Conference Spoilers April 8th

I feel like Sister McCandless and I have almost found the way we teach together. It's been a hard week, but a week still full of miracles. 

We taught an investigator, Martin, this week, and committed him to a baptismal date on the 26th of May. Some years ago, he had an accident where he was roofing a house and fell off. He was in a coma for 3 months, and when he came out, he wasn't able to use his legs to their full potential, and was extremely visually impared. On top of that, his wife took his son and left. My heart completely breaks for this man, and yet, I don't think I have ever met anyone with as much faith as he has. We taught him the Word of Wisdom, not knowing for sure how he would react because he is addicted to smoking, but it seemed like he knew it was coming and is totally and completely ready to change his life. We call him at night and ask how the day was, and he told us the other day that he used to smoke 28 cigarettes per day, and since we talked to him on Thursday, the most he's smoked is 5. WOW. I can honestly see the power of the atonement working in his life, and I can't even imagine how happy he is. We have wonders here in Cottbus and I am so grateful that I am here to see them.

I feel a little bit of a spiritual void this week because we were not able to watch conference on Sunday, but it was good for Sister McCandless to rest and start feeling better. Today, we are going to do our grocery shopping and then head straight back home so she can rest some more. 
I am amazed by her resilience! Even though she feels like crashing on her bed for the entire day, she does everything she can to help keep the investigators and the work here in Cottbus going. I really look up to her so much. 

I'm still getting a hold of the language. We taught English class on Thursday and as I explained the Book of Mormon (in the time we have to present a short lesson afterwards), I told the class that Lehi and his family built a sheep instead of a ship. They thought that was the funniest thing ever, but afterwards, a man asked if he could take the book home. OF COURSE YOU CAN!! Haha all's well that ends well.

Something I've noticed about my scripture study: 

For some reason, I love sea stories. Anything to do with the ocean, I just... connect with.

This week as I finished the Book of Mormon, I especially related to the Brother of Jared. I cannot BELIEVE the faith of that man. 
Can you imagine having so much faith that you actually say to the Lord, "Show yourself unto me" and HE DOES???! Yeah. Me neither.

Anyway, as he travels with the small group on the sea for 344 days, he says this in Ether 6:10,

"And thus they were driven forth; and NO MONSTER... could break them, neither (anything) that could mar them; and they did have light continually..."

WHAT FAITH!!!

I feel like that is something we can all strive for. The faith that NO MONSTER cough...satan...cough can break them, nothing that could harm them, and they did have light CONTINUALLY. 

Now, I am going to use the rest of the time I have to watch the Conferences we missed! No spoilers. ;) Thanks.

Sister Babbitt

Mud & Miracles April 15th

This week....
As usual, we had ups and downs. But the ups definitely outweigh the downs. That is something I have found as I have been here these 8 short weeks. 
We had an investigator call us on Tuesday to say that he was no longer going to meet with us because he found a Frau that he wanted to be with. Unfortunately, this Frau is 100% against anything to do with "Mormons". Which is sad because he has so much potential and so much faith, but as we talked to him, I had a feeling that he would be back :)

 

I also proved how bad of a companion I am.

We had to go to the Bahnhof to get a "thank you" present for one of the members that has helped us out a lot this week, and we ended up taking it to our lesson with the intention of dropping it off on the way back home.

After the lesson, we decided that it wasn't too far to walk to the member's home because we rationalized that it was only about 5 minutes by car, so at most, it would take us about a half hour to walk, so I insisted that we needed some fresh air.

I did not take into account though, the fact that there was no sidewalk on the side of the road.

Nor was there any "real" place to walk.

So.

We started off on our journey.

Through the forest.

In the mud.

Carrying a pot of daffodils.

I felt like Little Red Riding Hood.

 

Our miracle was... miraculous, this week. We have been teaching a man named Martin Graf for a couple months now, and he has had some problems attending Abendmahl because of complications from his accident not allowing him to sit for longer than an hour without severe pain, and Sundays are the only days that his father comes to visit, so he had been coming to only the first hour of church. Naturally, we wanted him to come to ALL of church, but something kept getting in the way. 
Sister McCandless and I were praying and contemplating on how we could get Martin to come to all of church, and we thought about someway getting him a priesthood blessing. As we prayed about who we should invite to give the blessing, we were impressed to ask two of the bretheren in our ward that weren't even on our radar. 
So we called them. And they agreed!
On our way over to the lesson, though, one of the brothers was criticizing us on the way we were teaching Martin, and actually gave us a long and rather loud lecture on the proper way to teach. Naturally, we weren't feeling the best as we got to the lesson, and I was honestly so worried as to how it would turn out. (Humbling moment for Sister Babbitt)
As we taught about the priesthood and the power of God, the spirit filled the room, and the two brothers were able to give him a priesthood blessing of comfort, faith, and strength. One of the members then proceeded to talk to Martin about coming to church and taking the sacrament - about how important it was and how when you make it a priority, God will make a way for it to happen. 
So guess who shows up at church the next day and STAYS THE WHOLE TIME?? That's right. Martin. 
After church, he explained to us that everything worked out with his father, and that his leg didn't even bother him once in the entire 3 hours. On top of that, he hasn't smoked a single cigarette the entire week.
And you know the best part? He said he knows that he was able to do these things because of the blessing he received. 
YES!!! 
I cannot believe the faith of that man. 
He inspires me.

This week in study, I have really been focusing on the individual needs for the people we have appointments with during the day, and one day in particular stuck out to me.
Gehorsam. Obedience.
As I was studying about obedience, and why it is so important, I came up with an analogy... Or maybe I heard it somewhere before, and I can't remember where it comes from.
Say you were studying for a really important test. The professor has given you a study guide with all the chapters, articles, and specific material you need to study for this test. Every question that will be on the exam is covered on the study guide, and your professor even promises you that if you need specific help with a certain topic, you can go directly to him and he will help you learn all you need to know. He wants you to be successful! 
So it is with our Heavenly Father. He gives us commandments because he wants us to be successful. He gives us a set of instructions for our lives, that if we follow, we will come out of the "test" beaming with happiness and gratitude.
The choice is ours though. The choice is always ours. When we disregard the "instructions" or "study guide" and instead, make up answers for ourselves, my bet is that we wouldn't score very well.

I am looking forward to another wonderful week full of miracles! 
This gospel is true. I know it. I can see it working in others, and I can especially see it working in myself. I wake up every day and am amazed at what conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ does! I find myself simply wanting to share it :) 
All My Love!

Sister Babbitt

I belong here March 25th

Can you say holy change of everything I ever thought I knew?

I boarded the train on Tuesday morning from Dresden to Cottbus and had the entire Dresden family there. All the Elders were there to see me off as well as my two cute companions. Aw wie suß right?? We are still in the same zone, so I get to see them for Zone Conference and the likes, but I honestly will miss working with them.

Because now I am in Cottbus with Sister McCandless and we are the only missionaries in the ward! What a change. Going from 10 to 2. Naja, it is actually probably the best thing ever. 

So as soon as I got off the train, I had a greeting party including Sister McCandless, Schwester Lehman (our Relief Society president) and Elder Jenkins who was waiting for his new companion. 

Transfers are weird. I sat on the train alone. And... slept? It's a miracle I didn't miss my stop. Haha

I had my first actual door to door experience. We didn't do a whole lot of that in Dresden because people are outside. All the time. Even in blizzards and ice wind. People are outside. And they stop to talk to you for a minute or so... Just to be nice. 
Okay, whoever said Germans weren't nice... Well. Okay false. Germans are polite. For the most part... There are occasionally ones who chase you out of the apartment building with an umbrella. That may or may not have happened.

A little about my new companion: 

She is such a hard worker. 

This is in part because her trainer was crazy. A good crazy! Like... She didn't even stop for lunch crazy. So Sister McCandless thought I was weird when I suggested we go back to the Wohnung to eat lunch. Ha anyway!

She is actually in the group that came to Germany 5 days before I did, so we are both kindof training eachother...
How that actually works I don't know, because your trainer is your "mom" and if you change trainers after a transfer they are your "step-mom". So we are each other's "step-moms"? Naja. We prefer the term "orphans". We basically have to figure most everything out for ourselves anyway! Which is actually quite an adventure!

Anyway, Sister McCandless went to Westminster and graduated with a degree in Communications. She is super smart, super focused, and super cute. 

And we, the goldens, get to work on our German together!

I'm pretty sure by the end of the transfer, we will be speaking a whole new made up language that only she and I can understand. 

So we actually have two investigators here on Tauftermin (...baptismal date? How do you say that in English? Naja) and hopefully we can keep the momentum that Sister Walker started going. It's really interesting to teach in German because often, the investigator doesn't understand, but there have been times when we end up talking and our German is perfectly understood. 

This is definitely the Lord helping us. Especially because it's hard to help ourselves. I was actually reading in 3rd Nephi the other day where it talks about the Lord taking care of the beasts and creatures of the earth. He asks why sometimes we think He won't take care of us even though He takes care of the birds and other animals. He makes sure their needs are met, and because God doesn't waste His resources, of course He will take care of us!

There is SO much work here to do and it's crazy how fast/slow the time goes. Days go on FOREVER, but the weeks fly by.

I am absolutely loving it. I love Cottbus, the ward is the best ward ever! 

I am also praying for spring.

Liebe, 

Sister Babbitt!

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

It's a Great Day to be alive

Today, the sun is shining!

This is quite an accomplishment for Dreary ol' Dresden. 

The past few weeks have been snowy, rainy, cold, slushy, gray... Everything that comes with winter in Germany, but the last two days have been exceptionally beautiful. I've been singing sunny songs all day. Hence the title. It's been stuck in my head all morning. 

I can't believe it's been a month since I left. This Wednesday is my four week mark, and I have spent most of that time in Germany. Wow, I feel so blessed. 

It's crazy though, because we are constantly doing things, and sometimes it feels like an hour turns into a year (some lessons...) but then I look back and realize that I went to bed on Monday and woke up on Thursday. If I didn't have a planner, I wouldn't know where the time goes...

So last week, the drivers of Dresden decided to make a strike. So, none of the busses, strassenbahns, trains... were running. That was unfortunate, because it was p day and since all the cool things we can do on p day require some sort of public transportation, we were confined to the small part of the city that we lived by. But, it gave us a lot of time to walk, and talk and laugh because of extremely funny people... 

There's a trend here, with women's hair... More than half of all the women I see have hair that is one of the colors of the rainbow... And half of it is shaved. And it never ceases to catch my stare... Sometimes they look back at me and I just smile at them. Which is weird in Germany. People don't smile at eachother. Well, I'm wearing a name badge, that basically gives me permission to be weird ;)

Anyway, I don't think I will be getting my hair cut anytime soon.

We had an appointment later that day, however, so we caught a ride with the Ehepaar. 

Something else that is different is that we are not allowed to proselyte in, at, or around public transportation. Which is actually quite unfortunate because I would guess that a third of our day is spent riding the bahns from one appointment to the next. We can, however, talk with people if they ask us first. So we have to be sly in figuring out how to get them to talk first.. Usually if we talk in English about random stuff, then switch to German when we talk about appointments and what we will be teaching, then switch back to English, it gets a lot of people in the bahn looking at us... Which is what we want. But a lot of the time, people keep to themselves. 

You would be amazed at how quiet the public transportation is here. 

Actually, everywhere is quiet. 

And then the Americans show up ;) 

I'm just kidding. We are not loud, but we talk with eachother, and even talking quietly in public is a little unusual..

This week we tracted into a man from Uganda. He is super spiritual and LOVES the bible. It was interesting though, because when we went and visited with him and taught him about the Book of Mormon, he was open to the idea that God does still speak to man now and that if the Book of Mormon helped him understand better what God wants for and from us, then he is willing to read it.

I thought that went well.

And he speaks English, so I knew exactly what was going on.

That went well, too.

I gave my testimony at church yesterday! It went something like this:

"I know God loves us. I love Jesus. I love Germany. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet. Amen."

Boy I am looking forward to the day when my Deutsch doesn't sound like a 2 year old. 
Progress. I am making progress.

But one of our untersuchers came to church! He is the bomb. He has diabetes, and has had one of his legs amputated, and is scheduled to get his other foot amputated. He also has really bad eyesight. 
And he runs around in a motorized chair. Actually, he CRUISES in that chair. We have to run to keep up with him. 

Anyway, he bore his testimony in class and it was really cool! (I didn't understand what he said... But the Spirit is the most important thing, and it was there) He said that he would never consider being baptized, but I don't think he really means it. He loves the missionaries, the members, the lessons, church... I think once he understands the importance of being baptized by the proper authority, he will change his mind. 

That's one of the hard things about talking with people here. If we stop someone and ask if they believe in God, they say, "Ich bin Christ." Which means "I am Christian" and then they walk away. 

But you don't know what you're missing!!

Every day I learn something new. 

Actually, I learn a LOT of things that are new. 

But something I read the other day really stuck out to me. 

"Please notice in these scriptural instructions the important sequence of first acting in faith ("open your mouths" or "lift up your voices") before receiving a promised blessing ("they shall be filled", "you will not be confounded"). Interestingly, many of us routinely seek for precisely the opposite; we pray and ask for the blessing so we can act in faith (first fill our mouths so we can open them). But that is not the Lord's way or pattern. Faith precedes the miracle, and ye receive no witness until after the trail of your faith. (Ether 12:6)"

So simple. Yes, of course we know that! We have been taught that we must have faith, and then the miracle will come. But how many times do we say in our prayers, "please let me know what to do and what to say so that I can.... (fill in the rest)". Although, that is good, we might want to change a little and say, "please help me look for opportunities to open my mouth. I want to do this thing, and I know that you will be with me."

I think to myself a lot, "am I making this decision because of laziness or fear?" 

If the answer if yes in any way, then I know that I need to change my decision. 

This has come especially with speaking in German. 

I have a companion that has been here for 14 months, and one that is a native speaker. It is so much easier to allow both of them to talk in the lessons because they know what they are saying and how to say it. However, although I know that every time I open my mouth I will butcher the word order and pronounciation, the words come. 

This is absolutely and completely His work. He wants everyone in the world to hear His gospel, and even if you can't open your mouth, you can bet that you can be a disciple of Christ by what you do.

He lives! He loves us! And the greatest feeling is knowing that you helped someone else know the plan that God has for us. 

And in the words of my companion, Sister Tidwell:

"The Word is true, the book is blue, You are WELCOME!"

Sister Babbitt's Mission President and Companions

Willkommen zu Deutschland

Hey family!

I arrived safe and sound yesterday in Deutschland :)

The plane ride was LOOONG, but good. I sat with Sister Sykes and Elder Rasband for the most part and we just chatted it up. I got their entire life stories and slept a total of 1.5 hours! Wahoo!

On the plane from Amsterdam to Berlin I sat next to a sweet lady from Tanzania and her one year old daughter. Oh my word she was the cutest thing I have ever seen. They slept the whole time so I talked with this man from Toronto for 2 hours. 

He was a professor and had the deepest mind I have ever probed. Okay that sounds weird.

But Im serious. 
We were talking about Germany and how excited I was to be there and he was telling me all the places I should go. Most of which I can't remember. And then we talked about religion.

Obviously.

I am a missionary.

It was interesting to talk with him, because as he was telling me what he believed, I realized that almost everything he was saying fit in to the gospel! He talked about how everything is connected to God in some way. Like how all the animals have consciousnesses, and how he believes in parallel universes. Then he said, "I believe that we go to a parallel universe when we die."

BINGO!

So I talked to him about the Plan of Salvation a little bit and how we believe in "life after death" where we are resurrected with perfect and immortal bodies. 

Cool, right?

And then I gave him a mormon.org card.

Feeling all pumped up, we met our president at the airport (pictures on germanyberlinmission2012-15.blogspot.com) and rode back to the mission office where we were to have a new missionary conference and receive our companions.

And I got the best ones ;)

Haha. Sister Tidwell is from St. George and has been out for 13 months. Sister Avanesjan is from Frankfurt and is waiting on her visa so she can attend the MTC and go to Mesa, Arizona! 
So yes, I am in a drit. 

And we are serving in DRESDEN!!

Okay, so if there was any place in Germany I wanted to serve, it is Dresden. I may only be here for 4 weeks, but naja. It's good.

We haven't done any lessons today, but tonight we are going to a less active family for FHE and that will be great. 

I don't know how to teach yet, so this will be interesting. But good. 

I am excited :)

Anyway, when we got to the Bahnhof to catch our train to Dresden, we found out that it was closed. 

Someone had jumped in front of the train. We don't know if someone was just down there and wouldn't come up, or they actually went through with it, but none of the trains were running and about 20 firemen ran past us up the stairs. Apparantly this isn't unusual. The people around were more upset that they were going to miss their train..

Willkommen zu Deutschland.

We wondered what would have happened if we had been there earlier and talked to whoever it was that decided their life wasn't worth it anymore. 

This work is so important. I don't know how to speak German, especially when I listen to natives, I realize how much there is to learn, BUT, I'm here for a reason. People need to know the restored gospel. They need to know that they are loved.

We finally caught a full train south, and I was out. So I remember very little of the train ride. Jetlag...

Anyway, the food is wonderful, I had a ton of joghurt this morning (that's German for yogurt. It's pronounced the same) and am looking forward to exploring later!

Next week, I'm sure I will have more meat to my email. Tomorrow, the real work starts. ;)

And I am going to learn German fluently if it kills me.

Liebe alles!

Sister Babbitt