Hello

Dearest Familie und Freunde,

Phew! What a week we had here in Göppingen..and Stuttgart..and Pforzheim..hah. We'll get to that...

So! Tuesday we had Zone Conference in Stuttgart. It was SO super. Meine Gute I love my mission. President and Sister Miles spoke to us, and then the Assistants, Zone, and District Leaders all did workshops with us. It was so super. I learned so much.

After Zone Conference we had an exchange with the Pforzheim Sisters. So, I went to Pforzheim with Sister Weed. Let's just say..the 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon were..a little long. Hah. I really learned to appreciate MY companion. It is amazing how much we take for granted in life hmm? For example, how smoothly things go when you've been working with someone for 4 months vs. how things go when you work with someone new. But! I learned a lot. And realized how blessed I am for having a Native companion. The sister I worked with has been out for 9 months, and I was teaching HER german. All the credit there going to meine liebe Mitarbeitarin and the Lord. I realized how much German I really do know! And also how much I really...don't know. I am so used to being able to ask Sister Schulze for words or questions all the time and getting correct answers! Anywho. We ended up getting stuck on the wrong train ont the way back. We ended up in a city called Brennen. Which is in fact...in the Frankfurt Mission. Uhhh....oops? Hah. Sister Schulze and I had a very happy reunion to say the least, and are happy to be back together in Göppingen!

Friday, we had...our second Finding Day! We were out again from 11am to 9pm, street contacting, trying to find the Lord's Children who have been prepared by Him to receive the Gospel. We had a goal to find 15 potentials. We found 10. Which was a little disappointing, and yet, we were far from disappointed. We gave our best, and that's all He asks. :) By the end of the day, we were so spent! But we kept on whistling "Called to Serve" until the bitter end. We like to whistle:)

Saturday...you'll never guess. We....set a baptisimal date with Sarah! The 30th of June:) We had a lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation, and she was really interested and had some really great questions. She is so super. She never ceases to amaze us with her insights and views on life. She lives an hour and a half away from us, which is hard...we also have yet to find a way for her to be able to make it to church on Sundays..but! Where there's a will, there's a way. And her heart is ready and willing.

Annnd Sunday. Well..back up a little bit. Friday. On Friday, one of the people we contacted into was a Frau named Rebekka. We read a little out of the book of Mormon with her on the street, and she was really interested and said she wanted to come to church on Sunday. So! We called her Saturday night to touch bases. She answered the phone and we said who we were (Missionare von der Kirche Jesu Christi) annnd..the line went dead. Hung up on. Again. Sister Schulze and I were both confused and disappointed. Our "Schwarz Kleided Frau", the one who actually had interest, hung up on us. :\

But! The story doesn't end there. At 10:45pm we heard the Handy ring. We answered. Rebekka! She said she's been at the lake and her phone died and that she'd just gotten home. She apologized, and double checked the address of the church for Sunday. So! Sunday, we waited outside the church until the last possible moment but...no Rebekka. Again disappointed, we went back upstairs and took our seats in Relief Society.

But! The story doesn't end there. At the end of the first hour, we got a text. Rebekka! She said sorry, but she'd slept in. We told her she could still make it to Sacrament, and she said she would hurry. And sure enough, just before Sacrament started, one of our young women came and excitedly told us we had an investigator there! And the talks were perfect! The Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. She had already read a bit in the Book of Mormon, and said it was way easier to understand than the Bible. ANYwho, we are meeting with her Friday:)

Speaking of Friday...transfer calls. We are very much not really looking forward to them. Sister Schulze and I have been together 4 months now. One of us is likely to go. But! We'll go where you want us to go, dear Lord....

Anywho! I am again out of time...so I will quickly leave a thought and then scamper! I was reading in PMG this week in German, and it said something interesting about the Atonement. I don't remember it exactly and don't have it on me, but something to this effect....mmk the English says, "As we use the Atonement in our lives, it can help us...." But the German starts out a little different. It says "In the measure that we use the Atonement in our lives, it can help us...." Liebe Geschwister, the price has been paid. Whether or not we use that redemption to our benefit is entirely up to us.

I love you all! I love this work. I have never been happier. There is so much joy in this work. There are a lot of hard times--sometimes they even outweigh the good times--but they are swallowed up in the joy of the good news of the Gospel.

I hope you all have a wonderful upcoming week! Smile lots and don't forget to appreciate the little things!

Love,

Sister Bice

guten Tag!‏

 Liebevoll Familie und Freunde,
 So! This week, I think Sister Schulze and I learned the danger of
 having a full schedule. Apparently, the more appointments you have
 scheduled=the more appointments that can...fall through. We had a lot
 of ausgefallen Terminen in der Woche. But! It was nonetheless a super
 week:)
 We have a new investigator! Frau Hausmann, the lady who stopped us at
 the train station and asked us for a Book of Mormon! She is super
 great. She reminds me of somebody I know..but I can't quite put my
 finger on it. Anywho, we met with her last Friday in the church, and
 she walked around looking at all the pictures, reading all the wall
 quotes, asking lots of questions, etc. We had a great lesson, and we
 are hoping to have her in church this coming Sunday. She's great, and,
 so far as we can tell, prepared. :)
 We also have another progressing investigator, Sarah. She's from
 Nigeria. Unfortunately, she lives in Heidenheim..which is an hour and
 a half by train..but! We met with her twice last week. Now all we need
 to do is find a way to get her to church...
 Umm! Other adventures from the week? We helped an inactive schwester
 move? Actually we've been helping with it the last month. But last
 Thursday she said the old apartment needed to be completely emptied
 out. She's a single mom, and had nobody to help. Sisters to the
 rescue! We emptied out her 5th floor apartment and carried all the
 stuff to her new apartment. We were so kaputt by the end of the
 day..and I was SO sore the day after. It was great:)
 Annd Saturday morning we...planted flowers! We were assigned by our
 Ward Mission Leader a service project, namely, to take care of a
 couple of graves in a cemetery here in town. Well the Elders
 apparently didn't find that very interesting. They looked awful. But!
 We bought some flowers and planted them and now they look lovely:) It
 was really fun to do some gardening:)
 Und jetzt a little shout out for music! So yesterday we met with one
 of our cute little old Sisters in the ward. She lives in an old folks
 home..sort of. At any rate, we walked with her to the park and found
 ourselves a bench. We could see she wasn't doing very well. We started
 having our little lesson, and a couple minutes in, she asked if we
 could just sing her a hymn. Then another. And another. Then an old man
 came out of nowhere and joined our bench, and requested yet another.
 At any rate, it was almost like I could feel the peace distilling upon
 her as we sang. It was a neat feeling. I love music.
 Scripture time! So one of the questions we hear a lot out on the
 streets here is "why does God let good people suffer?" I thought about
 that a bit this week. I was reading in Nephi-where Laman and Lemuel
 have Nephi all bound up and "treated him with much harshness"-and
 found a scripture in 1 Nephi 18:11. Nephi didn't ask why he had to
 suffer. He said simply, "Nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he
 might show forth his power..." I like that wording "the Lord did
 suffer it" because, in very deed in Gethsemane, the Lord did suffer
 that very experience. Whenever the Lord "suffers" us to suffer
 something, He too once suffered for those very things. He is very much
 aware of our sufferings. He knows what is best for us.He knows
 perfectly how to give us aid. We need only to ask Him. The Atonement
 is amazing.
 I was also reading in Mosiah this week (I am reading the book of
 Mormon "twice" right now..in English, and also in German..but not in
 the same place..it's a little confusing..) Anywho! Mosiah 27:25-26
 "And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and
 women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again;
 yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a
 state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and
 daughters; and thus they become new creatures; and unless they do
 this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." I read that in
 my German reading this week, and instead of the word "changed" it
 reads "umgewandelt", which means "transformed". For me, when something
 merely changes, it can always go back to what it was. When I change my
 clothes, I can change them again. But when something TRANSFORMS, it
 never goes back. When a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, it
 can and will never again be a caterpillar. We must not only become
 changed from our fallen state, we must be transformed. We must become
 so converted to Christ, that we can and will never go back. There was
 a talk in the April Liahona by Elder Bednar that talked about how the
 atonement is there to "make bad men good, and good men better." The
 Atonement makes it possible to receive forgiveness of sins, but we
 often overlook, as Elder Bednar points out, its enabling power. I
 testify that while the process of becoming transformed is not always
 easy, it is very much possible through the enabling power of the
 Atonement of Jesus Christ. There
 Well! I am out of wind and out of time. I love you all! Thanks for
 your wonderful examples and never ending support and prayers:)
 Liebe Grüße,
 Sister Bice

Hallo!‏

Dear Familie und Freunde,
First off, I would like to give a little shout out to my companion.
We've been together for over 3 months now, and any of you who have
been with me ever for more than even a few consecutive DAYS know that
sometimes, I can be a bit of a handful. Sometimes I can be a bit of a
pill. Sometimes, I'm a little moody. And, well, I am not perfect. But
Sister Schulze is a trooper. She's patient with me, and always finding
little things to do for me. She's a great companion, and I am grateful
for her. :)
Anywho! Another week come and gone here in Deutschland. Apparently as
the spring rolls in, so do the..liederhosen and dirndl. Baha. I feel
like I just may have to invest in a dirndl one of these days...also! I

am proud to announce that carbonated water doesn't taste like cleaner
anymore. In fact, I kind of like it...uh..
I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY YESTERDAY! Annnd it was SO good. I love them
all so much, and it was super great to talk to them:)
I also spoke in Sacrament meeting yesterday. Speaking terrifies me (in
English..say nothing about German!) and I spent the whole weekend
fretting about it. But! When it all came down to it, it wasn't all
that bad. I am not entirely sure what I ended up saying, but my comp
said it was great. Haha.
And! Of course last Thursday, we had our Finding Day. It was long, it
was hard, and in the end, the thing I learned most didn't have much to
do with finding at all. I learned a very precious lesson that day. As
the seventh hour of straight walking rolled around, I thought "Mensch!
My feet hurt!" And then from nowhere came the thought "..just think
of how much the Saviors feet must have hurt when they drove a nail

through them..". About an hour later, my shoulders started really
complaining about carrying my backpack all day. Again a thought:
"..and think of how much Christ's shoulders had to bear as He carried
His cross towards Golgatha..". In both instances I was just
overwhelmed with a new appreciation and gratitude for the Atonement,
and for my Savior. "For He hath borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows..He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities; the chastisement of our peach was upon Him; and with His
stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5). I can't imagine the pain
Christ suffered as He atoned for the sins of the world. But He never
gave in. He endured to the end, so that we may all have the chance to
come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him. I love the lyrics to the
song "This is the Christ"..
"They heard his voice, a voice so mild. It pierced them thought and
made their souls to quake. They saw him come, a man in white, the
Savior who had suffered for their sakes. THey felt the woulds in hands

 and side, and each could testify: 'This is the Christ'. I read his
words, the words he prayed while bearing sorrow in Gethsemane. I feel
His love, the price He paid. How many drops of blood were spilled for
me? With saints of old in joyful cry, I too can testify: 'This is the
Christ!' THis is the Chrsit, the Holy Son of God, our Savior, Lord,
Redeemer of mankind. This is the Christ, the healer of our souls, who
ransomed us with love divine."-James E. Faust
I love this song so much. It is so beautifully written. And, I too can
testify that Jesus is the Christ. He suffered for us, because He loves
us. How blessed I am to share my testimony with the wonderful people
of Germany. I know that Christ knows us all perfectly, and he knows
perfectly well that we are not perfect. But that's not what He's

concerned about. He just wants us to give our best. To give Him
everything. And perhaps sometimes, our best isn't seemingly very much,
but it's enough for Him. I love this work.
Anywho, we are looking forward to a great week here in Göppingen! I'll
let you know how it goes!

Much love,

Sister Bice

Herzlichen Grüße!‏

  I really like my camera..

  The view from my kitchen window..

 Happy mothers day! These pretty flowers reminded me of you.

 We really enjoy our ice cream here..I will enjoy it as lng as I can while I am still on foot..hah.

 The first house I could get close enough to to actually knock on the door! hah.

Liebe Familie und Freunde, (I always forget how to spell family in english now...)
Happy 5 month anniversary...to me! Today, I have officially been on my mission for 5 months. FIVE MONTHS! And in Germany for 3! Where has all that time gone?? *sigh*
Well! What a week we had here in Göppingen. We are currently going throught our TWO area books of former investigators trying to contact them, and we did ourselves a LOT of walking this week. Annd I managed to get a nasty sunburn. Stacy, remember that time I got sunburned at your house, and we decided I looked like an oompa loompa? Welll I wasn't QUITE that bad..but close. Don't worry mom, I make sure to wear sunscreen now...anywho! Speaking of walking! Saturday, we walked. So. Much. And half the people we tried to visit weren't home. It was a long day. At long last we were headed back to the apartment. It was almost 9, and our train was just pulling up into the Göppingen Bahnhof. I walked toward the exit, and a lady waiting there smiled at me! I was a little taken aback. I spend all day every day smiling at people and only ab und zu getting one in return. But this lady smiled first. I thought. "hmm, she seems nice. I should talk to her..." Well, turns out there was no need for that. I stepped off the train and she came up to me and said "Darf ich Ihnen eine Frage stellen?" (May I ask you a question?) I said "Ja, gerne" I was expecting her to ask for directions, or something absurd (which is usually the case..) and then she said "Ich möchte gern ein Buch Mormon haben.." (I would love to have a Book of Mormon..) What?! I could hardly believe my ears and it took me a minute to gather myself together, then I told her she was more than welcome to the one that was oh so conveniently in my hand! We talked for a few moments, and it turns out she speaks perfect english too! She lived in Independance Missouri for 4 years, and has been wanting a Book of Mormon to read. Sister Schulze and I talked to her for a few more minutes, and we have an appointment next week:) It was so crazy. That never happens to us. I mean, usually people see us coming, and cross to the other side of the street, not come and ask us for a Book of Mormon! It was a great testimony builder that we truly aren't preparing people for this work. Rather, they are coming to us (quite literally in this case..) prepared.
Mom, you asked about transfers. Transfer calls are the first of June. Sister Schulze and I have been together 3 transfers now, so one of us is bound to go. Remember all those comments I make about being grateful I'm not in a car area so I can walk off all the food we get fed here? Welll I got a call this week from the mission office, asking me to go ahead and get my German License as soon as I could. They said "they are just trying to get some more missionarise licensed in the mission", which I believed. But sister Schulze says its "ein wink mit dem Zauhnspfahl" ("A wave with a fence post"..a figurative expression here..) and she is convinced I'll be transferred to an auto area next transfer. We'll see. At any rate, luckily since I am licensed in Utah, I don't have to take a test or anything. The process is just a little slow and expensive..but! Anywho..
So! In just started the Book of Mormon over in English, and this week I really liked 1 Nephi 16. Lehi's family is in the wilderness, and Nephi breaks his bow, making it nearly impossible for them to get food. Soo they all sit around complaining about being hungry. Everyone except for Nephi that is. He gets up, makes himself a bow and arrow out of wood, asks the Lord where he should go for food, and returns triumphant. What a great example! If I am hungry, no matter how much I whine about it, it's not going to change, until I get up, walk into the kitchen, and make myself a sandwhich. Likewise, we all have hard times in life. So, we can either sit around and complain about it, or we can get out and do something about it. Nephi is a stud.
So! My mission? Is so great. I love my mission president. We are in need of a little pick me up in the work in this area of the world, so he and the assistants have made a plan. They have dedicated the month of Mai to finding new investigators. Among other things, that includes 2 finding days. The first one is this Thursday the 10th. As a mission, no one set any appointments for that day. We are dedicating the WHOLE day to finding! Taht means, more or less, 9 straight hours of getting out and searching for the Lord's elect. We all fasted as a mission for the faith to find yesterday. And on Thursday, we will all unite in prayer at 10:55am before we head out for the day. We have a goal to find 1,420 potential investigators that day. Taht is 20 per companionship. Sister Shulze and I have set a goal for 25. Throughout the day, the assistants will send us progress texts for how many people have been found, and how many more we have to go. So! If you all are wanting a little something to pray for Thursday, this would be a worthy cause:) I am so excited:)
In honor of Finding Thursday, I dedicated my study yesterday to "faith". I found something interesting in Jesus the Christ. Talmage cites one of the scriptures taht talks about how faith can literally move mountains. I have always loved that scripture, though I have never really foreseen myself needing to remove a mountain out of its place in my future. But! Talmage notes something interesting. Namely, in the days of Christ, the Jews often used "moving mountains" as a figurative expression for "overcoming difficulties". Now THAT is something we all have to do every day of our lives. But! The promise is the same. If we have faith in the Lord, no difficulty is too difficult.
I love being a missionary. ONe thing that never ceases to amaze me out here is how much I learn about..myself. I mean, I 've been living with me for 21 years now. You'd think I wouldb e pretty well acquainted with me by now. But it feels almost as if the more i learn about myself, the more I realize how much I don't know. Hmm.
To close! I will share a piece from a great talk I read over my cereal this morning. It was on the Atonement, and how we can all be healed through Christ. "Considering the inconmprehensible cost of the Atonement, I promise you that Christ is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, "Come unto me," He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the Way." Dear friends and family, I testify of this truth. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have been given to share with the world the knowledge of our Savior and Redeemer, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the Way on to salvation. And although "the way" isn't always easy, He is with us every single step of it, ever extending the invitation to "come, follow me."
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Love, Sister Bice
 Ps..here is the link to another WONDERFUL talk I read this week..I highly recommend it if you have a moment..
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/the-abundant-life?lang=eng&query=abundant+life
Enjoy!

Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland! (It is still hard for me to spell Deutschland..hah)‏

Meine Liebevoll Familie und Freunde,

My my what a crazy week we had. You know, I think sometimes God wants us to make a plan...just so He can change it and keep us humble. Hah. Our week went very much not as planned. But the weather was beautiful! Annnd apparently out with the sun also comes the alcohol...we had some interesting run ins with drunk people this week....Anywho, in the end, it all worked out for the best. I am sure glad someone wiser than me is in charge of this great work here. This week was great. It was a little like God saying "Sister Bice, you sure aren't perfect. But it's ok. Just keep on trying your best, and I'll keep helping you fill in the gaps.." Miracles are happening here in Göppingen. Not the big flashy ones that the world recognizes are miracles. But the small changes deep within the hearts of the people here. Mostly in our less actives that we've been diligently working with. We had some great lessons with less actives last week. We've been working a lot with Familie Claus. She's a single mom, with two sons. One of them has autism. On Saturday, we all walked over to the church and sat in the chapel. I played some hymns. Her son, who is rarely quiet, sat peacefully and listened. And she sat and soaked it all up. It has been a long time since she was in the church, and it I think it was a really great experience for her. We also have been meeting with another inactive Schwester in our ward. Last week she was late for our lesson because she got off work late. When she finally came, she looked beat. We weren't sure if she would want to have a lesson still, but she let us in. We figured we would just read a quick scripture and then let her be. We read, and then out of nowhere, she just started crying. She laid her heart out on the table, and I cried with her. She talked about how she'd been angry at God for all of the trials she's had, but that she's ready to try and let Him into her life again, and! She came to church on Sunday for the first time in a few years. It was so great. Our purpose is "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith on Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." (I think that's what it is in English..) And! The last point, "enduring to the end" is manifest as we work with the less and inactive members. I love this work.

So! Speaking of church...I said the opening prayer in Sacrament yesterday. Oh, and don't mind that I had to TRANSLATE too! Bah! We had a member from Finland who is in Germany for a few weeks visit our Sacrament meeting. She speaks great english, but not a lick of German. And of course everyone picks on the poor American girl when It comes to anything having to do with English. I mean don't get me wrong, I usually understand a lot of what is said at this point, escpecially in church, but to keep up with it, and then rearrange the sentence back into English, etc etc is another story! But! I sent up a fervent prayer at the beginning of the meeting, and was shocked as I was able to understand nearly everything, AND keep up with translating as I listened. Now THAT was nothing shy of a miracle..

Oh! I also ate some bamboo this week! Oh wait, that's a lie. I think what I ate was FIRE, simply and poorly disguised as bamboo. Sister Claus? Is from Thailand. We eat with her occasionally. She'd warned us that it was "a little spicey." I thought, "oh good! I like spicey!" But one bite and my nose was running and I was convinced my vocal chords were being singed out of their rightful place. Sheesh! No, I did not secretly scoop the rest up into a napkin while she wasn't looking....hah.

Umm! I also had a super great Distrikt Versammlung this week on Tuesday. I think I very well may have the best district in the world. I always learn so much! One thing Elder Croft said that I loved was that: Everything in life starts with hope. But hope doesn't get the job done. It leads to faith and works. Faith and works are great, but there is something better, because if we exercise our works and faith, it will lead to testimony, the assurity that the things we have hoped for are real. I've really noticed that a lot this last week..

Mmk almost out of time here, so just one more thought. This morning as I was cleaning our apartment at 6:30am and listening to one of the EFY cd's we have here, I heard a line that has never really caught my attention before. The song is "One by One" and, talking about the Savior, it says "When He had a world to save, He had a world of time to stop and hold a little child..." I liked it so much I had to rewind it and hear it again. What a beautiful knowledge we have to know that the Savior knows us. He knows our names. He knows our joys and our sorrows. He has worlds to govern, and yet is ALWAYS willing to take time for us. One by one. I think sometimes in life we get too caught up with the "big things" that we forget about all the "small things." I mean, how many times are we so busy worrying about school or work that we forget to serve our own families? I know I am guilty of that charge. So! I would encourage you all this week to take a little time to slow down, take a step back, and try to remember to do the seemingly small things that let the ones around you know they are loved. And I will do the same.

I love you all! Thanks for your never ending support and prayers! Gott sei mit euch!

Love, Sister Bice