6/3/13--"Hallo alles"--Stake Center Pictures, "Love those Letters," Painting & Baking

Hallo alles,
Last week was a way quick email because we were having a Zone P-day at the stake center, which was super fun, (oh and there's pictures of the building for Dad too), but I realized also, for Mom, that I haven't been sending as many picture as normal, so I'll have to catch up with that.

There was something really fun that we did this past week as I was on a power split (both companionships worked together in the same area) with my District Leader in Euskirchen. We were trying to think of a creative way to find people, so at first I thought we could run around with an american football and safely throw it "accidentally" into someone's backyard and ask them at the door if they could get it for us, but what we eventually did is we walked around the street with a white board that said "Putzt-Polizei"/"Clean Police", and a broom, a mop, and vacuum, a bucket, and a dustpan, and we just went around doing doors by the neighbors, asking anyone if we could clean up for free or do anything to help them. Nobody actually let us in, but almost everybody laughed so it was way fun. Plus when I knocked, I was 7 out of 9 in people answering, so I had a sweet touch that day! Even though we didn't actually get any new investigators out of it, I think it was important for me because it showed me that missionary work can and should be fun, and when we really do it because we care for people as the Savior does, then it won't matter if we don't have success right away. We can just do like Ammon did, and then the opportunity will come and we'll convert a whole city!

Transfer calls are next Saturday, so next week, I will no longer be a golden (aka greenie), and I will find out whether I get a different companion and go to a new area or not!!! Hah, my "golden" cycles have gone by way fast.

Um, here I got Kira's letter, which was quite awesome, and then here is an investigator we helped with painting his apartment.

And, here's some "attempted baking" photos....

I love you all so much, and pray for you all the time. Thank you family for the emails and for the prayers you say for the missionaries. In Europe, there's this thing every June called Monat der Einladung, or Month of Invitation, and it centered on Missionary work and inviting friends and everybody to everything. We been planning a couple activities as part of it and meeting with a lot of the members about it. You can do it in the US too! Invite your friends! haha!

~Elder Mark Standring

5/27/13--Mission President at district meeting in Bonn, AND splits with Zone Leader, AND also musings about doing well...

It always seems like there's not much time to write emails and even less to write letters,but I'll write a bit about what went on lately. Even though we didn't do really great on our numbers, Elder Davis and I really learned a lot about what we can change to push the work forward better. Our Mission President was there at the District Meeting Tuesday in Bonn; everybody I talked to agreed it was so spiritually uplifting, especially the interviews. I didn't mention this at the time, but much of the counsel he gave me was the same counsel given in my Patriarchal Blessing. It shows so much as an example that he lives so that Heavenly Father can teach through him, that he listens to the Holy Ghost to help us.

The other event this week that was really useful to my learning was a split with my Zone Leader, Elder Ockey. He is so humble, yet so bold and faithful in his teaching. He showed me a level of missionary work I hadn't seen before, so it was priceless to knowing what to work for, what to improve in myself. Also something he said really really struck me that I hadn't considered before. He asked the question, "How can we expect Heavenly Father to find the people the Lord has prepared when we don't even to talk to the people who he does put in front of us." I need to talk to more people and he showed me a few ways to do that. He also gives a Pass-Along Card to everyone he talks to, which I had not thought of doing at all. I pray the that I will be strengthened through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to do what I want to, just like in the Elder Bednar video clip President Schwartz showed us at the District Meeting. All my life I feel I've never done anything really well, only kind of well, because I couldn't decide on one sport or one instrument or one school subject I wanted to focus on. But I know this work is what I want to focus on. I have prepared for these two years my whole life, and I've wanted to be here for so long, that I cannot let this be something I will do only kind of well. This will be something I will finally be great at. I will not allow it to be otherwise. I want to help so badly. I think that's been part of what's been hard for me lately. I've been trying too hard, even though I should be diligent, this past week has taught me that I still need to power of the Atonement to do this thing. I'm going to pray every morning and night for that power, that Heavenly Father will loosen my mouth and speak through me to teach these people, because I know now that I can't do it alone.

5/20/13--Experiences & Impressions

 I have especially little time today, so I just wanted to check up and see how Portugal was for you and Dad, and Jason and Kendra and little Noella, but it seems you've already done that so thanks!

I don't think I'll have time to upload pictures for this, but this week we had a district P-Day and all were going to go Mini Golfing, but it rained for only a few minutes and the place closed so we ended up at a huge, web-like jungle gym and we climbed on it. One Elder had brought his carnival costume with him, a bunny suit, so that was way funny. Then on Friday we had two service appointments. The first was painting this investigator's wall, but when we got there he wasn't quite setup yet so we moved his entire living room into his "kitchen" and then ended up painting his ceiling and pretty much everything in sight. It was way fun, I even got some paint on my clothes and Elder Davis got some in his hair, but that's why you wear service clothes and take showers everyday! Haha! The second appointment was for the Manzke family, but it wasn't at all as much work as we were expecting. We basically loaded the parts of an already taken apart bed and loaded them in a car, then rode in the car and took them up an elevator into their grandma's apartment. Piece of cake.

This Saturday was also a great day. It was a mission-wide finding day, so all at one time, there were about 200 missionaries out on the streets finding the Lord's prepared elect people. Very cool. We were in the city Bergisch Gladbach, where we had this big concert last week or so and eventually we found one potential investigator ourselves, but before that we were walking around the main market/walking zone area and there was this huge faire going on nearby called Kirmis (short for Kirche Messe, which means Church trade faire) and it was very similar to the  County Fair we have in Crescent City, so you can imagine it was really crazy with loud music and people screaming on rides. Ya, so as we were walking around nobody was listening to us one because they were there to have fun and buy stuff, and two because you could barely hear each other talk, let alone hear the spirit testify of truth to your soul. I felt like we had to get out of there. After we had said a quick prayer at the beginning, I told Elder Davis about it, and he said "Ok, where do you think we should go?". I said a quick prayer about whether to go right or left, and then turned in the direction of the fair and started walking through it  (there wasn't really a way around that I knew of). When we got through, I felt better, but we still didn't feel it was quite the right place, so we kept walking and praying until I got the impression there was a hill nearby. As we looked and crossed a street, found a hill and walked up it, I felt like every step I took away past the fair, the better I could think clearly, feel the influence of the spirit and be confident we were headed in the right direction. As we got to the top, there was actually a cemetary on top, which would have been was scary, except for it was way quiet and beautiful. I felt like I was somewhere familiar like when I go into the temple and leave the world and its cares behind. We didn't do much up there besides share a scripture with an old man who was mourning, so maybe he was the whole reason and really needed it, but it was really really relaxing after being in a city of 2.2 million people with crowds, trains, and buses for so long. Ya, and then we got a potential investigator, so it was definitely a good day. Especially after coming down from that hill it helped me to realize actually how much of a difference it makes being somewhere where you can pray out loud and actually listen for an answer. I probably won't be going to the temple very soon because I have a great work to do, but this experience was a testimony to me how much it can change one's perspective.

I Love you all so much and pray that you will always be able to hear the spirit to keep you in the way

~Elder Standring

5/13/13--Me, my companion, and my twin?

Ah! It was a very, very eventful week here even without it being Mother's Day, so I'll have to type very quickly. This Tuesday (usually day for District Meetings) was in Bonn, and we've started having District Finding Activities after everyone, like a Street Preach, or organized group/simultaneous go-by's. That morning was pretty overcast, but it was super warm, so my companion and I went to District Meeting in short sleeve shirts. We forgot Elder Missionaries are supposed to always wear coats to District Meeting, but we were super glad we didn't at the end of the day. After we got done with the meeting and went out side to start missionarying it up, it started to sprinkle a litt bit, and by the time we'd walked to the bus/train station to split up our go-by's, it was hauling down rhino's and hippo's!!! Out of nowhere! So you see, if we had been wearing a whole suit, it basically would have been destroyed by the rain (not actually destroyed, but you know what I mean). We started out with some directions written on a piece of paper too, to get to the house of the less-actives we were supposed to visit. The message was destroyed. It was folded up in my pocket and when we crammed in a dry phone booth to council and confer over where we were supposed to be going, I felt like we were spies trying to decipher a super secret document that we had to be super super careful with, because of how easily wet paper sticks to itself and tears. Hah, it was fun. Eventually we did reach the address we were searching for, but the family we did not. Turns out the Sisters either wrote down the instructions for several of the go-by's wrong or wrote down the wrong address entirely. However, it was warm rain, so it wasn't bad at all. It actually reminded me a lot of how it must be for Elder Stacey in the Philippines, Elder Carver in Brazil, and anybody else who's serving in somewhere at all tropical/in a rain forest. Except it would be like this everyday, hahaha... It was the best.

Later that week was a big day for the whole zone because there was this big Concert that the Church was putting on. The Concert was for a chamber choir of member YSA's from all over Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, called der Vocalis Chor. Before I got to Germany there had been Street Displays every month in the city where the concert would be and it was all building up to this Saturday. That day, almost the whole zone, or 16 missionaries, helped with one more street display, and then running the concert. It was cool too, because the Choir sang Hymns at the last Street Display, so it helped to attract people and then we just had to go up to them. It was funny however, that some people were so onry/opposed to everything that I would go up to them and ask them if they liked listening to musik and the would still angrily say NO, and walk away sourly. One time someone even said to me, "Braucht man das nicht!" or roughly " Nobody needs that!". Ha, it was still fun though, because there was a missionary with me who had just come out of the MTC and was super super nervous about everything, so we just walked and joked about how many people supposedly don't like music. That night at the concert too totally made the day, the singing was SO beautiful and I knew most of the songs, so it seemed kind of like a European Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Best night ever. ALSO there was a guy in the Choir who acted just like me, and looked like me too! He's from Switzerland and his name's David (Dah-veed). I didn't get much of a chance to talk with him, but I got a picture with him, so you all can see for yourself. We could definitely be brothers.

After the "twin photo"--Below is another companion photo...

 I remember Mom asked about the most German meal I'd had, so I took a picture of one appointment recently that was especially meaty, and sometime this week we ran into some people from Washington state who were really anti-Mormon and tried to convert us haha. Also this week I asked the Bishop of the ward what would have to happen in order for a Spanish Sunday School class to be organized. Surprisingly, he said there used to be one, but most the people who went to it went inactive, so all that would be needed would be a teacher. We've been running into a lot of people lately who speak Spanish either as a first language or just better than German, so if we can get them to come to church, that would be really cool, and I could practice my spanish a lot. Maybe I'll come home speaking two more fluent languages than when I left!

Alles Gute und komm gut nach Hause!

~Elder Mark Standring

5/6/13--Maps & Billboards

It was great to talk to the whole family again on Google Hangout. Just like I was back at BYU, right? It's incredible how some guy's crazy dream 50ish years ago had turned into a reality that connects the whole world so well. It's hard to imagine what else will be different in 50 years from now. Yep, yesterday was just a great Sunday. The sun was shining, and it was probably the hottest weather it's been since I got to Germany, and it was Fast Sunday, so we had a Testimony meeting in the ward, and there were a couple that were actually really strong testimonies. As for your question: General Conference was broadcasted in the ward building in German, English, Spanish, although a lot of people watch it at home like we do in Crescent City (TV or internet). However, I think I mentioned this before, but in Europe, because of the time difference, we don't get to watch the Sunday afternoon session live, so we've been trying to watch it like one talk at a time, when we're free at the church.

Last Saturday, I played basketball for the second time since I been here. Our district leader loves basketball, so he loves going to the few basketball courts he can find and using that as a finding tool. What we did this time he decided to make a whole activity out of it, so the whole district came and after wards we had a barbecue in a member's backyard who lived like 30 feet away from the court. It was pretty sweet, sorry I didn't take any pictures though. Next time. We're going to try and get something going like that in our area so we can start reactivating some of the 70 YSA's here. I think the biggest reason they don't come out is  (1) because there aren't any ward activities, like ever because nobody can ever decide on what to do, and (2) because the stake institute/activities that the active YSA's go to, is all the way in Düsseldorf, which is too far for some. Ya, so we're going to try planning some stuff ourselves and get those people excited again.

The first picture is a far-train-map of my district, for Dad. It kinda reminds me of the one Grandma has printed on a tray from London. 

The second is a billboard I saw that was kinda cool. I guess even though Germany is known for its beer, and everybody drinks and smokes, they know the bad effects it can have on society. A lot of people here wish they could stop smoking, although I don't know if they feel the same about drinking.

4/29/13--Chalking & Talking and district photo!

We did Chalking again in Euskirchen. Apparently someone in our district had a really deprived childhood and didn't get enough drawing on the sidewalk in while they were growing up, haha. It's actually a really effective missionary tool, and people often will ask why people in fancy clothing are drawing on sidewalks, then that leads right in to why we're here and what we're doing. Good to Go. Bytheway, the last time we did it and we had to clean it up, it was in Leverkusen, home of the awesome soccer team Bayer-Leverkusen. There's been a couple games since I've been here, and you always know when, because EVERYbody by the trains are whereing the team colors as they ride off away to some stadium somewhere. Usually it's red, because both Bayer-Leverkusen and FC Köln are red, I'm pretty sure.

Oh yeah, Transfers were this week, (every 6 weeks) so we had this huge conference call with the whole mission, where President Schwarz and the Assistants read off where everybody's going. Actually, everyone in my district is staying (we think. there's another "just-in-case" conference call on Thursday), but for our last District Meeting of this cycle/transfer we had a special activity almost like a testimony meeting, but not, and we took a District Picture. For the Activity we each thought of three sincere compliments for the other nine missionaries in the district, and we took turns one by one hearing basically whatever everybody likes about us. It was really strengthening for people who are having a hard time, and I think it helped us unite together better as a district.

I love you all, keep on keeping on, and remember all the rich blessings that God has given us--

~Elder Mark Standring

4-29-2013 Activities and scenes

Koln Cathedral from other side of the river.

There was a couple from our ward who got married last week in the Frankfurt temple. We knew the mom was having a real stressful time planning everything, and that she needed help, so we volunteered ourselves and ended up washing a whole lot of dishes. It was actually really fun, and there was a lot of really German food there, lots of sliced meats, cheeses, weird salads, and potato dishes.

Earlier this week we learned a very valuable lesson: Never put your fresh baked bread in the slicer machine while it's still warm. We thought we were getting a great deal because the bread smelled so good and it was so so so fresh, so we tried to get as soon as we could, but basically the bread was so soft on the inside that it stuck to the blade and basically got destroyed. However....we couldn't just throw it away either. So we took it home... and we didn't realize how bad the damage was until we tried to make sandwiches...They're like that name, Poor-man Burgers, that one missionary gave burgers that are made with bread instead of buns, except these were Poor-Man Sandwiches because we couldn't afford the inside of the loaf!

I also got a package from Grandma Standring!!!

Tell her Thanks So Much! The second picture of it only had two cookies, because I didn't calm down and think to take a picture until they were mostly already gone. Whoops!

I think I already told about the Manzke family, and how  they have us over every Monday almost for Family Home Evening. This last week was Sister Manzke's birthday and on that Monday the weather was nice enough that we could grill some food outside. The 3 kids were inside getting some bread or something.

The picture of the man sitting is the first train conductor I ever saw... He had a pretty sweet sitting position too. After I thought about it, I realized these guys drive trains all day, and they have the job their whole life...SO they have a whole lot of time to find the most comfortable and styling ways to sit on a train. Watch and Learn.