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
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