Monday August 24, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well family! You are back to school! Wow! I can't believe that I've pretty much been gone for like a whole school year and summer! Crazy! I loved everyone’s school outfits! I was proud to see Hadlie with a loose t-shirt, forever 21 skinny jeans, and converse on for the first day of school. That would be me! Love you Had! And Riv! Your hair was beautiful! Did you curl it with our lovely magic curling iron all by yourself? And colt...I guess you looked good too. I liked your socks:) 

My week…It was much much cooler! Thank the heavens! It rained like almost every day. Fall is kind of starting to come around. It's weird to be in one place as the seasons are changing. Maybe I'll even be able to see winter here in Gera. (I’m crossing my fingers at least!) 

Montag: We went to the Meckels with Lucy and had a JOINT TEACH! Lucy is a member now! So she can help us! The kids love her and the whole family just connected with her. We were grateful for that. 

Dienstag: we taught Michael, nothing new there and Frau Dhillion, also nothing really new. Had a "less active coordination meeting" with the Elders. They were in Gera for a bit. Taught Lucy, or rather she taught us the first lesson. Then we went by on a less active who said she wasn't a member anymore. Sometimes I think it's funny that people think they can just not come, and then they aren't a member! Ha!

Mittwoch: Taught Michael with Lucy as a joint teach! She is wonderful! We had English and German class. Ali, our favorite student, will be moving soon. We are sad about that. We also went to a concert in Werdau! It was by 2 BYU students. One of them had served previously in Werdau! They were really good and we brought a lot of investigators and less actives and they brought their friends! So it was good! 

Donnerstag: We got to go to Berlin!! We had mission Tour with Elder Johnson. He just moved to Frankfurt 2 weeks ago and is ein ziemlich neu (a fairly new) Area 70 for Europe! The AP's called me on Monday and said that Elder Johnson wanted to interview me before our meeting started. Uh...what?! So...before the meeting I had a little interview with an Area 70. You said Stake Conference felt a little more official (with a visiting authority)...try an interview! Just kidding! It was good and I think he just wanted to get a real feel for how the mission really is. He talked about my family, the language, what's hard, what I like about missionary work! It was good! Then we had the meeting! Oh how I love meetings like this! My favorite thing that we talked about was sports relating to the gospel. Like sports, we need to "practice" the gospel. He also talked about us being the gospel "coaches" for our investigators. It doesn't make sense to teach someone basketball that we just go over to their house and talk about basketball for an hour and then leave it be for a week. They need to practice in order to make progress and become a better player! I love this analogy! We also talked about getting our members involved. It's not just the missionary’s work, but the members! It's OUR work! We NEED to do it together or it doesn't work! It was a good meeting! And I love seeing other missionaries! 

Freitag: We had a member appointment with Sch. Dörlitz! We applied what we learned and guess what?! It worked! She actually told us that we should come back next week to help her with something. 1. Sch. Dörlitz asking for help with anything is a miracle 2. Any German asking for anything is a miracle! We just explained that we need the members and we are here to help the members with what they need. Then Lucy helped us go by on a few less actives that weren't home. Then we did weekly planning. 

Sammstag: We taught Michael. Lucy came with us to a first lesson with a 16 year old girl who really likes America. Good thing we are American! Her mom really wants her to learn English too. So luckily we have an in with that one! Then Lucy taught us the Plan of Salvation! We love her! 

Sonntag: Church! I love church! I've never loved church so much as on my mission! It's just like all my stress goes away! Oh I love church! After church, Bruder Kosak was talking to us and randomly asked us where we were eating for lunch. Sch. Kretchmar is in the hospital this week suddenly so she couldn't feed us like she was supposed to. We told him that and he immediately asked his Frau if we could come over! She said of course! So we went over! She made HOMEADE Klöße (dumplings)!  SO good! And little small miracle…she was going to invite 2 extra people over for lunch, so Saturday night she prepared extra food. Then the people couldn't come, but then she ended up feeding us! God looks out for his children! Even with the little things!

Love you all so much! Have a great week! Dad said you have fun things planned! 

Liebe, Sister St. John

Monday August 17, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well...LUCY WAS BAPTIZED!!!! Oh my goodness we are SO happy for her! I'll talk more about it later when I get to it in my week! 

Anyway, you sound like you had a great time at the Ranch. Sad that not everyone was there, and that Bryton was hurt. But it is still a blessing that we still get together as a family in such a beautiful place like that. I'm not going to lie, I have this fear, probably an irrational fear, but it's still a fear...I have a fear that I'm going to get home and they are going to sell the Ranch or something and I won’t be able to go ever again. :( Besides that fear, I loved loved loved all the stories and pictures! Thanks so much for sending them to me! I am missing a picture of Uncle Brent though! Someone got one, I know they did:) No, but really, I'm so so grateful for that place. It means so much to me, just because of all of the memories there. And that they are with family! It's a very special place! 

As of for my week....

Montag: We did FHE with Lucy:)

Dienstag: We met with Michael. We are honestly kind of stuck with him. It just shows to me how much we need goals in our lives to progress. So make goals! We also met with Frau Dhillion! She’s the one who asks us all about our family relationships. SO...we decided to read the Family a Proclamation to the World with her. It was actually really cool to tell her all about how our families are built on the foundation of Christ. That our parents actually care for each other. That we actually spend time together. That we pray and read scriptures together. She was honestly amazed, and said that she would really love to have that in her family. I hope that we are helping her heart be opened slowly so that we can teach her a little bit more about the Gospel. We then got to meet with Sch. Dörlitz and the Elders came with! So that was fun! Elder Schofield is a little bit new on his mission. (I say new, he's been out for like 5 months...) But he's frustrated with the language a bit. I don't blame him! We then met with Lucy! We talked about the Sacrament and what the prayers really mean. She could answer every question even better than I could. She is ready! 

Mittwoch: We got to do some doors today! I've really never been "dooring" before. It's not very successful here and we didn't ever really have time, so we haven’t gone. BUT...this transfer, I felt like I needed to set the goal of finding someone while dooring. There was a specific place that we felt like we needed to go to, but, we couldn't find out how to get there! Streets are crazy in Germany. We talked to a teenage girl about American clothes and we will visit her next week again before she starts school. It was funny because she answered the door in her bath robe and with her hair in a towel. People aren't shy here! We also met with Lucy again (we were trying to keep Satan away from her) and we talked about Lehi's dream. She could also tell us the story, what everything means etc. She basically taught our lesson! We then met with the Meckels and we talked about the Articles of faith. They have been sleeping in their garden (like 30 mins away from their house. kind of like a back yard for them) for like 3 weeks and so it's been hard to meet with them! But they were good and we got a lesson in! 

Donnerstag: We met with Michael and just talked about blessings. We are at a loss with him. Then...LUCY'S BAPTISM!! Not going to lie, I was kind of stressed. Getting everything ready, making sure everyone got there, food, plan, and music. Wow. I was a little stressed. Even when she got baptized. But, everyone was there, and everything worked out! The ward is really supportive and there was like 40 people there! I was pretty amazed! I had the opportunity of helping her get ready after she was baptized. At that point, right after she was baptized, I was still a little stressed. However, I shut the door behind me, and turned around and Lucy was just standing there smiling and soaking wet. I felt SO peaceful. I asked her how she felt and she said, "I feel perfect. I feel sinless, I feel happier than I've ever felt before." I couldn't help but smile and forget my stress. It was such a testimony builder to me to know just how important baptism really is. She had been coming to church actively for about 9 months. She had almost all of the blessings of being a member. Just that one simple thing though, made the difference!

Freitag: We had Distrikt Meeting. After this meeting I was talking to Sister Medley, who I’m sure by now is SO sick of hearing all my thoughts;) But, I was just explaining to her that I have a really different perspective on missionary work after this week. A few things had made the difference. 1. Seeing Lucy baptized 2. Reading some talks sent to us by our Sister Training Leaders about temples and 3. Distrikt meeting. Seeing Lucy get baptized just gave me hope. It gave me hope for every person that I've ever met on the street. They can have these blessings! It's possible! It’s so close! Reading the talks all about temple and missionary work was really eye opening. I KNEW that the temple is our ultimate goal, but I hadn't ever really felt it. I felt happy and excited for Lucy that she got baptized. But that’s not the end. I'm even more excited for her to go to the temple! Our new converts NEED to go to the temple! They need to feel what it feels like there so that they can be strong in the Gospel. I love this new focus from our mission! Then, At District Meeting the Zone Leaders talked about attitude of missionary work and that it’s not about finding 50 investigators in a week. But that it’s finding that ONE that week that will make it to baptism! It was just a really good learning week! I wish I could write all my thoughts and feelings down, but it’s just not the same as feeling them for yourself. We also had a picnic with Lucy and we ate PB & honey sandwiches. I have missed those. Then, we got to start our exchanges with the Sisters in Chemnitz! Sister Hahn came here with me! She's been in Chemitz for 6 transfers now. That is HALF of her mission in ONE area! Crazy. She is amazing and has a really good attitude though! 

Samstag: With Sister Hahn we taught Michael with Sch. Kretchmar! Then we ate Potatoes and Quark. Like sour cream stuff! We then taught Lucy. We decided to talk about Priesthood blessings because she would be receiving one the next day. I LOVE talking about the Priesthood. On my mission I've come to a greater appreciation of it. Every time I teach an investigator about the Priesthood and how important it is, I share the story of when I was born and how Dad gave Mom and me a blessing and how everything worked out. It also talks a little bit about this moment in my Patriarchal Blessing, which to me, makes the Priesthood just that much more meaningful. I cry almost every time I tell this story...surprised? Me either. 

Sonntag: Kirche! Lucy was confirmed! We committed her to write down the things that were said and what she felt and thought as the blessing was being said. She did, and what she wrote was amazing. Her testimony is so strong and she knows how to listen to the spirit. After church we went to our member appointment. It was a family with an 11 year old, and a 12 year old! It was fun! We shared out favorite member message with this family. We share a Mormon message in German called "Was zu bestehen" I don't know what it's called auf English. But, without fail, if the Spirit is in the home it makes someone in every family cry. And I cry every time. It is just about how the love of Christ is ALWAYS there for us! I love bearing testimony of the Gospel to families because I've seen it have a huge effect on my family! 

All in all this week was amazing. Plus it's starting to get a little cooler and it smells like rain. Maybe it's just because I'm a missionary, but every time it rains I think of the Primary song "Like earth right after rain". You know what one I'm talking about right? But, I LOVE that song because it reminds me of how I felt right after I was baptized. I felt clean and pure. Like Earth right after Rain. 

Have a great week!! I love you so so much! 

Liebe, Sister St. John

Ps. we did a service project for our GML here today where we shoveled a lot of rocks/sand into the basement of a building that they are repairing. So, I got some hard work in for what I missed at the Ranch!

 

With Lucy before her baptism.

With Lucy before after her baptism.

With Nele, one of the Meckel kids.

 With Sister Hann.

 The best district ever!

We have great zone leaders!

 And the zone leaders make me look really short! 

Monday August 10, 2015 Gera, Germany

Hallo!! How are you? Hopefully you are up and on your way to the Ranch! You looked like you had fun last week! Lagoon, Temple Square, shopping trips. Hadlie is wearing an item of my clothes in every picture by the way. I think it’s funny! And everyone is getting TALL!!! Geez! But, anyway…very fun week! I’m sorry Dad that you get sick on the rides now. That’s got to be no fun. Last week I didn't have a lot of time...because I took a long time to write my Mission President. We write him an email every week and Pres. Fingele wants it in German. SO...it takes me a little bit longer to write a good email. I’m getting better at it now though. 

As for my rollercoaster of a week....

Montag: Normal P-day. And yes family, sorry if I now sound like a missionary that has been out for a while. I kind of have been.

Dienstag: We taught Michael about commandments, and why they are actually important. We think it’s finally starting to click a little with him. Then Frau Dhillion. She likes to read from the Bible with us. So we always pick something from the Bible and then from the Book of Mormon to go with it. She also asks us lots and lots of questions about our family and about the relationship that we have with them, and how they became that way. She's Catholic, but has a really bad family life. She realizes that there is something different with us and our families. She is always amazed when we tell her how we solve problems as a family, or how we eat dinner every day as a family. I think it’s interesting how important her family is to her, but how we just know how to build a good family with the Gospel. We are really blessed. Ok...then, for the BIG news...Lucy. Our investigator, who met the Elders 10 months ago, and has wanted to be baptized ever since...may now get baptized! She had an interview with a counselor of our mission president and he said she is clear! We are SOO excited for her!! She will be baptized on the 13 of August!! The most amazing part of this story is that we have a goal as a mission to have our newly baptized people go to the temple to do baptisms within 4 weeks of getting baptized. This, we thought, was almost impossible, seeing as our one temple in our mission is closed until May, and the Frankfurt temple is like 6 hours away. Well, to our surprise Lucy said after her interview, "Hey! Now I can go with the young single adults to the temple the first week in September!" WHAT?! She has the opportunity to go to the temple in a month! God’s timing is perfect and we are SO SO excited for her!! 

Mittwoch: Pretty normal distrikt meeting, we met the new Elder. We taught German and English. Ali, from Iran has perfect English and I got asking him some questions about his Muslim religion. It's very interesting and I will write them later when I have more time. 

Donnerstag: We taught Michael again. Our lesson was actually very bold and straightforward. I'm being Germanified by the day believe it or not. We talked about the WHY! Why we keep the commandments, why the restoration is important, and why it all matters to him. The Spirit was strong, and we are thinking of committing him to another date here pretty soon! We taught our less active Lutz. He always has people over, so it’s hard to get a focused lesson in. then we tried to play soccer with Aja, a Meckel kid. But it was like 98 degrees and humid. So we just got ice cream instead. We then with to Jena again this week so the zone leaders could give Lucy her baptism interview! All is good and I love Jena! We stayed for institute again! I'm excited to go when I get home! 

Freitag: We did weekly planning. Then helped the Krause family set up for a BBQ for us that night. A bunch of people from the Gera members came and it was really fun! It was HOT! But fun! I ate a lot of meat. It was good. I also played with their little three year old boy for like the whole time. By the end of the night he told his mom that I was his wife. Cute! 

Samstag: So...Friday night I didn't feel too good. I threw up 3 times that night and was hot and cold and sweaty. No AC remember? Awful. I had a fever when I woke up and Sister Medley wouldn't let me get out of bed. We got permission to stay home that day. Staying home as a missionary is awful! I felt SO bad for Sister Medley! She had NOTHING to do. I just slept all day. It was much needed, especially because I didn't feel good at all. Not going to lie I really missed you this day Mom. Being sick without Mom is no fun! 

Sontag: I woke up feeling just fine! Went to church, Lucy tried on her baptismal clothes. I love seeing people in white! 

Well. Of course I'm running out of time! But, just know how much I love you and miss you! Have so much fun at the ranch! It’s my favorite place on earth! Don’t take it for granted! Have a safe drive! Say hi to Grandma Stewart, Uncle Brent, and Aunt Michelle for me!! And also, never forget how lucky we are to have our family! It really is a blessing! Love you again! 

Liebe, Sister St. John

 Us with Lucy after her interview.

The district.

Monday August 3, 2015 Gera Germany

Hallo!! I have to be fast today. Sorry! But I loved all of your stories and pictures. By the way...no one sent me ANY pictures of the giant lily pads...I would like some of those... Colt. I hope you all enjoyed the week of fun and adventure. I will be doing some of those things when I get back! Timp caves and camping, and bike riding? Sound like fun! As for my week....

Montag: Nothing special that I can remember really. Just the usual P-day. (Now I sound like Dad in his emails. You’re right, things get routine...) 

Dienstag: Michael. We are really trying to get him to a point where we can get him to have another baptismal date. Hopefully soon! Then Frau Dhillion. She cooked chicken Schnitzel and potatoes! OH SO good! Then, we taught the Meckels the Word of Wisdom. We will have to keep working with that one. But my favorite part of today was that we got to go to a kinder taufe (child baptism) in Werdau! It was really good for our investigators to see too! Nele, Fynnlay, Schwester Meckel, Michael, and Lucy were all there! I love seeing baptisms, the Spirit is so strong every time. 

Mittwoch: Last Distrikt meeting of the transfer before Elder young goes home! We have learned a lot from him. Oh! And we were 2 hours late to DM because our train just decided to not go any further after we had been on there for like 10 minutes. No member would pick us up, so we waited an hour for a bus, then rode that for an hour until we got to Altenburg where we took a train to Werdau. Deutscher Bahn...but, DM was worth it! We celebrated Sister Medley’s B-day with cake and a piñata! We then taught Schwester Riemann. I always had the feeling to ask her if we could help her with something and every time she said no. But! This time she said yes! I knew I kept asking for a reason! We will help her clean some pet cages from her daughter because she's in the hospital. 

Donnerstag: I don't remember much... (And I didn't bring my planner...or my notes so that’s why it’s not so detailed. Sorry!) I do know that we took Lucy to Institute in Jena! OH!! And it was Sister Medley’s birthday! So we went out to dinner with Lucy before Institute. We could only stay for an hour, but it was SO cool! There were only a couple people there but everyone spoke English so we just did it in English! There were also a couple of BYU students there that were doing an internship here. Cool! I honestly am SO jealous of people that have the opportunity to go to Institute, young men's or young women's! The fact that you actually have people your age with the same standards and beliefs is amazing. Please take advantage of that!

Freitag: We met with Schwester Morgner, and celebrated Sis. Medley’s birthday once more! Ha! We love her!  And she has been coming to church now for 2 weeks! AH! I love it when people make progress! 

Samstag: Transfer calls! And guess what?! Surprise, but we are staying! 4 transfers together! It’s a good thing that I love my comp, and Gera! 

Sontag: Church. We ate with the Bishop and his family. 4 kids! It was fun! Then there was another baptism where I got to lead the music with a wand. Ha! They are serious about their music leading here. Funny!

Well, sorry for the lack of detail, but I have to go! Love you so much! Have a great week! I will try to send some pics from my Ipad! 

Liebe, Sister St. John

 Silly pictures of our District...

Happy birthday Sister Medley!