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Schwester Montgomery

Friday, March 20, 2015

"I'M A NORMAL MEMBER!" (March 16, 2015)

'ello, 'ello, 'ello!

SO. Here's what's new.

Tuesday, nothing really new or exciting happened, except that we got the paperwork to get our German drivers licenses, and set up appointment for one of the members to come with us to the DMV to help us with those. Last Zone Training we learned that it was a new mission policy for all of the missionaries to have their licenses ASAP so that if they got put into a car area they didn't have to wait to drive. So we're working on getting our licenses. It's a bit of a slow process. Also, Tuesday was my 6-month mark, and we got Döners (dooners- basically a really yummy meat sandwich) as the only part of our celebration because we were out and about literally all day, and didn't have time to have an actual party. Oh, well.

Wednesday was my first Gemeinde Abend (ward FHE) and it was really fun. the ward missionaries had the lesson, which means that, yes, we got to participate :) I gave a minute spiel on Tugend (I forgot for a second that that means "Virtue" auf English) and I basically read the section on Virtue from Preach My Gospel. (Chapter six, if anyone is interested in reading about Christ-like attributes.) The other subjects covered were charity, knowledge, humility, and hope, all of which are also covered in PMG chapter six. I challenge you to read the chapter and take the attribute test at the end of it. I will be checking up on that, next week.

Thursday, we went to visit one of the elderly sisters of the ward, Sister Kremann (Kray-man). We made pancakes and helped her figure out how to use this premade mix, and then I got to cook the pancakes. I gave up on trying to use the spatula about halfway through and just used the pan to flip the cakes. Sister Bates and Sister Kremann were both impressed, and it made me feel good, because I have virtually no cooking skills.

Okay. Time for an explanation on my subject line.

So, there is this inactive in the ward, Sister Peterson, and she hadn't been to church in about 6 years. She was a rock before, (return missionary and everything). So we'd mean trying to meet with her, and help her come back. So, Sister Bates had met with her once before I got here, and then we met with her a couple weeks ago, we read out of the Book of Mormon with her, and she said that she wanted to read on her own. And so, we made 2 follow up appointments for this week, for Tuesday and Friday. But Tuesday, she called and canceled, both appointments on us. And then she said that she'd be at church on Sunday. We were SO excited. (Just wait. the story's not over, yet). So at Gemeainde Rat, Tuesday Evening, we told bishop that sister Peterson said she would be at church, and he didn't get very excited -- we figured this was because he's used to people saying things and not following through, which is really sad. So bishop told us to call her some time during the week, and ask if there was anything we could do to help her get to church.  Friday, we call Sister Peterson, and she gets super excited. She tells us "I'm going to be there. I am a normal member, not one of your investigators! When I say I'm coming to church, then I'm coming to church!" I may or may not have fallen to the floor and gotten a stich in my side, I was laughing so hard. it was the best! Even sitting here remembering makes me start laughing again.  Yes she came to church (15 minutes early) yesterday, and we plan on seeing her next week as well. We’re super excited and happy for her as she makes changes in her life. Bishop was really surprised and happy to see her when he walked in to church. it was really fun to watch his face light up with joy. It was amazing.

Saturday, was ridiculously crazy busy. We had cleaning checks, and Brother and Sister Bentsch (Bench - a married couple from Hagen -- an area to the south east of us) came to visit us, and helped us with some culture things as well as cleaning. Brother Bentsch fixed our toilet seat--which was loose and cock-eyed -- and one of the supports from our shower curtain which had fallen off. While he was doing that, Sister Bentsch got talking to us about Family History. Her other calling is a stake indexing specialist, I believe, and Sister Bates is also a big Family History fan, so they had a fun, and Sister Bentsch gave us some useful information or get records it was really cool and nice of her. Also, after emails last week, Sister Bates and I both got on Familysearch.org, and did some Family History. Sister Bates actually did stuff, and I just kind of had fun tracing my lines back trying to get to Adam again. And guess what I found: I found someone down Grandpa Montgomery's line, I believe, and guess where she was from? At least for a little while because it said that her death place was GIEßEN, HESSEN!!!!! I was just there!!! Why didn't I find this woman's information on the website before I got transferred out???? Anyway, as you can tell, I was a little bit excited about that.

After cleaning checks we had an appointment with Sister Arnold, but while we were unter wegs (oohn-tur vehgs= en route) the bahn driver said that he couldn't go through a part of town because there was some sort of emergency going on, so everyone had to get off. SO. Sister Bates and I went on an adventure trying to find the next halte stelle (halt-uh sh-tell-uh=stop) we needed. Sister Bates had fun trying to figure things out because even though she's been here for 5 transfers, she still can't get certain places without a bahn. So we had fun getting to our appointment.

After that we had to eating appointments scheduled back to back (but 2 hours apart). Thankfully, neither of the sisters fed us a ton, just one plate, but they were big plates, and they were full. They were fancy looking meals, like when Danika plays "master chef" and has to set stuff up really nice with garnishes, and fancy cheese, and spices. They were both really good. The second appointment was with a Columbian woman, Sister Kretchmann, married to a German (who, unfortunately is deceased) who just got back from Orlaub (vacation) visiting her son in Colorado. While she was there, she got a new tablet, and after she got home was trying to get it hooked up to the Wi-Fi in her house. She asked us to help. It took a few minutes; several tries and lots of drama (mainly sister Kretchmann falling back to the floor and wailing "Heavenly Father, why??" with her hands over her face) but we eventually figured it out. Later, I told Sister Bates, that I learned a few tricks from my IT Tech, Masters Degree brother (shout out to you, Jedi!), and that she was lucky I had had to figure out how to get my PC and iPod hooked up to the Wi-Fi at home and school, or I would have had no idea how to help her.  It was great fun.

So, yeah, that was my week. it was a lot of fun. I quite enjoy telling everyone stories. Apparently I'm good at it, because Sister Bates is continually asking me to "tell me another story, :D" I have no problem with it. I think it's funny, and quite fun because I miss being able to write/read stories.

Yeah . . . Hope you all are doing well. I miss you and love you, and can't wait to hear from you, letters are always welcome, and transfers aren't for 3 weeks, and it takes about 2 weeks for a letter to get from your mailbox to mine or the other direction.

Oh, yeah! The sun is shining right now, and it's warmer than it has been all year. We're hoping spring is around the corner, because we love spring and sunshine because it makes us happy:)


-Sister Montgomery

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