Hey all of you!
How has this week been for all of you? Well this week was pretty great for me! I think that I have a bunch of stories to tell this week, so it should be fun! We had a funny experience last Monday. We (elder A* and I) got invited over to eat at the bishops house. That's not the funny experience, (I did get rootbeer though) but it was what happened on the way home! We were on the metro, I was standing by the door, and Elder A* was sitting in a row of seats that was facing the opposite side of the metro. (Okay, I hope that made sense.) The seats were facing each other. He was talking to this lady. An Asian looking man came in the door, and walked right by me. He sat down across from Elder A*, and was just studying him. He kept looking and looking. Then I see him pull out his phone. And he takes a picture of Elder A*! He keeps looking at the picture, Then zooms in on his plaque. He wasn't able to read it. Then he puts his phone away and keeps on looking at Elder A*. He pulls out his phone, and decided to post the picture he took of ELder A* to facebook!! Then he made a comment, and put his phone away. Then he starts looking around the metro, because Elder A* wasn't as interesting to him anymore. He turns his head, and sees me. I give him a hello nod. He sees me, sees my plaque. Then he looks back at Elder A*, back to me, back to Elder A*, back to me.
He leaned forward on his knees, looks over at me and says, "I didn't see you there at first! How long have you been there?"
It was complete American English. I worked my way over to him, and started talking to him. He was from California! He then said, "yeah, I thought you guys usually travel in twos, so I was super confused when I saw him alone!" We chatted some more, and found out he was here for school or something. It was pretty funny. At least I thought.
Anyways, next! Next part of the email is just about a man we are currently teaching, whom I think is super cool. His name is Mr. P*. He is a German man who is a P.E teacher, and speaks like 4 or five languages. He speaks English to us. He is a super nice guy. That's kinda all I have to say about him at this moment.
Next! Transfer day. This was my first real transfer day! Let me describe it. So we left pretty early, around 7 to go to the train station! There were a bunch of missionaries all going to Paris, so we were loading them onto the train, when a sister says to Elder S* and I, go find these other two sisters! They are going to miss the train! So Elder S* and I run down off the platform, and just start searching for these lost sisters! As we start to think they are going to miss the train, we see our zone leader running towards us! He yells, "Wheres the train?!" I start running with him, as Elder S* grabs the other sisters bag. We run up the platform, and throw their luggage on just in time for train to leave! Whew! It was quite exciting! We actually run for trams, metros, and trains all the time..so I guess you could say everyday is an event trying to catch the train!
So transfer day was spent trying to get people on trains. Our companions came in about 10. They arrived, and we left. Elder N* is pretty cool, but definitely different than Elder A*! That just reminded me that every one is different, and everyone has their own way of work, and different things that they like to focus on! He is a pretty hard worker. He is super skinny, but eats more food than anyone I have ever seen! Its quite amazing to watch actually. I think that this new transfer is going to be a good one! I'm excited to see what it brings! That night, meaning Wednesday, we thought we were going to be eating at a members house, but they called and cancelled. Wednesdays are usually the nights we teach A*, so we decided to go to the church to see if he was at institute. He was! So we had an impromptu lesson with A*, after knowing each other for a period of like 4 hours. I think it went alright, but definitely could have been better!
My next story comes from last night. We were coeuring, (that's what we are supposed to call porting now) and we weren't being let in anywhere. We come to this lady's house, and ask if we can pray with her. She starts to turn us down, when her little boy (age 6 or 7) just starts begging his mom to let us in, and it was in Dutch! The mom finally agrees, and tells us we can because her boy wants to. He ran upstairs and gets his brother. Then we prayed with the mom and her two little boys! It was a cool experience because 1) we almost never get let in coeuring, and 2) little kids are awesome! They were the Verstraaten family! Spoke dutch and french and a little bit of English!
Well, I think that that is most of the exciting stories for this week! Thank you all so very much my family! Thank you all for your stories and updates! I will let you know when I get those packages! I love and miss you all very much! Until next week!
Love,
Elder Hamilton
How has this week been for all of you? Well this week was pretty great for me! I think that I have a bunch of stories to tell this week, so it should be fun! We had a funny experience last Monday. We (elder A* and I) got invited over to eat at the bishops house. That's not the funny experience, (I did get rootbeer though) but it was what happened on the way home! We were on the metro, I was standing by the door, and Elder A* was sitting in a row of seats that was facing the opposite side of the metro. (Okay, I hope that made sense.) The seats were facing each other. He was talking to this lady. An Asian looking man came in the door, and walked right by me. He sat down across from Elder A*, and was just studying him. He kept looking and looking. Then I see him pull out his phone. And he takes a picture of Elder A*! He keeps looking at the picture, Then zooms in on his plaque. He wasn't able to read it. Then he puts his phone away and keeps on looking at Elder A*. He pulls out his phone, and decided to post the picture he took of ELder A* to facebook!! Then he made a comment, and put his phone away. Then he starts looking around the metro, because Elder A* wasn't as interesting to him anymore. He turns his head, and sees me. I give him a hello nod. He sees me, sees my plaque. Then he looks back at Elder A*, back to me, back to Elder A*, back to me.
He leaned forward on his knees, looks over at me and says, "I didn't see you there at first! How long have you been there?"
It was complete American English. I worked my way over to him, and started talking to him. He was from California! He then said, "yeah, I thought you guys usually travel in twos, so I was super confused when I saw him alone!" We chatted some more, and found out he was here for school or something. It was pretty funny. At least I thought.
Anyways, next! Next part of the email is just about a man we are currently teaching, whom I think is super cool. His name is Mr. P*. He is a German man who is a P.E teacher, and speaks like 4 or five languages. He speaks English to us. He is a super nice guy. That's kinda all I have to say about him at this moment.
Next! Transfer day. This was my first real transfer day! Let me describe it. So we left pretty early, around 7 to go to the train station! There were a bunch of missionaries all going to Paris, so we were loading them onto the train, when a sister says to Elder S* and I, go find these other two sisters! They are going to miss the train! So Elder S* and I run down off the platform, and just start searching for these lost sisters! As we start to think they are going to miss the train, we see our zone leader running towards us! He yells, "Wheres the train?!" I start running with him, as Elder S* grabs the other sisters bag. We run up the platform, and throw their luggage on just in time for train to leave! Whew! It was quite exciting! We actually run for trams, metros, and trains all the time..so I guess you could say everyday is an event trying to catch the train!
So transfer day was spent trying to get people on trains. Our companions came in about 10. They arrived, and we left. Elder N* is pretty cool, but definitely different than Elder A*! That just reminded me that every one is different, and everyone has their own way of work, and different things that they like to focus on! He is a pretty hard worker. He is super skinny, but eats more food than anyone I have ever seen! Its quite amazing to watch actually. I think that this new transfer is going to be a good one! I'm excited to see what it brings! That night, meaning Wednesday, we thought we were going to be eating at a members house, but they called and cancelled. Wednesdays are usually the nights we teach A*, so we decided to go to the church to see if he was at institute. He was! So we had an impromptu lesson with A*, after knowing each other for a period of like 4 hours. I think it went alright, but definitely could have been better!
My next story comes from last night. We were coeuring, (that's what we are supposed to call porting now) and we weren't being let in anywhere. We come to this lady's house, and ask if we can pray with her. She starts to turn us down, when her little boy (age 6 or 7) just starts begging his mom to let us in, and it was in Dutch! The mom finally agrees, and tells us we can because her boy wants to. He ran upstairs and gets his brother. Then we prayed with the mom and her two little boys! It was a cool experience because 1) we almost never get let in coeuring, and 2) little kids are awesome! They were the Verstraaten family! Spoke dutch and french and a little bit of English!
Well, I think that that is most of the exciting stories for this week! Thank you all so very much my family! Thank you all for your stories and updates! I will let you know when I get those packages! I love and miss you all very much! Until next week!
Love,
Elder Hamilton