March 10, 2014

Everyone dressed up and had a huge parade and
everything. Here were the Quellengeisters.
They were hilarious!

First off, MISSION CALLS.  AHHH!  I got an email from Ethan this week, and it was the first one that I opened because I was just so excited about it.  Sorry Mom, even though you beat dad, it was still better to hear from the source.  I can't believe that they are going to Peru and Ecuador!  Holy cow…that is so cool.  I wanted to go to Peru so badly…and Ecuador, man.  I have met a ton of people from both countries, and I have to say, they are some of my favorite people that I have met here in Heidelberg.  I can’t wait to hear where Matt is going!  Man, I am excited for next week’s emails now. 
Also Mom, I just talked to Sister Hull last night...  I LOVE Sister Hull.  Remember Sister McMurry, my MTC comp?  She was trained by Sister Hull.  And Sister Lyons, my other MTC friend?  She is in a trio with Sister Hull right now.  And she is also my Sister Trainer Leader.  So what I am trying to say, is yes, I know Sister Hull.  I will actually see her tomorrow at Zone Training. 





Their group on the trainplatform...waiting
to board for the Fasching's Parade

This week was another awesome week.  Sister Petersen and I both woke up one day this week feeling like Goldens again.  We are both just wanting to see some big miracles, and by that I mean baptisms.  We made a big poster and it is hanging on our wall right now.  It says, "How can we get as many baptisms as possible.  We have been praying to know how, and have starting doing a couple new things to see; we have already seen some cool things.  There is a family in our ward with four kids that are old enough to be baptized, but haven’t because their dad won’t allow them.  Well on Sunday, after praying for that, the wife of a non-member came up and invited us over for lunch on Friday.  We are excited.  I know that baptisms aren’t everything, but every DDM when we quote our purpose as missionaries, it is to invite others zu Christus zu kommen, indem wir ihnen helfen.  We are inviting them to come to Christ, and helping them to take upon them the ordinances, which include baptism.  I am here to help others with their eternal salvation, and so that is the goal that we are working for.  Sister Petersen and I feel like everyone engraved it in our minds that Germany was a hard mission and that we probably wouldn’t get a lot of baptisms.  We are here to call Quatsch on that, and see some miracles.   

Cathy is doing a lot better.  Sie will ein neue Wohnung finden, und sie found one that she is really excited about.  She is praying that she gets it and we have been praying too.  If she gets it, she can finally move out of the shelter and come to church again, which means that her daughter could come and be baptized.  We are all praying for that miracle.  We are planning a "Kindertauftag”—haha. 



This week, we went on a split with Sister Schiffmann and her daughter Anna.  They are both new converts and it was awesome.  I went out with Anna, because she knows some Spanish also.  We taught our Spanish investigator, Noemi, and then visited another Spanish family in the ward whose son was just baptized.  It was great and Anna loved it.  She told another Young Woman about it in the ward, and now Thelea and Anna want to do another split with us.  Sister Schiffmann also wants to go out with us again, and so do a few other people in the ward.  We are so excited, because that means we can do double the appointments.  We have packed our schedule jam tight, and it is great.  This week is going to be cool. 

I have never seen Bismarkplatz so packed
before...the day of the parade.

Danielle is officially considered reactivated!  Sister Petersen went to see her this week with Sister Shiffmann and the Relief Society President, and then Danielle came to church with her nonmember husband and took the sacrament for the first time!  Mensch, that was just so great.  She has made so much progress and I am so excited for her.

Kristin is also making progress!  We talked about baptism the entire time last meeting.  Beth and Bryce sang another song for us, and then we started teaching the lesson, and the spirit was so strong.  We asked her thoughts on baptism, and she told us that when she went to Loveland to study abroad, it was the first time she heard about adult baptisms.  She loves that concept.  She said she wishes she could be baptized again and choose for herself...  GOLDEN answer.  So of course we asked her.  She said she doesn’t know it is true yet, but when she does, she wants to get baptized.  We are excited.

Gianluca and Jocina helped us out this week.
We even managed to get a huge poster of Christ.

The street display was a success again.  Gianluca came with us and talked to one person for probably 30 minutes.  He found out they live next to each other, and invited him to church.  He picked him up and this guy stayed all three hours and probably an hour after just talking to people.  It was really cool.

I learned something important this week.  So one of Sister Petersen’s and my new wishes is to hand out more Books of Mormon to people that are really ready.  We prayed about what we should do and came up with a cool idea.  During study, we have been picking a topic that we want to learn more about, like faith, life after death, miracles, hope, etc., and finding scriptures that go with it in the Book of Mormon.  We have then been preparing Books of Mormon that go with those subjects to hand out to people, and have written our testimonies in the front with an experience of how we gained a testimony in that specific subject.  Then, before we leave the apartment, we pray that we will be able to talk to someone that needs to hear about this specific message that day. 

On Thursday, during language study, I felt like I should prepare a Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I found scriptures about prayer and wrote my testimony in it.  That day, we got on a bus and I heard some people speaking Spanish.  I awkwardly got out of my seat and started talking to them.  I immediately was shut down and they said that they didn’t believe in God.  I was confused, because I really felt like I should talk to them.  We got onto our next bus, and I heard some more Spanish, so I started talking to the little girl, and then to the mom.  The more we talked, I learned that her Aunt was Mormon and that she had a Book of Mormon, but that it was in German.  So of course, I gave her mine in Spanish and then we ended up getting her number.  It was a testimony builder that sometimes Heavenly Father prompts us to do something simply to see if we will be obedient.  Once he sees that we will follow what he asks, he will lead us to the people that really need us.  He has to trust us first.

I have studied and learned so much about miracles in these past two weeks, and I love the concept.  Yesterday, I read a talk from Holland called "The Ministry of Angels" and I LOVED it.  Moroni 7:35-37 have become some of my new favorite scriptures.  I thoroughly believe that when we ask in faith, God will send down the powers of heaven and show us miracles.  We just have to have faith and work for them. 

I love my mission, and I wish I could tell you even more about what has been happening, because this week has just been packed with cool things…but I want to have time to email Matt and Ethan back…and my other friends that finally wrote me!  I love you all so much and I hope that you all have a great week!  I pray for you all every day! 

LOVE YOU ALL.  (Mom and Dad, I think it would be REALLY cool if you found a way to come out this winter.  You would be in heaven here.)

Sister Savannah Teeples

P.S.  Mom, you would be proud of me.  Last night, I shaved my legs for the first time in 3 transfers...that’s about 4 months—haha.  Down side?  I cut myself really badly, so I have a big bandage on my leg. 

P.S.S.  If you haven’t sent out my Easter basket yet, I would LOVE a new skirt or two that is stretchy and brightly colored.  I am getting sick of all my dark skirts, but I can’t find any here.