Note from Mom: She said she was going to send pictures, but I didn't get any. I'll post them when I do.
So this week is the last week of the transfer. That means that Sis. Montgomery will be entering her last full of week of missionary work, and I might be getting a call Friday (otherwise known as Danger Day). All of the new Trainers in the mission get calls from President Stoddard or the Assistants Friday, so I am kind of hoping I don't get a call from them Friday. It's going to be a super stressful day. :P
Anyways, it was such a good week! We started it by playing tourist in Nürnberg (but Sis. John, you live in Nürnberg! Yes. Yes I do. And that's literally all I do here. I don't go around and visit the tourist shops or the castle or the planetarium. I just live here.) and the Sister Training Leaders were with us! It was so much fun! Because one of the three sister areas in the Nürnberg Zone was closed last transfer, our STL's are in Frankfurt because it doesn't make sense to have one of the two remaining sister companions be sister training leaders for just one companionship. We're missionaries. We're efficient!!! Yay!
Anyways, Sis. Godwin and Sis. Landeen came and hung out with Sis. Montgomery and I for a day and it was so much fun! We went up to the castle and took SO MANY pictures. I'm kind of done with pictures now. But I'll send some out anyways and take more because we're planning on going to Rothenburg today. It's my third time! And it will probably still be raining! Yay!
Oh! We got Eis on Monday! It was SO GOOD. It's ice cream, but it was so much better than anything back home. I might consider moving to Germany just for the ice cream. The place we went to had a Flavor of the Month and we all had to read the sign three times before we believed it. It was red beet and thyme. Yep. I totally did not buy a scoop of it. But I did try it and it tasted like.... Beets and thyme. It wasn't bad, but it definitely was not something you would expect of an ice cream flavor.
As far as lessons taught this week, we finally got to teach Georgiana's husband!!!!!! It was so good!!!!!!! We've been trying to get a lesson with him and the Romanian Elders over Skype for FOREVER and it finally worked!!!! We're going to help him stop smoking and then teach the lessons and then he and his family can all be baptized and it will be wonderful and I am so excited for them!!!!!
After the lesson I closed Skype on my iPad and the background picture I have is currently the Provo City Center temple and Jon (Georgiana's husband) saw it and was kind of curious (at least, I think he was curious. He seemed curious but he can't speak German and I can't speak Romanian so it's kind of hard). So I pulled up the full picture for him and he stared at it and all he said was, "Paradies." It was amazing. I felt the Spirit stronger in that moment than I did throughout the entire lesson. We ended up spending about 20 minutes looking at the pictures of the some of the temples that I have downloaded on my iPad. It was awesome. I'm going to try and get a picture of the temple for him and his family to put in their apartment. I think he would like that. It would definitely help invite the Spirit.
So yeah. That was miracle number one. Miracle number two happened when Sis. Montgomery and Sis. Godwin were off on their part of the STL split and then split with the Feucht sisters (a split within a split.... Splitception!). Sis. Godwin and Sis. Riser went off and contacted this random man on the street. This random man wrote down his number and took a card and agreed to meet on Thursday. It was super cool! Then on Thursday, we got a call during Gemiko and it is the random man! He was worried that he had written his number down incorrectly so he wanted to call us and make sure we had the correct number.
His name is Bernhard, and he is AWESOME. We met with him and the Harts on Thursday and he apologized because he hadn't read the entire Book of Mormon and he was only in 2 Nephi 5. ONLY IN 2 NEPHI. This man is amazing, and is just so prepared for he Gospel. I'm super excited to work with him and help him learn more about the church and the Book of Mormon. His questions are so good and so specific and it's awesome! He is awesome! It's going to be so cool to work with him. :)
This week I came to the realization that I've spent too much time worried about me and my testimony. I was worried that I didn't know enough to be teaching the people we are and be helping them through their problems. Which, is probably a valid concern because I'm just a twenty-year-old punk. But, I totally forgot that one of the purposes of having the gift of the Holy Ghost is so that he can "bring all things to [my] remembrance." I got so worried about not knowing enough, that I forgot to trust that Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost would help me out as long as I do my part. But it's okay now, because it was brought to my remembrance. ;)
We just got back from Rothenburg! It wasn't raining! It was super windy instead and I almost got blown over three times!!! Woo hoo!!! We also talked to this super cool old man who was painting and selling his paintings. He was pretty neat and I bought some postcards from him because I really liked his paintings, but definitely do not have enough money to buy one. He was super cool though, and we tried to We didn't get to leave him a card though....
I guess I should probably wrap this up, but I would like to let y'all know at I truly love being here. I have been blessed to find, teach, and get to know some truly amazing people. Georgiana and her family are incredible. Elena is progressing and opening up to us. Zeynep is absolutely adorable. Bernhard is amazingly prepared. All of these people are children of our Heavenly Father. He loves ALL of us. I have been truly privileged to get to know all of these incredible people here in Deutschland. It has been an interesting transfer, but I wouldn't change a moment of it.
I love you! Have a fantastic day, and an absolutely wonderful week!!!
Love Always,
Sis. John
P.S. Totally saw Bronte and Savannah Knowlton's grandparents in Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station/airport of ground moving traffic) this week. It was super awesome and totally made my day. :)
Monday, February 22, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
Valentine's Day, Brownies, and Service!!!
Today is the day after Valentine's Day, and I am glad. Except not, because Sis. Montgomery and I still have some people whose doors we wanted to go 'Heart Attack' so we get to do that today and tomorrow. I have baked SO MANY brownies. Seriously, like, five batches. I'm done! No more! I want absolutely no more chocolate baked goods for at least a month! I'm convinced our apartment will smell like brownies for the rest of forever.
But really, it was super good. We had a dinner appointment with one of our members this week. I love her because 1) she reminds me of mom and I'm convinced they would be friends if they ever met, 2) she lived in America for ten years so her English is perfect, American English, and 3) she always knows when I need a hug at church on Sunday and she is more than happy to give them. She is awesome, and I love her. Anyways, we had an appointment with her and she was kind of going through a hard time so we added her to the (exceedingly long) list of people we wanted to Heart Attack. Then the next day, we miraculously had some time to go by her house and heart attack her door! It was amazing! So we stuck hearts all over her door and left her a "very original" poem and then went on our merry way to our next appointment. On Sunday this member saw us and came straight over and said, "You guys are crazy," and then gave us a HUGE hug. It was awesome. And then she invited us to the next Young Women activity to talk about the Book of Mormon and how important it is. It was super cool, and it felt so good to do just a little thing but have it mean so much to her! It was super cool, and we had a similar experience giving brownies and valentines to other people in the ward. It was awesome.
So, last week we went shopping for P-Day and Sis. Montgomery bought some things to take home to her family and I bought a pair of jeans and some plants. One thing that I am really loving about Germany is that everywhere you go, there are plants. Every apartment building will have at least one potted plant sitting on the windowsill inside. It's super awesome. I got two little pots with seeds last week and one is Sunflowers and the other is supposed to be Daisies but they haven't sprouted at all and it's been a week. Also, the pot was WAY too small for the amount of sunflower seeds I was given so I hijacked one of our bowls from the kitchen (it's cracked on the side so we don't use it anymore and if we don't use it for plants then we'll just end up throwing it away) and planted the rest of the seeds. They're doing so well! It makes me so happy to have something to grow here. In fact, I was so happy about how well they are growing that I bought a basil plant from the grocery store this morning. I have to get an actual pot for that one, but we're going to do that when we go look for a shower curtain today. We have a very small balcony so when it gets a bit warmer I'll move the plants there so they're outside. But yeah. It's good.
I really don't know what to say this week. Sis. Montgomery is super cool, but I've gotten a really good lesson of how hard it can be to be obedient when your companion isn't as obedient as you are/would like to be. Not that we've done anything bad, but little things add up and eventually you just feel horrible about it. We had a really great talk about it in companionship inventory though, and set some good goals to help keep us focused. It's really hard because Sis. Montgomery goes home in 3 weeks and it's hard to even care about helping her know the area and the people when we know that she's going to be leaving and someone else will be coming. And for her, it's even harder because she's the one who's leaving and finally going home after 18 months. Her unfocused-ness has been making me unfocused and it's been kind of hard. I think that's a large part of why this transfer has been so stressful. But, this is why we sometimes have hour and a half long companionship inventories! All-in-all, I am super grateful to have Sis. Montgomery as a companion. She's been awesome, and I have learned a ton from her. Together, we've been able to really see the difference between being exactly obedient, and cutting the corners a bit. We decided that we don't want to cut the corners anymore. Neither of us wants to be the missionary holding the other one back. It's going to be an awesome last three weeks! I am so excited!
The Sister Training Leaders are coming from Frankfurt to spend P-Day with us and do splits today and tomorrow. We sent 11 sisters home last transfer, so we had to close some of the sister areas in our mission. They closed the Coburg Sisters so now there are only 2 sister areas in the Nürnberg Zone and that's not enough to have Sister Training Leaders here so we get the Frankfurt Zone Sister Training Leaders!!! Their names are Sister Godwin and Sister Landine and they're super cool. It's kind of stressful to have them coming though, because we had to try and plan two sets of appointments for the days they're here because it's a 2 hour ICE train ride from Frankfurt to Nürnberg so they're both going to stay here. Normally, Sis. Montgomery would go back to Frankfurt with Sis. Godwin and spend a day working with her there. But it's too far, so they're both going to stay here and then go spend a day working with the Feucht (foy-ck-t) sisters. They're going to be gone for about 3 days so they can do splits with us. That is a long time to be away from your area. They are amazing, and I love them. Even if it kind of stressful to have two sets of sisters in the same city for 24 hours.
We got to do some unexpected service for Georgiana (an investigator) this week. She had surgery recently and called us because she needed to refill her prescription but was in pain and couldn't walk to the U-Bahn station to go and get it. So we went and did it for her. Then she mentioned not having groceries for tomorrow and the next week, so we did her grocery shopping for her! It was so cute because she kept asking us if we were still on missions and if we could do these things for her. We kept telling her that yes, we are on missions and we can go fill prescriptions and get groceries because service is a part of what we do. It was awesome. We have a lesson with her and the Romanian Elders over Skype this evening and I'm super excited.
Anyways, I think that's it. I hope you all are having a fantastic time at home. I know that it seems kind of hard right now, but I honestly don't want to be anywhere else. There is so much going on in this great city and amazing country. The prophecies about our mission are being fulfilled and it's amazing. I love being here and I love the people that we get to work with. Sis. Montgomery and I are hoping to set a baptismal date today and set another one before the end of the transfer. The work is moving forward, and we get to be a part of it!! How cool is that!!?? :)
I love you all! Have a great day, and a fantastic week!!!
Liebe Grüße,
Sis. John
P.S. They finished our mission website! Our Tech Elders are very
talented and we love them a lot for all of their hard work. Y'all
should go check it out!
www.frankfurtmission.com
But really, it was super good. We had a dinner appointment with one of our members this week. I love her because 1) she reminds me of mom and I'm convinced they would be friends if they ever met, 2) she lived in America for ten years so her English is perfect, American English, and 3) she always knows when I need a hug at church on Sunday and she is more than happy to give them. She is awesome, and I love her. Anyways, we had an appointment with her and she was kind of going through a hard time so we added her to the (exceedingly long) list of people we wanted to Heart Attack. Then the next day, we miraculously had some time to go by her house and heart attack her door! It was amazing! So we stuck hearts all over her door and left her a "very original" poem and then went on our merry way to our next appointment. On Sunday this member saw us and came straight over and said, "You guys are crazy," and then gave us a HUGE hug. It was awesome. And then she invited us to the next Young Women activity to talk about the Book of Mormon and how important it is. It was super cool, and it felt so good to do just a little thing but have it mean so much to her! It was super cool, and we had a similar experience giving brownies and valentines to other people in the ward. It was awesome.
So, last week we went shopping for P-Day and Sis. Montgomery bought some things to take home to her family and I bought a pair of jeans and some plants. One thing that I am really loving about Germany is that everywhere you go, there are plants. Every apartment building will have at least one potted plant sitting on the windowsill inside. It's super awesome. I got two little pots with seeds last week and one is Sunflowers and the other is supposed to be Daisies but they haven't sprouted at all and it's been a week. Also, the pot was WAY too small for the amount of sunflower seeds I was given so I hijacked one of our bowls from the kitchen (it's cracked on the side so we don't use it anymore and if we don't use it for plants then we'll just end up throwing it away) and planted the rest of the seeds. They're doing so well! It makes me so happy to have something to grow here. In fact, I was so happy about how well they are growing that I bought a basil plant from the grocery store this morning. I have to get an actual pot for that one, but we're going to do that when we go look for a shower curtain today. We have a very small balcony so when it gets a bit warmer I'll move the plants there so they're outside. But yeah. It's good.
I really don't know what to say this week. Sis. Montgomery is super cool, but I've gotten a really good lesson of how hard it can be to be obedient when your companion isn't as obedient as you are/would like to be. Not that we've done anything bad, but little things add up and eventually you just feel horrible about it. We had a really great talk about it in companionship inventory though, and set some good goals to help keep us focused. It's really hard because Sis. Montgomery goes home in 3 weeks and it's hard to even care about helping her know the area and the people when we know that she's going to be leaving and someone else will be coming. And for her, it's even harder because she's the one who's leaving and finally going home after 18 months. Her unfocused-ness has been making me unfocused and it's been kind of hard. I think that's a large part of why this transfer has been so stressful. But, this is why we sometimes have hour and a half long companionship inventories! All-in-all, I am super grateful to have Sis. Montgomery as a companion. She's been awesome, and I have learned a ton from her. Together, we've been able to really see the difference between being exactly obedient, and cutting the corners a bit. We decided that we don't want to cut the corners anymore. Neither of us wants to be the missionary holding the other one back. It's going to be an awesome last three weeks! I am so excited!
The Sister Training Leaders are coming from Frankfurt to spend P-Day with us and do splits today and tomorrow. We sent 11 sisters home last transfer, so we had to close some of the sister areas in our mission. They closed the Coburg Sisters so now there are only 2 sister areas in the Nürnberg Zone and that's not enough to have Sister Training Leaders here so we get the Frankfurt Zone Sister Training Leaders!!! Their names are Sister Godwin and Sister Landine and they're super cool. It's kind of stressful to have them coming though, because we had to try and plan two sets of appointments for the days they're here because it's a 2 hour ICE train ride from Frankfurt to Nürnberg so they're both going to stay here. Normally, Sis. Montgomery would go back to Frankfurt with Sis. Godwin and spend a day working with her there. But it's too far, so they're both going to stay here and then go spend a day working with the Feucht (foy-ck-t) sisters. They're going to be gone for about 3 days so they can do splits with us. That is a long time to be away from your area. They are amazing, and I love them. Even if it kind of stressful to have two sets of sisters in the same city for 24 hours.
We got to do some unexpected service for Georgiana (an investigator) this week. She had surgery recently and called us because she needed to refill her prescription but was in pain and couldn't walk to the U-Bahn station to go and get it. So we went and did it for her. Then she mentioned not having groceries for tomorrow and the next week, so we did her grocery shopping for her! It was so cute because she kept asking us if we were still on missions and if we could do these things for her. We kept telling her that yes, we are on missions and we can go fill prescriptions and get groceries because service is a part of what we do. It was awesome. We have a lesson with her and the Romanian Elders over Skype this evening and I'm super excited.
Anyways, I think that's it. I hope you all are having a fantastic time at home. I know that it seems kind of hard right now, but I honestly don't want to be anywhere else. There is so much going on in this great city and amazing country. The prophecies about our mission are being fulfilled and it's amazing. I love being here and I love the people that we get to work with. Sis. Montgomery and I are hoping to set a baptismal date today and set another one before the end of the transfer. The work is moving forward, and we get to be a part of it!! How cool is that!!?? :)
I love you all! Have a great day, and a fantastic week!!!
Liebe Grüße,
Sis. John
P.S. They finished our mission website! Our Tech Elders are very
talented and we love them a lot for all of their hard work. Y'all
should go check it out!
www.frankfurtmission.com
Even P-Days Fall Out Sometimes
(Mom Note: Sorry, I'm a week late, but you'll get two instead of one.)
We were going to go show a member from the Wiesbaden American Ward (where Sis. Montgomery just came from) around Nürnberg. But she sent an email this mornin saying she was too sick to drive and we'll have to try it another day. But that just means we get full email time today. :)
First off, to everyone who sent me an awesome letter of encouragement, happiness, and general well-wishing; thank you. There is not enough time to send each and every one of you letters back to say how grateful I am for you love and support personally, but I am so grateful. Yes, missions are sometimes hard. I'm sorry if I was complaining last week. But really, I a, just so grateful for all he love that has been expressed this last week. It is absolutely amazing. Thank you all so very much.
Speaking of love, let's move past the cheesy stuff on to the cool things that happened this week!
We had Zone Training! Woo hoo! Also, I realized that I never explained what kinds of meetings we have going on as missionaries which is really sad because we actually had a worldwide missionary broadcast at the beginning of this transfer (Jan. 20) that was super cool! It was basically a re-teaching of the Fundamentals you learn in the MTC and it was super powerful! It was so cool!
Anyways, that was a cool meeting. Then we have Zone Training about once a month and Zone Conference once every three months. We should be having another one of those pretty soon so that will be exciting. But on Thursday we had Zone Training and it was super awesome. We had a really good discussion at the beginning about what it means to be focused and what things could be distracting and how we should stay dedicated to missionary work. It was super powerful and I am really grateful for the leaders in my mission. They are awesome, inspired Elders and Sisters. And President Stoddard is pretty cool, too. We actually got to go on a split with Sis. Stoddard after Zone Trainig and it was awesome!!! We taught Elena, and I went over the lesson plan with Sis. Stoddard before our lesson but when we started the lesson, the plan went out the window. It was crazy and scattered, and I was so worried that we weren't going to even get a bit of doctrine in, much less an actual lesson. But then Sis. Stoddard bore her testimony and it was SO POWERFUL. It was amazing and super cool. After she bore her testimony, Elena calmed down and we were able to talk about he importance of reading in the Book of Mormon. It was really amazing, and I was so glad we could have Sis. Stoddard with us for one lesson. She's so funny and awesome. I love her a ton.
We met with a less-active couple this week and invited them to come join the temple prep class on Sunday. They didn't (yet) but I'm very hopeful. We've been meeting with them for a while and we have a really good relationship with them. They really do want to be sealed together for time and all eternity, but they have some habits they need to kick before get can go. Sis. Montgomery did an awesome job at challenging them to get ready to go by the time the Freiberg temple opens in July. They still need some help and motivation, but they know that we love them.
It's been a pretty good week. We've been focusing on working with the members and it's been awesome. It is incredibly helpful when the people you teach have friends who are members and who are not sitting down and teaching them the missionary lessons every week. We can be friends and love you and help you, but we're here to teach and that is our first priority. The members can love you and be friends and don't have to worry about teaching the lessons. It usually works out and it's super awesome. I am so excited.
This is kind of short, but I just wanted to let you all know how happy I am. Really. I know the last few weeks have been kind of rough, but I have been strengthened and helped by so many people through prayer, letters, hugs, and so many other things. It has been incredible. And just think, if I can feel that much love from so many people, how much love does our Father in Heaven have for us? It's incredible to think about.
I love it here. I love Germany. I love the people. I even love the language (even though I still can't speak it perfectly yet). I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to represent our Savior, Jesus Christ, and teach people about His restored Gospel. It is an absolutely amazing experience, and I am loving every second of it. Especially the hard moments because that's when I learn the most. Most importantly though, I love all of you. I love my family and friends back home, and all of the people who might read these letters that I don't know yet. I know that you are a spiritual child of God and that He loves you. He loves you and wants nothing more than for you to make the choices that will lead you back to live in His presence. I know, because I have felt His love more and more as I make correct choices and learn more about Him and His son, Jesus Christ. This entire experience on earth is for us to learn and grow. And yeah, it's hard. But if we could remember where it is we came from and where it is we're going back to, I think that we would all agree that it is completely worth it.
I love you all, and I am really so grateful for all of your support and prayers. Have a great day, and a fantastic week!
Love Always,
Sis. John
Monday, February 1, 2016
Darf Ich mein Deutsch mit Ihnen uben?
So every month we get a newsletter thing sent to us from the mission office called 'Der Mitarbeiter.' It's full of cool stories from around the mission and spiritual thoughts from President Stoddard, and all sorts of good stuff. This week, he sent an article about how he met a man who was a missionary in our mission quite some time ago and now runs a translating business because he learned the language so well. When President asked him how he learned German so well on his mission, he said that he spent all of his time unterwegs (travelling) speaking with the best teachers he could find: actual Germans. He said that often times he would just ask if he could practice his German with them, and they almost always said yes. Then as they were talking they would ask about what he was doing in Germany and what exactly does a missionary do and then he would offer to meet with them to give an answer to that question. So it was actually a really great contacting tool, and he said that he and his companions would usually find more new investigators this way than any other. President Stoddard challenged us all to use this way of contacting to find more people to talk to. Especially since it gets dark about 4:30 and at 7:00 people start yelling at you if you knock on their door. So.... We ride trains! For days! But it's great! I've made like, three friends this week and they all speak awesome German! I still need practice at getting contact information and a lesson set up, but the practice with German has been invaluable, which is part of why President told us to start contacting people this way. It has been super helpful, and I'm excited to keep doing it.
Highlights this week.... We had a random investigator come to church yesterday. Her name is Franka and she's from Bosnia. She speaks perfect German, and LOVES America. Especially the military. She's large, loud, and out-spoken. Sis. Knutson and I met her when she just showed up in church one day and then asked if she could meet with us. She said that she would love to come to Familie Heim Abend (Family Home Evening) at the church and then come to Institute Wednesday and we could have a lesson Thursday! It was super cool! Except that she never showed up to any of those things, including the lesson. We spent a couple weeks trying to get in contact with her but our lessons just keep falling out and she stopped answering our calls so we decided to drop her. Yesterday, Sis. Montgomery and I are doing some studies before going to church and we get a call from an unknown number. It was Franka! She apologized for all the time without answering our calls and not keeping appointments. She said she was sick but she's finally feeling better. She told us that she was coming to church today and she wanted to make sure we would be there. We said of course we'd be there and we'd be happy to see her. Then we went over to the church. At 9:25 (five minutes before church starts) she walked through the front door with a big grin on her face. We said hello and took her into the chapel and had a lovely Sacrament Meeting. Then we kind of expected her to leave because most people who just show up to Sacrament Meeting usually leave afterwards, but she stayed! She stayed for all three hours and for Gemeinde Essen afterwards. Looking back, she might have just stayed for the food at the end, but it was cool to have her there. The Investigator Gospel Principles class that we participate in was very lively because Br. Dominguez talked about Satan was our brother in the Spirit World and she just went, "No, no, no. Satan is anyone who does evil and there is no way he could have been our brother." It ended up being a very lively discussion about several different Gospel topics but Br. Dominguez handled it awesomely. It's going to take a lot of coordinated efforts to help teach her. Oh boy. But she's a child of God, and she deserves to hear the Gospel. So gosh darn it, we're going to teach her the Gospel! At least, we're going to try. We'll see how much she is willing to accept and then go from there.
Again, the week was kind of uneventful. Although we did meet with a super sweet older lady in our ward and she made us an awesome German dinner (still no Sauerkraut though) and offered to give us copies of the recipes that she used so we could make it ourselves. I am so excited. I want to ask every single member we meet with who cooks for us if I can have their recipes for German food because I want to make it when I come home. I mean, I could probably just buy a cook book. But it's more fun to collect recipes from the people you meet. Plus, it's a great way to talk and get to know people.
It's been a pretty good week. Still not as busy as I would like, but I'm starting to get over my fear of contacting which I think might be the point of us having so much contacting time. Plus, it's not even what I want at all. It's what God wants to happen. I got a really great letter from my companion. It was written by an Elder serving in England quite a few years ago. There's a part of this letter where he writes about when he asked God in prayer why he and his companion weren't baptizing when they were being exactly obedient but the elders who went on a three day sight seeing trip to Scotland were baptizing. His answer to that prayer is as follows:
Elder Humphrey, I am here. I know who you are. I sent you to those neighborhoods, the very ones where you experienced nothing but rejection. I prompted your changes in direction to even more difficult neighborhoods. I know where each of the elect in your area resides. I know their names. I could send you to those addresses only, and save you the time and sacrifice looking for them. BUT ELDER HUMPHREY, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT SERVE YOU? The mission experience is to do what you are told, when you are told, to go where you are asked, and know that the blessing comes from enduring what I ask of you. This is not about you; it is about opening your mouth at all times in all places. Doing my will without thought to the end result or consequence… this is what serving a mission is."
This has become my motto for this transfer, and probably the rest of my mission and life. Exact obedience is SO much more than just following the missionary schedule exactly and being to meetings on time and doing your best to try and find people when you don't have appointments. It's more than just using every moment of your study time and using that time by studying subjects that will be the most helpful. It's more than just being willing to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and trying to find the people who are ready for the Gospel.
Exact obedience is following the promptings given to you from God EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's using your study time and then the second it is over you are out the door and ready to talk to people. It's going out and knowing that you might face a full day of rejection that is just one more day in the week or month of rejection you have already faced, but knowing that it's a part of the Plan and that God is mindful of every one of His sheep. Including YOU. Not just the people you need to teach, but YOU. One of the most important things I've learned on my mission about exact obedience is that it doesn't do you any good until you have a good attitude about it, and this quote just reinforces that. "Do what you are told, when you told ... Doing [His] will without thought to the end result or consequence." I am doing His will, and working on the side of angels. How cool is that??? Yeah, it's hard. Almost all the time. But He has not asked me to do anything I cannot do, and just needs me to be obedient. So, I will be obedient. And even if my mission doesn't look that impressive once you add all the numbers up, at the end of the day I can know that I did my part and touched the people whose lives needed to be touched because I was happily obedient to my Father's will. That is so cool.
I love you all, and I really hope that you have an awesome day and a fantastic week! If you have a birthday coming up in the next year, please let me know! If I've already missed it, I'll still be here this time next year.
Love Always,
Sis. John
Highlights this week.... We had a random investigator come to church yesterday. Her name is Franka and she's from Bosnia. She speaks perfect German, and LOVES America. Especially the military. She's large, loud, and out-spoken. Sis. Knutson and I met her when she just showed up in church one day and then asked if she could meet with us. She said that she would love to come to Familie Heim Abend (Family Home Evening) at the church and then come to Institute Wednesday and we could have a lesson Thursday! It was super cool! Except that she never showed up to any of those things, including the lesson. We spent a couple weeks trying to get in contact with her but our lessons just keep falling out and she stopped answering our calls so we decided to drop her. Yesterday, Sis. Montgomery and I are doing some studies before going to church and we get a call from an unknown number. It was Franka! She apologized for all the time without answering our calls and not keeping appointments. She said she was sick but she's finally feeling better. She told us that she was coming to church today and she wanted to make sure we would be there. We said of course we'd be there and we'd be happy to see her. Then we went over to the church. At 9:25 (five minutes before church starts) she walked through the front door with a big grin on her face. We said hello and took her into the chapel and had a lovely Sacrament Meeting. Then we kind of expected her to leave because most people who just show up to Sacrament Meeting usually leave afterwards, but she stayed! She stayed for all three hours and for Gemeinde Essen afterwards. Looking back, she might have just stayed for the food at the end, but it was cool to have her there. The Investigator Gospel Principles class that we participate in was very lively because Br. Dominguez talked about Satan was our brother in the Spirit World and she just went, "No, no, no. Satan is anyone who does evil and there is no way he could have been our brother." It ended up being a very lively discussion about several different Gospel topics but Br. Dominguez handled it awesomely. It's going to take a lot of coordinated efforts to help teach her. Oh boy. But she's a child of God, and she deserves to hear the Gospel. So gosh darn it, we're going to teach her the Gospel! At least, we're going to try. We'll see how much she is willing to accept and then go from there.
Again, the week was kind of uneventful. Although we did meet with a super sweet older lady in our ward and she made us an awesome German dinner (still no Sauerkraut though) and offered to give us copies of the recipes that she used so we could make it ourselves. I am so excited. I want to ask every single member we meet with who cooks for us if I can have their recipes for German food because I want to make it when I come home. I mean, I could probably just buy a cook book. But it's more fun to collect recipes from the people you meet. Plus, it's a great way to talk and get to know people.
It's been a pretty good week. Still not as busy as I would like, but I'm starting to get over my fear of contacting which I think might be the point of us having so much contacting time. Plus, it's not even what I want at all. It's what God wants to happen. I got a really great letter from my companion. It was written by an Elder serving in England quite a few years ago. There's a part of this letter where he writes about when he asked God in prayer why he and his companion weren't baptizing when they were being exactly obedient but the elders who went on a three day sight seeing trip to Scotland were baptizing. His answer to that prayer is as follows:
Elder Humphrey, I am here. I know who you are. I sent you to those neighborhoods, the very ones where you experienced nothing but rejection. I prompted your changes in direction to even more difficult neighborhoods. I know where each of the elect in your area resides. I know their names. I could send you to those addresses only, and save you the time and sacrifice looking for them. BUT ELDER HUMPHREY, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT SERVE YOU? The mission experience is to do what you are told, when you are told, to go where you are asked, and know that the blessing comes from enduring what I ask of you. This is not about you; it is about opening your mouth at all times in all places. Doing my will without thought to the end result or consequence… this is what serving a mission is."
This has become my motto for this transfer, and probably the rest of my mission and life. Exact obedience is SO much more than just following the missionary schedule exactly and being to meetings on time and doing your best to try and find people when you don't have appointments. It's more than just using every moment of your study time and using that time by studying subjects that will be the most helpful. It's more than just being willing to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and trying to find the people who are ready for the Gospel.
Exact obedience is following the promptings given to you from God EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's using your study time and then the second it is over you are out the door and ready to talk to people. It's going out and knowing that you might face a full day of rejection that is just one more day in the week or month of rejection you have already faced, but knowing that it's a part of the Plan and that God is mindful of every one of His sheep. Including YOU. Not just the people you need to teach, but YOU. One of the most important things I've learned on my mission about exact obedience is that it doesn't do you any good until you have a good attitude about it, and this quote just reinforces that. "Do what you are told, when you told ... Doing [His] will without thought to the end result or consequence." I am doing His will, and working on the side of angels. How cool is that??? Yeah, it's hard. Almost all the time. But He has not asked me to do anything I cannot do, and just needs me to be obedient. So, I will be obedient. And even if my mission doesn't look that impressive once you add all the numbers up, at the end of the day I can know that I did my part and touched the people whose lives needed to be touched because I was happily obedient to my Father's will. That is so cool.
I love you all, and I really hope that you have an awesome day and a fantastic week! If you have a birthday coming up in the next year, please let me know! If I've already missed it, I'll still be here this time next year.
Love Always,
Sis. John
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