Frohe Weihnacten!!!

Sent: Monday, December 26, 2011 3:44 AM
Subject: Frohe Weihnacten!!!

Meine Familie,

Tis the Season!!! It really has been a great one!!! So many wonderful things happened this week and I want to share them all, but they are just jumping around my head and so I need to get them sorted. First of all...Last Monday was really fun..We went to visit Sch. Lehman, she is the Relief Society President. We spent the evening with her and also watched the Nativity movie. It is the one that is not made by the church and I think it came out a few years ago. Anyways, it was very good and it was my first time seeing it...and we watched it in German and so I am glad I can understand German..haha. It was a very nice evening and she gave us a gift...We have receieved a bit of gifts from members...I think it is funny though because usually it is chocolate and nylons/tights or it is chocolate and body wash. I think I am supplied now for the rest of my mission. lol.

Anyways, Tuesday was a really fun day...we got up early and traveled to Frieberg so we could go to the temple. There was snow in Freiberg...I was kind of thinking I would get away from seeing snow this year, but at least there is no snow in Cottbus. It was very wonderful and I love going to the temple. It is for sure a special opportunity as a missionary. I decided to do the session in German this time and it was a spiritual experience for me. In fact, everything for me is German because I feel my English getting worse every day. That evening we got back to Cottbus and visited Chrys, he is the one that we are teaching German to. He invited us over for dinner and made us yummy african food...kind of spicy, but it was so good. I am not used to hot and spicy food any more because Germans do not eat spicy food.

 

Wednesday we went and visited Anne. She is the one from Hungary. She is so wonderful and she feels the spirit so strong...in fact her kids do not speak English or German and we speak English to Anne because she does not really know German. The last time we were there we watched the Restoration with Anne, but they do not have it in Hungarian, and so Anne was translating some for her two little children..they are 5 and 3 years old...and her little girl was so curious about what was going on and Anne told us that after we had watched that film her little girl kept asking her, as she was going to bed, to tell her the story again about what happened in the film and so, Anne got to tell her the story of Joseph Smith again. It is really cool. We also met with Ram, the Russian guy. It was really good because when we showed up, the man's son was there and he spoke German and so we talked to him some and we found out a little bit more about Ram. The son had to leave though and so we called Sch. Lehman because her son-in-law was in town for Christmas and had served a mission in Russia and so he came over and we had a good appointment.

Thursday we visited Monika. She is a friend of a couple members in our ward and is atheist...we met with her once before and she is interested to learn more...mainly because she is curious about what her friends believe. She is really sweet and we gave her the Joy to the World DVD last time and so she waited for us to watch it and so that is what we did on Thursday...we also cooked lunch together and made a cake..it was really fun. We also gave her the Book of Mormon and told her the real way to find out what her friends believe and live for is through this book. She agreed to take it. She does not have a real interest in the church, but we are still going to drop by and see her every once in awhile. We also went to visit David, he is like 17. I was sad though because he told me that he is moving after New Years. He is an atheist,but has so much potential. He is moving a little more down south and I asked him if he would like the missionaries there to visit him..he seemed still interested with it. I will miss that kid. Also, on Thursday, we had an appointment with Chi-yu. We are just reading through the Book of Mormon because he wants to try to put it all together before he finds out if it really is true. . . it was funny though because I ask Chi-yu almost every time to be baptized. Well, we had a little bit of time left and I asked him if he wanted to play Hang man and he guessed it....I wrote "Be Baptized." He laughed, but at least he knows our intentions as missionaries.

Friday...oh my. We traveled to Görlitz for District meeting and while together we listened to transfer calls as a district...there I found out that I would be training a Golden. . . ahhh...I am training this transfer. I am nervous, but excited at the same time. It is funny because exactly a year ago I left the MTC and flew into Germany and now I am the one picking up my Golden. I am traveling to Berlin tomorrow and then on Wednesday I will do some Finding with the new missionaries. Then, Thursday we will have Golden Conference and I will find out who my companion is. I am really nervous to train, but I know that the Lord is with me and I am going to do my best to help this new missionary. I know that being a missionary is a lot of fun...it is hard, but totally worth it.
Anyways, afterwards we headed back to Cottbus and visited Frau Baruk. Sister Olsen was sad to say goodbye because she is getting transferred. This was Sister Olsen's very first city and so I know that it is hard leaving your first area, but the mission only gets better once you move on to new things. I feel myself progress the most when a change happens. We watched Joy to the World with Frau Baruk and then we went and caught a train to Forst because we were going to join the Elders there and the young single adults and go caroling at a Nursing home. It was a lot of fun.

Yeah, and then finally!!! Christmas Eve..or in German, Heilige Abend which means... Holy Night. It was was fun day. We went to church because here in Germany every religion has a thing called Weihnactandacht...which means Christmas thought..It is an hour long and our ward put on a program of some musical numbers and a Chrismtas thought.Then we went with a couple members to visit Sch. Lehman because she had to work. She works at this care home for really old people with disabilities (like Neil). We sang a song and it was so special to me because I was brought back to thinking about Neil and that I got to spend a moment with these very special spirits on this Holy night. We then headed to the Ritter's home where I got to skype y'all (my family). It was fun seeing y'all and talking to y'all. It was also weird at the same time..I have not seen y'all for over a year. But while I was talking to you, Santa came and visited the little Ritter Boys, who are 2 and 4. I wish I got to see it, but in Germany I found out that it is tradition that Santa Clause comes and delivers the presents on Christmas eve and you get to open them. So while I was talking to y'all in the other room I guess Santa dropped by and brought the boys their presents and they opened them and then Santa left. Br. Seidl is the grandpa of these boys and he was the one that dressed up like Santa Clause and came and brought them the presents...So someone literally shows up dressed like Santa and brings the presents on Christmas Eve while the children are still awake and they open them that night. That is fun...afterwards...I went over to the Seidls home where we got our presents from them and Sch. Münch and we had a traditional Christmas eve dinner... which is brotwurst, potatoes, and saur kraut...that is typically what Germans eat on Christmas eve and then we had a dessert.

On Christmas day ....we woke up and opened our presents from our family and...thank you very much for the gifts. I like them and the clothes fit great. We then went to church for one hour and to the Schults and Bruder Gröschke came as well. It was wonderful. It is tradition on Christmas in Germany to go to church and then have a Christmas meal. It is traditional for the majority of German families to have goose and so I ate goose for the very first time and it was really good. We also had rot cole and potatoes and then a dessert. It was very yummy and delicious. On this day you are just with your families and it is a relaxing day and you have your big Christmas meal.

German actually has three days of Christmas...Christmas eve, and then day one, and two...Today is actually day two and we are going over to a members home for that. . . which is another big German Christmas meal and just relaxing. It is nice. I am excited!!! Anyways... I wish everyone a very merry christmas and I really do know that Christ was born of the virgin Mary and that he is the Son of God. I know that Christ is my Saviour and older brother...he sacrificed for me and for all the children on the earth. I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time and serve my Lord. This is His church and the way. I am grateful to bring God's children unto him. I love y'all and I will be getting my packages mailed tomorrow...I have one that is just books and the other one is some random things....so be watching for them...

I love y'all!

Ssiter Britt

Miracles are from God

Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 4:29 AM
Subject: Miracles are from God

Meine Familie,

What a week.... So much happened and so much I would love to say! On Monday we went to Dresden with our District to go to the Christmas Market there because it is the oldest and first Christmas Market in Germany. It was lots of fun! We also saw the Frauen Kirche while there...This is a famous church here because during the war this church was bombed and one wall was left standing...If you notice from the pictures I sent that the wall that is black was the wall left standing. They rebuilt the church leaving the standing wall in it's rightful spot. It is so amazing inside, but we were not allowed to take pictures inside..Amazing though. The Church has some awesome history.
While in Dresden I tried some Kinder Punsch..which is a drink that is super yummy and is for the holidays. It is called children punch translated...which pretty much means...it is a drink with no alcohol.

On Tuesday we had District meeting in Görlitz and then did District Finding...Sister Olsen and I talked to alot of people and then finally the last lady we talked to had interest in meeting!!! God loves us!!! We then headed back to Cottbus and ended up having some falling out appointments and then met with Chrys. He is one of the African people we are meeting with and we are teaching him German. It is always fun because I get to learn more as well...or improve more! Alot of our student investigators are not able to go home for the holidays. It is sad, but we hope they are still doing something fun!!

On Wednesday we met with Schwester Leuchner. She is an older lady in the ward and super nice. We had lunch with her and she is super excited to have us come over on the 2nd day of Christmas. Germany has 3 days of Christmas...the first day is December 24 which is called Heiligabend (Holy Evening), the second day is Dec. 25 which is 1st day of Christmas and the third day is Dec. 26th which is the 2nd day of Christmas. This weekend is going to be fun.

The rest of Wednesday was a great day. We went to visit Frau Chahin. We read in 2nd Nephi 31 and talked about being baptized by authority. We asked her if she wanted to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God...she said yes. ...Sister Olsen and I were both in shock and were seriously speechless. Well, one of us had to say something, so I bore my testimony and continued to set a date with her for January 29th. We are really happy, but were not expecting that answer!!! We sure were surprised.

 

Later that day we had an appointment with Ram. He is the Russian man that came to church and does not speak any Engish or German. Before we went to the appointment I went and bought a german to russian dictionary...not really knowing how much that would help. We got there and he let us in and signaled for us to sit down. We were all sitting on the couch when I noticed he did not have a DVD player. Since we can not talk to him, our plan was to give him the Book of Mormon and watch the Restoration in Russian...that plan fell out. We pulled out the Book of Mormon in Russian, but he would not take it...he then walked to the cupboard and pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon. At this point we really needed someone who could speak russian. No one in our ward speaks russian and so we could not call any of them. I then thought about Irakli...this member in Leipzig. I immediately called the Leipzig sisters to get his number...a miracle. It turned out that Irakli was there with the sisters at that very moment and we got Irakli to talk to the man on the phone and than Irakli told me that this man was super interested. After I got off the phone my heart sank because this man is so interested and wanting to learn and we could not talk to him. We then opened up his russian Book of Mormon to some baptism scriptures and showed him pictures that we had of baptism and Jesus. As Sister Olsen was showing him scriptures and pictures...I was sitting on the other side of the couch with the german to russian dictionary...I then wrote the word Baptism in Russian and then Febuary 26th in Russian. We then wrote, based on what we found in the dictionary, will you be baptized? As soon as I showed him the paper his eyes lit up and he smiled so big and shook his head yes!!! At that moment joy filled my body and I knew that the spirit was there speaking to this man. I feel so bad though because he came to church yesterday and he sat there for the first two hours and he does not understand anything and then for Sacrament meeting they were watching a film and so I took him out to a different room and had him watch Joy to the World in Russian so he can understand something. He then came to the Christmas concert yesterday at the church too. We are working on trying to find somebody who can help us teach him in Russian...or at least help us understand what he is feeling or thinking. But I am so excited for him!!!

We then met with Arinze (another one of our african investigators). We were having a great appointment with him and were leading us up to asking him to be baptized. We were at the point of talking about recieving answers to prayers and Arinze had some questions about that. He then asked us how long he as to wait for his answer because he has asked God for something but has not yet got it...we asked him what he is wanting...he then said, "A woman". We had a discussion on maybe he needs to change his question a little bit or something...and other stuff. But it was an interesting appointment.

We met with Frau Baruk on Thursday and she is doing really good. She came to the ward Christmas party on Saturday with her daughter-in-law and grandson, Alex. It went really good.
We than met with Jennyl...the guy from the Philipines. He is cool..but he is an awkward guy. He always does a weird laugh..kind of like a nervous laugh or something and so it makes lessons with him weird.

Friday was alot of fun...we went to Leipzig for Zone Conference and I got to eat a vanille donut...they are what Leipzig is like famous for!!! I was happy to be back for one day. We went to Zone Conference and I got to see Sister Chase ...she is flying home now. We did a Christmas exchange...every missionary had to bring a gift that was 2.50 or less and we set them on the chairs and played musical chairs and when the music stops you sit in the chair and open the gift that you have there. To my surprise...I got a piggy bank...out of all the gifts...I ended up with a pig...who would have thought. I am not complaining though. It was very fun and I got to see a couple of the members from Leipig who came to make lunch for all the missionaries!!! It was fun! And yes, I did get your packages and the presents are sitting under the Christmas tree in our apartment.

 

On Saturday we had a Ward Christmas Party which was fun. In Germany, fairy tales play a big role with Christmas. People act out the Grimm Brother tales for the children and so our ward put on a play and did Sleeping Beauty. We also enjoyed hearing some Christmas songs and poems and stories that people read. After the play..Santa Claus came and visited. But the fun thing about the tradition in Germany is that the children have to have a small christmas story or poem memorized or a song...or they can play an instrument. It is tradition that when Santa calls your name, instead of telling Santa what you want he will ask you if you have prepared something for him and then you recite a poem or sing a song for him and then he will give you a gift. Santa even called us up there and Sister Olsen and I sang Rudolph the Red nose raindeer. It was really fun.

On Sunday we had church and then that night we had the Christmas Concert. It was so amazing because so many people came. I wish I could have talked to all the nonmembers that came,but it was awesome, plus some of our investigators came. It was a great evening.

So things are going so well, and I wish y'all a merry christmas!!!!!!

love Sister Britt

 

 

Tis the Season

Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 1:42 AM
Subject: tis the season

Meine Familie,

Alright, So taking care of business first! Mom asked for the Begemann's address (the ones with the postcards) it is
Frieden str. 22
24148 Kiel
Deutschland (Germany)
It is ok if you write English on it...they understand it sometimes and they have a dictionary as well. But they would really like that. (If anyone else would like to send them a postcard, I am SURE they would love it!)

As far as Christmas goes. If I were to do skype it would have to be on Christmas Eve because the people we are spending Christmas day with do not have skype. If we were to talk on the phone I could do Christmas and you would have to call me. The options are at like 1:00 p.m. my time ( not sure what the hour difference is) and I would be at this member's home or later that evening....6:00 p.m my time maybe at this members home or maybe at the church. . . or 7:00 p.m my time. Or Monday can also be an option any time of day I believe at the church. I do not have the phone numbers with me, but next week I will. If you do want to skype I will need your skype name. We will just need to talk to the member and I do not know what time we are going to be at her place yet and it will be on Christmas Eve. So options....Christmas Eve=Skype, Christmas Day= Phone, or Dec 26= Phone. Let me know next week and I will give you the time that we can for sure talk.

Just thought I would answer some questions Mom had about Christmas time here in Germany. I honestly do not know or hear anything about the pickle tradition. It if is a German tradition, it might be more of southern Germany, not up here, but I can still ask. St Nicks day is on December 6th and it is a tradition where the night before the children leave their shoes out and in the morning they have toys or candy in their shoes from St. Nick. So yeah, those are some of the tradition that you asked about...they are really fun.

Speaking of Christmas, I will be pulling out some money today because we are going to Dresden for p-day to the Christmas Market. The market there is the oldest one in Germany and one of the biggest. Christmas was pratically "invented" there. So I am excited!! Also, Christmas Zone Conference is this Friday and we are going to Leipzig for it. . . I will not get to see the Larkins or Sister Rasmussen because they are flying home tomorrow. But I did talk to Sister Rasmussen on the phone last night and I found out that Sister McCall is engaged! Crazy.

Now onto this week...My goodness, I feel like this past week happened like a month ago. Every thing is awesome. On Monday we met with Arinze, he is the guy from Africa that just showed up to church one day. He is very interested in our church and we gave him the Book of Mormon. I look forward to keep seeing him!

On Tuesday we had District Meeting in Cottbus and it was fun...we recited our Purpose and D&C 4 while playing around the world ping-pong. It was fun and then we went out and did District Finding on the streets and ended up making four new appointments that are all scheduled for this week. It is going to be great! We also met with Frau Baruk that day. She is doing really good. Still shooting for Easter day for her baptism and she came to the Relief Society Christmas Party this week and to Church. This week we have been giving out the Joy to the World DVD and watching it with people. It is a really good film and I recommend it to watch with non-member friends. That is what we have been doing this whole week with members, giving them the DVD and inviting them to think of a friend they can share it with. It talks about the birth of Christ...the story in the bible and book of mormon and then a little about Joseph Smith..really good film.
We than met with Chrys on Tuesday he is also from Africa, but we are just teaching him German. It is fun because as I teach him German I learn it as well..Love it.

On Wednesday, we went and visited Sch. Schmidt in the Senior/Nursing home. She is really funny. She has a roommate who is like 94 and Sch. Schmidt always ask us if we have a baptism yet...and we say every time...we are working on it. And then she turns to her roommate and says...time is a ticking...you are losing your chance to be baptized on the earth. Oh, Sch. Schmidt.
We later met with a new guy named Bodo. He is very interesting and talks alot. We did not even get the chance to really talk about the church, but we enjoyed some cake and tea. But he is not one that we will visit as often, but every once in awhile.
That day was so cold, we went to do some doors and we were freezing...we were like, ok if we make out an appointment we can go inside and work on the area book and do german study...a few minutes later we made an appointment and then went home and enjoyed the warmth. It has not yet snowed...everyone is surprised by that, but I am perfectly happy with it. Apparently Kiel and the most northern part of Germany has snow right now, but not us...praying to stay that way.

Thursday was a very interesting day. We had an appointment with Christine and taught her the word of wisdom. We are probably going to make this coming week's appointment the last one, because she does not make any progress and does not read. She lies to us everytime we see her and always changes her story. . . and flat out won't stop smoking. So we are thinking about letting her have a break from us and us a break from her. We will see how this week goes. We then met with Sch. Lehman afterwards and had lunch with her and she is the Relief Society president and she is wanting us to come over next Monday night and watch the Nativity movie and she is going to invite a friend over as well. We are really excited, and I never have seen the nativity movie, I remember when it was in theatres though.
Later we had an appointment with a kid named David, who is still in high school. He met the Sister Missionaries in the summer. We went by his home and his Mom answered and sent us away. We were walking away when some boy started chasing us down the street...yelling, "You are from the Church of Christ, right?" The boy was David and we went back in his home with him and his mom came in and out of the room during our appointment. It was interesting and the kid smokes. He is interested in us keep meeting though. So we will see what happens.

Week almost done...Friday was awesome. We met with Anne, who I met for the first time, but apparently she went back to visit her family in Hungary for awhile. She is really cool and golden, is married and has two little kids and is here in Germany for the next 18 months for her husband's work. She does not want to go back to Hungary though because it is not a religious place. She totally believes our message and wants an eternal family so bad. Her husband is atheist. She wants to get the Family A Proclamation to the World in Hungarian and frame it and hang it on the wall. She has a book of Mormon that her Grandmother gave her. And I look forward to continue meeting with her.

After her we had a lady named Monica. Monica is atheist and is best friends with a couple members in our ward. She invited us over for lunch with one of the members and she wants to learn more...we did not have that much time, but we gave her the Joy to the World DVD. We thought the time went really well and are so excited to visit again. But than on Sunday the member who was at the appointment with us came up to me and said, "After you left Monica showed me a document she found that was anti mormon stuff and said that we were a sect and that we do weird stuff with tithing and money and we have many wives." The member is concerned and told us we need to clear that up next time" I was a little annoyed because this member is best friends with Monica and could not clear it up herself. But we will see what happens.
Later on we had the Relief Society Christmas Party and it was very nice. We than met with this guy Henry who is from Africa and interested in our Church, but wants to read the book of mormon on his on right now and than call us. We will see what happens.

Saturday...seems forever ago, but we met with Talent, who is also from Africa and it went really good. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation and he had some questions that Elders had never given him an answer too and he is happy that we are actually giving him answers. He is really golden and so ready to hear the gospel. We then met with Jennyl, this guy from the Phillipines. He is cool, and thinks it is important for us to find out for ourselves if something is true. And then of course, later we met with Chi-yu. I got him his answer about what is in Black tea and why we should not drink it, but he is still not fully convinced. . . too big of a tradition for him.

Sunday was really good. In Sacrament this guy from Russia showed up...he is an older man...probably in his 70s. The problem is that he does not speak English or German. He only speaks Russian. But he showed up for all three hours without knowing what was being said. After the meeting...he showed us a piece of paper and kept speaking Russian to us. On the paper it was written in German that somebody else wrote that said, "The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ" We were able to understand that he wanted the book of mormon in Russian and he pulled out his visa to show us his address and name. We are going to bring him the book this week, but it will be interesting since we can not communicate with him and nobody in our ward speaks Russian. But we are going to watch the Restoration in Russian with him. It is kind of cool though that he showed up like that.

This was a crazy busy week...and this coming one is as well..this week for the Advent of Miracles we are to invite all investigators to be baptized...that means we are inviting 19 people..or more to be baptized this week...please pray that all goes well.

Any ways, I need to go, but I love y'all.

Sister Britt

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

: Monday, December 5, 2011 3:52 AM
Subject: It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Meine Familie,

Wow...it is Monday and I woke up like three times this week thinking it was Monday. This week seemed to never end, but it was a good one!

Last Monday we went to the Christmas Market here in Cottbus. It was fun and we took lots of pictures and you will find out because I am working on getting those loaded right now and sending them to you. We are planning on going to Dresden next Monday with our District for the Christmas Market there...Everyone says it is like the best! I am excited!

On Tuesday we went to Dresden for President Interviews. I feel like that happened like a month ago, but it was this week. It was really good. President went over our goals for the Advent Season that I wrote about last week to y'all. It was really good and I had a really good interview with President. I get a package from the Activity Day girls, but I do not know who to mail a letter to because it was sent by Sister Hansen and y'all said that she moved. I would like to write a thank you letter to the girls, but I need an address to send it to. After interviews we were rushing to get to the train station to catch our train back to Cottbus. The Forst Elders were with us because they were going to be on the same train as us and it was funny because we missed our train to go to the train station and so we took a detour on a tram to get there, but we did not know if we were going to make it. Well, as we were on the tram it was really crowded and we were standing. All the others had a pole to hold on to, but where I was standing I had nothing. The tram turned and I started to fall backwards and the closest thing I could grab to try to not fall was Elder Hadfield's coat sleeve. Well, as a result, he ended up falling and we ended up pulling Sister Olsen with us and so we all fell to the side of the tram and I landed on this old man sitting there and I was so sorry. He said it was ok and Elder Hadfield and I pushed Sister Olsen off of us and we all just started laughing because it was actually funny and in like slow motion. Well, every one on the tram was looking at us weird, but once they saw us all laughing they began to smile too. It is hard to really describe this moment on paper.

Well, the rest of the week was pretty awesome and full of miracles!!! Wednesday morning we had an appointment with this one guy named Chaoke. He is from China and he lives in the student housing. . . which alot of our investigators do. It was our first appointment with him and so we brought him the Book of Mormon in Chinese. I will say that how many times I have taught Chinese investigators or Arabic investigators, I have gotten really good at reading numbers in their languages because I am having to find the scriptures that I want them to read. Any ways, it was a really good appointment and we watched the Restoration in Chinese and during the film he would lean over and ask me..."That is the boy who prayed to God, right?" or "That is the book that you gave me, right?" He was very curious and though he does not believe in God, he really commited to praying and said he wants to find out if it all is true!! We are so excited! He is really busy this week though, so we will meet with him next week!

We also met with Frau Chahin on Wednesday. This time her granddaughter stayed in the other room and so the appointment went much better. We taught the third lesson and she does want to come to our church, but her husband has the car and so it depends on him if she is able to come. It was good though and she seems to enjoy our visits. She won't pray with us because she says she only knows the Lord's prayer, but we do not see how hard it is to switch over to just saying what you are grateful for and saying what is in your heart, but we are working on it.

So what else happened this week?? Well, we visited Tom and Sissi. Tom is our ward mission leader. We ate dinner with them and it was really good. They are awesome. Tom is from Utah and Sissi is from Germany. They both met on their mission in Münich and now he is a student here in Cottbus! Before the appointment with them though, we did some doors and made three new appointments...that was awesome because that rarely ever happens!!

Then of course, December 1st came around. We are asked that every day of December up to Christmas we write down a miracle on our calender that President mailed us. Well, this was a pretty good day. We met with Sch. Reddewagen. She is an older lady, probably in her 80s. She is so funny though and for our spiritual thought with her we talked about joy and what brings us joy. I mentioned how my family and friends bring me joy and then out of nowhere she asks, "And your boyfriend, right? Don't you have a boyfriend?" She totally caught me off guard and she was just getting a kick out of it. Oh, it was funny though. We never leave her place without having to take a plate of goodies with us. She bakes alot.

Then later...we say our miracle for the day. . . we met with Frau Baruk who is the 6 year long investigator and we set a baptismal date with her. We wanted to set the date for in January and at our appointment she told us that she wants so bad to be baptized, but she wants it for Easter and so that is when her date is. The problem is that she can not come to church unless her husband drives her and she really wants to come. She asked us to pray that her husband's heart can be more open and that he will listen to her. That is the main reason she has not been able to get baptized yet. But for us it was a miracle that she set her own baptism date and when she wants to be baptized.

We went and visted Sch. Münch this week. She is actually the member we will be spending Christmas eve with. And I will go ahead and mention this now. I do not know what phone I will be using to call yet. It will either be at Sch. Münch's home on Christmas Eve or it will be at the Schult family's home on Christmas day. I will find out this week and let y'all know. I know Sister Olsen is going to be using Skype at Sister Münch's home on Christmas Eve. But any ways, our appointment was really good with Sister Münch. We ordered pizza and the problem right now is that she is having a hard time with her testimony. She was baptized about 8 years ago and she thinks that she was baptized too fast and is now struggling with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It is difficult sometimes because she has a testimony but she is just doubting it. We actually call her every night to tell her a miracle from the day and to try and help her.

Our miracle that day was that this contact that I have never met, but Sister Olsen had met, texted us and said that he is in town for the weekend and wants to meet. He then came to church on Sunday because that was the only time we could see him. He is really busy and travels alot for work. He is going to be leaving for Australia in January for two months.

Saturday was a pretty good day as well. We met with this former investigator named Soloman. He is a student here and is from Ghana. He is super quiet and so we have to ask him really good questions to actually get him talking. He does want to find out though and we had a big discussion on how we can know if we have an answer from God. He says that he does not pray that often and so he does not know what he would feel for an answer. We had a pretty good discussion.

We than met with Chi-yu. He is the investigator from Tawian that has been investigating for about a year. He asked us alot of questions about the commandments. One question was mostly focused on tea becuase we cannot drink Black tea and he says that is a huge Tawain thing...that when you go and visit your grandparents and stuff that you dring black tea. So that is the problem at the moment. He says he is going to email Eric, but he does not know what to say to break the ice...at least that is what he said. I just said to tell him you know his sister and blah blah blah. We will see if he actually does it.

Our miracle that day was this muslim guy from Sudan that we met on the street. We were really busy that day and did not really have time to talk to people on the street or do finding, but on our way home we stopped this guy and he pretty much made the appointment with us.It was funny because he was like, "I am tired, you guys look tired and so let us meet next week again". It was a miracle. The first and last person we got a chance to speak to that day made out an appointment with us.

Sunday was then a great day. At church we had a lesson in Relief Society about overcoming doubt and stuff. I really hope Sister Münch was listening. And then in Sacrament we were sitting there and about 15 minutes after it started Soloman walked in and I signaled for him to come sit by us. That was our miracle that day because out of all people we were not expecting him to come to church. It was awesome and we are so excited to continue meeting with him.

We than had a great eating appointment with another Schröder family in our ward. Everyone is the ward is like related to each other...which how it is in most German wards and branches. But it was awesome and they are a great couple. Those Christmas pyramids with the spinny thing on top - y'all have one. But any ways, he hand makes those and they are really cool, the ones that he makes.

We than had an appointment later with Achim. That was not a good appointment at all. It ended on a bad note. He has been meeting with the sisters for about 8 or 9 months and my first appointment we had with him he said that he meets with the sisters because it is fun and he loves to just talk about random stuff with them. I told him that our purpose is to either teach him the gospel or English. He says he likes Eenglish. Well today he brought a post card that he wanted Sister Olsen to write a letter to his ex girlfriend on it and he would tell her what to write. This girl speaks lots of languages and we thought he would want us to write it in English for him, but he wanted it in German. He is perfectly able to write a letter in German himself. .. and i asked him if he was interested in learning the gospel or English because if he does not have interest in any of those things then we can not meet him every week..we could possibly visit him every two or three weeks just to see how he is doing....well, he started yelling at me and telling me that all the other sisters met with him every week and blah blah blah. And he got really mad. I was not trying to get an argument or make him mad...I was just trying to see what he wanted us to do as far as teaching him. Well, he is not interested in either one of those things and so he pretty much said bye to us. It was not a good appointment...and I do not like being yelled at, especially in German, because they sound more mad and angry. But he pulled the age card on me and said that I do not know anything and he is much older in his 50s or 60s and after he left me and Sister Olsen were like...well at least we were the ones acting our age and not like a little child. He are actually pretty happy about having this break from him.

But on a good note Chrys, this guy from Nigera showed up to the church for our appointment and he is cool. . . he has lived in German as a student for a year and does not know any german and so we are going to help teach him German. Sister Olsen told him I played soccer and so now he wants to play...I told him I will think about it...I am not a fan of playing in the freezing cold. We have not gotten snow yet and everyone says that is unusual, but I am pretty happy about it!!.

To answer some questions from Mom...the church in Cottbus is a ward and we use public transportation here...buses, trams, trains.

I was wondering if y'all ever got my package I mailed...the one I mailed either end of October or beginning of November. Also, your Christmas packages I will get at Christmas Zone Conference. President says they will hand out all of our family Christmas packages there.

Besides our appointment with Achim...this was a great week and so much happened. I love the work so much and it really is a wonderful time to teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ. I look forward to this coming week and I know that this is the true church of Christ. He lives and he is the Son of God.

I love y'all and hope y'all have a great week...

p.s. I did take money out of my account. .. dad was wanting to know.