Another fantastic adventure of a week in Wiesbaden

Drinking from a hot spring

Hallo,

It has been another fantastic adventure of a week in Wiesbaden. :)

First thing to take note of, Sister Eschenmann and I both wear a lot of black. She wears it because she thinks it's elegant and it's her favorite color. I wear it because it's slimming...haha

So...on Thursday morning, we were studying, and we noticed that none of the lights would turn on. We thought is was strange, but decided to wait it out. Three hours later, still no light, and it was starting to get cold. It was then that we were starting to get worried. We totally didn't have any power in our Apartment...

          That meant, no hot water, no hot food, no cold food, no heat, and no light, and in Germany, they are already little scanty with the lights. They already prefer the dark (I think the percentage of people afraid of the dark in Germany is quuuite a bit lower than in America, just because Germans always sit in the dark). So no electricity meant sitting in the DARK. Sister Eschenmann decided to ask the neighbors if they had power. Our neighbor across the way had her power and was like

"Uh oh, someone forgot to pay the bill!" We were like NAHH...but she was right. We went down to the cellar and checked the stuffs (well, Sister Eschenmann, not me, as she actually would know how to fix said stuffs) and we found a blue paper that stated that indeed we had not paid. We called the church office and they started trying to figure out what in the world happened. Meanwhile, our food the in the freezer was starting to thaw, so Sister Eschenmann starts clingling ALL the doors in our apartment building. Mensch, does it feel weird to "contact" in your own building!! After working our way up most of the floors, with no one home or with no room in their freezers (Germans have TINY freezers), we called the District Leader, and he rescued our food.

We weren't sure how long it would take to get power, and there was a distinct possibility that it could have been until Monday. Later that night, we had a dinner appointment in a restaurant and we needed to wash our hands. Sister Eschenmann went to the sink in the bathroom first, and turned on the hot water."It's warm!" She exclaims. Then a lady comes out of the stall, and Sister Eschenmann, always the awesome friendly person, turns to her and says,"Sorry, we don't have power in our Apartment and the water is warm!" (or something like that) The lady looks at our name tags, laughs a little and says it's no problem. I then wash my hands and Sister Eschenmann starts laughing.

Black + missionaries/religious + no power = ...Oops. We just supported every incorrect idea of Mormons ever thought of. good thing we don't actually have horns.

I thought it was funny, but all I was thinking as I was washing my hands was "The water isn't getting warm. :("

We got power back the next morning. :) But not before we were gifted a candle from our sweet neighbor who was really excited that she was right about us not paying and doing our planning by candle light, because we didn't have flashlights. FAIL. I guess we like the dark too. 

I just want you all to know that God will ALWAYS show His love. Sometimes it's through people, flowers, birds, dubstep, random compliments, chocolate, or other things, but He always sends little tender Father-to-child love notes. I challenge you to look for them. :)

So back to finally finishing the Thema that has been going on for three weeks.

So what would you dream for if you thought you could have whatever you wanted?

Maybe you would dream for the perfect body (I did) or to win the lottery, and you're like,

"Sister Roderer, the Lord doesn't care about that because it's not important." Oh, but He does!

He cares about how you feel. But He knows that sometimes it isn't the Thing itself that we want, but the feeling that accompanies it.

You can't magically change shape overnight,but you can gain a sense of self-respect that no body could ever give you, and will out-weigh any other satisfaction that could come with that.

 Maybe you won't win the lottery, but you will gain a zest for life that will pay off in the long run and bring you sincere happiness.

Maybe you won't get the fame and notoriety that you want, but you WILL be known by and treasured by those most important to you, and will always be one of God's VIP children.

The best part is that you can have both the feeling and the thing you want. In God's plan of happiness, you get to have the cake, and eat it too. haha sort of.

You might say

"Aww Sister Roderer, all of this stuff is just another way of saying I can't really have what I want. It's a form of resignation."

Actually, no. :)

If we were to get what we wanted in the height of when we wanted it, it would create a crutch-like dependency on the thing itself. It is only when we have filled and addressed the desire, desperation, need, that the thing we want most will become beautiful to us. Otherwise, it might end up only being a self-preservation thing. Like wanting so much to eat the cake, and then feeling like one piece isn't enough, so you end up eating the whole thing, and then it wasn't worth it anyway.

I think that is what Christ meant, when He said "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you." Or something like that.

Anyway,

"Expression of love"

Sister Roderer

P.S.

Forgive the possible awkwardness here, but hey, I am encouraged as a missionary to understand the culture, so I'm just being super European, and being super open about awkward topics (seriously though. There are some conversations, especially with older Europemans on trains and such where my eyes kinda just bulge out. I almost have to start singing Primary Songs.) I was reading a talk by Elder Ballard in the Liahona (in German) about Women and the Priesthood.

It brought me back to something that I realized last year. We quarrel about Priesthood/women/equality/fairness because we do not understand the importance/role/power of motherhood.

But Sister Roderer,

Raising children is dirty, frustrating, langweilig, undignified, unglorified work. No one sees (unless it's on pinterest) no one knows (unless it's on pinterest) and no one cares ( unless it's on pinterest).

But God, God has been very open about what makes Him happy. He who created us, who is the mastermind behind all organized intelligence and beauty has told us what brings Him a sense of accomplishment.

Moses 1:39 For Behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

He gave men His glory.

He gave women His work.

haha jk.

But seriously though. God gave women the Gelegenheit to do what brings Him glory, happiness, and satisfaction. And He knows. Oh, how He knows. And He doesn't care if it makes it onto pinterest.

That's kind of simplified, but I really liked it. :)