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