Woche 14: Of Regrets and Resolution

Falling in love with this sky

Our Heavenly Father sees our real potential. He knows things about us that we do not know ourselves. He prompts us during our lifetime to fulfill the measure of our creation, to live a good life, and to return to His presence.

      Why, then, do we devote so much of our time and energy to things that are so fleeting, so inconsequential, and so superficial? Do we refuse to see the folly in the pursuit of the trivial and transient?

When it comes to living the gospel, we should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water and then claimed he went swimming. As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we are capable of so much more. For that, good intentions are not enough. We must do. Even more important, we must become what Heavenly Father wants us to be.

Dieter F Uchtdorf 'Of Regrets and Resolution'

Don't just get a taste of the gospel. Immerse yourself in it! 

Don't just set goals and imagine who you want to become, do it!

It's not enough to listen to one prompting and think we've done all that the Lord wants us to do. 

It's not enough to skim our scriptures and think we're studying. We have to want to do good and then do it! 

God made us capable so why not do all that's in our power?

I know that I have talents and time and strengths but I have to continually ask myself if I'm using them in the right place. Am I giving too much time to things of little or no eternal value? 

We got approved for an overnighter in Frankfurt with the Sister Training Leaders!!! Our zone conference starts early the next day and our tickets only go after 9 so party in Frankfurt! 

New member lessons with Desiree are perfect. She's the perfect end to the day and is all smiles.  She chooses to be happy about the things in her life and is such a great example to us. She's so excited to start Family Home Evening and should be getting a calling next week!  Her daughter turns seven in October and has requested that we learn the Frozen songs in German so we can sing them together. And here I thought I'd never get to karaoke on my mission ;) We had our first performance together on Friday and I really got into my role as a mountain. 

One new thing we've begun this week is to make a German jar filled with topic prompts and questions that might be a little out of the ordinary. It's been interesting to have to use different vocabulary and to think beyond the norm. 

Saturday night we were dooring in the most polite neighborhood I've ever seen. Nicest rejections ever. 

There was one woman we talked to that shared with us a little bit about the experience she had as missionary for her Gemeinde (community?). She wished us luck and was thanked us for what we were doing. I find it so interesting and good that people are so accepting and appreciative of what we do even when they have no interest whatsoever. The love that these people have is amazing. 

“Desiring to receive instructions” is more than a willingness to listen. When our desire to receive instruction is a greater force than our comfort in remaining as we are, we become teachable.  --"Desiring to be Teachable" by Robert R. Steauer

I recognize having the desire to learn and to change but at times know that I'm unwilling to change my behavior enough to let me become who I can. The gospel should afflict the comfortable. Complacency is a roadblock to my progress. There's so many opportunities to learn that I don't want to miss out on all I can learn by not being ready to be taught, accept criticism, or change. The longer I'm here, the more I see what I need to to be giving, but more importantly who much more I'm really capable of giving. 

Part of our transfer goals is to treat finding time like a teaching appointment. We want to give it the priority it needs and be accountable to ourselves. There are so many new habits that I'm making and habits that I'm improving! I want to be consistent and know that I can carry them beyond the mission field. 

Today we went to the IAA!!!! Internationale Auto Ausstellung (exhibition) in Frankfurt!! It was massive and one of the most incredible things I've every seen!!! It comes every two years and is the biggest in the world!! (So I've been told. But the amount of walking we did agrees) Audi had a huge display which cost 32 million for the building alone. Holy mackerel. There was so much there I don't even know where to begin. Crazy crazy!! But one of my favorite P Days so far! The Messe is gargantuan!! And I was in an i8. And it was awesome. 

"RM" Returned Missionary... not there yet! 

Thanks for the wonderful updates and stories I hear from you all!! You're wonderful examples to me and remind me to recognize the important and small moments :) 

Liebe Grüße, Sister Riser ❤️

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!!