Week #7 Last week before transfers!

The Mighty Missionaries!

Wait what?! 

Last week of the TRANSFER?!?  How have I already been here so long?!?  I really don't know, the time has really gone by so fast. 

Sister Jardine and I are just blown away that the time has gone by so quickly and we could leave each other after this week!  We both love working together other so much and have so much work to do here is Spandau that we want to stay, but we will go where the Lord needs us!! There are so many families we have just absolutely fallen in love with here, and there are so many people who are so close to coming into the fold of God.  There will be several new members of the church here in Spandau next transfer.  The people are so ready, and when we pray for miracles, they happen!

So we had THE COOLEST experience this week:

So we went out to contact this referral that we had and the bus drops us off literally on the side of this abandoned road in the middle of the forest.  We both just looked at each other and started laughing as we watched the bus drive away and leave us there all alone...... 

Naja (oh well)!  So we said a prayer and started walking, praying we were going in the right direction.  So we are walking down the side of this road when we see this stone staircase that looks like the stairs from Lord of the Rings, and we get the impression to go down them.  They lead to a parking lot behind an abandoned boatyard.  Sooooo we said another prayer, got the same prompting, and started walking down them.  Once down there, we saw  little path leading to some Gartenplazen, or little garten houses, so we started walking towards it, right?  Wrong!  We both start slowing down and turned around.  We start laughing because we are both getting a feeling that we should go the other way.  The other way is a SKETCHY old construction zone underneath a steel bridge.  We did not want to go.  But!  We will go where the Lord wants us to go, and He definitely wanted us to go that way!  So we did!  It led around a bend to some rundown Gartenplatzen.  The first person we see is an old man with a bloody hand, sawing away at big blocks of wood.  Again, SO SKETCHY!  Felt like he was the one we needed to talk to though, so with a prayer in our hearts, we went up.  Turns out, he's not interested, but he is Bulgarian!  Gotta love our ausländers!  So we go and talk to the other 4 souls in that whole area, and feel like we should go back to the first man.  Still not interested, but he was much sweeter and understood what we were saying the second time.  Sister Jardine and I still feel like we need to go back to him, so I think we'll go back this week with a Book of Mormon in Bulgarian.

Moral of the Story:

First, the Lord is with and protects His missionaries!  When we are careful and obedient and do the things the Lord asks with inspiration, we will be protected and cared for.  I truly feel like we have angels with us here in the mission field, and I know with all my heart that I am doing the work of the Lord.

Second, the Spirit is REAL! The Lord guides us to the people we need to find, who need Christ in their lives.  I can feel the Spirit so distinctly that I know God is in this work.  I know that, as we pray for guidance and practice recogniying and discerning the Spirit, that we will be led to where the Lord wants us to be and to the people that the Lord wants us to help.

Family and firends, I love being a missionary!!  I love this Church!  It is the true Church of God!!  if you don't know that yet, ask God about it:
http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-002-origin?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013

I know that He is there and that He answers prayers.  I know that He loves His children so much!  And I love you all too!  Thank you for all you do and for your prayers!  I love being a missionary and I can see the Lord's hand here in Spandau.  We see miracles everyday and we see people change their lives to follow Christ.  It is amazing and I am so blessed to be here.  I love you all!

Love, Sister Stringham

Check out the top of the blog on the right and find my mailing address and email address.  Write to me!!

Week #6 Time is Flying!

I went touring with the new missionaries to the Sachenhausen Concentration Camp

The Gates to the Camp

Arbeit Macht Frei was propoganda to make those in the Concentration

Camp think that if they worked hard they would be freed.

Guard Tower

Cremation

Execution Trench

Enough of That!  On to Happier Times...

Berlin and the Fam

A perfectly awful photo of me combining morning exercise (jogging in place

while doing dishes) and cleaning the house.  So excited to see everyone!!!

Here I am at the famous Brandenburg Gate with my Uncle Greg and Aunt Chantel!  He's the Bishop

of the Tiergarten Ward in Berlin.  I know.  You can't believe how cool they are.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  Can you name them?

The Reichstag Building where the Pariament meets.  I can hardly believe I'm here in Berlin!!

The Russian Liberation Memorial

Another photo from the Soviet Liberation Memorial

Marilyn Monroe at Madam Tussauds.  I'm thinking of offering her

a Book of Mormon.  What do you think?

The Dom, a large Protestant Church

The Neptune Fountain near the Dom

My cousins, Ethan, Cora, and Everett.  They all speak fluent German and have lived here

for over 3 years.  So, so happy to get to see them.  

Hope you enjoyed my brief tour.  Really do wish

you could all be here with me.  

Hallo!  

I can't believe how quickly the time is flying here in Spandau!  I've already been here for almost a month!  Spandau really is the best.  We see so many miracles here!  The people are so prepared for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and people are put into our path everyday who are ready to hear the message of the Restoration!

So this past week has been a crazy one!
First off, I got to see Uncle Greg and his family (shoutout to the Fawsons!) which was so great!!  We met up for lunch and then we went and toured some of the more famous parts of Berlin!  I took pictures, so hopefully you looked at some of those and can see the places I got to see!  

The rest of this week was good, even though most of our appointments fell out which was a little bit of a struggle.  The Lord really did show us His love though and that He was proud of us because, when it was hardest, we met so many families ready for the gospel!  Ach, Sister Jardine and I LOVE telling families that they can be together forever.  And youth!  Ach there are so many youth here that are ready to hear about Christ and His message of peace and happiness!  Spandau is the best.

One cool story from this week:

So one of our appoinments fell out (people in Berlin are not always as committed as they should be) so we decided to have a 'find by inspiration' time.  SO COOL!!!  We said a prayer and just started walking.  Everytime we came to a fork in the road, we would both get a distinct impression to go a certain way.  Ach the Spirit of the Lord is REAL.  I testify of that!  So we kept at this for a while and were led to a building.  We almost passed it by, but got a distinct feeling to go back and klingel (go door to door). 

 So... we started from the fifth floor and worked our way down.  On the second floor, this old Russian woman and her granddaughter opened the door and I KNEW that they were the reason we were there.  The grandma actually lives in another area, so we referred her to the sisters in her area, who happen to be our two favorite sisters in the whole mission.  The little girl is 9 and isn't allowed to go to church, but we are going to go back and try to change that.  They were so sweet and wonderful, and RUSSIAN!  It has kinda become a sign to us here when someone says they are Russian that we are supposed to teach them.  I think we are currently teaching more foreigners, mostly Russians, than Germans.  I love the Russians!  

Also in that building we found a man who works 15 hours a day and happened to be home for just a few minutes.  He said that he desperately needs peace and we promised him that, if he would pray that night, he would know that there was a God and that He loved him.  We called him the next day and he said it worked, and we have an appointment to teach him more this week.  

The Lord is real and He listens to and answers our prayers.

I love being a missionary.  I feel so blessed and humbled to be a missionary at this time of the great hastening of the work of God, and in this place where the children of God are so prepared and ready to hear the message of the restored gospel of Christ.  I am SO blessed to be here and to witness all of the miracles that I do everyday.  The Church is true and God is with us in this work!!

I love you all so much!!  I pray for you everyday!  Bis Montag!

Love, Sister Stringham

#missionaryproblems:

-running after your investigators when they leave church early....and chasing them all the way down the street!

-when German men wink at you (which is A LOT)

-when people answer the door in their underwear (which also happens a lot) #gottalovegermany

Tchüssy!

Week # 5 Crazy Life as a Missionary!!

These are pictures of the Berlin Dom, the largest church in Berlin.  It was built in the Baroque style and has a lot of famous people buried in the crypt, including infant caskets.  Very impressive building with great views from the top!

Ach I just LOVE being a missionary!  It really is the best thing ever.  Echt.  And I love Germany!!  The language is coming slowly but surely and the people here are so amazing and so prepared!

So, as many of you know, my uncle Greg and his family live in Berlin....in fact, he is the Bishop of the ward closest to where I am.....

So I talked to my mission president during interviews this week about seeing him at some point.....

You know what he said?

He said he trusts me and he trusts my uncle and that we can see each other!

And not just that!!  We can see each other every other week, whenever he has time to see me.  he said go out to lunch.  See your uncle.

I just about cried, my mission president is amazing.  He gives you the freedom you deserve and he said he believes us both to be good.

I get to see him.  Many times.

President said... there is a reason the Lord called me to the closest area outside of Greg's actual ward, and he wasn't going to get in the way of that.

What a blessing, I am so grateful for my President and for the Lord and for the opportunity to be here in Spandau!!

SO I AM SEEING GREG TODAY!!!!

As such, I have zero time to write.  Just know that I love you all so much and we see miracles every single day here in Spandau.  There are so many prepared people here and our message is true so they listen.  I love being a missionary and getting to share with people that the Lord knows and loves them, and that we have a prophet again today, just like in days of the Bible.  I am so blessed to be a missionary for the restored church of God!

Keep the faith, I love and miss you all, and I pray for you!  Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and that He answers the prayers of His children.  I know that to be true.  Until next week, tchüssy!!!

Love, SIster Stringham

#missionaryproblems:

-getting fat off all the chocolate you buy to talk to the man who runs the kiosk (He's got the glow!)

-being hugged and kissed by your drunk investigator when you see him on the bus

-when your investigators come to church and you are assigned to teach 'the organization of the priesthood' in sunday school...as a sister missionary....naja (oh well: our favorite term here in Germany)

-when you can get more dates as a missionary than at home 

Ich liebe euch!!!

Week # 4 Miracles of Spandau!!!

Hallo Leute!!!

So mission time goes by so fast, I can't believe I have already been here for a whole week.  And man alive, what a week!

Visitng the concentration camp last week was incredible, I'll try to send home pictures soon.  Achso, I just love being here in Germany and being around so much culture and history!

Spandau is SO prepared.  This used to be kind of a black zone, or a place where people didn't find much success.  And they would always send the newbies here to be trained.  This area just opened up for sisters, and the work is taking off!  Like out of this world!  Sister jardine and I don't have enough time in the week to meet with everyone who wants to be taught #missionaryproblems  Seriously though, what an amazing problem to have!  Can you imagine?!  The people are just so prepared!!  Ach I love it here!!  There are so many people waiting for the gospel, and all I have to do is find them....which is so fun.  The Lord is with His missionaries.

So the language was pretty discouraging this week.  I don't understand anything.....it's like I'm in a different country or something.....???

It was a little hard, but I learned something really cool on exchanges.  On Tausch, Sister Bohne told me that it is actually a wonderful opportunity that we as new missionaries have at the beginning of our mission.  Because we cannot understand, we are able to learn to listen to the Spirit and follow it blindly because that is the only thing we can do.  I have really watched that this week and I have felt my awareness of spiritual promptings grow.  It has been a really cool experience to rely so fully on the Lord.  And I have complete faith that the language will come :)

Really cool experience this week:

So we are teaching this AMAZING family.  I love them so much.  Like more than anything.  They are from Kazikstan and are here for the summer.  We teach them with another family from our ward who is also from Kazikstan here for the summer.  

Ach tangeant --> this family in our ward is SO cool.  I'm pretty 100% sure that the mother is an angel.  And the kids are so cute.  The little boy wears suspenders everyday and only speaks russian.  I just die.  They are such a good example of how to be Christians and they are so excited about missionary work!  It's the best, they do SO much for us!!  It is really humbling being a missionary and working with such amazing people who pray for you and put so much faith in you.

Anyways, back to my story....

So we teach the lesson and the family translates it into russian for our investigators.  Only time I ever understand German is in these lessons.  I guess the Lord helps me understand when I really need it.  So anyways we are teaching and the dad starts to ask a lot of questions and they just  start answering in russian, so we don't really know whats going on.  So We turn to the little ten year old girl who does speak german, and we teach her.  She lost her mom a few years ago, so as we explain the plan of salvation and that she can see her mother again and live with her forever, she just lights up.  We explained the plan and that, just as she was learning from the missionaries here, her mom was learning from the missionaries in the spirit world.  We explained that the Lord wants families to be together forever.  She drew a big heart  around the Celestial Kingdom and said that thats where she wants to live with her mom and dad.  It was one of the greatest spiritual experiences of my entire life.  Everything I was trying to figure out how to say in German, Sister Jardine would say, and everything I said was what she was going to say.  The Spirit is REAL and it was there with us.  I am so blessed to be a missionary.

We see miracles like this everyday here in Spandau.  We have faith and we pray for miracles and they come.  The Lord really really does answer prayers, you just have to ask. It is an amazing thing to be here and to feel and be led by the Spirit everyday.  The work is really on fire here, the Lord has great things in store for the people of Spandau.  Okay well time is up, but I love you all so much!  Send me letters, keep me updated, and know that I pray for you all everynight!  The church is true, and I know that I am doing the work of the Lord.  Please, if you don't know yet, ask the missionaries, they can help you!  I love being here and helping the people here.  It is such a priveledge to serve a mission!  Okay well, be good, be strong, keep the faith, tchüssy!!

Love, Sister Stringham