Elder Mika got transferred to Glienicke ... WHICH IS IN OUR DISTRICT WE ARE SO CONFUSED. But we have a Tausche and district meeting every week, so it's okay, but still sad. My new comp is Elder Halbleib. Elder Mika has served with him, and says he's super nice and cool.

SO. I thought since I have finished my training, before I start my review of my week I'll write what I've learned during my first 3 months as a missionary in Germany. Now, given, Frankfurt Oder and Eisenhüttenstadt were DDR [East Germany] cities, and are literally in Poland, so dealing with all types of people (especially drunk people) is different then almost the whole mission. It's a super hard area. But I’m so grateful to have six more weeks to see what else I can do here. What I've learned:

• Everyone believes in something. Even if they are old or young or say they’re "atheist" (which we hear 85-90% of the time). Everyone believes in something—you just have to ask the right questions.

• Missions are hard. So hard. But, so worth it. So so worth it.

• It's a new adventure every day. Even if you try to predict what's going to happen, you'll be totally off.

• It could be the apartment smells like smoke, you hear yelling inside, and there are devil stickers on the door. But always knock on any door, talk to every person, even if they look like they'll kill you. You may be able to set up a lesson for this Friday:)

• If a Muslim opens a door, expect to be fed and become their best friends. They're amazing.


This week was a good one, and like I said I'm so bummed Elder Mika is leaving, but it was such a fun 12 weeks with him. We had another street display in Berlin, and I gave four cards to this Döner shop and they loved them and hung up the pictures of Jesus in there. But they then argued about Mohammed and stuff and I just bore my testimony and said have a good day because MUSLIMS WILL ARGUE FOR DAYS. They loved us though, so it’s all good. Also argued (nicely) with an older man about how there is all the evidence in the world there's a God. By the end he took a card which he had refused three times prior, and said "maybe through this I can find God once and for all. You're such a happy "Junge" (boy). He was the nicest man. I also went to a lake and sat there with Elder Allen and talked to people, and it was amazing. It was like a setting in an old movie with swans and sailboats and flowers all around… ah it was awesome! Elder Allen left though [completed his mission] :( so sad. He's such an awesome missionary. We knocked on a door and this man answered who's Muslim, and we are teaching him English now and he was so excited and made us avocado juice. Sounds gross huh... idk what that man put in there but it was unbelievable! I was amazed. Also. Bara--who we teach English--cut my hair in his bathroom this week for free. I was sketched cause I had no idea what he was doing but it turned out okay! I have pictures at the bottom! We then had a Birthday party at Maik’s house [their investigator] and EVERYONE was drunk and smoking cause you know... but they asked who can play the guitar and I said I can! So I played and they all sang German songs and then I played "Stop This Train" by John Mayer and "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" and sang for them. They all loved it. It was such amazing and much-needed night!

Happy Easter this week, and I hope you all watched the video Prince of Peace. It really is amazing. I've seen people who find peace, happiness, and a real purpose through Christ, including myself. It's a peace and happiness that nothing else in the world could bring, and you have to experience it to know what it's like. I'm so grateful this Easter weekend to have a Savior who doesn't let us fall, and is always there no matter what comes our way, to help us keep going and find peace. Hope everyone has an awesome week, and thanks as always for the amazing support you all send. Always makes my week to hear from you. Liebe grüße und bis Nächste Woche!


Elder Rhondeau

Man, this last week was nuts! I had 2 Tausches [an exchange with other missionaries], and a street display and also Zone Conference, which was good. Just going going going every day all day.

Started out with a Tausche with my zone leader, Elder Ausobsky. He is a nice guy and works hard, so it was great to learn from him. We met with this guy Maik who lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere and he is great. He has 8 horses, 6 dogs, 2 kids, and 4 guns. He only showed me one, but it was cool. Then I had another Tausche with Elder Allen who goes home in a week and we had fun. His first area was Frankfurt Oder, and so I set up a lot of appointments with members he knows and we met with them and he was loving it. It's weird to think he served here first and is going home. It got me super trunky for a day or so... but all is klar. Then came Zone Conference. Zone Conference was good, and it's always fun seeing friends and hearing about different areas. We got Facebook as a mission! Super nuts. I can download it in 6 weeks after I pass off a few German tests, so I'm excited. We are only the 18th mission in the world to have Facebook, so we are interested to see how it works. Then on Saturday we had a street display where I set a goal to give out four Books of Mormon (which is actually hard in Germany) and I gave out five, and we have three new investigators who we are excited about. One is from Cameroon and his name is Steve, and he's way cool. Speaks French and English but his German is sooooo hard to understand. Then, we had a baby shower for Della and Matthias in our ward. [On Sunday] I was surprised to hear Mathias invite me up to be in the circle for the blessing. It was such a great experience and I'll never forget that. It's really rare for missionaries to get called up, especially because the only others in the circle were his dad and Della’s dad.

Easter is coming up and we find out Saturday where we are off to next or who knows what's going to happen. It's hard trying to anticipate because apparently President throws surprises out there, but I bet I will be transferred! Who knows?

Hope everyone has a great week and a great Easter!! Always in my prayers, and again sorry for no pictures. I am in the library again...
Elder Rhondeau

P-Day at the Zoo!

Ahhhh, it’s Frühling [Spring]! I have never worked so hard or been so exhausted in my LIFE. What a good week though! Tuesday started out with a good old Manfred and Friends meeting with his friend Frau Belling (she wears a choker and dresses like she's eighteen but she's eighty and it kills me). Then we took the Zug to Eisenhüttenstadt to help Mathias move yet again:)) He's hilarious though, and I got to push the baby stroller, so it was worth it. Later that night we had a basketball game at the University and all the Germans now call me Steph Rhondeau because I dropped 24 in 2 games. I was feeling it man. Then, Wednesday was a day. We had appointment after appointment that all went well, and we met with Sister Wilke who is a less-active member. She has a disabled son and she is stressed. Mika played the cello and she loved it and is going to try to watch General Conference. Then of course we had volleyball and Älder (the 90-year old) was going so hard that night just diving all over the place and we were dying. Thursday and Friday were also super busy, and we had to go to Berlin for district meeting and come back for English Klasse, and that was the last time I'll probably see them because transfer calls are in a week and a half — can you believe that?? Already done basically with my 3rd month in Germany. General Konferenz was super, although watching TV for the first time on my mission was weird. We also had a street display that day where I talked to probably 80 people (or tried to anyway) and probably actually had a good conversation with 6 or 8 of them. They were all Africans or from the Middle East, and I gave out a few Books of Mormon and learned a lot of interesting words…

Then I had peanut butter for dinner. Not kidding -- I just bought chunky peanut and ate that because it's been the longest time. It was the bomb.

In General Conference I loved Elder Hales talk about how the gospel has to be woven into your fiber and the Lord will help you get to where you want to be, if you follow Him and strive to become like Him. I've been working and studying on how to have more Christ-like characteristics, and that was a perfect talk for anyone striving to be more like Jesus Christ and a true disciple of Him. In order to be like Christ and better ourselves, we can't change immediately. I remember hearing the 1% change talk about how 1 percent better a day on something makes the biggest difference. It doesn't have to happen all at once. It takes time. What I mean is it really takes a lot of time to become more like our Savior, but little pieces at a time is the way to go.

Hope everyone has a great week! Don't forget to watch the new Easter video on lds.org: https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_SU_9-4-2017_dMIS_fMORG_xLIDyL1-A_
It's awesome. Annnndddd it's April—what??-- just realized that! Welp, love you all and thanks for the continued support!

Elder Rhondeau