guten Rutsch!

Date: Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009


Family!

Ich wünsche euch einen guten Rutsch! I wish you a good slide into the New Year! And part of what made this past year so wonderful was talking with you! It was such a treat to hear your voices and talk with you again. I love that in families the familiarities never leave. I haven´t talked with you since May, and yet talking with you on Christmas was the most natural thing in the world. Thanks everyone for having a question for me. They were fun to answer and to tell you a little bit more about Germany. The Schuh Family says "hello." (They are the family we were going to when I was on the bus talking with you). :) The rest of Christmas was wonderful. We had a wonderful dinner, sang songs, told stories, played games, and shared our thoughts on Christmas. Fariba also had a wonderful time. Thank you for your prayers for her.

The rest of the week was also wonderful. I told you a few things on the phone, so I won´t repeat it. So on Sunday one of our investigators said she would come to church and she would meet us there. We were so excited. Well it got closer and closer to the time for church to start and she wasn´t there. I was supposed to play the piano for Relief Society and needed to go in, but we wanted to wait outside for her to make sure she found the church. Anyway, one of the visitors said he would wait for her outside so that we could go in and do what we needed to. His name is Brother Baader he is the grandfather of a family in our ward. We had just met him on Christmas Eve and he was so nice. Then on Sunday when he saw our situation he was so nice to offer to wait for her. It was just a little tender mercy. It ´was a little thing, but something that meant a lot. I was very touched by his kindness, and service. Our investigator did end up coming, she had gotten lost, but had found the way. And she really enjoyed church. She was able to talk with people in the ward and it was so wonderful. Later on that day we had decided to go by on some Less Active members and no one was home. :( But on the last go by we did (of course it´s always the last one) we klingled and no one answered. Again we klingled and no one answered. We looked at eachother and frowned :) then started walking away, when a Chinese man opened the door and said, "Hello? are you looking for me?" We said "Are you Hao?" He said "Yes." and we said, "Hello Hao! We are the missionaries and we did want to talk to you." Then we were able to talk with him a little bit and get to know him a little better. We heard his conversion story and then invited him to FHE the next day and he came! And he liked it. And the other young adults recognized him and were excited to see him. It was awesome! And we have an appointment with him tonight. Yea!
There are so many miracles. I just can´t even count them. Little things every day. Along with big ones too. This gospel just helps me to see how I can improve my life. It´s more than just something I do on Sundays, it´s more than just things I can and can´t do or things I should or shouldn´t do. It´s really a plan, a plan to become everything I could dream to be. And it´s not even totally about eternity. It is that, but it´s what I can do now, who I can become today and tomorrow as I start living the principles of the plan that help me to become the kind of intelligent being God wants me to be that knows and applies all truth. That includes knowing how to handle every situation, how to build solid relationships with others and work with people in love, in understanding, with patience, and honesty. It includes self mastery, becoming the master of myself, knowing how to make the correct choice in every decision and following through. Yep, this gospel preaches true religion and science and history and everything else true; it also preaches application of these true principles so that we can become the people we have always dreamed to be; perfect, like God our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Family, it was so good to hear from you. Ritchie it would´ve been fun to talk to you, but hopefully when we see each other again it will just be all the more special. It was good to hear how passionate you are about your mission. I remember feeling like that in the MTC. Everything I learned I just wrote down and thought to myself "I have got to tell Ritchie, Chris, Jason, and Crozier so that they can be more prepared than I am!" I 2nd what ever Ritchie said on the phone. Preparation is SO important. The MTC is the last stage of preparation for the mission field. What you learn the first 19 years of your life is where the majority of preparation takes place. This work is so exciting, and is more exciting and enjoyable the more prepared you are.

I love you family!

Love,
Sister Fitzgerald

P.S.
That quilt is really neat. Good job siblings. Mom and Dad how did you like it and all of it´s symbolism?