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 

Random pictures in Rostock

Here are some pictures from Rostock ... For all the pictures see the link to Pictures on the left.

Hard, but worth it

meine familie,

 

People always tell you that a mission is super hard. . but you do not truly understand how hard it is until you go on one. I know that what I am doing is blessing lives. . There are some days that I feel like not going out and talking to people but I suck it up and do it anyways because this not about me. . it is about them and they are children of God. After I get out there and start talking to people I start feeling so better about it all. Why? Because I start seeing how the gospel is blessing lives.

 

We get rejected person after person. . . I have learned alot of bad words in German from people on the street that curse at us . We walked past this big group of moms in the park and we overheard them saying. . oh there goes those people . . . they go door to door. . they're a sect.  But then I look at the great people we come into contact with. We are teaching this family from . . . well, I actuallly cannot spell it at the moment, but they are gypsies. They are so cool and are so willing to do things. They  a five year old daugher and a four year old son. We are trying to work it out for somebody in the ward to pick them up for church because they cannot afford to travel every week to church.

 

We have also met some really cool people on the street that we have made appointments with. They are so cool and I cannot wait until our appointments with them. Well, it is two weeks until transfer calls. . . so I may still be here in two weeks or I could be going somewhere else. I have come to love Rostock and the people here. My german is getting much better and I feel more and more confident talking to people on the street in their language.

 

There really is not much to say about this week because not much really happened, but I just want to say that I love this gospel and I have seen it blessing the lives of others. The mission is super hard and some days you feel like giving up, but I know in the end it is worth it and we all need to know that.

 

I apologize this is so short, but reallly nothing happened this week reallly at all. So I thought I would just let you know one  more thing about "evil street". . . We went back and got yelled at by two ladies and then we went to a different street to do doors and got yelled at again by this lady who was going to call the police. . . It is like we are not meant to go do doors or something.. but we are finding people and that is the great thing. .

 

Random fact about Germany this week . . .little boys wear tights with nothing over them and then a shirt. 

 

love always

 

Sister Anderson