Elder Heilmann: Adventures in Serving the Lord

We are BACK!  Here is the March 10 update.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy. __________________________ To start our epic conversation today, we decided that we should definitely sing "Let's Have a Drink on It" (from The Happiest Millionaire, a family favorite) for a Ward Talent Show when Elder Heilmann got back.  Never a dull moment around here.  The Elders were at the Church in Krefeld today, and it was sunny and glorious!  It hasn't been that nice in a long time, and Elder Heilmann said it felt GREAT! Daily Doings This morning, Elder Heilmann logged in to his old Skype account to see if it would be helpful in his teaching. He didn't expect to see chats with old friends from 2014! He loved the feelings of nostalgia! What a treasure trove.   Then Tristan decided it was time to introduce his bro to his latest obsession, " Centaurworld ." It had the opposite effect. It totally freaked Elder Heilmann out. He said it was just "too weird" even for him....

We had technical difficulties for a few weeks and didn't get our chats recorded. :( Boo! But we picked up again on March 3rd!  This one was particularly funny. We mostly just chatted about nonsensical and totally random things. We ran the gamut from same-gendered attraction within the Church to telomeres and stem cells. Also that the metric system is so much better as is 'military' time. One of my favorite experiences of this call was listening to the boys talk and share that they missed each other. It was really sweet. They shared silly voices and made each other laugh. Elmo and Donald's voices being among the most impressive!! The silly dialogs for "The Great British Bakeoff" done in British accents went on for quite some time, and it was for the books! So hilarious!! They made fun of the lack of AC in the tent but the request to still make meltable confections.  My favorite British dialog was: "Great British Baking Show, Season 9,998. You'll be wor...

Daily Doings This boy, I tell ya. He is having the time of his life serving the Lord in Germany. When he is on his personal time, he loves to do fun things like go to game stores and get new treasures! This week, he was able to go to Spielzeit , which means 'game time,' to get a new set of Magic the Gathering cards. He picked up Ghost Vikings! Oooo!!! He was all sparkly and smiley, showing us his latest treat. Mmmm. Fresh card smell. ;)   He also enjoys playing the piano and guitar whenever he gets a chance and he just acquired all of the songs from the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice.  I love that music! Another love is cooking. He has always loved cooking and baking things, and that skill has blessed his life on his mission. He has also been blessed with companions who ALSO like cooking! Elder Tillett cooked well. He would say, "No. I'm cooking." and would cook for the companionship. Elder's Chamberlain and Jones wouldn't let Elder Heilmann...

Daily Doings Still in Krefeld with a new companion! His name is Elder Lahman, and he is from Grantsville, UT. So far, Elder Heilmann knows that he likes cars. ;) That's about it. His last companion, Elder Wright, was on the plane home as we were chatting. So he was officially 'killed off.' Mission slang is so funny.  Again, we were able to have multiple people on the call. Me, Daddy, Aveline, Elder Heilmann, and then Tristan joined us from the other room. Elder Heilmann greeted Tristan in German. We were all quiet for a moment, and then Daddy said, "This is where you say, Bien! y tu?" LOL Leave it to Daddy to break the ice.   Elder Heilmann shared some good news! They found the key to the linen closet, so now they don't have to sleep on bare mattresses! YUCK!!! Sheets and towels. Yay for the closet key. Why do they even  have  a key? Oh well. At least now I don't have to keep asking him if he wants me to buy sheets.   I super like buying things for him...

Daily Doings Elder Heilmann was in Duisburg today with his District and only had a short time to talk.  He let us know that he had a mtg to attend.  A geminda missions cordenantions (no idea how to spell it), a Mission Correlation Mtg.  They call in Gemico for short and it was cute to watch him have to translate from German to English in his head.  We thought it sounded very French and apparently a lot of German words are borrowed from the French language.  Cool! For instance, 'chance' in German is 'chance' pronounced SHAWN-suh.   Even though he didn't have much time, we had a little surprise ready for him!  GRANDPA!!!!!   Grandma and Grandpa Heilmann are visiting us, and Elder Heilmann was SO excited to see Grandpa. Grandpa's father was born in Hamburg, Germany, so they enjoyed figuring out where Elder Heilmann was in relation to there.  He went on to tell us that the companionship is having a hard time. They are just facing a lot ...

Daily Doings The mister had a hectic day and could only call us right before bed. It was almost 10pm his time when we ended our call. Needless to say, it was short and sweet. It was LOVELY to have so many people on our late-night video chat. It was lively entertainment for sure. We had Cousin Miriam in Idaho, Me, Tristan, Emery, and Aveline at home in Virginia, and Daddy driving home from Maryland. It was loud, raucous, and fabulous.   Elder Heilmann told us about a naughty cat named Diamond that likes to open doors and jump onto shoulders. It's a Devon Rex cat. It sounds like my kind of cat! Never heard of one, and now I am in love.   Elders' Heilmann and Wright had to spend most of their Pday registering Elder Wright into Krefeld. They will have to de-register him in a few weeks as he prepares to go home, but rules are rules! The registration is not a complex process, just time-consuming at times.  They also had time for a quick haircut, and now the companion...