Week # 3 I'm in Germany!!!!

Halllloooo!!!!!!

"Hallo!  Ich heiße Sister Stringham.  Ich komme aus Arizona im Amerika.  Dies ist mein dritte Tag hier in Deutschland.  I kann nicht so gut Deutsch sprechen."

This is pretty much my script.  But the Germans love it :)

Acchhhh Germany is the best!!!  AM BESTEN!!!  I love it here and I am SO happy to be a missionary.  It is just the greatest thing in the whole wide world.  I am in a beautiful city where I get to talk about our loving Heavenly Father ALL DAY LONG!  Ah its just the best.

So..........drum roll please............my first area is SPANDAU!  Ach so fantastisch!  There are so many prepared people here and young people and young families.  There is so much potential and miracles just waiting to be called down from Heaven.  I love it here.  It is kinda the ghetto of Berlin and if it were anywhere else it would be sketchy, but the people here are so kind!  Like all of them!  Ach I just love them so much!  And the Saints here are awesome, my ward is adorable.

So Spandau Spandau Spandau, what to say....The weather is pretty nice, except that it is deathly hot.  I have never sweat so much in my life.  And I have never not cared as much in my whole life.  The Church is true even in 97° and high humidity.  Oh something interesting: AC does not exist here.  Like at all.  Crazy right?!  We open windows and eveybody brings a little fan to church.  I got to get me one, cause its way hot.  Oh also not a thing here: water without bubbles.  I home I come loving the taste of Mineral wasser!  Its so great though, I've already tried lots of new things and I LOVE riding buses and trains and how many people are on the streets.  As missionaries it is pretty much our job to be creepy and talk to everyone we pass by, but its so fun!!  Ach love it!

One thing about Spandau that is WÜNDEBAR is that Uncle Greg is in my Stake!!!
Shoutout to Bishof Fawson and familie: We are so close, we will find a way to see each other soon!  My zone leaders are in your ward so they said they would say hello :)

President Kosak was so happy to hear that I was Greg's niece and he said,"I have a feeling that the Lord will want you to serve there... ;)" So I don't know if Spandau counts or not, but either way, we are close to each other and should get to see each other sometime soon!  

So last couple days have been crazy crazy and I don't have a ton more time in this little internet cafe, but I will try to sum up as best I can!

The MTC was SUCH a great experience, I really loved every second of it, even when I was sups sick.  Night before I left I got a blessing and I just want to say that the Priesthood is REAL; he blessed me with strength and health and for my lungs to work and fill with air (which he didn't even know how trached my lungs are from the pneumonia)!  I have not had trouble since, even with all the smokers here, which is pretty much every person on the street, and in their houses, and in the stores, and by the buses.  Anywho...Ach I love this church so much!  I am all healed up and almost over my jetlag and feeling good!  The Lord really does bless His missionaries.

Okay sorry, tangeant.  So we flew to Amsterdam and then to Berlin and I just LOVED Europe as soon as I got here.  Ah it is such an amzing opportunity to be here and to get to talk to people about Christ all day!  So we flew in and President and Sister Kosak and the APs met us at the airport.  They are so GREAT!  I love them all so stinking much!!!  Our APs are Elder Hansen and Elder Wofely and they are just so nice.  And President. Ach President!  I love that man so much.  He is so wonderful!!  Truly called of God.  I am so blessed to be able to serve with him, and I cannot wait to know him for the rest of my life.  He is strict but lenient at the same time, and he is funny but so spiritual.  He is just the best.  He has an amazing vision for this mission and he always says in his German accent, "We are changing Germany!"  I am so blessed to be a missionary at this time in this mission.  The work here really is on fire and I get to be a part of it.  I am so blessed.  And I know already that this is where I am supposed to be.  I am called of God to serve in Germany at this time!  

So first day was crazy because we were all so tired, but it was fun and we got to eat mexican food for basically that last time in 18 months.  So gut (pronounced zo goot and means so good).  And then we just went out on the streets and started talking to people.  So fun!  As soon as that fear starts setting in, you just got to jump in head first!  I love finding, even though I don't now how to say basically anything but, "Hallo, wir sind missionarinen von die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der letzen Tage, und wir sprechen mit luete uber Gott." Annnnndddd then steps in my companion.  I guess thats part of the reason we have them!  Oh okay so cool experience:

We met a couple of the missionaries that first day because they took us out on the streets to find, and one of the many Sisters I met was Sister Jardine.  I know this sounds sooooo cheesy, but as soon as I saw her, I just knew she was going to be my trainer. And youn know what?  SHE IS!!  Next day we got assigned as companions and she said she felt the same way about me too.  So cool right?!  

Let me tell ya, Sister Jardine is just THE BEST!  Like, really.  She is so awesome.  She has only been out for 12 weeks, so its a little crazy that she is training, but she is awesome.  And we are like the exact same person which makes working together pretty great.  We are def a dream team.  We have the same vision for this mission and we are both willing to work our tails off to help these people.  I am so blessed to have her!  She gives me so much strength and courage and hope of where I can be in 3 months.  Love her to death, WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE GERMANY!!

Ahh time goes so fast when I am writing home!  Ok so all I will say is that I love being a missionary and I know that the work I am doing is the work of God.  I know That I was called by a prophet through inspiration, and that I am meant to be here.  I know that there are prepared people everywhere and that God has given me the power and authority to teach them.  I know that God lives and that He loves me and knows me.  I know I am where I am meant to be!  I know that we are changing Germany, and the world.

I love you all SO much!!  Thank you for the letters and the emails.  PLEASE keep them coming, they are so needed!  Send me news of home and pictures of all the people I love and tell me what I should see and do while I am here in Spandau!  Today is our one free day a week, and we are going down to the concentration camp near Pottsdam.  

Okay ich liebe dich!  Tchüss!!

Love, Sister Stringham            

Spandau Citadel

Completed in 1230, the Julius tower is one of the oldest surviving structures in Berlin. The citadel's current exterior was created at the end of the 16th century by Italian architects. 

Second Week in the MTC

Hey all!

So I am already almost done with my second week here at the MTC.  Time goes by so fast!!  It's like a warp.  I am leaving on TUESDAY!!!  Like, in 4 days I'LL BE IN GERMANY!!!!!  Anybody else freaking out, because I am!!  I seriously cannot believe it.  It has gone by so quickly its insane.  The days are long, and we work for like 16 days, and yet it feels like I just got here and I've been here forever at the same time.  It's weird.  Good weird though :)  You just learn so much from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed that its like youre a whole new person!  I am so happy here, and I can't wait to get out into the field......NEXT WEEK!!!

I LOVE all the letters from family and friends!  Seriously guys, thanks a million!  It absolutley makes my day.  I never knew how much mail meant to a missionary, haha but I totally get it now.  It's like what we live for, so keep writing me!!  I love ju guys!!!!

So week 2..................its actually been a little hard, but it has been a really good learning experience.  I got really really sick, and still am.  It's pretty funny, I sound like a toad.  Like really, I do.  I finally went to health center and they said its a bad virus and gave me some medicine and told me to skip at least some of my classes everyday to sleep so that I can heal before I get out into the field.  You know me, it had to be on doctor's orders to make me stop.  I have just been so frustrated because I want to go to class and learn and be able to do what I am supposed to, especially since I am only here for two weeks  and have so much to learn to be a missionay.  It has been humbling though, and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me.  As long as I am working as hard as i can, and staying obedient, I know that He will bless me.  And its been an opportunity for me to love Sister Tolman even more, something I did not think was possible.  She has seriously been the very best.  My whole Zone has been.  She made me go to the doctor and has been so good and sweet about us having to leave class so that I can rest.  She is so sweet and she has served me so much this week.  I am so lucky to have her!

Also, on that note.  I have legit the coolest branch at the MTC.  They are from all over the world and they are all so cool.  Definitely lifelong friends, at least with the ones who will come to the US after the mission.  Sister Tolman and I picked up the new sisters last night and showed them around the MTC, which was so fun.  They are all asain or hawaiian.  So funny, I seriously love these kids.  My district, the germans, and the only white ones our floor.  Besides the Mongolians, who are also in our Zone.  They can't proselite there so they are actually called to go teach English.  So cool right?!  They are the funniest Elders I have ever met for sure, and we all make fun of them because the all have like 6 weeks left and we're leaving ON TUESDAY!  They're great though, I am definitely going to miss my Zone.  Also...remember how I told you Elder Peterson is pretty much going to be the 12th Doctor?  Welp, found out he has his own sonic screwdriver and is going to be a physics professor......our theory continues....seriously I love these other missionaries.  They are so funny and so good and their testimonies are all so strong!

We had in field orientation yesterday which was amazing.  It sounded dreadful because it is like 6 straight hours of instruction on how to be a missionary outside of the MTC.  It was amazing though!  I learned SO much!  One thing in particular was the how to exercise faith as a missionary and know that you can truly bring about miracles.  We preach with the voice of angels, which is pretty cool.  I am just so dang happy to be here and to be a missionary.  I can't wait to teach!  Just about all my fears about that have melted away.  The only thing I'm still nervous about is the language, which is still really hard, especially since we don't get any German instruction.  Its okay though, I know it will come and that the Lord will be with me.  That is one thing I have really learned:  The Lord called me, with all of my strengths and my weaknesses because He knew that I could make a difference.  He didn't call me here to fail, and He will be with me because I am His missionary.  Its such a peace and a blessing to know that I have been endowed with power and that I have been called to this mission because I can make a difference.  I just absolutely love being a missionary!

would be nice.  Its good though,, I'll just get a giant one in 17 1/2 months!  I love you guys so much, and I know that I am where I am supposed to be.  I am so happy to be a missionary.  I know I am doing God's work because THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!

Love your little missionary,

Sister Dal Stringham

P.S.  I love the journal.  Like a lot.  I love how well my family knows me.  I am just so happy every time I write in it :)  Also, I love my district because we will be on our way to class and sudden;y someone says, "Up up up up up the stairs we go and then we come to the tunnnneeellll," or  we'll be eating and someone will come out with, "I've never had hobbitses before!  Is it nice?  Is it crunchable?"  Seriously, I am not lying when I say I have the COOLEST district ever.  Can't wait t see these sisters again after the mission.  And I CANNOT WAIT to see you again.  So blessed. 

My new companion, Sister Jardine, President Kosak and
his wife, Sister Kosak

It's Official!!

Entering the MTC

So Happy to be here!

Hey all!

So I am already almost done with my second week here at the MTC.  Time goes by so fast!!  It's like a warp.  I am leaving on TUESDAY!!!  Like, in 4 days I'LL BE IN GERMANY!!!!!  Anybody else freaking out, because I am!!  I seriously cannot believe it.  It has gone by so quickly its insane.  The days are long, and we work for like 16 days, and yet it feels like I just got here and I've been here forever at the same time.  It's weird.  Good weird though :)  You just learn so much from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed that its like youre a whole new person!  I am so happy here, and I can't wait to get out into the field......NEXT WEEK!!!

I LOVE all the letters from family and friends!  Seriously guys, thanks a million!  It absolutley makes my day.  I never knew how much mail meant to a missionary, haha but I totally get it now.  It's like what we live for, so keep writing me!!  I love ju guys!!!!

So week 2..................its actually been a little hard, but it has been a really good learning experience.  I got really really sick, and still am.  It's pretty funny, I sound like a toad.  Like really, I do.  I finally went to health center and they said its a bad virus and gave me some medicine and told me to skip at least some of my classes everyday to sleep so that I can heal before I get out into the field.  You know me, it had to be on doctor's orders to make me stop.  I have just been so frustrated because I want to go to class and learn and be able to do what I am supposed to, especially since I am only here for two weeks  and have so much to learn to be a missionay.  It has been humbling though, and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me.  As long as I am working as hard as i can, and staying obedient, I know that He will bless me.  And its been an opportunity for me to love Sister Tolman even more, something I did not think was possible.  She has seriously been the very best.  My whole Zone has been.  She made me go to the doctor and has been so good and sweet about us having to leave class so that I can rest.  She is so sweet and she has served me so much this week.  I am so lucky to have her!

Also, on that note.  I have legit the coolest branch at the MTC.  They are from all over the world and they are all so cool.  Definitely lifelong friends, at least with the ones who will come to the US after the mission.  Sister Tolman and I picked up the new sisters last night and showed them around the MTC, which was so fun.  They are all asain or hawaiian.  So funny, I seriously love these kids.  My district, the germans, and the only white ones our floor.  Besides the Mongolians, who are also in our Zone.  They can't proselite there so they are actually called to go teach English.  So cool right?!  They are the funniest Elders I have ever met for sure, and we all make fun of them because the all have like 6 weeks left and we're leaving ON TUESDAY!  They're great though, I am definitely going to miss my Zone.  Also...remember how I told you Elder Peterson is pretty much going to be the 12th Doctor?  Welp, found out he has his own sonic screwdriver and is going to be a physics professor......our theory continues....seriously I love these other missionaries.  They are so funny and so good and their testimonies are all so strong!

We had in field orientation yesterday which was amazing.  It sounded dreadful because it is like 6 straight hours of instruction on how to be a missionary outside of the MTC.  It was amazing though!  I learned SO much!  One thing in particular was the how to exercise faith as a missionary and know that you can truly bring about miracles.  We preach with the voice of angels, which is pretty cool.  I am just so dang happy to be here and to be a missionary.  I can't wait to teach!  Just about all my fears about that have melted away.  The only thing I'm still nervous about is the language, which is still really hard, especially since we don't get any German instruction.  Its okay though, I know it will come and that the Lord will be with me.  That is one thing I have really learned:  The Lord called me, with all of my strengths and my weaknesses because He knew that I could make a difference.  He didn't call me here to fail, and He will be with me because I am His missionary.  Its such a peace and a blessing to know that I have been endowed with power and that I have been called to this mission because I can make a difference.  I just absolutely love being a missionary!

would be nice.  Its good though,, I'll just get a giant one in 17 1/2 months!  I love you guys so much, and I know that I am where I am supposed to be.  I am so happy to be a missionary.  I know I am doing God's work because THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!

Love your little missionary,

Sister Dal Stringham

P.S.  I love the journal.  Like a lot.  I love how well my family knows me.  I am just so happy every time I write in it :)  Also, I love my district because we will be on our way to class and sudden;y someone says, "Up up up up up the stairs we go and then we come to the tunnnneeellll," or  we'll be eating and someone will come out with, "I've never had hobbitses before!  Is it nice?  Is it crunchable?"  Seriously, I am not lying when I say I have the COOLEST district ever.  Can't wait t see these sisters again after the mission.  And I CANNOT WAIT to see you again.  So blessed. 

  

Bye-Bye!

Into the MTC!

I'm a missionary!!!  I am so happy to be a missionary!!!   This is one of the happiest times of my life!  I have only been here two days, but I love it so much.  What a blessing that I decided to serve, and that I had so much support from everyone I love.  I am here experiencing all this joy because of you!!  YOU DA BEST!!!!

So I was excited to go in, but pretty sad before I got here...missing the fam and friends and what not....

Tuesday I flew in and stayed with my roomies who are THE BEST!!!  I love them so much and we had so much fun on our last night all together in that house!!  What a blessing to have gotten the opportunity to become so close with them!  They make me better and definitely helped me get here!  (Shoutout to Shelbus, Anna Banana, and Emily the Strange! Love you guys!!)

Then on Wednesday Erinn (I mean Sister Tolman) picked me up and I spent the morning with her family.  What wonderful people!!  They were so sweet and fun and PERFECT to be my sudo-family for the day.  We took pictures (which they will forward to me and I to you) and then we were in! 

They are so efficient here at the MTC!  The drop off was quick like a band-aid!  I'm so glad we said goodbye before so that I could just feel good and go.  I had been sad before, but AS SOON as I got out of the car, I COULD NOT stop smiling!  I was so so so happy, and just beaming ear to ear as I checked in and went to class.  Oh and guess what!  Sister Tolman and I are in the same room :)

So recap: first day was SO awesome!  Felt the Spirit so strongly, particularly when all the missionaries sing "We are as the Army of Heleman. We have been taught in our youth, and we ARE NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth."  ******GOOSEBUMPS*******  What an amazing thing it is to be a missionary of God.  I am surrounded by all of these incredible young people and I get to be counted as one of them.  I am just so BLESSED!!!

Second day at the MTC was just as good as the first!  Class is great, they speak in German really fast, but everyone else is about where I am with German so we are all in the same boat.  Which makes it fun :)  MY DISTRICT IS SOOOO COOL!  It is all 5 of us advanced German kids, 4 sisters and one solo Elder.  Elder Peterson is such a sweetheart and a good sport about all of the jokes made about him being alone with sisters.  And the other 3 girls (Sister Tolman, Sister Henry, and Sister Rimmasch) are so dang awesome.  I love them so much.  We are the only girls in our room and we are all so similar its hilarious.  Goofy and nerdy (they all love LOTR and Doctor Who which makes me feel right at home) and so German.  Very very German.  We have a blast together haha, but we are definitely the district that studies really hard and follows all the rules and shuts the door when people are being loud...cause we are tyring to study.......sooooo German.  Haha its great though and we have SO much fun together.  They really are all amazing kids, and I am SO lucky that I get to be with them and learn from them.

More exciting news from yesterday: Sister Tolman and I taught our first lesson all in GERMAN!!!!!  WOOOOOOHHH!!!!  Be excited.  It was hard.  But it went pretty well and I think eventually I might even be able to do it with more than just basic terms.  It was great.  I also volunteered and was a German investigator for my teacher in front of the class.I took great-grandma's name.  Talk about nervwracking though, spending 20 minutes in front of the class pretending to be Emma Schreiner all in German.  She accepted the Gospel very quickly 1) because she's grandma and 2) because I said "I do believe in Joseph Smith" instead of "I could believe in Joseph Smith."  Really really great experience though.

And MORE exciting news: soo after all of our meeting and classes and studies and what not, we had a branch meeting.  Branch President Marion was pretty scary at first, but you warm up to him :) We recieved lots of instruction and some new assignments....and guess what.........SISTER TOLMAN AND I ARE COMPANIONS!!!!!  YAYYYYY!  We are excited out of our minds to get to be together!  Oh and we have also been assigned as Sister Training Leaders for our Zone!  Cool right?!  We are both so excited to serve the wonderful sisters in our zone, and to learn from their rocksolid testimonies.  We are in the international branch so we have 2 Koreans, 1 Vietnamese, 1 Spanish, 1 Philipine, 2 Brazilians, and then the 5 German.  And our Zone Leaders are hilarious.  Love them.  And shocker, Elder Peterson was assigned DL ;)

So I think are just about caught up now!  Life as a missionary is awesome.  I love it so much and I am SO glad that I decided to go.  Best decision of my life.  I miss you all like crazy, really, but I am happy to be here.  Life as a missionary is crazy.  We get like zerooo time to ourselves because we are constantly trying to learn how to serve others the best way we possibly can.  The few minutes here and there we do get to ourselves fly by in like a second.  I can see now why it is so hard for missionaries to find time to write or do much of anything.  There are just not enough hours in the day to get everything that we need to do done, let alone anything that we want to do.  It is so great though.  I love it so much.  I am so so so happy.  What an wonderful opportunity I have to fully dedicate the next 18 months of my life to living as the disciples and doing my best to follow Christ and bring others with me.  I am so blessed.  

I love you all.  I love my district and my zone.  I love my companion.  I love this gospel.  I love my Savior.  I love being a missionary!!  God bless!

Love, Sister Stringham

P.S. I get to be on the computers for an hour once a week.  My Pday is Friday so that is when I will be able to read your emails and write my own.  I can get snail mail whenever.  I love all letters so however you want to write me is fine by me!  Í'm just so grateful to have such amazing people in my life!

OH AND I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS ALREADY!!!!

           

I leave on the 23rd at like 7:00 from the MTC with an 11:00 flight.  We fly into Amsterdam with a two hour delay, and then straight into Berlin.  We are all so excited and ready to get out into the field!