9-23-13: Out of this world experiences

We've been using the good legs God gave us to run from appointment to appointment this week and have been busy, which has been good. Plus I love Sister Kriser :)

Doctor Who Hallways

I don't know how many of you have see the TV series Doctor Who, but there’s an episode with a bunch of creepy, empty hotel hallways where everything looks the same.

I think they filmed it in Germany.

There are so many creepy doctor-who-ish hallways that are so silent. Until someone lets you in...and then you get....

Shots From Above

We went on tausch with the sisters in Tiergarten this week and Sister Vick came here to work with me. We dropped by a less-active who lived in aforementioned doctor-who-other-dimension-apartment buildings. She invited us into her dark apartment that only had one lonely light bulb swinging above her head. We sat down and she proceeded to tell us about the good old days of the DDR and how much she misses it because they didn't have to worry about anything and everyone was so trusting. Which is strange because I've heard the exact opposite from every other east German. To each his own I suppose. She also told us about her crazy neighbor who talks to herself at night and then we heard said neighbor walking and talking out on the balcony upstairs. After much talk, we said we needed to go and I started to say a closing prayer, except that I was rudely interrupted by something sounding like a gunshot from upstairs. Which resulted in frightened screaming from the member we were teaching. So there I am, praying in a dimly lit Doctor Who-esque apartment while someone screams next to me and dangerous, scary sounds come from the apartment upstairs. But I carried to the prayer out to the end and we bid adieu (she got a little calmer after the prayer) and then rode our magic blue bikes home. Whew.

Two Homars?

Sister Kriser talked to a guy named Homar a couple weeks ago from Africa and we made an appointment with him to talk more about the Book of Mormon. Except that appointment fell out but we called him and made a new appointment for this past week. Sister Vick and I were there for this appointment this week and we met Homar at a bahnhof. Except the Homar that showed up didn't look like the one we met two weeks ago, but I thought maybe I just didn't remember that well. So we started teaching, but partway through, I realized this was definitely not the same Homar we had previously met. This Homar had already met with missionaries in Hannover and said he believed Joseph was a prophet already! As it turns out, we had two Homars in our phone and had called the wrong one to make the follow-up appointment. But that’s okay because now we have two Homars to teach!

Oma Voigt

We visit this sad 91 year-old less-active lady who we fondly call Oma about every other week. Except she just wants to die and smokes up a storm to quicken the process. Despite this, she continues to live and wish for death.

This is a warning for all older people: make a plan for if you get ill and old before it’s too late and you are forced into a home you hate and want to jump out the window but it’s not tall enough to kill you.

That is all.

Gentle Reminders to our Ward Mission Leader

We have a missionary coordination meeting every week with the 6 other missionaries here and our mission leader, called gemiko. Brüder Schröder, our 80-year-old mission leader, asked how all of our companionships were doing. We all responded that they were going well and he said, "Well, the good thing is you only have to be with someone for 18 months! Imagine being with someone 60, 70 years...."

An elder piped in, "You mean forever Brüder Schröder. You're married forever."

Brüder Schröder: "Oh right, I forgot."

I'm pretty sure all missionaries are grateful that marriages and families can be forever, but companionships aren’t :)

That doesn't mean we don't like each other. Sister Kriser and I have a really similar work style and have gotten along really well and I'm hoping we’ll get another transfer together.

Zone Conference

We had a wonderful zone conference on Friday. I love zone conference. You just get so pumped to rededicate yourself and go out and work and teach and change peoples lives and I find so much strength from other missionaries´testimonies. Plus it´s one of our few meetings in English:) Suffice it to say, I am stoked. To exist.

Trees Hate You...

Okay trees don't actually hate you. I was just trying to think of something to go with trees and Julian Smith came to mind. We got to dig up some trees on Saturday with our bishop and that was exciting. But more importantly than that, Germans love plants and gardens. But sometimes they have too many plants and they leave extra plants on ledges outside their house. We got super lucky yesterday because our neighbor had left....A LITTLE CHRISTMAS TREE! I totally danced as I brought it up the stairs to our apartment, where we can start celebrating Christmas for the next three months. Another Christmas miracle...

Well, you all are great.

I know that Christ lives that He loves us :)

--

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

9-16-13: Good things

Claire told us this week that her mission is the biggest in the world. They currently have about 70 sisters and 200 elders serving there.

Last week's word of the week was great. This week, I would like to introduce the more complex word..."good."

Good things come. Sometimes. But not always. But the end is always good. And if it's not good, then it's not the end.

Good news first

Remember Frau Köhler, my cute little old lady neighbor in Leipzig that I befriended while running circles in our garden outside? Well I got a letter from her last week! I had given her a Book of Mormon before I left and she wrote to tell me that she started reading my gift and has enjoyed it thus far. She said she missed her Claire-chen (little Claire) and hadn't met the other missionaries that moved in yet, but....she is so good. The card made my day.

Another good thing? I did my first tausch as a sister training leader! I hope it's okay that I call it a tausch. Because I didn't even know that word meant exchange until three months into my mission. But just so we're clear, tausch=exchange. Sister Kriser and I both took the three hour train ride up to Rostock to serve with the sisters there for a day. They just re-opened a sisters’ program there last transfer and it's been pretty hard to find people to teach. The five missionaries that serve there make up a quarter of the branch and their church is above a ghetto-netto next to a belly dancing studio. Yeah. I know. But Rostock is so great (I mean good?) and they are such hard working sisters. We went in and were able to see some miracles there :) Namely...while trying to go by some contacts, Sister Cluff (one of the Rostock sisters) and I got a couple of new contacts, which has been rather scarce in those parts. One of the contacts we had was a false address, so we decided to just klingle the building and after most people not answering, a guy finally let us in. Sister Cluff gave a two sentence summary of why we were here as he held back his barking dogs and to our surprise, he told us to come back next week to tell him more! Then there was another guy that we walked by on the street and he started calling after us in French. Little did he know that Sister Cluff studied a little French before her mission and she responded to whatever he said. And of course then we started talking about Jesus Christ. Because that's what we do. Though Muslim, he said he loved Christ and we got his phone number and guess what his name is? Mormoni. Ridiculous.

The tausch was a very good thing. I was so impressed by the testimony and spirit of the other sisters, even when they are in a hard time of their missions. Plus we got to run along the Ost See for morgen sport (morning exercise) :) I miss my Colorado mountains, but Germany sure does a good job of providing its own non-mountain beauty. I feel really blessed for the opportunity to get to serve in this way on my mission and love it.

More good news?

We met with a lady named Frau Möbius, who has been going to church for five years but has hitherto refused to meet with missionaries. However, she agreed to meet with us on the condition that she can try to help our "schrecklich" (terrible) German. (Sister Kriser: Can we do language study for an hour and then have an hour for a lesson? Frau Möbius: You don't need one hour of language study, you need twenty!). By the way, our German isn't that bad. Anyways, we're glad for her help and that we get to meet with her (she gave me a 1-, sort of like an A- in our grading system, on a German translation she had me do, so not bad).

Conversation Starting 101

We did our sprach studium in some chairs at a mall one day because we didn't have time to come home and do it. There was an old lady sitting next to us and both of us kinda wanted to talk to her, but were stumped on potential small talk starters. So after a few-dead end questions (she wasn't very talkative) and finding out she was waiting for her husband, Sister Kriser asked, "So....how do you get a man?" First time we've used dating advice as a conversation starter. Unfortunately its uniqueness worked about as well as the other questions and she anxiously awaited the arrival of her husband so she could get away from the weird, probing American girls.

Not So Good Things

We had stake conference this weekend and all the wards and missionaries in and around Berlin gathered together and it was lovely! The not so good part? We had a semi-sketch investigator show up (who informed us this week that he had to go to prison next month because he was caught riding the trains “schwarz”--without paying for a ticket), who was pretty dang angry at the world for some reason. Plus he's not exactly all there upstairs. As the meeting started, he started shouting some of his most choice German profanities at the surrounding ward members and the stake president and was getting a little violent. We didn't exactly know what to do since he refused to leave the meeting at first. But Sister Kriser coaxed him out soon enough with some pixie dust and help from the Lord and we walked him to a bus stop. Along the way, he kicked a couple of fences and yelled at some more passersby. Which was actually pretty scary. But we managed to get him on the bus, said a prayer together, and humbly returned to the stake center in Tiergarten to assure everyone that we were okay.

Missionaries just have weird experiences sometimes. Okay, a lot of times, because we talk to a lot of random people, which most normal people don't do. And we see a whole different side of society than what we saw as normal people. It's so hard to explain what it's like to be a missionary, what it's like be a missionary in your mission, in your area, in your companionship, in your life. But I am so grateful that Christ knows exactly what it is like for every part of that pyramid.

Marzahn is nice--it's not the city/busy part of Berlin, so it's actually pretty quiet. Sister Kriser is still good and healthy and funny and brilliant :)

Love you all.

--

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

9-9-13: Enter stage right, Berlin (where life is great!)

Started the next act of my mission in Marzahn, an east section of Berlin. Despite the trauma of leaving Hamburg so unexpectedly and soon, I've had a good week here and love my new companion, Sister Kriser.

Before we get carried away though, let's go back to Tuesday morning when I left Altona. Oskar, our investigator from Russia, was a dear and escorted me and Sister Schwantes to the hauptbahnhof (train station) and made sure I made it on the train on time and safely. Our zone leaders were also there to help us, but Oskar insistently made sure our needs were met by him. It was really tender to have him there. And then I left. On a train. By myself. Which was the first time I've been alone (still surrounded by people, but companionless) in seven months. Your companion usually brings you to the train and your new one picks you up, but since the last 2 times I've gotten a new companion have been at a training conference and my last companion has gone with me there, I had not yet experienced semi-solitude. I enjoyed the two and half hours of pondering and preparing.

Here enters Berlin.

Or I enter Berlin.

Depending on if this is a play or I am simply narrating what has happened.

Warm Welcomes

A brigade of missionaries met me when I arrived (I wonder if the people who work at train stations have noticed that every six weeks on Tuesdays a bunch of missionaries show up), including my new companion Sister Kriser! She entered the MTC the same day that I did, but got to Germany a transfer later, and I am her second companion. Yup, she stayed with her trainer, who is now home, for four transfers. Whew! Anyways, she is great! I love her. She's from Florida and is super sporty and super healthy (amount of salads consumed this week? more than 12) and just plain super. We've gotten along really well and have quickly become friends.

Also I didn't realize how stressful training was until I'm not doing it. And yeah, being a missionary is still stressful, but not nearly as much as when you have a new companion who doesn't speak the language and it still trying to live the MTC in Germany, which is great but hard. I have enjoyed not having to learn the transportation system by myself and not being always in charge. Also we live with two other sisters, including Sister Ricks who I took Writings of Isaiah with at BYU! It is fun to have four of us here :)  So the missionary scene is positive.

Sister Training Leader What-not

So being a sister training leader is pretty much the best parts of being a zone leader; we have five sister companionships in the area that we tausch (exchange) with and help train during the transfer and also get to go to leadership meetings once a month and see how we can improve the mission. We went to one such meeting this past week and it was super great. That's all the information you get. I need to get an English thesaurus so I can remember what other adjectives I used to use in English besides great. Because great pretty much sums up existence right now, but not so eloquently. So the great tausches we have coming up have not yet happened but we'll have one a week for the whole transfer and I'm pretty pumped about all the greatness that lies in future. And right now.

African Patches and Appropriate Hand-holding

Good news. I may not be able to teach the dozens of Africans we found in Hamburg, but we have two African investigators here in Berlin that I get to work with now, so I don't have to go through terrible withdrawal pains. Their names are Douglass and Chambal and they are both....greatly great. Ja klar. But there's definitely more Germans here, people we both talk to and teach. The ward has about 100 active members (and 200 inactive) and four elders and four sisters all serve in  the same ward. Working on trying to get two wards here.

Participated in some appropriate hand-holding on Sunday with a member who got baptized a couple of months ago. She is an adorable older lady named Sister Kremir who I sat by during sacrament meeting and she just grabbed my hand and held it the whole meeting. It was presh.

Das Wunder der Woche

On the way to church on Sunday, I realized that I had lost my Monatskarte. Which is not great. Because to use public transportation for the month, you buy an 80 euro ticket that you should not lose. But I did somehow and we went back to the bus area searching for it but our searching was to no avail. So we did what all missionaries do and prayed that we would be able to find the card, but it wasn't looking like that was going to happen. We started walking back to church, slightly defeated with our heads down, and then we saw the precious card, lying on the sidewalk! We cheered huzzah and went merrily along to church.

Which maybe isn't a big deal to some people. But I love that God answers prayers, no matter how big or how small. And things like Monatskartes or races that wouldn't be important to Him become important to Him because they are important to us and we are important to Him.

How was that for a great sentence?

Transporation

So I keep getting transferred to bigger and bigger cities. Leipzig was big enough for straßenbahns. Hamburg had busses and s-bahns. And now in Berlin, we use busses, s-bahns, straßenbahns, AND BIKES! I didn't think I would like using a bike as a missionary, but I love it. It is like freedom. Don't think I can get a to a bigger city after this one though.

So there is your short intro. I'm excited for it all. Be excited for life.

--

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

9-2-13: Wrenched Away

Claire is being transferred to a suburb in the NE corner of Berlin, which used to be East Germany before the wall came down. The news took her by surprise, as she thought she would be staying another transfer, which is likely why she sounds so sad about leaving Hamburg.

Wretchedly Wrenched

After a mere six weeks in lovely Hamburg, I received a call on Saturday that it was time to pack my bags and prepare to go to Berlin. Marzahn to be specific. I may or may not have yelled at the poor missionary who was the bearer of this news because honestly, I was not thrilled about leaving. Honestly, I am still not thrilled about leaving so soon. Because I just stinkin´got here and the first couple of weeks were a bit rough but we are really starting to see some of the fruits of our labors and it just made my heart cry a little bit when Elder Hansen said I was getting transferred and had to leave my little flock of people after just six weeks and not to mention my companion who I didn't get to finish training. End of super long run-on sentence. So after yelling at poor Elder Hansen and then apologizing and then running round screaming for seven minutes, I came to grips with the decision and started those hard phone calls where you tell people you're leaving in two days and no, you can't use facebook yet to keep in touch and no, you can`t call or come back and visit unless you get called back. I'm holding out hope that I will come back. Transfer calls? Closest thing to real world drama that missionaries experience.

So I am going to Marzahn and my new companion is Sister Krizer (spelling?). Also I'll be a sister training leader there, which basically means I go to leadership meetings and go on tausches (exchanges) every week with other sisters in our area and other leaderly-type stuff. Whatever that means. I guess I will soon find out.

Goodbyes...

Frau Boschmann cried when we went over to say goodbye. Oskar offered to accompany us to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) tomorrow morning. And I will miss my dear Russians. Rita flipped out a little bit and asked if I'd be here for her baptism (not sure L). Frau Frommhagen is terrified of people but is taking public transportation anyways to come and say goodbye tonight, and we had just finally became "sisters" instead of "weibliche elders" (female elders). I liked being a weibliche elder. Usually it takes a while for me for me really love people and for them to perhaps tolerate me. But I was blessed to very quickly fall in love with the people and places here. Which is great, except I'm leaving. Apparently I am needed elsewhere. Even if it was just for six weeks, I do feel incredibly blessed to have been allowed to serve here and am grateful for this time. I may or may not have started crying when saying goodbye to Bishop Sievers (the leader of the ward in Hamburg). Fortunately someone pulled him away before I started bawling in gratitude for his service to others.

Das Wunder der Woche

Let`s go back before transfer calls when lots of good things happen. Like Sebastian, for instance—the first actual average German we met who wants to meet with us. There goes a saying in the missionary world that for the most part (though not always), missionaries don't find normal people, only members do. That's why members make good missionaries. But we're grateful for the exception this week of Sebastian, who we met knocking on doors, which we usually never do because it’s not super effective. But he was really interested even though he is atheist and asked us to come back and though I won't be able to go back now....Sister Schwantes can! The work will go forward.

On the Wrong Path

Sister Schwantes was a little worried about me leaving because she wasn't sure how strong her connection is with the people we've been teaching. But an encounter with a sweet drunk lady assuaged all her fears when she called over to us to come and talk to her as we were walking by. In broken and slurred English and German, she started telling Sister Schwantes that she was doing a lot of good here. She told her that she could see peoples' souls and that Sister Schwantes has the soul of an angel. Then she pointed at me and said, "This one, this one has wandered. She is not like you. She has some bad in her and is on the wrong path. You need to help her. That is your job. Help her." I started to give a soft rebuttal when she said that I was just like her and did my fair share of drinking and partying. I quickly realized arguing with a drunk is never a good idea and then I simply found it hilarious and tried not to laugh. I should probably give up my wicked ways J. Her most insightful question that made me evaluate my behavior? 

"How old are you?" 

"20." 

"How old were you three years ago?" 

"17"

Turning to my companion, she said, "Exactly! You see what I mean?!?"

Whatever that means.

Well, you'll hear how Berlin is next week. I know that God sends us where we need to be and I’m thankful for opportunities to serve wherever I am called.  Send letters to the mission office. Send prayers to heaven. 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

8-26-13: Windows and Doors

Claire's pretty sure she'll be in Hamburg for another transfer (6 weeks), but we will find out on Monday when she emails us again. 

Windows and doors

A lot of doors didn't open this week. Doors that belonged to people that were really excited we were coming and then somehow forgot. Seven times in three days. But fortunately when doors don't open, windows usually do and we get some fresh air (flowing outside?). Okay maybe not the best metaphor. Main point: the cornucopia of appointments that fell through didn't devastate us and we met some cool people through the windows of opportunity that opened up when the doors didn't. 

Das Wunder der Woche

Part I. So our appointment with the Boschmann family fell out, which was sad because we like them. But I think I forgot to write last week that they invited one of their friends to our lessons. His name is Oskar and he's from Siberia and he is great. So our appointment fell out with the family, but we ran into Oskar and he was like, "Yeah, teach me some things!" I can't understand his German super well, but with the help of my newly learned Russian word “pro-rog” (prophet), we were able to have a good chat. His family is a little weary of him meeting with missionaries because they've heard some weird things about Mormons so we are moving forward with faith and love.

Part II. So sometimes missions are hard and you have hard days because that is just life. On Saturday I was feeling a little bogged down and thoughts of imperfection were weighing on me because I know I will never be a perfect missionary. But a wise friend told me that God always gives us enough to keep going, whether it be a good conversation on the street, an awesome lesson, an expression of love, or whatever force God chooses to send us to let us know He is there and loves us. My needed assistance came through the lesson option because we had a großartig (great) lesson with Rita at the end of the day. She is so solid. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and her kids were there too (though their comprehension of our English is not so good) and it was way more than enough to make me cry unto the Lord in gratitude for being here and being permitted to teach His children. 

Enter Serbians, stage right

We started teaching some Serbians this week. We weren't international enough before so we needed to add another nationality to our mix of Ghana, Tajikistan, Siberia, Cameroon, Togo, and Germany stew (not edible). They stopped us as we were walking by and that's always sweet. More info...next week.

Forget me not

Important life lesson number 354: don't forget people. My district leader from Leipzig served here earlier and he gave me some names of people he thought that I should check up on. We met with a couple from Ghana he had taught last year and it was good. EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT MISSIONARIES JUST STOPPED GOING BY FOR SOME REASON! Their record didn't say why they'd stopped taking lessons from the missionaries and apparently after some missionaries got transferred, they got forgotten. The husband's name is Amaotang and he said, "We thought the LDS church didn't want us anymore!" Mild frustration. Okay, maybe I semi-punched a bush after we left because it's dumb that they got forgotten. But we're glad we can meet with them again and help them progress with their faith in Christ. So....don't forget people.

Quote of the Week

Talking with kids at the kindergarten this week. My German grammar is pretty solid. But I still sound American, or British on a good day, or maybe Russian on other days. Which resulted in the question from Kandai, "Why do you talk so funny?"

Still trying my dear. 

Love you all. 

-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

8-19-13: Thinking Thoughts

Claire is excited about the baptismal date because that is her birthday--the very best present for a missionary!

Happy birthday to my dear mother on Friday. everyone wish her good tidings of great joy. Speaking of good tidings of great joy, I broke down and listened to three Christmas songs this week. That should hold me up for a bit.

Lost in Translation

I tried to talk to start up a conversation with someone on the S-bahn this week. Turns out he was from Romania and couldn't speak German, nor any of my Pimsleur languages. But we tried really hard to communicate nonetheless with all sorts of charades, from which we understood the question relating to our singlehood and we tried to explain the mission thing but...that didn't gesticulate well. Finally we just left him with one of our cards with mormon.org and our phone number on it. But apparently that was a bad choice because then he made a flirty I'll-call-you hand signal. Nothing like accidently hitting on Romanian men when trying to share the Gospel.

Upcoming Baptism Bliss

Remember how we invited Rita to get baptized last week? Well this week she accepted the baptismal date of the 29th of September! I’m so stoked! She is one with great believing blood. She had a few questions about the baptism. Like how long it would last. We thought she meant the service and said about 45 minutes. But she actually wanted to know how long you have to stay underwater. We clarified and all was well.

Dead Man Quote Board

Most of you know that I had something called my dead-man-quote-board with a bunch of my favorite historical people saying historically and profoundly significant things. Just wanted to let you know that I have a variation of it still on my wall, but it's mostly just quotes. From living people. Though with a fair share of dead people quotes too. I just kind of love words a lot and I think that the examples, lives, and wisdom of others, dead or living,. really help me to do good. Good as in the noun, not the adverb, because then I would have used well. Just thought I'd mention that. 

Das Wunder der Woche

We have interviews with our mission president once every few months to see how things are going with us personally and with the work and just to kidna check in. We had said interviews this week. But I was really touched by the love that I felt from President and Sister Kosak. Because even though we have a huge mission with 250 missionaries to care about, they still take precious time to see how each of those missionaries is doing. Which reminded me of Christ and the individual ministering He did while He was on the earth. I think most of you also know I have a small obsession with individualism and I think it is profoundly important. One of my fears about being a missionary was turning into one of a million robots. But we are not robots and we are all prfoundly human. And I am so thankful for a mission president who cares so much about each of us. Just trying to do our best. 

Wo kommon Sie her?

So you know from last week that we're teaching a lot of foreigners. So our favorite question is where they are from. But we are also trying to pick up the family history work in our area and help people in our ward and strangers off the street get more geneology savy. Because family history teaches us about ourselves! The point of this paragraph is actually not at all about where people come from actually. Sorry for the misleading title and introduction. Now I'm just going to make an awkward transition from loving all these different kinds of people and wanting them to experience the joy of the message we have. I was looking through some emails I'd printed out early and found something from my cousin Hillary that I wanted to share from Elder Holland. It's long, but good.  

“Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to the captive and open the prison doors to them that are bound. ¹⁹ I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world.”

(If you’d like to read the entire talk by Elder Holland, here is the link:  http://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/03/missionary-work-and-the-atonement?lang=eng)

I’m trusting in the promise. I shared more thoughts than stories this week...but it happens. 

Love you all.

-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

8-12-13: Ice Cream Week

Week 3 in Altona? Like eating ice cream after licking bread for the past two weeks. Sometimes miracles happen and the bread turns to ice cream—that`s always a good thing.

The first part of the ice cream?

We finally had appointments and we have people to teach! Teaching is the substance of missionary ice cream. I`m going to stop the ice cream metaphor now because it`s not going to carry further very well and I`m starting to crave the ice cream that we shall now buy as soon as we are done with emails. We work with people anyways, not ice cream.

Just to give a broad overview, we met with Getrude from Camaroon (yes, I thought of dear Chako from Leipzig who bytheway is still going to get baptized, except probably in Canada. Rumor has it he finally made it to church in Leipzig before he left. Huzzah!),  the Blanksons from Ghana, Rita from Ghana, Schwester Elevanyo from Ghana, Juliana from Haiti, the Boschman family from Russia, and Frau Frommhagen from (wait for it...) Germany. Just so you know the cultural mix of people here in Altona #thesmallerghana

Awkward Meeting Moments

So we met with a lot of less active members of our ward this week as well, and we tried to track down a bunch of others. We only got yelled at twice. One lovely awkward meeting I wanted to share was our meeting with this old man in our ward named Brüder Fricke and his daughter Schwester Rosa. Brüder Fricke has a bunch of medical problems and his daughter is there to help take care of him, and when we went to visit them, he just starting talking and talking with Sister Schwantes and Schwester Rosa started talking with me. Except Sister Schwantes doesn`t quite understand German yet and Brüder Fricke didn`t really move his mouth when he talked and I could hear him talking about the war and his wife and I knew that Sister Schwantes had no idea what he was saying. For possibly twenty minutes straight. And Schwester Rosa just kept talking to me and I just thought the situation was so funny and so whenever she said something slightly funny I just busted out laughing because Brüder Fricke just kept going and neither of us knew how to tell them we had to go and when we did he just kept talking still, except directed mostly at the one of us who doesn’t really speak German yet. Finally, Sister Schwantes just started praying to signify our lesson was over and we needed to go. Baha. 

Das Wunder der Woche

So we had an appointment on Wednesday with the Blanksons. Except they were late. So we waited outside until they got home. While we were waiting, a family speaking Russian walked by us and I heard the mom say "kirche" (church). They`d already passed us when I decided to call out "Sprechen Sie Russisch?" (Do you speak Russian?). They responded in the affirmative and came back to talk to us. I once again faithfully spouted off my token Russian phrase (I really need to write Dr. Pimsleur to thank him for all his help with learning phrases in French, Spanish, and Russian before my mission) and apparently it was impressive enough this time for them to invite us over to teach them. Say wha—teaching a family for the first time???!!! Apparently she had met with missionaries a long time ago and he's kinda agnostic but the husband is the one that wanted us to come and we had a good first lesson with them. I didn't know if I'd ever get to teach a whole family in Germany J. 

And wait, there`s more! 

We went by a contact the elders gave us because she's a single mom and elders aren't allowed to meet with alleinstehende frauen...what is that called in english? (a sister who lives by herself). Her name is Rita and she let us in and told us she`d started to read the Book of Mormon and knows it's true. Which kinda threw Sister Schwantes off because then the discussion question changes from "When you come to know these thing are true..." to "Since you know these things are true..." except she still used the former. But we utilized the correct preposition in the end. And invited her to be baptized. And she said yes. And then we asked if she would prepare to be baptized on the 29th of September (my birthday!) and she said she`d think about it. She is so awesome though and we are so happy we met with her.

Quote of the week

Fraue Frommhagen, who still thinks we're elders, in her prayer: "Danke, dass ich mit den weiblichen elders treffen konnte." Thanks that I could meet with the female elders. I always thought elders were cooler than sisters J.

West German food is like...

American food. Tacos. Lasagna. Spaghetti. It`s weird. I miss my eastern German potatoes, meat, and rotkohl (red cabbage). But hey guess what? I've apparently lived here long enough to enjoy bubble water. It only took six months. (Those of you who know Claire well should know what a huge miracle that is)

Making Small Talk

So when Taylor came home from his mission, he wanted to talk to everybody we saw in stores and have actual conversations with cashiers at Walgreens and what not and I thought it was weird. Mostly because I hated small talk and thought it was a waste of breath and meant nothing to people. But my small talk skills have been increasing exponentially and my appreciation for it has increased as well. Because sometimes people need a stranger to say hello, to ask about their day and their lives. Sister Schwantes and I have been working on our bus conversations and we've seen a lot of little miracles from it. So go make a 25 second friendship with someone this week and try it out.

Also....Matt Becar (a young man from our stake who is in Claire’s mission) is in my zone and I saw him at zone conference this week. That was weird. But great! His German is super good by the way.

Unfortunate event of the week that was still tied to a good thing:

I was talking to a guy from Ghana (surprise) on the S-Bahn and getting his information because he was interested in learning more about the church (more miracles!), but it took a little bit of time and so at our stop I had to run to make it out the doors before they closed.

Except I didn't make it and once again, I got stuck in the S-Bahn doors.

Embarrassing.

Or endearing.

Take your pick.

Fortunately I made it out after a few struggles and with Sister Schwantes pulling on my backpack.

Sometimes doors close on you. And sometimes you get stuck. But if you keep squirming, you're bound to get out eventually. Missionary work? Helping people get out of doors that closed on them. Squirming our way into faith.

Love you all. Keep squirming.

-- 

Sister Claire Michelle Woodward