My mind is a little frazzled with the big news! (I just received an
email informing me of my admittance into my desired college program, BYU’s
Marriott School of Management) Also, it was quite an adventure to find
this internet shop here in Munich. So let’s see if this email will make any
sense. ;)
Well, it is always good to start with last Monday (a week ago).
Monday evening we went out with the Branch President and his wife as well as
Schwester L____ and her son. Brother H____ is the branch president in Passau.
It was really enjoyable. We were very excited because they were taking us to a
Mexican Restaurant in Austria! It was amazing food, however, not Mexican. It
was really cool though. We would go to the bar, pick the meat we wanted (Zebra
being an option) and they would cook it and bring it to us. It was really fun
and I got to know the Branch President a lot better!
On Mittwoch (Wednesday), we were a little embarrassed because our
Zone Leader was in Passau on AusTauch (exchanges) and no one showed up to our
English class. However, miracles came from it. We were able to meet this family
on the bus, who happened to get off at the same stop allowing us to chat. They
are very excited to come to church next week and they seem so friendly! I love
it when we meet families! :)
Friday, we went to go visit Frau M___, but she was unterwegs (on the
go) again! We never catch her at home even when we make appointments. I can't
even imagine how hard it would be if all of our untersuchers (investigators)
didn't have cellphones.... Dad, I don't know how you did it! When we got
home, we started being mothers... haha. So President Miles had this great idea
to say thank you to the Branch President’s family for preparing the new
apartment and all many things they do for us. So we invited them over for a “fancy”
dinner. Fancy for us… , meaning Lasagna. But it was way more work than I ever expected!
It went wonderfully though! We had a couple of courses. The Nachspiese
(dessert) being Apfel Kuchen (Apple Pie) that I made. Let's just say the Branch
President’s wife gave me permission to get married because it was so good.
Haha. But it was really fun and it gave us an opportunity to use all the dishes
we have in our apartment! Their family was so grateful. They said some really
nice things. There was a lot of love that night, and that is just what we
needed. The members here are great!
Saturday was tracking day in Landshut.
Then that brings me to Sunday, my favorite day of the week! Church
was wonderful! We had a höhe rat ( haha I just think the German word for High
councilman is funny). Don't be fooled, they have the same role here. We got out
of sacrament late, and we only had a youth speaker.... haha. We taught S___,
and that went GREAT. We went over the Baptismal questions with S____, and his
testimony and understanding of the gospel SHINED. Then we decided to stop by on
an Untersucher (investigator), Germans don't like it if you stop by
unexpectedly.... but we couldn't get ahold of him. But he loved it, let us come
in and we were able to teach him. He still thinks he "can’t pray."
But I learned something from that lesson. He is usually confused and asks us
all kinds of interesting questions. We decided to teach the restoration. It was
so much better! I think the previous missionaries must have skimmed over that teaching.
But it really shows there is order and the restoration is really the message we
are sharing! It went well.
Today, we hopped on a train to Munchen (Munich). I want to tell you
about the lady Sister Smith and I sat next to. She was visiting her son in Passau.
We talked about EVERYTHING- Backpacking, hiking, canoeing, travel. Everything I
love (but it gets better!) When she asked what I was doing here, I told her
about the mission a bit and then I asked her if she had ever heard of the Mormons.
She has not only heard of us, but she told me a great story of something that
happened to her friend. She recounted that her friend's family was driving in
the states, roughly translated, "This middle of no where place in the
west, I believe it was called Utah." Anyway, the car of her friend’s
family broke down while driving through Utah. They were very worried, but a Mormon
family came, picked them up, let them stay at their house while their car was
being fixed. If I understood correctly, they even went to church with them. So
that is all that this lady had heard about our church, but she described the
impression that the experience left not only on her friend’s family, but also
on her! Anyway, we started talking about my personal history, aka, why my name
is French. I asked her where her parents came from. She said she didn't know. BAM.
PERFECT. I told her about my experiences with Genealogy and she excitingly
asked me to write the internet address down (familysearch.org). She is so excited! I was excited!
I finally contacted with family history! But it was awesome!!! What a wonderful
experience. It was really nice and fun. I realized how nice and patient she had
been with me, when a man sat down next to her and she started speaking,
real/fast German... and I could no longer understand... Anyways, it was a really
cool experience.
We had Mexican food for dinner, got to love big cities, well really,
I don't like München that much, but, I love that it had Mexican food. I just
had to wait to get Mexican food a couple days longer than I expected. :)
We then visited the Dachau concentration camp. It was interesting,
but quite gloomy. It really ties into something my companions and I have been
talking a lot about lately--- Life is so different with having the
understanding of the Plan of Salvation. We actually spent companion study this
morning talking about funerals and death and how sad it would be to not have
the understanding and knowledge of The Plan of Salvation. Where is the drive?
Where is the love? Where is the purpose? Seriously, it helps a lot! I can't
imagine life without it.
I love being a missionary. I hope that I am able to help people see
this light found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow is Zone Conference! I
am really excited!
Have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Regnier
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| Upper Austria |
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| Me and my companions |
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| Dachau |
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| Ahhhhh, Mexican food....Finally! |
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