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.

This one time...my hand got stuck in a U-bahn door...

April 22, 2013

Hello my wunderbares Familie!!

What a week, what a week. So I will first start off with a funny story.

On Friday we were headed to an appointment with Sylvia and it was really crowded in the Ubahn. A girl was trying to make it in when the doors where closing so I stuck my hand in the door to help her make it but instead of reopening, it just shut on my hand. So here I was in a way crowded Ubahn with my hand stuck. Everyone was so worried and then after a few minutes the door reopened so I could get it out. Everyone kind of made like a sigh or relief. Well, I decided to try and be funny, so I turned around to everyone standing around me in the Ubahn with my waving my hand  in the air and I said in a loud voice, "Ich habe ein stärker Hand!!!" (I have a strong hand!!). After I said that, thinking it was going to be funny, everyone just looked at me as I were an idiot... hahaha I felt so awkward I just turned around real quick to the Ubahn door and just looked at the wall. I was laughing so hard because I felt so stupid. My companions were both laughing as well. The guy next to me then looked at me and asked.. "Are you guys high or something? It is 4-20" I then exclaimed, "No!! WE are missionaries!! That is not allowed!! It was really funny. I never want to come off like I am high especially as a missionary, but the whole circumstance was just really hilarious. Lets just say I felt really dumb that night. hahaha

This week we had an austauch (exchange) and it was way fun. Sister Eve Smith who is brand new came to my area with me and we conquered the town talked to as many people as we could with all the Germans we knew. It was definitely an adventure. We had a lesson with Marja and it went really well. She wanted to know about Temples so that is what we taught about. She is definitely making progress. She came to church yesterday and wrote so many notes. It made me so happy. On Saturday she is leaving for 4 weeks to go on a backpacking trip through Nepal so I am really hoping our appointment with her on Wednesday will go well. She is sincerely searching to find an answer and I know that she will receive one!! It will just come with time. I hope it will come while she is in Nature hiking to the base of Mount Everest. She is seriously one of the coolest people I have ever met and she has inspired me to do so many things!!

On Saturday we met with Britta again. We were able to make Rackclette and it was amazing!!! (you should google it). I think she is really starting to love the Book of Mormon. We have a lesson with her tonight and I am excited. I think with Britta we just need to be patient. I have no doubt that she will be baptized, it will just come with time. Please keep praying for her and Marja that would be awesome.

So Sister Stowell leaves next week! Sister Smith and I are kind of freaking out, but it will be good. It is definitely going to be a huge adventure.

O quick story! So last Monday night we were going by a potential and we saw 3 guys playing basketball!! I was so excited and my companions and I played with them! You never see people playing basketball here, it is always soccer. We told them if they lost we got to teach them a lesson:) They agreed so we played basketball in skirts against these really smelly polish guys. Well sad news.. we lost, but they did tell us that we could bring them polish book of mormons:) We totally should have won though because they weren't very good, but we were in skirts and tights and it was pretty dark.  Next time!!  So that was a cool experience!!  Also, on Tuesday we had a finding day and Sister Smith and I were able to find this kid who plays on a basketball team and we are playing them today for pday!! WE are going to propose that we teach them also. Its going to be missionaries against the nonmembers. hahah I am pretty sure we will win too because Elder Orchard who plays for Utah state Basketball is coming, so it will be fun:)

O and Isn't it crazy I saw my friend Connor here?? It was soo weird. We showed up at the church and he was there at the institute. I was shocked. It was so fun seeing him though!  I never thought I would see anyone from the states while I was on my mission. It was a nice surprise:)


WELL I HAVE TO GO!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Mckay, have a wonderful farewelll and enjoy the temple!! I wish I could be there with ya'll. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Tracting in Munich

Playing mini-golf on P-day

Getting picked up for church by one of our investigators, Gian.

Hallo!!!

GUTEN TAG!!!!!

This week has been great. The weather is finally beautiful and life is good.

Today we had a district P-day and we were able to go mini golfing by the old Olympic Stadium here in Munich. It was way fun. My district is seriously the best and it is great having a family here in Europe with me:)

Hmmm... This week went really well. We worked really hard and were able to accomplish a lot of our weekly goals. It was awesome. We were also able to meet a lot of really cool people and talk to them about the gospel. Everyone is so happy here because the weather is so beautiful, so it has been great because we have been able to talk to so many people.

Lets see...

Marja!! She is the coolest girl ever and she comes from Finland. She is 27 and is just so solid. She knows that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet and knows that God lives, and thinks the Book of Mormon comes from God but that it didn't really happen.. So this week we had a great lesson with her and we asked her to bear us her testimony. She told us all those things and then said she has now made a goal to get an answer that the Book of Mormon really happened. It was such a great lesson. She set a goal to be finished with the Book of Mormon by May 21 and is searching and praying to receive an answer. She said as soon as she receives an answer she will be baptized! We were so happy because it was a huge step for her. So keep Marja in your prayers. She said in the lesson we had with her that this upcoming week she will set a baptismal date, so we are excited:)

Britta is still just awesome. She has a lot of concerns but is really searching. I have no doubt that she will get baptized one day. If you want to keep her in your prayers that would be awesome too:)

Do you remember the family I talked about that owns the Italian restaurant? Well GIAN FRANCO came to church yesterday!!  It was huge. His heart has totally softened to the church and he came with Johanna and it was soo amazing. It was so sweet because his girlfriend Johanna was so happy. We talked about in Relief Society how she had been praying for 3 years for the restaurant to be closed on Sundays so she could come to church, and Johanna was just balling because she was so happy. Ahh it was the cutest thing.

It is so fun reading Jacob and Spencer's letters about their missions. Missionary work is so different here. In Spencer's letter he talked about how their mission baptized like 180 people in a month??? Well that is more people than were baptized in my mission all of last year. hahah Our goal this year is 290 and we are working so hard to get it. It is just so funny to read the differences, but even though the numbers aren't huge, people really are prepared here!!

Well I love you!! Have fun in Hilton Head this week!!!!!!!!

Sister Allman:)

A blonde, brunette, and a red head...

HELLLO FAMILIE!!!

Wow, this week turned around and it was soooo good!! I ended up getting a blessing from President Miles Monday night and it helped me so much. Satan has really been working on me and my confidence, but ever since the blessing, I have been doing sooo much better. I am still struggling, but the Lord is helping me:)

Well a lot happened this week...

First I got another new companion!!! Crazy huh?? Guess who it is?!? Becca Smith who went to Vienna on my study abroad with me!! I was soo excited! She just barely got out of the MTC, so Sister Stowell is training both her and I right now, but then next transfer after Sister Stowell goes home, I will be training Sister Smith! I am kind of freaking out about the training part, but it is such a tender mercy that it is Becca! She is so amazing, it is like she will be training me. haha I am so happy though. On Tuesday night we went and had dinner at the mission home, and then I was able to surprise her as one of her new companions! It was so much fun. I just still can't believe that I am one of her first companions.. I honestly never thought I would get the opportunity to serve with her, so I was happy. So now it is three of us again. One Blonde, One Brunnette, and A red head...hahah but I really think we are all a great team!!

O man, this week was just so good and just what I needed. First off, wasn't conference so amazing?? Ahhh it seriously is like an energy drink for missionaries. It pumps us up so much! We still haven't been able to watch Sunday afternoon session, but supposely they will broadcast it to everyone during church in one of the upcoming Sundays. I am so happy we still have one session left because it went by too fast. I think my favorite talk was from Uchtdorf or Sister Dalton. Those were just both what I really needed to hear. 

We were able to have 4 investigators watch it and they liked it a lot. We are so excited to meet with them this upcoming week and talk to them about it.

MIRACLES...

So this week I feel like I have been able to see some pretty wonderful things. First we had a lesson with Britta at the Mason's (The lady who just showed up at church). We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and I just had this strong feeling that I needed to talk to her about priesthood blessings. Random right?? Well I brought it up and told her about it and told her Elder Mason could give her one. She wanted one and after the lesson Elder Mason gave her one. She always says how she has never felt the spirit, but after the blessing she said she really felt something go through her entire body when he gave her the blessing. She said she couldn't explain the feeling but it was something that she has never felt before. I was soo happy!! It was such a tender mercy and I was so grateful I followed the Spirit!!!

Then on Thursday we had a lesson with one of our Chinease investigators Xaio Hui(You know I love asians:)) . She is 27 and just the cutest, happiest, thing in the world. We asked her how her Easter was and the first thing she said was, " Sisters, I have recieved a manifestation from God." She has never believed in God, but over Easter Weekend she had a really cool experience and now she believes in God!! She was so happy. She was soo grateful and said that she just wants to learn more. She said she also started reading the Book of Mormon over again and the more she reads the more she loves it. Wow, it was such a wonderful lesson and a tender mercy!!!

Then on Friday I had the opportunity to go on split and teach a lesson with Sister Mason (The Senior Sister who is over the institute in Munich with her husband), while sister Stowell and Smith went to another lesson. I got to teach Britta and we focused all on the Holy Ghost. It was just what I needed because I was able to teach her without relying on Sister Stowell. This time when we taught Sister Mason was relying on me and it was just what I needed. The lesson went well and Britta is beginning to recognize the Spirit in her life. Each time we meet with her she lets some of her barriers down and it is amazing. I have no doubt that she will be baptized. She is so prepared!!!

Ahh, it  really has been great. And then today for P-day we are having a zone p-day! I am really excited. We are meeting in about an hour and having a sports day. It should be fun.

Funny story (I figure yall might enjoy this).. I am so AWKWARD when it comes to the Elders. O it is bad. Last night we were with all the missionaries in Munich because of conference, and I was about as awkward as you can get. My companions were just laughing at me when we got back to the apartment because it was bad. I am just so awkward because sometimes I don't know how to act as a sister missionary or they just intimidate me. Sometimes when I get with them I studder every other word or I ask  really creepy questions or ahhh... It is bad. hahaha - So yesterday all of the missionaries and a ton of members were in the gym eating  in between sessions and I walked in to put a bowl of food on the table and when I walked in everybody just stared at me. I got all nervous and made a little " ahasdfhausuhhh" noice and ran out of the gym without even setting the food on the table... hahah o dear. Hopefully this makes sense, but I feel like yall would like picturing me being awkward. hahaha

Well I have to go. I love you guys!! Thanks for the prayers!!!! Hopefully you can look on the mission blog and see pictures from when we picked up Sister Smith. I will hopefully send the picture cd home this week.

LOVE YALL!

At the mission home with two Fast Trackers - Sis Weening and our new companion Sis. Smith along with  President and Sis. Miles daughter who just returned from her mission in Italy.

A blond, brunette and a red head.  Our new companion Sis. Smith - I am so excited, we both were on the study abroad together.  It is so fun to serve with such a great friend!

The missionaries picking us up to go pick up our new companion - but first they surprised me with this big sucker for my birthday.

Servus!

I think this week has been by far the best of my mission. I'm not going to lie,  I was really struggling for a while, and then this week everything finally clicked.

It started off when we got to meet the New Deutschers at the Airport! It was soo fun being able to pick them up and see them again from the MTC. I was soo excited. They all apparently knew I was serving in Munich because one of their moms saw my blog? I am not sure. But it definitely was a happy reunion. I got to take 3 of the sisters out and help them contact on the Ubahn. Contacting on the Ubahn usually terrifies me, but because I had to take them, it helped me soo much and I am not scared anymore. I was so proud of how brave I was and that I was able to do it. The new sisters did really well.  Because they were so great at it, it helped me overcome my fear. It was such a blessing that Sister Stowell and I were able to help because it was just what I needed.

On Thursday we got to help again with the Deutschers to get them to Hauptbahnhof to get transfered. That was fun because there were like 50 missionaries in the train station, hopping on trains to their new areas. It was like a huge reunion. How cool is that? The missionaries in the mission are now my new second family. It is really cool and I feel so lucky that I get to experience it. We also picked up our new companion! She is actually way cool and she is perfect for our companionship.

So many wonderful miracles have happened this week. First, last Sunday this lady just showed up at church. Her name is Britta and when she was about 10 her family was taught by the missionaries. The missionaries were actually a huge part of her life when she was younger and she said when they were around she was the happiest she has ever been. Well her family did not get baptized and she stopped meeting with them. Now 35 years later she wanted to try out the church again. She loved it and asked if she could meet with us. That seriously never happens. People don't usually come to you in Germany. haha But we met with her and all I could think about while we were teaching her, is that the Lord has prepared her. She still has a lot of questions and is way skeptical about the church, but I have no doubt that she will get baptized. I just know it.

Saturday was my favorite day so far. First we went to the Jadike Familie's house who were a referral. They were being met by the missionaries in Frankfurt but then moved here a little outside of Munich. They are this couple with 4 kids ages 7-14. As soon as I walked into their house I just looked at them and I knew they would be baptized one day. They already seem like a mormon family. In fact, they would be the PERFECT mormon family. We ate lunch with them and then talked with them and they are amazing. I love them so much. We have another appointment with them this Saturday and I just know that they will be baptized someday. I am so excited.

Later that night we had an appointment with one of our investigators Andreas. He was met by some other sisters. He had gone up to them at the Bahnhof and told them the spirit told him to talk to them. How awesome is that?? We have met with him 3 times, and the 2nd  time he had already read from 1 Nephi thru Mosiah, and then this 3rd time we met with him he had read Alma to Mormon. We had a really wonderful lesson with him and I was able to commit him to baptism!!  It was so cool that my very first time asking, and he said YES! I was so happy. We didn't set a date, because he wants more time, but it was just cool that I was able to ask and he said yes. There still is a lot more that needs to happen, and just because he said yes doesn't mean anything, but the Lord has truely prepared him. I just know it.

It is so cool to see the Lord's hand in this work. I have never prayed so much in my life, and wow has the Lord answered my prayers. I am really falling in love with Munich the longer I am here. There are just so many wonderul people here and I just feel so blessed that I get to teach them.

This church is true! It really is. I miss yall so much. and I hope yall have a wonderful easter!! Just know you have a daughter in Munich, Germany that loves the heck out of yall:)

Sister Allman

Elder Young, Elder Eacker, Sister Allman, and Sister Stowell helping welcome the new missionaries to Germany.

On the streets of Munich!

March 18, 2013

Wow! I cannot believe that Mckay got his mission call to the Phillipines!! I am so beyond excited for him!! Ahhh I am so happy and proud of him. How are you feeling mom and dad?? Can we go pick him up when he is done?!?!:)

Wow, I just can't even begin to write, I am soooo happy for Mckay. I am soo excited for him!!!!

Well this week was great! I was able to go on an Austauch (exchange) with Sister Pingree in Passau! It was so much fun and Passau is BEAUTIFUL. It is right on the river and all the buildings are colorful and it is just gorgeous. The Passau sisters work with a branch and I got to meet some of their members who were just amazing. They loved me right from the get go and made me feel so welcomed. The exchange was just what I needed and now I am just so pumped and ready to work this next coming transfer.

Speaking of transfers.. I recieved my first Transfer call!! Elder Sullivan (our ap) is a little jokester and he called and here is how the conversation went....

Elder Sullivan: "Sister Allman, do you know what is means to white wash an area?"

Me: "uhh... ya. It means two new missionaries go into the area who have not been there before and basically start from scratch."

Elder Sullivan: "Yes, that is what it is. The two new missionaries build up that area. (Something along those lines..)

Elder Sullivan: " Do you believe that President Miles gains revelation from God on who whitewashes areas?"

By now my heart is pounding so fast and I am freaking out. I havent even finished training and I barely know German....

Me: "Yes, I do believe that he recieves revelation for that."

Elder Sullivan: " Well Sister Allman, you will not be doing that this transfer!"

O my goodness. I was so relieved!! He started laughing so hard because he could tell that I was freaking out. haha I wanted to smack him. hahah Then he said: " You will not be whitewashing, but you will be recieving a new companion! You will now be working in a dritt with you, Sister Stowell, and Sister Armstrong in Munich."

So I am getting a new companion on Thursday and now there will be 3 of us! So I am excited. Sister Stowell and I are really pumped up and have set so many goals. We are going to make this Sister Stowell's best last transfer ever!! We want to baptize Germany! haha

Mckay getting his mission call makes me want to work so hard. What an example he has been to me! I am so excited that we will both be out at the same time.

On Wednesday Sister Stowell and I get to work with the New Deutschers coming into the mission! We get to take them contacting and I am so excited to see my other deutscher friends from the MTC.

Well the work is good and I am continuing to learn a lot. I am not going to lie, some mornings I wake up and think that I can't do this for another 15 months. Sometimes I really want to quit, because a mission is hard. But I continue to push through and something happens that makes it completely worth it. We talk to someone, or we have a lesson, or a tender mercy of the Lord happens. I have learned that the key to having a good mission is completely forgeting about yourself and focusing on the people, when we do that, that is when I am happy.

 

On the Austauch (exchange) Sister Pingree told me a quote that will stick with me forever.. She said" The harder you work, the easier it gets." So Right now I am trying to give it everything I have and working really hard, not just so it will get easier, but because I love the Lord.

Well family, I love you so much. I am so excited for Mckay. wow. Also, I finished the Book of Mormon this week. How amazing it is. Continue to read it everyday! It will bless your life!!!!

Sister Allman:)

Sister Allman attending her first Zone Conference In Munich.

All the missionaries at the Zone Conference with March birthdays- Jordan Eaker is the elder on the far right- he is not only another missionary with a March birthday, but also from Georgia!  They are both from the Cartersville Stake.

Dinner with the missionaries and a couple of members after church on March 17, 2013.

Sister Allman attending her first Zone Conference in Munich, Germany.

Sister Leven, Sister Allman, Sister Mason, and Sister Pingree