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
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Rostock District
Rostock District - Jan. 2011Sisters: Chase, Madsen, Calder, Christenson, Anderson, Oberg
Elders: Foutz, Larson, Ryser, Goliasch
Monday, January 10, 2011
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
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
Monday, January 3, 2011
Golden as can be (1/3/11)
Sister Christiansen and BrittanyFamilie,
well i am really trying to figure out how to use this different german keyboard. so bear with me with this email. lol. So I just have so much to actuallz say. . . so much has happened in this extremely long week.
So we finally got to Berlin after so manz delays, but from the plane ride from salt lake to new york. . . Elder Barns and i sat next to this guy who was gay and it was awkward because at one point his husband came back and gave him a kiss. but this man is one of the writers for the soap opera "All my children". we did talk to him for a while and right before we got off Elder Barns gave him a book of mormon and then after we got off the plane Elder Healey was like . . . way to go you just saved two lives but ruined one marriage and Elder Barnes said " i don't think you can even count that as a marriage." it was pretty funny.
so we boarded are next plane and ended up having to sit on the plane for another two hours cause something broke and they had to fix it. . . for this flight i was sitting next to Elder Barnes and Sister Smith. Sister Smith and I were excited because we changed our watches to military time and that meant we were totally ready to read german time. So this flight was an eight hour flight to Berlin. We tried to sleep as much as possible and the airplane meals were disgusting. I kind of felt a bit sick after them and had to relieve myself in the bathroom. not that you needed to know that.lol. Finally we landed in Berlin. The airport is so so so different from the united states. We got off the plane and you could see the security line of people going to board planes. They litterally pat everyone down. . . i get to look forward to that in 16 months. then we came to the passport check and then right past that was the baggage claim and glass walls around it and through it we could see President and Sister Pimmital and the President's assistants waving at us. After we all gathered our luggage we went out to greet them and then go to exchange our american money for Euros at the airport. When everyone was ready we loaded into the cars to go to the mission office to take care of some things and oustide was more snow and more cold that i have ever seen or felt in my life. . . oh my.
We then headed over to Obergfell. . . the hotel we would be staying at. . . we met some of the missionaries serving in that area and they ate dinner with us. This hotel was a family owned hotel and the food was delicious and the soup in germany is the best. Though they always serve you carbonated drinks and the one that is most common is called lemonade, but it is actuallý not real lemonade. not a big fan of all the carbonated drinks. They also serve tea, but the members only drink Frucht tea and peffermint tea, which are both very good. So anyways after dinner we went out with the older missionaries to do street contacting and maybe place a book of mormon. . it was freezing. I went out with this sister named Sister Jordan who has only been in the field for two weeks, but is from Germany and is only part of the Berlin mission until her visa comes through. . because then she is actually serving in the Temple square mission.
The first lady I spoke to though I asked her something about god and what he means to her and she totallz threw her arm up and said something in German and stormed off. . . I don't understand anything anyone says, so i just go around smiling and hoping for the best.lol.
So anyways we stayed at this hotel and all the comforters and pillows in germany are feathered and do not have sheets. . just the one that goes over the mattress. Also everywhere you go has spiraled and steep stairs. So we got to sleep in that first night and the mission president would be back to get us at 9:30. . we got an awesome german breakfast at the hotel. they eat alot of bread for breakfast... the bread here is amazying. I had some nutella with mine. and also a boiled brown egg, but they don't cook their eggs all the way in the center, but they are really good in bread. Also their yougurt tastes alot like cream cheese. same texture.
We were picked up and then taken to this place called maerplatz. we walked a while in the snow and it was also snowing, into the woods. we finally stopped where the wall use to stand. This spot was also the very spot the first presidency gave their dedicatory prayers to the land last february. As president pimmetal read the prayers you could feel the warmth of the spirit and the cold of the snow and air could not be felt. it was so amazing you could feel that this was a choice land. we then split up along where the wall use to stand and said our own dedicated prayer to the Lord promising him a successful mission and what we will personally do while out here. i loved the spirit so much there and could feel such a strong love for this land and for the people. President Pimmital told us that at the end of our mission he will take us back to maerplatz so we can once again find our spot along the path where the wall use to be and close our mission with a prayer where we started. i cannot wait for that again.
After wards we went to the church to meet all the missionaries who will be the trainers and we had lunch. . . i really do not like rot cal, which is red cabbage, but everything else that was fixed was reallý good. Then we had golden conference and instead of being called greenies we are called golden because just like the gold plates could be written on but then permanently there that is what happens with our trainers what they tell us will stick with us this whole mission. Anyways during golden conference we found out who our companions would be and where we will be serving. Sister Christianson is my companion and we are serving in Rostock which is by, i think it is the ostsee or maybe the baltic sea. anyways. . . she has never served in rostock because we are the sisters who are going to reopen the area because it got closed off for the sister missionaries. so we are pretty much going to white wash the city. . going in knowing no one and not knowing the city. there are two elders here ryser and ganash who are from germany and france. elder ryser is the district leader and we are all serving in the ward here in rostock. we also have two senior sisters who live just a few apartments down from us and it makes me feel like i have two grandmas here. lol. rostock is a city of about 200,000 people and a ward of about 30 to 50 members. Sister christianson and i are both learning the area and trying to find people to listen to us. The elders were so excited to get sisters in the area finally and my first full, real day in rostock was on new years eve and well we had to be in by 6 p.m.
kirche jesu christi
Friedrich Strasse 14/15
18057 Rostock
Deutschland
write to me with that address because the one you have is for the office and i only get those letters like every transfer or so. but this is my address here in rostock. . . i love yäall and cannot wait til my next email time!!!!
love sister brittany anderson
well i am really trying to figure out how to use this different german keyboard. so bear with me with this email. lol. So I just have so much to actuallz say. . . so much has happened in this extremely long week.
So we finally got to Berlin after so manz delays, but from the plane ride from salt lake to new york. . . Elder Barns and i sat next to this guy who was gay and it was awkward because at one point his husband came back and gave him a kiss. but this man is one of the writers for the soap opera "All my children". we did talk to him for a while and right before we got off Elder Barns gave him a book of mormon and then after we got off the plane Elder Healey was like . . . way to go you just saved two lives but ruined one marriage and Elder Barnes said " i don't think you can even count that as a marriage." it was pretty funny.
so we boarded are next plane and ended up having to sit on the plane for another two hours cause something broke and they had to fix it. . . for this flight i was sitting next to Elder Barnes and Sister Smith. Sister Smith and I were excited because we changed our watches to military time and that meant we were totally ready to read german time. So this flight was an eight hour flight to Berlin. We tried to sleep as much as possible and the airplane meals were disgusting. I kind of felt a bit sick after them and had to relieve myself in the bathroom. not that you needed to know that.lol. Finally we landed in Berlin. The airport is so so so different from the united states. We got off the plane and you could see the security line of people going to board planes. They litterally pat everyone down. . . i get to look forward to that in 16 months. then we came to the passport check and then right past that was the baggage claim and glass walls around it and through it we could see President and Sister Pimmital and the President's assistants waving at us. After we all gathered our luggage we went out to greet them and then go to exchange our american money for Euros at the airport. When everyone was ready we loaded into the cars to go to the mission office to take care of some things and oustide was more snow and more cold that i have ever seen or felt in my life. . . oh my.
We then headed over to Obergfell. . . the hotel we would be staying at. . . we met some of the missionaries serving in that area and they ate dinner with us. This hotel was a family owned hotel and the food was delicious and the soup in germany is the best. Though they always serve you carbonated drinks and the one that is most common is called lemonade, but it is actuallý not real lemonade. not a big fan of all the carbonated drinks. They also serve tea, but the members only drink Frucht tea and peffermint tea, which are both very good. So anyways after dinner we went out with the older missionaries to do street contacting and maybe place a book of mormon. . it was freezing. I went out with this sister named Sister Jordan who has only been in the field for two weeks, but is from Germany and is only part of the Berlin mission until her visa comes through. . because then she is actually serving in the Temple square mission.
The first lady I spoke to though I asked her something about god and what he means to her and she totallz threw her arm up and said something in German and stormed off. . . I don't understand anything anyone says, so i just go around smiling and hoping for the best.lol.
So anyways we stayed at this hotel and all the comforters and pillows in germany are feathered and do not have sheets. . just the one that goes over the mattress. Also everywhere you go has spiraled and steep stairs. So we got to sleep in that first night and the mission president would be back to get us at 9:30. . we got an awesome german breakfast at the hotel. they eat alot of bread for breakfast... the bread here is amazying. I had some nutella with mine. and also a boiled brown egg, but they don't cook their eggs all the way in the center, but they are really good in bread. Also their yougurt tastes alot like cream cheese. same texture.
We were picked up and then taken to this place called maerplatz. we walked a while in the snow and it was also snowing, into the woods. we finally stopped where the wall use to stand. This spot was also the very spot the first presidency gave their dedicatory prayers to the land last february. As president pimmetal read the prayers you could feel the warmth of the spirit and the cold of the snow and air could not be felt. it was so amazing you could feel that this was a choice land. we then split up along where the wall use to stand and said our own dedicated prayer to the Lord promising him a successful mission and what we will personally do while out here. i loved the spirit so much there and could feel such a strong love for this land and for the people. President Pimmital told us that at the end of our mission he will take us back to maerplatz so we can once again find our spot along the path where the wall use to be and close our mission with a prayer where we started. i cannot wait for that again.
After wards we went to the church to meet all the missionaries who will be the trainers and we had lunch. . . i really do not like rot cal, which is red cabbage, but everything else that was fixed was reallý good. Then we had golden conference and instead of being called greenies we are called golden because just like the gold plates could be written on but then permanently there that is what happens with our trainers what they tell us will stick with us this whole mission. Anyways during golden conference we found out who our companions would be and where we will be serving. Sister Christianson is my companion and we are serving in Rostock which is by, i think it is the ostsee or maybe the baltic sea. anyways. . . she has never served in rostock because we are the sisters who are going to reopen the area because it got closed off for the sister missionaries. so we are pretty much going to white wash the city. . going in knowing no one and not knowing the city. there are two elders here ryser and ganash who are from germany and france. elder ryser is the district leader and we are all serving in the ward here in rostock. we also have two senior sisters who live just a few apartments down from us and it makes me feel like i have two grandmas here. lol. rostock is a city of about 200,000 people and a ward of about 30 to 50 members. Sister christianson and i are both learning the area and trying to find people to listen to us. The elders were so excited to get sisters in the area finally and my first full, real day in rostock was on new years eve and well we had to be in by 6 p.m.
kirche jesu christi
Friedrich Strasse 14/15
18057 Rostock
Deutschland
write to me with that address because the one you have is for the office and i only get those letters like every transfer or so. but this is my address here in rostock. . . i love yäall and cannot wait til my next email time!!!!
love sister brittany anderson
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