2. Awkward pictures with Olaf (our joint teach). But look how pretty Bielefeld is!!
3. Vladimir's baptism!
This is my horrible attempt at capturing the magic of Weihnachtmarkts in Hamburg und Osnabrück.
Enjoy.
12.29.2012
December 24, 2012
1. We got stuck out in the middle of nowhere after an appointment and our joint teach (he's like a 24 year old RM) had to hang out with us for like an hour as we walked back to civilization hahaha. But he loved it so KEINE SORGEN
2. Awkward pictures with Olaf (our joint teach). But look how pretty Bielefeld is!!
3. Vladimir's baptism!
This is my horrible attempt at capturing the magic of Weihnachtmarkts in Hamburg und Osnabrück.
Enjoy.
2. Awkward pictures with Olaf (our joint teach). But look how pretty Bielefeld is!!
3. Vladimir's baptism!
This is my horrible attempt at capturing the magic of Weihnachtmarkts in Hamburg und Osnabrück.
Enjoy.
December 24, 2012
Hello people of the universe.
Well, it is Christmas time and I sure am grateful that the owner of this internet place is Muslim because that means I can write you right now.
And so. This week was crazy. But not really, I mean it was crazy boring. Man oh man, the transfers just seem to be creeping by, especially when I am so looking forward to something like CHRISTMAS. But luckily it is here.
Last p-day we went to a cute place called Osnabrück, where I bought traditional German things. But I spent more money than I wanted to spend - I just really really REALLY hate spending money - but I'm getting over it because now I have cool German Christmas things!
All of the other days were a mess. We had a lot of crappy lessons and our investigators are falling off the planet. Stupid holiday season. I have a lot of ideas for the new year and I am really excited about it, but right now I'm a junior companion (so weird, by the way, in my 9TH TRANSFER) and I'm scared to share a lot of ideas because they would involve us doing very different things. But we're working on it.
Yesterday was a day of wonder, however. I gave a talk in church (gag me) and I think it went ok. Several less actives came to church and although we didn't have a ton of investigators it was nice to see the ward members reaching out to the less actives. Also a thousand old women cornered us and loaded us up with chocolate and cookies, so that was pretty great. And then Vladimir was baptized!! His son, Michael, was baptized a year ago and then introduced the church to his mom (who was baptized earlier this year) and now his dad. Pretty cool, eh? Then we went to their house and ate the most delicious Russian food ever. Magical day.
That's about it. I'll keep you updated on the lovely Christmas traditions of the Germans and report back next week.
Love your guts.
Sister Young
Well, it is Christmas time and I sure am grateful that the owner of this internet place is Muslim because that means I can write you right now.
And so. This week was crazy. But not really, I mean it was crazy boring. Man oh man, the transfers just seem to be creeping by, especially when I am so looking forward to something like CHRISTMAS. But luckily it is here.
Last p-day we went to a cute place called Osnabrück, where I bought traditional German things. But I spent more money than I wanted to spend - I just really really REALLY hate spending money - but I'm getting over it because now I have cool German Christmas things!
All of the other days were a mess. We had a lot of crappy lessons and our investigators are falling off the planet. Stupid holiday season. I have a lot of ideas for the new year and I am really excited about it, but right now I'm a junior companion (so weird, by the way, in my 9TH TRANSFER) and I'm scared to share a lot of ideas because they would involve us doing very different things. But we're working on it.
Yesterday was a day of wonder, however. I gave a talk in church (gag me) and I think it went ok. Several less actives came to church and although we didn't have a ton of investigators it was nice to see the ward members reaching out to the less actives. Also a thousand old women cornered us and loaded us up with chocolate and cookies, so that was pretty great. And then Vladimir was baptized!! His son, Michael, was baptized a year ago and then introduced the church to his mom (who was baptized earlier this year) and now his dad. Pretty cool, eh? Then we went to their house and ate the most delicious Russian food ever. Magical day.
That's about it. I'll keep you updated on the lovely Christmas traditions of the Germans and report back next week.
Love your guts.
Sister Young
December 17, 2012
I have been trying so so so hard to not gain weight this Christmas season, but to no avail. Then I will have 12 weeks to burn all my new-found kilos. NOT FUN.
So let me tell you something cool about serving in Germany. It's called: last p-day my comp and I decided to go exploring in a small town about 30 minutes away and we found a MEDIEVAL CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!!! How freaking cool is that?????????? This town (called Rhede) is like so cute and super old and just plain magical. They had the cutest little Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) by this ancient church and I about died of happiness. Then later this week we were talking to a member about our p-day and I was like, "Oh my gosh, did you know that there is a giant castle in Rhede??" and he responded, "Ja...and? There are prettier ones." NO YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. IT IS NOT NORMAL TO STROLL AROUND A TOWN AND FIND A CASTLE. Silly Europeans.
Wednesday we went back to Hamburg for a conference with Elder Richards from the Area Presidency. It was alright, I learned a lot of good things. Like how now they want us to work mostly with MEMBER REFERRALS. Wooooooooooow it was crazy. He told us to stop dooring and talking to people on the street and to focus on working with members, because our new purpose is, and I quote, "to serve members in fufilling their responsibility to do missionary work." We were all blown away. Of course we know this works and is obviously the best way to do missionary work, but come on. Sometimes we can't wait for the members to talk to all of their friends, you know? We want to teach people now! Then we found out later that he served a mission in South America and then it hit us - OF COURSE THAT'S THE WAY TO GO IN SOUTH AMERICA - LAND OF FREAKING DREAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok I am not bitter and I really am trying to have faith in it. We will be talking to our ward about it this week so we'll see what we can do.
Also I will tell you that on our way to Hamburg these 2 nuns sat right in front of us on the train!! Sisters in faith! I wanted to start a conversation with them but they looked a little grumpy...
Oh ya. We have a baptism this week! A new convert's dad has decided to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. PURPOSE FUFILLED.
Well people. Today we're going to a supposedly cool Christmas market to buy cool German things. I will get back to you with pictures and lovely things.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Young
So let me tell you something cool about serving in Germany. It's called: last p-day my comp and I decided to go exploring in a small town about 30 minutes away and we found a MEDIEVAL CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!!! How freaking cool is that?????????? This town (called Rhede) is like so cute and super old and just plain magical. They had the cutest little Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) by this ancient church and I about died of happiness. Then later this week we were talking to a member about our p-day and I was like, "Oh my gosh, did you know that there is a giant castle in Rhede??" and he responded, "Ja...and? There are prettier ones." NO YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. IT IS NOT NORMAL TO STROLL AROUND A TOWN AND FIND A CASTLE. Silly Europeans.
Wednesday we went back to Hamburg for a conference with Elder Richards from the Area Presidency. It was alright, I learned a lot of good things. Like how now they want us to work mostly with MEMBER REFERRALS. Wooooooooooow it was crazy. He told us to stop dooring and talking to people on the street and to focus on working with members, because our new purpose is, and I quote, "to serve members in fufilling their responsibility to do missionary work." We were all blown away. Of course we know this works and is obviously the best way to do missionary work, but come on. Sometimes we can't wait for the members to talk to all of their friends, you know? We want to teach people now! Then we found out later that he served a mission in South America and then it hit us - OF COURSE THAT'S THE WAY TO GO IN SOUTH AMERICA - LAND OF FREAKING DREAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok I am not bitter and I really am trying to have faith in it. We will be talking to our ward about it this week so we'll see what we can do.
Also I will tell you that on our way to Hamburg these 2 nuns sat right in front of us on the train!! Sisters in faith! I wanted to start a conversation with them but they looked a little grumpy...
Oh ya. We have a baptism this week! A new convert's dad has decided to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. PURPOSE FUFILLED.
Well people. Today we're going to a supposedly cool Christmas market to buy cool German things. I will get back to you with pictures and lovely things.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Young
December 10, 2012
Weeeeeeell let's get a good start on the week by letting you know that I finally found out that I am serving in the Motherland, Germany.
Yes, yes. It is true. We have just found out that WE ARE TEACHING A NAZI.
But not anymore, because we closed that bag up reeeaaally quick. I guess I am just surprised that it took me so long on my mission to find one!
That's a lie, I've seen lots of them from a far away distance. But to actually shake one's hand...only the privilege was granted in the lovely setting of Bielefeld. Oh, what a glorious week.
On the plus side, we were invited to eat with a lovely old woman yesterday after church and she said she would make whatever we wanted!!!! So, naturally, I requested rouladen, the most delicious German dish in the universe. She she was kind enough to whip that up with some rotkohl and klöße, accompaigned by some homemade sauces. I LOVE MY MISSION. Also she said she could teach me her ways, maybe I will try to make it someday when I'm back home. Maybe.
You know what really sucks about a mission? 2 things.
1. Everyone thinking you are a Jehovah's Witness.
I'm sure they are great people, but they have a reputation for being scary and pushy, which is a shame because when people see us they immediately run away in fear. SCHADE (pronounced sha-duh, not sure if there's a good English translation but it's like saying "too bad" or, in my words, "poo"). Anyway, so one day this week we stopped by a member's home to get to know them a little better because they had recently moved in. As we climbed the staircase to their apartment, all the neighbors came out of their doors and stared us down with angry looks...not particularly unsual for us but WHAT THE HECK MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!! While we were sitting with the couple and sharing a spiritual thought, there was a knock at the door. Turns out it was the neighbor lady asking if they had JWs in their home and if they need any assistance in removing them. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO RUDE??! Oh, silly Germans.
2. Arranging joint teaches.
It's one thing to be having a hard time trying to figure out how to bring joint teaches to your lessons, but what about when you have plenty of people volunteering for joint teaches and none of your investigators show??? One word: SATAN. I would chop off his meddling hand if I could.
Ok I am really tired. Have a lovely week and eat lots of Butterfingers for me because I just barely realized that I miss those a lot.
Lurve.
Sister Young
Yes, yes. It is true. We have just found out that WE ARE TEACHING A NAZI.
But not anymore, because we closed that bag up reeeaaally quick. I guess I am just surprised that it took me so long on my mission to find one!
That's a lie, I've seen lots of them from a far away distance. But to actually shake one's hand...only the privilege was granted in the lovely setting of Bielefeld. Oh, what a glorious week.
On the plus side, we were invited to eat with a lovely old woman yesterday after church and she said she would make whatever we wanted!!!! So, naturally, I requested rouladen, the most delicious German dish in the universe. She she was kind enough to whip that up with some rotkohl and klöße, accompaigned by some homemade sauces. I LOVE MY MISSION. Also she said she could teach me her ways, maybe I will try to make it someday when I'm back home. Maybe.
You know what really sucks about a mission? 2 things.
1. Everyone thinking you are a Jehovah's Witness.
I'm sure they are great people, but they have a reputation for being scary and pushy, which is a shame because when people see us they immediately run away in fear. SCHADE (pronounced sha-duh, not sure if there's a good English translation but it's like saying "too bad" or, in my words, "poo"). Anyway, so one day this week we stopped by a member's home to get to know them a little better because they had recently moved in. As we climbed the staircase to their apartment, all the neighbors came out of their doors and stared us down with angry looks...not particularly unsual for us but WHAT THE HECK MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!! While we were sitting with the couple and sharing a spiritual thought, there was a knock at the door. Turns out it was the neighbor lady asking if they had JWs in their home and if they need any assistance in removing them. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO RUDE??! Oh, silly Germans.
2. Arranging joint teaches.
It's one thing to be having a hard time trying to figure out how to bring joint teaches to your lessons, but what about when you have plenty of people volunteering for joint teaches and none of your investigators show??? One word: SATAN. I would chop off his meddling hand if I could.
Ok I am really tired. Have a lovely week and eat lots of Butterfingers for me because I just barely realized that I miss those a lot.
Lurve.
Sister Young
12.04.2012
December 3, 2012
And so.
This past week has been kuhrayzeeeee. Where shall I begin?
I shall begin with informing you that I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with Sofia again in Hamburg :) :) :) She is doing well and we had a lovely visit!!! Hopefully I will remember to upload some pictures next week.
Zone Conference was super great, I got to catch up with a lot of old friends including SISTER DEAN, my MTC companion!!! She's still as crazy as ever, and it was just peachy to catch up. We have another conference next week in Hamburg with Elder Richards from the Area Seventy, super stoked about that. Minus the fact that my mission president's wife asked me and my comp to do a musical number. Gag me.
Then we came back to Bielefeld.
...
Don't get me wrong, it's great here and all. We just had another rough week of fallen out appointments and disappearing investigators. Tis the mission life.
We did end up having a walk-in appointment with an American student who asked us a lot of questions about the Church structure and other philosophical matters - he wasn't interested in the doctrine itself, seeing as he is an "unbeliever." He asked a lot of questions about women in the church, so imagine how my face lit up as I exclaimed with all energy of heart, "I'm a feminist!" He ate that right up. So then we talked about Mormon Feminism, and you know me. LOVED THAT LESSON. And that's how I brightened the world this week.
ALSO. So last week we invited a member in our ward to be a joint teach for one of our lessons with an investigator from Cameroon. We were so excited about the appointment, but as it always goes for joint teaches, our investigator cancelled last minute. We were natürlich very sad, but we asked this member if we could leave a spiritual thought with her. She agreed and as we sat down I started to panic because I didn't really know what I should share. As I was frantically flipping through the scriptures, I found 3 Nephi 9:13-14 in the Book of Mormon and decided just to talk about that. I shared some personal experiences with her and as I finished I noticed that she was crying. Well, talk about being the WORST MISSIONARY EVER, I felt so horrible that I had said something stupid. But then I found out that what I shared was an answer to her prayers and concerns.
So I guess it wasn't that bad of a week afterall.
I looooooooooove you all.
Happy first Advent.
Sister Young
This past week has been kuhrayzeeeee. Where shall I begin?
I shall begin with informing you that I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with Sofia again in Hamburg :) :) :) She is doing well and we had a lovely visit!!! Hopefully I will remember to upload some pictures next week.
Zone Conference was super great, I got to catch up with a lot of old friends including SISTER DEAN, my MTC companion!!! She's still as crazy as ever, and it was just peachy to catch up. We have another conference next week in Hamburg with Elder Richards from the Area Seventy, super stoked about that. Minus the fact that my mission president's wife asked me and my comp to do a musical number. Gag me.
Then we came back to Bielefeld.
...
Don't get me wrong, it's great here and all. We just had another rough week of fallen out appointments and disappearing investigators. Tis the mission life.
We did end up having a walk-in appointment with an American student who asked us a lot of questions about the Church structure and other philosophical matters - he wasn't interested in the doctrine itself, seeing as he is an "unbeliever." He asked a lot of questions about women in the church, so imagine how my face lit up as I exclaimed with all energy of heart, "I'm a feminist!" He ate that right up. So then we talked about Mormon Feminism, and you know me. LOVED THAT LESSON. And that's how I brightened the world this week.
ALSO. So last week we invited a member in our ward to be a joint teach for one of our lessons with an investigator from Cameroon. We were so excited about the appointment, but as it always goes for joint teaches, our investigator cancelled last minute. We were natürlich very sad, but we asked this member if we could leave a spiritual thought with her. She agreed and as we sat down I started to panic because I didn't really know what I should share. As I was frantically flipping through the scriptures, I found 3 Nephi 9:13-14 in the Book of Mormon and decided just to talk about that. I shared some personal experiences with her and as I finished I noticed that she was crying. Well, talk about being the WORST MISSIONARY EVER, I felt so horrible that I had said something stupid. But then I found out that what I shared was an answer to her prayers and concerns.
So I guess it wasn't that bad of a week afterall.
I looooooooooove you all.
Happy first Advent.
Sister Young
11.26.2012
November 26, 2012
Sorry people, this week will be short. And I probably won't be able to respond personally to all of your emails, but just hold your bunnies tight. Next week will be better. Probably. Mostly because I AM IN HAMBURG RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no time for you, just my lovely and favorite city ever. Besides Lyon. And Paris. So 3rd favorite.
Ok. Bielefeld is a dream and a half. No one was kidding, this place really is the land of dreams. We NEVER have time to talk to people on the street, and we're teaching like 20 people. We don't have time for everyone! It's ridiculous! Also my new companion's name is Sister Olsen. She's from all over (army brat), and she's pretty cool.
So one of the people we are teaching is named Joe. He is so cool! He keeps telling us that he really wants to find his faith in Jesus Christ, and he's really interested in the Book of Mormon. It's a dream, really, except for a small point - we teach him at his friend's house. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except that his friend is a suuuuuper anti-Mormon! Like times 10 million!! It's the weirdest situation ever. Joe in one corner, asking us about Christ and the Book of Mormon, and his friend in another corner, asking us about temples and telling us that Joseph Smith was a crystal ball glass reader. Whatever that means. Example conversation:
Friend: Did you know that when Joseph Smith died that he was found with a talisman in his pocket?
Joe: What the heck is a talisman?
Friend: An ancient device that helps people of the devil read the future. It's a symbol of bad things. Talismans are basically symbols that people carry around to remind them of certain things.
Joe: Like how the cross is a symbol of Christ?
Friend: No! That is different! Talismans are bad, and you can carry them with you!
Joe: Don't you wear a cross?
Bahahahaha hilarious. Sister Olsen and I were just dying. Also can I please tell you about one of our Russian members here? Ok I will. His name is Valentin (or something) and we meet with him once a week to help him with his english. So at our appointment with him this week we were talking about introductions and how in America we automatically say "how are you?" right after we say "hello!" because it's culturally polite. So then we asked him what they say in Russia. I quote the following: (In a thick Russian accent) "After we say hello, we say 'I WILL KILL YOU.'" Well, it took me awhile to recover from laughing, I think I fell off my chair. I'm just loving it here in good ol' Bielefeld.
The city itself is fairly small. Maybe the size of Omaha or a little smaller. It has this old castle thing that we are seeing next week. I'm in Hamburg today because we have a conference thing and we have to spend the night here, so we thought what the hey! Let's just go up early and spend our p-day here. Love it. I'm going to see some old investigators so I'm a little bit dying of happiness.
Ok I will go now.
Love your guts.
Sister Young
Ok. Bielefeld is a dream and a half. No one was kidding, this place really is the land of dreams. We NEVER have time to talk to people on the street, and we're teaching like 20 people. We don't have time for everyone! It's ridiculous! Also my new companion's name is Sister Olsen. She's from all over (army brat), and she's pretty cool.
So one of the people we are teaching is named Joe. He is so cool! He keeps telling us that he really wants to find his faith in Jesus Christ, and he's really interested in the Book of Mormon. It's a dream, really, except for a small point - we teach him at his friend's house. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except that his friend is a suuuuuper anti-Mormon! Like times 10 million!! It's the weirdest situation ever. Joe in one corner, asking us about Christ and the Book of Mormon, and his friend in another corner, asking us about temples and telling us that Joseph Smith was a crystal ball glass reader. Whatever that means. Example conversation:
Friend: Did you know that when Joseph Smith died that he was found with a talisman in his pocket?
Joe: What the heck is a talisman?
Friend: An ancient device that helps people of the devil read the future. It's a symbol of bad things. Talismans are basically symbols that people carry around to remind them of certain things.
Joe: Like how the cross is a symbol of Christ?
Friend: No! That is different! Talismans are bad, and you can carry them with you!
Joe: Don't you wear a cross?
Bahahahaha hilarious. Sister Olsen and I were just dying. Also can I please tell you about one of our Russian members here? Ok I will. His name is Valentin (or something) and we meet with him once a week to help him with his english. So at our appointment with him this week we were talking about introductions and how in America we automatically say "how are you?" right after we say "hello!" because it's culturally polite. So then we asked him what they say in Russia. I quote the following: (In a thick Russian accent) "After we say hello, we say 'I WILL KILL YOU.'" Well, it took me awhile to recover from laughing, I think I fell off my chair. I'm just loving it here in good ol' Bielefeld.
The city itself is fairly small. Maybe the size of Omaha or a little smaller. It has this old castle thing that we are seeing next week. I'm in Hamburg today because we have a conference thing and we have to spend the night here, so we thought what the hey! Let's just go up early and spend our p-day here. Love it. I'm going to see some old investigators so I'm a little bit dying of happiness.
Ok I will go now.
Love your guts.
Sister Young
11.19.2012
November 19, 2012
So guess what.
Did I ever tell you about a girl named Ronny from China? Well if I didn't, that's a shame because SHE GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK.
Ok ok this is the story:
So this cute Chinese girl walks into church one day and basically asks for the lessons. The Elders got there like 2 SECONDS before we did so they made out an appointment with her. I'm not going to keep going on this because it makes me SO ANGRY every single time I think about it, especially because the Elders got a lot of crap for teaching her, the ward thought it would be better for her to meet with Sisters, but she was golden so they wanted to do it. WHATEVER I'M DONE. Anyway, so Sister Larsen and I became friends with her and she turned into a Tiergarten Missionary project, being taught by the Elders and befriended by the Sisters and counseled by the Johnsons (senior couple here). And last week, last minute, she decided to be baptized!! And she's amazing. The baptism was so wonderful and she is such an example to me. Aaaaah man if I could just put into words the intense Christ-like love I feel for this girl. Someday you will all meet her because I made her promise to visit me in America :)
Well with all this excitement going on, putting on a baptism in 2 days and all, finding out that I AM BEING TRANSFERRED blew me over. Not really, I've been in Berlin quite some time (6 months) and I knew I would be leaving. But now that Ronny is here and everything is going great with our investigators I don't want to leave!!
Blah.
I'm sure y'all are on the edge of your seat now, so I'll just get the cat right out of the bag by letting you know that I am going to a city called Bielefeld.
This is excellent for the following reasons:
1. It's in the west!!!!!! West Germans are much nicer than the Eastern haha. Also I just really really loved West Germany so I am excited to go back.
2. Before my mission I always said that I wanted to go to Hamburg - check. When I got here and people asked me where I wanted to serve, I would say "Tiergarten and/or Bielefeld." Does the Lord love me? Yes he does.
3. The city is famous among the sisters of the mission for "being on fire." Apparently they have a ton of baptisms every year and really really solid members that love missionary work. I've heard from several sisters that served there that they hardly had time to find because they're running from appointment to appointment all the time, but no worries because people talk to them on the street all the time! And the people they teach are NORMAL! Hahaha this is quite a feat.
Ok ok ok I'm done writing.
I love you all.
Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you stuff your faces full and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and sleep for me.
Love,
Sister Young
Pictures:
1. At Ronny's baptism!
2. Taken right after she was baptized!
Did I ever tell you about a girl named Ronny from China? Well if I didn't, that's a shame because SHE GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK.
Ok ok this is the story:
So this cute Chinese girl walks into church one day and basically asks for the lessons. The Elders got there like 2 SECONDS before we did so they made out an appointment with her. I'm not going to keep going on this because it makes me SO ANGRY every single time I think about it, especially because the Elders got a lot of crap for teaching her, the ward thought it would be better for her to meet with Sisters, but she was golden so they wanted to do it. WHATEVER I'M DONE. Anyway, so Sister Larsen and I became friends with her and she turned into a Tiergarten Missionary project, being taught by the Elders and befriended by the Sisters and counseled by the Johnsons (senior couple here). And last week, last minute, she decided to be baptized!! And she's amazing. The baptism was so wonderful and she is such an example to me. Aaaaah man if I could just put into words the intense Christ-like love I feel for this girl. Someday you will all meet her because I made her promise to visit me in America :)
Well with all this excitement going on, putting on a baptism in 2 days and all, finding out that I AM BEING TRANSFERRED blew me over. Not really, I've been in Berlin quite some time (6 months) and I knew I would be leaving. But now that Ronny is here and everything is going great with our investigators I don't want to leave!!
Blah.
I'm sure y'all are on the edge of your seat now, so I'll just get the cat right out of the bag by letting you know that I am going to a city called Bielefeld.
This is excellent for the following reasons:
1. It's in the west!!!!!! West Germans are much nicer than the Eastern haha. Also I just really really loved West Germany so I am excited to go back.
2. Before my mission I always said that I wanted to go to Hamburg - check. When I got here and people asked me where I wanted to serve, I would say "Tiergarten and/or Bielefeld." Does the Lord love me? Yes he does.
3. The city is famous among the sisters of the mission for "being on fire." Apparently they have a ton of baptisms every year and really really solid members that love missionary work. I've heard from several sisters that served there that they hardly had time to find because they're running from appointment to appointment all the time, but no worries because people talk to them on the street all the time! And the people they teach are NORMAL! Hahaha this is quite a feat.
Ok ok ok I'm done writing.
I love you all.
Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you stuff your faces full and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and sleep for me.
Love,
Sister Young
Pictures:
1. At Ronny's baptism!
2. Taken right after she was baptized!
11.18.2012
November 12, 2012
Do you know what I do here in Berlin? I just teach spanish people.
I NEED TO LEARN SPANISH.
Also I have a shopping problem that includes buying old grandma sweaters with squirrels on them. If I ever remember to bring my camera with me to email, I'll brighten your life with pictures.
This week was a joke. Basically every new appointment fell through, and a ton of people we visit with regularly cancelled on us. We did a lot of walking and a lot of stress-eating at bakeries. Also my companion and I were bad and spoke a lot of English to each other, and then the fact that we teach over half of our lessons in English means that my German is getting WORSE. IT'S HORRIBLE.
Oh oh! I almost forgot to tell you that we met with an Irish woman and yes, THEY ARE AS COOL AS PEOPLE MAKE THEM OUT TO BE. She was so lovely and jolly and made us delicious tea and taught us some new words like "shmuck smhuck!" which I guess means something bad haha. When she told us the story of how she came to believe in God, my whole soul felt like it was lighting on fire. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Naja, it's too bad she doesn't have any interest in the Book of Mormon. We'll keep praying.
That's about it. I hope your week was swell. Transfer calls are on Saturday and we'll see if I'll be leaving! I'll keep you posted!
Love,
Sister Young
I NEED TO LEARN SPANISH.
Also I have a shopping problem that includes buying old grandma sweaters with squirrels on them. If I ever remember to bring my camera with me to email, I'll brighten your life with pictures.
This week was a joke. Basically every new appointment fell through, and a ton of people we visit with regularly cancelled on us. We did a lot of walking and a lot of stress-eating at bakeries. Also my companion and I were bad and spoke a lot of English to each other, and then the fact that we teach over half of our lessons in English means that my German is getting WORSE. IT'S HORRIBLE.
Oh oh! I almost forgot to tell you that we met with an Irish woman and yes, THEY ARE AS COOL AS PEOPLE MAKE THEM OUT TO BE. She was so lovely and jolly and made us delicious tea and taught us some new words like "shmuck smhuck!" which I guess means something bad haha. When she told us the story of how she came to believe in God, my whole soul felt like it was lighting on fire. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Naja, it's too bad she doesn't have any interest in the Book of Mormon. We'll keep praying.
That's about it. I hope your week was swell. Transfer calls are on Saturday and we'll see if I'll be leaving! I'll keep you posted!
Love,
Sister Young
11.10.2012
November 5, 2012
I will just confess something to you right now so you don't think I'm the most wonderful and obedient missionary ever.
I cannot get up in the morning.
Maybe my parents thought that this would get better over time, but it hasn't. I can't ever hear my alarm in the morning, so my comp always has to wake me up. It has been this way since the beginning. The problem now is that my comp is too nice and sweet to try to wake me up, so now I'm always getting up late. Of course I secretly love it, but I promise I'm working on it. But I am still a big fat failure at "Morgen Sport," the 30 minutes set aside for us to exercise in the morning. I don't do it. End of story.
But let me tell you something. It's called: I don't need morgen sport because I exercise enough in the day. And it's true. This week especially, because I'm pretty sure we ran for every single bus that we needed. IT'S THE WORST. Also yesterday we were invited with the elders to eat at a member's home, and before the member left church he cornered us and said, "DON'T BE LATE" in a very authoritative scary German voice. Well, the problem was that the Elders took too long with a member and so we had 20 minutes to get somewhere like 35 minutes away. I seriously felt like we were all in a spy movie or something, crossing 6 lanes of traffic to catch a bus, running to the u-bahn and the sprinting all the way to their apartment. And we kingled at 2pm ON THE DOT. It was a miracle. Sister Larsen used to be terrified every time I would make her run for a bus, but now she's a pro. I am so proud.
Also with all this crazy election stuff going on all the Germans are dying to hear about our opinions! We try to get out of these situations but it's so hard. One conversation we experienced last night goes as follows:
Julia (one of my favorite investigators!!): I heard that Rooney guy is a Mormon.
Us: Oh, you mean Romney?
Julia: Yes, him. How does that work? How can a Mormon be a Republican?
Us: Well lots of Mormons are Republicans.
Julia (shocked to death): WHAT? Why??
Us: The Church is very neutral - they don't get involved in politics. But they encourage members to get involved and to choose for themselves, so you will find Mormons that are on all sides of the political spectrum.
Julia: No, no. How can you be Mormon and not believe in helping people?
GOOD QUESTION.
I hope you are having fun voting your hearts out.
Lurve,
Sister Young
I cannot get up in the morning.
Maybe my parents thought that this would get better over time, but it hasn't. I can't ever hear my alarm in the morning, so my comp always has to wake me up. It has been this way since the beginning. The problem now is that my comp is too nice and sweet to try to wake me up, so now I'm always getting up late. Of course I secretly love it, but I promise I'm working on it. But I am still a big fat failure at "Morgen Sport," the 30 minutes set aside for us to exercise in the morning. I don't do it. End of story.
But let me tell you something. It's called: I don't need morgen sport because I exercise enough in the day. And it's true. This week especially, because I'm pretty sure we ran for every single bus that we needed. IT'S THE WORST. Also yesterday we were invited with the elders to eat at a member's home, and before the member left church he cornered us and said, "DON'T BE LATE" in a very authoritative scary German voice. Well, the problem was that the Elders took too long with a member and so we had 20 minutes to get somewhere like 35 minutes away. I seriously felt like we were all in a spy movie or something, crossing 6 lanes of traffic to catch a bus, running to the u-bahn and the sprinting all the way to their apartment. And we kingled at 2pm ON THE DOT. It was a miracle. Sister Larsen used to be terrified every time I would make her run for a bus, but now she's a pro. I am so proud.
Also with all this crazy election stuff going on all the Germans are dying to hear about our opinions! We try to get out of these situations but it's so hard. One conversation we experienced last night goes as follows:
Julia (one of my favorite investigators!!): I heard that Rooney guy is a Mormon.
Us: Oh, you mean Romney?
Julia: Yes, him. How does that work? How can a Mormon be a Republican?
Us: Well lots of Mormons are Republicans.
Julia (shocked to death): WHAT? Why??
Us: The Church is very neutral - they don't get involved in politics. But they encourage members to get involved and to choose for themselves, so you will find Mormons that are on all sides of the political spectrum.
Julia: No, no. How can you be Mormon and not believe in helping people?
GOOD QUESTION.
I hope you are having fun voting your hearts out.
Lurve,
Sister Young
October 29, 2012
Let me tell you a funny thing. It's called: a funny man from the Philipines saw us on the u-bahn and pointed at us whilst shouting, "MORMONS! THERE ARE MORMONS HERE!" We just laughed and almost made out an appointment with him. BUT I am happy to inform you all that he was a perfect asian version of Jimmy Stewart. I wish I got a picture, it was a perfect likeness. Sister Larsen and I couldn't get over it.
Also did you hear that ever since they lowered the mission ages that the 700 mission applications that the First Presidency receives every week increased to 4000 a week????? And even better, did you know that 61% are from sisters???!!??! CRAAAAAAZY things are happening!!!!!!
So. This week we decided to throw a little Spanish movie night party for all the Spanish-speaking members in our ward and their friends. We had 4 members come with their families and some friends! It was a great success. It also meant a lot to us to have this little group get together and share their testimonies, as only a couple of the members can speak any German and that means that they don't get a lot out of church every week. Also Corola got to finally meet everyone!! It was just great. Really great. Also I shared my testimony in Spanish...it was probably really horrible but Corola loved it so I was happy to do it.
Aaaaaand ja. This week was interesting. Very slow. But good, I think. I'm just starting to hit this point in my mission where I am just SO TIRED. ALL THE TIME. I think I'm going to come home and sleep for 3 days straight.
But I will tell you something really cute that happened yesterday that has just stuck with me. Love when that happens.
Yesterday we were visiting with a family in the ward and it was so great. They're from California, so we got to speak English and talk about normal things. They have the most adorable children on the entire planet, so teaching is always great because they are just SO DANG CUTE and love everything we tell them. So yesterday we decided to share a spiritual thought about the plan of salvation, and we had a little activity to go with it. We were talking about all the different steps and what they mean. One of the girls asked, "Why is it called the Plan of Salvation? What does salvation mean?" So we talked about that a little bit, and her parents were explaining a lot to her. By the end of our time together she said, "Oh, I get it now! That's why it's also called the Plan of Happiness! Salvation is happiness!"
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." - Mosiah 3:19, Book of Mormon
I love you allllll. I hope you're having a lovely week.
Love,
Sister Young
Also did you hear that ever since they lowered the mission ages that the 700 mission applications that the First Presidency receives every week increased to 4000 a week????? And even better, did you know that 61% are from sisters???!!??! CRAAAAAAZY things are happening!!!!!!
So. This week we decided to throw a little Spanish movie night party for all the Spanish-speaking members in our ward and their friends. We had 4 members come with their families and some friends! It was a great success. It also meant a lot to us to have this little group get together and share their testimonies, as only a couple of the members can speak any German and that means that they don't get a lot out of church every week. Also Corola got to finally meet everyone!! It was just great. Really great. Also I shared my testimony in Spanish...it was probably really horrible but Corola loved it so I was happy to do it.
Aaaaaand ja. This week was interesting. Very slow. But good, I think. I'm just starting to hit this point in my mission where I am just SO TIRED. ALL THE TIME. I think I'm going to come home and sleep for 3 days straight.
But I will tell you something really cute that happened yesterday that has just stuck with me. Love when that happens.
Yesterday we were visiting with a family in the ward and it was so great. They're from California, so we got to speak English and talk about normal things. They have the most adorable children on the entire planet, so teaching is always great because they are just SO DANG CUTE and love everything we tell them. So yesterday we decided to share a spiritual thought about the plan of salvation, and we had a little activity to go with it. We were talking about all the different steps and what they mean. One of the girls asked, "Why is it called the Plan of Salvation? What does salvation mean?" So we talked about that a little bit, and her parents were explaining a lot to her. By the end of our time together she said, "Oh, I get it now! That's why it's also called the Plan of Happiness! Salvation is happiness!"
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." - Mosiah 3:19, Book of Mormon
I love you allllll. I hope you're having a lovely week.
Love,
Sister Young
10.23.2012
October 22, 2012
I forgot to attach pics to the last email. Woops. Enjoy!
Info regarding pictures:
1. With the cutest family ever!! They're from Cambodia and they were all baptized last year.
2. Me right outside of our apartment.
I would have sent more pictures but it won't allow me. DUMB.
Info regarding pictures:
1. With the cutest family ever!! They're from Cambodia and they were all baptized last year.
2. Me right outside of our apartment.
I would have sent more pictures but it won't allow me. DUMB.
October 22, 2012
Guess what people.
This week I hit my mission birthday - I HAVE BEEN A MISSIONARY FOR ONE WHOLE YEAR. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. 8760 hours. 525,600 minutes. 3,153,6000 seconds. That's a lot of time to spend on one of the hardest things I've ever done. Woof.
Well well. This week God loved us in abundance. We found a lot of new amazing people to teach, we had good lessons with all our investigators, the weather was perfect...
The problem with having good or easy times on your mission is that you're constantly scared for something horrible to happen. That's just how it is. If you're having an amazing week, you immediately get nervous for the next week to suck like crazy. If you tell any other missionaries that you're having a successful week, they respond with, "Oh...good luck then." Then we all kind of crawl into a corner and wait for God to drown us in misery. So Sister Larsen and I are a little nervous is all.
Ok but I will tell you the funny story of the week because this will make you so happy! I promise.
So. Do you remember the story from my last week with Sister Uhlig about a girl who responded to the question, "What does prayer mean to you?" with "alcohol"????? Ok well just keep that in mind when I tell you that this week Sister Larsen and I talked to this woman on the street and she said, "Oh please come help my daughter find Jesus!" or something like that. So we set up an appointment to come over and when we showed up guess who answered the door? ALCOHOL GIRL. Bahaha she and I just looked at each other awkwardly, but then her mom invited us in and we taught a lesson. Probably the most perfect lesson we've ever taught. We asked all the Preach My Gospel inspired questions, taught the doctrine simply but powerfully, gave commitments, bore testimony, etc etc. Her mom was loving it, but this girl was laughing awkwardly the whole time and wouldn't make eye contact. She answered all of our open-ended questions with one word answers.
And then! She came to Institut. WITH HER MOM. Kind of weird. Then we set up an appointment, only to find out her mother wouldn't be there!!!! So we were a little bit insanely nervous about it. But we went. And as soon as we sat down she asked to borrow our phone and went into the other room for like 10 minutes calling weird numbers! Then she came back in and sat on the other side of the room and asked what we wanted to talk about. I was just so confused and asked, "Um...do you even want us to be here? We only want to come if this is something you're interested in," to which she replied (with a completely emotionless face), "Yes." ?????????? So we taught an awkward lesson about prayer, tried to bring the Spirit but it was hard with her laughing occasionally at us, and invited her to church. Then we left.
Question: What do you do with an investigator that keeps all the commitments, keeps making out appointments with you, but doesn't actually want to meet with you??!?!?!?!
Bahahaha I never ever EVER thought that would be a problem on my mission, but obviously I did not give Berlin enough credit. Thank you, Deutschland, for continuing to blow my mind.
Lurve,
Sister Young
This week I hit my mission birthday - I HAVE BEEN A MISSIONARY FOR ONE WHOLE YEAR. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. 8760 hours. 525,600 minutes. 3,153,6000 seconds. That's a lot of time to spend on one of the hardest things I've ever done. Woof.
Well well. This week God loved us in abundance. We found a lot of new amazing people to teach, we had good lessons with all our investigators, the weather was perfect...
The problem with having good or easy times on your mission is that you're constantly scared for something horrible to happen. That's just how it is. If you're having an amazing week, you immediately get nervous for the next week to suck like crazy. If you tell any other missionaries that you're having a successful week, they respond with, "Oh...good luck then." Then we all kind of crawl into a corner and wait for God to drown us in misery. So Sister Larsen and I are a little nervous is all.
Ok but I will tell you the funny story of the week because this will make you so happy! I promise.
So. Do you remember the story from my last week with Sister Uhlig about a girl who responded to the question, "What does prayer mean to you?" with "alcohol"????? Ok well just keep that in mind when I tell you that this week Sister Larsen and I talked to this woman on the street and she said, "Oh please come help my daughter find Jesus!" or something like that. So we set up an appointment to come over and when we showed up guess who answered the door? ALCOHOL GIRL. Bahaha she and I just looked at each other awkwardly, but then her mom invited us in and we taught a lesson. Probably the most perfect lesson we've ever taught. We asked all the Preach My Gospel inspired questions, taught the doctrine simply but powerfully, gave commitments, bore testimony, etc etc. Her mom was loving it, but this girl was laughing awkwardly the whole time and wouldn't make eye contact. She answered all of our open-ended questions with one word answers.
And then! She came to Institut. WITH HER MOM. Kind of weird. Then we set up an appointment, only to find out her mother wouldn't be there!!!! So we were a little bit insanely nervous about it. But we went. And as soon as we sat down she asked to borrow our phone and went into the other room for like 10 minutes calling weird numbers! Then she came back in and sat on the other side of the room and asked what we wanted to talk about. I was just so confused and asked, "Um...do you even want us to be here? We only want to come if this is something you're interested in," to which she replied (with a completely emotionless face), "Yes." ?????????? So we taught an awkward lesson about prayer, tried to bring the Spirit but it was hard with her laughing occasionally at us, and invited her to church. Then we left.
Question: What do you do with an investigator that keeps all the commitments, keeps making out appointments with you, but doesn't actually want to meet with you??!?!?!?!
Bahahaha I never ever EVER thought that would be a problem on my mission, but obviously I did not give Berlin enough credit. Thank you, Deutschland, for continuing to blow my mind.
Lurve,
Sister Young
October 15, 2012
Well let's just jump right to the point and spread the news: PRESIDENT MONSON WAS IN BERLIN YESTERDAY AND WE GOT TO SEE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No big deal or anything, but I had the privilege of talking about prophets with my investigators and had the joy of saying, "Actually, the prophet is coming to Berlin this weekend. Want to come with us to hear him?" Yangmin just about fell off his chair haha. But win! Several of our investigators came and it was a glorious event.
Speaking of Yang, he's back!!! Obviously he couldn't hide from the Spirit for very long. He said he still doesn't want to be baptized until his wife approves, which of course is acceptable, but he will still meet with us once a week and come to church. Yay yay yay my heart is full! Also he's been receiving a lot of anti-mormon stuff from friends and family and he'll bring it to us sometimes and say, "What am I supposed to do with this? I might as well throw it away because NONE OF IT IS TRUE!" Best. investigator. EVER.
Also I'm learning Chinese from a new investigator named Ronny. She is the sweetest thing to ever grace this planet and Sister Larsen and I get a kick out of her laughing at our Chinese lessons. But I'm basically fluent so no worries.
Aaaaaaaand the best day of my mission happened to be on Saturday. We went to Eisenhüttenstadt for a service project and it was AWESOME. The branch president's mother-in-law (she's not a member) has the biggest garden in the entire world and we helped her pull out trees and things. It was the perfect combination - perfect, sunny, autumn weather + working in a garden + finding random beautiful pieces of glass as we were digging because the garden used to be a glass factory from the early 1900's!! + eating delicious Polish food + talking with hilarious East Germans = the best missionary day ever. I have never felt more zufrieden. It was wonderful and I wish I could just transport all of you to Germany where you can meet these hilarious people. That is all.
So this guy we met on the street told us we were witches the other day. I've heard a lot of things on my mission, but rather surprisingly I have never been called a witch. I guess it wouldn't have been such a big deal except right before we talked to him we talked to a Jehovah's Witness who was not very nice. And right before we talked to the JW an Italian man told us he would come to church if we kissed him. It was just icing on top of our terrible day of trying to find people who are trying to come closer to Christ. Oooooooh man ich mag es überhaupt nicht!
I hope you have a wonderful week. Love your guts.
Sister Young
No big deal or anything, but I had the privilege of talking about prophets with my investigators and had the joy of saying, "Actually, the prophet is coming to Berlin this weekend. Want to come with us to hear him?" Yangmin just about fell off his chair haha. But win! Several of our investigators came and it was a glorious event.
Speaking of Yang, he's back!!! Obviously he couldn't hide from the Spirit for very long. He said he still doesn't want to be baptized until his wife approves, which of course is acceptable, but he will still meet with us once a week and come to church. Yay yay yay my heart is full! Also he's been receiving a lot of anti-mormon stuff from friends and family and he'll bring it to us sometimes and say, "What am I supposed to do with this? I might as well throw it away because NONE OF IT IS TRUE!" Best. investigator. EVER.
Also I'm learning Chinese from a new investigator named Ronny. She is the sweetest thing to ever grace this planet and Sister Larsen and I get a kick out of her laughing at our Chinese lessons. But I'm basically fluent so no worries.
Aaaaaaaand the best day of my mission happened to be on Saturday. We went to Eisenhüttenstadt for a service project and it was AWESOME. The branch president's mother-in-law (she's not a member) has the biggest garden in the entire world and we helped her pull out trees and things. It was the perfect combination - perfect, sunny, autumn weather + working in a garden + finding random beautiful pieces of glass as we were digging because the garden used to be a glass factory from the early 1900's!! + eating delicious Polish food + talking with hilarious East Germans = the best missionary day ever. I have never felt more zufrieden. It was wonderful and I wish I could just transport all of you to Germany where you can meet these hilarious people. That is all.
So this guy we met on the street told us we were witches the other day. I've heard a lot of things on my mission, but rather surprisingly I have never been called a witch. I guess it wouldn't have been such a big deal except right before we talked to him we talked to a Jehovah's Witness who was not very nice. And right before we talked to the JW an Italian man told us he would come to church if we kissed him. It was just icing on top of our terrible day of trying to find people who are trying to come closer to Christ. Oooooooh man ich mag es überhaupt nicht!
I hope you have a wonderful week. Love your guts.
Sister Young
October 8, 2012
PEOPLE.
Ok ok ok so the one thing everyone has been asking me is "OH MY GOSH how do you feel about the fact that the Church changed the ages of Sister missionaries from 21 to 19????"
I will give you my personal opinion.
I think it is great for the following reasons:
1. Less girls will be getting married at 19 and 20, which I believe to be a splendid improvement. No offense to all my friends and acquaintances who got married at these tender ages, but I am all in favor of girls waiting to have significant life experiences before settling down.
2. This will increase the number of sisters by like a bajillion percent!! I'm like 99.9% sure that in about a year over half of the young people serving missions will be girls. Almost guaranteed.
3. So many girls that would have otherwise have had to turn down the opportunity may now go. I happy so happy for them.
I am terrified for the following reasons:
1. I was almost still a poophead at 19 and I'm a little scared a lot more immature girls will be entering the field.
2. With #1 being said, I'm afraid that a lot more immature 19 year old girls and boys will be falling in love with each other on the mission. Lock your heart problems, perhaps?
3. It's just one more giant decision that they have to make at such a young age. Please please PLEASE do it prayerfully!!! I think all the girls considering missions need to remember that they do not have to do it now - you can still wait until you're 21 or 24 or 26! And the older you are, the more life experiences and maturity you have to bring to your mission experience. Ward members and investigators see that and many times prefer it.
With all of this excitement and confusion and just plain weirdness, I have decided to do something special. I would like to write this letter home as a letter to my 19-year-old self. And so.
Dear (future) Sister Young,
First of all, to ruin the surprise, you went on a mission!! Ha ha!! Yes indeed, your future self decided to follow those promptings you have probably barely received about serving a mission. Again, ruining the surprise, you have been sent to the freezing cold of Berlin, Germany, and you secretly are falling in love with it. Indeed, a language so harsh and a people so stubborn are managing to squeeze through the tiny crevices in the wall around your heart. As scary as it sounds, you will find peace with this incredibly daunting responsibility of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sister, to be completely honest, I don't remember what it was like to be 19. I think I tried to block those memories out, so I apologize in advance for any sort of suckiness you're about to experience. I'm sure it wasn't that bad, so you'll learn to get over it. I DO remember, however, that you have started a "Happy Thoughts" journal, recording all the wonderful things each day there are to enjoy about life. Please keep this habit up. Your 21-year-old self is insanely horrible at keeping any sort of journal, and it would be such a lovely talent to have on a mission.
You have a really long road in front of you, and the time will probably seem to just creep by. You will make so many stupid decisions, but in the beauty of God's plan they will lead you right to where you need to be. Just don't forget to repent and to turn to Christ. Learn to become more like Him. I'm not sure if that means anything to you right now, and I'm actually not sure if that means anything to me either, but just keep reading in the scriptures and praying and going to church and doing what you're supposed to and maybe we'll learn one of these days.
I would love to gush out all the feelings of my heart right this second and to impart all the wisdom that I possess, but I just want you to learn that for yourself. It's time to fall on your face a few more times and to have your heart broken a few more times and to know what it means to climb the mountain of self-hatred and pity a few more times. That is what is going to make you a good missionary, and probably a good everything else.
Also are you not just dying from the cheesiness of this letter yet?? Ok then I will tell you some funny things and good things about your missionary-self.
#1. I still laugh at poop jokes.
#2. I am famous in the mission for 3 things: being a feminist, reading auras, and taking awkward pictures. This is how the 214 other missionaries in this mission will remember me for the rest of their lives. I am very pleased.
#3. I spend my p-days teaching Elders to be feminists and have had the privilege of hearing my district tell me that they have been converted to the cause of defending women.
#4. I am still addicted to Nutella.
#5. I think I am the funniest person in the world and I need to work on my pride a little bit.
Ok. That is all.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Young
ps. Please don't flunk that French test coming up. It's actually going to become your major and you need to stop being so lazy.
Ok ok ok so the one thing everyone has been asking me is "OH MY GOSH how do you feel about the fact that the Church changed the ages of Sister missionaries from 21 to 19????"
I will give you my personal opinion.
I think it is great for the following reasons:
1. Less girls will be getting married at 19 and 20, which I believe to be a splendid improvement. No offense to all my friends and acquaintances who got married at these tender ages, but I am all in favor of girls waiting to have significant life experiences before settling down.
2. This will increase the number of sisters by like a bajillion percent!! I'm like 99.9% sure that in about a year over half of the young people serving missions will be girls. Almost guaranteed.
3. So many girls that would have otherwise have had to turn down the opportunity may now go. I happy so happy for them.
I am terrified for the following reasons:
1. I was almost still a poophead at 19 and I'm a little scared a lot more immature girls will be entering the field.
2. With #1 being said, I'm afraid that a lot more immature 19 year old girls and boys will be falling in love with each other on the mission. Lock your heart problems, perhaps?
3. It's just one more giant decision that they have to make at such a young age. Please please PLEASE do it prayerfully!!! I think all the girls considering missions need to remember that they do not have to do it now - you can still wait until you're 21 or 24 or 26! And the older you are, the more life experiences and maturity you have to bring to your mission experience. Ward members and investigators see that and many times prefer it.
With all of this excitement and confusion and just plain weirdness, I have decided to do something special. I would like to write this letter home as a letter to my 19-year-old self. And so.
Dear (future) Sister Young,
First of all, to ruin the surprise, you went on a mission!! Ha ha!! Yes indeed, your future self decided to follow those promptings you have probably barely received about serving a mission. Again, ruining the surprise, you have been sent to the freezing cold of Berlin, Germany, and you secretly are falling in love with it. Indeed, a language so harsh and a people so stubborn are managing to squeeze through the tiny crevices in the wall around your heart. As scary as it sounds, you will find peace with this incredibly daunting responsibility of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sister, to be completely honest, I don't remember what it was like to be 19. I think I tried to block those memories out, so I apologize in advance for any sort of suckiness you're about to experience. I'm sure it wasn't that bad, so you'll learn to get over it. I DO remember, however, that you have started a "Happy Thoughts" journal, recording all the wonderful things each day there are to enjoy about life. Please keep this habit up. Your 21-year-old self is insanely horrible at keeping any sort of journal, and it would be such a lovely talent to have on a mission.
You have a really long road in front of you, and the time will probably seem to just creep by. You will make so many stupid decisions, but in the beauty of God's plan they will lead you right to where you need to be. Just don't forget to repent and to turn to Christ. Learn to become more like Him. I'm not sure if that means anything to you right now, and I'm actually not sure if that means anything to me either, but just keep reading in the scriptures and praying and going to church and doing what you're supposed to and maybe we'll learn one of these days.
I would love to gush out all the feelings of my heart right this second and to impart all the wisdom that I possess, but I just want you to learn that for yourself. It's time to fall on your face a few more times and to have your heart broken a few more times and to know what it means to climb the mountain of self-hatred and pity a few more times. That is what is going to make you a good missionary, and probably a good everything else.
Also are you not just dying from the cheesiness of this letter yet?? Ok then I will tell you some funny things and good things about your missionary-self.
#1. I still laugh at poop jokes.
#2. I am famous in the mission for 3 things: being a feminist, reading auras, and taking awkward pictures. This is how the 214 other missionaries in this mission will remember me for the rest of their lives. I am very pleased.
#3. I spend my p-days teaching Elders to be feminists and have had the privilege of hearing my district tell me that they have been converted to the cause of defending women.
#4. I am still addicted to Nutella.
#5. I think I am the funniest person in the world and I need to work on my pride a little bit.
Ok. That is all.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Young
ps. Please don't flunk that French test coming up. It's actually going to become your major and you need to stop being so lazy.
10.07.2012
October 1, 2012
Just so you know, I'm going on a diet tomorrow. I have gained 2 pounds this transfer and I DON'T LIKE IT.
Blah. This week has been the pits. Well not thaaaat bad, but not really that great either. After our wonderful Sunday of miracles, God decided to answer my prayers of pleading with another rough week. He is just so great like that.
I'm sorry people, I just don't feel like talking right now. I hope you'll excuse my lack of writing.
I'll leave you a nice video instead. I hope you understand.
Love,
Sister Young
http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng
Blah. This week has been the pits. Well not thaaaat bad, but not really that great either. After our wonderful Sunday of miracles, God decided to answer my prayers of pleading with another rough week. He is just so great like that.
I'm sorry people, I just don't feel like talking right now. I hope you'll excuse my lack of writing.
I'll leave you a nice video instead. I hope you understand.
Love,
Sister Young
http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng
9.25.2012
September 24, 2012
Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah this was the worst week ever. Not really but close.
So. I should probably start out by letting you know that God babied us up this week. He put SO MANY MIRACLES in our path because he knew the weekend would SUCK. We met some amazing people on the street. We're seeing amazing progress with so many of our investigators. Life was great. AND THEN.
Yangmin said goodbye to us. Forever. Actually not forever, if I can help it. But it was really sad. Story time.
So Yang was getting super stoked for his baptism, and decided to call his wife to talk more about it (she's in Korea right now). Well, it did not go over well. She has read some things on the internet about our church that she didn't particularly like, and didn't approve of his baptism. It was definitely a setback, but it is of course really really important that she approves so we decided to push it off until he goes to Korea in December to talk to her. We had a lesson with a member family here, and it was great! He was bearing his testimony about the Book of Mormon, church, Joseph Smith, Christ...the whole shebang. He said he still wanted to do everything like a member - come to church, meet with us regularly, serve, etc. Then not 30 minutes after this lesson, we got a text from him that said he wasn't going to come to church and he didn't want to see us again. It was devastating. I just crumpled to the floor and cried, I didn't know what to do with all these emotions.
The next day at church I was already on edge and not feeling well when I got a letter I reeeeaally didn't want to have. We had to prepare for a lesson we reeaaally didn't want to teach, and I had to play piano in Primary which I reeeaaally didn't want to do. Again, break down. Poor Sister Johnson (a senior missionary here), she just held me while I cried and cried. But after a while I got my strength back, stood up straight, and prepared to have one of the most miracle-filled days in all my mission.
We saw over 10 nonmembers in sacrament meeting. Primary was hilarious to watch. They asked us to bear our testimony in Relief Society about sacrifice and it was really spiritual. We talked to a member of the bishopric about how we could help the ward better and got amazing insight. We had lunch with the YSA and had really really good conversations with a lot of investigators, who in turned talked to the missionaries in their ward about being baptized. We met some French people that told me my French is great. We found out Thomas Monson is coming to Berlin on October 14th and we all get to be here to see him. We met with one of our investigators that's in the hopsital and she's making AMAZING progress. We found out that an investigator from when Sister Uhlig was here is finally back from being in Turkey for 5 months and is going to meet with us. And we ended our day with a hopeful start for this week.
Sorry to get all cheesy on you, I'm sure I'll have funny stories next week. I just wanted you all to know what's it's like, in a very condensed version, to be a missionary in the middle of Berlin.
That is all.
Love,
Sister Young
ps. Did you know that they have a German version of the "Super Nanny" show here?!?!?!?! Bahahahaha we laughed so hard and then got a little bit frightened for the poor children that have to go through that.
So. I should probably start out by letting you know that God babied us up this week. He put SO MANY MIRACLES in our path because he knew the weekend would SUCK. We met some amazing people on the street. We're seeing amazing progress with so many of our investigators. Life was great. AND THEN.
Yangmin said goodbye to us. Forever. Actually not forever, if I can help it. But it was really sad. Story time.
So Yang was getting super stoked for his baptism, and decided to call his wife to talk more about it (she's in Korea right now). Well, it did not go over well. She has read some things on the internet about our church that she didn't particularly like, and didn't approve of his baptism. It was definitely a setback, but it is of course really really important that she approves so we decided to push it off until he goes to Korea in December to talk to her. We had a lesson with a member family here, and it was great! He was bearing his testimony about the Book of Mormon, church, Joseph Smith, Christ...the whole shebang. He said he still wanted to do everything like a member - come to church, meet with us regularly, serve, etc. Then not 30 minutes after this lesson, we got a text from him that said he wasn't going to come to church and he didn't want to see us again. It was devastating. I just crumpled to the floor and cried, I didn't know what to do with all these emotions.
The next day at church I was already on edge and not feeling well when I got a letter I reeeeaally didn't want to have. We had to prepare for a lesson we reeaaally didn't want to teach, and I had to play piano in Primary which I reeeaaally didn't want to do. Again, break down. Poor Sister Johnson (a senior missionary here), she just held me while I cried and cried. But after a while I got my strength back, stood up straight, and prepared to have one of the most miracle-filled days in all my mission.
We saw over 10 nonmembers in sacrament meeting. Primary was hilarious to watch. They asked us to bear our testimony in Relief Society about sacrifice and it was really spiritual. We talked to a member of the bishopric about how we could help the ward better and got amazing insight. We had lunch with the YSA and had really really good conversations with a lot of investigators, who in turned talked to the missionaries in their ward about being baptized. We met some French people that told me my French is great. We found out Thomas Monson is coming to Berlin on October 14th and we all get to be here to see him. We met with one of our investigators that's in the hopsital and she's making AMAZING progress. We found out that an investigator from when Sister Uhlig was here is finally back from being in Turkey for 5 months and is going to meet with us. And we ended our day with a hopeful start for this week.
Sorry to get all cheesy on you, I'm sure I'll have funny stories next week. I just wanted you all to know what's it's like, in a very condensed version, to be a missionary in the middle of Berlin.
That is all.
Love,
Sister Young
ps. Did you know that they have a German version of the "Super Nanny" show here?!?!?!?! Bahahahaha we laughed so hard and then got a little bit frightened for the poor children that have to go through that.
9.22.2012
September 17, 2012
First things first, people. I asked for Family Home Evening ideas and I didn't get any what the heck!!!!!!!!!!!! I was really looking forward to that. So please.
Also guess what guess what I have the best news ever. It's called: THE THRIFT STORES HERE ARE OUT OF CONTROL AMAZING!!!!!!!
Listen. Apparently it's not really very kosher for Germans to shop at thrift stores or something. That's at least what Sister Uhlig told me. So last p-day we decided to check one out and it was INCREDIBLE. The clothes are super ancient, like stuff from the 40's that nobody has bothered to care about, and because Germans don't usually shop there unless they "need to" there was so much thrift gold for the rest of us cheap Americans! I was thrilled. And I bought a skirt that was adorable and I'm a little bit obsessed with it. That is all.
Ok are you ready for the highlight of the week? Thought so.
It's called: I am learning spanish. Ha!
Ok ok so we have this new investigator named Corola. Have I ever talked about her? Not sure. Anyway, she's from Bolivia, but had been living in Barcelona with her brother for the past several years or something. But now she lives in Berlin with a nice German man. So about a year ago her brother joined the church in Barcelona. He gave her a Book of Mormon, she read it, loved it, took the lessons from sisters there, but then for some reason came to Berlin to live with this man. So lucky for us, her brother came a couple of weeks ago for a visit and brought her to church! So now we meet with her regularly and she's fixin' to get baptized at the end of October after she gets married to her German man! Yay!
Only problem - she speaks no English and hardly any German. So far we've managed to have a joint teach at almost every lesson, but there's only 5 people in the ward here who speak Spanish and 2 of them also don't speak German! So communicating has been difficult but SO FUN. We had this other Sister in the mission who speaks Spanish send us some stuff to study so I've been learning Spanish like crazy. Except it's still really bad haha. BUT I am able to communicate on the phone now (as long as I always write out what I'm going to say before haha)!!!
But can I just go off on a little rant here about how much I flippin' love Hispanic people??!?! There are just so loving and warm and friendly and wonderful. Some of the most spiritual lessons I've had here have been with Corola and her brother, and we can't speak each other's languages! Their testimonies are so powerful and beautiful, I just feel so happy when I'm with them. Also we were talking about the Plan of Salvation the other day and we were explaining that it's only in the Celestial kingdom that we can be with our families forever, and Corola says, "Yes, I want to go there and be with my daughter and [pointing to her German man] him, even if I have to drag him by the ear to get there." LOVE HER.
Ok, that is all for this week. Please pray we can find more investigators like Corola to teach.
Peace and blessings.
Sister Young
ps. Pictures:
1. Sister Uhlig and I with Sika!
2. A planner I made for an Elder here.
3. My new baby and I at the Berlin wall.
Also guess what guess what I have the best news ever. It's called: THE THRIFT STORES HERE ARE OUT OF CONTROL AMAZING!!!!!!!
Listen. Apparently it's not really very kosher for Germans to shop at thrift stores or something. That's at least what Sister Uhlig told me. So last p-day we decided to check one out and it was INCREDIBLE. The clothes are super ancient, like stuff from the 40's that nobody has bothered to care about, and because Germans don't usually shop there unless they "need to" there was so much thrift gold for the rest of us cheap Americans! I was thrilled. And I bought a skirt that was adorable and I'm a little bit obsessed with it. That is all.
Ok are you ready for the highlight of the week? Thought so.
It's called: I am learning spanish. Ha!
Ok ok so we have this new investigator named Corola. Have I ever talked about her? Not sure. Anyway, she's from Bolivia, but had been living in Barcelona with her brother for the past several years or something. But now she lives in Berlin with a nice German man. So about a year ago her brother joined the church in Barcelona. He gave her a Book of Mormon, she read it, loved it, took the lessons from sisters there, but then for some reason came to Berlin to live with this man. So lucky for us, her brother came a couple of weeks ago for a visit and brought her to church! So now we meet with her regularly and she's fixin' to get baptized at the end of October after she gets married to her German man! Yay!
Only problem - she speaks no English and hardly any German. So far we've managed to have a joint teach at almost every lesson, but there's only 5 people in the ward here who speak Spanish and 2 of them also don't speak German! So communicating has been difficult but SO FUN. We had this other Sister in the mission who speaks Spanish send us some stuff to study so I've been learning Spanish like crazy. Except it's still really bad haha. BUT I am able to communicate on the phone now (as long as I always write out what I'm going to say before haha)!!!
But can I just go off on a little rant here about how much I flippin' love Hispanic people??!?! There are just so loving and warm and friendly and wonderful. Some of the most spiritual lessons I've had here have been with Corola and her brother, and we can't speak each other's languages! Their testimonies are so powerful and beautiful, I just feel so happy when I'm with them. Also we were talking about the Plan of Salvation the other day and we were explaining that it's only in the Celestial kingdom that we can be with our families forever, and Corola says, "Yes, I want to go there and be with my daughter and [pointing to her German man] him, even if I have to drag him by the ear to get there." LOVE HER.
Ok, that is all for this week. Please pray we can find more investigators like Corola to teach.
Peace and blessings.
Sister Young
ps. Pictures:
1. Sister Uhlig and I with Sika!
2. A planner I made for an Elder here.
3. My new baby and I at the Berlin wall.
9.11.2012
September 10, 2012
Moin moin!
Ok ok. Berlin is really great. Except I really hating finding (new investigators, that is). I need ideas to make it more fun!
Also does anyone have good FHE ideas? Because we just teach too many families with children and we are running out of ideas!!!!!
Yangmin is doing so great, so great. He's a joy to teach. Also we got the address for the church in Korea and his wife went to church yesterday! YAY!!!!!
We're just doing super here in Berlin, as usual. Trying to survive, doing our thing, eating our feelings.
And so.
This week has been super weird, mostly due to the interesting people we've met this week. And now I will give you a Missionary Anthropology 101 lesson, categorized as follows:
1. Lithuanian pagans.
According to our experience, this involves young people who wear sweaters with strange symbols on them and speak English with a very pronounced Lithuanian accent. Very, very nice. Believes in Mother Nature, but does not necessarily pray to her. Open to learn more, doesn't necessarily want to commit to an appointment. Keep in contact, they are being prepared to hear the truth at a later date!
2. Celibate heterosexuals.
From America, almost always appear to resemble a very hippy form of Jesus. Have beautiful hair. Speaking of Jesus, they are very Christian! Very open and friendly, easy to talk to. Asks very good questions. Not opposed to sitting down on the street to learn more about religion right then and there. Practicing celibacy for a time, just to see how it goes. WARNING: will try to hug you as you part ways, but they will accept a hand hug as replacement!
3. British gothic hipsters.
Very friendly, and they usually tend to be very small in stature. Their face is usually graced with many piercings of various sorts, never boring to stare at. Not super religious, but willing to learn more. Will make out an appointment, probably won't show up. Keep in contact, they are being prepared to accept the gospel at a later date!
4. Drunkards.
It's never really a sure thing if they will be nice or not. Sometimes hostel, be on your guard. Usually no religious experience, not willing to create one. May or may not explain their life story and then confess that they're running from the cops because they need to go to jail. Avoiding them would probably be best, unless you have a new missionary that takes the sentence "Talk to everyone!" very seriously.
5. Sexist pigs.
Always men, tend to have longer hair. Creepily ride their bike behind you in order to "get a better look." Love to shout leud things while following you around town. Note: Carrying salt might be helpful, seeing that as you push them off their bike you might use that to pour into their wounds.
I love you all, have a wonderful week.
Sister Young
Ok ok. Berlin is really great. Except I really hating finding (new investigators, that is). I need ideas to make it more fun!
Also does anyone have good FHE ideas? Because we just teach too many families with children and we are running out of ideas!!!!!
Yangmin is doing so great, so great. He's a joy to teach. Also we got the address for the church in Korea and his wife went to church yesterday! YAY!!!!!
We're just doing super here in Berlin, as usual. Trying to survive, doing our thing, eating our feelings.
And so.
This week has been super weird, mostly due to the interesting people we've met this week. And now I will give you a Missionary Anthropology 101 lesson, categorized as follows:
1. Lithuanian pagans.
According to our experience, this involves young people who wear sweaters with strange symbols on them and speak English with a very pronounced Lithuanian accent. Very, very nice. Believes in Mother Nature, but does not necessarily pray to her. Open to learn more, doesn't necessarily want to commit to an appointment. Keep in contact, they are being prepared to hear the truth at a later date!
2. Celibate heterosexuals.
From America, almost always appear to resemble a very hippy form of Jesus. Have beautiful hair. Speaking of Jesus, they are very Christian! Very open and friendly, easy to talk to. Asks very good questions. Not opposed to sitting down on the street to learn more about religion right then and there. Practicing celibacy for a time, just to see how it goes. WARNING: will try to hug you as you part ways, but they will accept a hand hug as replacement!
3. British gothic hipsters.
Very friendly, and they usually tend to be very small in stature. Their face is usually graced with many piercings of various sorts, never boring to stare at. Not super religious, but willing to learn more. Will make out an appointment, probably won't show up. Keep in contact, they are being prepared to accept the gospel at a later date!
4. Drunkards.
It's never really a sure thing if they will be nice or not. Sometimes hostel, be on your guard. Usually no religious experience, not willing to create one. May or may not explain their life story and then confess that they're running from the cops because they need to go to jail. Avoiding them would probably be best, unless you have a new missionary that takes the sentence "Talk to everyone!" very seriously.
5. Sexist pigs.
Always men, tend to have longer hair. Creepily ride their bike behind you in order to "get a better look." Love to shout leud things while following you around town. Note: Carrying salt might be helpful, seeing that as you push them off their bike you might use that to pour into their wounds.
I love you all, have a wonderful week.
Sister Young
9.03.2012
September 3, 2012
ello! People!
And so.
Being a trainer is just super. I get to do whatever I want and tell my baby that it's totally normal. HA.
Ok but seriously, it's really great. My "new missionary" is Sister Larsen from Utah (duh) but GUESS WHAT. One of the first things she said to me when I asked her about herself was, "I'm a feminist..." Match made in heaven?!?!?!? YES. Maybe we lay in bed at night and discuss women's issues until the wee hours of the morning. I don't know.
Also a reeeeeaaally cool thing about getting a new missionary to train is all the awesome miracles that you get to experience together! And normally I wouldn't really think anything of them but she gets so excited over the little things, which really helps me to realize they're from God. You know???
Zum beispiel. The other day the Elders that we share the ward with made out an appointment with a woman but couldn't make it so they asked us to go. Unfortunately it was out IN THE BOONIES and took us forever to get there. When we finally got there and klingled her door she wouldn't let us in. We were only a little bummed as we started walking back to the bustop when we stopped a young man on the street. Turns out he's from Canada and he used to be an engineer but then realized that he really hated it - his job, all the money, his obsession with material things. So then he decided to sell EVERYTHING and pursue his secret dream of becoming a conductor and now he's an assistant to the conductor for a philharmonie here! Is that not the coolest story EVER?!?!?!?! So obviously we became best friends and he is STOKED to get a Book of Mormon. I'll let you know how that turns out. The point of the story is that if it weren't for our initial disappointment, we would never have found him! God loves us!
Also Yangmin is doing incredibly super. We made him a reading calendar that leads up to his baptism so that he can read a little bit in the Book of Mormon everyday and he told us, and I quote, "I feel so much better when I read in the book! I can really feel something! I think it's the Holy Ghost!" Awesome. Even more awesome? Apparently he read a scripture about fasting the other day so he decided to just do it on his own. He told us he had an amazing experience with it and it helped him to feel more spiritually connected. COOL, RIGHT?!?!?!?! He is just so great. I can't wait for his baptism.
Ok. That's all for this week. I'm really tired and sometimes I fall asleep on the bus, I don't know.
I love you all.
Sister Young
And so.
Being a trainer is just super. I get to do whatever I want and tell my baby that it's totally normal. HA.
Ok but seriously, it's really great. My "new missionary" is Sister Larsen from Utah (duh) but GUESS WHAT. One of the first things she said to me when I asked her about herself was, "I'm a feminist..." Match made in heaven?!?!?!? YES. Maybe we lay in bed at night and discuss women's issues until the wee hours of the morning. I don't know.
Also a reeeeeaaally cool thing about getting a new missionary to train is all the awesome miracles that you get to experience together! And normally I wouldn't really think anything of them but she gets so excited over the little things, which really helps me to realize they're from God. You know???
Zum beispiel. The other day the Elders that we share the ward with made out an appointment with a woman but couldn't make it so they asked us to go. Unfortunately it was out IN THE BOONIES and took us forever to get there. When we finally got there and klingled her door she wouldn't let us in. We were only a little bummed as we started walking back to the bustop when we stopped a young man on the street. Turns out he's from Canada and he used to be an engineer but then realized that he really hated it - his job, all the money, his obsession with material things. So then he decided to sell EVERYTHING and pursue his secret dream of becoming a conductor and now he's an assistant to the conductor for a philharmonie here! Is that not the coolest story EVER?!?!?!?! So obviously we became best friends and he is STOKED to get a Book of Mormon. I'll let you know how that turns out. The point of the story is that if it weren't for our initial disappointment, we would never have found him! God loves us!
Also Yangmin is doing incredibly super. We made him a reading calendar that leads up to his baptism so that he can read a little bit in the Book of Mormon everyday and he told us, and I quote, "I feel so much better when I read in the book! I can really feel something! I think it's the Holy Ghost!" Awesome. Even more awesome? Apparently he read a scripture about fasting the other day so he decided to just do it on his own. He told us he had an amazing experience with it and it helped him to feel more spiritually connected. COOL, RIGHT?!?!?!?! He is just so great. I can't wait for his baptism.
Ok. That's all for this week. I'm really tired and sometimes I fall asleep on the bus, I don't know.
I love you all.
Sister Young
August 27, 2012
Peoples of the world,
Ok ok so this was the last week of the transfer!! And with that ALWAYS comes craziness and surprises. So I will list them for you in order of importance to me.
1. So last Wednesday Sister Uhlig and I were running late to catch a train to Eisenhüttenstadt for this activity thing and we showed up at the train station with only 5 minutes to buy our ticket and jump on board. So our stupid machine took like FOREVER to finally give us the right screen so we could buy the ticket. So now we have like 2 minutes, and I pay the stupid thing 30€ and we wait for it to give me my 1€ change. After like 30 seconds it spit out a 5 cent piece, and Sister Uhlig and I just look at each other and yell "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" because then it proceeded to give me the rest of my change in 5 cent increments, one at a time. Sister Uhlig and I and all the people around us were laughing hysterically as we're trying to collect all this ridiculous change and run up to our train, which we miraculously were able to catch. And that is the stupid story of the week.
2. Speaking of going to Eisenhüttenstadt, they actually made us come so I could sing at this musical fireside they put on. It was horrible. Out of protest I sang half the song in French, which I guess was great because all the people thought I was from France! YES.
3. Did you know that McDonald's milchshakes here in Germany are like waaaaaaaaay delicious?!
4. Cool story. So a couple of weeks ago my comp and I were walking down a street on our way to drop by on a less active member. As we were walking by one apartment building, I all of the sudden felt that I need to stick our cards in their mailboxes. So I did that and we went on our merry way. WELL. About 3 weeks later this guy calls us and said that a couple of weeks ago he found our card in his mailbox and he felt like he should call us! So he came to the church and we had a lovely lesson. He actually works as kind of a middle man for churches and schools and important things so he would like to organize for people from our church to give presentations in schools and conventions about what we believe! So cool. He just kept saying over and over, "I had your card for several weeks but I just kept having this feeling that I really needed to call you..." That's the Spirit, dude. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH.
5. Weirdy story. So Sister Uhlig and I stopped this girl on the street and started to ask her about her faith. She explained that she is religious, but she only answered our questions with like a one word answer. But she just kept standing there so we started to talk about prayer and how it helps us and things. So then Sister Uhlig asked, "What does prayer mean to you?," to which she replied, "Alcohol." We just stopped for a second and stared at her and then Sister Uhlig asked the question again, and she gave the same answer. We were like sooooo confused and I started to laugh a little bit and then the girl made out an appointment with us. Weird? Yes. I a little bit love Berlin.
6. Right before the above story took place, I talked to a Jehovah's Witness who insisted that I take her pamphlets. I said ok, but only if she would take ours. So we exchanged pamphlets and I took them home, where Sister Uhlig and I read them. And in all seriousness, we thought they were great. There was an article about the destruction of Jerusalem and it pinned it about 600 years before Christ...confirming the story of the Book of Mormon perhaps?!?!?!?!?! They also proved, using the Bible, why we shouldn't baptize babies. And they had an article about the true nature of God, saying that he is a very loving and kind father. I've learned a lot about their faith!! Sister Uhlig and I only felt a little bit guilty when our district leader called and asked what we were doing...hahahahaha.
7. Remember our awesome Korean investigator?! Well Yangmin is doing great, and is currently preparing himself for baptism on September 30!!!!!!!!!! We are SO excited, and he is just doing absolutely great things. We also went online and looked up where the church is in Korea, and there happens to be one right in his tiny hometown!! He asked us, "So I could go there and still use the priesthood in Korea?" and we explained there is a temple there (about an hour from his home) and he could be sealed to his family. Wow, that really hit him and he got super excited. WE ARE SO HAPPY.
8. Ok ok so now for the big news. Are you ready?
First of all, my lovely companion is going home to Frankfurt. I'm going to miss her a lot! She's super duper awesome, even if she is German ;)
Also. Transfer calls are in.
And.
I'm going to be...
A TRAINER.
Like, I'm going to be alone with a brand spankin' new missionary straight from America.
Should I mention that I'm one of the youngest trainers? Like, actually the youngest that I've heard of?! Most people start training in their 9th or 10th, and I'm in my 7th. And I'm scared out of my mind. But I'm also kind of excited. What should I do?!?!?!?!?!
So just so y'all know, I would like many prayers. I already received a priesthood blessing, which has helped, but I'm going to need some extra special prayers this week, please and thank you.
I love you all.
Sister Young
Ok ok so this was the last week of the transfer!! And with that ALWAYS comes craziness and surprises. So I will list them for you in order of importance to me.
1. So last Wednesday Sister Uhlig and I were running late to catch a train to Eisenhüttenstadt for this activity thing and we showed up at the train station with only 5 minutes to buy our ticket and jump on board. So our stupid machine took like FOREVER to finally give us the right screen so we could buy the ticket. So now we have like 2 minutes, and I pay the stupid thing 30€ and we wait for it to give me my 1€ change. After like 30 seconds it spit out a 5 cent piece, and Sister Uhlig and I just look at each other and yell "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" because then it proceeded to give me the rest of my change in 5 cent increments, one at a time. Sister Uhlig and I and all the people around us were laughing hysterically as we're trying to collect all this ridiculous change and run up to our train, which we miraculously were able to catch. And that is the stupid story of the week.
2. Speaking of going to Eisenhüttenstadt, they actually made us come so I could sing at this musical fireside they put on. It was horrible. Out of protest I sang half the song in French, which I guess was great because all the people thought I was from France! YES.
3. Did you know that McDonald's milchshakes here in Germany are like waaaaaaaaay delicious?!
4. Cool story. So a couple of weeks ago my comp and I were walking down a street on our way to drop by on a less active member. As we were walking by one apartment building, I all of the sudden felt that I need to stick our cards in their mailboxes. So I did that and we went on our merry way. WELL. About 3 weeks later this guy calls us and said that a couple of weeks ago he found our card in his mailbox and he felt like he should call us! So he came to the church and we had a lovely lesson. He actually works as kind of a middle man for churches and schools and important things so he would like to organize for people from our church to give presentations in schools and conventions about what we believe! So cool. He just kept saying over and over, "I had your card for several weeks but I just kept having this feeling that I really needed to call you..." That's the Spirit, dude. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH.
5. Weirdy story. So Sister Uhlig and I stopped this girl on the street and started to ask her about her faith. She explained that she is religious, but she only answered our questions with like a one word answer. But she just kept standing there so we started to talk about prayer and how it helps us and things. So then Sister Uhlig asked, "What does prayer mean to you?," to which she replied, "Alcohol." We just stopped for a second and stared at her and then Sister Uhlig asked the question again, and she gave the same answer. We were like sooooo confused and I started to laugh a little bit and then the girl made out an appointment with us. Weird? Yes. I a little bit love Berlin.
6. Right before the above story took place, I talked to a Jehovah's Witness who insisted that I take her pamphlets. I said ok, but only if she would take ours. So we exchanged pamphlets and I took them home, where Sister Uhlig and I read them. And in all seriousness, we thought they were great. There was an article about the destruction of Jerusalem and it pinned it about 600 years before Christ...confirming the story of the Book of Mormon perhaps?!?!?!?!?! They also proved, using the Bible, why we shouldn't baptize babies. And they had an article about the true nature of God, saying that he is a very loving and kind father. I've learned a lot about their faith!! Sister Uhlig and I only felt a little bit guilty when our district leader called and asked what we were doing...hahahahaha.
7. Remember our awesome Korean investigator?! Well Yangmin is doing great, and is currently preparing himself for baptism on September 30!!!!!!!!!! We are SO excited, and he is just doing absolutely great things. We also went online and looked up where the church is in Korea, and there happens to be one right in his tiny hometown!! He asked us, "So I could go there and still use the priesthood in Korea?" and we explained there is a temple there (about an hour from his home) and he could be sealed to his family. Wow, that really hit him and he got super excited. WE ARE SO HAPPY.
8. Ok ok so now for the big news. Are you ready?
First of all, my lovely companion is going home to Frankfurt. I'm going to miss her a lot! She's super duper awesome, even if she is German ;)
Also. Transfer calls are in.
And.
I'm going to be...
A TRAINER.
Like, I'm going to be alone with a brand spankin' new missionary straight from America.
Should I mention that I'm one of the youngest trainers? Like, actually the youngest that I've heard of?! Most people start training in their 9th or 10th, and I'm in my 7th. And I'm scared out of my mind. But I'm also kind of excited. What should I do?!?!?!?!?!
So just so y'all know, I would like many prayers. I already received a priesthood blessing, which has helped, but I'm going to need some extra special prayers this week, please and thank you.
I love you all.
Sister Young
8.26.2012
August 20, 2012
Herzlichen Glückwünsch Mumsie!!! I hope your birthday was the 2nd best ever, your best being any you've had with me.
This week was insane. Not in a good or bad way, just in a "I don't have any words to describe this" way.
First of alls, I saw my beloved and dear friend Eric. I used his visit as an excuse to go to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch where I could listen to normal music. HA. So thank you for coming, Ricsters. Twas great.
Also great news. We now have 3 investigators under the age of 12. Please don't ask how this happens, it just does.
Aaaaaaand Saturday my companion (because she's going home in a week) got permission to go to this career workshop thing put on by a member. I'm glad she enjoyed it and learned a lot from it but 10 hours is A LITTLE MUCH for me. I ended up leaving the room (a lot of the vocabularly was a little over my head) and went into another room where I read an entire 200 page book, played half the hymns in the hymnbook, tried to sleep, did a Snow White puzzle I found, and read "The Little Mermaid" in German, which I don't know if you knew this but the original story by Hans Christian Anderson is heartwrenching!!!! And then I still had time left over so I wandered around the building and then stared at the wall for about an hour. LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE. Also after being a missionary for awhile days like that are like torture. I can't sit around doing nothing, it's against my nature. WHATEVER.
Sad news! My lovely friend (and investigator) Sika moved back to France! Saying goodbye was the worst. She was SO AWESOME to be around. Why why why are goodbyes so hard?! But no worries, we're staying in touch and she lives in Lyon so you know I will be there asap. Keine Sorgen, mes amis!
Other than that the week wasn't super eventful. I also can't really remember. Also I'm tired and just want to take a nap. K thanks.
Love.
Sister Young
This week was insane. Not in a good or bad way, just in a "I don't have any words to describe this" way.
First of alls, I saw my beloved and dear friend Eric. I used his visit as an excuse to go to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch where I could listen to normal music. HA. So thank you for coming, Ricsters. Twas great.
Also great news. We now have 3 investigators under the age of 12. Please don't ask how this happens, it just does.
Aaaaaaand Saturday my companion (because she's going home in a week) got permission to go to this career workshop thing put on by a member. I'm glad she enjoyed it and learned a lot from it but 10 hours is A LITTLE MUCH for me. I ended up leaving the room (a lot of the vocabularly was a little over my head) and went into another room where I read an entire 200 page book, played half the hymns in the hymnbook, tried to sleep, did a Snow White puzzle I found, and read "The Little Mermaid" in German, which I don't know if you knew this but the original story by Hans Christian Anderson is heartwrenching!!!! And then I still had time left over so I wandered around the building and then stared at the wall for about an hour. LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE. Also after being a missionary for awhile days like that are like torture. I can't sit around doing nothing, it's against my nature. WHATEVER.
Sad news! My lovely friend (and investigator) Sika moved back to France! Saying goodbye was the worst. She was SO AWESOME to be around. Why why why are goodbyes so hard?! But no worries, we're staying in touch and she lives in Lyon so you know I will be there asap. Keine Sorgen, mes amis!
Other than that the week wasn't super eventful. I also can't really remember. Also I'm tired and just want to take a nap. K thanks.
Love.
Sister Young
August 13, 2012
So.
This week was boooooooring and I can't remember anything that happened. Except that we got 5 joint teaches this week (2 of which were in a member's home!), which is AWESOME.
Oh yes, and a lovely friend of ours from Gambia is preparing himself to be baptized. Yes!
Also I ate this AMAZING spanish hot chocolate this week and I almost died from all the calories I consumed in a single sitting. And I hope you noticed that I said "ate" instead of "drank," because the hot chocolate was so thick I ate it with a spoon. And also they give you a side helping of churros, which are suprisingly delicious in chocolate. I LOVE EUROPE AND THEIR CRAZY CHOCOLATE CREATIONS.
Ok. So you remember how I told you about our little Korean friend and his awesome progess? Well it gets better. We had a lesson with him about Jesus Christ and the role he plays in the Plan of Salvation. We talked a lot about eternal life and how it means that we can live in the presence of God and how we can obtain this wonderful blessing. After we thought we made the point clear and tried to move on, he just kept getting hung up on eternal life and wouldn't let it go. He kept telling us he doesn't really understand. After trying to show him scriptures and things, we kinda gave up and decided to just look it up in the german equivalent of the bible dictionary. It roughly translates to "Eternal life: Living forever as families in the presence of God. Eternal life is the biggest gift that people can receive from God." All of the sudden his eyes lit up and he said, "That's it! Eternal life is with our families!!!" Well, we of course felt like IDIOTS for not mentioning that before! And wow, that just really struck a chord with him, that he could be with his family forever. We had briefly mentioned that once several weeks before, but for some reason in this lesson it just really hit him what that meant. And that was an aaaaaamazing experience for us, to be there for that!! We are so so so excited for him :)
Now the stupid story of the week. So Elders in another part of Berlin called us a couple weeks ago and asked if we would be able to help out with this service project thing, to which we gladly accepted. We found out a couple days before that this little town was having a birthday celebration of sorts (the city was founded 600 years before) and they wanted us sisters to help out at the Relief Society booth at this carnival/festival thing. So as we're counting down the days to help out with this thing, I had been making a lot of jokes about how we'll have to sit there and sew all day and wear bonnets and things. Well everyone got a good laugh out of it, until the day of this thing arrived and we showed up to find out that yes, WE WOULD BE SEWING PILLOWS THE ENTIRE DAY. I was pretty much dying. Worst day ever. Relief Society is sometimes a thorn in my side. That is all.
Ok ok I hope you all have a lovely week and I love y'all lots and lots.
Sister Young
This week was boooooooring and I can't remember anything that happened. Except that we got 5 joint teaches this week (2 of which were in a member's home!), which is AWESOME.
Oh yes, and a lovely friend of ours from Gambia is preparing himself to be baptized. Yes!
Also I ate this AMAZING spanish hot chocolate this week and I almost died from all the calories I consumed in a single sitting. And I hope you noticed that I said "ate" instead of "drank," because the hot chocolate was so thick I ate it with a spoon. And also they give you a side helping of churros, which are suprisingly delicious in chocolate. I LOVE EUROPE AND THEIR CRAZY CHOCOLATE CREATIONS.
Ok. So you remember how I told you about our little Korean friend and his awesome progess? Well it gets better. We had a lesson with him about Jesus Christ and the role he plays in the Plan of Salvation. We talked a lot about eternal life and how it means that we can live in the presence of God and how we can obtain this wonderful blessing. After we thought we made the point clear and tried to move on, he just kept getting hung up on eternal life and wouldn't let it go. He kept telling us he doesn't really understand. After trying to show him scriptures and things, we kinda gave up and decided to just look it up in the german equivalent of the bible dictionary. It roughly translates to "Eternal life: Living forever as families in the presence of God. Eternal life is the biggest gift that people can receive from God." All of the sudden his eyes lit up and he said, "That's it! Eternal life is with our families!!!" Well, we of course felt like IDIOTS for not mentioning that before! And wow, that just really struck a chord with him, that he could be with his family forever. We had briefly mentioned that once several weeks before, but for some reason in this lesson it just really hit him what that meant. And that was an aaaaaamazing experience for us, to be there for that!! We are so so so excited for him :)
Now the stupid story of the week. So Elders in another part of Berlin called us a couple weeks ago and asked if we would be able to help out with this service project thing, to which we gladly accepted. We found out a couple days before that this little town was having a birthday celebration of sorts (the city was founded 600 years before) and they wanted us sisters to help out at the Relief Society booth at this carnival/festival thing. So as we're counting down the days to help out with this thing, I had been making a lot of jokes about how we'll have to sit there and sew all day and wear bonnets and things. Well everyone got a good laugh out of it, until the day of this thing arrived and we showed up to find out that yes, WE WOULD BE SEWING PILLOWS THE ENTIRE DAY. I was pretty much dying. Worst day ever. Relief Society is sometimes a thorn in my side. That is all.
Ok ok I hope you all have a lovely week and I love y'all lots and lots.
Sister Young
8.06.2012
August 6, 2012
Naaaaaa?
That is a question people here ask when they want to know how you're doing. Does it make sense? No. It's not even a real word in German, I'm pretty sure. Don't worry, it only took me like half of my mission to figure this out. Naja.
So goooood news. We have a lovely lady getting baptized in October! It's extra cool because her husband and all of her children joined the church last year and she was totally against it! But now she's golden. And we have the privilege of being here. The only problem? She doesn't speak a lick of German (they're all from Cambodia). So everything we do has to be translated through her husband or children. It's quite an adventure, and not one I was really expecting on a mission. But it's still great, no worries.
With reference to above, I was thinking about how I'm not really serving in Germany as much as I'm serving in Africa and Asia. And all the returned missionaries when giving their homecoming talks are always like, "Oh, I just love the people of [insert country here]!" or "I really learned how to love the [insert nationality here] people." I don't really feel like I could honestly say that I just loved serving the German people because I don't know as many people originally from Germany as from Ghana for example hahaha. I teach just as much in German as I do in English. And now I'm learning how to pray in Cambodian! I don't even know what my mission language is anymore haha. Naja.
Ok. Now story time.
Cheesy story. So we were going to an appointment the other day and the address was not correct. We were of course bummed, and also not very prepared because we didn't have any backup plan (stupid, I know). So we decide to just walk around and try to make out an appt with someone on the street. Normally I would be totally down for that except we happened to be in a very German part of town, so there weren't many foreigners. This means it's waaaaaaaay harder to make out an appt. I was just totally and selfishly bummed, and ridiculously tired. I bent my head and offered a silent prayer that God would just PUHLEASE let someone here make out an appt with us, or at least that people would be nice. As soon as I looked up I saw a German man walking in our direction and decided to go talk to him. Surprisingly enough, when we stopped him he exclaimed "Mormons!," which is totally weird because most people here have never heard of us. We asked what he had heard about our church and, of course, he said we're polygamists and he thinks we're a cult. Needlesst to say, we cleared that up. And then we totally bore our testimonies to him and the spirit was soooo strong and he agreed to meet with us, even though he was super skeptical at first. It was a miracle!!!! But then I probably shouldn't tell you that he didn't show up for our appt 2 days later. BUT it doesn't matter because a) his positive experience with missionaries probably will prepare him to receive them later and b) it was totally a testimony to me that God really does love and care about us and he listens to our prayers. What is important to us is also important to him, and I was so happy the rest of the day.
And then. IT GETS BETTER.
So after making out an appointment with a German, which is a huge deal, we found ourselves walking into some sort of large outdoor shopping center with a million souls just waiting to be saved! But, still being our natural missionary selves, we picked out the first African we saw. The timing in which we approached her was unfortunate, due to the fact that someone had just barely stolen her purse that had her visa and stuff in it and she was kind of freaking out and didn't know what to do. So we calmed her down and told her that we would accompany her to the nearest police station. After walking a million miles to get there, we finally made it to the station and stayed with this girl while she talked to the police, who were all surprisingly jolly. One officer in particular was extremely nice and helped the girl fill out a bunch of paperwork. After telling us how cool we were to do this for her, he asked Sister Uhlig and I if we had any questions for him. I'm not sure what came across my mind at this point, but I opened my mouth and the words, "Well, do you have any interest in learning more about our faith?" just kind of fell out. Sister Uhlig turned a deep shade of red and just started laughing. The officer just chuckled and began to tell us the story of his religious awakening to agnosticism. We left him with a pamphlet and a card anyway and it was super great.
And that was the ending to a really great day.
I hope you are all loving your lives. I miss you all more than the moon and the stars. Peace and blessings.
Sister Young
That is a question people here ask when they want to know how you're doing. Does it make sense? No. It's not even a real word in German, I'm pretty sure. Don't worry, it only took me like half of my mission to figure this out. Naja.
So goooood news. We have a lovely lady getting baptized in October! It's extra cool because her husband and all of her children joined the church last year and she was totally against it! But now she's golden. And we have the privilege of being here. The only problem? She doesn't speak a lick of German (they're all from Cambodia). So everything we do has to be translated through her husband or children. It's quite an adventure, and not one I was really expecting on a mission. But it's still great, no worries.
With reference to above, I was thinking about how I'm not really serving in Germany as much as I'm serving in Africa and Asia. And all the returned missionaries when giving their homecoming talks are always like, "Oh, I just love the people of [insert country here]!" or "I really learned how to love the [insert nationality here] people." I don't really feel like I could honestly say that I just loved serving the German people because I don't know as many people originally from Germany as from Ghana for example hahaha. I teach just as much in German as I do in English. And now I'm learning how to pray in Cambodian! I don't even know what my mission language is anymore haha. Naja.
Ok. Now story time.
Cheesy story. So we were going to an appointment the other day and the address was not correct. We were of course bummed, and also not very prepared because we didn't have any backup plan (stupid, I know). So we decide to just walk around and try to make out an appt with someone on the street. Normally I would be totally down for that except we happened to be in a very German part of town, so there weren't many foreigners. This means it's waaaaaaaay harder to make out an appt. I was just totally and selfishly bummed, and ridiculously tired. I bent my head and offered a silent prayer that God would just PUHLEASE let someone here make out an appt with us, or at least that people would be nice. As soon as I looked up I saw a German man walking in our direction and decided to go talk to him. Surprisingly enough, when we stopped him he exclaimed "Mormons!," which is totally weird because most people here have never heard of us. We asked what he had heard about our church and, of course, he said we're polygamists and he thinks we're a cult. Needlesst to say, we cleared that up. And then we totally bore our testimonies to him and the spirit was soooo strong and he agreed to meet with us, even though he was super skeptical at first. It was a miracle!!!! But then I probably shouldn't tell you that he didn't show up for our appt 2 days later. BUT it doesn't matter because a) his positive experience with missionaries probably will prepare him to receive them later and b) it was totally a testimony to me that God really does love and care about us and he listens to our prayers. What is important to us is also important to him, and I was so happy the rest of the day.
And then. IT GETS BETTER.
So after making out an appointment with a German, which is a huge deal, we found ourselves walking into some sort of large outdoor shopping center with a million souls just waiting to be saved! But, still being our natural missionary selves, we picked out the first African we saw. The timing in which we approached her was unfortunate, due to the fact that someone had just barely stolen her purse that had her visa and stuff in it and she was kind of freaking out and didn't know what to do. So we calmed her down and told her that we would accompany her to the nearest police station. After walking a million miles to get there, we finally made it to the station and stayed with this girl while she talked to the police, who were all surprisingly jolly. One officer in particular was extremely nice and helped the girl fill out a bunch of paperwork. After telling us how cool we were to do this for her, he asked Sister Uhlig and I if we had any questions for him. I'm not sure what came across my mind at this point, but I opened my mouth and the words, "Well, do you have any interest in learning more about our faith?" just kind of fell out. Sister Uhlig turned a deep shade of red and just started laughing. The officer just chuckled and began to tell us the story of his religious awakening to agnosticism. We left him with a pamphlet and a card anyway and it was super great.
And that was the ending to a really great day.
I hope you are all loving your lives. I miss you all more than the moon and the stars. Peace and blessings.
Sister Young
8.05.2012
July 30, 2012
Hello hello.
This week was WEIRD.
But something cool. Did you ever see the movie "Valkery" (Walküre auf Deutsch) with Tom Cruise about the dude that worked for Hitler and planned this huge thing to try to kill him? So we totally went to the place where that happened. I stood in Stauffenberg's (his name) office where he planned it all, which is right above where he and the others were shot. There's this memorial for it in the building where it all went down, and then of course outside where they were all lined up and murdered. It was fascinating. Just thought you'd like to know.
Also I have officially succeeded in feminizing my comp. 5 down, 6 billion more to go!! But seriously, I am so proud of her. We were with our mission president while he was giving us a little devotional thing, and he accidently referred to all of us listening as "Elders," to which my companion (before I could say anything) blurted out, "and Sisters!!!!" HA. She told me she would never have noticed/done that before she met me. I WIN. 10 points to Feminism!
So I may or may not have eaten something yesterday that touched the subway station ground (for 2 seconds, totally under the rule). But listen, it was a french pastry thing (from France!!) and I can't let it go to waste just because I was clumsy! So if I get sick this week for any reason, I know why. But if it doesn't kill me then I think I am now building up immunity to at least 50 new diseases.
Nah ja. So this man called us a couple days ago and said he wanted to meet to figure out what we believe. I guess we gave him our card on the street once? I don't know. We were a little hesitant, so we agreed to meet at a cafe thingy on a very busy street. When we got there he asked us to follow him to another place. So we follow him to this arabic hookah smoking lounge thing where he invites us to smoke hookah with him hahaha. No thanks, dude. We're good. But thanks!
That's about it for this week. I hope you are loving your lives.
Sister Young
This week was WEIRD.
But something cool. Did you ever see the movie "Valkery" (Walküre auf Deutsch) with Tom Cruise about the dude that worked for Hitler and planned this huge thing to try to kill him? So we totally went to the place where that happened. I stood in Stauffenberg's (his name) office where he planned it all, which is right above where he and the others were shot. There's this memorial for it in the building where it all went down, and then of course outside where they were all lined up and murdered. It was fascinating. Just thought you'd like to know.
Also I have officially succeeded in feminizing my comp. 5 down, 6 billion more to go!! But seriously, I am so proud of her. We were with our mission president while he was giving us a little devotional thing, and he accidently referred to all of us listening as "Elders," to which my companion (before I could say anything) blurted out, "and Sisters!!!!" HA. She told me she would never have noticed/done that before she met me. I WIN. 10 points to Feminism!
So I may or may not have eaten something yesterday that touched the subway station ground (for 2 seconds, totally under the rule). But listen, it was a french pastry thing (from France!!) and I can't let it go to waste just because I was clumsy! So if I get sick this week for any reason, I know why. But if it doesn't kill me then I think I am now building up immunity to at least 50 new diseases.
Nah ja. So this man called us a couple days ago and said he wanted to meet to figure out what we believe. I guess we gave him our card on the street once? I don't know. We were a little hesitant, so we agreed to meet at a cafe thingy on a very busy street. When we got there he asked us to follow him to another place. So we follow him to this arabic hookah smoking lounge thing where he invites us to smoke hookah with him hahaha. No thanks, dude. We're good. But thanks!
That's about it for this week. I hope you are loving your lives.
Sister Young
7.23.2012
July 23, 2012
People of the normal world.
This week I will be celebrating my half mission birthday. This means I have 9 months to go people!!! It seems like forever but if I think of it in missionary transfers it kind of makes me wheeze a little bit. We'll see how it goes.
Funny story. It's called: they sell condoms and pregnancy tests in the vending machines here, right next to the candy and soda pop. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?!?!? Don't worry, I totally got a picture of it.
Also I have seen more Confederate flags flying high here in Germany than I ever have in the United States. Why why whyyyyy these people are totally nuts.
So cool story. We have this investigator from Korea named Yangmin and he is so cool. When we first started to meet with him he was very stubborn about being a philosophist and having a hard time comprehending the word "faith" and what it means to have faith. So ja, we've been meeting with him and breaking down his spiritual walls and things. Slowly but surely, we got him to read in the Book of Mormon, to come to church, and to pray. And at our appointment with him this week he said the most wonderful prayer! He prayed that he could really open his heart and learn more about Jesus Christ because he wants to become a better person and he knows he can do that through Christ. He also read a TON in the Book of Mormon and he is just doing so well! His questions are awesome and he is starting to soften his heart towards the gospel. SO COOL.
One of the other reeeeaaally cool things about a mission is not only seeing these people go through such a change (for the better) but also getting to know them. The more they open up to you about their lives and their families and their hobbies and everything the more you learn how amazingly COOL these people are!! We have an investigator from France named Sika and she is SO COOL, and not only because she's french. She has soooo much faith in God and in Jesus Christ and she is an amazing person, always trying to do the right thing. I have learned so much from her example. Seeeeeeriously, people like Yangmin and Sika totally make a mission feel worth it, if only just to know these people.
Ok ok ok that was a cheesy email but IT HAD TO BE DONE. Now I will go shopping and buy a million bags of Haribo I HAVE AN ADDICTION.
I love you all.
Sister Young
This week I will be celebrating my half mission birthday. This means I have 9 months to go people!!! It seems like forever but if I think of it in missionary transfers it kind of makes me wheeze a little bit. We'll see how it goes.
Funny story. It's called: they sell condoms and pregnancy tests in the vending machines here, right next to the candy and soda pop. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?!?!? Don't worry, I totally got a picture of it.
Also I have seen more Confederate flags flying high here in Germany than I ever have in the United States. Why why whyyyyy these people are totally nuts.
So cool story. We have this investigator from Korea named Yangmin and he is so cool. When we first started to meet with him he was very stubborn about being a philosophist and having a hard time comprehending the word "faith" and what it means to have faith. So ja, we've been meeting with him and breaking down his spiritual walls and things. Slowly but surely, we got him to read in the Book of Mormon, to come to church, and to pray. And at our appointment with him this week he said the most wonderful prayer! He prayed that he could really open his heart and learn more about Jesus Christ because he wants to become a better person and he knows he can do that through Christ. He also read a TON in the Book of Mormon and he is just doing so well! His questions are awesome and he is starting to soften his heart towards the gospel. SO COOL.
One of the other reeeeaaally cool things about a mission is not only seeing these people go through such a change (for the better) but also getting to know them. The more they open up to you about their lives and their families and their hobbies and everything the more you learn how amazingly COOL these people are!! We have an investigator from France named Sika and she is SO COOL, and not only because she's french. She has soooo much faith in God and in Jesus Christ and she is an amazing person, always trying to do the right thing. I have learned so much from her example. Seeeeeeriously, people like Yangmin and Sika totally make a mission feel worth it, if only just to know these people.
Ok ok ok that was a cheesy email but IT HAD TO BE DONE. Now I will go shopping and buy a million bags of Haribo I HAVE AN ADDICTION.
I love you all.
Sister Young
7.18.2012
July 16, 2012
Hello people in the normal world!
I am officially obsessed with Haribo Pico-ballas. I will send some home they are so gooooood. Just thought you'd like to know.
Transfer results are in! And I am staying, of course. So is my lovely German comp. This is actually her last transfer! Gah! We have to plan the most epic last transfer ever in the coolest city in Germany. Ya ya ya.
This week was so boring. I don't have any to report. We just walked and talked and preached and then some crazy man once yelled at us and chased us off the street. I thought he would kill us, but it's all ok now. We were suprised to find that the JWs didn't put an "x" by his name on the klingel (where you buzz the names). They always do that for someone that was particularly mean or not at all interested. Whatevs.
On Saturday we went to Eisenhüttenstadt for a service project with the whole zone. Eisenhüttenstadt is a small town on the border of Germany and Poland and feels very empty and abandoned. The name means "iron hut city," but it used to be called Stalinstadt. Should I translate that for you? I will refrain. It was a super communist town, in case you were wondering. Anyway, we found ourselves pulling weeds in some lot for 4 hours. I'm still a little sore. But oh well, things like that are like a vacation! Loved it. Except they made us wear those stupid yellow "mormon helping hands" shirts. Ew.
I don't have anything else to report. I hope your lives are great. Love you to pieces.
Sister Young
I am officially obsessed with Haribo Pico-ballas. I will send some home they are so gooooood. Just thought you'd like to know.
Transfer results are in! And I am staying, of course. So is my lovely German comp. This is actually her last transfer! Gah! We have to plan the most epic last transfer ever in the coolest city in Germany. Ya ya ya.
This week was so boring. I don't have any to report. We just walked and talked and preached and then some crazy man once yelled at us and chased us off the street. I thought he would kill us, but it's all ok now. We were suprised to find that the JWs didn't put an "x" by his name on the klingel (where you buzz the names). They always do that for someone that was particularly mean or not at all interested. Whatevs.
On Saturday we went to Eisenhüttenstadt for a service project with the whole zone. Eisenhüttenstadt is a small town on the border of Germany and Poland and feels very empty and abandoned. The name means "iron hut city," but it used to be called Stalinstadt. Should I translate that for you? I will refrain. It was a super communist town, in case you were wondering. Anyway, we found ourselves pulling weeds in some lot for 4 hours. I'm still a little sore. But oh well, things like that are like a vacation! Loved it. Except they made us wear those stupid yellow "mormon helping hands" shirts. Ew.
I don't have anything else to report. I hope your lives are great. Love you to pieces.
Sister Young
7.09.2012
July 9, 2012
Ooooooooh you are the best family and friends in the world. I forgive you all for not writing last week and I am so so happy about all the love I received! So thank you!
Let me tell you something. It's called: I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE 4TH OF JULY. Like, it didn't even cross my mind that it was the day to celebrate the independance of rich white men in America. I could have spend entire day lamenting about it and I FORGOT. Hate when that happens.
On to new things.
First of all, I have a new mission president! I am not sure why I never wrote about this before, I guess I didn't think it was that important until he actually came and I remembered that OH MY GOSH I HAVE A COMPLETELY NEW MISSION PRESIDENT. But it's ok, he's super cool. President and Sister Kosak are from Cottbus, a city here in (former) East Germany. They have perfect English and they just got back from living in Russia for 7 years so they speak that too. Also at our first zone conference with them they sang this BEAUTIFUL Russian song and it made my heart cry, it was so sad. I think what I love about them the most is that they usually only speak to me in German, even though they know I'm American. I take that as a great compliment, especially because they don't do that for all the missionaries.
Hey hey we had 9 investigators at church yesterday! Wooooooooot!
Can I just explain to you how much I love teaching Asians? It's like the highlight of my life. For reals.
Ok ok so we met this man from Nigeria who says he wants to coordinate efforts with us to teach people about Jesus Christ. No, he's not from our church. But we are totally down because he's AWESOME and has the strongest testimony of Jesus Christ of anyone I have ever met. I love the faith of Africans. It could light your hair on fire it's so powerful.
Also we have appointments to teach 2 Germans this week! Do you realize how significant this is?!?!?! WE WILL BAPTIZE GERMANS. IN GERMANY. Prepare to have your mind blown.
I just ate an entire package of Leibniz chocolate cookies while writing this email. Ich bin dick geworden. Ich weiß nicht.
I love you all. I love Berlin. I love German chocolate.
Love,
Sister Young
ps. I have attached some pictures of Berlin. I hope you like them.
Let me tell you something. It's called: I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE 4TH OF JULY. Like, it didn't even cross my mind that it was the day to celebrate the independance of rich white men in America. I could have spend entire day lamenting about it and I FORGOT. Hate when that happens.
On to new things.
First of all, I have a new mission president! I am not sure why I never wrote about this before, I guess I didn't think it was that important until he actually came and I remembered that OH MY GOSH I HAVE A COMPLETELY NEW MISSION PRESIDENT. But it's ok, he's super cool. President and Sister Kosak are from Cottbus, a city here in (former) East Germany. They have perfect English and they just got back from living in Russia for 7 years so they speak that too. Also at our first zone conference with them they sang this BEAUTIFUL Russian song and it made my heart cry, it was so sad. I think what I love about them the most is that they usually only speak to me in German, even though they know I'm American. I take that as a great compliment, especially because they don't do that for all the missionaries.
Hey hey we had 9 investigators at church yesterday! Wooooooooot!
Can I just explain to you how much I love teaching Asians? It's like the highlight of my life. For reals.
Ok ok so we met this man from Nigeria who says he wants to coordinate efforts with us to teach people about Jesus Christ. No, he's not from our church. But we are totally down because he's AWESOME and has the strongest testimony of Jesus Christ of anyone I have ever met. I love the faith of Africans. It could light your hair on fire it's so powerful.
Also we have appointments to teach 2 Germans this week! Do you realize how significant this is?!?!?! WE WILL BAPTIZE GERMANS. IN GERMANY. Prepare to have your mind blown.
I just ate an entire package of Leibniz chocolate cookies while writing this email. Ich bin dick geworden. Ich weiß nicht.
I love you all. I love Berlin. I love German chocolate.
Love,
Sister Young
ps. I have attached some pictures of Berlin. I hope you like them.
7.08.2012
July 2, 2012
Let me just say right now that nobody deserves my email this week because I only received 2 EMAILS today. 2 EMAILS. AND ONE OF THEM WAS FROM ANOTHER MISSIONARY IN MY MISSION.
Maybe I'm crying right now, I don't know.
So I'll just keep this short.
Last P-day we went to the Pergamon museum. You should google it because it's AWESOME. They basically took an entire ancient greek city and transported it to a museum here in Berlin. It was so cool!
Also we totally had a crazy run-in with some Jehovah's Witnesses the other day. It goes a little something like this:
So we were on our way to an appointment when we pass by some JWs buzzing apartments a couple of doors down from where our appointment was. So we keep going and stop this man to talk to him. Right as the JWs come out to buzz the next door, Sister Uhlig says the word "mormon" (referring to the Book of Mormon, of course), and the women started to whisper and stare at us - weird. But whatever, we give this guy our card and keep on going to where our appointment is. So we get let in but let me tell you something - Berlin apartments are CRAZY. There are usually about 3 doors that you can go in that lead to staircases that have about 8 or 10 apartments on this particular staircase. And in order to find the apartment, you need to basically climb all the staircases until you come across the name you need on the door. Was that confusing? YES. So usually Sister Uhlig and I have the worst luck and it's ALWAYS in the last staircase we need to climb. So as we're coming down from the second one, totally out of breath, we see the JWs going up the staircase we need! NEIN!!!! So we put on a brave face and climb the last staircase and BOOM they are right there. And, of course, they gave us a rundown of Jehovah Witness doctrine. They were nice but wouldn't let us go! They tried to give us trick "do you know what the Bible says about this...?" questions and we just weren't having it. So we told them nobody knows when Jesus is coming and then we ran away. It was crazy!
Ok that wasn't a super crazy story or anything, but I can just tell you it's awkward to be dooring the same building as Jehovah's Witnesses at the same time. Except this time they were dooring and we had an appointment :)
I love you all. I would love you more if you emailed me. That is all.
Love,
Sister Young
Maybe I'm crying right now, I don't know.
So I'll just keep this short.
Last P-day we went to the Pergamon museum. You should google it because it's AWESOME. They basically took an entire ancient greek city and transported it to a museum here in Berlin. It was so cool!
Also we totally had a crazy run-in with some Jehovah's Witnesses the other day. It goes a little something like this:
So we were on our way to an appointment when we pass by some JWs buzzing apartments a couple of doors down from where our appointment was. So we keep going and stop this man to talk to him. Right as the JWs come out to buzz the next door, Sister Uhlig says the word "mormon" (referring to the Book of Mormon, of course), and the women started to whisper and stare at us - weird. But whatever, we give this guy our card and keep on going to where our appointment is. So we get let in but let me tell you something - Berlin apartments are CRAZY. There are usually about 3 doors that you can go in that lead to staircases that have about 8 or 10 apartments on this particular staircase. And in order to find the apartment, you need to basically climb all the staircases until you come across the name you need on the door. Was that confusing? YES. So usually Sister Uhlig and I have the worst luck and it's ALWAYS in the last staircase we need to climb. So as we're coming down from the second one, totally out of breath, we see the JWs going up the staircase we need! NEIN!!!! So we put on a brave face and climb the last staircase and BOOM they are right there. And, of course, they gave us a rundown of Jehovah Witness doctrine. They were nice but wouldn't let us go! They tried to give us trick "do you know what the Bible says about this...?" questions and we just weren't having it. So we told them nobody knows when Jesus is coming and then we ran away. It was crazy!
Ok that wasn't a super crazy story or anything, but I can just tell you it's awkward to be dooring the same building as Jehovah's Witnesses at the same time. Except this time they were dooring and we had an appointment :)
I love you all. I would love you more if you emailed me. That is all.
Love,
Sister Young
6.18.2012
June 18, 2012
Oh my goooooooooooooooosh.
MITCHELL'S GOING TO HUNGARY ON HIS MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!
The Young Family European Mission tradition continues. If I may quote Babe, "That'll do pig, that'll do."
Listen. So many funny things happened to me this week and I forgot my planner to remind me of these things. So I'm sorry, maybe they'll come back.
First things first. BERLIN IS THE COOLEST CITY EVER. Ok, I said it. Now don't be too worried, I would still say I prefer Paris. And Hamburg is very near and dear to my heart. And Berlin is pleasantly awesome. It's so old and cool looking and just jam-packed with history, and the places that aren't old or super historical are covered in crazy art! Seriously, this city has found a way into my heart.
BUT. The people here are a lot ruder than in Hamburg. Don't know why. Talking to people on the street is a lot different. Have I already mentioned this before? Probably. Just so you know, it's still true.
Another complaint. This is my first day in Berlin without a coat. IT IS JUNE. I WEAR COATS. The weather is ridiculous.
Not another complaint. I got asked out again! Bahahahaha BERLIN IS FULL OF NUTSIES. This time these 2 really nice young dudes came up to Sister Uhlig and I and asked if we wanted to get something to eat. We told them we can't, we're with a church and blah blah blah. But then they started asking all these questions about God and it was cool. They were super nice! Sister Uhlig was still in shock after the fact but I feel like a pro. Ha.
Other funny story. Just a couple hours before we were asked out by those lovely young men, some crazy drunk men asked me if I would like to have sex! I declined, much to their dismay. I told them I was a nun and I don't want to have sex with them. Then they left after Sister Uhlig told them we're in love with Jesus baahaha.
Also. Crazy thing about Berlin. There are remnants of the wall all over the place, and where it isn't standing anymore there's a line that indicates where it was. The wall ran through a ton of the places where we spend most of our days, and a lot of times you can tell that the wall went right down the street because one side looks completely different than the other. It's crazy to think that it wasn't so long ago, and now I'm walking right down the middle of these streets where the wall stood! Also you can totally tell the difference among the older people if they grew up in the east or not. They have a completely different mindset, especially when it comes to religion. Weird weird weird.
The work is great. We had some investigators tschüss (not want to meet) us this week, which always sucks, but we're going strong and not giving up! We even had a lesson yesterday with an awesome Korean man and he told us that at the beginning of our lesson he had every intention of not meeting with us again but after we bore our testimonies he would give it some more time. Go go go go go. We will win because God wants us to.
I love you all. Don't forget about me. Pray for world peace. The end.
Sister Young
ps. You should all go to the mission blog because there is a very good picture of me up. Ha.
MITCHELL'S GOING TO HUNGARY ON HIS MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!
The Young Family European Mission tradition continues. If I may quote Babe, "That'll do pig, that'll do."
Listen. So many funny things happened to me this week and I forgot my planner to remind me of these things. So I'm sorry, maybe they'll come back.
First things first. BERLIN IS THE COOLEST CITY EVER. Ok, I said it. Now don't be too worried, I would still say I prefer Paris. And Hamburg is very near and dear to my heart. And Berlin is pleasantly awesome. It's so old and cool looking and just jam-packed with history, and the places that aren't old or super historical are covered in crazy art! Seriously, this city has found a way into my heart.
BUT. The people here are a lot ruder than in Hamburg. Don't know why. Talking to people on the street is a lot different. Have I already mentioned this before? Probably. Just so you know, it's still true.
Another complaint. This is my first day in Berlin without a coat. IT IS JUNE. I WEAR COATS. The weather is ridiculous.
Not another complaint. I got asked out again! Bahahahaha BERLIN IS FULL OF NUTSIES. This time these 2 really nice young dudes came up to Sister Uhlig and I and asked if we wanted to get something to eat. We told them we can't, we're with a church and blah blah blah. But then they started asking all these questions about God and it was cool. They were super nice! Sister Uhlig was still in shock after the fact but I feel like a pro. Ha.
Other funny story. Just a couple hours before we were asked out by those lovely young men, some crazy drunk men asked me if I would like to have sex! I declined, much to their dismay. I told them I was a nun and I don't want to have sex with them. Then they left after Sister Uhlig told them we're in love with Jesus baahaha.
Also. Crazy thing about Berlin. There are remnants of the wall all over the place, and where it isn't standing anymore there's a line that indicates where it was. The wall ran through a ton of the places where we spend most of our days, and a lot of times you can tell that the wall went right down the street because one side looks completely different than the other. It's crazy to think that it wasn't so long ago, and now I'm walking right down the middle of these streets where the wall stood! Also you can totally tell the difference among the older people if they grew up in the east or not. They have a completely different mindset, especially when it comes to religion. Weird weird weird.
The work is great. We had some investigators tschüss (not want to meet) us this week, which always sucks, but we're going strong and not giving up! We even had a lesson yesterday with an awesome Korean man and he told us that at the beginning of our lesson he had every intention of not meeting with us again but after we bore our testimonies he would give it some more time. Go go go go go. We will win because God wants us to.
I love you all. Don't forget about me. Pray for world peace. The end.
Sister Young
ps. You should all go to the mission blog because there is a very good picture of me up. Ha.
6.17.2012
June 11, 2012
Hi hi hi.
I am right this very second in the heart of the biggest city in Germany!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAKING OUT.
Listen. There are so many people here. Everyday. Everywhere. Speaking every language possible. I still can't believe how many Americans we run into in a day. It's WEIRD. But there are a ton of Asians so I am officially pleased with my new area.
Also if you're cultured at all you would know that the Euro Cup for soccer is going down right now in the neighboring country of Poland and everyone is going PHYSCHO. German flags everywhere and crazy drunk people waving them in your face. Also maybe they have public viewings of the games and maaaaaaybe we go in a weird way to get to our appointments and pass by these giant screens. Maybe.
So let me just tell you that we have set 4 new baptismal dates this week which puts us at 7 people on date. We have 11 progressing investigators and basically I'm just trying to say that missionary work is a lot different here in Berlin. It's awesome. Also we teach 2 people from France and one from Mali (french-speaking country in Africa) soooooooo hopefully I'll get my frenchy vibe on soon and win win win.
Oh. I should probably tell you that I have a new companion! Duh. Her name is Sister Uhlig and (praise to God above) she's from Germany! We have a lot of fun together so I already know this transfer is gonna be good. Also she's going home very soon so I'll probably be with her to the end. Yay!
Mmk mmk. Funny story of the week.
So Sister Uhlig and I are coming out of the subway station when this dude (maybe around 25 or something) approaches me at the bottom of the stairs. Sister Uhlig doesn't see this so she just keeps going up the stairs and LEAVES ME ALONE. Anyways. So this guy taps my shoulder and asks if he can speak to me for a minute. And this is the conversation:
Dude: "I know this is a little weird, but I've seen you several times today and I just wanted to tell you that I find you very attractive."
Me: "Uhhhhhh..."
Dude: *holds out his hand* "My name's Markus."
---It occurs to me right at this second that this is a PERFECT opportunity to snap out of my shock and use my status as a NUN to get out of this situation---
Me: "I'm Sister Young!"
Dude: "...what?"
Me: "My name is Sister Young and I come from a church!"
Dude: "YOU'RE RELIGIOUS?!?!"
Me: "Yes of course! Are you?!"
And then! He was gone. Bahahahahaha poor guy. He really was nice. Props to him for finding the courage to talk to a stranger, even if he did just want to get in my pants.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!! Love you to pieces.
Love,
Sister Young
I am right this very second in the heart of the biggest city in Germany!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAKING OUT.
Listen. There are so many people here. Everyday. Everywhere. Speaking every language possible. I still can't believe how many Americans we run into in a day. It's WEIRD. But there are a ton of Asians so I am officially pleased with my new area.
Also if you're cultured at all you would know that the Euro Cup for soccer is going down right now in the neighboring country of Poland and everyone is going PHYSCHO. German flags everywhere and crazy drunk people waving them in your face. Also maybe they have public viewings of the games and maaaaaaybe we go in a weird way to get to our appointments and pass by these giant screens. Maybe.
So let me just tell you that we have set 4 new baptismal dates this week which puts us at 7 people on date. We have 11 progressing investigators and basically I'm just trying to say that missionary work is a lot different here in Berlin. It's awesome. Also we teach 2 people from France and one from Mali (french-speaking country in Africa) soooooooo hopefully I'll get my frenchy vibe on soon and win win win.
Oh. I should probably tell you that I have a new companion! Duh. Her name is Sister Uhlig and (praise to God above) she's from Germany! We have a lot of fun together so I already know this transfer is gonna be good. Also she's going home very soon so I'll probably be with her to the end. Yay!
Mmk mmk. Funny story of the week.
So Sister Uhlig and I are coming out of the subway station when this dude (maybe around 25 or something) approaches me at the bottom of the stairs. Sister Uhlig doesn't see this so she just keeps going up the stairs and LEAVES ME ALONE. Anyways. So this guy taps my shoulder and asks if he can speak to me for a minute. And this is the conversation:
Dude: "I know this is a little weird, but I've seen you several times today and I just wanted to tell you that I find you very attractive."
Me: "Uhhhhhh..."
Dude: *holds out his hand* "My name's Markus."
---It occurs to me right at this second that this is a PERFECT opportunity to snap out of my shock and use my status as a NUN to get out of this situation---
Me: "I'm Sister Young!"
Dude: "...what?"
Me: "My name is Sister Young and I come from a church!"
Dude: "YOU'RE RELIGIOUS?!?!"
Me: "Yes of course! Are you?!"
And then! He was gone. Bahahahahaha poor guy. He really was nice. Props to him for finding the courage to talk to a stranger, even if he did just want to get in my pants.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!! Love you to pieces.
Love,
Sister Young
6.07.2012
June 4, 2012
This week was transfer calls. I will tell you the results!...later.
First things first, I have a million things to say that happened this week. And I will make a list because I really really like lists.
1.) I have taken Brent's advice and started to make a list in my journal of all the different countries in the world that I have met people from here on my mission. So far I have over 50 countries and counting! So if you thought that I'm serving my mission in Germany, think again. It's basically the Middle East and Africa hahaha.
2.) I am addicted to Tic Tacs. I don't know why, but every week without fail I buy the biggest package of them available. IT'S WEIRD.
3.) I GOT TO SEE HEIDI AND ANDREW!!!!!!!!!!! And in case you were wondering, I really did make them do missionary work. You can ask them. We visited old people and talked to weirdies on the street. And we also ate a döner but I WAS HUNGRY STOP JUDGING ME. Anyway. It was soooooooo good to see them!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
4.) We have met a new man named Vincent (pronounced Frenchy, so minus the "t," and yes he's German) and he is really chic and awesome and we have an appointment with him today. Best part? HE'S A PERSONAL SHOPPER. Best appointments ever? Yes.
5.) There is an African in our ward that is always trying to pinch our noses. Why, you might ask? "I really like white women's noses. I can't help but touch them!" Bahahahaha WEIRDO.
6.) In case you were wondering, King Benjamin was a socialist. Read Mosiah 4. LOVE IT. JOIN US.
7.) So every Saturday we invite investigators to play soccer and it's awesome. WELL. Last Saturday one of the Elders fell down and scraped his knee pretty bad. Naturally, I pulled out my pads and slapped one on his knee and Sister Moon taped it around his leg. Resourceful? YES. He was only a little embarrassed, don't worry.
8.) This lady in our ward had a birthday party in the church and invited like a million nonmembers so we had to go. LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS. Best part ever? It was a laugh yoga party. It was HILARIOUS. I can't even describe it, please youtube it or something. I almost peed my pants it was the funniest thing ever.
9.) Last night we were over at my favorite members' house and the dad told us to try this "grapejuice" that was called Chardonnay and smelled like alcohol. We took a sip and we're pretty sure it is just grapejuice, but it tasted bitter and weird!!!!!! So we made fun of him the rest of the night. Then I got really weird so we went home. Oops.
10.) Ok. Transfer call results.
This is bad.
I'm freaking out.
What do I do?
I don't know.
I...
am...
going...
to...
BERLIN.
Like, the very most central part. Right smack dab in the middle of the biggest city in Germany. I'M GOING TO DIE.
And in case you were wondering, I cried like a baby at church when I had to say goodbye to everyone. It was awful. And saying goodbye to Yalda and her mom was the worst thing ever, I totally lost it at our appointment. I HATE TRANSFERS.
My new area is called Tiergarten (Animal Garden) and it really is the very middle of Berlin. It's half the former East and half the West. Apparently there are a million people always everywhere you look and our area is very very small. BUT I'm sure it's great and whatever. I'm just having a hard time letting go.
Pray for me. Don't forget about me. And if anyone else wants to fly to Germany and "run into me" it's probably ridiculously possible because I'm right in the touristy part of Berlin. Just a thought.
I love you all!!!!!!!
Love,
Sister Young
First things first, I have a million things to say that happened this week. And I will make a list because I really really like lists.
1.) I have taken Brent's advice and started to make a list in my journal of all the different countries in the world that I have met people from here on my mission. So far I have over 50 countries and counting! So if you thought that I'm serving my mission in Germany, think again. It's basically the Middle East and Africa hahaha.
2.) I am addicted to Tic Tacs. I don't know why, but every week without fail I buy the biggest package of them available. IT'S WEIRD.
3.) I GOT TO SEE HEIDI AND ANDREW!!!!!!!!!!! And in case you were wondering, I really did make them do missionary work. You can ask them. We visited old people and talked to weirdies on the street. And we also ate a döner but I WAS HUNGRY STOP JUDGING ME. Anyway. It was soooooooo good to see them!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
4.) We have met a new man named Vincent (pronounced Frenchy, so minus the "t," and yes he's German) and he is really chic and awesome and we have an appointment with him today. Best part? HE'S A PERSONAL SHOPPER. Best appointments ever? Yes.
5.) There is an African in our ward that is always trying to pinch our noses. Why, you might ask? "I really like white women's noses. I can't help but touch them!" Bahahahaha WEIRDO.
6.) In case you were wondering, King Benjamin was a socialist. Read Mosiah 4. LOVE IT. JOIN US.
7.) So every Saturday we invite investigators to play soccer and it's awesome. WELL. Last Saturday one of the Elders fell down and scraped his knee pretty bad. Naturally, I pulled out my pads and slapped one on his knee and Sister Moon taped it around his leg. Resourceful? YES. He was only a little embarrassed, don't worry.
8.) This lady in our ward had a birthday party in the church and invited like a million nonmembers so we had to go. LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS. Best part ever? It was a laugh yoga party. It was HILARIOUS. I can't even describe it, please youtube it or something. I almost peed my pants it was the funniest thing ever.
9.) Last night we were over at my favorite members' house and the dad told us to try this "grapejuice" that was called Chardonnay and smelled like alcohol. We took a sip and we're pretty sure it is just grapejuice, but it tasted bitter and weird!!!!!! So we made fun of him the rest of the night. Then I got really weird so we went home. Oops.
10.) Ok. Transfer call results.
This is bad.
I'm freaking out.
What do I do?
I don't know.
I...
am...
going...
to...
BERLIN.
Like, the very most central part. Right smack dab in the middle of the biggest city in Germany. I'M GOING TO DIE.
And in case you were wondering, I cried like a baby at church when I had to say goodbye to everyone. It was awful. And saying goodbye to Yalda and her mom was the worst thing ever, I totally lost it at our appointment. I HATE TRANSFERS.
My new area is called Tiergarten (Animal Garden) and it really is the very middle of Berlin. It's half the former East and half the West. Apparently there are a million people always everywhere you look and our area is very very small. BUT I'm sure it's great and whatever. I'm just having a hard time letting go.
Pray for me. Don't forget about me. And if anyone else wants to fly to Germany and "run into me" it's probably ridiculously possible because I'm right in the touristy part of Berlin. Just a thought.
I love you all!!!!!!!
Love,
Sister Young
6.02.2012
May 28, 2012
Haaaaaaaapy birthday to ME.
Thank you all for your birthday cards and packages and love. It was a really really super day, especially because it was Zone Conference and I didn't have to have a normal missionary day!! Ha ha ha!!!
Also some people in the ward love me lots and lots and made me food and wonderful things. BUT I should tell you that for some unknown reason I have been collecting German children stories that I read for my language study and my favorite lady in ward gave me a complete Brothers Grimm Fairytales set!!!!!!!!!!! I cried a little bit, maybe. It's AWESOME. So yes, I will read you bedtime stories in German when I get back. And then you will have nightmares because they're in German. Ha.
So listen. We found a wonderful new investigator from Afghanistan named Fatima. The problem? She doesn't speak German. Not even a little bit. So we went over for our appointment and much to her dismay her son couldn't stay to translate! So we ended up trying to communicate - always an adventure. We managed to find out that several members in her family have died recently from the Taliban. Also she was married at 10 years old and had her first son at 13! As she was telling us about her life she just started to bawl. Oh we felt so bad, we didn't know what to do! So we asked if we could pray with her. Sister Schaerr gave a beautifuly simple prayer and asked God to bless this wonderful woman and her family. Right after the prayer she grabbed all of us (totally a surprise) and hugged us till we couldn't breathe. She kept kissing our necks and saying, "Danke, Danke, Danke!" Needless to say, it was a beautiful experience. We love meeting with her and we also teach her son now! Yay :)
Speaking of prayer, Yalda prayed!!!!!!! I am so proud of her. She told us that one day she asked her mom if they could go to the park. Her mom said no, so she went into her room and "prayed exactly like we told her." In her (translated) words:
"I remember that you told me that when we talk to God we say what is in our heart. I really wanted to go to the park that day so I prayed really hard that Mom would let me. Then right after I stopped Mama came in and told me that she changed her mind and we could go!"
Is that not the most adorable thing you've ever heard? The best part is that Yalda immediately told her mom what she had done and it made a big impact on her. Things are starting to roll!!!!
Speaking of things rolling, a man pooped is pants on the train yesterday. Bahhahahahahahahaha. It smelled SO nasty and I have never seen anyone run as fast as he did off that train. Poor guy.
Here are some pictures. The adorable little girl is Yalda and Frau Bastan-Mehr is the unbelievably gorgeous woman in purple. I hope you like them.
LOVE YOU ALL.
Sister Young
Thank you all for your birthday cards and packages and love. It was a really really super day, especially because it was Zone Conference and I didn't have to have a normal missionary day!! Ha ha ha!!!
Also some people in the ward love me lots and lots and made me food and wonderful things. BUT I should tell you that for some unknown reason I have been collecting German children stories that I read for my language study and my favorite lady in ward gave me a complete Brothers Grimm Fairytales set!!!!!!!!!!! I cried a little bit, maybe. It's AWESOME. So yes, I will read you bedtime stories in German when I get back. And then you will have nightmares because they're in German. Ha.
So listen. We found a wonderful new investigator from Afghanistan named Fatima. The problem? She doesn't speak German. Not even a little bit. So we went over for our appointment and much to her dismay her son couldn't stay to translate! So we ended up trying to communicate - always an adventure. We managed to find out that several members in her family have died recently from the Taliban. Also she was married at 10 years old and had her first son at 13! As she was telling us about her life she just started to bawl. Oh we felt so bad, we didn't know what to do! So we asked if we could pray with her. Sister Schaerr gave a beautifuly simple prayer and asked God to bless this wonderful woman and her family. Right after the prayer she grabbed all of us (totally a surprise) and hugged us till we couldn't breathe. She kept kissing our necks and saying, "Danke, Danke, Danke!" Needless to say, it was a beautiful experience. We love meeting with her and we also teach her son now! Yay :)
Speaking of prayer, Yalda prayed!!!!!!! I am so proud of her. She told us that one day she asked her mom if they could go to the park. Her mom said no, so she went into her room and "prayed exactly like we told her." In her (translated) words:
"I remember that you told me that when we talk to God we say what is in our heart. I really wanted to go to the park that day so I prayed really hard that Mom would let me. Then right after I stopped Mama came in and told me that she changed her mind and we could go!"
Is that not the most adorable thing you've ever heard? The best part is that Yalda immediately told her mom what she had done and it made a big impact on her. Things are starting to roll!!!!
Speaking of things rolling, a man pooped is pants on the train yesterday. Bahhahahahahahahaha. It smelled SO nasty and I have never seen anyone run as fast as he did off that train. Poor guy.
Here are some pictures. The adorable little girl is Yalda and Frau Bastan-Mehr is the unbelievably gorgeous woman in purple. I hope you like them.
LOVE YOU ALL.
Sister Young
5.26.2012
May 21, 2012
Hello hello hello.
Let's start off by reminding you that my birthday is on Thursday and you are more than welcome to think of me the entire day. You're welcome.
Last week an Indian couple in the ward gave me a saari for my birthday!!!!!! Is that even how you spell it? I DON'T KNOW. Doesn't matter. It's beautiful and maybe ridiculously skanky. I'll modify it, have no worries.
Also I punched an Elder last week. But that's only because he was being the most annoying person in the world. He deserved it.
Also WORST THING EVER. Not really, but it was scary. It's called: MY COMPANIONS MADE ME TALK TO A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS BY MYSELF. With no disrespect to the religion, they are the bane of our missionary existence. And talking to them is sometimes like bashing your head against a wall because they love to tell you that God is Jehovah and that's all they really like to argue. Anyway. So this particular day my companions were going around talking to peeps a little ahead of me while I talked to people by myself. We can't all do it together because then it looks like we will eat them and they hate it. So I'm bouncin' around, doing my missionary job, and I stop this lady and start to talk to her. Oh wait. She's a JW and she was waiting for her companion to come so they could go talk to people too!!!! AWKWARD. Well she ended up being pretty nice and she took one of our cards. We talked for awhile and, of course, she asked me what God's name is. I told her it's Elohim and she was like what the heck? It blew her mind of course because she had never heard that. So secretly she wanted to learn more but she couldn't because she was scared/her companion was coming. But all in all it wasn't so bad and I was able to tell her about the Restoration and I could see something click in her eyes! She didn't even try to refute it! I WIN.
Mmk. Remember how I told you that we flirt to convert? Well we did it times ten this week. And it was awesome. Story time.
So we were walking to an appointment when we see these 3 young looking dudes (and by young I mean our age) riding bikes and looking very lost. They saw us and I guess we looked like we knew what's up because they stopped us for directions. Funny thing: they are all attractive AND French. Did I die a little bit? YES. Anyway so we directed them towards a restaurant where they could watch a football (soccer) game. We of course talked about who we were and gave them our cards. They invited us to come with but we sadly declined. WELL. A little bit later it totally hit us that we are IDIOTS and we should have worked harder to get them to agree to meet us. THEY WOULD DO IT. So we marched over to that street and walked up and down it until they came out. Yes, they totally did. Then we got their number and we organized a giant soccer game with the Elders and other YSA people and they're coming!!!!!! HA.
Anyways. I love you all. Don't forget about me.
Sister Young
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