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