Let's share the Gospel! 7/29/13

Our week wasn't toooo interesting or amazing. Just some missionary work! Haha. But this week we've got a lot of awesome things planned, so I'm hoping everything works out. 

Spaghetti eis (ice cream)

I can't believe it's already the end of July. Soon school will be starting for everyone again! I actually miss school a little--not enough to wish I was there, but enough that I will be more than excited to go back! But we are doing really well here. The only interesting bike story so far is that Sister Wilson totally crashed the other week. It was a bad fall--a big bloody knee and a huuuuge, gross purple bruise on her leg. But she's on the mend, haha. She says it's my turn now, but I'm being extra careful. 

At the Frankfurt Temple

We were sooo grateful for the couple rainy days we've had this week. It has been so hot and sticky here. But I should enjoy it, because in December I'll be complaining about how cold I am. At least the trains and the car have air conditioning!! We do our emailing from an internet cafe. In Frankfurt it was nice because the church had a couple computers we can use, but here we come to a little internet cafe. Funnn! Actually sometimes a little scary. But it's good, haha. 

So we are not sure what's going on with the iPad rumors. We've been hearing them, too. Right now we are just doing missionary work the way our mission president tells us. He told us he's heard rumors about iPads, but as soon as he hears something from Salt Lake, we'll hear something. I'm pretty sure that all missionaries will eventually get them, but it might be a while, so we're not getting too excited about that until President Schwartz says otherwise. 

Stylin' on the bike!

I got to talk to Sister Miller on the phone the other day (my comp from the MTC). She is sooo cute! She got a new missionary to train the other week, and I'm sure she's doing great. I can't wait to see her sometime. Someday we will be in the same zone...haha. Right now they're just kicking me around the Frankfurt Zone, and she has been up in Essen her entire mission. But we still have a year to be together again! lol. I guess there was some crazy stuff with the missionaries going home to America the other week. They missed their flights and then something was up in Salt Lake so they couldn't get onto their one and...yeah. I guess it was a mess. But I think everyone is home safe and sound right now.  

Going home with some food!

Everyone have a great week! Be safe and share the Gospel, okay?? It's the best thing ever! 'After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.'   So go out and share what makes us so happy!! 

Ich habe euch lieb!!

Sister Shipton



Just a helicopter chillin' in the intersection 7/22/13

7/22/13



Everything is good here! Like I thought, Sister Wilson and I will be staying here another transfer, which is good. We're still figuring everything out for this area. BUT we did get bikes last week, which is awesome. It's no wonder the Germans love them. You can go so fast! Haha. But we have to wear helmets, so we look silly sometimes riding in skirts and helmets and stuff. It's okay, though, cuz they are a huge help. Plus it's a good way to work off all the German food we eat. :) 

We're planning to go to another way cool castle. And then sometime in the next month Sister Wilson and I are going to take the train up to Fulda and just bike around it for our PDay. It is sooo beautiful. We were there the other day trying to visit members, and our Navi was being stupid and took us to this weird little hill, so we drove up the hill and SURPRISE there was this huge, beautiful Catholic church up there, and there was a wedding going on. So that was kinda awkward...The courtyard was little, so we had to turn around and drive back down the hill. But the bride looked really pretty! Haha. 

So it's been a long, good week! We had interviews with President, too. He is just the coolest guy ever. And then transfer calls, and lots of member appointments and scrambling around trying to figure out how to get to appointments...Haha. That is the story of our life every day in Hanau. Also we woke up this morning to this huge weird loud noise, and then surprise a helicopter landed right in front of our apartment!! That was weird. There were lots of police and an ambulance and stuff. I have pictures to prove it, but I forgot them this week. Haha. It was so weird. Just a helicopter chilling there in an intersection of Hanau. 

Nothing toooo exciting planned for this week. Just lots of missionary work! I can't believe it's the end of July. It's way hot here, but I heard it's hotter in the States right now. Sister Wilson and I watched a Christmas MOTAB concert last night after we got back in from an appointment. It was fun. We had Christmas in July, lol. But it made us excited for Christmas!! 

Hope you all have fun and are safe this week! We're just plugging along, haha. Good thing that the Lord is in this work, or I don't know how it would all get done! Make sure that the ward is giving their missionaries work to do. Missionaries are really here to support and help the ward in THEIR missionary work! So make sure that they have appts. and are busy. 

This ward out here is so awesome. I love them so much! We have this member who has two daughters out on a mission and whose son is finishing his papers. She is sooo cute, and she feeds us amazing delicious food, and lots of it. Last week we were at her house, and she fed us meat and potatoes and bread and salad, and then there were these apples and cookies and stuff, and we were so full. Then she brought out this HUUUGE basket of fruit, and I was like, Okay, fruit for dessert, I can do that. But then she brought out this like rasberry pudding with cream puffs, and then she brought out ice cream, and then she brought out a waffle maker and made us waffles. I was going to explode. But it was really really good! But...yeah. Good thing they give us time for exercise in the morning! 

So yeah, the ward is awesome. We are so lucky to be able to serve them! Everything is going great out here. German is actually coming along pretty well right now, so that is awesome. I just need a couple more months, and I should be pretty good.



Pioneer children walked and walked and walked and walked 7/15/13

7/15/13

Sehr geehrte Familie.

Haha. I hear that on trains all day long. But it's travelers, not family. Anyway, moving on from a joke that only I get...

Hi!! Oh the second cutting! Being in the countryside means that I get to see the farmers cutting their harvest! But we're way too out to keep track of one specific field, so I'm not really sure if they only have a couple cuts per summer or what. But it's still cool and it reminds me of Vernal. That's weird that July is half over already. We have transfer calls on Saturday! Sister Wilson and I are pretty positive we'll stay together at least one more here. There are not very many missionaries coming in this next transfer, so we think that things won't get moved around too much. But we'll see.

It's been an awesome week. We had a cool zone training, and then we had some really good appointments with the members of the ward. Haha, with this one, we went to visit this little old lady on Saturday, and then we got there and she wanted to cook for us sooo badly, but she was so old and it took her like over an hour to finish everything, even when we tried to help. So long story short, we had taken a bus out there but had missed it going back because the appointment was so long. And so we were in the middle of this little tiny village on a Saturday, which is not good, and we checked and the next bus didn't come for four hours. So we just like started walking. And we just walked and walked and walked like Pioneer children. Then we walked some more, through some forests and then over the Autobahn and then through another little village. And after a couple hours we found another bus station and only had to wait like fifteen more minutes before a bus came. So that was really nice! It just made me grateful that I didn't get sent to South America, haha. And on Sunday we had a really awesome eating appointment with the cutest family ever. Their boys were all so cute and were trying to speak English to us, and it was sooo cute. But they were speaking English because their German was soooo so fast that we could barely understand. But they were so cute. And then we went straight to ANOTHER eating appointment with an investigator. We thought she was just going to make a little cake, but she had made like kebabs and pizza and pepper thingys and more kebabs plus the cake...we wanted to die when we got home.

Mom, you've just pinpointed every missionary's biggest frustration: AGENCY. I love it...but I hate it at the same time. Sometimes I wanna be like Satan and just TAKE IT AWAY because I know the Gospel will make them happy! But...yeah. Agency. Ohhhh agency. Also member missionary work!! It is so important. It's the gathering of Israel, and that's what the Lord meant by Hastening His Work!! So yeah. I'm pretty sure you can get the Missionary Next Door at Gales. I know it's available on DeseretBook.com, but if you don't want to buy it, she pretty much just talks about how important member missionary work is. She gives numbers, and they go something like this:

1/1000 people will be baptized by missionaries randomly knocking on doors
80/1000 people will be baptized when missionaries are sent to someone from someone else (just mentioning a name!)
200/1000 people will be baptized when people are introduced to the missionaries by their member friends
660/1000 people will be baptized when people are taught in a members home by the missionaries

Those aren't so exact, but they really are the figures that the MTC has come out with. Do you see how pointless it is to go knock on doors all day every day?? She also talks about two types of conversions that people have to have before they join the church. There's a social conversion and a spiritual conversion. The members HAVE to do the social converting. They have to befriend the investigator and make them feel welcome, make them feel as if they are wanted and needed in the ward, because they are. The members get to do the fun, easy missionary work! And the missionaries are in charge of the spiritual conversion. We're there to teach the doctrine and answer questions. Basically the point of her talk was, members just have to INVITE their friends, and then the missionaries can ask the awkward questions that the members don't want to ask. Like the missionaries can just say, 'Hey, I haven't seen you before! Are you a member of the ward? You're not? You're Bob's friend? Do you think you'd have interest in learning more about the church?' And if they say no, okay, whatever, it was the missionary who asked, not the friend who is scared to, and it doesn't hurt the friendship. And the missionary is used to people saying no, so everything works out fine! But chances are he's going to say yes, because he's with a friend and he'll give it a second chance instead of just saying no to some random two kids who knocked on his door in the middle of the day when he was trying to enjoy time with his family. Get it?? I can't wait to go home and be a member missionary!! It's the fun, easy part of bringing people into the church!!

Anyway, I'm still at the beginning of my mission, so I have so much to learn. But it's so awesome! The area is really big and awesome. There are a couple little villages/towns that are more run-down, and then there are some that are really nice and little more upper class. The teenagers here are...teenagers. Haha, just like everywhere else. Germans love their education, too.

I don't feel like Germans are very family-oriented...It's actually not the norm to even have kids anymore really. I mean, I think if they have a big family, then yeah, they are, but the average German isn't so family-oriented, which is sad. But there are a lot of Turkish people in this area, and they are VERY family-oriented...They're like Mormons in a lot of ways, haha...Very modest clothes and big families and stuff. :) But it's all good.

We get to go to the Temple as a district tomorrow, so that should be awesome. I LOVE being in the Frankfurt zone and being able to go to the temple so often. It's so awesome. And then it's transfer calls and another transfer is going to start up again.

Also ich habe euch lieb!! Ich habe mich sehr gefreut, diese email zu bekommen!!

Lovin' the Mission 7/8/13





Happy 4th of July!

One thing this part of Germany doesn't have--mountains. It's weird not to be surrounded by them, but it is really, really beautiful trotzdem. Thankfully the weather has been really nice this week. Maybe a little toooo nice...We sweat a lot, lol. But I know that during winter I'll be complaining about how cold it is, so I'm just trying to enjoy the warmth while it lasts! I can't believe how fast this transfer has already gone by. Five weeks in Hanau already!! Next week is transfer calls. Sister Wilson and I are pretty sure we'll stay together a couple more transfers in Hanau, but hey, that's what I said about Frankfurt, and then they kicked me out, lol.

But I got to go on a split back to Frankfurt last week! It was so fun. I traveled up the night of the fourth, and there's this place right by the apartment that advertises "XL Burger Day Thursday 5€." And I'd always wanted to go there the three months I was in Frankfurt, so we finally went Thursday night. A bunch of other missionaries from my old district came too, and it was really, really fun and the burgers were actually really good! Don't worry--I was American and ate the burger with my hands. Most of the missionaries were too Germanized and ate it with their knife and fork. Soooo embarrassing...lol. But that's a picture of me eating corn on the cob on the Fourth. I wore that shirt and blue skirt. I was an American flag! Haha. I'm shiny with sweat and butter in that picture...always looking the classiest. You know me!

The ward here in Hanau is really, really awesome. They are still soooo excited to have sisters in the ward. We visited this old lady last week, and then she got up on Fast Sunday and like bore her testimony about us. It was embarrassing but really nice of her but still really awkward. She was like, 'We are so blessed to have these sisters in the ward and everyone needs to love them and I am so glad because the Elders NEVER came to visit me so I'm so happy for these sisters!' Poor Elders, lol. The Elders in our ward were in the MTC with us as well. We four in the Hanau ward are just really young all together! Haha. They are really nice Elders and really good missionaries. It's just weird being out of Frankfurt and not seeing like anybody else. Because Frankfurt is the central place of the mission, I saw tons of missionaries all the time. But I love Hanau still! Our Bishop is so cool. His wife is American, too, and they are both RMs, so they really know how to help us in the work. The ward is really starting to get member missionary work rolling. Pretty much every single testimony on Sunday was about missionary work. It was so awesome.

Mostly right now we're doing member work. The thing about Germany is that no one will talk to you about God. The LOVE talking about anything else, but as soon as you talk about religion they shut down. And that's hard, because that's the only thing I'm here to do! Lol. So we are really trying to get member missionary work rolling, and so we visit members a lot. It's also difficult because the Hanau area is HUGE. It's one of the biggest in the mission, so it takes over an hour to get to some of the members by car, and then two hours by train/bus. So we do a lot of traveling to and from member appointments. We also do some proselyting, which hasn't been given us any really good results yet. But we have faith! If the Lord had a secret way to find a million people, I think He'd tell us. But as of right now, we're just knocking doors and working with members. So...yeah. A lot of walking around being rejected, lol. But it's okay. We laugh about it, but then we are sad because we know that the message will help them!

Actually, will you keep my old investigator in your prayers? He is really, really sick, and I was going to have an appt. with him on Thursday when I went on a split, but he's way too sick to meet with us. His name is Mahari. He's just this little old guy, and I love him so much! So maybe pray for him for a little bit, if you wouldn't mind. But I know Sister Imbach is taking good care of him. She goes home in about two months. That is sooo weird too! My two trainers are both almost dead...Sister Mosher is dead, and Sister Imbach is dying, lol. We have zone training tomorrow, so I'm excited to see everyone in the zone. We also got to teach a lesson on Sunday in Primarvereinigung (Primary) about families, and that was fun.
Mom, my best advice for your lesson would be to listen to this talk called 'The Missionary Next Door.' It is GENIUS. I was like...hmmm yes excellent...Gathering ideas we could use in our house. It is a really good talk and just talks about examples of how we can be missionaries without having to wear name badges and stuff. ALSO the Worldwide Broadcast on missionary work!! That was so awesome. It was a couple weeks ago, but you can watch it online. It was so cool. The little films with the songs in the background made me cry, lol, especially the one where they show people preparing to go on missions and then getting their call and going. It was a really, really good broadcast. So everything I could think of to say is said better in those two things. 



Five months out



America! 7/1/13

Hi! We are so excited for this new week/new month. Now we have money and train tickets and miles on the car, so we can actually go do some misisonary work! Haha. No, it's been good. We are just glad the week is over. It ended on a really good note, though. A member took us from church up to this town called Fulda, which is about 45 minutes/an hour away from Hanau, so we got to see a lot of our area, and it is soooo beautiful. I tried to get some pics/videos, but you can't really tell how pretty it is through a stupid little bad-quality lens, haha. It is so gorgeous up here. Anyway, the member was this super, super nice Armenian lady who has two daughters out on missions right now, and a son whose papers are almost finished. So she loves missionaries! She fed us way too much food and then tried to feed us some more, and then she took us around Fulda, and we got to see some really, really gorgeous stuff! Fulda is one of the most Catholic cities in Germany, so there were these really pretty churches everywhere, and a really beautiful Dom (I forgot the English word--it's just like a giant, giant Catholic church). We also saw the castle and walked around the gardens. It was really pretty. I forgot my camera, but I'm sure you can look at pictures of Fulda online. It's way beautiful.

Anyway, we have so many things planned for this week, so we are way excited to get to work. I also get to go on a split with Sister Imbach, so I am wayyy excited! I miss her, and this next transfer is her last one, so I am so sad she's leaving! But it'll be fun to work with her a couple more times. I'm just glad we're still in the same zone. Oh, I was also on a split up to Frankfurt this last week, and it was way cool to be back there for a day. Haha, so this new sister was just arriving from the MTC, and we were supposed to pick her up from the office, so we were studying, and we get this phone call, and I pick it up and it's President Schwartz, so I answer and am like, 'Sister Shipton spricht.' And he was like, 'Oh, hello Sister Shipton. I was just calling to let you know that you are to pick up the Golden missionary at 11:30 today from the office.' (You just have to say it in this really thick German accent and then it's funny) And I was like, 'Okay, President, we'll be there.' And so we studied for like ten more minutes, and then he called back and was like, 'Sister Shipton....what are you doing in Frankfurt??' Haha. It was funny. He was like, 'Are you on a split today? You are? I was just sitting here at the airport very confused, and then I wondered if you were confused...but alles klar.' That guy is so cool and funny. I love him.
I am learning to like a lot of things I didn't like before. My next quest is to like tomatoes, because Germans LOOOOVEEE LOVE LOOOOOOOVE tomatoes. Like seriously love tomatoes, and they are in EVERYTHING. I'm trying, but it's super hard because they are disgusting. But the Lord will give me strength! Haha. I'm just a baby, and the Lord knows it, which is why He sent me here to love tomatoes instead of to Africa where I would have to love to eat bugs all day.

So since Sister Wilson and I have been out the same amount of time, my German is really coming a long a lot faster. I used to be able to rely on my other companions because they had been out for a long time and could speak good German, but now that that's not possible, we are really learning fast. It's coming along really well, now, and I feel really comfortable holding a pretty normal conversation with people. I can't believe it's already week four of this transfer!! We both think we'll be staying in Hanau another couple cycles, so we are doing our best to learn everything quickly so we can be more effective.

We are both excited for the Fourth of July this week! Haha, we decorated our planners and bought ground beef to make hamburgers, and we also splurged just a little and bought some corn on the cob. Also a couple weeks ago there were random fireworks in the middle of the night, so we watched them from our window and pretended it was the Fourth of July fireworks, lol. We were hoping some half-American family would invited us over for a barbeque, but I think they've all become too German! It's sooo funny to drive by American military bases, because you can definitely tell they're American. Everyone is out grilling food and playing football and stuff. Hope you all have fun this week. "I normally don't have a burger, a brat, and a steak, but...it is Fourth of July. I need the energy if I'm going to be blowing crap up. It's what the Founding Fathers would want." AMERICA!!!