Ja Klar

So...Happy Halloween to you all. They don't really celebrate Halloween here. It's more scary than fun. So we said, "W the missionaries will throw a halloween party for family home evening." Then they announced it at stake conference! So...we bought some stuff on Saturday, and today (Monday) all the stores are closed. So...well I'm feeling a little pressure to make it awesome with little resources. But it sounds like we will have more visitors than members attending so there should be a lot of missionary work going on like new appointments made out to get to the really important stuff, like teaching the gospel.

Speaking of teaching I had one of my favorite lessons last night and wanted to share it with you. We were with Christane all day long yesterday and she came with us to visit our sweet 89 yr old schwester Schielde and then came with us to visit Bürcan. We just helped him get a new apartment (we as in the ward) and we helped him move in. He had to do some last minute stuff in his old apartment so we met him there to help him and teach him. So the four of us sat on the floor of his old 5th floor apartment with a lamp being the only light, and we talked about their experiences of finding the church. Both of them have been having some outer pressure. Bürcan's ex girlfriend randomly saw a picture of him getting baptized and read up on the church and gave him a lot of anti stuff and info and we were so proud when he told us the story and shared with us his response. He just said I know this church is truch and I feel the love of the Lord when I am in the church and with these people and living this lifestyle. He shut all that opposition down quickly.
Christiane is the same way. She talks about how she knows there is a God and will be able to see her parents again (who both passed away when she was 11) and she knows that there are people who won't support her. She has already lost a few friends, and the boyfriend of her sister 'ist seemlich dagegen' (pretty much against the church) but apparently her sister was asking a lot of questions and wants some info. Sadly no contact with us yet, but that will come :)

Sorry all my thoughts are all mixed together because I am just so excited about the work going on here. We took Christiane yesterday to stake conference which was in another city so 13 of us went on the train and met the whole stake in this theater they rented out. President Pimentel came as well as a 70 from the Netherlands. Olga came as well to stake conference on Saturday night and so did Georgy our new investigator! It's just miracle after miracle. Stake conference was awesome. The 70 talked about how we need to stand in holy places and those are the temple, the church, our homes, and where we stand. People who come into our presence should feel they are on holy ground because we keep our thoughts clean, language clean, and if we are full of love then people will notice something different. Isn't that great! It's the truth. People do feel a difference and feel the love of their Heavenly Father, through us! Isn't it such an honor to be a member of the church to get to be an answer to someone else's prayer, yeah i love it!

We are working hard on mapping out how to visit as many members as possible to get referrals. We have a new referral card which we got from the zone leaders and all of the Leipzig zone will be meeting with all the members in the next few months to propose this plan. It is to pray for a week to find someone new to invite to meet with the missionaries. The invitation is the success and we are so excited about the miracles that are coming... It's a little tricky just trying to bring the spirit and excitment of sharing the gospel while not overwhelming people. And I know that there is someone (satan...such a bother) who makes missionary work seem so foreign or such a challenge. But it's really so simple. Just opening up and loving people more, with ouwhole hearts! Man I love it.

We also are having zone conference this Friday and I get to give a workshop on obediance. I'm excited because it's such a simple yet profound concept and all success relys on obediance. Especially missionary success. I just love the plainness of the fact that if we love the Savior we will keep his commandments. No ifs, ands, or buts. We either truly love Him with our whole hearts and appreciate His love and sacrifice and than show that to him, or not. Then I ask why would someone waste their life not expereincing the love of their Savior and Heavenly Father...the warm feeling of his presence, and the clarity of his guidance is so heavenly and profound. Just keeping his commandments is the simple way to feel that warm love and support from our Heavenly Father. DON'T YOU LOVE IT!? Me too. Makes me smile, the clarity of the gospel is so great. Let's go tell someone about it!! So they can feel it toooooo.

Have a lovely Halloween, just have fun and keep the commandments, aka show your love and appreciation for OUR Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It takes concious effort until it becomes a habit, but I promise you will be more fulfilled and focused and einfach (simply) happier when you try it! I will if you will!
Love you dearly,
Sister Rasmussen (actually dressed up as Sister Faerber today...looks great, Happy Halloween!)