Hello Family

Hello Family!

Happy Pday! Boy do I need a pday today. This past week was just super frustrating and complicated and stressful, thank goodness for prayer and the calming Spirit it brings! And also thank goodness for Pday. A little time to relax and re coup.

To start with Mom's questions:

What to feed the Dittrichs- something yummy. Sister Dittrich is kind of a health nut so homemade rolls and bread would be great. Potatoes are always a good idea, but take the skin off before you cook them (unless it's baked potatoes, then it's OK to leave the skin on). I don't really know why but Germans never eat the potatoe skins. Other suggestions are just your favorite foods, try Stack-em-stuff and BBQ and Tallerinni... I'm sure they'll love anything you make. 

What to plan to do- I have no idea what their schedule is so I can't really help you there. But I would have a few activites up your sleeve just to be prepared. Olivera Street would be fun, The navy ships or Santa Monica Peer, Go on a hike, walk around Temple grounds, ... fun things! They probably have an agenda but inviting them to do things would be nice. Even a game night at home could be fun one evening! And you will be able to understand them more in person, on the phone is a little hard but their English is pretty good. It will be fun for Lee to meet them! 

You said that it would be hard when the others come that speak less English, who else is coming? 

I think it's cute that you are getting everything all nice for them. They will appreciate it I'm sure!
Sister Dittrich is an opera singer (something like that) and both play the piano very well, maybe even singing together would be fun!

Dad's questions:

Yes, Sister Hinkle is also a Sister Training Leader. Sometimes it is hard to workin Bergedorf because we do have exchanges every week and meetings in Berlin once a month but we have at least 3 days a week together in our city which is good. 

The weather here is still cold. Last week I had to bring out my winter coat again. It rained for 3 weeks straight and Sister Hinkle and I both had fevers and other sickies this past week. But starting yesterday the sun decided to grace us with her presence at last which is nice. So today the winter jackets are away again and spring jackets are here. But it is very pretty. Germany is so green i can hardly believe it. And no one here has sprinklers because they don't need them from all the rain. The trees are blooming and in Bergedorf there are Lilacs everywhere in purples and whites and blues. And the Germans love to garden so verywhere there are pretty flowers that I have never seen before. Last Tausch I went to Kiel which is a port city and it is gorgeous there.It was sunny there and the water was sparkling and the old ivy covered buildings were so lovely I didn't really want to leave.

Sunshine moment of the Week- On Saturday we had a ward Summer Party. The weather wasn't summery at all but the rain stayed away for the first time in forever. But the cool thing was that at this party at our church, there were more Non-Members than members! The members worked so hard inviting thier friends and it worked! There were 21 Non Members there, 3 Less Actives, and 18 active members. It was pretty cool! We made out appointments with some non members, and got a new investigator from it! (named Paul.) I tried really hard to talk to everyone especially the nonmembers and It was so great! Sister hinkle worked more with the members so it was team work there. It was a fun paty, with a bounce house, a puppet theatre (put on by a less active) face painting, food, and ping pong and lots more. From the Non-Members only two were brought from us missionaries, the rest were from Members! Yay member missionary work!! 

Mike is doing great! He has officially been taught everything and we are just smoothing out some bumps for him now. Yesterday I had a mini heart attakc because of him. From other investigators, I've seen how hard Satan works before baptism and confirmation and we've really been trying to do everything we can for Mike. We meet everyday almost because since he doesn't have the gift of the Holy Ghost yet he can really only feel it when we are together, when he prays or when he reads. We're trying to put the Spirit into his life as much as possible so that he can continue progressing. On Saturday he didn't come to the Ward party but said he would be at church. But he never came. And he didn't answer his phone or text messages and we were just so worried. We also didn't have his address so we couldn't go and stalk him (but stalk with good intentions of saving his soul). We tried looking int he phone book, nothing, teaching record from the elders, nothing. Then on an old progress record there was a name of a street with a ? next to it. We decided we needed to do all we could to find Mike after two days of no contact (so two days where Satan had more chance than we did) so we changed plans and went to this street. We placed pass along cards in every mailbox while looking for his name on the Klingles. Along the way we made out an appointment with a very nice lady and on one of the last klinges we found his name! Once we found his name we got a text from him that appologized for not coming to church and we were able to make an appointment out for today. Whew. K, it may not sound so bad but I was a little paniked.

I don't like not being able to control things. This little adventure was a huge test of my faith. Because of Tausch I hadn't been at the last appointment with Mike. Sister Hinkle is still pretty new on the mission and the sister that came here is only in her second transfer so they didn't understand everything he said in the lesson and I had to have faith in them teaching and trust that what he said they didn't understand wasn't bad, then I also didn't talk on the phone or send the texts to him it was again Sister Hinkle. Now, I do trust her but she is very passive and won't ask questions so sometimes comunication when she is on the phone is not as clear as it could be. I sometimes want to always have the phone so we get our purpose done the first time we call (not have to call back 3 times). But really I did all I could, while still giving Sister Hinkle her responcibilities, and really just had to give it to the Lord. That is hard for me.

I have been feeling pretty stressed lately with all the duties I have- helping Sister Hinkle, doing Tausches and helping the Sisters there, having so many expactation from the Branch here, doing everything President asks,... that sometimes I feel the world is on my shoulders. I had an interview with President a bit ago and told him all my worries and fears and doublts and he told me two things that help me so much. 

1- I am his Sunshine Sister Training Leader. That's all I have to be, just so others the sunshine that is sometimes hard to see. I don't have to be the most patient, the strongest, or the one with perfect plans that work everytime. Just be the Sunshine Sister. Show others the light and the love. I can do that. 

2- There has already been a Savior of the world, and of Bergedorf. I don't need to try to be it. 

So when I feel stressed or don't want to lose control by putting things in the Lord's hands I have to take a breath and remember those two things. And realize that He has more control than me anyways. Give it all to Him.

Sometimes I do feel alone in the work, but that's not really new, and it reminds me that I just need to get on my knees when I can't stand anymore. How wonderful is prayer!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Cole, it was fun to see you with Germany multi cultural day! hope you had a great time :]

Cam, you look so cool fixing the sink! What a handy man.

Kade, did you like helping with cole's class? Are you excited to practice you r German with real Germans? Viel Glück! Du wirst es gut machen!

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Walker

PS- say hi to the Dittrichs for me! Could you please take a picture with them and send it to me? Thanks!