The Spider and the King

*A member in our ward talked about how her testimony of the power of prayer was strengthened as, after seven years of praying, the Berlin Wall came down. She recounted that prayers were said on both sides of the wall, and it came down. And it was then that she began to understand the power of prayer.
*I gave a talk at our baptism this week, and it was being translated into three different languages. It was weird to hear my words immediately repeated and translated into German, Arabic, and Twi.
*Our "Spider" was baptized and confirmed in Twi, his mother tongue, which was INCREDIBLE!
*I am getting a SWISS companion!!
*We got to go to a castle on Monday!!!


World-o-meter:
*Germany
*Bangladesh
*England
*Syria
*Turkey
*India
*Ghana
*Egypt
*Romania








Deutsch:
The word for trying something new out like "I tried a new dance move today" is "Versucht", which is very close to the German word "Suchen" which means "search". I love the idea of "searching out" new skills and experiences. I think this also applies to our agency, which is the conscious choice to search out God in whatever aspect of our lives that we are currently facing. Next time you're asked to do something new and possibly scary, see it as a "search for something new" rather than a potential catastrophe. :)

Eep! Where to start?
I'm going to miss Sister Terry and Sister Johnson more than I can say!
They have had such an influence on my life, and they're going to go change the world.







Two quick miracles:

We were printing out programs for the baptism, and the printer cartridge was printing out this super gross line across the program.
Ok,
It was like pencil thin, but it still shriveled my heart. It kept printing out like that, and it was driving me crazy.
I remember looking up at heaven and saying
 "Could you fix that?"
And then I went back to something else I was doing. When I cam back to the printer, I pulled out the programs
And they were perfect.
Flawless
Line-less
This heat grabbed my heart in its fist, and I teared up. I didn't know the love of God would LITERALLY come
line upon line.

We have this member in our ward who is from Ghana and speaks Twi, just like Spider does, and on top of that, he is a tribal king in Ghana.
Yes, you did read that right.
We have an African King in our ward.
We involved this member a lot in the teaching and such of Spider. He was supposed to be in Ghana the day of the baptism, but we prayed and he stayed, and so...
The king baptized the spider.


So, I guess what I'm really trying to say is...
Don't forget to pray!

Love always,

Sister Roderer

In the Dead of Winter

January 25, 2016
Aloha!

Highlights from this week:

*Ate the best three-course Syrian meal with the cutest family EVER!
*Fell asleep mid-sentence while reading out loud in an appointment. #hiddentalents
*Participated in a missionary training with 75,000 other missionaries all around the world. And by participated I mean I ate Chinese food and took copious notes.
*Learned that Shahrukh Kahn filmed a new Bollywood in Denmark or something like that...anyway, got to have a Bollywood moment with a guy from India!!
*Spent like 5 hours straight at the Duisburg Bahnhof, in appointments, and waiting/contacting while waiting on appointments. #McDonalds #besties #fried

World-o-meter
This week we taught or talked to people from:

*Algeria
*Nigeria
*Ghana
*Syria
*Bangladesh
*Germany
*Sierra Leon
*England
*India
*Ukraine
*Guinea
*Turkey


Deutsch
I always say that good things are a "Zeichen der Liebe Gottes" or "a sign of God's love"
Well... I was going to send that in an email, but I spelled it "Seichen" instead. I thought it was right because the spell check accepted it as a word. I decided to look it up, just in case...
It was a good thing I did.
Despite sounding almost exactly the same when pronounced, to "Seichen" means to wet the bed; to say nonsense; and possibly other things which for which I apologize.


This week wins for being the strangest combination of adventure and tragedy, miracles and disappointments, progression and standstill.
How exhilarating!
And yet, how completely and utterly exhausting.
Winter in Germany is fantastic.

We had an appointment with our investigator who called us the Beautiful Trinity on Monday.
We met him at the train station, and he took us on a bus for like ten minutes, where we then got off and started walking.
We soon entered the housing complex.
This guy passed us, and our investigator, recognizing him, stopped him, asked him where he was going, asked him if he spoke English, then invited him to come listen. We got settled in the room of his friend, and waited for his friends to arrive.
They kept coming!!
We kept having to stand up, and introduce ourselves.
"Hi I'm Sister Roderer, what's your name and where are you from?
"Oh! Nigeria!
Oh India! Do you know Rab ne bana de Jodi?
Oh, you lived in Bulgaria?
Oh, you're from Algeria?"
Our investigator went from door to door, and grabbed all of his English speaking friends and invited them to come join us.
All in all, there were seven guys from all over the world....and us.
Three very white, very American, and very surprised Sister missionaries.
He assembled them all and got their attention.
Then he gestured to us and said:
"Feed us."
Taken aback, we jump right into the The Plan of Salvation...
And when we talked about families we ended up teaching the Law of Chastity too...
So.
Much.
Fun!!
Well, the bus only came once an hour, so three of the guys walked us back, carried our extra bags, and waited with us until our train came.
Mission made.
And then we got on a train going the wrong direction, just so we didn't have to wait in the frigid cold, deep in the dead of winter.
The best part though, was some of the answers these guys gave to questions in the appointment itself. They were open, and had beautiful ideas about God and faith. It was so cool to see their faith in God, and their desire to learn more, and their willingness to accept the possibility that there could be just one true church.

We also gave a church tour to two people from Bangladesh. They felt the Spirit, and were so interested in what we believed and how the church was organized.
One man couldn't speak English very well, but he was pleased to hear that we as "Sisters" could marry.
He said
(sort of, his friend had to translate)
that it makes more sense this way, because this way we won't run out of people. #truestory
The best moment though, was when we were sitting in the chapel, and had watched a clip about Jesus Christ being the Bread of Life, and they both just felt the Spirit so powerfully. This same guy leans over and says:
"If the Al Qaeda could come here and feel this, they would be changed."

I stunned myself by responding that it was because Jesus Christ died for them too. And then I had to sit back and think about that one. Puts things in a different perspective, that does. What was most shocking is that I felt a glimpse of His love for them, and for me, and for us all.
It was a tiny bit life changing.


I have been thinking a lot about dips of late.
dips in motivation,
dips in faith,
dips in hope,
dips in self-confidence,
dips and chips,
dips in stress
dips in fear
dips in success

And more specifically, how we should act when a dip comes, whether it be positive or negative.
My thought is if something "dips" then something has changed.

Well, duh.

But I mean if every action has a reaction, then if the reaction is different, then an action or variable has changed.
Sometimes I feel like the variables changed without my permission, or that all of a sudden, I'm different, and something is harder or easier and I have no idea why.

Thank you, subconscious.

But, it also made me realize AGAIN how important agency is.
I love using circumstances to justify myself.
It's one of my favorite hobbies, actually.
It allows me to feel ok with feeling weak, and gives me a reason to fight back, because I know it wasn't really all my fault.
But I don't think that's necessary.
Or correct.
What IS necessary is hope.
What is correct is faith.
And determination.
And patience.

I was studying the Second Article of Faith yesterday, and I read a quote that put it deliciously bluntly:
"Your use of [agency] determines your happiness or misery in this life and in the life to come."

Terrifying.
And freeing.

No matter how bad it gets, no matter what happens, or occurs, we are still in full power. I think that's what it means to become more like Christ, and to take His Name upon us, and to Stand in Holy Places, and to Endure (or enjoy) to the end.

Love Always,

Sister Roderer

Short but True

Highlights:
*We met FIVE people from Damascus this week. And we had incredible appointments with most of them.
* We taught a family from Iraq, who somehow managed to see something about Joseph Smith in Iraq 10 years ago. She talked about a boy whose family was a "Gardner", or farmer, and who asked God about His church. She didn't understand everything, but she asked her friend about it, but he didn't know anything either, so he looked it up. He told her what he'd learned, and she decided that if she ever moved to America, that she would follow Joseph Smith. Her daughter knew of Joseph Smith too. The Dad kept making interjections in Arabic that we couldn't understand at all. They served us a feast, and I had some of the pita bread stuff, but it tasted like smoke, which was disappointing. Two salads, hummus, ground beef wraps, chicken nuggets, French fries, cookies. It was awesome!
*We had a shocking SEVEN people come to church at some point yesterday. The Lord is shaking the heavens, and hastening His work!

World-o-meter: *Ghana
*Russia
*Morocco
*Lebanon
*Syria
*Angola
*Iraq
*Turkey
*Congo
*Guinea
*Poland
*England
*Pakistan
*Germany
*Bangladesh
*Nigeria
*Kyrgyzstan

Riding the "Mormon Express" to church

 Deutsch:
"Gewissensbiss" is a word in German used for "regret". What is so fascinating is that "gewissen" is "what you know" or "to know" and "biss" means "bite". So directly translated, it means "knowledge-bite".
Regret is when we recognize what our actions of have done, and it hurts!
Which leads me to my thought for the week:

"Repentance is
 forming a fresh view of God,
ourselves, and the world."


That's all I have time for...

Love always,   Sister Roderer

A Matter of Gross Importance

Valentine flowers from President

*
Highlights:
*

*Two Zone Trainings! Always a party!
*

*iPads and technology came in for the win this week, when a Sister in our zone had an accident and had to stay in the hospital, but was still able to participate in the Zone Training and other things via Skype. No worries, she is good to go now.
*

*I got to go on a split with my MTC companion Sister Carroll this week!

*
*
World-o-meter:

*Ghana

*Bangladesh

*Nigeria

*England

*Albainia

*Germany

*Turkey

*Morroco

*Congo

*Kansas

Deutsch:

One of our investigators from Bangladesh was eating dinner with us and the ward, where roast beef, and knüdel with gravy was being served. He never had had a knüdel before, so he started eating it without sauce or anything. We recommended the sauce, but he wanted to try it alone. He took a bite without really reacting.

So, later, Sister Terry leans over and asks

"So, was it gross?"

He looks at her in confusion

"Terry, I do not understand your English. Can you repeat that?"

"Was the knüdel gross?"

He looks at me,

"Maybe you can translate?"

Turns out, he has never heard of the word "gross" in English, only the word "gross" in German. "gross" in German  means "big" or "tall"

so we decided that the knüdel was gross, but not gross.

One of our investigators is getting baptized on February 27, and so the other day, we were at the church showing him the font.

I opened up the dividers to show him, and looked down to see this HUGE spider on one of the steps. It is hands down the biggest bug I have EVER seen in Germany, and one of the biggest spiders I have ever seen.

So of course,

I point it out.

"Don't worry, the spider won't be in there when you get baptized"

He looks in and sees the spider and does this little crunch of surprise.

Turns out, he's not afraid of spiders.

He turns to us and says

"In my country, my nickname is SPIDER!"

We just start laughing, because we don't know what else to think.

We all agreed that it was on of those "small and simple things" or the "mysterious ways" of God to show this wonderful man that he was on the right track. We all felt the love and approval of God through this spider, and it made my day.

This man never ceases to amaze me. He is truly one of the most humble people that I have ever met.

In our lesson the next day, he said something truly profound.

"God has called my name, and I am coming."

That won't leave me.

I guess that is my question for this week for all of us.

1. Have we been listening?

2. Are we coming?

Love always,

Sister Roderer

A Striking Realization

Highlights
From this week:

*Drank Coca Cola for the first time in my life!! Tastes like the candy..
*Shared my umbrella with two people as I was contacting them in the freezing rain.
*Had a guy on the train ask my age, then tell me I was running out of time if I wanted a family. He was confused as to why I was not married yet, so I told him that I hadn't found the right one, and he told me that that was the problem. In my head I was like "Well, it's not you, that's for sure!"
*We did a "wunder stunde" or "miracle hour" with a couple members in our ward and it was so much fun! That is when we go to the member's house, ask them to pick a street in their neighborhood where we should spend the next hour dooring and contacting, then kneel in prayer with them, calling down miracles, then we get down to work! So many cool conversations! 
*We went on three different splits this week, which always makes life an adventure! 


World-o-meter
This we week we met with or talked to people from:
*Nigeria

*Cyprus
*Syria
*Albania
*Turkey
*China
*Bangladesh
*Germany
*England
*Argentina
*Ghana
*Sri Lanka 
*Cameroon 
 

Deutsch:
The German word for "underestimate" is "unterschätzen" which is closely related to the word "Schatz" which means "treasure". So in a sense, to underestimate literally means to "under-treasure" or "treasure less than". How often do we "under treasure" ourselves? Or "under treasure" the efforts of the people around us? It was a good reminder to me to be a little kinder, both to myself, and to others.


It has been incredible to teach people about Christ, and see them literally change before our eyes. 

Missionaries have always talked about that, but I could never say that I had experienced it until now. It is literally life-changing. Like we don't recognize our investigators sometimes, because they look different. Haha almost.

Beautiful German Countryside

I was talking to someone on the Bahn, and he was a little flippant about God, saying that he didn't believe that God existed. We talked a little bit, and threw around some ideas, 
how God could exist,
what He would be like if He did live,
what he thought the role of God should,
how we could really recognize truth, etc, 
and finally we came to an agreement:
He agreed that it was possible that God could be real, but he could not say for sure, because he had no experiences with God. We also agreed that he could never know until he had experiences with Him. 
It was a stunning change, and it really touched me. 
Leider, he had no desire to facilitate these experiences, indicating his recognition that he would need God if something went wrong, and he preferred to wait until that point of despair strikes before he reached out for God. 
He's hoping for a sadness-free life. 
Good luck.
I was flabbergasted and asked him basically if he had anyone he loved. I then bluntly told him that they were going to die sometime, and then he would be sad. He said he'd hope for the best.
Lame.
I gave him a card and told him that when things got rough that he should call us.

Folks, let's not wait for tragedy to strike before we consider God. How egotistical is that? 
That's the real tragedy. 
And it doesn't mean that it will all be roses and lollipops, but it means that there will always, ALWAYS, be just enough strength to keep going, and find the future beautiful. One might argue that one can do that without God. To them I say, there is no way you did that without God...it's not my fault or His that you didn't recognize Him. :) 

Love always,

Sister Roderer

Out on a split during District Meeting, but I taught electronically!

Dental Care

Highlights
From this week:

Traveling on ICE

*MLC was this week, which is always a party. 1.5 hour ICE ride in each direction! 
*Eight of our twelve investigator appointments fell out, and nobody answered their phone, which left us with opportunity of being creative...
*One of our investigators wasn't answering his phone, so we figured that he wasn't going to meet, so we went home and started cooking dinner. We had peeled, chopped, thawed and seasoned everything, and thrown it into the pot to boil, when he calls and says he's two minutes away. (30 min after his appointment was supposed to start) 
So, what do we do?
we grab our pot of food, grab all our clothes because we had to go straight to Düsseldorf to overnight there, and cooked the soup at the church.
And then had to store it in the fridge for a couple of days until we could get back to it.
#onlyonamission
*We gave a musical Family Home Evening to a family in the ward and two of their neighboring family friends. What a great time!

World-o-meter
This we week we met with or talked to people from:
*Germany
*Bangladesh
*Poland
*Albania
*China
*Brazil
*Lebanon
*Holland
*Syria
*Nigeria
*Ghana
*Ukraine
*Turkey


Deutsch:
So the phrase "Christ suffered for us" in German is "Er hat unter uns gelitten", which directly translated means "He suffered under us". I just love the idea that Christ is supporting us through our pain, and because He "descended below all things" the depth of our pain is matched, and then outweighed by the depth of His redemptive suffering. He truly knows how to succor us. I am so grateful for that knowledge.

Once upon a time, we were going by on an an investigator, and we ran into this older lady who was supporting herself with the wall of the apartment building.
Me, in my generosity, walked right by her, but Sister Johnson stopped to offer to help.
She needed help walking back to her apartment building, so I took one arm, and Sister Johnson took the other, and we walked her down the street. 
She led us to an apartment door, and said 
"my name is "Wienheim"  "
or something like that.
We looked at the klingel box.
Her name wasn't there.
We started to get worried.
We told her that her name wasn't there
"Oh, ok. I guess it is one door further."
We kept walking and found her door.
She fumbles around in her bag and through her pockets, trying to locate her keys.
She didn't have them.
But she did have her bag packed with a pair of pajamas...
Now we were really starting to get worried.
What were we supposed to do? She definitely wasn't all there, and we couldn't leave her! 
Then, she reached into her pocket
"Maybe you can open the door with these"
And with a flourish, she pulls out the bottom half of her
DENTURES 
At this point we were in open shock.
She literally went to the front door and tried to pick the lock with the metal wires on her dentures. 
They looked like they hadn't been washed in a few years...

We finally got her into the apartment building by klingeling the neighbors.
Then the real party started.
First she bangs on the door of the WRONG apartment before we figure out which door is hers. 
Then she accuses us all of having her keys and hiding them.
A random neighbor from upstairs decides to help us and calls some unknown person in the phone to come help. It obviously not the first time this had happened. 
Then the creepy, but unfriendly man in the apartment across the way kept staring through the crack in his window at us, which meant that we could only see his nose and eyeballs. Which made him seem very creepy indeed.
At one point we looked through the opaque front door and saw a yellow arm with a red cuff about to ring the bell, and we got super excited, because emergency vehicles in Germany are sometimes red and yellow. So, Sister Johnson runs to the door and throws it open, and we see the startled features of a twenty something German boy delivering a DHL package. His surprise was matched only by our disappointment. 
Eventually, a lady came with the key, and who turned out to be our friend's caretaker, so we went on with out lives.
I have learned one very important things.
Every survival kit should contain the bottom half of a pair of dentures.
They always might come in handy.



We were teaching a lesson on Sunday, and we talked about Christ and what He had done for us, and how without Him, there would be no chance that we could live with God again, and how He loves us so much that He gave us this church, and the priesthood, and prophets, and revelation, and our investigator, in his broken English says:
"Please, tell me what I must do to please the God."

That is what hit me harder than a two-ton rock this week. Are we willing to do what it takes to please our loving Heavenly Father? Are we ready to lay aside every ounce of rebellion and pride, and submit totally? 
My challenge comes from Alma 5. If you have felt the redemptive, sanctifying, purifying, healing power of Christ in your life before, can you say that you feel it today? I promise that an open, honest evaluation of where you are at will lead you to your knees in humility and hope. 


Love always,

Sister Roderer

I thought the color of this door was so great, so I wanted to take a selfie to capture the weirdness of our day. So we did. Then some guy pulls up on his car and calls out to us "young women" and asks us why we took a picture of his house. We showed him the picture and explained to him that the selfie setting was on, so the lens was not
pointed at his house but at our beautiful faces.