Dear family

A few weeks ago on the train, I sat by a lady who had lots of questions about who I was/what I do as a missionary. As my stop approached and I was getting my stuff together to go, she turned to me and said "dear, you’re not going to be successful as a missionary here in Germany, but I hope you enjoy your time, anyway".

WELLLLL I have some exciting news for that sweet lady (and for the rest of y’all, too!)...

MARIA IS GETTING BAPTIZEDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1&1/2 years of lessons and she FINALLY set a date!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Cool Maria story: When Herr Fink (the man who was living with her) left, he took EVERYTHING with him. Sister Hamner and I went over there with a couple ward members to take inventory/see what all she needed. Sadly, we got there...and she wasn’t home! We waited around for about 10 minutes, but hopped back in the car to head home after that. As we got in the car, I KNEW Maria was nearby (the spirit let me know—I love it when he does that), so I kept my eyes peeled as we drove away. Sure enough, we passed by the bus stop and there she was! Sister Hamner and I jumped out of the car, shouted her name and walked with her and Janik (her 2 year old son) home.

As we were at her place making a list of everything she needed, someone made a comment about how empty her apartment was. She immediately gestured to her son and said, “yes, but now Janik has more room to play!"

I couldn’t believe it!

Maria is a 20-year-old mom with no family, no money and now no furniture and she’s able to maintain an attitude like THAT?!

She’s such an example to me!

Gosh I love her so much!

Another rockin’ story: Our Monday-Wednesday appointments all fell out and as we were planning for Thursday, we realized we wouldn’t have time for a lesson. Boo. However, we set the goal to get at least one person’s contact information while traveling to and from district meeting. We knelt down for companionship prayer and I said something along the lines of:

“Heavenly Father, we promise we'll talk with those around us on the train tomorrow. Please put someone in our path who would be willing to learn more about thy gospel.”

Well, we got on the train...and there was like, no one on it. So I just kind of sat down and thought "oh well, maybe on the way back." But then I thought about the prayer I had said the night before. I PROMISED Heavenly Father I’d talk to people! So I looked around me. A couple rows back was a man sleeping and on the complete opposite side of the train was a woman. Sister Hamner had no idea what we were going to say to her, but we got up to talk to her, anyway. And? IT WAS INCREDIBLE. She had never heard about the church before, but was super interested and asked tons of questions. We briefly talked about the restoration and invited her to meet with us and learn more...and she agreed!! It was a really neat experience.

That's not all though! I have another story! Don’t worry! We were waiting at the bus station before Maria’s appointment (you know, the one who COMMITTED TO BAPTISM, AHH WOOHOO) and this lady came up and asked us which bus she needed to take to get to the clinic. We told her, and then she was on her way.

Later that day, as we were getting on the train taking us to Nurenberg, I saw her getting on, too! Once she sat down, I walked up and asked her if she found the clinic. We ended up talking for about 30 minutes. Turns out, she just had a baby who has been in the hospital because he was born with lots of health issues. That’s why she needed to know where the clinic was—so she could visit her little guy! She has two other kids, too!! We talked about family, about the plan on salvation, about how we can be with our families forever and she gave me her number so we could talk more! Ahhh she was so awesome!! Hopefully we can set up a time to meet soon!!

In other news, the Frankfurt temple is BEAUTIFUL. I’m glad I had the opportunity to go—it’s been rumored that it’ll be closing for renovations sometime soon! After our little trip, Bruder Wunderlich took us to his store. He is OBSESSED with America and owns a store that sells American brands.

I was in lalaland.

I miss my jiff and my captain crunch and my reeces and my take 5s and my IBC and my Cheetos, OKAY?! I LOVE FOOD PLEASE STOP JUDGING ME.

            Anyway, gotta go write president now!! Love y’all so much!! Miss you like CRAZY.

Love, Brookie