Willkommen in Munchen

Mmmm, I can smell that Bayern pride already!

Surprisingly, as adamant as I was to never ever EVER go to Munich, I actually feel right at home here. Since day one, Sister Erdenetsogt and I have been able to jump right back into the groove of things, it feels really normal and comfortable to be here with her so far. I will say that it does feel a bit weird for ME to be the one who is following HER around everywhere; but I have absolutely no idea where we are or what I am doing yet in this new town! I am not complaining though, it is a fun change!

Back together again- the first time just seemed too short

Munich is HUGE, especially compared to my other areas; I have gone from quaint little Freiburg to a little bit larger Linz to a huge city with lots of missionaries. I've gotta get used to that!

For those of you who I didn't get to Skype with on Mothers day, I got a haircut! It was so impulsive, but I guess not really...I have been planning on cutting my hair ever since I came to Linz, I just didn't know how short I wanted to cut it. Well, after 7 months of debating, I finally decided it was unhealthy enough to get a cute little trim. One of our investigators in Linz is a hair-dresser, and we were over at her house on Wednesday to give one last lesson before I left. At the end, she asked if I wanted her to cut my hair before I left. Ja, freilich!!! Then she asked how long I wanted to keep it and then...

CHOP!!

Good-bye's- I am really going to miss her, it seems too soon

I about had a panic attack when I saw how much hair was on the floor. Sister Pentz took some pretty good pictures of my panicked faced. I think I am fine now, but it is pretty drastic! I've always felt that only older people wore their hair short, so I feel like I instantly got 10 years older just because of the haircut.

Matching Missionaries

Munich is a much different city than where I have been so far. First of all, it is a much more modern city with so much International influence. There are so many Americans in my new ward! Well, actually, in this entire area, which is pretty weird to me. I have never realized how much we American's stick out like sore thumbs. For my entire mission, I have heard a lot of English at church just because almost everyone in the world learns English at school. It is very likely to have two people from different countries communicating in English to each other. So it really wasn't weird to HEAR English being spoken, but it has been a little strange to watch the other American families in the ward, observing their mannerisms and hearing the phrases we say, it makes me laugh.

Dinnertime in Munich with an American family eating Japanese food- talk about International

I asked sister Erdenetsogt how obviously American I am, and she just laughed and told me I'm about as American as it gets. Oh, how I have missed working with international companions, they say the darndest things :P

A youth activity in Munich

We have been seeing miracle after miracle here in Munich! 
But I actually wanted to end with a miracle that Sister Pentz and I saw in Linz the day before I left. It started off a few weeks ago, when the Elders gave us a woman investigator of theirs. She only has time to meet at times where most men are at work, so the Elders could never find any one to joint teach with them. Since the Elders can't teach her alone, they asked us to teach her. Well, we have had a hard time getting in contact with her, so we decided to go by her house with a card and some cookies. Cookies and treats are definitely one of the tricks I have learned on my mission! It is hard to resist someone with a sweet Personal Touch, no matter how much they think they don't want to answer they door- really, who can resist a yummy treat?

We got to the address when we realized that we didn't know her last name, so we didn't know which doorbell to ring. We knew she is from Africa, so we looked for all of the African last names on the doorbell box. We found two; one of them didn't answer, and one said that we rang the wrong house! So much for that approach.
Then we decided to ring random people and ask them to open the door so that we could drop the cookies off on her doorstep and leave. Literally nobody was home except the African man we had rang before. But he let us in and asked how he could help, and then he saw that we were missionaries and asked what we believe, what we do, and offered to let us to come by another time and teach him. We gave him a Book of Mormon to read and set up an appointment (for last Wednesday.) Well, we went by with a member, and he is so GOLDEN!  He had already started to read in the Book of Mormon, and he had so many amazing questions, like 'What happens with us after we die?'  'I have a hard time believing the perfect go to heaven and the bad go to hell, what happens with the rest of us?' and 'If God is the same forever, then why are there so many churches on the earth today?' 
It was so cool to hear every question and want to jump up and shout WE HAVE THE ANSWERS!  Man, it was so cool to see how God had prepared such an amazing person to accept the gospel, and how we just accidentally happened to meet him because we were dropping off some cookies to an investigator. Those moments help renew my excitement for finding :) 

I am going to miss this girl!

Hugs from Linz

 

The Didenhover's

Companion Selfie's

One more for the road

I was struggling to think of a spiritual thought to give a family on Mothers Day, and so I wrote down a lot of my favorite things about my mom and what I learned from her. I looked through the list and decided on a scripture that fit with the list
So in honor of all mom's today, I want to close with that scripture 
D&C 64:33  "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

Well, it is getting late, and I better go! I hope everyone has an amazing week :)

Tschüßie!

Sister Peterson