Ein gutes neues Jahr

We have been on our mission for one month already! I can't believe it. Time certainly does fly on wings of lightning. It seems like we have spent a lot of our time here so far taking care of all the "nuts and bolts". They are all things we need to do but aren't very exciting; getting the internet hooked up in our apartment, getting our i-phone set up (still haven't been able to get that accomplished), turn in our Visa papers, get a German bank account, arrange to have some things fixed in our apartment that don't work or need to be replaced (still working on those) and STILL trying to figure out how to dispose of things here. Over the years of Senior Couples living here, the apartment has accumulated a lot of miscellaneous stuff/junk. I'm sure it's all still here because no one can figure out how to get rid of it. I am determined to be the one that does it. Those of you that know me well know that I cannot abide stuff. I am the opposite of a pack rat.

Today Michael and I went on a "split" with the elders. We find ourselves in an interesting situation as of last week. One of our four Nurnberg elders was recently called to be an AP (Assistant to the President) and will be serving at the mission home in Frankfurt. He also happened to be the District Leader. So for two weeks, until they call another DL, there will be three elders trying to cover two different areas. As most of you know missionaries serve in twosomes. One cannot go anywhere alone. So Elder Hart and I have been trying to help them keep their separate appointments by going on "splits" with them. Today M went with Elder Hopson to an appointment he had set up and I went with Elders Kitchen and Murray to visit a member and her daughter that have been away from the church for a long time.( I couldn't drive them so I had to take public transportation with them to this appointment. It was my first experience traveling on the U-Bahn and the bus. We had to make two transfers. I was so glad that I didn't have to figure out how to do this all on my own)! Neither of them spoke English so it was a little difficult for me to understand all that was spoken:-( The mother, who is about my age, had had her feelings hurt many years ago by some members of our ward and so didn't want to return to church. This made me so sad. I wished that I could tell her that the gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect but that people aren't. The elders shared some scriptures with them about the power of prayer and how important it is for us to have the spirit of the Lord with us in our lives to help us in all things. She invited us to come again and me to bring my husband with me next time. We readily agreed. They served us a delicious casserole. It had chicken rolls stuffed with mozzarella cheese and wrapped with bacon in it, along with potatoes and cabbage and more cheese on top. It was a huge casserole and I could only eat one serving. The poor elders loved it also but felt like they had to eat the second and third and fourth helpings that were offered to them. They were pretty sick on the way home.
We have had so many wonderful experiences this past week and met so many amazing people with the most incredible life stories. I can't remember if I mentioned that M has been called to serve on the High Council. Part of his assignment is to visit different wards in the Stake and to find the YSAs in each ward. The first week we attended the Erlangen Ward we met a young married couple that had just escaped from Ukraine one week previous to our visit. He is a returned missionary from Ukraine who served a mission in Russia and she is a Ukraine who served a Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission. They have two adorable little daughters. They said that since the war with Russia Ukraine has been almost totally destroyed and invaded by terrorists. They lived there in fear for their lives and the lives of their children every day. It was a miracle that they were able to get out. They were on their way to a refugee camp in Germany when they decided to attend the Frankfurt Temple where they had been sealed 10 years ago, to try and find a little peace and spiritual direction for their lives. In the parking lot there they met a widow from Erlangen and shared their story with her. She insisted that they come and live in her house while they tried to find a job and secure a work permit and German Visa. The husband speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English but no German, so a member of the High Council in their ward has been taking him around trying to find some German contacts to get his business going here. The ward has pretty much adopted them and they feel so blessed and happy to be here. We attended this ward again yesterday, a couple of weeks later for a baptism and was able to see how things were going for them. Their Visas expired a week ago and they were told that they would have to return to Ukraine to get it renewed. They felt that if they were to return there they would most likely likely not be able to get out again. The other option was to live in the refugee camp in Germany. Apparently it is very dangerous there. He has since been able to get a job and a work permit. and the good High Councilman is trying to get through to some German bureaucrats to help them with their Visa problems. They still live in gear that they will be deported or have to go to the refugee camp but I think they have been blessed with so many miracles up to now that the Lord has them in the palm of His hand and somehow the way will be made clear for them to remain here and work.

Last week we were able to attend a Zone Training meeting with these wonderful young missionaries. There were 36 of them! The meeting was conducted by the Zone Leader, who did an amazing job. The missionaries taught each other. We felt like we were in General Conference. The talks were all so inspiring and spiritual. Where else could you find 36 youth between the ages of 18-24 teaching each other and behaving in such a remarkable manner?

That night we had our first regular Institute meeting. We made pulled pork sandwiches, green salad and apple crisp for dessert. We had a great turnout; nine YSAs , four missionaries, the Institute teacher and us.

Yesterday we were able to attend the baptism of Lisa (center). She has been attending our Institute since just before Christmas. It was one of the most beautiful and spiritual baptisms we have ever attended. A truly remarkable young woman.

                  

Earlier that morning we experienced an interesting phenomenon; Transfer calls! Apparently these take place every eight (?) weeks. A group call is placed and transfers are announced for the entire mission. We prepared some breakfast burritos for them to lighten the mood. Luckily we only lost one of our missionaries. A favorite sister missionary; Sister Wahlquist. She has been such a great help to us in getting to know our way around all thing German. I don't think we would have made it without her.

So, in closing and in keeping things real, we had a funny experience last night. M saw some frozen French fries in a bag at one of the German markets yesterday. We do love our French fries so were so excited to try them. Only one problem, the cooking instructions are all in incomprehensible German. We had been using Google Translate earlier in the day to try and decipher some letters from our bank here. It took us hours to look up all the words but we finally got most of it. (We hope). So... I decided to use it again to find out how to cook these darn fries. It takes so long to enter every single loooong German word, so I decided to try using the microphone option, which allows one to simply read a text in German. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of how to pronounce German. I don't really understand it all that well, but I can speak it. The translation told me to arrange them in the cemeteries on a single sheet of graph paper. Hmmm..... I guess I need to reassess my ability to speak good German:-(

I love you all♥
Sister Hart