Ein Zepilien(Airship or blimp) over Kreuzlingen Switzerland

Beautiful clouds over Kreuzlingen Switzerland

August 26,20 - 32 weeks

Hi Everyone. 
My first week in new area has been good. When I first met my new companion Elder Bense who is from Austria he was super quiet. As we walked to our apartment and unpacked we talked more. This week I have found out he is really cool and I am excited. He has been great to talk to and I feel very blessed and happy to have a new companion. I was sad and upset during the transfer that the wheel broke on my suitcase, so I couldn’t roll it. We were walking and Elder Bense was nice to help and we ended up getting the bus so I didn’t have to carry my suitcase. On the first day that I arrived in Kreuzlingen we had a zoom meeting with our temporary mission president . He and his wife started to cry then told us that Mission President and Sister Naatjes were arriving the next day - we were shocked we didn't think they could cross the German boarder. I guess they had some crazy travel itinerary to get into the country. I think they flew into Czech Republic and somehow came across.   
When we went to get groceries we missed the train and kind of got mixed up and lost. We were on the wrong bus but I think it was a good thing. Elder Bense asked this guy about the bus routes and we ended up sitting by him and we talked about the church. We went to two different members homes this week and did service. We helped move a family into a new home. We got really hot and sweaty I think being close to the lake makes it really humid. The other family had us help build a bunkbed. It was fun they had a cute little one-year-old. 
We got to meet the new president in a zoom meeting he seems really cool. We also met the other elders that serve in Kreuzlingen. They live in the basement of a members home. It is a very nice home and they have a gym so one day we took our workout clothes and went and did our sports time there. We got to travel into Zürich Switzerland and walked around in the town.  I bought a real cool Swiss knife. I really like our District.  I like all of the elders that are serving here. There is one set of sister Missionaries also.  On Monday we helped the sister missionaries move apartments.
We met with the bishop at his home and had dinner. It was fun to talk to his youngest son, I think he is about 3 years old, who spoke Swiss German. Even Elder Bense couldn’t understand him.  I was proud of myself I tried to speak German the whole time. I’ve been pretty discouraged about my German. At church we tried to greet and talk to the members and I felt bad I’m such a greeny.  Even after being out for seven months, I am struggling.   I just have not been able to use the language much and my language skills are terrible.  I did do the sacrament prayer in German and that went OK.
We actually got to do our first lessons here. We taught a German lady and then we did another lesson with a single mother and her three daughters. The mother wanted us to help their one daughter with her English and so we did a little.   We did the lessons in German and it’s nice to be with a companion that is a native German and knows the language so well.  I didn’t teach much of the lesson but I did understand everything that was being taught. 
Hope you are well Love Elder Brown

Members in Tubingen, P-day at Hohenzollern Castle

Members in Tubingen 

Transfer to Kreuzlingen, Switzerland

Berg Hohenzollern Castle 

The castle was originally built in 1400 but was added to and reconstructed several times.  The owner is Georg Friedrich , Prince of Prussia and Karl Friedrich the Prince of Hohenzollern. 

The house of Hohenzollern emerged in Middle Ages and produce the three German emperors of the German Empire in the early 20th centuries.  

Carson has Prussia Flag 

Weekly Letter - August,19,20 week 31

Hello. 

This week has been ok I guess. Probably the most important news is I am being transferred. We had our call on Friday and I am now(Wednesday) traveling toward Zurich, then onto Kreuzlingen Switzerland.  I will be just over the south German boarder by Obersee Bodensee (large lake).  I am a little nervous about speaking Swiss German, different than the High German spoke in Germany.  Our travel plan was really weird and crazy. We first took a train to Stuttgart  from Tübingen, then Stuttgart to Karlsruhe, then from there to Zurich, then from there to Krutzlingen. The crazy thing is we went into the Frankfurt mission. Also kinda crazy is that there is a train that goes through Tübingen that goes strait to Zurich, and that would be a 2 hour ride, but instead we're going all the way around. By the end, I have traveled 10 hours. 

Well besides that we did some other fun stuff this week. Good Pday at Hohenzollern Castle.  We had several good member lessons, I will miss the members in Tubingen. I am happy to get a new companion.  We had district meetings. We had a tausch or splits with a three-sum with our zone leaders.  

I do not know much about my new companion, think he is new to the mission. I found out that he is from Austria and that he served in South Africa, so I'm excited to talk to him about that. I hope it was Johannesburg mission since that is where Mitchell served and Dane Leavitt from Cedar  is the mission president there. Well that's about it. bye. Love Elder Brown 

August 11,2020-Week 30

Hello Jemand
This week has been ok I guess.  I've been feeling better about life. This last week was still pretty boring. The biggest thing we did was a youth thing that the Stake President asked us to participate in.  Kind of like a virtual youth conference  Every day, and sometimes twice a day we had a zoom call with a group of 11-13 year olds, all across our stake. The biggest reason it was kinda difficult  was most of the meeting depended on participation,  and most if the youth acted like they were not very  happy to be there. Discussions were  lead for the most part by a guy or girl that were about my age.  Most of our calls were just weird activities.  Probably one of the worst was a escape room we did. We started it on Friday, and it was way hard, and it was all in German so I couldn't help that much, and it took almost 3 hours. We  didn't even finish it on Friday, so we had to do it again on Saturday,  So that was a huge part of our week and  we  had to plan around them.   They were usually at weird times of the day, so that's basically all we did.  We were  not able to plan much other than that.
We had a meeting with our new convert Alex, which was fun. We also had a lesson with Xui and Alex helped. Our relationship with Xui is kinda damaged. We  didn't text him back in a timely manner, I feel terrible Elder Coleman  didn't see the message. Even though it's not that big of a deal for us, it was a big deal for Xui.  I hope we can repair that relationship. He is are only  one real investigator.
Well I got a fresh hair cut today and purchased a new journal and a  pen today.  I also  got a tschüss book. I think that means good bye or farewell book.  It is like a yearbook where all those departing missionaries write a message or good bye.  So I'm kinda excited about that.  We have a lot of missionaries leaving our mission next week. 
Transfer calls are this Friday, I'm hoping to go to Innsbruck. We will see. I don't mind staying in Tubingen but really hope I have a new companion.   I know one of the guys from my district is leaving and the companion he's leaving behind is also doing Persian, so it would be perfect to put Elder Coleman and him together since he is also studying Persian.   Knowing a lot of missionaries are going home, I'm  hoping that means they'll change stuff up. I'm getting to the end of the D & C and I'm starting to enjoy it. I have a strong  testimony of Joseph Smith.  I know he is a Propert and that he asked a sincere prayer and saw God and Jesus Christ.  I know he restored the true church.  I do have my questions and concerns with other stuff on the church, but this I know and feel this testimony is strong. Well that's about it. See ya Love Elder Brown

August 5 - 11,2020

Tower to St George's Collegiate Church, Tubingen

Members we went and had dinner with along with sister missionaries 

Missionaries in our district. P-day at the church. The chairs represent the number of transfers.  Elder Robertson on back right going home next week.

 Companion Elder Colman - sporting blue shirt that we are now able to wear. 

Vist a Car show with a member

Sunset as we were driving home 

 

August 4,2020 - 29 Weeks

 It has been an ok week.  Still really slow but we have done a few service projects for members and are meeting with a few investigators.  We call our investigators friends.  We teach one friend each week that is a bit mentally challenged but as we taught him this week I was able to understand his German.  I was surprised because he has  slurred speech.  I was excited to purchase a cool pocket knife in a store in Reutlingen that is really close to our town of Tubingen.  I really like the knife- Happy Birthday to me.  Thanks Grandma for the birthday money.  Most days we are not very busy we just do a lot of studying and we go visit and teach Xui our Chinese friend and Alex another friend we are giving lessons too.  It was nice to have a few members invite us over to eat and to help with projects.  We trimmed trees and then burn the limbs.  We also help weed at another members house and helped in their bee farm.  The member we helped yesterday was very appreciative and even started to cry. We went with one member family to a car show, that was fun.  We then went for a hike to waterfall I have already been to but Elder Colman had not so it was good to get out into nature.  A good thing that happened this week is I got my drivers license.  I feel very blessed because the sister missionaries turned their papers in several weeks ago and still don't have theirs back.  I am so happy to drive.  Elder Colmans driving makes we car sick, never knew I had such a tender stomach.  I had a fever a few days ago and I was so worried I had COVID but I think I had been around a member who was sick with a cold but he had tested negative.  Elder Colman is so high energy and excited about everything but hard to be that way when I don't feel well.  The one good thing Im really enjoying is a lot of time reading scriptures.  Life is pretty boring and a bit discouraged because we have heard nothing will change for several months.  Pray I can endure.  Bye and love you

July 29- August 5

Getting ready for service- cutting down a trees at a members house. 

Street in Tubingen 

Forest Hike and waterfall by Tubingen 

Infection Risk - No drinking the water in the stream