Welp, there are ALWAYS surprises on the mission

Hello Family!

Well, like my e-mail title says, there are ALWAYS surprises in the mission. Sister Odenwalder and I just got the phone call that we´re being moved to a little place called Elmshorn. Surprise! It´s in northern Germany by Hamburg and in the Neumünster Zone. We have to get packed and be ready to move by tomorrow. It´s crazy! This week has been really really not very good. Every single investigator has tschüssed us (said goodbye). We´re not moving because the work went downhill- I´m sure the work went downhill because we are needed in Elmshorn. There will be Elders that come to Meißen. It´s pretty sad, but if we are needed in Elmshorn, we will go gladly!

Like I said, this week was totally crazy and the work just totally died out. When I said last week that everything has fallen out, that means the people didn´t show up to the appointments. Robert has been really struggling. There was one day this week where he said to all his friends "I have to drink right now and starting Saturday I can´t drink ever again!" He didn´t realize that his baptism wasn´t going to happen. We kept trying to have lessons with him, but every time he kept saying "No desire" Then he asked us "what time is the baptism on Sunday?" Then I had to break it to him, "Sorry dude. There is no baptism on Sunday." He was shocked and looked pretty disappointed. Then we asked him when he actually wants to get baptized so he can start working on it. He said he would let us know when he wants to meet again. That was heartbreaking. He is really one of my best friends and I care so much about him.

Then there is Stanley. We went to Sabine´s house to have an appointment, and she wasn´t there. That was disappointing, and as we were leaving we saw Stanley! He said "It´s been good having you come over, but I know what I need to do, and you don´t need to come over anymore"....okay.... So he doesn´t want to meet with us anymore either. And our Frau Helaili expressed concern that she will never be able to quit smoking and she really isn´t all the way there, so we aren´t going to teach her anymore. We sent a text message to the 15 year old girl to see if she could meet with us and she said that she was sick and that she is going to France for a year. So that was also a bummer. Herr Becker didn´t come either (the one from Weinböla that we were talking about then we talked to him.) It was really kind of a disappointing week. We went to Cottbus to do a Straßen Ausstellung (No, it´s not really a market mom... I don´t know what to call it. A street display or something) and when we got there it POURED rain on us and no one talked to us or even was outside, so that was also pretty disappointing. We had about 6 Sister Missionaries there this time. Last time we had four. The picture on the blog wasn´t from our Ausstellung, so that´s why you didn´t see a picture there.

BUT I´m not saying all of that to complain. I´m saying that to testify that in the middle of really hard times, there are miracles when we work through the hard times. We went to an appointment and we rang the doorbell, but it ends up that we rang the wrong door bell, but they invited us in. It was a family from Macedonia with a 12 and 1 year old daughter. They said they just barely started reading the Bible two years ago (and in his exact words) "they are looking for the right path." We even had a Book of Mormon with us in Serbian, which is one of the languages they speak there. We also found out that their doorbell had been broken for awhile and they just barely fixed it that morning. They were so interested in the Book of Mormon and it was cool to see that Heavenly Father obviously lead us to them. We made a return appointment and hope the next missionaries can teach them more.

Health-wise, I´ve been feeling pretty well this week. I just had some stomach pain. It doesn´t happen too often that I get sick, but it happens more often than I like. Anna didn´t get to participate in the Primary program. There have been too many things going on this week and they weren´t able to come to church. The family that reminded me of home is so great. The parents were a little embarrassed, but I loved it because, like I said, it was exactly like home.

I am sad Sabine isn´t coming too. She is working in an old folk´s home for her internship and she loves it, so that makes me happy. We don´t see them as much anymore, like I said, we had an appointment, but they weren´t home. I don´t even know if we´ll be able to say goodbye to them.

What I´ve done about my missing glasses is I´ve been wearing my companion´s glasses. Luckily we have a similar perscription. So it´s no big deal, you don´t need to get me any, I can just borrow hers if I need them.

The man calling in the middle of the night isn´t creepy. He hasn´t called at all since I wrote you about that, so no worries. We haven´t sicked the Elders on him, but if he calls again, he´ll have to deal with the Elders. We told you about the Swiss CD´s we found, we have a Swiss Elder in our District, so we´ll give it to him as a going away present or something.

Thanks so much for getting school things taken care of. Looks like you won´t have anyone to be the middle man anymore so we´ll just have to e-mail Mondays. That´s okay, we don´t need to communicate more than that. But I am totally okay with living in Continental. Can you ask Alyssa to write me and tell me about it a little. I don´t have time to write her a separate e-mail.

I´ll have to think about what you should say to your nail lady. That´s too bad that people were awkward. It´s good that people were meaning the best, but we really need to be careful about how we approach them. I don´t know what you should say, but maybe explain why they say we´re the only true church, and that we believe we´re the only church with authority and that we can pray and ask if it´s true.... I know that sounds really bold... I don´t know what else to say though and now i´m under time pressure. We have an appointment at 6:30 and have to catch the train in about 15 minutes, but I´ll still think on it. So glad your foot is healing! You should stop breaking it so I don´t have to laugh every time I picture you walking like the Scooby Doo Zombie.

How many kids do Mindy and Ty have now? Crazy.

SOOOO cool about dad and the soccer game. Way to be such a good example, dad. You are really one of the most Christ like people I know. I love you!

Hey, I was thinking about Andi and Paige this week. Crazy! I can´t believe Andi´s son is 4. Nuts! Say hi back, if you see them!!

I will try my best to send a postcard from the Gingerbread man. It´s been a little crazy around here. If I don´t get it out this week, will I still be able to send one next week? Let me know, but I´ll do my best to send one this week.

I know this gospel is true! I know that God has a plan for all of us and that we will be safe when we are obedient and keep the commandments! I love you! I love Heavenly Father and my Brother Jesus Christus.

I love YOUUUUUUUUU!!!! Bis nächste woche aus Elmshorn! Can´t wait to tell you about our new adventures!

Love, Sister Niebergall

2012. 09-17

Hello Family!!

Well this week has been crazy and über busy (yes that´s a German word dad, but not used in that context- aber gut gemacht! jetzt will ich auf deutsch schreiben- aber werde ich nicht. ich hab alles verstanden durch google übersetzer- btw), but at the same time I feel like everything has fallen out. I don´t know how many good stories we have, but I´ll try my best to remember.

Monday after e-mails we went to pick up Robert to take him to soccer and it was a lot of fun. That is Robert´s favorite sport and he scored a goal so we were all really proud of him. Haha. I also got a soccer ball kicked SUPERSONICALLY hard at me, but luckily it didn´t hurt at all. I think everyone else was more injured from my screaming when I saw it coming towards me. But it was a good fun evening. Anything that keeps Robert out of trouble is good for us. His baptism is scheduled for this weekend, but it definitely won´t go through. Saturday night was his brother´s 15th birthday and he had to celebrate by drinking. It was so dumb because his brother can only drink Kinder punch, but everyone else had to drink...? Naja. He really is changing, but he still needs to do a little more changing.

Tuesday we moved back into Meißen and that took a good majority of the day. Sister Curtis picked up her companion, Sister Klemm. She´s from Münchin and she is so nice and cute. She will probably stay for 6 weeks or longer. It has been super nice not to travel as much, but we still have been traveling quite a lot. Anyways, we did the rest of the day knocking on doors, which I haven´t done for a long time. We knocked on a street that the members chose and we didn´t have any success on one street, but a second street we were able to make an appointment with someone and also give away another Book of Mormon. It always makes us happy when we have a good story to tell a member and this story comes because of their help. Missionaries + Members = Miracles.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Herr Pinkert. We talked to him about chastity. He knew and believed everything so that wasn´t a problem. But he´s such a funny old man. We don´t think he´s all the way there and one time he got on a random tangent about how sometimes old ladies get to the point that they´re so scared that they can´t even cross the street without being scared.. I have no idea what that has to do with chastity. Funny man. Then we had a lesson with Stanley, another one of our baptismal dates. He is also not all the way there, but for psychological reasons. He´s a really cool guy, and he told us he almost got the courage to ask his mom if he could be baptized, but backed out. He´s 27 so technically doesn´t need permission, but if he feels better about it if he has permission, that´s great. Then we went back to the street that the member chose to finish doing the doors and we talked to a super golden girl on the street and she had such good questions about the Book of Mormon and we were able to make an appointment with her. In Germany there is du (you) and Sie (more formal you), that you use with people you don´t know- unless they´re younger than you). We had been calling her Sie and I asked if I could call her du. She said "Yes, I´m not that old". I asked how old she was and she said 15. I thought she was TWENTY ONE not FIFTEEN!!! But she told us she would ask her parents for permission to meet with us, so it´s all good. We should meet with her tomorrow.

Thursday was taken up mostly of being in Dresden doing an Ausstellung. I honestly can´t remember what it´s called in English. But it´s when we have a table and a banner in a crowded place and talk to as many people as we can. It was really good and successful. All of the sisters (not to brag) are pretty talented singers so we sang hymns and that really drew people in to hear our message. That was super cool. A lot of people listened to us that normally wouldn´t have. So that was our Thursday.

Friday, I got sick. It was a bummer. So we sat around our house all day and my dear companion found these hilarious cds that someone left behind from a religious singing group from Switzerland. It wasn´t LDS music we soon recognized when they talked about how God is a gazelle and that he has a remote control, controlling everything we do. That was interesting. I´m not quite sure why that was in our apartment, but I bet an investigator gave it to the Elders before us or something.

Saturday I was still slightly recovering from my illness but we got somewhat a lot done. Numberwise, no but good feeling wise yes. We went to Stanley and he has a Word of Wisdom problem (pretty sure he does drugs) but we brought a member with and she is a convert and had to give up smoking, drinking, coffee, etc. so she was able to bear really great testimony about how the Lord really helps you if it´s something you really want. Then we went to give a Book of Mormon to someone in Weinböla, but the address they gave us was a deserted house, so we just walked a little farther and ran into a Serbian family that wants a Book of Mormon, so that was really cool! Then I was explaining to Sister Odenwalder that the last time we were here we had a super golden contact and we had 2 appointments with him and then he didn´t come to the 3rd scheduled appointment and we had no contact information so we couldn´t get ahold of him. Then we ran into him right after I talked about him! That was super cool! We were able to set up a new appointment. We´ll see him next Thursday.

Yesterday was a good day at church. Unfortunately, no investigators there. But the Primary Program is next week and Anna really wants to take part of it and tell about her baptism. That makes me so happy! Then we went to eat with members and it reminded me of home, it was great. 3 kids bringing out random pets and putting them on our laps, showing off their toys, asking lots of questions, smelling our breath and rubbing our bald heads :) It was great, I loved it.

Then this morning we were able to help clean the temple. That was a super awesome experience, we got a behind the scenes tour and it was really neat. Sister Odenwalder and I were able to clean every square inch of the chandelier in the Celestial Room. Now it shines because of us. We had to get every single little crystal polished. It was a lot of work, but it was good. I was glad to have been able to help make the temple more beautiful. We also were able to study in the temple for a half an hour and so that was also pretty cool.

That´s sad to hear about Madi. Scary, because you never know what will happen tomorrow, but it´s good that we really know that this isn´t the end and that she is in a better place. She did what she needed to on earth and now she´s in a place of rest. I would like to see her obituary. Thank you!

Sadly, we found out that Sabine won´t be coming to live with you. :( They are so so so appreciative of the offer though and want to write you a letter with my help expressing their thanks. Sabine was able to get an internship and that really will be best for her future. They really want to come visit sometime, but unfortunately she won´t be able to come live with you anymore. I hope that you´re not too disappointed. But this is best for her, and I know you´ll meet her one day. I can still send their e-mail address to you if you want. I´ll have to get it next week though. It was Sabine Sr, by the way, that saw the Testaments.

I do love Sister Curtis and we had lots and lots of fun together, but Sister Odenwalder and I are having a great time together. She really is so brave. I´m so impressed with her because I really was such a scardey cat when I was that new on the mission, but she isn´t afraid to step in and bear her testimony. She is wonderful I´m not really having withdrawls because I see Sister Curtis 3 days a week so it´s good.  I´m glad you enjoyed  the pictures. I love to carry them around and look at them all the time. They make me so happy.

I don´t care if Rachel eats her package stuff now or if she wants to wait til her next one. Whatever you want to do, or whatever she wants to do. Let Rachel be assured that there is nothing bad about the chocolate mask, it´s just a little sticky.

Well if you want to know the latest about the middle eastern men loving me, we have one particular middle eastern that keeps calling us EVERY day. He wants to meet with us, but he doesn´t want to talk about Jesus. He even calls in the middle of the night. We´re going to have to sick the elders on him. Let´s just say I´ve gotten about 7 wedding proposals my whole mission. 6 of which are from middle easterns.

I´m so glad you got a chance to observe the Reading Specialist. I hope you get a chance to get that job. You would be great at it! I´m just feeling this huge burst of love for you right now. I love you mom!

Tell Mitch congrats! He looked so happy! It was fun to see all the pictures, thanks for sending them.

I don´t especially want an absentee voter ballot, I don´t really have an educated opinion on who the president should be. But President Kosak told us to ask our parents to send us one.... so if you get around to sending one I might fill it out. If it means I get more personal letters from you, I´d love to get one :)

That´s so crazy that Micah is leaving on his mission now. Where is he going again? Albania or something like that? Those points are super good. I really have seen those things in my life! I would expound on them, but I don´t really have time. But I have especially seen a love for my parents and siblings increase. I love you all so much! I love the gospel and I love to help the Lord find his prepared children. I´m so excited to see the miracles this week. We are going to be so busy and finally back to normal so I´m ready to see these miracles! I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Niebergall

Another Crazy Week

Hello family!!

I am still keeping me own head above the water. This week has been not as crazy as last week, but still crazier than normal. Luckily/sadly that will be solved this week. Sister Curtis will be getting a new companion and staying in Dresden and Sister Odenwalder and I will be in Meißen still. Sister Curtis´ new companion is from Nienberg and she is called to serve at Temple Square, but she has to wait for her VISA so she will be coming to Dresden and Sister Curtis will train her. It´s been super hard to go back and forth between Meißen and Dresden all week, and I feel horrible because I feel like both cities are getting neglected, but I´m glad it´ll be back to mostly normal this week. We have 3 hours less in a day when we live in Dresden because it takes an hour to Meißen and back and then we have to study and extra hour because new missionaries have an extra hour of study time. So we´ll still have one hour less when we live in Meißen, but that´s much better than 3. But yeah. I´m going to really miss Sister Curtis, but she´s still in my District so we´ll see each other 3-4 times a week.

I sent some pictures of the baptism and Brandenburger Tor in the mail last week. I don´t know when it´ll be there, but eventually. We were walking and I was able to stand in front of it and take a picture. I didn´t really get to look close at it. The girl I was companions with was pretty used to seeing it so it wasn´t anything special to her so we just kept walking after I took a picture. That´s okay though, at least I´ve been there.

Sabine, Sabine, and Anna are still doing great. I´m pretty sure Sabine is going to get a calling next week so that really makes me happy! Anna is so popular and all the primary kids love her. Sabine is also doing great and they all really still have a light about them. That is such a wonderful feeling. I hope you can see another convert baptism in your life, it is quite an amazing feeling.  I hope I can too!

That´s fun that you have the Hoggans in your ward now and that you´re being so welcoming to them. That really makes a huge difference, it´s always scary to go somewhere new. Thanks for being nice to them. That´ll be fun for you to have a FHE with them. I think I do know the girl who got baptized, Elina. I met her once and she is super nice. But she moved to Frankfurt so we don´t see her anymore. Keep being awesome with the Hoggans. How is Linda?

Robert is doing great! Still talking about going on a mission and getting baptized. I just found this week "a guide to addiction recovery and healing" by the church and as I read it, I just know Robert should read it because it´s exactly what he needs to hear. Problem is I don´t know if it has it in Czech. But we plan this week to talk about what he needs to do to get into that water and how to give up his addictions.

Sister Odenwalder mentioned someone that proposes to me every time we see him. He says "I need love! I´m not a problem! I need to get married." He´s just someone that we see on the street all the time, no one we´re teaching. He´s funny. He´s from Persia. All the middle eastern men love me. I´ll just say that.

I´m glad school is going good. I´m sorry that you don´t get a break. That is probably crazy. I know how hard it is for us when we don´t get a break- so I can´t imagine teaching and not getting a break. Wow. I´m glad you get to eat during recess though. Are you enjoying yourself? I hope so. I hope you get a permanent job soon. That is probably frustrating to always be up in the air. Are you the youngest teacher there (in years of teaching wise) or do others have this problem too.  That´s super gross that you have a chip of bone hanging. Nasty, but way to be the last number and show everyone up. Cool!

Tell Mitch congratulations for me! I hope he got a letter Sister Curtis and I sent him awhile ago. She knows him from Snow.

Unfortunately we had to drop Herr Szautner Saturday. He was always sad and telling us his problems and not trying too hard to apply the gospel. We´ll visit him every once in a while, but we want to give him a break.

There hasn´t been anything too exciting, unfortunately. Really just running to catch trains. A good majority of the week has been spent on trains. We also had a testimony meeting for institute and one of our investigators bore his testimony. Robert really wanted to, but he is too shy until you get to know him. Anyway! I´m sorry for the boring and not very informative letter. I think this week will be more normal and more regular missionary work. Oh- Sunday we were talking about 3 Nephi 11 in Sunday school and so we watched the Testaments. It was the first time Sabine has seen it and when Christ touched Helam on the shoulders, she gasped and when Christ healed him she started crying so much (as did Sister Curtis and I). She felt the spirit so strongly and she said "I need that movie! I want to see it again!" It was so great to be there with her to see her reaction and talk about when Christ will come again. I love being a missionary! I can´t say it enough!

Oh, we had Zone Training meeting this week. Our mission President doesn´t want to have Zone Conference as often so he just assigned the Zone Leaders to do a training. It was really amazing. I realized that my prayers have really not been good and we should just say to our Heavenly Father "Thanks for listening" Because He does listen! That´s one of the greatest gifts ever, and sometimes we really don´t appreciate it. Since this training I´ve really tried to make my prayers more sincere and I´ve seen a big change in my happiness and attitude. I love this gospel! I know that He hears our prayers! I know that He just waits to hear from us, He loves us! I´m so grateful for that! I love you my family!

Love, Sister Niebergall

PS- I almost ended this e-mail "Im namen Jesu Christi amen." Wow. I must be used to bearing my testimony. :)

Craziest week ever!!!

Hey family!!!

This week was totally crazy! I will tell you why. Yes! My head has been swimming with all the changes and crazy adventures. One of the adventures you´ll have to stay tuned until Sunday and Dana will put it up on the bullitan board.

I had to go to Berlin with Sister Young (She was also trained by Sister Martinz) because she had no companion. Sister Curtis stayed in Dresden with the Senior Missionaries there. I was even able to see the Brandenburger Tor while I was in Berlin. Now I feel like a true Berlin missionary. We had some good appointments and had fun together.

Thursday I met my new companion, Sister Odenwalder. The training before was good. It helped me remember that these people don´t really know anything about missionary work and we have to teach them the little details of it. But Sister Odenwalder is so great, she has caught on really fast and she is really brave! She fits right in to Sister Curtis and I. We all are having a lot of fun. And not to brag, but we sound like a chorus of angels when we sing in the morning before study. Sister Curtis sings soprano, Sister O sings alto and I sing tenor and octave higher. Crazy that you already know who she is and have talked to her mom. Wow, I wonder how you figured that out so quickly. We had an adventure getting back to Dresden where we would meet up with Sister Curtis. We kept missing trains and running for trains and I even dropped and lost my ticked for about 20 minutes, but then I prayed in my heart and found it again. That made me super happy. Then we went home and all of us unpacked because we were all new to the apartment.

Friday we had a baptism! It was super awesome!!!! AHHH!!!! I was so happy to see them all dressed in white. Everything before the baptism was craziness. Sister Odenwalder and I split up from Sister Curtis. She stayed in Dresden to get everything ready for the baptism and we went to go round up investigators for the baptism. We found Robert and he was at work. We had 38 minutes before the train left and he still wanted to shower, buy new shoes, shave, etc. We waited for him and he wasn´t coming so we were freaking out. If we missed the train we would be 15 minutes late to the baptism. Eventually he came from work (About 8 minutes before the train left) still wanting to shower and shave. We told him heck no and we had to leave NOW. So we started walking quickly and eventually I broke into a sprint. We did make the train, but it was so intense. We ran up onto the Gleiß right as the train pulled up. I couldn´t help but say hallelujah and Robert made fun of me. We got there and both Sabines were sitting on the couch, not in their white clothes. I asked what was wrong and Sabine the mother´s dress was too see through and she couldn´t wear it. We couldn´t get ahold of the person who is in charge of the Baptism clothes, so we had to give her our own white clothes to wear. The Senior Sister in Dresden let her wear a white shirt of hers and Sister Curtis had to run to the apartment to get her white skirt. As Sister Curtis got to the apartment, she realized she didn´t have the keys, but one of the windows was open and it´s pretty high off the ground, but Sister Curtis had an adrenaline rush and ran up the wall and made it into the apartment. I wish I could´ve seen that, but the Senior missionaries got a picture of it. Too funny.

So she got back and then they got all dressed. I don´t know why, but taking pictures of them was one of the most sacred experiences ever. There was a light shining from all of them and they were all so happy and beaming. I´ll have to send pictures. Sabine Jr. was especially feeling the spirit. It was so neat to see her crying and holding her heart because of how touched she was by the spirit. I love these people and I´m so glad they were able to overcome all the things Satan threw at them. It was so sweet to watch them all go under the water and come back up and be smiling so big and hugging each other because they knew they were doing the right thing. I never want to forget how I felt. It was really so amazing to see the people that we talked to on the street dressed in white making a covenant with Heavenly Father. I was able to sing at the baptism. It didn´t go too hot, but the 3 were all crying and that´s all that matters They were also confirmed on Sunday so they are official members of the church! We love them so much and it was so neat to hear the blessing say "Receive the Holy Ghost". I could feel the extra strength in the room. They are going to make such great members! Anna bore her testimony yesterday and that was a mega pay day. It was so sweet. Sabine told us the Branch President wants to give her a calling soon. That would make us so happy. Each new convert needs a friend, a calling, and being nourished by the good word of God.

Saturday we went and found Robert because he left the baptism early because he had to go to work. We asked him about how he liked the baptism. He said "I don´t know why, but I really wanted to cry. I felt so good!" That made us so happy! Robert really is a sensitive guy. He looks rough and tough on the outside, but he is really ready for the gospel. He said to us "Mine is in 22 days!" He really still has a LOOONG way to go before he is ready to be baptized, but it still a desire of his and it is still a desire of his to go on a mission. He just needs to get changing a little faster here.

I´m glad school is going so well for you. And when is your Annie performance? Maybe you should lay off with the Annie things, if you keep getting injured. That makes me happy that Jeff also mentioned "coin, coin".

I´m sorry this is really short, but this week has really only been running around like crazy and getting things ready for the baptism. There are investigators in Dresden too (4 of them) but everyone (Dresden and Meißen investigators) have gotten neglected this week. It was too crazy. But this week we will for sure have appointments with everyone.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your e-mails and for your concern for my investigators / members. I am so grateful to be sharing the truth with these people here in Germany. I´m so glad to help them on their path home. It really is a sacred experience for me and I will never forget it. I am so glad to tell people that the atonement can heal them from all the things they´ve done wrong and everything that has hurt them. I love you all so much! Thanks for your support.

Love, Sister Niebergall

Ps- Dad, can I get your priesthood line of authority so I can share it with investigators? Thank you you´re welcome.