Sleepovers, Raw Meat, and Pioneer Day

Meine Familie,

So happy Pioneer Day everyone!  The German celebrations were lacking but the missionaries worked hard to keep the spirit alive :)

So guess what today is?? It is July 29,2013.  That is my year-to-go mark.  Yup!  I will be flying home on this day in 2014.  I have exactly 365 days left as Sister Brown in Germany.  There's a crazy thought for you!

Adventures, Adventures this week!

Yesterday we found out we couldn't use the water in our apartment for the weekend because the pipes are clogged.  The repair man is coming sometime later today but that meant no toilet or showers or sinks. 

So we spent the night at the church.  It was a little Sister sleepover in the primary room.  

It got kind of spooky when we turned out all of the lights.  Especially because the Elders had called to tell us scary ghost stories to freak us out.  We survived the night though and hopefully will have water in our apartment soon!

This week A**** came back to church.  It was so fun to see her again.  She had a great time at the youth camp.  Our branch president told us that she even got up and said some things at the closing testimony meeting.  I think that was a really great experience for her.  She has really started opening up to us and I think she trusts us. Sometimes we just talk about her cat or her boyfriend but other times we talk about her mom who recently passed away or her relationship with God.  We are making progress there.  My hope is that we can help her realize how much the gospel can help her.  She is having a hard time right now but things like prayer, scripture study, priesthood blessings, and knowledge of the Plan of Salvation could really help her a lot.  So that's our sweet A****!

We also met again with Frau H******.  She is solid.  She has been reading in the Book of Mormon almost every day.  Her problem is she likes to do the whole "flip open to a random page and begin" method and then she gets confused on what is going on.  She has really good questions though and she is really interested to learn more.  When we went over this week she fed us and then showed us her Siamese cats and Guinea pigs.  Sister O. was all over that.  She also has artwork all over from her late husband.  He was an amazing artist.  She mentioned wanting to photograph all of the paintings and put them into some kind of album but she wasn't sure how to do it.  We offered to help and I am pretty excited.  There are few things I like more than a good project!

We also had an appointment with Frau K******.  It was after district meeting and we were so pumped.  We brought along a member because she wanted to receive a blessing.  She had even called us earlier in the week and told us she had been reading.  She NEVER reads! Ever. So that was really good news.  We were seriously ready to set a baptism date.  And guess what?!?  She wasn't home.  No answer on the klingel, no answer at the door, and no answer on the phone.  We still haven't been able to have contact.  It is crazy.  She never falls out of appointments.  So this week we are hoping to catch back up with her.  She is getting so close!

I went on Tausch this week with Sister Fugal in Hannover.  That was full of adventures too.  There was a huge storm while we were on the train going to Hannover.  

A tree ended up falling on the road and bahn tracks right outside their apartment.  

The workers had the sidewalks and everything totally blocked off.  We couldn't even get in the building.  So we had to be super sneaky and walk all the way around a few blocks and creep in a back way.  

Then in the morning we helped a less active family move.  I have helped a lot of moves so far on my mission. It is always amazing that no members ever live on the first floor.  We ended up hauling stuff down to the cars and sweating our little faces off.  Within the first 5 minutes we were all dripping.  There's German humidity for you.  When we were done though they gave us some breakfast.  It was just all laid out on the table.  The Elders gave me a bread with some pink stuff on the top.  I started eating it and was informed that it was like raw hamburger meat spread stuff.  It didn't really taste too bad but the texture was nice and slimy and just knowing what it was didn't help.  Thanks Elders!!  They all just laughed and took pictures.  We totally schaffed it though. Pray 'n Chew!!!

I had a cool experience this week with German.  We were just talking with a member and it just hit me that I could understand what they were saying and then say stuff back.  It was one of those weird moments where I was there but it felt like I was just watching it.  I flashed back to the MTC when I walked in those doors speaking NO German at all.  It is so amazing to think how far I have come and what miracles the Lord can work with his missionaries.  

So that was this week!

Hope everyone has another fun summer week as we head into August.  Crazy!!!!

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Brown

Krank (sick)

 Recording weekly numbers