Christmas Week

This week has been really full.  My companion is amazing.  We get along really great.  She is from California.  Which I think I already told you.  We have loads of fun together.  She is learning German.  She is in the same spot that I was when I got here.  Nothing before hand.  It is interesting to see how far I have come and I am really happy to help her learn.  And she is a really fast learner and we have a blast together. We are working really hard.  This past week we have spent a lot of time on the street talking to people about the new Christmas video.  It has been really fun.  We are working hard.  But we have also been blessed with appointments with members and our investigators which is really nice.  We will see some of them this week as well.

Well, we have to run to our train.  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!!

Bis Freitag!!!

  It's been a Whirlwind

So this week has just been a whirlwind.  The time just passes by so fast that I can't believe it.  I just don't know if I can even explain all that happened this week.  We were so busy and so full.  I think I gained probably 10 pounds.  Last Monday all we bought for our weekly groceries was cereal and some bananas.  And apples.  That was it.  We had eating appointments every day.  Everyone wanted to say goodbye to Sister Cook.  We even had some people who were fighting for us to come over.  So crazy and funny.  It was so nice to go and say goodbye to some people.  And I didn't have to say goodbye.  Made it even better.

But Seriously I am so full.  I don't even need to eat much.  And everyone keeps giving us chocolate.  I love it, but I hate it.  So crazy.  

We had a really awesome experience with this woman that we doored into the other day.  We went back by and she let us in and we ended up talking for about an hour.  She told us all about the bad things that have happened in her life and after she had told us things she just kept asking why bad things happen to good people or to children.  We talked with her and she told us that she never talks to people about these things.  She then told us that she feels like a weight is being lifted from her heart and she just felt light and happier.  She just felt like we made her day so much better and that we had this light about us.  She wants us to come back so she can feel that way again.  So I called her this morning and she told me that she has been thinking about us and every time she does she feels good.  And she put our card on her fridge and her kids asked about it and she told them that she just feels so much better and more free.  And she and her kids are still a little skeptical, but she really wants to see us again.  She said that she thinks if we meet again she will feel better and happier.  THAT'S RIGHT YOU WILL!!  The gospel makes everyone happy.  It was such a cool experience!!  I am so excited to go back again.  Really you have no idea how excited I am about her.  She is really weary about the Book of Mormon, but wants to talk with us.  I am so glad.  She is amazing. 

We also saw so many other miracles this week.  Some with Sister Cook and Some with my new comp.

So then on Thursday I got my new comp and her name is ..... Sister Puckett.  She is from California and her German is already really good for just coming from the MTC.  She is so excited to do missionary work and is just amazing. We get along really well and I can tell that we will be good friends.  We have had a really crazy last couple of days.  We have had eating appointments and on Sunday we had the Christmas devotional as well as a Christmas concert in our stake.

It has been such a good week.  I am really excited for this next one as well.  It will be so busy and the time just flies.  We have something big every week until the transfers ends. I just don't know how I am going to keep up with it all.  Crazy to think that when we got here we had nothing to do.  Now we don't have enough time to do it all.  I love being busy.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  I love you all.  We are going to a wonderful family tonight to decorate a Christmas tree for family home evening.  It will be a blast.  Have a great week!!!!

Sister Poll

Catching Up

November 24
Last Monday we had a great p-day.  One of the members had a birthday so we went to a buffet to eat.  It was Chinese.  It tasted not so good, but we had a fun time.  We also had a family home evening appointment where we had an awesome time with this family.  We were there with the Elders and we learned a lot about the family and we ate some great food.  I am so grateful that we don't have to eat too crazy things here in Germany.

Last Tuesday after District meeting we went on exchanges with the Sister in Tübingen.  Sister Cook went there and I stayed here and Sister Gardner came to be with me here.  It is so nice to see past companions and we had a blast.  We even took some photos here together.  We now have pictures of us in 3 areas together even though we only served together in 1.  Super funny.  But she is doing really well and like I said we had a blast. We had an appointment that night with a less active and we took our new member with us as well.  We had a good lesson and they connected really well.  They both have babies that are 6 and 7 months.  They are really cute.  We enjoyed ourselves.

On Wednesday we went and say Frau B.  She is really struggling with her family right now and told us that she doesn't really want us to keep coming anymore due to the stress that it is putting on her family.  It is really sad because she really loves us and wants us to come, but because her family is really against is she has asked us not to come anymore.  We are going back one more time this week so Sister Cook can say goodbye since we were on exchanges.  We really love her, but sometimes you just have to respect people.  She is still reading in the Book of Mormon and doing well with it.  But all we can do is pray for her right now.  One day she will come back in contact with Missionaries and it will be wonderful.  

We also went and met with L who is 9 and really wants to be baptized, but due to some things going on it has been pushed back and back and back.  So we are working on getting her a date set up that will hopefully be before the end of the year.  She comes to church every Sunday with her Grandma.  She is really ready, it is just getting everything set up with the family and all.  But it will happen hopefully before I go home.  She really wants it so we are going to make it happen.  

On Thursday we came back together and we went to the M family.  They are doing sooooo good. We are really proud of them.  They are a part member family who was also a bit inactive when we got here. Now they have been coming every week for the past 5 weeks.  This past Sunday they didn't have a ride and they woke up early and took the train.  It was so wonderful. The husband is interested in the church he just wants to move slow.  Something really cool happened though.  We asked if we could help them with anything and they told us that we could come back on Friday for breakfast to eat with the husbands daughter.  So we did and now we are teaching her.  She is really interested and really sweet.  We were so excited.  It was a miracle. 

We have also been taking around invitations to the Ward Christmas party to less actives and we had a really great experience.  We called a less active a few weeks ago and she said she was busy and not sure if we could come by.  We decided to just go by even though they live far away so that we could deliver the invitation.  The husband answered the door and was really nice.  He was really excited to receive the invitation and said that he hopes they can come.  We talked a little about the area where he lives and he said that he would love to drive us to the two castles that are around where he lives (which we really want to go to ) and we were so excited.  He said to call and in the next few weeks we can all go together.  It was so amazing that they went from not really being friendly to inviting us to go on a p-day to do something with them.  That will help us make a relationship and then we can help them feel the love of the ward as well.  It was amazing.  

On Sunday was the Primary Program.  It was such a great experience.  I loved it.  We have a lot of primary kids as well.  So it was so good.  I also got to see some people from home on Sunday. Crazy who you meet.  They have family in our ward and he picked Elder Gray up from his mission and then came to visit the family before flying home.  Crazy who you see.  It was weird to have my two worlds colliding though.  Home and mission life come together. Kind of funny. 

I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!!!  It should be so wonderful to come together and thank God for all that He has given us!!!  I love you all!!

Sister Poll

 

 

Nov 30

 Hallo Liebe Familie!!!

 

Monday was wonderful.  We had interviews with President and got to talk to him.  It was really nice.  We talked a little about all of you at home and I showed him some pictures.  It is always really nice to talk with President.  We then had a great Family home evening with a family and sang some songs.  It is so great to be able to spend some time with members.  

Wednesday we were back on exchange with the Stuttgart Sisters.  So we were there again.  We had a really great time.
Thursday was Thanksgiving and I did manage to get some pumpkin pie.  :)  Wonderful missionary senior couples made a huge thanksgiving lunch for us and they have access to the military base so it was just like home.  Super good food.  Unfortunately our dinner appointment for that evening fell out due to the trains not running.  I hate when that happens.  So we had to cancel and then we were out on the streets instead.  But we had a good time nonetheless.  We were actually a little glad we couldn't go because we were not hungry since we had Thanksgiving.  It was a good day.

Friday and Saturday nothing too exciting happened.  We had a great time with some members and we were out finding quite a lot this week.  But it was a great experience.  We loved it.
Cool story from Sunday.  A family came in that we had never seen before.  After the first hour (they came a little late and snuck in) we went up to them and started talking with them.  It was really hard because they speak basically only Portuguese....  Their grandson was with them and translating as best he knew how.  During Sunday school I basically just talked with them through Google Translate. (What a blessing that thing is)  And found out that they are actually members and have been wanting to come to church.  We are going to start helping them learn German and it will be a fun and interesting experience.  But it was really awesome that they just showed up to church and they seem like a really cool family.  They stayed for all three hours even though they don't understand anything.  And they invited us over to eat on Thursday....  It will be really interesting.  Sometimes I just hate that language barrier.  But what can you do.  Open google translate and say a prayer.  :)

Later that evening we went and did some genealogy with someone that we doored the other day.  She loves genealogy and we were helping her.  Unfortunately we also have a language barrier with her and we were really trying to help her, but She speaks only a little German and Russian....  So ja.  Sometimes difficult.  But you just smile and keep on using hand signals.  That is always the way to go.  :)  I learned this week how much I would love it if we could all just communicate with one another.  One day it will happen. 

Love 

Sister Poll

 

 

 

Dec 7

Well hello there everyone.  I hope you have had a wonderful week.  Ours has been so full and crazy but we have loved it.  It is a riot.  Let me run you through what happened.  Try to keep up with me.  :)

Monday we went to one of the best Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmarkt) that I have ever been to in my life.   We then went and had a wonderful family home evening with a cute older couple and the elders in our ward.  It was wonderful and so spiritual.  They are a rocking family.  And he was driving us home and one of our other members called us asked for a blessing.  So we pulled an emergency and he drove us all there and then after drove us home.  We got home late, but it was such a blessing that he was driving us.  Otherwise it would have been impossible.  And they really needed a blessing.  It was so good.  We are so grateful to the Weber family.  I love them.  

Tuesday we had some great appointments.  We didn't have our district meeting because we had our zone conference this week for Christmas.  I will tell you more about that.  But we went and saw our investigator who has been reading the book of Mormon so well.  She is at the end of Alma.  Unfortunately her family is really against her meeting with us and she asked up this time not to come back.  It is causing a lot of strain in the family and she doesn't want it.  Plus she feels like she knows the bible really well and is learning on her own and that we should use our time to help others who aren't as far along as she is....  We tried to tell her that we want to help her too, but we have to respect her decision as well.  It broke our hearts though.  She is like our grandma and she loves when we come over.  And we love going.  But we can't do anything but pray now.  She is still reading the Book of Mormon so hopefully she sees the truth when she comes to the end and she will have the courage to do something about it.  We also met with some other wonderful people.  

We did some Genealogy with I this week in Russian and German.  It was interesting.  But we made it.  It was super fun.  We were also able to share the new Christmas video with her and talk about God a little through Google Translate.  It was interesting.  But we love her.  It was really good.  On Wednesday we had an awesome day.  It was so great.  And we talked about the new Christmas video and how we can use it better in our work.  If you haven't seen it, watch it.  It is really great.  It is on Christmas.mormon.org.  It is really good.  I challenge you to share it with a friend.  We also watched Silent Night.  It was so great to see where that song comes from.  But it was really strange to watch a normal person movie while being a missionary....  Sister Cook and I got a little ancy.  So funny.  

Thursday was also really busy.  We had some great appointments and Friday was also really good.  We have been really busy all week.  It is the best problem to have as a missionary.  :)  We got to see S this week and he is doing good.  Just really busy.  He wants to learn more before he commits to being baptized.  Hopefully he will make time to meet with us more so he can learn more.  haha.  But he is doing really good.  N is also doing amazing.  She is wonderful.  She emailed us and said she has gotten a call for a job here in Germany and she will hear more later.  Keep her in your prayers that she gets the job!!  And she loves the ring that you sent and we sent her a true to the faith as well.  She reads it every day on the train.  And she is sharing the gospel with all her friends.  She is amazing.  

Saturday was really warm. So Sister Cook took her Viola out and she played by the Weihnachtsmarkt and I talked to people.  We found a really cool guy that we are going to meet with this week.  It was so much fun!!!  I am glad that Sister Cook had the idea.  

Sunday was emotional and crazy.  We had so many people ask us if we had time to come over and meet with them this week.  It was crazy.  We just can't fit everyone in.  They all want to say goodbye to Sister Cook.  We are booked until she leaves.  We don't even need to buy groceries this week because we also have an eating appointment on Thursday and Friday.  But Sunday was really great.  We also got to go over and eat with the Bishops family and they are wonderful.  I love them a lot.  They are really funny.  We were happy to have an appointment after fast Sunday.  And it was so good.  We had a great day.  We were really busy.  We also met with a new person who we are hoping will keep meeting with us.  She is really cool.  We found her going through our area book a few weeks ago.  She is super awesome and we are excited to start teaching her.  It will be awesome.  

So as you can see our week was totally jam packed and this week is even more so.  We love it.  It will be a crazy and wonderful week.  The Christmas season is starting.  I love it.  People are more open to talk about the Gospel and we are able to help people come closer to Christ.  Share the video with someone and help them see what Christmas is all about.  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!!

Love Sister Poll

Prayers for Our Friend

Hey there!!!
I also can't believe that it is time to write again. Really it is insane how fast the time goes. It feel like just yesterday I was writing. This week has been really good. We had good and sad moments but overall one of he best weeks of my whole mission. Let me tell you what happened. Well we spent all of last Monday with N. We walked to the lake and castle that is here in Ludwigsburg. It was great. We had a great talk as well about making time for things and what our priorities are. N said when she goes back to Bochum it will be hard to find time for church maybe and the missionaries. We told her she didn't have to meet every day like with us but at least once a week and also how you need to go to church. And then we talked about how you can always have time if you make time. And she really understood it and said she would make the time. She is awesome. We then were able to skype with the missionaries in Bochum on Wednesday. It was sooo great. She felt so much better after she saw them and got to talk to them. They were going to pick her up at the train station. It was so good. Then after we talked with N and the member who we were with who is a convert it really helped N. It was awesome. On Thursday we also went to a members house with N and had a fantastic lesson. She is really nervous about being baptized since she may go back to China and she wants to be able to follow the commandments. She probably wont get baptized this month just because she is struggling a little. But she definitely knows it is true. She will be baptized for sure. I just think it will be next month sometime. She will be ok though. I got the ring the day that she left but I will send it to her. She was really excited to get it. She will love it. We knelt in prayer at the end of the lesson and it was such a powerful experience. She is amazing. We said goodbye on Friday and it was hard but so peaceful at the same time. She will be ok. Please keep her in your prayers that she can find a job here in Germany or if not that she will be ok when she goes back to China. Where she lives the closest church is about 6 hours away. It just depends on where she goes... Prayers would help. Thanks.
As far as her boyfriend things are good. He is just really busy unfortunately. But he will be ok. I know it.
We are also working with some other great people. They are making slow progress and not wanting to come to church so that is something we are working on. But it is going really well here. I will miss the people
when I have to leave. Nothing else too interesting this week. One of the little girls in the ward got baptized this week. She was so cute and there were a lot of friends and non members there. It was wonderful. She loved it. Sorry this email is short and a bit vague. Things are awesome. We are doing awesome work here. We are trying our best to find more people.
This next week is going to be busy. We have exchanges and I'm sure this week will fly by. I love and miss you all!!! Have a great week!!!!

Sister Poll

November 9th

Well folks,

Sad to say that our dear friend Nan is heading back to Bochum this Saturday.  It is very bittersweet.  It is sad because we love her.  Not only because we meet every day, but also because we have become best friends.  We spent basically all of our p-day together today.  She will leave a huge hole in our hearts, but we are going to keep in contact.  She will be baptized in Bochum on the 28 of November is the plan.  And she should have no problem making that as long as she meets with the missionaries and goes to church when she gets there.  Which she is nervous about it but we are coaching her through it.  It is really good though that she is going back now so she can get to know the ward there before her baptism.  It will really help her.  Unfortunately we will not be able to go.  It is about 5 hours away by bus and isn't even in our mission.  But we will be there in Spirit.  She is going to have one of the greatest experiences of her life.  We talked with her the other day about the Temple and talked about how she can help others come to the knowledge that she now has and she was really excited about it.  She is also excited to go home and help all her friends to meet with the missionaries.  They will just love her there.  She just gets it.  We will seriously miss her.  But it is better for her.  She can't get baptized here due to the fact that she has no house here.  She is going to go back eventually and after prayer we feel that she needs to go back.  It is really good.  Today was our last p-day with her and we went to a castle and walked around and took a lot of pictures.  She is awesome.  We will meet with her until Friday, she goes home on Saturday.  But then her Boyfriend will have more time to meet with us.  haha.  We ate Chinese food with them on Saturday and it tasted really good.  Chinese food in America is not real Chinese food.  We had a wonderful time together.

We also had  great time at MLC this week.  We learned a lot from President and we are trying to improve ourselves so that we can be better missionaries.  It was very uplifting and I am so glad that we were able to go.  In the morning we played some sport with the other missionaries.  We played Foosball and it was wonderful.  I am terrible because I haven't played in so long.  But after we played some touch rugby as well.  The grass was wet and I slipped and did a total belly flop.  My shirt can prove it.  It was fun though.  It was nice to see the other missionaries as well. 

Things are great here.  Our people are progressing and even though Nan is leaving us we still have a lot to do.  We are working hard and I am so grateful for your love and support.  I hope you have a wonderful week!!!!  Love you!!!

Sister Poll

Short on time today.  Sorry it is short.  Love you!!

Halloween Week

Well this week has been so full of wonderful things I don't even know where to start.  Basically it is really all about N..  She is amazing if I haven't mentioned it before.  She is so ready to hear about the gospel and she is making so much progress in just the week and a half since we have met her.  She is so wonderful.  I love her.  And we get to see her every day!!!  It is just the best.  We are working on getting her in contact with the missionaries in Bochum where she lives so that when she goes back she knows who they are and isn't so surprised and everything.  We talked with her today about that.  She has had almost all of the lessons. We are just teaching her the Word of Wisdom this week and a few other things.  But she really just accepts things really well. But not in a way that she is just blindly following.  She likes to study the topics before hand so that we can have a discussion. And she basically teaches us and just asks us the things she didn't understand.  She is so prepared.  We just have to figure out a few things so that she can be baptized either here or in Bochum.  We set a date with her though!!!  It is going to be the 28 of November most likely.  We just don't know the location yet. Never had that problem before.  haha. We are working closely with our Mission President so that we can make things happen.  It is going to be a wonderful day when she is baptized.  She is really amazing.

We are also going to meet with her boyfriend this week and get his date reset.  He has been really busy with work because one of his coworkers is leaving and even though he has no experience he has to take over his work load.  So he is trying to learn all the things for his coworkers job.  So he has been really busy.  We hope he will have time for us this week though.  He is also really wonderful.  They both came to a baptism of one of the kids in the ward this past weekend.  And they both just loved it.  They also both fasted for the past Sunday and really want to follow the things that we are teaching.  The great thing is that even though S isn't meeting with us right now, N tells him everything that she learns and he tries to learn things from mormon.org when he has some spare time in the evening.  So he is doing ok, we just need to help him come back to us a little.  haha.  

We also met with a new man this week.  We met him a few weeks ago at his door. We gave him a book of Mormon and he said he would take it but most likely not really read it.  We went back this past week and he is in 1 Nephi 10.  He said he thinks it is interesting and wants to read the whole thing.  We are hopefully going back this week.  :)  He is really cool.  He has a catholic background and wants to learn more. He doesn't believe that the catholic church is true.  He is wonderful.

Frau B is doing good.  Just kind of at a standpoint right now.  Her family now has book of Mormons and some of them are reading.  She just doesn't want to come to church and take the next step, but she is reading the book. So that is really good.  We are just hoping that she comes to church this next week.  

On Halloween we were with a member and normally there are not that many kids out trick or treating here since Halloween isn't the biggest holiday here.  But they ran out of candy since last year no one really came.  It was funny.  They were rummaging through their pantry for candy.  But some of the kids were not dressed up.  They just knocked on the door for candy... Really funny actually.  But we had a good time with them there.  We ate Leberkäse.  You can google that.  It tastes really good.  It is kind of like American hot dogs but waaaaaaay better.  It was a really good Halloween.  Next year will be strange.  

There are so many other blessing that have happened this week.  Really you can see the hand of the Lord in your life if you just look for it.  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!!  Try to talk to someone about God this week and help them know that He loves them.  I love you all!!!  

Sister Poll

Ludwigsburg ROUND 3!!!!

 Well as you can guess from the title I am staying in Ludwigsburg for a third transfer!!!  I am so excited!!!!!  And I am staying with Sister Cook!!!!  We were so relieved when we got the call that we were staying.  Unfortunately we no longer have elders here.  They are getting shut down.  So that will be something new and different.  But hopefully they come back next transfer.  I have no idea.  But I really hope so.  It will be weird to go to appointments without them.  But I am really glad that Sister Cook and I are together. We will be able to finish our missions here in Ludwigsburg.  She is going home in 6 weeks and then I will get someone new and finish here as well I think.  It will be so much fun.  We have some great things going on here right now.

So miracles of the week. There are so many it is just hard to describe.  We were so blessed this week.

We had some great things happen on Tuesday and all but Wednesday we got a call from S and he told us the he didn't have too much time but that his girlfriend N had time and she was also interested. She is visiting from a place in Germany called Bochum.  She is here to visit him since she is just writing her Master Thesis and can do it anywhere.  We set up a time for Thursday and we were super excited.  

Thursday morning runs around and we go to catch our train to our appointment and it just falls out. So that means we are going to be late since it just decided not to come.  We quickly ran to jump on a bus and called her to tell her we would be a few minutes late.  We then ran from the bus stop to where she was waiting for us.  It was defiantly a work out.  :) But it was worth it.  Ever since we have met N our lives have changed.  That sounds a little corny but it is really true.  We met with her and explained what we do and how we want to help people.  She then asked if we could meet every day so that she could learn.  We have seen her every day since Thursday.  And she just progresses so much over the course of a day. She started reading the title page of the book of Mormon and the second time we met with her she said "I watched some things on you tube because I was confused"  That made us a little worried since you never know what is on the internet.  But turns out she was really confused about the book of Mormon (even though we told her she wouldn't fully understand and we would explain tomorrow.)  And said she didn't want to read it cuz she was totally confused. So she went onto you tube and searched some things.  She made her way to Mormon channel and proceeded to watch 53 videos about the book of Mormon and the church.  She basically got all the videos about all the stories in the Book Of Mormon!!!  Then she had a desire to read and more fully understand. She is awesome!!!  Is in now in First Nephi and getting farther every day. She still watches lots of stuff on Mormon channel and we got her the gospel library app.  Today she told us that she would love to come and be a joint teach with others and help them understand our message.  We want to set a baptismal date with her, but she technically lives in another mission and we are not sure if she can get baptized here or needs to go to the ward where she is living.  But we are basically best friends and we love her.  She is amazing and she came to church on Sunday and LOVE IT!!!!  She promised all the members that she would be there next week as well.  She just takes everything and wants to learn more. She is one of the biggest miracles I have seen my whole mission.  Pray for her that she will make the transition well when she goes back home. 

Another miracle is that our less active that we are working with came to church on Sunday.  She said it was great to feel the spirit again and wants to come back regularly now.  And we go visit her every week.  So crazy that we met her on a bus and had no idea she was even a member.  And we have been able to help her so much.  

As I look back at this week I know that God is blessing us to do the work that he has called us to do.  Helping people come to the knowledge of the gospel is the best feeling.  I love it!!!  I know without a doubt that it is true and that God qualifies those he calls.  I know that he is preparing his children all over the world and that nothing is as important as to keep him in our lives.  Trials are good because they make us stronger and I love looking back and knowing that God was right beside me all along the way. Keep him in your thoughts and He is always with you and strengthening you.  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful and successful week!!!!  You are all such wonderful examples to me and I could not ask for better family and friends.  LOVE YOU!!

Sister Poll

October 19

Well all, This week has been fun and flew by way tooo fast.  Like always.  :)

We had a great zone training on Tuesday where we had to help teach and everything.  We were a bit nervous, but we think it went well.  Hopefully it helped someone in some way.  

We then went on exchanges with the Tübingen sisters.  I was blessed to again go back to Tübingen (my home town!!!)  And to see some amazing people again.  I was also able to call some people on the phone and hear how they are doing.  It is crazy to think of how much things have changed since I have been there.  For example people move.  Funny story of the week. We went to visit someone that I was also teaching when I was there.  And as we were walking there I just went into autopilot and took the way that we always went.  Because we were there a lot.  So I was with Sister Price and she asked me if this was a better way to go.  And I said ya we always went this way.  (This should have been a sign to stop and think for a minute but we didn't) And so I started leading where we were going.  And I knew exactly where I was.  Well, long story short we walked where I always used to go only to find a gate in our way.  Things change in the course of a  year and we figured out that we were on a construction site.  Seeing this and realizing that we made a mistake we turned around and tried to go back the way we came.  Then we met this man who was bolting up the gate that we walked through.  Naturally I was a little worried and told him that we were confused and walked the wrong way and asked if we could get back out.  He looked at me an in all seriousness said "no, the police will be here in 10 minutes" and then he walked further down the fence and secured it some more......  Then he turned around and took a picture of us with his phone and walked off.....  So we were a little worried and proceeded to say a prayer.  About 10 minutes later he came back up to us.  We were expecting him to tell us that the police were there but he told us to go around the corner and the gate was open.  And we did just that and walked away no problem.  Turns out you should not listen to old missionaries who think they know where you are going.  And you should check every single fence before you walk through to see if there is a sign that says authorized personnel only.....  But we made it out no problem.  Prayer works my friends.  It really works.  God loves us and we laughed really hard AFTER the fact.  Pay attention and don't be dumb is the lesson I learned.  So that was my funny story of the week.

As far as people that we met with this week it was a little scarce.  People got really busy with work and had to work some over time or they had tests last week.  So we are meeting with them all this week.  No big deal.  We are excited to see them again.  :)

We met with someone from Bolivia who is a member but has never been here.  We met her on the bus and she told us that she is a member and we went to see her and she really is.  She has a strong testimony but her husband isn't a member.  And she doesn't know anyone here and so she hasn't ever been to church here.  She hasn't really been to church since she was 18 and moved away.  She still loves to listen to church music and enjoys the church, just isn't strong enough to do something on her own.  So we are working with her.  It will be amazing to help her come back to church and feel the love of the members here.  

We had a great time with a member this week as well.  Their little down syndrome boy started walking this week and they are really excited. He is super cute and we play with him all the time.  It was really cool to connect with them as well and talk about Megan and Katie a little bit.  They are such an awesome family.  

This week has been awesome.  Things are going so well.  I love you all and know that the Gospel is true!!  Keep God in your thoughts and you will see his hand in your life every day!!!  Love you!!

Sister Poll

 I Love it here!!

Monday we went and had an amazing lesson with a part member family here.  The wife is not a member but we went and taught the Restoration.  It was so good.  She really doesn't believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus but we challenged her to really pray and ask.  We just feel like she isn't really ready to make a change right now.  She is a little scared to take the step.  But the spirit that was with us in that lesson was amazing.  I felt it so strong and it really was just so wonderful.

Tuesday we had district meeting in Stuttgart.  A lot of people in my district are sick and I was just very grateful that I am not sick.  :)  Hopefully I don't catch what they all have.  We came home after and met with a less active.  She has a daughter who is 10 who really wants to be baptized.  She is basically ready to be baptized and comes to church every week with her Grandma.  We just need to help her decide who she wants to baptize her and when.  Which you think would be an easy task, but no.  She wants someone from her family to do it but the two she wants are 1. too old.  He just had surgery and is in the hospital. and 2. lives in America and isn't coming to visit again soon.  Unfortunately he was just here visiting but Laura was on vacation.  So we are trying to help her see that she can be baptized by someone else in the ward.  But we have only met her the one time since we have been here due to her being on vacation and then getting an appointment with them is a little difficult.  But we are going to get it.  She is really sweet. And her mom is fine with her being baptized and actually has a really strong testimony, just has some issues that she needs to work through.  And coming to church with all her kids isn't something she is totally motivated to do right now....  Unfortunately.  We are working on it though.  They are such a cute family.  

Wednesday was wonderful.  We had a bit of an open day which hasn't happened to us in a little while.  So we called some members up and asked if we could stop by for about 15 minutes and share something while we were in the area.  It was so great.  We went to one family and she had hurried and stuck muffins in the oven for us for when we got there.  I love her.  And we had a great talk about conference with her.  It was so nice and then we headed to another member who is in the same place.  And she was making lunch for her kids but when we called didn't say anything about that.  She just said that we could come by no problem.  Well as you might have guessed, we invited ourselves to lunch.  Not on purpose.... But it was really sweet of this member to do that for us.  We ate with her cute kids and then shared something with them.  It was nice doing this a little  spontaneously because we were able to get to know them and have a short but wonderful time with them.  We loved it.  

And then we had our wonder lesson.  We met with S.  We took a member with us who is preparing to go on a mission. It was so good.  We talked about the book of Mormon and why it is important and what exactly it means for us.  He had read already to 1 Nephi 8.  He is amazing.  And... Drumm rollllllll.  We set a baptismal date with him!!!  It will be November 21.  The only thing that we think may hold him back is that he wants to read the whole book of Mormon first.  Which is NOT BAD at all!!!  We just know that he is so ready and hope that he can finish it.  He wants to be baptized in November as well.  It was such a good lesson.  He also told us after that his girlfriend is interested and is coming to visit.  He asked if she could come along to our lesson.  Of course we said YES!!!  haha.  And our member loved being there as well. It was so good. 

Then on Thursday we had two lessons before we headed to Munich.  We met with Frau B.  She is the older lady who we have been meeting often.  We also brought a member with us.  And the spirit was so strong in this lesson.  We were just talking about how we can receive answers.  She still isn't sure about certain things but the spirit was so strong.  And after our lesson our member came out and said that she also felt the spirit so strong and was so glad that we invited her to come.  It was so rewarding and amazing.  I love helping people feel the spirit.  Our other lesson was with someone we met while dooring.  He was interested but has a doctors appointment soon and doesn't want to meet again before then so that he can "not think too much"  So we will call back in a week after his appointment. 

Munich was amazing.  We had Missionary Leadership Council.  MLC.  I love going there.  The ride was long, but we made it and we were just filled with the spirit.  And now this week we have to teach zone training to everyone.  Hope it goes well.  I also got to see Sister G which was just wonderful. I love seeing people you know and don't get to see often as well as old companions.  It is just awesome.  And seeing the Kohlers was also a blessing.  I love my mission President. 

Saturday we had another amazing lesson with S. We had a different member with us and we talked about repentance and faith and baptism and holy ghost.  We were trying to describe repentance and talked about how we should do it every day.  And he just said "why, I don't do anything bad.  I don't think I have ever repented"  When you don't realize what repentance is it makes perfect sense.  But he is such a good guy and tries so hard to do everything right.  So it was amazing.  Asking him to repent was just easy cuz he is already doing everything right. haha.  And we invited him to attend church every Sunday.  Yesterday he couldn't come but he said that now that he knows he will be there.  

We also found another Chinese investigator. :)  We knocked on her door after a really cool experience.  So from the beginning.  

J was the first door.  She was there with her boyfriend and when we were talking to them them they had no interest.  We asked them if they knew someone and they told us try door number 20.  We asked if we could just leave them a card and she said no, but he said sure.  So then we went on our way.  Right after we had knocked on door 20 (who didn't answer, we waited) J comes back up to us and said "I just realized you were Mormons and now who I thought.  I have always wanted to talk with Mormons.  Do you have time that I could ask you some questions?"  I literally said " Sorry I don't think I understood that.  What?"  Cuz about 1 minute before she was totally NOT interested.  But then we ended up having a 30  minute talk with her in her kitchen.  We gave her a Book Of Mormon and she said she will be to church soon to see it.  She didn't really want to keep meeting but took our number.  It was amazing. People really change, sometimes sooner than others.

And on Sunday we went back to door 20 and it was our new Chinese Investigator.  She basically told us at the door that she wants to be baptized.  It was so great.  Miracles happen.  

I think that was all for this week.  Next week we will be busy as well.  We have exchanges and I will be in Tübingen again.  I am so excited.  I get to see Pa one more time!!!  It will be a blast.  I hope you all know how much I love you and appreciate all that you do for me.  You are amazing and I wouldn't be who and where I am without you.  

I really love you all!!!

Sister Poll

Conference was Amazing!!

Well can I just say that Conference was amazing and just leave it at that.  Conference brings such a special spirit and so many miracles.  I loved conference.  And I learned so much.  I can't even pick a favorite talk.  There were so many good ones.  I was able to watch the women's conference this Saturday and it was sooooo good!!  I love Elder Uchtdorf.  The story he told was just so touching.  I love learning through stories and experiences.  I have seen it touch people here as well as we teach.  When you share things from your own life it touches them so much more than when you just preach to them.  And I loved Elder Uchtdorf's second talk in the Saturday morning session as well.  President Monson's talk just touched my heart as well.  But I was really worried about him as he seemed really frail and almost couldn't finish his talk.   But his talk was wonderful.  I just love him.  I was also able to sit by one of our new members during conference and she was just in awe to be seeing the President of the church.  It was so wonderful to watch her as she watched him so intently.  After he finished she just said, "I know he is the President"  How often do we take him for granted because we only hear from him every 6 months.  He is amazing and I know that I was more grateful for him as I watched her excitement.  President Monson is just amazing.  I know that he is a true Prophet of God.  You could just see it as you listened to him.  I was also able to watch President Nelson.  I loved that talk.  It was so wonderful.  I want to try to be more like the women he was describing.  Exercise my full potential that God can see in me. I haven't been able to see the last session of Conference yet.  But I will see it little by little hopefully this week.  :)  We had someone come to the Saturday afternoon session so we were watching it in German.  It was really wonderful to listen, even though I didn't understand all of it.  But it was really good.  I will be watching that over again this week as well.

This past week was wonderful.  We had Zone Conference on Tuesday.  So we were in Munich for that.  It was the Stuttgart Zone and also the Munich Zone.  So we got to see so many other missionaries and so many other sisters.  I was so excited.  I got to see Sister C from the MTC as well as Sister B!!!  We just talked for forever!!  She is in Passau now and so it was cool to talk with her about the members.  She is doing really good.  It was so nice to see her!!!  And the conference of course was wonderful.  :)  We talked about member missionary work and how we can better be a part of the members doing missionary work.  How we can inspire others and help them find the joy in sharing the gospel.  It was such a good conference to hear from President as well as Sister Kohler.  

On Wednesday we were on Exchanges with the Stuttgart sisters so I was with Sister E.  She is so wonderful.  I learned a lot from her.  We had a great time in Ludwigsburg together.  We met with our investigator and took a joint teach with us and it was just amazing.  They both connected so well.  It was with our older investigator from Russia and our joint teach was also a little older and they were so good together.  It was nice that she didn't call us "Kinder" for once (children)  We talked about the Plan of Salvation very simply and it was just wonderful.  She said that she likes the idea, but can't imagine seeing her family after this life.  It is just hard for her to comprehend.  But it was amazing.  She is awesome.  And she has slowed down reading the Book of Mormon now and is understanding it better now.  Thank goodness.  She restarted Mosiah and is having an easier time now.  We are so glad. 

We also met with a family on Wednesday and she invited us back over on Friday to meet one of the moms from her school who is here form Kosovo.  She is here with her 3 girls and has basically nothing.  She is trying to find work and help her kids have a better life.  But she knows our member and she thought it would be good if we could come over and teach her German every week and help her with the Gospel as well when she is ready for it.  It was really awesome to go there.  This member is such a powerful missionary.  She shares the gospel with everyone.  She is going to invite us back over in a couple of weeks to meet with another person she has met recently.  We just love her and her family.  We also met this man on the street and we invited him to Conference.  We had been inviting everyone we met on the street to come.  This guy was amazing!!!  He told us he would come to a session.  He promised. He took our number and the invitation with all the directions (Conference was in Stuttgart) and promised to call. And he did!!!  He said he would come to the last session of Conference on Saturday (So Saturday Morning session) we were so excited!!!

We also met with our new member who was in Conference on Sunday.  We helped her to prepare a little bit and talked about how it is important to hear from the Prophet.  She was so excited to come.  We were so glad that she made it and another member brought her so she could see it.  It was also in English which is so nice for her.  She speaks no German so she was so excited that she understood everything compared to normal Sundays.  ( We usually translate on Sundays but it just isn't the same.)

We also met with one of our other investigators. he is wonderful and has such a great interest for the church.  He is just really busy with work and trying to get a job.  So he has to study a lot right now to learn the products of the company for his interview in a few weeks.  We don't know if we will hear from him in the next week.  Hopefully.  :)

On Saturday we met with someone new and he is totally GOLDEN!!!!  He has been studying the bible for the past 4 years trying to come closer to God.  He was so excited to get a Book of Mormon and learn.  He speaks good German but his mother tongue is Chinese.  But we found out that 2 weeks ago when we knocked on his door was just about 2 days after he had moved here.  He is new and we caught him right after he moved in.  And he was so excited to meet with us.  He is so prepared to receive the gospel.  We are so excited to help him.  Unfortunately he was sick with a fever and things on Sunday so he couldn't come to conference.  But he said he would watch it online.  

When we showed up for conference the man from the street on Wednesday was there!!!  Early cuz we were there for the women's conference!!!  He was 2 hours early!!!  But he knew that and was just going to wait.  He was so excited to be there as well.  Unfortunately something came up and he had to leave early, but he saw some of conference and we have his number to call.  :)  

On Sunday we also met with someone new and brought them to conference. He was interested and took a Book of Mormon as well as downloaded the app onto his phone.  He was amazing!!!  We are so excited to keep meeting with him but we weren't able to set up an appointment with him.  But he has interest and we will totally see him again.  He just had to leave a little early to skype with someone from China.  :)  Everyone is from China.  (Almost)  But conference was sooooo good!!!  It just touched my heart.

We are so blessed to have a modern day Prophet and apostles that speak to us.  

This next week is going to be crazy.  We are going back to Munich for a meeting because we are the STL's here in Stuttgart zone.  We are really excited to have this meeting with President.  It will be so good.  We also have a lot of appointments set up with our investigators as well as new people that we are meeting.  We are hoping to set some baptismal dates this week!!!  Pray for these people!!!  We are working so hard.  I love you all and thank you so much for your support!!!  Read back through the conference talks and your notes and really start to apply them in your life.  Love you!!!!

Sister Poll

What a great week!!

Well Hello to all those that I love.  

Well, this week has been pretty great.  The weather has been amazing and warm and we are so grateful, but we have also had a chilly wind.  But nothing we can't handle.  Really has been just a good week to be out and about.  Not too much rain, but enough to make things greener.  :)

On Monday we went to a big Pumpkin exhibition here in Ludwigsburg.  It was really cool and I will try to send you some pictures this week.  It was something that was really cool to see and we didn't even have to pay for it which made it so much better.  We had a coupon that we got when we came here to Ludwigsburg and so we got to go in free.  And it was really cool because they have the whole garden with the Castle that you can see, also the Pumpkins and also a garden made for the kids that has fairy tales all around.  So you go and there is a place with a wolf and a little girl in a red cloak and you push a button and they speak and move.  It is like that with so many fairy tales.  And we didn't stay that long, but we could have been there all day.  It was really fun.

Then we had District meeting on Tuesday.  It was really good and we had two new elders in our district from transfers so it was nice to meet them as well.  Then we went by on one of our less actives/part member families that we are working with.  They have been sick so we took them some tea and we ended up staying there and having a really good talk with them.  They are so awesome.  We are going back there tonight.  The dad is trying to stop drinking coffee which is a huge step for him.  He is really amazing.  And the mom and daughter came to church yesterday!!!!  We were so excited!!!!!  We really feel like if they keep being good examples the dad will get baptized here soon.  They are such an amazing family.  Really we just love being over there.  And they are making progress since we have started going over there which is just such an amazing feeling.  

Wednesday was wonderful.  haha.  I just had to look back at what we did, but now I know for sure that it was wonderful.  :)  We made cookies and took them to some of the members to thank them for all that they do for us.  Also for some of our investigators and a few others.  We did it during lunch really fast.  We also needed some to apologize to one of our investigators cuz we had a small miscommunication.  We were so mad at ourselves!!!  We made all these plans to go pick her up on Sunday (last week)  And we told her we would be there and everything. She said that she would call if something came up and she couldn't come.  Well she called us on Saturday but we couldn't answer, and she didn't pick up.  Basically we spent all night playing phone tag.  We assumed (which you should never do and I will never do again) that she wasn't coming.  We even called her Sunday morning and tried to get hold of her.  But because she said she would call us if something came up and she couldn't come to church we just thought she was telling us she couldn't come.  Not the case.  And I was so mad cuz I felt like we should go get her, but I pushed it aside.  I hate when I ignore the Spirit.  Don't do it!!!  She was waiting outside for us and we didn't come.  She ended up going to her own church instead of coming with us.  We felt so bad.  But she is still going to meet with us.  She was upset, but better.  We will see if she still allows us to keep coming.  Pray for her please.  :)

Thursday was good cuz we found out that our investigator didn't drop us.  (See above)  And we then went and met with our other potential old woman in Kornwestheim.  She is super sweet but we haven't been able to meet cuz her upstairs neighbor almost burnt their house down.  Her apartment still smells like smoke, but everything is way better now.  We were finally able to go back and see her.  We are going back this week as well.  She is super sweet.  

On Friday we had a great lesson with our new baptized member.  (From before we got here)  And she is wonderful.  Her little baby is so cute and we just love her.  And we want to hold her but we don't. :)  I really want to hold children.  But I am resisting.  We talked with her about the restoration and she understands things so well and has such a strong testimony.  I am stronger every time we leave that place. She even made us some African snacks.  They are like little....  I don't even know how to describe them.  Like bite size sweet hard cracker things....  I know that is a terrible description.... But they taste good.  :)  

We also had just an amazing lesson with one of our new investigators from China.  He has really no religious background.  We were teaching him about how he can receive answers and come closer to God through prayer.  We asked him if he had any experience with prayer and he said no.  Only from movies (which is one of his hobbies-watching movies...)  And then he looked at us and said "Show me". And we were both a little surprised.  he was just so abrupt and up front.  We sat there for a second and then he said it again. "Show me"  And we both were so excited.  We taught him how to pray and we asked him  to say a prayer.  He was a little nervous so I gave him a simple example.  Then he was still a little unsure, so Sister Cook also said a beautiful prayer.  Then he said such an honest and hope prayer.  He thanked God that he was able to meet us and for the new experience that we were bringing him.  Thanked him that we knocked on his door and asked him for help in finding a job.  He was just so honest and after we asked him how he felt and he just said "really peaceful, I feel peaceful and good when you are talking with me".  It was such an amazing experience.  We are so excited to meet with him again this week.  We really hope he finds a job, but if he does he will move away.  We are trying to not to be selfish and hope that he finds one wherever it is.  And we will just send a really good referral if he leaves.  But hopefully we get to keep teaching him for a bit.  But he is amazing.  People like him make all the rejection and everything else worth it.  The Gospel truly touches people. 

On Saturday we got to do some service.  I almost made it a year and a half without mowing a lawn, but Saturday ended my streak.  We helped a member weed and mow her lawn one last time before winter comes.  It was basically just weeds and things but we got it done.  And it wasn't too hard.  We actually got it done really fast.  I even got to have the experience of using an electric mower.  I don't really care for them, but it wasn't too bad.  You just have to be really careful not to run over the cord.  But Germans don't have sprinklers so you don't have to worry about those.  It is just basically a replacement.  :)  Then we went and had dinner with a family that night.  It was really a great day. I love doing some work every once and awhile. :)

On Sunday we had a baptism of a little girl in the ward.  It was really a great experience.  Sister Cook and I played a musical number for the part where she was getting changed.  It was really pretty.  Sister Cook is amazing at the Viola.  The whole things was really nice.  Something funny was that we asked a member to drive us home after.  Sister Cook asked the wife and I asked the Husband. She said no and he said yes, so it was a bit confusing, but they took us home anyway.  Communication is key.  haha. 

Today we are going to a castle with a big pond with it.  We are really excited.  I was reading today in 3 Nephi chapter 6 and I was just thinking how sad it is that these people allow Satan to have power of us.  We really are more powerful than Satan.  We choose whether or not we let him take control.  Don't allow him to get into your heart.  There are so many things that he does but we can overcome them with God and Jesus Christ.  Never forget that.  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!!!

Sister Poll

 An Amazing Week!!!

This week was literally amazing.  We had some amazing things happen.  I just wanted to run you through them all and let you know how much God loves his children.

So we had a great day on Monday.  We went finding in this building that we found a few weeks ago.  It is full of students.  And we have been wanting to go there, but it has been holiday here so we have been waiting for school to be back in again so that they are home.  We went there for about 2 hours and we found 4 people who were interested in learning more about the gospel.  We set up appointments with two of them for later in the week.  They are all younger men who are really interested.  They come mostly from China so that was fun.  We felt like we went to Asia this week.  haha.  But that was just awesome.  

Tuesday we had a great eating appointment with a family in our ward.  We go over there about every week.  They have such a cute family.  They also have a super cute down syndrome little boy.  We have a blast every time we are there.  This family takes such good care of us.  We love them.  

Wednesday we went out to search for a less active in a town that is about 30 minutes away.  Unfortunately she wasn't home, but we found some other people who we had some good conversations with.  We laughed a lot.  They were mostly old men who were trying to tell us stories from the Bible, which is all good but the way it was happening was just funny.  I love dooring people.  You meet so many wonderful and funny people and it is never the same.  We have actually been let in so many times here.  Actually more than my whole mission.  We have been let in about 5 times in our time here in Ludwigsburg which is more than the rest of my mission put together.  Super awesome.  And the people are really great and we have good conversations with them.  

We then had an amazing lesson with our investigator on Thursday. She is already in 2 Nephi 18 in about 2 weeks.  She is doing amazing.  She is a little stubborn, and says she just wants to meet to learn but not be baptized, but we are wearing her down every time.  She was supposed to come to church yesterday.  We had everything planned out so that we could go early to her house by bus and pick her up.  Then we were going to go together to church.  She was all for it, but she called us on Saturday and said never mind.  Her grand kids were coming into town so that was a little sad. But we will get her there next week.  We really hope she will come to General Conference as well.  We are making a lot of invitations to get people to come watch the broadcast of General Conference at the church.  It is in Stuttgart, but it is really close so it shouldn't be a huge problem.  We are going to give out invitations to people on the street as well.  We really want to get as many people there as possible.  Conference has such a huge impact on people. But Frau B. is doing amazing.  Just reading the book of Mormon. She is a little confused because she is in Isaiah right now. She is reading her Bible along with it and trying to understand.  We just told her to keep reading and it will start making sense again soon.  We told her we sometimes have to learn line upon line with Isaiah and with the Scriptures in General.  It was really great.  

Then we had a great eating appointment with the Elders and a family in our ward.  They are also so wonderful.  We have such a great ward here.  We are so blessed.  And we had transfers this day so there was a new Elder there as well. They had two rabbits and so I got to see some wildlife as well.  Their little girl was so excited to show us her rabbits.  We had such a good time. They live in a place that used to be a base for military so all the streets around them are named after American states.  Like Texas Street and Florida ring and others.  It is pretty funny.  :)

On Friday we had a great lesson with our new member.  She has a cute little girl who is only 5 months but can sit up and stand.  She is from Africa and lives here now. She was Baptized in June before we got here, but we are working on teaching her the lessons again after baptism now.  She is really cool.  She has a great story.  

We then had a great lesson with a couple new people that we have met.  We are meeting with one again this week.  She has a cute little boy.  She is from Romania so it is hard to communicate with her.  She doesn't understand everything but we are going back when her husband is there next week.

Then on Saturday we met with another girl.  She is German and was a Nanny in Colorado.  She was so excited to meet with us and speak English. And we had such a great time together.  And she is interested in coming to church and learning more.  She is AMAZING!!!  We are so glad that we met her the other day.  She does something called walting.... spelling?  It is where you do gymnastics on the back of horses.  Sounds like loads of fun.  She wanted us to come riding with her cuz we told her that we both ride horses and then we had to tell her we can't do that.... But we are meeting her again next week!!!!  It is going to be awesome!!!!!  And she is YSA age. She is wonderful!!

We also met with one of our other potentials yesterday.  He is from China and we had the best first lesson with him ever!!!  He asked all the right questions and is just so prepared.  He took a Book of Mormon and wants to learn more!!!  We were talking to him and said we want to meet with you and teach you and tell you more.  And he said "Ya teach is the right word, I need to learn and I don't really know anything."  So prepared.  He is so excited to meet again and to learn. We took a picture with him and he held up the Book of Mormon so proudly and is just so excited.  He also said the most amazing prayer at the end of the lesson.  He was just so honest and it was beautiful.  The Spirit was so strong.  Just made Sunday the best day ever.

So I think that is everyone.  But really we looked back at this week and realized just how blessed we are to be led to these people who are so prepared to learn about the Gospel.  We have so many amazing opportunities to help people change their lives.  We are so excited to help these people and to make a difference.  You can do the same thing at home as well.  

I was studying this week and realized just how much happiness the gospel brings us.  And we need to be sharing it with everyone so they can be just as happy as we are.  I have never been happier as I see others coming to the knowledge of the gospel.  We are so blessed.  

I love you all!!!  Be a great member missionary back home and help everyone to have a better day after they talk to you!!  I love you all and wish you the best week!!!

Sister Poll

 Been a good week...

Things are going really great here.  We got transfer calls this week and we are both staying.  I am really excited that I don't have to leave so soon again.  And I will be with Sister C which I am so excited about.  We get along so well and it is such a riot.  We are the new Sister Training Leaders so we get to go to Munich as well which will be nice.  

Things are really good here. Our investigator read 18 chapters in the book of Mormon in the course of 5 days.  She is doing really good.  Said she doesn't ever want to change religions, but loves reading.  haha.  But she is such a sweet person.  We also found a really cool family this week.  They speak Persian and very little German, so communication is really fun.  But they have two really sweet kids.  We are trying to get somethings set up with them so that we can Skype with someone who speaks Persian.  Hopefully it all works out. 

As far as other things this week.  We had a really good zone training on Tuesday.  We were in Stuttgart and at the end it turned into a bit of a testimony meeting.  We were talking about why we came on missions and why we stay even through all the hard times.  It was just such a powerful meeting.  I loved it.  

We also had stake conference this weekend.  President Kohler came and spoke with Sister Kohler and it was so good.  We got to sit by their daughter through the meeting.  Erika is just awesome.  I love her. The meeting was so spiritual and talked about how we can support the members of the Ward council and also how we can help one another better understand the gospel and become stronger.  I loved it.  And President talked about the Atonement and taking the Sacrament.  How important it is and how we should miss it when we aren't able to take it at Stake Conference and General Conference.  Which is true.  I miss it.  But the meeting was really good. 

Not too much else to tell you about. This week has been really full of meeting with new people.  We have some really good things set up for this coming week as well.  We are hoping that we have some new investigators this week.  We are loving the area and working hard to make it the best that it can be.  

Miss you all and hope all is well.  

Love,

Sister Poll

 An Amazing Week

This week has been so amazing. We found this really amazing woman who we are now teaching. We watched the Restoration video together and the whole time she kept asking questions that the video would answer in about 2 minutes if she just waited. But it was so cool because she just said, I have that same question. He was right to ask God. I think he really saw what he said he saw. Why are all the other
preachers telling him to not talk about it. If God came to me I would talk about it. I want to know what is right too. There are so many churches, I want to know the right one." Then we talked about how
reading the Book of Mormon will help and then we taught about prayer. She then prayed right there and after said "I will keep reading and waiting on God for an answer. I know He will give me one if I keep
searching." She wasn't able to come to church on Sunday, but we are going back to her this week. We are so excited. Something really interesting is the day before when we met her she wanted to give the
Book Of Mormon back because she couldn't understand it. But we asked her to read a specific chapter and we came back the next day. And she had completely changed. And as we read he first chapter together and
explained it, the Spirit was just there. God prepares His children and we want her to make it to baptism. Even though she told us she will never change on our first visit. Haha. People always say that, but who
can't follow the Spirit? 😀 She is wonderful. I will keep you posted on her.
We also had a wonderful time with this great family this week. We are helping them come together as a family and trying to help the husband see that the church will bless their lives. We got to
hear a lot of Italian language while we were there because their mother was there. She speaks no German. It was interesting to hear a language and totally expect to understand and you have no idea. Took
me back to when I was first learning German. Now its weird when I don't understand German. The Lord qualifies his children. I know it without a doubt.
We also met with a cool family we met on the street his week. She had a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and we really had to teach simply because her English was limited. It went well and we are
going back this week.We have also had so many miracles here with finding. The Lord has his
hand in all of our lives. I have never had so much success with dooring and finding my whole mission. But your attitude really makes a difference as well. We just expect to find people and we do every day.
Even if we just lift their spirits and help them have a better day that is a blessing. We have had such good conversations with people on the streets and at their doors. We started using a survey and people
are really responsive to it. I am just on this spiritual high. I love being a missionary. Some days O just never want to come home. The change you see in people as you talk about God is worth all the
rejection, worth all the pain, and all the long days. The joy of seeing someone smile back at you and seeing that you have helped them to have a better day is priceless. I just feel like I have finally
figured out what true happiness is. I never want to loose it. It is amazing. The Gospel is amazing. I finally am figuring things out and I have so much more to learn. Makes me wish I knew these things before.
We are meeting with the man we met last week hopefully next week. He is a bit busy.
But that was my week. Things are wonderful here.
Love you all
Sister Poll

 August 24

Ludwigsburg is a dream.  I love this place.  It isn't the prettiest, but I love the ward here and the people are amazing.  They are usually pretty open and stop to talk to us on the street.  We met some amazing girls this past week and met with them on Tuesday.  I wasn't there but the lesson went really well.  We are going to meet again this week.  Unfortunately they are only studying here and are leaving for Russia this Friday, but they will hopefully look up the missionaries in Russia.  We are going to try and get some information to send missionaries by them.  :)  That is always better.  They are amazing though.  I am so glad that we stopped them on the street.  They are younger and have a lot of interest in talking about God.  They grew up not talking too much about Him in the home.  They have a lot of questions and are really excited to have someone to talk to.  It will be great.  

We also had an amazing experience this week with dooring.  We got let in!!!  That happens so seldom that I can count all the times it has happened on one hand.  But we went by on a less active and she wasn't home.  We decided to do some doors around where she lives since we were there and we have this promise in the Mission where we knock 6 doors around every appointment we have.  So we went to do that and we met this super cute old lady.  She let us in and we talked for the next hour about the Book of Mormon.  And she invited us back next week!!!  She even gave us really tasty Orange Juice.  She was super sweet!!  We are so excited. It was really funny after cuz I got thinking about how growing up you are always taught to not talk to strangers and not take candy/food from them.  Then as a missionary you just throw that all out the window.  You talk to every person and when they invite you in you love to eat and chat and it is the best thing.  We laughed pretty hard.  But Frau T was wonderful.  We are excited to go back and meet her again this next week.  

This week has been fantastic.  I also got to go back to my first area.  I was in Tübingen!!!  It was a dream.  I got to go back and see Frau A who was baptized when I was there with her son.  They are doing so good.    She saw me and was like Sister Poll!!!  And her son just turned 12 so he is going to get the Priesthood soon.  It was so great to walk back down memory lane and see some familiar faces. 

I also got to go visit one of my favorite member families.  They are so wonderful. We ate some great food and we had a great talk.  I got to see their two little girls and her oldest is talking so much now.  She wasn't doing that just yet in German when I was there.  But it was a dream to be back.  I can't wait to go back again one day and visit again.  It was amazing.

This week has been wonderful.  So full of miracles and wonderful things. If you take the time to see God in your life, you can't help but be happy.  I don't think I have ever been happier my whole life.  I love being a missionary.  Life is amazing.  I love you all!!  Have a great week!! Stop to see what God has done for you that day!!!

Liebe Grüße

Sister Poll

 

August 31

This past week here has been so busy.  I really have no idea where all the time goes.  It just flies by.  We had interviews with President Kohler this last week.  We were in Stuttgart and it was really good to talk with him.  It was really awesome to receive some training from President and to hear him talk about his family.  He is amazing and gives us so much and also the love he has for his family is evident every time he talks about them.  It was really great to hear from him this week and talk with him. 

After Interviews we had an eating appointment with a family and it was wonderful.  I got to eat deer.....  It wasn't that bad actually.  But I never thought I would be eating deer in Germany. haha.  We had spetzla and deer and great cheesecake for dessert.  I was in heaven.  It was wonderful.  I was so excited to eat deer, but unfortunately I forgot to take a picture.  I realized that I haven't been taking very many pictures lately.  I am trying to change my ways because I want to have as many memories as possible.  But we just get laughing too hard and we forget to pull the camera out until later in the day.  We have way too much fun. haha.  

We also met with some really great people this week. We met this man on the street that we are going to meet with in the next couple of weeks.  He was very interested in talking with us and wanted to know more, but was on the way to meet a friend. We got his contact information and we are going to call him today.  We are really excited. 

We also have this great family that we visit.  They were cleaning their house and getting it ready for people to visit.  So we went to help on Friday.  It was so great.  We got to help the daughter paint her room.  Even though it was only white, she was really excited.  And we were excited as well to be painting.  We had a lot of fun together. .  

This past Sunday was a beautiful baby blessing in the ward.  We played a musical number together for it.  Sister C played the Viola and I played the piano.  We played an arrangement of Come Thou Fount.  It was really pretty. Sister Cook is amazing.  The ward loved it and it was really nice for the baby blessing as well.  We had a lot of visitors who were not members and I think it really helped them feel the spirit.  

We also tried something new this week with Sister C and her Viola.  We like to call it "Viola finding"  We went to a park and she was playing hymns and I was talking to people about them.  We had a few people stop and were able to talk about the church with them.  It was really fun and I think we are going to do it again sometime. 

This week has been amazing. We are seeing so many miracles here.  Even though we don't have too many investigators to work with at the moment, we get to talk with so many people and help them stop to think about God for a minute in their lives.  It is amazing.  I love this work and I love being a missionary.  I can't imagine being anywhere else right now.  Hope you all have a wonderful week.  I love you and think of you often.. Love you!!!

Sister Poll

Miracle Week

This week has been really awesome. We are working hard to find somepeople to teach and to get some new investigators. We have a few appointments set up for this week which I am excited about, but I will
mostly be in Tübingen this week. But it will be awesome. We still are trying to get more people to teach
and working hard. We have some great conversations with people on the street, but no one wants to go any further than that. That is he hard part. But we are already seeing some success. We are really excited
for this week. And we are working hard to find some new people. But I love it here. Sister C and I are always laughing and having a lot of fun. We get along really well.  She plays the viola and it is really pretty. We are going to play a musical number in church together in a couple of weeks.

This last week we saw some miracles. We missed our stop, but we met this lady on the train who has known Mormons before. She had an exchange student in her house who was Mormon and they went to church
with her one time. She was really excited and loved the church but isn't too interested to learn more. But she loved talking to us. And we met her all cuz we missed our stop. We also met with this girl on the street that we stopped. She took a Book of Mormon and gave us her number. We are going to meet sometime this week. She seemed really interested to learn more.

We also stopped this attractive man on the street, which we don't do too often. They are too intimidating. :) and he was very interested in learning about what happens after this life and we talked about the plan of salvation. He also took a Book of Mormon and our card. He seemed really interested.So many miracles like that have happened all week. We handed out 5 books and tons of cards. We had to fill up our bags with cards again every day. And people talk with us and are open to listen. We are just working on the, being open to meet with us again. Keep them in your prayers that they will call us or answer us and we can meet again. So many miracles and God is preparing his children. It is amazing to be a missionary and working in this great day. The world is a beautiful place and we can see God's hand in our life every day if we just look
for it.

This week has been full of miracles. I can't wait to see what this next week brings. I am so excited to go back and see some of the members from Tübingen. And I will get to see more of them in a few weeks at Stake conference. God loves us and helps us to feel his love through all the little things every day. I challenge you to take the challenge from Elder Eyering of writing in a journal and looking back daily to see where God's hand was in your life. As you do that, you will no doubt see the blessings that you may have over
looked. Small things brought together can change a day. Love you all!!! Have a great week!!!,

Sister Poll

A Great Adventure!!!

Well this week has been an adventure.  But it has defiantly been one of the best adventures I have had.  I am now in Ludwigsburg Germany.  And I love it here.  It is so wonderful.  It is back in the same zone as I started out.  And I will get to go on exchanges back to Tübingen!!!!  My first area!!!  I get to see my friend  and her sons again!!!  I am stoked.  Plus all the other members and people that I know there.  I am soooooo excited.

So I should start from the beginning of this week.  We had to finish getting everything ready for the new Sisters in Vienna and get all packed up and everything.  It was a whirlwind cuz we were also meeting with lots of people to say goodbye and try to set up appointments for the new Sisters.  It was crazy.  But we managed to say goodbye to everyone, gain about 10 pounds from all the food, and get the area book and records all set for them.  We also left tons of notes on how to get places as well as where to shop and etc, etc.  It was some work, but we got it done. And we had so many eating appointments that I thought I was going to die.  But now I am better.

So on Thursday we got up and had to have the Elders help us with our bags since we were both leaving.  We left at about 7:30 and headed out on our train at 8.  We then traveled to Munich. Since we were coming into a new area we came to Stuttgart and met with a Senior couple here who checks our apartments.  They had our keys and phone and everything for us.  Also we have Elders in our area so they were helping us out as well.  They have showed us how to get around a little bit and it has been really great.  It was a crazy Thursday.

Since then we have been trying to find our way around, but It isn't too bad since it is small town.  We are both doing pretty well. And we are just trying to find people to teach.  But people here are a lot nicer than in Vienna.  So I am stoked.  They actually stop when you talk to them.  I was so surprised the first time I didn't know what to say. Sister C is amazing and took over.  She is one transfer older than me which I am super glad to be working with her. We get along really well.  She is wonderful.  She is 20 and goes home in December. 

This area is amazing if I haven't said so already.  I love being here.  I will get to go back to Tübingen for a day and see some people and maybe we will go on p-day as well.  I am so excited.  And the ward here is amazing.  We have already met with Bishop and our ward mission leader.  We have a lot of things to do.  We are so excited.  I absolutely love it here.  

Love you all and thanks for all that you are doing at home to further the work.  As well as your love and prayers.

Sister Poll

 Back to Germany!!

Hey everyone. Not sure how long this one will be today since we are
having a super crazy p-day. Last week was really busy. We found 4 new
people and had a lot of lessons. We were so excited and we hope this
momentum keeps up. We have met some really cool people and hope they
continue to meet with the sisters. Which brings me to the big
announcement... I am getting transferred. Again!!!! Whoot whoot! And
so is Sister Kramer! She is headed to Freiburg to be a dritt there.
And I am headed somewhere back in Germany. A letter is heading your
way with where. And there are two new sisters coming to Vienna.We got a call direct
from President on Saturday. It scared us a bit. But it is going to be
amazing. The new sisters are going to bring a new fire to Vienna and
just work it hard! We have been super busy since getting things ready
for the new sisters and writing notes about all of our people as well
as how to get places. My last companion is
going to open up a brand new area in Austria! We are getting bigger in
numbers! And I will spill the beans a bit from my letter. I will also
be opening up a brand new area. White washing! It will be crazy!
So this next week is so busy because we have to finish getting
everything ready before Thursday when we both leave. And we have lots
of appointments to say goodbye to people. It is crazy. I can't believe
that I get to open up a new area!!! I am so excited.
But this past week was so awesome. I love Vienna because there is so
much to do and so many people to talk to. We really had a killer week
this week. And we are so excited for the next Sisters. They have so
much more to work with now because of our hard work. It makes us both
feel really great. We are both sad that we are leaving though. I
honestly thought I would be here for one more transfer and then leave.
But apparently President needs me elsewhere. I can't believe that I have
hit the year mark. It really is crazy how fast it has gone by and all
that I have seen and done. I can't even begin to describe it. It has
been truly amazing. And I get to go and do 6 more months. I am so
excited!
I was thinking today about what I have learned over the past year of
being a missionary. There are so many things and I am still learning.
But I really looked back and realized how much my Savior loves me and
how blessed I am to be a missionary. It has had its hard moments and
there have been some that were not the greatest, but those are the
times that I have learned the most. And I have learned to love my
Savior and make sure that my priorities are where they should be. I am
so grateful to be a missionary and I am so glad that I still have 6
months left to give. And after the mission I hope I never forget the
feeling of loving Gods children and bringing them back to him. Every
member a missionary. I love my brother Jesus Christ and I love the
change you see in someone when they come to the knowledge of he
gospel. I love this Gospel and the teachings in the church. I know
with all my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ is true. The Book of
Mormon is a true book and brings us closer to God than any other book.
I have read it and have a huge testimony of it. I believe in the gift
of tongues and I know the Holy Ghost is always with us when we are
doing what we should. I love you all and thank God every day to have
you in my life. We all have a purpose and we are all his children. I
know it! Hope you all have an amazing week! Pray for opportunities to
share the gospel and then look for them. Thanks for all your prayers
for the people here. We see the difference. Have a great week! Love
you!

Sister Poll