Hi Everyone! How's it going? I hope you're all healthy, wealthy, and wise. I'm doing pretty good...actually I'm home. I'm not Sister Smiley anymore, I'm just Anna, and quite honestly it happened really fast. I've been here for about a week now and it is still incredibly weird for me to think that my whole mission is just an insane memory now.
Anyways, I'll catch you all up on what happened so I'm not leaving anyone in the dark. My last blog post (for those of you who are not regulars) was about all the crazy train rides we were going to have to take that week, and how we were going to Singen and Munich and through Switzerland and all of that crazy stuff. Well, shortly after I sent that email off to my Dad to be posted on this blog I found out there would be a train strike that whole week. You have no idea how annoying that was. Train strikes are the worst. It makes you pretty unproductive as a missionary, in that mission. After we found out, we went to see if there was anything AT ALL that could get us to where we were going. Train strikes are weird because they do have some random trains that go every now and then, but you never really know what is actually going to happen. We already knew it would be impossible to do the exchange that we had planned that week which was a real bummer, but it could be moved to another week. The next problem though was Mission Leadership Conference (MLC) all the way in Munich. It was going to take us five different trains to get there and there was no way those were all going to go through so we got in touch with the office Elders pretty fast.
Aside from that, it was a pretty quiet week. We talked to a bunch of people, had some cool appointments and it was just a good week. As we got closer and closer to MLC though, we really needed to figure out a way to get there. Trains would just be impossible, so we moved to the next option...bus. That's right. There is a bus that goes directly from Freiburg to Munich and it takes five hours. Not gonna lie, I wasn't too excited to sit on a bus for five hours, but it was literally the only way to do it. So it was a new kind of adventure for us.
The morning we had to leave for MLC, our Mission President called me. It's hard not to freak out just a little bit when the phone is ringing and you see President Kohler's name on it. I always think "I didn't do anything wrong, what does he want?" Well, he told me that my Dad needed to talk to me at some point in the day. Nothing urgent, but he was going to call me and talk to me. Wow. No big deal. My Dad was just going to call me up on my missionary phone and chat about something. It was actually fine though. For some reason, I wasn't too nervous about it.
Anyways, we got on our bus and just as we pulled out our phone rang. It was an unknown number and because I didn't think that one through, I answered it the way I would always answer an unknown number "Hallo, Kirche Jesu Christi. Hier spricht Sister Smiley." Then my Dad says, "Hi Sister Smiley." It is so weird to have your Dad call you Sister Smiley. I don't know why it just is.
Well, my Dad talked to me about things at home and with my Mom. How he is doing and how my sisters are doing and what kind of progress my Mom is making. I would really rather not get into the details, but by the end of that call, I knew it was time for me to go home. I cannot tell you how hard it is to decide to end your mission early, even when it's just three months from your assigned return date. I had about four more hours on the bus to think about it, but there are a lot of reasons that it was right for me to be home. One of the biggest things that you teach as a missionary is "Die Familie steht im mittel punkt im plan Gottes," or, the family lies in the center of God's plan. I had been teaching that principle for thirteen months, and my time to act on that came. Also, I felt like my mindset was where I wanted it to be when I reached the point of going home from my mission. No matter when you leave your mission, it is so so so so sad. I loved being a full time missionary so much, but the fact that it was hard for me to decide to leave lets me know that I really did love doing that work and I wanted to make sure that was the case by the time I left. I hope that makes sense. Anyways, there was a lot of prayer and fasting before that went into my decision, but I knew and still do know, that it is what Heavenly Father wanted me to do at that time. I do not and will never regret that decision. It was hard and sad, but it was right.
I talked to my Mission President shortly after talking to my Dad, and he agreed that it was the right decision for me. We talked about logistics and things like that, but before he hung up, he let me know that I had served my whole mission. My whole mission was not the 18 months that we all expect. Apparently, mine was thirteen, and that is just how it was supposed to be. Sometimes, rolling with Heavenly Father's plan is hard, but you know what? If His plan is different than mine, it must be so much better because my plan was pretty good too.
So, it was weird going to MLC knowing that I wouldn't even be at the next Zone training, but it was still good. I learned a lot that I needed to hear. We got on our bus home afterwards, and I started to run around packing all of my stuff. I got back to Freiburg on Friday, and I would leave Freiburg on Sunday after church, spend the night in Munich, and fly home on Monday morning. The last 48 hours were INSANE. I had a goodbye lunch with my District on Saturday and one last teaching appointment. Not gonna lie, I'm a beast at packing. I managed to get both of my suitcases to be under the limit even though there was loads of chocolate in both of them. Church on Sunday was the worst. I basically started crying when I walked through the doors. Freiburg was a really great ward. Saying goodbye to all of them was awful. The worst part was when we sang "Gott Sei Mit Euch" in sacrament meeting (God Be With You 'til We Meet Again); not fun. My last Sacrament meeting in German. I remember my first German Sacrament meeting thinking I would never understand this language.
Well, the journey home started literally right after church. The Zone Leaders picked me up from my apartment. They threw my suitcases in the trunk and drove me to the bus station. The strike was still going on so I had to take the bus AGAIN to Munich. I hopped on the bus alone (no companion) and waved goodbye as we drove off. I got to Munich five hours later and the Office Elders picked me up from the bus station. They took me to the mission office where two of my best friends from the mission just happened to be there. Sister Arnold and Sister Mehr (my MTC comp and Sister Mehr who I trained) both ran over and I think we set a record for world's longest hug. I talked to them for a bit, and then I had my exit interview with President Kohler. Having your exit interview is so surreal. President Kohler is such a great mission president and I am so grateful for the advice and council he has given me throughout my mission.
After that, I got driven to the Kohler's house, spent the night there, ate some food, talked to their kids, and then got driven to the airport so I could take the 18 hour journey back to Chicago. The last goodbye to my mission president was kind of soul crushing, but it was how it was supposed to be. I had a super fast layover in Atlanta and was literally running through the airport to make my connection. I made it and then came that moment where you get on the escalator to go down and see if your family is there to pick you up. In that moment, I felt like I was going to cry, pass out, and throw up all at the same time. I went down and saw this strange looking group of people in matching shirts and a GIANT poster. They were my people :) I don't know how they did it, but my whole family was there along with some aunts, an uncle, and cousins. Most importantly though, my mom was there. It was in that moment that I knew being home was exactly what I was supposed to do. I'm home now trying to figure out this normal life thing. Technology is pretty hard, but it feels 100% right to be here.
I am so glad that I got to serve a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that our Heavenly Father loves us so much. I hope you all know that too. If not, I would like to invite you to find out.
Have a fantastic week and MAKE GOOD CHOICES!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures
Well, hello everyone! How's it going? Did something bad happen in Nepal? I am so out of the loop, but someone prayed for the people of Nepal yesterday in church and I had no idea what it was about, so I really wouldn't mind being filled in on that.
But anyways, almost everyone in our district got sick this week. I managed to avoid it, and one other Elder, but on Friday, we were all sitting in our apartments either being sick or waiting for our companions to get better. Not gonna lie, I got pretty bored, so I studied a lot of German grammar, read the scriptures, baked a bunch of brownies, and cleaned basically everything. Those days don't happened too often, but when they do, they can take a really long time. Everyone seems to slowly be on the road back to recovery, but the Elders here in Freiburg got it the worst (I think it's because they rode their bikes in the rain without coats and said they would be fine because they are Elders) and were not even able to come to church yesterday. That is not a thing that happens very much. As a missionary, you basically have to be dying to miss church. They were. But since they were gone, it meant that no one was there to teach the English speaking Sunday school class. The Elders usually do that. It did not click in my head that we would have to do it until like 10 minutes before the class. My companion was still getting over being sick and couldn't really talk...so I was on. The topic was faith in Jesus Christ which is a pretty good one, but on the spot lessons are always something special. It was in English too. I am probably the most awkward at teaching in English in the world. It is actually a miracle that I get this email written out every week because it's all going down the drain. We made it through the lesson and fortunately, our ward mission leader was there to help me out, but it was really something :)
This week, is basically the week that we fulfill our Sister Training Leader duties. It means that I will spend 19 hours on trains this week. That isn't a joke at all. We are going to Singen for exchanges and then on Thursday we are going to Munich for Mission Leadership Council. It's cool because we get to go through Switzerland, but heilige Kuh, this is the most traveling I have done my whole mission. We have an hour layover at the Basel Switzerland train station. That will be interesting. I really shouldn't complain about this because a lot of people wait their entire lives to go on trips like this, it's just going to be hard to actually get work done in our area. I'll let you know next week, how all of this goes.
But other than that, it's been a pretty mellow week. We taught our five new college student investigators this week. It was so cool. They made Raclette and we talked about the gospel while eating delicious food. Sometimes, I just feel like the most spoiled missionary ever. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. It is such a good question to ask. Why do we need another book when we already have the Bible? People here love their bible. It is sooooo easy for a situation to turn into a bible bash, especially when your companion is as good with the bible as she is, but I have found that the more I testify about my experiences with the Book of Mormon and how it has helped me, the more interested people are in finding out for themselves. I am not trying to prove anything to anyone. I am just inviting to go for a bit of a search. It is just the coolest thing.
So yeah, I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Me and Freiburg (aren't we so cute together?), my super awesome bubble gum bubble (no worries, we only chew gum in the apartment), our Raclette dinner.
Wow!
What a week! I think that this has probably been one of the coolest
weeks of my mission. I don't even know really where to begin, so I will
start with last Tuesday.
We
got six new investigators in one day!!! That is not a thing that
normally happens. We are usually lucky if we get one new investigator in
one week. It was amazing! The first person we started teaching is a
super sweet lady from Africa. She invited us into her apartment because
she could tell that we are from God and all she wants is to please Him.
We taught her and it went really well and she told us to come again the
next day, so we did, and she said that she wants to see us every week so
that she can come closer to God. That is exactly what we are here for,
so that is exactly what we will be doing.
We
were celebrating after that, but then after our eating appointment, we
still had about an hour and a half left in our day, so we hit the
streets and rang some doorbells. These two college students let us in.
They are both girls and were just genuinely curious about what our
church is. We started talking with them about the Book of Mormon and
stuff and then their third roommate came home and listened too. Then,
two more friends came over and they also wanted to listen, so next thing
we know, we are sitting around a kitchen table talking to five college
students about the restored gospel. That was one of the coolest teaching
experiences of my mission. It went really well and they invited us to
come back next Tuesday to talk more. They also told us to bring our hymn
book because they want to see our songs. We will see what happens next
Tuesday, but Sister E and I walked out of that apartment and could not
believe what had just happened. This is not South America :)
So that was Tuesday.
On
Friday, we began our journey to Munich to see Elder Bednar. For us, it
was seven hours on a train to get there. It was SO beautiful, but it
also took forever. The Elders were there too and of course we brought
snacks, but by the time we got to the Munich train station I was super
ready to walk around. The whole experience was quite surreal because
literally, our whole mission went to Munich for this conference with
Elder Bednar. There were 250 Elders and Sisters there. When we got to
Munich, everyone saw each other at the train station and of course we
all freaked out. When you get transferred, you literally have no idea if
you are ever going to see some of these missionaries again, so seeing
people is just so fun. We all ran and grabbed dinner somewhere in the
city and then met at one of the Church buildings for a short meeting
with President and Sister Kohler. They wanted to make sure that we were
as prepared as possible to be in the presence of an Apostle the next
day. They told us to stand when he walked in and out of the room and
overall, just to be professional.
After
that, we all had to go to the youth hostel around the corner to catch
some Z's. I was super exhausted from all of the socializing and travel.
We were in a room with two other sisters in our zone and it the hostel
was actually really nice. I experienced a solid handful of youth hostels
when I lived in Denmark, and some of them can be pretty nasty, but I
was actually quite impressed with this one.
In
the morning, we all scarfed down a sack breakfast and then went over to
the Church building in waves. I was in the second wave and was nervous
about getting a good seat. I'm short. It is so hard to see past a super
tall Elder when he is sitting right in front of me. We got there and the
building already seemed pretty full BUT I just walked to the second row
and asked if there was space AND THERE WAS! So we got to sit in the
second row and that was super nice. Elder Bednar was like 5 feet away
from me. It was so cool, because when he walked in, you could literally
feel the Spirit hit you like a wall. It was just amazing. The meeting
started and it was just one of the coolest things ever because it wasn't
us sitting there and being talked at. It was really like a discussion.
He asked questions and we could raise our hands and answer them. This
meeting was actually a training meeting because we are going to be
implementing more technology into our mission (iPads). But to be clear,
the meeting wasn't about iPads, it was about being more effective
missionaries.
Elder Bednar is such a powerful speaker. At the end of
it all, be bore the most pure and powerful testimony I have ever heard
of Jesus Christ. I already had a testimony that Elder Bednar is an
apostle of God, but that testimony got a heck of a lot stronger at this
conference.
Part
way through the conference, we all went outside and had lunch. It was
nice weather and we all just ate sandwiches on the grass. My district
from the MTC got together again. We haven't been all together in a year
and it was so good to see them. It is cool, because a year later, we are
all the same people with the same personalities, but you can tell that
there has been a lot of growth too. We have all had experiences that
have changed us for the better.
Anyways,
after that we all left the conference and headed home on our various
trains. We got back pretty late on Saturday night, but it was so worth
it. I feel so blessed to be here on this mission. I hope you all have a
great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures:
walking to an eating appointment last Wednesday, we stopped in Ulm on
the way to Munich so we ran over to the cathedral before our next train
left, my MTC district reunited.
Hi Everyone! How are things going? I hope you are all enjoying some nice spring weather. We have had some really nice sunny days here this week. It's been great. I think I was about to cry when I saw the first few buds on trees towards the end of winter because it is just so nice to see the sun again.
We had a pretty solid week. This Sister Training Leader (STL)job sure makes you travel quite a bit. On Tuesday we had zone training in Singen which is a solid two hour train ride. Because we are STLs some pretty scary stuff happened to us. We had to sit in front of the room next to the Zone Leaders and we had to to a part of the training. I have trained quite a few missionaries one on one during my mission, but I have not trained a room full of them before. Fortunately, our part went really well. We talked about conversion through the Holy Ghost and had a good object lesson. I like object lessons. I just think they are so fun. Anyways, after zone training, we had to go to the meeting for the zone leaders and all of the district leaders. I am not 100% sure why we qualified for that meeting, but I think it's because we talked a bit about exchanges and Sister E and I have a grand total of one exchange to organize during the transfer :) It was good though. I always realize during those meetings that Elders' brains are wired totally differently than mine. It's not a bad thing, but some of the things that were motivating to them just sounded awful to me. That was just my personal opinion though.
After that meeting, we hopped on a train with the zone leaders to Zürich (in Switzerland!). We had to meet with our Stake President to talk about how the missionary work in our Stake is going. The train ride over was SO pretty. I tried taking pictures, but they just did not do the view any justice. There are two zones in the Zürich stake: Frieburg zone and Zürich zone. That means that the Zürich Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders were there too. It's always exciting to interact with the Swiss missionaries. In our mission, you can only serve in Switzerland if you have a EU passport, so it kind of cuts our mission in half. Every time I see someone who is or has served in Switzerland, it's like the Berlin wall has come down. It's pretty exciting. It was super cool though to talk to the Stake President about what is going on in terms of the missionary work. He had a pretty thick Swiss accent, but I could still understand him. We all gave him our updates on what was going on, and then we went back to the train station and learned that there was a solid hour until our next train came. We are not aloud to proselyte in Switzerland because of the EU passport thing so we wandered around the city and ate food. It was really exciting. We ended up getting back to Singen at about 11:00 at night and didn't even bother to go back to Freiburg that night. Sister E and I spent the night with the Singen Sisters and then went home first thing in the morning. It was a pretty insane adventure and I still can't believe that the entire day even happened on Tuesday.
We did normal missionary work in our area for the next three days, and then on Saturday went to Singen AGAIN! We had to go there for interviews with our Mission President, President Kohler. Our whole district met in Freiburg and we all traveled over together. President Kohler is a beast and interviews went really well. If only I could give myself advice the way he gives me advice. That would be really nice :)
Well, after interviews, our whole district hopped on a train back to Freiburg because the Freiburg Elders had a baptism that evening. It was for a guy named Jing who is from China and is studying at the university here. It was a really nice baptism and one of our investigators came which of course is always fantastic. That made me quite happy.
After the baptism, we all chatted and ate food for a bit and then we went home and I was so finished. Gosh, I was tired. You would not believe how hard I hit my pillow that night. I still can't even believe that whole week happened. And that's not even the end. This week, we are all (as in, the whole mission) going to Munich to see Elder Bednar. That is a two day trip with a lot of train time. I will tell you all about it next week, but until then, enjoy the Spring weather and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Sister Earnshaw and I this morning (we are wearing civilian clothes because we are going on an adventure today), Switzerland!, I don't even know what the last one is, just don't make fun of my outfit
Hi everyone! Well, it looks like spring is making an appearance in Freiburg. I actually went outside today without tights and a coat. That is a first since the beginning of November. I would consider that progress. It is nice to see the sun again. All the tulips and daffodils are out. I love the little spring flowers that pop out of the ground. Sister Earnshaw and I were weak and bought some tulips to put in our apartment. The flower markets are just so pretty and everyone else was doing it, so we figured we might as well. Anyways, enough flower talk. We had a pretty good week this week.
A lot of appointments fell through, but the ones that didn't were really solid. We taught a lesson yesterday to an investigator who we have taught once before, so he is fairly new. We met him in the cemetery actually because he wanted to show us his wife's grave. It was a beautiful cemetery and I could tell that showing us his wife's grave was very meaningful for him. There was a bench under a tree that we sat on and taught him the plan of salvation. It was a really good lesson. I'm not 100% sure how to describe it, but it was totally guided by the spirit and that is the best. We hope that we can help him to continue to progress and develop a relationship with his Father in Heaven.
On Monday last week, it was a holiday, so we literally had nothing to do. The whole world shuts down here when it is a holiday and I have no idea at all where everyone goes. A super sweet member decided to invite the missionaries over though and teach us how to make maultaschen. We made it totally from scratch. It is a German pasta thing kind of like ravioli, but SO GOOD. I got the recipe and totally intend to make it when I am home. It was a lot of fun, and making pasta from scratch is always a party. It tasted so much better than the store bought stuff too.
Sunday was pretty crazy. Not the whole day itself, but sacrament meeting. There we were, taking the sacrament. It is always so quiet and peaceful and just perfect for thinking about things and then a man walked through the door who no one had ever seen before so he was obviously not a member of the ward and not a member of the church, so I walked over to him (no one else was doing anything) and invited him to sit down. His response was "nur hören, nur hören!" and he waved me off, and I didn't know what to do, so I sat down. He stayed standing there and a friend of his came in and told him to sit down, so they did and then the bread started coming around for the sacrament. Everyone is always reverent and quiet during this time, but the first guy who came in asked what was going on, and his friend goes, "we get food now! Waiter, over here!" He was waving at the little deacon with the tray of bread telling him to come over and feed him. The deacon looked like a deer in headlights and didn't move a bit. Then the other guy just started swearing like a sailor. The whole congregation was so shocked and no one knew what to do. Some people shushed him, but guess who stood up and asked them to leave if they weren't going to be quiet? The Primary President! She is the sweetest lady ever and there was so much fire in her eyes. She was going to rip a wall down or something. She led them to the door and then plopped back down in her seat. I WAS FREAKING OUT! I have never seen something like that happen in sacrament meeting before, but it was so crazy. Everything proceeded normally, but after that I kept thinking about D&C 59:9-10. It talks about Sunday being the day where we offer up our sacraments unto the most high. Doesn't that just sound like such an important thing to do? I feel like it can be taken so lightly sometimes that we go to church on Sunday and partake of the sacrament, but I have realized, especially on my mission, just how much I need that time. It is so important to me. It was just an interesting moment.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. I hope you are all enjoying spring, and for those of you at BYU, enjoy finals :)...I think those are soon, right? Make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: The one rainy day we had this week, making the maultaschen, me cranking the pasta dough out.
Hi Everyone!
It looks like another week has gone by. I hope you have all had a
wonderful Easter. We are still celebrating it over here in Germany.
Today is Easter Monday so it is a holiday and the whole world is shut
down. Fortunately, our Internet cafe is run by a family of Muslims so we
are still able to email you today which is a miracle.
Easter
Sunday was great. We didn't have a conference session to watch on
Sunday until 2 in the afternoon, so an older lady in our ward invited
Sister Earnshaw and I over for Easter lunch. It was probably the
fanciest lunch of my life. Lots of schnitzel and potatoes of course, and
a beautiful chocolate cake for dessert. The table was set so
beautifully, it was a good thing I was wearing my nice Easter cardigan
:) We were stuffed afterwards, but it was so nice of her to invite us
over.
On
Saturday morning we got our transfer calls. Sister Earnshaw and I are
both staying which is nice. We expected that, BUT there was a twist.
Usually the zone leaders call you to tell you your transfer first thing
in the morning at 7. They will either tell you that you are both
staying, or that someone is being transferred. President or the
Assistants will call you if you are going to be training or become a
Zone Leader or Sister Training Leader. The Zone Leaders called us first
and we just thought they were going to say that we were both staying,
but they called to tell us that they didn't know what our transfer call
was and we would have to wait for President to call. That was just mean.
We were sitting on pins and needles biting our nails off. About ten
minutes later, President did call us and said...we would be the new
Sister Training Leaders for the Freiburg Zone. Did not see that one
coming. My first thought was, I don't know if I have good enough hair
for that job...but you can't say no for that reason :) I was a Sister
Training Leader in the MTC, but my companion and I were the only Sisters
in the MTC at that time...so basically, we don't really know what we're
doing, but we are going to learn. Now we go to Munich once a month for
Mission Leadership Conference, we arrange exchanges with the other
Sisters in the zone, and we help out with zone training. I guess we
actually have responsibility now, but it will be fun to try something
new out.
Last
week, Sister Earnshaw and I were waiting for our tram to come and I
started talking to an older man. He noticed me holding my Book of Mormon
and asked if it was a Bible. I said no and got to talk about the Book
of Mormon and how we also believe on the Bible. We had a really good
conversation and he ended up telling me that his wife had passed away
four weeks ago. That totally changed the mood of our conversation and I
told him about the Plan of Salvation and that he could see his wife
again. It was really cool to watch his face turn from downright sad, to
really curious. We exchanged contact information and we had our first
lesson with him on Easter Sunday. It was so cool. He really just wanted
to know HOW it would be possible to see his wife again. He said that he
feels less sad when he talks to us and that he's excited to pray and ask
God to see if this is all true. It is things like that, that make my
mission so worth it. We are meeting him again this coming weekend and I
am excited to hear about his answer.
What
did you all think of General Conference? Wasn't it so good! Prophets
are the coolest. I took lots of notes and am so excited to read and
reread all of the talks. I especially liked the one President Bednar
gave about fear. Everyone is scared of things. It's normal. You can ask
anyone in my family. I am the biggest worry wart ever. There are always
'what ifs'. There is always a seemingly unpleasant worst case scenario
and as humans, we just don't like uncertainty, but as we look towards
the Savior, we realize, that it is all going to be ok. For some reason,
there is nothing more reassuring to me than when my Dad tells me that it
is going to be fine. I remember going to Summer term at BYU and my Dad
was about to leave for the airport, so it was the official goodbye. I
was pretty nervous about not being in my comfortable house all summer
with people I knew, but my Dad just said, trust me, it'll be great. He
was right. It's the same with our Heavenly Father. The whole time, he
has been telling us, 'it is going to be ok'. It's not going to be easy,
but it's going to be fine.
Anyways, I hope you all had a lovely Easter and got loads out of General Conference. Have a great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures:
The district (we surrounded Elder Morey because this is his last
transfer), we went bowling last p-day, and Sister Earnshaw and I
couldn't resist some ice cream.
Hi Everyone! How are things going? I hope things are going well and that you are all making good choices :)
We had a pretty good week this week. We did all sorts of things actually. We went on exchanges with the Sisters in Singen this week. They are the next closest Sisters to our area...it is only three hours away by train. I stayed in Freiburg and worked with Sister Smith from Southern California and Sister Earnshaw went to Singen for a day. It was kind of a funny exchange because on Thursday, we went all the way to Singen to meet up with the Sisters and then we came back, so that was six hours of trains and then we added another hour on because we had an eating appointment at a member's house that day. It was a lot of trains. It was all super beautiful and scenic though. We saw a lot of castle ruins along the way so we did the tourist thing and snapped a lot of pictures. How could we not? Working with Sister Smith was fun though. She came out two transfers after me, so we know a lot of the same people and got to talk about that a lot. The eating appointment we had was actually with the one American family in our ward. It was amazing, we had corn bread! I love corn bread! There was soup too, but I was mostly excited about the corn bread :) For dinner we had brownies and ice cream. That also made me happy because my Mom usually makes brownies and ice cream when we have the missionaries over, so it was like a piece of home. We went home from the eating appointment and then exchanged back the next day, so it was a pretty uneventful exchange on our end, but it was really good. I liked working with Sister Smith for a bit.
On Saturday, the YSA's in our ward had Instituts Samstag. They spent the whole day together doing churchy things and one of the things they did was an Ausstellung in the center of town. An ausstellung is a stand that we put up with pictures and pamphlets and all sorts of good stuff that tell people about our church. A couple of people stayed by the ausstellung and the rest of us went out finding. We got to do splits which was fun. I went with Madelein who is studying here at the university and was actually just baptized in January. Going finding with her was probably one of the coolest finding experiences of my mission. We talked to LOADS of people and handed out lots of pass-along cards for Easter. It was so fun. Afterwards, we all went back to the church and had a super yummy lunch. YSA's are the best. They just get so fired up about things and it makes the work so much more enjoyable. We played soccer with them this week because we like to invite our investigators and every time we play with them, I feel like such an American trying to play soccer with Germans. Team sports aren't really my forte anyways, but then mixing in passionate Europeans...it's just embarrassing, but it is really fun. I don't know how they do all of the fancy things with their feet, but sometimes, I manage to get the ball and then when I do, I pass it to someone who would actually know what they're doing.
Yesterday, we got to watch the Women's Conference broadcast. We watched a rebroadcast yesterday instead of watching it live on Saturday night. IT WAS SOO GOOD. I can't believe that it is already General Conference again. This is how I know that I am an old missionary. This is the third and last session of conference that I will be watching as a missionary. That is just so weird. I remember watching Conference in the MTC and thinking it would be forever before I watched it again, and now...gosh it just rips by. It's just a reminder to love every moment.
Being a missionary is the bomb. It is also so hard. I have never done anything this hard in my life. I have been stretched and pulled in so many ways that I did not know possible. I experienced the hardest moments ever, BUT I have also experienced some of the purest joy that I didn't realize was so sweet. You watch a change in people's eyes when they feel the spirit for the first time. It is not describable, but it is amazing. The gospel of Jesus Christ is real and it is why I push through and try to grow from the hard things. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me and that He wants me to make it back to Him. My mission will last much longer than my release date in August. No one stops being a disciple of Jesus Christ and that is what is so cool.
I hope you all have a great week! Make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Going on exchanges!, we liked the pretty yellow bushes even though it was super grey out so we took pictures with them (sorry, we're Sisters ok), and we went into a cathedral last week with lots of pretty stained glass
Hi Everyone! Well, my email last week was kind of dramatic and things at home are still happening. I am still getting information and learning about what is going on and am in almost constant communication with my Heavenly Father, as much as I have ever been in BUT the missionary work in Freiburg Germany continues.
This week was really a week of adventures. We had the opportunity this week to go with a member to visit a friend of hers. She said she was really interested in religion and would be interested in what we had to say. Sounded perfect to us, so we went with her. It was a bit of a drive to get to her friend's house. It was gorgeous. We got there and she wanted to go for a walk. Well, we expected a walk around the block...but it was actually a walk around a beautiful monastery. We felt really spoiled. We got to talk about what we do as missionaries and why we are here. It was so cool. I don't know how far it will go, but it was a cool experience and I will attach some pictures in this email from our walk. We couldn't help but get a bit touristy. Afterwards, we went back to her house and had cake and tea (fruit tea, the kind a Mormon can drink) and it was such a good time. If only missionary work was always that pleasant :)
On Thursday we had Ward Council and we switch off with the Elders going every other month. It was our turn to go and they were talking about an Elders Quorum activity where they were mostly just eating food and hanging out, but they wanted a set of missionaries to go because there would be a lot of less active members there and such. Ideally, the Elders would have gone, but they needed to catch a train to go home (they live kind of far away) so for some reason, Sister Earnshaw and I were sent to the Elders Quorum activity. Needless to say, I felt pretty out of place. It was a good time I guess. The Elders are still making fun of us for having gone, but the Bishop told us to be there, so we couldn't really say no. Now I can say I have crashed an Elders quorum activity.
On Sunday we went to a member's house for a member appointment and for dessert we baked cookies with them. It was really good and we shared a killer spiritual thought about hope. THEN they took us to the woods with them to go herb picking. How did we end up herb picking on a Sunday evening? Well, we got a bunch of herbs to take home. It was fun.
Lots of really weird things this week actually. We went to visit a member in the hospital this week with the Elders because he was supposed to have an ear operation two days before. We got to the hospital and asked at the front desk what room he was in and they told us he was still in surgery...what? He should not have had any surgery that day and the nurse to us to wait because the surgery he was having that day was not planned and he did not even have time to tell his wife and kids that it would be happening, so there was no one there to say hello to him when he got out. So we waited for a little bit and he just came walking down the hallway and when he saw us, the biggest grin spread across his face. We help him chop wood on Saturdays so we are all pretty tight. He kept telling us how happy he was that we were there and so obviously Heavenly Father orchestrated that one.
Anyways, that is my week in a nutshell. I hope you are all doing well and remember that Heavenly Father loves you all so much! Make good choices.
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: 2 with the monestary, and a really pretty bakery that we ate at last monday
Hi Everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you all have had wonderful weeks. Right now, I am sitting in our Internet cafe in Freiburg and I really don't know what to say. Usually, I make bullet points with what I want to talk about in my email but this week was easily the craziest week of my mission, so I am going to just start from the beginning and see what happens.
Sunday. Not yesterday Sunday, but the Sunday before, I woke up with a really tight feeling in my stomach. I just felt really wound up and unsettled about something. I was trying to figure it out thinking that maybe I wasn't being totally obedient with something or maybe my personal study wasn't meaningful enough or something. I really had no idea at all and it was the most annoying thing. I kept doing life and doing the things I knew I should do and I felt this way all the way through Tuesday. Tuesday we had zone training and that meant three train rides that were each 40 minutes long. It was a beautiful trip. It took forever, but it was fantastic. I was still feeling uptight about something, but I thought maybe I would get my answer in zone training. I had a cute outfit on and brought cookies to share with people, and as we were walking through the door to the church building an Elder pointed out to me that our cell phone was ringing. It was in my purse, so I pulled it out just in time to miss the call. I looked at the phone and realized that I had missed four calls actually...from my Mission President. I really couldn't imagine what he needed that badly, but I called him back right away and he said, my dad had called him and that my mom was having some health issues and that my Dad needed to talk to me. That was when the tight feeling in my gut finally unwound. Something was wrong. My heart started pounding and I went over to my Zone Leaders to tell them that I would need to sit out of zone training to take a call from my Dad because my Mom is having some health problems. They are great Zone Leaders and were super understanding. They let me use the Bishop's office to take the call, so I just sat for a minute waiting for the call. Then I realized I was an idiot because I hadn't said a prayer yet. I got on my knees at in the bishop's office in Singen Germany and begged my Father in Heaven for everything to be ok. At this point, I literally had no idea what it could be. I sat back down in the chair after my prayer and stared out the window for another minute and then the phone rang. It was my Dad. I would just like to say, that my parents are amazing. They are two really fantastic people and I don't know why Heavenly Father thought I would be cool enough to be in their family, but I am so glad that He did. My Dad started talking to me and told me what was going on. I won't give you every detail of the phone call, but my Mom wasn't feeling to well on Monday and got taken to the hospital. A lot of tests were done and doctor's found that she has cancer in her brain. It isn't the kind of thing that they can do some radiation and some chemo on to make it better and so her time seems to be more limited than we expected. I cannot tell you how I was feeling. There were still so many things unanswered and more tests and stuff to do and I really don't know what I should and shouldn't say in this email, but I have never in my mission felt so far away from my family. All I wanted in that moment was to be in Chicago with all of them. My Dad told me that my sisters and niece and brother-in-law and Aunt were all there. He talked about how great the ward had been and about what else the doctors intended to do. It was so hard. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I felt stuck and useless. They were all there and I was here in Germany just going about my life. I still can't explain what it felt like, but it did not feel good.
Well, there were more phone calls and I was blessed to get a blessing from my zone leader. I called my Mission President back to tell him exactly what it was because he himself didn't even know and then we talked about how to go about this and how to handle this. I've been doing a lot of talking this week. I've been talking to my Dad, I've been talking to my Mission President, and I have been doing a heck of a lot of talking to my Father in Heaven. It has all been trying to figure things out and what I should do. At the same time, I have been doing a lot of listening. I have been listening to my Dad, I have been listening to my Mission President, and I have been listening really hard to my Father in Heaven.
I love being a missionary. This work is amazing. It is also a feeling that I cannot explain, but it is amazing. I feel so blessed and honored to be here. I have given everything I have to help bring others unto Christ and in doing this work I have solidified a few things for myself: I have a Father in Heaven who loves me so much. He wants me to be happy. I know that He lives. I see evidence of that every day. I know that He is aware of me and I know that He has a plan that is far greater than my own. There is power in prayer that is far greater than I can understand. I have seen miracles already. I have been able to think about this work when I need to think about this work and I know already that He has been looking out for my family at home. NO one ever predicts something like this happening, but my Mission President has told me that I have some decisions to make. I haven't made any yet because I haven't gotten an answer yet, but I know that when the time is right, that Heavenly Father will give me the right answer, and you better believe that whatever that is, I will be acting on it right away. I trust my Father in Heaven and I know that He's got this. My mission president told my ward here in Freiburg and they have also been so great. My Mom has an army of Germans praying for her :) What a week. Anyways, I have a beast of a family and am so grateful everyday for them. I hope you all have a great week and I hope you all know that I mean it when I say to make good choices.
Love,
Sister Smiley
Of course there are still pictures: Us at a park on a nice day. We had an awkward time gap so we did some contacting, and then the cookies on our train ride to zone training.
Well, I am in my second week in Freiburg now and I am still figuring it out and getting to know the transportation and the area, but it is going great. Yesterday we had stake conference actually and right now I am in the Zürich Stake, so that meant we had to go to Zürich yesterday...yup, life is hard :) It was super nice because our ward rented out a huge coach bus, so we all met at the church in the morning and drove together for an hour and a half. Talk about a ward road trip. It was so great. And SO pretty. We got a few glimpses of the Swiss Alps. I tried taking some pictures, but my camera would just not do it justice.
Anyways, we got to conference. None of the ward buildings are big enough for the whole Stake, so they rented out a conference hall sort of thing at a university there. It was probably one of the coolest Stake Conference experiences of my life. The whole room was red :) Conference was really good. President and Sister Kohler were there. I love them both a lot. Sister Kohler got to speak and she talked about when she decided to serve a mission when she was 21. She served a mission in California (somewhere) and said that she started out with just a little wish to serve a mission, and over time it grew. I have noticed that throughout my mission too. Of course I started out wanting to serve, but the more I do it, the more I want to keep doing it. I did not come on a mission simply to get high numbers and go on the most insane tour of Europe of my life. I came here to invite people to come unto Christ, and let me tell you, it is so worth it. So yeah, conference was great. It was also fun because I got to see a lot of missionaries that I haven't seen in a long time. We all chatted and caught up on what we had been doing for the last number of months and then Sister Earnshaw and I hopped on our bus back to Freiburg. It was a really good day. And of course, we brought snacks, because I don't like being hungry :)
In Augsburg, we had a sport abend every Thursday where we played volleyball. It was a great activity to invite basically anyone to. Well, I was finally getting the hang of volleyball when I got transferred here. Guess what? There's a sport abend in Freiburg too! Except we don't play volleyball...we play soccer...and all of the YSA's come. I haven't played any soccer since I was in the MTC and it's not like I had any real skill there either. Well, you will be happy to know that I actually scored two goals this week. They were the kind where I accidentally kicked the ball in the right direction and everyone watched it slowly roll into the goal, and then they all looked at me like they couldn't believe that actually just happened, but I'm going to call it divine intervention. German YSA's playing soccer is intense. It is seriously no joke, but it was way fun. We'll see what happens next week.
On Saturday we did a service project. There is a family in this ward that heats their house with wood (I think it's more economical) but that means that they need to go into the forest every Saturday and chop down loads of wood. So we went with the Elders and met this family in the Black Forest (it was so pretty) and the dad cut down a bunch of trees with a chain saw, the Elders chopped it, and then Sister Earnshaw, the mom, the daughter and I carried it to the stack. It was a solid work out, but after my suit case escapade on transfer day, it was really nothing. I think I actually have biceps now. That's a new sensation for me :) We were there basically the whole day doing that and we got pretty dirty, but it was so great. We roasted wurst over a camp fire for lunch and had potato salad and drank loads of water. It was something I had never done before, but it was good. Not many people can say that they went to the Black Forest to do a service project.
So yeah, that was basically my week. When I say basically, I mean that is just part of what happened. I couldn't possibly write everything that happened, because a lot happens in one week, especially on a mission, but it was good. I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Sister E and I with a "welcome to the district" gift from the Elders, the main part of Freiburg, Sister E and I at Stake Conference with our bus :)
Hi everyone! Well, it looks like I'm in Freiburg now. Saying goodbye to Augsburg was super depressing, but that is just how it is on a mission. You gotta pick up and go because there are more people that you need to love.
Transfer day was insane (as always). Getting from Augsburg to Munich went pretty smoothly, but it's when I got on the train to go to Stuttgart that things started getting crazy. There were about 10 of us on the train and 6 of them were brand new fresh shell shocked missionaries straight out of the MTC. I was the oldest missionary (in terms of how long I'd been on my mission) on that train. I don't know how I became so old, but anyways, getting them all on the train was an accomplishment alone because they just kind of wandered around the train station, letting it sink in that they were actually in the field, which I understand, it is a big deal. But OH MY GOSH you need to get on the train because if we miss it, we have messed up our travel plans for the rest of the day. Somehow we got all of them on and their 20 suitcases onto the train with 30 seconds to spare. Well, then we went to Stuttgart and when we got to the stop, we had a limited time to get us and our suitcases off the train. In under two minutes, we got all of the missionaries and our 20 suitcases off the train. I have never thrown so many suitcases in my life. If anyone wants to tell me I am not tough, they will get a suitcase thrown in their face. I now know the real reason that I had to do trek when I was still in Young Women's. Shoving that cart across Wisconsin was practice for shoving those suitcases off the train. Needless to say, I was pretty sore the next day.
Well, after that I met with my new companion Sister Earnshaw. She is probably one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is from Pennsylvania and just finished being trained last transfer so I am her greenie buster. We had two more train rides to take in order to get to Freiburg. They were both an hour long and required a lot more suitcase lugging, but somehow, everything worked out. We made it to Freiburg and the Elders there met us at the train station to help get my suitcases to the apartment. I think I know just a little bit what that handcart company felt like when the rescue team came to help them. I was ready to cry when they took my suitcases out of my hands and rolled them away for me. That sounds a bit dramatic. All I'm saying is, I'm glad that transfer days don't happen all the time.
WELL, now I can tell you what Freiburg is like. IT'S BEAUTIFUL! It is a college town because there is a university here and it is surrounded by mountains. We are right by Switzerland and France and you can really feel it. Augsburg was really German. I would say that Freiburg is really European. Also, since there is a university here, there are a lot of YSA's. They have a center here and a lot of activities that we get to go to when we don't have eating appointments. That's another thing. The ward is really great. We have a solid handful of eating appointments next week and they are really excited to help us with the missionary work which is really all that a sister could ask for.
One thing is, I have never gotten such a strong reaction to my last name before. Oh my gosh. I got introduced in Relief Society, Sunday school, and Sacrament meeting and everyone laughed a lot when they heard my name. I figure it's a good thing because it will be easy for them to remember. Sunday was fast Sunday, and the bishop "invited" me to bare my testimony first. This is my fourth area and fifth ward on my mission and a tiny tid bit that I have learned about the "introduction" testimony is that it makes a big difference to walk to the pulpit with good posture. It just makes you seem less sheepish and like you aren't afraid of the ward members. Just keep that in mind if you get the opportunity to do an intro testimony somewhere.
Anyways, I really haven't been here that long and there is still LOADS to learn. I kind of feel like dead weight to my companion right now because I don't know anything about the area, but I'm trying to be helpful. I hope all is well and that you are all making good choices.
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: The view from my kitchen window in Freiburg, the goodbye picture at the train station, our last district picture in Augsburg
I'VE BEEN TRANSFERRED!!! I found out on Saturday that I will be going to Freiburg on Thursday. I'm in the bottom corner of Germany. My new area boarders France and Switzerland. It will be at least seven hours of train rides on Thursday, but everyone says that it's beautiful. It's right in the Black Forest. Also, my ward is in the Zurich Switzerland Stake, so that means that I get to go into Zurich if there is Stake Conference while I am there and for Zone Conferences I get to go to Switzerland. It's pretty exciting.
It feels weird actually leaving Augsburg. I've been here for four transfers which is about six months and it went by so fast! Augsburg has become home, so I don't think it has really sunk in that I am actually leaving. I don't think I'll really realize it until I walk out of my apartment with my suitcases. Saying goodbye to the ward members on Sunday was super depressing. That's the thing about being a missionary. You go into an area and you literally throw everything you have emotionally and physically into helping and loving the people. Then, you get transferred, and you have to pick up and do it somewhere else. It is a really bitter sweet transition. My new companion's name is Sister Earnshaw. I've never met her before, but she is going into her third transfer, so she just finished being trained. It's a new adventure and I'm excited to see what the next few months bring.
Oh! And I'm 20 now. My birthday was on Thursday and I really didn't expect to do anything for it. I was going to just do the normal stuff, but it all started on Monday when the Elders in my district decided to make me birthday tacos. Six Elders in a kitchen is just so fascinating to watch. They did a great job and they even sang to me (or did their best to sing). They forgot candles, so I blew out someones lighter and that was really something, but it was great of them to think of me, so it was fun. Then, on my actual birthday on Thursday, two ward members who I have become really good friends with made me set up a breakfast eating appointment. I walked through the door just expecting breakfast, but there was actually a giant cake, and this was not just any cake, IT WAS RED VELVET! I love red velvet cake, but that is really not a thing you find in Germany at all. It was so sweet of them to make that for me. That night, we had our sport abend at the church where we played volley ball together and one of the ward members ordered pizza for my birthday. OH, and I finally figured out the trick to volleyball. If you don't grunt when you hit the ball, there is no way it is going to go over the net :) Too bad I got transferred because I was actually starting to get the hang of volleyball. Maybe there will be a sport abend in Freiburg too...we'll just have to see. Anyways it was a good day.
For those of you that are regular blog readers, you might remember that last week we ended up doing our emails at an Internet cafe and not at the church because the computers were being stupid at the church. WELL the guy who works at the Internet cafe became an investigator last week! His name is Frans and we got to have a really good conversation with him as we were paying for our time on the computers. He told us to come back and tell him more, so we did, and he said he wanted to keep learning more, so Sister Baker is going to keep the ball rolling with him, because he is awesome.
We also found another new investigator this week who is a professional women's soccer player. She plays on the FC Augsburg team for women. If she is living in Germany and getting paid to play soccer, you know she kicks butt. She also has the kind of hair that every girl would kill for, but she is super cool because she said she had a Mormon boyfriend once and went to church with him a couple of times, but she never really knew what we are actually about, so she wants to know more! All of these people are coming out of the woodwork now that I'm leaving :( I guess that's just how it is sometimes, but I'm glad that I've at least gotten to meet them.
Yesterday we thought we had a normal eating appointment with a member after church, and they drove us out to their super far away village and didn't actually end up taking us to their house. They took us to a reception hall, and we looked at each other like "What is going on?" and we knew that this member had a birthday that day, but we didn't realize that our eating appointment was actually going to the birthday dinner party for it. Good thing I was wearing a nice skirt. Anyways, we got there and figured out what was going on and then people started showing up. There were people from our ward there and friends of theirs from work, so Mormons and non-Mormons. Something that tends to happen at parties like that is the separation. Mormons at one table, and work friends at another table. The four of us missionaries were there and we decided to make the most of this moment, so I sat down next to two guys who were drinking beer and had tattoos, and spiky hair, and piercings and stuff. I have NO idea why I chose to sit next to them. I got scared the second I sat down, but we actually had a really good time talking to each other. They are both nurses in the emergency room and and one of them told me about his experience with cancer. They had a lot of questions about what the heck we do here as missionaries and it was just super great. You never know who will be curious. I was a good time.
Well, that is my week in a nutshell. It was good one! And I became an Aunt this week! JULIE is in the world now! I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Me at a place in Augsburg called Fuggerei (Google it), me drinking my hot chocolate at cafe dichtl, and I busted the elders acting cool
First of all, we usually do emails from the two computers at church, but one of them decided to crash today, so we are at an Internet cafe listening to the radio and there's this Justin Timberlake song playing right now that I listened to a lot before my mission. I don't remember what it's called, but I don't know how to react. This is really conflicting, but such is life :)
Anyways, we had a really cool week this week. From Tuesday to Wednesday we had exchanges and I got to work with my old companion Sister Mehr again. She is the bomb digidy. We had a great companionship, so working with her for a little bit again was super fun. We went and visited a less active family together and it turned into an eating appointment which I really can't complain about because I was SO hungry, so we had some soup and ate some strudel and talked about the gospel. It doesn't get much better than that.
Sister Baker went to Munich to work with the other Sister Training Leader Sister Ahlm. They had a good time together and did a lot which is good. Exchanges are kind of fun. It's like going on vacation within your mission while still doing missionary work.
On Thursday we had Mission tour, and that was AWESOME! So an Area Seventy came and talked to our mission. It was basically like a private general conference for the missionaries. It only happens once a year, but it's so awesome. We had Elder Patrick Kearon come talk to us. He comes from Great Britain and it was SO GOOD! The overall message that he gave is that we should be so happy to be doing this work and I think it was a really good message for us to hear. In missionary work, it can be easy to get bogged down in numbers and records and transportation and details, and then we end up forgetting just how wonderful this work is that we get to do. I spend all day every day trying to bring people unto Christ, and it really doesn't get much better than that. He said though, that it is up to us to choose to be happy. It is so easy to decide that you are going to be in a bad mood when things don't go the way you want, but that makes things drag along so much more. Be happy about it! We only get to do this for a little while. Enjoy it! Anyways, it was great.
Another really cool thing about mission tour was that all of the Austria and Germany missionaries came together, so that meant that I got to see Sister Bushman from when I worked in Vienna and Sister Arnold from the MTC. It was so great to see them. I hadn't seen Sister Arnold since July. We both freaked out when we saw each other. We talked a lot during the lunch. It was just so fun to see everyone. I saw a lot of the Elders I've worked with too. Whenever I go to these events I remember just how greatly outnumbered I am. Dang, there are a lot of Elders and not a heck of a lot of sisters. So many suits. It's good though. It's just funny how you become a part of the brotherhood. Männer...immer das gleiche Thema...says Schwester Schmid from my ward :)
Yesterday we had Ward Conference and the Stake President came and talked to us. The Stake President here is really a beast. First of all, he knows my name. That is not something I would expect the Stake President to know. That was really impressive. Also, his 11 year old son passed away in October. We were all at the funeral, but I know that it has been rough for his family. The thing is though, they have had the best possible reaction to it that I could possibly imagine. There are pins that every one in the Stake wears that say "Familien sind ewig" which means, families are eternal. He has been a really good example to loads of people, so I always feel honored when I can hear him speak.
But yeah, that was my week, really good. Full of stuff. We are still on the search for people that are ready for this gospel. It is a process and not easy, but that is how it is supposed to be. I think I would actually be quite disappointed if this was easy. It's not easy, but it's great. You would think that combination isn't possible, but I'm living evidence :) I hope you all have a great week. Make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures:
Sister Arnold, Elder Werner and me from my MTC district (we are super awkward, I know), Sister Bushman and I, and me being happy when we got back from a good appointment
Anyways, I'll catch you all up on what happened so I'm not leaving anyone in the dark. My last blog post (for those of you who are not regulars) was about all the crazy train rides we were going to have to take that week, and how we were going to Singen and Munich and through Switzerland and all of that crazy stuff. Well, shortly after I sent that email off to my Dad to be posted on this blog I found out there would be a train strike that whole week. You have no idea how annoying that was. Train strikes are the worst. It makes you pretty unproductive as a missionary, in that mission. After we found out, we went to see if there was anything AT ALL that could get us to where we were going. Train strikes are weird because they do have some random trains that go every now and then, but you never really know what is actually going to happen. We already knew it would be impossible to do the exchange that we had planned that week which was a real bummer, but it could be moved to another week. The next problem though was Mission Leadership Conference (MLC) all the way in Munich. It was going to take us five different trains to get there and there was no way those were all going to go through so we got in touch with the office Elders pretty fast. 
I talked to my Mission President shortly after talking to my Dad, and he agreed that it was the right decision for me. We talked about logistics and things like that, but before he hung up, he let me know that I had served my whole mission. My whole mission was not the 18 months that we all expect. Apparently, mine was thirteen, and that is just how it was supposed to be. Sometimes, rolling with Heavenly Father's plan is hard, but you know what? If His plan is different than mine, it must be so much better because my plan was pretty good too. 
After that, I got driven to the Kohler's house, spent the night there, ate some food, talked to their kids, and then got driven to the airport so I could take the 18 hour journey back to Chicago. The last goodbye to my mission president was kind of soul crushing, but it was how it was supposed to be. I had a super fast layover in Atlanta and was literally running through the airport to make my connection. I made it and then came that moment where you get on the escalator to go down and see if your family is there to pick you up. In that moment, I felt like I was going to cry, pass out, and throw up all at the same time. I went down and saw this strange looking group of people in matching shirts and a GIANT poster. They were my people :) I don't know how they did it, but my whole family was there along with some aunts, an uncle, and cousins. Most importantly though, my mom was there. It was in that moment that I knew being home was exactly what I was supposed to do. I'm home now trying to figure out this normal life thing. Technology is pretty hard, but it feels 100% right to be here. 
