Miracles ABOUND! (May 16)

We put the zone to sleep with our thema

Zone Training was this week and we talked about our Zone Vision which is #ThinkBIG (the Zone Leaders came up with that, not us) and what that means for our missionaries and our investigators. Basically, the idea is that we trust the Lord in all that we do and most especially when we set our goals for the transfer, week, day, etc. we trust that we will do everything we can, and He will help us achieve our goals.It's a big, lofty vision and it puts a lot of personal responsibility on the missionaries. And oh my goodness, let me tell y'all what has happened.

Zone Training
I gave a Thema on being personally converted which was immediately followed by a Thema on iPad usage and how we need to be more focused on our missionary purpose in EVERYTHING that we do. Then, we had an activity about finding which was super great because we're all role playing really bad contacts for one set of missionaries who had to sort through all of us to find the one Golden Contact. It was a ton of fun. Then, we had a Thema on the importance of planning and having the Lord be a part of every phase of our plan and goal setting. Then another Finding Thema about how finding is how we help our brothers and sisters make their first steps back to God.

The final Thema was from the Zone Leaders about #ThinkBIG. It was great, and they did a fantastic job on getting everyone excited to set a vision for themselves with God and work towards it with His help. It was great, everyone loved it, and we got to beat up piñatas at the end of it. It was great, and super inspirational. I LOVE Zone Training.

Street Display
So in case I haven't mentioned this, we do street displays here in Germany! And usually they are not a ton of fun! There are a lot of Romanians who want to argue with you and tell you you're polytheist because you don't believe that Jesus Christ is God in physical form (that happened), Zeugen Jehovahs who try and tell you you're crazy for believing that God speaks to us today through modern prophets (that also happened) and people who tell your they believe in your book but that it's only history and not actually the word of God at which point you try and talk about priesthood power and how that relates to the Book of Mormon and then the member who showed up to your street display just swoops in and argues for 20 minutes without letting you get a word in and completely drives the Spirit away (I was actually really upset by that one). Street Displays are kind of hard. But they're so great! They are a fantastic way to talk to a lot of people and they can actually be a lot of fun. Our Street Display on Saturday was FANTASTIC. I gave away my second ever Book of Mormon (it's really hard for me for some reason....) and the guy I gave it to was actually really excited to read it! When I contacted him, he said he used to believe in God but not anymore. We had a great conversation about war and when it's okay to go to war and when it's not. I showed him the book of Alma and the war chapters and when they talk about how God does not delight in bloodshed but in the protection of the freedoms of His people. It was super cool, and he went away with a way better attitude, so I consider it a success.

On Splits

Also, miracle number two, a guy I contacted came to church!!!!!!!!! He is so cool, and he believes in nature and science, but he said he believes that there might be a higher power and he's on the search!!!!!! He is so cool, and it is such a testimony builder to me that we set a goal this last week to talk to 10 people every day and really believe that they are the prepared people that God meant for us to find. He really does want us to achieve our goals and do our best and when we have the faith that He will help us when we've done our best, He really does.

The miracles we've seen this week have been astounding and I am so glad to be a missionary. The Coburg sisters are doing AMAZING in one of the hardest areas in the mission (they taught 7 other lessons this week!!!), and the Feucht Sisters are working incredibly hard and finally seeing the fruits of their labors. A wonderfully prepared woman from Erlangen entered the waters of baptism (even though she had to be baptized 3 times) and in one year, she can go through the temple just in time to be able to see her daughter get married and sealed in the temple. It's incredible. Nürnberg Zone is on fire! And I am so privileged to be able to be a part of it.

I LOVE missionary work. Being a missionary is literally the best thing I have ever done and even though it's tough, I would NEVER change a thing. Everything at has happened has prepared me to be a better, more hard-working person. The person I am now is completely different from the person I was before my mission. It's kind of scary, but I'm really excited to see who I'll be by the end. I hope I can live up to the vision I set for myself. Also, the baptismal goal that I set because President wanted us all to do that and I have and that is terrifying. It's fine. It's going  to be great. Personal growth!!!! Woo hoo!!!!

I love you all. Have a great, sunny day and a brilliant week!!!!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister John