Es Tut Mir Leid‏

Im sorry it took so long to send this e-mail. Our zone activitz took all day and now it is nine and we have to wait an hour for our train that will take 2 hours to get to Ellwangen. Plus everyone around us is drunk and says things to us but I just play it like I still do not understand them.

The past two days I have been way tired from jet lag and have had trouble not falling asleep on the train and in our testimony meeting tonight. Sorry our conversation ended and I was not able to get back. As soon as the phone call ended I noticed our plane had been boarding for a while so I did not have a chance to call back or eat. Which is fine since I have missed lunch ever single day I have been here lol. That is not necissarily bad though. Dinners are huge.

I am way excited about my area but i hate that it takes a few hours to get anywhere out of it. It took about 8 hours or so to get from zurich to Ellwangen. When we got there a random old man came up right as I was pulling my bag out of the train. He asked me who the fourth richest American during World War two. I told him I did not know, then he told me. Then he gave me a bag of potatos and bananas. After that he walked off. Drunk I think. My companion told me I had just met one of our investigators.

So we get off the train and my companion explains it is a 20 minute walk to our apartment. So ikt ended up being about 35 because there was a huge concert going on in the town square we had to go through. Imagine that two guys in suits carrying luggage through a crowd of loud drunk people. My mission has been just a bunch of missionary like stories since the beggining. Oh I forgot to mention I talked with a mathmatic professor on one of our trains to our town for about an hour. He told me he had trouble with religion because of all the history of the older churches in Europe like Catholics and Protestant. So I talked to him about the Apostasy and was able to give him some booklets on Joseph Smith. Then he told me he was from Milan Italy and I got all stocked hoping maybe one day Scott could teach him.

We talked to a boy named Abdul and his friends yesterday for about an hour after our ward hike up and down a hill or mountain I still do not know. He is way cool. He is kind of a punky kid but everyone out here is. He is pretty calm for being a German kid. The missionaries have trouble teaching him cause it is always him and his friends who are also cool, but all they want to do is talk with us and socialize. But, I guess they have taught him some and he has given up drinking (he used to be way hardcore into drinking). Plus he knows everyone in Ellwangen. Everyone. And he is not afraid to talk about us to everyone. Random refferals have been gotten from him talking to people. After we hung out with him and his friends we went to see another investigator, very similar to mental health as the other one. My companion figured if I met her I would know everyone in Ellwangen he does. She told us she wanted to join the church but then she brought up a lot of concerns. She does not believe God wants to help her because she thinks her problems only get worse and worse. I tried sharing 1st Corinthians 10:13 with her. But, then she kind of changed the subject and did not want to listen. My companion told me he thinks she is only interested in joining because she thinks the church can some how get her into America. She did speak a lot about wanting to go to America.

After the whole day was done I was way tired. Luckily we just had to plan and talk to some people over the phone (Abdul being one). I passed out and woke up just an intstint before the alarm went off. Im glad to have some time in the morning to get ready, exercise, and study. The MTC makes you think your whole mission will consist of fighting for a shower for 30 minutes just to be late to class anyways. Today we took three hours on trains and buses and walking to get to Stuttgarts stake building. There we had our P-day which consisted of about 5 hours of playing sports followed by a large German barbeque. After that we changed into our suits we had brought and had a meeting. I had a lot of trouble staying awake during that. And now we are in a internet cafe. Which just has computers and video games and stuff like that.

Since I have been here I have had both German food and American fast food (Mcdonalds and burger king) so I still get some American food. Oh yeah the Germans have this weird sort of investigator police. They get on the trains and local transport and pull out their badge and ask you for your ticket. I had one come up directly to me (they sneak around and only show one person their badge like they actually have a cool job or something) and I did not understand him so instead I gave him my passport which just made me look stupid.

The Germans can tell by the way you talk that you are American. So many people respond to me in English even though I introduce myself in German. Abdula is teaching me how to sound like a German so that I can sound less stupid. In return I am teaching him American slang and help with his english (you have to talk very slow for him to understand). But yeah everything here has been awesome and I can not wait to talk to you next week. Which will be sometime in the evening I believe. I do not know the exact time but I know they do it in unison with American time so that both sides will be awake. My guess is around 9 or 10 there. But, I have no idea. I love you all very much and have to go.

Love Elder Hargett