Happy Fourth of July!

Well I hope everyone had a great fourth of July. We didn't have anything special lined up (because for some reason, Germans don't celebrate American Independence Day), but we did wear red, white, and blue, and we stuck little American flags in mini choclate pies that we ate for dessert, so it was pretty patriotic. We do what we can. I really haven't been homesick on my mission because I love it so much, but I can honestly say that I look forward to doing a real fourth with my fam jam and potato salad and fireworks and stuff...so I guess July 2016, haha but until then, there is much to be done. 

 On Saturday, all of the missionaries in the Stuttgart zone were sent to Munich to have a conference to meet our new mission president, President Kohler. We had to meet at Stuttgart train station at 7:02 am so we got up at 5:30 and left our apartment by six (we showered the night before). It took four train rides to get there. Two of them were long train rides and the other ones were about 15 minutes each, but IT WAS SO FUN!!!! I just love getting together with other missionaries. We had four hours of trains to talk to each other and share stories. Sister Arnold and Elder Lynch were there from my MTC district too, so that was super fun. It's also a party because the scenery is beautiful, rolling hills, big forests, and tiny german villages. I am just so blessed. 

Well, we got to Munich, and President Kohler was there with his family (he has a 17 year old son and a 13 year old daughter). They all told us about themselves, and why they're excited to be here and then President Kohler talked. He is awesome. He helped write Preach My Gospel and trained the missionaries who were in The District (every missionary's favorite form of entertainment). He seems to really know what he is doing. Basically, Sister Powell and I got re-excited to be missionaries. One thing President Kohler seemed to emphasize a lot is member missionary work. Basically, we need to serve the heck out of our members so that they know they can trust us. Why would you want to give a missionary a referral when you hardly know who they are anyways? Also, members who live here would know way better than us if their friend is ready for the gospel rather than us trying to tell if someone we talked to for five minutes on the street is ready. It just makes so much sense. So yeah, that is something we are really working on. 

After the conference, President met with every companionship for a couple of minutes to say hi and to see our faces in person. It was really fast, but afterwards, every missionary there was reading into every little thing and trying to figure out what would happen come transfers. We literally have no idea. We'll see what happens, I have a feeling I'm staying in Ludwigsburg because there is still so much I want to do, but that's just a guess. Anywho, we all headed back to Stuttgart and hopped on some more trains. 

 

Last Monday, Sister Powell and I went to see the palace in Ludwigsburg. We took a tour of the inside AND IT WAS SO PRETTY!!!! No one wanted to bomb this part of Germany during WWII because it is so pretty, so it was saved. It was funny though because we took the English speaking tour and that was just the weirdest thing of my life. It was American and Canadian tourists. I can handle other missionaries speaking English, but other than that, it is just weird. It was fun though. It was like when my family lived in Denmark and we would take tours of castles and stuff. It is basically little America.

 

A while ago I talked about wanting to improve my skills with just talking to people on the bus and on the street and stuff. Well, just to report back, it's going great. We now have relationships with everyone in our apartment building. They all know who we are and what we do now. The other day on the train we sat accross from a really pretty blond lady and right when I sat down I complemented her necklace (it was super pretty) and we just started talking. She told us she was acutally from Norway and then I got to speak a bit of Danish to her! It was so fun! I haven't really spoken Danish in years, but it really does come back when you need it. Anywho, it ended with us exchanging contact information. We'll see what comes of it, but long story short, just talking to people is fun. The world is a much more interesting place when you interact with people and get to know them. They want to get to know you too. They want to know why you're different and why you feel the way you feel. It's normal. Everyone is curious, it's just that, the older you get, the more you try to hide that curiosity because you don't want people to think you're weird. That was kind of my epiphany this week.

 

Another thing I learned about is consecration. That is something my zone has been talking about a lot lately, and I haven't really understood until recently. In my mind, it was you either had to kill yourself trying to be the perfect missionary, or you are scum. It wasn't a positive thing. Well, with some study and prayer here is what I realized: I came on this mission because I want to help bring others unto Christ. Consecration is not high numbers or pure exhaustion, it is the act of putting others before yourself with the objective of helping them come unto Christ. It is actually pretty simple. It is just what President Hinkley's father said, "Forget yourself and go to work" That is all I want to do. 

So with that, I hope you all have a great week and make good choices.

Love,

Sister Smiley

Pictures: Sister Arnold, Sister Powell, Sister Winters and I together, The courtyard at the Ludwigsburg Schloss, me at the Ludwigsburg Schloss