1932-07-16 Cologne, Germany

Dear Mother and Dad,

I received your letter this morning and can say that it was certainly a welcome sight.  It's the first thing that I've been able to read and understand since I arrived in this country.  I'm afraid these people don't appreciate good English.  I have to talk like a Jew to put anything over.  Like today, a couple of the new missionaries and I had our hair cut and we had to draw him a picture to show him how we wanted it done.  One of the fellows got in the chair and before he could holler the Barber run the clippers around his head like a sugar bowl and plumb to the brim of his hat.

We are beginning to hold our own with them though.  It's surprising how you can pick up new words everyday.  But the big trouble is in putting them to use.  Half the time, their speech is backwards which makes one afraid to say anything for fear of committing a "faux pas".  One missionary went to a door and said, "Good morning, I'd like to give you a bath." meaning to say "tract".  Both words sound alike and have to be used in different sentence structure. 

At present, I'm still in Germany (Cologne), but I don't expect to be here long.  I'm plenty busy, hardly having time to write.  Just as soon as we get to know what the score is around here, we'll be sent to our field.  Here at school, they are making us spend two hours and a half at tracting each day, and the rest of the time in class.

Yesterday, I witnessed the first outdoor meeting over here.  But somehow they got in good with the police and held one on the banks of the Rhine.  The police were also good enough to send a few men down to protect us.  When we first started to sing, there wasn't anyone within a block of us, but we soon gathered a goodly crowd.

Germany, you might say, is in quite an upheaval.  The plazas are full of stump speakers and political quagmire.  Almost everyday when I go tracting, I run into a bunch of communists having it out in the middle of the street.  Yesterday, one policeman was shot down while trying to disperse a crowd of them.  And today, I and my companion had to duck into a store until a bunch had marched down the sidewalk.

Well, I'm putting on weight, losing my hair, and wearing out my shoes, so I guess it won't be long until I'm a full pledged missionary.  And if I don't get run over by one of these bicycles, I'll be all right.  I"m getting to be dodge headed from crossing these streets. 

Send me Phil's and Druce's address.

Love,
Clarence