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| Awkward selfies because of the position of the sun, but we tried. :) |
Okay, weird thought of the week: I got my flight plans today. Like, just a couple minutes ago. That's weird. Family, please be there to pick me up. I can't remember any of y'all's phone numbers so I can't even borrow a phone to call you if you're not. Okay. Moving on.
This week was a LOT of fun. We saw one of the COOLEST miracles I have ever seen on my mission. Two weeks ago, we had found an uncontacted referral from over a year ago, and decided to go out and try and contact her. The only problem was that she lives in this tiny little Dorf that is about an hour away. But we don't just leave referrals uncontacted! So we journeyed out with Books of Mormon in hand and planned to just smile and charm this woman into hearing about the Restored Gospel. Well, she wasn't home that day. So what do we do? We door the whole village, that's what we do! Well, it was really only half of the village. But they were all really nice! And we were able to give a couple of books to some of those really nice people. So it was a nice day. :)
But it was also kind of interesting because as we were journeying out, we had to switch from a train to a bus in this tiny little town out in the middle of almost nowhere (nowhere was the Dorf we went to). When we got off the bus, we saw this man standing over by the little Lotto store present at almost every Bahnhof. He was staring at us and finally smiled and said, "Hey, weren't you at that display in Nürnberg last Thursday?" Why yes, yes we were. This man had been in Nürnberg and had talked to Elder Gilmore, Sister Siems, and Anton (a new convert from Nürnberg) for over TWO HOURS. Really, he was trying to convert the missionaries to his church, which is some form of Catholicism. He belongs to the "original" Catholic Church. He says that the current Catholic Church has changed too many things and it is now a church of God, and not of men. Turns out, he believes a lot of the same stuff we do. But he was pretty firm in his belief and didn't seem to want to change. He took a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet on Chastity (it was just the first one on the table. He was offered one on the Restoration instead, but he insisted on keeping the first one) along with some other pamphlets. Then he said Tschüß, and we all assumed we would never see him again.
Well now it's a week later and we see him in the middle of almost nowhere not even close to Nurnberg.
What.
So we start chatting because we have twenty minutes and we know we're not getting out of this without talking to him a bit. As we talk, Sister Yeck asked him if he read in the Book of Mormon yet. He responded by saying, "Yes, I have. Just this morning, actually. I really like it. You Mormons almost have it right. You have a lot of the same beliefs we have in my church. I really like it." He was way nice, and we could've talked for forever with him, but our bus came so we encouraged him to call the Nürnberg Elders or Sisters because we thought that's where he lived, and then ran to catch our bus.
Honestly, we just chalked it up to another interesting experience and assumed we would never see him again. But I think you can all guess where this story is going.
Fast forward another week (last Friday). We went BACK to the tiny little Dorf in the middle of nowhere to try and contact this woman referral one more time! And she was home!!! And she had never heard of our church before which was super weird because she was a self-referral.... What?
Anyways, she did accept a Book of Mormon and was incredibly kind. So after that, we doored the other half of the village, and then headed home. On the buss ride, we stopped at a stop in another middle-of-nowhere Dorf, and only one person gets on.
Guess who it is. Please. Just guess.
IT WAS THE STREET DISPLAY MAN!!!!
He see's us (because it's impossible not to. We were sitting at the front of the bus), and says, "No way. This can't be. I'm seeing you two again! Every time I read that book you gave me, I see you two! This can't be a coincidence."
No sir. No it can't.
So we talk with him some more until we get back to the almost-middle-of-nowhere train stop, and then he asks us where we're going. To which we reply, "Erlangen. We live there." "Perfect! I'm studying in Erlangen and going to the library right now. We can talk the whole way over!"
So we talked. The whole hour long train ride to Erlangen. We taught the Restoration, and part of the Plan of Salvation in the train. When we got to Erlangen, we already had his number but we set up an appointment to meet with him the following Friday, and to call on Saturday to invite/remind him about church. For reference, he was reading the beginning of Second Nephi when we made the appointment. When we called him the next day, he was almost done with Jacob.
Friends. HE MADE IT THROUGH SECOND NEPHI. WAT.
I'm doing a horrible job at explaining this, but this man is one of the most prepared people I have ever met. He told us that he really like Nephi, because he kept praying and talking to God. Not Mary. He's always prayed to Mary, but he was thinking that maybe he was doing it wrong. He also thinks that all churches have too much of man in them, and are not close enough to the original church that Christ made.
He really is just incredible. He is so prepared, and so ready for the Gospel. We're meeting with him tomorrow. Pray for us and pray that he'll continue to feel the Spirit so strongly. Because he is definitely feeling it, and it is changing him.
Friends, it has just been a really good week. I love the Gospel. I love the Book of Mormon. I really do have a testimony that the truths contained in the Book of Mormon are precious above all other truths. I just love reading it. I feel like I'm a reservoir or a pot or something that holds some kind of liquid when I read. It just seems to fill my soul in a way that nothing else does. It makes me happy. And it makes me want to share that happiness and joy with everyone else.
This week, I want to invite you to search the scriptures for something that makes you happy. It can be a phrase, specific scripture, a point of doctrine, or one of the two/three instances of humor in the Book of Mormon (yes, they exist. Go find them!). Then once you've found those things, find a way to share it! Text it to a friend, a sibling, or an acquaintance. Get a group of friends and have a scripture sharing party (maybe I've been a missionary too long but that sounds like fun to me!)! Just find a way to share the joyous and happy message that you've found, and brighten someone else's day. It never hurts to be a little kinder and a little happier. :)
I love you all! Have a fantastic day, and a joyous week!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister John
We were in Tennenlohe..... still not my favorite place, but this is what we found. The base is the country of Germany on top of the state of Texas. Next time we'll ring the doorbell and see if they'll tell us why it's in their front yard.
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