Another Week in Frankfurt :)

Sometimes (all the time)

 we see other Frankfurt

 missionaries at train stations.

Mom Note: I'm getting her Christmas package ready to send. Not much because I don't want her to have to worry about getting it back home in March. If you want to include something, contact me asap.



Lieber Familie und Freunde,

To start with, there is a fair amount of rambling in this letter. I'm more awake because day light savings was Sunday for us, so we got an extra hour of sleep which was fantastic. But my brain has decided to make organizing thoughts into recognizable sentences and patterns really hard today. So yeah. I'm sorry you have to deal with that this week. I hope you can get something cool out it.

It is a blessed day to be a missionary in Germany. 
One, it is P-Day and we actually have time to do all of our emails.


Two, the weather is BEAUTIFUL today. The sky is beautifully blue and the sun is shining and coats will not be necessary until the sun goes down. 

I saw Sister Bakker at MLC!!!

Three, we received permission from Salt Lake to use the Area Book app this month, and now we have it. I am excited and a bit sad at the same time. I've gotten used to having a planner with me all the time. But, as President Stoddard said when we talked about it at MLC, "There will always be a bit of separation anxiety, won't there?" So it may be different, but I know that it will ultimately help our missionary work be more effective and help us help these souls come into our Savior. So I think we can all get over the loss of planners. :)

This week was a busy one, but it was wonderfully full of miracles. MLC was on Friday and it was so good! We talked a lot about speaking German more and really doing everything we can to show how much we love the people we are serving by learning their language. It really does make such a difference. Language is such a big part of a culture, and Germany has an absolutely lovely culture that I have come to love so much. Plus, serving with Sister Siems is so much fun because she always helps us with our German and teaches us fun new phrases that we can use every day. The Denglisch in our apartment hit an all-time high this week, but it's hilarious so I think it's fine. :)

This week we witnessed a miracle of the Priesthood and it was incredible. :) One of our investigators who should be getting baptized on Saturday fell down the stairs and broke her tailbone. On Saturday evening we show up for our appointment and she is in a ton of pain. So we give her some ibuprofen with specific directions of when to take it, and then proceeded to have a Mormon message movie night on her bed instead of teaching a lesson. But we wanted to help with her pain, so we explained what a priesthood blessing was and asked her if she wanted one.

The MLC crew. :) I love all of 

these Sisters and Elders a lot.

She said yes, so we called all the Elders in Frankfurt trying to find someone who didn't have an appointment and could come at last minute. The Tech Elders luckily had some time and a car, and came out to our investigator's apartment and gave her a blessing. It was so cool as Elder Blanchard anointed her and Elder Stiles gave her a blessing. The peace in the room had been steadily increasing since we got there, but as they gave her a blessing and talked about the blessings that Heavenly Father wanted to give her, it was incredible. She said afterwards that she felt totally at peace and that God had given her the peace she needed. She has such faith that she will be completely healed. We're meeting with her tonight to see how she's doing and talk about her baptism. I can't even explain how much I appreciate the presence of the worthy priesthood holders that I have been blessed to serve with. I am so grateful that they are able and willing to respond when we or our investigators need them. It has been such a blessing to be blessed by them and see them bless the lives of others. I wish I could explain it better! I just love the Elders here in Frankfurt. They are exceptional. :)

I just asked my companions what happened this week and Sister Jameson said we almost killed ourselves with thirteen lessons. That is a lot of lessons in one week because it takes FOREVER to travel anywhere. So she's not wrong. Unterwegs contacting. Yay!

A less-active member who we meet with often had her birthday yesterday! She invited us over to celebrate with her and we thought it would just be her and her dad who was visiting by we were SO wrong! She invited a ton of her neighbors and we shared a spiritual thought and it was way cool! I talked to her dad for about 30 minutes and he was way interested in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir because he had heard their arrangement of Amazing Grace and loved it. We had a great talk about that, and I invited him to come to church next time he comes to visit his daughter. Mal schauen, but it was a way great conversation. :)

Anyways, it was a great week. I'm glad we're done with splits for the transfer because we kind of died after our last one. It's all good. We just took some recharge time and ate a bit more chocolate this week. 

I had a thought while sitting on a bus this week. The leaves have all changed colors and the sidewalks are covered with leaves so you can't always see the uneven cobblestones. It's quite hazardous for people like me who trip just walking over a perfectly flat surface with nothing in the way. But my thought was that all the trees and leaves and cobblestones and everything is normal. But then the next thought was, "No, it's not. You live in a desert, remember?" I love Germany. I love the people. I love the sights, sounds, places, smells, and everything about it. It made me think about my thoughts about this country at this time last year, and I was wondering if it would ever feel comfortable to be living here. It was so different, and I couldn't speak or read anything and it was so hard! But now, I feel like this is my home more than home ever was. I love it here and I never want it to end. I am so thankful for the blessings that God gives to us to let us do hard and challenging things. Because at first, they are terrifying. But when we work at it and just do our best with what He has given us, we grow and learn things we never could have learned otherwise. After that, the fear goes away and the whole experience is turned into a beautiful collection of experiences. A few transfers ago, a Sister who was going home said that she was asked on a split to describe her mission in one word. She used the word, 'sacred.' Since then, I have tried to make my mission sacred, but the word I keep thinking of is 'consecrated.' This is one of the only times in my life where every moment has literally been consecrated to Him and His work. My job is to live up to that expectation He has set, and learn and help His children learn in the process. It's a great experience.

I love you all! I hope you're having a great week and that you remember that your Heavenly Father loves you so much! And if you've forgotten, or think you might have forgotten, just get down and ask Him if He loves you, and how much. I promise you that you will get an answer. It might not be enough answer that you are expecting, but you will get one.

I love you. Have a great day, and a fantastic week!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

A nice couple offered to take our picture in Mainz on a split. We said yes and tried to contact them, but they weren't interested. But at least we got a cool picture. :)
















Sometimes life is stressful, so we give each other massages. I promise that Sister Siems is not dead in this photo.