Guten Morgen :)‏

Haalllooo from Ulm! :)
So! Guess who go a letter this week? I DID! From my dearest and most darlingest Grandma and Grandpa Bice. Thanks so much you two! It is always so great to hear from home:) Thanks for all your support. :)

Annd guess what else I did this week? I made pfannkuchen! Or, pancakes! Meine gute they were so delicious. Germany will soon come to know of my wonderful pancakes that I love so much. Hah, actually, my companion didn't like them. She said they were too sweet for her. But! It was a nice little piece of home for me :)

So! This last Monday we met with a darling old (very old..) member named Sister Senftleben. She. Was. Darling. WE had a lesson on gratitude, and I think I learned more from her than she did from us. Also, we sang for her, and she started conducting, and..it was cute. Anywho, she said something that I liked. "Where there is gratitude, there is joy." Simple, yet profound. It reminded me (for some weird reason..) of the song on White Christmas that says "when you're weary and you can't sleep, try counting blessings instead of sheep..." How awesome it would be if we could fall asleep every night counting our blessings, and wake up doing the same! I have found taht gratitude is one of the biggest weapons against discouragement here in the field. If ever I am feeling a little down, I simply think of all the many things I have in my life to be grateful for. And like my dear MTC teacher told us, "No one ever damaged their eyesight by looking on the brightside!" Amen!

Soo we are in need of new investigators. I spent probably an hour last Tuesday looking through the area book. There are So. Many. Names in there. We contacted some families on our "potentials" list. One said we could come back the next morning, but then wasn't home. But! On the way back, we gave out a Book of Mormon to a lady walking her dog, who seemed pretty excited to have it. We call her "Hunde Frau" (dog lady..) when we pray for her. Hah. Hopefully she reads it and calls the missionaries sometime in the future...

The weather this last week was wonderful! Lots of sunshine! It did rain Saturday though. The day of our Ausstellung in Göppingen. A straßeausstellung is where you set up a booth thing on the street, and talk to people. We must of handed out 100 flyers in our 2 hours. It was really good practice for talking with people. And! If they insult me, I have no idea! I just give them my spiel, smile, and go on my happy way! I did catch a frightful glace of myself in the mirror when all was said and done...the rain got the better of me! But it was fun:)

We also had Pfahlkonferenz (stake conference) in Stuttgart this weekend. It was great! It was also in German. I didn't understand all of it, but I was truly shocked by how much I did understand. Anywho, I was good. Itwas a little like an MTC fireside again! I do miss those..but! One thing I liked was that "saints are only sinners, trying to be better each day." Nobody is perfect. We are not expected to be perfect. We are only expected to try our very best. :) Also! They talked a little about temples, and I realized, that temples really are the key to the bridge to Eternity. Some of the members here to don't seem to realize the importance of them, and the ones that do make enourmous sacrices to attend. I encourage all of you who live near a temple to take advantage of it!

And of course a little language thought before I scamper off...the German "Ich will..." means "I want...". I was thinking a lot about desires this week as I've been reading the Book of Mormon and PMG, and I decided that desires are such a big factor to..well..everything we do in life. Sometimes, it isn't so much what we do that matters, as WHY we do it. We can do great things, but if not for the right reasons, it will profit us nothing. So! The moral? I think that what we WANT in life, or, our desires, will eventually become what we WILL do, say, think, become. It is so important to have righteous desires. And life is so much easier when we allign our desires with the Lord's.

Anywho! I am out of time! But I love you all, and thank you for your support and good examples! Keep smiling, and the world will smile with you!

Much love,
Sister Bice

Guten Montag!‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

Wow! I can't believe I've been here in Germany two weeks already! Where did the time go...

Good news! This last week was considerably warmer. Woo! Apparently it's been a really cold winter for them (go figure..) but March is supposed to be the last month of winter so..fingers crossed?

So! This week, I extended my first baptismal commitment! To Rodrigo. Annnd he said no..but it was more of a no, not yet? I think one thing I have really learned here, is you lose nothing in trying things. In talking to people on the street for example. Most of them walk past you and pretend like you haven't said anything..but! Nothing is lost. So, while it would have been AWESOME had he said yes, it was good to ask him anyway. That lesson was actually probably my favorite so far. See, usually we plan out all the things I will say in a lesson, and I don't actually say much. But this time i got brave. We were talking about the Book of Mormon, and he said he had read it a little but it didn't feel any different than any other book. (He didn't pray before he read..hmph) Anywho, I saw a guitar in the corner of the room, and a thought popped into my mind. i fought it off for a minute, because I didn't know if I could say what I wanted to in German. Then i decided just to go for it. I made a simple comparison between the two, telling him that "the first time I picked up the guitar, i was awful! But that didn't mean I couldn't play guitar. It simply meant i needed to practice. Sometimes, it's the same with things like the Book of Mormon. When I read it as a kid, it was sometimes hard to understand, and I didn't always feel the spirit. But, turns out I just needed practice, and now it's my favorite book..." etc. I didn't know if I had made a lick of sense or not, and my comp kind of stared at me for a sec. Uh...but! After the lesson back at the Wohnung, she said, "So in the lesson today when you started talking about that stuff we hadn't planned.." Uh oh..I was waiting for some corrections...but, then she continued, "Your German was perfect! I mean literally, every word was right. I was surprised!" So! Moral of the story: life is always better when we let go of our fears and let Christ take the wheel. It was a neat experience. At any rate, I think Rodrigo just needs more time. Hopefully we can get a hold of him this week...

Saturday! Was so good! We were supposed to go to Ellwangen to help the elders with a straßenausstellung (a street booth for contacting..) but we got to the station and there had been an accident and our train was no longer running. I was so sad. But then we did some contacting of our own! Finally! It was a beautiful day, so we went tot eh market. There were so many people! We didn't get any new investigators, but we gave away some cards and a Book of Mormon. I can't wait to be able to understand more of the language so I can talk more! At any rate, it was fun, and I quite enjoyed it. Its great knowing that if i say something stupid, it doesn't matter, because I don't know anybody here..hah.

oh! Right! I totally forgot! My first day here, President Miles announced that the Alpine mission will soon be expanding to include a German speaking region in a northern part of...Italy! Neat huh? We are now a 5 country mission..

For all of you Bice's out there, a little something fun. The German word for "to bite" is "beisen"..which is pronounced like..Bice. Whenever I tell my name to members, especially the kids, they say "Oh! Wie 'Beisen'". Pah. Perfect.

Some fun German facts...

Riding the bus last Friday, there was a kid who walked in, sat down, and pulled out a book. I looked to see what it was. The cover said "Die Bibel". I was so excited! I leaned to my companion and whispered "That boy is reading the Bible! Lets talk to him!" And.....turns out it was actually..a math book. Their textbooks here are sometimes called Bibels? Hmph..

And last week we were eating at a members house. The mom is from America. I saw some water on the table, so I poured myself some. And drank a sip, and... Oh. My. Lands. It was AWFUL! I was honestly wondering to myself if I had accidentally poured myself a glass of cleaner instead. Then the mom asked "are you drinking carbonated water??" I, declaring my innocence, said "I have no idea!" And then she went off on...how proud she was. How most missionaries don't take to carbonated water until a year into their mission. How I was so ahead of my time. Little did she know, I am quite certain I will NEVER take to the stuff. Bleh.

And! Some cool things I learned this week..The German past participle for "to offer" in German is "geboten". The word for commandments is "gebote". While the words really have nothing to do which each other, i thought it was cool, because! Commandments are not rules that make us restricted or miserable, but rather, they "offer" us blessings. Whenever we keep a commandment, we are blessed. Kinda neat huh?

And from the scriptures..1 Cor 9:14 "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel..." and 1 pet 5:3 "Neither as being Lords over God's heritage, but examples to the flock." One of the MOST important things we can do, as missionaries or as members, is live what we believe. As we do so, people will notice that there is something different about us. Something special. That something is the knowledge of the restored gospel. It is so critical so always do as Christ would do, and truly live what we believe. You never know who might be watching.

Anywho! I am once more out of time. Thanks again for all of your wonderful support and prayers! I love you all dearly. Have a lovely week!

Love,

Sister Bice

Hallo and Guten Tag from Ulm!‏

Liebe Freunde und Familie,
Meine Gute! I dont even know where to start! Hmm..well..in traditional small talk fashion, lets start with the weather.....
IT IS SO COLD HERE! I am quite sure that Germany gives a whole new meaning to the word. There is lots of snow. and lots of bitter cold. I may or may not wear at least 2 days worth of clothing at a time. Burr! Luckily, we havent had to spend TOO much time outside yet, because we had a lot of appointments this week...
So! Yeah! My trainer/companion is sister Schulze. She is really cute. She is also..a german. Yep. A native. Which keeps things interesting...we have very different personalities. My indecisiveness drives her crazy..hah. I am working on it. It also has been really interesting with the language. Obviously she is really helpful because she knows how to say everything right. She just doesnt know WHY..haha. And her english is really good, but we always run into little language barriers where I will ask her what a word means, but she doesnt know the word...so we have to play this little game of trying to describe it using other words. Hah its interesting. Also! Fun fact. Germans dont have a "th" sound in their language. So most of them cant really say it. At first I thought it was a lisp, but its not. And the "w" and "v" are different here, so I have to listen really closely when she talks to I can understand her. For example she says "waacum" instead of "vacuum". Its so crazy! Anywho, she is a sweetheart, and I am excited to learn all that I can from her. :)
As for the food? Honestly at this point, I have been more concerned with starving to death than getting fat! Meine gute! See, we have a kitchen..with food in it.....I just dont know what to do with any of it. It is all crazy german food. Soooo I have been making crazy ridiculous concoctions and..well...bahaha. But when the members and investigators feed us? Wow. I swear they look at me and see a 300 pound man with the amount of food that gets put on my plate! Anywho..its great!
Bahaha! "Ulm, ulm on the range" hmm? Leave it to uncle Virgil:) The area is actually really big here. We have to ride the train for 40 minutes to get to some of our appointments. Hah, so I thought I was doing pretty good with the jet lag right? Wrong. we were riding the bus the other day, and I didnt even realize that I was tired....until I jerked awake just in time to save myself from falling the rest of the way out of my seat. Needless to say, Sister Schulze made me sit on the inside the rest of the week. Hah. Anywho, I dont know if we will be doing much historical sight seeing. My comp is from Germany so it isnt as exciting for her. I did see this giant church though..i Forget what its called..but! It is really neat. I think she said it was the tallest chruch in this part of germany. I believe it!
Annd of course the work here! I tell you what, missionary work is not at all what I was expecting. Or at least not here. We had a lot of appontments last week. but most of them are with less actives and new converts. Which is great! I just didnt ever really think about that. We do have a couple of investigators though. I havent yet met any of them yet except for Rodrigo. I commited him, in my best Deutsch (hah) to come to church with us on Sunday. Sunday came and we didnt see him at the stop or on the bus, and we were really sad about it. Then all of the sudden and out of nowhere, he was sitting in the seat behind us! Yay! He came to chruch and seemed to enjoy it, but we will have to talk to him more about it on Thursday at our next appointment.
Hah, I think one of my favorite people thus far has been a recent convert, Alexander. He loves to talk. And likes to try to talk english. Which believe it or not is probably worse than my german. He once told the sisters that he was a "vegetarian"...but accidentally told thme that he was a "vegetable" instead. Hah! Anywho, I asked him about his conversion story, whicih was actually really interesting..and long. Short version...he has done a lot of religious searching, including living with the Monks for 3 months..haha! But then he found the Kirche Jesu Christi in the phonebook, called the building, there happened to be someone there cleaning, they got him in contact with the missionaries, he heard the First Vision, and was sold. I love the First Vision. So much power.
The branch here is quite small. Only 30 members or so. And! Some of the members speak english! I was actually a little confused at first. See, my first few days here I went around a little like a deer in the headlights trying to understand everyone. So I h eard english and thought german and..it took a second to click. Haha. At any rate, it felt a little like dry land after a couple of days at sea. I guess I was a little homesick for my native tongue. But! I truly love german. I cant wait to be able to understand what people are sayzing to me! Anzwho! There is no church building, so we meet in a "flat". Seeing as there arent very many members...I stuck out like a sore thumb on Sunday. I was aksed to say the prayer. Three times. Which! I did gladly. They also had me introduce myself and bear my testimony in sacrament. When I sat down, a lady leaned over and whispered. "your Deutsch is as good right now as some sister missionaries are when they go home!" While I think (hope) that was an exaggeration, it was a really nice compliment. We ate with her family that night and she told me I had a lot of German potential, and that i could go home like a native speaker. Fingers crossed? The gift of tongues is so real. There is NO WAY I could be learning this fast on my own. I still ahve a LONG way to go, but with practice and hard work, it will come.
So scripture for the week: Mosiah 2:41. "Consider ont he blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God..." It has been really interesting seeing that scriputre manifest out here in Germany. Growing up in UTah you dont notice it as much, but the people here just look so sad. Even the happy ones arent the same kind of happy I am used to. The happiness that can only come from the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ...I am so grateful to have been raised in the church, and for all of the blessings that come from it. I am also so very grateful adn very humble to be serving a mission. To have the opportunity to take the happiness the Lord has given me, and share it with others. It really hit me this week how short a time I have out here. I am so priviledged to be able to wear His name over my heart every minute of every day for the next 16 months. My hope and prayer is that during those 16 months, I will be changed. That my relationship with my Savior will grow so strong that while the nametag may not always be there, His name will never, ever leave my heart.
Well! I think I am about out of time. Sorry for the scatterbrained-ness of this email. i didnt know we were emailing this morning so
Much love! The gospel is true! Have a lovely week! And smile often! It's funny, I stepped on the plane to come here and soon noticed that most of the other passengers were German. And I had this unexplainable and immediate love for them. So I went around smiling all day at everyone...annnnd they thought I was crazy...but! Smile. We carry a message of joy:)
Until next week!
Sister Bice

Greetings from Germany!‏

Dear Brother and Sister Bice-

We are delighted to tell you that Sister Bice arrived safely in Munich this morning. She is tucked away in bed now after a long day of orientation.

We thought you might enjoy these pictures from this evening. She was assigned her new companion and area tonight and she will serve in Ulm, Germany with her new companion, Sister Shultze.

We are thrilled that she is here and are very impressed with her preparation and enthusiasm. She will be a great missionary. Thank you for all you have done to help her become the fine young sister she is today. We love her already, and we will do all we can to help her grow as a missionary and have a successful mission. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. May the Lord bless you and your family at this wonderful time of missionary service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Miles

Alpine German-speaking Mission

...Last e-mail from the USA!‏

Halle Familie und Freunden!

So! This week has been super crazy, and super busy, and I don't have a whole lot of time, but I'll sure do what I can here..

Fun Fact: The word for "Relief Society Presidency Meeting" in German is "Frauenhilfsuerernigungpräsidentshaftversammlung´´ yes, it is all one word. Yes, it is approximately 48 letters long.

Tuesday! Was the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the MTC. And guess who came? Jeffrey R. Holland. And Russel M. Nelson. It was SO neat! Holland bore a short but incredibly powerful testimony, and Nelson gave a neat message about the history of missionary work, and our duty to represent well those who have come before us. The devotionals here are always so great. But my favorite part of when the Apostles come is...their eyes. So much light in their eyes. Sometimes I think they are tearing up, when really, it's just the light! It's amazing.

So! This week! Well we got to host the new missionaries again on Wednesday, which was way fun! Your first day here, you have a little orange dot on your name tag. The Dork Dot. Love it.

Also on Wednesday! My companion and I were recommended by our teachers to help with one of the new missionary workshops. It was...so interesting. We played the missionaries for a big group of newbies, and after 15 minutes, they would turn it over to them. Oh. My. Lands. Mostly, it was a reaaaalll eye opener to just how much we've learned in these last 9 weeks. The newbs were awful! My favorite was "So..I noticed that you had your eyes open during the prayer...I thought you said you were a Catholic??" Hah! One of the new missionaries said that to their investigator! It was crazy. It made me realize that I haven't necessarily learned a whole lot of new doctrine while being here, but rather, learned to use and teach the things I already knew...which makes a world of difference...

Umm! So Thursday was our last day of class, which was super fun. We spent most of the time sitting on the floor while our teachers went through their mission albums with us and told us stories about their missions. It made me SO EXCITED to get to Germany! And also mildly terrified. Haha.

Friday we had In Field Orientation. Which was super informative! I quite enjoyed it. Mostly we just went over things like street contacting and working with the members and all the important stuff we never talked about in class. :)

And! Every Thursday, a wife of one of our branch presidency members comes and visits us in our room...this week Sister Hickens came, and read an email from Sister Smart's first week in Germany. She was in the group above us, and is in the Alpine mission. She said that as soon as they got there, they were handed some pass along cards and a book of Mormon to place. She said 1 of 9 missionaries actually succeeded in the task. Bah! So i guess that is what I will be doing here in TWO DAYS! Walking around a German street, trying to make myself understood enough to share the gospel....and I can't wait. :)

So! Some thoughts from this week. There are a few of them..bear with me..

First! 1 Nephi 17:13 is Christ talking to Lehi and his family and says. "And I will be your light in the wilderness; and i will prepare the way before you..." Sounds good right? Well the German Book of Mormon says "And I WANT to be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you..." A bit different hmm? Christ WANTS to be our light. He WANTS to prepare our way. But the choice to follow, the agency, is left in our hands. If we are not being led by the Lord in our lives, it isn't because He isn't trying...

Also! "Happiness is not a destination, but a mode of transportation." -President Monson. I think sometimes we get too caught up in wanting to be happy that...we forget to be happy! Sounds silly right? Yet it happens. I know personally I sometimes think "Well, when such and such happens, THEN I will be happy..." or something to that effect. When! All I'm doing is wasting the moment. Happiness really and truly is not a destination. IF we are always waiting for happiness to come, it never will. We must not wait for happiness to find us, but we must find happiness in each and every day of our lives.

I think my favorite thought from this week was shared by meine Lehrerin, Sister Christopher in her parting testimony. She said "Don't just go on missions. Become missionaries." How true is that. It is all too easy for us to go out, serve a mission, do missionary things, wear missionary clothes, follow missionary rules....and never actually become a missionary. "Missionary" isn't a calling. It's a state of being. A state of being where we have so much love for our Savior, and so much love for our fellowmen, that sharing the gospel is the only logical course of action! The big take away that I'll be forever indebted to the MTC for is simply learning how to love. "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." And when they know how much you care, you'll be able to change lives.

Well! That's all I've got for this week! I'm sure I'll have some more interesting material to share next week as I will then be in GERMANY! Thanks so much for all the love and letters and prayers. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Bice