Surprise! Early P-day, New Years and Transfers.

Liebe Familie,

So Sister Brinck had a lovely explanation for why we are emailing today and, so therefore, I am using it haha

Surprise! It's not Monday. You may be hyperventillating right now, asking yourself why on earth your daughter/granddaughter/sister/friend/etc does not appear to be following the rules . . . but chances are, you're not. So, we realized approximately Tuesday that Monday the 6th is a holiday in the grand old Staat of Baden-Würtenburg (Three Kings Day, in case you were wondering) and Germans take their holidays quite seriously meaning that all of the grocery stores and internet shops will be closed. Which meant that we had to find a new day for our P-Day. Yay. We talked over the options, then talked to the Zone Leaders, then moved our P-Day to Saturday, deciding it would be better to surprise our mothers with an early e-mail instead of letting them think we'd died for two days.

With that cleared up! It's been a marvelous five days haha New Years' was absolutely incredible! We had the opportunity to spend it with some of the best members in Germany! The S family and the K family.  These two lovely families welcomed us with open arms and fed us some of the most delicious food ever. Raclette. Google it.  It's this delicious grilled cheese (like literally grilled cheese sans bread) and whatever you would like to put in.  Then the night followed with loads of games (you can imagine how happy that made me) and, to finish off the night, FIREWORKS! Not just little sparklers, more like the entire night sky bursting with color. Every direction is lit with shades of blue, green, red or white.  It was literally magical.   As soon as the clock strikes 12, every one (literally everyone) is out on the streets, setting off fireworks.  Since missionaries aren't allowed to light them - we just stood and watched but, it was so amazing that it didn't even matter.  I looked over at Sister Brinck and she was teary eyed. Ah. Made me so sad to think we only get one Silvester here in Germany! I guess I'll just have to come back to enjoy others :)

This week has been a week of miracles. This past week, I sat down and decided I needed to set some goals for this next year.  So during Personal Study, I took some time and decided what I wanted to be like in 6 months and how I was going to get there. Goals Set. Plans made. Then we did what any missionary would do - we went to work! 7 New investigators later, it's been a good week!  It's been really cool to see God's hand in our week, especially as we just went out and did exactly what we had prayerfully decided to do.  Especially, with the New Year still fresh, take some time and set some goals. Make them specific, realistic, and something you actually want.  Then figure out how to reach these goals, and wha-la! You're ready to start acting and making progress toward your new goals! :)  

I'm sure the part everyone is really waiting for..... transfer calls.  Surprise! I'm staying ;)  Sister Brinck will be headed to Lahr to work with Sister Drury and Sister Powell (currently, an STL in Salzburg) will be coming to Ludwigsburg to work with me! I met Sis. Powell before at Mission Leadership Council and I thought she was hilarious! I really hoped that we would be able to work together someday annnnd BAM! We'll be tearing up Ludwigsburg together :)  More details on her later (Transfers are on Thursday and it'll be back to normal Monday P-days so you'll hear from me again in little over a week!)  

Other than that, this has been the fastest transfer of my life, I've never eaten so much chocolate in my life, and I really love being a missionary.  

Love you all and have a great week!

Love,

Sister Harman