Piano Guys Concert for Hamburg Missionaries

Summer is one of the Sister's holding the Cello....
Super Cute!

The Piano Guys?

Moin!

So this week was awesome. Last Monday Sister Sanders and I went to the Hamburger Dom. It is a huge Carnival in Hamburg. It was super fun :) We also did a little apartment searching for our mission president. He is trying to find a new Wohnung (apartment) for the Sisters in this area. So we got to go check them out.

So we had an investigator Tschüss us last week. We ended up passing by him in Bergedorf and he said that he wanted to meet up again. So cool! I am excited to talk with him a little more. I also gave away my first Book of Mormon while finding this week! What, What?! Ya! This lady was super sweet. She was just visiting this area from Hamburg, but we had an awesome conversation about Christ, our Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon. 

Our district has been trying out this new thing that we call "Risk the Awkward". Basically when we are on a Bahn or a Bus, we bring up the most random things to talk about with people. So the other day Sister Sanders told this man that she liked the color of his bright green pants. He just said thanks and stayed quiet. A few seconds later he was talking about how the color on his jacket was nicer and that he could make his knees pop. Seriously, every day is a new adventure out in the field.

This week, we had a lot of activities at the church. On our way to the church, we always pass these men that are reselling train tickets that people gave away. We see them so often that we are now friends. One of them gave us chocolate the other day. It’s pretty exciting. But one of the activities we had at the church was a Fiesta that all the Latino members in our ward were doing. They taught us all about Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua. We danced and ate food. It made me a little homesick though. I am starting to really miss my Tex-Mex.

Sunday was super cool though. Sister Sanders and I played a variation of ‘A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief’ in Gemeinde (ward) Konferenz. It was super cool to play and I think for the first time, the room was completely silent. The spirit overflowed the room with love, comfort, joy and peace.

After church, we had the amazing experience to go to a fireside for the missionaries. The Piano Guys are playing in Hamburg this week and came by to do a small testimony meeting and concert for the missionaries. It was so cool. We all were able to talk to them individually. I would like to share a few things that I learned from this fireside.
 

     "Heavenly Father knows what kind of instrument we are. If we humbly and earnestly put His will before our own, we will begin to see that the music we play will be played with more passion and love than we ever could imagine." 

During the fireside, we were able to have a Q&A with them. I asked them if they could give one piece of life advice.

Al - Stay close to the Lord. Never lose sight of what is really important

John Schmidt - Alma 37: 36-37 (Take this scripture literally)

Paul - Don`t ever settle for where you are right now. Push yourself beyond what you are capable and you will do amazing things

Steve - Don`t let your failures define who you are. Use the Atonement every second of every day to make those obstacles turn into stepping stones.

These men really brought the spirit into this meeting. We were able to listen to their testimonies and they were able to play an invite the spirit through the power of music. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be a part of that.

You are all amazing!

Sister Reed 

 

MIRACLES

This week was truly a week of miracles. They all started on Tuesday when our first appointment fell out. Although it fell out, Sister Sanders and I were already on our way to the church. While we were walking to the church, we came across an investigator that we have been trying to get in contact with since I got here. He is really sweet and I am hoping that we can meet with him soon.

We also did a ton of "dooring" this week. We knocked on over 150 doors this week with no success of finding anyone that was interested. We ended up doing a service project later in the week for a member that needed help cleaning her house. While we were cleaning, her neighbor walked by and asked that we would help her as well. Right after we finished working, we went upstars to this other lady's apartment. She was so kind and she was from Russia. We ended up teaching her a lesson about eternal families. It was really cool to see the spirit touch her.

We work with people from all over the world here in Bergedorf. We are now teaching a few people from Ghana, Turkey, Russia, Persia, Bosnia, Servia and of course our Germans. I love serving here because we really get to influence people from all over the world. The people that we are working with from Bosnia and Servia are from our German course. Both men randomly showed up one day. Unfortunately they don’t speak any German or English. So it is hard to teach them without knowing what they are saying. But fortunately, they speak some Russian. One of the Elders that we work with can speak a little bit of Russian so he really helped us out.

This week I went on Tausch again. It is where we switch companions for a day. I got to work with the lovely Sister Jeffery’s. She taught me so many awesome things about missionary work. While I was with her, we did a little dooring and as usual found no one. But, on our way to the U-Bahn station to go get my companion, we came across this man from Ghana. He started talking to us all about the church and how he had a lot of friends that were members and wanted to learn more. I hope that we will have the opportunity to meet with him this week.

There is really opposition in all things. We began to teach a lady this week that used to be a Jehova Witness. She was very open to learn more and is excited about the new insights that we have on some things. She said that being a JW helped her, but she thinks there is more truth out there. I am so excited to be teaching her. But, right after that we had an investigator Tschüss us... (it means he told us that he didn’t want to meet anymore). It was sad, but I am grateful that he told us so that we can spend more time finding people that want to hear this message.

So it was a very busy week! But I am grateful for all of the experiences I get to have. I would go into more detail... but that would take way longer than two hours. Y'all are great!!!

"Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight"

Sister Reed

*Today for P-Day we are at the Hamburger Dom, which is the largest Fair that they have in Northern Germany!

 

 

Halloween!!!

 

This week started off with a new district! We just started a new transfer so we had a few people leave and a few new people come into our district. We have a new Elder in the Bergedorf ward and a new District leader. I am really excited to work with these new Elders.

The lady that I talked about last week that met with the missionaries 20 years ago, we had a meeting with her this week. She is so kind and so open to learn more about her Savior. She made us some Peperment tea (as most Germans do) and we just got to know each other. She also has a passion for classical music. So we sat on her couch, drank tea, listened to classical music in a candle lit room. I felt really classy. But, I promised her that this week I would bring my instrument and play for her. I am really excited.

Sister Sanders and I will be playing in church on November 16th. We have been working on our piece together at the church. So the other day, we decided to open up the church and allow people to come in and listen to us play. Although no one came in, it was still kind of fun to see people’s reactions to me walking up and down the street playing random music. :)

Halloween! It is definitely a tradition that is still trying to get started in Germany. A lot of people really enjoy in and go all out. And a lot of people think it is dumb and want nothing to do with it. Haha! Naturally, as missionaries, we did not dress up or anything. We had a normal day of missionary work. We made cookies that morning and then traveled to almost all of our investigators houses and wished them a Happy Halloween. It was nice to be able to just stop by, share a quick message and tell them that we care. That night, we bought giant ‘Kinder Eggs’ and went trick-or-treating at our own door :) It was a fun little way to celebrate.

Saturday, while Sister Sanders and I were studying at the church, we heard a loud screaming. This little boy had fallen off his bike. But, his screaming didn't sound like a normal scream. We ran outside to make sure that everything was ok only to find that his arm had been broken in half. (It was not a pretty sight...) We rushed him inside the church and asked a lady to call the EMS for us. This poor little boy; we ended up getting his information and was able to contact his family.  He was really a sweet boy.  The doctors were so nice to him and helped him into the truck. I am grateful that we were there at the church studying or we would have not been there to help that little boy, our Branch President called us Angels for being there when we were.

But, to end the week off nicely, yesterday was fast Sunday. I had the opportunity to bear witness of the things I know to be true. And I was able to do it in German. Although the grammar still isn't perfect, it was cool for me to see that I can communicate easier in a second language. 

We went for dinner at the Branch Presidents house and he asked if he could give us a Priesthood blessing. The beginning of his blessing he spoke in German and then half way through he switched to English, it was really amazing.  I am so grateful for the Priesthood.  I have learned so much more about the Priesthood being out here, I think I finally understand now that a blessing is more than just a bunch of comforting words, it is literally a blessing of strength…it is truly amazing.

This work is discouraging, hard, fun, happy, amazing and pretty much every other emotion that you could possibly think of :) I am so grateful for this gospel. I am not sure if I have already shared this scripture or not, but it has helped me a lot this week.

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."  

I love you all and I hope that you have a fantastic week!!

Sister Reed