Hello all!
We woke up to snow on Tuesday morning! I danced around the apartment at 6:45 and played Sister Daines Christmas music. I love it. It's also gotten a lot colder this week, and I've gotten good at layering all my clothing on.
Wednesday morning, as we were doing morgen sport (exercise), our Hausmeister klingled (rang) us (he lives below us) and said (in his cute German accent) "sisters, you have a new president! Donald Trump! I'm sorry!" Haha Herr Weckenbrock. Transfers were this week, so we spent a good amount of Wednesday at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (central train station) with Sister Jackson while she waited for her new companion. It was basically a freezer. Thank heavens for McDonald's, with bathrooms, cheap food, heat and free
wifi. We made a couple trips there. Also, Elder Bennett almost got pooped on by a pigeon. Seriously, there were like 5 plops in a matter of seconds, and they all just barely missed him. Blessings for being a missionary, I guess. Or having to spend all day in Hauptbahnhof. We had an lunch appointment with a quasi weniger aktiv (semi less active) sister in our ward, Schw. König, and her friend Gina Ramm. She was really upset about the election, so we tried to focus on Jesus Christ and how only he can help us find peace in this world. Schw. König gave her the cutest pump up speech. It was awesome. Later that day, we had an appointment with a girl in our ward who has been coming for the last month with a brother in our ward. She is super awesome and we are excited to teach her more! We had an awesome joint teach, and Eunice has already made lots of friends because she tries really hard to participate and be involved at church.
We had district meeting on Thursday, and then left for Freiberg. It was a LONG train ride. We went with the Zone leaders, Elder Bennett and Halbleib, and thankfully, Elder Bennett has a lot of stories to tell, so it wasn't boring. We slept over at the Freiberg sisters apartment. Eight sisters in one apartment. It was like a flashback to being here for the temple. Unfortunately, we had less mattresses than before, so we slept 4 sisters on one mattress. We put them together lengthwise so we could fit more of us on.. I was on the end and the two mattresses split apart, so I was kind of just sitting on the floor with my legs and head on a mattress. Haha. Also, the sisters only had enough warm water for 2 people to shower. BUT, it was 1000% worth the lack of sleep and showers because we got to go to the temple. It was a HUGE blessing. I haven't been to the temple since leaving America eight months ago. We did our session in German and we were impressed with how much we understood. (Also, in the dozens of sessions I've done, that may have been the only session I've made it through completely without falling asleep. I highly recommend the 8 hours of sleep lifestyle). After the temple, we had our leadership conference. It was good, but they forgot to print our names and give us places, so we sat awkwardly at the corner of one table. I really like learning from Präsident and Sister Fingerle about how we can be better missionaries and help the other missionaries in the mission. It was a
good conference. Also, a lot of my mission friends were there, so that was fun to see them and catch up. Our Bahn left 35 minutes after it ended, so everyone who needed that train piled into one of the mission vans and drove quickly to bahnhof (train station). So 12 missionaries + luggage in a 10 missionary vehicle with a crazy German driving = Abenteuer (adventure). We made our train and started the long ride back to Hamburg and made it back 15 minutes before bedtime.
Saturday, we had a few appointments. We met with Ana's "friend", Faro, who is less-active. He mostly just wanted to Bible bash about what day the sabbath is and some other weird stuff. But we don't read the same bible translations, so it was useless. We also met with Ana.. she is still working on figuring out how to live the law of chastity, so we're not sure she'll schaf the December 3 baptismal date, but we'll keep praying and working with her. We also met with Frau Byo, and talked about God's plan and why what we do here is eternally significant. We brought up baptism and it was amazing because it was like everything just clicked. So we are now working with her towards a
baptismal date on December 31! Super awesome.
Sunday was great. A sister in our ward gave me a winter coat after church, because she's moving and had to give it to someone. I was super excited because it's a lot warmer than the one I've been wearing and it was free. Tender Mercy. We had Gemiko/dinner with the Lopez's and the new Ehepaar (senior couple) in Hamburg. They shared a spiritual thought from Elder Maynes from October 2015 that I LOVE. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/the-joy-of-living-a-christ-centered-life?lang=eng They showed us a video of a lady making a bowl on a wheel. I love the symbolism that when we are centered on Christ, He can make us into something more. I also like in order for us to grow, there has to be pressure from both sides, the outside and inside. There is opposition in all things and that's part of God's plan. But if we are centered on Jesus Christ and don't give in to the pressures of the world, we can make it! I don't know if that makes sense, but if you read the talk, it will.
Today, we planned on relaxing because I'm sick (which never happens), but we had to send something early and so that didn't really happen. I found the equivalent of urban outfitters here and it is super cool. Our mall is completely decked out for Christmas, so we've had fun. We're excited for Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas fair)!
I love you all! I hope you have a great week.
Alles liebe,
Sister Simpson
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| Blanksons (our black family) |
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| Altona squad |
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| Temple! |
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| Car ride with a million missionaries |
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| Car ride with a million missionaries |
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| Car ride with a million missionaries |
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