Hey!

Hey family!

I apologize because I don't have too much time this week for e-mails because we are going to Augsburg to have a fun District P-Day.  A couple of Elders really want to play soccer and those sort of games... So I get to come too.  Mostly I am just excited to be wearing shorts because it got really hot out of nowhere.  On Saturday it was over 30, and all the week before we were still wearing our jackets, and had tons of rain and ugly weather.  In German they say ''April, April er weis nicht was er will.'' (April, April, he (because everything in German has a gender....) doesn't know what he wants.)  Which has been very true.  However, I am excited because May here is very beautiful.  Actually the spring here in general is.  Everything is green, so it is a nice change from the usual ugly brown springs at home.  Haha!

This week has been really good.  We started by doing a bit of service for a potential investigator named W.  He is about 75, but looks like he would be 60, tops. We invited him to church, and he actually came too, and we are going to be meeting with him more.  He really liked what happened there, and the members were so excited we brought a German investigator to church they were really friendly with him.

M is doing good.  Teaching him is really fun because we have to get really creative to get through the language barrier, and to make sure it's simple enough for a child.  We taught about some of the commandments  and he understands it.  Really it seems that at this point, the lessons are more of a formality because his parents have already taught him everything about the gospel.  Unfortunately, we also have to move the baptism back to the 19th of May because the branch president wants to have an interview with him just to make sure he understands, and has an inactive member who speaks Spanish coming this next Sunday to translate.  On the brighter note, we are doing it in a lake.  Ingolstadt doesn't have it's own church building, it's a rented space, and strangely, they couldn't find a place to rent that had a baptismal font.  Haha!  We had planned to do it in Augsburg, but that is pretty far, and then the B's and us thought, well... the Donau does through Ingolstadt, we could just do it there.  We told the members, and they thought we were idiots.  I guess it is a little fast, but we didn't know any better.  They then told us about a nice little private lake that we can do it at where they usually do the baptisms at.  So that will be a little better than having to worry about M getting swept away by the Donau.  Haha!

This week was also pretty cool because we went to visit the Bauer's.  We went for a little bit on Saturday afternoon and it was really good. We just had some cake and what not, and then walked around Eichstätt.  And guess what!  I forgot my camera.... Oops... Haha!  We thought it was pretty crazy though because I think it was the same day that Ubald was staying with you guys.  What are the chances of that?

Say hi to everyone, and tell them I love them!

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

This week in Ingolstadt, next week in....

Ingolstadt!  Haha!  Did I scare you with the title?  Transfer Calls came on Friday, and we got a call saying that Elder M and I would be working together for the next six weeks, which is exciting!

Actually, the past week has been really good.

On Tuesday, we had an exchange and I work with Elder S again.  He's a great guy, and really funny.  He's staying in Augsburg, so I will still get to see him every week, which is great.  Actually, everyone in our district is staying in the district except for one.  So that's pretty good.  We went contacting, and are trying so hard to find new people, but nothing is really working out as of yet.  Unfortunately.  But, as long as we try as hard as we can, then we are happy and even if things don't work out, maybe they just weren't supposed to.  But there is always something that we can be learning. 

On Wednesday, we had interviews.  Which were really good.  It was such a good experience.  I love President and Sister Miles.  And I got my package!  Which was awesome!  

We also met with the B family twice this week, which was really awesome.  They are such a great family.  I love them a lot.  And their children love these things called Skylanders? I just remember Ben and Brigham telling me about them.  It was so funny, the little boy, M, who is five was showing us his and then trying to talk to us, but we don't really speak Spanish at all so... it was just funny. 

We also had the chance to do service with the ward and to clean the church building which was really fun.  We had a games night right after, which was a lot of fun as well.  I think we are starting to build a better relationship with the ward here.  

We also had Branch Conference yesterday, and with all of the Stake Leaders and everything, we just about doubled the number of members who were at church.  It was pretty insane, but a good day nonetheless. 

Thanks so much for everything.
--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

This Week in Ingolstadt‏

Hello Family,

How are you guys doing? Can you believe that it is already April 16th? I have been gone for 10 months! Can you believe it? Where does the time go? It's a little ridiculous how fast things are. And it will only go faster.

After we did our e-mails we did a bit of contacting. We have been spending quite a bit of time trying to go by on former investigators or potential investigators trying to find anyone who will want to meet with us, and as of now it still hasn't brought us too much. We came to the (awful) realization that we just needed to be doing even more dooring. Which is of course what every missionary loves to do. Haha! But it actually wasn't that bad. Many times while contacting, I have never really felt that comfortable with doing things, I am not sure why. I mean, it's not like it's an uncomfortable situation or anything.... Haha! But Elder M and I get along really well and so we both are able to help each other a lot more than I have with previous companions. We just work really well together, and it makes things a lot of fun.

Really, we have just done a lot of dooring this week. We have been out all day contacting and we just come back exhausted, and I know that if this had happened before on my mission I would have been really upset and probably complained a lot. But strange as it sounds, I am starting to love dooring. It's always so funny, and people are so ridiculous sometimes, that I sometimes can't help but laugh. As soon as they slam the door on us, or yell something terrible or something. They never see me laughing. That would be unprofessional.

We have been doing some service for an older lady last week named Sister L, which is always nice. Last week, because she is a single sister, we needed a joint teach to come with us. It was in the middle of the holiday week and nobody was going to be able to help us because many members were at the temple, others were at work, and so we were a little panicked. We ended up having to go through the ward list and phoning the members that we knew. We were out of options except for Brother B. We phoned him, and it turns out that he lived about 2 minutes away from the lady and would happy to help. We talked to him and got to know him a little better since we didn't know too much about him. He is a really great guy. He has been in Germany about 10 months, and came here so that he could get an education and have a better life for his children. His wife and three of their children came here about 5 months ago. They are all trying to speak German, and the father and the oldest son who is 13 speak pretty good. The mom and the son M understand really well, and the youngest son who is only five doesn't understand so well and just comes to us and says funny phrases that he has heard from the TV or something. But he is really funny. Anyways, we looked on our ward list and saw that M, who is 10, is not yet baptized. We talked to them on Sunday at church and asked if we could come over and share a film with them, and they said yes. They told us how they would always try really hard to get the Elders to come over and would feed them and how much they just loved the missionaries. We went there, and the spirit was so strong. We walked in and you could tell that this was a family who is truly converted to the gospel and who lives it. We watched the movie with them and we all felt the spirit so strong. We asked the parents to tell their children what their favourite parts were and what it meant to them, and then asked the boys as well. M, who is 10 years old, in broken German said ''I know that this is true. That the church is true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet''. We then talked about baptism and how M wasn't baptized and talked to the parents about that, and then made a plan to have him baptized on the 5th of May. They were all so excited. We talked a little bit about the temple and how this will help them to get to the temple and how they will be sealed as a family forever. The spirit was so strong. Strangely, even though we don't speak any Spanish I felt like I understood a lot of what they were talking about. I know it's not because of me, but because the spirit was there and doesn't only speak one language, but really speaks to the heart. Just seeing how happy they were was so worth it. They are so awesome.

Hopefully this week, we will find some more people who will want to hear of the gospel from us. I have seen so clearly how the gospel has made me happy, and how it can make others happy. What an amazing thing.

I love you guys so much. I hope you are being safe and good. I know that the Lord is here with us, and that he will help us. Even though at times it is tough. We, as missionaries have not been left alone.

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

Who Wants to Feed the Missionaries for Easter?‏

Answer: Nobody...
On the brighter note we got to eat some store bought Chicken Wings,
and French Fries.  Nothing like some premade food to celebrate Easter.
Haha!  It really wasn't too bad, so I shouldn't complain.  And I am
most definitely not the only Elder to have that on their mission.
So, sorry I am writing so late.  I hope that you didn't think we were
dead or something.  Everything, and I mean every thing, was closed on
Monday, so we had no chance for doing e-mails.  Then on Tuesday, we
had an exchange so I was working here with Elder S, who was
with me in the MTC, and so we didn't do e-mails.  And so now we are
doing them today.  Ta-Da!
So... things have been so busy as of late.  Which would make you think
that we have tons of investigators or something.... Psyche!  Haha!
Unfortunately, nothing has panned out yet.  We have spent all of our
time since I came here just dooring and contacting and trying to find
people with no success, and it seems very similar to what was
happening in Landshut as well for a while before I left.  But, I am
learning so much about how to be a better missionary of course, but a
lot about how I deal with the problems that I have, and how I can
change to become a lot better with things.

Last Tuesday, we had District Meeting.  We ended up staying in
Augsburg all weekend, and then we went to the Zoo on Monday with the
Augsburg Elders, the Senior Couple there and a member.  It was fun,
and so after the weekend being away, we finally came back to our
Ingolstadt.  It was nice to be back at 'home'.
As soon as we got back it was back into the swing of things, but a
little harder because it was Easter this weekend.  I remember on my
exchange that everyone was really excited for Easter, we did lot of
church stuff, and had two weeks off of school.  It is strange, and
people mostly didn't want to talk to us because this is the one of the
two times this year that they will go to church.  Elder M and I are both
doing good.  He's really fun.  We actually have similar personalities, and
senses of humour, and similar ideas.
Which is really nice.  This transfer would be super hard otherwise.
I really can't believe that transfers are in two weeks.  It seems like
I just got here.  But I don't really want to worry too much about it.
Just work.  It is much, much easier.  I love you guys a lot.

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

April 2, 2012

Hey family,
Sorry to do this again you but I think that this may be another short email. We had to stay in Augsburg for the weekend so that we could watch conference and not have to take so many trains. But it was really good. And currently, we are staying at the Senior Couples for the afternoon playing Phase 10 and I am doing my emails on one of their iPads. Which is a little tough in regards for typing. So I apologize for any huge mistakes.
This week was really good. Work in Ingolstadt is going a little slower, but we are doing a lot of finding. I have heard a couple times that the missionaries who are sent here are a little bit tougher because we have to deal with a LOT of rejection, and while it is not always easy, it has been really great. Elder M is really great to work with so that is really great. The ward here is interesting, but really good.
My birthday was a little strange. I was pretty sick, and I got to give a talk in church, but on the P-Day right after, we went to Neuschwanstein, which was really fun. Unfortunately it is undergoing renovations so they have all these ugly scaffolding and what not, but it is right in the mountains so it is really pretty there. I can't think of anything else special that happened that day. Just a lot of fun. I really like being with other missionaries.
On Wednesday we had District Meeting in Augsburg, which is a really pretty city. We met quite a few... interesting people that day as well. Something that I have really grown to love. I don't know why it is, but it seems like only the crazy people on the street are the ones that want to talk to us, which makes sense. Everyone else thinks that we are crazy so they don't talk to us. It doesn't really help that we don't really have a church here in Ingolstadt. We are in a rented part of a building in an industrial part of town right next to a GE Capitol building and a Taiji (Tai-chi?) place. Also a car dealership. And two clubs, one of which is called Club Sodom and Gomorrah. No joke. It's an interesting part of town. Haha!
We headed down to Augsburg on Saturday afternoon so that we could watch Saturday morning at 6:00pm. Then we stayed over night at their apartment so we could watch Priesthood Sunday Morning at 11:00 am, the Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm, and then the Sunday Morning live at 6:00pm. We don't get to watch the Sunday afternoon for two weeks, and we will watch in on Sunday instead of Sunday School or Priesthood. It's strange eh?


Elder Thompson