Aug 22,
Liebe Familie und Freunde,
It has been a fabulous week of Wunder (miracles)! We have seen the hand of the Lord abundantly in the work, this week perhaps more than at any other week in my life. This week we had a mission finding goal to make out 21 Ballards for the week for the last time that we use Ballards. It proved to be very very amazing for us! I haven't heard what it was like for the whole mission yet. I would like to share a miracle from every day this week:
Monday: We had a wonderful FHE and I was able to give the lesson about the Atonemtent, in preperation for the lesson I have learned so much more about the Atonement and how it can be a part of my life daily! After that our next appointment fell out and we went to do finding. We didn't have a new Termin at eight o'clock so we asked the Elders to pray for us and we continued talking to people in the main part of the city. In one hour we made out four new appts!!! It was spectacular!
Tuesday: We had a full day of Termine but we still needed to get our finding in. We talked to people in between appointments but we weren't able to make out a Termin. So we prayed with our member who fed us dinner that night and set out to walk home. We started walking (in the wrong direction without knowing) and we talked to a man and his son. We had a good little chat and he said we could come by another time :) so we made out a Termin! Then we found the right way home :)
Wednesday: We met with an investigator and invited him to baptism! He said YES! So we were able to make a baptismal date with him. Then we moved another investigators date ealier and he will be baptized next week! Now Sister Peltier and I can both be here before transfers :)
Thursday: We had to tell an investigator that wasn't making progress that we couldn't come any more, but we had a wonderful lesson together and we bore testimony and the spirit was very strong! Although it is never easy to do, we were blessed and we were able to leave with challenging him to experience more. It was a blessing/miracle for us that we had peace with the decision that we made.
Friday: Nothing extremely extraordinary happened, but we were able to have a few good Termine, planning time, and make out a Termin :) definitely a successful day!
Saturday: We went to a ward missionary day in Minden and got to work with a fun member there. But when we came back, once again we hadn't made out a Termin yet and we called the Elders to pray for us. We talked to so many different people, we gave a Book of Mormon to someone, we helped clear up confusions about the church, we talked to a lady searching for a new church, but no body made out a Termin with us! It was almost 9:30 and we were still in the city so we needed to head home. We went down to take the Tram and talked to a man who made out a Termin with us!!! We were so exhausted spiritually but so grateful that the Lord answered our prayers and helped us to talk to so many people that needed to talk to us.
Sunday: We had six people at church! We had a fun birthday party for one of the new converts and then we went to a Termin with someone new. We talk to him about the Restoration and invited him to be baptized and he said yes :) so we were able to make out a baptismal date with him too :) wow wow wow! So many blessings! Then we prayed to make out a Termin on the way home and we did :) The Lord is willing to bless us when we ask and know that he will answer! My testimony has been strengthened that He is in charge of this work! He loves us so much and he loves all of His children. It is a wonderful opportunity to be here and serve the Lord! Thank you for all that you do for me! I love you all and you are in my prayers! I hope you can see the hand of the Lord in your lives and ask for miracles and have faith that they will come! I love you!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister Smith
Aug 29th
Liebe Familie und Freunde,
It has been another miraculous week here in Bielefeld! It was also the end of another transfer and I can't believe it! But fortunately Sister Peltier and I are both staying here together in Bielefeld for another transfer :) we are both excited about that. We did rearrange the furniture in our apartment today so we could feel like we are getting a fresh start into the new transfer and leaving behind any bad habits or weaknesses that we have had in the last transfer :) it was a fun project. As for the missionary work this week it was absolutely amazing!
Finding: We started a new program in the mission with finding and we call it New Apps. Every day we try to make out a new appoinment, it isn't a lot different than our last program with Ballards but it helps us to focus more on making out Appointments. It has been great for us so far! We made out a new appointment every day this week!
Teaching: It has been a great teaching day this week and we are doing better at getting the members to come on Joint Teaches with us. We have had so many wonderful appointments and our investigators are making progress :) We had one Termin this week with a man from Iran and our other investigator who is also from Iran agreed to come along to help him understand what we have already taught him :) he's not even a member yet and he is already a joint teach! It was really awesome! We did lose one investigator this week with whom we had a baptismal date :( he called us and told us he had talked to his pastor and of course he told him not to meet with us any more. We were really sad, but at least he knows where he can find the truth when he is ready.
Baptizing!: We had an AMAZING baptism this week!! After three years of investigating the church Thomas was able to get baptized! He has worked with so many missionaries and I feel so lucky to be able to see the fruits of all of their labors and watch a son of our Heavenly Father enter the waters of baptism. It was also the baptism of an eight year old girl in the ward and it was really fun to see the differences between them but the same importance of the covenant they have made. There was a wonderful spirit there! He will continue to progress as he accepts callings in the ward and works with our Heavenly Father to accomplish wonderful things in his life! This is such a great work!
Keeping: We didn't do as much keeping as we had hoped this week, and we haven't had a lot of appointments with the members because nobody is in charge of setting up eating appointments and it doesn't seem right for us to invite ourselves to eat :) So we are going to try to get more short power visits in this week and visit some less or inactive members.
Other stories for this week...
A member came to town that lives in Frankfurt-oder and she changed my view of a lot of things! She told us right when she got here that she would love to come with us on Joint teaches, so we asked her to come on monday. I went with her and Sister Peltier went with another member. Our appointment fell out...but as we were waiting she told me her amazing conversion story! She is from Egypt and she was raised Muslim. She explained the challenges of changing everything you have ever known to be true and accepting Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. She is so AWESOME!!! She taught me that I need to try to step into the shoes of the people I teach and really understand where they come from. She said the missionaries were always upset that she wouldn't pray to find out if it was true, and they didn't understand that she wasn't ready to give up everything she has ever known (even though it was only two months between the time that she met the missionaries and her baptism). Sometimes as a missionary it is easy to get into habits of thinking and teaching because so many people have similar concerns and questions, but she reminded me that nobody is the same and we all have specific needs and desires in this life. So that is my goal to really have charity for every single person we meet and try to feel what they need through the power of the Holy Ghost and teach them accordingly.
I know with all of my heart that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ. Being on a mission has given me an opportunity to see what is in the world and the different ways of thinking. A lot of people think that we are wrong (we were even called to repentance twice this week) but I can always stand strong and know that I have asked my Heavenly Father what is true and received an answer directly from him. What a wonderful blessing it is to know of the truthfulness of His gospel and how we can return to live with them again. Thank you for each of you and the examples that you have been to me in my life. My family is the main reason why I am what I am today, and I want to be and do more for you and for my Heavenly Father. I hope you are all doing well! Thank you for your love and support! I love you!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister Smith
Sep 5th
Liebe Familie und Freunde,
I have missed you all very much this week! It has been the first time on my mission that I feel like I have had a little homesickness, but it doesn't last for long when I remember why I am here and get back to work! But I do love you and I am so happy we can be together for all eternity if we all make the right choices in this life! It has been another wonderful week in Bielefeld! The work of the Lord continues to go forth! Our newest member of the ward was confirmed yesterday and received the gift of the Holy Ghost :) he has made so much progress and he is glowing already! I am excited to see him make more progress in the gospel! What a life we have as missionaries :) we get to watch miracles take place in peoples lives and watch the light begin to illuminate their countenances! It sure is fun to see the fruits of our labors when we get to see a baptism, even though there were probable more than 20 missionaries that have worked with him.
Some highlights from this week:
We found an investigator again that went on vacation and we couldn't reach him when he got back. We were so sad because he had made so much progress and found out that there is a God and loved reading the Book of Mormon and learning from the stories. So we tried to go by a few times and he wasn't there, but we tried again this week and he was there! He said his cell phone is broken and he was sad that he couldn't get a hold of us either. We were so relieved! We figured he was avoiding us (because that is very common :)) so we were very glad to hear that he still wanted to meet with us and we made out a Termin for this next week! YAHOO!!!
We found a new investigator this week and he came to church as well! He is really confused about which church is right and we are trying to explain to him that he can find out! It is so wonderful when people understand that we can talk to Heavenly Father and he answers!
We were talking to people in the city the other day and we talked to an older man that said he doesn't know where the truth is. He knows that the other churches are missing something and that some of their teachings are not right. He has been visiting one church where he feels like most of the things are right but not all. We told him that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth and that he could find the truth! He didn't want to make out a Termin but he said he would come to church sometime. After we talked to him a thousand things flooded into my head of what I could have said better...I can only pray that he felt the Holy Ghost and will do something to find the truth that he is searching for! There are people searching!
The members are starting to notice that we haven't had any eating appointments and the are starting to invite us without anyone organizing the appointments :) we are excited because we don't have a lot of contact with the members when we don't have eating appointments! For a while it was nice not to be stuffed every other day :) but after two transfers we are ready to see the members again!
We had a fun experience last night...we rode the Bahn (tram) and Buses out to a little part of the city and it takes about an hour to get there. After having a Termin with a man who drank and smoke the whole time and trying to avoid the Porn on the walls (the Spirit wasn't very strong) we left and went to get back on the bus around eight o'clock. We waited for the bus and it only comes every half an hour. We waited....and it didn't come...weird.... So we double checked the plan...it was right... So we waited for the next one...to see if one just fell out...well if you do the math we had been waiting about an hour now...so we did our planning and talked to a couple people walking by...but there wasn't much to do. In the meantime we were trying to figure out a back up plan in case it didn't come. We saw another bus stop across the street and there was a bus that ran in the other direction case ours didn't come. And it didn't come...so we went to other side of the rode and realized that that bus didn't run later than eight o'clock...so we walked around the neighborhood trying to find something that could give us a hint as to where we could go. (Our district leader was aware of our dilemma). Then we looked down the road and saw the bus that we wanted turning in the other direction! We couldn't catch it so we walked toward where he turned and there was a temporary bus stop there where the bus was running a detour! Oh man! There were no signs whatsoever to tell us that unless we walked past the new bus stop. So we waited there another half an hour and finally took the bus! We were so exhausted and sick of smelling like cigarette smoke and we had already told each other all of our favorite things :) to keep ourselves positive, and we rode the hour back to our apartment and finally got home a little after 10:30! Wowee! We were so glad to be home! It was definitely a fun adventure! But the lesson of the day for all of you is to be very very grateful that you have a car :) and you can jump in when you want and get out when you want!
Ok that is quite the novel for this week! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister Smith
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