Monday, August 12, 2013

Moving Couches/Moving Mountains


Liebe Familie,
This week, was a roller coaster, but, as per usual, it ended on a high note (it quite literally ended on a high note last night before our closing prayer). 
Last Monday, we had Zone P. Day. Johann, a member of our ward, organized it. Johann is so cool. He was born into a family where both of his parents were alcoholics and into other drugs. So, he eventually got put into foster care. Over the years, he also got addicted to drugs (both legal and not). But, he also eventually found the church. The atonement is real, folks. Johann has quite from all of those things, and no one who meets him would ever suspect from what background he comes. He loves missionaries. He is always at Bahnhof on transfer days, ready and willing to help with suitcases and however else he can. He comes to every zone conference and cooks the lunch for all 30+ of us. He also organizes Zone P. Days on a regular basis. Because he doesn't have a family, the church is his family, and he would do anything for it. Anyway, we played a lot of silly games, and just had a great time. Johann was so well organized and gave us all Toffifee at the end:]
The next day, we had zone training. It was awesome (I am pretty sure I say that everytime, but they are all so good)! Afterwards, we went with the elders to the neighbor of one of their investigators. The family said they needed help moving their couch into the Keller. The investigator of the elders told them she had some friends who could help. When the elders learned that the family consisted of a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter, they asked us to come along. So, we tried to get to know the family while the elders moved the couch, part by part, into the Keller. They were nice, but not super open. Before we left, we asked if we could share a spiritual thought. I opened up to 1 Nephi 3:7, and we asked the investigator if she had any experiences with that. She bore some pretty powerful testimony. Then Elder Morrill asked Tina (the mother-person in the family) if she had any experiences. She paused then said, ''Are you Jehova's Witnesses?'' We hastily denied this accusation, and she opened right up. She even called her daughter over to pray with us at the end. We asked if we could come back, and she said, ''Of course!! Anytime!!'' We made out an appointment for Thursday, and wished them well. 
So, on Thursday, we came back, and it was AWESOME! We got to know them a little better. Mandy is five and has a hard time talking. She honestly just sounds like she is slow at developing the skills necessary and that if she practices more, she will grow out of it. Mandy was talking the whole time - she really liked us. We gave her the gospel art book to look at, and she loved looking at the pictures of Jesus. She also drew us pictures, and showed us all of her toys. Her mom and grandma said that we should come over more because Mandy never talks this much. Another miracle with Mandy was that she was feverish for like a week before Tuesday. But as soon as we all walked in the house on Tuesday, Mandy's fever left her ...and it never came back!! Needless to say, the mom and grandma have already noticed the power that we have:] Their friend, Margarete (the investigator of the elders), gave them a Book of Mormon that she wrote her testimony in! They were so excited about it, and kept showing it off to us. We started off talking about the Plan of Salvation, and they loved it. They didn't disagree with anything, and they said it was nice to know what to tell Mandy when she asks where Grandpa is. We will need to go over the resurrection again, though, because after I explained it, they said, ''Yeah, the day my great-grandmother died, my hamster had babies!'' I was laughing too hard on the inside to try to correct it, so we will have to come back to that point. We also explained the restoration and the Book of Mormon in this lesson. They just loved everything we taught them, and they asked us if we could please come back. We made another appointment and invited them to church on Sunday. They REALLY got excited about that, and asked all sorts of questions about it. They determined that Mandy would probably really like it, and we agreed. They also asked if they could bring a friend. This family is golden, people. We were going to have them come with Margarete, but then Margarete left out of town for four weeks, so they will be coming next Sunday. 
We also had Zone Conference this week. Zone Conference is seriously one of my favorite meetings. It is always so cool, and I always learn so much! 
Grace is continually progressing towards her baptism, and the ward sure is behind us helping us plan it. I really am so grateful to be serving in this ward - they are willing to do just about anything for us. President was not kidding when he said that this ward is one of the best in the mission! For example, our GML found joint teaches for every lesson we have with Grace this week. The ward also has a goal that no lesson past the first will be taught without a member there. Members really make all the difference. That was the theme of my talk in sacrament meetingyesterday. But members really have so much unrealized power! For more information on this topic, I refer you to Elder L. Tom Perry's talk from the Spring 2009 General Conference: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/bring-souls-unto-me?lang=eng 
I love you all and hope you have awesome weeks! 
Liebe Grüße von:
Sister Stephanie Reid

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