Tell Fun Guy Not to Have Too Much Fun

Hey this week has been way awesome! First, Dad & Mom: Happy 26th Anniversary! Glad you all got to go to Durango. Mom: happy new calling! Also, have fun this Friday with the Bazzelle’s and tell Fun Guy not to have too much fun at Tucano’s without me! ok now that that is over. Jk but seriously..... jk. Glad you are having fun and still getting to do stuff even tho I am not around. Here was my week:
On Tuesday I had my last district meeting in Offenburg. Elder Griffes, who was also leaving the district, and I got to bear our testimonies to the district and everything before we left. It was pretty cool. Said bye to elder Owen, who I will see this upcoming Monday anyways.
Then we visited some of the less active members that we started working with since I have been in Offenburg. They were all super cool and way nice. One lady even talked to me on the phone everyday before I left and kept re-saying good bye - it was kinda funny and cute. On Wednesday I finished packing my stuff and we went by the rest of the members I had not yet seen. Everyone in Offenburg was extremely nice, I think it would get old saying goodbye to missionaries like every 3 or 4 months but still the members act like you were special and are super nice to you.
On Thursday I said bye to my companions and me and Elder Griffes took our train to Stuttgart. On the way in the train station where we had to change trains we ran into elder Graff, who is taking Elder Griffes place in Freiburg. Big guy, holds the Utah state record for dead weight lifting. His brother holds the national record and is going for the world. Pretty cool.
Anyways, so once we got into Stuttgart we saw the rest of the elders. I met Elder Aeschbacher (spelled the right way for once) and we got on our train to Heilbron. At first it was kinda wierd but after about 30 minutes of talking about Elder Middleton (no we are not obsessed with him, just a common companion we both had) we got to talk more to each other and everything. He is Swiss but has American citizenship as well. He has way good high German, Swiss German, and English (american english! Best english!). He even studies French during language study since he can already speak German fluently. Elder Aeschbacher is really nice and cool and hard working. This transfer is going to be awesome!
We got back and unpacked my stuff and met a guy who came by later. Not much more happened on Thursday. Moving all my stuff and my guitar wasn’t that hard. I am getting all my companions to sign my guitar so by the time I’m done I’ll have most of them except for Elders King and Lee. Which will be cool.
On Friday we met this way sweet guy Arisa. He lives in a house for refugees. He is from Africa and loves to talk to the missionaries. Arisa and all the people here in this house are way cool and smart! They don’t want to take money or anything and have discussions when we are not around and then write down what their questions are and what their discussions were about and then ask us for the answers that they couldn’t figure out or just didn’t agree on. It is way sweet.
After we talked to pretty much all of them at once and got into a lot of discussions and prayed, Arisa even pulled us aside and showed us this plan about how they may be able to buy group train tickets so that a certain number of them can come to church every week. He just wanted to ask us if we knew enough about the train and about how to get the best deal and then they are going to try and earn the money every week so they can come. Apparently Elder Middleton paid for Arisa to come once but he doesn’t want to take anymore money and is trying to figure out how they can come to church the easiest and cheapest way.
Later on we also went by a lady named Frau Boger. She is around 60 and has been wanting to get baptized for over 30 years! She came to church when she was around 30 and wanted to get baptized but her husband wouldn’t let her and then after about 30 years Elders Middleton and Aeschbacher ran into her house one day doing doors. She asked them if they were the ones who believed in Joseph Smith and when they said yes she told them to come in. They even re-set a baptismal date with her but then her children stepped in and said no! She lives off of money her son sends her and told her he didn’t want her even going to church. They actually call her every week on Sunday to make sure she is not at church. I think if she doesn’t answer then they stop helping her. But she said she is in a lawsuit right now (not sure about what) and will be getting money at the end of it and then will not need money from her children and so then she will get baptized.
Her daughter actually just visited her and she told us she was going to talk to her daughter about it again. She has trouble reading but she listens to the Book of Mormon on audio tape everyday. Like literally the WHOLE thing. She starts in 1st Nephi and finishes Moroni before the end of the day. It is just unbelieveable that she has so much devotion and is being held back by literally everything that can be thrown at her. Even her own husband and kids. But she is super cool and super sweet and there will most likely only ever be good news coming from her story.
On Sunday Elder Aeschbacher and I were the only speakers in sacrament meeting and both of us had to give 15 minute talks. We both talked about how to magnify our calls, I did it specifically about serving others, and Elder Aeschbacher did it more about growing spiritually in our calls. After that Elder Aeschbacher also had to give the Sunday School class which was on chasity. Not only chasity, but specificall the story of David and Beshiba. It was such a weird topic to begin with and then for a missionary to have to give it just seemed awesomely funny to me. He did good though.
Thankfully no matter where in the world you are there is always some random old man in Sunday school class who wants to hear himself talk for half an hour about... I dont know..... tithing or something not related to the subject and so Elder Aeschbacher didnt have to talk too much. (Which is good because old people ranting and raving is actually a good way to keep entertained especially if you are learning a language.) After that we actually got invited over for lunch at a family’s house which was good since it was the time Germany was playing and there is literally almost nothing to do when soccer is being played here. So we ate there and got to see the game actually (it is aloud I swear! When members or investigators invite us, it is allowed). I fell asleep, everyone else was estatic over the game.
After Germany won we got a ride to the train station, which took about an hour since the Germans made their own little parade and were blocking the streets. It was insanity. I cannot wait to see what happens if Germany somehow gets to the world cup. After all that we got to go back home and sit inside while everyone partied all night till about 4 in the morning.
On Monday we went to the American base in Stuggart. You know the rule about not shopping when you are hungry? Well I can tell you when you go from no American food to everything pretty much it doesn’t matter if you are hungry or not you want everything in the store. We got a bunch of stuff (bunch of root beer and corn dogs.) there were better deals in the commissary then there are sometimes in America! All beef hotdogs were 1 dollar for a pack of 8. Needless to say we have 40. Also 2 liters of any soda or juice are all 1 dollar. It is like better than America! Later on we went to a family’s house for family home evening. The mom is just completely inactive and her daughter and son go to church when someone gives them a ride. They are still some of the funniest people I have met out here. She had a BBQ for us and made us a ton of meat. We just ate til there was no room left in our stomachs. Then we got to share a spiritual thought were we asked everyone to write down the seven most important things in their life that they would fight or die for and then we all exchanged them. We committed everyone to pick 1 thing from the list every day and do something for it for the next week.
I got Brian, the 21 year old sons paper, and one of the things he wrote was way important to him was a mission. Which is way cool since no one knew if he was going to go on one or if he wanted to. They all are extremely nice and it was a way fun night. Today we have actually finally done our weekly planning and now have some time to write emails. This is the last day before all the missions change on July 1 so next time I write I will be in the Alpine German Speaking Mission (not near as cool as the Zürich Switzerland mission).
Mom, I wont get anything from the new mission office until I am in that mission anyways. But I’m sure the package you sent is there. I don’t know about the music, am looking for like soft music I listen to that I can find to play. But pretty much any good music I would like would be cool. This coming week looks like it will be way awesome and I am looking forward to it a lot!  I hope everything is going good back there with everyone else and I love you all. Elder Hargett