February 27, 2012

Yo my wonderful peoples of the world.



I had some pretty crazy wonderful experiences this week. Would you like to hear them? Yes you would.




Just so you know, I really like lists. So I'm just going to do this list-style and save us all the trouble of trying to make sense out of the random paragraphs with no transitions I would have written. You're welcome.




1.) So we were teaching one of our drunkard investigators and having a great time because a) he speaks English and b) he's always at least a little buzzed when he comes to lessons and you never really know what's going to come out of his mouth. He's super great. ANYWAY one of the times he was going off on something completely random, as usual, he told a story about how his friend wanted to do something to change their life. I think his friend's idea was to get super drunk and jump off a bridge or something, but our investigator said that he suggested they go to church. Why you might ask? "Because my mother put Jesus in my heart." Isn't that the sweetest phrase you've ever heard? It totally reminded me of the story in the Book of Mormon about the stripling warriors and their mothers. I just wanted to share that cute thought with you.




2.) Mmk. Best news ever ever ever. WE FOUND A FAMILY TO TEACH!!!!!!! If anyone who reads this has served a mission, you know how awesomely cool that is. They're from Iran and they are SO cool. The husband is here on political asylum (did I spell that right...?) because he basically hates everyone down there haha. It's really great. He spends a lot of time talking about how evil he thinks the government is there because of all the people they kill, particularly Christians. He also hates what they do to women, so naturally WE'RE BEST FRIENDS. His wife is SO COOL and they have the cutest children on the face of the planet, a boy who's 14 and a girl who's 5. At the end of our lesson with them the little girl, Yalda, leaned her head on my shoulder and said, "Ich mag euch," which means, "I like you." Basically my heart melted and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.




3.) We experienced a MIRACLE. So. With Tigran, one of our baptismal dates, we have quickly found out that Satan really doesn't want him to get baptized. Duh. But he's working sooooo hard on Tigran and it's a mess for us. So Tigran didn't know if he wanted to get baptized anymore, especially considering we pushed his date back to March 11th. Apparently that was a sign for him or something, I don't know. So we've been praying and praying and yesterday we had stake conference, which was broadcasted from Salt Lake City. Tigran and Sofia came and we ended up hearing from Elder Russel M. Nelson and Elder Eyring, 2 of my favorite Apostals. Well when I saw that Eyring would be speaking, I knew everything would be ok. And it WAS. Elder Eyring gave a talk about baptism and told a story about someone who didn't know if they should be baptized and was really struggling with it but finally decided to get baptized on MARCH 11th. And then Eyring talked about Mosiah 18 and read the scripture from Alma asking the people to just freaking get it overwith and BE BAPTIZED. Can you believe that?!?!?!!?!? It was insane. My companion and I started crying it was so crazy. I've never had an experience like that where my prayers have been answered so bluntly with the most perfect thing imaginable. All ist gut. Aaaaaaaaall ist gut.




4.) In case you were wondering, German still sucks. Blah. But I've found a trick. In German there are like a million and one ways to say "the" - der, die, das, den, dem, des....WHATEVER. I've found the best thing to do is to make a "daaaaah" sound very quickly and people can't really tell the difference and accept whatever you're saying. Win.










I love you all. Keep praying for me. PLEASE.




Lurves.




Sister Young




ps. I really like letters...and pictures...and walruses. But don't worry about sending those.

February 20, 2012

Guten Morgen, meine Lieblings.

So. I'm going to start this off right by talking about the best missionary experience ever ever ever.

We decided to have another lesson last week with Sofia and Tigran about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and the importance of knowing everything we're saying is true and praying about it and whatnot. We're getting into the final weeks before their baptism where we have to prepare them to REALLY commit their lives with tithing and Word of Wisdom stuff and whatever. So they need to know it's true and we need to know that they know. Was that a confusing sentence? You're welcome.

So we're starting to briefly go over apostacies and prophets and stuff and Sofia says, "I already know about all of this!" and then proceed to finish explaining EVERYTHING. Hahaha it was awesome. So we popped in the "Restoration" film and when it got to the part showing the First Vision Sofia put her hand up like she wanted to touch the screen and whispered, "Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ" in the most tender manner. After the film we explained that they need to pray about Joseph Smith. If he's a prophet, then the Book of Mormon is true. And if the Book of Mormon is true, everything else is true too. Sofia immediately threw her hands up in the air and said, "Ich glaube alles!" hahahaha. Tigran, in a really sincere voice, said that ever since he started to read the Book of Mormon he's been so much happier and he can feel his faith building in God and Jesus Christ. He started to relate a scripture that he had read about Nephi to his life and said that he's learned so much from this book. He said he doesn't even need to ask God - he knows it has to be true.

Well, basically moments like these erase all the times you were crumpled up in a heap on the floor begging God to tell the Mission President to call you and say you can go home. Or all the times people laughed at you in your face. Or all the times you made a fool of yourself with your ridiculous German. Or all the times you were convinced that your existence as a missionary was pointless. Moments like these make you want to explode into a tiny million pieces with the love that you feel for these people on God's behalf. They make you want to be a better person and they make you want to work so hard the next 14 months of your mission so that you can find more Tigrans and Sofias. Moments like these make a mission worth it.

Ok, ok. Enough cheesy crap. I'm annoying myself. Another awesome thing is that we now have the "ins" with a woman named Agartha. Have I talked about her before? Maybe not. She's from Ghana and has like the worst life ever. She showed up in church one day and has come most Sundays since. She refused to meet with the missionaries and no one could break this iceberg around her heart. And then I came. HA. We somehow found her address and just showed up at her apartment. At first she hated it. But then she loved it. And now she actually invites us over and loves it when we come! And I love speaking English, so it's a win-win. She's crazy, but I love her and we're very excited to be able to teach her now.

Yesterday my companion and I had to teach Relief Society and I about peed my pants I was so nervous. But literally it was like I opened my mouth and words just started coming out and they were actually grammatically correct. It was super weird. BUT the lesson was good and anything I said to ruin the lesson was saved by my companion, as usual.

You should all pray that I have the gift of tongues everyday instead of just occassionally. K thanks.

I love you all. Like, a lot. I'm always bragging about my family and friends and I'm sure everyone is sick of it. But at least everyone knows I'm super loved. And I love you all too.

Have a lovely woche. Peace and blessings.

Sister Young

February 13, 2012

Hello, Hello.

This week has been an eventful one. I ate my first döner, which is a tragedy to all those who have become acquainted with this Turkish delicacy since it took me until my 7th week here to do it. Aaaaaand...that's about it. Maybe my week wasn't too eventful.

Jooooooookes. Good news for you. Sofia is perfect. Like, so perfect. We were talking about the importance of baptism with her and repenting even before we're baptized, and she confessed that when she was 7 she stole her dad's pen and she felt really bad about it. Hahahaha I just love her. Also randomly in the lesson she asked, "Do you drink?" We explained that we don't, not even a little bit on holidays or whatever (she asked about that, too). After pausing for a second she said, "Then I won't either." IT WAS SO AWESOME.

Even better? Tigran stopped smoking without us even asking him to!!!!!!! THIS is what happens when people read the Book of Mormon and resolve to live better. It changed lives, people.

I also had the wonderful privilege of contacting a less active woman who hadn't been to church in over 20 years. She was amazing. And her husband is hilarious. We thought we were just coming over to share a message and talk about coming back to church or whatever but they actually made it a really big occasion and had their daughter and his fiance over for a nice dinner! It was a lovely surprise. And we had soooooo much fun. That family is amazing. At the end of the evening her husband asked us how we came to know our church was true. My companion and I (the best I could) bore testimony and the Spirit was so powerful. It was by far the best night of my mission.

So. Can I tell you something about Germans? They really really really love fruit. And cucumbers. I've partaken of both at every single meal here with the members. But I'm telling you, they REALLY love fruit. The other day a member made us broccoli and cheese soup and she put pineapples in it. Then we had fruit for dessert. We ALWAYS have fruit for dessert. Weirdest thing ever? YES. Germans also really really love obscure church hymns that Americans never knew existed. I've probably sang 2 hymns I recognize in church since I've been here. I have no idea what's up with that.

You know what I realized this week? Something crazy stupid.

Before and after your mission, people think you are so great for going on one. After your mission people especially think you are so cool and know everything about the gospel and whatever. Bascially, RM's are awesome and respected. It's a great feeling, I'm sure.

But on your mission? YOU'RE AN IDIOT. And people have no hesitation to tell you that you are. It's like I'm going to spend the next 15 months feeling like the scum of the earth, and then I'll return to praise and honor. What's up with that? Seriously. You feel so stupid sometimes, and people love to make you feel that way. So WEIRD.

Well my princes and princesses, I love your guts. Be cool, stay in school, and don't do drugs.

Lurves,

Sister Young.

February 6, 2012

Hello world.

It's cold here in Hamburg. -9 degrees C and my toes have almost frozen off. Hopefully Spring comes soon.

Good news! We have 2 more baptismal dates. And we're so excited, because one of them is Sofia!!!! She's awesome. She's already read half the Book of Mormon. And she always tells us she believes in God and Jesus Christ 150% hahaha.

The other baptismal date is Tigran, the son of one of Sofia's friends. He stays with Sofia often and for the last week and a half or so he's been coming to lessons with Sofia and became really interested. He's got some...interesting ideas. BUT he's been so open and absolutely loved Institute and he's changed so much. It's been amazing to watch this transformation.

Bahahaha funny story. So we were over at Sofia's place last week teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and getting ready to ask her to be baptized. I wasn't feeling well earlier so we were hoping to get through the lesson quickly, but we brought a member and she looooooves talking. Which is great! When I'm not sick. Anyway, so I was trying not to die and then it hit me. I HAVE TO POOP. Like so bad. And I was having terrible cramps and I was 90% sure I would poop my pants if I didn't run to a bathroom. I couldn't really decided which was worse - interrupt a spiritual lesson about baptism to clog her toilet or just to poop right there on her couch. So I'm poking my companion and silently pleading with her to PLEASE end this lesson, but it just wasn't working. The member was talking and Tigran was asking questions and I was sweating bullets. So right as my companion was going to ask her to be baptized, I burst and asked Sofia if I could go to the bathroom. Hahahaha ooooooh the Spirit was gone. BUT through a MIRACLE I made it short, got back out there, and ended up committing them both to baptism. Win.

Let me tell you something else. My body is so rockin here out on the mish. I can't even hold it in, I just have to brag about it. And it's great because our morning exercise time consists of us dragging ourselves out of bed to the other room where we lay on the floor and occassionally lift our legs in the air. Ha. Jokes. But literally, we hardly move. So I just lay there and do sit ups for a half hour and now I have abs of STEAL. And then I do planks and other yoga stuff for like a minute and the rest of our exercise comes from walking around all day. It's great, especially because I'm a stress eater and so I eat a LOT here.

I had my first "tausch" (exchange) last week and I went up to Rostock. Exchanges are the weirdest things ever, especially here because I ended up just being on a train longer than I actually did missionary work for those 24 hours. But the sister I was with was pretty cool and Rostock looks awesome from what little I saw of it. You should google map it or something.

Well, I've officially started my 2nd transfer. Don't know how I made it this far.

I love you all.

Sister Young

January 30, 2012

People of the world. 

I would like you to know that missionary work can be so FREAKING hard. People say that and you have no idea what it really means because no one can seem to put it into words, but I will do it for you. 

I will use this past week as an example. The week before last, we had amazing numbers. Stupendous, in fact. We were rocking it and all the other missionaries in Hamburg were super jealous. And then. Of course. EVERYTHING FELL APART. We had like 5 lessons planned on Tuesday and not a SINGLE ONE worked out. More than half of our investigators have dropped off the face of the planet and now we're borderline stalking some to see if we can finally get a hold of them! We weren't able to get as many appointments with new people as we would have liked, and every appointment we made with people the week prior fell out. It's ridiculous, truly. Also it's FREEZING and the cold wind blows up my skirt all day. CHEESE.

But I will tell you some good things.

Firstly, we have an investigator that makes my heart smile. Sofia, she is called. I'm not sure why that last sentence was written so strangely but we're going to roll with it. She's amazing. And I love her. Also she brought a friend to church on Sunday so we will baptize the both of them, of course.

Speaking of church, let me tell you about a lady named Schwester Timm. HILARIOUS. She is super crazy and a little loopy and I love her. She always shows up to church with the strangest combination of clothes and colors. Her hair is always sticking up and crazy. When she walks into a room EVERYONE knows because she loves to let them know. Her husband is waaaaaay older than her and when they sit together in church she rubs his head very awkwardly hahaha. Also, she told us the best story ever: So she and her husband are very very VERY wealthy. And one day, for a reason I'm not quite sure about, she had to transport like 10,000 euros in cash somewhere. She wanted it to be safe so naturally, she shoved it all down her pants. Well on the way to delivering this money she decided she needed to go to the bathroom. Forgetting she had 10,000 euros shoved in her underwear, she pulled down her pants to go to the bathroom and the money went EVERYWHERE, so she had to run around trying to pick it all up. Hahahahaha if only you knew her. It would be even more hilarious. And the way she told the story! Oh heavens. Meeting her as been the highlight of my mission. Don't worry, I'll get a picture with her.

So I had my first zone conference this week, which is where all the missionaries in the Hamburg area get together with the mission president and his wife and we have workshops and stuff. As a new missionary, they made me give my testimony in German. Worst thing ever, of course. But the Mission president came up to me afterwards and told me how incredibly proud he is of my German and that my "aussprache" (pronunciation) is amazing. Then this missionary from Southern Germany came up to me and asked me where I was from because there is no way an American would speak German like that. And then 5 other members at church told me the same thing! So yes, my head is getting big about it. But don't worry, the fact that I still can't actually say anything in German humbles me quite a bit. 

Also all the Africans here love me because I told them that I want to work in Africa someday. They make us African food and save all the spicey food for me because I already "have Africa in my blood" and I can handle it, but Sister Martinz isn't allowed. Haha oooooooh I can't wait to live there.

Well my lovelies, I hope you're living wonderful lives. Send me pictures and love. 

Loves. 

Sister Young 

January 23, 2012

Hello my lovely people of the earth.

This week was BORING. Well not really. But I don't have any really super exciting stories to tell you.

First off, I'd like to lament. I know you've all missed reading my rants about things that I believe to be stupid, and so I will treat you once again to my rant about the dumbest thing on the earth: ALCOHOL.

I'm sure some people reading this are laughing and saying "Whatever! Alcohol, in some degree of moderation, is awesome." I've never drank, so I don't really know if that's true. But I'll tell you what I know from an outsider's perspective. ALCOHOL IS DUMB. It ruins people's lives. It drives families apart. It makes otherwise sensible people fools. It destroys bodies. It is DISGUSTING. And it is one of the greatest evils I've been fighting on my mission. Many of the people we teach have destroyed their lives with drinking and it is the biggest trial they must overcome in order to receive the blessings of the gospel. None of them have enough faith that they can quit because they are so dependant on it. And so they don't quit. And they don't progress. And my heart breaks for them.

If anybody within the sound of my voice (or within capacity to read my words, I suppose) has decided that they want to start drinking or that they love drinking too much to give it up or whatever, SHUT UP. DON'T DO IT. DON'T YOU DARE GO DOWN THAT PATH. And if you "must," please please PLEASE watch how much you drink and how often you drink. Please. I don't want to have to worry about you too.

That being said, I'd like to move on to happier things. And also I would like someone to please send me instructions on how to solve a Rubics cube because it's driving me INSANE.

So we have some recent converts in our ward that are from India, and I had the amazing opportunity to eat at their house. And eating with Indians is a sport. They kept filling my plate higher and higher even when I said I couldn't handle anything more. The food was so spicy and my nose was running and my eyes were watering. But it was delicious. And totally worth it. Ha. Neeta, one of the converts, dressed up my companion in her sari and she looked AWESOME. I was so jealous. And then they tried to teach us this dance but we sucked at it, of course. But it was quite the evening. Best dinner appointment ever.

Right now we have 5 progessing investigators and we find more and more people all the time. It's so great. I love the people we teach! And they are so patient with me and my German. Mostly I think they just view me as a cute little puppy they can pat on the head. Ha.

Speaking of cute little puppies, my companion and I have developed a new way of contacting on the street. She does the talking, and I makes my eyes REALLY big and have a really sad face when they say they aren't interested or don't believe in God or they think we're crazy. Then they feel bad and take a card from us. Ha. Last night this guy kept trying to talk about how religion is crazy and he kept looking at my face and saying "Don't look at me like that! Why are you looking at me like that?!" Then Sister Martinz tried to give him a card and he wouldn't take it, so I made my eyes really big and said, "Bitte?" Hahahaha he melted. And took the card. And then he was nice. We're the dream team.

So. Everyone should tell me when they're birthday is. I hate guessing and I feel stupid when I get it wrong. So please write me and tell me.

Also Valentine's Day is coming up! Who wants to be my Valentine?! I'll let you send me lovely things! And MAYBE I'll send you something. Maybe.

I love you all. Go read "The Women in our Lives" by Gordon B. Hinckley. Right now.

Love,

Sister Young    

Alrighty my friends and family. I was afraid this week would be boring and there would be nothing to say and then WHAM. The weekend hit us like a ton of bricks and I have many wonderful and hilarious things to tell you.

Firstly, we managed to have 3 investigators at Institute this week. How flippin' cool is that?! I praised myself and my companion until I realized that really the Lord is behind it. Duh. So I gave Him a spiritual high-five and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. It's AWESOME to be part of so many little miracles! Ha. Also. Narek, one of the investigators who came, doesn't understand German 100% and it's sometimes hard to communicate. But he came up to us afterwards and said that although he couldn't understand everything, he felt amazing and knew that it was God's spirit and he feels like everyone there is his family and that we're his sisters. So precious.

So. I'm going to tell you a little bit about how weekly planning works in our companionship. Weekly planning is every Saturday and we take a looooong time to think about each and every person we teach and what we need to do for them and what we need to get them to church and so on and so forth. Yikes, I'm really good at run-on sentences. ANYWAYS. Sister Martinz and I get a little distracted. Needless to say, we were talking about one of our investigators and within 5 minutes we were talking about rabbit poo. RABBIT POO. Baahahaha I don't know how this happens.

Mmk. BEST STORY EVER. After weekly planning some of our plans fell out so we were walking around talking to people. Of course. So Sister Martinz sees this guy crossing the street towards us and goes to talk to him. He looks up at us, smiles, and says a bunch of jibberish, presumably in Arabic. Sister Martinz keeps trying to explain that we talk to people about God and that we would like to give him a book about Jesus Christ and he keeps talking and trying to grab our hands. Finally we hear "Wie viele?" which means "How much?" and I start to panic. I grab my companion and start to pull her away but she is DETERMINED to convince him we are NOT prostitutes. She keeps saying things like GOTT! and JESUS CHRISTUS! but he just keeps smiling and pointing in the distance and motioning for us to come with him. AND THEN. He tried to kiss Sister Martinz! Bahahahahaha that really gave her the hint and we ran far far away. Ooooooooooh I can't wait to watch a movie of my life and see that part. Bahahahaha.

Anyways, the next day turned out to be even better. We had SIX investigators at church!!! 4 of them we knew and were expecting, one of them was a friend of a less-active member that came, and then. Bahaha I chuckle even thinking about it. So there is an American girl here named Kenna who has an off-semester right now at BYU-I so she decided to chill in Germany for a while. Cool. Anyway, she was walking to church and this dude came up to her, obviously high out of his mind, and asked her where she was going. She said she was going to church and he asked if he could come along. Hahaha so she shows up with this guy, Mikey (from America), and he is CRAZY intoxicated and heaven knows what else, and he stayed ALL THREE HOURS. And he wants to come back next week. Ooooooooh your adventures as a missionary. So great. But the really great thing about all of this is the ward thinks we are miracle missionaries and so now they love us even more. Win.

Also, I found out that I can by delicous french bread here in the stores and so I do. All the time. And I love it. Don't tell the Germans!!

I love you beautiful people. And I'm sorry I can't respond to everyone's emails and letters fast enough!! I'm trying. Promise.

Love,

Sister Young