I Never Knew 36 Degrees Could Be So Hot....

Thirty-six degrees. That is Celsius. That equates to over ninety degrees Fahrenheit. I took three showers on Saturday during our meal times and after daily planning. Bleh.

Okay, as far as the week goes it was incredible! Three of our investigators came to church Sunday and it was incredible! One was a woman who we just talked to on a bench at Konstablerwache, and the other two were the Chinese girls who came to church last week. And they brought a friend!!!! It was way cool, and we had a great time meeting with them and helping them learn more about the Gospel. The two Girls, Yi and Yb, came to church last week and we met with them again on Saturday. I was kind of scared that they weren't going to come to church again because we might have offended them when we talked about baptism on Saturday (it's a long story. The short part is that not everyone needs to be invited to baptism in the first or second lessons) so we were really hoping that they would come. And they did! Yb had to leave after sacrament because she is super busy writing her Master's Thesis (these girls are SMART), but Yi and the other friend stayed the whole three hours. Then we gave the friend a Book of Mormon and asked if they had fifteen minutes where we could explain what he Book of Mormon is.

Well, fifteen minutes turned into over an hour of us explaining a bit and then them asking questions and us testifying more and them asking more questions. It was the most spiritual lesson I have been in in my entire life. At the end, Yi had told us a few things that she is struggling with and we invited her to pray and ask God if He was there, if He is really her Father in Heaven, and what she should do to work through some of her problems. It was a big request for a first prayer.

But she prayed, and it was in Chinese so we couldn't understand the words but the Spirit was unmistakable. She asked her questions and then closed her prayer in the name of Jesus Christ and I will be completely honest, I was worried. I had been praying that she would get an answer because this was one of those moments where you just feel that it is a "Make it or break it" moment and if she didn't get something out of his prayer then she was going to walk out the door and probably not come back. So I was nervous. But when I opened my eyes and look at Yi, she had this smile on her face and this wave of pure happiness just washed over me like a tidal wave. She had this light in her eyes and she was so happy and she said that she felt like she had more energy and that she could work through this problem that she has and it was literally one of the coolest experiences ever.

The Gospel changes lives. It makes us happy. It makes us want to be better. It is incredible, and I love it.

Quite honestly, that moment is the moment that I live for as a missionary. It's not someone telling me I did a good job, having someone thank me for teaching them the Gospel, or thanking me for being a good friend. All of those have happened and they made me feel good, yes. But the true joy comes from watching someone feel the Holy Ghost and God's Love for probably the first time. It comes from watching them realize that they want that feeling all the time and they are willing to make the changes necessary to do it. The Gospel changes lives. And it changes them for the better. True happiness is found through the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

I am still learning these things, but I know them now so clearly. I love my mission. I love serving the Lord, and I love serving His people who are my brothers and sisters. It's incredible, and I would not trade a second of this experience for the world.

I love you all. Have a fantastic day, and an amazing week.

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John


P.S. Please excuse the grammatical errors. An iPad is not the best
place to type, and it's been too hot to sleep well this week so I'm
only mostly exhausted. It's fine, it's fine. :)



There's a Brazilian family who were referred to us by a member of the seventy from the International Ward. We followed up on it right away and this is literally right outside their front door. They are now being taught by the International Sisters because there are a lot more people who speak Portuguese in their Ward. They also have baptismal dates, so that is cool. :)








MLC!!!! It was way good but also sad because some of my best friends weren't there this time.... That awkward moment when you realize you're getting old on the mission. :P


Also, please excuse the elders on the right. It was a long, hot day and they were kind of crazy by the end of it. 

This is how we parallel park. There was just a bit more room in the back. #reasonswhyidon'twanttodriveingermany





We saw a dead bat on the way to visit a member and Sister Jameson was distressed by it. Also, her mother sent her that shirt and it is adorable. Also, she is adorable. My companion is great. :)

It was way too pretty to not take a picture. And Sister Jameson has all the good photos of our walk by the river after having lunch at a member's house on Sunday after church. So probably more photos to follow.

Thirty New Missionaries, Two New Areas, One Lost Sister, and a Surprise Dritt

What would you do, if you could start 

again with a new beginning? Excellent 

question. I know some missionaries who

would love to help you do just that. ;)

Okay, I learned my lesson. This is actually the second time that I am writing this email because my iPad decided to randomly have my mailbox delete the draft I made. Lame. :P

Anyways, it is finally starting to feel like fall which is lovely. Hot summer sun combined with humidity just equals sadness and melted ice cream. So it's getting better and life is good. :)

We got to pick up the new missionaries! There were thirty of them!!!! We now have about 95 companionships of full-time missionaries, so that's pretty sweet. Around thirty percent of that is sisters, which is way crazy! I don't know how Temple Square does it with only sisters. I would have died.

Anyways, we got to go and pick up the sisters from the airport! And it was super great! We were specifically in charge of picking up two sisters who were not flying in from Provo. One is from Germany and was flying in from Dresden (Sister Kux was in his mission but went home for a bit and then came back), and a sister from Manchester who came from the Preston MTC (Sister Johnson is literally the sweetest person you will ever meet).

Sister Johnson's plane was scheduled to land first, and then Sister Kux about forty-five minutes after that. It would have worked out fine, but the information board lied to us. Both sisters were scheduled to come through the same gate, which was way convenient for us so we picked a spot and started watching and waiting for Sister Johnson to come through the gate. Well, fast forward an hour and a half later and we see Sister Kux come through, but no Sister Johnson. Oops.

So we call Elder Kirk (really, Sister Jameson called Elder Kirk. I was too busy freaking out. It's moments like these where I really appreciate the amount of chill she brings to our companionship) to come and pick up the sisters luggage and try and find Sister Johnson. Turns out, she wasn't too far away. Just one gate over from where we were. And being the sweet person that she is, she didn't get mad or anything. Just smiled and laughed when we later got on the wrong train that actually took us way out of our area instead of back to the church. It was a long day, but it was great. :)

After that, we had the pairing meeting!!! We have two new areas in the Friedrichsdorf Zone - Wetzlar Sisters and Wetterau Sisters. I am way pumped because the missionaries in both of these areas are top notch. And Sister Johnson is one of them! I am so excited for this next transfer. It is going to be fantastic. :)

We've been in a Dritt with Sister Markl this week. She goes home tomorrow and I'm actually sad about that, but this week has been great. She actually "finished" her mission last week, but her parents had planned a big trip to America a long time ago and then it just happened to be the same week that she was supposed to come home! But it's okay, because she got to stay with us for a week and it was great. I've learned a lot from her and we've had lots of fun. And that's all that matters. :)

BTW, we totally met President Kearon this week. For those who don't know, he is the Area President in charge of all the church in Europe. He's way cool, and waved at us from his car and then rolled down his window and talked to us for a moment because his car was stopped at the traffic light. It was way cool, and he even shook our investigator's hand. So yeah. That happened.

We set a baptismal date with one of our investigators this week! He was actually contacted at the last new missionary street display. We had met with him once, but then hadn't been able to get a second appointment for a month. Then, we were finally able to meet with him! We had a SUPER powerful lesson about repentance, the Atonement and baptism. Then we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes! We set a date for October, so we're working with him on that right now. I'm way excited. The Gospel has already started to change his life. He is on a roller coaster that only goes up. :)

This week, I've been thinking a lot about people and who they are and what they do and why they do what they do. I've been thinking about it because I have decided that I really love being a missionary. Heavenly Father has trusted me to interact in the stories and lives of His children here, and play a part that brings them closer to Him and His Son. That is an AMAZING responsibility. An amazing trust. I love the people here and the experiences I have been given to help me love them.

I realized that if we would all just focus on a person's soul, and on seeing them as who they really are, as Children of God, there would be a LOT less racism in the world. A lot less hate. A lot less anger. A lot less sadness and sorrow. I think that would be a very beautiful world, and we could all do a little better to do just that.

I love you all. Please have a very safe and fantastic day! I'm praying
for all of you!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

This happened at our street display two days ago. Thankfully, we were on the other side of the street and had a perfect view to watch from. Plus, this man doesn't need to wash his car anymore!

Never mind the tree branches, but it was a beautiful day and I just had to take a picture and this was he best angle available at the time.

Dritt ice cream. The purple is actually blueberry flavored frozen joghurt. It was WAY yummy, but I had to go for the cherry cheese cake after the girl at the counter made me try it. :)

Still in Frankfurt!

Split with the the Hanau Sisters!
Sister Baker is a gem and is SO happy!
 I hope I can be as happy as her someday. :)

Hello! It has been a crazy week, but next week is even crazier! We are getting THIRTY NEW MISSIONARIES tomorrow. WAT.

I have no idea how we're going to do it. We're going to the airport to pick up the new missionaries again. I'm so excited! Also, Sister Jameson is going to get to pick up her MTC companion! They both went to the Preston MTC and came out together, but this sister went home after one transfer. But now she's back! It's fantastic, and Sister Jameson is way excited. I promise to take pictures. :) We opened up five new sister areas this transfer, so that's crazy. We now have two more sister areas than we used to and they're both in the Friedrichsdorf Zone. Wetterau and Wetzlar sisters are a thing! I'm super excited!

It also means more splits, so that will be great. Stressful, but great. It will be super fun because we're splitting with the Wiesbaden Sisters first this week and Sis. Starry's trainer is going to be with us! Sis. Markl is going home this transfer, but because of some traveling among her family she'll be going home a week later than everyone else. So she'll be staying in a Dritt with us for a week! I'm way excited, and Sis. Starry is totally coming to Frankfurt for this split and it will be fabulous. :)

As far as work goes, we're kind of stuck. We need new investigators because the people we are teaching right now aren't progressing very well. But the Lord has been helping us out because we have talked to a TON of people in the past week, and some of them said they even wanted to talk again! We found two new investigators this week and it was amazing! I'm super excited to see what this week brings in the way of work. We keep seeing incredible miracles and amazing blessings. God is great, and He is most certainly helping us find His children. Two Elders that I became good friends with are going home this transfer. I'm kind of sad about that, but it will be fine.

We're meeting with one of our investigators tonight. He called us out of the blue Saturday evening. We had met with him at the beginning of the transfer and he seemed really great. Then we couldn't get contact with him for literally five weeks. We called him every day and he answered only twice. Then Saturday he calls us and thanks us for our persistence because he's been having a hard time in his life and he really just wants to know what God's plan for him is and he knows the Book of Mormon can help him and can we please help him, too? We're meeting tonight I'm so excited to help him find purpose in life and take those first steps on God's Plan for him. It's going to be so good. :)

I've been feeling tons better this last week. We learned how to make a SUPER YUMMY salad from a member this week. I will be making I when I get home. Also, red bell peppers are delicious and should always go in salads. And Feta cheese. And sometimes even tomatoes. But only sometimes, and only if they're good, cherry tomatoes. :P I feel so blessed to be a missionary. It is an awesome privilege. My district is great, my city is fantastic, and I have a great companion who I get to stay with for another transfer. I know this won't last forever, but I love it here.

I also love all of you. All of you who write consistently and inconsistently. Who always read and don't always read these emails. I love all of you, and I treasure the moments and times that we have had together. Remember that you are a beloved child of God, and He loves you. He rejoices in your successes and mourns over your losses. He wants the best for you. If you feel lost, just look for Him. Because His arm is always out-stretched to help you find the way back to Him and He is always doing something to help you see the way. The funny thing I've noticed these last few months is that I can't ever NOT find God in my life. He is a part of everything I do, and the more I look for Him, the more I find Him. That is a beautiful gift.

I love you. Please have a very fantastic day, and an incredible week.
Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

P.S. It's hard to read, but I still really enjoy English grammar mistakes. Also, I would not want to be the one to pick up some old person's teeth and turn it into the Lost and Found Office. Ew. 

Rainy Weeks are the Best Weeks

Today is ridiculously hot. Not really, it's only 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But it is a big change from last week when it was only 60-70 and rainy. So yeah. Weather is a great thing here because the buildings are so tall that you lose sight of the tops of them in the clouds sometimes. It's really cool. :)

Ice Cream - we shared

This week we saw a lot of people playing Pokemon on their phones. It was really funny to see someone get on a bus and start going just so they could see more Pokemon. It was super funny to see someone get off a bus to make sure they got the Pokemon they wanted. People are funny.

Sunday was a great day, which was a nice change from last week where I had decided that I didn't want to be in Frankfurt anymore. It was not the best day. But this week, I really worked on changing my attitude about this city and I can honestly say that I now LOVE Frankfurt. It is a great place which TONS of prepared people. We go through lots of new investigator sheets, but we're going to find the ones who are ready to keep commitments and be baptized. It's only a matter of time. :)

w/ International Sisters

As far as the week goes, it was great! We made a split with the International Sisters (Sister Jenkins and Sister Anderson) and it was a lot of fun. Sister Jenkins did dance for 16 years before her mission. We woke up at 5:55am so we could go over to get church and stretch out and do some dance stuff for our Morgensport. It was lovely, and we both had a lot of fun. We were very awkwardly sore afterwards because we haven't done anything like that for so long (her for three months, me for longer), but it was absolutely worth it. She is WAY better than I am, but we both had fun teaching each other and just messing round until we had to go back and get ready for the day.

After that, we went on a Power Split with the Friedrichsdorf Sisters! They decided last week that none of their investigators were progressing and they just needed to get new ones, so they Tschüßed all of their investigators and had scheduled six hours of finding every day. We asked if we could come and split with them for part of one day to try and break up their schedule a bit. We saw SO MANY miracles!!!!!

First of all, we meet up in Friedrichsdorf and then go to Bad Homburg (b-aw-d   Hom-ber-g) to go finding, and we barely make it out the front doors when Sister Madsen and Sister Jameson start talking to someone. So then Sister Balls and I hop on a bus to go to the city center and once we're there, we pray about which bus to get on. While we were praying, a bus pulls up and is about to pull away when Sister Balls says, "Let's get on THAT bus." So we run and jump on, and end up having this super great conversation with this girl named Lisa. We talk with her until the bus gets to the end stop. Then we get on the next bus going back to the city center to find Sister Madsen and Sister Jameson, who had found three potential investigators while we were gone, and continue finding. Once there, we realize that our bus rides were longer than we thought they were and we actually need to head back to Frankfurt. So we go back to Bad Homburg Hbf and catch a train at literally the perfect time, and get back to Frankfurt just in time to meet up with the International Sisters and go get ice cream all together to end the power split. It was a VERY good day. :)

Interviews with President were this week. I love talking with President Stoddard. He is literally the best Mission President EVER (sorry if you're not serving in the Germany Frankfurt Mission! Pray REALL HARD at transfers and maybe it'll happen!). Really, I know that all mission presidents are amazing. But you can just feel the love emanating from President and Sister Stoddard and I really love that about them. The council that I get from talking with President is incredible, and I always come out feeling way more motivated than I was before. It's awesome. :)

We had dinner with two of the senior sister missionaries in our ward yesterday after church, and one of our investigators came along! It was so good, and the sisters did such a good job at helping her feel loved and appreciated. It was amazing, and the Spirit was super strong. Also, the food was delicious, and there was meat so I got my protein for the day. :)

I just want to say how much I love it here in Frankfurt. My district is super great. I am actually really sad that our district will probably be changing next transfer. Well, definitely changing. Elder DeMass is going home. But it will be okay. I love it here, and I have been privileged to serve with such amazing missionaries.

I KNOW that God sends us where we need to go. He is involved in EVERY detail of our lives. I have learned that so much more in this area than anywhere else. I love it. I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Savior. I love Frankfurt. I love being a missionary. I have no idea what will happen at the end of this transfer, but I am hoping that I don't get transferred. I love it here way too much. I love being able to work with the Sisters and all of the new missionaries and all of the leaving missionaries and it is just great. I love working with our investigators and going finding here is incredible because we don't see a lot of success in the day-to-day finding. But when we look back on the week, we can see all the blessings that we were given. Our lives are like that, too. I've been thinking a lot this week about what I believe about the Gospel, and what I know. It's been interesting. I can honestly say that I would not know or believe half of the things that I do without all the church leaders who have helped me get here. All the Young Women leaders who were probably worried about me and the kind of person I was growing up to be. All the times Brother Healey dropped by to give me a Mission Prep assignment that I didn't want or think I needed. All the sisters and brothers who were there when I didn't want anyone there. I would not be who I am today without them. Without their selfless examples and love, I would not have the testimony I have today.

So I want to say thank you.

Thank you for your work, and for teaching me how to do the same. I really appreciate it. And I know that one day, the people that I've taught there in Germany will tell you they appreciated it, too. Because the influence of your good works is felt everywhere I go because you took the time to love me and show me a better way.

Thank you for your examples. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your service.

I love you all! I'm sorry I've been so bad at writing personal emails lately. I really just have no desire to. I'm not super fatigued anymore, but we're working harder than ever so I'm still tired. But
it's a good tired this time. Hard working tired. The best kind of tired.

I love you! Have a fantastic day, and a fabelhaftig week!!!!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

   

District Mtg - so not on Sunday

New pad cover 

Wait, You Mean I need to Not Eat So Many Vegetables???

1 John 3
1 And it came to pass that in the days of her service to the Lord,
Sister John did spent much time preaching unto the people and bringing
them unto salvation.
2 And as she went among the people with her companion, Sister Jameson,
Sister John exhausted her strength and spent her time during lunch and
dinner stunde obtaining much rest.
3 And on the next day, she and her companion did meet with the Zone
Leaders to attend to their responsibilities as leaders among the
missionaries in the Frankfurt Zone of the Germany Frankfurt Mission.
4 As they attended to their responsibilities, it came to pass that
Sister John remembered that Elder Evans was a very intent man, and
very firm in the faith of exact obedience and Morgen Sport. So Sister
John took it upon herself to ask Elder Evans what she could do to not
be so tired all the time.
5 And it came to pass that Elder Evans did freu himself, and proceeded
to ask Sister John what she ate for every meal of every day and how
much protein she did consume on a regular basis. And as Elder Evans
and Sister John did counsel together, they did make a plan for Sister
John to consume more protein and nutrients and be more healthy.
6 And the Lord saw that it was good, and was pleased. 
7 And thus ends the third chapter of the Epistle of Sister John.


Yep, it has been unanimously agreed upon that I do not eat enough protein (or meat) in literally the land of sausages. Yeah..... But Elder Evans did help me come up with a plan to eat healthier and he has already been following up on it really well so everything should be getting back to normal and I should not be so tired. It's going to be another great week. :)

As far as this week goes, it was so good!!! The Lord has been putting prepared people into our path all week, and it has been so good. Zum Beispiel, today we met a man on the bahn who had been to the Tag Der Öffnen Tür (temple..... Open..... Thingy) when the Friedrichsdorf temple was first dedicated like, 14 years ago. And then he sat across from us on the bahn and started talking to us and we exchanged numbers with him and invited him to the Freiberg temple Tag Der Öffnen Tür even though it's way far away.  He was super happy, and said that he would read the Book of Mormon that he was given at the Friedrichsdorf temple and that we could totally meet later this week and talk some more about the church. He is a miracle, and he's totally going to get baptized. :)

We have had a bit of Streit between us and the Elders this past week.... But it's okay because Elder Sommer brought up a really good point as we were talking this last week. We don't come on missions to make friends. We come to serve the Lord and His people. And that is something that I could do better at focusing on, so I'm going to do that. Really focusing on the Lord and His people, and not so much on our relationships with the other missionaries. Which sounds harsh now that I write it out. But we're still going to be friends, and we're still going to focus on our sisters that we're allowed to look after. But as far as Elders go, I'm going to do what Elder Sommer said and just do the work. We'll see what happens.

Anyways, I'll make sure to put some photos in at the end of this email. I love you all! Have a great day, and a fantastic week! Don't forget that I'm rooting for you!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John