When life is hard, you lean against God! He is the best!
Monday, August 28, 2017
Climbing Walls,Veggies and Miracles on Miracles
Hey yooooo!!!
Let me tell you, this has been the absolute BEST week of my mission so far!! I'm so happy doing the Lord's work, and definitely going to bed exhausted every night. I definitely can't explain some things that happened without writing a novel, so if you're interesting in those, check out my moms blog!! Alright, lets do this:
Top 5:
1. I probably had the most memorable last night with Sister Alton possible. Towards the end of the day, we got some snacks (may or may not have included ice cream...) to prepare for a long night of finishing packing and cleaning. Well, long story short we got locked out... Have no fear, because I think my 4 brothers have been training me for this moment my entire life. Our second floor apartment has a balcony, which is very close to a 15 ft. wall covered in vines and greenery. I found a way (unfortunately behind the trash cans) to get up there and pull myself up into our balcony! Man, you would've thought I was mauled by a bear with all of the thorns that I had to climb through in a skirt... Well, that door was locked too but we did eventually get in, but not after lots of scratches, laughs and prayers! After eating completely melted ice cream (ick), I've vouched I'd never leave the apartment without triple checking for my keys.
2. I picked up my new companion, Sister Grisham in Freiberg on Wednesday! She's the cutest thing, and we are going to have a good time and work hard together. She's from Alaska, so we bonded pretty fast! #Minnesotaaaaa #MinneSNOWta
3. We made American style chocolate chip cookies and they were SO good! Not as good as Grandma's, but I'll take what I can get. We had to use the weirdest ingredients (like what in the world is sugared vanilla?!) and guess what the word for baking soda was, but it was a good taste of home.
4. We went to the Bishop's house for lunch after church on Sunday! It's super funny, his wife thinks that I'm a vegetarian (I totally don't mind) but Sister Grisham absolutely HATES vegetable! Whoops. But he showed us their garden afterward and gave us a bunch of veggies (plus a candid pic of him poking me with a carrot. He thinks he's just SO hilarious.)!!
5. Something very miraculous happened this week. I prayed hard that I would be able to be a good trainer for my new trainee. I felt comforted in knowing that if I just lost myself in the work, everything was going to be okay. Well, I felt that I did just that, and it has been absolutely miraculous to see my language skills skyrocket. I had the chance to translate for 2 little American boys at church and I did it!! I can say and understand so much more than I did even just 1 week ago, even the bishop commented at lunch yesterday. There's a story in the Book of Mormon about a prophet named Nephi who likewise did not feel capable of his calling. God promised him that if he would obediently and diligently work, he would strengthen him. I know that Heavenly Father has done the same for me. I love Him and thank Him daily for what He blesses me with!
Love you all!
Sister Macey Ingalls
P.S. Highly recommend reading that book I mentioned in the 5th point. It's really good.
This Week In Pictures (Aug 27)
2. Teaching her selfies at the bus stop
3. On the way to an appt!
4. I make this face a lot in secret because I gotta look confident in front of Grisham!
2. I told her this felt like we were taking fam pics with our newborn baby. She died laughing
3. Our American friends!!!
4. That was a big carrot!!!!!
2. Not sure why I took this selfie but okay
2. Creeper shot from Grisham when I was blinded by the sun
Hands Down the BEST Week of my Mission! -- August 27
Momma-dee!!!!!
This was by far, hands down the BEST week of my mission yet! I've just been so happy and I'm excited to tell you why!!
First things first, I'm starting with the last day with Sister Alton. The last days with her were especially hard because she didn't get up until like 9 am. I wanted to be motivated and I tried but, man, it was so hard without your companions support... So I still got up at about 7:15ish but we hadn't done exercise time in over a week (I can't blame that on her, I didn't get up either.) We packed and cleaned, but she planned a little afternoon photo shoot with Janina and Laura, two of the young adults in our ward. That's where the pictures of me in the bell-sleeve shirt and the red dress come from! It was fun, but I felt like we were just having another pday. Well, our one appt. fell through, so we walked home and grabbed some snacks from the store (ice cream may have been included in that trip...) because it was going to be a long last night of getting everything together for her to leave and a new girl ready to come in. I go to open the door and I FORGOT MY KEYS. Yeah, so we were locked out with a bunch of snacks. Of course, just a couple of hours earlier, Alton gave me her keys in preparation for the next sister to have them. I had no idea what to do, and Alton was looking at me like "Uh oh, now what?"... Well, this is where I'm proud to have been somewhat of a tomboy growing up. We live on the second floor, and have a balcony. I was pretty sure the door was unlocked if I could only get up there. Right next to the balcony is a huge 15 ft. wall covered in vines and shrubbery. I think you can see where this is going... I managed to find my way behind the wall (unfortunately that was was where all of the dumpsters were) and pull myself through thorn bushes and shrubs. Granted I'm in my brand new shirt and a borrowed skirt that I didn't want to ruin, so I hiked up the skirt which resulted in my legs looking like they've been eaten alive by piranhas. Well, eventually I made it to the top of the ledge and pulled myself up into our balcony! It was surprisingly not that hard, so I'm never leaving that door unlocked again because that means other people can climb in hahah! Well, to my disappointment, it was locked. Yeah, I did that for nothing but it's still a funny story to tell that I scaled a wall in a skirt. We ended up going to the church to look for the keys but no luck. The only other key was held by Sch. Unger who, of course, was on vacation on the Baltic Sea. We ended up camping out at the church for a couple hours and had dinner there. Luckily the Bishop was there at the same time and helped us out. We eventually got ahold of Sch. Unger and got Janina her daughter to get the key and bring it to work, where we had to drive with the Bishops wife to go get it. Ugh what a mess. But hey, we still got in at about 9:30 so it wasn't too bad. We were thinking we'd have to sleep at the Bishop's house and miss going to Freiberg in the morning to drop off Alton and pick up the trainee (wouldn't that have been a disaster!). Well, it all worked out, but I definitely got a good amount of time to think during that time. For some reason, I just knew within myself that had we gotten up and exercised that morning, read our scriptures for a full hour, planned the day out together and sooooo many other little things, this would not have happened. That night, I got on my knees and prayed until who knows when. I did not want my trainees training to go like that. I asked Heavenly Father that if I would be 100% obedient every single day, that He would in return give me the strength I needed for each day to strengthen this area and my trainee. The Spirit manifested to me that this would happen, and I can honestly say I feel that I've been 100% obedient this week.
Man, am I ever so glad that I made that decision! That is the reason behind me being so happy! So many things have happened that I wish I had an entire day to tell you about them. I'll just tell you in a timeline though to organize it a bit better! So yes, I did make it to Freiberg to pick up my trainee alright! She's just the cutest thing ever, her name is Sister Grisham! She's from Alaska, so I knew we were going to have a fun time together battling the cold in just a few months! (This is crazy it's September this week... I've been on my mission an entire summer...?!) We got to know each other on the train ride back (also proud of myself for planning way ahead to make sure nothing went wrong on her first day!) and we are going to get along so well! She's so uplifting and happy, especially ready to work. This is one of the things I've realized quickly is that I absolutely love training right now because we both have a bunch of fire in us to work hard. And, man, did we do that this week! I told her on the way back that we run every single morning unless the weather is bad. The only other option I gave her is that she can sit on the steps and watch me run if she doesn't feel like working out, but we are going to be up and ready for Morgen Sport every day! She was excited though, and we had a good first run together! Definitely first blessing of being obedient in that I had tons of energy that day, and so much time in the morning to get everything done! We also had our first lesson together on Thursday with a guy named Martin! We actually taught him twice but lost contact with him for awhile. Well, I randomly Facebook messaged him last week and he actually answered and said he was down for a lesson again! I've stopped by his house a couple of times before as well, but the doorbell was broken and we didn't have his number so it was impossible to get a hold of him. Well, I was still nervous with the possibility of not getting a hold of him, so when we got there I said I wanted to pray before we touched the doorbell. I pleaded with God, right there in that parking lot, that the doorbell would work and we could teach Martin a lesson today. Well, IT WORKED! Some may say it was coincidentally fixed, but I know that was a blessing from God. The lesson went pretty good! I went from not saying anything in lessons to giving the entire lesson, so that was interesting! It was so sweet too, because I wanted to understand everything, so sometimes Martin would even try to speak English with us! Overall, really awesome. I hope that he will soon have the desire to start reading the Book of Mormon and learning on his own.
Okay this may become super lengthy so I should probably be a tad bit less detailed haha! The rest of the week went well, we stayed busy and visited people and planned ways we can use our talents to help the ward this transfer. I have a strong testimony of weekly planning! I know it was really long for Grisham to sit through 3 hours of me word vomiting all of the individual and ward goals I have for this transfer, but it was SO good for me to get it on paper! I really think that we are here together for a reason and we can leave this ward better than how it was when we came! I also planned for us to go to a stake relief society activity on Saturday in Chemnitz, but the Zone Leader told me last minute that we actually can't go if we don't bring someone. I wanted to go SO bad, we worked hard to find someone to bring. Well, like I was saying earlier, I know that Heavenly Father was blessing me for obediently working hard. The ward Relief Society president calls me and offers to give us a ride on Saturday, I express the issue. She says, oh nonsense, a bunch of us our bringing our friends and we need to have you sisters there!! Let ME call him! So after a few if ands and buts, I gave her the number. A few minutes later, the ZL called and said that all was good to go! YES! We had lots of fun, and I learned a lot there! Grisham got a good chance to practice her German (She's honestly so cute. She can only say her name, where she's from and "that is cool!" along with a brief testimony. Yet we just made it a goal together to just ALWAYS smile, and it makes a huge difference!)
Sunday was also really cool. Church was difficult for Grisham as it was for me on my first Sunday, but she pushed through like a champ. We got a new Ward Mission Leader which is another amazing blessing. Our previous one didn't want to meet with us or help much. Well, this new one is ready to WORK! He just asked if we could meet for 10 minutes after church to be on the same page, and it was probably the most productive 10 minutes of my entire life. I'm so excited to work with him. I think him paired with two young energetic sister missionaries is going to be the dream team that this ward needs! Also, Sch. Unger (the Relief Society president)s daughter and grandkids were in town from Washington as well! The little boys were 4 and 6 I think, and I got the chance to translate two hours of church for them! I'm not sure one counts though, because we mostly just played with toys. That leads me into another miracle. Ever since we had that lesson with Martin, I've been able to understand more than I possibly thought I would at this point in my mission. In fact, on Sunday I understood just about everything! It seriously is a gift from God, and I know that he is strengthening my speech. Last week, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to translate for those little boys, let alone have meaningful conversations other than just hello and good morning with the members on Sunday. I can't even tell you enough how much of a difference there is. We ate at the Bishop's house after church, and we walked home with him. He even said he noticed it! He said that the Lord will give you the strength that you need in your time of need when you call upon him! I absolutely love the bishop. A goal that I had during weekly planning was to gain the trust of the bishop. It must be hard going from a very old, experienced missionary to two brand new ones that don't know the language super great. I didn't want him to think that was going to be a negative thing on our ward at all. After dinner, ( I reeeeeally enjoyed the Bishop's wife's cooking, it was so healthy! Also I'm pretty much in love with vegetables now. All of them.) I prepared the shortest little spiritual thought. It was just a quote from President Uchtdorf about those who hold callings in the church are not perfect, but ultimately the church is. I had him read that and we shared thoughts, but then I boldly just told him what I thought. I said that we are here and ready to work, and ultimately help him out. I wanted to know what his goals were for the ward and what we could do to support him. I think he was impressed and a bit surprised with my boldness, but he told me everything. It was amazing. It feels wonderful to be on the same page, I feel like I accomplished my goal. Again, another blessing from Heavenly Father.
Okay, I've definitely taken up like all of my time writing this email, but it was just the best week. It reinstated why I want to be here. I love having goals and working toward them! I love living the standard of obedience! I'm thankful for the support I have at home so that I can focus on the work here!
To Mom specifically: Go you for working out so much! That's awesome that you're getting ready for Hawaii. When are you going? As for sandals, we're not allowed to wear those. Also that is an awesome story and even cooler that President Packer's grandson and family are in our ward now!!They must be going through a very hard time. I know the same trial that you had was so hard mom, but do you realize the impact its made for good?! You've been able to connect with so many other people that are hurting and heal them, along with having such a deep, personal, spiritual experience. It's hard to think about, but there have been a lot of blessings that have come from that experience. I know its reaffirmed my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, because I do feel that I'm going to see my dear brother again!!
I love you a million veggie burgers that I got from BioMarkt today! (A vegan sister in our ward introduced them to me and they are to die for!)
Love, Sister Macey Ingalls (The Messy Angel)
I'm a Teen Mom! (Not Really, Though!)
Hey y'all!
Haha judging by the title of the email, I'm just going to jump right in to my top 5!
1. We got transfer calls last Saturday aaaaanddd I'M TRAINING A BRAND NEW SISTER. Normally, missionaries are trained for 12 weeks (or 2 transfers), so I was only trained for 6 weeks and now I'm teaching another sister how to do this missionary thing...! I'm super excited, it's going to be quite the adventure! No lie, very nervous, but I know as long as I rely on my Savior, it's going to be okay! P.S. Trainers are called Moms (or Dads for Elders), and since I'm young and also not done with training, I'm #teenmom.
2. We taught the Hamo family this week, and Shafik (the Dad) wanted to be friends on Facebook. He tried and tried to pronounce "Macey Ingalls" (Arabic is his first language, he has a thick accent) and finally settled on the pronunciation of "Messy Angel". The younger daughter, who knows English, turns to me and says "that's actually pretty accurate". TRUE. I'm all over the place but it's cool as long as I have a smile on my face :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
3. We started a sport abend with the Werdau Elders last week! I totally thought I could take on the little 8 year olds in soccer (I have 4 older brothers, competition is my middle name!). Well I was WRONG! They are all super good haha! I ended up teaching them what Pickle in the Middle was, and then spent the remainder of my night in the middle... It's cool though, I totally had the time of my life getting beat up by little kids!!
4. The ward held a going away party for Sister Alton last Saturday! It was super fun, especially because I finally had the advantage on the little kids and beat three little 6 year olds in ping pong! YEAH! Okay, not sure that's the greatest accomplishment but we had fun. Also, Naghman came and brought us like 30 Pickups (its like the candy bar version of a s'more the German way. SOOO good.) because I gave him 1 like a week ago. He's kind of the best.
5. In district meeting last week, Sister Alton and Elder Riggs, who are both going home on Friday, shared a bit about what they've learned on their missions. It was super inspirational for me! Something Sister Alton shared is that we need to first love God, then the people we serve, then ourselves. That's the ultimate key to success! (#DJKhaled) I love these people with all of my hearts, and it's beautiful to see that the answers they are searching for are found within the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Liebe grüße,
Sister Macey Ingalls
1. We matched at her going away party
2. My reaction to becoming a teen mom
P.S.. If you have Facebook, make it a goal to (re)post something positive or uplifting this week!! Who knows the difference you can make by spreading joy on social media :)
This Week in Pictures (August 20)
2. It was cool
3. The squad (district) hopped in the pic
4. The sign said "Beware of pickpockets" so the Elders felt the need for a picture
1. Fun at the Jähnerts (The littlest one who isn't in the picture sliced my leg off with a sword, hence why I'm peg legged!
1. The beautiful Janina with one of the roses our investigator gave us at Sister Alton's goodbye party!
2. This eating appt they fed us so much, Sister Alton couldn't take it anymore. The 3rd dessert of Magnum bars is where she lost it!
3. We missed our bus so we took a bunch of selfies
4. Whoops it's blurry
1. Probably the first piece of clothing I've ever bought in my life
2. She posed me funny but you can see how fun the sleeves are
3. I loathe dirty mirrors! I apologize that our mirror is dirty but you can see how the sleeves hang better
4. Alton joined the selfie taking
1. The beautiful Janina with one of the roses our investigator gave us at Sister Alton's goodbye party!
2. Funny story, we both sleep on the ground because the wooden bed frame hurts our back and I like sleeping up against the wall
3. Idk when I took this but this is proof I did my hair for once [Mom approves! I love the curls, they are my favorite!]
4. You aren't allowed to post this on the internet but I know you like selfies! [Not posting this one as requested!]
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| First Trainer/Trainee Mtg. |
The One and Only, Sugar Plum Fairy Princess -- August 20
Mommy!!
Yeah I've been dying to tell you this ever since I got the transfer call... I'm staying in Zwickau and I'M TRAINING a new sister! What the heck. I'm very nervous, very anxious, but hey, I'm excited as well! It's all going to be okay. I hope. Yeah! So yeah I don't even really know what to say other than I hope I can be a good trainer. I'm a mom already yay!!! I have been thinking about this a lot and obviously preparing and stuff, and every time I think about it I just feel so inadequate. Like there is no way that I can start running a program as a brand new missionary with an even newer missionary, after Sister Alton who they loved and literally idolized, leaves. What if the ward doesn't like us? What if they don't take us seriously? What if my trainee doesn't like me? What if I have nothing to teach her? Well, anyway, I was on the phone last night with Sister Smith aus Chemnitz to arrange travel plans, and I ended up telling her my concerns. She said that she had a really hard time with it too, but one of the members in the ward gave her a lot of comfort. The member said that 30 years down the road, our trainee won't remember how terrible our German was or how many appointments we made, but she will remember how much you took the time to love her. That was good to hear. If there is anything I can do right, I think that I can love her! Sister Alton taught me the things that I needed to learn, and I'll take those and run with them. There are a ton of things that I want to do differently though. Who knows, I might fall flat on my face but I want to try them because that's what I'm here for! I don't care if the ward doesn't think I'm the prettiest sister they've ever seen or that I am overly punctual and don't like to waste a ton of time at member's houses (I know its good to be over there, but 4 hours is excessive). Okay sorry, I ranted, but I'm excited for this new transfer even though it is going to be extremely hard. Hey, I have the strongest power in the Universe on my side!!
You are also never going to believe this, and actually you should probably be sitting down for this one. Are you sitting down yet? I'm giving you fair warning! Okay, here it is: I went shopping today and BOUGHT SOMETHING! Yes, I actually went into a store (two actually!), picked a few things out, TRIED THEM ON, liked them (even bigger shocker!) and bought them! 2 really cute shirts! I modeled them for you as proof, I'll attach them in a separate email to you and dad together. The black one with the flowy sleeves is super pretty, the picture doesn't do it justice. Sister Alton got the same one in a bright red.
Before I forget, I NEED your oreo cookie recipe asap!! Its the one with cake mix cookies and then you put them together with a cream cheese frosting? I kind of made a bet with Jared and Janina and I know they are going to win (at least I'm really hoping they do :-) ) Can you please send that to me within the next day or two?! Also, I need to know how much is in my bank account! I don't like randomly spending money without recording it.
That is SO exciting to be a temple ordinance worker! [I was just called last week and am super excited about it! Just like you, my daughter, I am a little nervous and anxious to learn everything and I feel slightly inadequate to the task, but the Lord called me, so He will qualify me! We are both going through a new adventure and I couldn't be happier about it! MOM] I'm actually a bit jealous. I so love the temple, it is my favorite place. I might get the opportunity to go again this transfer, we'll see! I have a goal to bring one of our less actives back to the temple!
That video of Gma was HILARIOUS! Made my day. What in the world kind of snorkel is that? That will be nice and comfortable for more turtle seeing! I'm excited for you to go to Hawaii. Is that coming up soon?
How is Sara doing? Is she showing at all yet? I heard she was nauseous all the time, I hope that is getting better. Thank you for all of the other updates! Sounds like life is going good back home as well! No, Brittney and Kyle aren't engaged yet, at least not to my knowledge. It'll happen eventually, but they are just planning general time things I think :)
So, the culture. I could just say European and that would suffice haha but I won't.
Food: Breakfast: Bread, cheese and apparently all kinds of meats. Kind of like abendbrot but for breakfast? Lunch is usually the biggest meal of the day. Very German foods include meat stew or pork with potatoes or Klöße (like mashed potatoes rolled in a ball around some bread. Weird to imagine but super super good, you would love them) [You know me very well babe! I love anything made of potatoes! MOM] and then rotkraut or sauerkraut. It's not too bad, it's just really heavy food. Best meal of the day is dinner though! Dinner is just abendbrot. It's like a smorgasbord of breads, hard and soft cheeses, spreads, meats and veggies. Usually some fruit on the side. I looooooove it. Generally though, they love their gardens and like to make stuff from them (that's not very hard considering some of these Garden of Edens have hundreds of different types of plants!)
Music: They surprisingly love English music. It's so funny, the little kids will listen to rap or some song and they have absolutely no idea what it's saying, but they'll learn the words perfectly and sing it. It's funny.
Language: so beautiful. I love German. I realize that I'm getting a lot better! It's still hard and I still pretend I understand the old people when they talk super fast and mumble-y, but I somehow know when to laugh at the right time and just go along with it! I'm getting better at talking on the phone though! That was the hardest part for me. My favorite thing to say is "doch!" which is somewhat translated to saying "duh!". It's my favorite thing when kids tell me how old they are and then I say doch! like "no way", and then we get into a little match saying doch! doch! doch! doch! DOCH! haha it's funny. The little kids are the best. They are patient with my language and they speak in pretty simple sentences as well.
Speaking of which, we had an awesome eating appt on Sunday after church! It was with the Hötzels! They are so cool. They are a younger family with two little kids. For the first little bit we just played with the kids and they read me their little books and made me hold their peeing little guinea pigs. The older girl stole my tablet and took a bunch of selfies and a 10 minute video of her guinea pigs hahaha. I gave the spiritual thought afterwards, and shared a little video about families. I had them write on little pieces of origami paper things what they can do to make their family happier. During the movie I put them all together in a Bascetta star! (google search it, I'm pretty cool for learning how to do that) All in all, it was really fun. It totally makes me want to have a cute little family someday, especially one that I can be with for eternity! Good thing I was raised in one as such a good example!
Well, pray for me this next week! I'm planning some fun things for us to do, so we will see how it goes! I love you a million Bascetta stars (I may have been a bit obsessed with making them this week while Sister Alton has been packing...!)!!!!!!!
Liebe grüße,
The one and only, Sugar Plum Fairy Princess
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Fire, ZOKO and the Most Awkward Birthday Party
Hey hey hey fam!
It was a crazy fun, productive week with a TON of traveling. Here are some of the highlights!
1. I finally got to put my mediocre camping skills to the test! We went over to the Jähnerts house for a little party, and 4 of their granddaughters were trying to start a campfire A.K.A. they were dumping gasoline on rain-drenched logs and holding a match to it... Haha! I taught them how to build an actual fire and we had so much fun. They chased me around with swords and random burning things and I somehow ended up with a peg leg.
2. An American family came to visit family in our ward this week, and they had two little boys ages 4 and 6! We made friends really fast because we were both so excited to hear other people speaking English. I got to translate for them in PV (little kids class) on Sunday, and I ended up getting beat up with balloons and plastic dinosaurs... It totally made my day.
3. I had possibly the greatest, weirdest night on my mission yet... In the process of dropping off a birthday present for Sister Klaus (a lady that we barely knew at all!), we were invited to her 83rd bday party!! We were the only ones in the restaurant under the age of 80... It was pretty uncomfortable but we just laughed and tried to talk to everyone. We left afterward to catch the bus, and it was POURING rain. The bus wasn't going to come for another 30 minutes so I talked Sis. Alton into just running the couple miles home. We took off our shoes and start running and were drenched head to toe, through our coats in under 3 minutes! It was insane and I had the time of my life running barefoot across town. To top it all off, 15 minutes into this joy run, we get stopped by two guys on bikes that decide right then and there is the perfect time to hit on us. When we finally got home, we just couldn't stop laughing, and took selfies to remember the night. #Ilookedlikecaptainjacksparrow #shelookedlikemothermary #arehashtagsstillcoolinamerica
4. We had zone conference this week in BERLIN! Afterward we "just so happened" to pass the WWII memorial on the way to the train station! It was so cool, it takes up an entire city block, and it's like a huge maze!
5. Zone Conference, all of the missionaries in the Leipzig area got together for the day to teach and learn from each other and our mission president! It was super uplifting and motivating for me. President had one of the elders play the first song he ever learned. The elder carelessly played 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. Then President asked him to play the hardest song he knew. The elder effortlessly played a mega-fast arrangement of Carol of the Bells. It was AMAZING! President used this activity to prove that we forever need to make progress. Once we learn basic things like God is truly our Heavenly Father and that Christ atoned for our sins, continue learning! Study how we can communicate with God and what He expects from us, and how exactly Christ performed the Atonement and what exactly that means for our eternal salvation! Cool stuff for sure.
#Liebegrüße
Sister Macey Ingalls
P.S. I left my camera at someone's house sooo all I have is our rained out selfie and a panoramic of a WWII memorial in Berlin! Sorry!
I Love You a Million Night Time Stool Talks!! -- August 13
Mutti!!!
I so badly wanted to answer your questions with one word answers like my bratty teenage self muahahahaha but I'm old and an adult so I won't...
Did we even pack you an umbrella?
-Yes, I've used it once! Most of the time I just embrace the rain, though.
Is there anything that you wished we would have packed you? Anything we forgot.
-Not really that I can think of, I'm very comfortable! I'm thinking maybe for Christmas I'm going to treat myself to a better camera though.
I still haven't seen you wearing the tan Sketchers, are they not allowed?
-I've only worn them twice actually! They are super comfy but dont match a ton of my outfits (more than some of the other ones)
Can you take some selfies in a full length mirror? I want to see some of your outfits! There are still tons of shirts and skirts I bought you that I haven't even seen yet!
-I'll make that a goal this week! I've worn everything!
What is your favorite piece of clothing and favorite pair of shoes?
-The black pencil skirt, and brown shoes that I bought! Obviously not together haha. But I like the resistance of the black skirt when we are constantly walking uphill, it's an extra workout!
Have you been receiving any of my pictures and are they good enough quality to see?
-The last pictures you sent were perfect! You can send them to me like that or over facebook messenger! Speaking of which, I think I'm going to make a private album on there and just share them with you that way, it'd be a lot easier and faster!
Do you eat with members a lot? Or do you eat at home or out the most?
-We really only have dinner appts. On sunday after church which is nice, but lately a lot more because everybody wants to give Sister Alton a goodbye party!
Where is your companion from?
-Texas is home for now, but she's going to live in Utah and try to go to BYU or UVU.
Have you got the money figured out yet? Do you need us to put any in your account?
-Yeah money is fine. Can you tell me how much is in my bank account exactly? I try to keep track but I lost a receipt in the MTC...
So what's up with Brittney and Kyle?
-Getting married in December now! Yayyyy! So sad I'm missing it though.
Have you heard from Hannah lately? Sounds like Guam is a little nervous about things going on in North Korea.
-Yeah she hasn't said anything but I think I'm going to email her..
Are all missionaries now on FB or is it just a select group of them?
-We are one of like 8 missions outside of the U.S. that are testing it, its fairly new for us, but I think the American missionaries all use it. Not sure.
What is your favorite experience out there so far?
-The running in the rain story I sent in my group email -(Fire, ZOKO and the Most Awkward Birthday Party) And Sylvia's baptism! Did you get my letter?
What does your room look like and are you glad you brought a pillowcase?
-Its really nice and the pillow is too big for the pillowcase! I'll send pictures next week when Sister A'ltons stuff isn't everywhere (stress is real with leaving in a week!)
Is your neighborhood quiet? Safe?
-Quiet, no. Safe, yes! We are right in the middle of a townsquare, so very busy. Nice that the bus stops right in front of our house though!
What do you do on your pdays?
-Different things but mostly shopping and getting Sister Alton prepped to go. I would like to go see more things but she isn't as down for it, so usually its a nice relaxing day. Today we played volleyball with the zone though and that was really fun!
Have you checked out any castles yet?
-No, there aren't any in our area! I heard about a cool cave though, I'm going to try to go next transfer.
Do you bike, walk or have a car?
-No bike and no car, so we just walk and take the bus! We walk A LOT! I love it.
Who is the funniest person you have met there?
-Ummmm ask me again in a month when I understand what they are saying more. Probably the old grandmas in the ward that are like 90 haha.
What is you favorite food?
-That's hard because I don't really enjoy eating that much, unless it's healthy. The best is probably the homemade wraps we had with members, lots of garden veggies and a yummy yogurt/ranch type sauce!
Favorite treat/dessert?
-I love these things called pickups! Its basically a smore and its soooo good. I'll make sure to send some home in the near future.
Favorite healthy food?
-All of the garden veggies! It only took me twice choking down tomatoes for me to actually not gag when I eat them now! I loveeeee the veggies. All the ladies bring them from their gardens on Sundays, so we always leave with zucchini and cucumbers. Yum!
How is the culture there different from here?
-Completely different but ask me that again next week. That's a long answer. It's wonderful, though.
Does anyone ever talk to you about our government and President there?
-YES. They're all like "what do you think of Trump?" or crack jokes. Other than that, I have no idea what's going on with politics and don't care to know right now haha.
How are Americans generally received there?
-Warmly! Everybody is very nice to me, especially when I'm trying to speak their language. They really appreciate me trying, and listen very intently, or even correct me (out of love!)
Who is your favorite person in your ward? [Not a very fair question because I'm sure she loves them all]
-Definitely Jared and Janina. They are so cool. I might name my kid after her for real (but we thought Jemina sounds pretty too but who are we kidding I'm not thinking about kids right now! ahahah)
Do you miss me yet?
-I will answer that question with the next paragraph! [I saved this answer privately because it was so sweet and emotional for me and I loved it so much that I chose to keep it private, but the essence of it was this: She indeed does miss me and wanted to thank me for the mother that I was to her and am still and she appreciates me so much more now than when she was a teenager]
Everybody loooooves Sister Alton, and all weekend people were inviting us over for parties and BBQs. So. Much. Food. But Saturday I finally ate my first wurst. Tasted okay but I felt so sick after. [She doesn't normally eat red meat when she's at home] On Sunday, we had an eating appt. at none other than the elegant Annarose Jähn's house (she's the one in the picture of us eating ice cream on a hot day. She introduced me to vegan ice cream!). She made a BEAUTIFUL meal, and although it was a lot, it was all heathy. She made delicious veggie burgers, a traditional cauliflower dish, potatoes, a fresh garden salad and more steamed veggies. Oh, it felt so good to eat that way. Well, then for dessert we had soy chocolate pudding, then quark cake (really dense like cheesecake) with whipped cream AND THEN Magnum ice cream bars! Like cmon people, you're feeding me like I'm pregnant with triplets! Haha [She has such a funny sense of humor!]
We went to the temple on Saturday with the ward and it was awesome! We got there early enough to do baptisms, confirmations and an endowment session! The American temple workers were super understanding that we don't get to go as often, so they helped us pull it off. Man, I was a bit nervous to do the endowment because it was all in German, but I understood everything! It helps that I've done it a lot before, but Heavenly Father definitely helped me understand more vocab than I knew. He is the best. I actually loved it even more in German, it is so so so beautiful. The Celestial room is about the same size as the St. Paul temple, and have to tell you that the chandelier was almost as pretty! But I sat in there and prayed for a long time about the people I was teaching and things I needed help with. One of them was that I wanted my personality back. I've been so focused on the language and figuring out peoples needs through a language barrier lately. I prayed amd prayed that I'd somehow be able to do it.
Well, as we know, the Lord always blesses those that ask for help. That night, we went over to the family Jähnert's house for a little BBQ. Their grandkids were all over, and the littlest one was 10 and decided right away that we were going to be best friends! She was so patient with my language, but regardless we played and had so much fun! I danced around and somehow cracked jokes and made her laugh. Eventually I was so comfortable that all of the younger grandkids and I were playing and building a fire. They even taught me how to shoot an arrow at a target (I already knew how to, but it was fun to see their surprise when I got a bulls-eye on my first try! Hehehe). I felt right at home with these people while still being a missionary, and it made my entire week and definitely gave me more confidence with people! I don't necessarily need to have perfect speech for them to know that I love them and I'm solely here to serve them, I can do things my way!
Oh P.S. I got your package and letter! That was so sweet and thoughtful of you, thank you so much! And thank you to Dad as well for being so sweet and getting you to the post office so fast! He's so sweet. So are you. I'm so glad you two foumd each other. The socks are PERFECT! I also loved the quinoa you threw in there, I'll definitely be saving that for a special day! I haven't had a lot of downtime, but I'll maybe try to figure out those footsole things tonight. Thank you for everything :)
Well, transfer calls come on Saturday so I'm a bit anxious about that happening! All will work out how it's supposed to. I'll tell you first thing Monday what happened!
We are on a train to Leipzig for zone pday (playing volleyball wahooooo!) So this is probably more random of an email? Oh well. Thats just me. Love ya!
P.S. I actually left my camera at the members house after dinner last night so I can't send you those pictures this week! Ugh I'm so sorry, I promise to send you double next week!
I love you a million night time stool talks!! [I used to sit on the little stool next to her bed every night and let her talk to me about anything and everything right before bed! Those times were so special to me and, I realized that they were very special to her too!]
Sister Macey Ingalls
Monday, August 7, 2017
This Week in Pictures (Aug 6)
Closest thing to Gma's chicken noodle soup. It was so clean and healthy and soooooo good!!
Wild District Leader spotting
Train station waiting for our train to Berlin!
It looks like Minnesota!
I dared him to eat Nutella with pizza crust........apparently he didn't really like it!
Fun with Janina's camera
Enjoying pday AND PANTS today!
.007 seconds before Janina and I fell!
Not sure if I ever sent this to you but this is from my first week!
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