My one regret is that I didn't pack my Star Trek snuggie.

This week was great. It rained a lot and got really cold and we drank a lot of tea and wore a lot of scarves!

 

And we went to Jena and did a service project where we weeded a forest.

You read that right. We were removing invasive species. It was a lot of fun. And then it started raining. And then we saw this view.

 

Some other cool things happened but then the computer decided to upload pictures really slowly.

 

 I love you all and will actually draft my email for next week so I actually remember things I wanted to tell you about.

 

Tschüßi!

Something Strange is Afoot at the Circle K

 

I'm going to ERFURT!!!!!!

 

On Thursday I will experience my very first transfer ever. Four sisters will come stay in our tiny little apartment Wednesday night, my companion will go to Essen, and then on Thursday morning all 5 of us will go down with almost every elder in the zone to Frankfurt. Over 150 of the 220 missionaries are moving this transfer, so the Frankfurt train station is going to be CRAZY. 

 

Also, everyone wants to have us over in the next 2 days to say goodbye to me, which is amazing and I'm so excited.

 

We had a way weird week. Nothing worked the way it was supposed to, a bus took us to the wrong town even though we take that bus literally every day, our water heater broke so we've had no hot water or heat (the heaters are run by cycling hot water), and it's been freezing outside!

 

I'd love to tell you about all the different interesting people and things that I've gotten to know in Dortmund and be all nostalgic and stuff but I have to go talk to the heater repairman.

 

I love you!

 

Sister Teusch

I've been here for a long time.

I've been on my mission over 6 months and almost been in Germany for 6 months so I guess I'm no longer green. I like to remind myself of that because it helps me act like a grownup. 

 

I've learned so many things but I think more importantly, I've finally begun to really live things that I've understood on an intellectual level for a long time. And that's what conversion is! 

 

For example: I never understood, like, what you're supposed to do when you're taking the sacrament. And then in the MTC I learned that the sacrament is essential to the process of continual progression and it was a lightbulb moment. Then on my mission I finally learned to really prepare for and then appreciate the gift of being able to take the sacrament.

 

On a similar note, I love novels. And I had a heck of a time making myself read my scriptures because there are so many more exciting things to be reading! But I have come to learn that the scriptures are not just books. When I was feeling worn down or sad or empty before, I would go to the library and get novels. And I devoured them. I loved them and loved disappearing into them. But when they were done, I just wanted more novels. And I only recently realized that all those times when I was devouring stories to feed my empty soul, what I wanted wasn't words, but the Word.

 

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
Amos 8:11-12

 

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 4:11

 

I can't believe that I was denying myself something that I did know how to find for so many years, but now I tell myself that if I wake up on time, I get to read more of Genesis, and it's a greater motivator than any I've ever had before. Which is good because getting up on time is hard! 

 

Keep being awesome and read your scriptures!

 

LG Sister Teusch