Thanksgiving, Transfers and Tchüß

Hallo Guten Tag,

So I was sick this past week so not much happened as far as investigators or finding efforts (what missionaries call tracting) except for Sunday because we had a tender mercy!! Alex came to Church!!! It was a tender mercy for two reasons: one because we hadn’t seen him in a while and he missed church last week, and the other reason I will explain in a bit.

THANKSGIVING!!! 
On Thursday, Sister Campbell and I bought rolls and then Sister Campbell made a mini Thanksgiving dinner for us. It straight up tasted like Thanksgiving!!! We shared what we were thankful for!! Then our echt (real) Thanksgiving dinner was on Saturday with the American families in our ward! It was awesome!!! It was nice because it was in English so it was a little bit of home!!!! There were about 15 of us including the cute little children!! It was funny because most of us were American but there was one family that was German and our GML (Ward Mission Leader) is Chinese so that was fun!!

Thanksgiving dinner was fun, but it was also sad because I received a call Friday morning from President. Now dramatic pause... President doesn’t just call out of the blue. So we got a call from President on Friday morning—I was sick all last week so I was actually still sleeping—and he said that we are doing a mini early transfer because there are some Sisters in Switzerland who are American and don't have a German or Austrian VISA (Switzerland is their first area). And so to help prevent problems with the 90 days thing, they are transferring them out 2 weeks early, and I am one of the Sisters replacing! So I am transferring on Wednesday to Schwamendingen, which is in Zürich, Switzerland!!
So that threw us all for a loop.

I was only companions with Sister Campbell for 3 weeks... 

Stay tuned for information on my new companion... Her name is Sister Heller and she is a German, but that is all I know. 

So it was a tender mercy that Alex came to church because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye. There was also a FHV (Relief Society - the women’s organization in our church) activity on Saturday so I was able to tell everyone and have them fill out my Tchüß book!!! 

I am really going to miss Ulm; it is where I started my mission and the people here saw me with my brand new Golden German (we call brand new missionaries goldens) and have helped me to be where I am now, but I am excited for the adventures that await me in Schwamendingen, especially because it is in Switzerland, which is where my dad served so I am super excited about that!!!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

Pictures:

Thanksgiving selfie

Sister Campbell and I making cookies at FHV Activität
Präsident Schaal and Schwester Schaal and I
Alex and I
The Whittaker family
Lackners and I

 

 

When America doesn't work out....

Hallo my peeps,

Distrikt meeting - Our first Distrikt meeting for the transfer! We have a golden, Elder D*****! Sister C****** is also new to the Distrikt, but it was really fun getting to know everyone! Elder K***** is our Distrikt Leader!!

Service- this week after Distrikt meeting our whole distrikt volunteered to help one of our members move! It took us forever to find their house but after getting lost, trying to use maps.me and climbing a huge hill, we finally found them!! I love it we were really able to help them!! After the Elders had to leave, we stayed for a few more hours and helped clean and move hints around and tape paper to their windows (everyone needs privacy) they bought us Döners and we ate them on the floor! Yes best meal #missionlife!

GML - We have a GML or Ward Mission Leader now!!!!! It is so exciting to be able to work with a GML because I have never worked with one before!! Plus I love their family!!! They have the cutest daughter ever!!

Military Base - Found out Sister C****** can get us on the American military base which is super cool!! Thank you to Brother C****** for being in the military! So we immediately started a list of "Things we need to buy in America!"  Cause you know—sometimes you just need chocolate chips semi sweet.... Except Sister Campbell needed to register first... Oh well, we had a fun adventure!!!

Ritersport Factory- We went to the Ritersport Factory and bought so much chocolate between the 6 of us we spent over 300€ 

Ritersport Factory - We went to the Ritersport Factory and bought so much chocolate between the 6 of us we spent over 300€ 

Interviews- I had my first interview with President!! It was so amazing!! I love how he is so close to the spirit that he knows what to say and doesn't even know exactly what you are thinking! It is amazing!! During my personal interview I was able to share some questions, concerns and some things I have learned so far! I felt the spirit so strong when I was talking with him!

CHRISTMAS So the Church came out with a 2016 Christmas Initiative and I invite you all to look at it and join me in participating because Jesus Christ is the light of the world and we can share that light through our actions!! 

Honestly what did you think when you first read my subject?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!! 

Happy Birthday to Erin and Dad!! I hope it is getting best!!!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

The spare key is in Stuttgart...

Hello world,

So...
Tuesday I got a blessing from Elder H***** who is in my Distrikt (Ellwangen and was Distrikt Leader) and it was sooooo good! I love Priesthood blessings. Elder H***** didn't know all the struggles and questions I was facing, but as I thought about my blessing over the next few days all the questions that came to my mind were answered through the words from my blessing, I received so much comfort from that blessing! 
Wednesday I said good bye to my mission Mom and was companion with Sister Peterson for about 4 hours! It was sad to say good bye to Sister W*****, Sister M*****, and Elder L*****, but there was also that excitement for the future! The train from Zürich shows up, and Sister P***** and I are freaking out. We both know our companions because we all were in the MTC together. It will be a really fun adventure. Ha ha!
Thursday around 10 I remember we need to do something with the dryer and washer so the pipes don't freeze out there. So around 11 I go out and I am in my missionary clothes, but am only wearing sandals. Sister C***** comes out to see and help etc., and she has slippers on, is eating toast, and she closes the door. And then she says, "Umm, I think I locked us out of our apartment" I am like, "What?!? You’re kidding, right?" Nope, she didn't realize that the door can't be opened from the outside without a key. Our phones, our jackets, our shoes, my tights, our phone number list, our tablets and our keys are in the apartment, and the only window open is opened the wrong way...
I run across the street to a man yelling ENTSCHULDIGUNG  ENTSCHULDIGUNG!!!  WIR HABEN EIN PROBLEM! We have a problem. So this man named Josef gave me a sweater because I was wearing shorts sleeves and a skirt and no tights or shoes! He got Helga to bring some phones for us and we searched her phone for the members’ numbers, but no one answered and then we found (a blessing) the office number on the preparetoserve website. We got a hold of the office and apparently the closest or the only spare key is in Stuttgart with the Zone Leaders. They got on the next train to Ulm!  (It's like an hour train ride) They had the spare key and they went to unlock our door, and it didn't work because our key was in the other side.... Elder B***** and Elder S***** tried everything: knocking the door down, tried sticking random things in the door to push the key out, Elder B***** even tried using a bike pump to blow the key out. We finally decided it would be safer and cheaper to call a locksmith except that was a disaster trying to figure out a number to call. Elder Bates called the office and with their wizardness found a Schlüsseldienst who could come and unlock the door for us!!!
Yeah we were finally in our apartment by 5 o'clock with 5 missed calls and a couple of texts! Apparently everyone knows now...  oh well!
We got a gigantic Schnitzel when we met with the Schaals so Sister C***** can meet them! This restaurant has gigantic ones!!! Ahh!! Leftovers for days!!

Real talk Sister C***** and I had a three-hour talk about life one night before bed. Okay it wasn't quite 3 hours but it was really good, I think it helps us to understand each other better!! 

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

Don't Pray for Patience

Hallo!

This week was really fun!! We had Distrikt Meeting and we like to do Role Plays to practice our teaching skills... well Elder Kennedy decided to give us all personalities for our role plays....

The Role Play was on How to Teach Someone to Pray. So I was Sarah Palin, Sister W***** was Hillary Clinton, and we also had Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, Snoop Dog, and a two other random ones I can't remember. Anyway, not sure how much learning we got done but everyone really got into character...

 "Snoop Dog, Werden Sie für uns beten?" "Ja, Gott, Wie Gehts?, Danke für meine Geld und meine Musik. Es ist sehr gut. In Namen Jesu Christi amen"

 "Snoop Dog Will you pray for us?" "Yes, God, What's up? Thank you for my money and my music; it is very good. In the name of Jesus Christ amen"

Then we had Trump praying for Amerika and his 10 foot high wall and Hillary praying that Trump won’t win and then Trump got mad, it was really funny.

Elder H***** even yelled to me "Hey Sarah can you see Heaven from your house?"

It was a good time! 😎🗨👏💬

Transfers!!!!!!

So we had Bible prophesies on Friday and then transfer calls on Saturday...

Bible prophesy said that I would be either going to Wien (Vienna) or I would be staying in Ulm and that was basically it so...

Transfer calls come—now the Zone Leaders are supposed to call around 7:00-7:15 to let you know, and if it gets to be 7:30 or later, President will probably call, which means that someone in your companionship is going to be in the leadership which for sisters means STL. It was 7:48 when the Zone Leaders finally called us. We thought for sure that President was going to call and we were freaking out!!! No, they just forgot us 😑.

SO!!! Sis W***** is going to Wien and step-training (meaning that they are a second transfer golden or greeny).

Most of my Distrikt is staying the same just Sister W***** and Elder L***** are leaving and they both are going to Wien ZONE!! Crazy!! Elder H***** will be getting a golden. So half of our Distrikt will have tablets and half will not, which will be interesting.

***NOW FOR ME***

A missionary’s 3rd transfer is their greeny busting transfer so I am being greeny busted, BUT my companion is SISTER CAMPBELL so I am greeny busting her because she was in my MTC group, so she is also in her 3rd Transfer!!!

It's going to be a crazy transfer. I am so excited!!

Please keep Sandra in your prayers her health is not doing very well—along with her husband Christian and her son Alex. And please pray for Alex, Elena and Alyssa. They are a new family that just started investigating the Church and they are just the best; they are so cute!

The Lord answers our prayers and not just because I prayed for patience but because we have a less active who is from Portugal and I had been praying for us to find someone who we could teach and would be baptized and spoke Portuguese! I thought it would help her feel more comfortable if she knew better what was going on... well, I found out on Sunday, Alex (the investigator above) speaks Portuguese and it is the most random language.  He speaks Romanian because he is Romanian and he speaks English because he has really close friends who are American and he speaks German, but why Portuguese... because the Lord answers the prayers of the faithful!

HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TO YOU?

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE SPIRIT?

So this past week I have been trying to figure out how I feel the spirit. I have come up with a couple of things, but that is one area of my testimony that I would like to work on. I want to encourage you all to look and see how the Lord speaks to you? I have found that most people don't have one way but that the Lord speaks to them in a variety of ways depending on lots of different situations. If you have a hard time like me, I encourage you to check out chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel which can be found online or in the Gospel Library App or wherever missionary stuff is sold...😉

Liebe Sister Anderson

Alpenländische Mission

 

Happy Halloween

Hello World,
This week has been an adventure for Sister Whiting and me. I have learned that maybe not most transfers but this transfer has been a rollar coaster of a ride. We find someone who is golden and then they randomly drop us, or we drop someone because they really aren't progressing it is so sad :(
First before all of that HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! 🎃
Please email me pictures of everyone's cute costumes!!! I want to see!! I was a missionary for Halloween haha!!
So here in Germany they do have Halloween, mostly because they really love America. So they sell costumes and Halloween, bags but everything is in English, so that makes it easier for me!! They don't go knocking on doors trick or treating, but they have Halloween parties and stuff!
Thanks to Sister Whitings mom, we have companion socks that are Halloween because we are together for Halloween!!! They are candy corn socks and they are the best. She also let me borrow her candy corn scarf and so i am wearing that today!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This week!!
I started reading in Our Search for Happiness and I love it! It is good for people who want to know more about the Latter-day Saints and it is good for the people who want to how to better share the Gospel. I highly recommend it! Apparently it was in the Missionary Resource Guide Thing that I was supposed to buy. Well luckily someone left one in our apartment!! 😊
Distriktsversammlung (District Meeting): We had our district meeting this week on Wednesday and then did finding afterwards, and it was really fun. So our district consists of Ellwangen, Esslingen and Göppingen, which are all Elders and then the zone leaders came because they were doing a Taufinterview (baptismal interview for our district leader) so us Sisters were greatly outnumbered, but that is okay because they were hilariously awkward! Plus we got 3 Potentials from our finding!!! (Our distrikt meeting was in Ulm so our finding was in Ulm, so the potentials they found were for us!!) AHHHHHH!!!
Our Investigator Erik came to Church again!!! Please pray that he will really come to know the truthfulness of this Gospel for himself, that he won't let outside forces influence him whether good or bad. He didn't accept our baptismal date for him yet but we are hoping that as it comes closer he will know that it is right. He is progressing though!!!
We also have a less active who is struggling with some familial problems, and another less active that is struggling with health problems, if you want to keep them in your prayers as well. We are working with the one with familial problems, trying to encourage her and her husband to want to make the temple a goal. And the sister with the health problems--we are working with her and her family in keeping the faith and encouraging them to keep going, keep doing the simple things of reading your scriptures and praying!

Just know that if you are ever searching for bugs like Nancy Drew
if it has more than six legs its probably a fuzzy,
and if it isn't moving its probably a rock!

Please let me know how you are doing, I generally don't read my emails except on Monday, but I do love hearing from you all. Keep the faith and remember that even in hard times, the Lord is blessing you just sometimes you can't see it.

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländishe Mission