Babies Everywhere!

I don't know if any of you will remember that commercial, but it was for All-Bran or something, and I just thought of it randomly.  I am just really excited about the babies.  That is awesome.  I do remember always wanting twins in the family, 3 new babies to come home to!  Awesome!!

 Glad to hear that everyone is doing good and you got home safe and sound from your holiday.  Europe is for sure different.  I love it a lot here, but there are things I will not miss, or things that will be nice to have again.  This is another thing we talk about fairly often.  Among the list are: So many people here smoke, and they start so young, it's gross, a clothes dryer, a closet, ranch dressing, air conditioning, window screens to keep bugs out, Costco, deodorant, and no Swiss German.  Haha!  It's nice being in a different culture, and I really do love the people here, but there's no place like home.  

This week , was a good week.  On Tuesday, we had an exchange and I worked in Singen with an Elder in his third transfer.  It was really good.  Then on Wednesday, we had an exchange with the Zone Leaders, and Elder C and I worked with Elder B.   We actually didn't do too much because we had an eating appointment with the T', who are the coolest people in the world, and then we were asked to help with Young Mens (there are only one or two of them) and we made home made ice cream in bags.  

On Thursday, we had a meeting in Schaffhausen for all of the District Leaders and companions about how we can be working better to become a better example for the members of the District.  It was a good meeting.  We came back and worked hard and found a lot of people with potential.  Now we just have to turn them into actual investigators and get helping them.  

To be totally honest, this week sounds really boring... Haha!  But it was a really good week.  We don't have a whole lot going on in the ways of investigators at the moment.  We have found some new people which is good so we will see where that goes, and have had a lot of good things, but to be totally honest I am blanking on what I should write about that.  And I don't have too much time because we are heading out to Rheinfalls, which is a waterfall on the Rhein river in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) so that will be cool.

We haven't watched our Soccer Game yet, but will watch this week.  Germany is in the Semi Finals, so that will be exciting.  They crushed Greece 4-1 last game, so they will do good hopefully.  But we will see.  I understand nothing about Soccer, so the members will have to deal with me.  It's not like curling at all!!  Haha!!!

Love you!

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

1 Year?

Hey!  Can you believe that I have been gone for one year?  Where has the time gone?  I am not going to lie it is a little crazy.  I was thinking about what I was doing one year ago and it seems pretty crazy to think I was going into the MTC.  Strange.  I have learned so much and done so many things I never imagined I would do.  But I am so happy I came here.  There is nowhere else I should have been for the last year.  This is where I was meant to be.  I know that 100%.  

Hump Day wasn't anything special.  We had an eating appointment with the T family.  He is the coolest man ever.  I think he would be the equivalent of the German Chuck Norris, and probably the best memeber missionary I have ever met.  I think since I have been here he has given us 2 or 3 names of people he's talked to about the church, and have given away at least a half dozen Book of Mormons.  He is also really funny.   

This past week has been good, but a little tougher in the evenings because of the EM (European Masters?) It's the Soccer tournament between 16 European countries.  And people here LOVE soccer.  We get woken up when a team scores because of all the yelling and honking, but it is usually done by 11 o'clock so that is okay.  From what we have heard, Germany has done pretty good and has moved past the Round Robin and is into the quarter finals.  Which will be good.  President Miles has said it's okay to watch one Soccer Game where Germany is playing.  And then if they make it to the finals we can watch that one as well.  Which will be really neat if they do.  And it makes sense because nobody is on the streets when they play, and NOBODY likes it when we are dooring or contacting.  So it will be neat to watch.  I think I have been in Europe too long because I am a little excited to watch soccer.  I hate soccer, and yet I want to watch it for some reason.  Weird....

On Tuesday, Elder N had a District Leader Meeting so I was on an exchange with Elder C and with Elder N who is also in his third transfer.  It was strange to realize that I am an 'old' missionary since I still feel so young still. 

We also have an investigator named J.  She is pretty sweet.  Brother T just picked her up one day because she was hitchhiking (something not that frowned upon here) and was like ''Hey! I just finished doing my religious duties today.  What do you believe in?''  Then they talked, he gave her a Book of Mormon.  She met with the missionaries a couple of times and has a date for the 30th.  She is pretty cool.  Especially because in one month, she read the whole Book of Mormon.  In German, which is 700 pages (as opposed to the 530 in English). 

Things here are doing really good.  We have a lot of neat things happening, and I am having a good transfer.  Still doing good in a Dritte, which is a little strange, but could be worse. 

--
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

Greetings from Baden-Württemberg!‏

Hey family!  I hope that you are doing good.  This past week has been pretty crazy to be totally honest.  I can't believe that it is already Monday again, although a lot of things have happened so hopefully that means this email won't be so short.  Unfortunately the internet cafe we are at doesn't have a place for me to put pictures on, so I can't send any, but I will figure it out at some point.  Haha!

Just in case you thought it would change, mail is still appreciated here.  Haha! 

 

So on Wednesday, I was off to Munich with the Zone Leaders, and it ended up that Elder P and I were going to be spending the evening going finding in Munich, which was good to see him again too.  So we ended up trying to talk to a lot of people all evening and not really having anything happen, but it was still okay.  Then On Thursday Morning we headed out from Munich Bahnhof at 9:45.  I took a train from Munich to Stuttgart, which is about 2 hours, then took a train from Stuttgart to Ulm which is another hour, then another train from Ulm to Bad Säckingen, which was three hours.  So with all the delays, and waiting between trains, and missed trains (which gave us a 2 hour delay...) we got to our apartment here at around 7:30.  Which is a really long day...  Haha!  But it was beautiful.  .  The Rhein goes through Bad Säckingen which is really huge (the river, not Bad Säckingen). And then on the other side is Switzerland.  We aren't right in the Alps, but we can see them pretty well.  But we're in a very hilly part which is really nice.  And we have a car which is always really awesome.  Haha!

So my new companions (strange that it is plural) are both really good, but really different.  Elder N is really great.  He's really big into Opera, which is good.  I think he's really excited that he can geek out a little about things an I will have a little bit of an idea of what he is talking about, although to be totally honest a fair amount of it goes over my head.  I didn't really do too much with Operas at U of L.   We have very similar senses of humour as well which is really fun.  On another good note, he is from California and not Utah!  Haha!  He's been about 18 months on his mission.  And has 207 days left.  (We know because there are 210 songs in the German hymn book and so we started by singing number 210 on his 210th day and our working our way down.  Sisters in Zion should have been today, but we skipped it.  Haha!) Elder C is in his third transfer and is so excited for the work.  

I would tell you about our investigators, but to be totally honest I don't really know them that well. 

The members here are awesome. The branch here really loves each other, so we will hopefuolly be able to work with that more.  It's good.  I am excited about things here.  This transfer will be great.

Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

The big Boss nach oben‏

Hey!  So first of all, you may be wondering about transfer calls.  I will give you a hint.  We got a call.  And I am going to somewhere I wasn't expecting at all.  Switzerland!!!!  The area I will be in is called Bad Säckingen.  It is actually in Germany, but we apparently do a lot of work in Switzerland since we are right on the border.  The city is on the Rhein if that makes a difference to you.  Elder M is staying here and is getting a brand new missionary fresh from the MTC!  Which is actually pretty exciting!  He will be great, although I am a little sad to be leaving him.  And a little sad to be leaving Ingolstadt.
While there I will be working in a Dritte (Triple companionship) with Elder C, who is just going into his third transfer and is from Utah..., and then Elder N, who is from Utah....  It is a car area, which means that we are no longer using the public transport.  I do not think that I will have to get a German Driving License, but if I do I have to pay the first 100€, and then the church will pay the rest.  I think Canada has a reciprocality (is that a word) thing with Germany so that I can just trade my license without having to take an exam or anything.  Which would be really cool because a German Driving License will never expire, which means that I would never have to worry about that when I got home.  And it is a German Driving License!!  Autobahn here I come!  Haha! 
So this week, one of the highlights was a meeting with Sister K.  She is a lady who we found a couple of weeks ago who is actually a member who took her names of the records of the church.  We both had the feeling we should go visit her.  So, when we got there we asked her how she was doing (we met outside because we didn't have another man with us) and she said she was feeling a little upset and lonely because her daughter was supposed to come visit her, but didn't.  But then she told us how the ''big Boss nach oben'' (big boss up there) knew that she was lonely and so He sent her two missionaries to come visit her.  Then when we were there she said she didn't have anything to feed us, but for some strange and random reason her neighbour suddenly came over and brought her two pieces of cake.  She was so amazed that the big Boss nach oben would do that.  It was a little funny to hear her explain things like that, but it was really true.  Things were good for the rest of the week.  We said goodbye to some of the people we had been working with.  Especially sad was the B family.  They are so awesome.   M showed off his dance moves. (He is a little older than Brigham, and is a 'master' of the Robot.  Haha!''  We had supper with a couple families, and are going to see some more members until Wednesday when I leave. 
Sincerely,

Elder Connor J. Thompson

May 30, 2012

Hey Family! 

First of all, sorry that this e-mail is on Wednesday.  This week on Monday we had a vacation of sorts.  In German it is called Pfingsten (sp?), but since it is here in Bayern, I would assume that it is something to do with the Catholic church.  I think it may be Pentecost? But to be totally honest, we aren't too sure. 

Things here are really good. 

So, last week was the baptism from M.  It was really nice.  It was the first real Sunday where the weather was really nice.  It was awesome!  We went there to the lake and had the talks, and then we had the baptism.  Brother B was able to get into the water pretty fine.  But it was really cold for M.   And then afterwards we had a barbecue with the ward, which was good because there were a lot of members there.

On Sunday, M was confirmed which was awesome.  I

So, last Monday, Elder M's friends came and we walked around Ingolstadt for a while, and then we went to Augsburg to play games with the elders there.  It was a lot of fun.  I think that is one of the best parts of being on a mission is just getting to do stuff with other missionaries.  After a while on a mission people just start to get pretty ridiculous, so some of the games and things people want to play are funny, but overall good.  The 'best' thing we did was play a game like bump (something with basketball) in socks so that we would slip on the floor.  I am proud to say that I was the best at that and biffed it four times.  Making the family proud.  Haha!  But it was still a lot of fun.  Our District gets along really well, and it is always fun. 

On Wednesday, we had Zone Conference.  Which was really good.  It is always such a Spiritual time, and then on a mission is a little bit like Christmas brcause we get presents (mail) and get to see all our friends.  It is awesome. Then all of the new missionaries, and all of the missionaries going home in the next two transfers bore testimonies.  It was strange because there are so many people going home soon because most missionaries come in the summer. 

After Zone Conference I got to work in Munich for the day with one of the Zone Leaders, and that was really cool.  As much as I love Ingolstadt, Munich is just a beautiful city, and Ingolstadt is.... a city.  Haha!  It was a lot of fun.    My allergies were the worst that they have ever been here.  I think my nose started bleeding 3 or 4 times, and my eyes were super creepy and huge and red all day and I probably lost 10 pounds of snot that day.  Gross, I know.  I think that could have had something to do with why nobody wanted to talk to us, but in the end it was just a very long and tough day.  However, I know that it was important that we simply worked.  I think we were being tested to see how obedient and diligent we would be.  It was tough, but we worked really hard.  But things are slowly picking up here which is good.

Other than that not a whole lot happened to be totally honest.  Things are going good.