PICTURES! Woche 27 & 28

Nürnberg 

Very blurry photo of the Dom in Regensburg

More Nürnberg

Final cleanup crew after the grand shindig- Thanksgiving is grand

Christmas Eve with the Schwabs :)

Saw Sister Godwin in Frankfurt!!

Der Weihnachtsbäckerei : The Christmas Bakery

Woche 28: Christmas Highlights

10* On Christmas!? (50 degrees for us)

Take time to relax, be at peace, and see this little child in your
mind. Do not be too concerned or overwhelmed with what is coming in
His life or in yours. Instead, take a peaceful moment to contemplate
perhaps the most serene moment in the history of the world--when all
of heaven rejoiced with the message “Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).  - Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Time of renewal and recommitment as we prepare for His coming! In
district meeting we each gave Themas on whatever we wanted related to
Christmas. It was cool to see what was important to each person. I
chose to talk about the gift that He is. Everyday we have the
opportunity to use the gift of the Atonement He's given us. Psalms
29:11- He allows peace and strength to fill our lives! To accomplish
the 'I wants' in life. I rely on Him and I can be bold, obedient, and
blessed. Christmas is a time to look ahead, to recommit to use His
gift and be better disciples through it.

We had everyone share favorite traditions of Christmas and I got a few
new fun ideas :)  One tradition that I've been missing this year is
definitely acting out the Nativity, but thanks for the video. Superb
y'all
Someone else talked about Angels preaching the word of God in Alma 13.
It's a song of joy and praise! Whose angels do we get to be?

Last PDay the Elders went bowling in Lederhosen and tourists stopped
them to take pictures hahaha

Christmas was wonderful!! Still kind of feel like it snuck up on me though...
Favorite Parts:

-We spent Heilige Abend (Holy Night--Christmas Eve) at the Schwabs and it was so much fun! I love their family :) We ate Raclette and watched Frozen! Everyone sang on
their own language and we sounded great haha

-No bake Nutella cookies are loved the world over! We visited several
members and investigators with them and had requests for the recipe
(thank you Sister Godwin!)

-Bruder Bopp made us Christmas mix CDs and we watched Mr Kreugers
Christmas. He loves loves classical music and has over 2000 CDs of it.

-Christmas Eve Gottesdienst was beautiful! Torsten, a potential from our street display, CAME! Great Christmas gift :)

-Plätzchen. (Cookie) I never knew there were so many different kinds! Members
have given us bag after bag, they fill up a whole shelf in the kitchen
haha

-Skyping! Thanks for the stories and jokes :) Still alarmed to realize
that Dad and I have the same sense of humor, it may take me a bit to
get over that one ;) I loved seeing you all and hearing how everything
is going. I was surprised to see Courtney but what an awesome
surprise!! Your song was beautiful and the flannel family photo is to
be envied by every lumberjack in the state.

-Singing! We've been singing nonstop and I'm sure our neighbors have
noticed haha

-17 Miracles. We watched it at the Ackermans and I realized halfway
through that I forgot to count the miracles... it's such a beautiful
film and a reminder of our heritage. It sometimes becomes just stories
but it really was them at the beginning of the restoration church and
we owe them so much. It brought me to thinking of what I would do and
sacrifice for this gospel that brings me so much joy.

I've loved this Christmas time but I'm definitely ready to have a solid
schedule again, holidays throw me off haha

We've been given the assignment to convert a new second counselor to
the FHV and a new ward mission leader because one is moving and theother we don't even have! With the Lords help, we got this!
So happy to be here, everyday is so full of miracles and things to learn.

Sister Riser

Wir können es nur mit dem Herrn lösen. 
(Only with the Lord can we overcome.)

Woche 27: Christmas Time!

Counselor
Holy one of Israel
Redeemer ~ without the Resurrection, we wouldn't celebrate Christmas
Immanuel ~ God with us
Son of God
Teacher ~ in all things; in word and example
Messiah ~ anointed one, long awaited for
Alpha & Omega ~ literally the beginning and the end
Savior ~ our only hope for eternal progression

Of the 250+ names for Jesus Christ found in the scriptures, He becomes
something more personal to us as we manifest our love by serving
others being obedient.

This past zone conference President Stoddard had every missionary
stand up and talk about a Christlike attribute that they've seen in
their companion. It was such a positive and uplifting experience. It's
wonderful to see the marvelous things that these missionaries saw in
each one of Gods children.
3 Nephi 27:27
"Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you,
even as I am."
He was submissive, courageous, and selfless. Full of love and did what
we couldn't do for ourselves. He has perfect love for everyone of us
and we are blessed to have Him as a brother and Savior.

Another story was retold at the conference. Last transfer the
assistants had some break into their car and steal their Navi. Later
as they were praying, Elder Kress prayed that they would use the Navi
to find the gospel haha :)
  

Other favorite parts of zone conference: 

* Love the portion of mankind that God has given you to take care of. 

* Send praise right on up! This is for thee. Anything we do and
accomplish is made possible through and because of Him. 

* Finding is more a matter of who we are than what we do. 

*Don't become preoccupied with various methods and approaches. Strengthen
your testimony, open your mouth, and trust the Lord! 

* Blessings. Faith. Obedience. In what order do they go? Blessings are
naturally what we want first. Before exercising faith by being
obedient. Blessings are predicated. Strong faith is developed by
obedience to the gospel. We take the first step(ACTING) and then
receive God's grace. Ex: God spoke and then the world was created. You
cook the food and then enjoy it. Even our bodies and mortal existence
here are blessings preceded by our obedience and acceptance of the
Plan in heaven. 

* The natural man cannot learn spiritual things. If we study the
gospel with natural eyes, or without inviting the spirit, we take away
the opportunity to grow and learn spiritually. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. Learning by and listening to the spirit can
be like using a new muscle or language. We have to keep keeping the
commandments and inviting the Spirit to dwell with us. 

* Keeping that eternal perspective. Hebrews 11:13 - see the promised
blessings afar off. Remember and rely in the promises that have
already been fulfilled. Believe in the promises of Heavenly Father and
the temple and live your covenants! Embrace the promised blessings by
preparing. Romans 4:18-22 - Stagger not! God is bound. Simple. 

* And finally, someone asked how we can see our own progression daily.
Elder Johnson said not to worry about it. Think instead : am I keeping
my covenants? Am I loving those I've been given? Am I fulfilling my
purpose? Progression comes in God's timing but it always will.

This week we had two street displays!! Saturday was busily wonderful.
We had an appointment with a former investigator at 10 but had
forgotten her house number. After seeing us go up and down the same street twice, a man asked us who we were looking for. We told him andhe took us to a house and rang the doorbell for us. Frau Seitz came out and grüßed (greeted) us and let us put our bikes in the garden. We said thanks to the man and waved goodbye. He said ciao and then started laughing as he walked in the front door. He was her husband. We had a good laugh over that one hahah 

Then we biked back to Neumarkt, set up the table and tent, loaded up
with cards and hit the streets! It was a remarkable day full of
finding! We had set the goal the night before to focus on bearing
testimony as soon as possible and to get more contact information
rather than them just having ours. We set up an iPad to play the
Christmas initiative video but had to have someone man the table and
restart the video every time. The sister training leaders joined our
district and the young man that has been working with the elders this
past week and chalked some incredible things! We met so many new
people and it went really well :) Then we headed over to Tina's to
meet with her and teach more about the Holy Ghost. Then we met up with
the district and rode to Regensburg. I cannot tell you how beautiful
it is there. Home to literally the oldest restaurant ever which has
sauerkraut that is out of the this world!

The cathedral there rivals that in Köln and their Fußgänger Zone is huge, which is good news for us :) Just a good day for finding :) We did meet a lot of people who really didn't want anything more or who were satisfied so to say. It
was those times when I really realized that it can't all just be a
lesson taught. If I don't know it and feel it, I can't share it. I
know that there's something more. I know that the restored gospel
brings blessings and joy that can't be found anywhere else.

Bruder Grasser invited about a fourth of those in attendance on
Sunday! Go member missionaries!! He began his talk by thanking
everyone for coming and then put on a turkey hat. He had invited a
nonmember husband of one the members who said he would come if he wore
the hat. It worked! I love this ward.

Lehi nach Hause. Leih nach Hause. Wir tragen Hoffnung dass wir ihn
erreichen werden.  (Lehi go home. Lehi go home. We carry hope that we will reach our destination.)

President Lehi Schwarz gave a talk this past week about our eternal
goal to return home to our Father in Heaven. He made the comparison to
ET and his focus. I definitely laughed but loved the simplicity of his
message :)

Christmas is almost here and I feel it! What a wonderful time to be
able to experience. To have a knowledge of Christ and what He's done
for all of mankind.
Excited to 'see' you!

Sister Riser

Woche 26: BAYERN!

Tina & Marvelous 

I feel like I've had way more time alone then is normal as a missionary. I was without a companion almost all of Monday while
traveling. On an ICE woooo!! I was slightly overwhelmed at the idea of
taking two trains, having one layover, and carrying luggage by myself.
Just slightly. As I boarded the first train, the lady next to me might
have questioned my common sense as she asked me why the heck I was
traveling alone with three suitcases. After getting to know her a bit
and talking about Christmas, she offered to take me to the next train.
I was so ridiculously grateful for that woman. A small miracle but a
miracle nonetheless. I also met a professor and we had a great
conversation about family history. Apparently back in the day when
someone took over a family farm, they take the family name too. So
there can be two or three people working and living on a farm with the
same name that aren't actually related! It makes finding older
generations rather difficult. 

My last day in Mainz was full of PDay fun, some great street finding,
meeting with Suellen and the Dahlkes, and finding a giant slide!
Suellen bought me a porcelain tea light from the Mainz Weihnachtsmarkt
and it is absolutely beautiful! Schwester Dahlke showed us her
scrapbook of all the missionaries they've known see they were baptized
and also photos of the old Wiesbaden and Bad Kreuznach wards. Then we
played Pass the Pig!! Bruder Dahlke takes that game very seriously. He
took flash pictures to see if the pigs touched or not hahaha
Sister Peterson is great! She started her mission in the Wiesbaden American ward and then came here. Feucht is small and pretty dang incredible. People are friendly and remember the missionaries everywhere you go haha The ward here is marvelous. Just wow. The previous Frankfurt mission president and almost all his kids and their families live here so it's basically a ward of the Schwarz family.

This week we delighted in the delicacy of cornflake covered chicken
nuggets. I try to be honest so I'm not sure I can recommend them with
a good conscience.

Last Dinner with the Dahlkes! 

Doctrine and Covenants 34:11

Tina was baptized on Saturday! As sad as I was to leave Mainz before
Frau Lange and Michelle's baptisms, I was blessed to able to teach
Tina the week Lessing up to her baptism. She has a little boy named
Marvelous and is from Nigeria. She's a beautiful singer! At our last
lesson before her baptism, she bore her testimony and sang a song
about Jesus' love.
The member assigned to speak about baptism and the Holy Ghost got sick
the morning of so Elder Vorimo and I gave impromptu talks with our
companions translated into English for Tina.

I didn't give a talk the entire time I was in Mainz and now I've given two in one week haha

Transfer Goals!! District goals are so exciting! We set goals and have
faith and Gods will will be fulfilled. Whether it's what we planned
for or not, it's our attitude and faith that will bring the results
that He needs. Expecting miracles brings miracles!! The results we see
today, tomorrow, this transfer, and forever are from us exercising our
agency and trusting that when we give all we can and have, doing all
that He has asked, that we are successful in the Lords eyes.

Bayerisch sounds like German with a Scottish accent and it's
wonderful. Its fluid and delightful to listen to.

I've been thinking a lot more about prayer. The power it has and the
potential that we waste when we don't communicate with our Father in
Heaven to see what He needs us to do. I've begun to take a few moments
before each prayer to the think of what I want to say. I've seen my
prayers become more earnest and open as I try to have a conversation
with Him. I've been learning slowly that all that I ask for needs to
be accompanied by action on my part.
Busy days here and I relish the time we have to study the scriptures :)

Make the Jokes be with You: Cartoons of the Dark Side. "Mother?!" "No, I am your father."

News!
Letters will not reach me unless they have the church's name with the address:
Sister Sarah Riser
Kirche Jesu Christi
Bahnhofstrasse 24
90537 Feucht
Deutschland

Love y'all!
Sister Riser

Woche 25: Transfer Week

This week was incredible! One of the best I've ever had. Amazing
spirit filled lessons, some cool finding experiences, progressing
investigators, and lots of member contacts. I could say that I was a
little surprised when the Assistants called Saturday night to tell us
I was being transferred. Yes that would be an understatement.
Goshdangit we were supposed to go two together!! I'm so so grateful
for the time I've had here in Mainz, and the two companions I've had
here. I could have spent my whole mission here, which is exactly why
I'm leaving haha Comfort zones don't make us grow but I'm sure going
to miss it here. The work is booming! Three baptisms in the next two
weeks and this ward is full of spectacular member missionaries!! The
members do so much for the missionaries and are wonderful examples to
us.

They've changed the way transfers work so I'll be leaving tomorrow
instead of later in the week. That means I won't be able to see very
many of the people we're working with before then. But at least we had
three investigators at church so I could see them :)
Ahhhh I love Mainz.

We had family home evening with a part member family this week and it
was great! The dad ran at the first sight of the scriptures but we
were able to get to know that family a little more so that was good
haha progress is progress :)

In their home, the Marx family has a miniature Christus statue in
front of the block letters M-A-S. The Spirit and the Christmas spirit
there is so easy to feel as they focus on what they know is most
important. I can easily see times that I was so excited to celebrate,
decorate, bake, see family, and wear ugly Christmas sweaters. All good
things and all things I look forward to doing again. But the added
reminders I receive to focus on the Savior not only during this season
but everyday, make the time we celebrate special andI was thinking 

about a sister in our ward's conversion story this past week. Her dad was 

first introduced to the church and gave her the Book of Mormon to read. 

She was going to visit her family soon and hadn't read it so she called the 

church number so someone could explain it before she went back haha 

She made an appointment for RosenMontag with
the missionaries and waited outside for an hour until she finally saw
two elders coming toward her. She invited them in and offered them
black tea. After declining, they explained that the parades and
parties had made it impossible for them to drive through the city.
That's Carnival for ya. I love the humanity in her experiences. There
were so many things that happened that could have stopped her from
coming to know about the gospel but it all worked out! On their second
lesson together, as soon as she opened the door, one missionary asked
her if she wanted to be baptized. She said yes of course I do! She
recounts this part as the moment where she didn't know how the words
came out and was asking herself what on earth and took it back and
said she needed to learn more first. She ended up being baptized
before her father and now has a wonderful family all active in the
church.

The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ through two basic means.
First, it tells in a plain manner of Christ and his gospel. It
testifies of his divinity and of the necessity for a Redeemer and the
need of our putting trust in him. It bears witness of the Fall and the
Atonement and the first principles of the gospel, including our need
of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and a spiritual rebirth. It
proclaims we must endure to the end in righteousness and live the
moral life of a Saint.

Second, the Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds
false doctrines and lays down contention. (See 2 Nephi 3:12.) It
fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs,
strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of
apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today.
God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon
that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational,
political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.
The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God - President Ezra Taft Benson

The Gemeinde Weihnachtsfeier was grand. Michelle and both of her kids
came and the missionaries sang American Christmas songs. That one was
hard. You never know how many classic Christmas songs don't actually
have American origins haha So we went with Vocal Point's the 12 Days
of Christmas, Up on the Housetop, What Child is This and Jingle Bells.
Bruder Fugal played for us, real jazzy- so great!

One of my new goals for this week (and mission) is to always give or
share something. A smile, service, card, a Book of Mormon etc. They're
all things people need and making a habit of making sure anyone I
interact with receives something helps me love others more and makes
us more effective!

A gift we can give the Savior: how we will improve and become more
like Him this coming year.

Feucht! A new day is dawning! (currently the sun is setting but go with me here)

Liebe Grüße, Sister Riser

Happy birthday Aunt Becky!! I hope you have a wonderful day :)

Woche 24: PICTURES!

Oh Elders...

Hard boiled eggs are a staple in the Marx's advent calendars for
missionaries haha

Mainz Weihnachtsmarkts! (Mainz's Christmas Markets)

Scored some treasures at the Weihnachtsmarkt with Suellen

Last day in Mainz :'(

Our church is under construction...

Woche 24: "Ein Erretter ist Geboren"

This week during our split, the power went off at 7:02 right after
Morgen Sport (morning exercises). It being winter and all that jazz, we couldn't see our
clothes, scriptures, shower or anything. So we swapped hours and had
personal study in pajamas by the eerie glows of our iPads. Splits with
Sister Funk always entail some sort of adventure- it keeps things
interesting haha The 23 hours were fantastic! We took part in a
service project organizing clothes for the refugees here. And I got to
go to correlation meeting-woot! It was encouraging and fun to see the
success they're having in Frankfurt 

We also had zone training this week where we got to see the Christmas
Initiative!!! So ridiculously excited!! The zone leaders and sister
training leaders dressed up as elves and Santa's nephew and gave
wrapped up presents of our new 'Ein Erretter ist Geboren' Kärtchen. ("A Savior is Born" card.)

Loved it!! We were also invited to prepare and study for ourselves to
discover why. Why Christ was born, why we need Him, and why we should
have a personal relationship with Him. In a leavers (returning missionary's) testimony that was given, someone shared that we have a Savior because God loves us
enough to let us need one. We aren't perfect and can't be perfect but
Heavenly loves us and cares enough about our success to let us make
mistakes, have life experiences, and need repentance everyday.

It's great to be in Frankfurt zone and have the opportunity to see
Präsident and Sister Stoddard pretty often, they're such wonderful
examples and do so much to contribute to our success as a mission.
The Frankfurt sisters have a Bulgarian investigator who speaks no
English and very little German. We had a lesson in an Internet laden
skyping with Elders in Bulgaria. We weren't able to understand or say
much so our contributions were mainly flashing thumbs up haha It's so
wonderful to feel the Spirit in the unexpected places :)

A good reminder from Sunday School was that our talents are a gift! These talents that were given to develop and use are what Heavenly Father uses to allow us be answers to others prayers. Us not using them or under appreciating them is like us giving someone a present and them sticking in the back of a closet or worse. I love how individual the talents that we have are.

Music and the Spoken Word was fantastic! We sang some German folk songs and also a song that Sister Fugal wrote called 'A Witness of His Love'. She's submitting it to the Church soon. It was a beautiful
program with the theme 'Ich bin ein Kind Von Gott'. ("I am a Child of God") There will several renditions of that Primary song along with Bischof (Bishop) Staiger speaking to us about divine natured the origins of the song.

I love being companions with Sister Bates. She has the greatest
stories. My favorites this week include the time her Physics teacher
taught about the center of gravity by dressing up as a pregnant woman
and all the times she's Sie-st children on the phone. Love it. In the
mayhem of the most recent Mainz game, she and I lost each other amid
the mass of fans getting on and off the Bahn. So we had a little time
on our own. It was different and strangely frightening, I'll need at
least another year before I'm ready for that haha


Sunday was a beautiful, beautiful day :) We got Advent stories to read
for everyday this month and our progressing investigators came to
church!! It was fantastic!! We spent the third hour in PV with
Michelle and her kids :) Then Birgit surprised us, after saying no a
couple times, she called us right before FHE last time to say she was
ready and where should we meet! She brought her daughter Lara too :)

Take advantage of this Christmas initiative and opportunity we have!Get to know this video, study and discover why, and share it! It's so
simple and can change so much! It's a chance we have to bear testimony simply and with so many. I'd love to hear any experiences that you
have with this season centered on Christ.

A favorite quote this week :
“Tell me what are the prevailing sentiments that occupy the minds of
your young men, and I will tell you what is to be the character of the
next generation.” -Edmund Burke

What we allow to occupy our thoughts turns into actions and our
actions are what we will eventually become!

Invitation this week : read Genesis 22:1-14 and think about what the
it means to truly trust Heavenly Father. To know that He will keep His
promises but not necessarily how.

Goshdangit I love being a missionary!! This gospel is extraordinary in that it works with ordinary people everyday! We're not perfect but God sees more in us. The gospel principles are simple and powerful and I'm
grateful everyday that I have a knowledge of them.

I love you all so much!
Liebe Grüße, Sister Riser


The Advent Time has come Schwester Dahlke got us calendars to celebrate!

Mainz!!

Weihnachtmarkts :)