Date: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009
Hallo Familie!
This week has been great! So many awesome things have happened. First off, well, so my new companion is Sister Cutler from NEw Mexico. She is a very good missionary, an exceptional teacher and I think we will get along great. I am learning a lot from her already. 2nd we did have our Christmas Zone Conference. It was wonderful. Our Mission President and His wife spoke to us and it was really inspiring. They talked about the life of Christ and took us through scriptures and stories, and at the end there was time left over for testimonies and the spirit was really strong. Since then we have just been working and some really neat things have happened. Our first day together we were doing street contacting and we started talking with this girl Heike about Gods plan and we asked her if she ahd interest to meet with us and learn more. She said "Well I have about 45 minutes until my train comes, and I would like to learn more about this plan." So we took her to our Outreach Center and taught her about the plan. It was so neat to have that happen. That doesn´´t happen very often and so we were a little shocked and Sister Cutler and I had never taught before, but it turned out well. Another awesome thing is that our former investigator Shiresh called us!!! We started talking and he said he would like to meet with us again! So we met on Saturday and gave a Christmas message about Christ and he said it felt good to be with us. And he wants to meet again after he gets back from his Christmas trip. So I pray that all goes well on his trip. That was so neat though. Definitely a miracle. Then another day we were doing some doors and singing Christmas songs, but we had forgotten the words to a particular song. So we contacted a lady on the street then asked her if she knew the words to Hört die Engelschöre singen. She said no, but that she had the words at home, so we could come with her to her house. When we got there we met her husband and we talked for a little bit. They couldn´´t find the words, so we just sang it for them in English. They were so nice. After that her husband asked us if we could help him translate a Christmas card he wanted to send to a friend in America. So we did and then they ended us feeding us. At the very end we said we needed to go and the wife said "WEll you´´re missionaries right?" We said "Yes." then she said, "Well you probably want to tell us more about your church. Do you have any brochures that you could give us?" We said, "Yes. " Then we got them all out and explained them all a little and asked them which one they wanted to learn more about. She said, "Well could we read through all of them?" We said, "Yes." Then we really needed to go and so they offered to give us a ride and she even gave us each an angel caroler figurine she had carved. It was just such a neat experience. I will also just say part of what made this a tender mercy was that on this night it was -14 degrees Celcius. It was freezing cold. I remember last week when it was -2 I was trying to figure out what I could do to stay warm. Then I realized how funny that was when it became -14 degrees. I have realized how useful hats, gloves, scarves, and boots are. They help a lot. But come snow, come shine, come rain, come sleet, the work must go on! :)
Ritchie that is so funny that you are warm. :) That would be a very interesting experience. And you have a native speaker as a companion. That is awesome! My companion and I have decided to only speak German with each other. It´´s not quite the same as a native speaker, but I hope we both will grow in our language skills.
Chris: Sweet job on your Eagle Project! You did that fast. Way to be. And you got voted King again for Senior Prom. Keep being an awesome example!
Jason: I am looking forward to talking with you on Christmas to hear what has been happening in your life. How are you?
Crozier: How are you doing? Have you been doing any more plays?
Mom and Dad; Thanks for all your insights. Mom, you can share as many insights and scriptures as you would like. I have found that they really help me. It was fun to hear about Dads talk. I am glad that it went well. I would love to have a copy of that story he shared. you and dad should just start your life histories right now, you both have so many stories to share. that is so fun you went caroling. I love caroling and we have been doing it hear too. It´´s been fun.
Candace and Evan: I sent mom an email about maybe you calling me if your circumstances allow. I would love to hear how everything is going. Thanks for your emails you send. It sounds like you are just loving it there.
Tara: I am really looking forward to hearing how everything is going for you, and all about your accompanying and maybe masters.
Sean and Kim: It sounds like you are also doing well. I can´´t wait to talk to you on Christmas.
I can´´t believe it´´s already hear. I am looking so forward to it! I love you family, and I will talk to you on Friday!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas Transfers :)
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009
Hallo Familie!
Mom before I forget, I finally got your package with the Nu Skin stuff in it and the wedding announcements. Thank you so much for sending that. It fills me with joy to hear from you, all of you. Also it sounds like life is pretty busy for everyone. You are all doing such wonderful things.
Chris´s Eagle project sounds awesome. That will probably help the different religions be more unified, and feel more a part of the community. Way to go Chris. Jason and Crozier are probably pretty busy too. Wahoo.
Candace thanks for your email. I am glad to hear that life is going so well in ARizona. I am so happy for you.
Life is going pretty well here to. This is the best week we´ve had in a while. WE got some new investigators, and a lot more contacts. And that has been wonderful. We also got transfer calls. And I will stay in Mainz, but my companion Sister Ley will go to Frankfurt. My new companion will be Sister Cutler from New Mexico. It´s funny because she is in Frankfurt now, so her and Sister Ley are just trading spots. I look forward to serving with her. Sister Ley has been a great companion though. I have learned a lot from her.
I love this Christmas season. It fills me with hope and faith and energy to keep making the most of this "probationary time" we have here on earth. I know that Christ´s birth is so important because of the life he lived and his sacrafice at the end. He went through so much out of complete love for us. I know that as we make little sacrifices to follow him we are blessed. I think I told you last week the little thought advent calendar my mission president made for all of us. Yesterday the thought was serving and sacrificing and the song we had to sing was A poor wayfaring man of grief. I never noticed before how every time this man gave up something he was blessed for it. v. 2 He didn´t have very much food, but he saw this man in need to he gave what he had, and then when he looked down he had an "angels portion". v. 3 he gave a thirsty man what he had and again was blessed with water enough for him. v. 4 "I warmed and clothed and cheered my guest And laid him on my couch to rest, Then made the earth my bed and seemed In Eden’s garden while I dreamed." I love that! v. 6 I think is my favorite "My friendship’s utmost zeal to try, He asked if I for him would die.
The flesh was weak; my blood ran chill, But my free spirit cried, “I will!”" Sometimes we feel like that. Our flesh is weak, but as we find the strength from within, our spirit cries "I will" do what you ask me to do. And when we do we are blessed.
Yesterday we were talking with a girl that was about to put in her mission papers and she asked us about our missions. And as I was talking with her I realized how much my mission meant to me. I am just so grateful for this opportunity I have to learn the gospel at a level I have never discovered before, and to share it with others. It means so much to me to be here in Germany right now. I cannot describe how much my mission has blessed my life thus far, and how grateful I am for all the precious lessons I have learned since being here. As much as I try to give, Heavenly Father gives an hundred fold back. I know that to be true.
Family I just love you so much. I look forward to talking with you next week. It will probably be one of my favorite Christmas´s ever.
Thank you for your love and prayers.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hallo Familie!
Mom before I forget, I finally got your package with the Nu Skin stuff in it and the wedding announcements. Thank you so much for sending that. It fills me with joy to hear from you, all of you. Also it sounds like life is pretty busy for everyone. You are all doing such wonderful things.
Chris´s Eagle project sounds awesome. That will probably help the different religions be more unified, and feel more a part of the community. Way to go Chris. Jason and Crozier are probably pretty busy too. Wahoo.
Candace thanks for your email. I am glad to hear that life is going so well in ARizona. I am so happy for you.
Life is going pretty well here to. This is the best week we´ve had in a while. WE got some new investigators, and a lot more contacts. And that has been wonderful. We also got transfer calls. And I will stay in Mainz, but my companion Sister Ley will go to Frankfurt. My new companion will be Sister Cutler from New Mexico. It´s funny because she is in Frankfurt now, so her and Sister Ley are just trading spots. I look forward to serving with her. Sister Ley has been a great companion though. I have learned a lot from her.
I love this Christmas season. It fills me with hope and faith and energy to keep making the most of this "probationary time" we have here on earth. I know that Christ´s birth is so important because of the life he lived and his sacrafice at the end. He went through so much out of complete love for us. I know that as we make little sacrifices to follow him we are blessed. I think I told you last week the little thought advent calendar my mission president made for all of us. Yesterday the thought was serving and sacrificing and the song we had to sing was A poor wayfaring man of grief. I never noticed before how every time this man gave up something he was blessed for it. v. 2 He didn´t have very much food, but he saw this man in need to he gave what he had, and then when he looked down he had an "angels portion". v. 3 he gave a thirsty man what he had and again was blessed with water enough for him. v. 4 "I warmed and clothed and cheered my guest And laid him on my couch to rest, Then made the earth my bed and seemed In Eden’s garden while I dreamed." I love that! v. 6 I think is my favorite "My friendship’s utmost zeal to try, He asked if I for him would die.
The flesh was weak; my blood ran chill, But my free spirit cried, “I will!”" Sometimes we feel like that. Our flesh is weak, but as we find the strength from within, our spirit cries "I will" do what you ask me to do. And when we do we are blessed.
Yesterday we were talking with a girl that was about to put in her mission papers and she asked us about our missions. And as I was talking with her I realized how much my mission meant to me. I am just so grateful for this opportunity I have to learn the gospel at a level I have never discovered before, and to share it with others. It means so much to me to be here in Germany right now. I cannot describe how much my mission has blessed my life thus far, and how grateful I am for all the precious lessons I have learned since being here. As much as I try to give, Heavenly Father gives an hundred fold back. I know that to be true.
Family I just love you so much. I look forward to talking with you next week. It will probably be one of my favorite Christmas´s ever.
Thank you for your love and prayers.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Joy to the World!
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009
Family!
Mom I really liked your subject line. Joy to the world the Lord is come! and lives! and will come again! Yea! and that is why we are here to prepare for his 2nd coming! This is such a special time of the year. I am sure the First Presidency Christmas devotional was just amazing. That would´ve been wonderful to have seen it, but it was also good to be telling people about Christ too. :) It is so funny to think Ritchie is in summer. We had an appointment with a lady from Peru and we asked her what her favorite Christmas traditions were. She said it was different because it was too cold to do anything here in Germany. :) And boy is it cold here. I now understand what cold to the bone is. We´ve had a few cold spells and it was surprising. :) But other than that it has been pretty good.
Our investigator Brother Himioben has set a baptismal date! . . . for April 10th! :) He said he really wants to get baptized around Easter. He´s been investigating for 3 years, and now is the time. We are really happy for that. Also we have been getting a lot more contacts lately too.
On Sunday we got a call from someone saying he was itnerested and wanted to learn more. We were really happy about that. I just pray these people will progress and recognize the truth, and have the desire to follow. Our mission president and his family made up a Christmas Advent thought countdown until Christmas with little songs to go along and yesterday we sang „I heard the bells on Christmas day.“ Verses three and four really stuck out to me. So many people say the world is evil, there is no purpose, there is no peace it´s all just luck and money. And sometimes we feel like that, that „there is no peace on earth“ but if we listen we hear the spirit ringing in our hearts and saying, „God is not dead nor doth he sleep, the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth goodwill to men.“ It hit me so deeply that God is so aware of us. The scriptures are true and will be fulfilled. God wants us to be happy, to be at peace. We find that peace through the gospel. Those that try to challange that will fail. The right will prevail. And we will feel the peace. It is because of my conviction of the peace the gospel brings that causes me to want so much for these people to accept it. I know it will only help them and I want to know how to help them understand that.
Anyway, it was good to hear how the family is doing. That is neat that grandpa put on a concert in Midway and that it was a hit. I am glad that Chris and Jason are OK too. Let Chris know he can update anything until February 1st at BYU anyway. Also, I wanted to ask you when a good time to talk to you is on Christmas? I forget when your church is, but if you could email me times next week that would work for you that would be great. Send the times in Mountain Standard Time, and I can figure out the time difference. Um, transfers calls are this week, so I will let you know next time what happens to me. J
I love you all family! I sent a Christmas package home so let me know when you get it. Sorry, I made it a while ago, but it took me a while to send it. I hope you like it!
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Family!
Mom I really liked your subject line. Joy to the world the Lord is come! and lives! and will come again! Yea! and that is why we are here to prepare for his 2nd coming! This is such a special time of the year. I am sure the First Presidency Christmas devotional was just amazing. That would´ve been wonderful to have seen it, but it was also good to be telling people about Christ too. :) It is so funny to think Ritchie is in summer. We had an appointment with a lady from Peru and we asked her what her favorite Christmas traditions were. She said it was different because it was too cold to do anything here in Germany. :) And boy is it cold here. I now understand what cold to the bone is. We´ve had a few cold spells and it was surprising. :) But other than that it has been pretty good.
Our investigator Brother Himioben has set a baptismal date! . . . for April 10th! :) He said he really wants to get baptized around Easter. He´s been investigating for 3 years, and now is the time. We are really happy for that. Also we have been getting a lot more contacts lately too.
On Sunday we got a call from someone saying he was itnerested and wanted to learn more. We were really happy about that. I just pray these people will progress and recognize the truth, and have the desire to follow. Our mission president and his family made up a Christmas Advent thought countdown until Christmas with little songs to go along and yesterday we sang „I heard the bells on Christmas day.“ Verses three and four really stuck out to me. So many people say the world is evil, there is no purpose, there is no peace it´s all just luck and money. And sometimes we feel like that, that „there is no peace on earth“ but if we listen we hear the spirit ringing in our hearts and saying, „God is not dead nor doth he sleep, the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth goodwill to men.“ It hit me so deeply that God is so aware of us. The scriptures are true and will be fulfilled. God wants us to be happy, to be at peace. We find that peace through the gospel. Those that try to challange that will fail. The right will prevail. And we will feel the peace. It is because of my conviction of the peace the gospel brings that causes me to want so much for these people to accept it. I know it will only help them and I want to know how to help them understand that.
Anyway, it was good to hear how the family is doing. That is neat that grandpa put on a concert in Midway and that it was a hit. I am glad that Chris and Jason are OK too. Let Chris know he can update anything until February 1st at BYU anyway. Also, I wanted to ask you when a good time to talk to you is on Christmas? I forget when your church is, but if you could email me times next week that would work for you that would be great. Send the times in Mountain Standard Time, and I can figure out the time difference. Um, transfers calls are this week, so I will let you know next time what happens to me. J
I love you all family! I sent a Christmas package home so let me know when you get it. Sorry, I made it a while ago, but it took me a while to send it. I hope you like it!
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Advent
Date: Tuesay, Dec. 1, 2009
Hello Family!
I am sorry if I sounded a little depressed in my last email. But I do thank you all for the emails you sent me. They meant a lot. The love, strength, and testimony you send always inspire me. I was "cheered up."
I am still waiting to hear what surgery Chris had and how serious it is and everything. :) I assume its not too serious or I probably would have heard. How are you though Chris? OK?
It sounds like Thanksgiving was busy and fun. I would love to see Temple Square with all the lights. Germany does a pretty good job though. They really go all out for Christmas here. There are so many Christmas trees everywhere! And lights, and Weihnacht Markets. It´s awesome.
Anyway, this week has been good. I actually just got back from doing a split in Frankfurt. It was good to see Frankfurt again. It is also fun to be back in Mainz. This week we aquired a new English student. We were very excited about that. We hope our students will start inviting more friends. That will be awesome. Probably the most inspiring thing was the Sacrament meeting on Sunday. All the talks were on Family History, and we had an appointment with another member in Frankfurt that was really into Family History and it was so inspiring. They shared some really special experiences about finding ancestors and doing the work for them and I felt the spirit so strongly. As I heard them talk about it I could see the fire in their eyes. I could see and sense the spirit working through them and their love of the work. While we talked with them they just told us over and over how important and exciting it was. And as they said that I realized once again that the most important work is preaching the gospel. So that the people can return to their Father in Heaven and live with their family forever. I know this is Gods work. Talking with these older people about geneology and seeing their excitement and energy for what they were doing, inspired me to have the "fire in the bones" too. Also while we were in the temple today it hit me that we really are Gods children and that I think we have more in common than we realize. We are all at different levels in many different aspects of life, but we were all created for the same purpose, to have joy in becoming more like our Heavenly Father. We all have different talents, knowledge, capabilities, and opportunities, but we are all here to learn to become like Heavenly Father. I know that God is our Father. He is our Creator, but also our Father. He has a plan for each one of us to inherit the happiness He has prepared, if we are prepared to receive it. I know that He helps us in our lives. He leads, and guides, and is a part of our lives. I know that God can do all things, but in his wisdom He does not do all things for us. He is always there, and has all the answers. I love my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This time of year is so special. I know it is very commercialized and fun. That is also important to have fun, but I hope that especially during this month we focus on the Savior what His life really means to us individually and globaly and everything else. He is the Savior of the world. I have prepared a little Advent thing, I hope to get it off today, so you should be getting it soon. I hope you enjoy. Advent is huge here, so I wanted to share a piece of Germany with you.
I love you family.
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
I am sorry if I sounded a little depressed in my last email. But I do thank you all for the emails you sent me. They meant a lot. The love, strength, and testimony you send always inspire me. I was "cheered up."
I am still waiting to hear what surgery Chris had and how serious it is and everything. :) I assume its not too serious or I probably would have heard. How are you though Chris? OK?
It sounds like Thanksgiving was busy and fun. I would love to see Temple Square with all the lights. Germany does a pretty good job though. They really go all out for Christmas here. There are so many Christmas trees everywhere! And lights, and Weihnacht Markets. It´s awesome.
Anyway, this week has been good. I actually just got back from doing a split in Frankfurt. It was good to see Frankfurt again. It is also fun to be back in Mainz. This week we aquired a new English student. We were very excited about that. We hope our students will start inviting more friends. That will be awesome. Probably the most inspiring thing was the Sacrament meeting on Sunday. All the talks were on Family History, and we had an appointment with another member in Frankfurt that was really into Family History and it was so inspiring. They shared some really special experiences about finding ancestors and doing the work for them and I felt the spirit so strongly. As I heard them talk about it I could see the fire in their eyes. I could see and sense the spirit working through them and their love of the work. While we talked with them they just told us over and over how important and exciting it was. And as they said that I realized once again that the most important work is preaching the gospel. So that the people can return to their Father in Heaven and live with their family forever. I know this is Gods work. Talking with these older people about geneology and seeing their excitement and energy for what they were doing, inspired me to have the "fire in the bones" too. Also while we were in the temple today it hit me that we really are Gods children and that I think we have more in common than we realize. We are all at different levels in many different aspects of life, but we were all created for the same purpose, to have joy in becoming more like our Heavenly Father. We all have different talents, knowledge, capabilities, and opportunities, but we are all here to learn to become like Heavenly Father. I know that God is our Father. He is our Creator, but also our Father. He has a plan for each one of us to inherit the happiness He has prepared, if we are prepared to receive it. I know that He helps us in our lives. He leads, and guides, and is a part of our lives. I know that God can do all things, but in his wisdom He does not do all things for us. He is always there, and has all the answers. I love my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This time of year is so special. I know it is very commercialized and fun. That is also important to have fun, but I hope that especially during this month we focus on the Savior what His life really means to us individually and globaly and everything else. He is the Savior of the world. I have prepared a little Advent thing, I hope to get it off today, so you should be getting it soon. I hope you enjoy. Advent is huge here, so I wanted to share a piece of Germany with you.
I love you family.
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
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