It was one of the most incredible weekends of my life this past week. Hopefully the pictures work, it happened! Hany got baptized!! He calls us 'Frau sister Rasmussen and Frau Sister Forsyth' hahaha, because he thought those were our first names for the longest time, so we now call him Herr Bruder Michael. I cant believe he is a member! He's one of us! Some egyptian guy we talked to in front of Kaufland is now a member of the church, I dont know why I got to be a part of it but I couldnt be more grateful. It definitely took A LOT of faith, right up to the very last second....
On Friday night the elders came from Marzahn and we took them to Hany's, read a part of 3 Nephi 19 together and then we took Elder Pierson with us to Ola and Ahmeds while Elder Pauli stayed and had the tauf interview with him. We had everything planned and were designing the program and they came back awhile laster both laughing and smiling, he passed! haha so we went home on cloud 9 and finished the programs and got everything ready.
Saturday morning we woke up, had study, fixed the button on the pants Hany was going to wear and got the presents ready etc, as we walked up to bahnhof all excited we got a call from Ahmed........
Hany had gone to see his kids around 8:30am, who his almost ex-frau hasnt let him see for 3 weeks, and we were going to meet at bahnhof at like 1:15. Frau said she had to run for a half an hour and would be right back...and wasnt right back. Hany couldnt leave his kids, and he couldnt take his kids with him or she would call the police, he couldnt get a hold of her and we didnt know what to do. We just stood at bahnhof with Manfred with people calling us from Berlin (missionaries and their investigators) telling us they were on their way etc, and we didnt know when the lady would come home! We knew this was one last try of opposition for Hany and so we all just prayed. We called everyone and asked them to pray, even the branch presidents wife called and asked how things were going and she hung up on us to get her family together to pray that his wife would come home. SO many people have prayed for this guy its insane. We missed the 1:30 train, then missed the 2:00 and then all the people from Berlin came and waited with us in bahnhof just praying, and Ahmed called and said we didnt think it could happen, we should just cancel etc and Sister Forsyth and I were both shaking, ahh our faith was definitely being tried... we said we are going to wait until the 2:30 train and if she doesnt come by then, then we will cancel. Then FINIALLY Ahmed called and said 'Its all okay, he's now home getting ready! We'll meet you there!' SO we all headed to Eisenhüttenstadt and set it all up and they showed up a little later.
The service was beautiful, we sang 'ich brauch dich alle zeit' Hany's favorite and then Ola gave a beautiful talk on baptism and the covenant we make with our Heavenly Father. We then loaded in the cars and drove 5 minutes to a lake/pond near by. It was so beautiful and perfect weather. As you hopefully can see in the pictures it was such an incredible thing seeing two Egyptians going to fulfil this holy ordinance in the lake. Definitely a highlight of all of our missions. I was so proud of our Hany, my favorite picture is when they are walking out of the water and you can see how clean and full of JOY Hany was. We then headed back to the church and we (the 8 missionaries) sang 'Ich weiss dass mein Erlöser lebt' I started with a solo then Sister Forsyth came in and then the other missionaries joined, the spirit was so strong and everyone was tearing up, I could hardly sing. It was such a gorgeous celestial feeling baptism and everything went smoothly with the spirit.
Yesterday Hany received the gift of the Holy Ghost and had an incredible blessing afterwards. He also went up and bore his testimony and we were just beaming, so proud. It is so incredible to me to see the spirit in these people's eyes, there really is a light that wasnt there before, its so incredible to think of all that is in store for Hany, we're thinking he'll be a 70 in a while :)
Another tender mercy was when we were with him last night talking about the Book of Mormon and he loved the story of the Ammonites, he said he felt the spirit and got goosebumps when he read about how they buried their weapons and wouldnt take them up to fight, he then kindof off handed said 'and its so great we have a prophet to tell us today if the lord wants us to fight or not.' he said 'WE have a prophet!' He really gets it and is going to change so many people's lives, he has already started. We had some food after church with the branch and it was like a big family, it was so neat to hear all the members welcome him as their new brother and you could already see he was so comfortable and felt so loved. We got a framed picture of Christ and had the branch and everyone who came to the baptism sign it, and he loved it. I just feel so honored and loved to be able to know these people, let alone maybe had a small chance to help them.
Also some big news, we had transfer calls saturday morning.....duh duh duhhh. IM KILLING AGAIN! And guess who!?!? SISTER SCRUGGS! YEP Im serving with her again!!! I came from her to Frankfurt Oder and now she is coming to me! And she is dying here too! Yep 3 kills in a row, I cant believe it, definitely happening for a reason and a lot of miracles are coming, im super stoked to serve with her again, Í feel so blessed to get to stay here another transfer, i love it and the weather is getting warmer, these people are really becoming family, looks like ill be serving more than a 1/3 of my mission here! gotta love it.
I love being a missionary so much, its so incredible being able to see the way the gospel changes lives, to see people change to be closer to our Savior, to follow him and bring other people unto him, its definitely 'ein wunderbares werk.' Hope you can see the pictures, im tempted to send them to church headquarters they need to be in 'Preach My Gospel.' :)
Hope you all have a wonderful week, know that a missionary in Germany is thinking of you!
This was a part of the scriptures we read together with Hany before his tauf interview, and i love it, its such an amazing thing to read Christ word's when he is praying to our Heavenly Father...especially talking about baptism and coming unto him.....this light that he is talking about, that is what comes into these people's lives
24And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not amultiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should bpray, and they were filled with desire.
25And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his acountenance did smile upon them, and the light of his bcountenance did cshine upon them, and behold they were as dwhite as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof.
Love you! Have a great week!
Sister Rasmussen
25And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his acountenance did smile upon them, and the light of his bcountenance did cshine upon them, and behold they were as dwhite as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof.
Love you! Have a great week!
Sister Rasmussen
danke
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