Here's where Sis Kate lives in Schaffhausen. She and Sister McEwen
are on the top floor. On the bottom floor is an auto repair shop. Very common
in Europe for the business to be on the ground floor with apartments above.
Life with Kate's new companion, Sister McEwen from Scotland
Hi Fam!
Mommy - I'm just really grateful that I have a Mommy. Sister McEwen's mom died when she was two. She's just really innocent but such a little punk. She's the girl to dress in high tops and a beanie and SKINNY jeans (you would not believe the jeans she brought on her mission) and totally pull it off in a still feminine and attractive way. That's Sister McEwen. Just love her. She was raised by her dad, her dad's sister, and her dad's mother. So she has several mommies. I'm just so grateful to have you as my mommy.
Our Schaffhausen elders are both really good elders. Elder Bergström is actually the same age on the mission as Sister McEwen and me on the mission. He is from Sweden. Elder Lassau (okay to be honest I have no clue how to spell his name) is from Germany, which is fantastic because German is his first language and he doesn't speak that much English so I have to speak to him in German out of necessity.
Quote of the week: "a wee while".
We gave a record to the elders of someone who Sister McEwen said would work better with the elders. Elder Bergström was looking at it, and he was looking at the last thing written on the record, which Sister McEwen wrote. Apparently she wrote something about "a wee while." Elder Bergström said, "how long does that mean?" Sister McEwen: "you know, a wee while!" Ha ha so silly. She says that all the time. I'm actually already starting to adapt some of her word choice. And she's sounding more American.
If I were to describe this week in one word it would be CRAZY. Seriously. I don't know how to adequately explain it.
For example, there's B., someone we found under potentials in our area book. (FYI - The "area book" is the notes about that area that's passed on from missionary to missionary assigned to that area. So it gives the history of the work) I called him over a week ago when we were calling some potentials and he said we could meet in a week and I said that was great and could we make the appointment right now? And we did but it was for in over week. So we didn't talk to him until the day before when I called to confirm our appointment. And he obviously would not have showed up had we not called but he said he could still come. And then he actually met us (P.S. he's from Africa and speaks English and he cannot understand Sister McEwen's Scottish accent I seriously have to translate). And at some point in our lesson he told us that two days before he had prayed to God to show him the right direction. When we talked to him originally he thought "okay I'll tell them I can in a week but really that meant I hope it never happens." But he did indeed see us and he said he would pray to God to know if He really wants him to go in this direction. I just thought the whole thing was so cool. He has some interesting questions. He does not believe that blacks and whites can both be descended from Adam and Eve. Hm.
There's a few things in dropbox. And Angela is the blonde I'm with at church in the same outfit as with all the other members. The other blonde is A., our precious investigator. And the house I'm in front of, well we live on the top floor. It's also some kind of auto place.
A few of the other crazy things Sister McEwen describes in her email. It's outrageous that we got our area book back. And losing an area book would be the worst thing. The worst.
More crazy things: we had maggots. This apartment is not the cleanest. Yeah, I know Linds, you're dying. I screamed enough for the both of us. Also we blew a fuse or something and we didn't have electricity in our kitchen or bathroom for a day and a half. And then magically Ellis, who owns the house we live in with her husband, fixed it with the electrical box downstairs. We had already messed with our electrical box upstairs, but Ellis somehow magically fixed it.
It's crazy having me and Sister McEwen running around Schaffhausen trying to find places and talk to people and understand people. Somehow it's working!
Are you making my Appenzell gingerbread house this year? I'm not THAT far from Appenzell . . .
I had to translate for the first time at church yesterday. Yeah that's also crazy.
Love you all! And happy happy birthday to my dearest and most favorite brother-in-law Joey. I love you!! Sis Lewis
Some more info via Sister McEwen's email. I just can tell how lovable this girl is! :
Oh how it is nice to hear of your lovely words each week. Yes this week has just been as exciting as the last, As long as im in Schaffhausen i dont think anything could be so quiet and blessed. so lets begin with my week shall we:
Monday- We had an new lesson with someone that i found in the area book, so this week i wanted to work with the area book and wow i have seen how golden this really is, we had an appointment with this man and wow he is just amazing to have he is listening and reading every thing we give him its so amazing that the now knows that he is ready and now we can teach him.
Tuesday- We had exchanges with companions so it was nice to get some tips from another companion but i did miss my little companion i was happy to get her back, but the exchange taught me how important finding is and how much the lord will bless me if i just put my trust in him and go that extra mile but he can only go so far i gotta do the rest and im so glad and happy that i can. Then again i pulled someone out of the area book that night and had an appointment again with someone who was great and will have another lesson with him to.
Wednesday- I got my companion back and it was nice to hear of her experiences and see how we could put together what we had both learnt. I also Had a lesson with someone who has been investigating the church for a long time but she is now moving to another area and it was nice to have that trust with her that i was able to ask if i could pass her details on to those missionaries and because she trusted us she said yes, it just felt like i was doing my work right for the lord just to comfort in times of need.
Thursday- This is where it gets good. So we did a personal touch for a member, what we like to call a heart attack where we just put sticky hearts all over the door and say how much we love them, i guess it work as she came up to us on sunday for a food appointment. Hehe my planned work, but wow honestly its amazing how much a personal touch can go a long way for someone else even if it only takes 2mins out of your day it makes their whole day. Then we went by an inactive member and wow i love her so much she lives in a care home and i like to just go by and say hi sometimes as i know it can probably be a bit lonely at times and when i went in she pulled out her B.O.M and told me how much has been reading it and working on it, Its important to give out commitments and then follow up as it doesn't just help them but it helps you too, it makes you feel that everything you do is all worth it. You can do all things through him that gives me strength. Then we had Yoldas again and he had read which was amazing and even quoted what he had read, the best thing is he is turkish and we only had a german book of mormon with us until we gave him the turkish one he still read it he didn't let that get him down he just asked us what he couldn't understand. Man i wish everyone could be like him. Sometimes i need to be like Yoldas and just get on with things and not do something because its it in my language the lord has proved that he would help us. Then we went to a person called P. and let me tell you a little bit about this one so, From the first time i stepped into Schaffhausen i was told to go through the area book but always put it off till one day i just cleaned it up a little bit and put things into a different folder, but i knew that i had to do more so last week i decided to actually go through it and im not joking P. just jumped into my hands i called and we went and wow that family is an LDS family they are just missing the church in there life but now they have found it, they were great and we shall be meeting with them next week, the key to that family is the kids and wow all those kids have the potential to be angels. Im so thankful that i followed the spirit of the lord to do the write thing and help my father in heaven.
Friday- We got to hang with the youth that night and wow i have never seen anyone get so close to the youth before than the elders and sisters in Schaffhausen its great as you can see the parents helping you when you help there kids.
Saturday- Wow what a blessing this day was. So we had area book day which meant we had to take the area book out of the house to Zurick with the zone to sort them all and yeah that was great and then we left and we were heading to a food appointment in schaffhausen and then i realised i got on the wrong bus so i got off the bus in a panic not realising that i had forgotten one of the area books, there was one women at the bus stop and i started to talk to her then after a while my companion was talking to her and i realised that one of area books were missing and when the bus came i tried to talk to the man so phoned all the buses and the women helped by asking people and the man told me that they had found the book and i was to go back to the bus station and wait there to 7.30 by the way are dinner appointment was at 6.00 so i told her that we were gonna be late, so as we were waiting for the bus to come while my companion was still talking to the women i saw all the buses come at once so i knew i had to be fast so i didnt miss our bus. I got on the bus and this man hands me this red book to my frustration i said that was not the book and said thanks anyway and then i saw the number one bus and asked him if he had seen it he said no and so i ran to the last bus i was praying so hard but went i got to her she said no, so i gave up and got on the bus i had to get on and just as we were about to leave a bus driver go out of his bus and on our bus to hand me the AREA BOOK i almost cried by the time i had asked the man and then ran a cross the road to the last bus someone had handed him the book, and wow it was a blessing we found it we got to are food appointment and found a potential as well. It made me think as long as we have faith in our prayers are heavenly father will help us just as he helped me.
Sunday- We had planing and went over are miricles.
I was reading in an article about how members sometimes dont realise what we have and it got me thinking that i didnt realise how good i had it untill i came on a mission i could of had all these blessing at home if i acted in faith and did everything i could, Im so glad to be here im so glad to be a servant for the lord and i know that we all can be if we just try and go that extra mile.
Have an amazing week
sister mcewen
No comments:
Post a Comment