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