"A wee while" - October 28, 2013 - from Schaffhausen, Switzerland

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

"Deutsch ubersetsung:" - October 21, 2013 - From Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Hi family! I was excited that Grosvati (my dad, who came to visit from California for his 93rd birthday!) was visiting when you found out I was being transferred! I need the numbers of my family members. I'm going on exchange to Winterthur tomorrow but that's not enough time to organize something. I think I'll be in Shaffhausen for a long time so I'll just keep trying to end up in Winterthur on austausch and hopefully I can visit them. (Both of my parents spent most of their growing up years in Winterthur.  They met there and immigrated to the US in 1953 with my older brother, just before I was born.  I have two aunts, an uncle and cousins and their families who live there and others spread around Switzerland).

I am one of two Americans in Switzerland. They call Switzerland the black hole of our mission. Once you get in, you rarely come out. Although we do have a lot of Europeans in our mission now so there is still totally a chance that I will leave Switzerland at some point. But, like I said, I think I'll be in Schaffhausen for a long time. Then again, I thought I was staying in Wien until after Christmas.

Also I had a few instances in Wien where people literally thought I was from Switzerland. My first Sunday in Wien a member totally thought that. But anyway, here I am!

We have 30 active members in our branch. We actually only have two hours of church so that everyone doesn't have to teach every Sunday. We have this cute little ward building that is actually a house that we meet in. Supposedly for the last 17 years sister missionaries have lived in the apartment that I now live in, but before that they lived in the church house.

It was so good to talk to Greg! (Her Alpenwild boss was in church in ZURICH and got her phone number! He emailed me and said "she sounds great and happy!") The elder that he talked to is Elder Kelly. He's from Ireland and he came to this zone one transfer before I did to be a zone leader. I think he's the only missionary in the Zurich Zone who would have known me from the Wien Zone.

My address:

Fulachstrasse 245

CH 8200 Schaffhausen, Schweiz

Write me! I apologize for being the world's worst writer. I just have very little P-Day time. But I love hearing from you!

Sister McEwen is just all grown up into a great sister missionary.(Sister McEwen is from Scotland and was one of Katie's roommates in the MTC).  She's so funny. She says stuff about how her emails are more spiritual every week and she's dressing uglier and uglier. But even I can see some changes from the MTC Sister McEwen who I already loved.

Yesterday we had one of the best dinner appointments of my mission so far. We were at this family called the family Gardieu (it's french . . . not suret how to spell it) and they had over some other members, one of whom is a new convert. We had soup, salad, pasta, and dessert, and with every course you had to change your seat and sit by new people. Also! The elders were there! Schaffhausen was opened to elders this transfer. So this branch has three new missionaries.

So I love you! Let me know if there's anything you really want sent for Christmas! Because I don't know what to send.

I felt really really loved leaving Wien. My last night was a dinner at the Huys. Jenni and Benjamin were there too. Quote of the week: Another time we were witch Jenni and Benjamin and I'm trying to say something to Benjamin auf Deutsch and obviously what I was saying was not at all clear. Finally Jenni figured it out and said to Benjamin "Deutsch ubersetsung:"(That means "German Translation") and then said what I was trying to say in German. Also Sister McEwen told me that when she first got to Switzerland and heard "Gruerzi mitenand" (Kind of like "hello folks"...direct translation would be "hello together"....the most common greeting in Swiss German...which is a VERY STRONG dialect of German) she thought it meant hi missionaries and was all excited because everyone recognized them as missionaries. Ha ha how cute is she!!? Okay well I just never get around to the spiritual stuff. I'm the worst. But really guys, the church is true. Love you!

"This girl is so teachable" - October 14, 2013 - Transfer Day in Vienna

Transfer story from Kate's companion, Sister Judd.   Just can't resist sharing the wonderful things she said about  Katie.  I'm anticipating that this will be a challenging transfer for Katie. So far, she's been a "newbie", with an experienced trainer in Sister Judd to look to for language help etc.  Now she will be with Sister McEwen, a roommate from the MTC who is  Scottish, who is just as new as she is! As Sister Judd says below, it is unusual for a "Golden (their term for a new trainee) to leave an area so soon.  Good Luck Sister Kate!!! In my thoughts and prayers multiple times a day!

From Sister Judd's letter home this week - "Once upon a time, it was Friday morning in Vienna. We start our day at 6:30 by doing "exercise" which includes sometimes walks, jogs, pushups, stretching...depends on the day. 7AM Sister Lew and I start our personal study and the other two sisters get ready for the day. Around...7:30 or so...we hear screaming in the other room...Sister Clark and Sister Harman are staying together. Sister Harman was so excited because everyone and their mom was saying she was leaving, and she was NOT havin it. Well...she is staying! Time passes, and we finish our personal study, and a billion text messages come from all the people who found out they are staying. We then realize...something is going to change since the Zone leaders didn't call us. We start getting ready for the day, and I tease Sister Lewis that, "You know, you could be going too." She looks at me and goes, "You don't really think that, do you?" I laughed and told her no, because in all reality, while it had crossed my mind a couple times, we all knew it was a slim chance and everyone was convinced I would follow my three transfers per area pattern and pack my bags and head to my dying area (where she would finish her mission) . We are ready, and start our comp study, which actually turned into a long talk with our roomies about how many are staying..we expected tons of change this transfer. Time keeps passing and...the phone starts ringing. Sister Lew looks at me as if she is not sure what to do...I tell her to grab the phone. Elder Bailey, the assistant, told her to put it on speaker, and was talking about how well we work together. I look at her and said, " we are getting transferred together to a new area!" The way he was going on and on we were kind of really convinced. Well...this follows by him telling Sister Lew to pack her bags, and that she was heading to Schafhausen, Switzerland! Yeah, shocker! Then he tells me that Sister Motto (Sister Clarks golden) is coming here to work with me in Wien 1! After a little more small talk we hang up and all just look at each other so surprised. We start making calls to tell people and as soon as we say Sister Lew is leaving, everyone assumes I am training again, because of how unusual it is for a golden to leave so quick. Well...needless to say, it was hard on Sister Lew, and I was way bummed. I am stoked to stay, but I really wanted to stay...with HER! I have never had a comp for three transfers :( And if I was going to be able to have one for three, I pick her, here. But...God decided otherwise, and it feels right. I keep telling Sister Lew that she has a great work ahead of her, and the reason she needs to go is definitely existent. I also believe she will be thrown a lot her way on her mission. Shout out to her parents...because this girl is so teachable. I have honestly never met somebody so open, willing, and wanting to learn. She just is a little sponge. She doesn't complain, she doesn't whine, she just wants to learn and she just sucks up all advice, all opinions, she just does. I know Gods going to throw tons of learning opportunities her way because she will USE them. I think that may be one of the highest compliments I could give a person, and she wins the cake. I love her. I am going to miss her, and this probably means I wont see her until I am sitting at her homecoming talk, but I will be there. I love her!" 

As Kate's mom, I am so grateful for Sister Candace Judd and all she has taught Katie. 

"Beware of all the cheese and chocolate" - October 14, 2013 - Transfer Day in Vienna, Austria

Well . . . I've been transferred. You know what that means? That means everything I have known as a missionary is now going to be erased and I'm going to have a completely new mission life. I'm going to SCHAFFHAUSEN, SWITZERLAND!!! I'm not even sure if that's how you spell it. I'm going to the Schweiz! You guys, it's crazy. I'm glad Grosvati (my dad is visiting for his 93rd birthday!) is there so you can talk all about it.

So let me tell you about this crazy missionary phenomenon called transfers. The last Friday of the transfer (a 6-week) period) is transfer call day. Transfer calls start at 6:30, but since Wien starts with a W and they go through the zones alphabetically we don't hear for a while. And by they I mean the assistants to the president and the mission president.

President calls if you're training

An AP calls if you're getting transferred

If everything is staying the same, your zone leaders call and let you know

Obviously the zone leaders don't have to call every zone, just their own, So the people for whom nothing is changing find out first. And you start getting texts from other missionaries in your zone about what's happening to them (side note: in Switzerland EVERYTHING is more expensive and supposedly they have a VERY limited number of texts so I'm pretty sure texting other missionaries will be a thing of the past). It doesn't take very long to figure out that you haven't gotten a call, and so something is changing.

Obviously we thought Sister Judd was leaving. She has been in Wien for three transfers. But now. It's time for this girl to go to Switzerland!! And guess who my companion is? Sister McEwen from the MTC. So we both just finished being trained.

Ask your nearest return missionary for more details about transfers. I'm curious how they work in other missions.

So I really am excited to go to Switzerland. Don't get me wrong. But I have also been really sad. I have fallen in love with Wien. More specifically, I have fallen in love with Wien 1. I love my ward. I love my investigators. I love this city. Last night I made a list in my journal of reasons why Wien is "Missionary Fairytale Land." Specifically, Wien 1. There a several very good reasons. One of them is that Wien 1 is the second oldest ward in Austria. It is well established and fully-functioning (actually we don't have a young women program). It's actually pretty much legendary. I have been very blessed to serve in Wien 1. Another reason is that I see other missionaries all the time. We work together and we teach and learn together at German/English class. In other places you are the only missionaries. You don't have other missionaries in your ward or city. You only see other missionaries at meetings. A major reason is the institute center. It's so easy to invite young people to activities at the institute center. They have activities every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have a good group of JTA's (YSA's) and we just have these built in missionary opportunities. Also the center is a great place to meet for lessons.

I was hoping I would go to Switzerland I just didn't think it would be so soon. I'm really scared about Swiss-German. I still have a hard time understanding people and Swiss-German is going to be a joke to try to understand. Ahhhhhh. But I'm excited. Supposedly with two missionaries this young working together we'll really learn a lot and the Lord really trusts us.

I finished OUR SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS! Sooooo good. Everyone. Read it.

Okay to answer some of your questions Mommy . . .

Yes of course every day is a finding day. But sometimes we have a few hours that are devoted to only finding and you do it as a district and try to motivate each other. That's what's called a finding day.

Last P-Day we checked out two of the main flea markets (one was the one that you suggested!). And the other is Omana's personal favorite. I've talked about Omana. She's Indian.

Yesterday was great because we really thought we had basically no investigators at church. Lars was there (I've talked about Lars I think. He's the dad of that part-member family) but he doesn't necessarily need the investigator sunday school class so we didn't even have one (first time that's happened since I've been here). None of the elders' investigators came either. But, who walks into Sacrament meeting? Omana. Who has been trying to fall of the planet but we've been calling calling calling and leaving messages saying that I'm leaving. She said she was in a lot of pain and only came because it was my last Sunday but I got to sit with her. And I was expected to bare my testimony because it was my last Sunday and I was just glad she was there. Then guess who else walks in? Tanja and her husband Franz. Tanja is Kangen Wasser lady. And her husband is pretty sure about his beliefs and he believes these different things about energy and reincarnation. But he came and he liked it! So we had 4 investigators at church which is not bad! And it was just so great. Testimony meeting was fantastic.

Oh yeah oh yeah. Quote of the week. It's something like, "Beware of all the cheese and chocolate." One of our members told me that yesterday on the phone. She wasn't at church so we said goodbye over the phone. Guess that's what I have to worry about with going to Switzerland. On the other hand, Omana has been trying to fatten me up. Did I already tell you that? She says being skinny is okay for summer but not for Winter. She thinks I'm going to freeze.

Yes of course I taught lessons to non-members last week! Specifically, 4 lessons with a member present and 3 lessons without a member present (just missionaries and the investigator). Also we had only one lesson with a less active and then two lessons with Jenni.

Sister Judd said she thinks one of the reasons I came here was for Benjamin. He's Jenni's boyfriend and way ADD and he thinks Sister Judd hates him, which really hurts his feelings. But he knows I love him. Also she said I have a closer relationship with Jenni, which is true. I love those two. They're nuts, but I love them.

I love you family! Thanks for the letters. I'm sorry I`m so bad at this communication thing. If you send any letters before you get a new address from me send them to the mission home! Love you.

"That's where my trainer is from. She's dead now" - October 7, 2013 from Vienna

Our Church has so much language  that is peculiar to it….and so does missionary work! Yesterday at conference I was talking to one of the BYU study abroad students about the group's trip to Germany and then Sister Judd came and joined us. And one of the places the group went is actually where Sister Judd's trainer is from. So Sister Judd said, "Oh that's where my trainer is from! She's dead now." This poor girl got this horrified look on her face and oh it's bad but it was so funny. Mission lingo is funny. Sister Judd's trainer is only dead because she is no longer a missionary! In mission terms, I was "born" in Wien. Don't worry, we explained to her that Sister Judd's trainer is actually alive and well.

More quotes . . . 

Elder Richman said, "The Spirit was so strong it punched you in the face" (speaking about Jenni's baptism)

"I'm wearing new socks today. One says Satureday and the other one says Sunday." That's from our bishop at Jenni's baptism. He went on to talk about how Jenni was getting baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. And the connection between the two days. He's funny.

So I hear you saw Baagii's video of us! Do you remember me telling you about her? That was a long time ago. She's still wonderful. And Richard too. After we sang our bishop told us he was mad at us because we hadn't sung for our ward.

  

So we watched conference at the Stake Center and it was soooo good! We watched Relief Society and Saturday Morning on Saturday and Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning on Sunday. And I watched it all in English. There was a room where it was in German and a room where it was in English. So don't worry we were watching the morning sessions at the same time! I thought about you a lot and I liked thinking that when they talked about full-time missionaries you were thinking of me!

Watching conference as a missionary was just as wonderful as I had hoped. I was reminded again about how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how much He wants us to return to Him. Elder Eyring told us that there is not one of us that He has not given angels charge over, that He does not desire to save, and that He has not prepared a way for our return.

Good news, I have had a couple people tell me that I look Swiss. I think it was my first Sunday in our ward and a ward member legitimately told me they thought I was from Switzerland.

Just a thought from preachy sister missionary Katie. The article in the August Ensign about no corrupt communication was really good.

The work goes on. Sister Judd and I have had some times, particularly this week, that we have had a lot of fun.

This week we had a family home evening with a family that is investigating the church but it's hard because the father and husband in the family is not really in the picture and they're not actually legally married. But they have four adorable kids and we taught them the story of Daniel in the Lion's den and talked about the importance of prayer and committed them to pray as a family. Want to know how to say lion's den auf Deutsch? Because I know now. It's “löwengrube”.

Well family I love you lots. I hope you enjoyed conference as much as I did. I also loved that President Uchtdorf said to "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." I love that. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I really do love it. There are so many wonderful members of this church. Thanks for all of your support!

Love you!