3rd week in Deutschland

 Hallo Familie!!

This week we were still focusing on meeting with members. We were pretty busy from running from place to place. We got the chance to visit and talk to really fun and cool members. Everyone is super nice and love to send us home with sweets. 1 less active couple even sent us home with a whole cake. It doesn't help that the food is great and there are bakeries everywhere. The weight is gonna come, ya'll might have to roll me off the airplane haha.
I'm understanding more I feel like, but that's still only 50% of the time. Sometimes I understand a lot and then other times im lucky if I even know the category that were talking about. The language has been a real struggle for me. I've realized that I'm not very patient with myself. I want so badly to be fluent and understand people, but that's not the way it goes. I'm supposed to struggle and its been hard. I've been reading my patriarchal blessing a lot and I love how much it emphasizes missionary work and the power of testimony. I've been facing a lot of fear with speaking to others, but I have also come to realize that "of course Satan gives me that fear because he knows how powerful my testimony is. And through fear is the only way he can keep me from talking and sharing my testimony with others." So this past week I've been really trying to study faith and how it can help overcome my fear. I actually gained some cool insight. I've come to realize that if I change my mindset from trying to being fluent in German to just "I'm going to show God I love him by talking to this one person." That helps take the pressure off and makes things so much easier. I should also be putting my trust in God's abilities, not my own. He has the power to do everything and he will magnify my efforts when I try to speak German. 
I experienced my first zone conference and austauch (exchanges) this week. Zone conference was really good. We had 2 sets of sisters stay with us the night before and one of them was Sister Brown! It was so fun to see her again and talk about all that's happened in the 3 weeks that we've been separated. We had to walk about 30 minutes in the snow to get to zoko because we missed our bus. So I was soaked when we arrived. But the spirit there was really sweet. President Hammon shared how powerful the book Moroni is. Elder Bednar gave our mission a challenge to read all of Moroni and then write our own summary of each chapter. So president shared the importance of those chapters. Moroni is writing to us and he was practically a prophet over us since he wasn't a prophet over anyone due to the war. That was really special to me and made me appreciate Moroni and his words even more. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange which was really funny. 
Exchanges went really well. I was with sister Wilde who has been out for a year. She gave me a lot of confidence which I needed and appreciated. I also learned a lot from her. She made missionary work and talking to people look so easy. I loved the fact that she has a prayer journal too. I should get one because I'm sure it would be really special. We had a lesson over zoom and I didn't understand everything. But our friend just started sharing his testimony about Jesus Christ. It was really special and I really feel the spirit that he brought. That was the first time I have really felt the spirit in German. It was a cool experience. 
The Hammons are the sweetest. Our zone is the only one that don't have access to an open Christmas market. So he allowed us all to travel to Frankfurt to go visit the big Christmas market there. He also offered to pay for half of our ticket. I belive mine was about 64 euros. That was really nice of him to do that for all of us. It was a lot of fun to see. There were a ton of booths filled with food and other booths that have things people made. I had my first bratwurst! Which is just like a hotdog but with a sausage and the brotchen is so much better! I also got to try kinderpunsch which is like apple cider. 10/10 recommend both. 
For church we have just been having it online. But this week we get to go in person and I'm so excited. I better start memorizing my phrases of how to meet people lol. We've met a good chunk of the ward already so I'm happy to be with all of them. It'll be fast and testimony meeting so we're hoping our friend will come since his was so powerful. Our mission is very into social media. We're encouraged to post 2-3 times a week and we have to change our profile and cover photos everytime we get transferred, to fit our areas. That's been a new thing for me and not the easiest of tasks since I hate posting. But hopefully you all don't get sick of always seeing my new posts and things. 
I'm so glad that Carly got her license, that's so fun! I loved being able to drive everywhere.
Schönen Tag noch!!
Sister Nielsen 
1-2. It snowed!!
3. This lady made us Wurst (sausage) and potato soup and it was SO GOOD!!
4. My favorite picture 
5. Frohes Fest 
6. Trying bratwurst 
7. Kinderpunsch- the little mugs are so cute but you have to return them sadly 

From messenger chat:
The picture looks disgusting, but I swear those are onions and ketchup. 




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