Get ready to train again!

Hello everybody! 

First a piece of news: we got our transfer calls! Sister Ackerman is going to Graz and I am staying here and training a brand new missionary! That means I will be here at least until May. Who knows I may stay in Göppingen until I go home in July! It will be interesting to see what happens as we get more and more new missionaries in the coming months. Because there are so many new missionaries coming this transfer, the mission home doesn't have space to host all the trainers, so we will just be meeting the new missionaries in Stuttgart. So I don't get to go to Munich, which is a little sad, but I am so excited to meet my new companion and to help her get her mission started off right :)

Funny story: Sister Ackerman LOVES German potato salad (Kartoffelsalat) with an undying, passionate love. Since she is getting transferred, the members want to have here over to eat one last time, and they asked her what she wanted to eat. She said: Kartoffelsalat! So this week we are having Kartoffelsalat at least two days in a row.   I am sure it will make Sister Ackerman very, very happy.

Last week we had a little bit of a rough time on Wednesday.  For some reason or other we were just a little sad. But then I remembered what my mission prep teacher taught us about overcoming sadness. One of his tips: count your blessings! So while we were tracting, we started playing the "Grateful Game" We took turns naming categories and then the other person had to name 10 things in that category they were grateful for. For example "Name 10 living people you are grateful for" "Name 10 foods you are grateful for" "Name 10 prophets you are grateful for" and one of my personal favorites "Name 10 smells you are grateful for." We hadn't been playing very long before we were both smiling and laughing again. Try out the "Grateful Game!" It will put a smile on your face, guaranteed.

We had lots of good lessons last week. We met with J again. He hadn't had time to really read in the Book of Mormon :( He still has lots of questions, though which we are looking forward to answering. We also met with Frau S and talked a lot about love, which is always one of my favorite things to talk about. 

This past week we had some training from our Zone Leaders, and one of the things they talked about was Virtue. They made the analogy that we need to be like a river, not a pond. When bad thoughts come, we need to just wash them out with good clean thoughts, like a river, and not let them stagnate in icky water, like a pond. I liked that and have been trying to keep good thoughts filtering through my mind all week, hopefully they wash out some of the not so good thoughts. 

Ich weiß, dass das Buch Mormon wahr ist. Ich lese jeden Tag darin, und darin Tag lerne ich etwas neues. Es ist für uns geschrieben, damit wir lernen können. Ich bin so dankbar, dass ich auf Mission bin und dieses Buch mit anderen Menschen teilen darf.

( I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I read it every day and every day I learn something new. It is written for us, for us to learn. I am so thankful that I am on a mission and can share this book with others.)

Ich hab euch liebe! Mach's gut!

(I love you! Take care!)

--Sister Stewart

To Stuttgart!

So, the past few weeks it seems like we have spent a lot of time in Stuttgart. We have gone twice for P-Day, once for Stake Conference, once for Zone Conference, and we will be going again tomorrow for another training meeting. It has been fun to be back in the "big city." 

The past week was pretty great. The weather was WARM. There were some days we didn't even need jackets! I am certain that March will get cold again, but it was nice to have a little break from winter over the past week. 

Tuesday was Zone Conference. We learned a LOT about member missionary work. We practiced a lot helping members to do missionary work, so hopefully we will be able to implement our new skills here in Göppingen. 

On Wednesday we were able to meet with J again! He had read in the Book of Mormon! He talked about how important his family is to him. When we asked him why he decided to meet with us, one of the first things he said was "Well, you're American!" Fair enough :) I think he misses home. His family, especially his grandma, gave him a really solid religious foundation in his life, but I think he has lost sight of that a little bit. He loves baseball and spends a lot of time playing/reffing in various places, so when spring comes I am sure we will have a harder time nailing him down for appointments. 

Saturday was the big cleaning day in the mission. All the missionaries were instructed to not schedule appointments and to just spend the day cleaning out their apartments. Sister Ackerman and I scrubbed and scrubbed, and now the place is sparkling clean. The one thing we have left is the basement storage unit, basically anything we didn't know what to do with we stuck down there... Hopefully though some of the members will be able to help us cart things away. At least for now everything is out of sight :) 

On Sunday we went over to a nursing home to visit some of the older sisters that live there. That was a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I think we will try and get over there about once a month or so. 

This past week Sister Ackerman really helped me to understand something. Hopefully I can express it well without it getting too muddled. It is something that I have heard a lot, but that I have never really understood with my heart. In this life, we are all given trials and problems. Some of us have the tendency to lean towards committing certain sins, some of us never have a problem with those things. Sometimes I feel like my testimony came "too easy." Because I have watched others struggle with things that I never really had a problem with, I wonder sometimes if I really "worked hard enough" to gain my testimony. But you know what? That's false! As mom wrote me recently "Fair does not always mean equal." God is perfectly fair. He gives us the experiences we need in our lives to learn and grow. Because we are all different, those experiences will be vastly different and may look unequal to our mortal eyes, but it doesn't mean that we don't learn as much as others. God treats us all with fairness, because He loves us! 

Ich weiß, dass ich an der richtige Ort bin, wo Gott mich haben will. Ich weiß, dass wenn wir einfach auf Gott vertrauen, wenn wir beten und in den Schriften lesen, können wir nicht fallen.

(I know that I am where God wants me to be. I know that if we simply trust in God when we pray and read the scriptures we can’t fail.) 

Ich hab euch lieb! (I love you!)

--Sister Stewart

God lives.

Hello everybody!

Last Monday we had Family Home Evening with one of the member families in our branch. The dad gave us an "almost" referral, he has a friend he wants us to go visit, but he couldn't remember the address :) 

On Tuesday we were trying to visit a couple less active members in one of the nearby towns. However, we got very, very lost. On the map it looked like the streets connected, but in real life that was not so much the case. So we were about to turn around and go back to the main area of town when I had the feeling we should ring the door bells of the houses in that neighborhood. So that's what we did. We found an American! His name is J, he was telling us how he used to go to church in the US but since moving to Germany hasn't really found a church to go to. We gave him a Book of Mormon and we are going to go by again on Wednesday! That evening we had an appointment with A, who is from Afghanistan. The list of countries from which my investigators come from is just getting longer! It now includes Afghanistan, Nepal, China, Poland, Italy, Columbia, the U.S. and Nigeria, and that's not all! Oh, I have also taught a few people that are actually German :)

We did an Autausch (Exchange) this week! I went to go work in Pforzheim with Sister Garrett! It was a lot of fun. It is always a treat to go to another city and just do missionary work without worrying about all the other stuff. It was almost like a little vacation. We found three people that were interested. They all lived at house number 10, just on different streets :)

Yesterday was Stake Conference. It was held in the stake center in Stuttgart. It basically looks like any of the churches I grew up with back in the states, which is super weird. The talks were great. The funny thing is we will be going to Stuttgart today for P-Day and then again tomorrow for Zone Conference! Three days in a row! 

This transfer is one week shorter than normal, which means we will be getting our transfer calls on March 15 and transfers will then take place the following week. Crazy! Sister Pingree, my trainer, goes home this transfer! Our mission is getting 14 new sisters and only 2 are going home (or so I've heard), so the likelihood is high that I will be training sometime in the very near future.

I have been thinking lately about "knowing" versus "believing." We were doing a role play and one of the Elders said "I know God is there. It's just true. Just like the table is there, God is there." There are some things that I have to rely on my faith for, some things that I just have to believe for now because I can't see them from my earthly perspective. But there are other things that I just KNOW. I can't really explain it, but I could never deny the fact that God is there.

Ich weiß, dass Gott da ist und das er uns liebt. Davon bin ich überzeugt. Egal was kommt, ich weiß es.

(I know that God is there and that he loves us. This I know for sure. Whatever happens, I will still know it.) 

Tschüss! Bis später! (Bye-Bye, Later)

--Sister Stewart

God cares enough to make snowflakes

Hello everybody! 

This past week has been great!

We met this week with Frau S, who is what we like to call an "eternal investigator." She has been meeting on and off with missionaries for about 8 years. We had a really great lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation, she basically taught it to us. She has starting reading again in the Book of Mormon; right now she is in Alma and LOVES it.

We also met with R, who is Italian! She talks A LOT, but this time when we met with her we actually were able to keep the conversation centered on the gospel :) She has seen answers to her prayers in the past and we talked about how God shows His love for us. Her problem is she doesn't really like Germany, and says she never feels loved here, that it is a cold, unfriendly place in comparison with Italy. Well, hopefully as she learns more about the gospel she will see that it doesn't matter what country you live in or what language you speak, God's love is available to everybody!

This past week we have been visiting a lot of the older sisters in our ward. We try to make the rounds as often as possible. There are lots of older divorced/widowed sisters that just need a little extra love. They always have stories to share and I love learning from them. Sister B, one sister who we visit every week, made me a scarf :) She knits all the time and so I just asked her if she could make me a scarf and she said sure! (You never know until you ask!). We did an activity with the Relief Society this past week where we knitted together. It reminded me how much I like to knit. Now I have a little ball of yarn and some needles so I can practice :)

The weather has been cold, cold, cold and we are still getting snow. The other day when Sister Ackerman and I were out ringing door bells I was looking at the snowflakes. As the flakes landed on our black coats and on mailboxes and railings I could see how every single little tiny flake had an intricate crystal structure. No two were alike. Then I started thinking about how many billions of snowflakes were around us at that moment. I thought about how these little crystals just fall from the sky and pile up on top of each other forming piles of snow that then have to be shoveled off sidewalks and plowed from streets. But God cares enough to make each snowflake beautiful. He cares enough to make them all different from each other. We are talking billions and billions of snowflakes! If God cares that much about snowflakes, just imagine how much more He cares about us!

So even though the weather is cold and I am looking forward to the end of winter, the snowflakes taught me an important lesson :) 

Ich bin dankbar für meinen Erlöser, Jesus Christus. Er ist das Licht, das uns den Weg zeigt. Wenn wir ihm folgen, können wir nichts irren.

(I am thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the light showing us the way. When we follow we can’t be wrong.)

Ich wünsche euch eine schöne Woche! Tschüss! (I wish you all a wonderful week! Bye-bye!)

--Sister Stewart 

February is a very short month

So today we had lunch with one of the members and then afterwards she basically kidnapped us and took us to some outlet stores, including Lindt and Gummi Bear Land. Oh it was so much fun. Needless to say, today I consumed far too much sugar. Also, in the last week I have baked brownies twice and cookies once (they were all for other people, I promise!)

This past week was pretty great. Sometimes the days just run together, but I try to separate them out again when I get to e-mail time.

Monday- We went to our Branch President's house for his birthday.

Tuesday- We had District Meeting and then "Area Book Finding." President Miles has decided we need to clean up our records and really go through them and see who we can contact. So that involved sifting through a lot of papers, trying to decipher handwriting (sometimes it was so bad I couldn't even tell if they were writing in German or English...) and then calling people up on the phone. Definitely a different kind of missionary work than I'm used to.

Wednesday- We did lots of tracting. Not much success numbers wise. BUT that morning we were walking through a nearby Dorf when we saw someone jogging down the streets toward us, wearing black leggings, a black long sleeve shirt, and a black hood. When he got closer, he said "Sisters! Hello!" It was B. W., one of the members! What is funnier is that he was about 10 kilometers from his home, just jogging to work! 

Saturday- We went out to Heidenheim, a city that is in our area but is 1 hour and a half away by train. Except for now they are doing construction on the train tracks, so to get there instead of taking two trains we took two trains and a bus and it took half an hour longer. So fun.

This past week I have learned (again) the value of prayer, of really pouring our hearts out to Heavenly Father and telling Him what we need. We never know what He is willing to give us until we just ask! He is waiting and willing to answer us if we will just get down on our knees and ask Him. I know He is always there for us. 

Ich weiß, dass es die richtige Entscheidung war, auf Mission zu kommen. Es ist nicht immer leicht, und ich weiß, dass ich viele Fehler mache. Aber ich weiß, dass mein Himmlische Vater mich trotz meinen Schwächen liebt. Er ist immer bereit, mir zu helfen. Er kennt meine Potential, deshalb hilft er mir, mich zu verbessern. Ich bin einfach dankbar für die Dinge die ich auf Mission gelernt habe und die ich immer noch lernen werde.

(I know that I made the right decision to come on a mission. It is not always easy and I know that I make many mistakes. However, I also know that my Heavenly Father loves me despite my weaknesses. He is always willing to help me. He knows my potential which helps me to improve myself. I am thankful for the things I have learned in the mission field and I am still learning.) 

Mach's gut! Ich hab euch lieb! (Take care, I love you!)

--Sister Stewart

Less effective versus effective

Sometimes you have weeks that could be seen as less effective. But I think it's mostly in our attitudes, whether we look back on the week and say "Wow, we hardly accomplished any of our goals, that stinks" or we look back and say "I really learned a lot last week, I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here." To be effective and successful missionaries, all we have to do is be obedient and give our all to the work. That's the secret.

This past week we were both sick at one point or another. I had a nasty cold (I'm still getting over it). Just as I was starting to feel better, Sister Ackerman got sick as well (luckily not with the same cold). She was so sick she really couldn't focus on hardly anything, not even to read. We called the Elders from Ulm to come and give her a blessing. It was amazing: as soon as they put their hands on her head, she calmed right down. I could see the priesthood really WORK.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how God really is our Heavenly Father (check out this video, its awesome). He sent us here to this earth and has given us everything we need to succeed. We only see a tiny little sliver of His plan for us. But just like our fathers here on earth, He knows what we can become, He knows where this all is going. I think there is a lot to be learned about God in our family relationships, there is a lot more of the divine in our everyday lives than we sometimes realize. There is a lot to be learned in the little moments that make up each day.

Sorry this e-mail is more on the philosophical side. Here are some random tidbits from our week-

-The Elders in our district really like McDonalds for some reasons, we eat there a lot after district meeting. Not this week, however! We will be making pasta :)

-We went to visit a less active family on Saturday and she fed us big plates full of rice, just a few hours after we had eaten lunch, and then we went to another appointment and got fed a really tasty yogurt dessert. Needless to say, we did not eat dinner that night.

-This past week was interviews with President Miles. We are getting lots of sisters soon! Somehow I get the feeling that I may be whitewashing/training pretty soon...

-Transfer calls were on Friday- Sister Ackerman and I are staying! This transfer will only be 5 weeks long as opposed to 6

-We went to visit one of the less active sisters in our ward with her home teacher. Turns out her washing machine is broken. And by broken I mean there was a flood of water in her kitchen, luckily we cleaned it right up, so no damage done

-The weather goes up and down, we get tons of snow then it warms up and the snow melts and then we get snow again. Winter is really holding on tight! 

Ich liebe meinen Himmlische Vater und seinen Sohn Jesus Christus. Ich versuche diesen Monat, mehr über Hoffnung zu lernen, und wie ich mehr Hoffnung entwickeln kann. Ich mag Römer 15:4, die sagt, dass wir durch die Schriften Hoffnung bekommen können. Die Schriften habe mir Hoffnung gegeben, und ich werde sie weiterhin lesen demit ich einen "vollkommenen Glanz der Hoffnung" erlangen kann (2 Nephi 31:20).

 (I love my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I have tried to become more hopeful this week. I like the passage Romans 15:4 which states that we can have more hope through the scriptures. The scriptures have given me hope and I will continue to read to develop a “brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20.)

Ich liebe euch! Mach's gut!

(I love you, take care)

--Sister Stewart

Es ist wieder Februar :) (It’s February again!)

Hallo!

Well, it is officially February again. This coming week will mark one year since I have been in Germany. And the weather is right back where it started :) Luckily it isn't quite as cold as my first few weeks in Munich, but we shall see what the rest of February has to offer :) 

This past week we tried our best, but sometimes other things get in the way. But you know what? I'm not even mad about that. I know that the work is WORK and that it goes through ups and downs. I did gain a stronger testimony this week of that fact that God is always looking out for us, no matter what.

I think I told you last week that I lost my planner. Well we are on a roll because this week Sister Ackerman left her backpack at the train station. She realized just as the train doors were closing and she watched it as the train pulled away from the station. We called a member who lives near the station to run and see if it was still there, but it was gone by the time she got there. We got out at the next town, but since it was Saturday, there were no trains back for the next 45 minutes. It was really sad, because Sister Ackerman's scriptures, wallet, and camera were in there. The office at the train station was closed (it being Saturday, Germans really take weekends seriously). The saddest part was losing the scriptures and the memory card in the camera that had all the photos on it. When we went to church on Sunday the members were so sweet and offered lots of help, but Sister Ackerman was still feeling down in the dumps. We had lunch after church with one of the families from the ward, and that was fun and helped to cheer her up a little. Right after we left their house, we looked at our phone and saw that we had 3 missed calls from our ward mission leader. Turns out someone had called the branch president (whose number was on a home teaching list in the backpack) who then called the ward mission leader, who called us. The backpack was found! A man found it at the train station and since the office was closed, he took it home and looked to see if there was contact information inside. We met his wife at the train station (she drove in from a dorf outside Göppingen, how nice is that!) and she gave Sister Ackerman the backpack with everything, money and all, inside! It was awesome! It turned a sad day into a miracle day. We will have to do something to thank them. 

I am really enjoying being on a mission right now. I think this past week I was realized anew how important it is that I really give my all. Ultimately, that's the only thing that I can control. As Preach My Gospel teaches us, our success as a missionary really in based not on numbers, but on our commitment to the work. So, I am determined to be a committed missionary. 

Ich liebe meinen Himmlische Vater. Ich werde an ihm festhalten, wie Jakob es sagt (Jacob 6:5). Manchmal fühlen wir uns allein, aber wir sind nie allein. Er ist immer da. Das weiß ích.

(I love my Heavenly Father. I will cleave unto him as Jacob teaches (Jacob 6:5). Sometimes we feel alone, but we never are. He is always there. This I know.) 

Bis nächste Woche! Mach's gut!
(Till next week! Take care!)

--Sister Stewart