It has POWER!!!





Meine Familie,

So I have very much enjoyed my two weeks in Langenhorn, but now I will be going back to KIEL tomorrow and Sister Dorsey will be my companion. I am so excited to be going back to Kiel. But, before that, this week had to be one of the most amazing weeks of my mission!!!!!!! Well, the week started out with an awesome guy named Adam that we met. He is so Golden. In our appointment he was so excited when he found out that we have a living Prophet on the earth today...it was so funny and he was like "Why have I never known this before?" He was so enthusiastic about everything and I loved the excitment that he had to learn more and more!!! That was a sick appointment... Later, we had a thing called ChiKong which I guess is some sort of meditation thing that this member here does...we participated in it and  it was very interesting..lol.

Now for the best part of the week...if i may say so....ROSTOCK!!!! I got to go back to my golden city...my first city on the mission.  It was amazing.  I got to see Bruder Schmidt and this time I could actually understand what he was saying. lol. He was so surprised and excited and he gave me a big hug...it was funny. 

Bruder Schmidt in Rostock


 Julie and Danny were also there at ping pong. It was so much fun and I literally felt that I was home again and so much more confident with my German.



Julie and Danny



Marie, me and Schwester Hageman



Me, Bruder Schmidt, Sisters Neukomm, and Wakefield

On the train ride to Rostock, Sister Wakefield was giving me some updates on what has happened. She said that the Hagemans never meet with them because after I left the sisters treated Marie rude and they did not want anything to do with them. Well, I gave Schwester Hageman a call and said that I am back in Rostock for a day and would love to see her.  Sure enough, she was excited to agree. We went over there and had a fun time teaching Marie and laughing. Schwester Hageman is once again going to let the Sisters come over. I really pray that Marie gets baptized one day and that her Mom becomes active once again. I love them so much and I told them that I would write.  Marie was so sad to say goodbye, but I told her that we will for sure see each other again. It was so much fun. I loved going back to where my mission began and where I have probably learned and grown the most.



Marie





The experiences and the emotions and the miracles that happen everyday on a mission are something that can never be replaced. I think about how long I have dreamed for this mission and now I am here. I am living this dream that I have had since a child.  I can say with out a doubt that Jesus is the Christ. He is the only way to find true joy. He is the only way to our Father in Heaven. The Book of Mormon is the most correct book on the face of the earth. It has the witness that Christ lives and gives testimony to the bible. It is the foundation of what we believe and the strength to open many doors around us. I know that without a doubt that I have seen God's hand in this work.  I have seen his children come to him and reject him. I have seen the power of the priesthood through blessing and through baptism. I have much more to see and witness and I am so excited to be a part of this great message to bring his children into the truth. 

General Conference was so amazing. I got to see the Relief Society and the Saturday morning session on Saturday and then Sunday I got to see the Saturday afternoon and the Sunday morning session. The talks were amazing.  I loved President Monson's talk. It reminded me about the package that y'all sent me because it had not arrived yet and it had the wrong address on it.  I actually remember that the night before the package came, I prayed really hard that it would arrive and somehow make it with the false address. The next morning when I woke up I prayed about it again. lol. Well, Sister Bush and I got home about 9:30 that previous night and we left our apartment at like 9:00 the next morning. So, sometime between 10 p.m and 9 a.m somebody delivered a notice that my package had arrived. lol!! Wow! I would say that I had a testimony builder of prayer, so I just laughed has President Monson told that story, because I had the same story, just with a package..lol. President Uchtdorf's talk in the Relief Society meeting was so amazing. I felt like it was speaking straight to me and just what I needed to hear. I loved the conference even more as it talked about the need to be known and who we are and sharing the gospel...So many more people can be found if the members of the church just bring their friends and other people to the gospel... We as missionaries can only do so much, only talk to so many people a day..but as members we can share our light and fullfill a life long mission on the earth. I was always one growing up sharing the gospel...I remember in high school I would sneak pass along cards in peoples' back packs during lunch...We need to find a love and enthusiasm for the Gospel of Jesus Christ...I am so thankful for Mom and Dad because you raised me to love my Father in Heaven and to serve him... I am so grateful for my older siblings who were also raised that way and all served missions... y'all were always my inspiration to serve one myself. I know we will all be together for eternity. Families are and will be blessed through this message of the restored Gospel. The story of the first vision changes lives. I recall a guy on the street that Sister Bush and I once talked to ... I asked him what God meant for him. He did not really know and we continued to tell him that God speaks to man today and if he would be interested to receive the Book of Mormon. He did not want to make  an appointment at all and we told him that we would like to meet with him again and share our message of a boy who saw and spoke with Jesus and God. He said, "well, i have two minutes right now ....so just tell it to me now." At the moment we recited and told him the story of the first vision, the power behind the story touched him and I once more asked if he would have time to met us on Thursday. He agreed with no hesitation...the power of the restoration is just that...it has power. We need to all believe that. If we do, there is no need to fear and not tell others. I could go on with stories, but I will just leave it at that and let y'all take the challenge this week to tell someone not of our faith the first vision and the restoration. It has power and can change the lives of others. I hope to hear back from y'all of some amazing experiences that y'all have with this challenge...

I will be back in Kiel now and so same address. I love y'all and hope y'all have an awesome week!!!!

love Sister Britt!!!!!

Goodbye Rostock

Meine familie,

"But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: For it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."  Matthew 10: 19-20

Well my predictions were right... I am being transferred. As much as I love Rostock, it is my time to go, for the Lord needs me elsewhere. I have grown a lot here in Rostock...considering my very first three transfers were here...four months. I am being tranferred to Leipzig...check it out on the map.  I have a long train ride to go.  First time I will be by myself for a long period of time!! Five hours!  My new companion seems super cool, as I have talked to her on the phone...her name is Sister McCall and she is from Seattle Washington...would ya look at that! I am super excited to serve in Leipzig....they have two sets of elders there and also a senior couple.  They also have two wards.  It will for sure be a change from Rostock...I love this tiny little branch over the Netto, but, I will actually be in a regular church building now.

Before I forget...info for Mothers day...I actually will not be calling y'all. In this mission y'all are to call us. So, the time you can call me is at 4:00 p.m (German time).  I think it is around 9:00 y'alls time. The number you are to call is the church buildings phone ... . So I will be very much looking forward to y'alls phone call to me!! lol.

Anyways... back to my week.  We had an interesting week this week, but super fun.  We had a crazy appointment with these two awesome black guys...Marco and Philip. The appointment was going good and then their drunk friends came over and it got interesting.  Then, when we were leaving, this guy saw us walk out of the apartment and gave a little wolf whistle at us and, oh my goodness... then said, "Hey pretty ladies" and gave Marco and Philip a thumbs up.  As soon as we turned the corner we heard Marco and Philip trying to tell the guy that we did not do anything...that those girls are just from the church.  Yeah, it was funny.  Keep Thomas in your prayers.  We have not had contact with him for two weeks.  We are really trying to get hold of him.

So, on Wednesday I went to Greifswald for exchanges.  I was there with Sister Calder.  It was so much fun because I got to ride a bike for the first time on the mission and I absolutely loved it. I love bike contacting down the street...it is so much fun.  Sister Calder and I celebrated my 6 month mark and we raced down the street a couple time on our bikes. It was a blast.  Then before heading back to Rostock, we got together with Elder Thorley and Reisen and did morning sport...we played soccer...lots of fun.

Anyways, yesterday was my last Sunday in Rostock...I will miss it.  I have improved on my German so much, but everyone is telling me that Leipzig is practically another language over there. ... oh good. lol. Well, I am looking forward to it.  I may not speak the language the best (all the ward members tell me I have improved so much and I can actually understand way more) but, the most important thing I learned was listening to the spirit. Without the Holy Ghost I could never be able to say what I want to say to the people in German. Yesterday I was to give my testimony since it was my last sunday, I actually cried a little. But the ward members gave me hugs and I will for sure keep in touch with them!! They are just so precious to me... and I pray that one day Thomas and Noriama both get baptized.  I never got to see my baptism in the Baltic, but one day I will hear of theirs.

Anyways... I cannot wait to talk to y'all on Sunday and just remember you will be calling me about 4:00 p.m. my time. 

I love y'all

Sister Anderson....

Froh Ostern

Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 3:10 AM

Meine Familie,

This week has been an awesome week!!!!
And a very happy Easter (Froh Ostern) for all of y'all.

This week as been awesome!!! We went to the zoo as a district on Monday and it was so fun... as you can maybe see from the pictures. The zoo here is so cool and big and it really does feel like you are walking through the wild.  I love it.

So, we have gotten contact with Noriama... That is the awesome woman that ran up to us on the street from Cuba. She is so cool.  We met with her this week and she was just full of questions about how we can dress, if we are allowed to date and wear makeup, and everything like that.  It was so cute.  She totally believes this is the church for her, but she cannot come to church for at least a month, so we are just meeting with her.  But, once she is able to come to church, she is totally going to be baptized.  Love it.  And, she was like "give me anything and everything that you have in Spanish...I want to know everything.  She is also really sick and so the elders are going to give her a blessing and she is like...yeah I want one. lol.  Love her.

Anyways...I saw Judith for the last time this week...she has left to Israel for a year...but I will be keeping in contact with her.  She is doing awesome and will for sure stay strong even though she will not really have any contact with the church.  We met with Maria and Schwester Hageman today and they are doing great. One day I am sure Maria will be baptized...but she is just a little 10 year old right now.  Her mother is not active.  Because she went inactive around the time Maria was born and she put Maria in a Catholic school, Maria was baptized as a Catholic.  Now that Schwester Hageman wants to come back into the church, she is having a difficult time getting Maria to come because Maria has grown up Catholic.  We will keep meeting with the Hagemans though and help Maria realize the differece between her baptism and the baptism by the proper authority.

We do not have cars in Rostock for elders or sisters.  It is just all public transportaion and walking.  We have one family in our ward who have always been members, and the others range between 5 months to 15 years or more.  People do talk about life when the DDR was in Germany...that is when the wall was up.  I am in the East side which had never really been exposed to religion until the wall came down.  People seem to make it sound like life was better with the DDR because it was safer, but the members here are so grateful that they are able to now be a part of the amazing church.  It really is cool.

Anyways, Easter was so fun...we spent it with the Elders at the Eckloffs home.  I do have pictures but I will try to get those sent to y'all soon. We went to the bay and walked around and had some yummy food and just visited and enjoyed the beautiful Easter weather in the country. 

Kimberly will be an aweome Relief Society president and I am so excited for her. Wow...we have a bishop and a Relief Society president in the family...what is Eric's calling? 

Yay for Grandma!!!! Cancer free!!!!! Yippie!  And no, I did not know about Shauni's friend...tell me more about that.  I loved the story from Eric about his bapitsm...too bad he is not in the Berlin mission.

Any ways... the work here is amazing and I am falling more and more in love with the work and how our message is so true.  I know this is true and I am grateful that my family is being blessed back home and people here are being blessed too....I love y'all!!!!  Keep on doing missionary work...the members really are the key to a lot of things!!!  I love y'all so much.  I am going to try and write a paper letter this week!!!   By the way, transfer calls are on Saturday.  I may be getting transfered...just be aware of that...so if you mail something this week....I may or may not get it.  By next Monday, I will know for sure and transfer day is next Tuesday!!!  I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Britt Anderson

ps...dad is so funny...his whole email was about food. lol. I miss brisket!!!

He never said it would be easy ... Only that it would be worth it.

Meine Familie,

 

So first of all. . I got Bishop Gilmer's letter. I really do not know if I will be able to go to Berlin. If I can I would have to get special permission. I would love to go there, but it is very expensive and a 2 and a half hour train ride. Maybe I will get transferred there. So, I do not know if I will be able to visit those people.

 

This has been a week of struggles and not every thing going according to plans. Our investigator, Thomas, is way cool. We were going to get him on a baptismal date, but we did not feel like we needed to push him during our last appointment. We are still shooting for a baptism for him on the 30th. Pray for us. He is totally ready he just needs to come to church for the next two Sundays and he will be a rocking member. He totally wants to find out if it is true. . we just need to help him with prayer because he feels weird praying by himself. 

 

We also did a blitz of the city Güstrow with the Elders. That is a place where we do not get out to very often so we decided to spend a day of finding there. No success, but we did get to see the awesome castle. I think that was a plus.  

 

We also had a ward game night that the owner and his family of this one game shop in town came and brought alot of their games. . It was so fun and a great opportunity for us missionaries to get to know this family.  Hopefully one day they will decide to meet with us. 

 

We extended a baptismal invitation to Maria Hageman. I made a hopstotch game so we can teach her better. She was so into the game and was getting all the questions right. But she just will not be baptized. The biggest thing is that she goes to a Catholic school and all her friends are Catholic. One day she may decide to come to our church. I really hope so. She is such a cute girl.

 

We also had a Relief Society activity that we made Easter crafts. It was a lot of fun. I made a candle and a little box. . I will have to take pictures of the crafts I did.

 

This week was a really hard week and we barely had any appointments because alot fell out. Bruder Schmidt also broke his toe. This coming week will be so much better. . . We already have some awesome appointments planned.

 

This is such a short letter, but I really do not know what to say. It makes me sad too because I want to be able to tell y'all everything that is going on. But this has been a really slow week for us. For p day today we are going with the elders to the Easter market. . . I am so excited for all the yummy food and for the rides. Most of all the bumper cars. It will be awesome.

 

Anyways   I love y'all

 

Sister Britt Anderson

Baltic Baptism???

Meine Familie,

Sister Jeffrey and me

This has been such an amazing week and it started off on the best note ever. So last Monday after pday was over Sister Jeffrey and I were doing some OYMing (which means open your mouth) so we were just talking to people on the street. Around 8:30 at night we were walking through Innerstadt (which is like the city square) and I was kind of getting a little down because we have not yet made out an appointment. I look over and I see the Elders sitting on a bench in Innerstadt with a guy. They waved to us to come over. . . so we walked over there and we met the guy they were talking to.  His name was Robert. Elder Cox asked us if we had a Polish Book of Mormon.  We replied that we have one in our apartment. The Elders wanted one tonight for the guy because he was only in Rostock for a day. . He and some friends were doing a European Catholic church building tour to see all the cool church buildings. He was from Poland and so we told the Elders to meet us in like an hour or so by our apartment so we could get them the Book of Mormon. Just after 9:30 we were sitting on a bench waiting for the Elders and Robert to walk up. . sure enough they did. Robert's eyes lit up as he took the Book of Mormon in his hands. He was so excited and immediately asked if he could say a prayer like how we pray. We all enthusasticaly said yes. So us four missionaries and Robert sat down on the bench and Robert began to pray. The spirit was so strong and I remember thinking that there really are people out there ready and open to our message. We walked him back to his hotel with the elders and took a picture with him. I need to get that picture from Elder Elmer still. But it was so cool because Robert was holding that Book of Mormon in our picture looking like he just got baptized or something. It is sad that we will not see Robert again, but I know he will find the church in Poland. He was a Monday night miracle for us and the Elders. It was the most amazing thing ever. It made me realize the simplicity of the gospel and how wonderful it really is. When we testify of the truth people will know and the ones ready will come our way.

Statue representing a Greek God

Now as far as Noriema goes. She was that awesome lady that came up to us on the street that I wrote about last week. We were suppose to have an appointment with her on Tuesday, but she was not able to make it so we are setting up an appointment for this week. But Tuesday we had an awesome appointment with this new investigator. I will tell y'all about him. We found him on the street last Saturday or Sunday and it took us forever to make out an appointment with him, but we finally did and set it up to be on Tuesday at 7:00 in Innerstandt by the statues. So Tuesday came and already that morning we had three fallin out appointments and Sister Jeffrey was sick so we went on splits with the senior sisters. Sister Oberg and I showed up at innerstadt to wait to see if Thomas shows up. I was really nervous because Sister Oberg does not know any German and so I would have to try and teach and introduce the Book of Mormon in German all by myself. I had some doubt though that Thomas would show up. That morning we had some pretty promising appointments and they fell out, so i was thinking the same thing would happen with Thomas. A few minutes before 7:00, Thomas rode up on his bike. I was in shock. . he came. So he came and sat next to me on the bench and I began to introduce the Book of Mormon to him. I really saw the gift of tongues come into play as I really tried to understand what Thomas said and as I taught him. He was super eager and excited to start reading in the book. I set up another appointment with him on Thursday at the church. So Thurdsay we went to the church to meet Thomas and sure enough he showed up again. We taught him a whole first and showed the Restoration film. He was so open to everything and we invited him to be baptized. . He said he did not know the answer yet, but he really wants to find out. He prayed at the end of our appointment and he was so nervous because he said he has never prayed before, but he loved the feeling. We then met with him for a third time this week on Saturday. He came to the appointment and told us he has already read 24 pages of the Book of Mormon since our last appointment. We were so impressed. We were so excited as we taught him a third lesson and then talked about the sacrament and showed him the chapel. He then stayed for our ward activity of ping pong and loved the members. We are meeting with him tonight for the fourth time and are teaching him a 2nd lesson and are committed on setting up an baptism date for April 30th with him this week. I am so excited. Here I thought that one lady was totally our golden and then she falls out . . only for me to discover that someone I first doubted is truly the Golden investigatior. I am so excited and I will most likely get to see my baptism in the Baltic!!!!!!!!!!!!

We also had interviews in Neubrandenburg this week and that was fun. President Pimentel and I talked in our interview about wonderful uplifting things. He is an amazing mission president.




Schwerin, Deutschland

 

Castle at Schwerin

As far as general conference goes. . . We were able to watch Saturday morning session in English at our church building on Saturday night at 6:00 and then Sunday we had to go to Schwerin. We got up at 5:00 on Sunday morning to meet up the the elders and senior sisters to go catch our train to Schwerin. We got there at 10:30 and then at 11:00 they were showing the priesthood session Sunday morning. . so I got to watch that. Then at 2:00 they showed the Saturday afternoon session and then at 6:00 we watched half of the Sunday morning session. . which was the only one we got to see live. and then we had to go catch our train back to Rostock. So those are the sessions we were able to see. They were all super amazing.

And I just want to say that I am super excited for Easter. Easter is a big holiday here in Germany. Everone has easter trees. They decorate their trees in their yards or inside with these Easter eggs. and then right now in Innerstadt they are setting up an Easter market and in the stores it is just filled with Easter goodies. I am amazed at all the Easter stuff. It is super cool and I cannot wait until the huge Easter market is open to see what all they have!!!

Anyways. I love y'all!!!

Sister Anderson

Wonders of wonders, miracles of miracles. . God sent a golden to us!!!!

Meine Familie, 




Transfer day -- me, Sister Christenson, and Bekky Fromling

 

Wow, This week has been crazy. . . Even though I am in my third transfer, now I finally got to experience the really transfer day. I am still in Rostock as I mentioned last week, but I had to say goodbye to my mommy (aka my trainer). Sister Christenson.  We had some really tough times as a companionship, but we always ended the day having a blast doing the work. I do miss her, and I was really scared of getting a new companion. But before I get into too much detail about that.. . Germany is really a magical place. . . I have discovered that spring really is coming and flowers are popping up everywhere. 


One of the "rainbow" streets in Rostock

 People out on the street seem a lot more happy and more willing to listen since the weather change. We also come across a lot of tourists now, which makes things difficult. Rostock is a pretty tourist spot with Warnemuda  


"Wedding march" in Warnemuda

 and other fun things to do. . not to mention that there is also a circus in town right now, or should I say Zirkus!





Elder Cox, Bruder Schmidt, Elder Goliash, Mutti
Sister Christenson, me



So anyways back on topic . . Monday night we met with Bruder Schmidt and the Elders since it was Sister Christenson's and Elder Goliash's last night. It was a lot of fun, Then Tuesday came and we took Sister Christenson to the train station. I was sad to see her go and I would be hanging out with the senior sisters until my new companion arrived. I was kind of feeling homesick (mainly because the last two weeks I have seen so many people with Down syndrome) and also I was dead scared to get a new companion.  So, Elder Cox and Elder Throlley gave me a blessing about an hour after Sister Christenson left and a few hours before Sister Jeffrey arrived.

So any ways. Sister Jeffrey goes home in September and she is from St. George, Utah. She does kind of intimidate me, but that is mainly because our personalities are so different. Although I am learning to love her because I do not want to have a dreadful companionship. I know that as I learn to love and serve her, then the missionary work will be alot more successful as we talk and teach other people.

We also have a two new goldens in our district (but that is not the meaning of the golden in the subject).  Elder Elmer is in Rostock and is with Elder Cox and then we have another Elder in Grifswald.  I will not be meeting that elder until district meeting.

I have alot of cool stories to tell from this last week. . with my new companion. First of all. . . I understand German almost completely now and I can speak and communicate with people so much better. I absolutely love it. Elder Elmer was like "wow you have been here three months and can do that", so I have given him some hope as well. lol.

But anyways, Cool story. . . Sister Jeffrey and I went out to talk to people in Innerstadt (which is where all the shopping is) and we were getting ready to go catch our bahn to go back home to eat lunch. . . We had just made out an appointment with this one lady. . . Well, just a few mintures later, as we were standing there waiting . . . this different lady comes running up to us and says, "Bist du Mormom?"  We were like ya and then she asked if we spoke english and so we spoke english with her. . . She then went on to tell us that just over a year ago she met two sisters just like us and they gave her a Book of Mormon. She then went back home to Cuba to visit her family when she received a phone call from a young man (an elder).  She then told the man that she was not in Germany at the moment, but to please call her back in a month or so. . . Nobody ever called her back and so she lost contact. ...

And that is when we come into the picture. . . She saw us standing there and ran up to us.  She was so excited to find us and was eager to set up an appointment.  She kept saying,  "I want to learn more, I want to!".  We have found a super awesome golden investigator named, Noraime. She is totally ready and excited to learn. We are meeting with her tomorrow for the first time and are going to ask her to be baptized on April 30th.  We are way stoked and this was like the coolest thing that has ever happened to me on the mission!!!  I am way excited.  Please keep her in your prayers. She has searched for us for a year now and could not find us and she finally did.

Other than that, not really anything else has really happend. I superly wanted to tell that story!!!! I am so excited to hopefully be getting my first baptism with a woman who has been getting prepared to finally meet with us. The Lord has sent her to us and I can truly testify that there is a God. That the Book of Mormon is powerful and I have seen how it has touched this woman's heart and soul. I know this to be the true church and I truly believe that miracles do happen. 

First truck I have seen in Germany!  Sweet ...



 

Never miss an opportunity to share the Gospel. I love y'all



love, Sister Britt Anderson

Transfers ...

Meine Familie,

Well, first off. . . I am not getting transfered. . . I will be remaining in Rostock, but this will probably be my last transfer here. Sister Christenson is getting transfered to Halberstadt and will be working with Sister Smith, who was in the MTC with me, and Sister Jeffrey will be coming here. I will meet her tomorrow. I am actually kind of nervous, but I know this will be a great transfer. Sister Peltier is still in Frieberg, which I am a little jealous of because this will be her third time to get to go to the temple. When you serve in that zone, you get to go to the temple once every transfer. Maybe someday I will get to go to that zone.

Anyways, things have been busy this week and so much has gone on. We are still meeting with Ljudmila and she is so awesome. We taught her prayer and scripture study. She is still hesitant to pray, but I know she will be able to. The members love her and she brought her children to the bowling activity that we had on Friday night. That was a lot of fun. 

This past week we also did what our district called "Through the Door for 84".  It was really awesome. We do ballards in our mission which is that  within each companionship we talk to at least 20 extra people during the day and make at least one appointment. We then get three ballard points for that day. . Well, if every companionship in our district got 3 ballard points each day we would have 84 ballards. . .so we came up with a saying and, since I snort when I laugh, the district thought it would be fun to snort to signal that they got a ballard, and so when we did we would call up everyone and snort and than hang up.  . . It actually was a lot of fun this past week and everyone was really encouraging everyone else and the snorting phone calls were actually very motivating, lol because every time someone got a ballard we would work even harder if we had not yet got ours. Lots of fun.

Wednesday we had our end of the transfer lunch with the district at Little Money and then later that day we had an appointment with the Göbels. Sister Christenson and I had to eat a half of cake each!  So much food. We were dead. Germans just think we want to eat and eat. My goodness. Though, it is weird because I actually have lost weight instead of gaining it which I think is a good thing.

We have a new investigatior, his name is Marco and he is African. He speaks German, a little bit of English, but his native language is French. We are going to bring Tobi to that appointment because Tobi knows French and so we are going to watch the
Restoration movie in French. . that will be fun. lol. He is awesome though and I could for sure see a possiblity of baptism for him with in the next month. So exciting. And maybe I will even get to see my baptism in the Baltic Sea. That will be so cool .

Our dinner with Bruder Schmidt and Mutti Schmidt

As some of y'all know. . . The elders and us made Bruder Schmidt and his wife dinner at the church.  He was so excited. Bruder Schmidt as been a member for a couple years and always invites the elders and sisters over every week to eat. . So twice every week he is cooking for us. They do not have very much money and he feeds us so much. We thought we should feed them. He was so very happy and excited for this. And we had fun doing it too.

We also had a Relief Society activity that we had our investigator Ljudmila come to. . . We went bowling. And some of the Relief Society brought there husbands. It was alot of fun and great for our investigator.

Other people this week. We went to Schwester Schreiners, she is Judith's mom who is a less active. Schwester Schreiner says she loves that I am speaking more German everytime I come to visit. I gave the spiritual thought and I  invited her to pick a weakness and make it stronger. . . except I actually told her to pick a weakness and make it weaker. She laughed because she knew what I meant to say. It was funny though.

Schwester Hageman and Maria

We also went to visit Schwester Hageman and Maria. I actually went without Sister Christenson because she was sick. . So Julia, a member, came and SIster Chase. With Sister Chase not knowing any German and Julia coming along I was so nervous about German and understanding, but it went so well. I understood and I spoke. We played a game with Maria to review the plan of salvation and it was alot of fun.

We are still meeting with the Zecirovic family, the gypsys. They are so hard to teach.  Next time we go we really need to figure out why they continue meeting with us because right now we think if is just because we are Americans and we play wtih their kids. Though they have great potiental to maybe progress.

Mom asked me about ping pong. . . Our branch has a ping pong activity every Saturday and Bruder Schmidt is in charge. It is great because we get alot of investigators to come and young people and families so it is a great activity to have every week. And i am getting better.

Note left from "chumming"

I was not clear about chumming was last time. That is when we take cards and write on them that we will come to their street on this day, between this time and we put it in all of their mail boxes and then we return on that day and time and do doors and see if someone has thought about letting us in. Somebody left our pamplet ouside of their door and wrote in German and said, pretty much. . . that they do not speak German and they would like us to take them off the German list. It was funny.



Sauce pizza



Other questions mom had: Love sauce pizza.  It's a pizza they always made in the Hamburg mission, but that mission does not exist any more and so Elder Cox and Sister Christenson used to be in that mission and so they made it.





I live like a block away from the water and the canons. .  we actually have no idea what the purpose of them are because there were no signs.  We just found them. About the matching. . we had matching waterbottles and sporks. The elders are doing a great job in finding people. . . but their success is not much better then ours. We are getting another golden though in Rostock, Elder Cox is going to be a trainer. That will be exciting. . Though I am no longer a golden because that is only for two transfers.

Oh and I would like to see my placque. . take a picture of it or send me the picture of me on it. . I have not seen it. Oh and I have bangs now. . That is what the picture attached is. Sister Christenson and I did them. . lol. I think it actally looks pretty good. lol.

Any ways I love y'all!!

Sister Anderson

Oh, the people you meet

meine familie,

Romans 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

I love this scripture, I read it in my personal study this week and thought that there has to be people out here that are ready to receive our message... there are so many people that I meet every day on the street that do not have any hope in their lives at all. Most people wonder why God would let bad things happen. If only they will read the Book of Mormon.

Sister Christenson, Judith, and I

 So this has been a more eventful week than last week. . . Judith went to Berlin and received her patriarchal blessing, which was so awesome. She is such a hard core new member!!!! In fact, on Tuesday we had companionship exchanges and I stayed in Rostock and Sister Calder came and Judith came with us and did doors. She was so awesome at doing doors. Companionship exchanges were fun. ..


Sister Calder and I

 Tuesday was Frauen Tag  (which is womens day), so all the guys give their girls flowers. We had an appointment with this really cool girl and when we were waiting for her this guy came and was giving her a flower. . it was awkward, so that appointment fell out. But at the same time it was super funny. 

This week we have met so many interesting people on the street. I have had a cold all week and I am now just getting over it. .  we were talking to these two guys on their bikes and I was like sniffing and one pulls out a tissue for me. It was pretty funny. We also met this guy in the park and we talked to him forever, pretty much taught him the plan of salvation. He is like a buddist and had some pretty weird ideas, and then he gave us his business card for this weird like Indian store. We also passed this group of dads at the park and we overheard them say "oh there goes those people who go door to door, they're a sect" and then we also stopped and talked to a guy who apparently we have talked to before and he yelled at us and said "do you not have anything better to do then to terrorize people?  who would ever want to join a sect". . .

So this is just the beginning of the people we have met on the street this week. .. We met this guy from Algeria. I stopped him and of course, I was speaking German at  because we do not just assume people can speak English. And he got really weird. He was like "Sister Anderson, Do you have a problem with me? And how did you know I speak English." First of all, I did not know he spoke English at all until he said that. and then he went on " you're from the church and America, what did you think I was drinking, I am muslim and I do not drink." At this point he held up a can of soda and then Sister Christenson came in an tried to talk about the Book of Mormon. .. . it just got even weirder from there. He turned back to me and was like "you have a very dark soul and your eyes are empty and I can tell that you have something missing from yourself . . " and I was just like, no actually I am very happy with myself and very content with my life. . and then he was like "they all say that"... this guy was really weird and every time Sister Christenson would try to distract him with something about the Book of Mormon. . he just turned back to me to tell me something else that was wrong with me. . . He was by far the weirdest I think I have every talked to on the street.  



We also had an appointment with this guy on the street because he did not want meet with us anywhere else. . . We were surprised that he actually showed up to the appointment we set up on the street. I really do not know how to discribe him, but it was the weirdest appointment ever.  At the end he was like " I just want to end by saying, there is one God and he has no son".  Sister Christenson and I were both like, we are not ending on that note, so we got hime to say a prayer with us on the street.

The little girl of the family we are teaching.

We are also teaching this family from Serberu (actually I do not know how to spell it) but I believe I have told y'all that they are gypsies. They are very difficult to teach because the kids are everywhere and so one of us has to try and distract the kids while the other one tries and gets at least one principal taught. . . We are going to try and get them to go outside and do an active lesson teaching the plan of salvation with chalk. Hopefully this goes much better than the other way.  They are an awesome family and we just have to keep them focused because their attention span is like 10 seconds for the parents and the kids.

I got to experience a German moving day. Schwester Sheppan was moving to a smaller appartment and her daughter was moving into her old one. When Germans move, everything gets taken out of the apartment. . and I mean everything.  It did not help tthe fact that Schwester Sheppan lived on the 7th floor and there are only stairs. . . We were very sore and tired after that move. Wow.



So that was really sad news about Brother Budge. I am very sad that I will not get to see him after my mission. I will be writing Sister Budge a letter. It brought tears to my eyes to hear that news. Brother Budge was like my dad away from home and I enjoyed my time with him and his wife. I can not believe this happened. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and that life does not just end at death.

I have a favor to ask mom.. . .I was wondering if you could email Sister Chase (the one who emailed you) and send her her the Sunday cake recipe before Friday. The elders and me and Sister Christenson are cooking Bruder Schmidt and his wife dinner because he invites us over every week to eat and they really do not have much money at all. So we are making him and his wife dinner. So I am wanting to make Sunday cake and if you can send it to Sister Chase before Friday that would be great.

I just want to say. . . so many awful things are going on back home. . . Deaths, illnesses, etc, I am just so grateful that we are all part of God's plan and that we have the truth and the gospel. It gives us hope and reassurance. I love the church. .  I have a testimony that it is true. It touches lives and brings peace and comfort to those in need.

I love y'all and everyone is always in my prayers.

Love Sister Anderson 

2 Nephi 29:7

"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon teh isles of sea; and that I rule in the heavens about and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?"

Meine Familie,

Well, I kind of do not really know what to say about this week. This week has been super tough. . . We had 12 appointments fall out and we really did not make out any appointments except for a couple days. So this has been a really tough week. Though I am still working really hard and finding joy in the work of sharing the gospel even though not eveyone would like to listen to us.

I will talk about some things like Mom asked about -- Marie is the daughter of a less active in the ward that we are teaching. We did not meet with her this week, but we are trying to get Marie interested in the gospel through games. She is 10 or 11, and is at that age where it is like not cool to act like your interested in something, so sometimes it's really hard to get her super excited about it. It is super hard too because there are no girls her age or close to her age in our ward. . . in fact, I think it is just boys in Primary and there are no young women or young men. But, we are working with three 11 year old girls, one is Marie, another is a daughter of an investigator and the other is Judith's little sister. So we are trying to get them all three involved in the church. . .we invited all three of them to a Primary activity this week. So hopefully they all come.

Herr Lytle is still coming to church every once in awhile and last Sunday he gave me a box of chocolate. . . It was awkward and we really do not do anything with him because he is not interested in the church at all.

Sister Christenson and I are getting along much better as I strive to understand her and serve her. We still have our tough times together, but things are much better than they were at the beginning. She still drives me crazy on some things though. .lol.

 Sisters at Zone Conference

So on Tuesday we had our Zone Conference and went to Berlin with that. . Such a crazy day. . . We had to get up at five and meet the Elders at the train station and our train left at 6:45. .. Well there was a strike going on and so our train got postponed for another hour. Then another hour and then another. . finally at like nine, our train left and so we missed half of y´zone conference, but we got there for the end of lunch and the second half. It was really good though from the part that I have seen.

 Sister Christenson and me on the way home from zone conference

Judith is doing awesome. . . she is traveling to the temple for the second time this week and then in a few weeks heading to Berlin to get her patriarchal blessing. . This makes me so grateful for where I live that I do not have to travel so far to get to a temple or travel 3 hours to get a patriarchal blessing. . The saints are so great here in Germany.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday about the Holy Ghost. . It went really well and eveyone told me they understood me!! lol. Also during the talk though. . I leaned over to Bruder Eckloff the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency to tell me how to pronounce some words. . .it was funny, but it went really well.

 Doing doors on 'evil street'

So we have been doing doors on this street that we call evil street.  I have talked about this street before, but we went back yesterday and we have only four more doors left. . but we got yelled at super bad yesterday by like three different people. We are determined to finish this street. . but after all that has happened there we are like afraid of it.

Well hopefully this will be a much better week. Mom asked what I would like in a package. .. I am not sure, but swedish fish is always good and graham crackers and pecans would be good so I can make pralines. . . put the recipe with it as well. But I do not know what I really would like. . .

Anyways. . . I love ya`ll!!!

Sister Anderson

Don't Give Up ... It's just the way of the world!

Liebe Meine Familie,

so much has gone on this week and this has been a fun fun week and a little bit disappointing.

So Mom asked a little bit about the branch here in Rostock and there is only one branch in Rostock and we do not split up the city with the Elders . . we can go any where we would like and it is so fun!!

We have about 6 or so young single adults and maybe some more but they are not active and it is a lot of fun working with them. 

The weather here is really cold, but there is no snow and hopefully spring comes soon. And we have been having longer days because it has been getting lighter earlier and darker later.

We went to Warnemude on Monday for pday and it was so so so much fun. .. It was the beach and this little tourist dorf  ( a dorf is a small town).

Well, thanks to Kimberly for sending four letters at the same time. . .lol. for a second I thought you were the only sibling who did not love me and then I got a month worth of letters from ya ..lol.

Kimberly asked about the food here and the cultural with it. . . People always serve us Frucht tea or pffermint tea when we come over...or alot of people serve us orange juice... I have never drinking so much orange juice in my life... And I hate oranges. I drink it really slow so they do not give me any more. Anyways People always also think that they have to have goodies when we come over.

They feed us a lot of food. . . and usually we do not dish up our own servings... Br. Scmidt though stuffed us last week and I do not even like potatoe salad and majority of the plate was that. lol. But I eat the food with out complate. ALso He made a mexicanisch salad... It is really funny that when some one serves us something and says I hope it is not too hot because of the peppers and stuff in it... and it is not hot at all. They do not eat hot food like texans and mexicans do with all the spices and stuff. . .  They do eat alot of brot and and lots of pigs here. I some how think that after I get home fromt he mission that hotdogs will no longer be my favorite food because you eat way to much of it here.

So as far as people. . we had another appointment with Herr Gruber and he tschued us. Which means he has no more interessting in meeting with us. . .It was really sad because then the rest of the day all of our appointments fell out and and we were not having any luck whatso ever.

We are however meeting with this new lady, Ljudmila, who was a previous investigator and she is from Sibera. She is super cool and she has a strong desire to join the church if she sees that the members truly live and believe in this faith. .

Judith, she is the one who got baptized in december and is 23. She went to the Temple for the first time last week and is getting ready to get her patriartical blessing. . . she is also really excited because she found a name through family history that she can take to the temple next time she is able to go!!!

The language is very difficult, but I am really starting to understand the people more an more everyday... Though speaking is still very hard for me I can at least piece together on what is being talked about which I so love.

Next sunday I have to give a talk in sacrament about the Holy Ghost .... I am really nervous about that. . 

Anyways I just wanted to express my gratitutude to Grandma Matthews. . .I got a call from President on Sunday telling me about what is going on and I just wanted to say that I love you and that the Lord will guide and bless you. .. Many prayers are being said for you and I love how strong you are. Stay strong and just remember to smile!!!!

Also yay for Uncle Don!!! that is so exciting about your new call as a mission president in florida!!! best of luck and can not wait to see how your experince is. . .

I love you all and viel Gluck mit diese nachste Woche.

Sister Anderson

Stats ... (1/24/11)

meine familie,

so first of all. . . i have been so bad in wishing people a happy birthday! so here it goes the big shout out to Blake, Mom, Neil, Lindsay, Grandma. . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

So from my own observations here in Rostock I have come up with my own stats of the city:
99.9 percent Atheist. . . at least that is what it seems like when we talk to people everyday
99.9 percent smokers. . . seriously i have never seen more smokers in my life
100 percent the most coldest place i have ever been in my life.
Well so this has been a great week in a way. The snow and ice has been melted for maybe like two weeks and it is really nice because were not having to trudge through snow and ice every day, but it is suppose to snow again this week. . we have been getting a lot of rain though.

So updates on people. . . That Herr Lytle. . the disgusting perverted one. . . he comes to church every sunday, but until he shows interest we are not going to teach him. He gave Sister Christianson and I a present. . . they were these extremely cute journals. We love the presents, he just creeps us out. But we are going to drop a thank you card in his mailbox since we do not want to go into his home. The thing is is that he does not want anything to do with anyone else but the sisters. . . He won't talk to or acknowledge the elders when they try to talk to him or any of the members, so Sister Christianson and I do not sit next to him on Sunday. Wwe try to get other people on purpose to sit next to him.

Anyways, we met with Herr Gruber for the second time. . the man from Austria. We brought a member with us. He is an awesome guy, but he just cannot understand the Apostosy and Authority since he is Catholic. . . and it is hard to explain it because we just end up saying the same thing. . . We were at least glad to have a member there to talk too. We will not get to meet with him for a couple weeks because he is going home to Austria for a little while. But hopefully he keeps reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.

So the other day we were doing finding and we talked to every single person on the street and then the last person we saw on the street was a crossdresser who was smoking. Sister Christianson and I both looked at each other and walked past him. . . We did not know what to do. . . we should have talked to him, but oh well. . it was just creepy. lol.

So we met this really awesome previous investigator named Herr Ritter. . .(just so you know that when I say Herr. . it means sir). Any ways he totally reminded me of a mixture of Dad and Grandpa Anderson. He was an old man who is retired form the German Navy and his wife passed away when she was 55, so a long time ago. He showed us a ton of pictures from his navy days and his family. . they were awesome because they were those really old photographs. We do not know when we would see him again.

So Schwester Hageman. . she is the one with two fishes. . though the other day we discovered two more. lol. She came to church yesterday. . . she has not been forever and we were so excited to see her. . . . we're really working on her 10 year old daughter who is not a member and claims she is a Catholic and so will not come to church or let her mom come to church. So we're visting them every week and teaching her daughter through games.

I learned how to knit last pday. Judith is teaching Sister Christianson and I. It is alot of fun. . . maybe by the end of my mission i will have something made. lol.

We went to this awesome ice cream shop. . . we have to tell them no alcohol because they put it in all of the kinds. We also went to this place called Little Money. . . it is a hamburger place with a huge picture of Utah and then a Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho license plates. It is so American. lol. We loved it . We went with the Elders there.

So yesterday we had dinner at the Dudins. It was us and the Elders. They are a couple from Ukraine and they joined the church a while back in Ukraine. It was so weird at first because they were just serving us and not eating with us. I was so full. . . They served us this huge bowl of soup and then a main meal and then a dessert and then they gave each one of us a bag with an apple and orange and a chocolate bar to go. They are such an awesome family and so happy and joyful. I love them. . and it was alot of fun with the elders there too.

Well I am actually going to Berlin today because Sister Christianson has a trainers training tomorrow in Berlin. . . so that should be fun to see all the other goldens that I came in with. . .

Let me know if my pictures make it through and upload them onto picasa. ..I will not delete any of them.


Anyways .. . . I am going to write an actual letter to y'all on the train to Berlin. . . so I love y'alll


Love Sister Britt Anderson!!!

A letter in the mail!

Meine Familie,

Well let's see ... What could I say more in a letter than I already said in an email. I will say ... I love to nit (knit). We're sitting on a train right now on the way to Berlin so Sister Christiansen can go to her training thing and we're both nitting like crazy ... I'm making a scarf. Anyways, things are great here. I'm striving to be obedient with exactness. I get up every morning at 6:30 to do some sort of work out. It's hard in the fact that Sister Christianson doesn't really wake up ... but at least I get up to do something.

Life here is good, though the language is tough. I guess it's just I get frustrated that I can't fully express myself in German. I honestly did so much better in the MTC. I'm still having a hard time understanding people, but I for sure have seen the power of the gift of tongues with me at times. I'm striving to do my best though ... I just get so nervous speaking German.

Tomorrow when Sister Christiansen goes to her training, Sister Singer is going too, so I'm hanging out with Sister Jordan who is Sister Singer's companion. Sister Singer is from Texas too and Sister Jordan is that missionary from Germany who is still waiting for her visa to go to the Temple Square mission. It'll be fun serving with her while our companions are in their training. I will for sure take advantage of the fact that she is a native German speaker. LOL. Everyone keeps telling me that understanding comes fast, but then why isn't it coming fast for me? I wonder that alot and wish that I will just wake up one day automatically speaking German. I wonder how well the other Goldens are doing as far as the language is concerned. I just keep praying ... I mean I have been blessed with the gift of tongues and I am working for it ... just it seems like nothing is happening. I just don't know what more I can do.

My companion gets really frustrated at times ... whereas I am actually very happy all the time, but then when she gets in her moods it's hard for me to really feel the spirit. I don't really know what to do about that. My companion asked me one day if I every get mad or upset ... I just replied yes, but for this 18 months I have decided to just be happy because my mission is not about me.

I have found how much easier the Christlike attributes are and how much I can feel the Savior's love when I am just happy. Transfer calls are on the 5th of February ... We'll see what happens ,,, I may stay or move out of Rostock. So, I am super excited to see what happens. You are considered a golden for two transfers, so the next transfer ... the one after the 5th will be the end of my golden days. I would like to work with a different sister for the second half of my training, but we will see.

Thanks for the emails every week mom and dad, and thanks to mom for your weekly mailed letters. That's the only mail I get during the week and it makes me very excited and humble, because I realize how spoiled I was in the MTC. I mean, I may be getting some other mail that people are sending to the office address ... but we only get that mail for zone conferences when the mission president comes and brings them. But, I am perfectly content with people writing there too, because it gives me something to look forward to at zone conference ... lol.

I wrote Emily and Katie a letter. Have you been able to find out Jessica's address?

Well, I will be super excited when winter is over ... just cause it won't be really cold ... I heard it gets pretty hot here during the summer.

Well, I found a really fun gift to get for Neil, Garrett, Caleb, and Lydia when I come home. Or maybe they can get it sooner if I send a small package home some time during my mission. I have a picture of the one I got. It's this chocolate egg thing that has a prize inside. They are actually illegal to make in America, because someone could possibly put something dangerous inside the chocolate egg ... but they are everywhere here in Germany.

So, I can't wait to go to the Christmas markets here in Germany ... They apparently have super cool things ... too bad they are only once a year, but I have to wait for December, or maybe they start in November? Well, a day in the life of a mission is for sure tough ... Most of the time you do feel alone and sometimes you feel your eyes start to water for no reason at all. The majority of your time is saying little personal prayers throughout the whole day for comfort. And at the end of the day you're just ready to lay your head down on your pillow. Most of the time you long for a motherly hug or for someone just to say "I love you". At this point of my letter you could probably imagine tears in my eyes right now. But as the Savior once said, "I never said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it." I know this is worth it. And as a missionary you begin to feel what every kind of emotion feels like. But I know my Savior is there and he won't abandon me. These are the times there is only one set of footprints in the sand.

I know this is the true church. I know my Savior loves me and has a work for me to do here in Germany. This is not about me. This is about the people and the Lord will provide a way for me to communicate with them. The Lord performs miracles ... I just need to be patient.

I love y'all ... familie and freunde.

Just remember happiness is always the key.

Love,
Sister Brittany Anderson

Sick Point (???)

Familie,

So to answer a whole bunch of questions that mom had in her letter she sent.... here I go:

Well, we walk everywhere we go and take public transportation such as the train, bus, street train, etc. But we walk more because we get to talk to more people that way. We cover all of Rostock with Elder Ryser and Goliash, so it is a big city and lots of area to cover. There is only one branch here so all three sets of missionaries are in the branch. The senior sisters teach a free English class at the church and they also do institute and FHE for the young single adults. Sister Christianson is my companion and she is from Farmington, Utah and has been out for 9 months, I believe and she is going home in July. Everyone loves our names because they think they ryhme, though everyone loves my name Anderson. They always say "dass is ein gutes name." lol.

The members are very excited about the missionary work and a week or so ago we met with the branch president and his family at his home and decided to do pick a street with them, since we were not having any luck in finding people. Pick a street is when the family really prays for us and also prays about a street that they feel like we should go do doors on. Well, they picked a street and we left their home to go do doors this last week. We have seen crazy things happen since the Stelter family has started to pray for us. We started doing doors there and we got yelled at by three people that first night. . .one lady telling us that this not right that we go door to door and that she is Christian and we do not see her going door to door and she just kept yelling at us. Then someone else yelled at us. And, then another day we went back to that street and a lady yelled at us through her window and so on. We keep saying "well somebody must be here because Satan is sure trying to stop us from knocking on this street."

Anyways, though we have been yelled at we have also seen miracles happen since the Stelter family has started to pray for us. We have been making out appointments with people we have met on the streets...Though all but one of those appointments have fallen through. Every time a miracle happens we count that as a sick point and report it to our zone leader.

Well, Herr Gruber was this man we made an appointment with on the street and so on Saturday we went to his home. Well, on the street we forgot to ask him for his name, so when we got to the apartment complex we were just going to treat it like doors til we found him. Well, nobody was home and we did not know his name and so we were about to leave to go eat lunch when we saw this man walking down the street. . . we were both like, that is him!

He was like I live in number 15 not 22, so we were at the wrong door doing klingals and he invited us into his home. He is from Austria and is a devoted Catholic and so he did not come to church on Sunday because that is when he has church at the same time, although he is very open to us and is going to read and pray about the Book of Mormon!! I am way excited because this is my first investigatior!!!!!!

Well, that is about all for this week! So many wonderful things are in store here in Rostock. Rostock is known in Germany to have the hightest percent of Atheist in Germany and I believe it from all the people we talk to every day. But, by meeting and making appointments with people, I know there are people here prepared to hear the gospel. Even though I cannot really speak German or understand people I felt the spirit so strong in our appointment with Herr Gruber. I was able to understand and testify of the truth to him, and by doing so, I know he felt that spirit. I know the Lord will give me the gift to communicate with these people through the gift of tongues when he has prepared them to hear this gospel!!

This is the true church, the only true church and I am grateful to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love y'all

Sister Brittany Anderson

Rostock District

Rostock District - Jan. 2011

Sisters: Chase, Madsen, Calder, Christenson, Anderson, Oberg

Elders: Foutz, Larson, Ryser, Goliasch

Finding, Finding, ... and A Miracle!

Brittany mentioned an attachment of pictures ... They weren't attached. When we receive them, they will be included.

January 10, 2011 Rostock

Familie,
so i am starting to figure out the german keyboard. .. the files I have attached are the last of the pictures from the MTC. They consist of when we got our flight plans, Christmas day, and the last week in the district and a few are pictures with our teachers. I'm not going to tell y'all everybody in the pictures cause well they are the same from all the last pictures i have sent. Let me know if they all make it ok and then if you could. . . could y'all maybe put the picures onto a disc or maybe print them off perhaps, but for sure a disc. That would be awesome I will send more pictures of Germany next week. . maybe make a new album on the blog called Rostock or something. i don't know.

Anyways so much has happened this last week in Rostock. Since we have no investigators yet we made a whole bunch of appointment with members. The first family we met with was the Günther familie. They are an older couple and such a delight. except for the part that we had to eat two donuts at there house. lol. Anythough I can't really understand anything and appointments feel kind of boring at times because of that, I still feel this great love for these members and they are so willing to help me with this language. We also met with Sister Hageman. I felt a little uncomforable in her home because of the smell and the cluter and mess, but she was such a sweet lady and she is an inactive. She has some pets and her fish tank is filthy, that you can barely see inside of it and she told us she has only on fish that lives in there and then while we are there we actually saw two and she was taken by surprise at that because she could have sworn there was only one. lol. We also visited sister Göerca. she was kind of on the same boat as Sister Hageman and her cluter. The problem with Sister Göerca she can't really walk well and move around, so she is inactive as well. But we visited her and had such a wonderful time talking to her. After words we helped her clean up some and then went on our way.

Tuesday nights at the church we have an English class that we teach people English. Sister Chase and Sister Oberg (the senior sisters) are in charge of that. It was so fun teaching English. I absolutly loved it. We also met with Judith that night, or maybe it was wednesday. Judith is so awesome. she is 22 years old and just got bapitized 2 or 3 weeks ago. She can speak english too, which makes me even more happy. lol. We are teaching her the 5th lesson in preach my gospel and are having a wonderful time with her... she is going to try to convince the rest of her family to meet with us so we can meet her in her home and not always at the church.

We also met with two previous investigators who don't speak german, so it's in enlish. they are muslim and are really awesome, there names are Fabi and Farzad. Though neither one finds it nessary to only have to stick to one churh when the muslim church has alot of the same beliefs. Farzad is moving to canada, but we are going to try and meet with Fabi still. They have been learning about the church since the missionaries found them like 3 years ago.

Other families we visited this week from the ward is the Stelter family. . . the dad is the branch president. They are going to pray for a street that we can do doors on and when we find an investigator in that area we will bring them over to the Stelters to be taught. They also have the Harry Potter clue game. . . so awesome!!!

So we had dinner at the bruder schmidts house. He has been a member for 2 years and his wife and kids are not members. Bruder Schmidt stuffed us though. yummy food, but I really don't want to eat that much. lol. and plus i couldn't understand a word he was saying. But he is a pretty funny man. After that appointment we had an appointment with the Dudin familie. They are also an older couple from Ukraine, and that is where they joined the church. They are really hilarious, but since we just came from eating at the Schmidts they feed us three pices of cake and orange juice. which we did not need at all. Not to mention i don't even like orange juice. I drank it to be polite and then he poured me another glass. meine gute. lol.

Well this week we also went over to Bruder Göbel's house and meet him and his wife. He has been a member for 10 years, but his wife is not a member. which is sad cause she is so cool. she made us pizza cause that is what typical american's eat for dinner, lol. We visited them for a while and it was great. I absolutely love Bruder Göbel's laugh. it makes me happy, he comes to English class on tuesdays as well.

Well between all of these member appointments we were knocking on doors of previous investigators and also talking to people on the street. We went to this one previous investigator named William Lydtle. He is probably somewhere in his 70s and he was taught a couple years ago by some sister missionaries. He is American and doesn't speak German. so it was all English. The first thing he said to us when he saw us. . was, you've come to get me to come to church. we were like. . . only if you want. He told us about some things that happened and he got offended off. . hopefullly we can get him to come back and be taught by missionaries and come to church he told us he would try if he gets a good nights rest. He invited us up to his apartment and immeditatly a felt so uncomfortable. Everywhere you looked there was pictures of naked women and you couldn't just avoid them because they were everywhere you looked. He told us that he has to keep reminding himself he is a man and this was his bachlor pad. It was so disgusting. Besides that he was a really nice man and we think he is just really lonely because he wanted to just keep talking to us. He told us that he took his last drink in the 50s and never drank again. . so that is really good and he has no probably with donating money, so like tithing and fastofferings. So if we do ever get to the point of baptism for him it is going to have to do alot with the porn everywhere and also his reason to got to church. because he said he only goes for the women. We were very glad to get out of that apartment though because of how dirty and unclean it was with all the naked women.

Well on Saturday we had a ping pong ward activity and then we did more finding. on Sunday we at dinner at the Albrechs. . and later that night we went and on the streets we said a quick prayer because we have had no luck in finding anyone to teach. Just moments later as we were walking we came across this man from Austria and talked to him. He was so considerate in really thinking about the questions we asked and we ended up making out an appointment with him. Finally after a week and a half of only finding we finally found our miracle just moments after a simple prayer.

I have a strong testimony and love for the people in Rostock. I know there are people here waiting. . anythough for a while it seemed like there wasn't . Over half the people we talk to his smoking and every step we take is always on a cigratte butt. But i know we have people here waiting for our message. . .


i love y'all!!!!!

Sister Brittany Anderson