Reaping Day! (Week 12)

Last Week with Sister Porter

Sooooo I have news. Sister Porter is going to Olsnebrook (or something
like that) and gets to be companions with Sister Wayment. AND I'M
TRAINING. AHHHHH. I'm only 6 weeks old!!
Well, anyway, you asked about the iPads and why we use them. It is
nice to have lds tools there, so all your resources are in one place.
And you have other languages if you need it. Also, we have a maps app
so we can put in all the contacts, investigators, and members so we
can navigate a LOT easier. (We still get lost on almost a daily
basis:). We don't have wifi in our apartment, so we have to either go
to a mall nearby or a church building (which we go to at least 3x a
week).
This week was so great! We had a joint teach for a new convert with
the old German lady ward missionaries in our ward, who (whom?) I love.
We made them pizza, and they were super nice about eating American
teenage food and even told us it was lecker! After the lesson, which
was awesome, Schwester Faber told me that I am in a prison of the
language and I am trying so hard to get out. She said I am standing at
the bars and she thinks it's so cute. She told me it is so cute and
that my German has gotten a lot better. It was really sweet. After the
lesson, it was lateish and our bus ended after 2 stops, so we walked
to the bus/bahn station we needed to get home for 50 minutes in the
rain. A bus came towards the end and took us the last 2 stops to our
bus stop. We probably looked crazy, just sitting there in the rain,
eating leftover pizza. It was fun.
The next day, we had another meeting at the church with Peggy. She's
so cute. We had a member with us, Sister Schmidt. We normally talk to
Peggy in English because she likes it, but Schw. Schmidt doesn't speak
good English, so it was in German. We showed Presidend Monson's talk
from conference and then actually really taught the Restoration. It
was so sweet and she totally is ready and wants to believe. She is so
good! We invited her to be baptized and she said she would when she
feels ready, but I think the hard thing will be her giving up her
religion because she had strong Polish Catholic ties and she feels
like it is the only connection she has left to her family. It was so
awesome to have Schw. Schmidt there, because a few times, we had no
idea what Peggy was saying or asking, but she understood and could
answer her questions. My German was on point, and I know it was
totally the Lord helping me. Peggy told me my German was like I had
been studying for 6 months instead of 6 weeks. The funny thing is,
after the lesson, Schw Schmidt offered to take us home, and she asked
where we lived and we thought she asked where Peggy lived. So she
dropped us off in Peggy's neighborhood and then we walked to the bahn
station and eventually made it home. Whoops.
Update on the Persian Pals. The elders (our Zone Leaders) have another
Persian guy they are teaching, so he comes now and we all teach him
the new member lessons. It is pretty awesome to have the 3 of them
teach the gospel to him, and we just kind of lead the discussion and
they carry it on. I love them!
We went to the Kita this week. I love kids. We were drawing with the
kids (with our left hands) and I drew a picture of the little boy and
gave it to him, and of the two little girls. They were so cute. Kids
are so easy. They just want attention. It was so fun!
We went by on a Spanish lady who we found when we were klingling a few
weeks ago. We took her a Spanish Book of Mormon and tried to explain
it to her. In her mixed German/Spanish, she sounded REALLY interested
and we are going to bring the Spanish elders by to meet with her. She
is so cute!
We went by on a contact family who lives in a different (than Farshid)
refugee camp. They were all there and we offered to teach them German.
They are so cute! The mom wants us to teach her to ride a bike, so we
are going to do that later this week. They came from Iraq and their
entire family escaped together (which is super rare). I think their
car exploded as they were leaving too. Crazy. They are here for a
reason.
An old contact from last year called us the other night, and he wants
to meet with us! We met briefly with him (and read his teaching
record), and he is super awesome. He's from Ghana and the missionaries
called him "Brother John". We don't know how thoroughly he was taught,
but we are excited and he's (hopefully) excited.
It was a rough week for lessons, so we went by on a TON of contacts,
which means we were super tired every night. I guess we have to
counteract all the chocolate we eat somehow.
This week will be crazy, because I go to Freiberg tomorrow night, pick
up my trainer (AHHHHHH!!) on Wednesday, then we'll get home Thursday.
And then I will spend the next 6 weeks freaking out but trying not to
show it. If you are going to pray for me, pray for my trainee also.
Probably more than me. Oh man. I am not alone. This is Christ's work,
and He won't let me fail. These are His children and He loves them.
I love you! Have a great week!
Sister Simpson
P.S. I'm REALLY going to miss Sister Porter. :'(

A cute house by our house, and I really like that tree.

People getting creative with their graffiti, because EVERYTHING is covered in it. Yes, that's a bush

I really like this tree