We are the Champions!!

Enough said.

Last night was CRAZY!  I can't even tell you. The game started after our curfew so we weren't able to watch it, but we got permission to watch it today!

We put on our jerseys and pajama pants and laid in our beds and "listened" to the game.  Between the neighbors yelling and the texts we were getting from  members we were able to follow the game pretty well.  We had pieced together  that it was going into over time and that no one had scored.  Then Germany scored. 

Sirens, yelling, music, fireworks, cheering, horns honking, bells, and all other manner of loud obnoxious noise making ensued for the next hours.  

It was crazier than New Years.  

Germany is a whole new place.  Everyone is SO happy.  We just need to hurry and bring them all the gospel before it goes away.  "Hey do you want to be this happy ALL the time?? Let us tell you about Jesus!"

What else happened this week??

um.....

We were supposed to have an appointment with a man at the church.  We waited and waited and then prayed that he would remember and come.  5 minutes later he came bouncing up the stairs.  

Prayer works!

A sister shared a story in sacrament meeting yesterday about the skaters in the east during DDR times and how people in the west would smuggle old boards in for them to use.  Who knew?

And then Germany won the world cup!

it was a good week
love you all
love,

Sister Brown

Pday at the Leipzig Zoo

 Hippos??

Rot Schwarz Gold

just kidding.  

this week it was red white and blue!

the problem was that germany played france on the 4th of july so that wasn't the most popular color combo around here... :)

here is a cool story from this week:

We had an experiance this week teaching our Indian family again.  This time we were teaching the grandma R.  We wanted to talk about God.  So we asked her some questions to find out what she believed.  Then we started to explain what God was and our relationship to Him.  She seemed to be understanding that He is our Heavenly Father.  Then we went on to explain that he loves and blesses us and that he is all powerful.  She had some  questions about the creation.  We explained that God and Christ created the people and the earth and the animals and the plants and the heavens.  She didnt understand the concept of heaven.  We tried our best to explain but she wasn't completely understanding.  

Then we had some inspiration!

The scripture story of Ammon teaching King Lamoni came to our minds becuase we had just studied it.   We turned to that chapter and were able to read together.  She understands better when we read straight from the book of mormon becuase it is in Hindi.  So she was able to understand it a lot better.  It was more clear and it bore testimony and backed up the converstaion we had just had. 

There is power in teaching with the scriptures!

24 And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?

 25 And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.

 26 And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?

 27 And he said, Yea.

 28 And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?

 29 And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.

 30 And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.

 31 And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth?

 32 And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning.

 33 And king Lamoni said: I believe all these things which thou hast spoken. Art thou sent from God?

 34 Ammon said unto him: I am a man; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true;

 35 And a portion of that Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God.

Sister Jensen wanted to go meet our neighbors.  So we made them cookies and took them around to the people in our house.  We must have picked a bad time becuase not many were home.  We just left the cookies on their doorstep becuase we had other things to do.  

the next morning we had a little sticky note on our mailbox thanking us for the "bagels".

We laughed so hard!

love you all!

have a good week and cheer for Germany!! 

Love,

Sister Brown

Fourth of July:

Singing patriotic songs

Playing chubby bunny. The germans had a hard time saying chubby bunny even before they had a mouthful of marshmallows. it was wonderful

 Smores

The Rainbow Connection

Family

So this week we saw a cool rainbow.

We also saw some miracles.

Our investigator M H came to church with her husband and N, the less active we are working with, brought two friends to church as well.  After church, S, the Elder's investigator, was baptized.  He had invited TONS of friends so we also met lots of new contacts there.  Lots of people coming closer to Christ at church!

We also found a "giving shelf" by the church. It is basically a bookshelf on the sidewalk where people can take or leave random unwatned objects.  It is a treasure trove.  We wrote our testimonies in a copy of the Book of Mormon and left it there.  We went back two days later and it was already gone!  We are excited to go put another one back and just keep praying that they will get to the people who need them most.

Sister Jensen and I played "I need thee every hour" in church and at the baptism yesterday.  That was another miracle.  It was just a miracle that I had a companion to do the musical number with.  We had made plans to do something with the other sisters and then they got transfered.  I had no idea what to do. Then came sister Jensen, who just happens to be a violin whiz!

We had crazy adventures tracking down a functioning violin for sister jensen and then we didnt really have practice time but it all worked out really well.  

We visited some less actives, celebrated a member's birthday, talked to people in bahns, and taught some practice first lessons with members.

It was a good week.

Ich hab euch Lieb!

Alles Gute

Sister Brown

So here is my new companion. 

 

Her name is Sister Jensen.  She is from Rochester New York and is barely 19.  She is wonderful and I love serving with her.  She is just so excited to work.  She wants to share the gospel with every single person that we see. 

 

She is very brave when we talk with people on the street and has great ideas about how we can find new investigators.  She won't sit next to me on the bahns and always looks for an empty seat next to someone so she can start up a conversation with them.  Then I find someone else to sit by and we do twice the missionary work :)

The very first question she asked me as we were getting on the train was what the plan was to do missionary work as we drove.  :)  We sat in a 4 seater and soon a man came and sat by us and that was that.  We talked for the next hour with him about the gospel.  

When we start these converstaions we never start out with the church. We  dont use our street contacting or dooring approaches.  No! We just sit down and talk with people.  The cool part is that it ALWAYS comes right back to the gospel.  It always amazes me how quick it happens.

"hey we are new in Leipzig and are wondering if there is anything that we should see while we are here." 

"You should see the zoo and the denkmal and Thomas Kirche.  What are you doing in Leipzig?"

"hey I am learning german can you tell me what _________ means?"

"yeah of course!  It means_________ . Are you studying here in Leipzig?"

so there's that.  just sharing the gospel.  in german.  

love you all

love,

Sister Brown

#sisterproblems

This week I encountered that awkward moment when your DL gives you half a dozen red roses....

#sisterproblems

others include:

Getting a run in your nylons the first time you put them on.

Walking around on a windy day without flashing the entire city "garm alarms".

Awaiting the inevitable phone call to bring cookies to every missionary meeting ever.

Remembering what you wore last Sunday so the ward doesn't think you only have one outfit.

Figuring out how to wear a name tag and a shoulder bag on the same side.

Having to sit modestly because you are never in pants.

Layering leggings, two pairs of tights, thermals, and socks, all under a skirt in the winter.

Always losing keys, planners, phones, cards, and books in the black hole of a sister missionary bag.

Minimizing the appearance of the food baby after member appointments.

Creatively organizing combos of the same cardigans and skirts to get something you havent worn 70 times.

Calculating how 30 minutes of sport at 6:30 in the morning is supposed to combat the chocolate, eis, and döners. 6 months to sexy? try 6 years...

Deciding how many days without shaving is acceptable.... we are in Europe...

Walking around all day with a hand full of cards because of  a lack of pockets.

Answering the question, "How much clear nail polish can I paint on my nylons before they need to be thrown away?"

Enduring interrogations from members and others (president kosak) about elder crushes.

Deciding how many days in a row you can get away with wearing your favorite skirt.

Strategically planning what to wear to mission meetings where photos will be taken so your family and the mission wont think you only have one skirt.

Riding a bike in a skirt.

So there goes all my email time :)

Have a good week!

Love you all

Love,

Sister Brown

I found out this week that I will be TRAINING!!

I am SOO excited.

Miracles in Leipzig!!!

I have a video of it ,but too big to send

so here is a pic:

Email from a Cool Sister

Family,

This week there was a Gothic Fest here in Leipzig.  I have seen SO many weird things.  NO.  Weird doesnt even begin to describe it. My little pre-mish Utah County mind couldn't have even fathomed the strangeness going on here.   We can just say there was never a dull moment street contacting this weekend...

We also did some service in a garden.  I got to mow the lawn.  When Gracie was little we had a little plastic toy lawn mower.  The lawn mower I was using this week was about as big, sturdy, and powerful as that backyard toy one.  Plus here the lawn mowers are plugged in.  So I had to go find a socket and then watch carefully that I didnt mow over the power cord.  It was basically like vacuming the grass.

We taught our English class nursery rhymes this week.  They had asked about them a week before so we decided this week we could give it a try.  The problem was trying to remember them all.  My comp is Danish so she didn't know nursery rhymes.  I had to dig deep into my kindergarten memory and back to our Mother Goose CD ROM.  I was able to remember a lot and we shared them with the class and then took turns writing our own.   It ended up being a lot of fun.  

We went on a secret stalking mission this week too.  We have been going throught the ward list and going by everyone that we dont know.  For the most part the addresses are wrong or they dont want contact with the church.  We had gotten it down to just a few names.  There was one Schwester S who we just had a street for.  No house number.  We felt like we should try to find her, so we prayed about it and then set off.  We found the street and just started on one end looking at all the klingels searchign for her name. 

We ended up finding it and she was home and let us in.  We had a wonderful visit.  She was so happy that we came by and we made out another appointment.  Miracles!

We also had a big meeting in Dresden this week.  Once again, I came back with a bag full of post and packages.  Thanks so much for all of the fun post!  I appreciate the love and support.  

I hope you all have a warm summery sunny week! 

Love you all

Love,

Sister Brown

(A Cool Sister)

The picture is of a letter I got from the bishop's daughter on Sunday.

Sister O came back to Germany and came to visit!!

 Sharing hand sanitizer with all the kids. Thanks Bath and Body Works :)

 I bought sandals last pday and then it rained ALL week...

Ich hab' euch Lieb!

Sister Brown

Pusteblumen

Helping alter this dress:

Sister Brown has some mad sewing skills

BE KIND

Family,

I heard from G and B this week. They are both doing well.  B just finished sewing a new skirt to wear to church and gave her first talk in sacrament meeting.  It was on following the prophet.  G just got to watch general conference and told me that he loved it.  He is still meeting with the elders in Rwanda as they teach his family. 

This week there was a ward sport activity.  We went with the Elders and some investigators.  We ended up playing volleyball and grilling.  It was a lot of fun, but got pretty intense.  The old German men of the ward were taking the game so seriously.  It was CRAZY!!  German swear words were flying, but then we were tied at 21 and the german words just didnt suffice, so the English ones were brought in. 

I decided to  remove myself and took a drink break when Lili, a four year old primary kid, came up with two dead baby moles on a paper plate.  I flipped.  It scared me so bad. I just reach for the apple juice and BAM there are dead baby moles in my face.  It was quite alarming. 

She told me not to worry because they weren't "echt" and they couldn't run anymore.  I worried anyways. 

We also had a good ZTM meeting, some good service projects, and a successful English class.

Dienst mit Dürrs (service with Durrs)

It was a good week.

Have a great warm sunny week in America!

I love you all

Love

Sister Brown

MTC comp reunion

 MTC reunion at ZTM

Elder Matthews

Elder Bingham

Sister Champenois

Sister Brown

Sister Hansen 

A Real Email

Meine liebe Familie,

Yesterday was amazing.  How could it not have been?  We got to SKYPE!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my sweet family and it was so fun to get to see them and talk with them.

We met K and M this week.  They are a young married couple.  Through a bunch of "coincidences" we ended up at the RIZ together and we taught him. He started out by telling us they were atheist and do not believe in God. Like we haven't heard that before...

We talked about God and shared with him what we believe. We shared that through prayer, we can all have our own relationships with Him. It was a really powerful lesson and the Spirit was there so strong.
At the end of the lesson we invited M to pray for us. He wasn't sure at first if it would work. Then his friend who introduced him to us bore his testimony. It was so powerful coming from his friend. Then M prayed. He told God he was thankful that He is there and that he now has the opportunity to learn more about him. He told us after the prayer that he felt really good. He just kept telling us how he never ever thought he could talk with God. 

We made an appointment and met yesterday with him and his wife. We taught about the restoration. They had kept their commitments to read the BOM introduction and had prayed alone and together. They told us how good and happy it was making them. M told us that he just keeps thinking about it and wants to know more.
We committed them to baptism and they both accepted.

It was one of the coolest appointments of my mission. 

It is really amazing to see the change that the Spirit and the gospel can make.Three days ago these two were atheist and now they are reading scripture and praying and want to follow Christ and be baptized.
It is watching transformations like that that make me love being a missionary!

English class is still going well. We have found some new students recently.   We made it a goal this transfer to invite all of our students personally to take the lessons and give each of them a Book of Mormon.  R said she would invite us over next week and U brings her book every  single week to class and marks what we talk about.  The other sisters are still meeting with T and he went to church this past week.

So there you have it. 
I just completed a real email. 

Have a good week okay?!

Lots of love!

Sister Brown

PS this week ritter sport AND milka were on sale.  WHAT!?!?! 

PPS The grocery store we go to gives little stickers or prizes for every 5 euro that you spend.  Today we got WORLD CUP trading cards.  We are SO ready!!!!!