If only the rings could control the mood...

Liebe Familie,

So on Monday, we had a zone P. Day. It was so fun seeing so many old friends again with our belated 4th of July Celebration. We grilled hamburgers, chatted, and played soccer. Apparently, they made Elder Escher say the Pledge of Allegiance. I inquired as to the truth of this story, and he told me that he did, hand on his heart and everything. But then he told me he had his fingers crossed behind his back, so all was well:] I remembered how in on of my German classes in high school, we had to say the Pledge of Allegiance in German. I had always wondered why that was translated into German in the first place. I feel like if any German-speaking person would like to pledge allegiance to the US, they probably speak English. Oh well.

That night, we taught Bernie at a member's home. We met Bernie at Bahnhof and walked with him to the member's home. He loves to walk. The members were incredible joint teaches. They were awesome fellowshippers, told wonderful stories, and bore powerful testimony. They are a couple around 60, and their youngest son who just got back from his mission almost a year ago. We used Doctrine and Covenants sections 8 and 9 to teach how we receive answers to prayers. We talked about how you have to have a specific question, not just, ''Lord, tell me what to do.''  We then told Bernie one way to make his question more specific would be to set a goal of when he would like to receive his answer. So we set a baptismal date for the 4th of August, and all was well! The Burgers all bore testimony that he could receive an answer by that date. Bernie was a little nervous, as he is concerned that he won't have any more friends after he gets baptized, but on the way home, he got more and more excited about the idea. Bernie and Bruder Burger also really bonded. 

The next day, we had zone training, which I always enjoy. I always learn so much, and again, it is fun to see other missionaries. 

The next day, we met with a less-active in our ward. She was super nice and has the cutest baby! We discovered that her other three children are former investigators, so we are excited to start teaching them. Apparently just six months ago, they said that they believed that they could receive answers to prayers, and the missionaries almost set baptismal dates, but they wanted to talk to the mom first. And then nothing on the progress record! So, Sister Smith and I will be taking care of that.

Thursday, we had Austausch. I went to Stuttgart and worked with Sister Stewart and Sister Green, and Sister Jencks came to Ludwigsburg and worked with Sister Smith. It was so good to work with my mama one last time. We had such a fun time, reminiscing of our time in Wien. We accidentally had a lengthy pillow talk, but it was so good! We met with a few less actives that day, and it was an awesome day:]

However, Sister Smith and I discussed that if Bernie was going to be baptized by the fourth of August, he was going to need to be taught the Word of Wisdom soon so he can stop smoking. Their joint teach was Elder Morrill, and Johann, an incredible member of our ward who came from a super rough background. He grew up in foster care and got into a lot of drugs and trouble. However, he found the church and turned his whole life around. The church is his family now. He was an incredible joint teach as he testified that it was possible to quit smoking, as he had quit that and so many other things. Unfortunately, Bernie wasn't too receptive to the spirit that night. He got very angry. Luckily, Elder Morrill started joking with him at the end of the lesson and pulled him out of his bad mood. They couldn't commit him to live the Word of Wisdom, but he promised he would read the pamphlet and pray about it.

The next day, we sent Bernie an SMS wishing him a great day. He sent us an SMS saying that he didn't deserve our friendship or the nice day well-wishes. We sent another SMS, negating what he had said. After a little while, he sent us another SMS. This one said that he wanted to be polite, but (and then he switched to all-caps) to please cross him out of our planners as he wants no more to meet with us. He explained that it was too hard for him to change, and that he wanted no more of this. Sister Smith and I did not know what to do. We discussed leaving it for a few days, as he was obviously in a bad mood, to wait for him to calm down. We discussed calling him right then to try to help him calm down and realize that he wasn't serious. We kept going back and forth of the pros and cons. We eventually decided that we would need to pray, as we could not figure this out on our own.  After the prayer, we sat back on our couch to ponder. I kept thinking of a scene in the District (yup, the District) in which the elders visited their investigator when she called and said, ''No more.'' Then Sister Smith said, ''I almost wonder if we should visit him...'' I told her that I had been thinking the same thing. So we quickly put on our shoes and headed to Bernie's house. He opened the door and told us to come in. He then told us, ''I, uh, I sent you an SMS...'' I told him that was why we were there. After talking to him for a little while, we got him to agree to continue to meet with us. He also agreed to come to church on Sunday. He would not, however, agree to meet with us on Saturday night if we wanted to bring more people with us - Bernie does better in smaller groups. Unfortunately, we can't meet just the three of us. So, we called the elders and told them that they would need to take over teaching him. They have already been there a few times, so it should be an easy enough transition. 

Bernie came to church yesterday, and he just loved it. He said it was a lot of information, but it was really great. He was really excited all day, and was a very different person from the Thursday night/Friday Bernie. 

The biggest change we noticed, though, was that Bernie was that in the second-to-last lesson, he reported that he hadn't been reading in his Book of Mormon. We observed the drastic change when this one link was removed. My testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon has really been strengthened this transfer. It is as President Benson says, ''It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called “the words of life” (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.''

Have a great week!

Liebe,
Sister Stephanie Reid

Babysitting on the Fourth of July

Liebe Familie,

Last Sunday, Sister Smith and I were trying to find a member´s house for an eating appointment. Our best friend lives there, so it was paramount that we not just give up. Also, it´s good to build relationships with the members, anyway:] Anyway, as we were underway, we found an incredible playground. It looked SO COOL! So, we called the Stuttgart sisters (Sister Stewart is there! It´s so fun to be in the same zone as my mama again - it´s so good to see her just before she dies) and asked what plans they had for P. Day the next day. They told us that Sister Green really needed a rain coat, and they would be emailing.... Anyway, they were open for ideas. So we told them about this playground, and they were very down. So that is what we did. We went to the park and slid down the slide and just had fun. I am telling you - they do not build playgrounds in the states like they do here. Parents would have to sign wavers for their kids to play on something like this in the states! And the Germans are living longer (let´s also remember that everyone here smokes, too. So with that added variable in consideration, a whole new light is shed on how much longer they are living than us. Also, we should have Döners), so, it might not hurt to start implementing cooler playground equipment... 

We have a family in our ward who is from Nigeria! I love the Nigerians so so much. Anyway, we got to meet with them this week, because they are trying to get to the temple. We got to know the mom and three-year-old daughter better. The mom is so funny and real! She told us about how she met her husband, and it was freaking hilarious! She told us about how she was on a plane to Nigeria, and she had an empty seat by her. She was really hoping it would be somebody cool because she can`t sleep on planes, so they better not be someone boring. Then a very good-looking Nigerian man got on the plane. She thought, ´´I could definitely be next to someone like that.  Mmmm... he is fine!´´ And, sure enough, he sat by her. She was pretty darn excited! Mostly, just hearing her tell the story was wonderful! Then she fed us a traditional Nigerian dish that you serve a very special guest when they visit for the first time:] Chuck (the three-year-old daughter) also really liked us. She was crying when she couldn´t go with us when we were leaving. She also was having a hard time finishing her lunch because she suddenly desired a desire to go to Africa. Her mom kept telling her that the flight to Africa was a long one, and she would need her strength if she was to endure. So she would eat another bite and be so excited. Then she would get distracted thinking of Africa again and ask if she could go. Her mom would tell her again that she would have to finish her food first. She would get excited, eat a bite, and then get distracted again. It was a bit of a vicious cycle:]

We went to Pforzheim on Saturday to do a finding day. Sister Holman and I went on splits, and we took a member from Peru with us. Her name was Stephanie, and I only remembered that was my name towards the end of the afternoon when Sister Holman said, ´´Stephanie, will you pray for us?´´ I gave her a funny look, and Stephanie started praying. I explained afterwards that I was wondering why she would call me by my first name. Anyway, it´s always fun to realize that we have another name besides ´´Sister Reid.´´ No wonder return missionaries are a little awkward... :]

The fourth of July was this week, and we celebrated as best we could. The Zone Leader Council was in Munich, and since the Sister Training Leaders are in a dritt, their third party wasn´t supposed to come. So Sister Smith and I had to babysit her for the afternoon, night, and most of the next day. She is not like most missionaries. But that´s okay. Anyway, we picked her up in Stuttgart and ate at Burger King. America. Sister Smith wore red and white, and I wore blue and white, so between the two of us, we had red, white, and blue. America. We also ate Reece´s milkshakes (made with the Reece´s Sister Smith got for her birthday, vanilla ice cream, milk, and the electric hand blender we have - needless to say, there were large chunks of Reece´s in there. But they were still tasty:]) when we got home that night. America.
We had an awesome lesson with Bernie that night. We talked about faith at the start, but then (200% led by the spirit), we started talking about how we can use that faith in Jesus Christ to be healed from whatever hardships and heartaches we may have had. It was so cool! Bernie always says how good he feels whenever he meets with us. He also told us that in his free time, he sits on his balcony, drinks a Coke, and reads in the Book of Mormon.  I am so glad we have found him! We may only have one investigator right now, but he is so cool! Also, here is an awesome scripture. ´´Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation for a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.´´ -D&C 64:33  Sometimes it gets a little discouraging. But the one investigator we do have is so prepared and so elect. And we have only been here a few weeks. Sometimes we have to be a little patient. ´´I know for sure that the promises of the Lord, if perhaps not always swift, are always certain.´´ -Pres. Uchtdorf    I know that also to be true. The blessings will come. They may not come when or how we think they should. But they will come. And more often than not, they will be better! 

I hope you have a great week! Remember to ``never give up on anyone. And that includes not giving up on yourself.``

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid

Cookies and the District 2

Liebe Familie,

Sister Smith had this week birthday. She is officially the Big 2-0. I asked her a lot of questions Sunday night, as she was still a teenager. Monday came. We were going to have a zone P. Day and play soccer. Sister Smith was freuing herself up the waz. She loves soccer. And that is an understatement. Anyway, we were supposed to go to Stuttgart to meet up with the other missionaries after we finished emails. But we accidentally spent a little too long; by the time we finished, we realized that by the time we got there, they would probably be done. So, we decided we would stay in Ludwigsburg. It was a little rainy, otherwise we probably would have still played outside. But we were worn out, and didn't feel like trying to figure out a Plan B. So we went home after buying groceries, made lunch, and made cookies. Then we turned on the District 2 (these fabulous DVDs used for training - they are a documentary of a district of missionaries serving in San Diego, and we just love watching them) and enjoyed our cookies/cookie dough. Sometimes a chill day is nice, too. :] I gave Sister Smith a way-to-go for having her birthday on P. Day so she could do relax. She gave me a weird look and said, ''No problem.'' 

Tuesday night, we had another appointment with Bernie. We could not find a joint teach for the lives of us. So we called the Stuttgart sisters, and they agreed to come. Problem was, they are to Dritt, so that would have been five extra people in his house. Agreeing that that would perhaps be a few too many, Sister Smith and her MTC comp., Sister Jencks, went and tried to contact some former investigators in Kornwestheim. Sister Stewart and I took their golden and taught Bernie. It was so fun teaching with my mama again. The lesson was awesome! We taught the Plan of Salvation. Bernie is a great student. He is really good about asking questions, but he also doesn't get distracted. He also absorbs information like a sponge. We got all the way through the Plan of Salvation, with Bernie repeating back each step all along the way. He is so cool. He told Sister Stewart also about the day he met us and how even at 300 meters, he saw us and knew he needed to talk to us (but we talked to him first:]). He really is so prepared and so ready for the gospel. He also really liked Sister Stewart and told her she was welcome to come back anytime. 

We taught Bernie again on Thursday night and broght the elders. We have been praying a lot about him, obviously, and we feel that someday we may need to give him up to the elders. But we feel like at this time, we would just be confused if we told him that the elders need to start teaching him. So we are trying to help him get to know them, so that when the time comes for a switch, it will be natural. Also, it will be good for him to have people in priesthood to sit next to. This week we are going to have a family in our ward and a few YSAs be our joint teaches on various occasions. This will also help him get well integrated with the ward and feel more comfortable. 

We had interviews this week, and those are always lovely:] I love drawing on President Miles's wisdom and learning so much. We also were shown a little bit of the broadcast on member missionary work. We saw the full thing yesterday as our last two hours of church. It's interesting to me how whenever we have these changes, it always just makes sense. Like when Preach My Gospel came out. It makes sense that we should be teaching by the spirit and not giving memorized scripts. And it also makes sense that we should be working more with members to help them do missionary work, as opposed to trying to have a missionary church and a member church. It will be cool to see the whole face of missionary work change with these technology and focus changes. We are still inviting people to come unto Christ, but now we are being smarter about it.

Saturday we had a service project at a local elementary school - that meant: pants. 'Twas wonderful:] It was raining the whole time, though, so we were very cold at the end. But it was nice to be outside and spend time with members of our ward. 

I hope you all have a great week!! 

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid

''Wishing will not make it so; the Lord expects action.'' 

-President Thomas S. Monson   

Liebe Familie,

This week was super hot. It got up to 36 one day, and with the humidity, a daily shower was not enough. We only have one fan in our apartment (and they don't really believe in air conditioning here), and we just moved it with us throughout the house. Since we are opening the area, we are spending a lot of our time finding. We have awesome tan lines on our feet and necks, and such. But it cooled down a little more the day before yesterday, and we have been enjoying every second of it!

We were blessed for staying outside and talking to everyone, as gross as we looked. At the end of the day on Tuesday, we were walking back to Bahnhof. It was hot. We were gross. We had walked all over Freiberg am Neckar all day, and no one wanted to listen. But, as we are promised in Ether 12:6, as long as we just talk to one more person, we will be blessed for it. We were across the street from Bahnhof and could have easily enough said, ''Here we are! We don't need to talk to that guy! We can go sit on the bench and rest until the train comes. We deserve it - we have been walking and talking all day long. We smell worse than a couple of pigs, so probably no one wants to touch us with ten-meter poles right now, and we quite frankly don't blame them.'' But I felt strongly impressed to talk to this one last guy. I went up to him and told him that we were talking to people about Jesus Christ, and asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. He said that he for surely did. I asked him if he wanted to develop that faith. I have asked others that question before, but they more often than not say that they have enough faith and do not need to get any closer to Jesus. But this man excitedly said, ''Yeah!! How?!'' I introduced the Book of Mormon, and when he found out it was free, he just about lost it with how excited he was. I asked if we could meet sometime so we could talk more about this book. He gave us his phone number and address and entered our number into his phone right away. We made an appointment for the following Friday, and wished him a pleasant night. He said he was so excited to get home and start reading in the book.

The next night, we were waiting by Bahnhof, and he walked by. He called out to us, and we looked over. He said, ''See you Friday!!!'' We were pretty stoked because we thought that we had for surely found a legit guy.
Friday night came, and we went to his apartment. He was watching for us, and waved out of his window as we got to the building. By the time we were getting ready to cross the street, he was downstairs, ready to greet us. HE led us back upstairs, we sat down, and he just had the biggest smile the whole time. We started with a prayer. Then he showed us how far he had read in the Book of Mormon. He had already read all of the testimonies. He asked who the Gentiles were, and we explained that. He understood and then sat back to listen to whatever it was that we had to say. We started working our way through the the first lesson, with the point that God is our Heavenly Father, and He loves us. He told us about his family - how his wife had left him and taken his two daughters, and the only time they visit him is to ask for money. He asked why so many bad things happen to him, even though he is trying to be so good. We opened up to 2 Nephi 2 and talked about opposition, agency, learning, and growing. He loved every scripture we read. He was so excited when we got to Joseph Smith, especially when he found out we have a prophet today. He just kept staring at the picture of Thomas S. Monson. He really felt the spirit. At the end, we promised him again that his Heavenly Father loved him.  He said, ''Not me.'' He went on to explain how his parents emotionally abused him when he was younger. I shared a personal experience of someone who had had similar things happen to him, and how I had seen the healing power of the atonement in his life. I promised Bernie that he could be healed. He is so excited to continue meeting with us. We taught him how to pray at the end, and in his prayer he thanked the Lord for sending us and for the good feeling he had. He needs the gospel so badly and is so ready for it. We were so thankful to have found him! And it only happened because we talked with one more person.

We had a ward party on Saturday, and Sister Smith and I made some new friends in the ward. They are three girls who are all 8 years old. But they think we are so cool, and we had the funnest time playing with them. Amely came up and sat by me in Sacrament Meeting yesterday, and was just so excited to be there. She was craning her neck to see Sister Smith's nametag, and then I heard her whisper, ''Sister Smith...Sister Smith. I can remember that!'' A few minutes later, she craned her neck to see my nametag. I took it off and handed it to her so she could read it easier. She did a little happy dance as she held it, and then she put it on her shirt and held it there. I handed her the magnet, and she excitedly put it on. Then she asked if she could wear it for the rest of the day. I told her she could wear it until the end of church. She was just so excited! She put her cardigan back on and said, ''Look! I am just like Sister Reid! I can be a missionary, too!'' She excitedly went off to primary, and I had to go to Relief Society. After church, she met us in the Relief Society room to give me back my nametag. I asked her if she liked being Sister Reid, and she said that she loved it. I told her that next week she should go to Relief Society and I will to to Primary so we can properly switch places. She nodded excitedly, but then stopped and said, ''But then I won't get candy!'' Dang it. Oh well:] She asked us to make copies of our nametags for her and her friend Madlene so they could cut them out, and we could all be missionaries at church next week. She also asked her mom to invite us over next week so we can play with her. We love our new little friends:]

I hope you all have successful weeks!

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid

Liebe Familie,

Sister Smith and I are safely in Ludwigsburg. It was a bit of a struggle to get here, but we are here!

Our last few days in Neumarkt consisted of meeting with a few people one last time, getting the area book ready, and packing! It was very busy, but we got everything accomplished and made it to Bahnhof in one piece!
Elder Nelson came to town this week! We had the opportunity on Tuesday to make another trip to Munich to see him. The Salzburg, Munich, and Stuttgart zones had the opportunity to be taught from him. We also were taught from Sister Nelson, Elder and Sister Soares, Elder Kiron, and Elder Fingerle. It was so powerful, and we learned so much! We also got to shake all of their hands (all of the listed people were the recipients of our handshakes - we did not shake all hands - only the right ones). It was also fun to see other missionaries I hadn't seen in awhile. :]

It was really crazy, though, on Thursday, because there were two of us with six suitcases. Normally on transfer day, one missionary has not suitcases, so you have four arms for three suitcases. We got to Bahnhof 45 minutes before the train would leave and had 10 minutes to spare. We struggled getting the suitcases all the way down the two flights of stairs, then all the way back up the other two at the train station. A man watched us as we struggled with the remaining suitcases, and I may, or may not, have had some un-Christlike thoughts. But I repented when I got to the top and he said, ''I would help you, but my knees are really bad. Why do you have so many suitcases?'' We told him we were moving to Germany. Sister Smith talked to him while I printed the tickets. He asked her why we were moving, and she explained how we are missionaries and we have the possibility every six weeks to move. He asked for what church we proselyte. We told him, and he pointed across the street (at our church), and asked, ''That one?'' We nodded excitedly, and he said, ''So you are Mormons...'' He then explained how that morning he had had some questions about Mormons. He asked a Catholic priest who told him we believe in Scientology, live on farms with other mormons, and brainwash our kids. He asked us if that was true, and we cleared up his confusion. He asked us other questions about what we believe, and was very excited to learn that we are quite normal people. We didn't have any pass-along cards with us, so I wrote down the website of the church and told him if he had further questions, that was a good source to learn about what we believe and who we are. The train pulled up, and he hurried into the train to get someone to help us with our suitcases. He then stayed with us until his stop. He talked to us more and told us he had visited the Adventisten church awhile ago, as they have a lot of good things. But he said they didn't have all of the truths and were crazy to think the Sabbath has to be celebrated on Saturday - so, he wouldn't get baptized. Then they started being mean to him and kicked him out of their church if he wasn't going to be a member. I told him, ''I'm not just saying this because it's my church, but if you visit our church, you will feel very welcome, and no one will be mean to you because you aren't a member. In fact, they will be very friendly.'' He got very excited and asked when we had church. We told him, and he repeated it, making a mental note. He then said, ''You know, it's weird. Just five minutes before I met you, I was wondering what Mormons really believe. Then I met you!'' He was so cool, and hopefully he comes to church and the Neumarkt (now) elders can help him.

We had other missionaries to help us at all of the other stations, so that was good. We missed our Umsteig in Munich because our train from Salzburg was 15 minutes delayed due to high water, and we only had a ten minute Umsteig. We pulled into Munich, and other missionaries helped us off the train and told us we had about 20 minutes until the next train left. They brought us into the center area with the other suitcases and told us to wait there while they figured out which Gleis the train was on. Then, they would come back to help us. We waited about 15 minutes, and they never came back. So I realized I would have to figure it out myself. I looked at the board and found a train headed to Stuttgart in... I looked at my watch and saw that it was to leave right then! I looked down at the Gleis, and the train pulled away. So we had to wait ANOTHER hour for the next train to leave! But we bought pretzels, and all was well.

We got into town, and the Ludwigsburg elders were waiting to greet us. They helped us get to our apartment and tote our suitcases up the three flights of stairs. The ward went all out for our apartment. It is very cute, and I will send pictures next week. The elders quorum picked out the bedsheets and toilet seat. The toilet seat is a picture of a cow standing in a field staring at the guest of the WC. We felt like we were still in Neumarkt with the cow:] One of our beds has Barbie bedsheets, and the other one is Disney princesses. Sister Smith does not like pink, so that was really funny:] I sleep on the Barbie bed. The ward was giggling themselves silly on Sunday when they were asking about them. They kept telling us they had other sheets for us, but we really didn't care. There are house plants everywhere, so that has been nice - we both love plants! And it has been fun having the closest thing to a pet we can have. We have a great neighborhood to run in, and we get to see the Ludwigsburg palace everyday on the bus as we get into town.

The ward is awesome, and we already have some friends in the primary (President was saying it was the biggest in the mission!). This week, we will be doing a lot of finding, but we have a lot of great goals to do that! We are so stoked to get going!

Have successful weeks!

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid

Liebe Familie,

Yet again, we had a week with many things to keep us on our toes!

Last Monday, we had our last Austausch of the transfer. We tausched with Linz, and it was really great! Sister Smith went to Linz, and Sister Schönherr came here. Sister Schönherr is from the near of Dresden, and speaks beautiful German. It was so beautiful to speak to her:] We mostly did finding, and we found a lot of awesome people! 

Wednesday, Sister Smith and I went to Munich for Zone Leader Council, and it was definitely a meeting to remember. The Wednesday night portion was normal and lovely. President did a really powerful presentation, and a lot of other missionaries were crying at the end. Sister Smith commented to me, ''I felt the spirit, but is it bad I didn't cry? I just don't cry...'' I agreed and told her I really didn't know how to cry. How ironic... The next morning, we had the business part of the meeting, and everything was normal and good until the assistants turned the time over to President at the end. That was not what was unusual. He usually wraps up these meetings with words of wisdom. What WAS unusual was what he said. We were to receive our transfer calls the next morning, but President said, ''Do you know what we are going to do now, Elders and Sisters? We are going to get our transfer news!'' He then proceeded to hand out the papers with where everyone was going/if they were staying. He told us not to read ahead, as we were going to find out together. The last people, of course, to receive their news was my comp and me. We will be leaving Neumarkt, and will be opening a new area in Ludwigsburg (a suburb of Stuttgart)! Then it was time to sing the closing song, and, let's just say, there wasn't a lot of singing coming from Sister Smith or me. She started crying, and that made me cry. I was very frustrated because I inherited quite a mess when I got to Neumarkt. They had not had an investigator in Sacrament Meeting for at least three months, for example. I had five weeks to get to know the area (we happened to have a five week transfer), and then I got my golden. It has taken us the last two transfers, but we now have an investigator with a baptismal date, and two more who are really close! We have also had excellent sacrament meeting attendance, and we just got a few really cool families found. I was super frustrated because I felt like President was not pleased wtih my work (our numbers were very low for the first little bit. Although we were working hard, it wasn'T showing, becasue we were practically building from ground zero) and, hence, a whitewash was necessary. However, it is elders who are coming in, for one thing. And this ward has been screaming for elders. We also have a few investigators who really will do better with elders. And, why would he have us open a new area together if he was disappointed with our work in Neumarkt? He obviously saw our capabilities, and wants us to do it again. So, I am a lot more accepting of the idea now. This week has been stressful getting everything set up for that, but all will be well! It was just embarrassing crying in front of so many other missionaries. They just caught us in the shock of the news moment!  

We have been having a lot of problems with flooding around here lately, and our original plan was to go to Passau on Saturday (they got hit pretty badly) and help with the clean-up. But, with our news of transfers, we had to stay in town to get things ready so the transition is as smoothe as possible. These have been a stressful last few days, as the preparation necessary for the this transfer is not like most. But it will be good. And I'm glad Sister Smith and I are staying together. We get along and work really well together. 

We go back to Munich tomorrow to meet Elder Nelson and learn from him, and then we have one more day to get everything ready! 

Alles Liebe and viel Erfolg! 

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid

P.S. We were kind of in a flash flood yesterday! But we were safe:] The hail and rain were huge and coming down so fast! Full-on rivers were coming down the road after only a few minutes! We took cover under a bridge and waited it out. It was so crazy, and neither of us had cameras with us!! (I had one, but my battery was dead, and Sister Smith didn't have hers with her) But, I took a video in my head.   

Liebe Familie,

A lot of crazy (wonderful) things happened this week!

We had been trying to plan our Austausch with Linz, but all of this crazy stuff kept happening. We had to change the dates and the times, then the dates again, and then the times again, and again and again. By the time we got to the day of, we finally had everything figured out. But then, Sister Schönherr needed a root canal, and, needless to say, Austausch was just canceled. We are heading out this afternoon for the real one. But it turned out to be wonderful that it didn't work out. We had to go to Raul (the one-year-old grandson of Anita and Bobi/son of Christina and Daniel)'s birthday party. It was interesting - it was just in Christina's apartment, and we had party hats. Some of the neighbor girls came, too. That would have been weird to be on Austausch for, to say the least. Then, later that night, we had an appointment with a less-active in our ward. We have not been able to get her to come to church for the life of us. President and Sister Miles came to our district meeting, and then went on joint teach with us. They came up to Neumarkt at the end of the day for this appointment. It was awesome, because we teach this woman in English, so Sister Miles could participate. We talked about Elder Bednar's talk, ''That We May Always Have His Spirit to Be with Us.'' President and Sister Miles were incredible joint teaches. Then, at the end of the lesson, President asked the woman, ''Sister [Traud], when was the last time you had a blessing?'' She told him, and he asked if he could give her one. The priesthood is real, people. He had no idea all of the things that have been concerning her for the past few weeks and months. Yet, these concerned were addressed in her blessing! She started crying! It was so incredible! She still didn't come to church on Sunday, but she will!

Then, a few nights later, we were meeting with Anita. Bobi is out of town, so it was just the three of us. Anita opened way up to us about how stressed and scared the family of the older woman makes her. She described how stressed she gets sometimes - it sounded a lot like she has panic attacks. She also said she has trouble sleeping in the nights, too. I reminded her about when we talked about the priesthood a few weeks earlier. I bore testimony of the power of priesthood blessings for comfort and peace of mind. I asked her if she would want one. She said that she would love one, but then she asked what she had to do. I told she just needs to have faith that it can help her. She said she could do that:] Sometimes it would be nice to be an elder because we could have just given her a blessing right then. But we came back the next night with a member who blessed her. He explained again in different details what a priesthood blessing is. He then gave her such a powerful blessing. Anita was also bawling at the end of her blessing. It was so cool. Also, we met with her last night, and she told us that she has slept soundly every night since her blessing, and she isn't worried all the time! She told us that she just feels so much peace! If only we can get her married, then she would be baptized so quickly!!!

On Saturday, we agreed to go to church with one of our investigators so that she would come to church with us. Maybe with some people that's a good idea. But it turns out the 7th-day adventists meet for 3 1/2 hours. She drove us there (how sweet), so we couldn't even leave! We were stuck in this awful, boring (almost to the point of tears) place! They had 4 opening songs, three before the opening prayer, and one after. And 3 closing songs. And we sat in these benches not feeling the spirit (quite the opposite thereof, in fact). I cannot describe in words how awful it was. Our church is about that long, too, but the difference is that the priesthood authority was not guiding that church meeting. Then there was a guy on my right who tried flirting with me. That was annoying, too. The (now former) investigator wanted us to have lunch with her and another woman in her congregation, too. I told her that Sister Smith was sick (which was kind of true), and I needed to get her home. But before we could go, a man with a hair lip came up to us and was asking us all these questions about our church. It was kind of weird preaching in an unconsecrated religious facility, and then the man had no interest anyway. So that was annoying because it just turned out to be a waste of time. But maybe not. He said he has a Book of Mormon at home... Anyway, it is incredible that I lived through that morning.

Last Sunday, Sister Smith and I fasted that we would get an investigator with a baptismal date this week. Last night, we had our first official lesson with Linda. At the end, we set a date with her! She is so cool and will be baptized on the 30. June! Sister Smith asked her if when she knew these things were true, would she commit to be baptized. She nodded and agreed. Then, I told her that it's always good to set goals. It shows our faith to our Heavenly Father that we think we can receive an answer by that time. I asked her about the 30. June. I had just barely given her her Book of Mormon a few minutes before that. She paused. Then she said, ''So, I have to read this whole thing by the end of the month?'' I explained that she only needs to read a chapter to receive an answer. I explained again the purpose of the goal, and she nodded and said, ''Yeah! Yeah, let's set that goal!'' It was so cool!!! We are so excited for Linda! She has already been to church enough times, too! We just need to teach her the lessons! 

Also, we had dinner with the bishop and his family after the lesson. We brought the Nachtisch - ice cream and cookies. One of his kids (7) said, ''Es ist immer herzlich willkommen, wenn ihr Eis bringt!'' or ''It is always more than welcome when you bring ice cream!'' That was the cherry on top of a great night:]

The priesthood is really restored. It's always so incredible to have these reminders of its power.

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid