Hahahaha. Oh my heck SYDNEY YOU ARE THE LUCKIEST PERSON ON THE PLANET. Get an iPhone 6 and then start dinkin' around at Lagoon and look what happens. Thank your lucky stars, my friend, because you wouldn't have been the only one ticked off about your new scrambled iPhone 6. You best say your prayers every night for the rest of your life.
Assistants still have an area in Frankfurt, but some weeks we're rarely in it! When you have to split with the Elders in Nürnberg or Jena or Dortmund or Düsseldorf, they're all like a minimum of 3 hours one way! A lot of car time. But it's good, we still try to make up for the time we don't get in our area by always being on the phone and calling members and investigators and other people to set up appointments to stay in touch and stay productive. It's an interesting balance, but it's a blast and we make it work! Plus working with President is awesome. He says hi! President Stoddard takes off actually tomorrow morning to spend the week in Portugal on vacation! Just kidding, it's for a Europe Mission Presidents' Seminar, but being with apostles is about just as good as vacation! So maybe he'll spot Elder McKay Taylor over there. But all we know is that for a week, we're in charge, and he said if I'm nice, I'll even get to drive his car. I'm being real nice :) and as soon as he gets back it is Transfer Calls and then Transfer Week, with new goldens coming and old missionaries leaving!
We spent a good chunk of this last week doing Transfer Planning, which is six hour chunks of being with President in the office, looking at the giant mission transfer board with all of the missionaries pictures and areas, and deciding what we feel the next step is! A lot of trainers, a lot of companionships staying together, a lot changing. It's actually a lot of fun, I feel like I know the missionaries way more than they think I do, and way more than they know me! It's also amazing to see how inspired President Stoddard is throughout the whole Transfer Planning process as he thinks about and considers every missionary, every companionship, every district, and every zone. He puts his heart into it, and the Spirit is definitely present as well. Sometimes you think you are just getting punished and put with a punk of a companion until you repent or bake the mission president's wife some cookies, but there is a reason for everything, and each day and each week of each transfer is exactly what we need to become the missionaries and people that the Lord wants us to be.
Elder Emery and I are gearing up for next transfer too, because Elder Lindsey goes home at the end of next week, and the next transfer is only a 5-weeker, which is going to be crazy because the first week of every transfer is taken up by the actual transfers and everything, and the last week is normally taken up by transfer planning. That means that we have 3 weeks to do 10 splits. Thank goodness Zone Conferences aren't this transfer, we would never see home! It's gonna be a blast though, we're excited.
So like I mentioned, this last week was mostly prepping for President being gone and for transfers, and a couple of appointments scattered here and there, which included the best prayer where an 8 year old prayed that none of us would get mosquito bites that night. The best part? Not a single mosquito bite. :) The church is true!
This next week we have a whole slew of appointments for people who want to say goodbye to Elder Lindsey and then the rest of the splits we haven't finished yet! So this week we'll be splitting with Heidelberg (yeah baby), Dortmund, and the Tech Elders! It's gonna be great. We also have an appointment later this week with two English families, the Southalls and the Robertsons, who are inviting their really cool and interested friend and her daughter for a big dinner appointment and lesson from yours truly! So pray for Patina. That's the friend. She's honestly so cool and would be such an awesome member.
I apologize for all of the scrambled thoughts, but my mind is burned out today! But the good news? Picture taking abilities are back in Frankfurt, baby! The Tech Elders got my camera back from the Düsseldorf Zone Leaders (not without taking a few pictures of their own, though), and we're back in business! So hopefully those make up for the jumbled email!
I love you all! I love hearing that you had a good week, and I hope that this next one is even better. I want you all to know how much I believe in the power of prayer. We have the privilege of calling the most powerful being in the universe "Father", so take advantage of that, and develop a relationship as such! We live in an amazing time, with the restored knowledge we have, and like Pres. Uchtdorf said, too often we live underneath our privileges. Take advantage of the blessings we are lucky enough to have, and make life what it should be through the gospel.
You all are amazing, I'll hear from you next week!!
Alles Liebe,
-- Elder McGinn
Und vor allem, liebe ich meine Mutter!
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