14!‏

Bahahaha I was a little excited about this. :)

Dear Friends and Family,

Hallo! Wie geht's? What a week I had! I hardly know where to start...

14! So our district had a "competition" this week to see who could place the most Bücher Mormon...Sister Shulze and I came in first with 14. It was really neat to focus so much on the Book of Mormon. We'll have to keep that going.

Mmk! Well! Tuesday, we had our Leadership Training meeting in Stuttgart, and it was SO GOOD! President and Sister Miles came, and I learned so much from both them and from our Zone leaders and the Assistants. It was a great spiritual boost, and a great time to think up some new goals for this new transfer..

After the meeting, we had an...exchange! With the Sisters from Pforzheim. It was so great! I went to Pforzheim with Sister Taysom, and learned a lot from her in those 24 hours! She just hit her halfway mark. I can't believe that will be me before I know it! At any rate, it ended up being the best exchange ever..because we did service for a family..who just so happened to live on the military base..who just so happened to need to go shopping...so! I stocked up on some stuff at the American Grocery store that you can't buy here in Germany. Woo! So the family we visited was darling. 3 little boys, and such a love for the gospel. I always love seeing families like that. Reminds me of home:)

Scripture real quick! 2 corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight". I really love that. I feel like this first transfer has really taught me a lot about "walking by faith". I mean, what choice did I have? Hah. When i found this scripture, I thought of an activity we did one year at girls camp. our leaders took us to an obstacle course in the middle of the forest. And then blindfolded us. They assigned us one person, who's voice we were supposed to follow. Easy enough right? Right. Until you factor in all the OTHER people they had place along the way to distract us. You really had to focus on the voice of that one person, and move forward with faith, trusting that they wouldn't lead you into a tree or whatever. Well! Such is life. We have the voice of the spirit, which, in theory should be easy enough to follow, right? Right. until you factor in all of the other voices. There are always so many voices in the world competing for our attention, that if we aren't REALLY focusing on the Spirit, he will be drowned out, and we will be left to walk by sight. I am still working on getting the hang of it, but I know that as we really, really, REALLY try to listen for the spirit and rely on Him, our days will be led by faith, and not by sight.

Umm! Was noch? We had an ausstellung here in Ulm on Saturday, and it was AWESOME! The 4 elders in our district came, and we had lots of support from the ward members. I love blocking out 3 hours to do nothing but contacting. Because! As we all well know, you can't teach until you find.

Mmk so mom, you asked about Debbie. Well. Sad story. While I was in Pforzheim, she called. At midnight. And essentially..dropped us. I was heart broken when I heard the news. But we continued to pray for her, and on Saturday decided to stop by her house. She wasn't home. So we left a note. And! She called us Saturday night, and un-dropped us! Best day ever! And what's better? She came to church again yesterday! Ah! We were able to have a really great investigator class with her. We talked about the first vision. It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares His children to hear the gospel. Debbie is SO PREPARED! Now we just need to get her to see that. She said, before we even started, "yeah, it's perfectly logical that God would call prophets today like in the bible, because we need someone to guide us too." Uh...it's not every day you hear that here...anywho, she really felt that she could connect with the Joseph Smith story, and in the end concluded that she need to do as Joseph did, and simply ask God. We are praying for her! I am really glad she was there yesterday. Sacrament meeting was so, so good. I feel privileged to have been able to take a part of it. We had a Sister come home from her mission in Russia. Her dad and brother in law spoke on Charity. And then, impromptu and quite unbeknownst to me beforehand, they invited Sister Shulze and I both up to bear testimony. Then Loraine and her mom played a beautiful violin/piano duet that really brought the Spirit. Then Emily (the RM) spoke, and it was so great. Then, I got to sing. i sang "Oh my Soul Hungered." I love that song. It was in English, but they explained the text beforehand. It was a little shaky at first, but I pulled it together. It was really great to be able to share one last testimony with my dear little branch...

Yes, I said one last. Transfer calls came Friday. I am still being trained, so I thought I was safe. Turns out no one is safe in the world of mission transfers. Quite to our surprise, Sister Shulze and I are BOTH being transferred together right next door to Göppingen. They are white washing Ulm and Göppingen both. Göppingen hasn't had sisters in years, and Ulm is now getting elders. I feel like I just unpacked! But come Thursday we will be heading off to our new adventures. Honestly, I think it is great. Saying goodbye yesterday was really harder than expected..and I was exposed to the seemingly cruel traditions of the Ulm branch, as they made us Sisters come up after sacrament and we all sang "Gott sei mit euch bis Aufwiedersehen." (God be with you till we meet again..) But! I think Ulm really needs elders. And white washing an area is really going to push sister Shulze and I to work harder than ever. And I am excited. I love challenges, and change always brings plenty of them. So! My new address is:

Kirche Jesu Christi

Sister Natasha Jan'L Bice

Gartenstr. 15

73033 Göppingen

Germany

And I am still in the same district, so I will still get any mail sent to the old address so...

Annd as if this isn't long enough already..I want to share a quick thought. I think it's my big "take away" from this transfer. Ready? Go!

So I was reading about the atonement in PMG this week, and something caught my eye that I hadn't noticed before. "Becoming clean from sin is being healed spiritually." I always just thought becoming clean from sin was receiving forgiveness more or less. But I love the word "healed." See, when we cut ourselves, of course we bleed. When we sin, we "cut" our spirits. But just as our bodies heal themselves with proper care, our spirit can be healed through the atonement. But of course, we still sometimes get a scar. But just as scars don't hurt after time, we can also be freed from pain of past sins. Nevertheless, God leaves us the "scar" to remind us of what happens when we cut ourselves, or, sin. The scars are really for our sake. They help us remember not to make the same mistakes twice. When I meet new people, one of the first things they notice about me is the scar I have on my face. I have had it my whole life, and of course there is no pain involved, but it is a scar nonetheless. The Savior, however, doesn't see our scars. If i were to meet the Savior tomorrow, I am quite convinced that He would in fact not ask about the scar on my face. He looks past our scars. He sees us for who we really are. He sees past our weaknesses and imperfections. And he loves us anyway. What a beautiful thought. The Savior lives. He loves us. And He invites us ALL to "come unto Him."

Ok! Time up! Sorry it's so long and crazy..such was my week! Long, crazy, and wonderful! Feel free to take the advice in 1 Thes. 5:16 and 'Rejoice evermore!" (exclamation point added..) After all, this is a gospel of joy.

Much love,

Sister Bice