Miracles and Stake Conference

Hi Everyone! What a week! It was really something, so I guess I'll start with zone training. We had zone training on Tuesday and it was super cool. We talked about how to really use pamphlets when teaching. The Church has these awesome pamphlets that we can use when we teach and it just helps to make things really clear when we are teaching, so we had a whole shindig about how to use them to the fullest. As a part of that we had to do role plays practicing using the pamphlets and I got put with one of the AP's (Assistant to the President) AND IT WAS SO SCARY. This is probably bad, but in my mind, AP's do everything right. We sat down and I did my role play with some wrong German grammar and mess ups here and there, and then he did his role play and basically, he crushed it. It was actually kind of funny, but also super intimidating. The thing is though, I learned a lot. I understood it a lot better after seeing how he would do it, but just wait. This ties into something that happened later in the week, so stay tuned.

On the same day, Sister Mehr and I got a referral from Salt Lake in the mail which is pretty exciting because we have been working really hard with the ward and on our own to get a new investigator. Seriously, we have been praying and doing everything we could to find someone to add to our teaching pool and we freaked out when we got this refurral. It was a tender mercy for sure. WELL we went to contact this referral (because the phone number didn't work), so we pulled out all of our maps and train schedules and figured out how to get to the address, (that is honestly half the battle). We got to the right train station and walked a bunch and GOT THERE!! She knew who we were as soon as we came to the door. She invited us in and wanted to learn about the Book of Mormon and what we believe. She went to the mormon.org website and liked what she saw so she just wants to learn more. Well, in that moment, I remembered that I had the Restoration pamphlet in my bag from when we practiced at zone training and we totally got to do the whole role play! It was awesome! It just went really well and we have another appointment this week! When we were walking back to the train station, Sister Mehr and I called our Zone Leaders and freaked out to them about how we got to use the role play. It was a party over the phone. Actually, it was a miracle. There is always someone out there who wants to learn more about the gospel.

Well anywho, we also had Stake Conference this week or Pfahl Konferenz. It meant that we had to go to Munich AGAIN, but that's ok because Stake Conference is cool. There was a meeting on Saturday night that we went to. It ended at seven and with trains and stuff we didn't get home until about 10 p.m. which is not ideal, but it happens. At the Saturday conference though, they talked A LOT about missionary work. There is a solid handfull of missionaries from the Munich Stake who are out, and they had them all write letters to the Stake about missionary work and then read them over the pulpit. That was pretty cool. The next day (Sunday) a couple in our ward drove Sister Mehr and I to Conference which was really nice of them. They picked us up and started driving and asked what our rules were on music. We gave them the white handbook spiel and explained that it should be uplifting, invite the spirit, no romantic undertones etc. They said "perfect! we have a really good song to listen to!" and started blasting "Eye of the Tiger". It was actually hilarious. Sister Mehr and I were just sitting in the back seat looking at each other trying not to laugh, because yes, it is a pretty uplifting song, but it is not exactly something we would have playing in our apartment when we are getting ready in the morning. 

Well anyways, we got to Conference and walked in and just started talking to people like crazy. We talked to people in our Ward and people not in our Ward and just talked and talked and talked. For a second, I looked up on the stand and noticed our Mission President (President Kohler) sitting on the stand with his wife (as he was speaking) watching us all like a hawk. It is a really good thing Sister Mehr and I were talking to people, because whether we know it or not, we are being watched all the time. Moral of the story, be the best missionary you can be all the time. It was a really good Conference though. The youth sang, and I thought back to the time in my life when I participated in youth choirs like that. It is so weird to be where I am now, and look at the young women and know that I was there not that long ago. It's just crazy.

But yeah, that's my life in a nutshell. Some of you may or may not be noticing that I am writing pretty early today. That is because we are going on a p-day adventure to Neushwanstein! It's the castle that inspired Cinderella's caslte at Disney World. I'm pumped. I'm wearing pants. It doesn't get much better than that! I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!

Love,

Sister Smiley

Pictures: Cake at a cafe, me doing some mapping before heading out to an address, and a simple yet charming picture of Sister Mehr and I.