What is a German's Favorite Number?

NEIN! (hahahaha I know, I know it's the worst joke on the planet but I laughed therefore it's funny)

This week has been absolutely incredible! I have seen so many miracles and been stretched so much as a missionary. I feel SO blessed to be a missionary, every day is really a blessing from Heavenly Father to work hard and depend on Heavenly Father.

I have very little time this week, so I thought my "fab" pictures would do the talking (apparently those things in the bathroom are not a makeshift hammock...)

Love you all, I apologize for the basically nonexistent email!

Sister Macey Ingalls

 

1. We did a district "finding" day in Gera and found this sweet church while we were waiting on the Werdau elders! (Elder Bailey was too cool to jump...)

2. District pday today in Chemnitz! Grisham and I explored the building a bit and found this SICK hammock in one of them! 3/10 rating on comfort, 1/10 rating on location

3. I'm going to tell you a secret - I love to eat cereal when we go up to the church and type emails. It poured (rained) today, so I felt like some type of street-cereal dealer!

4. This one is for the Weekley fam- we looooovee our old cars! I had to laugh though because I asked to take a picture of his car, and then he asked if he could be in it. I love Germans.

September 24 + This Week in Pictures

Mommy!!

Let me tell you, I just loved your email!! Regardless of if your email has some massive crazy event or it's simply a little brief of your week, it completely makes my day. It's the closest thing I have to bedside chats, so everything is a treat to me!

I am totally jealous of your Hawaiian get away. I love love loveee all of the pictures! You and Dad are now my background picture on my tablet, I love it (and you two!) so much. You didn't hint at much of what you did, unless you just ate teriaki chicken and sat on the beach which is totally cool too! But did you see Pearl Harbor again? That was amazing when we saw it. I can't wait to go back in 2019 :))))

Well, this week was AWESOME!!!! I don't think I'm completely a different person, but Heavenly Father is really stretching me and my character and I am just learning so so so much. Our efforts of the week really paid off and we have 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS scheduled for this week! Also, we got 2 REFERRALS this weekend, so that makes like 5 potential people other than those we already teach! I'm so excited I could just giddy jump up and down!! I have just been praying and praying this transfer that if we worked really hard we would find new people to help. I'll let you know how those go! Pray for us and them! Their names are Helga, Nicole, Frau Malz, Samuel and Doreen!! :)

We had zone conference last week in Dresden! It was so good, I like to call it the general conference for missionaries! It's always so uplifting and even more motivating to me, I just want to be a good missionary that tries her best! Heavenly Father does the rest. But I got to see my friends, its funny that I actually have mission friends! I always thought it was either your companion or nobody. But Sister Smith who serves in Chemnitz is definitely my friend. We only know each other from train rides and a bit of meetings, but we just click! I hope we get the chance to serve together, but even if not, she's super cool.

The craziest day of the week was Saturday. There's actually a German version of Thanksgiving, which made me super, super happy! It's the first week of Fall I think, and it's literally celebrating the harvest. So we had a mission wide harvest day on Saturday! It's actually kind of funny to tell other people that we were "harvesting" people, but that's what we did! As a mission we fasted Friday to Saturday, and dedicated the entire Saturday to just finding! I've never done that before, so I was actually excited. I knew there were people that wanted to hear the gospel! So as a district we decided to do the morning together in Gera, part of the Werdau elders area. We split up areas within Gera, and Grisham and I got assigned to Innenstadt. One pretty nice lady gave us directions to the mall and we walked there and back. On the way back, I was just praying that Heavenly Father would help me talk to someone in German - anyone! Suddenly a hand grabbed my arm and I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was the lady that pointed us to the mall!! She struck up a conversation with us and we ended up talking for over 20 minutes! Who knows if she's actually interested in the church but that was definitely a testament to me that God was watching over me and sent her my way to help me learn to speak the language. It's hard not to think that I'd be a better missionary in English. I feel like I can find something in common with anybody and hold at least a polite conversation (I think that is a family trait), but here I just know that the language is a barrier for me. I'm being patient, but not too patient to not do anything about it, I'm learning so much with this language!! (It really is so beautiful, I've began to just embrace it, so my English may start getting worse...)

Hey did you receive my package yet? I hope so. Looks are a bit deceiving and I didn't completely fill it up, but regardless I just hope it gets to you! It's expensive to send packages for sure, so don't feel like you need to send lots even though they totally and completely make my whole day, week, month, year, mission (yeah you get the idea :) Instead of sending a ton of clothes though, do you think you could send a new pair of black shoes? We walk so much I'm slowly but surely burning through these ones, and they are like a sister missionary necessity! I'm trying to figure out if I'll want them during the winter though because I will most likely be wearing boots and bigger shoes. No I haven't bought any boots yet though, I don't want to be an impulsive buyer and want to get a good deal (I'm my mother's daughter!). Regardless, shoes are expensive.... I might need more money transferred into my account sometime soon.. There was a problem in the office and we've had to buy all of our train tickets this month, so I had to dig into personal money. Its okay, I'll be reimbursed and it's on the Lord's errand.

Questions:

Have you worn your blue button up shirt?

No, I am saving it for a special occasion. I just accidentally pulled out one of my winter skirts and didn't put it back so I was like what the heck, I'll wear it, but I put it back until it actually gets cold. 

Did you ever buy that pair of boots?

No, but I found a cute pair for a lot cheaper (50 instead of 120 haha!) I will probably buy some mid October.

What made you decide to cut your hair in the first place?

If I remember by the end of this, I'll send you a picture of my hair right before I cut it. The last 4 inches was just stringy and damaged. I figured if I did something shorter now, it'd be normal by the time I got back home anyway so why not! But I really need one, and then kept needing touch ups, and then Sis Thorpe really wanted to cut it. Ehhh YOLO!

What does the outside of your bldg. look like?

Hmmm I don't have a picture and I'm at the church building. Remind me to take a picture next week! But its yellow and the 2nd floor above a store (that I've never actually seen people go into)

What is your favorite meal there?

Cereal. Haha jk but from Deutsch food, definitely klöse or abendbrot. Next transfer, Sis Jähnert is going to teach us how to make klöse, so I'll make sure to be an expert by the end of my mission! But its basically potatoes.... mixed with stufff... and rolled in a ball around a piece of bread... okay its way better than it sounds! And abendbrot is like a smorgasbord of breads, spreads, veggies, meats, etc. that they eat every night. 

Did you tour the Haribou factory or something?

No, its actually pretty lame and you can only go into the little store where they sell candy. Still was fun though!

Did the castle look modern inside?

No it actually looked super old! I took pictures but they're on my tablet. Hopefully I remember to send those haha! Do you have a picture of the castle in Spain!??!

Were there lots of guys in there?

In the castle?? No, haha only 5 guys live there. The thing is basically an average American mansion. American houses are so big. Haha our house is so big. But no, there was some kind of break so only like 3 and some of their parents were there too.

Can you even get wild rice out there? I will send you a recipe, but you should see if they even sell it out there. Sweden didn't have it and neither did the Czech Republic.

YES I CAN! I found it at Kaufland last week. Hit me up with the recipe sent from heavennnnnn

Did you mean that you wished you had a zip up sweatshirt or a sweater? I think you should just buy one there because packages are so expensive ($55) to send and I worry that they even get to you. I've sent you a few letters and have wondered if they ever got to you.

A sweatshirt for like pday or lounging around. I just only have Matt's and it's massive, so its not super ideal for like hiking or spending the day exploring! It's okay, I can live without one. :)

Last thing, did you go to Women's Conference?! Oh man, it was so so good. Präsident Uchtdorf is just the man. I love what he said about choosing to be sad, mad or glad in situations. Every day is truly a blessing from Heavenly Father to learn something and project it to others! I'm convinced that if every person tried to make somebody else's day better, this planet would be a very different place. Like I say with sharing the gospel, I feel like I'm just walking around handing out $100 bills, happiness and joy in the gospel are just so important, it'd be crazy not to take it!

I love you mom, I hope you have a great week. You are just the sunshine on a cloudy day, and I am so happy, proud, glücklich, gefreut, to be your daughter (forever!) Speaking of which are you going to the temple this week? [I start working at the temple in October! MOM]

I love you a million new investigators!

Sister Macey Ingalls

I don't think I took a lot of pics this week, sorry! This week is jam packed too, but hopefully I can get some good ones!

1. Keeping my hand warm after walking in the rain for 2 hours (dumb Minnesotan not wearing a jacket!)

2. Just embrace the soaking rain. We were laughing the whole time! I'm so happy here :)

3. Just sharing the gospel!

4. Croissant Monday yo yo

1. Zoko!!! Meeting up with the old friends!

2. Hehe we put a Book of Mormon in a book swap thing #genius

3. Old DDR car!

This Week in Pictures (Sept 17)

w

Turtle!!!!!

Taken from Sister Grisham's FB page!

The Haribo factory is in Zwickau?!??!?!?

"It's okay, it's healthy, it's vegetarian"

Yay Haribo!!!!!

I have no idea how to style my hair anymore.... So I went back to elementary school.

We were trying so hard to get the Haribo sign in there but we just couldn't schaff it! hahah

#croissantmonday. It's a thing!

Service day!! We scraped out all of the grass in between the bricks. 100000x more fun than it sounds!

Castle pics!!!

My makeshift tag on Sunday.... yeah that was embarrassing!

I sent most of them to my group email but, I have more!

Tausch with Sis THORPEEEE

Proof I wore the pink shirt

We were so tired traveling to Jena at like 6 am

"I'll just hold my ticket like this so they don't disturb my sleep"

Whoops we may have worked them a little too much...

Surprise Guest, Another Haircut and A Frat Castle

Friends and fam!!!! 

Man, this week we worked super hard, it feels really good!! I may or may not fall asleep typing this email, but here are some highlights of the week!

1. On Wednesday we had district meeting with the Werdau and Hohenstein Elders. Halfway through, a lady softly knocked on the door. I figured it was just one of the members coming to say hello, but it was someone that I'd never met before! Sister Grisham and I slipped out to talk to her. We found out that this lady, Doreen, had found out online that she could get help with starting genealogy work here! It was super cool, and we helped her figure out how to do that. We hope that we can start teaching her soon why family history is so important to our faith!

2. We had exchanges on Friday with none other than the Köthen Sisters AKA SISTER THORPE!!!! It was super fun. It was such a great opportunity to have 4 missionaries in Zwickau for a day, we got so much done!! But all in all, it was so good to see her again. We may have made another music video or two... She also gave me another haircut (that makes 3 in the past week... ), and I gotta tell you, I've very impressed that she could pull it off with just normal paper scissors... RIP to 8 inches of my hair though #doitforthemission

3. At Institute on Thursday, I was helping Jared set the table for dinner afterward. I taught him the word "utensils" and to quote him, he responded, "WOAH! That's like the word 'Utah' and 'Pencils' mixed together!". Haha, I laughed so hard, it's never a dull moment with the Germans.

4. On Saturday we traveled to Jena for a zone service day!! We got there early and flipped pancakes for the zone for a good hour (if you need the perfect pancake recipe, I got you!). It was so fun, I could have just done that all day! But then we split into groups, and we got assigned to clean up the outdoor seating for a Theaterhaus! It was so fun, I wish we could do that every week! We even got a tour of the Theaterhaus and went up to the very top above the pulley systems! Yeah, I'll definitely cross that job off my dream job list. #Iainttryingtofall80ft. But on our way to the train station, we saw a CASTLE! I was taking a picture of it, when a voice yelled out the window in English "hey, want a tour?!" IT WAS SO COOL. Turns out it was actually a frat house, but the history was super cool. Finally can cross that off my bucket list!!

5. One particular day, I really wanted to visit a certain lady and invite her to an activity we are having this coming week. We walked in the rain and finally got to her street but couldn't find her house number. I finally started checking every number on the street. Finally, after 30 minutes and completely soaked from the rain, we found her! We rang her doorbell, only for her to politely tell us not to come in. I just stood there dumbfounded for a moment, wondering why that just happened. I slipped the invitation into her mailbox and started walking away. I immediately knew that I didn't want Sister Grisham to feel my disappointment, so I quickly pulled out my camera and said "Hey, I want to take a selfie! This is such a beautiful place and I want to remember this day!" And just like that, both of our spirits were lifted! It just goes to show that we are in charge of our own attitudes, and we can CHOOSE to be happy whenever we want! Don't let 1 bad minute ruin the opportunity for a happy rest of the day! Life is wonderful, friends! I love you!

Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Macey Ingalls

Our rainy day selfie

The proper way to study

I forgot my tag on Sunday (what kind of missionary am I?!) so I made a new one!! The ward got a good laugh out of it haha.

I was holding Sister Jähnert's turtle and her son Markus thought I was holding a burger... Yeah... same thing....

We Worked Hard This Week, Holy Cow! -- September 17

Aloha Mutti!!!

I've just been thinking all week, "man, my parents are in Hawaii!!!" That is just so crazy. I'll admit I was a bit nervous with all of the hurricane activity lately, but I'm glad everything is going well. Those pictures were awesome! You all just look so cute and happy, I love getting pictures! Btw, that purple dress is SUPER cute on you, I've never seen it before. I'm proud of you for actually buying yourself something! Is the food truck shrimp everything you remembered it was? Did you get a big towering cup of shave ice?! When do you get back? I sent you a package last Monday (just a little one!) and the lady told me it would take about 10 days or less to get there, so I hope you actually get it! If not, nothing valuable so no worries, but it was pretty fun to send. [Yes! The shrimp was delectable! We got a few towers of shaved ice while we were there, with ice cream in the bottom! We got back on Wednesday! I love getting mail and packages so yippeeee!!!! MOM]

We worked hard this week, holy cow! I'm really really tired today, so I definitely took advantage of a relaxing day and a little nap. So did Sister Grisham. We got a new version of our Area Book app on Wednesday, so the week before we had to go through a ton of information and make sure it was all inputted correctly before it updated. Because of that, we connected a lot of dots on previous investigators and people that haven't had contact with the missionaries in quite awhile. So we devised a plan to follow up with some of these people and see if they could use some service or would want to have a lesson again. There were so many people to go through, and traveling by bus and foot takes quite a bit of time here, we really have to plan out our trips. We decided to visit this one lady that lived within walking distance, and we get there only to find that there is no such thing as a #74 on her street! I didn't want to give up, then it started pouring. I was like cmonnnn, we want to find this lady! Grisham wanted to just go home, it was already past lunch time. I decided that I was just going to check the houses with either a 7 or 4 in them. Finally we found that she was #14! We happily rang her doorbell outside her gate, only for her to peek out her door and yell "Hello! It's okay sisters, there is no need for you to come in!" and shut her door. I just stood there for a moment thinking, "Lady, I just walked in the rain for over an hour to find you, and you can't even let us ask you one simple question? We were simply going to invite her to a Relief Society activity this week!" I was just kind of dumbfounded because I thought that if I worked hard enough, we would find success. I dropped the invitation in her mailbox and walked back down the road. I looked over to Grisham and I didn't want her to feel the disappointment that I felt. I just stopped in my tracks and said, "Hey, its so pretty here, I want to take a selfie to remember this really pretty walk!" So I put on the biggest grin and turned around my attitude. It was a moment for me to realize that my happiness is dependent on ME! Just because other people don't want to listen to us doesn't mean our message isn't true or that I'm not a good missionary! I can find joy in the fact that it was a beautiful area, that I love my companion and even now we have the correct address and future missionaries can go to the correct address maybe when she is more willing to listen! Its allllll in your attitude.

Friday we had exchanges with none other than Köthen sisters aka SISTER THORPE!!! It was such a blast, I've missed her so much. They came to us, so we planned out a jam packed day because it is a very special occasion to have 4 missionaries in our area!! At first I took sister Hilton to Wilkau-Haßlau to visit a less active sister and teach a lesson. We followed up with some contacts and went back to switch. The whole thing was like an interview, she doesn't talk too much, super sweet and also a greenie like Grisham, and doing well in the language! Yeah, it did secretly really make me appreciate Grisham a little bit better... We have a good time. Then we switched and Sister Thorpe and I went out on the town! We went into Innenstadt and did some contacting, and played and sang church songs on a piano that is free to the public to use! Nobody asked us what the songs were like we hoped, but we definitely brought joy! It was a really good time to just talk though. It's funny how different things are from the MTC, yet Thorpe and I can just talk about anything. It really helped to be able to talk to someone who's going through the same monumental moments as you are. I'm really grateful for her, I think we'll stay friends for a good long time. We went back to our apartment and had pizza and turned on some Disney music. Our companions were being a little quiet and we were like THIS IS TAUSCHE!! So we moved the furniture and Sister Thorpe and I had a poppin' dance party, and even made a music video!! It was the hardest I've laughed in a long time, it was so fun! The music video makes me laugh just thinking about that, I'll definitely share that one when I get home. But the cherry on top of the night was that Thorpe cut my hair- AGAIN! In the past week I've probably cut off a grand total of 8+ inches. It's pretty short now, shortest since 2nd grade maybe!! I told her she could do anything to it, and I really like it! I'm super impressed though because she did it with paper scissors. Oh sister missionary life. I probably won't cut it again basically until I go home. It's probably shorter than yours!

Saturday was the coolest day of the entire week. We traveled to Jena (unfortunately at 6 am... That contributes to why I'm still so tired) for a zone service day! We got there at about 7:30 and the four of us sisters (we were still technically on exchanges) got right to work at the church building helping the senior couple cook breakfast! I made like 4 batches of blueberry pancakes haha! It was so fun, and Sister Thorpe and I had a blast flipping pancakes all morning. After, all 30ish of us missionaries got assigned to service projects and we probably got the COOLEST one!! Sister Grisham, Wood and Roach (Wood's trainee) and I got to clean up the outdoor theater seating for a Theaterhaus! It was loads of work but totally fun. Halfway through, the lady in charge stopped us to give us a tour! (I got really into digging the weeds out between bricks!) It was crazy cool, we kept going up and up until we were in the rafters above the pulley systems. I can cross that job off my list, way too high up! Another part that was cool was that 2 boys our age joined us after this little tour. They spoke really good English and started asking a lot of questions about the church. As we were pulling weeds again, I was able to teach about the Plan of Salvation and bear my testimony that there is life after this and we have a very important purpose on the Earth! It was awesome, even at one point I looked up and they weren't working anymore, they were just listening! They said they'd be interested in reading the Book of Mormon so I gave them the Jena elders contact information. I hope all goes well! I love being able to testify of truth! Woohoo! After the whole thing, we had an hour to kill before our train came so we walked toward Innenstadt and saw a crazy huge church! We thought that would be the coolest thing we saw but NO! We walked to the train station and on the way, we saw a CASTLE! First one I've seen in Germany. It wasn't super big, but needless to say, it was a castle. We were taking pictures of it when a guy about our age yelled out the window "Hey, you want a tour?" in English! We were like, um YES?!?!?! That was TOTALLY cool. It's actually a frat house now (kinda weird but its cool) and it had all kinds of old stuff. The fraternity actually started before the castle was built in the 1800s, but it started out centered around fencing. So yeah, they had a big fencing room and lots of old fencing gear! Tour guy was super nice and we were totally touristy about the whole thing. I wish we had more time, but it was super nice of that guy to let us see inside. We ended up having a 4 hour train ride home because they were all so spread out. We were soooo tired by the end of that, but it was a really nice day!

Well, life is good. Yes, I wore that long sleeve pink shirt when Köthen sisters came for tausch. I actually don"t need new clothes really, I have a lot. It's just nice to switch them out every once in awhile. It's been cold lately but not unbearable. I wish I would have brought a zip up sweater to wear around the house or for service projects! Oh well.

I love you lots, I wish you the best on the rest of your vacation! Sorry this email seems a bit lame, I am really tired today. I'll send pictures to make up for it!

I love you a million castle tours!!

Love, Sister Macey Ingalls

My "Talent", a Fahrradtour Miracle and A Single Yellow Daisy

Okay I'm just going to skip over the 5 minutes of trying to figure out how to address this email and cut to the chase. This week was AWESOME! Zwickau is like home to me now. Here are some highlights from last week!

1. So I put "talent" in parenthesis becauseeee I found out that I actually am NOT talented in cutting my own hair... I made sort of a "split second" (haha see what I did there #splitends) and decided to cut my hair one night. Welllll it looked okay but definitely needed some help. Where was my rockin' Grandma when I needed her?! (She gives the best haircuts) Well luckily we went over to the Hoffman's the next day and one of the girls said she'd give it a try. I really didn't have anything to lose, my hair already looked like it was done via pizza cutter... But all was well and I learned my lesson to not cut my own hair :-) :-) :-) 

2. We had sport abend with Werdau on Friday night! Let me tell you, easily a highlight of my week! All in all, Sister Grisham and I were the only girls there with about 10 guys from Werdau and Zwickau. Sister Grisham immediately decided not to play (Germans are very serious about their fußball!) but I jumped in. IT WAS SO FUN. I definitely had an advantage because the guys were careful around me (haha if only they saw how my brothers and I play sports together). I was all confident and stuff until I full on kicked MYSELF in the face and knocked myself over. Yeah, very very embarrassing... I think I'll stick to dance kicks to the face.

3. Janina had jaw surgery this past week, and we visited her in the hospital yesterday! I've never seen someones face puff up so much though, she seriously looks like a chipmunk getting ready for winter!! We spend the afternoon with her though and cheered her up with a whiteboard and some markers to draw and talk to people since her mouth is rubber-banded shut #intensestuff

4. Today we decided to go on a HUGE bike ride a.k.a. fahrradtour! So we get about 5K in and I realize my tire is a bit flat. We stop and I get out the bike pump and to my disbelief it's either the worst bike bump there is or its the OPPOSITE of a bike pump- it took all of the air out!!! Now we were stranded, and decided that we'd just hope someone who came by would have a better one. I kid you not, the very first person that came by stopped to help. It was nothing less than a miracle!!! Our new friend Ky definitely saved the day, and we enjoyed the rest of our 50K+ (I think that's about 31 miles) trip along the river!

5. On the way home Saturday night, we bought Janina a flower basket in preparation for Sunday. We were on the bus and I saw this lady with two super cute, but super energetic little kids. As we got off, I plucked a small, yellow daisy out and gave it to her, saying, "you have a really beautiful family!" She gave me a huge smile, and the whole encounter made my day! But it made me think, you really don't need to do something extravagant to serve others. Just open one door! Just talk kindly about others! Just simply let your family know you care. Just give a strange a single yellow daisy. Heavenly Father gives us love, not so that we can keep it to ourselves, but to spread it among others. His love doesn't build up like a reservoir, but is a constantly flowing stream. The source will never stop providing, so there is really no point to build a dam and keep it from spreading to others!!! Service is awesome. #goservesomeone #keytosuccess

Love you all! Also, prayers go out to those affected by the weather in the U.S! [Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma]

Sister Macey Ingalls 

1. Janina the Chipmunk

2. P.S. the eggs are so fresh here they still have feathers...

3. We found a field full of SHEEP on our bike ride today!!! #alwaysreppin'theY

4. I looooove this place!

This Week in Pictures (Sept 10)

Grisham didn't believe me when I said I could balance on the pole #danceislife 

Pt. 2 of our adventure in Werdau

Some house had these stuffed people everywhere! Totally scared me!

 

I had no idea what I was doing! (it actually wasn't that bad, I just needed better scissors!)

The aftermath

Thinking about my life choices as I'm getting haircut #2...

We cover Wilkau-Haßlau too! Its sooo beautiful along the river

Yummy lunch with the district. It was a veggie minestrone soup, cheap  too!! ( I wasn't feeling pizza like the rest)

This was hilarious!!! The farmer covered his hay bales with sheets so they looked like great big marshmallows in a field!!

When you have zero time for lunch you bring really weird things back to the church (we had to do area book work all day whew!)

I totally lost it after watching a Mormon message hahahah I laugh so hard at this picture. (I'm sensitive okay!)

I was practicing German flashcards and this was the first one. I found it ironic and actually helped hahahaha

Janina's flowers

I realllllly wanted to climb up higher but I'm a missionary.... and in a skirt

 

Some things don't change- doing my makeup at the bus stop

Flowers are sooo cheap here!! I love these shops!

Hehe failed attempt at getting a jumping picture in front of the sheep today!!

Corn fields on our bike ride today! Made me feel at home!

Pretty mansion house right before we had to tackle a death hill on bikes