December 30: It's a Christmas Miracle!!! (And Happy New Year)

All the Christmas festivities in Germany happen on the 24th of December. Needless to say, when we went out of our apartment, there was hardly a soul to be seen. Not a creature was stirring... 

Anyway, we were invited to a member's house to spend Christmas Eve with them and were waiting for our bus. There was one other man at the bus station and as Sister Wallin and I were talking, I kept thinking to myself, "Why is this man not doing anything?" So, I gave him cookies. Earlier this week we had baked cookies for basically the entire ward and had some left over, so we gave him a bag. We then started talking and he explained to us that he has a lot of problems and that he didn't even know if it was worth it to live. This led to that and then we gave him a Persian Book of Mormon and basically made him promise that he was going to come with us to the church on Christmas so we could have lunch and sing songs and he could socialize with everyone else that was there. He agreed. 

The next day we went to pick him up and he had a friend there! Who turned out to be a former investigator of the Elders and he wanted to come with us. So we brought both of them to the church, talked, ate, had a good time. We invited both of them to church, called them on Friday and the friend, Karim, said he would come. He wanted to come a long time ago but he never had time because he worked a lot. So, when we got to the tram station to get to church, HE BROUGHT ANOTHER FRIEND!!! So now we have these 3 wonderful investigators that want to know more, loved church and are planning on coming again next week. 

I am so thankful that God is mindful of his children. Who knew? Cookies to find? 

Oh Christmas in Germany.... It's actually different all over the place, but my Christmas experience was specific to the Erzgebirge. Some traditions we experienced (which may be family traditions, but still...).

For mittags, they eat lentil soup. Who likes lentils, right? Well, after this one, I did. The lentils are supposed to represent your wealth in the coming year. We made sure to eat several bowls...

Abendbrot is always potato salad and wurst (hot dogs... wayyy better than hot dogs. But not bratwursts) and let me tell you, if you want to get fancy with potatoes, ask a German. They have perfected the art of the perfect potato. 

We had a mini musical performance, where anyone who wanted to played or sang or both and everyone else listened and applauded. The family we were at has 3 girls and 1 boy. We all sang lots. And they asked Sister Wallin and I to do a few more musical things which was a lot of fun. 

And then, on Christmas Eve, they open presents. The Weihnachtsman comes... Actually I have no idea when Santa comes. He simply comes when no one is looking. Sometime during the day of the 24th? Not quite sure on that tradition. 

All of the Pyramids and Schwibbogens are lit up and it's simply beautiful. 

Sister Wallin and I read the nativity when we got home :)

We had a wonderful week. With members, investigators, and being a missonary. I didn't realize how special Christmas would be as a missionary, but now I do. Which is funny because it didn't hit me until the 24th. I didn't really "catch the Christmas Spirit" like I do every other year. I think it has something to do with the fact that the Christmas Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and we celebrate Christ every single day on a mission... But it was an amazing experience to be in a home where it dominated on Christmas Eve. 

We had another tausch after Christmas, and Sister Blake and I worked in a soup kitchen for a few hours. This soup kitchen is special though. This soup kitchen is run by the Catholic church, and the chef, or the boss, is a wonderful Catholic nun. It was really interesting to see how she worked, her personality and how devoted she is. I realized how similar she is to missionaries. Seriously though. Only she does it for her entire life. It was also funny to see the quirky personality she has. Just like every missionary I've met ;) She was sweet.

I had an interesting experience with the scriptures this week. 

I just started Mosiah, the record of Zeniff and his people. So, in chapter 9, Zeniff talks about how he makes a covenant with the king of the Lamanites that they won't go to war, and everything goes well. Then all of the sudden the Lamanites become lazy and worship idols and they decide they want slaves. So what do they do? They go to war. Seriously?! It's not like war is any less work than just doing your chores yourself. Common sense people. Common sense!

So as I was continually getting more and more embarassed because of the stupidity of the Lamanites, I caught a hold of verse 17 and 18. This is the reaction of the people of Zeniff to the war: 
 17 Yea, in the ^astrength of the Lord did we go forth to battle against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he would ^bdeliver us out of the hands of our enemies, for we were awakened to a remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers.
 18 And God did ^ahear our cries and did answer our prayers; and we did go forth in his might; yea, we did go forth against the Lamanites, and in one day and a night we did slay three thousand and forty-three; we did slay them even until we had driven them out of our land.
WHAAAAAAT???! This was awesome. All the sudden, the people of Zeniff were AWAKENED, and then they went forth in the MIGHT of the Lord. And what did they do?! They conquered!! Fist pump. These guys rock! I know I've talked about being awakened before, but this is beautiful! Rememberance is an action word. As soon as you are awakened to something, you act. 
As for me, I was awakened to Preach My Gospel. There is an analogy of a fisherman who  leaves his apartment and fusses with his equipment all day, fishes for maybe 2 hours and comes home. He wonders why he isn't having a ton of success as the other fisherman. But the other fisherman leaves his apartment, has his line in the water for 10 hours and then comes home. Then I reflected on all of the activities we have been doing for the past few weeks and realized that some days I have my line in the water the entire day. Other days, I have my line in the water until I catch a fish and then pull it out. Other days I wait to throw my line in the water until I think I see a fish. HELLO. That's not how fishing works! The last week or so, we have been working on doing things more productively, more proactive, more efficiently. So we don't have to fuss about our equipment when we are fishing. And I have definitely seen miracles. We may not get a new investigator every day, but most of the time we are very close. We have also seen miracles with the members as we try to teach them how to fish. Just yesterday, we were able to share experiences with a member that has tried and tried to get someone to church, and we told her that we met a wonderful lady that lives just down the street that invited us back. Of course she was thrilled because they are neighbors and already know each other. 
The hand of the Lord is seen in every aspect of our lives. Every aspect of our member's lives, and every aspect of our investigator's lives. Are we willing to fish? Are we willing to look for the miracles that happen?
I am so grateful for Christmas. I am so thankful for the Savior of the World that came to Bethlehem as a baby - someone who knows exactly what we need because he's experienced it. 
I love you!
Sorry this is long. It was an awesome week.
Sister Babbitt