The Berry Bush was cut down this week, earlier than expected. Sister Berry and I had a fun last couple of days together, though, including visiting this all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet a la 'Mongolian Barbecue" in the states because you picked your meats and veggies and they would cook it up for you. I was adventurous and tried ostrich, crocodile, and kangaroo. In a shocking turn of events, they all tasted like chicken.
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| The end of the Berry Bush |
Transfer day was Thursday. It baffles me that in many missions transfers aren't an all-day event. I looked at the complex excel chart and did the math and I realized that I spent more time on trains than any other missionary in München this time around. There's some construction on the tracks between Passau and München this time around so we had to take another way, and it was like 3 1/2 hours there and 3 1/2 back. But it was beautiful! I'm going to really miss riding on trains when I get back to the states.
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| Elder Gibbs, Sister Bushman, Elder Faux, Sister Berry |
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| Transfer Day at the Munich train station -- lots of missionaries and lots of luggage |
But I picked up Sister Bishop! It's been really fun to be back together again. We've spent a lot of time making goals how we want to tear it up this transfer. We just picked up right where we left off.
I wanted to share a little bit about the Spirit. I remember when Elder Bednar came, that he spoke a lot about how we are guided by the Spirit a LOT - way more than we realize. Sister Bishop and I have noticed a couple little examples of that in the last few days. For example, on Sunday we were praying by the door before we headed out for the day. After we finished praying, we both simultaneously realized that we had forgotten a prop for an object lesson we were planning on doing that day. Totally prompted by the Spirit! It's actually incredible how often that exact scenario happens - when we're praying by the door getting ready to head out, and we remember something we need.
For P-Day today, we went to St. Stephan's Dom again so Sister Bishop could hear the organ play. (Don't worry, it sounded just as fabulously loud and medieval as last time. Fun fact, apparently there are only 3 people in the whole WORLD who can play that organ because it's so big and complicated.) Bazillions of Americans always seem to be there because of the cruise ships that come through Passau - many people come to see the Dom. This older American couple came and sat next to us, so we asked where they were from and started chatting - and ended up talking about what brought us here, our missionary service. She asked one of the golden questions: "So, what do you actually do every day?" And we smiled real big and told her about how our purpose was to invite others to come unto Christ - how our faith had really strengthened us, and we wanted to help others also feel the love of God and of Christ in their lives. We talked about how that came in many forms - in challenging people we talk to on the street to pray for the first time in years, to invite people to be baptized and make that covenant with God to serve Him, or strengthening people who are already on the path, etc. And somehow through all of that the Book of Mormon came up, and she said "I've already read your Mormon Bible."
Whoa! No way! We were really excited, and got talking with her, and it turns out that she was learning about the church a loooong time ago from some Elders, and she read the Book of Mormon looking for differences between "your Bible and my Bible." She thought that we worshiped Joseph Smith, and didn't understand why we would "need to replace Jesus Christ." We explained how we believe in the Bible and The Book of Mormon - and how one isn't complete without the other. We also got to explain how we revere and love Joseph Smith the prophet because through him, Christ's church was restored on the the earth, but we don't worship him like we worship Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. It was a really cool conversation because we got to clear up a lot of misconceptions for her, and we realized that her big "hang up" with learning about the Gospel the first time is that she didn't like the idea of having a prophet, because she didn't understand completely why we needed a prophet. We realized later how the Spirit had guided our conversation, because if we had started talking about modern-day prophets from the beginning, she may have not realized that Jesus Christ is the most important for us. So that was really cool. We gave her a pass-along card. It's so easy to not take those experiences IN - to not realize when we are being guided by the Spirit. But when we truly realize, then it can build our faith SO much.
It's still been pretty hot. Turns out this is an unusually hot summer. But we're surviving.
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| Bushman and Bishop -- reunited |
One little funny story before I sign off. Sister Bishop and I generally like to plan 2-3 things to cook each week. We plan what we want to eat that week Sunday night so we can make a grocery list. We have a couple favorites (homemade pizza, this certain type of yummy spätzle, tacos, etc.) but we were thinking of things we could add to our list. I had the idea of making McDonalds-style breakfast sandwiches, with biscuits and egg and cheese and sausage and stuff. And we were thinking through what we would need to buy vs. what we normally have, and without thinking I busted out, "Do they even have sausage in this country?" And Sister Bishop looked at me and we realized what I had just said and just busted out LAUGHING. Umm, sausage is from Germany.
Have a good week!
Love,
Sister Bushman
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