September 1, 2013

 First of all, I have been transferred! I am going to Minden. It's around 60km away from Hannover. So it's over on the western side of Germany. Haha. It's funny to see all of the little prejudices. There are a lot of little arguments about the different mentalities between east and west Germany. When I told everyone from the ward that I was going over towards Hannover, often times they said 'oh over in the WEST'. I have a book that I bought that I am going to be sending home soon that is called '50 steps to being a German' or something like that. It's a pretty cool book layout. One half of it is in German, and the other half is in English.

  I can't say that I am really glad... or sad... or angry... or any other emotion... about leaving Forst and going to Minden. All of the relationships that we had here were just 'okay'. There were only 2 real relationships that really meant something to me. It was nice to have a bigger ward... but it came along with the feeling of me just being 'another missionary'. It's sad to think that people actually avoid making good relationships with specific missionaries because they know that we'll just get transferred away somewhere eventually. The missionaries aren't here to have cool fun times... we're here to do missionary work, and help members with their missionary work. Without the members, it won't work. There has to be good coordination between the ward and the missionaries in order for the work to move forward. It will be good to have a new start. It's always something that I look forward to. There's always things that are built up through transfers of being in the same area or with the same companion, and it's easiest to overcome those things through an area change or a companion change... and in this case, both :)

  Anna was at church again :) It was the 6th week in a row that she had been to church. She is awesome. She always participates in class and asks good questions and gives good answers. It's great. The only thing is that she doesn't want to talk to her parents about it. Her parents already know that she does activities with the church... but I don't think they really know that she's investigating, and wants to be baptized. It's kinda a tough situation, because there's nothing that we can do for her except pray and give her motivation to do it. I believe that she will be baptized. She just needs a little more time before she builds up her confidence enough to talk to her parents. 

  I'm glad that I had the time here to serve in Forst. I have been able to experience a lot of personal growth. I've come a lot closer to our Heavenly Father in my time here. :)

  I've been able to see a lot of the Thorkelson side on Myfamilytree.com. I think it's awesome. I want to go explore Sweden and Norway. I want to find relatives! haha. I think it would be an awesome adventure. Norsk is another Germanic language so I think it would be relatively easy for me to learn it...we'll see. That might be one of my bucketlist things that I do when I go back.
  

Say hello to grandma and grandpa for me :) I love them so much :) Also say hello to Teej and the gang. I miss them too.

Love,

Elder Braden Saer Thorkelson