*TAUSCH*

Hey there!
     So this week was pretty crazy! We started our week off pretty solid with our typical English class on Tuesday night. We decided to help them learn animals so we played charades. Not gonna lie, it was super funny watching 60+ year old people crawling around acting like dogs, cats and monkeys. Sister Sanders and I also had the opportunity to play a mini concert for everyone in our class. Sister Sanders on the piano and me on the violin. It was really nice to be able to play again.
     Wednesday we went on what we call "Tausch". I think in English it is called a missionary exchange. But basically we switch companions for a day. Haha! While I was on Tausch, we met some really amazing people. We made a few appointments out for this week. I am really excited.
     Sister Sanders and I also did this thing called "Service Finding". This is where you walk around in jeans and a T-shirt, some rakes and a bucket and go to peoples houses and ask if they want some help with their garden. Unfortunately we had little success because people are so on top of their gardens here. They even look classy when they do it! Our neighbor is about 65 years old and mow's his lawn in a suit jacket. But we ended up meeting this really nice man that has lived here for forever. He was so kind and we had a really cool conversation with him. :)
     So... my nametag is always falling off because my coat is too thick. I ordered some new ones, but they don´t come in until the next set of missionaries come in so I have been working hard to make sure that it doesn't disappear. I misplaced it the other day in a members car. We went by their house the next day to pick it up and ended up staying to work on their garden. This family is so wonderful to the missionaries and always help us with anything. After we finished their garden, we stayed to help them make lunch. Sister Sanders and I were in charge of chopping up onions... I have never cried or had my eyes burn so bad ever. Those things were so strong. We were still crying after they had been cooked and we were eating lunch. It was super funny.
    Transfer calls were this week! I am staying here in Bergedorf. So is my wonderful companion. Tons of other things changed this week though. We got a new district leader and a two new Elders in this district. I haven`t met them yet, but I am sure that they will be great. We also had some changes done to our Branch Presidency. That wonderful family I was talking about earlier, Yea! he is our new Branch President. I am so excited to work with him because he is so involved in the missionary effort. He is also very funny and is always willing to help me out with my German.

     Random German thing for the week... everyone here loves Nordic Walking.... Sister Sanders and I have been thinking about joining this trend with matching windbreaker suits.
     I hope y'all have a lovely week! Have a Happy Halloween!!! :)

I finally have my mission scripture memorized in German. It is 1 Nephi 13:37. It has helped me out tons since I have been out. Check it out :)

Sister Reed

Peanut Butter

Moin, 

So many awesome things happened this week, I don't know where to start. I guess to begin, I'm gonna give a little shout out to my family. My grandparents sent me peanut butter and I am the happiest person in the world. :) Sister Sanders and I celebrated an awesome week last night by making chocolate chip pancakes and drinking American Cream soda that we found at our grocery store. 

This week was really great. One of our investigator always forgets when we have appointments planned because she can't read or write so we ended up going a full day early to make sure we would catch her at home :) we ended up teaching her and her son about our purpose her on earth and where we will go when we die. You could really tell during the lesson that she knew what we were saying was true. It was really cool.

Tuesday was pretty cool because a man in our ward met with us and discussed with us how to be an effective missionary. He spoke a lot about the atonement and that if we really have a firm understanding in the atonement and our Savior, we should be able to accomplish anything. Later that night, while my companion and I were teaching English Class, two women walked into the church. One of them was holding a baby and asked if she could use our bathroom. They ended up hanging around in the church for a bit just walking around. I ended up talking with them about the church and what we did in each room. One of the woman walked into our Chapel. She was speechless for a bit and finally said that she felt a comforting spirit there. We talked to her more about the church and about what we believe in and she said that she would come back the next week. I hope to see her tomorrow. :) It was a really cool experience because my companion was still teaching english and I was attempting to give a church tour all in German by myself. I was really able to see how much German I actually knew. It was really amazing. (Our Meetinghouse in Hamburg)

This past weekend, we had interviews with our mission president and stake conference. It was nice to meet with my mission president again because the last time I spoke with him I was really jet lagged. haha! I was also able so see my wonderful last companion Sister Moffet! We happen to be in the same stake. But stake conference is the first stake activity that we have been to so it was really cool to see her there. :) Stake conference was very spiritual. It was all auf Deutsch (in German) but I am amazed that I could really easily understand it. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to do the work of the Lord, because he helps me accomplish anything. :)

Sister Sanders and I have been doing a lot of dooring this week with not a ton of success. It is amazing to see how many people get so angry just by looking at our nametags. But we ended up going by a contact from a lady in our ward. We went to this womans house and discovered that she used to meet with the missionaries about 20 years ago!!! She was so excited to see us and invited us over to have tea next week. (yes tea... Germans drink a ton of tea. And we are allowed to drink pepperment tea. yumm...) I am so excited and hope she will be our little miracle.

My little spiritual thought for today:
     Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. 

Make sure that you are doing the little things everyday to help strengthen your testimony and I promise life will not seem as hard. :) 

I hope yall have a lovely week!

Sister Reed 

 

Dogmar is missing...

Today at 8:43 AM

So our lovely spider, Dogmar, went missing about three days ago... we have no idea where she went...We are thinking that she took a trip south for the winter. :P

Sister Sanders and I got to know our neighbors really well this week. One of our neighbors last Monday was mowing his roof. His whole roof is covered in grass and he occasionally trims his roof grass with a weed wacker. It's pretty awesome. He even has two little ceramic lambs up there to decorate.

 

Aside from the neighbor mowing his roof, we were able to talk to a few of our neighbors. They are all super kind and are always working in their gardens. The other day, Sister Sanders bike totally fell apart. We didnt want to ruin the bike rim so we carried it about 30 minutes home. One of the neighbors saw us awkwardly trying to carry the bike home and helped us to fix it. They later offered to give us one of their bikes. It was so sweet. But we declined. They said that they see us walking all the time. They were super awesome.

We have been meeting with this family from Ghana for a while now. They are super sweet but aren't the most reliable when it comes to making it to appointments. It is always a party in their house though. I love spending time with them. The mother always talks about how we are like her children and she would do anything for us. She has such an amazing spirit, she is so strong and she has such strong faith. I love her. :)

We also had something called zone conference this week. That is where all of the missionaries in this area get together and have a meeting. We talk about all kinds of things in this meeting. But it was really great to see all of the missionaries come together and talk about their experiences. A few of the Elders in my zone went to BYU with me.

 

There was a strike this week in all of Hamburg with the Bahn drivers. They shut down all of the citz trains. The day after the huge strike, all of the trains were spraypainted and vandlalized.

We met lots of really cool people this week. We made out an appointment to meet with this man and his four year old daughter, so I hope that ends up working out. I love doing this work because I get to meet so many people from so many different countries. I am literally serving the world here because We never go a day without speaking with someone from another country. I love it.

It is really amazing that all of this truth and knowledge is available to all that want to hear it. Anyone can pick up a Book of Mormon and read it. I know that when they do, they will know it is true. Ask your Father in Heaven if it is true and he will always give you an answer. If he gave you an answer once before, he will keep confirming it.

 

DOING is an important part of KNOWING. If we choose to do what Jesus taught, we will know it is true.

I love you all and hope that you have a lovely week. :)

-Sister Reed

P-Day Visit to the Hamburg Hafen or Hamburg Harbor!

So to start this week off, we had some crazy fog. We are really starting Halloween off right! It is actually kinda creepy sometimes.  I also apparently sleep talk sometimes... in German. My companion told me that the other day. I am really cracking down on learning the language! I even practice speaking it while I sleep!

We had some really great lessons this week with our investigators. Both of our investigators prayed for us and both lessons were crazy spiritual. One of our investigators is a 13 year old boy. We taught him about Joseph Smith and the restoration. He asked so many questions that I never though a 13 year old boy would ask. I really admire his faith. Our other investigator is a very jolly man. I don't think I have ever heard someone talk so fast or laugh so loud in my life! I love them both so much though.

I also got my bike fixed this week so Sister Sanders and I were able to get our grocery shopping done much faster this week! Public transportation this week was so bad.... I don't think I have ever had to suffer through a bus ride as bad as I did this past week. I don't know what happened... But everyone smelled so bad! Oh my goodness. Take showers everyone. Personal hygiene is really important.

Sister Sanders this week made all kinds of food. She made these really good cinnamon roll things on Tuesday. We were going to take them to our district meeting, but when we were getting off the S-Bahn (train?) she karate chopped them out of my hands. They flew everywhere!! Haha! We were laughing so hard. When we went to go throw them away. This drunk Russian guy started yelling at us... I think he went through the trash and found them later... Anyway. Sister Sanders also tried to make gluten free rolls and they ended up like hockey pucks. And for our weekly planning session, Sister Sanders fried up some fries. They were really good.

 

And to end off an awesome week! General Konferenz! I love general konferenz because we really get to listen to the direction of our loving prophet and his counselors. I learned so much and could really feel my Saviors love during the talks. We had the opportunity to go to our stake center in Wartenau and watch the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions live. This was really cool because we were watching it the same time our families were. I loved all of the talks and know that we can all learn so much from them all. If you haven't had the opportunity to watch conference, I would encourage you to do so. I promise that you will be filled with the spirit and the love that your Heavenly Father has for each of you.

My favorite scripture this week!

Matthew 10:39
      "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Do your best to do what you feel is right and put your trust in him and let him guide your life. :)

I love you all and hope you have a lovely week!

-Sister Reed

 

Hallo!!!

This week, my companion and I decided to go to the Hamburg library to write emails instead of going to a sketchy internet cafe. Haha! It is nicer here, but a lot farther away.

This week, it was actually pretty chilly here! It was crazy! I already had to take out my winter coat! Haha! We started off this week really well by losing my bus pass... I guess I didn't lose it, I just misplaced it in my coat pocket. It is just kinda scary to lose your bus pass because they are so expensive. But another one of the Lord's tender mercies helped me to find it. :) I'm also beginning to recognize some familiar faces on the bus. I see this guy a few times a week. I call him the sweater guy cause he always wears cool sweaters and sits in the same spot listening to his headphones. One day I will get the courage to tell him that I like his sweaters.

 

I had many spiritually uplifting experiences this week. I finished reading throught the Book of Mormon again and prayed about it like it says to do in Moroni 10:3-5. It is still true guys :) I also had the wonderful opportunity to receive a priesthood blessing from my district leader. Because I am so new to the field, I feel like it really helped me get set on my feet. On Thursday, we had a conference call with all of the Sisters in our mission and our Mission President. Präsident Kosak is so amazing and really knows how to take care of us. He gave us so many uplifting and encouraging scriptures to read. I would encourage y'all to read them. They really cheered me up. (D&C 84:88, 75:3-4, and 68:6) The last uplifting experience I had was actually a little scary. I had to give a talk in church. Yes... it was all in German and yes it was about 10 minutes long... But the topic was one that I could easily use my basic German vocabulary with. It was about loving our Heavenly Father and loving each other. :) Take the time to really notice who could use a friendly smile or hug because you never know who could use it.

My district this week went out and did this thing called "Random Finding". Basically, you get on a random bus and when it feels right, get off and basically just follow wherever the spirit takes you. This was my first time actually trying to approach people alone and talk to them about joy and the gospel. But it ended up being super fun and super cool. My companion and I were able to talk to many wonderful people and listen to what they believe and why they believe it.

This week is General Conference. I hope eveyone really takes the time this week to prepare for it. Take the time you need to really think about what you need and what questions you have. I promise that if you go into conference with an open heart willing to listen and seek out answers to your questions you will find them. I also know that when you do this you will feel how much your Heavenly Father loves and supports you.

I love you all so much and can't wait for another amazing week. :)

-Sister Reed

My Faith Grows

Teaching the people here has really strengthened my faith though. I have really been able to see how happy people really are here with tremendous faith. The family we are teaching that are from Ghana moved here for a better life. They have already experienced so many miracles and amazing opportunities. I loved hearing their stories and hearing about how their faith has helped them. I really hope that they will continue to want to learn more.

 

Seriously, there are spiders all over the place here. But it leads to very interesting conversations in the apartment and experiences with our land lord. Her name is Frau Glinka. She lives underneath us and always comes outside laughing when we are trying to get our bikes. Our bikes are under the stairs that get to our apartment. They are in the wall in a hole that is infested with spiders. So everytime we have to get the bikes we scream. She just comes out laughing with a broom and sweeps them away. She is a really wonderful lady.

So, Sister Sanders and I experienced some really amazing miracles this week. I can really tell that this is the Lord's work. To begin, we got lost a few times this week. Once, about five minutes away from home, we decided to take a short cut through the woods to get to the bus stop. We totally got lost and SIster Sanders ended up losing her monthly bus pass. So we spent about 40 minutes looking for it. Haha! But, we found it, along with a ton of cuts and scratches from plants and a companion with sitinging nettle... But! plans changed and we ended up calling some investigators to make appointments. We ended up being able to reach people that we have been trying to contact for months. (or the sister before me have been trying to contact) It was really a miracle.

One of the members we were able to contact was a newly baptised member that disapeared a few months back. A few weeks after he was baptised, he stopped coming to church and no one could contact him. But, he ended up calling us and we met up with him at the church. He told us that he was suffering from some health problems and moved houses. He was so excited about the gospel and was really excited to bear testimony of the Savior and the Book of Mormon.

We also me with this cute family from Ghana. The happened to be by their apartment one day and stopped by. This lady has so much faith in God. I really admire her. And she is so sweet. She will do anything for her boy. She asked us if we would be willing to teach her son and take him to activities that we have at the church, so that was pretty cool. The missionaries in this area put on a soccer activity for anyone that wants to come on Saturday mornings. We also put on other activities like an english and a german class. We ended up taking her son to play soccer with some of the other kids. After soccer we took him back to the church building and gave him a tour while we talked about the Book of Mormon. He said that although he does not like to read, he feels like it is important to read scripture. So he was very excited to read the Book of Mormon. He was also very excited about baptism. I am really excited to teach and learn from this boy and his mother because they really have so much faith.

My companion and I had the opportunitz to teach the little kids in primary on sunday. We taught them about how forming a habit is like learning how to juggle. If you want to gain a new talent, you have to practice it. Haha! And after that we taught the youth. This was pretty cool because we had a lot of inactive youth come. The girl that was supposed to teach the class came up to us before it started and asked for help teaching because she was a native spanish speaker and didn't speak very much German. So, we pretty much just took over the lesson for her. It was about standards and how we need to keep our standards high and be a Christlike example to every one that we come in contact with. Sister Sander's came up with the idea of oragami. So, we each started to make oragami and each fold symbolized doing another standard like reading the scriptures, or praying, or listening to wholesome music... By the time we had finished, we had made paper frogs that would spring. We taught that when we do all of the things that we are supposed to, we will be able to accomplish more in our lives. It was pretty cool.

I apologize for the really long email, but I really learned a lot this week. I learned that this is not my work, it is my Heavenly Fathers work. He has a plan for all of his children. I learned to trust him and have faith that he will guide me in everything I need to do everyday. I also learned through the investigators we taught this week that faith in Jesus Christ really does bring peace and happiness. I am really grateful to be a missionary. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week. :)

-Sister Reed

PICTURES!!!

1. Us playing soccer with some kids from the ward and some investigators

2. Sister Sanders and I lost in the woods... haha!