today is day 700 of my mission! thats right- 100 WEEKS! wow that seems like a crazy amount... ups, downs, some parts fly, others drag... thats just how it goes- but here we are at the end of another week!
oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR again. its 2015! what the?? i never really thought this year would come! I kinda just thought the world would explode or something... or atleast my brain. But then again, people thought that in 2000 and 2012 as well... and we just kept going haha. thats life.
This week was full of adventures! Last monday i went and bought some shoes... i guess i need to get my european cloths fix before i come back to the state haha- but im realizing i dont have that much room in my suitcases so i need to be careful... and in the evening we went to teach Mario! we wanted to show him the restoration DVD with his neighbors... but they all bailed on us so we watched it with mario alone- and he was very... very... drunk. hmm... not sure how much he got out of it. But he seemed to really like it (if he even remembers it now)
Tuesday was an adventure- we wanted to go visit Brian because we havent heard from him in weeks- but the trek out to his village takes a little while. Elder Howarth didnt get out of the train at the right stop- and i was left standing on the station in the middle of the forest (like always) on my own. Well i had the cell phone, so with no way to contact elder howarth, i decided to wait patiently at the trainstation with the usual drunks who seem to spend all day just sitting on the benches there... long story short- it took a couple hours for elder howarth to find his way back to me and then we proceeded to Brians village- and we missed the train coming home, so we were once again stuck, and had to wait an HOUR before the next train came. oh i forgot to mention- it snowed LOADS last week- like more snow than i have seen my whole mission. so in this little village up in the mountains we were stuck out in the snow. i was hungry so we stopped at the village inn (not like the restraunt in orem- like the actual Inn of the village) and i bought some soup. kind of a rustic experience actually haha- the people seemed really confused to see two young americans out in the middle of the forest- and they werent too pleased to see we were "the mormons" haha. cant please everyone. we did make it home eventually.
New Years Eve we went to the same family who invited us over for christmas eve- and we played some games- and then we had to be home by ten and asleep by 10.30... it was a little hard and the fireworks woke us up at midnight... did i ever mention that new years in germany is INSANE. like BEYOND INSANE. its a night of do whatever you want and blow up everything- i kid you not. it wass like constant bombs going off for 2 hours haha. kinda fun to watch from the balcony.
so as district leader, i was able to do a baptismal interview in Freiburg on friday for the sisters there- their investigator got baptised on saturday and is SO COOL! Madleen is here name- she was so prepared. she was introduced and fellowshipped by a girl from the ward and was able to come through her example to see the blessings of the gospel in her own life. that just goes to show how powerful our examples can be in the lives of those around us if we will share the gospel with them! so cool!
Vladmir and Mario both came to church on sunday and enjoyed it- we are meeting with Vladmir tonight! Sunday night after fasting we were both SO TIRED- but we prayed for strength to know where to go, and chose a name from our "go-by List" and started out into the cold night. and what do you know- the first guy we talk to on the empty streets of Lahr asks for something he can read, gives us his info, and invited us over two weeks from now! even when its hard, when we do what the lord wants he will bless us! I may not be there, but im excited to hear about the elders visiting him.
Well, thats the past week. we have some awesome plans for the coming week too! just working hard and staying focused! this is it!
oh, and GUESS WHAT?! i got a call on saturday..... it was JAN FROM HEILBRONN! He called me to surprise me and tell me that he and Brother Zander are driving down from Heilbronn today to take me out to lunch! IM STOKED! i love those guys so much- i cant believe they would drive 3 hours just to come see me and say goodbye. they are some of my greatest friends. they will be here in just a few minutes so i need to go!
I love you all! this is it!
Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew
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