Woche 2: RISE & WIN

First days in Germany!!! I've missed so much here! The Strassenbahns, the food, the members, the Danglish, all of it!! 

My trainer is Sister Godwin- She's from Georgia and an absolute delight.  Last night we had a revelation which led to our first motto as a companionship: 

Sister Riser and Sister Goodwin RISE & WIN everyday! 

We win by taking opportunities to talk to new people. We win by setting goals. We win by managing our time well. We win by using study time fully and effectively. We win by being exactly obedient! 

This will soon be on our apartment wall :) Slightly cheesy and may be later turned into a fight song to motivate us on days when people just stare us down when we door. (Knocking doors to find people to share their message with)

Goodbye MTC! I'll miss Preston and everyone we got to work with.  

Traveling from Manchester to Frankfurt 

**This international keyboard is teaching me to be patient, sorry if there's mixed up Ys and Zs! 

Yay for iPads! 

We are now an iPad mission!! So excited!! We have a list of 26 approved apps as of now and we can download and share messages and videos! The only problem so far is because of privacy laws here, none of the Europe missions have been approved for the Area Book app. But I enjoy looking through each entry from previous missionaries so that's okay for now :) Im also in need of good quotes, specifically for my background so feel free to Pinterest stalk for me some so I may think of you daily when I teach hahah :) 

Yesterday was my first sunday and it was so incredible! Theres a record 5 YW and a really strong JAE (Junge Alleinstehende Erwachsene: Young Single Adults) group.  I bore my testimony and Sister Godwin taught FHE (Family Home Evening) AND gave a talk- what a superstar. She really is incredible. She's been in Mainz for 3 transfers and there's so much to do here!! There's to sets of missionaries in the area and our Elders are hilarious. WE get to teach a missionary workshop for the youth in September :)

Peter I hate when you're right, but my English is already a struggle. We speak mostly German everywhere except sometimes at home and during missionary correlation meetings.  

Things I loved and learned this week: 

-Anti social sidewalks. All over these little villages there's little tiny sidewalks for only one person that make you keep checking if your companions following you 

Sister Goodwin on an Anti-Social Sidewalk

-Kellen Freeman's mission boundaries have changed and may now include the Riser fam  in West Jordan! 

-For her lesson, Sister Goodwin copied her name tag and we wrote the members names and backed that with cardstock so they each had a missionary tag :) We talked about every memeber a missionary and that now is the time to pin one to zour heart. Missionary work is incredible you guys!! 

-New perspectives on exact obedience 

Sister Riser in her new apartment.

-My humor and sarcasm (but mostly sarcasm) doesn't translate well 

-Fun fact: missionary tags made at the England MTC have a smaller name  

-That Sister Godwin is terrified of the birds here which are EVERYWHERE! They fly on the streets, in the Bahnhof, I'm really just waiting for one to follow us home. I've almost started crying of laughter to see her shreik MOTHER OF PEARL when one sweeps past her head hahahaha 

-The last speaker we had at the MTC. An area seventy that spoke to us about finding our own purpose within the missionary purpose. 'Go to Disney for fun. Missions are for fulfillment.' 

-1 Nephi 6:4 The fulness of mine intent. EVERYTHING I do! 

All that I can do, I should do.  

-our alarm clock. I'm thinking of naming it Eunice.

So if it ever doesn't work...EUNICE why didn't you wake me!!

Love love love you all!!

Sister Riser

PPS- Apparentely we send packages to the mission office and letters to our apartments. Sorry :/  

ADDRESS FOR LETTERS:

Sister Sarah Riser

Pariserstrasse 10

Mainz 55131

Deutschland 

 ADDRESS FOR PACKAGES: 

Sister Sarah Riser 

DER HEILIGEN DER LETZTEN TAGE 

Deutschland Frankfurt Mission
Missionsbüro: Corneliusstr. 18
60325 Frankfurt am Main 
Deutschland

Finding this is my study journal was one of the greatest moments this week! :)

Surprise Letter: Her last from the MTC!

Bilder Distikt Helaman

{Helaman District Picture}

We fly out in 2 days!!! It sounds like a grand adventure but it's a two hour flight haha

We taught our last lesson in the MTC today and it was great :)

Our teacher is Brother Toropionen that served with Peter!! 

 

I've been studying Christlike attributes and we had a devotional last night that talked about how they build on one another. It's not possible to juggle every attribute in every area of your life until they become a part of who you are becoming. 

Most of my study has been centered on charity, but more specifically having the heart of Christ. Only then can we see others as He did and love as He did. There are no missionaries more powerful than they who have the pure love of Christ for others. It becomes a part of everything you do. It doesn't make negative disappear but encourages you to overwhelm it with positive. 

Also, lots of thoughts on obedience but I'm pushing it with time ;)

The eyes of the investigator will tell you all you need to know.

Goal this week: Maintaining eye contact! It sounds silly but maybe one of the hardest things I've had to do here!!

Liebe Gruesse

Sister Riser

Found a photo of Peter here on the baptism board!!

 **Side Note:  As I was looking for pages to link to this letter, I came across this video on Christlike Attributes and thought I would share. 

Letter from the MTC President

Dear Family,

Your daughter will be departing from the England Missionary Training Centre on Wednesday, 24^th June.  We want you to know how much we have enjoyed having her with us.

Sister Riser is a fine young woman and we are grateful for the opportunity we have had to work with her on a daily basis.  She is well-prepared for her mission and she continues each day to grow spiritually.  She is developing good teaching skills and is excited about the work.  She is ready for full time service in theGermany Frankfurt  Mission.

We love this young woman and are grateful to you for all you have done to prepare her for this wonderful time in her life.  Your love and continued support are important to her success.   Letters from home are always greatly anticipated and appreciated.  Please address all future mail to:

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Corneliusstrasse 18

60325 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

May you and your family be blessed as she continues to serve our Heavenly Father.

Sincerely,

President & Sister Preston

England Missionary Training Centre

Sister Riser is sitting next to President & Sister Preston 

Woche 1 {Week 1}

 

Okay so maybe we went overboard on the pictures for the first week, no big deal. But they shooed us outside for a whole half hour and there was a beautiful temple a half mile away!!  

So to start, my language is much improved. By language I mean my English. The MTC president doesn't stand for any slang, diction lagging or 'simpified' American English. That means that 'cool' is for drinks and 'awesome bro' belongs in the junior high. I think some elders struggled in silence for the first few days but they found something else to say eventually.  

Things I love:

-Investigators for the church are called Freunden der Kirche in Germany {"Friends of the Church"} 

-There's a large goose that chases tall elders in the back of the MTC, no ones been bitten yet but I have hope (His name is Papa Goose) 

-They wake us up on Sundays with some powerful MoTab and it's amazingly amazing 

-Sometimes I wake up at 5:30 and start getting ready only to realize how early it is when my companion throws pillows at me  

-There's an elder here who plays the saxaphone and sits in our musical numbers. I had no idea there was a mix between a devotional and jazz club but welcome to the Preston MTC 

-TEMPLE TODAY! We had a packed session with the Manchester missionaries in the session right after. We had three elders going through for the first time and there were so many people there wasn't enough space in the celestial room! Then they gave us a tour of the temple but only if we got ready fast enough, so it ended being my companion and I and two sets of Elders haha The baptistry is remarkable and they got new paintings recently :)

Sister Riser and Sister Bader

-My companion!! Sister Bader is the sweetest! She's from Switzerland and her Muttersprache is German so that's how we started but she'll practice English with me now and again :) She's so patient with me and corrects me, which I love!! Most teachers and other missionaries are content to let me use the wrong tense or word order but she just holds up her finger to stop me hahaha 

-Our district! We have three sisters going to Frankfurt and one sister and two elders going to the Alpine mission. We're all here for two weeks so we're learning pretty quickly which I like :) 

-'Our Search For Happiness' by M. russell Ballard. I read a little before I left but I use it all the time!! 

-'Character of Christ' by David A. Bednar {not available online}

We watched his devotional for the Provo MTC on Sunday and I almost fell off my chair. It was just one of those moments where it clicks and you know there's a look on your face that makes it seem like you just invented portable Pop Tart toasters  

-MY FAMILY

You guys are just great. Cool. Poppin. Crackalackin. I love you. I talk about you all the time so if you ever meet anyone who happens to know there was a time in your life that you only ate chicken nuggets or you ran away from home to sit on a frozen lake- it wasn't me.

Sister Riser's District outside the Preston Temple 

I absolutely love it here. The spirit here is amazing and with only 33 missionaries, we've all got to know each other really well. I think there's 12 different languages at least with most of the missionaries from Utah, England or Germany! I love the mini impromptu testimony meetings. I love that districts become families for those who have never left home before. I love seeing how much our teachers want us to succeed. I especially love hearing about their experiences! I'm so glad I had the chance to serve in Sugarland before now because learning everything in German for the first time would have been crazy! I love to see the little ways the Lord prepares His children to do His work; especially the small things that we didn't think would ever matter. 

"The Spirit is the way the lesson stops being yours and becomes his."  

- Jeffrey R. Holland

There's so much we've learned in just a week that I don't know how to fit it in a novel let alone an email in 30 minutes! I know that there's so much that we need to know to be effective missionaries and I'm excited to learn more everyday that I'm a missionary and so long after that!!

Hopping the Pond: Sister Riser has Arrived!

I'm official! I'd say check out my name badge but I have yet to put the battery in my camera haha 

The Gorgeous Preston MTC

Come to find out, the other American sisters going to German speaking missions have been here for four weeks already and this week starts the teaching in only German- if I had any nails left I'd be biting them. 

So I'm here at the beautiful beautiful Preston MTC just down the road from the temple.

We have a record 33 missionaries here and will likely have at least 10 sisters! There's still only one here with me which is a relief after traveling with elders all day. Nothing against them, I just didn't know I could get bored of talking about suits and cars that quickly ;) But they're really great, most of them have just graduated high school and are from, SURPRISE: Utah!   

I'll be assigned my companion tonight after the missionary meeting and hopefully she'll be a German speaker haha 

I just got the email from the assistants for my schedule of the first two days in Germany!! It's jam packed and it's awesome! Our first activity is contacting people in public transportation :)  

Headed to my first interview! Love you so much!!

Sister Riser 

So long, farewell AUF WEIDERSEHEN

The time is drawing near; T-minus two days.
After giving my farewell talk in my home ward last Sunday, I've spent the last week in Utah unpacking in the new house. *Just btw, driving cross country in a moving van doesn't cramp your legs whatsoever
Yesterday was a joint farewell for my family and I with our ward and lots of friends.
Lots of goodbyes and mascara getting on white shirts- good times.
It's been fantastic to see everyone who's blessed my family and everyone we've been able to get to know. Friendswood 2nd is the best ward family I've ever seen and we're going to miss them! Especially our stellar sister missionaries!! Sister Sanchez and Sister Robinson have done amazing things here in Texas :)