Bathroom Explosion! 12/9/13

We got up at 5:30 this morning because we'll be heading off to Nürnberg in a couple hours for our PDay.  Five hours on a train! But it'll be worth it, cuz it's Bavaria, and at the rate I'm going, I'm never getting out of Hessen. Which is fine, because Hessen is LEGIT. There's going to be a way awesome Christmas market, and we're going to hang out with our awesome district all day, so it's gonna be good.

It's definitely not as cold over here as in Vernal. Thank goodness! And no snow. Just a lot of cold gray days. But the Christmas spirit keeps our hearts warm!! Haha, how was that?? I'm pretty poetic. It's been a crazy, good, long, amazing week! Lots of miracles. We have so many hopes for this transfer! And Zone Conference is this week! YAAAAY! We're stoked. Also we have a split this week too. That's going to be way fun. Christmas in Germany is so fun here--a little too fun. I haven't weighed myself in about...a month. I'm way too terrified. I don't think I'll touch the scale until the end of January, when the season is over and I've had a couple weeks to try to work it all off. But it's getting really hard to get up in the mornings because it's so cold and dark! I just want to curl up into a nest and hibernate sometimes. 

Our ward had a Christmas potluck yesterday. That was so fun! I love this ward so much.  Also they feed me too much food. But that's okay, it's their way of showing love sometimes. I made pumpkin cookies with the pumpkin I bought. It was way fun. I think they were delicious. I don't know how they liked them, but I made a huuuuuge plate and they were all gone at the end of the potluck, so hopefully people enjoyed them. I couldn't make pie because there is no such thing as a pie tin here, and the recipe I had called for evaporated milk, and I couldn't find that at the store last week. Anyway. The driving is good here. I got my German drivers license a couple months ago. They stole my US license! That's okay. We just drive on the Autobahn all day. Sometimes it's really scary. They have these things called blitz boxes here. Basically they have this horrible-looking box that's next to the road, and if you're speeding there's this flash of horrible light, and they take a picture of your license and a picture of your face, and then they just mail a speeding ticket to the address the car is under. Horrible, right?? Once upon a time I got blitzed...it was bad. But not too bad because the fine wasn't too bad. Basically we need to slow down. Sister Beck has been blitzed too. They're everywhere!! And sometimes they paint the boxes to blend in with the background or hide them behind signs. Isn't that mean?? We're trying to be careful now. 

So I guess the big news here is that our bathroom is COMPLETELY kaputt. It just like exploded everywhere. Not really. Well, the toilet has been dumb ever since I moved into that apartment over six months ago. It just leaks water all over the floor. No big deal, we can deal with that. So we called the landlord and he came to fix it, but then it broke again, and we're like whatever, we have no time to deal with this. But then a week or so ago Sister Beck got really angry at the shower, because it was clogged up just a little bit. Not like too bad, but seven months' worth of Sister hair sometimes will do that to a shower, yaknow? So she got all fired up and bought some Drano at the grocery store and dumped that sucker down the drain. And then it was BAD. The Drano was a devil. So I took a shower, and the water was like almost up to my knees. So we waited about two or three hours, and then it hadn't gone down, so I had to bucket out all that nastiness into the toilet so Sister Beck could shower. Then she showered, and we left ALL DAY. We were probably gone six or seven hours, we come back, and NOOO the water is still there. It's gone down maybe...an inch. Probably less. So we bucket out that nastiness too. Just to see if the Drano was the cause of all this, I put some in the bathroom sink. BAD IDEA. The bathroom sink decided it hated Drano too and became a crazy water-collecting devil as well. So we put a bucket underneath the sink and I pull the pipe out of the wall. Oh man...my eyes are burned from what came out of that pipe. That was pretty gross. And when I say gross, I mean like...no one ever needs to see that. So then we call the district leader and we're like...yeah, nothing in our bathroom works, and he's like, call the office elders, and we're like...they won't help us. So we do, and we tell them to story, and they're literally like, 'That's a nice story. Call us back when you've called the landlord and he's done something about it.' Click. Also in the meantime we have bought a plunger and Sister Beck has probably spent about two hours plunging that sucker, and all I hear most of the time is like hysterical praying, but that doesn't help at all. So we call the landlord, he comes, looks, is horrified, and is like...I can't fix this right now. So he left and hasn't called back. So basically we've been showering in the sink for a week. Yeah, that's right. I got pictures to prove it. Sink shower time!! Hopefully it'll all be fixed. Soon. 

We are now at a creepy internet cafe in Nürnberg. Nürnberg is SICK. It is so legit. I have no time here, either, but just so you know I got a ton of cool pics and will try to send them next week. We're having so much fun, and I've seen sooooo many missionaries today. It's a party here in Nürnberg right now. So fun!! 

Happy December 12/2/13

Happy December!! Yesterday was First Advent here in Germany. They have Four Advents leading up to Christmas. It's the four Sundays before Christmas, and they all have these Christmas wreathes with four candles on them, and every Sunday they will light one and sing Christmas songs. Sister Beck and I made a wreath for a nonmember. I'll have to send the pic next week--luckily it's on Sister Beck's camera! But it's a really cool tradition I think. Also it is now officially Christmas market time!! This PDay I think we'll be going to the one in Frankfurt, which is apparently the best one around. Woooo!

We went to a Young Women activity this week. These young women are soooo cute and awesome. They made cookies for the ward, and the ward members donate money so the girls can buy blankets for the homeless. It was super fun and they are all so cute. We also had Thanksgiving dinner with our RS President. They are way legit. And vegetarian! (like everyone in Germany) So we had potatoes and brussel sprouts for Thanksgiving. But that's okay--it was really good!! Also we sang with that old lady Evangelisch choir. The ward is doing really well out here. Church was so good yesterday! They had the Visiting Teaching conference. And it was awesome! So pretty much visiting teaching is super important. And the testimony meeting was really good, too. This ward is trying so hard to follow the Lord and do missionary work. It's so inspiring. Sometimes I feel like they give away more Book of Mormons than we do! Lol. But that's okay--that's how it should be. I think that's how the Lord wants His work to be hastened--through the efforts of the members. It's so inspiring to see. 

This month is going to go by soooo fast. I'm so sad already, haha.  It's pretty cold here, too. I dunno if it's as cold as in Vernal...but it's still chilly. And TONS of fog. That is so crazy. Sister Beck and I spent a couple nights last week driving around the wilderness to appointments, and the fog was SO THICK. We couldn't see anything. It was so crazy and sometimes pretty scary. Especially because the roads are soooo tiny here and there are no street lamps in the boondocks and the Germans love driving crazy fast speeds on these tiny little roads. So that was pretty scary. But we are still alive, and the car is too, luckily. 

The work is coming along well! And hopefully my German, too...haha. I think I've hit a plateau with it right now--so I need ideas on how I can get better with it. I mean, it's not horrible (hopefully)...but it's not as good as I want it to be. So I'll see what I can do to make that better. Also all my district is gone! I'm sooo sad that they all went somewhere else. But hopefully this new district is just as awesome. I think that's everything I have to tell you for this week. It's been awesome! And ZOKO is coming up in a couple weeks!! (plus like Christmas and stuff...) I love you all a lot and I love the emails!! 

Staying in Hanau 11/26/13

Sister Beck and Me!

So we went to the Temple today, and so we just took our entire PDay today instead of yesterday. It was super fun! We went with our district. Most of the Elders are getting shipped of somewhere else! I'm super sad. I really liked this district. Oh yeah--I'll be staying in Hanau another transfer! Lol. The Assistants told me that when President was deciding on transfers, he kept trying to put my picture in other areas, but it kept going back to Hanau, and so finally he was like, 'Hmm...I guess she wants to stay there.' Haha, so there is some reason why I'm here obviously. Plus I am SUPER stoked that I get to stay here for Christmas. The members here are the best. One member even gave me real American frozen cookie dough. I know, right?? That was sweet. On Thanksgiving we're going to eat with our Relief Society president and her husband. They are so cool--but also really German, so don't think they even know it's Thanksgiving that day, lol. Oh well--they make really good food. We're stoked. Oh yeah! For my Kinder Egg, I got some animal stickers. Sister Beck immediately said, 'You are STICKING to your area.' So that was pretty much it. Those Kinder Eggs are magic. 

We found some really, really awesome people to teach last week, so we're really happy the Lord has been blessing us, because I really feel like we've been working pretty hard these last couple transfers. Also the meeting with President Osguthorpe was really good. We learned a ton of new things. I am really just so happy to be able to keep working with this ward. We have a Relief Society activity tonight, so we are going to be going to that. 

I don't have a lot to say this week--just sticking around in Hanau for another transfer! Everything is going well here. We're just trying to dress warm without looking like Amish sister missionaries...but we like fail every day. Oh well. It's cold here. I can't believe December is already almost here.  I bought a €1 pumpkin and I'm going to try to make pumpkin pie. We'll see how that works out, lol. I'll report next week if I get the time to attempt. The church is true and God loves His children!! 





Temple Trip



Kinder eggs tell all! 11/18/13

Bad news--still no planner! But right now I'm using this horrible English one. It's really annoying. That's okay. The transfer is over this week! Which means...transfer calls on Saturday!! Will I stay? Will I go?? Who knows! Okay the Lord does, but as of right now I have no idea. I could see me staying, but I could also see me going. I buy Kinder Eggs to make predictions each transfer. It's basically this hollow chocolate egg, and it has a toy inside of it, and whatever the toy is is a prediction of what's going to happen. Like a couple transfers ago I got this kangaroo thing in a cage, and Sister Wilson got these wheels that wind up and spin across the floor, so I said she was shooting out of the area and I was caged in, and then it worked. And last transfer I got Ariel the princess, but she still had her fins, which meant that I was staying this world, and I stayed! So I'll be opening my Kinder Egg in a couple days to see...Witchcraft...? haha

Everyone is really busy out there! We are also really busy here. Zone Training was so fun, and this week Brother Osguthorpe is coming (he's the Sunday School president), so only the Frankfurt zone gets to go for secret training, haha. I want to stay in this Zone so badly! I hope that I stay here for Christmas. Sister Beck and I already have so many plans. Plus we have some invitations from members, and they are all super cool. We've already busted out the Christmas music. Is that bad?? Haha we have no Thanksgiving here to break everything up! Germany is already preparing itself. I can't believe I'm going to be talking to you in like one more transfer. That is so crazy. It's only been like...what...seven months? Haha. But then it's only another short four or five months until the next Mothers Day. I feel like these last nine months are just going to shooooot by so fast. 

I've learned so much about Family History out here--more than I ever did back home. I've never actually done indexing, but I've heard it's like SUPER fun. Also Germans love it because there are like a billion and one old church books from like the olden times where they would write down baptisms/deaths and stuff. The only problem is is it was all written in like Old German Script, and not many people can decipher it anymore. But they're all working on it. OH and that reminds me!

I went on a split this week. I went up to Friedrichsdorf, where the Temple is, and it was SO FUN! I got to give a temple tour!! I am sooo jealous of all the sisters that get to go to Temple Square. I know you're laughing at me, but it was seriously so fun and so spiritual, and the people who were taking the tour were asking so many questions! Man, it was sooo weird to have people asking ME about what we believe instead of me just telling them and hoping that the Spirit touches them. It was super super fun. I loved it. And it was a pretty nice day, too, so I am really happy with how everything went. Then we had dinner with these two awesome people. Anyway, it was super fun and the Sister I served with is awesome and such a sweetheart. 

First my companion; now my planner 11/11/13

It's a really good thing that missionaries carry around planners all day, because I seriously can NEVER remember what happened during the week, so I can always look back. BUT a horrible thing happened this week in which I LOST my planner. Noooooo! I am super depressed. That was probably my favorite planner. And now it's somewhere. I seriously have no idea where. Oh well. So the point is, I can't really remember what happened this week. I vaguely remember doing missionary work...and we did some service. And had missionary adventures and all that stuff. I do remember that I got my package!! So THANK YOU! I'm excited.  I don't know where I'll be for Christmas--hopefully here! I wanna stay here one more transfer, at least. But we'll see what the Lord has in mind. Transfer calls are next Saturday. 

I'm glad that you had such a good Stake Conference! Work of Salvation was the focus here, too. I LOVE IT! This ward is seriously amazing. Everyone is trying so hard! I know that the Lord will bless them as they try to share His Gospel--and the Lord will bless you, too! Just read D&C 33:8-10. Look at those promises! Sometimes I just get so amazed by how amazing the Gospel is. Amazing. Ahhh my vocabulary is depleting. Oh well.  We have Zone Training in Frankfurt tomorrow, so that is going to be fun. And I think we're going to the Temple next week...I think. Hopefully. 

And it's very cold here. Frost on the car this morning!! Noooo what's happened? I feel like it just happened overnight--I had to put my tights on and now I can never take them off. Sister Beck made the mistake one day of thinking she was fine without tights...that was a mistake. But it is definitely tights and scarves season, and it's dark all the time, so we just have to get used to that for another six months, haha. But Christmas is coming up, so that's going to be so awesome. 

Not much to report on this week, because I don't really remember. We rode some trains, talked to some people, walked around in the rain, I'm sure, prayed a lot and tried to do what Heavenly Father wants us to do. He's there for all of us, and I hope that you all know that. Have a safe week, and thanks for the update. I love you all a lot and pray for you! And we hardly ride bikes anymore because it's getting way too cold...but I will definitely make sure that we don't get separated again.

I lost my companion 11/4/13

It's definitely a lot colder here. Every day I wake up and am like, 'Maybe I won't have to wear my jacket today!' Lol and then I remember that it's actually November. But we got spoiled with really nice surprise weather at the end of October, so it's taking a little bit longer to adjust to the fact that it's like pretty much winter again. We just freeze all day long in cold rain. Speaking of November--happy 9 month mark to me! Isn't that so crazy?? That is so crazy. I'm actually freaking out a lot more than you can see/read/feel. They already sent me my approximate release date!! WHAT. (August 1) That is...no way. Anyway, we don't have to worry about that anymore, because I won't be getting anymore information until like April or something, I think. But basically I only have nine more months. Amber only has like pretty much two more months. Poor Amber. I think she's freaking out. 

Halloween was good here, too. We did some painting service for a SUPER awesome lady in our ward, and then she fed us delicious spaghetti. A couple people knocked on her door during the night, but actually there weren't too many people out. A lot of people mentioned that last year there were a lot more out trick-or-treating. So like, some people do celebrate it, but it's not as big as it is in America. But we had district meeting that day, and an Ehepaar made us lunch and fed us delicous stew and bread and brownies, so that was also really fun. OH and I forgot to say that we totally dressed up!! I dressed up as Sister Beck! And she dressed up as Sister Shipton! Isn't that genius?? Haha. Kinda lame. But it was fun. I'll send a picture. We are geniuses. 

Our Halloween Costumes

We also had a street display last week in Büdingen. It went pretty well! Gave away a lot of Book of Mormon...s? (who knows) and talked to a bunch of cool people. We got some potential people that will hopefully turn into covenant-makers and covenant-keepers! Haha. This week we are just going to try to find more people to teach. Our teaching pool is pretty small right now, so we're going to do our best to qualify for the blessings that the Lord has in store for us. Oh also last week--on Friday. It was CRAZY. So we had like three or four back-to-back appointments in different towns, so basically our entire day involved dragging our bikes on a train, riding a train, biking furiously to the appointment, biking furiously back to the train station so we wouldn't miss it, riding a train to the next town, und so weiter. So we finally took a train back to Hanau for our last appointment of the night, and I get off and just start biking because we were going to be late if we didn't hurry, and I biked for probably like...ten or fifteen minutes, looked around, and NO COMPANION. She was nowhere. So I waited for like two minutes...window-shopped for shoes...panicked inwardly...then I rode slowly back the way we came, but there was nothing. And it was pitch-black and cold and Friday night in Hanau...which is like...not the safest town in our area. So I panicked major and just like pretty much biked all around and biked to the Elders apartment to see if I could borrow their phone and try to call her (not remembering that I actually had the phone), but they weren't home, so then I was convinced that a car had hit her and she was dead. Plus I was really worried because she doesn't know her way around Hanau as well as I do, and I was scared that she got lost and was just like dead somewhere, so then I biked around some more and finally just decided to have faith in Sister Beck and go to the appointment and hope that she would somehow find her way there without me. But luckily Sister Beck is smart and found her way!! I saw her bike locked up in front of the apartment building and like sprinted to her and we were reunited! She had just walked into the appointment and was dialing the number to call me when I rang the doorbell. So that was really fun. Mostly don't lose companions on a mission. It's super scary. Basically her side of the story was just that I was biking too fast and she couldn't keep up. Sorry!!

Stake Conference was super legit. We were able to go to the Saturday night session--another dumb story that involved like too many things squished into one day and then driving to Offenbach and not being able to find parking and sprinting to the church building with like no food in our stomachs. Then Sunday session was cool too. It was held in Friedberg, so we took a train up there and walked to this big Stadthalle and had a sweet meeting with tons of people. And I got to see tons of members from Frankfurt too, so that was awesome. OH ALSO. I walked in and this sweet old Sister Missionary ran up to me and told me that she knows Grandma! Sister Johnson. She is the nicest lady ever and gave me a huge hug and told me that she's shopped at Grandma's store for like 20 years or something. So that was really cool. Anyway, afterward this really awesome family in our ward took us to their house and fed us delicious dinner, and then we went and sang with this Evangelisch Choir during their Gottesdienst. That was really funny too. 

Also so there is this other time we were knocking on doors, and we were told to go see this other family, so we went and talked to them, and he's American and she is super Catholic, but we were talking to them about Family History, and the woman was like 'Yeah, you should talk to my friend! She is like way big into family history.' So she gave us her friend's number and gave us this book all about family history that her friend had written, so we called and set up an appointment with her, and then we went over there after the street display, and this woman is like legit. Well, I mean in the family history sense. She's got this entire room dedicated to it. So we...yeah, didn't really have anything to teach her about, haha. Basically we just introduced familysearch.org and talked to her a little about her family history work. So then she like pulls out this Book of Mormon from nowhere and is like, 'Yeah, I know everything about your church. I've read your book, too. It's nice, but I like being my religion too much.' She knows pretty much everything about the church--she and her husband have traveled the world (no joke, she has this huge map covered with pins of the places they've been, and it is EVERYWHERE), so they've been to Utah plenty of times, aka Temple Square and all. So we were like, 'Yeah...so...thanks for letting us come over...' And she's like, 'Wanna come to dinner with my husband and me??' And we were like...'What really?' So they took us to this like cool little German pub thing and we ate delicious schnitzel and chicken with these two awesome strangers and everyone in there was drinking and singing German drinking songs, but luckily we sat in the non-smoking section, and she's like, 'I know you don't drink, but beer is like water here, so you gotta get used to it.' But it was way cool. They are super awesome people, just really content with their lifestyle. Which isn't bad, you know, I just wish that they could recognize how much more there is and how many more blessings are waiting for them!! Anyway.

Okay, this is turning way long, sorry. We just had a really crazy, fun week. I hope that you all have a good one. The church is true and the Lord lives and really does love us!! And one of the greatest blessings of the Atonement is that we're able to change--when we say things like, 'That's just the way I am,' we aren't recognizing the gift that Christ gave to us all. So we should take advantage of the fact that through the Atonement we can become better!! 'Come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him!!'

Goodbye October; Hello November 10/28/13

October is almost gone. I can't believe it! It's NOVEMBER this week. We've had an awesome October with so many crazy ups and downs and a lot of faith-building trials and miracles. So goodbye October, hello November. The colors over here are gorgeous. There are so many trees, and the sidewalks are covered with leaves. It's way pretty. We get to drive around in the country a lot and see all the really pretty colors, so it's really cool. 

I got to go to nursery one time in Frankfurt with Sister Imbach. That was really fun and quite an adventure. Little-people German is a lot harder to understand. Vegas for Thanksgiving sounds awesome! I don't know where I'll be, because transfers are a week before. Hopefully here!! I got to talk to Sister Wilson last night--that was super fun. I love all my companions. I've been SO lucky to have had such amazing comps. They are all the best. (knock on wood!!)

Things have been really good here this week. We had an activity for the ward last Saturday--let's just say it was a huge learning experience for us all, lol. And we have a street display in Büdingen on Wednesday, so we're trying to get everything ready for that as well. Stake Conference is next Sunday, so that's going to be really fun. We get to see all the missionaries serving in the Stake. Also today we are having Zone PDay in Frankfurt and are going to be carving pumpkins!! So that'll be really fun as well. I'll try to get some pics. 

We've had a really good week and I love it here so much! It's so beautiful and luckily the weather has been pretty warm (windy, but warm). We are just doing normal missionary work and are praying for success. I love you all so much and hope that you have an awesome last week of October. Send me pics if anyone dresses up for Halloween. 

This is going by too fast! 10/21/13

Another week gone. How? But it was so good and so busy. We had hours and hours of service this week, which was way fun. A really awesome lady in our ward was moving, so we helped with that. But it was bad because Sister Beck and I had done an intense workout the day before and I was SO. SORE. I still am a little bit...but seriously, it was like super funny and also really sad because it just hurt to walk, lol. But the week went by super fast and we had such awesome things in it! Thanks for all the updates. I hope everyone is still doing well! I'll keep my eye out for the Petersons. Things have been just going along here really well. We had Zone Training last week, and they split up our zone because it was so big. So now there's the Frankfurt zone and the Mainz/Wiesbaden zone. I'm still in the Frankfurt Zone, thank goodness...best zone EVER. I hope I die here! Probably not. But we'll see. 

I'm super excited for Christmas! It's not for another transfer and a half, but we're already all getting stoked and getting so many cool Christmas contacting ideas. But this transfer will be awesome. It's just getting started! Sister Beck and I get along really well. She's awesome and a really intense and focused worker. I think that she'll be training here in Hanau sometime...but we'll see whatever the Lord has planned for her. Hanau is just doing wonderfully! What an awesome area. I love it so much. There are lots of things to do and a lot of improvement to be made, but I feel like it's on the right track. 

This is such an amazing ward, I love it so much. It's been a really cool week, and we're trying hard to find the Lord's prepared people. Pray for them that we can find them! Thanks for the spiritual thought. If it's the right talk I'm thinking of, I think there are some really good Mormon Messages about revelation as well. 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858986001

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858984001

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858984001

I love you all and thanks for your example and love! Thanks for everything. Keep up the awesome work!

Transfer or no transfer? 10/14/13

Sounds like everyone is doing well over there, that's always good to hear. We finally got to watch all of the conference sessions. Wasn't it so awesome?? It was awesome. Only six more months until the next one! Haha. The time really went by so fast!! I can't believe it's already been six months from the LAST conference. I remember watching them as a kid and thinking they took forever too...but now it goes by way too fast. Only ten hours of meetings?? :)

Oh yeah--haha, no changes in transfers this time. I'll be here with Sister Beck for another transfer. But before we're ready for it, it'll be transfers again, and then we'll see what happens. Some Sisters that I came out with have not left their first area--that is nine months in one area! I mean, at least their companion changes occasionally, but still...that'd be so crazy.

A member and me from the Frankfurt Ward

And thanks for the birthday package!! We ate brownies all night, but then we got fat and regretted it. Oh well. We're saving the Reeses Bars until my halfway mark. That is INSANE. It is only a couple weeks away!! I just left yesterday!! Nooooo! We won't talk about that now. I still have plenty of time.

I can't think of anything else I need/want for Christmas. I've kinda said things sporadically here and there for the last couple weeks, so I hope that you got everything. Thanks so much!! I felt special to get a package. And I'm going to feel special again! I can't believe we're thinking about Christmas already. There are not Christmas things in stores now. It's not even Halloween! Not that they really celebrate that here...but still. Not even November!

This was the day we went to Schöllkrippen and hiked around and ate blackberries all day

The Temple was way awesome and so were Transfer Calls. We've had some really good lessons with some less actives, and we have a lot of cool plans for the upcoming week. Today we're going up to Fulda and Steinau with our District for PDay, so that'll be way fun. This week we'll be having a lot of service, and that is going to be awesome. We're really, really busy here. We don't know how we have time to squeeze in everything that we need to do. But it's all right, that is an awesome feeling.

Say hi to everyone for me! It is awesome here--cold now, but awesome! The trees are gorgeous, but soon it'll be way freezing and I'm sad that I complained about how hot the summer was. Come back!! It gets dark at like 4 or 5 o'clock here. That's weird. And it doesn't really get light until like 8 or 9 in the morning. But it's fun, plenty of things to do, just funky weather. Lots of rain this last week! How is it in Vernal? Snow or just freezing cold?

I hope everything has an awesome week! It is awesome being out here. Remember that General Conference is our scriptures for the next six months, so review the talks when they're available! They are what the Lord wants us to hear and learn. Love you all!

Schloss in Büdingen

Read the Book of Mormon! It's True! 9/30/13

The district went up to a town called Schöllkrippen today. We didn't know what it was really...I'd heard it on the train stations a lot and so we just decided to hop on a train and go and see what was there! We hiked this...'mountain.' Mostly it was a hill. Anyway, it was really fun and gorgeous and Sister Beck sang The Sound of Music the whole time. And we ate wild blackberries all day because they were growing like crazy up on that mountain. It was super fun. But that meant a crazy day with like no time for emails, sorry! But now I will repent and email you all really fast.

It's been a really good week. We had Zone Training last Tuesday, which was fun, and tomorrow we have Zone Conference! WOOOO! And in Heidelberg too!! That is going to be so fun. We get to ride a fancy train tomorrow and I've heard Heidelberg is one of the most beautiful places in the mission, so that is going to be way awesome. We also have a split this week--I'll be staying here in Hanau, but it'll still be good. And we are PUMPED for General Conference! So we're probably going to Frankfurt to watch it. It doesn't broadcast at the church here because it's too small. But I was serving in Frankfurt in April and was able to watch the broadcast there no problem. Anyway, the times will be Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, and Sunday night. The Sunday afternoon session is broadcasted a week later during church. We are super super pumped and are trying to get a lot of people there. It's going to be such a busy week! October 3 is also this week, which is like the German 4th of July but bigger. So that'll be fun. TOMORROW IS OCTOBER. I just realized that. Howwwwww???

Anyway, we saw a lot of miracles with less active work this week. There are a couple people we're working with that I just love so much! I'm going to miss them so much when I get kicked out. The way missions work is this way: you are trapped in an area until you love it, and then you are kicked out. Heavenly Father only asks you to give up what you love, after all! Haha, no, jk, but...really, in a mission kinda. I was not pumped to be in Frankfurt, but as soon as I realized how much I loved Frankfurt, I was kicked out. But we'll see! I might be another transfer here in Hanau. That'd be fine!!

This week we also got to go up to the top 1/3 of the area, which was way fun. We were so close to being in the Berlin mission. That was cool! I've never been past Fulda, so it was cool to go wayyyyy out there. Only problem was driving home...only a couple hours, lol. But that was our cool adventure. We also went to a Catholic Bible Circle. That was fun, too...but lemme just say how grateful I am for the Book of Mormon, haha. It's true!!

Total Bike Wreck!! 9/23/13

This has been an awesome, crazy week! We've seen so many miracles and so much crazyness. It's been so fun, but the week has gone by so fast, and I can't believe transfer calls are only in a couple weeks already!! I feel like we really just had them a couple days ago. The longer I'm out here, the faster and faster the time is going. Lots of other missionaries have told me that, but it's really only when you're out here experiencing it all that you realize how true it is. We have zone training this week, and then next week is zone conference, and then we have a split and then it's General Conference, and then we're going to the Temple at the end of the transfer. It's so crazy! Such a busy transfer, but full of so many crazy fun things. 

Anyway, we were able to pick up some more investigators this week! We contacted our member referral and hopefully she'll be coming to church in a week or so. We're working with several families and have been trying to do a lot of finding. It's been just a lot of missionary work. Good thing the Lord is helping us! Also earlier this week I had to register for my German driving license, and then I went and they told me I wasn't allowed to drive until I got my physical copy in the mail, and that was way bad news because Sister Beck wasn't allowed to drive because she hadn't taken the driving test, and we HAVE to have the car in this area. Also the Elders had the exact same problem. So we all made an emergency split-second trip to Frankfurt for a morning. That was fun! Also we get to go there for our training tomorrow. 

Also we ran in the Stadt Lauf this week! It was a 6km run. Afterward we got some ice cream, so it was definitely worth it, haha. That ice cream was so good. We ran with some members of our ward and the Elders. There were tons of people running in it and the route was just all over the city. That was fun. But you all know how much I love running, so you can just imagine! No, lol, it was good. Sister Beck is a runner, so she just jogged by me and sang Rocky and Eye of the Tiger to me. Also people were handing out fizzy water. Good thing I'm used to that now or I might've thrown up, haha. Also yesterday we were riding our bikes around and I totally crashed all over the road. It was a huge, dramatic fall, just as it should have been. Sister Beck says she is my second witness. It was a flying-over-the-handle-bars, bike-falling-on-top-of-you, legs-flying-everywhere kind of crash. I crashed outside of a restaurant and the waiter came running out, and then I laid there for a second trying to figure out what had just happened, and then twenty other bikers came whizzing around the corner, and then a car came down the road and was going to run me over. Basically, everyone was there staring at me and yelling at me and asking if I was dead. Not really, but it was just really funny. I had to do the awkward get-up-and-walk of shame. Nothing hurt, just some sweet bruises and scrapes and wounded dignity. But I'll never see any of those people again (maybe hopefully). 

And yeah, it's been a colder week. I had to break out my tights and coats again!! But I've heard that it's supposed to be nice this week, so we're happy about that. The ward is doing great. I love these members so much! I haven't heard anything from Jade. I hope she's doing well. Also nothing else from anybody else. But tell them all I said hello! About technology--we're allowed to use computers for an hour every week to do things we need to, but that's all for now. But President says that as soon as he knows something, we'll know something. 

Sister Beck and I are doing great out here! It's been an awesome week. We've got so many things coming up and we're so excited. It's been a really awesome, and I love being out here. Germany is beautiful and a wunderschön country. I am so happy to be here.