Wie sagt man das auf Englisch?

Hallo Freunde,

We have made a great start to my last transfer. Stuttgart is on fire and oh mensch I don't think I have ever laughed so much in my life!

We have a new elder (the only change to our ward and our district). He is Elder Peterson! If anyone knows Elder Peterson, you know what I am talking about! It's awesome!! 

Highlights of this week:

Wednesday:  Sister Hunter came back to Stuttgart and it was Jeanne's birthday!! 

Thursday and Friday: We had service projects: one to clean a house for the family to move, and the other to set up for the women's day on Saturday! 

Saturday: We went to a little girl’s baptism in our ward and had the women's day! 

Sunday: We had two member appointments: one was with our ward mission leader!! We have been trying to meet with him and share a message the whole time I have been here!! It was so great for it to finally work out. He and his wife are so funny and really sweet!

Now the stories! 

Junior – I met him last week actually and forgot to write about it. So I was talking to him on the Bahn and he didn't have great German and I am no native and I can't speak his mother language (Spanish – should have paid better attention in high school) and he can't speak mine. So we tried our best and then I wasn't able to get his number, but I gave him mine and my Facebook name. I got home and I asked Sister Woolsey if we could pray that he would call and as soon as I finished asking the phone rang!! He came with us to football on Thursday and met two members who also speak Spanish. And we had to leave early but the elders took over and said they would show him the way home!! We are hoping to meet with him this week!!! (Pray he will accept our message!)

Miyuko – We went through and texted people to see if they really had interest to meet with us and she texted us back and apologized for the long time not answering – that things were more in order now and that she would love to meet. A few days later we invited her to the Frauentag (Women's Day) where we ate breakfast and had workshops. SHE CAME!!! And there was a baptism afterwards and SHE STAYED!!! We have a friend from Korea, whom she got to know, and we have an appointment for tonight where we will better explain baptism, and we have an RM from Japan coming to translate!!! We are so excited!!!!

Translating!!

I am not really sure what happens in my brain when I translate; it is a way cool experience!! I was able to translate for some American members at the Frauentag and then I translated on Sunday for our friend from Korea in sacrament meeting and a new American member in Relief Society. Then yesterday I helped our German friend talk to Elder Stephensen because he can't speak German. It is really cool and totally crazy to me that I can hear something in a foreign language and completely understand without effort! (Of course there are still people with a thick dialect that I can't understand) I am really loving German!!

Pictures:

So I finally got all the pictures from our friend Christina so...

1) Me playing my GML's bass.
2) GML (ward mission Leader) and his wife.
3) My GML driving on the autobahn! That is 130 mph.
4) Us learning German (Christina is teaching us German for a project of hers)
5) Us working hard
6) Sister Hunter, Woolsey, Christina and I
7) Us learning more German
8) Yes we put a Book of Mormon in the Book exchange as well 
9) Us at the Institute Halloween party
10) Us at the Institute Halloween party
Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

Stuttgart for life—just the way I like it! ❤

Hallo Freunde,

This is kind of a long email, the first half is what we did each day and the second part is what I learned. 

Yes we got transfer calls and I will be spending the next 5 weeks here in Stuttgart. It has been a huge blessing to serve here for soo long and to get to know the people here. There have been ups and downs, and I am looking forward to the next few weeks here!!! 

Okay so last week we went on a hike. I hope you all got my email. It was a little weird with the Wi-Fi after we got back, but last week we got to go to Institute because we had two people there. It was great because we were on Tausch (exchange) so we were able to really focus on both people! 

On Wednesday we left early to go to an appointment with a member and her non-member friend! It was amazing. We shared a video of Christ and His life and talked about everything He did, then how He died, and unfortunately the precious truths He taught were lost. But that we have a beautiful Restoration that brought the fullness of the truth back! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon in her mother language as well!!! We then tausched back, went and got food, and then joined Sarah (a member) at this really yummy Italian restaurant. I even had left overs!! So good!!

On Thursday we were able to have our studies in the morning again. And our plan was to go finding for a bit on the way to a member, then pray with them for our finding efforts, find some more afterwards, and then head to our appointment. Well that all took way longer than we thought, so we talked to some people on the way to the member, found a service opportunity (more to come next week about it), and then visited with the member for a while. We then realized we were late for our appointment! Good thing the member we had the appointment with is very understanding. 

Friday!!! We went to Munich for Zone Conference, which means getting up at 5:30, but that is okay! We rode the bus there and the European Area President came as a member of the Seventy to speak to us! It was so fun. His name is Elder Johnson and he is really funny and is great with the scriptures!! I learned a lot from the conference, definitely the boost that I needed!! I also got to see some friends one more time before I leave!! We went finding afterwards, and people weren't too interested but we met this really nice couple who just got engaged!!!

Saturday. We got a "German" lesson from one if our friends, and it was actually pretty helpful. Then we taught her the Plan of Salvation! Trading teaching for teaching. Then we did a little dooring before our appointment with Sydney! This nice lady let us show her the Christmas video!! I love sharing that video!! With Sydney we ate pizza and cheesecake and talked about life, so fun! 

Sunday. We had the Primary program!!! So fun!! It's my favorite Sacrament meeting of the whole year!! 

Wir haben einen Termin bis Weihnachten! (We have an appointment until Christmas). In Sunday School and in Relief Society the two lessons were on how the members can find a friend by Christmas and bring them to Christ because Elder Ballard invited every member in our stake to take this challenge!! On Sunday we also ate with a member who kindly afterwards let us borrow two towels for the baptism we were going to! International Sisters had a baptism!! It was really a beautiful baptism, a recent convert from the same country baptized him! 

What I learned! 

“The comfort Zone is a beautiful place, but nothing grows there.” In the Garden of Eden, Eve knew that they weren't progressing. She understood that they were in their comfort zone, and that to fulfill their purpose they had to step out of their comfort zone. To be able to progress spiritually we need to have trials and hardships, but the beautiful thing is that the joy afterwards is so much greater! Remember the example of Paul. He taught the people in Athens, and they didn't listen and it must have been really hard for him. But then he moved on to Corinth and he was really successful and was able to build up the church there. Was he a different missionary in Athens than in Corinth? No but people have agency. After every Athens there is a Corinth! 

My invitation to you is to step out of your comfort zone and invite someone to Christ before Christmas!

Pictures:

Tausch picture with International Sisters
The Baptism for International Sisters
(We toured IKEA today, and I saw this sign) My comp and the most true sign I have seen all day :)

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

Welcome back my friends

Hallo Freunde,

This last week was so unadventurous because we were both sick half the week. We stayed inside all day Wednesday and Thursday. We only went out in the evening to get some fresh air and to go to the convenience store. Friday was spent cleaning and organizing our apartment again since it was kind of a disaster (we have bunk beds, and so that it was easier for us to use the bathroom, etc., I had been sleeping on a mattress pulled out onto the floor. Haha).

SATURDAY: We were back in action. We went and served the less-active and finished up the pamphlet project we had started with her and then we went to meet up with a Potential. Unfortunately she doesn't have interest in the Gospel, but she is really fun and showed us a cool cafe! 

SUNDAY: We went to Church and we had an amazing lesson in Relief Society by our Relief Society president on miracles. She asked what defines a miracle and then she asked us the same question President Ballard asked us at the broadcast. Do you believe in miracles? Many people today believe that miracles stopped with the Apostles. Joseph Smith was told that, and we hear similar responses from people on the street, but as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we know that God is the same and he's still works miracles today. But just like with the prophets, miracles come as a blessing of our faith. After Church we had an appointment with the Elders and an American family, and it was so fun! It is great to be able to work with other missionaries.

MONDAY: We didn't have district meeting so we decided to mix it up and go finding by the University! Wow, we first stopped by a member and asked if we could pray with them for the Lord's help in finding! They offered to make us food! So we decided to go finding for 45-ish minutes and then come back for food! And then we went back out finding!! Ready for this? First round - We stop this guy from China and he gives great answers, and talks about how he has had a hard life. We got his number so we can give him a Book of Mormon in Chinese! 

Then round two - We head out and we stop a German but we spoke in English (after living in New Zealand for a year, he was missing English) and we asked if he had 20 minutes. And guess what he did!! We taught him about the Restoration and we gave him a Book of Mormon. We are so excited for them; please pray for them, David and Fabian! 

Today, we are going on a hike!!! 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

 

"You speak great German." Thank you, but you haven't even heard me use prepositions yet 😉

Gruß Gott
Hallo Freunde,

First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! Although, it is not an official holiday here, it is still widely celebrated as a day to party.

With the title for today, we have received the challenge to talk to 10 people every day and then report of our mission president. Well in this endeavor, I started talking to this lady, and it started a fun conversation with her and the lady across from us. We talked about why I was here and the language. And Sister Woolsey and I were joking afterwards that Germans are so nice and tell us how good our German is even good when we have hardly said anything, haha. It was a really fun conversation anyway!! 

So this week well, we visited a member, whom we visit regularly on Thursday and she unfortunately got us both sick. So since Saturday we have been playing everything by ear and sleeping a whole bunch. We are really grateful daylight savings was this last weekend for Germany because we got an extra hour of sleep!! We were also blessed to have a member help us out yesterday morning by meeting us at the grocery store and helping us grab all the right ingredients to make homemade soup (a German specialty for when you’re sick) and then he guided us through making it through text messages, so sweet. 

Before, on Wednesday, we were able to help a less-active for a few hours by putting together fliers for her business and then we went back on Saturday, and she said next week we could share a spiritual thought!!! Progress!! 

Wednesday night we also visited a member, and she fed us! She is a super sweet older member of our Ward, very German, haha. It was fun! She even gave us a hug and kiss good bye! 

Thursday we had dinner and celebrated birthday of a friend of ours, and then we went for hot chocolate with another friend. It was really good to build a better relationship with him; he even invited us to come to his family party tomorrow to try Nigerian food! YUM! 

On Friday we helped out at a wedding of a member! We were dish crew! It was really nice to be able to talk with the other members who were helping out and to be a small part of this special day for our friend!! I am so happy for her!!

Saturday we gave away a Book of Mormon to a guy from Egypt and we were able to explain quite a bit because he did research beforehand. It was a fun lesson to be able to explain the reason we have the Book of Mormon and where it came from and then we committed him to read and pray about!! Hopefully he will feel something when he reads it. 

Saturday there was also a member baptism and it was great to share in that moment with him! He is a really smart 8 year old, and is so ready! 

Last night we ended up doing splits and having two lessons. The lesson that I went to was SO COOL!!! We didn't really know what to expect, but we were very happily surprised! So we are teaching this 7-year-old so she can be ready for her baptism at the request of her dad. And her dad has a non-member girlfriend who seems to have interest! We are very excited to keep teaching this family!! 

I love and miss you all! 

Sorry, not very many pictures for today but here is a statue calls Hochsitz, which translates to high seat.

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

Inviting all to Come unto Him

SERVUS Schätz! (Coming to you again from the German Stuttgart Sisters)

Last Friday was my Spiritual Birthday (4 years since my baptism and confirmation)  And guess what?! The mission threw me a party in Munich. They even invited M. Russell Ballard to come.

On Wednesday we had two member appointments, with two amazing women. With one we learned how to say cross stitching in German and with the other we learned that potatoes are actually healthy.

Thursday we went on Base where we ate Taco Bell and hung out with the funniest optometrist, who taught us that "It is by their countenance that ye shall know them." Which then somehow he connected to the eyes... So yeah... eyes. 

And then! On FRIDAY (*Drum roll please*) we wake up! (at not that early of an hour), and

we go to Stuttgart. We wait for the bus, but does the bus come? No! We can't find it actually. The Elders then go on the hunt. We just see them running all around Bahnhof, up and down every street (picture this: two 20-year-olds in suits running around a busy city early in the morning like a Mission Impossible film) they find the bus and we start our 3 hour journey to MÜNCHEN. 

Then we arrive in München, where we see every single missionary in this mission!.

We sang "He Calls." which was super powerful (imagine 170+ missionaries singing) to M. Russell Ballard, L. Whitney Clayton, Gary B. Sabin, and their wives. 

M. Russell Ballard encouraged us to stand strong throughout of lives, and to give our missions over to the Lord. He stated that we are in war with the evils of the world. We know which side we are on and it is Christ's side aka the winning side. We are in a hurry to win this battle.  We were encouraged to talk to 10 people a day outside of normal finding, and to allow the Spirit to touch the hearts of those we teach! He said, we are bearing His cross on our shoulders, when people don't like us or scorn us, it is for Him. We are defending Him. We are defending our friend! 

On Sunday he came to our ward in Stuttgart. There he asked us to bring a friend unto Christ before Christmas , as a gift to Christ . We invite you all to do the same   as we all endeavor to bring our brothers and sisters unto HIM. 

Funny quote from Elder Ballard talking about how he is now 89 and he is nearing the sunset of his mortal life and he joked that when the alarm goes off in the morning he says, "Oh, I'm here. Better get up!" 

bis nächste Woche! 

Pictures: making crepes last night, shaking hands with Elder Ballard, and selfies on our "hike" this morning.

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

Do I have the faith to see miracles?

Hoi Freunde!

Wow this week was full of so much! Where should I start?

Last Tuesday after P-day we went to Institute with one of our friends. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon afterwards so she can study for next week!

On Wednesday we had three APPOINTMENTS!!  One with a potential from Ethiopia! We meet people from all over the world, so fun! We weren't able to teach much, but we got to know her, and she called her pastor who invited us to an activity on Saturday—that ended up being a church service but it was fun anyway.

Then we went out to the outskirts of our area and we had a lesson with a less-active and her daughter! We might end up teaching her family so that her daughter can be baptized! Then we came back to town, and our friend Rey (for confidential reasons I will call him Rey) fed us and the international sisters dinner. 

 

Funny Story - When we were at Rey's he tells my companion, you should talk to my brother, to which she says "your brother... the pastor...?" He says yes and hands her his phone, which is already dialing She ends up talking to a guy in the Middle East over Skype, who is a Christian Pastor— what?!?! He is talking to her and asking her questions and she is teaching a little and then.... he says, “You should come to us, teach the people, do your work here ...... to which my polite Californian companion says I don't think I have the money for that... He assured her they would take care of everything and even pick her up from the airport... Well after her consistent but polite attempt to dodge the subject, he says, “When you have a break come. I will tell my people. They are very excited to meet you 

Well Sister Woolsey, how do you feel about opening the Middle East?

Thursday one of our appointments fell out but we met with Moser. Unfortunately she was too tired to get much out of our lesson (she slept during our visit, she is very ill).

We then went by on our bishop’s house, and his wife was there and she fed us. How sweet. And then we prayed to go finding in her area and after the prayer she suggested one of her neighbors!!! It was such a cool experience!! 

Friday we finished up the videos for Facebook, made a spiritual thought for the women going to the temple (our ward had a women’s temple trip). Sadly we couldn't go, but we sent them all off with a picture and a note from us!! 

Saturday was crazy busy! We heart-attacked a member of our ward's door, while she was at the temple.

Then we went to the International Church of Christ’s church service (we didn't realize it was a church service until his wife was picking us up) but we were able to represent our church well. We even got a potential (He was an old investigator of the elders. Oops.

Then we headed to a little town and went by on a member, but she wasn't home. Her son invited us over for dinner. We couldn't stay, so he said to come back for dinner. So in the meantime we went by on another member and they weren't home but they came home while we were writing a note to leave for them.

So we were able to visit both families in the end!! It was a really good opportunity, especially because the son is less-active, and he wanted us to come back and eat the dinner he had prepared!!! How sweet!! And it was so good!!

On Sunday we sadly didn't have anyone come to church but we did make four appointments for this week!!! After church we had a member appointment and we had an investigator come too!! He said he really enjoyed it!!! 

Then we had the special broadcast for Europe with Elder Ballard and that is where the title of this email comes in. Everyone spoke on their testimonies and increasing faith. Then Elder Ballard gets up and he shares a story of Ethiopia. And how he prayed for it to rain for those in Ethiopia and then it rained. 

It motivated me to work more with members and to increase my own faith so that I too can see miracles in my life.

The question of the week: How can I increase my faith? What can I do today? 

Pictures:

We heart-attacked or sticky noted her door with love!
We learned how to make Moroccan soup this morning!!!
They don't have Thanksgiving here so Christmas is already coming out haha.

NOTICE: My companion was baptized four years ago this Thursday!!! You can all join me in a Happy (Spiritual) Birthday celebration for her!! You can email her kimberly.woolsey@myldsmail.net 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson

Alpenländische Mission

Servus aus Stuttgart

***First things first, our mission is getting Facebook, as I think I may have mentioned before. This means I will be using my original Facebook starting next week but I won't be able to respond to any personal Facebook messages outside of my mission area, I will only be able to respond through this email.

Servus!

This week was amazing and sad. Let's start with goodbyes. Wednesday was transfer day, and so we said goodbye to Sister Pugh and Elder Scalese: two missionaries whom I have been in Stuttgart with for 3 transfers (4.5 months). It was so exciting for them though; they are both going to places they have never been before! 

Thursday we visited 2 older ladies in our Ward with the Elders. It was so fun! The two women have such strong testimonies and it brightened my spirits seeing their faith and love of the gospel! It was also fun to see the contrast because one was American, spoke English, and was very energetic. The other was German, spoke German, and was very calm and collected, but they both could talk your ear off. So sweet, I love visiting them!! 

Friday we had 2 lessons, and from it we were able to find 4 new people interested in learning about Jesus Christ!! In the first lesson we had a less-active and her sister there, and we talked about the Godhead, and it was really good. She and her sister even came to church, and then she brought a friend to FHE last night!!! Our second lesson was with a Rehan, his brother, and his friend. We introduced the Book of Mormon, and they loved that we had it in their original language!! What a powerful message that is!! The Gospel will be taught to all the world, in their own language!! 

Saturday we helped a member write her talk because she was so nervous and neither German nor English is her first language! We also had our Ausstellung (street display), and it was really cold, but we had some good conversations and were able to share a little about what we believe with some people! We got our name out there!! Saturday night we also got to see Sister Harrick before she went home. Her parents came to pick her up and she got to see 3 of her companions who are serving her in Stuttgart, plus me. I was her Tausch companion once ;) 

Sunday was amazing!!! Mary (the sister of the less-active) came and she brought her less-active sister!!! Then Rehan came and brought his friend!! We were able to have a really good correlation meeting. Sister Woolsey and I had a ton of energy and everyone seemed so happy ! The lessons were really good. A member came up and befriended Rehan in Sunday School! It was so cool!! We then had a wonderful member appointment afterwards and got to know the members even better! After Church we had a lesson with Uche, and he says he seems ready to meet us and learn! We are way excited!!

Monday we had a Distrikt Meeting and FHE! So fun!!

This week I learned a little more about patience and love. When we trust in the Lord's timing and give our all to Him, He gives us what we need and desire in return! We just need to stay faithful and keep pushing through the hard times in anticipation of the good times!

Please pray for Mary and Rehan and Uche

Pictures: Fall is here, beautiful Stuttgart, our member friend Sarah, and Sister Harrick with her companions! 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission