Mission Report March 25, 2012

Liebe Familie,

So these keyboards are a little different than the ones in America, so I'll probably be spelling things wrong and keeping the emails a little shorter until I can figure it all out. It took me like four minutes to type that sentence, haha. 

Anyway, Germany!! Yeah, it's been pretty cold here. Lots of wind and overcast days, but it's been really awesome, of course. I've been assigned to here in Frankfurt for my first area, and it's pretty sweet. My companion's name is Sister Mosher. This is her last transfer, so she's super experienced and awesome. We're opening a new area here in the German ward for the sisters, so there's a ton of stuff to take in and a ton of stuff to do as fast as we can. Sister Mosher said after she goes home, I'll most likely stay a couple more months to take over the area and keep working with the ward members. Frankfurt is big and awesome and smells like smoke. Every day I think, Secondhand smoke equals secondhand coolness. I might come back with lung cancer, whatevs. 

Our apartment is actually really big and nice and temporary, dang it. It's literally right next door to the church and the church office buildings here in Frankfurt. But they're looking for a new apartment for us, so I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to stay there. And yeah, I'm eating too well here. There's tons of breads and cheeses. Yesterday I had some bread that was the closest thing I've tasted to Grandma Hatch's bread, and that was awesome and super delicious. I've had some traditional German food, as well as some herbal tea that tasted like dirt and leaves mixed in hot water. But tea and coffee are so engrained into the culture here that members just drink herbal tea and this like baby coffee without caffeine so they can have their afternoon drink. I haven't had the coffee yet, but my companion assures me that I'll get it sometime soon, so wish me luck. I also had currywurst the other day, which is super good. It's just like sausage with curry sauce and some french fries, which are like not really American french fries but are super super good. We have some more eating appointments this week, so I'm sure I'll be getting more food and getting rounder as well. 

My adapter is working fine, but I haven't had the chance to try my debit card yet, which I can hopefully do today while we're out. We're going to look around Frankfurt and inhale the delicious smoggy rain and all the smoke. Haha, no I love it here already. Most of the people we talk to are really nice. I think it's just the same as in America. Some people will be nice, and some won't. But we did talk to this Muslim preacher who said that he'll say a prayer to Allah so we can be shown the right way. That was nice of him. They celebrate Easter, and so this Saturday will be my next Pday because like Monday is a holiday for Easter or something?? Not really sure. But I'll email you on Saturday instead of Monday. Also is there any way you would mind sending like one or two more watches? My little cheap one probably won't last much longer, honestly haha. 

Sorry about Papa! I'll definitely keep him in my prayers. Hope you all are doing okay too. 

But yeah! Omygosh, Präsident Schwartz is like flipping awesome, and I've only talked to him like three or four times. He is so cool. And I thought he was getting released this July, which made me super sad, but then I heard he gets released next July, so that's so good. I've been so lucky to have such awesome leaders! That plane ride was sooo long and sooo hard for me. We got to Frankfurt and looked like death, and then we did everything I told you we were doing, and it was like the longest day I've ever had. I couldn't sleep well on the plane, so I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep in like thirty hours. So that picture that you'll be getting of me will look like death. Also there's a mission blog and I know they've been taking a ton of pictures for it. Hopefully you won't see too many of me because I was seriously a zombie that day. It's something likefrankfurtmission.blogspot.de or something. I'm sure you can just Google it. 

Also, I talked to my companion and she told me that most of the time, the talks given in the MTC are like kept a secret or something, so that's probably why you can't find the talk by Elder Bednar! Sorry! I didn't know that. But if you ever find it, don't miss out on the opportunity to read it/watch it. 

It's been a crazy week here, but super awesome. Luckily I can understand a lot more than I thought I would. Now I just like have to speak or something, lol. Hope Jacob wasn't too weird. :) I talked to some Elders at the MTC who were flying to Rome the day I left, and I was like, "OHH maybe you'll see my cousin, but he won't be there for very long because his homecoming is on the 24th." And they were like, "Uhhh, then he's flying home today." That was like such a crazy thought!! Thanks for his thoughts. They always help so much.

Okay, this email is turning into a monster and I know you're all so busy. Love you all so much, and I'll write to you again on Saturday. 

Sister Shipton

MTC Week 6

Sister Breitweiser, Sister Hansen, Sister Miller, and Me

Some of the Sisters in our Zone

Sister Miller and Sister Shipton

Familie,
Hi. Guess what I can email today, surprise. I didn't know that. Anyway they got some fancy new computers so I can email these pictures.  I love them! I'll be sad to leave them. 

Anyway it's been pretty crazy. We have to pack and get all this stuff together. Also all of our roommates decide they want to pack at the same time we do, so it's like pretty much eighteen suitcases trying to get crammed into this tiny room. This week has been good. Really busy with lots of departure meetings and devotionals and stuff. I have to keep this email short because we still have tons of stuff to do, plus we have six more hours of class tonight, so not a lot of time to get it all finished. Also, I'm really hoping I can get a phone card today. The bookstore here is out of them, but they might get some in before tonight. Keep your fingers crossed! If not we'll only be able to talk for a little bit with the quarters I'm going to bring.

Okay, I miss you all! Can't wait to talk to some of you tomorrow. PS, no one is allowed to cry, because once someone starts I can't stop. Yesterday President Petersen asked me to get up and bear my testimony in Sacrament, and an Elder had cried a little during his talk, so I was already kinda crying a little, and then I got up there and just kinda blubbered out some stuff. Haha, woops. No, it was fine.

Hopefully we can get everything together before tonight! Love you all so much. Sorry for the short email.
Sister Shipton

MTC Week 5

Familie,

Last real P-Day here! Nex week we'll be on our way to Deutschland. It's so crazy. I can remember getting dropped off really vividly, but then everything else is just like this huge blur. It's been another good week. Lots of learning and teaching, and lots of studying. Lots and lots. Dad, I wish you were here, because obviously I've been reading the scriptures more than ever, and there are so many things I want to talk to you about! Lots of things I've picked up on that I've never noticed before. So yeah! That's like all my days here. I realized that I actually never told you what the days are like. So yeah. We wake up and then have personal study for an hour, then breakfast, then gym. Then we go to language study on this computer program that I really don't like too much, so that's a tough hour for me. Then we have language study for two hours, then lunch. Then we have a teacher come for about three hours, and he'll teach us German, teaching fundamentals, and lots of times we'll practice teaching on him. He'll pretend to be an investigator, so we'll prepare lessons and teach him. Then after that we have dinner, and then another three hours in the classroom with a different teacher, doing pretty much the same things. Then we go back and go to bed. Wow, that sounded really boring when I reread it. It's not that bad, really, because my district makes up for the like ten hours we have in the classroom. I'm going to miss them a lot!

We got our flight itinerary a couple days ago. Luckily we're leaving the MTC at eight in the morning. The Alter Deutschers had to leave at three in the morning. So I feel really lucky, because we know how I feel about mornings, haha. Yeah, so we have our flight at 11:30, and it's a direct flight to Frankfurt. Yeah, a direct flight from Salt Lake to Frankfurt. So that's going to be fun. We'll get there around 10 in the morning the next day. So yeah, I'm planning to call around ten in the morning next Tuesday, if that works out. If not, let me know a better time. Hopefully we'll be through security and everything by 9:30. I'm really excited to talk to whoever I get to talk to!!

Mostly we're all just going a little stir crazy here, especially after getting our flight itinerary and knowing that we only have a week left. We're still trying to focus more. Every day I just think, "Eh, maybe I should learn some German before I go there." Haha, no I'm studying hard, and I'm learning a ton. I've seen Elder Boren  already, so that was fun. And I've seen a couple other people I recognize, and that's always fun for me. Tell everyone I said hi! It's really amazing to be here right now. SO many missionaries come in each week! It's crazy to see all the English speakers come after and leave before.

Sorry this letter isn't very exciting. It's just been another week here. A good one, though. It'll be nice to get away from this food. And the weather has been so much nicer, which makes everything a lot better. Sorry I couldn't email pictures this week! Hopefully I can send a couple in a couple weeks when I have a computer that doesn't have everything blocked. Hope Lauren, Robert, and Josh are all doing well. Miss you guys! Also BriAnne. Hope you're having fun riding all the rides and cleaning all the rooms in Orlando! I can't wait to see your sweet skills.

Okay, love you all so much! I'm sure there are a couple things I've forgotten to write to you about, but I guess they can wait. The German is coming slowly and surely, and Sister Miller and I are getting along really well. I'll miss her a lot. And I miss you guys, too!

Can't wait to talk to you next week!

Love,

Sister Shipton

MTC Week 4

Familie,

Wow, a whole month already. One time one of the Alter Deutschers said that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days here. And that is so true for me. Each day seems like it will never end, but then I wake up and realize that it's P-Day again and I get to email you guys! I feel like I've been here four days, even though it's been four weeks already. It's been a good week again. I was able to talk to President Petersen on Sunday afternoon, and he helped me again. He just told me that I'm too hard on myself and that it's okay that I'm not perfect. Then he was like, "The best way you can get over these feelings is just serving other people." So that was some good advice. He's really amazing. I'll be sad to leave, but not too sad! The German is coming along really well, even if we don't feel like it. It's silly because we all expect ourselves to be fluent, but we won't recognize how far we've come. I've learned more here than I have my two semesters of college in German, and I've only been here a month. So sometimes Sister Miller and I just have to sit back and think of our first couple days and see how far we've come along.

Thanks for the letters! Lauren, I know how you're feeling, because I'm pretty sore myself this morning from gym yesterday. And Robert, I hope you can eventually start playing tennis! Also make sure to do well in choir and stick with it because it's super fun. Dad, thanks for the letter. Miss you lots! Your advice is always so welcome and meaningful. And Mom, sorry that people are stupid sometimes. I hope you're feeling better. Sounds like things have been pretty rough. Just hang in there for the blessings that were promised, haha. They'll come.

Elder M. Russell Ballard came and spoke to us last week, so that we pretty awesome. He just talked about devoting your time to the Lord and how we're doing a good job already at knowing the doctrine. Then I watched a talk by Elder Holland a couple nights ago, and that was fun, too. He yells a lot, so sometimes that's scary, but it's good, because he really just makes you want to be the best missionary you can. Sister Miller and I got to teach our district on Sunday. We were assigned to teach about the Atonement. It was pretty tough to prepare, and it was even harder because it was Fast Sunday and everyone was hungry, but it went well. The Spirit was really strong, and even though we're still not the best teachers, the Spirit is what really matters when you're teaching. So that was a good experience. It's been kind of an odd week because one of the sisters in my district was really, really sick, so we were taking turns switching sisters out to go to class. I missed teaching on Friday afternoon, which was a bummer, but Sister Miller really had a good experience, and that's important because I think she's really struggling being confident in speaking. She's super spiritual and is such an example, but her German is old and she's having a hard time remembering, so I'm glad that she was able to teach and feel better.

I have some pictures, but I don't have any way to send them to you this week. I'll try next week, and if not then I'll just send them when I'm in Deutschland. The computers here are like super blocked for everything, so there's no way to upload pictures unless you have this special card reader which I don't want to buy. Some Elders in my district have one, so I'll see if I can borrow it next week, but if not I'll send them in a couple weeks. Ahhh the Elders in my district are so funny. I think they wouldn't be if I wasn't stuck in a little classroom with them for ten hours a day, but it gets to you, so everything they say is super hilarious. But then sometimes I'm reminded that they're nineteen/eighteen year old boys, haha.

I'm finally all the way better. Finally. That was the worst. Taking that sinus medicine and that cough medicine at the same time made me pretty loopy, actually, and at one lesson I was so out of it. I felt bad for Sister Miller, but I had like no idea what was going on and I just sat there like duuuuuhhhhhhhh...So she just kinda had to struggle through it by herself. I was gone. But I'm fine now. Oh and here's a funny story that happened to some sisters in my zone. They were teaching an investigator about the Word of Wisdom, and they wanted to talk about how our bodies are a temple and we have to treat them as such. So they were the first ones going, so they were kinda scrambling a bit to get everything together, and so they grabbed the Bible and were going to read 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. But since they were in a hurry and they were looking through the Bible in German, they accidentally marked 1 Corinthians 7:18-19, and I'm not even kidding. They were like, "This is a commandment from God. Will you read this scripture for us?" So the investigator, which luckily was only their teacher helping them practice, read the scripture and then burst out laughing and started crying cuz he was laughing so hard. That was pretty funny. I can't type all the scriptures cuz I don't have much time left, but if you want a laugh, you should look them up.

 Okay, I love you all so much!! I'm doing well here, and it's crazy that it's only a couple more weeks. We get our flight itinerary sometime next week I think, and we get to call from the airport, so I'll tell you when/where I'll be when I call you sometime soon. Hope everything is going well over there. Miss you guys like crazy still, but not enough to leave, sorry. :)

Loves!

Sister Shipton