August 31, 2009

Hey mom!!!! thanks for chelseas address that is wonderfull. So guess what transfer calls came this sunday and it was a funny story. so we were all ready and stuff we both thought we were not going anywhere. we thought we were going to stay in salzburg for the next transfer because i am so new and i dont know the area that great. so we were waiting for the call and it didnt come and it was about time to go to church and so we thought we were just not going to get called and all would be good and we would stay here in salzburg. However just a little before we were about to head out to church, the phone rang.... and i can see the looks on your faces right now as i am delaying the part where you get to read the transfer news. Please dont hate me for it. I think you will laugh about it later. Anyhow it was Präsident condie and elder williams face went totally white as he picked up the phone. President condie said, "Elder Williams I have a new assignment for you. I want you to come to München and work in the office with me" Ha ha my companion is going to be the new Assistant to the president. And just the week before he was talking to me and saying how greatful he was that he never had to work in the mission home. Because of how boring it would be. But now that is where he is going. i however Will be working with Elder Wright or Right. I don't know how to spell it President condie said that I will be staying in Salzburg for the next transfer. I am scared a little. ha ha i don't know the area so well seeing as how it is my first area and i gotta show elder wright around. But i know i can do it. I know the investigators and their needs and what to do. God gives us these little switch ups and hard times so that we can grow and become better people.
To answer some of your questions.... of course we go out tracting on sundays, that is the best time to find people because people dont have work and everybody is together with their families at home. Sunday work is the best work!
You should be getting a few more calls than just that one. A couple weeks ago a whole BYU ward came through our town on a study abroad trip and they all got my number plus a couple other families that we helped during church and another family that was on vacation that we helped find the church. they should all be calling you because they wanted to call my parents and tell them what a wonderful missionary they raised. Thanks mom and dad. I love you.
Yes we have a ward and yes there is about 150 people. Its pretty huge. I want to find more families to bring here though so that they have to split it and make a new meeting house. That would be awesome to have a second salzburg ward. we are working diligently on that.
So the lederhosen might not be a go anymore. I was totally ready to buy them and everything but the other day my awesome bike that i have here broke. The axle on the back tire snapped in half. I was just riding along and it broke. That was sad but we stopped and talked with this really nice lady for a while and we set an appointment out of it. but now i might have to buy a new bike and they are looking at about 300 euro or so. I am going to try and see if i can fix up one of the sisters old 3 speed bikes with white wall tires and use that for a while but i might just have to buy a new bike. bummer.
The weather is good, but it is starting to be really cold in the mornings when we go out running to mönchsberg. It rains a bunch here. Just about 63.73 percent of the week or so is rain. its ok i like it. My guns are getting huge with my awesome pullup bar. mom dont worry about sending perfect pushups for christmas someone left a pair here in the apartment that i have now adopted. However what do yall want for christmas that is my missionary budget. Echt deutscher krawatte for the pappa? (a real german tie), plates, chocolate. pictures? say something.
This week was one of the harder ones. It has been going great though. We have found and spoken to a couple of Gods wonderful children. We did however experience a lot of fallen out appointments and a lot of finding time where a lot of people were not even willing to listen to us. It goes forward however. I am just as excited as the first day of my mission, because there is still the opportunity there that we will find someone who is ready and willing to take upon them the name of Christ. For example we found a Russian man who has had just the hardest life ever that I could imagine however he still holds his family in the highest priority. I hope to be able to meet with him again and teach him more. He was grateful that we had given him the Book of Mormon and he said he would call us soon. We also found a woman in the same park on the same day as this Russian man and we sat down with her and had an entire first lesson with her. Our new investigator has a wonderful story behind her relationship with the church. She had the lessons given to her about 40 years ago when she was young and she took them with her grandfather. She wanted to know why her grandfather was so interested and we showed her. It was truly a spiritual lesson and she wants to meet with us again. I am way excited. I have decided to set a new goal each day of the week just for the day on what I can better as a missionary. It is a prayerful matter, and I have found that as I do that I receive the help I need for the day. One day I really wanted to improve the way I gave my testimony to people on the street, and to make sure it came from the heart. As I did that I realized it helped Elder Williams and I connect to this man named Frederich, whom we met on the street. This truly is the Lords work and, though difficult sometimes, when we push through and smile He will bless us, His beloved children. I say that in the name of our Reedemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

August 24, 2009

hey that is way cool you are fourteen almost fifteen and you already have a car. Lucky. speaking of almost turning fifteen. what do you want for your birthday. They have some pretty cool fußball jerseys here. The home team of salzburg is the Salzburg Red Bulls. Their stadium is huge and when we go contacting outside when its game time you can hear it. it is so loud. Ha ha ya people when you knock on their doors when a game is on tv, they will just say "fußball" and shut the door ha ha i think it is funny. we even had someone invite us in to come watch the game, cuz they thought we were crazy being outside when a game was on the tv. well that is also cool that you started school. Really apply youself. Get your homework done on time and give your best every day. Really rely on the Lord as well he will help you with all things that you must do. Love ya bud. Keep up the good work and be sure to tell me if my english starts to get bad :)
ELDER ADAMS

we get transfer calls next sunday. that is the 30th then we are transferred on either tuesday or wednesday. Not cool. I love this area and the people here. I hope i dont get transferred. It seems like it has only been one week. Elder williams said the same thing. He said that he was sorry for me because this transfer has gone by so fast but he said that that means that we were working hard and staying busy. I just hope my whole mission doesnt pass by in the blink of an eye. I will be sure to take pics of the apartments. Especially the toilet. HAVE YOU SEEN THESE EUROPEAN TOILETS BEFORE!!!!! They are crazy i get so scared everytime i flush. I cant describe how they look but im sure youve seen them before. We call it the trophy shelf..... cuz well you know why. ha ha anyhow. thanks im glad you got my letter love you mom love you fam!!!!
Wow cool you are selling my car that is awesome. Well Ya so last week i got the false information when i emailed you. They said we were going to seekirchen but we actually went to Halstatt. they are completely different places but it was so beutiful. Im glad you got my lettter. Today for pday however we are not going anywhere. We think we are going to go get lederhosen though for me. So just in case we do go will you put the money in my account for it. Danke! If we have time to go shopping for them that is. Thank you for getting the address from chelsea mom. That is really nice of you to do that for me. Have I ever thanked you enough for being the Bestest mom in the whole wide world? Goodness, I dont believe i could ever be thankful enough. The work is going great. We are hammer missionaries. (When you say hammer like "du bist der Hammer", that means like "the bomb") Any how we have 4 progressing investigators and we got let into this mans house when we were dooring the other day. I want to do that every time then i wont have to wear out my shoes like devin. Ya I want to be able to say that my shoes look nice because i got in! ha ha well that is the goal. but it doesnt always happen that way. We had an awesome lesson that we just taught right there on the spot and we gave him a book of mormon. We are seriously bustin it out here in salzburg. I cant believe how hard of work it is. When you really throw all your effort at it the whole day long, really showing your love for the people here and trying to bring them the gospel regardless if they hate you or not. It makes a missionary tired. We come home often soaked with either sweat or rian. Smelling like the bowells of hell, and ready to just crash in bed, but so pumped and ready to do it all again the next day!!! Wow I love it!! we were late coming out of the appointment last night, so we were trying to book it home before 930 and so i was pumping my extremely muscley legs as fast as they would go up this hill and i guess the pressure was just too much for my bike to handle cuz the peddle on my bike busted off. I gotta replace that now. Well i think that is all. Well obviously not all. I cannot even begin to write the weeks doings but ya i will try to write what i can. Well tschüs!!! Ich Liebe Sie!!!!!
Mensch! i keep forgetting to write stuff. Tell brannen mitchell and zac all to read Alma 13 and then DandC 84:19-20. Its about the priesthood that they got and how awesome it is!!!! Tell mitch that i got his letter too and that i will be writing back soon.
By the way i am in a dream. this place, the people, the food the cheese, the ICE CREAM! All amazing!!! Tell grandma i got her letter. Tell her i love her and that the hug was much needed :)

August 17, 2009

hey mom i dont have a lot of time to write this week but i want to let you know that i love you so so so much i will send you a personal letter this week about the weeks doings. the reason being is because we are going to seekirche today. it is in the area of where hitler had his "eagles nest" so that takes all day. but the thing in salzburg the large castle is called the Festung sorry. it is right in the middle of salzburg. we actually didnt go and see it because it has been raining like buckets the past week. 200 € is about 300 dollars more or less.
no i didnt mail any pics. Mom i love you and i will pray for you to have a good year in school i pray for you every night. by the way could you ask chelsea if she is getting my letters? I haven't recieved any from her and i wonder if its because i have been sending them wrong. Elder williams said also that sometimes the post office loses letters. so if you could pass that along to ChelC that would be great.
spency poo that is ssoooo coool im glad you mc jacked my machete. have fun with your car send me pics if you can. i love you thank you for your testimony and stay strong keep developing your testimony that is the strongest tool you have out here. people can really feel a testimony. Tell the fam (including chels cuz she is fam) that that is a cool thing about a mission. when people deny your testimony day in and day out and turn you down you really question if what you know is true and when you think about it and you feel and know it is true then that is when it becomes stronger. and after two years of that you will have the strongest testimony that you could possibly have. love you tons bro!!!!!!!!
hallo!!!!
I dont have a ton of time i am stopping by a internet cafe on the way to see kirche. the work is so awesome!!! im so glad that the work is going good for you as well. We have been kicking butt. We prayed hard the other day to find a street to work here and we had the strongest feeling to work in the Römergasse. So we went there last night and we found so many people that are ready. we made out so many appointments! My german is getting better. I love just going up to people and talking to them. It make for so much fun to start a discussion about the savior. we are having so much success. It is hard and some people are downright mean but there are so many super nice people as well. Forward this to mom if you could as well. any how the work is going. we got dropped by our golden investigator. He just up and moved without even teling us. that really put a damper on my day but i got over it because we went out and found lots of more people that are ready. GPS!!!????? psH...... that is sooo weak we have to use a map! with our bare hands in the pouring rain on our six speed old bikes. we are awesome. just kidding that is devil talk. ich muss demutig sein. (i have to be humble) My comp is awesome. he is so intune with the spirit. we are definately obedient. we go running in the morning on the river it is so beautiful and we have this intense ab workout adn we do perfect pushups and we also have my pullup bar. well thats all the time i have i have to catch a train to head to hitlers summer home. tschus. Bis spater mein Brüder!!! Ich liebe dich!!!!

August 10, 2009

hey mom i love you!!!!!!! i am on and will be for the next hour. its hard to plan when im gonna be on every week. we have got shopping and stuff to do and we are going to see the massive castle in the middle of salzburg today. its called the Festus which means the stronghold. so ya email back if ya can. by the way did you get my pics last week?
Wow that is so cool!!!! tell brannen and mitchell from me that they are awewsome!!!! And that they are going to be so satisfyed with the decisions that they are making to serve their lord on a mission. The Mexican spaghetti sounds good. I gotta tell you though I eat so well here. Oma (our grandma downstairs) always gives us food it is so tasty. She gave us some cheese that is super expensive too it was a little slice that weighed probably 10 ounces. on the sticker that was on the wrapping though it said that it costed 14.50 € per half kilo gram. that is way expensive. it tasted good though. So i've lost like three kilos which is like six pounds. Riding a bike is intense. these streets are crazy and the people always drive really fast. for example last night we went to a members house for dinner and he lives up in the mountains in the nicest house that i have ever seen in my life and we ate lasagna. i ate a piece that was about the size of a nine by thirteen pan and then two apfel strudels with ice cream. I was so full you have no idea. and then they expected us to eat more. ha ha. so then after we were done he drove us home which was like a thirty minute drive on a single lane road ( really skinny) and it was really curvy throught the canyon. We probably didnt go any slower than 100 km per hour. the wheels were screeching as we were tearing around the corners. Man it was like tokyo drift! So i have to ask you a question? I need an opinion. Should i buy a set of lederhosen. There are pictures attached of elder williams in his. This is an example. I think they are super awesome and they look cool and we would go hiking in them here but they cost like 200 €. That is super expensive. So i dont know. Give me your opinion on the matter. Love you mommy. k so i took pics of my backpack while sitting here at the computer. Hope it is good enough. Devin will want one. im sure. but anyhow. i gotta email president now and report on the weeks doings but i will check back again. Love ya'll tons. Aufwiederhören!!!!
oops ha ha i forgot to attatch the pics to this weeks email ha. sorry i will do that now. anyhow we gotta go shopping now and we are going to go see the festus. I love you all so very much. I really hope you know that. Mom thanks for bringing me up the way you did. Im so much a better person for it. We had an apartment inspection this week and the couple missionary that checked our apartments said that we need to thank our mothers cuz they taught us how to keep a clean house. They also said that our future wives were going to love us. :) So thanks mom. Have fun with chelsea this week! Tell dad that i love him too. Tell spencer to look up to the stunner misisonaries in our ward. Zac, Mitchell, Brannen. Thanks for everything Love ya. Tschüs!!!!

August 3, 2009

hey mom im on if you can chat. love ya
well to answer your questions it is different every week where we go. we usually have to go to internet cafes and pay for the email. but last week we went to this library and emailed. yes i traveled with someone to austria im a missionary i have to have someone with me at all times. ha ha ya his name was elder glassman. he is funny he says dude and man a lot. The other missionaries at the airport used a card to call. thank you for the information. i went this morning and got registered in austria so that i can work here in salzburg. i also applied for my visa. yay so 80 euro later.... ya i get reimbursed so all is good. i bought a tie today. it looks really schick. Ya oma, the lady that lives underneath us is so nice. she has given us so much food. it is ridiculous. book of mormon and he has come to church the past two weeks he even went out and bought a tie and a shirt so that this week he could look good too. Aw man he is so awesome. That is some of the successes. There has been lots of cool stories where we have met people that have had dreams that very morning that we were going to come visit them. and so now we are teaching them. But we have also had our fair share of trials. Several of our 14 appointments that we had set up this week fell out. when contacting we we made fun of by this group of people that were drunk. They've mocked us. laughed at us, turned us down before we can even say anything. when riding our bikes i've been spit on and even had alcohol poured on us from out their windows. one of our other investigators who seemed golden wrote us a letter saying that he didnt want to visit us anymore he pretty much ragged on everything we taught him. It seems like it has been raining a lot this past week but i have faith that all will work out well. Im happy with the success we have been having and i know the lord will bless this work to go forth if we keep giving our best everyday. Yesterday in church i got to help teach the aronic priesthood class. I bore my testimony about mission work and how important it is to bring others to Christ so they can partake of the same joy that we have. It was the first time in a while now that i've started crying during my testimony as i looked at those young kids who are going to be misisonaries someday too. I hope im a good example. One that my Father in Heaven would be proud of. I love you all and I wish you all a wonderful week.