Week 17: Happy Thanksgiving!

I sure hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving this week!  Someone told me that it is during the holidays on your Mission is when you realize how much you have and how thankful you are for everything.  I truly believe that.  I thought I'd take a quick minute and tell you guys that I am so grateful for all of my friends and family that support me.  I am so grateful for my mission where I can help and change so many lives, including my own.  I am so grateful for my wonderful companions, Sister Taylor and Sister Sherwood, who I continue to learn from daily.  I am so grateful to live in a land that we can be free and protected in.  I am so grateful for Christ; he is my perfect example and I have come so close to Christ throughout my mission.  I am so grateful for the restored gospel, and that we can have worthy priesthood holders in our homes through fathers, sons, uncles, grandpa's, etc.  I feel so truly blessed, and I hope you all can remember things your are thankful for this Thanksgiving week and then thank our Heavenly Father for giving you everything you have.  He loves us so much and it is really cool that we have a time to think about what we are thankful for in the year.

 

Sister Sherwood and me ...

 

Every week we have the opportunity to go to a Service Project hosted by the city called the Tafel.  It is where grocery markets give old food they won't sell and the city gives it to the needy.  If I've already talked about this, I'm sorry ... you get to hear repeats on what it is.  Anyways, this week I met the coolest man named Nick.  He stopped and was staring at my name tag so I went over and said, "I noticed you staring at my name tag.  Have you seen people like me around before?"  We ended up talking for a really long time after that.  He had seen Mormons before.  He said he didn't believe in God, but he let me share my testimony on eternal families and before I left he asked, "Will you be coming next week?"  I said, "Yup, we sure will!"  He replied, "Good."  :)   Man, I am so excited to go talk to him again and maybe bring him a little closer to God in the process.  Give a little prayer in your heart for Nick for me!

 

Neat castle ...

 

I am so excited for Thanksgiving this next week because we will be having two appointments; one with a member from the German ward and she is absolutely outstanding!  The next is one from the Military ward, so I will have a happy turkey dinner.  Didn't think that would actually happen here in Deutchland!  haha

 

We got to play a musical number for the American ward, 'For the Beauty of the Earth'.  A member found a crazy arrangement on the internet and it went really well.  I have decided my music talent has definitely decreased in the last couple months, but the ward was very nice in saying, "Good job!"  Now I just need to get through the German's music night and I'll be golden!

 

Frankfurt Temple

 

Time is flying by in the mission ... People said it would fly, but I didn't believe them.  I am now realizing that it is so important to really take each day and do my best and to really love my mission.  I will only get this opportunity once in my life and I don't want to miss a single moment of it.  Germany is so amazing and the people are so wonderful.  I see people being prepared every day to come closer to God and it is amazing to see that.  This week we got to see the Frankfurt Temple again, so that was really great.  It is super beautiful!  I hope we will be able to go inside next P-day.

 

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic week this week!  Know that you are in my prayers and that I love you all!

 

Liebe Große 

 

Sister Brown

Hot Chocolate from Starbucks!

​Ibrehem is the cute son of Sister Özdemer ... Couldn't get a smile!

 

Week 16: Schokoladen Kann Tödlich Sein!

My chocolate fast is finally over!  Thank heavens!  I lasted a little over a week and I have built up a lot of chocolate from members that is just sitting on my desk calling my name.  When the day came that I broke, I can't remember how much chocolate I ate.  I probably almost went into a chocolate coma :) Good times!

Man, can I just say that I am really grateful that I look Turkish?   I didn't think I did, but this Sister in the ward is less active and we have been meeting with her a lot and working with her getting back to the temple.  It has been really cool to meet with her.  Her husband is a less active, also, and we had never met him, but after he found out I looked like a Turkish movie star that he knew, he now wants to meet with us and make us homemade Turkish pizza.  He said he loves that we share the Gospel to him!  Man I am so excited to hopefully work more with him.  So, thank you mom and dad for making me look like a famous person ... haha.

I was able to see the Frankfurt temple for the first time this week.  Turns out, it is not actually in Frankfurt ...  It is in Friedrichsdorf, near Frankfurt.  But, it was amazing!  We didn't get to go in, but it was still cool being on temple grounds.  Something one of our elders, Elder Noorda, said to us at a training that I thought was cool ... He said, "This is a place where heaven actually touches the earth."  I thought that was so cool because it truly is a place where we are closest to heaven and closest to our Heavenly Father.  I invite all of you to go and stand outside the temple this next week and just feel how close you are to God at that point.  I did that and mensch (man), I felt the Spirit so strong inside me.  It was an amazing experience.

Frankfurt Germany Temple

I can now say I have officially met a Redskins Cheerleader!  And, our elders baptized her daughter :) The daughter's name is Sydney and we have been teaching her the new member lessons, and they have been really fun.  I am not so sure how many people I will have the opportunity to see baptized, but this week I have gained such a strong testimony of new member work and especially less active work.  It is so important to help those who have come to the church and then left to bring them back.  They have made sacred covenants and it is so important to remind them of those and remind them of how amazing the love of God is, and how wonderful the knowledge of the restored gospel is.  I am so grateful to help so many people here remember their covenants and help them endure to the end. 

This week we had two splits, which are when sisters come and say with us and Sister Taylor goes elsewhere.  They are really good for me because they give me confidence that I know where I am and that I actually know how to do things.  I can now say that I know when I am on the wrong bus, too ... haha.  I asked someone if a bus stopped at a particular stop and they said,  "Ya!"  So, I hopped on ... three stops later I realized that they were wrong.  I hopped off and headed back to where I was.  I call that improvement.

My German is slowly getting better, also.  I was reading in my Book of Mormon today and Sister Taylor came in and asked how I thought I was doing.  She was like, "You better say you are doing awesome!"  I didn't realize it, but my reading German has gotten so much faster in the past couple weeks, so that makes me feel great :)

You know that country song that has the lyrics, "Life goes faster than you think, so don't blink" ...?  I feel like that has become my life.  I have been out on the Mission now for almost 4 months now and it feels like barely a month.  This week has been such a great week ...  We had a lot of appointments and have made great progress with investigators and less actives.  I am so greatful for a Heavenly Father that guides me on what to say and what to do in the days to be a diligent little missionary :)

I hope all of you have a great week and know that I love you, and more importantly that Heavenly Father and Jesus love you.  We all make mistakes; we all are imperfect.  But, someone told me whether you like it or not, God loves you, so deal with it.  I know that God loves us and wants to support and help us with everything.  Take care!

Liebe Große

Sister Brown

Week 15: Flu shots ... Schprechen sie Deutsch?

Got my very first flu shot today ... NOT FUN!  The doctor that gave it to us came up to me and he asked, "Schprechen sie Deutsch?",  which means, "Do you speak German?" I said, "A little ..."  And then he started speaking English.  How he knew I was American I know not, but I'm guessing it was my failed attempt at the German accent.  Anyways, I hope that this doesn't turn out with me getting sick again, but I'm hoping that exact obedience on the Mission blesses me with not getting sick again.

It is getting colder and colder here, but still not terrible.  Definitely grateful for scarves and boots, that's for sure!  I am proud to say that I have reached my 100th day on the Mission this last week!  Time is just flying by before my eyes :)

This week has been really fast, but really productive at the same time.  We had another split this week, which means another sister comes to our apartment and Sister Taylor leaves to go with a different sister, because she is now the Sister Training Leader.  Because I am in a drit (three companions), my new companion doesn't know any directions here or bus stops, so it was up to me to not get us lost.  Some of you at home may laugh at that because you know how terrible I am with directions ... haha.  All of our appointments went great and then we went to a couple 'go by's', which are less active members that the ward assigns us to go visit to see if they are still living there or even interested in the church anymore.  So, I had no idea where these people lived.  I had my navigator and we hopped on a bus that I knew took us kinda sorta close to the direction we needed.  We hopped on another bus that I had never seen that a German said would work ... Yea, it was wrong.  So, we took it the opposite way, got off and started walking.  Believe it or not, we finally reached the apartment that this less active member lived at.  Turns out they no longer lived there.  We started walking back and I was beyond nervous.  I didn't tell the sisters, but I had no idea where we were ... not a clue!  I felt like we were maybe 30 minutes out from our apartment, so worse case we walk for a while ... But, then I said a prayer in my head that we would find our way.  I found a bus stop and hopped on, then looked at what stops were next.  You'll never guess it, but we were five minutes away from our house ... haha (nice, Sister Brown!).  I have to say, I was never more grateful in my entire life to feel so stupid.  I sure hope I get better with finding directions, though.  But, that is my funny story for the week.

This week we had to talk to one of our investigators about the law of chastity.  Fun stuff I know, but actually it was so amazing.  It is incredible that the Spirit can testify of things so strong through you and basically give you what you need to say.  I am not sure how I was able to say everything I needed to, and be caring and loving and not awkward and still make a point all at the same time, but it turned out to be one of the most amazing lessons ever.  I am so grateful that I can teach with the Spirit and have Heavenly Father guide me, because I am pretty sure that lesson would have gone up in flames without Him there guiding us.

This week has been such an amazing week for me with personal studies, I feel like.  I have been reading different Christlike attributes that I could work on and this week.  I am working on Charity and Love.  While reading, a question came up on how often do you pray for charity and love?  Honestly, I don't think I've really ever done that and that is upsetting, so I am making a goal to be better this week and pray for charity and for more opportunities to love others.  I love the people here so much; they are truly amazing.  I love talking to them because they are very honest in their feelings, which makes things easier.  This last week I was on the bus and I was reading my Book of Mormon trying to figure out how to pronounce a word, and I then asked this man next to me how to say it.  Turns out he spoke German and English!!  We sat and talked for a really long time on the bus and we even missed his stop.  Luckily the bus was at the end and flipped right around to go the other way, so that was good.  But, I am so grateful for the courage I am given as a missionary for opportunities like that to speak to people and share the Gospel.

One more funny thing ...  I was mistaken for an Irish person the other day, so that was happy!  I am becoming a European, sorta :)

Well, I hope that you all have an amazing week!  I set a commitment for all of you to read the Book of Mormon every day this week and see what you can learn from it to better help you in your lives.  I know that when you do, only blessings with be given to you!

Liebe Große

Sister Brown

Splits!

Week 14: I Am No Longer Sick!

Hallo!

All I can say for this week is that ... I am no longer sick and I never want to see that sickness hit me again!  Being sick on the mission is a real trial because as much as you need one, you never get breaks.  But, I am so blessed that I am better now.  Now I can work even harder with investigators and less-actives.  Game on!   I love the people here so much!  Even when they don't want to listen to the Gospel, they are still so gracious and kind about it, which is just a blessing.  I never understood those people who got angry if I asked them if they wanted to hear about the Book of Mormon.  But, I always think maybe they are just having a bad day.  I have a goal to make everyone smile even if they don't want to hear what I have to say. :)  So far it is going awesome!  I sat by this man on the bus and noticed he had the HTC M8 phone, which is like the best phone ever!  Anyways, so I started asking him about it and he saw my Book of Mormon and asked what I was doing here.  I gave him my speel and even though he didn't really believe in God or want to believe in God, we had a fantastic conversation and he let me give him a pass-along card.  I love missionary work so much for moments like this!  These people are amazing and they just need people to actually care about them for them to show how awesome they are ... if that makes any sense at all??

 Elder Swallow, Elder Schmidt, me, Elder Anderson, Elder Melansen ... Transfers!

​Sister Taylor and me getting ready to pick up our new companion!

Our P90x mornings are so awesome!  I am so excited that we have it to exercise with.  It is so funny because we head out for the day down our 8 flights of stairs and I hear the groans and know that we had a good morning exercise because we are all sore already ... ha ha.  We are gonna be buff missionaries by the end of the transfer.

This week we are all "going off" of chocolate for an investigator so that she doesn't drink coffee.  It is a good thing that I didn't say I'd "go off" of sugar, or I'd die!

I officially have my Visa now, so that is super exciting.  Now the next thing is a drivers license.  Mensch (man), I studied the drivers test with all the signs and they are really 'Komisch' (wierd).  I hope that I can pass so that I can drive the elder's car every now and again when we have far away appointments.

Got my Visa!

We had an appointment this last week with a family from Pakistan and that was fun. We brought a member from Columbia who speaks German, and not very much English, and the two daughters of the family from Pakistan speak Italian, and the father speaks English.  So, in an hour appointment we spoke English to the father, who then spoke his language from Pakistan to his daughters, who would reply in Italian, and our ward member would then speak Spanish to them, and then translate it to German for us ... ha ha.  My brain hurt so bad by the end of it.  If it sounds confusing to you, that's because it was!

This week I have studied in the Preach My Gospel a lot about Christlike attributes in chapter six.  We were all encouraged to pick a Christlike attribute that we could all work on.  I encourage all of you to think about what kind of Christlike attributes you could improve in your life and pick one and make out goals to achieve it.  I'd love to hear everyone who does it and your successes, and I too, will do so this week and report back next week.  I think that it is so important to find things that we can do better in our lives each day.  Even if we are not doing necessarily "bad"  things, we could always have more good things in our lives.

This week I've gained a testimony of praying on my knees, also.  I was really good at it in the MTC and then got lazy on the mission, which is a little strange.  But, really it is so important that we pray on our knees because it is a sign of humility.  I have found that when I get down on my knees and pray with all my heart, that is when I have had the most meaningful prayers.

This week I hope you all will find Christlike attributes and get down on your knees to pray, and I promise that when you do this, Heavenly Father will guide you and bless you so much in your lives.  He has a "plate full of blessings" and is just waiting for us to take the "cookies", or blessings.

Have a great week!!  Ich Liebe Dich!

Liebe Große

Sister Brown 

​Split with Sister Schuring in Frankfurt

"Selfie" at Train station in Walluf