I've been home for 1 year now- crazy!!!!

Yesterday, I realized that I will have been home for 1 year tomorrow.
CRAZY!!! How time flies... especially when so much is going on in your life.

My mission was great! I loved it sooo much! It was not always easy, but I still was never home sick or had any bad problems with companions.

For those who haven't seen any mission pictures, I've posted some highlights of my mission... there are many pictures, because every transfer was a highlight!

I would have loved to serve another mission while I'm young... but my plans changed a little bit.. :-)


Anyway, everything started with this picture...

Since I was an 8 year old girl, I always wanted to serve a mission, because one of my primary teachers told me something about the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission. I thought that it would be really cool to serve both on the Square and outbound and do normal proselyting.

Later, I had a Young Women's President that had served a mission there. Also her counselor had served there... so they told me more about it.

When I was 21, I sent in my papers... and surprise, surprise...I was called to serve on Temple Square!



This picture was taken after I arrived at the SLC airport. The missionaries, who found my mom so many years ago, picked me up at the airport. They were talking to me...in English.. and I remember that I said the entire time: "Pardon? What did you say? You could please speak a little bit slower? Could you please repeat that?"

Oh my goodness! I understood maybe half of what they said... and.. I was stuttering the entire time... I was not good at speaking English at all...



This is my MTC class with my teacher. I loved the MTC! The food wasn't that bad...I mainly ate salad.. and ice-cream on Wednesdays...yummy!

I had a German companion, S. Binte (white shirt), who I got along with very well. Our challenge was NOT speaking English..that was really hard.. considering that we were both not good at speaking it.



This is my trainer S. Haenninnen from Finland.



Although I was only in my 2nd transfer, I was called to be the Beehive House Director together with S. Rivera from Peru. We had to make sure that tours were going smoothly, we had to take VIP-tours, we had to train the new sisters how to give a good tour at the Beehive House, had to make sure that the facts that were told were true,....
We were busy!



3rd transfer: My new companion was S. Operio from the Philippines. I continued serving as a BH Director with her.

The two people in the middle are S. and President Stewart.



4th transfer: My new companion was S. Jakobsen from Denmark and we were serving together at Welfare Square- I loved taking people on a tour there!!!



5th transfer: Although being only in my 5th transfer (during this time it was very uncommon to be a district leader before your outbound time), I was called to be a district leader with S. Low from Malaysia.



Our district!


In the middle of this transfer, we got a new mission president- President Holmes.

After my 5th transfer, I was called to serve in the Michigan Lansing Mission for 4,5 months.



President Jones and Sister Jones.
Normally, mission presidents are not allowed to encourage missionaries to emigrate...but at my departing dinner with him and his wife, he told me that I should live somewhere after my mission where there are many young LDS.... I thought that was really interesting that he told me that...



My first district in Kalamazoo, MI. with our beloved Sweetwater doughnuts!
My companion was S. Anderson from California.



We started teaching Amy Nelson (now Strabbing), who we saw getting baptized this same transfer.


After my time in K-Zion, I was transferred to Mount Pleasant to serve on CMU campus with S. Huntington from Utah.


After that, S. Dietzel from California was transferred to Mt. Pleasant.

I loved serving on campus!!!


At the end of my 8th transfer, our Zone Leader Elder Porter was transferred. As a gift, he gave us two of his ties (that's a tradition in the mission). Elder Porter and Elder Packer (grandson of President Packer) were great Zone Leaders- we couldn't have asked for more!


Since our mission's transfer day is a week later than the MLM's transfer day, I had another Zone Leader for a week.
On my departing morning, the Zone Leaders came with these things. That was really nice of them!

They even bought ugly teeth to take a "Michiganders' teeth picture"

And they bought this here... adding a picture of me killing a chicken... sooo hilarious!!!


9th transfer: When I got back to Temple Square, my companion was S. Deloya from Oregon (but she was Mexican).
This picture was taken on the 4th of July. All the German sisters hated me that day..but I didn't care...




10th transfer: My new companion was S. Redpath from England. I love her English accent! I always made fun of it. I was called again to serve as a district leader.

It was S. Redpath's last transfer, so we got to go to the MoTab's Sunday broadcast.



11th transfer: My new companion was S. Rios from Mexico.


We were both serving as Zone Leaders for the Cover-Zone. We loved our calling so much!



Before the sisters go home, they have a photo shoot. So that is one picture of my photo shoot.


This was taken on my last zone leader meeting.

The morning before we all went home, we had a session at the SL temple with S. and President Holmes and all the departing sisters and couples.


We also had a tour in the Relief Society Building. Before that, we had a departing meeting...
S. Thompson (Counselor in the RS Presidency) was in the Building, too. When she heard that we were there, she wanted to join our group and talked to us.
We found out that she had served in the Hamburg Germany Mission many years ago.

I had to give a departing talk on my last Sunday. This is normally the only talk you ever have to give on Temple Square. So the missionaries who found and baptized my other (also the ones that picked me up at the airport), came to say 'goodbye'. That was really nice of them, since sacrament meeting always started at 7.20am.



A few days before I went home, President Holmes said...out of the blue... "Sister Guenter, I promise you... you will be married to a blond guy with blue eyes in a year."

I giggled and answered him: "But President, I normally prefer guys with dark hair and dark eyes."
But he shook his head and said: "No, you will be married to a blond guy with blue eyes!"



And who would have thunk, that I would meet the love of my life only 2 months later... he is blond and has blue eyes... and his name is Anthon W Petty.




And.... who would have thought that I would really married someone within 1 year??? CRAZY!!!!



So, both my mission presidents seemed to be very inspired- isn't that amazing?!?
Everything that they told me came true...

If they both hadn't told me these things, I'm not sure if I would have ever been so brave to fly to the US and marry Anthon....

Thanks to President Jones to President Holmes!!!!

And to John Winterholler who planned, together with my mom, to set Anthon and me up... :-)