May 28 2012

Well I've got a lot to talk about this week so I hope you're ready for it.

First of all I'll start with what is most important. Our appointments with Familie Bobi this week went really well. We are talking to them about all the commandments they will need to know before baptism and on Wednesday we brought Bruder Hunger along (he is the Brother Parker of Germany - works really well with the youth of the ward and is that same kind of role model) as we talked about obedience in general and Bruder Hunger made the lesson. He told about his conversion 45 years ago and gave a powerful testimony. Then on Thursday we decided it was good to teach the Word of Wisdom as soon as we could because that would be their biggest obstacle. We brought Thomas Lübke along who has been a member for a little over a year. Again having the Joint Teach made a huge impact and by the end of the lesson Familie Bobi seemed ready to overcome anything. It's so incredible to see how much the Lord has prepared him to hear this message and place them on the path that will bring them eternal joy. It has also been really great to see how much the ward has changed in attitude towards missionary work. We've been getting so much support and help for them especially as of late and I am so excited for the things that will come in the next few weeks here. As far as the rest of the work, Rosenheim is really blossoming (like a Rose) right now. We had a Mission Wide Finding Day, along with the Frankfurt mission this last Friday, where all the missionaries spent the whole day without having any appointments, but simply just tracting. We had so many instances where the spirit would lead us to apartments where we could find, almost instantly, lots of potential investigators. Elder Field and I wanted to work really hard on this day and we ended up finding half the potential investigators that our District found all together. The Lord is putting the people who are ready in our paths and it's making the work so great here. All of our appointments went really well and its the first week where we have had more Joint-Teaches than regular appointments. Times like these are what make the Mission so incredible.

Ok, so in the Missionary Handbook there is a rule that says if you were hit by a car you need to tell the Mission President as soon as possible. I figured that should be the same with parents. Yes, I did get hit by a car this last Tuesday. I was riding in the bike lane and a silver Audi drifted over and knocked me off on to the sidewalk and then drove off. Don't worry, I am completely fine. I ripped my pants and shirt and cut up my arm and shoulder, but they have completely healed and now you wouldn't know any better. It also helps that Sister Covertson (the Covertsons are Senior couple Missionaries) is a nurse and is in my district. But all in all it really wasn't that bad; right after my adrenaline was pumping a lot and I wanted to go run 10 miles.

This last Wednesday we had Zone Conference which was fantastic. We had about 40 missionaries in our zone. I got to see Elder Gubler from my MTC district again which was a lot of fun as we caught up on our experiences. During the conference Elder Field and I, the Zone Leaders, and the Assistants to the President, and the Elders from Neuötting gave Missionary Training presentations and then we led various workshops. We had a testimony meeting at the end of the conference where all the Missionaries who had their first or last Zone Conference that day were invited to share their testimony. So Elder Field and I both got to go up coming from different ends of the mission.

During Zone conference I got to speak with President Miles and I found out something you would really appreciate Dad: President Miles went to Olympus High. Apparently when he was there, there was a Kim Bodily in his class and wondered if you knew him and then he said that there was a Steven Miles who would have been around your age who went to Olympus, who is his brother. He also noticed my weight loss (37 pounds) which leads me to my next point - Mom I can't deny it, I will need some smaller shirts, a size or two down, if you can send them.

This Friday is transfer calls. I will find out who my next companion is and where I'll be serving (although I am 95% certain I'll be staying in Rosenheim). Elder Field only has 10 days left on his mission. It means that we have a lot of dinner appointments with members this week as they send him off. He has been an amazing trainer for me and I hope to keep up his ethics of hard work here in the area.

Yesterday, we were able to apply our first aid skills that we learned as scouts. Actually about all we did was call the ambulance and a police officer nearby did most the work. We were driving with Familie Dzierzon to their house for a dinner appointment after church when an old guy on the side of the road, in lederhosen riding his bike, ran into a lamp post and flipped over a barbed wire fence and cut his head open on a rock. When we went to go help he smelt like he had been drinking a lot. Familie Dzierzon had a first aid kit in the car and the police officer bandaged him up and took care of him until the ambulance arrived.

Today for P-Day Elder Field and I hiked a mountain called Wendelstein. Familie Dzierzon had suggested it to us and they said it would take about 5-6 hours round trip. When we checked the website at their house it said it usually takes 3 and half hours to climb up and 2 to come down. The key word though is usually. When you have Elder Field as a companion that means that's the time you should take if you are crippled. He led the way and we got to the summit in an 1 hour and 15 minutes. This is why I've lost so much weight if you didn't know yet. It allowed us to take a different, longer trail down and still arrive an hour early to our originally planned train.

Well I will leave it at that for now. Thank you for the pictures of Rebekah, Tyson, Shams, James and Jake.  I loved them and would love to have hard copies sent.  I hope you are all doing well. I appreciate your support so much, so thank you.

Elder Bodily

Gott sei mit euch bis aufs wiedersehen