Letter to Mum

Mumma!

You are hilarious!!! The pictures I sent last week were taken from a funny angle so I promise I'm not getting too skinny. Sister Openshaw and I are working hard to eat everything we need to. We eat a lot of eggs and cheese and Schwester Munke gives us Yogurts. I've been drinking a V8 veggie juice like what you used to drink. I started that in the MTC cause we weren't getting the veggies we needed there either. 

 
   The relief society lesson you had sounds really interesting. My Patriarchal blessing talks about me being blessed with the gift of the interpretation of tongues. I have definitely seen its effects in my missionary work. Speaking German is still difficult but I can understand so much more than I can say. It helps in understanding peoples concerns and answering questions. Its true, seeking after the gifts of the spirit can be hard. I sometimes and stumped with which one do I ask for. Like which one do I need the most to use but we all need all of them or at least work to develop all of them.

   Sister Openshaw and I are both staying in Halberstadt. We are super excited! Its not normal for missionaries to stay so long with one companion. We feel very blessed. We have a lot of projects that we're working on now to get the ward to be sustaining and get less actives back to church. It also means I HAVE to pass the driving test on June 12th. I got 12 negative points and you are only allowed 10. So I can take the test again on June 12th. President said I did a really good job compared to other missionaries that have taken the test. I got three questions wrong and since they're all different points they added up to 12.

   I'm not a figment of your imagination or a dream. I'm real, I'm just on another continent. Promise :)

   So Frau XXXX came to church yesterday and after listening to everyone's testimonies she goes,''I have a testimony too'' and then just stood up right there and bore her testimony. After every experience she would share where she saw the Lords hand in her life she would say ''Pries den Herrn!'' which is Praise the Lord. She is such a great example of how we all need to be. When we recognize the Lords hand in our life we do need to give praises unto him and thank him for all that he has given us. She clapped after my testimony and then at the end of the meeting she gave me the biggest hug ever. It was so sweet. Bruder Lau also gave his testimony which he has never done and he passed the sacrament! Its really wonderful to see these little mile stones for everyone.

   On Thursday we had a lesson with XXXX and Thomas and talked about the armor of God. We built armor for XXXX and dressed him up. Bruder Schwabe brought the seminary video of the kid who takes his armor off and then gets hurt. It really helped XXXX to make the connection between the analogy and real life.

  We went to ASB, the home for people with dementia, on Friday and I saw Frau Kluger! I asked her how she was doing and she said the southern Germans were coming. I asked her why and she said she wanted to know too. Then she grabbed my face and goes ''look at that face!'' Haha, it was funny. 

  Sister Openshaw and I have dubbed this transfer the transfer of the cat planners. I made us cat planner covers. Mine is the green one, and sister Openshaw has the two orange cats.

Love you,

-Ariel Nell

Me and my armor!

My cat planner for this transfer :)

Sis. Openshaws cat planner