Hallo!

It has been a fabulous week! And we only have ONE left before we head to Germany!

I definitely feel a mixture of excitement and fear about heading off on Tuesday. All of a sudden it's like "WAIT! I don't want to leave, I haven't learned enough yet, I need like 3 more weeks. At least!" Haha, but that's OK, because I am so ready to be IN Germany!!

So this week I got to play Be Still My Soul on the flute for the group of missionaries that are leaving this week. There is always a Sunday Departure Devotional, and that's what I got to play for. It was really lovely!

So the weekly service update: This week Sister Carroll and I got to clean the toilets on Monday. It was a party! And we took so long, that the cleaning supervisors had to come and find us. I am sure that conversation was interesting. "Uh...wait a minute, these Sisters haven't signed out yet. WHAT are they doing? Did they get lost or something?"

One of the Elders likes to use to word "turd" when referring to whatever missionary is doing something silly. I decided that we needed to "German-ize" it. So, next time someone does something you don't agree with, say "Wow, that was tuerdlich." eheh (mission appropriate??...)

My other favorite Germanization of the week was when we were all beyond focusing and I said "my brain gesplodet". (in German, the past participle often adds a g and et to the word.)

In one of the talks we heard this week, someone mentioned that it is really the small moments that you remember most, and it is the small moments that have the biggest impact. I definitely had many of those this week, and sometimes it is hard to translate them into email form. :) But I challenge us all to remember that. And to look for those moments, and for ways to create those moments for other people. Often all it takes to brighten someone's day is that one smile, that one compliment, that one kind gesture. I think we can all afford to do just one more kind gesture a day. And the return will be greater than we expect, that's for sure! :)

Elder Maxwell said something awesome in his talk "Be of Good Cheer".  He said that we are justified in ALWAYS being of good cheer or happy and positive for ultimate reasons: like eternal families, forgiveness, second chances, absolute truth, a loving God Who is our Father, and many more "ultimate" reasons like that.

Gotta run, but I love you all.

Life is full of reasons to laugh, to smile and to love. Don't let them pass you by, just because things are difficult. The difficult things become less so when you are laughing hysterically. ;)

 Sister Roderer

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