April 22, 2013

Germany April 22, 2013



Familie!

Hi! Yeah, the weeks are definitely going by so fast here. Every time I go to bed I just lay there for a minute and think, "How is the day over already? I just got up!!" But it's good. Sister Mosher is always telling me to make sure that I work hard and enjoy it, because she says it all went by too fast. 

I'm glad your talk went well. I'll learn more things the longer I'm out, so if you have to talk again and need me to tell more advice, I'll have more advice for you. And yeah, the ward better be amazing when I get back. I expect nothing less from Bishop, who is like super cool. If you see him sometime, tell him thank you so much! I never really got to thank him before I left. He is just so amazing and is so inspired. His advice still helps me all the time out here. 

There’s one thing that I've been learning a lot about here. Even if people say they believe the church is true and stuff, and then they don't come to church, they're missing the whole point. If you say you believe it, you have to live it!! The Lord commanded us to go to church. It should be as simple as that for some people.

My companion is awesome. She's from just south of Denver, and she has two brothers and an older sister. Her dad passed away when she was fifteen or sixteen, and she is so strong and has such a strong testimony of the Gospel. She's told me about some of the miracles she's seen in her family since she's been out, and it just really strengthens my own testimony. She went to BYU for a couple years and is going back when she gets home in a couple weeks. And she teaches me so much. Of course it's humbling, Mom!! Haha. The Lord is smart. He knew exactly the companion I would need. The Elders here are really funny, and all of them are really experienced. It's kind of a weird situation. We have the zone leaders and the APs in our district, so we don't actually really make a "district," but we correlate together and everything. So yeah, I'm just surrounded by the leaders of the mission all the time, and I just kinda wander around and try to help. lol, it's such a learning process. 

Yoyo weather here as well. It was super warm for a couple days, and now it's back to being chilly again. Weird weather. Also I'm playing tennis today! An investigator really likes tennis, so we're playing in a couple hours. I haven't played in a while, so I'm not sure how good I'll be. But one day I'll beat you, Mom! One day. That's my dream in life. 

French! Wooo. That'll be fun for Josh. Maybe he'll go on a mission to France. I feel like sometimes people think their calls aren't inspired when they find out they're going to a country whose language they've already studied, but they don't realize that the Lord was preparing them since they were like fifteen or sixteen!! They just have to remember the stories of the Elders and Sisters who study a language for a while and then get called somewhere completely different. Like a sister here studied French for six years but was called German-speaking. So it's all inspired. 

German food is too good. Dang it. Luckily we're able to exercise every morning (except Sundays). It's a really good habit to get into. I still like my sleep too much just now. But someday I'll be ready to jump out of bed and go running. I had sauerkraut the other day. Hmmm...yeah. Well. Let's just say I won't be disappointed if I never eat it again, lol. But I ate it all. The Elders here have all become European. I think they're more worried about their weight than the sisters, lol. 

I need to write Grandpa still. I'll do that tonight. I've been thinking about him a lot this past week. Tell him I said hi and that I love him!! Also, I love you all, too! It's been a crazy good week. This week we get to go to the temple, and then on Thursday I'm doing a split with Sister Miller, who was my comp at the MTC. So it'll be fun to see her again after only a month! We had zone conference last week, and it was soooo good. Sis Mosher said it was the best zone conference she's been to. I'm starting off all these things right, I think. 

Every week we see just little miracles. Nothing huge, but just little tiny things that help us get through the day. So every day I'm learning to recognize the Lord's hand in this work. I just always have to remember that it's His, and not mine! We have to do it His way or else nothing will happen. And it's a process, but it's so good for us. Love you all lots. I hope you have a good week!! 

Sister Shipton

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