Sister Downing Does Deutschland

Heyyo!! I hope everyone's Christmas was magical and that you were able to spend time with loved ones and think about Christ during this season.  This Christmas was different for sure since my family is half a world away, but I was still able to feel at home here. The members in our ward LOVE the sisters and were fighting over who was inviting us over for Christmas. We ended up spending it with 5 or 6 families over the course of the Christmas celebrations. I can't say I had a favorite day over all but Christmas Eve definitely reminded me most of home. We spent it with the Wiehe family and it was so chaotic and so fun. They have four little kids, including a baby. The kids were running around the whole time and jumping all over us, the baby chewed on my finger for most of dinner, we played lots of games and the kids cried when they lost and the adults didn't care, they got us ornaments. It just felt so normal and I loved it! After we got home and into bed, we realized we forg...

Merry almost Christmas everyone!! I hope y'all had a fantabulous week and were able to recognize the hand of God in it cause He is always present! Even when life is hard, God is so good and tender mercies are all around Another last minute email so I'm just gonna give some highlights and a few of my little miracles from this week I got to see Sister Dibb on zoom! I went to an online workshop about finding techniques for missionaries. The gal teaching it asked us to stay online after it ended for a little surprise and it was Sister Dibb!! I had just been telling my comp about certain people I missed and then I got to see one of them. Such a blessing! Sister Maughan and I made and delivered 235 cookies. We blasted Christmas music and made snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookies. It was so fun!! And then we traveled around our area delivering them to people who had previously been interested in meeting with missionaries And then I had my first zone conference! I ...

Heyyo!  I've got like 30 minutes to write this (we had a district pday today where we hung out and played games so I had no time) so this is gonna be rough but whatever. This week has been wild!! Here are some highlights lol First to update you on the washer situation since I know you're all super concerned about it. We fixed it! Pro tip: check and make sure there isn't a bra pad in the filter! And when you think it's clear, check again cause there just might be another. So yeah that was an adventure but we can do laundry again 🥳 Also we named the washer Rory and we love her now Another fun adventure was cooking with the member we had a dinner appointment with. For those of you who are familiar with my cooking, let's just say my cooking when all the instructions are in German is even worse! I know that's hard to believe but it's true! I'm now the designated dishwasher lol. This member also gave us some great dating advice (see subject line). "If yo...

Hallo from Deutschland!!  I've been in Germany for a little over a week now and it has been AMAZING!!  When we arrived at the airport, President and Sister Hammon (the mission president and his wife) were there, as well as some other missionaries, to greet us new missionaries. I had my interview with President and was able to just talk and get to know them both a bit. They're so awesome and I already feel so so loved by them!! After that all the new missionaries went out with random trainers to street contact, which was kinda scary cause I don't know much German but it was also so cool! I went with Sister Sorenson and the first gal we talked to has actually been looking for a church and we were able to exchange numbers. It was a very encouraging way to start the whole missionary thing here haha Later that night we were assigned to our areas and our trainers. I'm serving in Unna, this cute little town, with Sister Maughan. It's kinda crazy cause I had a feeling she...