Zones Oldenburg & Hannover
September 8, 2014
One transfer down and fifteen
more to go! That is both a big and small number in this case. There is both
enough time and not enough time. An ever increasing thought in my head is that
before I know it the end will be here. The mission will be over and it will all
feel just like a dream. Unfortunately during my first transfer here I have been
around too many missionaries that were leaving or this was their last transfer
and once again my new companion who I will be finishing training with is also
leaving this next transfer. So I have had far too much time looking at myself
in the beginning of the mission and looking at all the missionaries at the end
of their mission. I only hope I can see continual progress in everything that I
do. This next transfer I will be staying in Hannover and my new companion is
named Elder Collins.
It is one of those okay weeks
you have after having had a really good week. Except for my austausch with
Elder Weber and that we met with one of our investigators three times this
week. First lets talk about the investigator his name is S. Who I only said
a little about in my last letter. So he is from Iraq and he is 23 years old.
And originally his baptismal date was set for October 12th. But because he took
the lessons so well and has been keeping his commitments far better than anyone
else has and has a strong testimony and just a great guy in general. We changed
his baptismal date to the 14th of September. But unfortunately because he is
from Iraq and he doesn't exactly have a visa or I am not quite sure what he has
but he is here legally. We may or may not be able to baptize him this coming
weekend. Which is pretty unfortunate because he doesn't even want to go back to
Iraq, ever! We even asked him. And he said,"Why would I ever want to go
back to Iraq, I want to stay here in Germany for the rest of my life?" and
we were like yeah I know right? So yeah because of the rules it probably won't
happen this coming week. But I have hope because as soon as he gets the okay
from the mission president I know he will get baptized. So I shouldn't worry
about it.
So the other memorable thing
this week was my austausch with Elder Weber in Nienburg. And both of us are new
missionaries so yeah it was quite different for both of us because there is no
trainer to bail you out if you don't understand what they are saying or if you
are not sure what to say yourself. And I am happy to say that both of us can
totally do it! Woo! Haha In fact I think I actually learned more on my
austausch with Elder Weber than I felt like I did with my trainer Elder Lyon
the whole week. So it was kind of the highlight of the week knowing that I
really can do this missionary stuff on my own in the German language. We even
gave out a couple Book of Mormons and got some contact information and even got
a referral, which referrals are almost nonexistent unfortunately.
Oh and I almost forgot about
some eating appointments I had this week that we pretty interesting. Okay so
this week I had my first Fufu which is an african food that we had at one of
our african members house. And this lady her name is D invited all the
other missionaries to her house to have Fufu. So we get there and wait there
for a little bit and then she finally comes out of the kitchen and has bowls of
food already made for each and every one of us. And basically what is inside
this bowl is a red somewhat spicy broth and then a bunch of chicken and then a
big pile of fufu which looks and feels like a softer bread dough blob. And then
you just eat it all with your hands so you're just sitting there sticking your
hands into this chicken fufu blob soup and it is quite a sizeable portion. And
of course I get the most amount of fufu in my soup and she is like eat it all!
But what is funny is that so at first I only thought there was chicken and fufu
in the bowl. But then the other Elders were asking what kind of fish did she
use.And I am like what?! There is fish in there? And then I look at the odd
piece of bone I am holding in my left hand. And I am like hey, that's a fish
head and I even look a little bit harder and I am like hey, there is an eyeball on this side. And I look on
the other side and there is no eyeball. So I had basically already ate this
entire fish head without realizing it because I thought everything inside was
chicken. So I am just sitting there saying really? Because I am the one who got
the most fufu and got the fish head. So i finally finish my bowl and of course
I am the last one finished eating. I am already way full. And then blam! She comes out with a giant pan of rice and cooked
meat and vegetables and serves us all up a whole new plate of food. I never
wanted to take a nap so bad in my life after eating that meal. It took some
real energy to eat all that.
Later that week the Sisters
invited the Elders to come to this eating appointment for a member whose birthday
it was. And that day while we were in the middle of traveling on the bahns to
get there it gets pushed to another time so the other set of Elders couldn't
make it to the next time because of an appointment they had during that same time. And then we almost didn't go because
we were given bad directions and we were gonna be late. But the Sisters
insisted that we come. So we finally get there and it is just us, the Sisters
and the lady whose birthday it is and her little children which neither of them
were older than 5. A giant table is filled with KFC and McDonalds food. And of
course what do you know we were insisted to eat everything and you aren't just
going to refuse the Sister on her birthday and she did buy it all. So basically
me and Elder Lyon saved the sisters that day from utter food destruction. And
even during the meal Elder Lyon looks at me with a cup full of fries and
whispers "help me!" Yeah so that was a pretty interesting experience
as well and glad we went to make it a merry event for this Sister and her
children and I am sure the american food was to please the missionaries so it
all worked out.
Well that is about all the time
I have. Hopefully my letter made you laugh just a little bit and brought a
smile to your face. I am doing well here in Germanland. I hope everyone is
doing well back home and I have not forgotten to keep all of you in my prayers
as well.
Mit reuegem Herz und zerknirschtem Geist,
Elder Foster
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