That giraffe is made of Legos — I was so happy.

 Week 17 was good. A lot of appointments, going to Berlin, sleeping over in Glienicke again, and learning a lot a lot of German and meeting/teaching five Buddhists. It's a different adventure every week.

We met with a lot of investigators this past week, and the growth I have seen in myself and the language was truly amazing. I had countless experiences with the gift of tongues and it was just really cool. The Lord blesses you when you are trying your hardest. I had interviews with President and like I always say, he is amazing. He always says what you want to hear and it makes me so confident and happy.

We had a lesson with another Buddhist and he was the coolest guy ever. He talked about why he is Buddhist and he told a bunch of stories about his travels and he is just a super super cool guy. That’s when I had the gift of tongues experience and ended up teaching a whole lesson I had never done, or really studied before, about why life is the way it is and what we have to do to return to our Father in Heaven. Really cool. Elder Mika and I are starting to buckle down for our Easter event that is coming up!! It should be super fun and a lot to look forward to. We are going to a lot of different cities to do street displays and to see how the work is in other cities.

Fun experiences from the week:
- moving a kitchen, dressers and beds up 5 flights of stairs
- somehow opening the train door as it was moving
- trying Schnitzel, which is actually pretty good
- having a conversation on the train with some girl about how dope her style is cause everyone in Germany (especially Berlin) has the best style — it is so awesome
- hearing the horse-head instrument being played
- eating "Mexican Food" in Berlin was the funniest thing ever

Hope everyone has a good week coming up. I’M GOING BOWLING TODAY — I AM SO EXCITED — it’s with a German and a Persian... so should be interesting! Guess all that bowling pre-mish paid off Finn....
Thanks for all the love.

Best regards,
Elder Rhondeau
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Zerbst Strasse 42
12209 Berlin, Germany

Herr Olanbyar playing the horse-head for us

a church in Frankfurt Oder

bowling!!

Today Elder Mika and I went to a concentration camp called Sachsenhausen. Very cool, but very sobering experience. It is the biggest one on Germany, I think? It was massive.

This past week was my first week doing 24/7 German and it was good!! Elder Mika is basically fluent ‘cause he took it for six years at Waterford before his mission, so it's awesome learning from him, and he just knows the most random words — it's the best.

Week 16 flew. It was already Sunday before we knew it, and that means I only have four weeks with Mika left and in Frankfurt Oder — so sad. We had Pfahlkonferenz (Stake Conference) in Berlin and it was good. I didn’t get to listen a whole bunch because I was the Ordner (usher) who opens doors the whole time for families and crying babies and such, but from what I heard it was great. The members are persevering here in Germany and they are so faithful. Everyone basically here is either 1) atheist 2) believes in nature or 3) think they're a specific religion or something but don’t really know anything about their religion. It's interesting to say the least. I love the Germans though. They’re so funny.

AH I GOT MY GUITAR I’M SO STOKEDDD. I really do miss music so much. Good thing Mika ruins every song I ever sing with mixing up the words to make me mad. Sorry I just thought of that… okay: Bianka fasted and said she still hasn't received an answer to who can baptize her. We think she is pushing it off, but we are coming up with a lot of ideas to help her; hopefully something will stick. It's the Easter initiative week where we do street displays and talk to a lot of people so I'll see how that goes! I think the video is up on lds.org and it's super cool, so go check it out.

Präsident and Sister Fingerle are amazing. They are just so fun and great — I love them. This week we have another conference in Berlin and some lessons planned and of course volleyball as always. Should be a good one. I love Germany so much. The joy I've felt at times here is amazing. I love my mission. I really want to serve in Hamburg or Berlin or Dresden or Leipzig. I don't really care, because I have the best mission in the world and so all areas are amazing.
I love you and hope everything is great!

All the love!
Elder Rhondeau

Welp. End of my first transfer in Germany…so weird. Transfer calls came and what a surprise: I'm staying in Frankfurt Oder! And Elder Mika is the new District Leader! So I'm the district Frau :)

This week started out with six fallen out appointments and Elder Mika and I missing the last train out of Eisenhüttenstadt with pouring rain which left us taking a 45 minute bus ride back home. The whole week things happened where you just ask yourself what did we do to deserve this?? We try to just laugh it off though and keep going—it helps you grow up! We had a lesson with Bianka, who has been an investigator for a long long time. She wants to get baptized, but always pushes up the dates. So, Elder Mika asked me to teach the lesson and I decided to teach on the love that God has for His children and what we have to do to show our love back. I stumbled through the lesson with some broken German (she seemed like she understood it? Maybe?) Elder Mika then asked her again about baptism. She said she'll pray about it, and on Sunday have someone in mind who can baptize her, and a date hopefully. So we are just hoping she comes through. We also met with M.B. who was part of NATO in Iraq and Afghanistan and he has some crazy stories because he was on the front lines and had to seek refuge in Germany because the radical groups in Iraq were hunting him. He's the coolest guy. Then we were in Berlin for 2 days for a conference for the new missionaries. It was good. M.B. is really interested in the church, and we had the first lesson with him. He asked about baptism and what he has to do. We are excited about that!

We had to say goodbye to Ola and Ahmed who are moving. They're rocks in the ward. Now the ward has 12 members. It's so sad—everyone is so sad, including us two because we feel like the ward is slowly shrinking :(( Hopefully we will add to it though. I am starting 24/7 German now, so pray for me hahaha German is so hard. After talking to Präsident, I’m getting thrown into either the Chinese, Arabic, or French programs after my 24/7 German. So a lot to look forward to and a lot to learn.

I played soccer for the first time in 5 months, and it was the best day and a tender mercy because I just really, really needed it. I've missed it so much wow. I was walking to an apartment where we overnighted in Dahlem and my badge got knocked off, and I bent down and heard the loudest rip. My suit pants ripped :) I was up sewing them back together late because I had to wear a suit to the conference the next day. It was an experience... Elder Mika just looks at me and says, "It is not your week, is it" and boy was I thinking the same thing. It's funny looking back now. Kinda...

I will still be sending my weekly Pday email for family and friends, but I’m not going to email everyone back for the next few months. I'd still really love to hear from you all and keep getting letters and hear what's going on back home. Thanks for all the support. Means the world to me. Love you all. I'll send pictures sometimes. Liebe grüße.
D&C 6:34

Elder Rhondeau

My lil city Eisenhüttenstadt

Hello hello!

This week flew yet again! And it was a pretty good week.

The week started out with a tauche (exchange) and I was comps with an elder with some . . . let's just say "major problems." So it was a rough 2 days, and he's been out for 9 months and can't speak German like at all. So I did all the speaking and actually did pretty well! So it turned out to be a great learning experience and I really had to rely on the Lord to help me and give me strength so it was a great growing experience for me. We then had a mission tour in Berlin, and Elder Saban of the 70 came and spoke. It was incredible. He said everything we needed to hear and it was just great. I'll talk more about that later though! Then the next 3 days were all appointments and we met with a group of 6 members and 2 investigators and had a pretty great lesson! Then we went to the Olanbyars who are Mongolian and they fed us some traditional Mongolian food and it was soooo good oh man. Elder Mika plays the cello so we have a cello in our apartment that a member rented for him and so he plays a lot and is actually teaching me! And I'm learning guitar on my own 'cause a member is giving me his super nice guitar he can't use anymore so I'm stoked! On Saturday we helped set up for a baby shower for Della and helped them move into their apartment and carried a washer up 5 flights of stairs. It was an advenutre to say the least. It was great to spend time doing that and being with the Heitbreder family, whose dad is the bishop. He's hilarious. The ward also calls me Dr. Rhondeau now because of my glasses. Good old Manfred came up with it and he thinks he is soooo funny. I just tell him "das geht garnish, Manfred" which means like "that doesn't go" or basically like in English terms "come on man."  I'll never understand German humor.

We had quite a few appointments fall through which is okay, but I always think about the scene in Dan in Real Life when they go bowling and it's closed and the kids are sitting there throwing rocks and he goes, "Sometimes life doesn't go the way you want it to, and that's okay," and I laugh every time. This is a super super busy week, and I think the time has caught up with me cause this past week I was exhausted everyday but today I feel a lot a lot better and have more energy.

Mika can do the weirdessttttt impressions and he is the funniest kid. Just the most random things happen to us like a lady who misunderstood "Mormons" for "mopeds" and so she talked to us about her red moped for like 10 min. She was soooo old and confused so we just sat and stared like what is happening man. We have a fun time doing the work so I'm super blessed. He's a stud.

Elder Saban talked a lot about going through hard times and about the most effective ways to get through them. He's served the LORD his whole life. His son died when he was 19, and his daughter almost died of the same disease and so he talked a lot about that and perserverence. He had a lot of emphasis on Corinthians 13:11-12 that talks about becoming a man and just kinda laid it down on us it was sweet. Also talked about the Plan of Salvation which has been a point of my studies and the plan God has and so it was a great refresher. He also quoted the great Mufasa from Lion King when he says to Simba, "my son, you are greater than who you have become," and talked a lot about that and it was just really really good I can't even but it into words.

Today we are in Berlin for the embassy tour, and then we are going to the wax museum! This week is sooooo busy I'll be in Berlin almost everyday! Should be fun.

Thanks for the support and emails. Always makes my week. Hope all is well back home!

Liebe grüße! Tschüß!

Elder Rhondeau