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| President and Sister Fingerle, and Sister Porter (Her trainer) |
Hey y'all! This has been the craziest week ever. No joke. I took notes out of my journal.
So
I am in Hamburg. My area is called Altona. If you were to ask me how
I've felt this last week, my answer would be, "like elder calhoun" from
The Best Two Years. I am Elder Calhoun. *embarrasing. I am soooooo
excited and just so new. And I can't really speak. More on that later.
27 Feb: Packing with 6 girls = CRAZY. enough said
28
Feb: last day of ice cream. They pulled out Graham canyon at the end,
Sister Darton saw and said, "Sit down!" and the 4 of us didn't argue. We
may have already eated 2 bowls of ice cream. #worthit
Sang
"God be with you 'till we meet again" in church.. Love them. Took
pictures as a zone. Great day. We sang |come thou fount" at devotional. I
thought it was cooler than "Called to Serve." (we sing that all the
time)
29 Feb: I am a great packer/didn't bring that much
stuff. We had out last classes with our teachers. We practiced their
favorite hymns so we could sing them. Also, we had a testimony meeting
with Bruder Nielson, and interviews with Bruder Alston. They told us
about the people they taught on their missions. It was SO cool. I was so
excited to leave. It was hard to say goodbye to them though. They have
helped me so much! At 9:30,
we sang "God be with you till we meet again" again as a zone and said
goodbye. They it was crazy/frantic packing in the residence hall. Went
to bed at 11:45
01 March: Woke up at 3 Am,
rode bus to the tracks to the airport, talked to family (!!!), flew to
Chicago. That airport was HUGE. We had 15 minutes to go to the bathroom,
exchange our money, get food, and call people. It was crazy, but we did
everything but exchange our money. On that airplane, I was in the
middle row of 3 with no one next to me. We could watch disney movies, so
I watched "inside out" and part of "up". The girl ahead of me watched
this movie with bradley cooper in in 3 times!!! I slept off and on for
about 4-5 hours. Funny story: a flight attendant asked me about "us" and
I told her we are missionaries. A man asked if I had ever seen the BOM
musical (no) and he said he loved it. So I went and sat down and then
thought about it and grabbed the BOM I brought with me and went back to
him and said, "You said you loved the musical. Have you read the book?"
and gave it to him. He looked at me weird, and then I went back to my
seat. Haha. It was SO awkward. I am so awkward. I should have said
something, anything less weird, like my testimony.
02 March:
Frankfurt! We bought food in the airport, but mostly it was boring.
Sister Wahl talked to a lady next to us and basically taught the whole
first lesson about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was awesome.
It's dumb, but I was scared to talk to anyone. We flew to Dresden (OUT
for the full 45 minute flight). We met President and Sister Fingerle. We
got in a huge bus and drove to Radebeul, which is where President
Monson dedicated the country. We read the prayer he said and had time to
pray and decided what we are going to do with these 18 months/2years.
It was a really cool experience. I get to go back right before I come
home, and we will do the same thing, only in german! We drove to
Freiberg (we stayed in the hostel by the temple) had lunch, then had to
take care of check-in stuff. I definitely fell asleep. Sleep deprived
plus jet-lagged is not a good combination. President let us go to bed at
7.. So I slept from 9-6:30, which is probably the most sleep I've gotten in 8 years. haha.
03
March: We had morgensport, german food for breakfast (SOOOOO GOOD!),
had a meeting with President Fingerle, watched a temple video and had
time to spend on the grounds. The temple is under construction until May
(?) and it is dedicated in august, I think. We got out trainers next,
then took pictures outside, ate lunch, then left. We went to Berlin and
stayed with some sisters there. It was me, Sister Porter, and 4 other
sisters who are so fun. The sisters we were staying with left later than
we did, so we stopped to get dinner (finally) at like 10:15.
We ate these Duner things.. basically the leg of an animal that is
illegal in the US. They have them everywhere. They shave off meat and
put it in a bread thing with sauce and vegetables. It is a lot like the
gyro place, just with bread instead of pitas and different meat. It was
yummy, but we all felt it the next day. We got to the apartment at the
same time as the other sisters.. aka 11:15pm.
I was so tired from lugging my luggage around all day, on and off
trains. On the walk from the train station to the apartment on
cobblestone with everything, I was Hating life. One of the trainers
helped me out, but I was SO tired and cold and frustrated. I hate
traveling. They were nice and gave us (new missionaries) the beds.
04
March: We (now only 4 of us, the other 2 went to their area a different
way) left early and took a train from berlin to Hamburg. We slept on
the train, then bought food together, then left. A couple hours later,
we made it home. Finally. I unpacked, we studied and she explained the
area book to me and the people we teach/work with. I was mostly just
miserable and tired and wanted to get out and do something
missionary-like. I'm learning it is finding and teaching, but there are
other things that have to get done too.
05 March: So another
funny story, the elders dropped off the 2 sisters we stayed with in
Berlin, and we helped unload their suitcases. We ended up with an extra
suitcase (one of the elder's) and sister porter thought it was mine and I
thought it was hers.. We made it all the way back to Altona before they
called us and we realized we had it. So we mailed it and bought some
food. We studied, then went contacting (where we go talk to people who
have talked to missionaries in the past to see if they are interested).
We didn't have anyone, most people have moved, but it was so fun! It was
rainy and I just loved it. We had district meeting. On the way home,
there was a lady across from us reading, and there was a crazy guy doing
stand-up comedy or something (we didn't understand), and I felt like I
should talk to her. I waited too long, until she was about to get off,
and I asked her what she was reading, and then basically said goodbye.
Then I was kicking myself, and on our next Bon we got on, there was
another lady.. It was mostly empty, and she was sitting across the aisle
with our backs facing (we were kitty-corner facing away) and she kindof
turned towards me so I said, "Hallo, wie ghets?" and she looked behind
her (no one was there) to make sure I was talking to her and said "gut
(or what ever), and you?" and I said, "gut, mein deutch ist schleck."
and then sister Porter took over. Haha. They had a nice conversation. I
smiled.
06 march: Church! We greeted people. I forgot my name
and almost introduced myself as Sister Hammer. Oops. I also didn't
really understand anything.. haha. I just smiled the whole time. One
lady told me that I would eventually learn it (I think). The bishop
invited Elder Nay and I to bare our testimonies. I went first and smiled
and tried to speak from my heart. We have english speakers in our ward,
so Elder Smith had to translate the whole meeting and he told me my
testimony was the easiest. Gut gut. I didn't understand anything in
Relief Society. Like 0 %. Oh well. :) We went to the Jensen (pronounced
"yen-sen") house for lunch. By the time we ate, I probably would have
eaten a branch if that is what they gave us. It was soo good.
Potatoes/eggs/ham all cooked together, and green beans and Super good
pickles, and this stuff called Quark for dessert. I love german food. So
much. Sister Jensen speaks perfect english, and it was so nice to talk
to her after church and not understanding anything her kids were saying.
On the bus ride home, we talked to a lady. I said "hello" and Sister
Porter was on the phone, and I didn't understand what she said back to
me, but sister porter was like, "Elder Smith, I'll call you back" and
jumped in. Danke Himmel. It was a lovely conversation, from what I got
out of it. Oh, later, on the bus later, two girls (like 10 and 16) heard
us speaking english and asked if we speak german. We said and explained
that we are missionaried for the LDS/mormon chruch. ("die mormonen").
The little girl asked if we'd ever seen them and we were super confused
and they kept saying "demonen". We figured out later that they probably
thought we said "demons." So those poor girls think we are the demon
church. Great. That's just what we want. I think they understood we
didn't understand. We had a meeting with out ward mission leaders, who
are english and super awesome. On the way there, we were talking about
movies, and we both hate scary movies. She asked if I had seen the 6th
sense, and I haven't.. I was trying to think of 50 first dates and we
were just standing there and Sister Porter said, "I see dead people" in a
weird quiet voice and I looked around a little freaked out because I
had never seen the movie. She laughed pretty hard. :)
07
March: We went running this morning. Our 30 minute run turned into 90
minutes of being lost and trying to find our way back home.. 6 miles
later, we made it home. My fingers were so cold. We asked like EVERY
person we saw for directions.. We were so far away that they hadn't even
heard of our street. Hahah. Good times.
Love you all! I love Germany! I know God loves these people. I can feel it. He love you and He loves me!
Sister Simpson
p.s.
I\m out of time rn, but I will hopefully have a few minutes later to
reply to your email, mom. Thank you for both of them. I love you. I like
your talk!!! Have a great day! Tell Dave thank you for his dear elders
(and brandi) and Sadie Shelton that I will try to send her a postcard,
and I'm sorry I haven't already. I need to reply to courtney's email
too.
Mom questions:
Are you on a bike? Do you ride the bus? Train?
I
walk/public transportation. (First day thought: "Ew"; Current day:
"AWESOME!") There is NO public transportation in Boise, Idaho. It is
insane here. Thank you Mom for the handsanitizer. It is probably the
reason I am still alive.
What
is your trainer like? Where is she from? How long has he been out?
Does she speak German well? Is she speaking it with you all the time?
What is your favorite thing about her?
My trainer
is Sister Rachel Porter from Oregon. She just got done being trained (we
had a HUGE group, so most of the sisters she came in with are training)
and she's been here for 12 weeks/2 transfers/ 3months. She's my "mom."
(Her "mom"/trainer is actually Sister Darton's trainer. So Sister Darton
is my aunt. Missionaries are weird.) I actually saw her open her call
on youtube before I came. She and her twin sister opened their calls and
one went to Berlin and the other to Frankfurt on the same day.
Cool/weird that I saw that before I came. She is so awesome! I am so
excited and I love her already. She is super funny, everyone loves her
because she is super cool. She is very comfortable to be around and
super easy-going. I was so tired/in shock the first few days that I'm
sure she thought I didn't have a personality. Haha. Also, I would be
lost and probably curled up in a ball, crying, without her, because I'd
be lost and don't speak German. She took 3 years of german in high
school, and she's pretty good. I like her a lot.
What area are you serving in?
Altona.. just outside Hamburg
Are there other missionaries in your area?
We
have 3 elders who serve in our ward with us.. Elder Smith (7 months,
super smile-y and friendly, just a funny funny guy, very american
sounding german), Elder Jacobe (from England, his parents are
Philipinno, speaks taglog/english/a little german, waiting for his Visa
to go to the SLC North mission, 7 weeks) and Elder Nay (in my MTC zone,
took german in high school, SO nice)
How far away is the church? Do you ride bikes to get there? Bus? Catch a ride with other members?
30ish
minute bus ride.. It is just inconvenient to get to. It is the house of
an old ship captain that was destroyed in the war (assuming WW2?). The
church restored it. It is so cool and in a beautiful area. We have
eating appointments after church, and members drive us to their houses,
and to the bus/train station so we can get home after.
What is your mission president like? Is he native? Does he speak english to you or german?
He
is sososososososososo nice. Probably the nicest person I've ever met. I
love him. (President Uchtdorf nice). I had a 5 minute interview with
him and chose to speak danglish.. The whole first two days, they would
speak in german and either an AP or Sister/President Fingerle would
translate to english.
How is the language coming? Do you understand more than you thought you would? How was your first door approach?
Uhhhhh...
welllll.......... hmmm. "that ain't the language they taught me in the
MTC!" I can understand mostly other missionaries (I struggle with vocab
with them), and I'm still working on understanding germans. I have,
however, perfected the smile-and-pretend-you-know-
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| Döner shop |
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| cramped train car |
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| klingling, aka I love missionary work |
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| sleeping on the train |
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