Hello family! I just want to warn you in advance, the z and y buttons are switched around on German keyboards so if I type the word familz, just realize what I'm trying to say. I don't want to take the time to correct it. Also the apostrophe and the ä are in the wrong places so if I saz "iäm having a good time" just fill in the blanks. Also this computer loves loves loves to have pop ups so i can hardlz write.
Anyways! I am in germany and i am not just in germany iäm in a city. its called< CELLE and its beautiful. I love it here! The people are nicer than i expected so thatäs good.
So on the flight from chicago to frankfut all of the missionaries were sitting by each other and getting excited and scared out of our minds together. It was great. then on the flight to berlin we were all spread out throughout the plane. i think the church did that on purpose to torture us. i sat next to a lady reading a newspaper and a man with an ipod in his ears. i didnät want to bother either of them but i knew that i would regret it mz whole life if i didnt talk to someone. so i tried talking to the lady next to me and asked where she was going. she told me Berlin with a "duh" look on her face. I was just wondering if she had a transer or something but didnät know how to saz that in german so i asked her if she knew english. big no-no. after then she asked if i was on holiday and i told her im a missionary and im not too sure what she said but im pretty sure she said she didnt want to talk to me anymore and pulled out her newspaper. so i just didnt talk to her cuz i didnt want to annoy her. it was scary, but now i dont have to wonder my whole life if something couldve come from it.
Then we met president pimentel and he was so nice and sweet and so was his wife. i mentioned he was mark and heathers stake president and he says he knows them. crazy small world! anyway, had some interviews, slept awhile, went to dinner and then went to our first street contact. i was gonna pee my skirt i was so scared. No one listened to us and all i said was "Hallo! Wir sind Repräsentante Jesu Christi...."and then i got shut down but that was good enough for me. i was proud of myself for at least talking
The next day we went to a place called Mauerplaz which means "place of the wall". You guessed it, we went to where the Berlin wall was the very first day we were there. They turned it into a walking path but it was soooo cool to go and see where the wall used to be. Then we talked about the history of germany and the prophecies that were made about germany by presidents monson and uchtdorf and read the dedicatory prayers said by them and then we went off to where 'no-man's land' was, which is of course-if someone tried to escape over the wall the area where guards and dogs and land minds could kill you, and said our own dedicatory prayers for our missions. It was really cool.
Then we met our companions and I don't know if president has e-mailed you pictures or not yet but i'm with sister martinz, a native german speaker! She is from Austria (not to be confused with Austrailia), so hopefully that means ill pick up german fast. You were right dad, i do sit here like a deer in the headlights. i don't understand anything anyone says and that makes it difficult for me to speak because i don't want to say something irrelevant. So poor sister martinz does all the speaking and listening. but i'm getting better and starting a conversation, but when they talk back to me, i just hand it over to her because i don't understand what they're saying. I understood what people were saying in the MTC, but German with American accents is a little different than German with German accents. Or German with Russian or German with Persian accents (yes, we're teaching people from iran and russia) So yeah. I can't understand anything thats going on. Hopefully one day I will.
So everyone that is nice enough to talk to me, are english speakers. Haha. Of course. So my first night in Celle when we went contacting (OYM-ing: open your mouth) i talked to someone and he was so nice to be willing to listen. he was an english speaker. it was probably a ridiculous sight for the people around us, because he wasn't interested and I just wanted to give him a book of mormon so he could read and see how great it was for himself so I was holding out the book of mormon- pleading with him, and his hands were in the air trying to get them as far away from the book of mormon as possible. try to picture that. anyway, i think i've learned if they're not interested, they're not interested.
A scripture that's been of really great comfort to me these past couple days is Deuteronomy 31:6. read it. its so good.
My second day here we went contacting and it was a miracle! (noticed how i spelled miracle :) We made 3 appointments within 10 minutes of each other. it was awesome!
The days here are full of teaching, contacting, and serving. I cant tell you about all of my experiences in my e-mails or what am i going to have to tell you when i get home?
Yesterday was my first day of church in the ward. everyone was so nice and understanding that i couldnt understand german. they spoke english to me, which i was gratful for, but i really need to speak german! then we had our eating appointment and again, i didn't understand anything! I just understood that the food was good.
Then yesterday the COOOOLEST thing happened. We went to visit a family at their garden, but they weren't there like they said they would be. So we went to find them at their house and on the way (we were on a gravel/dirt path) i noticed there was a lady who had fallen off her bike and scraped up her arm. im not sure if sister martinz noticed because she kept going (yes, we're on bikes), but i yelled up to her that we needed to stop. oh, background story, my shoes have been giving me blisters so ive been wearing band aids on the hurting places and theyve been fine since, but ive been carrying around a huge package of bandaids for no reason. except we realized the reason when we met this lady. I went up to her and she gave me a big hug and started crying. I noticed then that she had special needs (she was with her father). I was so happy! I had this feeling before the mission that i needed to help someone with special needs while here. anyway i pulled out my bandaids and in my schlect deutsch (bad German) said "Wie viele?" and pointed at my bandaids- asking how many she wanted. she said one but the scrape was pretty big. so i said "vielleicht drei?" (maybe 3) and she said ja and then i put them on her and she said danke and hugged me and cried some more. Her father, meanwhile was working on her bike because it got a little broken when she fell. Sister martinz went over to him and asked what was going on. he told her and she has no idea how to fix bikes that i know of, but the other day my bike seat was a bit wobbley so we used this tool and just put it back in her bag. She pulled the tool out and handed it to him and it was exactly what he needed to fix the bike. It was so crazy and so amazing, it just testified to me of the truthfulness of our calling. Things that seem bad happen (wobbley bike seat, blisters) but then they can be used to benefit others. Heavenly Father organizes everything to happen just the way it needs to, its amazing! If my bike seat weren't wobbley we wouldnt have had that tool and we wouldnt have been able to help as much. ahhhhh that story gives me chills every time i think about it. anyway, i thought you'd appreciate that too!
You all should read Pres. Hinckley's talk called "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep" Its so good and talks about how important each member is in bringing others to Christ. I hope when I get back from Germany I can be good at fellowshipping and working with the missionaries still. I really feel i should encourage you all to befriend non members and invite them to activities and just be their friends and especially show that you care when they're there at church!
By the way, did you get the package I sent? and did grandma fellows find the stuff i left in her office? i had no room whatsoever. i had 48 pounds in one suitcase and 51 in the other, but they let me get away with it.
Well thats really all my stories and things. I cant believe jeff probably gets his call this week. unless he has to wait like i did. i'll just have to wait in suspense to find out where he's going unless you can maybe email president pimentel and he can let me know. but if you want me to wait to find out from an e-mail or letter i guess i can wait. but if you want to e-mail him i think his email is on the blog which is germanyberlinmission.blogspot.com. you can also find pictures of me there!
Okay, well thats really all. Thats a ton, I know! I love you all so much! I know this gospel is true, and its so great to be inviting Heavenly Fathers children to come nearer to christ and him. it really is so so great. everyone should do this! I'm so glad jeff is on his way there and i say again to you my jeffer READ PMG. It is the word of God too!!! The church is true, dont be ashamed to tell people! I love you so much, im glad we can be together for eternity!!!
Love, Sister Niebergall
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