Monday March 28, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Well, this week the thing that I've been learning is that this is the Lord's work. I went on tausch twice this week. The last Tausch that we went on was with Sister Simpson and she and Sister Lichtenberg are both 4 weeks out and they were just on fire! They found 3 new investigators this night! Ok...mind you that they are literally 4 weeks out! That's it! Their German is way better than mine was, but not good enough to convince anyone with just their German. But they found 3 investigators! It is really just a testimony builder to me that it's truly the spirit that touches people!

We had another cool experience this week where a member invited a past investigator over and we had a wonderful how to begin teaching lesson! Sister Lichtenberg shared a beautiful testimony and it's amazing, cause in lessons her German improves like 100%! Just another testimony that the Lord can do his work. Yes, we will be the agents he uses, but He can do his work, and when we are striving to have the Spirit with us he will do his work!

Someone asked me today what the most important thing was that I've learned on my mission. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I think the most important thing I've learned is to trust God, to have confidence in Him. To just trust that He knows what He's doing! To trust and just go for it. You get a spiritual prompting, you go for it. You get and answer, you do it. Through that, I've learned to have confidence in myself, and for the right reasons! Non of this worldly confidence. Because it's the spiritual confidence that really helps. God cares way more about us than we think He does. He has a perfect love and understanding for us! We are here on the earth to learn and grow (I lacked in that area a little bit;) but also to have joy. We will have the greatest joy in life when we trust in Him!

I love you all so much! Only 2 more full weeks here in my mission! I'm going all out! We have crazy busy weeks and I'm very excited to make them the best weeks yet! Have a wonderful Springy week and I'll write next week!

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

 I love Sister Lichetenberg!

American football today with some YSA's, non members and missionaries! 

 Sunset from the bahn

 Tausch!

Matching jackets and a blooming tree!

 

Monday March 21, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Hello! This week was pretty exciting! I'll tell a few funny things that happened. And there were a couple of miracles too!  

On Monday we and the Altona sisters went to Ikea and we ate some food there and I just love Ikea so that was fun! However, the next morning we woke up and both just kinda looked at each other....We both didn't feel good! We had upset stomachs and durchfall (look it up) (we did and it’s diarrhea)! But we did not feel good! So we studied and took it easy for a little. Had a member appointment and we drank juice that was over a year old. Not the first time that's happened to me. But the funny part was that the Altona sisters didn't feel sick in the morning, but they called us in the middle of the day and were like...Yeah...We don't feel good anymore! Pretty funny! The food at Ikea just didn't sit well with any of us! Ha!  

We went on Tausch with the Kiel sisters and that was fun! It made the week go by real fast! But it was good. Like I've said before, I love getting to know the sisters that we get to serve around. They each have such different backgrounds and reasons for being on a mission. And they all have good tips for me when I go home. It's really interesting that everyone Heavenly Father puts into my life has such an influence on me. I go on Tausch with everyone that I'm supposed to! He knows exactly what I need in that moment!  

Friday we had an appointment with the family in our ward from Ecuador! A few weeks ago when I was with Sister Kronwitter we got a referral from them, however, we thought they only spoke Spanish. So we gave them to the Elders. Well, we show up on Friday and the family is there! 3 kids! And a mom! A FAMILY!! And they all speak perfect German and the mom actually has interest and a ton of questions about the family, and had already read in the Book of Mormon! We all ate dinner together and had a good little lesson! This family is so good! I'm excited to teach them! She gave us her number and asked us to come over this week! I'm really so so so excited!  

There's not much more to write about this week. We went finding a lot this week and it was really fun! Sister Lichtenberg loves it! Which is a great way to start out her mission!  

I love you all so much and wish you the best for this week! It's getting warmer here and I'm excited for Spring!  

Sorry dass mein Email so kurz war.... Ich muss mich auf die Sachen machen! Tschüss!! Sorry that my email was so short ....(I must be on the things to do! Bye)  

Liebe Grüße Sister St. John

 Spring!

 Ice creams!

Austausch dinner!

Monday March 14, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Well folks, the sun does indeed exist in Hamburg!! It's beginning to look a little like Spring! Feel like spring...not so much! But look like spring yes!! :) 

My week! 

Dienstag: We went by some contacts and actually got in contact with a FAMILY!!! Except we need to go back cause the mom wasn't home. I'm pumped for that one though! We had ZTM and my trainee is awesome and got to give a thema with me IN GERMAN about daily planning. We are pros now! And we also had Nicola! Sch. Steinbieß came with us. I'm kind of frustrated because Nicola just won’t do anything we ask her too, but she's so good in lessons. I don't know what to do for people! 

Mittwoch: A less active appointment fell out...sad. We did some really good finding though! It was good to just have an hour or two for it. We actually ended up having a white day and it was super weird cause that happens how often these days...never! Man...those days in Halle where we just had day after day of finding! That was like Zion’s camp! (missionaries, please tell me you have seen this video!) 

Donnerstag: We had a less active that wanted to meet with us! So we went over and she is a little mentally ill, but it was good just to visit with her. When we train or are being trained we have an extra hour of studying for the 12 week program. It’s been really cool for me to go through that again this transfer and remember all the basics. We also tausched with Lübeck! I stayed here with Sister Bolinger and we taught Ken. We haven't met with him in forever but we are really trying to have him meet with us more regularly so he can start making some progress! 

Freitag: We taught Philippa because she was going to the temple later that day!! WHAT?!  SO exciting! And guess what?! We helped her print off 12 names from her own family tree to be baptized for! And those were just the women! I'll send a pic of her! We were so excited for her! We went by on a less active that doesn't live there anymore. This day during personal study I looked at my calendar and started crying. It hit...it finally hit that I’m actually coming home. I've been a wreck ever since. But I can usually keep myself together until the end of the day. So that's good! 

Samstag: Comfort! Who wasn't drunk! We taught her the first lesson and taught about how we made a promise at baptism and when we sin, we break it. The only way to renew that is through the sacrament. We also talked to Andrea about that this day also! It was really good and I haven't felt the spirit in lessons with them in a long time. We also did weekly planning which I began to not like again. I just want to be out doing stuff!!! 

Sonntag: church! It was such a good sacrament meeting for me! A seemly new returned missionary talked and I learned a whole lot! We ate with a newly married couple and that was also really fun! They are funny!! 

Well...I’ve been studying a lot about faith. Because I’ve been realizing that Sister Lichtenberg has a lot more faith than I do and when we have faith then miracles will happen! 

I love you and hope that you have a good week! Thanks for praying for our investigators! They are all suddenly doing a whole lot better! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

Spring! 

 Phillipa and her temple names!

 A building!

 

 A normal street.

Hauptbahnhof

Monday March 7, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Moin Moin (Hello Hello)! I'm finally back in Hamburg! My new comp, Sister Lichtenberg is here and moved in! She's from Michigan, went to BYU Idaho for a year and is now here. We get along great and I'm really excited to have her. A few things that I've already realized from having a new companion is how much excitement and faith I have lost! She has so much faith that things will just work out. I'm really excited to see how this transfer works out. We are ready for miracles to come! 
                                                                                                                                    
As you know, I was kind of a travel gypsy this week! Going from one city to another with a couple different companions. Monday through Thursday I was with Sister Curry in Freiberg. I got to see all of the finishers before they went home and also Frau Dhillon and LUCY!!! So that was really fun! Sister Curry and I also gave about 6 or 7 temple place tours where we explain why we have temples and what they are etc. One of the tours was to Sister Kronwitter’s parents. It was one of the coolest experiences that I have had while being here. They are not members and this was one of the first times they had really gotten to know what the temple was all about. After we watched a little video we asked them how they felt. They both said that they felt peaceful and that they could imagine that's how it feels inside the temple. Super cool to see the Spirit work on people. 

On Thursday we got our companions! Sister Lichtenberg is wonderful and was speaking German with me right from the start! We got to spend one more night in Freiberg together with Sister Curry and her trainee. The next day we DROVE!! (I love being in a car!) to Berlin and Sister Curry and I went to MLC. Our little comps went out on the streets in Berlin and just talked to people! Totally awesome! I would have been terrified! But they said it was fun! Then, we took a train back to HAMBURG! Finally!! The Elders were nice and helped us with the suitcases all the way up our 75 stairs! 

Samstag: We tried to pack a whole weeks’ worth of stuff into one day and surprise, we were late to everything! It worked out ok and we got a few good lessons in! 

Sonntag: Sister Lichtenberg gave an awesome testimony in sacrament meeting! We had a good lesson with David, asked him what he expected from us meeting with him/the purpose of him meeting with us. He uh...didn't know. So we told him to pray and think about it and we will talk to him next week about it! (BAPTISM!!!!) I feel like he could get baptized before I leave! Pray for him! 

As of today...I may or may not have sent an almost 20 pound package home! It has all my study journals, presents from ward members, letters, pictures, planners, chocolate, ect. All in there! Pray that it doesn't get lost! It could also very well get there after I get home! (That would be funny!) We are planning on going to Ikea and getting food there and just chillin! (Plus I love looking at house stuff so why not go there?) 

I hope you have a fantastic week! I’m learning a ton about the basics of missionary work. It's bringing back many memories of me when I was brand new! It’s always good to go back to the basics. There's a talk from Pres. Uchtdorf about keeping things simple. Remember to keep it simple and remember the things that really matter! 

Love You! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

 Sister Curry and me!

 Look who it is! Lucy! Just like old times!

 Snowy Freiberg!

 

This is Sister Sanders. She's serving with her husband in Dresden and I met her

in Freiberg. She knows both sets of grandparents cause she lived on the same

street in Orem! She's in the process of translating some records from my

ancestors from old German to English! Cool!

 We helped a cute family this week!

 New companion - Sister Lichtenberg!

Monday February 29, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Hallo! Ich werde einfach auf deutsch schreiben weil ich gestresst bin! (I'll just write in German because I 'm stressed!) Na...Just kidding! Well, I'm a little stressed. I'm currently on a train with a few other missionaries going to Freiburg. My comp is going home and its sooo weird! Not excited for my last week. There have been lots of tears shed and also many blessings realized.

Montag- pretty normal pday except for the stress with last emails and such.

Dienstag- we had Phillipa. We did that super cool tree of life with a temple. She's going to the temple for the first time in about a week! We also had Comfort. And good news...She's been sober for 4 days! Ok, she is a completely different person than before. She's actually normal! We went by on a few contacts after that and got a few new ones that we can visit. It's funny how at the beginning of my mission I just flipped out every time we would find anyone with any sort of potential and now...it's just normal. I guess I'm kind of numb to it now. Really, kind of sad. But we were happy this day! We also had a lesson with Nicola. She's been meeting with the missionaries for 20 years. We might drop her soon if she doesn't make any progress.

Mittwoch- this day was CRAZY and we were late to everything except for our first appointment. We taught German to a lady straight out of Ecuador. Ask me how much I wish I would have paid more attention in 7th grade Spanish? A LOT! But it went actually well! We gave her a Book of Mormon! Then, we literally ran to our next appointment with a member. He's from Ghana and we ate fu-fu which is basically just way sticky mashed potatoes that you eat with your hands and dip in a soup. Speaking of the soup...there was a chicken neck in there and I ate it. Check that off my bucket list! Then, cause we were late to that...we were late to go help a member paint the rest of their apartment white cause they had to move out the next day. Then, we ran to the church and I did jamberry nails (thanks for those Chelsie! Like a year ago for Christmas!) It was a hit and I think I will do it again soon so they can all invite their friends!

Donnerstag- district meeting, Brother Stephens, and Tausch! Sister Rückauer came and we had a really good time! We met with a new investigator that the Elders gave us, and also Andrea.

Freitag- went by on a few less actives and contacts that weren't home. Talked to a few really good people! And tausched back. Then, the Astudillo family. We were there again with the Spanish Elders. It was really funny, mama Astudillo asked the Elders to go wake up their son and they decided to jump on the bed. They ended up breaking the bed...I have a funny video. I'll send it to you later!

Samstag- we got transfer calls! I’m staying here in Hamburg and training and being STL! So my last transfer will be my companion’s first! We taught a German class this day. Again, wishing I had paid attention in Spanish class! We also helped out with a baptism in Stade! I love baptisms! Then we are Asian dinner at a member’s house. It was so good!

Sontag- church! Sister Kronwitter got to teach her last lesson to David. He's making progress and he got some answers through church. We are with some other Spanish members. They seem to really like us! Then...home to pack. Back and forth to bahnhof to pick up sisters and send them off!

Today, as I've said, I'm on a train...for 6 hours! I didn't eat dinner or breakfast so I called Elder Gerlach and Elder Short and told them to get us some bread and jam and meet us in Hannover bahnhof. Best decision ever! There are a ton of missionaries on this train and everyone's leaving except for me! I'm super glad that I'm staying. Everyone is super sad. Lucky for me I get to stay!

I gave a talk yesterday in church! I'm getting good at not being so nervous! Even though it's in German. But my talk was about learning wisdom in your youth. K, think about this for a second. Alma the older gives advice to his son Alma...cause Alma was a rebellious teenager. Then... Alma the younger was like ok sons...learn wisdom in your youth because I had to learn wisdom the hard way! Then Helaman, the son of Alma the younger was in charge of the 2000 stripling warriors! And guess where they learned everything? From their mothers!! And, they learned it in their youth!! The Lord really does call people in their youth! We have to be prepared! Mormon was only 15 when he was called as a prophet. Samuel from the Old Testament was only a child when the Lord called him. Joseph Smith was only 14. The Lord needs young people to be strong! Alma 37:35-37

This week will be interesting! I will be at the temple with Sister Curry until Thursday when I will get my trainee! From there, my trainee and I will go to Berlin to MLC. Then on Friday night I will finally be back in Hamburg! It will be an adventure! Love you all!

Liebe Grüße Sister St. John