Friends,
first of all, I want to apologize for not writing much in the recent past. Life has been STRESSFUL, crazy and sometimes frustrating. Satan certainly does have some fiery darts and he sent them all my way. In addition to that, this is a Mission blog, and not an "Elder Friedmann rambling about his pathetic life blog". Therefore, little on such topics that could distract from the most important duty of this life. But, since there must be opposition in all things, something good has certainly come as well. It's...my Mission call!! :)
Now, since all the three people who sometimes read my blog probably all know it anyways (and have done so for the past two weeks, ever since my call came), I bet you are all just so excited to know where I'm going. Tumbleweed enters the screen. It is...
GERMANY MUNICH.
Well. The Mission actually does have three names, and I think it is the only Mission in the world with three legit names. And they are all somewhere in my call package. So, to clear up some confusion I might have caused by telling you different things, I will now mention all three and explain their biggest weakness. In case anyone does have a better name, I'm pretty sure the First Presidency would gladly take your suggestions to rename the greatest but also weirdest-boundaried Mission in the universe. But there we go:
GERMANY MUNICH: If you're one of my friends or acquaintances from Utah, I probably told you this name. It works great because Germany is a fairly well-known country and Munich a fairly well-known city. Missions have been headquartered there since WWII almost without interruption, so some people might know others who were actually called to a Germany Munich Mission when this name still appeared in the call letter. But, besides southern Germany, my Mission also covers all of Austria, most of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and a tiny little part of Italy. In other words, if it only says Germany, we're falling way short from reality.
ALPINE GERMAN-SPEAKING MUNICH: This is the official call letter name. It is long and twisty to the tongue but besides that, it seems to make sense: Everything that speaks German in the Alps is in the Mission. However, knowing the area a little better, there are two major problems. First, only about half of my Mission area is actually in the Alps (Munich itself, for example, is not really) and second, especially Swiss people do NOT speak any kind of German. Seriously, it is considered a language by itself with different grammar and vocabulary from standard German or something that someone speaking standard German could comprehend.
GERMAN-AUSTRIAN: This is, believe it or not, the Mission you would write letters and send packages to if you were trying to write me, at least according to the call package. It ignores that most of Germany isn't in my Mission (but with Berlin and Frankfurt, respectively) and that Switzerland, Italy and Liechtenstein also lie (partially) in my Mission.
In addition to the confusion, the map won't upload. Argh. But I'm gladly showing the package map to everyone ;)
What else would you like to know? Well. I'm going to the England MTC on March 20 where I'll be staying for a little less than two weeks. Yes. All of you who have all their dates memorized in advance, this is a THURSDAY. Who else reported on a Thursday? Anyone? Pretty sure I'm very unique among my CM and RM friends! :) Take that! ha :)
Richard Miles is my Mission President. He's from Bountiful and he's going home in July so I'll be with him for only about three months. His wife is Elder Nelson's daughter. Pretty epic. :) We shall see who comes after him but I know great things will always be ahead :)
Time to go. There will be a video of my call opening rather soon but I need to retrieve the actual file so bear with me on that one :)
Ich weiß, dass Jesus Christus unser Erlöser ist. Er lebt, liebt uns und er ist der einzige im Fleisch geborene Sohn unseres ebenfalls liebenden, ewigen und allmächtigen Himmlischen Vaters. Er kennt uns besser als wir uns selbst, mit all unseren Schwächen, Stärken und unserem vollen Potential. Christus ist für uns gestorben, damit wir von unseren Sünden umkehren können und uns so vergeben wird. Nur so, nämlich durch Ihn, können wir zu unserem Himmlischen Vater zurückkehren und dort mit Ihm und unseren Familien in ewiger Freude leben. Gott hat einen individuellen Plan für jeden von uns, damit wir dieses Ziel erreichen können. Auf diesem Weg liegen Glaube an Jesus Christus, Umkehr, Taufe, die Gabe des Heiligen Geistes und das Ausharren bis zum Ende. Im Halten Seiner Gebote segnet Er uns mit Stärke, Glauben und Hoffnung. Joseph Smith hat Seine Kirche, die Kirche Jesu Christi, wiederhergestellt. Thomas S. Monson ist heute sein lebender Nachfolger und Prophet, der stellvertretend für Jesus Christus Seine Kirche leitet. Durch Studium in der Bibel und vor allem im Buch Mormon, sowie durch persönliches Gebet können wir ein persönliches Zeugnis von diesen und noch viel mehr Dingen erhalten.
:)
Love,
Elder Friedmann
