So, I have already fell in love with Heidelberg! It is the absolutely most beautiful place that I have ever lived. We live on Hauptstrasse which is super cool because that is the main street here in germany where there are no cars and just cobblestone roads and all the cute shops and of course tons of tourists! All the tourists here makes it kind of hard to find people to actually teach, but we have gotten a few referrals already for other countries, so that's pretty cool. We also live right underneath the huge castle here. it's so sweet! They definitly hooked up the sisters here because I'm pretty sure the elders don't have as cool of apartments as we do. (the only struggle is our kitchen, it's like the size of a closet! and the oven doesn't work and the fridge is in the family room haha, but oh well, and in the bathroom, the shower head it not up high, you have to hold it while you wash your hair! that's a struggle! but oh well, i'm over it. the rest of our apartment is pretty sweet!) what I love most about here though are the people. Everyone is so nice and friendly and the ward is awesome! It reminds me alot of our ward at home. They are all just really tight with eachother, but really strong in the church and just really loving. I think that I am really going to enjoy serving down here.
So, serving with sister stevenson was really hard because we are just ssooo different from eachother, but our last few weeks together we finally starting having alot of fun. I really learned alot from her and she really is such a great missionary. She is a really hard worker. I am grateful that I was trained by her. I know that the Lord puts us with specific people for specific reasons and I am grateful for that, and that I was able to learn so much. So it really was good to serve with sis. stevenson. Now though, I am sssooo excited to be working with Ranzenberger. She is so much fun! We seriously have clicked right from the start and have been having alot of fun together. (we have been laughing alot! like pee your pants laughing haha which is really what I needed because sis. stevenson is really serious and stressed out all the time, so it is fun to be with someone a little more relaxed and I can just be myself and have fun, but still work hard of course!).
Heidelberg is a biking area! I absolutely love it! It is so pretty and we ride along the river on the way to our appointments, it's really fun. It's kind of a little difficult in a skirt though, especially because all of my skirts are so long! I wore by shortest one the other day (my black and white one from Macey's) . . . . yeah, it got caught in the back tire and got grease all over it, that was a struggle, but don't worry, a little bit of dish soap and some cold water, it came right out! I feel kind of like a nerd riding around with a helmet on, but oh well, what do ya do.
There is this old woman and we visit that is pretty much blind and in a wheelchair. her name is Frau Kastle. she is sssooo scary! She yells at everyone. (the sisters warned me about her, but I didn't really think too much of it, but she really does yell at everyone!) We read with her from the Bible and she gets mad at us when we pronouce things wrong haha, hopefully I will have perfect pronounciation by the time that I am done here! but then she always gives us lots of cookies, fruit, muffins and juice to take home, so that's nice. She's a funny woman. I think she liked me though, so that's good.
We only have one progressing investigator here. Her name is anna. She is really awesome. She is sooo ready for the gospel. She use to not believe in God, and now she does, but her husband still doesn't and he doesn't know how serious anna is with our church and she is afriad to tell him. So we are all going to fast together so that she will have the courage to talk to him.
Yesterday we got a referral from church headquarters for this American who is studying here for a year. She lives right down the street from us so went by on her and we were outside talking to her and some younger girls (probably jr. high age) walked by and were like "missionaries!!" and they said hi (they were members) and were all excited to see us, and then a couple of minutes later we some a couple of other younger girls about the same age and they said hi too and were all excited too. and as they walked away, the one girl said to her friend "I love seeing the missionaries" it was sooo sweet. you have no idea how much that meant to us. It is sooo fun to see members while we were here serving. They are always so friendly and stop and talk. We saw a big group on Sunday, this man came up from behind me said really loud "Now are these some of those wierd people we call Mormon's!" and then they stopped and talked to us for a few minutes. It was fun.
Well, I am absolutely loving it here already. Our district is going to be pretty cool too. Our district leader is from Austria and we have another elder in our district from Switzerland, hopefully they can help me with my German!
thanks so much for being such a great support. I love all of you and miss you so much, but let's be honest, I am having alot more fun than any of you! So good luck at home. I love you!
Love, Sister Kaitlin Jean Stewart
Monday, June 30, 2008
SUrPriSe
I am a little surprised though . .. we got transfer calls on Saturday and . . . I got transfered!!! I was absolutley shocked! Sister Stevenson has been here in Mainz since November! That's almost 7 months! and she is still staying! I got transfered to . . . Heidelberg! ( mom, I'm guessing that you just screamed as you read that, you wanted me to serve there!) I am sssooo excited! Everyone just keeps talking about how beautiful it is there and Sis. Stevenson served there before she came to Mainz so she is telling me about all the people in the ward that I should become good friends with and other investigators and people that I should call. So it's pretty crazy, I packed up all my things today and I head out tomorrow morning.
I am sssoooooooo devistated to leave Mainz though! I love it here! I seriously was not ready to go. I love the people and the city. I wish that you could see my heart righ now, it seriously is torn. I cannot convey how much I love the people. I never really thought I would become so attatched, but all of my investigators are so amazing. I love each one of them. and they were all so sad when I told them i got transferred. I called them all yesterday and told them goodbye. They were soo sad. They each wanted to get together today, but because I am so busy packing and everything, it just really wasn't possible. But I have all or their numbers and addresses, so I can still stay in touch, but I honestly am going to miss it here so much. That is all that I have been thinking about the past couple of days. I have been able to sleep very well. When I lay down at night I just think about each one of the people that I teach and what they need and how we can help them and I am still going to stay in touch. I wish that you could meet them. I took some more pictures, but don't have time to send them, I will send them next week. they are really cute though, of Patricia and her girls and also of Lucy and one of her sons. I also am going to miss our district ssooo much. We really had an awesome district here. Because no one got transfered last cycle, we were all together for the last 12 weeks and we really have become like a family. On our first week together we only taught 21 lessons between the 3 sets of companionships. In our last week together we taught 44. Over the last 12 weeks we taught 389 lessons betweeen all 3 companionships and had 2 baptisms. We really have grown to love and support eachother and have been so blessed because of it. Yesterday for our last district meeting we went around in a cirlce and all said things that we love about each other or what we've learned from each other and then bore our testimonies. It was a really good meeting. I love the elders so much and I will miss them like crazy, but I'm sure my next district will be fun too! So yeah, it is hard to leave, but I will happily go whereve the Lord wants me to go. I know that Heidelberg is waiting for me. Sister Doty is coming here to Mainz to work with sis.Stevenson and I am going to work with sister Ransenberger, which I am really excited about because we had a lot of fun together on our exchange. So yeah, Farewell to Mainz . . .my Heimat (homeland).
So want to hear some funny stories? Last week we ate dinner at Schwester Banser's again. I forgot to pray for no cat hair in my food . . . big mistake! After having 2 helpings of appetizers, 3 servings of the main course . .. I was completely stuffed to the brim. I thought I was going to die. (Schw. Banser literally just sits there and won't let us leave until all the food is gone!) and then she pulled out dessert. It was this strawberry yogurt thing and when I went to dish mine up . . . cat hair! There was cat hair in the yogurt! I thought I was going to throw-up! There was a huge bowl of yogurt too. I had to eat it and when i went to lift up the spoon to take my first bite there was a hair hanging off of it! it was sssooo gross! I tried to put the hairs on the side of my bowl, it was really hard, and finally schw. Banser saw me and I didn't want to offend her so I had to pretend like nothing was wrong. Of course when I finished the first helping she set the bowl of yorgurt in front of me and I had to have seconds! It was pure torture! eewwww! but i guess it didn't kill me, so it's all good! I am still grateful for the food that she cooked for us. It was really really good. just too much!
So, when we sit on the trains and buses we don't ever sit together so that we can talk to more people. Last week I got asked out twice! haha it was really funny. The first guy was from argentina and we talked in English. He didn't live in our area and so when I told him that the elders would have to meet with him, he suddenly wasn't too much in learning about the gospel. The second guy was German and it was sooo akward because we were in the train and it was completely silent (the German's do not talk! It's so weird) and he started talking to me right when i sat down so I of course started talking about religion. Well, then he asked me if we could meet and I told him if he is interested in learning about the gospel then we could, but said no "we can get together and have a drink and dinner) I said no thanks, that I am a full-time missionary, yeah, he didn't get the hint that full-time means 24-7! He kept trying to ask me out. I was just praying the the train would make it to Wiesbaden, it was the longest ride of my life! Finally i just said no, sorry. and went to give him a pass-along card. of course the top card that I went to grab was "Eternal Marraige"! yeah, I definitly wasn't handing him that one! So I gave him a baptism one instead. Haha it was a really funny. Sister Stevenson could hear the whole thing from a couple rows down. She just sat and laughed at me!
I am sssoooooooo devistated to leave Mainz though! I love it here! I seriously was not ready to go. I love the people and the city. I wish that you could see my heart righ now, it seriously is torn. I cannot convey how much I love the people. I never really thought I would become so attatched, but all of my investigators are so amazing. I love each one of them. and they were all so sad when I told them i got transferred. I called them all yesterday and told them goodbye. They were soo sad. They each wanted to get together today, but because I am so busy packing and everything, it just really wasn't possible. But I have all or their numbers and addresses, so I can still stay in touch, but I honestly am going to miss it here so much. That is all that I have been thinking about the past couple of days. I have been able to sleep very well. When I lay down at night I just think about each one of the people that I teach and what they need and how we can help them and I am still going to stay in touch. I wish that you could meet them. I took some more pictures, but don't have time to send them, I will send them next week. they are really cute though, of Patricia and her girls and also of Lucy and one of her sons. I also am going to miss our district ssooo much. We really had an awesome district here. Because no one got transfered last cycle, we were all together for the last 12 weeks and we really have become like a family. On our first week together we only taught 21 lessons between the 3 sets of companionships. In our last week together we taught 44. Over the last 12 weeks we taught 389 lessons betweeen all 3 companionships and had 2 baptisms. We really have grown to love and support eachother and have been so blessed because of it. Yesterday for our last district meeting we went around in a cirlce and all said things that we love about each other or what we've learned from each other and then bore our testimonies. It was a really good meeting. I love the elders so much and I will miss them like crazy, but I'm sure my next district will be fun too! So yeah, it is hard to leave, but I will happily go whereve the Lord wants me to go. I know that Heidelberg is waiting for me. Sister Doty is coming here to Mainz to work with sis.Stevenson and I am going to work with sister Ransenberger, which I am really excited about because we had a lot of fun together on our exchange. So yeah, Farewell to Mainz . . .my Heimat (homeland).
So want to hear some funny stories? Last week we ate dinner at Schwester Banser's again. I forgot to pray for no cat hair in my food . . . big mistake! After having 2 helpings of appetizers, 3 servings of the main course . .. I was completely stuffed to the brim. I thought I was going to die. (Schw. Banser literally just sits there and won't let us leave until all the food is gone!) and then she pulled out dessert. It was this strawberry yogurt thing and when I went to dish mine up . . . cat hair! There was cat hair in the yogurt! I thought I was going to throw-up! There was a huge bowl of yogurt too. I had to eat it and when i went to lift up the spoon to take my first bite there was a hair hanging off of it! it was sssooo gross! I tried to put the hairs on the side of my bowl, it was really hard, and finally schw. Banser saw me and I didn't want to offend her so I had to pretend like nothing was wrong. Of course when I finished the first helping she set the bowl of yorgurt in front of me and I had to have seconds! It was pure torture! eewwww! but i guess it didn't kill me, so it's all good! I am still grateful for the food that she cooked for us. It was really really good. just too much!
So, when we sit on the trains and buses we don't ever sit together so that we can talk to more people. Last week I got asked out twice! haha it was really funny. The first guy was from argentina and we talked in English. He didn't live in our area and so when I told him that the elders would have to meet with him, he suddenly wasn't too much in learning about the gospel. The second guy was German and it was sooo akward because we were in the train and it was completely silent (the German's do not talk! It's so weird) and he started talking to me right when i sat down so I of course started talking about religion. Well, then he asked me if we could meet and I told him if he is interested in learning about the gospel then we could, but said no "we can get together and have a drink and dinner) I said no thanks, that I am a full-time missionary, yeah, he didn't get the hint that full-time means 24-7! He kept trying to ask me out. I was just praying the the train would make it to Wiesbaden, it was the longest ride of my life! Finally i just said no, sorry. and went to give him a pass-along card. of course the top card that I went to grab was "Eternal Marraige"! yeah, I definitly wasn't handing him that one! So I gave him a baptism one instead. Haha it was a really funny. Sister Stevenson could hear the whole thing from a couple rows down. She just sat and laughed at me!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
HaLLo hAlLO haLLo
Ok, now we can talk about the good stuff. So last week we did an exchange with the Heidelberg sisters, sisters Ransenberger and Doty. I was ssooo excited to see sister doty again! She is so great. Sister stevenson stayed in Heidelberg with sis. doty and sis. ransenberger came to Mainz with me, (i need a little bit of practice taking over the area because transfers are in 2 weeks and we are guessing that is what will happen!) So it was my first day without my trainer . . . we met the sisters in heidelberg and because we were so chatty we lost track of time and missed our train back to mainz! I was sooo mad at myself! I never do things like that! we had an appointment with this woman named Zoreida, who we've never met with before, at 1:00 and the next train didn't get back into mainz until 1:08! I didn't have her number with me either (what a great start . .. i know!) so we took the train back and just booked it to the place where we were meetting. we got there at 1:12 and didn't see anyone. We waited, but she never came. I felt terrible. Well, our next appointment wasn't until 2:30 so we took sis. ransenberger's stuff to our apartment and called zoreida and left a message telling her sorry. We ate lunch and then went to shillerplatz where we were meeting Nora. We have only met with nora once and she is golden! but it has been over a month since because she is so busy and her parents are divorced so she is always between cities (she is 17). but we finally got an appointment with her! So we went and waited and she never came. finally i called her and she said that she had come at 2:00 and waited and now was on the train back home! I was sssooo sad! We had set it up for 2:30 . . . i know we did! but i wish she would have called, we could have been there!!! yeah, so we just finding time . . . for 3 hours! which actually wasn't too bad. it was fun to find with someone new and get new ideas. Well, that evening we had an appointment with Br. Himioben out in Klein-Winternheim which takes a half-hour bus ride to get out there (and you have to pay cause it's not covered on our bus cards), so we went out there and his wife answered and said "oh, didn't my husband call you? They threw a surprise party for Br. Baader (his hometeacher) and so he went to that instead" . . . yeah, he definitely forgot to call us! I was ssssooooo sad!!! This was my first day on my own and how many people did we teach . . . 0! So we did doors out there instead for about 45 minutes and then came back home. So that was kind of a struggle, but it was fun to work with sis. ransenberger, she is really nice.
I think that the Lord was just preparing us for a busy week this week so that we would be grateful that we have lots of work and literally no time to rest! at the beginning of this week we already had 15 appointments set up. On Sunday while we were contacting we taught 2 lessons on the street and got 2 new contacts. Then yesterday, we had 3 appointments that were pretty much back to back and we had district finding time in mainz and in an hour and a half of finding time sister stevenson and I got 3 new contacts, taught 2 lessons, gave away a Book of Mormon, and set up an appointment with someone to meet again! The Lord definitely blessed us! We left the house at 10:30 am. and got home at 9:45 p.m. and literally had only a 20 minute break which we used to make phonecalls! I would rather have too much work that not enough! My favorite quote is "a busy missionary is a happy missionary" I think sister stevenson is getting sick of me saying that! but it is ssoo true! I am so grateful for the success that we have seen here and that the Lord just keeps blessing us with more and more people to teach!
So I told you about Matthias a long time ago. We met him over a month ago in the bus (he is the one who wanted to just bash on america and the war and everything and then finally asked us what our message was so we taught him a first lesson right there in the bus). Well, he only had an email address (and he showed us where he lives, (he lives in klein-winternheim so we are only out there when we teach the himiobens). We we had set up an appointment with him but had to change it and because we could only communicate through email, things got mixed up and we ended up missing eachother. We were so sad. We tried emailing him, but he never responded. We went by his house and no one was home so we left a Book of Mormon and a note in his mail box. We have been keeping him in our prayers that the Lord would help us find him again, or that some others missionaries would find him. Well last week our prayers were answered . . . Matthias called us! He left a message on our phone saying that we was so sorry about the confusion, his email stopped working. He said that he had started reading the Book of Mormon and that he thought it was interesting! He and his roommates finally decided to by a phone (a landline) so now he was able to call us! We were sssoooo excited! We called him back and set up an appointment with him, which actually was for yesterday. We met with him on the University and had an awesome lesson. He said that he would continue reading and pray about the BM. We are meeting with him again next week!
Patricia is absolutely amazing, she has had some really great experiences with prayer and is so excited about the gospel that she brought her friend with her so that her friend could learn more too! She also said that she has been telling her sister who lives in peru about the gospel so i think that we might send some missionaries to teach her too! We watched the Restoration dvd with her and told her to really pay attention to how she felt as she watched it. After it was over she said that she really felt the spirit and that she recieved an answer to her prayers about jospeh smith and the restoration. I am so excited for her. You can already see such a change in her countinance. It's so amazing how you really can see a difference when people have the light of Christ with them.
Lucy is also doing really really good. She finally came to church last week and loved it and came again this week. She is just the sweetest and most loving woman in the world. I don't have favorite investigators, i think that would be impossible to choos, but I really really love teaching lucy.
Ok, so I'm sorry that I am just giving random bits and pieces about everyone but I am just so excited about everyone.
We met with a man named Christian the other day. He is a philospher, so he likes to logic his way through everything. Everytime that sister stevenson and i would bear our testimonies and use the words "i know" he would stop us and say "no, you just believe very deeply" We of course just kept on bearing our testimonies the way we always do, but after we met with him, I thought alot about that. I know what I know, and asking me to say that i only believe, is asking me to deny the whitnesses of truth that I have recieved. I really do know, with all the sincerity of my heart, that God is our Father in Heaven, and that Jesus Christ is His son, and that only through the Atonement of Christ are we saved. I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. The Book of Mormon really answers the questions of the soul and I am so grateful for the way that this Book speaks to us in the church as a whole, but also speaks to each on of us individually. I Love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the testimonies that we are able to recieve through the power of the Holy Ghost. I especially love Moroni's promise that if we read the Book of Mormon and ask with a sincere heart if it is true, we will recieve an answer that it is true. I like to think of this promise as a "challenge". I am not afraid to challenge people to this because it's true. That's what I love about our church, we encourage people to ask questions and to think for themselves and to find out the answers, because it is all true, and if people are really sincere in their efforts, then they will recieve the same true answers every time.
I think that the Lord was just preparing us for a busy week this week so that we would be grateful that we have lots of work and literally no time to rest! at the beginning of this week we already had 15 appointments set up. On Sunday while we were contacting we taught 2 lessons on the street and got 2 new contacts. Then yesterday, we had 3 appointments that were pretty much back to back and we had district finding time in mainz and in an hour and a half of finding time sister stevenson and I got 3 new contacts, taught 2 lessons, gave away a Book of Mormon, and set up an appointment with someone to meet again! The Lord definitely blessed us! We left the house at 10:30 am. and got home at 9:45 p.m. and literally had only a 20 minute break which we used to make phonecalls! I would rather have too much work that not enough! My favorite quote is "a busy missionary is a happy missionary" I think sister stevenson is getting sick of me saying that! but it is ssoo true! I am so grateful for the success that we have seen here and that the Lord just keeps blessing us with more and more people to teach!
So I told you about Matthias a long time ago. We met him over a month ago in the bus (he is the one who wanted to just bash on america and the war and everything and then finally asked us what our message was so we taught him a first lesson right there in the bus). Well, he only had an email address (and he showed us where he lives, (he lives in klein-winternheim so we are only out there when we teach the himiobens). We we had set up an appointment with him but had to change it and because we could only communicate through email, things got mixed up and we ended up missing eachother. We were so sad. We tried emailing him, but he never responded. We went by his house and no one was home so we left a Book of Mormon and a note in his mail box. We have been keeping him in our prayers that the Lord would help us find him again, or that some others missionaries would find him. Well last week our prayers were answered . . . Matthias called us! He left a message on our phone saying that we was so sorry about the confusion, his email stopped working. He said that he had started reading the Book of Mormon and that he thought it was interesting! He and his roommates finally decided to by a phone (a landline) so now he was able to call us! We were sssoooo excited! We called him back and set up an appointment with him, which actually was for yesterday. We met with him on the University and had an awesome lesson. He said that he would continue reading and pray about the BM. We are meeting with him again next week!
Patricia is absolutely amazing, she has had some really great experiences with prayer and is so excited about the gospel that she brought her friend with her so that her friend could learn more too! She also said that she has been telling her sister who lives in peru about the gospel so i think that we might send some missionaries to teach her too! We watched the Restoration dvd with her and told her to really pay attention to how she felt as she watched it. After it was over she said that she really felt the spirit and that she recieved an answer to her prayers about jospeh smith and the restoration. I am so excited for her. You can already see such a change in her countinance. It's so amazing how you really can see a difference when people have the light of Christ with them.
Lucy is also doing really really good. She finally came to church last week and loved it and came again this week. She is just the sweetest and most loving woman in the world. I don't have favorite investigators, i think that would be impossible to choos, but I really really love teaching lucy.
Ok, so I'm sorry that I am just giving random bits and pieces about everyone but I am just so excited about everyone.
We met with a man named Christian the other day. He is a philospher, so he likes to logic his way through everything. Everytime that sister stevenson and i would bear our testimonies and use the words "i know" he would stop us and say "no, you just believe very deeply" We of course just kept on bearing our testimonies the way we always do, but after we met with him, I thought alot about that. I know what I know, and asking me to say that i only believe, is asking me to deny the whitnesses of truth that I have recieved. I really do know, with all the sincerity of my heart, that God is our Father in Heaven, and that Jesus Christ is His son, and that only through the Atonement of Christ are we saved. I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. The Book of Mormon really answers the questions of the soul and I am so grateful for the way that this Book speaks to us in the church as a whole, but also speaks to each on of us individually. I Love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the testimonies that we are able to recieve through the power of the Holy Ghost. I especially love Moroni's promise that if we read the Book of Mormon and ask with a sincere heart if it is true, we will recieve an answer that it is true. I like to think of this promise as a "challenge". I am not afraid to challenge people to this because it's true. That's what I love about our church, we encourage people to ask questions and to think for themselves and to find out the answers, because it is all true, and if people are really sincere in their efforts, then they will recieve the same true answers every time.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
I am doing so great! I LOVE it here! I seriously am having ssssooo much fun. And we are sssoooo busy! There is so much work to do here in Mainz, I love it. Sister Jones says that she has never seen it so busy (she’s been here since november) so the Lord is really blessing us! This last week we taught 12 lessons and 3 of our contacts became new investigators (have a lesson and then set up an apointment to meet again) and one of those became a progressive investigator (have two appointments and the person was given a committment and kept it) so we have been very blessed! And we also did all that last week with one less day because we had zone conference on Wednesday and spent the whole day in Frankfurt! So we did all that in 6 days instead of 7! And we have already gotten a new investigator this week as well. So things are going awesome.
Today we had a zone p-day and it was awesome! We went to a cute town called Koenigstein and played Capture the Flag in a castle there! It was awesome! I still have to remind myself that all this is real and that i really do live Europe . . . it’s pretty cool. So yeah, we had an awesome time! There were 22 of us, we had 11 vs. 11 and we just played in and around the castle. It was so much fun! I took alot of cool pictures, so I hope you like them!
Last night was pretty awesome. We were invited to have dinner and FHE with one of our investigators, Herr Maus, at the Grunewalders home. Bruder Grunewalder is in the stake presidency here. He’s an awesome guy! He and his wife are both converts to the church and we had a great discussion about faith and how to develop faith and gain a testimony. It was good to hear a converts perspective on this and I think it was exactly what Herr Maus needed. The whole evening was so much fun. The Grunewalders live in a nice home in a cute town called Taunusstein. Sis. Grunewalder cooked a really really good dinner too! The spirit was just so strong during our discussion over dinner and in FHE. After, Bruder Grunewalder said to sis. Stevenson and I, that the stake has just made a new goal to double the number of convert baptisms in the next 2-3 years. He said that he promised the Lord that he would have an investigator over to his house by the end of the month. He’s been trying to work with the elders on getting someone over, but nothing has worked out, so finally he just went up and talked to an investigator first, instead of going through the missionaries, and that investigator just happened to be ours! What a blessing that was. It really was exactly what Herr Maus needed. I am so grateful fort he Lord, and for His hand in this work. And also for the members and all that they do to help with missionary work. It’s pretty great.
I really just love this work so much. Being a missionary is the greatest thing that I could ever be doing with my time. Sometimes it’s hard, ok, let’s be honest, everyday it’s hard, but it’s totally worth it and it really is alot of fun. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve here in Germany.
Today we had a zone p-day and it was awesome! We went to a cute town called Koenigstein and played Capture the Flag in a castle there! It was awesome! I still have to remind myself that all this is real and that i really do live Europe . . . it’s pretty cool. So yeah, we had an awesome time! There were 22 of us, we had 11 vs. 11 and we just played in and around the castle. It was so much fun! I took alot of cool pictures, so I hope you like them!
Last night was pretty awesome. We were invited to have dinner and FHE with one of our investigators, Herr Maus, at the Grunewalders home. Bruder Grunewalder is in the stake presidency here. He’s an awesome guy! He and his wife are both converts to the church and we had a great discussion about faith and how to develop faith and gain a testimony. It was good to hear a converts perspective on this and I think it was exactly what Herr Maus needed. The whole evening was so much fun. The Grunewalders live in a nice home in a cute town called Taunusstein. Sis. Grunewalder cooked a really really good dinner too! The spirit was just so strong during our discussion over dinner and in FHE. After, Bruder Grunewalder said to sis. Stevenson and I, that the stake has just made a new goal to double the number of convert baptisms in the next 2-3 years. He said that he promised the Lord that he would have an investigator over to his house by the end of the month. He’s been trying to work with the elders on getting someone over, but nothing has worked out, so finally he just went up and talked to an investigator first, instead of going through the missionaries, and that investigator just happened to be ours! What a blessing that was. It really was exactly what Herr Maus needed. I am so grateful fort he Lord, and for His hand in this work. And also for the members and all that they do to help with missionary work. It’s pretty great.
I really just love this work so much. Being a missionary is the greatest thing that I could ever be doing with my time. Sometimes it’s hard, ok, let’s be honest, everyday it’s hard, but it’s totally worth it and it really is alot of fun. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve here in Germany.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Mainz, Germany
Things are going so great here in mainz! we have sssoooo much work to do there are so many people that are ready to hear the gospel. We are teaching alot of lessons this week and are so busy that we hardly even have time to go contacting. we will probably get about 5 hours of contacting time if we are lucky! so the lord is really blessing us and we are grateful and happy!
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. we ate dinner on sunday and schwester laukel's. she is 80 yrs old and is VERY german. she lived during the war and saves and preserves EVERYTHING! even the bread crumbs! not joking! anyways, she wasnt planning on having us over, she just invited us at church and we went home with her, so we were helping her make dinner (we made homemade pizza . . . with ketchup! kinda interesting) and we also had soup. i was in charge of the soup and i dont know how i got distracted but it all of a sudden started to boil over and schwester laukel got sooo mad! it was sssooo funny! i felt like an idiot. she grabbed the pot and said "girl, what do you do at home! dont they teach you to turn it off!" haha i felt so stupid. i guess my cooking skills havent improved at all! sis. stevenson said that schwester laukel gets mad at them every time they try and help her cook. she is a funny old lady. it was fun though. we had a good \ interesting tasting dinner.
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. we ate dinner on sunday and schwester laukel's. she is 80 yrs old and is VERY german. she lived during the war and saves and preserves EVERYTHING! even the bread crumbs! not joking! anyways, she wasnt planning on having us over, she just invited us at church and we went home with her, so we were helping her make dinner (we made homemade pizza . . . with ketchup! kinda interesting) and we also had soup. i was in charge of the soup and i dont know how i got distracted but it all of a sudden started to boil over and schwester laukel got sooo mad! it was sssooo funny! i felt like an idiot. she grabbed the pot and said "girl, what do you do at home! dont they teach you to turn it off!" haha i felt so stupid. i guess my cooking skills havent improved at all! sis. stevenson said that schwester laukel gets mad at them every time they try and help her cook. she is a funny old lady. it was fun though. we had a good \ interesting tasting dinner.
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