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

        

How is it Only Week Three?!?!?!?

 

I feel like transfer calls should be this weekend, not in three weeks. Time moves so strangely here.

Anyways, hallo!!!! Wie geht's euch? Gut, gut. Mir geht's auch, gut, danke. Diese Woche, hatten wir viele Terminen und wir haben zwei neue Untersucheren bekommen! Es ist so gut gelaufen, das wir haben gedacht das wir „on top of the world" waren. So wir haben ganz hoch für P-Day geklettert!

Es war so cool, den ganzen Stadt zu sehen. Ich denke das jeder soll auch so hoch klettern. :)

Okay, I'll switch back over to English, but I hope you got at least part of that. I got to translate for church on Sunday and it was a ton of fun! So I'm really making an effort to use German more often. 

After we made our way back down the super narrow, steep, and dangerous staircase of doom, we went inside the Dom and it was so cool!!!!We climbed up 328 stairs to the top of the cathedral here in Frankfurt, and it was a ton of fun! It was my second time there, but it wasn't as cool (temperature wise) as it was last time. That made it a bit harder, but still good. We had a fun time with the International Sisters, so that was awesome. :

This explains the week  

 

 

Sister Jameson was also tired this week........

Also! We totally ran a 5k this week! Because we literally have half the state of Utah in our mission, we ran a 5k for Pioneer Day! It was great! It was fun! No one died, including me! It was great. :)

The "young" missionaries after the race. 

As far as the week goes, it was WAY busy. We found two new investigators through the area book, so that was super sweet. We only had one split, so that was good. We have.... Two? Planned this next week. I honestly can't keep track of them anymore. It is in my planner, I promise. 

I have been kind of struggling this last week. I have been super tired and fatigued lately, so we are going to make sure we eat super healthy and get to bed on time. So hopefully that will help. 

Miracle of the week! We did a district finding activity after church on Sunday and while we were dooring a building the elders called us and asked if we happened to have a Book of Mormon in Serbian with us, which we did. Then they asked us to come and meet us with this woman who spoke Serbisch. Which we did. And she is now an investigator. It was super cool and she even showed us pictures of her grandkids. She is adorable, and we're going back this week. :)

It was a super great week, and I love being a missionary. Sometimes it's really hard, and you just want to take a break for a week but you can't. But then you ask God for help. You ask Him to help you see the good, and see the miracles that happen everyday. Then you make the decision to be happy and do your part and guess what? It WORKS. The Gospel really works, and it is so good. This week was hard, but I know that He is there and it is awesome. 

I love you all! Have an awesome day, and a fantastic week!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister John

Other Sisters, spaghetti Eis, Hydrangeas outside the ice cream place.

     

An Analysis On Why I Get No Sleep, and a Miracle!

Sometimes I ever wonder if I will ever get enough sleep. Then I just take a breath and keep going.

Life is still going, and this week I learned a lot about what it means to truly love someone and care about them. Which is why I am getting no sleep. There are some sisters in the zones that Sister Jameson and I watch over, and they are struggling a bit. And from going on splits with these sisters and talking with them and their district leaders and talking as a companionship trying to figure out what to do to help them and praying and staying up trying to figure it all out, it has honestly made me appreciate my parents a lot more. I know that my parents probably stayed up a lot more nights than they ever said, just to make sure I got home okay. I know they spent a lot of time and effort worrying about me and about the problems I was going through and creating for myself.

They worried, they waited, and they loved.

And that is my calling right now.

Obviously, I'm not actually a parent to these sisters. Nor do I want to be. But my calling is to help lift them up when they feel small, and help them do and be their best. It has really helped me gain a very great appreciation of what my parents have done for me. So, thank you, mom and dad, for everything you've done for me.

Moving on to how the week actually went, it was great! I went on a split with Sister Freeman and it was a ton of fun! It was her first split ever, and we got lost! It was great and fantastic and then a bus driver got mad at us for not waiting "right underneath the bus stop sign" and then not going in through the "correct" doors. It was an adventure, and I'm sure he was just having a bad day.

After that, we had district meeting in Darmstadt! We visited their district meeting and it was awesome! We ate yellow watermelon and had lunch together. It was super yummy.

Then that night we had our district meeting! We've had it at the end of the day the last two weeks because that's just when it works out. But it was super great! And the Elders aren't scary and can actually be nice! We might finally be unified as a district which would be AWESOME. So yeah. Good things happening in Frankfurt. :)

On Thursday we went on a split with the Friedrichsdorf Sisters and they are just adorable. I love them both so much. :) Sister Madsen and I stayed in Friedrichsdorf and she did an awesome job at taking over the area for her first time. I think she's going to be an awesome Trainer someday. :)

Sister Jameson and I started taking selfies every day to track our progress throughout the transfer. We've only taken three, but the progress is.... Interesting. I have hope that someday we will get enough sleep, and that I will not have to keep hiding the chocolate from Sister Jameson. It's for her own good and she told me to, so it's fine. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't good at finding it. :P

We found some awesome potential investigators this week! We were dooring in an area where a previous investigator had lived, and everyone in the building before us had shut the door in our faces. So we moved onto the next building, said a prayer, and klingeled the first name on the door. A man answered, and Sister Jameson said, "Hi, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ," and before she could continue her sentence he man buzzed us in! Then, he opened his door and said, "I don't have any time right now because I have some visitors, but can I give you my number and then we can make an appointment on Monday when I get home from work? I really want to talk to you more."

Um.... WHAT.

It was so COOL!!!! His name is Petrus. We're going to be meeting him and his wife later this week. I am super excited, and super grateful for the blessing that he and his wife are. And I am super grateful for the blessings that they are going to receive through the Gospel. I'm already so excited for them. They're going to get sealed in the temple. I should probably calm down. It's going to be great. :)

So, yeah. It was a great week. :)

Oh! I haven't really said anything about my new companion! That's awkward. Well, her name is Sister Jameson and she is from San Diego, California. She's incredibly talented concerning music, movie quotes, and facial expressions. She is super loving, super caring, and generally just one of the best people ever. It is an honor and privilege to get to serve with her, and I am so excited to see how the rest of this companionship goes. :)

I love you all!!! Have a fantastic day, and an incredible week!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister John

Some Rain, Some Sun, and It's the Fourth of July!!!!

I dressed in red, white, and blue on purpose today. I look very much so like a sister missionary but that's okay because that's what I am! It's great! :D

Last week..... We went on a photo scavenger hunt..... But then the International Sisters told us hat Sister Porter was actually going home early so we spent the day with them instead and did not do a scavenger hunt. So yeah. That was a thin that happened. The longer I'm here in Frankfurt, the more I am realizing that just how often missionaries go home early for medical reasons. It's really kind of sad, but I know that their missionary service is all the more precious for it. It just makes me want to make sure I give everything I have to this mission and to the Lord because it may be a part of His plan that I go home before my eighteen months are up. If that were to happen, I want to say that I gave EVERYTHING to my mission. I want to leave it all on the field. :)

But sadly, I have no photos from our scavenger hunt. But I do have a photo of a bunch of swans!

We saw them as we walked back to the bahn haltestelle after meeting with a member of the bishopric and his wife yesterday after church. They are the cutest little family. Their daughter is adorable. :) We talked about service in the church and how we can serve other people through our callings. Bruder Wiborny (that would be the dad) made a comment that I really liked. He said that the church has all here programs that really help out a lot of people, but it's only when we focus on the One that it really starts to work and has the greatest impact. It reminded me of how Elder Bednar looks for the One everywhere he goes. There's actually an awesome article about it on LDS.org right now if y'all wanted to go read about it. I highly recommend it. :) But really, the whole thing just reminds that about the greatest paradox of the Gospel; the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ is for US. But if we look at it like that, and focus on making ourselves better, it doesn't work. It's only when we truly use it, and apply it, and follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ in serving others that it really works and changes us and our desires. I think that's why missions are so great at changing young men and women into such power-house return missionaries with firm testimonies: they spend all that time away from family and friends serving others and truly learning to follow Jesus Christ. It's a miraculous thing, when you think about it.

Anyways, sorry for my ramblings. You have a lot of time to think, on a mission. It makes you kind of turn philosophical sometimes.

We met with our investigator with a baptismal date this week, and her son made us cupcakes! He made them since it was Sis. Jeppesen's last time there. He is so sweet. I am really enjoying building a friendship with him. And hopefully this friendship will lead to his being baptized with his mom. But mal schauen. He's a sweet kid either way. :)

Burgers at Jamy's 

We went to a restaurant called Jamy's Burgers for P-Day last week. Oh. My. Gosh. It was SO GOOD. They use all fresh ingredients and their "special sauce" (which is really just fry sauce. In Germany!), and they have sweet potato fries!!! It was super delicious, and I was a vey happy Sister John afterwards. :)

We're meeting with the Turovski family today and making brownies together! Also, Sister Turovski is going to teach me how to make Weiss Kohl Rolladen. It's a cabbage roll stuffed with beef, rice, and some other stuff and then marinated in a sauce and served warm. It is DELICIOUS. Recipes will follow, but she said that it's kind of hard to make unless someone shows you. So, Ellie and I will just have to make it together when I get home. :)

Can I just tell you all how much I love being a missionary? I mean, it is super hard most days. A lot of people don't want to talk to us and give us weird looks and cross to the other side of the street when they see us, but then sometimes you're walking back to your apartment at he end of the day and the man who runs the Döner laden right below your apartment runs out and asks you for two cards with the church number and address on them because he wants to come to church on Sunday and bring his friend with him. And honestly, you're not sure if he'll show up. You're not sure how interested he actually is and if he wants to really learn more about Christ. But the fact that he recognized you and asked and was so excited to get the cards is enough. It is enough to know that he has the beginnings of desire and it makes you feel like God is watching out for you and helps you out even in the tough days. It is a good feeling. :)

Aside from that, transfer calls were this week and I'm going to be companions with Sis. Jameson!!! She's awesome and I'm super excited. Super sad for Sis. Jeppesen to leave, but it will be good for her. And we're going to keep writing so it will all be good. :)

Random realization: all of my past companions who are still in the field are all going to be at MLC. Wow. That is super crazy.

I love you all! Have a great day, and a spectacular, firework-filled week!!!!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister John

Humidity!!!