Week 2

Hallo Mother!

Week 2!!!

To answer all your questions:

- The food is super cheap here.  And it is really good.  Something's taste different. Others taste the same.  We probably get the same amount of groceries at home but for only like 20 euros. But I haven't figured out yet if we are shopping at like a 99 cent store or something.  Maybe I shouldn't know. 

- we are pretty much on our own. For this whole transfer, we only have one meal lined up from a member.  It was actually really funny because last Sunday, while we were in church, one of the kids named Ben, he is about to serve a mission in Alpine and his native language is English so that is nice, he just went up to his mom and said Mom we are having the missionaries over for lunch, and that was about it.  But usually we buy food for the week.

- Favorite meal by far is a döner.  They are a turkish food, but by far the most delicious thing I have ever had.  And then the döner shops all have this fanta flavor drink that is only legal in Switzerland or something, but that just by far tops is off.

- The weather is like a roller coaster, it has been cloudy this whole week, and its like timed perfectly that whenever we are in our apt, it is super rainy like crazy and when we go outside it is sunny.  But today I am buying my umbrella.

- Yes, i saw the Ricks in the airport when I got there, and they gave me the package.  When you see them next, please apologize to them for I was completely tired and disoriented when I got there.

- Street contacting is..... interesting.  I am completely terrified of it, but I know that when I do it, the Lord will bless me. And for that reason, even though I am scared, I still do it.  As of lately, people have been really nice to us and at least stop to listen.  So keep those prayers up! We really walk into all types of people.  We have run into hardcore Catholics, some Jehovah Witnesses, and I even met a Hethen (he called himself that not me).  So that is pretty cool. However, I know that when I put myself out there and talk to people, the Lord will help me with what to say.  He has been helping me so far with that.  There have been times that I had no idea what to say, or what they said for that matter, but the Lord knows what they need to hear. 

- Teaching is where we really are busy.  We have a lot of investigators and a lot of teaching appointments.  Steffi is going to get baptized next week, so we are trying to meet with her almost every day.  And I do not know if I told you about Herr Reiner, but I truly believe that he likes us and almost everything that we teach or give him to read, he understands it completely.  I think we are going to give him an invitation to be baptized this week, and I hope that it goes well, He has a smoking problem and cant find time to come to church, but he knows that what we are teaching him is true.  And you can really see that in his eyes.

This week has just flew by.  I cannot believe I am already at another p-day.  But I feel really good and confident.  Something that I keep telling myself is to have patience.  Patience is the key to this work.  Especially with the language.  I still cannot really understand what people are saying but its a funny feeling, I cannot really explain it, sometimes when I am talking to people and I do not hear what they are saying, I feel like I kind of know what they are saying.  I couldn't explain it any better than that.  And I know that is not me.  That is all Heavenly Father.  He sent me here for a reason and as long as I do all that I can to prepare myself and keep and live the commandments, He will help me with my weaknesses.  The people here, are very interesting.  We run into a lot of people that have no faith on God.  However, I have seen the Spirit of Learning and that Light of Christ that tells them what we are saying is familiar to them.  I love to see that.  To look into the eyes of those we teach and just see the cogs rolling.  To see that the Spirit is touching them and telling them what we are saying is familiar and true to them. 

I had my first Tausche this week but its when missionaries go on switches or something like that, and that was really interesting.  I went with an elder named Elder Benteley, and he is a funny guy.  We were in Freiburg, right next to the Temple and we had to go and find this one contact in the middle of nowhere.  We walked almost 5 km to find him.  And something that I just realized, is the area that we are in.  We are in a area where the dialect of German is really gutteral, so half the things the say I cannot even hear it.  Its a Saxxony dialect.  So when we found him, I just sat there thinking, ok well I definitely understood nothing from him.  But that did not get me discouraged.  I know that with time, it will come.

I have started to loose weight already.  I did not think it would come this fast, however, my brown suit which was a little tight on me, now just droops over me and there is a lot of space between me and my coat now.  So I will probably pretty soon have to get that all resized. 

Me and Elder Larson are going great.  There are pictures of us up on the blog if you haven't seen them yet.  I am so grateful for him and all his help.

I am sorry to hear about Uncle Mark.  I hope that everything works out and I will definitely make sure to keep him in my prayers. 

Well I Love you all with all my heart.  I will try to write to everyone else more, but as of yet, we don't have a lot of free time, even on our p-day.  It is really funny, you should see us, we have to take trains wherever we go, and they are always like 15 min rides.  and so the moment we get on the train, we are so tired and beat.  Elder Larson falls asleep almost every time. 

I love you all with all my heart,

Elder Bretzing