Charleys Angels and the X-Men - August 31, 2015

Letter home -- Charley's angels, and the X-Men

Monday, we had an adventure trying to get Sister Lyman a hair cut. It didn't work. So we went to the Comte's, and helped them cook dinner for our appointment with Bobby: home made chicken pot pies, which were actually pretty good. Our lesson with Bobby was over the commandments. Over all, it went pretty good, but It didn't go as well as we'd hoped. He accepted everything we told him fine, but for some reason likes to get caught up on the wording in the scriptures, and some of his questions are hard, like what words mean, most of it is abstract stuff, like "what did he mean when he used this wording in this context," or something, so a lot of times I feel like I'm swinging in the dark trying to hit his answer to him, bit it's really hard, and a little disappointing. 

Tuesday was pretty quiet. We had an appointment with Sister Pullan -- brother Pullan left Monday to do a 5-week tour in Turkey. We're not sure exactly what he's doing over there, but he said it's not supposed to be dangerous. Anyways, we visited Sister Pullan and the kids, and had taco Salad, but it was a sad salad. They were starting to get low on food, so we had lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and hamburger with home made taco seasoning. It wasn't a lot, but it was still yummy. After dinner we went on a pinecone hunt. Then it was bedtime, so we helped put the kids to bed. I read 3-year-old William the story "you are special," about the Wemmiks and woodcarver, where Punchinello only has dots, and then visits Eli, and Eli reminds him that he's special because he made Punchinello, and he doesn't make mistakes. I really needed that story. I haven't really been having a hard time, but it's always good to remember we're special and have specific gifts that are specially tailored to us and how we use them is important. It was good to have that little reminder. I think it's amazing how even 3 year olds can be inspired to help someone, and little William will probably never know he helped me.

Wednesday we went and helped a new member move in from up in the Berlin area. It was us, the German Elders and Sisters and then the Zone leaders as well, because they were doing on a split with the Elders. So 8 of us were traveling together. And we got lost. No one had ever been to see these people, or knew where they lived or even to that part of town before. All we had was an address, and thankfully Sister Heywood had their Navi so, we were eventually able to figure out where we were supposed to go. I was murmuring silent prayers that we'd find it, and I don't think I was the only one. It was fun. We helped with the move, and then about 3:00 we headed out to our next appointment a little later than we would have liked, but still managed to make it on time. I was praying so hard that we'd catch the train, or that things would just work out. And they did. God really does here and answer our prayers. At our next appointment, with the Andersons, we talked about talents and why they're important to share. We showed them the Mormon message "extraordinary gift," about the teenaged blind self taught pianist who can listen to a song 2 or 3 times and then sit down and play it. It was a pretty cool lesson, even though we had some trouble keeping the kids focused. Aber trotz dem war es toll, because we each have gifts that are specifically tailored to our personalities and abilities. These gifts were given to us in the manner we have because we were the best suited to bless others loves with them. And don't you forget that you are special.

Thursday we went running, then did study as normal. Then we went to Zumba for contacting. We got Genehmigung from President Stoddard so that we could get onto the base and have more contact with people. And we've gotten a couple potentials and a number, and almost got a new investigator that day. She drove us most of the way home, and we invited her to take the lessons. Her name is Julie, and she's originally from the Philippians. Anyway. During Zumba, we got a text from Sister Pullan asking us if we could come help her clean. Her husband just -- not really deployed, but had to go to Turkey for work for 5 weeks, so she's alone with the kids, and they were both sick today, and so we got over there as fast as we could, and then helped her just get her house in order. It took us about 2.5 hours. But we finished the job, and it looked and felt so much better after. Then we got a call from our next appointment, Sister Peterson canceling. Sister Peterson is the new Relief Society President, and one of members had a huge flooding catastrophe in their basement, so the house was kind of a mess, and she's is getting treatment for some disease that's really bad, and just got back from a huge vacation, and her 2 daughters are coming home from the States Friday morning, and so she was just so overwhelmed she didn't know where to start. So she called Sister Peterson and asked for help, and when she called us, we just said that we could come, too. We spent the next couple hours there helping to just get things in order. We finally got to the point where they could handle it, and they said we could go. Just in time for our next appointment at 18:00. So we got there, and sat and talked, had dinner, then for our spiritual thought, we pulled out the Visiting Teaching message of the month, and shared our testimony on how humility and meekness are actually strengths. And I have realized that we receive so much piece of mind when we are able to exercise self-control. It's amazing the help we get when we are trying to be more like Christ. I know that as we continue to practice and learn, that we will feel ourselves grow closer to Christ and we will have a desire to continue. Just like in Alma 32, how it talks about the swelling of the seed, and how it "begineth to be delicious to me." Those words have been tried and proved true so many times. And I give my whiteness. They are true.

Subject line Explination- For some reason the Comtes have been trying to guess our names with out looking at our ID after they sign us on base (it's part of the safety for closed military bases). And they couldn't guess mine, so we gave the, the clue "Celebration," "in the bible," "and it's the name of a grocery store in Delta, Utah," almost, if not more than a week ago, and forgot about it. So, Thursday, on the way home from the Ashles, Bro. Comte texted us and said that he'd searched "J grocery stores in Delta" or something like that. And then said "it's 'Jubilee'!" We told him good job. Then he said that he's changing us in his phone to "the X-Men," because brother Comte has this thing where each companionship in the American ward has a different name in his phone. (The last companionship was Charlies Angles, not sure why). I laughed and had to explain to Sister Lyman what he meant, because she hasn't seen any of the "X-men" movies. Then we called him Professor X, and he asked who Sister Comte was, I said Mistique, but I don’t know if he liked that. He never replied. I thought it was really funny, though.

Friday was semi-uneventful. We had studies, and weekly planning like normal. But the high light of the day was going over to the Comtes and having another lesson with Bobby. Today, it was totally chill; we played five crowns, and discussed some of the specifics of what we do as missionaries, and gave him a triple combination and a King James Version of the bible, and talked about cross referencing. We'd been over it a little before in our last lesson when we went over the word of Wisdom, and introduced him to D&C. He got so excited to have the Doctrine and Covenants with the Book if Mormon, and said that he was going to be using it. That man is a cross-referencing beast during our lessons, and it is amazing. He is really searching for the truth, and praying, and it's been amazing to watch him as he comes closet to Christ and his demeanor has completely changes in the 3 weeks that we've known him. He's planning on coming to church this Sunday, and we are so excited. There's a potluck after church, and he's planning on asking the bishop some of his questions, too. We're so excited for him and the progress he's making.

Saturday was spent almost all day helping with a move. We got there and none of their stuff had been unpacked, the household goods had just gotten there that morning. Sister Foote had torn her ACL, and their kids are 16, 14, 10, and 6, so they were helpful, but they still needed more people. So they'd called us. And -- we'd volunteered. But, there were other people there helping, we just stayed the longest and ended up helping do -- actually, quite a lot. We got several dozen boxes unpacked, cleaned all the dishes, and got the, put away, as well as helped with some organization, like in the kids rooms and stuff, and get their new couch into the house. Brother Foote had to leave for a bit, and so Ryan (the 14 year old) and Sister Lyman and I were the manpower. We helped move some of the furniture from room to room -- it wasn't big, but it wasn’t something that a child could have done, so. But, yeah, the majority of our time was spent in the kitchen cleaning the appliances, and dishes, and organizing. Mensch, it took forever, and we didn't even finish everything. Then we walked around the building to our next appointment. See, the nice thing about working with the military is that most people live on one of the 4 bases, so they're decently close together. So, yeah we got to serve all day. It was really cool to watch the stress slowly disappear from Brother and Sister Foote's faces as we unpacked and made short work of their kitchen. Man, that kitchen was beastly. They have about 10+ boxes with dishes, appliances, silverware, and dishcloths. And we got them all unpacked, cleaned from being in storage for 3 months, and mostly organized and put away. It was amazing. I think we were blessed to work that fast, because they needed it. 

Sunday, Bobby came to church!! He had so many questions and wanted to find answers in the scriptures, which he was doing the whole hour. Bishop Horner said it was the coolest thing to look at him from the stand and see him flipping through the Bible and Triple, searching and cross-referencing. And, get this. After Sacrament Meeting, he took his stuff to another room and studied the topics from Sacrament. While he was in the other room, apparently a couple, members came over and were helping and discussing with him. It was great. Then, after church, we had a linger-longer potluck shindig, and we were all hungry. But Bobby? Not for physical food. He was going to corner the bishop, but Bishop Horner was talking to other people and Bobby didn't want to interrupt. So he talked to the Sunday school teacher, who is super knowledgeable in scriptural facts and history and stuff, and another couple members, and they were able to answer all his questions. It was AMAZING, and he was so happy after. The light in his face . . . Man, I wish I could have gotten a picture. He has changed and progressed so much in the last 2 weeks since we started teaching him. Amazing and miraculous are the only adjectives I can think of to describe this situation. It is absolutely amazing, and a privilege to witness this first hand. I wish you all could see this. It is the sweetest thing on the planet.

Anyway, I love you all, wish you the best, and hope "your family is doing well." Have a good week!!

-Sister Montgomery

Returned suitcases and other fun stories - August 24, 2015

Hey, guys!

So, I have some stories. I'm going to tell them according to stories, not day by day. Okay? Okay. Here goes.

So, many of you have been asking if I got my suitcase back. Yes. Here's the story. Tuesday, Sister Markel (a swiss sister who was helping me find my suitcase), called me saying she had a lead in Mainz, and was going to call the next day because it was, like, 9:45 p.m. So then we got a call the next day, from the Sister Training Leaders on a split in Wetzlar saying I had a letter from the German train system. She asked to open it and read it to me. She did, and they said that they'd found my suitcase. I got super excited, and called Sister Markel and told her the whole story. So, Friday, we went over to the train station, and picked up my suitcase. It made me so happy :)

Bobby is one of our investigators -- our one and only progressing investigator. He is golden. He's been asking dozens of questions, and they are brilliant questions. We've met with him 3 times this week, and is cross referencing everything, and taking notes, and is open minded, and it's just amazing.

So, those are the high lights of my week. God hears our prayers. I have been praying so hard for help with my suitcase, and Sister Lyman has been praying to find someone who was prepared. God really does take care of the things we think are important.

Tschüß!! Ich hab' euch lieb!! Bis nächste woche!

-Sister Montgomery

Sent from my iPad

P.S. I'm not going to translate any more. You can use Google Translate. Bye!

A week of miracles - August 17, 2015

Grüß euch!! (Hello, friends!)

So, we have had so many miracles this week. Lets see if I can remember them all. 

we got a number from one of the ladies that we met at Zumba, one of the other ladies saw us walking off the base on . . . Saturday after volunteering at the USO sun & fun day, transportation worked out, our mini missionary had a great time and was sad to go home, and we got a new investigator.

Bobby, our new investigator, is a friend with one of our member families, the Comtes. He's been going through a bit of a rough time because he didn't believe what he was taught as a child. He's been searching for the truth for at least a couple years, and the last couple weeks, he's been praying and asking God what he wants him to do, where he should go, because he feels like he has no direction in life. So, Saturday, we were with the Comtes, and getting ready to leave, and Bobby comes over to play games with Brother Comte and another friend. So we sat and talked with him for a bit, gave him a card, and made an appointment with him for Sunday evening at the Comtes. Sunday night, we went over the plan of salvation with him. He had wonderful questions, like, whether people could make it to the Celestial kingdom without being baptized, and how it seemed too easy to not go to hell, because even the terrible people go there. JT was really cool some of his insights, and stuff. We gave him a pamphlet, and a Book of Mormon, and he was glues to the book, and asked whom Alma is, and was just engaged the whole time. It was spectacular, and so amazing. I'm so excited for him.

That was basically the high light of the week. We're so excited to talk to him about the restoration on Wednesday. 

 

Sorry it's so short this week. I can't remember enough details from our other miracles to make them good stories, which makes me sad. But I love you all, and am so excited to hear from you next week!

Thank you for the love, emails, and prayers. They are felt and appreciated.

Love ya!

-Sister Montgomery

Sent from my iPad

P.S. Tomorrow is Sister Layman's birthday. She's turning 20 and the whole ward is feeding us this week. We have so many meal appointments; we have basically no extra time. It's crazy. But it's also fantastic, because member work is the only "real" way we can do missionary work. But it's so much fun!!

Welcome to America :) - August 10, 2015

Well, hello, there friends!

I'm just gonna get right into the stories, because there are some funny ones this week.

So, last week was my birthday. We had a sport party in Gelsenkirchen (a city not far away from Essen). It was really fun. And hot. I think it was in the 90s or something. But, it was fun. We played kick ball, volleyball, Frisbee, and a little bit of soccer. It was the Essen, Oberhausen, and Gelsenkirchen areas, with 4 missionaries from each area. Sister Pettitt and I were the only sisters there, but it was still fun. They embarrassed me and sang happy birthday with candles. There was no cake, but we had brownies and they were really yummy, and it was really fun.

Tuesday, we had DDM, and everyone gave themes. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and everyone’s themes were different. It was really cool.

Wednesday was an adventure. We had 2 appointments back to back, then a couple hours, and another appointment, Gemeinde Abend, and then had to leave to overnight in Dortmund, had to grab my 3 ridiculously heavy suitcases, and other stuff. And it was ridiculously hot. But it was fun.

Thursday was all travel. Up at 5:30; 6:30 travel to Bahnhof, then a 3 hour EC ride, an umsteig/ trains transfer, another 45 minutes, and Frankfurt main station, and transfer companions, then waiting, and heading to Wiesbaden. AND. I lost a suitcase. Thankfully, it was just my case that had all my extra stuff in it, so I have all my clothes, and important study materials, and everything, so it's not a problem, just a little annoying -- okay, extremely annoying, and very scary. But I keep getting the feeing that everything will be okay. So, I'm not terribly worried, but still . . .

Friday. We went to the Temple with one our newly reactivated members going through for the first time. It was amazing, especially because I hadn't been to the temple in more than 3 months. It was amazing!!

Saturday, we got a mini missionary! Her name is Rebecca Blodgett. Do we know any Blodgetts?? Because I thought I recognized the name, but can't place where from.

So, those are the highlights of my week. It was pretty eventful.

Sorry this is a bad email. I'm having trouble focusing due to some members and a nonmember friend. We’re playing a game called "betrayal at the house on the hill," or something like that. It's really fun, but kind of eerie. I'll tell you more about it later.

I love you!! Have a good week!!

-Sister Montgomery

I hate being the center of attention - August 3, 2015

Grüß euch!!

So, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: I hate being the center of attention. Fact.

Change of subject: we have a couple new progressing investigators His name is Emmanuel, from Nigeria. The Duisburg Sisters contacted him a couple months ago while waiting for us to split, and we were finally able to get ahold of him. He's Golden :) he's catholic, but very curious, and open to the church. He's come to church twice, last week, and yesterday, and he came to Gemeinde Abend as well, he's been doing all his "homework," and the members are friendshiping him like mad, which is way cool. I'm sad to go, but Sister Pettitt will be able to handle it, and Sisters Sant will also be a wonder here. I'm excited for them :)

Oh, yeah. Transfer calls were on Saturday, and this Sister is getting transferred. To the Wiesbaden (vees-bah-den), American Military ward. I've been to Wiesbaden a couple times on splits, but I don't know a lot about the city or history or anything. I know I'm gonna be right on the Rhine river, and see all the history and amazingness of Wiesbaden. I'm so excited!! My companion is one of the Sisters from my MTC group, Sister Lyman. I don't know a ton about her yet. I know that she's really hard working, and diligent, and just a star of amazing selflessness. I'm excited to get to know her better :)

We also got a contacted referral from a member. The referral was her sister-in-law, Beate (bay-ah-teh), who has MS, and doesn't get a lot of visitors, and the Essen Sisters now have a "go" to start meeting with her, sharing music, and the gospel, and just be her friends. Once again, I'm sad I don't get to see this to the end, but I'm excited that it will be done, with or without me.

All four Essen Missionaries helped one of our LA move on Saturday. She had a lot to do, still, so we spent most of the afternoon and evening there helping as much as we couple. Schw. Heerhost, when she found out I'm bring transferred said "oh, my angel is leaving!" And gave me a big hug. Then, though out the move, kept calling me over to give me little odds and ends as tschüss Geschenk (good- bye gifts). It was the sweetest thing on the planet, and I almost started crying. I don't want to go, but I just keep humming the song "I'll go where you want me to go," over and over in my head. I'm sad to go, but I know it's time. This new area will be good it's going to be weird functioning in all English during church again. I wonder if the block is the same as in America. 

Sorry this week's letter is short. Not a ton of explosive exciting things happened this week.

I love you all, and hope that you have a good week.

-Sister Montgomery

Elders, Will you bring us ice? - July 27, 2015

Hello, family, and beloved friends!

How's life been this last week? Mine has actually been rather uneventful, but entertaining at the same time. Here's my week so far.

Monday. P-day. It was slow, which was nice. We did emails, and shopping and everything at our pace, not in a rush because we had to get somewhere. It was really nice. Then, about 8:00 pm, we met the Duisburg Sisters in McDonald's, and exchanged companions. Then Sister Heywood and I went back to Duisburg, did daily planning, and then I tried to color code my calendar, and ended up deleting all of the calendars that go with the iPad, so now I just have the calendar that's connected to my email. Jed, do you happen to know how to fix that?

Tuesday we went to Duisburg. We did studies, met with a Chinese Investor, Christian, trying to solidify his faith before he heads back to China at the end of the Semester which is in a couple weeks. Came home finished studies, then went contacting at the university with a whiteboard. The whiteboard had the question "do you believe in life after death?" and three possible answers -- "yes," "no," and "not sure." Sister Heywood and I thought we'd get a lot of "no" or "not sure," but we actually found a lot of people who believe there is a life after death. Only a small percentage were Christian, but it still brought us hope to know that, despite all the terrible things in the world, people still find solace in the little truths they find, even if they're only half truths, like reincarnation, or the odd version of heaven that Muslims believe in.

Wednesday. Here's the fun story. So, we had agreed to help clean the church. I'd made a personal goal to speak more German. So everything I that came out of my mouth was German, or at least most of it. So, We were on our way to the church, and had to run to catch a bahn. I thought it would be a good idea to take the stairs 2 at a time. So I did. I got 2/3 of the way down the 3 flights of 10 stairs, and then my ankle buckled, and I heard a snap, and a pop. I was able to make it to the bottom and lower myself in a one-legged squat (with the bannister) to the steps. I stood from there, and told Sister Pettitt "I have no idea what I just did to my ankle. German went right out the window. We caught the bahn, me hobbling, and made it to bahnhof, where we had to run again to catch our connection bahn to the church. We get there, and I'm trying to keep weight off it.  I figured since I could walk fine on it, nothing was broken, but it still hurt, so I knew that something was wrong. So, any time we have to walk anywhere that whole day, I was limping, trying to be careful. So we finish cleaning the church, and walk down to Rewe (RAY-vuh, a health foods/ fresh foods store), grab lunch, and then wait for the bahn back to the church. We'd figured we'd finish studies there, since we had to leave at about 9:00 to help clean. Anyway. At about 12:45 or so, I finally decide to call the mission Nurse, Sister Castleton. I told her what happened, and she told me to stay off it, get it elevated, and get ice on it. So we were stranded at the church. We would have gone home, but we had Gemeinde Abend, so we decided to just stay. But we didn't have any ice. So we called the Elders and asked if they would bring us ice. They did, and Elder Paskett got everything set up with towels and plastic bags, and then helped me get situated with my foot up. Elder Neary was like, "they're gonna have to amputate your foot." For some reason, both he and Elder Paskett thought it was funny to ask if I wanted the crutches in their Keller. I told them "no, I won't need them. I'll be fine." The rest of the day was comparatively uneventful. Aside from constantly trying to stay off my foot while the ward grilled, and my companion ran around the parking lot with the primary kids and "helping" set up and break camp while staying off my foot. It was a lot of fun :) I'm only being partially facetious. Then we cut my hair, as you see pictures.

Thursday, we were under house arrest. Doctors told me to stay off my food trumped missionary work for the day. The only exciting thing was the Elders bringing more ice, and the crutches by. Yes, I changed my mind and asked for the crutches. When they brought them by, Elder Paskett hid them behind the doorframe, and said "so, we actually couldn't find any crutches in our Keller. But, there's this guy in our neighborhood who had some. And this morning, we performed a miracle," then he pulled them out from behind the door. It was actually kind of funny. They've actually been a lot of help. Zum Beispiel:

Friday, we were only under semi house arrest, because I had crutches. Sisters Castleton gave us a go to do some go-bys and a member appointment -- only because I had crutches. So we went to our member appointment with the Skopeks, which was really cool. The Skopeks are an elderly couple, both very strong in the church, and had s lot of input with the less-actives, and just about everything else, too. It was really fun. But they live out in the boondocks, so it took us forever to get there. I'm not even kidding. Our Termin was at 13:00 (so 1:00), and we left at 11:40. I was not sure how to get there, and with my ankle, it was quite the adventure. We actually didn't have any problems, it just took us forever to get up the hill to the Bahn stop, which we watched pull away, so we had to wait 10 minutes for the next one. I don't know how many odd stares I get walking around in a dress and name tag. Add crutches and actually using the crutches to that mix, and you about double the stares, maybe more. It was quite fun. So, in our lesson, we had them each write down the biggest comfort they receive from the gospel, and then their biggest fear, and we talked to them about the restoration and how it gives us comfort. Then tied missionary work in by talking about how many people don't have the comforts that the gospel brings, and asked them if there was anything we could do to help them with their missionary work. They told us "visit and pray for the less actives." Then bru. Skopek told us about some of the recently reactivated members that he continued to visit for years, even though many said, "it's not worth it, they're not coming back." Then said that he found out later, that some of them only came back because he had been so diligent at visiting them. It was really cool, and very inspiring.  Then we did a couple go-bys, and went home. All in all we were away from home for about 6 hours. It was brutal, and I officially hate crutches and being "broken."

 

Saturday, we normally visit Sch. Arnold, but, since I could barely walk myself, we called and told her we would not be coming to help her practice her walking exercises. Then the Elders called and asked us if we wanted to coordinate ward lists and notes on the members so that we all have the same/updated info, and can work better as a team. So we coordinated at 1. Then, Sister Pettitt and I came home, and the rest of the day was quite, until we almost ran out of Ice. So I called the Elders. They said they were still in the neighborhood doing go-bys, and brought a bag of peas by about 45 minutes later. Elder Paskett started out with "so, we're really worried about your iron levels . . ." He's getting to be a goober.

Sunday, we had a really cool member Termin. We met with the Rochs, and Sch. Roch has had some fears. And today we were able to explain doctrine that I feel helped her receive comfort and peace, that fears are okay, but that there's no need because of the Atonement, and help from God. It was really cool.

So, yeah. That was my week. I wish I could have given more spiritual food and stuff, but I can't remember all the stuff I learned in studies, and I am absolutely horrendous at keeping a study journal. Sorry :)

Love ya! 

Have a great day :)

-Sister Montgomery