Singen und Tanzen

Guten Tag from Singen, Germany!

Man, all I have to say is that I feel like I am in a completely different world. Munich and Singen are sooo different. I don't even know where to begin.

First off, The Lord answers our prayers. I have gained a HUGE testimony of that this week. Before I was transfered here, I had been praying to Lord for help with a lot of things. I was praying for:

1- Strength to be able to street contact. I hate street contacting and it really scares me. So I was praying that I would be able to overcome my fear. (We never had to street contact in Munich, we ubahn/sbahn contacted. So much easier! haha)

2-I prayed that my German would get better. My German is not up to par, so I was praying for Heavenly help that I could improve immensley.

3- I prayed that I could lose the 8 pounds that I have gained. Yes I know, not that much, but those 8 extra pounds have been killing my self esteem!

Well, the Lord answered all of those prayers by sending me to Singen. It was definitely not the way I expected, but every single one has been answered. How you might ask?

1- We are opening up the Singen area. We have NO investigators, NO area book, we have NOTHING. So we street contact. We are constantly contacting, because our main focus is to find investigators now. So now, I have no other excuses, I have to street contact!

2- I was blessed with a German golden!! So obviously, my german is going to get better because I am working with a native. I was so happy. Her name is Sister Freimann and she is from Hannover. She is so stinking cool. We get a long really well. She is 21- and her english is great and she is all for helping with german. She is blunt and told me my german needs a lot of work. hahaha but it is great, because she has already helped me so much. It was truely an answer to my prayers because it is really rare that Germans stay in Germany when they get sent on their mission here. They usually go straight to Switzerland because Americans can't serve there. I was the only missionary this transfer who gets to train a german, so I am so lucky!!

3- We walk everywhere in Singen. I feel like I am a pioneer on the trek. We walk and we walk and we walk somemore. It has some buses, but since it is small, there are not a lot. Our church is about a 45 minute walk a way too. So basically, I will be a lot more active which is awesome. Which hopefully means I will lose the 8 pounds I have gained:)

How cool is that???? The Lord really answers our prayers. It was definitely not in the way I expected, but so far he has answered all of my prayers. Prayer really works!!

I am not going to lie, it feels so weird being here in Singen. Just everything about it is so weird. I am in a completely different world. Singen is completely different from Munich-the landscape, the architecture, the people, everything!  Munich was a city of about 3 million I think, and Singen is a city of about 40,000 with little villages surrounding it. Singen is a really weird city to me. The architecture does not match the landscape at all. When I see most of the architecture, I think of th 70s/ghettoness. But then you look at the scenery surrounding it and there are trees everywhere and it is so green! It looks like you are in fairytale land! It is so weird! haha

I am excited to be here. It is so cool because I am with completely different missionaries, in a complete different state of germany, and just everything is so different. It is a new adventure and I am excited to experience it.

So these past few days have been great. We got here Thursday night at around 7:00. (We left munich at 12:35-had a 3 hour train ride to Stuttgart, then 1 hour layover, then 2 hour train ride to Singen). The Branch President, Relief Society president, one of the counselors in the branch presidency, and The Ehepaar  (Senior Couple-Elder and Sister Gurney) greeted us. They then took us to our new apartment which is SO nice. We have a huge bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and family room. It is huge and we have so much space. The whole branch had been working so hard to get it ready for us. Everyone in the branch contributed so much because they were so excited to get another set of missionaries. Awesome huh? well that night we had dinner with the Branch Presidency and the Gurney's at our apartment. They all had done so much for us, which was so nice.

Then Friday, Saturday, Sunday- was spent planning, contacting, meeting people in the branch, and having no idea what to do. haha I guess that is typical when you are starting from scratch with an area. The branch is really wonderful. There are 140 members and they just need 10 more people to be a ward. We have a brand new church house here that just opened in September which is awesome as well. The whole branch is super excited about missionary work, especially because they want to become a ward!

O sorry this is the longest email ever.

Saturday we had an appointment with a crazy less active- and i mean, literally she is crazy. It was the funniest appointment I think I have ever had. We walked into her house, and it was super dark. We sat down and she got us water. I saw that she had a ton of cds, so I asked her who her favorite singer was. She then looked at me and said "I'll show you!" Then all the sudden she put on this weird like Romanian folk music and started dancing for us. hahah We all danced in a circle for about 10 minutes, then all the sudden she was done, sat down on the couch, and said "Alma 50" then began reading. We read Alma 50 with her, then as soon as it ended she said "Okay, sis sonntag!" and gave me three huge kisses. Freaked me out a little bit. I wish you could just meet her though because if you saw her you would think this story is hilarious. haha I will bring pictures later.

Well I love you guys!! Thanks for all the prayers. Sister Freimann and I are working hard and are determined we are going to see a baptism before this transfer is over. It is going to happen. Ijust know it. heheh LOVE YALL!!!

Sister Allman

O here is my new address!

Kirche Jesu Christi

Sister Elysse Allman

Bruderhofstrasse 50

78224 Singen

Deutschland

ICH MAG DI

Guten Morgen Familie!!!

Wir hatten eine Wunderbares Woche gehabt!! So viele Wunder!!! Es ist wirklich fabelhaft!

Mom! How did you know I was going bike riding today? Did Michael email you about it? hahah He is the zone leaders investigator, but because they serve in our ward, we see Michael a lot as well. He is hilarious, you would get a kick out of him. He came up to me after sacrament meeting and said, "Your mom says she loves you!" I was so confused and then he showed me the picture he took of me bearing my testimony and said he sent it to you. hahahah O goodness. Michael is hilarious. 

So last week I told you a little bit about Pasquale right?? Well Monday night we had an appointment with him and it was amazing. He told us, "I wanted to meet with you tonight because I wanted to tell you how I have been feeling. Ever since I started reading this book and meeting with you two, I have been feeling something weird. I have never felt this feeling before, and I don't know what it means. I have always been able to control my feelings, but now I have no idea what is going on. It is freaking me out!" Lets just say Sister Smith and I were both really happy. He had been feeling the spirit. We met with him 2 other times this week and both lessons went great. The amazing thing about it is that every time we meet with him, he looks better. He doesn't look as dark. He looks more clean cut. It is so cool to watch this confirmation. On Friday we had an appointment with him at the Arnolds with another YSA Carla. Brother Arnold and Carla were both amazing joint teaches!! We talked about the Plan of Salvation with the Word of Wisdom. Brother Arnold is a convert, and has COMPLETELY changed his life around, and Carla went inactive for 3 years, and COMPLETELY changed her life around as well. They were able to testify to Pasquale about the blessings the gospel and the word of wisdom brings. The spirit was seriously so strong! Then Last night we had an appointment with him and then we went with him to YSA Abendessen(dinner) and ate all together with the YSA. He had a good time and ended up staying and hanging out with the YSA after we left. We were so happy. Seriously, when members get involved with missionary works, that is when miracles really happen! So you should help the missionaries just like the broadcast talked about, because members helping with missionary work is the best! THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE!!

Angela is great. Her confirmation was wonderful. Yesterday she was just so happy and came up to me and said in her Chinease accent, "Viele Leute kennen mich jetzt! Ich bin so berühmt!" ( Many people know me now! I am famous!) It was seriously the cutest. Everytime she comes in the room, everyone is so happy. She gave us and the elders all these little asian trinkets to thank us. We were all laughing so hard. Goodness, I love asians so much! haha

I love Munich. I am so incredibly grateful that I have had 6 months to serve here. Man. The investigators, the ward, the people, the missionaries, everyone is so AMAZING!! I feel so blessed. Everyday I wake up and just think about how blessed I am to be on a mission. I feel so lucky for this incredible opportunity. I can't even begin to describe how full my joy is. In two weeks we get transfer calls, and sadly I think I will be getting transfered. I mean I could be surpirsed, but I have been here 6 months-longer than most sisters have been in any of their areas. If I could get one more transfer here, I would be the happiest ever!! But if the Lord needs me somewhere else, I will be able to go as well. But O how I will be forever grateful to the Lord for sending me here to Munich, because I have met so many people that have changed my life for the better.

So this week I have studied alot about Ether 12:27. As crazy as this sounds, I love that we have so many weaknesses. It is such a blessing to have weaknesses, because when we truely rely on the Savior and work our hardest, those weaknesses can become our strengths. How amazing is that??? I realized that this mission is the perfect time for me to be able to really become the person I want to be. So for the past week I have really reflected on the person I am. I have written down all the things that I do, good and bad, and I circled all the things about me that I want to change. Now I am working to change all those things, and become better!! I want the mission to change me! I want to come home a different-better person than I was before I left. I made a little goal calendar and I have been working on some of the things. I am really motivated and it has been such a blessing. The Lord is helping mold me into my potential! Thanks for everything and all the prayers!!!!!! Ich habe dich so viel liebe!!!! Sister Allman

 

That was coool!!! July 1, 2013

Hello Family!!

Another wonderful week in Munich!! The weather was cold and I have to wear a scarf and jacket, but it was just as wonderful as ever. The Lord is blessing us.

Last Monday for P-day, Michael (the zone leaders investigator) took us and the elders to Neu Schwantstein. It was so much fun. He actually took us to another King Ludwig Castle as well, and took us to these beautiful little towns in the Bavarian hills. It was like a fairytale. I felt so grateful that I have the opportunity to serve in one of the most beautiful missions in the world. I am so lucky!!!

Well back to missionary work:

The baptism was so wonderful yesterday. Angela is just the cutest ever and giggled through the entire thing. The spirit was so strong and everyone really enjoyed it. After she was baptized and came out of the water, this 3 year old girl named Camille yelled, "THAT WAS COOL!!!" And everyone laughed. The whole baptism was full of innocent laughter and you could really just feel the love Heavenly Father has for Angela. It was such an awesome experience. I just felt so grateful to be apart of her decision in taking the next step in having eternal life. That is what she is most excited about, to be able to have eternal life. After her baptism she said she just felt so full of joy and couldn't wait to have eternal life with all of her new "brothers and sisters." She is seriously such a ray of sunshine and I am so grateful for her!! She keeps talking about how Sister Smith and I need to go visit her one day in Taiwan and we can go to the Temple together. She always always tells us we have to be eternal friends, and of course I agree because she is just the best. 

Marja came to the baptism and really enjoyed it as well. Saturday night we went to President and Sister Miles house and had dinner with them, then taught Marja a lesson. We talked about faith so she could have the courage to tell her parents about her decision. The spirit was so strong,  Marja told President and Sister Miles about setting the baptismal date for August 15. They were so excited. Marja has been learning about the church for a year now and President and Sister Miles have been helping every step of the way. Marja seriously glows when she talks about the gospel. Her testimony has gotten so strong and she has made so much progress. I am just so excited for her. She also made me a gluten free cake out of chickpeas this week. It was delicious. Mom, she could seriously have a gluten free restaurant with all the amazing food she cooks me!! and thanks to her I don't eat gluten at all. I have been feeling great!! This thursday a Finish Elder in our mission is coming up to munich with his companion for Zone Council, and before the council starts we are going to have a joint teach with them and Marja. Marja is wanting to know all she about the YSA in Finnland, and the church up there. I am excited.

Britta is doing well. She came to church yesterday and her wards talent show!! She is getting to know a lot of people which is great. It has been really hard to meet with her thoough because her work schedule is crazy. Keep praying for her:) I know she will get baptized one day, it just might take her a while.

So we have a new investigator and his name is Pasquala. He is 27 and german, but his parents are both Italian. We weren't really sure if he just liked to discuss religion or if he really had a desire to learn. At the last lesson we had with him he looked into my eyes deeply (It freaked me out way bad at first haha) and said "I can just tell you are really faithful, and you mean everything you say. How did you become this way? How were you able to make our faith so strong?" It was so cool!! I was really able to testify to him about the Book of Mormon and prayer. I think it really hit him and he said he would read more in the Book of Mormon and pray every night. It seemed like he finally had a desire to learn more. He actually just called us this morning and asked us if we could meet tonight, so now we are! I hope he had some cool experiences with prayer and the book of mormon!

So this email is random, but I just have so much to say today and luckily we are able to use our full time today to email!! hahah

There is the family in our ward who seriously are my inspiration. There names are Robert and Lenay Arnold. The are both converts and from America. Brother Arnold is actually our ward mission leader. Well they are amazing. They are always finding ways to talk to people about the gospel, and always jumping to help us with any of the investigators that we have. They are the perfect example of a family that works with the missionaries ( Like the Broadcast talked about). Friday night they invited us over with Marja and the Elders. Sister Arnold talked to Marja the whole time about her conversion story. ( She actually used to be a missionary for the baptist church, but she started working for a mormon as his secretary, and would edit his talks for church and that is how she got introduced to the church!) It helped Marja so much. Marja had to leave early, and then The Arnolds had one of there friends come over who was going to babysit while they went out on a date after our eating appointment. They told us they only were having a date night so they could introduce their friend to the missionaries. How cool is that???? Then on Sunday after Angela's baptism, they said "what is Angela doing tonight? If she and you two dont have plans, we want yall to come over for dinner. " So we went over to dinner because they wanted to completely welcome Angela to the ward and make her feel loved. The best part is, they dont speak any Germany, so we had to translate for Angela, but Angela left so happy and said "They were the example of eternal love!!" okay, sorry this is so long, but it was awesome. They are both so incredible and have such strong faith. I hope my husband and I can be like them with helping the missionaries and making sure everyone feels loved and welcome into the ward.

Speaking of my future husband. This is random, but I was thinking the other day about the person I want to end up with, and this is what I realized. I just want to marry someone who is solid in the gospel, treats me right, and is someone that I have so much fun with. I just want to have fun with him and laugh all the time! All the other things I thought were so important, arent!! I just want someone who loves the Lord and the gospel, treats me right, and someone that I can continually and eternally have fun with!! Okay random, I know. hahah but I was just thinking about it. haha

well this gospel is amazing. We are so lucky. Really, that is why we should share it with the world!! We have something that can changes everyones life for the better. We have a message of happiness, and we should do all we can to share that with everyone, even if we are not on missions!!!

WELL I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Sister Allman

Here is a picture of me at Neuschwanstein, and then sister Smith, Angela, and I at the baptism.

More pictures to come with other emails:)

Week of Miracles

June 10, 2013

O what a week it has been. It has been a week full of miracles and I am just so grateful. Well here is a little recap...

So start off with...

Miracle#1- Monday night we were doing our nightly planning and setting goals for the next day. We knew that we wouldn´t have any other lessons, or any new investigators, but we both felt like we should set a goal for one other lesson and one new investigator. Well the next day we headed to district meeting. As soon as district meeting began this cute little Spanish lady walked into the church and said she was looking for Herr Anderson. She told us he was a missionary a year ago and she wanted to be taught again by the missionaries. She happened to belong to our ward and so we were able to teach her right on the spot, make another lesson appt. with her, and BOOM! Right then we had gotten one other lesson and one new investigator. At that moment I KNEW that Heavenly Father had helped us set that goal. I knew that it was a little miracle/tender mercy from the Lord.

Miracle #2- Also, we set a goal for last week to only speak German to each other. Well Monday afternoon we got a call from President, saying that one of the sisters serving in Switzerland was going to work with us until Thursday. Sister Szabo is from Hungary and she knows a little bit of English, but can mostly only speak German. So we worked with her until Thursday and had to speak German! It was wonderful. Another miracle from the Lord!

Miracle #3- As you know, it is so hard for me to not eat gluten, especially being here in Germany. Well I have been praying so hard for some divine help to help me get off gluten. I finally got some wonderful help on Wednesday night. Wednesday night we had an appoinment with Marja. We were going to talk more about the Plan of Salvation. That morning I studied the Plan of Salvation but I also studied The Word of Wisdom for myself. Well during the lesson the topic ended up completely changing and we started to talk about the word of wisdom with Marja. She was having a really hard time not drinking coffee and tea. We committed her to live the Word of Wisdom for 1 month. As soon as I committed her to do that I then promised her that I would do it with her, but with Gluten. She loved that idea. After I promised that I kind of began to freak out, because I know how hard it is for me to stay of gluten. I then realized that it wasn´t me that made that promise, it was the Lord, because he knows how hard it is for me to do that.  It has been so awesome because Marja and I have been both working together to live our own word of wisdom. It was truely a miracle.

Miracle #4- Saturday night we met with die Familie Böhlke´s, a less active family. After the appointment with them they took us to the S bahn station were we sat and talked for about 5 minutes. We then said our goodbyes and Sister Smith and I headed into the S bahn. We had about 10 minutes before it was going to leave. Well all of the sudden Sister Böhlke came running torwards us with this guy, telling us that he wanted to learn more about the gospel. Well, his name is Ishmael, and we ended up teaching him a lesson on the Ubahn because we were on it for about 40 minutes. He was so open and receptive!! He wanted to learn more so we invited him to the special meeting on Sunday with Elder Nelson. He agreed to come and said he would meet us the next morning at 9 at hauptbahnhof. Well the next morning we go and he is at Hauptbahnhof waiting for us to go the meeting. He comes to the meeting with us, really enjoyed it, then we met up with him again that night to give him a church tour. It was so awesome and really a miracle. We have another lesson with him tonight. He has really been prepared.

Miracle #5- As we were at the church yesterday doing our studies after the special meeting with Elder Nelson, a man named Tai walked into the church. He had just moved to Munich from Zurich and was taught by the missionaries there. He found the church and was able to spend time with alot of the YSA´s who were there. We found out he lives in our ward boundary, learned about everything he had been taught before, and commitments he was trying to keep, set up an appointment for Wednesday, and now he is a new investigator. Miracle I tell you.

There were even more miracles but the list is so long. We have truely been blessed by the Lord. Seriously, we have just been in the right place at the right time and the Lord has blessed us. Everything that has happened has been because of Him, and we are so grateful.

Also, I am not transfered!! I get another 6 weeks in Munich and I couldn´t be more happy! The work is really hastening. and I absolutely love our investigators and our ward. Ahh so many miracles. We were so blessed this week because we were able to find 5 new investigators, and the mission average is .7 new investigators every week... so we feel so blessed.

Then tomorrow we have the huge meeting with the missionaries and Elder Nelson. I am so excited. Yesterdays conference with him was so great, and now I can´t wait to hear from him again!!!! It was so cute, because yesterday after he spoke, he bore his testimony for all the people in German. O everyone was so touched.

sorry this letter is scattered, but Saturday all the missionaries in our district headed to Rosenheim to do a service project for all the flooding that happened. It was crazy all the damage that had happened. People´s basements were full to the ceiling and so much was destroyed. It was sad. It was such a blast being able to help the people clean up. We met some really incredible people. The pictures of us are attached. We are going again this coming Saturday to Passau, Germany which was really damaged and affected by the floods, and helping there. I am excited.

Well I love you all!!

Sister Allman

GUTEN MORGEN!

Hello Family!!

O it has been a wonderful week in the beautiful, rainy, cold Munich. Can you believe that it is already June? I can't because I am still wearing a jacket and a scarf everyday. The weather here has been so crazy. It has rained everyday for like 3 weeks now and it is freezing but I am actually loving it!!  Everyone hates it, but I am loving the rain. Even though I come home completely soaked every night, but it is fun. Supposedly a lot of the place in Germany are flooding? I am not sure though, but that is how the weather has been here! All the Germans are saying this is crazy and not normal.

I am LOVING MUNICH so much right now. O my gosh. Yesterday was just amazing. My ward and those I teach are seriously the coolest and the best ever!!!!!  Ahh I am just so full of gratitude and love. I am nervous because there is a HUGE possibility that I will be getting transferred. I will find out on Friday. I am one of the older sisters in the mission because their are so many new younger ones. Isn't that weird? I have only been out 3 transfers and I am an older sister. It blows my mind and freaks me out. haha  But yesterday was an amazing fast Sunday.  Sister Smith and I were able to fast with Marja so she would receive the answers that she was looking for. The spirit was so strong at church and it was just such an awesome experience to be able to fast with her. Before our ward potluck, we were able to go into the other room and say a prayer on our knees to break our fast. The spirit was so strong!!  So strong.  Marja told us that she loved church and really loves the people. She also said she needs to remember the answers she has already received and just remember what she already knows to be true about the church. We were so excited. She has come so far and is making so much progress. I know she will get baptized. I know it, and she will be such a strong, solid member that the church here needs. I am just so grateful for Marja. She is just amazing and I want to be best friends with her forever. She is so cool and is such an example to me. She is really huge into cross fit and yoga and she has inspired me. I will be doing those when I get home. haha  Marja actually texted us after church yesterday and told us that she made us workouts for the mornings. I am excited and also really scared. haha 

Also, yesterday I just couldn't stop talking about our family. I love our family so much. I love how diverse it is. I just feel so blessed that I was placed into our family. Mom and dad, ya'll are seriously the best and I am so incredibly grateful for ya'll. I wish I could just give both of you a huge hug right now!!

Sorry I can't contain myself right now. I am just soo happy!! Really. It is awesome. Munich is wonderful and I have finally fallen in love with it. It is the BEST.  German is slowly coming along. Birko is so nice. Yesterday at church she was telling me how shocked she has been with how much I have improved with German. She said I am doing really great with it. That gives me hope, but I know I still have a LONG way to go.  REALLY LONG WAY.  I want to get so good at German. This week is Sister Smith and I's only German speaking week, so it should be interesting.

Mom, i got the packages this week! Thank you sooo much!! The peanut butter has been the best. I love peanut butter! hahah  Also, tell Shaun and Rachel to wait just a few months to get married so i can be there!! Tell all the family they are the best and I love them. I talk about ya;ll all the time to my investigators and the members in my ward.

O also!  So last week we had an appointment with a lady in our ward and I told her that I was related to Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith, well it touched her and she bore her testimony about it in church yesterday. Well then the whole ward kept coming up to me and asking about it and they seriously think it is so cool that I am a descendent of him, because so many of them are converts and they don't come from a line from the beginning of the church. It is really cool how excited and happy they were to find that out. ahh My ward is just so awesome.

Well I have to go, I love you guys!! Today we are going to BMW Welt with our district. It should be fun to look at all the cars. Also, mom, when ya'll go on your cruise, make sure you are here in Munich for a Sunday and go to the Munich 3 ward and meet the ward where I serve in!!   Would'nt that be awesome???

Okay love you!!

Sister Allman:) Sorry this letter is all over the place!

May 20, 2013

Hello Family!!

Crazy to think I have been out on my mission for about 6 months now. Weird. I honestly thought I would be so fluent with German right now, but nope:) I still have a long way to go. haha

This week has been great. Sister Smith and I are working super hard and really trying to reactivate less actives in our ward.On Wednesday we did splits with two YSA in our stake and it was great. I went with Kayla (an american who is here studying until August), and Sister Smith went with Carla (A German who leaves on her mission to England in June!) We were able to get so much accomplished and it was wonderful. It was really fun because Kayla and I met up with Birko and taught her a new member lesson by the University, then afterwards we contacted a lot of University students. It is kind of weird contacting people that are my own age, but I loved it!! After that we headed to some less actives and on the way we got to stop and play basketball with some Polish kids and talked with them a little about the Gospel. That is always fun because people aren't very good at basketball here, so it makes me feel like I am really good:) haha That night we had an eating appointment with the a family from the other ward with the Elders. It was a blast. Their names are the Ambrigoso's and they come from Peru! The dad is not a member and he is taking the lessons. They were a hoot and Sister Ambrigoso would only talk to me because she thought I understood Spanish. It was soo fun trying to speak Spanish and German with them!!

On Saturday we headed out to an area outside of Munich to contact and go by some less actives. It was beautiful!! As we were walking back to the S bahn station we got talking to this couple, Sarah and Alex. They were so nice and are Jehovah Witness's. We ended up getting their information and should have a lesson with them this week. It should be fun and interesting. I feel like they may try to convert us as we teach them? hahah We will see how it goes.

Marja gets back on Wednesday and we are so excited!! I hope and pray that she recieved an answer about the Book of Mormon. Britta is awesome as ever. We have an appointment with her tonight. She is seriously one of the most loving people I have ever met. The Villagomez (Abraham, Gian Franco, and Johanna) are still just amazing. We had two appointments with them this week. We retaught the first lesson with Abraham and he decided he is really going to pray and read the scriptures to find out if the church is true. We are excited. O that family is so great. Seriously, our investigators are some of the coolest people. I love them so much!!! 

I think that Love is something that is SO IMPORTANT on the mission. Love is really what it all comes down to. If you love the Lord and love the people you teach and you will do everything in your power to be 100% obedient and forget yourself. Love is so important in everything we do.

Today Sister Smith and I went to the Dachau concentration camp. It was so sad. It is crazy serving in a country where so much has happened in the last 100 years. So many older people still remember the time of the war or during the wall. It is crazy to hear their stories. I just feel so lucky I can be here and learn from their experiences.

The weather has been ridiculous here. I never know what to wear. hahah One day it is hot, the next day it is freezing!! Lets just say that there have been so many days where we have gotten pouring freezing rain and have been without umbrellas. It is an adventure. haha

Well I love you guys!! Hope all is well and that the weather in Georgia is beatiful:) Thank you for all the prayers. 

Sister Allman:)

The Infinite Power of Hope

May 13, 2013

I am so sorry I have been a terrible daughter and I have not really written a good email for the past two weeks. whoops:) So this week I will write a super long letter!  It was so much fun skyping with yall last week.  It was so fun. Yesterday was Mother's day of course and I did get pretty emotional at church when all the cute German primary kids starting singing for their mothers. I thought of you mom and I am just so grateful for you. I love you so much!!

So lets see where to begin...

As many of you know, the first two transfers in the mission field where incredibly hard for me. Really hard.  My testimony was tried, tested, thrown into the fire, and even though I was on a mission studying and talking about the Gospel more than I ever had, I had never felt so far away from the Savior in my life.  I was in the pitts and I was not myself.  I felt like this dark cloud was constantly surrounding me and I had no idea why. I was on a mission preaching the gospel, I was being obedient, and I was serving the Lord!  Shouldn't my testimony be stronger than ever before??  Well it definitely wasn't, my testimony was fragile and about to crumble.  I didn't know what to do. I was not myself, I was not happy, and I didn' t want to feel like this my whole mission. I wanted to rejoice in missionary work like I had heard others rejoice, I wanted the mission to change my life!  I did not want to be depressed and count down the days until my 18 months was up.  I didn't know what else I could do.  I got a blessing from president and things got a little better. It was still hard, but it was better, but I knew it could get even better.  I still felt like I had little desire to be out on a mission.  I worked hard and I was obedient but my heart still wasn't in it.  I wasn't loving the people like I knew I could love them. Then a little tender mercy happen.  A few Sundays ago Munich hosted a YSA conference and we just so happened to have a lesson planned at the church during the YSA dance.  While we were helping Sister Mason prepare the refreshments for the dance (we were waiting for our investigator to show up, she was late), Michael from Frankfurt came up to me and said, "Guess what!!  One of my companions from my mission is here!  He is from Vienna!" I got so excited because I love Vienna and I walked into the other room and saw Arnulf.  Arnulf was one of the YSA in Vienna that I hung out with all the time.  I got so happy.  All the love I felt for the Austrians came back at me and hit me like a ton of bricks. I loved each of them SOO much. They changed my life. This moment was a pivotal for me . Your probably asking, why was it a pivotal moment??? Well it is because it reminded me of  how much I can really love someone/people. I fell in love with EVERY one I met in Vienna. I constantly thought about them, thought of what I could do for them, and my life really revolved around them.  I really think that is one of my talents as weird as this sounds.  I really have a gift of falling in love with people.  (Not in a romantic way, but in a different family-like way).  Seeing Arnulf reminded me of that!!  It was a little flash of hope and I knew I could fall in love with Munich and the people here like I did in Vienna. I knew that I had the ability! So the next few days I pondered and thought so much of how I could have that love for Munich and the people here.

Well then I got a letter from a friend who served his mission in London. He talked about how his mission was the hardest thing he had ever done, but how it changed his life. He also talked about how he never worked so hard in his life and he was so grateful that he did that. I mean you hear those things from most returned missionaries, but this letter was definitely another, random tender mercy. The way he talked about his mission really pricked my soul. I wanted to talk about my mission the way he talked about his. How could I put all my heart and soul in the mission just like he did??

Well I began to pray... I prayed my little heart out. I pleaded with Heavenly Father. I told him I would work harder than I ever worked before. I told him I would do everything I could, everything! but that I needed help. I needed him to help me have a great desire to be a missionary. I would do my darndest, and he would have to do the rest. He would have to help me put every ounce of my heart and soul into the mission, and I would work as hard as my body could. Well miracles happen and the next morning my prayer was answered.

I woke up so excited to work. I was ready! This had never happened. I had tried to make it happen earlier on, but I had never woken up like this before. The day continued on and all I thought about were the people we teach or the people in our ward. I talked to so many people, I thought of so many people, and it was the first day in the 5 months of my mission that I had truely felt like I had forgotten about myself. It was amazing, and I was happier than ever. I was worried this feeling and excitement would end, but it didn't. Each morning I wake up and that desire is still there. My mind and my heart are finally engulfed in the work. I am talking to more people than I ever have before, and I am thinking and dreaming constantly of those we teach and come in contact with. It is amazing, and for the first time on my mission I can  truely say that I am happy. I am happy because I am engulfed in this work, and really life is so much better when you forget yourself. It might take a while to forget yourself, but I can PROMISE you, that the harder you work, the easier it gets, and it may take a while, but when you're patient and rely and trust fully on the Lord, He WILL help you.

Gosh I am just so excited about the work now. Sister Smith and my numbers may not be the highest right now, but we are working hard. We are talking to lots of people, and we are trying so hard to strengthen our ward. I know with our hard work and trust in the Lord that he is going to help us find and help the people we need to.

We are both so fresh on the mission and it has been fun. I have only been in Germany 3 months now? And she is 1 month now? I may be training her but it doesn't feel like that at all. We are really working together. It is funny when we are talking to someone and we have no idea what they are saying. It definitely is an adventure every day. We are constantly relying on each other and the Lord.

Our biggest goal this transfer is to come in contact with all the sisters in our relief society. Our ward is really huge, but 75% I would say is inactive. Sad huh??? There are around 60 less active women. We really want to change that.  They really need it. We are having a meeting today at four with the elders and with the aupair in our ward and we are all going to talk together to see what all we can do to strengthen our ward together in unity.  It's going to be awesome.  All of us are so determined and ready to work. I am excited to see the miracles that are going to happen.

So Britta is still doing awesome. We weren't able to meet with her last week because of her crazy work schedule, but we talked to her everyday on the phone. Marja is still in Nepal, she gets back next week and we are so excited! We have a lesson with Johanna and Abraham Villagomez tonight. We are going to commit Abraham to baptism:) We are excited for that.Hmm...Elder and Sister Mason, Elder Eaker, Elder Orchard, Sister Smith, and I baked cookies for all the fathers and mothers in our ward and gave them out yesterday for fathers day and mothers day (fathers day was on thursday here!) The ward loved it so much. The bishop sent sister smith and I the nicest text yesterday about it so we were excited we were able to do that.

Hmmm.. I am trying to think of all the updates! O well we played family with the cutest African family. There were 5 of them-Mike, Mary, Arissa, Nathan, and Jaydean. We played with them about 2 weeks ago and I just loved them from the start. We gave them a card with our number and I just wanted them to call us so bad. Well last week we ran into them again!! It was so exciting!! We ran up to them and they all ran up to us and were so awesome. They all came running over and gave us hugs. We played a little basketball again and I was seriously the happiest girl in the world. I was so sad though because we had to hurry and leave because our appointment was about to start and we didnt get the chance to talk to their mom about the gospel. We told them that they had our number and to call us next time they wanted to play (So we could talk to there mom about the gospel) Well then they started sprinting after us and said, "Our mom doesnt know where she put your number!!!! Can we have it again???" O it made me so happy. We gave them our number again and told them to call us. I realized I should've talked to there mom and gotten there number, but Sister Smith and I are still new at things, and we are learning. haha So now I pray constantly that we can come in contact with them again. I want to teach them so bad!! I hope we can. I know we will actually. I just have to be patient and have faith. and boy is my faith strong that we will run into them again and then be able to teach them.

Well this is my life right now. Sorry these past 2 weeks you haven't gotten emails, but here is a really long one. Things are really going great. I am happy. I am working hard and I am constantly seeing the Lord's tender mercies in my life. My German still isn't the best, but I am learning. I know it will continue to get better with work and time. Weird thing as well, so I am constantly meeting spanish people and I had a prompting that I should re-learn the spanish that I used to know. Weird huh?? So today I am going to buy a Spanish-German dictionary. It is so random, but if that is what the Lord wants me to do, I will do it!! It's weird how many opportunities I have had with Spanish people!! I am going to focus my attention on German obviously, but just try and relearn the things I used to know, so we will see how that goes.

Well thank you for the prayers!! I love you guys so much. I still can't believe Mckay is in the mtc. wow. And district leader?? That is so awesome. I am so glad to hear he is doing well. I loved reading his email and I loved the pictures you sent. What is shaun doing with his hair by the way? Is he trying to be hipster?? hahah o dear. Ashley and Megan are little babes too!! It scares me how beautiful they are!! Watch out boys!

Okay, sorry lots of tangents. WELL I LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!

Sister Allman:)

Having lunch with my companion, Sister Smith.

Last p-day with Sister Stowell before she returned home.

My friend Conner who I worked with at EFY last summer.