Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Monday August 31, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well... Not a lot of time because pictures took a while! But, I wanted to do something different anyways today for my email. 

This week was...hard. I wasn't really home sick. But I missed the family. I just wanted them to be with me. Some weeks are just hard. Sometimes I try to hide it, but Sister Medley knows me too well, so we talk about it. I feel like I’ve been on my mission for a long time. And I kind of have. But I still have 8 months left. That’s also kind of a lot! I just feel like I’m in a missionary rut! But, I have to get through it! Nothing changes if nothing changes! So, this week I've really been trying to focus of some of the little things that make me want to keep going. So I'm going to talk about those. 

Meckel family! They have my heart! Those 3 kids. They can't remember my name so they call me the "little Sister". They have been praying and reading on their own. They pray as a family. They come to church, even when their mom can't come. They are troopers! They love primary and they talk about feeling the Holy Ghost. Seeing them change has been amazing! They weren't like that before. 

Michael. He's German and stubborn. But, we had a lesson with him, and he cried. We talked about Jesus and he cried because he felt bad for making Jesus suffer. We had him commit to live ALL of the commandments so Heavenly Father could bless him. I'm happy we got him out of his shell a little bit. 

Lucy. We got to teach her some temple prep lessons because she gets to GO to the temple this next weekend! Pray that she gets there safely! Satan works in evil ways! But I love studying about the temple because I learn so much about it, and my testimony grows stronger. Plus, Lucy is the best member missionary ever! And Lucy is just funny! She says the funniest things! We started to keep a quote book of her. I will have to send you some sometime. 

Lutz. Lutz is a less active. He came to church and then surprisingly that night was taken to jail!! WHAT?! But...he was released this week so we went over and talked about the temple being the goal. He has the desire, he just has to do it! It’s like dad says...you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. 

Schwester Dörlitz. The poor lady! Her husband died 6 years ago and she misses him! They knew each other from when they were teenagers and they have been together since. She likes to have us over so that she isn't so lonely! She is such a strong lady and we love to go over there. She likes us to play the piano and sing for her. Also, we helped her learn how to write and read emails on her laptop. Oh! And at her house she fed us candy and cake and stuff. I was probably allergic to something because my lips got all tingly and swollen! It was SO weird! But then it went away, so not a big deal! It was funny trying to talk though, because they were kind of numb. 

Church. I LOVE church! However, I was a little frustrated this day. There were only 3 members driving to church this week. And...with all the other members and our investigators they didn't have place for us. So...we took a train at like 6:50 in the morning to get to church on time. Little did we know that someone canceled and so there was actually room for us. AND a member came that said he wasn't coming. I was tired and a bit frustrated. OH! And, Bishop called on Sat. and asked Sis. M and I to give a talk! Oh gosh. It was like the scariest thing I've ever done! A talk in GERMAN! I just read a bunch of quotes, so I think it went ok. But...besides all the stress. Church is peaceful! Sacrament is like my one hour of peace, true peace form the week. Oh, and there was a BYU professor there and his wife. They are here doing research and found our church. They were very nice and had a daughter serve here in Germany. At the end of church he shook my hand and gave me 20 €. We aren’t aloud to take money, but he made me. It was actually a blessing because we were really low on money this month because of all the trains we had to take. And that last train to church made us pretty broke. But that 20 euro saved us and we could buy actual food today! 

Well, I can't remember a lot of the funny things that happened, but they did happen. I do laugh a lot! I do have happy times, not everything is stressful. The work is going good! I'm loving Gera and the people! I love Sister Medley and I'm so happy that I get to have her as my companion for so long! I love this Gospel! I KNOW that it blesses families. I know that it’s right and true because I've felt it. I feel it every time I talk about it. I've been rejected way too many times...but I KNOW that I KNOW that it's true! 

I love you so much! Have a fun week at your concerts and everything! Tell Katelyn congrats for me! I loved her invitation! Send me lots of pics! 

Liebe Sister St. John

The MTC Crew. Everyone besides me serves in "West" Germany.
MTC Roommates...Sisters St. John, Israelson, Seare, Garcia
Our 10 month mark!

 We went to Weimar today for P-day! its the town 5 miles away from the concentration camp that I went to! It's very beautiful and there's a small castle thing there! 






We bought huge water bottles because it was HOT!
 
*From Mom: I asked Cassidy a few questions this week about the area she lives in. Here are the questions and her answers...
 
*Is Gera what we would consider a small town, kind of like Spanish Fork, or is it bigger?
Gera is probably more like Provo. just laid out very differently and without a University.
 
*What is your favorite thing about where you live?
I love how pretty it is here! Its very green, and very German! Markt is beautiful!
 
*What is your least favorite thing about where you live?
I don't like that there are some hills here. It makes walking more like hiking.
 
*How long does it take you to get to church? Do you take a train/bus?
It takes us an hour by train to get to chruch. we go there by train every Wednesday for Distrikt meeting. But usually the members drive us there on Sunday. We share the car with the Elders, so most of the time we drive it back from our eating appointments on Sunday and have it for half of the week. We don't use it while in Gera becuase we ride the bahn. But we try to visit members and less actives in the smaller cities when we have the car.
 
*In Germany do they have stores like Walmart where you go to get everything? Or is it always more separate shopping? Like where would you go to get say...pens and pencils?
We buy food at one store, and pens and stuff at another. They don't really have everything together. Walmart is like 5 times bigger as the big stores here. 
 
*Can you send us a picture of the outside of your apartment building? And also maybe one from farther out of the Markt?
Pictures for mom of markt and where we live. There's a white building, kind of center. Not the one with the tower, but the other pic (below). We live in the white building. Our room window is the very top circle window right in the middle. 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment