Letter# 25

Family,

well this week was interesting. bad stuff first. elder popp was sick a couple morning this week so some of our morning pland sucked and then being in more than half the day really makes you depressed so the rest of those days werent good. we had about 13 fallen out appointments this week. but hey, it happens. we also lost contact with one of our investigators who was on baptisimal date. so ya. but its all good.

this week we also had zo co and so our tuesday and wednesday sucked missionary work wise, even though the days were good. it didnt help our numbers or our investigators. but all is good.

well tuesday was one of the days we was a little sick so we stayed in most of the say and then we had an appointment with s nd that went really well. he is so cool. then we got on the train to hamburg and that night was crazy. 8 elder in one apparetment. some elders from another city were also spending the night and this is a 4 man appartment to begin with. so it was crazy. wednesday, we woke up super early and played basketball at the church before the conference. they have showers at the church so we all showered there. it was fun. the conference went well. but the food was good and then all the packages came in. the van was packed from floor to cieling and nothing for me :( made me sad because i was expecting a package, but oh well. i already had one the week before so i wasnt to sad. lol. so as everysone opened packages nad chilled i sat there and almost fell asleep lol. finally we left and got back to oldenburg. long day.

thursday was nothing special. tons of fallen out appointments and elder popp was sick this morning so we were in most of the day. its all good. no big deal. fraiday we had weekly planning and were in a lot as well and we had 3 more fallen out appointments that day. but cool thing, we met this one buy on the street. he stopped us and started talking to us in really bad english. we started to talk to him in german and he got a big msile on his face and got excited, it was so cool. we ha da big conversation about the book of mormon, about america, about misisons, and about the church and jesus christ. he was way cool. i have heard so many stories of elder being stopped by people and i have alway had the attitude that if we atleast walk arou nd and dont talk to anyone then the lord will eventually help someone to find us. no one can see us or talk to us oif we are in the appartment all day, so on rough days when you atleast go out and walk around. maybe we dont talk to many people but atleast we are out and about that someone will come up and talk to us. well it finally happened and it was so cool. that night as well we went caroling. i have pictures of it. our entire district went carroling in the christmas market and downtown area. it was super embarrassing at first but as we went and got over the nervousness and being embarrassed it was SUPER fun and really funny. we passed out probably around 40-50 DVD of joy to the world films. it was cool.

saturday was normal but then at 4 we had the christmas partys for our ward. it was really boreing at points but at others it was fun. we played musical chairs with everyone watching. it had a spiritual message to it so that was cool. then people sang and had skits for us and sang some more. we ahd this christmas quiz which was way hard. then all 4 of us elder were supposed to sing, but they skipped over us. then it was my turn. at the end i was supposed to change and run in in the middle of the primary singing a song and intereupot them as santa. well i was super nervous and wasnt sure what to do, but i said screw it adn just burst into the chapel with my bell clingling and shouting ho ho ho and merry christmas (in german) they stopped and i was supposed to pass out presents in my sack to the kids. the names were on them but the problem was i dont know the kids in the ward by name and so it was super embarrassing to have to ask people who the anme was and then give it to them adn then pull out another present. look at the name and then ask again and then give it to them. it was a little awkward but super fun. as i finished and my bag was empty i clingled my bell again and left. i dressed out and sat outside until it was over. as it ended a little kid came out with his parent and was yelling for santa and asking me where he went and if i saw him go anywhere. it was super cute and really funny. everyone was happy with how it went and the branch pres and his councelor who calle dme as santa were really happy and thought it went well. the councelor couldnt stop laughing at me because of how weird i was as santa but it was funny to everyone and when i left he told me i did a good job and he was happy with how it went. so ya, thats me being santa LOL.  

sunday was awesome. we had 2 appointents fall out on us, but the eating appointment we had was sooooo cool. it was with a family that has 4 kids and 3 of them are american citizens. they wer all born in the 5 years they lived in america. we talked to them about utah, and costco, and american people,. all the kids speka english adn german and the dad speaks english like an american. his wife has perfect english to but with a slight accent. we asked how they do it and the mom speaks mostly german with them and the dad english. way cool. the oldest is like 6 or 7 and all 3 of them speak better german than we do and the 7 year old has the same english as we do!!! its crazy. lol. it was so much fun though. 

ok well thats really it. oh wait...spiritual thought. read ehter 12 and hebrews 11. both of them are all about faith and its amazing the miracles brought by faith. also ehter 12 has 2 really good scriptures in it. both of which are scriptures mastery. ether 12:6 and ehter 12:27. both really good.  also, parents!!!! im talking to you about your kids. rememebr to praise in public and punish in private. even christ did this. remember the story of the woman who was brought before christ because she had comitted adultry. they ask him what should be done. you know the story and he tells them that any of them without sin will cast the first stone. they all leave and then finally he talks to the woman. same thing with your kids. if christ did it so can you. he waited until all were gone to talk to her and "judge" her i guess you could say. same with parents and kids. it does nothing and sometimes has the opposite effect when you punish in public in front of their friends or others. it is best to do this in private when you can discuss and talk about what happened nad how it can fixed...ok im done with giving advice. lol

ok well thats it for this week. i will email next week and then in 8 days we can skype!!! woohoo.  love you all laods and have a great week :)

elder ustach