Merry Christmas Family!!
You may not like this but I was thinking of telling you in this email that I didn't want to call tonight but I don't think Mom would have liked that judging by how many exclamation points she used when she said we can talk tonight. I just don't know what to talk about. I tell you everything in my emails. Nothing much happens that I don't tell you. But I guess the calls are more for the family than the missionary. I am excited to hear all of your voices too :] I probably should not have put make-up on becasue I'll cry it all off (that's another reason I didn't want to call, I didn't want to cry.)
We will be calling from a Member's house, and we may be a little late calling but it will be sometime around 18 here. I'm not 100% sure of your time there, I'll let you do the math :]
One Sunshine Moment this week happened on Saturday night. Sister Neukomm and I bought a Santa hat and Reindeer antlers which we wore while trackting all Saturday while giving Books of Mormon and Joy to the World DVDs wrapped up in ribbon. We made so many people smile and people were more apt to talk with us when they smiled. One lady especially laughed a little when she saw us and we wished her a Merry Christmas and asked if we could give her a book that speaks about Jesus Christ. We were able to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon to her and she really was excited to receive it. She took off her gloves so she could hold it with her bare hands and thanked us many times. Her smile and reverance about the Book of Mormon warmed me up from the inside!
This week I've noticed a problem with myself that I had false expectations on what it meant to help Sister Neukomm. I was expecting, since she is taking her medicine and has a special schedule and so much love and support, that she would be more confident and would start taking the lead and being self motivated. When she didn't act how I expected her to, like when she skipped doors, asked to go home for a nap, or when she turned our 10 minute breaks into a half hour, I got frustrated and grumpy. I took everything she did personally, if she didn't go to bed or wake up on time I took it to mean she didn't appreciate my help in planning a new schedule and if she didn't put effort to help herself then why should I help her? As I'm sure you know, this attitude did not help anyone or anything.
To fix this negative thinking and to stop taking everything personally, I have been repeating my favorite scripture over and over in my head. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - Rejoice evermore. The "evermore" part is sometimes difficult when I want to talk to every living thing in Cottbus and my companions wants a nap, but I take a quiet moment to count a few blessings that I can rejoice over. Then we decide on a compromise, like work for 30 more minutes and then take a break. I still have a ways to go when it comes to patience and " rejoice[ing] evermore" but it's coming.
I have come to see that the real progress Sister Neukomm is making is that she is feeling the Spirit more in her life, that she bears Testimony more often and that she is asking questions to learn from the scriptures not just to read in the scriptures. This is the important progress.
My goal this week is to become quicker at finding a reason to rejoice when things aren't going according to my plans and to remember that the Lord's plan, the Lord's expectations, and the Lord's standards are better than mine.
Thank you for the presents and all the Christmas cards! The cards are all on my window sill and they make me smile just looking at them! I opened my PJs this morning and they are so cute! Thank you! With my Christmas money I bought new boots- this time they are rubber boots with good sturdy sole. When for function not fashion this time. They are working great! I also bought a backpack from the brand Deuter which is what all missionaries suggested. It is actually for hiking and has a light medal frame for back support. It's working out well, it's not as cute as my purse but it's good. I also bought a Schwibbogen. No idea of the English word there. Wooden-lighted-bow (as in rainbow). Maybe google it for pictures. The wooden pyramides are here and they are a part of the German Christmas, but the Schwibbogen is an East German tradition to put it in the windows. The one I bought is of the Nativity scene with a decorated base of a German villiage. It is very cute, sorry I forgot to take a picture of it. Maybe next week I'll send you one. I wasn't thinking when you said $200, I was thinking in €, so I appologise if I went over. I really did try and I will keep trying! :]
The pictures are Sister Neukomm and me at the indoor Christmas market by the middle sized pyramid (the big one didn't fit in one picture) and in front of the Christmas tree.
You may not like this but I was thinking of telling you in this email that I didn't want to call tonight but I don't think Mom would have liked that judging by how many exclamation points she used when she said we can talk tonight. I just don't know what to talk about. I tell you everything in my emails. Nothing much happens that I don't tell you. But I guess the calls are more for the family than the missionary. I am excited to hear all of your voices too :] I probably should not have put make-up on becasue I'll cry it all off (that's another reason I didn't want to call, I didn't want to cry.)
We will be calling from a Member's house, and we may be a little late calling but it will be sometime around 18 here. I'm not 100% sure of your time there, I'll let you do the math :]
One Sunshine Moment this week happened on Saturday night. Sister Neukomm and I bought a Santa hat and Reindeer antlers which we wore while trackting all Saturday while giving Books of Mormon and Joy to the World DVDs wrapped up in ribbon. We made so many people smile and people were more apt to talk with us when they smiled. One lady especially laughed a little when she saw us and we wished her a Merry Christmas and asked if we could give her a book that speaks about Jesus Christ. We were able to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon to her and she really was excited to receive it. She took off her gloves so she could hold it with her bare hands and thanked us many times. Her smile and reverance about the Book of Mormon warmed me up from the inside!
This week I've noticed a problem with myself that I had false expectations on what it meant to help Sister Neukomm. I was expecting, since she is taking her medicine and has a special schedule and so much love and support, that she would be more confident and would start taking the lead and being self motivated. When she didn't act how I expected her to, like when she skipped doors, asked to go home for a nap, or when she turned our 10 minute breaks into a half hour, I got frustrated and grumpy. I took everything she did personally, if she didn't go to bed or wake up on time I took it to mean she didn't appreciate my help in planning a new schedule and if she didn't put effort to help herself then why should I help her? As I'm sure you know, this attitude did not help anyone or anything.
To fix this negative thinking and to stop taking everything personally, I have been repeating my favorite scripture over and over in my head. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - Rejoice evermore. The "evermore" part is sometimes difficult when I want to talk to every living thing in Cottbus and my companions wants a nap, but I take a quiet moment to count a few blessings that I can rejoice over. Then we decide on a compromise, like work for 30 more minutes and then take a break. I still have a ways to go when it comes to patience and " rejoice[ing] evermore" but it's coming.
I have come to see that the real progress Sister Neukomm is making is that she is feeling the Spirit more in her life, that she bears Testimony more often and that she is asking questions to learn from the scriptures not just to read in the scriptures. This is the important progress.
My goal this week is to become quicker at finding a reason to rejoice when things aren't going according to my plans and to remember that the Lord's plan, the Lord's expectations, and the Lord's standards are better than mine.
Thank you for the presents and all the Christmas cards! The cards are all on my window sill and they make me smile just looking at them! I opened my PJs this morning and they are so cute! Thank you! With my Christmas money I bought new boots- this time they are rubber boots with good sturdy sole. When for function not fashion this time. They are working great! I also bought a backpack from the brand Deuter which is what all missionaries suggested. It is actually for hiking and has a light medal frame for back support. It's working out well, it's not as cute as my purse but it's good. I also bought a Schwibbogen. No idea of the English word there. Wooden-lighted-bow (as in rainbow). Maybe google it for pictures. The wooden pyramides are here and they are a part of the German Christmas, but the Schwibbogen is an East German tradition to put it in the windows. The one I bought is of the Nativity scene with a decorated base of a German villiage. It is very cute, sorry I forgot to take a picture of it. Maybe next week I'll send you one. I wasn't thinking when you said $200, I was thinking in €, so I appologise if I went over. I really did try and I will keep trying! :]
The pictures are Sister Neukomm and me at the indoor Christmas market by the middle sized pyramid (the big one didn't fit in one picture) and in front of the Christmas tree.
The third one is another creative finding idea we did. We bought roses and handed them out on a really dreary day with our passalong card to sad looking people. It was fun to brighted people's day!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas! Talk to you tonight!
I love you!
Love,
Sister Walker
PS- Mom, can you give me the fudge recipe when we talk tonight please? Thank you!
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