We
played choose your own adventure this morning on the way to the grocery store.
We chose poorly. But learned this importance secret:
Never
build cobblestone roads on hills where people ride bikes.
It
explains why Germany doesn't have hills; it opted for the cobblestone roads
from that either/or decision.
Except
they let one hill slip into the midst, apparently, and we picked that hill as
part of our adventure. I was going a wee bit too fast this morning and coming
up on Sister Kriser pretty quickly so I braked and swerved to try and not smash
her. Except I forgot cobblestone is different from sidewalk and my wheel caught
a crack as I turned and.....explosions of death and destruction resulted. Minus
the death and destruction and actually the explosion part too. But you can
check yes for dirt, bruises, and blood that came with this adventure.
Missionary
work is no child's play.
My
leg looked pretty beasty and I got a bunch of dirt in my palms and a bruised
soldier, but I womanned it up and we went on our merry way to purchase food
before returning home and having the other sisters in our apartment take care
of my bike wounds. They did a good job, so no fear, and I learned the important
lesson of avoiding careless cobblestone collisions. And I still support the use
of bikes.
In
other news, General Conference was this weekend and it was so great! Seriously,
General Conference is like Christmas for missionaries. I love the opportunity
to hear from inspired men and women of God and be lifted by them. We don't get
to see the last sessions because of the time difference, which is a bummer, but
I still loved the six hours of goodness provided. Plus all the missionaries got
to watch it in English, which is always a nice language break. We invited a lot
of our investigators to go into conference with a question they had about life
or about the Gospel and promised them they would get an answer. Sister Kriser
and I did the same thing and surprise! Definitely got an answer. Super directly from Elder Richard G. Scott's talk about how the most important thing for us to
be doing is learning about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Check it out: www.lds.org
I was
thinking about last year's conference in October too and the answers and
direction that I was searching for then. It has been a year since I decided to
go on a mission. A year ago this past weekend, President Monson lowered the age
for missionary service and it changed my life forever. As much as I wanted to,
I don't know if I would have made it out here a year later. I am so grateful
for continuing revelation, that God speaks to His servants still and that He
speaks to me and that He can speak to you. This Gospel is life changing, being
a missionary or not, and I know I am who I am because of Christ's church.
Remember
Homar from a few weeks ago who we thought was a different Homar but it was okay
because he was still great? Well he made it to conference! And by that I
mean....he made it in time for the closing song and prayer Saturday night...but
he still made it! He got lost on the way to our church and turned a 30 minute
ride into a two hour quest with Sister Kriser desperately trying to figure out
where he was and giving him directions on how to get here. So we missed a bit
of the first session too. And I was sad Homar didn't really make it to any of
the talks, but Sister Kriser was ecstatic that he made it at all. Because it
can be really hard to get people to church and once they're there for the first
time, it's a lot easier to come back. Plus we had a dandy church tour and joint
teach right after :)
And
now some quotes from past weeks I've forgotten to send....
"Satan
is a dirtbag! I hate him so much!" --Sister Stringham during our tausch in
Spandau this past week upon hearing of an investigator making poor choices
Sister
Kriser: "You want to go on the longest bike ride of your life?"
Mark:
"Well, I have a bike and two legs, so....why not?" #birthdaybikeride
Sister
Kriser: "I heard pig is the worst meat for you."
Mark:
"Who told you that? It obviously wasn't a German."
Lady
in our ward: "How old are you now?"
Me:
"Twenty-one."
Lady:
"When I was twenty-one, I already had two kids!"
Me:
".....oh....." (awkward silence.)
Me:
"Sister Kriser, I can't answer the phone. I'm wearing a birthday face
mask."
Thanks
for the belated birthday joy that many of you sent; it meant a lot to me :)
Also
cute little Frau Köhler in Leipzig wrote me again and is still the bomb.
that
is all.
--
Sister Claire Michelle Woodward
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