October 14, 2013

The lake we walk by everyday on
the way to the bus...what a view!

Hallooo…Family and Friends!

Can I just say that Heavenly Father has a pretty interesting sense of humor sometimes?  During our busy week, we kept thinking about one of our investigators.  We had been praying all day that this potential investigator would be home because every time we stopped by, she wasn’t.  Well, we felt like we needed to go during a certain time of day, so we did.  When we got there, she was home!  But of course…she did not have time for us. It was just a reminder that I need to be more specific in my prayers.  Funny joke….not.

So Mom, packages are lame here.  My companion finally got her package this week and her family sent it back in August.  So hopefully it will come soon.  We have Zone training this week so maybe it is in Frankfurt waiting for me right now.  We will see! 



Here is my food I am obsessed with right now.  Bring

on the Musli. I eat it by the gallon  for breakfast. 

We decided we need  to try one of each, so we did.

So updates on my life…we had transfer calls on Saturday and I will be staying in Nürnberg with Sister Weber!  The only major change is that Elder Hathaway is leaving to be zone leader down in Jena.  I'm a little sad about that because he is probably my best friend I've made since I have gotten here.  He seriously reminds me so much of Troy that it is basically like having my brother around.  I told him that he should be friends with you, Troy…so if you have a random boy come hunt you down next year, that’s why.  They are also making us switch apartments with the elders since we have a bigger apartment.  They are moving the four of them down to ours and we are moving in to the other one.  My new address will be Waechterstraße 4, Nürnberg, Deutschland 90489.  I am not looking forward to having to move all of my things over, but the location is a lot closer to the center of town.  We will be able to use more u-bahns and fewer buses so it will be super nice.  It is also a lot closer to the church.  Because my suitcase wheels are busted, I will have to buy a new suitcase today.  I will be taking money out for that.  I also bought a new coat last week and a scarf and stuff.  I still need to find some fleece leggings, but for now, I am fine. 

Life sounds great at home.  I really enjoy your emails every week.  I always look forward to reading them so much.  Taryn, thank you so much for the picture.  My whole district is dying right now.  I am so glad I can bring a little joy to their lives.  Everyone wrote me this week asking if I am fluent by now, and sadly, I am not.  I feel like I do not know ANYTHING.  I just sit here like a deer in the headlights while people try to talk to me.  We went from door to door the other day and I just froze up and realized I don't know anything.  People tell me I am better than I think so I really don’t know…definitely not fluent though.  Give me some time, though, and maybe it will come.  Or…maybe I'll just provide entertainment by looking like a doof all the time?  Naja. 

This is our church...it's so cool.  It's not
your typical LDS building! 

I really don’t know what happened this last week.  Somehow it just passed.  Don't ask me how.  A ton of lessons fell through again with members.  Wednesday was awesome, though.  We went down to the Haid’s home again and worked on service with Elder Hathaway and Baker.  We ended up taking apart a giant hay bale and stuffing it into bags and then carrying it up to the top of their barn.  The giant pile of hay looked too fun to pass up, and Elder Hathaway told me to YOLO it, so I jumped in it.  It was extremely fun until I got up and realized hay was everywhere.  I was picking it out of my hair for days.  Oh well, memories right?  Then we had an amazing meal from it so I will do it gernae jeden tag. 

I was able to meet Blanca this week.  She is Elder Guyman’s and Williamson's investigator.  I am totally going to steal her from them.  She is from Ecuador and so I am able to speak Spanish with her.  We went over to help her move furniture twice this week and then she came to the ward talent show.  I saw her a ton…she loves me because she can speak to me in Spanish.  She also loves making fun of Elder Guyman so we just talked about him in front of him and she thought it was hilarious that he couldn’t understand us.  She wants to feed us on Saturday, so that will be when I snatch her up.  The Elders won’t know what is coming. 

The ward talent show was hilarious.  It basically consisted of old people singing and playing the harmonica, a million missionaries singing and stuff.  There was a baptism for the Erlangen elders afterwards, so that was AWESOME.  We also went down to Schweinfurt to help out with their Ausstellung.  We handed out a million balloons that all said "Ich bin ein kind von Gott," so the whole town was poppin' with them.  It was awesome.  This made me super excited for our Ausstellung.  We had dinner with bishop, and he said that we are finally getting a GML soon!!!  Our last one got released two weeks ago because he was inactive, and so I have never had a GML (ward mission leader).  That will be a nice change.

We went through our area book and called up a million potential investigators.  We have appointments with some of them this week so I am super excited.  One of them is from Spain so I totally may have two Spanish investigators by the end of the week.  How sick is that? 

Besides that, I really don’t know how this week went by.  We didn't teach many lessons because all of our investigators were either "too busy" or on urlaub.  We are meeting with them all this week so I am glad about that.  Franke has dropped off the face of the earth, but hopefully she will magically appear.  We have no way of getting in contact with her. 

There are four baptismal dates scheduled in Nürnberg right now so things are moving along.  Sister Weber and I are hoping to set dates with Kathrin and Lisa this week, but we have been wishing for that the whole transfer, so who knows what will happen.  We just need to pray every day for a miracle. 

I love my mission.  It's hard, but the little things make it worth it.  I am so grateful for the testimony I have and the knowledge that I have that this is the true church of Christ.  I love personal and companion study so much because I just get to dedicate that time to learning more about this gospel, and I always learn something new.  Even if I have read something a million times, something new always jumps out.  That is the beauty of life.  We are always learning, always progressing.  How fun. 

I am really excited for this week.  I hope by the end we can have a least two new solid investigators, and hopefully some baptismal dates.  Thanks for the prayers.  I hope you all know how much I love you and how lucky I am to have you all in my life.  I am so glad I am part of such a crazy family because it makes for a fun life and great stories.  There is never a dull moment, and that's how life should be.  I know my district likes it, especially my dad and grandpa stories :)

I guess I should give a spiritual thought.  I read D&C 45:3-5 today during personal study and it was AWESOME. Just think about how lucky we are to have Christ plead for us to the Father.  During Judgment, we will not be the ones pleading to stay.  Rather, He will be pleading with us and pleading to Heavenly Father.  He will be there, begging, saying, “Have I not done anything?  Did I not complete the atonement for you?  You specifically?  So that you could stay here with me?  Will you not repent, and become clean so that you can be here with me?  So that I can love you and be your friend?”  How crazy is it to think that the only perfect person to ever walk the earth will be begging for the chance for us, completely imperfect people, to live with him in the Father's presence forever.  Never forget that, and always live worthy so that when that day happens, you will feel worthy of his grace and mercy and accept the chance to stay.

Also, thanks for the update on Sparky haha...  give him a hug for me and feel free to send me a picture. 

Ich liebe euch!!! 

Savannah Teeples