Dying.‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

....I feel like I have been staring at this blank screen for too long. I don't really know what to say. In fact, I feel a little like I am writing my own eulogy....well...here goes nothing...

So! Last week. I feel like last week someone was trying to sabotage my last week in the mission field. But at the same time, like so many little great things happened that it trumped it all. We lost a lot of time helping out with the move, and THEN one of the sisters in Pforzheim had some major dental problems so she ended up in the hospital in Stuttgart and Sister Bice got assigned to take care of her for a day. But! She is doing lots better now, which is good. :) Tja. Lots of madness. But also lots of miracles.

I said a lot of goodbyes last week. Felt kind of like somebody stabbing me in the heart over and over...annnnnd, just to make sure I REALLY got the point,...over. But! We also had some really great appointments. Which was lovely. Tuesday we had lunch with one of the schwestern in the ward and while we were giving the spiritual thought and talking about the I just got so excited I could harldy contain myself. Schw. Gierschka just laughed at me and said "I want you to be this excited about the gospel a year from now.." I will certainly try! I feel like my love and excitement for the work has grown in leaps and bounds these last transfers. This really is a great and marvelous work. Love it. So much. We also had our last distrikt meeting on Tuesday. Which was also a heart wrencher. We actually had to wrap up early and didn't get the full meeting in, but it was sooo just exactly what I needed. Totally inspired. And inspiring. In honor of me dying, we listened to the talk "Come what may, and love it." I would highly recommend reading it if you haven't, and reading it again if you have. Tja. For the closing song we were short on time and sang one verse of God be With You till We Meet Again...which was just as well because I wouldn't have made it through the whole song....
To wrap up Tuesday we had an appointment with Peter and Bettina and the Ludwigsburg Elders. It was..so beautiful. Peter asked us to sing "How great thou art" so we did. Singing through that song in that lesson was one of the most spiritual moments of my mission, because in the last 18 months, I have truly come to know how Great He is. A foundation that will serve me well for the rest of my life and into the eternities....

Hey! Cool story! Remember how about a month ago Elder Bodily and I were teaching a man in the park, and a guy came up, gave us his number, and made us promise to call him? Well! The elders have been meeting with him (gender default..they get to teach the men..) and! He now has a baptisimal date for next month! Neat huh?? I mean I may not have been able to teach him, but I was able to help find him. Small and simple means hmm? Sometimes I am real small and most time I am real simple but..in the Lord's wisdom, I AM a means...what a blessing.

Annnd yesterday, we had a "Special Stake Conference" here in Stuttgart. Do you know what that means? That means I was able to see members and investigators from Ulm, Göppingen, and Stuttgart. 3 of my 4 mission areas. It. Was....glorious. For lack of a better word. (Side story! So Sister Jencks and I were supposed to sing in the choir, but they had forgotten to tell us we were supposed to wear black. So sister Bice showed up colorful and red. I figured "oh well, it will be fine. They can just sing without us." Apparently not. The director came and said "We need you! Can't you find a black shirt??" So! Poor, poor sister Holman-the self same sister Holman that I had the insane exchange with-had the misfortune of choosing to wear a black shirt yesterday. Sister Bice:"Sister Holman, can I ask you a favor??....Can I have your shirt for the duration of this meeting?" Sister Holman: "Uh...what??" Sister Bice: "I promise this is the weirdest thing I will ever ask of you.." Sister Holman: "Yeah right..." Haha. So we swapped shirts. Sister Holman: "...Sister Bice, I am wearing red wiht purple for you. I never wear read with purple.." Naja. Hilarious.) ANYwho. Wow. I could hardly hold back tears as I got to see so many of the people I have come to love on my mission and have one last hug. I will love these people forever.

Anywho. Not that long emails haven't been a common theme the last 18 months but...I will try to wrap this one up. Appr. 72 emails later and now the last one. Mensch. I just want to thank you all for putting up with me these last 18 months. Thank you for your support, your love, and your payers. I wish I could find words to describe what this last year and a half has meant to m but I don't think I can. People always talk about missions and how they change you and...it's true. But it's interesting because every mission is so different. Every mission is unique. And my mission? Has been exactly what I have needed. In every way. And for that, I thank God every day....and will continue to thank Him for the rest of my life. The people I have met and the lessons I have learned have shaped and refined me. I still have a long ways to go, but my mission has put me on the right path. Above all I am grateful for the relationship that I have been able to build with my Savior. I know He lives. He died for us because of His love, and because He suffered for us, He loves us. Perfectly. For those of you who may be hesitant to follow His invitation, "Come, follow me.." I plead with you to do so. He knows the way, and He'll lead us by the hand.  I couldn't have done it without him. He has been with me every single solitary step of the way, and I feel like on my mission, I have finally begun to understand what that means. Of course He was always there before my mission as well, but my mission has taught me to turn to Him. To trust in Him. To let go of my fears and "walk by faith, not by sight.."
I can only hope that I have accomplished all the things the Lord had for me to do in my service here. I know I have not been perfect, but I have certainly tried to serve Him with all my heart, might, mind and strength. That my mission has been acceptable to Him is my prayer and to continue to serve Him to the end of my life is my plan. I love the gospel. I love my Savior. He lives. He loves me. Ephesians 5:8 "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light..." I feel like my mission has opened my eyes to the light. Has turned me into a child of light. I am a child of God. There are so many out there who don't know that. And that is why I have been here the last 18 months. That is why I am still here. And when I come home, I will do everything in my power to continue to walk as a child of light. To walk IN the light. And to pass the light along to those who may be lost. Luke 11:33 "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light." May we always live in such a way, that all my come in contact with us "may see the light." That is my hope and my prayer for myself and for us all...

Alright. Time to sign off one last time. Again, I thank each and every one of you for your goodness and your love. I wish you a lovely week, and though this may not apply to all of you, I will see you soon:)

Love,
Sister Bice

                                                                         Stuttgart flag

                             Me, Neyber, and Paula. My family has gotten a LOT bigger on my mission....

                                                            Emily Bakos. Love her so much

Second to Last‏

Tasha

6/03/13

To: RAY BICE, Ray Bice, Michael Baxter, Justin Christensen, T Weid, T. Bice

• 
  
• 

Liebe Familie und Liebe Freunde,

We checked our mail last week. Sister Jencks, "Sister Bice, There is a letter for you! It's from the mission home!"

"Dear Sister Bice,

In case enough other people haven't been bringing this to your attention your every waking moment the last few weeks, you are going home soon. Here is some stuff you should probably know before you do...."

...Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly what it said...it went more like,

"Dear Sister Bice,

Thank you for your faithful service as a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Alpine German Speaking Mission. The time and effort you have sacrificed on His errand have not gone unnoticed. I congratulate you as you approach the successful completion of your mission!...."

.....but the two read about the same to me when I opened it.

 At any rate, I feel pressure that since this is my second to last email, it needs to be escecially good..but...my brain is soooo no cooperating right now..and I can't really think straight..but..I will do my best!

Soooo Stuttgart! I do love Stuttgart. I tell you what, I never knew I could love so much as I have learned to love on my mission. It really is a crazy thing. You grow to love an area and the people there so much, that you think you'll never love another area or people so much again. But then! You do. With the help of the Lord, you do.

So! Last Monday, we got to play with...Frau Hausmann! It was so fun. She drove down her for P-day, and I get to see her one more time before I leave because this weekend we have Stake Conference. :)

We also had an AWESOME lesson with our AWESOME investigator Neyber. (We actually had SEVERAL really awesome appointments last week. With investigators. Look at us go!) Anywho, Neyber is so cool. He is 20 and from Venezuela, AND has the light in his eyes. Annd I think I already mentioned that he doesn't speak German or English, but his member friends translate for us and he is super ready for the gospel. We met with him twice last week and are excited to continue to meet with him this week! Besides which the member family that we meet together with are some of my FAVORITE people in the world. They are so great. Mensch. I love them. I feel like these last couple of weeks have been just so full of miracles and love. It's like the first transfer here we were just doing all we could to get in people's doors, and now that it is almost time to go we have been building these great relationships with everybody! *sigh* But like someone once said..no idea who..."The righteous never have to say goodbye.." I love that.

Have I mentioned that Sister Jencks and I have..get..to move again? Yep. The international ward was supposed to be getting 2 more elders but, surprise, they will be getting sisters instead. Which means we need to move into the apartment that will fit 4 people. We are going to be moving on Saturday, which means I will just pack my stuff and..leave most of it packed. Naja. As if the last weeks on a mission aren't crazy enough..but! Don't worry about sending anything to a new address. Just use the old one and the Elders will get me my mail..oh, the madness. Bring it on.

Naja. There are always stories I could tell but I suppose at this point it is almost just worth it to wait until I can tell them in person. I feel like more important than what we do as missionaries anyways is what we learn. So! I will share with you a little of what I learned last week. :) So! Yesterday at church one of the Brethren in the ward that I hardly know shook my hand and said "..You sure don't look like you are going home in two weeks.." I thought to myself.."Now what could he mean by that? I still look like I'm 15? I haven't gained enough weight..?" Then he continued "..You are still so excited about the work. You're just like a greeny". Daw. Best. Compliment. Ever. It was probably partly due to my testimony that I bore in church last sunday. I realized AFTER I had sat down that I was a little like a 5 year old girl on Christmas as I talked about missionary work and the gospel and how great it all is. But! That is exactly how I feel! I have never in my life been as happy as I have been on my mission, and I have never on my mission been as happy as I am now. And it has NOTHING to do with my surroundings, rather, what is inside of me. I thought about it yesterday during testimony meeting, and the reason I have been so happy here is 1) I have been more obedient to God the last 18 months than ever before in my life and 2) I have spent the last 18 months laboring to give the thing I love most to other people. Obedience+sharing the gospel=happiness! Not only happiness, but joy as well!  Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. [annnnnd share the gospel..] For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." Of THAT I can testify. There truly is no other way to happiness. We certainly are not perfect but we are all down here trying. The trick is to make the best of it, and help as many people along the way as we can. I am every day increasingly more amazed at the example our Savior set for us. He showed the way and He is the way. I have been amazed at how ALL of the little bumps and hiccups, and even the mountains and earthquakes of life can be stilled by trying to do as Jesus did. His divine attributes help us overcome EVERYTHING that life throws at us. We can't get 'em just simply by asking and we can't have 'em without his help, but, as we try to become better with every little decision we make, we truly CAN "be like Jesus". I feel like I repeat myself all the time in these emails but...eternal truths are eternal truths! The gospel is just a beautiful thing. I can't believe I am really "dying". My mission life is swiftly coming to an end. I feel like I won't hardly know what to do with myself afterwards but..wir kriegen das schon hin. I am excited to apply all the things I've learned here to my life at home. Spannend. It's funny, people are scare to even say the word "home" around me for fear it will make me trunky. Psh, yeah right. I am here HEART AND SOUL until the very end. :) I love you all and hope you have a lovey week and pray every day for an unseen opportunity to bless the life of someone else!

Love,

Sister Bice

oh where oh where did my sunshine go??‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

     Sooo I still can't believe it is almost June. And! The sun hasn't even showed its face the last WEEK! And it is supposed to rain the whole coming week. But! What can you do? I would say dance in it..but the people here already think we are weird enough..hmm..I will think of something..at any rate..it's a good thing I'm not made of sugar! :)

     So! Last week! Flew by. In the end, we didn't have a whole lot of lessons....but! The ones that we did teach were AWESOME! We are privileged to be working with some really special people here in Stuttgart. I love them. And Tuesday we FINALLY got Sister Jencks's Visa...so she is FINALLY legal to be a missionary here in Stuttgart! Jetzt geht's los! ;) We also had a really neat District meeting. I love missionaries.

Annnd Wednesday Sister Jencks woke up sick and was bed ridden all day. Which left sister Bice cooped up in the kitchen. All. Day. Well, mostly all day. We did make it to Ward Council. Which was...hilarious. I love the German members. So. Much. I may or may not have been laying in bed trying to sleep the other night..and I was thinking about the fact that well..my days are numbered...annd I shed a little tear or two. I really do just love these people so much. All of them. Not just the ones I know, but the ones walking around on the street, the ones in the bahns...just the German and Austrian people. I guess that is one of the dangerous beauties of a mission. We are asked to give our hearts to these people, and then we are asked to leave. But! If they think they can get rid of me THAT easily...they've got another thing coming. I'll be back some day. And until then, I'll be keeping in touch. :)

     Umm! We also had a Finding Day this week. Our distrikt got together and tore up Stuttgart for 4 hours. I LOVE finding days. I love working with other missionaries because whether the people decide to listen or not, we just keep each others spirits up. And! We did manage to find some WAY neat people! Boah. It just felt great. Finding day is awesome because you get to share your testimony SO much, in such a small time frame. Love it:) After finding day, we met the Bensons at Stuttgarts one and only Pizza hut for a district dinner. Which was way cool because...our waiter? Was a member! From Africa! But lost contact with the church when he came to Germany. So we got his number. :) And! Ok..now time for my probably-should-be-embarrassing-but-I'm-more-proud-than-embarrassed moment. Long story short. I ate a whole pizza. By myself. Not that I was necesarrily hungry after half of it, but the Elders didn't think I could do it and..well..sometimes my pride gets the best of me. They looked at the pizza and looked at the size of me and so there was no way but...where there's a will, there's a way. Ha. Yeaaahhh...I think our Senior Couple was mildly shocked and appalled...haha. My mother would be proud? Well..maybe not..perhaps my father....:)

    So! Quatsch aside....yesterday was Sunday. Which is always lovely. Apparently one of the Sacrament speakers didn't show up, so they asked Sister Jencks and I to bear our testimonies. For which I was really grateful. I still am not a fan of talking in front of people..but my personal study was so good all last week that I felt like I just had to get it out! Anywho..I was thinking about how neat testimonies are. Behind each testimony lies lives, feelings, experiences, etc, that lead an individual to know certain truths. Which totally makes sense because our Father knows us perfectly and individually. Anywho. Our testimonies just never stay the same. Sie sind lebendig. They are constantly either growing..be that stronger, or weaker. And yesterday as I sat thinking about it, I was almost overwhelmed with how much my testimony has grown over the last 18 months. I am SO grateful for the opportunity that we have to change. As children of our Heavenly Father, we have been granted, through the Atonement, the ability to become better. It just is so neat. That we, imperfect as we are, have the ability and potential to become like our Savior, who is perfect. I have thought a LOT this last transfer about missions and change and how I can retain the change I have experience d on my mission AFTER my mission and decided that perhaps the greatest things one can take home from a mission (and may I add perhaps the greatest things we can take "Home" from this life..) are Christ-like Attributes. What we have become. I truly do just LOVE reading about Jesus Christ. And although I stand all amazed at all of His perfect attributes, I think Charity leaves me the most in awe. The bible dictionary calls charity "the greatest in the trio of things that abide forever." Meaning of course faith, hope, and charity. And Joseph Smith once said “Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God.” To manifest="to be apparent; obvious.." Naja. I read this and thought "Hmm..well Sister Bice, YOU are aspiring to be a daughter of God..do YOU manifest His love..?" The answer..."Umm..not always.." I mean I feel like most of the time as followers of Christ we at least try to be loving people..but is it always obvious and apparent? Just a thought...

     Ok ok! I know that I am already way past most of your attention spans..but! Neat little german scripture moment! 1 Samuel 3:10 "Rede Herr, denn dein Diener hört.." The english, "Speak Lord for thy servant heareth.." And! Naja. The german is cool because you have DENN and you have DANN. Denn meaning "because" and dann meaning "then". Samuel doesn't say "Speak Lord, THEN thy servant will listen up.." rather, he says, "Speak Lord, because I, thy servant, am already listening.." I love that. I feel like sometimes I want an answer to a prayer, but have more of the attitude that "as soon as God starts speaking up, THEN I will certainly pay attention and listen!" When really, we need to be listening, because as our loving Father in Heaven, He is always speaking to us and trying to help us out....we just need to decide to listen. :)

     Ok! I will let it be before this thing gets any longer and you all start drooling on your keyboards...*wink* I love you all! Thanks for your love and prayers and support!

Love,

Sister Bice

subject line..bane of my existence...‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

Sorry for the lame subject line. The district and I went to the rittersport factory today. For those of you who don't know, Rittersport is a chocolate company that makes ridiculously good chocolate. I may or may not have bought..quite a bit..but! When in Rome?.....

So! This last week! Mensch, I don't even know what happened last week..my days all misch together here..let me grab my planner....

Ok! Well I won't bore you with the whole week...but! Things worthy of note...

We had an AWESOME appointment with one of the less active members we have been trying to meet with since day 1 here. And! She was like "by the way, I have a friend who is interested in the Gospel. I was planning on watching the restoration with him this weekend..." And! We have an appointment with the both of them tomorrow. Yay! She is SO cool. And! She swing dances! Bonus points!! :)

The Stuttgart ward also had ANOTHER baptism this week! That is one a week for the last 3 weeks. The story is actually way crazy. His name is Ralf, and he found the international elders 2 weeks ago. Wellll Ralf has a crazy story. But to make it short, he grew up an orphan, lives on the streets of Stuttgart, and is the most prepared person I have ever met where the gospel is concerned. I will admit, at first I was a little skeptical, but he is just the neatest. He even came out contacting with us last week! He straight up loves the gospel and loves the Lord. Yesterday in Sacrament, he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and then was sustained and as we all raised our arms, he half whispered "Wow. Big familie." Those 3 words had SO much behind them because..Ralf has never had a familie. But now he does. And yes, it IS big. :)

Friday! Friday we had a...distrikt finding day! Woo! We (the 4 elders and us sisters) went finding for 4 hours. And! We found 10 potentials! Which was SO COOL! We had a goal for 9, and at the beginning, we all called somebody from our ward and asked them to pray for us. Well, when all was said and done..10. It really was a miracle. It was so neat, Elder Bodily and I were contacting this man (who we ended up teaching most of the 2nd lesson) and in the middle a man in his 20's walked by and said "mormons?" We said "We sure are!" He was in a hurry but he said "Ok, I would love to meet with you in the Birkenwaldstraße (the institute center here..)..I will give you my number..could you please call me?" A little off guard we told him we would call and he said "Promise? Don't forget!!" We promised that we wouldn't forget, and then went on teaching the other guy..hah. It was the craziest day. Maybe we'll find some investigators here after all...:) (Not that that was ever a question...ha..)

And Saturday! Was really cool. They had this giant Stake youth missionary weekend thing that they asked all the missionaries in the Zone to be at. So it did eat up most of our day, but it was worth it. It was so fun to help get the youth in the stake excited about missionary work and serving missions themselves. They have really been encouraging us to worth with the youth and the YSA's lately so..it was just lovely:)

Naja! This last week was good. Still no investigators, but we ARE making progress. I am just..so grateful for the gospel. I'm grateful to know who I am, where I came from, why i'm here, and where I am going. Sounds totally cliché but..I can't imagine living without that knowledge. i think perhaps in the Spirit world none of us quite grasped how hard it was actually going to be down here. Didn't quite grasp how many of us would get lost. But we knew that, regardless of the price, it would be worth it. And though sometimes this journey through this "Vale of tears" makes us question the very truths we are built on, if we make certain our foundation is sure, we cannot fall. Helaman 5:12. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here on a mission, securing my foundation. I don't know what lies ahead of me on this crazy road we cal life, but I know that, in the end, it will all be worth it. Our weaknesses and trials are only there to allow us to become more like our Savior. Christ suffered for our sins and afflictions and..well...all of our mortal experiences, that we may be some day reconciled with our Father in Heaven. I am SO grateful for the power of the Atonement in my mission and my life. I am grateful for my Savior. He knows all too well all of my imperfections and loves me anyway. King Benjamin was right. We will always be in his debt. But! We can certainly give Him all that we have, in giving Him our hearts. I still LOVE the primary song, "I'm trying to be like Jesus..." I have a loooooong ways to go. But I am working on it..one baby step at a time...

Ok! I will stop carrying on and let you all get back to your busy lives. I love you all and thank you for your continuing support and prayers. I wish you all a LOVELY week!
Love,

Sister Bice

Rain, rain, go away..come again...in 6 weeks or so...hah.‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,

Hallo und liebe Grüße aus Deutschland. :)

Once again, you will have to bear with my scattered brain today..but! Es hätte schlimmer sein können...:)

It's raining. In fact, it has been raining the last several days...and is supposed to rain for the next several...
Rain is great for the flowers.

Bad for the missionaries.
But! We love it anyways. :)

So! Funny little story..we were on the way here to write emails and we were waiting for the bahn when a girl about our ages says.."...aren't you guys Mormons?" We said "You bet!" She said "...I thought Mormons always wore skirts." We explained to her that today was our p-day and and and. She was actually way cool, but unfortunately had to get on the bus right then. Lame. But! I hope we bump into her again sometime..in our skirts next time. :P

So! Highlights of the week? Well I actually had a real rough day on Tuesday. Hit me out of nowhere. I even cried at the bus station. I hate crying. But! Sometimes it's for the best? You gotta have the water to make the rainbow, oder? Naja. But! I got a blessing from the Zone Leaders and it was, again, exactly what I needed. It never ceases to amaze me how well Heavenly Father knows me. I mean, I have been living with me for 22 years now and sometimes I like to THINK that I know what makes me tick..but then I have days like Tuesday and realize that...I have no idea! So yeah. I still have some figuring out to do. But! The gospel gives us direction. oh how I do so very much love the gospel. It's only when I lose sight of the big picture that I have problems. Otherwise, the gospel makes life make sense. Ok lets be honest...most of the time, life makes no sense. But! The gospel always does. :)

On Wednesday, I shook the hand of a 106 year old woman. She was a sweetheart. And did I mention that she was 106? Wow. Hah. We visited a member of ours in the old folks home where she lived. It was good. We brought our member some flowers, and she was so excited to have visitors that she showed us off to all of the other residents.
Thursday. We had two lessons Thursday! With less actives. We still have no investigators. But I have had the feeling that the WARD is the reason they called Sister Jencks and I here. They need some missionary love. And there are some GREAT members here. Active, inactive, less active, they are wonderful.

Friday we had a hilarious eating appointment with the Elders. A cute old lady from the ward. We asked her if she had a favorite song. She said yes and asked to see my book. Then she flipped through every. Page. All 210 of them. Annnd never found it. Hah. Naja.

Saturday we went to a baptism!! Olena Weichelt. She. Is. A gem. She is a single mom with 3 daughters. Her mother joined the church in the Ukraine in 2000, and her daughters are both members, and on Saturday, after many many years, she was baptized. Sister Jencks and I have had the opportunity to teach her a few times with the Elders. She is such a doll. Little Lena. Oh! I almost forgot! I sang at her baptism. Surprise? Yes, it was. the Elders called 2 hours before and said "Sister Bice, our musical number just cancelled on us...could you sing??" So I did. Come thou Font of Every Blessing. It felt good to sing again, even though I was WAY nervous because the Stuttgart ward is chalk full of professional musicians. But! I love music:)

Naja! I still can't believe my last transfer started...today. What? Transfer 12? Already? Meine Güte. But! I am loving Stuttgart. It has been hard, but it is helping me learn and grow. I am a little nervous I won't learn all the things the Lord wants to teach me before I come home but..I am trying.  The Gospel is wonderufl. In a world where perfection is always seemingly just out of reach, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect. Missionaries aren't perfect. Members aren't perfect. We all know that I am not perfect. But the gospel? Is perfect.

Alright! Time to scamper once more! Sister Jencks and I have quite a bit to get done today. And! There is a carnival in town. Where there are carnivals, there is cotton candy. And where there is cotton candy..well, Sister Bice loves cotton candy. :) So! Ich hab euch alle lieb! Alles Gute gel?

Love,
Sister Bice

April, April, er macht was er will...‏

Liebe Familie UND liebe Freunde,
Meine Güte. Seriously...another week gone...boah.
Hah ok I feel like 17 months of emails is starting to get to me...sometimes I sit down and think.."hmm...what happened last week...?" Hah. My brain is slowing giving up the spoon as the Germans say...naja!
This last week. We had..interviews! Yay! Interviews are always great. Crazy to think that this week we have transfer calls already too. What the what? And THAT means that after next Thursday, I am the OLDEST Sister in the entire mission. I don't know how I feel about that.... but! Mag kommen was will..

Ok! Now I will try to concentrate for reals...

After interviews we had..exchanges! We now have 3 (yes, count them, THREE) Sisters companionships in our zone, so we decided to just to a big giant exchange. I ended up here in Stuttgart with Sister Holman, the Golden working in Pforzheim. Naja. It turned out to be one of the craziest adventures of my mission....We had had an appointment right? Cool. So we were on our way home and I say "now where did I put my key.." All the sudden Sister Holman gets this horrified look on her face and pulls out a set of keys.

Holman: "I have the pforzheim keys.."

Bice: "Yeah..and?"

Holman: "No, I have THE pforzheim keys.."

Bice: "There are no other keys??"

Holman: "*silence...*"

I called the Zone leaders. "Elders, we might have an S.O.S....." I explained the situation. Elder Bodily replies "Oh..that IS an sos...." So. We concluded we needed to out to Pforzheim. Immediately. We caught the 8:59pm train (feel free to keep in mind that missionaries are SUPPOSED to be home at 9pm...) ANYwho. It was a LONG story that involved two sister missionaries RUNNING around the city of pforzheim Germany late at night, frantically searching for 2 other sister missionaries that had a DEAD CELL PHONE and were no where to be found. This whole time Sister bice is on the phone with President Miles and the Elders back in Stuttgart. Naja. President calmly told us to hide their keys outside, and head home. So we did. but of course the last train out was leaving soon. So we ran. And by we I mean she. Haha. Hey, I did pretty good! But between being on the phone, getting harrassed and cat called (which didn't end well...meaning..which ended in Sister Bice standing on a street corner waiting for a light to turn green and screaming "I HATE MEN!!" before she remembered she was supposed to be Christlike...), und was weiß ich, I started to run out of gas. But! Naja. Ok. There is a lot more to the story. But if you really want to hear it all, you will have to come and visit me when I get home. It is all better in person anyway. ANYwho. We ended up laughing the whole hour train ride home away and rolled into Stuttgart at midnight, where the Elders (who looked more like washing machine salesman with their almost-missionary-attire) picked us up and escorted us home. Yeahh....the next day didn't get any less crazy. But again, those stories can be for later. There was a point on Wednesday afternoon where I hopelessly looked at Sister Holman and said, "THIS is why we will never be companions. We reek havoc wherever we go..." but! It was in the end a great exchange, and I learned SO much from Sister Holman. She is 19 and has faith the move mountains. Love it.

As for the rest of the week, we....still haven't been able to find any investigators. Still working on it though! And! We have finally started to get the ball rolling with some of the less actives in the ward, which is awesome!! We also went to a baptism on Friday from an investigators of the Elders. It was so. Beautiful. I love the gospel. And last but not least we went to a..choir concert! Our ward hosted a German church choir called Vocalis and they came and did a concert at the church. It was kind of weird being in the audience and not in the choir, especially because I had sung most of the songs before in choirs. But! It was good. As for this week? Well we are just working hard and enjoying the day to day miracle we like to call missionary work. :)

So! Now that I have managed to write an email completely full of quatsch and lacking in spirituality, i would love to share what I learned in my studies this morning:) This morning I pulled out my MTC notes and a sentence popped out at me as soon as I flipped it open. "When we are truly converted, we never look back." So I did me some thinking. I love the Anti-Nephi Lehis in the book of Mormon. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they are the only people in the entire book that really do never go back. The bible dictionary tells us that conversion "..will change a natural man into a sanctified born again, purified person-a new creature in Jesus Christ." I guess I have been so in love with the topic of change on my mission, and I guess conversion is really just an advanced form of change. It isn't about making deals with God. It's about giving ourselves up to Him. That doesn't however mean that we all have to turn into a bunch of robots! God knows who we are, and He is the one who made us that way. The trick is finding those things that make us who we are and letting him refine them until we become who HE wants us to be. So! Yeah. I had all these little awesome ah ha moments this morning and then I thought "....oh great. I can't do that!" But! Then! I flipped open my handy dandy True to the Faith, which reminded me that I can! We all can. It lists 4 characteristics of "people who are converted."

1.They desire to do good.

2. They do not rebel against the Lord.

3. They share the gospel.

4. The are filled with love.

....no where in that list do we read "They are perfect." News flash! We aren't! I most certainly am not. But! I am trying to be like Jesus. And when I think of conversion of terms of the 4 things on that list, it doesn't become easy, but it does become possible. And THAT is why I love the gospel. It challenges us enough but not too much. All we gotta have is a little faith, trust, and....a lot of hard work. Until one day we stand before our Savior and hear those blessed of blessed words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant..."

May you all have a lovely week! And enjoy the sunshine! Assuming that you have sunshine...if you don't....make some. :)

Ich hab euch lieb!

Love,

Sister Bice     

Liebe Familie und Freunde

Liebe Familie und Freunde,
.....missionary privileges: revoked.
Worst. Day. Ever.
But really though. We went back into the city to clear my name on Tuesday, and they actually just ended up giving me even MORE problems. Annnd revoking my missionary privileges. And they made me take my nametag off. Rude. I was....less than happy. Actually I was rather upset. In fact, I got myself so worked up I almost cried. (Embarrassing, I know. I am still working on that part of me. Clearly, God is trying to teach me something. Annnnd it's working. After about 12 hours of being mildly unhappy about the whole deal, I decided....sometimes life throws you a curveball, but you gotta keep playing the game. The next day I read about Patience in PMG. "Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering withough becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God's will and accept His timing..." Yep. A little slap in the face, but it was good for me. I read it and thought "..delay, trouble..opposition..hey! That's me!" Then I read further.."..without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious.." and thought "uh..." Anywho. I have learned a lot over the course of my mission, but I am still working on me. So!  Instead of going around feeling sorry for myself, I decided to try to "do what Jesus would do.." that is..go about doing good! I mean I am relatively certain that Christ had no nametag, and didn't go around street contacting..He went about doing good! Simply serving others. Now THAT I can do. I also set a goal for sister Jencks and I to see..how many smiles we can get in a day. Stuttgart can keep us from contacting, but they can't keep us from Smiling!  So the two of us smiled at as many people as possible in hopes of getting a few in return and..wouldn't ya know it! We were pretty successful!

Naja. So among the madness...I DO have some good news....WIR SIND UMGEZOGEN!! Or rather, eingezogen. We checked out of our hotel for good on Friday. YAY! The apartment still has some work to be done on it, but it is great to have a home. In fact, that is mostly all we did last week. Go to eating appointments, get to know the members, and work on the apartment. We painted, we cleaned, we assembled, and ta-da! By we, of course I mean mostly the Elders, but we did everything we could! Meaning..everything they would let us. Hah. One of them saw me with a power tool and almost died. Clearly they don't know who my papa is. :) It was super great to wake up in an apartment on Saturday. Adventures of the morning included showering without a shower curtain, drinking tea out of a bowl, studying on the floor in the corner..hah. LIfe. Isn't it about improvisation? :)

Annnd of course, General Conference. So. Good. Every time. I remember being a kid, sometimes dreading what I thought to be an eternity of sitting still. Nowadays, I look at the clock and 2 hours is already gone! Sad! Before going to conference I read in my journal about LAST general conference..

"I would say that the overall "theme" I got out of conference was..love. Which is interesting, because I am not sure if that really was a theme, but almost all of the talks seemed to hit that chord in me. Honestly, if there is one thing..well, let me rephrase. If I had to choose just one thing I have really learned on my mission, it's love. Mostly, how to love other people. Which I am still working at. And also the love manifested through the Atonement. I mean, this life is all about coming more like Jesus Christ. We do that as we undergo a mighty change of heart. The number 1 emotion associated with the heart is love. And I am becoming more and more convinced that we have that change of heart as we learn to love. I  mean REALLY learn to love. To love with the love that Christ has for each one of us. So, moral of the story: I am still trying to figure myself out. Hah. I just..have so much inside of me. I have just got to figure out how to get it form my heart and my head and my soul, to my hands and my feet and my mouth..."

Annnnd I am STILL working on that. But I have come a long ways. I really loved Elder Andersens comment about "if you don't have a nametag, paint one on your heart!" I thought.."Hey! That's me!" And it made me think about my mission. I mean, my mission experience has obviously been something I have done, but even more so it has been something I have become. "I AM a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life.." So much more important than what we do is who we are. I loved Sister Daltons thoughts on how we must "understand WHO we are and WHOSE we are." We, all of us, are Children of God. Our Father, who loves us, and is rooting for us! He has a plan for us, and wants us to reach our full potential. And although "none of us should ever underestimate how driven Satan is to succeed.." (L. Tom Perry) we need not forget that "Satan is no match for the Savior." (Elder Scott.) I guess more than anything Conference was just the little spiritual boost I needed to remind me who I am and why I'm here. I am so grateful to be serving the Lord at this time of my life. It truly is a blessing. And although my time is waning, I am so grateful for all that I am becoming out here, and I hope to be able to take my new self into my old world and continue to BE what the Savior would have me be. A disciple of Christ.

Ok I am out of time! I love you all and wish you all a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Bice

                  This is Sabine (Sister Hausman). I love her. :) Don't mind that it is snowing in March..

There is SUNSHINE in my soul today...‏

Liebe Familie, Liebe Freunde,
Sooo remember how last week was....the weirdest week of my mission? Well it was. I feel like the little world I have known for the last 15 months has been a little bit shaken. Aber was soll das?
Well let's start with last Monday because Monday was SO GOOD! So! Are you ready? I got....A VISIT! From Sister Sabine Hausmann from Göppingen! She heard that I was in Stuttgart, and gave me a call, and CAME TO VISIT! We met her at a giant zoo\garden thing called the Wilhelma. Which! Was great..but! It was so good to see HER! When she turned the corner, I just got so excited! She looks so good! And she came bearing greetings from my little Göppingen Branch. So fun. Anywho, it was SO good to catch up on the last 7 months! She told me about how she went to the TEMPLE and was baptized for some of her ancestors! So neat! Ah. She was just so happy. I was so happy. "How great shall be your joy...". Yes, my joy was full. More than full. What a beautiful thing the gospel is.
So! After Monday, our week got a little crazy again...well! First off, we are still living in the hotel. Which is STILL really weird. I just can't get over it. But! The good news is! We get to move into the apartment this week! First they told us today..then said Wednesday..now we are looking at Friday..but! We will be in there by the end of the week. Woo! But! The city of Stuttgart decided to complicate our lives a little bit..probably just to push my buttons...naja. We went to anmeld (register) sister Jencks last Tuesday and get her visa process started. In they end they ended up making her take her nametag off. She isn't allowed to prostelyte until she gets her Aufenthaltstitel. (Kind of like a visa..). WHAT?? So. Lame. I mean here we are, no investigators, and we can't go contacting. Ugh. We can however still visit less active members, and we STILL have an eating appointment. Every. Single. Day. Which! Has been an awesome opportunity to get to know the members! But I don't know how much more I can eat..hah. *sigh* I am STILL trying to figure out what the Lord has in mind for us here. I mean it was so secret to Him that we would have all of these crazy problems...I am just trying to figure out how we can best effectively use our time in the meantime. We get to go back to the city hall tomorrow to try to take care of things. They actually gave me a really hard time to and almost made me give up my nametag, but thankfully we have a German elder in our district who got that taken care of for me. I just have to prove to them I was here in Germany in the last 6 months. Good thing I like to keep train tickets as souvenirs...
ANYWHO! I am doin' great. The subways here have all these wise little quotes in them. I read one last week that I really really liked. I don't remember how it went exactly but..something along the lines of "..not everything in this beautiful world is beautiful.." then about how sometimes in life, it rains. But! Instead of griping about the fact that it is raining ON us, we should be grateful that most of the rain is, in fact, falling AROUND us. (And hence..not on us..). Yes, bad things happen to us..but a lot of other bad things happen NOT to us. So! While little Sister Jencks and I have been getting rained on a little bit the last weeks, we still have PLENTY to be grateful for. Count your many blessings eh? :) I heard another good quote from..somewhere..a member I think.."Ich freue mich wenn es regnet! Weil wenn ich mich night freue, dann regnet es trotzdem." So something like.."I love it when it rains. Because even if I don't love it..it rains anyway." I like that too. Life is what you make it!
Mesch! I guess I just don't have a whole lot more to share! Sister Jencks and I have been doing what we can to keep ourselves busy! We have also been over to our apartment a couple times to help paint and just move the process along. I am really excited to move in and finally unpack my suitcases! The members here are absolutely fantastic, and I am really excited for conference this weekend! But! Before this email gets as long as last weeks...I will just leave you with..another..quote. From study this morning. Hah. You ready?
Faith is the power.
Obedience is the price.
The Spirit is the key.
Love is the motive.
And Christ is the reason.
Sooo good.Pretty self explanatory but...
Faith is the power. Faith is the first principle of the gospel. With faith, we can move mountains! Without faith, we won't accomplish much. Faith is power.
Obedience is the price. And if you ask me, also power. Obedience IS the first law of Heaven. And although we are always blessed for our obedience, sometimes we do see it as a sacrifice. But it all comes down to trusting the Lord. Trusting that as we keep our end of the deal, He will keep His.
The spirit is the key. The Spirit really is the key to EVERYTHING we do as missionaries. We can stand outside all day and try to talk to people, but without the Spirit to unlock peoples hearts, they wouldn't unlock their doors either...the Spirit is the key to success.
Love is the motive. I once heard that EVERYTHING we do is motivated either by love or fear. I am inclined to agree. Love is the BEST motive there is..to anything really. When we act out of commitment or duty, we get the job done, but hearts usually remain unchanged. When we act out of love, as the Savior would, then not only are others more greatly blessed but we as well.
Christ is the reason. "What can I say more?" I suppose I don't know why all the other missionaries in the world are on missions, but I do know why Sister Natasha Jan'L Bice is on a mission. Because! I love my Savior. Because I know He loves me. Because I know that He loves not only me, but ALL of His children, and He wants me to help others come to enjoy the same blessings that I enjoy through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ...
Naja. The last weeks HAVE been a little crazy. But! I am happy. So very much so. I am so grateful to be here on a mission. Sister Jencks reminds me every day that I am going home soon. But! I ain't dead yet! And I am determined to "die with my boots on!" Apartment or no apartment, visa or no visa, look out Stuttgart, cause here we come.
I Love you all! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to take a few moments to remember WHY we celebrate it. Moroni 7:41. :)
Schöne Woche und bis später!
Love, Sister Bice

                                                                          Two Great Jumpers!

                                                                     I love my mission!

                                                                            The Weidman's

                                                            This is just chillin in salzburg..SWEET

....Whaaaattt??‏

Liebe Familie, Liebe Freunde,
....But really though. Where am I?? "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore..." Yeah. That is a little how I feel right now..mensch..where to start...
     Wellll how about we start with Wels. My last week in my beloved Wels. The last couple days in Wels were a lot of "takin' care of business" and goodbyes. I am NOT a fan of goodbyes. But! Like they say..."The righteous never have to say goodbye." That's one great thing about the gospel. It turns "goodbye" into "aufwiedersehen." Naja. One of the worst goodbyes was that to my dear companion, Sister Judd. Thursday was mostly a lot of train rides. From Wels to Salburg, from Salzburg to München. The second our train got to the station there I was whisked off of it because my train to Stuttgart was about to leave. But! I DID manage to see SISTER SCHULZE for .5 seconds at the station for one last hug..she went home last week. Whaaat? Crazy. Naja. It was chaos. Outside my train was a little group of Goldens (and by little group I mean TWELVE) one of which I could tell was mine by the way her eyes didn't leave me from the second I came into view..hah. Apparently they showed them all a picture of their trainer in the mission home. So funny. So yeah. Got on the train and stood at the door, waiving goodbye to Sister Judd as she walked away...annnnd ran into a pole. Bahaha. Oh mensch, that pretty much summed up our 5 weeks together. Love her. But! I didn't have time to mourn the loss of Sister Judd because I had to put on a happy face for..Sister Jencks! Which wasn't hard. She is a total sweetheart, and SO excited to be here. It'll be a good 12 weeks here in Stuttgart.
     .....Stuttgart. O weh. Well the good news is, Stuttgart isn't THAT much bigger than Wels. Just one number different in population. Wels: population 60,000. Stuttgart: population 600,000. See. Just one number.....
WHAAAAAATT?? 600,000 people?? Ok we'll get there. I got on the train in Munich and one of the office Elders handed me a white envelope and told me there were "thousands of Euros" in it. I figured he was kidding. Wrong. Don't worry that I walked around all day Thursday with over 3,000 euros in my little backpack! Whhhaaaat? You'd think they would have warned me... So! Yeah. We got to the station where the elders met us and my Distrikt Leader explained
Elder Armstrong: "Ok we will bring your suitcases out to the Benson's car (the senior couple here) and then get you something to eat, and then the Benson's will drive you to your Hotel."
Sister Bice "To our what??"
Elder Armstrong: "Oh. Didn't anybody tell you about that?"
Sister Bice: "Tell me about what??"
Elder Armstrong:"Well your apartment isn't finished so you'll be sleeping at a hotel for the next 10 days or so."
...Whhaaat? Yep. Sister Jencks and I have been Best Westerning it up the last few days. So. Weird. SO WEIRD. Have I mentioned that...it is weird? To stay at a hotel? On your mission? We are mostly living out of our suitcases because we have too much stuff to unpack it all. And the second day we came home to a lot of...ants. In our room. Fail. Soooo they moved us to the top floor. Where! There are no ants. On Saturday they brought us over to our apartment...I am not sure it will be finished in 10 days. They are gutting out the place and fixing it up. It was the apartment that the Zone Leaders were living in, but they have moved them into the apartment iwth the other elders here and..yeah. So.
STUTTGART IS HUGE! AHHHHH! Mostly, Sister Bice wanders around pretending she knows what subway or street car or bus she needs to take to get where she is going, and Sister Jencks thinks that Sister Bice is perfect and knows everything...uh...yeah. Mostly the Elders here have gotten a lot of calls the last couple days that go mostly like..
Elders: "Hey, Are you lost?"
Sister Bice: "uh..no"
Elders "Oh good. Well then how can we help you?"
Sister Bice: "....by no, I meant yeah..."
*takes deep breath..* So! On the other hand....the ward here is AWESOME! Since we don't have a kitchen..or any real way to prepare food..we have an eating appointment with members every day. We are going to the Bishops house tonight. And church yesterday was awesome! They are SO excited to have Sisters. The zone leaders (oh. right. I forgot...we share the ward. It is so crazy being in a ward with TWO sets of missionaries! That has happened to me..never..until now..but! It's good.) said that when they announced that they would be getting Sisters, the all started clapping. Bahaha. It wouldn't surprise me. Sisters are hard to come by in these parts...but not for long! Anywho. I am really excited to get to know the ward, which will be a challenge, because it is huge. But! With a lot of prayer and a lot of effort, I am sure I will be able to put names to faces eventually...
    Annnd of course there is Sister Jencks. She is from South Jordan, Utah, and she is Krista's age. She is darling. She really has so much love. I keep trying to tell her that she got a crazy trainer but, she loves me anyway. Haha. She is just so eager to learn, which is great. I feel like she watches my every move, which is also great..but also a little intimidating. But! Yeah. I don't know. I guess I don't really know why the Lord has thrown me into the middle of this MADNESS for the end of my mission, but I am grateful. Even just the last couple of days have been more than humbling as I have found myself more or less helpless. I spend a lot of time on my knees pleading for help to be able to get through the days and use our time effectively and be a good example to Sister Jencks. The first couple of days I really was in a little panic-shock state walking around like a deer in the headlights. We have no investigators and are starting from zero with..everything. But! While I don't know why the Lord has sent me here, I know He has prepared me for it. This is my 3rd whitewash, and without the previous 2 I would have NO idea what I was doing. Well..I still don't but..yeah. I know the Lord is watching out for little Sister Jencks and I, and I know that, in His strength, we are going to succeed. So! Bring it on.
Ok this email is really long..and I'm sorry..but! Amidst all the chaos, I have still managed to have some AWESOME Book of Mormon reading this week. I have been reading the war chapters of Alma, and learning SO much from them. So! Bear with me...hmm..so many thoughts..let's go with Alma 54 verses 10 u. 20. I was reading in English for the first time in a long time, and these 2 verses were highlighted on my page, drawing my attention to them...
v. 10, Moroni speaking, or, for our purposes, "the righteous"- "..we will maintain our religion and the cause of our God" and verse 20, Ammoron, or, "the wicked"- "..and we will wage a war which shall be eternal.." Mensch, what a contrast. We can't forget that as determined as WE as disciples of Christ are to maintain and defend our cause of righteousness, there is an adversary who is stubborn and ready to wage an eternal war. Rude. But so it is. I've never really made a connection between the two verses before but seeing them both highlighted on the page, they just jumped out at me. Satan has declared an "eternal war" against righteousness, and WE must have an eternal resolve to actively prepare ourselves that we may be fit to fight for the cause of our God. How? Primary answers! As we read our scriptures, go to church, and pray, we will be prepared. If we live each day, truly "trying to be like Jesus", we cannot fall, and we cannot fail. Yes, Satan may sometimes win the battles, but he can never win the war. So! Dearly beloved friends and family of mine, don't be afraid to stand up and fight! Stand up, stand out, and stand for what you believe. May we all feel the Savior's support as we strive to succeed in such a noble cause. I love you all! Annnd before this gets any longer...TSCHÜß!
Love,
Sister Bice

What a week, what a week..

Liebe Familie und Freunde,
What. A. Week. Hmmm. What happened? Where to start...
This last week we FINALLY met with Leo again! He is SO solid! Way cool kid. WAY cool testimony of the gospel. Now, he just needs to decide what to do with it!
This last week (and by this last week I actually mean today..hah) we had an AWESOME p-day in Gmunden! Which! Is beautiful. Our train left at the crack of dawn and got about 100 feet from the station before..it broke. So we had to sit for a while. And then wait for the next train..an hour later. But! That was perfect because I got talking to the kid next to me who was AWESOME! And from Wels. We swapped numbers, and hopefully the Sisters can have an appoinment with him soon!
This last week we visited a member in the ward we haven't seen forever. She gave us coffee. A lot of member here give us "coffee" but it's actually postum. Yeah. No. This one was coffee, which I figured out after dipping a cookie into it. She told us it wasn't a sin to drink it just this once buuuut...naja. I hope she wasn't too offended that, after a long discussion, we left it untouched on the table.
This last week we went to young mens/young womens! It was so good!! They had a missionary theme and so we went and answered a whole slew of questions! Annd then the elders had a contest with the young men to see who could do the most cumulative push-ups. Haha. It was a lot of fun.
This last week we pulled our bikes out of the keller! Woo! Freedom! I loooove me some bike riding. Annd sister Judd was hilarious. She almost died. Like 10 times. She went to swing her leg over the first time...bahaha. Umm, with a girl bike, you don't have to do that..annnd she got her leg caught on the basket..annnnd man. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. Psh, who am I kidding..I am always laughing..but! It is great to be on bikes again:)
This last week we had Stake Conference! In Salzburg. It was great! Annd on the way home, (we were riding with some members..)...the car motor....died. Straight up. So we got to sit on the side of the auto-bahn for a while until the tow man came and towed us to a little town, where we had to wait for the other tow truck and..naja. It was an adventure. The Schöneborns are so great. They had a great attitude about the whole thing.
This last week we had ZONE CONFERENCE!! It was SO GOOD! zone conference is always good, but this one was especially good. I don't know exactly what it was to be honest. I mean yeah I heard a lot of great things but..what I felt? I think I felt the spirit more that day than any other given day..of my life. Well, maybe not but..it was definitely up there. Which was interesting because what I was feeling and what I was learning had relatively little to do with what was actually being said by anyone. Mostly, the Spirit used zone conference as a wonderful opportunity to teach me a lot about faith. It never ceases to amaze me that although faith is the first principle of the gospel, I can never learn too much about it. Wow. I realized that I need to let my faith guide my goals a little more. So..I will work on it:) It was so great. I would try to pass on all the wonderful things I learned but..I can't. And! I think my favorite part was the testimony meeting at the end. They always have the new missionaries give testimony, and the ones going home. It was so powerful. To start it off, my distrikt sang a beautiful arrangement "I know that my Redeemer Lives". At the end of the meeting president sometimes calls 2 extra missionaries to bear testimony. One of them was Elder Weidman, the senior missionary in our district here. I love the Weidman's. At the end of his testimony he said "And now I am going to pick on Sister Bice a little bit...I don't know if you all heard her during the song..I'm sure you did (..Everyone knows I sing loud..oops.) but I was standing next to you. And I tell you what, when that line "I know that my Redeemer lives" is sung loud and clear...it is powerful." His lovely wife leaned over and told me that they loved me. Mensch.  I love the Weidman's. I am going to miss them. Sister Weidman cried when I called and told her about transfers...
Oh, right. This last week we had transfer calls. I wrote my feelings the night before.."Dear me,...Transfer calls are tomorrow. I'm...nervous. Well. Not nervous necessarily. I just..I don't know. I am just so up in the air with this one. I have NO idea what God has in mind for me, except that I know it will be what is best for me. That's the best thing about transfers--knowing that the Man in charge..knows Me. Way better than I know me. And therefore He also knows what is best for me, as well as for the people I am serving. this is probably the only transfer on my mission where I can honestly say that..I have no preference as to what happens. I guess maybe it is just a peace that comes with trying to surrender your will to God? Something I have finally learned after 10 transfers..hah. Naja. So, nervous for what will happen? No. A little uneasy aobut the unknown? Yep.But! Come what may and love it right?" Annd then Friday morning.."Dear me, so, transfer calls. The moment we have all been waiting for hmm? Luckily we didn't have to wait long. President called shortly before 8am and informed sister Judd that she would be training. Here in Wels. Which leaves little room for little old me. She gave me the phone.."Sister Bice, we want to thank you for your wonderful service in Wels..." ...I am getting transferred. They're sending me back to my "homeland" of..Germany. Stuttgart. Now, you may be thinking to yourselves, "but Sister Bice, I thought there weren't any Sisters in Stuttgart?" Well, there aren't. Yet.
I will be white washing.
And by white washing, I mean opening the area...
....and training.
Scared? Not necessarily. Fear and faith can't co-exist. Scared? No. Humbled?
Yes.
Mensch. I really love Wels so much. It is going to break my heart to leave these people. But the Lord has other plans for me. "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord.." I'll step into the unknown. Mensch. Opening an area and training. I feel like I should be..terrified. But I'm not. If there is one thing the Lord has taught me on my mission its to trust in Him. I have NO idea what the next 2 transfers are going to look like but..i know what I'll learn what I'm supposed to learn, I'll meet who I#m supposed to meet, and If I do my best to try my best, I'll accomplish whatever it is the Lord is sending me to Stuttgart to accomplish..whatever that may be.."
...Yep. I feel like that journal entry pretty much sums up my feelings right now. Well, a small portion of them anyway. Except for the fact that "it's going to break my heart to leave these people" is turning out to be an understatement. The last few days have been filled with goodbye's and aufwiedersehen's. It has not. Been. Fun. I will miss my little Welsers....so much. But! Rather that be sad that I have to leave them, I will just be grateful, ever so grateful, for the wonderful opportunity that I had to serve at their side these last 7 months....
Do you know who else I will miss? Sister Judd. She has been a gem. But she is going to make a great trainer. I am excited for the adventures that lie ahead for her...and! She lives in Vegas. So I will be sure to visit her after her mish:)
Ok I know I didn't give you any spiritual thoughts but..my time is up for the week. Forgive me? I will see what I can do for you next week. I love you all! Thanks for your support and your prayers!!
Love,
Sister Bice
Ps. no new address yet but I'll get it to you next week. Loves!!