Zone Conference, MLC, and No More Splits!

We did our last split on Monday last week. It was awesome and we had a lot of fun and did a lot of work, but I am so glad that we are done with splits for the transfer. Speaking of the transfer, when did it become Week 5!!!??? Craziness. There are only five weeks in this transfer. Literally my last week with Sister Jeppesen. Weird.

Anyways, we had Zone Conference! It was actually super great. We gave a Thema on Missionary Conduct (as in the section in the White Handbook that makes up literally half of the book :P) and it actually went okay. We had a breakout session with just the Sisters and it was good. It could have gone better, but it was the first time that we've done something like that so we weren't expecting it to be perfect. I talked to all the sisters about it yesterday during call-ins and they had some great ideas on how to make it even better so I'm excited to use those next time. :)

MLC was fantastic as always. I saw my old district! It was really weird, but literally almost everyone from my last district in Nürnberg was at MLC. The only person we were missing was Elder Ault. We took a picture of all of us to send to him so he'll know we were thinking about him. One thing I was thinking about during MLC was how grateful I am for the things that I learned at Timberline. Something that happens sometimes on splits with the leaders in the mission is that we forget what it's like to not know how to do missionary work. We forget how scary it is and what things are able to get in our way of going out and talking to people every day. Really, what we forget is the Teaching EDGE. One of the STLs made the comment that in order for us to really help the other missionaries on splits, we have to get down on their level first, and then build them up. We can't just expect them to go out and be perfect the second we get there. We have to Explain to them what we're going to do and why, then Demonstrate how to do it, then Guide them through it, and then they can go and do it on their own. It's something that I've really tried to do on every one of my splits and I am not perfect, but I've seen it be helpful so I'm very happy with this knowledge that I have. Anyways. I just lost my train of thought.

It has been a long week. Sister Jeppesen got really sick yesterday so I did all the call-ins and that took a LONG time. I might have been a little bit late to bed. But it was actually a little bit and not a lot and for that I am grateful. I really do enjoy call-ins. It's just hard because we don't coordinate with the District Leaders who will call the sisters first so sometimes we end up waiting for FOREVER so we can talk to the sisters/district leaders/BOTH OF THEM. It was good though, and I am SUPER grateful for my calling as a Sister Training Leader. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. :)

As far as work goes, I don't know if I ever mentioned but we set a baptismal date with one of our investigators two weeks ago! She is super great and is getting more and more excited for her baptism. She's still kind of nervous, but we know she can do it. She knows the church is true and loves the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. She's just worried about her son because she doesn't want to force him into anything and she's worried that he'll see her baptism as a sign that he needs to get baptized, too. It will be fine. He is a super sweet, super smart kid. I love him a lot and we're working on helping him build some relationships in the ward. It's great.

This last week we met with the Kirk's. They're the senior missionary couple who work in the mission office on Corneliusstraße. We talked about how important it is to share our testimonies with everyone and in everything that we do. As we talked with them, I thought about how sometimes the biggest ways we can share our testimonies is by just living the Gospel. It made me think of the poem that talks about how the narrator has never heard a sermon but he's seen one (or something like that). The basic point is, our actions speak WAY louder than our words. One of our mission focuses is on being representatives of Christ at ALL times and in ALL things and in ALL places. I think of some of the most influential people in my life and the things that we talked about and most of the time, we never talked about the Gospel or we talked about it very little. But the way that they lived made me want to live the Gospel better because I could see that it made a difference in their lives. Those people became my heroes, and I am forever indebted to them for the positive effects that they had on my testimony. I want to be like that in everything that I do. ESPECIALLY because I have this calling that has me wear a nametag with Christ's name on my chest every day. It's a powerful reminder. What's a reminder (powerful or otherwise) in your life that makes you want to be more like Christ?

I love you all. I am really excited for P-Day because I am finally going to get new shoes (I might have worn a hole or two (or more....) in my current pair) and Sister Jeppesen and I are going to look for a comp item. But we decided that just going shopping was too boring. So we decided to spice things up. No longer are we just "going shopping on P-Day" like Sisters do. No sir, we are doing a Foto Scavenger Hunt with it! We got a couple of the other Sister companionships to come with us, so we're going to make some mini splits and go and take pictures all day! It's going to be fantastic, and I am REALLY excited. Thank you, Rick, for teaching me how to do these. If we can manage to make it back in time for one last email, I might be able to upload the photos today. If not, I will bestimmt do it next week.

I love you! Have a great day, and an absolutely splendid week!!!!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister John

P.S. We had two days of sun this week. LOTS of rain + HOT weather = INCREDIBLE AMOUNTS of Humidity and Frizzy hair. Sunday was an adventure. One of the members told me my hair was fluffy. I am very grateful for a sense of humor in moments like these. 

Rain, Splits, Rain, An American BBQ, More Rain....

It rained a LOT this week. It has rained every day since I got here. In fact, our balcony almost flooded once. But I cleaned the drain of mud, moss, and twigs (again) and everything was fine.

Okay, P-Day is almost over but we have had such a good day! We played soccer with the Offenbach district which involves Elder Smith and Elder Van Dam from my MTC group and it was a ton of fun! Then, we went to Frankfurt and visited the Cathedral (and I didn't get any pictures because I was DYING after playing soccer and then hiking up a ridiculous amount of stairs) and it was super cool!

On our way back from the Dom, we met these two guys from the UK who came up and just started asking us questions about who we were and what we do as missionaries. Ask six missionaries what it is they do when they talk with people? Yes please! 40 minutes later, the six of us had taught the entire Plan of Salvation to these two guys and told them to go talk to the missionaries in their area. It was super cool, and the Spirit was so strong!!! So I'm sorry this letter is short and late, but we were helping two souls on their path to eternal life. As far as the week goes, it was super!!! The Darmstadt sisters got 5 new investigators this week and it's not just one family, we set a baptismal date with one of our investigators who has been kind of hesitant to set a set date so that was amazing! And then we also went to a BBQ (with an investigator of course) hosted by the International Ward in Frankfurt. So it was basically an American BBQ. It was super great, and a ton of fun. Also very delicious. I miss hamburgers. I'm sorry this is so short, but we have to go get ready for another split with the sisters from Wiesbaden and we both need to take showers after our Sport Day. Also, groceries need to be a thing. Today has been crazy.

I love you all!!! You are incredible!!!! I know there are some of you who are going through some pretty tough challenges right now. Some of them have been going on for a while. But don't you give  up!!!! God is still there for you!!! Jesus Christ is still there for you!!!!! And if you feel like neither of them are actually there for you, then I AM STILL HERE. I STILL LOVE YOU AND YOU ARE AMAZING AND IF YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT I WILL COME AND SLAP YOU WITH A WIENERSCHNITZEL. These are my feelings on this subject. Have a great week!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

After the rain

Grammar Error

Lion Fish

Was I Even Home This Week????

I am exhausted. We had two splits this week and they overlapped and I went out to the Sisters' areas both times so I was gone for three days straight. I mean, technically the second split we did with the International Sisters so I was still in Frankfurt. But it just doesn't seem like you're actually there when you don't go home to the same place. It was weird. It was also TONS of fun. We're doing the same thing this week but thankfully the splits don't overlap so that will be good. Also, I'm taking over on the second split. WAT. I'm still lost when we walk out the door in the morning and I have no concept of how far away things are so I have no idea how long it will take to get places. It's fine. We gave the Zone Leaders advance notice, so everything should work out okay when I do get us lost.

As far as work goes, I don't think I've talked about the investigators here very much which is super sad because they're incredible! We're teaching this man named Kumar and he is SO PREPARED. The Sisters met him on the street and started talking to him about God and the Book of Mormon and he asked if he could meet with them to learn more. I was on a split for the last lesson we had with him, but Sister Porter (who serves in the International ward here) asked him how he met the missionaries and he said, "God sent them to me." HOW COOL IS THAT???? He has no Christian background, but he loves the Gospel and he loves feeling the Spirit! Two lessons ago at the very end he told us he had to say something and I was kind of nervous but then he said, "I just love coming here and talking with you. I love the power I get when I come here and learn more about this church and about God and the Book of Mormon. I just love it. Thank you for telling me these things."

MIRACLES.

He is so adorable, and I love him. Unfortunately, we have to give him to the International Elders this week because he doesn't speak German very well so he would need to go to the English ward, but he is incredible. I am so excited for when he gets baptized.

Next up is the Familie Turovski. They were a less-active family but one of their sons just got baptized and they've been coming to church for the last little while and it's awesome! We met with them this week and they are the greatest family! Bruder Turovski is hilarious and served his mission in Ukraine. Sister Turovski makes DELICIOUS food and is a bit sassy but super easy to get along with. Andriy, the one who just got baptized, does scouts! We had a great talk about scout camp and what sorts of activities he did at the camp he went to last year. I've only met with them once, but I already love this family a ton.

We have another investigator named Agnieszka (Agg-nee-shkuh) who I haven't met yet. She's been on vacation for a few weeks and we've just been waiting for her to get back. But she texted us on Sunday and said that she was back and that she would be at churchon Sunday and we could make an appointment then!!!! She sounds super cute, and I'm really excited to meet her. :)

The people that we get to meet with are just absolutely amazing and they are so prepared to hear the Gospel! I really have never been more tired in my life, but it's awesome! I love working to bring about the salvation of souls. It's great. :)

This week, I got to help teach English to a cute little German girl and her Russian grandmother, talk about the Abrahamic covenant with a new convert from China, and go super in-depth on the Plan of Salvation with a less-active who had a lot of questions. Also, we went to Eis Christina and got banana splits. It was basically the best day of my life. I love Eis Christina. We're going back this week because Sister Jeppesen has to enjoy as much of it as she can before she goes home. Speaking of which, she had her Leaver's Interview! That is so crazy because there is still so much of the transfer left! I mean, not really because it's a short transfer but we still have 3 weeks! That is so much time and not enough time at the same time! Krass.

We made Spätzle Apple Crisp yesterday during call-ins. Spätzle is a kind of noodle that is made with flour, water, and eggs. You cook it by pressing the dough/batter stuff through a strainer thing into a pot of boiling water. You know it's done because it floats to the top of the water when it's cooked. We put sugar and cinnamon in ours and then put it on top of a bunch of apples and cinnamon and then baked it for thirty minutes. It was actually really good, and I feel like someday, Deutschland will thank us for our contribution to their culture of food. Because really, you can put Spätzle with a ton of stuff. Like Cheese! Käse Spätzle is really good. I think we might make that for dinner tonight. Or Maultaschen. Those are delicious. They're like a little ravioli thing, but not. They look like ravioli, but they don't have ground beef or cheese inside. I'm not actually entirely sure what is inside of them. Whatever it is, it is super yummy and I like it a lot. You can boil them, fry them, or just eat them cold which is what I've done a lot lately because we don't have time to cook something most of the time. Spätzle Apple Crisp excluded. 

Anyways, in case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of hungry right now. We have plans to go to a wurst place in the center of the City (also known as the Zeil) called 'The Best Worscht in Town.' I am excited. It's going to be great. We also might get more ice cream. Maybe not though, because it has rained like, every day this week and it was POURING earlier. It's stopped for now, but we'll have to see what the weather does.

I love you all. I love this Gospel more than I can say. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be quite honest, that's not something that I always remember all the time. trying to become a Preach My Gospel Missionary is really hard and I've felt like I've kind of hit a wall in my progression lately. Giving everything over to the Lord is a lot easier said than done. But I'm trying. And I will keep trying and keep working and keep doing because there are souls at stake and I have spent enough time on my mission not fully appreciating that fact. There is no time to waste in the Lord's Vineyard! No time to waste in attending to the needs of His children, and no time to waste slacking off because we're tired. Excuses are not allowed and the only things that are are hard work and dedication. This Gospel is a Gospel of action, not reaction. If we want something out of it, we have to put something into it. I really, REALLY want to put EVERYTHING I have into it. I haven't done it yet, but I'm working on it. He can have every little part of me because I KNOW that He can make so much more of it than I can. I've seen it in the lives of our ward members, investigators, and even the beginnings of it in me. I am not the same person that I am when I left and I don't want to be anything close to that girl when I come home. I've seen how much better I can become and I have a long way to go but He said I can do it so I believe I can. The Gospel changes our lives and makes us into the people that God would have us be. It turns us into Christ-like leaders by teaching us how to be Christ-like followers. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and I am grateful for this great privilege that I have to preach it to my brothers and sisters in Germany. I am an imperfect servant, but I am so blessed by being allowed to be a blessing in the lives of others. It is truly awe-some.

I love you. Have a fantastic day, and a sunshine-filled week!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister John

FRANKFURT!!!!

Note from Mom: Sorry this was late. I was at NYLT Scout Camp all week. It was awesome and Sierra wrote a special letter to the Timberline staff which I read to them.


So I have now been in Frankfurt for a week and it is SO BIG. I am not the second we get out the door, but if we're not going to the church or the bus stop, I have no idea where we're going. It's okay though, because I already told the Zone Leaders that if I ever call them and I'm crying, it's because I am lost and they need to come find me. It's a pretty good system, so I should be covered when I do eventually get us lost.

But really, Frankfurt is amazing! I mean, it's not Nürnberg (nothing could be) but I still love it! Which is really weird because I really hated big cities before my mission.... Weird. Anyways, we have had SO MANY MIRACLES this week!! We have gotten in contact with less-actives that no one has talked to in months, visited a less-active in a care center and met a lovely woman and her husband who are now investigators, and FINALLY met with a super cute woman and her son and had the best conversation about Christ EVER and they then became investigators!!! Nürnberg is a city of miracles, but it seems like the Spirit just permanently resides in Frankfurt and we just have to try and keep up with it. Which I am totally okay with. I have been EXHAUSTED this week. More tired than at any other point on my mission. But I've also never been this happy and this excited to go out and see what happens every day. I'm really excited and I hope I stay here for a really long time. :)

My new companion's name is Sister Jeppesen and she is awesome! We've discovered that we're basically the same person because we think exactly the same! It's been a blessing in the lessons we've already taught because we've been able to skip a lot of the awkward moments of learning to teach together and just jump in. It has been an incredible blessing and I am so happy to have her as a companion. :) She goes home at the end of this transfer though, which is super sad! Especially because it's only a five week transfer since last transfer was seven. It's also really stressful because that means I have to learn the area and how to be an STL here in 5 weeks. Really only 4 weeks now, though. That is a super scary thought. Bleh. Moving on....

We had District Leader Rat this week and an elder from Nürnberg Zone got transferred up here with me and we basically brought Nürnberg with us. We both feel like there's a bit of a separation between all the missionaries in Frankfurt because there are SO MANY and we work with two different wards. I miss the family feeling of my last zone, but we're working on it up here. Our Zone Vision last transfer was #ThinkBIG and we kind of implemented the same idea up here. It's not exactly the same because it's not exactly the same Zone, but the basic idea is what we need so we're using it. It's great. It has been an  amazing blessing to see how the Lord has prepared me on my mission so that I can serve better. It's a huge testimony builder to me to see how He has helped me grow so that I can fulfill my callings even better. I am super grateful for that.

I miss Nürnberg. I miss all my friends there and all of our investigators and the awesome ward and the two euro döner place. But there's a lot to be said about Frankfurt that is great, and fantastic. The ward is lovely and a lot of people came and introduced themselves to me at church and they were super nice. The investigators that I've met are incredibly prepared and I am so happy to be able to get to know them and help them come closer to Christ. We haven't had any döners yet because we're not elders and we eat healthy food, but Eis Cristina (the BEST ice cream shop EVER) is literally ten minutes away and we might go today and I am really, really, REALLY excited. :3

My last week in Nürnberg was super sad, and I miss it a lot and I miss all the people and I miss knowing where I'm going and knowing how to get there and I just want to go back! One thing that has been really helpful though is remembering that God has a plan for everyone. So I will see all those people again. I will go see Zeynep and Tolga and Caroline and Elena and Maxine and Katrin and Andrea and Rene' and EVERYONE again. It just might take a while. Like, I'll-see-them-in-the-life-after-this-and-not-sooner, while. But that's okay. Because I will see them and it will be great. Patience is a heavenly virtue.

I love y'all. I love Germany. I love the Gospel and I love God and Jesus Christ. Having the opportunity to share the Gospel is incredible and the blessings that I see from it just keep coming. The biggest blessings are the ones that come in the form of people who are even more prepared to hear about the Gospel. Today we had to take Sis. Jeppesen to the doctor and on the way back we were just talking and the lady sitting in front of us turned around and said, 'Sisters!' We were so surprised but she had heard us speaking American English and knew that we had to be missionaries before she even saw us! It was incredible, and she should be calling us at the end of this week once she's done with exams. 

The work in Europe is moving forward. Before my mission I had never heard that if you serve a mission in Europe then you won't ever baptize anyone because all you do is sow seeds. I never heard that, but once I got here I heard it a lot. I want to tell you all right now that that statement is absolutely and completely FALSE. The Lord is mindful of ALL of His children and He is helping them ALL find their way to His Restored Gospel on the Earth. He does not need a bunch of 18 to 20 year old kids to go out and try and teach His Gospel. He really doesn't. But He asks us to, because He knows that we can do something to help. He is hastening the work. We need to decide whether we're going to help or hinder His efforts. 

I want to do everything I can to help.

I love you all! Sorry this is kind of short but I am really tired and I can't think. Have a great day and an AMAZING week!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister John