This week was a blast! I felt like I wasn't in Rostock that much, but it was awesome! Traveling had us up at 5 am on Wednesday morning to head to DCM in Greifswald. We returned at about 4pm and then the next morning the whole traveling thing started over. Thursday morning we traveled to Hamburg for our one exchange of the transfer. (I will talk more about it later.) Then it was off to Kiel where I would be doing my exchange. Friday, we traveled backed to Hamburg to exchange back. Saturday morning it was finally back to Rostock. Whoo...it was 3.5 days other cities and 15 hours on a train!
Exchanges are my favorite!! I love them with all of my heart! Getting to see other sisters is such a blast! Especially, since we are the only sisters in our entire zone, so we never get to see other sisters. I finally got to see Sister Bohne my companion from the MTC!! Oh how I have missed her! It was like a cheesy movie scene where 2 people see eachother and run to a dramatic embrace haha. If that wasnt great enough, I also got to see Sister Thornton who was in the MTC with us as well. It was such a funny reunion for all 3 of us. All the other sisters were just laughing as we did a group hug for like 15 minutes.
My exchange was with Sister Laubaugh who is freaking hilarious. I met her my very first transfer and have been hoping for a exchange ever since. With her going home in a few weeks, I felt pretty lucky to claim her last exchange! Every said that we would be a hilarious combination because we both are just too fabulous with a little bit of black flare. Whatever that means haha. But they were all right....that was one dangggg good exchange! Full of deep chats and lots of laughing, just like all the good ones are ;). I got to be in the city of Kiel for almost 2 days. It is so pretty! I loved it there! It is weird, my first week I was on my mission I told my trainer that I felt like I would serve in Rostock and Kiel. The first one came true, so it will be interesting to see if I ever serve in Kiel.
We had lots of fun adventures in Kiel! Kiel is a bike city, which for me is always an adventure! I have lucked out with avoiding bike cities ha, but its coming...it just has to :-/. It was pouring rain and I just found myself lauging so hard as I am just peddling my heart out and riding basically blind due to lack of visabilitly due to mass amounts of water running into my eyes. Too funny. Laubaugh also talked me into letting her dye my hair.....haha such laughs. I have now been welcomed back to the dark side :). Back in black!
With our second day of exchange, the laughs kept on rolling in. We got a call that morning saying that the ward really need our help getting a funeral together. It surprising was a lot of fun! We went and decorated the church for the families lunch afterwards. Then set up tables and chairs, the whole she-bang. Laubaugh just kept apologizing that this is what I was seeing of Kiel, but it really was fun. I got to get to know a lot of the ward members, and they were awesome! I really would love to serve in Kiel. Friday evening it was time to travel back to Hamburg and meet up with all the sisters again. However, we planned a little special something. the day before while joking around with Sister Moon (my current companion) and her exchange companion, Sister Niebergall (She lived with me for a few weeks when I was in Dresden)......there may have been a challenge to have a rap battle. Well the rules were set and the time and place was the hamburg train station when we all met to exchange back. It went down, the throw down that is. SO FUNNY. We rapped about our funeral and lots of other funnies. The other sisters were dying. We may or may not have had a small croud around us....which probably isnt the best while rocking the black namtags, but it made for some epic videos and memories that will last for years! Yeah thats how we do it here in the Berlin Mission......holler.
Well my precious companion got our train time mixed up so we ended up missing our train back to Rostock and the next one wouldn't put us in Rostock until 1 am. So after a call to the AP's we got approval to sleep at the Hamburg Sisters apartment. Yes that just happens to be where Sister Bohne is serving currently! As well as Sister Moons old companion who I love dearly, Sister Schaerr. We didn't want to call them and tell them because we decided it would be funny to just show up and surprise them. Hamburg was my current companions first city and so like a pro she navigated us right to their apartment before they got home. We waited for them with our cameras ready. We may or may not have scared them to death by jumping out of the bushes to surprise them, but it was funny so it makes it all okay :). It was so refreshing to be able to just chat with Bohne even just for a little before we went to bed. The next morning we were off, but man it was a blast!! Don't worry, even though it doesn't sound like it, lots of missionary work got done these few joyous days!
To update you on people......William, has a baptismal date and is doing awesome! We actually met with him 3 times this week. He is doing really well and he is even getting some friends for referrals to give us.... couldn't get better than that! Degol has been gone, but he is still doing well and is still planning on getting baptized with William in December. Sarah came to church yesterday! She is an amazing 20 year old student who asks the best questions. She speaks perfect German and English We are excited what will come with her in the future. The Preets are doing better every week. We are having FHE with them this week and teaching them how to make American Brownies haha. I honestly cant wait, they are my family here in Rostock!
Lessons and New appointments just keep rolling in. Things here are going really well! I feel pretty lucky to be here in this city with a great companion!! So many miracles every week, its impossible to email them to you all....but they are happening, We are completey booked this next week with a service project at the Zoo and a day in a city called Prenzlau.....next weeks email should not be boring.
Spiritual Thought: On my way to email today I stopped and talked to a lady. I asked her what she wanted in life. She gave just a one word answer.....Peace. In a world where peace is such a universal quest....we sometimes wonder why we still see so much violence and hate that smother tranquility. Anger, hatred, and contention are foes that are not easily subdued. They leave their destructive paths in forms of tears, pain, sorrow, and shattered hopes of what could have been. World peace may seem like a lofty goal, but it is an outgrowth of the personal peace each individual seeks to attain. I am not talking about the peace promoted by man, but the peace promised of God. Peace after the way of man is perishable. Peace after the manner of God will prevail. "anger doesnt solve anything. It builds nothing, but it can destroy everything." The consequences of conflict are so devastating that we we seek for guidance-even a way to ensure our success as we seek the path to peace. So how do we get this peace in our life? President Monson has suggested 3 ideas. First is Search Inward. Self Evaluation is always a difficult procedure. The price of peace is righteousness. "Men and nations may loudly proclaim peace, but there shall be no peace until individuals nature in their souls those principles of personal purity, integrity, and character which foster the development of peace. Peace cannot be imposed. It must come from the lives and hearts of men. There is no other way." To find peace we must live in honesty, honoring each other, honoring obligations, working willing, loving and cherishing loved ones, serving and considering others, with patience, with virtue, with faith, and forbearance. Life is for learning, serving, repenting, and improving. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Second is Reach Outward. Though exaltation is a personal matter, you cannot live in a vacuum. Occasionally discouragement may darken our pathway; frustration may be a constant companion. Trusting in the lord let us turn our heads from such feelings and make certain our feet are firmly planted in the path of service and our hearts and souls dedicated to follow the example of the lord. "In moments when the light of resolution dims and when the heart grows faint, we can take comfort in His promise: "Be not weary in well-doing....Out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind"Third, Look Heavenward. "As we do we find it comforting and satisfying to communicate with Heavenly Father through prayer, that path to spiritual power-even a passport to peace." His divine plan can save us from sin, complacency, and error. His examples points the way. When faced with temptation, He shunned it. When offered the world, He declined it. When asked for His life, He gave it. He lives! And because he lives, we shall indeed live again. This knowledge provides the peace we need in our lives.
Thanks for all the love and support!! Love you all! Bis nächste montag!
Sister Linford
Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Friedrich Str.14
18057 Rostock
Germany
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