A few of my favorite people (Part 1)
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| Aiden |
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| Hansen's ❤️ |
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| Before freak storm |
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| 20 minutes later |
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| Kira ❤️ |
It was a crazy week. Monday, we had dinner/FHE with the Hansen's and had a really good conversation about staying active in our faith and being an example. The spirit was strong and it was an awesome goodbye lesson. The Hansen's were one of the first people I met on my mission, and it's been so fun to be with them in Altona and Marzahn. They are a very special family.
Tuesday was crazy. We had my Farsi Skype, then went to Kira's. It rained like crazy on us, then stopped as we walked to her house, then stormed like crazy while we were in our appointment. We had a good discussion with her and it went really well until the end when her visiting teachers showed up and one of them said something very rude and inappropriate about her not being able to receive revelation, and so that went downhill really fast. We did a lot of damage control and it ended okay, but I was pretty mad. Don't gossip. It's never done anyone any good.
We also met with a really cool student from Tunisia. We thought the elevator in her building was broken so we walked up 18 flights of stairs. And it was super hot and humid from the storm so we showed up at her door and were a complete mess. She was super cool and really interested in the Book of Mormon, so we are excited to work with her. After that, we ran home, grabbed all my luggage and met a bunch of other sisters at Peter Pane by Hauptbahnhof and ate burgers before splitting up into groups of who is going where for transfers. The elders came "to help" and eat. Then I dragged all my stuff to Spandau with Sisters Earl, Vail and Ellis (we had to get up early the next morning to go to Freiberg and pick up out trainees).
Wie gesagt, we got up early and travelled with all my stuff to Freiberg. We made it there safely, and proceeded to drag my stuff to the hotel. My suitcase didn't like the cobblestone and one wheel burned off. So we called the office and made them come pick us up. We had the normal meeting and got paired up with our new companions. My new trainee is Sister Sloan Harlow from Brigham City, Utah. She actually went to high school with Sister Hammer, my MTC companion. She's awesome and I'm really excited for this transfer. We made it to Braunschweig with my suitcases and her stuff in safety. Our GML, Bruder Jobs, picked us up with the elders and we wie to the church and ate dinner that the Young Men made for the missionaries. Afterwards they helped us bring all our stuff back to the apartment.
Thursday we had district meeting and a lot of finding/figuring out the area, sister Harlow ate her first Döner for district lunch, which is always a memorable experience. Friday was weekly planning and we had an appointment with a less-active lady. Jet lag has hit Sister Harlow pretty hard and she fell asleep, but the schwester just laughed. We also helped with the English Class that the elders do, hoping to meet/get to know some of the female investigators that the elders will give us.
Saturday, we had stake Conference in Hannover. Elder Boone (from the Netherlands, the one who spoke at SC in Berlin) and Elder Hirst (from England) spoke and it was great. We got a ride home from some members, then went right back to Hannover Sunday morning. Having Stake Conference the first week is hard because we didn't really get to know the ward, but I got to see so many Stadthagen people. I saw the Grafs, Schwester Hegemann, Schwester Steffanhagen, and Herr Nicola! It was so good to see them, my heart was so happy. He seems to be doing well, just super busy, but still meeting with the missionaries and getting ready for baptism. He's so good. We ended up having two eating appointments on Sunday, which was helpful to get to know the ward. Our original appointment cancelled and the elders got permission for us to come to theirs. The grandpa of the family was there and didn't like the elders at all and gave them a hard time. I met him on Tausch in
Lübeck one time, and he's super nice, he just wasn't having a good day, I guess. Haha. The food was great, though, and the family is super awesome. They told us about their kids sharing the gospel and
the wife had a prompting to write her testimony in the Book of Mormon and give it to one of the kids' friends' moms. Then we went to our GML's house and ate asparagus pizza with their family and two RMs that were visiting them. Their kids put on a concert for us because they're all very talented. We did the spiritual thought and Sister Harlow bore her testimony. :)
I am super excited to be here in Braunschweig. Our district consists of us, the Braunschweig elders, and the Halberstadt elders (who work in Braunschweig M-F and spend the weekends in Halberstadt, because Braunschweig is bigger). We are opening the sisters program here. It got closed a couple transfers ago, but now we're back because there are more sisters! Woohoo. The ward is great. I think some of the members are wary of me because I go home so soon, so I'm just trying to show them that we're here to work and I'm trying to teach/help Sister Harlow take over. She's a good one. The visiting seventy, Elder Hirst, found Sister Harlow after Stake Conference to tell her that he had a strong impression that she's going to have a great mission. That was cool.
Right now, we're going to a castle with the Jobs. It's a holiday today, so everything is closed and we were planning on just chilling at home (the elders didn't invite us to "ball" with them), but they
called us and a castle sounded great. We were excited until we got in the car and are both feeling very carsick. It's been a long time since I've really traveled in a car. It will probably resume being fun once
we get out.
At Stake Conference, a lady shared this awesome story about this young boy in Hamburg during WWI who went door to door in a tiny Dorf begging for food for him and his family. A farmer gave him a 45 kg pack of potatoes and put it on his shoulders so he could carry it home to his family. This little kid had to walk all the way back to the train station. He made it about halfway there and felt like he couldn't go on any further. He knew if he dropped the potatoes, he would never be able to pick them up again and he wouldn't bring this blessing home to his family. But he couldn't go on. He remembered a story from the Book of Mormon, when there was a group of people who was in bondage and the Lord lightened their burdens on their backs because they had such great faith. So this little Deutsch boy prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help him carry the potatoes. And they were lightened and he made it to the train station. There were also police that would often steal food if they found it. This boy didn't have anywhere to hide 45 kg of potatoes, but he said another prayer and they didn't take his potatoes, and these potatoes kept him and his family alive through a very rough time. I loved this story. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us and answers our prayers. He didn't send them a bunch of money or shower them with manna from Heaven, but he blessed this
little boy to find a kind farmer who had extra and then helped this boy to carry his potatoes. Sometimes the blessings don't come in the ways that we expect, but they do come when we are obedient and act in faith.
Love you lots. Make it a good week. :)
A few of my favorite people, Part 2:
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| Sister Harlow's first Döner |
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| Selfie |
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| Stadthagen (Nienburg) people!!!! Schw Hegemann, Schwester Steffanhagen, Herr Nicola! |
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| Braunschweig |
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