Mission Conference

Hey mom! So, we had quite a week! As you know there was a mission conference in Berlin on Friday. We were super excited for it! We got our travel plans, and because there´s no train straight from Freiberg to Berlin that would´ve gotten us there on time we stayed the night in an Apartment in Halle, a city outside of Leipzig. We bought our tickets to Halle, and from there to Berlin. The day after we bought them we got news from the office that the DB (German train network) Would be on strike Wednesday and Thursday, and that there weren´t going to be any trains running. NO TRAINS! This was not good. We needed to get to Halle on Thursday, and the train was really the only way we could get there. So we called the office and they found a bus that went from Dresden to Halle. Everything was all fine and dandy, and we were back on schedule. Sadly, Satan didn´t want that to happen, so the bus fell out! Our last hope was to have someone drive us, otherwise we would be walking to Berlin. This is where the great senior mission couple comes in to the picture. They were so nice, they volunteered to drive us all the way to halle! Our trip was saved :) Elder and Sister Hubrich, look them up! (they have a blog). 

So we got to Halle, and there had the worst nights sleep... ever. It´s a 2 man apartment, and we had 8 people staying in it. I ended up sleeping (or trying to) on the floor with a pillow and a blanket that´s too small. Elder WIlliams spent the night on a broken couch. We both slept for about 2 hours and were hurting the next morning, at 4:00 AM when we had to get up and catch our train to Berlin. Now, here´s where it gets interesting. We got to the train station in Halle, met up with the sisters that were staying the night, and went up to the platform just in time to see that out train to Berlin was cancelled! NO!! We didn´t know what to do, so we said a prayer, and went to the information desk. To make a long story short we found a train going to Berlin from Leipzig, so we went back there to catch the train. Funny, because 6 of the missionaries in our big group were actually serving in Leipzig! But anyway we made it! We were the last people there, but we made it! 

So, the conference. It was awesome! We had 2 great members of the 70 come and teach us. Haha, they were so funny! Elder Kearon is literally the most ADD person in the world! So funny! He was in the middle of bearing his testimony, and he just turned, looked at an Elder, and said "where are you from? Australia?! Sweet! Anyone else here from Australia?" My new favorite General authority. So we got all the training for ipads! We got training manuals, had a Q and A, and a long discussion about pornography. It was actually really cool and informative. A big reason for us having Ipads is to teach us how to use technology responsibly, and to help us "Inoculate" the next generation so Pornography isn´t such a big problem. Really cool. We got everything we need to use IPads responsibly... Except iPads! Apple made a mistake with the order. Hopefully we´ll be getting them soon. 

It was a great meeting, but it doesn´t end there! We still had to get back to Freiberg, and because of the strike we couldn´t really plan our trip back, because we didn´t know which trains would be going. So we bought a ticket back to Leipzig, and found a train that would get us back to Freiberg at a decent hour. Now just one more problem... The train coming in to Leipzig was a little late, and we missed the train back to Freiberg! So we ended up staying the night in Leipzig with 2 of the Elders there. We finally got home Saturday morning and just collapsed from only having about 5 hours of sleep in 2 days. 

So.. what´s the Moral of this story? Missionaries will do anything to further the work of the Lord with Technology, and I hate The DB.

Have a great week,

Elder Oliphant

Some answers to questions:

We write Emails late because it takes a long time to walk to the church, and it´s up a big hill, and we usually spend our work time up here anyways.

U.S. Snickers are pretty different. I´ll send you some. I´m planning to send a package next transfer, when I get some new nametags ;)

It has only rained once in Freiberg

We walk, or have the senior couple drive us :)

So with skyping. We should have our Ipads by then. When would be the best time for you? Do you have early or late church? I don´t remember. And I know that it´s possible to have 3 way skype calls, so you can set that up with Riley, and we can all skype together! :)

Also, we will be using facebook a lot with the ipads, so that means my facebook account needs to be more appropriate for a representative of Jesus Christ. Can you start deleting things and cleaning it up? I mean with everything. I trust you :)