Week 12 - Life in Bernburg: Weihnachten

Normally I wouldn't be that guy and send you all of my Christmas pictures, but this week was uneventful outside of that and Elder Mayer and I are hilarious, so here we go.

On the first night of Christmas Elder Mayer and I ate with Schwester Eissing. Her family was super cool and fun, and we also got a sick package which mostly consisted of toilet paper. But not just any toilet paper, 3 ply! That's right, count it, 1, 2, 3 ply. That's a missionaries luxury! We can't afford that! We were so stoked.

Feast your eyes on our little tree and the fruits of our amazing families.

Elder Mayer got some sweet pajamas, but the real gift here is his amazing face.

We got some sweet scarves and socks from Präsident Fingerle, shown here.

And some awesome missionary stockings from Familie Mayer.

Most of the loot.

I also got a few ties.

... and another one...

Tie overload.

But I was roused by this awesome kit with which I can pretend that I know how to write!

Enjoy this final picture of Elder Mayer and I losing this board game one move before we could have finished.

I love you all, and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Elder Spaulding

Week 11 - Life in Bernberg: Preparing for Christmas

This has been a busy, crazy week. Let's get started, shall we?

Last Tuesday was a pretty fun day. We spend most of the day building furniture with a  family in our ward. They were remodeling their kitchen, and I'll have you know that IKEA is a thing in Germany as well. It was pretty fun, and I learned a lot of patience as we worked with their hyperactive 9 year old boy.

On Wednesday we got to go "babysitting" between Elder Bodtcher's "death" and Elder Hansen's arrival. We spent like 5 hours in Magdeburg, and had a pretty good time.

I also saw this pigeon, the second fattest one I've ever seen. The pigeons here are pretty fearless, but I still couldn't get a good picture of the guy, so this will have to do.

Thursday was a day in which district meeting decided to exist. It was pretty cool, and I got to actually meet Elder Hansen and meet Sister Lichtenberg. Elder Hansen is a total goof from Switzerland, we had a blast asking him to quote spongebob in German for a while. XD

Friday was the concert in Bernburg, and it went really well. We sang well, and it was packed absolutely full. We had over 100 people there, easily. We had a blast, and I really felt the spirit, even though I didn't understand the stories in German.

Saturday we had our ward's Weihnachtsfeier, and it was really fun, too. I once again didn't really have a clue what was going on (I'm pretty used to that by now... XD). I did well in my roles in the little play, too. And afterwards there was food and rejoicing. We also met with a neat little family from Albania.. There is quite the language barrier, so we set up an appointment with an Albanian member in Leipzig over skype the next day.

Sunday Bruder Shultz came to church and stayed for the first two meetings (progress!).

Sadly, our appointment with the Albanian family fell out, but we got to met Gazmed (the Albanian member), and he is really cool.

Monday, we had zone training meeting (why I'm doing this now), and Elder Mayer and I gave a bomb Thema. I'll schick it out once I get a chance to put it all together.

We also had a great appointment with Bruder Schultz.

Tuesday we got to visit a few people. "T" is a stubborn Russian lady who has been quasi meeting with the missionaries for a long time. We earnestly wants to believe that our church is true, and she's working on it. She's really cool and I love her to death.

We also got to go visit Bruder Woche. He is an inactive member in our ward, but he is incredibly nice. He is inactive because he's old and sick. We had a great appointment with him, and I found my nametag that I had lost! It was at his house! It's the one with a magnet, so I can wear it outside of my coat.

I also finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time since I came out (and perhaps the last time ever in English). I'm starting it in German again, but it is pretty hard.  I just want to bear my testimony quickly; I know that this is all true. Reading the Book of Mormon, I just over and over noticed these words of comfort, "Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you." Moroni 7:26 I love my Heavenly Father, and I know that he is there. Sometimes things are hard, and sometimes the only reason I have that I would do something is that I should. But, when I do, I am blessed without fail.

God loves you, people. He is there for you. He has done so much for you. I got to watch the Studio C fireside the other day, and someone said "The first time I held my child, I loved them so much. I didn't love them because they had done anything. In fact, they pooped on me. I loved them just because they were mine." It's the same with God. He loves you unconditionally just because you're his.

I love you guys, too! And I'm so grateful for all of you.

Yesterday (P-Day) was pretty fun, too. Elder Mayer and I mostly just played kicker (foosball). Right before we were going to leave to write E-mails, Herr Schultz walked in on us, and we ended up having a totally unexpected appointment with him that lasted an hour. Just another day to postpone emails. XD

Today was interesting, too. Elder Mayer almost got deported. We assume it was just a spot check, but he got a letter saying that we had to go in and check all of his paperwork. Thankfully, everything was in order.

Anyway, you guys know the drill. Have some random pictures.

Love y'all,

Elder Spaulding

Week 10 - das Chorkonzert und Tschüsses

This week was another week that flew by a little faster than seems
possible. We spent Tuesday in Magdeburg on Tausch (I got to geek out a
little bit with a German family who loved video games XD), on
Wednesday we went to Köthen for district meeting and we had Elder Bodtcher's "funeral". (Goodbye my first district leader, enjoy your 1.5th estate)

 

Thursday we had trainer trainee meeting, in which the trainees were trained, and the trainers were also trained. Go figure! Anyway, that was tons of fun, and I got to see my MTC buddies and get an Ipad with which to missionary.

Friday we had all the missionaries in our district come to Bernburg to finish handing out the Christmas Flyers and we had a party. We got almost all of the flyers handed out, and then got some pizza. Sadly, it's hard to convince people to even take a flyer here, and moreso when you Deutsch about as well as a child...

We also did leg day for sport and I still am sore from that....

Saturday we had another flyer day (we're almost done, the concert is on Friday!). Our mini adventure was that Elder Mayer crashed his bike (on a tiny curb), gracefully rolled off, and walked away with only a bruised knee.

Sunday we had Choir Concert part one in Köthen, and we also got our transfer calls. Big surprise, I'M STAYING! I'm not actually that surprised. Sadly, Sister Hammer is getting transferred, but I'm sure that we'll see each other again.

Final picture with the crew, goodbye
Elder Bodtcher and Sister Hammer!

Anyway, enjoy these random pictures of me being a missionary, a few cool buildings we saw today, and a wonderful picture of Präsident Fingerle.

Präsident Fingerle

Tschuss,

Elder Spaulding

Week 9 - Life in Bernburg Episode Four: Being German

I have very little time to write this week, but here it goes!

Hello friends and family, wie geht es euch? For me it goes well. This week went by super fast, and was for the most part fairly uneventful (at least in comparison to last week), but that doesn't mean that it wasn't great!

Quick breakdown:

Tuesday into Wednesday I had my first austausch (splits). I got to be with Elder Bodtcher, my zone leader. He "dies" in two weeks, but he is a good guy. We klingled (rang the door bell) on a good hundred doors, and didn't get into a single one. But so it goes.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Magdeburg, and I got to finally eat like a German!

You can't really tell because it's quite hard to selfie with a normal camera, but yes, those are meter long bratwursts.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we spend almost the whole days passing out flyers to a Christmas concert that we are singing in here in Bernburg.

Sunday was great, after church and choir practice we had an eating appointment with the Schultz family. Sister Schultz is an active member, her children are inactive members, and her husband isn't a member, but has come to sacrament meeting every day for the past few years. We knew that he had had a lot of pressure to be baptized by his family, the ward, and past missionaries, so we prayed about what to share and we really felt that we shouldn't even mention baptism. Treat him like a person. So we went in, ate (Goulash is great), shared the Christmas initiative (https://www.mormon.org/eng?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_ Every day in December until Christmas a new short little video will come out with something you can do that day to be a little more like Jesus and to do some missionary work), and bore our testimonies​. I started bearing my testimony about families, and how they can be eternal (much to my surprise, it seemed unrelated, but God works in mysterious ways), and he was really moved. Afterwards he asked us if we would baptize him!

We have two investigators with baptism dates!

Monday:

We went to Leipzig for district P-day, but we had a train fall out and then the backup bus fell out, so we only got two hours there. But, we got to buy these wonderful things for 8 Euro!

It's literally just a tube of happy warmth!

We have no clue what they're called so we decided to call them our neckbeards. They're wonderful.

It was also Elder Mayer's birthday today! He's only 21, but this picture makes him look more like the old man he is. Enjoy it. (Elder Mayer does not approve this message.)

This is our sad happy little Weinachtsbaum. Enjoy it, too.

Anyway, gotsa run.

Tschüss,

Elder Spaulding
​

Week 8 - Life in Bernburg Episode Three: The Great Assignment, and the Adventures Escalate Further

On Thursday we got to have a wonderful, very American Thanksgiving dinner. We got to invite our investigator Jagnesh as well.

Helga and Manfred Schütze are absolutely wonderful!

We started off our week with an appointment with a lady we had introduced ourselves to last week. She called us up and said that she "urgently needed our help". We showed up at her house and this is basically how it went down:

Frau Kühnel:

Elders, I really need you to go do something for me.

Us:

Happy to help! What can we do you for?

Frau Kühnel:

I need you boys to walk across the street...

Us:

Yes, and?

Frau Kühnel:

Go into the store...

Us:

Alright...?

Frau Kühnel:

and buy me a bottle of water, some cheese, some chocolate cakes, and some cat food. *hands us 10€*

Us:

....

We did her little shopping trip, but we don't have any plans to go back. She didn't really have that interest in the first place, and now we know that she really didn't understand our purpose.

We had a few more lessons with Jagnesh as well, he's so golden! We love him to death, he's super cool and super receptive. He came to church on Sunday and stayed for all three hours. Afterwards, he asked who gets to give talks. We explained to him that nobody gets paid for it, that the bishop assigns people and they get to share their thoughts and testimony on a topic. He then asked if he could give a talk next Sunday! He'll get to bear his testimony for fast Sunday. =D He is so cool.

We also got to meet with a convert, Emeka Nwese, who is preparing to receive (I hate this word. The e and the i are backwards for German pronunciation) the Melchizedek priesthood and go to the temple. We get to teach him about that, and we will also be working with him to help him learn to read and speak German. He is a super cool guy and I love him so much!

On Friday we had our first zone conference, HohoZoco, and it was pretty fun. I don't know all that many people yet, but I got to see Elder Huckabay, Sister Kohlert, and several of my comp’s old companions and friends.

Have some pretty Berlin Weinachtsmarkt pictures!

​

Our big scary adventure took place this Sunday after church. We got invited to the Gäbler's house (they are all so cool, und Bruder Gäbler ist der Branch President). We had a wonderful meal but sometime during my second plate I started feeling a little funny. Apparently they had asked if there was anything that we couldn't eat (twice) and Elder Mayer forgot that I have a peanut allergy. There was so little in the food that I couldn't taste it or smell it, but by the time we were on our way home I wasn't feeling all that hot. I broke out in hives, my lips swelled up really big, and it started getting pretty difficult for me to breathe. I took some medicine (thanks for the Benadryl, Momma) and after conking out for an hour or so I woke up and was feeling a little better. I feel almost totally better today, but I don't plan on doing that again anytime soon.

Elder Mayer showed me a few interesting pictures (not for your eyes) that he took during this, and I'm sure a few more exist, but I'll let him do what he will with those and he can answer for that at the judgement day. XD

Today on P-day I got to try my first döner, and it was pretty good. I recommend it to all of you who get the opportunity.

First döner with Elder Mayer

 

Anyway, as is the norm enjoy a few random pictures, and here's Elder Spaulding, signing off.

Liebe Große,

Elder Spaulding

Week 7 - Life in Bernburg Episode Two: The Crime Scene in the Church

This week has been quite the party.

On Tuesday we had an appointment with a man we found in the area book, Jagnesh, and he seems super cool. He is a chemical engineer, although right now he isn't working while he learns German, and he was just all around prepared by the Lord. His primary language is Hindi, but he speaks several other Indian dialects as well. He speaks Portuguese as well, his girlfriend is from Brazil. She lives in Bavaria and is also receiving missionary lessons. We teach him in English, but all in all he speaks 13 languages.

He has already received several lessons, but he hasn't met with the missionaries in a while, so we started over at the beginning and we are working our way through with him. He actually set his own baptism date (currently the 17th of December) and we will have to see what happens. I'm super excited for him.

We've met with him twice so far, and we will continue to meet with him.

Outside of that we have had English class, play practice (that's right, I'm in a Christmas play), Elder Mayer was attacked by a cat, and a fun little event I alluded to in the subject field.

Saturday night at about 21:45 we were downstairs in the church. I was working on the Area Book, and Elder Mayer was practicing on the organ. We heard glass shatter.

"Elder Mayer, was that you?"

"No..."

(angry shouting in the background)

in unison "Shoot....."

The way the shouting was echoing we thought people were in the church basement. The door to the basement was missing a pane of glass, and we thought they had smashed it in to bypass the lock. (We found out later that that pane of glass had been missing all along.) We armed ourselves with the church's scissors (they look like they've already seen their fair share of combat and possibly committed a few murders.), called Brüder Schütze, the Ward mission leader, and Lebau, just a friend in the ward, and the Polizei. When they got here there were a bunch of people on the street and a very, very drunk guy.

Apparently he was an inactive member of the church and when he heard the organ playing he thought we were burglars inside. He then proceeded to throw his beer bottle into the chapel window. When the police arrived they found out he had a 2.2% blood alcohol content level and they took him off. The next day at church the chapel was a little cold, but everything turned out fine. It was still terrifying though.

That pretty much sums up my week. I'm just a little worried because our adventures have been escalating... who knows what week 12 together will bring. You might want to prepare yourselves for the second coming 😜

Here you go, have some pictures too.

Beautiful German sunrise, like you do.

And some more pretty German countryside:

Our makeshift window covering:

Elder Mayer and I just being ourselves:

And last but not least some cookies we made that didn't absolutely suck.

Anyway, Liebe grüße,

Elder Spaulding

Week 6 - Life in Bernburg Episode One: My New Father

I have very little time to write, and it's been a long week, so here it goes. Also, German keyboards are annoying.

My new father is Elder Harrison Mayer. He is from Bountiful, UT and he dies in six months (goes home. I thought it was weird too). It's just the two of us here in Bernburg, the Stadt seems wonderful though. The members here are very kind and helpful. There are six in our district. Elder Bodtcher (he dies after this transfer), Elder Watts, Sister Hammer, and Sister Föger, my mother (oldest sister in a new mission).

​

Here is my apartment with some Elder Mayer to boot.

And who could forget the best part, "sparkly" Jesus. We have no clue why he's here or where he came from, but we love him.

My second day here we got locked out of our apartment. We live above the church, so we can walk downstairs and have wifi. We wanted to watch the district while we were eating lunch, so we walked out and I closed the door because I didn't want the Wohnung to get cold. Apparently in Europe, most doors have handles that don't turn on the outside. We were locked out of our apartment, locked in the church, and all we had was an iPad. No phone, no shoes, no coats, and hot food inside on the table. We facetimed a bunch of people and finally got Bruder Lebeau here to let us back in. One more problem, most Europeans leave the keys in the lock on the inside, so we couldn't get the spare key all the way into the door. We ended having to shim the door open with a piece of paper that had been laminated. We were locked out for an hour and a half 😅 I'll never forget how doors work here now.

 Today on P day we saw a duck. But not just any duck, a German duck. His name is Hanz.

 We also saw a castle, because Germany.

 This castle had bears, because Germany.

Everyone says that I speak wonderful German, apparently my grammar is pretty good and they can understand me well. Understanding them is a different story though. Our GML (Gemeinde Mission Leiter or Ward Mission Leader) is Bruder Schütze and he was once a German teacher. He is a machine gun, but he enunciates very well so I am able to understand a lot of what he says if I really concentrate. So it goes for now, I can understand little snippets of conversation and occasionally figure out what the heck is going on, but not very often.

It's been a little weird, we actually haven't taught any lessons yet, we have a lot of work ahead of us. There are no investigators to speak of here #whitewashing, we are going to do great things though. I love my father, and I'm excited to be here.

Tschüss,

Elder Spaulding