My 20th Birthday

I hope this picture works.  And I swear, I'm not that fat.  My mouth was full of fries.  And I was in Vienna...

 

In any case, this was taken by Elder La Count on my Birthday, 2009.  In the picture are Elders Le Säec and Warncke.  The picture was take at the Mission-famous Herbs restaurant.

 

21 isn't much different.  We went to Pizza Hut and got pizzas.  Then in the evening, we had a cake.  It was actually Interviews, so it worked out nicely. 

 

I got the card and the package...  Thanks!  The package actually came before the card, so I was a little worried.  But everything got here!  I still say we celebrate for reals on the 14th of October...   

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You Wanna Steal a Piece of Time

aka- the conclusion of last week.

We went back right after we sent emails to the park.  Construction was even more than before.  They were tearing up the entire section where the card could have been.  We decided we should just search that last segment, and I resolved that if we didn't find it in an hour, we would give up and that would be the end of it.  So we searched...

and searched...

and searched...

and finally, a construction worker comes up to me and asks, "Is it a blue memory card with like Fuji or something written on it?"  I say yes, and ask where he saw it.  HE said he couldn't remember, but that it was somewhere on the patch that we were searching.  So this all gave me new determination.  It had been about 45 minutes, but now, I was determined to find it.  So we searched some more, and no more than 2 minutes later, I find the USB stick.  It was a little broken, like it got ran over, but after a quick plug-in, I found out that it still worked like a charm.  But now the memory card.  I couldn't find it anywhere, until this same punk construction worker comes walking over with it in his hand. 

"You found it!"

He rubs his forefinger and middle finger against his thumb.  You've got to be kidding me. 

So I paid him.  It wasn't too much, and I just wrote it off as a reward.  Whatev.  Something I'll laugh about in the future...

Point is: I found them and have all my pictures back!

Thanks for the prayers!  God listens!

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You Want to Make a Memory

This is a sad entry today.  And no, there is no picture.  Let me explain.

 

We were heading back last night from the 4th of July barbeque our ward had (I love Germans) and we noticed that there was a storm coming in, full of lightning and darkness.  We were walking across a huge park, called the Theresianwiese, back to our apartment, when E. Hebben asked to see my camera so he could get a cool picture of the lightening.  So I proceed to take the camera case out of my bag and hand it to him.  He takes the camera right out and is holding it for just the right moment.

 

In any case, the moment never came.  Right as we were leaving the Wiese, I noticed something fall out of my camera case (that E. Hebben was holding) and saw it was one of my filled memory cards.  I reached down and grabbed it, and asked if the other memory card and USB stick were in there as well.  They weren't.  So then began the mad search for about 1800 pictures lost somewhere on a field the size of Mariposa Park.  We didn't find them.  So we ran out to the Wiese this morning and did a little more searching.  Still nothing.  I think they are gone.  It kills me.  The 2 gig card was completly full (about 650 pictures) and the 8 gig stick was half full (another 1200 pics or so...).  We are heading back there in a couple minutes, but it's like trying to find a needle in a hay stack...  Forget it.

 

Just goes to show you, not all days are sunny and beautiful...

 

Ok, I can't end like that.  The good news is that all the "good" pictures were on that memory card I found.  All the baptisms and a lot of other good stuff.  It would have been worse if I had lost that one...

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Germany Wins 4:1

Man, the World Cup is crazy here.  I'm so glad I brought my Germany Jersey from 2006.  This is a picture taken of the Leopoldstraße, shortly after Germany won.  There were thousands of fans wearing jerseys and German flags, helicopters, car horns, you name it.  Germany is going to the Quarter Finals, and the people are crazy.  It reminds me a lot of the World Cup back when we were here.  Looks like I have been 3 for 3 for World Cups in Germany.  Let's see if they can pull this one off...

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Dedication of the Rückertstraße 2 Ward Building

This week, our ward building was dedicated.  The dedication was done by Elder Kopischke of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  It was kinda a big thing.  We have been preparing for it for quite a while, and the entire weekend was filled with church tours, dance evenings and barbeque.  It made the week interesting, and it's always cool to hear a General Authority speak.  We'll see if it brought any fruit...

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Hole In One

We went golfing last P Day.  The second picture is of Sis. Beutler and that yellow spot was her ball, flying towards my face.  In the first picture, from left to right, E. Yanéz, E. Kuns, Isabell (an investigator), me, E. Hebben, S. Alder and S. Beutler.

 

We had fun.  And hang on to your hats everyone.  I won!  Who said Kemsley's suck at golf? 

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I'm Gonna Miss Him...

Well,  the big news is in.  All missionaries currently serving in Nuremburg Stake will be part of the Frankfurt Central Mission.  That includes Elder Ballantyne.  Sad times.  The next time I see him will be after the mission!  After HIS mission! 

Sad times.  I'm gonna miss him!

PS--  Nobody in my group was allowed to be transfered up...  All that worrying for nothing...

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