The "Lasts" Begin 7/14/14

Another Happy Monday Family!

They're winding down, which is way weird to me. Today we're going to go down to Karlsruhe with the district. We just wanted to get out of Mannheim for a day, haha. I think we've done everything there is to do here that's mission appropriate! So I'll take some pics and send them next week. Bucket list is going well. I should be able to get everything done that I want to. I still have enough time! I'm sad that it's so close, but I am excited to see you guys.

This week was good. One of the Elders from our district went home last Friday because his school starts a little earlier. He's been with us for a while, so it was really weird to see him go. I feel a lot better from being sick, thanks. Hopefully it doesn't happen again. My exit interview...meh. It's not like a 'pass/fail.' Basically the mission president tells you to get married, and that's what happened, lol. It wasn't special or anything.

I'm starting to have my 'lasts.' So weird! Like my last Zone Conference and my last Ward Council. This week I have my last Zone Training, and soon it'll be my last District Meeting. It's such a weird feeling! I have to actually start doing things to get ready, like sorting through my clothes. And yeah...I think I might take like two skirts home. I want to burn my wardrobe, lol. Germany is funny cuz it's a European country, so there is a lot of fashion here, but also some Germans sometimes have a weird sense of fashion. Like they loooove fanny packs for some reason. Isn't that hilarious? It's so funny to see huge strong muscle men in wife beaters with their little fanny packs. Or Germans think it's okay to wear all the same color, especially if they're different shades. Khaki and gray are some of the favorites. But one time we saw this guy with lime green shoes, dark green pants, and a green jacket. So that's just an example. So they're fashionable in some ways...but in others...yeah, they're funny. I love Germans!

Sister Lehamn will probably stay next transfer because she only has one more after I leave!! So that'll be one whole year in Mannheim for her. So crazy. But she LOVES it here, so it's okay. She really wants to stay. It would be really unusual if they put in two brand new Sisters. Probably won't happen. Kinder Eggs...haha we'll probably buy one next week (transfer calls next week!!) so we can see what's coming for Sister Lehman. I'm not sure how we'll interpret mine...We'll think about it. The soccer game was good I guess! It started at 9, and everything was really quiet for about two hours. I tried to stay up and listen, because you can tell when Germany scores/wins, but I was laying in my bed in the dark, and I was sleepy, so I fell asleep before the end of the game, lol. I guess Germany won 1-0 in double overtime with like three minutes left. It's way cool that I'm in Germany when they won the world cup! It's a huge deal for the Germans. They're way happy about that. Poor USA lost almost right off the bat, haha.

This week should be really busy. We're happy about that! On Friday it's Sister Lehman's birthday so we're having an appt. with some cool members to celebrate. I hope I can make it a good birthday for her, lol. She's way intense about birthdays. I never knew someone could love birthdays so much! haha lots of pressure. Wish me luck!

Germany is awesome and I'm so happy that I'm here!! I'm glad I still have some time left. It's awesome.

An Amazing Week! 7/6/14

It was an AWESOME week. We were way busy. But it was awesome. So Monday like I said we had a lot of appts, so we had our PDay on Tuesday. We went down to Heidelberg cuz it's more tourist-y than Mannheim. Looked at some cool stuff, got some cool stuff. Nothing too exciting, but we hung out with the district, so it was really fun. Then we had a sleepover that night at our apartment because we had another ZOKO the next day! It was really cool. The new mission president is really nice. Basically it was him introducing himself and his family, and he stated his mission goals and his vision for what he wants the mission to be. It's really cool to see. We had a mix-up afterward with some of the people in our district afterward and ended up missing a lot of trains and stuff, so we got home a lot later than we wanted to and had to cancel an appt. :( That was stinky. But oh well. At least we were together, haha.

Thursday we were really really busy again with a lot of appts. This week was seriously a miracle week. We met with so many people, and so many people are making so much progress. Friday was the FOURTH OF JULY. It was good. Our investigator Sue has this huge blueberry plantation...thing that she basically has to run alone because her husband works a lot and they can't afford help, so Friday morning we went up there to help her pick blueberries so that she would be less stressed about Saturday. So we picked blueberries all morning on Friday. It was way fun, and they were sooo delicious. But we were really hot and sticky and tired afterward. Then we tried to visit some people who weren't home, then we got everything ready for the baptism on Saturday. So Saturday we played soccer, got ready, and then went straight to the church for the BAPTISM.

Sue came and was soooo cute and so excited. She saw her baptism jumper thing and put it right on and then

looked in the mirror and everything. It was so cute! She's adorable. Then, after dragging her away from some over-excited members who wanted to talk her ear off, we sat with her alone for a couple minutes and prayed and talked about how she was feeling. She was sooo prepared you guys. Her whole family came, too, which was also a miracle because she was afraid they wouldn't want to come. Her husband and son had found a lot of anti-Mormon literature online and were really skeptical. But they came! And her daughter came, too, which was awesome. I was kinda worried because it didn't look like a lot of people were going to be there, but, true German Mormon style, everyone showed up two minutes after it started. So there was a really good turnout. A couple people from the ward who were joint-teaches with us gave a talk about Baptism, and then she was baptized!!! It was so cool. Her now-home teacher baptized her. Then there was a talk about the Holy Ghost (obviously) and a couple testimonies from some convert women in the ward, because Sue really wanted some converts to bear their testimony about how the Gospel had helped them through their rough background. She wanted it for her daughter, because her daughter has been really struggling lately. Then Sue gave this AMAZING AWESOME testimony/talk. Seriously one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I wish I could have a copy of it. Sister Lehman and I have been debating on whether or not we should ask her to give us a copy, lol.

But basically it was so beautiful. She kind of gave a small life story and just told everyone how everything in her life led her to find the Gospel. She got really emotional during a couple parts, and I'm pretty sure everyone else in the chapel was in tears. Sister Lehman and I were, lol. But Sue was so amazing and bore her testimony about the Gospel and Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon. And she was like, 'I can't wait for what's ahead! There's so much--family history and temple work and all these things. I just can't wait!' The Spirit was SOOO strong. Afterward she was like, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen...HALLELUJAH!' It was the cutest sweetest thing ever lol! The Lord has been preparing this woman for years. She keeps talking about how the Gospel gives her the missing puzzle pieces and how everything is coming together. Every time we teach her a new concept like missionary work in the spirit world, she's always like, 'That is so COOL.' (Well, in German terms.) Sue has made my entire mission worth it. She is literally an answer to my prayers. On Sunday she was confirmed, the new Bishop gave her the Holy Ghost. It was also a really beautiful experience, and a lot of the ward members got up later and bore testimony about how touching the baptismal service was and how happy they were that Sue is a part of their ward. It was so amazing to see.

So. Yeah. It was a pretty good week, lol.

I guess that's the most exciting news from last week, haha. :) But this week is really busy, too. I have my EXIT INTERVIEW this week. That is so crazy. Sad to think that Sunday was my last Fast and Testimony meeting here. :( I forwarded my final flight plans because they still haven't fixed your email address. I emailed them once again and told them it was different. Also I'm sick again this week. That's stinky. Nothing too bad, but it's annoying. I remember my trainer was way sick pretty much our entire first transfer together. Sister Lehman keeps saying that my body is breaking down, haha. And just so you know, no, I don't feel trunky really. I don't know what to feel. Honestly most of the time I really feel as if I'm in the middle of my mission. It's only when I get emails about my plane ticket or get told my exit interview is this week that I remember that I really am at the end of my mission. 

Happy Birthday America! 6/30/14

Happy Fourth of July!! When you get there, I mean.

But things this last week were really great. I'll just go day-by-day I guess. I think the closer I am to the end the more boring I feel in my emails. So sorry if they get less exciting the closer it gets. If it's possible for them to get less exciting, lol. I feel way boring whenever I email you guys. But I really love getting updates from you though!! So anyway.

The bike ride was really fun! We rode a lot and I got a comfy bike this time so my booty wasn't sore beyond measure the next day. I was just soooo exhausted afterward. We rode around a forest and there were these like little animal exhibit things and stuff. And a bird park, which was cool. After PDay we went to a members house, and she fed us delicious Turkish food. Sooo good. Tuesday we had investigator appts. Wednesday we randomly got to go on a split with the other Sisters in our district! They have been companions for five transfers as well, so we've all been in the same district for that long. I got to go to Speyer and have an exciting day there which included getting lost for almost two hours and teaching in weird places and then being locked out of our apartment because the other Sisters had the key and weren't answering their phone. But it was good anyway. Thursday was ZOKOOOOO! It was so fun and so sad. We were a little late getting there...oops. But that was the train they told us to take, so it's not as if we were lollygagging or anything. But ZoKo was so good. And so sad. :( Goodbye President Schwartz. It's a bummer I won't have my exit interview with him, but naja. It's okay. I heard the new mission president is really nice. We actually have a ZoKo with him this Wednesday!! So that's exciting. We get to go back to Offenbach!! Woooo! But ZoKo last week was good too cuz I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in such a long time. Plus I realized that I didn't know a ton of people there because they were all new Goldens. It's weird how you can see the shift. Most of the missionaries I know are dead. Okay not most of them...but a really big chunk have passed on to the other side. So it's weird to see. Also we got to see the Deutschland gegen USA soccer match on Thursday night. Zzzzz...really boring game. I mean I'm not a huge soccer person, but I was expecting more action than THAT. But it's okay--even Sister Lehman was way bored and said the teams were playing really sloppily and slowly. USA lost 0-1, but we still get to advance out of the first round. We'll see how far they make it. Friday was appts and a Relief Society activity. That was fun. Saturday we played soccer and visited some more people, haha. Then Sunday was really good and we had a good time at church with everyone. I'm gonna miss the members so much! I love them.

We're splitting up our PDay today because of times of things, so tomorrow will be the rest of our  PDay. I think we'll buy souvenirs then, so just fyi. I'm not sure exactly what we're doing. Hopefully strawberry hunting. :) It looks way fun. If there's one thing Germany loves, it's strawberries. Also asparagus?? They have this weird obsession with white asparagus, lol. Also as far as the baptism, we pushed it to this week because of scheduling conflicts, and this week works better for pretty much everyone. But we met with her this morning, and she's doing SO solid and is so prepared. She is soooo cool. I love this woman. She's going to be just fine. And she wants to get to the Temple asap. That's so cool. Today during the lesson it was basically her just bearing testimony, lol.

I don't have too much time left here in Germany, so I'm trying to suck it all in. It's been awesome. I'm so happy for July. It's going to be an awesome month!  I think we'll just try to eat hamburgers somewhere or something. Last year I got to go back to Frankfurt on a split and eat delicious hamburgers. It was way fun. And I wore red, white, and blue, and that will definitely be worn on Friday as well. 

Some Bucket List Items 6/23/14

Things have been going well. One of our investigators left on a trip to the US a week or two ago, and she comes back tomorrow or the next day, so we're waaaay stoked to see her. She's sooo cute. Things are progressing well the other one. Pray that everything will turn out well. Sister Lehman got a ball in the face at soccer the other day, lol. But she's fine--just a pounding headache for a day or two. She played soccer a lot before the mission too, though, so she knows how to be a trooper about it. Also we got to go back to HANAU on Sunday. That was so crazy and fun. It takes only about an hour or so to drive there, so we got a ride from a member. So weird to see the city again. Also I got to see some people from the other wards I was in. It was really fun. We enjoyed ourselves. ALSO they made another STAKE! That was an amazing miracle. The prophecies about Germany are being fulfilled! They split up the Heidelberg and Frankfurt stakes and created a stake called the Friedrichsdorf Stake, which is waaay cool because Friedrichsdorf is where the temple is. But seriously. Lord is hastening His work or something...

ZOKO on Thursdaaay! Exciting but sad. I'm going to miss President Schwartz. He's so cool. Also ZoKo is in Offenbach this time. Lol I'll have to tell you guys about Offenbach someday. There are a lot of things I'll have to tell you about. But anyway, we're stoked for Thursday. Everything should be awesome this week! Today we're planning on going on a bike ride with a member. Some things on my bucket list...I'll hopefully see another castle, and I want to go pick strawberries. That's a big thing here--you just go to a field and fill a big basket of strawberries. I've always wanted to do that. Plus I want to eat chocolate spaghetti ice cream. It's like a German special. Well, spaghetti ice, I mean. I just want the chocolate kind, haha. But there are plenty of things to do and hopefully enough time to do it all! Also we got permission to watch one World Cup game! That was cool. The soccer World Cup is going on right now in Brazil, and Germans LOVE soccer. I have never seen so much German pride than in the last week. I think it was last Monday...yeah they played Portugal and destroyed them 4-0. You seriously would have thought that Germany had won a war. There were flags EVERYWHERE and people singing in the streets and cars covered in German flags racing around town honking and it was waaay crazy. But we're probably going to watch the Germany vs. USA game this week. Sis. Lehman is way stoked. She loves the world cup. We're probably going to watch it with one of our investigators. 

Another Miracle! 6/16/14

Things are still going really well here! Sue  is progressing really well and everything is still looking good. We all had lunch with the Bishop after church on Sunday, and I think she enjoyed herself. We're also doing a Relief Society Temple trip on the fifth of July, and she really wants to come to that as well!! So things are going good.

Also SURPRISE! Can you believe it?? Sister Lehman and I are staying TOGETHER. I've never ever ever heard of that happening. FIVE transfer companions! So crazy. We were sure she was gone. But we're waaaaay excited. I'm really excited she's my last companion. It's going to be a way awesome last transfer. We're going to make it really awesome.

This week we're going to Felsenmeer again for PDay. It was reaaaalllly fun the last time, so we just decided to go again! We have to make sure that all our PDays are really good because we don't have that many left, and there's still a lot to see and do!

Zone Training was pretty good. We missed a good chunk of it because we were teaching Sue. I went on a split to Darmstadt afterward. It was really fun. I like Darmstadt actually! Some people think it's an ugly city, but it's prettier than Mannheim at least lol. So I had fun there. Next week we have our goodbye ZOKO with President Schwartz. :( Bummer about that.

I can't believe that this is my last transfer!! It's so unreal. I was looking over my journal the other day from this time last year. I just barely got into Hanau. The time goes by soooooo fast. 

The List of Miracles! 6/9/14

After much complaining about all the rain and cold, Germany has decided to show us up by boiling us alive. It has been SOOO hot lately. Soooooo hot. It's supposed to be in the mid-90s today, and on top of that it's a holiday, so all of Germany is shut down. So either we hide in our stuffy, hot apartments (because Germany does not believe in Air conditioning) or get baked in the sun. We'll see what we end up doing today, haha. Supposed to be just as hot the rest of the week. I hope I survive!

We have transfer calls this Saturday. So crazy! I hope Sister Lehman stays. She hopes she does too. That's a lot to say for comps who have been together six months, haha. But really, it would only be like six more weeks together, and it would be really fun. We have Zone Training on Wednesday, and then afterward I'll be heading up to Darmstadt for a split, which means I'm going to miss a HUGE finding activity for half of the Zone in Speyer, but oh well...I like Darmstadt! Also for the holiday this week half of the ward is gone, so we'll see what we can do this week as well.

BUT we have had MIRACLES happen this last week. Get ready for me to list them all. So for the ward hike a couple weeks ago, we felt that maybe we had stayed out too long at that we should just take half a PDay last week. We were bummed of course, but yeah anyway. We had lunch with our district, but we took too long with lunch, and we really wanted to go to the Speyer Dom, but we felt that it would probably be better if we headed back to Mannheim. So we did, and then about thirty minutes later our investigator (we'll call her...Sue?) calls us and asks if we could meet NOW because she was feeling really bad and needed help. So we were able to meet with her then! If we had gone to Speyer it would have taken probably an hour and half to get back and get to the church to meet her. So we were able to see her, and because the Elders here in Mannheim had done the same thing, we were able to call them and ask them to come, because Sue wanted a blessing. It was soooo cool because at first she had been a little skeptical of the laying on of hands; she's been to other churches and has seen some sketchy things with that. But she got a blessing and said she knew it was from God because no two 19 year-old boys could have done and said those things! That was soooo cool. Then we were able to meet with our other investigator afterward and have a way good lesson with her and another member. It was soooo cool.

But THEN it gets even better. The next morning we were heading off to see Sue again, and she lives waaaay far away. Sadly, no members were able to drive us and come teach with us that morning, so we set off waaay early to take the train and the bus all the way out there. But as were on our way, Sue called us. We were really nervous that she wanted to cancel our appointment, and we had been planning to challenge her to baptism, but the conversation was basically like, 'Heyy Sisters, how's it going? Yeah I'm good...So I was thinking this morning, could you two prepare a lesson about baptism? I'd really like to get baptized.' WHAT?? We were like...'Uhhh yeahh uhhhh sure we could do that...' So we talked to her about baptism and she was soooo solid and excited and she said she wanted to get baptized ASAP. We initially set the date for the 14 of June, but then a couple days later realized that might have been a little tooooo soon. We talked to her about it, and we prayed about it as well, so now we're doing it on the 28th of June!! Miracles??? Oh yeahhhhh Miracle Mannheim!! So awesome.

Our other investigator left today for a vacation to the US, and Sister Lehman is way sad because she might get transferred and never see them again! But they said goodbye last night (like hopefully not goodbye but just in case goodbyes, haha). I can't believe I only have one transfer left! I have to buy a Kinder Egg tomorrow. My last real one! So crazy. This is President Schwartz's last transfer. :( Next transfer we'll have a new mission president.

But...yeah. It's been a pretty good week, you could say, haha. The Church is really true!! 

Miracle Mannheim! 6/2/14

There are MIRACLES happening here in Mannheim. Miracle Mannheim. So we're teaching this way awesome prepared woman, and we had a couple lessons with her last week, and she was reading in the BM and everything. She said she would come to church on Sunday, and church started and we were way sad because NOBODY was there. None of our investigators came, and we had been meeting with a ton of less actives who said they would also come. But then like fifteen or twenty minutes in EVERYBODY in the world shows up. It was sooooo cool. Our Gospel Principles class was the fullest its ever been. It was so awesome! The woman we're teaching said she didn't want to come to church cuz she had a way bad headache, but then she just had this feeling that she really, really needed to be there. We're so happy! And another one of our investigators is doing so much better. She's been having a lot of family problems lately, but she actually asked for a blessing from the Elders! Sister Lehman has been telling her to get a blessing since October, but she's always been a little hesitant, but on Friday she actually called us and asked for one. It was such a huge miracle. Sister Lehman cried cuz she was so happy lol. And some less actives came and asked us to teach some of their family members who aren't members. So we have a lot planned for this week!

We went on a hike with the ward on Thursday. That was really nice. The ward is soooo loving. Yesterday a nice couple invited us over after church and stuffed us full of rouladen and knödel and bubbly water. (Typical German food--you can google it if you want to know more) It was way good. Then they stuffed us with cake. I could barely move afterward. Then it was our investigators birthday so we brought cake over and sang happy birthday and ate MORE cake. Uggghhh I felt sooo gross, haha. But now I'm hungry cuz it's a new day and it's almost lunch time! Last week for PDay we went to this place a little farther away called Felsenmeer (also Google-able). It's like this giant giant rockslide, and we climbed up it. Took a really long time, and it was waaaay fun. We want to go back sometime this transfer. I'll have to send pictures next week--I forgot my card reader, sorry! Anyway, it was really fun. Today we might make it out to the Speyer Dom. We'll see if we have time.

Sister Lehman is still here, haha, and will be here for at least another week or two. Transfer calls are next week. That's really crazy. Crazy to think that June is here as well! Also there's going to be a really big 2-stake conference in a couple weeks with the Area Presidency, and guess where it's going to be?? HANAU!!! I am soooooo excited. Also really puzzled why they're having it in Hanau, cuz Hanau the city is a little dinky town, haha. I guess they rented out this ginormous city hall auditorium thing. But still I am soooooo excited to go back there and see everything again! I'm going to see people from Frankfurt, too, because it's a huge stake conference. I am super stoked.