Sister Rachel Doty

WELCOME HOME!!!

2009-08-15T10:57:00.001-07:00

Rachel and her father...

Brother Allen, Rachel and brother David...

After a nail-biting trip to the airport
with a whole lot of sitting in traffic...
and a prayer that we would arrive on time...
we arrived just in time to meet Rachel!

She looks GREAT!
We are VERY happy to have her home!!!
(I don't think I've stopped smiling since she arrived.)
Thank you to everyone in Germany that loved her
and took good care of our girl!
And thank you to everyone everywhere
who prayed for her
and sent her e-mails and letters.
We appreciate you so very much!

Saying Goodbye

2009-08-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

Goodbye to President and Sister Ninow...

Goodbye to the Frankfurt Temple...
and to her very first companion from the MTC - Sister Stewart...
and the Elders who finished their two years of missionary service...

Goodbye to Monchengladbach...

Goodbye to the Wloka Family...

Goodbye to Yvonne and her daughter Aliyah...

Last E-Mail From Germany

2009-08-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I can`t believe this is it!
I want to thank everyone for all the emails, packages, letters, and prayers.
This song is from the musical Wicked. There is a translation difference between the songs, so it means something a little different in German. But I love the meaning of both songs.
This is what I feel about my mission experiences:

For Good Wie ich bin

I've heard it said Es wird gesagt,
That people come into our lives for a reason wenn jemand in dein Leben tritt,
Bringing something we must learn dann, damit du
And we are led etwas lernst, was du nicht weißt.
To those who help us most to grow Bevor man fragt,
If we let them erscheint ein Mensch, der Antwort gibt
And we help them in return und er ahnt kaum welchen Dienst er dir rweist.
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true Mir ist nicht klar, ob das auch stimmt für mich.
But I know I'm who I am today Doch ich weiß, hätt ich dich nicht gekannt,
Because I knew you... wär ich heut nicht ich.

Like a comet pulled from orbit Wie die Sonne den Kometen
As it passes a sun wegzieht won seiner Bahn
Like a stream that meets a boulder wie der Felsblock zu dem Fluss sagt:
Halfway through the wood Fließ woanders hin.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? Du warst da. Darum hab ich mich verändert.
But because I knew you Nur weil wir uns kannten,
I have been changed for good bin ich heut, wie ich bin.

It well may be Wenn wir uns hier
That we will never meet again vielleicht auch nie mehr wiedersehn.
In this lifetime Was ich fühle
So let me say before we part ist eher Dankbarkeit als Schmerz.
So much of me Du lebst in mir.
Is made of what I learned from you Ich hab so viel gelernt von dir.
You'll be with me Deine Handschrift
Like a handprint on my heart schrieb mir wichtiges ins Herz.
And now whatever way our stories end Und was in meinem Buch des Lebens stand,
I know you have re-written mine wird umgeschrieben neu erzählt,
By being my friend... nur weil ich dich fand.

Like a ship blown from its mooring Wie ein Schiff, erfasst vom Sturmwind,
By a wind off the sea auf dem Weg übers Meer.
Like a seed dropped by a skybird Wie ein Samen, den ein Vogel trägt,
In a distant wood wer weiß, wohin.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? Du warst da. Darum hab ich mich verändert.
But because I knew you Nur weil wir uns kannten,
I have been changed for good bin ich heut wie ich bin.

Who can say if I've been Du warst da.
Changed for the better? Darum hab ich mich verändert.
I do believe I have been Und ich hab mich, denk ich,
Changed for the better zum Bessern verändert.

Because I knew you... Nur weil wir uns kannten,
I have been changed for good... bin ich heut wie ich bin.

God be with you till we meet again. Gott sei mit euch bis aufs Wiedersehn.
Loves,
Sister Rachel Doty

Last Photos From the Field

2009-08-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Rachel and Daniel weren't able to meet after all.
Apparently his dog ran away that night,
so he wasn't able to come to the dinner.
Good news is... the dog returned later that evening.
Daniel is planning to be baptized the end of August.
He will send pictures.
I am so impressed with this good young man.
I wish him all the very best.

Five

2009-08-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

In FIVE days my girl will be home.
It's hard to believe...
and yet so very exciting for our family!

I know Rachel will return a changed person - to some degree.
Over the last 18 months
she's had amazing experiences...
met wonderful people...
grown in different ways.

Here are FIVE photos
of the Rachel I know and love...

I look forward to hearing about all those
wonderful experiences she's had.

I look forward to getting to know my amazing daughter
all over again. ♥

PS - Did I mention how proud I am of her?!!!

Misc. Photos

2009-08-04T19:59:00.001-07:00

me and the outreach center couple: elder and sister niederhauser

me and elder mccurdy doing rubix cube on the train

eating lunch with part of the district: elder wildey, elder hillstead, elder smith, sister dexheimer, me

Week of the 'Lasts'

2009-08-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

I DIDN'T GET TO MEET DANIEL!!!!! (sob) we were suppose to have a street preach in duisburg on saturday... we were on the train and heading there... i was excited, i had made space on my camera to take pictures etc... and then we get a call... the street preach has been moved to düsseldorf!!! so i called and left a message on daniel`s phone. anyway i called again on sunday to tell him that we were going to go out to eat as a district on friday night because i`m going home and that he was invited. he called yesterday. he's going to come to dinner with all of us this coming friday. so yes i will take pictures. i can't wait to meet him!!!!!

yvonne FINALLY came to church again after a 3 week absense. she wasn't going to go last week but as she was thinking about it and then thunder BOOMED by her apartment and God said: yvonne you get your pants on and get ready - there is someone coming to get you. you get to church. sure enough the bishops wife showed up a little bit later to take her to church. so she came which was good. every time she comes she always says how great it is and that she needs to come every week. i don't understand her sometimes. anyway i`m glad she came. i`m just hoping that she comes again next week....my last sunday is germany!

so this is the week of the ´lasts´... last appointments, last district meeting, last church meetings, etc. very strange. i feel like i`m just getting transferred... which i am but this transfer is slightly different.

anyway well next email is the last email....and next week i`m home!!! (finally!) prepare yourself to carry around a german-english dictionary. gramper is already on the ball and practicing his german. i can't speak normal english anymore. i end up throwing a german word in at least every sentence or two.

The Field Is White

2009-07-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Rachel sent this photo and said...
This photo makes me think of D&C section 4
"The field is white and ready to harvest..."
I had to smile.
I love that girl... ♥

The Flu

2009-07-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

so yeah last week i was really sick with the flu. not the swine flu. wednesday i had a fever of like 100 all day. and then thursday i felt like i was going to throw up all day (which i didn't) and then after that i just felt really tired and even still my stomach isn't totally back to normal and i`m still tired sometimes. i think my body is just done!

oh yes i just remembered i need to tell you the story about the picture. well elder mccurdy also got the flu. he had the same thing as me but like a day behind. anyway so he was feeling like he was going to throw up so we decided to bring him some peppermint tea to help. plus i was tired of being in the apartment. so i was dressed in sweats and a sweatshirt because i still felt sick. we got on the bus to head over to the elders apartment and it started POURING down rain! so by the time we got to their apartment i was SOAKED. elder smith answered the door and i said: i need to borrow some clothes. shorts and a sweatshirt quick! so he runs back into his room and grabs shorts and a sweatshirt and then i ran into their bathroom (it's right by the door) and changed into his clothes. and then i borrowed his clothes to go back home and washed them for him and gave them back on sunday. but anyway the whole thing was really funny at the time. so that explains the picture.

i get to meet daniel this week! on saturday! we`re having a street preach in duisburg and he said that he`d be there! so be waiting next week for pictures! i can't wait to meet him.

Ready to Harvest

2009-07-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Doctrine & Covenants Section 4 talks about
the field being ready to harvest.
If we have desires to serve God
we are called to the work.
When I saw these pictures of Rachel
it reminded me of those scriptures.

my elder friends!!!
left to right: elder wood, elder welch, elder McCurdy, and elder marsh

elder josh malyon
(for people at home...he's in the bellevue stake and we think he was in al`s prom group)

me and sister ninow
the mission president's wife

When Do I Get Released?

2009-07-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

i totally forgot to tell you last week but Yvonne went and did temple baptisms a few weeks ago with the ward. she LOVED it!

my last interview is this week....its wierd, president and i have like a good relationship now. he keeps calling me and asking me to do him favors. but then he doesn' t do any favors for me... wait a minute he's just using me! i might have to ask for a favor then during my interview.......

my last street preach is on august 1st....in Duisberg. i think that's when i`ll meet daniel. he's busy with school this week even though he has a break. bummer. but i WILL meet him before i go home.

anyway there is a fair in düsseldorf this week and so a bunch of us are going. i`m way excited. i don't have many p-days left....ok well i guess in a few weeks i`ll be on like permanent p-day....but i still want to do fun things while i`m here!

i got my flight plans.... one question... when do i get released? do we get to go straight to the stake presidents house after the airport or do i have to wait until friday? anyway sorry not much news here. so what we doing when i get home?? what time is church? do i have to give a talk? if so, when?

Note from Rachel's mom: Rachel arrives home on August 13th!!! YEA!

Annoyed

2009-07-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

last week was zone conference. unfortunately i was not given the opportunity to bare my ´dying´ testimony. i was so ticked! we had mission tour and had the opportunity to hear from elder causse from the first quorm of 70.
i was asked by one of my zone leaders to share daniel`s story. how he found out about it i have no idea but i said i would.

so the computer i`m on is really lame and i can't email pictures this week. i actually have pictures to email as well! and it wouldn't let me look at the pictures that mom emailed me so i will have to wait till next week... :( and we still have NO INVESTIGATORS!

i`m running very low on patience. it's a good thing we`re playing soccer today. i need to get some anger out. why i`m so annoyed i dunno.

The Blog

2009-07-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking lately about the blog...
this blog.
Rachel and I started it together before she left on her mission.
I told her I wanted to do it so that her friends would have a way
to follow her while she served.
Well...
little did I know that it would be a missionary tool.
Back in April I found a comment that had been posted on the blog
by a young man named Daniel.
It was a very nice comment.
Apparently Daniel was trying to get some information
about our church on the internet
and he found Rachel's blog.
He said, "I have to say that it is amazing what you are doing
for your beliefs and for all the people out there.
You are trying to show them some answers for important questions.
I by myself just started to think
about the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
because I think that I am on a point in my life
where I have to ask myself what is important.
In what direction I will go."

I e-mailed Rachel Daniel's comment
and the next week she asked me to post a note to him on the blog.
(See post on April 28th)
Since then Rachel and Daniel have e-mailed each other weekly
as a missionary and an investigator.
Daniel has been meeting with the elders in his area
which as it turns out isn't too far from where Rachel is serving.

In Rachel's last e-mail to the family she wrote:
Daniel's getting baptized at the end of august. i'm going to miss it.
but we`re for sure going to meet before i leave.
pretty much daniel's emails have been getting me through.
i printed them off and i read them like all the time.
he's so amazing!
his email this week really touched me
because he said that my emails have helped him.
throughout this whole thing i haven't felt like i've made much of a difference
but he said that it's nice to have email support
since he doesn't get it from family or friends.
so way to go mom in wanting to create a blog for me!

Who would have thought.
Daniel: you are in our prayers.

July 4th

2009-07-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

(This is an older picture - you can tell because she's dressed for winter.
I don't remember what city she's in,
but I thought the picture was appropriate for the holiday!)

well the 4th of july was alright.
i made a ton of sugar cookies and homemade frosting
and our district got together and decorated them and ate them
and we were all very much America trunky.
i even made a poster that says "God Bless America."

Challenges

2009-07-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

it POURED rain on us on our way to yvonne's

this week is my last zone conference. thank goodness, those are getting so boring. we talk about the same thing every time! but i will be getting my flight plans then. i`m getting excited.

no new companion. it's just me and sister dexheimer still. and still no new investigators. i think it's really hard on my companion actually. i don't mind, well i do but i don't at the same time. i would love to have more people to teach but you can't force anyone to listen to you.

yvonne is doing alright. i challenged her to read the whole book of mormon by the end of the year. i`m doing it with her so i told her that at the end of the year i was going to write her a letter and ask her if she did it. she laughed and said YES! i think she likes a challenge.

We Do What We Can

2009-06-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

split with sister niebergall

first of all: i was sitting on the bus on my way to emails feeling sorry for myself because i`m tired of life right now. but i checked my emails and i had 17 new emails! and all of them were fantastic and just what i needed! so thank you to everyone who emailed me today. you all answered my prayers!

transfer calls were on saturday. but president wasn't ready. he still hasn't finished and transfers are tomorrow! we know that we are staying here BUT we might get a third companion.

4th of July is on saturday. there's a baptism in krefeld that evening that i`ve been asked to play the piano for. so we`re going to krefeld on saturday. it's like a 20 minute train ride. our district is split into two cities. 4 of us are here in MGB and the other 4 are in krefeld. anyway sister dexheimer and i want to do something way fun for the 4th... i really want burgers - grilled. sooo we`ll see what we can do. if anything we`ll sing the national antheme and watch on my camera a movie i made of fireworks that were going off when a new store opened in MGB a few months ago. we do what we can!

Misc. Photos

2009-06-23T21:19:00.001-07:00

Sister Dexheimer and Rachel

schloß rheydt

Highs and Lows

2009-06-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

so this morning i was thinking... bummer i have like nothing to tell my family. but then... i went and got my hair cut by alex the inactive hair guy. he owns a really nice salon and so i went in and i was like... i just need some layers. and he just went to town! he gave me a hair treatment and massaged my head and like pampered me! I LOVED IT! something you should know about hair places in germany... they don't style your hair afterwards. you do it. or you pay them more. anyway alex did my hair and it's funny because i told him that we were playing soccer afterwards and he was like....ok so i know you`re going to go do sport in a minute but you`re in here still and your hair has to be perfect. so he like paid so much attention to my hair and it had to be perfect. it was WONDERFUL. anyway what the best part is....is that this whole thing was FREE! all because i`m a missionary! i want to go to him every day and have him do my hair. it's a little poofy right now but i think he did a good job fixing it. plus he gave me some anti-frizz stuff as well. it was fantastic. i love my life right now.

guess what... today 17 months ago i went into the MTC! crazy huh! time is just flying by!

so no new investigators. poop! i don't know if i can handle another 6 weeks here. i`m starting to lose my mind. maybe i`ll just go to alex every day and get a head massage and life will be wonderful... 'just kidding

yvonne finally came to church again on sunday. she's breaking my heart. she's changed during the past 6 weeks. after church we had our missionary meeting we call it gemiko, i dunno what it's called in english. but we were meeting with our ward mission leader and others in ward and they asked about yvonne. as i was explaining what was going on i started crying. she hadn't been to church for 3 weeks. anyway she came on sunday and she got mad because she didn't understand why she wasn't allowed to go in the whole temple right away and why she had to wait a year. and i tried explaining it to her but she wouldn't listen to me! and i tried explaining in german and english! it took like 3 or 4 people to explain it to her and now she understands. anyway she doesn't listen to me much anymore and i know that i can't force her to do anything. i`ve taught her the commandments and everything that she needs to know but she has to make the choice herself to live it or not. and it makes me so sad. so sad that i cried during gemiko on sunday. i`m starting to lose it. i can't watch this happen. i really hope she pulls it together. it was really good for her to go to church on sunday. i think we`re going to start meeting with her 2 times a week instead of just one and start reading the Book of Mormon with her. maybe that will help...

anyway so that's what's been happening with me. part of me REALLY wants to get transferred for my last transfer. the other part of me doesn't trust anyone else to teach yvonne and i want to stay and help her. but at the same time if she goes down the wrong path it`ll break me. i don't want to end my mission like this.

alright well that's me right now. my knee is SO much better. we`re all playing soccer today but i think i`ll play goalie or something. i wont play too hard on it. i`ll email pictures next week of my new hair.

Bummer News

2009-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

well mom i emailed some more pictures. i`ll try to take more of me and my comp....and there are like no pretty places in MGB. so i hope these düsseldorf pictures work for now.

soo...bummer news. we lost our investigator. so we have none again. erwin said to call in july or something. so for the time being we`ve got finding time again!

some guy asked me on the bus this morning if i was from spain. did i tell you i get that a lot? i have people ask me all the time if i have some sort of spanish in me.

anyway that's what's going on with me. my knee is totally better now. the doctor is keeping me on the meds for the next few weeks and then he`ll call me. hopefully my knee behaves for the rest of my mission.

Pete

2009-06-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

i dont know if you remember Pete... he's from england and sister olson and i met him and his friend gavin and taught them a little. anyway pete moved to düsseldorf and so whenever i`m there i give him a call to see how he's doing. anyway he came to the street preach after zone conference last week. he's moving back to england in like 2 weeks. and then sometime in 2010 he's moving to LA!

A New Investigator

2009-06-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

guess what we finally have a new investigator! his name is Erwin. sister dexheimer and sister niebergall contacted him at the streetpreach a few weeks ago. anyway he`s golden! he's an older man with no wife and 2 grown children. he lives alone with his dog. he's got lots of time... i love people like that! i really think he could maybe get baptized before the end of next transfers. but that's only have one visit. so we`ll see. we`re meeting with him again on thursday!

we`re going to düsseldorf today for pday to hang out with the sisters there. i`m just way excited to get out of MGB for a day! plus düsseldorf is pretty and the weather is a bit nicer today.

anyway i gotta run! LOVE YOU