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| Hamburg |
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| So happy. Also we found the Berlin Wall in Hamburg. |
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| Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg) |
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| Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg) |
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| Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg) |
The title of my email is Latin, because my super cool comp studied
Latin + Hebrew before her mission.. and this is the only thing she can
remember from Latin. It translates to "much blood flows through the
street". Gross. I guess if it was "much sister runs through the street"
it might be applicable. And probably would have been a better title for
my email. Read on for details...
Hello Liebe Leute,
This week was great. Lots of good stuff.
We
made invitations for our Gemeinde Fasching activity. Fun fact, Germany
celebrates carnival. So we tried to invite TONS of less active members
and went überall in our area to deliver them. The good thing was that
there were a lot of less-active members and non-members there on Saturday.
Our GML told us we should definitely be there, so we dressed up (Sis W
in my dirndl, me in my African shirt) and then it was basically just a
dance with children running around everywhere. So actually not very
effective to get to know people or make conversation in general. We did
relieve the activity Planner sister from her dishwashing so she could go
dance with her husband and we washed those dishes like Profis. And then
we peaced out because like we said, there was really no point in us
being there. Fun though. Germans go all-out when it comes to activities,
I am always impressed.
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| Your local Marzahn Sisters |
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| I spy my comp in a dirndl (and a box) |
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| Gemeinde Fasching |
We also went
on Tausch with the sisters in Delingsdorf, which is actually in Hamburg.
So I spent a lot of time in a train. We had a mission wide "Harvest
Day" and it was awesome. We all fasted on Wednesday and then went finding on Thursday.
We got about a million texts from the miracles from all over the
mission. Sister W and I went to a Mensa (cafeteria) for lunch, because
we are trying to work more with young people. We had to go early in
order to catch our train, so there was actually no one really there, but
I guess we needed a warm-up. I haven't eaten in a cafeteria since the
8th grade (außer MTC, but that doesn't count), but the food was good and
hopefully we'll be able to get to know some cool people who are
interested in the gospel! Anyways, like we said, we then took a train to
Hamburg and then Sister Gines came back to Marzahn to be my companion
for 24 hours. We klingled a student housing complex by our house and we
had some cool conversations with some people. We were talking to a
20-something year old girl from Syria, asking her questions about what
she believes/explaining our beliefs, and then her roommate, who had been
listening, appeared and started asking questions as well. It was super
cool.
The next day, we had an
appointment with a less-active sister, Schw. Neundorf. She's so cool, I
really like her. She told us about how she joined the church, why she
joined the church, and why she's inactive. She has lots of questions and
doubts, but she has a testimony of the basics and that's so cool. She
just needs to approach her doubts with faith instead of abandoning it. I
know there are answers to her questions, but what's important is not
that we answer them; she needs to learn to act on her faith and go to
the source of truth. I know that God does and will answer our prayers.
And
here is where things get exciting. When we were leaving the apartment,
Sis G asked, "do. I have to bring my backpack?" and I thought about it
and decided we probably had time to come back before our train left. I'm
an idiot. Also still new here. So our Termine went later than I
thought, we were on our way home and I looked up Bahn times. The Bahn we
needed (in order to make it to Berlin Hbf in time to make our train to
Hamburg) left 12 minutes after the Bahn we were on arrived to Biesdorf
(our station). Our house is a solid 8-10 minute walk away. But we HAD to
make this train, and it was tight, but close enough that we had to try.
So, I told sister G the plan, then mentally prepped myself to run home,
grab her stuff and run back. Also, keep in mind that I have gone
running maybe 4 times in the last 5 months. Our train gets in, I run all
the way home (with sis G trying to stay in sight/sound), grab her
backpack, and run back to the train station. The construction guys
thought it was hilarious. I said about a million prayers. And we made
our train. Once we got into Berlin Hbf, we had 4 minutes to go down 4
levels to catch our train (and Berlin Hbf is not well organized). After
more running like crazies and praying, we made our train. Heavenly
Father really blessed us. And I believe part of it was because He knew I
would do whatever I could to make it happen.
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| #blessed #schaffedthetrain |
Sunday,
we went to Young Women and it was awesome. We sang in ward choir, had
an eating appointment with the Ortlieb family, which was super fun, and
went to stake choir. Lots of singing.
I
read this super awesome story this week in Numbers, after Moses parted
the Red Sea and the Israelites were freed from the Egyptians. God had
promised them (and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) the land of Canaan. Moses
sent 12 spies to see what was up/check out the land. They came back with
reports of how great it was and also how well it was protected by the
people there. 10 of the 12 said, "the people be strong that dwell
in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great. … We be not
able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we." The
other two disagreed, saying that they could do it. So, the people were
faced with a choice: faith or fear. And sadly, they all chose fear,
except these two super rad rulers, Caleb and Joshua. "If the Lord
delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us. …
Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the
land. … The Lord is with us: fear them not." I love these two.
They knew that the Lord was more powerful than anyone; they also knew
that He had covenanted with them that they would posses this land, and
that God always keeps His promises. Anyways, long story short, the
Israelites traveled forty years in the wilderness until all the
unfaithful people had perished, then the Lord's promise was fulfilled
and Caleb and Joshua got to experience/live in the "land flowing with
milk and honey". If we hold onto our faith and have faith in God, He
will help us conquer our fears and will fulfill his promises. I love
that: be grape-gatherers, not wall-watchers! That was a message I needed
this week.
I have you love! Ihr seid wunderbar!
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| Someone pooped on the Bahn |
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| Seriously, people? |
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