Week 1 of the fortnight ......
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Tuesday! District Meeting! About 2 or 3 transfers ago, President came up with a schedule of what should be done in District Meetings, so basically he plans them each week and tells the DL what to assign. So our DL has switched it up and it was a really good meeting! Then because our district is huge in terms of area, we alternate each week, as to where we do DM, so this week it was in Richterwil and we decided as a district, so that DM isn't a waste of time for 2 hours; after DM we tausch and go finding in that area, to help each other out and work with other missionaries, so we started it last week! It was actually really fun and we found a couple of potentials! Tomorrow it's in Bonstetten, so we have to plan where we're gonna go to do it! Probably in Zürich, as there's actually people!!!! Then Tuesday evening was our first member spiritual thought! They are such a cool family! I decided to do the 'ask and ye shall receive' one - with half a frank! It was amazing and they loved it! Then we joined them for Family Scripture Study and then left, but they said they will have to invite us over for dinner soon! So... my master plan is actually working!!!!
Wednesday was just a normal day and then we had a lesson with Rudi (Rudolf) I believe I told you about him! His wife was down from Deutschland this week, so we had an awesome, but not so awesome lesson! It was a real powerful lesson and we got his wife involved as much as my German would allow. And she bore amazing testimony!! The Spirit was ridiculously strong in there, we just need to keep those spiritual experience coming!!!!
Thursday... what an interesting day! So the DL set up this appointment by text with Ursula that he found at the last Ausstellung. We needed to move it back one hour, so that the perfect member could come with us, but there was a mix up with arrangements and we go along with the day! We are at the chapel at 16.00 to do emails to potentials... and Ursula turns up! I'm confused, my comp's confused, we have no member, so we have to simply tell her that we will have to reschedule! Although now, we can't even get in contact with Ursula. So frustrating!!!!! Then in the evening we have Splits with members again, so Brüder Meier and I go by a less active! She was really nice!!! There are pictures or statues of cats all over her home. She has 2 Heilige Burmese Cats! She told me an ancient myth about why they are called that and why they have white paws! It was Interesting!!! All in Schwiezer Deutsch as well!!! I understood all of it, so if you ever fancy hearing it, just ask!!!!
Friday was another day! We decided to do some vorbeis on some formers and potentials, but I fancied feeling like I was back in Kaufbeuren, so we skipped the city and did the middle of nowhere part of our area! It was beautiful! I don't think there's a single place in the mission where you can't see the Alps! It was awesome! Then in the evening we had another Member appointment. Because Tuesday's went so well, I decided to go for it again! They loved it! It is perfect for families with little kids! They try some of the funniest things to get the coin without touching a single hair on your head! Luckily coins here aren't magnetic! Phew! Then we had Dessert with them! It was carrot cake and tasted awesome!!!!!! And they also said they'll have to have us over for dinner next time!!!! Like I said..... IT'S WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday... well, well, well!!!! I realise this is the day you have all been waiting for!!! I must say, the night before transfer calls I normally sleep brilliantly, but this time I had the worse night sleep ever!!!! So, I showered at 6.30, forget Frühsport when transfer calls are coming!!!! So they called at like 7.25!!! Our ZL's do calls as the mission is so huge and it would take Pres. all day to do them. So we had a chat while waiting for Elder Requillart to get out the shower.... And we are staying together! We went on to have a lesson with a former. He just let us straight in and was really happy to see us! So that was cool!! We then had a DA in the evening where we had Thai Curry!!! It was amazing!!!! And during the appt. Pres called! I told him we're at a members, so we'll call back when we are done. We got home and called Pres. back and he said he wants to make a change! I stay and get Elder Paulsen and Elder Requillart goes to Biel. So I'm taking over an area for the first time!!! Scary much!!! Elder Paulsen is from Denmark, he is one transfer younger than Elder Requillart so in 5ish months time all of my comps will be dead!!!! Elder Little dies next transfer, Elder DeLeeuw the one after, a Elder Requillart the one after that and then Elder Paulsen after that!!!! He just finished as ZL in the St Gallen zone, so he's a real hard worker, although I've heard he can be quite quiet.... so we shall see!!! I'm sure he'll be great though and I'm excited to work with him!!!! Biel is an area that nobody wants to serve in cause we share Biel with the France Lyon mission, just like we share Brixen with the Italy Milan one, but he'll be great there, cause there are so many French speakers!!!
Sunday! Not much really happened! Really, I don't remember anything specific! Although we didn't meet our Zone Goal of 25 New Investigators, but we got 18 and 5 tauftermines, which is like the best the zone have ever done in a number of years!!! So we still didn't fail!!!!
Week 2 of the fortnight ........
Montag- Simply, not much!!! Emails, chatting to Sorella Robertson online and chilling at the chapel with the Richterswil Elders again, as the weather was pretty bad, so we couldn't do much!! So it was a pretty relaxed p-day! Then Family Home Evening and I had the lesson/spiritual thought to do, so I based it on member-missionary work! It seemed to go well, and my German isn't actually so terrible!!! I did it without even planning before hand, so it just flowed! Obviously with terrible grammar, but it went well!!!
Dienstag- We had District Meeting and this week was in Bonstetten. Speaking of Bonstetten, when the weather is nice, I will get a pic for you - don't worry!! I think I may have said a few weeks back, with DM, we do a finding day as a district for 2ish hours after district meeting, wherever we have it. As we were in Bonstetten, we did finding in Zürich!!! I worked with Elder Vasicek for the last time, as he moved to Zolikofen on Thursday! We got 2 potentials in an hour and a half and taught this guy a lesson on a bench in the middle of Zürich!!!! It was crazy cool!!!! Miracles happen!!!!
Mittwoch- We finally went to the temple!!!! Only the last day of the transfer and all, but it was about time!!! They did some renovations in December/January, so it was a little different from when I last went! They moved and added furniture in the celestial room, and it legit is identical to the one in London now!!! So cool!!! The weirdest part was going through Bern to get there! It was so awesome, but so weird, going back to my "birth place"!! Plus we were in Zolikofen like once a week as well for football on Saturday Mornings, so it felt way weird being back there!! It was a really amazing visit! Then when we got home Elder Requillart packed his bags for transfers!!!
Donnerstag- Oh man, where to begin!!!! Today was transfers!!!!! I think I told you a few transfers back, how transfers work! That we have 5 main Bahnhofs and everyone being transferred from/within Switzerland all come to Zürich Bahnhof! Then we all conjugate in the middle of Bahnhof with everyones bags, chat, catch up with people and tausch with our new Companions! So we got off our train and Jake was like the first one I saw, which was great! I don't remember what I told you about my new comp last week, so his name is Elder Paulsen. He's from Copenhagen, Denmark and has just finished serving as Zone Leader in the St. Gallen Zone!!! He's awesome!!! Like I legit love the guy!!! Such a brilliant missionary!!!!! This transfer is definitely gonna be a good one!!!! Then we had another 15-20 minute Spiritual thought appointment with a family in the evening and they fed us!!!!!! It was awesome and they are such an awesome family!!!!
Freitag- Weekly Planning and I find out I have a broken companion!!! He has a bad back, like really bad! So we have to be careful how much we do that is strenuous, but it doesn't stop us from working and he is still awesome!!!
Samstag- Second Ausstellung I've done in Gemeinde Bonstetten!! Same place as last time on Bahnhofstrasse and it was pretty good! I think this time we got 6 potentials, but we gave away so many Book of Mormons and pamphlets it was untrue! Like, it goes from 10.00 til 16.00 and by 12.00 we had no Deutsch pamphlets left and by 14.00 we had no Deutsch BoM's left!!! Like what the fetch!!!! And we have none in our apartment either, so hopefully the ZL's will pick the ones we ordered up for us on Freitag at MLC!!! Hopefully! Then we had dinner at our old GML's! It was pretty awesome. I finally learnt how you're meant to have Spätzli! We buy it all the time but just fry it, season it and eat it like that, but the real way to have it is cooked and then topped with a creamy type sauce with mushrooms and meat and such! It was amazing! Although I still may have it the typical missionary way, just because it's quicker!!! haha!
Sonntag- Church! Oh man!! Testimony meeting was really brilliant. I love this ward with testimony meetings! Then Sunday School was also brilliant! We went to the English one with our Neubekehrt, Jeffrey! He's awesome! Then for Priesthood we were joint with the FHV(Relief Society)! They spoke for well over an hour about cleaning and how to clean the chapel properly and how you must wear gloves and goggles to protect yourself when cleaning!! And how the box with the red cleaning supplies is for the toilets, the green is for something else and the blue is for something else!!!! I am now at the stage where my German understanding is pretty good if not understanding most conversations, so I was legit bored out of my brain!!!!! It was terrible!!! I was sitting with Jeffrey, who just received the Priesthood this Sunday, which was awesome! And we were just cracking up at how unusual the lesson was, certainly not normal!!! Like, I am so grateful we didn't have an investigator at church who stayed for the full 3 hours, cause it may have been hard to get them to come back after that!!! It was another Gemeinderat experience, looking around and seeing all the members faces!!! On the plus side, we got invited over to a family for dinner after church! Sister Ruetz just came up to us in the middle of the cleaning lesson and asked if we fancied coming over for dinner! So we said yes of course!! So 3 dinner appointments this week! Not bad!!! Dinner was amazing and they live in the most beautiful house I have ever seen!!! Legitimately! It is beautiful, maybe it made me a little covetous!! Like, they have the most beautiful view of the mountains as well, just to top off how beautiful the house is!!!!!!! It's crazy!!! Then in the evening we had a little move about in the apartment! Elder Paulsen says some of the most random liners on things he doesn't like! Last night's was "I don't like my bed being open on either side, I want a wall to lean against!" So we moved the bedroom around, so he can have a wall to lean against and also nearer to the window, as the night before, he said how he likes to sleep looking at the sky!!! So random!!! But that was our week!!!
Plus we gave 3 blessings this week!! I had to seal the anointing for the first time with one of them! I was pretty nervous, but it was just the same as in the MTC when I gave Elder Nebeker a blessing! The Priesthood is real. It is the Power of God. He speaks through His servants, as they use that power and authority given to them! The love He has for each and everyone of His children is unquestionable! Being able to be a tool in giving a priesthood blessing is such a blessing in itself, to feel just a portion of that love He has for that individual! It is real and I have such a strong testimony of the Power of the Priesthood! I am so grateful for it in my life and for the opportunity and blessings I have to use that authority!
Jake served with Elder Paulsen! He was in a dritt when he was meant to get a Golden, but his Golden didn't get out of the MTC, so they were working Luzern and Aarau at the same time! That was only Paulsen's second transfer as well, so he was still a Golden!! haha!! Craziness!!
That is basicaly everything for this week!!! Have a great week!!!
All my love,
Elder Ammon Robertson
