Christmas Rittersport (of course we bought all of them... we've
only eaten one in the last week though. We decided to do no sweets
until our hump day.

Hallo family!

What a week! The nice thing about whitewashing an area you've already served in is that I already know what's going on. I love this ward, so church was awesome. We (the 3 new missionaries) got up and bore our testimonies to introduce ourselves. We ran into Farshid on the bus on Tuesday (he's been kind of MIA for a while apparently) and he came to church! I was super excited. There is a new sister in our ward who is from China but joined the church a few years ago in London while she was studying/working. She is super solid and taught the gospel principles class. One of the ward missionaries is helping out a family friend and letting her stay with him for a while. He brought her to church and she is super awesome! Her name is Eunice and we are hoping that we will be able to teach her. After church, the ward had an Erntedankfest, which is kind of like German thanksgiving.. there was a program with poems and singing hymns and then of course lots of delicious German food. One of the sisters made pumpkin pie bars and I about died. Some less-active members came, Eunice stayed, Quonying brought her non-member husband so it was a good activity.

We spent a day in Berlin for a leadership conference and it was awesome to hear from President and Sister Fingerle. They focused a lot on the Book of Mormon and how it helps us come to know Jesus Christ. I have a lot of new ideas about how to study the Book of Mormon and how to better teach from the Book of Mormon. We also make the trek out to Stade as a district to do a street display. I was walking around with Sister Hançer (who is from Turkey) and we saw this Romanian man begging on the street. We went over to him and we couldn't give him money or even really communicate, but we prayed with him and when we finished, he had tears running down his cheeks. It was really sweet.

The Lord really blessed us this week. The majority of the time in our area was spent finding. We didn't see a lot of success in our finding, but yesterday, we received two referrals from members online and this morning, a former investigator called us and wanted to meet this week. So good things are happening and we feel really blessed. I know that this is the Lord's work for His children and He blesses us as we work hard.

Today I read "the hope of God's light" by President Uchtdorf. I was reflecting on how Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and I though about the experience we had as we went by on Frau Byo yesterday. Her daughter answered when we klingled and told us that she wasn't home, but when we told her it was the missionaries, Frau Byo came on and let us up (she came to church twice after I left and then every other appointment fell out.. so we didn't know what's up). She told us her story about all the people who have wronged her here in Germany in the last 20 years as she has tried to adjust and adapt. She had so much hurt in her heart. (Her point was that she doesn't trust people because of these experiences). We listened and then had the opportunity to bear testimony to her, in that dark little room, of Christ's light and the hope that we find only through His Atonement. There was no physical light to brighten the room, but I could feel the spirit lighten her soul and her burdens. I know that He carries our burdens. He walks alongside us along the beach or through the cold deep water. He is always there to steady us and root us to solid ground in the hopes of better days. He is the rock that Helaman counseled his sons to build upon, promising that he is the "sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12). I know that '[we] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [every one of us]'. It is such a blessing to see these people touched by the spirit and God's love. It is a blessing to feel His love in my life. I hope you all can feel the hope of God's light in your lives.

I love you all! Have a great week!
Sister Simpson

P.s. You asked about the STL stuff. We have a conference once a month with President and all the Zone Leaders that we have to go to in Berlin (that's what we had this week). We have 5 sister companionships that we go on Tausch with. I'm excited! We have 2 this week. We work with the Zone and district leaders to help the sisters who are having problems together. Mostly, the only thing that has changed is we make a lot more phone calls after 21:30, which means I am about a week behind in my journal.  I like getting to know a lot of the sisters the sisters, though. Also, Sam Bennett (from MV) is one of my Zone leaders, so that's funny. It's fun to see him, although it's hard to remember his name is Elder Bennett.. :)

Harbor! It was incredible!

We were at the church doing family history work, and then a group
of 4 people from Peru walked into church. One guy lived here and spoke
German, and his 3 siblings were visiting for a funeral. One of the
woman from Peru was a member (which is why they stopped by the church)
and we talked to them for a while. They were so sweet! They all kissed
us on the cheek when they left, including one of the men... awkward.
We tried to avoid it. I've not had much practice diverting stuff like
that (lol).