Well this last Saturday was transfer calls and here is the lowdown. Elder Peterson is staying in Meißen and will be training and I am being transferred to Hildesheim. It is about 30 km south of Hannover. I will finally be in West Germany. It's kinda sad to be leaving the East. There isn't really an East and a West anymore but you can still see and feel the effects that communism had on the people. I've been in the East the entire time so far so it will be interesting to go to the more "American" side. To be 100% honest I really like the East. Not because I have embraced socialism or communism. Quite the opposite actually;) My testimony has grown in the opposition now that I have seen what it's effects are. I like the members and the people here are funny to me. The old people are dress like they are still living in the 50s and 60s in the GDR. I don't know how I will handle going to a place where everything looks new again haha. My new comp is named Elder Fred Roberts. I don't know much about him yet so I can't really tell you anything:) My train will leaving tomorrow morning and it will be nice because it's just a straight shot from Dresden to Hannover.
In terms of the Olympics, haha we didn't even know they were going on until like two days ago. It blew my mind that we hadn't even heard a word about them. Oh I am also pretty much back to 100% health. Other than being tired every minute of everyday I'm doing great. But that just means I'm working really, really hard right?
This last week was really good though. It's kinda hard to have to leave right as it feels that everything is starting to happen here. We had dinner with a member on Monday named Sis. Walter. It was her birthday and she invited us and a few of her friends over for dinner. Her friends were all nonmembers. She asked Peterson if he would say the prayer and so he did. After the prayer one of her friends was freaking out about how beautiful the prayer was. She asked if we always pray in such a manner, like we were talking to a really good friend and not some memorized prayer like she had heard in the church growing up, and so we kind of broke out into a discussion about the nature of God and prayer. It was really cool! One of her other friends, Connie, was asking about mission life and how moving around and transfers works. She also had this six year old daughter who just seemed to like me a lot because I was the only one besides her mom that she would talk to. She was adorable haha. Connie gave us her address and said that we could come visit sometime. She had surgery on her hand the next day so we brought cookies by on Thursday.
We had a bunch of exchanges this week. On Tuesday I went to Freiberg with Stringham. It was kinda weird to be back with my comp from the MTC but it was still fun! We switched back at District Meeting on Wednesday and then went back to Meißen for basically Lunch and for me to grab a few things and then we went back to Dresden to do an exchange with the Zone Leaders. This was when things got a little bit crazy. When we got to the main station there were about 200 cops just all walking around wearing riot gear. We got a text from the Zone Leaders telling us to be extremely careful because there were Nazis doing demonstrations in the city and it wasn't safe for us to be walking around outside. When the zone leaders got there they explained that Thursday was the anniversary of the day that Dresden was bombed and destroyed by the British and the Americans toward the end of WW2. Because of bombs and fire caused by the bombs 98% of the city was destroyed. The Nazis and the skinheads will basically swarm the inner city and it's violent. The Skinheads will make a human circle around the inner city and the Nazis basically walk around with flags and stuff screaming things about how they hate the people who destroyed the city and stuff. Outside of the main train station there were hundreds of cops and police cars to protect the station from protesters. All of the trams were shut down as well and since I was staying in Dresden with Elder Roberts (not my new comp) we had to walk back to the flat. We basically had to button up our jackets, not speak English and hope that nobody dangerous knew that we were Americans. It wasn't too bad but it was a little bit adrenaline inducing. We got back without any problems for which we were grateful. Because of all of this the next day we had to go out to a bunch of the smaller towns around Dresden because the city is not safe to work in. A lot of the members texted us saying to just stay inside since we were both "Ami's". Pres. Kosak told us to just stay away from the inner part of the city and we should be safe so thats what we did:) haha it was kind of a weird day but it just made me happy that the people in America don't treat September 11th or December 7th like that. Most of the Germans don't look at it the way the protesters do and it's embracing for them but I just cant imagine what would happen if the same thing were to happen in New York on 9/11. I just feel like we look at it in a much more solemn manner. We are upset and it's sad but we don't just run around screaming and destroying the city. That doesn't help anything.
Well we switched back later that night on Thursday and then on Friday we had our weekly meeting with Marcus, our ward mission leader. His girlfriend is visiting from the Schweiz. She actually received her mission call while she has been on this trip so she has to wait to get home to open it! oh sorry der Schweiz is Switzerland:) Later that day we had a joint teach with a lady named Mrs. Bauman. She is kind of what we call an "Ewige Untersucher" or "Eternal Investigator". She has been meeting with the missionaries for years but she only wants to meet every six weeks so it makes it hard to teach her effectively. She is still an extremely nice lady. A little crazy but still nice:)
On Saturday we got our transfer calls in the morning. We didn't meet with Stanley because while I was on Exchanges, Peterson and Rückauer went by and he said that we have done all we can for him and he doesn't want to meet with us anymore. I kinda saw it coming because he has been kind of off and a little unmotivated lately but it was still dissapointing. We took some time for me to pack as well which is not fun. It's sad to pack up the home you have been living in for 6 months. At least you guys will only have to do it once!
Sunday was by far the hardest day. Saying goodbye to the Members here was one of the hardest things so far on my mission. They gave me time to bear my testimony because I was leaving. I cried like a little child. I cried even more than I did at my farewell. I read part of Joseph Smiths testimony through tears, something that is not easy to do, and when I looked up almost every person in the congregation was crying as well. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father that I could come on this mission and have all these awesome experiences. I want to take this time to hate on Dad for giving me his pained crying face when your trying really hard to stop crying. You know the one that you did when you were released? Yep thats the one. Thanks for that... We were invited to eat at President Voglers for lunch. It's actually really cool because Hildesheim is his home ward that he grew up in! They said they will be visiting for Easter so I will get to see them again in a few weeks!
Well that was pretty much the just of my week. I was able to send the package today. Finally;) I just have a little bit more to pack and then tomorrow, I'll be off.
I hope you all have a good week! I love you all and I pray for you daily! Ich wünsche Ihnen alles gute!
Tschüßi!
Elder Trevor Bone
1. A creepy tunnel with lots of grafiti in Freiberg that we went through.
2. This dog practically waits for me every Sunday morning. We walk by him on the way to church and as soon as he sees us he comes sprinting to us. Then I will proceed to pet him and scratch behind his ears. I took a picture of him this last Sunday and as you can tell he was very sad to hear about me leaving.
3. Me and the Anderson Family. They are so awesome!
4. Me and the Vogler family. The light kind of ruined this one but it's still alright.
5. My last day in Meißen:(
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