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