Hello Family and Friends!!
Servus Zusammen!
Well....I made it to the amazing Bavarian capital and majestic city of München!!! I arrived here safe and sound and was greeted by a wonderful missionary companion, Sister Peterson. Goodbyes in Tübingen were hard, they always are, but it's comforting to know that there is still such thing as Facebook and email and Skype outside of the mission life :)
Last Monday Sister Pentz and I had a very neat experience! Our last Pday together had kind of been a little anti-climactic, and after walking around the main Tübingen Innenstadt, we noticed a flyer for an organ concert that night at 8pm. It was to be held at the big, beautiful Stiftskirche right in the heart of the city in honor of Johann Sebastian Bach's death day. Sister Pentz and I started our 3 hours of proselyting time right then so we could attend the concert! It was so neat!! A thunderstorm rolled in right at the beginning of the concert, and you can only imagine what a magical experience that was! Lightening would flash occasionally across the stain glass windows, and thunder would rumble and echo over our heads, all while listening to the most beautiful Bach Preludes and Fugues. A wonderful last day in Tübingen!!
Onto Munich! Sister Peterson and I have already begun to see many miracles, and I am eager and anxious to help the ball to continue rolling. So many great missionaries have left an incredible legacy in this ward.
This week we met with Tenzin and Nga Wang. They are from Tibet, but do not speak much German. We communicate with Tenzin in English (who speaks English completely fluently), who then will translate for Nga Wang. We are setting a calender baptismal date with Tenzin this week, and we are so excited! He's truly incredible. Tenzin keeps expressing his excitement to help the Church translate the Book of Mormon into Tibetian, and then to share the Gospel with every Tibetian he knows. He said "Sisters, my people are ready. With your help, we can bring them this happiness I also have in my life." WOW!
I also got to meet a wonderful family from Romania. They are a family of a father, mother, and 14 year old daughter, who came to Germany about 18 months ago to live here. Their German is actually very, very good for the amount of time they have been here, and on Friday we were able to introduce the stop smoking program to the father. The wife, Nikolini, was as excited as a little 3 year old and kept telling her husband to "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!" so we could start the program. Herr M is a quite the talker and after the appointment said "Next time, it's my turn to talk!" We told him he could only talk the whole time if it was what he learned in the Book of Mormon. He accepted. (Update: 3 days on the 7day stop smoking program, and he hasn't smoked once!)
Sister Peterson and I also met with the "T" family, a Romanian-Hungarian couple who are looking for an apartment so their family can move to Germany. They have the money, but the apartments around here are sparse. They live in a Wohnwagen, and we got to meet them again before Jolie (the mom) went back to Romania on Sunday. They are some of the most humble, loving, and kind people I've ever met. We shared with them Mosiah 24:14 in their discouragement with finding an apartment for them and their 4 children, and Frau T found it so beautiful that she wrote down the scripture in a book she saves only for "precious words." It is such a powerful thing on a mission to have individuals you meet, teach, love, and see them embrace the Book of Mormon. It is so incredibly rewarding.
Church in the Munich 2 ward was wonderful yesterday, and right when I began to feel a little overhwhelmed with getting to know all the names, Schwester Djantar from the Göppingen branch walked into Relief Society!! She was the Relief Society President when I was in Göppingen, and I cannot begin to describe my happiness in seeing her again! It was a mini spirit-world kind of reunion. We talked and talked and it was so wonderful catching up. Seeing Schwester Djantar was a tender mercy amist my fear of being a brand new missionary 14 months ago. It was also a neat experience to share my testimony yesterday at the same pulpit where I gave my first testimony out in the field as a brand new golden literally the day I arrived in this incredible country. Not much had changed in 14 months, but I have and it was a humbling and tender feeling for me to have the sweet spirit of the Lord testify to me that I am where I need to be and that I still have so much work to do. As a then very tired, jet lagged missionary, I recalled the first time I bore my testimony in Germany….I had SO many of emotions…I remember the fire I had behind what I shared.
Being a missionary is the sweetest and most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, and I never, ever want to give it up!
I love you all. You do not understand what courage and hope I recieve through simply knowing what kind of team I have at home backing me up. You're the best support crew ever. :) Thank you for everything!
All the best this week!
Your little Alpine/Bavarian Miss,
Sister Natalie Hannah Motto
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