Straight Outta Neukölln - Mar 26 - (Group Email)

(P.S. Yes, that's super embarrassing, it was definitely JFK that said he was a Berliner... #peinlich)

I don't have a ton of time, but this week has been AMAZING! We've seen so many miracles and have worked so hard!

1. Here we teach all women because Elders work in our area too, and I think we have the COOLEST women ever! Malice is a super sassy 65 year old and is preparing to be baptized in April! Her whole family has joined the church over the years, and they all have amazing stories. We also teach Kathryn and Sabrina, but maybe I'll have some more time to talk about those lovely ladies next week.

2. GOALS. I declare that daily goals are the key to success. We have seen so many miracles with morning finding goals. I know Heavenly Father is guiding us to these people that need the gospel. We met a woman on the train whose entire family was Mormon and wanted to learn more about her family's beliefs, and a guy today that is so excited and ready to learn about what we teach. S/o to Sister Hansen for wanting a döner or else we never would have met him. #hungerisspiritdriven

3. Okay but be careful with goals though... We set a district goal to do 100 pushups every day (yeah, thanks Elders!) Well, I was all motivated and agreed... My mistake... I did it on Friday and I legit could barely move my arms for 2 days haha

Every Neukölln sister gets this shirt when they come hahah

4. We explored Berlin like crazy today for pday! There is so much to see and to do! I took a quick few pics, but it'll never do justice. This place is amazing!

Brandenburger Tor!

5. This week we've focused on the Church's Easter initiative, #immerDa. (I'm a fan because there's a hashtag, of course) But I've centered my personal study for the next month on the Savior. Just in this last week, focusing my thoughts, actions, and what I read, say, and listen to, to focus on the Savior has made a difference. I know that when we put the Savior in the center of our lives, we will see that he is always there for us.

Easter Initiative

Sister Macey Ingalls

Here's a few extra pics that were sent:

Trying to Write to Mom and Dad at Once - Week 42- March 26

(I tried to include both of your ways of titling emails!)

Hey Parentals!
I thought I’d try this out this week and just write both of you together! Let me know what you think, if you like it or not. I just feel like I repeat things sometimes and you both read each other’s anyways! If the paragraph is for someone specific or I’m answering one of you maybe I’ll just put your name at the beginning of the paragraph? We shall see, I just think I may be able to write more if it’s just one letter :)

This week has been absolutely amazing and ABSOLUTELY tiring. I’m so exhausted haha. Like I took a 2 hour nap this morning and I barely remembered afterwards that I’d already read my scriptures and showered. It was a gooooood nap, but let’s not get ahead, I want to tell you everything!!

That was so incredibly hard leaving Elmshorn. I just love those people so much, I have to go back! I made them a German promise that I would! (They are very serious about commitments and promises here! I like that about the culture!) Jenny and Ruben took us to the train station and they told me their secret: they are having a BOY! AND ITS ACTUALLY TWO!!! Oh, my goodness, I’m so excited for them, I feel like I just KNEW they were having twins! I’d always tease her about it, but she was really good and never broke character! Anyway, I love them a bunch and I’m excited for them. They were the last ones I saw in Elmshorn. Oh, and they gave me another set of the German plan of salvation like the one Mom made for me because I somehow lost “death”. I mean, the PofS isn’t the PofS without death. Haha that sounds funny.

I traveled with a couple missionaries to Berlin, and the trip was not bad at all! We fit all of our suitcases and baggage into a private room thing on the car and we were just squished in there. That was pretty funny, I got pictures of it for proof!

That was a huge culture shock when I got to Berlin, Oh. My. Goodness. Just the central train station alone is SO big, it’s like comparable to Mall of America big! Okay, like half of it but still! I feel like my jaw was just dropping every time I turned my head. There are so many people here! There is so much to see, this place is HUGE!

STLs and ZLs help out at the train station during transfer day, so we were there for a good long time. I had so much fun seeing all of the sisters and the missionaries coming through and running around helping people with their luggage on and off of trains! A sister missed her train and another sister got lost somewhere between Hamburg and Berlin (apparently we always lose somebody on transfer day! haha) but it all worked out and it was all good. I really like helping out with that!

The first day was a huge blur I’m not even sure what we did but, man, we did a lot. This area is crazy busy, and the sisters before have worked so hard to build this program and find and teach people here. Oh, right now I remember, we took one of our investigators, Malice (pronounced Mah-leetz-ah) to the stop smoking workshop. She is on baptismal date for April 15th and we are working really hard to help her, she wants it so bad! More about her to come! Then we picked up more sisters from the train station and they stayed with us for the night because they still had another 3 hours to go to get to Greifswald, and we didn’t want them out at midnight.

The funniest thing ever happened with those sisters- we met a brother! I seriously love Africans, they are the best. We get out of the train and I see this guy looking really confused because there was something wrong with the tracks. Anyway, we started talking and found out he’s from Zimbabwe and does river rafting tours there! And he’s a member of our church! He converted 4 years ago, and he loves it! The funny part was actually when he told us about his job. I’m used to people having like manual labor jobs here, right. So, when he said he did rafting, for some reason I thought he meant like building attics and working on roofing. So, I totally asked him the wrong questions about his job and everyone looked at me weird but then we changed the subject and I didn’t even get it until like 15 minutes later when he was gone. Yeah totally embarrassing but hey we are all friends with him on Facebook now, so I have connections in Zimbabwe when we want to go river rafting there! :D

The rest of the week was just tons and tons of good stuff. We set goals upon goals upon goals and then narrowed them down to simple achievable goals for the zone, our sisters, the district and ourselves. One of our district goals was to do 100 pushups everyday (we have some army elders, and they said that keeps you in shape) so I did that on Friday and then could not move my arms for like 3 days hahha. But our goals are good, and we are ready to work hard! We've already seen so many miracles with finding and trying to give all we've got! For example, we set the goal to find at minimum 1 contact every day. It actually isn’t hard to do, we even accomplished it today on pday! We ride a ton of public transportation, so talking with people on busses, ubahns and trains is the way to go! For example:

1. Marile. We get on the ubahn and sit next to her. Sister Hansen pulled the classic give-them-a-compliment-to-start-a-conversation thing and the girl was like, wait, do we know each other? I recognize you! After talking, we established that we didn’t, but that she knows know the missionaries are! She’s Peruvian, and her grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins are all Mormon! She even has some on a mission and one that got married in a temple! How cool, how GOLDEN! I straight up asked her if she’d want to meet up and learn more about her family’s beliefs and she said yes! I'm excited, I hope that it works to meet with her this week.

2. My very first day, I met Katrin. She’s German and we just had the best time on the bus! We connected instantly and just laughed and talked! We exchanged contact info, I’m not too sure that she’s super interested, but she sure brightened my day!

3. Paris! Sister Hansen used like the 2 Persian sentences she knows and struck up a conversation with these girls! The even invited us to their brother’s wedding in May hahah.

4. Ohhh today was so cool. We were just walking out of a store (I will def tell you about that one!) and H wanted döner so we were just in this shop waiting for her döner, and this guy was sitting eating and tried talking to us in pretty broken German. I thought he was a normal Turk guy hanging out in a döner shop, but he was actually from South Africa and spoke English! That was a shock! But he was trying to talk to us about our name badges, and then when we could speak in English, he asked us all kinds of questions! We ended up staying for a while, and he was just so amazed with what we did and wanted to come with us for a day to see what we did! And wanted to meet our "group" of missionaries! I can’t describe it well enough, but it was super cool! We are probably going to arrange for the elders to teach him, but he’s going to come to lunch with the district after district meeting on Wednesday! How funny is that?! He’s super golden, I’m calling that he is the next one baptized.

Okay, so I’ll give you a little run down of the area and our top investigators. So, Malice is about 65 years old. She has the craziest story. She has 5 kids, and 4 of them are all converts to the church. They all ran into the church and accepted it over time! Malice had it pretty hard and has been pretty cold and against it for years. Lately, her heart has just been softened and she’s been accepting it! She has changed so many things in her life and wants to turn things around. She even said on Sunday that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet! Apparently, she’s been against that for years, saying there is no way that prophets are still on the earth today! She wants to be baptized and is developing her testimony and preparing herself for that. The only hold back right now is with smoking. She’s smoked for 40 years of her life, that’s not easy to stop. We are all here to support her, and we are even going to suggest to her that we’d be willing to give up chocolate until her baptism to support! (I know right! That’s crazy! I probably really should though) We are going to keep seeing miracles with her though.

Then there is Kathryn. She’s 16 years old and was actually found by one of my MTC teachers! Her mom is less active aka wants nothing to do with the church, but Kathryn showed interest. She has now read the Book of Mormon THREE times! That’s 3 times more than I read it by the time I was 16! She is so cool. The only thing is that she goes to the catholic church, and with confirmation or communion or whatever it is when you turn 17, you get a lot of money and it’s a social thing, so she kinda wants to do that. But I see something so so special in her and I know that she will accept the gospel eventually. She’s so sweet and we had a really awesome lesson with her last week :)

Then there is Sabrina. I actually haven’t met her yet, I’ll meet her tonight! She actually found one of our Christmas cards and called the sisters! She is really searching for the truths, she goes to a lot of different churches. The sisters said in the last week she’s made a ton of progress and they can see the spirit testifying to her. So yeah, more updates next week because I haven’t met her yet! But I found out she’s vegan and super hipster so there’s that!

The ward is amazing. There’s 3 of the typically large families, and I learned so many names on Sunday! That’s always one of my goals, to try to greet everyone by name. This ward has probably 80-90 active goers, so I think I can get the majority by the end of the transfer. I keep challenging Elder Neale, the other new missionary in the ward to see who can learn them faster! But he wouldn’t accept my challenge. Too chicken.

Speaking of missionaries, this district is like, the district of districts. We have an AWESOME, motivated district leader, Elder King. It was just the smoothest run district meeting I’ve had so far, and it was super fun! We have a 10-man district- 4 sisters and 6 elders! It’s a party- a righteous party! I’m excited to work with them, we are already homies and family. I just love how they all are willing to be obedient and not push the rules, and they are super fun. I laughed so hard when we said "Our Purpose" during dm because we are all language missionaries basically, so people said it in Turkish, Spanish, Persian and German! I was laughing so hard by the end, it sounded so funny. Cool that we have so many languages!

Sister Hansen is so cool! She works so hard and loves talking to people too! We put together our transfer plan and which exchanges, we are only seeing each other for a solid 3 days of the week for the rest of the transfer lol. I had no idea how worked the STLs are, it’s absolutely crazy! I’ve learned so much already, and I feel really happy about the potential I’m going to reach while I’m here.

To answer Mom:
You can totally send me packages to my house address!! In fact, that is way more fun because then I get it right away! The only problem is if we get transferred, but I’m not going anywhere for a while! Also, I’ve been meaning to tell you about this: AMAZON. PRIME. Sister Hansen says that whenever her mom wants to send her something, she just orders it on amazon prime and it gets there in like 2 days! and shipping is super cheap! You just have to be careful about that with like clothing and stuff because I’d probably have a hard time figuring out how to return stuff but it is a great way to send your lovely daughter American treats and fun stuff every once in a while (hint hint) ;)

Uhhhh I have 0 time to learn the piano! Sadly yeah, now isn’t the time I just can sit down and play. I’ve been playing some ukelele at night and can play a bunch of primary songs! I’m super happy that I picked this up, I really like it and it’s a great stress reliever and relaxation thing at night! I do love the piano, and I’ll keep working on it when I can! Music is the best though! I feel like I sing all the time now, huh I never thought about that. I never used to sing in public or in front of people!

hahah Oh Martin, he’s a funny dude. He'll be baptized someday. But yeah, I do really like this area, we only teach women! The elders teach the guys!

I really liked your thoughts on judging, you are absolutely right. Most people have a reason for doing the things they do, others may be uninformed or misinformed.

I hope I can be more like Sister Pattberg throughout life. She’s a good one, I do remember you saying that. I also want to be more like you, because you are nice to everyone and want everyone to be loved and taken care of :)

woah send a picture of Mackenzie and her BF! Is she still doing good? I hope he’s a good guy, she really deserves the world. I love that girl!

ahhhhhhhhhhh I love the baby videos and pictures. Totally send videos, lots and lots! I even liked the one of the kitty! It’s funny how happy that made me to see our kitchen floor! #littlethings

Totally send me a pair of those new garments! I actually just figured out that we have access to order garments online, it’s through lds.org!

Thanks for all of the things throughout the week! Your letter made my day, I really loved it and loved hearing from you! Thanks for all of the effort and time you put in to make me feel so loved!

To answer Dad:
Ohhhhh I totally know who that dude is! He is super super awesome! I remember him always being super sweet to his son and taking really good care of him. He’s a good man.

Wait do we have priesthood session in the spring or is it the women’s session? I guess either way I’ll listen to the one they give this session! That’s true, Culvers is kinda a thing you know. I’m sure, no matter what, it’s going to be a good uplifting time! Do the missionaries have anybody they are bringing to conference? Will it be streamed for them? It’s always a bit frustrating when it isn’t streamed at our church because then we have to explain to investigators that we don’t have church on Sunday but to travel to a different one. Maybe that’s just a German thing idk. How is that guy doing that is on baptismal date? I wanna hear more about him, that’s really exciting for the Blaine ward! :)

Oh, my goodness haha you need the Area Book Planner app. That basically sounds like a normal day for us, and we only manage through planning it out! Thank you for all you give to the ward and the Lord, I know he is blessing you for it.

I did an interesting thing with my scripture study this last week and have really loved it! We are having a "Jesus transfer", aka it’s all about the Easter initiative, so I decided to focus my study on Christ. I got a new Book of Mormon again, and just put my last one on hold. I didn’t want to start at the beginning again, so I just started where I left off in Jacob. I have 4 things I’m highlighting, which is an idea I actually got in Preach my Gospel! But I highlight 1. the names/pronouns of Jesus Christ 2. His actual words (or when prophets say "thus saith the Lord") 3. his attributes and 4. doctrines and principles taught in the Book of Mormon. It has completely changed my study and I’ve learned so much from that! I’m going to try to finish this one in 2 transfers, and I think I’ll be a different person by the end of it.

Well, I love you parentals! I think this was a bit of a novel haha. but I’m happy, I just need to adjust fast because I’m really, really tired! I love life in Berlin and I love being a missionary. My life just seems natural like this now, and I’m really grateful that I decided to go and to keep pushing through hard times throughout.
I love you a million Amazon packages and Grandma’s cookies sent to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 000 Berlin, Germany xxxxx (hint hint hint ;)

Love, Macey

Saalfelder Ostereierbaum

Mom: Have you seen any of these out there yet?

Macey:YES! I didn't know its a German thing but I'll definitely take more pictures of them! They aren't that crazy big, but at least a couple dozen in some trees! They're süper fun and cute! Like where did that come from?!

Excerpts from Wikipedia:

This German tradition of decorating trees and bushes with Easter eggs is known as the Ostereierbaum, or Easter egg tree. The egg is an ancient symbol of life all over the world. Saalfelder Ostereierbaum is an apple tree in the garden of Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Thuringia. Starting in 1965, with just 18 plastic eggs and adding an average of 700 new Easter eggs on the tree each year up to a total of 10, 000 eggs at one time in 2012. It took an average of nine days to decorate using ladders to reach the heights of the tree, and hanging the eggs from the inside near the trunk to outside of the tree branches, and from top to bottom. They remove the eggs before the leaves grow to prevent damage to the tree.  All eggs are mouth-blown, with multicolor patterns and intricate designs. Unfortunately, this family has discontinued this tradition.

Last Pictures in Elmshorn - (Mar 18 - Week 41)

""Ich Bin Ein Berliner!" -RR" - (Mar 18 - Group Email)

Elder Cowley finished his mission this week so naturally we have to take some weird picture

1. A Surprise Call!
I got a surprise phone call on Thursday morning from the AP's inviting me to go to Mission Leadership Conference in the Berlin the next day! We did NOT expect that, because that meant I'm getting transferred! I found out at MLC the next day that I'm getting transferred to Neukölln, which is downtown Berlin!! This is going to be super crazy and really sad to leave Elmshorn, but I'm super excited too! Sister Hansen will be my new comp, and I'm PUMPED because we were in the MTC together AND FINALLY I'm getting a comp that’s a BYU fan!! #hollaa

Tradition tag and building picture ft. Sister Decker oiling her bike chain

2. Inspired Leadership
MLC was amazing! I learned so much about how our mission runs and how everyone involved is so ready and willing to serve the Lord, no matter how big or small the task is. Oh, and I accidentally dumped my lunch on one of the AP's hands so that added to the fun #ahhhsisteringallsyouaresoembarrassing

Ahhh Louisa! She is the CUTEST and we were super excited that we matched on my last Sunday #goalz

3. The People I Met...
Saying goodbye on Sunday before transfers is SO unbelievably hard. You don't realize how attached you've become until you have to go! I love these people with my whole heart, time and time again I'm amazed with how much love God blesses me with to love these people. Joseph requested a "last class together" and invited the crew along, and we had an amazing discussion. It legit brought me to tears when Joseph shared his testimony of the difference the gospel of Jesus Christ makes in his life. He told us that there is nothing in this world besides the power of God that can make him feel the way he does, in that he's motivated to serve, love and learn! I am so grateful for the truth restored!

Fabi and Nessi!

Sammy!! We had a super cool handshake, and he made me promise to find someone in Neukölln to pass it on :(

Lenard insisted this is how we take a picture haha oh I love that kid #hesharedhischocolatewithme #hedoesntdothat #wearebffs

These pictures don’t even do justice to how much I love them ahhh the Rimac family!

Their cat attacked me but its fine

The Sunday school crew! Isam, Joseph and Jacob :)

4. What do omelettes have to do with Happily Ever After?!
I learned the FUNNIEST thing this week, and that is how "Happily Ever After" is translated in classic German fairytales! It's "Friede. Freude. Eierkuchen" a.k.a peace, joy, and OMELETTES! I have absolutely no idea why, but it's super funny! Pretty much explains the German language. #celestiallanguagethough

Believe it or not that carpet Elder Maupin wore was 700 euro!

5. Just a little something about Facebook
We were give the amazing tool of using Facebook for our missionary work. At first, it was fun to post, think of creative things, all that, but nothing really came of it and I didn't really talk with anyone. With a ton of prayer and thought and trial and error, I've been able to work things out and have some of the most amazing conversations on Facebook! I love this tool! There are people everywhere that are searching for truth, and I am so grateful for this technology to find them.

*tiny miracle: I was friending some people I wanted to start a conversation with, when suddenly one of them accepted it and wrote me "Hey Macey! Can you tell me more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints please?" AHHHH it was so cool, we had an awesome discussion!!

Love y'all lots! (P.S. MN family, give my new baby cousin a big hug for me!)
Sister Macey Ingalls

Yeah, this is just proof that missionaries go through shoes super fast

I'm Getting Transferred!!! - (Mar 18)

Marhaba Momma!

Yes, so crazy things happening this week! Even though Sister Decker has been here longer, I'm getting transferred! That was a really big surprise! I'll bring you through what happened. Ok let’s go: Last week was a weird, weird week. We were pretty positive that D would leave so at night we were like stalking the whole mission map, how long people have been in places and guessing where she'd go. It was pretty fun! But the whole time, a thought kept coming to my mind that it actually was going to be me leaving! I had a dream that night that my brother Conner (I don’t like that I need to specify that lol) and my zone leader Elder Drake were missionary comps and were joint teaching a man named Br. Lindemann with us at our house! We were finally making progress, and I was so excited and talking to Conner about it, and he's like "Well, don’t get too excited, my magic 8 ball told me that you're getting transferred!" Then I woke up in the morning and looked at my tablet and I got the weather for the place I'm going on it?! I don’t even have wifi in our apartment, so I have no idea how that happened! Well, anyway, I shrugged it off, but sure enough, I got a call from the AP bright and early on Thursday morning, and he invited me to Mission Leadership Conference! I was like WHAAAAAT?!?!!? I was being called to be an Sister Training Leader! We had to cancel our plans for Friday, and I headed to Berlin for the day! Normally our companions go with and go finding with the other companions, but the other one was sick, so Sister Decker didn’t get to go and she stayed in Hamburg for the day. She was really sad, it’s pretty special to get to go to Berlin, it doesn’t happen often.

The conference was amazing! At first, I was super intimidated because I didn’t have a companion there and I didn’t know all of them! It’s all good though, I made some new friends and had a really good time. The talks were really inspired, and I just want to become all that God wants me to be! (p.s. I saw E.M. there and my STLs were there that know my tiny secret, so they made it super embarrassing! Like when I excused myself during lunch, while we were talking, to go to the bathroom, Sister Freeman shouts "She’s gotta potty!" Oh, my goodness it was horrifying haha)

Anyway, after the conference, President does this cool thing and tells all of the new leaders where they are going to serve and with who and gives them a little advice. I was still kind of in denial that I was going to be an STL, so I couldn’t even begin to guess where I was going to serve. He calls me in, and we just chatted for a few minutes. He said some things that really helped me, and I really love him! I wrote it down and want to share it with you! (I sadly couldn’t remember all of it, but there was lots of good stuff) He thanked me for the last 3 transfers and how he asked me to do something very important. I didn’t say much about it other than thanking him for the opportunity and how much I love Sister Decker and she is seriously a huge role model for me! She’s pulled herself out of SO much and come out with much stronger faith. I totally love her and she’s always going to be a super good friend. But we had a conversation without words, and he knew it was hard and he really showed his appreciation. I really do love him, he cares about us so much and understands and sympathizes with us!

He also said:

-Brush your hair before you brush your kids’ hair. Aka, make sure that you are taken care of so that you can better help the sisters you are taking care of. I thought that was really cute :)

-He said that I have a huge influence to stop gossip. I’ve found out that the zone I am going to, because it has a lot of missionaries (aren’t you just dying by now to figure out where I’m going? ;) gossip and rumors are a really hard thing. I refuse to talk negatively about others, and I especially don’t want to hear negative things about people because they could be my future companion or in my district and I don’t want a bad image of them before I meet them. Gossip is bad!

-haha He said I'm super happy and joyful all the time, and he said that is going to affect the people so much! It’s amazing how just friendliness and being genuinely interested in people’s lives makes a difference! I really learned that in Zwickau, and I’m grateful for the God-given gift to really care about people. President said I’m a big people person and he’s totally right.

-I found it interesting how he said that my home (apartment) should be a place of refuge for my sisters. He said that they should be able to come over at any time they need and be able to feel the spirit and be welcomed! This is good practice for creating a home in my life! Any suggestions how you did it?

- I was surprised when he said this, but he looked me straight in the eyes and said that I am a natural leader. I mean yeah, I’ve led some things but I’m not anything extraordinary! But it does say in my patriarchal blessing that I’ll have many opportunities to develop those skills. I’m grateful for this one!

Okay so are you ready to hear where I’m going?! At the end of my interview President told me the news: I'm going to Neukölln to be with Sister Hansen! That is downtown Berlin! WOW! I did NOT see that one coming! I'm really excited, that culture is yet again completely different than anything I’ve had so far! I cannot tell you how excited I am to serve with Sister Hansen! She was in my MTC group and she is AWESOME!! We talked to each other on the phone and we are both super, super excited for this transfer, we are going to work our shoes off! (Speaking of which, yes, I did get new shoes hee hee! Pictures to come... Those old boots were so nasty) So yes! I go there on Wednesday! I’ll get there around noon so that I can help other sisters coming through. We also have the best sisters!!! So, the Neukölln program used to have 2 wards: the Neukölln one and the English ward in Berlin! Now they released us, and they created a new program in Berlin just over the English ward and Sister Wood is coming to Berlin!! I’m so excited, that means Sister Wood, Sister Thorpe and I will all be in Berlin- all Arabic sisters! We are going to find teach and baptize all of these ready people!

So, about the Arabic, yes it has been going, but it’s gotten really frustrating. I feel like I could be learning more, but the class is REALLY hard to learn in. Its 2 hours long on a Sunday night, and there are like 12 of us in there! Its over Facebook video, so the quality isn’t always so good, and I just feel frustrated by the end of the class. Well this happened again last night, and I just left class 30 minutes early because I just felt like we were wasting time. I got a call from one of the Arabic Elders this morning, saying that he is the new group leader and wants to change some things. He asked for my feedback and suggestions and I gave them! Oh, I’m kidding, I was nice about it and I’m really grateful for the work they all put in to teach us, but I’m really excited to have Elder Smartt as our new group leader. The changes he wants to make are so good, and I feel like I’ll be able to progress better. I really really love it though! There are so many people everywhere that speak it, and especially in Berlin! Being an Arabic sister pretty much doesn’t limit me at all to where I’ll go, they are everywhere. It would be cool to be with an Arabic sister in the future, but yeah, everything is open, and I could go anywhere and be with anyone. I think I’ll probably stay in Neukölln for quite a while though! I’m really excited for it, no more bikes, I get to walk tons and NO MORE BUNKBEDS!!!!! :D :D :D

I did like the dress, I just thought it’d be nice to pick it out in person! I dunno, we shall see! Thanks for all of the beautiful words on the temple, I love that you are growing in love for the temple! I knew you loved it before, but this is definitely something more now that you are an ordinance worker! I agree, things should definitely be discussed in the temple. The member might have told me a little too much and it probably would have been better to be in the temple to talk about them. But I’m going to take your words to heart and hold my covenants sacred and keep sacred things sacred!

I’m glad you got kicks out of my story hahah! You know me too well. I really try to keep emails spiritual because that is the focus of my time and that is the most important thing to me! But you know, the funny stories are good too ;) LOL I KNEW YOU WOULD FACEBOOK STALK THEM ahhhhh its all good I’m basically a spiritual stalker in Germany so I gotcha. [I always look up everyone you mention so I can put a face with the people you are talking about! – Note from MOM]

I loved loved loved that paragraph on how you are developing your faith. I totally get what you are saying! I can’t even believe how well you put up with us kids for all of these years (I mean c’mon, the boys would sled off of the house and spit red koolaid to make you think they coughed up blood!). You taught us so many important lessons, ones that I’m beginning to understand and definitely grasp on to. I refuse to go back to the person I was before Mom! I know I’m not perfect and never will be, but just like how you guided us through growing up, the Savior will guide us through our lives! We don’t want life to be hard, but that’s what makes us grow! I want to share a little story I read in my friend Nick’s weekly email this week!

Something that stood out to me this week was an experience we had talking about a lesson with an investigator the other Anziani [Elder, in Italian] just had. So the other Anziani had a long lesson with a guy who is really logical and wants to prove stuff. Pretty much he gave them an ultimatum that if they didn't answer his questions next lesson, then he wasnt going to meet with them again. One of the questions was why are some people put in hard situations and others not? It made me think immediately to a story one of my MTC teachers, Sorella [Sister, in Italian] Griffin gave. It was an example of a girl who asked that same question. This girl’s parents were killed, and a lot of other really bad things happen and wanted to know how come her life was so hard while Sorella Griffins was so much easier. Sorella Griffin didn't know what to say, but she eventually had something come to her mind... take a cactus right? It thrives in the desert. It's meant to live there. The desert is harsh and brutal and hard to live in, but that's where it grows the most. Well, then take that cactus and put it in the rainforest, a place where it’s really easy for plants to survive and there are lots of them. If you do that it will probably die. Why? Because it's not meant to be there. God puts us in the places where we can grow the most in the way we need it. A cactus needs a place with not a lot of water and the rainforest has way too much. It would kill it and it wouldn't grow very well. We are the same way. God knows what we need and what helps us the most! All the experiences we have are preparing us for something greater, a life living back with Him.

I love that! We aren't meant to compare ourselves with others because God created us uniquely to overcome our own circumstances and GROW!

Ahh, I knew that Austin was on a mission but that’s so good to hear that his girlfriend is also going! Missionaries that are recent converts are such powerful missionaries, she is going to change lives there. They have a pretty cute story together! She’s gonna get some poofy hair in Georgia!

How is the song Scripture Power [Mom’s favorite Primary song] not in the primary hymnbook?! I sang that a million times as a kid! I love singing songs and praying through music!

That’s awesome Brianna liked the dress, of course she can borrow whatever she wants! I’m glad other people are getting uses out of those dresses, they are so beautiful! That’s funny you say she’s bustier, I feel like I never got my fair share... Thanks mom

AHHHHH I want videos of the sweet new baby!! [Nash Parker Alexander – Sara’s baby] Thank you for all of the pictures over messenger, THANK YOU! He’s so cute and chunky! I laughed out loud when you told me about baby smells, that’s right, you just love those! Does he smell good? Is he sweet? Man, that little boy is going to wait his whole life to meet his cousin! Weird huh? He will be like 8 months old! Are you excited to get to watch him? I hope you are still watching him when I come back, I want some good baby snuggle time! I miss babies so much, that is like the hardest thing!!!! I hope that Sara is feeling better soon, that sounds really uncomfortable. Why were Nash's hands so blue?!?!?!?! Hee hee I guess when they said they had a rough night, there was a lot of "weeping, and wailing and NASHing of teeth"! ;) hahahahahh I’m so funny!

Oh, I’m doing good on garments! Silk is freezing in the winter, so I’ve been wearing Caranessa or whatever that’s called. I’ll just switch to silk again when I don’t have to wear tights! I’m so sick of those things!! Butttttt they are necessary, this week was SO cold!

I love you a million interviews with Präsident Fingerle! They are just as positive and uplifting as you are!

Love, Macey

Just Another Little Video - March 13

Glad to see that she hasn't changed too much! We love her playful, fun side and hope it never goes away! This is the next best thing to her impression of the Little Mermaid video we captured a couple years ago! -- MOM

Sister Decker: Our bikes have fallen over but that's not important because guess what Sister Ingalls found.
Sister Ingalls: (gleeful giggling)
Sister Decker: I told you German playgrounds are much better than American ones.
Sister Ingalls: Uh-oh!
Sister Decker: Annnd she comes back. (Laughs)
Sister Ingalls: (Falls) Nobody saw anything! (Laughter)

Pictures from Elmshorn and Hamburg - (Mar 11 -- Week 40)