Fluent in Spanish

This week I went on my first Austausch as an STL and to be quite honest, I was nervous. Poor Sister Kisby was my trial and error. I hope it went well and that it wasn't completely boring for her. We had a lot of lessons fall through so that meant time to study by the temple, call members, and go street contacting! We had some good talks with people. We talked to this precious old lady who just melted my little heart. She wasn't really religious at all and had lots of challenges in life, but we were able to tell her that God loved her and that he knew her. Although it wasn't the typical conversation we get from people, I think it was exactly what she needed to hear and the whole time I just felt so much love for her. We rewarded ourselves by having the legit best ice cream that I've had in germany! The ice cream in germany is sooo good, but this place blew all the others out of the water. We had a great meal with a member, who told us that the Queen of England died! I was so surprised, so we celebrated her life by eating chocolate and cake that she bought at one of her houses. 
I know I said the wards here are awesome and they really are! We had a huge Gemeinde fest (ward party) and all the food was sooo good. Let's just say that our starving selves took care of ourselves well and were completely full by the end. Potato salad has become one of my favorite things! We had one of our Hispanic friends come to church and we were a little nervous because we can't speak Spanish, but so many sisters came up to talk to her. We didn't realize how many members speak Spanish. It was such a tender mercy that there were so many. Then in Sunday school they all sat by her and translated/ had a discussion with her. It was so awesome and she had such a great time. She made so many friends and they invited her to come back, it was so awesome!
We had MLC (Mission leadership conference) this week and it was so great. I learned so much and took so much away. I think it helped me understand what my responsibilities are and now I know what is expected of me and how I can help the zone. At first it felt like I was walking blind but now I have a focus of where I should be headed. It was also so nice to see the other missionaries that I served with in the past, I definitely needed that. If any of you out there feel inadequate about what the Lord has called you to do then I invite you to read Jeremiah 1. Through God's power we are able to do all things and he never ever leaves us alone ♡
Yesterday we had the most chaotic lesson ever haha. We had a meeting with our other Hispanic friend but our translator wasn't able to show up. So we scrambled around for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do and how to communicate. We decided to settle for the good old Google translate. So we Google translated the whole lesson and it actually went really well! Not as organized as we would've liked but it was still good! 
Something that's funny is that my companion, Sister Hodgman, is convinced that I'm super hick. I didn't realize how hick Elko was until I came to Germany. But we have a joke that my favorite food is meat because of all the meat we eat at home and how we have a "deer in our freezer" haha. It's also due to the fact that I love to swing dance, listen to country music, and how we always go fishing and hunting.
Other than that this week has been full of dropping friends and having tons of member visits. It's also been raining a ton here lately and yesterday there was crazy thunder and lightning. We were in our apartment doing our studies while we the storm went on. There was a big flash and then immediately the thunder came. It was sooo loud and legit sounded right above us. That's the closest I've ever been to lightning and I was very glad that I was inside. Scary stuff but so cool! I love you all so much!
Here's a quote from the week: You're literally the snake in the garden of Eden -Elder Stewart
Love Sister Nielsen 
- our chaotic lesson with all of our notes everywhere
- our yummy vegan bowls
- pretty German streets
- district finding activity 
- caught in the rain
- Sister brown at mlc!! 
- the best ice cream with sister kisby
- the district wieder 
- our precious Hispanic friend (yina) and her son 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy birthday dad 🥳

Image
  This week was a little bit of a Rollercoaster. I had to give my farewell talk in the branch due to the fact that we have stake conference, fast and testimony meeting, and general conference. I shared the spiritual defining moments from my mission. If you want the talk I will be happy to send it to you. It was a great opportunity for me to look back on my mission and remember the great experiences that I have had.  We had a great lesson with Ali, he is making so much progress. He knows a lot about Christianity and just soaks everything up. My German grandpa is the one that helps bring him to church and lessons and he always brings so much food for us to eat. This week he made us chocolate milk, cake, and Brötchen with cheese. He also wants Ali to be baptized as soon as possible so that I can be here. But Ali's soul means a lot more to me than being there and helping a baptismal count. I want him to wait until he feels absolutely ready and understands the huge promise he would...
Read more

Apparently I'm Ms. Darbus

Image
  There's not a whole lot to report from this last week. The past few days I was sick and not feeling very well so we tried to keep low for a while. We met with a member and he bought us ice cream. I got through about 5 bites and couldn't eat anymore. He looked at me in the nicest way possible and told me that I looked dumbfounded, bored, and sick. It was quite the roast, but he's super precious so it was okay.  Ali is progressing really well. All of the ward members love him and are always eager to help. He started smoking again recently due to all the stress that he's been dealing with. Our member who picks him up from church taught him about the word of wisdom in his limited English. He decided then that he was going to stop smoking. He prayed that night to have the strength to stop smoking. The next morning he couldn't find his pack of cigarettes. He took it as a sign that he needed to stop smoking and that god answered his prayer. He hasn't smoked since the...
Read more

Wunder Zeit

Image
  This was a quick week so I'm not sure if I'll have a lot to report, buttt! We still had so many miracles.  Ali, who we found a couple weeks ago on the street came to church for the first time this week. I was a bit nervous, because he doesn't speak German and no one in the ward speaks Persian. The ward was so good with him and just welcomed him with open arms. During elders Quorum, they translated the talk into Persian so that he could read along. The lesson ended a bit early and so they had him tell his story. Ali used Google translate and told them about his sad past leaving Iran and Ukraine. He explained how we met and knew that if he would've been on a different side of the street, that we never would've met him. He knows that God led him to us. He texted us after and told us that it was the best day of his life. He loved church and had a feeling that he already knew all of the people there. During sacrament, I passed him the gospel art book. I thought if anyo...
Read more