Remember the Time we Had to Walk Through a Nazi Demonstration to Get to Stake Conference? Yeah... That Happened....‏

First of all. Don't worry about the title. The Nazi's weren't there yet. The Anti-Nazi protest had begun, so we had to walk to Landshut Bahnhof (Train station) through all of them because that is the only way there. But that was on Saturday, so we will get there later. Haha!

Anyways, what happened this week... Where to begin. It semes like it went so fast, it seems like last week was about 2 days.

So on Monday, we didn't do too much special, we went to Family Home Evening with some members and the Ws and it was good. We are trying to learn the Articles of Faith in German. I can hardly do it in English, but I got the first one and almost the second. Haha! The Scripture Scouts sons don't work so well now. But it is ,,Wir glauben an Gott den Ewigen Vater, und an seinen Sohn Jesus Christus und an den Heilgen Geist.'' Not to shabby eh? I am just going to not worry about number 13 for a while. Haha!

On Tuesday, we had District Meeting and I went to Neuötting with Elder H. It was pretty good. He's a fun guy. It was also Fasching on Tuesday. While we were on the trains in the cities we saw a lot of parades and stuff. Apparently it is like Carnival in Brazil, that somehow got here to Germany? Anyways, it was a little crazy.

On Wednesday, we came back to Landshut and met with R and O. We also had activity night, but because it was a holiday nobody was there, but we ended up practicing for a song that I was singing in Stake Conference. Not just me, Me, President A, and two Sisters from the ward. It was from the old Hymnbook called ''Scheint so lang dir der Weg'' Which translates like ''Does the way look very long'' Or something like that. It was written by Joseph Fielding Smith, so fairly old.

On Thursday we were with members a lot and had two eating appointments. One with the A's, who fed us Schweinebraten (Roast pig essential) with Knudel, the mashed up bread soaked in eggs and the cooked. After that we tried to see R, but she wasn't there, and then we went to the D families, and they had Dr. Pepper for us. Which is awesome. Their kids are funny. And Brother D has a son who is living in Cardston who may go to U of L? That would be weird to meet him. Haha! We did some contacting and didn't really find anyone at all, but still good nonetheless.

On Friday we had weekly planning. We went contacting, but again nothing happened. But we are doing better and trying our best which is the most important thing. I am feeling really good about this week. And I think I have said that for about the past 4 weeks and nothing seems to change, but at least I still have faith right?
On Saturday we did some contacting, and then had to head into Munich so I could sing at Stake Conference. It's less than an hour away, so not a huge problem. Anyways, Saturday was crazy because there was going to be a Nazi Demonstration at 1300. The day before there were adds everywhere for people who are Anti-Nazi, we later found out quite a few were Communists, and then some were just good people. We saw some children there which made me a little uneasy because it was crawling with Riot Police. Anyways, they sent out tons of fliers and everything and were like ''We are starting the Anti Nazi Demonstration at 1100 so that they don't have any room to protest!'' Which seems a little interesting because it seems like conflicts would be likely there. But with over 300 Riot Police (no joke!) I guess not too many problems will happen. Hopefully. All the streets in the area were blocked off and so we were walking there and asked the Policemen if we could go, and they just looked at us like we were idiots...

Then they realized we were dead serious and were like ''Of course you can go it looks safe doesn't it?'' ''We were just like, yeah...?'' And then we just went. It was weird the whole time. But then we found this nice elderly couple who were like, ''It's fine! We're going to Bahnhof too.'' So we just walked with them. Haha! It was interesting. When we were at Stake Conference they talked a lot about having happiness with the work and being happy that we can serve, and happy with the gospel.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference which was really good. It was a broadcast for all the German Speaking countries and we had Elder Bruce D. Porter (Who spoke in German), Sister Jean A. Stevens from the Primary Presidency, Elder Russell M. Nelson, Who blew a kiss to President and Sister Miles, haha!, and President Henry B. Eyring. It was a really good conference! I loved it. The best part was that H came!

That was our week. This week is going to be busy, but good. Which seems like a common thing on a mission. I love you guys a lot!
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

This week in the land of Shut

Dearest Family,

Is it already Reading Week? Where does time go? It is weird being here because we don't really have any similar holidays. I However, this week it was Fasching. But if you asked me to describe that, I really couldn't tell you the first thing. I know that the kids dress up and go around town, and I think they will this Tuesday or something.. Anyways, it is some tradition to scare/chase Winter away and then welcome spring. Which would be very welcome. Hah! On Wednesday or Thursday, it was apparently Fasching, but only for the women, so they are allowed to do anything to the men. Someone told us that if a woman wanted to, they could just kiss a man for no reason. Elder P made sure we were out contacting as much as possible that day. Haha! It apparently is also allowed for women to come up to men and then just chop their ties. That didn't happen either, but it would have been cool if it did eh? Next year! Haha!

As for Italy now being in our mission. It is really cool. The province, Sud Tirol (South Tyrol) used to be in Austria, but after WWII it was given to Italy. There were members in Innsbruck who would make the 3 hour drive every other week and come to church because they speak German. Not Italian. There were tons of inactive members there who said that as soon as there was a German Branch then they would go to church again, so apparently that is happening. I would LOVE to go there. But I probably won't. But I think it is cool that now there are 5 countries in our mission. As for who gets to go there, I have no idea. I know there are some missionaries who speak really good German and English so they are probably fine to learn Italian (German Missionaries for example)

As for Visa's. I actually have an Austrian Visa, and a German Visa. They don't stamp them in your passports now, instead they give you sort of a Driver's License card thing which is interesting. I don't have any difficulties with Visa's. But it is different in different countries obviously. Germany being the easiest, then Austria, then Switzerland (it is apparently bad there for Americans, so they have tons of EU Member missionaries there (England, Germany, France, etc) but I don't think as bad for Canadians. Who doesn't love us?) I know that in Austria, some missionaries have had troubles with Visas, Elder H told me it took him about 3 hours and tons more paperwork to get a Visa. Mine took about 5 minutes, and they only had to look at my Passport, and a letter that the church gives all the missionaries. No Birth Certificate or anything. So maybe that will mean something. But who knows? I also am apparently, not the only Canadian in the mission anymore. There is an Elder Steed from Raymond Hah! He is in a Swiss Stake, but in Germany (The Stake Boundaries don't always follow Country Borders) I think. But I don't know for sure. Just thought that was interesting.

Anyways. Not a whole lot happened this week. Unfortunately. We spent a ton of time dooring, and still haven't found a single investigator. It is really tough. I am really hoping that the blessings will be greater because the trial of our faith has been greater. I think it will be.

The only investigator we met with was H.

Things are tough. But we are doing good. I feel like I am still improving a lot and learning so many things. We have had a lot of funny ways of being rejected. I think my favourite would be when we told this guy we were talking about happiness and how we can get more of it. And in the most monotone voice he replies 'I already have so much happiness I don't know what to do with it anymore.' Haha! Stuff like that is good. I have learned so much. And I love you guys a lot!

Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

February 13, 2012

This week has been really interesting. And by interesting, I mean really tough. And by really tough I mean, we are still at square one. We have been in a huge slump. It is really tough, not going to lie. We still have H, but other than that we haven't found anyone else. And it is tough. I know we aren't supposed to be disappointed in that because we are supposed to be happy with ourselves, but it is really disappointing. And I am not too sure what exactly caused the change. But it happened and there is nothing we can do about it now. Just have to work hard to make it better.

On Tuesday we had an exchange and I worked in Neuötting with Elder V. He is really awesome. So with Elder V all our appointments fell out and we went finding which was really good. It was nice to work with him. We were able to extend a baptismal commitment and she said that as soon as she knew it was right then she would be baptised. Which is good because it doesn't happen too often here. Then we exchanged back and had to teach German at the church. There are two American couples who moved here and so we are teaching them German. Which is interesting... Our German isn't very good, but at least better than theirs. Haha! We are hoping to use this to help some less-active members who are from Africa and can't speak German. It would be really great for them because they could get a good friendship with the members of the ward and then they would want to come back.

On Thursday we went dooring a lot. Which is always fun in freezing cold weather. I am very thankful to be Canadian and a little bit used to the cold. Elder P can't feel his toes after about 20 minutes. I can make it a little bit longer. But we had an interesting experience there. We felt like we should really go to Auloh to work. It is technically a little town outside of Landshut, but would be like Crescent Heights. Really just another part of the city, but here in Germany, they are not. It is a little silly. But anyways, we were there and felt like we would find someone. The knew that in order to get back home in time for our next appointment we would have to take the 6:00 bus and it was about 10 to so we thought we would do one more door. We knocked on it and were able to give them a lesson and they invited us to come back on Sunday. It was cool. We had to run to make sure that we wouldn't miss the bus, but it was interesting. We were really excited about that and then went with the Woods to visit a less-active member who lived a little ways out of town. It was a pretty good evening.

Sunday is always a good day. Today after church there was a Potluck supper and it was really good. It was fun. We for sure have a better bond with the ward which is great! One of the American people who moved here also served a mission in Frankfurt so he said he was free in the evenings for Joint Teaches, so we may have to use that sometimes. I am okay with some more joint teaches.

Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

Elder Thompson will be here for 6 more weeks!

What is Landshut, Germany?

Elder Thompson's Companion for the Next Six Weeks.
Who is Elder P?
Happy.

What is Elder Thompson's feeling about it?

That's about all I can do. Jeopardy is a little too hard for me. I find that every day I seem to forget a little bit more English, unfortunately I don't seem to be picking up enough German to be making up for it. But I think my German is for sure getting better. And I am going to try to speak only German from now on. Not for letters of course. Haha! But yes, I am staying here in Landshut for another transfer and with Elder P again. Which is a little weird to think that I will be here for 24 weeks, which is like 6 months. Strange....But it is a long ways away and it goes a lot faster than it seems. I can still remember when I got here, I have really grown a lot since then. But it is exciting. We had Mission Tour / Zone Conference with Elder K, our Area President which was awesome.

To be totally honest, not a whole lot happened this week. We went and taught some people, with the W's. Which was really good. But we haven't found any new investigators this week. But this week will be good. We had found a couple, but then it seems like they all disappeared and were pretty flakey at best. So back to square one... again. Haha! This is like the third time something like this has happened while I have been in Landshut, maybe there is something I need to be learning or something I am doing wrong. Oh well... We work hard and are going to work a lot harder soon so that is all that we can do.

So the highlight of this week was for sure Mission Tour. I learned so much there. I got to see Elder B again, which was awesome. And I got to see Elder H again which was pretty good. He goes home after next transfer so my dad is going to die. Which is weird to think about.

We learned a lot of things and beforehand Elder K did something really awesome. He told us all to think of questions we had about missionary work or just other things and then write them down. Then he promised us that if we listened we would get an answer to everything that we had written down. Not that he would answer them with his words, but through the Spirit. And it worked. I had 10. All of them were answered and it was such a neat experience. We are going to work with people more on that, and I would invite you all to do that as well. But before you go to church write down a question or something that you are thinking about, and I promise you that at church you will get an answer.

We also talked about how we can be finding more people and finding those that will receive us.

We talked a lot about having enough faith to see the miracles that we want, and also about finding joy in the work. He talked about this work is happy work. Nobody wants anyone from two missionaries who are miserable to be there. We need to have the happiness of the gospel be evident in everything that we do. Then his wife taught us about that as well. And she doesn't do English very well, but she was so happy and excited. It was wonderful. She was hilarious. She talked a lot about how sorry she was that the Germans were so stupid and rude. I couldn't believe that I heard a General Authorities wife use the word 'stupid'. Strange... But it was really good.

Other than that, not a whole lot happened. We met with H once. He didn't come to church again. Which is really sad.

Things here are a little chilly, but not that bad. We try to plan things so we aren't outside for ridiculous periods of time, are trying to not have to ride our bikes so much, and are working with the Woods. It actually isn't too cold. I don't get how so many people have died. Everyone complains about it here. Then I tell them to try having a good Canadian winter. Which apparently doesn't mean too much this year, but normally. But we are safe and healthy. No bike crashes this week. Haha! Things are good. I love you guys a lot!