April 29, 2013

Well the results are in... and I will be staying in Kassel with Elder Spackman for another transfer! woo! This will be the longest time I've spent with one companion, AND the longest time that I have been blessed to stay in one area. I'm glad it is this one, I'm really feeling that it's going pretty well and that we will be able to see some good changes here in the next weeks. It's not really that often (at least in this mission) that missionaries stay together for longer than 2 transfers, so it's weird to think that I'll be working with Elder Spackman for a total of 18 weeks together... never leaving the other's side. It's always interesting spending so much time with another person. I don't think I'll even spend so much continuous time with my own wife!

Make sure to send an SD card back to me in your package - I have another SD card that I need to send you (it doesn't have as much space as the other one )

Yes I will be calling you on mother's day! :D I want to use the Google+ hangout thing though so that we can all see each other and not have any problems :) We could have like up to 9 different people? That way you could invite other people also to say hello :) So if y'all could set something up for that, it would be great. Just make an account for me so that I can sign in. Teej has used it before, so he should know how to make everything work.

Today we had an awesome time at the Kasseler Tafel doing service. There were some new faces that asked us about what we're doing here :) As we were leaving, they mentioned that she was expecting to learn more about us in the weeks to come! woohoo! It's so awesome. It's how the gospel should function--getting to know that Mormons are normal people, and then little by little-by example and by taking opportunities to teach principles. For some reason, people here don't really recognize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a real church... it's taking a while, but we're bringing people to the knowledge that we are legit... and we have the truth! :D People in America already know that we're legit! haha. it's just the part of getting them to recognize the truth :) Before I came here into the internet place we ran into some Americans, and they all knew exactly who we were and what we were doing here! haha. It's so normal in America! why should it be any different here in Germany??

You got a letter from the Richters?? :D they are so awesome! I love them so much! You should also be getting an email from another stranger sometime! As we were working in Göttingen last week, we ran into a return missionary who was visiting with his wife and his dad! They were super cool... and the dad took a photo of us and said he was going to send it to you when he got the photo onto the computer :) Isn't it great to hear from other sources that I'm alive and well? haha.

This last week we did end up going up to Hamburg for a Leadership Training Meeting. It was a really good time where we learned from Präsident and the Assistants and from another. There was, however, some confusion on the way back... and we ended up having to stay in Hildesheim with a couple elders that were in my MTC group. We had a grand ol' time and it worked out wonderfully.

I learned this week that it's a political statement in Germany to wear a German flag... haha.
I saw a semi-truck do a 3 point turn in a city street.
I saw a star-fruit.
I finally can wear just pants and a short sleeved shirt because it's so warm.
A lady mistook me for a European (With my German speaking)
I ate a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich.

It's been good.
I love you all so much! Have an awesome week!
Until next time!

Love,
Elder Braden Thorkelson