MIDDLE OF NOWHERE: One of the days, we had very
little to do as far as appointments went, so we called throughout the potentials
list, and one of our potentials made an appointment with us. YEAH!!! Except he
lives in the middle of nowhere. Ha ha. So we ride on a bus, just us and one
other passenger for forever and then walked for forever. It was hot. My poor
companion was dying. I loved it because I got to be outside! And the German
countryside is so beautiful Then he wasn't even there.... But we got to
walk back down and enjoy it again! The bus driver thought we were weird because
we rode so far out for a very short time. We truly are a peculiar people
40 DAY FAST: We had zone training this past
week, and they challenged us to a 40 Day Fast (this is not new missionary
hazing). It is from this article, which is really good. Basically you fast food
for 24 hours, praying to know what you need to give up in your life that is not
in complete harmony with your purpose as a missionary, and as those thoughts
come to your mind you write them down, and then for the next 40 days you live
without those things! It helps you to reconnect, repent, refocus and draw
closer to our Savior and the whole reason we are here. I encourage anyone who
is struggling to take this challenge, Fast Sunday is coming up, fast for what
you need to change and then for 40 days don't do those things. Your list will
probably be different than mine because we have a different purpose, but I am
excited to see the miracles that come from it!!
AMERICANS EVERYWHERE: So I have quickly learned that although I was called to speak German, I would probably only speak it half of the time, which makes practicing and studying it all the more important. Half of our ward is American and the refugees learned English, so with the refugees we have to speak English and with the members of our ward we kind of speak whatever they want us to speak.
FINDING: This is probably the hardest and most fun thing ever so.... I was really scared to go finding (where we go on the streets or busses or knocking on doors trying to talk to people) and Sister Whiting doesn't like it either so it took us forever to actually go do it and when we did it was hard and I think we both got really frustrated with it, but I was amazed at the faith that we showed. We said a prayer and she focused on where to go and I focused on what message they needed and I was amazed!
REFUGEES: Germany is the only country in our
mission that allows refugees, so there are a lot of them. I got the opportunity
to go to one of the camps (on the outside) because we are teaching a refugee
and it is truly a humbling experience. April General Conference seems more
pertinent now than ever before. I just wish I could sit down and hear their
story, except that is not my purpose. We also are not allowed to proselyte in
their camps, so we can only talk to them if we meet them on the streets.
RM VISIT: A missionary who served in Ulm about 40 years ago came back to visit with his wife and it was really cool, talking to them and they knew an exchange student who is not a member, but lives in Ulm so we were able to eat lunch with them, the exchange student, and some members, and had a really good introduction to the church. We are hoping something will come out of it. (We took the wife's wheel chair on the Straßenbahn with us because they couldn't fit it in their car with the exchange student and her boyfriend, so that is where the wheel chair pictures came in.
QUOTES/SCRIPTURES: If you have any scriptures or quotes that you find inspirational please send them to me, we are making a collection because we have some investigators we are texting daily personal touches. If you know them in German that would be cool, if not English works too.
Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission
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