That Tall Chick on a Mission: Welcome to Nürnberg!!!!

I'm in Germany!!!!! How cool is that??? It's actually not that
different so far. Just no mountains (I keep looking for them, but
they're not there. :( ), different food (I might have a problem with
bretzels (German pretzels that you buy on the street) but I'm not
taking the first step and admitting I have a problem because they are
way too good to give up), and TONS of people. But all in all, it's
really good, and I like it here.
Apparently, I did something right by not sleeping at all on the plane
ride over, because I have not had any jet lag. Elder Van Dam and I
couldn't sleep, so we just stayed up and talked to each other the
whole time. Which worked out, because I actually had two seats all to
myself. The seating on the planes was weird. I never once had a seat
next to my companion. But it's fine. It was a good trip. Just a really
long one. But I got to talk to Elder Van Dam for 4 hours straight so
it was fantastic. I also got to know Elder Fugal better. That was
interesting. He's an interesting person. We gave the guy sitting in
front of us on the way to Atlanta a pass-along card because we saw him
reading the Wikipedia page on our church. That was a weird
conversation.
Our first lesson in Germany was NOT learning how to contact people on
public transportation. It was actually a street display in Frankfurt.
At a place called the Fuss (foos). The actual name is the Fussgang
(foos-gah-ng), but everyone shortens it. It's just the city center. It
was kind of cool, kind of cold, and lots of intimidating. But after
about an hour and a half, it got a lot easier asking people if they
wanted a pass along card. Then asking if they wanted to talk about the
gospel. It's not easy, but it's easier.
We did a street display in Nürnberg on Saturday, and that was a lot of
fun. We actually had two investigators that we met there come to
church on Sunday, so that was fantastic. I also met one of her
investigators, and she is adorable! Her name is Zeynep, and she
brought us donuts. She's a dry Mormon. She wants to be baptized, but
can't because of reasons. It's fine. She's super cool, super amazing,
and has a super strong testimony which is most important.
Speaking of Sunday, that has been the biggest culture shock. The
Gospel is the same everywhere, but the way it's taught and talked
about is a little bit different. Sunday was fast and testimony
meeting, so everyone bore their testimonies and holy heck. They don't
even need me here. The members are fantastic. Seriously. Also, the
Bishop is interesting. He looks really big and intimidating, but he's
actually pretty nice. He invited Sis. Knutsen and I over for dinner on
Sunday, so we went there and kind of lost all our study time. But it
was great. His wife is super cool, and their daughters remind me of me
and Ellie. Which is bad. They don't get along right now. But they're
sweet, and Elisa (eh-leez-ah) is super funny and smart. We get along
really well.
Ah! So much to tell! My trainer is Sis. Knusten and she's super cool.
I'm her last two transfers though, so after she trains me she goes
back home to Salem, Utah. Which is sad. But these first three months
are going to be great. So far, we get along really well, and she's
always finding new food for me to try. Which is great, but also bad
because I already have a problem with street food. Like Döners
(duh-oo-nerz). Although it wasn't as good as Elder Clemente promised,
Sis. Knusten promised that it wasn't the best and that we'll find a
better one next time.
As far as investigators go, it's kind of weird because both of us are
new to this area. They pulled both of the old sisters out, and put us
in. It's called Whitewashing an area, and we're not sure why they did
it to Nürnberg, but it's working out okay because we have so many
investigators! Like, 12!!! That is a ton, and I'm super excited. So
far we've only met with two of the, but they've been pretty cool. The
first was a 9 year old named Gabriela. She lives in a home with her
mom who is from Romania. It seems like her mom doesn't want to learn
the Gospel, but she's okay with Gabriela learning and being baptized.
She had a baptismal date, but then her dad said no and so we have to
meet with him before she can be baptized. I feel like we could teach
Gabriela's mom, but we need to figure out what she wants to hear from
us. And I don't know what that is yet. Hopefully Sis. Kristen and I
can figure it out.
......Elder Taylor just told us about his 40 different chopsticks that
he brought with him. His favorite is the Dr. Pepper one, but he
doesn't wear it because it makes his lips sparkly. He is n interesting
zone leader.
I guess I should tell you about the people that I get to work with.
There's my trainer, Sis. Knusten. Then there are the other Elders and
Sisters. I don't know where they're all serving so for now you just
get names. Elder Wiley is super cool. We talked a lot on Saturday at
the street display and got to know each other. He is from Arizona, and
we basically like all the same games as each other. So we had an
awesome conversation about Steam, Magic, and League of Legends. He's
pretty cool, and he's going to help me build a Magic deck so I can
play with the rest of our zone on P-Days. Then there's Sis. Watkins,
we were actually one. Split for part of the day while her comp, Sis.
Hyatt, showed my comp around the city for a bit. She's super sweet,
likes Dr. Who, and is a very kind and gentle person. Her comp, Sis.
Jackson, is kind of loud, but is super nice. She bought me my first
bretzel so I guess she's my dealer now. It's all good, I really like
her.
Oh! Before I forget, my first year at Kodiak there was a kid named
Kevin Butler there. He's here! He was my travel leader when we rode
the bus here on Thursday!!! He's in my zone!!! It's super cool. The
world is a lot smaller than we think.
I honestly can't remember anyone else. Maybe I'll send pictures later.
Speaking of which, that got a ton easier because I have an iPad! It's
owned by the mission, so it won't come home with me. But Sis. Knusten
helped me get all the training done on Friday so I can carry it around
instead of my super heavy scriptures. So yeah. Pictures here are a lot
easier, but I'm still using my camera. I'll use that when we go visit
castles and stuff, probably.
I've made food!!! I actually made batter and fried some fish we had in
the freezer last night and it was super yummy! I splashed oil on my
favorite skirt though, so that was sad. But it's okay because one of
the big department stores here is having a huge sale, so maybe I'll
look when we go later today. We're going to find a coat and maybe some
boots. We get to find out if my card works in Germany. Yay!
All in all, it has been amazing here. We have a fantastic view out of
our apartment, the city is beautiful (you literally turn a corner and
bam! Huge, gothic church. And that's not even counting the rest of the
architecture) and everything is interesting. Turns out there are still
Nazi's around. They don't call the,selves Nazi's, but that's what they
are and everyone knows it but them. There was an anti-nazi
demonstration like, 40-45 yards away from our street display on
Saturday. They're protesting all the refugees from the Middle East.
Yep. That was in interesting last hour of the display.
Okay, I'm running out of things to say so I guess I'd better wrap it
up. Plus, I promised Elder Wiley a game of Magic where he will
probably beat me. It's fine. It'll be fun.
I love you all, and I hope you're as happy as I am because I am so
glad to be here. I can't understand German, I never know what to say
to people, and I have no idea where I am half the time. But the days
are beautiful, the Gospel is true, and I have been called to teach it
to the people here. And that's pretty darn cool.
All My Love,
Sister John

P.S. It was super hard to say goodbye to my MTC district. I cried. So
did Sis. Bakker, but that wasn't new. At least Elder Smith and I are
in the same area, so we'll maybe see each other once sometime this
transfer or next. Elder Clemente is going to get called to Heidelberg
at some point because there's a Spanish branch down there. There's a
lot of different languages here. We have Japanese, Polish, Arabic,
Portugese, Swahili, and like, 10 others in our apartment in the form
of pamphlets and Books of Mormon. It's crazy. But it's interesting at
the same time. So it's great.