Week #16 Sweet Service

Look what I found at Zone Conference--a cousin!!!

Hey All!

Another great week of happiness and miracles here in Spandau!  Gosh I love being a missionary!!  Really, there's nothing like it!  I love testifying of Christ and working with my Savior for the people around me!  I am so blessed to be here!

This week Sister Jardine and I decided that we really wanted to focus on serving our investigators and the members of our ward.  Ach what a week!  I love serving and I want to spend my whole life serving God's children.  It is our most important work here on earth, and as we made it a goal to focus on it this week, the blessings and miracles just poured in!  We spent a lot of time bringing brownies to ward members who do a lot for us, carrying home groceries, and helping people move, and it was one of the happiest times on my mission!  

And there was such a change in the ward on Sunday.  You could just feel SO much love!  And same with the investigators whom we helped.  Relationships were strengthened and people came closer to Christ and understood more that missionaries really are here to serve in any way that we can.  God was glorified.

Can I just say real quick too, that the ward here in Spandau is AMAZING!  Seriously, these saints are so kind and loving and faithful!  They love the Lord and they love the missionaries, and I will always remember fondly the families I have met here and the time I have spent with the Saints here.  I just love being a missionary!!  

Our Bishop especially does so much for the ward here.  He is truly converted.  We have an open door question and answer session every Thursday here where the bishop comes and our investigators can come and discuss and ask questions.  He takes so much time out of his busy schedule for missionary work and for the people that we love and teach.  

This week, Wichian came and they talked for almost two hours, even after all the missionaries had to leave.  Wichian is amazing, and told us this week that he had actually been a Buddist Monk, but had handed in his robes and has been searching for the truth ever since.  He loves the church and wants to be baptized and loves reading the Book of Mormon and takes lots of notes and always had lots of questions.  He is amazing, and he and Bishop just talked and talked. The Spirit was strong and there was just so much love.  Wichian is wonderful and Bishop is wonderful.  And there are so many members who are the same!  They do so much and have such strong testimonies.  I am so blessed to be a missionary here and to get work with and serve so many incredible people.

I am sorry I don't have a ton of time to write this week, but know that I am happy and working hard and serving the Lord!  And I am thinking of you and praying for you!  Thank you for all of your love and support!

Love, Sister Dal

He lives and He is with us!  I know that and I am here so that others will know it!  I hope you know it too!  

Week # 15 Adventures!

Feeling Heavenly About Our Chocolate!

Okay kids, story time:

#1: I was almost kissed on the street this week by a drunk, 90+ year old man in his traditional german clothing.  No exaggerations folks, it was VERY close. #gottalovegermany

#2: We got locked out of our apartment this week.  The key broke in half #germanyproblems and we were left outside with our laundry and no phone.  Luckily we live pretty close to our church so we decided to put our laundry in the basement and walk over to the church to use the phone there.  SCARIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE.  No jokes, we have a dungeon in our basement.  It looks like a cross between a medievel dungeon and the basement in Goonies.  Kein problem, We just went very fast and prayed that there were no german monsters in the depths of our deep dark damp basement.  We made it though, only heard a couple suspicious noises and shadowy figures, and hopefully we never have to go back to our cellar again!

#3: Immer noch in Spandau and immer noch lost.  Got on the wrong bus to one of our regular appointments, but then we were able to talk to the bus driver alone which never happens and he was super friendly and excited.  Also, it is illegal to preach on the buses here, but we can answers questions asked of us.  So this week, we saw this lady staring at our tags on the bus.  We went up and asked her where she got her jacket.  She responded that we were missionaries and she had seen us when she lived in Ghana, and asked us if she could give us her address so that we could come teach her and her family.  I guess that'd be no problem...!  Isn't that the best!  Gosh, Heavenly Father prepares His children and then puts His missionaries in their path.  I know that this is the work of God, and that winter blasts and the german bus system cannot stop the mormon missionaries!

#4: I had my first Fu Fu which was the BEST!  Seriously, it was delicious!  We had a Fu Fu Fest in Neuköln on Friday, so this week was comprised of finding as many African people as possible to invite to that.  It was a big Afrikan party with free food, music, and some presentations on African culture.  It was great success and loads of fun.  We ate and danced and sang together, and ate lots of fu fu!  I love the Afrikaners here!  They are SO faithful and fun and excited about the gospel!  Sister Jardine and I are so grateful everyday that we live next to an afro shop.  I loove these people, and between the africans and the russians and the romanians and the egyptians, we are most definitely teaching more foreigners than germans.  I love it though, these people are all so faithful and ready for the gospel!

#5: Okay, speaking of foreigners, Sister Stringham was humbled this week.  We just found a refugee camp in the area.  It is full of humble refugees from countries all over the world who have come to Germany to escape war and, in many cases, persecution for their Christianity.  As we walk down the street, people flock to us to hear our message.  As they listen, parents send their children running to get all of their friends and families and neighbors.  They are so faithful and want peace and the love of Jesus Christ so desperately.  It is very humbling to be just two young girls in the midst of people who have experienced so much. But we are called as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, to proclaim to all the world that He lives and He loves us.  As they see our name tags, they bring us into their tiny rooms where they are sharing beds and trying to survive, and show us their crosses and their bibles.  They want to know more about Him and they want to teach their children.  It is humbling to know that Heavenly Father has trusted us with this very precious part of His vineyard.  I really am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary.

That's it kids. Sister Stringham is working hard preaching and teaching and saving the souls of men. I see miracles every single day, and I know with all my heart this is the work of the living God. I love being a missionary and I love all of you!  I miss you and I am thinking of you and praying for you!  Write me and tell me about your lives, and keep smiling and know you are in the hands of God!

Love, Sister Stringham

Created our own chocolate at the chocolate factory with Marina from our ward....just about cried, it was the best thing of my life...nothing on this good earth beats german chocolate! 

Week *14 Immer noch in Spandau! (Still in Spandau)

My dear family and friends,

So transfer calls were this week......SISTER JARDINE AND I ARE STAYING IN SPANDAU!!!  We are so happy!!  We love Spandau and the people here, and we love being companions!  Like loads!  By the end of this transfer, we will have spent 3024 hours together.  Nuts right?  Its the best though!  We have so much fun serving the Lord and the people around us!  A mission is such a beautiful experience.  Its hard, and it  has the toughest heartbreaks, but also, it is the best happiest time of my life.  I can't even describe the joy that comes from bringing people to Christ and seeing miracles all around you every day.  I love being a missionary and I love being in Spandau!!

Some great things that happend this week:

-Going to Oktoberfest last week!  We ate bratwurst and listened to German music and just soaked in the culture and beauty of Germany.  Definitely one of the happiest times on my mission!

Oktoberfest!

-Rain.  It rains a lot here.  Like a lot.  And I loove it!  I am so happy to go out in a coat (and hopefully I'll get some boots soon so that my feet will be dry) and just get wet and be happy!  The church is true, no matter what the weather, and I love being a missionary in Germany when it is rainy!

-This week we went to Institute in Tiergarten and later to a baptism in NueKöln with Boatang.  Boatang is the best.  Really, maybe the funniest guy I know.  He is 25 and from Ghana, he speaks no German but he does speak Italian, and he is trying to teach us Twi.  His english isn't the best, so he explains himself through verses from the Bible a lot of times, which I think he has memorized.  He is so faithful it is insane, and he wants to be baptized.  He wants to talk to God, and he just always wants to be happy and make God happy.  I am so blessed to teach him.  We NEVER see the same person twice here in Berlin, and we see Boatang all the time.  And, he met with missionaries when he was in Milan!  Crazy right?  The Lord really is leading him, and I know that he has something great planned for him. I love being a missionary and being able to meet people like Boatang and help them come unto Christ!

-Artur is my favorite person on the planet.  He loves God and He loves this church and he loves us! Only time I've ever heard Artur excited is when we called him to tell him we were both staying in Spandau.  I love this man and I am so grateful that I know him!

Artur 

-When Bruder Olaf stayed after church to sing and play for me every ragtime love song he knew on the piano, and tell stories about Frank Sinatra (or Franky Boy) in Berlin.  In his heavy German accent, 'My Joonnnny liez ove ze ocean, my Joonnnnny liz ove ze zeeee.' It was one of the best moments of my life.  I love my mission and I love Germany!!

Okay well that's it for this week!  I love you all and I am thinking of you and praying for you!  And I love being a missionary!

Love, Sister Dilly Dal Stringham

Week #13 - Mormon Oktoberfest

My District at the Berlin Wall

Hallo Family and Friends!

So this weekend was General Conference!!  Whoohoo!!!  Anybody else have their life changed??  Anybody else love hearing from the prophet of the living God??  I sure did!!  I know I want to be a better person and a better missionary, and I loved all that I learned from the leaders of the Church.  We have been so blessed and so nourished by the word of God!  If you missed any of the sessions, take the time to watch them online at lds.org.  I promise it will bless you and answer the questions in your heart!  I love general conference and I love the prophets of God!

For General Conference in Germany, we all travel to the stake center in Tiergarten (which is about 45 minutes by train) and watch together.  And we even get to watch 2 of the sessions live at night with the time difference!  That was so great, to know that I was watching with all of you halfway across the world.  There are different rooms for different languages, and I was blessed to be able to go to the English room!  I was so happy, and I learned so much!  And we had several of our investigators come!  One of which was Herr Kendrick:

Have I ever told you about him?  Well he is THE BEST!  He is a strong Catholic man with a beautiful family and an abundance of faith.  He is brilliant (pretty sure he has the bible memorized) and funny and sincerely loves to learn.  When we first started teaching him, he let us in so that he could convert us, but he has since gained a testimony of the truthfulness of this church!  He loves the Book of Mormon (which he has read and reread - often times in lessons he teaches us from its pages), believes in the prophets and wants to go to the temple to be sealed to his family!  He just also believes that the Catholic church is true too..but he is so close and loves this gospel!  He knows Christ and I know that someday he will know that Christ is truly at the head of this church.  And I pray everyday that I will be able to see that day!  He is the BEST and I absolutely ADORE his family!!  And they love us too and want to be missionaries with us!  Anyways, he's cool, and he came to conference looking as catholic as humanly possible to hear the prophet of the Lord.  And you know what, HE LOVED conference!  It was truly amazing to see the excitement in his eyes as he listened to the words of the prophets and learn from the modern words God.  It strengthened my testimony of missionary work, and how this is new for those we teach.  We come with words of revelation and we really are saving those we teach, and giving them the knowledge they seek.  It was great to be around him and his excitement...like a kid in a candy shop.  I love being a missionary and being able to meet and love and serve these people!

I love this gospel and I know that this is the gospel of Christ.  I know that Christ lives and He is at the head of this church today.  I know that God speaks to prophets today, and that He always has been and always will be a God of miracles.  I know that I am on His errand.  I love being a missionary and I love you all!  I think of you and pray for you!  Godbless!

#wordsofwisdom:
"Success in His service always produces miracles beyond our own powers. ... There is joy guaranteed for the faithful" President Henry B. Eyring.

"As men and women, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters of God, we move forward together." Elder Neil L. Andersen.

"It is a fundamental truth that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be cleansed." Elder Richard G. Scott.

"Finishing involves enduring to the end of life." President Thomas S. Monson.

"You must become the rock the river cannot wash away." President Richard Maynes.

"Difficulties allow us to change for the better." President Thomas S. Monson.

"Each day is a day of decision, and our decisions determine our destiny." Elder Russell M. Nelson.

"Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change." President Thomas S. Monson.

"True conversion occurs as you continue to act upon the doctrines you know are true and keep the commandments, day after day, month after month." Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson.

"Our understanding of God's plan and His doctrine gives us an eternal perspective." Elder Dallin H. Oaks.

"Though we may feel we are like a broken vessel we must remember that vessel is in the hands of the divine potter." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

"Our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we stand up, dust ourselves off, and stride forward." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

"The acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

"Our daily walk with Jesus Christ provides peace and purpose in this life." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 

"The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection" - President Boyd K. Packer. 

Love, Sister Stringham