Monday October 26, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well...the big news is here...Sister Medley is leaving :( She is going all the way over to the West. I've been in denial since Saturday. To say the least...we had a good long run! But that makes it even harder because now I have to say goodbye to a best friend! I hate loving people. I always have to say goodbye. I am, however, glad that I get to stay here in Gera and show a new sister around! Sister Bills is coming from Berlin and I'm excited to show her a smaller town. The ward here is really good and I think she is going to love it! 

A couple highlights of this week because I don't have time.... 

Interviews: we had interviews with President. That was really fun because he came to our distrikt meeting and taught us and showed us some miracles that have happened in the mission! Lots of kids inviting lots of friends and our mission is doing really well! In my interview I asked President what I could do to make these last 4 transfers the best transfers of my mission. He gave me the advice of "forget yourself and go to work." He also said, “Speak German all the time. Not only from 9 to 9. ALL THE TIME!!!” What the heck?! But hey...It’s coming from President! I'm going to do my best to do it. The last thing he said was to keep working well with the ward. Good thing that’s my favorite part of missionary work! I can do that! 

Claudia: Well, Claudia is doing awesome! We taught her the law of chastity. She lives with her boyfriend...(always a problem here) but she says that she will keep it. We also took her to the temple with Lucy. On the way there Lucy was talking about one of her friends at school that told her she was crazy for keeping the law of chastity. Claudia jumped right in and bore her testimony about how she knows that it’s right and that it's not that hard! The temple was awesome and a little more done this time! Claudia said that she wants to get married there and also that she has a stronger desire to get baptized! YES!!!! I love the Spirit and how it works on people! She is SO prepared!! 

These past few days have been really sad! Elder Thompson leaves also! Sister Medley and I have served 6 months with him. Change is hard! Really hard! But I’ve come to realize that Heavenly Father is in charge! He knows...He knows how we feel, he knows what we want, and what we don’t want. And most of all, he knows what’s best! 

I have to take over this area. Drive the car...(haven't done that in over a year) remember the phone every day. Remember to call people. Know how to get everywhere. I'm stressed. I'm not a very in charge person. To say the least I'm feeling pretty inadequate...But you know, maybe I need that so that I can learn to rely on my Heavenly Father! 

I love you all! Sorry for the lame email...transfers...and I'm trying to make it easier for Colten to live up to the emails;) 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John 

*From Mom...Cassidy's dad asked her a few good questions this week. Here are her replies...*

Well! To answers some of your questions...

 

I feel like my perspective on life has changed s lot. Things that were really important before my mission aren't very important now. And things that were kind of important are really important now. Example... Family, and planning, scripture memorization, being 100% obedient. Just living the gospel is so much more important to me than it was before. Also...I shave my armpits on a regular basis, it's just the legs that I struggle with;) 

On a daily basis I speak German about 80% of the time! From 9-9 we speak German! I'm to a point now where I can communicate comfortably in German. So people don't HAVE to speak English to me. But Lucy for example only speaks English to us because she likes English better than German! But here in the East people don't know as much English as they do in the West. 

 

Oktoberfest is actually something that only happens in München. So no. We don't hear much about it. We are actually allowed to taste test some of the beers though. They taste pretty interesting! ;) Ha!

I will gladly eat a real bratwurst for you! 

 The distrikt with President!

 Temple trip with Claudia and Lucy!

 Werdau dream team!

 Awe, I'm such a cheeser!

Pray this week that I don't cry too much in front of my new companion. But, I'm excited for this new adventure! Especially the driving the car part!

 

Monday October 19, 2015 Gera, Germany

Willst Du Eine Schneemann Bauen?! (Do you want to build a snowman?)

Hallo!! Fall break! Sounds like it was a lot of fun! That was always one of my favorite breaks! Mostly because I had time to go out and take pictures. And Penny! I want to meet her so bad!! And, James and Sadie have another boy? I knew that she was pregnant, just not that she had him yet. That’s so exciting! 

I decided as I was reading my last week’s email...that I'm SO boring. And also not just boring, but the things I write don't really portray how I feel about the work, or how much I've really changed here. But I decided that I need to write better emails! I've been getting lazy. And not just with my emails. But with everything else too. It’s just a routine now, but it needs not to be! 

So, here we go! Hopefully this email will be better! Also, I hope that my friends excuse me for not writing them as much, because with a good email comes time!;) 

Montag: We got to cook Klöße and Rotkohl! It was SO fun! It was with my favorite (even though you shouldn't have favorites) couple! Urlich and Astrid (like from How to Train Your Dragon!) Kosak! They are SO nice and SO funny! Dad and Bruder Kosak would get along very well... if only they could communicate with one another! But yes, I took lots of pictures and wrote down the recipe. I can make it when I get home. That will be fun to do for a FHE or something! 

Dienstag: I'm not going to lie...Dienstag is always the hardest for me. I let myself think a lot about home on Monday because if I don't then it comes out all during the week and that’s a mess. So, getting refocused on Dienstag is always the hardest. Plus it’s like our Monday as missionaries. Na ja, We did some finding...I was not in a good mood, and it was cold. Someone told us that the wind was being blown in from Siberia and I believed them. It was SOO cold! I complained a lot actually and was just not happy. Then we came back and ate. Then, we went to Frau Dhillions house. Her house smells like bunny. Kind of really gross. She also gave us food (the problem is that it’s REALLY rude to say no when they offer you something). Then, we did a little bit more finding. We were actually going to try to go over to the Meckels, but they didn't have time. Then...we went to Gemeinde abend. Then to Gemi-co. Then, we walked home in the dark. Also not my favorite. It gets dark way early! And the 27th we have daylight savings time! Awful! 

Mittwoch: We were just done with Morgen Sport (which for me consists of at least 40 pushups, and either arms, abs, or legs. This day it was abs. Probably just did some sit-ups or something. Not like that does much for me. I kind of miss the gym...na, ja! Moving on...) but we looked at the window as it started getting lighter and guess what? (You will never guess) There was SNOW!!! Like real snow! And it was still snowing! There were like 2 inches!! What the heck?! It’s only the middle of Oktober! Awful! So...we got dressed for the occasion. Luckily I had just bought some really thick tights and the biggest, warmest scarf there ever was! So I was prepared!  We then took a bus to Werdau, while the soundtrack from Frozen was playing through my mind in German. The Sisters were stuck in Zwickau because their train fell out. We tried to go pick them up with the car, but the police were sending everyone back because there were trees fallen all over the road. So we waited and started late. Had District meeting. Then tried to go back home so I could grab all my clothes and stuff so that I could go on exchanges to Chemnitz! But...all the trains back to Gera were falling out. SO, we decided to go with the Sisters back to their apartment and do some studies. We also ate some food. I made kind of an open sandwich thing and I had mayo for the first time in a long time. It was better than I remember it being! Then, we went to Chemnitz! I was with sister Toma for tausch! She goes home in like 2 weeks! Weird! We went and taught English class and then did choir practice. I haven't done that in a while! 

Donnerstag: Well, Chemnitz is not the prettiest city of them all. It’s also called the Carl Marks stadt. He was a big communist influencer and there’s a statue of his head there. Anyways...we taught one of their investigators who is going to be baptized next week! We also taught a less active and we got to share my favorite video because she hasn't seen it yet! Then, we took a train back to Gera. Because I didn't have any stuff with me I had no makeup on. So we went back, I changed my clothes that I had been wearing in the snow for 2 days straight! Oh! And while in Chemnitz, I lost the bottom thing of my boot heal. I bought these boots last winter...so I guess it’s about time they break. But they are still wearable. Sister M thought it was funny because I had already glued it on before! Then we literally ran (well I ran, Sister M fast walked) to Hauptbahnhof and we caught a train with Lucy to go to institute! We learned about Jehovah and Jesus that they were the same person and why it was important to know that. You know, every time I go to Institute…I just realize that I don’t know ANYTHING!! I have SO much more to learn! When I get back I'll be really excited to go to Institute! We got home late and I was very very tired. 

Freitag: Did some weekly planning after studies (by the way, the snow was melted by now, but it was still cold) then we went and ate lunch with Schwester Dörlitz. That’s always fun! She likes it when we sing songs, so we sang and had a spiritual thought afterwards. Then, we visited Schwester Kretchmar. She is 83 and still is just all go go go! She came back from a trip to Hamburg! Which is all the way across the country! Gees! So she told us all about that and showed us some more old pictures. I would LOVE to go to Hamburg someday! Then, we went over to the Meckels. Had a lesson with Aja and Fynnlay. Fynnlay won’t be baptized until November. His mom didn't want it so soon. It's complicated with this family. They make me exercise my patience sometimes. But they also have my heart! 

Samstag: We studied, then helped Schwester Brome and her husband move. Moving in Germany...if I could teach people one thing...just one thing on my mission, I wish I could teach them how to organize a move. But, it worked out ok! The Elders helped out, and the Jena Elders came and helped too. That was good because the Jena Elders are pretty tall and sporty and could lift all the heavy stuff! So we did that and it was actually really fun. Putting things into the elevator, into the truck, drive the truck, stuff out of the truck, up the stairs, into the elevator, into the apartment. Lots of work! And then we taught Sandy. I would have been terrified to talk to him on the street! (Luckily another investigator referred us to him!)  I’ll get a picture of him sometime. He looks pretty scary. But those are the people who really need the gospel! Then, we taught Lucy! We watched a video about the current bush and the gardener. How God cuts us down because he knows our potential. I feel like that current bush sometimes...being so cut down that I ask God why. Why would you do that to me? And God answers back every time... "I’m the gardener here, and you are supposed to be something greater." God loves us, and he knows what we need to be, and so he cuts us down. We have trials. It’s part of life. He's the gardener, trust in him!

Sonntag: Church! I managed to quietly handle Fynnlay today during church. Then we ate with the Bishoprich and ate the normal, meat (they got me all excited and said it was red meat! but, it was actually red pork meat. Whatever, meat all the same!) Klöße, and Rotkohl! Then, we drove an hour to an appointment with a lady that we found in June! She cried on the street when we talked to her and wanted us to come over. She lives in a tiny town that was so cute! With perfect little German houses! Ah! She let us in, fed us (of course) and then told a very very very sad story about how her husband died. I cried through the whole thing. However, she had looked our church up on the internet and had read a little in the Book Of Mormon. We got to talk about the blessings of the temple and about the plan of salvation. Bearing my testimony about these two things are my favorite! Sadly, she is very very Lutheran. But she invited us back next month. 

You know, Sometimes I’m just exhausted. Just tired, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And sometimes I wonder why. Because from day to day, I feel like I do hardly anything. Like I don't help anyone. But then...I just have to remember my favorite scripture. Alma 37:6-7. “Through small and simple things are great things come to pass” I maybe like this scripture because I'm small...but it’s true. Every little thing that we do in life will add up to something great! I was reading my patriarchal blessing this week (I try to do it every week) and I noticed that it said that I wanted to come down to this earth! Why in the world would I WANT this life?! Like was I crazy? Did I know what was down here?! Actually, yes. I did. I knew exactly what I was in for. And I knew that It was worth it. It IS worth it! I testify of it! I know it! What we have after this life is beyond comprehension! I know that it’s true! 

I hope that you have a great week! Wish me luck here! Hopefully Germany doesn't become too cold like Siberia! Love you all! 

Alles Liebe, Sister St. John

 A cool bridge that is actually pretty normal here.

Tausch with Sister Toma.

All bundled up with Sister Sibley! She's in our district.

Sister Sibley and me on a train.

Sister Medley and me. And my big scarf...don't judge. People wear them here!

The sign says, "Welcome to the longest train platform in Germany." We have to RUN it to catch trains!

Happy birthday Dad & River (I promise I didn't forget, Dad!) 

Monday October 12, 2015 Gera, Germany

Hallo! How is everyone and everything? I can't believe that it was in the 90's this past week! It's been in the 40's here and getting colder and colder! Gosh! The nights are even colder and we have to have our little wimpy heaters on! There is frost everywhere when we wake up! 

So, not a lot of time...sorry! But I’ll update really quick! 

Dienstag: We went to Werdau to go by on a couple members because it was their birthdays. One of them happened to be Ulrich Kosak. Pres. Kosak’s older brother! And He is probably my favorite member here in the ward! Ha! The Elders were with us, so he invited us in and told us stories about when he served in the army during the DDR time. They didn't have to fight, but they had to serve. He told some funny stories that I will probably write home in a letter. Then we had a good Gemeinde Abend. 

Mittwoch: We met with Sch. Riemann a less active that we haven't had the chance to meet with in a long time. So that was actually really really good! We also had a really good spiritual lesson with Lucy. We hiked up to the castle thing in Gera and read things out of Pres. Uchtdorf’s "Your happily ever after" talk. We talked about how she is, and we are, children of God. We talked a lot about divine nature and it was a good refresher for all of us! We then had a "Fireside" by a real oven fire with Lucy and some less actives and Bruder Krause. 

Donnerstag: This was a good day! We taught Aleena, the lady from the Ukrain. We got to meet four of her kids. It turns out she doesn't have much interest, but we are just going to try to stay in contact with her and be her friend and hope something slowly comes out of it! We then taught Sandy! We also haven't met with him in a while. He's a hard one. But we are working on it! Then, we went over to the Meckel’s! We taught the kids about the word of wisdom and had a really good activity to go along with it! Then we went over to Lutz's house. He's also a less active that we haven't met with in a while. He asked us this day if we were Evangalisch (Lutheran) and we just looked at each other with the thought in our heads... "We have a long way to go with this one...." and it’s true! But we will go somewhere! He had a few visitors over as usual. One of which was a 4 year old girl who told us to speak orderly because she couldn't understand us. It was very funny! 

Freitag: We had zone training meeting! It was really good! We went over the fundamentals. Scriptures, prayer, church, and then obedience, which connects them all together. We also got flu shots...I was shaky the whole meeting because I was so nervous....shots! Then, we got to help sch. Sorge in her garden with the Elders! We actually ended up eating for longer than helping! Germans and their food! 

Samstag: We taught Lucy again and did some weekly planning. 

Sonntag!!! Oh thank the heavens!! I had a great peaceful fast and testimony meeting. I got to sit by a lonely old lady who had all the hymns memorized! Then after that it was crazy! From teaching Young women’s to AJA!!! (a Meckel) to running from relief society, to primary, back and forth! na, ja.... stressful! But then we had lunch at the church with the Heiland family and the Seidel family! The food involved potatoes of course! And was of course very good! We even got 2 new referrals from the Heiland family! COOL!! referrals!!! That like...never happens! Oh!  And Fynnlay had his baptismal interview from bishop and everything is good to go! He may be baptized this Sunday or the next!! Pray for this family for me! 

Well, we are now going back over to Ulrich Kosak’s house to have family home evening! We will be learning to make good food from his wife! To say the least we are excited! I don't have time to send pics. But I do send my love! I hope that you have a great week and that sometimes you enjoy just the normal weeks where you don't have to run around! I love you all so so much! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

Monday October 5, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well...Hi! October is here already! Gosh. Time goes fast! So...a few exciting things that I wanted to reply to. Mom saw (former) President and Sister Kosak at Utah State! I serve in Pres. Kosak’s home ward with his brothers, sister and dad. I got to show them the pic of mom and them! They were all so excited and thought mom was my sister. Germans don't lie mom... :) And you got to go to conference! That's always a really cool experience! I can't believe that I got to go just last October to conference. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been gone for way more than a year! 

Unser Woche (our week)…

Montag: We did a family home evening scavenger hunt with Lucy. We love FHE with her! We chose some places and then some scriptures to go with them and she had to guess where we were going next. It was fun! 

Dienstag: We taught Frau Dhillion. Nothing new there. Except that she's now gone on a trip and I have to take care of her devil bunny once a day. Then, we got to meet with Fynnlay. He is now 8 and could be baptized anytime. Bishop asked us to teach him a few more things before he is ready. So we taught him about Joseph smith and who exactly God is. He's a sweet kid and calls me "Kleine Sister" (little/small sister) because he can't say my name. Then we had Gemeinde Abend and then Gemi-Co. 

Mittwoch: District meeting. That was fun! I love our district right now! We have fun every week! But don't worry, we also learn a lot. That’s what makes it fun;) Then we did studies and also ate a bratwurst with Lucy! Then we had Gemeinde Rat (ward counsel) in Werdau. I like going to meetings like that and being involved in the ward. It makes me feel like I’m actually doing something here! 

Donnerstag: This day was cool! We had a joint teach with a lady that we found last week! She has 5 kids! Antiona came with us. She’s 22 and lives here in Gera. She served her mission in the Ukraine and that’s where this lady comes from. So, they got to speak Russian with each other and that was really cool! The Spirit is so strong when people speak their native language. It's hard to explain, but just believe me on this one! We then went and visited Bruder Serfling in the old folk’s home. We were for sure the youngest ones there. In the elevator an old lady looked at us, got some tears in her eyes, said (in German) "they told us we had to live here..." she pushed her walker bitterly away, and touched Sister Medley’s cheek. She said, "Be grateful that you both are still so young." It was one of the saddest moments of my mission. Gosh! I've never felt so guilty for being young! Then we had a lesson with Claudia. She told us that she actually wanted to be baptized on the 29th of September... however…that had already passed. But, she wants to get baptized! WAHOO!! We gave her the 28th of November to pray over! She’s a golden one! 

Freitag: Oh this day was fun! We did some weekly planning (that was not fun...) But then, we got to go help Sch. Sorge in her garden! It is harvest time! The Elders and Bruder Krause were there. We did a lot and they don't have rototillers here so the Elders started doing to the ground what the rototiller would do. Hard work! But it was fun! Then...there was a medieval fest going on here in Gera right on markt below our house! It is the anniversary of Germany becoming one again this weekend, so they obviously had to have a huge 3 day celebration! It was kind of like a Christmas markt but just with bagpipe music and people dressed up as knights and stuff instead of Christmas music and Santa! It was really good! And...there were these fried balls of dough that were Oh, SO good! (that one’s for you dad) They are called Quarkbällchen. They were kind of like the beignets that we get every time we go to Disneyland! 

Samstag: We got to meet with Lucy again. We talked about the importance of latter day prophets, and conference! Then, we got to go to Werdau and watch the Women’s session, then the Sat. Morning session live. I got to watch the Sat. morning session in English, but the rest was in German. 

Sonntag: Finished up weekly planning and then headed out to Werdau for the Sat. afternoon session and the live Sunday morning. We watched both in German! Michael came with us this day. He...is a crier. He cried in almost every talk. It is amazing to watch someone watch conference for the first time and feel that special spirit for the first time! I hope this really helps him finally realize that these prophets and apostles are true! And that Joseph smith was a true prophet! I don’t know how you can go through a conference without feeling so strongly that it is true. 

So, this week I read a devotional and a part of it made me think of the Brad Paisley song "If I could write a letter to me." If you could write a letter to yourself from any point in eternity and receive it now, when would you write it? I decided that I would write a letter from my pre-earth life self. Sounds kind of weird right? However, think about it for a sec. I knew in the pre-earth life who I wanted to become. I had goals for myself there. I knew my potential. I knew without a doubt that I could reach all of those goals! Sadly...I have forgotten all of those goals and have to re-find them here in this life. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little encouragement from your pre-earth life self? I think so! 

Also, Conference! Ah! Conference!! I came to conference with a question. And I got a lot of answers. I would like to share it. So, my question..."What can I do in my last 4 transfers to be as (or more) enthusiastic and motivated about missionary work as I was at the beginning of my mission?" here are some answers.... 

1. Be healthier, eat better, go running (ugh....)

2. Learn some life lessons from the old people! 
3. Develop stronger faith through prayer
4. Focus on the things that matter and simplify
5. Center my life daily on Christ
6. Stop being selfish (that was my answer to Larry R. Lawrence's challenge) 
7. Take a few seconds to listen to the spirit after I pray
8. Thank the women in my life more. Especially my mom
9. Smile and laugh more often! :)
10. Apply the atonement in my life every day! 
11. Read my patriarchal blessing every week
12. Remember my temple covenants
13. Speak what's in my heart
14. Pray with full faith! 

I know that all these things are kind of random, and I'm also not quite sure HOW they will really help me. However, I know that they will. I know that when I better myself by just one percent that it will make all the difference in the end! To God, our direction is more important than our speed. I loved conference and I got many many more answers to a lot of my worries. Especially about money and college. I know that God answers prayers. He's answered way too many of mine to ever deny that. Rely on him and trust in his way for you. It won't be as you planned it. But if you follow him, it will be BETTER than you planned it! 

I love you all! Have a great week!! 

Ich Weiß dass mein Erlöser Lebt! (I know that my Redeemer lives!)

Sister St. John

 The district. Its our new cd cover. Ha!

 We went on a hike in the woods.

 The harvest!

Part of the Höhle Fest!

Mom with the Kosak's at Utah State!