1 Month in the Field!

Okay. Allow me to share with you the most horrific story with you to begin this email. Sister Hamner and I were riding up to the church for correlation with the elders the other night. As we rode by the festa, we heard blood curdling screams. We looked to our left, and there was a man attacking some woman! Like, bashing her head up against a car and throwing her around. There were two ladies standing off to the side watching the whole thing take place, so we ran jumped off our bikes and ran up to them screaming 'have you called the cops!?' AND THEY HADN'T. THEY WERE REALLY JUST STANDING THERE WATCHING. So I said 'UMM STOP STANDING THERE WATCHING AND CALL THE POLICE' (the elders took our phone by accident earlier that day, so we couldn’t). Anyway, as I yelled that, the man walked back up the festa steps and sister Hamner and I ran over to check on the lady. While over there, the man came back, sister Hamner started yelling at him...AND HE STARTED TO COME AFTER US.

I have never run so fast in my entire life.

Speedy Gonzalez would have been proud.

We kept our distance until the cops came, and then took off.

Pretty scary, huh?

But hey, good news! I have some miracle stories to combat that disturbing one!

#1. We went to Bamburg for a district meeting and had a finding activity planned for afterwards. Sister Hamner and I were not too thrilled for multiple reasons. 1. We were in Bamburg aka not our area aka nothing we did would contribute to our numbers. 2. It was rainy. And cold. And the past few days had been relatively nice so we were not dressed properly for said dreary weather. & 3. It was two-o’clock and we hadn’t had lunch, so we were pretty much starving. Also, tired.

But off we went, anyway. After about 30 minutes, we were both kind of done. I had on flats, so my feet were not only drenched, but numb as well and sister Hamner just wanted to eat. As we were walking back to the church, we decided to stop and contact one last person. We walked up to a lady, complimented her boots, and then continued to talk to her for about 30 minutes! We told her all about the church, the book of Mormon, praying to know its true...AND SHE SAID SHE WANTED TO LEARN MORE. And guess what else? SHE LIVES IN OUR AREA.

As we walked back to the church, the cold didn’t phase us. The rain didn’t bother us. I didn’t think about my numb feet and sister Hamner didn’t make comments about her empty stomach...The only thing we complained about were how sore our faces were from smiling so darn big!

Gosh, it was the best.

Pray that we get to have a lesson with her soon!!

#2. Sister Hamner and I were on a train to Bamburg to meet up with the Nuremburg sisters for a split and I had the phone out making calls to confirm appointments for later that day. But my good buddy Mr. Holy ghost said 'hey, put the phone down and go talk to those two girls over there'. So I did...I introduced myself as a missionary for Die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage, but they didn’t seem too interested in conversing, so I just gave them a Mormon.org card. I was about to walk back to my seat when one of them said 'OH! You’re a Mormon!! So you know Eva and Johanna and the keils!' and then I freaked out because I LOVE Eva and Johana and the Keils (they’re in my branch)!! They were way more willing to talk after making that connection. Best part though: Before leaving my apartment that morning, the spirit prompted me to grab some fliers for our ward Christmas party and put them in my bag. I’m SO glad I did, because I was able to give them to these 2 girls and they were super excited! Apparently, they’ve been to the church before for other activities. Pretty rockin’, huh??

#3. Similar to the previous story. We ran into an old potential investigator on a train. Again, before leaving the house, the spirit prompted me to grab fliers and again, I’m so glad I did! I was able to invite her and the 3 friends she was with! I also had the opportunity to sit with her once her friends got off the train and assess her interest/ establish expectations. She seemed really interested the first time we talked to her, but we haven’t been able to set up an appointment because she’s always too busy. There was one time she DID have time, and she was like 'we should meet up in the city and...' Like, she thought we just wanted to hang out or something. Needless to say, it was great to cross paths with her and get to talk a bit/ give her a condensed 1st lesson! She really is busy, so hopefully once her semester is over and she’s done with tests, we'll get to have an actual 1st lesson!!

As for my thanksgiving, we didn’t get invited to have dinner anywhere because- SURPRISE- they don’t celebrate American holidays outside of America! So last Monday, the elders, sister Hamner and I had an 'American thanksgiving' ...aka we made pizzas and ate ice cream. Then Thursday rolled around and we were like 'umm this is lame. We HAVE to do something today!' so we had another thanksgiving dinner and invited a couple YAE's from the branch. As hard as it was being surrounded by 5 people as opposed to 25 (and have 2 pies instead of 12)...I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. No matter where I am or who I’m with, I have a brother who is ALWAYS right beside me. On top of that, I’m surrounded by such wonderful people here. I’m thousands of miles away from Texas, but I’m beginning to feel at home here in Coburg...and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

Anyway, I gotta go! We're going to Nuremburg today...do you know what’s in Nuremburg? THE BIGGEST CHRISTMAS MARKET IN THE WORLD THAT’S WHAT. Oh my gosh I’m so excited.

I love y’all so much and I miss you like crazy!!

Keep praying for me.

It helps.

Love, Sister Terry

PS I OFFICIALLY SURVIVED MY FIRST MONTH IN THE FIELD. WOOHOO.