Whitney's last mission email

Oh my DAAAAAYS, HERE WE GO!

So this week was pretty great--I'd say we ended off with a great finish and we got a lot of stuff done! It kinda feels like mission birthdays, where you wish it'd be special or amazing but really it's just the same as always!

As far as my plan for the next few days, I have a normal Pday today--I'm 75% packed, although I will probably send a package home that I've been meaning to send this whole transfer...na ja. So I might pull out money for that! I take a train tomorrow at 9AM to Berlin--it'll be interviews and last minute stuff--I should get my bike fund back since I didn't use it, so I should have more than enough Notgeld while I'm travelling. woot! So Tuesday, I will be in Berlin with all the Finishers. Part of the tradition is going to Mauerplatz--and they'll put pictures of that on the blog, keine Sorge. Wednesday I fly out and the rest...you know already! It feels really weird to be going home. Because it doesn't feel like I'm going home at all--like it's a big joke or something. BUT I'm pretty much packed and very much stoked. 

Anyway, like any other normal week, we had a few Termins fallen out or we tried meeting with people that we found in our area book and realized that nope, they still don't have interest! So that was good. Hahah, no, it wasn't good, but it's always good to know we went over and saw for ourselves that no, they really aren't interested so we don't "wonder" if they're ready again.

At DCM this week I had to give a Thema on what I learned on my mission. It was sort of scattered because I didn't neccissarily plan it out like a talk, but the main thing I talked about was keeping a good attitude. I personally find it annoying when people complain too much about how hard a mission is, because it means they're looking at all the negatives and they aren't shedding any light on the positives. I don't care if you did it out of Priesthood Pflicht, you signed the dotted line, you signed up for this, might as well make the most of it. Basically no one can decide for me if my mission is hard--I can decide if I'm going to enjoy my mission or if my mission was fun or full of joy. And I think that's helped me look at hard times and think, it's all in a day's work. I can stay inside and pout or get over it and teach lessons. I dunno, missions are stressful, but I don't like letting stress getting the better of me. That doesn't mean you can never say anything negative about what's happened, I know I've whined a few times, or many a time, but I see others who make hard things more difficult for themselves and they end up being their worst enemy, their biggest stumbling block, and then when they fail, it makes them sink lower and lower. But it doesn't have to BE like that. No one signs up for torture, so don't make a mission sound like it's some big scary thing. It's the coolest thing I've ever done and I wouldn't trade any of my days for anything. I'll keep my bad days, because this gospel has saved me and refined me and I don't have to stop because I'm going home. But no, I'm no judger of Sunday TV! Please, I'm no prude RM! But trust me, I've heard my share of excuses, meine flippin gute.

The funny thing is watching Sis. Avanesjan just jump into missionary work; she's waiting for her Visa so she can go to the Provo MTC and serve in Arizona, so serving a month or so in Germany wasn't really part of the plan, but she jumps right in with the lessons even without formal training in the MTC, of course she has the language down, and so she has no qualms calling people up, and that's how we ended up teaching SO many lessons this past week. But she's sometimes discouraged with OYMing because the people (I'm sure) are terrified of Dritts! So when she talks to someone, she's like, "I'm so nice, why do they act like they saw a ghost?" Just a trick of the trade! There's that, and she just laughs uncontrollably during really awkward lessons. Na ja :P

Friday was transfer calls, THAT was weird, because I knew they wouldn't call my name. Sis. Tidwell found out that she is double training--meaning she has Sis. Avanesjan and then a new girl fresh from the MTC. From what I heard, ALL the Sisters in the mission are training new Sisters. We will soon have more Sisters than Elders in our mission!!! Weird that I leave right when EVERYONE is getting a Golden, but training Sis. Avanesjan is about the closest thing to training.

Saturday was our big miracle day. We visited a Fr. Habaland, a contact in our Area Book. Sis. Avanesjan called her and set up an appointment, and later I read through the record and the last entry said to leave her alone because she REALLY didn't want contact, had some issues with commandments and didn't want to be baptized. So I was a little wary of how this would go. So that was a year ago. We showed up and after teaching a bit about the Book of Mormon and kind of letting her know our purpose and that we want to help her quit smoking and be baptized she was totally on BOARD. She wanted our number, when church was, when the English class was, when they had choir, and she was like, "you can come once a week, and I'd really like for you to come on Wednesdays." That my friends, is a MIRACLE if I've ever seen one! It was a real shot to the face, just to know that people may need time to be ready again, but she is really ready NOW for the gospel. She said the past year that she didn't go to church or didn't meet with the missionaries, she still couldn't stop thinking about the church and I think she really wanted it back. We changed our number this past month, so there was probably no way she could call us herself--unless WE called her! So that was really amazing. She is SOLID, and if she really has the desire, I know she will finally find a way to stop smoking and really make a baptismal date-finally! So cool!

Sunday was sort of weird, knowing that it would be my last in German! No more having to translate! I didn't get to know the ward as much as I'd like, because I only had 6 weeks, and most of them forgot that I was leaving, so they of course wished me well on my way home, but it wasn't really the same. I still gave a "farewell" testimony. It was just HILARIOUS because Chang, actually took a picture of me on his PHONE (we've already had to tell him he can't video-record musical numbers) and it made that camera click sound really loud and then he swore in German, so yeah, half way through I couldn't really concentrate. Meine gute.... XP

After the meeting, we met Wassili, a past investigator. He's Russian and his German isn't so good, so we just got to know him a bit and next week we'll ask a Russian member to help us translate. But he had a Book of Mormon and said, "I read this book, you can have it back." "No, we don't need it, we don't read Russian, but you can keep it really!" "But I already read the whole thing?" "Whaaat?" So I'm excited to see how the Sisters finish teaching him! Meine gute, the work goes on! We ended our Sunday with Schw. Busse and Fr. Frömmel and that was great. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and it lead to a good conversation that really helped Fr. Frömmel understand more about the Atonement.

So I'd say that's the hilights of the week--today we're just going to relax, teach some lessons, and eat a Döner Box one last time. (It's just Döner meat and fries--the part that everyone really wants!) It sucks leaving Sis. Tidwell and Sis. Avanesjan because we get along SO well and have so much fun. But Sis. Tidwell studies in Draper so we will be best friends when she comes home in 4 months, kein Problem! :)

So yeah...like jumping off the high dive. Think I might be sick. Just kidding! I haven't had a break in 18months, time for ein bissel Pause.

I'm beyond excited to see you in a few days!!!! Bis dann!

--Sis. Whit