Pictures from the Easter week letter

Easter lunch with the Hart's and Caroline!

Easter egg!!! I can't remember if I sent this already, but it's an actual egg that's been painted and had beads glued on it and it's super pretty. They hang eggs on the trees here for Easter and it's super pretty. I'm doing it next year and none of y'all can stop me

The face of regret at Volksfest

I fell off my bed and landed in between my companion's mattress and the bed and they both trapped me there

Easter and Zone Conference and Street Displays, Oh My!

Frohe Ostern!!!

This is one major holiday that I only get one of on my mission, so I'm doing my best to enjoy it while it's here. And really, it's not that hard. Flowers are blooming literally EVERYWHERE and the Sun is now rising at a normal time in the morning (which is to say at some unholy hour when the missionaries wish we could still be sleeping). Spring is definitely in the air, and life is good.

This week I went on a full day split with a member of our ward. We had two appointments for the day and a list of go-by's to keep us busy and I was excited! First, we went to the wrong address for one of our go-by's. Then as we were trying to correct that error, our first appointment called and cancelled indefinitely for the next few weeks/months. Okay. Well, not exactly preferable, but it can still be a good day! So we went off to go try and go-by another person who lived in the neighborhood. But me, being the blonde that I am, got us lost for 20 minutes. But good news, we found them eventually!!! And they were home!!!! We had a lovely hour-long chat with a less-active family and shared a gospel message. Missionary work! All is right in the world! Woo!! Feeling quite invincible, Sch. Kreuzmair and I decided to go do some street contacting in the park by the church house. Person one we tried to contact said they had no interest. Person number two also had no interest and would we please leave her alone? Person number three was a JW who argued with Sch. Kreuzmair for 30 minutes about God and the bible. After the incidents in the park, we called our second appointment to make sure we could still meet, and she had completely forgotten! So now we're down two lessons, possibly an investigator, and no one wants to talk to us. Perfect! I will admit, it was a rough day. I was struggling, and when my companions called to ask if we could split back a bit early, I jumped at the chance. I was so tired and so done with the day and just wanted to go home and collapse that nothing else even mattered. When we met Sis. Riser and Sis. Clifford at the church, Sch. Kreuzmair proceeded to tell them all about our day and what we had done. She talked about how happy she was that she had been able to help with missionary work and feel the special spirit of missionary work. She just talked and talked about how great the day had been and how much happier she was knowing that we had touched the lives of some people for good and helped them feel the Spirit. It was really cool to hear her talk about it. Especially since that's not how I was feeling at all. I was tired, discouraged, and embarrassed that all of this had happened when I was supposed to be having an awesome day of appointments with a member and building ward relations. I was upset. But Sch. Kreuzmair was absolutely impressed. She kept saying that the work is hard, but we are "the army of the Lord." It was really cool to see the impression that the day had made on her, compared to how I was feeling. It was a rough day, but it was a good day. Sunday was the best!!! I don't know what it was, but we had the best Sacrament meeting of my life today, and I was super happy. We had three awesome talks about Easter, Hope, and the Atonement. It was super great and spiritually uplifting, which was fantastic! Feeling the Spirit in German is occasionally hard, so it was a really great experience.

We had Zone Conference Tuesday and it was awesome!!!! It was almost entirely auf Deutsch, and I got to translate for the first half of it!!!! Never mind the fact that my voice was still barely above a whisper, but you end up whispering for translations anyways. It was a ton of fun, and I learned a lot about how to learn German better. The only bad thing that came from the conference is that now that I've translated, Elder Clawson said that next week I get to start translating Sacrament Meeting. That is really stressful. But it will be fine, I'm sure. It's usually only the Hart's who listen anyways. We had a street display and it was super cool!!! Elder Ault was trying to learn how to contact people with me (which is a horrible idea because I'm not very good at contacting) and we were picking people for the other one to contact. So Elder Ault told me to contact this man who had just purchased a Nürnburger (a roll with three little sausages in it that is absolutely DELICIOUS) and was eating it when he walked by us and I asked him if he believed in God. He said that he did, but more importantly he believes in Christ. By the way, NO ONE SAYS THAT HERE. We then proceeded to have the best conversation about religion that I have ever had on my entire mission. I even messed up my German and then discovered that this man is American!!!! It was quite literally the best moment of the week. It was awesome. We shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon with him and he told us that he appreciate what we were doing and to keep it up! He was cool. I hope he reads the book we gave him.

Right now there's this thing called Volksfest going on here in Nürnberg and it's awesome! It's basically just a giant carnival (think Lagoon, but German) with tons of food! It's amazing. Also, they have the Wild Mouse!!!! It's just a normal carnival ride here, but it's exactly the same as the one in Utah! It's great. I'm so excited to (hopefully with permission) ride it next week. I just want to get some clarification on what we can and can't do from President before I do anything crazy.

Anyways, that's it for this week! I love you all! Have an awesome day, and a fantastic week!!!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

Save the Important things for the Postscript Letter

The Postscript letter

My City! I Love It!

Totally forgot to mention. I am sick. I got a cold in Frankfurt, and promptly lost my voice. It sucks. I keep squeeking and Elder Clawson keeps making fun of me. It's not fun. :(

Also, we went to Ikea today!!! It was fun! It was great! We bought a new pan!!! I am way more excited about that then I should be.... 

Here's a video of what happened on our way to Hauptbahnhof. The doors on the subway start beeping when they're about to close, and there's nothing you can do to stop them from closing. So if your companions get on the train when the doors are beeping and you don't.... Well. It's exciting. 

Well . . . That Just Happened

So........ I really have no way to begin this letter. This last week has been (hopefully) the craziest week of my mission. To start with, I mentioned that Sis. Reay was sick. Well, she was sick. Sick enough that the missionary board in SLC cleared her to go home. So that was fun. Wednesday evening the Feucht Sisters came to Nürnberg and we went with the Zone Leaders to Hauptbahnhof and put Sis. Reay on an ICE train to Frankfurt where she was picked up by the STL's and Tech Elders. Then she flew back home on Thursday morning. It's really sad, and I miss her a ton. But she can get better faster at home than she can here, so it's okay. I know that God has a plan for her, me, and this area. I have absolutely no idea what that plan is, but I know there's a plan.
So yeah. That happened.

As for my new companion (because missionaries can't be alone), I have two! The Feucht Sisters and I are now in a Dritt!!! Which is super crazy, because they didn't close the Feucht area, or the Nürnberg area..... Yep. Three sisters. Two areas. One big ball of confusion, craziness, and a fair amount of fun as well. This last week has definitely been the hardest on my mission. Hands down. Harder than taking over, harder than working through problems, it was HARD. But it was also a TON of fun. We have done so much work and it's amazing!!! 

We had to go to Frankfurt because the Feucht Sisters had a split with the STL's on Thursday and we couldn't change that, so I had to go too. Then we got home on Friday after our train was delayed for an hour, and finally were back in Nürnberg!!!! It was crazy. We have been traveling between Nürnberg and Feucht SO MUCH. But it's cool. It's definitely crazy to be working in two areas. But it also feels really divine. Like, none of us have doubted for a second that this what is supposed to be going on here. It's crazy, but we've seen a TON of miracles. So it's awesome. :)

Our lessons have been super crazy, and I honestly can't remember what happened this week. So.... Have some pictures!! I got SO MANY. It was awesome!!!! But I don't think I have enough to send back..... I'll do my best!

Eis Cristina (Yum!)

My latest P-day

The Other Side of Heaven, Extra Studies, and Getting Doored by the JW's!

So this week was kind of uneventful. My companion was a bit sick so we stayed in the apartment for a lot of time and tried to get her feeling better. She's not quite back up to 100% yet, but she'll get there soon, I'm sure. :) As for all the extra time in the apartment.... I alternated between reading the scriptures, studying Preach My Gospel, reading the books that Elder Hart said I should (that were missionary appropriate), and cleaning. As a result, I have almost made I through 1 Nephi auf Deutsch, I completely finished one book, and the kitchen and bathroom floors are spotless. I am extremely proud. :)

As for fun stuff, we finally went and visited Lorenz Kirche!!!! It is the first cathedral I ever saw here in Germany and we finally got to go inside! It was super cool with awesome, vaulted ceilings, and was really just absolutely spectacular. I think it's amazing the things that we, as the human race, have been able to accomplish as we do our best to show our devotion and appreciation to God. Never mind the fact that there was probably a lot of money thrown into it to make it stand out so people would come and pay their indulgences there instead of at another church.... It really is super cool, and I really enjoyed it. Also, Elder Clawson and Elder Morris came with us. Elder Clawson speaks Latin and knows a LOT of history. He was reading all the paintings and murals to me and Sis. Reay because they had what was happening in the picture written beneath it in Latin. Then he would tell us what he knew about that specific cathedral and the history behind it and then we would all just stand there for about 10-15 minutes and take it all in. It was super cool, and an amazing experience. So of course, I took no pictures. Oops. I'll make sure to take some today for sure.

 

As for the actual week, we were able to meet with Zeynep and finish our lesson from last week. Then on Sunday, we had Gemiko with our new ward mission leader and he was kind of rude and asked us why Zeynep wasn't baptized yet and what exactly were we doing as the missionaries who were teaching her because our purpose is to bring people to the waters of baptism (emphasis added, but he kind of told us we were being bad missionaries). We explained to him that her situation was a bit more complicated than he knew about, and that she does have a baptismal date and will be baptized and is actually very excited about it and has been planning every detail for the past month and a half and the only way she will not be baptized is if she dies. At which point he went, "Oh. Well then Elders is there anything from your side?" It was kind of funny. Also, if that had happened just six months ago, I would have been pretty angry about it and immediately started arguing how we are the missionaries and it's none of his business (which is not true, but that's how I would have felt). But yesterday it was super easy to just be calm about it and assume that he didn't know and understand and that's why he was asking. It was an important growing moment, and learning moment. We (the missionaries in Nürnberg, and probably everywhere) need to be better at keeping open lines of communication with the ward. It's not that we purposefully close them off, but it sometimes just gets lost in all of the other things that we need to do. So that's something that I personally want to work on, and I think I'll suggest we set some goals at the next Missionary Coordination Meeting to work on that. 

I attribute all of the introspective stuff to The Other Side of Heaven. Which I started two days ago and finished yesterday (the book, not the movie. Also, we had a LOT of time in the apartment while Sis. Reay was getting better :P). I absolutely loved how Elder Groberg just fell in love with the culture, the people, and the language. And it's understandable. I absolutely love Germans. They are just an amazingly orderly, helpful, and service oriented people. Their language is precise and exact but is able to convey a ton of emotion all at once and it is incredible. I love it here. I truly love this country and the people and their language. I am so grateful for my experiences here, and I really don't want to leave. It's weird to think that I'll have been gone for six months on Wednesday. I only have one year left, and that's not enough time to do everything that I feel like the Lord expects me to do. But I can only do what I can and then try and do a little bit more. As long as I work hard and do my best, everything will work out. :)I love you all! Really!!! Have a GREAT day, and a FANTASTIC week!!!!

Love Always,

Sis. John

Thalia - Best bookstore ever!

Maserati

Pants or Shoes?

P.S. Almost forgot. The JW's were trying to leave pamphlets in our mailbox. We saw them as we were leaving so they pulled it out pretty fast. Since it's almost Easter there are a lot of them out right now. It's fine. There are a lot of us, too. :)

Birthday Week Photos

21 Year Selfie

Elders Clawson & Morris

Birthday Flowers

The Desk

Turkish Penne Pasta (yum!)

I Got a Missionary for My Birthday!

She sent photos. I will post them separately just because it is easier.

To start with, I got a new companion!!!! Her name is Sister Reay (Ray) and she is super awesome! Her German is already incredible, she loves talking to people, and she is incredibly nice. This is going to be such a good transfer. She's going to be an absolutely amazing missionary. :)

As far as transfers go, this is my fourth! One transfer is 6 weeks (except when they're five or seven because President does some fancy switching around at the MTC) and I'm into my fourth. That means I only have 8 left. I need to make them count! As of next week I will only have a year left! It's crazy! That's not enough time!

This week was kind of stressful. We had a couple of really frustrating lessons with some investigators so we might end up discontinuing our lessons with them, which is super sad. But we'll make that call probably next week or the week after. We have some good lessons planned to try and help them see the importance of keeping their commitments.

Also, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all kind of stressful. Monday was spent packing (again) and helping Sis. Montgomery get ready to go home. Tuesday, we sent Elder Webber off to Friedrichsdorf. That was sad, because we were the "oldest" missionaries in Nürnberg. We'd been in the area the longest but now he's gone. So Tuesday was kind of stressful. That was also when we had the first of our stressful lessons. Then Wednesday, I had to ride a sketchy bus ALL BY MYSELF for three hours to Frankfurt. Having now been a missionary for almost 6 months, it is SUPER WEIRD to go anywhere without a companion. I had permission, and it was planned that way, but it was kind of scary and I was not a fan. But then I got to Frankfurt and saw Sis. Bakker!!!! It was so good. And when we had our Train the Trainers meeting that night and talked about the differences between companions, it was like the MTC all over again. We are very different people. But we managed to work together and get along. It was awesome. :) But then Thursday I had to find a bus (which is stressful) and then get my jet-lagged companion and her luggage on board, and then make sure we got off in the right city and then do it all in German!!! It was really stressful, but I learned something really valuable from the whole experience: I can speak German!!!!! It's not perfect, and I can definitely improve, but I can speak German. It's amazing, and I'm super happy about it. :)

As stressful and frustrating as the week was, Friday was a good day. We had district meeting (which is normally on Wednesday's, but both I and Elder Merkley (our District Leader) were training so we were both in Frankfurt on Wednesday and Thursday) and afterwards we went to go and get Döner at the BEST place in Nürnberg. But we had a lesson with Zeynep after District Meeting so we couldn't go..... But then Elder Clawson said that everyone else would just go and get döners and then come back with two extra for me and Sis. Reay so it was going to work out. So we had a lesson with Zeynep and it was awesome! Then Zeynep got a call and said she needed to take it so we waited. Then she came back into the room and said there were some people in the primary room who needed some help and asked her to go and get the sisters. So we go up to the primary room and Elders Clawson, Morris, Vorimo, and Summerhays, along with Sisters Riser and Clifford are all there and started singing happy birthday when I walked in the door! It was super sweet, and in true missionary fashion, no one took any pictures. But it happened! And it was super sweet. Zeynep and Caroline (she's a YSA in our ward) organized the whole thing and were originally going to do everything at Institute on Wednesday, but I was in Frankfurt. It was super sweet, and Elder Clawson said that he actually didn't hate me. So that made the day even better. :)

It was kind of a crazy week, but I'm getting used to the falls in lessons and finding when I get new companions. It's just normal. Every companionship has to start at forming and then go from there. Sis. Reay and I will do the same thing. But she's so awesome, it's going to be amazing. I think I'm going to learn more from her than she is from me, she's just that cool. It's great. :)

Well, I think that's it for this week. My spiritual thought for this week comes from the end of Acts. Towards the end, Paul gets arrested and is basically shipped from place to place and questioned over and over and no one can find any reason to kill him so they send him somewhere else to be questioned/tried again. Eventually he ends up before Agrippa, and he states his case in the 26th chapter of the Acts. At the end of his testimony, Kind Agrippa tells him, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." I think that statement is really cool because I think he believed in what Paul told him, but he didn't have a personal conversion to the Gospel. That's why we keep talking about reading our scriptures and praying every day and going to church. We can believe what people tell us, but until we're personally converted to the Gospel, all the words in the world won't convince us completely.

I love you! Have a fantastic week! I received a total of 7 photos this week, so I'll be sure to send 7 back!
Love Always,
Sis. John

Welcome to Transfer 4!!! Also, You're Training!

Yep, that's right folks. Sister John is going to be in charge of a brand new missionary! Terrifying, isn't it? But it will be fine, I'm sure. I'm going to ask the Elders for a blessing next time I see them (which will probably be today, but who knows?) and everything will be fine. The first thing EVERYBODY said when they found out I was training was, "I knew it! Sister John, you're going to be such a ood Trainer!" So even though I am absolutely terrified, there are a lot of people who think I'll be fine. So that's something. Besides, "the Lord giveth no commandments (callings) unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth (has called) them (to do)." 1 Nephi 3:7 (with comments added)

Last District Photo

So everything will be fine. It's a big responsibility, but that just makes me more motivated to work harder! Everything will work out just fine. Trainers are the most important calling in a mission, because a well-trained missionary is invaluable. Here's hoping it goes well! As for the week, it was awesome! We were able to meet with and teach a lot of less-active people in the ward! I love working with the less-active members!!! Seriously, not even joking, they are my favorite group of people to work with. They're just so fun! And the lessons are easier to teach because they know a lot about the Gospel already and we just have to remind them. Plus, one of the people we work with always makes us this super yummy tea when we go over. It is delicious, and she is absolutely lovely for making it. Now if she would just come to church! It's fine. She'll get there eventually. We just have to be patient, and love her. It will be awesome!

There's a kid in my ward here named Felix who had his farewell talk on Sunday. He flies to the Provo MTC on Tuesday and then heads out to South Korea after his time there. I'm so excited for him! He's going to be so good, really. He's become best friends with all the missionaries here and we love him to death. On Sunday, when he was going around giving everyone good bye hugs, he got to me and almost gave me a hug but I was like, "Felix, I can't hug you." So then I went to give him a handshake and he was all like, "Oh yeah, you can't have inappropriate contact from guys, huh?" So then he grabbed my hand with both of his and started rubbing it and just being as awkward as he could for 10 seconds. He is such a punk. But he is going to be such a good missionary. He and his companion are going to laugh so much together. He'll be awesome. :)

We had an appointment with our new investigator from two weeks ago, but he called us the day of and cancelled on us. He then said that he would call us later to reschedule, but he didn't. Then we called him on Saturday to invite him to church and he said he couldn't come and didn't he say he would call us when he had time? I think he's trying to Tchüss us, which is really sad. It's fine. I'll see him in the next life, I'm sure. Maybe he'll be more receptive to the Gospel then.

The Hart's invited us over for dinner after church with the Elders. We had dinner all together one last time before Sis. Montgomery goes home and Elder Webber goes up to Friedrichsdorf. Transfers really are one of the hardest things about being a missionary. You get super close to the people around you, and then they leave. Or you leave. Elder Webber has been in the Nürnberg Zone for 9 transfers. That's over a year. But now he's leaving. Oh well. Such is the life of a missionary.

It has been a pretty busy week, so that means that it has been a super good week! And it was! This next week is going to be pretty crazy since I have to go to Frankfurt (by myself on a sketchy bus D:) and then come back and try not to miss anything too important in the process. But it will be awesome. I get to go and work with Sis. Bakker for a day!!! And we're going to get Eis Cristina!!!!!! It is this SUPER awesome ice cream place and they have the BEST ice cream. It is going to be so much fun. It is going to be such a party in Frankfurt this week. :)

I love you all! Sorry it's kind of short, but I'll make up for it next week! And if you're having a rough day, don't forget how much God loves you! Because He does! You are His child and He cares about everything you do! So go out, have fun, and smile because you are a child of God!!!

Post Street Display Selfie

Have an awesome day, and a super fabulous week!
Love Always,
Sis. John

P.S. Mom, I gave Felix yours and Dad's phone numbers in case anything happens. He should call Elder Webber's parents first because they live in Salt Lake, but just so you know. He's super cool, and his English is perfect so you should be able to understand him just fine. But he shouldn't even need to call because nothing is going to happen. But just in case.

P.P.S. I keep meaning to send photos and then not sending photos....
Oops. My bad. Have a photo!