Week 42 in the Field: Week 12 in Zollikofen, Switzerland: New Companion from England!:):) and splits again with Sis Couper from Scotland:)

This week? All I can say is that wir sind mega am ässegski. Meine gute! That translates to... we ate a LOT. So many eating appointments. 6 in 5 days. Always good food, but... just a lot of it. 

TRANSFERS: I am NOT training. Good thing. I'm not ready for that. The Lord knew that. I will be working with Sister Peacock here in Zollikofen, she's from London, England:) I'm a little nervous, but that's how it always is when you get a new companion, it should be good!  She's been out in the filed 2 transfers longer than i have and will be ending her mission here in Zollikofen, in December, crazy!!

Sister Wüst is leaving me for Aarau :( She will be Sister Training Leader for the 3rd time and will be with Sister Kerevinen, a Finn:).  She's feeling the same as i am, sad to be leaving each other..we really had a good friendship.  Ugh oh well I'll see her in April.  And she will be "dying" there:(-finishing her mission. I'll miss her a lot :( But, I know Sister Peacock needs to be here. We need a fireball... which is exactly what President said to us when he called. I'm ready! Hit me!

alphorn

maaike

tausch

Here are a few highlights from the week:

I was on exchange with Sister Couper here in Zollikofen. The poor girl... I think she finds me to be the strangest thing. But it was good that we were together for another exchange. I didn't realize how... troubled I was because of the work here. We saw so many cool things on the tausch! We got a new potential. She was just so forward with him! She rocks! She was like, "Are you happy with your life right now? Are you happy with who you are?".  (BG: that's cool Alex and Muriel) He said no, and he had tried so many religions to find the truth, but hadn't, so therefore no longer believed in God. We promised him that he only needed to try one more time. We set up an appointment for Saturday and then he said he'd be there on Sunday. 

Both fell out. 

Bummer. 

But we also had some really good conversations on the street. We got a referral from a ward member, and contacted her on Wednesday. She is the sweetest! We will be going by on Wednesday. She said she's too old to change her religion, but she loves us and wants to hear about the US. So I will be somehow relating that to the Gospel...I don't know how yet. She knows the Church through the Jakobs, ward members, so I think she really just needs a friendship to start her interest. She has total angst for death, so I think that will be our gateway. I'm excited. 

I always have so much to learn from Sister Couper. We as missionaries doubt ourselves a lot, even Sis Couper which I find totally weird because she is one ROCKING missionary!  And she really taught me humility. As I'm just sitting there stressing out about the area, she just showed me that maybe... we just need to push these people a little harder; don't be so easy on them. Be persistent. And that's what we did, and we saw so many good things from it! She's awesome. xx

Sis Couper is staying in Thun but has a new companion, Sister Emmerson, a member of the church from England, she's a beauty of a girl! I've never spoken to her and hopefully will get the chance to go on splits with her.  (BG:  Sis Emmerson is friends with our friend Melissa Pennock here in Utah County-another small world contact).  

We had the chance to play the Bishops Alphorn! Ha! That was way cool! I'll send pics and videos home :) Bishop is really such a cool guy. 

BG: Don't know the missionaries

We got a great video of this too:):)

We had an eating appointment with the Family Märki. I love them. She is the master of health... my favorite topic :) She showed us how she cooks and lives and.... I want to be just like her. I already wanted to live like that, but she just inspires me even more. I can't live exactly the way I want out on a mission, naturally, but I can certainly do something about it. I love her. She gave us a cook book for women with Endometreosis. It is so interesting. I will be dissecting that baby tonight. It has so much good info. I have such a testimony of the Word of Wisdom and that our bodies really are Temples. I really know that. I've felt it on my mission. When I have put unhealthy things in it, I have really felt my spirituality levels go down. The channels between my Father in Heaven and I are so much clearer and cleaner. I love it. She lives completely without sugar... which I LOVE. When her daughter asks for sweets, she means an apricot or a banana. Like.. how cool is that?! And she's from Holland... even cooler :)

You're all probably thinking "oh no. She's going to be one of those crazy health freaks." Yeah, probably ;) Haha, nah, I just want to take care of my body and put only clean and pure things in it :) It IS a temple after all :) I love the temple, and I love my body. So I will treat it as such :)

This week is August 1, Switzerlands "Fourth of July". We are going to Anita Künzli's and I am so excited :) She is WONDERFUL. It should be good :) I need something red, though... Hmm. Gotta show my Swiss pride... not like they don't have enough of that already ;)

We received three of the sweetest Acts from the Elders this week! They are so sweet! We went out in the morning to go running and came back to find homemade, lactose free brownies with two drinks, with home made flowers taped to it. 

The next day, a giant paper with a funny joke on it. 

Then the next day we found a bundle of these homemade flowers and the recipe for the brownies on the back of a picture of the elders drinking the Fanta's we gave them. They are the best! We also had a  HILARIOUS ride home from an appointment on Thursday. We were all just CRYING cause it was so funny (we were laughing about a dream that I had. My goodness, so good). 

On another day, we went to check on Sister Jakob, just to make sure she was eating and living (she's in a wheelchair due to MS and her husband has been gone for a month in Germany). We were going to help her do family history, but we got distracted by the Bibles that she has. She has a whole lot of financial value around with all these Bibles she's collected throughout the years. She has one in Hebrew, which would cost about 400-500CHF. Nuts. But so cool. I learn so much from her when we are there. I love her!

Current spot in the Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 14. That book is true. It is true. It is beautiful and I owe my conversion to 3 Nephi. When the Lord is speaking, there is no doubt that that really happened and that He really spoke to them after his resurrection in Jerusalem, he then visited the 'other sheep which are not of this fold" in the America's. There is no doubt in my mind that He restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith and that we have those same Priesthood keys, through apostles and prophets in this time, right now.

Also... we heard that things are pretty bad in... Israel? Somewhere over there. Anywho. That is something pretty big for us as Saints. I want you to know, that He is coming. And He is coming soon. 

We have seen some crazy and big insects in big groups several times this week... can't help but think of the times ;) You need to be prepared. I need to be prepared. It's NOT going to be easy. Are your testimonies strong enough to keep you going when the going gets REALLY tough? I don't know if mine is, yet. But I'm working on it. 

Sister Peacock will be arriving on Thursday, so pray for that day that it will be good :) 

This novel ;) was written with LOVE by,

Sister Gilmour

xx

Week 41 in the Field: Week 11 in Zollikofen: "Thank you mothers and fathers for sending your wonderful children on missions". Sis Gilmour

I think I'll be getting the call to train a new Golden this weekend. Ask me how badly I'm freaking out about it.

Lots. :):)

I'll let you know, though. I've just had the feeling, and it's not going away. 9 months out, I think it's probably time.

Also. I'm almost 20 and I DON'T UNDERSTAND PRAYER. I'm telling you, it makes no sense. Well.. okay, it does. But if you think about it, God does not change our lives and He didn't plan them out. That is clear thanks to our free agency. So like.. how does He answer our prayers? Really. Think about that. I know He is all knowing, and knows the beginning from the end because He is the Beginning and the End. But.. when we pray to Him and ask Him to help someone develop the wish to come to church, He's not just going to make it happen. Right? So.. after praying the entire Sacrament Meeting and talking with Wüst about it, I think what He does is sends the influence of the Spirit to people, and then thanks to our beautiful ability to freely to choose, the choice is then theirs, whether they accept the influences of the Spirit He has sent to them.

Right? (BG: We love Chloe, over thinking but when she gets it, it's stuck for life:))

I'm still verzweifelt damit. I'll be studying this topic this week, along with knowledge, wisdom, testimony, and perfection. Yeah.. it's good, thought- provoking (<---- Did I spell that right?? Y'all are gonna have a hoot reading my journals from my mission, cause they are totally written in the worst English ever. Mostly cause I write when I'm listening in German, so my sentences are really German-ized. Good and funny things.) stuff.

So this week. I'll try not to tell you about every waking moment.

Monday. Spent the day in Bern. Bought placemats to make myself a Scripture case. I was not about to pay 24CHF for a case. I hand stitched it myself. I'll send pics. I miss big citites. We also changed our working hours to the morning. So much more effective.

Tuesday. ZONE TRAINING!! It was SO good!! We have an assignment to talk about Humility. It was SO good. And not because of us, but because of the beautiful thoughts of the amazing missionaries in our Zone. Seriously, I had to keep stopping to write down all my impressions and the things people were saying. I learned so much from them, although I was told to teach them. Yeah right, I have too much to learn to teach people. Everyone told us multiple times how much they loved it. It was really so so good. One comment that really stuck out to me, given by Elder Kelly (a redhead from Ireland. I laughed in my heart when I first met him, too), was that sometimes we are humbled not because we are prideful, but simple cause... we just need to learn humility. I LOVED that!! And then we had a FABULOUS part from Elder Simon (Deutschland) and Elder Melsoe (Denmark, so that "o" has a slash thing through it) about how to be better missionaries. They talked about obedience. SO GOOD. I'm telling you... they are all wonderful missionaries here.

Thank you mothers and fathers for sending your wonderful children on missions. 

They did a great.... Rolle Spiele.... about obedience. They had Elder Cottom come to the middle of the gym and they blind folded him. Elder M stood behind him, while Elder S stood in front of him. Elder M told him to fall back into his arms. Elder Cottom was reluctant, naturally, but decided to trust the voice and fell back. Elder M caught him. Then they set him standing back up. Then Elder M and S switched places, so that the voice, Elder M, was now in front of Elder Cottom. He then told him to fall backwards, and Elder Cottom realized that the voice was now in front of him... but he knew he could trust the voice, and fell back anyway. Elder S caught him. I LOVED THAT!! Sometimes we have rules that really make NO sense, but we fall backwards because He told us to, often when the voice is in front of us, and it makes no sense.

I love the Bern Zone

Wednesday. Went berry picking with Schwester Jakob again. Best Johannes berries and raspberries ever. Really, really hot. Like... 30 degrees or something. Then we went on a walk along the Aares river with the FHV (RS) sisters. seriously, so beautiful. I got to speak with a girl who just left on a mini mission the whole time. She was really nervous, but I think I helped her a little bit. And i got 1.5 hours of pure German in... Good :)

Thursday. Lunch appointment with Ramseyer/ Mössner. Wonderful :) And I got to eat meat. I needed that. The we had Gianatti, a less active. We are making slow prgress with her, but progress, none the less :) I love seeing people progress! Makes me feel like I'm doing something good :)

Then we went to Ava and Brunos. Always a good time with the two of them. They will be bringing a letter to you in September while they are there. Bruno used to be a body builder before he was baptized. The pictures are to die for. I can't even take them serious. They're the best missionaries ever. I love them. Oh yeah... HAPPY HALF- WAY DAY!

Friday. Spontan appointment with a less active. Finally. Then we planned a lot. Gotta love it. Really hot. REALLY hot.

Saturday. Lots of time for walking around and dooring. Nothing. But a few cool experiences with prayer and comp unity :) We also saw a bride and groom being carried to castle on the fork part of a tractor. They ordered fire trucks to spray everyone down as they all walked to the castle. Strangest thing.

Sonntag. Really good. I wasn't tired :) Finally. For the first time in weeks. Thanks to the ground rock minerals I am now taking. But really. So good. I love this ward :) (BG:):))We had a really good appointment with the Mössners.. yes. Two appointment with them in a week. Weird story. But... really good :) I love this family. Their son is serving in London right now, and the people love him. He's one of those missionaries that everyone just loves. We also spoke German the WHOLE day. I know that sounds weird since I have German comp and stuff, but she's pretty much American:). But.. we made it :) It also POURED yesterday. This weather. Meine Gute. No wonder I'm so exhausted!

So.. there you go :) I think that's everything! The church is immer noch wahr :) No doubt about it. Also, Elder Dzierzon, aus Deutschland, is now with our Zollikofen Elder,  and he's wonderful. The sweetest guy. My German will be wonderful after my time here. And hopefully that Golden will appreciate that we will only be speaking German :) I'm pumped! My German will be a mix of Schwabisch, Swiss, and Northern German. It'll be a good little mess :) And who knows what else I'll be picking up in the next 9 months.

Love you all. You're all funny and I love hearing from you :) Keep doing good :) And I will, too ;)

Sister Chloe Gilmour (Oh yeah, I have a first name. Ha.)

xx

P.S.

Okay. I've accepted it. It's OK to be a planter. That's what I'll be if that's what the Lord called me to be. I will prepare the wards and the people for those later on. I guess it's good Dad taught me to work hard ;) By the way, thanks for that, Dad. It's yet another priceless gift you and mom have given to me. Things I can't pay you back with, those are my favorite gifts. I promise I'll teach my children the way you two taught me and the girls :) I hope one day to have a family just like the one you have raised :) 

Week 40 in the Field: Week 10 in Zollikofen: Its just ... Plain Old Hard:) I Love Everything Anyway!!

This week... the only thing I really have to tell you is that it rained non-stop literally every day until yesterday. Still off and on rain storms, though. I don't think I should have sent my winter things away. I think this summer is already over. I was wearing nylons on... Thursday. Craziness.

And I went to the temple again :) In German! Whoo hoo! Okay..  It seems a little more intense in German, though, so I liked that ;)

I guess Germany won the World Cup? Haha, we just found out this morning. We didn't even hear any screaming and yelling. That shows you just how tired we really are here. (BG or that they are in Switzerland, not Germany anymore)

Also. My ward members NEVER understand what I'm saying! It's really annoying. Like.. I know my German is not that bad. They have a really hard time with my American/German/Twang accent here. And they ALWAYS tell me how tired I look. Dang it:):):). I thought I was looking a lot better. A women just came in and said she bought me wonder minerals that I have to take. I love old women. We'll see how that goes.

I am all healthy. My body is fine again. I'm just living in a different country, so everything will probably be back to normal when I'm home in 9 months (BG: Countdown). Until then, I'm just happy that I have to worry about one less thing :) The blood work showed fully healthy, so is the thyroid. AND. I didn't faint when they took my blood this time :) I did have to take a trip to the doctor three times this week, though. That's always fun.

Today we switched our Pday times, cause as I've already told you, there is NO ONE out after about 5. NO ONE. So we've already done our work hours and been to Bern :) I miss the busy city scene. I really need somewhere where I can run to catch Bahns and be busy and running around, after Zollikofen.

Transfers are in 2 and a half weeks, so we'll see where they send my wonderful companion off to.

(BG: edited version-lets just say they are feeling some persecution from all directions and Chloe shared her feelings about it very strongly).

We had our Zumba night! It was super successful! It was super fun to dance and work out again. And we had an investigator there, and women in our ward had two friends there, and a less active daughter of  a ward member was also there!! It was way good! And Ness is wonderful :) We are hoping to make it regular so we can really start teaching people and finding people. Just gotta try all the new things we can to find people.

Study topics: I realized that my Bible study is so bad. So I started to read Old and New Testaments from the beginning (in English. German Bibles are really hard and always translated weirdly). I am in 3 Nephi 6 in German... so almost done. When I finish, I will start D&C in German.

Well. I think that's all. I love you all :) I'll see you soon :) The Church is just as true as it was yesterday.

Oh. And if you even have this talk in the August Ensign, you should read it. It's the one about the work in Tonga. That's how I feel about the work here.  I love everything, anyway :)


God will hasten His work at the speed He wants :)

Sister Gilmour

xx

Week 39: Week 9 in Zollikofen: Met the Kohlers-iPads, the 4th, and Busy, Good and HAPPY!

Where to even start. Such a good and happy week :)

First of all. Switzerland has BY FAR the BEST thunderstorms and rainstorms!!!! It has gewittert every night this week. And right now.. the church is shaking. It's marvelous. 

They came to Zürich and we had 2-zone meeting.
It was really good.

I guess I'll just start with the coolest part of this week, and that is the arrival of the 4 coolest, and most loving people ever: THE KOHLERS! That's right! They're here!! President Kohler is WONDERFUL. Seriously. So young, so cool, and SO perfect for this calling. It's really cool cause you know that they are all scared out of their whits to be here. They're so real with it all. President made it very clear that his family took priority and things are going to have to change a little from how President Miles did it. Totally fine! Totally cool! He said there could be times when he takes off his tag and goes swimming with his kids. Cool. And he has such good ideas and thoughts for things here. And the best? He's not changing much from President Miles. Which is good, cause he was wonderful. But he is going to put a spin on things... a Kohler touch.

Now. The rest of the family.

Sister Kohler. She is so LIEB!!!!! (Loving, or something in English). She's so terrified of being here. But she's really prepared herself. Her whole life, not just the last 10 months. She even took German at BYU to prepare :) She bore us her testimony and is was pretty much flawless. Simple, but really good. And she is so talented! I think it is a rule that Mission Presidents have to be musically talented. 

Now, their oldest daughter, who's name I have forgotten, is serving a mission in Tokyo Japan and will be getting home, which is now Münich, the same month as me! She's cool. And they have iPads in her mission (more on that later :D)

Tanner: 16. And cool. He's a bad guy, but the coolest band guy ever. He plays the trumpet and is really good. They did a musical number for us. He's the most excited to be here. He thinks it's the coolest ever. And he's going to leave on his mission from here. So that's also a really cool thing. Always getting to be with missionaries.

Erica: 13. Seriously, so cute. I think she's the most grown up 13 year old that I know. And she loves her brother soooo much. It's wonderful to see. I just had to hug her! She reminds me of Bree. Super thin, gorgeous, and so cute. Just... yes. Wonderful.

So. This is going to be a good ride for us all. A really good way to just... start over. Every  missionary (if they need one), has a fresh start with a totally new person. And he's really great. I really look forward to working under him for the next 9 months of my mission.

And another REALLY cool part of this conference, was that we just got news that all of Western Europe will have iPad's by the end of 2014! That means us! And we just have to buy them:) and then we keep them after our missions! Way better than a bike... way better. Can't wait to get my hands on that. Life as a missionary will be way, way easier... well. As easy as a mission can get ;)

All in all, I'm really excited to work with them and see how things will go for the next 9 months.. only 9 :(

Now something not so great about the week. 

Well no. It was really good, but also really not so good.

We were in a lesson with Anton, and new investigator as of.. 2 weeks ago? He's really receptive to the things we tell him and he told us he knew the Book of Mormon was true after us just telling him about it. Okay. Cool. We took the Elders with us cause we needed a joint teach and it's easiest when we just bring them. Good thing we did, too. We got to his apartment and I asked him how he was doing. He told us that it wasn't going so well for him right now cause he's in a lot of pain.

Turns out, he's got something really similar to what dad had last year (BG: Microdisectomy sugery for herniated L4L5 disks-Tiger Woods had the same thing-he's still a better golfer than me) . The last three spinal bones have grown together, but after the stuff in between has been pushed out. Yeah, I'm trying not to throw up just typing about it. But anyway, I kept thinking back to dad last year, and it was horrible. Just remembering the pain and the tears, and the crying, and the screaming of those 6 weeks. It was really hard for me to even hear about it. I don't know how he was just.. sitting there. He's had that for 4 years, too.

The good part of this lesson: the elders gave him a Priesthood blessing and he was crying and said he could really feel God's love for him. I bore powerful testimony of the Priesthood and started to teach. I have been praying to have more powerful lessons and to be more bold about what I'm sharing, and I really felt it the first time in this lesson. I just.. bore testimony, and stared him straight in the eye.

As Sister Wüst was speaking, he seized up in a LOT of pain. I was having flashbacks. No need to detail... you all know what I'm talking about. I was like... trying not to cry on the couch. We had no idea what to do. Luckily he pressed his emergency button and the nurses came, but... man. It was really bad. And he won't get surgery cause there's a 95% chance he'll be in a wheelchair. My gosh. Just DO IT. 

Another cool story about bearing powerful testimony:

We went by on a... what's it called... a past investigator. I don't remember how to speak right now. Any who. We've been by on her a few times and she just pretends she's not home. I had had ENOUGH of this, so we prayed, then rang the bell. I put my finger over the peephole so she couldn't pretend she wasn't there. They were speaking Portuguese on the other side of the door, so she was clearly at home. I took my finger off the hole and plastered the biggest "I'm so happy to be here" smile i had on my face. She opened the door. 

Went right into telling us that she was just about to go out to by her daughter new shoes cause she had NONE without holes. Mind you, it was 6.30 and all the shops are already closed at that time, as I'm looking at her perfectly good shoes on her feet. Okay. 

She told us she wasn't interested. This is where I was just... no. I just told her that was too bad cause there are things we have to do in this life to return to the Fathers presence. She just was like... yeah, you have your beliefs and I have mine. 

Just to make this long story short, I pretty much just told her how it was. Really powerfully and blankly. I told her the Book of Mormon IS true. No questions asked. 

She told me that she had read it and God told her it wasn't. Mmmhmmm. 

She told us that her main problem with what we believe is that we think that what Eve did by eating the fruit was good. Which is was, because without that choice we wouldn't be here. She just figured that out before Adam. Ugh. I told her that, too, and she just replied that it was TERRIBLE that she was here on this earth and had a body. Then Sister Wüst asked her if it was bad that she had a daughter, and she said yes!! What on earth?! Right in front of her daughter!

I was like.. Right then. I'm sorry that you don't want to know more and wished her a good night. And walked down the stairs. Sister Wüst is an angel and was really nice, putting the band aid on the wound I just made. She's great. 

I'm just so sick of Satan getting to these people! They know it's true! And then they take a week off of meeting us, which turns into a month, and then 2, and then 3. And in those 3 months you see a total change of character. Sister Wüst kept saying that.. I had never met with her, so I didn't know her before. 

Satan. Tsk, tsk. 

We picks Mehrdroobelies on Thursday (Johannes berries). Soooooo good. Perfect for the next day... which was:

FOURTH OF JULY!! 

We were just two American babes that day. Pancakes for breakfast, normal salad for lunch, and then a homemade grill for dinner, all dressed in red, white, and blue. What fun :) We are making the best memories together :)

Chloe loves to cook now.

Sis Wust, they are Happy, Happy, Happy!

Her American flag decorated pancake

Girl on the right is the girlfriend of an Elder in the Zurich zone.  She got home a month ago.

So. A packed week. As you can see.

Sunday. We had a great lesson about how life is meant to be filled with laughter and smiling. It's the Plan of HAPPINESS, after all :) It was really so, so good. I thought lots about it. 

As tired as I am (due to the really rapid changes in the weather everyday), I love my life here. I love what I am doing! I love seeing that none of this in my hands. If God wanted this place to be booming, it would be. We can only do our best :) 

He answers prayers. He hears them. He knows the desires of our hearts. 100%. That I know.

Have a good week :)

Sister Gilmour

xx

Enjoy the thunderstorm videos I sent. And enjoy the German ;)