Well this email should make up for the really short one last week. There was a TON of stuff that happened last week.
First of all, I went to Wesel. FINALLY. I have been hearing about Wesel for the past 2 transfers and I hear it is awesome. And it was. So I was working with Elder Holzer and we had a great time.
So Elder Holzer is a really good missionary. Way awesome. Probably the most energetic person I have seen in the mornings. He has such an appetite for work.
Anyways, we went to a place called Franks Hood. Basically it is a refugee camp for people from all over the world. My first thought was, "This looks like Boy Scout camp." Run down buildings but incredibly resilient people. We taught like 3 lessons there.
My experience with our Macedonian man (who still wants to get baptized) came in handy as I had learned a few words and was able to communicate using primarily hand signals and simple (broken) German. Elder Holzer did an awesome job keeping things on track too.
So Wesel is a little north of Krefeld and it was 99.8% destroyed in WW2. They actually held a meeting trying to decide if they want to rebuild Wesel in the same place or in another location. So the story goes.
Then the next day, I went up to Düsseldorf to work with Elder Telfer who actually trained Elder Liebelt my MTC companion. He is definitely a great worker and we had a couple of lessons while I was there.
We taught James, a progressing investgator, in English as well as having a member present. The members name is Boahine. He is from Africa and is a King. Yeah thats right, I had a member lesson with an African King. He is very knowledgeable about the scriptures and can quote from memory verses at will in at least 2 different languages. Epic.
Now when I finally got back to Krefeld we got transfer calls. Elder Mayle is leaving Krefeld. (FINALLY) and I am staying. My new companion is Elder Birth. He is currently in Gelsenkirchen. I don't know how he works or anything but I hear he is pretty cool.
So we also had Sommerfest on Saturday which was pretty sweet. Free food and hanging out with people from the ward? I'm there. I will put up some pics and a couple videos.
The game we were playing in the pictures was Settlers of Catan. It was so much fun. We actually have one in Krefeld. Its so awesome!
Well, I need to go and upload videos and pictures. I will talk to you later!
Oh and by the way, Zone Conference is going to be either the first or second week in August. Just fyi.
Love You guys!
Elder Trevor Baker
Oh and I was just wondering if I should go out and get some kind of ipod. Elder Mayle is leaving and I don't have any music. I was going to look around and see if I could find one. Just let me know. Bye!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
July 18, 2011 Learning Some Lessons
Hey Guys!
This week was pretty cool. I found some teachings of the prophets books in English which was cool. I read a lot in the one from Wilford Woodruff. I definitely learned a lot from it.
So I have about 4 ish tips for people.
1. Dont share ultra spiritual experiences with others. Those are for your own edification.
2. When someone shares a spiritual experience, stirve and pray to obtain the spirit so that you may learn from it as well. It probably means that they wanted you to feel the same thing that they felt when it happend.
3. As one continues to study and live the gospel, the more he or she wants to share it with others.
4. Dont ever brush off an "ah ha!" or epiphany moment from someone. I guarantee that you can learn from it too.
So as I was reading in the Teachings of the Prophet Wilford Woodruff book and I felt impressed to do a better job at keeping a journal of things that come to me. I have always been pretty bad at it but now I feel like I can keep it up out here.
This week is the last week I spend with Elder Mayle and or Krefeld. I find out where I go next and who my next companion is on Saturday.
Oh, interesting thing happened on Sat. We were on our way back from Kempen after a fallen out appointment and we got to Bahnhof, and we saw JWs everywhere. After some inquiring, we found out that there was a massive conference in Dortmund for a couple of days. Anyways, we started to get surrounded by about 15 of them and we could see that they were coming in for some kind of bash (so we assumed). So applying some clever body language, we blocked them off from coming up and talking to us. We could see them pointing and making imaginary name tags with their hands at us. We got out unscathed fortunately. Just another day in the war between good and evil.
In other news, we had a cool appointment with Frau Dernelc. She calls us her grandsons. We keep teaching her about the Book of Mormon and I even shared some pics from back home. She sends her greetings and loves how happy we look. She thinks dad is way cool for being a pilot too. She said she always wanted to be a flight sterwardess, but she became a nurse instead. She is a way cool lady and maybe I can send a picture or two home.
I got all the birthday wishes and the ecards too. Thanks guys it was really nice!
The only thing that I wish was different out here is that I wish I could go running every now and then. It's pretty rough going from almost every day to twice in 3 months. It's really hard. That's definitely the most difficult thing out here for me. I can handle not being at home, or with fancy electronics, but not running is definitely a sacrifice that I have had to make.
Sorry for the little venting at the end.
Love you guys and I cant wait until next week!
Elder Trevor Baker
This week was pretty cool. I found some teachings of the prophets books in English which was cool. I read a lot in the one from Wilford Woodruff. I definitely learned a lot from it.
So I have about 4 ish tips for people.
1. Dont share ultra spiritual experiences with others. Those are for your own edification.
2. When someone shares a spiritual experience, stirve and pray to obtain the spirit so that you may learn from it as well. It probably means that they wanted you to feel the same thing that they felt when it happend.
3. As one continues to study and live the gospel, the more he or she wants to share it with others.
4. Dont ever brush off an "ah ha!" or epiphany moment from someone. I guarantee that you can learn from it too.
So as I was reading in the Teachings of the Prophet Wilford Woodruff book and I felt impressed to do a better job at keeping a journal of things that come to me. I have always been pretty bad at it but now I feel like I can keep it up out here.
This week is the last week I spend with Elder Mayle and or Krefeld. I find out where I go next and who my next companion is on Saturday.
Oh, interesting thing happened on Sat. We were on our way back from Kempen after a fallen out appointment and we got to Bahnhof, and we saw JWs everywhere. After some inquiring, we found out that there was a massive conference in Dortmund for a couple of days. Anyways, we started to get surrounded by about 15 of them and we could see that they were coming in for some kind of bash (so we assumed). So applying some clever body language, we blocked them off from coming up and talking to us. We could see them pointing and making imaginary name tags with their hands at us. We got out unscathed fortunately. Just another day in the war between good and evil.
In other news, we had a cool appointment with Frau Dernelc. She calls us her grandsons. We keep teaching her about the Book of Mormon and I even shared some pics from back home. She sends her greetings and loves how happy we look. She thinks dad is way cool for being a pilot too. She said she always wanted to be a flight sterwardess, but she became a nurse instead. She is a way cool lady and maybe I can send a picture or two home.
I got all the birthday wishes and the ecards too. Thanks guys it was really nice!
The only thing that I wish was different out here is that I wish I could go running every now and then. It's pretty rough going from almost every day to twice in 3 months. It's really hard. That's definitely the most difficult thing out here for me. I can handle not being at home, or with fancy electronics, but not running is definitely a sacrifice that I have had to make.
Sorry for the little venting at the end.
Love you guys and I cant wait until next week!
Elder Trevor Baker
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
July 11, 2011 New Mission President and German Ice Cream!
Hello!
So this past week has been pretty cool. It was my birthday which was interesting and to a point didn't feel like it, so don't feel too bad. Haha
We actually had an eating appointment with the Bree Family and it went really well. They even made me a cake. Elder Mayle and I are trying to work with the members under the direction of the new mission president, who is AWESOME by the way. He talked a lot about meeting with members and showed us its importance.
I actually had my interview with him on my birthday which was pretty cool. He is so cool. He reminds me of a grandpa kind of figure. His wife even gave me a Lindt chocolate bar. It was delicious (of course).
If you can believe it, transfer calls come in a couple of weeks. That means I am no longer a newbie and I could potentially be leaving this area of the mission. I really hope I stay though. I love my district. Especially Elder Hogan and Elder Peterson. They love movies just about as much as I do and love doing awesome stuff like, getting JW material and destroying it so it doesn't get into the hands of people searching for the truth.
Just a little bit of an update on our Serbian investigator, we met with him and he said he wanted to get baptized. So we were like, can we set up a date? and he said he wanted to wait until his son gets married. ... We need a translator really bad haha.
I dont think you got a picture, but I actually cut my own hair. I buzzed it just like you did to Colin. Haha it looked alright but I was just lazy so I did it myself.
Not much else happened this week, but it was still good. I will try and write down some of the things that happen in District meeting and throughout the week.
Love You!
Elder Trevor Baker
P.S. This is the only new picture I took. Its called Spagetti Eis. Basically its the most delicious ice cream I have ever had. It was vanilla Ice Cream and Kiwi Sauce and Kiwis. It's a good thing this place is right next to our apartment. Haha.
So this past week has been pretty cool. It was my birthday which was interesting and to a point didn't feel like it, so don't feel too bad. Haha
We actually had an eating appointment with the Bree Family and it went really well. They even made me a cake. Elder Mayle and I are trying to work with the members under the direction of the new mission president, who is AWESOME by the way. He talked a lot about meeting with members and showed us its importance.
I actually had my interview with him on my birthday which was pretty cool. He is so cool. He reminds me of a grandpa kind of figure. His wife even gave me a Lindt chocolate bar. It was delicious (of course).
If you can believe it, transfer calls come in a couple of weeks. That means I am no longer a newbie and I could potentially be leaving this area of the mission. I really hope I stay though. I love my district. Especially Elder Hogan and Elder Peterson. They love movies just about as much as I do and love doing awesome stuff like, getting JW material and destroying it so it doesn't get into the hands of people searching for the truth.
Just a little bit of an update on our Serbian investigator, we met with him and he said he wanted to get baptized. So we were like, can we set up a date? and he said he wanted to wait until his son gets married. ... We need a translator really bad haha.
I dont think you got a picture, but I actually cut my own hair. I buzzed it just like you did to Colin. Haha it looked alright but I was just lazy so I did it myself.
Not much else happened this week, but it was still good. I will try and write down some of the things that happen in District meeting and throughout the week.
Love You!
Elder Trevor Baker
P.S. This is the only new picture I took. Its called Spagetti Eis. Basically its the most delicious ice cream I have ever had. It was vanilla Ice Cream and Kiwi Sauce and Kiwis. It's a good thing this place is right next to our apartment. Haha.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
July 4, 2011 Happy Birthday this Week!!!
The Perfected Krefelder Kraken
(Death by Chocolate turns into Death by Calories!!!) Read On.....
Hey Mom!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Especially from everyone! I loved the ecard too. I got a couple really cool European ties too. They look pretty epic. We got ties for the Fourth of July too.
So we remade the Kraken, and its new and improved. Here are the numbers.
I counted a minimum of 25,000 calories in it. One piece is about 625 calories. It is literally death.
Here is the rundown of what is in it. Bottom layer brownies with german white chocolate. On top of that is peanut butter. Middle layer my cookies with milk chocolate chunks. Then more peanut butter on top of that. Then the top layer is more brownie with german white chocolate. Then to top it off, we got brand name oreos crushed them up and put them on top with lindt liquid chocolate.
I ended up eating 2 pieces yesterday. Basically thats 1250 calories just like that. Hahaha
Not much happened this week other than that. We had a good time tie shopping and we also met the new mission president. He has the grandpa way about him. Its pretty cool. He even gave us hugs haha. He also said dont do street contacting which was interesting. He is changing a lot but I know that he is doing things that president Ninow could never have done. Its because he is german and knows the culture. Way cool guy and I can't wait until I have an interview with him. Oh and his wife loves running! hahaha
So today we are going to have a party in Duisburg so I should take some pics and stuff and send them next week. The party is for 4th of July and we are all bringing stuff to it. I can't wait. We are leaving in about an hour for it.
I dont really know what else to talk about other than nothing has happened like the bahn thing from last week and things are still going well. Oh and just let people know once more that even though I dont have time to respond to all their emails, I still read them all and are appreciated!
Ok so I am going to send this off and try and get a few photos out.
Love you all!
Elder Trevor Baker
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