Sister Simpson and Sister Porter Singing...You Are My Sunshine

We realized that this song doesn't really have a super happy message, but it reminds me of you, Mom. I love you.

Week 7 (February 29 - March 6) ALTONA! Hamburg!!

President and Sister Fingerle, and Sister Porter (Her trainer)

Hey y'all! This has been the craziest week ever. No joke. I took notes out of my journal.

So I am in Hamburg. My area is called Altona.  If you were to ask me how I've felt this last week, my answer would be, "like elder calhoun" from The Best Two Years. I am Elder Calhoun. *embarrasing. I am soooooo excited and just so new. And I can't really speak. More on that later. 

27 Feb: Packing with 6 girls = CRAZY. enough said

28 Feb: last day of ice cream. They pulled out Graham canyon at the end, Sister Darton saw and said, "Sit down!" and the 4 of us didn't argue. We may have already eated 2 bowls of ice cream. #worthit

Sang "God be with you 'till we meet again" in church.. Love them. Took pictures as a zone. Great day. We sang |come thou fount" at devotional. I thought it was cooler than "Called to Serve." (we sing that all the time)

29 Feb: I am a great packer/didn't bring that much stuff. We had out last classes with our teachers. We practiced their favorite hymns so we could sing them. Also, we had a testimony meeting with Bruder Nielson, and interviews with Bruder Alston. They told us about the people they taught on their missions. It was SO cool. I was so excited to leave. It was hard to say goodbye to them though. They have helped me so much! At 9:30, we sang "God be with you till we meet again" again as a zone and said goodbye. They it was crazy/frantic packing in the residence hall. Went to bed at 11:45

01 March: Woke up at 3 Am, rode bus to the tracks to the airport, talked to family (!!!), flew to Chicago. That airport was HUGE. We had 15 minutes to go to the bathroom, exchange our money, get food, and call people. It was crazy, but we did everything but exchange our money. On that airplane, I was in the middle row of 3 with no one next to me. We could watch disney movies, so I watched "inside out" and part of "up". The girl ahead of me watched this movie with bradley cooper in in 3 times!!! I slept off and on for about 4-5 hours. Funny story: a flight attendant asked me about "us" and I told her we are missionaries. A man asked if I had ever seen the BOM musical (no) and he said he loved it. So I went and sat down and then thought about it and grabbed the BOM I brought with me and went back to him and said, "You said you loved the musical. Have you read the book?" and gave it to him. He looked at me weird, and then I went back to my seat. Haha. It was SO awkward. I am so awkward. I should have said something, anything less weird, like my testimony. 

02 March: Frankfurt! We bought food in the airport, but mostly it was boring. Sister Wahl talked to a lady next to us and basically taught the whole first lesson about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. It's dumb, but I was scared to talk to anyone. We flew to Dresden (OUT for the full 45 minute flight). We met President and Sister Fingerle. We got in a huge bus and drove to Radebeul, which is where President Monson dedicated the country. We read the prayer he said and had time to pray and decided what we are going to do with these 18 months/2years. It was a really cool experience. I get to go back right before I come home, and we will do the same thing, only in german! We drove to Freiberg (we stayed in the hostel by the temple) had lunch, then had to take care of check-in stuff. I definitely fell asleep. Sleep deprived plus jet-lagged is not a good combination. President let us go to bed at 7.. So I slept from 9-6:30, which is probably the most sleep I've gotten in 8 years. haha. 

03 March: We had morgensport, german food for breakfast (SOOOOO GOOD!), had a meeting with President Fingerle, watched a temple video and had time to spend on the grounds. The temple is under construction until May (?) and it is dedicated in august, I think. We got out trainers next, then took pictures outside, ate lunch, then left. We went to Berlin and stayed with some sisters there. It was me, Sister Porter, and 4 other sisters who are so fun. The sisters we were staying with left later than we did, so we stopped to get dinner (finally) at like 10:15. We ate these Duner things.. basically the leg of an animal that is illegal in the US. They have them everywhere. They shave off meat and put it in a bread thing with sauce and vegetables. It is a lot like the gyro place, just with bread instead of pitas and different meat. It was yummy, but we all felt it the next day. We got to the apartment at the same time as the other sisters.. aka 11:15pm. I was so tired from lugging my luggage around all day, on and off trains. On the walk from the train station to the apartment on cobblestone with everything, I was Hating life. One of the trainers helped me out, but I was SO tired and cold and frustrated. I hate traveling. They were nice and gave us (new missionaries) the beds. 

04 March: We (now only 4 of us, the other 2 went to their area a different way) left early and took a train from berlin to Hamburg. We slept on the train, then bought food together, then left. A couple hours later, we made it home. Finally. I unpacked, we studied and she explained the area book to me and the people we teach/work with. I was mostly just miserable and tired and wanted to get out and do something missionary-like. I'm learning it is finding and teaching, but there are other things that have to get done too. 

05 March: So another funny story, the elders dropped off the 2 sisters we stayed with in Berlin, and we helped unload their suitcases. We ended up with an extra suitcase (one of the elder's) and sister porter thought it was mine and I thought it was hers.. We made it all the way back to Altona before they called us and we realized we had it. So we mailed it and bought some food. We studied, then went contacting (where we go talk to people who have talked to missionaries in the past to see if they are interested). We didn't have anyone, most people have moved, but it was so fun! It was rainy and I just loved it. We had district meeting. On the way home, there was a lady across from us reading, and there was a crazy guy doing stand-up comedy or something (we didn't understand), and I felt like I should talk to her. I waited too long, until she was about to get off, and I asked her what she was reading, and then basically said goodbye. Then I was kicking myself, and on our next Bon we got on, there was another lady.. It was mostly empty, and she was sitting across the aisle with our backs facing (we were kitty-corner facing away) and she kindof turned towards me so I said, "Hallo, wie ghets?" and she looked behind her (no one was there) to make sure I was talking to her and said "gut (or what ever), and you?" and I said, "gut, mein deutch ist schleck." and then sister Porter took over. Haha. They had a nice conversation. I smiled. 

06 march: Church! We greeted people. I forgot my name and almost introduced myself as Sister Hammer. Oops. I also didn't really understand anything.. haha. I just smiled the whole time. One lady told me that I would eventually learn it (I think). The bishop invited Elder Nay and I to bare our testimonies. I went first and smiled and tried to speak from my heart. We have english speakers in our ward, so Elder Smith had to translate the whole meeting and he told me my testimony was the easiest. Gut gut. I didn't understand anything in Relief Society. Like 0 %. Oh well. :) We went to the Jensen (pronounced "yen-sen") house for lunch. By the time we ate, I probably would have eaten a branch if that is what they gave us. It was soo good. Potatoes/eggs/ham all cooked together, and green beans and Super good pickles, and this stuff called Quark for dessert. I love german food. So much. Sister Jensen speaks perfect english, and it was so nice to talk to her after church and not understanding anything her kids were saying. On the bus ride home, we talked to a lady. I said "hello" and Sister Porter was on the phone, and I didn't understand what she said back to me, but sister porter was like, "Elder Smith, I'll call you back" and jumped in. Danke Himmel. It was a lovely conversation, from what I got out of it. Oh, later, on the bus later, two girls (like 10 and 16) heard us speaking english and asked if we speak german. We said and explained that we are missionaried for the LDS/mormon chruch. ("die mormonen"). The little girl asked if we'd ever seen them and we were super confused and they kept saying "demonen". We figured out later that they probably thought we said "demons." So those poor girls think we are the demon church. Great. That's just what we want. I think they understood we didn't understand. We had a meeting with out ward mission leaders, who are english and super awesome. On the way there, we were talking about movies, and we both hate scary movies. She asked if I had seen the 6th sense, and I haven't.. I was trying to think of 50 first dates and we were just standing there and Sister Porter said, "I see dead people" in a weird quiet voice and I looked around a little freaked out because I had never seen the movie. She laughed pretty hard. :)

07 March: We went running this morning. Our 30 minute run turned into 90 minutes of being lost and trying to find our way back home.. 6 miles later, we made it home. My fingers were so cold. We asked like EVERY person we saw for directions.. We were so far away that they hadn't even heard of our street. Hahah. Good times. 

Love you all! I love Germany! I know God loves these people. I can feel it. He love you and He loves me!

Sister Simpson

p.s. I\m out of time rn, but I will hopefully have a few minutes later to reply to your email, mom. Thank you for both of them. I love you. I like your talk!!! Have a great day! Tell Dave thank you for his dear elders (and brandi) and Sadie Shelton that I will try to send her a postcard, and I'm sorry I haven't already. I need to reply to courtney's email too. 

 Mom questions:

Are you on a bike?  Do you ride the bus?  Train? 

I walk/public transportation. (First day thought: "Ew"; Current day: "AWESOME!") There is NO public transportation in Boise, Idaho. It is insane here. Thank you Mom for the handsanitizer. It is probably the reason I am still alive.

 What is your trainer like?  Where is she from?  How long has he been out?  Does she speak German well?  Is she speaking it with you all the time?  What is your favorite thing about her? 

My trainer is Sister Rachel Porter from Oregon. She just got done being trained (we had a HUGE group, so most of the sisters she came in with are training) and she's been here for 12 weeks/2 transfers/ 3months. She's my "mom." (Her "mom"/trainer is actually Sister Darton's trainer. So Sister Darton is my aunt. Missionaries are weird.) I actually saw her open her call on youtube before I came. She and her twin sister opened their calls and one went to Berlin and the other to Frankfurt on the same day. Cool/weird that I saw that before I came. She is so awesome! I am so excited and I love her already. She is super funny, everyone loves her because she is super cool. She is very comfortable to be around and super easy-going. I was so tired/in shock the first few days that I'm sure she thought I didn't have a personality. Haha. Also, I would be lost and probably curled up in a ball, crying, without her, because I'd be lost and don't speak German. She took 3 years of german in high school, and she's pretty good. I like her a lot. 

 What area are you serving in? 

Altona.. just outside Hamburg 

 Are there other missionaries in your area?  

We have 3 elders who serve in our ward with us.. Elder Smith (7 months, super smile-y and friendly, just a funny funny guy, very american sounding german), Elder Jacobe (from England, his parents are Philipinno, speaks taglog/english/a little german, waiting for his Visa to go to the SLC North mission, 7 weeks) and Elder Nay (in my MTC zone, took german in high school, SO nice)

How far away is the church? Do you ride bikes to get there?  Bus?  Catch a ride with other members?

30ish minute bus ride.. It is just inconvenient to get to. It is the house of an old ship captain that was destroyed in the war (assuming WW2?). The church restored it. It is so cool and in a beautiful area. We have eating appointments after church, and members drive us to their houses, and to the bus/train station so we can get home after.

What is your mission president like?  Is he native?  Does he speak english to you or german? 

He is sososososososososo nice. Probably the nicest person I've ever met. I love him. (President Uchtdorf nice). I had a 5 minute interview with him and chose to speak danglish.. The whole first two days, they would speak in german and either an AP or Sister/President Fingerle would translate to english. 

 How is the language coming?  Do you understand more than you thought you would?  How was your first door approach?  

Uhhhhh... welllll.......... hmmm. "that ain't the language they taught me in the MTC!" I can understand mostly other missionaries (I struggle with vocab with them), and I'm still working on understanding germans. I have, however, perfected the smile-and-pretend-you-know-what-they-are-saying look. I know they know that I can't understand. Haha. One day I will speak german!!! *noble knight voice

Döner shop

cramped train car

klingling, aka I love missionary work

sleeping on the train

 

Week 6 Last Email from the USA! (February 21-28)

This is an awful picture, but here's my hair. It's a little on the short side (A LOT), but it will grow.

Ok, so fun fact. I cut my hair this morning. Actually, I chopped it. It's pretty short.

Anyway, this week was so great. Here are my highlights:

Samstag:

We were writing letters in our residence hall, and Sister Darton was bored.. So she switched all of Sister Balls/McCrary's stuff because they were doing laundry. Everything was exactly how it was, just in a different closet/bed. It was so funny. They laughed (Sister Balls wanted her top bunk back.) Then I helped Sister Darton take their mattresses to the room of some other sisters in our zone. Sister Balls and McCrary didn't think that was so funny. We did. We did bring them back in and put everything back eventually.

We went to the temple. I was feeling really weird and homesick before we went, but it was so good to go. It gives me perspective and it brings such a peace into my heart. I love it. I talked to one of the other german teachers here. She is from Germany and she is so smart. She served her mission in California, and she knows: German, English, and French really well, and Spanish and Russian. Holy Cow! She is in the 321 French class at BYU, but we took 201 at the same time. I am out of practice, but it was super fun to talk to her. It was a tender mercy because I miss speaking french. That night, Sister Darton taught me a country dance in our room and I taught her some folk dances from my class at BYU. It was so fun. We decided we hope we are companions over Christmastime in Germany. She is awesome. We have since repented for dancing in the MTC, and we will learn more when we are companions.   

Sontag:

We had choir and sang "A Child's Prayer." He brought his son and another little boy to sing with us and it was so cute. I miss little kids. He told stories about his experiences as a father and how much he loves his kids, and likened it to Heavenly Father and how much he loves us. 

Montag:

I went to the Doctor for my heel.. They got me right in during my exercise time (and it went a little into class time and I was stressed/felt bad for being late to class, but Bruder Nielson ended up having a training meeting, so we didn't miss anything). The doctor sent me to a podiatrist, and that was another little miracle, because they were able to get me in the next day. I felt kindof silly, but I was actually really scared that it would get worse and that I'd have to go to a doctor in Germany. I have been praying super hard (auf Deutsch) for Heavenly Father to heal my heel. 

Dienstag:

We cleaned toilets. Last service!! Sister Hammer and I went to the outside world (aka the doctor). He looked at my foot for 15 seconds, then talked to me for 15 minutes about all the problems I'm going to have for the rest of my life that will have to be surgically corrected (nothing related to my heel). Ugh, ich hasse the doctor. I would rather not know everything that could possibly be wrong with me. I don't know how right he is, because Dad and I have the same feet and he's fine. I wish dad would have been there. Anyway, he gave me some advice for my heel [Feel free to take this all out before you email this to everyone: (he thinks my shoes are putting pressure on where my Achilles connects to my heel.. or that I have a buildup on my bone or something that rubs). I decided I was just going to have faith that it would go away. He prescribed me an antibiotic so I take that when I remember and put deep blue on it before I go to bed and have faith, and it has felt a LOT better.  I know it wasn't a made up problem, and I did talk about it and Dad kindof looked at it once, but we didn't have a lot of time.] Anyway, all is good. I'm fine and I'm going to Germany and the Lord will bless me! Sister hammer and I grabbed a sack lunch before we went to the doctor, but didn't eat it until we came back. We ate outside. I got a ton of honey all over my orange so I wanted to wash it off, and Sister Hammer decided to brush her teeth, so we walked back to the classroom and we looked ridiculous. My hand was GLUED to the orange. I made her swipe her card to open the door and I also made her laugh and she drooled out toothpaste. We laughed so hard. We are ein bischen dysfunctional. I have decided that being covered in honey is now one of my fears.. For the Devotional, Sister Rosemary M. Wixom spoke, and so we sang all primary songs. She is so cute, and just so happy! There was a group of little kids who sang with us and it was awesome. 

Mittwoch:

We had taught our second skype lesson to a lady in Germany (actually she lives in Utah now.) We taught her last week too, and we talked with her about how we can study the scriptures better. She is SO sweet and it was so fun. We don't understand everything she says, (and I'm sure she doesn't understand everything we say), but it was a great experience. We just love her. We also took these stupid german grammar tests that we all did very badly on (I got a 23% and a 41%.). I say stupid because Bruder Nielson decided to take it too and he got an 87% (granted, he speed-took it). We apologized for our scores and told him that we hope he doesn't get fired, haha. After he took it, he said, "Well, we might all be leaving the MTC at the same time. You to Deutschland, me to McDonald's." It was just a progress thing, because I don't think you're supposed to get 100%.

Donnerstag:

We had In-Field Orientation. It was 9 hours long. It was basically "everything we haven't taught you about that you need to know before we send you into the world". I didn't feel good, so that wasn't fun, BUT it was fun to hang out with different missionaries all day, and I did learn a lot. One sister I talked to told me about how she joined the church: her friends invited her to a stake dance and then to church the next day. She told me that before that point in her life, she had been happy, but that day at church, she felt something in her soul. That was really cool to me. The gospel gives us perspective, and it brings a different kind of peace and happiness than anything else in the world. It changes us. Another thing we learned about was baptism. We don't want people to be baptized because we want the church to get bigger. We want them to get baptized because that starts them on the path to returning to God. Conversion, (knowing the doctrine of Christ and knowing how to receive revelation how to apply it in our lives), is how we will continue down that path. God loves all his children. You don't know who is and isn't ready to hear the gospel. He is preparing everyone. I wish I would have shared the gospel more before my mission. It makes me so happy and my life has so much more meaning. Listen to the spirit and share the gospel with the people you know!!! 

After it ended, we had dinner, but Sister Hammer and I decided to nap instead because I didn't feel good. She ate a hotpocket from the vending machine and I slept for 25 minutes. I felt better afterward. We had study time, and we watched these health and safety videos for an hour and a half (they were required for us).

Freitag:

Sister Voiglaender and I ran the mile. (My foot didn't hurt all day.) Originally, we thought the record was 6:44, but it was 6:25, so adjusted our splits and a lady came and timed us. I matched the time and ran 6:25. I know I could've gone faster, but that's okay. It was awesome and felt really good. I thought about trying again on Monday, but it doesn't really matter. I'm glad I ran it, though. During class with Bruder Alston, Sister McCrary was really thirsty, so I gave her my waterbottle. She laughed while drinking and spit water all over herself/into my waterbottle. It makes me laugh out loud everytime. :) We had class with Bruder Nielson, and we had one question that was supposed to only last for 5 minutes, but it turned into 2.5 hours of talking about the gospel and our duty on earth. It was AWESOME. Seriously. We were all so excited and I learned SO much. I love the scriptures and the gospel. It is beautiful and symbolic and SO applicable to us. Bruder Nielson is a great teacher and I am so thankful for his example. Friday was one of the best day I think I've had the in the MTC. I love it here. I have been so blessed to get to know people, to have great teachers and I have learned so much. I'm going to miss my district so much. I love being a missionary and I am so excited to go to Deutschland (Also very nervous.. but I know Heavenly Father will help me). 

I've been studying God, and how I can learn more about Him and my relationship to Him this week. Elder Holland said that when Jesus Christ came to Earth, He was showing us "who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation." It made so much sense to me. They are one in purpose. They both want us to return to them and to have lasting happiness. We come closer to God when we are trying to learn of the Savior and follow His teachings and when we pray. Prayer should be hard.. It should be a form of work. Ether prayed all day and all night. I'm trying to get better at praying more earnestly and with more focus. The Lord rewards us for our efforts, and He will give us what we truly want and desire in our hearts. I am so so SO thankful for all of the blessings God has given us. Please share His love with the people around you, because EVERYONE needs Him and everyone needs our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ich Liebe Sie!!

Sister Simpson

p.s. Mom, I got your package. Thank you SO much! I love you, and I'm so sorry you had to pack up my room. That's a lot of stuff. I can't wait to talk to you Tuesday morning. Sorry, I probably can't write you a letter before I leave. I have to pack (ACK!). I love you pii! I hope the wedding was great!!

p.p.s. Please tell Sister VanDam that I LOVE the CTR ring she sent. She gave me the CTR ring from when she served her mission. So So So cool. I will try to write a thank you to her

The beds we switched (hahahaha)

Sister Hammer, Sister Voigtlaender, me

We are making korean hearts (apparently). We love Sister Ha!

I think this is the letter that got returned for postage.

Week 5! (February 14-20)

TEMPLE WALK!

With the 4 of us (#1 and 2) : Sister Hammer, Me, Sister Voigtleander, Sister Darton

Some of the Sisters in our zone...

Hallo Mother!!! Did you get the letter I sent? It was so scatter-brained. I sent it on Thursday, so if you don't get it today, it'll probably come Monday.

Soooo... On the devotional on Tuesday,  Elder Ronald A. Rasband came. It was pretty cool. He gave us a talk of his called "The Divine Call of A Missionary" and we studied it beforehand, and then he walked around and talked to people, and they could ask him questions. It was not what I expected, but it was still pretty cool. I thought some of the questions were bizarre/random (just not what I would have asked an apostle of the Lord if I could ask him anything), but I learned something from every answer he gave. It was pretty incredible. My favorite thing about Tuesday devotionals is discussing them afterward in our district, because I learn a lot from what they learned. He talked about how our mission calls are specifically for us and come directly from the Lord. We sang "Nearer, My God to Thee." In case you were wondering, I did not hit the high F or G. There were 5 parts, so I just sang something loudly and in a choir of hundreds of missionaries, I don't think my awful notes made that much of a difference. I mean, I was probably close to something, right? I hate not singing, especially in such a powerful part. Oh by the way, I don't think the church posts MTC devotionals. They broadcast the whole devotional to all the MTCs in the world, so that was cool that I got to be there, and I was on the screen while a girl was talking (behind her) for like 5 minutes. I mostly just thought, "ACK! Don't do anything embarrassing" because thousands of people could see me. I don't think I did. 

We had an AWFUL lesson with Bruder Nielson (Austin). It was so scattered and at the end he talked to us, and we both (sister hammer and I) both cried. Haha, I could see it in the moment from the outside and thought it was so funny (because this poor 21 year old teacher had to deal with 2 crying sister missionaries), but I was mostly just frustrated and I just felt alone during the lesson, like I was doing it on my own. So I'm probably doing something wrong because I'm not alone, and God will help me. That was the first real time I'd cried since being dropped off, and I think it all just came out. Haha. We decided to try just talking to him (austin) in the next lesson, and to try to work on things as we go, so he can "pause" and give us feedback and whatever. It's been helpful.

Apparently, I am the oil lady. Haha. Elder Passey was sick, and so I offered all of the sisters on-guard one night, and it was funny to watch their reactions. Also, I took some peppermint the next day and they all wanted to try it and that was also funny to watch. I like oils. Not a crazy amount, just a normal amount. 

The other day, Sister Voitglaender asked Sister Hammer to pass her a napkin, and she gave her 6. Sister V said, "What does this mean? You think I'm a messy eater?" and then Elder Hughes said, "You're a 6 napkin missionary/sister/woman." I didn't catch the last part because I was drinking and inhaled my water because laughed because I knew where he was going with that. Johnny Lingo for the win. 

I ran 3 miles on both Wednesday and Thursday.. That is 30 laps. My heel has been hurting so I rested it this weekend and I might go to the doctor next week.. I'd rather take care of it now than it getting worse in Germany when I don't understand the doctor. However, The record for the mile in the gym is 6:44, so you better believe I'm going to break that before I go. I can finally set some record. Ok, actually, if my heel hurts, I won't because I'd rather be healthy for my mission than mess it up because of my stupid pride. 

We were writing out practice german sentences for separable prefixes and the verb was "to reject" and Elder Passey said, "We reject the prophets." We laughed and joked about it, and then Bruder Nielson read 2 Kings 2:23-24 with us and it was funny. Not really spiritual at all, sorry.

Last night, I guess I was snoring at midnight, and Sister McCrary couldn't sleep, and so she said a prayer that I would stop and I took a weird breath and then stopped. She told me that was her miracle this morning... Haha. Oops.

We got out flight plans last night!! We meet the the MTC travel office at 3:50 AM on Tuesday, March 1, and our flight leaves SLC at 8:30. We fly to Chicago, to Frankfurt, to Dresden. Crazy. It is going to be a LONG day. We'll get to Dresden around 11 am German time (I think) on March 02. And the Berlin/Frankfurt missionaries have different schedules. Sad day. I'm bummed we aren't going to Paris. I was going to write in a French BOM and give it away. I actually made a lot of plans for that airport. Oh well. 

I love the Book of Mormon. I love studying it every day. I've always read it, but I've never completely realized how applicable the stories can be in our lives. It's amazing. I learn so much every time I read it. I really really love the scriptures, the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. 

Sorry about the weird, random email. This week was good. I miss you. I love you. I will write Benjamin and Nate a letter if I have time today. I love hearing from you as often as you write. I hope your ski trip was good, Mom. I miss you! 

Tell all the Arco people "Hi." Aunt Teresa and Uncle Dave both wrote me. Was Mike and Nicki's wedding this weekend? That's exciting for them. I hope it was good. 

I love you!

Sister Simpson

Week 4! (one week late)

My p-day is saturday. Here is my letter from last week:

Hallo! Wie ghets?

This week was great. It goes by SO FAST! 

So Sonnstag (Sunday), was fast Sunday. I guess I'm really good at fasting, or maybe just tough, because my whole district acted like it was the end of the world. It was like fasting at home with brothers, haha. Fast and Testimony meeting was in English, ans Sister Ha, the Korean sister learning English AND Deutsch, bore her testimony in korean. It was cool. I probably could have sat and listened to everyone's testimonies for another hour. It tells me a lot about people. I hit my head on a chair on Sunday.. and I had a bump right above my eyebrow. Not my finest moment. Dinner at the MTC on Fast Sunday was INSANE. It was glorious, and we ate sooo much food. Sunday is also ice cream day. I felt like the very hungry caterpillar. Sister Voigtlaender and I raced each other to drink another glass of water after we finished eating. Don't do that. It was a bad idea. Sunday's devotional was with Jenny Oaks Baker, the violinist. She played some songs with her kids, and talked in between. My favorite was Abide With Me. It is amazing the effect music has on people. I swear no one would move until she started talking again. After that, we watched a film on John Tanner and then Music and the Spoken Word. 

Montag: We had a lesson with Austin (Bruder Nielson). We asked him to pray to begin and he said the Lord's Prayer. I guess we hadn't taught him how to pray from his heart yet. (Bruder Nielson was really proud of himself for remembering that one auf Deutsch). We forgot to teach him how to pray that lesson. It's a good thing we are learning all of this now. I learn so much about how to teach every class. And it is so hard in german because I am not very good. I have been blessed so much to be able to speak as much as I can. I really can't do this on my own, and Heavenly Father blesses me all the time. I ran 2 miles for exercise time. The first one was 7:11, then we went to play volleyball (but it was a lame game), so we ran again. I ran a 7:15. It feels SO good. I love running. Also, Sister Bartlett sent me a package of the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen. We enjoyed eating them! I need to write thank-you's today!

Dienstag: Quote from my journal: "Today was definitely the best day I've had so far." We had service and we cleaned the toilets and urinals in like 20 bathrooms. So actually, that was not my favorite. But, at breakfast, I was Bryce and he told me Rachel got her mission call. I basically ran away from him because I wanted to hear it from her. So yeah, I waited 13 more hours. (funny, I actually opened the dear elder from Shaelyn first, so I didn't even really hear it from Rachel. It was okay though, because I got more info from her than Rachel anyways. Kennewick Washinton, May 3!!!!!!:) We has our 3rd lesson with Austin and we taught him about prayer. I felt like I could speak to him, and I could feel the spirit, and it was AWESOME. He called us back in and talked to us and he was so excited. He told us that was the best lesson we had taught him so far and that the difference between monday/tuesday was "night and day." We always have things to work on, but it was so exciting. I love missionary work! I can't wait to actually start (But, I really do need all the time in the MTC). I ran a 6:52 mile. It was sweet. I could have gone faster, but the 10 laps with 4 corners every lap is a little hard. I'm afraid I'll biff it one of these days. For choir, we sang "Be Still My Soul" and it was amazing. Elder Edward Dube spoke at the devotional. When he was on his mission, it was extended by 3 months. His little brother waited for him at the bus stop, but he never came (because it was extended). In the 3 months, his little brother drown. He was so sad, and wanted to come home, but his mission president visited him and said "Your mission isn't over until it's over." So he stayed and he said that he was so grateful that he did. It was a great message of giving our time to the Lord and serving him with all of our hearts. Rich and Talisha sent me a package with cookies and valentines. I hung them up by my bed. It made my day. :)

Mittwoch: Funny enough, Wednesday was really hard. Everyone was really distracted and it was hard to focus and I was annoyed at things and then annoyed that I was annoyed at them. Running was a nice break. Funny story: Wednesday is when all the new missionaries come in. I thought it would be funny if I said "Welcome to the MTC" to the Armenian elders in our zone, because they've been here for 6 weeks. We saw them after dinner and Elder Webb said, "Welcome to the MTC" to me right when I said, "Welcome.." They stole my joke! I was so mad. Elder McGavin didn't hear that, and we saw them a few minutes later and he said the same thing to me. Meine gute. We had a lesson with Stephan (Bruder Alston) and it did not go well. I talk so much more than Sister Hammer, and I just feel really bossy all the time. It's not very balanced. And I didn't feel like I could communicate clearly. We taught about the Atonement/Repentance/The Word of Wisdom and it felt disjointed. So I drew the analogy I came up with while I was preparing the lesson and studying. We are falling in a tunnel. Gravity is the "natural man", aka the natural things that keep us from being like God. When we sin, Satan has a chain pulling us down to him. So there are 2 things trying to pull us down. Our goal is to make it to the top of the tunnel, Eternal life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There is a rope that is right next to us as we fall. That is the Atonement. It is ALWAYS there. Always. We just have to reach out. And as we repent, the chain that satan is using to pull us down disappears, because when we repent through the Atonement of Christ, our sins are forgiven and it is like we never committed them in God's eyes. Jesus Christ helps us make it out of the tunnel. Stephan told us that that made sense to him, and a few days later, told us that he understood the Atonement personally because of that. That was a blessing, because I was worried that we didn't do all we could and so he missed the point. 

Donnstag: Thursday was also really hard, but only for the first half of the day. We taught Austin, and it was AWFUL. We talked to Bruder Nielson afterward, and he said that as the investigator, he felt like he could have left the room and we would still have kept talking. It wasn't personal at all, and we were just teaching a lesson, not a person. We have a lot of things we need to do better. I don't ever want someone to feel like that again. Bruder Nielson came into class after that and ranted/talked/droned on about Companionship study, and I caught on pretty fast because we had just taught our lesson like that.  I didn't know if he was doing it on purpose (He was), but it was good to experience it from the other end. Then we talked about how we felt, and he told us that all of us have taught lessons like that. We watched a video from a MTC devotional with Elder Holland about teaching and it was so good. We had more study time, and I could not focus and everyone was talking and I was loosing it. Sister Hammer could tell I was loosing it, so we went into an empty classroom and she studied and I just unwound and pondered. It was quiet and I could think, pray, and reason through everything. That time was a tender mercy. I thought about why I came here, and why I am here now. I am here because I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am happier because of it. I believe that God has a plan for each one of us. He is SO so good, and He knows everything. I have been so blessed in my life, and I know that is not just for me. I believe with all of my heart that there are people who have been prepared and who are being prepared to hear the gospel in Germany (and everywhere). I believe that God has been preparing me, and that he has given me experiences and abilities that will help people there. And I mean that in the least-prideful way possible. It is bigger than me. There are people who are yearning for the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring in their lives. Heavenly Father often answers the yearnings of our hearts through other people. I am amazed by the people He has placed in my life, and the impact they have had on me. I am so so grateful. I ran a bunch for exercise time, and felt better. At the end of the day, we talked in our district about re-focusing and it was good, and had been so much better since then. 

Freitag: I saw Alyse in the travel office. Our elders had to go and said they saw her, and told us to go say "hi!" so we did. It was so fun to see her! For lunch, they had bratwurst and "german potatoes" and I felt obligated to eat it because I'm going to germany in 2 weeks-ish. Hopefully it is better there. :) My new treat is called the PB and honey rice crispie treat. You put PB and honey on a rice crispie. We ran, then taught bruder Alston. It went much better and it was quick and was so much better than the last 2 lessons. We also taught TRC, 2 older gentlemen, one from Germany, and one who served his mission there. He told us something which I understood to mean " I served my mission in germany for 40 years." I think there was some sort of miscommunication in there. Next week we skype germans. (ACK! I am scared for that.) We found a "Narnia Hole" in our room. There was a blank covering (like it could have been an outlet but someone changed their mind.. they have them in every room), and we unscrewed it and found a piece of paper with an elder's name in it, from 2002! We all wrote our names, years, and missions and put it in there. In another room, there were 2 ugly ties. Haha.

Favorite german thing to say: Ich bin begeistered. (pardon my spelling.) It means "I am excited." Also, Meine Gute and Gute Himmel. (My goodness and good heavens).

Well, I am out of time. I love you all. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all need Him, every day. I am trying to be better about repenting every day. I love being here. God is so good to us, and I know that we will recognize tender mercies and miracles in our lives every day as we look for them. 

Thank you, everyone, for the love through letters and packages and prayers. Happy Valentines Day. "If you don't have anyone, just remember this is a holiday to remind you of that" (Sister Darton's friend, Jefferson. haha).

Ich Liebe Sie!

Sister Simpson

P.S. We should have called my blog "Boise to Berlin." Ugh.

We matched!

The Mountains!

We rearranged the room. Elder Hughes, Passey, Sister Darton, Voitglaender

I liked the corner of the room.. so I drew it on a notecard

No Letter This Week! :)

A very very long Saturday came and went without an email from Sister Simpson.  Sigh.
However,  I did get these darling pictures from our niece,  Alyse, who works in the travel department for the MTC. Mariah and her companion came in on Friday.
I'm wondering if her p-day got switched.  My friend's son had 3 different days for pday,  in his 3 weeks in the MTC.
I'm checking my email agonist every hour,  waiting to hear from her.  Letters from your missionary are the highlight of a patent's week!

Week 3!!!

Hallo!

So everyone always says that the weeks feel like days and the days feel like weeks here. So true. I can't believe we are almost halfway. It kindof freaks me out because Deutsch is so hard. I can speak (brokenly) better than I can understand, which is SOOOO frustrating. I'll be in our discussion, trying to ask our investigator (our teacher) what he thinks about what we've been saying, or trying to discuss, or asking what he's struggling with, and I do not understand and can't help him. Ugh. I hope it gets better. Some days are better than others. Also, I am so EXCITED to go to deutschland. It is like 50 degrees there right now! It's pretty cold here. And it snows all the time. I love it. I'm going to buy lederhosen (and then I will wear them every halloween until I die.. problem solved. Ich hasse Halloween).

I've been thinking about faith, and how Enos prayed and it says a few times "because of thy faith" to him. As he exercised his faith, it grew. It's like a muscle. Sometimes we need to stretch it, and sometimes we are forced to because of life. I know the Lord answers our desperate cries for help. He has answered mine. I have a few quotes that I love. The first is from the movie Amish Grace.. He says "The Lord does not ask us to walk an easy path. But this I know - faith, when everything is as you want it to be is not true faith. It is only when our lives are falling apart that we have the chance to make our faith real." Also, Bishop Steele (will you check and see if he's on the email list?) shared this quote with me when I was meeting with him pre-mission. It is from "But if Not" by Lance B Wickman. "How do we properly exercise our faith? The Prophet Joseph Smith defined that first principle of the gospel as “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”. It is that defining phrase--“in the Lord Jesus Christ”--that we sometimes forget. Too often we offer our prayer or perform our administration and then wait nervously to see whether our request will be granted, as though approval would provide needed evidence of His existence. That is not faith! Faith is, quite simply, a confidence in the Lord. In Mormon’s words, it is “a firm mind in every form of godliness”. The three Hebrew magistrates expressed trust that the Lord would deliver them from the fiery furnace, “but if not,” they said to the king, “we [still] will not serve thy gods” (Dan. 3:18). Significantly, not three but four men were seen in the midst of the flames, and “the form of the fourth [was] like the Son of God” (Dan. 3:25). So with us. It is common in our secular world to say that “seeing is believing.” Whatever value this little maxim may have in the mundane affairs of life, it is an alien presence when we turn to the Lord in the dark hour of our extremity. The way of the Lord is best defined by a different maxim: “Believing is seeing.” Faith in the Lord is the premise, not the conclusion. We know He lives; therefore, we trust Him to bless us according to His divine will and wisdom." Anyway, those are my thoughts on that. They say it better than I can. I love the Book of Mormon. There are answers to all of our questions, not because it has it all, but when we read, ponder, and pray, God can teach us through revelation.

Last saturday night, we played bean-boozled. I was AWFUL/so fun. I got throw-up, jalepeno snot, and lawn clippings (the only one I actually ate). Sister voigtlaender is a champ and ate one of each at the same time and all of them were bad except lime. Haha it was SO funny. We were all crying.

Sunday, we went on a temple walk. I love it so much. I have lots of pics from that. For choir, we practice "Precious Savior, dear Redeemer," but it is a different arrangement for the MTC (by Brett Stewart). It is INCREDIBLE. I will remember it forever. I was in the 1 soprano section, and there was a jump to a high f.. It was nicht gut. I don't think I hit it. The song goes with Mark 4 when Christ calms the storm. It says, "Carest thou not that we perish?" I know he cares, because he suffered for our sins, for my sins, and our pains and sorrows and EVERYTHING> He knows it all, and He cares more than we can ever imagine. Jesus Christ is the cure for everything. Brother Eggett said we were supposed to sound desperate when it says, "curb the winds and calm the billows" (which was when we had to hit that note). It is probably me favorite song. I love it.  Look it up (on google). We sang it on tuesday at the devotional with W. Craig Zwick. You can probably see me, because I was on row f, like 4 seats from the edge in the middle. We're not supposed to look at the screen. At the sunday devotional, Matthew O Richardson spoke with his wife. I don't know why, but I loved them. He talked about being the best missionaries we can be, and not selling ourselves short. It was probably my favorite so far. It is a GREAT one to read.. I don't think MTC devotionals are on LDS.org. (I googled and found "Character of Christ" before I left.) We watched Legacy afterward and you can't imagine a room full of 18-21 year old young adults with 4 kisses in that film. It was very rowdy. I love the early saints of the church. I cried the whole movie. 

Sister Darton and I got in a "food fight" this week. I accidentally put pepper in her jello when I was peppering her soup, so it escalated, and she dumped her jello in my water, and then her hot cocoa on my sandwich. Haha. I hope we are companions in Berlin. 

Elder Passey has successfully tipped cows. We are so going when I get back. It was the funniest thing. I was trying to tease Elder Hughes because he was getting glasses, but I called him "two eyes" instead of "four eyes". Oops. 

I gave the elders my peppermint oil mints and told them they have to suck on them until they explode. It was the best. I cried because I laughed so hard. They were so scared, and then the little bubbles popped and they freaked out. Elder Passey said that he felt like he was breathing fire. Haha. Then everyone had one and the whole room was very minty. 

I was thinking about how great life is without a cell phone (at 11:30 when I couldn't sleep.. its a problem. And no, Dad, it is not because of my sleeping habits/patterns before my mission). I was then telling them (my district) the next day, and Elder Hughes said, "You are my cellphone," and Elder Passey and I started singing that to "You are my sunshine." Hehe. We are the same person.

Those are my funny stories. 

I love my district. I am going to cry when we part ways in the Frankfurt airport. I try not to think about it. 

Okay. I love you all. Have a great week!

P-Day clothes.. Classic Sister Missionary

Snow!

I ran this road almost every day at BYU

Snow!

So many temple pics!

My district...awe.

We love the temple!

Sister (Amanda) Balls

Funny Story. We were practicing teaching each other (i taught elder passey and he taught me) and we were supposed to be ourselves and not investigators. Bruder Nielson asked us after how we felt as investigators, and Elder Passey said something along the lines of "I thought we were supposed to be us/real people, not investigators" and Bruder Nielson freaked out and wrote that on the board and was like "untersuchers ARE PEOPLE!" and we were dying laughing and we all knew that just in case you were worried.. it was just poorly worded. it was just funny to see Bruder nielson do that.