Where did August go?

Note: Elder McDonald turns 21 next Wednesday, Sept. 2.

I'm in a state of denial about my age. It's ridiculous.

Yea. It's kinda weird to think a year ago I was almost done in Darmstadt. Thanks for the money. I know a sweet cake place in Krefeld where I'm going to buy myself a cake. Ummmmm

My companion is Elder Wildey, He's from New York. He studied film at BYU, He's pretty young- we get along great. Krefeld just reminds me of a brid, I don't know why. The Zone Conference was awesome. We talked about member work, which I love, and finding through members. Which is something I really needed. I mean, I have nothing against doors, but ever since I got here it felt like it wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. Now we're going to work with the members, which just makes life happy, so I'm excited. However, that is not to say that I won't knock my fair share of doors, but I just love the members.

Anywho I know my e-mails have been wimpy, but I hate small talk. Plus, I've just got a lot of organization stuff to do since this area was in kind of a mess when I got here. We're in the oldest apartment in the mission. It's been around since the late 70's

alles güte

Elder McDonald

Note: What is a brid? Someone has the answer, but I don't. I tried to look it up- to no avail....

Krefeld

Note: Here is information on Krefeld from Wikipedia.

Basic statistics
Area 137.68 km2 (53.16 sq mi)
Elevation 39 m (128 ft)
Population 238,031 (15 August 2009)[1]
District: Urban district

Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate KR
Postal codes 47701-47839
Area code 02151
Website www.krefeld.de


Krefeld (German pronunciation: [ˈkʁeːfɛlt]), also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located southwest of the Ruhr area, its center just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine. Krefeld is accessed by the autobahns A57 (Cologne - Nijmegen) and the A44 (Aachen - Düsseldorf - Dortmund - Kassel)

Krefeld is also called the "Velvet and Silk City".

In more recent decades the city has hosted an honors program in foreign language (German) studies. The program annually places thirty specially selected high school students with families in and around Krefeld for intensive German language training.[2]

Krefeld's residents speak Hochdeutsch, the standard German taught to all people in Germany. However, the native dialect is a Low German variety, sometimes locally called "Krefelder Plattdeutsch," "Krieewelsch Platt," "Plattdeutsch,," or sometimes simply "Platt." The Uerdingen line isogloss, separating general dialectical areas in Germany and neighboring Germanic-speaking countries, runs through and is named for Krefeld's Uerdingen district, originally an independent municipality.[3]

Settling In

Hey this one's short, I know. But it's all good. Krefeld is cool, pretty. My comp was a film major who really likes comics, so we get a long great. Otherwise I'm just trying to get settled in. Sorry It's so short.

Much love.
Elder McDonald

Transfer to Krefeld

I'm going to Krefeld. I know that won't mean much to you but I'm excited, though I'm way sad to leave Solingen it was awesome here.

Here's what my new adress is going to be:
Elder McDonald
Peter str 23
Krefeld 47798
Deutschland

Well here's a really cool quick story: We were doing finding time on Thursday and ran into this young girl that stopped and was willing to listen to us. She was about 18, I'm usually pretty doubtful about people under 20, usually they don't really have much interest in religion, rather, they just like to talk to us cause we're way way weird. But this girl was actually pretty open. We had a good conversation and traded contact info. Then she said that she wanted to read the whole book. I encouraged it naturally, but didn't think to much about it. Two days later I called her to see if she wanted to come to an activity.She said she didn't want to meet till she had finished the book. So I asked her how far she was- in 2 Nephi. She liked it too. She told me to call next week and she should be done.

There's a long way to go still but you never know what can happen.

Up to Date

I have now entered all of Elder RAM's emails. I hope you have time to glance through these numerous postings from the past month, and feel the spirit as you read his posts about his mission, and the love he feels for the people he meets.

This week we find out if he is transferred or not. I will update this week, for sure!

Cyndy McDonald

Short but Sweet

August 4, 2009

This is short because I'm tired.

Next week is transfers, so if you're desperate to send me anything do it now or wait a week to see if I stay.

So we had a Thailandish family come to church, and they really liked church. It felt good watching the ward get excited about the new people there.

Anywho, thanks for thinking about me

Elder McDonald

Hail and Floods

July 28, 2009

Note: Russell sent the picture to us previously and told us, “ I will explain on Tues.”

Pick out the Elders, and the German Student.

Ok. Explanation of my picture. It was actually last Tuesday. It was raining; which it is wont to do here in Solingen (this area is rumored to be the rainiest area in all Germany). We were at the church and it was raining cats and dogs, it even hailed. We waited till it stopped hailing and caught the bus. Only the two of us and the kid were on the bus, all of us being very wet. Well, the bus came down a hill and the road was flooded, there were two cars that got flooded there, so we hopped out and pushed them. The kid thought it was so cool to push a couple of cars with Americans he wanted a picture. Right now, we're trying to find an activity to invite him too. He was way nice and way laid back.

Um, you asked me what I would like for my birthday. I need a watch, my other one ticked it's last tick. Though I am relatively proud of myself, I don't think I've ever had a watch live so long. I think I'm learning to be more gentle. Amazing, the things one learns on a mission.

Umm soo I'd like to know when exactly Lyndy's wedding date is. I realized it's rather pathetic how little I know. A member asked about my family, I said one sister is married and the other is engaged...or married perhaps... I honestly don't know when the wedding is. Coolio, thanks.

Elder McDonald

P.S. So CRAZINESS! I'll be home in six months!!!! I've mathematically accepted it but in my heart, but I don't believe it and I don't really intend on accepting it till I'm on the plane.

love y'all

July 21, 2009

First, I just started a study program that'll keep my busy for the last six months of my mission. WAY PUMPED!

As far as my birthday...I dunno just a package with goodies? Really There's nothing I desperately need.
We've been feeling the holiday time pretty bad here, lots of our investigators aren't here at the moment, but that's all right because we've just had the opportunity to find new ones.

One cool quick story:

We've been trying to make our opening questions a lot more thought provoking. Elder Gruber came up with a really good one along the lines of, “What is your understanding of God? So we asked some jungs on we saw on the street on Friday and one said, He doesn't exist”, the other was protestant. Well I don't remember the conversation very well, but we talked about the insanity that the Christian world is, coupled with if you want to know, really know if there's a God, you have to find out for yourself from God. We hit that point a lot and tied in Joseph Smith as an example of an honest seeker who gets an answer. The protestant boy decided that he would like a Book of Mormon. We went by on Sunday and he wasn't there, just as we were about to leave he walked up the stairs. Then we were able to give him a quick background of the Book of Mormon and really commit him to find out. He was attentive and contemplative and you could see how well the spirit can communicate with him.

On top of that I just read Mormon 9. It really just increased my testimony of miracles.

Elder McDonald

Note: Jung = young people or the young

Don't Feel Like Writing

July 13, 2009

Yesterday we had a lot of fallen out of appointments, which always tires me out the next day. Apparently the Lord needs a few more days to prep the people we've got contact with before they really make progress.
But what was cool is that after you gave that "on the way" contacting thing we made a double effort to do it (we tried before but there is a lot of room for improvement). Well the third or fourth person just told us we could bring her the book and made out an appointment on the street. It was way cool. It's for this afternoon so we'll see what develops.
Elder McDonald

God is awesome

July 7, 2009

It's been an awesome week, but the time has gotten short. So I'll be quick.

First off, God is awesome. I wish I had the time to give a full report on the week. Let’s just say I have a very strong testimony of working hard, and then when nothing happens working harder, then praying hard, when nothing seems to happen, pray harder. I find it's when, almost out of spite that you decide to work until you can't work anymore (till the end of my mission) you get blessed. One cool story to go along with that:
So we had a baptism this week, way awesome. And two people came to church, which cheered up my relatively downheartened mood. But on our way to the bus this pretty drunk guy came up to us and started talking to Elder Gruber about how we spoke English and what-not. Right as the bus came up, he started talking about how he wanted to learn about Christ. So the other Elders got on the bus and we figured we'd catch the next one. After trading addresses he left. I was slightly disappointed. I'm not sure how ready he seemed to change, but we started walking home since the bus came in a half hour and we could walk home in twenty so we started on our way. Halfway there we decided we would just wait. It was way hot. So we sat down at a bus stop and this middle aged lady walked up. After offering her my seat she started talking to us about which church we were from. I was able to talk to her a little about the Book of Mormon. When I offered her one she seemed like she was going to reject it. Then the spirit struck, and she said yes, once she found out we had it in her mother language she got really excited. Before I knew it we had exchanged numbers, set up an appointment, and had permission to bring members. We brought an old couple the next day and it was just soooo awesome. Both the husband and wife could give such awesome testimony and explained so well. I loved it! She was so excited to read in the Book of Mormon and find out if it's true. I'm just always amazed at how good God is at his work. We may not have the eyes to see it, but miracles are always being worked everywhere we go. We just have to open our eyes.

Well I'm excited for Zo-Ko, then we can talk about the 18 month thing then.
Bis später

Transfers have passed

Note: I got behind in posting to this blog. I am going to post a number of them tonight so I can catch up. It has been about a month since I posted here.

June 30, 2009

Transfers have passed and Nothing changes. I'm staying in Solingen with Elder Gruber. Wonderful!

Well I'm not in much of and e-mailing mood this week. But just wanted to talk about a guy Elder Cräghead and I met last week. We were doing finding time at the Wuppertal University (on a split) when we met this guy from Solingen. He had known a member and was just way open but didn't really like organized religion. After a while of talking to him it became clear to us that the doctrine didn't mean a thing to him. He just kept on asking why we were members and what it did for us. It was way refreshing to just be able to talk about the love of God and how the doctrine was simply a sign and an expression of God's love.

Excited for this new cycle. It's gonna be great.

Elder McDonald