So ist das Leben (week 8)

Another hard and humbling week here in Hildesheim. Enjoy.

Monday April 7

We went shopping today in the Innenstadt, where we bought me a nice Deuter backpack for actually pretty cheap (45 Euros, yikes!). I tried my first Döner. We went grocery shopping. One of our milk cartons broke through the lid of a milch reis (milk rice) container so milch reis got ALL over EVERYTHING. We emailed. After emails, we had a lesson with "K. L. S.", an old Chinese (Cambodian?) man, who is obsessed with fat people. Meaning. He tells everyone they're fat and that they need to eat more salad and work out more. He told my companion that she's fat probably 12 times. Hahahahah, it was so hard not to bust out laughing so I had to turn around, hahaha.

Tuesday April 8

We met with our ward mission leader, Anders, at the library this morning. Afterwards we met with "P" at the library and we taught the first lesson. I recited the First Vision. "F" cancelled on us, so we went finding for the first time. We met a really fiery lady on the street who beat us to the punch line and tried to convince us to come to her church before we could say our spiel about coming to ours, haha.

Wednesday April 9

We went to Hannover today for ZTM (Zone Training Meeting). I saw Elders Pinyon and Cook there. Meetings like this are all in German so I was feeling frustrated. I started getting stressed, then I understood less German, and I could hardly speak any words. It was a pretty quick downhill slope. I'm so grateful that I have a patient companion. We got calzones and stamps at the Hauptbahnhof, and found a vending machine full of Rittersport. Huzzah for Germany.

Thursday April 10

We spent the whole morning trying to figure out train tickets for Missionary Home Evening, a few towns away. At first we didn't have any cash, then we bought the wrong tickets, then we waited in the rain, we got sent all over the Hauptbahnhof trying to find someone to answer our questions. It was eventually worked out (sort of). We asked "K. L. S." to be baptized in 6 weeks and he said that he wants to be baptized but wants to go "langsam" (slow). We met up with the Lüke family (Hoang, Kim, and "E") and rode the train to Missionary Heim Abend at a member family's house, which is about 200 years old. We had to sprint home from the Hauptbahnhof in order to be home on time tonight.

Friday April 11

We studied, ate lunch, went by a few contacts who weren't home, came home and did weekly planning, then headed to Tischtennis (ping pong). I led the way home from the church to our apartment. Normal day today.

Saturday April 12

All of the people we were going to meet with today fell through. Every one. That translates to: we went finding all day. We met a bunch of really cool people but didn't find any new investigators. We got ice cream for Sister Stuart's 10 month mark. If I were to title this day, it would be titled, "Rejected."

Sunday April 13

Long day. Met with "A" again this morning. We watched the last session of Conference instead of the second two hours of church. We had an Essen Termin (dinner appt.) with the Lüke family here at the church, and we had chili and brötchen (German rolls). I was able to meet the whole ward today--there are about 50 people in our ward. Three of our investigators were at church today! We watched the past RS broadcast afterwards too. "E" gave me a great big hug today because she's going to be gone for the next few days, and told me that she didn't want me to go. My heart melted into my shoes. This cute 14 year old girl, who I can hardly communicate with, and who I met less than 10 days ago, didn't want to let me go. It is moments like this that make all of the hard stuff about being a missionary worth it.

I am beyond grateful to be here serving in Hildesheim. Life is oh so good. If there's one thing that I've learned from being on a mission, it's this: God truly, truly loves us. He has a perfect plan for us. He wants us to return to Him, that's why we have prophets, the Book of Mormon, temples, families, churches, commandments, baptism... And, not the least of which is our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. I know that we can overcome ANYTHING that is put into our paths with the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that God loves each and every one of His children, regardless of where we are on the path returning to Him. From the very depths of my soul, I testify that God loves you. You are never lost.

Until later,

the one and only Sister Bianca Seamons

Funniest moments of the week:

1. While finding a few days ago, we were saying goodbye to a man, and I, very confidently, tried to say "Tschüß!" or "Bis später!" (one of the two), but it came out as "BIS!" which directly translates to, "UNTIL!"

2. My companion and I were praying for companionship study the other day, and I wanted to say, "Please bless us that we can help the people we find today." In German, there are two ways to say "people:" "Leute" and "Menschen." I ended up saying "Leutemenschen" in the middle of my prayer, and Sister Stuart busted out laughing and I couldn't finish the prayer. Hahahaha, ah the German language is my enemy. Makes for good laughs though.

Struggling for a picture in the wind.

Success.

HILDESHEIM