Snail Appreciation

(She must have tried out her mad photography skills on these snails)

Hallo liebe Familie!

We went finding with our elders this week because we were having a
rough go (because we are both so new). It was super helpful. Elder
Smith and I talked to people in front and Sister Fulton and Elder Nay
followed behind and talked to the people we didn't. It is scary to
just walk up and talk to people, but sometimes we have cool
conversations and you never know who is ready to receive the gospel.
We met one lady who first thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses, and
then thought we were Amish.. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she
seemed super interested in it. We had a couple long finding days, but
nothing feels better than coming home exhausted in the evening from
working hard.

We had a lesson with Abraham (Pakistani Chemist). It was good and we
ended up giving him a Persian Book of Mormon because the German one
was harder for him to understand. He prayed at the end, which was
awesome.

We also has a lesson with Peggy. We talked about the atonement. (Our
analogy on the Atonement was about how we fall into "pits" (because of
sin, weaknesses, trials, transgression, sorrow) and how the atonement
is a ladder, and Jesus Christ is down there reaching out to us. We
access His Atonement and His help through prayer.) At the end, she
prayer that "Courtney and Mariah won't fall into any pits." She is so
awesome. I don't think she realizes how much the gospel will help her
with everything she's gone through, but she has the desire to learn
more and to make he right choice! It is super cool to see her faith
grow every time we meet with her. We are still working towards
baptism, and I know that she will as soon as it "clicks".

We had Zone Conference! Elder Adler, of the quorum of the Seventy, and
his wife came. They are German and it was awesome. We sang our song
and it was beautiful and powerful. I love music. [It was "O Haupt voll
Blut und Wunden" (O Savior Thou Who Wearest A Crown - the words are
amazing) to the tune of "If You Could Hie to Kolob". And we totally
nailed our Alto part. Yay for 2 non-singers.] It was wonderful to hear
from our mission leaders, our mission President and his wife (who may
be some of my favorite people ever), and Elder and Sister Adler. Elder
Adler talked about how the gospel is meant to bring us joy, and so we
need to live with more joy and make that decision every morning when
we get out of bed. God wants us to be happy! His entire plan is for us
to be the happiest we possibly can. Sometimes that means going through
super hard things, but it only increases our capacity and appreciation
for joy.

We got our transfer calls Saturday night. We had Gemiko (ward
correlation?) and a ward activity, and Elder Smith was freaking out
the whole time. However, nothing is really changing, at least for us.
Sister Fulton and I are both staying in Altona for the next 5 weeks.
I'm pretty excited. Actually, our whole district is staying the same
except for Elder Nay. :( We came to Altona from the MTC together.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! (On Saturday). 46!!! Wow. (Funny story: Farshid and his girlfriend, Fatima, were talking to us last week. Farshid is 39 and Fatima is 35 and they asked how old our parents were and were like "woooaaahhhhh" because they are closer to your ages than ours. Haha) do you have any birthday plans?
We can go to the temple with an investigator or New convert (to do baptisms) or if someone goes through and invites you. And we are encouraged to, so hopefully I'll get to go. Also, I could possibly have the opportunity to be a temple sister for the open house in August  for a week (Freiberg is closed right now), which would be awesome.
Well, I love you all. I love being here. I can't believe it's almost
June. CRAZY.
Sister Simpson

Bilder:
How great is this photo? Go me. (Our bus ended at an earlier stop and
we had to wait for the next one).