Hey family!
How is everyone doing? Things are going here in Celle. This week we had a ton of fallen out appointments so we had a lot of finding time with no success either. No one wants to listen to us in the cold, especially when they´re running toward their warm car or warm house. Too bad they don´t invite us inside, but its all good! We´re still trying and that´s what matters :) Also, Sister Martinz is leaving Celle and going to Langenhorn (Hamburg) and my new companion will be Sister Stewart. I´m pretty nervous about having to be the one to keep everything here moving smoothly. I hope I can do it! I will miss Sister Martinz a lot. She is wonderful and I´m so glad I had her to start out with.
We lost contact with Philipp our baptismal date for a week but then he called us again and has been really busy with work. Phew! We met with him yesterday and he read more than we asked him to and his face seemed to have a different countenance to me. He´s trying to give up smoking his own way and we hope that it works out for him. But he really is trying hard and its wonderful to work with him.
Kenneth didn´t end up getting baptized this week and it was good because this week he FINALLY opened up and told us some things about his past that will take quite a bit of time to repent of. We are super glad that it worked out this way so we can make the Atonement come alive for him and that we can open up a whole new view of Christ for him. I know he´ll be baptized one day, but I´m not sure if it´ll be when I´m in Celle or not. You are super lucky, dad that LA mission was small so you could see the baptisms if you were transferred. I´m sure I´ll be transfered next transfer, right before Philipp´s baptism. But who knows! Maybe I´ll still be here. Its super unpredictable. How many Zones did your mission have, dad? Do you remember? Also, when people ask how the language is coming tell them "It´s coming."
Haha, I knew that you all knew what a klingel was because of Michelle´s story :) Sometimes I forget English words and I rejoice when it happens because it doesn´t happen too often yet. I´m a little scared of having to be the main German leader for awhile in Celle when I am the only one that knows these people and their needs. But I just need to fully trust in the Lord and in the gift of tongues. I haven´t dreamed in German, but I always wake up and my first thoughts are in German. The next step maybe is to dream in German.
We´ve had a couple crazy experiences this week.
#1 We left our contact list (List of people that we´ve contacted that have had interest since like 2008) in our bike and someone stole it. Stupid stupid of us! So now we don´t have any contacts to visit when we have no appointments. So we were on the search for this bag and on the search we found a neu bekehrt (new convert) smoking at the train station. Uh-oh. That was awkward. But he was baptized in January and hasn´t come to church since. We still visit him and he tells us that he keeps all the commandments, but we didn´t really believe him and now we know he was lying. Maybe this can open the door to sincere repentance. We hope. We´ll see.
#2 We were doing doors and people live in apartments so all of their doorbells (aka Klingels) are on the outside of the apartment building and you just push Klingel after Klingel until someone pushes a button to let you in. There is also a speaker you can speak through so the people that live there can ask who is there. Sometimes they just push the button and let you in though. So someone pushed the button to let us in so we frantically ran to find which floor they lived on and who opened the door for us. At this particular place we ran up the stairs but there were no rooms. So we were confused. We saw this door that led to a balcony and there was a door on the other side of the balcony. We assumed that was where the people lived so we ran over to that door, but it was locked. We went back to the other door that we just came through, and that was also locked. Oh dear. We were stuck on a balcony. We were probably there for 45 minutes total and after awhile we called a member to Klingel someone and ask them if they would open the door for them so they could rescue us. It was embarrassing, but really funny.
The appointement with "He Hears Me" guy (A.K.A. Patrick) went very very well! We taught him the first lesson properly (Restoration), and he seemed to accept it. Then Sister Martinz said the closing prayer and after he said "Thank you for the prayer. It was amazing! I felt something warm in my back and then it moved all throughout my body. It was a weird feeling, but it was a good feeling!" I started smiling really really big because I knew exactly what he was feeling. We told him it was the Holy Ghost. Woohoo!! Someone that knows how they feel the spirit already! Thats wonderful! He then asked "When can we meet again??" and was really excited. He is also a 24 year old German guy! Coo-hool!
I can´t believe Tyson Hone is home from his mission. Thats nuts.
BLAKE IS GOING TO THE PHILIPPINES!!!!!! SO COOL!!!!!!!!!! Tell him congratulations from me and also tell him good luck concentrating with that wait! Is he doing school or anything or just waiting? Yeesh! That´s crazy that he´s leaving around the same time I got my mission call. I can´t believe it´ll almost be a year since I´ve had it when he leaves. So awesome!
Tell Scott and Kerry congratulations for me. I want to see a picture soon! Tiny little baby, tiny little baby, tiny little baby born Cal-i-for-ni-a Tiny little baby! And so on. I hope you know what song I´m singing.
I got the letters from the girls. I was smiling from ear to ear when I got them and was reading them and laughing. It was wonderful! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Oh man, I don´t remember what I´ve asked for for Christmas. Please look back in other e-mails. My mind hasn´t been thinking about that very much, except I would like some gloves, scarves, hats, and maybe chips and salsa :) Or muddy buddies. That sounds yummy!
Speaking of yummy (Or not) I had Rotcol (or something like that) yesterday. Red cabbage. It was fine, I didn´t have to gag it down, but it isn´t something I´ll go out of my way to eat. We had a dinner with this family and the father has had a really really hard life. He definitely has PTSD. When he was little he was playing with his friend in the field and it was either short after the war or in the middle of the war, and his friend found a bomb and started playing with it and it blew him up and this Brother in our ward saw it happen. He cries every time he tells the story. So sad. Then also he was 14 when he got baptized and when his father found out, he beat him until he was 'black and green'. He also cried really hard when he told that story. He´s a really sweet sensitive German guy and its crazy that he´s experienced so many awful things in his life, but he is still so faithful and has such a huge testimony. Its such a good example to me.
Tell President Keller hello and thank him for his amazing example and testimony.
Let me know how your lesson in RS goes mom! What are you teaching?
I hope you have pictures of Mark and Heather´s halloween costumes. That sounds so amazing. And Sarah´s going to California??! Crazy! But fun! It sounds like its going to be a little quiet for Thanksgiving. But it will still be tons of fun! And how fun that Karl and Nanette are going to Spain. I really look forward to one day coming back here with you all and visiting the people I love here.
I´m so glad that Austin´s leg is fine. We have been praying for him every day here. Its so sad to see little kids with cancer. Or anyone with cancer really. That´s one thing that people always say to us on the street. "If there were a God, he wouldn´t give people cancer, especially not little children." Maybe Grandma Fellows can write me about her experience with fighting cancer and how believing in God helped her through it? That´d be super awesome!
I know this church is true! I know Heavenly Father loves His children and this is His work here on the earth. I´m SO glad I can serve His children and bring hope to their lives. Thanks for your support and prayers! I love you all so much!!
Love, Sister Niebergall
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