One of Sister Carey's friends emailed me her letters from Sister Carey. She though would be nice to post them on the blog for everyone to see. I've deleted all the personal parts meant for her, but there is still a lot of interesting tid-bits from Sister Carey's life in what remains. Thanks so much Ashley for sharing these and I'm sorry I'm so behind on posting them.
(Letter # 1 - June 27, 2010)
Dear Ashley!
…German is cool too though; I'm getting much better too. Learning languages is hard! But it's okay, I'll be fluent eventually, then I'm going to learn French. I've decided that's going to be my next major undertaking. I'm so jealous of all the Europeans that can speak 4 or 5 different languages. That's really pretty common here. I’ve almost completely forgotten all the Italian I learned. I can occasionally remember a word or two if I try really hard. I am seriously really glad I'm not there right now. Having time off from school is the best thing ever, especially because I don't have to feel bad about it!
… I am running every morning. It’s not my favorite thing but that’s only because I’m still in terrible shape! When it rains we run the stairs in our apartment building. 12 stories! It’s just like being back in the library! I’ll be in good shape by the time I get back so now you just have to get in good hiking shape and we’ll be set!
So Germany is amazing and I’m having the time of my life. This is by far the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m just learning tons! Plus in the process I’m learning how to actually speak German. It’s unbelievable. I’m just in a new world of happy. Even when I’m depressed I’m happy. It makes no sense and I don’t really understand it but I love it! Hope Ohio’s super and you’re super too!
Bundles o’ love from
Sister Carey!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Letter #2 - July 12, 2010)
Dear Ashley,
I’m so glad I could make you happy. I know getting an actual hand written letter is about the coolest thing ever. Especially a fancy letter covered in German stamps! ... I’m actually getting a tan for the first time in my life. It may have turned more into a burn yesterday but that’s not too unusual, it’ll fade eventually.
So I wake up every morning at 6:30, Germany is really far North so the sun rises really early (about 4:30 or 5). We (my companion and I) then go jogging for 20 or 30 minutes, well jogging and walking in my flabby case. Then we head back home to shower and eat breakfast. Normally cornflakes with choco-muesli which is like granola only instead of healthy stuff it has chocolate! Then we study from 8-11 which includes planning what we’re going to teach people that day. Then from 11 until 8pm we’re out talking to and teaching the people of Frankfurt Germany! Which includes a whole lot of sitting on busses and trains, when we’re also trying to talk to people! Then at 8 we head home for dinner, which is always interesting. Sometimes we make really good meals and sometimes we’re eating cereal and yogurt. My companion and I both like to cook but there’s just not enough time normally! So then at 9pm we plan what we’re going to do the next day and at 10:30 we’re in bed which sounds so early but I am usually exhausted by that point, and quite often well before hand!
So that’s my life and it’s pretty much the same everyday but it’s super fun! I love my life, this is just 50 bajillion times better then school, just so you know. Don’t be jealous. If you would like to share this with Mariah, she can put it on my blog. She might like that. Well I hope your summer is going super, and you don’t miss me too terribly! Also that it’s not as hot as it has been here.
Liebe Grub,
Sister Carey
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Friends from home....
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sister Carey Loves Letters, too!!
Sister Kira Carey
Karl-Kotzenberg-Straße 9
60431 Frankfurt
Germany
Sunday, June 27, 2010
So the World cup started. In case you weren´t aware, it´s impossible to miss it here. Germanys 1st game was yesterday and we couldn´t get any appointments with people, everybody was having parties and the German flags are out in abbundance! I´m including a picture of me and Sis. Forsyth with our German "fan scarves" that come with a crate of apples.This week´s been super interesting, we´ve had more appointments fall out than actually went through! But it´s still really good. It´s finally warm which I´m so greatful for, we had a couple day of scorching heat+humidy which was tough, but now it´s just pretty perfect. We spent most of the afternoon yesterday walking (or sometimes jogging. Urgency in the work!) around this gorgeous neighbourhood trying to find a referal with no address, just a general area (We did find them, but they weren´t home) It was really nice though, Roses everywhere! It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Sister Forsyth and I have decided to try and only speak German, which is quite an undertaking. It´s beginning to turn into only German, except when there´s a word in English we just like better. I´ve started making up alot of words. German tends to be so literal that half the time ít works and the rest of the time it´s just hilarious! It´s fascinating though.
We´ve had a couple thunderstorms this week. It´s been pretty cool, except when it´s waking me up in the middle of the night. We tend to sleep with our windows open and one night the wind got so bad that it was banging the windows open and close, and knocked over our cork board. It was quite a mess. AND I had to get up a 1 in the morning and close all our windows. Sleep is something precious, I love it. Lots. But they´ve been cool to watch anyways.
We´re working on preparing someone else for baptism. It´s really exciting, she´s nine and is so great, really smart. She´s going to have her grandpa baptize her, it´s just really exciting.
Okay that´s about all I´ve got for this week
June 7, 2010
So this week was insane. We had 23 possible lessons planned out at the beginning of the week and it was so exciting because there´s a goal in the mission for each companionship to have 20 lessons every week and we haven´t been able to quite reach it. So having a real possibility of exceeding that was incredible. As the week went one one lesson after another kept falling out, it was really fairly discouraging, we only had 2 lessons planned with investigators that actually went through. But what that meant was alot more finding time! So somehow we ended finding 4 new investigators this week! it was incredible, that´s more than we found my entire first cycle!
One of them was seriously the most incredible, random, unlikely occurrence ever. So we had an appointment with some one at the main train station which is really far south. So we headed down there and we missed our train by seconds, it was sitting there and I pushed the button for the door to open and it wouldn´t, and then the train pulled away. So we ended up being late for our appointment by about 10 minutes. When we got there the man we were supposed to meet with told us that he had to go somewhere else and so we didn´t have time to teach him.
So we headed to our constant backup plan, phone calls(we never seem to catch up) so we´re standing in the train station and looking through the ward directory and we decide to do a stop by with a person we can´t get a hold of. So we have 2 ward directories and this persons address and phone number are both different on each list. The new list has a note that the address is wrong but we decide to try the old address because the cell phone number on the old list worked 4 weeks ago, once. (I know it´s not logical, call it a stupor of thought)
So Sister Forsyth hands me the map and tells me to figure out how to get there, okay I can do that I´m pretty good with a map. So I look at the map and see 2 tram stops pretty close to where this street is, but then I realize that one has a line pointing down the street, and it must be the other. So we hop on the tram and I hear the stop and get up to get out. We get out of the tram and start looking around for the street where this woman may possibly live and can´t find it. We then pull out the map and I realize that we had gotten out a stop early, at the stop I specifically noticed was too early. But it´s just one stop so we decide to walk it and spend some time contacting.
We end up talking to this man, and he seems vaguely interested, so we give him the address to the church and get his phone number and then leave. After we walk away, Sister Forsyth says "oh we should have just taught him here!" Which we´re working on making a habit, but aren´t quite there yet. So maybe 2 minutes later this man comes riding up behind us on his bike and asks "Do you happen to have a bible for me?" !!!!!!!! It was incredible! So we gave him a Book of Mormon, and taught him the plan of salvation and it was awesome!! Because none of the things we had done made any sense. We were just having serious thought stupors.
So even when it´s hard and I wonder why I´m in this huge city where it´s crowded and I just want to go sit in the woods for a week, I remember that there is no chance that I´m here randomly. And that´s a pretty cool thought.
One of them was seriously the most incredible, random, unlikely occurrence ever. So we had an appointment with some one at the main train station which is really far south. So we headed down there and we missed our train by seconds, it was sitting there and I pushed the button for the door to open and it wouldn´t, and then the train pulled away. So we ended up being late for our appointment by about 10 minutes. When we got there the man we were supposed to meet with told us that he had to go somewhere else and so we didn´t have time to teach him.
So we headed to our constant backup plan, phone calls(we never seem to catch up) so we´re standing in the train station and looking through the ward directory and we decide to do a stop by with a person we can´t get a hold of. So we have 2 ward directories and this persons address and phone number are both different on each list. The new list has a note that the address is wrong but we decide to try the old address because the cell phone number on the old list worked 4 weeks ago, once. (I know it´s not logical, call it a stupor of thought)
So Sister Forsyth hands me the map and tells me to figure out how to get there, okay I can do that I´m pretty good with a map. So I look at the map and see 2 tram stops pretty close to where this street is, but then I realize that one has a line pointing down the street, and it must be the other. So we hop on the tram and I hear the stop and get up to get out. We get out of the tram and start looking around for the street where this woman may possibly live and can´t find it. We then pull out the map and I realize that we had gotten out a stop early, at the stop I specifically noticed was too early. But it´s just one stop so we decide to walk it and spend some time contacting.
We end up talking to this man, and he seems vaguely interested, so we give him the address to the church and get his phone number and then leave. After we walk away, Sister Forsyth says "oh we should have just taught him here!" Which we´re working on making a habit, but aren´t quite there yet. So maybe 2 minutes later this man comes riding up behind us on his bike and asks "Do you happen to have a bible for me?" !!!!!!!! It was incredible! So we gave him a Book of Mormon, and taught him the plan of salvation and it was awesome!! Because none of the things we had done made any sense. We were just having serious thought stupors.
So even when it´s hard and I wonder why I´m in this huge city where it´s crowded and I just want to go sit in the woods for a week, I remember that there is no chance that I´m here randomly. And that´s a pretty cool thought.
Catch-up!
Hey everyone!
I have been really bad at posting lately, partly because it takes so long to receive letters.... but tonight I will be playing catch-up. Pictures and news from Sister Carey to come within the night.
Thanks for understanding!
I have been really bad at posting lately, partly because it takes so long to receive letters.... but tonight I will be playing catch-up. Pictures and news from Sister Carey to come within the night.
Thanks for understanding!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Pictures from Sister Carey!
These are the first mission pictures we have recieved from Sister Carey. She looks so happy and well. Enjoy a quick glance into her new life.
This is from Easter morning before conference. The nametags belong to all the sisters in her class...
Sister Carey & all her roommates (from left): Sis. Bacani (from the Phillipines) Sis. Müller (from Germany!) Sis. Molina (from El Salvadore, her 2nd companion) Sis. Kaufusi (from Tonga, her 1st companion)!
Sister Carey's classroom at the MTC (Missionary Training Center)
Sister Carey & Sister Wassenaar from Holland. They got to be pretty good friends, and apparently she gave really good rib-crushing hugs
Sister Carey & a bunch of Germans. The one she's standing next to is Sis. Fröhlich, she´s from Frankfurt. Sister Carey now knows her whole family.
A 3 generation picture (Sister Carey's trainer and her trainer's trainer) with Sister Ninow at Zone conference
Sister Carey's Zone leader playing with a goat at the Zoo
Sister Carey's apartment complete with big ole´maps of Frankfurt.
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