Snow Pretty Much Every Day

Hey Mom!

 

Well, this week was kind of a bummer. Most of our appointments fell out and we didn´t have a lot to do other than clean up our area book. This week was kind of bad for our whole zone. I think a big reason is because it is starting to snow pretty much every day now and people are having problems getting around or don´t want to go outside because of the weather. The buses also fall out sometimes or come late, so this is just the start of what could be a long winter.

On Monday, we met with a less-active member and talked with him about answering life´s questions through the Book of Mormon. We spent the rest of the day getting groceries and cleaning the apartment, and then getting some peace and rest. Tuesday we met with Bruder Olbert again in the old people´s home like we do every week, and that was good. We also had a really good district meeting, which was great. On Wednesday, we met with an older sister in our ward at a Chinese buffet, which was good, and later on, we met with one of our investigators in the Auslanderheim. He is the only one who lives there that can speak decent German, so when we were about to start teaching him, he got a call from another guy in the Auslanderheim and went to go help him clean up some legal stuff. He told us to wait for him, which we did for about 20 minutes until we went to check what was taking so long. We found the room where our investigator was and the guy in there likes us but doesn´t speak a lick of German, but made us sit down and listen to what was going on. There were two older German ladies there who worked for the government who were telling him he would have to leave the country since he didn´t have any documents, and our investigator was translating for him and we ended up not being able to go for about another hour.

Thursday was supposed to be our day where we met with our two main investigators, even though we had only met with them once up to this point. Both appointments fell out for various reasons. Then later that day, we had a split with Düsseldorf, where I went to Düsseldorf to work with Elder Sommerville for a day. Most of what we did on the split consisted of contacting people and making sure the new apartment was ready for the new Senior Couple who will be joining the district, which I am really excited about. We also thought we were going to be getting GPSs for our area, as well as a white board, which we need pretty badly, and they didn´t get brought up so we now won´t get them until Friday this week. On Saturday, we did our weekly planning and met with Bruder Köster, which is always good.  After church on Sunday we had to wait for 2 hours for a ride from the bishop to Remscheid. The ward has been practicing their Christmas program after church, and it takes forever and ever every time. Once we finally got there, we met with The Glosnickis, who are recently married and have a new baby, and they told us about their lives. They are cool people, and had really interesting stories. Besides all of that stuff for the week, we spent a lot of time rewriting the records in our area book because the previous missionaries wrote it really poorly and it is pretty hard to read. We will have to do a lot of that this week, as well as entering a ton of information into the GPS, which will take quite a bit of time.

Anyway, that is all for this week. I hope you guys have a good week and that everything runs smooth for the holiday/wedding season! Love you!

Liebe, Daniel

A Super Awesome Week

Hey Mom!

 

I am really liking serving here in Solingen. I am getting used to the surroundings and am starting to get familiar with the bus schedules and where people live. Our apartment is kind of small, but it is fine for two missionaries. There is not much of a view from the windows like there was in Idar-Oberstein since we are pretty much right next to the Füsgängerzone, but it is still ok. Elder Fowler and I get along really, really well. It took a while for us to get accustomed to each others´ personalities, but now we are really comfortable with each other. He is super funny, and I really enjoy working with him. Being a district leader is also going really well, and I enjoy the responsibility and the opportunity to stay in close contact with a handful of missionaries.

Well, this last week was super awesome. On Monday, a bunch of companionships from the zone got together and went to the Dom in Köln, which was fun. Elder Hutchings was there, so we spent a lot of time talking and chilling, which was really great. The Dom is huge and we walked up a ton of stairs. I don´t remember how many there were, but it had to be at least 300 in this tiny, stone spiral staircase. After that, we hit up the Christmas markets in Köln and I got a cool nativity to send to you, and today/next Monday hopefully I can get all the things I need to to send home for Christmas. When we got back to Solingen, we met with a guy from Macedonia, and then had a lesson with a guy on the street about the Restoration. We gave him a Book of Mormon and got his address, and hopefully we can meet with him again this week.

On Tuesday, we met with Bruder Olbert, a really old member in a senior home, and then afterwards had lesson with a person we met on the street. On Wednesday we had our District Meeting in Düsseldorf, and later had a really cool lesson on the Füß with a guy we found.

Thursday was an incredible day. We met with this guy from Pogo, Africa called Charles. He was super interested in the Book of Mormon, and asked a ton of questions. Every time we answered a question, he was like, "das wollte ich hören" (that is what I wanted to hear)! We then asked him if he would be baptized if he found out the Book of Mormon was true, and he said yes! Later on, we met with a 19 year old kid that found the church through YouTube, which eventually led him to the church´s website, where he watched the Restoration movie and read the first chapter of 1 Nephi, and he said he already believes the story of Joseph Smith. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized, and he said yes as well! The best part is that he also has a friend in the ward, Thaddäus Hoppe, and he was there at the lesson and bore awesome testimony of the Book of Mormon, and it was just the best. That was a really good day.

On Friday, we travelled out to Monheim to contact a referral, but the street was false. Then we visited a fallen-out baptismal candidate from earlier this year. Later on that night, we met with Bruder Köster again and had a really good lesson. On Saturday, we met with a guy who is a member of the ward. We talked with him about the importance of the Restoration, which was cool. Yesterday, two of our investigators didn´t come to church, which was a bummer, but one of them got a ride with some members and came. After church, we went to Bishop Pauly´s house and had dinner and taught a lesson. That pretty much was the end of the week for us.

Well, that is all to report for now. I hope you have a good week and that everyone is excited for the holidays!! Love you!

 

Liebe, Daniel

Elder Squires and Elder Hutchings (Elder Hutchings is one of Daniel's best friends from high school and was also his roommate at BYU).  Great reunion in Germany!

Inside the Koln Dom (Cologne Cathedral)

Elder Squires and Elder Hutchings (and Santa)

Brother Koster and Elder Squires

View of snow from the apartment in Solingen

Elder Squires and Elder Fowler