Trunky: (adj), wanting to go home, a strong
desire to pack one's bags and leave
sl.
missionary lingo
There's your dictionary definition in case the
title was confusing. I'll come back to that.
Now for your German weather report.
The sun shone this week and it was a marvelous
time to be doing missionary work! Not that there's ever a bad time, but it's
kind of ridiculous how much of an impact the weather makes on missionary life.
Anyways. Enough talk about the weather. Except I
think I talk about the weather every week. whatevs.
Smiley
people
I have met some of the most smiley people ever in
the past few weeks. I thought I'd give an overview of their smiles.
1. Frenchie Salal from Algeria--who speaks no
English and approximately 8 words in German. We chased him down last week and
through various gesticulations and props made an appointment. This week we
showed up with a French Book of Mormon and a list of points about our church
that Eric from Cameroon helped us write. J Except we still couldn't understand him so we
called another sister who can speak French and she talked to him and apparently
he wanted instructions to the church. So we gave them to him. And awkwardly
tried to carry on a conversation using the 8 words that we both understand. He
is such a smiley man though and brought us glasses of Coke to drink at his
doorstep during this language struggle and continued to grin.
2. Samuel from Cameroon--who we had that awesome
lesson with in December but haven't met with since. Except we ran into him
walking this week and he was SO happy to see us. I have never seen a happier
African and I've met a lot of happy Africans here. He just grinned and grinned
that he had run into us and though he hasn't read in the Book of Mormon, his
face describes the joy therein.
3. Adrian, also from Cameroon--who happens to
Samuel's brother. Except in Cameroon they call everyone "brother" so
he is actually his cousin. But he is also a happy soul who speaks perfect German
and met with us outside even though it was mildly chilly.
4. ANNIE from China. Ohmygosh she is so funny and
cute. She's 21 and is only here for a year on an exchange but she has been
making a lot of progress with us and is pretty much just a hoot. I thought I'd
make an extra section for things she's said:
·
"Yes,
I prayed to the God and I felt a feeling of peace. How often do you guys pray
to the God?"
·
"Oh
no, do I look old? I need to put on some makeups!"
·
"Careful
you don't eat so late because otherwise you'll get fat."
·
(to the
members who came with us to teach her) "Oh, that makes sense that you are
siblings because you are so beautiful and he is so handsome!"
·
"I
feel like my faith in God is growing. I mean, when you guys are here I just see
this light in your eyes and I want to keep learning!"
She's just darling. So blessed to have found her.
On a bus. Because that's where we find pretty much all of our investigators.
The United
Nations...all in one building
So we are often in the area of a special,
slightly ghetto building that contains representatives from every country ever.
Okay, not every country, but a lot. Somehow we ended up having contact from
lots of people who live here and I just thought I'd list off the countries so
you can get a sample: Algeria (our smiley Frenchie!), Cuba, Chile, Cameroon,
Romania, Spain, Mozambique, Libya, and (surprise) Germany! Woot woot. We go all
around the world in a ten minute rotation.
The Lost
Our dear Serbians have had some troubles and have
been unable to meet with us and our last phone conversation was short and curt,
namely that it was super crazy at their house and with their family and...it
was kind of like a goodbye L. But hopefully just a break! We went by a lot
and it was too crazy every time for them to let us in. So goes it sometimes L.
Companion
Reunion!
I got to go on exchanges this week with Sister
Schwantes, my companion from Altona! Ahh it was so cool to serve with and see
her again. She's a bomb missionary and though still somewhat reserved, has no
qualms about talking to everyone, just like it was when we were in Hamburg
together.
The
Missionary Purpose...
is to help people come unto Christ through faith,
repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It is
also our job to be ready to give themas (spiritual thoughts) and play the piano
at a moment's notice (the lovely Sister Rasmussen played a lovely spontaneous
musical number during sacrament meeting yesterday). Despite all of our focus on
planning, we must simply always be ready to do an assortment of random tasks.
Real Life
Fairy Tales
is where my companion comes from. Sister Ricks
(the other sister in our apartment) made the astute observation of Sister
Rasmussen's similarity to Giselle from Enchanted. Singing, cleaning,
crafty, constant joy and all, she deserves to have a Disney movie made about
her. Everything about her emanates light, frivolity, and energy. J
Trunky for
Heaven
We (my fairy tale companion and I) gave a thema
at a Zone Training Meeting this week about families. Weird for a missionary
audience, eh? You would think that would make the thirty missionaries in our
zone trunky (aka, feeling like they want to go home and be with their own
families). Instead we helped them get trunky for heaven. Because that's what we
do as missionaries: we help people get trunky for heaven, where they can be
with their families forever! To that I'd like to add two quotes, the first
from Elder Nelson: "Priesthood authority has been restored so that
families can be sealed eternally."
POW
Then from President Monson, "A mission is a
family affair."
My mission is about my family, but it is also
about the families of so many others. I am so grateful for the support of my
family and for their love and I want other families to have the same joy and
stability and hope that I have from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pack our
bags together.
Also I just wanted to say a quick thanks to Herr
Taylor, Jenny, and Caleb, for giving me opportunities in high school to share
my beliefs (sogar auf Deutsch!), which really helped me with the desire to go
on a mission. You are all great.
That is all. Be a smiley person this week. J
-- Sister Claire Michelle Woodward
I can't believe I've been out a year!
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