Hello there, if you forgot I am serving in the Berlin Germany Mission. Guess what! I saw two baptisms in 3 days here! The work is picking up speed and I think we are slowly waking up the sleeping giant of missionary work here in Deutschland!
Yes, Frau Zimmer, now Schwester Zimmer, GOT BAPTIZED! I lived the missionaries dream and got to see the whole process, got to see her countenance chance, and it really did. She looks like a different person. She just beams, she is filled with the spirit and LOVES LOVES LOVES the gospel, she cant get enough of it and I feel so honored I got to take a small part of that and share it with her. Okay okay okay, Ill explain to you how it all went down :)
Her baptism was on Thursday February 17th. So on Monday we went over and went over the interview questions and she strongly said yes and bore her testimony of all the questions and felt excited, a little nervous but mostly just prepared.
On Tuesday at 15:00 we went over with our district leader, Elder Corey and his companion Elder Mitton to Frau Zimmers apartment on the 4th floor of her 'hoch häuser.' She had cleaned her apartment from ceiling to floor, and put out more chairs and had put a lot of effort in getting ready for the interview, we all sat and talked and read Mosiah 18 together about the people rejoicing together with such a joy of having the gospel and having such a strong deep desire to follow Christ and be baptized. We related that to her, and then we laughed about some other things and she told the Elders her 'conversion story' I felt so proud and so honored I got to be in so much of it, but the most important parts of the story were the times when she was by herself and the Lord was working with her, and that is true about every investigator. The most important time and crucial time isnt when these people are meeting with us, but the changes they make after we have left. Anyway, thanks for that side note :)
We left Elder Corey and Frau Zimmer and sat in the other room writing our fortschritts bericht and helping Elder Mitton feel awkward that he didnt have his companion. That was funny. We then were invited back in and she beamed and said 'I am getting baptized in 2 days!' Later Elder Corey told us she was so filled with the spirit and was very prepared and excited for baptism. Bah! So cool right?!?! We then went with her to scripture class on Wednesday and she LOVED it, she made some comments and even shared the analogy of the restoration of the gospel to a mirror. (Ill share that with you later if you havent heard it) but we were so proud of her, she wants to learn the Book of Mormon through and through, so she was excited to be there and took a lot of notes :)
THURSDAY morning we went over around 9 and helped her get together the stuff that she needed :) change of underwear, hair dryer, etc... we then bundled up and went and waited for the train at bahnhof. While waiting I gave her a tiny keychain that had a stuffed sheep on it. She LOVES the analogy of Christ and his sheep because she had felt like the lost black sheep for the past 12 years, but now she has found her way back and heard the call of her shephard, and I told her she is now going to be a clean white sheep in his flock :) I have such a cute picture of her cuddling up to it (sadly I left my camera at a members house, so be excited to see all these pictures NEXT WEEK) but then we filled out the taufschein (baptismal recommend) on the train, so cool just getting the last minute busy work finished and then we walked to the church!
She changed into her white dress and everyone started showing up. We took pictures and everyone greeted her and were so loving, especially her daughter and granddaughter. You could tell they were so happy for their mom. We started the service with 'Nearer my God to thee' because she loves that song and her daughter said the opening prayer. She told us later that she didnt know her daughter could pray like that. That was when my tears started coming, because in her prayer she said things like 'Heavenly Father I am so glad you have answered my prayer and brought someone else in my family into the gospel so I am not alone on this path, and etc' it was so sweet. We then heard a sweet talk on Baptism from Rosel (the lady whos sealing I saw in Freiberg) and then Sister Forsyth and I sang 'Der Herr ist mein Hirte' (The Lord is my Shepherd) it was really sweet.
We then bundled up and headed over to the sauna down the street and the owner of the sauna had lit candles, the fireplace was going and had soft music playing, it was gemüdlich. (dont know the translation for that word, something like comfortable, quaint, homey and lovely all in the same word) we said another prayer when we got there and then went to the back where the 'font' was. Ahmed got in first and helped her in. Apparently the water wasnt too warm, but the spirit was so strong and Ahmed did a great job baptizing her.
When she came back up out of the water she was just beaming, just glowing. She told us later that she couldnt really breath the spirit was so strong, she couldnt speak, she was trying to cry, but trying not to at the same time, and was just so happy! She said there is nothing like the feeling of being engulfed with water and seeing it come in around you and then coming back out, seeing the light and feeling this 'freeing feeling' she said she felt like she could fly. She explained for us it must have seemed really quick, but for her it was slow motion, she could feel the Lord so close and knew that it was done with the right priesthood. She felt so clean and was just beaming! Ah I love this lady. So we helped her get changed and do her hair. She was then greeted by the ward and congratulated.
We went back to the church, Tilo grußed and welcomed her from the ward had a closing song and prayer. Then members gave her flowers and a couple presents. We gave Ola and Ahmed a copy of 'the Restoration' to give her and she loved it! She said aww now I can watch it by myself and cry when I want to :) she also said she could watch it with her son. Sister Forsyth and I then gave her her own hymn book and of course a triple combination. She opened it and was SO excited! She just held it and was so happy, she has been dying to get D&C, she wants to read what Joseph Smith had written so badly and didnt know she would be getting it so soon! She immediately asked where she can get a case because its her new treasure. She is so sweet! We then had a little food afterwards and she felt so warm and welcome. It was such a blessing to be there, let alone be one of the missionaries!
She got the Holy Ghost yesterday! She is doing so great and is already in 1 Nephi 19 and says she is moving to slowly, but she just wants to understand it completely. Luckily we all realized thats why we have our whole lives to learn it and to keep learning. It just made me so grateful that I have had the gospel my whole life and have the Book of Mormon, she made me realize again what a blessing it is to have! Wow, arent we so blessed!? SO loved. AHh the gospel is true and it brings so much joy!
We also got the chance to come to Berlin, to Tiergarten to see the baptism there! Sister Singer and Sister Stewart have had a similar miracle, in that they met him on the street and got to see him be baptized! It was such a beautiful spirit there, and I felt so blessed to be able to see it, and to realize more and more people are getting baptized everyday. We have so many people we are meeting with, we defintiely need reenforcements in Frankfurt Oder!
I feel especially close to the Lord lately, in that I am feeling his love in reading how well my family is doing back home. I am so grateful for a family in the gospel all with the goal of going to the temple. Its such an incredible work helping these people fulfill these ordinances, on both sides of the veil. Everyone sounds like they are doing well and are feeling loved! Hope so because I love you so! Have a great week, and thank you for your prayers, they are very much needed and felt! Time to get some more people into the water!
Happy Monday!
oh and Happy Birthday to Mom on the 27th!!
Liebe, Sister Rasmussen
No comments:
Post a Comment