Munich - Week 7

Weekly Update 21 September 2015

This week has sure been quite the ride! It was transfer week, which makes us in Munich extremely busy. There's been kind of a big event every day this week. I'll tell you about some of our week.

On Monday, we had a really good appointment with a member. We've started calling members up and asking to come by for 30 minutes to share a thought. We tell them we don't need food, we just want to share something. What we are working on doing is getting our members in PMG more, so they understand a little more what we expect from them, and we get more on the same page goalwise. It's also a good way to trade ideas of how to better get things working in this area of the world. This one was with the H's. He's a high councilor in the stake, and was the high councilor for Passau when I was there. We had a great talk with them and chose to work through the 1st chapter of PMG this week. We'll go back next week and talk about it with them after they get back from vacation.

On Wednesday, we went and picked up 21 new missionaries from the airport. It was totally crazy to be at the airport exactly in the spot where I was a year ago, but this time on the other side of it. What happens is the missionaries come in, and we hug them and tell them how much we love them and are excited for them to be here, then we split them into groups between us and the AP's, then we take them on a Bahn back to the mission home, and let them have their first round at contacting. It was really cool to see them give it their best shot. There was one sister from Germany in my group who was so scared and was just basically holding onto my pant leg the whole time. We sat down together and started talking to this man who told us how annoyed he was that we would sit next to him and try to talk to him, and she just started shaking even more. Haha but he got replaced by a lady, who was so nice and friendly, and it really helped this sister to calm down a little bit and get settled in. That was good. I imagine we will be good friends after that experience. These 21 new missionaries were really stellar. They were totally ready to go get em and that was a good thing to see.

On Thursday, we had Transfer Day. So we spent the first half of our day at the train station seeing missionaries come in and go out to new areas. There was a problem though. The German-Austria border was locked because of refugees, so no trains were running. So we had to drive 10 missionaries to Salzburg and bring 5 or so from Salzburg back to Munich. It wasn't such a bad thing though. We had a miracle on Thursday night. Our appt on Wednesday with G fell out, which we were pretty bummed about. He told us there was no chance this week for us to meet, which was disheartening because he was leaving on vacation at the end of the week for 10 days. We really wanted to catch him before he left. So we called some less active on Thursday morning on the other side of Munich and set up an appointment with him for that afternoon. We went to the appointment and on our way in, we ran into G. In the middle of nowhere, on the other side of Munich. He had the feeling to visit a friend there in the same complex as our less active. We were able to get his email and information so that we could email him on vacation and what not. Then we ring our less actives doorbell, and he's not home. For an appointment we made out 3 hours before. So we walk out and G is sitting on a bench, because his friend also was not home. We walked up and said, "G, I think God wants us to meet today." He looked up and said, "I think you're right." In his prayer he said, "Thank you for helping us meet each other today." Our paths were definitely directed together, that's for sure. There are no coincidences. We had a great lesson with him about the plan of salvation.

On Friday, the dying missionaries went home or had their parents pick them up. Elder Ridd's parents picked him up. That's a scene that will make you trunky. It was definitely hard to watch. But it wasn't so bad. It was cool to meet Elder Ridd's parents as well.

Here's where the fun comes into play. On Friday night, I found myself praying for a better look at who I am right now and what I need to do to improve myself more, praying specifically for a challenge. Saturday afternoon we were helping our hoarder friend clean up a little bit, and he was so sick. The man has no personal hygiene either. So he just kept coughing in our faces and touching us, and at the end, we gave him a blessing. So germs were just flowing everywhere, and I woke up yesterday morning, and my voice was gone, and still is today. That's definitely a challenge as a missionary. I don't feel so sick, just like a head cold, but my voice is 100% gone. It's hard to have so much to say, and be able to say nothing. So there's the challenge, (at least I hope that's it).

Saturday was also the beginning day of Oktoberfest, and Munich has gone totally wild. On opening day, there were 300,000 people there. We were right in the middle of all that. Imagine 300,000 people wearing Lederhosen and Dirndl's and drinking and you've got Oktoberfest. It is so awesome. I literally love the atmosphere. We are headed out there today to go on some of the rides and take pictures of crazy people. Gotta buy me a Lederhosen today as well.

Alright, so here is the highlight of the week. Saturday morning, at noon, 300,000 people watched the Burgermeister pop the first keg to open Oktoberfest. At noon, we were in a lesson with Stefano. We had taught the Restoration, and he was just crying. This 20 year old kid, who is insane and before 2 weeks, had never heard of Jesus Christ, looked at us, and said, 'I feel it.' 300,000 people were outside thinking they were experiencing true happiness, but Stefano was the one experiencing the lasting happiness. He asked if he could be baptized at 12:00 sharp. It will be a long road, but we will get him. awesome awesome lesson.

Alright, so I'm headed out to go to Oktoberfest. Hope you all have a good day. Love you guys. Have a good week.

Elder Hadfield

Elder Hadfield & Elder Ridd (AP) on Elder Ridd's release day

Oktoberfest 2015

Elder Croft, Elder Hadfield, Elder ? , Elder Rozan

Elders Hadfield & Croft - Oktoberfest 2015

Oktoberfest 2015 - Munich

Munich - Week 6

Hey everybody! Things are really picking up here in Munich. There are SO many tourists here getting ready for Oktoberfest. We are meeting people literally from all over the world every single day. We got on a bus yesterday with 40 Austrailians and it was a total party. Music going and everything, super hilarious. Another U Bahn had a bunch of South Americans with several instruments playing loud music and yelling and screaming like Indians. People go crazy over this I tell ya. It's quite interesting.

So I feel like you all have the right to know about what is going on with our area here in Munich at this point! It has for sure been an interesting and action packed couple of weeks that we have had. I'm sure you have all heard about the refugees and immigrants coming from Syria, Greece, Italy, and Hungary, as well as other places, but mainly from there. They're flooding into our area at the main train station and into the refugee homes we live around by the thousands daily. Every day in the past week there has been over 1000 EACH DAY coming into Munich. It's just shocking. I don't have a solid knowledge of all the things going on in those lands, but I was sitting there thinking how humbling it was to watch 1000 people get off an S-Bahn in a new land far away from home, each hoping for a new way of life, each knowing their life would never be the same again. Then it hit me. That's exactly what I did over a year ago. Boy was THAT humbling!

We have had an enjoyable time helping these immigrants day in and day out. On Thursday, we were at the government place sorting clothes and preparing food for them, and a flood of new ones, about 1000, walked in. They had places for us to play with the kids, places for them to sleep, just really interesting. One thing that just really hit me was the paintings on the wall. They had a painting station for the kids, and each child chose themselves to draw their country flag, and the German flag next to each other, and they strung those along the wall throughout the building. How hard would that be as a child? They've literally left everything and come with nothing but the clothes on their backs in hopes of something better.

I was playing with a little kid kicking a soccer ball around and a bunch of teenagers came and joined. So it ended up that 1 Mormon white boy, and a bunch of Middle Eastern teenagers were playing soccer together. That was a lot of fun. Elder Croft during this time was serving lunch for the kids and joking around with our investigator that we brought with. It was just SO MUCH FUN. The investigator we brought can speak Kurdish, a Middle Eastern language, even though he's German, and that helped a lot. It's great to look at these refugees and realize how much hope they have and how happy they are, regardless of the fact that they have nothing.

So, I'm sure you all remember as well from my email a couple weeks ago how rough our area has been. We've just been weeding the wheat from the tares, but just finding tares. Well, that has in fact turned itself around. We've hit the wheat goldmine so to say. Last week we taught 15 lessons, and this week it was around 20, we are just doing really well. So I'd like to give you a rundown of each investigator, who they are, and how they're progressing. Here goes nothing. 

S: S is the man who came into the church for the first time talking about his partying life and his girls that he's been with, and so on and so forth. We had our first meeting with him that was just strictly on the atonement and how it helps us become clean, and he felt something. So he asked to learn more. We've been teaching him 2-3 times a week about Jesus and His life, as well as about the restored gospel, and he is starting to put everything together. He said he hasn't felt like this in his entire life before. He's also the one we have been taking to the service projects with the refugees. In fact, he brought his girlfriend with him to a service project, and she got annoyed with him because she just wanted to do whatever, so she dumped him and he just had the greatest feeling inside that he was doing the right thing even though he just got dumped. Whenever we are with him, it's like high school all over again. We're super good friends with him and he loves us, and feels very free to talk about anything, (which is sometimes bad), but it's been great. The other day we were with him and he was talking about how old it's getting taking a new girl home every night, and he said he needs to change. That was really good to here. He said he wants to do something like we're doing and help people learn about Jesus. So he's definitely on the goal of baptism soon. He loves coming to the YSA activities, and has a strong desire to go to church every week and meet the people there, which is very rare in Germany, so we're lucky. He's definitely been prepared. We're already planning his first visit back to Utah to come hang out with Elder Croft and I. So things are really good there. 

G: My man G is from Poland. He's around 40 or so. He's living in a tent here and working 10-12 hours a day here to try to bring his family to live here from Poland. He is probably the most humble and real man I have ever met. He is SO prepared to hear the gospel. It's a mixture of German and English when we teach him, but always enough to understand everything. He's got the real intent thing down here, and is engulfed in the Book of Mormon. We gave it to him and the first night, he read 16 chapters. He loves Nephi a lot. He's progressing very very smoothly, perhaps more smoothly than any investigator I've had on my mission except R. He's planning a trip back to Poland in a week here for his daughter's birthday, and so I got online and showed him where the church is, and he was so happy to know the church was in Poland as well. I guess we will see where he goes. Definitely hoping for him to be baptized somewhere in October, and get his family here. In our last lesson, he mentioned that he would love to be a member, he just needs a little bit of time to go through the book a little more and meet more members. Super excited for him. 

Ss: he's a 40 or so year old guy from Iraq. Not Muslim though. He was baptized Evangelisch here in Germany. Speaks great German. We're doing well with him, his progression is just coming very slowly. He does read everything we give him and understands it, he's just having trouble getting it into his heart. It's coming very slowly. He has a baptism date on the 24th of October. Cool guy. 

M: 60 year old black guy from New York. He's way cool. He had a stroke about 5 years ago, and has recovered incredibly from that. He's walking now and doing everything normal, but right as he began walking again, he lost his eyesight completely. He is gaining it back tiny bits at a time, but it is difficult. He listens to the Book of Mormon on his phone every day and enjoys it a lot. He is one where we are just trying to help him understand the basics before we move him towards baptism extremely quickly, but he's very well on that road. He may be smoking weed though, what can you expect from a black guy out of New York? Haha we are for sure working with him though. 

I: my boy I is a new friend we ran into Saturday night. We were talking to him and he was like, "I want to be a missionary like you guys." He's from Russia, searching for a church. We invited him, and he was at church yesterday. Woo! We will see how it unfolds from here. 

R: he is one who had a baptism scheduled on the 3rd of October, and he's not gonna make it. In fact, we're planning on dropping him this week. It's just going nowhere at this point. Better to give him a little more time to think about it.  Fact of the matter is that things are going really well. I'm happy and well.

Not too much news with transfers, other than the nice news that Elder Croft and I will stay together for another transfer. We were both a little worried. My side because he had already served for 6 months here, and I did not want to take over the entire city of Munich after only having 6 weeks of preparation. So we are happy. Not much changed in our zone, only 5 out of 15 companionships. Next transfer will be much more different. Elder Croft will leave. At least 12 companionships will change. It will be interesting. Exciting times though.

The stat line for the transfer, we taught 65 lessons and found 60 potentials. It's been a fun transfer. Looking forward to more this next one. Well hey, it's been over a year now. Love you all and well wishes for the football season. Go Packers!

Best wishes, Elder Hadfield

Munich - Week 5

 

MLC was this past weekend. On Thursday night and Friday morning. It's all the Zone Leaders and the AP's, with the Sister Trainer Leaders as well. We learned a lot and I'll sort some thoughts out and share next week. So there are ZL's in Stuttgart, Salzburg, Wien 2, Munich, Schwamendingen, Bern, and Bonstetten. Those last 3 are Swiss Zones. Our AP's right now are Elder Ridd (nephew of Randall L. Ridd) he is so cool and I enjoy his company a lot. The other is Elder Rozan (from Spain) he can speak like 6 different languages. He was companions with Elder Bartholomew back in the day.

The Kohler's are in the Munich 2 ward. But,We see the Kohler's very often. I enjoy Sister Kohler a lot. She's an awesome mom. Poor woman has been so lonely lately after sending a daughter off to college and a son off on a mission, she doesn't know what to do with herself, so she'll just come down to the office and hang around. She was at our district meeting last week, while President was in Wien doing interviews. She loves the scriptures more than anyone I have ever met. I really enjoy that about her. She's awesome.

Very busy. Refugee filled to put it in a word. If there is one thing we ARE aware of, it's the refugees. We're on the front lines of this, and it's kinda fun. I'm enjoying it. They are all coming in at Munich Hauptbahnhof, which is smack in the heart of our area. We're always around there. We see it every day. Thousands and thousands of them coming in. The police forces are insane, the media is wild, and the hype is just off the walls. We saw an S-Bahn packed full of about 500 of them on Saturday night, and last night, we got called down by the city to go help sort clothes and help them work through the German paperwork. Today, there are supposed to be 10,000 that come to Munich. We are definitely gearing up for that. We did get an email from the Area Presidency. Obviously we are not permitted to proselyte in such situations, but the service is welcome. Our coming weeks with be smashed full of that. It's shocking. They are estimating around 1,000,000 immigrants into Germany by the end of the year. It's eye opening when you think that there are only 8 million total in Germany right now. President says he sees this as the literal gathering of Israel. Interesting to think about. I don't quite know what's going on in those countries, but obviously it's something. Quite the situation we find ourselves in. 

Interesting situation, Elder Faux's companion is headed home for surgery this week, so he'll be in our apartment and working with us for a week until transfers next week. I'm sure I'll hear stories about Passau and so forth. It should be good. We had our MLC last weekend and it was pretty great, but we have a Zone Training tomorrow and we feel pretty stumped on what we would like to do there. 

We had a very great week. We're teaching around 5 new people we've found ourselves and they are all really cool. We taught 15 lessons this week and have sure had an enjoyable time. We are busy, busy, busy and I love it!

Elder Rozen, Elder Croft, Elder Hadfield, Elder Ridd

Elder Hadfield, Elder Ridd, Elder Croft, Elder Rozen, Sisters Abram and Berry