Week one in Elmshorn

Grüße aus Elmshorn!

Life in Elmshorn is good. It is a lot different than Meißen, but it´s exciting to be somewhere new and in unknown land and relying fully on the Lord. I think this is the time that Heavenly Father is trying my patience. When we first got to Meißen, we made so many new appointments and got so many new investigators off the bat. So from my "whitewashing" experience (both missionaries totally new in a totally new city), I think that the miracles will automatically come and we´ll get lots of new investigators, but that hasn´t been the case. We have been doing almost all finding- and in Meißen we didn´t even have time to find our schedule was so packed. But we are doing our best to use time wisely and effectively so that we can find the prepared here in Elmshorn. It will take patience and work, but we´ll do it. We have an amazing ward that feeds the missionaries every day (pray I don´t come home 20 pounds heavier, please) and I´ve heard they are the key to the missionary work here. We are hoping to get lots of referrals/ ask them to pray where we should do finding. It´s really crazy, in our rush to leave, we left Sister Odenwalder´s ipod behind and the CD player doesn´t work here in the apartment and we can see such a big difference in our work without music. Music, when used right, is such a wonderful tool to invite the spirit and it´s so interesting that our work has been greatly effected by the lack of music in our lives. Music is a big part both of our lives and we´re looking forward to getting music this week sometime. I´m listening to music on LDS.org right now and I can already see a huge difference in my enthusiasm and happiness. Yay music!

We only had one appointment with an investigator this week and it went really well. He is a member referral and he is really cool. His name is Herr Oldenburg. He asks great questions and really is interested. The problem is that he is so busy, so we don´t get to meet him again until November. Schade.

We are in a Branch, but it´s almost a Ward, it just needs 4 more priesthood holders. I hope we can help with that. The area is really green and really wet. It rains about every day here. The people are super nice and talk to you on the street, we teach lots of lessons on the streets, which is crazy because we taught hardly any in East Germany. The hard part is, normally when we would get to a certain point in a conversation (in East Germany) you could almost guarantee that they would make an appointment with you. With the West Germans you get to that point and think they´ll make an appointment, but then they don´t and that is rough. But we´re not giving up. We are on bikes, but right now we have Elder´s bikes, which are impossible with skirts, so we are walking.... a LOT!!! We walked about 6 miles the other day. It was crazy.

We are hoping that the Elders will be good in getting Robert to straighten up. If Robert wants to be a missionary, I think it´ll be good for him to be around Elders and see what they do. So it´ll be good for him. We only got to call Sabine and say goodbye. That was such a hard phone call. They were sobbing, but the Elders are taking care of them and they need the priesthood more accessable to them, so I´m glad they have the Elders there. The Sisters are still in Dresden, but they´re totally fine. Dresden is huge and the Sister´s apartment is very hidden. Sabine, Sabine, and Anna- I´m not sure about their safety, but they are looking into moving (of course) so it will get better for them. Just keep praying very hard for them.

Dad, you are amazingly humble. "Mom made me sound better than I was." It´s super good of you to not raise your voice at her or show your irritation. And you give her the benefit of the doubt. I don´t think she really was a ref... Naja. And too hilarious about you embarrassing Sarah at the soccer game. I´m just glad it was her and not me. I love it. I wish I could´ve witnessed it.

That´s cool that Shae and Deej are going to the dance. Too fun. Tell him he has a letter in the mail heading his direction right this second. Also, speaking of letters, I wrote Brittany about 2 weeks ago a big FAT letter... I will be so sad if it got lost. So I have not forgotten her. We haven´t watched the Relief Society broadcast yet, we´ll see it Saturday evening before the first session of conference (because of the time difference). President Monson will have 2 conferences in our mission- Hamburg and Berlin. So we won´t even have to travel that far. That makes us happy. He also will be speaking in the other missions in Germany, so no one is left out. We´re so blessed to hear him 2 weeks in a row!

Tell Mindy and Ty congrats and also tell Rob and Michelle congrats! If any of my siblings are pregnant, they are not allowed to hide that information from me like Mindy did to Michelle. Okay? okay.

We´re going to Hamburg for Pday today. I´m excited.. I don´t know what we´re doing, but we´re going there so that´s sweet.

Yesterday I was reading in a Liahona and it talked about how to make the scriptures come alive, which is something really important when you read with investigators and for the rest of my life. It talked about how you bridge the gap between them, there, and then and I, here, and today. In pretty much every scripture story you can see parallels from back then to today and then when you apply it to yourself, you can learn so much and have a wonderful spiritual experience that should come every time you read the scriptures.

I love sharing the gospel. I really am so glad I decided to do this with my life and I know if I use this time well, I can become closer to what Heavenly Father wants me to become. I know that I still have a lot of work to go though for the rest of my life, but I look forward to improving every day. I love you so much!!!

Love Sister Niebergall