Schwester Hammer

Hello Friends!  I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! This week was wonderful! On Monday not much terribly exciting happened but we bought a Christmas tree, went to the Weihnachtsmarkt and visited Schwester Kretschmar! It was actually a really great day.  Tuesday we went to Erfurt for Zone Training and it was really really good. We talked about our purpose as missionaries and learned a lot. Wednesday was pretty interesting. We had an appointment with a potential, Herr Schultz. He was really sweet and seemed pretty interested, but he brought a friend to the appointment and he just talked the whole time and we didn't really teach much of a lesson...it was pretty annoying but we told Herr Schultz we could meet again and for him and that would be really good.  So we went finding later that evening, and I stopped a couple kids and asked them if we could share a Christmas message. The girl didn't sound very excited, she made sure that we knew that she was atheist bu

Hello Friends, This week was such a lovely week. Tuesday was really neat and really special. So because Sister Carta got here after the transfer, we got to get up really early and go to Dresden to go meet President and everyone at the airport to pick up the new missionaries and go to Radebeul and [then] the temple. It was really neat and also kinda weird to go back to Radebeul since I'm not finishing. [ See earlier post about Radebeul ] It was really cool though because I got to think about how it was at the beginning of my mission and how far I've come and spend some time there with my Heavenly Father and talk to Him about my mission so far like I had that day I first got here and like I will when I head home. It made me think and kind of rededicate myself like I had that day.  After we spent some time there, we headed to Freiberg to the temple! I haven't been to the temple to do work in about 10 months. It was such a blessing to be there, and I had the best surpr

Hey friends! So this week was pretty great. It's still a bit slow and we've spent a lot of time trying to call people and go by on people. It's not too bad but sometimes it is just so slow ya feel like you're not accomplishing much. But it helps to look for the good though. Some good stuff from this week: Had a really good visit with Schwester Bromme and her husband. They are absolutely wonderful. We've been trying to visit the entire ward and we are seriously so blessed with such great members I love them so much. We've gone caroling around Gera and Zwickau to visit members and try to find people. People really love it. We never found anyone but they loved it anyway and music always brings the spirit. We had a wonderful visit with Schwester Kretschmar and had lunch with her. We visit her pretty much every week and it is so neat to get to know her and learn all about the time here when she was younger and served her mission in the DDR. Sunda

Hallo liebe Freunde! [Hello Dear Friends] These last couple weeks have been really great, so it's gonna be a long one today, sorry! It's been pretty crazy.   Monday was pretty chill, we made Christmas houses!  They didn't turn out super but it was fun anyway!  We've been trying to call people and get in contact with a ton of previous investigators and old contacts, so we have still been doing a lot of area book work.  We did get in contact with a man and had an appointment set up, but he didn't show.   Wednesday night we went to Halle for Tausch [exchange].  It was a lot of fun and we did a lot of finding but it was pretty good.  We had an appointment with a less active sister and that was really good.  We read the Book of Mormon with her and talked about it.  She had a bunch of old Books of Mormon and she gave us one and it was super neat.  Friday was ZoKo [Zone Conference] and it was so good! We learned a lot about teaching for conversion and I le

Hi, Gabby's dad here. A close friend ours and former missionary companion of mine was in Germany visiting family recently and stopped by to take Gabby and her companion to lunch and a walk around Gera's Christmas market with them.  Here are some pictures that my mission companion, Tom Walker took of their visit: Sister Hammer, Marina Walker, Sister Carta Gabby's First Kinderpunsch* Tom Walker, Sister Hammer, Sister Carta Christmas Market in Gera, Germany Gera Town Square - Gabby is looking out her apartment window on top floor Sister Carta and Sister Hammer *Glühwein is a warm wine served at Christmas time, children and those not wanting alcohol drink Kinderpunsch (Children's Punch).  Here is a typical recipe: Kinderpunsch Ingredients 1 cup water 2/3 cup white sugar 2 pinches ground cloves 1 stick cinnamon 3 cups apple juice 1 recipe - 1 lemon, sliced Preparation In a 3 quart saucepan, bring water, sugar, clo

Hey friends!  So this week has been pretty crazy. We had transfers and sadly I left Bremen. It was such a good time there and I had some amazing experiences and made amazing friends and learned so much.  Last week I went down to Zwickau to stay with the Sisters there until my new comp came. Monday Sister Porter called me and told me they needed me in Berlin that evening to pick Sister Carta up from the airport the next day. So we packed all up and I jumped on a train to Berlin and Tuesday President Fingerle, Sister Porter and Sister Sommerfeld went to the airport and picked her up! She's waiting on her Visa to go serve at the temple in St. George! She is so wonderful and will do great there.  We've been doing pretty good here though. President also mentioned that on the 13th since its the day before transfers we get to go to Freiberg with the new missionaries and go to the temple since Sister Carta came after the transfer. Alles gute zum Geburtstag [Happy Birthday