This week was great. It goes by SO FAST!
So Sonnstag (Sunday), was fast Sunday.
I guess I'm really good at fasting, or maybe just tough, because my
whole district acted like it was the end of the world. It was like
fasting at home with brothers, haha. Fast and Testimony meeting was in
English, ans Sister Ha, the Korean sister learning English AND Deutsch,
bore her testimony in korean. It was cool. I probably could have sat and
listened to everyone's testimonies for another hour. It tells me a lot
about people. I hit my head on a chair on Sunday.. and I had a bump right above my eyebrow. Not my finest moment. Dinner at the MTC on Fast Sunday was INSANE. It was glorious, and we ate sooo much food. Sunday
is also ice cream day. I felt like the very hungry caterpillar. Sister
Voigtlaender and I raced each other to drink another glass of water
after we finished eating. Don't do that. It was a bad idea. Sunday's
devotional was with Jenny Oaks Baker, the violinist. She played some
songs with her kids, and talked in between. My favorite was Abide With
Me. It is amazing the effect music has on people. I swear no one would
move until she started talking again. After that, we watched a film on
John Tanner and then Music and the Spoken Word.
Montag:
We had a lesson with Austin (Bruder Nielson). We asked him to pray to
begin and he said the Lord's Prayer. I guess we hadn't taught him how to
pray from his heart yet. (Bruder Nielson was really proud of himself
for remembering that one auf Deutsch). We forgot to teach him how to
pray that lesson. It's a good thing we are learning all of this now. I
learn so much about how to teach every class. And it is so hard in
german because I am not very good. I have been blessed so much to be
able to speak as much as I can. I really can't do this on my own, and
Heavenly Father blesses me all the time. I ran 2 miles for exercise
time. The first one was 7:11, then we went to play volleyball (but it was a lame game), so we ran again. I ran a 7:15.
It feels SO good. I love running. Also, Sister Bartlett sent me a
package of the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen. We enjoyed eating them! I
need to write thank-you's today!
Dienstag:
Quote from my journal: "Today was definitely the best day I've had so
far." We had service and we cleaned the toilets and urinals in like 20
bathrooms. So actually, that was not my favorite. But, at breakfast, I
was Bryce and he told me Rachel got her mission call. I basically ran
away from him because I wanted to hear it from her. So yeah, I waited 13
more hours. (funny, I actually opened the dear elder from Shaelyn
first, so I didn't even really hear it from Rachel. It was okay though,
because I got more info from her than Rachel anyways. Kennewick
Washinton, May 3!!!!!!:)
We has our 3rd lesson with Austin and we taught him about prayer. I
felt like I could speak to him, and I could feel the spirit, and it was
AWESOME. He called us back in and talked to us and he was so excited. He
told us that was the best lesson we had taught him so far and that the
difference between monday/tuesday
was "night and day." We always have things to work on, but it was so
exciting. I love missionary work! I can't wait to actually start (But, I
really do need all the time in the MTC). I ran a 6:52
mile. It was sweet. I could have gone faster, but the 10 laps with 4
corners every lap is a little hard. I'm afraid I'll biff it one of these
days. For choir, we sang "Be Still My Soul" and it was amazing. Elder
Edward Dube spoke at the devotional. When he was on his mission, it was
extended by 3 months. His little brother waited for him at the bus stop,
but he never came (because it was extended). In the 3 months, his
little brother drown. He was so sad, and wanted to come home, but his
mission president visited him and said "Your mission isn't over until
it's over." So he stayed and he said that he was so grateful that he
did. It was a great message of giving our time to the Lord and serving
him with all of our hearts. Rich and Talisha sent me a package with
cookies and valentines. I hung them up by my bed. It made my day. :)
Mittwoch: Funny enough, Wednesday
was really hard. Everyone was really distracted and it was hard to
focus and I was annoyed at things and then annoyed that I was annoyed at
them. Running was a nice break. Funny story: Wednesday
is when all the new missionaries come in. I thought it would be funny
if I said "Welcome to the MTC" to the Armenian elders in our zone,
because they've been here for 6 weeks. We saw them after dinner and
Elder Webb said, "Welcome to the MTC" to me right when I said,
"Welcome.." They stole my joke! I was so mad. Elder McGavin didn't hear
that, and we saw them a few minutes later and he said the same thing to
me. Meine gute. We had a lesson with Stephan (Bruder Alston) and it did
not go well. I talk so much more than Sister Hammer, and I just feel
really bossy all the time. It's not very balanced. And I didn't feel
like I could communicate clearly. We taught about the
Atonement/Repentance/The Word of Wisdom and it felt disjointed. So I
drew the analogy I came up with while I was preparing the lesson and
studying. We are falling in a tunnel. Gravity is the "natural man", aka
the natural things that keep us from being like God. When we sin, Satan
has a chain pulling us down to him. So there are 2 things trying to pull
us down. Our goal is to make it to the top of the tunnel, Eternal life
with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There is a rope that is right
next to us as we fall. That is the Atonement. It is ALWAYS there.
Always. We just have to reach out. And as we repent, the chain that
satan is using to pull us down disappears, because when we repent
through the Atonement of Christ, our sins are forgiven and it is like we
never committed them in God's eyes. Jesus Christ helps us make it out
of the tunnel. Stephan told us that that made sense to him, and a few
days later, told us that he understood the Atonement personally because
of that. That was a blessing, because I was worried that we didn't do
all we could and so he missed the point.
Donnstag: Thursday
was also really hard, but only for the first half of the day. We taught
Austin, and it was AWFUL. We talked to Bruder Nielson afterward, and he
said that as the investigator, he felt like he could have left the room
and we would still have kept talking. It wasn't personal at all, and we
were just teaching a lesson, not a person. We have a lot of things we
need to do better. I don't ever want someone to feel like that again.
Bruder Nielson came into class after that and ranted/talked/droned on
about Companionship study, and I caught on pretty fast because we had
just taught our lesson like that. I didn't know if he was doing it on
purpose (He was), but it was good to experience it from the other end.
Then we talked about how we felt, and he told us that all of us have
taught lessons like that. We watched a video from a MTC devotional with
Elder Holland about teaching and it was so good. We had more study time,
and I could not focus and everyone was talking and I was loosing it.
Sister Hammer could tell I was loosing it, so we went into an empty
classroom and she studied and I just unwound and pondered. It was quiet
and I could think, pray, and reason through everything. That time was a
tender mercy. I thought about why I came here, and why I am here now. I
am here because I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am happier because
of it. I believe that God has a plan for each one of us. He is SO so
good, and He knows everything. I have been so blessed in my life, and I
know that is not just for me. I believe with all of my heart that there
are people who have been prepared and who are being prepared to hear the
gospel in Germany (and everywhere). I believe that God has been
preparing me, and that he has given me experiences and abilities that
will help people there. And I mean that in the least-prideful way
possible. It is bigger than me. There are people who are yearning for
the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring in their lives. Heavenly
Father often answers the yearnings of our hearts through other people. I
am amazed by the people He has placed in my life, and the impact they
have had on me. I am so so grateful. I ran a bunch for exercise time,
and felt better. At the end of the day, we talked in our district about
re-focusing and it was good, and had been so much better since then.
Freitag:
I saw Alyse in the travel office. Our elders had to go and said they
saw her, and told us to go say "hi!" so we did. It was so fun to see
her! For lunch, they had bratwurst and "german potatoes" and I felt
obligated to eat it because I'm going to germany in 2 weeks-ish.
Hopefully it is better there. :) My new treat is called the PB and
honey rice crispie treat. You put PB and honey on a rice crispie. We
ran, then taught bruder Alston. It went much better and it was quick and
was so much better than the last 2 lessons. We also taught TRC, 2 older
gentlemen, one from Germany, and one who served his mission there. He
told us something which I understood to mean " I served my mission in
germany for 40 years." I think there was some sort of miscommunication
in there. Next week we skype germans. (ACK! I am scared for that.) We
found a "Narnia Hole" in our room. There was a blank covering (like it
could have been an outlet but someone changed their mind.. they have
them in every room), and we unscrewed it and found a piece of paper with
an elder's name in it, from 2002! We all wrote our names, years, and
missions and put it in there. In another room, there were 2 ugly ties.
Haha.
Favorite german thing to say: Ich
bin begeistered. (pardon my spelling.) It means "I am excited." Also,
Meine Gute and Gute Himmel. (My goodness and good heavens).
Well,
I am out of time. I love you all. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. We
all need Him, every day. I am trying to be better about repenting every
day. I love being here. God is so good to us, and I know that we will
recognize tender mercies and miracles in our lives every day as we look
for them.
Thank you, everyone, for the
love through letters and packages and prayers. Happy Valentines Day.
"If you don't have anyone, just remember this is a holiday to remind you
of that" (Sister Darton's friend, Jefferson. haha).
Ich Liebe Sie!
Sister Simpson
P.S. We should have called my blog "Boise to Berlin." Ugh.  | |
| We matched! |
 |
| The Mountains! |
 |
| We rearranged the room. Elder Hughes, Passey, Sister Darton, Voitglaender |
 |
| I liked the corner of the room.. so I drew it on a notecard |
No comments:
Post a Comment