"It's so missionary of me" - November 18, 2013 - From Schaffhausen

 I love how Katie often says "We're such missionaries" in a way that is kind of making fun of herself.  She's wanted to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since she was a little girl so it has always been a part of her life plan, and I know she is thrilled that this is HER time!  I can tell she loves serving and pictures like the one on the left are part of the "I'm such a missionary".  I love it.

This is the Chapel in Schaffhausen where the ward (congregation) where Katie
serves goes to Church.  

Dear Family, So once upon a time we were on a bus. That happens several times a day, every day. And this time there were a lot of people so I was standing up on the bus. And standing on the other end of the bus was this kid. We caught each other's eye, and he pointed to where a missionary badge would go if he were wearing one, as if to ask what it meant. That's a hard question to answer in a bus full of people where you are far away from each other and can't hear each other. So I just nodded. Then he pointed up, as if to say, "Is it about God?" I nodded a lot and he smiled and gave me a thumbs up and then showed me the cross he had around his neck. Luckily, everyone on the bus was just about to get off at Schaffhausen Bahnhof (train station), so we both got off and I got to talk to him and get his contact Information. His name is S. He is black, 18, and very Catholic. We had a quick conversation where he asked us how it is possible that God had a book in addition to the Bible. We answered him a little but said we'd love to talk more about it. We studied how to explain it to him, but our appointment ended up falling out and his sister said he couldn't come to church because it wasn't a Catholic church. Our appointment was to be for Saturday, so we studied for S. a little Friday night and some more Saturday morning. And then the appointment fell out. BUT. Also on Saturday I was talking to this woman across from me on the bus. And she knew I was from the Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage (Thanks to my name tag. I love that thing. It's so missionary of me. I'm worried I might be one of those missionaries who refuses to stop wearing their name tag or always keeps it with them after their mission or something weird) but we were talking about all her travels because she's traveled a lot and then we talked about where she's been in America and I asked her if she'd been to Utah. She made some joke like, "No, that's where the Mormons are!" Ha ha and that's when I drop the bomb that I am a Mormon and she feels awkward. One of my favorite things is to do is clear up misconceptions about Mormons. I feel like I've made great progress if I can get people to understand that the Mormon church = the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that Mormons are not Amish. Like lots of people, she thought we were Amish and she talked about long skirts and bonnets and I just pointed to my skirt which was just below my knee. But through this conversation with her I met G., who wanted to chime in on our discussion about Mormons. Long story short, Sister McEwen talked to him when we got off the bus while I was still talking to the woman, and be came to church and we had a great lesson with him last night. He asked us how there could be anything besides the Bible. And what? WE HAD JUST STUDIED THIS FOR S. The scriptures were fresh in our minds and we were able to explain to Gabriel why it makes sense that God would bring forth another book of scripture and what Revelations 22:18-19 really means. Anyway, I hope that made sense. I love being a missionary!

Also remember how I tried to shout out to all the missionaries from the Cascade 4th ward? Well I think I forgot Brennan and also someone else but I can't remember who the other one was now. Oh yeah and Jamie and Rory. But I think there was still another. Is Jamie home yet? Am I our only sister?

I love my companion. I love my companion even when I catch her using my toothpaste and she says, "What? I like yours better!" Yeah, well me too! Mom, please send more of my favorite extreme clean toothpaste! Also, I really hope contacts are on the way. And you could send Twizzlers for Sister McEwen.

I love my companion. I love my companion even though she has almost burned down our apartment no less than 4 times since we've been together. We had an especially close call this week, which leads me to think that our fire alarm isn't working. And it probably isn't, because probably none of the missionaries in the last 17 years have bothered to check it. Yeah I'll work on that. And don't worry, we're going to keep working on Sister McEwen understanding that just because you turned the burner off doesn't mean it's not still hot.

I love my companion. I love my companion right now especially because just barely I told her that she smelled good and she said, "Thanks it's your perfume."

I love my companion. I love my companion even when she gets in my bed and won't get out because she doesn't want us to go to bed, she wants to talk. Also that maybe sounds bad. It's not. We do follow mission rules and DO eventually get to sleep! 

Ha ha I would not be telling you these things if they actually bothered me. It is a little bit like how Sister McEwen and I were in the MTC, but now we're comps! I can't believe we're together. She has grown SO MUCH in the gospel. I love it.

Speaking of which, remember when I went on austausch (FYI- Austausch = Exchange.  Sometimes missionaries will go on exchanges and switch companions for the day) with Sister Robben? Well I forgot to tell you that she mentioned again how sweet it was that you baked her cookies. 

This last week was zone training and zone conference! It was a big deal because we've decided to renew our Goal to baptize 290 people this year in our mission. This number was compiled by every branch, every ward, and every stake telling the mission how many they expected in the coming year. And it came to 290. So far we're at a little over 100. In other words, we have A LOT of work to do before the end of the year. We fast as a mission for something in specific every Fast Sunday, but we had another special mission-wide fast yesterday that we will reach our goal. I know that it's possible, I really felt the Spirit confirm that to me in zone training, but I guess I am lacking some faith in myself. This week our one baptismal date was cancelled and so it's hard to just only have thoughts that promote my faith.

Sometimes I feel like my faith is really lacking. I'm supposed to study a new Christlike attribute every month or at least every transfer but I still haven't gotten past faith, the first one I wanted to study 1) because I keep forgetting and 2) because I always just feel like I still need to work on it. (FYI - Faith is at the core of Christian belief.  Faith is to believe in things that are not seen and I think we are all challenged continually to keep our faith strong.  Personally, I have learned that you have to DESIRE to have faith and it is something that must be worked for.  The most precious things in life are not ours without effort.  In the LDS Church, we have what we call "The 13 articles of Faith" which basically are a summary of our church doctrine.  Article #4 states "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." )

I love you!!! The church is true!