Transfer.....yeah!

Hallo Familie!

Meine flippin' gute, this week has been crazy, and it's mainly because of transfer calls. I AM GOING TO BIELEFELD. That's basically 1/2 way across the mission! So that's right--I'm finally going to the wild wild west, and I'm breakin free of the DDR. I have 4 transfers left so everyone things that I'll probably die there, but you just never know! :P But I feel pretty calm about it; Chemnitz is sort of different than Cottbus or EHS because there were a lot of wonderful people I had to say good-bye to and really I only have a handful of people that I find it hard to leave--and it's my progressing people! AHHHHH, I almost cried when I visited Tan and Noreen for the last time yesterday. The only thing right now that might make me cry is packing! Buaaahhh!

Before I forget, here is my new address: 
Voltmannstr. 122 
33619 Bielefeld

We had some interesting lessons this week--mainly because we felt like we needed to Tschüss some people...for example, we realized that Manuel, one of our investigators has a "lock your heart" problem with Sis. Schneider, as in he has a crush on her, as in he's mistaking the Spirit for attraction or something, but it's pretty uncomfortable because we don't know if he's making "pure" progress, you know? We suggested that he meet with the Elders instead, because it's easier; they don't need a joint teach for him like we do, but he seemed NOT too excited about that. We told him to think about it. It has happened to pretty much every single one of my companions, where a investigator has a crush on the sisters. Naja, as far as I know it hasn't happened to me!! yikes. 

Also, Sabrine is sort of not progressing anymore--she listens to us and even thinks the BoM is true and is scripture, but she doesn't want to be baptized or really change...and it was hard to be like, "well you won't convert so we're done here" but it really is awkward and a waste of time to really say anything if she just thinks everything is true but doesn't think it's true enough to apply in her own life. Na ja. I'm glad I don't have to stay here and fix that problem. 

Our lessons went back up this week, so it was nice to be busy again!

Mom talks a lot about sowing seeds and her words came to mind as we ansprached this guy this week. It's by far one of the coolest stories I think I got. So we talk to this guy and he says, "I know where you're from and I know what you want." And I ask him, "Wo und was?" and he said, "you're from Utah, right?" "nope! I'm from Kansas City!" and he turns to my companion, "And you understand my German, too, right?" "Erm, I'm from Switzerland." "oh." But he talked about how he went on one of those tours of America and one of the stops was Temple Square. He said he went on one of the tours and to his surprise his "tour guide" was also from Chemnitz, was tall, skinny with long blonde hair. Sis. Schneider and I then turned to each other and said, "Schwester Hagan!!!" because that's a perfect description of her, and we know she served there at the same time he mentioned. How cool is it to meet a "frühere Untersucher" from a Temple Square Sister? We told Schw. Hagan that night and she was delighted; she did one of those "yesssss!!" poses. So Heavenly Father is REALLY trying to get through to this guy!

We also had another really intense experience on Tuesday, another good story. So it's been reallly humid here for the past week (now it feels like fall) and on this particular day we were dying. We had some time so we decided to take a 20 min bus ride to Hartmannsdorf to visit a hard-to-reach less-active (her number isn't in the ward list). So we ride up there and mind you we have no jackets, no NOTHING because of how hot it was. Well we figured out why; it RAAAAAAAAINED like HEEEEECK. We were totally soaked in seconds from those big drops and I had to leave my watch and glasses in my bag because I could hardly see. We struggle our way to this house still, because the bus wouldn't come back for another hour, so we make our way to the house taking shelter ab and zu under trees to check the map to make sure we're going the right way. We almost decide to just drop the idea and go home, but I wanted to make it worth it--and I have a theory that if you're soaken wet, there's BOUND to be miracles. It just happens too often! So we go, but then it starts to HAIL. So we find shelter and turn our backs to the wind so it pelts the back of our calves and arms and if you can imagine, we're squealing and laughing like maniacs because what else do you say in a freak rain storm? The rain stopped after 15min and the hail stopped so we rushed to the house and klingled. Miracle 1: she was actually home! Miracle 2: she took one look at us and said, "you guys are totally soaken wet, get inside!" She let us in! Sometimes the don't, so for us it was a big deal. She let us in, made tea for us, gave us towels to dry off a bit. We talked to her about her relationship to the church, and really all she wants to do is have her records in another ward, so we're like, fine, it could be worse; she still remembers a lot and still reads after 8 years of not going to church regularly. We called our beloved Ehepaar to come pick us up because we couldn't walk home, and the buses stopped going after we left. We took shelter in this Dönerladen--because it's warm and smells delicious! AAAAnnnnd we ended up teaching the owner! We made out an app to bring him a BoM in Turkish! Soooo, like I said. Miracles happen in the rain. Ich habe eine feste Zeugnis dazu!! It's a pretty awesome story in my opinion. One of my not-so-favorite parts was drying everything in my bag, but my scriptures and all other important documents survived. 

This week our ward also had a Sportfest which was pretty fun. Grillen und Tischtennis! Some good ol' Brats and I played some mean ping pong against Bennet. He said he would destroy me, but I'm getting fast. Tan also came and played against almost every single Priesthood holder there. I think it's his Asian appeal, but the Elders already like playing against him because he's pretty good. I wore my Chemnitz shirt and everyone thought it was pretty cool. They thought I was prepared to play soccer, but I told them it would be in their best interest if they didn't include me in the team. I also played ping pong with one of the Elders' investigators, a Turkish hairdresser who works with a family in the ward who has their own Friseursalon, and she's pretty nice.

Blahhh, so yesterday was pretty wild. I said goodbye to the ward and they thanked me for my work, but I think they must be used to it, because there was no tears, from either side. Kinda weird, but I prayed to keep my cool, anyway. Schw. Müller, the GML's wife was really sad to see me go, and she's been like our ward mom, so she's pretty much the one I'll miss the most from the ward. She wrote a nice card and gave me a pretty legit German scarf--the thin cotton ones with tassles on the edges. We ate lunch at Familie Schmaal's and it was absoultely hilarious to see the youngest daughter, who's like 5, just STARE at Elder Beckstead the whole time. The dad even made a joke, like "don't break my daughter's heart, Elder." He was pretty embarassed about it the whole time. But yesterday I said goodbye to Andrea, Noreen and Tan, pretty dang hard. Seeing as how I met Andrea first, yeah, it was hard. But that's why God invented Facebook, right? Noreen surprised us with cake and ice cream, which was really nice of her. She's a bit of a "strong and silent" type so to see that she will miss me, kinda meant a lot. She's one of those that if I wasn't moving all the way to Bielefeld, I'd go see her some-day future baptism. 

Tan got his email! We got a copy of it, in English and Vietnamese! It's a really hardcore testimony and I know it'll really help him. He didn't realise that he got it last week, because he has multiple emails, but we made him check and he was like, super excited. He wants his wife to hopefully start taking the lessons too. The people there had to wait because they apparantly needed someone to translate...? Keine Ahnung but Tan got his email. He told me that he'll get baptized "später" and he'll send me the pictures. :) He also gave me like 3 kilos worth of gummy bears. Some of that is going home!! But he said that he appreciated my help with explaining everything and translating in church and that things make a lot more sense for him now. JEEEEZ! I miss my peeps!

So today if you can imagine, it's a lot of pack pack packing! I will visit Stefan, Bennet and Carla today hopefully for some last goodbyes. I head out tomorrow at 9:30am! 

So yeah, some pretty good times. I'm pretty excited about going to Bielefeld. Change is always exciting, packing is not. I'm getting Sis. Child, three transfers younger than me, but she's American and sounds pretty energetic and funny. Be expecting a postcard soon! 

Have a great week everyone! I loooove you all so much!
love,
Whit