Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Wow you all have been partying a lot! Thanks for those photos and the video! It is fun to see everybody there together again!

Lunch at Switzerland Conference

We have had a pretty fun week here! I keep forgeting that Christmas is in just a few days! We have so many eating appointments this week it is amazing! I better make sure to get my excercise in the morning or else I may be looking a little bit different in later photos. It is fun to be able to see both german and swiss Christmas's at the same time. We will also be spending some time on Christmas with a family from south africa, so we are pretty multicultural.

We had our ward party last night, which was really fun! We spent time just talking with the members in the ward and the YSA's in the ward planned a program for us all about Christ around this time. It was pretty fun and I ate a lot of cookies and peanuts. This ward is really really awesome and friendly. It always makes it easier when your ward feels like your family.

You can tell that it is vacation time around here because there are no people on the streets until like 12 o'clock, but there are about a billion people in the middle of town where the shopping centers are. Konstanz is a really big shopping area because it is right on the border of switzerland. So all of the rich swiss people come up and outnumber the germans. For that reason, Konstanz is one of the most expensive cities in germany! We went into this mall today as we were waiting for a train and it was completely full of people trying to finish up their shopping and just having a nice time with eachother. It was pretty fun to see.

The only Americans serving in Switzerland

We are teaching a guy named C-----, from kenya, and he is awesome! We taught about the importance of Jesus and the atonement this week. A few members came with us and they really helped make it an awesome lesson. C----- was really excited when we told him that we actually have a book of mormon in Swahili, which is his native language. He actually is really smart because he is nineteen and can speak 16 different languages! Pretty cool right?

I have really been thinking alot lately about how important scripture study is. Sadly, I talk to way too many people on the street who are faithful and active members of their churches but you always know which ones read and which ones don't. The rest of the world, outside of our church, has just the Bible. We, as members of the church, are so blessed to have not only the Bible, but also Three other books of scripture along with modern day teachings from the prophets. We are the most blessed people on earth and I hope that we all take advantage of the gifts that were given us. We should always be hungering after our daily bread. I have found that daily scripture study will change the way that we look at our lives and our minds will be opened up so that we can see with more of an eternal perspective, with more hope, and with more faith.

I hope that you all are having a great time getting ready for Christmas! I can't wait to talk to you on skype! I will be able to tell a lot more stories there! I love you all so much! Have a great day! 

Love,

Elder Eldredge

True Happiness Comes from the Spirit

A Street in Konstanz (Constance)

Hey!

It sounds like it's freezing at home! It is pretty cold here but it hasn't snowed quited yet (that might change by tonight). Have you all been doing a lot of sledding and snowball fights? You all seemed to have had a great week! It was also pretty fun here! We are starting to really really feel the Christmas spirit over here. We had our Christmas conference in zurich on friday! That was really fun because it was also Elder Gublers birthday. We sang a lot of Christmas songs and played the chimes as well! There were a lot of missionaries there, most of which, I had never met because they have been in Switzerland for their entire missions. But it was fun and I made some new friends! I also did get my package on that day so thanks for that! The family tree is a pretty awesome idea as well!

President Miles

I have a pretty cool miracle for you all. It happened just last night and i was really impressed by how God puts us where we need to be, so that we meet the people who we need help.

We met a man, F------, on the street and we asked him what he would be doing to celebrate Christmas this year. He began to cry and told us that he would be alone because his girlfriend had just broke up with him. We offered our help in that he could let it all out on us (he was pretty broken up). We went and sat next to a building and began to get to know each other a little better and we tried to help him as much as we could to stay positive. It began to get really cold and he asked if we could go inside somewhere. We happened to be on the way to a member's home to drop by some candy as a personal touch, so we decided that we would go and ask if we could use their home. The member let us in and we began to talk again. This member has had some problems in her marriage and could connect with him so well and she really opened up to him. Her story was exactly what he needed and we taught that God has a plan for all of his children and that if we trust him, nothing stands in our way to happiness. At the end of the night we sent F------ off on his train with a Book of Mormon and a DVD from the Church. It was so cool to see how well our member helped us and how she bore strong testimony to this man. It was pretty much all done by her.

Elder Gubler playing the bells

At this time of year, people are searching a little bit harder for that feeling of true happiness, that only comes from trying to follow the Lord's commandment of loving one another. We know this feeling to be the Spirit. I hope that we all remember why we have this holiday. Remember that Jesus never gave gifts of earthly worth to those around him. He gave eyes to the blind, health to the sick, and comfort to the needy. A good gift comes from showing love and serving our brothers and sisters around us.

Some things never change

We are really excited for the next week because we set up a lot of appointments with a lot of really great people, and our members are inviting us around a ton because of the season. It will be filled with a lot of food and fun!

I hope that you all have a great week and that you are all safe with all that ice! I pray for you and wish you all the best until next monday.

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Pictures!

Someone is putting on a little weight!

Hello again!

Another week is gone just like that!? Darn. Time goes by way too quick out here. I don't even know what day it is sometimes. It was a pretty good week though! It is starting to get pretty cold here but it hasn't snowed yet. They say that it doesn't snow too bad in Konstanz because we are so low down and close to the lake but it is already way cold! All that snow looks like a lot of fun! We had a pretty good snowball fight while we were leaving the church in St. Gallen because there is a good amount of snow there and that was pretty fun.

From the pictures, it looks like everybody is doing pretty well and having a lot of fun like always! Those kids look bigger and bigger every week! I bet that everybody is having fun with the christmas stuff starting up and being able to eat candy canes and watch christmas movies all the time. We went on a walk with some members and their friends yesterday after lunch, and we walked into the woods a bit where santa claus was and he was giving all of the kids cookies and stuff. It was pretty fun and festive. We are also getting a lot of invites for the holiday season! We don't know exactly what we will be doing to skype but I will make sure to let you know exactly what is happening.

This week we will have a christmas conference in zurich with all of the missionaries in switzerland and we will have a white elephant party, and have a real spiritual christmas conference. That is also when they will be delivering the christmas packages so no worries. I will get it this friday for sure.

We had a pretty cool lesson this week. We found this guy a few weeks ago and we have been trying to make contact with him for a while and we finally got an appointment set up for last friday. We asked him what his expectations where from us and why he wanted to meet. He told us that he has been searching for a long time to find answers to his questions about God but he couldn't ever ask because he lived in muslim countries until about six months ago. He has been writing down his questions for years and we were already able to answer some of them. He was so happy to find people who have the answers to his questions and he just got excited about it. It was pretty cool and we will meeting with him this week.

We also found these two kids playing basketball outside of a school so we asked if we could play, and although basketball has never been one of my strong points, it is ok because I am in europe and they are worse here. We had fun kicking there butts and they will be bringing some friends to play this saturday. It was pretty fun and we hope that we can make it a pretty regular thing.

I took some pictures of the city and of the lake last monday so I will make sure to send them if this computer doesn't get to angry at me this week.

Overall, the last week was way awesome and exhausting as well! We are working really hard and setting high goals everyday. We listen to a lot of christmas music at home to, so we are getting excited for the season, just not for the snow. It will be pretty cold.

Well I will make sure to let you know about the whole skyping situation so that we can talk in a few weeks! I hope that you all have an awesome week! stay safe with all that snow on the roads! I will talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Hello Elder Gubler!

Hey there family!

Wow those thanksgiving photos look really fun!

I can't believe how many people there are in that one room, but I wasn't surprised to see uncle Bryan fixed in onto that football game you had on. It was a little sad not having thanksgiving over here but I guess there will be many more years of turkey to come. I was missing you all though and wishing you could be here. Let Ben know that his hair is looking pretty sweet! Elder Gubler and I are over here giving out some serious props. *clapping hands*

Elder Gubler (right) is Parker's new companion

This week was pretty awesome! We had a lot of eating appointments because Elder Brose left and they were all really fun! We had two eating appointments in a row yesterday and I almost died from all the food that I ate. After the first one, where I had eaten two mountains of spaghetti, we had to catch a train in like 15 mintues but we were way way far away. So we ran after eating all the spaghetti and cake for like 15 minutes with our backpacks and everything! That hurt but we caught the train just in time.

But ya we had a lot of fun this week. On thursday we didn't have any thanksgiving dinner but Elder Brose and I drove to munich to ship him off and to pick up Elder Gubler. It was way fun at the trainstation in munich to see alot of my old friends. Elder Stilger was there too because he is training again so I have a brother! We even got to be on the same train for about two hours so we got to talk alot and hang out with Elder Gubler and Ridd (elder stilgers golden). We got out first in a place called Ulm so that we could get onto a different train, but it wasn't coming for a little over an hour and there is a way huge church there so we ran all the way there (10 minutes) with all of elder gublers luggage. It was really funny and the church was unbelievably huge!

Elder Gubler and i are having a great time together and I am learning tons from him! He is a really posotive guy and is always happy and really funny so we are having a lot of fun. We have already seen a lot of success as well! We are finding some really great people! Yesterday, these two guy from nigeria showed up at church, the first was a guy named mike who is already a member since the last 6 or 7 years, and the second is a friend of the first guy who came with him. They were both super cool and the friend really wants to learn about the Book of Mormon ( we taught a way awesome lesson with the other two elders and he loved it)! They live in switzerland so the other guys will continue to teach them but we are excited for them!

It is starting to get really christmasy in our apartment as well. We found some lights and hung them up in our apartment and we have paper snowflakes all over the ceiling and Elder Pugh has a lot of christmas music. They already have the christmas market up in most cities and towns as well and the one here in konstanz is really pretty.

If I could really explain what it feels like to work with Elder Gubler, I would say it is like jumping onto a quick moving train. We are really working so hard. I'm not saying that I haven't been giving my best to my mission because I have been, but Elder Gubler has shown me how to make my best a lot more effective. He just does things in ways that I have never seen other missionaries do work so effectively and now, already after just a few days, I would say that I haven't learned so much about what it means to be a missionary. It is pretty hard but I love every moment of it all.

That is how things are going around here. Always lots of fun and always lots of work. But I guess those are the same out here. Thanks for all those pictures! I will make sure to try to send some more photos in a few minutes. I hope that you all have a great week and that you are all safe. 'Til next week!

Love,

Elder Eldredge 

Goodbye Elder Brose!

Hey!

Wow you all are really busy! But I guess that is what happens this time of the year. All those kids look pretty grown up since I have seen them last! We have had a pretty fun week over here. Like I said last week, we got transfer calls on thursday and my next companion is Elder Gubler! He was the assistent to president for the last four transfers and he will go home in just four weeks. So I am getting a double kill. Elder Gubler is really awesome and I already know him because he was AP and he was in the same apartment in Vienna with Elder Stilger, plus Elders Gubler and Brose were zone leaders together in vienna. So we were both pretty excited to find out that he was coming here.

Elder Brose is going home on Thanksgiving

It is getting pretty cold over here now and the are starting to put up all the christmas markets in the town center. No lights yet but it won't be long I'm sure. The two other elders in our apartment have been making paper snow flakes at night and at lunch for a while and the top floor has a ton of snow flakes hanging from the ceiling so we are starting to get pretty excited. We even had an eating appointment with one of the families in our ward and the wife, sister ryan, made a really awesome thanksgiving for us and we listened to christmas music the whole time. That made me really excited for christmas!

We did a ton of walking this week! on thursday and friday together we walked for a total of about 12 hours so we were pretty happy that we had eating apointments on saturday and sunday. The great thing about this area is that the chocolate and snacks are all amazing, and you don't have to worry about how much you eat because you go and walk for like 5 hours straight and it's like nothing even happened!

The ward here is really awesome because it is made up of a lot of really young families with kids. it makes it alot easier to socialize when everybody is still pretty young. Our ward mission leader, Kevin, is way awesome and he really trys to be our good friends. He really likes Elder Brose and I because we make alot of jokes with the ward. We had dinner with him last night and he showed us his book from his mission that has entries from companions and photos and things like that. He served in this mission as well so it is fun to talk about how different it is now.

Zone Conference

I am pretty sad that Elder Brose is leaving because we are really good friends already, but at the same time, It is time for him to go so that I can steal his bed. My bed is just a board with a mattress on it, and he has a really springy bed with a heater right at the head which will be nice when it gets cold. I have been pretty jealous of that bed. I won't tell Elder Gubler.

I don't really know what else to tell you all about this last week. It was really cold and we talked to a lot of people and had tons of fun like always. I am really loving this area a lot and it looks like I might be here for quite some time so I am a happy camper. Again, let me know if any of you want some swiss/german stuff for christmas. I am probably the guy to talk to if you want some nice chocolate. Well, have a nice week everybody! I Love you and I pray for you. Thanks for writing and for sending the pictures. Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Temple Trip and One-Third Done

Wow!

It sounds like you all had a pretty awesome week! Hearing about the snow really makes me excited to see what this place will look like when it does snow. And I can't believe how big hogan looks! All of those kids are going to look so different when I see them!

We had a pretty awesome week here as well! Sadly we didn't get to do as much "missionary work" as we would have liked because we had tons of meetings. On tuesday we had zo9ne training in St. Gallen which took the whole day, and on thursday we had zone conference in wetzlikon which also took the whole day. And also, I didn't tell you yet, but a family in our ward invited us to go with them to the temple. We went on friday with them and drove in the car all the way to Bern and we went through the temple! It was way cool because only the missionaries that live in switzerland are allowed to go to the temple, and even though we live in germany, we belong to a swiss zone so president Miles let us go.

Our trip to the temple was pretty exciting! we met with the members who were taking us at 7 o'clock and it was about a two hour car ride. The Bern temple is the first temple in europe and it is really beautiful! We were really excited walking up to it. We spent a long time inside the temple before coming out and taking alot of pictures. It was also really interesting because all of the workers in the temple spoke italian and no german. So we got to play a few games of sharades! But the ward building is right next to the temple and as we were walking by it, we saw our mission presidents car which reminded us that the bern zone was having their zone conference, so we went in and said hello while they were eating lunch. President was pretty surprised to see us and I got to see some of my friends that I hadn't seen the MTC. I have now also been in every major city in our mission besides stuttgart and freiburg. I will make sure to send some pictures of the temple today.

German is going really well and I feel really confident with it. I am able to express myself pretty much all the time and I am starting to really master the difficult parts of the language. I am really lucky to have always had native germans speakers either in my apartment or in my district so I have gotten a lot of practice.

This wednesday will be my 8 month mark and that is really hard for me to believe! That is already an entire third of my mission just gone like that! I don't really like it. Some times the time just goes by way too fast and I know how sad i will be when it is all over and it will have felt like it didn't take long enough. But I guess that is the way that it is.

This thursday we will all get transfer calls and I will find out who my next companion is! I really hope that I will get to train. I think it would just be fun so I will be happy if it happens. It is weird knowing for sure that i will be getting a new companion because elder brose is leaving but I feel like I know our area well enough now that I am ready for it.

The work here is going pretty good as well. We find a good amount of potentials, our problem is that most of them have a hard time turning into investigators but one of our investigators wants to be baptized pretty soon and his brother might have some interest as well. We got a referral from church headquarters and a women wanted a book of mormon and the Finding Faith in Christ DVD so we brought them by and she was really interested in coming to church. She isn't our investigator yet but we will see what happens with her.

I hope that you all have another amazing week and keep having tons of fun! Thanks for sending a package! I'll make sure not to open it until Christmas. Let me know if you would like something from germany/switzerland that I could send your way. They do have some pretty tasty chocolate here!

Love,

Elder Eldredge 

The Black Hole

Hello!

Those kids really did a good job at destroying that bear! That was a pretty impressive photo! It sounds like you all had a pretty awesome week. Marions sounded amazing! I could really do with a nice hamburger and a shake! But i guess swiss food will have to do for now.

We had a lot of fun in the last week! We spent some time helping some of our members move apartments, and luckily both their new and old apartment were on the first floor! They had so much stuff, I was amazed! But we had fun because alot of the other guys from our ward came and helped as well and they are all really funny.

I had an exchange this week with the zone leaders in Winterthur which was pretty cool except that it is a two man apartment in winterthur so it was a little quiet. But this guy took me and elder Torapeinen (the zone leader) to this really nice italian restaraunt and I ate tons of gnochi and it was awesome! I started to hurt because I ate so much but I just had to eat the cake too.

On saturday and sunday we had stake conference which pretty much took away all of our time on saturday ond most of our day on sunday. But the conference was really good! The best part about it was that I got to see the elders that work in germany and austria! We call switzerland the black hole because all of the european elders get sent there and than almost never come out. So Elder Brose, I, and two other people, are the only americans that get to work in switzerland. We sometimes make jokes that president gave us space suits and tied a rope to our ankles so that we could go into the black hole and someday be pulled out again. But ya it was good to see all of our friends that we haven't seen for a while.

I tried to send some photos a few weeks ago but i didn't really get to it before my time was up but I will try again today.

With regards to the question about the language differences; The differences are huge. In germany, they speak really good german compared to what I had in Austria, but it still isn't amazingly beautiful german. But in switzerlan, they pretty much don't even speak german anymore. So many of the sounds are changed and they make alot of harsh, back of the throat, sounds. They also have a smaller vocabulary in switzerland. Also, in german, there are three different types of past tense, but in switzerland they only use one. So it takes a bit of time before you understand. But they have to speak normal german when they give talks or classes so it is ok at church.

Well thanks for writing! I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

It's not an angel - it's just a Turkish Guy

Parker's New District (Photo courtesy of Sister Miles)  His companion, Elder Brose, is on the left.

Hi!

Those halloween costumes look pretty cool! Sadly nobody over here really does anything for halloween. There were some parties that we saw signs for, and a few kids had some costumes on. They thought that we were trying to be hogwarts characters. But other than that we kinda forgot that it was even halloween.

Life here in Konstanz is pretty great! To answer the questions, there are four missionaries in our apartment, and we live in germany. The other two elders walk to switzerland each day and we work in germany. We are allowed to go into switzerland anytime though. And because it is a swiss zone, and elder Brose is the district leader, we do a lot of exchanges in switzerland. I worked in St. Gallen on wednesday and thursday actually. It was pretty fun and I learned some more swiss german (Swiss german is just simplified, less pretty sounding german).

We had interviews on tuesday with president Miles in Winterthur. Interviews are always combined with district meeting and it took a long time because my district is huge. We have twelve missionaries in out district, making it tied for the biggest district in our mission. We do a lot of exchanges because elder brose is the district leader. I held an exchange in konstanz on my fourth day, and we somehow only got lost about two times. It was pretty amazing.

We have been having a lot of fun over here! It is a lot more fun to be in a four man apartment, and I am glad that I will be here for christmas. It would be a pretty quiet christmas with just two people. Luckily we haven't gotten any snow so far but it will probably come soon. It has been raining a ton lately which isn't the best because we walk everywhere and the rain means that there are less people on the streets. But we are doing really well with finding people who give us numbers or addresses! Our problem is that none of them are really turning out to be very good investigators. One of the problems that a lot of missionaries here have is that there a lot of people who live here but are from other countries, which is only a problem because most of them don't have a job, don't speak german, and can only live here for a certain amount of time. And these are in most cases the people who are most open to being taught. But if they don't speak german and they only speak bad english, then it is hard for the ward to help them very much. But there is a woman who we are teaching who wants to be rebaptized before christmas and her 16 year old daughter has a good amount of interest in the church as well so we are hoping to set a baptismal date for the two of them this week!

The ward here is really cool but some of them have a really hard time remembering my name because it is really hard for them to really say correctly. At church, people are always coming up to get a better look at how it is spelled and the ask me how to say it. I have been finding it harder and harder to say myself because nobody has said it right in a long time. The most common thing that people say is "Elder Elgreg." It really made me laugh at first but now it is just normal.

I don't know if I ever told you all about what a döner is, but it is basically the best food on earth. It is a fresh baked bread taco sort of thing, with a lot of thin meat slices in it, and than you put on onions, lettuce, tomatoes, this awesome yoghurt döner sauce, cabbage, and sometimes some cheese. Everytime I eat one I think it was made by and angel, so I turn around to say thanks and it's just a turkish guy. But it's still that good! They have a really awesome Döner shop here and I only need to buy a few more before I get a free one!

Well anyways, things over here are good as always! I hope everybody has a great week and has a lot of fun! I love you all and I will talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Eldredge 

"I Used to Have Faith Like You Two."

Howdy!

It sounds like there is a ton of stuff going on at home! I had no idea that they did an evening for parents with missionaries out in the field. That is pretty cool! How many missionaries do we have out in the field from our ward now? I had forgotten that Isaac was already gone!

My week was pretty awesome! This area just gets more fun everyday! I will try and send some photos today if I get the time, and if the computer cooperates. We did a lot of finding this last week and we saw some really cool experiences! I even got to work on an exchange with one of my friends from the MTC who i didn't think that I would ever see in the field because europeans go into switzerland and never come out. But we talked with a billion and one people! I had a really cool experience that was like a miracle to me. We stopped this man and asked him what he believed about Jesus Christ and he said that he used to believe but he now thought that it was all nonsense. He tried to prove us wrong with his logic (he was a very intelligent man), but we simply bore testimony. As I was giving my testimony he began to cry, and once I was finished he said, "I used to have faith like you two." We told him that we could help him get it back, but I think he was a little bit proud and upset that he didn't get the last word so he told us no. But it was a miracle because this man felt the spirit for the first time in a long time, and I know that will be on his mind and help him regain his faith.

We also had an "Area book finding day" where our district all got together and we looked at each others books and helped organize and update. Our goal was to call every single person in our book and set up appointments and renew old potentials. We found several really cool people that sounded like they really want to meet with us. It was the first time that I had one of those finding days and It worked out really well!

Elder Brose and I get along way good and we work hard everyday. It's also fun to have two other elders in the apartment to talk to at night and at meals. They are both crazy but really funny too.

I haven't seen any october fest stuff around here yet. But it is starting to feel a lot like halloween and there are some decorations going up in the shops. But halloween isn't really that big here. I'm sure they'll have parties and stuff but trick or treating doesn't really exist. that's weird here.

But ya, that is a little bit about what is going on over here. Thanks for writing and letting me know how you all are! I love you all and am thankful for all that you do. Talk to you next week!

Elder Eldredge

Hello Germany! (and Switzerland!)

Hello from Konstanz!

Image courtesy of www.langenargen-tourismus.de

This was a pretty crazy last week with transfers and everything. I can't believe that i was still in haag just a few days ago! My last few days there were really amazing! We met with a lot of members and investigators that i had known so that I could say goodbye. It was pretty sad saying goodby to b----- for a while. I spent a few days slowly packing whatever i didn't need just a little at a time. But finally the time came for me to leave.

Transfer day was absolutely insane! I got on a train at 8 that went to Attnang Puchheim, then a train to salzburg where I had to wait for about an hour. I got on a train at 12 to munich which takes an hour and a half. From the time that my train arrived in munich, to when I was supposed to take the next train was 4 minutes and that didn't happen because the first train was late, so I waited in munich for about three hours. That was really fun and I got to see a lot of my friends from the MTC and other places that I hadn't seen in a while. I got on a train at 4:30 to zurich and I was in charge of three goldens with a sister katey lewis, who knows matt gowans. But that train takes about 4 hours, so I got into zurich at about 8.30, dropped off the goldens and took a train back to st. gallen with elder stank, who is in my apartment. We got into konstanz at about 10.30 (don't worry, our leaders knew) and it was about a 20 minute walk to our apartment. Luckily we got permission to wake up at 7.30 the next morning. But that was how my day went.

My new area is way awesome! We walk so much it is amazing! But it is really pretty so I am ok with it. I am still a little lost and I never know where I am but I am starting to get a hang of it. Elder Brose is way cool and we get along way good! We have a four man apartment and the other elders are Elder stank, from germany, and elder pugh, from england. They are in charge of the swiss part of our area, and we are in charge of the german half. Our apartment is way cool too! It has two floors to it with a big spiral stair case in it. We have a lot of fun. Our district is also pretty huge with 12 people in it. One of my european friends from the MTC is in it which is awesome because I didn't think that I would see him until we go home. Our zone is about 40 people. Me and elder brose are the only americans that really see switzerland besides a few people who have a certain amount of european blood, so we are pretty blessed.

Image courtesy of www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk

Our branch has about 70 active members in it which is really big compared to haag. Everbody is really really nice and they treat us very well. Alot of them are very excited for missionary work. I got to give my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday, as well as elder stank because we are new in the ward.

It seems that everything at home is going really great! Stinks that grandma took a tumble! I hope she is doing better now. All the kids seem to be growing up way fast or I have just been gone longer than I think. That picture of the guys having ultimate practice made me want to be right there! 

Well thanks for writing and sending the photos! It's nice to feel somewhat up to date so thanks for those. I think and pray about you all every day. I hope that you have a good week! I will talk to you all soon!

Love,

Elder Eldredge 

So Long, Farewell, auf Wiedersehen to Austria!

Where he is going!

Well, it is time to say goodbye to austria :'( But I get to say hello to Germany and Switzerland! Ah yeeeaaahhhhh! I am a lucky guy. I will be one of very few americans who ever see swiss alps! I am going to a place called konstanz. It is in germany right on the edge of Bodensee, and it is a part of the St. Gallen stake which means that P-days, district meetings, zone training/conference, and interviews will all be in Switzerland! The wife of the missionary couple in linz was actually baptized in konstanz, and she said that it is the most gorgeous place! It is right on the water and there are swans everywhere! Well I am excited!

But life at home looks pretty fun! One of the Elders in our district is pretty jealous of ben being able to be on the field and do that stuff. Those twins look pretty cute! And big too! Before i get home they will probably speak better english than I do! 

Well this week was pretty good! I was pretty nervous for transfer calls all week so I was glad when the day came. But we had zone training in salzburg and president and sister miles ended up coming to surprise us which was fun! We talked alot (again) about how we can work together with our members. It is a pretty serious topic I guess because everybody around the world is getting drilled on it all the time. Elder Armstrong made muffins for everybody at zone conference which was way good. His muffins are pretty impressive.

 

We have been passing out a lot of invites to our german/english class for the last two  or three weeks and our first one was this thursday. Only two people showed up and one of them needed to learn german and the other wanted to learn english. so we did a small split class. I was trying to teach this guy german but he didn't know english and he didn't bring a dictionary for armenian so there were a few times when I got pretty animated and it probably looked like we were playing sharades instead of working. But he was cool and we ended up getting onto the topic of religion but he said that he wouldn't care if the book of mormon was true or not so I couldn't do to much for him before it was time to go. But he will come this week again and bring his wife so that is good. 

Some things never change!

B----- is doing really good lately! he came to both sessions of our stake conference and got to know a lot of people. He really likes wearing a cross because it's black and matches his jacket so it is funny to see him. He keeps asking why nobody else wears them even after we have explained it to him several times, but that is ok. He promised me the other day that he would read the entire triple combination that I gave to him, which is good because his only problem is that he has less desire to study the scriptures but he is getting better at it. Only two weeks until his baptism and than he can work on getting to the temple!

A little more detail

Yesterday we had the second half of stake conference in wels at 10 in the morning so we went there and all of the missionaries in the whole zone came and that was really great to see a lot of them before we all go off to other places. After the meeting there was lunch at the ward building in wels so everybody went there, and since it was sunday there weren't very many trains so we had to wait until almost four to catch a train so we got to talk to a lot of people in those hours. It was really fun though and I got to say goodbye to the members in haag before I go. 

Well that was my week this week! alot of meetings and learning! It looks like you all are doing well and having fun! I miss you and will talk to you all next week!

Love,

Parker

Ben, 

would you like a chicago bulls hat? I'm pretty sure that's all they sell here because every turkish kid has one. and have fun with baseball before it finishes up for a while. Tell lisel hi, and that she is cool.

Conference Weekend

Hello!

This week was great! We got to do a lot of fun stuff because of conference. We spent the weekend here in Linz because they weren't showing it in Haag for some reason. But we got here on saturday afternoon to help pick up the new couple missionaries that we be working here because the weidmans are going home on wednesday. We helped them with their bags and we showed them their apartment and all that before going to the first session of conference.

 Because of the time change the first session was saturday night at 6. One of my favorite talks was Elder Dube's. I really liked when he said "Look ahead, and believe." Because you can watch conference at home on your computer, most of the members just stayed at home so the church wasn't too full but there was still some really fun people there. On sunday, we watched priesthood session at 11, the saturday session at 2, and the sunday morning at 6. I still haven't seen the last sunday session yet but i should be able to soon if not today. 

B----- is doing awesome still. We watched "The testaments" with him and I think that gave him the push to start reading in the book of mormon a bit more. I actually ordered a triple combination for him and wrote my testimony in the front for him. I am planning to give it to him before I leave. Speaking of that, we get transfer calls this friday, and I will almost surely leave Haag. Sadly we have stake conference this sunday so if I get transfered I won't be in Haag for my last sunday to bear my testimony.

Things with E. Armstrong are good. We still don't talk much but I have grown to be ok with it. It was nice to be in Linz for a few days with the district because I got to talk as much as I wanted. We had a really fun pancake party between sessions with some of the YSA's and the whole district. It was really fun to get to know some of the people in linz better. Plus the pancakes were awesome!

We have zone training in salzburg tomorrow, and it will be the first one of this transfer which will be weird because alot of people left and came since I last saw the whole zone. I have been the only one of my mission age in my zone since i got here besides one sister from germany who i didn't meet in the MTC. Hopefully I will get to see my MTC buddies soon!

It looks like you all had a good time watching conference! Cody looks like he's been cutting down trees and wresting bears before going to the mens club to arm wrestle with his mates. I am a fan. I also thought that ben was haley because his hair looks crazy long! Thanks for those pictures. I will send my cards in the mail this week now that i found the right packages.

Well not too much else has happened this week. Actually we did have a street display and we gave out a good amount of books and flyers. I even met some americans in a small town in Austria. I don't know what they were doing living there. But they were nice and really excited to see americans.

But ya that is what my week was like. Lots of fun and lots of work! Thanks for writing and sending those photos, and I am glad that you got back from china safely. I love you all and I will talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Eldredge 

P-day in Linz

Hey!

Hong Kong looks awesome! I sure hope that i get to go there someday! This  week was pretty good! We were given an unreal amount of food this week so our fridge is stuffed full! My capacity for food has really increased and I can eat for quite a while before stopping.

B----- is doing really great! He came to church again this week and he even spoke up during the mens class. He really impressed members with how smart he is. It was funny because it is only his second time in church but he knows everything so the members are pretty impressed by him. We moved his baptismal date to the 27th so that more members could be there.  He is really excited and hasn't had problems with the word of wisdom for over two weeks!

We met with a less active woman in our ward a few weeks ago and she has come to sacrament meeting for about a month in a row now. It is really cool to see how well the members invite her back and make her feel welcome again! One of our members came up to me and asked for five Books of Mormon that she is planning to give out. I was pretty impressed because she has already given about five away before.

Yes the apartment is still very clean. And still pretty quite. This transfer has gone by extremely fast! I can't believe that I have been with E. Armstrong for almost five weeks now! I will almost for sure be transferred somewhere else in a few weeks and it is a weird feeling just imagining that I won't be here for a while.

Today for P-day we went up this big hill in Linz and there is a way cool viewpoint where you can see all of Linz. It was really windy but a lot of fun. I forgot my camera but the weidmans took a ton that I will send to you.

We had a street display in linz on friday. they only get one per year here so we had everybody there from 10 until 6. It was a long time in one place but it was really successful because we gave out around 20 Books. We had some members sing hymns while we talked to interested shoppers. I made a really cool Muslim kid think real hard about Christ being the son of God (they don't believe that). He seemed to really be touched and he even took a book.

I realized yesterday that, because of general conference and stake conference in two weeks, this last sunday could have been my last time in that ward building and that it could be a long time until I see a lot of the Haag members. It was pretty sad because I didn't get to bear my testimony before I left.

Well not much else has happened. Just working a lot. The whether is getting colder and it definitely feels like fall now. The colors haven't changed too much but there is a lot of cold wind and crunchy leaves.

I guess I will talk to you all next week! Thanks for writing. I hope you travel safe back home.

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Pizza Mann and an Ikea Kitchen

Hello!

Hong Kong looks pretty awesome! I did think that Typhoons were a bigger deal than that. But I'm glad that you survived. This week was a pretty awesome week! We played ultimate frisbee for P-day in the rain. I had a really fun time even though it was a bit slower paced game than I am used to. We had district meeting in Wels this week and we ordered some pizzas from Pizza Mann. That was pretty fun, and we had a finding day after the meeting. I got to talk to this african woman who had two kids named Miracle and Marvelous. She was way cool obviously.

We met with B------ a few times this week. The first time we just had a nice lesson about trusting in the lord. it went well and then he asked us if we could come by some time soon and build his Ikea kitchen for him. So we spend about six hours on saturday, after our street display, building his kitchen. It looks pretty good now even though it took forever to put together. Bernhard was also able to come to church this sunday! But he had to bring his dog with, and his dog is insane. It just runs in circles and barks all the time. He also goes crazy if b----- isn't right there. So i spent the first 30 minutes of church standing outside holding his dog on a leash so that b----- could go inside. I would have just tied him to something but there was this hugenormous dog that kept coming by, and i think he wanted to eat quincy (b------'s dog) and he was kinda aggressive. But pretty soon the huge dog left so i just tied quincy up and went inside and ignored him. Besides that church was great! We had our investigator class, and the teacher asked b-------- what he knew about temples, so b------ went on for a few minutes talking about all the different things we do in the temple, why we have them, and about who could or couldn't go. Our ward members were pretty impressed by how much he already knows about the church. It will only be a few weeks until he is baptised. We just have to find a place to bring his dog on sundays.

Things are still pretty quite in the companionship but i have grown to sort of enjoy it a bit. I get to read alot more at nights now. Speaking of reading, I finished the book of Mormon in german this morning! Now i am going to finish the New Testament, and I am already close to finishing Luke. It also shouldn't be long before I finish Jesus the Christ. 

We had a street display on saturday and all the missionaries in the district came to help. Our favorite member, Günter, came as well. It was pretty cool but the weather wasn't the best so not to many people were out. It was still a really good time though.

Well that was my life this last week. Lots of work and lots of rain. Just like most weeks. Thanks for writing and for the pictures. I will send my pictures as soon as I find a bubble wrap envelope. Until next week then. 

Love you all,

Elder Eldredge

Cleanliness is Next to...

Hello,

It must be monday again. Or still. I'm never sure if the weeks are going by fast or if I just write E-mails all the time. This week was pretty good now that i remember it. And no, I did not black out this week. It was a pretty normal week really. It is still really quiet between me and E. Armstrong. And it is still clean. I'm starting to feel bad that i don't clean anything but that is mostly because I don't see why somethings need to be cleaned. Every once in a while i will just pick things up and scrub them for fun so that i feel like I am doing something. 

Today we are having a picnic with our district, and I am excited because i brought my disc! It has been a while since this guy has felt fresh air. I guess I could tell you about our eating appointment yesterday. It was maybe my favorite appointment so far. We ate with the family Hohnes. Bro. Hohnes is our blind organist and his wife reminds me of the woman on "Meet the Robinsons" who teaches the frogs how to play music. She breaks into song in the middle of sentences and talks at like a million miles per hour. But they are the sweetest people ever. Bro. Hohnes played a few Austrian folk songs on his accordion for us. He is way good! I was really amazed at how good he was. We could request any song and he could play it. His wife then took out the flute and they played hims together. It was very Austrian.

It sounds like life is a bit insane like always back at home. I surely wouldn't mind seeing a picture of grayson with all of his wounds. Maybe somebody should buy sarah a leash for that kid. And let Ainsley know that she can come with me to buy new clothes when i come home. I'll need somebody with style to help me out. I also wouldn't mind spending some time in Hong Kong one day. I would play their own game and bring my camera and a fanny pack. There is a city in Austria (Halstaat) that the chinese built a replica of because it is so pretty, but they must not like their copy because it is still full of Asian tourists. It's kind of like going to Arches national park.

Our district is way different now. It was pretty sad seeing some of the old members of our district leave. Only me and one other sister are the remaining members of my original district. But it is still fun nonetheless. 

Everything here is going really well. Sorry I don't really have other stories this week. We just kind of knocked on a lot of doors and all that jazz. I was wondering if it would be possible that you send me an Mp3 player with some music on it. I can listen to stuff like Disney, classical, church stuff of course, and even some of my jazz (dave holland and any of my other stuff that doesn't have lyrics). If I could get a small portable speaker to that as well I would be super happy. Just let me know if it is possible, thanks.

Thanks for letting me know what has been happening at home and keeping me up to date. It is always nice to hear from you all! You really are the best family i could have.

Love,

Elder Eldredge

A New Companion and Blacking Out... (Some people will do anything to get treats)

Hi everybody!

This week was really crazy! On monday we all played ping pong and other games as a district before alot of people left. It was fun but it was also pretty sad because until this transfer our district had remained pretty similar. So it was sad to have our last P-day together. On tuesday we had our zone training in salzburg which takes pretty much all day because of the travel time but it was still really cool and we had a good time. We all thought that they would announce when we would get Ipads because on our schedule it said "surprise," but apparantly the surprise was that we get to watch a mormon message together. I got all worked up for nothing. But it was a really cool video anyway. Wednesday was the last day that E. Stilger and I spent together but we just did a lot of packing and cleaning and paperwork so that E. Stilger could go to germany. We normally would have spread that stuff out in the week before transfer day but because we had meetings and stuff we never got the time. Thursday was the fun day. I woke up really early to go sit on a train for four hours, which wasn't that bad because most of our district was there and we got to talk a bit. When we got to salzburg I sent E. Stilger off to germany and still had about four hours before my new companion came. 

I've got to make a space in this story so that it's not just one giant paragraph.... So I spent my four hours hanging out with my zone leaders and some other missionaries that had to wait as well. We walked around salzburgs city center and saw some really cool buildings and alot of asian people with cameras. 

Then my new companion came. His name is E. Armstrong. It is his third time in this area so he pretty much knows everybody and everything. That is a bit strange for me because i thought that i would be taking over my area after E. Stilger but it turns out that i still don't get to do that. But that is alright. E. Armstrong is really cool, and very very very very very clean. Our apartment is sparkling. Other than the fact that he is really clean I don't really know much about him. He doesn't talk much unless it is to members or people he has known for a long time i guess. I keep trying to make conversation but i just get one word answers so the conversation dies pretty quick. But I am sure that will get better with time.

For the rest of the week we just worked and visited a bunch of people that I didn't know existed but E. Armstrong knew them before. We have been meeting with B----- and he is doing really awesome. He should be baptized on the 13th or the 20th of October! But he still needs to pick between the two days. He called me the other night because he was so excited about the fact that he had gone three days without drinking or smoking, and that this week he is throwing out the coffee. So he is doing really well. 

At church I taught a class about faith on Jesus Christ to the 8-9 year olds in my ward. They were pretty funny and it went pretty well. In sacrament meeting I gave a talk on how to develop a testimony. It was going pretty well and I had it pretty planned out. But then, as i was reading a quote from PMG I started to feel really hot and then i noticed i had said the same word like five times. The next thing i knew i was on the floor with a few ward members surrounding me. I had blacked out infront of my entire ward! Oh man it makes me laugh! Apparantly my cookie crisps didn't give me all the nutrients my body needs. Luckily my ward is really awesome and they just made sure i was ok by giving me whatever snacks their children were probably wanting. My bishop said that i get to try again another time. Also I am apparantly not the first one to faint at that pulpit. A year a go, a high council member did it, and when he got back up he tried to keep speaking but blacked out again. So now Haag will always remember me.

I went on the rest of the day as normal with eating appointments and going by on a family who weren't able to come to church because they're old and were in too much pain. I was fine but i had a pretty bad headache so I went to bed right after planning and writing in my journal. 

Well that was how my week was. Lot's of new stuff and alot of fun as always. Sounds like everybody is having a lot of fun with school starting and all of that stuff. I miss you and love you all. Thanks for being the best family!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Changes Ahead

hello family!

It has been a pretty crazy week! Transfer calls were on friday and E. Stilger is going to Tübingen, near Stuttgart, and I am getting a new companion name E. Armstrong. It is actually E. Armstrong's third time in Haag so the ward loves him to death. I am way excited to work with him but i won't meet with him until thursday when all the transfers happen. Because of the transfer changes and the fact that we aren't at home until Wednesday this week, last friday and saturday got shot and we didn't get to really work. I just cleaned and kept myself occupied while E. Stilger packs. But now our apartment looks way nice again and our area book is super up-to-date. 

It sounds like there is a ton of fun stuff going on at home! The pictures of the kids alway make me want to talk to them just to see how much they have grown already! Hiking Timp was always on my list of favorite things to do. Especially through the night! It's way cool that Ainsley and Hogan got their blue belts! It looks like they are having a lot of fun.

Dad- The missionaries that get to go to switzerland are all european because it is really difficult to get visas as an american. It has been done before but now that there are a lot more missionaries, president miles doesn't need to go through all the work to put an american there because there are enough europeans. And the area that is in Italy (Brixon) does have missionaries from our mission that live there, as well as missionaries from Daniel's mission. But most of the missionaries that get to go there are european because they don't need to get a new visa for just one area. But they are in my zone so i know the missionaries there. In fact Sis. Schönherr from my district is being transferred there this week.

Did I tell you all that i am giving a talk in sacrament meeting next week? It will be on "how to gain a testimony." I am pretty excited for that. Not much else has been happening this week. I don't have any more stories about being pulled into discussions with well educated bible students this week. But life here is fun and has been treating me well. 

Thanks for keeping me updated and for being the best family ever! I love hearing from you all and I miss you tons! 

Love,

Elder Eldredge

"Do or Die"

Hello!

Well this last week was pretty good. I can't really remember it though. Everything is going by way too fast and every time i sit down to write emails i forget everything that i did. Oh, i mentioned that we are staying in Haag to do our Emails now but that requires us to ride bikes all the way up a mountain. Well, last week after we finished Emails we left our church and the sky was pretty gray and it was just starting to rain (we were in our church clothes). At the end of our journey to the nearest train station we stepped onto our train completely soaked. It was pretty fun though. It's starting to look like we might have that same experience again today.

The rest of the week we spent visiting members and teaching lessons and stuff like that. We are doing a good job at finding new investigators but most of them just don't want to pray about the book of Mormon and that has been a bit of a pain because not many of them are really progressing. We still haven't heard from B------ for a long time. He must be going through a hard time and just needs to figure his stuff out before he is ready to keep progressing.

The guy who invited us over to bible bash last week had agreed to have a lesson with us on sunday and we were just going to have a "do or die" sort of lesson. About half an hour before we were going to meet he called us and wanted to show us his free christ building. For some reason we agreed. We showed up to his place and he brought us to the building, which was actually pretty nice and the two or three people we talked to were quite nice, but we sat down in a room with him and two of his friends who knew the bible a lot better than he did. It was pretty much the same story as last week. They kept reading scripture at us that they didn't really understand and calling it doctrine. One of the two new guys brought up a few points that we had already settled in our first meeting and m----- was quick to make sure that we couldn't answer because he didn't want to be proved wrong twice. What was cool about this whole thing is that S----- was sitting next to me studying the book of mormon the whole time. I don't think that the others noticed because it was in persian but it was just a funny situation. One of the guys was actually pretty nice and had some potential so we gave him a book of mormon and he said he would read.

We had a really awesome eating appointment after church yesterday. We went to the zillners, and they love Elvis alot. For the entire appointment Bro. zillner kept switching the songs to make sure we listened to his favorites and we even played a short game of skip-bo. Bro. zillner also collects baseball caps and he has a room filled with them. He always shows up to church wearing a different cap.

oh ya i will find out this friday what is happening next transfer. That is pretty exciting!

Sounds like everyone had a pretty good week at home. How did grayson break his arm? I can't believe it's already time for mexico meetings again. It doesn't feel like those should already be happening. Well thanks for writing and keeping me up-to-date. I really miss you all and i hope you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Eldredge

P.S. It isn't the Mr. Mac suit pants that are wearing down, they are just some that i got at ross for 10 buck or something. I can probably still wear them for a bit luckily.

P.P.S. I don't really know what i would put in the ward letter. you can just pick something for me i guess.