Howdy ya´ll! How´s it going back on the other side of the pond?
Well we had a pretty long/solid week over here. We worked hard, we get tanner every day, and we give lots and lots of people the chance to accept the gospel and it´s message every day. Problem remains, however, there aren't many takers. We keep working though, I just keep trying to think to myself every day how I can give the next person I talk to the best chance possible to accept the Gospel. I figure if I can do that it can: 1- keep me from going insane, and 2- make me a better missionary to those who actually acknowledge my presence haha. It´s been good though. We made out a couple new appointments this week which ended a bit of a drought, so can´t complain to much.
Probably the highlight of our week was Sunday. We had a record attendance in church with 17, and it probably should have been higher had a couple of the normal people been there. I don't even know how so many got there to tell you the truth. But ya, it was pretty awesome. The big news though is that we FINALLY got our baptismal candidate to church!!!! It was so amazing. You see, there´s only a handful of cars who can pick people up for church in the morning, and the branch president is the only one who´s willing to help, all the others just flat out say no. Anyway, so we finally had everything lined up and everything, and then bam, President B´s car wasn't going and they were running behind with the kids, so long story short, after a quick prayer I went up to a guy whose wife is a member, pretty scary guy as well, and told him I needed his help desperately, and somehow I got him to go pick the investigator up. It was great! So ya, the branch wasn't receptive to him at all unfortunately. I don't think anyone even acknowledged he was there without me introducing them. But the bright spot was that a member from the district presidency was there and he fellowshipped him swimmingly, so that was pretty exciting. He really liked the church though, in spite of the luke warm welcome, and it looks like he might be getting baptized in 2 weeks as planned. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I really hope everything works out. We also got the 27 year old single adult in our branch to get her patriarchal blessing recommend, which was another way sweet triumph, to me anyways. We´ve built up a pretty good friendship and it was cool to see the process of getting her started to prepare for the temple and her patriarchal blessing. It might not be a big deal to some, but it means the world to me to help her. Half of our branch has either A- been to the temple once and now can't go back or B-has never been at all. So any time progress is made, it´s just awesome.
Haha, well there´s the good part of the day and the week, but of course i wouldn't be being honest with ya´ll if I didn't throw in some of the not so sweet moments.:) So we also set a new record this week in what we call diss points. We were honked at 16 times, and had insults shouted at us 8, so ya, it was a 24 pointer week, we usually like to keep it in the 12-15 range but oh well. Also, last week during church, someone messed with my new bike´s gear box and jacked it all up so it really blows now, haha but this week they stole my whole brake system during church. I don't even know how they did it- mad props- but they literally stripped everything. So we´re trying to find new places to park our bikes now because everyone knows that they´re the missionary bikes and at this rate, my bike´s going to be one blocks this next week. That´s not the worst for the week though. Also on Sunday we went out to an appointment in a tiny dorf about 7 to 10 km´s outside of Prenzlau. The appointment fell out so we just decided to finish out dooring the rest of the dorf. Some kids were harrassing us a bit on their bikes and stuff, but nothing really out of the usual, until we came back to where we locked our bikes up and realized they had totally jacked up our front tires. They let all the air out and pulled the tube partially out of mine and well, it was obvious we weren't going to be enjoying the way awesome downhill bike ride back to Prenzlau... it was a long walk instead. I was having an internal struggle whether or not to go find the kids and chew them out and get angry, or to just laugh it off and get walking. As I started walking away, the scripture in Acts 5:41 came into my mind when the apostles walk away from a council "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." Then I thought, ya it´s kinda embarrassing walking along this country rode with flats, and the people in the cars sure thought it was funny, but I wouldn't call this suffering haha. So ya, there´s where I found my perspective, I got to take a scenic walk through some beautiful fields of flowers in my favorite country in Europe, not so bad when you look at it that way. No doubt that some of the things I pass through here are hard, but I´ve learned over time that I can do hard things.:)
2 weeks left til the end of this, my 5th transfer. Not many missionaries at all stay over 2 transfers here in Prenzlau, so I´m interested to see what this transfer call has in store. I´ll probably end up being frustrated, transfer calls never ever seem to be good or satisfying, but it´s something interesting to look forward to at least. I cant believe I´ve been on a mission for 8 and a half months now, it boggles my mind, time flies but stands still at the same time. I can't recall my life before being a missionary. It´s like there´s a veil there President Topham put on me or something haha, but you just have to keep working hard to make time count.
Thanks so much for all the support and love! I love you all the mostest!
-Elder Ott
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Week of May 23 from Prenzlau
Tag everyone!
Well this week was really one of the least productive weeks of my mission i would have to say sadly. So there´s not a whole lot to report. We talked and talked and talked, but NO ONE was listening. We havent been able to find a new investigator in 2 weeks and all of our other ones are having real problems. Sometimes i feel like i´m losing my mind here, but what else can i do besides more missionary work?
On the cool/new kind of things... I HAVE MY GERMAN DRIVERS LICENSE!!! :):):) I can now officially drive in Germany for the rest of my life. The cool thing about German drivers licenses is that they are good for eternity. People still drive on like 70 year old crumple up paper licenses. I have a really really cool brand new shiny one though.:) I was way excited for that. NO ONE thought i´d be able to do it without my original American one to hand in. But seeing as the Prenzlau DMV people probably give out a new license once ever couple weeks and the two workers were two really young cool people, we were able to talk it out and work it out to where i just had to take an oath thing that i lost it. I was excited, i brought my Book of Mormon and Bible and everything in case i needed to swear on it... but it was anti-climatic and i just had to sign a piece of paper. It took like 7 weeks for it to get here, but it didnt cost near as much as the 1500 Euro germans pay and i didnt have to take ANY tests, so i cant complain. It doesnt matter a whole lot at the moment i suppose, even though we have the biggest and spread out, but at the same time least populated, area of the mission with the worst transportation system... we still dont have a car for some reason. But i´m working on that. This area would benefit IMMENSELY from a car. There are SOOOO many cities, even bigger than Prenzlau, that we just straight up cant get to. But anyways, I gave the worker at the DMV a chocolate bar with a thank you card... a thank you PASS-ALONG card that is! I really hope she looks at the website and gives us a call, she´s way nice and cool.
So the mission right now is having this HUGE push about "fishing with nets" and driving people into our net "the INTERnet" So we have brand new more internet friendly cards and they want us to just get them all out to people as fast as we can. We´re really buying into it here, and in the past 3 days we´ve gotten 1000 of them out. Either just giving them to people after you talk to them, or throwing them in mailboxes along the way. The motive is to use our re-designed german non-member friendly website to drive in media referals. We´re really buying in, because Prenzlau has in the distant past historically had great missionaries, and many many missionaries far better than i ever am have worked their tails off using the old techniques and have produced 0 lasting converts. So this new thing is really all we have. The church uses 0 media here to advertise, so we´re generating are own media so to say. We´re really really hoping that it works. We planning on having a card in every mailbox in Prenzlau by the end of this transfer.
This Sunday was the first sunday i havent either had to teach sunday school or give a talk since i got here, even though i had to be prepared to do both. :I Haha, i had everything prepared and then President Büttner pulled a surprise showing and took everything over.:) I never thought i´d find so much joy in seeing a new presiding authority walk in the room.:) I still conducted sacrament meeting though, i´m getting better at it the more i do it. It´s not like it´s way hard or complex. It´s just a bit different in German.
Well i cant think of much new to report. This is probably the hardest time of my mission to stay motivated at the moment, i have to keep finding new ways to push myself, because there´s not really much else pushing me at the moment. I just gotta enjoy this P-day and the welcomed rest. I got up at 6 this morning and cleaned for 3 hours, so i´m ready to relax now before having to hit the streets again. Thanks so much for all the support, i set a new PR for mail this week in Prenzlau, so I love you ALL! Haha. Have a wonderful week!
-Elder Ott
Well this week was really one of the least productive weeks of my mission i would have to say sadly. So there´s not a whole lot to report. We talked and talked and talked, but NO ONE was listening. We havent been able to find a new investigator in 2 weeks and all of our other ones are having real problems. Sometimes i feel like i´m losing my mind here, but what else can i do besides more missionary work?
On the cool/new kind of things... I HAVE MY GERMAN DRIVERS LICENSE!!! :):):) I can now officially drive in Germany for the rest of my life. The cool thing about German drivers licenses is that they are good for eternity. People still drive on like 70 year old crumple up paper licenses. I have a really really cool brand new shiny one though.:) I was way excited for that. NO ONE thought i´d be able to do it without my original American one to hand in. But seeing as the Prenzlau DMV people probably give out a new license once ever couple weeks and the two workers were two really young cool people, we were able to talk it out and work it out to where i just had to take an oath thing that i lost it. I was excited, i brought my Book of Mormon and Bible and everything in case i needed to swear on it... but it was anti-climatic and i just had to sign a piece of paper. It took like 7 weeks for it to get here, but it didnt cost near as much as the 1500 Euro germans pay and i didnt have to take ANY tests, so i cant complain. It doesnt matter a whole lot at the moment i suppose, even though we have the biggest and spread out, but at the same time least populated, area of the mission with the worst transportation system... we still dont have a car for some reason. But i´m working on that. This area would benefit IMMENSELY from a car. There are SOOOO many cities, even bigger than Prenzlau, that we just straight up cant get to. But anyways, I gave the worker at the DMV a chocolate bar with a thank you card... a thank you PASS-ALONG card that is! I really hope she looks at the website and gives us a call, she´s way nice and cool.
So the mission right now is having this HUGE push about "fishing with nets" and driving people into our net "the INTERnet" So we have brand new more internet friendly cards and they want us to just get them all out to people as fast as we can. We´re really buying into it here, and in the past 3 days we´ve gotten 1000 of them out. Either just giving them to people after you talk to them, or throwing them in mailboxes along the way. The motive is to use our re-designed german non-member friendly website to drive in media referals. We´re really buying in, because Prenzlau has in the distant past historically had great missionaries, and many many missionaries far better than i ever am have worked their tails off using the old techniques and have produced 0 lasting converts. So this new thing is really all we have. The church uses 0 media here to advertise, so we´re generating are own media so to say. We´re really really hoping that it works. We planning on having a card in every mailbox in Prenzlau by the end of this transfer.
This Sunday was the first sunday i havent either had to teach sunday school or give a talk since i got here, even though i had to be prepared to do both. :I Haha, i had everything prepared and then President Büttner pulled a surprise showing and took everything over.:) I never thought i´d find so much joy in seeing a new presiding authority walk in the room.:) I still conducted sacrament meeting though, i´m getting better at it the more i do it. It´s not like it´s way hard or complex. It´s just a bit different in German.
Well i cant think of much new to report. This is probably the hardest time of my mission to stay motivated at the moment, i have to keep finding new ways to push myself, because there´s not really much else pushing me at the moment. I just gotta enjoy this P-day and the welcomed rest. I got up at 6 this morning and cleaned for 3 hours, so i´m ready to relax now before having to hit the streets again. Thanks so much for all the support, i set a new PR for mail this week in Prenzlau, so I love you ALL! Haha. Have a wonderful week!
-Elder Ott
Monday, May 16, 2011
Week of May 16 from Prenzlau
Well unfortunately this won´t be the longest and most informative email i´ve ever written, you see i´m in Berlin AGAIN for another P-day. It took us a little while to get here so email time is short. So we´re here today to get together with a few other missionaries and we´re going to end up spending the night because we have a Zone Conference here tomorrow. We going to head over to a big lake and play around a bit with some other missionaries. But yes, not a whole lot new in Prenzlau, but as the title of this email eluded to, we totally got it ballin here in Prenzlau this last week!
So we keep looking for more and more ways to get more involved in the community, and use our talents to change the perspective of the missionaries here. So the other week we printed off a couple flyers and put them up on the streetball court here in town, and well, people actually came. Not quite enough to go full court, but it was enough to get a few good games in and get the heart pumpin. We had one guy who´s been an avid german street baller for years and is just always looking for games, and then this other guy who´s like 6,7 and built like a stinkin TANK! Along with a few other people. But these two guys were way cool, we had a nice little conversation afterwards about why we were here in PRenzlau and exchanged numbers and the whole deal, it was way cool. It´s going to become a weekly thing, so we´re hoping maybe it catches on a little bit more. We also have a sweet connect at the local like community center, and this last week we were invited to play BADMINTON with elderly people!!! Now for those of you who know me deeeply, you know already i have a deep passion and desire for Badminton, so that was way way way cool.
Our two investigators on baptisimal date had rough weeks as well. One who was in the hospital just had an operation, dont know exactly why at the time, but ya, she´s pretty sick. The other has a brain tumor and is having some real health problems, not cool, but we´ll keep working with them as much as we can. It´s hard to finally have two progressing investigators and then to see them struggle like this... but we cant do a whole lot about it right now. We set an all time high for lessons this week despite of that though, which is way way cool.
In church we had a good meeting. My talk went really well which was good. Our branch has been having some rough times lately, and some of the members have been having a hard time. With the branch president being gone so long and everything, i was really hoping to lift the branch this last Sunday. I was really happy that everything went well, and it was a really solid Sunday.
Well not much else new to report, i gotta go, but i love ya´ll soooo much!!!! Thanks for everything you do for me and the people here!
-Elder Ott
So we keep looking for more and more ways to get more involved in the community, and use our talents to change the perspective of the missionaries here. So the other week we printed off a couple flyers and put them up on the streetball court here in town, and well, people actually came. Not quite enough to go full court, but it was enough to get a few good games in and get the heart pumpin. We had one guy who´s been an avid german street baller for years and is just always looking for games, and then this other guy who´s like 6,7 and built like a stinkin TANK! Along with a few other people. But these two guys were way cool, we had a nice little conversation afterwards about why we were here in PRenzlau and exchanged numbers and the whole deal, it was way cool. It´s going to become a weekly thing, so we´re hoping maybe it catches on a little bit more. We also have a sweet connect at the local like community center, and this last week we were invited to play BADMINTON with elderly people!!! Now for those of you who know me deeeply, you know already i have a deep passion and desire for Badminton, so that was way way way cool.
Our two investigators on baptisimal date had rough weeks as well. One who was in the hospital just had an operation, dont know exactly why at the time, but ya, she´s pretty sick. The other has a brain tumor and is having some real health problems, not cool, but we´ll keep working with them as much as we can. It´s hard to finally have two progressing investigators and then to see them struggle like this... but we cant do a whole lot about it right now. We set an all time high for lessons this week despite of that though, which is way way cool.
In church we had a good meeting. My talk went really well which was good. Our branch has been having some rough times lately, and some of the members have been having a hard time. With the branch president being gone so long and everything, i was really hoping to lift the branch this last Sunday. I was really happy that everything went well, and it was a really solid Sunday.
Well not much else new to report, i gotta go, but i love ya´ll soooo much!!!! Thanks for everything you do for me and the people here!
-Elder Ott
Monday, May 9, 2011
Week of May 9 from Prenzlau
Liebe Familia und Freunde!
Well hello once again from the splendid city of Prenzlau! Not much new to report this week i suppose. My new companion is here safe and sound, not sure he likes the city here too much, but he´s way cool and pretty chill so i have a feeling this will be an okay transfer.
So mother´s day was naturally a very special day for me because I TOTALLY SKYPED WITH MY FAMILY! That was pretty much the highlight of my week i´d have to say. It was so awesome to be able to see their faces and talk with them. I´m way happy our mission allows skype... but i can see how lots of missions don't. Those couple minutes after you hang up the phone and know that it will be 7 months before you talk to your family again are pretty rough. But it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be i suppose.
On the missionary side of things, this Mother´s Day was horrid for Church attendance. We had 6 members there today, which is was sad because that´s a really small sad number, but really good because i had an hour Sunday school lesson that got dumped on me Saturday... so overall wasn't my best most well prepared effort, it still went good, but an hour lesson on Honesty is a bit hard with little preparation. It´s kinda like... ya... just be honest? Not way too complicated. But of course we were able to have plenty of controversial discussions about honesty, so that filled up the time a bit more. I also found out i will be speaking in Sacrament next week again! Woo hoo. That means out of 4 sacrament meetings i will have attended aside from the 2 fast and testimony meetings and GC and Distric Conference, i will have had half of the meeting to talk in 3 of them. I also called myself to be the branch music leader (who doesn't enjoy just a little bit of unrighteous dominion) so ya, i knew there was a reason i brought my baton from home.:) It will be fun to conduct sacrament meeting, pass the sacrament, lead the hymns, and be one of the two speakers... all i can say is too bad i never finished learning to play the piano.:) But ya, it puts a lot more pressure on you knowing that if you should have investigators at church, and well just in general actually, a large portion of making the Sabbath enjoyable and uplifting rests on your shoulders.
So our two baptisimal candidates are both having a very hard time at the moment. One is like spiraling down in depression, and the other is physically in the hospital very sick. And most all of the other new people we found just didn't show up or weren't there for appointments this week, so ya, it´s gonna be another very long, very hard week here Prenzlau. We´re launching our new youth basketball league project here this week though, so hopefully that will spark a bit of interest and get a new perspective on us here in Prenzlau.
Well anyways, the work is hard as can be here, but it moves forward, unbelieveably slowly at times it seems, but still forward. I dont know how i haven't given up sometimes, i don't know how i just keep talking to people despite the 97% fail rate of a good conversation... but i echo the words of Gordon B. Hinckley "It´s not as easy as they say it is, but it´s not as hard as you think it is" Somehow the Lord finds a way to give his servants strength, over and over and over again. In the name of ..... oh wait haha, ya that´s just how it is.:) Love you all so much, thanks for all the love and support. Have a wonderful week!!
-Elder Ött
Well hello once again from the splendid city of Prenzlau! Not much new to report this week i suppose. My new companion is here safe and sound, not sure he likes the city here too much, but he´s way cool and pretty chill so i have a feeling this will be an okay transfer.
So mother´s day was naturally a very special day for me because I TOTALLY SKYPED WITH MY FAMILY! That was pretty much the highlight of my week i´d have to say. It was so awesome to be able to see their faces and talk with them. I´m way happy our mission allows skype... but i can see how lots of missions don't. Those couple minutes after you hang up the phone and know that it will be 7 months before you talk to your family again are pretty rough. But it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be i suppose.
On the missionary side of things, this Mother´s Day was horrid for Church attendance. We had 6 members there today, which is was sad because that´s a really small sad number, but really good because i had an hour Sunday school lesson that got dumped on me Saturday... so overall wasn't my best most well prepared effort, it still went good, but an hour lesson on Honesty is a bit hard with little preparation. It´s kinda like... ya... just be honest? Not way too complicated. But of course we were able to have plenty of controversial discussions about honesty, so that filled up the time a bit more. I also found out i will be speaking in Sacrament next week again! Woo hoo. That means out of 4 sacrament meetings i will have attended aside from the 2 fast and testimony meetings and GC and Distric Conference, i will have had half of the meeting to talk in 3 of them. I also called myself to be the branch music leader (who doesn't enjoy just a little bit of unrighteous dominion) so ya, i knew there was a reason i brought my baton from home.:) It will be fun to conduct sacrament meeting, pass the sacrament, lead the hymns, and be one of the two speakers... all i can say is too bad i never finished learning to play the piano.:) But ya, it puts a lot more pressure on you knowing that if you should have investigators at church, and well just in general actually, a large portion of making the Sabbath enjoyable and uplifting rests on your shoulders.
So our two baptisimal candidates are both having a very hard time at the moment. One is like spiraling down in depression, and the other is physically in the hospital very sick. And most all of the other new people we found just didn't show up or weren't there for appointments this week, so ya, it´s gonna be another very long, very hard week here Prenzlau. We´re launching our new youth basketball league project here this week though, so hopefully that will spark a bit of interest and get a new perspective on us here in Prenzlau.
Well anyways, the work is hard as can be here, but it moves forward, unbelieveably slowly at times it seems, but still forward. I dont know how i haven't given up sometimes, i don't know how i just keep talking to people despite the 97% fail rate of a good conversation... but i echo the words of Gordon B. Hinckley "It´s not as easy as they say it is, but it´s not as hard as you think it is" Somehow the Lord finds a way to give his servants strength, over and over and over again. In the name of ..... oh wait haha, ya that´s just how it is.:) Love you all so much, thanks for all the love and support. Have a wonderful week!!
-Elder Ött
Monday, May 2, 2011
Week of May 2 from Prenzlau
Hello Family and Friends,
Well Transfer Number 4 comes to a close and a new one begins. This last week went like most other ones in Prenzlau, only a bit more on the drastic side. Normally the week starts out solid and progressivley gets more and more hard and time consuming. This week, the week started out absolutely AMAZING and ended up absolutely devastating. Ha, i really wish i could have written this email on like Wednesday, because i was stoked out of my mind, but oh well, it´s a rollercoaster sometimes.
So it all happened Sunday night last week. We had just had a couple really rough weeks and were feeling kinda discouraged, and i was really really frustrated. So we decided to have a super week this week. Tons of work, and only German 24/7. Well, Tuesday rolled around and we had just the most amazing experiences ever. We got a message from this one lady who lives a little ways away in a small dorf, she met with the missionaries once before and is way way way cool! The appointment was WAY spiritual and the spirit was way strong. I felt really strongly to commit her to baptism, so i did it, and she totally accepted. Her baptism date is the 14 of June, and she was way excited.
Then we hopped up on a train to Neu Brandenburg because one of the ZL´s wanted to tausch with me, he´s a way cool Elder from Sardinia. He´s way tiny, but was a World Master Kung Fu artist. Haha, it was crazy the next morning when we were working out he showed me his pushup routine... INSANE. Pushups on fists, pushups on wrists with the back of your hand on the ground (I mildly injured myself in that attempt) then pushups while doing a handstand (didnt even try) then pushups, starting with five fingertips, the after 5 he lifts a finger up, until he is eventually doing it with just his thumb, haha and then he does the same thing on one hand. 5 Pushups on ONE THUMB... ridiculous. But ya, learned some crazy cool stuff from him, and we worked our tails off that day. We were a bit late coming back to prenzlau because someone committed suicide on the train tracks and the train in front of us ran over him, it took 45 minutes to get back going again, (actually happens more than you´d think here) but ya, and then we had another appointment with a fairly new investigator. We taught a 2nd lesson, POS, and when we were talking about the spirit world he asked the money question... "where am i going" We explained that it depends on what we do here, and that same familiar prompting i felt ealier that day came back, and he was committed to be baptized on the 11th of June. So ya, pretty much one of the most blessed days of my mission, President couldn´t believe it when i had to call him a second time to report a baptisimal date, it was amazing.
We continued through the week working hard and speaking German, we made out some way good appointments and ended up with 4 new investigators, which is mind boggling for Prenzlau, i really dont think that´s ever happened here before, or in a long time at least, and it was just way awesome. Then Friday, things kinda fizzled out again and we were left with nothing to do and no one to meet with, i HATE that feeling of looking at your planner and just seeing a blank white sheet of paper... worst feeling EVER. But ya, Saturday morning we had transfer conference call, and well, my companion is leaving amazingly. He stayed a really short time here in Prenzlau. Anyways, i will be getting a new Senior companion, and for the 3rd time in a row, it is his first time ever being a Senior companion. He´s been out on his mission about 1 year and a couple months, and will be coming up here from a littler program in Berlin. I was kinda shocked because i had heard a lot of hype about things getting shaken up a lot, but i cant allow myself to be to surprised i guess. I´ve heard a lot of interesting things about my new companion though, and lets just say, i´m anxious to see what he´s like.
Well now for the fireball that came at the end of the week. Both of our investigators who were so excited to be baptized, pulled a no-show at church... it´s not tooo bad i suppose, i mean we met with both of them multiple times and they know they have to come to church to be baptized, and they both wanna be baptized, so hopefully we´ll find a way to get them there, but i was just really really devastated not to see them at church. We´ll keep meeting with them however, and hopefully we´ll get them there. There was however, like a record number of people at church, (since i´ve been here anyway) and it was only fitting, because i had to conduct a sacrament meeting, and naturally there should be as many people as possible there so that i can more effectively embarrass myself. Oh and also it´s only fitting i should have to make a bunch of announcments and read two letters from the Area Presidency and District Presidency... oh how fun it is to be humbled. Ha, no, it actually wasnt too bad, a little different, but it wasnt too big of a deal at all.
Well anyways that´s kinda it for now with me, I really hope we can get these people back on track here, and i´m still trying not to lose my sanity here, next week will be a big one for sure. I hope everyone has a wonderful week back home! Thanks for everything!
Herzliche Grüße,
Elder Ott
Well Transfer Number 4 comes to a close and a new one begins. This last week went like most other ones in Prenzlau, only a bit more on the drastic side. Normally the week starts out solid and progressivley gets more and more hard and time consuming. This week, the week started out absolutely AMAZING and ended up absolutely devastating. Ha, i really wish i could have written this email on like Wednesday, because i was stoked out of my mind, but oh well, it´s a rollercoaster sometimes.
So it all happened Sunday night last week. We had just had a couple really rough weeks and were feeling kinda discouraged, and i was really really frustrated. So we decided to have a super week this week. Tons of work, and only German 24/7. Well, Tuesday rolled around and we had just the most amazing experiences ever. We got a message from this one lady who lives a little ways away in a small dorf, she met with the missionaries once before and is way way way cool! The appointment was WAY spiritual and the spirit was way strong. I felt really strongly to commit her to baptism, so i did it, and she totally accepted. Her baptism date is the 14 of June, and she was way excited.
Then we hopped up on a train to Neu Brandenburg because one of the ZL´s wanted to tausch with me, he´s a way cool Elder from Sardinia. He´s way tiny, but was a World Master Kung Fu artist. Haha, it was crazy the next morning when we were working out he showed me his pushup routine... INSANE. Pushups on fists, pushups on wrists with the back of your hand on the ground (I mildly injured myself in that attempt) then pushups while doing a handstand (didnt even try) then pushups, starting with five fingertips, the after 5 he lifts a finger up, until he is eventually doing it with just his thumb, haha and then he does the same thing on one hand. 5 Pushups on ONE THUMB... ridiculous. But ya, learned some crazy cool stuff from him, and we worked our tails off that day. We were a bit late coming back to prenzlau because someone committed suicide on the train tracks and the train in front of us ran over him, it took 45 minutes to get back going again, (actually happens more than you´d think here) but ya, and then we had another appointment with a fairly new investigator. We taught a 2nd lesson, POS, and when we were talking about the spirit world he asked the money question... "where am i going" We explained that it depends on what we do here, and that same familiar prompting i felt ealier that day came back, and he was committed to be baptized on the 11th of June. So ya, pretty much one of the most blessed days of my mission, President couldn´t believe it when i had to call him a second time to report a baptisimal date, it was amazing.
We continued through the week working hard and speaking German, we made out some way good appointments and ended up with 4 new investigators, which is mind boggling for Prenzlau, i really dont think that´s ever happened here before, or in a long time at least, and it was just way awesome. Then Friday, things kinda fizzled out again and we were left with nothing to do and no one to meet with, i HATE that feeling of looking at your planner and just seeing a blank white sheet of paper... worst feeling EVER. But ya, Saturday morning we had transfer conference call, and well, my companion is leaving amazingly. He stayed a really short time here in Prenzlau. Anyways, i will be getting a new Senior companion, and for the 3rd time in a row, it is his first time ever being a Senior companion. He´s been out on his mission about 1 year and a couple months, and will be coming up here from a littler program in Berlin. I was kinda shocked because i had heard a lot of hype about things getting shaken up a lot, but i cant allow myself to be to surprised i guess. I´ve heard a lot of interesting things about my new companion though, and lets just say, i´m anxious to see what he´s like.
Well now for the fireball that came at the end of the week. Both of our investigators who were so excited to be baptized, pulled a no-show at church... it´s not tooo bad i suppose, i mean we met with both of them multiple times and they know they have to come to church to be baptized, and they both wanna be baptized, so hopefully we´ll find a way to get them there, but i was just really really devastated not to see them at church. We´ll keep meeting with them however, and hopefully we´ll get them there. There was however, like a record number of people at church, (since i´ve been here anyway) and it was only fitting, because i had to conduct a sacrament meeting, and naturally there should be as many people as possible there so that i can more effectively embarrass myself. Oh and also it´s only fitting i should have to make a bunch of announcments and read two letters from the Area Presidency and District Presidency... oh how fun it is to be humbled. Ha, no, it actually wasnt too bad, a little different, but it wasnt too big of a deal at all.
Well anyways that´s kinda it for now with me, I really hope we can get these people back on track here, and i´m still trying not to lose my sanity here, next week will be a big one for sure. I hope everyone has a wonderful week back home! Thanks for everything!
Herzliche Grüße,
Elder Ott
Monday, April 25, 2011
Week of April 25 from Prenzlau
Well hello everyone,
First off, happy Easter to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful day yesterday!
Well Easter is actually normally like my absolute favorite holiday... it's just so peaceful and beautiful and the message is just so good, but this was a really really tough one for me. Our week started off decent, we actually had the first day here in Prenzlau where we didnt have more of 2 hours of "finding" planned, so that was really good. But everything just went down hill from there. EVERYONE was gone this weekend, and no one wanted to listen to us. On top of that, we weren't invited anywhere with any members at all this week. We ate, as normal, with our branch president in the church, which was good, I LOVE our branch president. But he lives so far away and is so busy... arg it just would be nice to be able to be at a members house at some point here in Prenzlau haha. So ya, this was kinda a hard and lonely weekend for me, but i just have to keep going and looking for the positive things and ways to enjoy my time here.
This Sunday was an interesting one for sure. My 3rd week here actually in the chapel in Prenzlau, and every time i've been up at the pulpit haha. I spoke with our branch president to our little group of about 15. Speaking in German is still sooo different for me, but our branch President wants to make me a proficient, and very good speaker and gives me a critique after every one of my talks, which is really helpful. He is an amazing speaker, kinda has to be as a Senator, so it's good to learn from the best.:)
Transfer calls will be coming up this next week, i wont be going anywhere, but it's going to be interesting to see if my companion goes or not. If he stays, i will probably be here for the long haul (4 transfers) if he goes i will probably stay 3 i think. It will be really interesting to see how everything plays out. In the mean time, we have made a pact to make this next week the hardest working week of our mission. And also, we will ONLY speak german with each other, i'm way excited, but i think my companion is a little less enthusiastic, haha but it will be way fun.:)
Well, i really don't know what else to write about. We dont really have much ahead this week, other then about 50 hours of finding... i'm really getting tired of finding haha, but if the ward doesnt help you gotta do what you gotta do.
Hope you all have a wonderful week back home.
-Elder Ott
Monday, April 18, 2011
April 18 from Prenzlau
Ahhhhh, i´m in Berlin AGAIN!
Well I LOVE Berlin. This will probably be my last trip here for another couple months... but i hope not! The only hard part is getting back off the train in Prenzlau. I call it PBDS, post berlin depression syndrome. Haha, but you get back into the work really quick.
So my email will have to be REALLY short this week. WE have like 0 time. We´re meeting our Branch President (aka The Senator) outside Hauptbahnof here shortly to head over through securtiy and in to our private tour of the Capitol Building!!! Soooo excited. I am totally sitting in Angelina Merkels chair.:)
Sewww, this week was a really really hard and long one. We had sooo much trouble making out appointments this week, success was so few and far between. But we did however find this one man. My comp and I were walking by this big apartment-like complex, and even though we knew it had been doored out a couple dozen times, i had a really really strong impression to door it again. My comp absolutely hates doors with a passion, which is hard because that´s kinda how you have to talk to people here, the streets arent exactly bustling ya know? But i said, "hey, ya think we should do some doors here" and he was like "ya, i have a way good feeling about this place actually" and i was like "me too" so we did it. Now a man there did tell us on the first set of doors that we were annoying the city of Prenzlau, and how we were crazy, and how we should leave and stop annoying people, and about how it was a sign from above that we should leave because nobody listens to us... but i´m sadly used to hearing that now. So anyways, we pressed on and of course, last house, like 3rd to last of the 60 or 80 doors we did, the man let us in and we had a walk in right there. Now he´s not the most golden person, he´s met with the missionaries quite a bit (but most of the people who we find who are willing to listen to us, missionaries before us have already found and taught and dropped, so that´s not un-normal) but we think that there´s a reason we found him, and we are excited. That was kinda my cool story for the week.
Saturday i had to go up to Neu Brandenburg for the leadership training meeting of our district... but it turned out being a lot cooler than i had thought. We were surprised to meet an Area 70 from Italy there, and our very own mission president, that was a surprise. Haha, also president put us in charge of translating the meeting into English for the Seventy and Sister Pimentel. Usually that would fall upon the Senior Comp, but i had a lot more translating experience, so my comp was trying to get me to translate, which i´m not going to lie, i would have been really really really stoked to do. I had been translating every other week in church for a good amount of time in Kiel. But in the end it was just another one of those impressions, your comp should do it. Haha, so basically i made him do it and although it meant the world to him and he actually did a great job. Afterwards as we were joking around about it, he thanked me for making him do that, and said he needed that. And hearing that was actually cooler to me than having the privilege to translate for a seventy. That sounds a bit clíche as a look at that, but it was true. That meeting actually, and the conference as a whole, was big for me. I got to know our branch president a LOT better, overcome my fear of him a bit haha, and i really love him now. He´s so cool. Stills scares me a bit sometimes, but he´s really awesome.
Well i gotta start runnin, so that´s about it this week. We are gonna have to work harder this week and step it up even more... the program didnt move forward enough this week. I´m tired sometimes, and it´s hard to keep going, but hopefully we start picking up some momentum this week!
Love you all so much, and have a great week!
-Elder Ott
Well I LOVE Berlin. This will probably be my last trip here for another couple months... but i hope not! The only hard part is getting back off the train in Prenzlau. I call it PBDS, post berlin depression syndrome. Haha, but you get back into the work really quick.
So my email will have to be REALLY short this week. WE have like 0 time. We´re meeting our Branch President (aka The Senator) outside Hauptbahnof here shortly to head over through securtiy and in to our private tour of the Capitol Building!!! Soooo excited. I am totally sitting in Angelina Merkels chair.:)
Sewww, this week was a really really hard and long one. We had sooo much trouble making out appointments this week, success was so few and far between. But we did however find this one man. My comp and I were walking by this big apartment-like complex, and even though we knew it had been doored out a couple dozen times, i had a really really strong impression to door it again. My comp absolutely hates doors with a passion, which is hard because that´s kinda how you have to talk to people here, the streets arent exactly bustling ya know? But i said, "hey, ya think we should do some doors here" and he was like "ya, i have a way good feeling about this place actually" and i was like "me too" so we did it. Now a man there did tell us on the first set of doors that we were annoying the city of Prenzlau, and how we were crazy, and how we should leave and stop annoying people, and about how it was a sign from above that we should leave because nobody listens to us... but i´m sadly used to hearing that now. So anyways, we pressed on and of course, last house, like 3rd to last of the 60 or 80 doors we did, the man let us in and we had a walk in right there. Now he´s not the most golden person, he´s met with the missionaries quite a bit (but most of the people who we find who are willing to listen to us, missionaries before us have already found and taught and dropped, so that´s not un-normal) but we think that there´s a reason we found him, and we are excited. That was kinda my cool story for the week.
Saturday i had to go up to Neu Brandenburg for the leadership training meeting of our district... but it turned out being a lot cooler than i had thought. We were surprised to meet an Area 70 from Italy there, and our very own mission president, that was a surprise. Haha, also president put us in charge of translating the meeting into English for the Seventy and Sister Pimentel. Usually that would fall upon the Senior Comp, but i had a lot more translating experience, so my comp was trying to get me to translate, which i´m not going to lie, i would have been really really really stoked to do. I had been translating every other week in church for a good amount of time in Kiel. But in the end it was just another one of those impressions, your comp should do it. Haha, so basically i made him do it and although it meant the world to him and he actually did a great job. Afterwards as we were joking around about it, he thanked me for making him do that, and said he needed that. And hearing that was actually cooler to me than having the privilege to translate for a seventy. That sounds a bit clíche as a look at that, but it was true. That meeting actually, and the conference as a whole, was big for me. I got to know our branch president a LOT better, overcome my fear of him a bit haha, and i really love him now. He´s so cool. Stills scares me a bit sometimes, but he´s really awesome.
Well i gotta start runnin, so that´s about it this week. We are gonna have to work harder this week and step it up even more... the program didnt move forward enough this week. I´m tired sometimes, and it´s hard to keep going, but hopefully we start picking up some momentum this week!
Love you all so much, and have a great week!
-Elder Ott
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