So this past week has been pretty fun. Can you believe that I have been out for 11 months?! It really feels like just a couple of months ago, I was stepping on that plane to Salt Lake City...
Well anyways, this week we got a call from a member of the branch presidency asking if we can come to the church to translate English for some people who would be setting up a computer.
We were told to meet there at noon, but the morning of, we get a call saying that they are already at the church. At this point its 11am. We haven't left the apartment yet, and it takes us 40 minites to walk to the church or we take a bus in 30 minutes and ride it for 20. -.-
Well to our luck, the branch presidency member was on his way and said that he would pick us up. Fastforward, we finally get to the church and the senior couple are setting up the computer. Now it's time to set up the internet! Yay!
We all know how complicated it is to set up internet and install the drivers for the wireless USB adapter---especially for a church owned computer. So anyways, after we call a computer tech in England, we get it all sorted out. (For all the techies out there--- the problem was that we were logged in as a patron and not as an administrator.)
What was interesting was the hour long conversation with the member from England. We talked about where we were from and as we all know, Laie Hawaii comes up. (I swear, every story starts like this..) He was living with a bishop of one of the wards out there on the Point. We talked about all the local commodities and such and had a pretty good time. He said he was working for one of the hospitals there doing something for information tech in about 2001.
He also told me he lived in Mesa, AZ for a while (where his wife is from). I didn't ask where exactly though.
SO thats the most interesting story of the week. Small world, especially when you are Mormon and from Laie. And awesome, can't forget that too.
So I guess I have some goals for this upcoming transfer. Probably the biggest one is that I want to get better at planning. I have started to get better at planning already this transfer. I have also been getting better at writing everything down.
Well a couple of statistics here... It's about -8 to -10 degrees Celcius here every day now and when the wind picks up, it's straight miserable. I never thought my ears could get so cold! I think it's taking a toll on the skin on my face too. Every time I walk into an appointment, people say, "Woah, your face is red!"
Well we got transfer calls (Again! these things are flying by so fast, and it's something for which I am grateful. I am going to be staying in Wesel with Elder Baum for another transfer. It's a good thing in my opinion for both of us; we both could use a little stretching.
I am in the process of sending some stuff home. Probably a Bible by book rate so it's really cheap and my huge coat. Just a heads up.
And I promise that I am working on thank you notes for the stuff I got for Christmas! I got them a couple of weeks ago, so I am trying to work out the resposnes. Thanks again for everyone sending me stuff!
Let's see, thats about it in Wesel. We still have the same 2 or 3 investigators that aren't progressing but want to. It's a long drawn out story that I will have to save for when I get home. But at least they have the desire, even if it doesn't override the laziness for lack of a better term.
Also, on Friday, we were going to an appointment in Kleve (1 and 1/2 hours away) and to get to his house (in the freezing snow) and found out he wasn't there. Great so to get back, we are supposed to catch a bus back to Emmerich and then a train to Wesel. We are about to board the bus and they decide to switch drivers which took way longer than it needed to.(trust me this is relevant) and we leave 5 to 10 minutes late.
So we finally get to Emmerich to catch our train (which we thought had left) and we see it sitting there. So we run. We run all the way to the door and when we got 10 feet from the door, the train starts to move and leave. The train comes once an hour :(
We call that lost in the Deutche Bahn game.
So we go to our next appointment (which is on the other side of our area only to find out that she isn't there. Aweseome. Then we have to run to take a bus back to the train station in order to get to our Bible group later that night. We make it thankfully and have a good rest of the evening.
So yeah, that was Friday. I am probably meant to take a lesson in patience.
So if you can tell, this email is a little scatterbrained. It may be because I have started to take down notes of everything cool that happened.
Well, I appreciate al of the support you all give me. It's really nice to hear words of encouragement. That's some of the best encouragement there is. (Especially when the only thing on your mind is girls. It's getting worse, but I hear that's normal. Haha)
So for some questions...(Mom sent these for Trevor to answer).
Are you still living under a Gamestop store or was that your last area? (the irony kills me!)
Yes, I see advertisements for all the new games that come out. I even asked when Mass Effect 3 comes out... haha. March 9th in Germany...
Do they do anything over there for Valnetine's Day? I mean they have the best chocolate, so they should capitalize on it! haha
Well they have something called Karneval, which is mardi gras except its celebrated everywhere. They have a tradition that goes with it that girls run around and cut off ties and kiss whoever they cut ties off of. I find it ironic. President Scwartz said that it would be an opportunity to get rid of a few old ties. haha
Where did you say Elder Baum is from?
He is from West Valley Utah.
Did you and Elder Mayle get to go to the baptism in Krefeld? I think that would be SO cool for you to be able to do!!!
I will have to ask. But I think we will be able to go.
Is Elder Mayle your district leader or zone leader or what? Has he trained anyone since you?
No, he is just a regular missionary now. He likes it better.
What has been the hardest thing? (besides missing me, of course! lol)
Excercise--not running. Gosh, it kills me.
What things have surprised you about living in Germany?
How much its like America, just with a different language. And of course the random cultural oddities.
Would you like to live in Germany again someday after your mission?
That depends... I love America too much.
How old do you have to be to get a driver's license over there?
18
Have you made anymore fabulous culinary creations like the Krefelder Kraken?
Sadly no. BUT I want to make the Wesel Valkyrie which is just another name for the Kraken.
How many people live in Wesel? (I want more pictures of the place. It sounds pretty)
60,000 people.
What were you drinking in the cup you were holding in your picture you sent last week?
Haha, water.
Well thanks for the emails and I will catch you all next week!
By the way, I loved the questions!
Elder Trevor Baker
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