Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Greetings from…Coburg!




You heard me. COBURG!

As in one of the most beautiful places in all of Germany, Coburg.

As in this place looks like it comes straight from a postcard, Coburg

As in "Which area are you in? COBURG!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME IVE WANTED TO SERVE THERE MY WHOLE MISSION IM SO JEALOUS PLEASE LETS GO ALL FREAKY FRIDAY AND SWITCH BODIES PEASE"

That Coburg.

Seriously though.

It’s BEAUTIFUL. 



Here are some deets about this lovely wonderland I now call home:

- It’s a biking area!!! Which I actually really like...minus the fact that the streets are really narrow & people here drive way fast & there are lots of twists and turns and hills and I’m pretty sure I’m going to die but WHATEVAHHH.

- We don’t really have any solid investigators...which is a bummer. At the pairing meeting, I heard all these other trainers talking about their areas and all the people they're teaching and successes their having...and we don’t really have too much of that. WE WILL, THOUGH. Just give me, sister Hamner and the Lord a couple weeks & we'll have this place up & running in no time.

- SISTER HAMNER. She's my trainer. And she rocks. Seriously, she's been SUCH an angel!! We get along really, really well.


- MY BRANCH IS THE GREATEST. There's only about 40 active members...but they’re all the sweetest people on earth. Ugh I love them so much already!!

- speaking about church, there may or may not be a castle on a hill right outside the relief society room's window (minus the may not part...AHHHH THERES A CASTLE RIGHT OUTSIDE THE RELIEF SOCIETY ROOMS WINDOW CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?! WHY AM I IN A FAIRYTALE LAND!?!)



     I'm SO stoked to be here. I got off to a really slow start. We landed on Wednesday morning & spent all day doing orientation/ interview stuff. We stayed in a hotel that night and then woke up the next morning for our pairing meeting. Everyone left later that day...but my companion had to stay in Frankfurt for a training meeting on Friday afternoon, so I just sat around with a bunch of other goldens until Friday night. It was really bad, because I had a lot of time to just sit/ think/ worry/ freak myself out...so when we finally got to Coburg, I was a little bit of a basket case. I turned into a scared little turtle and hid in my shell. And cried a lot. We'd be on our bikes and I'd see someone up ahead and think okay, Brooke. Start small. Just smile. Smile and wave at this woman. And I’d smile and wave but I was holding back tears while doing so, so I’m pretty sure I just looked like Cici when she makes her ugly chupacabra faces and scared everyone.

     Things have been much better since that first day, though. I’m still a little bit of a wreck & have to give myself pep talks 50 times a day, but that’s okay!! (:




STORY TIME WITH SISTER TERRY:

     Sister Hamner & I were walking around contacting yesterday...but we weren't really talking to anyone. After about 5 minutes i was like "Okay. This is getting us nowhere. Let’s pray and ask heavenly father where we should go" so we did. And we stood for a few seconds afterwards, listening for any thoughts or impressions put into our hearts or heads by the spirit. Then sister Hamner said "let’s go to Bahnoff"...so off we went. We stopped and talked to people, but no one seemed too interested. We were walking back to our bikes when two girls came out of their house and started walking behind us. We turned around and started talking to them...and long story short, we gave them a book of Mormon and set up an appointment for Friday!!

Heavenly Father answers prayers!

Personal revelation is real.


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.

Meet with the missionaries.

Ask God.

He'll tell you the exact same thing.



I love you all so much. Thank you for your letters, emails & most importantly- your prayers!!! Keep 'em coming (:

 

Talk to you next week!

Gotta go harvest some wheat (;



-Sister Terry

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Letter from President Stoddard



 We received the following email from Brooke's Mission President:

Greetings from the Germany Frankfurt Mission! We are happy to inform you that Sister Terry has arrived safely in Frankfurt! We have a number of activities planned for the arriving missionaries today and tomorrow, the 30th of October, they will be paired with their new trainer and first companion in the mission field and depart for their new areas throughout the mission. You can expect to hear from your missionary on Monday, the 3rd of November.



 Welcome to the Frankfurt Germany Mission!

 President and Sister Stoddard

Monday, October 27, 2014

Last Day in MTC



Today is Brooke's last day in the MTC! I want to make sure that everyone has her Germany address for writing future letters:

     Sister Brooke Ann Terry
     Kirche Jesu ChristiCorneliusstrasse 18
     Frankfurt am Main, Hessen 60325
     DEU




 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Last MTC Letter!



Dear favorite people on earth ever,

  
     WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS!!! Guess where our layover is? Texas. Dallas, Texas. Don't go breaking my heart, MTC travel office....OH WAIT. TOO LATE. Here's the schedule for Tuesday:
           -Report to the travel office at 3:30 am (woohoo!)
           -Fly out of Salt Lake at 8:10 am
           -Arrive in Dallas at 11:45 am & leave at 3:55 pm 
                    (hurrah for 4 hour layovers!)
           -ARRIVE IN FRANKFURT GERMANY AT 7:30 AM
           -get off the plane and BAPTIZE EVERYONE.

     Ummm yup. That pretty much sums it all up. We got an email from our mission president laying out our schedule for Wednesday and Thursday...we're hitting the ground running!! We have teaching appointments and street contacting scheduled for our first day. I want to throw up due to nerves and pass out from excitement at the same time. I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING.
 
Okay. Super cool experience time:
      I was reading in D&C during personal study the other day & found loads of really great scriptures about God being in our midst & helping us through hard times. Later that day, we ran into an investigator (yes, this one is real) whose son died of cancer & whose wife is currently going through chemotherapy. He's really struggling to believe God loves & is aware of him. To make matters worse, the pastor of his church keeps telling him that, because his son wasn't baptized, he's lost. His soul is stuck in a state of limbo. There's no hope for him.
So? I prayed. I said "Heavenly father, I'm a nineteen year old girl with NO life experience...I have no idea what to say to this man, but you do. Please let me know what he needs to hear." And then, one of the scriptures I read during personal study came to mind. D&C 50: 41-44. I couldn't remember exactly what it said, but I turned to it anyway & read aloud:


   41. Fear not little children, for you are mine, and i have overcome the world, and you are of them that my father hath given me
   42. And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.
   44. Wherefore...I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd...


Could that scripture have been any more perfect? Answer: NO. IT WAS BEYOND PERFECT.


We are His.
No one is lost. Or forgotten. Ever.
He is in our midst.


      Yeah, I may be a nineteen year old girl with no life experience & yeah, I may not know what these people need to hear, but I’m on the Savior's team...and he bled each & every one of our life experiences from his pores. He knows. He understands. He knows what His children need to hear....and I am so grateful to know that, as his servant, He'll let me know EXACTLY what that is as long as I remain humble & willing to listen. 


     Allow me to end with an embarrassing story. We Skype called a Deutscher last Thursday & planned a lesson about eternal families...So naturally, we sang "families can be together forever." Before we started, we asked him if he knew it & he said yes....but when we started to sing, he didn't join in...But I was like oh, whateves no big deal. Companion duet. Hurrah. When we finished, he said "ummm, is your companion with you?" AND THEN WE REALIZED SISTER GODWINS MIKE WAS OFF THE WHOLE TIME MEANING I SANG AN AWKWARD SOLO TO SOME RANDOM GUY IN GERMANY. To make matters worse, I've had a sore throat for the past 3 weeks so my voice was cracking like crazy. Like, okay. Excuse me while I crawl into a hole AND DIE.

        Just kidding.
        I won’t crawl into a whole &/ or die.
        Don’t worry.


        But I DO have to go.

        I love ya'll SO MUCH <3
        Talk to ya next week (:

        -Love, Sister Terry (: