2012, 07-29 Trisha

Hello family!

This week has been alright. I´ll answer your biggest question right off the bat- no we haven´t had contact with Sabine, Sabine, and Anna this week. We have no idea what´s going on and we´re really scared, but thank you so much for your encouraging and uplifting words. Nothing hurts more than when you give your whole heart to someone and they aren´t accepting it and they may or may not be ignoring you and you have no idea what´s going on. But oh well, I´m not going to dwell on my disappointment.

Tuesday we had something really cool happen. A couple days before we talked to a man on the street and when we talked to him he was really defensive and didn´t want to talk to us, but we kept talking to him and by the end he had softened up. He still didn´t want to make an appointment with us, but we gave him our card. Last Saturday he called us and asked if we could meet. We told him we could on Thursday. Tuesday came and he called us and wanted to know if we could meet in a couple hours. Crazy that he couldn´t wait 2 days! So we met with him and we asked him what motivated him to call us when he wasn´t interested at all in what we had to say. He said it´s because he could feel that we were being honest, sincere, and he could tell we really believe what we say- so he wanted to hear more about it. We´ve met with him twice now. We hope things will go well for him, but it just shows that you really need to speak with honesty with the people on the street.

 

We saw Robert once this week and he was drinking of course. We were silly and gave him money to buy a ticket to come to Dresden for institute, but he didn´t come. We hope he didn´t buy more beer. He really is such a good kid, he just needs to realize he can break his old habits. He doesn´t trust himself at all.

 

 We moved back into our apartment yesterday. It´s really lonely to not have 4 Sisters in one apartment. Apparently the exterminator didn´t find ANYTHING in our apartment. That´s annoying, because there is definitely something there. Sister Curtis and I were both itchy last night. We don´t know if it´s all in our head or what. But you are okay to send mail there. We check it even when we live in Dresden.  Tell Deej if he wants letters on his mission he better get his head in the game! It has been REALLY hot this week, I´ve been kind of dehydrated, but now that we have an apartment it should be better.

 

There is someone in this internet café speaking very loud Spain Spanish. I wish I could still remember spanish. Every time we talk to people on the street and their mother language is spanish I try to speak it, but German has overtaken my brain and I can only recall "libro".

 

We have President Interviews tomorrow. I´ll know by then what I´m going to do. I am still leaning toward the 18th, but I´m still praying about it and trying to figure out the best option. I can´t believe I´ve been out more than a year either and I´m considered one of the "Old Sisters" of the mission. It has totally flown by, the days are slow but the weeks and months are way fast. It´s really weird how that works.

 

When we eat out there are only a couple options in Meißen: Döner (I used to love it, but I´m getting super sick of it), Chinese (also getting sick of it), meat shops that have random meat and potatoes and sometimes noodles, and last but not least McDonalds. Normally we eat at..... Chinese I´d say. I´m really excited that we will be able to make our own food and live on the fourth floor so we will be getting a little more fit I hope.

 

Andrew´s face looks HORRIBLE! Oh my goodness. I hope he´s doing okay. Did he hit the water wrong or did he hit a rock or how did he hurt himself so bad?

 

Sad about Pepper. Poor kitty. Get rid of him before I come home, I don´t want to see him in that awful state.

 

I hope Herbert Hoover practices start going better. I think people in Utah really take for granted all of the cool activites they can do as a Gemeinde together. I have such a big testimony of how the ward is organized and home and visiting teachers. We really need everyone to help everyone in the ward. We are all on the same team and should try to help each other reach our goal. I know it´s just a stake production, but it really can bring unity in the Gemeinde.

 

I´m sure you can buy an Ensign at the Distribution Center. Dad works right by it :)

 

Wow! I can´t believe DJ and Sarah are going to have their braces off. That´s so crazy! Yesterday the youth of our Gemeinde were able to bear their testimonies because they just got back from EFY. There is a girl in my ward that remeinds me of Sarah. I almost started crying when she was bearing her testimony. She wants to practice her english and I thought it would be a good idea for Sarah to practice her German.

 

We found out something really sad this week too. If a Muslim doesn´t have a passport to permanently stay in Germany we aren´t allowed to teach them. It´s so sad because there are so many muslims that love Jesus, but it´s too dangerous for them to learn more. Bummer.

 

Wednesday we visited our sweet Herr Szautner- the one who kissed the Liahona. He forgot we were coming, but he was excited to see us. He was able to read a little in the Liahona, but someone in the Old Folks home stole his glasses, so now he can´t read. Haha. He´s so cute and so funny. Thursday we were able to watch the movie 17 Miracles. I don´t know if you´ve seen it or not, but if you haven´t seen it DON´T!!! I want to be there when you watch it, It´s SOOOOOOOOO amazing! I almost cried. The pioneers really did so much for this gospel and I want to work harder just so all they did doesn´t go in vain.

 

Saturday we went to a Dorf called Weinböhle. It was so golden! We were able to make 3 appointments and teach a 45 minute lesson on the street. We are excited to go back and find more people who are prepared for the gospel.

 

I know this church is true! I know that Germany needs this gospel. I read all of the pages that you sent me about President Monson and Germany, and no wonder the Germans are atheist- it was squeezed out of them to believe. I´´m so glad I can be here to help people develop a faith. I love this gospel. Nothing brings more peace than to read in the Book of Mormon. When I feel like I can´t focus, when I have too many problems to take care of, I know when I read those problems are taken away and Heavenly Father gives us the strength to make it through. I hope we all are making the best out of our study. It is so important that we read and feast on these words. I love you all so much. Thanks for your support and saying exactly what I needed to hear. I love you.

 

Love Sister Niebergall

Don't know what to say

Hello family!

Well, to be honest, this week has been rough. I´ll tell you why of course. I´m trying to keep my faith and attitude up, but I really just want to cry all day.

First of all, we haven´t had contact witch Sabine, Sabine, and Anna for a week. And not because we haven´t tried. We´ve tried every day to contact them, which may be the problem. I´m really afraid that we might have been overwhelming. Now we don´t know what to do. They won´t answer phone calls or the door when we go to their house. I have really never been so heartbroken on my mission. It´s true we don´t know what is going on and maybe everything is just fine. But I am really worried. That´s really everything that´s been on my mind this week.

Tuesday we ran into Robert, he looked horrible. We could tell he hasn´t been doing good things. We tried to talk to him, but he just walked away from us. We were feeling pretty heartbroken about that too. The next day we were riding our bikes and we saw him and he waved at us and told us to come over. He told us that he has to go to jail because he wasn´t able to pay a bill for an ambulance and he is here in Germany illegally. He said that he doesn´t even know if God is there. So we ran and printed off a talk from President Uchtdorf "You Matter to Him". I hope he´s read it. We know he always feels something when he is with us because he asked us if we could come back again the next day. Which was a huge improvement from the day before where he refused to talk to us. The next day we talked to him and invited him to come to institute in Dresden. It took a lot of convincing, but he finally accepted and he brought his friend with him. They were drinking beer the whole time on the train and it was really horrible. But when they got there, I know Robert felt the spirit. Then we played ping pong with him and as we were about to leave, we remembered we needed to show him the baptismal font. We opened the doors to it and the spirit flooded the room. Robert even kind of took a step back and asked what that was. I told him the place for the Taufe. He stood staring for a minute. He didn´t want to take his eyes off of it, and he reached into his pocket and took out his phone to take a picture. I said to him "Robert, you´ll be in there one day." And he said "Yes. I know" It was super awesome and it was so great to see him feel the spirit so strongly.

That was a cool story about Alma 32 and your investigator. I have a whole list of questions that I´ve written down to ask you about your mission if I come home. I can´t wait to hear about your mission. But you can still write about experiences from your mission in your e-mails or letters. Thanks for sharing that.

For Rachel and Pepper. I asked Sister Kläy what advice I should give because she is a cat lover. She said that she had to put her cat to sleep when she was younger and she said the way her family told her was "He is really old and he has lots of problems with his health so he can´t be really happy and they will just put him to sleep and he´ll go to kitty heaven where he can be with his other brothers and sisters" That is the only thing that I can think to say. But that´s super sad. Awww Pepper.

I think Elder Roberts is serving in Berlin somewhere. I´m not too sure though, but his trainer was in the MTC at the same time as me. He´s a good Elder. I know they´ll see miracles while they are there together. With both of their faiths (I don´t know how to say that).

The language is really good, but this week I really have been trying to improve my vocabulary. I can say what I want to say, but I want to be able to use fancier words now. But I can communicate and I can understand most of the time. If I don´t understand every word I usually understand the general idea of what they are saying.

This week has been SUPER wet, but we´ve had to deal with it. Luckily we had a lot of appointments so we were inside a lot of the time it was raining. But we were in the rain quite a lot too. We haven´t heard anything about our apartment though. We work every day in Meißen, but sleep and study in Dresden. We do go to church in Meißen too. And we don´t know yet how long we´ll be in Dresden, if we´ll move back into our old apartment or if we´ll have to get a new one. No one knows anything, so we´re just chillin in Dresden til something happens.

I got a lovely letter this week. I cried my eyes out. I felt so silly, but it was SO good to hear from you and see your handwriting. It got there just fine and if you were to send other things there, they´d get there too. I also got a letter from Sister Toni, so I´m thinking this mail is more reliable.  But thank you so so so so so sooooo much for sending that. It was a particularly hard day full of tears and it came just at the right time. Thank you for sending me something exactly when I needed it.

"Laughing man" A.K.A Herr Pinkert is doing great. He just accepts everything and tells us what we say is "positiv, fein, und schön" It´s really easy to teach him because he does have a little handicap, so we teach him very simply and he accepts all we say. He´s such a sweet sweet guy. We do still see dog man at least twice a week. Every time we see him we smile and wave and he waves back. He will probably get baptized all because he saw my G´s. You never know how a seed can be planted

That´s crazy how big Rachel is getting. Sheesh. Tell her to quit growing! But now I´m glad to know how old she is so I can answer people that ask. Because it´s kind of embarrassing to tell people that you don´t know how old your little sister is.

I think I want to go right back into school when I get home, because I feel like it´s a missionary´s downfall to come home and have nothing to do. I want to stay busy. But I´m still praying about it. President´s interviews are actually next week so I hope to have an answer by then.

Oh, I´m sorry about your Drowsy Chaperone audition. But just remember, that Heavenly Father sees the big picture, even with little things like a musical. You never know if you have a chance to help or serve someone that you woudln´t have been able to help them if you were busy with other things. We´ll see what happens.

So, we have to eat out every day because we have no where to keep food during the day.... so I´m pretty out of money. I´m sorry, I´m going to have to use personal money until August. Which isn´t too far away.

That story about Hannah is hilarious. Too bad she hasn´t grown out of her attitude yet, but at the same time if she had I wouldn´t be able to enjoy the Hannah stories.

I can´t believe Lilah is so big and potty training and TALKING. This is crazy!!! Oh man! Life goes so fast.

Life can be hard sometimes, but Heavenly Father still blesses us so much. Saturday was a day of being in the right place at the right time. We tried to go by on Sabine and she wasn´t there. We talked to a man by her house and he was from Sweden on vacation and was going home soon. We told him we´d meet at the trainstation. We  got him a Book of Mormon and I picked up the General Conference Liahona because I want to read it and practice my German. We went to meet him at the trainstation, but then realized we didn´t specify which train station (there are 2 in Meißen) so we didn´t get to give him a book, but we were able to make out a new appointment with someone we met at the train station. Then we went to do doors on a street a member family chose for us and as we walked there we saw a man picking flowers and cherries off the ground. We went and talked to him and asked how he was. He said "Do I know you?" but we didn´t know him. Then the very first sentence he said was "Do you have something that I can read? I live in the old folk´s home around the corner and I´m always so bored" Oh boy, do we have something for you to read? We pulled out the Book of Mormon, but he said "No! That´s too thick!" Then I was trying to think if I had anything in my backpack because lately I´ve been printing off talks in German and studying them so I can learn more German. Then I realized I had the conference Liahona in my bag. I handed that to him and when he saw it (if you can remember what the conference ensign picture is- the family with the umbrellas laughing) he got so happy and kissed the cover of the Liahona. He said "if everyone were as happy as this family, the world would be such a good place." Then he explained his family has kind of abandoned him because he used to meet with the missionaries in Cottbus and they didn´t like that. And apparently his family doesn´t visit him often, but when they do they just talk about the problems. Then he said "Why can´t they just bring me flowers or bring me cookies?" I remembered Sister Curtis´s mom sent her a package with granola bars in it and Sister Curtis gave me one and I said "Do you want something sweet now?" And he got so excited when I gave him the granola bar. It was such a tender mercy in the midst of all of the hard times this week and we were able to make an appointment with him. We are so excited to see him again. But it just goes to show there are so many lonely people in the world that really just want a visit or some flowers. I hope we can keep our hearts open to see opportunities to answer someone´s prayer or just make them feel happy. I´m glad that I can help people here in Germany and see the smiles on their faces.

I love you all so so so much!

Love, Sister Niebergall

ps. Do you think maybe you can send me the conference Ensign so I can have for myself and not feel guilty for marking up the apartment´s copy and writing my thoughts in it?

pps. Sister Curtis and I were asking each other (about the cover of the conference Ensign) "Okay, what do you think is so funny that everyone is laughing at in this picture? What do you think the photographer said? ´say sassifrass´!! (name that movie HINT- it´s the same movie Jeff quoted in his e-mail)

Yay! We're staying!!

Dearest Family!

Yes, we are both staying in Meißen! HALLELUJAH!

This week, as always was full of miracles and adventures. I would like to quote a Sister from my district, Sister Linford. She said, in response to all of the problems we always have, "Man, Satan sure doesn´t like the work you´re doing over there." I totally believe this. Let me explain why.

For this whole time living in Meißen, Sister Curtis has been a little itchy. It´s been gradually getting worse and finally she showed her arms to Sabine, who had lived in Africa for 10 or so years, so she is very familiar with bug bites. She identified these bumps on Sister Curtis´s arms as FLEA bites. What the? So we called our mission president and we were evacuated from our house the next day. We had the day to pack our stuff and get out. So that means now we live in Dresden with the Sisters that work there. The Sisters are Sister Kläy and Sister Linford. It has been so fun and is a party every evening. We still work in Meißen, but we have to leave Dresden in the morning and come back at night. It´s only a 40 minute train ride though, so it´s not so bad. It reminds us of the Best Two Years, all of us in one apartment. It´s so fun. So that´s the adventure of this week. We´re not sure how long we´ll stay or if we´ll even be allowed to move back into our old apartment. It´s all up in the air right now. I don´t mind living in Dresden though. It´s pretty fun.

In my experience, the miracles always come after the big problems. We also had a random problem last week, I was walking and this dog comes running up at me and jumped on me and lifted up my whole skirt with his paws. His owner didn´t even take a pass along card. How rude. Anyway, now we see him all over the place with his dog. There was one time we saw him and we started laughing but I also saw a guy coming toward us and I felt like we needed to talk to him even though we were laughing. He made an appointment with us. As we were searching for his house we realized he gave us the wrong address. We were on the street, but his name wasn´t on the doorbell of where he said. So we started riding our bikes away, but Sister Curtis had the feeling as we were riding away that we should look at another building´s doorbells to see if his name was on it. And it was! We rang the doorbell and he let us in. We talked for a little while and then we took the Book of Mormon out of our backpack. He was drawn to it and he reached out for it and opened to the pictures at the beginning. He said "Das ist sehr fein" (That is very fine) and the tears welled up in his eyes. We explained where the Book of Mormon came from and Joseph Smith and he kept saying "Das ist sehr positiv" and then we told him "If it´s good it comes from God" We came to a picture of baptism in the Book of Mormon and Sister Curtis and I both had a very strong feeling to invite him to be baptized. So we did, and he accepted. Hooray!! It just goes to show you we need to talk to everyone, even if we are laughing! We´re not sure if he´s all there, but he understands enough to accept what we´re teaching, so it doesn´t matter.

We haven´t heard from Robert much this week. He always pushes away our phone calls. The stinker. We hope we can get ahold of him this week and help him get on the right path. He needs this gospel so bad. We went to the temple this week (which was so amazing/ fun to listen to in German and get new insights because of translation of words), but as I was there I could picture Robert sitting in the temple. He needs that peace! We´re working on it. It will take work, that´s for sure, but we have confidence Heavenly Father didn´t have us meet for no reason.

Sabine the elder is doing great. We taught her the word of wisdom this week. I feel bad, I didn´t even give her a chance to soak in what we were saying. I just layed out the list of things we shouldn´t take into our bodies: alcohol, smoking, coffee, black and green tea, drugs. Her eyes welled up with tears. She smokes and she loves her cappuccino. But the first words out of her mouth after she got herself together a little were "I´ll try". It wasn´t "But why? But!" It was "I´ll try." It was so awesome to see her faith. Then later this week it was hard to get ahold of her, her phone wasn´t working. We were doing street contacting in the near from her house and we saw an ambulance pull up to their house. I knew it was Sabine the daughter. We waited and watched, lo and behold! It was Sabine the daughter. She has been in and out of the hospital and no one can find what is wrong. Thank you so much for your prayers for them. We hope they can figure something out soon.

Svetlana didn´t end up getting baptized. I don´t know when this thing is going to happen. Bummer. Hopefully soon. Oh well.

I can´t believe Lilah is 2. That is craziness. I thought she was 1. The mission seriously warps your brain time wise. I can´t remember how old Rachel is at all. Everyone asks and I can never decide between 9, 10, or 11. Oh well. I guess my mind is so absorbed in other things I don´t think about sibling´s ages anymore.

That picture of Rachel opening the Webkinz made me PEE laughing. That was so so so hilarious. Oh meine gute. Too too hilarious.

There is a man in the internet laden sniffing and clearing his throat every 3 seconds. I´ve gotten used to nose blowing noises and I don´t usually care anymore, but it´s distracting me from my e-mailing and he´s GONNA PAY!!! Now he´s drumming on the desk. Little stink.

We haven´t heard from our lock man. We need to call him this week. We totally forgot. I´m not sure if he just felt bad for us or what, but he is a really sweet man, he´s only 22 and not German so he´s really open minded. Megan also celebrated the 4th on the 2nd? That´s crazy. Cool that I was celebrating with my cousin.

The missionary wall looks so cool! I was actually going to write and ask you to send pictures of the wall, but you did it without having to be asked! Thank you!! Sorry that picture made you sad. We thought it was funny and a perfect time to take a picture as we´re soaking wet. I knew that Rostock post would ruin your confidence in German mail. That´s crappy. Sister Curtis gets all her letters, so it works, you don´t need to hesitate sending stuff.

Funny that Nate Schoffield said that no one can convince the people, only God can. We just barely had that conversation with someone on a bridge yesterday. It´s so true, we can say everything we believe, but the person has to have the desire to believe and find out for themselves.

That is crazy that Westley got in an accident. Oh my goodness. I love the priesthood so much. It´s incredible the power from the priesthood. I remember when I got my testimony of it with my burns. There is no coincidence that I don´t have any scars from my burns. I know that is a gift from the priesthood power. Sometimes as a sister missionary it´s really frustrating not to have the priesthood ourselves. There are so many people we know that need priesthood blessings, but we can´t give them, obviously. But it teaches us that we need to be submissive sometimes and ask for other people´s help. We can´t do anything in the gospel alone. We really need the help of everyone. Speaking of which, good job for inviting Linda to the Lunch Brunch or whatever it´s called. She will really see how much you care when you keep in contact with her not just as a visiting teacher, but as a friend. Way to be awesome. Thanks for your example.

Mom, you asked the difference of serving in Meißen vs. the other cities. I guess the biggest difference is that I know for sure I´m supposed to be in Meißen. I knew that I was supposed to be in Celle and Rostock, but knowing that they made Meißen a Sister City and Sister Curtis are the first sisters ever in Meißen, and that President felt inspired to put us in Meißen, I am more assured that I am in the right place. It doesn´t feel as much like a luck of the draw and because one Sister leaves it means there´s a replacement that needs to come in. I know Sister Curtis and I are supposed to be here and we have a huge work to do. We see too many miracles a day to deny that. Also, having a positive upbeat companion who wants to work as hard as I want to work really helps bring the spirit. I just love my mission so much, I´ve honestly never been happier. I´m with people I love every day, I talk to people about Jesus and that His gospel on the earth. Why wouldn´t I be happy? I love what I do and you may have to pry me out of Germany one day. We´ll see.

I love you so much. I know the church is true. Keep up the good member missionary work.

Love, Sister Niebergall

Ich liebe Meißen! - Mon, Jul 09, 2012

Hello family!

Meißen is continuing to treat us well. I can´t remember your weather forecast, dad- but it was pretty darn stormy this week. But I love it here so much. I guess I´ll give you a Day by Day recap so I can try to remember everything I wanted to tell you.

Monday we had to pay the rest of the money for the lock. Yes it cost €319. We found out 2 days ago that it´s illegal for them to charge that much, but some people try it on the people that don´t know any better. Ugh. Those people that take advantage of other people. So sad. But we did follow up and ask if he´d read and he said he had a little bit. We told him we´d call and follow up in a week. So maybe we´ll call this week.

Then some members invited us over for a barbeque because they thought Independence day was the 2nd. Haha, it was cute. We ate some pork, potato salad, jello, and the best part- S´MORES! The members had never tried S´mores so it was so funny when they were roasting the marshmallows and they were all stringy and sticky like normal they said "Is that right? Is this normal?!" It was a lot of fun. And they really liked S´mores, the 14 yr old son said that S´mores are his new favorite food. Haha. The table was even complete with American flag in the middle. It made us so happy that they thought of us. Our members here are awesome! When we came home it was a big lightning storm, so we sang some of our favorite firework songs and pretended like it was fireworks. It was so fun. We were laughing our heads off. I love my companion. But Germans don´t really celebrate the 4th... it is an American holiday :) But I am actually surprised that they didn´t just adopt it as a day to get drunk. It´s been awhile since there´s been a holiday. I don´t think there´s even been one the last 6 weeks.

Tuesday I had a really strong feeling to go to Robert and see how he was doing since we hadn´t seen him since we made the baptismal date. We knocked on the door and he wasn´t doing too well. Satan is coming on him harder and I just want to kick Satan´s tush, but he doesn´t even have a body so he doesn´t have a tush! We went over to Robert and he explained that his mom was having major problems with her boyfriend and she needed to go to the Frauenhaus (Women home...?) Then his dumb ex- girlfriend lives above him and she came down to visit him Monday and cuddled with him and kissed him and said she´d come back, but never did. He was alone and lonely and didn´t have any company so was just thinking about his problems and he was about to hurt himself right when we came over. Oh man. I hate that Satan thing. It is such a jerk. I won´t even call it him or her cuz it doesn´t have a body! Grrr. We were crying with him and telling him that God loves him even though he does stupid stuff in his life, He still loves him. He doesn´t really know if he believes that or not. Then we could hear his girlfriend upstairs with her new boyfriend and wasn´t listening to what we were saying because he was distracted. We asked him if we should go to the park, so we did. We walked around with him just to distract him for quite some time, then we read Lehi´s dream in the Book of Mormon. It went really well and he understood it. We told him that we have tasted this fruit and want him to taste it too.

Wednesday we had an appointment with a 20 yr old who is friends of a member. He´s not really interested in the church, but we´re going to change that. He is studying English so he just wanted someone to speak English with. So we walked around the castle with him. It was fun. They also invited us over yesterday for cake and tea. I think they´ll come around to a desire for the gospel soon. Then we went to a sweet 87 year old member´s house. Her husband reminds me of Grandpa John SO much, it makes me smile so big. Grandpa has lots of German blood in him, he´s just like the older people here, it makes me laugh. Love it. Also SORRY Grandmy and Grandpa that I haven´t said thank you earlier! I did get your letter and I was so so so grateful. Sorry I haven´t written and thanked you yet. You are too nice. I´m either going to buy a GPS with it or a new backpack, mine is starting to rip. We´ll see what happens. But thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Thursday we had Tausch so I was in Dresden with Sister Kläy for the day. It was fine, nothing too special. There was LOTS of rain this week and there was a huge thunderstorm while we were in Dresden. I don´t think I´ve ever heard such loud thunder in my life. It was crazy.

Friday we had Zone Conference. We ment our new Mission President and he and his wife are so nice. They are kind of intimidating, though. But I learned so much in the Thema he gave. I´ll have to write about what he talked about later because I don´t have my notes with me. But we ate Roladin! I don´t know if anyone else would like it besides you dad, but I love it! You need to try it and tell me what you think. We went to Sabine after and we hadn´t seen her all week, which was weird because we usually see each other 3 times a week. They are totally rocking. Unfortunately Sabine the younger has been in and out of the hospital and they can´t find out what is wrong with her. We hope and pray they can figure it out soon, but we also kind of think it´s for a reason. Sabine the mom and the daughter are not to the same spiritual level, so we think we need to teach some lessons to Sabine as she´s in the hospital. So we plan to go by on her often this week. Also the young women in our ward and the leaders are going to visit her today. We are so blessed that we have such willing members. When Sabine finally has the chance to come to church she will be integrated right in there. We are so happy about that. Then we taught the 3rd lesson to them and it went well. They understood it and accepted it. She had read SO much in the Book of Mormon while we were gone and found answers to questions that she´s been searching for her whole life and that makes sense. Wow. She´s awesome.

Saturday we unfortunately didn´t get to go to the temple (but we´re going Friday this week). We went to see Robert again, though. He wasn´t home so we decided to go to the park by his house, where he always is. We found him peeing on a tree. He said he didn´t have time to meet then, but in an hour- he still wasn´t doing too well. We came back and hour later and he wasn´t there. We said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help us find him. We drove around the city and right as we were about to give up, we saw him sitting in front of a store with his friend, drinking a beer (he drinks when things aren´t going well). We went up to him and asked what was going on and he said he wasn´t doing good. We tried to talk to him about it, but he didn´t want to. We tried to ask him to put the beer down, but he also didn´t want to. We don´t know what to do about this fellow. He really just needs a mighty change of heart. I hope he can experience that. He needs the atonement more than anyone else I´ve met.

We went to Sabine on Saturday too and were going to teach her the 10 commandments. She told us she was looking through the Book of Mormon and decided she wanted to learn about the 10 commandments so she studied it before we came. Wow. She´s so amazing. She also has a big problem with taking the Lord´s name in vain. I have to tell you, I am so much more bold than I was a year ago. This is a gift from Heavenly Father. Normally I wouldn´t mention it, but Heavenly Father helped me tell them that they shouldn´t say those things. Both Sabine and Anna were really embarrassed and covered their mouths and said "I say that all the time! Oh no! I won´t say it any more" It´s totally incredible how the spirit helps people not be offended. You just need to say the truth with boldness and love.

Yesterday we went to church and had FIVE investigators there: Anna (Sabine had to take Sabine to the hospital, so she wasn´t there), Robert, Fr. Meiwald (a lady the elders always met with to eat cake and read in the Book of Mormon- but makes no progress), a granddaughter of a member who is not baptized, and a member brought a friend. We were so busy running around taking care of our investigators and members. Oh man. I had a headache. But it was awesome. We also taught sharing time in primary about being nice to each other and being nice to people they don´t know (Hoping they would get the hint to be nice to Anna) Then after we ate with a member. I hope you don´t mind that I tell people if they´re ever in Utah they can stay at our place. We told this member if she were in Utah she could stay with us. Then we ate with Robert some noodles and he just really needs a change of heart like I said.

Great news!! I just got an e-mail from Sister Noyes and Svetlana is getting baptized this weekend!! Hooray!!!!! I wish I could be there, but I´m so glad she is finally going to be able to do that!

Did you find the new blog for our mission? Did you see Tucker is on it? Cool! I don´t know if you have the new address but its germanyberlinmission2012-15.blogspot.de. Elder Roberts comes in NEXT week to the MTC. Totally crazy, but super exciting. Maybe I´ll see him, who knows?

I am so excited to get this President Monson letter! Please sent it to Meißen, because I don´t know the next time I get my letters from Berlin. I´ve gotten every letter sent to me in Meißen (as far as I know) It seems to be working okay.

I´m so glad Rachel isn´t as shy as she used to be and that she is singing in front of people. She really has a great voice. Tell her to keep it up. Is she in school choir or anything?

I love those pictures of Hannah in her dance costume. She was made to move, really. Oh mensch. Keep the pictures coming, I love them.

 This week is already transfer calls. I hope we stay. I hope so so so badly that we stay. I feel like Meißen needs both of us right now. We´ll see what the Lord thinks.

Tell Andrea Capener congratulations!! She´s a sweet girl. That is definitely a man of German decent that she´s marrying. :) You go girl. How´s Rachel Stephens doing? Tell her hi for me if you ever see her.

That sounds like a lot of fun the water fight parade. Weird that no water was allowed, is it because of the drought or something? I love that they were merciless to the cheerleaders. This makes me happy. My companion and I also pretended like we were riding our bikes in a parade and waved at the people. They probably think we´re crazy. Oh well.

That was nice of you to help grandma. We need to do that to our house too. That would be awesome to get rid of that stuff. Garage sale! Save the money to come to Deutschland. Just a thought.
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Be sure to save the best dances to share with me one day (if you ever convince me to come home =)

Being a member really doesn´t mean you aren´t called to do missionary work. The missionaries don´t have time to do reactivating- that has to be our job. D&C 18:13-16. Thank you for being an example mom, of how I want to be if I come home one day. :)

We were able to go to Ratebeul this morning, where President Monson dedicated the land. It was awesome to imagine him there. We were able to actually listen to the prayer he said. It was so powerful and I know that there are people here in Germany waiting to hear the gospel. I feel like most of these people in Germany have had such hard lives and need Christ to heal them. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted me to take care of them. We were then able to say our own dedicatory prayers for the rest of our missions. It was a really sacred experience. I love it here in Germany. I´m so glad to be here, I wouldn´t want to do anything else. I know the gospel is true and I get to tell people that every day. I hope to work my hardest every day so that I don´t miss one soul who is ready. Thank you all for your support back at home. I pray for you and hope you´re doing well.

Love you!

Love Sister Niebergall

Wow, More Miracles? Can you believe it? - Mon, Jul 02, 2012

Guten Tag Meine Liebe Familie!

 

This week has been great! Dad, last week the weather report you gave was 70´s every day and a storm on Thursday. It was exactly opposite with storms everyday BUT Thursday. It was crazy. There was tons of thunder and lightning and it was REALLY close. One night we were woken up because there was so much lightning and wind and it was SO bright and SO close. And a little scary because we are on the top floor. But the Lord protects us, that´s for sure.

 

What happened to Jeff´s lip? I didn´t get his e-mail from that week. Can you forward it please?

 

Sabine, Sabine(16) and Anna(11) are doing great. I love them so much. Thank you for fasting for them. Sabine the daughter has been in and out of the hospital and they can´t find out what is wrong with her. Our members are awesome and went to visit her in the hospital yesterday WITHOUT US! This is huge!! They gave her a priesthood blessing. I called her and talked to her last night and asked how it was and she said it was amazing and indescribable. She felt dizzy, but in a good way and the chills and she knew it was a good thing. She is so sweet. Anna is also starting to get health problems. It´s crazy, I don´t even know how this is all flaring up. Sabine the mom has kind of connected with people at church, but she´s kind of in the attitude of "no one can have as big of a place in my heart as you Sisters" Which is sweet, but we hope that she can open her heart to the members because leider one day we´ll leave. That is really cool that there is a Swahili BoM. She also speaks Massai or something like that. Maybe she could help with that. Or translate for Swahili investigators at church or something. Or take the gospel to her friends in Africa. She has already said "I am going to bring so many people to Jesus Christ, I can just feel it."

 

Satan has been really fighting against them still, but they are doing great. Isn´t that awesome that Sabine brought extra pants to church? I still can´t get over that. She will be a great member. We want to take them to the Freiberg temple this week. We hope their health is good enough to do that. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it made complete sense to Sabine and she told US "Wow, knowing this can really bring peace into your life because you know when someone dies, that you´ll see them again." Then she said, "Ever since I´ve been meeting with you I feel like there is something growing from my heart to the rest of my limbs... like a tree." My companion and I looked at each other and both reached for our scriptures. Alma 32:28 describes exactly what she said and she was blown away that that scripture put into words what she was feeling. They are doing great. Sabine the Younger is so so excited to get to church. She is in the hospital every time church comes around so she is praying she can get to church this week. They are awesome. I can´t describe my love for them.

 

Robert is doing okay. We actually were able to set a baptismal date with him on Saturday- the 23rd of September. He really needs to make some changes in his life and he knows if he does what we say he will be happier. We´re not quite sure how to keep him out of trouble. He gets in fights about 3 times a week or more. It makes us really sad because he knows that this is right and good. Yeah, if anyone has any suggestions, we´d appreciate it.

 

I can´t believe this week I hit my year mark. It has flown by. Wow. I know what you can do to celebrate it with me! Make the Roladin recipe that I sent to Sarah for Personal Progress, so we can be eating German food together. That would make me really happy. Report how you liked it. Do it. FOR ME!!

 

Our bikes are working again, and yes it is a lot nicer and a lot less exhausting than walking. We had to take it to a bike shop to get it fixed. Luckily it was only €5. But we did have a pretty pricey experience this week. We locked ourselves out of our apartment. We have a spare key in the church so we got that, but as we tried opening the door we realized that our keys were on the other side of the door in the keyhole. Thus meaning we can´t turn the key. So we called a key service to come break into our house for us.  2 hours and € 319 later we were in our apartment again. But we were able to give the key man a Book of Mormon and teach him a lesson as he was opening our door. We have to pay him the rest of the money today (That´s why I took money out of the account today) and we plan on following up if he´s read when we give him the rest of the money. He was a really nice guy and he gave us his phone number and told us if this ever happened again to call him and not his company, and he would come open the door for free. We were really grateful for that. Who knows, maybe he´ll be a very expensive investigator. It was really cool to though, as he was on the phone with his boss telling him we couldn´t pay it all at once he said to his boss "They´re Christian, I know they´ll pay it back." It´s so crazy that people can tell and can trust us. It made me feel good.

 

I´m excited to get these excerpts of the book. We actually went up to the Dedicatory site yesterday because a member lives 3 minutes away from it and we ate with her so she took us there. We didn´t stay too long, but the spirit was very present. We are also going to have a devotional there tomorrow and read the dedicatory prayer tomorrow. We are really excited about that. Our Branch President´s name is Vogler, but I think it was the Ortliebs that were one of the first missionaries, or?

 

That is super cool that Tucker has met President Kosak already. We get to meet him on Friday. Crazy, Tucker is coming to Germany soon! I wonder if he´ll be in my zone. Oh! I just found out that of the Elders here in my district one has been here for 4 transfers and one has only been here 1 transfer. He is a native German speaker from Iceland (one parent is German and the other is Icelandic). Tucker could come to Dresden! That would be crazy. Also- totally jealous about Tucker and Elder Holland. This is crazy. I want to hear the story come from Tucker´s mouth. Maybe I´ll see him here one day.

 

That is so great that Rachel bore her testimony. I definitely agree with Sister Ward. Don´t tell her not to bear her testimony. One of the things that strengthens someone´s testimony is to bear it. I wish I could be there to hear these sweet testimonies. She was always too shy when I was there. I look forward to hearing them one day. You don´t need to be embarrassed that she wants to share what´s on her heart. Go Rachel! Go fight win!

 

If you could pray for my companion´s family that´d be great. Her family lives in Fairview, between the 2 fires.

 

Tell Mark and Heather thank you for the blankie (Blan-kie! Brave little toaster voice). The Reeses were probably my favorite part of that package. I forgot how amazing chocolate and peanut butter at the same time tastes. We put it in ice cream too. It was soo yummy. Thanks again!

 

I can´t believe Mike Call and Destry are old enough to start thinking about going on missions. That can´t be right. Crazy.

 

SOOOO funny what Hannah said with the baseball hat. Awww, tell them all hi from me.

 

Is SYTYCD going on? Tis the season, tis it not?

 

Sad that Jeff´s companion is being a lazy and slothful servant. That made me kind of mad to hear. You don´t have very much time on the mission, we need to use every minute wisely! I love being a missionary. I love testifying of my Savior every day. I´m going to soak in every moment. It really is such a short amount of time that we´re here. I know the gospel is true! I know that families can be together forever! I love you all so much!!!!

 

Love, Sister Niebergall

Wunder of wunder Miracles of miracles (Yes I spelled wunder like that on purpose) - Mon, Jun 25, 2012

Hello!! This week was full of adventures, just like all of the other weeks in Meißen.

First of all on Monday we were able to set a baptismal date with Sabine, Sabine, and Anna. They will be baptized the 31st of August. They chose that day themselves because it´s daughter Sabine´s birthday and she wants a new start on her birthday and a "new birth" so to say. They are totally amazing and it feels too good to be true, but they are committed to this. Sabine the mom is so sweet, she said to me yesterday "In just a short time you´ve changed our lives so much." It was crazy we went to visit them and Sabine the mom had read til about Alma or something. I´m not sure if she reads it straight through or if she opens it and skims for something for her, but she has highlighted all of her favorite scriptures and she loves the Book of Mormon so much already.

Friday morning we got a phone call from Sabine the mom telling us that Sabine the younger was in the hospital because of really bad stomach problems. But I guess the first thing Sabine daughter said as she was being taken to the hospital was "call the sisters and tell them!" It´s amazing how big a part of their lives we are. We also visited her in the hospital, and she had her Book of Mormon on her bedstand right next to her. She looks like she´s in pain and I guess she is getting operated on today, so if you could please keep her in your prayers, we´d appreciate it.

Like I said, Sabine the mom is sooooooo committed to this. We let her know that the devil does not want them to get baptized because it will bring true happiness and he is already throwing crazy hard times at them. They also had a big problem this week. Sabine just got a divorce in January and she had signed a paper that her husband could get money out of her account and this week her husband took ALL the money out so she had absolutely nothing. I was able to gain a testimony of fast offerings this week because we were able to take € 20 from the ward´s fast offerings and go buy them some food so they wouldn´t starve. That was really cool to experience the love and gratitude from Sabine. She told us she is going to win against the devil. She then realized that every week something comes up before church and makes it so she can´t go. She said "I´m going to come even if I´m on the toilet with diharrea. We went to her house in the morning to pick her up. She came out of her house with Anna and said "You would not believe it. This morning we´re on the toilet with diharrea!" But she brought a shopping bag with extra clothes just in case she had an accident. It was amazing to see that even though she was not feeling well, she was so committed to coming to church. So committed that she brought extra clothes! That was cool. She said "I think the devil knows I will make a good member and he doesn´t want me to go to church. Maybe one day I´ll have to translate for people that speak swahili or something" She lived in an African tribe (like, with the bushmen) for 10 years or something and can speak swahili. We wonder if she will maybe take part in translating the Swahili Book of Mormon one day and maybe take part in bringing the gospel to these people there. That would be so cool. She really is good at feeling and recognizing the spirit and she knows it is the right way to God. She even told us that. We are so blessed to teach her and her family. We hope that Sabine the Younger gets better quickly so we can get them all on the same track towards baptism.

That´s so crazy that Brother and Sister Hoggan are in our ward. I never met them, but I´ve heard their name. Crazy!!! Tell them hello for me! And that is crazy that Zach Ames is coming to the best mission ever! Wooooooo! But it´s even crazier that I may not be there. I don´t like that thought. It goes too fast.

My bike has a totally flat and ruined tire so I have to buy a new one. Bleh! So we´ve been walking everywhere. It´s so very tiring! But it´s okay, it´s been worth it. Also we do have women bikes, the first week we didn´t though.

Robert is also doing great as far as I know. We went to have an appointment with his mom on Tuesday and she said "It has been like night and day since Robert went to church. He hasn´t had any alcohol since and has been praying every night." That made us so so so happy. We haven´t been able to get ahold of them unfortunately, so we hope things are still going just as well.

I would still love a copy of these pages about Germany from President Monson. It doesn´t matter if you haven´t done it yet, but you can do it now while you´re thinking about it. :) I would really love to read it while I´m still in Germany and so I can understand what these members have gone through.

That sounds like a really nice and awesome sacrament meeting! When does Andie go on her mission? How is it going being the ward choir director. If you are still in it for Christmas and I come home before Christmas I would love to sing in the Christmas program. I found a beautiful arrangement of Silent Night and could sing it in German. If you´d like/ if that´s even your choice/ if I´m even home then. But I´m leaning towards being home then.

That sounds also like a really great Relief Society lesson. I hope that Sister Jolley is okay with talking about this. I would think if I were her I wouldn´t want to think about it, but who knows, maybe she does like it. Is she still Young Women President? When is girl´s camp? I noticed Drew and Hannah went camping again. Did they have fun? Did Sarah have to bathe Hannah after and does Hannah hate her now? :) I can´t believe that was 2 years ago. That feels like last year. Was it last year? I don´t even know.

We had President Pimentel´s last Zone Conference this week. It was really sad to know he won´t be there anymore, but maybe that´s a good excuse to get to California one day. He and Sister Pimentel are such great people. I love them so much. They wanted to thank each of us personally for what they did and President said to me "I have no doubt that you are supposed to be in Germany. You´ve worked miracles wherever you´ve gone. Thank you for your service." I felt at that moment so strongly that of course I´m supposed to be in Germany and Heavenly Father needs me here. Oh. I´m so happy to be here. Also! I got your birthday package! That was so fun to open. I was especially surprised to see the TURTLE BLANKET!!!!! That made me really really happy. Thanks so much for sending me that package. I felt super loved. I love you all.

Will did send his testimony to me. That was really nice of him. I think it will be perfect for Robert.

Glad to hear the tooting still happens at home. It just wouldn´t be home without tooting.

I love this gospel. I know it´s true otherwise Satan wouldn´t fight so hard against it. I know that everything that´s unfair about life can be made right through the atonement. I know the Book of Mormon brings peace and I love it so much. I honestly wish I could read in it more than I do. It opens a whole new meaning to read it in a different language. I love it. I love this gospel so much and I love the people of Germany so much. I also love you so much! Hope all is well with you!!

Love Sister Niebergall

More Miracles in Meißen - Mon, Jun 18, 2012

This week has been incredible. I´ve been dying this whole week to write and tell you about it.

I told you about the 3 girls we talked to on the street (Sabine, Sabine, and Anna) and that they wrote us a text message that night we met them. WELL!! We´ve had a bunch of miracles with them. First of all, we haven´t been able to meet with them til Friday, but we called Thursday to see if we could meet and they wanted to do a combined birthday party (the littlest daughter just had her birthday too). So we had bratwurst too (Yummy! Of course I´ve eaten tons and tons of Bratwurst. I love it) and then we asked if we could talk more about the church (we weren´t sure how interested in the church they were or if they were just interested in the friendship). So we talked about the Restoration and the spirit was SO strong. It was the strongest the spirit has ever been in a lesson for me. We testified that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and the mother got chills and had goosebumps. It was awesome. They all said they believed that is true, but the sixteen year old daughter had a concern that she wanted to talk to us about. She pulled me to the side, because she didn´t want her little sister to hear- but she told me some horrible things that she´s been through in her life. She said she believes in God, but doesn´t understand why he didn´t answer her prayers when she was going through all these horrible experiences. I tried to explain as best as I could, but no one really knows why these bad things have to happen to good people. I then explained the atonement of Jesus Christ and that He is the only one that can help us feel peace. She then told me she has only told these experiences to her mom and me. It was crazy that after just meeting on the street one time she trusted us enough to tell us things that she had only told her mom. We rejoined everyone at the table and while I was gone my companion was having a talk with the mom. I guess the mom kind of explained to my companion what was going on with her daughter. (They talk to us in English even though they´re German. They just like to practice English, but sometimes it´s hard to understand) But my companion told her that what we have to say and what we do really can heal us from these things that have hurt us. Then Sabine (the mom) told this awesome story! She said the other day she was taking a nap and she had a dream. She has 2 angels statues in her house and in her dream these angel´s faces were our faces. She told us that she knows what we say is true and that we are her angels to bring her family this peace. Then she said "Do you know the word.....Taufe?" (baptism) That made us smile inside. She said that she wants that really bad for her daughters and for herself. So they will be baptized August 31, which seems like forever away- but it´s the daughter Sabine´s birthday that day and she thought it would be a great day to have a new start and a new life. They are so sweet and contact us every day and love us so much and we love them so much! They have already told us thank you for bringing so much to their lives. So if you could keep Sabine Sabine and Anna in your prayers that would be much appreciated. The craziest thing is that this is a confirmation that we Sisters are supposed to be here! These sweet girls would not have opened up to men because they have had really bad experiences with men in the past. They needed the Sisters so they could be open to what we have to tell them. Even the mother herself said "Now is the time that we need to do this. I´ve thought about joining churches before, but it never felt right. But I know this is right." She already has a testimony! It´s so crazy. It´s like one of those stories you hear about but never think it´ll happen to you. But it did! I know first hand there are people out there that need the gospel and are ready for it! We love them so so so so so much I can´t even explain how much I love them. I can´t wait for them to feel the healing power of the atonement. Ahh. I love this gospel. I love Jesus. I love being a missionary.

 

Hahaha dad, you´re so great! "When I opened the card it was like I was looking in a mirror." You´re so hilarious. I love it. I´m glad you enjoyed the card and glad that mom didn´t kill you. Ü That is so crazy that Blake has gotten chased by a Water Buffalo. Hahaha. I can just picture him running through the rice fields like Lafoo.

 

There´s someone else we found on the street Friday named Robert. He´s from Czech Republic and he has a very very hard life. His girlfriend just broke up with him and he has had a couple strokes (He´s only 20) so that is really crazy. But he is really depressed (he has cut marks all up and down his arms and legs)  We ran into him and his mom on the street (after he had given us the false address). Then his mom told us to come pick him up for church Sunday. He didn´t want it. But we came anyway. And he came with us kind of dragging his feet. Then he was really nervous that everyone would judge him (cuz he had a black eye because he got in a fight). It was a special young women´s program and the spirit was so strong and there were lots of musical numbers and it was awesome. We talked to him after and he had a change of countenance. He told us at home he was always worried and sad, but while he was at church he felt peace for the first time. We told him it was the spirit. We hope to meet with him again soon. He´s really cool, but there is kind of a language barrier. But please pray for Robert too. (Also, maybe you could talk to Will Peterson and maybe have him send me his testimony in Czech? That´d be awesome).

 

The members are so awesome to us here and it does seem like they´re very excited to have Sisters here. All the young women came up to me on Sunday and wished me a late birthday. My birthday was great by the way. We were really busy and my companion was so sweet and gave me like 3 candy bars and a bag of gummy bears and a card with a turtle on it. She also made me breakfast, lunch, and banana bread. We love being together. We might request to President that we stay together the rest of our missions.

 

I would love if you could send me parts about Germany from President Monson´s book. That would really make me happy. We are about 20 minutes away from where President Monson dedicated Germany for missionary work and so we want to go there one of these days and read the dedicatory prayer and say our own dedicatory prayer. We´ll have to tell you when we do that.

 

That is super cool that you were able to talk to someone that knows members in my ward. The member came up to me on Sunday and told me hello from you and I was totally shocked, but it was a nice surprise. Cool that you were able to talk to him. The members here are really so so incredible, I love them.

 

I have thought about when I´m coming home, but then you told me to stop thinking about it so I did. But if I must decide, I think I might come in December. Because last New Years the work was totally dead after Christmas, and I don´t really want to end on that note. We´ll see.

 

I didn´t realize the Keyes were going on a mission. That will be fun for them. We really need Senior Couples- they help so much! They do things that no one else can do and they really open peoples hearts. If you see them again, tell them good luck from me.

 

Did you try out the reading by acting it out? I bet Rae would like doing that with Shiloh. Fun fun.

 

The top floor of trains are not first class. There are first class sections, but it´s not all first class. Good thing they didn´t get caught or they would have had to pay a big fee. That almost happened to us this week (no- we weren´t doing it on purpose) But we had a misunderstanding with tickets, we thought on weekends someone else could ride on your ticket so we only bought one ticket. But on the train found out that wasn´t true but luckily the "destroying angel" (ticket dude) passed over us- or at least was merciful to us. We literally have a new problem and adventure every day. I love it. It´s so great

 

We also had a lesson with a cool 20 year old guy named Michael (mee hackaloogie ah el) who has also had a hard life. His mom was abused and he had to watch her get abused every single day of his childhood. But he knows that God is there because he would pray every day for his mom and his mom is still alive so he believes very strongly in God and believes in Jesus Christ because "if there weren´t any Jesus Christ, the story would have died out a long time ago". He was really awesome. We didn´t really get to talk to him about too many gospel principles because he told us his story, but we´re excited to teach him. This week has been an amazing week full of so many people that need this healing power of the atonement. It has really been so awesome to have had so many opportunities to think about Jesus Christ and how He will be able to help each of these individuals with their very different problems, but He will be able to heal all of their hearts. It makes me so happy that I can share this message with them. I love Jesus Christ and He is really there so that he can know how to stand by us during our times of trial. I love Him and because He has helped me, I want to give others the peace He´s given me. I love this gospel and I love the atonement. I´ve learned this week more than ever that you never know what is going on in people´s lives and what their backgrounds are. Some people have broken hearts and are looking for the peace that the gospel brings. I hope we will all share the gospel, because it can heal us. I know this is true. I love you all so much, thanks for your support and prayers.

 

Love, Sister Niebergall

Meißen Miracles! - Mon, Jun 11, 2012

Hello From Meißen!!

This week in Meißen was very busy, but the majority of it was spent finding. It was such a great week, and I haven´t laughed as hard as I did on Thursday for a long time. We´ve had so many adventures and I´m sure this week will also be full of adventures and Miracles.

I don´t think it was a bummer that we had such a great week and then I got transferred. I felt it was like Heavenly Father blessing me last minute. It was really nice to feel like I left Rostock better than I found it.

We are doing our e-mails in just a regular internet café. It´s EXPENSIVE! But oh well. We are actually in Dresden doing e-mails because there is no place to in Meißen. It´s about a 45 minute train ride from Meißen to Dresden and we are in the Dresden district so we come here every week for district meeting. That´s crazy to think that you were here in Dresden once. I´ll have to see the city sometime. It shall be fun.

Thanks for your concern about Bruder Schmidt. He got his operation Tuesday and I heard on Wednesday that he was going to be released from the hospital on Thursday so he is feeling so much better and is planning on playing Tisch Tennis in the near future. He´s so funny. There should be a letter coming your way answering your questions from last week´s e-mail. I talked a little about Bru Schmidt in that letter.

Things with my companion are AMAZING!!!! She is the sweetest person I´ve ever met and her heart is so set in the work and we laugh together A TON. She´s from Fair View where the wind smells like Pee-yew. She actually went to Snow College too and lived right across the street from each other (She lived in Canyon View and I lived in Mountain View and I´m from Pleasant View. Our companionship has a lot to do with views.) She´s been on her mission Since October and in Germany since January, so she´s Sister Noyes´s age. I wish I could just explain how much I love her, she´s so great. Meißen is a branch and is part of the Dresden Stake. There are about 40 members that come a week (according to the branch President, but it didn´t seem like there were that many there yesterday.) A huge majority of the branch is inactive so we hope to do a lot of reactivating.) Surprisingly the apartment was in GREAT condition. Everything was spotless and it looked like a brand new apartment and we felt right at home when we came in. We also had a cake and roses and brownies waiting for us and a card telling us welcome to Meißen. There has never ever been Sisters in Meißen and so it´s kind of a huge deal and the ward is clinging to us, especially the little girls. It´s so great to think we´re probably role models to these little girls.

 

Sister Noyes is still in Rostock and she´s with a Sister that I knew from the MTC, her name is Sister Nielsen. I hope things are going well there. I left when it was a pretty crazy time. All I know is that Bruder Schmidt is doing better and that pleases me.

I´m glad you liked your mother´s day gift, sorry it was late. I had the idea for quite awhile, so then I asked Jeff to send me a picture of him in Texas and he sent it to Berlin and I only get that every 6 or so weeks so, that´s why it was late. But he just randomly sent me a picture of his backside and I remembered that I also just barely took a picture of me facing away from the camera so it worked perfectly, I didn´t even ask that he´d do that.

That´s funny that you´d seen pictures of my companion on the blog. That´s great that you were able to hear from Sister Holbrook. I love that woman, she´s so fantastic. There aren´t Senior missionaries here in Meißen, but there are some in Dresden in our District.

I haven´t ever read Fabelhaven, but something that really helps the kids we teach get into reading the Book of Mormon is to act it out. I don´t know if that would be too hard, but maybe she´d enjoy that. You can at least try it.

I laughed really hard about Hannah drawing the picture of Sarah. Oh man. I remember those days. Good to hear that she hasn´t changed? Question mark? Haha she´s so funny, I love her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU AND YOU´RE ONLY 9 YEARS AWAY FROM GOING ON YOUR MISSION! Read the Book of Mormon!!!!!

Like I said this week was so great. We have seen so many miracles and so many adventures. Oh man. Since we are in a former Elder city and so that means we only have men´s bikes. My companion is really small so she can´t reach the ground when she´s on the bike and it´s especially hard and awkward in a skirt. Oh man, it´s so funny because since she can´t reach the ground on the bike, she can´t stop. There would be red lights and she couldn´t stop so she´d just have to go around the corner and turn around and come back. It was such an adventure. Then we rode our bikes to Weinböhla, a little dorf apparently just outside of Meißen, but it takes an hour to ride bikes there and it´d not an easy bike ride. (Meißen is probably the most hilly place in Germany I´ve ever seen) and so we got there to visit a contact, they weren´t home, so we rode around to find a short cut back, it ened up just being longer than if we´d have gone the same direction we came. Then there was one point we were right in front of someone´s house and my companion´s bike chain fell off so we were trying to fix it and I said "Oh man, Heavenly Father is putting us through Bootcamp!" Because all these crazy things were happening and then immediately after I said that, a dog comes out of nowhere from the house and barks at us really really loud and scared us to death. It was so hilarious and we were just laughing the whole time. I´m so glad my companion has such a good attitude otherwise this could be miserable, but since we laugh and have the attitude of "if I get lost, Heavenly Father will probably help us find someone" (which has been true a couple times) everything is so much more enjoyable and I´ll probably have a six pack from laughing. It´s been a really awesome time.

On Friday we looked at the map of Meißen and picked out a couple roads to go finding on and Heavenly Father does put people in our paths. We talked to this group of 3 people (a mother and 2 daughters). Normally my experience with talking to people in a group is that they laugh at you. But we talked to them on this street we picked out earlier and I asked them what God means to them and they said He meant everything to them. The mother and father just barely went through a divorce and she believes God is helping her through it. We talked to them for quite awhile and gave them a Book of Mormon. The lady asked US if we could come by another time and talk more about it and if she could come to church and asked US if she could give us her phone number and then later that night she sent us a text message wishing us a great evening. We are so so excited about this and it makes us wonder if the Elders would have talked to her if she would have been as responsive because of her issues with her husband. We are really grateful to be here so that we can touch people´s lives. 

We know that we are here for a reason and that there are many people ready to hear the gospel. We are so excited and are meeting amazing people every day. I know that this gospel is true! I know the peace and joy it brings and I just love to share it. I love the Book of Mormon. I wish I could read in it more than I already do. It is the word of God and we can learn so so so much from it. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. I know that He has a plan for all of us. Thank you for all your support. I love you all too! Thanks for the early birthday wishes. We hope to see miracles this week too and are excited to report to you next week. Love you!!

Love, Sister Niebergall