman today. He indirectly made things clear that he mainly wants to find out the differences between Islam and Christianity with us. That's fine by us since he still accepted the commitment to read in the Book of Mormon. We might just have to do small commitments one at a time with him. Afterwards, he asked if we could stay for a meal but we had to get going to Sport Abend so we unfortunately declined. Man, I am curious to experience cooking from a Gambian. He was a little sad that we couldn't stay which made me feel bad but I told him next time we meet we can discuss these topics over some food and he was okay with that. Souleyman is like the happiest man alive, too. It's really hard for him to stop smiling.
It makes me feel even worse because no one came to Sport Abend tonight; so we actually could have stayed for Souleyman. It has to be the cause of the warm weather. Why play inside when the outside is nice for playing ball? It's whatever, we did some finding on the way back to the apartment and stumbled on an Arabic restaurant which made Elder Lorenzen and Elder Noland excited. We decided to eat there tonight. They made a tiny mistake in that the place we were in was really fancy and expensive. But we were already committed after they brought us black tea and we turned it down. There's no going back from this. We're in too deep. We just kept saying that it would all right because this was "fine dining". That ended up becoming an inside joke for us. Only sip your water because it's fine dining. Don't eat your food until it's all there because this is fine dining. They made designs out of beads on our tables because fine dining. The waiter tried to roast us by talking to us in German and then saying that we probably didn't understand but to his surprise we answered saying we did understand in German. The waiter was an Arab, so Elder Lorenzen even tried speaking in Arabic but that made the waiter a little salty. Shouldn't judge Americans on languages, I guess. All in all, it was fine dining.
星期六,四月二十八号(第249天)
Samstag 28. April 2018
Elder Clemons and I made an attempt to do some straight up Asian finding but we ended up just finding Chinese places for shopping and eating. To our dismay, however, only Germans were found in these places. Chinatown is a hard place to find in this country.
Last night our neighbor Sascha asked if he could fix our bikes in our basement. We didn't even know we had bikes but it wasn't too much work to get them going. Today we rode our bikes for first time. I can say that it was absolutely amazing. Why have I not been doing this my entire mission? It made travel so much easier. Low key, it I was a little scary to ride in a city, though. I've only ever ridden in rural areas. The benefits outweighed the risks and we had a good time so all is well.
We felt very accomplished with this weekly planning as opposed to last week. Some appointments were set up today rather than us texting people and they get back to us like 3 days later and it becomes a last minute appointment. We even figured out a ride situation for Yvonne and Braden to come to church. Something that was really cool, though, was when we called an elderly lady who sounded like death because she was so sick, but she was so grateful we gave her a call.
星期日,四月二十九号(第250天)
Sonntag 29. April 2018
Rolling in with bikes this morning made us feel like the coolest kids on the block. All the members who saw us riding in were super happy to see us on bikes for some reason.
Since Yvonne and Braden were able to make it to church, we had a little class with them since they speak English. Antonio even showed up halfway through which was cool to see but we do have a potluck later and he might be coming for the free food. Nah, it was cool to have him, too.
After church, the ward put together a potluck as I mentioned before. Kaleb joined us for that, too. It was cool because he was attending his church today but still wanted to do something at our church so he made the compromise. A ton of good food and a ton of fun.
I had to lead Chinese Skype today again. It was a little rough starting off, but it wasn't too bad. I had everyone pick a scripture, talk about its context, discuss the doctrine or the message, and then bear testimony. Simple, but we all made it through. I realize my Chinese vocabulary is going down hill with so much German in my head. A little sad, but I'll be able to focus more on Chinese when my German is at a good level.
星期一,四月三十号(第251天)
Montag 30. April 2018
We're going to go on a bike trip later today with Sascha (might be the reason he fixed our bikes) hopefully the weather gets better. Last night I was up for two hours because the lightning kept lighting up the room almost every five seconds. It was crazy! But now it's just sprinkling. Germany, man! It was so hot last week and then mother nature just can't make up her mind. Bi-polar!
Hope everyone has a great week. Tschüss!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 35
星期一,四月九号(第237天)
Montag 9. April 2018
So while we were in Bremerhaven, we hung out with the Bremerhaven Elders for district pday. They took us to a very fancy Döner place and then we headed on over to a thing called the Klimahaus (climate house). This place was dope because it's like a museum of different places in the world that have drastic changes in climate. The Klimahaus is huge with many different rooms that simulate very well what the climate in that area feels like. In addition, the rooms and activities are very similar to what is done in those areas. The journey takes us as if we were to start in Bremerhaven and then continue down the same longitude. Our first destination was Switzerland where we were in high mountain tops. You can do some weird yodeling thing, ride ski lifts and even milk cows (not really, everything is fake, except the yodeling). Then it was off to one of the islands of Italy where they shrunk us down for some reason and we lived among the bugs. Next stop was Niger which was very hot, dry, and desolate. They kind of make you super sad here because they show a video of how the people live and it's basically nothing. No clean water and they live the most basic of lives. Thankfully, there was a drinking fountain at the end of our Niger experience. The dry hot environment nearly killed me. Then we traveled to Cameroon where everything was now thick, dark jungles. They had a jungle maze that we passed through as well. After that, we were in Samoa where it's all nice and tropical. Problem was that it was extremely humid, but almost with the same temperature. There was a nice beach hut on the coast where we chilled for a while, then onto a Samoan church thing in the forest where I got to teach a sermon. Our journey then took us underwater towards Antarctica. Being underwater was cool, but right after we arrived, the temperature was freezing cold. There was legit ice on the sides of the paths. We hurried over to the base and got warm. Inside, they had a basketball hoop and an open metal suitcase with a thick, heavy suit that we could put on. Now we were ready to go out in the cold. After Antarctica, for some reason we got high - so high we ascended up to "heaven" and space. We had to walk through a really cool peaceful room that was only lit by stars. All of a sudden we were in Alaska which wasn't as cold. This place had a sad theme to it, too. It was mainly showing how the Arctic ice is melting away and has sad music playing. Along with that, the last place we found ourselves in was this mini island (maybe 6 meters in diameter really not that big) that you can get on and the water level surrounding it slowly rises. I was a bit scared it would get wet, but slowly we huddled towards the top of the tiny island and eventually the water rising stops before it floods the whole thing. I came off conquer: dry, but not as dry as Niger was. And then we returned to Bremerhaven and that was it. Super cool place. I'd definitely recommend it. We spent maybe 2+ hours there, but we weren't even doing everything you could have done. We did all of the big stuff, but there are lots of information things you can learn from. Lots of stuff to read and listen too.
星期二,四月十号(第238天)
Dienstag 10. April 2018
Zone conference was a little different this time. Because the transfer is four weeks long, we actually combined all of the zone conferences into two; whereas normally zones will get together and do their own personal zone conferences. It was a massive meeting of missionaries, and I got to see a ton of people in addition to the ones I saw in stake conference. Similar to last conference, we had additional workshops to go to. One of my favorites was one where we had two teams making sandwiches. Our team had no plan and just threw all the ingredients into a bowl and mixed it all up, while the other team made a beautiful sandwich ready for the Queen of England to feast upon. The lesson was about having a vision and a plan in mind. Super cool.
But the day didn't end there! We met up with Himidan at the church so he could try on his baptismal clothing. We picked put some clothes and reviewed with him what his baptism is going to be like. Afterwards we planned out the specifics of the baptism.
星期三,四月十一号(第239天)
Mittwoch 11. April 2018
Well tomorrow is Trainer Trainee in Berlin so it was decided earlier than we might have to overnight somewhere other than Bremen. Plus, Elder Hickenlooper has a Chinese investigator and there are no Chinese missionaries in Berlin at the moment, so he asked if we could teach him a bit in his native tongue. So we said goodbye to Elder Bischoff (he was going to be with a member for a couple hours until the Bremerhaven Elders take him) and we were on our way to Berlin. It was scary because Elder Bischoff still needed the phone, so that left us without communication again while traveling. But we made it just fine.
When we arrived in Berlin, things just got crazier. We didn't have internet to look up how to get to the Chinese guy's place, but thankfully I know most of Berlin like the back of my hand. This guy lived in Dahlem, which I'm not too familiar with, so it was a lot of using regular maps on the wall to find where we were going. Elder Clemons had absolutely no idea what was going on, so it's a good thing I kind of did. We arrive at the address and we klingel the Chinese guy, WangQuan is his name. He lets us in and we were talking for a bit and then we start with a prayer. Then Elder Hickenlooper and Elder Neidhart walk in! I had assumed that Elder Clemons and I were totally on our own, but the other two thought it was dumb to leave us alone with a progressing investigator whom we've never met. Good choice. The lesson was in half English and half Chinese because his English is really good, but also the other two elders can't speak Chinese. Elder Clemons and I spoke mainly in Chinese. WangQuan is a nice person. He loves the Book of Mormon and wants to learn every single commandment so he can follow them. The problem is that he's busy working on his Masters Thesis. It was a great lesson on faith because he had been reading in Alma 32 and we took that opportunity to talk about the beautiful way that Alma talks about how to gain testimonies.
We stayed in the Dahlem apartment with the Berlin Zone leaders, Elder Hickenlooper and Elder Brown. I found out that Elder Brown is in my group, or in the collection of missionaries who are the same age as me (the difference being I was in the MTC longer). But for some reason it felt like a reunion with a long lost friend. We had six people total there: the zone leaders, Elder Clemons and I, and Elder Neidhart and his trainee Elder Wilhelm. It was a fun night with pizza and ice cream.
星期四,四月十二号(第240天)
Donnerstag 12. April 2018
So the Berlin zone leaders live near the mission office and the STLT's, which means there are about 8 or so missionaries (AP's, office elders, zone leaders, STLT's). With so many people close together, and given a big soccer field, almost every day they all just have a game of soccer for their morning sport. We got to join in. The STLT's had a few sisters staying over, too; so it was a huge game of soccer and it was amazing and very enjoyable. One of the best Morgen Sports I've ever had.
Trainer Trainee meeting was great. It was pretty much the same as the one I went to when I was a trainee back in November or so. Nonetheless, it was cool to be there, see some old friends (like Yaşlı King - woot), learn some cool things, have some great meals, yeah. When we split off into separate groups of trainers and trainees, the trainer meeting was all in German. I was able to understand most of it, luckily, but others kept asking me if I was doing okay with understanding. I'm glad everyone was so concerned but I'm not glad that my poor German skills are obvious. One of the separate meetings involved how to follow the Safeguards for using technology, and I was in a group where we had to give a role play skit for everyone on "being one" with your companion. A great example of this, especially with trainers and trainees, is the language barrier on the phones. Our example had me on the phone with a nonmember while my "trainee" wasn't understanding any of the German and I wasn't filling him in on anything that was going on. But what made it funny for everyone else was the fact that I was speaking in a purposefully terrible accent for German. They all got a good crack out of it because I was acting as the guy who could understand all the German. Anyway it was all good. Love making people laugh.
Heading back to Bremen was also pretty sketchy just because we were cutting short for time on our train departure from Berlin. But we made it all the way back home. All good.
Transfer predictions were interesting tonight. The Bremerhaven Elders were here with Elder Bischoff doing stuff in Bremen, so we took the opportunity to do the predictions now. My prediction was something about me being super stressed next transfer which doesn't sound fun at all. It's probably not too far off; Elder Bischoff might be leaving us soon.
星期五,四月十三号(第241天)
Freitag 13. April 2018
We met with a guy we found on the street not too long ago named Suleyman. He's a dope man from Gambia. He's like the nicest person you could ever meet. We could only meet for a few minutes, but we gave him a Book of Mormon in English and taught him how to pray. He is going to give it a try, but he seems like a really chill dude and I can tell we're going to have some fun.
Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is coming to Berlin to speak to all of the missionaries. We can't leave tomorrow morning since that would have us departing Bremen by 4:30am which is death, so we are came to Berlin tonight so that the trip wouldn't be as bad. It was actually a miracle that we get this chance to see an apostle. First off, this mission hasn't had an apostle in a while; second, originally it was only possible for the Eastern half of the mission to attend this meeting. That would have sucked because I literally just left the east and a lot of us in the mission would be kind of saddened. But President Fingerle made a deal with us that if we could get overnights scheduled and get to the meeting without having to leave before 5:00am, we could attend.
So yeah now we're in the Glienicke apartment in Berlin with Elders Sadowski and Kvasnicka (I probably butchered that spelling). They're in the Russian program so I asked if they would teach me the Russian alphabet. Dope. I taught them some Chinese stuff so I repaid the favor.
星期六,四月十四号(第242天)
Samstag 14. April 2018
So the biggest part of today was to see Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was originally going to be just listening to him, but right before he arrived, he requested that a picture be taken with us. Dope! We all squeezed into the stage in the gym and layered ourselves so that all 180 of us could fit in the image. He arrives and stands right up front for the picture. Now I've got a picture with an Apostle of God. I wonder if they'll send us the picture. I sure hope so.
Right after, we lined up to go back into the chapel and Elder Rasband stood at the doors and shook our hands one by one. The day just gets better and better! Something I thought was cool was that he never looked at our name tags because he wanted to look at us in the eyes.
We had a lot of speakers at the meeting. President and Sister Fingerle, another couple, Elder and Sister Leimer (next mission president and wife btw), Elder Rasband's security guard, and then finally Elder Rasband. The meeting was so full of the Spirit. One of the best things I learned was regarding the stuff he learned on his mission and he relayed some good tips for how we can get the most out of ours. He even bore his person witness of our new prophet Russell M. Nelson and that was so powerful. What a great time.
After the meeting was over, we all lined up to receive a pre-made box of lunch for our travels home. I got to see so many more people that I haven't seen in a long time. So. Many. People.
The travel back was meh. I took a nap on the train from Hamburg to Bremen and I still felt like garbage afterwards. One of these pdays I've got to get some quality nap time in because I feel like I'm slowly being drained for sleep.
Himidan called us tonight and unfortunately doesn't feel like he can be baptized just yet. He wants to wait a week or two more. We tried to convince him that he's ready, but he just wouldn't budge. He still most definitely wants to, just not right now. A little sad, but what can you do?
Weekly planning was a little intense because Elder Bischoff got a call from President Fingerle and he was told that he would be a zone leader in Leipzig coming up here in a couple days. That means he's leaving us two (Elder Clemons and I) to take over this area. So the planning session involved a lot more in depth discussions on who everyone is in our area book and how to really take care of this area. Okay long story short, Elder Clemons and I also got our calls (I'll write about that in a bit) and we are staying here, definitely. It's like super scary because neither of us can speak German too well still and now we are running this place by ourselves. It was one thing when he and I were just coming in and joining Elder Hugg and Elder Bischoff, but with the loss of Elder Hugg and Elder Bischoff heading for Leipzig, things are getting real. I think this next transfer I've got to focus heavily on improving my German. Ooh boy.
Yeah so Elder Bischoff is actually joining our favorite Élder Wride to be zone leader. That will be fun for him, and Élder Wride is amazing so they will be a great team.
We actually got our calls right as we were praying and getting ready for bed. Elder Keller was so relieved because we were the last companionship to be given their transfer calls. In addition to what's going on in Bremen, Yaşlı King and his Trainee are whitewashing Bremerhaven. Elder Obryant is heading home and Elder Bühler is going to serve in Hamburg. Yaşlı King will actually be our new district leader - that will be fun. I'm pretty excited and freaked out at the same time.
星期日,四月十五号(第243天)
Sonntag 15. April 2018
We got Antonio to come to church even though he was legit at a party last night so he was dead tired and hungry.
We had some food prepared for Himidan's baptism, but since that's not happening (RIP) we just used it to have a little lunch. Was perfect because I got a little happy birthday song from everyone. Elder Bischoff told everybody. It was funny because all these Germans were singing happy birthday in English with their German accents.
Chinese Skype was great. Elder Denham, who serves in the Netherlands, is back. He was transferred about 8 weeks ago and we hadn't heard from him since. We just thought he died. Nah, but he found a time and place to get back into the groove of our Skypes. I had to take over the meeting because Elder Staten was in a Gemiko in his ward so he couldn't attend. We just did a cool thing where each of us explained one point of the first lesson until we got all the way through it.
Our last zone fireside of the transfer. The three of us wanted to spice things up a bit so we put the tablet on top of a bookshelf and slanted it down so that the angle would be pointing down towards us. So everyone else in the call would see us from a top-down angle. We were definitely the coolest in that conference call. Not to brag or anything.
星期一,四月十六号(第243天)
Montag 16. April 2018
A big portion of our time was spent at the Bremen mall looking at clothes and such. I have told myself that I have to obtain some Germany Football attire while on my mission. Afterwards we had a great time with Marcella, a member who ate with us at a Chinese buffet. The buffet was amazing; so delicious. And it's like right on the river so it had a great view from its huge windows. I still have to eat my fortune cookie. Tonight we will be spending time with a part-member family and they might see us. But they also might just have us sniff different types of honey. We shall see.
Until next week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,四月九号(第237天)
Montag 9. April 2018
So while we were in Bremerhaven, we hung out with the Bremerhaven Elders for district pday. They took us to a very fancy Döner place and then we headed on over to a thing called the Klimahaus (climate house). This place was dope because it's like a museum of different places in the world that have drastic changes in climate. The Klimahaus is huge with many different rooms that simulate very well what the climate in that area feels like. In addition, the rooms and activities are very similar to what is done in those areas. The journey takes us as if we were to start in Bremerhaven and then continue down the same longitude. Our first destination was Switzerland where we were in high mountain tops. You can do some weird yodeling thing, ride ski lifts and even milk cows (not really, everything is fake, except the yodeling). Then it was off to one of the islands of Italy where they shrunk us down for some reason and we lived among the bugs. Next stop was Niger which was very hot, dry, and desolate. They kind of make you super sad here because they show a video of how the people live and it's basically nothing. No clean water and they live the most basic of lives. Thankfully, there was a drinking fountain at the end of our Niger experience. The dry hot environment nearly killed me. Then we traveled to Cameroon where everything was now thick, dark jungles. They had a jungle maze that we passed through as well. After that, we were in Samoa where it's all nice and tropical. Problem was that it was extremely humid, but almost with the same temperature. There was a nice beach hut on the coast where we chilled for a while, then onto a Samoan church thing in the forest where I got to teach a sermon. Our journey then took us underwater towards Antarctica. Being underwater was cool, but right after we arrived, the temperature was freezing cold. There was legit ice on the sides of the paths. We hurried over to the base and got warm. Inside, they had a basketball hoop and an open metal suitcase with a thick, heavy suit that we could put on. Now we were ready to go out in the cold. After Antarctica, for some reason we got high - so high we ascended up to "heaven" and space. We had to walk through a really cool peaceful room that was only lit by stars. All of a sudden we were in Alaska which wasn't as cold. This place had a sad theme to it, too. It was mainly showing how the Arctic ice is melting away and has sad music playing. Along with that, the last place we found ourselves in was this mini island (maybe 6 meters in diameter really not that big) that you can get on and the water level surrounding it slowly rises. I was a bit scared it would get wet, but slowly we huddled towards the top of the tiny island and eventually the water rising stops before it floods the whole thing. I came off conquer: dry, but not as dry as Niger was. And then we returned to Bremerhaven and that was it. Super cool place. I'd definitely recommend it. We spent maybe 2+ hours there, but we weren't even doing everything you could have done. We did all of the big stuff, but there are lots of information things you can learn from. Lots of stuff to read and listen too.
星期二,四月十号(第238天)
Dienstag 10. April 2018
Zone conference was a little different this time. Because the transfer is four weeks long, we actually combined all of the zone conferences into two; whereas normally zones will get together and do their own personal zone conferences. It was a massive meeting of missionaries, and I got to see a ton of people in addition to the ones I saw in stake conference. Similar to last conference, we had additional workshops to go to. One of my favorites was one where we had two teams making sandwiches. Our team had no plan and just threw all the ingredients into a bowl and mixed it all up, while the other team made a beautiful sandwich ready for the Queen of England to feast upon. The lesson was about having a vision and a plan in mind. Super cool.
But the day didn't end there! We met up with Himidan at the church so he could try on his baptismal clothing. We picked put some clothes and reviewed with him what his baptism is going to be like. Afterwards we planned out the specifics of the baptism.
星期三,四月十一号(第239天)
Mittwoch 11. April 2018
Well tomorrow is Trainer Trainee in Berlin so it was decided earlier than we might have to overnight somewhere other than Bremen. Plus, Elder Hickenlooper has a Chinese investigator and there are no Chinese missionaries in Berlin at the moment, so he asked if we could teach him a bit in his native tongue. So we said goodbye to Elder Bischoff (he was going to be with a member for a couple hours until the Bremerhaven Elders take him) and we were on our way to Berlin. It was scary because Elder Bischoff still needed the phone, so that left us without communication again while traveling. But we made it just fine.
When we arrived in Berlin, things just got crazier. We didn't have internet to look up how to get to the Chinese guy's place, but thankfully I know most of Berlin like the back of my hand. This guy lived in Dahlem, which I'm not too familiar with, so it was a lot of using regular maps on the wall to find where we were going. Elder Clemons had absolutely no idea what was going on, so it's a good thing I kind of did. We arrive at the address and we klingel the Chinese guy, WangQuan is his name. He lets us in and we were talking for a bit and then we start with a prayer. Then Elder Hickenlooper and Elder Neidhart walk in! I had assumed that Elder Clemons and I were totally on our own, but the other two thought it was dumb to leave us alone with a progressing investigator whom we've never met. Good choice. The lesson was in half English and half Chinese because his English is really good, but also the other two elders can't speak Chinese. Elder Clemons and I spoke mainly in Chinese. WangQuan is a nice person. He loves the Book of Mormon and wants to learn every single commandment so he can follow them. The problem is that he's busy working on his Masters Thesis. It was a great lesson on faith because he had been reading in Alma 32 and we took that opportunity to talk about the beautiful way that Alma talks about how to gain testimonies.
We stayed in the Dahlem apartment with the Berlin Zone leaders, Elder Hickenlooper and Elder Brown. I found out that Elder Brown is in my group, or in the collection of missionaries who are the same age as me (the difference being I was in the MTC longer). But for some reason it felt like a reunion with a long lost friend. We had six people total there: the zone leaders, Elder Clemons and I, and Elder Neidhart and his trainee Elder Wilhelm. It was a fun night with pizza and ice cream.
星期四,四月十二号(第240天)
Donnerstag 12. April 2018
So the Berlin zone leaders live near the mission office and the STLT's, which means there are about 8 or so missionaries (AP's, office elders, zone leaders, STLT's). With so many people close together, and given a big soccer field, almost every day they all just have a game of soccer for their morning sport. We got to join in. The STLT's had a few sisters staying over, too; so it was a huge game of soccer and it was amazing and very enjoyable. One of the best Morgen Sports I've ever had.
Trainer Trainee meeting was great. It was pretty much the same as the one I went to when I was a trainee back in November or so. Nonetheless, it was cool to be there, see some old friends (like Yaşlı King - woot), learn some cool things, have some great meals, yeah. When we split off into separate groups of trainers and trainees, the trainer meeting was all in German. I was able to understand most of it, luckily, but others kept asking me if I was doing okay with understanding. I'm glad everyone was so concerned but I'm not glad that my poor German skills are obvious. One of the separate meetings involved how to follow the Safeguards for using technology, and I was in a group where we had to give a role play skit for everyone on "being one" with your companion. A great example of this, especially with trainers and trainees, is the language barrier on the phones. Our example had me on the phone with a nonmember while my "trainee" wasn't understanding any of the German and I wasn't filling him in on anything that was going on. But what made it funny for everyone else was the fact that I was speaking in a purposefully terrible accent for German. They all got a good crack out of it because I was acting as the guy who could understand all the German. Anyway it was all good. Love making people laugh.
Heading back to Bremen was also pretty sketchy just because we were cutting short for time on our train departure from Berlin. But we made it all the way back home. All good.
Transfer predictions were interesting tonight. The Bremerhaven Elders were here with Elder Bischoff doing stuff in Bremen, so we took the opportunity to do the predictions now. My prediction was something about me being super stressed next transfer which doesn't sound fun at all. It's probably not too far off; Elder Bischoff might be leaving us soon.
星期五,四月十三号(第241天)
Freitag 13. April 2018
We met with a guy we found on the street not too long ago named Suleyman. He's a dope man from Gambia. He's like the nicest person you could ever meet. We could only meet for a few minutes, but we gave him a Book of Mormon in English and taught him how to pray. He is going to give it a try, but he seems like a really chill dude and I can tell we're going to have some fun.
Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is coming to Berlin to speak to all of the missionaries. We can't leave tomorrow morning since that would have us departing Bremen by 4:30am which is death, so we are came to Berlin tonight so that the trip wouldn't be as bad. It was actually a miracle that we get this chance to see an apostle. First off, this mission hasn't had an apostle in a while; second, originally it was only possible for the Eastern half of the mission to attend this meeting. That would have sucked because I literally just left the east and a lot of us in the mission would be kind of saddened. But President Fingerle made a deal with us that if we could get overnights scheduled and get to the meeting without having to leave before 5:00am, we could attend.
So yeah now we're in the Glienicke apartment in Berlin with Elders Sadowski and Kvasnicka (I probably butchered that spelling). They're in the Russian program so I asked if they would teach me the Russian alphabet. Dope. I taught them some Chinese stuff so I repaid the favor.
星期六,四月十四号(第242天)
Samstag 14. April 2018
So the biggest part of today was to see Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was originally going to be just listening to him, but right before he arrived, he requested that a picture be taken with us. Dope! We all squeezed into the stage in the gym and layered ourselves so that all 180 of us could fit in the image. He arrives and stands right up front for the picture. Now I've got a picture with an Apostle of God. I wonder if they'll send us the picture. I sure hope so.
Right after, we lined up to go back into the chapel and Elder Rasband stood at the doors and shook our hands one by one. The day just gets better and better! Something I thought was cool was that he never looked at our name tags because he wanted to look at us in the eyes.
We had a lot of speakers at the meeting. President and Sister Fingerle, another couple, Elder and Sister Leimer (next mission president and wife btw), Elder Rasband's security guard, and then finally Elder Rasband. The meeting was so full of the Spirit. One of the best things I learned was regarding the stuff he learned on his mission and he relayed some good tips for how we can get the most out of ours. He even bore his person witness of our new prophet Russell M. Nelson and that was so powerful. What a great time.
After the meeting was over, we all lined up to receive a pre-made box of lunch for our travels home. I got to see so many more people that I haven't seen in a long time. So. Many. People.
The travel back was meh. I took a nap on the train from Hamburg to Bremen and I still felt like garbage afterwards. One of these pdays I've got to get some quality nap time in because I feel like I'm slowly being drained for sleep.
Himidan called us tonight and unfortunately doesn't feel like he can be baptized just yet. He wants to wait a week or two more. We tried to convince him that he's ready, but he just wouldn't budge. He still most definitely wants to, just not right now. A little sad, but what can you do?
Weekly planning was a little intense because Elder Bischoff got a call from President Fingerle and he was told that he would be a zone leader in Leipzig coming up here in a couple days. That means he's leaving us two (Elder Clemons and I) to take over this area. So the planning session involved a lot more in depth discussions on who everyone is in our area book and how to really take care of this area. Okay long story short, Elder Clemons and I also got our calls (I'll write about that in a bit) and we are staying here, definitely. It's like super scary because neither of us can speak German too well still and now we are running this place by ourselves. It was one thing when he and I were just coming in and joining Elder Hugg and Elder Bischoff, but with the loss of Elder Hugg and Elder Bischoff heading for Leipzig, things are getting real. I think this next transfer I've got to focus heavily on improving my German. Ooh boy.
Yeah so Elder Bischoff is actually joining our favorite Élder Wride to be zone leader. That will be fun for him, and Élder Wride is amazing so they will be a great team.
We actually got our calls right as we were praying and getting ready for bed. Elder Keller was so relieved because we were the last companionship to be given their transfer calls. In addition to what's going on in Bremen, Yaşlı King and his Trainee are whitewashing Bremerhaven. Elder Obryant is heading home and Elder Bühler is going to serve in Hamburg. Yaşlı King will actually be our new district leader - that will be fun. I'm pretty excited and freaked out at the same time.
星期日,四月十五号(第243天)
Sonntag 15. April 2018
We got Antonio to come to church even though he was legit at a party last night so he was dead tired and hungry.
We had some food prepared for Himidan's baptism, but since that's not happening (RIP) we just used it to have a little lunch. Was perfect because I got a little happy birthday song from everyone. Elder Bischoff told everybody. It was funny because all these Germans were singing happy birthday in English with their German accents.
Chinese Skype was great. Elder Denham, who serves in the Netherlands, is back. He was transferred about 8 weeks ago and we hadn't heard from him since. We just thought he died. Nah, but he found a time and place to get back into the groove of our Skypes. I had to take over the meeting because Elder Staten was in a Gemiko in his ward so he couldn't attend. We just did a cool thing where each of us explained one point of the first lesson until we got all the way through it.
Our last zone fireside of the transfer. The three of us wanted to spice things up a bit so we put the tablet on top of a bookshelf and slanted it down so that the angle would be pointing down towards us. So everyone else in the call would see us from a top-down angle. We were definitely the coolest in that conference call. Not to brag or anything.
星期一,四月十六号(第243天)
Montag 16. April 2018
A big portion of our time was spent at the Bremen mall looking at clothes and such. I have told myself that I have to obtain some Germany Football attire while on my mission. Afterwards we had a great time with Marcella, a member who ate with us at a Chinese buffet. The buffet was amazing; so delicious. And it's like right on the river so it had a great view from its huge windows. I still have to eat my fortune cookie. Tonight we will be spending time with a part-member family and they might see us. But they also might just have us sniff different types of honey. We shall see.
Until next week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 34
星期一,四月二号(第230天)
Montag 2. April 2018
We met up with a Chinese contact named Monika. She brought us to a fancy Chinese restaurant and we had a great meal and conversation. It was chill because she speaks English very well and was willing to answer any of our Chinese questions. I learned some good things from her, plus I got roasted a ton so a decent night indeed. Unfortunately, she's really not interested in learning more about the church but is totally down for visiting us and helping with the Mandarin stuff. To top it off, she even wants to invite her Chinese friends to meet us so we can practice with them as well. What a nice person.
星期二,四月三号(第231天)
Dienstag 3. April 2018
We had a crazy lesson with Silvana today. She comes into the church pretty much just done with everything and plops on one of the chairs. She tells us all about this guy at who she came into contact with was asking her for money. She totally thought that he was trying to hook up with her and her German isn't good enough to reject him or something. But in reality he was just trying to help her find a job since he works at a company that helps people with that but she just got the wrong impression. We thought that was kind of funny but when we laughed a bit she was a little mad. And then for the lesson she just let out everything that she's done. Nothing too serious of sins but she felt the need to tell us like everything. We were like Catholic priests. Not what we're here for but we are here to help with the recovering process.
English course was great yet again. This time Sofia (child of Sara and Mahmoud) came to learn, too. Elder Clemons and I taught Harthmout while Elder Bischoff was working with Sofia since they're at different levels. Harthmout is hard to teach sometimes because he'll always go off on America tangents. He talked for like 10 minutes on American football and Tom Brady. Ugh. Patriots. I'll convince him to convert to Seahawks or something in the coming weeks.
星期三,四月四号(第232天)
Mittwoch 4. April 2018
District meeting was with the Zone Leaders, Elders Lorenzen and Haywood. They were tausching with us today so gladly joined us. It has been quite some time since I have been a part of a district meeting with more than five people. Elder Bischoff gave Elder Clemons and I an assignment to give a quick lesson. We tag-teamed a lesson with me going over pride and Elder Clemons with humility.
We went to the apartment to drop off some stuff and then it was on to Tausch. Today I went with Elder Lorenzen. He's that guy I met in Tiergarten from Sequim, Washington a while ago. We both thought it was super dope to have two dudes from Washington together. There is power in West Coast Best Coast.
We found ourselves with some extra time, in fact, about an hour and a half. Elder Lorenzen and I went to the Innenstadt to go finding. And it was probably the coolest session of finding I've ever been a part of. Elder Lorenzen is in the Arabic group, and boy did we find a ton of Arabic speakers with him. They were all so stunned that this white guy could speak their language and pretty much every single Arab we talked to became a bro. I only got to show off my skills once with a Chinese woman who was actually a Jehovah's Witness.
We met up with this guy named Hany who speaks Arabic - Elder Lorenzen for the win. But he mainly spoke to us in German I think because he wanted me to understand some of the stuff. It was a great first lesson, I got to pitch in a lot more than I normally do. The only problem was that he wanted to talk about the trinity which took over most of the lesson but it's okay we still had fun. He wants to meet with us again which is totally wicked.
Right after that, it was off to the church to meet up with an Iranian named Vahid. Elder Bischoff found him a while ago before we got here and from what I had been told, Vahid was a golden investigator. Elder Hickenlooper was on top of everything to help us with a Farsi translation. I taught the whole thing in English with Elder Hickenlooper translating, but I probably should have done it in German because even if he doesn't understand, he can start getting used to hearing the gospel in German to prepare for when he's in the church here. Well. he loved everything that we taught and took it all in so well.
With some more time in the night, we went for another round of finding. There weren't too many people on the street unfortunately. However, I spotted some middle Eastern looking people which could be Arabic. Elder Lorenzen wasn't sure as to get them since going across the street and catching them from behind but I totally did it anyways and it was awkward but totally worth it; they spoke Arabic and became bros. #FearNoMan
星期四,四月五号(第233天)
Donnerstag 5. April 2018
Ridha found some more time to meet with us which is great. He's a chill dude. Elder Bischoff gets on me sometimes for not saying too much in the lessons so this time I interrupted (not in a rude way) more so that I could get more chances to talk. This lesson was on the Plan of Salvation which has harder vocabulary. Everything was great and we should have ended after the Three Kingdoms but then we got into the Priesthood and he kind of laughed at us when we told him we had the Power of God with us. His German isn't the best, but once we clarified that we aren't prophets (lol) then things were okay.
Arezoo is this person we aparently met on the street not too long ago. We don't remember what they had looked like, so we were expecting an Iranian man but instead we received an Afghanistan woman and it was a little weird because you really shouldn't assume, folks. It was funny because Elder Neale, our Farsi translator, was also expecting the exact same thing. Nah, the lesson with her was dope. Like Ridha, she's also Muslim but is completely willing to listen and try out new stuff to find the truth. What I found cool was that she had said that doing all of this stuff was against her religion but still had the faith to give things a try. Dope.
Interviews with President Fingerle were also today. Oddly enough, because of the short four week transfer, President has to do all of the interviews over Facebook video so he wouldn't have to travel all over Germany in only a couple days. My interview was super good again. He and I chatted the entire time in German - my first whole interview in German. It wasn't even that hard to talk to him, I mean I had to ask for a word here and there but it was all good. Talking with him was what I needed. We talked about our inquiries on whether spring has started or not since the sun doesn't want to shine here in Germany. He complimented me that in just two weeks here I've learned more German than I had in Tiergarten. It helps a lot to be doing most of your work in German. Wish I could say the same for Chinese. But everything went well. Even though it was over Facebook, the interview was super beneficial.
星期五,四月六号(第234天)
Freitag 6. April 2018
We put up another street display not too far from the Hauptbahnhof. It was a super nice corner where we could catch people going away from the Bahnhof which means they wouldn't pull the "too busy must catch train" card. The sun was also shining with its great warmth which made everything all the better. Great day for a street display.
Himidan needs some help to stop smoking so we planned a little lesson for today to show him the Stop Smoking Workshop and to review what repentance is. Our Arabic translators also brought an Arabic member over Skype which helped Himidan feel a little more welcome.
Random guy showed up to the church and wanted a copy of the book of Mormon in Arabic. We've unfortunately out of those in Bremen so we set up a time to meet him and get him one.
Another Basketball night with our home boys. We had a few regular faces but also a couple new ones which is awesome. I personally still suck harder than a vacuum at basketball, but whatever. I'll just continue to look like an idiot while playing. Doesn't really bother me.
星期六,四月七号(第235天)
Samstag 7. April 2018
Because of Pfahl Konferenz we didn't make too many plans so our morning consisted of pure finding. Okay but Jan, man. Jan! We were finding in the Innenstadt and all of a sudden I see a person on a bike last-second and it slams into Elder Clemons and I. It was Jan trying to surprise us! Jan, man, what are you going to do with you?
Pfahl Konferenz started at 16:00 but Bremen is actually in the Hamburg stake, oddly enough. It's only weird because Bremen is in the Oldenburg zone and not associated with Hamburg when it comes to mission boundaries and stuff. Well it's all good because it was an adventure. It's about an hour train ride to Hamburg, but we were able to coordinate with an investigator named Antonio to come with us to the conference. Antonio is a total bro and wants to do missionary work with us. He lived as a foreign exchange student in Spokane Washington (dope) and stayed with a Mormon family which is where he gets his love of the church from. The only thing that's weird is he isn't even baptized! What we'd call a "dry" member. We'll see if we can change that.
I didn't get to see much of Hamburg but what I saw was cool. Hamburg is another city state like Bremen and Berlin. So now I've visited the three biggest cities in the mission; and have lived in two of them. Maybe I'll see myself serving here at some point. Mal sehen.
Pfahl Konferenz was cool. We had the same Area Seventy from the last conference in Berlin: Elder Obando. Afterwards they held a barbecue for everyone. I was excited and super hungry, but there were lots of people that I hadn't seen in a while: Elder Hacking, Elder Alves, Elder Mehr, Yaşlı Morrell, and last of all Yaşlı Taylor! Yaşlı Taylor hugs and squeezes me to the point where my back pops and yeah sure it was great. But I was talking to him for maybe 2 seconds after and my nose is bleeding! He squeezed the blood out of me! We went to the bathroom and I got all cleaned up and just had to keep paper towels covering my face the entire time. He was so sorry but I mean what can you do? I get squeezed all the time and normally I don't pop like a blood bubble. It probably happened because I've been sick and blowing my nose a lot lately. I didn't want to eat until the bleeding had stopped, but when it did, they were all out of Bratwurst! You've got to be kidding me! I had to suffer over an hour long travel back to Bremen to make myself some food. I could have had BBQ, man...
星期日,四月八号(第236天)
Sonntag 8. April 2018
We met up with a member named Marcella who wanted to ride the train with us to Pfahl Konferenz and while at the platform, some guy comes up to us and asked if we speak English. We answer na klar and he just wanted to know some stuff about the train and whatnot. Fortunately, he was talking to some missionaries so we slip right in to catch him. He's from Croatia, actually, and he was riding the same train. I guess he felt comfortable with us by then and asked if he could sit with all of us. We had a great conversation on our hour long ride. Yeah, he's Croatian and is here working in Germany. Turns out he wants to move to München and be a baker. We had a great time together.
Pfahl Konferenz part 2. No bloody nose but no barbecue so I'm not sure if it was any better. Conference was great. We had a speaker from the Bremen Ward. Way to represent. At the end I scoped out some Asians and there were these two Chinese speakers, one a member and the other an investigator. Both from China, but the Investigator is a Cantonese native but also speaks Mandarin. I got the WeChat information so you can be proud of me if you want. I got to talk to them for a while in Chinese. I find it weird how I can understand only about 10 percent of the words but I can understand what they are saying for the most part (when it comes to easy conversations).
Headed back to Bremen, we ate, went to the church, had Chinese Skype, had a zone fireside, dinner, and finally bedtime. Chinese Skype was cool because we practiced introducing the Book of Mormon stories and I can surprisingly do that well even though I've never tried that specifically. Weird but super cool.
星期一,四月九号(第237天)
Montag 9. April 2018
Our plans have us going up to Bremerhaven today and doing some cool stuff there. Should be fun.
Yeah we are doing emails early today so I will have to send the pictures that I will take today simply next week.
Until next time!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,四月二号(第230天)
Montag 2. April 2018
We met up with a Chinese contact named Monika. She brought us to a fancy Chinese restaurant and we had a great meal and conversation. It was chill because she speaks English very well and was willing to answer any of our Chinese questions. I learned some good things from her, plus I got roasted a ton so a decent night indeed. Unfortunately, she's really not interested in learning more about the church but is totally down for visiting us and helping with the Mandarin stuff. To top it off, she even wants to invite her Chinese friends to meet us so we can practice with them as well. What a nice person.
星期二,四月三号(第231天)
Dienstag 3. April 2018
We had a crazy lesson with Silvana today. She comes into the church pretty much just done with everything and plops on one of the chairs. She tells us all about this guy at who she came into contact with was asking her for money. She totally thought that he was trying to hook up with her and her German isn't good enough to reject him or something. But in reality he was just trying to help her find a job since he works at a company that helps people with that but she just got the wrong impression. We thought that was kind of funny but when we laughed a bit she was a little mad. And then for the lesson she just let out everything that she's done. Nothing too serious of sins but she felt the need to tell us like everything. We were like Catholic priests. Not what we're here for but we are here to help with the recovering process.
English course was great yet again. This time Sofia (child of Sara and Mahmoud) came to learn, too. Elder Clemons and I taught Harthmout while Elder Bischoff was working with Sofia since they're at different levels. Harthmout is hard to teach sometimes because he'll always go off on America tangents. He talked for like 10 minutes on American football and Tom Brady. Ugh. Patriots. I'll convince him to convert to Seahawks or something in the coming weeks.
星期三,四月四号(第232天)
Mittwoch 4. April 2018
District meeting was with the Zone Leaders, Elders Lorenzen and Haywood. They were tausching with us today so gladly joined us. It has been quite some time since I have been a part of a district meeting with more than five people. Elder Bischoff gave Elder Clemons and I an assignment to give a quick lesson. We tag-teamed a lesson with me going over pride and Elder Clemons with humility.
We went to the apartment to drop off some stuff and then it was on to Tausch. Today I went with Elder Lorenzen. He's that guy I met in Tiergarten from Sequim, Washington a while ago. We both thought it was super dope to have two dudes from Washington together. There is power in West Coast Best Coast.
We found ourselves with some extra time, in fact, about an hour and a half. Elder Lorenzen and I went to the Innenstadt to go finding. And it was probably the coolest session of finding I've ever been a part of. Elder Lorenzen is in the Arabic group, and boy did we find a ton of Arabic speakers with him. They were all so stunned that this white guy could speak their language and pretty much every single Arab we talked to became a bro. I only got to show off my skills once with a Chinese woman who was actually a Jehovah's Witness.
We met up with this guy named Hany who speaks Arabic - Elder Lorenzen for the win. But he mainly spoke to us in German I think because he wanted me to understand some of the stuff. It was a great first lesson, I got to pitch in a lot more than I normally do. The only problem was that he wanted to talk about the trinity which took over most of the lesson but it's okay we still had fun. He wants to meet with us again which is totally wicked.
Right after that, it was off to the church to meet up with an Iranian named Vahid. Elder Bischoff found him a while ago before we got here and from what I had been told, Vahid was a golden investigator. Elder Hickenlooper was on top of everything to help us with a Farsi translation. I taught the whole thing in English with Elder Hickenlooper translating, but I probably should have done it in German because even if he doesn't understand, he can start getting used to hearing the gospel in German to prepare for when he's in the church here. Well. he loved everything that we taught and took it all in so well.
With some more time in the night, we went for another round of finding. There weren't too many people on the street unfortunately. However, I spotted some middle Eastern looking people which could be Arabic. Elder Lorenzen wasn't sure as to get them since going across the street and catching them from behind but I totally did it anyways and it was awkward but totally worth it; they spoke Arabic and became bros. #FearNoMan
星期四,四月五号(第233天)
Donnerstag 5. April 2018
Ridha found some more time to meet with us which is great. He's a chill dude. Elder Bischoff gets on me sometimes for not saying too much in the lessons so this time I interrupted (not in a rude way) more so that I could get more chances to talk. This lesson was on the Plan of Salvation which has harder vocabulary. Everything was great and we should have ended after the Three Kingdoms but then we got into the Priesthood and he kind of laughed at us when we told him we had the Power of God with us. His German isn't the best, but once we clarified that we aren't prophets (lol) then things were okay.
Arezoo is this person we aparently met on the street not too long ago. We don't remember what they had looked like, so we were expecting an Iranian man but instead we received an Afghanistan woman and it was a little weird because you really shouldn't assume, folks. It was funny because Elder Neale, our Farsi translator, was also expecting the exact same thing. Nah, the lesson with her was dope. Like Ridha, she's also Muslim but is completely willing to listen and try out new stuff to find the truth. What I found cool was that she had said that doing all of this stuff was against her religion but still had the faith to give things a try. Dope.
Interviews with President Fingerle were also today. Oddly enough, because of the short four week transfer, President has to do all of the interviews over Facebook video so he wouldn't have to travel all over Germany in only a couple days. My interview was super good again. He and I chatted the entire time in German - my first whole interview in German. It wasn't even that hard to talk to him, I mean I had to ask for a word here and there but it was all good. Talking with him was what I needed. We talked about our inquiries on whether spring has started or not since the sun doesn't want to shine here in Germany. He complimented me that in just two weeks here I've learned more German than I had in Tiergarten. It helps a lot to be doing most of your work in German. Wish I could say the same for Chinese. But everything went well. Even though it was over Facebook, the interview was super beneficial.
星期五,四月六号(第234天)
Freitag 6. April 2018
We put up another street display not too far from the Hauptbahnhof. It was a super nice corner where we could catch people going away from the Bahnhof which means they wouldn't pull the "too busy must catch train" card. The sun was also shining with its great warmth which made everything all the better. Great day for a street display.
Himidan needs some help to stop smoking so we planned a little lesson for today to show him the Stop Smoking Workshop and to review what repentance is. Our Arabic translators also brought an Arabic member over Skype which helped Himidan feel a little more welcome.
Random guy showed up to the church and wanted a copy of the book of Mormon in Arabic. We've unfortunately out of those in Bremen so we set up a time to meet him and get him one.
Another Basketball night with our home boys. We had a few regular faces but also a couple new ones which is awesome. I personally still suck harder than a vacuum at basketball, but whatever. I'll just continue to look like an idiot while playing. Doesn't really bother me.
星期六,四月七号(第235天)
Samstag 7. April 2018
Because of Pfahl Konferenz we didn't make too many plans so our morning consisted of pure finding. Okay but Jan, man. Jan! We were finding in the Innenstadt and all of a sudden I see a person on a bike last-second and it slams into Elder Clemons and I. It was Jan trying to surprise us! Jan, man, what are you going to do with you?
Pfahl Konferenz started at 16:00 but Bremen is actually in the Hamburg stake, oddly enough. It's only weird because Bremen is in the Oldenburg zone and not associated with Hamburg when it comes to mission boundaries and stuff. Well it's all good because it was an adventure. It's about an hour train ride to Hamburg, but we were able to coordinate with an investigator named Antonio to come with us to the conference. Antonio is a total bro and wants to do missionary work with us. He lived as a foreign exchange student in Spokane Washington (dope) and stayed with a Mormon family which is where he gets his love of the church from. The only thing that's weird is he isn't even baptized! What we'd call a "dry" member. We'll see if we can change that.
I didn't get to see much of Hamburg but what I saw was cool. Hamburg is another city state like Bremen and Berlin. So now I've visited the three biggest cities in the mission; and have lived in two of them. Maybe I'll see myself serving here at some point. Mal sehen.
Pfahl Konferenz was cool. We had the same Area Seventy from the last conference in Berlin: Elder Obando. Afterwards they held a barbecue for everyone. I was excited and super hungry, but there were lots of people that I hadn't seen in a while: Elder Hacking, Elder Alves, Elder Mehr, Yaşlı Morrell, and last of all Yaşlı Taylor! Yaşlı Taylor hugs and squeezes me to the point where my back pops and yeah sure it was great. But I was talking to him for maybe 2 seconds after and my nose is bleeding! He squeezed the blood out of me! We went to the bathroom and I got all cleaned up and just had to keep paper towels covering my face the entire time. He was so sorry but I mean what can you do? I get squeezed all the time and normally I don't pop like a blood bubble. It probably happened because I've been sick and blowing my nose a lot lately. I didn't want to eat until the bleeding had stopped, but when it did, they were all out of Bratwurst! You've got to be kidding me! I had to suffer over an hour long travel back to Bremen to make myself some food. I could have had BBQ, man...
星期日,四月八号(第236天)
Sonntag 8. April 2018
We met up with a member named Marcella who wanted to ride the train with us to Pfahl Konferenz and while at the platform, some guy comes up to us and asked if we speak English. We answer na klar and he just wanted to know some stuff about the train and whatnot. Fortunately, he was talking to some missionaries so we slip right in to catch him. He's from Croatia, actually, and he was riding the same train. I guess he felt comfortable with us by then and asked if he could sit with all of us. We had a great conversation on our hour long ride. Yeah, he's Croatian and is here working in Germany. Turns out he wants to move to München and be a baker. We had a great time together.
Pfahl Konferenz part 2. No bloody nose but no barbecue so I'm not sure if it was any better. Conference was great. We had a speaker from the Bremen Ward. Way to represent. At the end I scoped out some Asians and there were these two Chinese speakers, one a member and the other an investigator. Both from China, but the Investigator is a Cantonese native but also speaks Mandarin. I got the WeChat information so you can be proud of me if you want. I got to talk to them for a while in Chinese. I find it weird how I can understand only about 10 percent of the words but I can understand what they are saying for the most part (when it comes to easy conversations).
Headed back to Bremen, we ate, went to the church, had Chinese Skype, had a zone fireside, dinner, and finally bedtime. Chinese Skype was cool because we practiced introducing the Book of Mormon stories and I can surprisingly do that well even though I've never tried that specifically. Weird but super cool.
星期一,四月九号(第237天)
Montag 9. April 2018
Our plans have us going up to Bremerhaven today and doing some cool stuff there. Should be fun.
Yeah we are doing emails early today so I will have to send the pictures that I will take today simply next week.
Until next time!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 33
星期一,二十六号(第223天)
Montag 26. März 2018
This investigator Himidan is from Sudan and is approaching baptism, actually tonight we taught him the Law of Tithing with the help of our Arabic missionary friends. He's a super chill dude and can speak a good amount of German, but we still need translations into Arabic. This is the last lesson he needs before he can get his baptismal interview.
星期二,二十七号(第224天)
Dienstag 27. März 2018
We went by on an old couple for lunch, the Uhlenberg's. They fed us some nice Spätzle and Quark. Even though I couldn't understand most of the stuff going on, we had a good time. They're a really cool couple. Brother Uhlenberg actually made a trip out to the west coast of the US and was telling me how much he loved Portland and Seattle. I mean, he's just buttering me up. I already know west coast is best coast. The only problem was they kept shoveling food into me that I was starting to feel sick but I didn't want to be mean and say no. I survived. Probably about time I start to expand my tiny stomach anyways. Toward the end we taught a little bit on member missionary work and invited them to invite friends to General Conference as well as the importance of General Conference. I was able to pitch in a little bit more in German than normal.
Himidan had his baptismal interview! He had to meet with President Fingerle via video call because he's a refugee. President just had to clear up some things and make sure Himidan would be safe. It was a long interview which had us waiting downstairs for about an hour and a half. But we were informed he passed. If everything goes well, he will be baptized in April!
Here in Bremen they (missionaries) host an English class every week. This week we only had one person come but he was amazing. He's this guy named Harthmout (Hartmut? we don't know the spelling) and he's one of the biggest America lovers I've ever seen. He's German but walks in looking like an all-American biker with an America hat that has eagle pins and Route 66 pins all over it. He just adores America and it makes me happy, but he speaks barely any English. Harthmout makes frequent travels to the States and just wants to experience everything that goes on there. I think he has done more stuff in the US than I have, but I mean he's also in his 40's or whatever. Today we taught about the main body parts and played a game of Simon Says along with singing a song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". I enjoyed myself, and I'm pretty sure Harthmout did as well. He spent at least half of the class time talking about America so you know.
We got a ring on our doorbell from someone outside. It was this recent convert named Jan. From what I had been told, he's wild. The stories I've heard of him kicking poles and the videos he sends us are just way too funny. He basically just wanted to hang out with us outside for a bit while he showed us his Easter gift to his girlfriend (which had our Easter Initiative card on it). To top it off we shared a quick scripture and said a prayer. He wasn't too crazy but I could definitely see his scatter brain. Naja he's cool.
星期三,二十八号(第225天)
Mittwoch 28. März 2018
District meeting was great, once again. I find that I'm not doing too bad with understanding German, but I literally just can't put the words in my mouth to say anything good. I'll have to work on my speaking, otherwise I'll be able to understand German perfectly but unable to express myself. However, we did a quick roleplay on using the scriptures and that didn't go too bad.
Afterwards, we wrote on the Easter Initiative action posters. They're blank posters with the words "Er war da" (He [Christ] was there) on the bottom. Funny thing is, using the normal wording for what they want out of these posters (like "when I was… he was there) makes "Er war da" grammatically incorrect. We had to improvise since we didn't want to print out the new ones they corrected a couple days ago. It turns out it's correct when you say a statement and then make "Er war da" its own sentence makes it correct. We made them and we'll get pictures of us holding them up onto Facebook soon.
Elder Clemons had his first döner. I failed miserably in a sad attempt to order in Turkish. The guy was definitely a Turk, but I just can't enunciate enough I guess.
We met with this Chinese investigator named Shuo today. We met him at the Bremen Universität which made things weird since there were a few of his friends were just chilling not too far from us. From what I've heard, Shuo is really quiet, but I feel like since his friends were there he was a lot more discreet about his lesson with us. I had just started to talk in Chinese when he requested we speak English since that's our native tongue. I wasn't too happy about that, but I forced in my testimony in Mandarin at the end. When I did that, he was super shocked that I could speak some Chinese. Shouldn't assume I don't speak your language, I guess. Whatever, he was cool. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he had some great questions.
星期四,二十九号(第226天)
Donnerstag 29. März 2018
We spent the morning in the church teaching a couple people. Our first guy is named Bright. He's from Ghana and is a chill dude. He's got massive arms. We taught him the ten commandments and he took them like a charm.
The other investigator was Silvana. She's from Albania and works in a high position for an old-folks center. We taught her the same lesson, but in German. I don't really have good vocabulary for teaching the ten commandments, which resulted in me not saying much. She totally roasted me because of that.
President Fingerle has asked us, if possible, to start doing our language studies at local libraries and stuff. We went to the one in the Altestadt and we have begun doing a long, tedious, but super good thing: reading the Book of Mormon out loud in both German and Chinese. We would read one verse in German, then the next person would read the same one in Chinese. Then the next person would read the next verse in German, and so on. I don't know if it's really helping my Chinese but it's at least helping me pick up a German word here and there and getting used to speaking both languages.
Right as we went out of the library, we went finding. But something super dope happened. I spotted a group of Asians taking pictures. I walk up to them and hear them speaking in Chinese. So of course I proceed to ask them in Chinese if I can take their pictures for them. They were astonished a white guy was speaking their secret code, but agreed. It was great and we had a good short chat, but they're just tourists so ya know. Right after walking away from them, I bumped into a group of people. Also Asian. Also Chinese. Elder Clemons and I embark in conversation with them, too. We all talked for a good ten minutes and gave all of them Chinese Easter cards. Soon after them, we found another Chinese person or two. When we got onto our destined bus, we sat next to two other Chinese people and talked with them for a good while. How freaking dope is that?
To top it off, on another bus shortly after, I spotted an additional Asian. I sat behind her and was checking out her phone to deduce the characters on her screen. Creepy, I know but you gotta do what you've gotta do. Unfortunately, it was Korean. Well, it was a little disappointing, but I continued on with mumbling what little Korean I know. I looked at Elder Clemons and said ''hello'', "thank you", and "not bad" in Korean. This girl turns around, stares at me, and totally flips out. I guess I was a little too loud. She and I chatted for a little bit on why on earth I can speak a tiny bit of Korean. Shout out to my Korean friend Cho from the English branch for teaching me like the 4 basic phrases I now know!
We tried going by on a less active dude but he wasn't home. But on our way back, we found this old blind guy stopped on the sidewalk. We offered to help him and he gladly accepted. He needed help getting to the Bio market. It was cool to help out, but there was something dope he did that was kinda freaky. We hadn't introduced ourselves at all and yet he asked us what church we were from! I'm pretty sure that's gift of discernment right there. There's no way he could have known we were missionaries, but when you lose one of your senses, your others get stronger. Maybe his smelling abilities got better and he got a whiff of that missionary smell. He was such a cute old man, though. He was saying he's going to the Bio market to get some bread, cheese, and apple cake. Priorities man.
Jan met us again tonight. We planned to meet at his apartment but when we got there he said it was too messy. He took some chairs and had us sit and meet on the sidewalk. Definitely one of the most humble lesson settings I've had. That sidewalk was tiny, man. And it was awkward because people were trying to walk by while these losers here were teaching some church stuff on the street. Jan also brought chips and nuts to snack on. Those were fine, but he also brought out some bottles of something and asked if I wanted some lemonade. I was down, he opened his bottle and the cap popped off and smacked me in the forehead. What a derp. He was so sorry. it didn't hurt physically, but my dignity was hurt a tiny bit. Anyway we had a great lesson. We went over the Plan of Salvation with him as a new convert lesson. He generally speaks to us in English, but Elder Clemons and I took the opportunity to practice teaching in German. We didn't do too bad, but Jan is so scatter brained, so it was difficult to stay on track. It was good, though, I like Jan.
星期五,三十号(第227天)
Freitag 30. März 2018
Weekly planning was super long today and we did it at the church. In fact, we were at the church for the majority of the day.
This Tunisian guy named Ridha met with us at the church and we taught him the Restoration in German. He speaks French a lot better than German so we had to pull up a couple words on Google Translate. But other than that he was able to understand. Maybe next time we'll have a French translator.
We had the opportunity to meet with Calvin again and go over the Plan of Salvation with him. Something really stuck with him this time. He took the life after death stuff to heart; writing down all of the scriptures about temples and family history. If we weren't short on time, we could have gotten him to accept a baptismal date. He was asking some intensity deep questions.
Tonight was full of ballin'. About 6 or so nonmembers came to play some basketball with us. I guess every week in Bremen we do this with the exception of last week since the gym was being repainted. These guys are the normal squad that come every week and love playing with us. What was cool, though, was to see Calvin there right after our lesson with him. It was a fun time, but I suck at basketball.
星期六,三十一号(第228天)
Samstag 31. März 2018
Today was Bremerhaven's turn for a street display so we headed upward to greet them there. Bremerhaven is super cool because it's on the seaside. Oh how I truly miss being close to the ocean. I was only there for a total of two hours, and 3 quarters of that was spent at the street display, but it was still cool.
Shopping was done today because Monday is a holiday.
A less active member, Uwe, stays at a care facility because he only has one leg. Not many people visit him, so we went ahead to visit him. We showed him the Easter initiative video and asked when Christ has been there for him. It was a great visit. We want to visit him at least once a week since he's so lonely.
The first session of General Conference was tonight. The way General Conference works here is we watch the Saturday morning conference live here at 18:00, then the Priesthood session Sunday morning, the Saturday afternoon session Sunday afternoon, the Sunday morning session live at 18:00 on Sunday, finally the Sunday afternoon session we watch some other Sunday when our ward has time. Time zones really mess things up when you're 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake. Sara and Mahmoud came but unfortunately live Persian translations weren't available for the Saturday sessions. Luckily, a member of the ward speaks Persian and helped them out a bit. The Saturday morning conference was dope! It was awesome and very humbling to sustain our new Prophet, President Russell M Nelson. In addition, it was cool to see Elder Gong, a man of Chinese decent, in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! Way to represent! I can tell things are going to be sweet.
星期日,四月一号(第229天)
Sonntag 1. April 2018
Bright came for church this morning with his girl Yvonne and son Brayden. They thought today was just regular church even though we told them it was conference. But everything was okay. They were only planning on staying for the early morning, which we weren't going to be showing any of the conferences until later in the morning, so we put on the recording of the Saturday afternoon session. Everything was great. Bright and Yvonne both loved it and took a lot from it.
Priesthood session was also dope. President Nelson drops revelation of what the Lord wants for his church like a boss. The High Priests will now be combined with the Elders Quorum in the church which is weird but really cool. I'm pumped.
A recent convert made everyone who showed up for the Priesthood session a delicious lunch with beef stew, chocolate bread stuff, and quark. Plus some little Easter egg candies.
The next session shown was actually the Saturday afternoon session which we had already watched earlier with Bright and Yvonne. Not gonna lie, may or may not have slept for a little bit of that. I mean I've already seen it and I'm a little sick so you can't blame me.
Silvana and Himidan also came for parts of conference throughout the last session. We got them set up for Albanian and Arabic on our tablets. Only problem with that was I couldn't take notes with my tablet but that's okay I'll watch the talks again.
All in all, a busy yet great day of conference.
星期一,四月二号(第230天)
Montag 2. April 2018
Well since today is a holiday, no shops were open. It was kind of lame, actually. We just went to the church and played pool and ping pong for a while. Elder Bischoff took a couple videos of us for him to send home. They were extremely awkward interviews for his family to get to know us.
So I will leave it at that. Wir sehen uns später!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,二十六号(第223天)
Montag 26. März 2018
This investigator Himidan is from Sudan and is approaching baptism, actually tonight we taught him the Law of Tithing with the help of our Arabic missionary friends. He's a super chill dude and can speak a good amount of German, but we still need translations into Arabic. This is the last lesson he needs before he can get his baptismal interview.
星期二,二十七号(第224天)
Dienstag 27. März 2018
We went by on an old couple for lunch, the Uhlenberg's. They fed us some nice Spätzle and Quark. Even though I couldn't understand most of the stuff going on, we had a good time. They're a really cool couple. Brother Uhlenberg actually made a trip out to the west coast of the US and was telling me how much he loved Portland and Seattle. I mean, he's just buttering me up. I already know west coast is best coast. The only problem was they kept shoveling food into me that I was starting to feel sick but I didn't want to be mean and say no. I survived. Probably about time I start to expand my tiny stomach anyways. Toward the end we taught a little bit on member missionary work and invited them to invite friends to General Conference as well as the importance of General Conference. I was able to pitch in a little bit more in German than normal.
Himidan had his baptismal interview! He had to meet with President Fingerle via video call because he's a refugee. President just had to clear up some things and make sure Himidan would be safe. It was a long interview which had us waiting downstairs for about an hour and a half. But we were informed he passed. If everything goes well, he will be baptized in April!
Here in Bremen they (missionaries) host an English class every week. This week we only had one person come but he was amazing. He's this guy named Harthmout (Hartmut? we don't know the spelling) and he's one of the biggest America lovers I've ever seen. He's German but walks in looking like an all-American biker with an America hat that has eagle pins and Route 66 pins all over it. He just adores America and it makes me happy, but he speaks barely any English. Harthmout makes frequent travels to the States and just wants to experience everything that goes on there. I think he has done more stuff in the US than I have, but I mean he's also in his 40's or whatever. Today we taught about the main body parts and played a game of Simon Says along with singing a song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". I enjoyed myself, and I'm pretty sure Harthmout did as well. He spent at least half of the class time talking about America so you know.
We got a ring on our doorbell from someone outside. It was this recent convert named Jan. From what I had been told, he's wild. The stories I've heard of him kicking poles and the videos he sends us are just way too funny. He basically just wanted to hang out with us outside for a bit while he showed us his Easter gift to his girlfriend (which had our Easter Initiative card on it). To top it off we shared a quick scripture and said a prayer. He wasn't too crazy but I could definitely see his scatter brain. Naja he's cool.
星期三,二十八号(第225天)
Mittwoch 28. März 2018
District meeting was great, once again. I find that I'm not doing too bad with understanding German, but I literally just can't put the words in my mouth to say anything good. I'll have to work on my speaking, otherwise I'll be able to understand German perfectly but unable to express myself. However, we did a quick roleplay on using the scriptures and that didn't go too bad.
Afterwards, we wrote on the Easter Initiative action posters. They're blank posters with the words "Er war da" (He [Christ] was there) on the bottom. Funny thing is, using the normal wording for what they want out of these posters (like "when I was… he was there) makes "Er war da" grammatically incorrect. We had to improvise since we didn't want to print out the new ones they corrected a couple days ago. It turns out it's correct when you say a statement and then make "Er war da" its own sentence makes it correct. We made them and we'll get pictures of us holding them up onto Facebook soon.
Elder Clemons had his first döner. I failed miserably in a sad attempt to order in Turkish. The guy was definitely a Turk, but I just can't enunciate enough I guess.
We met with this Chinese investigator named Shuo today. We met him at the Bremen Universität which made things weird since there were a few of his friends were just chilling not too far from us. From what I've heard, Shuo is really quiet, but I feel like since his friends were there he was a lot more discreet about his lesson with us. I had just started to talk in Chinese when he requested we speak English since that's our native tongue. I wasn't too happy about that, but I forced in my testimony in Mandarin at the end. When I did that, he was super shocked that I could speak some Chinese. Shouldn't assume I don't speak your language, I guess. Whatever, he was cool. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he had some great questions.
星期四,二十九号(第226天)
Donnerstag 29. März 2018
We spent the morning in the church teaching a couple people. Our first guy is named Bright. He's from Ghana and is a chill dude. He's got massive arms. We taught him the ten commandments and he took them like a charm.
The other investigator was Silvana. She's from Albania and works in a high position for an old-folks center. We taught her the same lesson, but in German. I don't really have good vocabulary for teaching the ten commandments, which resulted in me not saying much. She totally roasted me because of that.
President Fingerle has asked us, if possible, to start doing our language studies at local libraries and stuff. We went to the one in the Altestadt and we have begun doing a long, tedious, but super good thing: reading the Book of Mormon out loud in both German and Chinese. We would read one verse in German, then the next person would read the same one in Chinese. Then the next person would read the next verse in German, and so on. I don't know if it's really helping my Chinese but it's at least helping me pick up a German word here and there and getting used to speaking both languages.
Right as we went out of the library, we went finding. But something super dope happened. I spotted a group of Asians taking pictures. I walk up to them and hear them speaking in Chinese. So of course I proceed to ask them in Chinese if I can take their pictures for them. They were astonished a white guy was speaking their secret code, but agreed. It was great and we had a good short chat, but they're just tourists so ya know. Right after walking away from them, I bumped into a group of people. Also Asian. Also Chinese. Elder Clemons and I embark in conversation with them, too. We all talked for a good ten minutes and gave all of them Chinese Easter cards. Soon after them, we found another Chinese person or two. When we got onto our destined bus, we sat next to two other Chinese people and talked with them for a good while. How freaking dope is that?
To top it off, on another bus shortly after, I spotted an additional Asian. I sat behind her and was checking out her phone to deduce the characters on her screen. Creepy, I know but you gotta do what you've gotta do. Unfortunately, it was Korean. Well, it was a little disappointing, but I continued on with mumbling what little Korean I know. I looked at Elder Clemons and said ''hello'', "thank you", and "not bad" in Korean. This girl turns around, stares at me, and totally flips out. I guess I was a little too loud. She and I chatted for a little bit on why on earth I can speak a tiny bit of Korean. Shout out to my Korean friend Cho from the English branch for teaching me like the 4 basic phrases I now know!
We tried going by on a less active dude but he wasn't home. But on our way back, we found this old blind guy stopped on the sidewalk. We offered to help him and he gladly accepted. He needed help getting to the Bio market. It was cool to help out, but there was something dope he did that was kinda freaky. We hadn't introduced ourselves at all and yet he asked us what church we were from! I'm pretty sure that's gift of discernment right there. There's no way he could have known we were missionaries, but when you lose one of your senses, your others get stronger. Maybe his smelling abilities got better and he got a whiff of that missionary smell. He was such a cute old man, though. He was saying he's going to the Bio market to get some bread, cheese, and apple cake. Priorities man.
Jan met us again tonight. We planned to meet at his apartment but when we got there he said it was too messy. He took some chairs and had us sit and meet on the sidewalk. Definitely one of the most humble lesson settings I've had. That sidewalk was tiny, man. And it was awkward because people were trying to walk by while these losers here were teaching some church stuff on the street. Jan also brought chips and nuts to snack on. Those were fine, but he also brought out some bottles of something and asked if I wanted some lemonade. I was down, he opened his bottle and the cap popped off and smacked me in the forehead. What a derp. He was so sorry. it didn't hurt physically, but my dignity was hurt a tiny bit. Anyway we had a great lesson. We went over the Plan of Salvation with him as a new convert lesson. He generally speaks to us in English, but Elder Clemons and I took the opportunity to practice teaching in German. We didn't do too bad, but Jan is so scatter brained, so it was difficult to stay on track. It was good, though, I like Jan.
星期五,三十号(第227天)
Freitag 30. März 2018
Weekly planning was super long today and we did it at the church. In fact, we were at the church for the majority of the day.
This Tunisian guy named Ridha met with us at the church and we taught him the Restoration in German. He speaks French a lot better than German so we had to pull up a couple words on Google Translate. But other than that he was able to understand. Maybe next time we'll have a French translator.
We had the opportunity to meet with Calvin again and go over the Plan of Salvation with him. Something really stuck with him this time. He took the life after death stuff to heart; writing down all of the scriptures about temples and family history. If we weren't short on time, we could have gotten him to accept a baptismal date. He was asking some intensity deep questions.
Tonight was full of ballin'. About 6 or so nonmembers came to play some basketball with us. I guess every week in Bremen we do this with the exception of last week since the gym was being repainted. These guys are the normal squad that come every week and love playing with us. What was cool, though, was to see Calvin there right after our lesson with him. It was a fun time, but I suck at basketball.
星期六,三十一号(第228天)
Samstag 31. März 2018
Today was Bremerhaven's turn for a street display so we headed upward to greet them there. Bremerhaven is super cool because it's on the seaside. Oh how I truly miss being close to the ocean. I was only there for a total of two hours, and 3 quarters of that was spent at the street display, but it was still cool.
Shopping was done today because Monday is a holiday.
A less active member, Uwe, stays at a care facility because he only has one leg. Not many people visit him, so we went ahead to visit him. We showed him the Easter initiative video and asked when Christ has been there for him. It was a great visit. We want to visit him at least once a week since he's so lonely.
The first session of General Conference was tonight. The way General Conference works here is we watch the Saturday morning conference live here at 18:00, then the Priesthood session Sunday morning, the Saturday afternoon session Sunday afternoon, the Sunday morning session live at 18:00 on Sunday, finally the Sunday afternoon session we watch some other Sunday when our ward has time. Time zones really mess things up when you're 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake. Sara and Mahmoud came but unfortunately live Persian translations weren't available for the Saturday sessions. Luckily, a member of the ward speaks Persian and helped them out a bit. The Saturday morning conference was dope! It was awesome and very humbling to sustain our new Prophet, President Russell M Nelson. In addition, it was cool to see Elder Gong, a man of Chinese decent, in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! Way to represent! I can tell things are going to be sweet.
星期日,四月一号(第229天)
Sonntag 1. April 2018
Bright came for church this morning with his girl Yvonne and son Brayden. They thought today was just regular church even though we told them it was conference. But everything was okay. They were only planning on staying for the early morning, which we weren't going to be showing any of the conferences until later in the morning, so we put on the recording of the Saturday afternoon session. Everything was great. Bright and Yvonne both loved it and took a lot from it.
Priesthood session was also dope. President Nelson drops revelation of what the Lord wants for his church like a boss. The High Priests will now be combined with the Elders Quorum in the church which is weird but really cool. I'm pumped.
A recent convert made everyone who showed up for the Priesthood session a delicious lunch with beef stew, chocolate bread stuff, and quark. Plus some little Easter egg candies.
The next session shown was actually the Saturday afternoon session which we had already watched earlier with Bright and Yvonne. Not gonna lie, may or may not have slept for a little bit of that. I mean I've already seen it and I'm a little sick so you can't blame me.
Silvana and Himidan also came for parts of conference throughout the last session. We got them set up for Albanian and Arabic on our tablets. Only problem with that was I couldn't take notes with my tablet but that's okay I'll watch the talks again.
All in all, a busy yet great day of conference.
星期一,四月二号(第230天)
Montag 2. April 2018
Well since today is a holiday, no shops were open. It was kind of lame, actually. We just went to the church and played pool and ping pong for a while. Elder Bischoff took a couple videos of us for him to send home. They were extremely awkward interviews for his family to get to know us.
So I will leave it at that. Wir sehen uns später!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 32
星期一,三月十九号(第216天)
Montag 19. März 2018
Last dinner with the Steuer's. We had a great meal and some great discussions. They believed that Yaşlı King and I have good chemistry and we're sad I would be leaving. I am a little sad, too, but it was great to be with them. For our spiritual thought, I did my little remembering-the-10-commandments dinky thing. But Sister Steuer totally destroyed me with a way to remember them with your fingers and it was fantastic. We even took such a great picture together on their Polaroid. I feel like I ought to get one of those. It's pretty neat.
星期二,三月二十号(第217天)
Dienstag 20. März 2018
We met up with Ryhene today. We talked a lot about faith and why it's important, but that power comes when acted upon. That discussion was great and lasted about 45 minutes. And looking back, we should have ended there. But she went into off-topics on other religions and stuff which kinda drove us off course for a while. She can really talk for a long time on this subject. Oh well, I really hope she continues with this and grows in her relationship with Christ.
Arjuun gave a quick visit today since this is my last day in Tiergarten. He mainly just accompanied us on our way back to the apartment.
Elder Bischoff wanted the details on when I would be arriving in Bremen and whatnot so I called him to answer that and to ask a few questions. As it turns out, the Bremen apartment is only meant for two people, which means there are only two beds. They also only have two wardrobes, which are taken. I'm sure they only have two desks...which are taken. We also won't have a phone for at least a week. Same things goes for the keys to the apartment! To top it all off, I'm going to be with a brand new missionary which means neither of us know the area; plus I don't speak German or Chinese well and he might not, either! This transfer seems to just get better and better! It's definitely a little frightening, but I'm so glad Elder Bischoff and Elder Hugg will be there to help out.
Yaşlı King had a district leader school to attend over Skype tonight. While he was doing that, I was basically taking off everything that was in relation to me from the phone. No trace of me left - all of my accounts were wiped out. It's kind of sad to see it happen since I set this phone up. Yet it still doesn't feel like it's my last night here. Weird.
星期三,三月二十一号(第218天)
Mittwoch 21. März 2018
What an interesting day!
Woke up at 5am today to get showered and ready for the big move. Goodbyes to Elder Jensen and Elder Peck were pretty sad. I had a great time with them this past transfer. Elder Hickenlooper came last night since his companion is now an AP so he was able to help me with my bags. All my books made everything way too heavy to carry around. We arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to greet Elder Allen and Sister Geer. They, along with Yaşlı King will be training, too. Since they're all going to Freiberg we booked a train trip together. Plus there was only one option to take, so you know. It was a fun ride down. I got to see the countryside of Germany which is always dope. You don't get to see much of that in Berlin.
Our train arrived in the Dresden Hauptbahnhof where we had a half hour layaway. Yaşlı King, Elder Allen, and I got donuts because why not?
Finally our train arrived in Freiberg, but we didn't have a way to get from the Bahnhof to the hotel where the trainees would meet us, so we walked the whole way. it was a half hour of walking, and most of it was uphill in the snow. That wasn't so much fun.
When we got to this hotel, the AP's and office Elders were anticipating our arrival. When we were all settled, except for me because I'm the only one training and moving areas so my stuff wasn't settled but whatever I just tucked it all away in a corner. The AP's gave us a short little lesson and heads up on what is expected of us when we're training. It was all in German which wasn't too bad but I just feared them calling on me if they ever asked questions. And not to my surprise, they called on me for a roleplay. Elder Allen was acting as a trainer and I was a Trainee who had problems getting up in the morning and wouldn't do our morning exercise. It was Elder Allen's job to get me to willingly do all that stuff. He was telling me to do as he does, but I went along with the act and pretended to not give it my best. He would do jumping jacks and I would just raise to my tippy toes. He would do push ups and I would go down but lay on the floor and not get back up. Everyone got a crack out of that. Eventually I gave in and started doing everything with him; you know, to make the roleplay obtain the moral push it needed. I think overall thing wasn't too bad. I understood at least half of the German which wasn't too shabby.
Once we were done, it was time to wait for the trainees to come. We all stood in the hallway and waited. When they came, we sung Called to Serve in German while they walked through the tunnel of trainers to the meeting room. By the way, this is apparently what normal people who come in experience - I didn't experience any of this when I arrived but I mean I am a special case. Everyone takes a seat and I see one of the missionaries take a chair that's next to mine. Now I don't normally see someone else wearing this, but if my eyes weren't deceiving me, I beheld a Chinese nametag on one of the trainees. Ohhhhhhh myyyyyyy goodness! I nearly freaked out! Was I going to be with this Elder? I have no clue if he actually knows Chinese or learned it in the MTC. I just had to wait until our pairs were announced. That was pure torture but I had a lot of anxiety waiting to see. They had all of the trainers get up and tell about who they were, where they were serving, and a miracle that happened in their area. Well by the time it got to me I said I was serving in a place that I didn't even know about. Everyone got a crack out of that, too.
Finally, finally. It was time to announce who was going with who. One by one trainees were being called off with their assigned trainers. And one by one that Chinese guy was not being called off. Every time one was announced I was biting my fingernails. We were the very last to be announced and this Chinese guy and I were going to be companions! Wow I cannot express the joy I had! I will be training Elder Clemons. He's from Tennessee and his mother is Taiwanese! He learned a little bit of Chinese from her. So he claims he knows just a good basic level of regular Chinese but can't really do much in the way of gospel Chinese (similar to my German when I got here). But it's perfect because I only know gospel vocabulary in Chinese. We'll be able to edify each other quite nicely. Something really cool about him is that he served a mini mission in Taiwan when he was sixteen (for about a week or so) and was companions with Bó Lǎoshī who was a teacher of mine in the MTC! Freaking dope this guy is. Everything is just wonderful.
After the meeting, we headed outside to take some pictures with President and Sister Fingerle. Elder Clemons and I got one together and then another was taken with just him and them. Then it was off to the Bahnhof. Things were kind of crazy and I ended up not giving an official goodbye to Yaşlı King :'(
Travel back to Bremen was pretty bad with all the train transitions and luggage. He and I both had 3 bags that we needed help taking so it was rough. All in all, about six hours worth of traveling by train.
We got to the Bremen Hauptbahnhof and were greeted by Elder Bischoff along with two other Elders from our new district. I immediately asked where Elder Hugg was, and to my dismay, it seems that Elder Hugg had to go home for personal reasons. This is actually very depressing. I was so excited when I heard he was coming back and was so ready to see him, but he literally left yesterday due to this. Now the new plan is actually to be in a tri companionship with Elder Bischoff.
Nonetheless, I'm so excited to be here. Elder Bischoff is from Utah so you know nothing exciting there but he's a transfer ahead of me which connects us a little. He was actually in Glienicke for my first transfer in Berlin. I would have met him at my first zone p-day at the stake center but I legit don't remember that. But I remember meeting his companion.
So, the apartment situation wasn't as bad as I thought. With only three of us, we are in one companionship which means we get a set of keys and a phone. Plus, there are two beds and two extra mattresses which turns into one bed when put together so that makes somewhat three beds. The only problem is that there are only two wardrobes so I don't have any space to hang my clothes. Elder Clemons and I made a trade: I took the second desk and he took the second wardrobe. This apartment is pretty small compared to the Tiergarten one, natürlich.
星期四,三月二十二号(第219天)
Donnerstag 22. März 2018
First things first, it was time for our first district meeting here. Our district consists of five elders: Bremerhaven missionaries (Elder O'Bryant with Elder Mühler), and Elder Bischoff, Elder Clemons, and me. The Bremen ward building is freaking amazing! it's the most American Mormon church looking building I've seen since coming to Germany. Plus it's bigger than even the stake center in Tiergarten. There's even an upper level where we hold our meetings. District meeting was in German but this time I don't have a translator like the last transfer. I've really have got to learn German now. They made me pray in German which was weird since I always prayed in Chinese regardless of who I'm with. I guess that's a great way to improve in a language so I'm not too upset. Besides it all being in German, I got a good amount of stuff out of the meeting.
For our district lunch, we headed on down to the Innenstadt and had Pizza Hut. This was probably the best pizza ive had in Germany; and it was buffet style!
We had to grab some food for Elder Clemons and I since there's not too much to eat at the apartment. Surprisingly, Elder Bischoff heard somewhere that I drink a lot of milk and that was confirmed today. I told him I usually go through about 6 liters of milk each week and he was just laughing at that. What can I say? I like milk.
There's a spot in the Bremen Innenstadt that is "prime finding" location, according to Elder Bischoff; so we went there for a while. To me, good finding locations are ones that don't consist of too many tourists. Berlin areas are full of those.
Tonight we ended off with a dinner with our bishop of the Bremen ward, the Bunting family. He's actually American and his wife is German. His wife unfortunately went to the University of Alabama that's fine, but she pulled a "roll tide" on me and I was slightly triggered. I love this family. It's nice how they can speak German and English very well. The youngest daughter is learning English but already speaks a good amount I'd say.
星期五,三月二十三号(第220天)
Freitag 23. März 2018
Every week in Bremen we do a street display in the Innenstadt. We headed over to the church to pick up a table, copies of the Book of Mormon, and a display sign. This was probably the most legit street display I've done. It's a lot easier to have street displays here because you don't have to sign up for a specific time and place which still has to be approved every single time. I enjoyed myself, Elder Clemons and I got to talk to quite a few Chinese people.
Right after we went to this place called Pommes for President and they literally only sell Pommes there. It's amazing. It's just so good and you can put on a number of different exotic sauces like currycreme and peanut sauce which sounds weird but it's great trust me.
In one of the local libraries in the Innenstadt we had a lesson with this guy named Calvin. He is from Cameroon and had been found just a few days earlier. We were there to teach him about the restoration (in English). He seems super ready to start reading the book of Mormon and meet with us again. We'll see what the future holds
Our first weekly planning together. Elder Bischoff had a great idea to have us make dinner and eat while planning. I had never thought of that before! Oh my goodness it made everything all the better! Elder Clemons and I created some good plans for what we want to see out of our Chinese studies. I want to teach him all of the gospel Chinese vocabulary because I feel like that's all he needs to be a vital asset. He can already speak some great regular everyday Chinese and make sentences so I just have to fill in the words. He and I also have a plan to enhance our German to a point where we can be super comfortable in almost any finding situation. We're already getting better in just two days!
星期六,三月二十四号(第221天)
Samstag 24. März 2018
Lots of plans fell out so today ended up being a ton of finding.
Elder Clemons actually came here without a tablet or phone, like what? Like how do you do missionary work without technology? We went to Saturn to get him a device of his choice. We pretty much have a lot of freedom in phone selections. We can get any Samsung phone that's J, A, or S series; starting from the third generation, typically. The one most areas have is an A3. Elder Clemons decided to buy an A5 which is a tiny bit bigger and has a little better processing power so it's not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
To top off the night, we went by on an Iranian family, Sara and Mahmoud. They and their two small daughters have been going to church as nonmembers for about a year now and only live about a 2 minute walk from the church. They love coming but haven't been baptized yet so a while ago Elder Staten and Elder Bischoff convinced them to start taking lessons. Sara speaks a little bit of English and German while Mahmoud more so German. Their Muttersprache is Persian so we called up Elder Neale, the Persian group leader, to help out. We taught the Plan of Salvation and added a baptismal invitation at the end. They're going to give it some time to think since they really want to be baptized together which is pretty sweet.
星期日,三月二十五号(第222天)
Sonntag 25. März 2018
Church starts at 9:30 here which is totally weird compared to the 2pm church I was having in Tiergarten. To make things worse, this week was daylight savings time for Europe or something. I think the States already sprung forward an hour like last week so it's super confusing. One less hour of sleep is never good. Although I feel worse for Elder Clemons because he was in the States when they went forward and hour and he is getting this one, too. Plus, he is jet-lagged. 加油 to him
A couple days ago Elder Bischoff asked me to fill in Elder Hugg's place for a talk he had today. Since he left, it was me who was giving that talk. Thing is, this is a German ward. Even though I've been in Germany for 5 months, I've never had to do so much as bear my testimony in German. Now here I am giving a talk. Luckily it only had to be about 5 minutes long. I did it, even though it was slightly cringy. My American accent really comes through when I'm nervous, it's ridiculous. I basically talked about how we need to develop and strengthen our own testimonies. I likened it into the story of the wise man and the foolish man who built their houses on different foundations. Many people came to me throughout church and told me that they really appreciated my Ansprache. Alles gut.
For our second hour, we were delighted to be joined by a Swaziland guy who we taught the Restoration to. He and his friend from Albania are here for school, but only the Swazi guy, Fezzi joined us for the lesson. There was even a member girl from Utah on a school exchange and couldn't speak German so she joined us. She made a great joint teach.
After church we headed on over to the Berkmann family to have lunch with them. They're a member family with five really cool kids. This was my first German member appointment which was fine but I was giving a part of our lesson we were giving them. I had never even touched Resurrection vocabulary in German so I was more than lost when we were teaching about Easter. But everything actually went well. They all helped me with the words and it was fine. I did an object lesson with my hand resembling our spirits and gloves to resemble our bodies.
My first Chinese Skype away from Berlin. This transfer is full of a lot of firsts. Anyway we actually got a lot of good roleplays in. I'd say it was super beneficial. We even bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon in Chinese there at the end.
The zone I'm in now is called the Oldenburg zone, or the O-zone for short. Our zone leaders wanted to start doing something cool for Sunday night's starting this transfer. We have initiated weekly zone firesides. Basically we just meet over Skype, Facebook, or Zoom and we talk about a scripture we all read during the week. Then we receive a little lesson. This week we read in Joseph Smith History and we got a lesson from Elder Clemons. It was all in English for him but I feel like it will slowly start to shift into German. But it was super dope and super cool.
星期一,三月二十六号(第223天)
Montag 26. März 2018
The cool thing we did today was we went to the Innenstadt and checked out the more classic part of town. I guess Bremen used to be the ''Rome of the North'' and they have some really sweet-looking buildings. While in the Dom there, some random Utah member ladies saw us and said hi. Super cool.
Afterwards we took a walk through this fair that was going on at the Hauptbahnhof. It was super sweet and it's this Easter fair, I think. Makes me wish I just had money to blow on rides and candy, but what can ya do? It was still awesome to walk through the whole thing.
Next week is General Conference, so get ready for that. It's going to be such a great blessing to watch it.
Ye man life is great. Stay safe, everyone!
#immerda
#alwaysthere
#一直与我们同在
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,三月十九号(第216天)
Montag 19. März 2018
Last dinner with the Steuer's. We had a great meal and some great discussions. They believed that Yaşlı King and I have good chemistry and we're sad I would be leaving. I am a little sad, too, but it was great to be with them. For our spiritual thought, I did my little remembering-the-10-commandments dinky thing. But Sister Steuer totally destroyed me with a way to remember them with your fingers and it was fantastic. We even took such a great picture together on their Polaroid. I feel like I ought to get one of those. It's pretty neat.
星期二,三月二十号(第217天)
Dienstag 20. März 2018
We met up with Ryhene today. We talked a lot about faith and why it's important, but that power comes when acted upon. That discussion was great and lasted about 45 minutes. And looking back, we should have ended there. But she went into off-topics on other religions and stuff which kinda drove us off course for a while. She can really talk for a long time on this subject. Oh well, I really hope she continues with this and grows in her relationship with Christ.
Arjuun gave a quick visit today since this is my last day in Tiergarten. He mainly just accompanied us on our way back to the apartment.
Elder Bischoff wanted the details on when I would be arriving in Bremen and whatnot so I called him to answer that and to ask a few questions. As it turns out, the Bremen apartment is only meant for two people, which means there are only two beds. They also only have two wardrobes, which are taken. I'm sure they only have two desks...which are taken. We also won't have a phone for at least a week. Same things goes for the keys to the apartment! To top it all off, I'm going to be with a brand new missionary which means neither of us know the area; plus I don't speak German or Chinese well and he might not, either! This transfer seems to just get better and better! It's definitely a little frightening, but I'm so glad Elder Bischoff and Elder Hugg will be there to help out.
Yaşlı King had a district leader school to attend over Skype tonight. While he was doing that, I was basically taking off everything that was in relation to me from the phone. No trace of me left - all of my accounts were wiped out. It's kind of sad to see it happen since I set this phone up. Yet it still doesn't feel like it's my last night here. Weird.
星期三,三月二十一号(第218天)
Mittwoch 21. März 2018
What an interesting day!
Woke up at 5am today to get showered and ready for the big move. Goodbyes to Elder Jensen and Elder Peck were pretty sad. I had a great time with them this past transfer. Elder Hickenlooper came last night since his companion is now an AP so he was able to help me with my bags. All my books made everything way too heavy to carry around. We arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to greet Elder Allen and Sister Geer. They, along with Yaşlı King will be training, too. Since they're all going to Freiberg we booked a train trip together. Plus there was only one option to take, so you know. It was a fun ride down. I got to see the countryside of Germany which is always dope. You don't get to see much of that in Berlin.
Our train arrived in the Dresden Hauptbahnhof where we had a half hour layaway. Yaşlı King, Elder Allen, and I got donuts because why not?
Finally our train arrived in Freiberg, but we didn't have a way to get from the Bahnhof to the hotel where the trainees would meet us, so we walked the whole way. it was a half hour of walking, and most of it was uphill in the snow. That wasn't so much fun.
When we got to this hotel, the AP's and office Elders were anticipating our arrival. When we were all settled, except for me because I'm the only one training and moving areas so my stuff wasn't settled but whatever I just tucked it all away in a corner. The AP's gave us a short little lesson and heads up on what is expected of us when we're training. It was all in German which wasn't too bad but I just feared them calling on me if they ever asked questions. And not to my surprise, they called on me for a roleplay. Elder Allen was acting as a trainer and I was a Trainee who had problems getting up in the morning and wouldn't do our morning exercise. It was Elder Allen's job to get me to willingly do all that stuff. He was telling me to do as he does, but I went along with the act and pretended to not give it my best. He would do jumping jacks and I would just raise to my tippy toes. He would do push ups and I would go down but lay on the floor and not get back up. Everyone got a crack out of that. Eventually I gave in and started doing everything with him; you know, to make the roleplay obtain the moral push it needed. I think overall thing wasn't too bad. I understood at least half of the German which wasn't too shabby.
Once we were done, it was time to wait for the trainees to come. We all stood in the hallway and waited. When they came, we sung Called to Serve in German while they walked through the tunnel of trainers to the meeting room. By the way, this is apparently what normal people who come in experience - I didn't experience any of this when I arrived but I mean I am a special case. Everyone takes a seat and I see one of the missionaries take a chair that's next to mine. Now I don't normally see someone else wearing this, but if my eyes weren't deceiving me, I beheld a Chinese nametag on one of the trainees. Ohhhhhhh myyyyyyy goodness! I nearly freaked out! Was I going to be with this Elder? I have no clue if he actually knows Chinese or learned it in the MTC. I just had to wait until our pairs were announced. That was pure torture but I had a lot of anxiety waiting to see. They had all of the trainers get up and tell about who they were, where they were serving, and a miracle that happened in their area. Well by the time it got to me I said I was serving in a place that I didn't even know about. Everyone got a crack out of that, too.
Finally, finally. It was time to announce who was going with who. One by one trainees were being called off with their assigned trainers. And one by one that Chinese guy was not being called off. Every time one was announced I was biting my fingernails. We were the very last to be announced and this Chinese guy and I were going to be companions! Wow I cannot express the joy I had! I will be training Elder Clemons. He's from Tennessee and his mother is Taiwanese! He learned a little bit of Chinese from her. So he claims he knows just a good basic level of regular Chinese but can't really do much in the way of gospel Chinese (similar to my German when I got here). But it's perfect because I only know gospel vocabulary in Chinese. We'll be able to edify each other quite nicely. Something really cool about him is that he served a mini mission in Taiwan when he was sixteen (for about a week or so) and was companions with Bó Lǎoshī who was a teacher of mine in the MTC! Freaking dope this guy is. Everything is just wonderful.
After the meeting, we headed outside to take some pictures with President and Sister Fingerle. Elder Clemons and I got one together and then another was taken with just him and them. Then it was off to the Bahnhof. Things were kind of crazy and I ended up not giving an official goodbye to Yaşlı King :'(
Travel back to Bremen was pretty bad with all the train transitions and luggage. He and I both had 3 bags that we needed help taking so it was rough. All in all, about six hours worth of traveling by train.
We got to the Bremen Hauptbahnhof and were greeted by Elder Bischoff along with two other Elders from our new district. I immediately asked where Elder Hugg was, and to my dismay, it seems that Elder Hugg had to go home for personal reasons. This is actually very depressing. I was so excited when I heard he was coming back and was so ready to see him, but he literally left yesterday due to this. Now the new plan is actually to be in a tri companionship with Elder Bischoff.
Nonetheless, I'm so excited to be here. Elder Bischoff is from Utah so you know nothing exciting there but he's a transfer ahead of me which connects us a little. He was actually in Glienicke for my first transfer in Berlin. I would have met him at my first zone p-day at the stake center but I legit don't remember that. But I remember meeting his companion.
So, the apartment situation wasn't as bad as I thought. With only three of us, we are in one companionship which means we get a set of keys and a phone. Plus, there are two beds and two extra mattresses which turns into one bed when put together so that makes somewhat three beds. The only problem is that there are only two wardrobes so I don't have any space to hang my clothes. Elder Clemons and I made a trade: I took the second desk and he took the second wardrobe. This apartment is pretty small compared to the Tiergarten one, natürlich.
星期四,三月二十二号(第219天)
Donnerstag 22. März 2018
First things first, it was time for our first district meeting here. Our district consists of five elders: Bremerhaven missionaries (Elder O'Bryant with Elder Mühler), and Elder Bischoff, Elder Clemons, and me. The Bremen ward building is freaking amazing! it's the most American Mormon church looking building I've seen since coming to Germany. Plus it's bigger than even the stake center in Tiergarten. There's even an upper level where we hold our meetings. District meeting was in German but this time I don't have a translator like the last transfer. I've really have got to learn German now. They made me pray in German which was weird since I always prayed in Chinese regardless of who I'm with. I guess that's a great way to improve in a language so I'm not too upset. Besides it all being in German, I got a good amount of stuff out of the meeting.
For our district lunch, we headed on down to the Innenstadt and had Pizza Hut. This was probably the best pizza ive had in Germany; and it was buffet style!
We had to grab some food for Elder Clemons and I since there's not too much to eat at the apartment. Surprisingly, Elder Bischoff heard somewhere that I drink a lot of milk and that was confirmed today. I told him I usually go through about 6 liters of milk each week and he was just laughing at that. What can I say? I like milk.
There's a spot in the Bremen Innenstadt that is "prime finding" location, according to Elder Bischoff; so we went there for a while. To me, good finding locations are ones that don't consist of too many tourists. Berlin areas are full of those.
Tonight we ended off with a dinner with our bishop of the Bremen ward, the Bunting family. He's actually American and his wife is German. His wife unfortunately went to the University of Alabama that's fine, but she pulled a "roll tide" on me and I was slightly triggered. I love this family. It's nice how they can speak German and English very well. The youngest daughter is learning English but already speaks a good amount I'd say.
星期五,三月二十三号(第220天)
Freitag 23. März 2018
Every week in Bremen we do a street display in the Innenstadt. We headed over to the church to pick up a table, copies of the Book of Mormon, and a display sign. This was probably the most legit street display I've done. It's a lot easier to have street displays here because you don't have to sign up for a specific time and place which still has to be approved every single time. I enjoyed myself, Elder Clemons and I got to talk to quite a few Chinese people.
Right after we went to this place called Pommes for President and they literally only sell Pommes there. It's amazing. It's just so good and you can put on a number of different exotic sauces like currycreme and peanut sauce which sounds weird but it's great trust me.
In one of the local libraries in the Innenstadt we had a lesson with this guy named Calvin. He is from Cameroon and had been found just a few days earlier. We were there to teach him about the restoration (in English). He seems super ready to start reading the book of Mormon and meet with us again. We'll see what the future holds
Our first weekly planning together. Elder Bischoff had a great idea to have us make dinner and eat while planning. I had never thought of that before! Oh my goodness it made everything all the better! Elder Clemons and I created some good plans for what we want to see out of our Chinese studies. I want to teach him all of the gospel Chinese vocabulary because I feel like that's all he needs to be a vital asset. He can already speak some great regular everyday Chinese and make sentences so I just have to fill in the words. He and I also have a plan to enhance our German to a point where we can be super comfortable in almost any finding situation. We're already getting better in just two days!
星期六,三月二十四号(第221天)
Samstag 24. März 2018
Lots of plans fell out so today ended up being a ton of finding.
Elder Clemons actually came here without a tablet or phone, like what? Like how do you do missionary work without technology? We went to Saturn to get him a device of his choice. We pretty much have a lot of freedom in phone selections. We can get any Samsung phone that's J, A, or S series; starting from the third generation, typically. The one most areas have is an A3. Elder Clemons decided to buy an A5 which is a tiny bit bigger and has a little better processing power so it's not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
To top off the night, we went by on an Iranian family, Sara and Mahmoud. They and their two small daughters have been going to church as nonmembers for about a year now and only live about a 2 minute walk from the church. They love coming but haven't been baptized yet so a while ago Elder Staten and Elder Bischoff convinced them to start taking lessons. Sara speaks a little bit of English and German while Mahmoud more so German. Their Muttersprache is Persian so we called up Elder Neale, the Persian group leader, to help out. We taught the Plan of Salvation and added a baptismal invitation at the end. They're going to give it some time to think since they really want to be baptized together which is pretty sweet.
星期日,三月二十五号(第222天)
Sonntag 25. März 2018
Church starts at 9:30 here which is totally weird compared to the 2pm church I was having in Tiergarten. To make things worse, this week was daylight savings time for Europe or something. I think the States already sprung forward an hour like last week so it's super confusing. One less hour of sleep is never good. Although I feel worse for Elder Clemons because he was in the States when they went forward and hour and he is getting this one, too. Plus, he is jet-lagged. 加油 to him
A couple days ago Elder Bischoff asked me to fill in Elder Hugg's place for a talk he had today. Since he left, it was me who was giving that talk. Thing is, this is a German ward. Even though I've been in Germany for 5 months, I've never had to do so much as bear my testimony in German. Now here I am giving a talk. Luckily it only had to be about 5 minutes long. I did it, even though it was slightly cringy. My American accent really comes through when I'm nervous, it's ridiculous. I basically talked about how we need to develop and strengthen our own testimonies. I likened it into the story of the wise man and the foolish man who built their houses on different foundations. Many people came to me throughout church and told me that they really appreciated my Ansprache. Alles gut.
For our second hour, we were delighted to be joined by a Swaziland guy who we taught the Restoration to. He and his friend from Albania are here for school, but only the Swazi guy, Fezzi joined us for the lesson. There was even a member girl from Utah on a school exchange and couldn't speak German so she joined us. She made a great joint teach.
After church we headed on over to the Berkmann family to have lunch with them. They're a member family with five really cool kids. This was my first German member appointment which was fine but I was giving a part of our lesson we were giving them. I had never even touched Resurrection vocabulary in German so I was more than lost when we were teaching about Easter. But everything actually went well. They all helped me with the words and it was fine. I did an object lesson with my hand resembling our spirits and gloves to resemble our bodies.
My first Chinese Skype away from Berlin. This transfer is full of a lot of firsts. Anyway we actually got a lot of good roleplays in. I'd say it was super beneficial. We even bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon in Chinese there at the end.
The zone I'm in now is called the Oldenburg zone, or the O-zone for short. Our zone leaders wanted to start doing something cool for Sunday night's starting this transfer. We have initiated weekly zone firesides. Basically we just meet over Skype, Facebook, or Zoom and we talk about a scripture we all read during the week. Then we receive a little lesson. This week we read in Joseph Smith History and we got a lesson from Elder Clemons. It was all in English for him but I feel like it will slowly start to shift into German. But it was super dope and super cool.
星期一,三月二十六号(第223天)
Montag 26. März 2018
The cool thing we did today was we went to the Innenstadt and checked out the more classic part of town. I guess Bremen used to be the ''Rome of the North'' and they have some really sweet-looking buildings. While in the Dom there, some random Utah member ladies saw us and said hi. Super cool.
Afterwards we took a walk through this fair that was going on at the Hauptbahnhof. It was super sweet and it's this Easter fair, I think. Makes me wish I just had money to blow on rides and candy, but what can ya do? It was still awesome to walk through the whole thing.
Next week is General Conference, so get ready for that. It's going to be such a great blessing to watch it.
Ye man life is great. Stay safe, everyone!
#immerda
#alwaysthere
#一直与我们同在
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 31
星期二,三月13号(第210天)
Dienstag 13. März 2018
Yaşlı King hurt his back while running today. I think he pulled a muscle because he is really stiff. We were home bound for most of the day. It was fine, I got a lot of personal and language study in; both for Chinese and German.
The Bremen Elders needed Yaşlı King's help for a Turkish translation. He translated the first lesson for a Turkish woman over WhatsApp…somewhat. She arrived at the Bremen Elders' place like 45 minutes late and she only stayed for about 10 minutes. She was kind of crazy from what I understand; claiming her dog was needing something and whatnot then she just ditched all of a sudden. Interesting. The Bremen Elders say she'll be back for another real lesson sometime.
Our Elder's quorum planned a game night tonight full of Foosball and ping pong. We came and I had fun while Yaşlı King had to sit out because of his back. But I guess he said he had a good time talking to a guy who is a diplomat at the embassy. I realized that I suck at ping pong. I did go up against a Korean - that may have been the problem, also a member who learned to play from a Chinese master of ping pong. They also bought us pizza so alles gut.
星期三,三月14号(第211天)
Mittwoch 14. März 2018
Our last district meeting of the transfer! Not as bad as Elder Hillyard, this was his very last. Yaşlı King gave me an assignment to teach a little spiritual thought from the Missionary Handbook last-minute this morning. I just came up with something on Health and Safety. I didn't do too bad. We took the time to reflect on how we did this transfer, too. For some reason, it feels like a very "goodbye" meeting. Maybe that means something…
District lunch was at Risa Chicken. It's been a while since we've had a district lunch; and yet it's the last one of the transfer, which means transfer predictions! I can't remember my scripture, but I'm pretty sure they interpreted it as me leaving this time which doesn't surprise me. Every single transfer prediction is somewhere along those lines I feel. Only time will tell. And by time I mean Saturday night.
Sister Fingerle called us this morning and said she had set up and appointment for Yaşlı King to see a chiropractor tonight, so we headed over to this clinic. I can barely get through medical stuff in English, let alone German. Good thing I wasn't the one having to do any of the legal stuff since I'm not the patient. The chiropractor dude was chill. He was super helpful for Yaşlı King and super friendly. I was somewhat expecting him to just look at Yaşlı King and just write a prescription for ibuprofen or something. I was wrong; lesson learned. He asked us how we learned German and we told him, but he looks at my nametag and said, "Chinese! Whoa that is way harder! Glad I'm not doing that!"
星期四,三月15号(第212天)
Donnerstag 15. März 2018
On our way to get a package from some address down in Neukölln, we were stopped by a Turkish guy who wanted to talk with us. He could have spoken in Turkish, but he claimed he wanted to speak in German so that I could understand (even though I couldn't understand much), but he was basically rambling on about how his life has gone down hill ever since he joined a Baptist church and that he has tried to talk to other people from other churches and his life doesn't seem to be getting better. He spat a ton as he was talking but he was super into it. He talked to us from a good half hour. During the whole thing, he called us "Heilige Tempel" or Holy Temples, maybe he was somewhat quoting 1st Corinthians, but I guess we can take that as a compliment. Yaşlı King wanted to help this guy out but he was going back to Turkey tomorrow.
Anyway so we were heading to get a package for Yaşlı King. We got a letter in the mail saying someone had received a package from DHL but that it was elsewhere. Normally, when a package arrives the deliverer will give it to the neighbor if the person is not home. But our neighbors did not have the package. On the slip it said that some woman at a certain address had it but they were all the way in Neukölln! So we decided to check this out. Long story short, there wasn't a DHL shop or this person's apartment there so we have no idea what to do. We will most likely just go to a random DHL shop and ask there.
Yaşlı King also had a Turkish Skype tonight. But it was not any old Turkish Skype, this time Yaşlı Çakir was there to teach. Yaşlı Çakir actually finished his mission a little bit ago, but his father is like the main Turkish translator guy for the Church. He translated the Book of Mormon into Turkish and does most of the translations for General Conferences. He is known as Papa Çakir. So Yaşlı Çakir was just there volunteering to help out Yaşlı King and Backus with their Turkish. Fun fact, Yaşlı Çakir was one of my zone leaders when I first got here.
星期五,三月16号(第213天)
Freitag 16. März 2018
With this week being the last full week of the transfer, it was time to have the Mission Leadership Conference. We don't go to it since we're not high up mission leaders, but since we are the missionaries with the keys to the stake center, we had to open up.
The AP's called and asked us to pick up two Elders who are the companions of people going into MLC (similar to Elder Cheung like last time). We had to walk everywhere because they didn't have tickets or money for tickets to ride the busses. Getting around Berlin is a million times harder without public transportation. We had to walk everywhere. The only things we got to do were a Turkish Skype for Yaşlı King and grab some döner. What's cool is we keep going by on this döner laden on Turmstraße. The guys working there are the ones who invited Yaşlı King to go on vacation to Turkey with them. We are pretty good friends with them now. They also make some pretty good döner. I highly recommend it if you find your way in Moabit.
We headed back to the church since MLC was over. In the back they had a bunch of language cards for the Easter initiative (like non German or English). I checked it out and they had a bunch of Chinese cards! Oh man I grabbed quite a few. Yaşlı King even got some Turkish ones. Good day.
Élder Wride came for a Spanish Tausch with Elder Jensen! Not sure if I have mentioned it before, but Elder Jensen is in the Spanish program. It was so great to see Élder Wride again. We had a lot of catching up to do. He was happy to see all of the sweet changes we made to the apartment, too.
星期六,三月17号(第214天)
Samstag 17. März 2018
Arjuun wanted to meet us today, so we happily accepted. However, when he arrived at the church, he brought his friend Shailesh. He is also from India and goes to school with Arjuun. Since Shailesh is new to this stuff, we taught the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he seemed to really enjoy it. He loved it so much he wanted to join us for stake conference.
Yeah so today was the Saturday session of Berlin Stake Conference. This was my first Stake Conference in Germany. Because neither Arjuun nor Shailesh can speak German well, we had to grab translation devices. They grabbed me one, too, so I thought why not use it. It was a great conference. We had a special guest from the Europe Area Seventy, ELder Adonay S. Obando; originally from Costa Rica, but now resides in Spain. He was such a funny guy. He will most likely be speaking tomorrow as well.
Okay okay okay okay. Transfer calls came in as well. Well, I seem to have been informed that I will.........be leaving Tiergarten!!! I am heading far west to Bremen! And I will be training, which was not a concern for me since currently that is where Elder Hugg is, so I thought I would be finishing his training (since this was his first transfer in the mission), but I am actually getting a brand new trainee and Elder Hugg alongside Elder Bischoff will be staying in Bremen. Basically Bremen will turn into a four-man area, too. I have no idea who my new trainee is or if he is a German or Chinese speaking Elder. I just hope they can speak German because I am still lost when it comes to that stuff. At least Elder Bischoff and Elder Hugg are both learning Chinese so I can have some people to actually study with. This is kinda scary, leaving my first and only area. I'm actually going to a German speaking ward so I've got to buck up and learn this language. Oh my.
星期日,三月18号(第215天)
Sonntag 18. März 2018
For some reason I could not get much sleep last night so I was super tired today.
We had to get to the church early this morning to practice for choir. Our director, Jenny, even gave us some biscuits with honey butter which is apparently great for your throat so I never complained.
Stake conference was really good, except for the fact that this time I was up front because of choir and I didn't want to have a translation device when we would be standing up and sitting down a bunch. I was able to pick out some words in German but there was only one speaker that I could get the full message from. Oh well, I guess I will probably be forced to learn more German once I'm in Bremen. Other than that, we sang really well and people seemed to enjoy it which is what I wanted.
Jenny wanted to keep us after conference for more choir practice. She is putting on a few musical numbers for a Good Friday concert coming up soon. Well, I won't be there for it but I participated in practicing anyway. It pains me because I told her I can play trumpet and she totally could have supplied me with one for the concert, but I'll be in Bremen so I can't attend oh that makes me so sad. I could have been playing trumpet again! Whatever...
When we got back to the apartment I took a super good nap. Much deserved. Probably one of the best naps I have ever taken.
Last Chinese skype while in Berlin for me. Next time I will be in Bremen with at least two others so that should be dope. We did some teaching roleplays and I was with Elder To for one of them. He had no mercy on me lol he spoke super fast and used a lot of words I didn't know. Overall, a beneficial practice.
星期一,三月19号(第216天)
Montag 19. März 2018
Since this is my last P-Day here in Berlin, I decided I wanted us to go down to Potsdam and check out all the cool stuff there. We went to this super famous humongous Prussian garden place with a bunch of palaces and castles. We didn't have time to find out everything like the names and history of the structures but I hope you all enjoy the pictures anyway. I wish I could have gotten more information but it was a long trip down and we didn't have much time. anyway we got Babelsberg döner on the way back so life is pretty good.
We have another dinner appointment with the Steuer's which will actually be my last one with them. That will be fun and maybe a little sad. But we'll see.
Next time I email I'll be in a new area!
Have a great week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,三月13号(第210天)
Dienstag 13. März 2018
Yaşlı King hurt his back while running today. I think he pulled a muscle because he is really stiff. We were home bound for most of the day. It was fine, I got a lot of personal and language study in; both for Chinese and German.
The Bremen Elders needed Yaşlı King's help for a Turkish translation. He translated the first lesson for a Turkish woman over WhatsApp…somewhat. She arrived at the Bremen Elders' place like 45 minutes late and she only stayed for about 10 minutes. She was kind of crazy from what I understand; claiming her dog was needing something and whatnot then she just ditched all of a sudden. Interesting. The Bremen Elders say she'll be back for another real lesson sometime.
Our Elder's quorum planned a game night tonight full of Foosball and ping pong. We came and I had fun while Yaşlı King had to sit out because of his back. But I guess he said he had a good time talking to a guy who is a diplomat at the embassy. I realized that I suck at ping pong. I did go up against a Korean - that may have been the problem, also a member who learned to play from a Chinese master of ping pong. They also bought us pizza so alles gut.
星期三,三月14号(第211天)
Mittwoch 14. März 2018
Our last district meeting of the transfer! Not as bad as Elder Hillyard, this was his very last. Yaşlı King gave me an assignment to teach a little spiritual thought from the Missionary Handbook last-minute this morning. I just came up with something on Health and Safety. I didn't do too bad. We took the time to reflect on how we did this transfer, too. For some reason, it feels like a very "goodbye" meeting. Maybe that means something…
District lunch was at Risa Chicken. It's been a while since we've had a district lunch; and yet it's the last one of the transfer, which means transfer predictions! I can't remember my scripture, but I'm pretty sure they interpreted it as me leaving this time which doesn't surprise me. Every single transfer prediction is somewhere along those lines I feel. Only time will tell. And by time I mean Saturday night.
Sister Fingerle called us this morning and said she had set up and appointment for Yaşlı King to see a chiropractor tonight, so we headed over to this clinic. I can barely get through medical stuff in English, let alone German. Good thing I wasn't the one having to do any of the legal stuff since I'm not the patient. The chiropractor dude was chill. He was super helpful for Yaşlı King and super friendly. I was somewhat expecting him to just look at Yaşlı King and just write a prescription for ibuprofen or something. I was wrong; lesson learned. He asked us how we learned German and we told him, but he looks at my nametag and said, "Chinese! Whoa that is way harder! Glad I'm not doing that!"
星期四,三月15号(第212天)
Donnerstag 15. März 2018
On our way to get a package from some address down in Neukölln, we were stopped by a Turkish guy who wanted to talk with us. He could have spoken in Turkish, but he claimed he wanted to speak in German so that I could understand (even though I couldn't understand much), but he was basically rambling on about how his life has gone down hill ever since he joined a Baptist church and that he has tried to talk to other people from other churches and his life doesn't seem to be getting better. He spat a ton as he was talking but he was super into it. He talked to us from a good half hour. During the whole thing, he called us "Heilige Tempel" or Holy Temples, maybe he was somewhat quoting 1st Corinthians, but I guess we can take that as a compliment. Yaşlı King wanted to help this guy out but he was going back to Turkey tomorrow.
Anyway so we were heading to get a package for Yaşlı King. We got a letter in the mail saying someone had received a package from DHL but that it was elsewhere. Normally, when a package arrives the deliverer will give it to the neighbor if the person is not home. But our neighbors did not have the package. On the slip it said that some woman at a certain address had it but they were all the way in Neukölln! So we decided to check this out. Long story short, there wasn't a DHL shop or this person's apartment there so we have no idea what to do. We will most likely just go to a random DHL shop and ask there.
Yaşlı King also had a Turkish Skype tonight. But it was not any old Turkish Skype, this time Yaşlı Çakir was there to teach. Yaşlı Çakir actually finished his mission a little bit ago, but his father is like the main Turkish translator guy for the Church. He translated the Book of Mormon into Turkish and does most of the translations for General Conferences. He is known as Papa Çakir. So Yaşlı Çakir was just there volunteering to help out Yaşlı King and Backus with their Turkish. Fun fact, Yaşlı Çakir was one of my zone leaders when I first got here.
星期五,三月16号(第213天)
Freitag 16. März 2018
With this week being the last full week of the transfer, it was time to have the Mission Leadership Conference. We don't go to it since we're not high up mission leaders, but since we are the missionaries with the keys to the stake center, we had to open up.
The AP's called and asked us to pick up two Elders who are the companions of people going into MLC (similar to Elder Cheung like last time). We had to walk everywhere because they didn't have tickets or money for tickets to ride the busses. Getting around Berlin is a million times harder without public transportation. We had to walk everywhere. The only things we got to do were a Turkish Skype for Yaşlı King and grab some döner. What's cool is we keep going by on this döner laden on Turmstraße. The guys working there are the ones who invited Yaşlı King to go on vacation to Turkey with them. We are pretty good friends with them now. They also make some pretty good döner. I highly recommend it if you find your way in Moabit.
We headed back to the church since MLC was over. In the back they had a bunch of language cards for the Easter initiative (like non German or English). I checked it out and they had a bunch of Chinese cards! Oh man I grabbed quite a few. Yaşlı King even got some Turkish ones. Good day.
Élder Wride came for a Spanish Tausch with Elder Jensen! Not sure if I have mentioned it before, but Elder Jensen is in the Spanish program. It was so great to see Élder Wride again. We had a lot of catching up to do. He was happy to see all of the sweet changes we made to the apartment, too.
星期六,三月17号(第214天)
Samstag 17. März 2018
Arjuun wanted to meet us today, so we happily accepted. However, when he arrived at the church, he brought his friend Shailesh. He is also from India and goes to school with Arjuun. Since Shailesh is new to this stuff, we taught the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he seemed to really enjoy it. He loved it so much he wanted to join us for stake conference.
Yeah so today was the Saturday session of Berlin Stake Conference. This was my first Stake Conference in Germany. Because neither Arjuun nor Shailesh can speak German well, we had to grab translation devices. They grabbed me one, too, so I thought why not use it. It was a great conference. We had a special guest from the Europe Area Seventy, ELder Adonay S. Obando; originally from Costa Rica, but now resides in Spain. He was such a funny guy. He will most likely be speaking tomorrow as well.
Okay okay okay okay. Transfer calls came in as well. Well, I seem to have been informed that I will.........be leaving Tiergarten!!! I am heading far west to Bremen! And I will be training, which was not a concern for me since currently that is where Elder Hugg is, so I thought I would be finishing his training (since this was his first transfer in the mission), but I am actually getting a brand new trainee and Elder Hugg alongside Elder Bischoff will be staying in Bremen. Basically Bremen will turn into a four-man area, too. I have no idea who my new trainee is or if he is a German or Chinese speaking Elder. I just hope they can speak German because I am still lost when it comes to that stuff. At least Elder Bischoff and Elder Hugg are both learning Chinese so I can have some people to actually study with. This is kinda scary, leaving my first and only area. I'm actually going to a German speaking ward so I've got to buck up and learn this language. Oh my.
星期日,三月18号(第215天)
Sonntag 18. März 2018
For some reason I could not get much sleep last night so I was super tired today.
We had to get to the church early this morning to practice for choir. Our director, Jenny, even gave us some biscuits with honey butter which is apparently great for your throat so I never complained.
Stake conference was really good, except for the fact that this time I was up front because of choir and I didn't want to have a translation device when we would be standing up and sitting down a bunch. I was able to pick out some words in German but there was only one speaker that I could get the full message from. Oh well, I guess I will probably be forced to learn more German once I'm in Bremen. Other than that, we sang really well and people seemed to enjoy it which is what I wanted.
Jenny wanted to keep us after conference for more choir practice. She is putting on a few musical numbers for a Good Friday concert coming up soon. Well, I won't be there for it but I participated in practicing anyway. It pains me because I told her I can play trumpet and she totally could have supplied me with one for the concert, but I'll be in Bremen so I can't attend oh that makes me so sad. I could have been playing trumpet again! Whatever...
When we got back to the apartment I took a super good nap. Much deserved. Probably one of the best naps I have ever taken.
Last Chinese skype while in Berlin for me. Next time I will be in Bremen with at least two others so that should be dope. We did some teaching roleplays and I was with Elder To for one of them. He had no mercy on me lol he spoke super fast and used a lot of words I didn't know. Overall, a beneficial practice.
星期一,三月19号(第216天)
Montag 19. März 2018
Since this is my last P-Day here in Berlin, I decided I wanted us to go down to Potsdam and check out all the cool stuff there. We went to this super famous humongous Prussian garden place with a bunch of palaces and castles. We didn't have time to find out everything like the names and history of the structures but I hope you all enjoy the pictures anyway. I wish I could have gotten more information but it was a long trip down and we didn't have much time. anyway we got Babelsberg döner on the way back so life is pretty good.
We have another dinner appointment with the Steuer's which will actually be my last one with them. That will be fun and maybe a little sad. But we'll see.
Next time I email I'll be in a new area!
Have a great week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 30
星期二,三月6号(第203天)
Dienstag 6. März 2018
There's a group chat that we have started on WeChat where we share scriptures with each other in Chinese (for the Chinese people). No one has shared a scripture in a while so I told myself I would do it. I'm pretty proud of what I came up with in a short amount of time.
I got into talking to a Chinese contact and randomly she asked me if I could help her improve her English. I gladly accepted, since teaching English/German is a great way to find people. After a while of chatting, however, I learned that she actually lives in Dessau, and not Berlin. So I asked her if we could video call on Thursday and we can figure things out. My plan is to have the missionaries down there teach her English (and hopefully eventually gospel lessons) and I can be there for Chinese support.
星期三,三月7号(第204天)
Mittwoch 7. März 2018
This morning we traveled to Babelsberg to obtain what I've heard is one of the best Döner in all of Berlin. Let's just say what I've heard was nothing close to inaccurate. Oh my goodness it was amazing! It was like a BLT: Big, Large, and Tasty.
So there was kind of a reason to go to Babelsberg other than döner Elder Hillyard and I were going to be tausching. Yaşlı King and Yaşlı Backus went together to work in Neukölln. As always, I stay in Tiergarten. Elder Hillyard is from Utah somewhere (lol) and this is his last transfer. He goes home in a couple weeks. However, he has been in the Persian speaking group for quite some time and can do a little bit of that Farsi stuff. Pretty cool.
My Monatskarte expires today so I had to get a new one. On our way back from Babelsberg I got one in an S-Bahn station, rather than an U-Bahn station like I normally do. I didn't realize that the look of the card differs depending on what kind of terminal you get it at. I like this one I have. Very professional, I feel.
Brother Teerlink, our Elder's Quorum president, asked us to accompany him to his friend's house and teach a lesson. The friend's name is Lucas, and he's originally from Brazil. He and Brother Teerlink work together as heads of a start-up company and it's pretty dope. We had a great lesson with him and he even bought us pizza. Our goal was to kind of give him a support boost since starting up a company has been difficult. I think we did a great job. Lucas is a very neat guy. I hope we can see him again soon.
星期四,三月8号(第205天)
Donnerstag 8. März 2018
Yaşlı King came back from his Tausch real quick this morning to make pancakes. During that time, Elder Keller and Elder Hickenlooper arrived to the apartment to get ready to Tausch with us.
Once again, Yaşlı King left for Dahlem with Elder Keller and I started in Tiergarten with Elder Hickenlooper. Elder Hickenlooper is from Utah but originally from California. Just like Elder Hillyard, he is also in the Persian group.
The first thing we did was we went to a Mensa at the Technische Universität. It was weird to be in a student cafeteria, reminded me too much of being in college which wasn't the problem; the problem was that being there gave me the feeling that I've got a test or a project due soon. But I didn't so everything was good. We sat next to one person whom we had a great conversation with but we didn't get any contact information. However, I feel like I should go there more often. Elder Hickenlooper even found a Persian speaking guy while we were street contacting. Dope.
We couldn't stay long at the Uni since our Indian friend Arjuun called and asked if we could meet him at the airport when he came back to Berlin. We went to Tegel and found him waiting for us. He was so happy to see me, but was kind of sad that I was the only one remaining from the original four. We helped him get his baggage back to his apartment and we had a little chat with him. We wanted to start getting back into teaching lessons with him so he can continue progressing since he has been gone for quite some time. Just a short conversation then we were off to the church.
So I had planned to do a tiny little English lesson for this Chinese girl down in Dessau. Her name is Ziwen. We called over WeChat and talked about what I do here in Germany. Of course, she couldn't understand why I would take away two years of my life for this; especcialy if I wasn't being benefitted for school by doing this. I just practiced a few regular English conversations (because I don't really know how to teach a language) and called that good. I told her that it would be in her best interest to contact the missionaries where she is and get some face to face interaction. That is the best way to get enough practice in a language, I feel.
After we said goodbye to the Chinese girl, we said hello to an Afghanistan guy over Skype. The Sisters in Minden found this guy and wanted to teach him but you know language barrier and stuff so Elder Hickenlooper came to the rescue. I guess he does at least one Persian translation every week which is pretty dope. The sisters would teach in German and then the sentences were translated into Persian. I could understand all that German stuff, but not really that Farsi stuff ;)
On our way back home I texted Ziwen and told her that if she ever had questions about the gospel and stuff that she shouldn't hesitate to ask. Almost immediately she tells me to teach her something. Shoot man right on the spot. I taught her over text just some very simple basics which ended up going over her head since she has had literally no exposure to religion. I had her download the Gospel Library app and we will see how things go from there.
星期五,三月9号(第206天)
Freitag 9. März 2018
Today was Zoko! This time I decided not to suffer as much and asked Elder Hillyard to translate for me. I got a lot more out of Zoko because of that. During one of the activities, we so went to different rooms to participate in "workshops" that were put on by other missionaries (like the STLs and the Zone Leaders). My favorite one was by Elder Dawson and Elder Allen. They dressed up as Native Americans and taught us how to get through the "trek" of retaining new converts through the "dangerous territories as a pioneer". It was pretty hilarious. They announced our new Easter Initiative which will be here soon. They stuffed us full of pass-along cards, postcards, mini posters, and action posters with the initiative on it. Pretty dope.
After Zoko, President agreed to getting a much deserved picture with me. New missionaries get a picture with the mission president and his wife except for me since he was busy when I came to Germany. Unfortunately, sister Fingerle had to leave before Zoko ended so she wasn't there for the picture. However, that didn't matter to President Fingerle! He skyped her so that she could be there for the photo. It works, that's all that matters. It should be to me soon.
There was a music night planned in the Neukölln ward building that we planned on going to. We invited Arjuun and were on our way but he cancelled on us since he was busy. It ended up being a total miracle because the Tiergarten Elders left their keys at the apartment which we were able to let then in! They would have had to wait until we were done to get in which would have been a while.
星期六,三月10号(第207天)
Samstag 10. März 2018
Earlier today I skyped the Jena Elders (Elder Cheung and Elder Züger). We mainly just shared scriptures in Chinese and Elder Cheung would help me on some words I have problems with. Then Elder Züger and I talked for a while. I sure do miss him. I hope to see him again someday.
On our way to the Steuer's house, we met up with Arjuun whom we invited to come to dinner there with us. It was an interesting travel, to say the least. Arjuun just has a lot of energy and loves taking selfies and videos of what's going on like every ten minutes. Pretty excessive. We got to the Steuer's and had some great lasagna and conversations. I love the Steuer's. It's going to be sad when I leave them.
There were a lot of drunk people on the trains coming home. Oh my goodness,it was crazy. This one guy traveled with us for no reason for like 10 minutes and talked to us. We had to repeat every thing we said at least 8 times before he somewhat understood what we were saying. Weird thing was that he was a native German and we tried to speak with him in German but he kept trying to speak in English which he wasn't very good at. Very interesting night.
星期日,三月11号(第208天)
Sonntag 11. März 2018
Arjuun came to church today for like 20 minutes. He had a school project to finish up but it was good to see him at church here. He hadn't been since perhaps December or so.
I was asked to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting last minute. I winged it. They mainly wanted me to share my experience of starting my mission in a branch that was starting up. So I did and it was great.
I led our second hour investigator class for a bit. I pretty much just stalled until our actual teacher came in. Proud of myself for lasting that long.
Brother Steuer asked me if I would help out with his Mission Prep class. Apparently he's started a class to help out our priests prepare for their missions. Since I took one of these before coming out on my mission, I gladly accepted. I'm a firm believer of utilizing mission preparation because it helped me out a ton and I had a good experience. Today we talked about how faith and action create power. Faith without works is dead, being alone.
I had to skip Chinese Skype this week because this was our last practice before Pfahl Konferenz next week. Best practice I've had yet. And we were rewarded with chocolate rice crispie treats. Immer lecker
星期一,三月12号(第209天)
Montag 12. März 2018
Bruder Seidel (the guy who inspected our apartment like 2 months ago) came by with a moving van. We told the office that there was a bunch of broken furniture on our balcony; just sitting there since before I even got here. Elder Jensen wanted to use it for other purposes. I mean the weather is getting better and warmer so a balcony doesn't sound like a bad idea. Anyway, he came with his moving van and we took all of the furniture and piled it in his trailer. The balcony is all empty now!
Yaşlı King and I went to the Berliner Dom again, but this time we only went to the gift shop. He and I have been eyeballing the Martin Luther German translation of the Bible for a while now and they sell the 500 year anniversary of translation (actually it was last year but they still have some in stock). Well, we're happy. I've heard the Luther translation is really good so I'll just have to see for myself.
Our district wanted to do something together today so what better thing to do other than volleyball, am I right?
I will talk to you all next week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,三月6号(第203天)
Dienstag 6. März 2018
There's a group chat that we have started on WeChat where we share scriptures with each other in Chinese (for the Chinese people). No one has shared a scripture in a while so I told myself I would do it. I'm pretty proud of what I came up with in a short amount of time.
I got into talking to a Chinese contact and randomly she asked me if I could help her improve her English. I gladly accepted, since teaching English/German is a great way to find people. After a while of chatting, however, I learned that she actually lives in Dessau, and not Berlin. So I asked her if we could video call on Thursday and we can figure things out. My plan is to have the missionaries down there teach her English (and hopefully eventually gospel lessons) and I can be there for Chinese support.
星期三,三月7号(第204天)
Mittwoch 7. März 2018
This morning we traveled to Babelsberg to obtain what I've heard is one of the best Döner in all of Berlin. Let's just say what I've heard was nothing close to inaccurate. Oh my goodness it was amazing! It was like a BLT: Big, Large, and Tasty.
So there was kind of a reason to go to Babelsberg other than döner Elder Hillyard and I were going to be tausching. Yaşlı King and Yaşlı Backus went together to work in Neukölln. As always, I stay in Tiergarten. Elder Hillyard is from Utah somewhere (lol) and this is his last transfer. He goes home in a couple weeks. However, he has been in the Persian speaking group for quite some time and can do a little bit of that Farsi stuff. Pretty cool.
My Monatskarte expires today so I had to get a new one. On our way back from Babelsberg I got one in an S-Bahn station, rather than an U-Bahn station like I normally do. I didn't realize that the look of the card differs depending on what kind of terminal you get it at. I like this one I have. Very professional, I feel.
Brother Teerlink, our Elder's Quorum president, asked us to accompany him to his friend's house and teach a lesson. The friend's name is Lucas, and he's originally from Brazil. He and Brother Teerlink work together as heads of a start-up company and it's pretty dope. We had a great lesson with him and he even bought us pizza. Our goal was to kind of give him a support boost since starting up a company has been difficult. I think we did a great job. Lucas is a very neat guy. I hope we can see him again soon.
星期四,三月8号(第205天)
Donnerstag 8. März 2018
Yaşlı King came back from his Tausch real quick this morning to make pancakes. During that time, Elder Keller and Elder Hickenlooper arrived to the apartment to get ready to Tausch with us.
Once again, Yaşlı King left for Dahlem with Elder Keller and I started in Tiergarten with Elder Hickenlooper. Elder Hickenlooper is from Utah but originally from California. Just like Elder Hillyard, he is also in the Persian group.
The first thing we did was we went to a Mensa at the Technische Universität. It was weird to be in a student cafeteria, reminded me too much of being in college which wasn't the problem; the problem was that being there gave me the feeling that I've got a test or a project due soon. But I didn't so everything was good. We sat next to one person whom we had a great conversation with but we didn't get any contact information. However, I feel like I should go there more often. Elder Hickenlooper even found a Persian speaking guy while we were street contacting. Dope.
We couldn't stay long at the Uni since our Indian friend Arjuun called and asked if we could meet him at the airport when he came back to Berlin. We went to Tegel and found him waiting for us. He was so happy to see me, but was kind of sad that I was the only one remaining from the original four. We helped him get his baggage back to his apartment and we had a little chat with him. We wanted to start getting back into teaching lessons with him so he can continue progressing since he has been gone for quite some time. Just a short conversation then we were off to the church.
So I had planned to do a tiny little English lesson for this Chinese girl down in Dessau. Her name is Ziwen. We called over WeChat and talked about what I do here in Germany. Of course, she couldn't understand why I would take away two years of my life for this; especcialy if I wasn't being benefitted for school by doing this. I just practiced a few regular English conversations (because I don't really know how to teach a language) and called that good. I told her that it would be in her best interest to contact the missionaries where she is and get some face to face interaction. That is the best way to get enough practice in a language, I feel.
After we said goodbye to the Chinese girl, we said hello to an Afghanistan guy over Skype. The Sisters in Minden found this guy and wanted to teach him but you know language barrier and stuff so Elder Hickenlooper came to the rescue. I guess he does at least one Persian translation every week which is pretty dope. The sisters would teach in German and then the sentences were translated into Persian. I could understand all that German stuff, but not really that Farsi stuff ;)
On our way back home I texted Ziwen and told her that if she ever had questions about the gospel and stuff that she shouldn't hesitate to ask. Almost immediately she tells me to teach her something. Shoot man right on the spot. I taught her over text just some very simple basics which ended up going over her head since she has had literally no exposure to religion. I had her download the Gospel Library app and we will see how things go from there.
星期五,三月9号(第206天)
Freitag 9. März 2018
Today was Zoko! This time I decided not to suffer as much and asked Elder Hillyard to translate for me. I got a lot more out of Zoko because of that. During one of the activities, we so went to different rooms to participate in "workshops" that were put on by other missionaries (like the STLs and the Zone Leaders). My favorite one was by Elder Dawson and Elder Allen. They dressed up as Native Americans and taught us how to get through the "trek" of retaining new converts through the "dangerous territories as a pioneer". It was pretty hilarious. They announced our new Easter Initiative which will be here soon. They stuffed us full of pass-along cards, postcards, mini posters, and action posters with the initiative on it. Pretty dope.
After Zoko, President agreed to getting a much deserved picture with me. New missionaries get a picture with the mission president and his wife except for me since he was busy when I came to Germany. Unfortunately, sister Fingerle had to leave before Zoko ended so she wasn't there for the picture. However, that didn't matter to President Fingerle! He skyped her so that she could be there for the photo. It works, that's all that matters. It should be to me soon.
There was a music night planned in the Neukölln ward building that we planned on going to. We invited Arjuun and were on our way but he cancelled on us since he was busy. It ended up being a total miracle because the Tiergarten Elders left their keys at the apartment which we were able to let then in! They would have had to wait until we were done to get in which would have been a while.
星期六,三月10号(第207天)
Samstag 10. März 2018
Earlier today I skyped the Jena Elders (Elder Cheung and Elder Züger). We mainly just shared scriptures in Chinese and Elder Cheung would help me on some words I have problems with. Then Elder Züger and I talked for a while. I sure do miss him. I hope to see him again someday.
On our way to the Steuer's house, we met up with Arjuun whom we invited to come to dinner there with us. It was an interesting travel, to say the least. Arjuun just has a lot of energy and loves taking selfies and videos of what's going on like every ten minutes. Pretty excessive. We got to the Steuer's and had some great lasagna and conversations. I love the Steuer's. It's going to be sad when I leave them.
There were a lot of drunk people on the trains coming home. Oh my goodness,it was crazy. This one guy traveled with us for no reason for like 10 minutes and talked to us. We had to repeat every thing we said at least 8 times before he somewhat understood what we were saying. Weird thing was that he was a native German and we tried to speak with him in German but he kept trying to speak in English which he wasn't very good at. Very interesting night.
星期日,三月11号(第208天)
Sonntag 11. März 2018
Arjuun came to church today for like 20 minutes. He had a school project to finish up but it was good to see him at church here. He hadn't been since perhaps December or so.
I was asked to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting last minute. I winged it. They mainly wanted me to share my experience of starting my mission in a branch that was starting up. So I did and it was great.
I led our second hour investigator class for a bit. I pretty much just stalled until our actual teacher came in. Proud of myself for lasting that long.
Brother Steuer asked me if I would help out with his Mission Prep class. Apparently he's started a class to help out our priests prepare for their missions. Since I took one of these before coming out on my mission, I gladly accepted. I'm a firm believer of utilizing mission preparation because it helped me out a ton and I had a good experience. Today we talked about how faith and action create power. Faith without works is dead, being alone.
I had to skip Chinese Skype this week because this was our last practice before Pfahl Konferenz next week. Best practice I've had yet. And we were rewarded with chocolate rice crispie treats. Immer lecker
星期一,三月12号(第209天)
Montag 12. März 2018
Bruder Seidel (the guy who inspected our apartment like 2 months ago) came by with a moving van. We told the office that there was a bunch of broken furniture on our balcony; just sitting there since before I even got here. Elder Jensen wanted to use it for other purposes. I mean the weather is getting better and warmer so a balcony doesn't sound like a bad idea. Anyway, he came with his moving van and we took all of the furniture and piled it in his trailer. The balcony is all empty now!
Yaşlı King and I went to the Berliner Dom again, but this time we only went to the gift shop. He and I have been eyeballing the Martin Luther German translation of the Bible for a while now and they sell the 500 year anniversary of translation (actually it was last year but they still have some in stock). Well, we're happy. I've heard the Luther translation is really good so I'll just have to see for myself.
Our district wanted to do something together today so what better thing to do other than volleyball, am I right?
I will talk to you all next week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 29
星期二,二月26号(第196天)
Dienstag 26. Februar 2018
So today Elder Peck had this great idea. He had a next-to-empty jar of chocolate spread (similar to Nutella) and he wanted to put milk in and then microwave the whole thing. What could go wrong? After he takes it out of the microwave, he puts the cap back on and starts shaking it. Needless to say, it exploded. Its contents got all over the floor and counter, but luckily not on Elder Peck. It was pretty funny, actually. He replaces the cap and brings it to the sink and as soon as he does the cap shoots off to the wall. He had a ticking time bomb in his hands. Good times.
We went to the church to meet up with this Bulgarian Nehzdet guy. Yaşlı King started talking to him a little bit in Turkish while I called a returned missionary from Bulgaria. She was such a great help in finding out more about Nehzdet. To be honest, it was all her. We were just losers watching this cool stuff happen. I guess Nehzdet has been reading in the Book of Mormon and loves the feeling of being at church. He says he's Lutheran, though, but loves our church. We didn't have too much time to meet with him, but at least we've got some basic information and can plan for a more complete lesson for next time.
星期三,二月27号(第197天)
Mittwoch 27. Februar 2018
Today was a Tausch with the Neukölln Elders. I remained in Tiergarten with Yaşlı Backus while Yaşlı King went with Elder Hillyard.
First off, this morning I texted Guotai since he is supposed to leave for Bonn on his internship tomorrow and he still hadn't messaged me saying he was back from his vacation. When I did he replied that he wanted me to come over one last time for lunch. Yaşlı Backus and I headed right over. I brought a copy of the children's book "Book of Mormon Stories" for him to read in Chinese. I even wrote a little hand written note in Chinese and put it inside the front page. Took me like half an hour to write. Chinese is not meant for me to write. I will stick to simply texting. He made us lunch and I gave him his gift. He was super thankful for the book since he has a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon sometimes. We got into talking about how many Chinese people will talk to me and Guotai decided to help out with street contacting by roleplaying with me. He's such a helpful guy. Got since great tips. He even gave me a refrigerator magnet with a Chinese dancer on it. Apparently it's a wife of an Emperor from the Han Dynasty, and he said the imagery is used a lot in Chinese Opera. Looks pretty cool, and I'm always grateful for Guotai. He'll be back in Berlin in five months time, but I might not.
Afterwards it was back to the church and a Chinese Skype with Elder Searle. He had a great idea and had us basically share scriptures in Chinese together rather than just teaching a whole lesson. I find it very helpful and I want to try that more.
The other two Elders decided to change the last room that hadn't been touched: the bedroom. I like the change. The beds are now symmetrical and there appears to be more space in the middle of the room. Pretty awesome.
星期四,二月28号(第198天)
Donnerstag 28. Februar 2018
The zone leaders called early in the morning and asked for us to come and open up the church. Today is the first day of Berlin interviews so I should have seen this coming. We hurried on over and opened up and headed right back. Since it was still early, I headed over to the shower. When I turned it on, I noticed the water wasn't coming out the way it should have. I asked the other two what they did and as it turns out, Elder Peck said that the pressure broke the shower cap while he was in. Alles klar. So basically Elder Peck has made a chocolate time bomb and broke the shower in the course of one week. I'm becoming concerned for him.
We got back together at the church so that I could return to Yaşlı King and Yaşlı Backus could return to Elder Hillyard. Right after was a lesson with Ryhene. This time we didn't go into any huge topics like normal and we brought along two sisters from the English branch who were such a huge help. They were amazing to have with because Ryhene seems to connect with them well which is very important to do. She even prayed in the name of Jesus Christ, which is very weird for a Muslim to do! Proud of her.
星期五,三月1号(第199天)
Freitag 1. März 2018
District Meeting was again in German which meant translation was needed for me. Elder Hillyard was up to bat this week. This time when I shared updates on investigators I wrote out in English what I wanted to say and gave it to Yaşlı King to read off while I speak in Chinese. I tried to give the illusion that he was translating for me, but I forgot what I wrote in English so I was just confused. it was great fun the first few moments, though. I'll have to work on that for later meetings.
Right after, AP Elder Skidmore came in and told us about the new mission president coming in and how things work out with the transition. President Leimer sounds like a really cool individual. He apparently speaks Persian so he might feel for the other language groups well (not that President Fingerle doesn't). He and President Fingerle actually know each other well from what I hear. How the transition is just like a transfer day. President Leimer will arrive and in the same day President Fingerle will hand over the keys and they might say a few things together and then it's all done. Such a quick transition but perhaps the best way is just too get it finished right away with no lingering. That will be happening sometime in the summer. I forget. it's like June 20th or July 20th. Anyways, I'm excited for the changes. We will see what the future holds.
We got some döner in the time between district meeting and interviews and Yaşlı King got to talk to a couple Turkish guys at this döner stand. They were talking for a solid half hour and they even invited him to go on a trip to Turkey with them. Super dope. They want us to come by more because we're going to be treated well I guess. I'm having a little trouble understanding the mix of German and Turkish they were throwing around but sounded good to me.
My interview with President was amazing! Probably the best one I've had yet. When I came in and said a prayer in German, he was so happy and he commented on how great my smile was. I mean I never really notice since it's on my face but whatever. I asked him about getting a picture taken with him. When missionaries arrive, they get a photo taken off them with the mission president and his wife. However, I got here in the middle of a transfer while the president was busy; so my picture was with the AP's. I thought that was common until I saw other people who got pictures with President and was a little jealous; not going to lie. I felt a little cheated, ya know? Hence, why I asked President Fingerle if we could make up for that. He gladly accepted and wants me to schedule a time after Zone Konferenz to get that done. Looks like my study has been granted. I have to call the office Elders and tell them to bring their fancy camera for the picture. Exciting! He and I had since awesome personal discussions, and he gave me tips and tricks for learning German. He even quizzed me on the German words for colors. I got them all right He asked if I had memorized a scripture recently and I told him I had been attempting Doctrine and Covenants Section 4 in German. Normally he would just have the missionary recite it, but instead he offered to do it with me. Once again, one hundred percent correct. I'd say this interview was the best simply because I had the most fun from it.
星期六,三月2号(第200天)
Samstag 2. März 2018
This weekly planning session was one of our most successful ones. I felt like we got a lot of good plans and reviewed and educated ourselves on our investigators needs. We have received a lot of records on our current investigators which made things easier.
Throughout the day we got back into contact with a few people unexpectedly. Randy got back to us over text which was nice. Arjuun has started messaging us again and we've set up some appointments with him. We're having a dinner event after church tomorrow which makes it easier to invite people to. Also Guotai asked me over WeChat how to get a British person to like you. I guess his new roommate over in Bonn is British and wanted help establishing a good relationship with them. Not sure if I'm the right person to be going to, but I just told him to say that he likes their accent.
Hey, it's also day 200!
星期日,三月3号(第201天)
Sonntag 3. März 2018
Randomly, three Africans came to church. One of them is a less active member, another a Jehovah's Witness, and the other is something else. Great to see them there. We had a great discussion in our second hour about prophets. It's funny because the Jehovah's Witness guy is "seeking for truth" and he walked right into the church where it's taught They're from Ghana and wanted copies of the Book of Mormon in Twi. Luckily we had a bunch of copies in Twi at the church. Super cool. They said they want to come back next week, too.
After church, being Fast Sunday, we had another break the fast activity. Again, it was a cook off. This theme was casserole and I was not a judge this time to burn my mouth like last time. Zishan also came this week to church but for some reason only stayed for the 3 hours and helped set up, then left. He requested that he help serve the people and put up chairs and tables. He felt it was an honor. He's such a cool guy. Just have to start finding a way to teach him.
Choir practice again. We've got two weeks until Stake Conference comes. I think we've have the music down.
星期一,三月4号(第202天)
Montag 4. März 2018
Well the coolest thing we did today was going back to Alexanderplatz and did some more stuff there. We went to a Saturn (similar to BestBuy) and saw some really cool tech stuff. I am getting so behind on the technology world. Another stop was at the Primark here. Primark is super dope since it's a clothing store, but everything is cheap! I bought an inexpensive pink tie and will have to try it out later. But yeah you can get like a pair of decent gloves for almost a euro. Crazy! Anyway yeah we also walked around the main parts of Alexanderplatz and I snapped some more pictures of buildings and scenery. Coolest thing that happened however, was when we hopped on a bus back to the church and later some Chinese people sat behind me. I turned right around and totally engaged in conversation with them. And better yet they were willing to talk to me even after they found out I was a missionary. It's a family who lives and works in Berlin out towards Falkensee. I got their WeChat information so that's a huge success and we talked a lot about how German is hard and they complimented my Chinese. I understood most of what they were saying which was awesome. There was only one question they asked that I couldn't translate, so I just changed the conversation a little. Oh well, they were super nice and I hope I can meet with them again soon.
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,二月26号(第196天)
Dienstag 26. Februar 2018
So today Elder Peck had this great idea. He had a next-to-empty jar of chocolate spread (similar to Nutella) and he wanted to put milk in and then microwave the whole thing. What could go wrong? After he takes it out of the microwave, he puts the cap back on and starts shaking it. Needless to say, it exploded. Its contents got all over the floor and counter, but luckily not on Elder Peck. It was pretty funny, actually. He replaces the cap and brings it to the sink and as soon as he does the cap shoots off to the wall. He had a ticking time bomb in his hands. Good times.
We went to the church to meet up with this Bulgarian Nehzdet guy. Yaşlı King started talking to him a little bit in Turkish while I called a returned missionary from Bulgaria. She was such a great help in finding out more about Nehzdet. To be honest, it was all her. We were just losers watching this cool stuff happen. I guess Nehzdet has been reading in the Book of Mormon and loves the feeling of being at church. He says he's Lutheran, though, but loves our church. We didn't have too much time to meet with him, but at least we've got some basic information and can plan for a more complete lesson for next time.
星期三,二月27号(第197天)
Mittwoch 27. Februar 2018
Today was a Tausch with the Neukölln Elders. I remained in Tiergarten with Yaşlı Backus while Yaşlı King went with Elder Hillyard.
First off, this morning I texted Guotai since he is supposed to leave for Bonn on his internship tomorrow and he still hadn't messaged me saying he was back from his vacation. When I did he replied that he wanted me to come over one last time for lunch. Yaşlı Backus and I headed right over. I brought a copy of the children's book "Book of Mormon Stories" for him to read in Chinese. I even wrote a little hand written note in Chinese and put it inside the front page. Took me like half an hour to write. Chinese is not meant for me to write. I will stick to simply texting. He made us lunch and I gave him his gift. He was super thankful for the book since he has a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon sometimes. We got into talking about how many Chinese people will talk to me and Guotai decided to help out with street contacting by roleplaying with me. He's such a helpful guy. Got since great tips. He even gave me a refrigerator magnet with a Chinese dancer on it. Apparently it's a wife of an Emperor from the Han Dynasty, and he said the imagery is used a lot in Chinese Opera. Looks pretty cool, and I'm always grateful for Guotai. He'll be back in Berlin in five months time, but I might not.
Afterwards it was back to the church and a Chinese Skype with Elder Searle. He had a great idea and had us basically share scriptures in Chinese together rather than just teaching a whole lesson. I find it very helpful and I want to try that more.
The other two Elders decided to change the last room that hadn't been touched: the bedroom. I like the change. The beds are now symmetrical and there appears to be more space in the middle of the room. Pretty awesome.
星期四,二月28号(第198天)
Donnerstag 28. Februar 2018
The zone leaders called early in the morning and asked for us to come and open up the church. Today is the first day of Berlin interviews so I should have seen this coming. We hurried on over and opened up and headed right back. Since it was still early, I headed over to the shower. When I turned it on, I noticed the water wasn't coming out the way it should have. I asked the other two what they did and as it turns out, Elder Peck said that the pressure broke the shower cap while he was in. Alles klar. So basically Elder Peck has made a chocolate time bomb and broke the shower in the course of one week. I'm becoming concerned for him.
We got back together at the church so that I could return to Yaşlı King and Yaşlı Backus could return to Elder Hillyard. Right after was a lesson with Ryhene. This time we didn't go into any huge topics like normal and we brought along two sisters from the English branch who were such a huge help. They were amazing to have with because Ryhene seems to connect with them well which is very important to do. She even prayed in the name of Jesus Christ, which is very weird for a Muslim to do! Proud of her.
星期五,三月1号(第199天)
Freitag 1. März 2018
District Meeting was again in German which meant translation was needed for me. Elder Hillyard was up to bat this week. This time when I shared updates on investigators I wrote out in English what I wanted to say and gave it to Yaşlı King to read off while I speak in Chinese. I tried to give the illusion that he was translating for me, but I forgot what I wrote in English so I was just confused. it was great fun the first few moments, though. I'll have to work on that for later meetings.
Right after, AP Elder Skidmore came in and told us about the new mission president coming in and how things work out with the transition. President Leimer sounds like a really cool individual. He apparently speaks Persian so he might feel for the other language groups well (not that President Fingerle doesn't). He and President Fingerle actually know each other well from what I hear. How the transition is just like a transfer day. President Leimer will arrive and in the same day President Fingerle will hand over the keys and they might say a few things together and then it's all done. Such a quick transition but perhaps the best way is just too get it finished right away with no lingering. That will be happening sometime in the summer. I forget. it's like June 20th or July 20th. Anyways, I'm excited for the changes. We will see what the future holds.
We got some döner in the time between district meeting and interviews and Yaşlı King got to talk to a couple Turkish guys at this döner stand. They were talking for a solid half hour and they even invited him to go on a trip to Turkey with them. Super dope. They want us to come by more because we're going to be treated well I guess. I'm having a little trouble understanding the mix of German and Turkish they were throwing around but sounded good to me.
My interview with President was amazing! Probably the best one I've had yet. When I came in and said a prayer in German, he was so happy and he commented on how great my smile was. I mean I never really notice since it's on my face but whatever. I asked him about getting a picture taken with him. When missionaries arrive, they get a photo taken off them with the mission president and his wife. However, I got here in the middle of a transfer while the president was busy; so my picture was with the AP's. I thought that was common until I saw other people who got pictures with President and was a little jealous; not going to lie. I felt a little cheated, ya know? Hence, why I asked President Fingerle if we could make up for that. He gladly accepted and wants me to schedule a time after Zone Konferenz to get that done. Looks like my study has been granted. I have to call the office Elders and tell them to bring their fancy camera for the picture. Exciting! He and I had since awesome personal discussions, and he gave me tips and tricks for learning German. He even quizzed me on the German words for colors. I got them all right He asked if I had memorized a scripture recently and I told him I had been attempting Doctrine and Covenants Section 4 in German. Normally he would just have the missionary recite it, but instead he offered to do it with me. Once again, one hundred percent correct. I'd say this interview was the best simply because I had the most fun from it.
星期六,三月2号(第200天)
Samstag 2. März 2018
This weekly planning session was one of our most successful ones. I felt like we got a lot of good plans and reviewed and educated ourselves on our investigators needs. We have received a lot of records on our current investigators which made things easier.
Throughout the day we got back into contact with a few people unexpectedly. Randy got back to us over text which was nice. Arjuun has started messaging us again and we've set up some appointments with him. We're having a dinner event after church tomorrow which makes it easier to invite people to. Also Guotai asked me over WeChat how to get a British person to like you. I guess his new roommate over in Bonn is British and wanted help establishing a good relationship with them. Not sure if I'm the right person to be going to, but I just told him to say that he likes their accent.
Hey, it's also day 200!
星期日,三月3号(第201天)
Sonntag 3. März 2018
Randomly, three Africans came to church. One of them is a less active member, another a Jehovah's Witness, and the other is something else. Great to see them there. We had a great discussion in our second hour about prophets. It's funny because the Jehovah's Witness guy is "seeking for truth" and he walked right into the church where it's taught They're from Ghana and wanted copies of the Book of Mormon in Twi. Luckily we had a bunch of copies in Twi at the church. Super cool. They said they want to come back next week, too.
After church, being Fast Sunday, we had another break the fast activity. Again, it was a cook off. This theme was casserole and I was not a judge this time to burn my mouth like last time. Zishan also came this week to church but for some reason only stayed for the 3 hours and helped set up, then left. He requested that he help serve the people and put up chairs and tables. He felt it was an honor. He's such a cool guy. Just have to start finding a way to teach him.
Choir practice again. We've got two weeks until Stake Conference comes. I think we've have the music down.
星期一,三月4号(第202天)
Montag 4. März 2018
Well the coolest thing we did today was going back to Alexanderplatz and did some more stuff there. We went to a Saturn (similar to BestBuy) and saw some really cool tech stuff. I am getting so behind on the technology world. Another stop was at the Primark here. Primark is super dope since it's a clothing store, but everything is cheap! I bought an inexpensive pink tie and will have to try it out later. But yeah you can get like a pair of decent gloves for almost a euro. Crazy! Anyway yeah we also walked around the main parts of Alexanderplatz and I snapped some more pictures of buildings and scenery. Coolest thing that happened however, was when we hopped on a bus back to the church and later some Chinese people sat behind me. I turned right around and totally engaged in conversation with them. And better yet they were willing to talk to me even after they found out I was a missionary. It's a family who lives and works in Berlin out towards Falkensee. I got their WeChat information so that's a huge success and we talked a lot about how German is hard and they complimented my Chinese. I understood most of what they were saying which was awesome. There was only one question they asked that I couldn't translate, so I just changed the conversation a little. Oh well, they were super nice and I hope I can meet with them again soon.
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 28
星期二,二月20号(第189天)
Dienstag 20. Februar 2018
Morning was awesome with Elder Jensen and I running a 5k to the Siegelsäule (the Victory Column). The only problem was that it was -2℃ outside and wind chill didn't help at all. Couldn't feel my hands or face after coming back inside. I also want to point out how cool it is that in just a fifteen to twenty minute run from our apartment, we can get to places like the Siegelsäule, Brandenburger Tor, Breitscheidplatz; basically all of the super famous stuff in Berlin.
Yaşlı Morrell and Elder Johnson arrived at the Hauptbahnhof last night and are here for a Turkish Tausch. Yaşlı Morrell is the Turkish group leader so he has to Tausch with every Turkish speaker to check on everyone. Elder Johnson is learning Farsi (or Persian) which is pretty dope. Arabic and Farsi look super dope as written languages. Yaşlı Morrell took the day with Yaşlı King while I went with Elder Johnson.
I had to accompany Elder Johnson to his Farsi Skype. I think it was funny when I asked him to teach me the alphabet and he was like, "it's too hard of an alphabet to understand" and I respond with, "I think can I one-up you on the whole character thing with Chinese." Fair. His hundred or so characters can't top my 85,000. I don't know how many individual Chinese characters there are. He did teach me a couple simple things to say.
I figured the best way to lazily learn German while still focusing on Chinese is to memorize German stuff - phrases, sayings, questions, scriptures, etc. Almost any meeting we have as a mission we recite Doctrine and Covenants Section 4 in German. I'll have to be honest, I was kinda rebellious and I learned it in Chinese a while ago. So, I decided to memorize it in German, too. It's actually a lot easier to memorize in German compared to Chinese. Probably because I don't have to memorize tones on top of the words…
I had an epiphany that I can watch a movie in Chinese. We can watch movies that are published by the church so I have started watching The Testaments in Mandarin on our little CD player. I figured I'll watch like half an hour of it each night or so. Right now I'm using English subtitles but after one round of the movie, I'll switch to no subtitles. But I think this is good because it's more conversational than just lecturing. I need more conversational Chinese in my life.
星期三,二月21号(第190天)
Mittwoch 21. Februar 2018
District meeting today was all in German for the first time. They're really pushing me to learn this German thing. Elder Jensen offered to be my translator. However, it's kind of hard since I can already understand a good amount. There were times when I had to stop him because I fully understood what was going on. But then shortly after it got into stuff I didn't know. It was a hard situation. Plus I felt a little embarrassed only in the sense that I'm with a bunch of English natives and yet I'm needing a translation since they're speaking another language. Elder Jensen has been on his mission for awhile now so German is very natural to him. This made it hard to translate because he would forget that I couldn't understand. It was funny when he wasn't translating and I needed it, I just didn't say anything and everyone else would look at me and someone else would pick up the translating. I'm glad they're so mindful of me.
When it was my turn to start discussing our investigators, I didn't want to speak in English, but I can't do it all in German, so I just started talking at them in Chinese! Yaşlı King tried to pick it up and started making up a translation of what I was saying. They got a good laugh out of his attempts, he only knows how to say 我是王长老 and 你是白痴. I think next week I'll plan for something better to help him translate for me. We'll see what I can come up with. Anyways, I got through that and we continued with our regular meeting.
We headed to KFC for district lunch. We found a great deal with a huge bucket of chicken and fries. And with all of us combining our funds, it came out to like 3 euros per person. Not too shabby.
Talked to 3 Chinese girls all at once. Normally people don't want to talk to me but they weren't too scared of the Murong. They're students here in Berlin. I couldn't get their WeChat information, but hey I think it's progress with talking to Chinese people.
星期四,二月22号(第191天)
Donnerstag 22. Februar 2018
Another Chinese Skype. I called up Elder Hunt who's a zone leader… somewhere I don't remember. Anyways it was a good call. I was able to answer a few questions he had and others we just had to figure out together.
Once again tried to catch Randy while he was home but he wasn't there. However, his sister answered! She says he has been crazy busy these past few weeks (which we fully understand). But hey we've got some contact again. She told us to come by again tomorrow around the same time and he should be home. Seems promising.
星期五,二月23号(第192天)
Freitag 23. Februar 2018
We got to meet with Rhyene again. I was excited to have Yaşlı King there since he's read the Quran twice and deals with Turkish Muslims a lot, so he could connect and understand her well. Once again with her, it got into deep doctrine topics - she asks really thought provoking questions. What she needs the most is to fully understand the necessity of the savior Jesus Christ. We will continue to work on that.
Yaşlı King had a Turkish Skype right after. They went over their goals for this transfer. But the best part was when they had a really cool pep talk and Yaşlı Taylor mentions me because he's my homie. He was like "we as Turkish missionaries should be exerting all our efforts to look for these Turks, and I'm sure your companions, like Elder Riener because he's boss, will be okay with this." I mean I don't mind helping out Yaşlı King but I just hope I can keep doing the Chinese stuffs too.
Another time going by on Randy and his sister was there yet again but said that he had just left like a half hour before. Shoot man we keep striking out with this.
星期六,二月24号(第193天)
Samstag 24. Februar 2018
Today was our Branch temple trip. The temple is all the way in Freiberg and requires a lot of planning to get everyone over there. We have been planning for a few weeks to get this all sorted out. Basically we rented a very nice bus to take us down to the temple. Our plan had us leave at 6am this morning from the church so that meant waking up at like 4am which was a little dreadful but whatever. The ride was about 3 hours down to Freiberg and Yaşlı King and I mainly just slept but I did do some Chinese character studies, which was great.
There were a ton of people at the temple today. And the Freiberg temple is pretty tiny, but absolutely gorgeous. Wonderful atmosphere. The branch planned on doing an endowment session in English, but Yaşlı King and I had to first do initiatories. To make a long story short, we ended up waiting for 2 hours until someone got to us and it was because they had forgotten about us - alles gut. But I had missed the English session so I had to go to the German one. Endowments are something you should most definitely do in a language you can understand. Of course, they have translation equipment that I picked up for English. They're these headphones that you can listen to the English (or your preferred language). Problem was, it wasn't until after it started that I realized only one of the earphones worked but it was quiet. And I can understand a good amount of the German which was the dominating sound, but also trying to listen to and focus on the English. So my mind was getting wrecked with switching between the two. Even with these complications, it was a beautiful time. It was the spiritual boost I had been needing for a long time. On my way out, I even got to talk to a Taiwanese member. Sister Lin is actually part of the Tiergarten German ward so I never really get to see her. But it was cool to converse with her in Chinese. I don't think she gets to do that much here.
Also, right before we left, Elder Church's grandparents who work at the temple found me and we had a great discussion. They are literally leaving Germany in about 2 weeks so I am so blessed to have seen them in Freiberg before then. The temple is really the only chance I would have had to see them. Super cool.
Our bus arrived back in the early evening so we still had time to do something with our day. We went straight to Randy's place and again his sister answered the door. She told us that we literally missed him by five minutes but she gave us the directions on where he was going. She's such a cool sister. We went to this place and find him but he didn't have time to meet for too long but he said he was planning on coming to church tomorrow!
星期日,二月25号(第194天)
Sonntag 25. Februar 2018
So a while ago Yaşlı King found out that Nehzdet, the Bulgarian investigator who speaks no English or German, speaks Turkish so we can actually communicate with him. Even though he doesn't understand anything, he comes to church every single week. The AP's have also connected us to a returned missionary from Bulgaria so we just have to set up an appointment with him. Since we have no means of contacting him, we had to go to the German ward to find him. This meant waking up and rushing out the door since they start at 9am (gross). With four people in this apartment, getting ready quickly with only one shower is not easy. Anyway, we went but he didn't show up so we just went back to the apartment to have some lunch.
We came back at the end of German ward meeting and Nehzdet was there! We're going to meet with him before Deutschkurs on Tuesday.
We have finally attended out first English Branch Council. Basically the leaders of the Branch get together to discuss upcoming events and how they can help the congregation. A big topic was how to be more reverent at sacrament meeting. I was able to pitch in a good bit since my home ward was well known for being the most reverent in the Stake for sacrament. Not to boast or anything...
So there's this guy who is from Berlin but was found by some sisters on their way to English Branch a few weeks ago. Zishan, though that is probably spelled wrong. Since then he has been coming. He speaks German, but also English. And not only that, but he speaks English better than a lot of Americans when it comes to vocabulary. He is very smart, and is already being friended by the English Branch so we may just keep him here. We'll see about that. But he came today and sat next to me with an open Book of Mormon in English. He said he has been reading from it and studying our religion. I think that is incredible since he doesn't really want to be formally taught by missionaries but is still in search for truth.
The second hour of church has a class where we can discuss the basic doctrines of our religion. We had Zishan come to that, but some German members from Braunschweig (where Yaşlı King was just serving) came to visit a friend but were also here for church. Since the whole thing of church is in English, they decided to come to our little group for a translation. Everyone in the room could speak German to an extent except me, but I was teaching the lesson since our normal teacher was absent. I had to make it up as I went, but Zishan had to translate for the other two ladies from Braunschweig. Zishan's English is incredible. He was using words that I as a native speaker don't even know. Freaking! I've got to learn English, too, I guess. Anyway, it was really difficult because of the two languages but we got through it and everyone thanked me for coming up with that on the spot.
Stake choir and Chinese Skype was again at the same time. This time I brought headphones but just couldn't speak. Elder Hugg was there, however! It's so nice to see him.
Last but not least, during the Skype, Sister Lin comes up to me and says that there's a man in the foyer who needed my help. I went out there and there's this Polish dude who is rambling on about something in German. I tried to listen and get the gist of what he wanted. He had lost his phone and wanted to either call home (Poland) or get home (he apparently works in Berlin). Our phones can't call outside of Germany, so I personally couldn't really help him. I called over Yaşlı King since I don't speak German very well and he's just like, "well I can't do anything, either" and goes back to singing. I went to the Bishop's office since there is a phone there and he tried to call home. No luck. He then asked me something about Skype and I let him use my tablet for a bit. He just looked up his friend and tells me to call him. I told him that you can't really call people on Skype unless you're already friends. He's getting all frustrated and worried by now. I asked him where he lived here in Berlin and he couldn't give me a clear answer. If there's no one he can call here in the country and he doesn't really know where he lives, how am I supposed to help him? I also can only understand about 75 percent of what he was saying, so I go to another part of the building to find someone who spoke German better. I asked a few people and they were all like, "can you tell him..." or "can you ask him..." and I was all don't make me play translator when you speak the language better. It was an interesting time, but I ended up just giving him directions to get to Zoologischer Garten using my giving-directions German that I remember from high school - it was great. Proud of myself for holding out that long, but if someone is in dire emergencies or something, I feel like you shouldn't call up the guy who doesn't really speak the language well. But that's just me.
Found two random Chinese peeps on the street on the way back home. Didn't have much time because their bus came, but hey I will take all the practice I can get.
星期一,二月26号(第195天)
Montag 26. Februar 2018
Nothing too exciting today. I did a great job mopping the apartment. We went to Alexanderplatz and just did some exploring. Elder Peck sent about 12 hand-written letters home. And we will be having Familienheimabend at President and Sister Mathias's place tonight. Should be pretty fun.
成了!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,二月20号(第189天)
Dienstag 20. Februar 2018
Morning was awesome with Elder Jensen and I running a 5k to the Siegelsäule (the Victory Column). The only problem was that it was -2℃ outside and wind chill didn't help at all. Couldn't feel my hands or face after coming back inside. I also want to point out how cool it is that in just a fifteen to twenty minute run from our apartment, we can get to places like the Siegelsäule, Brandenburger Tor, Breitscheidplatz; basically all of the super famous stuff in Berlin.
Yaşlı Morrell and Elder Johnson arrived at the Hauptbahnhof last night and are here for a Turkish Tausch. Yaşlı Morrell is the Turkish group leader so he has to Tausch with every Turkish speaker to check on everyone. Elder Johnson is learning Farsi (or Persian) which is pretty dope. Arabic and Farsi look super dope as written languages. Yaşlı Morrell took the day with Yaşlı King while I went with Elder Johnson.
I had to accompany Elder Johnson to his Farsi Skype. I think it was funny when I asked him to teach me the alphabet and he was like, "it's too hard of an alphabet to understand" and I respond with, "I think can I one-up you on the whole character thing with Chinese." Fair. His hundred or so characters can't top my 85,000. I don't know how many individual Chinese characters there are. He did teach me a couple simple things to say.
I figured the best way to lazily learn German while still focusing on Chinese is to memorize German stuff - phrases, sayings, questions, scriptures, etc. Almost any meeting we have as a mission we recite Doctrine and Covenants Section 4 in German. I'll have to be honest, I was kinda rebellious and I learned it in Chinese a while ago. So, I decided to memorize it in German, too. It's actually a lot easier to memorize in German compared to Chinese. Probably because I don't have to memorize tones on top of the words…
I had an epiphany that I can watch a movie in Chinese. We can watch movies that are published by the church so I have started watching The Testaments in Mandarin on our little CD player. I figured I'll watch like half an hour of it each night or so. Right now I'm using English subtitles but after one round of the movie, I'll switch to no subtitles. But I think this is good because it's more conversational than just lecturing. I need more conversational Chinese in my life.
星期三,二月21号(第190天)
Mittwoch 21. Februar 2018
District meeting today was all in German for the first time. They're really pushing me to learn this German thing. Elder Jensen offered to be my translator. However, it's kind of hard since I can already understand a good amount. There were times when I had to stop him because I fully understood what was going on. But then shortly after it got into stuff I didn't know. It was a hard situation. Plus I felt a little embarrassed only in the sense that I'm with a bunch of English natives and yet I'm needing a translation since they're speaking another language. Elder Jensen has been on his mission for awhile now so German is very natural to him. This made it hard to translate because he would forget that I couldn't understand. It was funny when he wasn't translating and I needed it, I just didn't say anything and everyone else would look at me and someone else would pick up the translating. I'm glad they're so mindful of me.
When it was my turn to start discussing our investigators, I didn't want to speak in English, but I can't do it all in German, so I just started talking at them in Chinese! Yaşlı King tried to pick it up and started making up a translation of what I was saying. They got a good laugh out of his attempts, he only knows how to say 我是王长老 and 你是白痴. I think next week I'll plan for something better to help him translate for me. We'll see what I can come up with. Anyways, I got through that and we continued with our regular meeting.
We headed to KFC for district lunch. We found a great deal with a huge bucket of chicken and fries. And with all of us combining our funds, it came out to like 3 euros per person. Not too shabby.
Talked to 3 Chinese girls all at once. Normally people don't want to talk to me but they weren't too scared of the Murong. They're students here in Berlin. I couldn't get their WeChat information, but hey I think it's progress with talking to Chinese people.
星期四,二月22号(第191天)
Donnerstag 22. Februar 2018
Another Chinese Skype. I called up Elder Hunt who's a zone leader… somewhere I don't remember. Anyways it was a good call. I was able to answer a few questions he had and others we just had to figure out together.
Once again tried to catch Randy while he was home but he wasn't there. However, his sister answered! She says he has been crazy busy these past few weeks (which we fully understand). But hey we've got some contact again. She told us to come by again tomorrow around the same time and he should be home. Seems promising.
星期五,二月23号(第192天)
Freitag 23. Februar 2018
We got to meet with Rhyene again. I was excited to have Yaşlı King there since he's read the Quran twice and deals with Turkish Muslims a lot, so he could connect and understand her well. Once again with her, it got into deep doctrine topics - she asks really thought provoking questions. What she needs the most is to fully understand the necessity of the savior Jesus Christ. We will continue to work on that.
Yaşlı King had a Turkish Skype right after. They went over their goals for this transfer. But the best part was when they had a really cool pep talk and Yaşlı Taylor mentions me because he's my homie. He was like "we as Turkish missionaries should be exerting all our efforts to look for these Turks, and I'm sure your companions, like Elder Riener because he's boss, will be okay with this." I mean I don't mind helping out Yaşlı King but I just hope I can keep doing the Chinese stuffs too.
Another time going by on Randy and his sister was there yet again but said that he had just left like a half hour before. Shoot man we keep striking out with this.
星期六,二月24号(第193天)
Samstag 24. Februar 2018
Today was our Branch temple trip. The temple is all the way in Freiberg and requires a lot of planning to get everyone over there. We have been planning for a few weeks to get this all sorted out. Basically we rented a very nice bus to take us down to the temple. Our plan had us leave at 6am this morning from the church so that meant waking up at like 4am which was a little dreadful but whatever. The ride was about 3 hours down to Freiberg and Yaşlı King and I mainly just slept but I did do some Chinese character studies, which was great.
There were a ton of people at the temple today. And the Freiberg temple is pretty tiny, but absolutely gorgeous. Wonderful atmosphere. The branch planned on doing an endowment session in English, but Yaşlı King and I had to first do initiatories. To make a long story short, we ended up waiting for 2 hours until someone got to us and it was because they had forgotten about us - alles gut. But I had missed the English session so I had to go to the German one. Endowments are something you should most definitely do in a language you can understand. Of course, they have translation equipment that I picked up for English. They're these headphones that you can listen to the English (or your preferred language). Problem was, it wasn't until after it started that I realized only one of the earphones worked but it was quiet. And I can understand a good amount of the German which was the dominating sound, but also trying to listen to and focus on the English. So my mind was getting wrecked with switching between the two. Even with these complications, it was a beautiful time. It was the spiritual boost I had been needing for a long time. On my way out, I even got to talk to a Taiwanese member. Sister Lin is actually part of the Tiergarten German ward so I never really get to see her. But it was cool to converse with her in Chinese. I don't think she gets to do that much here.
Also, right before we left, Elder Church's grandparents who work at the temple found me and we had a great discussion. They are literally leaving Germany in about 2 weeks so I am so blessed to have seen them in Freiberg before then. The temple is really the only chance I would have had to see them. Super cool.
Our bus arrived back in the early evening so we still had time to do something with our day. We went straight to Randy's place and again his sister answered the door. She told us that we literally missed him by five minutes but she gave us the directions on where he was going. She's such a cool sister. We went to this place and find him but he didn't have time to meet for too long but he said he was planning on coming to church tomorrow!
星期日,二月25号(第194天)
Sonntag 25. Februar 2018
So a while ago Yaşlı King found out that Nehzdet, the Bulgarian investigator who speaks no English or German, speaks Turkish so we can actually communicate with him. Even though he doesn't understand anything, he comes to church every single week. The AP's have also connected us to a returned missionary from Bulgaria so we just have to set up an appointment with him. Since we have no means of contacting him, we had to go to the German ward to find him. This meant waking up and rushing out the door since they start at 9am (gross). With four people in this apartment, getting ready quickly with only one shower is not easy. Anyway, we went but he didn't show up so we just went back to the apartment to have some lunch.
We came back at the end of German ward meeting and Nehzdet was there! We're going to meet with him before Deutschkurs on Tuesday.
We have finally attended out first English Branch Council. Basically the leaders of the Branch get together to discuss upcoming events and how they can help the congregation. A big topic was how to be more reverent at sacrament meeting. I was able to pitch in a good bit since my home ward was well known for being the most reverent in the Stake for sacrament. Not to boast or anything...
So there's this guy who is from Berlin but was found by some sisters on their way to English Branch a few weeks ago. Zishan, though that is probably spelled wrong. Since then he has been coming. He speaks German, but also English. And not only that, but he speaks English better than a lot of Americans when it comes to vocabulary. He is very smart, and is already being friended by the English Branch so we may just keep him here. We'll see about that. But he came today and sat next to me with an open Book of Mormon in English. He said he has been reading from it and studying our religion. I think that is incredible since he doesn't really want to be formally taught by missionaries but is still in search for truth.
The second hour of church has a class where we can discuss the basic doctrines of our religion. We had Zishan come to that, but some German members from Braunschweig (where Yaşlı King was just serving) came to visit a friend but were also here for church. Since the whole thing of church is in English, they decided to come to our little group for a translation. Everyone in the room could speak German to an extent except me, but I was teaching the lesson since our normal teacher was absent. I had to make it up as I went, but Zishan had to translate for the other two ladies from Braunschweig. Zishan's English is incredible. He was using words that I as a native speaker don't even know. Freaking! I've got to learn English, too, I guess. Anyway, it was really difficult because of the two languages but we got through it and everyone thanked me for coming up with that on the spot.
Stake choir and Chinese Skype was again at the same time. This time I brought headphones but just couldn't speak. Elder Hugg was there, however! It's so nice to see him.
Last but not least, during the Skype, Sister Lin comes up to me and says that there's a man in the foyer who needed my help. I went out there and there's this Polish dude who is rambling on about something in German. I tried to listen and get the gist of what he wanted. He had lost his phone and wanted to either call home (Poland) or get home (he apparently works in Berlin). Our phones can't call outside of Germany, so I personally couldn't really help him. I called over Yaşlı King since I don't speak German very well and he's just like, "well I can't do anything, either" and goes back to singing. I went to the Bishop's office since there is a phone there and he tried to call home. No luck. He then asked me something about Skype and I let him use my tablet for a bit. He just looked up his friend and tells me to call him. I told him that you can't really call people on Skype unless you're already friends. He's getting all frustrated and worried by now. I asked him where he lived here in Berlin and he couldn't give me a clear answer. If there's no one he can call here in the country and he doesn't really know where he lives, how am I supposed to help him? I also can only understand about 75 percent of what he was saying, so I go to another part of the building to find someone who spoke German better. I asked a few people and they were all like, "can you tell him..." or "can you ask him..." and I was all don't make me play translator when you speak the language better. It was an interesting time, but I ended up just giving him directions to get to Zoologischer Garten using my giving-directions German that I remember from high school - it was great. Proud of myself for holding out that long, but if someone is in dire emergencies or something, I feel like you shouldn't call up the guy who doesn't really speak the language well. But that's just me.
Found two random Chinese peeps on the street on the way back home. Didn't have much time because their bus came, but hey I will take all the practice I can get.
星期一,二月26号(第195天)
Montag 26. Februar 2018
Nothing too exciting today. I did a great job mopping the apartment. We went to Alexanderplatz and just did some exploring. Elder Peck sent about 12 hand-written letters home. And we will be having Familienheimabend at President and Sister Mathias's place tonight. Should be pretty fun.
成了!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 27
星期二,二月13号(第182天)
Dienstag 13. Februar 2018
A few emergency moves had to be made so Elder Alves had to leave us. He is now over in the Hamburg zone and traded places with an Elder Peck from Arizona! Elder Peck speaks really good German even though he has only been out for one transfer total on his mission. He can also speak Italian which is super dope. So if someone needs a recap on where I stand, just know that I am a missionary serving in Germany, working with an English branch, called to speak Chinese, alongside a Turkish Elder, and living with two other Elders speaking Spanish and Italian. Keeping up so far? The amount of languages thrown around in my life now really turns my brain into mush. It's fun, though. Elder Peck is a really cool dude. But now I am the last person who knows this area in the apartment. Interestingly enough, Elder Peck asked me if it's weird that I am the last person of the past few transfers here and I'm like no not really. Elder Jensen eventually asked me the same question, and then some sisters asked me again. Am I supposed to be sad? Or am I supposed to feel alone? It's making me think, but I'm fine.
It was off to a leadership meeting for Yaşlı King. All of the district leaders of the zone, the STLs, and the zone leaders met with each other to discuss how the transfer can be productive. I waited outside with a couple other elders. Yaşlı King gave me a brief overview of what happened in the meeting and they basically talked about how everyone should be speaking German from 9am to 9pm every day, pretty much, and they specifically mentioned me. I really have not been focusing on German since I need all of the Chinese I can get, so I don't know why I am of concern here. I fear that if I start doing more German that my Chinese will go downhill, but maybe I should at least try sitting down and learning both. It's funny since the emphasis is on the two Elders who weren't even called to speak German, rather other languages.
The Neukölln Elders had a meeting with a Turkish investigator who apparently lives like 20 minutes from us. Yaşlı Backus and Yaşlı King both speak Turkish, so they took me and Elder Hilliard (Yaşlı Backus's companion) along. The woman we met with is named Zeynep and has been investigating the church since Yaşlı King was here in Neukölln almost a year ago. From what he explained to me, she just wanted to meet with the missionaries to roast the Mormon religion in front of them. However, with the meeting with her today, her testimony has really grown and she wants to know Jesus Christ more and how she can be a righteous person. It's humbling to see such a dramatic change of heart from someone. I couldn't understand any of the lesson since it was all Turkish, but she was asking sincere questions the entire time. She asked us to read some of the Book of Mormon with her and we gladly accepted. She wants to get into the habit of reading it more which is totally great. I also learned a couple extra Turkish words which is always pretty gucci.
Yaşlı King had a box of supplies that he ordered at the church so we headed back there. The Deutschkurs hosted by Elder and Sister Lipp was just finishing up. Now, there's this nonmember who speaks only Bulgarian and had been taking lessons from the missionaries with help from the Bulgarian missionaries through Skype. However, I guess those lessons kind of fell out of favor awhile ago. He still comes to church even though he can't understand much. Apparently he also speaks Turkish, so Yaşlı King went right on top of that. We've never really been able communicate with him until now. It was super cool to see him have a full conversation with someone finally.
星期三,二月14号(第183天)
Mittwoch 14. Februar 2018
District meeting was a little interesting. Elder Körper taught us all some Deutsch Gebärdensprache (German Sign Language). Now if I ever run into deaf Germans, I can hold a basic conversation. The alphabet is a lot like ASL which is nice.
After the meeting, the Neukölln sisters gave us candy and Valentine's day notes to give out to other people. The best thing to see was when we found some Jehovah Witnesses handing out their materials and we walked up to them and gave them the candy. They were so kind. Share the love.
We randomly obtained 3 Turkish referrals and an English referral. Yaşlı King is happy I guess. He called one of them and their coworker answered. They had an hour long discussion about stuff and things in German and I think he seems interested, too. So we basically just got 5 new potential people. I called this English guy and he's not in town but wants me to call back next week.
星期四,二月15号(第184天)
Donnerstag 15. Februar 2018
We're still going by on Randy trying to catch him when he's home. He wasn't there today, but we were able to leave a nice paper heart with a note written on it and some candy attached. I know Valentine's day was yesterday, but it's never a bad idea to show someone some love. ️
The most exciting part of the day for Yaşlı King was a nice visit with the Carson's. Brother Carson was also an Army combat medic and basically has become Yaşlı King's idol. They shared their military stories the entire time, but I learned that Brother Carson went to the University of Washington at one point for like a year and a half whole he was living on Bainbridge Island. He just continues to get cooler and cooler.
Yaşlı King pretty much adores Brother Carson. He calls him "100 percent man." Apparently being in the Army gets you "man points." Same with having girls and muscle mass. Yaşlı King says he's only 60 percent a man by Brother Carson's standards. I made the mistake of asking how much of a man I would be. I guess I'm only one eighth of a man. Will continue to work on this. Stay tuned.
星期五,二月16号(第185天)
Freitag 16. Februar 2018
The Spandau Sisters asked us to help them with an Umzug at one of their member's places. At o'dark thirty we traveled all the way up to Spandau to assist them. But before that, when we were getting ready, Elder Peck was putting on a pair of skinny jeans that he hadn't tried on in a couple months. It totally wasn't going to fit his waist anymore so he was going to give them away. Of course, the next skinniest person is me. Now, I had no problem with these skinny jeans. In fact, I rocked them pretty well. I even wore my pink Washington hoodie. It was great. And because of my help, I have been promoted in my manliness. Instead of one eighth (12.5%), I am now 13% a man.
Pretty much all of our district was there to help out in the moving process, except for the Neukölln sisters. We spent a total of about 5 hours getting all of the person's stuff out of the old house and into the new house. The moving company that was helping us were a bunch of Turkish speakers so Yaşlı King went right on that. The best part was the end when they stuffed us full of food. I cannot believe that the smallest guy (me) ate the most. Proud of myself.
Set up a practice Skype with Elder To and Elder Bacher. I taught the third lesson. I haven't done it in Chinese in so long yet I feel like it wasn't too bad. If I keep working on all the lessons I'd just need to increase my vocabulary. And maybe some grammar. But simple sentences can get me pretty far still.
Also today mark sixth months of my mission. What a great way to spend a good portion of it with service. It's been a long run and still more to go!
星期六,二月17号(第186天)
Samstag 17. Februar 2018
Another really long weekly planning. We made some really good goals for what we want to see happen to this area. Yaşlı King really wants to meet with Rhyene since he has read the Qu'ran and has worked closely with Muslims for the past year or so. His understanding of her should be cool to see.
We also did even more reorganizing of the apartment. There's a lot more changes now. The desks have moved and now we got a little "campfire" area set up in the study room. It is sweet. We also have a little Zen garden with Buddha, some rocks, plants, and Chinese money because Zen. In addition, we have incense that Elder Jensen got that we will occasionally burn. Put all of those elements together and it may seem like we're apostate, but trust me, we are not. ️
About two months ago Elder Bacher and I went by on a referral from a missionary serving in the New York mission. When we went by last time, she said that her missionary friend in New York was all she needed. The sister in New York emailed us saying that we should go by in February. Well, this is February. We tried again and she just has too crazy of a schedule to meet. But it's funny since Yaşlı King says he most likely met with this lady last time he was serving in Neukölln which was about a year ago.
On our way back to the apartment, we ran into a guy who wanted to talk to us. He said he genuinely wanted to talk about religion and stuff. It was kind of depressing since he was mainly rambling on about how there are no good people left in the world. Then he continued on about America and how much damage they are doing to the world. I don't think he wanted a good talk at all; just to try to pick an argument with two Americans. It's weird to see another person who has somewhat lost all faith in humanity. Seems to be a common trend now and it's saddening. I know that no one is perfect, but that Christ is perfect and we should look to Him to attempt to be like Him.
星期日,二月18号(第187天)
Sonntag 18. Februar 2018
Yaşlı King made some french toast this morning and taught me how to make it. Super delicious and always a treat to have him make some good sunday morning breakfast.
Brother Oppong, who was baptized a couple weeks ago, (hasn't been confirmed yet due to some complications) was finally confirmed as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. It's one of the coolest things to see on this Earth: someone receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and to be welcomed into a wordlwide family. Super super cool.
Stake choir starts at 18 and goes until 19:30 but Chinese Skype starts at 18 as well but only lasts an hour. Yaşlı King really wanted to go to choir but I need someone with me, so I ended up doing the Skype in the back of the chapel. That was very hard since I couldn't say anything; the noise from the choir was too much so I had to mute myself. I had to comment only and that was rough, plus it was hard to hear. I think I'm going to have to stay out of a few sunday Skypes for a while.
And as always, choir was cool. Music is a path to pure happiness.
Okay, so I've been wished a Happy Chinese New Year pretty much all week long so I don't know when Chinese New Year is. I think it was this past week because that would make the most sense. Anyway, 新年快乐!This year is the year of the dog.
星期一,二月19号(第188天)
Montag 19. Februar 2018
I am getting better at budgeting and my total amount spent for the week was 10.01€. Kinda mad about the one cent but whatever. I have received the news that Elder Hugg is arriving in Berlin tomorrow and that is super dope!! That was totally unexpected but I am so happy to see him soon. He is going to be in a dritt with Elder Staten and his companion in Bremen. Other than that, we are picking up Yaşlı Morrell and his companion at the hauptbahnhof tonight for a Turkish tausch. Should be fun.
Eine wunderschöne gute Woche, jedem!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,二月13号(第182天)
Dienstag 13. Februar 2018
A few emergency moves had to be made so Elder Alves had to leave us. He is now over in the Hamburg zone and traded places with an Elder Peck from Arizona! Elder Peck speaks really good German even though he has only been out for one transfer total on his mission. He can also speak Italian which is super dope. So if someone needs a recap on where I stand, just know that I am a missionary serving in Germany, working with an English branch, called to speak Chinese, alongside a Turkish Elder, and living with two other Elders speaking Spanish and Italian. Keeping up so far? The amount of languages thrown around in my life now really turns my brain into mush. It's fun, though. Elder Peck is a really cool dude. But now I am the last person who knows this area in the apartment. Interestingly enough, Elder Peck asked me if it's weird that I am the last person of the past few transfers here and I'm like no not really. Elder Jensen eventually asked me the same question, and then some sisters asked me again. Am I supposed to be sad? Or am I supposed to feel alone? It's making me think, but I'm fine.
It was off to a leadership meeting for Yaşlı King. All of the district leaders of the zone, the STLs, and the zone leaders met with each other to discuss how the transfer can be productive. I waited outside with a couple other elders. Yaşlı King gave me a brief overview of what happened in the meeting and they basically talked about how everyone should be speaking German from 9am to 9pm every day, pretty much, and they specifically mentioned me. I really have not been focusing on German since I need all of the Chinese I can get, so I don't know why I am of concern here. I fear that if I start doing more German that my Chinese will go downhill, but maybe I should at least try sitting down and learning both. It's funny since the emphasis is on the two Elders who weren't even called to speak German, rather other languages.
The Neukölln Elders had a meeting with a Turkish investigator who apparently lives like 20 minutes from us. Yaşlı Backus and Yaşlı King both speak Turkish, so they took me and Elder Hilliard (Yaşlı Backus's companion) along. The woman we met with is named Zeynep and has been investigating the church since Yaşlı King was here in Neukölln almost a year ago. From what he explained to me, she just wanted to meet with the missionaries to roast the Mormon religion in front of them. However, with the meeting with her today, her testimony has really grown and she wants to know Jesus Christ more and how she can be a righteous person. It's humbling to see such a dramatic change of heart from someone. I couldn't understand any of the lesson since it was all Turkish, but she was asking sincere questions the entire time. She asked us to read some of the Book of Mormon with her and we gladly accepted. She wants to get into the habit of reading it more which is totally great. I also learned a couple extra Turkish words which is always pretty gucci.
Yaşlı King had a box of supplies that he ordered at the church so we headed back there. The Deutschkurs hosted by Elder and Sister Lipp was just finishing up. Now, there's this nonmember who speaks only Bulgarian and had been taking lessons from the missionaries with help from the Bulgarian missionaries through Skype. However, I guess those lessons kind of fell out of favor awhile ago. He still comes to church even though he can't understand much. Apparently he also speaks Turkish, so Yaşlı King went right on top of that. We've never really been able communicate with him until now. It was super cool to see him have a full conversation with someone finally.
星期三,二月14号(第183天)
Mittwoch 14. Februar 2018
District meeting was a little interesting. Elder Körper taught us all some Deutsch Gebärdensprache (German Sign Language). Now if I ever run into deaf Germans, I can hold a basic conversation. The alphabet is a lot like ASL which is nice.
After the meeting, the Neukölln sisters gave us candy and Valentine's day notes to give out to other people. The best thing to see was when we found some Jehovah Witnesses handing out their materials and we walked up to them and gave them the candy. They were so kind. Share the love.
We randomly obtained 3 Turkish referrals and an English referral. Yaşlı King is happy I guess. He called one of them and their coworker answered. They had an hour long discussion about stuff and things in German and I think he seems interested, too. So we basically just got 5 new potential people. I called this English guy and he's not in town but wants me to call back next week.
星期四,二月15号(第184天)
Donnerstag 15. Februar 2018
We're still going by on Randy trying to catch him when he's home. He wasn't there today, but we were able to leave a nice paper heart with a note written on it and some candy attached. I know Valentine's day was yesterday, but it's never a bad idea to show someone some love. ️
The most exciting part of the day for Yaşlı King was a nice visit with the Carson's. Brother Carson was also an Army combat medic and basically has become Yaşlı King's idol. They shared their military stories the entire time, but I learned that Brother Carson went to the University of Washington at one point for like a year and a half whole he was living on Bainbridge Island. He just continues to get cooler and cooler.
Yaşlı King pretty much adores Brother Carson. He calls him "100 percent man." Apparently being in the Army gets you "man points." Same with having girls and muscle mass. Yaşlı King says he's only 60 percent a man by Brother Carson's standards. I made the mistake of asking how much of a man I would be. I guess I'm only one eighth of a man. Will continue to work on this. Stay tuned.
星期五,二月16号(第185天)
Freitag 16. Februar 2018
The Spandau Sisters asked us to help them with an Umzug at one of their member's places. At o'dark thirty we traveled all the way up to Spandau to assist them. But before that, when we were getting ready, Elder Peck was putting on a pair of skinny jeans that he hadn't tried on in a couple months. It totally wasn't going to fit his waist anymore so he was going to give them away. Of course, the next skinniest person is me. Now, I had no problem with these skinny jeans. In fact, I rocked them pretty well. I even wore my pink Washington hoodie. It was great. And because of my help, I have been promoted in my manliness. Instead of one eighth (12.5%), I am now 13% a man.
Pretty much all of our district was there to help out in the moving process, except for the Neukölln sisters. We spent a total of about 5 hours getting all of the person's stuff out of the old house and into the new house. The moving company that was helping us were a bunch of Turkish speakers so Yaşlı King went right on that. The best part was the end when they stuffed us full of food. I cannot believe that the smallest guy (me) ate the most. Proud of myself.
Set up a practice Skype with Elder To and Elder Bacher. I taught the third lesson. I haven't done it in Chinese in so long yet I feel like it wasn't too bad. If I keep working on all the lessons I'd just need to increase my vocabulary. And maybe some grammar. But simple sentences can get me pretty far still.
Also today mark sixth months of my mission. What a great way to spend a good portion of it with service. It's been a long run and still more to go!
星期六,二月17号(第186天)
Samstag 17. Februar 2018
Another really long weekly planning. We made some really good goals for what we want to see happen to this area. Yaşlı King really wants to meet with Rhyene since he has read the Qu'ran and has worked closely with Muslims for the past year or so. His understanding of her should be cool to see.
We also did even more reorganizing of the apartment. There's a lot more changes now. The desks have moved and now we got a little "campfire" area set up in the study room. It is sweet. We also have a little Zen garden with Buddha, some rocks, plants, and Chinese money because Zen. In addition, we have incense that Elder Jensen got that we will occasionally burn. Put all of those elements together and it may seem like we're apostate, but trust me, we are not. ️
About two months ago Elder Bacher and I went by on a referral from a missionary serving in the New York mission. When we went by last time, she said that her missionary friend in New York was all she needed. The sister in New York emailed us saying that we should go by in February. Well, this is February. We tried again and she just has too crazy of a schedule to meet. But it's funny since Yaşlı King says he most likely met with this lady last time he was serving in Neukölln which was about a year ago.
On our way back to the apartment, we ran into a guy who wanted to talk to us. He said he genuinely wanted to talk about religion and stuff. It was kind of depressing since he was mainly rambling on about how there are no good people left in the world. Then he continued on about America and how much damage they are doing to the world. I don't think he wanted a good talk at all; just to try to pick an argument with two Americans. It's weird to see another person who has somewhat lost all faith in humanity. Seems to be a common trend now and it's saddening. I know that no one is perfect, but that Christ is perfect and we should look to Him to attempt to be like Him.
星期日,二月18号(第187天)
Sonntag 18. Februar 2018
Yaşlı King made some french toast this morning and taught me how to make it. Super delicious and always a treat to have him make some good sunday morning breakfast.
Brother Oppong, who was baptized a couple weeks ago, (hasn't been confirmed yet due to some complications) was finally confirmed as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. It's one of the coolest things to see on this Earth: someone receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and to be welcomed into a wordlwide family. Super super cool.
Stake choir starts at 18 and goes until 19:30 but Chinese Skype starts at 18 as well but only lasts an hour. Yaşlı King really wanted to go to choir but I need someone with me, so I ended up doing the Skype in the back of the chapel. That was very hard since I couldn't say anything; the noise from the choir was too much so I had to mute myself. I had to comment only and that was rough, plus it was hard to hear. I think I'm going to have to stay out of a few sunday Skypes for a while.
And as always, choir was cool. Music is a path to pure happiness.
Okay, so I've been wished a Happy Chinese New Year pretty much all week long so I don't know when Chinese New Year is. I think it was this past week because that would make the most sense. Anyway, 新年快乐!This year is the year of the dog.
星期一,二月19号(第188天)
Montag 19. Februar 2018
I am getting better at budgeting and my total amount spent for the week was 10.01€. Kinda mad about the one cent but whatever. I have received the news that Elder Hugg is arriving in Berlin tomorrow and that is super dope!! That was totally unexpected but I am so happy to see him soon. He is going to be in a dritt with Elder Staten and his companion in Bremen. Other than that, we are picking up Yaşlı Morrell and his companion at the hauptbahnhof tonight for a Turkish tausch. Should be fun.
Eine wunderschöne gute Woche, jedem!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 26
星期一,二月5号(第174天)
Montag 5. Februar 2018
Crazy awesome night! We had Familienheimabend along with a little church movie/documentary thing which was great. But afterwards we had a supper in another room. One of the members is originally from France, and shared with us a French tradition where a cake is cut up and the person who gets the piece with a little lamb figure in it is the king for the day or something. The youngest person in the room picks where each piece of cake goes to. But the youngest person cannot see which piece is which, so they go underneath the table. I unfortunately was the youngest, being only 19, and was required to climb under the table. As I was waiting for the cake to be cut while crammed below the table, they told me that the youngest person has to sing a song during the whole thing. I don't know any songs in German! What was I going to do? Then I remembered back to my German class in high school and learning a nursery rhyme. It's about the sounds that things wake you up in the morning; such as a rooster, a grand bell, alarm clock, sheep, etc. It was great and everyone laughed and enjoyed it. Can't really speak German but at least I can sing nursery rhymes. However, I ended up with the piece that had the lamb in it so I became king. It was great.
星期二,二月6号(第175天)
Dienstag 6. Februar 2018
Élder Wride has been sick for a while and could not do his lesson this morning which caused myself to go instead. It was another lesson with Ryhene, the Muslim Canadian. I was somewhat scared that the lesson would turn into something totally off course like it did last time, but we had two joint-teachers there from the English branch. Our Branch mission leader and a member from the Relief Society presidency came to help out and they were wonderful! They connected with Ryhene and it was very nice to see. She is still a difficult case - mainly since Elder Alves's English is not good enough to keep up with her high academic English lol - but she is growing in her faith and that is always cool.
Elder Bacher is going to be a district leader in Göttingen so he had a district leader Skype meeting tonight with all of the district leaders in the mission.
星期三,二月7号(第176天)
Mittwoch 7. Februar 2018
The first thing we did today was drop off Élder Wride at the Hauptbahnhof. It didn't hit me at the time, and still hasn't now, that he is gone. I'm going to miss him. We had one last picture together before he hopped on his train and was off to Leipzig.
We headed back to the apartment to clean up a little bit since a lot of stuff gets left behind in the moving process. I fixed up a bag that I sewed together that I found in the apartment a while ago. It's a nice bag and it just lays here with its strap broken off and without a main zipper. I put on a zipper and repaired the strap. We shall see how long it holds.
And then got all of Elder Bacher's stuff and were off. We arrived at the Hauptbahnhof early so we had some time to hang out with everyone else that was there. The zone leaders and everyone who was waiting to leave or for their new companion was chilling at a big table at the McDonald's. I hadn't had lunch and was hungry, but I refused to destroy my body with that monstrosity. Yaşlı King's train arrived so we rushed to greet him. Elder Jensen, Elder Alves's companion, came out since Elder Jensen and Yaşlı King were on the same train. However, Yaşlı King was nowhere to be found. We ran all over the Hauptbahnhof looking for him. The Hauptbahnhof is ginormous so it wasn't an easy task. We just could not find him so we assumed he missed a train at some point. It's bad since he doesn't have a phone so we figured he would find out how to get a hold of someone. He showed up about an hour later, I guess he used Facebook to contact to someone to buy another train ticket since he missed his second train. Elder Bacher had to leave and he almost escaped without saying goodbye.
Yaşlı Taylor had to leave, too, but wanted to give me a Christmas present before that. He had a few copies of The Family: A Proclamation to the World in Traditional Chinese and an Our Heritage also in the same characters. Pretty dope, I just wish it wasn't Traditional. But how nice of him.
Yaşlı King and I headed back to the apartment to drop off all of his stuff. We had some quality bonding time for a while during the unpacking stage. He's a pretty cool dude. He is from Logan Utah and served in the Army as a combat medic before coming here. He has been companions with Yaşlı Taylor a few times; they were actually MTC companions together. He's over halfway done with his mission. Not too long after arriving at the apartment, Elder Jensen and Elder Alves came back. Yaşlı King and Elder Jensen are pretty big, like muscle massive kind of big. More so Elder Jensen since he's a body builder. He's also from Logan Utah. He is very knowledgeable on the human body and loves to eat bell peppers like apples. Anyway they both make me feel like I'm the tiniest person in this world. I feel like a child that could be crushed under the weight of them merely making a mean face at me. Whatever, they're both really cool people. I can tell this transfer is going to be interestingly fun.
星期四,二月8号(第177天)
Donnerstag 8. Februar 2018
Another lunch appointment was set by Yvonne, we needed more people to go with us last minute, so we brought the other two Elders. Again, super great appointment with amazing food. A friend was visiting her who served in this mission a couple years ago and was engaged to a German also living in the area. Elder Jensen and Yaşlı King were able to connect with her will since they knew a lot of people who were where they served.
Our first district meeting that is super different. Many new faces in our little group. We have almost a full spectrum of missionaries when it comes to mission age. There are people like me who are fairly new, others who are well into their missions, and a couple that are almost finished. We spent the majority of the time talking about our investigators that are progressing the most. Got to catch up almost half of the district on what goes on since they're new to the area.
Our first language study session together and I spent it teaching Yaşlı King how to pronounce Chinese words. My aim is to have him sound off words for flash cards and whatnot. Slowly but surely I'm actually teaching him Chinese.
Yaşlı King as the District Leader calls me District Frau. He finds it amusing.
星期五,二月9号(第178天)
Freitag 9. Februar 2018
To prepare for our first Weekly Planning, Yaşlı King wanted some better markers for the whiteboard. Surprisingly, dry erase markers are hard to find in Berlin. We stopped at like 3 different stores which yielded no reward. But I learned a lot about Yaşlı King.
It was a super long Weekly Planning session. Yaşlı King wanted to mark up the whole whiteboard with a section on information on our district and their progressing investigators, a section on our investigators, and a huge part for our Turkish and Chinese studies. We would get through a little bit and then get distracted since Elder Jensen really wanted to reorganize this apartment. The apartment looks super nice now. I like it. Elder Jensen is just an OCD freak buy hey it is much more pleasing to the eyes and everything is much roomier. Plus, a lot more natural light comes in which makes me appreciate life even more. The majority of the planning was me filling in Yaşlı King on everyone is the area book.
星期六,二月10号(第179天)
Samstag 10. Februar 2018
The German ward set up a date for a "Spring Cleaning" for today even though we're not really close to spring yet. They asked both themselves and the English branch to do a deep cleaning of the stake center. We offered to help, too. There weren't many representatives of the German ward, but there were a lot of people from the English branch. This was the first time Yaşlı King got to meet people from the branch and he was very happy since he hasn't been around so many Americans in over a year. We mainly washed tables for about 2 hours and then washed the floor and walls of the gym. A few people from the English branch came to us and said that there was food outside. Brother Carson had been grilling up tacos for everyone. Super delicious. I had two while Yaşlı King had four. He really liked those tacos. I also forgot to mention to Yaşlı King that Brother Carson served in the military for a while. But I didn't know that Brother Carson also was a medic. He and Yaşlı King had some good discussions. It was fun to hang out with the branch.
Yaşlı King is a big Pepsi person and could not stop thinking about going to the nearby Edeka to get some. The problem was that we went in and they only had one Kasse available, so the line for purchasing was extremely long. It went back to the produce aisle. It took about 40 minutes for Yaşlı King to get his Pepsi, but right behind us was a Turkish guy whom Yaşlı King took no hesitation to chat with him. They talked for the majority of our wait in the line, but it looked like they had fun. From what Yaşlı King told me, they guy had lost almost all faith in humanity, but was super glad that we had enough faith to attempt to bring people to the light of the gospel. There's always hope.
Made some pretty dope Transfer plans. I am going to attempt to push myself this transfer in my Chinese. Perhaps with Guotai I will make myself suffer and try the whole lessons in Chinese. Normally I just do a good portion in English and use Chinese to clarify since Guotai (and especially Zihao) can speak a really good amount of English. But since Guotai is 我朋友, I think he would be down for me suffering a bit but helping me out.
Speaking of Guotai, he is aparently staying longer on his trip! Ahhh he is going to Venice soon. I just hope he doesn't keep extending his vacation until I get transfered...
星期日,二月11号(第180天)
Sonntag 11. Februar 2018
Really great morning. Yaşlı King made me pancakes. I took the advantage of adding sliced bananas with chocolate cream spreaded on and the pancake rolled up like a burrito. Delish.
We have a kind of new investigator coming to the English Branch. His name is Zishan (probably destroyed that spelling) and he actually is from Berlin, but his English is pretty great. Not sure if we should keep him with the Branch or if we should send him over to the German Ward. This was his second time here so he might be attaching himself to the English. We shall see. He's a really cool dude. He was super thankful that he was invited to come to church. I'm glad he treats it like an honor because it kind of is when you think about it. He often inquired of how I truly gained my own testimony of the church and I think I did a good job of that.
Yaşlı Taylor texted us and asked if I could do a Chinese translation! He is in Hamburg and wanted to go by on an investigator. Oh my goodness I said yes but was super scared. I have never translated in real time before! Right after church he called me and I talked with the guy for a bit. His accent is really hard to understand and he used so many words I didn't know. I don't think I did that great of a job, and I only got about 20 percent of what the guy was saying, but you got to start somewhere. You have to make a few thousand mistakes in a language to become fluent and I will just have to go through the motions of that. Elder Staten was proud of me even though he wasn't there to witness how bad my translation was, but he said that he and the native speakers are always willing to be there with me to back me up. I think that would be the best option. If I really start to struggle, they can be there to give me a little help. Thay way I can really learn what I'm missing so I can do better the next time. I guess I can only go up from here.
After the translation and our typical Chinese group Skype, Yaşlı King and I headed over to the Kapelle for Stake Choir! We really want to participate but Chinese Skype always starts at the same time that choir starts. Egal. We were there for the last half hour but they were so happy to have us. It was all in German but for some reason I can really understand the musical language in German. I mean, I am already fluent in the musical language so putting that with German isn't too bad. We can do some math: If I am 100 percent fluent in Music, but 25 percent fluent in German, that means if I put them together, I am roughly 50 percent fluent in that situation, yeah? idk. I love music so being in choir really brought back good feelings of the good old days in band.
星期一,二月12号(第181天)
Montag 12. Februar 2018
Not too bad of a day. We spent a few hours deep cleaning the apartment. It looks and smells super nice and clean. It didn't look bad or smell bad before but dang Elder Jensen really knows how to sauber this place up. I also had some of the best Doener that I have ever had. Not in the taste, but in the sense that I didn't feel any regret afterwards. Hooray for eating healthier?
Viel Glück!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,二月5号(第174天)
Montag 5. Februar 2018
Crazy awesome night! We had Familienheimabend along with a little church movie/documentary thing which was great. But afterwards we had a supper in another room. One of the members is originally from France, and shared with us a French tradition where a cake is cut up and the person who gets the piece with a little lamb figure in it is the king for the day or something. The youngest person in the room picks where each piece of cake goes to. But the youngest person cannot see which piece is which, so they go underneath the table. I unfortunately was the youngest, being only 19, and was required to climb under the table. As I was waiting for the cake to be cut while crammed below the table, they told me that the youngest person has to sing a song during the whole thing. I don't know any songs in German! What was I going to do? Then I remembered back to my German class in high school and learning a nursery rhyme. It's about the sounds that things wake you up in the morning; such as a rooster, a grand bell, alarm clock, sheep, etc. It was great and everyone laughed and enjoyed it. Can't really speak German but at least I can sing nursery rhymes. However, I ended up with the piece that had the lamb in it so I became king. It was great.
星期二,二月6号(第175天)
Dienstag 6. Februar 2018
Élder Wride has been sick for a while and could not do his lesson this morning which caused myself to go instead. It was another lesson with Ryhene, the Muslim Canadian. I was somewhat scared that the lesson would turn into something totally off course like it did last time, but we had two joint-teachers there from the English branch. Our Branch mission leader and a member from the Relief Society presidency came to help out and they were wonderful! They connected with Ryhene and it was very nice to see. She is still a difficult case - mainly since Elder Alves's English is not good enough to keep up with her high academic English lol - but she is growing in her faith and that is always cool.
Elder Bacher is going to be a district leader in Göttingen so he had a district leader Skype meeting tonight with all of the district leaders in the mission.
星期三,二月7号(第176天)
Mittwoch 7. Februar 2018
The first thing we did today was drop off Élder Wride at the Hauptbahnhof. It didn't hit me at the time, and still hasn't now, that he is gone. I'm going to miss him. We had one last picture together before he hopped on his train and was off to Leipzig.
We headed back to the apartment to clean up a little bit since a lot of stuff gets left behind in the moving process. I fixed up a bag that I sewed together that I found in the apartment a while ago. It's a nice bag and it just lays here with its strap broken off and without a main zipper. I put on a zipper and repaired the strap. We shall see how long it holds.
And then got all of Elder Bacher's stuff and were off. We arrived at the Hauptbahnhof early so we had some time to hang out with everyone else that was there. The zone leaders and everyone who was waiting to leave or for their new companion was chilling at a big table at the McDonald's. I hadn't had lunch and was hungry, but I refused to destroy my body with that monstrosity. Yaşlı King's train arrived so we rushed to greet him. Elder Jensen, Elder Alves's companion, came out since Elder Jensen and Yaşlı King were on the same train. However, Yaşlı King was nowhere to be found. We ran all over the Hauptbahnhof looking for him. The Hauptbahnhof is ginormous so it wasn't an easy task. We just could not find him so we assumed he missed a train at some point. It's bad since he doesn't have a phone so we figured he would find out how to get a hold of someone. He showed up about an hour later, I guess he used Facebook to contact to someone to buy another train ticket since he missed his second train. Elder Bacher had to leave and he almost escaped without saying goodbye.
Yaşlı Taylor had to leave, too, but wanted to give me a Christmas present before that. He had a few copies of The Family: A Proclamation to the World in Traditional Chinese and an Our Heritage also in the same characters. Pretty dope, I just wish it wasn't Traditional. But how nice of him.
Yaşlı King and I headed back to the apartment to drop off all of his stuff. We had some quality bonding time for a while during the unpacking stage. He's a pretty cool dude. He is from Logan Utah and served in the Army as a combat medic before coming here. He has been companions with Yaşlı Taylor a few times; they were actually MTC companions together. He's over halfway done with his mission. Not too long after arriving at the apartment, Elder Jensen and Elder Alves came back. Yaşlı King and Elder Jensen are pretty big, like muscle massive kind of big. More so Elder Jensen since he's a body builder. He's also from Logan Utah. He is very knowledgeable on the human body and loves to eat bell peppers like apples. Anyway they both make me feel like I'm the tiniest person in this world. I feel like a child that could be crushed under the weight of them merely making a mean face at me. Whatever, they're both really cool people. I can tell this transfer is going to be interestingly fun.
星期四,二月8号(第177天)
Donnerstag 8. Februar 2018
Another lunch appointment was set by Yvonne, we needed more people to go with us last minute, so we brought the other two Elders. Again, super great appointment with amazing food. A friend was visiting her who served in this mission a couple years ago and was engaged to a German also living in the area. Elder Jensen and Yaşlı King were able to connect with her will since they knew a lot of people who were where they served.
Our first district meeting that is super different. Many new faces in our little group. We have almost a full spectrum of missionaries when it comes to mission age. There are people like me who are fairly new, others who are well into their missions, and a couple that are almost finished. We spent the majority of the time talking about our investigators that are progressing the most. Got to catch up almost half of the district on what goes on since they're new to the area.
Our first language study session together and I spent it teaching Yaşlı King how to pronounce Chinese words. My aim is to have him sound off words for flash cards and whatnot. Slowly but surely I'm actually teaching him Chinese.
Yaşlı King as the District Leader calls me District Frau. He finds it amusing.
星期五,二月9号(第178天)
Freitag 9. Februar 2018
To prepare for our first Weekly Planning, Yaşlı King wanted some better markers for the whiteboard. Surprisingly, dry erase markers are hard to find in Berlin. We stopped at like 3 different stores which yielded no reward. But I learned a lot about Yaşlı King.
It was a super long Weekly Planning session. Yaşlı King wanted to mark up the whole whiteboard with a section on information on our district and their progressing investigators, a section on our investigators, and a huge part for our Turkish and Chinese studies. We would get through a little bit and then get distracted since Elder Jensen really wanted to reorganize this apartment. The apartment looks super nice now. I like it. Elder Jensen is just an OCD freak buy hey it is much more pleasing to the eyes and everything is much roomier. Plus, a lot more natural light comes in which makes me appreciate life even more. The majority of the planning was me filling in Yaşlı King on everyone is the area book.
星期六,二月10号(第179天)
Samstag 10. Februar 2018
The German ward set up a date for a "Spring Cleaning" for today even though we're not really close to spring yet. They asked both themselves and the English branch to do a deep cleaning of the stake center. We offered to help, too. There weren't many representatives of the German ward, but there were a lot of people from the English branch. This was the first time Yaşlı King got to meet people from the branch and he was very happy since he hasn't been around so many Americans in over a year. We mainly washed tables for about 2 hours and then washed the floor and walls of the gym. A few people from the English branch came to us and said that there was food outside. Brother Carson had been grilling up tacos for everyone. Super delicious. I had two while Yaşlı King had four. He really liked those tacos. I also forgot to mention to Yaşlı King that Brother Carson served in the military for a while. But I didn't know that Brother Carson also was a medic. He and Yaşlı King had some good discussions. It was fun to hang out with the branch.
Yaşlı King is a big Pepsi person and could not stop thinking about going to the nearby Edeka to get some. The problem was that we went in and they only had one Kasse available, so the line for purchasing was extremely long. It went back to the produce aisle. It took about 40 minutes for Yaşlı King to get his Pepsi, but right behind us was a Turkish guy whom Yaşlı King took no hesitation to chat with him. They talked for the majority of our wait in the line, but it looked like they had fun. From what Yaşlı King told me, they guy had lost almost all faith in humanity, but was super glad that we had enough faith to attempt to bring people to the light of the gospel. There's always hope.
Made some pretty dope Transfer plans. I am going to attempt to push myself this transfer in my Chinese. Perhaps with Guotai I will make myself suffer and try the whole lessons in Chinese. Normally I just do a good portion in English and use Chinese to clarify since Guotai (and especially Zihao) can speak a really good amount of English. But since Guotai is 我朋友, I think he would be down for me suffering a bit but helping me out.
Speaking of Guotai, he is aparently staying longer on his trip! Ahhh he is going to Venice soon. I just hope he doesn't keep extending his vacation until I get transfered...
星期日,二月11号(第180天)
Sonntag 11. Februar 2018
Really great morning. Yaşlı King made me pancakes. I took the advantage of adding sliced bananas with chocolate cream spreaded on and the pancake rolled up like a burrito. Delish.
We have a kind of new investigator coming to the English Branch. His name is Zishan (probably destroyed that spelling) and he actually is from Berlin, but his English is pretty great. Not sure if we should keep him with the Branch or if we should send him over to the German Ward. This was his second time here so he might be attaching himself to the English. We shall see. He's a really cool dude. He was super thankful that he was invited to come to church. I'm glad he treats it like an honor because it kind of is when you think about it. He often inquired of how I truly gained my own testimony of the church and I think I did a good job of that.
Yaşlı Taylor texted us and asked if I could do a Chinese translation! He is in Hamburg and wanted to go by on an investigator. Oh my goodness I said yes but was super scared. I have never translated in real time before! Right after church he called me and I talked with the guy for a bit. His accent is really hard to understand and he used so many words I didn't know. I don't think I did that great of a job, and I only got about 20 percent of what the guy was saying, but you got to start somewhere. You have to make a few thousand mistakes in a language to become fluent and I will just have to go through the motions of that. Elder Staten was proud of me even though he wasn't there to witness how bad my translation was, but he said that he and the native speakers are always willing to be there with me to back me up. I think that would be the best option. If I really start to struggle, they can be there to give me a little help. Thay way I can really learn what I'm missing so I can do better the next time. I guess I can only go up from here.
After the translation and our typical Chinese group Skype, Yaşlı King and I headed over to the Kapelle for Stake Choir! We really want to participate but Chinese Skype always starts at the same time that choir starts. Egal. We were there for the last half hour but they were so happy to have us. It was all in German but for some reason I can really understand the musical language in German. I mean, I am already fluent in the musical language so putting that with German isn't too bad. We can do some math: If I am 100 percent fluent in Music, but 25 percent fluent in German, that means if I put them together, I am roughly 50 percent fluent in that situation, yeah? idk. I love music so being in choir really brought back good feelings of the good old days in band.
星期一,二月12号(第181天)
Montag 12. Februar 2018
Not too bad of a day. We spent a few hours deep cleaning the apartment. It looks and smells super nice and clean. It didn't look bad or smell bad before but dang Elder Jensen really knows how to sauber this place up. I also had some of the best Doener that I have ever had. Not in the taste, but in the sense that I didn't feel any regret afterwards. Hooray for eating healthier?
Viel Glück!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 25
星期二,一月30号(第168天)
Dienstag 30. Januar 2018
Well, we had a surprise call from the Tiergarten Elders saying that they needed us for a Priesthood blessing. We all headed to a Spanish speaker's house to give her some comfort for her son who was very sick. Élder Wride gave the blessing in Spanish, and while I didn't understand too much, I felt the Spirit strongly. Glad we could help.
星期三,一月31号(第169天)
Mittwoch 31. Januar 2018
Guotai gave us a sudden text that he would be leaving for Budapest for 2 weeks. In two week, I might be transferred out. I might never see him again! I wasn't going to have it. Called him up right away and told him we had to meet up before he leaves. We found a tiny window of opportunity to catch him at his place while he was packing (he allowed us to go we didn't like forcefully show up). He was making some breaded dish filled with plums and all he had left was to put on a cinnamony topping, but he had no butter to stick it on. I had the great idea of melting the ice cream he gave us and to use that. Little did I know the ice cream was not vanilla but a coconut and chocolate flavor. It worked … kinda. The taste was interesting but not bad. Props to my ingenuity. We gave him a quick lesson just to have him reflect on some of our teachings while he's on his trip. He loves the church. Mainly for the social aspect but hey, the social aspect of the church is pretty dang legit not gonna lie. I really hope I don't get transferred; can't afford to lose Guotai 🤣
Elder Alves had a breakdancing lesson to teach with the young men of the German ward while Élder Wride had another appointment at the same time. Don't know why they plan like this but I ended up with Elder Alves going to breakdancing. This time, I participated in some of the dancing. Learned some pretty basic moves but I still can't really dance. Whatever.
星期四,二月1号(第170天)
Donnerstag 1. Februar 2018
Randy posted this morning on WhatsApp about a serious loss he experienced a couple months ago. It was really sad and I could tell he needed some lifting up. I found a scripture that I really like and shared it with him. Interesting how he hadn't told us about this. Not that he has to our anything but that's the kind of stuff we can be helpful for. Not long after, he changed his profile picture to a quote from President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency, and he's not even a member of the church yet! He is so ready for this gospel.
District meeting was going to be later than normal (and on Thursday/today) so we had our lunch beforehand. We went to this place called Risa chicken at Zoologischer Garten. It was some pretty dang good chicken, lemme tell ya.
Not too far into eating, we pulled out a set of scriptures for transfer predictions. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but basically random scriptures are picked by the person closing their eyes and another person with scriptures moves their finger through them until the first person says "stop." My scripture was something from 3 Nephi I think, and it was about cities being sunk and destroyed so the others interpreted what it meant for me. They said that the cities being destroyed represents the Chinese program in Berlin being shut down. Oh no! I don't want to move, but I really don't want the Chinese program here to dissipate. Lol their just silly predictions to get hyped for the next transfer. And they're funny to interpret the scriptures that others get. After everyone had gone through, I was still eating, but we had to go to our meeting. I told them they could go without me and that Elder Bacher and I could catch up later so we weren't all late, but everyone insisted that I cram all of the food I had left. Peer pressure. I am not a fast eater at all, so that didn't make me feel too good. Whatever at least it was good chicken.
For today's district meeting, I taught the main lesson. I taught about how we can recognize and understand the Spirit in our lives and how to help others do the same. I started off with picking a volunteer to be a subject of blindfolding. Then I picked another person to help out our blindfoldee (the blindfoldee didn't know who this was). The task was to draw a line to a certain dot on the whiteboard while blindfolded, but the helper could only speak and could not physically help the person who was blindfolded. During this, I told everyone else to yell and try to distract the blindfolded person. As predicted, the person could not make it to the predestined dot because of so many distractions. I gave my lesson afterwards and then came back to the same situation at the end. This time, for every item we found that is beneficial in recognizing and understanding the Spirit, I silenced a person who was not the helper. By the end of reviewing the list, there were no more people left to distract; which meant only the helper could talk to the blindfolded person. This time they made it to the dot. It shows that if you focus on what's good, the distractions of the world can be silenced to you, and you can accomplish what you need to with ease. Pretty cool, yeah?
And then we took a picture together because transfers are coming up and half of us are probably being taken away to some other land in Germany.
We had a dinner tonight with the Fawson family. Brother Fawson used to be the bishop of the Tiergarten ward. They're an American family (I'm pretty sure), but have lived in Germany for a long time so their Germany is fabulous. It was kind of a chill night. They ordered pizza and I just played board games with their 8 year-old. During all of that, Brother Fawson was chit chatting with us. Good discussions. Good time.
Élder Wride just got a call from the AP's. He's been invited to the Mission Leadership Conference, meaning he's probably going to be a zone leader, but also that he's probably going to leave RIP Élder Wride mi amigo!
星期五,二月2号(第171天)
Freitag 2. Februar 2018
This morning we headed off to MLC at the Stake center. Élder Wride went as well as everyone else who was invited. However, their companions (if they weren't invited) are left without their companions since they don't get to go to the meeting. The zone leaders asked us if we - Elder Alves, Elder Bacher, and I - could split up and take some of the extra companions because we know the Tiergarten area. As soon as I saw Elder Cheung who currently serves in Jena, I took him. He speaks Chinese! I was not going to pass on this opportunity. He was pretty much my companion for the day.
Elder Cheung is originally from Hong Kong, but moved to Vancouver, Canada about a decade ago. He and I are like brothers! Seattle isn't terribly far from that… he knows Cantonese but actually learned Mandarin slowly over the years and perfected it with a one on one tutor in the MTC. Fun fact, this tutor was the same guy who came in to help out with some of our struggles. Zhao Lǎoshī! Anyways, Elder Cheung mainly just taught me how to properly address Chinese people over text. The reason why a lot of them do not get back to me is because Chinese people want a lot of small talk first before getting into this gospel stuff. He also taught me some good pronunciation techniques and some cooler ways to initially address people. In return, since he's really new, I helped him a little bit with his German pronunciation. We had a great time together. I honestly would appreciate having him as a companion for the next transfer. I really would like to have a native with me so I could speak Chinese all day. I wonder who I'll be with.
Elder Hsu was at MLC since he's a zone leader. He is going back home to Taiwan next Friday so this was the last time I would ever see him. We said our goodbyes but it was kind of sad. I almost felt like crying. He is a special human being. Although, he wants to come to Germany in a few months to visit. But I probably won't be in Berlin by then. Who knows where I'll be?
Another dinner with the Carson family. They are always wonderful. Brother Carson never ceases to make me laugh with his side comments. Again, great meal from Sister Carson. They really are a neat family. They're heading to Cairo in a few months so it's going to be sad to see them leave.
星期六,二月3号(第172天)
Samstag 3. Februar 2018
Kind of a slow day. Elder Bacher wasn't feeling well so we spent most of the day in the apartment. I did a lot of calling and texting to set up appointments and checked up on investigators and other contacts. For doing missionary work limited to a phone, didn't do too bad.
Okay, well, things got interesting. Transfer calls came in, and I am staying in Tiergarten *whew* my heart was racing for that news. But! Then I was told who my companion was going to be. 🥁Drum roll🥁…………🔇Elder King - A.K.A. Yaşlı King - A.K.A. a Turkish Elder - A.K.A. not Chinese like what?!?!? Oh man, this is going to be very weird. So now I really am going to be on my own in this Mandarin thing. My transfer prediction was somewhat true! I've heard he's a really cool guy, I don't doubt that. It will be super fun with him. Just wow I cannot believe this. I don't know how to feel. It's cool that it'll be so unique but I really do need the Chinese help. Maybe I'll have to teach Yaşlı King some Chinese. I think he is already fluent in Turkish and German so maybe it's worth a try. Oh man… I guess now I can say Türkçe konuşan bir arkadaşım var.
Oh yeah, in addition Yaşlı King is going to be the district leader so I guess that makes me the person who gets all the fun with none of the responsibility.
Anyways, Elder Bacher is going down to Göttingen and he's going to be with my good friend Elder To from the MTC. Elder Bacher is also going to be a district leader! Exciting for him. In his transfer prediction, we even said he would be a district leader (granted, we guessed him being the district leader für Tiergarten). Élder Wride is going down to Leipzig to be a zone leader. Elder Alves is remaining here with me in the area, his new companion, Elder Jensen. The Tiergarten district is changing a lot. At least one companion from each district has been moved except for the Neukölln sisters. But Yaşlı Taylor is going somewhere since we're getting a new zone leader at least Elder Keller is staying. So many changes! Other than that, most of the Berlin zone has been altered, lots moved around and many others are going to other areas in Germany. I know I shouldn't be surprised. It's that this is the first time I've experienced any huge changes like this. Good thing we had some quality time bowling as a zone.
We shall see how things turn out.
星期日,二月4号(第173天)
Sonntag 4. Februar 2018
We wanted to go by on a couple people this morning on our way to church. We kept hitting the busses at the wrong time so we ended up just walking the entire 40 or so minutes it takes to get to church. It was actually a very nice walk. It was super sunny during our stroll and it just made me appreciate Berlin a little more. Great start to the day.
We arrived to the stake center fairly early and we sat next to a guy who I did not recognize in the foyer. Turns out he is from Washington! He and I connected really well. He's on a business trip for a fruit tree company based out of an area near Moses Lake. It was super nice to talk with him. He asked about the Fernsehturm (The TV Tower) and we told him it was too expensive for us to ever go up to the top. We had a great fast and testimony meeting. Elder Bacher gave a little goodbye testimony. After the meeting the Washington guy asked us if we would join him for lunch tomorrow... at the Fernsehturm! I guess he's going to buy us a trip up to the top and a meal while we're there! That's so kind of him and really stinking cool. Washingtonians, man. Gotta love 'em.
Right after church our Branch held a Chili Cook off to break our fast. They picked Elder Bacher and I, as well as the Sisters to judge. They started shoving the chili in our faces to test the taste all of them and that was a bad idea. They were all freshly cooked so they were scaulding hot! I burnt my tongue, but I was still able to vote and pick out a solid winner. However, I felt something in my mouth and it somewhat resembled a blister. I asked some members nearby if it is possible to get blisters in your mouth. They said yes and it usualy happens when you burn your mouth. So great, I got a blister from all that hot chili. Not sure if it was worth it. The rest of the food was worth it - cinnamon rolls, donuts, water to cool down my singed mouth.
Chinese Skype. Elder Staten is now the group leader since Elder Hsu is going home. Hope to see some good changes. I gave a little spiritual thought in Chinese, too. Not too shabby.
星期一,二月5号(第174天)
Montag 5. Februar 2018
Oh man what a great day so far. Elder Bacher and I got our shopping done earlier than normal so that we could be more productive the rest of the day.
But we messaged our friend Jimmy the Washingtonian to see when we would be meeting at the Fernsehturm. We met him shortly before noon and he was feeding us lunch while we were going to be up there. We all went up to the top and marveled over our ears pressurizing and how fast the elevator was. We went nearly 200m in like less than 30 seconds. We went a few meters higher for the restaurant upstairs. Super nice place, plus the outer ring with the eating tables spins around the whole top layer. Jimmy told us to get whatever we wanted so I ordered a steak. The steak was delicious and uncommon since steak is hard to find in Germany. We had some great conversations and a great time all together. Dessert was hard to get since mostly everything had alcohol in it (dumb) but we found a nice little apple pie thingy with vanilla ice cream. When the check came I nearly threw myself out the window, but Jimmy was happy to pay for the whole thing. When he was on his mission he loved it when people came from his hometown so he wanted to pay it forward with me. What a nice guy. If I'm ever in the area of Moses Lake in my life, I know where to go.
Other than that, Elder Bacher wanted to check out the Lego shop again to obtain a little Berlin set before he leaves. Unfortunately, they were out of stock. Darn. But it was cool to be in there again. I spent a few minutes at the build your own figure workshop thing. Maybe had too much fun putting on ridiculous hairstyle on my person but whatever, to each his own.
And now I'm just patiently waiting for Family Home Evening to start. We will see how that goes.
Have a great week, everybody!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Check out our Facebook page:
中文在德国 or @chinesischindeutschland
星期二,一月30号(第168天)
Dienstag 30. Januar 2018
Well, we had a surprise call from the Tiergarten Elders saying that they needed us for a Priesthood blessing. We all headed to a Spanish speaker's house to give her some comfort for her son who was very sick. Élder Wride gave the blessing in Spanish, and while I didn't understand too much, I felt the Spirit strongly. Glad we could help.
星期三,一月31号(第169天)
Mittwoch 31. Januar 2018
Guotai gave us a sudden text that he would be leaving for Budapest for 2 weeks. In two week, I might be transferred out. I might never see him again! I wasn't going to have it. Called him up right away and told him we had to meet up before he leaves. We found a tiny window of opportunity to catch him at his place while he was packing (he allowed us to go we didn't like forcefully show up). He was making some breaded dish filled with plums and all he had left was to put on a cinnamony topping, but he had no butter to stick it on. I had the great idea of melting the ice cream he gave us and to use that. Little did I know the ice cream was not vanilla but a coconut and chocolate flavor. It worked … kinda. The taste was interesting but not bad. Props to my ingenuity. We gave him a quick lesson just to have him reflect on some of our teachings while he's on his trip. He loves the church. Mainly for the social aspect but hey, the social aspect of the church is pretty dang legit not gonna lie. I really hope I don't get transferred; can't afford to lose Guotai 🤣
Elder Alves had a breakdancing lesson to teach with the young men of the German ward while Élder Wride had another appointment at the same time. Don't know why they plan like this but I ended up with Elder Alves going to breakdancing. This time, I participated in some of the dancing. Learned some pretty basic moves but I still can't really dance. Whatever.
星期四,二月1号(第170天)
Donnerstag 1. Februar 2018
Randy posted this morning on WhatsApp about a serious loss he experienced a couple months ago. It was really sad and I could tell he needed some lifting up. I found a scripture that I really like and shared it with him. Interesting how he hadn't told us about this. Not that he has to our anything but that's the kind of stuff we can be helpful for. Not long after, he changed his profile picture to a quote from President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency, and he's not even a member of the church yet! He is so ready for this gospel.
District meeting was going to be later than normal (and on Thursday/today) so we had our lunch beforehand. We went to this place called Risa chicken at Zoologischer Garten. It was some pretty dang good chicken, lemme tell ya.
Not too far into eating, we pulled out a set of scriptures for transfer predictions. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but basically random scriptures are picked by the person closing their eyes and another person with scriptures moves their finger through them until the first person says "stop." My scripture was something from 3 Nephi I think, and it was about cities being sunk and destroyed so the others interpreted what it meant for me. They said that the cities being destroyed represents the Chinese program in Berlin being shut down. Oh no! I don't want to move, but I really don't want the Chinese program here to dissipate. Lol their just silly predictions to get hyped for the next transfer. And they're funny to interpret the scriptures that others get. After everyone had gone through, I was still eating, but we had to go to our meeting. I told them they could go without me and that Elder Bacher and I could catch up later so we weren't all late, but everyone insisted that I cram all of the food I had left. Peer pressure. I am not a fast eater at all, so that didn't make me feel too good. Whatever at least it was good chicken.
For today's district meeting, I taught the main lesson. I taught about how we can recognize and understand the Spirit in our lives and how to help others do the same. I started off with picking a volunteer to be a subject of blindfolding. Then I picked another person to help out our blindfoldee (the blindfoldee didn't know who this was). The task was to draw a line to a certain dot on the whiteboard while blindfolded, but the helper could only speak and could not physically help the person who was blindfolded. During this, I told everyone else to yell and try to distract the blindfolded person. As predicted, the person could not make it to the predestined dot because of so many distractions. I gave my lesson afterwards and then came back to the same situation at the end. This time, for every item we found that is beneficial in recognizing and understanding the Spirit, I silenced a person who was not the helper. By the end of reviewing the list, there were no more people left to distract; which meant only the helper could talk to the blindfolded person. This time they made it to the dot. It shows that if you focus on what's good, the distractions of the world can be silenced to you, and you can accomplish what you need to with ease. Pretty cool, yeah?
And then we took a picture together because transfers are coming up and half of us are probably being taken away to some other land in Germany.
We had a dinner tonight with the Fawson family. Brother Fawson used to be the bishop of the Tiergarten ward. They're an American family (I'm pretty sure), but have lived in Germany for a long time so their Germany is fabulous. It was kind of a chill night. They ordered pizza and I just played board games with their 8 year-old. During all of that, Brother Fawson was chit chatting with us. Good discussions. Good time.
Élder Wride just got a call from the AP's. He's been invited to the Mission Leadership Conference, meaning he's probably going to be a zone leader, but also that he's probably going to leave RIP Élder Wride mi amigo!
星期五,二月2号(第171天)
Freitag 2. Februar 2018
This morning we headed off to MLC at the Stake center. Élder Wride went as well as everyone else who was invited. However, their companions (if they weren't invited) are left without their companions since they don't get to go to the meeting. The zone leaders asked us if we - Elder Alves, Elder Bacher, and I - could split up and take some of the extra companions because we know the Tiergarten area. As soon as I saw Elder Cheung who currently serves in Jena, I took him. He speaks Chinese! I was not going to pass on this opportunity. He was pretty much my companion for the day.
Elder Cheung is originally from Hong Kong, but moved to Vancouver, Canada about a decade ago. He and I are like brothers! Seattle isn't terribly far from that… he knows Cantonese but actually learned Mandarin slowly over the years and perfected it with a one on one tutor in the MTC. Fun fact, this tutor was the same guy who came in to help out with some of our struggles. Zhao Lǎoshī! Anyways, Elder Cheung mainly just taught me how to properly address Chinese people over text. The reason why a lot of them do not get back to me is because Chinese people want a lot of small talk first before getting into this gospel stuff. He also taught me some good pronunciation techniques and some cooler ways to initially address people. In return, since he's really new, I helped him a little bit with his German pronunciation. We had a great time together. I honestly would appreciate having him as a companion for the next transfer. I really would like to have a native with me so I could speak Chinese all day. I wonder who I'll be with.
Elder Hsu was at MLC since he's a zone leader. He is going back home to Taiwan next Friday so this was the last time I would ever see him. We said our goodbyes but it was kind of sad. I almost felt like crying. He is a special human being. Although, he wants to come to Germany in a few months to visit. But I probably won't be in Berlin by then. Who knows where I'll be?
Another dinner with the Carson family. They are always wonderful. Brother Carson never ceases to make me laugh with his side comments. Again, great meal from Sister Carson. They really are a neat family. They're heading to Cairo in a few months so it's going to be sad to see them leave.
星期六,二月3号(第172天)
Samstag 3. Februar 2018
Kind of a slow day. Elder Bacher wasn't feeling well so we spent most of the day in the apartment. I did a lot of calling and texting to set up appointments and checked up on investigators and other contacts. For doing missionary work limited to a phone, didn't do too bad.
Okay, well, things got interesting. Transfer calls came in, and I am staying in Tiergarten *whew* my heart was racing for that news. But! Then I was told who my companion was going to be. 🥁Drum roll🥁…………🔇Elder King - A.K.A. Yaşlı King - A.K.A. a Turkish Elder - A.K.A. not Chinese like what?!?!? Oh man, this is going to be very weird. So now I really am going to be on my own in this Mandarin thing. My transfer prediction was somewhat true! I've heard he's a really cool guy, I don't doubt that. It will be super fun with him. Just wow I cannot believe this. I don't know how to feel. It's cool that it'll be so unique but I really do need the Chinese help. Maybe I'll have to teach Yaşlı King some Chinese. I think he is already fluent in Turkish and German so maybe it's worth a try. Oh man… I guess now I can say Türkçe konuşan bir arkadaşım var.
Oh yeah, in addition Yaşlı King is going to be the district leader so I guess that makes me the person who gets all the fun with none of the responsibility.
Anyways, Elder Bacher is going down to Göttingen and he's going to be with my good friend Elder To from the MTC. Elder Bacher is also going to be a district leader! Exciting for him. In his transfer prediction, we even said he would be a district leader (granted, we guessed him being the district leader für Tiergarten). Élder Wride is going down to Leipzig to be a zone leader. Elder Alves is remaining here with me in the area, his new companion, Elder Jensen. The Tiergarten district is changing a lot. At least one companion from each district has been moved except for the Neukölln sisters. But Yaşlı Taylor is going somewhere since we're getting a new zone leader at least Elder Keller is staying. So many changes! Other than that, most of the Berlin zone has been altered, lots moved around and many others are going to other areas in Germany. I know I shouldn't be surprised. It's that this is the first time I've experienced any huge changes like this. Good thing we had some quality time bowling as a zone.
We shall see how things turn out.
星期日,二月4号(第173天)
Sonntag 4. Februar 2018
We wanted to go by on a couple people this morning on our way to church. We kept hitting the busses at the wrong time so we ended up just walking the entire 40 or so minutes it takes to get to church. It was actually a very nice walk. It was super sunny during our stroll and it just made me appreciate Berlin a little more. Great start to the day.
We arrived to the stake center fairly early and we sat next to a guy who I did not recognize in the foyer. Turns out he is from Washington! He and I connected really well. He's on a business trip for a fruit tree company based out of an area near Moses Lake. It was super nice to talk with him. He asked about the Fernsehturm (The TV Tower) and we told him it was too expensive for us to ever go up to the top. We had a great fast and testimony meeting. Elder Bacher gave a little goodbye testimony. After the meeting the Washington guy asked us if we would join him for lunch tomorrow... at the Fernsehturm! I guess he's going to buy us a trip up to the top and a meal while we're there! That's so kind of him and really stinking cool. Washingtonians, man. Gotta love 'em.
Right after church our Branch held a Chili Cook off to break our fast. They picked Elder Bacher and I, as well as the Sisters to judge. They started shoving the chili in our faces to test the taste all of them and that was a bad idea. They were all freshly cooked so they were scaulding hot! I burnt my tongue, but I was still able to vote and pick out a solid winner. However, I felt something in my mouth and it somewhat resembled a blister. I asked some members nearby if it is possible to get blisters in your mouth. They said yes and it usualy happens when you burn your mouth. So great, I got a blister from all that hot chili. Not sure if it was worth it. The rest of the food was worth it - cinnamon rolls, donuts, water to cool down my singed mouth.
Chinese Skype. Elder Staten is now the group leader since Elder Hsu is going home. Hope to see some good changes. I gave a little spiritual thought in Chinese, too. Not too shabby.
星期一,二月5号(第174天)
Montag 5. Februar 2018
Oh man what a great day so far. Elder Bacher and I got our shopping done earlier than normal so that we could be more productive the rest of the day.
But we messaged our friend Jimmy the Washingtonian to see when we would be meeting at the Fernsehturm. We met him shortly before noon and he was feeding us lunch while we were going to be up there. We all went up to the top and marveled over our ears pressurizing and how fast the elevator was. We went nearly 200m in like less than 30 seconds. We went a few meters higher for the restaurant upstairs. Super nice place, plus the outer ring with the eating tables spins around the whole top layer. Jimmy told us to get whatever we wanted so I ordered a steak. The steak was delicious and uncommon since steak is hard to find in Germany. We had some great conversations and a great time all together. Dessert was hard to get since mostly everything had alcohol in it (dumb) but we found a nice little apple pie thingy with vanilla ice cream. When the check came I nearly threw myself out the window, but Jimmy was happy to pay for the whole thing. When he was on his mission he loved it when people came from his hometown so he wanted to pay it forward with me. What a nice guy. If I'm ever in the area of Moses Lake in my life, I know where to go.
Other than that, Elder Bacher wanted to check out the Lego shop again to obtain a little Berlin set before he leaves. Unfortunately, they were out of stock. Darn. But it was cool to be in there again. I spent a few minutes at the build your own figure workshop thing. Maybe had too much fun putting on ridiculous hairstyle on my person but whatever, to each his own.
And now I'm just patiently waiting for Family Home Evening to start. We will see how that goes.
Have a great week, everybody!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Check out our Facebook page:
中文在德国 or @chinesischindeutschland
Week 24
星期二,一月23号(第161天)
Dienstag 23. Januar 2018
Since it's getting hard to say "Chinese friend" so much and they're super good friends now, I may as well use their names. We met with Guotai and headed over to a member's house to have lunch. Guotai is the one who goes to school here. I asked how he was and he said "not good." I asked him why. He said that he's sad because Zihao (Australian Chinese guy) had left from his 40 day visit here and is now home. He told me about how they met and it is so cool. They are such good friends. And Guotai is so funny in like everything he does. I love him so much. He was talking about how it's hard for him to go to church sometimes since he says a lot of Chinese people feel persecuted from the church. He doesn't feel that way, though. Of course, he totally loves me! Anyway, I was shocked. I wonder if they're actually meaning the Jehovah Witnesses. We get mixed up with them a lot. Not gonna bash on other religions, but their teaching styles are a little more forceful than ours. At least in Germany. So that may be where their confusion comes from.
The member we went to is Sister Dornig. She is half Philippino and half German, which reminds me a lot of Elder Züger. Instantly, she invites Guotai to an upcoming YSA activity which he said yes to! Normally he says no to us when stuff interferes with classes but he didn't seem to care since he made a non missionary friend. We've found the key to get him to go to stuff, I guess. That should be a cool experience for him to get to know more people. He'll have no problem making friends. Sister Dornig gave us some "American cookies." I never realized that we have unique cookies.
I forgot to mention that this entire time I've actually been with Élder Wride. Today was the day where we would do our District leader evaluation Tausch. We were needed in Neukölln as an extra person. Elder Keller is still away so Yaşlı Taylor is with the Neukölln Elders. Yaşlı Backus had a visit with a member so we traveled to their place while Yaşlı Taylor and Yaşlı Morrell went up to Glienicke. Turned out that the wrong address was put in so after an hour of travelling, Yaşlı Backus realized we weren't going to the right place. We missed the appointment, but everything was fine. Plus, we ventured far out towards the more rural parts of the Berlin area. It was nice to get out of the city, even if it was for a little bit. We also learned a lot more about a Turkish investigator that the Neukölln Elders have. I knew he was kinda sketch, but I guess he used to be a millionaire, used all of his funds to raise a child army, and now those kids are in high positions to help him out when he needs them. He is immediately arrested every time he goes back to Turkey but gets people to bail him out. But, he'd pretty much do anything to help out the Neukölln Elders in any situation. Legit. Reminds me of having something like the Russian mafia on your side.
Duolingo has Chinese for English speakers! Another way to practice my language skills.
星期三,一月24号(第162天)
Mittwoch 24. Januar 2018
The Seidl's (the couple that came and inspected our apartment) sent us a package filled with some goodies. The contents were: new silverware, bedsheets, water boiler, and a new iron! Last time they came they said our iron was a hazard so we were commanded not to use it until they got a new one. That was a while ago so in the meantime we have actually been using the hazardous iron. We don't care. Anyways, good stuff.
By the way, we've also been dealing with our Indian friend (Arjuun) in a weird way. Turns out that Arjuun's roommate's car is dead and needs a jumpstart. Naturally, this roommate calls his friend Arjuun who is halfway across the world to call some random missionaries on another side of the world from him who don't have anything to help out with car problems to help out. Why didn't this roommate just call another local friend or a neighbor or even a nearby stranger? We can't personally help, so we are scrambling for a member in the area who can. We get in contact with one, and we're trying to explain the situation to him through his wife since he's at work. To kinda sum up the communication situation: Arjuun's roommate is talking to Arjuun who is currently in India who is talking to two missionaries who aren't even teaching him who are in contact with a member's wife who is going to tell her husband when he is done with work. Are you following along? Anyway it's been a struggle but I think we've got it figured out.
A Taiwanese referral we received got back to us on where she wanted her Book of Mormon delivered to. We originally thought to just package a copy in English and Chinese and send it to her, but we ended up going by and hand delivering them. We got to her place and there was a guy about our age who answered the door. I asked about Siying and he said "he's not here right now." He?? She is definitely a girl, so I don't know what his deal was. We didn't make a mistake because the names matched and it was where she told us to go. The guy at the door told us that it wouldn't be a good idea to drop off the copies of the Book of Mormon which doesn't seem right since Siying requested the books. We walked away, but I dropped them in her mailbox. She wanted them so I'm going to give her them. We'll see how that goes.
星期四,一月25号(第163天)
Donnerstag 25. Januar 2018
The other Elders needed us for a lesson with one of their investigators. She's a Canadian Muslim who also speaks French and lives in Germany. Not bad. Her name is Rhyene. I guess she has been taught everything already so I wasn't sure what we were going to teach her. Once we get started, she goes straight into deep doctrine subjects. I'm talking God becoming God, the laws of justice and how they intertwine with mercy, and of course Kolob because why not? She knows all of the basics of the church and continues to go further. Plus, she talks a lot in a really good scholarly English. I am quite impressed. She is wicked smart. And she would pull all of this logic on us and say "I just have a problem with this part of your religion because logically I believe in XYZ" and it was funny because she would state something that we believed in. It was a unique discussion, but deep doctrine hurts my brain. My mortal understanding doesn't have sufficient storage for all of that stuff. I've gotta clean some of it out, tho. Recycle Bin, ya know what I'm saying?
Elder Scroggin from the office has been working on my video - putting all of the clips together and so on. He had a light problem with my first few scenes which made me have to redo a few of them. I took the opportunity to put some spice into it. I don't look as depressed as I did last time so that's good. Hopefully it will be done soon!
We went back to the apartment and got a picture from a recent new investigator, Randy. The picture was of him in the hospital visiting his mother. We asked if he would have liked us to come and visit and he gladly accepted. We were on our was to the hospital and met him in the waiting room. He told us what had happened to his mother and that was that. He seemed pretty okay with the situation. Randy has been taking care of his mother for a long time due to age and illnesses. After talking about why they were there he told us to start talking gospel to him. We also gladly accepted. Randy asked to starts of with saying that in order to start believing in a religion, he needs to know the history. We totally had no problem starting off with that (we normally do, anyways). His questions were awesome, and really came from the soul. His love and service towards his mother and his family is incredible. He tells us of how he took his mother to the hospital on a small prompting from the Holy Spirit which seemed weird to him since there was nothing outwardly wrong with her. He is such a cool guy; so ready for this gospel.
In a discussion with the other office Elder, Elder Köper from Kentucky, he tells me that my paying for the German Driver's Licence up front before I even obtain it is werid. He says to me to #KeepSeattleWeird, playing off of #KeepPortlandWeird. His state being famously well known for KFC, I told him "Don't tempt me, Chicken Nugget." That made his day.
星期五,一月26号(第164天)
Freitag 26. Januar 2018
We were asked to set up the tables in the stake center's gym early in the morning. We hurried up to get there before Zone Konferenz started but they were all set up in a neat order with chairs. We have no idea who did that, but whatever. We'll take it.
Yeah ZoKo. I think I'm understanding more as each one comes. I'm still not picking up all of the German, but I can see some improvement. Präsident talked a little bit about Jacob chapter 5 from the Book of Mormon. There was a lot of good stuff talked about. We discussed about complacency and discouragement and how to get away from being in those stages.
We're at the hospital right now and the automatic doors are automatically opening nonstop. They try to close and then just open again. It's quite funny. They've been doing this for about 15 minutes now. Also it's something out of a horror movie so we shouldn't stay long. Needless to say, however, I've got a full minute and a half video of these doors opening and closing continuously.
Randy has too much going on and was unable to meet with us. I mean, we got an intersting encounter with the automatic doors so it wasn't all that bad.
星期六,一月27号(第165天)
Samstag 27. Januar 2018
Another Tausch with Élder Wride. Elder Alves had some Portuguese contacts to go by on all day while Élder Wride had to play the piano for a baptism tonight.
We started off our day with a Spanish Skype. Elder Hacking needed a one on one Skype with Élder Wride to help his Spanish, and I was just taging along. While they were Spanishing together, I was practicing my Chinese. They were going over how a word changes based on the subject of a sentence (conjugations - like I am, you are, he is) and while they were doing that on a chart, I made my own chart for how a Chinese word changes for each of those instances. Except Chinese words never change; there are no conjugations lol so the word I showed them was exactly the same for everything. Just rubbing it in their face that Chinese is cooler.
我吃饭 | 我们吃饭
你吃饭 | 你们吃饭
她吃饭 | 他们吃饭
Speaking of Chinese, while on the bus heading up to Spandau for the baptism, I saw a Chinese person that I thought I had recognized. It took me a bit, but I realized that it was one of the additional Chinese people that came to the one lesson a while ago that went from 3 people to 6! He and his 4 other friends there were on the bus and I just had to sit with them. They were on their way to an ice skating place. The 4 other people I didn't know, however, wanted my WeChat contact information. Now I have four more Chinese friends. This is pretty stinking cool. Not gonna lie.
To top off the day, we were off to the baptism for a guy named Oppong. He has been taking lessons from the Spandau sisters for about a month and a half and is now getting baptized! He speaks better English, so he would be included into the English Branch; so it is fortunate that I got to come. We had a great time setting everything up and getting everything ready for him. The service was great and very spiritual. And of course, Élder Wride did a fantastic job on the piano. He plays a rendition of How Great Thou Art which is Oppong's favorite hymn. Afterwards they had refreshments which included some meat sticks that taste much better than even Slim Jims! Nice. Plus, they have less grease to clog your arteries! Double nice. I got to talk to Vernu, a recently returned missionary who was at the Young Single Adult activity last night. Our good friend Guotai did come to it and had a blast. Vernu tells me that Guotai has been lonely (as he told me on tuesday) and says that the church feels like a family away from home to him. Super awesome news to hear. In general, it was a good night.
Elder Scroggin has finished his magic with my Chinese video. I'll post it when I get to the church tomorrow. It's going to be great!
星期日,一月28号(第166天)
Sonntag 28. Januar 2018
安息日!非常好!
Regular day, but really nice. The microphone wasn't working in the chapel for a while so it was hard to hear, but when it did it was a miracle. Thankful for mics. We had an activity in 3rd hour where we studied out the sacrament prayers further and found some interesting stuff.
I've got the video finally posted even though I wanted to get it done last week but hey better late than never. Hope people like it.
星期一,一月29号(第167天)
Montag 29. Januar 2018
Today has been super awesome so far. We started off with bowling in a place near Nollendorfplatz with the entire zone. We took up four lanes but probably should have taken up six to give everyone more room but oh well. I got first place on the first round and then dead last in the second. Idk what's up with me. I'm just happy I got a few strikes. It was a great time.
Afterwards we were off to the Berlin mall in Potsdamerplatz. We had some nice Pizza Hut pizza. Best pizza I've had here in Germany so far. And yet it's American.
Gut gemacht. 再见!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Check out our Facebook page:
中文在德国 or @chinesischindeutschland
星期二,一月23号(第161天)
Dienstag 23. Januar 2018
Since it's getting hard to say "Chinese friend" so much and they're super good friends now, I may as well use their names. We met with Guotai and headed over to a member's house to have lunch. Guotai is the one who goes to school here. I asked how he was and he said "not good." I asked him why. He said that he's sad because Zihao (Australian Chinese guy) had left from his 40 day visit here and is now home. He told me about how they met and it is so cool. They are such good friends. And Guotai is so funny in like everything he does. I love him so much. He was talking about how it's hard for him to go to church sometimes since he says a lot of Chinese people feel persecuted from the church. He doesn't feel that way, though. Of course, he totally loves me! Anyway, I was shocked. I wonder if they're actually meaning the Jehovah Witnesses. We get mixed up with them a lot. Not gonna bash on other religions, but their teaching styles are a little more forceful than ours. At least in Germany. So that may be where their confusion comes from.
The member we went to is Sister Dornig. She is half Philippino and half German, which reminds me a lot of Elder Züger. Instantly, she invites Guotai to an upcoming YSA activity which he said yes to! Normally he says no to us when stuff interferes with classes but he didn't seem to care since he made a non missionary friend. We've found the key to get him to go to stuff, I guess. That should be a cool experience for him to get to know more people. He'll have no problem making friends. Sister Dornig gave us some "American cookies." I never realized that we have unique cookies.
I forgot to mention that this entire time I've actually been with Élder Wride. Today was the day where we would do our District leader evaluation Tausch. We were needed in Neukölln as an extra person. Elder Keller is still away so Yaşlı Taylor is with the Neukölln Elders. Yaşlı Backus had a visit with a member so we traveled to their place while Yaşlı Taylor and Yaşlı Morrell went up to Glienicke. Turned out that the wrong address was put in so after an hour of travelling, Yaşlı Backus realized we weren't going to the right place. We missed the appointment, but everything was fine. Plus, we ventured far out towards the more rural parts of the Berlin area. It was nice to get out of the city, even if it was for a little bit. We also learned a lot more about a Turkish investigator that the Neukölln Elders have. I knew he was kinda sketch, but I guess he used to be a millionaire, used all of his funds to raise a child army, and now those kids are in high positions to help him out when he needs them. He is immediately arrested every time he goes back to Turkey but gets people to bail him out. But, he'd pretty much do anything to help out the Neukölln Elders in any situation. Legit. Reminds me of having something like the Russian mafia on your side.
Duolingo has Chinese for English speakers! Another way to practice my language skills.
星期三,一月24号(第162天)
Mittwoch 24. Januar 2018
The Seidl's (the couple that came and inspected our apartment) sent us a package filled with some goodies. The contents were: new silverware, bedsheets, water boiler, and a new iron! Last time they came they said our iron was a hazard so we were commanded not to use it until they got a new one. That was a while ago so in the meantime we have actually been using the hazardous iron. We don't care. Anyways, good stuff.
By the way, we've also been dealing with our Indian friend (Arjuun) in a weird way. Turns out that Arjuun's roommate's car is dead and needs a jumpstart. Naturally, this roommate calls his friend Arjuun who is halfway across the world to call some random missionaries on another side of the world from him who don't have anything to help out with car problems to help out. Why didn't this roommate just call another local friend or a neighbor or even a nearby stranger? We can't personally help, so we are scrambling for a member in the area who can. We get in contact with one, and we're trying to explain the situation to him through his wife since he's at work. To kinda sum up the communication situation: Arjuun's roommate is talking to Arjuun who is currently in India who is talking to two missionaries who aren't even teaching him who are in contact with a member's wife who is going to tell her husband when he is done with work. Are you following along? Anyway it's been a struggle but I think we've got it figured out.
A Taiwanese referral we received got back to us on where she wanted her Book of Mormon delivered to. We originally thought to just package a copy in English and Chinese and send it to her, but we ended up going by and hand delivering them. We got to her place and there was a guy about our age who answered the door. I asked about Siying and he said "he's not here right now." He?? She is definitely a girl, so I don't know what his deal was. We didn't make a mistake because the names matched and it was where she told us to go. The guy at the door told us that it wouldn't be a good idea to drop off the copies of the Book of Mormon which doesn't seem right since Siying requested the books. We walked away, but I dropped them in her mailbox. She wanted them so I'm going to give her them. We'll see how that goes.
星期四,一月25号(第163天)
Donnerstag 25. Januar 2018
The other Elders needed us for a lesson with one of their investigators. She's a Canadian Muslim who also speaks French and lives in Germany. Not bad. Her name is Rhyene. I guess she has been taught everything already so I wasn't sure what we were going to teach her. Once we get started, she goes straight into deep doctrine subjects. I'm talking God becoming God, the laws of justice and how they intertwine with mercy, and of course Kolob because why not? She knows all of the basics of the church and continues to go further. Plus, she talks a lot in a really good scholarly English. I am quite impressed. She is wicked smart. And she would pull all of this logic on us and say "I just have a problem with this part of your religion because logically I believe in XYZ" and it was funny because she would state something that we believed in. It was a unique discussion, but deep doctrine hurts my brain. My mortal understanding doesn't have sufficient storage for all of that stuff. I've gotta clean some of it out, tho. Recycle Bin, ya know what I'm saying?
Elder Scroggin from the office has been working on my video - putting all of the clips together and so on. He had a light problem with my first few scenes which made me have to redo a few of them. I took the opportunity to put some spice into it. I don't look as depressed as I did last time so that's good. Hopefully it will be done soon!
We went back to the apartment and got a picture from a recent new investigator, Randy. The picture was of him in the hospital visiting his mother. We asked if he would have liked us to come and visit and he gladly accepted. We were on our was to the hospital and met him in the waiting room. He told us what had happened to his mother and that was that. He seemed pretty okay with the situation. Randy has been taking care of his mother for a long time due to age and illnesses. After talking about why they were there he told us to start talking gospel to him. We also gladly accepted. Randy asked to starts of with saying that in order to start believing in a religion, he needs to know the history. We totally had no problem starting off with that (we normally do, anyways). His questions were awesome, and really came from the soul. His love and service towards his mother and his family is incredible. He tells us of how he took his mother to the hospital on a small prompting from the Holy Spirit which seemed weird to him since there was nothing outwardly wrong with her. He is such a cool guy; so ready for this gospel.
In a discussion with the other office Elder, Elder Köper from Kentucky, he tells me that my paying for the German Driver's Licence up front before I even obtain it is werid. He says to me to #KeepSeattleWeird, playing off of #KeepPortlandWeird. His state being famously well known for KFC, I told him "Don't tempt me, Chicken Nugget." That made his day.
星期五,一月26号(第164天)
Freitag 26. Januar 2018
We were asked to set up the tables in the stake center's gym early in the morning. We hurried up to get there before Zone Konferenz started but they were all set up in a neat order with chairs. We have no idea who did that, but whatever. We'll take it.
Yeah ZoKo. I think I'm understanding more as each one comes. I'm still not picking up all of the German, but I can see some improvement. Präsident talked a little bit about Jacob chapter 5 from the Book of Mormon. There was a lot of good stuff talked about. We discussed about complacency and discouragement and how to get away from being in those stages.
We're at the hospital right now and the automatic doors are automatically opening nonstop. They try to close and then just open again. It's quite funny. They've been doing this for about 15 minutes now. Also it's something out of a horror movie so we shouldn't stay long. Needless to say, however, I've got a full minute and a half video of these doors opening and closing continuously.
Randy has too much going on and was unable to meet with us. I mean, we got an intersting encounter with the automatic doors so it wasn't all that bad.
星期六,一月27号(第165天)
Samstag 27. Januar 2018
Another Tausch with Élder Wride. Elder Alves had some Portuguese contacts to go by on all day while Élder Wride had to play the piano for a baptism tonight.
We started off our day with a Spanish Skype. Elder Hacking needed a one on one Skype with Élder Wride to help his Spanish, and I was just taging along. While they were Spanishing together, I was practicing my Chinese. They were going over how a word changes based on the subject of a sentence (conjugations - like I am, you are, he is) and while they were doing that on a chart, I made my own chart for how a Chinese word changes for each of those instances. Except Chinese words never change; there are no conjugations lol so the word I showed them was exactly the same for everything. Just rubbing it in their face that Chinese is cooler.
我吃饭 | 我们吃饭
你吃饭 | 你们吃饭
她吃饭 | 他们吃饭
Speaking of Chinese, while on the bus heading up to Spandau for the baptism, I saw a Chinese person that I thought I had recognized. It took me a bit, but I realized that it was one of the additional Chinese people that came to the one lesson a while ago that went from 3 people to 6! He and his 4 other friends there were on the bus and I just had to sit with them. They were on their way to an ice skating place. The 4 other people I didn't know, however, wanted my WeChat contact information. Now I have four more Chinese friends. This is pretty stinking cool. Not gonna lie.
To top off the day, we were off to the baptism for a guy named Oppong. He has been taking lessons from the Spandau sisters for about a month and a half and is now getting baptized! He speaks better English, so he would be included into the English Branch; so it is fortunate that I got to come. We had a great time setting everything up and getting everything ready for him. The service was great and very spiritual. And of course, Élder Wride did a fantastic job on the piano. He plays a rendition of How Great Thou Art which is Oppong's favorite hymn. Afterwards they had refreshments which included some meat sticks that taste much better than even Slim Jims! Nice. Plus, they have less grease to clog your arteries! Double nice. I got to talk to Vernu, a recently returned missionary who was at the Young Single Adult activity last night. Our good friend Guotai did come to it and had a blast. Vernu tells me that Guotai has been lonely (as he told me on tuesday) and says that the church feels like a family away from home to him. Super awesome news to hear. In general, it was a good night.
Elder Scroggin has finished his magic with my Chinese video. I'll post it when I get to the church tomorrow. It's going to be great!
星期日,一月28号(第166天)
Sonntag 28. Januar 2018
安息日!非常好!
Regular day, but really nice. The microphone wasn't working in the chapel for a while so it was hard to hear, but when it did it was a miracle. Thankful for mics. We had an activity in 3rd hour where we studied out the sacrament prayers further and found some interesting stuff.
I've got the video finally posted even though I wanted to get it done last week but hey better late than never. Hope people like it.
星期一,一月29号(第167天)
Montag 29. Januar 2018
Today has been super awesome so far. We started off with bowling in a place near Nollendorfplatz with the entire zone. We took up four lanes but probably should have taken up six to give everyone more room but oh well. I got first place on the first round and then dead last in the second. Idk what's up with me. I'm just happy I got a few strikes. It was a great time.
Afterwards we were off to the Berlin mall in Potsdamerplatz. We had some nice Pizza Hut pizza. Best pizza I've had here in Germany so far. And yet it's American.
Gut gemacht. 再见!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Check out our Facebook page:
中文在德国 or @chinesischindeutschland
Week 23
星期二,一月16号(第154天)
Dienstag 16. Januar 2018
We made a quick meeting with the Chinese guy who is going back to Australia soon. In fact, he'll be gone by Saturday morning, but now we're friends on Facebook so we'll never have to lose each other. He said he learned a lot today and that his brain hurt because of how much information was brought through. It was only about 3 principles but we expounded on a bunch of stuff. He is even thinking about being baptized! Unfortunately, I won't get to see it since he will be in Australia if he does choose to do so. We shall see how things go.
The Chinese called Elders here (Elder Staten, Elder Zueger, and I) have been working on our Facebook Page. We have a couple posts and a video up for Elder Staten and how he felt about his mission call. That was last week. This week it is my turn to submit a video. I haven't had much time to shoot my video but today we set some time aside and I only got through half of it and I don't even like it. I look and sound so emotionless and for some reason I twiddle my thumbs way too much. We found a better place to record, too, so I will just finish recording at that place. But, in the meantime, anyone receiving this should totally check out the page. It's called "中文在德国" or @chinesischindeutschland. We're pretty proud of what we have concocted with such a small band of interesting Chinese missionaries.
Tonight we had another dinner night with the Simiskey's. They're the family that will be moving to Cairo in the summer. This is like the third time we've been by their place. I guess they love having us over. While at their home, they showed us the video our new prophet spoke in! President Nelson is the new Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring as his counselors. Change is weird, but I think in this case it's just so cool and exciting to see history take place like this. They emphasized that greater things are to come to pass. Don't know why they would be mentioning that but it sounded cool to me. Awesome to be experiencing all this new and exciting stuff.
星期三,一月17号(第155天)
Mittwoch 17. Januar 2018
Well today was just full of recording. I thought recording my Chinese video would take a couple hours, but in total it took about five. We filmed the majority of it in the church but then we needed to head back to our apartment to prepare for a lesson. Unfortunately, the person we were going to teach had to cancel so we just shot another portion at home. The problem was that everywhere in this place picks up a bad echo. The echo itself isn't the problem, it's the fact that the sound quality was much better in the church and then all of a sudden it drops in quality when it gets to the apartment scenes. I don't know, I guess we'll see how it turns out. Everything is recorded we just have to put every scene together and add some effects.
In the President's weekly email he stated that board games are not allowed in the apartments. He claimed it's not a new rule, but no one seemed to know anything about it. Apparently there are a couple missionaries who have been here for a while who knew about it because he said it at a zone conference like over a year and a half ago. However, it was never written down, so how is everyone else who comes in after going to know about it? Oh well. I'm not too pained by it, but Élder Wride's heart is broken. Board games are like his stress relief. We'll see how he can cope with life now.
Almost had 4 things going on at the same time. We had an appointment and had to pick up Sylvester to take him to young men's. The other two Tiergarten Elders had to be at their young men's meeting and had an appointment as well. All at the same time. Plus I still had another scene to record for the video. It was a super crazy time trying to get everything planned. Luckily, but also unfortunately, almost everything fell through. Lots of stuff was cancelled for various reasons. But I mean it's fine since it gave me time to go to the church and finish all the Chinese stuff.
星期四,一月18号(第156天)
Donnerstag 18. Januar 2018
Zone leaders came knocking at our door at 7am and needed to drop off their stuff. Since interviews with President are happening here in Berlin, they've got to be working at the Stake Center pretty much all day which will make them unable to get back to Glienicke on time, so they are staying with us tonight. They had to basically be in two places at once so Yaşlı Taylor took me with him to buy some supplies and Elder Keller went with Elder Alves to the church to set up. Élder Wride and Elder Bacher stayed at the apartment.
Yaşlı Taylor and I went to an Edeka to obtain food an other items for the President and for the people being interviewed, since there would be a lot of waiting. It amazes me how much Zone Leaders have to prepare for things like interviews. Makes me not really want to be a Zone Leader while on my mission. After we got everything, it was off to the church. Once we were there, we set up all of the rooms and prepared the waiting room with snacks and whatnot. It was a good service project to help the Zone leaders. They get up at like 4am sometimes to accomplish all their work. Super committed dudes.
Randomness, but Elder Bacher and I messed with some vairous materials to see what helped the most with making great recordings. Egg carton, hand towel, cardboard box, perfection. Now, if we ever have to use our phone to record something in good quality, we've got the technology.
星期五,一月19号(第157天)
Freitag 20. Januar 2018
So here I am not in my apartment. In fact, I'm in the Marzahn (northeast Berlin) apartment with not Elder Bacher, but Elder Römer. Now allow me to explain:
Last night Elder Römer came with Yaşlı Taylor instead of Elder Keller. I guess Elder Keller was going to a Russian temple trip (he's in the Russian program while Yaşlı Taylor is in the Turkish program). Anyway, this morning Elder Römer said that he needed an extra person to go with him to Marzahn tonight to be there for a football (soccer) game and his companion is also a Russian Elder at the temple trip. No one wanted to do it, so I was voluntold. Great. Football is serious here in Europe. I was gonna get totally wrecked. I was going to die.
Things turned upside down as everything became very confusing since it was interview day for our district, and my interview was one of the last ones of the day, and I needed to leave with Elder Römer way before my interview time. Yaşlı Taylor had to move my interview, but he wouldn't tell me when because everything was messed up; and basically I was going to die. I packed my Tausch gear - a change of sports clothes and my toiletries for staying a night in Marzahn (we weren't going to have time to make it back to Tiergarten plus Elder Römer has some stuff to do in Marzahn tomorrow morning). We left and got to the church to have district meeting first and it was great.
After waiting a little bit, Yaşlı Taylor suddenly tells me it's my turn for the interview with the mission President. Totally wasn't ready for it since my stuff was elsewhere, so I had to grab it, which made the President have to wait for me a bit. Definitely not my fault. You're normally supposed to know when your interview is at least a day before, but since my schedule was destroyed by this Marzahn thing I guess I can't complain. I thought I was going to die, but it ended up being a good interview, regardless of that poor start. President didn't roast me this time like he did last time. He actually gave me some really good answers to a few questions I had. He's also super proud of me for the work I've been doing with the Chinese friends. speaking of them, the Australian Chinese friend is going home tomorrow, and I was hoping to have one last appointment with him before he goes but he was too busy so I had to say goodbye over WeChat. He told me I'm the best missionary he's ever met and the best one he will ever meet. Aww. He says he'll visit me in Seattle at some point. He's loyal until the end.
Elder Römer and I had to wait for the office Elders to be done with a meeting, but we hitched a ride in their car since there was going to be a lot of travelling. There was a lot of talking in the hour and a half car ride. We discussed how we were going to die because the Marzahn ward (the one's hosting this football game) were basically going to shun all us missionaries if we did not bring at least four (that's why the office Elders were coming, too) - they're serious about this football stuff. So that's why I was needed. I was getting worried, though, because if they seem this strict, and we were going to be at least fifteen minutes late, how would they react? If they weren't cool with less than four missionaries, how does being late sound? I was going to die. Whatever. In our discussions, one Elder was talking about how he is the third youngest. I asked him how many older siblings he has. He said 6. Oh! Mormons!
We got to the gym where we were going to play football. We were about 16 minutes late but everyone there was in the locker rooms changing. So we did not die from being late. We all grouped together to start the event. It was nothing more than just dividing up into teams and playing a few games. One of the office Elders went on one team, another to a different team, and Elder Römer and I on a third team. Everyone starts doing some practice kicking and boots the ball into the goal, meanwhile here am I just kicking and somehow the ball goes backwards. I can play football, just not as well as these crazy Europeans who don't speak English and when they got mad at me, they yelled in German I would die. Long story short, good games, a few people got way too much into the games and got upset over every little detail. Europeans and their football. Yeesh. Oh yeah, and I didn't die.
We had to leave a little early since it was getting late, but they were cool with that. Elder Römer and I head to the Marzahn apartment and get ready for dinner and bed time. The Marzahn apartment is legit the coolest apartment ever. It's about as big as ours, but like it seems more spacious. It's such a high quality place. I was very impressed. Elder Römer and I discussed what we did before the mission. I said, "camp, band, and college." Then he talks about how he was some super genius engineer that was like top tier in his company and he was acting like it was no big deal. He's just super humble. He's actually from Wisconsin, so I guess that's pretty dope.
We got a call from the mission President and he was telling us that Elder Römer's companion had gone missing with Elder Keller on their way to Freiberg. He made it seem like they went rogue or AWOL, and then he gave us the police's number for a few areas, but in reality they had just lost their bag, missed a train, and their phone was dead so they didn't know where they were. Not going into all the details, but Elder Römer and I were making fifty different calls to garner up the whole story since everyone only had a little piece of information. We made a lot of estimations and calculated judgments on where they could be and we had 3 teams of drivers ready to intercept them at certain places. It was legit. Like something out of a movie. Best part is we got them (we as in the Dresden zone leaders) and they were totally okay. Good news is, their bag ended up in the Hof police department so someone could pick that up at some point.
And we're back to now. Crazy day, yeah?
I am just glad I didn't die.
星期六,一月21号(第158天)
Samstag 21. Januar 2018
I woke up this morning in someone else's bed. Almost forgot that I wasn't in Tiergarten. Elder Römer let me use his gigantic speakers to listen to music I had on my tablet. I put on a few songs from Moana (which is called Vaiana here in Europe because copyright sucks) and later I put on some Chillstep music, like dubstep but it's not crazy loud and all over the place and it's actually great for studying. He hears this and is like, "is this my music?" I told him it was mine and he got all excited because it turns out he listens to pretty much the exact same stuff as I do. He asked me to send him all of the Moana and Chillstep songs I have and I do; about 90 songs total. But in return he gives me over 500! Okay that's a little too much. Now I'm going to need to buy an SD card for my tablet. Just another way for us to bond :)
Right before we left, this Russian Elder that I was kind of replacing for the time being had on his desk a piece of candy. This wasn't any piece of candy. No. It had a label stuck to it, that read, "E. Riener." What???? This weener had a piece of candy that was supposed to be mine. I remember about two months ago they had these candies with our names on them and I forgot to grab mine but later I came back and it wasn't there. Well now I have found it. Why is it here? Why has he not eaten it yet. It must be a prized possession or something. He does call me 慕容长老 out of respect so maybe he has it as a token of me. Weird. I just took a picture and left it there. When he gets back I've got some questions for the man.
We were out the door and on to the Marzahn ward building. Marzahn is generally a wealthy area, and it shows with their church building. It is one of the coolest LDS church buildings I have been to in Germany. Granted, I've only been to about 6 or 7. Even still. Our plan was to clean up the inside a little bit with some members. I was able to hold a couple conversations with some people in German, since that's all they spoke. And one member knew a little bit of Turkish so I said like two or three things in that. About an hour later, Elder Römer had his Gemiko with his GML (Gemeinde Missions Leiter, or Ward Mission Leader). I couldn't understand anything they were saying to each other, well, I caught a few words from Elder Römer and understood generally what he was talking about. But other than that I couldn't get much. Then whenever the GML started talking to me it was just enough for me to for the most part totally understand what he was saying. Interesting concept.
Elder Bacher and Yaşlı Taylor were at the Mission Office waiting for us so we could trade companions and get back to doing our regular work. Elder Römer and Yaşlı Taylor aren't companions, but since both of theirs were in Freiberg, they'll be companions for the time being. While at the office, I did some digging through a huge storage area and found some Chinese materials, including a New Testament that is in Pinyin, a few My Family packets, a Gospel Doctrine book, and a children's Book of Mormon summary thing - all in Chinese. Unfortunately, most of these items were in Traditional which I can barely read Simplified, so whatever. The hardest part was carrying all of that back home.
Elder Bacher and I headed over to the church after dropping off all the Chinese books and my Tausch gear for a Chinese Skype with Elder Hsu. Elder Hsu and I practiced the second lesson and I felt it went very well. I feel like Elder Hsu was also impressed, but he just doesn't want me to feel good about my Chinese for some reason. Maybe he's trying to keep me humble.
星期日,一月22号(第159天)
Sontag 22. Januar 2018
We were in the middle of talking to our Lithuanian friend when the Indian guy calls yet again. He calls at the most random times. He wanted to introduce me to another friend of his. I don't know why he has attached so well to me and not as much to Élder Wride and Elder Alves since they were the ones teaching him. I had like 3 interactions with him. He remains an interesting human being.
Church was great. I tried a lot harder to talk to as many people as I could. I want to be a more memorable kind person in the Branch. During Sunday School I saw three bags of candy on the table and asked the teacher if we were getting rewarded. He said maybe and that he needed three volunteers to sit in the three front chairs. Without his permission I just walked up and sat in one of them, but he seemed okay with it and was a little amused. I was ready to do anything for a piece of candy. He put me in a roleplay scenario which was great since I'm a missionary and this is what we do. He had me clarify parts of the creation as he was acting as an investigator on a bus. After answering his questions and cracking a few jokes, he let me have a peanut butter cup. Happy day!
We have a Korean friend here that I have been slowly learning Korean from. It's the same one that has been coming since like my second week here. Not sure if I have talked about him much, but he is a super cool dude. Like the nicest person you will ever meet. I can now say "I like" and "not bad" in Korean now. Impressive, huh?
Lastly, another Chinese Skype with everyone. I think I learned a little bit so we've got positive results.
星期一,一月23号(第160天)
Montag 23. Januar 2018
District p-day today. We all got together at the stake center and played volleyball for about 3 hours. Super fun. We brought cereal to eat for a combined lunch. Super great. Afterwards we went to the Holocaust memorial and the Brandenburger Tor. Super dope.
Hope everyone is doing well. Don't die. Have a great week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,一月16号(第154天)
Dienstag 16. Januar 2018
We made a quick meeting with the Chinese guy who is going back to Australia soon. In fact, he'll be gone by Saturday morning, but now we're friends on Facebook so we'll never have to lose each other. He said he learned a lot today and that his brain hurt because of how much information was brought through. It was only about 3 principles but we expounded on a bunch of stuff. He is even thinking about being baptized! Unfortunately, I won't get to see it since he will be in Australia if he does choose to do so. We shall see how things go.
The Chinese called Elders here (Elder Staten, Elder Zueger, and I) have been working on our Facebook Page. We have a couple posts and a video up for Elder Staten and how he felt about his mission call. That was last week. This week it is my turn to submit a video. I haven't had much time to shoot my video but today we set some time aside and I only got through half of it and I don't even like it. I look and sound so emotionless and for some reason I twiddle my thumbs way too much. We found a better place to record, too, so I will just finish recording at that place. But, in the meantime, anyone receiving this should totally check out the page. It's called "中文在德国" or @chinesischindeutschland. We're pretty proud of what we have concocted with such a small band of interesting Chinese missionaries.
Tonight we had another dinner night with the Simiskey's. They're the family that will be moving to Cairo in the summer. This is like the third time we've been by their place. I guess they love having us over. While at their home, they showed us the video our new prophet spoke in! President Nelson is the new Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring as his counselors. Change is weird, but I think in this case it's just so cool and exciting to see history take place like this. They emphasized that greater things are to come to pass. Don't know why they would be mentioning that but it sounded cool to me. Awesome to be experiencing all this new and exciting stuff.
星期三,一月17号(第155天)
Mittwoch 17. Januar 2018
Well today was just full of recording. I thought recording my Chinese video would take a couple hours, but in total it took about five. We filmed the majority of it in the church but then we needed to head back to our apartment to prepare for a lesson. Unfortunately, the person we were going to teach had to cancel so we just shot another portion at home. The problem was that everywhere in this place picks up a bad echo. The echo itself isn't the problem, it's the fact that the sound quality was much better in the church and then all of a sudden it drops in quality when it gets to the apartment scenes. I don't know, I guess we'll see how it turns out. Everything is recorded we just have to put every scene together and add some effects.
In the President's weekly email he stated that board games are not allowed in the apartments. He claimed it's not a new rule, but no one seemed to know anything about it. Apparently there are a couple missionaries who have been here for a while who knew about it because he said it at a zone conference like over a year and a half ago. However, it was never written down, so how is everyone else who comes in after going to know about it? Oh well. I'm not too pained by it, but Élder Wride's heart is broken. Board games are like his stress relief. We'll see how he can cope with life now.
Almost had 4 things going on at the same time. We had an appointment and had to pick up Sylvester to take him to young men's. The other two Tiergarten Elders had to be at their young men's meeting and had an appointment as well. All at the same time. Plus I still had another scene to record for the video. It was a super crazy time trying to get everything planned. Luckily, but also unfortunately, almost everything fell through. Lots of stuff was cancelled for various reasons. But I mean it's fine since it gave me time to go to the church and finish all the Chinese stuff.
星期四,一月18号(第156天)
Donnerstag 18. Januar 2018
Zone leaders came knocking at our door at 7am and needed to drop off their stuff. Since interviews with President are happening here in Berlin, they've got to be working at the Stake Center pretty much all day which will make them unable to get back to Glienicke on time, so they are staying with us tonight. They had to basically be in two places at once so Yaşlı Taylor took me with him to buy some supplies and Elder Keller went with Elder Alves to the church to set up. Élder Wride and Elder Bacher stayed at the apartment.
Yaşlı Taylor and I went to an Edeka to obtain food an other items for the President and for the people being interviewed, since there would be a lot of waiting. It amazes me how much Zone Leaders have to prepare for things like interviews. Makes me not really want to be a Zone Leader while on my mission. After we got everything, it was off to the church. Once we were there, we set up all of the rooms and prepared the waiting room with snacks and whatnot. It was a good service project to help the Zone leaders. They get up at like 4am sometimes to accomplish all their work. Super committed dudes.
Randomness, but Elder Bacher and I messed with some vairous materials to see what helped the most with making great recordings. Egg carton, hand towel, cardboard box, perfection. Now, if we ever have to use our phone to record something in good quality, we've got the technology.
星期五,一月19号(第157天)
Freitag 20. Januar 2018
So here I am not in my apartment. In fact, I'm in the Marzahn (northeast Berlin) apartment with not Elder Bacher, but Elder Römer. Now allow me to explain:
Last night Elder Römer came with Yaşlı Taylor instead of Elder Keller. I guess Elder Keller was going to a Russian temple trip (he's in the Russian program while Yaşlı Taylor is in the Turkish program). Anyway, this morning Elder Römer said that he needed an extra person to go with him to Marzahn tonight to be there for a football (soccer) game and his companion is also a Russian Elder at the temple trip. No one wanted to do it, so I was voluntold. Great. Football is serious here in Europe. I was gonna get totally wrecked. I was going to die.
Things turned upside down as everything became very confusing since it was interview day for our district, and my interview was one of the last ones of the day, and I needed to leave with Elder Römer way before my interview time. Yaşlı Taylor had to move my interview, but he wouldn't tell me when because everything was messed up; and basically I was going to die. I packed my Tausch gear - a change of sports clothes and my toiletries for staying a night in Marzahn (we weren't going to have time to make it back to Tiergarten plus Elder Römer has some stuff to do in Marzahn tomorrow morning). We left and got to the church to have district meeting first and it was great.
After waiting a little bit, Yaşlı Taylor suddenly tells me it's my turn for the interview with the mission President. Totally wasn't ready for it since my stuff was elsewhere, so I had to grab it, which made the President have to wait for me a bit. Definitely not my fault. You're normally supposed to know when your interview is at least a day before, but since my schedule was destroyed by this Marzahn thing I guess I can't complain. I thought I was going to die, but it ended up being a good interview, regardless of that poor start. President didn't roast me this time like he did last time. He actually gave me some really good answers to a few questions I had. He's also super proud of me for the work I've been doing with the Chinese friends. speaking of them, the Australian Chinese friend is going home tomorrow, and I was hoping to have one last appointment with him before he goes but he was too busy so I had to say goodbye over WeChat. He told me I'm the best missionary he's ever met and the best one he will ever meet. Aww. He says he'll visit me in Seattle at some point. He's loyal until the end.
Elder Römer and I had to wait for the office Elders to be done with a meeting, but we hitched a ride in their car since there was going to be a lot of travelling. There was a lot of talking in the hour and a half car ride. We discussed how we were going to die because the Marzahn ward (the one's hosting this football game) were basically going to shun all us missionaries if we did not bring at least four (that's why the office Elders were coming, too) - they're serious about this football stuff. So that's why I was needed. I was getting worried, though, because if they seem this strict, and we were going to be at least fifteen minutes late, how would they react? If they weren't cool with less than four missionaries, how does being late sound? I was going to die. Whatever. In our discussions, one Elder was talking about how he is the third youngest. I asked him how many older siblings he has. He said 6. Oh! Mormons!
We got to the gym where we were going to play football. We were about 16 minutes late but everyone there was in the locker rooms changing. So we did not die from being late. We all grouped together to start the event. It was nothing more than just dividing up into teams and playing a few games. One of the office Elders went on one team, another to a different team, and Elder Römer and I on a third team. Everyone starts doing some practice kicking and boots the ball into the goal, meanwhile here am I just kicking and somehow the ball goes backwards. I can play football, just not as well as these crazy Europeans who don't speak English and when they got mad at me, they yelled in German I would die. Long story short, good games, a few people got way too much into the games and got upset over every little detail. Europeans and their football. Yeesh. Oh yeah, and I didn't die.
We had to leave a little early since it was getting late, but they were cool with that. Elder Römer and I head to the Marzahn apartment and get ready for dinner and bed time. The Marzahn apartment is legit the coolest apartment ever. It's about as big as ours, but like it seems more spacious. It's such a high quality place. I was very impressed. Elder Römer and I discussed what we did before the mission. I said, "camp, band, and college." Then he talks about how he was some super genius engineer that was like top tier in his company and he was acting like it was no big deal. He's just super humble. He's actually from Wisconsin, so I guess that's pretty dope.
We got a call from the mission President and he was telling us that Elder Römer's companion had gone missing with Elder Keller on their way to Freiberg. He made it seem like they went rogue or AWOL, and then he gave us the police's number for a few areas, but in reality they had just lost their bag, missed a train, and their phone was dead so they didn't know where they were. Not going into all the details, but Elder Römer and I were making fifty different calls to garner up the whole story since everyone only had a little piece of information. We made a lot of estimations and calculated judgments on where they could be and we had 3 teams of drivers ready to intercept them at certain places. It was legit. Like something out of a movie. Best part is we got them (we as in the Dresden zone leaders) and they were totally okay. Good news is, their bag ended up in the Hof police department so someone could pick that up at some point.
And we're back to now. Crazy day, yeah?
I am just glad I didn't die.
星期六,一月21号(第158天)
Samstag 21. Januar 2018
I woke up this morning in someone else's bed. Almost forgot that I wasn't in Tiergarten. Elder Römer let me use his gigantic speakers to listen to music I had on my tablet. I put on a few songs from Moana (which is called Vaiana here in Europe because copyright sucks) and later I put on some Chillstep music, like dubstep but it's not crazy loud and all over the place and it's actually great for studying. He hears this and is like, "is this my music?" I told him it was mine and he got all excited because it turns out he listens to pretty much the exact same stuff as I do. He asked me to send him all of the Moana and Chillstep songs I have and I do; about 90 songs total. But in return he gives me over 500! Okay that's a little too much. Now I'm going to need to buy an SD card for my tablet. Just another way for us to bond :)
Right before we left, this Russian Elder that I was kind of replacing for the time being had on his desk a piece of candy. This wasn't any piece of candy. No. It had a label stuck to it, that read, "E. Riener." What???? This weener had a piece of candy that was supposed to be mine. I remember about two months ago they had these candies with our names on them and I forgot to grab mine but later I came back and it wasn't there. Well now I have found it. Why is it here? Why has he not eaten it yet. It must be a prized possession or something. He does call me 慕容长老 out of respect so maybe he has it as a token of me. Weird. I just took a picture and left it there. When he gets back I've got some questions for the man.
We were out the door and on to the Marzahn ward building. Marzahn is generally a wealthy area, and it shows with their church building. It is one of the coolest LDS church buildings I have been to in Germany. Granted, I've only been to about 6 or 7. Even still. Our plan was to clean up the inside a little bit with some members. I was able to hold a couple conversations with some people in German, since that's all they spoke. And one member knew a little bit of Turkish so I said like two or three things in that. About an hour later, Elder Römer had his Gemiko with his GML (Gemeinde Missions Leiter, or Ward Mission Leader). I couldn't understand anything they were saying to each other, well, I caught a few words from Elder Römer and understood generally what he was talking about. But other than that I couldn't get much. Then whenever the GML started talking to me it was just enough for me to for the most part totally understand what he was saying. Interesting concept.
Elder Bacher and Yaşlı Taylor were at the Mission Office waiting for us so we could trade companions and get back to doing our regular work. Elder Römer and Yaşlı Taylor aren't companions, but since both of theirs were in Freiberg, they'll be companions for the time being. While at the office, I did some digging through a huge storage area and found some Chinese materials, including a New Testament that is in Pinyin, a few My Family packets, a Gospel Doctrine book, and a children's Book of Mormon summary thing - all in Chinese. Unfortunately, most of these items were in Traditional which I can barely read Simplified, so whatever. The hardest part was carrying all of that back home.
Elder Bacher and I headed over to the church after dropping off all the Chinese books and my Tausch gear for a Chinese Skype with Elder Hsu. Elder Hsu and I practiced the second lesson and I felt it went very well. I feel like Elder Hsu was also impressed, but he just doesn't want me to feel good about my Chinese for some reason. Maybe he's trying to keep me humble.
星期日,一月22号(第159天)
Sontag 22. Januar 2018
We were in the middle of talking to our Lithuanian friend when the Indian guy calls yet again. He calls at the most random times. He wanted to introduce me to another friend of his. I don't know why he has attached so well to me and not as much to Élder Wride and Elder Alves since they were the ones teaching him. I had like 3 interactions with him. He remains an interesting human being.
Church was great. I tried a lot harder to talk to as many people as I could. I want to be a more memorable kind person in the Branch. During Sunday School I saw three bags of candy on the table and asked the teacher if we were getting rewarded. He said maybe and that he needed three volunteers to sit in the three front chairs. Without his permission I just walked up and sat in one of them, but he seemed okay with it and was a little amused. I was ready to do anything for a piece of candy. He put me in a roleplay scenario which was great since I'm a missionary and this is what we do. He had me clarify parts of the creation as he was acting as an investigator on a bus. After answering his questions and cracking a few jokes, he let me have a peanut butter cup. Happy day!
We have a Korean friend here that I have been slowly learning Korean from. It's the same one that has been coming since like my second week here. Not sure if I have talked about him much, but he is a super cool dude. Like the nicest person you will ever meet. I can now say "I like" and "not bad" in Korean now. Impressive, huh?
Lastly, another Chinese Skype with everyone. I think I learned a little bit so we've got positive results.
星期一,一月23号(第160天)
Montag 23. Januar 2018
District p-day today. We all got together at the stake center and played volleyball for about 3 hours. Super fun. We brought cereal to eat for a combined lunch. Super great. Afterwards we went to the Holocaust memorial and the Brandenburger Tor. Super dope.
Hope everyone is doing well. Don't die. Have a great week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 22
星期二,一月9号(第147天)
Dienstag 9. Januar 2018
I decided that today I should try to obtain my German Driver's License. We headed over to the Rathaus in Tiergarten and they told us that the next time they could have me in would be February which wasn't going to work.
Our Chinese friends gave us a last-minute text saying that they could meet today. They're cool, but they really need to start giving us more time to set up. Anyway, we started our lesson and about 5 minutes in, one of them gets a call. It was his Korean girlfriend. He walks out to answer his call. Ten minutes later he peeks into the room and is like, "I think my girlfriend is mad at me." I asked how he could tell. He was on mute, but he put the phone on speaker and she was just going off on him. He said she had been talking like that for about 5 minutes nonstop. I guess she was unexpectedly at the zoo and she wanted him to come but he was in a lesson with us so he was committed to us. I told him if he's in trouble he can go to his girlfriend, but he says, "No, is okay. I think I am done with her anyway." He just got together with her like a week and a half ago! I don't understand relationships sometimes. Then the two Chinese friends started arguing over who was more of a lady killer. One of them was like "it's obviously not me! I've never had a girlfriend. I'm a loser!" Needles to say, it was an interesting lesson. We also learned that the Chinese guy from Australia is going back next Saturday . I'm gonna convince him to move his flight so he can stay longer.
We met with our Lithuanian friend again. This time we had enough time to get ready for bringing another member from the branch to be in the lesson with us. Also, right before, Elder Alves ordered some pizza and it was delivered to the front of the church. I thought it was going to be good since it was from Dominoes, but Germans love to put salami instead of pepperoni on and it's just not the same. I kinda miss genuine American pizza. You could taste freedom with every bite.
星期三,一月10号(第148天)
Mittwoch 10. Januar 2018
After district meeting, Elder Bacher and I headed down to Neukölln to see if we could get anything set up at the Rathaus there. Plus I needed to use the Neukölln ward building computer. Unfortunately, the Rathaus was closed so we are going to have to try another one or that same one on a different day.
We forgot that young men's activities started up again, and that we had agreed to help Sylvester, a recent convert's son, get there every Wednesday night since the trip is long and he would normally be alone. We made our way to his place to pick him up but we took so many wrong buses and trams, we were late. At least we got him there so he could enjoy some fun with his friends. We'll have to remember to mark that in our calendars for every week.
Yaşli Morrell was with us tonight in replacement of Élder Wride. He helped me out in learning a few good phrases in Turkish. My plan is to be able to hold a basic conversation in all of this mission's languages. Türkçeniz var mı?
星期四,一月11号(第149天)
Donnerstag 11. Januar 2018
The Indian guy continues to call us from India. He's been basically referring his entire family to us even though they live all over the world and not in Germany. I think he needs to contact the missionaries that are assigned to those areas. There are more than just two missionaries on this Earth, I promise.
Rathaus take 3. This time we went to a closer one in Steglitz. After waiting an hour in line, they told us to come back in the morning. Great. At least we had an appointment set up.
I also found a staircase with an escalator that only went halfway down. I think I'm going to contemplate life now.
星期五,一月12号(第150天)
Freitag 12. Januar 2018
Got driver's license paperwork taken care of. It was kinda scary doing government stuff in a different country in another language not my primary language, but I'm thankful Elder Bacher is fluent in German. They say it will take up to twelve weeks to obtain the license. It's a good thing the mission office can take care of it because I might not be in Tiergarten for this next transfer. Who knows?
Zone leaders called and asked me to be in a picture. They've been making a "Facebook Finding Toolbox" and wanted me to be in one of the photos. We headed over to the Brandenburger Tor to take a picture with me using Facebook for missionary work. I sent them the picture which I thought I was just okay but they were claiming it was the most beautiful thing they've ever seen. I like our Zone Leaders.
President Monson's memorial service was tonight. Elder Bacher and I watched it online at the church. It was very good to see a reflection of the good things he did in this world. The most interesting thing I found was the story of how President Monson looked at an Ensign magazine with his face on the cover and said, "I know that guy! He tried his best." It just showed me how humble he was even as the Prophet of the Church. Since we were permitted to watch it live (starting at 8pm our time), we were allowed to arrive home after 9:30pm. Woo! I feel like such a rebel coming home at 9:45pm!
星期六,一月13号(第151天)
Samstag 13. Januar 2018
Élder Wride and Elder Alves had to be at 4 places at once in areas of Berlin that aren't anywhere near each other. So that meant more Tausch today! Élder Wride and I traveled across Berlin to two families that ended up not being home. Well, one of them was there, but was leaving and said that the missionaries could come by at the end of the month. I guess that's something at least.
I was given a huge lollipop by Élder Wride. It took me a couple hours to get through. I had to take a lot of breaks and it was totally worth it. Don't worry, I made sure I did a good job brushing my teeth right after it was finished.
Elder Hsu wanted to have a Skype with Elder Bacher and I tonight, so we headed over to the church to do that. I'm going to miss Elder Hsu a lot. This is his last transfer but he's such a funny guy.
Made banana bread. This will come in handy.
星期日,一月14号(第152天)
Sonntag 14. Januar 2018
Our Chinese friends texted us saying they had a dinner to go to so they wouldn't be at church today. I wasn't going to accept that answer, so I messaged them back asking if they could at least meet before church. They told me, "No. That is dumb. We will just come to church for an hour, instead." What??? Interesting way to convince them to come.
Banana bread came in handy. We brought it early to church and a bunch of missionaries hadn't eaten all day so it was good to do a little bit of service for them. We're going to have to make more because they devoured that stuff.
Right after sacrament meeting I was ripped away from the Chinese people because the Zone Leaders needed me. They got a referral from someone about a man who lives like 5 minutes from our house. Since we are closer, they were handing him off for us to teach. But we were going to do they through short lesson since he had to leave for something. He's a really cool dude from Ghana and he has gone through some rough stuff in his life but has such a firm faith in how God had been guiding his entire life. I think he's going to be a great investigator.
Another Chinese Skype. For the first ten minutes Elder Züger and I did a lot of catching up. I miss him, too. After an hour of practicing our Chinese, it was off to another Skype call. Our Branch mission leader wanted to have a Skype with all of the missionaries in the Berlin zone since most of them have English investigators. This meeting is called Gemeinde Missions Konferenz but we just call it Gemiko. I like it because it looks like Geiko so we get to save 15% or more on car insurance. Anyway, we used the time to discuss all of our investigators and their needs so that everyone is welcomed. This is the same meeting we had back in December, but I don't think I explained it last time. Most of the missionaries had appointments so it ended up just being us, our Branch mission leader, the Marzahn Elders, and the Leest Sisters. Small group compared to about 20 missionaries like last time but I felt as if we got quite a lot of work done.
星期一,一月15号(第153天)今天!
Montag 15. Januar 2018. Heute!
Got haircuts finally. Went to the Reichstag and took some pictures. Browsed items in the Alexanderplatz malls. Good day.
That is all for now. See ya!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,一月9号(第147天)
Dienstag 9. Januar 2018
I decided that today I should try to obtain my German Driver's License. We headed over to the Rathaus in Tiergarten and they told us that the next time they could have me in would be February which wasn't going to work.
Our Chinese friends gave us a last-minute text saying that they could meet today. They're cool, but they really need to start giving us more time to set up. Anyway, we started our lesson and about 5 minutes in, one of them gets a call. It was his Korean girlfriend. He walks out to answer his call. Ten minutes later he peeks into the room and is like, "I think my girlfriend is mad at me." I asked how he could tell. He was on mute, but he put the phone on speaker and she was just going off on him. He said she had been talking like that for about 5 minutes nonstop. I guess she was unexpectedly at the zoo and she wanted him to come but he was in a lesson with us so he was committed to us. I told him if he's in trouble he can go to his girlfriend, but he says, "No, is okay. I think I am done with her anyway." He just got together with her like a week and a half ago! I don't understand relationships sometimes. Then the two Chinese friends started arguing over who was more of a lady killer. One of them was like "it's obviously not me! I've never had a girlfriend. I'm a loser!" Needles to say, it was an interesting lesson. We also learned that the Chinese guy from Australia is going back next Saturday . I'm gonna convince him to move his flight so he can stay longer.
We met with our Lithuanian friend again. This time we had enough time to get ready for bringing another member from the branch to be in the lesson with us. Also, right before, Elder Alves ordered some pizza and it was delivered to the front of the church. I thought it was going to be good since it was from Dominoes, but Germans love to put salami instead of pepperoni on and it's just not the same. I kinda miss genuine American pizza. You could taste freedom with every bite.
星期三,一月10号(第148天)
Mittwoch 10. Januar 2018
After district meeting, Elder Bacher and I headed down to Neukölln to see if we could get anything set up at the Rathaus there. Plus I needed to use the Neukölln ward building computer. Unfortunately, the Rathaus was closed so we are going to have to try another one or that same one on a different day.
We forgot that young men's activities started up again, and that we had agreed to help Sylvester, a recent convert's son, get there every Wednesday night since the trip is long and he would normally be alone. We made our way to his place to pick him up but we took so many wrong buses and trams, we were late. At least we got him there so he could enjoy some fun with his friends. We'll have to remember to mark that in our calendars for every week.
Yaşli Morrell was with us tonight in replacement of Élder Wride. He helped me out in learning a few good phrases in Turkish. My plan is to be able to hold a basic conversation in all of this mission's languages. Türkçeniz var mı?
星期四,一月11号(第149天)
Donnerstag 11. Januar 2018
The Indian guy continues to call us from India. He's been basically referring his entire family to us even though they live all over the world and not in Germany. I think he needs to contact the missionaries that are assigned to those areas. There are more than just two missionaries on this Earth, I promise.
Rathaus take 3. This time we went to a closer one in Steglitz. After waiting an hour in line, they told us to come back in the morning. Great. At least we had an appointment set up.
I also found a staircase with an escalator that only went halfway down. I think I'm going to contemplate life now.
星期五,一月12号(第150天)
Freitag 12. Januar 2018
Got driver's license paperwork taken care of. It was kinda scary doing government stuff in a different country in another language not my primary language, but I'm thankful Elder Bacher is fluent in German. They say it will take up to twelve weeks to obtain the license. It's a good thing the mission office can take care of it because I might not be in Tiergarten for this next transfer. Who knows?
Zone leaders called and asked me to be in a picture. They've been making a "Facebook Finding Toolbox" and wanted me to be in one of the photos. We headed over to the Brandenburger Tor to take a picture with me using Facebook for missionary work. I sent them the picture which I thought I was just okay but they were claiming it was the most beautiful thing they've ever seen. I like our Zone Leaders.
President Monson's memorial service was tonight. Elder Bacher and I watched it online at the church. It was very good to see a reflection of the good things he did in this world. The most interesting thing I found was the story of how President Monson looked at an Ensign magazine with his face on the cover and said, "I know that guy! He tried his best." It just showed me how humble he was even as the Prophet of the Church. Since we were permitted to watch it live (starting at 8pm our time), we were allowed to arrive home after 9:30pm. Woo! I feel like such a rebel coming home at 9:45pm!
星期六,一月13号(第151天)
Samstag 13. Januar 2018
Élder Wride and Elder Alves had to be at 4 places at once in areas of Berlin that aren't anywhere near each other. So that meant more Tausch today! Élder Wride and I traveled across Berlin to two families that ended up not being home. Well, one of them was there, but was leaving and said that the missionaries could come by at the end of the month. I guess that's something at least.
I was given a huge lollipop by Élder Wride. It took me a couple hours to get through. I had to take a lot of breaks and it was totally worth it. Don't worry, I made sure I did a good job brushing my teeth right after it was finished.
Elder Hsu wanted to have a Skype with Elder Bacher and I tonight, so we headed over to the church to do that. I'm going to miss Elder Hsu a lot. This is his last transfer but he's such a funny guy.
Made banana bread. This will come in handy.
星期日,一月14号(第152天)
Sonntag 14. Januar 2018
Our Chinese friends texted us saying they had a dinner to go to so they wouldn't be at church today. I wasn't going to accept that answer, so I messaged them back asking if they could at least meet before church. They told me, "No. That is dumb. We will just come to church for an hour, instead." What??? Interesting way to convince them to come.
Banana bread came in handy. We brought it early to church and a bunch of missionaries hadn't eaten all day so it was good to do a little bit of service for them. We're going to have to make more because they devoured that stuff.
Right after sacrament meeting I was ripped away from the Chinese people because the Zone Leaders needed me. They got a referral from someone about a man who lives like 5 minutes from our house. Since we are closer, they were handing him off for us to teach. But we were going to do they through short lesson since he had to leave for something. He's a really cool dude from Ghana and he has gone through some rough stuff in his life but has such a firm faith in how God had been guiding his entire life. I think he's going to be a great investigator.
Another Chinese Skype. For the first ten minutes Elder Züger and I did a lot of catching up. I miss him, too. After an hour of practicing our Chinese, it was off to another Skype call. Our Branch mission leader wanted to have a Skype with all of the missionaries in the Berlin zone since most of them have English investigators. This meeting is called Gemeinde Missions Konferenz but we just call it Gemiko. I like it because it looks like Geiko so we get to save 15% or more on car insurance. Anyway, we used the time to discuss all of our investigators and their needs so that everyone is welcomed. This is the same meeting we had back in December, but I don't think I explained it last time. Most of the missionaries had appointments so it ended up just being us, our Branch mission leader, the Marzahn Elders, and the Leest Sisters. Small group compared to about 20 missionaries like last time but I felt as if we got quite a lot of work done.
星期一,一月15号(第153天)今天!
Montag 15. Januar 2018. Heute!
Got haircuts finally. Went to the Reichstag and took some pictures. Browsed items in the Alexanderplatz malls. Good day.
That is all for now. See ya!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 21
星期二,一月2号(第140天)
Dienstag 2. Januar 2018
Today was another district leader Tausch. Elder Wride went with Elder Bacher while Elder Alves and I tagged together. We started off the day with shopping. Actually. Yesterday was p-day, but it was also New Year's day, which meant everything was closed. After a little bit of shopping, we came back to the apartment to clean up since we were going to have an inspection! Our apartment is big, and many people have lived in it, so there was a lot to clean up and organize. Don't get me wrong, we clean every week, but for things like deep cleaning and the organizing of the shelf of randomness which contains stuff in many languages that we don't even need. In addition, there is a bunch of junk left behind from other missionaries. Problem is, we shouldn't throw it away - it's not that kind of material; and I can't take any of it because I have zero room for any extra stuff. I'd say we did a spectacular job. The other Elders used vinegar to clean a lot and I absolutely hate the smell of it, so I sprayed a good account of Febreze around the place. The inspectors came and were nit picky on a few details, but overall it was great. Of course, I couldn't understand most of what these people were saying, but they seemed happy.
Elder Alves and I headed out to greet our Chinese friends. They were going to feed us lunch again at their place. Elder Alves attempted chopsticks, but failed. The one Chinese guy who brought the Korean girl to our last dinner said he would have to cut the lesson short since he had a date with her later. I totally called it! The other Chinese guy who came from Australia and I were trying each other that we think she was going to be his girlfriend and we were right! We're so good at this kind of stuff. Well, it was a good lesson with them, but when I saw one of them drifting off into sleep, I decided it was a good stopping point.
We headed over to the church to finish up some studies. Elder Alves planned on hosting a breakdancing class tonight. He got a couple people to show up, and more want to come next week. While he was busting out some moves, I was on the gym stage trying to translate the Chinese Restoration pamphlet into pinyin so that I could actually read it. The pamphlets contain more modern language so if I study those more, it will hopefully make a lot more sense when I talk to people.
星期三,一月3号(第141天)
Mittwoch 3. Januar 2018
We were in the middle of talking this morning when Elder Wride received a text. He told us that our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson had passed away. We were all silent.
*President Monson was truly a great person. You'd think that this kind of information would pain someone, but it doesn't. Yes, his mortal life is over, but think of how much joy he has being with his dear wife again! He faithfully led the church under the guidance of God. His incredible example of loving and serving people will live on. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue on with a new prophet called of our Heavenly Father because it is the true church on this Earth. There's nothing to be sad about. Thank you, President Monson.*
In preparing for our district meeting, we went into our usual room that was closed. When we walked in, it was colder than the other rooms. Elder Wride comes in and complains that it's too cold; to which I tell him it's because he's from California that everything normal temperature seems cold. Then a sister comes in and complains much like Elder Wride; to which I tell her it's because she's from Arizona that everything less than 1000 degrees seems cold. I was on a roasting spree.
Again, lunch at the Turkish burger place. In walking there I was the only person without a hood or an umbrella in the pouring rain. Yet I was the only one smiling.
Elder Wride had to go up to Glienicke with the Zone Leaders, which left Elder Alves to tarry with us.
Afterwards, our journeys took us to the Carson family (where we had Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners). Their oldest son is preparing for a mission, so they came to us with a lot of logistical questions since this is their first missionary they're sending off.
星期四,一月4号(第142天)
Donnerstag 4. Januar 2018
Still with Elder Alves. Elder Wride called last night to tell us that what he was up there and got delayed a whole day and there was no point in coming all the way back.
Bright and early start to the morning. A less active member requested we help him out with his moving process. He and everyone associated with only spoke German, which was great since they made me the guy who was taking directions on how to take apart most of the furniture. My German is pretty bad, and my carpentry German is even worse. Whatever I survived and that's all that matters. It's just funny how they kept talking to me even when I would only respond with yes the whole time.
And next I had my first German appointment with an investigator. Surprising, huh? It was Elder Alves's investigator, but since Elder Wride wasn't here, he needed Elder Bacher and I. I read through his file to get some info. This guy was investigating the church a couple years ago and one day handed back the Book of Mormon and said I can't do it anymore. So I was expecting this not to go well. Even though I understood 7% of what was going on, I could tell he actually had a testimony. I think the guy just needed some clarifications on certain subjects.
We also had to attend institute tonight, being with Elder Alves. One of the Chinese friends actually showed up! When everyone separated for individual classes, we went to the English one for the Chinese guy. The lesson was great. We basically took apart a conference talk and went over its behind-the-scenes lessons. Made me think how cool conference talks are since we can pick apart their messages like scriptures. It was also great because we discussed some things about President Monson and the next steps the remaining Apostles will take. This made a great mini lesson for the Chinese guy on the organization of the church and its leadership. The teacher even mentioned how President Nelson is most likely going to be the next prophet and how he can speak Chinese and he could potentially open up China. She looked right at me when saying that. If that happens, I wonder if I'd be sent off to help out in mainland China. I won't dwell on it too long, though. I've got work here to do.
星期五,一月5号(第143天)
Freitag 5. Januar 2018
Elder Wride and Elder Alves had their Spanish Tausch today, which meant two other Spanish speaking Elders would come here to do Spanish stuff and things. This time our visitors were Elder Earl and Elder Mehr.
Now let me tell you something. Elder Mehr used to live in this apartment. In fact, right before I got here he was assigned here. He was taken away from Tiergarten because the Poland mission next-door needed an extra missionary for something urgent and he was the one they sent. He was there in Poland for my first transfer here and then came back to Germany, but to Bergedorf (near Hamburg) instead of Tiergarten. Because of such a sudden change he had to leave behind a bunch of items here. So much junk here in this apartment is his. I understand his reasoning for leaving so much, but he didn't even like put all of his belongings in a box, or even a pile, or even leave a list of what was his. It was just scattered all over the apartment! When I got here there was a ukulele just sitting here. I thought "how cool! I'll learn how to play uke or something!" I was learning some cool stuff until Elder Castillo comes on a Spanish Tausch and states that he has been asked by some "Elder Mehr" to retrieve his uke. I was so saddened. Turns out that almost half of the items in this place were his. My opinion was that if he wasn't even dignified to leave so much as a note, he couldn't have his stuff back that he just piles everywhere around the apartment. What, does he expect us to be his personal helpers for his storage unit? I wasn't gonna have it with this guy. Needless to say, I didn't really like him; and I hadn't even meet him yet. Well, he came today. And boy is he like the coolest person I've ever met! He and I could not stop cracking jokes with each other. He even brought a giant suitcase to gather up all of his stuff that he left behind. What a chill dude. The only problem with him was that he's a Packers fan, which is okay, we all have our own crosses to bear. Anyway, yeah, moral of the story is don't judge someone who makes you their storage unit slave before you meet them.
After a bunch of switching around, I got caught up in doing a lesson with an Indian investigator of Elder Wride and Elder Alves. It was me and Elder Alves doing this lesson. They said this Indian talks a lot, and I didn't believe them. But they were totally right. I would ask him a question and he'd be like, "you know, I think people like you and Elder Alves - wait, I almost said 'Elder Elvis' hehe Elvis. You guys like Elvis? You know, I have always listened to his music -" and I would interject and be like "let's stay on topic okay?" It was a good lesson though. He really is an interesting person. He wants to hang out with me when I'm done with my mission and he calls me his brother. Towards the end of the lesson he calls many of his friends and is like, "yo right here are the missionaries and they're like from God and you should totally listen to them of course!" He wants to go into music development which is kinda what I like. I made the mistake of saying that. He wouldn't stop talking about that. I'll admit, I made a mistake there. I'll take the blame.
星期六,一月6号(第144天)
Samstag 6. Januar 2018
Elder Mehr also has a onesie. We were up to three onesie personages this morning. Too bad his was the Packers.
That Indian guy called us and wanted to meet him at the airport to say goodbye to him. He told us last night that he was going to go back home in New Delhi for a couple weeks. We met up with him at Flughafen Tegel before he went through security, and he does not mind being a weirdo in public. He'll be back after this next transfer starts, so I might be somewhere else in Germany by then. He informed me that in the event that I get transferred out of Berlin, he will come and find me. I've probably had a little over an hour of contact with the guy and I'm like his favorite person in the world. You've gotta love him, though.
Hey, today is day number 144 which has a square root of 12. Not bad.
We had a few plans to teach some people but those appointments ended up falling through. We just explored apartment buildings with mailboxes on the outside so we could drop off more cards. On the way to Beusselstraße, some guy comes up to me and points at my nametag and asks "does that say 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?'" I'm like you're dang right! He's a member from Nigeria who lives in Leipzig but is up here for a week. Turns out the Neukölln Sisters have an investigator from Nigeria. Actually she's the one that spoke Chinese with me at the Christmas party. Anyways, this member and his family would love to come to the English Branch so it would be so great to have this investigator meet with them! Perfection!
星期日,一月7号(第145天)
Sonntag 7. Januar 2018
Early wakeup again. Elder Wride was needed for a Spanish thing in Glienicke and I had to come with. We woke up at 5:30am because Elder Wride thought we needed a lot of time to get ready. He forgot to take into account that it's Fast Sunday so we won't have breakfast. Silly him. While it was still very dark, we headed on up. This would be my second full on German Church session. We had to stay all three hours even though Elder Wride was needed only for Sacrament meeting at first. Turns out he also had to translate during the second hour for a man who was just baptized last night but was getting confirmed today. It was in German and Spanish and I cannot tell you how isolated it felt at times. I was actually able to understand a lot of the Spanish that was going around, but more so the German. I even learned a few new German words. Now I think I can teach a very simple 1-minute lesson on what a Priesthood holder is in German.
Since we weren't informed we had to stay all three hours, we were a little bit late to the English Branch. But that is okay. In Elder's Quorum we had a huge discussion on how the members can help the missionaries in their efforts and that was great. They've made a meal chart for when people are available for team teaching and such. This work is moving forward.
After church we resumed our Chinese Skypes after having to take a break for the holidays. It was nice to have some official practice again.
星期一,一月8号(第146天)今天!
Monday 8. Januar. Heute!
I took a nap today. Bought groceries. Went to an Arabic chicken restaurant and it was good. That Indian guy randomly called me from India. He is an interesting fellow. Kind of just a relaxing day for us. Oh, but on the bus to the church I saw a guy wearing a Seahawks hat and I had to talk to him. He's German, but I guess American football is getting more popular here. He's a big Hawks fan and he appreciated me being from Seattle. Also come to think of it, that Indian guy wore a Seahawks hat because he knows I'm from Seattle so he wanted to make me happy. Haha he's such a bro.
Btw I'm also teaching myself how to play piano. Elder Wride has agreed to help me on Mondays. We'll see how it goes. I just want to at least be able to play some hymns for meetings as a last resort that there is no one else who can play.
Have a great week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,一月2号(第140天)
Dienstag 2. Januar 2018
Today was another district leader Tausch. Elder Wride went with Elder Bacher while Elder Alves and I tagged together. We started off the day with shopping. Actually. Yesterday was p-day, but it was also New Year's day, which meant everything was closed. After a little bit of shopping, we came back to the apartment to clean up since we were going to have an inspection! Our apartment is big, and many people have lived in it, so there was a lot to clean up and organize. Don't get me wrong, we clean every week, but for things like deep cleaning and the organizing of the shelf of randomness which contains stuff in many languages that we don't even need. In addition, there is a bunch of junk left behind from other missionaries. Problem is, we shouldn't throw it away - it's not that kind of material; and I can't take any of it because I have zero room for any extra stuff. I'd say we did a spectacular job. The other Elders used vinegar to clean a lot and I absolutely hate the smell of it, so I sprayed a good account of Febreze around the place. The inspectors came and were nit picky on a few details, but overall it was great. Of course, I couldn't understand most of what these people were saying, but they seemed happy.
Elder Alves and I headed out to greet our Chinese friends. They were going to feed us lunch again at their place. Elder Alves attempted chopsticks, but failed. The one Chinese guy who brought the Korean girl to our last dinner said he would have to cut the lesson short since he had a date with her later. I totally called it! The other Chinese guy who came from Australia and I were trying each other that we think she was going to be his girlfriend and we were right! We're so good at this kind of stuff. Well, it was a good lesson with them, but when I saw one of them drifting off into sleep, I decided it was a good stopping point.
We headed over to the church to finish up some studies. Elder Alves planned on hosting a breakdancing class tonight. He got a couple people to show up, and more want to come next week. While he was busting out some moves, I was on the gym stage trying to translate the Chinese Restoration pamphlet into pinyin so that I could actually read it. The pamphlets contain more modern language so if I study those more, it will hopefully make a lot more sense when I talk to people.
星期三,一月3号(第141天)
Mittwoch 3. Januar 2018
We were in the middle of talking this morning when Elder Wride received a text. He told us that our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson had passed away. We were all silent.
*President Monson was truly a great person. You'd think that this kind of information would pain someone, but it doesn't. Yes, his mortal life is over, but think of how much joy he has being with his dear wife again! He faithfully led the church under the guidance of God. His incredible example of loving and serving people will live on. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue on with a new prophet called of our Heavenly Father because it is the true church on this Earth. There's nothing to be sad about. Thank you, President Monson.*
In preparing for our district meeting, we went into our usual room that was closed. When we walked in, it was colder than the other rooms. Elder Wride comes in and complains that it's too cold; to which I tell him it's because he's from California that everything normal temperature seems cold. Then a sister comes in and complains much like Elder Wride; to which I tell her it's because she's from Arizona that everything less than 1000 degrees seems cold. I was on a roasting spree.
Again, lunch at the Turkish burger place. In walking there I was the only person without a hood or an umbrella in the pouring rain. Yet I was the only one smiling.
Elder Wride had to go up to Glienicke with the Zone Leaders, which left Elder Alves to tarry with us.
Afterwards, our journeys took us to the Carson family (where we had Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners). Their oldest son is preparing for a mission, so they came to us with a lot of logistical questions since this is their first missionary they're sending off.
星期四,一月4号(第142天)
Donnerstag 4. Januar 2018
Still with Elder Alves. Elder Wride called last night to tell us that what he was up there and got delayed a whole day and there was no point in coming all the way back.
Bright and early start to the morning. A less active member requested we help him out with his moving process. He and everyone associated with only spoke German, which was great since they made me the guy who was taking directions on how to take apart most of the furniture. My German is pretty bad, and my carpentry German is even worse. Whatever I survived and that's all that matters. It's just funny how they kept talking to me even when I would only respond with yes the whole time.
And next I had my first German appointment with an investigator. Surprising, huh? It was Elder Alves's investigator, but since Elder Wride wasn't here, he needed Elder Bacher and I. I read through his file to get some info. This guy was investigating the church a couple years ago and one day handed back the Book of Mormon and said I can't do it anymore. So I was expecting this not to go well. Even though I understood 7% of what was going on, I could tell he actually had a testimony. I think the guy just needed some clarifications on certain subjects.
We also had to attend institute tonight, being with Elder Alves. One of the Chinese friends actually showed up! When everyone separated for individual classes, we went to the English one for the Chinese guy. The lesson was great. We basically took apart a conference talk and went over its behind-the-scenes lessons. Made me think how cool conference talks are since we can pick apart their messages like scriptures. It was also great because we discussed some things about President Monson and the next steps the remaining Apostles will take. This made a great mini lesson for the Chinese guy on the organization of the church and its leadership. The teacher even mentioned how President Nelson is most likely going to be the next prophet and how he can speak Chinese and he could potentially open up China. She looked right at me when saying that. If that happens, I wonder if I'd be sent off to help out in mainland China. I won't dwell on it too long, though. I've got work here to do.
星期五,一月5号(第143天)
Freitag 5. Januar 2018
Elder Wride and Elder Alves had their Spanish Tausch today, which meant two other Spanish speaking Elders would come here to do Spanish stuff and things. This time our visitors were Elder Earl and Elder Mehr.
Now let me tell you something. Elder Mehr used to live in this apartment. In fact, right before I got here he was assigned here. He was taken away from Tiergarten because the Poland mission next-door needed an extra missionary for something urgent and he was the one they sent. He was there in Poland for my first transfer here and then came back to Germany, but to Bergedorf (near Hamburg) instead of Tiergarten. Because of such a sudden change he had to leave behind a bunch of items here. So much junk here in this apartment is his. I understand his reasoning for leaving so much, but he didn't even like put all of his belongings in a box, or even a pile, or even leave a list of what was his. It was just scattered all over the apartment! When I got here there was a ukulele just sitting here. I thought "how cool! I'll learn how to play uke or something!" I was learning some cool stuff until Elder Castillo comes on a Spanish Tausch and states that he has been asked by some "Elder Mehr" to retrieve his uke. I was so saddened. Turns out that almost half of the items in this place were his. My opinion was that if he wasn't even dignified to leave so much as a note, he couldn't have his stuff back that he just piles everywhere around the apartment. What, does he expect us to be his personal helpers for his storage unit? I wasn't gonna have it with this guy. Needless to say, I didn't really like him; and I hadn't even meet him yet. Well, he came today. And boy is he like the coolest person I've ever met! He and I could not stop cracking jokes with each other. He even brought a giant suitcase to gather up all of his stuff that he left behind. What a chill dude. The only problem with him was that he's a Packers fan, which is okay, we all have our own crosses to bear. Anyway, yeah, moral of the story is don't judge someone who makes you their storage unit slave before you meet them.
After a bunch of switching around, I got caught up in doing a lesson with an Indian investigator of Elder Wride and Elder Alves. It was me and Elder Alves doing this lesson. They said this Indian talks a lot, and I didn't believe them. But they were totally right. I would ask him a question and he'd be like, "you know, I think people like you and Elder Alves - wait, I almost said 'Elder Elvis' hehe Elvis. You guys like Elvis? You know, I have always listened to his music -" and I would interject and be like "let's stay on topic okay?" It was a good lesson though. He really is an interesting person. He wants to hang out with me when I'm done with my mission and he calls me his brother. Towards the end of the lesson he calls many of his friends and is like, "yo right here are the missionaries and they're like from God and you should totally listen to them of course!" He wants to go into music development which is kinda what I like. I made the mistake of saying that. He wouldn't stop talking about that. I'll admit, I made a mistake there. I'll take the blame.
星期六,一月6号(第144天)
Samstag 6. Januar 2018
Elder Mehr also has a onesie. We were up to three onesie personages this morning. Too bad his was the Packers.
That Indian guy called us and wanted to meet him at the airport to say goodbye to him. He told us last night that he was going to go back home in New Delhi for a couple weeks. We met up with him at Flughafen Tegel before he went through security, and he does not mind being a weirdo in public. He'll be back after this next transfer starts, so I might be somewhere else in Germany by then. He informed me that in the event that I get transferred out of Berlin, he will come and find me. I've probably had a little over an hour of contact with the guy and I'm like his favorite person in the world. You've gotta love him, though.
Hey, today is day number 144 which has a square root of 12. Not bad.
We had a few plans to teach some people but those appointments ended up falling through. We just explored apartment buildings with mailboxes on the outside so we could drop off more cards. On the way to Beusselstraße, some guy comes up to me and points at my nametag and asks "does that say 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?'" I'm like you're dang right! He's a member from Nigeria who lives in Leipzig but is up here for a week. Turns out the Neukölln Sisters have an investigator from Nigeria. Actually she's the one that spoke Chinese with me at the Christmas party. Anyways, this member and his family would love to come to the English Branch so it would be so great to have this investigator meet with them! Perfection!
星期日,一月7号(第145天)
Sonntag 7. Januar 2018
Early wakeup again. Elder Wride was needed for a Spanish thing in Glienicke and I had to come with. We woke up at 5:30am because Elder Wride thought we needed a lot of time to get ready. He forgot to take into account that it's Fast Sunday so we won't have breakfast. Silly him. While it was still very dark, we headed on up. This would be my second full on German Church session. We had to stay all three hours even though Elder Wride was needed only for Sacrament meeting at first. Turns out he also had to translate during the second hour for a man who was just baptized last night but was getting confirmed today. It was in German and Spanish and I cannot tell you how isolated it felt at times. I was actually able to understand a lot of the Spanish that was going around, but more so the German. I even learned a few new German words. Now I think I can teach a very simple 1-minute lesson on what a Priesthood holder is in German.
Since we weren't informed we had to stay all three hours, we were a little bit late to the English Branch. But that is okay. In Elder's Quorum we had a huge discussion on how the members can help the missionaries in their efforts and that was great. They've made a meal chart for when people are available for team teaching and such. This work is moving forward.
After church we resumed our Chinese Skypes after having to take a break for the holidays. It was nice to have some official practice again.
星期一,一月8号(第146天)今天!
Monday 8. Januar. Heute!
I took a nap today. Bought groceries. Went to an Arabic chicken restaurant and it was good. That Indian guy randomly called me from India. He is an interesting fellow. Kind of just a relaxing day for us. Oh, but on the bus to the church I saw a guy wearing a Seahawks hat and I had to talk to him. He's German, but I guess American football is getting more popular here. He's a big Hawks fan and he appreciated me being from Seattle. Also come to think of it, that Indian guy wore a Seahawks hat because he knows I'm from Seattle so he wanted to make me happy. Haha he's such a bro.
Btw I'm also teaching myself how to play piano. Elder Wride has agreed to help me on Mondays. We'll see how it goes. I just want to at least be able to play some hymns for meetings as a last resort that there is no one else who can play.
Have a great week!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 20
Frohes Neues Jahr!
Happy New Year!
新年快乐!
星期四,十二月28号(第135天)
Donnerstag 28. Dezember 2017
We had a surprise zone meeting that trumped our district meeting. I guess they needed to gather everyone for something important. The Neukölln Sisters even called us right before it and discussed with us a last-minute lesson that we apparently had to teach together. It was going to be on the importance of the English Branch. Everything was going fine until the meeting started and it was in German! They brought up our statistics of this past transfer and our goals for this upcoming one. The Neukölln sisters, along with Elder Bacher and I, got up and did our little lesson. Luckily, the sisters thought it would better if in English for my sake, and we were granted the change. We talked about why we need the English Branch and what miracles we've seen while working hard to find English speakers to build up the branch. I had an experience right after emailing on Wednesday. I got a call that was a weird number and the ID just said California. What kind of person in California would be calling a missionary in Germany? It was a sister from a referral center who was a little troubled. She was like, "I'm sorry,, I just had a list of numbers to call but I've got a Taiwanese person who is living in Berlin who wants to learn more, and I heard you guys have a Chinese speaking Elder there, so I just called this number." And I'm like, "Sister, you are talking to the Berlin Chinese speaking Elder." Random miracles like that will happen if you do everything you can. The Lord will pick up the rest.
A young couple invited us over for dinner tonight, but also wanted our Chinese friends to attend. This is the same couple that laughed for 10 straight minutes about the trombone story. There were originally going to be 2 Chinese people, but one of them had brought a friend, a Korean. This guy, man. He always brings friends to stuff. This Korean girl seems pretty into him, as well, not gonna lie. Good dinner, and Brother Steuer (the husband) tells the visitors that I apparently have a great story about my band. I knew what he was talking about, butt first off, it wasn't my band. He just wanted me to explain what happened to the Stanford band and about the trombone player getting tackled again. In explaining that I had this story, he could not stop cracking up in between words. Man, he's way too obsessed with that. The Korean lady seemed to enjoy herself, and we invited her to church on Sunday. She and the Chinese friends who brought her had to leave early so it was just the Chinese-Australian guy left with us for our little lesson. We taught a little on feeling the Spirit and knowing how we receive answers to our prayers. I wanted to talk about that because I know that was a concern for him earlier. Good lesson. Good food. Great night.
This Chinese friend actually lives very close to where we are. So, he pretty much accompanied us on the way back home. He is a really cool dude, and tells me he's going to visit Seattle when I'm back. My weird mission call really is true since I feel the most happy when I'm with Chinese people.
星期五,十二月29号(第136天)
Freitag 29. Dezember 2017
Our Chinese BFFs invited us for lunch at their place, actually. They only live about a 10 minute walk from us. I think we really had a good time with them. They made Chinese food for us along with some barbecue chicken wings. I even used chopsticks for the whole thing! I felt so proud of myself. Elder Bacher didn't want to try Chinese food with chopsticks, so he used a lame fork. Our phones have now been granted access to WeChat which means communication with Asians is going to be a lot easier. After the meal, I gave them a lesson on the 5 principles and ordinances of the gospel. There was one part that one of the Chinese guys was actually ahead on, so I had him teach his friend a tiny bit. I think that's a great way for people to learn. Since I felt they were ready for it, I invited them to baptism! They weren't so sure, but were willing to make it a soft goal. In saying goodbye, I asked them if they wanted to come to a volleyball activity tonight, and they accepted.
We got back to the apartment to get changed into service clothes for a move tonight. I guess someone from the German ward needed help moving into their new place, we offered to help since the other two Elders were going to be busy. On our way there, many people were lighting off New Year's explosives (those kinds of hipster people doing their fireworks too early!) German fireworks are crazy loud, and most of them are illegal in the States. I think New Year's is going to sound like a war zone here. Elder Bacher tells me that drunk people will drop off Böller (firecrackers) from their balconies onto the road. For that reason, on New Year's Eve we are required to be back in our apartment no later than 6pm. Anyway, the moving process was mostly fun, except for the fact that we had to climb 4 flights of stairs because half of the apartments here don't have elevators since they cause cancer, right? Just like how they don't have air conditioning because it causes cancer. German logic.
Right after the Umzug, a member drove us to the church for volleyball. Last time, everyone was like going MLG pro all the way. This time, there were a lot more newer players, which meant less TryHards. So I had a better time at this one. Plus, my Chinese friends came, and they brought that one Korean girl from the other night; and their German isn't as great, so that resulted in more English speaking which I can understand! It seemed like they enjoyed themselves and that's all that matters. I'll have to say, though, I wasn't doing too bad, just saying.
星期六,十二月30号(第137天)
Samstag 30. Dezember 2017
I got a call from some sisters who had a Chinese question. And I was fortunate to have a Chinese answer! I pick up the phone and said nihao, to which they responded with konnichiwa, and I was like, "I'm hanging up now." First I'm called Elder Ching Chang Chong, now people respond to me in Japanese! What has this world come to?
Elder Alves wanted me to join him for soccer while Elder Wride and Elder Bacher would go to a German lesson. However, as soon as I had packed my gym clothes and headed off to the church, they texted saying it was cancelled. Great.
We called that Taiwanese lady we were referred to by that Californian (who keeps in regular contact with us, surprisingly) and she is willing to meet with us on Tuesday!
星期天,十二月31号(第138天)
Sonntag 31. Dezember 2017
Craziness! The Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof was on fire! I mean maybe not on fire, but the inside was completely filled with smoke. Probably because of some people lighting fireworks in there. Everyone was evacuated and smoke was coming out the top! It was pouring out and all over the place. So many people were there just taking videos. Meanwhile, I'm busy talking to a new investigator on the phone about how to get to the church. And it gets crazier since all of the buses were in a bad order due to the accident. There are people everywhere, ambulances screaming all over, I'm now trying to figure out how this guy can get to church with one of the main Bahnhofs out of order. Ah! It was nuts.
Long story short, he made it all the way to the church as bus stop (so the church is like right in front of him) and he couldn't find it and went home! He was right there! He totally should have called us. I guess that's kind of our fault for our Stake center not really looking like a church. I mean I can barely tell it's a LDS building. It doesn't really fit the "standard Mormon protocol" for how it should look. Oh well.
Those crazy fireworks are so loud. Our trip back home was super sketch. People are throwing firecrackers out their balconies onto the roads. Elder Bacher and I had to be really cautious for all of that. Because of many detours, our walk back took a lot longer. Our bus couldn't even take us back due to firework accidents. This place is nuts, man! I made it back with all of my limbs intact, and that's all that matters.
Because of all that craziness, we were required to be back in our apartments by 18:00. So we didn't really have much to do. Elder Bacher tells me that fireworks here are so loud that we won't be able to sleep until like 1:00. I just worked on a bunch of Chinese translation stuff and had a quick dinner. Fireworks are constantly going off.
It's almost midnight right now. I think Elder Bacher and Elder Alves are asleep. I don't understand how they can sleep. Elder Wride and I are just watching the chaos and it's great. It sounds like World War II outside; World War III if we open a window. We don't have a great view, but what we have is pretty fun. There are a lot of hand-launching fireworks that people will aim at buildings, to minimize risk of getting one of those popped into our apartment, the windows stay closed. I'll have to say, the fireworks in the States seem much bigger, even if they're not as loud. Then again, I'm in just a simple neighborhood. My favorite explosive is actually the one that this guy across the street keeps throwing. It's nothing special, but it's like a grenade that goes green for a bit, goes away, then suddenly explodes and it's very bright. Elder Wride and I are playing a game where when that guy throws it, we have to try and close our eyes before the final big flash. I keep failing and am a little too late every time. Cool stuff, bro.
Goodbye 2017! Hello 2018! Because new year's goals are meant to fail, I'm going to make one goal that I can focus better on. Hopefully everyone does well on theirs ;) starting up my mission year - the whole year that I will be away from home.
Let it be known that I started off 2018 on a kitchen table in my Spiderman onesie right next to Pikachu.
Going to bed, finally.
星期一,一月1号(第139天)今天!
Montag 1. Januar 2018. Heute!
First day of 2018 and we spent it cleaning. We've got an apartment inspection tomorrow so we had to tidy up the place. I took the liberty of gathering all of the various copies of the Book of Mormon we have. It turns out we have almost 50 different languages here in this place!
Kind of a boring p-day to be honest. Stores aren't even open so we can't do much. But that's okay. It's a new year!
Have a great start to your 2018!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Frohes Neues Jahr!
Happy New Year!
新年快乐!
星期四,十二月28号(第135天)
Donnerstag 28. Dezember 2017
We had a surprise zone meeting that trumped our district meeting. I guess they needed to gather everyone for something important. The Neukölln Sisters even called us right before it and discussed with us a last-minute lesson that we apparently had to teach together. It was going to be on the importance of the English Branch. Everything was going fine until the meeting started and it was in German! They brought up our statistics of this past transfer and our goals for this upcoming one. The Neukölln sisters, along with Elder Bacher and I, got up and did our little lesson. Luckily, the sisters thought it would better if in English for my sake, and we were granted the change. We talked about why we need the English Branch and what miracles we've seen while working hard to find English speakers to build up the branch. I had an experience right after emailing on Wednesday. I got a call that was a weird number and the ID just said California. What kind of person in California would be calling a missionary in Germany? It was a sister from a referral center who was a little troubled. She was like, "I'm sorry,, I just had a list of numbers to call but I've got a Taiwanese person who is living in Berlin who wants to learn more, and I heard you guys have a Chinese speaking Elder there, so I just called this number." And I'm like, "Sister, you are talking to the Berlin Chinese speaking Elder." Random miracles like that will happen if you do everything you can. The Lord will pick up the rest.
A young couple invited us over for dinner tonight, but also wanted our Chinese friends to attend. This is the same couple that laughed for 10 straight minutes about the trombone story. There were originally going to be 2 Chinese people, but one of them had brought a friend, a Korean. This guy, man. He always brings friends to stuff. This Korean girl seems pretty into him, as well, not gonna lie. Good dinner, and Brother Steuer (the husband) tells the visitors that I apparently have a great story about my band. I knew what he was talking about, butt first off, it wasn't my band. He just wanted me to explain what happened to the Stanford band and about the trombone player getting tackled again. In explaining that I had this story, he could not stop cracking up in between words. Man, he's way too obsessed with that. The Korean lady seemed to enjoy herself, and we invited her to church on Sunday. She and the Chinese friends who brought her had to leave early so it was just the Chinese-Australian guy left with us for our little lesson. We taught a little on feeling the Spirit and knowing how we receive answers to our prayers. I wanted to talk about that because I know that was a concern for him earlier. Good lesson. Good food. Great night.
This Chinese friend actually lives very close to where we are. So, he pretty much accompanied us on the way back home. He is a really cool dude, and tells me he's going to visit Seattle when I'm back. My weird mission call really is true since I feel the most happy when I'm with Chinese people.
星期五,十二月29号(第136天)
Freitag 29. Dezember 2017
Our Chinese BFFs invited us for lunch at their place, actually. They only live about a 10 minute walk from us. I think we really had a good time with them. They made Chinese food for us along with some barbecue chicken wings. I even used chopsticks for the whole thing! I felt so proud of myself. Elder Bacher didn't want to try Chinese food with chopsticks, so he used a lame fork. Our phones have now been granted access to WeChat which means communication with Asians is going to be a lot easier. After the meal, I gave them a lesson on the 5 principles and ordinances of the gospel. There was one part that one of the Chinese guys was actually ahead on, so I had him teach his friend a tiny bit. I think that's a great way for people to learn. Since I felt they were ready for it, I invited them to baptism! They weren't so sure, but were willing to make it a soft goal. In saying goodbye, I asked them if they wanted to come to a volleyball activity tonight, and they accepted.
We got back to the apartment to get changed into service clothes for a move tonight. I guess someone from the German ward needed help moving into their new place, we offered to help since the other two Elders were going to be busy. On our way there, many people were lighting off New Year's explosives (those kinds of hipster people doing their fireworks too early!) German fireworks are crazy loud, and most of them are illegal in the States. I think New Year's is going to sound like a war zone here. Elder Bacher tells me that drunk people will drop off Böller (firecrackers) from their balconies onto the road. For that reason, on New Year's Eve we are required to be back in our apartment no later than 6pm. Anyway, the moving process was mostly fun, except for the fact that we had to climb 4 flights of stairs because half of the apartments here don't have elevators since they cause cancer, right? Just like how they don't have air conditioning because it causes cancer. German logic.
Right after the Umzug, a member drove us to the church for volleyball. Last time, everyone was like going MLG pro all the way. This time, there were a lot more newer players, which meant less TryHards. So I had a better time at this one. Plus, my Chinese friends came, and they brought that one Korean girl from the other night; and their German isn't as great, so that resulted in more English speaking which I can understand! It seemed like they enjoyed themselves and that's all that matters. I'll have to say, though, I wasn't doing too bad, just saying.
星期六,十二月30号(第137天)
Samstag 30. Dezember 2017
I got a call from some sisters who had a Chinese question. And I was fortunate to have a Chinese answer! I pick up the phone and said nihao, to which they responded with konnichiwa, and I was like, "I'm hanging up now." First I'm called Elder Ching Chang Chong, now people respond to me in Japanese! What has this world come to?
Elder Alves wanted me to join him for soccer while Elder Wride and Elder Bacher would go to a German lesson. However, as soon as I had packed my gym clothes and headed off to the church, they texted saying it was cancelled. Great.
We called that Taiwanese lady we were referred to by that Californian (who keeps in regular contact with us, surprisingly) and she is willing to meet with us on Tuesday!
星期天,十二月31号(第138天)
Sonntag 31. Dezember 2017
Craziness! The Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof was on fire! I mean maybe not on fire, but the inside was completely filled with smoke. Probably because of some people lighting fireworks in there. Everyone was evacuated and smoke was coming out the top! It was pouring out and all over the place. So many people were there just taking videos. Meanwhile, I'm busy talking to a new investigator on the phone about how to get to the church. And it gets crazier since all of the buses were in a bad order due to the accident. There are people everywhere, ambulances screaming all over, I'm now trying to figure out how this guy can get to church with one of the main Bahnhofs out of order. Ah! It was nuts.
Long story short, he made it all the way to the church as bus stop (so the church is like right in front of him) and he couldn't find it and went home! He was right there! He totally should have called us. I guess that's kind of our fault for our Stake center not really looking like a church. I mean I can barely tell it's a LDS building. It doesn't really fit the "standard Mormon protocol" for how it should look. Oh well.
Those crazy fireworks are so loud. Our trip back home was super sketch. People are throwing firecrackers out their balconies onto the roads. Elder Bacher and I had to be really cautious for all of that. Because of many detours, our walk back took a lot longer. Our bus couldn't even take us back due to firework accidents. This place is nuts, man! I made it back with all of my limbs intact, and that's all that matters.
Because of all that craziness, we were required to be back in our apartments by 18:00. So we didn't really have much to do. Elder Bacher tells me that fireworks here are so loud that we won't be able to sleep until like 1:00. I just worked on a bunch of Chinese translation stuff and had a quick dinner. Fireworks are constantly going off.
It's almost midnight right now. I think Elder Bacher and Elder Alves are asleep. I don't understand how they can sleep. Elder Wride and I are just watching the chaos and it's great. It sounds like World War II outside; World War III if we open a window. We don't have a great view, but what we have is pretty fun. There are a lot of hand-launching fireworks that people will aim at buildings, to minimize risk of getting one of those popped into our apartment, the windows stay closed. I'll have to say, the fireworks in the States seem much bigger, even if they're not as loud. Then again, I'm in just a simple neighborhood. My favorite explosive is actually the one that this guy across the street keeps throwing. It's nothing special, but it's like a grenade that goes green for a bit, goes away, then suddenly explodes and it's very bright. Elder Wride and I are playing a game where when that guy throws it, we have to try and close our eyes before the final big flash. I keep failing and am a little too late every time. Cool stuff, bro.
Goodbye 2017! Hello 2018! Because new year's goals are meant to fail, I'm going to make one goal that I can focus better on. Hopefully everyone does well on theirs ;) starting up my mission year - the whole year that I will be away from home.
Let it be known that I started off 2018 on a kitchen table in my Spiderman onesie right next to Pikachu.
Going to bed, finally.
星期一,一月1号(第139天)今天!
Montag 1. Januar 2018. Heute!
First day of 2018 and we spent it cleaning. We've got an apartment inspection tomorrow so we had to tidy up the place. I took the liberty of gathering all of the various copies of the Book of Mormon we have. It turns out we have almost 50 different languages here in this place!
Kind of a boring p-day to be honest. Stores aren't even open so we can't do much. But that's okay. It's a new year!
Have a great start to your 2018!
Liebe Grüße,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 19
星期二,十二月19号(第126天)
Dienstag 19. Dezember 2017
Crazy day! Let me tell you. We had planned on meeting with those three Chinese people today, and they wanted to meet up at the Volkswagon Library on their college campus. We get there, and walk through to try and find them. It felt really weird to be in there since it reminds me of being at UW (in a good way). But while walking through, some staff lady comes up to us and tells us that we were supposed to leave our bags and jackets at the front. I totally wasn't cool with that because I hate leaving my stuff where people can take it, so when we met up with the friends, I asked them if we could meet somewhere else close by since we couldn't have our bags and the library was a lot more quiet than I thought it was going to be. We head over to some cafe and one of these three Chinese guys actually called a friend to join. So now we had four of them! We started to teach them when about 5 minutes in, that friend they brought called over 2 other friends! A total of six Chinese people were being taught at that moment. It was rather scary being surrounded like that. It was a good lesson with all of them, but unfortunately two of the extra people that came are only here for a week or so. Maybe we can get them to come to a church activity or something. They were sorry about it, but some of them kept laughing at my Chinese accent. I told Elder Hsu about it later and he said to just tell them to speak English and then as soon as they do, laugh at them. I think Elder Hsu is a little mean ;)
Elder Hacking came by tonight. Haven't seen him since we dropped him off at the Hauptbahnhof last transfer. He is getting a new trainee so he's got to go to Freiberg to greet this new missionary. It's truly great to see him again.
星期三,十二月20号(第127天)
Mittwoch 20. Dezember 2017
Woke up early to take Elder Hacking yet again to the Hauptbahnhof. Since no one seems to be a morning person, Elder Wride and I had to take him. He even left a cute little note for me back on my desk. He must've done that last night.
So we've given out a lot of LightTheWorld cards by now. Yet we still have about 1000 left in 5 or so languages to give away by the 23rd. Needless to say, we had a massive card stamping party and only got through a quarter of them. Elder Alves and I scoped out Seestraße and a couple places near Zoologischer Garten. We went to one Chinese restaurant and I asked the women working there in Mandarin if I could leave some Chinese cards there. She handed me some advertisements for the restaurant so I must've asked if I could have some cards. I'll have to work on that.
Another lesson with the Lithuanian. He's doing super well. He calls us his angels which I guess is good to know that we're really turning his life around and he's becoming happier, but we've got to get him some friends in the church because we won't be here forever.
We got a call at like 10pm that we were going to have company again tonight. It's so last-minute this time because these two Elders I guess got lost so we were the closest place to go. They seem pretty chill. They're both only on their 3rd or 4th transfer which is still pretty new.
星期四,十二月21号(第128天)
Donnerstag 21. Dezember 2017
Again on opening-up-church-duty. Another district has their meeting today. Since it's transfer week, we've moved ours to Friday.
Elder Bacher and I attempted an English fast where we only speak German. His Chinese is not nearly as good as my German to just only speak that language so we're going to focus on improving my Deutsch. I can converse a lot better than I thought I could, it's really basic though. And I still have problems understanding.
We went to a really sketchy place near this industrialized area. It had a ton of huge apartment complexes though. There were so many mailboxes to check the names. We found perhaps 30 or so Vietnamese names but no Chinese. I was so puzzled, but we found about 5 Vietnamese restaurants and an Asian mall nearby so that explains some things. Shoot, man. Maybe we should start up a Vietnamese language program here.
星期五,十二月22号(第129天)
Freitag 22. Dezember 2017
After our quick weekly planning session, we headed over to the church for a district lunch. Our lunches are normally after our meetings, but this time Elder and Sister Lipp cooked for all of us! It kind of reminded me of a Thanksgiving dinner, but it was nonetheless delicious.
Our district meeting was good today, but our lesson given by Elder Lipp was done in German. District meetings are held in English for the sole purpose that I can't speak German and I'm not going to be really learning it. But, Elder Lipp's German is much better than his English so he asked me if he could do it in his mother tongue. I agreed, but I only got the basics of what was going on.
Yaşli Taylor and Yaşli Morrell asked for my "outsider" perspective. Not sure if that's supposed to be an insult, that I'm from Seattle makes me an outsider to those Utah Mormons. Whatever, they just wanted to know if their setup for some very important higher-up Turkish meeting looked non-German. I guess they're dealing with some serious investigators if slight government action is taking place. Good luck to them.
We had a lesson with one of the main three Chinese guys. It was a great time since we had one of our members come to help out. Because he doesn't speak Chinese (and neither does Elder Bacher, really), we did it in English. Any clarifications that were needed I would say in Chinese, but this guy's English is pretty good having lived in Australia and England for school and work. He actually prefers to read the English Book of Mormon rather than the Chinese one since it seems like a better translation. I wonder why…
Definitely a highlight of the day was when Elder Bacher and I had this conversation:
Elder Bacher: have you seen my wallet?
Me: what does it look like?
Elder Bacher: it's camo.
Me: well, how do you expect me to have seen it if it's camouflaged??
星期六,十二月23号(第130天)
Samstag 23. Dezember 2017
The Neukölln sisters have been assigned to help out with the English Branch. Not sure if I mentioned that before, but since there's so much work that needs to be done in the branch, it was decided that two sets of missionaries would be very beneficial. I don't mind. More help is always appreciated. The sisters called today and started speaking to me in German. About halfway through, they remembered I don't speak German and were all apologetic so they switched to English. Maybe I should just start talking at people in Chinese. Let's see how they like it. They just told us about what their plans were to get the branch moving and whatnot and that we should set up at meeting with all of us and the Branch mission leader.
We grabbed some Dunkin' Donuts since I guess Elder Bacher's family has an tradition of eating donuts on the first day of Christmas (the 24th). Since the vast majority of shops in all of Germany will be closed for the three days of Christmas, we had to get them today. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make fondue so I can't carry my family's tradition here. Plus, I kind of don't have access to Google to look things up. If it's one thing I miss, it's being able to find out things quickly with Google. Now, it's all trial and error; and since I may or may not have melted the cutting board last night, I'm not sure if I am doing so great.
Since tomorrow is technically Christmas, we had a good apartment party that night. I put on a bunch of Christmas songs and we danced around our little tree here. You could say we were rockin' around the Christmas Tree. I think we did well for what we had. It was a fun night. I even won both games of Settlers and Bohnanza!
星期天,十二月24号(第131天)
Sontag 24. Dezember 2017
Frohe Weihnachten von Deutschland! Weird celebrating Christmas a day early but I guess three days of it makes up for the weirdness. We opened our presents this morning. Everyone got some really neat stuff. I even got a Bluetooth keyboard from my parents. Now writing is going to be much easier.
We had a special Sacrament session. Church as a whole was only an hour and a half long, being Christmas Eve. There were a bunch of musical performances and the primary sang Away in a Manger. My Chinese friends couldn't make it today, but something else that was cool happened. In the morning I get a call from the Marzahn Elders. They tell me that their Sacrament is about to start, but a Chinese couple randomly showed up there! They called me so that they could hand the phone to them and I could speak with them in Mandarin. I told this woman that we would be having a session of church in English so that they wouldn't have to do it in German. She was totally willing to drive another hour all the way to Tiergarten to attend church here. She also complimented me on my Chinese. They always say that I sound fluent. I just wish I was fluent. Anyway, she and her husband showed up to church and we had a great time with them. The husband is actually a member, while the wife is not, but she was having so much fun. She was taking pictures of the whole thing (which is kinda odd but okay) like the primary and all of the other musical performances. The couple will be here for another week or so and were willing to meet with us so let us see what kind of impression I can leave on the wife before they leave. I guess they're from southern Germany so that's pretty cool.
Right after church, we headed over to a family's house for dinner. It was the same family we visited for Thanksgiving. They gave us some root beer so I was pretty thankful for that. I haven't had root beer in about 3 months. Before starting dinner, they invited us to watch a movie. We're allowed to watch any animated Disney movie. They had a few that I hadn't seen, so I picked out Emperor's New Groove which I have heard it is good. Mainly since Elder Bacher won't ever stop quoting it. We got about 15 minutes in and then dinner was ready. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the movie, but what I saw was really good. They made some homemade eggnog which was crazy delicious and even gave us some eggnog mix for later, as well as some Christmas lights to decorate our apartment.
星期一,十二月25号 (第132天)
Montag 25. Dezember 2017
Happy second day of Christmas from Germany!
Our first activity of the day was to head over to an Italian couple's house for a Christmas lunch. Sara and Vito are our Branch missionaries so they're a huge help. We get there and they have new kittens and it was amazing; not gonna lie. They brought a friend to join and he was one of the most craziest and funniest individuals I've ever met. Sara knew that we had another appointment later that would result in us only staying for not as long as she wanted. It seemed as if she really wanted to one-up our next appointment to make our visit with them greater. She stuffed us full of delicious food and sweets and had Christmas music going in the background. We were actually going to only stay an hour, but due to her tenacity, we ended up staying an extra half hour. They taught me a couple words in Italian, too. They're such a nice couple.
We headed straightaway towards a member of the Stake Presidency's house. It was almost a two hour trip having to go from somewhere in Neukölln all the way to Dahlem. We were an hour late, but they told us that it was okay before because one we had an appointment right before and two because it was just a pop in-pop out party kind of thing. There were so many people there! Perhaps 4 other missionary companionships showed up along with a few random members and nonmembers. So the party was pretty lit with quite a few people. It was a great time, and the family even gave all of the missionaries presents. This wasn't just any ordinary present, it was a bag full of Chips Ahoy, Mac 'n cheese, A&W Root Beer, and enough chips and salsa for a Fiesta. Dope.
Afterwards, Elder Bacher and I arrived back at the stake center to get ready for Skype calls home! Every Mother's Day and Christmas we get to Skype our families back home. Since it's Christmas, we got to do that tonight. It was nice to chat with them, after we got Skype to actually work, but it was just kind of weird since I've gone so long with just emailing and stuff. I think maybe next time I'll prepare more to say so that our time is a little more used well. But yes, of course it was great to talk with them. Definitely ended the night well.
星期二,十二月26号(第133天)
Dienstag 26. Dezember 2017
We pretty much had nothing going on today. We ran out of all appointments and finding is discouraged on the Weihnachtstage, so yeah we didn't have much to do. We still hadn't seen any movies during our allowed movie watching time, and today is technically the last day to do so. A text was sent out to a family that said if we don't have anywhere to go for dinner we could let them know. Unfortunately, they weren't going to be in Berlin for a little bit but would totally have had us over for movies and dinner. We sent another text out to a the couple who referred us to the Chinese chess tournament. They immediately called back and were so happy to have us over; saying that they'd have snacks, board games, movie time, and dinner for us. How nice of them. Being Christmas time, our appointments can be a little longer, so it was going to be a good evening.
The problem was that it takes so long to get to their place, resulting in a lot of travel. We arrive and they had snacks out for us while we chatted (they really wanted to talk about Star Wars), then we played this Camel racing board game, I finally got to finish Emperor's New Groove, they turned on some Sesame Street parodies of real TV shows for their son and those were pretty funny, we had a quick dinner and then we were out. Overall, a super great time. They told us they were lucky to have us because they don't have any family nearby and no plans were made to visit any of them this year, so we were like a blessing for them. They are really into board games which makes them a perfect match for Elder Wride, I think. Right before we headed out, they also gave us a big goodie bag full of candy and stuff. Ah, they're such a nice couple.
星期三,十二月27号 (第134天) 今天!
Mittwoch 27. Dezember 2017. Heute!
We went to the Berliner Dom today. It's a gigantic cathedral here in Berlin close to Alexanderplatz. Being missionaries, we are allowed in with no payment necessary. Dope. Probably one of the coolest things I've seen since I've been here.
This email is probably a mess, but happy holidays and a happy new year!
Love you all and see you in 2018!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,十二月19号(第126天)
Dienstag 19. Dezember 2017
Crazy day! Let me tell you. We had planned on meeting with those three Chinese people today, and they wanted to meet up at the Volkswagon Library on their college campus. We get there, and walk through to try and find them. It felt really weird to be in there since it reminds me of being at UW (in a good way). But while walking through, some staff lady comes up to us and tells us that we were supposed to leave our bags and jackets at the front. I totally wasn't cool with that because I hate leaving my stuff where people can take it, so when we met up with the friends, I asked them if we could meet somewhere else close by since we couldn't have our bags and the library was a lot more quiet than I thought it was going to be. We head over to some cafe and one of these three Chinese guys actually called a friend to join. So now we had four of them! We started to teach them when about 5 minutes in, that friend they brought called over 2 other friends! A total of six Chinese people were being taught at that moment. It was rather scary being surrounded like that. It was a good lesson with all of them, but unfortunately two of the extra people that came are only here for a week or so. Maybe we can get them to come to a church activity or something. They were sorry about it, but some of them kept laughing at my Chinese accent. I told Elder Hsu about it later and he said to just tell them to speak English and then as soon as they do, laugh at them. I think Elder Hsu is a little mean ;)
Elder Hacking came by tonight. Haven't seen him since we dropped him off at the Hauptbahnhof last transfer. He is getting a new trainee so he's got to go to Freiberg to greet this new missionary. It's truly great to see him again.
星期三,十二月20号(第127天)
Mittwoch 20. Dezember 2017
Woke up early to take Elder Hacking yet again to the Hauptbahnhof. Since no one seems to be a morning person, Elder Wride and I had to take him. He even left a cute little note for me back on my desk. He must've done that last night.
So we've given out a lot of LightTheWorld cards by now. Yet we still have about 1000 left in 5 or so languages to give away by the 23rd. Needless to say, we had a massive card stamping party and only got through a quarter of them. Elder Alves and I scoped out Seestraße and a couple places near Zoologischer Garten. We went to one Chinese restaurant and I asked the women working there in Mandarin if I could leave some Chinese cards there. She handed me some advertisements for the restaurant so I must've asked if I could have some cards. I'll have to work on that.
Another lesson with the Lithuanian. He's doing super well. He calls us his angels which I guess is good to know that we're really turning his life around and he's becoming happier, but we've got to get him some friends in the church because we won't be here forever.
We got a call at like 10pm that we were going to have company again tonight. It's so last-minute this time because these two Elders I guess got lost so we were the closest place to go. They seem pretty chill. They're both only on their 3rd or 4th transfer which is still pretty new.
星期四,十二月21号(第128天)
Donnerstag 21. Dezember 2017
Again on opening-up-church-duty. Another district has their meeting today. Since it's transfer week, we've moved ours to Friday.
Elder Bacher and I attempted an English fast where we only speak German. His Chinese is not nearly as good as my German to just only speak that language so we're going to focus on improving my Deutsch. I can converse a lot better than I thought I could, it's really basic though. And I still have problems understanding.
We went to a really sketchy place near this industrialized area. It had a ton of huge apartment complexes though. There were so many mailboxes to check the names. We found perhaps 30 or so Vietnamese names but no Chinese. I was so puzzled, but we found about 5 Vietnamese restaurants and an Asian mall nearby so that explains some things. Shoot, man. Maybe we should start up a Vietnamese language program here.
星期五,十二月22号(第129天)
Freitag 22. Dezember 2017
After our quick weekly planning session, we headed over to the church for a district lunch. Our lunches are normally after our meetings, but this time Elder and Sister Lipp cooked for all of us! It kind of reminded me of a Thanksgiving dinner, but it was nonetheless delicious.
Our district meeting was good today, but our lesson given by Elder Lipp was done in German. District meetings are held in English for the sole purpose that I can't speak German and I'm not going to be really learning it. But, Elder Lipp's German is much better than his English so he asked me if he could do it in his mother tongue. I agreed, but I only got the basics of what was going on.
Yaşli Taylor and Yaşli Morrell asked for my "outsider" perspective. Not sure if that's supposed to be an insult, that I'm from Seattle makes me an outsider to those Utah Mormons. Whatever, they just wanted to know if their setup for some very important higher-up Turkish meeting looked non-German. I guess they're dealing with some serious investigators if slight government action is taking place. Good luck to them.
We had a lesson with one of the main three Chinese guys. It was a great time since we had one of our members come to help out. Because he doesn't speak Chinese (and neither does Elder Bacher, really), we did it in English. Any clarifications that were needed I would say in Chinese, but this guy's English is pretty good having lived in Australia and England for school and work. He actually prefers to read the English Book of Mormon rather than the Chinese one since it seems like a better translation. I wonder why…
Definitely a highlight of the day was when Elder Bacher and I had this conversation:
Elder Bacher: have you seen my wallet?
Me: what does it look like?
Elder Bacher: it's camo.
Me: well, how do you expect me to have seen it if it's camouflaged??
星期六,十二月23号(第130天)
Samstag 23. Dezember 2017
The Neukölln sisters have been assigned to help out with the English Branch. Not sure if I mentioned that before, but since there's so much work that needs to be done in the branch, it was decided that two sets of missionaries would be very beneficial. I don't mind. More help is always appreciated. The sisters called today and started speaking to me in German. About halfway through, they remembered I don't speak German and were all apologetic so they switched to English. Maybe I should just start talking at people in Chinese. Let's see how they like it. They just told us about what their plans were to get the branch moving and whatnot and that we should set up at meeting with all of us and the Branch mission leader.
We grabbed some Dunkin' Donuts since I guess Elder Bacher's family has an tradition of eating donuts on the first day of Christmas (the 24th). Since the vast majority of shops in all of Germany will be closed for the three days of Christmas, we had to get them today. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make fondue so I can't carry my family's tradition here. Plus, I kind of don't have access to Google to look things up. If it's one thing I miss, it's being able to find out things quickly with Google. Now, it's all trial and error; and since I may or may not have melted the cutting board last night, I'm not sure if I am doing so great.
Since tomorrow is technically Christmas, we had a good apartment party that night. I put on a bunch of Christmas songs and we danced around our little tree here. You could say we were rockin' around the Christmas Tree. I think we did well for what we had. It was a fun night. I even won both games of Settlers and Bohnanza!
星期天,十二月24号(第131天)
Sontag 24. Dezember 2017
Frohe Weihnachten von Deutschland! Weird celebrating Christmas a day early but I guess three days of it makes up for the weirdness. We opened our presents this morning. Everyone got some really neat stuff. I even got a Bluetooth keyboard from my parents. Now writing is going to be much easier.
We had a special Sacrament session. Church as a whole was only an hour and a half long, being Christmas Eve. There were a bunch of musical performances and the primary sang Away in a Manger. My Chinese friends couldn't make it today, but something else that was cool happened. In the morning I get a call from the Marzahn Elders. They tell me that their Sacrament is about to start, but a Chinese couple randomly showed up there! They called me so that they could hand the phone to them and I could speak with them in Mandarin. I told this woman that we would be having a session of church in English so that they wouldn't have to do it in German. She was totally willing to drive another hour all the way to Tiergarten to attend church here. She also complimented me on my Chinese. They always say that I sound fluent. I just wish I was fluent. Anyway, she and her husband showed up to church and we had a great time with them. The husband is actually a member, while the wife is not, but she was having so much fun. She was taking pictures of the whole thing (which is kinda odd but okay) like the primary and all of the other musical performances. The couple will be here for another week or so and were willing to meet with us so let us see what kind of impression I can leave on the wife before they leave. I guess they're from southern Germany so that's pretty cool.
Right after church, we headed over to a family's house for dinner. It was the same family we visited for Thanksgiving. They gave us some root beer so I was pretty thankful for that. I haven't had root beer in about 3 months. Before starting dinner, they invited us to watch a movie. We're allowed to watch any animated Disney movie. They had a few that I hadn't seen, so I picked out Emperor's New Groove which I have heard it is good. Mainly since Elder Bacher won't ever stop quoting it. We got about 15 minutes in and then dinner was ready. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the movie, but what I saw was really good. They made some homemade eggnog which was crazy delicious and even gave us some eggnog mix for later, as well as some Christmas lights to decorate our apartment.
星期一,十二月25号 (第132天)
Montag 25. Dezember 2017
Happy second day of Christmas from Germany!
Our first activity of the day was to head over to an Italian couple's house for a Christmas lunch. Sara and Vito are our Branch missionaries so they're a huge help. We get there and they have new kittens and it was amazing; not gonna lie. They brought a friend to join and he was one of the most craziest and funniest individuals I've ever met. Sara knew that we had another appointment later that would result in us only staying for not as long as she wanted. It seemed as if she really wanted to one-up our next appointment to make our visit with them greater. She stuffed us full of delicious food and sweets and had Christmas music going in the background. We were actually going to only stay an hour, but due to her tenacity, we ended up staying an extra half hour. They taught me a couple words in Italian, too. They're such a nice couple.
We headed straightaway towards a member of the Stake Presidency's house. It was almost a two hour trip having to go from somewhere in Neukölln all the way to Dahlem. We were an hour late, but they told us that it was okay before because one we had an appointment right before and two because it was just a pop in-pop out party kind of thing. There were so many people there! Perhaps 4 other missionary companionships showed up along with a few random members and nonmembers. So the party was pretty lit with quite a few people. It was a great time, and the family even gave all of the missionaries presents. This wasn't just any ordinary present, it was a bag full of Chips Ahoy, Mac 'n cheese, A&W Root Beer, and enough chips and salsa for a Fiesta. Dope.
Afterwards, Elder Bacher and I arrived back at the stake center to get ready for Skype calls home! Every Mother's Day and Christmas we get to Skype our families back home. Since it's Christmas, we got to do that tonight. It was nice to chat with them, after we got Skype to actually work, but it was just kind of weird since I've gone so long with just emailing and stuff. I think maybe next time I'll prepare more to say so that our time is a little more used well. But yes, of course it was great to talk with them. Definitely ended the night well.
星期二,十二月26号(第133天)
Dienstag 26. Dezember 2017
We pretty much had nothing going on today. We ran out of all appointments and finding is discouraged on the Weihnachtstage, so yeah we didn't have much to do. We still hadn't seen any movies during our allowed movie watching time, and today is technically the last day to do so. A text was sent out to a family that said if we don't have anywhere to go for dinner we could let them know. Unfortunately, they weren't going to be in Berlin for a little bit but would totally have had us over for movies and dinner. We sent another text out to a the couple who referred us to the Chinese chess tournament. They immediately called back and were so happy to have us over; saying that they'd have snacks, board games, movie time, and dinner for us. How nice of them. Being Christmas time, our appointments can be a little longer, so it was going to be a good evening.
The problem was that it takes so long to get to their place, resulting in a lot of travel. We arrive and they had snacks out for us while we chatted (they really wanted to talk about Star Wars), then we played this Camel racing board game, I finally got to finish Emperor's New Groove, they turned on some Sesame Street parodies of real TV shows for their son and those were pretty funny, we had a quick dinner and then we were out. Overall, a super great time. They told us they were lucky to have us because they don't have any family nearby and no plans were made to visit any of them this year, so we were like a blessing for them. They are really into board games which makes them a perfect match for Elder Wride, I think. Right before we headed out, they also gave us a big goodie bag full of candy and stuff. Ah, they're such a nice couple.
星期三,十二月27号 (第134天) 今天!
Mittwoch 27. Dezember 2017. Heute!
We went to the Berliner Dom today. It's a gigantic cathedral here in Berlin close to Alexanderplatz. Being missionaries, we are allowed in with no payment necessary. Dope. Probably one of the coolest things I've seen since I've been here.
This email is probably a mess, but happy holidays and a happy new year!
Love you all and see you in 2018!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 18
星期二,十二月12号(第119天)
Dienstag 12. Dezember 2017
We went by on a recent convert family. The young men's president asked us to visit them and offer assistance in bringing the son to Wednesday nights. He lives far away and he'd be going by himself so we're going to be an escort for him I guess. So we came to their house and were very surprised to see us. But we've got the boy's number and he's agreed to let us take him to mutual nights. Swag.
星期三,十二月13号(第120天)
Mittwoch 13. Dezember 2017
Our last district caroling day and this time it was in Spandau. Unfortunately, the Neukölln Elders and Sisters were unavailable, so it was just six of us. We prepared cookies before singing to hand out in little baggies with cards attached. All of them ended up being given out so I'd say we were successful.
We all get back to the apartment and Elder Wride and Elder Alves had a lesson to go to. However, Elder Alves didn't have much energy for some reason and I volunteered to go in his behalf. As we headed out, Elder Wride told me it was all going to be in Spanish. I didn't really care, I can't understand much of anything, anyways. We met up with a member who was going to be our joint-teach. Funny thing is he's got a very German last name, yet only speaks Spanish. After our long trip out to Neukölln, we meet this lady at her door. She tells us that her husband would be back in half an hour and might be interested so we waited at the church building there for a while. This woman was meet once by Elder Wride and she was basically a golden investigator. She told him that she wanted to be baptized in their very first lesson. When we come back after a half hour, the husband answers the door. He's completely confused why we're even there. He actually spoke in German so I was able to catch a bit of what was going on. Apparently, from what he was saying, his wife is actually part of some religious Cuban cult and wants nothing to do with us. We didn't even see her during the whole encounter with the husband. We gave him a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and headed away. I thought what was going on was pretty suspicious, but it's not my place to intervene.
星期四,十二月14号(第121天)
Donnerstag 14. Dezember 2017
Elder Bacher and I went by on an area where we've seen a lot of Chinese restaurants and stores. We entered into this furniture store and it ended up actually being more of an antique store. Elder Bacher ended up buying a little dragon statue while I just got a couple Chinese coins. However, even though the managers were Chinese, everyone else who seemed to shop there were German.
Elder Alves and I went on Tausch while the other two went to go pick up some Elders who are staying the night tonight. So we went to Institute. My two Chinese friends I met on Sunday came back for institute! They had actually brought their roommate along with, so now there are three of them. They can never get over how cool they think my name is. They came early and found Elder Wride and Elder Alves there and were like "Where's Murong? We will wait for Murong!" So loyal. Also, apparently Seattle is like a super dope place to Chinese people because of some movie about Beijing and Seattle. Sweet. They're really awesome people to be with. At one point they tell me that I'm "so knowledgeable about the gospel" and that I know everything and stuff (which I don't, but okay). For the activity, since it's the last Institute of 2017, a kind of Christmas party was put together. One of the Chinese guys can play piano and was asked if he could play for our opening hymn. He had no idea what he was doing but that's okay since he was having fun. Other than that, the first part of the activity was to bake cookies and other goodies. We had a lot of fun with that. Afterwards, we could finally get started with the main activity. Unfortunately, it was already 8:30pm, which we had to get back home before 9:30pm. So we had to leave early. Fortunately, I had some time to stay for the Christmas singing part. They invited the Chinese people to sing in Mandarin. Good thing I was there since I got out my tablet and switched it to Chinese for them. To my surprise, they knew a lot of Christmas songs, but they wanted to sing Silent Night. It was just the four of us singing in front of like the 30 Germans there. Really cool moment. I think those Chinese people are having a lot of fun getting involved which is perfect.
We had to leave early so I quickly asked the three Chinese if we could come by at some point and they agreed so we just have to figure out a day and time. But I said goodbye and by this time it was 8:50pm which we really had to get going because it takes half an hour to get home if the buses are running well. I'm ready to leave in a hurry, but Elder Alves is like, oh, I've gotta say goodbye to everyone. There are like 30 to 40 people in there! And he had to talk to all of them personally. Oh man, I didn't know what to do to be nice but still hurry things up. My German is so poor to do much so I would just walk up to whoever he's talking to and would be like, "Es tut uns Leid, we have to get going home." We were almost out the door, finally, when two guys come up to us and start talking. They were offering is a ride back. We gladly accepted and we were on our way home. But for some reason, our driver took the long way back! I had no idea when we would be getting back home. I honestly didn't know what to do. Thankfully, we got back at about 9:25pm, but there was still an eight minute walk to go! And of course Elder Alves and the two guys are chit chatting. They left us and I just start sprinting. Elder Alves followed. We got back at 9:29pm. I'm totally proud of that. But I think it would have been easier if I had decided to leave earlier. I'll have to note that for next time.
Anyway, so we have some two other random Elders staying here tonight for some conference (not zone conference). One of them, however, is from Washington! Sequim, actually. And he totally knows my high school and a few people who went there with me. He also knows someone from the UW band. Turns out that it's the same person I heard who was a trombone player and left on her mission. Small world!
星期五,十二月15号(第122天)
Freitag 15. Dezember 2017
Got a call early in the morning to head to the church and open up. When we got there, people were already there who had opened up so it was kind of a waste. But, I got to meet a bunch of people I had never met before. Some mission leader conference was going on so every single sister training leader and zone leader from the whole mission, including the AP's and President were all there. We didn't have anything to do so we didn't sick around too long.
We actually did one more caroling attempt with most of the district. Today is supposed to be Zone Conference but because of this other conference it was pushed back until 3pm. So we had some time to do stuff. This time for our caroling we went to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). So many people were there, and many of them were taking selfies with us. It was great. The problem was that most of them were of course tourists so they were not sticking around for too long. We also got a lot of videos taken of us. Others were so thankful for what we were doing. I'd say that this was the most fun of the caroling experience. We decided to get lunch right after and it was a mistake to get something to eat right next to the Tor - large touristy areas make things expensive whatever, it was a good time.
All of us arrived at the church a couple hours early from Zone Conference to practice our presentation.
This Zone Conference was a special one entitled "Hoho ZoKo". Probably not hard to guess why. It was primarily in German so I didn't get much, but I think a little more than last one. Our district did our presentation. We sung Lead Kindly Light while building up more people as we sung along so it was too show how we should lift and hero one another so we are all stronger together. I felt cool since I was the bass singer. Elder Wride and I were the only ones that could read music so of course he had to be Tenor and I had to be bass. The others (except for Elder Morrell on the piano) just sang whatever sounded good. I think we did well, but the other districts brought cookies and candy to hand out so we weren't fun in that regard. At one point in the conference, we were going to do a Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer fun activity. But first, they asked what all we knew about Rudolf. Everyone said all of these good things like how Rudolf was a light for Santa and how we need to strive to be like a light. Now, you're supposed to reply in German only, so I raise my hand and say in what little German I know. "He is not allowed to play Monopoly." I guess everyone liked my answer because the room was filled with laughter and fist bumps directed towards me, but it might have been the fact that I can't speak too much German so they were just impressed I at least said something. The activity was really fun. President and Sister Fingerle pulled out a few single chimes and assigned people to them. Then a big thing of sheet music was pulled out. Each note corresponded to one person so it was funny to watch them all try and coordinate and attempt to play Rudolf's song.
I've been all set up for visas and whatnot so the office missionaries handed me back my passport and gave me a temporary driver's license. It only works for six months so I am now tasked with obtaining a real German license. We'll see how that goes.
Tonight was a Chinese Chess night so right after ZoKo I wanted to go there and check it out. Elder Wride, being a big chess guy, came with me while Elder Bacher stayed at the church with Elder Alves. We got to the tournament and the people there were pretty much Germans, though the host spoke Chinese really well. More people came in as we were playing and some of them were Chinese. I guess it was more of a movie night than a game night because about an hour into being there, the host says that they're going to watch a movie. Missionaries aren't allowed to watch movies, so we decided to leave. One guy followed us out and gave us his contact information since he felt like we would make a great addition to the Chinese Chess club.
星期六,十二月16号(第123天)
Samstag 16. Dezember 2017
Another call early in the morning from the zone leaders. This time, they needed us to be with Elder Keller at their Christmas party in Glienicke while Yaşli Taylor goes elsewhere with another completion. It's hard to live the life of a zone leader it seems. We agreed to do it and we meet up with Elder Keller at noon. Our journey up to Glienicke was so long since buses are so slow. We ended up just walking most of the way.
We arrive at the Glienicke ward building early since some of the ward had to tell us what we were doing for this party. I guess we were putting on some kind of show. They only needed two missionaries and since I didn't know what was going on (because German) they made me DJ for this show. One of the brothers takes me to the soundboard and starts explaining to me what I'm supposed to do…in German! There are all these buttons, knobs, and sliders on this soundboard and I can't even understand what he wants me to do. I know he's got his laptop up there and he wants me to hit play on a cue. I picked up what I could and he walks out of the room to join the other two, who are preparing for this thing. So I'm just there behind the soundboard on stage in front of everyone. I see an aux cord that's attached to an iPod (ancient technology) and I'm thinking I need that if I'm to play this song from his laptop. Well, I take it out and try to put it in the laptop and it makes a loud screeching noise since I forgot to take the master volume down. I guess it wasn't too loud since no one seemed to care. So I mess with some buttons and get the thing all plugged in. I see the others walk out into the room and they're wearing 80's rock band dude wigs and tall black hats. When they gave me the cue, I pressed play and the thing worked! The song was a Christmas song from this band called Slade and I thought it was good but it made me think of the 80's and I don't want to go to the 80's, so yeah. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Some of them were singing along which is weird because they're Germans singing this English song that I didn't even know. Whatever, it was fun to watch everyone's reactions.
Right after that, we had to leave early from the Glienicke ward party to head down to Tiergarten for the English branch Christmas party. It was a super dope party, so many visitors were there. Root Beer is nonexistent here so when I saw root beer floats I went in for it. But they ran out so quick! Oh well, the food was great, everyone had a great time, I talked to lots of investigators who want to attend church tomorrow, and I got a picture with Santa. My new Chinese friends showed up a little late but I saved then some food and they were super thankful. They also got a picture with Santa! I also talked with a woman who isn't Chinese, but speaks Chinese. After I was done talking with her some of the sister missionaries come up to me and were like, "we told her that when you talk to her she had to test you on how good your Chinese was." I did not see that coming but this woman said I passed so we're Gucci, I guess. Everyone was so happy. Man, it was a good night.
We also got our transfer calls tonight. I was so scared because of the 3 new Chinese friends I had just made so I didn't want to leave them. Luckily, I'm staying. In fact, barely any changes were made in the mission. It makes sense since it's so close to Christmas. Elder Alves, Elder Bacher, Elder Wride and I are at least sticking together in the apartment. Interesting since I guess it's rare for trainers to stick with their trainees for longer than two transfers. Also this next transfer is going to be 7 weeks due to this one being only 5 weeks.
By the way, today marks the 4th month of my mission.
星期天,十二月17号(第124天)
Sonntag 17. Dezember 2017
Since many other companionships come to the English Branch from all over Berlin, Elder Bacher and I decided to be nice and bring some bread, peanut butter, and jelly for those people who have to travel all day and never get time to eat.
President Fingerle came to church today! Such a surprise! I wonder if he was checking out how missionary work is going in our branch. Well what a surprise it was to him to see my 3 Chinese friends come to church! They had such a great time. I can't believe they know so much about the church and they haven't even started taking lessons. I gave them a Chinese Book of Mormon last week and they've already been reading it and they know all about Joseph Smith and stuff it's like wow they are committed!
Afterwards, we had Chinese Skype and a correlation meeting with the Branch missionaries and all of the full time missionaries here in Berlin. It's such a huge effort we have to make to keep this English Branch going so I'm glad we have everyone on deck.
Our video is out today! Go check it out on the Deutschland Berlin Mission Facebook page! I'd say it turned out great.
星期一,十二月18号(第125天)今天!
Montag 18. Dezember 2017. Heute!
Got another new sweater. Went to the mission office to pick something up. Might have to pick up someone from the Hauptbahnhof tonight. Simple, simple.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,十二月12号(第119天)
Dienstag 12. Dezember 2017
We went by on a recent convert family. The young men's president asked us to visit them and offer assistance in bringing the son to Wednesday nights. He lives far away and he'd be going by himself so we're going to be an escort for him I guess. So we came to their house and were very surprised to see us. But we've got the boy's number and he's agreed to let us take him to mutual nights. Swag.
星期三,十二月13号(第120天)
Mittwoch 13. Dezember 2017
Our last district caroling day and this time it was in Spandau. Unfortunately, the Neukölln Elders and Sisters were unavailable, so it was just six of us. We prepared cookies before singing to hand out in little baggies with cards attached. All of them ended up being given out so I'd say we were successful.
We all get back to the apartment and Elder Wride and Elder Alves had a lesson to go to. However, Elder Alves didn't have much energy for some reason and I volunteered to go in his behalf. As we headed out, Elder Wride told me it was all going to be in Spanish. I didn't really care, I can't understand much of anything, anyways. We met up with a member who was going to be our joint-teach. Funny thing is he's got a very German last name, yet only speaks Spanish. After our long trip out to Neukölln, we meet this lady at her door. She tells us that her husband would be back in half an hour and might be interested so we waited at the church building there for a while. This woman was meet once by Elder Wride and she was basically a golden investigator. She told him that she wanted to be baptized in their very first lesson. When we come back after a half hour, the husband answers the door. He's completely confused why we're even there. He actually spoke in German so I was able to catch a bit of what was going on. Apparently, from what he was saying, his wife is actually part of some religious Cuban cult and wants nothing to do with us. We didn't even see her during the whole encounter with the husband. We gave him a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and headed away. I thought what was going on was pretty suspicious, but it's not my place to intervene.
星期四,十二月14号(第121天)
Donnerstag 14. Dezember 2017
Elder Bacher and I went by on an area where we've seen a lot of Chinese restaurants and stores. We entered into this furniture store and it ended up actually being more of an antique store. Elder Bacher ended up buying a little dragon statue while I just got a couple Chinese coins. However, even though the managers were Chinese, everyone else who seemed to shop there were German.
Elder Alves and I went on Tausch while the other two went to go pick up some Elders who are staying the night tonight. So we went to Institute. My two Chinese friends I met on Sunday came back for institute! They had actually brought their roommate along with, so now there are three of them. They can never get over how cool they think my name is. They came early and found Elder Wride and Elder Alves there and were like "Where's Murong? We will wait for Murong!" So loyal. Also, apparently Seattle is like a super dope place to Chinese people because of some movie about Beijing and Seattle. Sweet. They're really awesome people to be with. At one point they tell me that I'm "so knowledgeable about the gospel" and that I know everything and stuff (which I don't, but okay). For the activity, since it's the last Institute of 2017, a kind of Christmas party was put together. One of the Chinese guys can play piano and was asked if he could play for our opening hymn. He had no idea what he was doing but that's okay since he was having fun. Other than that, the first part of the activity was to bake cookies and other goodies. We had a lot of fun with that. Afterwards, we could finally get started with the main activity. Unfortunately, it was already 8:30pm, which we had to get back home before 9:30pm. So we had to leave early. Fortunately, I had some time to stay for the Christmas singing part. They invited the Chinese people to sing in Mandarin. Good thing I was there since I got out my tablet and switched it to Chinese for them. To my surprise, they knew a lot of Christmas songs, but they wanted to sing Silent Night. It was just the four of us singing in front of like the 30 Germans there. Really cool moment. I think those Chinese people are having a lot of fun getting involved which is perfect.
We had to leave early so I quickly asked the three Chinese if we could come by at some point and they agreed so we just have to figure out a day and time. But I said goodbye and by this time it was 8:50pm which we really had to get going because it takes half an hour to get home if the buses are running well. I'm ready to leave in a hurry, but Elder Alves is like, oh, I've gotta say goodbye to everyone. There are like 30 to 40 people in there! And he had to talk to all of them personally. Oh man, I didn't know what to do to be nice but still hurry things up. My German is so poor to do much so I would just walk up to whoever he's talking to and would be like, "Es tut uns Leid, we have to get going home." We were almost out the door, finally, when two guys come up to us and start talking. They were offering is a ride back. We gladly accepted and we were on our way home. But for some reason, our driver took the long way back! I had no idea when we would be getting back home. I honestly didn't know what to do. Thankfully, we got back at about 9:25pm, but there was still an eight minute walk to go! And of course Elder Alves and the two guys are chit chatting. They left us and I just start sprinting. Elder Alves followed. We got back at 9:29pm. I'm totally proud of that. But I think it would have been easier if I had decided to leave earlier. I'll have to note that for next time.
Anyway, so we have some two other random Elders staying here tonight for some conference (not zone conference). One of them, however, is from Washington! Sequim, actually. And he totally knows my high school and a few people who went there with me. He also knows someone from the UW band. Turns out that it's the same person I heard who was a trombone player and left on her mission. Small world!
星期五,十二月15号(第122天)
Freitag 15. Dezember 2017
Got a call early in the morning to head to the church and open up. When we got there, people were already there who had opened up so it was kind of a waste. But, I got to meet a bunch of people I had never met before. Some mission leader conference was going on so every single sister training leader and zone leader from the whole mission, including the AP's and President were all there. We didn't have anything to do so we didn't sick around too long.
We actually did one more caroling attempt with most of the district. Today is supposed to be Zone Conference but because of this other conference it was pushed back until 3pm. So we had some time to do stuff. This time for our caroling we went to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). So many people were there, and many of them were taking selfies with us. It was great. The problem was that most of them were of course tourists so they were not sticking around for too long. We also got a lot of videos taken of us. Others were so thankful for what we were doing. I'd say that this was the most fun of the caroling experience. We decided to get lunch right after and it was a mistake to get something to eat right next to the Tor - large touristy areas make things expensive whatever, it was a good time.
All of us arrived at the church a couple hours early from Zone Conference to practice our presentation.
This Zone Conference was a special one entitled "Hoho ZoKo". Probably not hard to guess why. It was primarily in German so I didn't get much, but I think a little more than last one. Our district did our presentation. We sung Lead Kindly Light while building up more people as we sung along so it was too show how we should lift and hero one another so we are all stronger together. I felt cool since I was the bass singer. Elder Wride and I were the only ones that could read music so of course he had to be Tenor and I had to be bass. The others (except for Elder Morrell on the piano) just sang whatever sounded good. I think we did well, but the other districts brought cookies and candy to hand out so we weren't fun in that regard. At one point in the conference, we were going to do a Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer fun activity. But first, they asked what all we knew about Rudolf. Everyone said all of these good things like how Rudolf was a light for Santa and how we need to strive to be like a light. Now, you're supposed to reply in German only, so I raise my hand and say in what little German I know. "He is not allowed to play Monopoly." I guess everyone liked my answer because the room was filled with laughter and fist bumps directed towards me, but it might have been the fact that I can't speak too much German so they were just impressed I at least said something. The activity was really fun. President and Sister Fingerle pulled out a few single chimes and assigned people to them. Then a big thing of sheet music was pulled out. Each note corresponded to one person so it was funny to watch them all try and coordinate and attempt to play Rudolf's song.
I've been all set up for visas and whatnot so the office missionaries handed me back my passport and gave me a temporary driver's license. It only works for six months so I am now tasked with obtaining a real German license. We'll see how that goes.
Tonight was a Chinese Chess night so right after ZoKo I wanted to go there and check it out. Elder Wride, being a big chess guy, came with me while Elder Bacher stayed at the church with Elder Alves. We got to the tournament and the people there were pretty much Germans, though the host spoke Chinese really well. More people came in as we were playing and some of them were Chinese. I guess it was more of a movie night than a game night because about an hour into being there, the host says that they're going to watch a movie. Missionaries aren't allowed to watch movies, so we decided to leave. One guy followed us out and gave us his contact information since he felt like we would make a great addition to the Chinese Chess club.
星期六,十二月16号(第123天)
Samstag 16. Dezember 2017
Another call early in the morning from the zone leaders. This time, they needed us to be with Elder Keller at their Christmas party in Glienicke while Yaşli Taylor goes elsewhere with another completion. It's hard to live the life of a zone leader it seems. We agreed to do it and we meet up with Elder Keller at noon. Our journey up to Glienicke was so long since buses are so slow. We ended up just walking most of the way.
We arrive at the Glienicke ward building early since some of the ward had to tell us what we were doing for this party. I guess we were putting on some kind of show. They only needed two missionaries and since I didn't know what was going on (because German) they made me DJ for this show. One of the brothers takes me to the soundboard and starts explaining to me what I'm supposed to do…in German! There are all these buttons, knobs, and sliders on this soundboard and I can't even understand what he wants me to do. I know he's got his laptop up there and he wants me to hit play on a cue. I picked up what I could and he walks out of the room to join the other two, who are preparing for this thing. So I'm just there behind the soundboard on stage in front of everyone. I see an aux cord that's attached to an iPod (ancient technology) and I'm thinking I need that if I'm to play this song from his laptop. Well, I take it out and try to put it in the laptop and it makes a loud screeching noise since I forgot to take the master volume down. I guess it wasn't too loud since no one seemed to care. So I mess with some buttons and get the thing all plugged in. I see the others walk out into the room and they're wearing 80's rock band dude wigs and tall black hats. When they gave me the cue, I pressed play and the thing worked! The song was a Christmas song from this band called Slade and I thought it was good but it made me think of the 80's and I don't want to go to the 80's, so yeah. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Some of them were singing along which is weird because they're Germans singing this English song that I didn't even know. Whatever, it was fun to watch everyone's reactions.
Right after that, we had to leave early from the Glienicke ward party to head down to Tiergarten for the English branch Christmas party. It was a super dope party, so many visitors were there. Root Beer is nonexistent here so when I saw root beer floats I went in for it. But they ran out so quick! Oh well, the food was great, everyone had a great time, I talked to lots of investigators who want to attend church tomorrow, and I got a picture with Santa. My new Chinese friends showed up a little late but I saved then some food and they were super thankful. They also got a picture with Santa! I also talked with a woman who isn't Chinese, but speaks Chinese. After I was done talking with her some of the sister missionaries come up to me and were like, "we told her that when you talk to her she had to test you on how good your Chinese was." I did not see that coming but this woman said I passed so we're Gucci, I guess. Everyone was so happy. Man, it was a good night.
We also got our transfer calls tonight. I was so scared because of the 3 new Chinese friends I had just made so I didn't want to leave them. Luckily, I'm staying. In fact, barely any changes were made in the mission. It makes sense since it's so close to Christmas. Elder Alves, Elder Bacher, Elder Wride and I are at least sticking together in the apartment. Interesting since I guess it's rare for trainers to stick with their trainees for longer than two transfers. Also this next transfer is going to be 7 weeks due to this one being only 5 weeks.
By the way, today marks the 4th month of my mission.
星期天,十二月17号(第124天)
Sonntag 17. Dezember 2017
Since many other companionships come to the English Branch from all over Berlin, Elder Bacher and I decided to be nice and bring some bread, peanut butter, and jelly for those people who have to travel all day and never get time to eat.
President Fingerle came to church today! Such a surprise! I wonder if he was checking out how missionary work is going in our branch. Well what a surprise it was to him to see my 3 Chinese friends come to church! They had such a great time. I can't believe they know so much about the church and they haven't even started taking lessons. I gave them a Chinese Book of Mormon last week and they've already been reading it and they know all about Joseph Smith and stuff it's like wow they are committed!
Afterwards, we had Chinese Skype and a correlation meeting with the Branch missionaries and all of the full time missionaries here in Berlin. It's such a huge effort we have to make to keep this English Branch going so I'm glad we have everyone on deck.
Our video is out today! Go check it out on the Deutschland Berlin Mission Facebook page! I'd say it turned out great.
星期一,十二月18号(第125天)今天!
Montag 18. Dezember 2017. Heute!
Got another new sweater. Went to the mission office to pick something up. Might have to pick up someone from the Hauptbahnhof tonight. Simple, simple.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 17
星期二,十二月6号(第112天)
Dienstag 5. Dezember 2017
We decided to go and check out the John F. Kennedy school since I guess there are a lot of English speakers there. Well, there were. It seems like a very ideal place to talk to people, but we've got to wait for a time during the day when school is just getting out. It also doesn't help that it was raining.
We used a lot of U-Bahns, S-Bahns, and buses to get to the school, but that was a lot of changing. So, we decided for our journey back to look for a bus that just went straight to Zoologischer Garten and then we can take the U-Bahn from there. We found a bus, and an elderly woman hops on midway through our long ride. The bus was packed by the way; very uncomfortable. It made it more awkward when Elder Wride called me and I was now this dumb-looking American talking on the phone in front of everyone. Whatever. This lady hops on, and she does not want to stand. My German isn't great still, but I can usually get the feeling of what people are saying even if I can't translate 100 percent of it. She basically yells at everyone on the bus to move out of her way so that she can sit. I understand, but at the same time so many people had to shuffle over and around each other awkwardly to make sure she gets a seat. She even made someone get out of their seat for her. Everyone pretty much moved to the back of the bus to stand there because they didn't want to be next to her.
星期三,十二月6号(第113天)
Mittwoch 6. Dezember 2017
We planned as a district to have this day be another caroling day. We decided to go to the Rathaus at Neukölln. Almost the same thing, in that we meet beforehand to wrap copies of the Book of Mormon as gifts and then headed on our way. The Neukölln Elders wanted us to be at the ward building at 10am which meant that we had to leave by 9am. It was a much shorter morning. After wrapping at the ward building, we headed to the Rathaus. The sisters were busy in the morning so we met up with them there.
There wasn't too much open space to stand there and sing, so we went to a nearby street corner and started singing. This place isn't as popular as the Weihnachtsmarkt at Alexanderplatz, but there were still quite a few people who stopped and chatted with us. Sadly, no English or Chinese speakers today, but that's okay. It was a lot colder this time and I found myself shivering by the end of our two hours. It made it hard to read German when your music book can't stay still. Still though, totally worth it. I felt like our singing was much better this time. Elder Morrell and I both sang the bass parts together so our little district choir wasn't always singing in unison the whole time. And it made us sound dope, not gonna lie.
We went to a Turkish restaurant about a few blocks away from Rathaus Neukölln for lunch. Elder Morrell, being called Turkish speaking, knows a lot of stuff about the Turkish culture. He made a suggestion for my order and I got it. The food was good, but he made me get this drink called Ayran. Super nasty stuff! It tasted like yogurt that had a truck full of salt dumped into it. Most people drink it with a bite of their food to drown out the flavor. Who comes up with this stuff??! I only got about halfway through it and Elder Morrell complimented me saying a lot of people can't even get that far. I can't imagine why! Then the sisters gave me a thing that looked like a green bean. They told me that it would help my immune system. I just popped it into my mouth and it was the spiciest thing ever! I guess it was a pickled pepper. I started to tear up instantaneously. Oh man, it was terrible. They all just laughed and told me that the Ayran was the only thing I could drink to help the spiciness since the other drink I had was just going to make it worse. Why do I find myself in conundrums like that? I only took a sip of it. I just suffered through the whole thing. It's a good thing I was done with my food. Needless to say, I rewarded myself with a bunch of chocolate when I got back to the apartment for getting through that alive. Yes, I'm weak when it comes to nasty and spicy foodstuffs.
Tonight we were asked to teach a lesson to the young men for their mutual activity. Elder Bacher and I planned ahead for teaching them about how everyone can be a missionary. I even had them role play getting to know someone, inviting them to the Christmas party next week, and sharing a brief testimony. I feel like they really enjoyed the little lesson. Afterwards, we had dodge ball. Super fun. My team was pretty unbeatable for a while, but most of the games kept coming down to just one or two people on both sides. Fight until the end. As an added bonus, this is probably one of the only time I've ever played dodge ball and have not broken my glasses.
星期四,十二月7号(第114天)
Donnerstag 7. Dezember 2017
We made another attempt to visit the member Chinese people. Still, no luck. I think we're going to have to come much later in the day because my guess is that they work all day or something.
While on the bus we just so happened to sit behind a Chinese woman and her friend who was German but seemed to speak Chinese as well. I engaged in conversation with them. I really tried this time to keep the whole chat in Mandarin. What I got was that they're students or something and are here in Berlin for something; it was kinda hard to hear. They were super nice and also told me my Chinese sounds really good. The problem was that I really could not understand their words, and they were even saying stuff I actually know. I've really got to work on my listening skills. At least I was able to give them a card.
The Lithuanian investigator decided that he would make time to meet with us today. He recently got a job and they make him work so much and at totally random times so it's been hard to get another lesson in with him. Elder Wride and one of the Zone Leaders had to go up to Glienicke to conduct a baptismal interview for a Spanish speaker, so Elder Alves was left with us. It was great to have him with us for the lesson. He was tremendous in motivating the guy with his testimony. We finally think his faith has really grown enough and he committed to coming to at least one hour of church on Sunday...it's a start.
After the lesson, we were going to attend institute, but when we arrived back at the stake center, Yaşli Taylor (the Zone Leader not with Elder Wride) looked at me and told me we were going back to the apartment. He said I was going to be an honorary zone leader again for the night. Elder Bacher and Elder Alves stayed for institute while we went to the apartment. Yaşli Taylor had to make a bunch of phone calls with all of the companionships who have someone on a baptismal interview. Side note, turns out our zone has had a baptismal interview every day in the month of December which is totally awesome. Anyway, he made those calls and then realized that Elders Wride and Keller did not have the keys to the Glienicke missionary apartment. They were about two hours away from us so their plan was to go to the apartment and stay the night there. It was 8:30pm and missionaries have to be in their apartments by no later than 9:30pm, for safety reasons. Because they had no keys, and the normal trip by walking and train was going to get them here way past 9:30pm. So, we had a lot of stuff to plan for. They suggested that since we were only an hour away from the Glienicke apartment (and actually had the keys), we should go there and all four of us stay the night there. Now, we've got meetings and interviews at 8am tomorrow, which would make us have to leave from Glienicke by 5am tomorrow. Plus, meetings meant that I'd have to take my suit AND, we're filming another video for the Christmas initiative as a district that requires us to be in regular clothes, so I'd have to grab a pair of street clothes. IN ADDITION, I wasn't even with Elder Bacher, so there would be just way too many moving parts with no missionary being with their actual companion. It was a crazy situation, but luckily we called around and find someone who would at least drive them to the Bahnhof which shaved off over a half hour of travel time. Elder Wride and Elder Keller arrived here at like 9:40pm which wasn't too bad compared to approximately 11pm like the situation we were in before. Super sketch, but we got it all sorted out.
星期五,十二月8号(第115天)
Freitag 8. Dezember 2017
So now we've had people stay the night twice in a row. This time, it was both Yaşli Taylor and Elder Keller here with us. But since we have a district meeting at 9:30am, that meant we had to hustle this morning with the shower.
We arrive at the church in our normal clothes since we were going to record since scenes for our Christmas video (ours will be the 17th on the Deutschland Berlin Mission Facebook page). The task of that day is to "meet together oft" as Jesus taught. So, we did a bunch of filming in the building, outside the church, on the buses, and in the Tiergarten park. No more details other than that, just going to have to wait and watch the video later anyways it was fun and it's going to be great. Next week is zone conference, and we've been given a task as a district to come up with some presentation that has to deal with the LightTheWorld initiative. We're going to sing the song Lead Kindly Light, aber auf Deutsch, and we'll do a thing where we start with one person singing and they gather more people to sing with them until we're all together in the sing. It's to show like not excluding anyone and encouraging them to participate. It's gonna be dope.
After our long district meeting, we had interviews with President Fingerle. Because we had a dinner appointment, and our interviews were going to cut into it, we had to scramble to switch with another companionship for an earlier time. Luckily, we got it figured out. My interview with President was good, but he totally roasted me. He asked me if I've already visited all of the Chinese restaurants and markets and I said no. He wasn't liking that answer. He tells me that I've got to become part of the Chinese culture. I guess he's telling me that I'm am undercover agent which is awesome. He wants me to basically map out all of Berlin with where the Chinese people meet, gather, hang out, whatever it may be. There's no Chinatown here in Berlin so he tells me I've got to find the "underground" Chinatown.
I took his charge and Elder Bacher and I were off to the Chinese culture museum just two buildings down. We went in and asked the person at the front what kinds of activities and events they do there. The guy hands me a bunch of flyers, cards, and newspapers with information on what goes on. Elder Bacher and I took them and we laid them all out on the floor at the church and studied all of these things. Unfortunately, most if the stuff they do there are yearly subscription classes. They even teach basic Chinese (which I am probably way ahead of that in some cases). We did find that they have an open Chinese library that you can visit, and once a month you can go to an event where a bunch of native speakers get together and you can go and talk to them individually. We're definitely going to have to check that out!
Definitely the highlight of the day was our dinner appointment with the Bless family. The husband is German while the wife served in Germany when there was still a Hamburg mission. They are so cool. They played board games with us. I lost every single one. And they gave us a while bunch of information. They talked a lot about history in Germany, learning new languages, and a ton of stuff about local Chinese culture stuff! First off, with the languages, they showed me a book on all these studies of learning new languages. In this book, it scales how hard a language is to learn. It said that Chinese was one of the top hardest to learn for English speakers, especially when it comes to pronunciation. Now, they predicted it would take about 88 days to be able to pronounce all of the sounds. Looking back on it, I felt very comfortable in pronouncing all of the sounds within just a couple weeks at the MTC. Granted, I still wasn't anywhere good at fully speaking the language, but if I were to read pinyin I could definitely sound out everything very well. It just shows how powerful the MTC really is in learning and testifies to me how much help I've received from God. I've had many Chinese people tell me that my speaking sounds super great. They may just be really nice, but after a while it confirms it to me. Back to the stuff they were telling us, they ended our visit with a lot of good ideas for getting involved with the Chinese culture here. They time us if underground Chinese Chess tournaments and Go clubs that we could visit. I'm sure I would be a cause for conversation if I'm this random white guy who speaks a little Chinese and just comes to try and learn their games. Chinese Go is super old and yet so popular. It's so cool how this all works out with President telling me to go out and search for where the Chinese people are gathering and this knowledge I've just received from the Bless'. It means to me that President Fingerle really is called if God to be a guide for me. He knows what's best and what Heavenly Father wants me to do. Man, this is just so awesome. There are no coincidences, only God's careful planning!
Too much writing I've gotta sleep.
星期六,十二月9号(第116天)
Samstag 9. Dezember 2017
Elder Wride and Elder Alves are on Tausch again today. This time, Elder Wride is with Yaşli Morrell down in Neukölln while Elder Alves stays here with Yaşli Backus (another Turkish Elder). They needed us to accompany them to a lunch appointment with a Spanish speaking family, even though we don't speak Spanish. We went there and it was a adult Latino I've seen in the German ward before and her mother who was visiting from Italy. The mother greets me by shaking my hand and giving me a kiss on both cheeks. I was definitely not expecting that. Also, she's like barely four feet tall, so she had to pull me down to her level to do it. I felt so weird I looked at the other two and they gave me a signal that it's normal for that to happen. Still weird. So the mother speaks only Spanish and Italian, while the daughter speaks Spanish and German. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated German since it was the only thing I could actually understand, even if it was to a small degree. They had a big plate of noodles with meat and peas mixed in out for each of us. It was delicious. The four of us totally thought that was the meal since it was so big, but when we finished, they took our plates and started handing out new plates full of huge pieces of Chicken, salad, and fries. We were all so surprised and were worried if we could get through all of this. Then after eating that, finally, they hand out another plate with fruit on it! Following the fruit, they gave us candy! Man that was too much to eat. I'm proud of myself for miraculously getting through all of that food. They were such nice hosts, though. There were so many language barriers up at the same time but we all enjoyed each other's company. The two of them asked me what I knew in Spanish and I mean I told them the 25 or so words that I know, but they were so impressed for some reason. They taught me a couple other words and applauded me at my pronunciation (maybe they just like how I can roll my r's), telling me that I should learn Spanish. I told them I'll add it to the waiting list of all the languages I've got to learn. They were so funny. During that candy scene, they brought out a bowl with slips of paper and we all took one. We were so confused but they told us to open the slips and we did. Everyone else's had a number on it, but mine said premiero grande (something like that) which I think means really big; my guess. Then they see it and get all excited and bring out this huge chocolate Weihnachtsmann. Apparently I had just won a big piece of chocolate without knowing it. So they gave it to me and handed out a bowl of little chocolates to eat. No one else was grabbing them so I just took as many as they wanted me to. I think it's gonna be a good Christmas this year Elder Alves gave a short little lesson to them about charity and then I showed them the LightTheWorld video. In conclusion, we made it out alive. What a lunch that was!
So I mentioned Yaşli Backus earlier. He's another Turkish Elder who was in the MTC group with Yaşli Taylor. He came to our district when Elder Johnson went home this past transfer. Yaşli Backus always keeps a straight face and doesn't talk too much. Not that he's shy or anything. But today in really getting to know him, we talked a lot; almost all day. And he and I just couldn't stop laughing at the stuff we were saying to each other. I don't think I've ever seen him smile as much as he did with me. I think I made a good impression.
In going over our weekly planning, I had a weird feeling to call this referral we got a few days ago. Now, as soon as we got this guy's name and number, we texted him. The next day when he didn't respond, we called him. When we called, it told us that the number was no longer available. So we were quite confused about that. But, when I called him randomly today, it actually went through. He answered and I got an appointment set up with him for next week so we'll be able to finally meet and get to know him. He seems very interested in learning more about the church so let's hope we can help him out.
星期天,十二月10号(第117天)
Sonntag 10. Dezember 2017
Our Lithuanian friend came to church today! He came at a great time, too, because there was hot chocolate being passed around to everybody. While we were singing hymns I would translate my tablet to the LDS hymn into Lithuanian for him so that he could understand the songs a little better.
The Spandau Sisters came with an investigator they hadn't even taught yet which was great. We attended a Gospel Principles class and had the opportunity to explain a bunch of stuff to him. He had so many questions. But the sisters really had little to no contact with him before so he didn't even have a Book of Mormon. I gladly have him the one that I carry around on me just in case. His native language isn't English, but at least it's something to use until we can get a copy in his tongue.
Right after that class, Elder Keller comes up to me and is acting kind of upset. He's all "where have you been? Everyone's been looking for you." I'm all why and he says "because there are Chinese people here!" If only he had just started with that! I was so excited! Turns out two friends from China just happened to randomly show up at church and wanted to go to our next meeting, which would be Priesthood. I talked a lot with them in Mandarin. They're really cool people. The one who lives here is in school and the other is just visiting. They're about my age. And they do speak a good amount of English so they were not totally lost while in the meeting (thank goodness I didn't have to translate 100 percent of the time). They had a good time in the 3rd hour, and afterwards we chatted even more. I gave them a Book of Mormon in Simplified Characters and invited them to attend Family Home Evening, German language class, Institute, our Branch Christmas party, and to church next week. They said they would happily go to every single one of those. They want to get active in pretty much all things we do. It's so awesome. I also got their WhatsApp information so we're connected. If only WeChat was working on the phones.
Zone Leaders are staying here from some place near the Netherlands. I'm not sure why. This is the fourth night in a row that we've had people stay here.
IT'S SNOWING!!!
星期一,十二月11号(第118天)
Montag 11. Dezember 2017
Today is an exciting day. We're finishing up the rest of our video and were playing District volleyball. We also had secret Santa and I got Elder Wride for my person to give a gift to. Turns out, he also had me! It was funny. I wrapped my package for him in a frozen pizza box, a grocery bag, another frozen pizza box of the same size (that took way too long to put together) and wrapping paper. And I wrote his name in cursive. Yep, I'm pretty fancy. But it took him so much struggling to open the whole thing. It was great. I gave him a bunch of those gummy burger things since he loves gummy stuff and he's American so how could he not like burgers? He got me some wax for my hair and Skittles. He's going to teach me how to "make my hair as flawless as his." How nice of him.
Keep on lighting the world, everybody!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,十二月6号(第112天)
Dienstag 5. Dezember 2017
We decided to go and check out the John F. Kennedy school since I guess there are a lot of English speakers there. Well, there were. It seems like a very ideal place to talk to people, but we've got to wait for a time during the day when school is just getting out. It also doesn't help that it was raining.
We used a lot of U-Bahns, S-Bahns, and buses to get to the school, but that was a lot of changing. So, we decided for our journey back to look for a bus that just went straight to Zoologischer Garten and then we can take the U-Bahn from there. We found a bus, and an elderly woman hops on midway through our long ride. The bus was packed by the way; very uncomfortable. It made it more awkward when Elder Wride called me and I was now this dumb-looking American talking on the phone in front of everyone. Whatever. This lady hops on, and she does not want to stand. My German isn't great still, but I can usually get the feeling of what people are saying even if I can't translate 100 percent of it. She basically yells at everyone on the bus to move out of her way so that she can sit. I understand, but at the same time so many people had to shuffle over and around each other awkwardly to make sure she gets a seat. She even made someone get out of their seat for her. Everyone pretty much moved to the back of the bus to stand there because they didn't want to be next to her.
星期三,十二月6号(第113天)
Mittwoch 6. Dezember 2017
We planned as a district to have this day be another caroling day. We decided to go to the Rathaus at Neukölln. Almost the same thing, in that we meet beforehand to wrap copies of the Book of Mormon as gifts and then headed on our way. The Neukölln Elders wanted us to be at the ward building at 10am which meant that we had to leave by 9am. It was a much shorter morning. After wrapping at the ward building, we headed to the Rathaus. The sisters were busy in the morning so we met up with them there.
There wasn't too much open space to stand there and sing, so we went to a nearby street corner and started singing. This place isn't as popular as the Weihnachtsmarkt at Alexanderplatz, but there were still quite a few people who stopped and chatted with us. Sadly, no English or Chinese speakers today, but that's okay. It was a lot colder this time and I found myself shivering by the end of our two hours. It made it hard to read German when your music book can't stay still. Still though, totally worth it. I felt like our singing was much better this time. Elder Morrell and I both sang the bass parts together so our little district choir wasn't always singing in unison the whole time. And it made us sound dope, not gonna lie.
We went to a Turkish restaurant about a few blocks away from Rathaus Neukölln for lunch. Elder Morrell, being called Turkish speaking, knows a lot of stuff about the Turkish culture. He made a suggestion for my order and I got it. The food was good, but he made me get this drink called Ayran. Super nasty stuff! It tasted like yogurt that had a truck full of salt dumped into it. Most people drink it with a bite of their food to drown out the flavor. Who comes up with this stuff??! I only got about halfway through it and Elder Morrell complimented me saying a lot of people can't even get that far. I can't imagine why! Then the sisters gave me a thing that looked like a green bean. They told me that it would help my immune system. I just popped it into my mouth and it was the spiciest thing ever! I guess it was a pickled pepper. I started to tear up instantaneously. Oh man, it was terrible. They all just laughed and told me that the Ayran was the only thing I could drink to help the spiciness since the other drink I had was just going to make it worse. Why do I find myself in conundrums like that? I only took a sip of it. I just suffered through the whole thing. It's a good thing I was done with my food. Needless to say, I rewarded myself with a bunch of chocolate when I got back to the apartment for getting through that alive. Yes, I'm weak when it comes to nasty and spicy foodstuffs.
Tonight we were asked to teach a lesson to the young men for their mutual activity. Elder Bacher and I planned ahead for teaching them about how everyone can be a missionary. I even had them role play getting to know someone, inviting them to the Christmas party next week, and sharing a brief testimony. I feel like they really enjoyed the little lesson. Afterwards, we had dodge ball. Super fun. My team was pretty unbeatable for a while, but most of the games kept coming down to just one or two people on both sides. Fight until the end. As an added bonus, this is probably one of the only time I've ever played dodge ball and have not broken my glasses.
星期四,十二月7号(第114天)
Donnerstag 7. Dezember 2017
We made another attempt to visit the member Chinese people. Still, no luck. I think we're going to have to come much later in the day because my guess is that they work all day or something.
While on the bus we just so happened to sit behind a Chinese woman and her friend who was German but seemed to speak Chinese as well. I engaged in conversation with them. I really tried this time to keep the whole chat in Mandarin. What I got was that they're students or something and are here in Berlin for something; it was kinda hard to hear. They were super nice and also told me my Chinese sounds really good. The problem was that I really could not understand their words, and they were even saying stuff I actually know. I've really got to work on my listening skills. At least I was able to give them a card.
The Lithuanian investigator decided that he would make time to meet with us today. He recently got a job and they make him work so much and at totally random times so it's been hard to get another lesson in with him. Elder Wride and one of the Zone Leaders had to go up to Glienicke to conduct a baptismal interview for a Spanish speaker, so Elder Alves was left with us. It was great to have him with us for the lesson. He was tremendous in motivating the guy with his testimony. We finally think his faith has really grown enough and he committed to coming to at least one hour of church on Sunday...it's a start.
After the lesson, we were going to attend institute, but when we arrived back at the stake center, Yaşli Taylor (the Zone Leader not with Elder Wride) looked at me and told me we were going back to the apartment. He said I was going to be an honorary zone leader again for the night. Elder Bacher and Elder Alves stayed for institute while we went to the apartment. Yaşli Taylor had to make a bunch of phone calls with all of the companionships who have someone on a baptismal interview. Side note, turns out our zone has had a baptismal interview every day in the month of December which is totally awesome. Anyway, he made those calls and then realized that Elders Wride and Keller did not have the keys to the Glienicke missionary apartment. They were about two hours away from us so their plan was to go to the apartment and stay the night there. It was 8:30pm and missionaries have to be in their apartments by no later than 9:30pm, for safety reasons. Because they had no keys, and the normal trip by walking and train was going to get them here way past 9:30pm. So, we had a lot of stuff to plan for. They suggested that since we were only an hour away from the Glienicke apartment (and actually had the keys), we should go there and all four of us stay the night there. Now, we've got meetings and interviews at 8am tomorrow, which would make us have to leave from Glienicke by 5am tomorrow. Plus, meetings meant that I'd have to take my suit AND, we're filming another video for the Christmas initiative as a district that requires us to be in regular clothes, so I'd have to grab a pair of street clothes. IN ADDITION, I wasn't even with Elder Bacher, so there would be just way too many moving parts with no missionary being with their actual companion. It was a crazy situation, but luckily we called around and find someone who would at least drive them to the Bahnhof which shaved off over a half hour of travel time. Elder Wride and Elder Keller arrived here at like 9:40pm which wasn't too bad compared to approximately 11pm like the situation we were in before. Super sketch, but we got it all sorted out.
星期五,十二月8号(第115天)
Freitag 8. Dezember 2017
So now we've had people stay the night twice in a row. This time, it was both Yaşli Taylor and Elder Keller here with us. But since we have a district meeting at 9:30am, that meant we had to hustle this morning with the shower.
We arrive at the church in our normal clothes since we were going to record since scenes for our Christmas video (ours will be the 17th on the Deutschland Berlin Mission Facebook page). The task of that day is to "meet together oft" as Jesus taught. So, we did a bunch of filming in the building, outside the church, on the buses, and in the Tiergarten park. No more details other than that, just going to have to wait and watch the video later anyways it was fun and it's going to be great. Next week is zone conference, and we've been given a task as a district to come up with some presentation that has to deal with the LightTheWorld initiative. We're going to sing the song Lead Kindly Light, aber auf Deutsch, and we'll do a thing where we start with one person singing and they gather more people to sing with them until we're all together in the sing. It's to show like not excluding anyone and encouraging them to participate. It's gonna be dope.
After our long district meeting, we had interviews with President Fingerle. Because we had a dinner appointment, and our interviews were going to cut into it, we had to scramble to switch with another companionship for an earlier time. Luckily, we got it figured out. My interview with President was good, but he totally roasted me. He asked me if I've already visited all of the Chinese restaurants and markets and I said no. He wasn't liking that answer. He tells me that I've got to become part of the Chinese culture. I guess he's telling me that I'm am undercover agent which is awesome. He wants me to basically map out all of Berlin with where the Chinese people meet, gather, hang out, whatever it may be. There's no Chinatown here in Berlin so he tells me I've got to find the "underground" Chinatown.
I took his charge and Elder Bacher and I were off to the Chinese culture museum just two buildings down. We went in and asked the person at the front what kinds of activities and events they do there. The guy hands me a bunch of flyers, cards, and newspapers with information on what goes on. Elder Bacher and I took them and we laid them all out on the floor at the church and studied all of these things. Unfortunately, most if the stuff they do there are yearly subscription classes. They even teach basic Chinese (which I am probably way ahead of that in some cases). We did find that they have an open Chinese library that you can visit, and once a month you can go to an event where a bunch of native speakers get together and you can go and talk to them individually. We're definitely going to have to check that out!
Definitely the highlight of the day was our dinner appointment with the Bless family. The husband is German while the wife served in Germany when there was still a Hamburg mission. They are so cool. They played board games with us. I lost every single one. And they gave us a while bunch of information. They talked a lot about history in Germany, learning new languages, and a ton of stuff about local Chinese culture stuff! First off, with the languages, they showed me a book on all these studies of learning new languages. In this book, it scales how hard a language is to learn. It said that Chinese was one of the top hardest to learn for English speakers, especially when it comes to pronunciation. Now, they predicted it would take about 88 days to be able to pronounce all of the sounds. Looking back on it, I felt very comfortable in pronouncing all of the sounds within just a couple weeks at the MTC. Granted, I still wasn't anywhere good at fully speaking the language, but if I were to read pinyin I could definitely sound out everything very well. It just shows how powerful the MTC really is in learning and testifies to me how much help I've received from God. I've had many Chinese people tell me that my speaking sounds super great. They may just be really nice, but after a while it confirms it to me. Back to the stuff they were telling us, they ended our visit with a lot of good ideas for getting involved with the Chinese culture here. They time us if underground Chinese Chess tournaments and Go clubs that we could visit. I'm sure I would be a cause for conversation if I'm this random white guy who speaks a little Chinese and just comes to try and learn their games. Chinese Go is super old and yet so popular. It's so cool how this all works out with President telling me to go out and search for where the Chinese people are gathering and this knowledge I've just received from the Bless'. It means to me that President Fingerle really is called if God to be a guide for me. He knows what's best and what Heavenly Father wants me to do. Man, this is just so awesome. There are no coincidences, only God's careful planning!
Too much writing I've gotta sleep.
星期六,十二月9号(第116天)
Samstag 9. Dezember 2017
Elder Wride and Elder Alves are on Tausch again today. This time, Elder Wride is with Yaşli Morrell down in Neukölln while Elder Alves stays here with Yaşli Backus (another Turkish Elder). They needed us to accompany them to a lunch appointment with a Spanish speaking family, even though we don't speak Spanish. We went there and it was a adult Latino I've seen in the German ward before and her mother who was visiting from Italy. The mother greets me by shaking my hand and giving me a kiss on both cheeks. I was definitely not expecting that. Also, she's like barely four feet tall, so she had to pull me down to her level to do it. I felt so weird I looked at the other two and they gave me a signal that it's normal for that to happen. Still weird. So the mother speaks only Spanish and Italian, while the daughter speaks Spanish and German. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated German since it was the only thing I could actually understand, even if it was to a small degree. They had a big plate of noodles with meat and peas mixed in out for each of us. It was delicious. The four of us totally thought that was the meal since it was so big, but when we finished, they took our plates and started handing out new plates full of huge pieces of Chicken, salad, and fries. We were all so surprised and were worried if we could get through all of this. Then after eating that, finally, they hand out another plate with fruit on it! Following the fruit, they gave us candy! Man that was too much to eat. I'm proud of myself for miraculously getting through all of that food. They were such nice hosts, though. There were so many language barriers up at the same time but we all enjoyed each other's company. The two of them asked me what I knew in Spanish and I mean I told them the 25 or so words that I know, but they were so impressed for some reason. They taught me a couple other words and applauded me at my pronunciation (maybe they just like how I can roll my r's), telling me that I should learn Spanish. I told them I'll add it to the waiting list of all the languages I've got to learn. They were so funny. During that candy scene, they brought out a bowl with slips of paper and we all took one. We were so confused but they told us to open the slips and we did. Everyone else's had a number on it, but mine said premiero grande (something like that) which I think means really big; my guess. Then they see it and get all excited and bring out this huge chocolate Weihnachtsmann. Apparently I had just won a big piece of chocolate without knowing it. So they gave it to me and handed out a bowl of little chocolates to eat. No one else was grabbing them so I just took as many as they wanted me to. I think it's gonna be a good Christmas this year Elder Alves gave a short little lesson to them about charity and then I showed them the LightTheWorld video. In conclusion, we made it out alive. What a lunch that was!
So I mentioned Yaşli Backus earlier. He's another Turkish Elder who was in the MTC group with Yaşli Taylor. He came to our district when Elder Johnson went home this past transfer. Yaşli Backus always keeps a straight face and doesn't talk too much. Not that he's shy or anything. But today in really getting to know him, we talked a lot; almost all day. And he and I just couldn't stop laughing at the stuff we were saying to each other. I don't think I've ever seen him smile as much as he did with me. I think I made a good impression.
In going over our weekly planning, I had a weird feeling to call this referral we got a few days ago. Now, as soon as we got this guy's name and number, we texted him. The next day when he didn't respond, we called him. When we called, it told us that the number was no longer available. So we were quite confused about that. But, when I called him randomly today, it actually went through. He answered and I got an appointment set up with him for next week so we'll be able to finally meet and get to know him. He seems very interested in learning more about the church so let's hope we can help him out.
星期天,十二月10号(第117天)
Sonntag 10. Dezember 2017
Our Lithuanian friend came to church today! He came at a great time, too, because there was hot chocolate being passed around to everybody. While we were singing hymns I would translate my tablet to the LDS hymn into Lithuanian for him so that he could understand the songs a little better.
The Spandau Sisters came with an investigator they hadn't even taught yet which was great. We attended a Gospel Principles class and had the opportunity to explain a bunch of stuff to him. He had so many questions. But the sisters really had little to no contact with him before so he didn't even have a Book of Mormon. I gladly have him the one that I carry around on me just in case. His native language isn't English, but at least it's something to use until we can get a copy in his tongue.
Right after that class, Elder Keller comes up to me and is acting kind of upset. He's all "where have you been? Everyone's been looking for you." I'm all why and he says "because there are Chinese people here!" If only he had just started with that! I was so excited! Turns out two friends from China just happened to randomly show up at church and wanted to go to our next meeting, which would be Priesthood. I talked a lot with them in Mandarin. They're really cool people. The one who lives here is in school and the other is just visiting. They're about my age. And they do speak a good amount of English so they were not totally lost while in the meeting (thank goodness I didn't have to translate 100 percent of the time). They had a good time in the 3rd hour, and afterwards we chatted even more. I gave them a Book of Mormon in Simplified Characters and invited them to attend Family Home Evening, German language class, Institute, our Branch Christmas party, and to church next week. They said they would happily go to every single one of those. They want to get active in pretty much all things we do. It's so awesome. I also got their WhatsApp information so we're connected. If only WeChat was working on the phones.
Zone Leaders are staying here from some place near the Netherlands. I'm not sure why. This is the fourth night in a row that we've had people stay here.
IT'S SNOWING!!!
星期一,十二月11号(第118天)
Montag 11. Dezember 2017
Today is an exciting day. We're finishing up the rest of our video and were playing District volleyball. We also had secret Santa and I got Elder Wride for my person to give a gift to. Turns out, he also had me! It was funny. I wrapped my package for him in a frozen pizza box, a grocery bag, another frozen pizza box of the same size (that took way too long to put together) and wrapping paper. And I wrote his name in cursive. Yep, I'm pretty fancy. But it took him so much struggling to open the whole thing. It was great. I gave him a bunch of those gummy burger things since he loves gummy stuff and he's American so how could he not like burgers? He got me some wax for my hair and Skittles. He's going to teach me how to "make my hair as flawless as his." How nice of him.
Keep on lighting the world, everybody!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 16
星期一,十一月27号(第104天)
Montag 27. November 2017
Elder Bacher and I had that dinner appointment with a family who works for the American embassy. The husband is a monetary manager or something and has taken his family all over the world because of work. His next assignment is in Cairo, so we'll be seeing him and his family leave next summer. They gave us a splendid dinner and told us some good stories. They were even nice enough to ask what we miss from America. I told them Tillamook Cheese and Cheetos. All of a sudden they just handed me a big thing of Jif peanut butter and a bag of Cheetos and sent us on our way home. Good deal.
Right after that, when we were at the Bahnhof, there was a group of older Chinese speakers talking to each other. I walked up to them and asked them if they speak Mandarin and they said yes! They were so happy to talk to me. I told them my Chinese is bad, but they said what they heard was really good. How nice of them. They're doctors from Taiwan and were in Berlin for a Cancer conference or something. All of us talked for a good long while. They were so eager to tell me more of the origin of my Chinese name and helped me out with some good words and phrases. I forgot to bring Chinese LightTheWorld cards, but I had English ones and they told me they speak English (I guess a lot of Taiwanese learn English from what they were telling me but because they said that in Chinese?)
I called up Elder Hsu following that conversation with the Taiwanese people and told him about how cool it was since he is from Taiwan as well.
星期二,十一月28号(第105天)
Dienstag 28. November 2017
More Tausch galore! This time I got to be with Elder Alves for the day. What a great plan to put two trainees together... sarcasm.
The day actually contained a bunch of texting and calling. At least, more so than normal. It was good, though, because they were all investigators or less active members. I managed to obtain a new investigator through messenger, surprisingly.
Elder Alves and I were on a bus from Zoologischer Garten to the church, when a foreign (as in not German, English, or Chinese) lady sits behind us. She was with a newly wedded couple and spoke some language that sounded like Spanish. Elder Alves starts all of a sudden talking to her in the language. Now, I knew that he could speak Portuguese since his parents are from Angola. So, I must've pieced it together that he was speaking Portuguese to her! Great deductive reasoning on my part, right? After they talked for a bit she looks at me and says hi because I guess she figured out I couldn't speak Portuguese (along with a lot of other things). Turns out she can speak English, too. She's a flight attendant originally from Brazil and now has lived in Berlin for the past 11 years. I think Elder Alves gave her a really good first impression with speaking in this woman's mother tongue because she was extremely interested in talking with us about the church. She was happy to give us her contact information and accepted a LightTheWorld card from us. I told her about the English branch and that got her really excited because she wants to learn to speak English better. I told her that her English sounded great to me but she said, "Thank you, but you're too kind. My English is terrible! I know Americans. They lie a lot." I didn't know how to respond to a backhanded compliment like that, but I think her intentions were pure. And it made me think back to last night with the Taiwanese people complimenting me on my Chinese; just puts complimenting someone's ability to speak a language at another perspective. We were talking to her for so long that we missed our bus stop, but I mean that's pretty okay if she wants to learn more. She is such a nice person to talk to.
After more chit chat with this woman, we finally got off about 5 stops later. We walked to the other side and waited at that stop going in the opposite direction, of course. I looked at an advertisement on the little bus stop covering and it had a Christmas tree with everyday items as ornaments, I guess advertising products or something. Anyway, there was a bottle of champagne on it and I just jokingly told Elder Alves that is needs to be replaced with a Book of Mormon. As soon as I had said that, some guy peers from behind the poster wall and turns back to another person and says that we speak English… in English! I said heck yeah we speak English! It was a couple waiting at the bus stop trying to go to KaDeWe who were just on vacation from L.A. Nice people, and we talked with them on the bus for a while, but they didn't want anything to do with the church. That's okay, but the woman kept asking me so many questions about how we live when we don't get paid for missionary work. She seemed to marvel at it. I did my best to explain that the church does all the legal stuff, but I don't think she truly understood. I don't even think she knows how organized the LDS church is, since she told me her only recollection of Mormons is from a play.
Other than that, we helped build some scaffolding to help put lights up in the gym at the church. No, we didn't climb it, but I'm proud of our work. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of it later.
星期三,十一月29号(第106天)
Mittwoch 29. November 2017
We made a dope breakfast-like lunch after our district meeting today. During lunch we wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon as Christmas presents.
After the lunch, we had planned on going to Alexanderplatz for Christmas caroling. It's kinda early, but we're going to a couple other major points in Berlin in the weeks to come as well. On our way by bus, a big group of people hopped on. I was standing where an optional fold-out seat was when a young woman my age walks up with a big case. I fold the seat down and asked her to sit. When she sat down I noticed her case was a French Horn! I had to take the opportunity, so I asked her if what she had was a French Horn and we engaged in conversation. The others around me were all part of this same group. They're musicians from the JFK school in Berlin performing for a Christmas concert at the Dom. We all talked for a good while about music and stuff; band brings lots of good memories. When they had to get off, they gladly excepted a LightTheWorld card from me. I think it's so cool how I fit in perfectly with talking to them. I need to look for musicians more because that was sweet.
The Weihnachtsmarkt was already well into action at Alexanderplatz with lots of activities and music. We found a nice, somewhat quiet area. We just stood there singing Christmas hymns in both English and German and whenever someone would stop, one of us would branch off and talk to them. If the opportunity arose, we would give them those Book of Mormon copies wrapped in wrapping paper from our work at lunchtime. Most of them were Germans, but at one point there was a group of young women who spoke English that stopped to watch and listen to us and everyone signals me to talk to them. Even though all of us missionaries speak English, I guess I'm the English guy, on top of being the Chinese guy. I went up and talked with them. They're also students but through a different program from the US where they take one class for one month and I guess this class in particular took them to Berlin. They were from like Tennessee, Chicago, Oklahoma, and Hong Kong. Yes, the Hong Kong lady did speak Mandarin on top of Cantonese, but she wanted nothing to do with Chinese it seemed like. I gave them a card and they were on their way. Other than that, we had quite a few people stop and talk to us. I'd say it was a successful time there.
星期四,十一月30号(第107天)
Donnerstag 30. November 2017
Today we fasted again for another Harvest day. Last time, I was half dead due to just arriving in Germany. This time, I'm smart enough to know not to fast when you're sick. Fortunately, I'm not sick this time around. We talked with a lot of people but were only able to hand out a couple cards and calendars for the Christmas initiative. We did run into a bunch of people from Vancouver, Canada, surprisingly. Yet, they all had no connection as to why they were here. I thought I could connect with them well by being from Seattle but to be honest they were kind of rude, which is weird to say about a Canadian, eh? One of them legit said "eh" to me. Well, Elder Bacher and I didn't see any real miracles today but since Harvest is a zone wide thing, there were other companionships who had some good success. We're a team, so I'll rejoice with them. One of the sisters sent us a picture of them next to a Smart Car decked out in a Seahawks paint job! I've gotta meet the owner of that ride. I'm sure he'd love a fellow Washingtonian (I'm only guessing that he actually comes from there).
Our last dinner appointment in November and it was with the Steuer family. Brother Steuer is another member of the Branch presidency. He and his wife served together in the London mission a couple years ago (sorry Elder Allen, not London South ). They are relatively young, maybe three years older than Elder Bacher and I. Sister Steuer is from Brazil while Brother Steuer is a German. They're English is amazing, though, since they served in England. They were super nice company and Sister Steuer made us a delicious Brazilian lasagna. To me, it tasted like Chicken Fettuccini, which is very good don't get me wrong. They want to have us over often from the looks of things. I told them about my marching band experience in college and they had lots of questions. Somehow we got into the topic of the Stanford marching band. I was telling them about the time their band ran out on the field during a football game too early while the ball was still in play. They thought Stanford was going to win but because of the premature celebration, it cost them the game. During this play, however, I think I remember a trombone player getting tackled or something. When I had said this, Brother Steuer just burst into laughter. He literally could not stop laughing for about 10 minutes. He was all, "I just can't help but think what a poor experience that trombone player had!" He was going red, too. Idk it was kinda awkward just watching him laugh for a while.
星期五,十二月1号(第108天)
Freitag 1. Dezember 2017
Elder Castillo of the Spanish program came to join Elders Alves and Wride. He was a lot of fun to have over. I guess this is now last transfer so he'll be leaving us by the end of December.
There are a bunch of training videos I have to watch as I'm going through my first few weeks here. We've been getting behind on them so we decided to catch up a bit. A whole hour of videos on how to plan effectively. They're good, but my eyes and my brain hurt.
I failed to mention that a family before gave us a Christmas advents calendar with Milka chocolate for each day of December. Today, I got a trumpet chocolate piece and I couldn't help but to play it. I've even got a picture of the thing.
星期六,十二月2号(第109天)
Samstag 2. Dezember 2017
Had a drunk guy yell at me on the train this morning.
I had an idea this morning to hand out flyers in der nähe von Zoologischer Garten. Not just flyers, but filters about our Weihnachtskonzert and Krippenausstellung (Christmas Concert and nativity), plus LightTheWorld cards attached by tape. So, basically they get a double take: if they can't come to the concert, they at least have the card as well. For some reason, people haven't been accepting of cards lately. It's so easy to take one. Because we can't hand out stuff actually inside the Weihnachtsmarkt, we scouted the outside of the area. There were masses of people, and we talked to so many! Unfortunately, only one English speaker couple took a flyer. And I think it was because they were musicians so as always I connect with them well. I am thoroughly convinced that music is just the best way to connect with people. However, we did manage to hand out quite a few more German flyers. Funny thing, a lot of people make the excuse that "we don't speak German" in English to us, but this time I legit heard two young women taking IN GERMAN and then I walk up to them and they give me that same excuse. Well, you're talking to an American, so idk where you hope to go with this poor excuse.
Elder Bacher and I went to the church for another Chinese Skype. This time, it was with our Netherlands missionary, Elder Denham. He got a new companion there, and he's native Chinese speaking! So great to have more natives to help out. We did a roleplay on a lesson that I knew I couldn't do very well but that's how you learn. I struggled through it, but it was helpful.
And, of course, we had our Weihnachtskonzert! I wasn't part of the program, which I should have been but I didn't know about being a part of the choir until 2 weeks ago. Oh well. There were so many people there! It was fantastic to greet so many new faces. Also, it was especially nice to be immersed in live music again. The only instruments they had were organ, piano, and strings, but that's still okay. Little bit of trumpet would have been nice to truly make it a stellar concert I sat in the back so my picture of the choir isn't too great, aber was soll ein machen?
星期天,十二月3号(第110天)
Sonntag 3. Dezember 2017
Another great Sabbath day! We had about seven or eight companionships bring people to the English branch today. A few of them are Turkish and Persian speaking so I've been tasked with trying to get translation equipment set up in the future. Translation equipment as in mics and headphones so that one person can translate for multiple people. We'll cross that road later, though.
A friend of ours asked us to teach his primary class (ages 8 and 9) a while back and now today is the day. After sacrament we went to the primary room where all the kids are and they were having opening exercises. They were doing this activity where a Christmas hymn would be played on the piano and the kids would guess the name. When they did, they would color a part of a Christmas tree on the chalkboard. There was one more thing to color in, so the British woman leading looks at me and was like, "Elder Ching Chong Ching, could you color this in for us?" I'm sitting there thinking, would you dare do that to me if I was actually Asian? I'm kind of hurt because I want to wear my Chinese nametag, but no one wants to remember your name since missionaries always conveniently wear a nametag. This is how you find out who your true friends are: those who can remember your name regardless of what tag you're wearing. I mean, I've worn my German tag before so that people can get to know me, so it's not like they've never seen my name at least twice or three times. Whatever. Back to the main course, they separate us for our classes and Elder Bacher and I take the 8 and 9 year-olds to their classroom and get ready for our lesson. I've dealt with these ages before at camp, plus the ones I had today were easy to maintain, so it was a smooth lesson. We taught about the building of the Salt Lake Temple and how the foundation stones for the structure is likened unto what we can do to build our foundation in Christ. Kind of biased, but I think it was a good lesson.
Right after church, a family comes up to us and asked if we can come over for dinner tonight. We of course said yes, but that means we'd have to miss the Chinese Skype conference for a 3rd week in a row (past two weeks we had either Priesthood meeting or another dinner appointment). However, we were able to squeeze in about 20 minutes of the Skype before we left so that was good. We get to their house and have a really tasty meal. The mashed cauliflower with butter was my favorite for some reason. Turns out that the father served in Germany when there was a Dresden mission still. And he got to translate for President Monson a couple years after his mission for some legal thing that happened between the church and local government. Super dope. He works with the refugees that come into Berlin, so he deals with a ton of people that could use a boost. He said it's sometimes a great way to share an uplifting spiritual message. We taught them an extended version of our primary lesson since we didn't have any time to prepare anything with this dinner being so last-minute. When we were getting ready to leave, the mother showed her true mother colors. She realized that I didn't have a scarf and was all, "do you want a scarf? I can give you one of ours. If you don't want someone's used scarf, I'll knit you one right now. Anything else you need for the cold? I've got hand warmers…" I insisted that I didn't need a scarf and I was going to be fine. I told her I was pretty used to Seattle weather, but that didn't seem to satisfy her. She let me go in peace, but reminded me that if I ever need anything, I could ask. Even if she has to knit me a scarf or even a blanket. What a mom!
Christmas time here in Germany is so cool. It's barely December and everything is lit up. Lights everywhere, decorations, Christmas advertisements, small bands playing Holiday tunes (my personal favorite), and so many Weihnachtsmärkte. They really let you know it's the holiday season! They even celebrate THREE days of Christmas here: Heilige Abend (Christmas Eve), and two days of Weihnachten! All are holidays where people have off. In addition, in the Sundays of December preceding Weihnachten, candles are lit to show how long it is until the big day (or days). They really love this time of year. I like it.
星期一,十二月4号(第111天)今天!
Montag 4. Dezember 2017. Heute!
More stuff. We just cleaned the apartment, I got some Döner, Elder Wride bought an extension for that card game he bought last week to extend it to four player (originally it was just him and I playing against each other), bought groceries, same old, same old. No real plans tonight. Might do some hardcore language study and actually try and learn German a little harder. I just only have the motivation to learn Chinese because it's easier. We'll see. Happy December, everyone!
Ich habe euch sehr viel lieb! Enjoy!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,十一月27号(第104天)
Montag 27. November 2017
Elder Bacher and I had that dinner appointment with a family who works for the American embassy. The husband is a monetary manager or something and has taken his family all over the world because of work. His next assignment is in Cairo, so we'll be seeing him and his family leave next summer. They gave us a splendid dinner and told us some good stories. They were even nice enough to ask what we miss from America. I told them Tillamook Cheese and Cheetos. All of a sudden they just handed me a big thing of Jif peanut butter and a bag of Cheetos and sent us on our way home. Good deal.
Right after that, when we were at the Bahnhof, there was a group of older Chinese speakers talking to each other. I walked up to them and asked them if they speak Mandarin and they said yes! They were so happy to talk to me. I told them my Chinese is bad, but they said what they heard was really good. How nice of them. They're doctors from Taiwan and were in Berlin for a Cancer conference or something. All of us talked for a good long while. They were so eager to tell me more of the origin of my Chinese name and helped me out with some good words and phrases. I forgot to bring Chinese LightTheWorld cards, but I had English ones and they told me they speak English (I guess a lot of Taiwanese learn English from what they were telling me but because they said that in Chinese?)
I called up Elder Hsu following that conversation with the Taiwanese people and told him about how cool it was since he is from Taiwan as well.
星期二,十一月28号(第105天)
Dienstag 28. November 2017
More Tausch galore! This time I got to be with Elder Alves for the day. What a great plan to put two trainees together... sarcasm.
The day actually contained a bunch of texting and calling. At least, more so than normal. It was good, though, because they were all investigators or less active members. I managed to obtain a new investigator through messenger, surprisingly.
Elder Alves and I were on a bus from Zoologischer Garten to the church, when a foreign (as in not German, English, or Chinese) lady sits behind us. She was with a newly wedded couple and spoke some language that sounded like Spanish. Elder Alves starts all of a sudden talking to her in the language. Now, I knew that he could speak Portuguese since his parents are from Angola. So, I must've pieced it together that he was speaking Portuguese to her! Great deductive reasoning on my part, right? After they talked for a bit she looks at me and says hi because I guess she figured out I couldn't speak Portuguese (along with a lot of other things). Turns out she can speak English, too. She's a flight attendant originally from Brazil and now has lived in Berlin for the past 11 years. I think Elder Alves gave her a really good first impression with speaking in this woman's mother tongue because she was extremely interested in talking with us about the church. She was happy to give us her contact information and accepted a LightTheWorld card from us. I told her about the English branch and that got her really excited because she wants to learn to speak English better. I told her that her English sounded great to me but she said, "Thank you, but you're too kind. My English is terrible! I know Americans. They lie a lot." I didn't know how to respond to a backhanded compliment like that, but I think her intentions were pure. And it made me think back to last night with the Taiwanese people complimenting me on my Chinese; just puts complimenting someone's ability to speak a language at another perspective. We were talking to her for so long that we missed our bus stop, but I mean that's pretty okay if she wants to learn more. She is such a nice person to talk to.
After more chit chat with this woman, we finally got off about 5 stops later. We walked to the other side and waited at that stop going in the opposite direction, of course. I looked at an advertisement on the little bus stop covering and it had a Christmas tree with everyday items as ornaments, I guess advertising products or something. Anyway, there was a bottle of champagne on it and I just jokingly told Elder Alves that is needs to be replaced with a Book of Mormon. As soon as I had said that, some guy peers from behind the poster wall and turns back to another person and says that we speak English… in English! I said heck yeah we speak English! It was a couple waiting at the bus stop trying to go to KaDeWe who were just on vacation from L.A. Nice people, and we talked with them on the bus for a while, but they didn't want anything to do with the church. That's okay, but the woman kept asking me so many questions about how we live when we don't get paid for missionary work. She seemed to marvel at it. I did my best to explain that the church does all the legal stuff, but I don't think she truly understood. I don't even think she knows how organized the LDS church is, since she told me her only recollection of Mormons is from a play.
Other than that, we helped build some scaffolding to help put lights up in the gym at the church. No, we didn't climb it, but I'm proud of our work. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of it later.
星期三,十一月29号(第106天)
Mittwoch 29. November 2017
We made a dope breakfast-like lunch after our district meeting today. During lunch we wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon as Christmas presents.
After the lunch, we had planned on going to Alexanderplatz for Christmas caroling. It's kinda early, but we're going to a couple other major points in Berlin in the weeks to come as well. On our way by bus, a big group of people hopped on. I was standing where an optional fold-out seat was when a young woman my age walks up with a big case. I fold the seat down and asked her to sit. When she sat down I noticed her case was a French Horn! I had to take the opportunity, so I asked her if what she had was a French Horn and we engaged in conversation. The others around me were all part of this same group. They're musicians from the JFK school in Berlin performing for a Christmas concert at the Dom. We all talked for a good while about music and stuff; band brings lots of good memories. When they had to get off, they gladly excepted a LightTheWorld card from me. I think it's so cool how I fit in perfectly with talking to them. I need to look for musicians more because that was sweet.
The Weihnachtsmarkt was already well into action at Alexanderplatz with lots of activities and music. We found a nice, somewhat quiet area. We just stood there singing Christmas hymns in both English and German and whenever someone would stop, one of us would branch off and talk to them. If the opportunity arose, we would give them those Book of Mormon copies wrapped in wrapping paper from our work at lunchtime. Most of them were Germans, but at one point there was a group of young women who spoke English that stopped to watch and listen to us and everyone signals me to talk to them. Even though all of us missionaries speak English, I guess I'm the English guy, on top of being the Chinese guy. I went up and talked with them. They're also students but through a different program from the US where they take one class for one month and I guess this class in particular took them to Berlin. They were from like Tennessee, Chicago, Oklahoma, and Hong Kong. Yes, the Hong Kong lady did speak Mandarin on top of Cantonese, but she wanted nothing to do with Chinese it seemed like. I gave them a card and they were on their way. Other than that, we had quite a few people stop and talk to us. I'd say it was a successful time there.
星期四,十一月30号(第107天)
Donnerstag 30. November 2017
Today we fasted again for another Harvest day. Last time, I was half dead due to just arriving in Germany. This time, I'm smart enough to know not to fast when you're sick. Fortunately, I'm not sick this time around. We talked with a lot of people but were only able to hand out a couple cards and calendars for the Christmas initiative. We did run into a bunch of people from Vancouver, Canada, surprisingly. Yet, they all had no connection as to why they were here. I thought I could connect with them well by being from Seattle but to be honest they were kind of rude, which is weird to say about a Canadian, eh? One of them legit said "eh" to me. Well, Elder Bacher and I didn't see any real miracles today but since Harvest is a zone wide thing, there were other companionships who had some good success. We're a team, so I'll rejoice with them. One of the sisters sent us a picture of them next to a Smart Car decked out in a Seahawks paint job! I've gotta meet the owner of that ride. I'm sure he'd love a fellow Washingtonian (I'm only guessing that he actually comes from there).
Our last dinner appointment in November and it was with the Steuer family. Brother Steuer is another member of the Branch presidency. He and his wife served together in the London mission a couple years ago (sorry Elder Allen, not London South ). They are relatively young, maybe three years older than Elder Bacher and I. Sister Steuer is from Brazil while Brother Steuer is a German. They're English is amazing, though, since they served in England. They were super nice company and Sister Steuer made us a delicious Brazilian lasagna. To me, it tasted like Chicken Fettuccini, which is very good don't get me wrong. They want to have us over often from the looks of things. I told them about my marching band experience in college and they had lots of questions. Somehow we got into the topic of the Stanford marching band. I was telling them about the time their band ran out on the field during a football game too early while the ball was still in play. They thought Stanford was going to win but because of the premature celebration, it cost them the game. During this play, however, I think I remember a trombone player getting tackled or something. When I had said this, Brother Steuer just burst into laughter. He literally could not stop laughing for about 10 minutes. He was all, "I just can't help but think what a poor experience that trombone player had!" He was going red, too. Idk it was kinda awkward just watching him laugh for a while.
星期五,十二月1号(第108天)
Freitag 1. Dezember 2017
Elder Castillo of the Spanish program came to join Elders Alves and Wride. He was a lot of fun to have over. I guess this is now last transfer so he'll be leaving us by the end of December.
There are a bunch of training videos I have to watch as I'm going through my first few weeks here. We've been getting behind on them so we decided to catch up a bit. A whole hour of videos on how to plan effectively. They're good, but my eyes and my brain hurt.
I failed to mention that a family before gave us a Christmas advents calendar with Milka chocolate for each day of December. Today, I got a trumpet chocolate piece and I couldn't help but to play it. I've even got a picture of the thing.
星期六,十二月2号(第109天)
Samstag 2. Dezember 2017
Had a drunk guy yell at me on the train this morning.
I had an idea this morning to hand out flyers in der nähe von Zoologischer Garten. Not just flyers, but filters about our Weihnachtskonzert and Krippenausstellung (Christmas Concert and nativity), plus LightTheWorld cards attached by tape. So, basically they get a double take: if they can't come to the concert, they at least have the card as well. For some reason, people haven't been accepting of cards lately. It's so easy to take one. Because we can't hand out stuff actually inside the Weihnachtsmarkt, we scouted the outside of the area. There were masses of people, and we talked to so many! Unfortunately, only one English speaker couple took a flyer. And I think it was because they were musicians so as always I connect with them well. I am thoroughly convinced that music is just the best way to connect with people. However, we did manage to hand out quite a few more German flyers. Funny thing, a lot of people make the excuse that "we don't speak German" in English to us, but this time I legit heard two young women taking IN GERMAN and then I walk up to them and they give me that same excuse. Well, you're talking to an American, so idk where you hope to go with this poor excuse.
Elder Bacher and I went to the church for another Chinese Skype. This time, it was with our Netherlands missionary, Elder Denham. He got a new companion there, and he's native Chinese speaking! So great to have more natives to help out. We did a roleplay on a lesson that I knew I couldn't do very well but that's how you learn. I struggled through it, but it was helpful.
And, of course, we had our Weihnachtskonzert! I wasn't part of the program, which I should have been but I didn't know about being a part of the choir until 2 weeks ago. Oh well. There were so many people there! It was fantastic to greet so many new faces. Also, it was especially nice to be immersed in live music again. The only instruments they had were organ, piano, and strings, but that's still okay. Little bit of trumpet would have been nice to truly make it a stellar concert I sat in the back so my picture of the choir isn't too great, aber was soll ein machen?
星期天,十二月3号(第110天)
Sonntag 3. Dezember 2017
Another great Sabbath day! We had about seven or eight companionships bring people to the English branch today. A few of them are Turkish and Persian speaking so I've been tasked with trying to get translation equipment set up in the future. Translation equipment as in mics and headphones so that one person can translate for multiple people. We'll cross that road later, though.
A friend of ours asked us to teach his primary class (ages 8 and 9) a while back and now today is the day. After sacrament we went to the primary room where all the kids are and they were having opening exercises. They were doing this activity where a Christmas hymn would be played on the piano and the kids would guess the name. When they did, they would color a part of a Christmas tree on the chalkboard. There was one more thing to color in, so the British woman leading looks at me and was like, "Elder Ching Chong Ching, could you color this in for us?" I'm sitting there thinking, would you dare do that to me if I was actually Asian? I'm kind of hurt because I want to wear my Chinese nametag, but no one wants to remember your name since missionaries always conveniently wear a nametag. This is how you find out who your true friends are: those who can remember your name regardless of what tag you're wearing. I mean, I've worn my German tag before so that people can get to know me, so it's not like they've never seen my name at least twice or three times. Whatever. Back to the main course, they separate us for our classes and Elder Bacher and I take the 8 and 9 year-olds to their classroom and get ready for our lesson. I've dealt with these ages before at camp, plus the ones I had today were easy to maintain, so it was a smooth lesson. We taught about the building of the Salt Lake Temple and how the foundation stones for the structure is likened unto what we can do to build our foundation in Christ. Kind of biased, but I think it was a good lesson.
Right after church, a family comes up to us and asked if we can come over for dinner tonight. We of course said yes, but that means we'd have to miss the Chinese Skype conference for a 3rd week in a row (past two weeks we had either Priesthood meeting or another dinner appointment). However, we were able to squeeze in about 20 minutes of the Skype before we left so that was good. We get to their house and have a really tasty meal. The mashed cauliflower with butter was my favorite for some reason. Turns out that the father served in Germany when there was a Dresden mission still. And he got to translate for President Monson a couple years after his mission for some legal thing that happened between the church and local government. Super dope. He works with the refugees that come into Berlin, so he deals with a ton of people that could use a boost. He said it's sometimes a great way to share an uplifting spiritual message. We taught them an extended version of our primary lesson since we didn't have any time to prepare anything with this dinner being so last-minute. When we were getting ready to leave, the mother showed her true mother colors. She realized that I didn't have a scarf and was all, "do you want a scarf? I can give you one of ours. If you don't want someone's used scarf, I'll knit you one right now. Anything else you need for the cold? I've got hand warmers…" I insisted that I didn't need a scarf and I was going to be fine. I told her I was pretty used to Seattle weather, but that didn't seem to satisfy her. She let me go in peace, but reminded me that if I ever need anything, I could ask. Even if she has to knit me a scarf or even a blanket. What a mom!
Christmas time here in Germany is so cool. It's barely December and everything is lit up. Lights everywhere, decorations, Christmas advertisements, small bands playing Holiday tunes (my personal favorite), and so many Weihnachtsmärkte. They really let you know it's the holiday season! They even celebrate THREE days of Christmas here: Heilige Abend (Christmas Eve), and two days of Weihnachten! All are holidays where people have off. In addition, in the Sundays of December preceding Weihnachten, candles are lit to show how long it is until the big day (or days). They really love this time of year. I like it.
星期一,十二月4号(第111天)今天!
Montag 4. Dezember 2017. Heute!
More stuff. We just cleaned the apartment, I got some Döner, Elder Wride bought an extension for that card game he bought last week to extend it to four player (originally it was just him and I playing against each other), bought groceries, same old, same old. No real plans tonight. Might do some hardcore language study and actually try and learn German a little harder. I just only have the motivation to learn Chinese because it's easier. We'll see. Happy December, everyone!
Ich habe euch sehr viel lieb! Enjoy!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 15
星期一,十一月20号(第97天)
Montag 20. November 2017
Family Home Evening was really cool tonight! We were able to meet with that Lithuanian guy right before and get him to come to the activity. He is still having problems getting to overcome somethings and he's really beating himself up about it. But this night for the main portion we were going over the Chiasmus in the 36th chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon. The chapter talks a lot about Alma's anguish in his sins and his eventual remission of them. Then we had a couple songs provided by a guy who is from Portugal and randomly showed up. He plays in a band with his friends but brought his guitar and sung "Man in the Mirror" which tells about changing yourself for the better. So tonight was just super on point for what this Lithuanian guy needed!
星期二,十一月21号(第98天)
Dienstag 21. November 2017
Elder Wride gave us a last-minute Tausch notification so we went on splits today. I went with Elder Wride while Elder Bacher took Elder Alves. Elder Wride, being the District Leader, had a couple meetings he had to go to in the morning. So, I had to wait around for a couple hours but that was okay. The whole zone is trying to do a big initiative to get lots English speakers to come to the English branch. I'm so glad that I've got the whole zone in on helping this branch grow. After his District Leader meeting, everybody went out to a burrito place quite a ways from the Church. Tried to order in German, but the guy at the counter just knew I was too American and spoke in English. Oh well.
It was cool to be with Elder Wride because I feel like he pushed me to do more with what I can do. We did a lot of talking to people on the street and quite a few individuals stopped and talked to us. We were able to hand out a bunch of contact information cards. But the most exciting part was when we went to the apartment complexes. Elder Bacher and I have never done this, but Elder Wride would just take us to random apartments and look on the bell lists for Chinese people. One place even had some people at the front who told us that it was okay to actually go in and ring the bells on the doors themselves, rather than just at the front of the complex. In essence, it was my first "door to door" experience. I was able to talk to about 4 Chinese people who answered their doors. Almost set up an appointment with one, and handed the others information cards. Even if no one has interest, it was still the most Chinese people I've talked to in one day. Though, I've really have got to work on my conversational skills.
星期三,十一月22号(第99天)
Mittwoch 22. November 2017
We're now having regular lessons with the Lithuanian. It's actually his birthday coming soon! Such a great way to make him feel welcomed would be to let the branch know about it and they can wish him a happy day.
I beat Elder Wride at Settlers of Catan, finally!
星期四,十一月23号(第100天)
Donnerstag 23. November 2017
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
I made a simple little post on Facebook regarding my gratitude for this Thanksgiving. Definitely check it out if you haven't yet. It's in all three of my languages!
We had Thanksgiving dinner at a members' house. It actually felt quite like home in some ways. The family was American, but has lived all over the world because of military service. They even lived in the Tacoma, Washington as their last stay before Berlin. They've been to many Boy Scout camps in the Pacific Northwest as well! So, that was an awesome connection to have. Sadly, however, they haven't been to Hahobas. Dinner was amazing; instead of turkey and stuffing, they just put them both together! Incredible! I got along with their young boys really well since I'm more advanced in the education of dank memes than my associate, Elder Bacher other than that, I made the other adults laugh a good amount and we had a great time enjoying each other's company. We had to leave early because of travel time, but I got some pumpkin pie right before leaving so we're good. All in all, a successful Turkey day.
Also, today is day 100 of being out on a mission! What a milestone. And perfect that it lands on Thanksgiving!
星期五,十一月24号(第101天)
Freitag 24. November 2017
After our District meeting the Zone Leaders had a little meeting with us regarding Zone goals. We want to get 10 companionships with investigators to church on the 3rd. They also want us to hand out every single Light The World card (we have about 1000).
Since the Zone leaders wanted to Tausch with us today, I went with Elder Keller (newest zone leader) and Elder Bacher went with Yaşli Taylor (Turkish Elder). It was really cool to be with Elder Keller. He's an awesome guy. He's learning Russian so I want to get how to pronounce Russian words through him for some reason.
The zone leaders had planned a street display in Oranienburg. Because we were on Tausch with them, Elder Bacher and I headed up with them. We just had a table with a few copies of the Book of Mormon; and there were six missionaries in total. So, two of us stayed at the table while the other four went out to find and talk to people. It was in the pouring rain and kinda weird since so many people were in such a hurry to get to the Bahnhof. I mainly just got people's attentions and said hi because that's all I could do, while the other missionary I was with (either Elder Keller or Taylor) pretty much did all the taking. Super awkward to only catch about 10 percent of what was being said. However, there was one time that I was getting the attention of someone and when they stopped and decided that they would talk to us, I just started taking to him. We had a good conversation about his beliefs and how important families are to him. After he had left and I gave him a card, I realized that I had just spent the last couple minutes talking to that guy in German. I had no idea what I even said! It was a total gift of tongues moment because I can't converse like that in German normally. It was totally awesome!
Every night the zone leaders call every district leader in the area to check up on everyone. Tonight since they were at our apartment, they thought it would be funny if I called everyone in behalf of them. They were joking, but I said yes. So, I called all of the district leaders that night. They were super confused to hear my voice and not the zone leader's, but they all quickly got used to me. I asked them about how their day was, if everyone in their area was safely home, and if there was anything to report. They were super nice and I wanna say I made their day, so I will. The Zone leaders told me I'm much nicer to the district leaders than they are. Both of them said that I should be zone leader; I said no.
星期六,十一月25号(第102天)
Samstag 25. November 2017
Our plan for the morning was to perform some service for the Tiergarten German ward Bishop's apartment complex. We had no idea what we'd be doing. All I knew was that the bishop was having us over for breakfast before. It was pouring rain so I brought my big rain jacket which was nice, but also bad for another reason. The breakfast was awesome, and the bishop had an excellent American accent. He's full on German, but served his mission in California. So you know, west coast best coast. But he told us what was going on and I guess twice every year everyone in the apartment area gets together to clean the grounds. During this time of year, it's raking leaves - wet leaves! Oh man, it was fun to clean up but we were out there for about 3 hours and the whole bottom half of my body was dirty and soaking wet. It was exactly as of I had taken a dip in a pool. I also lost all feeling in my hand, but we'll wait and see if pneumonia stopped by, too. Nonetheless, it was a really cool service to do. The neighbors even had some small Christmas gifts to hand out. I got a chocolate Weihnachtsmann so I'll have to save that for closer to Christmas. The bishop gave us a nice car ride back to our apartment so we didn't have to travel by bus and train drenched.
As soon as we were back to our place, Elders Hunt and To wanted to have a Chinese Skype meeting. Problem was that Elder Bacher was with Elder Taylor, so it was just me and them. I found it very helpful, though. Elder To being a native speaker really helped with my questions!
For some reason they printed out 200 copies of German Der Welt Ein Licht calendars (Light The World). Amazing since we're ya know, an English speaking branch. Dope, right?
It just so happened to work out that Elder Wride and I went on Tausch again in the night. Elder Bacher and I were just going to do our studies since we hadn't done any of it today due to a busy schedule. Now, Elder Wride needed to talk to a member of his bishopric regarding the investigators and recent converts he is working with. I picked up a tiny bit of what they were talking about so that was pretty okay. But! Afterwards we actually got to go to the Saturday night volleyball! Normally, Elder Bacher and I don't go since you have to bring an investigator to it to participate; and we haven't had any people who've shown interest in that. Because I was with Elder Wride, though, he gets a free ticket, so I was in it, too. I'll have to say it was not what I was expecting. It was super competitive, and all in German so it made it a lot more scarier. We made three teams of five and just had some competition games. They were fun, but they play a lot differently than we did back at the MTC. Such as the fact that where the players were placed was weird. They play hard. And now I'm super sore because of it. They're serious about their volleyball.
星期天,十一月26号(第103)
Sonntag 26. November 2017
Possibly the best Sunday ever!
We need to get this branch moving, so Elder Bacher and I had planned out how we were going to approach everybody and tell them what needs to be done and stuff. But we got there and we were approached by people such as the Branch mission president who now wants to have bi-monthly meetings. And the branch presidency was ready to share the Light The World initiative to the congregation and tell everybody that the elders have pass along cards. They were just so on top of things all of a sudden and it made me super happy and proud. They're really working hard.
In addition, we saw 3 extra companionships come to church! They all had brought an investigator. The AP's came with a middle eastern guy who actually randomly brought a friend. The other two companionships brought an Italian and someone else I don't remember. This gives me much hope for the progress of the branch.
After church, the Branch President drove us to his house to have dinner. It was a really cool ride through the streets of Berlin. President Mathias is from England, so of course he's got a cool accent. He and his wife are so British! Anyways, his wife had choir so it was just Elder Bacher, me, and President Mathias. He's lived all over the world due to his work and has been in the Berlin area for about 9 years now. It was a really great experience to finally get to know him.
星期一,十一月27号(第104天)今天!
Montag 27. November 2017. Heute!
Nothing too exciting today. The four of us visited the Lego shop in Wittenbergplatz. It was a lot cooler than I had expected. They had a lot of cool Lego creations and gismos to look at and use. I should have put a big purple and gold UW on the creation wall because, you know, go Dawgs!
Elder Wride bought another board game that he'll probably beat me at.
Tonight we had another dinner appointment with some members from the branch. I think the father is one of the people who works for the American embassy here (a lot of people from the branch work there).
Anyhoo, hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving and didn't blow all their money on deals and stuff. Just don't forget about cyber Monday!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,十一月20号(第97天)
Montag 20. November 2017
Family Home Evening was really cool tonight! We were able to meet with that Lithuanian guy right before and get him to come to the activity. He is still having problems getting to overcome somethings and he's really beating himself up about it. But this night for the main portion we were going over the Chiasmus in the 36th chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon. The chapter talks a lot about Alma's anguish in his sins and his eventual remission of them. Then we had a couple songs provided by a guy who is from Portugal and randomly showed up. He plays in a band with his friends but brought his guitar and sung "Man in the Mirror" which tells about changing yourself for the better. So tonight was just super on point for what this Lithuanian guy needed!
星期二,十一月21号(第98天)
Dienstag 21. November 2017
Elder Wride gave us a last-minute Tausch notification so we went on splits today. I went with Elder Wride while Elder Bacher took Elder Alves. Elder Wride, being the District Leader, had a couple meetings he had to go to in the morning. So, I had to wait around for a couple hours but that was okay. The whole zone is trying to do a big initiative to get lots English speakers to come to the English branch. I'm so glad that I've got the whole zone in on helping this branch grow. After his District Leader meeting, everybody went out to a burrito place quite a ways from the Church. Tried to order in German, but the guy at the counter just knew I was too American and spoke in English. Oh well.
It was cool to be with Elder Wride because I feel like he pushed me to do more with what I can do. We did a lot of talking to people on the street and quite a few individuals stopped and talked to us. We were able to hand out a bunch of contact information cards. But the most exciting part was when we went to the apartment complexes. Elder Bacher and I have never done this, but Elder Wride would just take us to random apartments and look on the bell lists for Chinese people. One place even had some people at the front who told us that it was okay to actually go in and ring the bells on the doors themselves, rather than just at the front of the complex. In essence, it was my first "door to door" experience. I was able to talk to about 4 Chinese people who answered their doors. Almost set up an appointment with one, and handed the others information cards. Even if no one has interest, it was still the most Chinese people I've talked to in one day. Though, I've really have got to work on my conversational skills.
星期三,十一月22号(第99天)
Mittwoch 22. November 2017
We're now having regular lessons with the Lithuanian. It's actually his birthday coming soon! Such a great way to make him feel welcomed would be to let the branch know about it and they can wish him a happy day.
I beat Elder Wride at Settlers of Catan, finally!
星期四,十一月23号(第100天)
Donnerstag 23. November 2017
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
I made a simple little post on Facebook regarding my gratitude for this Thanksgiving. Definitely check it out if you haven't yet. It's in all three of my languages!
We had Thanksgiving dinner at a members' house. It actually felt quite like home in some ways. The family was American, but has lived all over the world because of military service. They even lived in the Tacoma, Washington as their last stay before Berlin. They've been to many Boy Scout camps in the Pacific Northwest as well! So, that was an awesome connection to have. Sadly, however, they haven't been to Hahobas. Dinner was amazing; instead of turkey and stuffing, they just put them both together! Incredible! I got along with their young boys really well since I'm more advanced in the education of dank memes than my associate, Elder Bacher other than that, I made the other adults laugh a good amount and we had a great time enjoying each other's company. We had to leave early because of travel time, but I got some pumpkin pie right before leaving so we're good. All in all, a successful Turkey day.
Also, today is day 100 of being out on a mission! What a milestone. And perfect that it lands on Thanksgiving!
星期五,十一月24号(第101天)
Freitag 24. November 2017
After our District meeting the Zone Leaders had a little meeting with us regarding Zone goals. We want to get 10 companionships with investigators to church on the 3rd. They also want us to hand out every single Light The World card (we have about 1000).
Since the Zone leaders wanted to Tausch with us today, I went with Elder Keller (newest zone leader) and Elder Bacher went with Yaşli Taylor (Turkish Elder). It was really cool to be with Elder Keller. He's an awesome guy. He's learning Russian so I want to get how to pronounce Russian words through him for some reason.
The zone leaders had planned a street display in Oranienburg. Because we were on Tausch with them, Elder Bacher and I headed up with them. We just had a table with a few copies of the Book of Mormon; and there were six missionaries in total. So, two of us stayed at the table while the other four went out to find and talk to people. It was in the pouring rain and kinda weird since so many people were in such a hurry to get to the Bahnhof. I mainly just got people's attentions and said hi because that's all I could do, while the other missionary I was with (either Elder Keller or Taylor) pretty much did all the taking. Super awkward to only catch about 10 percent of what was being said. However, there was one time that I was getting the attention of someone and when they stopped and decided that they would talk to us, I just started taking to him. We had a good conversation about his beliefs and how important families are to him. After he had left and I gave him a card, I realized that I had just spent the last couple minutes talking to that guy in German. I had no idea what I even said! It was a total gift of tongues moment because I can't converse like that in German normally. It was totally awesome!
Every night the zone leaders call every district leader in the area to check up on everyone. Tonight since they were at our apartment, they thought it would be funny if I called everyone in behalf of them. They were joking, but I said yes. So, I called all of the district leaders that night. They were super confused to hear my voice and not the zone leader's, but they all quickly got used to me. I asked them about how their day was, if everyone in their area was safely home, and if there was anything to report. They were super nice and I wanna say I made their day, so I will. The Zone leaders told me I'm much nicer to the district leaders than they are. Both of them said that I should be zone leader; I said no.
星期六,十一月25号(第102天)
Samstag 25. November 2017
Our plan for the morning was to perform some service for the Tiergarten German ward Bishop's apartment complex. We had no idea what we'd be doing. All I knew was that the bishop was having us over for breakfast before. It was pouring rain so I brought my big rain jacket which was nice, but also bad for another reason. The breakfast was awesome, and the bishop had an excellent American accent. He's full on German, but served his mission in California. So you know, west coast best coast. But he told us what was going on and I guess twice every year everyone in the apartment area gets together to clean the grounds. During this time of year, it's raking leaves - wet leaves! Oh man, it was fun to clean up but we were out there for about 3 hours and the whole bottom half of my body was dirty and soaking wet. It was exactly as of I had taken a dip in a pool. I also lost all feeling in my hand, but we'll wait and see if pneumonia stopped by, too. Nonetheless, it was a really cool service to do. The neighbors even had some small Christmas gifts to hand out. I got a chocolate Weihnachtsmann so I'll have to save that for closer to Christmas. The bishop gave us a nice car ride back to our apartment so we didn't have to travel by bus and train drenched.
As soon as we were back to our place, Elders Hunt and To wanted to have a Chinese Skype meeting. Problem was that Elder Bacher was with Elder Taylor, so it was just me and them. I found it very helpful, though. Elder To being a native speaker really helped with my questions!
For some reason they printed out 200 copies of German Der Welt Ein Licht calendars (Light The World). Amazing since we're ya know, an English speaking branch. Dope, right?
It just so happened to work out that Elder Wride and I went on Tausch again in the night. Elder Bacher and I were just going to do our studies since we hadn't done any of it today due to a busy schedule. Now, Elder Wride needed to talk to a member of his bishopric regarding the investigators and recent converts he is working with. I picked up a tiny bit of what they were talking about so that was pretty okay. But! Afterwards we actually got to go to the Saturday night volleyball! Normally, Elder Bacher and I don't go since you have to bring an investigator to it to participate; and we haven't had any people who've shown interest in that. Because I was with Elder Wride, though, he gets a free ticket, so I was in it, too. I'll have to say it was not what I was expecting. It was super competitive, and all in German so it made it a lot more scarier. We made three teams of five and just had some competition games. They were fun, but they play a lot differently than we did back at the MTC. Such as the fact that where the players were placed was weird. They play hard. And now I'm super sore because of it. They're serious about their volleyball.
星期天,十一月26号(第103)
Sonntag 26. November 2017
Possibly the best Sunday ever!
We need to get this branch moving, so Elder Bacher and I had planned out how we were going to approach everybody and tell them what needs to be done and stuff. But we got there and we were approached by people such as the Branch mission president who now wants to have bi-monthly meetings. And the branch presidency was ready to share the Light The World initiative to the congregation and tell everybody that the elders have pass along cards. They were just so on top of things all of a sudden and it made me super happy and proud. They're really working hard.
In addition, we saw 3 extra companionships come to church! They all had brought an investigator. The AP's came with a middle eastern guy who actually randomly brought a friend. The other two companionships brought an Italian and someone else I don't remember. This gives me much hope for the progress of the branch.
After church, the Branch President drove us to his house to have dinner. It was a really cool ride through the streets of Berlin. President Mathias is from England, so of course he's got a cool accent. He and his wife are so British! Anyways, his wife had choir so it was just Elder Bacher, me, and President Mathias. He's lived all over the world due to his work and has been in the Berlin area for about 9 years now. It was a really great experience to finally get to know him.
星期一,十一月27号(第104天)今天!
Montag 27. November 2017. Heute!
Nothing too exciting today. The four of us visited the Lego shop in Wittenbergplatz. It was a lot cooler than I had expected. They had a lot of cool Lego creations and gismos to look at and use. I should have put a big purple and gold UW on the creation wall because, you know, go Dawgs!
Elder Wride bought another board game that he'll probably beat me at.
Tonight we had another dinner appointment with some members from the branch. I think the father is one of the people who works for the American embassy here (a lot of people from the branch work there).
Anyhoo, hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving and didn't blow all their money on deals and stuff. Just don't forget about cyber Monday!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 14
星期二,十一月14号(第91天)
Dienstag 14. November 2017
One of the U-Bahn lines is down today. And it happens to be the U9 line which is basically our regular and most convenient travel option. Schade. It made getting around a lot harder. Over the intercom, all was said was that the firefighters were involved. If it was an accident on the train, I hope everyone is okay. Regardless, it took a lot longer to get to destinations.
Our district planned on having a street display today. I've never done one before, so I don't know what to expect. I guess normally we just get a table with a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon and other cards to hand out to people who pass by and are interested. Unfortunately, Elder Bacher and I couldn't participate because of a lesson that conflicts with the scheduling, but that's okay. These are supposed to happen maybe once a transfer. However, the Lipp's, the senior missionary couple, cooked lunch for all of us at the church before the street display took place. It was delicious! And they were so nice. We all had a great time bonding over the table. Elder Lipp was even nice enough to give us a ride in his car to our investigator's home. Helped out a ton since the our main U-Bahn was disabled. That's the first time I've been in a legit car in 3 months (if you don't count the van I was picked up in on my arrival to Germany).
Another meeting with the Chinese investigator. Elder Hsu was present over Skype. This time he strictly only talked when clarification was needed. But all in all, the lesson was awesome! She asked some really tough questions but it really showed she wants to understand the gospel since she has no Christian background. We were discussing the Plan of Salvation, and to help her out on why God sent us to Earth with no knowledge of our previous life with Him, we made up a metaphor. I told her that this life is like a test in school. A teacher wants to know how much you know without notes (I know, there are exceptions). So, God caused that we forget everything we knew before this life to see how we would do on the test of life. And later in His plan we will be evaluated on how we did on this test. Then we talked about a few other things when she asks, "how can I pass this test?" And looking back on it now, I don't know why I was so excited. When she asked that, I just got a huge smile on my face and stood right up, gave her a high five, and told her that was a fantastic question. She looked confused for a bit, but after I explained it to her she shared my joy. I'm weird, I know, but this stuff is cool because it's true!
星期三,十一月15号(第92天)
Mittwoch 15. November 2017
I guess the U-Bahn we normally take was repaired. I like it much better when it's working.
Today is the official transfer day. Since I'm not going anywhere, I don't have to worry too much. Now, Elder Hacking has been down a foot for a while; and along with that, has been super busy with appointments with people. Because of this, he started packing last night. His train left at 7am which meant he had to stay up for quite a while. Also, he had to get up super early. I decided that I should help him by assisting him and Elder Wride to the Hauptbahnhof. We got up at 5am to finish any packing and we were off to the station by 6am. Elder Wride is going to Freiberg to pick up his Trainee so his train left first. As I got on Elder Hacking's train to help with his stuff, the main doors closed. I totally thought the train was going to depart early which would suck since I didn't have a ticket. Luckily, I was able to get off in the nick of time and I said my goodbyes as Elder Hacking rode off. I really hope people are waiting for him at his destination ready to get his bags because he is literally in no shape to take his bags anywhere by himself. It turns out that the Zone Leaders didn't need our help there, so we just went back to the apartment.
The apartment was a mess with a bunch of random stuff and garbage left behind by Elder Hacking's packing. Which, I can't blame him for. We wanted to give the new missionary a good first impression of the place (especially if they're as scared as I was day 1), so we spent a good while cleaning. I got a mini plush Santa Claus out of the whole deal so I call that a good day.
The new missionary arrived! His name is Elder Alves and is actually from southern Germany! Kinda jealous since his German is fluent but whatever. He came with a smartphone, interestingly enough, so I guess their already doing away with tablets and just switching over to the Samsung phones. Though, I like tablets better for missionary work.
星期四,十一月16号(第93天)
Donnerstag 16. November 2017
Since yesterday was transfer day, there was no time to have our district meeting. So, we had it today. We got to meet the new sister trainee and everyone else met Elder Alves. I got to teach a little lesson to everybody about being disciplined with our usage of technology. It's great because Elder Wride assigned me to it right before bed last night so I pretty much winged it. I did an amazing job, in case you're wondering, due to the fact that I made the sisters laugh a lot. I even make the elders in our apartment laugh every night with the dumb things that come out of my mouth. Elder Morrell told me that he doesn't know why everything I say is hilarious. The key is not to think about what you're going to say, you just say whatever random stuff your brain makes up. Then, if the person you're taking to is just as confused on what was said as you are, they'll generally laugh. Anyway, good work.
We had district lunch at that same Turkish burger place we went to my second day here. It feels so long ago, but it has only been a month!
Elder Bacher and I found a bunch of old teaching records of investigators and converts. Our purpose was to find names that were Chinese. We actually found the person we're teaching now. Apparently, she and her husband started taking lessons from the missionaries 7 years ago! They only did maybe 3 or so lessons and I doubt they were in Chinese so I don't know how much they got out of them. The reports seem to stop when she went back to China that year and I guess no one tried to contact her until now. Other than that, we've found maybe 5 Chinese members we didn't know about and an additional potential investigator we can recontact! It was super cool to dig through all the files; it's like an 80's FBI movie or something. I'm in a suit, too!
星期五,十一月17号(第94天)
Freitag 17. November 2017
We went by one of the Chinese members that we found in the records yesterday to see if we could at least set up an appointment. We just wanted to try and converse with them to practice our language skills and maybe they'd enjoy our company and watch us struggle with Chinese so much they'll give us some Chinese referrals. Turned out, one of them is in the hospital and will be back on Monday so it would be a great opportunity for service when he's back.
President Speck of the stake presidency apparently texted us last night stating that he wanted us to meet as his house for dinner tonight. However, we didn't get that text for some reason. So, he called us today asking where we were and that he had enchiladas ready for us. We told him we did not receive his text. We had to miss the dinner, unfortunately. He was okay with it, no one to blame, but he's going to reschedule our dinner appointment. Man! It had to be on enchilada night!
星期六,十一月18号(第95天)
Samstag 18. November 2017
We were invited to go to a chess tournament in the Neukölln ward building. Neukölln is like an hour ride of U-Bahn and bus, but it was nice to see another church building here in Berlin. I played like 12 games and lost 11 so the odds were not looking good in my favor. The only game I won was a different version of chess, anyway; a faster type of game. Yeah, I suck at chess.
Elder Bacher made me order my food at a meat stand tonight. I can basically ask for what I want but as far as the specifics, I'm somewhat lost. The lady behind the counter asked me, "mit Senf?" And I don't know what Senf is, so I said yes. Now, I hate mustard, and guess what Senf is?? Mustard! Ahh I was too shy to say anything so I just watched her put mustard on my bratwurst. Oh man, I've got some serious work to do.
The zone leaders called us saying that they want to go on Tausch with us next week. Elder Wride also wants to Tausch with us next week. AND the Zone Leaders want to Tausch with Elder Wride next week. So next week is going to be filled with split companionships. Then there's Elder Hsu who wants a Tausch at the end of the transfer. Smh he had to ruin the streak.
星期天,十一月19号(第96天)
Sonntag 19. November 2017
One of the German families walked up to me before church started, handed me a box of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese, then proceeded to say, "Happy Thanksgiving." Not sure how to feel about this.
Speaking of which, another American family asked us to come over for their Thanksgiving celebration. Super nice of them to do that, but since Elder Bacher and I will most likely be on Tausch with the Zone Leaders, only he or I will get to attend that. We'll have to see.
After church, we had the Berlin stake Priesthood meeting. Since our building is the stake building, it was held where we were. The chapel was packed! Which is something I haven't seen in a while. There was very little room to sit. Most of the speakers, of course, spoke in German. It was about midway through when I realized I could have picked up a headset for translation but whatever. I've got to learn this language. Luckily, a couple speakers gave their messages in English, along with a German translator. That translator was super good at his job! The speaker would say almost a whole paragraph of stuff, and we're all thinking the speaker's going to have to repeat what he said for the translator, but he does the whole thing! I wouldn't have been able to repeat exactly what the speaker said in English! What a cool guy.
星期一,十一月20号(第97天)今天!
Montag 20. November 2017. Heute!
Elder Wride and I needed haircuts so we went on a mini Tausch. It was kind of embarrassing to not know how to say haircut stuff in German, but I got through it somehow. Afterwards, we went to a clothing store and I grabbed a new sweater. It's super warm!
Bought a big thing of Twix because why not?
Other than that, we arrived at the church with Elder Bacher and Alves to play another round of Settler's Catan. We love playing it, but Elder Wride always wins.
That's all for now.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,十一月14号(第91天)
Dienstag 14. November 2017
One of the U-Bahn lines is down today. And it happens to be the U9 line which is basically our regular and most convenient travel option. Schade. It made getting around a lot harder. Over the intercom, all was said was that the firefighters were involved. If it was an accident on the train, I hope everyone is okay. Regardless, it took a lot longer to get to destinations.
Our district planned on having a street display today. I've never done one before, so I don't know what to expect. I guess normally we just get a table with a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon and other cards to hand out to people who pass by and are interested. Unfortunately, Elder Bacher and I couldn't participate because of a lesson that conflicts with the scheduling, but that's okay. These are supposed to happen maybe once a transfer. However, the Lipp's, the senior missionary couple, cooked lunch for all of us at the church before the street display took place. It was delicious! And they were so nice. We all had a great time bonding over the table. Elder Lipp was even nice enough to give us a ride in his car to our investigator's home. Helped out a ton since the our main U-Bahn was disabled. That's the first time I've been in a legit car in 3 months (if you don't count the van I was picked up in on my arrival to Germany).
Another meeting with the Chinese investigator. Elder Hsu was present over Skype. This time he strictly only talked when clarification was needed. But all in all, the lesson was awesome! She asked some really tough questions but it really showed she wants to understand the gospel since she has no Christian background. We were discussing the Plan of Salvation, and to help her out on why God sent us to Earth with no knowledge of our previous life with Him, we made up a metaphor. I told her that this life is like a test in school. A teacher wants to know how much you know without notes (I know, there are exceptions). So, God caused that we forget everything we knew before this life to see how we would do on the test of life. And later in His plan we will be evaluated on how we did on this test. Then we talked about a few other things when she asks, "how can I pass this test?" And looking back on it now, I don't know why I was so excited. When she asked that, I just got a huge smile on my face and stood right up, gave her a high five, and told her that was a fantastic question. She looked confused for a bit, but after I explained it to her she shared my joy. I'm weird, I know, but this stuff is cool because it's true!
星期三,十一月15号(第92天)
Mittwoch 15. November 2017
I guess the U-Bahn we normally take was repaired. I like it much better when it's working.
Today is the official transfer day. Since I'm not going anywhere, I don't have to worry too much. Now, Elder Hacking has been down a foot for a while; and along with that, has been super busy with appointments with people. Because of this, he started packing last night. His train left at 7am which meant he had to stay up for quite a while. Also, he had to get up super early. I decided that I should help him by assisting him and Elder Wride to the Hauptbahnhof. We got up at 5am to finish any packing and we were off to the station by 6am. Elder Wride is going to Freiberg to pick up his Trainee so his train left first. As I got on Elder Hacking's train to help with his stuff, the main doors closed. I totally thought the train was going to depart early which would suck since I didn't have a ticket. Luckily, I was able to get off in the nick of time and I said my goodbyes as Elder Hacking rode off. I really hope people are waiting for him at his destination ready to get his bags because he is literally in no shape to take his bags anywhere by himself. It turns out that the Zone Leaders didn't need our help there, so we just went back to the apartment.
The apartment was a mess with a bunch of random stuff and garbage left behind by Elder Hacking's packing. Which, I can't blame him for. We wanted to give the new missionary a good first impression of the place (especially if they're as scared as I was day 1), so we spent a good while cleaning. I got a mini plush Santa Claus out of the whole deal so I call that a good day.
The new missionary arrived! His name is Elder Alves and is actually from southern Germany! Kinda jealous since his German is fluent but whatever. He came with a smartphone, interestingly enough, so I guess their already doing away with tablets and just switching over to the Samsung phones. Though, I like tablets better for missionary work.
星期四,十一月16号(第93天)
Donnerstag 16. November 2017
Since yesterday was transfer day, there was no time to have our district meeting. So, we had it today. We got to meet the new sister trainee and everyone else met Elder Alves. I got to teach a little lesson to everybody about being disciplined with our usage of technology. It's great because Elder Wride assigned me to it right before bed last night so I pretty much winged it. I did an amazing job, in case you're wondering, due to the fact that I made the sisters laugh a lot. I even make the elders in our apartment laugh every night with the dumb things that come out of my mouth. Elder Morrell told me that he doesn't know why everything I say is hilarious. The key is not to think about what you're going to say, you just say whatever random stuff your brain makes up. Then, if the person you're taking to is just as confused on what was said as you are, they'll generally laugh. Anyway, good work.
We had district lunch at that same Turkish burger place we went to my second day here. It feels so long ago, but it has only been a month!
Elder Bacher and I found a bunch of old teaching records of investigators and converts. Our purpose was to find names that were Chinese. We actually found the person we're teaching now. Apparently, she and her husband started taking lessons from the missionaries 7 years ago! They only did maybe 3 or so lessons and I doubt they were in Chinese so I don't know how much they got out of them. The reports seem to stop when she went back to China that year and I guess no one tried to contact her until now. Other than that, we've found maybe 5 Chinese members we didn't know about and an additional potential investigator we can recontact! It was super cool to dig through all the files; it's like an 80's FBI movie or something. I'm in a suit, too!
星期五,十一月17号(第94天)
Freitag 17. November 2017
We went by one of the Chinese members that we found in the records yesterday to see if we could at least set up an appointment. We just wanted to try and converse with them to practice our language skills and maybe they'd enjoy our company and watch us struggle with Chinese so much they'll give us some Chinese referrals. Turned out, one of them is in the hospital and will be back on Monday so it would be a great opportunity for service when he's back.
President Speck of the stake presidency apparently texted us last night stating that he wanted us to meet as his house for dinner tonight. However, we didn't get that text for some reason. So, he called us today asking where we were and that he had enchiladas ready for us. We told him we did not receive his text. We had to miss the dinner, unfortunately. He was okay with it, no one to blame, but he's going to reschedule our dinner appointment. Man! It had to be on enchilada night!
星期六,十一月18号(第95天)
Samstag 18. November 2017
We were invited to go to a chess tournament in the Neukölln ward building. Neukölln is like an hour ride of U-Bahn and bus, but it was nice to see another church building here in Berlin. I played like 12 games and lost 11 so the odds were not looking good in my favor. The only game I won was a different version of chess, anyway; a faster type of game. Yeah, I suck at chess.
Elder Bacher made me order my food at a meat stand tonight. I can basically ask for what I want but as far as the specifics, I'm somewhat lost. The lady behind the counter asked me, "mit Senf?" And I don't know what Senf is, so I said yes. Now, I hate mustard, and guess what Senf is?? Mustard! Ahh I was too shy to say anything so I just watched her put mustard on my bratwurst. Oh man, I've got some serious work to do.
The zone leaders called us saying that they want to go on Tausch with us next week. Elder Wride also wants to Tausch with us next week. AND the Zone Leaders want to Tausch with Elder Wride next week. So next week is going to be filled with split companionships. Then there's Elder Hsu who wants a Tausch at the end of the transfer. Smh he had to ruin the streak.
星期天,十一月19号(第96天)
Sonntag 19. November 2017
One of the German families walked up to me before church started, handed me a box of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese, then proceeded to say, "Happy Thanksgiving." Not sure how to feel about this.
Speaking of which, another American family asked us to come over for their Thanksgiving celebration. Super nice of them to do that, but since Elder Bacher and I will most likely be on Tausch with the Zone Leaders, only he or I will get to attend that. We'll have to see.
After church, we had the Berlin stake Priesthood meeting. Since our building is the stake building, it was held where we were. The chapel was packed! Which is something I haven't seen in a while. There was very little room to sit. Most of the speakers, of course, spoke in German. It was about midway through when I realized I could have picked up a headset for translation but whatever. I've got to learn this language. Luckily, a couple speakers gave their messages in English, along with a German translator. That translator was super good at his job! The speaker would say almost a whole paragraph of stuff, and we're all thinking the speaker's going to have to repeat what he said for the translator, but he does the whole thing! I wouldn't have been able to repeat exactly what the speaker said in English! What a cool guy.
星期一,十一月20号(第97天)今天!
Montag 20. November 2017. Heute!
Elder Wride and I needed haircuts so we went on a mini Tausch. It was kind of embarrassing to not know how to say haircut stuff in German, but I got through it somehow. Afterwards, we went to a clothing store and I grabbed a new sweater. It's super warm!
Bought a big thing of Twix because why not?
Other than that, we arrived at the church with Elder Bacher and Alves to play another round of Settler's Catan. We love playing it, but Elder Wride always wins.
That's all for now.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 13
星期二,十一月7号(第84天)
Dienstag 7. November 2017
Lesson with our Chinese investigator again. It was actually super cool. We had another member present who's a pretty chill dude. Since our Simplified Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon arrived a while ago, we gave her one. When I handed her it, she struggled to find the words she wanted to say in English and it didn't sound like it was going to be good; like she didn't want it or something. But, she just wanted to tell me that she wanted MY Book of Mormon. I was like what?! She pointed towards my language study edition (characters to pinyin to English) and said she wanted that. She wants it so she can learn English better. I never thought someone Chinese would ever want it since I associate it with learning Chinese from English but I guess it could work the other way, too. Luckily, I received one from my YSA ward back home before I left and use that, but at the MTC they gave me one as a standard part of my study books. For some reason, I felt that I should keep it but now I know why I had that prompting! Because someone eventually wanted it! So cool, man. Anyway, the lesson was really good because she asked a lot of good questions so it's not just us talking at her. There were even a few parts where she didn't know how to convey her words in German or English so she would talk to me in Chinese and I did my best to translate for the other two (granted, I didn't really do an amazing job). I recited the first vision to her in Mandarin and she told me that I sound fluent but I think she's just being nice. She's super interested in praying and reading the Book of Mormon. We're gonna see if she'll go to the Spanish Fiesta at the stake center. Good icebreaker!
星期三,十一月8号(第85天)
Mittwoch 8. November 2017
Finally, we had another district meeting. The last official one I was a part of was my second day here. Since then, every week has been interviews or some conference so our weekly district meetings were always being pushed back. We have two missionaries, an elder and a sister, who are leaving us next week. It's weird to see them going when I just got here 4 weeks ago.
We got off the bus and I saw we were walking behind an Asian woman. I had no idea if she was Mandarin speaking or not, but I looked at her bag and it was covered in Chinese characters. I know it's a little odd to approach someone from behind but I did and started talking with her in Chinese. All I really got was how she was heading to work and she's from some place in China (I'm not good with China geography). What's really cool is that she works at a place like 2 buildings from the stake center. And she teaches Mandarin there. She had to go, but I really hope we run into each other again.
Elder Bacher and I set up a Skype meeting with Elder Openshaw and Elder To. Since Elder To is fluent in Chinese, I took the opportunity to ask him about taking generally to people. With the woman from earlier, I got to a point where I couldn't go any further in the language before I went into gospel talk. He suggested that I ask them if I can practice Chinese with them since I'm learning it. That would be a great way to transition into taking about the gospel. And, they'd know I'm learning so they may try to help me out more. (I need a lot of that).
Going to have to work more on my listening skills so I downloaded a few talks from President Monson in Mandarin so we'll see how that goes.
星期四,十一月9号(第86天)
Donnerstag 9. November 2017
The main portion of the day was dedicated to Trainer Trainee Meeting. Elder Bacher and I left the apartment a little early this morning and headed off by way of buses and S-Bahns to President Fingerle's house. He lives in a very nice little suburb in Berlin. Trainer Trainee Meeting is for all the new missionaries and their companions. It was great to see a lot of people I met in the MTC. They informed us that this will be the last meeting that will be translated for us I got the feeling that I should drop Chinese and focus heavily on German now. I talked with President about it and he rebuked me. He says learning German is a bonus, but the Lord called me to speak Chinese. Interesting for him to say that, but he thinks that everything will work out as long as I trust the Lord and do my best with Mandarin.
After the meeting, we headed to the mission office where Elder Hsu and Elder Searle were waiting. We went on Tausch so I left with Elder Hsu and Elder Bacher went with Elder Searle.
Elder Hsu and I met with a recent Chinese convert and went to a traditional Chinese food restaurant. Chinese food is very interesting. It was funny because I walk in and my glasses fogged up instantaneously. I had to go without them for like 10 minutes in there it was bad. It was like a sauna in there. The staff were Chinese people, of course, but regardless of me trying to speak Mandarin with them, they always spoke English to me. I guess I look too American.
Afterwards, Elder Hsu and his friend came up with a full name for me. 慕容軒. 軒 means high or lofty and 慕容 (which I got in the MTC) is like a very unique but apparently a super cool last name because nobles usually have that kind of name. Plus, most last names are one character, whereas mine are two. Super dope because my first name in English means crowned so I like the connection here. Satisfied.
星期五,十一月10号(第87天)
Freitag 10. November 2017
Elder Hsu and Searle made some genuine German pancakes and syrup today from scratch. I enjoyed them a little too much. They're super good cooks. Turns out that Elder Searle also wears a calculator watch! What a cool dude! His looks like my old one, but black instead of grey.
Elder Hsu really wants to serve in Berlin (he serves in Freiberg right now). He loves the big cities. He constantly tells me that. I keep telling him that he could just be my companion here in Tiergarten and he can help me with Chinese every day! That is, if I don't get transferred. Tomorrow we'll know where everybody is going for the next transfer, which is actually four weeks instead of six. I doubt I will get transferred since I'm pretty new here.
We brought the other two Freiberg elders with us to our Chinese investigator. She really appreciated having Elder Hsu so she could express herself more in Chinese. She has been reading from the Book of Mormon and really wants to start going to church. Also, we found out that she goes back to China every once in a while for just a couple months and then comes back so we don't have to be too worried about losing her when she goes back. Although, she doesn't even know when she'll be going back, anyways. I really liked having Elder Hsu there, but he kind of ended up talking a little too much but that's okay. I say that because the whole time before the lesson he was all, "you're leading this lesson and I'm just there to translate to clarify, okay? Speak as much Chinese as you can! And don't forget you're leading the lesson…" He told me what I did was very good but I've still have work to do. Even still, the spirit was so strong! I felt so good after that lesson I just gave him a huge hug outside.
星期六,十一月11号(第88天)
Samstag 11. November 2017
Saw a guy who was a total cowboy wannabe. He was waving his fake western pistols everywhere yelling at people in German. He wouldn't even pass off a legit cowboy by my American standards. What an interesting guy. Takes a lot of skill to just do what you want and not care what everybody thinks.
Transfer calls came in today! Elder Bacher and I will be staying here in Tiergarten. Elder Hacking will be moved to a small village over to the west where he'll be district leader there. Elder Wride is also staying here, but because Elder Hacking is going, his new companion will be a Trainee! So, we'll have two trainees in one apartment; and three in our district, since we're getting a sister trainee as well. With four people in this apartment and two of them are new, that means there are only gonna be 3 brains in this place. Maybe 2.9 brains if you don't even consider mine a half brain. Just kidding. I wonder if this trainee has done any language other than German at the MTC. We'll find out more come Wednesday. Speaking of which, since we're conveniently in Berlin, Elder Bacher and I will have to be at the Hauptbahnhof almost all day getting people off of their trains and helping them on where to go. Probably going to be a long day.
So, it's Veteran's Day and I almost forgot! I'm kind of not in the US anymore so it's not really a hot topic here. But, I still remembered even at the end of this day. Of course, huge thanks to all the veterans who have served and are currently serving. Hope everyone has a nice and safe holiday. On that note, the North Mason high school marching band should be having their Veteran's Day parade and field show here soon! Last show of the year, I think. Best wishes to them!
星期天,十一月12号(第89天)
Sonntag 12. November 2017
The Branch President came up to us today saying that he needs 50 baptisms in the next three months. Seems reasonable.
One of the members of the stake presidency also wanted to talk to us after church. We ended up making it almost an hour long meeting. He talked about how grateful he is for us and told us about how we're assigned to Tiergarten, but our English branch actually extends out past the limits of Berlin. So, he basically gave us a good luck since he considers us more as stake missionaries than just branch missionaries. If any companionship has someone who would benefit more in an English setting, then their investigator is sent to us, ideally. So we pretty much have jurisdiction over all of the English speakers in the Berlin stake. Something I particularly liked was how he wants us (mainly me) to start up a Chinese Sunday school and teach that. Kind of scary, but it might be what I need.
星期一,十一月13号(第90天)今天!
Montag 13. November 2017. Heute!
We decided to have our district P-Day today, actually. We had to make this Monday the district P-Day since we're losing two of our missionaries here in just a couple days All of us met up in Potsdamerplatz at the Weihnachtsmarkt there. It's not Christmas just yet, but what they had set up already wasn't too bad. We went to the Berlin mall and ate lunch there. For some reason, I found myself in a situation with Elder Morrell and I having a weird confrontation with me feeding him Indian food.
After lunch, all of us headed back to the church and we had a talent show! Each person had to pick a certain talent that their companion has and the companion has to act it out or perform it in some way. Super genius! Anyways Elder Bacher said I'm good with camp. Not sure what that means but I just got up and did a camp song with them. They seemed to like it. Everybody else did something either really cool or really funny.
That Lithuanian guy who has been needing some serious help has finally said yes to meeting us at the church so we'll meet with him soon and hopefully assist him in any way. We will see how that goes.
因为这是十一月,我觉得我应该说我感谢什么。我感谢神我的家庭和我的朋友们。他们给我快乐。家庭式神计画的核心。我知道耶稣基督的福音会巩固家人关系。
Bitte versuchen wir während dieses jahr zeit uns gegenseitig mehr zu lieben. Ich weiß, dass unsere Himmlische Vater alle Menschen lieben. Viel Glück!
Have fun everybody.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,十一月7号(第84天)
Dienstag 7. November 2017
Lesson with our Chinese investigator again. It was actually super cool. We had another member present who's a pretty chill dude. Since our Simplified Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon arrived a while ago, we gave her one. When I handed her it, she struggled to find the words she wanted to say in English and it didn't sound like it was going to be good; like she didn't want it or something. But, she just wanted to tell me that she wanted MY Book of Mormon. I was like what?! She pointed towards my language study edition (characters to pinyin to English) and said she wanted that. She wants it so she can learn English better. I never thought someone Chinese would ever want it since I associate it with learning Chinese from English but I guess it could work the other way, too. Luckily, I received one from my YSA ward back home before I left and use that, but at the MTC they gave me one as a standard part of my study books. For some reason, I felt that I should keep it but now I know why I had that prompting! Because someone eventually wanted it! So cool, man. Anyway, the lesson was really good because she asked a lot of good questions so it's not just us talking at her. There were even a few parts where she didn't know how to convey her words in German or English so she would talk to me in Chinese and I did my best to translate for the other two (granted, I didn't really do an amazing job). I recited the first vision to her in Mandarin and she told me that I sound fluent but I think she's just being nice. She's super interested in praying and reading the Book of Mormon. We're gonna see if she'll go to the Spanish Fiesta at the stake center. Good icebreaker!
星期三,十一月8号(第85天)
Mittwoch 8. November 2017
Finally, we had another district meeting. The last official one I was a part of was my second day here. Since then, every week has been interviews or some conference so our weekly district meetings were always being pushed back. We have two missionaries, an elder and a sister, who are leaving us next week. It's weird to see them going when I just got here 4 weeks ago.
We got off the bus and I saw we were walking behind an Asian woman. I had no idea if she was Mandarin speaking or not, but I looked at her bag and it was covered in Chinese characters. I know it's a little odd to approach someone from behind but I did and started talking with her in Chinese. All I really got was how she was heading to work and she's from some place in China (I'm not good with China geography). What's really cool is that she works at a place like 2 buildings from the stake center. And she teaches Mandarin there. She had to go, but I really hope we run into each other again.
Elder Bacher and I set up a Skype meeting with Elder Openshaw and Elder To. Since Elder To is fluent in Chinese, I took the opportunity to ask him about taking generally to people. With the woman from earlier, I got to a point where I couldn't go any further in the language before I went into gospel talk. He suggested that I ask them if I can practice Chinese with them since I'm learning it. That would be a great way to transition into taking about the gospel. And, they'd know I'm learning so they may try to help me out more. (I need a lot of that).
Going to have to work more on my listening skills so I downloaded a few talks from President Monson in Mandarin so we'll see how that goes.
星期四,十一月9号(第86天)
Donnerstag 9. November 2017
The main portion of the day was dedicated to Trainer Trainee Meeting. Elder Bacher and I left the apartment a little early this morning and headed off by way of buses and S-Bahns to President Fingerle's house. He lives in a very nice little suburb in Berlin. Trainer Trainee Meeting is for all the new missionaries and their companions. It was great to see a lot of people I met in the MTC. They informed us that this will be the last meeting that will be translated for us I got the feeling that I should drop Chinese and focus heavily on German now. I talked with President about it and he rebuked me. He says learning German is a bonus, but the Lord called me to speak Chinese. Interesting for him to say that, but he thinks that everything will work out as long as I trust the Lord and do my best with Mandarin.
After the meeting, we headed to the mission office where Elder Hsu and Elder Searle were waiting. We went on Tausch so I left with Elder Hsu and Elder Bacher went with Elder Searle.
Elder Hsu and I met with a recent Chinese convert and went to a traditional Chinese food restaurant. Chinese food is very interesting. It was funny because I walk in and my glasses fogged up instantaneously. I had to go without them for like 10 minutes in there it was bad. It was like a sauna in there. The staff were Chinese people, of course, but regardless of me trying to speak Mandarin with them, they always spoke English to me. I guess I look too American.
Afterwards, Elder Hsu and his friend came up with a full name for me. 慕容軒. 軒 means high or lofty and 慕容 (which I got in the MTC) is like a very unique but apparently a super cool last name because nobles usually have that kind of name. Plus, most last names are one character, whereas mine are two. Super dope because my first name in English means crowned so I like the connection here. Satisfied.
星期五,十一月10号(第87天)
Freitag 10. November 2017
Elder Hsu and Searle made some genuine German pancakes and syrup today from scratch. I enjoyed them a little too much. They're super good cooks. Turns out that Elder Searle also wears a calculator watch! What a cool dude! His looks like my old one, but black instead of grey.
Elder Hsu really wants to serve in Berlin (he serves in Freiberg right now). He loves the big cities. He constantly tells me that. I keep telling him that he could just be my companion here in Tiergarten and he can help me with Chinese every day! That is, if I don't get transferred. Tomorrow we'll know where everybody is going for the next transfer, which is actually four weeks instead of six. I doubt I will get transferred since I'm pretty new here.
We brought the other two Freiberg elders with us to our Chinese investigator. She really appreciated having Elder Hsu so she could express herself more in Chinese. She has been reading from the Book of Mormon and really wants to start going to church. Also, we found out that she goes back to China every once in a while for just a couple months and then comes back so we don't have to be too worried about losing her when she goes back. Although, she doesn't even know when she'll be going back, anyways. I really liked having Elder Hsu there, but he kind of ended up talking a little too much but that's okay. I say that because the whole time before the lesson he was all, "you're leading this lesson and I'm just there to translate to clarify, okay? Speak as much Chinese as you can! And don't forget you're leading the lesson…" He told me what I did was very good but I've still have work to do. Even still, the spirit was so strong! I felt so good after that lesson I just gave him a huge hug outside.
星期六,十一月11号(第88天)
Samstag 11. November 2017
Saw a guy who was a total cowboy wannabe. He was waving his fake western pistols everywhere yelling at people in German. He wouldn't even pass off a legit cowboy by my American standards. What an interesting guy. Takes a lot of skill to just do what you want and not care what everybody thinks.
Transfer calls came in today! Elder Bacher and I will be staying here in Tiergarten. Elder Hacking will be moved to a small village over to the west where he'll be district leader there. Elder Wride is also staying here, but because Elder Hacking is going, his new companion will be a Trainee! So, we'll have two trainees in one apartment; and three in our district, since we're getting a sister trainee as well. With four people in this apartment and two of them are new, that means there are only gonna be 3 brains in this place. Maybe 2.9 brains if you don't even consider mine a half brain. Just kidding. I wonder if this trainee has done any language other than German at the MTC. We'll find out more come Wednesday. Speaking of which, since we're conveniently in Berlin, Elder Bacher and I will have to be at the Hauptbahnhof almost all day getting people off of their trains and helping them on where to go. Probably going to be a long day.
So, it's Veteran's Day and I almost forgot! I'm kind of not in the US anymore so it's not really a hot topic here. But, I still remembered even at the end of this day. Of course, huge thanks to all the veterans who have served and are currently serving. Hope everyone has a nice and safe holiday. On that note, the North Mason high school marching band should be having their Veteran's Day parade and field show here soon! Last show of the year, I think. Best wishes to them!
星期天,十一月12号(第89天)
Sonntag 12. November 2017
The Branch President came up to us today saying that he needs 50 baptisms in the next three months. Seems reasonable.
One of the members of the stake presidency also wanted to talk to us after church. We ended up making it almost an hour long meeting. He talked about how grateful he is for us and told us about how we're assigned to Tiergarten, but our English branch actually extends out past the limits of Berlin. So, he basically gave us a good luck since he considers us more as stake missionaries than just branch missionaries. If any companionship has someone who would benefit more in an English setting, then their investigator is sent to us, ideally. So we pretty much have jurisdiction over all of the English speakers in the Berlin stake. Something I particularly liked was how he wants us (mainly me) to start up a Chinese Sunday school and teach that. Kind of scary, but it might be what I need.
星期一,十一月13号(第90天)今天!
Montag 13. November 2017. Heute!
We decided to have our district P-Day today, actually. We had to make this Monday the district P-Day since we're losing two of our missionaries here in just a couple days All of us met up in Potsdamerplatz at the Weihnachtsmarkt there. It's not Christmas just yet, but what they had set up already wasn't too bad. We went to the Berlin mall and ate lunch there. For some reason, I found myself in a situation with Elder Morrell and I having a weird confrontation with me feeding him Indian food.
After lunch, all of us headed back to the church and we had a talent show! Each person had to pick a certain talent that their companion has and the companion has to act it out or perform it in some way. Super genius! Anyways Elder Bacher said I'm good with camp. Not sure what that means but I just got up and did a camp song with them. They seemed to like it. Everybody else did something either really cool or really funny.
That Lithuanian guy who has been needing some serious help has finally said yes to meeting us at the church so we'll meet with him soon and hopefully assist him in any way. We will see how that goes.
因为这是十一月,我觉得我应该说我感谢什么。我感谢神我的家庭和我的朋友们。他们给我快乐。家庭式神计画的核心。我知道耶稣基督的福音会巩固家人关系。
Bitte versuchen wir während dieses jahr zeit uns gegenseitig mehr zu lieben. Ich weiß, dass unsere Himmlische Vater alle Menschen lieben. Viel Glück!
Have fun everybody.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 12
星期一,十月30号(第76天)
Montag 30. Oktober 2017
Tonight we had Family Home Evening again, but this time our senior couple missionaries, the Lipps, led the activity. They brought a few songs out of various songbooks for us to sing, while Elder Lipp played the guitar. Some songs were in English while others were in German. But all talking besides that was in German. We played a card game that's similar to Scum, but a German version. I understood maybe a fraction of a percent of everything that was going on, but I had fun.
星期二,十月31号(第77天)
Dienstag 31. Oktober 2017
Lucky 7's! Been out 77 days now! And, of course, Happy Halloween!
Today is Reformation day, which I knew nothing about. Not only that, but it's the 500 year anniversary of it, apparently. I've been let in on some of the details. Martin Luther, who was a German, wrote about how he felt that the true authority of Christ wasn't within the churches on the earth at his time. I'm not a historian so if that's off don't persecute me please. We tied it to how there needed to be a restoration of that authority with the first vision of Joseph Smith. Now, the other missionaries in the district made some flyers talking about all of this, so this afternoon we went to Alexanderplatz, which had a ton of people, and handed these out. As a district, we met and split up among companionships. I went with Elder Wride. It was super fun to actually have something to talk about with people rather than just the standard missionary phrases. We found some pretty interesting people, too. Occasionally, we would run into folks who didn't speak German and replied in English, "we can't speak German!" So we would say, "well, we're American, so yeah." What an odd excuse. They didn't know that he and I together cover 4 different languages (English, German, Spanish, and Chinese). We handed out a bunch of flyers in English and German, and had some very good conversations on top of that. It was a good day.
With it being Halloween, we're required to be back in our residences by 6pm for safety reasons. Elder Bacher and I grabbed some candied almonds and other goodies before that. We played some card game called Bang, but Walking Dead edition. As a Walking Dead enthusiast, I was delighted to join in. Got totally wrecked the first game but came around and beat everybody in the second round. Nice.
星期三,十一月1号(第78天)
Mittwoch 1. November 2017
Happy November!
While on the bus, there was a Chinese person totally eyeballing my Chinese nametag. I wanted to say something, but she got off soon after.
We were walking through a street we haven't been on before when we ran into an investigator whom the other Elders are teaching. But this isn't just any investigator. This guy here believes in something called the Book of Knowledge, given to him by some crazy who thinks he's legitimately Melchizedek from the Bible. Don't get me wrong, this person, the investigator, is very nice and does strive to learn from the Book of Mormon, but the other Elders have really tried to let him know that this Book of Knowledge is not real scripture. Anyway, we ran into him and he gave me another section from this book (he's given the missionaries another section from it before I arrived in Germany). He was talking in German and I didn't know what to do, so I just took the section and accidentally said xièxie (thank you) in Chinese like an idiot. Whatever. He gave me a hug so I guess that makes me respect him a lot more. He gives really good hugs, too, not gonna lie.
I'm up to sixty characters that I can write with the correct stroke order. I shouldn't be focused on characters, but I'm like addicted now. I can't stop.
星期四,十一月2号(第79天)
Donnerstag 2. November 2017
We went finding today and ran into some people that were totally confused by my nametag. They're German, but demanded that I read my tag in Chinese. So I did, "耶稣基督后期圣徒教会." I feel like they were impressed.
We received a referral from another missionary about a person from Lithuania. He speaks English pretty well, but it seems as if he's got some serious issues. He recognizes that the things he does are sins and he hates himself for them, but uses the most vulgar and explicit language I've heard probably in my whole life like WOW! Way too much detail from him. We're trying really hard to get him to read the Book of Mormon more and pray often so that he can allow God to help him. Our conversations have only been over text so far so we're going to try to get him to meet us at the church so that the spirit can testify of truth as we attempt to assist him in his trials.
星期五,十一月3号(第80天)
Freitag 3. November 2017
Today we had zone conference at the stake center. A lot of it was in German so I picked up maybe a small fraction of what was going on. We're starting the #LightTheWorld Christmas initiative. We are making big plans to help people all over Berlin and more.
During the whole thing they wanted me to get a flu shot. During the meetings, they called me back and I got the vaccine in the Relief Society room. Very weird. Also all the paperwork was in German so they had to explain a bunch of stuff. I don't think I've ever gotten one before, but this thing gave me a slight fever and headache so I doubt that's good, but I wouldn't know.
Another special thing happened at the end of our zone conference. We learned about a young 17 year old, Helmut Hübener, who was a member of the Church and put up propaganda against the National Socialists during WWII. Because of this, he was tried in a Nazi court and was found guilty. In the hours preceding his beheading, he wrote letters to his friends and family expressing his gratitude towards God and the gospel. Under many horrible circumstances (sentenced to death, his own friends disowning him, nasty conditions in the prison), he remained faithful to the truth of the gospel. I think it's an incredible story of standing up for what you believe in, even when all manner of atrocity was against him.
With this back story, President Fingerle rented a bus to take us to the site in the prison where Helmut was executed. It was a cool experience, but also very dark. Thousands of innocent people who stood up to the Nazis were killed here as well. I'm thankful for the examples of these brave individuals who fought against evil. While there, we all stood outside singing a few hymns as a memorial for Helmut. If you wanted to, you could also take a flower and place it in a vase for him. I did place a flower for him. The whole thing we did at the prison should have been recorded and I think it might be on Facebook.
星期六,十一月4号(第81天)
Samstag 4. November 2017
We got a surprise call from Elder Hsu (Chinese program leader) telling us that we're going to be going on splits next Thursday! I'll be Elder Hsu's companion for Thursday night and some of Friday. It'll be super cool to have a native speaker with me. I feel like it's really going to benefit my Chinese a whole bunch. He's got an appointment with a Chinese person that day so everything is awesome right now. I can't wait for a full lesson in Mandarin!
He also wanted to tell us that he and his companion were going to Skype us this night. During the Skype, we all took turns teaching a lesson in Chinese. Elder Bacher didn't do too bad. I feel like he's improving quite a bit. Elder Hsu wants me to work on my listening skills, so he suggests I watch conference talks and Mormon messages in Chinese. I started tonight with a talk from President Uchtdorf, but really was only able to pick out a few words here and there. Debating on if I should listen to the same message to see if I understand more every time or if I should listen to a different one every day.
One of my roommates, Elder Hacking, comes back from volleyball with a swollen ankle. I guess he rolled it during the game. He called the president's wife and she wants him to go the hospital tonight. We'll see how he does. I doubt they'll keep him overnight, but the journey on one foot to the hospital has got to be annoying.
星期天,十一月5号(第82天)
Sonntag 5. November 2017
Well, since we have a bad foot from Elder Hacking, he really can't go places. But the two of them needed to go to church to set up an appointment with someone, so I volunteered to go with Elder Wride to the German ward. Elder Bacher stayed with Elder Hacking in the apartment. It was interesting because they also needed to pick up a less active member. We find him at his house and start on our way to church. He only speaks German and quickly figures out that I don't speak it, so he didn't do too much talking to me. I attended the German sacrament meeting and, long story short, I didn't understand much of it. But that is okay, not too worried about German as I am Chinese.
We got back to the apartment and Elder Bacher and I got back together and headed for the English branch session. The branch seemed twice as large than it was two weeks ago, so it was incredible to see the growth. Maybe about 50 people came today. I even met someone from Tri Cities, Washington.
To break the fast today, we had a splendid dinner provided from the branch. In setting up, however, this Austrian guy kept asking me if I know any good looking "chicks" it's like bro I don't want to be talking about this. He wouldn't leave me alone and it's probably because he found out I'm of Austrian descent so he feels some connection. He's cool but he's pretty crazy. He asks the most random questions, too, like he'd ask me what a certain food is on the table. And I would say I don't know. Then he'd ask, "well, what's in it?" I just answered that I didn't even know what it was. "I don't know, maybe if you'd stick your face in it you'd find out." (Okay I didn't say that last one). As I was trying to eat quickly because I had a meeting soon after, he was informing me about how he's "mid-thirties and that's still okay to marry women who are 15 years younger than you since back in the old days women didn't have rights." Dude, I haven't eaten in 24 hours can you just let me eat? He basically gave me a task later to keep an eye out for good looking young singles for him. I told him in about 700 days I would do my best.
Another weekly Chinese Skype. Afterwards, we had to pick up some crutches for Elder Hacking. I was totally cool with carrying them back to the apartment to deliver them, but it was pouring rain so it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.
星期一,十一月6号(第83天)今天!
Montag 6. November 2017. Heute!
The workers of our apartment had to come by to check our meters so we had to stay in the apartment until they came between 9am and 1pm. Luckily, they came at like 10:30 so it wasn't too bad. We took a good amount of time really cleaning out the place, too.
Nothing more other than another Familienheimabend (Family Home Evening) let's see if I can understand more of it tonight!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期一,十月30号(第76天)
Montag 30. Oktober 2017
Tonight we had Family Home Evening again, but this time our senior couple missionaries, the Lipps, led the activity. They brought a few songs out of various songbooks for us to sing, while Elder Lipp played the guitar. Some songs were in English while others were in German. But all talking besides that was in German. We played a card game that's similar to Scum, but a German version. I understood maybe a fraction of a percent of everything that was going on, but I had fun.
星期二,十月31号(第77天)
Dienstag 31. Oktober 2017
Lucky 7's! Been out 77 days now! And, of course, Happy Halloween!
Today is Reformation day, which I knew nothing about. Not only that, but it's the 500 year anniversary of it, apparently. I've been let in on some of the details. Martin Luther, who was a German, wrote about how he felt that the true authority of Christ wasn't within the churches on the earth at his time. I'm not a historian so if that's off don't persecute me please. We tied it to how there needed to be a restoration of that authority with the first vision of Joseph Smith. Now, the other missionaries in the district made some flyers talking about all of this, so this afternoon we went to Alexanderplatz, which had a ton of people, and handed these out. As a district, we met and split up among companionships. I went with Elder Wride. It was super fun to actually have something to talk about with people rather than just the standard missionary phrases. We found some pretty interesting people, too. Occasionally, we would run into folks who didn't speak German and replied in English, "we can't speak German!" So we would say, "well, we're American, so yeah." What an odd excuse. They didn't know that he and I together cover 4 different languages (English, German, Spanish, and Chinese). We handed out a bunch of flyers in English and German, and had some very good conversations on top of that. It was a good day.
With it being Halloween, we're required to be back in our residences by 6pm for safety reasons. Elder Bacher and I grabbed some candied almonds and other goodies before that. We played some card game called Bang, but Walking Dead edition. As a Walking Dead enthusiast, I was delighted to join in. Got totally wrecked the first game but came around and beat everybody in the second round. Nice.
星期三,十一月1号(第78天)
Mittwoch 1. November 2017
Happy November!
While on the bus, there was a Chinese person totally eyeballing my Chinese nametag. I wanted to say something, but she got off soon after.
We were walking through a street we haven't been on before when we ran into an investigator whom the other Elders are teaching. But this isn't just any investigator. This guy here believes in something called the Book of Knowledge, given to him by some crazy who thinks he's legitimately Melchizedek from the Bible. Don't get me wrong, this person, the investigator, is very nice and does strive to learn from the Book of Mormon, but the other Elders have really tried to let him know that this Book of Knowledge is not real scripture. Anyway, we ran into him and he gave me another section from this book (he's given the missionaries another section from it before I arrived in Germany). He was talking in German and I didn't know what to do, so I just took the section and accidentally said xièxie (thank you) in Chinese like an idiot. Whatever. He gave me a hug so I guess that makes me respect him a lot more. He gives really good hugs, too, not gonna lie.
I'm up to sixty characters that I can write with the correct stroke order. I shouldn't be focused on characters, but I'm like addicted now. I can't stop.
星期四,十一月2号(第79天)
Donnerstag 2. November 2017
We went finding today and ran into some people that were totally confused by my nametag. They're German, but demanded that I read my tag in Chinese. So I did, "耶稣基督后期圣徒教会." I feel like they were impressed.
We received a referral from another missionary about a person from Lithuania. He speaks English pretty well, but it seems as if he's got some serious issues. He recognizes that the things he does are sins and he hates himself for them, but uses the most vulgar and explicit language I've heard probably in my whole life like WOW! Way too much detail from him. We're trying really hard to get him to read the Book of Mormon more and pray often so that he can allow God to help him. Our conversations have only been over text so far so we're going to try to get him to meet us at the church so that the spirit can testify of truth as we attempt to assist him in his trials.
星期五,十一月3号(第80天)
Freitag 3. November 2017
Today we had zone conference at the stake center. A lot of it was in German so I picked up maybe a small fraction of what was going on. We're starting the #LightTheWorld Christmas initiative. We are making big plans to help people all over Berlin and more.
During the whole thing they wanted me to get a flu shot. During the meetings, they called me back and I got the vaccine in the Relief Society room. Very weird. Also all the paperwork was in German so they had to explain a bunch of stuff. I don't think I've ever gotten one before, but this thing gave me a slight fever and headache so I doubt that's good, but I wouldn't know.
Another special thing happened at the end of our zone conference. We learned about a young 17 year old, Helmut Hübener, who was a member of the Church and put up propaganda against the National Socialists during WWII. Because of this, he was tried in a Nazi court and was found guilty. In the hours preceding his beheading, he wrote letters to his friends and family expressing his gratitude towards God and the gospel. Under many horrible circumstances (sentenced to death, his own friends disowning him, nasty conditions in the prison), he remained faithful to the truth of the gospel. I think it's an incredible story of standing up for what you believe in, even when all manner of atrocity was against him.
With this back story, President Fingerle rented a bus to take us to the site in the prison where Helmut was executed. It was a cool experience, but also very dark. Thousands of innocent people who stood up to the Nazis were killed here as well. I'm thankful for the examples of these brave individuals who fought against evil. While there, we all stood outside singing a few hymns as a memorial for Helmut. If you wanted to, you could also take a flower and place it in a vase for him. I did place a flower for him. The whole thing we did at the prison should have been recorded and I think it might be on Facebook.
星期六,十一月4号(第81天)
Samstag 4. November 2017
We got a surprise call from Elder Hsu (Chinese program leader) telling us that we're going to be going on splits next Thursday! I'll be Elder Hsu's companion for Thursday night and some of Friday. It'll be super cool to have a native speaker with me. I feel like it's really going to benefit my Chinese a whole bunch. He's got an appointment with a Chinese person that day so everything is awesome right now. I can't wait for a full lesson in Mandarin!
He also wanted to tell us that he and his companion were going to Skype us this night. During the Skype, we all took turns teaching a lesson in Chinese. Elder Bacher didn't do too bad. I feel like he's improving quite a bit. Elder Hsu wants me to work on my listening skills, so he suggests I watch conference talks and Mormon messages in Chinese. I started tonight with a talk from President Uchtdorf, but really was only able to pick out a few words here and there. Debating on if I should listen to the same message to see if I understand more every time or if I should listen to a different one every day.
One of my roommates, Elder Hacking, comes back from volleyball with a swollen ankle. I guess he rolled it during the game. He called the president's wife and she wants him to go the hospital tonight. We'll see how he does. I doubt they'll keep him overnight, but the journey on one foot to the hospital has got to be annoying.
星期天,十一月5号(第82天)
Sonntag 5. November 2017
Well, since we have a bad foot from Elder Hacking, he really can't go places. But the two of them needed to go to church to set up an appointment with someone, so I volunteered to go with Elder Wride to the German ward. Elder Bacher stayed with Elder Hacking in the apartment. It was interesting because they also needed to pick up a less active member. We find him at his house and start on our way to church. He only speaks German and quickly figures out that I don't speak it, so he didn't do too much talking to me. I attended the German sacrament meeting and, long story short, I didn't understand much of it. But that is okay, not too worried about German as I am Chinese.
We got back to the apartment and Elder Bacher and I got back together and headed for the English branch session. The branch seemed twice as large than it was two weeks ago, so it was incredible to see the growth. Maybe about 50 people came today. I even met someone from Tri Cities, Washington.
To break the fast today, we had a splendid dinner provided from the branch. In setting up, however, this Austrian guy kept asking me if I know any good looking "chicks" it's like bro I don't want to be talking about this. He wouldn't leave me alone and it's probably because he found out I'm of Austrian descent so he feels some connection. He's cool but he's pretty crazy. He asks the most random questions, too, like he'd ask me what a certain food is on the table. And I would say I don't know. Then he'd ask, "well, what's in it?" I just answered that I didn't even know what it was. "I don't know, maybe if you'd stick your face in it you'd find out." (Okay I didn't say that last one). As I was trying to eat quickly because I had a meeting soon after, he was informing me about how he's "mid-thirties and that's still okay to marry women who are 15 years younger than you since back in the old days women didn't have rights." Dude, I haven't eaten in 24 hours can you just let me eat? He basically gave me a task later to keep an eye out for good looking young singles for him. I told him in about 700 days I would do my best.
Another weekly Chinese Skype. Afterwards, we had to pick up some crutches for Elder Hacking. I was totally cool with carrying them back to the apartment to deliver them, but it was pouring rain so it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.
星期一,十一月6号(第83天)今天!
Montag 6. November 2017. Heute!
The workers of our apartment had to come by to check our meters so we had to stay in the apartment until they came between 9am and 1pm. Luckily, they came at like 10:30 so it wasn't too bad. We took a good amount of time really cleaning out the place, too.
Nothing more other than another Familienheimabend (Family Home Evening) let's see if I can understand more of it tonight!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 11
星期二,十月24号(第70天)
Dienstag 24. Oktober
We taught our new Chinese investigator this morning. He's a student at the Uni working on a master's in electrical engineering. He told us this was the only time he had available to meet before he has to finish projects for his degree and then move back to China. But he really wanted to meet with us before that. I pretty much taught the essence of the fist lesson and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. We don't have any copies on us, unfortunately, so I just instructed him on how to download gospel library and to change the language to Chinese. He was happy to give us his email so we can keep in contact. He really wants to hear from us, so that's good at least.
We had our Chinese conference today. We booked some tickets to Hannover earlier last week. After our lesson, we went straight to the Berlin Hauptbanhof and got on our train. Two hours later we were in Hannover. I didn't get to see much of it, but what I saw was super cool! In the meeting we basically talked about Chinese culture vs our culture, WeChat, what kind of goals we should be making for ourselves, and so forth. One of the Elders brought his non member Chinese friend and had Elder Staten and I teach her the Plan of Salvation to her in Mandarin. I was told we were going to roleplay, but this was the real thing! Elder Staten did most of the talking, but I felt like I said and contributed a lot, too. She asked a lot of good questions and we were able to answer them fairly well. Proud of us. I hope she got a lot from our lesson because I was really trying to make the Plan of Salvation seem like not just a plan for everybody, but to get her to think that it is a plan created for her, personally.
Elder Hsu (native speaker) is head of the Chinese group. At least, I think he is. He called me tonight and I guess he gave me a challenge to successfully teach him all of the lessons in Chinese and he'll give me a really good book to help me learn characters. He overheard me when I tell the group that a goal I set for myself was to be able to read the whole Book of Mormon in Chinese by the end of my mission. I accepted his offer. I have until February when he leaves for home. I really appreciate how he wants to help me with my goal, even though it requires having to learn about 3,000 characters.
星期三,十月25号(第71天)
Mittwoch 25. Oktober
There's a 12 week training program that you're supposed to do when you first get to your mission. It's 12 weeks because it's supposed to encompass your first transfers. Well, since I got here 2 weeks into this transfer, and the next transfer is 4 weeks for some reason, I only have 8 weeks to do the 12 weeks program. I suppose it's not too bad, but there are a few videos I have to watch which requires internet access that's only obtained at the church.
We took the wrong bus home accidentally so we got off somewhere in the gigantic Tiergarten park. Our only option was to explore until we found a bus stop that had a ride to the apartment. It was a nice walk through the park, nonetheless.
The others were talking about creepy stories that other missionaries have had on their missions. They were kinda sketchy, but for some reason I found myself laughing at them.
星期四,十月26号(第72天)
Donnerstag 26. Oktober
Elder Dunham, who is a Chinese Speaking Elder in the Netherlands, met with us on Skype today. We just went over some issues that we have in our Chinese abilities and how to fix some of them. He even gave me a pdf of the Book of Mormon in Simplified Characters. Finally! We were having such a great time together and then Skype cut out.
星期五,十月27号(第73天)
Freitag 27. Oktober
We got our smartphone today. It's a Samsung Galaxy A3. Elder Bacher doesn't know much about Android so I helped him set it up. I forgot how tiny phones are since I've had a 10 inch tablet.
Taught a first lesson with another Chinese person. We met at her place but since she was alone we had to go outside. She's got a husband who works all day so we're going to have to find someone to go with us for every lesson since she asked us if our next visit could be inside. She was so cold and told us that since we're young, we're immune to the weather. Anyway, the lesson was good. I taught it this time as well and really got to know her instead of just teaching a bunch.
We were on a bus heading back from our lesson and there was a car who decided to cut the bus off and let's just say they didn't win. Nothing major happened, just took out the person's mirror. But they had to stop and the bus drive told us not to get off of the bus while he dealt with the situation. Eventually everyone got tired of waiting and we just got off. But yeah, now I can say I've been in an accident. Woohoo!
President Fingerle came to the stake center today for interviews. Though, interviews were running a little behind; so Elder Bacher and I had to wait in the building for a couple hours. It was nice to talk to him again when it was finally my turn.
星期六,十月28号(第74天)
Samstag 28. Oktober
We were at the church writing some emails to investigators when a guy walks up to the front. We let him in and he just wanted to know when church was going to start tomorrow. We told him that there's a German and English session, but that the English one would be at 2pm. He didn't want to wait that long. He asked us where we're from and I said Seattle, of course, but he stopped me there and said that he was from Seattle, too! Now, I only say Seattle because most people know where that is. I told him I was actually in the Belfair area but was part of a ward in Seattle for a year while in school. Turns out that he's from the exact same stake and went to the same ward when he was a young single adult! We've never met, but we figured out that we've been in the same room because of a stake conference. So crazy! He's excited to see me again when I return from my mission. He was just up here for a business trip with Boeing (of course, he lives in Seattle after all). He was happy to give us some Boeing airplane stickers. They're cool! He also went on a mission to Taiwan and spoke a little bit of Chinese with me. Man, what a small world!
星期天,十月29号(第75天)
Sontag 29. Oktober
Big storm hit us today. The night was very loud with fierce winds and pouring rain. Even with an extra hour of sleep, it wasn't a great night. There was even a gigantic fallen tree branch on the sidewalk on our way to church.
Speaking of church, the other two Elders spent the weekend at the Freiberg temple on a Spanish speaking temple trip. They left Friday and got back this afternoon, but that meant that we had to go to both the German and English sessions of church.
However, that guy we met yesterday did come to church and loved to see me again. We surprisingly had a bunch of visitors. There was a family from Austria just on vacation, a young couple from New Delhi who is planning on moving here, another gentleman from Maryland on business, an older couple on vacation from Salt Lake, and some more people I didn't get to meet.
The funny thing is, with the storm they actually cancelled the German ward today. But no one told us! So there was just us, all those visitors, and the building coordinator here to let people know that church was cancelled. Now, he did tell us that they were still doing the sacrament service for all the people who could make it. So, we had a tiny sacrament service in German. The building coordinator can't speak English, and most of the visitors can't speak German, so while he talked they would all look at me for a translation and I'd say, "Don't look at me! I speak Chinese!" Elder Bacher translated for a couple of them, but not all of them. They had me bear my testimony (again) since there was no scheduled program. I said it in English, but when they asked me to do the prayer, I said it in Chinese. Afterwards I turned to the guy from Seattle who can speak Chinese, and he gave me a thumbs up, so I guess he liked what I can do in Chinese so far.
No one said anything about the English branch being cancelled, so we waited after that German sacrament session at the church. About an hour before the English branch started, a family comes in and tells us that it has been cancelled as well. Then, 10 minutes later we got a call also saying things have been cancelled. So, we had to wait for anyone else who came in so we could tell them that there was no church. We basically spent about 5 hours at the church just waiting around.
After we decided we had been there long enough, we went back to the apartment to have a late lunch. I spent a couple hours on Chinese preparing for the Skype lesson at 7 (I was going to be teaching). Elder Bacher and I arrived at the church at 6:50 and we got a call asking where we were for the Skype. We told them we had just got to the church. Apparently, they had changed it to 6 and we weren't notified. So I didn't get to teach my lesson. Oh well. I'll teach next week.
The Spanish Elders got back fairly late but brought another two Elders who were on the temple trip as well. So we had six people in the apartment again. It was pretty lit.
星期一,十月30号(第76天)今天!
Montag 30. Oktober. Heute!
We've got zone p-day today. I think it's just playing sports in the church building today. We'll see how it goes. I didn't realize that the Russian Elder I met at the MTC is actually here in my zone! He and I have a lot of catching up to do.
Love you all.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
星期二,十月24号(第70天)
Dienstag 24. Oktober
We taught our new Chinese investigator this morning. He's a student at the Uni working on a master's in electrical engineering. He told us this was the only time he had available to meet before he has to finish projects for his degree and then move back to China. But he really wanted to meet with us before that. I pretty much taught the essence of the fist lesson and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. We don't have any copies on us, unfortunately, so I just instructed him on how to download gospel library and to change the language to Chinese. He was happy to give us his email so we can keep in contact. He really wants to hear from us, so that's good at least.
We had our Chinese conference today. We booked some tickets to Hannover earlier last week. After our lesson, we went straight to the Berlin Hauptbanhof and got on our train. Two hours later we were in Hannover. I didn't get to see much of it, but what I saw was super cool! In the meeting we basically talked about Chinese culture vs our culture, WeChat, what kind of goals we should be making for ourselves, and so forth. One of the Elders brought his non member Chinese friend and had Elder Staten and I teach her the Plan of Salvation to her in Mandarin. I was told we were going to roleplay, but this was the real thing! Elder Staten did most of the talking, but I felt like I said and contributed a lot, too. She asked a lot of good questions and we were able to answer them fairly well. Proud of us. I hope she got a lot from our lesson because I was really trying to make the Plan of Salvation seem like not just a plan for everybody, but to get her to think that it is a plan created for her, personally.
Elder Hsu (native speaker) is head of the Chinese group. At least, I think he is. He called me tonight and I guess he gave me a challenge to successfully teach him all of the lessons in Chinese and he'll give me a really good book to help me learn characters. He overheard me when I tell the group that a goal I set for myself was to be able to read the whole Book of Mormon in Chinese by the end of my mission. I accepted his offer. I have until February when he leaves for home. I really appreciate how he wants to help me with my goal, even though it requires having to learn about 3,000 characters.
星期三,十月25号(第71天)
Mittwoch 25. Oktober
There's a 12 week training program that you're supposed to do when you first get to your mission. It's 12 weeks because it's supposed to encompass your first transfers. Well, since I got here 2 weeks into this transfer, and the next transfer is 4 weeks for some reason, I only have 8 weeks to do the 12 weeks program. I suppose it's not too bad, but there are a few videos I have to watch which requires internet access that's only obtained at the church.
We took the wrong bus home accidentally so we got off somewhere in the gigantic Tiergarten park. Our only option was to explore until we found a bus stop that had a ride to the apartment. It was a nice walk through the park, nonetheless.
The others were talking about creepy stories that other missionaries have had on their missions. They were kinda sketchy, but for some reason I found myself laughing at them.
星期四,十月26号(第72天)
Donnerstag 26. Oktober
Elder Dunham, who is a Chinese Speaking Elder in the Netherlands, met with us on Skype today. We just went over some issues that we have in our Chinese abilities and how to fix some of them. He even gave me a pdf of the Book of Mormon in Simplified Characters. Finally! We were having such a great time together and then Skype cut out.
星期五,十月27号(第73天)
Freitag 27. Oktober
We got our smartphone today. It's a Samsung Galaxy A3. Elder Bacher doesn't know much about Android so I helped him set it up. I forgot how tiny phones are since I've had a 10 inch tablet.
Taught a first lesson with another Chinese person. We met at her place but since she was alone we had to go outside. She's got a husband who works all day so we're going to have to find someone to go with us for every lesson since she asked us if our next visit could be inside. She was so cold and told us that since we're young, we're immune to the weather. Anyway, the lesson was good. I taught it this time as well and really got to know her instead of just teaching a bunch.
We were on a bus heading back from our lesson and there was a car who decided to cut the bus off and let's just say they didn't win. Nothing major happened, just took out the person's mirror. But they had to stop and the bus drive told us not to get off of the bus while he dealt with the situation. Eventually everyone got tired of waiting and we just got off. But yeah, now I can say I've been in an accident. Woohoo!
President Fingerle came to the stake center today for interviews. Though, interviews were running a little behind; so Elder Bacher and I had to wait in the building for a couple hours. It was nice to talk to him again when it was finally my turn.
星期六,十月28号(第74天)
Samstag 28. Oktober
We were at the church writing some emails to investigators when a guy walks up to the front. We let him in and he just wanted to know when church was going to start tomorrow. We told him that there's a German and English session, but that the English one would be at 2pm. He didn't want to wait that long. He asked us where we're from and I said Seattle, of course, but he stopped me there and said that he was from Seattle, too! Now, I only say Seattle because most people know where that is. I told him I was actually in the Belfair area but was part of a ward in Seattle for a year while in school. Turns out that he's from the exact same stake and went to the same ward when he was a young single adult! We've never met, but we figured out that we've been in the same room because of a stake conference. So crazy! He's excited to see me again when I return from my mission. He was just up here for a business trip with Boeing (of course, he lives in Seattle after all). He was happy to give us some Boeing airplane stickers. They're cool! He also went on a mission to Taiwan and spoke a little bit of Chinese with me. Man, what a small world!
星期天,十月29号(第75天)
Sontag 29. Oktober
Big storm hit us today. The night was very loud with fierce winds and pouring rain. Even with an extra hour of sleep, it wasn't a great night. There was even a gigantic fallen tree branch on the sidewalk on our way to church.
Speaking of church, the other two Elders spent the weekend at the Freiberg temple on a Spanish speaking temple trip. They left Friday and got back this afternoon, but that meant that we had to go to both the German and English sessions of church.
However, that guy we met yesterday did come to church and loved to see me again. We surprisingly had a bunch of visitors. There was a family from Austria just on vacation, a young couple from New Delhi who is planning on moving here, another gentleman from Maryland on business, an older couple on vacation from Salt Lake, and some more people I didn't get to meet.
The funny thing is, with the storm they actually cancelled the German ward today. But no one told us! So there was just us, all those visitors, and the building coordinator here to let people know that church was cancelled. Now, he did tell us that they were still doing the sacrament service for all the people who could make it. So, we had a tiny sacrament service in German. The building coordinator can't speak English, and most of the visitors can't speak German, so while he talked they would all look at me for a translation and I'd say, "Don't look at me! I speak Chinese!" Elder Bacher translated for a couple of them, but not all of them. They had me bear my testimony (again) since there was no scheduled program. I said it in English, but when they asked me to do the prayer, I said it in Chinese. Afterwards I turned to the guy from Seattle who can speak Chinese, and he gave me a thumbs up, so I guess he liked what I can do in Chinese so far.
No one said anything about the English branch being cancelled, so we waited after that German sacrament session at the church. About an hour before the English branch started, a family comes in and tells us that it has been cancelled as well. Then, 10 minutes later we got a call also saying things have been cancelled. So, we had to wait for anyone else who came in so we could tell them that there was no church. We basically spent about 5 hours at the church just waiting around.
After we decided we had been there long enough, we went back to the apartment to have a late lunch. I spent a couple hours on Chinese preparing for the Skype lesson at 7 (I was going to be teaching). Elder Bacher and I arrived at the church at 6:50 and we got a call asking where we were for the Skype. We told them we had just got to the church. Apparently, they had changed it to 6 and we weren't notified. So I didn't get to teach my lesson. Oh well. I'll teach next week.
The Spanish Elders got back fairly late but brought another two Elders who were on the temple trip as well. So we had six people in the apartment again. It was pretty lit.
星期一,十月30号(第76天)今天!
Montag 30. Oktober. Heute!
We've got zone p-day today. I think it's just playing sports in the church building today. We'll see how it goes. I didn't realize that the Russian Elder I met at the MTC is actually here in my zone! He and I have a lot of catching up to do.
Love you all.
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener
Week 10
星期一,十月16号(第62天)
Montag, 16. Oktober
Where do I start?
Well, I got up at 2:30am and finished packing up my things. I really only had a couple small items to put in. What's really cool is the night before, I weighed my two bags and they were BOTH over 50lbs (which I'd be charged extra at the airport). I didn't have time to sort that out because it was very late so I said a quick prayer pleading to help me get this figured out. And to my amazement, both bags were exactly 50 lbs when I woke up. Talk about a miracle.
Elder Züger and I said our goodbye's to anyone else who was leaving relatively the same time as well as our roommates, Elders Church, Allen, and Reynertson. Gonna miss them a lot. We got to the travel office, they gave us some stuff, we put our things on the shuttle bus, and we were off to the Salt Lake airport.
Probably one of the coolest things that happened to me was on the flight to Chicago. There was another Elder (Lithuanian speaking) diagonal to me on the aisle seat who was calling me. He looks at me and says, "You know Chinese, right?" To which I answered, "Not really but what is it?" He was sitting next to a Chinese woman from Shanghai who spoke but little English, enough that the Elder somewhat introduced the Book of Mormon to her. He asked if we'd be willing to trade seats so I could talk with her. I was a little anxious, but I agreed. Oh my goodness was it like the best thing ever. I don't feel like my Chinese was anything close to decent but she loved every thing I said. Her mother, sitting at the window, eventually told me that my Chinese was not too bad. This gives me hope for the future. Anyway, she's got a card that has the mormon.org website on it and she's super excited to order a free Book of Mormon in Chinese once she's back home. Wow! That's like straight out of a conference talk right there! Though, I'm sure many missionaries have cool airplane gospel stories. I'm just excited that I was able to have the first person I shared the gospel with in Chinese.
Chicago airport was pretty nice. Long 4 hour layover and they didn't have too many options. Lufthansa airlines treated me well, but I was pretty uncomfortable on the way to Frankfurt. I tried to use as much German as I could but the people around me were English or Arabic speakers so yeah. But, whenever the flight attendants asked what I wanted, I responded in German. Felt proud of myself. We finally got to Frankfurt after a somewhat dreadful flight because of little to no sleep. We went through security there and everybody was taking German and being so tired and confused I kept responding in Chinese for some reason. I guess I'm just too used to it now.
I was so excited to be in Germany finally, but still had one more flight. We got to see an incredible sunrise coming from over the hills. Too bad my tablet doesn't take good pictures. Eventually it was off to Dresden.
星期二,十月17号(第63天)
Dienstag, 17. Oktober
Today was also an eventful day. We arrived in Dresden and about 6 Elders and President Fingerle were there to greet Elder Züger and I. We went straight to a chapel in the airport because some non member workers requested that we do a quick spiritual meeting with them. President Fingerle gave a quick message on Jesus feeding the five thousand. He talked about how we can be only one person but we have the power to spiritually feed thousands of people. I felt like his message was directed towards me.
Afterwards, they took Elder Züger and I to a little village called Radebeul. It was the site where President Thomas S. Monson dedicated the land to the furthering of the work in East Germany (while it was still communist). 10 years later, the Freiberg temple was built, even while the Berlin wall was still up. They took us to that temple to do some baptisms. The temple is super tiny but it is gorgeous. Such a great experience to be in it. President Fingerle interviewed me telling me that the reason he wants everybody to visit the temple right after arrival is to show us that nothing is impossible in the Lord's work. The thought that a temple would be built in communist East Germany was unimaginable, and yet it happened.
I've got my first assignment and I'm going to this place called Berlin, but more specifically in an area at the very center of the city, Tiergarten. I said goodbye to Elder Züger since he's going to Göttingen and I was on my way to Berlin with my newest companion, Elder Bacher. Scary thing is, he only speaks German and knows a little bit of Chinese because he was recently assigned to learn Chinese midway through his mission. So as you can tell, we didn't talk much due to my very small vocabulary in German. What I got out of him, he's from a village near Frankfurt so it's kinda funny that he's so close to home on his mission. He's been learning Chinese for about 3 months now, but on his own; and it seems like I know more than he does.
We got to the apartment and to my surprise, two other missionaries are also living there. And they speak English! Their names are Elder Hacking and Elder Wride. They're actually learning Spanish as their second mission language. I was so tired I just went right to bed after I quickly ate something they made for me.
I'll have to be completely honest, after I had left Freiberg things were very scary. I laid in bed thinking that I'm in a different country, I don't speak the language, I was suddenly separated from my companion whom I had been with for 2 months, my new one doesn't speak English, my suitcase wheels broke, and the neighborhood where the apartment is looked pretty sketchy since it was dark. It's a good thing I was dead from lack of sleep; falling asleep was probably the easiest it has been in years.
星期三,十月18号(第64天)
Mittwoch, 18. Oktober
I think the lack of sleep has gotten me a little sick. Even still, I woke up knowing that I got a full 8 hours of sleep. Had some weird German cereal with 3,5% milk since 2% apparently doesn't exist or something here. My companion tells me something about needing money. Of course, I can't understand all of it but I got the idea that he wanted me to head over to an ATM and obtain some euro since cards don't always work. Well, for some reason the machine told me that my card has exceeded its usage for the month. Even though I've never used the card. Cool. Elder Bacher ended up just getting some euro and I used my card to get a Monatskarte for all the Berlin transit options in October. Surprised my card worked at the subway and not the ATM. Whatever.
We had a district meeting with a few companionships from Tiergarten, Spandau, and Neukölln. Since I'm new, everybody introduced themselves, and the meeting was held in English. We all went around introducing ourselves, and when Elder Bacher started speaking, I realized that what little English he knew, sounded really good. Then he said that he comes from Idaho and Germany. That made me think. I asked everybody else if he actually speaks English and they all gave me weird look and were like yeah he does. Turns out he was just tricking me! Last night was so awkward because I really couldn't say much to him. And I felt bad because I was talking to the other two Elders in the apartment in English, so I thought he couldn't understand! Everyone got a good laugh. Should have seen that coming. My companion and I talk a lot more now.
Well, now that we can communicate more effectively, we headed over to a district lunch and we ate at some burger place (first time in Germany and they want me to eat burgers). I didn't have any euro so I couldn't exactly say where we could go since they were paying. The burgers were pretty good, though. I won't lie about that. They tell me that next time we'll get döner which is something everybody has been telling me I have to try out so I guess it's good.
We had to do some grocery shopping since I just arrived and they didn't have enough food for a fourth human being. After that, we went to the stake center where there's an internet connection and I downloaded a bunch of apps and maps that I need on the tablet. The WiFi was pretty slow, so it took a good couple hours to download and set everything up. Elder Bacher told me about specific mission rules and typical weekly schedules.
I failed to mention that the branch I'm assigned to is an English branch because Chinese people are more likely to go to that one for some reason. Also, they know I don't speak German so that might be a big part of the deal, too.
Apparently tomorrow is something called harvest day in the mission so we fast for dinner and breakfast and we spend a lot of the day finding investigators. I might do it, but I'm so tired and getting sick we'll see how it goes.
星期四,十月19号(第65天)
Donnerstag, 19. Oktober
Well, I am definitely getting sick. My lungs are starting to hurt. My medications are helping, though.
Every district does videos requested by the office Elders. Today we were tasked with making a video about the Savior's earthly ministry and Atonement. Problem was, I still can't really speak German so I just memorized a block of German words and said it in front of a camera. I just hope I sounded like I knew what I was doing.
Tried döner for the first time. It was pretty good, though it wasn't anything crazy delicious of the sorts. Maybe I've got to find a better place to get it.
We had a Chinese Skype conference in the afternoon. Every Thursday and Sunday all of the Chinese speakers get together on Skype and just converse with each other to get some more practice with the language. It was good to see some old faces like Elder Züger and Elder To. Out of everything that has happened so far, Chinese conference seemed like the most normal thing since I've been here. Next Thursday I guess we're going to Hanover to have an in-person meeting and we'll do some role-playing which I need.
Talked to a few people on the streets. Luckily most of the people were pretty nice, although I only introduced us and my companion did the rest because German. I didn't too many Chinese people but we did manage to set up an appointment with a Chinese guy who kept switching from Chinese to German to English and it was really weird. We're going to meet him next Tuesday. We've got to hurry with him since he's going back to China in a month.
Tonight we had the opportunity to attend Institute. We made sure that went into a German class (they've got English classes for foreigners) so I can immerse myself as best as I could. I'm really tired still, so it was hard to stay awake.
The other two Elders here are learning Spanish as their third language so another Spanish companionship met with them. Since what they were doing took like all day, the other two stayed here at our place. It's cool to see all the languages that go around here. There are some people in the district learning Turkish and I think some Persian at the moment.
星期五,十月20号(第66天)
Freitag, 20. Oktober
Tiergarten is apparently the smallest mission area in Germany, and maybe in Europe. Yet, today I found out that it's still pretty huge. It looks small on the map, but we went looking for some contacts whom we only have addresses for and we would bus, train, and walk for like a half hour and we weren't even at the area border. We spent a total of about 3 hours looking for some referrals and we were only on the south side. So cool.
The German keyboards are so messed up! Everything is in the wrong place! I understand the need for the [ü] [ö] [ä] keys but a lot of symbols are switched around and [y] and [z] have been disfigured by being in wrong places as well. So inhumane.
As it turns out, Elder Wride has a onesie with him as well. When I saw him dressed as Pikachu, I thought that I should get my web-slingin action on. He was thoroughly impressed. It's always important to be on the good side of your district leader.
星期六,十月21号(第67天)
Samstag, 21. Oktober
Talked to another Chinese person. We went to their place and rang on the doorbell of the opening to the apartment complex. They didn't answer like 3 times and we thought to give up but I had the impression to try one more time it they still didn't answer. But right as we started away they spoke through the intercom. Once again, they spoke with a Chinese-English-German hybrid and it was kind of confusing. No matter, I'll just request that we speak mostly in Chinese so that I can practice.
I made some pizza for the four of us. They turned out well, I'd say. I'm proud of myself.
星期天,十月22号(第68天)
Sontag, 22. Oktober
My first Sunday in Germany! Church for the English branch doesn't start until 2pm, so Elder Bacher and I had a long study time in the apartment. I focused more on studying Chinese than anything else. And as a side project, I now can write 我是神的孩子 which says I am a child of God. It's simple and basic, but since I've never written characters before, I'm pretty excited I can even do that.
Other than that, I mainly worked on my Plan of Salvation Chinese vocabulary. On Tuesday all of the Chinese learners will be meeting together in Hanover to have I guess a Chinese conference or something. I know that I'll be role-playing the Plan of Salvation so I've got to touch up on that stuff. We've already got our train tickets for Tuesday; it's supposed to be a two hour trip so that should be exciting.
We arrived at church around 1pm to greet all the people leaving from the previous ward and to greet everyone coming in for the English branch. The branch is a lot bigger than I thought, maybe 30 individuals or so. And it was only gathered together a couple weeks ago. During sacrament meeting, the branch president asked if I could come up and bear my testimony since I'm a new incoming missionary. I told them all that I spent nine weeks in the MTC preparing for Germany by learning Chinese and they seemed to like that.
There was a sister and her non-member roommate there from Taiwan. When I overheard this conversation I was intrigued to go up and talk with them in Chinese. I attempted, but yet they insisted on talking to me in English! I don't know why everybody wants to do that. Do I look too American or something? I can't convince them that I only know German since it's not good enough yet for that, and there's no way I could ever convince them that I only speak Chinese. At least some parts of our conversations were in Chinese. Maybe I need to be more forceful about letting them know that I've really got to practice my speaking abilities.
Being in this branch, I've met a bunch of people from all over the world. A lot of people from the German ward are pretty local. But the English branch has families and individuals from the US, Great Britain, a few parts of South America, a few parts of southern Africa, Italy, China and Taiwan, and so on. I like it.
We hung out in the lobby saying goodbye to everyone after church. There was an older couple who came to us and were discussing about how they think China will be opening up soon and it got me all excited but we'll just have to wait and see. They shared a bunch of cool stories from their double mission in Belize and Russia. What I got from it was not to have visa problems while you're in Russia because it doesn't sound fun from what they were telling me.
Another Chinese Skype conference. It cut out for us towards the end. Yay Skype.
星期一,十月23号(第69天)今天!
Montag, 23. Oktober
I've got to admit, Berlin kind of reminds me of Seattle in some ways, so sometimes I forget that I'm in Germany. But it is really cool. You see people from all over so as of now, occasionally I can't grasp where I am in the world because of it.
I still have problems responding to people in Chinese when they're talking to me in German.
I'll try to get more pictures next time. It's not very convenient taking pictures on a tablet. Maybe I should invest in a camera.
Well, I'm off. I've got to prepare a lesson for a family home evening activity tonight. It's probably going to be in German, though. Wish me luck!
Bis später,
慕容長老
Elder Steffen Riener