Missionary Sisters

Rachel with all of the missionary companions she has had thus far. Sister Stevenson on the left is her current companion, Sister Stewart is from the MTC and Sister Ranzenberger is from Heidelberg. She feels very lucky to serve with such amazing sisters! ♥

A look at her new apartment and the city of Mainz.

First Week in Mainz

i can't believe i'm not in heidelberg anymore! i miss sister ranzenberger and my elders SO much! and the ward and the people!!!!!! but mainz is cool too. its bigger than heidelberg, but its pretty too. not as many fun things to do on pday though:(

well so far i like it here in mainz. sister stevenson is awesome. we get along really well. sister stevenson is from Utah. shes REALLY obedient and works really hard. poor thing has been here in mainz since november! she loves it here but she kind of wants to serve somewhere else before she goes home in december.

we have like 6 progressing investigators. one is from the Congo and one only speaks portugese. we have a sister from our ward who speaks spanish come with us and she translates our german into spanish and then we're pretty sure she understands because spanish and portugese are pretty similar. i can understand both of them when they're speaking. i just can't speak spanish anymore :( we don't have an actual outreach center like we do in heidelberg, but we still offer the same activities. so we teach the english class on wednesday nights. i'm excited to be in this ward. everyone is really friendly and welcoming. i like them.

so the world cup is going on (soccer) and germans are obessed with their soccer! i just wish i could watch. but its funny because everyone is inside watching the game...or outside watching the game and everyone has their windows open and everyone is yelling and all excited. so i can pretty much tell whats going on because everyone cheers when we score and boos when something bad happens. and then i can tell when we win because everyone is super loud and cars are honking... its lots of fun... except not really because we're usually trying to go to sleep when everyone is honking their horns.

Leaving Heidelberg

Rachel, Sister Ranzenberger, Elder Eddy and Elder Hopkins. Last week for P-Day they went to a palace nearby called: Staatliche Sclösser. The palace grounds were beautiful and the gardens reminded her of something from Pride and Prejudice.

Rachel and her friend Frau Kastle.

Rachel, her companion and Sister Hansen. The Hansens are the OutReach couple. For their mission they go to the church every day and stay at the outreach center. Elder Hansen teaches english and german classes. They've become like our parents...it was hard to say goodbye to both of them.

Rachel really enjoys doing "street preach" with the elders in her zone.

Transfer to Mainz

transfer calls were on saturday night. i got a call from the assistants to call president after 9pm. so i called and he told me he is transfering me to Mainz to be with Sister Stevenson. (she's the one I went on splits with.) sister stewart is coming here to heidelberg to be with sister ranzenberger.

i'm going to miss everyone a lot though. i've made some really good friends here in the ward and with the missionaries and our investigators... i'm saying goodbye to Kai in an hour. i'm sad that i have to go but i really do think it'll be good for me.

i would love lots of emails and pictures and stuff for next week...i know i'm going to be sad that i'm not in heidelberg anymore. i know i'll like mainz too... but i'll still be sad! what i know about mainz already... theres a river there. we have an outreach center and the sisters are the outreach missionaries so i'll be going to family home evening every monday. they play soccer every saturday. the sisters have like 7 progressing investigators! i have no idea what thats like...it sounds stressful but exciting! sister stevenson and i got along really well when we had the split the other week, so i'm not worried about that.

Note to Liz: oh my gosh its so good to hear from you!! christi told me that she found you on facebook! wow, i can't believe how grown up we are! so tell me about this guy that you're marrying... and email me pictures!!! i'm glad you found my blog page - keep me updated and my mom will keep you updated on my blog!!!

The Zoo

Last week on their P-Day they went to the zoo. Rachel didn't say much about it in her letter, but did send these two photos that I thought were cute.

More Castle Photos

Rachel has always loved fairy tales and at times has thought of herself as the princess. Obviously, she enjoyed her day at the Heidelberg castle. ♥

Feeling Distant...

well i'm sorry to say that nothing really exciting is going on. anna was suppose to come to church on sunday. she didn't. me, sister ranzenberger, elder hopkins and elder marsh sang in sacrament meeting. i played the piano and sang at the same time. we sang nearer my God to thee. but in german of course.

kai is doing good. we had lunch with him the other day. i really enjoy being friends with him. but i dont think he's going to join the church any time soon. he's graduating at the end of next month and going back to the states the beginning of august. plus he's got this girlfriend here and he just really isn't thinking about his eternal salvation at the moment. we're just keeping contact with him and hoping that maybe in the future he'll remember our friendship and join the church.

we're really struggling to find people. our finding time has improved. but no one wants to give us their contact or meet with us. so we just have anna. its kind of depressing.

speaking of that...i have absolutely no motivation to do the work. i wake up, pray because i'm suppose to. i do my studies and get out and do the work because that's what missionaries do. and then i come home, and pray and go to sleep. i just go through the motions. i keep the rules and i do what i'm suppose to. the days just fly by and i feel like nothing changes. its the same every day. i absolutely LOVE Heidelberg. i LOVE Germany, i like speaking german sometimes. i talk to people by myself now. i love the ward i'm in and i love my companion. i just feel totally distant.

whatever, i'm sure it'll blow over sooner or later. i just keep plugging along. we get transfer calls on saturday night. i have no idea what'll happen! i'll be ok with whatever happens...but i'm excited to find out!

From Michelle: I've never been a missionary, but I assume that the feelings Rachel is having are pretty normal. Germany is a hard area for missionaries. Most of Europe is difficult because people just aren't that interested in the gospel. Please keep her in your prayers!! ♥

Heidelberg Castle

No letter again this week... only a few castle photos. (Notice the dance move out the castle window... funny girl...)
I think what happens is she attaches too many photos to the letter e-mail and then it doesn't send. I'm going to have to have a chat with that girl... just kidding! I won't call her. But I will send her a little e-mail. ♥