Dearest Family!
Hello!!! I´m so happy to hear from you. I love you all so much. I will
answer the question you are probably anxiously waiting for.
I did not get transferred.
Sister Curtis did not get transferred.
I will also be training a new missionary.
We will be moving to Dresden because there isn´t enough space in Meißen.
AND we will be working in Meißen AND Dresden now.
Feel overwhelmed? ME TOO!!!!!!!!
So- to explain more, there aren´t enough Sisters in the mission to
have Sisters in Dresden anymore, so we have to take over their city.
We are so overwhelmed and we hope that we can figure everything out
and balance the Dresden and the Meißen investigators. But I know it
will work out. It´s crazy that Heavenly Father trusts us with this
crazy responsibility.
I will leave on Tuesday to stay in Berlin for a couple days. The
Sister there is also training so she won´t have a companion so I´ll go
be her companion until Thursday, when I will meet the third member of
our companionship! We are super excited to have the enthusiasm of a
new missionary to help us with all of this crazy work. The baptism is
still on for Friday and Sister Curtis will be holding down the stakes
while I´m gone and trying (I´m sure frantically) to get everything
ready for the baptism, new missionary, new apartment, new
investigators. I hope she doesn´t die! Please pray for her. I wish I
could be around to help her. This is definitely going to be a humbling
week, I´m sure.
So that´s the run down of how the first week of this transfer will
look. I hope it´s not as hectic as we are expecting it to be, but we
will see.
First of all SORRY that I never said thank you for the packet with the
Ensign. I got it maybe 3 weeks ago and I have been reading and marking
and learning a lot. I LOVED the letters and the pictures that I got.
Thank you so much for sending them. I can´t express how nice it is to
get mail and know people are thinking of you- which probably brings a
question to you- you can still write to me in Meißen. We will take our
lunch breaks at our apartment during the day, so we will be able to
check the mail there. Feel free to continue sending mail.
I´m glad you´re at peace about your teaching situation. The Lord
really does have everything in control. It´s like if we´re standing
next to the Empire State Building down at the bottom everything seems
so hectic and crazy and the cars are speeding by. But God is standing
at the top of the Empire State Building. Everything is slowed down
from up there. He can see where a car has been, where it is now, and
where it is going. And that´s why He can answer prayers because He can
see where the car will be going. I don´t know if that makes sense, but
I know that God has everything under control. I´m glad you feel that
way too. I really hope one day you can get a class and stay there
forever so you aren´t always wondering which grade you´ll be teaching
or if you´ll have a job. How come you´re the one who´s being juggled
around? Well hopefully one day you´ll be fest in a grade and have no
more questions about what you´ll do the next year. And that is crazy
that Rachel is in your grade. You´ll have to keep me up to date if she
keeps calling you Mrs. Niebergall. I hope things go well with this
hyper kid, and this probably sounds crazy because "I´m not normal"
right now, but Heavenly Father really has entrusted him to your care.
I know you can do it, and show this kid the love he needs to feel.
I´m sorry your foot is broken. Isn´t this the second time since I´ve
been out? Did Caitlyn break her foot? How old is she? Which Young
Women are in the Laurels? I hope your foot gets better soon and that
you aren´t walking around like a mummy saying "Coin! Coin!"
Too bad D.J. didn´t try out for Chamber. Does he regret it at all, or
is it really that bad with that teacher that it´s worth not taking
Chamber?
You asked about Sabine´s smoking, she hasn´t been able to give it up
yet. She really has been trying her hardest and we are praying so hard
that she can! I know she can do it, but she just really needs to trust
herself. I feel bad for her because she will be resisting and doing
fine, and then she smells someone else smoking in a room next door and
it´s too hard for her to not. Poor her. Please pray so hard for her.
Will you also be so kind as to put their names in many temples this
week? They need all the prayers they can get! That would really make
us happy. In order to be baptized, she has to be off smoking for a
day. Crazy huh? That scares me, because it makes it that much easier
to go back to it, but I know if she really has the desire to stop, she
can do it. Please pray for her. I know you already are.
The people in Germany sort of like to sing.... they do sing every
verse even if there are 8 verses. They aren´t very good singers, but I
would say Americans like to sing more than Germans, but Germans like
to be precise and sing the amount of verses that there are.
Robert did avoid jail this week. His mom lied to him- he didn´t even
have to go to court. He can´t read German, so she told him she got a
letter about the trial and made it all up. We said a great goodbye and
everything, but he was able to stay- that makes us really happy. We
don´t know if he´ll be able to make his baptism on the 23rd September,
but he will definitely be baptized one day. We were able to hold an
institute program here in Meißen and he came. We watched Finding Faith
in Christ and he loved it. He asked us why it couldn´t be a longer
film and why it was only 30 minutes. That made us really happy, but
that was the last we´ve seen him.
We had Sabine the mom at church and also Stanley. It´s SO HARD to get
people to church, but the most important thing.
Sabines and Anna have their baptismal interview tomorrow night at 6:00
PM our time so 10 AM your time. Could you pray that everything goes
smoothly for that? Once they pass the interview that will be a lot of
stress that will be taken off my shoulders.
I´m sorry, I left my planner in my suitcase because we were packing. I
can´t think of anything else that really stands out. OH! But we went
to the temple. That was nice, but I wasn´t able to pray in the temple
and so I left suuuuuuuper grumpy. I was searching for strength and
answers and didn´t even get the chance to pray. Naja. But I was able
to eat a good Döner after. I also threw up this week- we think it was
from the flu, but it was weird because it was right before I found out
I´m training. Everyone was like "Sister Niebergall, the baby is
coming!!" Because of my dream. But I didn´t throw up because of
nerves. Don´t worry. There has been lots of stress on my mission, but
I haven´t thrown up once because of nerves! I´ve really been blessed.
I´m so grateful that I can stay here in Meißen and help the people
here and start a new adventure in Dresden. It will be crazy, but I´m
excited to meet more people! I´m excited to meet this new missionary
and learn from her. I know this gospel is true. I know Joseph Smith
saw God and Jesus Christ and that we can get any answer we need from
the Book of Mormon. I love this Book! I want to read in its pages
every second of every day! Haha, I know it´s extreme, but I do love it
so much! Thanks so much for your support and for your prayers. I hope
you know I love you more than I can explain.
Love, Sister Niebergall
Monday, August 27, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Hey hey!
Hello my lovely family!
Things are still going great in Meißen. I guess Heavenly Father let
there be a hiccup in the work for a couple weeks here so that we could
really appreciate when it goes good again. And so that we could be
humble. That was a really important lesson to be learned. But I am so
glad that it is going well again. I´ll answer your questions/ reply to
your comments that won´t be answered by telling you what happened this
week.
Weinböhla. Naja. All the men that we made appointments with only
wanted to talk to us, not learn about the church. But we gave them all
Books of Mormon.
I can´t believe you got my travel plans. It will probably be a long
and emotional day, but I´m used to traveling for long periods of time
now, I´m not too concerned about the flight. The most concerning thing
for you should be if they´re able to get me on the airplane. And where
is the first place I´m flying from? I´ve never heard of it. And where
exactly are the Niebergalls from. Is it Kisselbach oder Kieselbach?
I´ve tried to find it in an atlas, but can´t.
What part of the Sabine story did you use with Linda, mom? I´m so glad
it was such a spiritual experience for you. I love them so much, thank
you for always praying for them. I´m glad you liked the pictures and
the lesson that we gave Sabine. I hope she felt the spirit too. Sabine
the mom went to Africa for about 10 years working as humanitarian
service. She wasn´t going to stay for 10 years, but she just loved it
so much she stayed and really wants to go back eventually. Anna is
half African though. I love them so much! I´m glad you were finally
able to see a picture of them.
I´m glad Rachel is willing to do her hair a little more than she was
before. Every picture of her I can´t believe how long it´s getting.
I´m glad he was able to talk to her and let her feel comfortable.
I am so glad you are going to be able to work for 6th and
kindergarten. That sounds like it´ll work great for you! I knew the
Lord had something in mind for you! I´m glad that it´s starting to
become clear. The best part of trials is after seeing why they were
supposed to happen. Thank you so much for your testimony of faith. I
loved reading it. It made me smile. I hope you share your testimony
often! It´s so good to hear it.
I´ll fill you in on what happened this week:
Monday we went to a barbeque with our District in Dresden. It was a
lot of fun and we were able to eat Sanpete Turkey. It was so yummy and
I thought of home and it was so fun to be with the missionaries. Then
Monday evening we celebrated Sister Curtis´s birthday with Sabine,
Sabine, and Anna (Sabine is pronounced Suh-bean-uh). We were able to
teach tithing and Sabine understood it and accepts it. That made us so
happy. We know she will be such a great member. They were not ignoring
us, as far as we know, but were just super busy and having lots and
lots of problems of their own so they couldn´t really talk to us. We
haven´t heard much from Sabine the daughter and aren´t sure what to do
about that. Their baptism isn´t too far away. We´re planning on
meeting with Sabine today and starting the stop smoking workshop with
her. She wants to do this thing! We also still need to follow up on
coffee and black tea.
Tuesday we did a Tausch and Sister Linford, the Sister from Dresden-
comps with Sister Kläy, came to Meißen with me. We had such a blast!
The chain on one of the bikes always falls off and somehow I got
smacked in the jaw with the bike petal. It hurt so bad, but it didn´t
leave a bruise. Then we went to teach the man we gave the Liahona to
(Herr Szautner). We taught him the plan of salvation and we had such a
strong feeling to invite him to baptism. So we did! And he accepted.
He´s 72 years old and he´s so funny and cute. He said to us "I´ve been
baptized twice before, but this is the last time I´ll be baptized!"
Good answer, sir!
Then we went on the search for Robert because it had been awhile since
we´d seen him. We went to all the normal places where we find him, but
didn´t find him. We ran into his mom and she said he is causing so
many problems, drinking so much, doing drugs, and stealing things from
her (she is kind of a drama queen sometimes, so we don´t always
believe her. We trust Robert more than her.) So we kept looking and
eventually we were talking to someone on the street and I looked up
and saw Robert with his friend that is a super bad influence. I feel
bad because I got distracted while talking to this person on the
street, pretended to listen, but my mind was totally somewhere else.
But we were still able to make an appointment with this person on the
street. Then we went to find Robert. He was drinking and doing stupid
things with his silly friends. We just talked to him. What Robert
really needs is support and someone to tell him that he can do what he
puts his mind to. He doesn´t even get that from his family. So I sat
by Robert, asked how he was doing. He said he was doing good. I asked
him what was going on in his life. Him mom has kicked him out of the
house so now he has to live with this friend Roman, the one who is a
super bad influence. I said, "Robert, I know you can be baptized. I
know you can do it." And he kind of shrugged. He doesn´t believe in
himself because no one believes in him. It´s so sad. Before we left we
asked him if there was anything we could do for him. He said "Yeah. I
need another Book of Mormon. Mine is at my mom´s house." That made us
super happy to hear. We can do that for you Robert!
Wednesday we had district meeting. We tried to go find a less active
member in a dorf after, but we left the address at home. So we just
walked around aimlessly, found a zipline, and made out 2 appointments.
That was nice! Then Wednesday evening we went with our RS President
and went to visit less actives. We were able to contact one (we go
every week and have never contacted anyone we´ve tried to contact) But
we were able to contact this lady. She has 2 daughters ages 10 and 13
that aren´t baptized and she wants them to get baptized and she wants
contact to the church, so that makes us happy! We could be baptizing 2
new girls! The problem is they live really far away. Like...2 hours
away by bus. So it´s hard to get there, but they need our support, so
it´ll be worth it.
Thursday we went to visit an investigator who was on baptismal date
when the Elders were here, but she dropped off the face of the earth
because of health problems. She still is having major health problems,
but she knows that the church is true. If she can ever get better, she
will get baptized. I hope she gets better soon, she´s so sweet. We
also ran into Robert. This whole week I´ve been praying that he can
have a change of heart and that I can know how to help him become
converted. I had the thought that we need to prepare him not only to
be baptized, but to be a missionary. Then the next idea I had was to
invite him to come be a missionary with us for a day. He was sitting
outside his normal grocery store and drinking tons of beer. We started
talking to him and he was being really dumb and kind of rude. We said
"Robert! What are you doing? You are going to be baptized!" He said "I
don´t want to anymore. I´m the devil." And started laughing. I started
crying. I knew he would change his mind later and would decide he
really does want to be baptized, but I wanted him to see that it
really does make us sad when he acts the way he was acting. He felt
kind of silly and bad I´m sure, but that was the whole plan. We gave
him a new Book of Mormon and it was so great to see how he hugged it
and flipped through the pages and he recognized where he had stopped
reading. We said "Robert, will you come be with us for a day tomorrow?
So we can show you what we do?" He said yes. We were excited to kick
him in the face with the spirit.
We went to Sabine that night too and she was in a good mood. We talked
about trials and read the talk "Mountains to climb" by President
Eyring with her and she loved it. She is doing so well.
Friday we went to pick up Robert for his all day extravaganza with us.
We went to find him and he was drinking a ton. We said "K, Robert!
It´s time to go!" He said he didn´t want to today. We are tired of
playing his game of "Beg me and then I´ll do what you want." So we
just said "Okay, how about tomorrow then?" He said "Okay, tomorrow."
And then he promised he would go. Then we went to Riesa for a couple
appointments and it was all good.
Saturday comes around and we go to find Robert. He was actually at the
park! We were a few minutes late and said "Sorry we´re late Robert!"
And he said "It´s okay, I´ve been here since 7:30 this morning
waiting." He explained that he went inside a store to buy some wursts
because he was hungry. He had taken nothing into his body except beer.
His friend Roman got mad at him and said "NO! You should have bought
beer with that money!" Robert said "No, I´m hungry so I bought me some
sausages." Then they got in a fist fight and Roman kicked him out of
the house so now he has nowhere to live. He was just wandering the
streets the whole night. Poor Robert. We asked him if he likes to
drink beer. He said "No, but I have to do what Roman says so I can
live with him." But he says he will never talk to Roman again. So I
think that is a good thing. So he did come with us all day. He refused
to go into any houses for appointments because he is shy, but he
waited outside for us. It was just good for him to be around the
spirit all day and good clean fun. We invited him to come to church
the next day and he said he would. We told him we´d come pick him up.
We were with him from 2:45 til 8:30. Crazy. We were going to have an
appointment with Sabine that night too, but she cancelled on us.
Sunday morning we went to pick up Robert. He came to church with us
and we went to pick up Sabine on the way too. But she was already on
the way to church! That was happy for us. When we got there we met up
with her and she showed us on her jacket that there was some kind of
poo! She said "I was so glad that Satan didn´t give me any crap on the
way to church like every other time, but look! He did give me crap!
What do I do with this?" We took the jacket and put it in a plastic
bag. She has no idea how it got there. Super weird. Oh Satan and the
weird things he does. Church was wonderful with Sabine and Robert and
we talked to them both after and they said they really enjoyed it.
We went to eat with a member and went to see Robert after to talk
about church. We were sitting on a bench and he said "You know what. I
want to be baptized. I don´t need to drink alcohol. I haven´t for 2
days and I´m doing fine. I don´t need to smoke. I´m smoking less than
I did before. I want to get baptized." That made us so happy to hear.
There was a little silence then he said "How long do I have to wait
until I can go on a mission after I´m baptized?" We were so so so
excited to hear him say that! Then he said "I don´t care if I´m in
Czech, Germany, or Mexico, I just want to go!" We are so excited, but
are a little scared because now that he has that conviction who knows
what Satan has in store for him. Those words that came out of his
mouth will always mean so much to me. It was amazing to hear that from
someone who was so down in the dumps when we first met him and then to
have seen the change- he still has a long way to go, but now he has
the desire to do what is right. I´m so glad Heavenly Father gave me
the impression that we need to prepare him to be a missionary. I know
that´s what he needed to start a change in his heart.
Then we went to a barbeque at the Kalkbrenners, as you already know.
They are so funny. I´m glad they wrote you. They have 2 sons on
missions and they love it when members e-mail them about their sons,
so they decided to do the same. I´ll be sure to tell them thank you.
I love being a missionary. It makes me so happy. I love that Heavenly
Father trusts me with these people that he has prepared and I hope I
can keep doing everything possible to help them on the path. I have
never experienced more love for other people. I love being here. It is
the most amazing experience anyone could ever ask for. I love you all!
Love, Sister Niebergall
Things are still going great in Meißen. I guess Heavenly Father let
there be a hiccup in the work for a couple weeks here so that we could
really appreciate when it goes good again. And so that we could be
humble. That was a really important lesson to be learned. But I am so
glad that it is going well again. I´ll answer your questions/ reply to
your comments that won´t be answered by telling you what happened this
week.
Weinböhla. Naja. All the men that we made appointments with only
wanted to talk to us, not learn about the church. But we gave them all
Books of Mormon.
I can´t believe you got my travel plans. It will probably be a long
and emotional day, but I´m used to traveling for long periods of time
now, I´m not too concerned about the flight. The most concerning thing
for you should be if they´re able to get me on the airplane. And where
is the first place I´m flying from? I´ve never heard of it. And where
exactly are the Niebergalls from. Is it Kisselbach oder Kieselbach?
I´ve tried to find it in an atlas, but can´t.
What part of the Sabine story did you use with Linda, mom? I´m so glad
it was such a spiritual experience for you. I love them so much, thank
you for always praying for them. I´m glad you liked the pictures and
the lesson that we gave Sabine. I hope she felt the spirit too. Sabine
the mom went to Africa for about 10 years working as humanitarian
service. She wasn´t going to stay for 10 years, but she just loved it
so much she stayed and really wants to go back eventually. Anna is
half African though. I love them so much! I´m glad you were finally
able to see a picture of them.
I´m glad Rachel is willing to do her hair a little more than she was
before. Every picture of her I can´t believe how long it´s getting.
I´m glad he was able to talk to her and let her feel comfortable.
I am so glad you are going to be able to work for 6th and
kindergarten. That sounds like it´ll work great for you! I knew the
Lord had something in mind for you! I´m glad that it´s starting to
become clear. The best part of trials is after seeing why they were
supposed to happen. Thank you so much for your testimony of faith. I
loved reading it. It made me smile. I hope you share your testimony
often! It´s so good to hear it.
I´ll fill you in on what happened this week:
Monday we went to a barbeque with our District in Dresden. It was a
lot of fun and we were able to eat Sanpete Turkey. It was so yummy and
I thought of home and it was so fun to be with the missionaries. Then
Monday evening we celebrated Sister Curtis´s birthday with Sabine,
Sabine, and Anna (Sabine is pronounced Suh-bean-uh). We were able to
teach tithing and Sabine understood it and accepts it. That made us so
happy. We know she will be such a great member. They were not ignoring
us, as far as we know, but were just super busy and having lots and
lots of problems of their own so they couldn´t really talk to us. We
haven´t heard much from Sabine the daughter and aren´t sure what to do
about that. Their baptism isn´t too far away. We´re planning on
meeting with Sabine today and starting the stop smoking workshop with
her. She wants to do this thing! We also still need to follow up on
coffee and black tea.
Tuesday we did a Tausch and Sister Linford, the Sister from Dresden-
comps with Sister Kläy, came to Meißen with me. We had such a blast!
The chain on one of the bikes always falls off and somehow I got
smacked in the jaw with the bike petal. It hurt so bad, but it didn´t
leave a bruise. Then we went to teach the man we gave the Liahona to
(Herr Szautner). We taught him the plan of salvation and we had such a
strong feeling to invite him to baptism. So we did! And he accepted.
He´s 72 years old and he´s so funny and cute. He said to us "I´ve been
baptized twice before, but this is the last time I´ll be baptized!"
Good answer, sir!
Then we went on the search for Robert because it had been awhile since
we´d seen him. We went to all the normal places where we find him, but
didn´t find him. We ran into his mom and she said he is causing so
many problems, drinking so much, doing drugs, and stealing things from
her (she is kind of a drama queen sometimes, so we don´t always
believe her. We trust Robert more than her.) So we kept looking and
eventually we were talking to someone on the street and I looked up
and saw Robert with his friend that is a super bad influence. I feel
bad because I got distracted while talking to this person on the
street, pretended to listen, but my mind was totally somewhere else.
But we were still able to make an appointment with this person on the
street. Then we went to find Robert. He was drinking and doing stupid
things with his silly friends. We just talked to him. What Robert
really needs is support and someone to tell him that he can do what he
puts his mind to. He doesn´t even get that from his family. So I sat
by Robert, asked how he was doing. He said he was doing good. I asked
him what was going on in his life. Him mom has kicked him out of the
house so now he has to live with this friend Roman, the one who is a
super bad influence. I said, "Robert, I know you can be baptized. I
know you can do it." And he kind of shrugged. He doesn´t believe in
himself because no one believes in him. It´s so sad. Before we left we
asked him if there was anything we could do for him. He said "Yeah. I
need another Book of Mormon. Mine is at my mom´s house." That made us
super happy to hear. We can do that for you Robert!
Wednesday we had district meeting. We tried to go find a less active
member in a dorf after, but we left the address at home. So we just
walked around aimlessly, found a zipline, and made out 2 appointments.
That was nice! Then Wednesday evening we went with our RS President
and went to visit less actives. We were able to contact one (we go
every week and have never contacted anyone we´ve tried to contact) But
we were able to contact this lady. She has 2 daughters ages 10 and 13
that aren´t baptized and she wants them to get baptized and she wants
contact to the church, so that makes us happy! We could be baptizing 2
new girls! The problem is they live really far away. Like...2 hours
away by bus. So it´s hard to get there, but they need our support, so
it´ll be worth it.
Thursday we went to visit an investigator who was on baptismal date
when the Elders were here, but she dropped off the face of the earth
because of health problems. She still is having major health problems,
but she knows that the church is true. If she can ever get better, she
will get baptized. I hope she gets better soon, she´s so sweet. We
also ran into Robert. This whole week I´ve been praying that he can
have a change of heart and that I can know how to help him become
converted. I had the thought that we need to prepare him not only to
be baptized, but to be a missionary. Then the next idea I had was to
invite him to come be a missionary with us for a day. He was sitting
outside his normal grocery store and drinking tons of beer. We started
talking to him and he was being really dumb and kind of rude. We said
"Robert! What are you doing? You are going to be baptized!" He said "I
don´t want to anymore. I´m the devil." And started laughing. I started
crying. I knew he would change his mind later and would decide he
really does want to be baptized, but I wanted him to see that it
really does make us sad when he acts the way he was acting. He felt
kind of silly and bad I´m sure, but that was the whole plan. We gave
him a new Book of Mormon and it was so great to see how he hugged it
and flipped through the pages and he recognized where he had stopped
reading. We said "Robert, will you come be with us for a day tomorrow?
So we can show you what we do?" He said yes. We were excited to kick
him in the face with the spirit.
We went to Sabine that night too and she was in a good mood. We talked
about trials and read the talk "Mountains to climb" by President
Eyring with her and she loved it. She is doing so well.
Friday we went to pick up Robert for his all day extravaganza with us.
We went to find him and he was drinking a ton. We said "K, Robert!
It´s time to go!" He said he didn´t want to today. We are tired of
playing his game of "Beg me and then I´ll do what you want." So we
just said "Okay, how about tomorrow then?" He said "Okay, tomorrow."
And then he promised he would go. Then we went to Riesa for a couple
appointments and it was all good.
Saturday comes around and we go to find Robert. He was actually at the
park! We were a few minutes late and said "Sorry we´re late Robert!"
And he said "It´s okay, I´ve been here since 7:30 this morning
waiting." He explained that he went inside a store to buy some wursts
because he was hungry. He had taken nothing into his body except beer.
His friend Roman got mad at him and said "NO! You should have bought
beer with that money!" Robert said "No, I´m hungry so I bought me some
sausages." Then they got in a fist fight and Roman kicked him out of
the house so now he has nowhere to live. He was just wandering the
streets the whole night. Poor Robert. We asked him if he likes to
drink beer. He said "No, but I have to do what Roman says so I can
live with him." But he says he will never talk to Roman again. So I
think that is a good thing. So he did come with us all day. He refused
to go into any houses for appointments because he is shy, but he
waited outside for us. It was just good for him to be around the
spirit all day and good clean fun. We invited him to come to church
the next day and he said he would. We told him we´d come pick him up.
We were with him from 2:45 til 8:30. Crazy. We were going to have an
appointment with Sabine that night too, but she cancelled on us.
Sunday morning we went to pick up Robert. He came to church with us
and we went to pick up Sabine on the way too. But she was already on
the way to church! That was happy for us. When we got there we met up
with her and she showed us on her jacket that there was some kind of
poo! She said "I was so glad that Satan didn´t give me any crap on the
way to church like every other time, but look! He did give me crap!
What do I do with this?" We took the jacket and put it in a plastic
bag. She has no idea how it got there. Super weird. Oh Satan and the
weird things he does. Church was wonderful with Sabine and Robert and
we talked to them both after and they said they really enjoyed it.
We went to eat with a member and went to see Robert after to talk
about church. We were sitting on a bench and he said "You know what. I
want to be baptized. I don´t need to drink alcohol. I haven´t for 2
days and I´m doing fine. I don´t need to smoke. I´m smoking less than
I did before. I want to get baptized." That made us so happy to hear.
There was a little silence then he said "How long do I have to wait
until I can go on a mission after I´m baptized?" We were so so so
excited to hear him say that! Then he said "I don´t care if I´m in
Czech, Germany, or Mexico, I just want to go!" We are so excited, but
are a little scared because now that he has that conviction who knows
what Satan has in store for him. Those words that came out of his
mouth will always mean so much to me. It was amazing to hear that from
someone who was so down in the dumps when we first met him and then to
have seen the change- he still has a long way to go, but now he has
the desire to do what is right. I´m so glad Heavenly Father gave me
the impression that we need to prepare him to be a missionary. I know
that´s what he needed to start a change in his heart.
Then we went to a barbeque at the Kalkbrenners, as you already know.
They are so funny. I´m glad they wrote you. They have 2 sons on
missions and they love it when members e-mail them about their sons,
so they decided to do the same. I´ll be sure to tell them thank you.
I love being a missionary. It makes me so happy. I love that Heavenly
Father trusts me with these people that he has prepared and I hope I
can keep doing everything possible to help them on the path. I have
never experienced more love for other people. I love being here. It is
the most amazing experience anyone could ever ask for. I love you all!
Love, Sister Niebergall
Monday, August 6, 2012
Happiness is.....
Hello dearest family!
It is me own companion´s birthday today! Happy birthday Sister Curtis.
I love her so much. She is way too hilarious. I was so happy to do
something to surprise her for her birthday because she made my
birthday so great- I felt bad because last week when we went shopping
I was fresh out of money and I couldn´t buy her any presents. I didn´t
know what to do to make her day great. Last night it came to me! I
would make her a birthday card (we always sing to the tune of Secret
Prayer chorus "May her heart be turned to pray may she pray on her
birhday!" It´s fun. I love it.) I put a picture of someone praying
that I cut out from the Liahona. (Speaking of a picture of someone
praying! I saw a picture of the Wiser family in the George Albert
Smith lesson manuel. That was a surpirse!) Anyway, I cut out lots of
hearts and made a trail of post it notes that led from our bedroom to
her desk. I wrapped up a package she got in a scarf so that it would
be like she was opening a present. Then I put a several candles in the
shape of a heart and her plate in the middle of the candles. Sadly, I
couldn´t find a lighter so we just pretended. Sister Curtis is so
great. She is so appreciative of the little things people do for her
and she was so happy. It made me happy to make someone happy.
Happiness is forgetting yourself and making someone feel special.
Satan is a twerp, first of all. I don´t know if you remember in my
setting apart blessing where it said "You will bless your family more
than the people of Berlin" Well.... Satan loves to use that as "You
will never effect anyone here in Germany." You are right mom. Satan
tries to discourage us just as much as our investigators. We have been
trying and trying to get ahold of Sabine, Sabine, and Anna. We didn´t
want to call too much and overwhelm them, but there came a point this
week where we just had to know what they were thinking so we could
move on because this was effecting the work. First of all we walked by
their house Monday evening and we saw Anna on the balcony. We yelled
up to her and she heard us! She said her mom was in the hospital
visiting Sabine. We told her we´d come by the next day. We went by
Tuesday evening and rang the doorbell. No one answered. We yelled up
to the balcony. No one looked down. We walked around the city for awhile. I sat down
because I wasn´t wearing good shoes and I needed to let my ankles rest.
You could see the balcony from where we were sitting and I
saw someone walking around up there! We contemplated whether or not to
go because if they were ignoring us, we didn´t want to be annoying. So
we ran over there. We yelled up to the balcony and no one answered. We
ran to ring the doorbell and before we did I said "Heavenly Father,
President Pimentel said we could ask for miracles. And we need a miracle right
now!!!" I rang the doorbell, full of faith that they would open. They
didn´t. We turned around, feeling a little defeated. We walked away,
the balcony still in view. We were so sad, knowing they were obviously
ignoring us. We walked away, then turned around to take a last look at
their apartment, but for some reason we couldn´t move. Then we saw
Anna dump some water off the balcony so we yelled up to her. She
looked down and got the biggest smile on her face and said "We´re
coming down!!" Sister Curtis and I grabbed each other´s hands. We
still didn´t know if they were going to tell us to go away or if they
were going to be happy to see us. Sabine the daughter and Anna came
down. We hugged them and didn´t want to let go. They asked if we
wanted to go to the park with them. We walked to the park with them
and were on cloud nine. Happiness is taking someone in your arms
who you haven´t seen for a long time.
After about 20 minutes Sabine the mom came, hobbling. I ran over to
her (quite litterally) and hugged her. What she said broke my heart "I
think God has forgotten me." She told us that Sunday Sabine was in the
hospital, Anna wasn´t doing well, but she wanted to come to church. So
she walked to church and right as she was less than 10 meters away
from the church, she broke her foot! What the heck!? If this doesn´t
tell you that Satan doesn´t want them at church or a part of this
gospel, I don´t know what does. Also this week, Sabine the daughter
was having a hard time with everything that is going on in her life
and she tried to hurt herself. This breaks my heart! They need the
gospel so bad. They asked us if we could come visit them again. She
told us that she quit her job (where she was just volunteering and not
getting paid) because she hasn´t been able to meet with us and she has
seen such a big difference and she knows she needs that spiritual
strength. We went and visited her and she asked us very concerned
"Will I still be able to be baptized?" We were so relieved that she
was still planning on being baptized. Happiness is seeing someone
strive to do what´s right, even when times are hard.
We picked her up for church on Sunday. She was shaking as she was
walking. She knows that Satan does not want her there. As she got into
the church she had a panic attack and it was hard for her to breathe.
We asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing and she said yes.
Right as she was about to get the blessing she said "I think I should
just go." I told her to just get this blessing and promised her she´d
feel better. It was such a sacred sight to see 2 righteous worthy
priesthood holders lay their hands on her head and give her a blessing
of trust and counsel. I may or may not have kept my eyes open during
the blessing. It was also incredible to see Sabine from shaking almost
uncontrollably to calm and breathing normally. I know the priesthood
is real. I´m so grateful we have God´s power on the earth today. It
was amazing to be next to her and having the lesson and all the
testimonies that were borne, being exactly what she needed to hear.
Happiness is watching your investigator grow from someone who has
never heard of the Book of Mormon into someone who says "I just love
Alma!"
We saw Robert Monday evening. He still is not making the greatest
decisions. He has really bad friends. He told us that he needs to get
rid of this one friend in particular. We hope he has the courage to do
that. We prayed that we could find him (He´s always on the go, and we
are always able to find him). We found him drinking in the park with a
bunch of his friends. His friends started making fun of us and saying
"There is no God! Ooooh now I´m going to hell!" And asking all these
silly questions like they were so smart and clever like "If there is a
God, why are there so many bad things on the earth?" They started
laughing and ridiculing us and Robert turned to us and said "Come on,
let´s go." We went and were able to teach him and help him feel the
spirit. He knows what he´s doing is wrong, but he has such a hard time
getting out of these chains. We don´t know how to help him. But he has
such a good heart. Happiness is seeing your investigator stand up for
you and explaining the gospel to his friends. (I can totally picture
him as a missionary! We even asked him if he would go on a mission and
he said yes. We´re not sure if he understood what we were asking, but
it made us happy anyway.)
We went to Weinböla and had a great second appointment with the man we
talked to on the street. We were so glad he came! But unfortunatley,
he didn´t come to the next appointment and we don´t have any contact
information for him. But we were able to make 4 appointments in
Weinböhla. Happiness is being in the right place at the right time.
Our apartment is doing fine. We aren´t itching, and it´s a little hot.
We´re not quite sure why Germans don´t believe in Air Conditioning,
but we´re living. It is nice to be back in our own place and not have
to spend tons of money on eating out, and actually being able to rest
during your break.
President´s interviews were great. He shined my shoes and asked me to
report on my mission. I mentioned I might want to go home in December.
He asked if I was going to school. I said yes (Here´s to hoping, that
is) and he didn´t even give it a second thought and wrote down in my
book that I need to go home December 18th. I don´t know when my
release date is, but that is when I will leave Germany.That´s crazy to
think.
One of our bikes got stolen last week, but we have a new one now. We
literally have a new problem every day. I´m so glad Sister Curtis and
I have just learned to laugh it off. We have a saying "Was kann Mann
tun?" Directly translated: What can man do? We do get a lot of
exercise though, on Saturday we probably biked about 10 miles or more.
Jeff said they found a naked guy.... Yeah..... That may or may not
have happened to me quite a few times. There are quite a few funny
stories I look forward to sharing with you if I come home.
I can´t believe Andie is on her mission now! Cool! Tell hello to the
Minerts for me and let them know that Andie is in for the biggest
treat of her life. Quote unquote.
That makes me sad that Sarah is feeling down about herself. She is
TOTALLY gorgeous. When you sent me those pictures that Rachel took
when I was in the MTC, I literally gasped at Sarah´s single picture.
She is gorgeous. I hope she is doing okay. If I were to give
her advice (Which I know is hard to understand when you´re 14 years
old) Don´t worry about others! Be you and love who you are. You don´t
need to be anyone else. Be Sarah Niebergall. That´s who Heavenly Father
needs you to be. There´s a sweet talk by President Uchtdorf called
"Your Happily Ever After." She should read it. I hope Sarah looks for Sariah too. They are seriously twinners or something.
That´s so cool that you Rachel and Sarah will sing in sacrament soon!
I am so happy that Rachel has such a harmony ear. It will be fun to
sing with you all if I come home.
I love that conversation you had with D.J., Sarah, and Dad. When dad
said that did it break the tension? Hannah is too funny. Give her a
hug from me the next time you see her. I can´t believe Rachel is
almost in Jr. High either. Oh man. Junior high days were hard
emotionally. That´s a weird time of life. I hope she does well in this
math program.
Happiness is loving someone the way Christ loves them, happiness is
reading the Book of Mormon and finding an answer you´ve been searching
for, happiness is hearing from you, happiness is serving someone who
has it worse than you, happiness is telling others of Jesus Christ
every day, happiness is sharing the good news of the gospel.
I love you so much!!
Love Sister Niebergall
It is me own companion´s birthday today! Happy birthday Sister Curtis.
I love her so much. She is way too hilarious. I was so happy to do
something to surprise her for her birthday because she made my
birthday so great- I felt bad because last week when we went shopping
I was fresh out of money and I couldn´t buy her any presents. I didn´t
know what to do to make her day great. Last night it came to me! I
would make her a birthday card (we always sing to the tune of Secret
Prayer chorus "May her heart be turned to pray may she pray on her
birhday!" It´s fun. I love it.) I put a picture of someone praying
that I cut out from the Liahona. (Speaking of a picture of someone
praying! I saw a picture of the Wiser family in the George Albert
Smith lesson manuel. That was a surpirse!) Anyway, I cut out lots of
hearts and made a trail of post it notes that led from our bedroom to
her desk. I wrapped up a package she got in a scarf so that it would
be like she was opening a present. Then I put a several candles in the
shape of a heart and her plate in the middle of the candles. Sadly, I
couldn´t find a lighter so we just pretended. Sister Curtis is so
great. She is so appreciative of the little things people do for her
and she was so happy. It made me happy to make someone happy.
Happiness is forgetting yourself and making someone feel special.
Satan is a twerp, first of all. I don´t know if you remember in my
setting apart blessing where it said "You will bless your family more
than the people of Berlin" Well.... Satan loves to use that as "You
will never effect anyone here in Germany." You are right mom. Satan
tries to discourage us just as much as our investigators. We have been
trying and trying to get ahold of Sabine, Sabine, and Anna. We didn´t
want to call too much and overwhelm them, but there came a point this
week where we just had to know what they were thinking so we could
move on because this was effecting the work. First of all we walked by
their house Monday evening and we saw Anna on the balcony. We yelled
up to her and she heard us! She said her mom was in the hospital
visiting Sabine. We told her we´d come by the next day. We went by
Tuesday evening and rang the doorbell. No one answered. We yelled up
to the balcony. No one looked down. We walked around the city for awhile. I sat down
because I wasn´t wearing good shoes and I needed to let my ankles rest.
You could see the balcony from where we were sitting and I
saw someone walking around up there! We contemplated whether or not to
go because if they were ignoring us, we didn´t want to be annoying. So
we ran over there. We yelled up to the balcony and no one answered. We
ran to ring the doorbell and before we did I said "Heavenly Father,
President Pimentel said we could ask for miracles. And we need a miracle right
now!!!" I rang the doorbell, full of faith that they would open. They
didn´t. We turned around, feeling a little defeated. We walked away,
the balcony still in view. We were so sad, knowing they were obviously
ignoring us. We walked away, then turned around to take a last look at
their apartment, but for some reason we couldn´t move. Then we saw
Anna dump some water off the balcony so we yelled up to her. She
looked down and got the biggest smile on her face and said "We´re
coming down!!" Sister Curtis and I grabbed each other´s hands. We
still didn´t know if they were going to tell us to go away or if they
were going to be happy to see us. Sabine the daughter and Anna came
down. We hugged them and didn´t want to let go. They asked if we
wanted to go to the park with them. We walked to the park with them
and were on cloud nine. Happiness is taking someone in your arms
who you haven´t seen for a long time.
After about 20 minutes Sabine the mom came, hobbling. I ran over to
her (quite litterally) and hugged her. What she said broke my heart "I
think God has forgotten me." She told us that Sunday Sabine was in the
hospital, Anna wasn´t doing well, but she wanted to come to church. So
she walked to church and right as she was less than 10 meters away
from the church, she broke her foot! What the heck!? If this doesn´t
tell you that Satan doesn´t want them at church or a part of this
gospel, I don´t know what does. Also this week, Sabine the daughter
was having a hard time with everything that is going on in her life
and she tried to hurt herself. This breaks my heart! They need the
gospel so bad. They asked us if we could come visit them again. She
told us that she quit her job (where she was just volunteering and not
getting paid) because she hasn´t been able to meet with us and she has
seen such a big difference and she knows she needs that spiritual
strength. We went and visited her and she asked us very concerned
"Will I still be able to be baptized?" We were so relieved that she
was still planning on being baptized. Happiness is seeing someone
strive to do what´s right, even when times are hard.
We picked her up for church on Sunday. She was shaking as she was
walking. She knows that Satan does not want her there. As she got into
the church she had a panic attack and it was hard for her to breathe.
We asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing and she said yes.
Right as she was about to get the blessing she said "I think I should
just go." I told her to just get this blessing and promised her she´d
feel better. It was such a sacred sight to see 2 righteous worthy
priesthood holders lay their hands on her head and give her a blessing
of trust and counsel. I may or may not have kept my eyes open during
the blessing. It was also incredible to see Sabine from shaking almost
uncontrollably to calm and breathing normally. I know the priesthood
is real. I´m so grateful we have God´s power on the earth today. It
was amazing to be next to her and having the lesson and all the
testimonies that were borne, being exactly what she needed to hear.
Happiness is watching your investigator grow from someone who has
never heard of the Book of Mormon into someone who says "I just love
Alma!"
We saw Robert Monday evening. He still is not making the greatest
decisions. He has really bad friends. He told us that he needs to get
rid of this one friend in particular. We hope he has the courage to do
that. We prayed that we could find him (He´s always on the go, and we
are always able to find him). We found him drinking in the park with a
bunch of his friends. His friends started making fun of us and saying
"There is no God! Ooooh now I´m going to hell!" And asking all these
silly questions like they were so smart and clever like "If there is a
God, why are there so many bad things on the earth?" They started
laughing and ridiculing us and Robert turned to us and said "Come on,
let´s go." We went and were able to teach him and help him feel the
spirit. He knows what he´s doing is wrong, but he has such a hard time
getting out of these chains. We don´t know how to help him. But he has
such a good heart. Happiness is seeing your investigator stand up for
you and explaining the gospel to his friends. (I can totally picture
him as a missionary! We even asked him if he would go on a mission and
he said yes. We´re not sure if he understood what we were asking, but
it made us happy anyway.)
We went to Weinböla and had a great second appointment with the man we
talked to on the street. We were so glad he came! But unfortunatley,
he didn´t come to the next appointment and we don´t have any contact
information for him. But we were able to make 4 appointments in
Weinböhla. Happiness is being in the right place at the right time.
Our apartment is doing fine. We aren´t itching, and it´s a little hot.
We´re not quite sure why Germans don´t believe in Air Conditioning,
but we´re living. It is nice to be back in our own place and not have
to spend tons of money on eating out, and actually being able to rest
during your break.
President´s interviews were great. He shined my shoes and asked me to
report on my mission. I mentioned I might want to go home in December.
He asked if I was going to school. I said yes (Here´s to hoping, that
is) and he didn´t even give it a second thought and wrote down in my
book that I need to go home December 18th. I don´t know when my
release date is, but that is when I will leave Germany.That´s crazy to
think.
One of our bikes got stolen last week, but we have a new one now. We
literally have a new problem every day. I´m so glad Sister Curtis and
I have just learned to laugh it off. We have a saying "Was kann Mann
tun?" Directly translated: What can man do? We do get a lot of
exercise though, on Saturday we probably biked about 10 miles or more.
Jeff said they found a naked guy.... Yeah..... That may or may not
have happened to me quite a few times. There are quite a few funny
stories I look forward to sharing with you if I come home.
I can´t believe Andie is on her mission now! Cool! Tell hello to the
Minerts for me and let them know that Andie is in for the biggest
treat of her life. Quote unquote.
That makes me sad that Sarah is feeling down about herself. She is
TOTALLY gorgeous. When you sent me those pictures that Rachel took
when I was in the MTC, I literally gasped at Sarah´s single picture.
She is gorgeous. I hope she is doing okay. If I were to give
her advice (Which I know is hard to understand when you´re 14 years
old) Don´t worry about others! Be you and love who you are. You don´t
need to be anyone else. Be Sarah Niebergall. That´s who Heavenly Father
needs you to be. There´s a sweet talk by President Uchtdorf called
"Your Happily Ever After." She should read it. I hope Sarah looks for Sariah too. They are seriously twinners or something.
That´s so cool that you Rachel and Sarah will sing in sacrament soon!
I am so happy that Rachel has such a harmony ear. It will be fun to
sing with you all if I come home.
I love that conversation you had with D.J., Sarah, and Dad. When dad
said that did it break the tension? Hannah is too funny. Give her a
hug from me the next time you see her. I can´t believe Rachel is
almost in Jr. High either. Oh man. Junior high days were hard
emotionally. That´s a weird time of life. I hope she does well in this
math program.
Happiness is loving someone the way Christ loves them, happiness is
reading the Book of Mormon and finding an answer you´ve been searching
for, happiness is hearing from you, happiness is serving someone who
has it worse than you, happiness is telling others of Jesus Christ
every day, happiness is sharing the good news of the gospel.
I love you so much!!
Love Sister Niebergall
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