"Guys. my pants are stuck to my leg."(December 22, 2014)

Froh Weihnachten! (Happy Holy Night!)

WHOA! December's basically over!

What on earth happened to the week? And the transfer! We started week 4 of 6 this week. Man, time is just flyin' right by us.

So, crazy story of the week: I almost died. And I wasn't even in my area. I'll tell you about it in a minute because it happened on Friday, and I have to go through the rest of the week first.

Monday, we went to FHE with Famile Titze. They are wonderful. we were the only ones there, none of the JAEs were there, unfortunately. The lesson was in German and about which of the Christmas story characters are our favorite. I had never really thought about it before, But Joseph is a pretty cool guy. I mean. He’s about 17 years old, engaged, and his fiancée gets pregnant. An angel tells him to marry her anyway, so he does, and then raises the child as his own. That takes a lot of faith, trust and strength. The wise men were pretty cool, too. Brother Titze says they were probably prophets from, like, the east, or Europe or Asia or something like that. Maybe even from America. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Tuesday, we had an appointment with Ulla one of our investigators, but we had to reschedule her for Friday, because we were going caroling with the Youth (we were invited by the Joung Damens president, Sister Schmidt) not a lot happened that day, but it was still a good day.

Wednesday we had our usual studies and then had a lesson with Wolfgang and one of his friends Hans. With Wolfgang we talked about the importance of acting to find answers, and how he needs to read out of the Book of Mormon. After our lesson, Hans leaned over and said, "I have a couple questions for y9ou about the Mormons. You don't drink coffee, do you?" so we had and took the opportunity to teach him a little about the Word of Wisdom. He seemed very interested. He’s a very active Roman Catholic, but I think with a little help he will be set down the right path. We pray for him and Wolfgang everyday.

Thursday was Zone conference. Started at 10:00 ended about 4:00, took us 2 hours to get there, and we got to ride an ICE (first class, VERY nice train). it was crazy cool to have a 6 hour conference where the spirit was so strong. I got 6 pages of notes (front and back). It was amazing because I learned so much. I don't have my notes with me, so, unfortunately, I can't give particulars. Just know, it was a lot like General conference, where I learned about 20 zillion new things every talk, and loved every minute of it.

Friday was an adventure. so, we had studies. We went by Tina, who is a character and a wonderful lady. Have I told you about Tina? Then we had our appointment with Ulla at 2:30. it takes about an hour to get to her house which is in a suburb of Brounfels, and we were taking a slightly different route to her house than the one we took last time, so we left a little early. On the way there, the bus strangely reached the end of the line and turned around. Sister Blackhurst and I were both confused, so we umsteiged (oohm-sh-tye-ged= to get off, or exit) and decided to use our new Navi to get to her house (Navi=GPS; our old one broke, so we got a new one at ZoKo). so we pulled the Navi out. (It’s been overcast and kind of cloudy/rainy the last month or so, and it was raining really hard on Friday). so, we head off down the highway in the middle of a rainstorm, trying not to let the Navi get ruined, or slip in the mud, as well as follow the darn thing which was being stupid because it "couldn't find satellite connection." (Yeah, right). we walked for about 15-20 minutes down the highway, and then this old man and his granddaughter pulled up beside us and asked if we were headed to Bonbaden (the town where Ulla lives) and if we wanted a ride.  If it had been just the man, or just the girl, we probably would have said "no," but sister Blackhursts feet where hurting (she broke them both in Chear) and so we accepted. it was another 10 minute drive, and then they dropped us off near Ullas house. it was quite the adventure.

Friday, still- after our appointment with Ulla we had to head to Frankfurt to make a split. I went to Wiesbaden (Vs-bodn) with Sister Brown and Sister Eshemann, a 25 year old from France. (Mom, have you asked Jeff which base he was on when he was here, yet? I really want to know). the Zone leaders, Elders Noorda and Anderson were there as well, because they all had had MLC Friday. so, I went with the four of them to GMi-Co (Gemeinde missions coordination) and it was really cool. we almost didn't make it on time. the appointment was at 7:00, we didn't get there till about 7:10, just because of the travel time and timing of the split and everything. We had dinner there, a simple meal of bread, cheese, and meat. it was actually really good. Brudder Möller, the GML for the Wiesbaden German Ward told us, like, 3 really long stories while we were there. by this point it was about 9:45. About his point he leaves the room to ask his wife a question, and Elder Noorda asks Elder Anderson how bad it is. He says, "My pants are stuck to my leg," and has a look of complete horror on his face. Apparently he has a scar on his leg that likes to bleed when he gets agitated. So, then they had GMi-Co still about 10:15, and we left. the weather was cold enough we had to wait for the windshield to un-fog before we could go. Elder Noorda said a prayer of thanks before we left and asked that we would make it home safe. it was at this point they told us that the car was basically running on fumes. the " low fuel" light had been blinking since they picked me up in Frankfurt, and we'd driven for an hour to get to the Möllers. so we all immediately started praying that we'd be able to make the 20 minute drive back to Wiesbaden. Elder Anderson turned off the heat, and rolled down the window so we could conserve gas, and thankfully the ride was mostly down hill. So, Elder Anderson put the car in Nutral and we all prayed that the traffic signals would be timed so we didn't need to come to a complete stop on the way. Everything worked out, we made it back to the apartment okay, but we had to call President Stoddard to let him know we weren't going to be home until after 10:30, and ask if he knew where open gas stations would be.  That’s okay. We made it fine. it was quite the cold, wet adventure day, Friday.

Saturday was much less eventful, thankfully. We had studies, did a couple go-byes on people who had moved, and then headed to Frankfurt to split back. After we split back, Sister Blackhurst and I headed to an appointment with Wolfgang and Hans. We talked more about the little lings in our religion with Hans, more on the Word of Wisdom, and a bit on the restoration, which I think it's good for Wolfgang to hear these things as well. Maybe the 2nd time though he'll understand more.

Sunday was your typical Missionary Sunday. We got up, got ready, and then headed to church. After church, we practiced our songs with Sister Titze for the Ward Christmas party on the 24th. We (the 4 missionaries) are singing the German version of "With wondering awe", and the Sister Titze, sister Blackhurst and I are singing "Mary did you know?" in English. I wrote an alto part, but haven't had a ton of time to practice, so it's still a little shaky. But I should be able to do it with a little more practice. We’re meeting with Sister Titze tomorrow to practice, and a little before the party on Wednesday for the same reason. It’s going to be fun. I'm excited. ANYWAY. Man, I get side tracked easily. So after that rehearsal, we had Gemeinde Rat (ward counsel) and then went to dinner with Famile Frome (Froh-muh). We got there about 2:30-2:45-ish, and played games like "war," "Make 'n' break," and "Jenga" with the 13-year-old granddaughter, Vikki, for about 1.5 hours. Then we had our dinner at 4, and our spiritual thought at 4:45. Then Brudder Frome took us home. It was crazy, but super fun. We shared the Book of Mormon Christmas Story in 3 Nephi 1:13,14,19-21, and how cool it is to know that even the people on the other side of the world from where he was born knew when Christ was born.  Kind of crazy but shows you the power of God.

Many adventures and miracles happened this week. The power of God is real, and influences even the smallest details of our lives. I hope you all realize that God lives you, and just wants to help you be happy. Remember to let him.

Sister Montgomery.