Hamburg, Sick, and a Drit

 

Meine Familie,

Sisters Kitterman and Neukom in Langenhorn

Well, I think the subject kind of says it all for this week.  So to give kind of a brief of what has happened ... at the beginning of this transfer Sister Bush went to the hospital and got an x-ray done of her foot. I guess last summer she had surgery and a metal plate was put into her foot.  Her foot has been bothering her since she arrived in Germany in March. She was finally able to see a doctor in Kiel and it turned out she had a broken screw which was causing her pain. Ever since then we have been awaiting word from President and the mission doctors to see what needed to be done.  As a result, we found out last Monday that Sister Bush will be going home for surgery and when she is fully recovered she will return. So, we had Monday and Tuesday in Kiel and then on Wednesday I got sent to Langenhorn and she traveled to Berlin so she can fly out Thursday morning. So, I am in Langenhorn which is like the ouskirts of Hamburg. I am here in a drit with Sister Neukom, who is a golden and from Switzerland, and Sister Kitterman who is from Utah. I am with them until next Tuesday and then I will be going back to Kiel with a new companion because President said that there will be some new sisters coming in so I will be able to go back.  So, letters can still be sent and my stuff is still there except for what I needed for two weeks.



 So Langenhorn. It is a fun city and it is fun to serve with Sisters Neukom and Kitterman. We have all had a fun time. Though, I will say it is weird sometimes because I feel like I am just a tag-along because I am only here for a couple weeks. But it has been fun. The sisters have this 12 year old boy, Justin, that they have taught the lessons to and he was baptized on Sunday. His grandparents are members and his mom is not and his dad is a less active. It was a wonderful day and the spirit was felt so strong from the love and support this boy received.



So yeah, Monday and Tuesday was more of getting ready to leave Kiel and make sure that our investigators were being taken care of for a couple weeks and then Wednesday the sisters picked me up at the train station.  Later that day, we met with this guy Ray, who is actually from Texas...he has lived in Germany though forever. Sister Kitterman had promised to bring him Koolaid and he cried...he is like this 50 year old man and he cried when he saw the koolaid.  He says it is because he has not seen it in about 30 years since he has been in Germany...it reminded me...hey do you want to send me koolaid???? lol.  Thursday all of our appointments fell out so we just did finding.  It was fun though because with three of us, one of us goes off by ourself and the other two stay together and then we come back together and when it gets too dark we all stay together. Friday we had President Interviews...I have had a cold since Thursday and so I was not feeling the best, but interviews when really well and our zone leaders gave a lesson and their topic was marriage...lol.  It was scary to see how closly related marriage and a mission are. Ahh. Marriage scares me all together...YAY for missions!!!!!!!!!!. Saturday all of our appointments fell out once again, but that is ok because this one guy we talked to on the street said he would come to church and then on Sunday he showed up and made another appointment with us...that was so cool. Like I mentioned, on Sunday there was a baptism. It was awesome. And not to mention, there was also one in Leipzig!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Burcan got baptized!!!



Bürcan got baptized in Leipzig!
Irakli (he baptized Burcan), Burcan, Sister Rasmussen, and Sister Faerber



So yeah that was pretty much my week...crazy.  I have one more here in Langenhorn..not to mention I am way excited for conference. And to answer Mom....no, I did not get to see the RS broadcast. But yeah...I am ready for another awesome week of doing what I have dreamed to do my whole life....MISSIONARY WORK!!!! yay!

I love y'all and talk to you next week!!!!

love Sister Britt

p.s. Eric....you are welcome to call me Sister Britt..that is just what mom writes and so yeah...lol. thanks for the email!!!

Where does the time go?!?!



Meine Familie,

Ahhhhhh...in one more week I will be hitting my 11 month mark...what the heck? Don't get mad at me when I say that I do not want to come home in 7 months.  I miss y'all, but I do not want to come home..lol. This week has seriously flown by and I feel like I was just sitting here the other day writing to y'all about last week, and now I am writing about what happened this past week. I want to say first off  that I am glad y'all got my package and I did also get y'alls package.  Thank you so much. I love the pictures and the Mac and cheese was so cool to see and the Texas towel as well.  I do not know what I would like for my birthday...Mac and cheese is always good. lol.  I would like an apron. . . and of course, Swedish fish is my favorite. I really do not know. I will think about that this week. But I do have a question regarding Christmas. Are we drawing names this year still or what are we doing for Christmas as far as presents go? I would like to know if I am supposed to get something for someone specifically or what.

The lunch Anne made ... fried egg, potatoes and spinach!

This week was alot of fun and really busy which made the time go by so fast. On Monday we spent our p-day with Anne, a YSA here in Kiel. She is alot of fun and was baptized a couple years ago. She is so nice to us and loves hanging out with us. We go and have lunch with her sometimes during the week. It is always fun.

Sister Bush and Anne making rainbow cupcakes

Dorothea Brey is doing awesome. We are helping her prepare to get her patriarchal blessing. The patriarch is coming on Sunday to speak and so she is going to talk to him about geting hers. I am so excited for her...she was baptized in May and is just a light to us all.

We also ate at the Timm family's home this week. I love them so much. Lani, the little girl is just our shadow and wants to also be a sister missionary...even made us play dress up with her. Cute girl though.
We have two new investigators...Nadine and Micheal. They are not married and together have a 6 year old boy. They are really difficult to teach, but we are trying our best to answer their questions that they have.

Sister Bush and I are also teaching the English class.. It is so fun and I love it at all. It reminds me again on why I picked to be an English major. It is wonderful and I look forward to keep teaching it.
Ben, our investigator is sometimes a pain. We had our third appointment with him. We tried to teach the third lesson. He just ask us weird questions...He has  a big problem in that we come from Adam and Eve and that their kids had kids with each other and further. It is sometimes difficult during our appointments. Sister Bush thinks that he likes her, so we make sure we always have someone joint teach with us.

Sandra is doing awesome. We watched the Restoration with her and she invited a friend over to. She is curious on what we believe and we really think that she will try to find out if there is a God and if what we are saying is true. She is a really cute girl. Her boyfriend was sick and so he was asleep in the bedroom. We will see if he is better next time.

Hannah...we do not know what is going on. She is really hard to get a hold of right now. We think it is because of her family. They think we are a cult. We are going to try to call her again today and maybe take a card by.

We had an open house in the church on Saturday and then Eis onhe Grenze...which means all you can eat ice cream party. We had some people show up to the open house and I had fun showing people around and answering their questions and teaching them the restoration...Such a fun night. This has really been a fun week and I look forward to more fun weeks here in Kiel.

I know without a doubt the Church is true. I have seen it bless my life and the lives of others. I love it so much. I am so grateful that I get to be with y'all for eternity and I know that all familes can be together forever. We are here on the earth for the same purpose and that is to prepare to meet God. I know that to be true. Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me and raising me in this gospel. It means alot...I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be!!

Sister Britt

Just listen ...

Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 4:16 AM
Subject: Just listen...





A church in Kiel



Meine Familie,

So being out here and being less than half way done with my mission and getting closer to hitting my year mark in October...I realized that I really do learn something everyday and every moment of my mission. And this week I want to focus on "JUST LISTEN." I have seen my self really come a long way from when I first started my mission to now and I am so grateful for that. I can actually speak german now and understand it...It may not be very good, but I can at least get my message across and trust in the Lord to help me communticate. Sister Bush and I started off our first week together not very good. We both are very different and It was hard for me. But I learned to JUST LISTEN. I did not want the beginning to also end up being the end...And so I listened to the spirit and I began to serve her and I really can say that I love her. She and I do not always see eye to eye with each other, but we talk things through and the lord as blessed us. I remember when I first met Sister Bush and one of the first things I said to her was..."Lets go baptize Kiel" She told me that she has always been scared to extend that commitment and I told her that I was not...So We began working.... As a result we were blessed with Hannah. Hannah is this girl that the elders found right before we got her...they have only met with her once and decided that they would give her to us. So on Monday Sister Bush and I had our first appointment with her. She was so cute and Anne, a member here, came with us. The lesson went great and she loved the plan of salvation. .. . Then Wednesday we met with her once more and Anne came with us. We taught the third lesson and when we got to baptism...Hannah had to go check on one of her kids...While Hannah was out of the room Anne looked at us and said..."Do not ask her today" I was puzzled and thought in my head...that is why I am here and it never hurts to invite someone. I knew that within my heart that the spirit was telling me to invite Hannah. I could have easily listened to Anne, but the spirit was too strong and I knew who I should listen too. Hannah came back into the room and sat down...I looked at Hannah and with a smile on my face told her that this is the only way and I bore my testimony of it...I then told her that when we set a goal God will help us reach that goal that we could be ready...the spirit was still prompting me and I told her that we have a baptism on October 16th and if she will be baptized on this day and to pray about it. Hannah said yes...and I could feel my eyes watering up. I know that we need to Just LISTEN to the spirit...satan will always put obstacles in our way to help us not listen...but I know that is is never the spirit that tells us not to invite one to be baptized. It just warmed my heart and it was the best way to end our day. I love it so much. Hannah even gave me a hug at the end and told me thankyou...It was a moment I will never forget to JUST LISTEN.



Sister Bush



The rest of the week was wonderful as we are now teaching the English class...I love it so much and I really miss being an english major back home..but that is ok...considering I do not want to come home at all (do not hate me for saying that. lol) We helped a sister in our ward pack some..she will be moving next week to go to America to live with her husband. We also met again with Sandra and Martin and gave them the book of mormon. They seem really interested and they still want us to be coming back. I am just so excited for the work here in Kiel and that it will keep moving forward. I love it so much.

Ben our investigator...most interesting appointment ever...We are going to to teach him the plan of salvation and when we teach earth life focas a little more on the Priesthood, Homosexuality, and Prophets...crazy . But that is what he was asking alot about..It was funny when Sister Bush asked him in our appointment if he was gay...lol.. he is not, but it was really funny. So yeah. We are still really working on him. But yeah...I do not know what else to really say from this week, but we did talk to this guy on the street and he spoke English and when I approached him I was speaking german when he asked if we spoke english..When I then began speaking in English..I realized I have to know translate from german to english in my head and it was really hard. lol. I probably sounded really dumb, but hey we made out and appointment... we do have a busy week planned this coming week...so next Monday I will have more to say, but yeah. I love the work and that I get to live my dream and continue seeing miracles. I love y'all 

love Sister Britt

A New Start ... Kiel

Sent: Monday, September 5, 2011 5:35 AM
Subject: A New Start



Burcan, me, Sister Rasmussen (in Leipzig)

Leaving Leipzig for Kiel

Meine Familie,

Ahhh... I am in Kiel!!!
So this week seemed like well...longer than a week. Monday was my last day in Leipzig and I would say that it was pretty hard to say goodbye. We went to FHE that night and there I had to say goodbye to some great friends of mine. Saying goodbye to Bürcan was probably the hardest because he started crying a little bit.  It made my eyes tear up a little bit as well. It was really cute because he kept telling me, "Remember September 25th, I am getting baptized"  I told him I will try my very best to come back and be there for his baptism.  After all, Micheal and Maik should also be getting baptized on that day.

Tuesday my train left to go to Kiel and it was about a four to five hour train ride and I needed to also switch trains in Hamburg.  Well, it turned out that Sister Bush, my new companion, also needed to switch trains in Hamburg and so we ended up riding to Kiel, the rest of the way, together. Sister Bush is from Maryland, although she grew up in Colorado.  She has been out on her mission for about 6 months. Anyways, we got to Kiel and the zone leaders and the senior couple were there waiting for us. The Zone leaders drove our stuff to the apartment and we went and got something to eat with Sister and Elder Marks, the senior couple. It was great.  There are four elders here in Kiel and a Senior couple. They have all been so helpful to us and are really grateful for us. The Elders even gave us some contact sheets and old investigators and stuff to help us get started with our new program here in Kiel.  We got a brand new phone and so we do not have any numbers really, but we are getting those as well. 



We met Bishop Haak that night and he was helpful in telling us what less active women that we could go by and visit.  He is such an awesome Bishop.  The west is somewhat different from the east in ways such as, there are no DDR buildings, people are more friendly and open to talking to you on the street, and everyone seems to belong to a church, whereas in the east everyone was like atheist. In the ward everyone wants to be involved with the missionary work and come do stuff with us, not to menition that this ward is so excited to be getting sisters.

This week we were able to visit some people. Anne is this young single adult that is so fun and great to be around.  She made us lunch on Wednesday and helped us learn the city a little bit.  I love it.  She is a cute girl and was found by sisters two years ago.  That is the last time this ward had sisters. Dorothea is a member who was baptized in May. The Elders gave her to us to go visit. She is so cute and excited for the gospel and she even went to the temple for the first time on Saturday, her birthday, in Denmark. Schwester Bourwieg is this older lady in the ward.. She fed us lunch on Friday and served a mission years ago at the Frankfurt Temple.  She is so sweet.  I am just so excited to keep working with these members. Bruder Zickler is our Ward mission leader.  He and his wife are so awesome and fun. We went over to their place Friday night and they fed us and helped us know where to go and who we should visit. The Goldmund family is a family we ate lunch with on Saturday (I have never had so many eating appointments in a week, my goodness). This family is awesome. Schwester Goldmund is from Salt Lake and her husband is from Kiel and they have a 15 and 18 year old boys. They are fun and made us chicken pot pie and carrot cake.  Wow, I have not had that since before my mission..American food! lol.

We did find some cool people this week too. One was Sandra and Martin. Sandra was actually a referal to me from Schwester Beyrich in Leipzig. Sandra is her little sister and they are not members. We went by and they let us in and we have a return appointment to bring them the Book of Mormon. I am so excited. Frau Butzlaff was an appointment from the elders. She is a really old lady and loves to talk. She had a Book of Mormon that she was given a long time ago and so we tried teaching a first...but she is the best distracter ever.  We kept bringing the topic back to the restoration. lol. Such a sweet lady though. And then we found this guy Ben on the street and had an appointment with him. He has so many questions.  He has read the bible like 6 times and says he will read the Book of Mormon.  He's not really sure if God is there though, but I am excited to keep meeting with him and help him progress.

We did have church on Sunday and everyone is so excited to have 8 missionaries in the ward... and so many more are excited that sisters are in the ward. We met so many people, so I cannot remember everyone's name, but I will get it down. There are a ton of young people in the ward and I had so many children running up to me and wanting me to play with them. After church all of us missionaries went over to the Timm family's home for lunch.  It was alot of fun and they have a little girl who is about 6 or 7 and the oldest of four boys. Her name is Lani and she reminds me of me...lol. She was totally how I was when I was little and she really wants to be a sister missionary. Love her. But yeah. This week has been crazy as Sister Bush and I were just trying to get things oraganized and get to know the area. We will see what this week brings and I am so excited to get this program going in Kiel. love it.

But yeah...I love y'all so much and hope all is well!!!

Sister Britt

Going west!

Meine Familie,

Ahhhh.... I am getting transferred, which we all knew would probably happen. I am actually moving to Senior Companion and will be opening up a new Sister Program in Kiel…that means that I am pretty much doing what I did with Rostock, except I do not even have an area book.  It is a whole new sister area. I am so excited and ready to start this new responsibility, not to mention that I will be going back to the Baltic Sea and to West Germany for the first time!!! So before I forget… my new address is…

Kirche Jesu Christi

Schweffel Str. 22

24118 Kiel

Deutschland

So anyways...so many cool things did happen this week and I am so excited to get to tell everyone about these many adventures.

On Monday we met this guy named Charley on the bahn. He was pretty cool. He was from LA and is sometimes in Leipzig for business. He saw us on the bahn and had a basket of apples and offered some to us, and then he said…I think y’all are so awesome. We were a little confused when he then went on about how much he loves the Mormons and he knows a lot back home in the states. It was really funny.  When we asked him why he was not mormon yet, he said that if someone were to point a gun at him and ask him what religion he is, he would say Mormon.  Then he told us that he loves us so much because we are the only religion that he has found that the people do not talk bad about other people and religions. It really hit me there and made me look at myself and really hoping that I am one of those people. Anyways, he was heading back to the states this last week so we did not get to meet with him again..but he was really cool.

Robert and Moni

So, like every Tuesday…we met with Robert and Moni. I love meeting with them and it was sad that it would be my last time. Robert is really funny because he told me I better come to Utah because he is planning on getting married in the Salt Lake Temple to the girl he is waiting for…who is serving her mission in Mexico right now. Lol. Moni is such a sweet heart. She wants more then anything for her husband, Thomas, to join the church and come with her to the temple. Both of them have such great goals. I am so grateful I got to be a part of preparing them and helping them to get closer to their goals. They are for sure my friends.

Sister Rasmussen, me and Maik

Marcel and Michael (our investigator) at ward activity

Our investigators are doing so well…we are actually going to be pushing Bürcan, Micheal, and Maik’s baptisms to September 25^th. They are all doing so awesome and are getting more and more excited for the baptism. Micheal put a countdown thing on his phone…Bürcan is telling everyone at church, and Maik…well he is just Maik. Lol. I would like to come back for their baptisms…we will see though. All of them are really sad I am leaving…but I told them that we will always be friends and I look forward to hearing about their progress in the church…I see some really awesome future leaders here. Lol.



Philipp



Philipp is also doing really awesome…he is reading the Book of Mormon for a second time …he is so cool and I cannot wait to hear that he made it to his baptism in November!!

Trihn and I

Saturday we had a ward activity…it was really fun and there were a lot of investigators there between us and the elders. The ward is really bringing and welcoming them in. So great. The future of Leipzig is looking so awesome. I also told Trihn that I was going to be transferred and she almost cried..it made me so sad…I have really made a family here.  



Daniel, Lali, Irakli and the whole family



Sunday was a great way to end my time in Leipzig… Lali, the mother of Irakli and Daniel was baptized!!! Such an amazing family. I was so happy to be here from when Irakli was baptized in June, to Daniel being baptized in July, and now their mother in August. What a wonderful journey. I am so happy to continue to see the progress of this family. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone at church…I will still see some people tonight at family home evening. But yeah…Leipzig will always have a deep place in my heart.

Any ways, I need to go, but I love y’all and I am actually sending a package of some stuff home today…so yeah. Keep an eye out for that. Tomorrow I will be on a five to six hour train ride..yay. Next time I write I will be in Kiel!!!!!

Love

Sister Britt

Ps… Hope everything is ok with Blake and Lindsay and the boys in New York…y’all are in my prayers.