Week #37 (2-9-09)

Well...I forgot to tell about a few things last week. Last Saturday we had a Grünkohl essen with the ward. Grünkohl is cooked green cabbage with sausage in it...we don´t have it in America...it is just a weird German tradition!! On Friday we went to the church and helped peal potatoes to prepare for the meal... have never pealed so many potatoes in my life!! It was a lot of fun and now I can say that I am a professional potato pealer...I have learned from the experts!! We pealed almost 50 kilos of potatoes...well not just me and my comp...there were 5 of us pealing and 2 cooking the cabbage/sausage. So then the big day came and my comp and I went to help finish cooking everything. The tradition in Bremen (not just the members of the church) is every year they have a big Grünkohl essen...normally after the first frost of the year. They say the kohl just doesn´t taste good until it has had frost on it...I just don´t think it tastes very good. :o) Well part of the tradition is to go for a LONG walk before they eat...to help you build up your appetite. The Bremer outside of the Church do stuff with beer and alcohol, but the members just do the walk...about 2 hrs at least. So we stayed in the church and helped while the ward went on their walk. So they were cooking the kohl in HUGE tall round cooker things and the power kept going out in the kitchen because we had 3 huge things cooking...so they kept grabbing extension cords and plugging it into other rooms, but it still didn´t work...the lights kept going off and we kept flipping the power back on. Finally as one of the ladies was pulling one of the extension cords into another room one of the HUGE cooker things flipped over completely upside down on the floor and Grünkohl juice started running everywhere...there was no lid on it!! One of the other ladies let out the funniest, loudest, blood curdling scream ever. She then yelled for the other lady to come and they quickly tried to figure out what to do. They were about to just flip it over, but I told them it might be better to put something under it first...so we grabbed a cookie sheet, stuck it under and then flipped it over. We didn´t lose too much Grünkohl and we swore an oath together that we wouldn´t tell anyone till the essen was over. I felt bad for the ladies because they were very stressed out, but to be honest I was laughing inside!! We then put one of the cookers upstairs and that helped to make more room in the kitchen and also to help with the light problem. Sister Sayson and I needed to whip up some whipping cream so we had to go upstairs in the nursery to use the mixers. It was funny. Then everyone came back and we ate so many potatoes, meat, green cabbage and then my favorite dessert...Quark. OHHHH....SOOOOO GOOD!!! MMMmmmmm!! :o) It was a great day, but my stomach hurt because I ate to much!! :o)

So this last week....
Last monday we went bowling and had pizza as a district. That was fun, but my mission body is so pathetic. I have no more energy to do anything except for missionary stuff. I mean I can walk around the city for 4 hours or more, but playing one game of bowling wipes me out. During the second game I started yawning and could have fallen asleep...I was pooped. So sad...I hope that I can get my energy back so I can be more exciting again!! Well that is unimportant now...I have energy enough to do the work of the Lord and that makes me happy.

So we had met this lady on the street awhile ago and had made an appointment out for this last tuesday...we were really excited for it and when the time came, headed down our street to find her house number...she lived on our street. Well we were walking and walking and walking....we live at number 92 and she lived at number 265...so we found number 221 and then walked past a huge clinic for a few blocks and the next house was number 301...yeah....it was not there. We walked back again and then back the other direction. Then we asked in the clinic and the clinic´s address was the cross street and not the main street we were on. So then we walked through the clinics parking lot to see if for some strange reason it was behind the clinic, but no. We spent about 45min. looking for the house and could not find any numbers between 221 and 301...I´m still confused and sad...schade!! That is not the first time on my mission that I could not find a house I was looking for...sometimes the streets are really confusing in Germany!! Hopefully we will find her.

On Wednesday we went to the University and passed out flyers for our Englisch class. We teach an Englisch class in the church every week...it is pretty fun when we have students. This week we had one man and we worked on his pronunciation. It was really funny...he could not say the "th" sound...he is from Turkey...we worked on that for a while. It was really good. I learn so much about how to better my German when I teach English class. Sister Sayson and I have been working on my pronunciation and it has been helpful, but SO hard. I have to change how I say "L"...they don´t have our "L" at all...it is interesting. I was practicing with her one night on the street as we were walking home. We walked up behind this old lady with a dog and she asked me if I was learning german and I told her I was just working on my pronunciation and she wished me luck. It´s coming along!!

Then Friday came...We had just finished studying and I was deciding what shoes to wear...yeah...those are the exciting decisions that I get to make in the morning before I leave. I was about to put on my boots, but before I did I opened the curtains and there it was...the most beautiful, seattle blue sky I have seen in Months. A rush of love and happiness came over me!! I put on just normal shoes and we went outside. I thought that spring had come. As we were in the Bahn I was sitting by the window and I just turned my face toward the sun, closed my eyes and just enjoyed the warm sun on my face. I didn´t realize that I hadn´t seen the sun like that in months. Living in Seattle my whole life you just kind of get used to the cloudy winter and don´t realize you haven´t seen the sun till it appears one day. It was such a great day. We went to an appointment with Katharina today...a new member and she wanted to sit outside in the sun. So we hoped on the bus and headed to a lake that was close by. We found a bench and talked and read in the scriptures together. It was so beautiful and it was so great to sit with her. She was really not doing well a few weeks ago, but now she is a lot better. A lot more positive and happy. We committed her to read the whole Book of Mormon in 6 months. In German that is only 4 pages a day!! She said she would try...that is how she says yes!! :o) We also ate with my favorite family that night. They are both return missionaries and have 3 kids with one on the way. They are just what I want. The dad is such a great dad and you can tell that he loves his kids and his wife. They are so wonderful. We did this super cool spiritual thought about having faith through trials. We took a tea bag...without the tea and opened it up into a tube thing, put it on one of the elders hands and light it on fire. The fire slowly creaped down towards his hand and right before it should have burned him the flaming tube floated up into the air. The family was amazed...it was cool. The Lord will never let us be tempted more the we can handle or have trials more then we can handle. We might get scared and it might get hard to continue to have faith, but He is always there to help us before it is too late. It was cool. Don´t try that at home with out a professional missionary with you!! :o)

The weather then turned back to normal...on Sunday it even started to snow a bit...Uhhgg!! We were in a meeting at the time though and it was gone when we got out. Man...the Lord really loves me...gave us a beautiful sunny day and also made sure the snow was melted by the time we were outside. WOW!! He is so good to us!!

Today I broke down and cut my hair...well not me...I went to a salon. It looked fine after I cut it, but I just did a little bit, then we noticed that I still have split ends on my shorter layers...well I´m not a pro, so I just went and got it cut. I was nervous, but I explained to her what I wanted and she did it. It´s still shorter then I wanted, but it will grow!!

So that was my week!! I´m really excited for this week...we already have 9 appointments scheduled and zone conference...we don´t have much more time this week, but we still have a few people that we need to meet with. It will be a great week. The blessings of the Lord are all around us here in Germany!! I love this work. I know that it is the work of the Lord and that He is the leader of this church. He is my Lord, He is my Savior, He is my Friend. He is my one and only way back to my father in Heaven!! I know that God lives...He is all around us. Everything we see everyday is proof that there is a God. I know Him...because I have made a relationship with him through prayer. I know he hears and answers my prayers...He is there and when we come to Him, He will help us know He is there. This is the best thing I have chosen to do in my life. I love it here and I love the Lord and my Father in Heaven.

Sister Jones