Duisburg, Germany

First full week here in Duisburg and I have some pretty fun stories for you guys.  I will start off with what happened last week, but I forgot to mention it in my email.

So apparently there are still World War II bombs just laying around Duisburg waiting to blow up, because one morning we got a call from a member telling us that we are not allowed to go out because they found a bomb next to Hauptbahnhof and they need to detonate it.  So we, obviously, walk outside to see what is going on... It is like a ghostown, two police officers come over tell us that we need to go inside because we are in the evacuation zone...  So we spent the first half of the day just chillin inside because there was a bomb close to our appartment.  Welcome to Duisburg.

We also have a inactive member who is in a crazy persons house.... That has been super interesting.  I am not quite sure why she is there, we think depression, because she is completely normal, but the other people there.... Not.  We walk in one day, and this lady just starts screeming at us and yelling how much she hates us she slammed like 10 doors in a matter of like a few minutes.  She the exlaimed really loudly that if we left our bags there she was going to use them to wipe her.... yeah.  Then storms into a room, slams the door, comes our, looks the wrong way and yells, thank goodness their gone, turns the other direction and jumps from being startled and then just yells Oh no not again!  And that was only the first time going to this place.  There have been other visits.  But I will have to save some stories for later, it is an interesting place.  I have to admit, I never thought I would be going there on my mission.

We have been super busy this week.  I have never taught so many lessons, and it is increadible how much nicer the people are here in Duisburg.  I think it has to do with the fact that there is a University here and there are a ton of younger people.  The younger people are so nice and they all want to talk to us, they think we are wierd, but they still want to talk.  So I dont have a problem with that.  I mean we are kinda weird.

We have one investigator, Guarino, who has been my favorite since coming here.  He owns an italian resturant, and every time we teach him he cooks for us.  Oh my gosh, it is the best food I have ever had in my entire life, he is like a legit super amazing chef and imports everything from italy.  Wow.  It is the best.  And he just proposed to his girlfriend this week, so that after his wedding he can get baptised! I love missionary work.

One thing I learned this week is that just becaue you have done it once, doesn't mean you are a pro.  I tried to cut my hair again today, thinking, how hard could it be, I did it once and it looked good.... No.... I now have like absolutly no hair, I am pretty sure this is the shortest it has ever been. I dont know what I was thinking. Oh well, I have like atleast 20 more tries to get it down before I get home.

We had a way cool experience the other day where we read the scriptures to a member in intensive care.  He has Lukemia (dont think I spelled that right), and swine flu at the same time, and is in a coma.  It is one of those half comas where he can still hear, but just not talk or move.  And we were able to go and visit him and read the scriptures and pray with him.  We were all dressed up in a medical gown and masks and whatnot, but in this moment, the spirit was so strong.  Something that I have realized on my mission is that the spirit is strongest in moments of loving serive that resemble Christ's life.  That although what we did was nothing big, it was rather simple, it was what the Savior would have done.  He would have been there for the man who needed his comfort most, even in times where it could seem hopeless.  These are the moments where we really learn how our Savior served. Simply, Lovingly, and Unconditionally.

Viele Liebe,

Elder Blackley

First Transfer!

Fist email out from the Dirty D, and it lives up to its name.  I dont smell it as bad anymore, I think I am just getting used to it, but the first day I was here the whole city smelled like pee, and a hint of ripe poo.  Everyone just said that was normal and that I wouldn't notice it soon... Great.. Not to mention on my second day here a pigeon pooped on me... Welcome to Duisburg...

 

Despite the smell and lack of anything beautiful, I love Duisburg.  This city has so much going on, and it is like 5 times bigger than Hagen.  We have a university, which means lots of young people, and it is just a huge city.  Not to mention that the work here is going crazy.  Before in Hagen we were having like 8-12 lessons a week, and that was a huge improvement from when I first got there when were were having 1-5.  But just over the weekend here in Duisburg we had 10.  In three days and in a normal week about 20... We have so many investigators and so many people that we are teaching, the ward is huge and super awesome.  I am so excited.

 

Not to mention my companion is so cool.  He was a pitcher for BYU's baseball team, but try not to hold that against him, he is still great guy.  His name is Elder Hutchings and he is one transfer younger than me and he has great German.  It is kinda weird to be in a companionship where both people can speak german.  Makes things super easy.  I am loving it.  He is a super hard worker and has worked really hard to build up Duisburg into the missionary city that it is.

 

The ward here in Duisburg is super young and really active in missionary work.  We have already in the past 4 days, contacted more referals than my whole 6 months in Hagen.  This ward is so awesome.  I dont really know what to say more about Duisburg, I am so stoked to be working here with Elder Hutchings.  We have had some crazy appointments already, found like 6 new investigators in the past 4 days and it is just going great.  I love it.

 

The hard part about this week was saying goodbye to everyone.  I spent half my week in Hagen, and then arived in Duisburg on Thursday, but in those first couple days where I had to say goodbye to everyone I think we had 7 meal appointments... Thank goodness my mom thought I was going to get fat when I left, because I needed the extra 4 inches of pants this past week. And on the Wednesday we had grilled chicken and french fries, chinees buffet, and mexican food..... did not mix well...... 

 

The good news is that if I ever want to go back to Hagen, there are about 5 couches that I could sleep on.  I am going to miss everyone there.  It was an amazing way to start out the mission and I have learned so much, but I am kinda excited for the change of scenery and the opportunity to meet new people.  Like our Italian Investigator Guarino, who owns a super fancy italian resturant and gives us a free dinner every week :)  Oh yeah.... Thats right :)  Duisburg is going to be so amazing.

 

I am sure there will be plenty of fun stories from Duisburg, this place is crazy and I think I fit right in.  So I am excited to see how the weeks unfold.

 

Viele Liebe,

 

Elder Blackley

Week Thirty-Two

This week was eventfull.  We basically ran around the whole week doing a billion different things and every time people told us that they were sick.  There is some nasty cough and flu that is going around, and it seems like every member and investigator caught it at the exact same time.  But nonetheless, we still had a few awesome appointments.  But..... on Saturday we had transfer calls.... And I am getting transfered... On Thursday, I will be traveling to my new area, Duisburg.  After hearing that I was leaving, it was kinda just a mad rush to call about a billion people to set up appointments so that I could meet with everyone and say goodbye and then at the same time try and figure out what Duisburg is like.  All I have learned is that Duisburg is dirty.  Really dirty.  It is like a steel manufacturing city, and all the missionaries call it the ´´Dirty D´´.  So that should be fun.  But it is on the Rhein River, so I am hoping that it cant be that dirty.  But it is alot bigger than Hagen, and has a University, so I am pretty excited about that.  But unfortunantly, I have to pack now... which means I have to clean too... Not looking forward to that.  But we managed to pack every day full of goodbye appointments, I am not exactly sure how we are going to be able make all of our appointments, lots of running.

However, one of the coolest appointments happened before transfers.  We went to visit and inactive member, Bruder Kambi.  He is from the Congo, and speaks no english, and very little german.  Which makes it kinda hard to communicate with him.  And on top of that, he is a little menally challenged, but one of the nicest people ever.  We decided we wanted to stop by and invite him to church this week, I was giving a talk, and we wanted to see how things were going.  We shared a little bit about the Love of our Heavenly Father, which went well, but the coolest part was the closing prayer.  He offered it.  As he prayed he simply bore his testimony to our Heavenly Father.  After he finished, I looked up and there were tears streaming down his cheeks.  It was increadibly humbling to see this man become so emotional as he shared his simple testimony with our Heavenly Father.

Our first of the goodbyes was with Cremer.  He has been a steady investigator for almost 4 months.  It is crazy to think how much time I have spent here in Hagen and with all of these people I have grown to love.  I know that the Lord's work will go forward and I am exctied to hear how these people will continue to progress and come closer to our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Chirst.  Cremer is an amazing man and I know that he will be a member of the church soon, he is progressing so fast and it has been so much for to watch his excitement and love of the gospel grow and expand as we have been with him.  The next, and one of the hardest, wasMerhawi, he has been in Köln for a while because of his studies, but he is finally back and back on track, so he will be getting baptised in a few weeks.  Duisburg is not too far away, so I think I will be able to come back for the baptism, which I am extremely thankful for.  He is just the most amazing guy, I love him.  It is weird to think that I have known him for almost 5 months.  I look back and it really doesn't feel like it has been that long.  The time has really just flown by.  Another family that was hard to say goodbye to was Sandra and Jozsef.  They were the first investigators I had here in Hagen, and over the past 6 months, have become some increadible friends, and a family that I will definitly be visiting here when I come back to Germany.  Ugh I hate goodbyes.  It is hard when you have spent the last 6 months in an area, and all you have done is serve the people and think about how you can help them, you grow to love them so much.  It makes transfers so hard, but it makes me very thankful that I was able to serve 6 months here in Hagen.

Church on Sunday was hard.  I tried not to tell very many people that I was leaving, I hate goodbyes, but there were a few families that were hard to say goodbye to.  Thankfully we have the next three days to pack in about 10 member meals... I am going to get so fat.... Oh well. I was also able to give a talk this Sunday.  Before my mission, I talked to my dad alot about giving talks by the spirit and not writing them out.  Well... it is alot harder in a foreign language.  But from what everyone said, it went well enough for people to understand, which was not because of me, the only way they could understand my was because the spirit, my german was exceptionally confusing for those 10 minutes.  But walking out of the church, my last sacrament meeting here in Hagen, was weird.  I honestly didn't expect transfers to be so hard, but they are.  I think that on Sunday alone, I must have cried like 10 times. But I know that the Lord needs me in Duisburg, and I go happily, the leaving is just the part that is hard.

Sunday night we were with one of my favorite people in all of Germany, Bruder Kramer.  I don't really know what to say about Bruder Kramer I feel like there is just too much to say I dont know where to start.  He was the first person I met here in Hagen, my very first day he took me to an american resturant and from that moment on I made about 10000000 memories with him.  I love that man, and he will be a life long friend. There are too many memories of Hagen too list them all, but here are a few of the highlights of the last 6 months, most of them will have been in previous emails.

Carying a bed, table, and two chairs, 5 kilometers.

Teaching an entire camp of refugees and only one person translating it into like 3 languages.

Crazy indian guy who has a huge man crush on me.

Best friends with the town drunk

Being Friends with the Hagen criminal life.

Merhawi and his amazing story.

Weinachtsmarkt.

First döner, and just all the amazing food.

English class with the Graefs.

Miracles and Miracles and more Miracles.

And then memories with an entire ward and all of our investigators.

There are too many memories to write them all down, but I love Hagen and all the people here that I have met.  There is something special about being in the service of our Heavenly Father and the love that you have His children.  I am sad to go, but I know the Lord has a plan and I am excited to see that plan unfold as I begin my service in Duisburg.  I will try and send more pictures and whatnot next week, today for the rest of P-day we are meeting up with the Siegen Elders and going to see a castle, so I do not have a ton of time for pictures and whatnot, but hopefully next week I will have alot more time.

Viele Viele Liebe,

Elder Blackley

Wedding Pictures

Unfortunately, Brandon will not be here for my wedding in May. To include him we asked if it would be alright if we could get married on his birthday. He said yes. May 18, 2013. But, one of his requirements for me getting married "without him" is to include a life-size cardboard cutout of him in all our family pictures. This week he sent us the pictures we could choose from for the wedding. He is such a goof, but I love him.

I love my little, Hobbit, German, stud of a brother. :) 

Catching Up on Pictures

I have no idea what was going on here.... 

ARRIVED IN GERMANY!!!!!

Week Four

So crazy week this week in the MTC as we are getting closer and closer to head out.  It all began with an awesome experience hosting the new missionaries.  Every wednesday a couple hundred new missionaries come to the MTC and are pick up by some of the senior missionaries.  And our district was assigned to help them.  It was so much fun, the excitement that the new elders brought as well as getting to meet new people, which doesn't happen much in the MTC, was crazy.  But I think the highlight of that whole experience was dropping a new elder off in his Mandarin Speaking room.  Your first day in class your teachers only speak to you in your mission language, and the face of that poor elder was priceless as his new teacher came up and started speaking to him.  And I thought german was rough...

 

The next big event last week was travel plans!  So we actually know we are leaving now, I never thought the day would come but on the 28th of this month (in exactly one week) we will be on a plane for germany.  2:32pm next Tuesday we will be flying to Denver, where we have a two hour layover, and then straight from Denver to Frankfurt.  We arive in Frankfurt at 11:35am the following day.  I am so stoked.  And for some strange reason that have given me the responsibility of being travel leader... So I hope we do not get lost. Haha.  But since we got our plans, focus has been close to impossible.  The excitement from all the elders is contageous and I just can't seem to think about anything except getting to Germany and meeting all the wonderful people.

 

On Sunday, we got to watch a talk by Elder Bednar, titled Recognizing the Spirit.  I highly recomend this talk to all those who havn't read it.  I am not really sure how to get ahold of it, because it is a MTC talk, but I am sure there is a way.  It was so inspiring, and an answer to many prayers.  I love Elder Bednar, I feel like as a missionary, every word that is spoken relates exactly to me and what I am looking for right now.  I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve a mission and be a instrument in the hands of our Savior.

 

And then on Monday, we got to go to the outside world.  So my companion Elder Chicky broke his perminant retainer, and so we got to go to the orthodontist. And it was fantastic.  A two hour break from studying and riding in a car.  I kept my eyes peeled for anyone I could have known, but unfortunanly I did not get to see anyone.  This may sound strange, but riding in a car was honestly a big highlight for me.  As I sat around in the waiting area for my companion, in the coolest orthodontist office ever, I heard Call Me Maybe on the radio.  So that pretty much made my day right there.

 

Later that night, my companion and I got chosen to do an example teaching for the new elders and sisters this week, so we were part of a small group of less that 20 elders and sisters to go to a meeting about how to demonstrate teaching.  It was one of the coolest workshop experiences here at the MTC.  Usually when we have workshops, there are like 50 elders in a room and only one teacher, but this time it was so much more personal, we had multiple teachers and we really felt the spirit.  We focused on feeling love for your investigators rather than just teaching them the gospel.  And then on wednesday we get to help the new elders in a workshop experience, which should be a lot of fun.

 

Only 7 more days left here in the MTC and we are going to try and make the most of it.  I have really enjoyed my experience here but I can not wait to go to the field.  Next time I email, I will be in Deutchland! I love all you guys so much and please feel free to email me or write me.  Next week I will put in new address, but my email will always be brandon.blackley@myldsmail.com.  I love this gospel with all my heart and I am so greatful for my Savior Jesus Christ because it is through him that I have felt the greatest joy of my life, being a missionary, and the real work hasn't even started.  I am so stoked!

Week Thirty-One

This week I wanted to talk a little bit about trials.

In order to explain what I have been thinking about lately, I will have to give you some background information about someone that we have started working with.  We have started working with someone who used to be a cancer doctor.  It has been tons of fun talking to him, because I can use my limited medical knowledge, or atleast what I can remember.  The hardest part has been talking to him in german.  But I have really enjoyed talking to him about his research and ideas, he is really a brilliant man.  But unfortunantly, he has also had a very hard couple of years.  His mother was diagnosed with cancer a little while back, and in order to fight the cancer he gave up everything to help.  I mean litterally everything.  He gave personally almost 300,000 euro and sold everything that he owned, he was super close to beating this case of cancer, but a little over a month before the treatments should have been successfull, his mother died.  The problem was now that he had nothing.  His wife had left him, he had accumulated tons of back taxes and was in debt now, got fired because of he didn't pay his taxes, and is now unemployed and has nothing.  That is atleast how I have been given the story.

I think it is something very basic, but trials are there to help us.  This man is an increadible man, and was doing a lot of good before this trial in his life.  It is increadible to listen to him talk about everything and see the impact that these trials have made on him. He has gone from someone who always had the opportunity to think about other, as a doctor, to someone who only can think about himself and the situation that his life is now in. It is so simple, but the Lord needs us to focus on others.  But in this particular trial, the simplicity of thinking about others was taken away.  I think that is what has become the biggest trail for this man.  The way to overcome trials is to simple follow the Lords example and turn outward, something that is easy as a doctor, but as someone who is drowning in debt and has nothing, outward is not always the direction of focus.  The happiness that this man used to have did not come from the material possesions or money that he had, because he freely gave that away, but rather his happiness was found through helping others.  How do you help someone who thinks that their worth and ability to help others has been taken away?  I think, like always, it is centered on pride. The inability to concentrate on the basics.  He can still serve, he can still help, just not in the same compasity as before.  There was a talk given by President Uchtdorf called What Matters Most.  It speaks about times such as this and the importance of focusing on the basics.  Trials are hard, they come in a variety of forms, and in a variety of streangths.  However, the same principals stand for all trails, turn outwards, and focus on the basics. I haven't yet seen the full impact of these trials on this man, but what I can say is that the Lord knows him, and there is nothing that brings us closer to our Savior than these two simple things.  There are people all over the world experiencing different things, but there is one thing the same, we are Children of our Heavenly Father.

Viele Liebe,

Elder Blackley