August 11, 2014

The awesome text for
Aiyana's baptism

And another week has gone by!  I don't know how time is flying so quickly, but it is going crazy.  This was an awesome week, and from the sound of it, most things are going well back home.  Troy, I am glad that you and Alyssa had a good time on your vacation.  Mom and Dad, sounds like things aren't too different back home. Tell Grandpa thanks for the money, too.  It was really nice.  Tell my friends they can feel free to send me nice, hand written letters.  Ha-ha.  I will make sure to email Matt this week. 

Anyways, this was a crazy, kind of stressful week, but really good.  Troy, you are right.  I really do feel like my German exploded and I am loving ever minute of it.  I feel like when I started training, a wall just came crashing down, and now it is just getting better and better.  Teaching in lessons has become so much more comfortable and easy, and I feel like I am finally becoming the missionary I wanted to be.  Obviously, I have a lot more to learn, but I am able to understand so much more and say what I need to, and so it is just awesome.  And being with a native this week and hearing and having to speak German all week long has really helped.  It was exhausting, but I have definitely learned a lot just in the past week alone. 

So yeah, this week was my first full week with my golden and also with a mini missionary.  It was quite interesting, because Sister Nabrotzky could speak barely any English, and Sister Haywood struggles with German, but it went a lot better than I thought.  Sister Haywood is awesome.  She is really outgoing, so she doesn’t let the language barrier stop her.  Her German got so much better this week alone, because she was constantly talking to Sister Nabrotzky and people in buses and stuff that she is learning quickly.  I am thoroughly impressed! 

Wednesday made for some good stories.  We had an appointment with Anna again, and her mom and aunt were there.  I don’t know how much I have talked about Maikl and Maia, but they are hilarious, and crazy.  Well we were sitting there talking with Anna, asking about how EFY was and she was telling us all of these cool stories.  Then Maia came and pulled out this jar that looked like Vodka, and this black stuff.  I asked her what she was doing, and she told me she was "making medicine".  She held up the bottle and said that it was like Vodka and 100% alcohol, and that the black stuff was beeswax.  She started cutting up the bees wax and putting it into the bottle and told me that you let it sit,  it became medicine that can cure anything.  All you have to do is drink a little bit.  Sorry to break it to you Maia, but I think it just makes you so drunk that you don’t remember anything.  Not quite sure what the beeswax does though.  It was quite interesting.  They also fed us this Georgian treat that was really gross.  It looked an tasted like a candle.  It was on a string, and you dipped it in this grape juice / flour mix until it was thick and hardened.  Mmmmm…yummy! 

Our mini missionary, Sister Nabrotzky!

But the actual appointment ended up being really cool.  Anna’s cousin was there and had a ton of questions about our religion, so we ended up just answering them all and giving her a book of Mormon.  Sadly, she doesn’t live in our area, but she is going to check out a church where she lives. 

Sister Nabrotzky teaching
Sister Haywood German

On Friday, we had another miracle.  We were had our appointment with Rafael, the guy that we met on the bus.  I am not going to lie, I didn’t think he was coming.  I don’t know how many potential appointments I have had where people say they are coming and don’t, but Sister Haywood and Nabrotzky were so hopeful and excited I couldn’t say anything.  Well, we were waiting in the church, and it was about 20 minutes after he was suppose to come, and I was like, "Surprise,” and they were both really disappointed.  So we started packing up, when all of a sudden, the doorbell rang.  In walks Rafael.  We ended up having an amazing first lesson with him, and he had read part of the Book of Mormon and had a ton of questions about it.  At the end, we taught him how to pray and all knelt down and he said the closing prayer for us.  It was an awesome prayer, and the spirit was so strong.  It was awesome, and definitely a miracle.  Golden power!  We made out another appointment with him and will be meeting next Monday night. 

We finally had warm water!

That night we had a street display in Hamm with our District.  It was so successful.  I think between the nine of us, we handed out about 15 to 20 Books of Mormon, and got a lot of potential investigator numbers for the elders there. 

Saturday morning, we did service here in Münster.  Because of the storm a few weeks ago, everyone’s basements were flooded, so everything has to be thrown away.  So trash has been littering the streets and so we helped clean it up.  It was crazy fun.  And an interviewer came and interviewed us and took pictures.  So I got to tell them who we were, where we came from, and what we are doing here in Germany.  She got the name and address of our church, and so maybe I will be showing up in a German newspaper soon!  I also found a German silver dollar in the trash that is brand new so I took it and will be adding it to my collection! 

"Is there life after death?" Sweet
finding during our street display in Hamm

That day, we traveled down to Dortmund and had our "closing ceremony" for the mini missionaries.  We all shared our testimonies, and it was great.  It really was a week of miracles.  Sister Nabrotzky was awesome and I already miss her. 

Sunday, the youth that went to EFY went up and bore their testimonies, and Aiyana got up and bore hers!  She told the branch she wanted to be baptized.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  We are meeting tomorrow and setting up a fast date. 

This really was an awesome week.  We saw so many cool miracles, and I learned so much, and we also had our interesting moments.  I have never been so tired before, but it is worth every moment.  I love my mission.  I love the people I get to meet and serve with and work with.  I love feeling and learning from the spirit every day.  The mission is a special place.  I never knew I could be so tired and yet so happy all the time.  Its weird, but I love it. 

I hope you all have a great week, and I cant wait to hear from you all again.  But until then, stay safe. 

Ich hab´ euch lieb!

Savannah