We Had Too Much Fun, so God Gave Us Hoes (Garden Tools)

Monday, March 19, 2018

View coming back from District Meeting

View coming back from District Meeting

Hello, everyone.

The City of Crazy Service Projects, Game Nights, and Miracles continues to be amazing.

TUESDAY: We had our branch activity, St. Patrick's Day game night. We had some non-member friends there as well, and it was very successful. E. beat everyone at everything as always, and we all had a lot of food and fun. I also got to see Αδέλφη Σμιθ (Sister S.) today at District Meeting. It was really, really, weird to see each other again. We have not seen each other since leaving the Missionary Training Center in December last year!

WEDNESDAY: We did service at the horse ranch. After we were done with the horses, we rode in the back of a truck out to one of their fields. A sprinkler machine had tipped over, and they needed help to get it back on its wheels again. It was really cool and felt like something out of a movie. Elder R. and I also got to unload the hay from a truck. Neither one of us thought that we would be doing that on our missions. We had language classes, and we used the “Family Proclamation” to teach (Read the “Family Proclamation,"  and learn more here about why it is so important.). Somehow, we got to explaining what the The Pearl of Great Price is, a volume of holy scripture that was translated by Joseph Smith from Egyptian papyri, similar to the Dead Sea scrolls (read The Pearl of Great Price). We also met a girl from Greece in one of the kiosks here. She speaks GREEK, not Cypriot, and it was so easy to understand her. She is great and really funny. 

THURSDAY: We had a quick weekly planning session and then went to the donut shop. We made friends with the lady who works there and got 13 donuts for 10 euros. We went around to our friends and delivered donuts to the charity shop. We decided to bring our broom and donuts all over town and see if we could help people and give them a donut. I also baked a cake from scratch for the first time in my life. I used a recipe from one of the senior couples here. I had to ask Sister Sampson to give me the conversions from cups to grams! I only had one measuring cup and so just kind of guessed at everything. It was actually pretty good cake. We went around to our neighbors and introduced ourselves. One lady talked for like 20 minutes about fish...in Greek...δεν κατάλαβα τίποτα. I understood nothing

Sweet friend at the Charity Shop

FRIDAY: We went and pulled weeds at a member's home for an hour or so and then went back to the charity shop and gave out some more donuts. We then went to our Greek friend, Φωτηνή,  and started sweeping out her kiosk, haha. It was so funny; we walked in with two donuts and a broom. We looked like crazy people, but she was really happy to see us, and we met her friend who is from Romania. I also have a fully repaired bike now.

SATURDAY: This was the most exhausting day of my mission. We got up at 6:30, left at 6:45, and went to a guy we met who needed help with his and his mother's gardens. He speaks full Cypriot. We worked with his son (about 16 years old) for three hours, and we understood maybe four words in total...ετσι! Μπραβω! Jαμει! Νταξι! We then went to Father F. (a Catholic priest and super cool guy) and played football with the kids from the parish. We were pretty much extra chaperones. My favorite quote from the day was the following:  

M. (about 4 or 5 years old): "Father, I need to make kaka." Father F.: "Oh no, M.! That sounds serious!"

It was so funny and cute. Father F. is great with the kids and had us join all of them for lunch. The spaghetti was good! ;) We crashed at the other elders’ apartment for an hour and did language study. Then, we biked to football finding. It was a very warm day. :) We played for two hours with a bunch of Russian kids that have all grown up here. They learn British English in schools here, so they all spoke perfect Russian, perfect Greek/Cypriot, and perfect British English. Crazy! Elder Sampson gave us a ride back to our apartment, and we took showers. We went out and saw our friend A. and met his wife and daughter. Elder R. made me go to bed early because I was very sick from being all day in the sun. He gave me a blessing that I would be healed by morning and would have energy to make it through the next day. I crashed in bed at 8:30.

An exhausted and sick Elder Muller

SUNDAY: I woke up perfectly fine and with lots of energy. Priesthood blessings are real, and they work (see here for more information about priesthood blessings). I went from not being able to write due to my hands shaking to being full of energy. I am so thankful for the priesthood and a companion who is worthy of holding it. Sacrament meeting was really good with talks by the Sampsons. I messed up a lot on the piano, which was unfortunate. We had a friend in church with us, and they came to lunch at the Sampsons’ as well. We had rehearsal for the Passion Play at the Catholic Church. I am getting better at having my ear cut off for it. President and Sister Heder moved their flight this weekend so that they can come and see the play! :D We taught one of our friends the first lesson tonight, and it went well. Being a missionary is awesome.

Elder R. and I will be teaching at Zone Conference about the 2,000 Stripling Warriors and the principles of Obedience and Diligence (read the story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors in Alma 53:16-19 and Alma 56-58). We have been studying these topics for the past few days and one thing always stands out to me. You cannot have diligence without faith. You cannot have obedience without humility. They are all interconnected. The best way to achieve these attributes (Christlike attributes) is to not focus on them. We cannot become more humble by studying humility. We will not become more obedient for a long period of time by studying obedience. We can only achieve these things as we focus on Jesus Christ. If we focus on following his example in all things, we will naturally gain His attributes.

Love you all, and hope you are well.

- Ο Πρεσβύτερος Μούλερ

Elder R. cleaned the kitchen while Elder Muller slept.

Elder R. taking care of Elder Muller's cake mess!

Elder R. sending emails from internet cafe 3/19/18

Spectacular view coming back from District Meeting

Elder Muller

Elder Muller -What a spectacular view!

Elder Muller on the overlook from District Meeting

Elder & Sister Sampson, Senior Missionary Couple

Elder & Sister Sampson, Senior Missionary Couple

Elder Muller making a cake from scratch!

Elder Muller's cake ready for delivery!

Elder R. and Elder Muller at the Sampson's apartment.
Biked there in the heat!

Elder R. and Elder Muller - tired from biking in the heat!

View from golf course near the horse farm

View from golf course near the horse farm

By the golf course and horse farm

By the golf course and horse farm

By the golf course and the horse farm

The Sampsons taking the horse to the water

Elder Sampson

Elders R. and  Muller - what a view!

Coming home from District Meeting

Aphrodite's Rock

By Aphrodite's Rock

Aphrodite's Rock

Elder R.

Elder Muller's cake!