I Shoveled Snow for the First Time in My Life
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Guten abend, liebe Familie und Freunde! Alles ist ganz ganz ganz ganz kalt hier in Augsburg. Diese Woche hatten wir viel Zeit finden zu gehen. Aber ich bin glücklich, weil wir mit so vielen Menschen gesprochen haben, und alles ist weiß und schon.
Ok, translation: Good evening, dear family and friends! Everything is very very very very cold here in Augsburg. We had a lot of time to go finding this week. But I am happy, because we have talked to so many people, and everything is white and beautiful.
Notable Notes
- There are many things you learn on your mission. And no, I'm not JUST talking about learning how to speak a foreign language, how to live with a stranger, or how to knock on someone's door and talk about religion. Some things I've learned: how to shovel snow, how to clean a washing machine filter, how to talk with government workers so you can live legally in a country, how to fish hair out of a shower drain, how to make multiple combinations of meals with limited ingredients, how to kill a man in a case of emergency, how to entertain myself without the internet, what other people think about America
- Back in the days of Arizona when I had a Pinterest account, I would lament how it was too warm for all the cute winter outfits I pinned. Now, I have the cold weather alright, but instead of all those cute trendy winter outfits I just go to survival mode AKA so many layers AKA I look like a marshmallow.
- A three-year-old whose family we spent New Years with asked if we missionaries could attend her birthday party #socute #someonelikesus
- Been eating real good this week cause my family sent me 24 pounds of food for Christmas including cereal and Mexican food THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Quote of the Week:
- "Is it against the white handbook to go hitchhiking?" - not me or Sister Franchino...
Recently someone was telling me about the languages of love. I don't know too much about that, but I would guess that my "love language" is spending time with people. Time-- that is a precious commodity for me.
So anyways, one of the days this week I was feeling really down and just was not looking forward to going out dooring. Lately no one had wanted to hear us out and I was tired of people not caring about all this time we were spending out in the cold, trying to offer our little message of hope for them. Yet on this same day Heavenly Father blessed me with two people who didn't know that they were acting as my angels. Literally at one of the first houses we rung, this elderly man didn't even hear out our intro before he invited us inside, telling us "kids" how cold it was outside! His wife made us leave immediately, but instead of leaving us on the doorstep, the man proceeded to talk to us for the next twenty minutes and even took a Book of Mormon. To be honest, his dialect was exceptionally thick and he was chatting far too much for us to be able to fit in a word.... But it helped me so much to see how much this nice old stranger cared about our wellbeing outside in the snow (he made sure my coat was zipped up fully) and was more than happy to just spend his time talking to us like we were normal people!
Then NOT EVEN KIDDING on the same exact street, Sister Franchino asked to pet an elderly lady's dog AND SHE PROCEEDED TO TALK TO US FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS. She told us about everything from her long-dead 15,000 euro dog to how she would sneak out of the house to do theatre and ballet (she even sang for us) to the war and how they would have to go down to the basement during raids and how families would only get 50 grams of butter during the difficult times of ration. While most people shut the door as fast as possible, she apparently appreciated our company so much that every time we tried to leave (because we had to travel to another appointment) she wouldn't let us! "Love thy neighbor as thyself," was her motto.
It truly made a difference in my whole week. And it really made me think about the way we treat those around us, whether or not we know them. Sometimes I think we tend to get so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we forget how much the little words or actions we do towards other people can really make such a huge difference!
I would invite you all to take a little time this week to do just a little act of kindness for someone this week, because in the end you both feel good!
Love Always,
Sister Lundgreen
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