"Was macht ihr zwei schöne Frauen denn da?" - March 10, 2014 - Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Hiiiiiii! Remember how last Sunday was a rough day? I forgot to add the part about someone being so mean to Sister Siems on the phone. But don't worry because yesterday was the best Sunday ever and the best day ever!!! For so many reasons. Sister Siems and I made a list and I will share some of them with you. The most important thing was that Jasmin came to church!! She just cannot accept the Book of Mormon, but she really liked church. It was so cool that she came. She has been invited so many times, but she just always said she would come sometime. And so we got a surprise phone call Sunday morning from her asking us to meet her so she could find the church (she did try to come one other time before I was even here but she got lost). Also another investigator came to church, who we have actually given to the elders, but he is another person where we had almost given up hope that he would ever come but he came and he loved it. Also the weather was fabulous, totally like spring. Also our branch president and his wife said they'd be in the choir for the Musical fireside! Also Schaffhausen officially introduced Tatiana and her Family and welcomed them to the ward with goodies after church. And we did part of our weekly planning in a field in St. Katharinental. It was just a good day! It could have been a bad day, because Maritza didn't come to church. I was all excited to tell you about Maritza, but now I'm not as excited anymore because she didn't come to church yesterday. But we saw her twice this week and set a baptismal date with her! And we're trying to help her quit Smoking and everything was looking really good until yesterday. But, it will still be good.

Also we sang "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel" with Jörg on the piano. It's such a beautiful accompaniment and this whole singing "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel" thing was really his idea because after I told him it was my favorite song (this was during Christmastime) he found this arrangement and now we finally got around to singing it in sacrament meeting. We also sang it to Sister Sprenger (our friend in the care home) the way we did it at zone training. She was so happy.

Also Jörg gave us this HUGE thing of peanut butter. Now I just need to find enough celery to go with it (it's hard to find!). Sister Siems doesn't like peanut butter and celery. Such a shame.

That's about all for yesterday. But earlier in the week Sister Siems fixed our sink. She took it apart and cleaned it so it would drain better. I just cleaned the rest of the bathroom and complimented her the whole time so she would keep going.

So today I ran into the Jehovah's Witness who we saw last Monday. She sat next to me on the bus. It turns out she wants to do bible study with us? And she said the brochure we gave her didn't come only from the Bible (ha ha it was a restoration brochure!). (FYI - Our belief that the true Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth through Joseph Smith is the essence of the restoration that is taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  There was such a long period of apostasy and then reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli paved the way to enable what would happen in America. America was a unique land where people came to pursue  religious freedom and it was this very environment that provided the fertile soil for the Lord to restore the fullness of the Gospel  through the prophet Joseph Smith in 1830.)  And she talked about how much she loves the Bible and I told her how much I love the Bible but then I said that I found it such a pity when people didn't accept more of God's word. (We believe the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and there is much in the Book of Mormon that adds unto). But I'm pretty sure she misunderstood based on how wholeheartedly she agreed with me!

Our new friend that I talked about last week is fantastic. She's like, our best friend. She reads a little in the Book of Mormon everyday during her Meditation time. I want to be like her when I am old. She has decided to invite us to anything that is spiritually related. So far we haven't been able to attend anything that she's invited us to because of previous engagements but next week we should be participating in a prayer circle with her.

Also remember Sylvain? He's in the Hospital now getting ready to go to the clinic for a few months.

Quotes of the week:

Me: "I want to know how the brain works."

Sister Siems: "Except I think your brain works differently than everybody else's."

We had the elders meet us in Thayngen for an appointment with an investigator that we wanted to give to them, but the appointment fell out. We forgot it was Fastnachts (Mardi Gras) in Thayngen that night and so everyone was partying like crazy and dressed in these crazy costumes.

Sister Siems: "These people are dressed so weird!"

Elder Bergström: "That's exactly what they think about us."

Too true. We were the ones out of place walking around party town with suits and skirts . . .

"Was macht ihr zwei schöne Frauen denn da?" (What are you two lovely ladies up to here?)

A little boy to us yesterday, he could not have been older than 4, as we walked past his house. He was adorable and he was driving this little baby tractor that Max (Katie's nephew) would have loved.

Sister Siems has a new theory that she is older than me because in Germany you're an adult at 18 and in America you're an adult at 21. I told her actually we are adults at 18 too and she said, "No because you can't buy alcohol!" Apparently the definition of an adult is one who can legally buy alcohol ha ha (since that is so important in the lives of Sister Siems and Sister Lewis). But she claims she has been an adult for two years and I for only one so that makes her older. Poor Sister Siems. She must be feeling intimidated by how wise and old I am, especially now that I am turning 22!

I'm almost at my half-way point so I'm going through a kind of midlife crisis trying to figure out how effective and consecrated a missionary I am. I am halfway through my fourth transfer in Schaffhausen, and it is so weird to me that I will probably leave after this transfer. Transfers are so weird. Any advice for me?

I can't believe you went to lunch with Sister Judd! How fun is that?! (Franklin and I were in Las Vegas last week and took Katie's trainer, who had just gotten home from her mission two weeks earlier, to lunch. We had such a great visit!)

President Miles sent us this today:

"Elder Holland once said that if you want to enjoy the blessing of miracles in your life, set goals that you can’t reach without the Lords help. His is a work of Miracles."

Welllll I love you! Thanks for all the support!

"Es geht um Leben und Todd." - March 4, 2014 - From Schaffhausen

So yesterday was an interesting day because we basically cancelled P-day in favor of meeting with a Jehovah's Witness. I have actually run into this particular Jehovah's Witness before when she was going dooring in a neighborhood where we were visiting someone. But I secretly really wanted to teach a Jehovah's Witness. She called us because we had contacted one of her friends when we were going through some potentials or something. But it was good! I heard somewhere that whoever is asking questions is the one in control, and I asked her a lot of questions. But yeah we probably won't meet anymore.

But also yesterday we visited a friend I made on the bus last week. And she was so cute because she said there is no way that our meeting on the bus for five minutes was chance and was just so hospitable to us. We'll see where it goes but she is just oldish and adorable and so nice.

Right now we have the privilege of teaching an investigator (Asefash) who read all of 1 and 2 Nephi in one night this week! We were so surprised. She is so open but at the same time so hard to reach. She has a hard time understanding priesthood authority while she herself has cast out devils and believes that anyone who has accepted Jesus Christ should be able to baptize. She prayed that Sister Siems and I would learn to recognize our own authority. So that is a little tricky. I have seen that when people really fail to understand priesthood authority, than their progression in the gospel is seriously hindered. And it's a hard roadblock for me to help them overcome. Any advice? 

We did a service project for another investigator who has this garden plot where all this trash had been deposited so we got to pick up trash for a service project. As you all know, I always feel like I'm making the world a better place when I pick up trash so I was happy. And our investigator was very happy. And she finally remembers my name so the service project was well worth it (this is the wife of the man who played our Swiss song on the guitar).

No pictures this week, but Sister Siems and I did record our song for our lovely Sister Järmann. Sister Siems wrote it with a little help from me and that we sang to her on her birthday with the guitar.

Also maybe it's a good thing I didn't email Monday morning or I might have sounded depressed. Sunday was just not our day. One of the highlights was my zone leader practically yelling at me on the phone and basically inferring that I have no idea how to plan an event and that the musical fireside will be a disaster. But I found out later that what really happened is he was asked to stand up in the priesthood meeting to introduce himself (it was his first Sunday in his new ward as he was just transferred and last week was stake conference) and they asked if while he was up could he tell everyone a little about the musical fireside coming up.  And he knew nothing and obviously that's embarrassing. But it's also not my fault if he didn't listen in district meeting and doesn't communicate with his companion, who knew all about it. Another highlight was another fall out appointment with our favorite Spanish family. And we had two other members who were going to come. But life really is good. Don't worry, my zone leader called me again later and he actually really is nice. Just, you know, French (oh my, did I really say that?).

Quote of the week comes from Sister Siems on Sunday night as we are laying in our beds about to go to sleep: "I'm mad at everyone. Except for Sister Lewis, and Bruder DeMarzi (our GML). And maybe Sister Peacock (a sister in Winterthur who is doing so much to help plan this musical fireside and whom we had been on and off the phone with all day)." Ha ha yeah that was Sunday.

Also I guess I was only the only American in Switzerland for only one transfer. Too bad. I felt so special. Hah! But apparently there are two American goldens here or something? But I can tell you about my district. We have an elder from Finland, an elder from France, an elder from England, an elder from Romania, our elders from Sweden and Belgium, and two sisters from Holland. So I guess our district meetings should be in Dutch? No, but they're in English/German. A little more English than before now that Elder Lossau is gone.

Also you should see Sister Siems catching trains and buses. It's incredible. The same girl who hates to run with me for morning sport or any other time is all of the sudden Usain Bolt. When I asked her about this, and she said the difference is "es geht um Leben und Todd." (It's about life and death). She's so funny. I'm just always trying to be fast enough to be right behind her so I can board the bus or train right after her after she presses the button for us. And then after we make the train or the bus we do a little we made the train/bus dance.

Also Bruder DeMarzi had a birthday earlier this week, so we left a voice message for him singing happy birthday in Italian. But it was mostly Sister Lewis singing happy birthday in Italian, because I had just briefly tried to teach Sister Siems. Also, it was Sister Lewis trying to sound a little like one of the opera singers at the Macaroni Grill (And yes, that is how I know how to sing happy birthday in Italian. Go to the Macaroni Grill enough and you'll know too.). And he told me on the phone at some point in the week that he had set this voice message as his ringtone. He is quite the jokester, so I wasn't falling for that, and I told him so. I didn't know how someone could do that anyway. Then at church on Sunday Bruder DeMarzi asks me to call him. He claimed he wanted to see if his phone was working or something. So I call him and what do I hear? Sister Lewis singing terribly, and singing terrible Italian. So, it's true. Also yesterday we had a fancy lunch with our GML and our relief society president. Our GML took us to lunch for his birthday (I know that doesn't really make any sense but he did because he's the best). So that was the fanciest restaurant I have been to in a long time. We ate Italian food for the Italian.

Also I think I forgot to thank Sister Barton for writing me a letter! She might recommend to her son that he do the same . . .

Well I love you fam! Thanks for the letters and love and prayers and just for everything.

"We're so unified" - February 24, 2014 - Shaffhausen, Switzerland

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Family!!! Guess what happened this week? I don't feel like a "new" missionary anymore. Crazy, right? I know I'm almost half way through my mission!   Maybe it's because we have a golden in Schaffhausen. He is from Belgium. Also if there was an award for the "most unified companionship in the zone" Sister Siems and I would get it. Because one of our Zone leaders told me all about how it's so obvious that we both have such strong testimonies and work so well together . . . And he also told me that we have been and are the most unified companionship in the Zone. Funny. Sister Siems and I basically just joke about it and how incredibly unified we are. "I'm hungry." "Me too." "Oh my goodness we are so unified." Except we really are and we are so grateful for each other.

UNIFIED!

 I love Schaffhausen.  You asked  about my Branch President . . . his name is President Weibel. Also, I talked to someone on the bus where I just asked her how her day was and she told me that she has grown up in Schaffhausen and has never had someone in Switzerland just randomly ask her how her day was. So that was kind of cool.

Also we had a super great dinner appointment last night with some members. The husband has had a longstanding drinking problem. But he's the greatest person and he's also French. But he also always hugs me and he knows he's not supposed to hug a sister missionary. This week he even admitted it while he hugged me at stake conference in front of all the missionaries in our stake. He said, "I'm not allowed to do this but I just love you." And I love him too. His drinking has caused a lot of stress in their marriage and they knew that since they want to stay together, they needed to do something about it.  So they are really working to strengthen themselves spiritually. They are reading together in the Book of Mormon every day in French. Every morning for the last week they have done it. They told us that yesterday and I almost cried I was so happy. He is getting ready to enter a clinic to try and overcome alcoholism, but unfortunately he has been in this clinic a few times before. But they read about how Nephi and his brothers had to try more than once to get the plates from Laban, and they read 1 Nephi 3:7 and he shared that with us as our spiritual thought and I just bore my testimony to him that as he does everything he can to keep the commandments, God WILL help him. Just like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7. I was just so happy to hear that.

Hey Mommy and Daddy. Can you tell the missionaries in the stake that you want to be a joint teach for them sometime? You can do it separately or whatever but that would be so cool. I don't know maybe they have too many joint teaches.

So Sister Siems and I have this Fantasy that we need e-bikes for our area. Obviously I know that it's a completely unreasonable idea, but my idea is that then you could take them on the Train and then get off and ride for forever more easily. But it has been our impractical fantasy for a while now but then Sister Siems told a member about it and she told us all the reasons why it wasn't a good idea. While still acknowledging that it is, in theory, a good idea. And as my mommy already knows, if I already know something is impractical but I like the idea anyway then the last thing I want is to hear is all the reasons why it won't work. Oh well. (Anyone who knows Katie...this is so true.  There's a reason why we call her "quixotic")

Also you should look up pictures of Stein am Rhein. It's in my unbelievably beautiful area. Someone told me it's the best preserved alt Stadt in all of Switzerland. I haven't explored there much yet but we will have to go on a p-day. Today we went to the Rheinfall . . as you can see in the pictures.

Also Daddy I gained a new appreciation of you and all of your meetings. An experience I had recently made me think of my Daddy and his millions of church meetings and church services and how glad I am that he still decides to go to stake conference. (FYI - Remember, we are all volunteers within the church and some callings are more time intensive than others!  But we grow as we serve and it is an honor to serve each other)

And for Stake Conference (FYI - A 'Stake" is a group of wards (congregations) that are grouped together for organizational and support purposes and are under the leadership of a Stake Presidency.  Twice a year all members of a Stake come together for meetings and the speakers not only include members of the Stake, but often other church leaders as well) on Sunday we had an "Übertragung" where there was a live meeting in Salt Lake City that was broadcast to all the German-Speaking stakes I think. Elder Bednar spoke (in German! - he served a Mission here!) and Elder Hales. And some other great people. And on Saturday night they spoke ALL ABOUT MISSIONARY WORK! EIGENTLICH ERLÖSUNGSWERK (actually the Work of Salvation)! And they invited all the Young Men and Young Women to come. And they asked all the missionaries from the stake to write something to the stake about missionary work and they shared what they said. It was so powerful. And then they had all he missionaries serving in the stake do two Musical numbers. As a missionary I especially love all this focus on missionary work. Also, I am trying to plan a Musical Fireside for March 15th (coming up!) about the restoration so if you have any good ideas . . . please send them this way

So I have this friend named Peter who we also met on the train and it's cool because he got a BOM from missionaries in South Africa. And he has read the whole thing! I think I've talked about him. But he just kept telling me how amazing it is that he decided to keep the BOM at all because not so many books made the move from South Africa to Switzerland and how it must be special.

I just love being with Sister Siems....

Me: "Happy New Transfer Day Sister Siems!"

Sister Siems: "Oh that's right now that Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day have passed we have to celebrate something else. Where are the fireworks?"(Part of the ongoing tease that Americans overcelebrate everything!)

Sister Siems, in the middle of a fit of coughing/laughing: "Sister Lewis stop doing funny things - I'm dying!" Ha ha I really appreciate how funny Sister Siems thinks I am.

Also our giant finding day was cool! See pictures! Well I love you all! The gospel

is true!

I look at these pictures and I think of the courage of these young missionaries

to put themselves out there like this.