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
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