Ich liebe Bonstetten, geht die Arbeit nach vorn

Okay!!!! So there really weren't any major awesome highlights, however the fortnight was pretty sweeet!!!!!!

We'll begin with Monday! So, after emails I said we were going to Konstanz to shop in Deutschland! So, our train from the chapel in Bonstetten (side note- I never told you how beautiful and awesome and awesome and.... well our chapel is awesome! It is relatively new. I think 2 years old or something like that and it is beautiful! We also have a pretty big car park as our basement!!!!!!! How AWESOME!!!!!!!!) So, back to our train to Zürich - It is either the S9 OR S15.  I can't remember which one it was.... I think S15, anyway.... It was pretty packed, so me and Elder Requillart had to sit at like opposite ends of the train carriage! I sat opposite this guy and he just starts this conversation with me asking if I'm from a religion, etc. (auf Deutsch natürlich) and he was asking a load of questions and I was freaking out, 'cause I didn't quite understand some of it, as he spoke fast and all and I think even a bit of Schweizer Deutsch. So I was scared, but just answered him perfectly! It was such an awesome conversation!!!!! #theLORDprovides (yeah we have a number of mission hashtags that go around... it's cheesy, but that one just fit perfectly for the situation- gotta love it)! Then, in Konstanz - we bumped into the elders from Frauenfeld, Ebnat and..... Wetzikon!!!!! So we had another catch up! Life was fun, then we finished the day with Gemeinde FHE!!! (Yes, the ward do FHE and we, as the missionaries have to lead it! It's fun! But I have the lesson for today and have no idea what to do! I may use one of the spiritual thoughts/inspirational things my parents sent me!

Tuesday we had District meeting here in Bonstetten. The district is pretty large in terms of land covered, so we switch each week between Bonstetten chapel, Richterswil chapel and Chur. Life's good! Our district is tiny though!!! There is just 3 companionships of elders, but one of them in each companionship was in my MTC group!!!! So half our district! It's pretty cool!!! Elder Dewey is in another district, but he is in the same zone! But more on this later... Then Tuesday evening we did splits with a couple of members, so it was a good change!!!!

So, Wednesday brought my re-registering in Switzerland! That's right! I'm back!!!! Although I swear the lady thought I was crazy for only being gone for 6 weeks, then coming straight back!!!! hahhahahha! Then, here comes the surprise of the week, which was awesome! I had a tausch.................. with..................... Elder Dewey!!!!!!!! It's a pretty crazy story, but - when he was in Bonstetten there was an investigator who's wife is a member, but lives in Deutschland! He lives in die Schweiz during the week for work, then goes to Deutschland to be with his wife on the weekend. So Elder Dewey taught him when he was in Bonstetten quite a while back and this guy is awesome and had a baptismal date and everything, but Elder D left and missionaries started being pushy and he didn't like it, so it kinda stopped! Elder Dewey is in touch with the wife by email and this last week he got an email from her saying she is down in Switzerland this week with her husband and looking for work down here.  She wanted to know if he could come round with one of the Bonstetten Elders and start meeting again. So he obviously had to get permission from Pres. and he said 'Yes' and which better Bonstetten Elder to tausch with then Elder R....obertson!!!!!!!!!!! So we tausched and it was awesome to work with him again!!!! And our appointment went amazingly and then he was at church here yesterday with his wife, as she is still down here at the moment!!!! And I got an appointment to go by again next week!!!!! :D He is such an awesome guy - so pray for him!! His name's Rudolf! I think he will definitely get baptised when his wife is here more permanently, so it may be even better to pray for the wife to get a job here in Zürich (her name is Marrion) They are awesome!!!!!!!!! 

Anyway, Thursday rolled around and I had a bit of a headache all day and a tickly throat, but life goes on!!! We had a pretty good day and an amazing DA. They did some sort of Rissotto and it tasted AMAZING!!!!!!!! I should totally get the recipe! I need to learn that question in German actually!!!!! hmm...

Friday was a day of death!!!! I woke up and my voice was dead and my head was throbbing. So I went to the Apotheke to get something for the throat and messaged Sister Kohler - who of course then said that's okay - call the mission nurse! So I then messaged the nurse (I can't call with no voice now can I!!!) Who said drink lots of cold fluids, take Ibuprofen and Tyrenol and stay in bed ALL WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All fetchin' weekend!!!!!!!! I stayed in bed Friday, so not much happened! Saturday I got up and felt a little better, no headache, but my voice was still a little sore, but I couldn't stay in bed another day so I said 'we're going out'!!! We worked all day and it was a prety good day, but we got home at like 7 and I was dead.  I felt worse then I did on the Friday! Lesson learnt - Diligence and Disobedience don't go together!!!! So I went straight to bed!

Sunday morning roles around - 'rough as chuff!' But I had to go to church, cause I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting. You know me - or maybe I've changed a bit since being out here, but I didn't want a stupid illness stopping me! Plus, it's clearly passed any contagious stage. So, I avoided being too close to the members and gave my first talk in German since being out!!!!!!! I was soooooooooo scared!!!! But the members told me afterwards that it was "awesome" and my "German was perfect"- So I accept their lies and carry on!!!! But other than dying of some sort of disease - Life is awesome!!!!!! I just hope this thing goes pretty soon, 'cause I feel well rough right now!!!! I look it as well right now, 'cause my shaver ran out of battery yesterday and there is no adapter thing in this apartment, which all apartments are meant to have, so I'm going for the homeless look! It sucks, especially when I have interviews with President on Wednesday, so I best get something sorted by then!!! - which means I should also be getting my package on Wednesday!!!!! :D

Those German words - believe it or not I already knew a couple!!!! Innerer Schweinehund has to be my favourite! I think our Branch President in Kaufbeuren may have taught Elder DeLeeuw and I that one!!!!!

I always forget to tell you this one as well- You know Ash does Kinder egg predictions... well we do Bible Prophecies! We basically close our eyes while your comp taps from back to front of the old testament until you say stop and then flicks from the front or back until you say stop, then the page tapping until you get to a verse and your Bible prophecy is that verse and the 1 before and after it. My one last transfer was perfect! I believe it was Jeremiah 29:14-16. It legit is the most perfect prophecy ever!!!!! hahaha!

It's snowing again, which sucks! I miss the car!!!!! :( Although, when I woke up this morning it was a relatively clear morning and from the window and balcony in our apartment there is a pretty awesome view of the mountains!!!! Although you can only get it on a clear day and it didn't stay clear for long! So I'm hoping for a change in the weather to wake up to mountain views!!!!! That would be nice!!!!! 

The view on a Clear (Snowy) Day!

So, it's been a pretty crazy week! Good old Bonstetten!!!!!!!! We'll begin with p-day! As I'm sure you can tell, the weather isn't the best, so no mountain trips or beautiful boat trips on the Zürisee! We just stayed at the chapel this time and played games with the Richterswill Elders! So, not much really happened apart from that and Family Home Evening! My lesson/spiritual thought went well (mind the coughing and dying as I went through! But I survived it!!!!

Tuesday! We had a tausch with Chur. I stayed here in Bonstetten and Elder Vasicek came to Bonstetten to work with me. It was crazy working with Vasicek again- I don't know if you remember, but when we went finding in Manchester back in the MTC, I worked with him then. He is just a finding machine!!!! We did like a solid 3 hour power-find in the afternoon and taught a guy a whole lesson in the middle of the street (minus praying with him) and got 2 potentials out of it! I don't know what finding is like for Ash in Italy or how it was for my parents in London, but 2 potentials for 3 hours' finding is AMAZING for Switzerland!!!!!!!!!!! He also introduced me to this pretty sweet finding technique, which got so many awesome conversations! Basically, you have a red love heart and just ask people "Was bedeutet diesem Symbol für Sie?" (What does this symbol mean for you?- Also, my German there was probably super bad. I can't write it very well, saying it you can easily cover mistakes, as it sounds pretty similar anyway, with the words you'd make mistakes with!!!) Then they answer: "Well, it's a heart - so love!" .... then you ask them what love means to them or what is important for them in their lives that fills them with love, etc. Then you just get a super awesome conversation from it. I think people in general just speak more about something when they have something to look at, like the heart or something else! So my plan is to put together a finding kit of different things I can show and ask questions about!!!! Hopefully, it will soon boost this area, 'cause this place has so much potential it's untrue!!!!! It's the fetchin city of Zürich, which I'm pretty sure is the biggest city in Switzerland!!!!!!!! Then, we finished the day with institute with one of our new members! It was fun to be back at Insti- memories of Bern!!!!!

Let's move on to interviews on Wednesday!!!!! So the way we do it, is that one district meets in the morning, has district meeting and interviews during it, then the other district comes, we have lunch, then training with President for an hour or two then the other district has their meeting and interviews! So we got there, had lunch and then training with President! This time he focused on goals and mainly our goal as a mission and his view of the next year! So many statistics my mind was kind of blown. With Presidents vision and if everyone of us are on board, we could totally become the most successful mission ever! Then my interview with President, which went really well.

Thursday! Not much happened! Vorbeis - finding; a general missionary day when we have no appointments planned! Then in the evening we had the joy of teaching seminary!!! Elder Requillart agreed to it, so he did most of the teaching!!! Plus, auf Deutsch - they still use the old curriculum for it, which you can't get online auf Englisch, so I wasn't too sure as to what was going on with it! As they only have the new curriculum auf Englisch- I was major confused! So I let him take the lead!!!

Friday was just a normal day again! Plus weekly planning! The highlight was definitely getting the cards from home!!! I also loved the pictures from the primary kids - it was good!!!!!

Saturday!!!!! We had the Ausstellung!!!! Basically, it's a jazzed up finding day! The ward pay once a month for (I don't remember what it's called, but the permission to set up a display in the street and stuff) So yeah! We had a table with a load of pamphlets, BOMs, Info, etc. It was a pretty good display just on Bahnhofstrasse, which is like a major street in Zürich! And the district came and we just did some solid finding there from 10am til 4pm! It was a killer of a day, but it was so good! We had members there who stayed by the stand and then we kind of wandered around, nearby - just speaking with everyone. We did it separately as well, but still in sight and sound so alles gut! But it was fun! I think in total we got around 10 potentials from the day. And I had so many awesome conversations with people! Although I had a strange one with this Russian lady who was telling me "You don't believe any of this rubbish"! I just told her "I know this is true! I know it's true, because I've read this book and prayed to find out and I received my answer from God. I know without a single doubt that it's true, that the message that we as missionaries share with the world is the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I wouldn't give up 2 years of my life, putting me back 2 years with uni, etc. if I didn't know this was true!" Then I simply asked "Why do you think I don't believe this?" and what do you expect her answer to be....... She had no answer! She was just lost for words! The power of Testimony is an amazing thing! It is powerful! It is through our testimony that the spirit testifies to those around us! Don't ever be afraid to share your testimony! It is Power!

Sunday on the other hand, was just a normal Sunday! Brilliant Fast and Testimony meeting! Studies and then we had a lesson with a new member at the airport! He works there and had to work yesterday, so we decided we'd meet him after work and share a message with him! It was so weird being in an airport!!!!!! Strangest thing ever!!!! Other than that, that was my week!!!!

I guess I owe some pictures, so I'll get those added now! One is just a sign outside a shop that made me laugh a bit and the other, I was really craving root beer this week, so went on a hunt! It may have cost me CHF 3 but it was so needed! But what's CHF 3 when a fetchin' meal at Burger King cost me a full on CHF 17. This country's prices are jokes!!!!!

Quality is never on Sale

CHF3 but well worth it..life in Switzerland is expensive

I know this work is the Lords work, His hand is in every stage of it! This Gospel is true and I am so grateful for the great role it has played in my life!! I love you all and I am so grateful to be a part of an eternal family! I can't wait till the temple re-opens here and I can go again, 'cause there really is no other place I feel the realness of my eternal family!!!!! 

Schöne Woche!

 Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx