The One with the $2 Missionary

What’s Up Fam!!!

I GET TO SEE YOU THIS WEEK! Whoop Whoop! I am so excited!

Sooooo, apparently, I need to clarify the fact that I am not dying! I am doing pretty dandy actually! My cold is way over, and the bite is fine! Sister Grundvig and I have been so happy with the weather that we have been doing our sport outside and it fills my heart to start off the day with the beautiful green trees and all the birds! We live right next to a BEAUTIFUL graveyard! 

I have definitely felt some pressure this week now that "our trio's down to two" (what movie?) and as I have taken over the Rosenheim area with Sister Grundvig, but we really do grow when God pushes our limits! President Brown has been having our whole mission read "Believing Christ" by Stephen E Robinson. He is the man that wrote the children’s book "You Are Priceless" with the little girl saving up for a bike. I have always loved that story, so it was really cool as he expounded it past the children's version. He said, "The Savior requires from each of us a specific percentage: all that we have, or one hundred percent. Yet each individual's one hundred percent will be a different quantity from everyone else's, depending on the spiritual knowledge and maturity of the individual. What a marvelous flexibility—he never requires more than I am able to give, and what he does require of me is always appropriate to my knowledge and circumstances." He then went on to say how people may be able to give $2 towards the bike, some $30, others may even be able to give $100. Whatever it is that you can give, the Lord accepts that as your best. Right now, I feel kind of like a $2 missionary and there really are $100 missionaries in this mission, but I do not have to worry about that. I just have to keep doing my best, my 100%, and I know it is "paid in full" in the Lord’s eyes. 

I know Life can be pretty overwhelming for you guys sometimes, but something that we have to remember is that we cannot expect more out of us than the Lord does. I used to think that was a funny thing to say because I thought that the Lord expects my best and so do I, but often times, we expect more than what the Lord does and that is when we feel overwhelmed.

Trust him. He is there, and he loves you. He knows where you are at and what you can do! 

I love you guys! 

Love, JJ

Randoms:

- I translated our testimony meeting for a couple of New Converts on Sunday and it was crazy! I got about 40% of what was said and then added like 60% testimony, but they don’t need to know that!

- I had a dream last week that Beyoncé was a less active member of the church and we did a "stop by" visit to her mansion! It was so great! 

- We went streeting this week and in one day we got the door slammed in our face by a Catholic and hugged by a 7th day Adventist! The next day we went streeting and got formally invited to a Baptist Women's night and a random man bought us ice-cream because he thought it was cool what we were doing! It is so crazy to see people from all walks of life here. There is not a dull moment when you go finding!

The One with The Krankenhaus

Hey Guys!

Well I am Alive! That is good!

What a week! Because Sister Franchino is going home EVERYONE wanted to invite us over for meal appointments! They asked her what she wanted to eat, and she just told everyone SALAD! I didn’t get it at first. I was like "Sister Franchino, it’s your last week to have German food and all you want are Salads?!?” Well, turns out that was just pure brilliance from a wise, ripe, old missionary because when you have 3 back-to-back meal appointments, the last thing you want is for them to bring out meat, potatoes, and noodles! I wish I had her legendary wisdom!

The theme for our District Meeting this week was Patience with others, but most importantly, with yourself. It was just what I needed! A mission is a great opportunity for you to change yourself. It is a great environment to start new habits and break old ones. BUT that also puts a lot of pressure on yourself because who ever said change was easy? But I will forever draw power from Elder Uchtdorf's talk, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect... Eventually". God understands our weaknesses, however big or small they may be! He knows we are human and that our "best" is often not good enough. We have to rely on him. 

Here is to another week!

Love you guys!

Love, JJ

RANDOMS:

- So, we were driving home from a member’s house that lives on the Austrian border and we were admiring the beautiful Austrian Alps AND I MADE A WRONG TURN! Long story short, we ended up in Austria. What a fun, beautiful, and completely innocent accident!

- My Cold got worse this week and there was one day where Sister Franchino made me go take a nap before our next appointment and then she made me a "Survival Bag" for the car ride there. It was so cute! She filled it with my favorite mint tea, cough drops, and tons of other cute things!

- While we were on exchanges (Sister Franchino went to Munich and Sister Grundvig and I stayed here) Our Mission Nurse called me and said that she sent the picture of my bug bite that I got a month and a half ago to the headquarters in Utah and they said that they wanted me to go BACK to the hospital because they were pretty sure it was a Tick Bite. I was so stressed out because I had to talk to all of these intense, annoyed German Secretaries and Doctors in German without Sister Franchino! It was awful! ANNND long story short, I have Lyme’s Disease, BUT IT’S OKAY! I will be taking medicine for the next 25 days! Oh the Joys of a mission life!

- Here is a picture from our back porch and then of Gunther... the life of our missionary apartment!

The One with the Deer

Well Family, 

This week was as crazy as I anticipated! 

Being in a trio is not the easiest thing in the world, but it also comes with its own sets of blessings and cool attributes! SIster Grundvig (our new companion) is so sweet! She reminds me a lot of Taylor Ballard because she is so tall and skinny and kind! She is so easy going and, thankfully, she is very patient! 

I have up and downs with my confidence in my German. One day I will think "Oh my goodness! Look at the progress I have made!” And then the next day I think "Oh my heavens, I have barely even scraped the surface and I am already 5 months out!!!!” But, I am just going to keep doing my best and the work will roll forward, even if there is a language barrier. I always love reflecting on that talk of the language of the spirit. I know that my message is true. I know that this is the true restored Gospel. As I share that, even if my sentences are all jumbled, and I have to talk my way around words, the spirit will still be able to prick their hearts. 

I also am pretty confident that my German will increase a lot next transfer because it HAS to. I will not have an experienced companion to look to when I do not understand or when my brain has had too much German that I do not feel like speaking anymore. So, when I have a rough time with German, I just have to remind myself that it is just like exercising. It really hurts to do and kind of stinks, but it will make me so much stronger! 

Sorry I do not have very much time to respond individually to you guys today. We have District P-day so the only time I have for emails is the train ride!

I love you all so much! 

Love your silly JJ May

RANDOMS:

- I have become very aware that having "touch" as my love language really stinks because that seems to be the least common one and I am seriously missing my hugs and back scratches. Sometimes when I am having a rough day, Sister Franchino (she cringes at hugs) comes over to me, puts a single finger on my leg and says, "Can you feel my love?” And it is so funny that I end up laughing so hard that it really does help!

- The first day Sister Grundvig was here, we had to run out the door to make it to an appointment and when we got in the car she said, "Oh no, I am still wearing my Jandles!!!" It was so funny! She was horrified!

- For District P-day we went to a wildlife zoo and it was SOOOO GREAT! I needed that so much! It was basically just a huge, beautiful, petting zoo! My heart was so happy!