So Much More Good (week 69)

Sorry my titles are getting worse and worse as time goes on. And I definitely got behind again on that daily writing thing I was trying to be good at. I only wrote once this week. But I'll still try to keep you all more updated on what's going on, I just can't promise that it'll be an every day thing.

We're still meeting with our progressing investigator "J". He is definitely one of the most ready people I've taught on my mission and he continues to progress. The way he goes about things tells me how willing and eager he is to learn more and find out if God really is there. He came to English this week (and our English class really isn't good, haha, and sometimes it's only ever Enrico that's there) but he enjoyed himself and said its good for him just to hear English so if we wanted we could even teach him in English, haha. We also taught one of the elders investigators, "L", who's African. It was kind of a weird ordeal because we had an appointment on Tuesday but we went to the wrong street because of a one letter difference in the two streets and he more or less yelled at me on the phone because we got it wrong... So we were a little apprehensive about the new appointment. We met with him in the hallway of his apartment building because we're not allowed in his apartment when he's alone so we just got three chairs and met, haha, we were pleasantly surprised by how well the appointment went. We talked about the Book of Mormon and he expressed some concerns that he had that hadn't yet been addressed by the elders and we were able to make some good progress with him. We asked if he would be baptized and he said he really wants to study more but would be if it came to that point. Sweet! Also you should know that Africans say the BEST prayers. They pray with so much energy and power and soul that you just can't help but bow your head and smile and feel that if anyone's prayers are going to be answered, it's going to be theirs. :) We have so much good going for us right now! We also cleared up chastity and tithing with "D" and everything's going smoothly for his baptism in three weeks! We've also been seeing success just stopping by on less actives and finding them at home and making out return appointments. We received another referral this week, but haven't gotten a hold of her yet. If things keep going the way they're going, my last transfer is going to be a blast.

Funny experience from this week, :) we were reviewing chastity with "D" and we were talking about the six main points that are a part of the overarching commandment and since his German isn't that great, we were using our google translate app to make everything in French and then say it out loud because he can't read French! Anyways, I'm talking to "D" and all of a sudden Sister Egbert's iPad says "MASTURB[...]" really loud in an English accent... HAHAHA and "D" kept saying it cause he didn't know what it meant and we were just dyyyying. Another cool/random thing was when we were talking to this woman on the street and we had come to the end of the conversation (she didn't have interest) and we asked her where she was from, she said Turkey, and we told her we were from America. She was like "oh my gosh, you're Americans!!" in like a perfect American accent (up to this point we were speaking only in German). Turns out she married an American and lived in Ohio for some time. Super cool. She still didn't have interest though but it was a cool moment.

Welp. Transfer calls are this week—my last. I can't believe another transfer has gone by. It's amazing how much the Lord is able to squeeze out of me and my very limited ability and through that I truly know that He will always help us do what He requires of us. It's true what everyone says about love and charity ('neighbor love' in German), that it has the power to heal hearts and brighten days and cover long distances. When we ever ask ourselves "why?" we can always be led back to this answer, that the love of God is the reason for all things.

7 weeks.

Sister Seamons

Exhausted!

So Much Good (week 68)

Monday

Emails, shopping, grocery shopping. We ate at subway for lunch. We do this thing in our mission called "Tschüß books" which is just a book you give to people you served with and they print off pictures and write nice things in it and then at the end of your mission you just have this huge book of good memories and stuff. Anyway, so we worked on those for people we're going to see tomorrow. Then we had FHE and we played Settlers of Catan and I won, haha.

Tuesday

My last zone conference. President's last too. It was super sad and he gave everyone, even the sisters, hugs. I learned a super ton though. Really just how I can be a better missionary and make the most of my last few months so I'm ready to take on the world when I get back. Gosh the church is just plain true. It was also so good to see a lot of my friends and companions for one last time and talk to them and see how they're doing. Today was a really good day.

Wednesday

Another super good day! We made phone calls this morning to make out all of our appointments for the week. We called one of the investigators that we got from the elders who we couldn't get a hold of before. He answered, said he's still interested, and asked if we could meet...today! It only was gonna work after 8 p.m. but we told him we'd find someone to bring for a joint teach and be there. The whole day we kept asking people if they could come and they all said no. We went by on another earlier investigator and she gave us the shaft AGAIN so we're gonna give her a break. We had a little bit of extra time before we were going to eat and do language study so we decided to go out of our way to visit a less active, so we took the tram, which should have only taken like 15 minutes to get there, but ended up taking more than half an hour because of an accident or something. It was so hot and we both fell asleep, haha. Anyway this less active was home and let us right in!! We talked and shared a short message before we were on our way again. We got subway on our way to the church and ate really fast before seminary and choir. We had asked the choir director, Sister Mitte, if she could come to the lesson with us and last minute it ended up working! Oh my gosh this guy is so solid. His name is "J". He is super interested in faith and wants to develop it and said that our religion is the one religion that he's researched (and there's not a few of them) that really speaks to him. My companion and I both said that we haven't felt the spirit like that in a lesson for a really long time. At one point in the lesson, my companion got to describe her conversion story and he just sat there, riveted. After she finished, he said, "see, that really touched/moved me. I need this feeling with me all the time." He is so ready and so willing to keep his commitments and try it out and exercise his faith and come to church and dig deep. He promised he'd come to church and we made out a new appointment. I'm excited to see where this goes.

Thursday

Soup kitchen. We were sitting down eating when one of the men asked if he could sit by us so we told him that of course he could. We started talking to him and asked him if we was religious and he told us that he had been baptized into our church but had stopped coming a long time ago. We totally didn't believe him. People pull our legs all the time and the people at the soup kitchen aren't the most... I'll say normal. At this point my companion started working again and I kept talking to this man and eventually got his address so we could visit him! He said we were welcome to come over for a visit! How crazy is that?! Later in the day we looked at the ward list and this guy is totally on it but he moved and they didn't know where. We found a lost member! I'm still really amazed that this even happened. We'll see where this goes! We visited sister Schröter, went by on a less active, talked to people on the street, and taught "D" German.

Friday

Weekly planning. We got a referral from Leipzig today. We went to another appointment with an old investigator of the elders. She's the mom of a 9 year old girl in our ward who got baptized about a year ago and the mom also took the discussions in a roundabout way as the daughter was being taught. She said it's a bad time to start learning again but we shared a video anyway and we had such a good time that she invited us over for lunch next week! Her name is "D" and she's from Africa. Whoot! Then we went by on a less active that wasn't home. There was a RS activity that we went to and we basically just ate and then cut out stuff for a primary thing the rest of the time, haha. We had an eating appointment with the Abass's, an African family in the ward, and it was great and a lot of fun. Their home teacher was there too which is great because the members here are [working on getting better] with home teaching, haha... We ate African fried rice and had a spiritual thought. Another great day.

Saturday

We finally got a French speaking joint teach for "D" and we went through the baptismal interview questions and cleared some things up. He will be getting baptized on July 4th, :) super exciting!! We had nothing planned for the rest of the day which meant... Dooring. It was 90 degrees outside. We were out there for hours. And we were fasting, which meant no water. Honestly I'm surprised we survived, haha. People were pretty nice though but had no interest. We talked to one man for probably 25 minutes on his step and he just kept asking really good questions and I guess we gave pretty good answers cause he kept talking, haha. We came home and did area book work and I called a bazillion people cause my companion fell asleep. No luck.

Sunday

We had to leave early to pick up Destiny (the 9 year old member who's mom we visited this week) cause the elders used to do that but now it's our job. She had already been picked up when we got there. We had church and only "D" came—that means "J" didn't show. BUMMER. Huge huge bummer. But we got another referral today!! A friend of the Abass family we visited came to church and Brother Abass hooked us up, haha. Then we had an eating appointment and we just played with their kids for a while, haha. They have 5 kids under 8—two sets of twins and one normal, haha. They are so cute and so energetic, haha. Our investigator appointment fell out today so we went by on people (and ended up seeing this investigator on the way, ha) and ended the day with our studies.

Such a good week! We have one baptism on the way, "J" who's solid, two referrals, an old investigator, a less active woman, and a lost member. Pretty successful week if you ask me. This all goes to show that the Lord blesses us in our efforts and wants to see us try a little more and be a little better.

I know that God lives! I know that He's my Father and friend. I love Him and His Son and His work.

8 weeks.

Sister Seamons

I hear this is the 2nd biggest clock tower in Europe.
Second to Big Ben? Someone do their research on that.

"D", Enrico, and the Mitte's (week 67)

Since we got iPads and its now much easier to do emails, I decided I'm going to write daily because there's so much more that goes on that I always forget about on Monday! So now you can get a real look at what it's like to be a missionary in lovely Halle. :)

Monday

Went to church and did emails. Enrico invited us to do a little train ride for kids that was going around this 'island' in the middle of the river! Sister Egbert was super excited, haha. Then we had to go to our appointment with Christine at "C"'s (the man who came to church yesterday). Remember how we thought he was totally crazy when he called last week? We got that side today. We had a pretty good lesson about the Book of Mormon but then he's all hitting on Christine and telling her to come over to his house alone because he's got something to talk to her about and she's basically like I don't know you, haha. He's African and she's half African but also like half his age, haha, he kept saying how he's looking for a wife though so I think that has something to do with it. We went right to the church for FHE which is now super awkward because the elders aren't there and only 3-5 people come. Then we finally ate after not eating the whole day as all of the food places were closed because it was a holiday.

Tuesday

Began the day serving at the soup kitchen. After the soup kitchen we always go to the church and call all the people we have to call and make out a bunch of appointments for the week. Then we went by on a contact from the elders area book who apparently couldn't hear us through the speaker thing so we left a note. Then we taught "D" German! Thankfully we have google translate on the iPads so we can make sure he understands what we're saying in French. Love him.

Wednesday

First district meeting with the new district. We talked about iPads. Again. We had to hurry and change and meet the Leipzig couple at the Elders' apartment so we could DEEP clean it. 15 years of elders...yum. We spent the whole time on the bathroom and still weren't finished. But we got some goodies that we desperately needed in our apartment. Then one of our appointments fell out so we actually had time to do language study at the church using the iPads, :) we love them. :) We met with one of our favorite less actives "C" who is African and sick so she can't really walk. She is a crack up and told us the other day that when she's not sick she's "swagga woman," hahaha. Afterwards Enrico invited us to eat cake at a restaurant on the roof of this building on Marktplatz (market place). Just look at that view! We walk here everyday. :) Then we had our "Sunday school" hour of church because we only have two hours on Sunday. Then choir. The Mitte's (the choir director and her husband) drove us home and we always have some good laughs on the way. Super good day!

Thursday

We got a call from Enrico early this morning inviting us to this blind people convention thing with one of our less actives who is blind. We've been trying to repair our relationship with her because of a bad experience that she had with sisters in the past, so we decided to skip lunch and go to this. We didn't actually get to see her until right before we had to leave but Enrico said later that she was really really happy that we came. The one thing I took away from this was increased gratitude for my sight! There is so much that we experience through our eyes and they bring so much beauty into our world that I don't know if I could do without. Hats off to all of those blind people. We had to run to our appointment with a member family in the far outskirts of Halle and we barely made it on time. They fed us and the grandma talked our ears off as we played with two year old Nico who is just the cutest little thing you ever did see. Then we had to run again to meet with Enrico at the church (we spend a lot of time with him, don't we? :)) and then again to meet with Sister "S", another one of our less actives. On the way home we had to buy our train tickets for zone conference in Berlin next week. PHEW these past two days have been soooo busy!

Friday

Weekly planning this morning. We were supposed to have an appointment with another African man we had met a few weeks ago but he said he was busy and didn't show... Then we met with "K"! Our Muslim African friend, who's totally normal. We had planned on teaching the third lesson about the doctrine of Christ, but somehow the lesson found itself on the topic of polygamy and he was telling us why polygamy is such a good thing and takes care of all of the lonely women in the world who just want a husband but can't have one because the men are all already taken. No comment... We had to cut the lesson off because we had to run to our train to Leipzig for exchanges. Right now I'm kickin' it in Chemnitz.

Saturday

Sister Moffet and I taught a woman from India this morning. She's not baptized, but Sister Moffet said it best when she said we basically just visit teach her, haha. Another lesson with a guy from China. We studied German, ate, and traveled back to Leipzig. Yesterday I forgot to give the apartment key to my companion so they had no way of getting in and the bishop wasn't answering his phone so they had to stay the night in Leipzig, hahahaha, my bad. Sister Egbert had nothing but her backpack and the clothes on her back. She wasn't mad though. Good thing.

Sunday

Good day! Church was good but "D" didn't come... Strike two... For some reason the members were being way nice to us today. Maybe it's because the elders are gone. Afterwards we ate at the Mitte's and had such a good time. Those two just crack us up and we have a super good relationship with them. Brother Mitte showed us pictures from before his mission days when he had hair down mid torso, haha. As he was clearing the table he piled everything in his hands and walked away saying, in English, "real men only need one trip." Hahaha, we couldn't take it anymore. Then we met with "D"! I don't know if I mentioned, but he didn't pass his first baptismal interview but still wants to get baptized. We think he's now ready and asked him to pray about the 20th as a baptismal date and he said he would! I AM SO EXCITED!! He's just gotta come back to church. I made banana bread during our dinner hour. Such a good day!

Hopefully this helps you guys get a real feel for what we're up too, it also kind of counts as my journal writing, so that's a big plus. Being a missionary is so much fun. My testimony is strengthened literally. every. day. I don't know where I would be without my mission. I know that God is there, Christ is there, and they love me. I couldn't possibly deny that nor would I ever ever want to.

9 weeks.

Sister Seamons

They came! (week 66)

Exciting stuff... we got our ipads!! FINALLY!!! Right now I'm writing this email while simultaneously typing on the ipad. It's fun!!!

But more about our week: we got to meet with all of our less-actives (that we regularly meet with) and new converts in the ward. One of our converts, Enrico, was baptized last year and is just the strongest new member ever. He's over thirty (although he would never tell us how old he actually is), unmarried, but just has the sweetest heart and loves the Sisters. He would do anything for us! He teaches us German and we teach him English and we always have such a good time.

So if you're still wondering about all of our African investigator men, let's add another one of them to the list. A few days ago we got this super weird phone call from one of our former investigators who we have never met and I swear to you this guy sounded so drunk on the phone. He wanted us to meet with him at his house and I told Sister Egbert to tell him that we could meet him at the church and he said, "I believe you are afraid, woman." We laughed about it but at the same time we were sketched out about our appointment. We were still out and about before our appointment when he called us and was already at the church so we had to hurry there and he didn't have much time so we just had to stand outside and talk. But it turns out that he was actually just concerned for our safety and wants to meet. He even came to church yesterday! And we have a joint teach for today! I love when stuff like this happens because I know the Lord wouldn't trust us with His investigators if we weren't doing our part in being obedient, diligent, and pure. Of course we are far from being perfect, but it is [through] our daily efforts and inner desire that the Lord really takes note of and blesses us for.

Sorry I ran out of time to write more, I forgot to even send this email cause I got caught up in other things. [Ed. note: probably playing with the new ipad instead.] Gotta run! Love you all!

Sister Seamons

Taking Over (week 65)

Weird [thing] happened for transfer calls last week...

President told me in my interview last week that Sister Egbert and I are staying together, phew! Then he told me that, since our mission received the Erfurt zone from the Frankfurt mission and we now have to fill those areas with Berlin missionaries, he had to close a bunch of elders programs in the mission. One of which was the Halle elders program. So not only do we not have a ward mission leader, but we have no Elders. Sister Egbert and I are taking over their program and getting all of their investigators, which is nice, but basically everything else about the situation just kinda... yeah. Family home evening, eating appointments, German and English class, choir, they all more or less are falling apart. The Elders pretty much held everything together. This is going to be interesting. With no more interactions with those my age of the opposite gender, by the time I go home, I'm not going to know how to even be in the same room as one of them. Sorry Josh.

Other than that, we've been seeing some pretty cool miracles.

We were walking down the street and we both had the feeling to start dooring this one house we passed by. No one had interest, but there was an older man who came outside as he was leaving and started getting his bike out and checking his mail and stuff. He told us not to bother with ringing his doorbell. As he continued to get his stuff together, he asked us what church we were representing and what we were doing. We got to talking with him. Turns out he had a genealogy kick a little while ago and had heard about our church and our extensive genealogy records and how we have a big center in Salt Lake and all of this. We told him why we find it so important that we find our ancestors and all of that good stuff. He wasn't interested in learning more but we definitely planted a seed!

A few days ago during personal study, I was glancing out my window as I usually do. I had closed the blinds the night before and there was only a little bit left of the window that I could see out of, but it was enough for me to see a man across the street pick up something off the ground. I was curious to see what he was doing with it, luckily my view was just big enough so I could see him go to a trash can and throw away that piece of trash! I was so impressed that someone would do such an act of service :) it's probably cheesy of me, but I immediately said a prayer in my heart asking God to bless this man for his humility. What a guy. Then, this morning, I was able to see the same man do the same thing at the same spot across the street. Ah. I was so lucky to be able to witness it. His small act of service is going much farther than he had ever intended it to.

Sorry no pictures, we're in the internet cafe and I don't have my converter.

Ipads? Maybe this Friday. No promises.

Halle's great! I love it here!! But it's going to be an interesting week this week...

Sister Seamons

Discovering Halle (week 64)

Lots of finding this week... we had only three appointments. For some reason Sister Egbert only does finding in parks, which I find kind of restricting, because technically we should be doing finding...everywhere...all the time! So we've been expanding our boundaries and discovering more and more of this beautiful city! I've been thinking about it, and I'm completely content with dying here. I don't know if I'd want to die anywhere else. Halle is great. 

Since not much else worthy of note happened this week, I thought I'd share with all of you some of the many funny German quirks that we experience all. the. time. In a funny way I've come to understand my mom more because I've been here—it's not just cause it's who she is, but because she's German. :)

—Germans blow their nose EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE. In the tram, in the middle of sacrament meeting, grocery shopping. They're not at all shy about it. 
 
—Germans love going "spazieren," which basically means going for a walk. It's so cute to see all the old couples waddling around arm in arm, haha.

—Germans ALWAYS say "you're welcome" before you ever say "thank you." They're really... I don't know how to describe it... a mix between polite and obnoxious. They do something for you like give you your food or pick something up for you and say "bitte schön" literally immediately with a huge grin on their face like they just saved you from imminent death or something. I've started doing it and Sister Egbert makes fun of me, haha.

—Germans also, for some reason we don't understand, like to sit in rooms without the light on. We walked into ward council on Wednesday night at like 8:15 and they were all sitting there with only the light from the windows. And the sun had already gone down. Don't understand it. This is something that my mom does NOT do. 

—Germans are really blunt and don't ever beat around the bush. They tell you how it is. They're also really stubborn, especially here in East Germany. Pretty much the only way to convince them that their point of view is wrong is through logic. Then you've won their respect, haha.  

Gotta love Germany.  

If you're still wondering when we're getting ipads...no idea. Something about the shipment getting lost and ending up in a FedEx warehouse somewhere in the world...we'll see how that works itself out.  

I LOOOVE being a missionary!!! My English has gone down the toilet, my body is chronically tired, it's so hard to have conversations that don't go about missions or the gospel, and the time is flying by. Sometimes I find that I actually LOVE going finding—never thought I'd get there. ;) I'm grateful to be here, grateful for Sister Egbert, grateful for the relationships I have here.

12 more weeks.

Sister Seamons

African Men. We´ve Got Three. (week 63)

Welp, the time is ticking... I'm going home three months from today. And we still don't have ipads! They're supposed to come sometime next transfer but I'm not gonna believe anything they say until they put that thing in my hands. Haha, super dramatic but it is what it is.

We had a pretty good week! We met with three different investigators—two of which have recently come out of the woodwork (namely, the area book) and are willing to meet with us. Funny thing is they're both African men and both Muslim. Apparently one of the other Sisters didn't want to meet with them cause they were Muslim but they're both SUPER open compared to all of the other Muslims I've met with. "K", who I told you about last week, read in the Book of Mormon and remembered everything he read, and we had a really great lesson. He asked us to guess how old we thought he was and we both guessed like 23...25...nope. He's 32. Ha. Our other Muslim African is named "A" and we met him at his house so we had to bring another woman so we could meet with him. We didn't really think about it because we just wanted someone who could speak English but we brought Christine who is half German and half African and "A" was just so so excited about it, haha, he kept referring to her as "my African sister," hahaha. But the lesson went pretty good and we talked about the Book of Mormon. He said that he definitely wants to read and study it! It's just hard to get past that "I'm a Muslim" wall that they both have... Then of course we're still meeting with "D"! He's not Muslim, thank goodness. We were on exchanges and Sister Hahn and I went in there planning to do some investigating as to why he's meeting with us and how we can best help him make progress despite a huge language barrier. The lesson ended up taking a different turn and we FINALLY, after many failed attempts, got to hear him pray. TWICE. Once in German (with help) and once in French. Then we got to talking about the Holy Ghost. He didn't really get what we were trying to say to him, and then Sister Hahn had a great idea come to her. I sat down at the piano and we sang two hymns for him so he could better understand what the Spirit feels like. He got it. You could see it in his eyes that he felt it. He's making progress!

This week I finished reading the New Testament. A few weeks ago I finished Doctrine and Covenants. And we continue reading the Book of Mormon as a mission until President Kosak goes home in two months. I truly know that the scriptures are the word of God. I have found more solace and comfort in these books than I have found maybe anywhere else. I have felt the revelation flow as I have not only read and studied these words but as I have written down the small thoughts that pop into my mind that then become sentences and paragraphs of good, juicy gospel knowledge. I love to read, but if I could only have access to one book for the rest of my existence, then I would choose the Book of Mormon and I would be satisfied. It's true. And there's even more truth in there for us to be discovered every single time we open it up. A never ending fountain of truth. Ah. I love it.

Missionary life is good.

Sister Seamons

District Groitzsch.
Elders Harris, Gerlach, Fisher, and Eggli.
Sisters Egbert and Seamons.