Week 22 "A Mission Is A Family Affair"

Servus liebe Familie und Freunde!!

This week was wonderful, but a little long because I was sick for about 3 days with a sore throat and a fever.  I hate being sick:(  So you can imagine how hard it was for me to slow down in any way. Tis the sick season! With my companion's recommendation I had to rest a little and I took some medicine and drank lots of water to speed up the healing process. The other sisters have been healthy, which is good, and we are all taking extra precaution to stay healthy.  It's really hard being sick on the mission, I hate the feeling of not being able to go out and work, so I'm grateful that I am now on the mend and on the way back to my healthy self!

This week was stake conference in Vienna, as well as interviews with President Miles!  We were able to have a sleep over for stake conference: the Graz sisters came and stayed in our apartment Saturday night because of the long train ride to Vienna. It was really fun getting to know Sisters Kervinen (from Finland. She is hilarious and is a very good missionary) and Sister Reginer (from San Fransisco, California, we rode the train together to Vienna. She is so sweet and is a great example of expressing true, genuine charity for everyone.) We had 6 sisters crammed into a small apartment -- needless to say it was a little hectic in the morning getting ready for stake conference, but it all worked out. Yeah for some more sunlight! It helps that it is now the end of daylight savings here....so strange that we start a week before you-- that means we are only 7 hours apart, for one week! :)  (Can you believe that we forgot about the extra hour of sleep....so I woke up at 5:30 instead of 6:30. Naja....OH WELL...Sleep is overrated, right? :)

Wonderful weekend!  President and Sister Miles spoke at our stake conference, and so we were able to be with them for about 2 days. I love when the Miles' come and visit and spend time with us: they have a really busy schedule but I am very grateful for the time they do take to visit each one of us and remind us of their love.  They told us how much they appreciate our optimism, hard work ethic and desire to be the best missionaries we can be.  I. Love.Them!

The big theme for this stake conference was the temple. It was a little hard, because I became homesick for the temple, but the messages shared were beautiful and definitely something I needed to hear. President Souceck, one of the counselors and Dad's former missionary companion, spoke about the importance of remaining pure and chaste so we can worthily enter the Lord's house. I never really understood the importance of this until I was able to go through the temple last February and recieve my endowment. (What a special experience that was! Sometimes I wish I could go do it all over again.) An outpouring of love from the Spirit testified to my heart the great importance for me to one day marry in the temple, to search after that goal of being sealed to my future eternal companion. I have always been amazed the way the Lord teaches me and gives me revelation, because sometimes it is in ways I least expect it.  President Nally in the MTC once said that "A mission experience is the MTC for the rest of your life, as well as the next."  Now I recognize how serving a mission, when served with full purpose of heart, might, mind, and strength, is a blessing for my future family, and I am forever grateful that I have chosen to serve.

This week we had the opportunity to meet with our investigator "Dory", a mother of 6 with her 2 youngest being 1 year old twins, "P and L."  Dory's husband will not allow her to be baptized at this time, and so we are teaching her continually more and more about the Gospel as we wait in faith for her husband's permission. Dory is a woman of solid faith and firm understanding, just as the Book of Mormon describes we should be. She really wants to be baptized so we are praying that her husbands heart will be softened.  She purchased a kindle to download all the standard works, so she can read them wherever she goes. We just gave her a copy of "Jesus der Christus" and are meeting with her on Wednesday. As I entered her home and began talking with her, I felt such an overhwhelming love for Dory, and I could not deny the impression that I have come to Vienna to meet her.

Interviews were fantastic! President Miles is such an inspired man. My interview was actually quite brief, maybe only 5 or 6 minutes, but President Miles challenged me to do something. He said, "Sister Motto, I want you to find out why you are here in Vienna. By doing so, I want you to study the scriptures. I know you do each and every day, but tonight kneel in prayer and plea to the Lord to see what He expects out of your scripture study, and how you can be better." I have always thought I was really good at my scripture study, but I did exactly what President Miles asked. And the answer came! I need to be studying more and utilizing it in my every day proselyting, the words of modern day prophets. Together with the standard works, talks from the Ensign/Liahona and General Conference are JUST AS POWERFUL in every day missionary work.In my studies I have made the goal to read 15 minutes in the Book of Mormon, 15 from the standard works, 15 from Verkünet mein Evangelium!, and 15 from a conference talk.  

In regards to my language and this new Viennese dialect...es geht gut!  I am having fewer times of misunderstandings and more confident moments of total understanding-- yay yay YAY! :)   German is not the easiest language to comprehend but my love for it grows every day.  Yet another blessing which comes from serving a foreign speaking mission!  I did have a small "oops" when in visiting with a member family who have 6 kids....I encouraged them to be "fruitful" rather than to say how "terribly" important it is to be a good member missionary.....they reminded me kindly of my "obvious" mistake..."Sister Motto...we are fruitful...we have 6 kids!"

In relation to my new resolution in studies, the impression came to me the other day to read a talk from April 2013 conference by President Monson. In there I found a quote that I could not help but weep as I read. It says,

"A mission is a family affair. Though the expanse of continents or oceans may separate,
hearts are as one."

Simpler truth could not have been better stated. I am so grateful for the mountains of support and love I feel each and every day from home. Sometimes I get homesick, mostly because I wish to share my experiences here on the mission with you at home. I wish you were right beside me! This work is too beautiful and wonderful. It was exactly one year ago this week I  wrestled whether or not I should serve. How clearly I remember the soothing peace of the Holy Ghost as I knelt in prayer and begged for an answer. I remember the feelings of fear and inadequacy I felt as I thought about serving a mission, but there was such a sweet spirit as the Spirit testified to me that the Lord doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies The called. This mission truly has been the greatest blessing to me. No kidding, it has been the most difficult thing I have done, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, but there are so many blessings that come when we simply turn ourselves over to the Lord and let Him take care of the rest. I'm simply striving to be a Werkzeuge, a work tool, in His hands, to help Him bring to pass the great and marvelous work of proclaming the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How grateful I am to be here! I love being a missionary in Austria at this time of this marvelous dispensation!  "Geh immer Vorwärts", and press on until the work of the Lord is finished!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Natalie Motto

Elder Pugmire, our DL and Me with Sister Woods at our last district meeting in Göppingen

…..On the Blue Danube!

My awesome Göppingen District…miss them! Elders Rodgers, Durrant, Chapman, Garett, Oviatt, Philips, Pugmire, Carlson and Me and Sister Woods

Me with my new companion, Sister Judd!

The magnificent Stephens Dom Cathedral in WIEN

Week 21 -- Servus von Wien!

Servus von WIEN!!!!

Meine liebe Familie und Freunden,

Goodbyes to Göppingen were so hard! It was really sad leaving the branch I "grew up" in. The members were actually really sad to be getting 4 Elders....they love the Sisters!  And why wouldn't they?:)  We are wunderbar!   We had so many eating appointments last week, we really only needed to buy groceries so the Elders could have food when they got to Göppingen. Yup, we are nice...we made them "Welcome to Göppingen" treats!  I know Göppingen is in good hands with Elders Bartholemew, Thompson, and their goldens.  I'm really excited to see the success there!  But I will miss it.

Transfer day was......crazy and stressful!  Probably the craziest travel experience I've had, ever. Welcome to mission life, right? We left Göppingen at about 10 am Thursday morning to get to Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof by 11, and our train to Munich left at 11:40. I traveled as a "solo sister" with 5 elders to Munich. My posse consisted of Elders Fuchs, Mohn, Morey, Philips, Smith, Christensen and a few angels to boot.  You didn't need to worry one bit Mom, I was in excellent hands.  Elder Philips, coming from my district in Stuttgart, is in St. Pölten and we traveled the whole way to Vienna together. Elder Smith also traveled with us the whole way, headed to Klagenfurt. Our train got into Munich 15 minutes later than scheduled -- yikes! -- and as a result we had a 1 minute Umsteig (disembark) to get to our train headed to Salzburg. We BARELY schaffed that train; it was a tender mercy from the Lord we did, otherwise we would have had to wait for another 3 hours for the next train to Salzburg connecting to Vienna. Strong and capable missionaries waiting in Munich Bahnhof rushed to help us get our luggage onto the next train, and thankfully none of our luggage was left behind. Whew.  It was a minute and a half of pure chaos! The ride to Salzburg was breathtaking, but we weren't able to enjoy the scenery for long. When we umsteiged in Salzburg, which our steig was supposed to be for a half hour, we found out our train getting to Salzburg was late, and as a result of that we had only a 3 minute Umsteig to get to our train to Vienna.  I did get to see 30 seconds worth of beautiful Salzburg, and my heart kind of ached that I wasn't able to see more.  As I looked at the Hohensalzburg castle, I remembered how great our trip was there last year and fun it was to climb that with you Mom and Dad.  

The trian ride to Vienna was absolutely gorgeous!!! Seeing the Alps was like coming home. :) From Munich I was able to travel with Sister Reignier, headed to Graz, and we talked about the incredible beauty of our mission. I cant get enough of it!  After 9 hours of travel across 2 countries, we safely arrived, a little exhausted and travel weary, in Vienna around 6:30 PM, where we were greeted by the missionaries and my cute companion. Sister Judd is amazing!  She is from Las Vegas, and is in her 9th transfer. Her German is spectacular, and she knows how to work hard. We get along very well: our personalities are extremely similar, but different enough that we compliment eachother. She has an impressive drive to do missionary work, and I'm excited to learn from her this next transfer.

We had just enough time to drop off my luggage at the apartment and then head off to an appointment with our investigator Andie.  Andie is about 29 years old and is just about the sweetest most genuine person I know. She loves the Gospel and we are preparing to set a baptismal date with her!  Even though I was so tired that night, I was very happy to get right to work in our new area and meet our investigators.  A happy missionary is a busy missionary! Stimmt.

We also met with Nicole this week, another incredible investigator. She is a mother of 4, and her kids are all under age 11. Remind you of someone Mom? Little 4 year old Davin is my new favorite person, and he is convinced we are now boyfriend-girlfriend:)  Nicole is preparing to be baptized, after we recieve permission from her husband who is often times not home. Nicole loves the New Testament stories, particularly the illustrated children`s book version made by the church, and so we read and explain them to her. We read about "The Widow's Mite" and she was very intent about it. As we had a 5 minute Pause and talked with Davin about Star Wars, we noticed Nicole reading the Bible story book alone. Following our Spiel with Davin, Nicole asked us questions about the ministery and miracles of Christ. It was really neat! We are planning on using this story book not only for Nicole's kids, but also for Nicole, because of her childlike knowledge about Christ and His Gospel. Childlike faith is beautiful.

Every Friday night we have Waffle Night at the insitute, and we attend when our investigators are there, to help them feel welcome and help incorporate them into the ward and JAE (young adult) group. We went with Andie, and were able to introduce her to some of the JAE'`s in our stake. Funny thing about going to the JAE Center: I met the BYU Vienna Study Abroad Group!  Ha..can you believe the coincidence?! ((Sidenote...Natalie was seriously considering Vienna Study Abroad right before the age change for missionaries was announced.  She would have been studying there right now!) Needless to say it was somewhat surreal for me to be among them, talking with them, when I could be standing among them and talking with a different Sister missionary who could have been in my shoes, in my current position. My heart swelled with gratitude and love as I realized that the Lord has blessed me by sending me here to Vienna. Ever since I got off the train, I have had a constant sense of peace, love, and happiness to be here in Vienna. Perhaps it is because I have always dreamed of coming here, but on a deeper sense I know it is where I need to be. I KNOW there is a great purpose for me here in Vienna and that purpose is to preach the true and everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, to share the joy, to tell people where they can find happiness, and to assist in His work and help these precious souls find their way back to our Heavenly Father.

Yesterday, Sunday, was awesome. I felt right at home in my ward. I LOVE this ward!! And I met President Soucek Dad! In Sacrament Meeting he had me stand and then told about how you and he were companions and what an amazing missionary you were.  (He was Kevin's missionary companion in Hamburg) The Vienna 1st ward has incredible members of the Church with a zest and fire for missionary work. Our GML Perry is fun and hilarious and dedicated to us.  He and his wife Teresa are newlyweds of about a year, and they LOVE the missionaries.  Both are RM's and are so helpful to us. Serving in a ward will be much different than my little branch in Göppingen, and I am excited to see what things I learn here. 

No biggie but last night on the way to an appointment, I got proposed to by a guy from Yugoslavia. His German wasn't very good, but he knew enough to say "Du, mich, heiraten?" It was quite funny, and I made up the excuse I had a boyfriend back home in the states (thanks Jameson!). Sister Judd laughed and then we talked to him about the Book of Mormon. We are going to pass him over to the  Elders (Elders Richman and Worthen) tomorrow to reden more about THE CHURCH and not how to marry one of us.

Short week this week and these past few days have flown. I LOVE being in a big city!! (You were right mom!) I'm excited to see what new things I will learn, more than I could from my time in Göppingen. I gained so much in my time in Göppingen, and in many ways I am "homesick" for it. Serving in Stuttgart Zone was something that helped me grow and develop as a missionary and into a better "myself", and to better learn German and "figure things out". Although I am still doing both those things (Wienerisch seems like a whole different language-- very different than Schwäbisch and very sing-songy --it sounds beautiful), I feel right at home in Vienna. Yes, it's of course an adjustment, but it has been much much easier than I thought it would be. I know that there will be hard days, those are unavoidable. How I go about tackling those hard days, and learning the experiences from them, is what matters most. I need to always remember this wonderful feeling of being here, this peace and love and joy, and reflect on that when times get tough.

My heart is so full!  I LOVE this Gospel with my whole heart, and for the chance to be in the Alpine German speaking mission. This Church is true, and there is nothing that can stop this Work of Salvation.

Til next week! (I PROMISE I will put pictures up next week....with transfers and getting settled taking pictures slipped my mind....es tut mir leid! Sorry. )

Alles gute!
Liebe
Sister Natalie Motto   

Week 20 -- VIenna here I come!!!

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

Diese Woche, werde Ich  "Auf's Wiedersehen" zu Göppingen wünschen. Ich werde nach Wien transferiert werden! Ich bin dankbar dass Ich in der Wien I Gemeinde dienen dürfen!! Ich bin ganz glücklich darüber, und Ich freue mich auf der Gelegenheit in Österreich zu wohnen und dort die wunderschönen WIener das Evangelium zu bringen. Unglaublich!!

This news pertaining to transfers is very bittersweet. I am so very, very excited to serve in Vienna and experience new things, but also so sad to leave Göppingen. I have made wonderful friendships with the members here and have put my best foot forward to build the Church in this branch.  But I understand and feel that the Lord needs me elsewhere. I can only progress so far as a missionary here in Göppingen, and I am excited/nervous/happy/all of the above to go to Vienna and work with Sister Judd, and see what kind of missionary I will become there. In relation to Göppingen.... President Miles has decided to WHITEWASH and place 4 Elders here instead of 4 Sisters. Definitely a big change, but nevertheless exciting and wonderful. Transfers will be on Thursday, and I get to take a beautiful train ride with 6 other missionaries headed to Wien Zone. (I am also happy to see a little of my mission via a beautiful train ride through the Alps and Salzburg!! I will be going from one end of the Alpine Mission to the complete opposite end!...) Sister Woods will be going to Freiburg, in the Schwarzwald, to work with Sister Henry. They will be great together!

With this news with transfers, we have spent much of our week prepping the apartment and getting things ready for the Elders. With repainting the apartment, getting furniture put together, organizing everything, starting our packing, it's been pretty busy. Needless to say we have had quite the farewell/eating appointment schedule with members, but it's been wonderful spending time with the families and saying goodbye.  Ahhh.....goodbyes are tender but I know that I will meet these wonderful saints again and I am so humbled to have had the opportunity to love and serve them.  I will forever be grateful for my little Göppingen branch. How can I ever thank them for serving and loving me?

Last week we had the opportunity to head to Stuttgart and attend ZONE TRAINING! I felt this zone training to be particularly good, especially after General Conference. We talked about the importance of diligence, "Eifer" in German, and how that pertains to missionary work. I love the Christlike attributes! I would admonish everyone to read in Preach My Gospel with the Christlike attributes and think about how to apply them into your lives as members. Diligence as a missionary is KEY, and sometimes I feel like I am not very diligent. However, diligence is something that is built and strengthened through experience and time, and it is an attribute I will be striving to obtain throughout my mission, and even after! I am excited to see how serving in Vienna will strengthen my diligence and help me build the other Christlike attributes.

We had an awesome appointment this week with "I", our Iraqi investigator. He is devouring the Book of Mormon and loves reading in it. He read all the way to Jacob in 2 nights! Because there is kind of a language barrier, "I" will write down questions for us in Arabic, have his German instructor translate them, and then bring them to our appointments. "I" wants to make sure he is understanding as much as he can about the Gospel, so that's why he writes down questions. We will write down answers, so if he does need to understand better, he can have them translated. The Spirit is so strong during our meetings, and "I" feels it. He also came to church yesterday!! He loved our fast and testimony meeting. He was a little confused about the Sacrament, but we have a lesson for tomorrow to explain more about Latter-day Saint services and some commandments (Word of Wisdom). Sadly "I" has a smoking problem, but really tries hard to not smoke around us. There was once a quote (President Kimball?) that said there is no better sight and smell in Sacrament meeting than ripped jeans and cigarette smoke. I love it! It's so true! "I" is working so hard to turn his life around and to be happy. And the Gospel can bring that to him!  I will continue to pray for this sweet, humble man.

Our other investigators are doing well! Jan, the referral we contacted, is loving the Book of Mormon as well. I think he will work really, really well with the Elders. Same with Destiny: although he has been flaky and wishy-washy sometimes when it comes to meeting up with us, Destiny has a testimony of this Gospel and will do great things in the Church one day. He is still wanting to be baptized, and has set the goal to be baptized at the end of November. Barbara is doing great as well. Her father is very old and lives with her, and she has had work and doctor's appointments every day. We are praying to be able to meet once more before transfers, and give her one last lesson. I think she will do well with the Elders and she does have the strong desire to find happiness, to find truth, to be at peace about what this life is all about.  Uncle Tony laid a beautiful foundation for her and I hope we continued to build and strengthen her testimony and teach her that there is only one true Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth that will answer all her questions.

My mind is spinning and my heart is tender and full...... Right now I am realizing more and more the importance of giving the Lord MY ALL!  Each day is truly precious. gel?  Just as Herr Embley taught me in German class that "long time ago" in high school, life is all about EHRE und GENAUIGKEIT: honor and exactness. Although I initally thought this mission to be a small payback to the Lord, it in fact has ended up being the greatest blessing of my life. I love my Heavenly Father too deeply to express in words.....How grateful I am for the opportunity to serve our Almighty God, and His Son, even Jesus the Christ.

Have a wonderful week!!! Next time I email I will be in VIENNA! 

I love you all.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

Alles gute,

Sister Natalie Hannah Motto

Letter from Sister Motto Week 19 "Glorious and Grand"

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

This week was such an amazing week!!! We have 2 new investigators and were able to enjoy a very fulfilling session of General Conference. We had super fun cleaning day, and completely de-junked our whole basement keller and apartment in preparation for 4 missionaries (we found some pretty neat treasures!) It's also the last week of this transfer-- didn't transfer 3 just start? We will find out Friday if the 2 new sisters come this next transfer or not. I feel like time is slipping through my fingers!

Our two new investigators are "I' from Iraq and Jan who is German. We found "I" during our Ausstellung (street display) on the 28 of September. "I"  is a refugee from Iraq, having fled the country under the safety of the American soldiers because of his Christian beliefs. He has been reading th Book of Mormon in both German and Arabic, and absolutely loves it. He loves Joseph Smith and has a beautiful testimony that Christ's church is restored to the earth. He has a problem with smoking, but he said he is willing to give up everything (because in many ways he already has) for Jesus Christ. During our meetings in a nearby park, "I" is very concious to not smoke while we meet, even though sometimes it's hard. He's making so much progress and will be coming to church next Sunday! He watched General Conference online, and we are very excited to meet and talk´about his thoughts of a living prophet! (He would have come to Stuttgart with us, but as a refugee he cannot leave the state of Baden-Württemburg.)

Our other investigator, Jan, is 28 years old and lives in nearby Göppingen. He first became aquainted with the church at age 17 when he met with the elders once. For some reason, we do not have record of his meeting. Jan recieved a Book of Mormon at that first meeting, and has read it pretty regularly since 2002. Jan lost contact with the missionaries and the church, and just a short while ago befriended a member of the Church on Facebook. We will call the member "Brother Fox".  Brother Fox and Jan have communicated and talked about the Church. Brother Fox guided Jan to lds.org to request a missionary visit, so Jan did! He referred himself to the Church (so awesome, let me just say!) and asked for a new Book of Mormon, because he lost his old one.

We were let in by Jan's mother when we went to drop off the Book of Mormon, and talked with the two of them about their familiarity and ´knowledge of the Church. Jan expressed to us his desire to find the truth, "just like Joseph Smith", he said. Jan told us that he knows the other churches aren't true, and he has a really good feeling about this church. He loves the way he feels the spirit when he chats with Brother Fox on Facebook about the Church, and wants to know how he can always have that feeling. We talked about baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Jan asked "where can I go to be baptized?" Sister Woods and I explained that it was through us! We told him we need to continue teaching him some things, but that if he already has that goal for baptism, it is something he can begin to work towards. Jan already lives the Word of Wisdom, the law of chastity, and keeps the sabbath day holy. He LOVES the Family Proclamation, and expressed that he wants to marry someone of "his own faith" and would like to live in Salt Lake City one day. Jan is AWESOME! He is so friendly, very open, and asks fantastic questions. His mom is meeting with the Zeuge Jehova's.....but sits in and listens to us anyway. Jan says he knows the Zeuge Jehova's aren't the "right church" because he doesn't have a good feeling when he listens to them. We have another meeting with Jan and his mom this week! Follow up: Book of Mormon reading Challenge: BAPTISMAL DATE!

We also met with "Destiny" this week for the first time since August! He still has the goal to be baptized, and has been reading in the Book of Mormon more than ever, but he says that life is really stressful and he is trying to find time for God. He expressed he still has a desire to be baptized because the Holy Spirit told him that is what he needs to do, and he always keeps his promises. Destiny said that he feels the adversary pulling him, and he is doing all he can to fight against Satan's attacks on distracting Destiny from coming to church. Destiny always very honest with us, and told us straight up he felt rushed into his baptismal date (which is understandable), and he just needs more time to prepare for such a big step. We asked him to set his own baptismal date, and Destiny said sometime in early November. Our meeting Tuesday we will talk about his self-set baptismal date and ways we can better help him prepare. I know the prayers in Destiny's behalf are blessing his life so abundantly!

General Conference......OH MEINE GUTE!!! Absolutely FANTASTIC!! Saturday we drove to Stuttgart with Sister Fingerle (Our Göppingen members are the BEST!) for the Relief Society Broadcast and Saturday morning (live) session of conference, and then overnighted with the Stuttgart sisters. Yesterday, Sunday, we watched Saturday Afternoon re-broadcast and then Sunday morning live. Today for studies we watched Sunday afternoon. Those 9,5 hours were the fastest I can remember. When the Saturday morning was over, I thought we were only at the halfway mark through the session! I DEVOURED conference, and I hope you did too. It was a glorious weekend and I was spiritually fed to the brim!!

There were many moments during conference that the Spirit overcame me, and I knew that you, my loving family, was thinking of me. It is my hope that you felt an outpouring of the Spirit as well, knowing that I was thinking of you through each second of conference. I have a testimony that the Lord answers prayers. Even the "silly ones". Each one of my questions I took to the Lord was answered during conference. There were some pertaining to missionary work, to my personal life, and to life at home next year. Each and every question was answered. They were answered in quotes, in impressions I wrote down, or in beautiful, still, warm, calm feelings of the Spirit. That is why taking notes is so important!!! As far as picking a favorite talk goes....how could I do that?  They were all amazing!!!   Some of my absolute favorites moments were:

1. Elder Hale's promise that as we heed to the word's of prophets from conference would protect us from the fiery darts of the advesary
2. Elder Ulisses Soares' talk on meekness, and the importance of this divine, refining Christlike trait
3. Elder Bednar's promise of paying a full tithe being a sanctifying and precious process expressing perfect faith.
4. President Uchtdorf's call "Come, Join With Us". He said "Heed the call of the gentle Christ, here you will find the message beyond price." Also, probably my favorite quote, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."
5. Elder D Todd Christofferson "We need women who are tender....faithful....good....virtuous....pure....and refined." Also, "it is your relationship with your Heavenly Father that matters most."
6 Elder S Gifford Nielsen's talk about exclamation point.The thought came, "Be an EXCLAMATION POINT MISSIONARY!!!!!!"
7. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "Cherish Priesthood blessings, take advantage of the Sacrament, believe in miracles." I wept through his whole story about Stephanie Nielsen, having had the priviledge of meeting her (coaching her kids swim team!) and talking with her. We must truly cherish the priesthood, take advantage of the weekly process of repentance, and believe in miracles!
8. Elder M Russell Ballard on missionary work "Fear will be replaced with faith and courage, then seek for the opportunity to teach." His promise that if we reach out to just ONE by Christmas that many will come unto Christ was BEAUTIFUL. We truly must talk with EVERYONE!!! :)
 

There is never a boring week as a missionary IF you work diligently, faithfully, steadfast, and honestly.  "Be an EXCLAMATION POINT MISSIONARY!!!"" LOVE LOVE LOVE THAT!  There is so much work to be done and this week promises to be a glorious one...because, after all, the Lord is in charge of His perfect, eternal, most important work of bringing souls unto Christ!

I love you all so much!! Have a WONDERFUL week full of gratitude, hope, and faith. Always rely on our Savior Jesus Christ, for He is always there, "in sunshine and in sorrow."

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Natalie Motto

In front of a horse meat packing company…disgusting!!

Cleaning out the basement storage in our apartment and found this beauty!

We rewarded ourself after "cleaning day" with Gelato! 

Sometimes you just need a good ol' American PB&J

Week 18 "A wonderful week of miracles! The Lord loves His Missionaries!"

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

Hello from the land of Oktoberfest!  The holiday is in full swing here in Stuttgart Zone, and things sure are getting a little crazy!....It reminds me of...the Utah State Fair, Christmas shopping, tail-gating parties and Halloween rolled up into one massive, unruly, crazy, and yep...yummy event.  Hello gigantic Bretzlen (very large and delicious pretzel bread) and Bratwursts galore!

This week went so fast!  We were so busy the entire time and all of a sudden it was Monday again!  So for last weeks PDay as a district we climbed the MUNSTER, the tallest church in the entire world. We had gorgeous weather that day, which ended up being a huge tender mercy. On a clear day you can see all the way to the Alps!  We were able to see the majority of Baden-Würtemmburg, as well as a good deal of Bayern. Germany is so beautiful and the scenery was breathtaking! One day Eltern, I look forward climbing it with you!  All 768 steps!

Last week I also had the opportunity to go on Austausch (sister exchange or split)  to Lahr, Germany, a darling dorf just outside of Offenburg, near the border of France. Lahr is right smack in the middle of the Schwarzwald: it is absolutely breathtaking there. I went on Austausch with Sister Jencks again, who was in Stuttgart with Sister Green. The Sister Training Leaders in Lahr cover Stuttgart Zone and Freiburg Zone, because we have only 4 sisters areas between the two.  After District Meeting in Ulm, we rode on the train for an hour to Stuttgart, and then up to Karlsruhe in the Frankfurt Mission....well, um...oops.....We went outside of the mission!!!  Just representing you MOM!!! :)   No worries, it was with permission, because Karlsruhe is the fastest and easiest way for the sisters in Stuttgart to tausch with Freiburg. The only time I had to get a picture was one of the Bahnhof sign: I said hi to your ol' mission for you!

Austausch was a huge learning experience for me. Sister Jencks and I had the goal to find 15 potentials Wednesday, and so all day long we doored and contacted. Lahr just opened this transfer, so Sister Jencks and her companion Sister Drury (who not only tausched with Sister Woods, but also was her trainer!) are starting completely spanking fresh in that area. They already have a few investigators, and we had the opportunity to meet all of them.  Sister Jencks was really good at encouraging me and complimenting me on my German. Sister Jencks showed me how being brave, bold, and friendly are the keys of contacting: don't be aggressive, but you have an important message to share, and so share it with a smile! :)   We were able to reach our goal with finding potentials, and out of it Lahr has a few new investigators!   We may or may not have ALMOST gone into the France Lyon Mission on the way to an appointment, but that's because we got on the wrong bus. Thankfully we got off the bus before we crossed the border into France. Phew!! (So is that 2 mission boundary breaches in the same week?)  It was really neat to work with Sister Jencks again (we tausched in my first transfer together) and to see how each other has grown and changed, and how we have become better missionaries than before.  And it was kind of a plus that I was in one of the most beautiful areas in our mission. (I'm so sorry Mom....I left my camera in Göppingen!!!!!!!! :( )

Going on Austausch was really beneficial for both Sister Woods and me. We learned a LOT and how we can help Göppingen grow. On Friday we went back to Schwäbisch Gmünd...we got a text from the Edelmann's granddaughter (and Julee from Utah's relative) saying she wanted to meet.  Yay!!!  We went Friday afternoon and met her and her brother. She is wonderful and DARLING.  (She added me on Facebook....can you take care of that for me Mom? Danke.)  She's 24, and is a student in Innsbrook. What was planned to be only a 45 minute meeting ended up being 2 hours long! We talked to them about the Book of Mormon, and both of them were very, very interessted. They asked us questions about the Restoration, and what makes our church different. That's when we introduced the Book of Mormon more fully. As we talked about Joseph Smith, she kept saying "how beautiful!". The Spirit was so tenderly sweet and warm, and we gave both them a copy to begin reading. We exchanged numbers so we can keep in touch with her as she goes back to Innsbrook to study, and also her address so she can meet with the sisters there in Brixen. We will be going back next week to meet with him and his mother.

We had our first Ausstellung (street display) on Saturday! It was a great success!!! Our whole district was there, and we had about 7 members show up. We were able to have our elders do splits with our GML, and Sister Woods and I would do splits with the Jungen Damen (young women) and older women that came. We found 10 potentials that day, gave away 7 Bücher Mormons, and out of those 10 potentials we have 3 new investigators!! One of them, Herr Ilmi, from Italy, came to church yesterday. He only stayed for a short while because he had to go to work, but he said he felt so good inside that he wanted to come back again next week. We invited him to General Conference, as well as his son, and gave him an Italian Book of Mormon. We have an appointment with Herr Ilmi this week. Our other 2 investigators are 2 very nice gentleman from Iraq, living here in Deustchland as refugees because of their Christian faith. They approached us at the Ausstellung, noticing a picture of the Savior and with tears said "Jesus Christus." Sister Hofer (a lady in our ward) and myself talked with these men, and they asked when they could come to a worship service. We got their information and told them we could have an appointment and give them both an Arabic Book of Mormon this week. We meet this Wednesday!

After our Ausstellung, we made a quick trip to Geislingen to take brownies to a less active who has been sick. We had to wait for about 20 minutes for our bus, when a cute lady came up to us and asked us if we were by chance going to Wiesensteig: about 3 stops after ours. As we replied, we began talking with her, and she asked us how we had such good German. Explaining that we were the missionaries, this lady, R, excitedly exclaimed that she and her husband are familiar with our faith and have been impressed with our people and religion. The four of us got on the bus together, and for 40 minutes (missing our bus stop by one, but this time stayed in mission boundaries :) ) we taught R and her husband about the Gospel. We hurriedly exchanged information as we exited, and went to our appointment. Our appointment with Sister M and her children was wonderful, and we were able to set up another lesson for next week. Sister M can then be progressing, and her 2 children who are not baptized will become our new investigators.

The story doesn't end there!

When we got off the bus, back at the Bahnhof to go back to Göppingen, we heard a squeal from behind us. It was R!!!!  She waited for us so that she could talk to us again.  Can you believe that?   She ran over to us and embraced us, telling us she and her husband could not stop talking about how impressed they were with two young women, who have left everything they love and hold dear at home, to come and talk to stubborn German people about Christ! R and her husband Igor offered us a ride home to Göppingen (In the opposite direction they needed to go!) so we could talk more. We got to talk with Herr and Frau B for another 30 minutes and answer their questions about the Church. When R dropped us off at the Bahnhof in Göppingen, she gave both Sister Woods and I a great big hug and said "Sisters, I know we will meet again. This relationship and friendship was meant to happen!" And it definitely was. I know we were supposed to meet the B's and introduce, in more fullness, the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. We called our district leader, and hopefully we have permission soon to begin teaching them before handing them off to the Ulm elders.  Just so that you know ----Miracles happen!!!

Another miracle: We finally got a hold of D. We will be meeting with him on Wednesday again (first meeting since his challenge to baptism in August), and hopefully can figure out what is going on. Please keep him, as well as our other new investigators, in your prayers! I have felt and seen the power of prayer in my life this past week: the Lord truly loves us and is there to support us in absolutely everything we do.

This week was so exhausting, but so full of miracles and the Spirit. I am so grateful to be where I am, and I can see the work of Göppingen pressing forward. There are many miracles and much success to be brought forth: so stay tuned!!

Have a wonderful week my loved ones! Bis nächste Woche, gel?

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Natalie Motto

At the tallest cathedral in the world…the Muster in Ulm

Street Display with the Göppingen Ward

Me and Sister Woods in front of the Muster

District Göppingen getting our "muster" to climb up the Muster!

I made Swiss "Rösti"!

Doesn't matter that we are on opposite teams…we love each other anyway:)

At the top of the Munster Cathedral in Ulm (Tallest cathedral in the world)

Week 17 "Am I really in Germany -- Pinch me"

Hallo Familie und Freunde!!

Here in Göppingen GERMANY the weather is still welcoming and warm, but with a cool breeze and a slight bite-- especially in the morning, we are soon approaching real autumn. The colors are changing and our surrounding area is just spectacular!! Seriously, pinch me. 

This week in terms of missionary work was AMAZING! We saw so many miracles and tender mercies and blessings come to pass. We were on our toes and go-go-go! :-)

We had our first meeting with Barbara in a long time.  Yay!!!  She has been really busy with work, and it was a tender mercy she even had time to meet. We had a great conversation, and gave a lesson on Enos 1:1-8.  The Spirit flooded the room, and it was beautiful to witness Barbara recognize it. There is so much power in talking about prayer and faith, especially when talking about the testimony of the Holy Ghost revealing to us simple truths.  We are slowly and surely working with Barbara, and she is making progress!  It's all about finding what her concerns are, and answering that perhaps ONE critical question that is causing her to hold back from fully and whole-heartedly accepting the Gospel.

This week, we were also able to begin contacting our wonderful referrals from Julee!!  Our district finding day got canceled, but we weren't going to let that defer us from what we knew needed to be done!  So we decided to go to Schwäbish Gmund anyway and contact Julee's relatives. (We are a very determined little pair of sister missionaries!)  The sooner the better, right?!  We had to take a bus pretty early in the morning to get to Schwäbisch Gmund, because the bus schedule doesn't go very often from Göppingen. Driving through the hills in the morning gave me another "Am I really in Germany-PINCH-ME?" moment.   This region of Germany is so unique, and just breathtaking. We made it to Schwäbisch Gmund one hour later, and set off on our trek!  We did what missionaries do best .........Walked!!!   About 45 minutes of cobblestone and puddle jumping, we found the street  where the Wamslers and Edelmann's live.   We contacted Herr und Frau Edelmann, the parents of Susi Wamsler (who was not home at the time).    As cute Frau Edelmann answered the door, we were lightening fast to make the connection of who we were, that we knew Julee and Heidi!!   Frau Edelmann said "Heidi? You know Heidi? From America?" and very excitedly let us in! This was my first time being let in! Herr und Frau Edelmann were very, very sweet. They are about 80 years old and live in a home that's over 100 years old!    We talked about their family, and how everyone is related to one another, and the history of Schwäbisch Gmund. Can you believe that?  Herr Edelmann told us some really neat stories about D-day, what it was like during WWII there in Schwäbisch Gmund, and what it was like having that area controlled by the US Soldiers.  We were in awe and amazement.  Best history lesson I've heard....and I understood it all....for the most part.  His accent is pretty thick Schwäbish.   After about 20 minutes, Frau Edelmann offered to make us lunch, because we had come so far to say hello. We had spaghetti with homemade (from her personal garden, I must clarify ;- ) tomato "soße" and salad. It was delicious, and so very kind of Frau Edelmann to make it for us. We even had homemade lebkuchen for dessert! Tis the season...well not quite, but I'm glad nonetheless because it tasted delish!  

The subject soon came up about our work as missionaries. We told Herr and Frau Edelmann about us and exactly what we do, and shared our testimonies about what a blessing the Gospel has been in our lives. The Spirit was present, as we gave our testimonies. We had a lesson planned out, but for some reason it did not feel right to share at that moment.   Following our meeting with the Edelmann's, Sister Woods and I talked about it, and we both feel that we need to wait until we can meet with the Edelmann's again (in 2 weeks!), so we can meet with their daughter as well, to share our message.

Sister Woods is such a great companion! I love her so much. She is so full of energy and brings a great spunk from big-city life in Vienna to little-town Göppingen. We did some good-old streeting the other day, and talked to so many people! It was a blast! We talked with "Herr Athiest" about evolution, "Herr Muslim" who believes in the Bible and wanted to read the Book of Mormon, and then a group of teenage girls who thought we looked super cute in our skirts! These girls, 15 years old about, asked us why we always look so nicely dressed, and why we had "süß" (sweet) nametags. We explained to them we were the Mormon missionaries, and they got really excited that we were Mormons. They asked us lots of questions, and we were able to talk with them and clarify those many, silly misconceptions about our religion (one of my favorite parts of talking with people, by the way). They loved the fact we were from America, and wanted to speak English with us, so we had some fun and talked with them for about 10 minutes in English. When these girls asked what exactly our beliefs were, we gave them a 3 minute version of the most fundamental, important truths of our Church, that namely: God is our loving Father in Heaven. Because He loves us, He sent His Son to die for us, so that we can repent and return to live with Him. We know this because of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and because of him we have the restored Church, that was on the Earth when Christ was. We gave these girls each a card to look on mormon.de, and gave them our telephone numbers.  Funnest day of contacting yet!  I LOVE preaching the Gospel!

We have also begun teaching 7 year old Jakob Kindermann, a young boy in our ward, the missionary lessons before his baptism in October. We LOVE the Kindermann family: they are excellent member missionaries and do a lot for us and for missionary work. Bruder Kindermann is also our go-to guy when it comes to needing things fixed or done in the apartment, or to give us a ride to an appointment if we get stranded 3 Dorfs over from our planned destination---OOPS....(That's what you get when you have a blonde, still-should-be-golden taking over an area.......;-)

This week I've been studying in Mosiah 4, and at the end of the speech that King Benjamin gives, about "watch yourselves" in verse 30. I've cross-referenced this topic with the Christlike attribute of virtue as found in Preach My Gospel. Virtue is truly priceless, and is worth far more than rubies (Proverbs 31:10). It is so important that we do guard ourselves in our thoughts and our deeds, from the dark and twisted ways of the adversary. Being on a mission, and being in the world, I have seen a lot of things. I've seen things that make me truly sad, upset, and ever more eager to fight against Satan's attacks on light. This world is so evil, and my fervor and desire to be more diligent as a missionary grows each day. This work is not easy, because salvation isn't easy. Salvation does not come cheap. Because of our Savior, who paid the ultimate price of the Atonement, we can repent, renew our commitment to do better, and move on. I am so grateful for this Gospel, and to be the Lord's missionary. Geh immer vorwärts! Das Evangelium is wahr!

Hiking the tallest cathedral in Europe today -- the MUNSTER for District Pday! So excited!  I'll send lots of pictures :) We are also tausching with the Sister Training Leaders in LAHR, near Freiburg. I'm headed down south while Sister Woods takes over Göppingen. I'm so excited!! (We have to cross into Frankfurt mission a little to make our train connection, though. That will be interesting!  I will have to let Elder Motto know:))  Many, many pictures to come next week.

I love you all!! My prayers and thoughts are always with you. Find someone to serve today!

Liebe grüße, Much love always...

Sister Natalie Hannah Motto

Sister Woods and Sister Djentar (a member from our branch)

It's what for lunch!

Mitbelehrung lesson with Sister Djentar!

Me with little Mia Fingerle from our branch

Week 16….Stuck on the S-bahn and Service and All Horses Go to Heaven

Servus liebe Familie und Freunde!

Hello from wet, rainy, chilly Göppingen-- fall weather is finally here!

This week was great! I am still exuberant and blessed to be a missionary!  Every morning I get the butterflies reminding myself that I'm a missionary in the most beautiful land in the world, Germany!  Sister Woods and I get along so well and we are already in sync.   Although we have a different dynamic than Sister Clark and I did, we compliment each other really well and it's been a great experience learning to work with others, and forging these new friendships that will last forever! Sister Woods is fantastic and I love her so much!

This transfer has been a little different than my past two. This month in our distrit we got another set of Elders in Ellwangen (about an hour away from Göppingen and in a beautiful region...also about 20 minutes from Dinkelsbühl..a charming little town which my parents like to visit).   We also got the Waiblingen (just north east of Stuttgart)  branch into our area: we now have 8 elders and 2 sisters in our district. 10 missionaries!  And that many more missionaries to contact many more investigators!   We now go to Waiblingen for district meeting.  Waiblingen is beautiful, has a great ward, and I'm excited for this change. (Except for maybe the fact that there is a horse slaughter factory right across the street from where the elders live, and right next to the church. You can imagine my, well, disappointment and disgust.) To which my loving and dutiful district leader said, "Don't worry Sister Motto…I'm sure all horses go to heaven" :)

Last week, on the way to our first district meeting in Waiblingen, we traveled with the Ulm elders to share a 4-man body ticket. [A more economic way to travel for missionaries is to "use" buddy passes when possible]  As we were all traveling together on the S-bahn to Waiblingen Hauptbahnhof, we came to an abrupt halt at an unplanned stop on Nürnbergerstraße, 8 or 9 stops away from our planned destination. Some individuals on the S-bahn tried to exit, but the doors were stuck, and wouldn't open. Many people were confused and began to be frustrated that the S-bahn wasn't going. To be honest, our group of 4 missionaries was also initally a little upset and stressed, because we were going to be late for district meeting. After about 5 minutes, a DeustcheBahn worker came and told everyone to get of the S-bahn. There had been an accident: an individual had been killed, and was hit by the S-Bahn. Immediately this rush of a heavy weight settled in my heart, and immediately was sobered by what had just happened. I knew I wasn't the only one who felt this way, as the Elders and ourselves moved to the side. We were told to wait until the polizei arrived, and then we could leave. Many people were, as you imagine, very upset and saddned, and in shock, at what had just happened. As we umsteiged (disembarked) the train and tried to take another mode of transportion to get to Waiblingen, I stood next to a lady who was very distraught. She expressed to me her sadness over what happened to this gentleman who had been killed, and how awful it was that he had died. I expressed my sadness to her as well, but then was able to share my testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the fact that we will live again. I don't know what happened to that woman, but I am grateful for the opportunity I had to share my testimony and share a small light and joy that this Gospel brings. It took us 2.5 hours to take a 15 minute route to get to district meeting, but we were able to finally make it and get everything done we needed to that day.

Saturday the missionaries in our zone had the opportunity to attend the adult session of Stuttgart Stake Conference. It was a really neat experience being able to speak with both the American members from the international ward, as well as the German members, from our stake. The theme of this stake conference, given by our stake president Präsident Schneider was 'Warum?'...'Why?' The three things that were focused on in each talk was "Warum habe ich, warum soll ich, warum bin ich?" or, in English, "Why do I have, why should I, and why am I?" Many of the speakers used these three things and tied it into faith. Why are we a faithful people? Why am I a faithful person, as an individual? For me, I liked tying this theme into "Why do I have this calling, as a missionary? Why should I do this work? Why am I a missionary?" I felt the Spirit very strongly as I reflected upon these questions after stake conference, and gave it a lot of thought.  The Lord is shaping me to be the best person I can be. I feel it every day, and I am so grateful for it.

I am so happy that the Benson's (a senior missionary couple serving in Stuttgart) daughter called you and asked you for the piano book.  It was wonderful to be able to perform piano again and share my testimony through the beautiful hymn arrangement.  You know how much I love playing the piano and being able to have someone feel so moved and touched by the Spirit because of it is a great blessing!  I'm glad you could ask Dr Hatch to sign it for the JAE. (young single adult).  

I am overwhelmed with gratitude that Julee sent so many relative names to find and contact!  What a blessing for which we have been praying!  We are in the process of locating the exact addresses and to plan out our week so that we can make the most of our time in those particular areas.   Keep praying that her relatives will be prepared and ready to hear the message of Jesus Christ.  Thank you again! (Sidenote....Kevin has a sweet wonderful lady who helps out in his office and when finding out that Natalie was in Göppingen, told us that is where her mother was from and then proceeded to give us over 15 names of living relatives still in that area who she would like Natalie to contact about the Church! We are still overwhelmed how this happened and consider it to be such a tender mercy)

 On the way home from the stake center to Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (we weren't able to spend the night with the Stuttgart sisters, so we had to travel back to Göppingen before coming back Sunday morning for the main session), I was standing next to a lady on the S-bahn. (Hey....I am getting so pro at public transportation. Remember Mom & Dad, like you once lovingly "threatened"  to stick me somewhere in Germany and have me find my way back -- now I could probably do it!) This woman gestured to me and asked me to sit by her, so I did. We'll call her Jane. In broken German Jane asked me who I was, and who all these people with nametags were, and why we had the name of Christ on it. I told her we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that we were the Mormons. Jane, who is from the Ivory Coast, had heard of us before, and our 'little blue bible'. I smiled and told Jane and her friend about the Book of Mormon, how it is another testament of Jesus Christ, and His apperance to His people in the Americas. This woman kept asking why we needed the Book of Mormon, when we have the Bible. She then took out her worn, torn, and obviously very loved Bible from her purse. She told me that "this Bible is all I need to know Christ." I then had her turn to the scripture in Eziekel 37  where it tells about the stick of Judah and Joseph, and explained to her how the Book of Mormon is the stick of Joseph, and is simply another witness of the Bible and of Jesus Christ. These 3 minutes I had to talk with this woman and her friend made me recognize the importance of always being a good example as a missionary, and being ever prepared to talk to whoever, and to answer any questions they may have. I was able to tell Jane about the restoration, and of Joseph Smith, and how the Gospel has been restored, and that she could know that by reading this Book and praying about it. Even on a crowded S-Bahn, I was amazed at how strong the Spirit was as I taught Jane. I offered the Book of Mormon to Jane, and she intially rejected my offer, but as she exited the S-Bahn she hurriedly caught the door again and said, 'Yes. I'll take it.'  She left so fast, I didn't have time before the S-bahn doors closed to get her information.  Thankfully, our contact information is in the Book of Mormon, so hopefully we will be getting a call soon to drop by a French Book of Mormon.

We also just got news that our apartment next transfer will be turned into a 4-man (or in our case, woman) apartment!! It'll be shoulder to shoulder, but I think overall a good experience. If that's the case, I can see myself possibly staying in Göppingen for 5 transfers. But you never know! It's all in the Lord's hands. :) Regardless where I am...I love working hard and serving here. Come what may and love it!

Have a wonderful week! You are always in my prayers and thoughts. 2 Nephi 25:26

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Motto