Monday January 4, 2016 Hamburg, Germany

Well well well...looks like we are all now writing 2016 on our papers. Weird! Well, let me just start out with my goals for this year. I decided that I needed to make goals for the rest of my mission and then later for what I'm going to do when I get home from my mission. So...for the next three and a half months (which is not long by the way...) for my Health Goal I want to go back to my weight of when I came out on my mission. To do that I need to drop 10 pounds. Not so hard right? Just kidding! I've got an eating appointment every other day! Ha! So...plans to achieve this goal are as follows...Eat a fruit and/or a Veggie each day. (I live like a college student so I have a problem with this) Only eat during allotted meal times. This is hard for me because I just want to eat EVERYTHING when I get home and when I'm studying! Next, my Mental Goal. I want to read my German in Review book all the way through and actually understand it. It's a $200 college book that they gave us at the MTC. Last and probably the most important is my Spiritual Goal. I'm in Alma of the Book of Mormon in German right now and I want to finish it before I go home! Which will make it twice through on my mission in German! Next is keeping a better up to date journal. I want to write in it at least 3 times a week! 

So, I’m actually excited for my goals! And I like making goals now! 

So, let’s see if I can remember my week. It's kind of a blur.

Monday- while I was writing my email a guy came into the church and wanted a Book of Mormon!  So in my soccer clothes we made out an appointment and later that day he came to FHE at the church and got to know a few members! 

Dienstag: We dropped by the Bishop’s daughter because it was her birthday. We also went by on a few less actives. Then we went to Brother Stephens. He basically makes an all you can eat pancake bar and it's a competition every week! Sis. Sorensen beat the sister’s record this week and ate 9 pancakes!! Atta girl! Then, we made our way to hauptbahnhof and went to BERLIN for MLC! And guess what?! We got to stay over with Sister Medley and Sister Brimm who just happen to be our best friends on the mission! So that was a lot of fun!! 

Mittwoch: we were in a 6 hour long meeting! It was actually really good and fun to be involved in our mission! Then, we just left after and came back. 

Donnerstag: We had a baptism in our ward for a little 8 year old Spanish boy! SO cute! It’s fun because the Spanish elders translate from German to Spanish! Then we ate and had a fiesta! Really really good food! Later that night we tried to go by on a member and it got dangerous because of fireworks and Germans are CRAZY!! So...we headed back to the church and partied with some young single adults...until 9:30 and then we went home, planned and went to bed. Sis. Sorensen woke me up at 12 and we have a sky window so we watched some pretty big fireworks go off for a little while. 

Freitag: We got ready for a 5k!! President said it would be a good way to start off the New Year! Our zone leaders are awesome and they made it super spiritual and had us do stuff with the "Becoming a consecrated missionary" talk! We filled out a work sheet and taped everything we were going to give up to a heavy rock. We then had to carry this rock with us as we ran. Just past half way we had another spiritual thought and got to throw our rocks into the river and run the rest without them! We then went the "extra mile" and got to play soccer with our zone! Super cool!! But just a side note...I was about to die at the end! We finished the day off with some great weekly planning in our FREEZING apartment! 

Samstag: We went by some more less actives. No one is ever home, or always has no interest. By the way...it was about 20 degrees this day! We then had a lesson with the man we met on Monday! He's from china and somehow found a Book of Mormon in a mobile book store! Super cool and kein Zufall (no coincidence)! We then went by on some more less actives and it was SO SO SO cold! My legs were numb! And yes, I was wearing like as many layers as possible! I’ll send you pictures. We then had a lesson with Andrea. A less active. She's doing ok, but not making any progress in the moment.

Sontag: Church! Spiritually uplifting wonderfulness!! Then, we ate with the Rade couple. They are super nice and we had American bread(gross) with butter, ham, pineapple, and Kraft cheese melted on top. It was fast Sunday so it tasted good. Then...we planned to go plan our lesson for ZTM however, I decided that we should go by on just a couple less actives before we went home. So...we did. No success. However...we came across a few things that were funny! It was FREEZING like literally the water on the ground was turning to ice before our eyes. And we needed to go to kaltenbergen Straße! Ha! It means Cold Mountain. 1. There was no mountain 2. It was indeed cold and WINDY!! Reminded me of home. We then came home and I've never been so grateful for hot chocolate! 

Today was also really good! I helped the Elders sew buttons onto their sweaters, we went shopping, I got some new boots because mine are falling apart. Which, by the way prooves that I’ve been walking a lot because I NEVER wear out shoes.) I also ate my favorite thing here in Germany which is German bread and some cream cheese stuff with herbs in it! Otherwise known as Abendbrot;) 

Remember to not give up on your yearly goals yet! Look at them frequently and remember to just take things day by day! Everything will work out if we are keeping the commandments! I love you all so much! 

Frohes Neues Jahr (Happy New Year)!! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

PS. Thanks Missy for the peanut butter, Wheat thins and Pillow!! They are all AWESOME!!! 

 

A grainy picture of us by Kaltenbergen (cold mountain)

We cleaned up the park after we threw our bad habits in the river that looks more like a lake! Hamburg is pretty!

 Us on the way to Berlin. Missionaries are awkward!

Us with some food at the Christmas Markt!

Brother Stephens holding pictures of his parents!

Mission Leadership Council! 

Cool new jersey - straight from El Salvador! Thank you Zack! I like things with my last name on the back! And the 12 is because I look like I'm 12:)

How we look and how everyone looks walking around!

Some really nice houseboats on the river by our church!

In Berlin for the Mission Leadership Council

Monday December 28, 2015 Hamburg, Germany

Well Landsleute (compatriots)...Christmas is come and gone. Luckily for me I got to celebrate it for 2 extra days than everyone else because Germany really likes Christmas! And...I cannot believe that It will be 2016 this week! Really...I sometimes accidently still write 2012 in my journal!

Now...Let’s see if I can remember what I even did this week! 

 

Deinstag: We practiced a song with the Elders that we sang for our Christmas devotional on the 24th! I'll try to send you a video because we actually sound pretty good. Then...we went by on a few less actives. Sadly only one was home and she slammed the door in our faces and said "Kein Intresse!!" (no interest) Sad, really. Then, we had a lesson with an investigator named Nicola. She's been meeting with the sisters for like 20 years! Crazy. However...she doesn't know a lot about the temple yet! So, lucky for me (because it's my favorite topic to talk about) we got to talk a little about temples and why they are important. 

 

Mittwoch: We had to go and buy a lot of candy so we could help the Elders staple candy to cards. We also stamped like 300 cards this morning. BECAUSE...later that day we went as a zone and did a little Ausstellung (not really sure what that is in English...like a display or something) where we had all of the missionaries sing in the middle of Hamburg, and the 3 missionaries that weren't singing were giving out cards. Total this night we gave out 200 cards with candy on them, and then 1100 cards just plain!! It was AWESOME!!! I’ve never seen anything like that! So we are hoping that we can get a few referrals from that experience! And if not, then at least we spread some joy throughout Hamburg!! 

 

Donnerstag: Heilige Abend!! The big Christmas day here in Germany!! We had District meeting! We did white elephant and an awesome theme on the atonement! Then, we had our Christmas devotional and the missionaries sang! It wasn't a typical missionary song...it was kind of actually hipster! Ha! The ward loved it though!! Then, we went over to Bishops house! We ate half a duck each, some Klöße, Rotkohl and then opened presents!! Fun night! 

 

Freitag: CHRISTMAS!!!! We woke up 10 mins early. Called the Elders, sang them a Christmas song, called Sister Medley and Brim, then Sister Henrie and Curry! Ha! Then, we opened our presents from our packages!! AWESOME!!! I got the biggest thing of peanut butter I've ever seen!! I couldn't be happier! Then, we went to the Johnsons. The senior missionary couple that serves here! They cooked fried chicken, green beans and baked potatoes! Then...we went to the Pontig familie! We played Yahtzee and guess what?! I WON!!! I got three Yahtzee’s in one game! Who does that?! Then, we skyped! Which was of course awesome as well! It was my last skype which felt weird! 

 

Samstag: We did weekly planning! Then, we met with the Leiß familie!! Played a sweet game of Uno with tons of different rules! Lots of fun! 

 

Sonntag: Church. Fantastic as always! Then another eating appointment! Then, we visited this family from America! They are non-members! And...guess what? The little 12 year old got a sewing machine for Christmas and she or her mom doesn't know how to sew. SO...I got to offer my help and hopefully go sew sometime! We also almost had a less active call the police on us for coming by. Which doesn't make sense because they are the ones that let us in. Whatever. People make me sad sometimes. 

 

Today!! I just got done with playing soccer for 2 hours with like 20 German boys. Colten would have fit in well! It was fun! 

 

Well, I'm going to work on some goals this week. I'm reading a few talks about goal setting and I'm going to make extra good plans so that I actually achieve my goals! I want to make goals for my physical well-being, my spiritual, and my mental! It will be good I hope! Have a wonderful week and a Happy New Year!! 

 

Liebe Grüße (loving greetings) Sister St. John

 Christmas caroling

 Fried chicken on Christmas!

 Typical Hamburg

 The tree!

 We got pancake mix from the Johnsons!

Christmas morning!

Monday December 21, 2015 Hamburg, Germany

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!! If you can't tell I'm very very excited for Christmas!! Sister Sorensen and I bought matching Christmas sweaters and pj's. We got Christmas packages and wrapped each other’s up! On the weird side of things...the weather has been really warm like 40 or 50. 

Dienstag: We had the weirdest appointment this day. This Indi couple wanted us to come and practice German with them. So we get there and they have this buffet of fruit there. And we sit down and they start taking pictures of us. We talked German and the woman asked to come to church with us. Ok, then...we had the best Zone training meeting ever!! The Zone leaders did a great job and it was exactly what I needed! Great talks about Christ! This night I left to go on exchanges to Stade! We got to drive under the Elbe (a river in Hamburg) and also drove right by the huge port with the huge boats! I'm in heaven here! 

Mittwoch: Tausch. We ran from appointment to appointment! They have someone being baptized on Saturday and I got to meet him! North Germany looks a lot different than middle Germany. Everything is made out of brick. Also, the sisters there are both from my group so that was fun. I came back home and got to sleep in my own bed! 

Donnerstag: Went on Tausch again! I went to Lübeck and its beautiful!! Look it up! Christmas markt! So pretty! Also, Sister Pickett goes home in 4 weeks. She went to my high school and we had some classes together. It was so fun to talk about home because we both know Spanish Fork. She's really good though and is a good example to me about how to stay focused on her mission even though she goes home so soon! 

Freitag: Came back to Hamburg. Did weekly planning and that's about it.

Samstag: We went to the Stade Sisters Baptism. It was actually in our church. So that was nice! It’s so nice and refreshing to see baptisms! It just gives me hope, and the Spirit is SO strong there! We also went and visited this older less active lady. Helped her feed her 30 birds and sang some Christmas songs for her. Sister Sorensen can play the guitar, so we take it around every day and do a little 15 min Christmas program for the people that we visit! Scriptures and songs:) I love the Christmas season! 

Sontag: It’s crazy how huge the chapel is and how little the amount of people is. There are 400 members on the list...but 80 active! Crazy! We are working on it! Then, we went with the Elder and Sch. Whipple to the Whipple’s house. Sch. Whipple is awesome and was helping us hand out cards on the way there! She took some cards from us and was just giving them to everyone! So we start doing it like she did. Then, we get on the U bahn and Sis. Sorensen has her guitar with her. The bahn is packed! The member told us to get out the guitar and sing a Christmas song... so long story short. Peer pressure is sometimes good and we broke out in song on the bahn. Wished everyone a merry Christmas, gave everyone cards and got off. Scariest thing I've ever done in my life! But we found a good way to give out the card for Christmas! "eine kleine Weihnachts Grüße! frohe Weihnachten! (a small Christmas greeting, Merry Christmas!)" works like a charm! Sch. Whipple also gave me a tip. She said, "You are cute, and people can’t get mad at you when you are cute. So just talk to people." I guess I need to use my "cuteness" a little more! Ha! 

Well, this week I've been studying Jesus the Christ...cause the new testament was just not going deep enough for me! So, there was a paragraph and it listed off all of the names that are given to Christ. Our ipads are cool and you can look up definitions of words. So I decided to do that for all of the names. It was really interesting because all the names are so different but they were all just parts of Christ. When you put them all together it explains him perfectly. 

Remember to make this Christmas MERRY and BRIGHT!!! 

Love, Dasher Dancer Prancer and Vixon, Comet and Cupid and Doner and Blitzen! And Rudolf!! And Sister St. John

 Christmas Markt done right!

 Hamburg is beautiful and the food I'm holding was really good!

 Beautiful Rat house

 Pizza after Zone training meeting

 Tausch with Sister Pickett!

Stade Tausch!

Monday December 14, 2015 Hamburg, Germany

Moin Moin Landsleute!! ha! Just kidding! But Hallo!! Sounds like everyone is full of Christmas cheer and ready to be out of school! 

Random facts: 

We are in the Stake center for Hamburg
There are about 400 people on the ward list, but only 80 active
We live like 2 mins away from the church
I have yet to see the actual city
Hamburg reminds me of Salt Lake. Not very busy on the outside but really busy in the inside of the city.
We use subways to get everywhere so I haven't seen any of the city yet really. 

This week was AWESOME!!! 

Montag: was just craziness...went to bed at 1 I think! 

Dienstag: Took a train, and then a BUS to Leipzig!! Which SUCKED! I have 3 suitcases that weigh more than I do and one is broken. But, we made it! I said goodbye to Sister Bills and I was off on my 3 hour train ride!! It was really cool, I got on the train and I heard someone in a very American accent speaking German. I turned around and asked if she was from America. She was. I invited her to come sit by me and we talked for a good hour! She even started the conversation with the perfect question! "What brings you to Leipzig?" It was really cool and exciting for me to share the gospel in English in a casual way! I made it safely to Hamburg and Sister Sorensen and I lugged my 3 suitcases up our 75 stairs to the smallest apartment I have ever seen! I unpacked and rested because I was also sick! 

Mittwoch: We visited a less active named Comfort. She’s African and immediately gave me the nick name of Sister John the Baptist! Awesome!! haha! We then helped the Elders who are the Zone leaders plan a Zone training meeting for next week. It's weird to be involved with stuff like that and I kind of feel like the Bishop’s wife. We went to institute and had a REALLY good joint teach with an investigator. 3 of the RM's there just asked if they could come teach with us! So they did and we hardly had to say anything! It was awesome! They committed Ken to pray about being baptized. Hopefully this week we will find out what his answer was! 

Donnerstag: We had Distrikt meeting and then ate all together at some HUGE mall down the street from the church. Then we taught this little 5 year old English. She goes to a bi-lingual school. Then, to a member to do a Christmas program thing. Sis. Sorensen plays the guitar and so we take it to ward members and we read scriptures and sing Christmas songs! Very cool! And fun! (except for when you are sick!)

Freitag: We taught Reane who is another awesome investigator! We had a joint teach with our GML who is American. It was a good lesson about prophets. We then had to run a cell phone that Elder Winter accidently took from Hannover to an Elder coming through Hamburg on a train. Weekly planning! Then a less active. 

Samstag: Service project!!! Helped someone move! It was actually organized this time!! Who knew that could happen? We also moved our study room around cause there was NO room! I always organize the apartments that I come to. They are always dirty and not organized. It bugs me! Then...we had our Ward Christmas party!! I got to know the ward and Reane came! He was SO social and we hardly had to introduce him to anyone. He also helped to clean up for an extra hour and a half! He's golden! I also made friends with Bishops youngest daughter who is 15 almost 16. He pulled me aside and asked if while I’m here in Hamburg I could be friends with her and involve her in our missionary work! Yep! Can do!! 

Sontag: Good church! We got 4 referrals from the ward! AWESOME!! And we watched the 1st presidency Christmas program!! 

I'm doing fantastic!! Going to the city now and I will take lots of pics!! 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister St. John

 Schwester Dorlitz and me

 Suitcases and my favorite bahnhof!

It was raining. It's my only picture of Sister Sorensen! I'll get better pics this week!

Monday December 7, 2015 Gera, Germany

The growth spurt I never had…

Well guys…It's time...Drum roll please…I have been transferred to HAMBURG!!! Wahoo! My gosh am I excited! But that means that I'm really busy today so...I'm writing this email on a bus on the way to Werdau! Also...

Montag- we met with the Meckels. Talked to Nele. Then had a long talk with Sch. Meckel. I was pretty bold but also loving. I talked to her about living the gospel at home. It's amazing the influence parents have on their children. I know if they were just to do those simple things like pray, scripture reading, come to church, they would receive blessings. They just don't see it! All in all, there will be no baptism on the 6th or the 12th. It will come someday though!

Deinstag- the usual Frau Dillion. We did some finding and talked about Christmas with people. It's actually my favorite type of finding! Then gemeinde abend, where we talked about Christmas in Germany! Learned a lot! Then we ate some of my favorite food during Christmas time here!
Lebkuchen! Mmmmmm:) I'll try to send some home!

Mitwoch- our last district meeting. Sister Daniels goes home so she shared some of the most important things that's she's learned on her mission! Very cool! Then we ate with Sch. Barthel and Bru. Kosak (the 90 year old one. Pres. Kosak’s dad:) they always give us good life advice and make sure to tell us that every sacrifice will be worth it for the Church. Then, back to Gera. Studies. Sch. Kretchmar! She's also awesome! For dessert we had pumpkin soaked in vinegar and sugar. Interesting but good!

Donnerstag- Frau Dillion cooked a new recipe for us! It was good. Had fish and Brussel sprouts in it. We did a few other things this day....But I can't really remember. We were at the Meckel’s this night eating something called Tode Oma. It's basically potatoes sauerkraut, mush those up, then put cooked blood sauce over it and mix it all together. Don't let it fool you! It's really good! After we ate, we were cleaning up and an AP called us and he asked for me specifically. I almost threw up my Tode Oma. President wanted me at the MLC (mission leadership counsel) the next day. I said ok and we left and bought a 230€ ticket to Berlin the next morning. I also had a very sore throat this day.

Freitag- had even worse sore throat this day. Left the apartment at 5:30am got in Berlin at 8. Ate at a bakery. Bread for 19 cents is pretty good! Went to the church and Sister Bills left to work with someone else that day in Berlin. I was there at the church with the zone leaders and sister training leaders and then...Sister Medley walks in!!! I was SO happy to see her! We sat through meetings, lunch, 10 mins of soccer, meetings, until 4 pm! Then interview with President. He said I will be going to Hamburg and will be a Sister Training Leader. I will be with Sister Sorensen! She's from my MTC group! We are over 4 sister companionships in the Hamburg area. We go on exchanges with all of them. That's about all I know! :)

Samstag- we had to overnight with the Leipzig sisters Freitag night. Took a train back to Gera and then went to Lucy's to bake! She's awesome and we had a lot of fun! Found out I'm not very good at cooking and I bring bad luck.... But it was fun! We did weekly planning and that's about it. I started having a cough this day!

Sontag- church! Said goodbye to people. It's hard, but it's time. Ate with the Elders at Sch. Dorlitz’s! Last eating appointment with her was great! This day I also said goodbye to the Meckel’s which was like the saddest thing ever! But, I made it through and went over to
Toni's! She's so great! She gave me a scarf and put a lot of music on my flash drive for me. One album is the new Fray Christmas album! :)

Today has been crazy! Running to and fro eating, saying goodbyes. Coughing, blowing my nose, having a crying headache. Ya know...The usual! We get to have FHE by the Kosak’s tonight! Ulrich and Astrid! They are like my favorite members!

I'm really excited for this change in my life! It will stretch me. Responsibility makes me nervous. But being able to learn how to rely on the lord will help me grow! He's called me to a big city, and to help these sisters. I keep telling people that my mission is my life growth spurt. It hurts, but it stretches me.

Love you all so much! Have a great week! And pray that I don't get lost in Hamburg!

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

 District meeting. Nerf guns and light sabers! We aren't supposed to have these in our apartments, but for some reason we did. So we decided to get rid of them, but first we all took a picture.

 The Gedankens Kirche in Berlin!

 Berlin hauptbahnhof and the giant Christmas tree!

 At Mission Leadership Counsel - reunited with my favorite first friends on the mission! Elder Gurlach, Elder Silver, me and Sister Lisonbee! We are all Sister Training Leaders or Zoner Leaders!

Mission Leadership Counsel

 Baking with Lucy!

 Last minute drop by on Toni. She gave me a scarf! Love her!

The beautiful sunrise on the way to church yesterday!

Monday November 30, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well this has been one of the longest weeks of my life! I don't think I've gone to bed on time one night this week! But it was really fun! I even got to celebrate Thanksgiving just a little bit:)

Montag: The Sister Training Leaders drove from Freiberg here and got here at about 10:30 pm. It's really fun to have sisters over! They are like the only friends that we can have contact with. Plus as a missionary you are all automatically friends and that makes it fun! 

Dienstag: Sister Bills left to Freiberg and Sister Henrie stayed with me. She is awesome! So excited about life and was really fun to work with! We taught Frau Dhillion and Frau Dhillion just asked us relationship advice the whole time. She loved Sister Henrie and wants to go to the temple to visit her! Then, we went to the Relief Society activity. There were actually 3 non-members there so that was cool! We then went to pick up the Hohenstein Sisters and brought them back to our apartment. Sister Sibley and Daniels are awesome and we may or may not have stayed up WAY too late talking. Also, we have a keyboard and an accordion in our apartment and so we also had some fun with those:)

Mittwoch: We got up early and I drove everyone to Berlin for Zone Conference! We made it just fine and I'm grateful for prayer ;) ZO-CO was really good! We got to see the new Church Christmas initiative and it's SO good! Watch it if you haven't! I love Christmastime because the Germans are actually kind of excited to talk about Christmas and their traditions! We got 750 cards for each companionship and our goal is to hand out 25 each day and have them all gone by Christmas! It will be good!:) We had a really good lunch and it was fun to see missionaries that I haven't seen in a while! I've watched people get transferred from the West to the East and the other way around. When missionaries see me they ask where I am... I say Gera and they say one of two things 1-Where is that? (because it’s a new part to our mission) or... 2- haven't you been there for a long time? Why yes...yes I have! But I love it so it's great! We drove back and that was like the longest drive ever. 

Donnerstag: We met with Frau Dhillion again! She wanted to cook for us!:) Then we went by Sch. Reimann and Bruder Serfling. Then we went to Institute. The missionary couple there wanted us to come because she was making a real American Thanksgiving dinner:) So we dragged Lucy along and went! It was wonderful and we even went around the table and said what we were thankful for! 

Freitag: We went to Sch. Dörlitz and she had REALLY good food this time! Raw sauerkraut and potatoes and eggs. Sounds gross, but it was SO good! Then we did some weekly planning and went to the Meckel’s! They were doing well and we did an activity about prophets from the Liahona. Then...we went to the Krause's house! They invited us over and made steaks especially for me! Because I guess I talk about meat (as in Beef) a lot! To say the least they had WAY too much food and we had already been at Sch. Dörlitz's house! But I ate a lot and it was really good! Oh! And this day we called someone who had sent me an email. He had found my email on my blog and had had contact with sisters 3 years ago and was wanting to get back in contact with them but didn't know how! He lives in Germany around the Halle area! So that was kind of cool! 

Samstag: We helped Sch. Riemann move and I’ve never seen a nastier apartment in my life! 25 years and they had never moved ANYTHING to clean behind it. Fridge, stove, couch, nothing. Keep your houses clean people! Also, Lucy got most everything moved into her new apartment too! Wahoo!! Then, we taught the Meckel’s laws of the land by playing red light green light! Fun! 

Sontag: was really stressful! The Meckel kids came they weren't really reverent, I feel like their mom at church, we had to teach the law of chastity, and Nele had a baptismal interview! Her baptism should be on the 6 or the 12th! Pray for this family and for my patience :) 

Heute: we helped Lucy finish up cleaning her old apartment and are now going to go over and talk to the Meckel’s!! 

Transfer calls are on Sat. and I'm nervous that I am going to be transferred right before Christmas! It would be really sad, but I know that Heavenly Father will send me where I need to go! I love you all so much and hope that you have a good warm week! :) 

Alles Liebe, Sister St. John

 Tausch with Sister Henrie. At lunch with Lucy. No, those are not burritos. They are darums. Kind of like a doner.

 Zone conference! Look who came back over to the East. Elder Silver!

 Lucy's new apartment!

 We bought quarkballchen at the Christmas market! (More on them later!)

Christmas Market from our window!



Monday November 23, 2015 Gera, Germany

Well well well... another week come and gone! 

I've only got like a half an hour and I can't really remember the day to day things...but I will try to put some highlights and random facts of this week in here. 

Dienstag: Did service for Brüder Krause. He's fixing up a house and it's almost done, so we went around and cleaned. Then...we got to finish a wood floor. It smelled and looks beautiful! The new house smell...wonderful! Then, Gemeinde Abend. We had it at Toni's house. Toni is a returned missionary! She served in Ukraine and is one of my favorite people here! We go shopping with her on Mondays sometimes. But this night was fun! She made us good food and told us stories about her mission. 

Mittwoch: Distrikt meeting! We did a pretty cool theme about having a good attitude. We actually used an object lesson that Sister Medley and I thought of but then never got to use. (Sis. M - It's the sponge and the rock one:) Then, we visited Bruder Serfling, a less active that’s only less active because he's old and can’t come. He was so cute and so excited that we came! We read 3 Nephi 11 together and he wants us to bring a Book of Mormon in English next time. While we were there Sister Seare called us. In our mission our president has wanted every missionary to be trained in how to use Family Search and ancestory.com. So Sister Seare is in charge of that. Sister Bills was her companion for 4 transfers. They had traveled a lot and been teaching missionaries how to do it. Sister Seare was supposed to come on Thursday. She called and said it wouldn't work out and asked if Sister Bills could teach the lessons. We talked about it a lot. It would mean that we would lose a day in our area and have to drop an appointment. However, we felt really really right about it. SO...we agreed.

Donnerstag: We got up and went to Zwickau. Since I had never done family history before (like actually finding people, etc) Sister Bills did a crash course with me for like 30 mins. To say the least I had little faith that we would actually find someone new. However...we found 2 new names!! What?! Crazy!! So, then I knew how to do it...kind of. And the first class of missionaries came. We were teaching about 6 missionaries at a time and did 3, 2 hour lessons!  And it was SO cool to see! Almost everyone found at least one name! Did you know...that we should never say that our family history is all the way done? Do you know why?! Cause we are all ONE BIG FAMILY and we have ONE BIG FAMILY TREE!! So...saying that your family history is done is saying that everyone’s family history is done! There is still work to do!:) This day was probably one of my favorite days on my mission! The Spirit was so strong all day! From excited missionaries finding names, to a confirming feeling of "yes, this is the right person" while looking at a record from Ancestry.com. One day...we will die. And one day, we will see our ancestors. Just imagine...if you already know who they were, what they did in life, how they lived, and already have a love for them. How much sweeter will that reunion be? 

Freitag: We helped Sch. Dörlitz shred some wood in the rain. It was freezing! Then, we went by on Sch. Dörlitz's Son's wife and daughter. We had made cookies for them. They aren't members, but she came to church and we are trying to build a better friendship. Then... volleyball. Not going to lie...it's one of my favorite times of the week! It's the BEST stress reliever ever!! I love it! And it’s good to get to know the ward better! 

Samstag: We painted Lucy’s old apartment to be white again. Gosh I love that girl! And gosh am I excited for next Saturday when she moves out:) PS. I forever ruined my only pair of jeans that I brought on my mission. They now have white paint all over the butt of them....:( Sacrifices.... Na, it's alright though! We also finished our weekly planning this day! We were busy on Friday! 

Sonntag: Ward Confrence! Ward Lunch! Very good! Very fun!! Then...we came home and met with the Meckels!!! YES!! And guess what?! Nele and Fynnlay are now officially on Baptismal date for the 6th of December!! Pray that it goes through. I hope that we will be able to meet with them often enough for them to make it this time!! Those kids need the blessings! 

Well snow is officially here. I broke out the big winter coat today. Christmas is all over in the malls and there is a 19 meter high Christmas tree outside of our apartment! Christmas markt is up and will be open next weekend!! I'm SO excited!! We have Zone Conference where we will get cards with the church’s Christmas website and then...we can go CHRISTMAS FINDING!!! 

I hope that Thanksgiving is good for you!! Have fun in Vegas! Tell everyone that I miss them and love them!! I am very thankful for my mission and that Heavenly father wanted me here! I love you all so much!! 

Liebe Grüße, Sister St. John

 The distrikt!

A bridge coming back from Berlin

 The wood floors we helped finish this week for service. Beautiful!

 Our personal Christmas tree being raised outside our apartment window!

Sister Bills & Me!

Christmas tree! We're speaking German. I basically talk about how the tree is 19 meters high. That we are excited. That I'm only 1.5 meters high, etc.