Hope. Joy. Love.
Thats all I have been feeling lately on this whole religious sebatical. I feel the Lord so close and just feel him guiding our steps and accomplishing his work through us. Its such a celestial feeling, I reccommend it! There is too much to say, where to start.....
BIG CHANGES: Sister Roberts Jones is flying back to London tomorrow and she goes to the mission home today. So Frankfurt (Oder)/Eisenhüttonstadt is now in the hands of Sister Rasmussen and Sister Forsyth...did you know this area used to have 14 missionaries here!!?!? Now its just the two of us, so plenty of work to do and Sister Roberts-Jones has trained me well, I feel I know where all the members and investigators live, and how to live life to the fullest here. Íts been a little odd packing with, talking to and comforting someone who is at the end of their mission. Ive definitely been blessed because ive had 0% homesickness, but if anything eine neue begeisterung a new excitement for the work. Having gone through this with her has made me realize how precious everyday is and how quickly it flies, so no time for tears or moping..mopeing? mopping? bah, lying around :) ive really grown a testimony of if you want to be happy just be happy, regardless of the circumstances, just swollow the pride and smile, just choose to see the beautiful things. SPEAKING OF BEAUTIFUL...there is hardly any snow, if any around my area, the sun is out, INCREDIBLE CLOUDS and warmer weather...I even took the trash out in a tshirt! Yeah I know! Youre tellin me, am I blessed or what!? So that is beautiful. Its been so fun serving with my british 'auntie' RoJay. . we worked really hard to help her finish strong, and saw a lot of miracles, we laughed so hard and went through some tough goodbyes, but we will be friends for life so I just feel blessed to have met her and served with her, even though it was only for 3 weeks... So im stoked to have a companion who is ready to work- Sister Forsyth is coming to Frankfurt later today and she is coming for Dresden having served there for 3 transfers, two of those having been with Sister Scruggs (my last companion) so ive heard how fun and hard working she is. It shall be interesting doing the 'junior companion who knows the city' thing, but shall be a blast and im chosing excitement instead of fear.
I have to tell you all about the super incredible experiences ive had teaching this week.....so Bianka. Shes the mother of Roman (who was baptized right before christmas, hes 13..you remember?) Good, she is the one we were praying and fasting her boyfriend's heart would be softened...WELL when we went by on Thursday (the fast having been from tues afternoon to wed) she said, 'want to know something cool? Wednesday after I ended my fast, Denny came in with a box and told me we are going to start saving for our wedding!!!' She was so cute, so excited, ah she is incredible, such a strong person, such a strong testimony already. So the fast really changed his heart. . . meaning if he wants to get married she then can get baptized!!! Ah she is incredible. We had a great lesson that night talkinga bout 1 nephi 8...Bianka was actually the one that said, 'So I was reading in the Book of Mormon last night and i do not get this story of the tree! I read it 3 times, I mean I know its a dream but will you please explain it?' THIS LADY is INCREDIBLE! I know right?? She isnt even a member and she is reading the book of mormon more often than YOU are! ;) So we talked to her and Lia (their 6 year old) and Roman (the new convert) and also Denny (the boyfriend) was on the couch! We drew out the picture and talked about the rod of iron and getting to the love of God and to Eternal life. Then Lia wanted a picture for herself, so we drew it again (and then yesterday she sat by me in church....yes they come to church every week and only their 13 year old is amember...and she redrew the tree of life!) Bah, I hope that complex array of sentances made some sort of sence, I know my mother and grandmother are cringing when they read this, but ITS JUST SO EXCITING I cant type fast enough :) I hope you can see the miracles in this like I do. This incredible German family of 5 on a Thursday night drawing the Tree of Life......I just feel so blessed to be the one to witess it!
Also another really mission changing lesson (almost cliché because it was so amazing) was yesterday afternoon. We met with Frau Zimmer (who is a less active's mother) She is an 'excommunicated' Jehovahs witness. . .she has a really rough story about her experiences witht hem and a lot of guilt and force and she basically was condemned to the back bench of their group, has to be the last to come and first to leave and she cant talk at all, or talk to anyone in the group, not even outside of church (including her brother and mother) because of this thing she was accused of doing, which she didnt do. ahh I wish I could just tell you all her story in person because I dont have the time or the words to do it justice, but either way she now has a strong belief in God but hasnt been able to do anything about it for 15 years. We went and talked to her about faith, repentance and baptism (this is our first lesson with her mind you) and she loved how repentance is just between you and the lord and its all personal and everything we do is out of love, not out of fear or guilt. We choose to follow Christ because we love him and are grateful for his sacrifice. SO we committed her to baptism and she said, well I just need to pray about it because last time I rushed into a ward and it was the wrong decision, so I think so, I just want to be sure.' AHHHH SO amazing. She then told us that she has a couple health problems and had been telling Heavenly Father that she wanted to follow him and be in a church but when she is ready....and then she said 'und ihr seid da.' meaning 'and here you are!' She said we are sent from Heavenly Father, we felt the spirit so strong and I feel SO blessed Im about to pop I feel so loved to get to have these experiences....
It was such a tender mercy to be able to serve on tausch with Sister Singer in Berlin. IT was a dream. IT was so neat to talk to people on the street with my trainer (my mother) and know what I was doing and know what I was talking about. It was also funny because we went from such a small quaint dorf to the biggest city in Germany and looked like two little country girls just wide eyed and jaws dropped and the size and sounds of the city. I LOVED it. I love Berlin, the buildings, cars, busses, smells, people, and the feeling of being there not as a tourist but as a missionary was even cooler! We went and taught a couple cool lessons and taught German class together at the institute in Tiergarten, Berlin. It was so incredible riding on a bus together and then seeing the street where Valkyrie (sp?) took place, hearing her say 'he was shot right on that street!' I just felt so blessed to be serving my mission where there is so much history. And then going to the Brandenburger Tor, what I have been dreaming to do since my first year of German in 7th grade and it was so cool, but also spiritual which made it even better than any school trip could have been. and a silly side note, we walked past the hotel where Micheal Jackson held his daughter out the window...yeah I know! I was right there! haha. Such a beautiful city and such incredible history. It was such a blessing to see Sister Tasha Singer again and to teach together. We had an incredible lesson with one of their investigators named Senator. He is such a cool guy from Camaroon and when we walked in he was so friendly and got right to the point and asked if we could say a prayer and if he could say it (this was only like the 3rd time he has met with missionaries) and as we read in 2 nephi 31 and talked about baptism and following Christ, we invited him to be baptized on February 13. He said, Yeah I think I would like that, are there more people getting baptized on that day? I think its better if there are lots of people getting baptized together, like when Christ was baptized, John the Baptist was baptizing loads of people.' haha, so they do have another person aiming for that date as well so, I was even blessed enough to set a baptisimal date with Sister Singer! Where are these blessings coming from!?!? If its your prayers...thank you. :)
I hope this email wasnt too long baha, which I know it is, and it was some what understandable, I just cant put into words the love and joy and hope I see and feel and teach here in Germany. Haha, my English and punctuation are so badly failing, but luckily I know you still love me :) I cant thank you enough or explain to you the comfort I feel when I get your emails and letters, its just the cherry on the cake....So thank you for spoiling me and for letting me have this incredible experience. I wouldnt change it for anything and feel so blessed to have a good chunk left! ;) Have a great week and Im praying for you!!
Sister Rasmussen
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