When one door closes another door opens - Jun 04, 2012

 Hey hey meine liebe Familie!

So this week has been AWESOME full of miracles and I don´t even know if I´ll be able to explain the half of what has happened. I have to try to catch up on my journal, I´m about a week behind. I´ll have plenty of time to do that tomorrow though.

First of all Monday we went to Sassnitz, a island in the Baltic Sea with chalk cliffs and it is BEAUTIFUL! The day before we were with a member family of ours with kids aged 1 and 6 and they asked if they could come with. We didn´t really know how intense it was going to be, but it was actually a huge hike and instead of sand on the beach it was all rocks. I felt bad for the family because they had to hike a ton and had a lot to carry and they didn´t really have the energy required for this beach. Oh well. It was fun anyway, but I was sore for a couple days.

Tuesday we went to Lambros, our Persian miracle phone call. He is AWESOME!!!!! He converted to Christianity in Greece. When we knocked on his door and he opened it he had the biggest smile on his face and he yelled "OHHHHHHHH!!!!! YOU`RE HERE!!!!" He was so excited to have someone to talk about Christ with. He lives in the home where we found the Serbian family and where Cynthia and Vivian live and most of the people that live in this home are Muslim so they have nothing to do with Christ and hate Christians. They hate him especially because he was Muslim and he became Christian. But the coolest part is he isn´t ashamed that he´s Christian. He bore his testimony of the Bible and said "This book has changed my life". We actually met with him twice this week and he came to church too. The second time he met with us he said "I´m going to invite some of my Muslim friends from down the hall to come listen." He walked out the door and came back 2 seconds later and said "I´m scared." but then said ".........oh well" and went out and invited them to come listen to us. They didn´t come, but it was so awesome that he has so much love for Christ that he is just a mini missionary. I can even picture him as a missionary with the suit and tag. He has the light of Christ. He just needs to accept the restoration. He loves the Protestant church and is going to ours because we´re the only church he can find with English speakers. So we´re hoping he´ll feel something and really connect with the ward and then he can find out for himself what we´re saying is true. But we came back for our second appointment and he had read in the Book of Mormon and he had marked it up and written in the side notes. It was awesome. After church yesterday we went to do street contacting. We told him what we were going to do and he asked if he could come with us. So he came with us as we talked to people on the street about Jesus. He really likes what we do and that we actually talk to people about Jesus on the street. He thinks it´s really awesome. I hope he does well, he´s totally golden.

Tuesday we also had an appointment with Svetlana. It was a lesson of "commandments you need to accept before you can get baptized." our district leader was there in case she was ready to get interviewed for baptism, but after this lesson we realized she so isn´t. She just needs time. I´m sure she will get baptized eventually, because she really really wants to. She just needs to realize the commitment behind the baptism. She hasn´t been to church for about a month now and she needs to come regularly before she can get baptized. Oh well, it´ll happen.

Wednesday was the golden finding day like I talked about and that we fasted for. We went to Greifswald for a couple hours to help find there and we had a really cool experience. We walked past one street and I had a SICK feeling that we needed to back track and go down that street. So then we turned around and went and Sister Noyes left my side to go talk to someone. I didn´t notice and talked to the people coming my way and talked to everyone on that street and turned back around and saw Sister Noyes talking to a man at a table (she´d been talking to him for about 5 minutes by that time) and I came up and started talking to him too. Eventually we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and make an appointment with him too. It was so good to feel the promptings of the spirit and to follow it and find one of his children that is ready for the Book of Mormon. Then also at the end of the day we just "by chance" had a Persian Book of Mormon in our back packs. We talked to 2 men and one said "I am Muslim and so is he" pointing to the other one, and he started walking away (we assumed this other man couldn´t speak German so this guy was kind of speaking for him). I said "wait! What does God, or Allah mean to you?" He started talking about what Allah meant to him. We told him we have a book that we love to give people that talks about God and can help our faith in him increase. We asked what language he spoke and of course, it was Persian. We said "We have that book with us" and we pulled out the Book of Mormon. The man that we assumed couldn´t speak German said "I have that book at my house! Some men gave it to me! I read in that book every day!" He had time to spout off his address and the other man pulled him away because their tram came. We didn´t make an appointment with him, but we know the general area of where he lives and don´t think it should be too hard to find. There were definitely miracles seen.

Thursday I was unfortunately sick, so we didn´t get to do anything.

Friday was very busy. We had 5 appointments. We met with Cynthia and taught her the Plan of Salvation. She seemed to like it, although her perception of Heaven and Hell is different, but we think she accepts what we said. She always does, she´s awesome. Unfortunately, Vivian has been out of town for a really long time. Hopefully she´ll get back soon.

Also this week we saw a man reading in Spanish on a tram so we asked him what language he was reading and talked to him and asked him if he wanted a Book of Mormon and we met with him later in the week to give him the Book. His name is Ramses. It made me laugh because that´s the name of the famous fighter, Nacho Libre´s nemesis. He was really cool and hopefully he can progress too. But he won´t been in Rostock long. Oh well.

Saturday was the long awaited transfer calls. I found out that I will be leaving Rostock. It´s crazy, I feel like I just got here, but at the same time like I´ve been here forever. I love the people here so much and I love the members. I feel like I really can call these people my friends. I am so excited to say that I´ll be serving in Meißen (pronunced mice-en) now! It is in the near of Dresden. It was an Elder´s program, but they kind of killed the work in the city. (ooooooooh no, we have to live in an Elder apartment!) President Pimentel called me and asked if I was in shock (because the Sisters usually know pretty well which cities are open and how long each sister has been in a city and which cities are ready for a new sister. I was totally shocked but he told me that the Stake President in the Meißen area noticed huge success in Cottbus when the changed it from an Elders to a Sisters program and to maybe think about praying about changing it in Meißen. So President prayed and prayed about it and he felt like it was right to change it to a Sister´s city. Then he prayed and prayed to see which Sisters could do the job and he felt very strongly that Sister Curtis (My new companion) and I should be the ones to do the job. I can´t explain how EXCITED I am to get the work going in this city. To have no expectations, no idea what to do or where to go in the city. It will just be me, Sister Curtis, a map, and the Lord. I know we´ll work miracles there. The past 2 nights I haven´t been able to sleep too well because I think of all these ideas I have how to get the work really going there and to find these golden people there. I am not even the tiniest bit nervous, I am one hundred percent thrilled. It will be an adventure to say the least.

Yesterday was crazy. We were running around like chickens with our heads chopped off from the time we woke up in the morning until we went to bed. We had to teach in Relief Society and that was interesting, but it went okay I think. It was a great day and I´ll tell you a story from the day:

We were sitting in the tram and we hear this very loud obnoxious language, that I like to call American English. We turn around and ask the people where they´re from and they said Florida/ Virginia. We told them we´re from Arizona and Utah and they were so excited to meet us. They asked what we were doing here and we told them being missionaries for our church. They said "Oh so you pretty much know your way around?" Then they went on to explain that they are participating in a cruise that stops in Rostock, Sweden, Norway, and so on. The night before a member of their group fell on the cruise ship and broke her hip and now had to stay in the hospital in Rostock for about a week or so. They asked if we knew how to get to the hospital and we gladly showed them how to get there. Then we showed them how to get to his hotel because they know absolutely nothing about the public transportation here and no one speaks English (or at least understand East Coast English) so no one could answer their questions and we were able to help them around and they told us that we were an answer to their prayers. They also said it will probably be very hard for this lady because she loves to talk and no one can understand her so they asked if we´d be willing to go by and talk to her so that she could have someone to talk to because they were getting back on the cruise ship (except the husband). But yeah, it was a miracle that we were in the right place at the right time and we could help these people out and I´m sure we planted a huge seed for them. That made us really happy to do, just to serve someone in need.

That was my last week in Rostock. I´m so glad to have finished here strong in Rostock and I feel like the Lord has blessed me so much this week. I love Him, and He blesses us so much when we do all He requires of it. I´ve seen it this week especially. I´ve loved serving here in Rostock and can´t wait to help the people in Meißen. Can´t wait til next week to tell you about our adventures. I know this gospel is true. I can´t deny it. I love you all!! (Sorry I can´t answer your questions! I´ll try to write a letter tomorrow on my 7 hour train ride!)

Bruder Schmidt is doing better. He´s getting operated on tomorrow and it doesn´t look too risky anymore. They´ve figured out a less dangerous way to operate on it and he has a pretty low chance of going blind, but that´s better than dying. Thanks so so much for fasting for him. I fasted for him too and so did many ward members. I know there can be miracles. Thanks for fasting for my friend.

Love, Sister Niebergall

Awesome week! - May 26, 2012

Hey Hey home dogs and peeps!

 

This week was so awesome and I will tell you why in my own words.

 

First of all, Svetlana is doing great. She took moving her date back just fine. And it was such a huge weight off our shoulders. She is still kind of on for the baptism this weekend. We had an appointment with her yesterday and went over the interview questions. She still is in the attitude of "If I have money I'll pay my tithing" and "I drink black and green tea for my health." We have a member that she really admires and so we need to have a joint teach with him this week so that she can hear it from him that she needs to pay her tithing always and that she needs to not drink black and green tea. We hope very strongly that if she hears it from Tobias that she'll accept it and she can still get baptized, but we'll have to see. We also don't want to force her into the font if she's not ready. Mal sehen.

That sounds like fun at the Air Show. When people hear airplanes like that here they get kind of suspicious. You don't hear airplanes that often here. Say hello to Kyle and Toni for me. I got their wedding announcement in the post at Zone Conference. The holiday they're celebrating here in Germany is called Pfingsten, which means Pentacost. So basically they're celebrating the Pentacost, but don't really know why. I swear, Germans just make up excuses to have holidays so they don't have to work. Last week with Christi Himmel Fahrt, that was supposted to be a holiday that celebrated Christ's ascension to Heaven, but it turned into Father's day then it turned into get wasted day. But they aren't going to drink themselves as silly. There's just a little fair on the Harbor.

 

I can't believe Megan is going to be in her 4th city already. That's nuts. Next week we'll know if I'll be staying in Rostock or if I'll be leaving. Who knows.

 

Companion exchange was AWESOME. I was so surprised at how brave Sister Bohne was and she gave me more zest for the work and we just need to be friendlier to the people and they'll be friendlier to us. I can honestly say this Tausch has changed my mission. I have a whole new outlook while looking for new people on the streets. It was awesome.

 

We had an appointment with Cynthia yesterday. Vivian is out of town. They still want to get baptized and she said when she reads the Book of Mormon she feels like it is true and she feels like what we say is true. It's awesome, but it scares me because it feels too easy. She's a sweet lady. We are trying to get her to church because it's a half hour train ride and 20 minute Strassen Bahn ride to the church from where she lives. We hope to get her on track for baptism. It's hard to teach her as often as we need to.

 

Pedro is doing well. We had an appointment today. We just need to get him to strengthen his faith. He is convinced that we can't KNOW if something is true. So we've kind of learned to say "I believe" and he can't really fight back to that.

 

Bruder Schmidt isn't doing very well. They let him go back home and said his condition is not operable. So he pretty much will just stay home until he dies. Unless we see an awesome miracle. Which we are really praying for. We all love him so much here.

 

We had an awesome miracle today. We were eating lunch and someone called us. We answered and he asked if we spoke English. He's from Pakistan and he lived in Greece for 7 years and attended a Christian church, but he moved here and hasn't been able to find a Christian church that speaks English and that he doesn't understand German. It ends up that his neighbor gave him our card and that we speak English and are a Christian church. So we made an appointment and we'll go visit him on Tuesday and hopefully see him at church sometime here in the new future. We also explained to him that there are lots of members in our church that speak English and translate all the time. That would make us really happy to have found a new golden investigator just while we were eating lunch.

 

The work is going really awesome here. I believe everyone we're teaching has the potential to get baptized and I can't wait to find more awesome investigators this week. We're having a special fast tomorrow so that we can find someone golden to teach. We will be spending the whole day Wednesday finding. We'd love it if you could pray for us on Wednesday or Tuesday night. I know Heavenly Father will lead us to the people that are ready to hear the gospel and so we can bring them this light that has blessed our lives so much. I love it. I love being here so much. I wouldn't want to do anything different. It's true and I know it and I want to tell everyone about it.

 

I love you!

 

Love, Sister Niebergall

Hello from the Salami Mouthed Frau - May 21, 2012

Hello!!

Once upon a time I´m in a casino right now doing e-mails and the lady working here is really nice and she gave us free hot chocolate and salami brotchen. So that will explain the title of my e-mail, I can´t really concentrate on anything but the salami taste in my mouth right now. I need to brush my teeth.

Thanks for the weather report. It really is nice to get that so I can prepare myself on how I´ll dress. This week we FRIED. We were dressed for cold weather and it was really really warm. Now I know that I can dress for warmer weather. I have no idea how I stayed cool in the MTC, because I really feel like all my clothes are winter clothes. I still don´t have a jacket, but I don´t even know if I need one anymore.

Sometime this week I woke up because it was really sunny outside and I thought I´d overslept. I looked at the clock and it was 5 in the morning. It was crazy, but that shows you how north we are.

This week has been really stressful. A lot of time and energy has been put into getting things ready for Svetlana´s baptism so it´ll go smoothly. I never realized how much work it is to plan a baptism! Sheesh! But unfortunately, we have to push her baptism back at least a week. We won´t have enough time to teach her everything she needs to know before she is baptized so we have to break that news to her tonight. We are nervous that she might think it´s because she did something wrong. Will you all pray really hard for us at 7:00 our time, so 1:00 your time that she will be understanding and not discouraged? Just set an alarm on your phone and say a prayer in your heart. That would be so helpful.

We called Svetlana this morning because we haven´t met with her since last Monday (that was stressful) and we called to see how it´s going. She said her son is in the hospital (he´s an alcoholic) and her boyfriend is threatening to break up with her because she worries too much about her son. She said she has extremely bad back pain and shoulder pain and a bladder infection and tons of health problems. We reminded her that Satan is going to try really hard to make it so she doesn´t make it to her baptism. She said "oh! I forgot about that!" and it sounded like it clicked to her why things are going so hard for her right now. I also heard a determination in her voice like "Oh, I forgot, but now that I remember I can get through this." Thank you so much for your prayers. They are really helpful. I think it might be a good idea to put her name in a temple there in Utah.  If you´d do that for me that´d rock.

The work this week was hard. The silly Germans love to make up holidays so they can stay home and not work. The legend behind this holiday goes like this:

Männer Tag. A.K.A. Christy Himmel Fahrt-

Mother´s Day is celebrated every year in May. One year the men got jealous so they made a holiday that all the men would go out together and do manly things. Eventually it developed into the day where the men could go out together and do manly things, namely, drink themselves silly. This holiday takes place the Thursday after Mother´s day. But it actually lasts the whole week after Mother´s day. So the women stay out and the men drink like crazy and destroy the town. That would be this week. 

That means the work this week was incredibly hard. We saw a lot of funny drunk men though. The people were about as friendly this week as they are normally. Maybe friendlier, but I dunno if that´s cuz they´re drunk or what. 

We still haven´t gotten ahold of Vivian and Cynthia. We have a really jam packed week this week because we have to go to Berlin for Zone Conference and then we´re doing a companion exchange. Sister Bohne is coming to me in Rostock and will stay Tuesday night and will go back Thursday morning. It will be fun. I need it. But we hope to get ahold of them Friday. I´m really glad Svetlana´s baptism isn´t this week. That would be too crazy.

Too bad you haven´t sent out the letter yet. Bummer, but oh well. I´ll have to wait to get it then. But send it please! It´s really hard when your companion gets letters and you don´t get anything.

 I can´t believe it´s been a year since I finished my first year at USU. That´s nuts to me.

The reason I´ve been trying to figure things out for school is because I talked to President about it at President interviews and he said to get more information about my options and then see what to do from there. So that´s what I´m trying to do. I guess I´m trying to think about it now so I can get it finished and not have to think about it later since it´s pressing on my mind. I don´t usually think about it during the week though, just Mondays- so don´t worry.

One thing that has helped me with my money here in Germany (in response about D.J.) is I take out €20 per transfer that I can use to eat out and have the cash in a special place in my wallet and once it´s gone it´s gone and I won´t allow myself to spend any money til the next transfer. It works well sometimes. So maybe you can figure something out together. How much money he can have in his wallet in cash and how often he can get more money out and you keep his card in your hands. There are many many missionaries here that have money problems. He needs to start practicing good money skills because on the mission you´re only allowed so much and if you run out you´re out and you can´t run to mommy to get food. There are many Elders that live off rice the last week of every month because they don´t have money to buy anything else. Maybe that´s an idea though.

I have a whole list of things I want to do when I get home at my apartment. Maybe some of them can be ideas of what you can do for this summer, mom. I know one of them is to talk to the Bishop or the Relief Society President about people in the ward that may need help or a visit or something and then go help them or visit them. I also have a President´s of the Church institute manual somewhere in my room and I know I wrote in it a list of acts of service that would be fun to do. It´s written on the back cover I think. You can also look at that.

Pedro is the only other investigator that we were able to meet with this week. We found out last week that he doesn´t really have a strong belief in God and so we knew that even though he is a really deep thinker, it isn´t helping his faith to throw deep scripture at him. So we talked about God is our Heavenly Father with him this week and asked him to just say a simple prayer and ask if God is there. We said a really sincere prayer at the end of the appointment and when we looked up he was crying. I think he felt Heavenly Father´s love for him. Now he just needs to pray on his own and feel it again.

Another thing that has been very stressful this week is Bruder Schmidt. He is the most amazing man and a very very strong member, even though he was just baptized 4 years ago. He´s even the Elder´s quorom president. His health is not very good. If you were just to talk to him you would never guess he´s sick. He´s full of energy and spunk and laughter. But his artery on the right side of his head and neck is 95% clogged because he used to be a heavy smoker and he has diabetes now. He was supposed to get bipass surgery and get this artery operated on at the same time, but the doctors reconsidered and then realized if they would have done that the blood wouldn´t have made it to his brain when they were operating and he would have died. So they did some investigating and now are trying to decide if they can even operate at all. If they don´t operate then they´ll send him home and he can´t go to church and can´t leave his apartment and will pretty much leave him there til he dies. Then if they operate it´s a huge risk that they´ll do something wrong. The artery that is clogged lays right on his C nerve and if they do that, there´s a big risk he could die, or at least lose his eyesight. He is honestly one of the best friends I´ve met on my mission and I´ve shed many tears in his behalf this week. I would love if you could pray for him. He has influenced so many lives and he´s a crazy awesome member missionary. He talks to everyone in the hospital about the church and gives them pass along cards and stuff. He´s awesome. Like I said, I really consider him one of my best friends from my mission and your love and prayers for him are greatly appreciated. I want you all to meet him one day so he needs to live!

I am so happy to be here in Germany. This is the best thing I could ever do with my life. I don´t regret this decision for one second. I´ve met so many people that have amazing stories and I am learning so much from these people. I am so glad that I can share the truth about Christ´s church with these people. I know Christ has felt our pains and He can lift our burdens. This week I did something awesome and theraputic, but I drew a big circle on a piece of paper and wrote everything in it that I was stressing out about (Will Svetlana make it to baptism, will bruder schmidt live, it is super messy in this house, etc...) and I drew a square next to the circle and wrote the things in the square that were stressing me out that I could control. Then I knew I needed to leave the things I couldn´t control to the Lord. It was an amazing burden that I felt lifted. I can´t worry about everything that needs to be done or just the unknown things of life. I can give these things to the Lord and He will lift our burdens. He´s promised it. Matthew 11:28. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and, learn of me; for I am meek and lowley in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I know it´s true. I´ve seen it so many times here on my mission and through the rest of my life too. I´m glad I can share this message with others.

I love you!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Niebergall

Immernoch in Rostock - May 14, 2012

Hey family!

 

It was wonderful to Skype with you all too! And see your faces, hear your voices and laughs. It was great! I loved it. Was Rachel so wiggley with Jeff too? I enjoyed her wiggliness. It just made me feel at home. Bummer that we didn´t get to talk longer. It was way too short. Lucky that you and Jeff got to talk longer though. Fun fun. Did you get a picture of him Skyping? I would love to see it if you did.

 

MOM! I´m a dork and totally forgot to wish you a happy mother´s day. I guess the excitement of seeing you all made me forget! BUT I hope you had a wonderful day!! I thought about you all day and thanks for all you´ve done for me. You´re the best.

 

Guess what song is playing in the Casino right now. Everybody dance now. First thing that comes to my head? "Everybody put your shoulders to your ears now!" I love my family.

 

I´m so glad you could feel the spirit when we sang and when I bore my testimony. I said a lot of things very wrong, but I decided not to point it out because you wouldn´t have known any different. Haha.

 

Sister Bohne if you pronounce it the way Germans do is Boh-nuh. That´s how she introduced herself, so maybe she´s pronouncing her name differently here in Germany. I admit, I say my name with more of a German accent now.

 

Cynthia and Vivian are doing fine as far as we know. They just weren´t home when we had their appointment. We have an appointment with them tomorrow. We´ll see how they´re doing then. We saw Cynthia briefly Saturday, but we just ran to her house to make an appointment. Thank you so much for your prayers.

  

 

I just have to tell a quick funny story from this week. We just came back from Bruder Schmidt´s house eating the yucky pickled herring and quark. That whole day was kind of going wrong. We went to catch our train and there was a BEAUTIFUL sunset. And not too far off there was a man peeing onto the train tracks. It was a perfect end to a really rough day. I wish I would´ve taken a picture. It was too hilarious. I don´t know what the deal is with Germans, but they love to pee where everyone can see them. Naja.

 

I love you all so much! I know that this church is true and that Jesus is our Savior. I know that He loves you! He knows you personally and what you´re going through. Being a missionary is the best thing I could have ever done with my life. I don´t regret it one bit. If there is anyone out there wanting to go on a mission DO IT! You will meet so many incredible people and it brings such a richness to your life that you just don´t get anywhere else! I love you all so much!

 

Love, Sister Niebergall

May 07, 2012

Hello family!

Things are going fine here in Rostock. It´s also been a week of fallen out appointments. We´ve had some sad happenings and some miracles. The sad thing is that our Serbian family Tschüssed us. (Tschüß is how Germans say "bye" so the missionaries verb-afied tschüß and it means 'to say goodbye'.) Yes, they don´t really want to be taught anymore. This week we went by on them and Nikolai was really sick and kind of out of it (I´d say he is in his late 40´s or early 50´s). We offered to bring the Elders by to give him a blessing and he accepted. They live in Bad Doberan which is a 30 minute bus ride. We came back 2 days later and explained the blessing and he said that he didn´t want it and he had too many money and health problems to worry about us coming over all the time. I kinda feel like we just wore out our welcome. He told us that he wasn´t saying don´t come over, but he has our number so he´ll call us. He also said this week that he knows everything about Jesus, so when he said that I knew his heart was closed. So that was a big bummer. But it is kind of a relief because I would always get really stressed before their lessons because of the language barrier and I could feel their potential. We hope Nikolai lives a while longer. He really looked awful this week. If not, we have the message for their family and hopefully they´ll be willing to listen. But thank you so so so much for fasting for Nikolai. When I read that you did that it made me cry. Thank you for loving my investigators as much as I love them.

This week we didn´t really meet with Svetlana. She came to an appointment with us, but earlier that day we had called a Russian speaking man in our phone and we couldn´t communicate with him so told him we´d call back while we were with Svetlana so we could understand each other. So we had her call him at the beginning of the appointment and she talked on our phone with him for a half an hour. By that time we didn´t have time and couldn´t teach her. It was also her birthday Saturday so she decided not to come to church Sunday. So it´s been awhile. But we have frequent contact with her by phone and we´ll meet with her Wednesday.

The miracle of this week is we made 2 more baptismal dates- with Cynthia and Vivian who I wrote about last week. Cynthia is SO awesome. We asked if she´d read (we gave her Moroni 7) and she said "Yes, I read about faith, hope and charity, and that everything that is good comes from God." and pretty much rattles all the information about that chapter. It was awesome and we know that she really read! She says she really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon. Then our lesson was about the steps to return to live with God (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end) and that lead perfectly into asking them to be baptized. We had a bit of a scare because they had both been baptized as babies, but then I said that baptism is a sign to God that you are willing to follow Jesus Christ and that should be their own decision and their own promise to God. I asked them again if they´d like to be baptized and they both said yes. So they plan on being baptized on June 23rd in the Baltic Sea. We have a member who just got baptized in March and he is also from Ghana. We´re bringing him as a joint teach this week so they can hear his testimony and so that he has the opportunity to share his testimony with others. He really is such a great member missionary. He gives Elders referalls all the time. Anyway. He´s kind of nervous about it, so will you pray for Nanaking tonight and ask Heavenly Father to give him the words he needs to bear his testimony? Our appointment is tomorrow with Cynthia and Vivian.

Pedro is kinda tricky. We have an appointment with him this week and we have no joint teach so we´re kind of nervous. I hope we don´t say something completely stupid or don´t understand him. We´re also planning on inviting him to baptism this week. We´ll see how that goes.

There are certain countries that we can´t baptize unless they´ve already been baptized into a different Christian religion. Pretty much wherever it´s illegal to be Christian (all of middle east) we´re not allowed to baptize them. There are lots that try to get baptized just so they can stay in Germany, but there are also lots that want to be baptized because they really love Jesus Christ and know Christianity is the right way. That is the most heartbreaking thing when we can´t baptize them when they really want to because they´re from middle east. Seriously breaks my heart every time. 

If you haven´t sent the Niebergall letters yet you can try to send them to Rostock. My name is on the mailbox now so it should HOPEFULLY get here. Or maybe you should just send it to Berlin to make sure it gets to me. Whatever you decide, I´m okay with.

Is Roo really a puppy still? It´s kind of huge!

Thanks for updating me on the friends you see. Whenever you see a friend of mine be sure to say "hi" to them for me and "I´m doing great and being is the best thing ever."

I think that if you get pick pocketed they will reimburse you, it´s just that Sister Noyes didn´t feel like going through all the trouble to get it back. So I don´t think you need to worry about that. She got a new card in the mail this week, so we should be fine money-wise now.

We did have President´s interviews this week and it went great. I talked to him about Tucker and he let me know it wasn´t him that met Tucker, it was the new President, President Kosak. I guess President said that President Kosak even e-mailed him about that so he knew what I was talking about. Anyway, Tucker will be able to see him, quite a lot. Awesome! 

I can´t believe it´s been a year since I got out of school. It´s flown faster than any other year in my life. And that Kyle is getting married this weekend? That´s nuts. Do you know if they plan on going to USU? And Mitchel gets married in September? That´ll make 3 cousins (so far) married while I´m gone. Also, I met Amanda Niebergall´s friend here in this mission. Here name is Sister Bohne. She seems really cool and she flipped when she saw my name. I guess she´s good friends with Amanda.

 

I look forward to Skyping. It shall be interesting. I guess I´ll talk to you (and see you) Sunday at 12:30 (8:30 for me.) I´ll ring you because I don´t have a Skype account yet and I´ll have to make one. Crazy!! Can´t believe it´s that time already.

Mom, I wish I would´ve made that calendar for you after my mission. My testimony has changed so much and the scriptures mean something totally new to me now. I´m glad that the calendar helps you feel closer to me though. But I just have to say, I absolutely know that this church is true and it´s all thanks to you and dad. Really, I can never ever repay you or say thank you enough for raising me in this gospel. I know that it changes lives, brings peaces, gives people answers to the questions in their lives, but ultimately, is the only way back to our loving Heavenly Father. It´s amazing how much more simple the gospel has become since I´ve been here. I know it´s true, every single bit of it. I love you all so much and think about you often! Bis Sonntag!

Love, Sister Niebergall

 

-Picture:

 Sister Noyes and my our second day together. Yes, I was straddling the cannon. That´s where the look of panic comes from. "How am I supposed to get off this cannon in a skirt"

 

Apr 30, 2012

Hello family!! 

This week has been pretty alright. Lots of fallen out appointments, but that´s the life of a missionary. I can´t believe Tucker is going to the MTC so soon. I´m excited for him he´ll love it! I wonder who will train him... crazy! He needs 4-5 short sleeve shirts (according to the Elders in our city). He doesn´t need to have Euros on hand when he gets into Germany, but he should have enough US dollars so that he can convert it to Euros when he gets here. That´s funny that Tucker pulled that prank on that poor youth speaker. Haha. Just wait til his trainer does that to him but he has to talk in German. He will get what he´s been dishing out. Haha ;) And yes, he will have to shake my hand. If he hugs me that could cause some issues. :) That´d be super cool though if he were one day able to serve in Rostock and he could know Svetlana as a member and not an investigator. That´d be really cool. But there are lots of cities for Elders so it´s not very likely that he will. But who knows!?

Svetlana is ROCKING. It´s so crazy. We had a great lesson with her about Joseph Smith, because for some reason she always forgets who he is. That´s kind of important. Anyway. Hopefully she won´t forget anymore. She also gave us 5 referals. We went by on all of them, but none of them had interest, but she is getting excited about the gospel and wants others to hear it too. ALSO! WAY cool thing this week, we came out of the church after an appointment and we saw this guy that was in a really really expensive looking suit so we decided to talk to him because he looked sharp. Then about 1 minute later Svetlana came around the corner and started talking to him too. (She´s kinda crazy and LOVES to talk) so she started saying to this guy that so many people nowadays are doing dumb things like drinking and partying and having chastity issues and starts talking about her sons problems and about how finally her son read the Bible with her that morning and confessed to her that he believes God is there. Then she bore her testimony about how her life was going really terribly but ever since she´s been meeting with us things have been going so much better and that she knows God lives and He can heal our wounds. We were taken aback that she was so bold with a random stranger on the street, and I think the guy was kind of weirded out, but it was a great experience for Svetlana to be able to share her testimony and it was great for us to hear her conviction. We may have to move her baptism up. She is so ready. 

Question for Jeff: How much do you talk in lessons and at eating appointments and stuff? Also, how much time do you have to write e-mails? I feel like you write less now than in the MTC.(that´s a cuiriostiy thing, not a bashing thing) And also your comp looks super familiar, I don´t know why. 

 

Our Serbian family is doing great also! This week we took our Serbian member to their house to help translate. When we got there, Nikolai had a hard time with Joseph Smith. When we left he said he believed and thinks he´s a great person and wanted to come to church. But he can´t come to church because he has cancer and is doing chemo (can´t remember if I´ve mentioned that) so he doesn´t have energy or strength to do that at all. If you could pray that we find a way that we can get him to church and not be a hazard to his health, we would love that. Also, I think it would be a little overwhelming to the family , especially with his health as bad as it is right now, if we were to come more than once a week. Sometimes we are in the home more than once a week and they see us and we ask how they´re doing, but multiple visits might be too exhausting for poor Nikolai. Plus it´s really hard to teach them when they can´t really understand us. Ever since the Joint teach with our serbian member I don´t think we´ll be able to teach them anything without her. This member is also moving soon. We don´t know what to do about that because we really NEED her. But thanks so much for all your prayers for our investigators. We are seeing miracles!

Investigator update. We´ve found TONS of new people. Our most progressing are Ibraimovic´ family (Nikolai, Duda, Judah, Natasha, Daniel) and Svetlana, but we do have others that you don´t know about yet. We´ll solve that problem now.

Pedro: He´s from Angola and speaks Portuguese and really good German. We´re not sure if he´s looking for answers or if he´s looking to confuse us. He has way hard questions to answer and it always hurts our brains after we´re done with him. He won´t take pure testimony for an answer, he needs facts and that´s hard. We´re hoping he´ll have prayed to know Joseph Smith is a prophet. He´s a cool guy, but we always make sure we bring someone that can speak better German and who is smarter than us.

Cynthia and Vivian: They´re both single mothers from Ghana. We found them at the same place as the Serbians. We gave Cynthia a Book of Mormon and she had read in it by the time we had a return appointment and said it´s from God. In the middle of the appointment Vivian came in and we asked if we should come back a different time but Cynthia said we could stay. Had a great Restoration lesson with them and they´re both excited about the Book of Mormon. Teach them in English. 

LOTS of Arab men that are looking to get baptized so they can stay in Germany. That´s not going to happen though.

I can´t think of anyone else. I´ll fill you in later if I remember anyone.

The weather is turning really nice. We looked out the window the other day and it looked cold and cloudy so we bundled up real good and it was ROASTING. It is getting really green and beautiful and it´s really fun to look for different kinds of animals on the train ride to Bad Doberan. We´ve seen many foxes, deer, and bunnies. I´m not sure how cold it gets in the winter. This winter wasn´t really that bad. My thermal garments saved me. It can get really cold though as far as I know. I think Elders are allowed to wear boots. I´d definitely wait to buy them and the coat here though, even though it´s expensive.

We have had lots and lots of money problems. We still are barely hanging in there moneywise. We´re hoping they may have given us money a day early. They didn´t reimburse her, and we did tell the mission home. We have our interviews with President this week. I´m not sure if they´re the very final ones or not. I hope he does one last round of interviews before he goes, but that might be too much work for him. We´ll see. I can´t believe Tucker met President!!! That´s crazy. I didn´t realize he was in America. That poor man travels SO much. I´ll have to talk to President about that.

Okay, looks like we´ll be Skyping with you on the 13th of May at 12:30 your time 8:30 my time. Looking forward to it. Can´t believe it´s that time again!

You´ll have to youtube the Hey Hiya ho song. It´s quite good. I danced to it all the time.

I´m sorry you didn´t get the reading specialist position. That´s a bummer (Schade in German). I can bet you about had a heart attack or peed your pants. Oh man. I´m glad your room was clean too. Also I´m glad you left it up to the Lord. That´s really all we can do in those kind of situations. He definitely knows 100 percent of the time what will be best for us in the long run and what will help us become the people He wants us to become. I read a really cool article in the Liahona by Elder Bednar about the atonement and it had a quote about when Nephi was tied up by his brothers: He didn´t pray that the bands would come off of him, he prayed for the strength to burst the bands. Here comes the quote I like "Nephi didn´t pray that the circumstances would be changed, rather he prayed for the strength to change the circumstances. I really liked that and I want to use the atonement in that way more often than I do.

 

I´m glad you´re enjoying missionary mom e-mails. Sister Holbrook is on there too and she´s in my city with me and she can tell you many stories about us getting locked out and things so if you send out a Sister Holbrook request, I´m sure she´ll answer you.

That´s so exciting that Jeff set a baptismal date too! He is such a great missionary, I can just tell from reading his e-mails and they make me happy. It ends up we won´t be going with these new converts to get their blessings. That puts less stress on us financially, so that´s okay.

I now have 5 stuffed turtles in my bed. Most of them were gifts though. (the one sarah and rachel won at toads, pillow pet from mark and heather, Sister Toni sent me one too). I have bought 2. Don´t ask how I´ll lug them around everywhere, I´ll make it work :)

 

I love this gospel. I know it is true. I know it can change lives and "heal wounds" as Svetlana said. Our Father in Heaven knows us and He wants us to be with Him. He´s given us all we have, we owe it to Him to live our lives serving His children and helping them see this gospel light. I love it and I know it is the true and only way!

I love you ALLLLLLL So much!

Love, Sister Niebergall