Elmshorn, Germany
Panjestrasse 12
November 8/32
Dear Mother and Dad,
I don't know whether this is going to be a very long letter or not. I am starting out with nothing but a blank mind and a blank sheet of paper. They say that there is a time, when a Missionary gets about six months old in Germany, that he can't speak German, English, Greek or what have you. I'm afraid I'm about to arrive at that stage now. Sometimes my tongue gets so twisted up that I have to stop and think out what I am going to say.
Yes, I have been away from home close around six months now. Can you realize it? Time seems to be just an "augen blick", as they say here, or wink of an eye. My District President is being released next week and he says he can hardly believe it. It all seems to be a dream to me, at times. I hope that the time I have been gone has been just half as interesting to you as it has to me.. This proselyting business is great stuff. I get a big kick out of the way my "Mit" ties into some of these so called Bible sharks. Most of the time he can make them look pretty dumb. He is in the other room now trying to convert our "Haus Frau". He isn't satisfied anymore unless he has some one to argue with. The "Haus Frau" admits everything we tell her but she is too proud to accept it.
A couple of weeks ago my companion and I ran into a lady while tracting who knew her bible pretty well and we couldn't do much with her. So we went home, studied up for a week and then went back and wound her up to where she didn't know "who is who in America". And last night, she came to one of our meetings. We are holding another meeting every two weeks here in a private home in Elmshorn. Dad, I guess you had better start reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I am liable to start preaching to you one of these days and you'll need something to defend yourself. No foolin', one doesn't know how short life is until he gets to know the how and why about this stuff. Read the Book of Mormon first and then the New Testament.
I started a choir in Glückstadt last Sunday. You ought to have heard it. No piano, no organ, or anything to work with. I never heard such a mess in my life. There isn't a one of them that can carry a tune in a barrel. I would give the whole matter up if it wasn't for the howl they have been making for a choir. Here is hoping that they come to their senses in seeing the impossibility of it. For a fact, I think I have found that famous lost chord in this bunch.
We gave our branch another entertainment Saturday night. I think we gave them their money's worth in laughs again. They want to know from whom I inherited my laugh.
That is a sad affair concerning Carlos Tanner. Especially in the way it happened. Would that we all knew when our time is up.
This "brief" will get you at about Thanksgiving I presume. So eat my piece of turkey for me. They don't know what a turkey looks like in this country so I'll probably be eating fish. I had some cheese for dinner today that was strong enough to shoulder a two bushel sack of wheat. I think I can get right up close to some of these "Heines" now without a bit of bother. No wonder I'm getting strong. Huh? A twelve kilometer walk now doesn't seem much at all. By the way, my shoes are about ready for their second pair of soles now.
Well, be good everybody. Tell Peck that he owes me a letter.
Lots of Love,
Clarence
(Note: Underlined words are also underlined in the original letter written by Clarence.)
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