Hallo Beautiful Germany!

November 3, 2014

Hallo familie!!!!

Well, it's a beautiful, cool morgen in Deutschland, and I'm chilling in a little shop, with a sniff (as dad would say) of cigarette smoke, writing to you all!!

Oh, where to begin!! It's been a complete whirlwind, but an awesome one at that!

I'll start at getting to Germany, because I honestly can't remember before that... just lots of packing at the MTC.

So Tuesday the 28th was traveling- all day.

Wednesday- arrived in Deutschland, at 11 AM! The mission president and wife and AP's were waiting for us just outside of baggage claim, it was the best. He spoke some Russian to us, just to make us even more confused. Then we basically had orientation, went to a chapel in Lieptzig, and had dinner. We then had interviews, and activities, and they had us go out with another sister for our first finding activity! I honestly had no idea what was going on the whole time, ha, so I just went along with everything. With finding, we walked the streets, I handed out a few cards to some peeps, I felt really cool. Then the best part- sleep! They dropped us off at a cute little hotel where they let us sleep from 8 pm to 9:30 am. Best thing ever.

Thursday- got assigned to my area and trainer! I'm serving right in the heart of Berlin for the next 12 weeks, at least! I'm in a little area called Spandau, which is west of the hub. It's great, really busy and lots of people to see. And I'm part of the North Berlin Zone. My trainer is Sister Stacey from Alpine, Utah. She's the coolest, seriously! I couldn't have had a better trainer, she's super patient with me and just nods and smiles when I attempt to make jokes. And she's a spiritual giant, so I have lots to learn.

It's kind of crazy that right now ALL of the sisters are training- my trainer is now just in her third transfer, and that's pretty normal as there are just lots of us here. But she knows everything, so I'm lucky.

Friday- had a few appointments, met with a cute girl named Eileen, she's19 and a muslim and is basically trying to convert us to her religion. But we still meet and try to pull similarities between our religions. That is one thing that is so cool about Berlin, is that there is soooo much diversity! I had heard about it, but never realized it. It's like a melting pot of everyone. We have lots of Africans here, especially in our teaching pool. And lots of Turkish too.

Saturday- We had like 4 appointments but they all fell through, it was so sad. For the entire week my comp had set up about 13 appointments but only 5 actually went. But that's also a common theme here, is everyone is just so busy and life gets in the way. And there are also lots of less actives here, so I'm excited to get to know them, and find ways to bring them back. And we toured around more, took more buses.

Sunday- Whew, an overwhelming day! We had church from 9-12, and I met just about everyone. I think I was trying to understand every single word they said in each meeting and thus ended up with a little headache, haha. But the members here are awesome. They all made me feel welcome, and gave me lots of hugs. There are lots of characters here, which only makes it more fun. Then a counselor in the bishopric drove us to his house for dinner, which was the classic meat and potatoes... I tried my best, I truly did family...Ha, after forcing some meat and potatoes down, the wife was like, "Can I get you something to eat, that you like?" They were so accommodating. But I'm determined to like meat, it'll happen. I can just feel it.

And then had a meeting with the GML, which is their ward mission leader. It's sweet to have that direct connection to the members here and our investigators.

We're going to see the Brandenburg Gate this afternoon, along with that famous column that's in the city square, type place. I'm so excited!

It's been a blessing being here already. Ha, although I don't understand much, nor can I speak much, or know my way around, but I feel comfortable here. I don't know how else to explain it, but I do. And the few things that I am already able to understand, I know it's because of my Father in Heaven, it's not me. Most of all, I'm so blessed to be here! I have an amazing trainer, amazing leaders here, and the people here are just the best. Blunt yes, haha, but awesome.

Well I love you all!! Thanks for all of the support, truly! And sorry if this email is scatter brained, I feel like brain isn't all organized quite yet, ha, so sorry.

Liebe Immer,

Sister Titensor

Fun Things about Germany/ Mission I've noticed so far:

-Chocolate. OH MY. It is amazing. I will find a way to send some home!

-The mission president is pretty chill with what we can listen to, so we've been running our Frozen DVD in German non-stop. Made me think of little Nali when "Let it Go" came on.

-Buses, Grocery Stores- just silent.No one talks to eachother. Just a German cultural thing. Ha, it's pretty funny. And we get a lot of fun looks with our tags too.

-All the windows here open outwards, or inwards at the tops. I always think I'm breaking them everytime I open one.

´-The sun sets at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so I worry that we seem like creepers, trying to stop people on the streets in the dark. But it just adds another fun element to the work.

-Our little apartment is right near the airport, so we have huge 737 right over our place every 10 minutes or so. I think it's pretty sweet, actually

Sister Stacy, me, my new parents! (mission president)

View from our apartment.