December 25, 2011

As for yesterday. After we left the Ks, we went to the D family. They are so funny. I really like them, and their kids, they are hilarious. And they like the missionaries which is good. They were really excited about the presents and we just had fun and played some games with them. They showed us something cool. Apparently, there was a comet in Landshut on the 24th at about 1730 that was huge, and Brother D got a video of it. They told their kids it was Santa's Sleigh and they were so excited. Haha! I think they are one of the few German families who use Santa. Most of them have Das Christkind, or the Christ Child bring the presents.
I forgot to tell you about what we did for a couple families. We were bringing them gifts, which we just got little ball decorations and wrote our names on it and years on it (We thought it would be cool after a lot of years to see how many times the missionaries were there, and who they were etc.) and then for the Ds and the Z's we bought a super ugly little clown statue and made up a big story about how it was a really meaningful tradition past down from our grandparents who wanted us to be happy inspite of the bad things and went on for a bit. And of course, they have to be gracious and say thanks, but think it is super terrible and everything and so it's awkward. And then we would pull out some cookies that we made them and gave them those. It was good.
The past week was good. We had an exchange and I worked with Elder G who goes home this Wednesday, weird.
We are almost out of time as Elder B has to pack and then we are going to the Branch President's house. I will send you a picture of him. He is the German version of Jason. I love him. He is super funny. And just the best kind of person you could meet. Very much like Jason.
As for this next transfer. I am super excited. Elder P! We were together for a week in the MTC, which feels like forever and I am super excited. I don't know what to do as District Leader, I feel a little unprepared for that.

I love you guys a lot. Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

December 19, 2011

This week has been really interesting.

So first I will start with T. Oh T.... We met with him twice this last week, and it is interesting. We are teaching him to read and are now reading through the children's Book of Mormon.

H on the other hand is awesome. I love this man. He is the best thing ever. We met with him twice this week and all of the members come out from the lessons and say to us ''Wow! He has really made a lot of progress. ''

He did get to bring his banjo and play at the branch Christmas Party. I would have taken a video, except he wanted Elder B and I to sing with him so that he wouldn't be all alone up there. It was funny. We sang Stille Nacht and O Tannenbaum. Both of which I don't know. So I got to practice my fake singing a bit. Woohoo! Haha!

He was in Canada once and loved it. He showed me so many pictures about it. Haha! He is so awesome. And funny. He is going to make his date for the 28th I am pretty sure.

The big thing this week was Zone Conference. It was such an amazing experience. I love President Miles so much. And Sister Miles. They are amazing people. He talked about how we need to use the Book of Mormon a lot more. Which is really true.

I can hardly believe transfers are next week. Calls will come on Friday morning so I guess we will find out what will happen then. Exciting!

Also, I did get my packages! I am excited. Thanks so much! I opened the Dear Elder one. The cookies were really good. I am also probably good for Peanut Butter the rest of mission too. Haha! And the Mo Tab Christmas CD is a nice change as well. It doesn't really feel like Christmas at all. We don't have snow or anything... It is weird.

We are going to go to the Christmas Market today. We didn't last week because it was super ugly. So I sent some chocolate home in a package. Sorry that is so lame. Hopefully today I will get a better package. It's hard because there are so many people! Haha!

Not a whole lot else happened this week. Elder B got sick and had 'extreme vertigo' so we didn't really do too much. I have a little bit of a cold, but I am drinking up a storm. Orange Juice of course. So that is helping. I am doing good though.

As for our Christmas plans. We have a meal on Wednesday with H and his sister, apparently she is a good cook too so that is exciting! On Thursday, we have a meal with another less-active who are awesome. And amazing cooks! On Friday we are going to NeuÖtting and are going to an eating appointment with their Ward Mission Leader, NeuÖtting Elders, and Passau Elders and then we are going to sleep over there and have fun.

On Saturday we are going to be with Z's from 4:00 onward. They said ''You will come here and leave when we are bored of you.'' So we will probably be there all day. Which is awesome. Sunday, we have church from 10:00 to 11:30 (We are only having Sacrament and watching the Christmas Devotional). Then we are going to the R Family. (They are awesome. They have little kids Aiden and Dexter's age, the dad reminds me of a German Matt, and they are good cooks too :) The wife cut my hair and we just made bald jokes the whole time. It was awesome....) (It was actually funny though) (Also, everyone is a good cook when you are on a mission.) then after that we are going to the K Family and then we will Skype from their house, and then we will probably go to the D family. Who had Thanksgiving for us. And then on the 26th we will be with the Al's, who feed us every other week. And they are going to make us duck. I have never had duck before. But I am excited.

I am not too sure what traditional Bavarian Christmas meals would be, but I will let you know on Sunday. Haha!

I am excited. Life is good. I love you guys a lot.

Feed the Missionaries!

--

Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

P.S. I am glad to see that Jordan wore the tie I sent him.

6 Months!!

Holy Dyna! I can hardly believe that this has been 6 months already. Time on a mission is weird. There is never enough of it (especially between 10:30 and 6:30) and it goes so fast, but sometimes when I think about being here for another 18 months, I can't imagine it. It is strange...

As for the important things first. I decided I was going to try and take at least one picture a day, and then I can send a couple pictures home every week instead of trying to send a whole bunch home. Good plan eh? One is our car. The Opel Corsa... Look it up. They are probably the worst cars ever made. It can somehow be Automatic and Manual. Obviously I drive Automatic. Hah! But the transmission or something is really bad so it seems like I am just driving Manual for the very first time. Lots of fun.... Haha! It is also really slow, and the dents and stuff on it are not from me. We also have a picture of a sweet one seater truck. They have lots of them here. I don't know what they are for, but apparently it's better for the environment, so obviously in Europe you drive them.

So this week has been super good. Usually, on my mission we would be around 10 lessons a week, a couple times in Landshut, we got to maybe 15 or so, but this week we had 23! It was crazy!! But really good! We were so busy, and it is nice because we found a lot of investigators who live on the one hill in Landshut. And we have a car now! Haha! I am so lazy... But riding a bike is not as fun as I remember. Especially in the winter and the rain. Luckily, we haven't seen any snow yet which is nice.

This week we found a lot of people, so I will tell you a little bit about them. On Monday, we found an awesome guy dooring named C (At least, that is what we think. We are too embarrassed to ask him again...) and he started to tell us that he wasn't interested at all. Then we bore testimony that with the Book of Mormon, we can pray and receive an answer directly from God, and that every single person can do it too. He let us in (which really does not happen in Germany that often. I have had it happen twice my whole mission) and we taught an awesome first lesson. The spirit was so strong there. It was awesome. He told us how he hadn't been religious before, and told his father he didn't believe in God at all, and then after that everything in his life went to pot, his girlfriend left him, he lost a lot of money, his band kicked him out , pretty much the worst things that can happen. Then he bought a Bible, started reading in it and now he felt that God was there again. It was cool. We are really excited about it. He is young and that is what we need in the branch right now. The branch is really close to being a ward (There were 70 people in Church yesterday) and he is a good addition.

On Thursday, we met three awesome investigators, one is S. He lives a little ways away, and is 17 in school. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon a couple of days before that and about how he could find out if it was true and he said he would ask because he had nothing to lose. So on Thursday, we went back and it was awesome! He was like ''I think this is true. I looked at the website that your church has as well, and I really want to go to the temple. I have a list of places I want to see when I turn 18 and the Frankfurt Temple just took the number one spot. What sort of things happen there?'' We were blown away. It was awesome. We also met C on Thursday, we had talked to him about the Book of Mormon and then he told us he didn't believe in God at all but would meet with us to try and convert us. We thought that would be okay, and so we met with him and talked about the Plan of Salvation and about some basic church beliefs, then used the Book of Mormon for the Knock-Out Punch! Haha! By the end he was really excited to read it and to find out if it was true or not. We were able to help him with a couple of his issues and get him to understand that the worst that can happen if he asks God if God is there, is nothing. But he has so much to gain. I think that is something not many people understand about what we do. But we are just trying to help them to find out for themselves. We know that it has helped us, and that it can help them too and if they try and are really sincere, then it can only be good for them.

We also found a sweet old man named E S who is a nice old man and we are helping him to try and find out if God is there.

On Friday we had a pretty awesome experience with a Less-Active member. She had mentioned that she might be getting a new couch and would need help to get it to her apartment, and so we said she could call us and we would come help her. We stopped by again on Friday to see if she had managed it, and then she invited us in. We told her we couldn't because we needed a man to be there, and she said it was okay because her boyfriend was there. We were able to teach him a first lesson and she was able to give great testimony as well. Something that I think helped both of them, Helped him to see that it was important to her, and helped her to remember why she was baptized and what the church meant to her. It was really awesome.

T is still progressing, sort of, to his baptismal date on the 8th. We have been having really good lessons. We got to teach the Law of Chastity, something that is always fun. Luckily, we got to do that in English. I don't know some of the 'fun' words in German, but I probably should learn to avoid awkward situations later on. He came to church and is making a lot of progress. He is also getting better with reading and writing as well. We give him the Children's version of the Book of Mormon soon and then he can read that. Hopefully. I am still a little anxious about him because apparently, he is having some problems with the Word of Wisdom and we don't know how mad the language barrier is, but he is a good guy and really wants to change, so it is hard to judge him.

H is also making a lot of progress too. We met with him a couple times this week. I also got a video of him playing his banjo for us, and he is going to play at the Ward Christmas Party, which is good. I love him. Somehow I forgot to mention this last week, but Brother K in our ward took us shopping the other day. It was insane. Dad would have died. He told us to get 2 karts, then asked like ''What Cereal do you like?'' Uhh... This one. Then he bought like 4 boxes of it, and just ridiculous amounts of food. We haven't had to go shopping since. But it was weird, a lot of the time he was like ''Do you like these?'' ''I don't know. We have never had it.'' ''Well... you should try it.'' Then he would put like 4 boxes of it in there. It was crazy. But we discovered the best thing in the world. They make Cream Cheese mixed with Milka (Just in case the chocolate wasn't fatty enough for you) for breads and stuff. It is sooo good. He bought us almost 300€ in food though. Which is a lot because I use about 15€ a week. It was insane! I love the members here.

We saw a lot of other miracles this week, and things are going much better. Transfers are three days after Christmas, so transfer calls will be the 23rd. Which is crazy. I can hardly believe we have been together for two transfers (half of my mission!).

This week should be good. We have an eating appointment everyday, something fairly unheard of. At least from my experience, and I am excited.

Love you guys a lot!
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

December 5, 2011

Holy Dyna! I can't believe that it is already Monday again. This week has gone by so fast it is incredible!

Anyways, back to Monday. We had Family Home Evening with the W's and some less-active members. Which is always nice. Sister W always makes us some really good food which is really nice. I really love the W's, they had to go home on Thursday, but will be back in one month and hopefully I will be here to see them. Luckily the car is staying, so staying warm isn't too big of an issue. And I get to drive, which is good.

On Tuesday, we had our District Meeting and then we had an exchange so I got to work with an Elder from Hungary. Which is the first time I have worked with someone not from America. He was really funny. And it was interesting. It was good though, I learned a lot about how we can be talking to more people and really using our time well. It was strange though because we had to speak German to each other because he doesn't speak English and my Hungarian is a little rusty. But it was good. Oh German... I think the longer I am here and the more grammar I learn, the more it confuses me and the more I realize I don't know anything. Although, that feeling has just been true with every aspect of my mission. At the beginning I felt like I knew everything that it took to be a good missionary, and that it would be easy. Haha! Oh young, full of hair Elder Thompson... so young and naive... Haha! Now, I think that every day I know less and less about what I am doing, but it is good because it makes me work harder and really depend on the Lord. I think that is probably true for every missionary. I have really learned how much I have to depend on Him, and how blessed I have been in my life.

On Wednesday we had a good day as well. I can't really remember what we did but I don't think anything too special happened. We have really been trying hard to find new people to teach. On Friday we sort of figured it out and had some really cool experiences, but until then we were working a lot with T and H, who have both been making a lot of progress lately and are really progressing towards their baptisms. I guess it wasn't Wednesday that we set it, but since I am writing the e-mail, I can tell you now, but they both have baptismal dates. T is on January 8th, which is good. I think he will be able to make that for sure. H is on the 28th of January. Which seems like a long time away, but we wanted to be sure that the W's would be there for his baptism, and since he has been an investigator for so long and has had so many previous baptismal dates it needed to be his goal. We taught him a really good lesson where he told us that someone has to be baptized to get to heaven, and he wants to go to heaven, so we basically just connected the dots for him. He set this for his goal and is working to reach it, which is really awesome. It is exciting!

Anyways, on Thursday, was the sad day where we had to drop the W's off at the Airport with President and Sister Miles, and then we had a meeting with some other missionaries in the Zone (Not Zone Conference) in Munich. It was sad, but they will be back in a month so not too sad. They are sad to leave, but a little happy to be home for the Christmas break with their kids and grandkids, and then be able to come again to the mission. Not too much else happened out of the ordinary.

We have key indicators, or our number that we report every day and we decided that we are going to get one of each (One lesson, one joint teach, one less active, one referral) a day. We talked a little bit about how dooring wasn't going really well and it was hard because we weren't really seeing a lot of success and then we made our plan for the evening. We drove (that is the keyword) drove to the top of a hill because we figured we might as well be using the car while we have it, and the first lady that we spoke to started to cry and talked about how she was really having a lot of problems in her life lately, and thought that the Book of Mormon could help her. Then she told us we reminded her of the Mormon's, and how she had met with them and really liked them, and when we told her that we were the Mormon's she was pleasantly surprised. It was fun. She is also like 65, and then when she talked to us out of nowhere grabbed my hand and started holding it (I had gloves on so I couldn't feel her wrinkly hands, but it was still weird) and then said ''You guys are so sweet'' and then rubbed my face with the back of her hand. Like you do to a baby. Or small kid. (Un)fortunately, I may have forgotten to shave that day (It doesn't really make that big of a difference yet. 1 Day or 2. Meh..) but it was not quite as smooth and she made a weird face... Haha! It was funny. But she is really prepared and just what we needed to get through the day.

Saturday and Sunday we had a lot of other really good people who were really open. We are really trying to help people understand that it doesn't hurt to ask God about the Book of Mormon, and the worst he can say is that it isn't true, but the best is that you have found the Word of God. That probably isn't explained very well, but it seems to make sense to these people which is all the matters.

I love you guys a lot! Thanks for all that you do for me!
--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

November 28, 2011

Hey Family! Hopefully this letter will be a little better as we get a normal P-Day! Haha! Elder W is out of the hospital and is doing fine. They are not sure if they are going to have to go home or not though. On Sunday, with President Miles, they thought they would have to go home for thirty to sixty days, but about three or four days ago, they got a call from President Miles and he said that the Doctors in Salt Lake wanted to look over his tests and make sure he needed to come home, and if he didn't need to, then they would just finish their mission and then go home to have the tests. They are hoping that this evening they will figure out (it was Thanksgiving Weekend, so nobody was working in America) and then decide what to do. It is nerve wracking for me, so I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through, but whatever happens will be for the best. If they do go home, there is a chance we may get to keep the car, which would be AMAZING! We got it all last week, and it was much nicer than riding a bike. I don't think I have ever been so cold at home, but then I realize that at home if it was cold, the last thing I would do is be outside, let alone ride a bike around. But, such is missionary life. Speaking of missionaries, when to J and J come home? It has got to be pretty soon doesn't it? And are they on a proselyting mission or just a humanitarian one? Either way that is cool. And waiting 13 years to go when you are 65 is okay. As long as you actually do it! Maybe you and Ben could go to the same mission? That would be fun eh?

So this week has been slightly less busy, but always busy. It is strange. We started off on Tuesday by having exchanges, and I worked with Elder B, from New York State. It was really good. We also picked the W's up and brought them back to their house. I couldn't believe that he was out of the hospital the day after he got his Pacemaker, but his opinion was ''I can be sick and lay around there in a German hospital where they feed me gross food, or be sick and lay around at home where my wife makes me good food.'' I like his thought process. Haha!

We also met with T again.

On Wednesday, we met with H. Who is awesome. Did I mention that he is the greatest German War Veteran American Country/Folk Singer of all time? Because it is very true. He is hilarious. We have him phone us every night to tell us what he has been reading, and the other night he just called and sang us some Christmas Songs, then told us about 3rd Nephi. It was awesome.

On Saturday things were really good. A member family made us Thanksgiving dinner (We actually went over there again on Sunday because she wanted us to have the real experience and eat the leftovers, except she made all new potatoes and everything except for the turkey.) Which was good. They have 3 young kids and then us and the W's went there so 9 of us. And they had a 8.5 kg turkey. Which is insane! Especially because in Germany (and I would assume all of Europe maybe?) they do not really prepare the turkey at all. As in, the neck was still on it (Sister W got a picture of it luckily that I will try and get and send home. It was nasty) and the heart and all the organs were inside. It was nice. Haha! But tasted delicious! There family is awesome. I really like them a lot.

On Sunday we had a Primary Presentation. Which was awesome. Exactly like at home too. There was a boy like J H who just made stupid faces in the back the whole time, kids fighting, funny testimonies from kids. Everything. It was awesome. I was really good and made things feel like home a lot more. Elder B somehow fell asleep in it, but it was so funny. I really like the branch here a lot!

We have been really busy trying to find new people to teach and haven't had too much success, but saw one thing that I think is crazy!

So we had an appointment at 26 S but we told our Joint Teach it was at 22 S so we were waiting there for him to come and thought, 'Well, why don't we just door in this building anyways while we wait'. So we went in and talked to this guy about the Book of Mormon and he was like 'Wait, I already have one of these' and then he went inside and got his out. It was like from the 60's and had a testimony in it. He had just assumed that it was the Author's signature and had bought it in case it would be worth some money later on, but never really read too much. He had read a little bit and was interested, but not enough to phone us or anything. So we made an appointment with him and I am really excited. What are the chances of something like that happening? It was a really cool thing to see.

Well, I better go soon. Weihnachtsmarkts are waiting! (Christmas Markets!) I love you guys a lot.

Sincerely, Elder Connor J. Thompson

This has been the craziest week!

Hello there!

First of all, with the Woods. So Elder and Sister W were shopping on Saturday and he collapsed in the middle of the grocery store, and they took him to the hospital to have an Angiogram because there was something wrong with his EKG, (maybe that is the test? Something with some letters in it). Anyways, they took a couple tests and then we waited at the hospital with Sister W for a good bit, and then we went to pick up their car and then we took care of her and dropped her off and made sure she was doing okay. Elder W was even fine when we saw him the hospital. He was giving Pass-Along Cards to all of the nurses and making jokes and every time they would bring him a meal (which in German Hospitals is bread and ham and a couple vegetables) he would be like, Where is the Steak? Haha! He's such a great guy. We have been with them a lot this weekend. On Sunday when we were there they got some of the test results back and they realzed that it would be best to put a pacemaker in, and they would do that Monday morning. We weren't sure what time it would be at and so on Monday morning we phoned them, and then they said "Well, we are about to go in to surgery pretty soon" We raced over as fast as we could, we had prayed that all of the lights would be green and that we would be able to get there as fast as possible (safely of course. I still drive like an Old Man). And all of the lights were green, it was a great blessing. When we got there, he wasn't there and Sister W was sitting there and said that they had taken him about 5 minutes ago, so we were too late. We waited there with her for about 5 minutes and then he came back because they had just done some of the tests, and then he had to change into his "robe". They said he had 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and change. In that time, we gave him a blessing and right as we finished, the nurses came in. What a blessing that we were able to give him that blessing before and that there was a way that we were able to help him. While we waited with Sister W, we just tried to keep her mind off of things and keep her busy. We talked for a good while, and I learned about how amazing the W's are. She said that the more that she thought about it, the more thankful she was that it happened when it did and it was such a blessing because if it had been about 20 minutes later, they would have been on the highway, and if he would have been unconscious while driving it probably would not have been as good. I was blown away by how grateful she was for that, and how she was able to look on the bright side of things like that. I probably would be too stressed to even worry about anything like that. .

So Monday was a good day, we had a lot of fun in Passau with the other missionaries. Then after that, we had an Family Home Evening with the W's and some investigators, it was a lot of fun!

On Tuesday, we had an appointment with T, our baptismal candidate, and we taught the Word of Wisdom, apparently that is the worst lesson for investigators, but he was fine with it. We talked about it, and he has been doing good with it since. So almost a week, which is really good! After that we had an appointment with H. Did I tell you how much I love this man? He is the funniest person. Probably the coolest German War-Veteran American Country Singer that the world has ever met. When I got here he was so different. He had been investigating the church for about 4 years or so, and didn't really do too much, but loved the missionaries. He would always play his banjo and everything for them, and so teaching really took a backseat, he hasn't played his banjo once since I have been here, and it is really showing. He has overcome a lot of the problems that he had before, he has been coming to church pretty much every week (I think he has missed two weeks since I have been here) and has been reading in his scriptures every day. We are hoping that we can get him baptized soon because he is really ready. He adores the W's and today he and his less-active Sister are going to go visit them. He always calls them Mister and Misses W's and is just soo funny. He almost fell over when he found out that Mister W's was in the hospital.

On Wednesday we went to Freising to teach a former investigator and then we taught the Young Men and Young Women about missionary work. It was interesting to see their ideas on Missionaries because none of them have had siblings or parents that have been on missions. It was fun. I really love the ward here.

On Thursday we met some really good people and then had a wonderful eating appointment with a member. When they feed the missionaries here, they feed them. It is really good. And I blame my fatness on them. Haha! Riding bikes is never fun though (one reason the car is even nicer. And we might get to keep it when the W's are gone! Hopefully!)

On Friday, we also had an eating appointment, I think we had about 3 this week which is good and we will have at least three this next week. One member who lived in America for a year is making us Thanksgiving on Saturday and we are going to be with them a lot, which is good. And I think she might even make Sweet Potatoes! mmmm.....

Anyways, I am out of time. I am safe and well, and as long as I drive and not Elder B, it should remain that way. Haha! It's not that bad actually. Well... yeah it is.

Anyways. I love you guys a lot. Thanks for all the letters this week (0). Haha! It's okay though. I love you a lot. I pray for you every day. Be safe, help the missionaries, and feed them. They will appreciate it, and I could use some good karma right about now.

Greetings from Landshut, for another 6 weeks

Hey! So in case the title was too vague, I am staying here in Landshut with Elder B. We are going to have to work hard this transfer. It is strange, because this is the first time for both of us that nothing is changing in a transfer. I have no idea what it will be like, but hopefully good.
This week has been crazy busy! And I only have like 15 more minutes. We are going to Passau today because it was Elder C's birthday and we are going to surprise him. I am excited. I have no idea what we will do there, but with 6 missionaries (2 from Landshut, 2 from Passau, 2 from NeuÖtting (Where the Pope is from. Weird....)) we will probably be able to figure something out.
We have really been working with our investigator T this week who has a baptismal date. We are working hard on keeping things simple for him. Which is good. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that talks about how we don't need to teach so simple that people understand, but we need to teach to simply that people cannot misunderstand. Which is something that I think a lot of Mormon's, especially those of us who grew up in the gospel have problems with. We just grew up with all of these words and things, but if a Kurdish person from Iran, doesn't really have the same background. I don't know if I told you about T or not. But he is a really good guy. Such a sad story.
Another highlight of this week was that we got to watch the Sunday Afternoon Session of Conference. It was sooo good. I LOVED Elder Cook's talk. I think about 15 people a day ask us how if there is a God, how can children be starving in Africa. So that is a really good talk for that. And so many investigators have that question. It was a really good answer to many prayers not knowing what to do. It was also good to have a couple talks about missionary work, and the one about teaching was fantastic. I really, really liked that talk. I actually liked them all. I am excited that I get three more Conferences as a missionary. Which is weird to measure time with those, but it works. I am about 1/4 done. And time has gone by sooooo soooo fast. I can't hardly believe it.
This week was good because we did a lot of exchanges, I got to work with the two new missionaries in our district (they have been out here for 6 weeks) and it was very interesting to see. It made me feel old on my mission, which I shouldn't. I have only been here for 3 transfers, and people usually have about 15 or so. So, I still have a lot of time. And it's only going to get faster. I really learned a lot from them, about what a missionary should be doing. That sounds weird, but you know how kids say the darndest things? New missionaries are the same. They know what a good missionary does, and they try to do it. They haven't been out long enough to be lazy or other things like that, so it is exciting to see, and helped me to really rethink my mission.
I hope that you guys are having fun at home and doing well. I got all of my letters from Innsbruck the other day and it was weird. I got a letter from Grandma Pat, telling me about the family reunion that was taking place the same day I got it. It was fun. I am glad that the Michi's are doing well. Did I ever tell you that I saw some Mischi's while dooring? Is that what Grandpa's name used to be before he changed it? I feel like something like that happened. Who knows.
I heard about the missionaries in Texas, that is really sad, and makes us ride safer. We don't cut corners, go single file, and don't go on the busy roads if we can help it. I guess they were needed for another mission though? You probably won't let me extend my mission now though eh?
Sorry this letter is so short, today is crazy because we are taking the train about 2 hours. So we have to leave early. I love you guys a lot. I know this church is true. The more I study it, the more I love it.
I love you a lot. Thanks for the support and love!


Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

November 7, 2011

Hello Family! It is letter time again! I hope that things are going really well for you. Things here have been interesting this week. They have been difficult, but they have really been good for learning. Hah! I can't believe that I have been in Landshut 5 weeks already. It is insane how fast time goes. Spencer has just hit his year mark hasn't he? Or is it in a couple more weeks. Either way. That boggles my mind. That he will be back in a year. I can't imagine what things will be like in a year though. It's weird. I think every missionary always thinks of what things will be like on their mission a tiny bit, but what it will be like to be a return mission, a lot of the time. It's weird.
I have sooo many questions for the missionaries at home when I get back. I can only imagine what a supper appointment every day would be like. Actually, we had three this week, which is really good! Actually, in Landshut 3 a week is about the average, except C, who just got baptized and fed us once a week for the past couple weeks is moving away, so that is no good, but the Branch is warming up to the missionaries, so that is good. I think it will only get better. I hope!
On Tuesday, we went on an exchange. Well, Elder B went to Munich to work with one of the Zone Leader's, and I worked with the other one here in Landshut. I am proud to say that after 5 weeks here, I only got lost once, and that was in Ergolding, the little town where the church is, and that is because I had only been there once. Tuesday was an interesting day to say the least. We had about 6 appointments that seemed pretty solid, but all of them except for one fell out. Which is really hard. Especially when it is a little chilly and you have to ride your bike all over. Finally one appointment went through with T. It was a really good lesson, and we taught him the 2nd Lesson (Plan of Salvation) He really liked it, and asked a lot of good questions. It was amazing when he asked if drinking beer was okay, and we said ''What do you think'', he told us he didn't think so because when he thought about Jesus Christ, he didn't want to drink beer, and he didn't want to fight or do bad things, and Jesus Christ was a big example for him. We were like ''Yes! That is true!'' It was the best answer ever. It is always nice when investigators figure things our by themselves. That is really what missionary work is. We are there to help them understand things, but they have to want the change, and they have to make the change themselves.
On Wednesday, we did a service project. Which missionaries love!!! At least in our mission. If we have anything the missionaries can do (other than shovel, that one is no fun) than we should get them to help, or with less-active families. We went by on a less-active lady on Tuesday and she mentioned that she wanted to paint her entry way so we offered to come back and help. It was really good. She has three unbaptized children, so we are hoping to work with the branch and help them a lot more to become active again. After that, we had an appointment with C, who was baptized on Sunday. She made us Pfannkuche Suppe (Pancake Soup) which was delicious. I LOVE food here. And the food isn't too bad. It's the milk (The lowest fat we can find is 1.5%) and all the candy, and yogurt (I saw one that was 200g of yogurt and it had 10% of my daily intake of fat and carbohydrates. That will take you up some weight classes!). After that we helped teach an English Class to an investigator, E.
On Thursday, we did our studies and everything and went out to our bikes to go for the day, and Elder B's bike was missing! It was a little unfortunate. I don't know why, but I thought it was really funny. I think I was still a little tired. They left his lock, one of the combination ones, and his helmet in a nice little pile where his bike used to be, so it was nice that he didn't have to buy a new helmet. We are pretty sure that they figured out his combo because it is a pretty old lock, so we got a new one, and on Friday we got him a nice new bike. Did I tell you about my bike. I named it ''The Purple Bandit'' It is a nice mixture of pink at the front that turns to a dark, majestic purple in the back. It is really elegant. Elder B also has a purple bike now instead of the ''Blue Devil (something from sports in North Carolina? I think the joke was lost on me as soon as it was about basketball). Anyways, since we were bike-less on Thursday, we had a little bit of a harder time getting around, but we made the best of it. One thing that I have really learned is that there is no use crying over spilt milk, I guess in our case, no case crying about your companion's lost bike. Haha! And if we laugh about it, things are much easier. One cool appointment we had on Thursday was with R, a less-active member who works in a comic book shop. It was weird to see all of that nerdy stuff in German, but funny. She was really funny, and not your typical German, she was super funny and awesome. I really like her. I want to help a lot of the less-active people here because there are TONS of them! It is insane how many there are, and I think that is just as important as baptisms. Maybe moreso because they already made the covenants and so they need to keep them.
Friday was a good day too. We got a new bike, as stated before. And, Elder B only ran into one thing with it. I thought I was bad with bikes. Haha! I think it was something a little smaller like a mail-box, so that is good! Last time, it was a car. With someone sitting in it. Strangely, he wasn't too happy about it. Germans are very serious about their cars. Very, serious! We had an appointment with an older man who had the thickest accent I have ever heard. A Bavarian accent, is... nice. Haha! I will leave it at that because I need to learn to love it, but pretty much with Swiss German, which is terrible, and then Wien accent, which I have heard is a little ugly too, to Bavarian, and Tirolisch and others it is interesting to say the lease! But it was good. We were going to teach him the non smoking workshop, but the lady he was going to do it with stood him up, so we just taught him, which is fine by me. After in the evening we had another good appointment with T.
Saturday was interesting as well. We had an appointment with Herr F, who is awesome. He is just an awesome old man. We also did a service project for C and helped her pack and dejunk her apartment. It was weird to wear Jeans and do things not missionary like. But nice. Haha! I don't know if it is bad of me to enjoy not wearing dress pants, but sometimes a pair of jeans is just nice. She made us Maltaschen. Which are hilarious. Maybe I told you the story of them. I don't know. But it was invented by these monks who weren't allowed to eat pork. So they would sneakily kill pigs, and then put it inside of these noodles so that God couldn't see (noodles are impervious?) and then they would sneakily eat the pork. Either way. It is delicious! She made us some homemade and it was so good.
Sunday was a good day. We went to a family's house after church and it was really good. She lived in Utah for a year, and they are not typical European people so their house was nice and a little bit like Matt and Kari's, design wise. It was really nice. They made us some homemade lasagna, and crepes. It was really good and they were super fun. I love the members here.
On Sunday there was a baptism from the branch in NeuÖtting, which is awesome! The Pope comes from about 5 minutes away, and it is the first one that they had in over 12 years! Which is awesome! Unfortunately, we weren't able to go to it, but it is a miracle. The work in our mission is really moving forward. Slowly, and surely. I am so excited to be here for it too.

Things are going good though. Transfer calls are on Friday, which is pretty crazy! So it will be interesting to see what happens. Thanks for everything that you guys do for me. I love you a lot!

Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

Happy Halloween

So this week has been really good!
It seems like Christmas will be so far away, but when I think about how I have been here since July it doesn't seem that far away. I am not going to lie. I am not excited for when it gets cold and snowy. We are in a bike area, and I am not so good on my bike. I have only ran into someone once though, and it is because they pulled a Saskatchewan Left (Is that even a thing? Either way, he pulled way to the right and then turned left so I tried to go by him and then ran into him. Luckily everyone was fine. We stayed on the bike, and they probably thought I was a J-Dub, so no harm, no fowl. Haha!) Elder B has hit two people I think. Once he slammed on the brakes to avoid a parked car, and then his bike flipped around a hit some lady behind him. So comparatively, I am not doing too bad. Haha! Luckily, it hasn't snowed yet. It's a little nippy some days, but we got some cheap ear muffs and gloves and scarves
Anyways, on Tuesday we met with C, the lady who got baptized on Sunday and our GML (Ward Mission Leader (Gemeinde Missions Leiter)) was there too. She made us some Roladen, Roladin, Rolladun, I don't know how to spell it, but it was a pickle, wrapped in some meat, wrapped in onions, wrapped in bacon, wrapped in meat. I love Germany! Haha! It was so good, but they feed us soo much here! I think the missionaries before were huge or something because when they dish us, we get like 3 times more than I can eat, and then I muscle it down, and then they serve the main course. It is crazy! But good, nonetheless. It was really good. There was some concern because she hadn't been to church in over a month, but the GML said that if she made all that fancy food for us, he called in Sunday food, then she was probably sincere. So that was good.
Then on Wednesday we met with her again at a members house and got another eating appointment. With Kurbiss Soup (That means Pumpkin!) It was delicious. I would say 9 out of 10 eating appointments gives us Kurbiss Soup. I love it! Then a bunch of vegetables. The husband, is a very Bavarian man with a thick accent, but he is super funny. I love the Branch here. We taught about the Prophets and then ate a bunch more and then went home on our bikes.
On Thursday, the Zone Leaders came to do interviews and it was really good. I really like them.
On Saturday, we also had an amazing day. I think every single person that we went by on, whether they were inactive or former investigator was there and we were able to teach, or we were able to set up a return appointment with them. It was awesome. Plus I had a cool experience with my bike chain. We were riding our bikes to see an investigator who had a baptismal date, but we haven't been able to contact for almost a month. Somehow, my bike chain fell off and got stuck in something else in the bike (I don't really know a lot about bikes. Just pedal and go!) and wouldn't get out. It took about 10 minutes of wiggling and adjusting things, and then it just popped out without me doing anything. We kept on riding to our investigators house and knocked and waited about 2 minutes and then he walked into the apartment. We were able to teach him right then and there which was amazing since we hadn't seen him for such a long time. Looking back on it, I realize that my bike chain fell off for a reason. If we didn't get there ten minutes later, then we would not have seen him at all, however we were able to teach him and set up another appointment with him because it fell off. It was cool to look back on and see that. I know that sounds dumb, but it was awesome.
Sunday was a busy day. It was nice because we got an extra hour of sleep, which was the best hour of my mission. Haha! We went to church and I had to give a talk. It was bad... It was really bad. Remember how bad I am at giving talks in English? Strangely, it was no better in German. Haha! I went up and started, and then realized that I forgot my scriptures so I had to use the Branch Presidents, and then I turned super read and just talked really fast with my terrible German and it was awful. Luckily, everyone was really nice and they still told me it was really good for only being here 3 months (MTC German doesn't really count...). After Church we went to a members house and they are awesome. The Dad reminds me quite a bit of dad. We ate sooo much delicious food with them too, and then we played Nertz (Sadly, I did terrible. Did not make mom proud.) And then went to the baptism. It was so good. I sang a song (Come Thou Fount, of course. Haha!) And it went really well. Plus, after that someone invited us over for supper, and now all of the primary kids think I am the bomb because I can sing English music and I can play the piano. Now the cool thing for them to do is to take the missionary name tags and pretend to be missionaries. It is funny. The branch is slowly, but surely warming up to us, which is really good. I want to be one of the missionaries that people remember.
That was a big part of our week. We also got one of our investigators, T, to get a baptismal date! Which is awesome! He lives in the Azulheim (Refugee Camp place) and is from Iraq, but he is pretty solid. We are working with him and hopefully will be able to help him a lot.
The week has been really good. We have been working really hard. And I come back and am exhausted, but I would much rather work hard than not at all. I realized that when I am unhappy I just need to work harder.
How is everyone doing at home? I miss Primary Presentations, but I think our Branch's is in two weeks or so which is really exciting! Haha! It is so strange to hear the Primary songs in German, but funny. I honestly, LOVE the branch here. They are so good.
Glad to hear that everyone is doing good. Hope that everyone is doing good. I love you a lot! Thanks for everything!



Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

October 24, 2011

As for this week. It has been really good. On Tuesday we had an exchange (Elder B is the District Leader and has to work with all of the Elders in our District once a transfer (There are four other ones) and with the Zone Leaders once a transfer so I, as the District Frau (Like the Mission President's wife) get to go on exchanges too. Which is awesome. That is the only perk to being district leader, but there are cons. This way I only get the perks. Yay!!) so I went to Neuötting. Which is where the Pope is from. Everybody is super Catholic there. It was interesting. The main square in the town has 5 chapels, and a cathedral, and they are huge. It is pretty though, but very Catholic. It is always interesting going on exchanges because you always realize how much you like your area. I love Landshut! Hah!
On Wednesday, we had interviews so we all went to Munich for that. It was really good. I can't believe that I have been our for 4 months. It is ridiculous! Time goes so fast at times, and then soooooooo slowly at other times. But it was really good. I love President and Sister Miles. They are such good people. It's funny because it seems like everytime he talks, he uses a quote from Elder Nelson, Sister Miles' father. I laugh a lot about it, but that is because I am a nerd. I don't even know what is funny about it, but it is funny to me. Haha! The rest of us, while we were waiting for our interviews had a meeting and talked a lot about helping people make and keep baptismal commitments, something that every missionary can improve on. Which is good because out of nowhere an investigator just texted us that evening and said she wanted to move her baptism up a month. Which is normally really good. The problem is that she hasn't been to church in over a month, hadn't met with the missionaries in over a month. We had a couple funny appointments with some investigators. Our first one was with a solid lady that Elder B and another Elder met while on exchanges. He was sure that she wasn't just in it for the handouts, but we went to her house, which was awful. It was a building that stopped renovations halfway through and just left all the stuff there. She had asked them for a couch (WHAT THE HECK?!?) and seemed really sad when we didn't bring her a couch. Weird.... Then we went to her and we couldn't meet with her because we didn't have a Joint Teach, so we taught her on the doorstep, but she couldn't stay to long because all the heat was getting out of her house, and she doesn't have a furnace or a heater.... She also asked us to bring her leftovers every once in a while. It was weird. Needless to say, she was not quite as solid as he thought. As we left we shook her hands and they were ice cold, so I gave her my mitts. They were only 1€! There is my good deed for the day! Haha!
On Saturday we had a Kurbissfest with the branch. If your German is a little rusty, that is Pumpkinfest! Yippee!! Haha! It was actually really good. The whole branch got involved and brought pumpkin food. The most surprisingly part is that they hate pumpkin pie. But it was fun. They divided the branch up into teams and we played some games, and then we ate. It was really fun. The best part was that the losing teams had to dress up like old farmers (if they were women) and old ladies (if they were men). It was hilarious! I think it's against the rules, but was so funny! Luckily, I was on a winning team so I didn't have to do it. But Elder W was not so lucky. Haha! And they went all out with make-up and everything. It was soo funny! Of course, I forgot my camera, but I will try to get some pictures of it from a member. The branch here is so good. I love them a lot.

Things are going good though. Glad that all is going good at home. Tell everyone thanks for the letters. I got one from Julie the other day. It was quite a surprise, but was nice. It had a nice picture from Coleman too. My first piece of children's artwork! Hopefully not my last!
I love you a lot, and would miss you if I had enough time. But as soon as I start to get homesick I start to work harder. It's much easier that way. Love you a lot!

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

October 17, 2011

This week has been really good. We found 5 new investigators (2 of them also dropped us this week, for various reasons) but things are doing good. I am way more busy here than in Innsbruck, and because of that, and riding a bike all around town at the end of the day I am just exhausted and go to bed so nicely. Which is good. It is always a nice feeling of coming home after working hard and then just being exhausted. This is very different from my previous attitude of it's nice to stay home all day and then go to bed after not working at all, and being exhausted because Jordan, Spencer and I were playing games until too late. Ha! Oh the Glory Days...

So the first investigator that we found was Herr B. Herr B was a former investigator who is a 7th Day Adventist. I don't know how much you know about their beliefs, but their know their Bible inside and out, and are very strict. They are also good investigators because they always keep their commitments and always read in the Book of Mormon, and they can always come to church on Sunday because they aren't busy! We just can't meet with them on Saturdays though. Haha!

The second investigator we found was Frau H. Who is AWESOME!! She is younger and has a little daughter who turns four in November. We met with her once, but since we didn't have a joint teach, we taught her in her doorway, gave her a Book of Mormon, and then gave her Moroni 10 to read. We came back in a couple days with Elder W (Who is awesome too!) and taught her sort of an introduction question and tried to answer her biggest question about 'why bad things would happen in the world when there is a God?' Which is a good question. And it is hard to answer, but at the same time, not too hard to answer. But impossible without the Spirit. We were able to talk about that and our agency, and how people many times have to suffer because of how others use their agency, and that doesn't make God happy. But, God is just and will judge people according to how they use their agency, and while things now are bad, they will be right after this life. Which is hard to accept for many people, but she was so prepared, and we felt the Spirit so strongly, I think she understood what we meant, and agrees. She is really prepared, and has so much potential. And is what the branch here needs. They need some young blood in the branch! But she is awesome!
The third investigator that we found was E. She is the coolest lady I have ever met. Unfortunately, she also dropped us, but not by her own choice.
Our fourth investigator was T. T is also awesome. Haha! I say that about everyone, but T really is awesome. He is in the Refugee home and is from Iraq. He fled Iraq to Germany when he was like 15, and then lived in England for about 10 years, and was married and had a little girl. Somehow he got deported back to Germany from England, and so now he is stuck here. He told us how things were missing, and how before he would have wanted nothing to do with the Gospel, but he needs to turn his life around and straighten his act up. He is really cool.
Our last investigator is S. He is from Poland, and seems really cool. He has a wife and young family as well, and it would be so good to teach him. We only got to meet with him once, but he has so much potential. I am really excited.
The rest of the week has been really busy, tracking down former investigators, and working hard. Elder B has only been out one transfer longer than I have, and so we both have realized that we have to work hard and be 100% obedient because otherwise there is no way that we will be able to do anything. I think that we have really seen the blessings from it.
Things have been going really well. I don't have too much time anymore, but I love you guys a lot. We had Stake Conference, which was a strange experience. Because they don't have Stake Centers over here like they do in Canada, they rented out a big theatre. Like, the Esplanade theatre and had Stake Conference there. It was very different, but very good. I am always amazed to see the Saints here. I had no idea how easy it was to be a Mormon, until I met these people. It is not easy here. But they are so strong. I love it.
Germany is for sure different from Austria. I think it is sort of like America and Canada. But the people are good here. I hope you guys are doing good. Say hi to everyone for me. I love you guys a lot!


Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson