Sierra sent some pictures from her Thanksgiving. I will put them in a separate posting.
Okay. If you haven't watched the Christmas video from the church for this year, GO WATCH IT. It is absolutely amazing. All the missionaries are super excited because as of yesterday, we get to start using the video and the cards in our proselyting efforts!!! It's super cool. I'm really excited.
Yesterday, I got to spend some time playing with three little girls in our ward. They're the daughters of the old GML (Gemeindemissionsleiter - Ward Mission Leader) and the oldest is Maria Agnes and she is 5 years old and her best friend is Emily and she is excited to get to play with her tomorrow. She and her sisters are adorable. And we spent about 15 minutes sitting in the missionary office (which we lovingly refer to as the Fishbowl because there is a wall made of windows where all the ward members can look in and see how clean (or messy) the missionaries are and whether we're actually working right not. We work. So much. But we try not to do it there because missionary work is not office work.) passing a ball back and forth and in a circle between three of us. The youngest wandered off at one point after helping me clean up a stack of pamphlets. She was super adorable, because she's about 1 1/2 - 2 years old, but she had to make sure the stack was perfect and that all the right pamphlets were together in the right places. Then we talked about how Mary was the Mama of Jesus because she started pulling the Joy to the World DVDs off the shelf and giving them to me. Then her sisters came in and started playing ball and she didn't want to, so she wandered off and found her mom. Those little girls made my day. They taught me how to play Peek-a-boo auf Deutsch (you say Cuckoo instead of peek-a-boo), and they were super cute, and thought it was really funny when I would ask them the name of something in German. It was so great. I love them a ton.
It's snowed a few times. It's always been less than an inch and then it melts and just leaves everything wet and sad. Supposedly there is actually a lot of snow out in the world around Nürnberg, but that's outside of where we live and actually go. So for us it's mostly just a ton of rain. Like today. Everything is wet and there are rivers running down all the sidewalks. And we're going back to Rothenburg for Weihnachtsmarkts today. Yay! It's going to be so much fun! *She said with absolutely no sarcasm whatsoever* Really, it will be a ton of fun because a ton of missionaries from our district are going to be there and we're going to walk around together and talk and I'm going to go buy a letter opener and life will be good. Elder Wiley and I will geek out together and Sis. Jackson will join us. Sis. Peterson and I will have a deep conversation about Percy Jackson, and then we're all going to write The Hitchhiker's Guide to Having A Nerdy Companion. Because Elder Morris (Elder Wiley's companion) and Sis. Knutson just don't get it so I offered to write a guide to all the things we talk about. The title was actually Sis. Knutson's idea, so that's fantastic. She is nerdy, but in a computer science way. She really enjoys programming and learning and giving people the Myer-Biggs Personality Test. She is one of a kind, and she is amazing.
We talked to the Bishop and his wife. Mostly his wife because she's English and speaks English so that makes it really easy. She's also the Young Women's president, which is why we talked to her since Zeynep is starting Personal Progress. If she really gets into it, we're going to see if she can get called as Young Women's secretary to help keep her involved, and help her to get to know ,ore of the ward. She loves the missionaries, and we love her! But she needs to know that if something happens and she can't live at home anymore, or something bad happens and her family isn't there to support her, the ward is. Because they will be. She just doesn't know that yet. But she will. Starting next week we're going to start having dinner with families in the ward eve week and Zeynep is going to come with us. Because she mentioned she wants to serve a mission so it's going to be "training." But it's actually to help her get to know the ward and feel more comfortable with the members. I have faith.
Speaking of the ward, there is this fantastic lady named Sis. Kreuzmair. She is the Family History consultant, and she loves her job. She also has a super strong testimony. We asked to come to a lesson with Elena, our favorite no-longer-atheist. Sis. Kreuzmair was super bold and was really great about telling Elena that the reason she wasn't getting answers was because she wasn't open to the answers God was giving her. She also testified super strongly about how you need to be baptized so you can feel the Holy Ghost all the time. We were afraid that she might have offended Elena, but it was actually really good. Elena is just the kind of person who needs someone to tell her and not take no for an answer. And Sis. Kreuzmair was the person. I'm really excited for our next lesson with her. Overall, this week wasn't super eventful. A lot of our lessons fell out, and it was kind of frustrating, but it's okay. This week will be better. We have some new goals set, and lots of good things planned. We have a lesson every day this week! It's going to be so good!
I love you all, and I really hope that you're having an amazing day. I would encourage you all to watch the Christmas video, and to think of how the knowledge of our Savior has changed your life. Because starting on Sept. 16 of this year, that's what I get to do every day. I get to go and tell people all about how He has changed my life and made it better. And the answer is that there isn't a way He hasn't made my life better. I know that when I make a mistake, I can repent and do better. I know that because He died for all of us and was then resurrected, that I can be resurrected and live with my family again. And because He was born, we get to share this incredible message with the world and help them to know and develop a relationship with their Savior, Jesus Christ. I think that's pretty darn cool. I love you. And I really truly hope that as we all go into this Christmas season, that we can feel the love that our Savior has for each and every one of us.
Have a great day, and a fantastic week!
Love Always,
Sis. John
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