"Don't Be Liars"

Monday, May 7, 2018

Cyprus Zone Activity, April 30, 2018
Missionaries and Senior Couples

Cyprus Zone Activity, April 30, 2018
Elder Muller is in the top right corner crouching on the rock

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the island of heat, dust, sweat, miracles, and what the locals call "Greek" (it's definitely not Greek).

WEDNESDAY: We visited an older man from our congregation. He is English and very nice. He gave us cake and pineapple juice (hehe, Elder G., if you read this, show that to Elder J.).  That was cool, and we talked to two guys there. That night, we went back to a guy we found by door-knocking. It was only eight, and he is like thirty, so we thought he would be awake—nope. He yelled at us for three minutes, and we aren't welcome back there until he calls us......soooooooo, yup.

THURSDAY: We had our weekly planning session, and it took a long time as always. We have to work with our area and think also about our district members and how we can help them. We made a cake and delivered it to our neighbors. Once again, it did not turn out that well. I am just going to start saying it is SUPPOSED to be chocolate lava cake. Our oven was on broil instead of bake, so the top burned, and the bottom was gooey. But, we made friends with our new neighbors who are from Germany. They are awesome! We visited a less active member with the Flemmings, and that was good. She was very nice.

Weekly Planning

Weekly Planning
(Note the bottle of Ibuprofen front and center!
I love Elder Muller's subtle sense of humor!)

FRIDAY: We did service with our friend K. at his football field. He loves us now, and we draw the best lines on the field! Elder S. had to hold me back from arguing with a drunk Cypriot guy as we were walking. That was interesting, lol. The mission sure does make you come out of your shell. We did calls and found three people who wanted to meet up with us, just from doing cold calls to random old numbers on the phone. I had felt since our Thursday planning session that no matter what happened, we needed to be in Ledra at 7 pm on Friday. So, we got there a little early and had dinner in a very feminine restaurant, lol. ON THE OUTSIDE, IT LOOKED FINE, OK. And, we left our table at exactly 7 pm to go out and do finding. The waiter asked us where we are from, and I said the U.S. He pulled over another waiter who lived in Florida for 15 years. He was super cool, and we are definitely starting a friendship there! God is real folks.

Elder S. at the "Very feminine restaurant"
Note from Mom: I think Elder Muller confuses "feminine" with fancy!

Elder S.

Fancy Restaurant 

Elder S. - "Enough with the Pictures, bro!"

We also visited a comic book store where we got free comic books (which we aren't allowed to read, but...), and it is so nice to be able to talk to the guys there and just nerd out. We spoke for seven minutes about Darth Nihilus (Bryan's favorite Sith Lord—Bryan is Elder Müller’s older brother) and about how the Jedi are actually the bad guys. So, if you understood that, congrats. We also met a half-Cypriot/half-Dutch guy who was absolutely crazy. Not a surprise if you are half-Dutch/half-Cypriot, am I right, folks? He thought that Noah was a giant taller than office buildings, that the earth is flat, and that mountains are when God got angry and petrified the earth man—that's why we find petrified animals all over the world. So yeah, interesting day.

SATURDAY: We picked up Elder S.'s bike from the shop and went to coordination meeting at the church. That was good. Our lesson with our friend from Cameroon got canceled, so we went home and studied. We had lunch with the other elders, and then went to a football field to meet a friend. They were late, so we left and went to the comic shop (we got the free books today, not Friday, sorry) and spoke to our friends there. We then biked back to the football pitch, and a lot of Africans were all shouting at each other. So, we just watched and spoke to people until our friend was finished playing. He is super chill. As we went to leave, we saw that my tire was completely flat. I had a puncture and couldn't even get it to fill up a little bit with air. So, we walked all the way home (very far away) with our bikes.

SUNDAY: Our friend from Cameroon came to church, and we had a lesson with him about the Law of Chastity during second hour. It went very, very well, and he is just amazing. He is so ready and is still on date for baptism! We did a whiteboard with little success this evening. I did have the wonderful opportunity to be harassed by an old Cypriot guy who kept telling me to write on our board, "Don't be liars." Even though our question was, "Who is the best example in your life?" So, I had fun arguing with Cypriots why that answer doesn't make sense. He was stopping people and making fun of us as well. So, it was an interesting night.

That is about all, folks. It has been a long week here, and the weather is unbelievable. I didn't think it possible, but Elder Müller can actually tan. I have three different skin tones right now: one on my neck and arms, one on my shins and calves (from service when I wear shorts), and then my milky-white underbelly. Also, I can now curl the weights I couldn't even lift when I got to Paphos in December. So, I’m improving in the "Get jacked 2018 program.” My Greek is still trash, but Elder S. has helped me a lot and always makes me speak it with him. Greek sounds really strange, so it will be interesting for you all on Sunday when we speak. 

Love you all,

- Elder Müller

A book in the library on campus here.
This is for Sister S.!

Graffiti near the border/Elder S. being the loveable Brit he is.

Homemade pizzas on pita bread and ketchup puree tomato sauce.
Way too salty, but still good

I wrote out a short story in Greek for language study. 

               Go ahead and try to translate it!

Graffiti

PURPLE TREES BILL

This reminded us of our Chinese friend

                                      Why is this here?

Elder and Sister Sampson
Senior Couple Serving in Paphos, Cyprus
Zone Activity
April 30, 2018