....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