Altona Round 2

Sister Daines and I on the bus getting home on time

Sister Lopez gave me this hat and sweatshirt. #freeclothes

I LOVE HAMBURG

Hey! General Conference was AMAZING. I love it, every time. It is such a blessing to hear from these prophets and apostles.

Leaving Stadthagen was hard. Packing is a real struggle. I love the ward and our friends there, but they are in good hands. Sister Koch and her companion are exactly what the ward and area need. We got to say goodbye to the Gills before they went back to America. We had an appointment with Schw. Heumann, but she was sick and cancelled. We stopped by later and told her I was leaving and I was so glad I got to say goodbye to her. She told us she was so thankful we came because it is a whole lot less awkward talking to us than the elders.. :) Also, we FINALLY got to talk to a referral from Präsident Fingerle that he gave to the elders, and we've tried meeting with every week since I've been in Stadthagen. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she told us that she is really  interested in learning more and is going to start reading. I'm so excited for her! I left before our last appointment with Herr Nicola, but that's okay. He's super awesome and I am really excited for him. He's so close!

Coming back to Altona has been one of the weirdest experiences. It smells familiar, like home. It is different, but the early darkness and cold reminds me a ton of my first transfer here. The Lopez's are
still here, and Janina and Schw. König. Peggy isn't (I think I forgot to tell you that she moved to Munich.. But the bishop has been helping her, so she's in good hands). We're making new friends. :) It is very convenient to already know my way around, though.

Sister Daines is great. She and I were in the same MTC group, so we'll hit our hump day together this transfer. We are going to be pretty busy with tausches and we are working on finding people to teach. We have a couple people to teach from Sisters Fulton and Diaz. Gina Ramm was a woman who is originally from America, and is friends with a member in our ward. I know her and I am super excited to work with her again! She's super awesome. Also, we have Ana, who is also a former investigator that I knew. She has a bit of a difficult situation, so we just do what the Bishop asks us to do. We had a lesson with her already and she loves the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized, but it is going to take a lot of work. After our appointment with Ana on Friday, we made it all the way home before Sister Daines realized she left her iPad there. So we went back to get it and were late to our next appointment.. Haha. Also, the night before, we though we (sister Daines) locked the keys in the apartment, so we knocked on our hausmeister's house and he gave us the spare.. We walked up and they were just in the key hole in the door. Oops. This is going to be a great transfer. I cannot count the number of times I've said "oh boy" in the last 5 days.

We still go and help out at the international school every Thursday. It is super fun, because we just help the preschool teachers to help manage the kids during gym, lunch and recess. We also help in the
library. And the teachers in the whole school love the missionaries, and they are really interested why we are here. The kids are hilarious, so I really love it.

General Konferenz was great! I did a lot of thinking about questions I had and things I want to do and I learned a lot. I really liked all the focus on joy. We are here to have joy, despite our circumstances,
through focusing on the Savior. I loved the story he shared about the early saints in super awful circumstances who were happy and cheerful.  Optimism is something I've always admired in other people and I want to work on being happier. To quote President Hinckley, "life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." I hope you all learned something from Conference and have something to work on for the next 6 months.

Alles wohl. Have a great week!

Sister Simpson

Schwester Heumann

Watching the Saturday afternoon session on Sunday afternoon in
Altona bishops office

Eating dinner (frozen pizza) at the church between conference
sessions yesterday. Elder Keck bought tuna pizza, so that was rough.

Quiche at a French cafe in Hamburg for Pday (yay free wifi). We
also went to the Meßmer tee museum and finally found the prickly pear
cinnamon tea I've been looking for for a month