Monday February 22, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Monday February 22, 2016

Well, I apologize in advance. It will be short today. It's my comps last pday and we are crazy busy doing fun stuff and also businessey stuff! I wish I had a fast car so we could zoom around Hamburg. It would make things easier! That's also why I have the Rascal Flatts song "fast cars and freedom" stuck in my head. Also, someone mentioned hootie and the blowfish the other day and their songs are many of the times background songs for my dreams. (Yes...that is a thing) anyways...back to things that actually pertain to my life.

Larissa and Sabrina- I sent some pics of them this week! They are amazing! We meet with them twice and once was at the Astrilldo's house. They are one of my favorite member families. Even though I can't understand the parents. On Saturday Sabrina left back to Brazil😩 but Larissa came to church anyways! So cool! We had a really good lesson for Sunday school. I'll try to send a pic of the lesson. Larissa had a question about the tree of life (which she read and totally understood!) so we drew it and added in a few things like the temple and baptism.

Austausch- we got to go to Berlin for Tausch this week! I got to work with Sister Sorensen for a day and it was wonderful! Berlin is huge and I really like Hamburg! We also went with Sister Kemsley and Sister Cady. Sister Cady goes home with my comp. I like talking to the sisters about how they feel about their missions. There is a huge difference between missionaries that are almost going home, and brand new ones. The ones that are almost going home have a very deep love for their missions. They have gone through trials, seen those moments of pure joy, and have a connection to these people! The new ones are just almost bursting out of themselves with excitement to be here! They are just so excited about everything! But they are also a little more homesick. I know I still have a while, but I can truly say that I have that deep love for this place, for these people. I've changed here.

Final words and Tschüß- there was a lady at our Länder Abend (ward party) and she talked to us for 2 hours after the party ended. She is in a rough situation. And she was completely open with us. She told two 20 year old girls all her problems. I call it the nametag effect. People are just soooo open with us! It's sure good that we have the gospel to give her. We should meet with her tomorrow.

I love you guys! Have a fantastic week! It's getting a little warmer so that's good!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister St. John

 Larissa and Sabrina with us!

 Tausch with Sister Sorensen!

 I love this fence!

Eating appointment. Love them!

Monday February 15, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Ah...well I'm proud to announce that Dreams/Miracles/Goals do come true...even when it's cold and foggy outside every day! 

Montag: We went to the mall with the other sisters here in Hamburg! We made Sis. K (who's going home in 2 weeks) try on normal clothes! Ha! Pants are so uncomfortable for me now...but that's another topic! 

Dienstag: We went to Kiel for Zone Conference! And the Johnsons drove us! I LOVE cars! Plus the Johnsons are cool! Zo-co was cool cause Pres. taught about repentance and the AP's and STLT's (sister Sorensen:) taught a lot about how to use a new method of member referrals. To all the missionaries reading this, it's the "Who do you know...." questions from the broadcast. It was so good because we practiced it on other missionaries and tried to get REAL names. SO cool! Use it in District meetings, or ZTM's or Comp Study! Really cool! OK...after Zo-co I got my packages and tons of Christmas cards! Thanks everyone!! Also, I got the Valentine’s day package! Very sweet of you family! And thanks had for punching out ALL of those little hearts:) Also, Grandma Bonnie! Thanks so much for the package with the pedicure stuff! My feet are so much better already! I was so excited when I opened it! Also...we are going to make the Red Lobster rolls today! Ok, but after I left I went on Tausch with the one and only Sister Porter who I love!! We had a lesson or two! It was fun! Then we went back to the Altona sister’s apartment and spent the night there! 

Mittwoch: Sister Hendricks and I were together this day. Sister Hendricks is a good friend here on the mission. We were in the MTC together and we have the same birthday...so naturally we are friends! You will see from the picture who stole all the height thoughJ We had a pretty busy day which included being invited to Hard Rock Cafe Hamburg by an American member! That was SO fun!! We also went by on a few contacts and just had a really good, fun day! 

Donnerstag: I was finally in my area again! With my normal Comp! We had a lesson with Comfort! I think we finally talked her into going to the doctor and going to rehab. We will see what comes of it. She needs to go because she really cannot stop drinking on her own. We went to Brother Stephens. On the way we stopped this young kid who was dancing down the street and invited him to church! He was cool! We also Anmelded...that’s where you...uh...I guess tell the city, that you live in that city. No clue what it's called in English. But we did that, and went by on a referral that a member in Altona gave us! 

Freitag: We had Gemi-co with Alex and the Elders. Have I ever told you about Alex? Well he's a 28 year old American who served his mission here. He is our GML and is awesome! However, he's like 6'4 and literally looks like a caveman! He is studying to be a linguist. So he's fluent in like 4 languages. He's my favorite GML and is so helpful! We tried to do weekly planning... trying to be focused is rough. ALSO!!! We got a referral from the internet and she lived right on the Alster! Like the richest part in our area! She ended up being a 13 year old girl who is doing a school project about our church. Cool! So sad news now...we called Sch. Flick and she said she could meet, but an hour later, as she was telling us this, her husband took the phone away and said that he doesn't want us to come over anymore. He's not a member. I cried. It was a rough day to say the least! 

Samstag: We went and helped Steffi clean. She hasn't been able to come to church in like 2 months because she's been working. But she got her work schedule changed and gets to come to church regularly now. We then taught Larissa (Brazil) we taught her about the plan of salvation. It was again one of the best lessons we have had in a long time. Larissa is so prepared and I'm so excited to hear how it goes for her back in Brazil! She has about one week left! We then took our Brazil friends to the Spanish game night (really only down the hall of our church)! It was way fun and I wish I paid more attention while watching Sesame Street in Spanish when I was like 3! Then we taught Andrea and showed her my family history, because there's a lot done! (Thank you Grandma Bonnie:) And then, we got to go home and sleep. Thank goodness.

Sonntag: CHURCH!!! We had a list of like 8 people that said they would be coming...2 showed up. Steffi and Larissa! But the coolest part is that 4 people all under the age of 21 just up and came to our church this day! A kid that went to St. George as an exchange student came back to Germany in like Dec. and found our church. He invited two friends and they all came! Then a 21 year old girl that had found our church website and just came. She will be coming to Institute on Wednesday! I was freuing myself!! Ha! (you'll get that if you speak German) It just shows me that when we are REALLY trying. REALLY trying to do our best the blessings come! Heavenly Father promises us, and He can't break a promise! Isn't it just worth it to do our part? 

Love you all!! Thanks for your prayers and support!! Have a great week and I hope it's not too cold or foggy for you! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

 Leadership Training Meeting

 Zone Conference

 The apartment. Don't be deceived. It looks bigger than it is.

 At the Hard Rock.

 Right by the port.

 Sister Hendricks and me with the American member.

 This happened this week! Totally burnt bread...it was going to be SO good!

Zone conference!

Monday February 8, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Ok, for some reason I always have NO time!! But I love P-days and I'm having a lot of fun here in Hamburg! 

Montag: K, we got to go on a boat!! How cool?! I love love love water and Hamburg has lots of it! Then, we went on Tausch. I went with Sister Sommerfeld. She’s in her first transfer and is AWESOME!! We had FHE by a young couple and it was super fun! 

Dienstag: Still on Tausch, which was so awesome because we just talked about meat and cars all day! I do a daily Porsche count here and so far my highest in one day is 7! This day we found 2 new contacts, or rather they found us. They asked us for directions and it just happened to be exactly where we were going also! Heavenly father has everything planned exactly out! It’s perfect! We also got to help a member family paint. I love painting houses! Then we tausched back. I was exhausted. Tausch is great, it’s just a little stressful and I'm always SO tired! 

Mittwoch: I had a leadership training meeting. But just me, cause my comp isn't a sister training leader. So I was there with like 30 elders and 2 other sisters! Ha! I got to see some of my best friends though! Including Elder Gurlach and Sister Sorensen! We learned a lot...but I won’t bore you with the details. We also had institute that night. Sabrina was there. And to explain the model thing...so Sabrina is from Brazil and is here in Hamburg for a month modeling. She invited a friend that she met while modeling to come to church! Does that make more sense?

Donnerstag: We had Distrikt meeting! Our distrikt meetings have been really good lately! We also got to go to Brother Stephens. And once again...he gave us the spiritual thought. I'll have to write down his amazing advice next time and write it in here. I had like 5 people by 1 o'clock this day tell me that I looked exhausted and a little sick. Awesome. I wasn't sick, but I sure was tired! We later this day went and picked up the Lübeck sisters to go on Tausch with them. I went with the new sister up there and we taught a less active Andrea! She's good and planning on coming to our Relief Society activity this week. I finally got to go to bed and I was really happy! 

Freitag: We had all four of us in our tiny apartment and getting ready with one bathroom and an apartment that's about as big as my room at home is interesting! And with 4 sisters in one area means that we need to double book our days when we are on tausch!  Sadly this day all of our appointments fell out and we all ended up finding all day! We did have a member appointment with an old lady, like she’s 88! It was awesome to hear her conversion story! The sisters left and we went to another eating appointment with the Spanish family. Our Elders and the Spanish Elders were there. Really fun! And a lot of food! It was also spicy and my stomach and taste buds are NOT used to that! I'll have to ease myself back in! Also...funny thing, we were an hour late cause I led everyone the wrong way on two different busses. Me trying to get around in Hamburg is quite comical! 

Samstag: Ok...best thing ever! We taught Larisse, the nonmember model that Sabrina brought to church! The Spanish Elders were there cause Elder Somma is from Brazil and he translated some things. It was the most spiritual lesson I've had in a while! She said that when she knows it's true she will be baptized! Also, Paul, an African that kept not coming to his appointments showed up! We also had a really good lesson with him! A good day! To end this wonderful day we taught Sch. Flick. She opened up and we kind of found out that she doesn't have a real testimony. It was a very good day to say the least! 

Sonntag: Larisse and David came to church! It was great! Also, Elder Winter taught a great Sunday school lesson for the investigator class about repentance. We got to do some family history work after church which is really fun! There are some cool things about our ancestors! :) 

This week I've been studying the attributes of Captian Moroni! He's AWESOME!! Also the war chapters are awesome in German and I'm loving my personal study!! Did you know Moroni was only like 25 when he was first captain?! Crazy!! And he was SO righteous! He's a champ of turning his frustration and anger into something spiritual and motivational! 

I hope you all have a great week! Isn't it valentine’s day this week?! I hate that holiday! But even though it's not my favorite I hope it's good for you. Love you all so much!! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

 Us at church with Kelsey & David.

 Elder Westbury and me. Remember him from the MTC?

 Also Elder Gurlach!

 Astridillo family!

 MTC people!

And the chocolate factory!

Monday February 1, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Well, not going to lie, I kind of don't have a lot of time.

Montag: We went with the Sisters to the best chocolate museum ever! Tasted the chocolate bean at every stage until it was chocolate! Wonderful! Pics to come!

Deinstag: This was an adventure of a lifetime! Going by on contacts for 4 hours! We took a trip to the ghetto...Then over to ALMOST the Reeperbahn (kind of like the strip in Hamburg. We aren't allowed there.) to find a house that actually got torn down...Then, to the richest part of Hamburg! We get to this house and the Klingel is chrome. Plus it had no name on it. I was scared a butler was going to come out or something. We were actually too scared to Klingel it, so we just talked to the rich people on the street. It was an adventure to say the least!

Mittwoch: Brother Stephens! He's amazing and always ends up giving US the spiritual thought! We also had 2 investigators at institute this week! It was awesome and the young single adults here are great and involve them really quickly! Just being friends with new people can
help a lot. I wish I would have been better at that when I was at school. No wonder why people thought I was a brat when they first met me! Jk!!!! (No but really, that was a little bit of a problem.) Just be friends with people! :)

Donnerstag: We had lessons fall out with some new African friends that we met. But we found a couple new people this day so that was really good. Sister Kronwitter is good at that! It's actually really cool to see her interact with people just because it's so much more natural for her. She has so many things that she can connect with people through. She's a good one! Also, Comfort that was at church last week, was totally drunk when we came over this day! I have never seen anyone that drunk before. Actually...I haven't seen very many drunk people...so that might not be so impressive. Ha! Um…but yeah. That was this day!

Freitag: Lessons also fell out this day, but, Phillipa came and did some family history. She found one of her ancestors that has the following story...Rose was 18 when her mom died, and as soon as she turned 19 she made her way to Canada from England, and got married to someone also from England 10 days later. This guy came 2 years before and we think they knew each other in England and then wrote each other until she came to England! It was a fantastic story! She wants to be baptized for Rose first!

Samstag: We gave Rene over for sure this time. A few other appointments canceled. Africans. That's all I can say! Super easy to find, but not so easy to have appointments with!

Sontag: Sch. Flick came to church and it was so good. Also, our model friends, from Brazil brought another nonmember model friend. I'm planning on just having the whole model team Mormon before they leave in a month! Ha!

Love you! Have a great week!

Sister St. John

My weapon of choice! the Book of Mormon of course!:)

  Just some nice cars

 If you know me, then you know just how much I love water! I LOVE Hamburg because of all the water that I see!! This is me this week with a bunch of water! Plus today we got to ride on a boat for P-day!:)

 At our favorite restaurant last week!

 All the sisters!!

On the boat today!