Germany!

Date: March 3, 2009


Hello Family!

If there are typos just know that the keyboards are different here in Germany. :) Well first off, Oh meine güte, ich bin in Deutschland!It has been a wonderful first week. So, it was so good to talk with you family. I wish I could've talked to you dad the second time, and I'm sorry that my phone calls were all mixed up. But I was glad to get in touch with as many family memebers as I could. I'm glad you all are doing well.

Well Germany! It's great. We are teaching a lady from Burma, and we are about the same in our German language skills. :) Actually hers is better than mine, but I appreciate the fact that she talks slowly so I can understand. :) (mostly) It's been really interesting teaching her because there is no Book of Mormon in Mian Mahr which is her language that she speaks. So between the German she knows and the English she knows a lot of the lesson is just spent in translating it so she can understand the reading assignments we give her. But she is has a desire to learn more about the gospel and she is really patient with the language barrier. Her name is Nang. We are teaching another lady Anja and her daughter Tara. They are part Indian part German. We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Sunday and the mom Anja I think really felt the Spirit. Or maybe she was just looking at me that way trying to figure out what I was saying. :) But I think she felt the spirit and we have another appointment next week. We are also teaching a Family from Sri Lanka. Do remember Jey's (Anglea's husbands) full name? They probably don't know eachother, but it still would be fun to try to make a connection. I actually haven't met them yet, but we teach them on Sunday too. We are teaching a lady in English today I think she's from England. So I am excited for that. :)

So um, yeah, I arrived in Frankfurt on Tuesday morning. The flight was good. I slept a lot of the way and it was dark when we left Texas and it was just early morning light when we flew into Frankfurt so I didn't see the ocean ever. But it was fun. I met my President Ninnow and his wife. They are super nice and super fun, and very engaged in missionarz work. I love them. We weren't able to do a Street Preach when we arrived (which I was secretly grateful for), but we did talk to people on the bus. Well, tried to talk to people. The people I talked to always ended up speaking English better than German. Um, that night we stayed at the hotel where I met my trainer, Sister Van den Berg! I prayed for the Lord to give me the best trainer He could, one that was nice and patient, but also one could really push me to learn the language and be a good missionary. Well, he did just that. He blessed me with the best trainer I couldäve ever asked for. She is from Connecticut and 23. She is so friendly, positive, happy, hard working all the time. She is an excellent missionary, always focusing on others, always. She amazes me. I am truly so blessed to have her as my trainer. I don't know the other sisters very well yet, but I've heard good things about them all, so I look forward to good things.

Germany! It's definitely European. :) I love all the buildings and I love riding trains, I love the gospel, and if I could just speak German I think it would almost be perfect. The weather reminds me of Idaho, but more humid. IT's actually turning into Spring which is really beautiful. Well it will be, the buds are just barely starting to appear. Um, I imagined a lot less cars, just because everyone always talked about how good the public transportation was, but there are still a lot of cars and streets are really small so the cars park on the side walk. That was kind of funny. Also there are sidewalks, then red bike lanes in the sidewalks. They are not to be mixed up. :) Rot ganger, Tot ganger. Kind of like Red goer, dead goer. Don't walk on the red. :) The sidewalks are cobble stones, and a lot of the roads are to which I like a lot. The people are verz polite. We were on the bus the other day and this old lady got on and all the seats were taken so this teenager got up from his seat and let the old lady have it. I was really impressed, but that's just how Germans are. Also, in Germany because they are proper the speak very properly and it's not a snooty thing to do kind of like it is in America. If someone talks really well it's almost funny to us. But here, no, they speak well, everyone, and you are respected when you can speak well. I think that is why it's so scary to talk to people. They are also very blunt. A few people have told me my German is bad, but that it will get better. I try to take that as encouragement. I know that's how they mean it. I do enjoy talking with people. I love even more teaching lessons. Oh yes, my first Sunday here they announced that I was new and would bear my testimony first. I was glad the Bishop said "Danke" after I was done. That was scary, but good. I am grateful for all the blessings I received saying that I would be blessed with the gift of tounges. I didnät really worry about learning a language before my mission, and wondered why it said that so much in the blessings I recieved. I definitely know why now, and I am glad the Lord knows all and prepared me and knows what I need to be blessed with. I love being a missionary. There is so much to learn, but everyday gives you time. Oh, I almost forgot. I am in Dusseldorf. It's in the north and the way up here along the Rhein River was so beautiful. There were castels on every hilltop i saw like 10 at least. It was really cool.

Well I better go, but I love you family! And I love being a missionary!

Tschuss!

Sister Fitzgerald