......................Her GerMANY Adventures: 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!