Merry Christmas 🎄 (December 21, 2016)

December 21, 2016

Merry Christmas 🎄 (December 21, 2016)

Christmas is Halle!

Hello Everybody! Merry Almost Christmas!

I can't believe it is almost Christmas... the time goes so fast... yesterday was also my 11 month mark... WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE!?

This week was incredible! I'm extremely exhausted but it's all worth it because we have seen miracles through it!

First off... I made it to Halle!! This place is like a bigger Hohenstein... and I love it! The streets are clean, its bright and happy here! The Buildings are pretty cool... there are a TON of really old walls and buildings still up! It's really pretty here. The Ward here isn't too big but that's alright because they are all so sweet and friendly! I love Halle! I'm really excited to be here!

Anyway, Wednesday we went finding and then we had to come to the church and teach third hour of church... (oh that's the other thing... the Ward does things a little differently... he.. he.. they have decided to only have two hours of church on Sunday and make the third hour during the week! The only thing is... four people come to third hour haha! Aber NaJa!) ;) haha! We taught about the scriptures! It went really well.

Thursday we went by on a few people met with some less actives and then went finding! Finding in Halle is hysterical... people's reactions are pretty funny! Most don't really have interest but the reactions make the conversation worth it haha! "Ach Nö!!!"

But we stopped this one lady on a motor scooter on the street! She looks like she's in her early thirties or late twenties her sister (around the same age) was walking along side her and her little son sitting behind her in the scooter! We stopped them and started talking about religion!They come from Syria! So we asked what she believed... she told us she was Christian! She started talking about religious books... so we said, "have you heard of the Book of Mormon?" We gave her a copy and German and we told her we would bring one in Arabic! So we made out an appointment for Tuesday! then also on Thursday Sister Baldwin and I had an appointment with a neubekehrt Schwester Thiel in the evening. So we went finding unterwegs. As we were walking we saw this cute married couple (in their 20's) speedily walking towards us! We stopped them and asked them a question! They didn't have much time because they were running to the movie theater... but we handed them a card! The man looked at the card and said, "Hey! My great Aunt in California is a Mormon!" He got all excited about it and thanked us for the card. Well... fast forward a few days... and who shows up to church? This man and his wife!! (Florian and Sabine) AHHHHH!! I flipped!!! They are so cool!!! They have visited the church before in California... but this was the first time in German! They found it very interesting and they wanted Doctrine and Covenants! So we made an appointment with them on Monday to bring them one! I was on Tausch in Leipzig with Sister Wayment (another girl in my group!) so I missed the appointment with them... but Sister Swapp, my trainee, was in Halle so she got to go! She promised me she'd invite them to baptism! Haha! She said it was incredible and they have so many questions! They invited them to baptism and they said when they receive an answer then yes. So cool! Pray for them!

Friday, as we were out finding again we ran into quite a few funny people... ;) haha! But there was this one man outside the Apoteke. We went up to him and started talking! Suddenly I had the impression to ask him if he believed in Eternal Families! He said, "I hope it true... I hope so." And then we said, "well... it is true! And we can tell you about how it is possible!" We then set up an appointment with him for this Thursday! I was so excited!

Saturday we had lots of appointments and they went pretty well haha! Then we went caroling as a district in Halle! So Sister Swapp and Wayment came to Halle and our Elders in Halle were there... it was really funny! Haha we went to Markt Platz and we sang and handed out #DerWeltEinLicht cards! It was awesome and we were able to hand out all of the cards that we brought haha! People would stop and clap! One guy told me he had seen the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Frankfurt! Also, at the end some guy came up and he looked like he was going to shake my hand... so I reached my hand out a little confused... and he puts an Euro in my hand and walks away... bahahahahaha!! We were all dying! So now I have a shiny new Euro... ;) haha!

We all know what happened Sunday... Miracles!! That's what happened! We also had a wonderful eating appointment with the Burkhardt Familie in our ward! They are incredible and we are spending Heilige Abend and Christmas with them! So excited!

Monday, we had ZTM! (The reason why my Pday is on Wednesday this week!) My companion and I had to give a theme in Zone training meeting! Our theme was on "How can we involve Christ more in our lives?" It was cool! Hopefully our theme went well... it was all leading up to our Stake Presidents (President Hengst, resident of Hohenstein!) goal for the year. His goal is to have 100 baptisms in our stake in the year of 2017! Which is 100% reachable. But we did the math and we need to have at least four baptisms per district per month! We are so excited for this new goal! The whole focus of Zone training meeting was "finding the ones!" And how we can accomplish this goal by finding the ones... who will find another one... who will find another one... I'm so excited!

Also, we finally got all of our Christmas packages!!!!!! Ahhhh!!! I can not thank any of you enough for the kindness and the love which you sent me. Words cannot describe how grateful I am. Thank you all so much!! Funny story... I had to spend the night in Leipzig with Sister Wayment on Monday for Tausch! Well... we had to carry a lot of packages home for Sister Swapp (who was going to Halle for the night), myself, and Sister Wayment... plus my little suitcase for Tausch! Well, I had my big box, another big box and one of Sister Swapp boxes in my arms. Sister Wayment had two boxes and my suitcase... and we had to walk all the way home with all this stuff. Needless to say... it was not working. Well... Sister Wayment dropped everything and I couldn't help her because my arms were full of three big boxes... so as we are standing there laughing about all this... guess who walks up behind us? Präsident Fingerle! Hahaha! So we walked with him for about ten minutes and talked about Christmas with his family and such! It was awesome to talk with him... but the whole situation was hysterical... Sister Wayment and I casually walking with Präsident as our arms are full of boxes and aching! Before we parted ways he took a picture of us and said he was going to put it on the blog hahaha!! So stay tuned for that... ;) haha!! Long story short... when we finally made it home... we couldn't move our arms. Haha! I'm still sore.

Well... today was our last day at the Christmas Market for who knows how long... the Christmas season in Germany will be coming to an end soon... it's sad that the markets will be going down... but I will never forget this special time I had in Germany! Especially since I got to experience it in two areas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I love you all! Remember what Christmas is really about. And spend time with your family this season. My heart is full of love for you all! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Darton