June 10, 2012

Hallo!
The weather here is worse than Idaho or Utah... unbelievable, I know.
Yesterday started off rainy, then was super nice and sunny, then rainy
and windy, and then just windy and cloudy, and finally sunny again.
Just a little ridiculous, and it happens all of the time.
So yes! It is the start of a new transfer and I have a new missionary
here to finish my training! Elder Bossart is his name and he is
frommmmm..... BOISE IDAHO! so it's a little funny when people ask
where we are from. We end up saying something like "Idaho ist bekannt
für große Kartoffeln!" (Idaho is known for large potatoes). It is
pretty exciting stuff. The keys have been handed off to him and I'm
teaching him how to drive in Germany. The worst part is the parking!
the rules are pretty ambiguous about parking, and I usually end up
just parking wherever I see other people park.
We still don't have a fridge... but we had a handy-man come over and
told us that it was broken.... haha. then he told our Hausmeister and
so we will be getting a new one this week! woot woot! super good news.
We get boxed milk that doesn't have to be refrigerated until after you
open it so we can still have cereal in the mornings (thank goodness!)
and lots of toast, soups, and canned goods. It really isn't horrible,
and it makes me grateful for a good Kuhlschrank (refridgerator).
This week we have been working on getting through all of the contacts
that have been left behind from other missionaries. There are SO MANY!
And so many are just in little random Dorfs that take way too long to
drive to... but we do it anyway. Elder Bossart has an mp3 player and
the car is hooked up to it so it's not too bad :) Now if only I had
the Pokemon Movie soundtrack... life would be too good. But yes, a
billion contacts to call and visit, a lot of them end up not really
having interest (bummer)... but then a few of them do! (sweeeet!) It
is hard work, and we are going to do it super well!
It was so good having a German companion before! I can totally tell
how much my german has improved just by speaking german every day with
him and hearing so many conversations German to German. It's super
awesome. I wonder how the other missionaries that arrived when I did
are doing.... meh. maybe I will see them later.
President Pimentel is leaving!!! His time as Mission President is
almost up! We will be having special Zone Conferences with him in 2
weeks. Then we will be having Zone Conferences with the NEW President
in 5 weeks! (soon to be) President Kozak(probably not spelled right)
is super awesome. We actually were able to meet him while we were in
the MTC! so exciting. I wonder how much things will change... meh.
I'll find out later.
I love this gospel and I love sharing it with other people! I want to
find more people that are interested in our Botschaft(message)!
Love,
Elder Braden Thorkelson