SNOW!

If there is one word to discribe the time since last email on Thursday its: SNOW!!!! 2 inches on Friday night, 3 inches on Saturday night and another 2 inches during the day on Sunday. Its enough snow to make everything white and the roads ICY.

Thursday December 9, 2010: The Temple was amazing!!!

Friday December 10, 2010: We did exchanges today. I was with Elder Edwards. We stopped By Donna's house, her daughter answered the door, we left her with a Together Forever DVD and a Joy to the World DVD I hope they help her out. A lot of cancled appointments today too it really sucks.

Saturday December 11, 2010: Snow is on the ground its really cool, Not much else happened except the Ward Christmas party which was fun.

Sunday December 12, 2010: It snowed a lot while we were at church. We went to the Lavely's house (ward mission leader) and had a fun time there. We shared the story of Aaron and King Lamoni's Father.

Monday December 13, 2010: The snow is crusty. We helped Shontae shovel some snow I wrote some letters home and now im here.

but it didn't stick...

It’s been a really fast week and a half. The reason why I’m writing today is because we switched our Preparation day to today so that we can go to the temple. I get to go at noon:) so I'll start off like normal and then we'll see what happens next.

So first off, Donna, (I think I said this last time) was a super solid investigator, ordering like 10 copies of the Book of Mormon for her Family. Her Brother died 2 days before Thanksgiving and since then we haven't been able to get a hold of her. She was super short on the phone. Sister Holmes called her and found out that she was going back to her old church :( we haven't lost hope, we're still trying.

William: He’s a little slow, but then again who in Detroit isn't. It’s going really well with him, we are going to see him again tomorrow. He’s been reading the Book of Mormon slowly but surely. We are hoping that he can come to church this Sunday because he missed last.

Tuesday November 30, 2010: Remember the first time I mowed a lawn? Well today was the first time I mowed a lawn on one of those lawn mowers that you drive. How fun was that!!! The sad part of today was that all but I think one appointment bailed on us :( yea we face rejection everyday.

Wednesday December 1, 2010: FIRST DAY OF SNOW!!!! but it didn’t stick :(

Thursday December 2 and Friday December 3, 2010: All day both days we were at a Specialized Training Meeting. Sorry I don’t have much to say about it, except it was awesome, I learned a bunch of stuff to help, and I don’t have my notes on me so I cant really tell you what we did. I do remember that we had some instructions about Finding people, and following the spirit.

Sunday December 5 2010: One of our less-actives, Brother Barnes, We found out that he was in the hospital due to some health related issues. It was a really good visit. We went to see how he was doing and if there was any thing we could do to help. The Bishop came in right then so to help we gave him a blessing. The Bishop anointed and I did the blessing. It was really great, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable doing them and I feel the spirit so much when I do.

Wednesday December 8, 2010: I did another blessing today and once again it was amazing.

Thursday December 9, 2010: It’s my 100th day in the mission field!!! We switched our preparation day to today so that we can go to the temple which I'll be doing that in a little more that an hour.

What Stands Out

Another fun week out here in Livonia. I’m going to make my emails a little shorter now. Instead of telling you what happens everyday I’m just going to tell you the Important, Fun, Interesting and the things that stand out to me.

Wednesday November 24, 2010: The thing today that I noticed was really great is how the Spirit works through me. We were tracting and I felt like we needed to tract the right side of the street and instead of doing the left side that we go around the block and do the other street as well. On that second street we found a potential investigator, She said we can come back after the Holidays, so I hope that we can go back and teach her. (Tasha)

Thursday November 25, 2010: Thanksgiving day!!! We went to the Beauchamp's around 2 for an early dinner, which was great. I got to sit at the kids’ table; it was fun talking to the kids. I taught them how to play Ring on a String and they all really enjoyed it. After The Beauchamp's we went to Brother Lavely's Daughter's house. He was there too and it was a totally different experience it was fun.

Friday November 26, 2010: The Beauchamp's invited us over for dinner for leftovers. One investigator that we have, William, he’s pretty cool, we've meet with him twice and he’s been reading! Its awesome. A little more about Donna. She has a baptismal date for December 11th, but her brother just passed away and we are hoping that it wont affect her to much.

Saturday November 27, 2010: We had the opportunity to attend a baptism today which was amazing. I forget her name, but I know she is from the Greenfeild Area (in Detroit) It took place at our building so we went early to fill up the font. It was such an amazing thing to witness.

Here are some Questions that Molly asked me and here are my responses:

How are you enjoying things? Things are great, I’m loving it, People in the ward are really nice. I love having a little part of the city in my area.

Anything that you didn't expect? Not really, I didn't expect as many abandoned and burned houses.

What is your favorite part about being out there? My favorite part is how strong the spirit is and seeing how it works through me.

What do you think about having a companion all the time? I love my companion he is awesome, but having to be with him all the time sucks. No alone time at all except for in the bathroom. quote from the missionary handbook. "The only times you should be separated from your assigned companion are when you are in an interview with the mission president, on a companion exchanged, or in the bathroom." Its can be too much.

What have you learned? I've learned more about the church (too much to type) and how to better teach it.

And how's the weather? The weather sucks, mainly because we don’t get weather reports so its kinda like, what happens happens! Rain, cold, hot, dry, etc.

Has is been getting really cold? Its been really cold the last few days its been down in the 30's today was in the 50's though

Are you on bikes all the time? Not at all. this area and my last (first) area were both car areas so I've been in a car all the time so far. I have ridden my bike like twice.

Do you have plenty of lights on your bike? Yes

Is it getting dark really early? Yeah, it gets dark at like 5:30ish some times earlier.

Do you have all the winter clothes that you need? Thanks to Dianna I'm staying warm :) I can use some light gloves (not snow gloves)

Are you excited for snow?? Yes and No. Yes because its snow and I love snow. No because I hear that the snow here in Michigan sucks. I've heard that they don’t plow the roads here they salt them so lots of cars are rusting out, but we still have to wash out car during the winter mainly the under side.

If you have any questions for me either comment on the blog and Christian will forward them to me or send me a letter.

Pass it Along

Monday November 15, 2010: the Member that we helped move gave me a unicycle that I'm going to try to get working today. Ok Bowling, it was awesome. We bowled two games and we added up both our scores and super funny and crazy odds. Elder Fogth and I for both games got 224. How weird is that. For dinner we went with Shontae and Danelle to Logans. Its a pretty cool place super dirty. They give you a bucket of peanuts and you just throw the shells on the ground and other trash too. Super fun day. In the evening we went to see Domonique one of our investigators and taught her the Plan of Salvation.

Tuesday November 16, 2010: We did some service for Sister Cupp, raked her yard, it was great. We taught Donna today with president and sister Holmes. No pressure right? Just kidding. It was amazing!!! She is our Golden and that was the first time we taught her. Shes the one who ordered 10 copies of the Book Of Mormon. We went to the Salvation Army store and there I got a pair of pants its good. We taught Christi and The Levelys (I said the legglys before, I was wrong) Brother Levely is our Ward Mission Leader.

Wednesday November 17, 2010: Not much happened, went to district meeting. Tracted for awhile (I find cool stuff when tracting). The best part of the day was meeting William. He is a new Investigator and the way we got him was a few days ago we were out contacting and we gave him a pass-along card. He called the number and wanted the Finding Faith DVD so we took it to him and he said we can come back!

Thursday November 18, 2010: Cool but a little slow. Did some yard service for Sister Lee, and taught some less active members. We went to the Mission Fireside which was really sweet. Had some awesome speakers and President Holmes out of the blue wanted people to come sing. A sister Missionary picked the song (cuz she was playing the piano) and it was open to whoever wanted to go so I did It was really great.

Friday November 19, 2010: Today we taught Donna again. last time we asked he to get Baptized she said she'll pray about it and now she wants to do it. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and a little on temples. Today was the day we came back to teach William the Restoration it went really well.

Saturday November 20, 2010: We were on exchanges so I was in Westland with Elder Kirkman. We found a new Investigator for them and we taught a few lessons.

Sunday November 21, 2010: Today was Stake Conference. It was really cool and I got some good insight from the speakers. We went out and did some member lessons. and for Dinner we went to the Cartwright's super fun family.

Free FOOSBALL!

Tuesday November 9, 2010: Today we had a Zone Conference which was super awesome and really spiritual. We all had the pleasure to hear from Elder Jensen of the 70. He is a really cool and has a lot of really cool insights that help out a lot. On the way home, since we are the drivers for some other missionaries we had to make a few stops for them to get some stuff but they are some pretty cool guys. That basically took our whole day.

Wednesday November 10, 2010: Today was full of teaching people, I don’t have my planner with me so I forgot who we taught. But a really cool thing that happened is that we found a full size foosball table that we loaded in the van and it now sits in the middle of our living room.

Thursday November 11, 2010: Elder Fogth went to the temple today for his year mark so I got to go with the Farmington Elders they are pretty cool. Just did the regular with them, go around tracting and teaching. Got back later that night with Elder Fogth and did the same thing back in our area.

Saturday November 13, 2010: We were on exchanges today so I was with Elder Rodgers in Plymouth and it was a really cool day, even though just about every appointment we had canceled on us. We did a lot of tracting.

Sunday November 14, 2010: Not much happened went to Church and did a lot of contacting.

Monday November 15, 2010: Today, helped someone from the ward move and did laundry, write home, and emailed home. Later we are going to go bowling with Shontae.

Because of the possible frequency of transfers, all letters and packages should be sent to:

Elder Richard Aufdermauer

Michigan Detroit Mission

33505 State St. Ste. 101

Farmington, MI 48335

This way even when I go to a new area, It will still find me.

1st transfer

So it was the first week of a new transfer, so a lot of stuff went down. My new companion is Elder Fogth. Good luck trying to say it :)

Tuesday November 2, 2010: Transfer day. Elder Fogth and I got put together. He’s a pretty awesome guy. After Transfer Meeting we went to the apartment where I could unpack all my stuff. We went to Dinner at the Shultz home. (sorry for all the crazy names, but you try to say Aufdermauer) Bishop Shultz was just released as Bishop just a few weeks ago. After dinner was fun we went to see Shontae, she’s super cool, she’s a less active but she’s doing a lot better as I’m told. Today was the first day that I saw a burned down house. Oh yea my area consists of a little part of Farmington, Livonia, Redford and a little part of DETROIT. Went to go see some investigators but they weren’t home, did some contacting. Pretty good day in a new area.

Wednesday November 3, 2010: Today was full of stuff. District Meeting to start everything off, meet a few new Elders, saw some I knew. After we went to the Farmers home and raked their front yard for some service. and we saw a few people. Taught a lot of different stuff. Lisa got the pre-earth life, Mike got Hope and Faith, and George got the Ten Commandments. I met brother Allen today too and he is a really cool guy. I think he’s around 80, he has lung cancer, he can speak like 7 different languages, and he’s like a multi-millionaire. He says he takes really good care of us.

Thursday November 4, 2010: Another Day full of goodness. We went to the Lee's house and raked their front yard (I’m getting really good at raking) and shared an article in the Ensign with Sister Lee about having a Positive perspective on things. Sister Finklestine, we shared another Ensign article about building character. We went to the Rabaut's home for dinner and they are a pretty awesome family. Guess how many kids they have... they have 9 kids ranging from 8 years old to 18 years old. After dinner we went to the Defrank's and taught them the Restoration, they are a very quite family.

Friday November 5, 2010: Meet with Shontae again and went on a cool walk with her. She lives in the Detroit area that we have and I got some cool pictures from it. Brother Allen took us to dinner for some really good pizza. And I got to meet Brother Legly for correlation. He’s a funny guy, he’s the ward mission leader. That’s all I’m allowed to tell you about him.

Saturday November 6, 2010: Once again a super cool day. We went to Ilura's and helped her, with the Elder's Quorum, we helped her move. It wasn't a far move, just 5 houses down and across the street. I met Christi, one of our investigators, who can’t get baptized for awhile, but she'll stay strong. Tracting was very interesting we were on Burgess St. and the first house we knocked on was the only house we knocked on. The Guy there was Vic and he invited us in and he talked for about and hour and a half on conspiracy theories of how the Devil is taking over the world. Had a lot of stuff down and a lot of it was pretty interesting. Whatever keeps him from doing bad stuff is good.

Sunday November 7, 2010: Pretty long day. Daylights savings, didn't really feel like I got an extra hour. Before church we went to an old peoples home and gave Brother Lessin's a blessing. Church was good. The President is in my ward so I have to be extra good. Jk, I'm already good. Brother Legly invited us for dinner, it as so good especially after fasting all day. Contacting was good. We walked through Downtown Farmington and that is basically my week.

Rotten Tomato

Monday October 25, 2010: Got to go on exchanges with Elder Matthews after P-day. Elder Attwood and I drove to their place to do the swap, and guess what. Elder Matthews and Elder Dawson got a foosball table so we had tournament for me. It was Elder Matthews and I vs. Elder Attwood and Elder Dawson. Elder Matthews and I won 5 out of 5, well it was mostly Elder Matthews, I helped a little bit. He’s really good at it.

Tuesday October 26, 2010: Elder Matthews and I got to do some service today, and it wasn't like what I did back in Waterford. we went to the Cooper's home and we finished burying their sheep that died. The hole was way deep, well over 6 feet. Then we helped set up some stuff in their small barn to help them get a little more organized. After did some tracting and we had to exchange back early. On the way home from the Zone leaders place, we saw a truck hit another truck. It happened right in front of us. It wasn't bad, the truck slammed on his breaks and the truck behind (following to closely) slammed on too but was still to close. We also passed a church, it has the board out front so that they can spell out phrases. It said " Stop, drop and roll. That wont work in Hell" I wish that I would have gotten a picture of it. When we got home we went to dinner with Brother Myer and his wife, they took us to the Outback and got us both a Melbourne steak, 18 oz, it was awesome.

Wednesday October 27, 2010: Its Sister Jones birthday tomorrow so I baked some brownies and brought them to the district meeting. After the district meeting I went on another exchange with Elder Hidalgo, in Fenton. It was lots of fun. Got to their place, get ready and we took the bikes out and went tracting for a bit. After tracting we went to go see Brother Gooss, his family is super nice and friendly. He’s an investigator that the Fenton Elders have, we taught him and his wife the Plan of Salvation. He understands but at the same time he has a lot of questions. I felt the spirit a lot there and I know that over time after receiving the lessons, I know they will get Baptized.

Thursday October 28, 2010: Fun day, Did some service at Sister Miler's home with Elder Hidalgo and Brother Mason. We did some yard work in her garden pulling up lots of weeds and stuff. It was fun because Elder Hidalgo and I kind of got into a food fight using the veggies in the garden but they were kind of old and rotting. He hit me with a nasty tomato which smelled really bad, but I got him back. Yes we played but we also got a lot of work done in the garden. We got back to the Apartment and exchanged back. On the way home we stopped at Wal-mart and I bought myself a GPS. NO MORE GETTING LOST AND WASTING MILES. we went to the fireside that night which was great. It was for investigators, and less actives. Saw a lot of other Missionaries and got to catch up with Elder Johnson.

Friday October 29, 2010: Not much happened. went to the bike shop, the guy helped my out "fo free" my bikes all fixed up now, took some links out of the chain when I got home. Then we crashed the ward Halloween party, had some awesome pie.

Saturday October 30, 2010: Left the house on our bikes and my chain broke :( but I fixed it again during out break. Biked to the Giddings for dinner (like 5 miles away) stopped and did some tracting and found a potential. Left the Giddings a restoration DVD. Biking home from the Giddings. The chain broke!!!! oh but it wasn't my bike this time, it was Elder Attwoods. Brother Robinson came and picked us up and took us home.

Sunday October 31, 2010: HALLOWEEN!!! Church was cool. Brother Cornell spoke on how Halloween used to be a very spiritual day. After church just spent the rest of the day tracting and when it got dark we started trick-or-treating. Kind of, more like talking to people sitting outside of their houses, we did get some candy though. I was dressed up as a Mormon Missionary. It was a super fun day and we got to talk to quite a few people.