Anyways, we had Zone Conference! It was actually super great. We gave a Thema on Missionary Conduct (as in the section in the White Handbook that makes up literally half of the book :P) and it actually went okay. We had a breakout session with just the Sisters and it was good. It could have gone better, but it was the first time that we've done something like that so we weren't expecting it to be perfect. I talked to all the sisters about it yesterday during call-ins and they had some great ideas on how to make it even better so I'm excited to use those next time. :)
MLC was fantastic as always. I saw my old district! It was really weird, but literally almost everyone from my last district in Nürnberg was at MLC. The only person we were missing was Elder Ault. We took a picture of all of us to send to him so he'll know we were thinking about him. One thing I was thinking about during MLC was how grateful I am for the things that I learned at Timberline. Something that happens sometimes on splits with the leaders in the mission is that we forget what it's like to not know how to do missionary work. We forget how scary it is and what things are able to get in our way of going out and talking to people every day. Really, what we forget is the Teaching EDGE. One of the STLs made the comment that in order for us to really help the other missionaries on splits, we have to get down on their level first, and then build them up. We can't just expect them to go out and be perfect the second we get there. We have to Explain to them what we're going to do and why, then Demonstrate how to do it, then Guide them through it, and then they can go and do it on their own. It's something that I've really tried to do on every one of my splits and I am not perfect, but I've seen it be helpful so I'm very happy with this knowledge that I have. Anyways. I just lost my train of thought.
It has been a long week. Sister Jeppesen got really sick yesterday so I did all the call-ins and that took a LONG time. I might have been a little bit late to bed. But it was actually a little bit and not a lot and for that I am grateful. I really do enjoy call-ins. It's just hard because we don't coordinate with the District Leaders who will call the sisters first so sometimes we end up waiting for FOREVER so we can talk to the sisters/district leaders/BOTH OF THEM. It was good though, and I am SUPER grateful for my calling as a Sister Training Leader. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. :)
As far as work goes, I don't know if I ever mentioned but we set a baptismal date with one of our investigators two weeks ago! She is super great and is getting more and more excited for her baptism. She's still kind of nervous, but we know she can do it. She knows the church is true and loves the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. She's just worried about her son because she doesn't want to force him into anything and she's worried that he'll see her baptism as a sign that he needs to get baptized, too. It will be fine. He is a super sweet, super smart kid. I love him a lot and we're working on helping him build some relationships in the ward. It's great.
This last week we met with the Kirk's. They're the senior missionary couple who work in the mission office on Corneliusstraße. We talked about how important it is to share our testimonies with everyone and in everything that we do. As we talked with them, I thought about how sometimes the biggest ways we can share our testimonies is by just living the Gospel. It made me think of the poem that talks about how the narrator has never heard a sermon but he's seen one (or something like that). The basic point is, our actions speak WAY louder than our words. One of our mission focuses is on being representatives of Christ at ALL times and in ALL things and in ALL places. I think of some of the most influential people in my life and the things that we talked about and most of the time, we never talked about the Gospel or we talked about it very little. But the way that they lived made me want to live the Gospel better because I could see that it made a difference in their lives. Those people became my heroes, and I am forever indebted to them for the positive effects that they had on my testimony. I want to be like that in everything that I do. ESPECIALLY because I have this calling that has me wear a nametag with Christ's name on my chest every day. It's a powerful reminder. What's a reminder (powerful or otherwise) in your life that makes you want to be more like Christ?
I love you all. I am really excited for P-Day because I am finally going to get new shoes (I might have worn a hole or two (or more....) in my current pair) and Sister Jeppesen and I are going to look for a comp item. But we decided that just going shopping was too boring. So we decided to spice things up. No longer are we just "going shopping on P-Day" like Sisters do. No sir, we are doing a Foto Scavenger Hunt with it! We got a couple of the other Sister companionships to come with us, so we're going to make some mini splits and go and take pictures all day! It's going to be fantastic, and I am REALLY excited. Thank you, Rick, for teaching me how to do these. If we can manage to make it back in time for one last email, I might be able to upload the photos today. If not, I will bestimmt do it next week.
I love you! Have a great day, and an absolutely splendid week!!!!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister John
P.S. We had two days of sun this week. LOTS of rain + HOT weather = INCREDIBLE AMOUNTS of Humidity and Frizzy hair. Sunday was an adventure. One of the members told me my hair was fluffy. I am very grateful for a sense of humor in moments like these.
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