Thursday, November 27, 2014

Even Though We May Not Think So, We ALWAYS Have A Reason To Be Thankful.


November 24, 2014
Welcome to the last week of the transfer!!!!! ahhhhh this means my last week of being a trainee!!! at last!!! well formally a trainee, i think ill still feel like it for at least a few more months...transfer calls are on Saturday, yikes!
random thoughts for y'all:
Glad you’re having Pina Pizza for Thanksgiving!! Think of me pleeeeaseeee!!!!
sister Harris learned from a lady from Africa how to tie the turbans. legit right?!
Glad you got the letter. I’ll try writing one today. I think I like writing letters better too, pops.
No momma, Thanksgiving will be a normal day. I am going to make those little turkey headbands for sis Harris and I to where at home, and probs to district meeting on Wednesday. Tradition still rollin'
I got a flu shot! The mission is paying, thank you!
soooo this week flew by!!
Sister Harris is probably the most happiest person ever. She uplifts me everyday, and I just love serving with her! She makes other people feel so loved and special. Love it. Love her.
We have sort of hit a rut with some of our investigators in the past few days. Sometimes, well most of the time, agency can be quite frusturating! People have good intentions, but until they act on these intentions and feelings they cant progress!!  We did get a call from some kind of wacko sounding dude who wants to meet with us, so we'll be meeting with him later this week. A bit of a surprise, but hey the Lord works in mysterious ways.
We finally got a hold of B! He wanted a priesthood blessing from the elders! He is trying to stop smoking again. I told him that he had done it before, and he just nodded his head, and said, " you’re right".  Well auf deutsch of course. So he was more positive after we met with him! He thinks he has no time for baptism, but we are STILL trying to help him see how much it will help him RIGHT NOW.
This week wasn’t too eventful, or I am just not thinking of everything that happened.
Sunday was the PV Darbietung! aka the Primary Program!!! SOOOO PRECIOUS!! Sunday, yesterday, was the highlight of my week! Church was so fun with all the cute little German kids singing and giving talks! I love the Braunschweig ward so much. The members are all so awesome and solid. I was pretty overcome with love and gratitude for the ward during sacrament meeting on Sunday. It was so goood!! I love going to church! We also had TWO eating appointments, mittags with the Hellers, sister Heller is the Relief Society Prez so I thought of my momma. They gave us rotkohl which I loooovoe and klöße. soooooo delish. Then this pudding quark dessert. We took a train home, then got right on the straßenbahn to go to our next meal at the Jobs! 
Dinner at the Jobs Home

 Bruder and Schwester Jobs, and their 5 kids. I love them! Such a cute family. All 6 of us missionaries were there and we had tacos. I thought of hoooooome and home made salsa!!!!!!!!! and tortillas!!!!! People played piano and we all sang. The kids are sooo cute and Bruder and Schwester Jobs are soooo nice. Bruder jobs always talks in English and German, he is really funny!! It was such a nice time and I just had the best day ever! I love Sundays!!
Also this ancient lady at church gave sis Harris and me home made bookmarks! She gives them to all the sisters and I finally got mine! So cute!!
Soooo happy to read Hermana Mittleman's email and those twins wanting to get baptized.  That's what's up! Love her and miss her tons. And you all too!!
I am glad to be thankful this week for everything that I have. Even though we may not think so, we ALWAYS have a reason to be thankful. 1. For a loving heavenly Father 2. For a loving Savior! Enough said, right? I am so glad that I am alive. I know the church of Christ has been restored on the earth. I know that if we make good choices now, we can live with God and Jesus Christ again, and feel more happiness than we can currently comprehend. The Book of Mormon is full of precious and solid testimonies. When we read in the BofM we will be happy, and we will be strengthened in all aspects of our life.  Have a solid week, and Happy Thanksgiving!!!! LOVE YOU
Looooooove
Sister mittleman


 
Schwester's Mittleman & Harris

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Heavenly Father Is Involved In The Little Things Of Our Lives.


November 17, 2014
Guten Tag liebe Familie!!!
Time has been flying by sooo fast!! This is a short transfer, only 5 weeks, and we are already on the fourth weeek! waaahhh!!
I love Germany soooo much!!! The language, the people, especially the old ancient people, the foood, the landscape, everything!!! It is sooo prettty here! I am so grateful that I am serving here. 
A few random things...Sister Harris taught me how to wrap a turban on my head!! hahahaha sooooo funnny. She said that an African woman taught her how. Pics will come.

 German yogurt is sooooo goood. This week I bought a 1kg bag of gummy bears. Yes, that's right. I think I have eaten gummy bears almost everyday of the mission. What a life! I eat very politely like a European now, aka I eat salad with a fork and knife. Legit, right?
Thank you for the awesome emails!!! I love your emails sooo much, the updates, the testimonies, the pics. Dad's Father Christmas beard is looking way good. I love you all soooo much!!
sister mittleman

Just kidding that is not the end. That just felt very final for some reason...let us move on. 
Question time! Or, answers to your questions I mean!
Investigators!! yay! Jump on the train of progression! 
Have not had contact with B for about a week. He is out of town. Gets back tomorrow. We shall see. I love him! I am not too worried about him, as this has happened before. The gospel has just changed him so much, and he knows how much it helps him. Soooo coool.
Dearest H, the lady who just walked into church a few weeks ago. We finally made an appt with her, and talked about the restoration. After the first vision, delivered by yours truly, all she really said was, wow you said that practically word for word. hahaha oh man she has been reading very studiously in the pearl of great price. She is so awesome!! She is from Berlin, and has lived here for about six or seven years. She has been steadily coming to church, and accepting the lessons. We plan to invite her to baptism within the next two hours!! Woohoo!
That’s all the time I have for that. Wish I could say oodles more!
Noo idea about Christmas calls....
Two awesome things happened this week.
1. We went up to Peine to visit a less active sister. She lives a little bit in the middle of nowhere. At the end we were pushing it with time, and then she asked us how to talk to a friend about the gospel. of course we were going to give her advice right! But then when we walked outside, sister Harris looked at her watch, and said we have to run! If we missed our bus to Bahnhof we would be stuck for an hour, but we had other trains to catch and people to see so we started jamming over there! I was looking at my watch, totally thinking we were going to miss it, but I was praying anyway that somehow we would make it! Lo and behold, the bus was 3 minutes late. WE MADE IT. Seriously, Heavenly Father is involved in the little things of our lives. I know it. He cares about everything!  
2. We were visiting a newly baptized family, and we decided to sing a song. As we started to sing, one of the little boys came over and snuggled into my side so he could try and sing the words. SO PRECIOUS!! I love all of the sweet children here! It made my day!
Well time is coming to an end!
I love you all so much. Stay true, and expect a letter in the mail!! 
liebebee grüsse
sister mittleman

Welcome to Germany, Silver Fox Status!


November 10, 2014
Greetings and good tidings from Deutschland, land where everybody smokes and it's cool for men to carry tote bags. First shout out goes to Stacie Norton, my first trainer who has been home for almost two weeks now!! Woohoo! Mom you should friend her on FB. Dad you too I guess.
Highlights from the week and then answers to questions I didn't answer.
Zone training meeting in Hannover! Yes Elder Karlen, Jacob's cousin was there as he is a zone leader. (If you had sent the package a littttle bit earlier I might have gotten it then, but I should be able to get it next month, alles gut)My interview with president Kosak was awesome!! I LOVE HIM. He is so funny and solid. I said the opening prayer in German and he complimented me on my German. (life goal accomplished.)
We had lots of joint teaches this week. We visited this one lady with a lady from the ward. Frau H hasn't been to church yet, but she really agrees with everything we teach and talk about. Schw B from the ward pretty much straight up said her baptism wasn’t valid, and then after talking we invited her to baptism. She said she has to think about it (not a surprise). Going to church will be really helpful, so she can just come and check out the scene!! After our appt Schw B took us back to her place where she made us eierkuchen. aka german pancakes. She is this suuuper cute older lady. She made soooo many but they were sooooo cute and full of German goodness. I’ll send a pic of the stack.
Eierkuchen aka German pancakes

We took a recently returned missionary to R’s. She knows that baptism is a good thing to do, but said that one day she will just decide to do it. Our gml suggested going over just to read in the BOM with her, so we did that yesterday and in the middle of reading she said something about her first baptism, and expressed concern and questions. Revelation for us all indeed. We didn’t know she was still thinking about that, so we were grateful for her saying so.  We are going back with a solid prepared lesson to help her see the need for the restoration of the priesthood.
B has a really busy life as he has a looot of job interviews all the time. But we were able to meet with him and take him through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He wanted to know where he was on his " heilige Reise" hahahaha his German is so great!! We also talked about the word of wisdom, as that is something he is still struggling with. He knows that he should stop smoking, its just realizing that we need to focus on the enabling power of the Atonement instead of on our own weaknesses. But hey, easier said than done. He still wants to get baptized!! But with his schedule we are moving forward slowly. He was telling us how much the church, and the sisters (us) (heeeey) changed his life. I know I have said this before, but seeing somebody develop faith, and watching them change through the power of the Gospel is probably the coolest and most worthwhile thing ever.
We got to go to stake conference in Hannover this weekend! The stake president looks and sounds like president Uchtdorf. Welcome to Germany, silver fox status! On Sunday, our new investigator, H, the lady who just walked into church two weeks ago, drove us over. We were so excited she came!! She really is a miracle sent from the Lord.
I have seen many small miracles and tender mercies this week.  Many of them were nice bus drivers with warm buses. Last night we were RUNNING to catch a train, man I hate but love all those experiences I’ve had. Every time I’m just praying my heart out that we'll make it. And we did. Heavenly Father is so aware of each and every one of us. He is aware of every circumstance and situation we find ourselves in. He wants to hear about it all! I know it.
Soo some answers to your questions,
Sister Elda Harris is from Wisconsin!! She is cheerful and excited and soooo friendly and warm. She invites the spirit into our studies, prayers, and lessons. etc so easily. I love her!!
Have not seen that movie yet. (Meet the Mormons)
hahahaha challenging? Mom, please. Alright alright now that the humble pie is gone down.... challenging thing was almost getting sick earlier this week.  I bought some vapor rub though and it healed me. haha President Kosak even smelled it during my interview. He was impressed.
My interview with President was probably the best thing about this week. Besides all the German food I ate. And besides the fact that I am a missionary, but that's implied right?
I love my life. Not just because I am a missionary, but because I know that I am a child of God, my Heavenly Father who loves me so much. I love you all so much. Being a missionary has made me realize how simple the Gospel is. We know through the scriptures and leaders of the church what we need to do to be happy. So let's do it! There is no place I would rather be than here. You all strengthen me soooo much. Thank you soooo much for EVERYTHING. I can’t even say how grateful I am!!! 2 Nephi 4 has meant a lot to me in the past few weeks, I personally invite you to read it. Stay gold! I love you!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister Mittleman
ps i sent a letter today!!
View from Madison's apartment


I Just Loved Being Outdoors In The Lovely German Nature.


November 3, 2014
Schönen guten Morgen everybody!
IT IS NOVEMBER!!! I can hardly believe it!!! But it is very exciting. It is so pretty here in Germany.  The weather is unbelievably gorgeous, people can hardly believe it. I like to think that it is because good ol Deutschland is trying to take care of the little california girl. danke schön, Deutschland, danke schön.
SISTER NORTON IS GOOOONE. That was just so weird! I cried as their (elder carpenter left on the same train too) train pulled away....then I turned around and was....alone...with three elders...I am so excited for sister Norton to continue being crazy and sharing her testimony with those at home. She is the best!!!
Sister Harris is from Wisconsin. She has been out for about a year. She looks Asian, but she isn't..  She is sooo excited and happy! I love it!! We will continue to do great things together, I just know it.
Megan's emails are sooo funny!!  So her. She is just doin' awesome, I am so proud of her, she is such an example of happiness to me.
This week was a little hard, with sister Norton leaving, and then me taking over the area, and trying to keep everything going. We had a lot of appointments fall out, which was hard of course, but life goes on.
R! So we took over a recent RM, Yannick, who served in the England London South Mission I think. We talked about fasting and praying in relation to baptism. We had decided it would be a good leap of faith to set a date, and then ponder about the date. Sometimes we need to take a step forward into darkness, before the light illuminates the way. R didn't say yes, but hey she didn't say no!! She knows that baptism is right, and comes from God. We decided on the 22nd of this month. She came to church and really liked it; We will go over this week to see how she is feeling. I love her so much, she is strong in her faith, and strengthens me so much!
B!!! Oh man, I love B! B still has the desire to be baptized, he just doesn't know how much longer he will be here in Braunscwheig. There are still some lessons and principles we need to teach him, but he is just so open to learn and improve his life and well being. haha, when i asked him if baptism was still something he wanted to do, he said, well yes, but I don't think I can do it next week because I need to buy a white suit to get baptized in. hahahaha he is so precious!
So last week, a lady just walked in to church with an invite that was waaay old, thank goodness the ward still meets at the same time! She gave me her number, and stayed for all three meetings. She really enjoyed how "lebendig" it all is:) she didn’t have time last week to meet, but she came to church yesterday again! We will meet this week, and she wants to come to stake conference next week.
Stake Conference is next week in Hannover, we get to go awww yeah!! I am excited. This week we have a zone training meeting on Wednesday in Hannover as well. And guess who is going to be there? President and Sister Kosak! Interview time!! I am stoked. What a treat and blessing.
Ok now I will answer some of your questions.
Shoes are doing well. Yes ill buy boots soooon. But they are not yet needed. I am enjoying that while I can
We usually have an eating appt every Sunday, rarely another time during the week. I LOVE GERMAN FOOOD. That meal is usually lunch. That's the main meal here. mittags. I can't tell you how much I love the food here!!! So good!!
Yes we cook some things. Will you send me a recipe for cookies, like pumpkin bread or a little somethin something? That would be cool. Our kitchen is tinyyy, but it's fine.
I ran out of my star wars sour vitamin gummies!!!! I’ll have to find an agreeable alternative.
I stayed here in Braunschweig, so my address is the same!
The best thing this week was last Monday, our last pday as a district before Trainer Norton and elder carpenter left. We took the train down to Goslar, where the elders lead us pretty much straight up a German "hill" if you could call it. It was so much fun, and I just loved being outdoors in the lovely German nature. It was so beautiful!! suuuuper tiring. But a day well spent. I loved it.
Thank you for your updates and encouragement. I really can feel the love since I've been here in Germany. I love being here, and I love being a missionary. We have a misison goal to have 125 baptisms by the end of the year. Totally shaffbar!!! We had a mission wide conference call last Saturday night. President Kosak  said that we must believe in and expect miracles. We have to have the desire to do what it takes to bring as many souls unto Christ as we can. "If you do not have such a desire, why are you here?" THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT. We can all be apart of this sacred and important work. The Savior and Father in Heaven will magnify our efforts, we just have to try! I love you all!!
Sister Mittleman