A Baptism Date

Hey Mom!

Well, this week was really good and interesting. I will start off with
the great news. Moritz, who was originally going to get baptized on
April 26th, had to change his baptismal date. He requested to be
baptized on May 11th (Mother's Day), and he asked that I would be the
one to baptize him. That means you guys get to be there too, so it
should be a great experience! Moritz is really excited about getting
baptized.

Anyway, now to the recap of the week. We had P-day on Monday with the
Paderborn Elders who had overnighted with us because of general
conference. We had a lot of fun. Elder Moore and I later had mostly
paperwork to finish up in the apartment to get all of our records in
order.

On Tuesday, the weather was really weird and made it difficult to know
if we could go outside or not. It would start raining really hard for
5 or 10 minutes, and then get sunny again for another 5 or 10 minutes,
and then the cycle would repeat itself. We took the opportunity to
completely finish some things in the apartment we had been putting off
because there were just some higher priority things we had to
accomplish. It was kind of a slow day, but we got a lot of things done
that we now don't have to keep putting off and make the missionaries
after us do. We did at least have English class that night, though.

We went by on a couple members on Wednesday, one of whom had a
birthday so we brought by some brownies. We later on had an
appointment with the Dietrichs, an active couple in the ward. They got
pretty excited about missionary work seeing as Sister Dietrich has a
less-active brother, and his daughter is also less-active and has a
semi-interested, nonmember boyfriend. They said they were going to try
and make a little barbecue get-together on the coming Saturday, so we
were excited for that.

On Thursday, we had a lesson with a woman named Monica that we had
found contacting the previous week. She wants to give up smoking, so
we went through the "Stop Smoking Program" that our mission has. She
also showed interest in our message, so we should be having a lesson
tomorrow with her about the Gospel if all goes according to plan.
Later that evening, we also had a lesson with Moritz in Dortmund,
followed by staying there with him for institute. We talked about the
Gospel of Jesus Christ with him, and it was pretty easy for him to
understand and accept.

On Friday, Elder Moore and I did our weekly planning session before
heading to Dortmund for zone training meeting. After the meeting, I
stayed in Dortmund and went on a split with Elder Clark, one of the
zone leaders there. We did some home teaching splits for a few hours
with a former German Elder who served in this mission. It was kind of
cool talking to him. He trained Elder Fausnaught, my second companion
in the field.

There was a youth conference on Saturday that missionaries were
permitted to visit if youth from their wards were going. We got to go,
and our part in the program was to help the youth give out invitations
they had created for the Easter Sunday service in Dortmund. Elder
Moore and I accompanied two Aaronic Priesthood holders in our ward.
They were noticeably scared talking to random people in public, but
they did a good job. Upon returning from Dortmund, we had that
barbecue appointment with the Dietrichs and the others they invited.
It was a really good opportunity to get to know their friends and
relatives a little better. We asked the one nonmember boyfriend of the
less-active girl if we could call him that week to try and set up an
appointment, and he said yes. We also shared a Mormon Message with the
rest of them, and it seemed to be really helpful. the Dietrichs were
really happy about how the activity went. Later on, we ended the night
with our usual appointment with Bruder Kramer.

Sunday was pretty typical in terms of church services except that we
watched the last session of General Conference for the last two hours
of church. Moritz came, and after church, we had a short lesson with
him about preparation for baptism and a few of the commandments. He
was still really excited about his baptism, and he came to institute
and church even though his girlfriend and her family couldn't come. He
is way solid.

Yesterday, Elder Moore and I were in Dortmund for a long time. Elder
Moore had an interview with Pres. Schwartz, and afterwards we had a
meeting with Pres. Schwartz, the zone leaders, the assistants, and the
district leaders in our zone to discuss the needs of the districts and
the zone. When we got back to Hagen, we went to our bishop's house for
FHE.

I have my last interview with Pres. Schwartz today. Normally
interviews last for 10-20 minutes, but the last interview takes about
an hour. I have heard from other missionaries ending their missions
that Pres. Schwartz talks about marriage a lot, so this will
definitely be an interesting experience. Other than that, Elder Moore
and I will have P-day for about the rest of the day since yesterday
was all meetings.

Well, I hope you have a great week! Love you!

LG, Daniel

Conference Weekend

Hey Mom!

I am glad to hear everyone had a conference experience, and am
relieved to know that Dad's shoulder is not anything serious. Also,
thanks for the package, all the treats were really good for me and the
whole district!

Well, I once again am a little pressed for time. We only have an hour
left of P-day and still need to get groceries across the street, so
yeah, I have to hurry.

Monday was my birthday P-day, which was a lot of fun. After the games
and festivities, Elder Moore and I had FHE with the Clemens family.
They are cool and they are big BVB fans, so I like hanging out with
them.

On Tuesday, we went to get Elder Moore's visa and to train and get him
a new card for public transportation since his broke. We later on did
some contacting and also had English class.

Wednesday was our last district meeting with Elder Waterböhr in the
district considering he got transferred the next day to Solingen. We
later on went by on a less-active member and
had a short lesson with him about charity. The end of the night was
spent in ward council.

Thursday consisted of getting permission for a street display from the
city, going by on a less-active member to drop off brownies for his
birthday, and translating an English guide to stop smoking into German
for an appointment we would be having on Saturday afternoon.

On Friday, we didn't see a lot of success. We first did weekly
planning, then went by on a few people who were not home. The night
ended with our game night in the church with the ward, which was fun.

On Saturday, we had a lesson with Manuella before the broadcast of the
women's session of conference was played. It went well. We also were
going to have an appointment with a woman to help her stop smoking,
but she had to cancel last minute. Then we had to run to the store to
get some extra food for the Paderborn Elders, who had to stay
overnight with us to make it to conference. Saturday evening we got to
see the live broadcast of the Saturday morning session of conference.

On Sunday, we saw the Priesthood, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday
morning sessions of conference. I really like the messages that
Jeffrey R. Holland, Randall L. Ridd, M. Russell Ballard, and Gary A.
Stevenson had to share. The whole conference was really good. After
the conference, we had a short talk with Moritz (that 18-year-old new
investigator) about his baptism on the 26th. We discussed everything
he would have to do to be prepared by that time, and he seemed okay
with that. The only hitch was that he really wants to invite his dad
to his baptism, and his dad will be gone on the 26th. He wasn't sure
which date would be the best, but he really wants to get baptized. We
gave him a couple days to think about a date and then to let us know.
I hope he gets baptized while I am still in Germany, but if not, it is
not the end of the world.

Well, we had a good P-day today. Because of travel issues, the
Paderborn Elders overnighted with us again. So we had a P-day together
and just played a bunch of games. It was good also getting to know
Elder Isham, the new Elder in Paderborn.

That is all I have time to report. I hope you have a great week!

LG, Daniel

PS Our P-day will be on Tuesday next week, so don't expect an email till then.