As much as I appreciate a nice big house number,

this is a bit much.



Also, my new shoes are in this picture.

This week a lot of crazy stuff happened.

I still haven't gotten my visa because the office needed some paper that they failed to ask me for the first time I was there. Now I get to wait until April.

Our investigator went from not knowing if Christ was there from feeling His constant presence, and she set her own date to stop smoking! We're so proud!

Germany continues to be freezing for no good reason at all.

On Saturday we were at the church at 6:40 so we could catch a ride to the temple. It was so wonderful! I slept the whole way there, we did baptisms and a session, and then there was a baptism in the  church building that shares the temple land. There were randomly like 20 missionaries there (including 6 from Dortmund), and the mission president and his wife. It was amazing to see how much support this new convert received--he'll be welcomed into the ward with open arms.

The only down side is that we didn't eat anything from breakfast until like, 7pm. But that's ok. It balanced out the 234897234 pieces of cake I ate last week.

Elder Sheppard is currently telling me a story, so I'm a bit distracted. But Ben Turbes is getting baptized on the 30th. Just thought you should know.

Love you! Bye!

Dortmund!

We got transfer calls this week (I know, it was a really short transfer, that's what happens when you go into the mission in the same transfer you enter the MTC in), and I'm staying in Dortmund with Sis. Haas! On Thursday we get 36 new missionaries, 11 sisters. For a little perspective we currently have 16 sisters in the mission. And we get more sisters next transfer. I only narrowly avoided having to train this time but next time it's pretty for sure that I'll train.

I love Dortmund! The ward is really involved in the missionary work, welcoming to strangers, and somewhat drama-free. The ward mission leader is really involved in our day-to-day needs. The city is not as beautiful as Bonn but the people are so friendly and kind.

BVB is the local fußball team and I learned my lesson this week: I will never try to take the U-bahn to church at the beginning of a BVB game again. We were in there like sardines, and then our bus didn't come for 45 minutes because of the game-day traffic! Ahh!

In Dortmund there are 4 elders (Penfold, Guymon, Seamons, Sheppard), 2 sisters, and a senior missionary couple (Vermillions). We all share the whole city as an area. The members love having all 8 of us over at once, which is both a lot of fun and also kind of stressful. I never thought I'd have the problem of not having enough time for all the appointments we have! Dortmund could really use another set of sisters. And we might even get them soon!

No pictures today because we're at an internet cafe. One of the computers at the church wouldn't connect to the internet so we just stayed near home. We're going to spend the rest of the day responding to letters and other fun 'sit on the couch and do nothing' activities.

The sun is starting to rise earlier and the weather cleared up, so basically I've been waking up at about 6:19am every day despite my eye covering. Curse you, sun! Those eleven minutes are precious to me!

Congrats to my cousin Jade on her adorable new baby!

I hear my sisters went to a Taylor Swift concert without me. Jealous. I require play-by-play letters.

I heard The Voice on the radio and it made me want to protect Camelot. Strange.

Love you all! Bye!

It was so WARM! But then it got cold again.

But the good news is that my legs are basically already hard as rocks.

This week lots of amazing things happened, but mostly it was just cold and I was kinda miserable. Funny how that is.

Amazing thing number one is basically a story about breaking rules. I know. Only gone a month and already look at me.

We got home from a long day of missionary work at 9:03, only 3 minutes after our goal, so we could plan and go to bed early. But then we got a voicemail that someone Sis. Haas taught in her last area was getting baptized RIGHT NOW. So she called the Zone Leaders, so mad that they didn't tell her! But it turns out they didn't tell her because she only said yes to baptism that same day.

So we went from no shoes and no coat to standing on the train platform in 3 minutes (you bet we ran), but we just BARELY missed the train. So did we go to bed? NO! We called president and got permission to take a taxi to Unna (a half hour away). We got it. So we taught the taxi driver that he could talk to God personally and that it would bless his family, and we gave him a Book of Mormon.

The baptism didn't start until 10pm! It was beautiful, though. The branch president gave a talk and there were some lovely testimonies. We had a bit of fun with the actual baptism because they hadn't had time to practice the actual immersion part . . . but everything went fine.

Then the truth hit us: it was 11:15 and we were over an hour from home.
So the local elders drove us in shifts to the train station (there were 5 sisters and 2 elders who needed to take the train). Luckily nothing too crazy happened on the train rides, but we didn't get home and to bed until 2 am.

Did I get up at 6:30 the next morning (which was Sunday)? You bet I did. But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I slept for another half hour after I woke up. Does that count?

Amazing thing #2! (But actually there were a ton of amazing things this week because I there were 2 splits. One day a sister who served here for 8 months came to help me figure out where stuff is, and then the next day the coordinating sister came to spend a couple days with Sis. Haas and I and they were both SO inspired! But anyway.)

This one is short because I got places to be. We have this investigator who is super logical and just doesn't feel it when he prays, but he keeps coming back. And we have this crazy old Argentinian ward member who will bear testimony for a week if you let her. And Sis. Haas was like, "Let's get them together!" And I was like, "Um, okay . . . but that's a terrible idea." I was super nervous about it all week but guess what. It worked. In fact, when we had to leave, the investigator stayed behind to listen to her talk about how much she loves the church and the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ some more! Basically Sis. Haas is a genius.

Ok well we have to go Staubzaug our apartment and buy food so we don't starve.

P.S. Sorry for calling you out last week Shelby, I got your letter!!!
P.P.S. Actually I got like 8 letters this week! Mostly from my family but still. The elders were pretty jealous.