3-30-15

Jake emailed me Mom.

Anyway, most of this week was spent helping Sister Wildt move out.  We spent a day and a half cleaning.  She leaves this week, and I don't want her to go.  She's awesome!

We also meet a potential on Tuesday at the Bishop's house.  He's a first grade teacher and seems very open to learning more about our church.  Bishop Anderson gave him a Book of Mormon earlier and without us even promting him told us he'd been reading it.  We also had an incredible discussion around the dinner table about scriptures and the gospel.  It reminding me of talking with Dad about that stuff. 

I alos discovered why we need to bring flashlights.  For when the landlord sends the electricity bill to the wrong adress and we get to spend 24 hours without it while they sort that out.  We had fun though.  And, because of that, the German Sisters finally got into the apartment across the hall from us.  They'd been trying for a while now with no sucess.  Because we had no power, the woman helped us out, and they got to talk to her. 

That all for this week.  Thank you so much for everthing!  

Love you.

Pictures of Rachel arriving in Germany

Sister Peterson with her mission president and wife and her trainer

Sister Peterson arriving in Germany



 

Picture

Rachel first visit to the Frankfurt Temple

3-23-15

I got you're package Thursday at Zone Conference.  I love it!  My companion was also very impressed by your skills.  With stuff sent the the mission office, I don't know when they arrive, but whenever the Zone Leaders are over there they'll pick stuff up for us, also at transfers and Zone Conference we can get them.  I don't really know how that all works.

One day it's warm and sunny, the next it's cold.  It always seems to deciede to be cold when we do street displays too.   It's getting warmer though.  I'm not looking forward to summer though.  No air conditioning plus humidity.  It'll be fun:)

With the Temple, it depends on how close you are to it.  If you're close enough to go, it's once a transfer.

We had the coolest sacrament meeting yesterday.  They had Brother Brown, the word choir director, talk for a few minutes about music and how important it is, then they let anyone come up, tell their favorite hymn and why, then we sang the first verse of said hymn.  Or whatever verse they requested.  It was so amazing, and the Spirit was so strong.  Even the primary children came up.  One did "Hymn 300 Families Can Be Together Forever, because I want my family to be together forever."  Everyone just did little things like that so that we could sing as many as possible.  I loved it.

Zone Conference was fun.  There were four zones and I saw a lot of people from the MTC.  We talked about chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel: Use Your Time Wisely.  It was fun, inspiring, and all around awesome.  We also got to preview the new Easter Video, Because He Lives.  It will air March 28, and is incredible.  I strongly encourage everyone to watch it.  

That's all for this week.  I hope you all have a wunderbar week!

Love,

Rachel

3-17-15

Sorry I'm late, we went to the Temple.  (Yes Kersten, I took pictures)

It's a bit hard right now because Spring/Summer time is when people move.  But, a member family brought they're friends to church last Sunday and said they want to meet with us!  The entire ward is way excited about missionary work.  The bishop makes every activity planned in ward council about that.  We've also been going around to member's homes helping them come up with a Family Mission Plan.  We basically help them think of things that they can do to help missionary work.  It's just little things: pray for the missionaries, let people know you're LDS, have a picture of Christ where people can see it, not being afraid to answer questions, regular family home evening, etc.  Everytime we've done that, the members start talking about how they can see an area where they can reach out more.  It's been way cool.

So, the Frankfurt Temple.  It's incredible.  It's small, but it's just as detailed and majestic as any other Temple I've been to. 

Side tangent.  One thing I love about Germany is that there are bakeries everywhere.  There's at least one on every block, I'm not exagerating.  We pass I think four on our way to a bus stop that's about three blocks from our apartment.  It's the greatest thing ever.j

I love you all!

Rachel

3-9-15

The military base is interesting.  We can't go door to door, because that's illegal, so we have to be more creative.  One thing is listening for English on the streets and buses, and then relying a ton on the ward.  We also work a lot with less active members. 

The ward here is amazing.  Everyone is so incredible.  Bishop Anderson is constantly looking for people that the missionaries can go by and never stops smiling.  He's so happy all the time, it's awesome.  The other ward members are just as cool.  I've gained a deeper appreciation for our military.  These people are so cool, and thinking about what they're doing blows my mind.  They're so humble too.  Some of the stories I've heard could come straight out of an action movie, but they don't boast about it.  They don't show off.  They see and recognize God's hand in their lives and are just amazing.  I can't wait to get to know everyone better.

 

I love you all!

Rachel

P.S.  I'd gloat about not having daylight savings, but we do that next week.  America has way too much influence sometimes.  But they have peanut butter and pop tarts, so it's okay.

3-2-15

So, a lot has happened.

First the flight.  I love flying.  I got a window seat for both flights, and looking out over the world, I just felt so much peace and comfort.  I was in awe of this beautiful world our Heavenly Father made for us.  I can't even explain it.  I also very much enjoy take off.  Landing, not so much.

Now I'm in Germany.  The first day was crazy with orientation and all that fun stuff.  We slept in a Hotel then got our Trainers and area the next morning.  My Trainer is Sister Brown, and she's amazing.  I'm serving in the Wiesbaden Military Ward, and you know what that means?  English!  I still speak German to People on the streets and buses, but church is in English and most of our investigators too. 

Our appartment has five rooms, kitchen, bathroom, study room, and two bedrooms.  We share it with two Sisters in the German Ward. They have desks in their bedroom, so they study in there. 

So, you know how I was so happy not to eat Mexican Food.  First dinner appointment, Mexican Food.  Gotta love Americans. 

That's all I can think of right now.  I love you all and am so grateful for all of you.

Tschüss,

Sister Peterson