Munich - Week 27

Hallo zusammen!

So, another week down. I think this was week 75 or something like that, according to someone from my MTC group. It's even weirder because the sisters of our group go home next week. What?! I can hardly believe it.

So I have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen to me next transfer. I've heard thins... So I'll tell you next week when it's official. (:

Cool story from this week. I was on Austausch in Augsburg with Elder Maw which was really cool.  We had a really good time. But we were on the way back, and we split up on the train, and Elder Maw started talking to an old guy, and I sat next to this older lady, who laughed, got up, and left. So I was sitting there throughout the train ride, and the ticket checker came around. He checked Elder Maw, who had a 2 person ticket, and I had a 2 person ticket as well. So we just used his ticket, and I saved mine so that Elder Carr and I could get somewhere later in the day. Then, the ticket checker moved onto the next girl, who had run to catch the train to visit her sick Grandma in Munich, and had not bought her ticket. So she was begging the controller to let her buy a ticket from him, which would cost about 13 euro, and he wasn't having it. So that meant a 60 euro fine for her. So I saw this going down, and realized I had the extra ticket. So I got up and asked him if I could just put her on my extra ticket. He didn't seem rather happy about it, but what was he going to say at that point? He said, Ausnahmsweise, then swiped my ticket. She was obviously breathing sighs of relief and was really thankful. So she came and sat with me and we had a really good talk.

She was a really cute 18 year old girl from Poland. She's been here for 5 years and has learned perfect German. She and I just had a really great conversation on the train and she gave me her number. Then offered to come home with me hahaha. But now she's being taught by the Elders in Augsburg and who knows what will come from it. Cool deal right?

So yeah, it's been around 70 degrees today. Holy cow it's been great. We went out Mountain Biking today with a member and it was tons of fun just to be out.

Investigators are doing good. D is a little less ready than we thought he was, but is coming pretty well. I think he'll be definitely baptized, it's just a matter of when.

M is doing alright, just hard to get in contact with and lost his job as well.

S is nix. Unbelievable. Frustrating too.

S is progressing, has been to church a few times now.

A is coming along. We are trying to teach all the lessons to him slowly through scripture stories this time around. It's working pretty well. That man loves to read...

Munich - Week 26

Today was cool. We were at Neuschwanstein again with our district. We had a really good time. We are so dang busy. 

This week has been great.We went to Ingolstadt for an Austausch and there are 10 new people to teach. Then we came back to our area, and with just the few days we had to work with, we found 10 people in our area, and taught 11 lessons. Things are going really smoothly here. We have 4 progressing investigators. D is coming often to church, and he is wanting to marry our member girl hahaha. So yeah, it's looking pretty good. We're trying to set a date with him this week. S is coming along really well, just doesn't want to be baptized yet. He's more active in our ward, than in his other Protestant ward. A is doing well -- loves the Book of Mormon, just needs a further testimony of it and needs to come to church. M HAS COME BACK. We've taught him twice this week, and he's so ready this time around. He's really really close. I'm excited for him. I want to stay here!! We also got a call this week..... from..... S!!!! (: He wants to meet again. I'm really pumped to see him again.

As you can see, things are really going. We're always really busy. Flooded with appointments. I think I'm leaving this transfer though from what I've heard. We'll see. I'll still keep contact with all these people. Transfers are on March 3 by the way.

Favorite German Pastry: I love the Krapfen. It's always a nice refresher.

Breakfast is almost always Musli.

The zone is progressing really well. I know that we've gotten 30 more lessons in the past couple weeks than normal. It's exciting to see the progression. 

Alrighty family, I gotta get in bed. I love you! (:
Sam

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

February 2016 Mission Leadership Conference

Munich District Meeting

Munich - Week 25

Hey Fam and Friends!

Mission Leadership Conference- January

Baptism Day!

So here's a quick update on things that are going on. This also means I'm online for a while and you're allowed to email me all you want. We've been crazy busy lately. This past week was the only full week that we'll have in our area this transfer. This week will be crazy. We only have 2 full days in our area. Kinda crazy.

Let me give you a rundown of how the week went. On Tuesday and Wednesday I had an exchange with Elder Griffey. It was a lot of fun we taught a lot of people including D, M who is a referral, and M. We talked to D about the restoration, and we taught Mfor the first time in a long time. It all really well it was a lot of fun. 

On Wednesday, we taught J, a new convert, and S, a new investigator. It was pretty successful, he's just interested in learning more about the church, not really for conversion at this point. But that doesn't mean we can't still try with him.  On Thursday, we had to have an exchange with the office others to be able to be at all of our appointments. We had two member eating appointments that day. We also taught two more lessons that day. On Friday, we ate lunch at a less active's house. We also met with a member that night. 

On Saturday, we had a new family moving from North Germany so we help them with their move-in. On Sunday, obviously we had church, and two surprise evening appointments. We met with S who fed us cake and talked with her about her new calling. We also went to the YSA family home evening, which was great to be there. It's been a pretty good week. Yesterday, we met with S again, and also with A. Yep that's right we finally met with A. It was really good to see him finally, and he's been having some pretty good experiences with the book of Mormon and praying about it. I'm excited to see how he further progresses.

In other news we were able to see the missionary broadcast yesterday, and I really enjoyed the talk from Elder Oaks. It put into perspective what we're doing and why we are doing it and why it's so important. I pulled a lot of the whole thing. One of my favorite parts was where they talked about how sometimes The best teacher is just the listener. And how the one that listens has the best opportunity to bring the influence of the Spirit. That's something that I can work on for sure. I it also made me think about when we open our mouth and why we open our mouth. I was sitting in the bahn the other day, thinking about talking to this guy. So I put a bigger worldly perspective on. I realize that it would be weird for him to hear about church while he's in the middle of Munich. And I thought even bigger, why I am supposed to talk to him. Then it made me think even bigger, why he needs to hear it, even if he doesn't think he needs to hear it. So those are some of the thoughts it brought to mind.

Anyway, that's kind of how the week has gone. I hope things are good with all of you. Shoot me an email, let me know how you're doing. I miss you all! Have a good week.

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Munich - Week 24

We were with a member at Neuschwanstein for most of the day, which is the one really big castle, which is where the idea came for the Disney castle.

So, I could sum up our week pretty quick.

On Tuesday, Elder Carr and I went out to Landshut to work in their area for a day and to get it going. I got to work with Elder Kaufusi  He's just starting his 2nd transfer. I think we did pretty well. We found 5 new people, and taught a lesson to 2 random guys off the street in just about 2 hours of work. It was really good for a struggling area. I love being in Landshut as well. It's a special place for me. 

Wednesday morning, we had to take a train back at around 7 in the morning, and we got back and were given the job to pick up Elder Hunter from the airport. He's a missionary who went home a little while ago for back problems but came back out. We went and got him from the airport and he spent the day with us. It was really fun. I enjoy that trip to the airport every time. Funny because when it comes for my final trip to the airport, I'm sure it will feel familiar, but so weird and different. We also taught F on Wednesday and went to S's house. 

Thursday was transfer day. Sister Ahlm and Sister Poll and Sister Cherrington and Sister Kramer and Elder Rozan all went home. It was a couple of hard goodbye's to missionaries I've known for a long time. The hardest was Sister Cherrington. She and I had been in Munich for 4 transfers together and had so much fun and became friends.  She's awesome. I got to see Elder Howarth again which was so great. I love that kid. 

So Friday came, and we had a couple lessons, and ran around all day finding people to teach. We ran out of time for weekly planning, but still didn't have much to show for anything, which sucked.

Saturday was member day. We had a service project with the A's. Moving couches and furniture to their new apartment. Then afterwards, we ate at Pizza Hut with them, then had Pfannenkuchen with another member. So another good day. 

Sunday came. S GOT CALLED AS THE SECRETARY IN THE RELIEF SOCIETY. I'm so excited for her! That is SO cool. I was so happy. She's on fire. We taught like 6 lessons at church to random people at church who showed up. We're trying to see if they'll turn into new investigators. I sure hope so. Have a wonderful week!

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Saying Goodbye to Elder Samuelson

Elder Hadfield & Elder Carr

Austausch with Elder Kaufusi

Breakfast (WHAT?!!!!)

Picking up Elder Hunter at the airport

Munich - Week 23

Things are great. I've been thinking back on my time here in Munich. I love this place. Heavenly Father has blessed us with so much success here, and it's amazing that that could happen to a couple of punk 19 year old kids in the middle of Germany. It's awesome. I would honestly spend the rest of my mission in Munich and be more than happy. I love it here more than I could tell you in an email. 

Well, this week it got cold. Bitter cold. We've also got about a foot of snow that we've received in the past few days. It's been fun sliding through the empty streets of Solln (where we live) here in Munich. Today is supposed to be -12 Celsius, which is like 8 Fahrenheit I guess. Then it gets colder throughout the week. We will be in Landshut on Austausch tomorrow, which is known as the Windy City in the mission. It's supposed to be like -5 degrees Fahrenheit. Haha. Fun right? Then on Wednesday, we pick up the missionaries from the airport. Thursday is transfer day again already. I'm starting my 12th transfer. I'm so old. 

By the way, transfers affected 13 of the 16 companionships in our zone, so it will be fun to work with some new people. I love that about President Kohler. He doesn't care how long you've been where you've been, or how long you've been with a companion. If he needs you somewhere else, you're on the move. 

That being said, we are one of the 3 companionships unaffected by transfers. I'll be here for at least 6 more weeks. Yay! We are hoping for a couple baptisms in that short amount of time. We will go get them! 

We figured something new out yesterday actually about F. He doesn't know his family. He was living on the streets in Nigeria, then found the opportunity to come here, and took it. He's had a really rough life, and it's been unreal to watch him turn 180 degrees. When I first met him, I never pictured myself standing in a baptism font with him. But that's how Heavenly Father works. F gave his testimony at church yesterday and it was very touching. He also was greeting all the members he didn't know. He's awesome, and on fire right now. 

S is also doing wonderful. She invited the 4 of us over this week and cooked for us. It was really really good. She hasn't missed a week of church since her baptism, and just received her visiting teaching assignments and so forth. She's loving being a member. She's on fire as well. I think the 2 baptisms we've had here are both going to be extremely solid members of the church forever. That's enough in and of itself to make me happy. 

Our teaching pool is picking up a little bit again. I finally got contact with A, and we will be teaching him this week. B and F are best friends from Nigeria and want to be baptized on the 31st. They won't make it, but we hope it will be soon. D is a new investigator this week. He's a member referral and we had THE COOLEST LESSON with him. It was so spiritually charged, and we all could feel it really strong. Including him. He was at all 3 hours of church yesterday and really enjoyed our gospel principles lesson about the mission of Jesus Christ. He's really feeling the spirit strong. We are excited for the progress.

We are teaching a few more people. A is from Germany and is the head boss of a huge project coming up here in Munich (a head corporate kind of guy). Which is very exciting. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, but is jut freaking himself out about being baptized. His parents would kick him out. We have the most powerful lessons but he just isn't pushing himself enough. We will see.

Yeah that's about it. Needless to say, things are excellent. 

I've been really looking at our Time as missionaries, which could relate to time as members. When we look at it, we don't have a lot of time on this earth, and especially less time in a day. We have to make our time worth it with the things we do. Which includes fulfilling our callings, telling our family members how much we love them, performing service, working to provide, you name it. But the time we have on earth is so precious and limited before we meet God again just like Alma 34:32 says. There's my thoughts, and our week. Hope it's a good one for you!

Munich - Week 22

Baptism of  B and F!

January 7, 2016

January 7, 2016 - Rain, Rain....

Munich - Week 21

Things are going really good here. We have all of a sudden a lot of work to do. Which is always a good thing. Now that the holiday is over, people are ready to meet with us. We have a lot going on this week. We met with S this morning and B this afternoon. He has fallen into our hands a little bit. He was in Ingolstadt and taught there, but moved to Munich, and was working with the English Ward, but didn't enjoy it, would like to learn German. So his day is on the 24th. Hoping he will make it. We've taught him the restoration like 7 times and he doesn't really get it. So we are moving on and seeing if other lessons will be better. We will see how it goes. 

Elder Carr comes from a good family in Spokane, Washington. His dad is an animal Doctor. He's the middle of 4 I believe. He's a football player, so we get along there, but a Seahawks fan, so that's where I draw the line. He's got 5 months left. He was in the MTC with Elder Howarth and Elder Killpack. Guys like that.

Elder Croft emailed this morning and has had contact with S over Facebook. We are going to see if we can get something going. We are still working on getting an appointment with M. Other than that, there isn't too much to report on.

We have a really busy week ahead of us. An MLC and a few really important appointments and then more stuff on the weekend that I'll have to fill you in on next week. 

Thanks for your prayers!

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Munich - Week 20

Sam Quotes from e-mails to Mom & Dad after Christmas & Skype:

Well man, this week has been crazy. I'm so stuffed!

 Christmas at Bishop's was awesome. I loved being with their little girls and 

enjoying the time with their family.

We had great food.

It was also just nice to experience the German tradition of opening all the gifts 

on the evening of he 24th and watching the kids be so excited about everything. 

Seeing you was such a wonderful experience.

Bishop and his wife got elder Carr and I ties which was way nice of them. 

It really was such a great day.

 If I had to name a German dish that I would love to have mom cook it would probably 

be Spätzle and Blau kraut. It's way good and I think the family would like it too.

Sure sucks about the Packers.

I'm doing great and I'm really happy. 

I love you!!!!!!

Back in Passau 12/31/15 with Elder Faux

Spending Time with the Greatest Guys in the World on the Greatest Day of the Year 12/24/15

Christmas Eve at the Mission Office 12/24/15

Christmas at the Hettenkofer's 12/24/15

The Whole Turkey at Christmas Dinner! 12/23/15