November 23rd. Happy Thanksgiving

Hallo Liebe Familie und Freunde!!

(Wow, text is weird, sorry about that!)

Well this week, it has finally begun to feel like winter! It's dropped to about 35 degrees F as a high! It fits perfectly though, as we got our first bit of snow last night and the Christmas Markets are opening up! Oh, how I love Germany.

We taught Ireen about temples this week, she's excited to go inside someday!! She's a complete gem.

Wednesday night at Institute we saw President Kosak again, he showed us all those home from the mission who have gotten married, haha. Some of whom, he says he matched up on the mission. Haha, he doesn't even deny it.

We also began teaching an investigator named Iris in the second program, and she is awesome! One of her granddaughters just died 2 months ago, and because it's been hard, she hasn't wanted to meet. But the timing lined up, we met with her, brought a rockin' joint teach, and she came to church!! First time ever! Despite the fact that it was "Day of the Dead Sunday", or "Eternal Sunday", and she cried a bit because of it, she loved seeing the primary, and wants to come again. Wahoo!

Lately I've been trying to really improve my teaching, and I've found that when at first it gets harder, keep trying, it just means Satan is trying to discourage you! But Sister Flake and I feel like we've gotten really good at explaining principles and the doctrine lately, so we feel blessed as we've worked on our teaching together. And let's be real, she's the more experienced missionary here, so she's showing me how it's done. :)

My testimony has also been strengthened on how our past experiences prepare us for the now and future as we visited a less active family on Thursday. The mother is Albanian, and immediately I was able to connect to her with the few Albanian words I know, and spoke about the Ukaj family in Kiel. Because I know a little bit about Albania already, and how it must be for her, I was able to feel connected to her and give her comfort in her family situation.

In another way, I've been able to understand how Dresden Wards 1 & 2 are feeling, having just had their boundaries split, and a branch closed, adding to the 2 Ward. Because it was similar in Kiel, I now know what I can do to help. I am so grateful that the Lord is in charge, and He prepares us for His wise purposes to come!

Thanks for all your love and support! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am thankful for YOU, family and friends - I know, sounds ridiculously cheesy, but there's not a way around it. Thanks for keeping it real. Till next week.

In Liebe,

Sister Titensor

My Address:

Wiesen Str. 8

01277 Dresden

Germany

November 16th. Week 3 in Dresden

Hallo Liebe Familie und Freunde!!

Well, this week I've been so impressed by our Dresden Wards! The families invite us to FHE in their homes, we are invited every Sunday for dinner, and the bishop listens to us in Ward Council. Man, I am so impressed and know that it is because other missionaries and members have worked near together to get to this point. Let me tell you, there is such a difference when members and missionaries work together! :)

We also visited a cute less active sister named Sister Schulze, and talked about the importance of Motherhood and it was perfect for her! What was cool was Sister Flake and I had both unknowingly found things about parenting/ women in our personal study and decided to share those thoughts. She expressed how much she's been thinking about her grown up kids, and knew now she was to reconnect with them. I know the Lord guided us as we prepared to visit this sister!

On Friday morning we had a spontaneous mission- wide conference call, where President told us one member of the Area presidency called him the night before, and wanted to know if Elder Ballard could speak to our mission! President told us to buy tickets immediately to Berlin, and get ready to see him Sunday! We drove after church with our missionary couple in Dresden, the Sanders.

Elder Ballard was so awesome! We all had the opportunity to shake his hand. He spoke about talking to people, all the time, everywhere. He committed us to talking to at least 10 people each day, and that we will see miracles because of it. He also challenged us to become great teachers. "Great teachers are what we need these days. You missionaries have a lot of competition! Get out there, get these people's attention, and show them what's important. Please teach for understanding."

As the meeting was ending, he said, " Well, I could stay here and talk to you for hours, but I won't. Because I'm tired. And I want to sleep. We are going to say 'Adios, Amigos' and head out, ok?" Haha, he's great. Elder Christiansen and his wife also accompanied him in Berlin.

On Sunday morning, Ireen, our 17 year old investigator took part in the YM/ YW program in sacrament meeting! She has the YW theme memorized, then gave her testimony and totally blew it out of the water!! :) I wish I was as strong willed as her when I was 17.

For P- day, I showed sister Flake around Berlin because she'd never been there before, and we had a blast!! I miss Berlin. :) But I love Dresden too!

Well, thanks for all your love and support. I am so grateful to be here, serving in the most important work. I know the Lord knows us, and needs us in our capacities.

In Liebe,

Sister Titensor

Concentration camp in North Berlin!

November 9th. Dresden Week 2!

Hallo Liebe Familie und Freunde!

Dresden has been great this last week, the work is really growing in our area, and that is a huge blessing! 

We set out a baptismal date with one of our investigators this week! Her name is Ireen, she's 17 and from the beginning has investigated the church by herself. She is the coolest German, and such a self-motivated young lady! Her date is for the beginning of January, and she already comes to church every week, and has begun working in her Personal Progress from YW! I'll have to send pics soon.

We also have 2 other investigators that are almost on baptismal date too! There are so many prepared people, I am so amazed.

We went out to a further area this week to visit some less actives, and boy was the accent hard for me to understand! They say the 'Sachsisch' accent is hard, and it has been an adventure! I would liken it to American English versus Irish English, haha. Some things get lost in translation.

I was also able to go on exchange this week with the STLs in Freiberg, and got a temple tour! It was so fun to be at the temple, and be reminded of how much of a miracle it was to have a temple built in DDR German times. There are so many miracles in this work.

We had Stake Conference this weekend, and guess who I saw? President and Sister Kosak! It was like coming home! They are in our stake, so we will see them often. How awesome! Three of our investigators came too, success!

Other than that, we are going forward, staying busy in both wards, and looking forward to all the blessings and tender mercies that the Lord brings in our daily lives. I am striving to work hard at all times, especially as Sister Flake will be going home soon, and I will be needed to lead in the area! There is something to be said in working hard until the last minute! I have gained a huge testimony of that, and believe that the Lord knows and appreciates our extra efforts. It is worth it!!

Love you all!

Sister Titensor

Pic: P-day at the Zoo today!

November 2nd- Dresden

Hallo Liebe Familie und Freunde,

 After saying so many hard goodbyes, and riding in trains all day, I

made it to Dresden! And well, what can I say, I am very blessed-

Dresden is like a dream!! I am so blessed to be working with Sister

Flake in her last transfer! She's from Arizona, and is a convert of

about 2 years. We already have so much fun, so this is going to be a

good one!

On Wednesday, we visited a new convert named Sandra, she got baptized

just 2 weeks ago! She is awesome, and we helped clean her apartment.

We have actually begun to teach her good friend David, and she is the

best joint teach ever! We see her several times a week, so she is like

our home girl.

They also have an institute here, so it felt a little like Kiel! The

YSA's are super cute, 2 of which are going on missions themselves and

they will invite their friends to their farewells.

Friday, we had district meeting and President came! We had a way good

interview and he helped me see that I'm needed here in Dresden, and

how we can use our talents to build where we stand. I also got to talk

to Sister Fingerle for a while, and she is the cutest!

Sunday was a crazy cool experience in of itself! A bit overwhelming,

but good! Because we are over 2 wards, we are bouncing between Sunday

schools, Sacrament meetings and such. I also got to give my testimony

twice! Haha. What's fun was I saw a member from Spandau, who happened

to be there! I'm excited, the members are really pretty open, and

introduce themselves and everything! Soooo much potential!! The bishop

of the second Ward had us over for dinner, and it was so great!

I am so excited to be working hard here in Dresden! I know the Lord is

very aware of His children and He will guide us according to our

desires to work with Him! I know the Lord needs each of us in this

work, no matter how small we may feel our efforts are. I have seen

that over and over again on my mission, we really cannot underestimate

how much we are needed in this work.

Thanks for all the support family and friends!

In Liebe,

Sister Titensor

Pics:

--Heart of Dresden at night- Halloween evening. Some of the buildings

are hard to see, but still, it is a breathtaking view.

-- The "Zwinger"- old palace grounds! All of these buildings are like

10 minutes down the road from our apartment. :) yeah.

--Transfer day- Got to see my beloved Sister Montierth on the train to

Berlin! We were in Spandau as we took the picture. So many good

memories! :)

Okt. 26th

Hallo Liebe Familie und Freunde,

Hey, so we got transfer calls this week- and I'm going to Dresden!!!!

I am soooo excited, yet so sad to leave Kiel! Yesterday was so busy,

saying goodbye to everyone. It's super hard to say bye to Sister

Davis--but good thing we're soul sisters. :) We'll see each other

again!

Dresden is the most gorgeous, historic city! It has the best Christmas

Markets in all of Germany apparently... Can you say blessed?? My new

companion will be Sister Flake, and it will be her last transfer on

the mission! I'll be working in two wards, because we are over two

programs and it sounds like the area is just amazing! I am sooo

excited!!

This week a lot of, well, everything fell out.. Haha. The Ukaj family

is still fighting for us, against the governments wishes, so we

haven't been able to meet with them. And Birgit has also been

struggling, and we haven't had much contact. But I know the Lord is

very aware of her, she is very special. Things will turn around, but

it'll take some ground to get back to where she was.

Our amazing mission couple, the Cooks left this week, so we had some

good celebrations for them! It's hard to see them go, especially for

Sister Davis as she is still in Kiel, without them! We made a small

slideshow and a cake, and sang to them Wednesday night! It had them in

tears, we counted that as a success. :) Kiel will receive a new couple

next week, so they are counting their blessings.

We also had an awesome time this weekend, we went to Hamburg with our

STLs and had a complete party- missionary style. We are so blessed, it

was the perfect switch up just before transfer calls. And we had

Crêpes for breakfast... Unhealthy.. but crazy delicious. :)

I was able to do a musical number on Sunday with a less active sister

who is coming back, more and more regularly! It was great, and I'm so

grateful to know her. We performed "I believe in Christ" because she

had this song at her baptism, and it has such an impact on her. She

played the flute, and I, the piano.

One cool story of the week: As we were practicing our song one evening

at the institute center, a man walked in just to use the restroom. He

stopped as he saw a sign in the entry way that said, "Wissen Sie

Bescheid?" Or "Do you know?" And he asked, "What am I supposed to know

about?" We told him it was the perfect question, and we ended up

talking for a while about the BOM, and why it's necessary to know

truth. After Sister Davis gave her testimony, I bore mine and I felt

such a power and peace come to me that I know I was being led by the

spirit. The man, awesomely named Olaf, was very impressed by our

testimonies, took a BOM and said he would read it! Sadly he's not from

Kiel, but I feel confident that the spirit made a very strong

impression on him. #seedplanted

Thanks for all your support! I'm so grateful for all that I've learned

in Kiel, the people I've gotten to know, and can't wait to see what

Dresden brings! I know the Lord will build us to accomplish whatever

He asks of us. I am a witness of that, especially as I'm transferred

and things change. It is not me that is able to do all these things,

but it is Him!

In Liebe,

Sister Titensor

Pics:

---Sista's pic- Me, Sister Davis, Sister Demke, Sister Hahn

----Us, with Gordon, our favorite member! He has helped me better my

German and has been our pal in Kiel.

-- saying good bye to the Gudegasts- Me and Peter, going to miss him!

Not good lighting, sorry