Jena

Maggie was transferred to Jena. "It is so beautiful here! It is so green and they have these cute little German houses. It's my first real neighborhood since I've been here. And we have bikes! I was not that excited about it but they're growing on me because it is so much faster. The town is a complete college town; the majority of people are young students, mostly German."


"The members are wonderful here; mostly newly baptized people and they are so willing and ready to help whenever they can. Our GML, Ralph, just got back from his mission in England in February. He was baptized and a year later, left on his mission. He's wonderful!"

Her new companion is Sister Bangerter (Sister Julie Beck's neice). Her German is very good and she is a hard worker. They live in an apartment they call Japetto's workshop.


"Thursday was Himmelfahrt or Mannertag. It is the day they celebrate as Christ having gone back to heaven. It also kind of turned into Father's Day. What they holiday really is, is men getting together, wandering around, going fishing, being outdoors and drinking lots and lots of alcohol. The streets were absolutely empty during the day and later older men were stumbling together down the street. So sad but funny."

Last of Leipzig

Before Maggie was transferred to Jena, she sent these photos:

Bruder Heidler, one of her favorite members


Sportnachmittag, roasting marshmallows with Sandra and Maksim


Sandra and Yonni. One experience Maggie and Sr Wiitmaack had with them was when they taught them about eternal families. Maggie has a little puzzle that they put together. Sandra put the little people in the celestial kingdom. "They are the most pure, loving, friendly people."

Michelle Glauser, from Holladay, bumped into Maggie in Leipzig. She has a great blog about the difference between Germans and Americans. My favorite is that the men wear what Grandpa Ryser loves - jumpsuits!

Phone Call

Yes, the annual Mother's Day missionary phone call was THE BEST! (We spoke for 2.5 hours. Sister Wittmaack was still talking on the cell phone to her family when we got off, so we weren't in trouble.) Maggie apologized in her Monday email for talking too long... I'M not sorry.

Highlights: She's so great! We chatted about everything; Nick's mission call, the people she works with, German class, President Borcherding, us. She wrote "It was such a boost to hear your voices and that you are all doing so well. I feel immense gratitude for the support I have from home."

A young man that they've taught recorded If You Could Hie To Kolob.

She gave us an update on Matthias, Percy, Daner, Mercy, and other Tiergarten friends. They are all great too. She told us about seeing some commotion around a stadium one day. Apparently Germany is attempting to bring American football to Europe: The Leipzig Lions. Notice all the fans (ha ha)


This is Mara, a woman from
Wisconsin. She's finding her
way back to the Church.






Katrin was baptized last transfer.

Excerpts

Here are excerpts from several of Maggie's emails:

We had austausch (splits) and I went to Jena with Sister Taylor. She made me eat my first huge bratwurst. I had been avoiding them since Vienna, but it was pretty good.





Last week she made me eat raw meat! Yeah, they eat raw ground beef in between bread with onions... weird.

This last week we taught a stop-smoking workshop. Frau Finkel let us in her apartment and we talked, then told her about the workshop. She started it and I decided to see if I can go seven days without chocolate. I've made it five, which is pretty impressive since we have Easter chocolate everywhere! She called us later that day and said her mother and boyfriend don't want her meeting with us but that she still hadn't smoked! She called again yesterday and said if we happen to be by her apartment, we should stop by. Ha ha.

Easter was fun with the Beyrich family. They had us over for lunch and after we ate, we had to wait inside because the Osterhase was coming! Then we went outside and had a little Easter egg hunt. So cute.

Osterhase Youtube

Conference: I cannot believe the way that I took Conference for granted before. This time it was something completely different. I felt like I was thriving on everything; the words, the music, the spirit. It went by so quickly and Sister Pratt and I were both "What? That's the whole session?" We want more.

Next week Jameia is getting baptized! She's from Mosambique and has an adorable 7-year old daughter. She totally loves Primary and is so smart. They have been in Germany for 7 or 8 years. She is so amazing and strong.




When I was leaving Tiergarten, we had invited Ann Kathrin to come to the Bahnhof and say "bye." She was planning on coming but we decided to leave eariler so she couldn't make it. We texted her and she wrote back that she was sorry she couldn't come and texted: "but guess what? I just prayed for Sister Ryser. I usually don't pray." It was one of the best moments ever. She had said before that she never prays; only with us and and she didn't really think God hears anyways. But she prayed!