Ein kleines Zöpfli

(The subject line is in Swiss German, translated it means "a little braid." Zopf is a type of Swiss bread that looks like a braid. The diminutive form of words in Swiss German uses an umlaut and then adds -li at the end. This ends my geeky language moment.)

Guten tag!!

Well on Tuesday it poured rain the whole afternoon and I was NOT wearing the correct shoes. Poor things, they may never be the same again.

Wednesday was the exciting day. Sister Roffler got the petition approved for her visa! That means that now she can go to Bern and apply for a real, live visa to enter the US. Unfortunately, the visa didn't come in time for her to join her MTC group, so she will have to stay a little longer with us :) She will enter the MTC at the end of June. Wednesday afternoon we spent a good chunk of time in the mission office getting everything sorted out, hopefully we didn't miss anything! After our afternoon spent jumping through all sorts of bureaucratic hoops, we got to eat ice cream at G's ice cream shop. He's been investigating the church for about 10 years now. He's Italian :) It was the perfect ending to the day.

Thursday afternoon I got to witness a pretty cool miracle that actually started a couple weeks ago. Sister Roffler has a goal to talk to someone in every train she is in. It's something I really admire her for, because talking to people in trains is HARD. Any way, we were in a pretty packed U-Bahn train the other day. There was a man standing there that Sister Roffler thought she should talk to, but she didn't get up the courage until we were getting out of the train, so she just handed him a card. And then that evening, he called us! His name is V.  We set up an appointment to visit him on Thursday. On the phone before we came he told us "I have a surprise for you"--- oookaaay. So we were a little apprehensive. We get to his apartment and start talking to him and getting to know him. It was strange because he would use words like "gospel" and "sacrifice" and kept calling us "Schwester" (most people don't read our tags that clearly). So as he was telling us about his life, he talked about how he grew up in Berlin. He had a nephew who joined the church. Then he said "and then my nephew baptized me" WHAT?!? Turns out he has been a member of the church since he was 20. He has read the Book of Mormon twice (granted while he was in prison, but that's a different story).  He has had a really hard life, and I think even a few months earlier he wouldn't have been willing to start meeting with missionaries. I just can't believe that we actually found him on the U-Bahn in Munich. I don't know how many thousands of trains run throughout the city every day, every few minutes. And he happened to be in our train. And Sister Roffler was trying her best to accomplish the goal she had set. It's amazing how little the Lord needs to work with to produce great miracles.

Saturday we had a Straßenausstellung (Road Show---don't think they really do these in the U.S.) Basically we just go to a square in Munich. We have a little display we set up and then we spend four hours talking to people. It was really nice weather. After wards we went to play soccer with the JAEs (another miracle-we found someone to invite at the last minute because our investigator canceled on us, meaning we couldn't go). I don't know how long it's been since I've played soccer. It felt really good.

Ich bin so dankbar, auf Mission zu sein. Es ist ein einzigartig Gelegenheit. Ich weiß, dass wenn wir den Herrn folgen, wird er uns segnen.

(I am so thankful to be on a mission. It is a special opportunity. I know that when we follow the Savior he will bless us.)

Alles Gute! Tschüss!

--Sister Stewart

Guten tag!

Funny story- We ran into one of our investigators in the internet shop just now when we came in. Munich is a big city, but somehow we manage to see people that we know fairly often.

The weather in Munich has been very rainy. Lots of days it will rain in the morning but thankfully it mostly clears up by the afternoon. It's nice because so far the rain has kept the heat to a minimum.

I forgot to tell y'all last week- Sister Pingree and I are staying in Munich for another 6 weeks! So I'll be here at least until July 19th. Last Monday we went hiking with our district. Two of the missionaries left to go home last week, so it was their last P-Day. It rained the whole time and the trail we wanted to hike was closed, but it was still a lot of fun. I can't believe I get to serve in such a beautiful place!

This past week we "babysat" a sister who was getting transferred and had to spend the night in Munich. Since we had an appointment, Sister Pingree and Sister Shulze took the luggage home and Sister Roffler and I went to go teach Sylvia. It was the first time I have been in a lesson with an investigator without Sister Pingree. It was very reassuring to discover that I can do this on my own without my trainer. Sister Roffler and I taught about the restoration. Sylvia asked us during the lesson why she has never seen an angel. I've been thinking about that a lot. One answer that Sister Roffler and I came up with is that if we saw angels every time we had a question, there would be no reason to have faith. But because we have to read in the scriptures and pray and trust in God and then listen for the Spirit, we get an opportunity to exercise our faith.

It's funny; we have taught two of our investigators in the past week about faith. One of the things I have gained a stronger testimony of in preparing and teaching those lessons is that faith without works really is dead. The two are inseparable. If we do nothing, we can never gain faith. We must exercise our agency to do the things that we help us develop faith (pray, read, go to church, serve others, etc). One the other hand, when we have faith, it is shown through our actions. There are many things we do because we have faith (pray, read, go to church, serve others, etc.). As we develop more faith, we do more to show our faith, and as we choose to follow God, we develop more faith. It's a positive feedback loop! (Sorry for the nerdy reference). This concept is something we have been working really hard to help our investigators understand. They have to take action in order to develop the faith to get baptized.

I know I am only beginning to scratch the surface on understanding how faith works, but I am so grateful for the opportunity I have here on a mission to study the gospel and then help others to understand.

Embarrassing moment time- (this just goes to show that even when you have been learning a language for 15 years, you still say stupid things)

Last week we were waiting to get on a street car and there was a woman helping another woman into a wheel chair. I reached out my hand to steady the wheel chair while she was sitting down. Then as she was walking away, the woman said "Danke schön!" (Thank you!). And what did I say in return? Not the proper response of "Bitte schön!" (You're welcome!). Nope, instead I said "Entschuldigung!" (Excuse me!) Dope. Oh well, the street was pretty noisy, so I'm holding out hope that she didn't hear clearly what I said.

Ich liebe es, Missionarin zu sein! President Miles sagt immer "Ist es nicht schön, auf Mission zu sein?" und ich stimme zu! Ich habe so viel gelernt und hoffe, dass ich viel mehr lernen werde. Ich weiß, dass unser Himmlische Vater uns leibt. Er will, dass wir alles lernen was wir müssen um zurück zu ihm zu kehren.

(I love being a missionary! President Miles always says, “Isn’t it great to be on a mission?”, and I agree! I have learned so much and hope to learn much more. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us to learn all we need to know to return to Him.)

Liebe Grüße,

Eure Sister Stewart

To the mountains!

Hallo zusammen!

We are off to go hiking this week! Hopefully it will stop raining soon, but we are determined to go, rain or shine.

This week has been pretty good. We have been able to see some good progress with our investigators, but we also see them experience some really difficult things.

H, one of our investigators, quit smoking this week. To help her keep busy, we baked together on Thursday :) She is making progress but is going through a really stressful legal proceeding right now, so please keep her in your prayers.

We also met this week with one of the potential investigators we found on finding day! His name is Y and he is a student from China. We gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese and explained about how God is our Heavenly Father and he always sends us prophets to help us find the way. The best part of that lesson was when he said, "So prophets are God's representatives" Yes, he got it! We committed him to start reading the Book of Mormon and next time we will meet at the church and give him a tour of the building.

We also have another investigator, K, who is doing pretty well. He has come to a lot of JAE 

(Jungalleinstehende Erwachsene - Young Single Adults) activities and we had another appointment with him last night. Since he lives in the 1st ward, the Elders helped to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. We committed him to pray about it.

In my gospel study I have been reading the New Testament and I just reached the end of Matthew. I am always impressed by the Savior's words in the Garden of Gethsemane: “not my will but thine be done.” My wish is to strive to develop that same humility and trust in the Lord, where I can get to the point where I put aside my own will and completely devote myself to doing the Lord's will.

Tschüss! (Bye-Bye)

--Sister Stewart

Pfingsten (Pentecost)

Hallo zusammen!

Since we live in Bavaria, all the Catholic holidays are celebrated. This past weekend we had Pfingsten. Monday (today) is also a holiday, so the city is very quiet.

This past week we had Zone Conference! Even though I've been here for almost three transfers, this was my first one. We heard from our Zone Leaders, the Assistants, and President and Sister Miles. Some of the things we practiced were giving church tours, talking to people on the street and talking to people on trains. Every time I go to a meeting with the other missionaries, I realize just how much I have to learn. There are lots of things to learn and sometimes it seems overwhelming, but then I remember that God doesn't expect me to be perfect all at once.

Sister Roffler is doing great. I am so impressed at how well she (and Sister Behrndt before her) is adapting to missionary life without the MTC. Last week on the street she talked to a priest! It was funny because as she walked away (after he had declined her offer of a pass-along card) Sister Pingree and I told her how impressed we were at her courage. "Why?" she asked. "Because that was a priest!" "Ohhh, I didn't even realize that!"

K has been doing really well this week. We met with him on Tuesday and taught him about the Plan of Salvation. Then on Sunday he cooked Goulash for the Young Single Adults! He took extra care to find the freshest meat and vegetables available in Munich. He is so willing to help and loves to do things for people. I hope we can set a baptismal date with him this week.

A also came to church again on Sunday! He was so cute; he brought a bag packed with his song book, Book of Mormon, and Bible. Just adorable. We have another appointment with him and his mom this week.

As Munich moves into summer, I can't believe how fast time is going by. When I first arrived here, the streets were covered in snow. Now all the trees and bushes have leafed out, it hardly looks like the same city anymore. When Sister Pingree and I first got here, we were lucky to teach a couple of lessons a week. Now we have so many appointments we may have to start doing splits soon. Transfer calls are on Friday, I wonder if they will send me somewhere new!

One of the things I appreciate the most about missionary life is the opportunity we have every day to read in the scriptures. I know that once I return home, finding that time will not be as easy. I am so grateful that every day we have an hour to read. It really helps me to feel the Spirit and get the right focus for the day.

Diese Woche habe ich bemerkt, wie wichtig es ist, dass wir gute Leute in unserem Leben haben. Wir brauchen die gute Einfluss von gute Leute. Ich bin so dankbar, dass egal wo in der Welt ich bin, kann ich immer Leute finden, die glauben genau so wie mir. Zusammen können wir viel mehr erreichen als alleine, und wir brauchen einander um auf den Weg zu bleiben.

(This week I have learned how important it is to have righteous people in our life. We need their good influence. I am so thankful that no matter where I go in the world I can find people who see life the same way I do. Together we can do so much more than we could do separately and we need each other to stay on track.) 

Ich hab euch lieb! (I love you!)

Eure Sister Stewart

Bayern München lost

Hallo zusammen!

Wie geht's? Ich hoffe, dass es euch alles gut geht, und dass ihr nicht traurig seid, weil FC Bayern München die Finale veloren hat.

(How are you? I hope everything is well with you and that you are not sad because Bayern Munich lost in the final. --- Note Chelsea beat Bayern Munich for the Champion’s Cup in a penalty shootout on Saturday, May 19 in Munich.)

Maybe I'll just tell you about Sunday, because really, that was the most packed day this week.

Sunday morning we went to church early so we could meet A, the 11 year-old son of one of the less active sisters we visit. We were supposed to meet him in the U-Bahn, but we couldn't find him! Church was about to start so we just had to go and hope that he would be okay.

For the first hour I was in nursery, and then the next hour I went to Sunday School. And there sitting by Sister Pingree was K, one of our investigators! K is Hungarian and he spent most of Sunday School reading in Mosiah 18 :) Sister Pingree passed me a note that said "A is here!" Hooray! Apparently he came to the U-Bahn stop, but didn't see us, so he just starting to walk around and try to find the church. We walked through the neighborhood for a while before sitting down on the curb and giving up. Then he said a prayer and looked up and there was the church! Hooray for A!

Right before sacrament meeting started we got a phone call. Sister J and three of her daughters had come to church! She and her family lived in the US and had a lot of LDS friends there, and they really miss the sense of community. I sat with her and her kids during Sacrament meeting, which lasted an hour and a half! (Thirty minutes longer than normal!) That was really hard for H., the five year old. I had to pull out my origami making skills to keep her occupied.

After church was a ward potluck. Sister Roffler made Zopf, a type of Swiss bread---soooo tasty. Then after the potluck there was a triple baptism! An eight year-old boy from the ward, plus two convert baptisms, a mother and her son, were baptized. There were so many people they had to move the service from the baptismal room to the chapel.

After the baptism we ran out to meet H, our Moroccan investigator. She told us she wants to quit smoking! So we are going to start doing the Church's stop smoking program with her.

Sunday evening we went back to the church to make dinner for the young single adults with W, our Chinese investigator. We made Spinach lasagna and regular lasagna. It turned out great!

I totaled it up. On Sunday I spent 8.5 hours at the church.

Today we went to the zoo! It was perfect weather for it.

Ich bin so froh, auf Mission zu sein. Es gibt nirgendwo anders, dass ich lieber sein würde. Dies Woche habe ich bemerkt, wie schnell die Zeit vergeht. Ich habe gelernt, München und die Leute hier zu lieben. Dadurch spüren wir mehr von der Liebe Gottes in unser leben und lernen unser Himmlische Vater besser kennen.(Question=Mosiah 5:13  Answer=Mosiah 2:17)

(I am so happy to be on a mission. There's nowhere else I'd rather be. This week I noticed how quickly time passes. I've learned to love the people and Munich. I know that when we serve others, we learn to love them as our Heavenly Father loves them. As a result, we feel more of God's love in our life and come to know our Heavenly Father better.)

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Stewart

We just call ourselves the pre-MTC!

Grüezi!*

This week has been all sorts of crazy; let me tell you just how crazy-

Monday- We sent Sister Behrndt off to the airport and then did the rest of our P-Day activities in a zombie like state because of lack of sleep. That evening we contacted the J family, which were a referral from Mormon.org and set up an appointment with them for Friday.

Tuesday- We had District Meeting. After District Meeting, Sister Pingree and I went out to do some work but ended up sitting on a park bench for over an hour just calling people because we were so far behind. One of the calls we got was that we would be getting another companion! The mission office called us and told us that there was another Sister waiting for her visa to go to the US. She is Swiss and has been called to temple square. That evening we had a meal appointment with a member and then ward council.

Wednesday-We picked up an Apfelstrudel that one of the sisters in the ward made for another sister who just had a baby. We taught a lesson to A in the park. We ate lunch. We taught a lesson to K (with a member present!) and invited him to come to all the young single adult activities. We delivered the Apfelstrudel. We ate dinner. We taught Herr S (with another member present!) and then we came home.

Thursday- Was "Finding Day." All the missionaries in our mission spent all day Thursday out looking for people to teach. It was very, very hot. Sister Pingree and I worked hard, but did not see a lot of success. That evening we cleaned our apartment in preparation for our new companion.

Friday- We picked up Sister Roffler! We took her and her luggage home, ate some lunch, and then went to go meet a less active. Unfortunately that appointment fell through, BUT we met with Sister J (the woman from the mormon.org referral). She and her family moved to Munich in December from the US. She had lots of LDS friends there and they participated a lot in the ward, and she really misses it. We are going to start teaching her and her family and help them get integrated with the ward here. They're awesome :)

Saturday-We did weekly planning. Then we met with Maxi. Then we ate dinner. Then we went and visited P since she had the week off.

Sunday- I played in Nursery during church :) We did some study and then went to a member's house to eat dinner and call our families. Then we went to sleep.

Also keep in mind that all of these activities are spread out all over Munich, often travel time between appointments using public transportation can take around an hour.

I've been thinking a lot about sacrifice lately. When we sacrifice something, we give up something. But it's more than just that. Through the act of sacrifice, we have the opportunity to sanctify ourselves. When I first came on my mission, I viewed it as an opportunity for me to show Heavenly Father how much I love Him by giving up this time in my life to serve Him. And that's true, but it's much, much more than that. The Lord has given me this opportunity to sanctify myself through making the sacrifice. The saving act of the Atonement was the greatest sacrifice of all, so it makes sense that sacrifice is one of the most important tools Heavenly Father uses to help us become more like him.

I also thought of this quote from Joseph Smith (sorry I just have it in German, hopefully you can find it in English)--

"eine Religion, die nicht verlangt, dass man alles opfert, niemals genügend Macht hat, um den Glauben hervorzubringen, der zum Leben und zur Errettung notwendig ist."

(“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation”, Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith)

Ich weiss, dass wir auf diese Erde sind, um zu lernen wie wir zu unserem Himmlischen Vater zurückkehren können. Er hat den Weg vorbereitet, wir müssen es nur finden und dann darauf bleiben. Er erwartet von uns dass wir um Hilfe bitten, wenn wir sie brauchen. Er hat Menschen und Mittel für jeder einzelne von uns vorbereitet, die uns helfen kann, die richtige Entscheidungen zu treffen und das Rechte zu wählen.

(I know that we are here on earth to learn how to return to Heavenly Father. He has prepared a way, we just need to find it and stay on it. He expects us to ask for help when we need it. He has prepared other people and the means to help each of us make the right decisions and choose the right.)

Bis bald! Tschüss! (See you soon! Bye-bye!)

-Sister Stewart

*Swiss greeting. When Sister Roffler speaks Swiss German, I understand about 50% of what she says. Hopefully I will be able to learn some more.

We set a baptismal date :) Sister Behrndt left :(

Hallo liebe Familie und Freunde!

I apologize in advance if this e-mail is a bit loopy. Sister Behrndt got her visa in the mail on Saturday. We then thought she would be leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday, but President Miles called us yesterday and said she had a flight for this morning! So yesterday we had to scramble to get her packed and then take her to the airport this morning. I am a little tired. We were really sad to see her go, but we know she'll do great things in Salt Lake. She will be in the Provo Missionary Training Center for about a month and then she will be on Temple Square! So if anyone is in Salt Lake, look for her and tell her hi from me :)

This week we have been mostly focused on one person: M. We hadn't heard from him in a while, so we planned to call him on Wednesday to see how he was doing. But he called us before we had a chance and accused us of forgetting about him! We assured him we had not forgotten about him and set up an appointment for Thursday. We went over and taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end). At multiple points in the lesson, we would ask him questions and he would explain things with perfect understanding. Then he said "Oh, and I quit smoking. Since I've been meeting with you I’ve decided to put God first in my life. I prayed and asked him to help me. Since then every time I want to smoke I feel sick to my stomach. And I think next week I will give up drinking." We hadn't even gotten to teaching him about the word of wisdom (D&C 89) yet! I just cannot believe how prepared M is for the gospel. He also told us that normally he doesn't listen to people who want to talk to him about religion, but for some reason he decided he should meet with us. We just keep seeing miracle after miracle with him.

At the end of the lesson I asked him "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?" After we explained a little more about baptism, he said "When and where?" We told him the service would be at the church and then invited him to be baptized on June 2nd. And he accepted! There are four Sundays before that date, and in order to be baptized he has to come to church at least three times, so he can only miss once!

The problem is that he has no legal job, hence he does a lot of odd jobs to make money and he doesn't have enough money to buy the ticket he needs to get to church (church is in central Munich and he lives on the outskirts, it takes about an hour to get from his village to church with the S-Bahn). Since he speaks English and will be going to the international ward, we called the Elders from that ward to help us. The solution they came up with was that they would go out to where M lives and then take him to church with them on their ticket. When we called M on Saturday night to confirm he was still at work and said we wouldn't be home until late and he said "That is very early for me, but I will try." I don't think I've ever been as stressed as I was Saturday night and Sunday morning worrying about whether the Elders were able to meet M, whether M decided to come to church, whether everything went all right.... It was very unpleasant not to really know what was going on!

Luckily on Sunday afternoon we talked to the Elders and M and everything worked out! M said church was "marvelous." Now we just have to get him ready to be baptized!

Other than that we gave out a lot of Books of Mormon this week and talked to a lot of people. Many of our appointments cancelled on us which is always unfortunate, but this week is a new week!

Random notes-
-Like Sister Caramella, I think I am also getting a Mary Jane tan on my feet
-I wish all my skirts had pockets. I have two skirts and a dress with pockets, but it is very annoying not always having jacket pockets to put things in now that the weather is warmer
-W, our Chinese investigator, had us over for dinner and I got to eat with chopsticks. It made me very happy :)
-H, our Moroccan investigator, found a used Deuter backpack (the same brand I have) for 2 Euro. Can I take her shopping with me?

There are so many other things that happened this week, but I cannot get my brain to put them into words.

Ich weiß, dass Himmlische Vater all seine Kinder könnt. Ich hoffe, Ich can ein Werkzeug in seine Hände sein, um seine Kinder zu segnen.

(I know that Heavenly Father knows all of his children. I hope that I can be a tool in his hands to bless his children.)

Ich wünsche euch alles gute!
(I wish you all the best!)

-Sister Stewart