March 18th

I can't even believe how much has happened this week!

First things first. I am being transferred.
Weird, right?

I for sure thought I would stay in Dresden because I have only been here for four weeks, but naja. I am moving to Cottbus to finish my training!
Sister Tidwell and Sister Avanesjan are both getting new missionaries so the Dresden ward will now have 10 missionaries. 4 Elders, 4 Sisters and an Ehepaar. TEN missionaries!!! Can you believe that??

So, Cottbus.

It's still in the Dresden zone, but it is only a sister city (for now. There are 30 missionaries coming in this transfer) so Sister McCanless and I will be tearing it up! Want to know the best part? Sister McCanless is 5 days older than I am - in mission terms. So we are both brand new and we will be finishing our training together. Cool eh?

Sad to leave Dresden, but excited to go to Cottbus.

So we met with a less active lady on Tuesday.
I have never laughed so hard in my life.

As soon as we get there, she says something about the lightest person has to sit on a special chair while we eat dinner, and guess who gets chosen? Yep. Me.

This chair... was a wicker basket. I was in a squat for about 20 minutes until I couldn't hold any longer and tested the strength of the chair, even though I was almost positive I was going to crush it.

Then, because I am the "Neue Sister" I get to say the prayer at all appointments. So I'm getting into the groove and all the sudden, in the middle of the prayer, I hear "ICH HEIßE SCHWESTER WOLLNEY ODER GISELLA"

Aaaahhhhhh I lost it. I was laughing so hard, that Sister Tidwell had to say, "Im namen Jesu Christi, Amen" even though she was laughing almost as hard.

The rest of the appointment was full of... pictures from her youth and talking to her about coming to church. Which she said she would come. I'm praying that she does! (Fun fact. Dresden used to have about 400 people who regularly attended church. There are about 170 that regularly attend now. So we do A LOT of reactivation. Which is super fun because the less active members like the missionaries. Most of the time)

We had another austellung this week! It was difficult because the place we finally were able to set up was right next to another booth that was trying to get people to sign up for a red cross type thing... So when we stopped people, sometimes they felt attacked because of both things going on.

Despite that fact, it was actually a really good day. We talked to a lot of people and found a few new investigators from it.

Also...

I was hugged by a midget.

Yes, you read that right. A midget. 4 feet tall.

3 times.

And I was asked by him several times if Elder Larson was my son.

Nooooooo...

You want to know the best part? Sister Avanesjan, the night before, was extremely tired. When she gets tired, she makes up songs. And her song was about midgets.

Something I have been thinking a lot about this week is prioritizing.

There was a lesson I had once with a bunch of rocks and sand and how to fit everything into a certain glass jar (meaning our life). The big rocks represented things that were essential, like scripture study, prayer, church, family, etc... And the sand represented little things that are good, but not necessarily as important, like hobbies, entertainment, fun, etc... When you fill the jar with the sand first, you have no room for the most important things. But when you fill the jar (your life) with the biggest rocks first, then the sand can fill in the cracks.

I honestly know that that is true. Especially as a missionary, prioritizing is SO important. When we plan things right, it reduces stress IMMENSELY and the Spirit works more effectively in our lives.

Remember that the most important thing is to serve the Lord.

Liebe alles!

Sister Babbitt