Letter Fifty-Seven from the Lovely Lady Lena

   Attitude not altitude. This week was miraculous, but only to someone with a positive attitude. I started the week by stumbling across this verse of scripture: ‘Say not ye, Thereare yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.’ (John 4:35)

     This week I hit my 4 month mark until going home. Insert massive gulp. This scripture could not have come at a better time! Have I been focusing too much on the harvest of 4 months that I’m not paying attention to the harvest of today? I took a silent moment to let this verse sink into my soul and reflected on what I needed to change. I realized it was actually quite simple, I just needed to life up my eyes. 
So this week I lifted up my eyes and focused on the here and now. We got stuck in rainstorms multiple times, but each rain storm left us with a miracle. Let’s talk about Olivia. In order to do that, we need to rewind a bit. As you should know by now, the world cup is currently going on and nothing unites Germans like soccer. (seriously, I have never seen so many German flags hung up!) We received permission to watch the Germany vs. USA soccer game so on Thursday we made our way to the Institute center to indulge in a rare soccer opportunity. Downtown Berlin is crazy during a soccer game and all our buses and trains were totally messed up. We were running an hour late due to the travel conditions. As we waited at the bus stop, Olivia came up to us and asked for directions to the Brandenburger Gate. Suddenly rain started POURING down and she asked if she knew where there was a bathroom she could use to change. We were on the same bus on the way to the stake center, so we invited her to just come and change there and if she wanted to, she could stay for the game. She did just that! Olivia had a blast and kept talking about how nice all these Mormons are and how she wants to go to Institute in her city. Can you say Fußball to find?! 

     Wow. This is turning into a novel, I apologize! I could on and on about how important it is to lift up your eyes. I would have missed many wonderful experiences this week had I kept looking down, or worse, looking back. I pray that any of you serving missions can have the strength this week to look up. If not, you might end up like the 2 american soccer players that ran into each other during the Germany vs USA game.

     I love you. I pray for you.

Sister Helzer

P.S. mark got his mission call and he is going to South Africa!!!! You don’t know who Mark is. He is  a convert of a year and has the coolest story ever. Stay tuned for next week.

posted by Splendidly Sar

Last pday we found MASK WORLD. Seriously, it’s a whole building of just masks. I, naturally, went for the polar bear mask because it was so ‘bear’y adorable and I’m ‘paw’sitive you would have loved this store!

 

Sister McBride and I discovered the most adorable street in all of Berlin. (which we say every week because there is so much to discover) but really, this week I was BLOWN away. #enoughwiththepuns

 

you have to be careful in bear country.

 

the game scores are broadcasted on the train signs! haha. I cannot express how big of a deal soccer is to Germans. it’s like scholarships to college kids. scrapbooking sales to Utah moms. baptisms to missionaries. it’s simply a big deal.

 

SISTER RASMUSSEN’S MOM!!!!! saw her. snapped a pic. and ran back on the train.

 

My roommate had a birthday and she used to work for the fire department as an EMT, so we made her a house burning down cake. When you cut it open, red goo jam comes out like blood. Pretty intense yea? She also worked as an EMT at BYU and has the CRAZIEST stories. Another day another time….but careful on campus.

 

Free massage parks. They are a thing.