1st week down, 34 to go!

Hey Mumma,
  I love all the stories about your kids. Poor Max, I'm right there with him. Peanut butter should always be allowed in a room. I did have Frau Alexander. She was a really good teacher but moved really fast for me so I wasn't as good at German as everyone else. Now I probably am :) Mr. Hilte is the math teacher that revolutionized math for me. I was having a REALLY hard time with math. Again, just being behind all the other kids. I stayed after school one day and he spent time with me just working on how to do distribution and then he made math really fun for me. I remember him playing the song ''one is the loneliest number'' when we were learning about prime numbers. I believe he used to fly airplanes in the Air Force. He is a really great teacher.

   Thanks for the Winnie the Pooh quote. ( 'you're stronger than you think and braver than you believe' ) That's something I definitely need to remember. I'm excited to read the memories that you have of Papa. I don't have too much time right now so I printed it off.

   I'm kind of afraid I'll be moved too but there is a lot of things unsettled right now in Halberstadt so moving would be really inconvenient. But if I have to move I know its because I'm needed somewhere else.  You should make lasagna for the Sister missionaries on Tuesday or squash casserole. Mmmmm, I miss your food.

   This past week we had Zone Conference and Sister Kosak picked apart Psalm 23. When I read it a few months ago I didn't really like it but I remember you saying that it was Grandmas' favorite scripture. It was interesting sitting through this lesson. It really opened my eyes and I don't think I really ever got it until Zone Conference. I really needed to hear verse 4 talking about walking through the valley of death but fearing no evil because the Lord is with us. Those Valleys of Death can be our personal Gethsemanes but the Lord is always there leading us through them to our greatest joy. Sometimes he is even carrying us. And then in verse 6 how it says ''Surely'' so it's definitely going to happen and at the end'' I WILL dwell in the house of the Lord forever.'' It's something that will happen for sure. That brings a lot of comfort. As we are doing what the Lord needs us to do we will find our greatest joy in the end.

   Bruder Schwabe told us yesterday that we needed to find more ''normal'' people. That really hurt. All of these people are children of the Lord. He isn't a respector of persons and so neither am I. I hope that he can see the divine nature all the people have and that they are all children of Heavenly Father and his siblings. Sometimes changing mindsets is the hardest thing to do.

   Well I hope you have a great week Mumma. I love you and look forward to hearing from you every week! Love you,
Ariel Nell