5-27-13: Draining Time

Time is a precious gift. This week I felt like I was opening the gift of my mission a little too quickly but...there is still plenty of wrapping paper left so nobody panic.

Taufe for reals!

Despite great adversity leading up to the baptism, Lisa got baptized on Saturday and she is so happy! We spent a lot of time this week supporting her and prepping for the program and service. The baptism was supposed to start at 5:00 Saturday evening and Sister D and I got to the church at 2:00 because it takes three hours to fill the font (strange water heating problems prevent fast filling). Two people from the neighboring city of Groitch were also getting baptized on Saturday, so the Groitch elders helped prepare the program and get everything ready before the baptism.

A few things went slightly array during our prep time. We started out with no keys for the kitchen or for baptismal clothing, but acquired those at approximately 4:18 and insanely quick sandwich making ensued. Lisa was supposed to arrive at 4:00 but due to a series of unfortunate delays, she arrived at 4:55. We scrambled to find baptismal clothes that would fit and rushed upstairs so the meeting could start fifteen minutes late. So all was well. 

Except the well.

Meaning the baptismal font.

Because as we started the program before the baptism, Sister D gasped and said she needed to go check the water downstairs. 

She ran downstairs and....the font was empty. 

Because it had been a little too full beforehand and so Sister D had pulled the plug to drain it a little... but forgot to plug it again....

She remained remarkably calm at the time and turned on the water again and started boiling water in the kitchen. Which leads to our...

Wunder der Woche

Because a three hour job somehow was managed in 45 minutes through the aid of many ward members, all the available faucets in the church, and the Lord, who somehow kept the water warm. Three people were therefore able to be baptized with the allotted water and Lisa was just glowing with the joy after her baptism.

We were also glowing, but that was partly from the sweat of running around and gathering water.

Whew.

It was so great though. Lisa is normally a happy person, but she just looked so excited about the decision that she made and so much at peace. Plus five of the six missionaries who had taught her managed to make it :)

I am so grateful for the gift of my mission and for the gifts other people can hopefully receive from me being here. 

The newest church member in Leipzig!

Quote of the Week

A quote from our conversation regarding our desire to get a dog and talk to more people...

"Sister D, we all have to make sacrifices on our missions. You´re going to have to forfeit your eyesight, or possibly pluck out your eyes, so that we can get a guide dog so that more people will talk to us on the street. It`s a sacrifice we must make for the work to go forward." --Me

I haven`t lost my sarcasm yet in case you were wondering :)

Love you all. Especially those of you that write me :)

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

Sister D and I at a service project

5-13-13: Immer Besser!

We had a great skype conversation with Claire on Saturday and could see for ourselves how happy she is. So it was easy for us not to cry about missing her and just rejoice that she is happy living in Germany and doing her best to find people who want more joy in their lives. 

Full blown missionary work with a tablespoon of sickness and twelve quarts of goodness this week. Still facing the Triple E dilemma (ebullience exploding everywhere).

We're a tad too excited and maybe plan a little too much for a day (curse these short twenty four hour days and the requirement of sleep), but we're getting better (our companion slogan is "immer besser"). There is just so much to do and so much to learn!

Nothing sums this week up better than the following quotes...

·         After teaching two guys from Africa about the Book of the Mormon and seeing their miraculous acceptance and eagerness to read pray about it.... Sophie (an 18-year-old member who came with us): "This is why I love Africans! German people are always like 'I don't need God,' but Africans....they are willing to do anything to get closer to God!" Thus we are teaching a lot of foreigners. And the occasional stubborn German. Shaku (African number one) after hearing Sophie talk about how the Book of Mormon helps here in her life: "Yes, I will read this book because I want to know what she knows."  Yeah son.

·         After talking about how to improve our talents to meet the needs of our diverse teaching pool.... Me: "Hey, if we teach a deaf man, then we'll need to learn Braille." #thinkingalittletoohard. Or not at all.

·         Elder Normon (commenting on Sister D's and my companionship): "You and Sister D match each other."

·         And speaking of Sister D....I love her so so much. Here are some cute things she said this week: (looking up at me with huge, questioning doe eyes) "Was soll wir zu tun?" (What should we do?) #cutebeginningmissionaryGerman  She always asks what we should do, but then almost immediately cries out "Wir müssen beten!" (We must pray!) Because Sister D knows the power of prayer :)

·         (while talking to people on the street the day before Mother's Day)…. "Hast du eine Mutter?" ("Do you have a mother?"), because you never know. We're still working on conversation starting skills that lead to Gospel topics. Also, "Haben Sie eine Frau?" ("do you have a wife?") #personalquestionstorandompeople

-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

5-6-13: Triple E Week

Apparently training a new missionary is a very happy experience so far! 

EXPLOSIONS OF EBULLIENCE EVERYWHERE!!!!

And I'm not cleaning it up. 

Packing the Impossible

Two 85 pound suitcases and one 45 pound "carry on" later, Sister Diederich made it to Bremen (*I think). We at least made it to Berlin together to pick up our new missionaries with two umsteigs (train transfers) as well. Huzzah!

Francesco's parting words to Sister Diederich...

Insert 5 minutes of Francesco preluding us with various Mozart pieces.

Sis. Diedrich: I'm going to cry when I leave!

Francesco: Stay cool, stay cool

Sister Diederich: What should we do when you come visit me in America Francesco?

Francesco: Um....I think I'll take a shower.

Bringing in the new....

I AM TRAINING AND I LOVE IT! My new companion has now survived four days in Leipzig! Short bio: She's from Texas, went to BYU-Idaho for three semesters, is super hard working, and is brimming with fresh MTC excitement. She is so happy to talk German in her endearing American accent and says hello to everyone we see. Picture Snow White, and then change her name, and you have my new companion. We get along really well. Love. her. so. much. 

DIE Wunder der Woche

If you have been studying your German articles, you would recognize that there was more than one miracle this week. I'm sharing two.

I went to Berlin on Thursday to bring Sister D (my new comp) back to Leipzig. I gave her a really good first night because we met with Lisa, who is the biggest miracle I've seen on my mission. Six weeks ago, Elders Atkinson and Huebsch found Lisa on the street and invited her to Family Home Evening. She accepted and then they taught her about the Book of Mormon. They were emergency transferred a week and a half later, but on their last night here, they invited Lisa to be baptized at the end of April. She accepted and then was taught rapid fire for three more weeks by another set of elders as she prepared to be ready for her baptismal date. A week before her scheduled date, she and I were talking and she told me she was freaking out and she didn't know if the Book of Mormon was true yet and she still had a lot of questions. I told her that it was okay to wait until she knew, so we botched her first baptismal date. Right before the elders left that were teaching her (we inherited her after), she told them that she was ready to make another baptismal date and she knew that the Book of Mormon was true. So our first lesson together in Leipzig....we got to set a baptismal date with Lisa!!! She is so ready and has such a strong belief in what she has learned in the past month. We are so blessed to help her prepare for her upcoming baptism.

The second miracle happened yesterday, when Sister D and I went to some student housing to talk to people about what we believe. We only spent an hour there, and we were able to meet and teach four students who wanted us to come back. That is more than I've experienced on my whole mission so far. Good gracious, golden miracles falling from the sky. so. cool.

Privileged

I am privileged to serve a mission. If I learned anything from the past twelve weeks and the busy and exciting last few days, it is that I am privileged to act as a representative of Jesus Christ at this time. To teach people about the Gospel. To bring people closer to Christ. To talk to strangers on the street. To meet with ward members. To be as awkward as possible because people do not go on missions to act like normal people. I love it.

As an end note...WE GO RUNNING EVERY MORNING AND IT MAKES MY HEART SING BECAUSE GERMAN PARKS ARE MAGICAL AND SISTER D SAYS GUTEN MORGEN TO EVERYONE!
-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

4-29-13: Training!

We're starting this week's email off with a drum roll....(please dramatically drum your hands in anticipation of reading the next sentence)....because I get to stay in Leipzig and train a new missionary! Which I had already guessed, but now it is official. Sister Diederich is opening a new sisters program in Bremen, which has apparently been asking for sister missionaries for a while. We both leave on Thursday to pick up our new missionaries in Berlin. I'm actually excited about training, even if I am still a new-ish missionary. Mal sehen if I still feel that way in a week...:)

Das Wunder der Woche

This isn't a big deal for most missionaries, but the following was a miracle for me. Last week on my tausch (exchange) with Sister Warncke, we found a student from India who was interested in the Book of Mormon. This week we stopped by his house to deliver both Hindi and English Books of Mormon and he was there! We gave a short introduction about the Book of Mormon AND he wanted to meet with us again this coming week. This is the first person I've talked to on the street to a.) be home for an appointment and b.) invite us back for a follow up appointment. No big deal. Except to me!

Lessons learned...

Well I've been looking back at my golden time and reflecting on what I've learned. Despite having a German medical vocabulary that rivals most German doctors (I won't tell you all the words I've learned. They're probably not appropriate, but maybe someday I'll write a book), I've learned more about the joy of missionary work than how to treat various ailments. Before I came on my mission, I was a little worried about feeling like a work horse and it being a long, long eighteen months. But I want the world to know that the happiest moments of my mission have been working. Teaching. Talking to strangers. Talking to cute, old Frau Kühler. Visiting ward members. Serving. Testifying of truth. Getting stuck in tram doors because they closed on my backpack (embarrassing...). Simply doing! I believe that truth is manifest in happiness. And I am happy when I am spreading good news of truth. In German (that was a reminder in case you forgot what language Germans speak). I'm excited to take off running these next several weeks. 

Maybe a little too excited. But that's okay.

Also, for those of my friends preparing to go on missions, I would like to tell you that office supplies will be your best friend. Bring ample supplies of sharpies, paper, tape, scissors (one pair should be sufficient), and other helpful instruments! 

-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

Sister Woodward teaches an "investigator"

Goodbye to Sister Diederich!

4-22-13: Finders Keepers

Claire said that she got to go outside and run in circles around the garden this week and that made her very happy. Now if only warmer weather would come and stay in Colorado (it's snowing sideways again today).

I seem to start every email home with a comment about the weather, so for consistency's sake, this one shall as well. I LOVE SPRING TIME IN GERMANY! Winter made Leipzig's inhabitants appear mainly gray, forlorn, and empty. Warm weather has given Leipzig a Renaissance, a rebirth of smiles, color, and joy. This ends this email's weather portion.

We gonna find you...

Missionaries find things. We find new people to teach. We find people who used to meet with us. We find things out about ourselves. Occasionally, we find snails on the sidewalk (that only happened once actually). BUT people find answers when they meet with us and learn about Christ. Missionary work is just a great game of hide-and-go-seek and come to think of it, we are all either hiders or seekers in this life. I experienced my first tausch (companion exchange) this week, where I got to spend a day with the German Sister Warncke and it was really great. We stepped up our seeking skills, and though most of our MIA peeps stepped up their game as well, we started a couple new games with others too. We're determined at this game though because this game is no child's play. It is about eternal happiness! 

Das Wunder der Woche

I saw my first baptism in Germany on Saturday! A pair of elders in our district found 50 year-old Peter a couple months ago (my second week here) and have been teaching him since then. Peter is one of those prepared people who is so ready for the Gospel. He called the elders after their first meeting and said there was something in their eyes that he couldn't get out of his head (we get a lot of eye comments apparently because of our natural twinkle of truth). And here he is, two months later and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints. His baptism was really special and he looked so happy about making that covenant to follow Christ.

Hobbits come from Germany

There are bunches of garden plots that look not-so-coincidentally similar to hobbit houses. My new BFF, our aged neighbor Frau Kühler, tends to one of these in our backyard. Remember her from last week? Kindred spirit right there. Now that I know about World War II and all. This week I got to talk to her about why I'm here in Germany as a missionary and she told me...stories J. I invited her to Peter's baptism and though she declined, she cut some flowers from her hobbit lawn for the "kranke Schwester" (sick sister Diederich). She is so precious. 

Quote of the week

"You can only get answers by asking questions." -Sister Diederich

Words of wisdom from my still ill companion. I know that sometimes people don't answer our questions, but God can answer all of our questions. Sometimes we have to wait. A long time. Or maybe the answer is endurance. But for reals, He has heard all of my prayers and has answered them somehow. I know He listens to Francesco's simple heartfelt prayers. I know He listens to our investigator Sandra, who has so many questions about the Gospel and feels like she's not getting answers. I know we get answers when we ask questions. Just like we'll find if we don't give up on the game of hide-and-go-seek.

We find out about transfer calls this week, but my guess is I'll be staying in Leipzig and training a new sister. Time shall tell.

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

4-15-13: Hospital Happiness

Keep sending her mail--emails, letters, packages--she loves it all! Her address again is:
Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Claire Woodward
Limburger Strasse 52
04229 Leipzig
Germany

My MTC teacher warned us that about halfway through our missions, we'd start to get a little frumpy...same skirt, same bun, and forget about makeup. Well, family, after being out only 2 months and having a week of visiting various doctor offices and hospitals and attempting to tend to my ailing companion at home, I admit I've already hit frumpy...french braid every day, stable earring studs, and waning makeup. It's hard to get dressed up for doctor offices. Still sporting a glamorous smile though, like this digital sideways one :)

Fortunately I am healthy. Unlike Sister Diederich who continues to develop Job-like ailments and then must try to explain resulting symptoms in German to people. Hospital charades are the best. Watching your comp give blood four times in three days? No bueno (we now would like to introduce the Spanish segment of this email experience). She is a real trooper. Most missionaries face discouragement when they feel like people aren't listening to their important message of joy. Somehow Sister Diederich can have a needle in her arm thrice and relish the opportunity to tell doctors what we're doing here in Germany.

We did venture out from our various infirmaries a few times this week, which was good especially because the sun started to shine! Once was me getting to run circles in our backyard as Sister Diederich watched from our window (missionary companions need to stay with each other at all times. I don't know if I clarified that earlier). There are a bunch of gardens behind our apartment where old people tend for tender plants and so while I was running around said gardens, a cute, little 80-year-old lady stopped me to talk. I didn't understand her at first and so she asked where I was from. Upon finding out I was American, she proceeded to tell me that Germany was at war with America when she was little, but Germany lost that war. I know, I was shocked too. I wish someone in one of my history classes would have told me sooner. *end of sarcastic remarks* Really, she was sweet and adorable. Just trying to enlighten naive 20 year olds about World War II. I brought her cookies the next day to thank her. Sweet little Frau Kühler.

We also made it to our weekly Book of Mormon class. And good thing too because Francesco said the closing prayer.  Which went like this:
"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you that....*laughter* that I can brush my teeth... *more laughter*....AndthatmybaptismmademehappyInthenameofJesusChristAmen."
Sister Diederich made him pray again to show respect while talking to God and he prayed wonderfully, including the profound "Thank you that Jesus is my friend."
Good old Francesco shows us how to become more child-like every day. We love him.

We also made it to another zone conference and then a stake conference. Stake conference happens twice a year when a bunch of wards in a certain area come together for a larger meeting. Instead of our usual three hour block with sacrament meeting, sunday school, and priesthood/relief society meetings, we just have a two hour meeting with various talks from different ward members and leaders. It was really awesome. One cool thing about it was that instead of normal prelude music by an organ or piano, an orchestra made up of various ward members played hymn arrangements. Good old cultured Germany.

You know you're a missionary when...
You start measuring life in transfers (6 week periods).

Love you all. Every stinkin' person who takes the time to read funny and not-funny stories and hear once again that I know that this is God's church and that He loves all of us :)
--
Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

4-8-2013: The week I flooded our Wohnung...‏

Claire is looking on the bright side and appreciating the good, learning experiences she is having. She was a little homesick this week, but is feeling better now. Thanks to all of you who emailed her last week. I know she truly appreciates and feels your support.  --Shireen

Floods of Blessings

This week we were blessed. And also flooded. I'm going to focus more on the latter for right now. Because while I was showering one morning, I apparently didn't entirely close our little German shower curtain that hangs from the ceiling. Which resulted in water flooding our bathroom and study room. After realizing my mistake and the resulting detrimental consequences, I frantically began brainstorming ways to resolve the excess of water everywhere. After ruling out vacuuming up the water, I proceeded to employ every absorbent thing in our Wohnung (that is your German word of the day—use context clues) to soak up water and ring it out in the bathtub. I therefore succeeded in drying the unwanted floods from our fourth story Wohnung in a little under 30 minutes. I have included a picture for your viewing enjoyment; please note that floors should not reflect windows #newmissionaryproblems

Living History

The rest of this week was good and less...wet. Though probably not as exciting. Most of you know that I adore history. Possibly too much. But I was thinking about Romanticism this week and connecting it with missionary work because Romanticism portrays the common as sacred. And every day, we walk around and talk to people and visit people and tell them the same thing: that common men are really children of God. People have so many sacred experiences, but see them as trite and bane because their eyes are trained to see normalcy. I know that life is more than common though. 

As I think about history, I'm also a part of history! As is everyone. But it is a great time to be a missionary. We believe that we are led by a living prophet and apostles today, just as in biblical times, and twice a year we have the opportunity to hear from them through a broadcasted conference. This past weekend was one of those times and it was fabulous. Since Germany is eight hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time, we watched them in the evening at our church. If you care to listen or read any of the talks given, you can check them out here. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/04?lang=eng

You can also change the language if you want to go for German. I know I give you that option a lot, but it's only because I'm a good teacher. And by teacher, I mean someone who thinks people should practice their German.

The sum of those thoughts really are just this: I am one of 65,000 LDS missionaries serving around the world, with thousands more on the way. Adding goodness and light to millions of lives through Jesus Christ. Yes.

Das Wunder der Woche

So one of our investigators is the famous Francesco's mother, Frau Assisi. She's an artist and grew up in Switzerland, but had a really hard childhood. A few years ago, she went into a coma and when she woke up, she couldn't remember very much from her former life, which, as her husband told us, is probably a good thing. But it also makes learning new things hard and remembering what we teach her. It's a slow process, but it is progress and she loves coming to church and learning from us. 

Anyways, Herr Assisi was really against Francesco getting baptized when the sister missionaries were teaching him several months ago. However, as he saw how happy the Gospel made Francesco and how much the missionaries and ward members cared about his son, he let Francesco get baptized. And as we taught Frau Assisi this week about how we can talk to God through prayer, he came in and told us that though he wasn't a part of us, he knew we were good people and he respected us. He was very impressed with how we lived, taught, and served. Which is a real miracle seeing as he once forbade his son from meeting with us. Hurray for changing hearts!

Essen

When I return home, I would like to request never to be fed creamed spinach. Ever again. Just throwing that out there. See picture.  (Claire has always had a problem with mushy textures in food. When she was little we let her pick one food a year that she never had to eat, and she always chose mashed potatoes. I imagine creamed spinach had a similar gagging effect on her, and would have loved to see her face as she politely ate it!)

Quote of the week

Sister Diederich went to buy makeup this week and the lady who was helping her asked about where we were from (our lack of makeup vocab gave us away) and what we were doing here. 

Sister Diederich: "We're missionaries for our church. We're here for 18 months and teach people about what we believe."

Makeup lady: "Oh. Do your parents think that's weird?"

Us: "Um....no?"

At least I don't think they do. Mom, Dad, is it weird? :)

Simplicity

My German is still coming along. Sometimes the message (and verb) of what I'm trying to say gets lost in subordinating conjunctions, so I've been trying to simplify my sentences. The Gospel is simple and true, so our speech should be too. Plus it's really important to have verbs in your sentences because faith requires action! Adjectives and nouns are nice, but it is important to act to gain a testimony or get answers or get through school! 

Simply said, the Book of Mormon is true. The life of a missionary is great and awkward. Man, after that spiel on verbs, I just used two weak ones. Be strong regardless.

-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward