Letter #7 (July 14, 2008)

Things are GREAT here. Transfers were on Thursday and so I have my new companion...Sister Jones. She is the best. Seriously!! I love this girl. I prayed so hard in the MTC to have a comp like her...and now I have been blessed to learn from someone that is so wonderful. She only has 2 transfers left and I hope that we get to serve the rest of the time together. She is very obedient and works really hard. We have so much fun together and I have learned that missionary work is actually really fun. It doesn´t feel like a chore with her. I´m excited for each day that we get to go out and talk to people and teach people. She also really pushes me. I have done things with her that I never thought would be possible. I have called Germans on the phone to set up appointment or joint teaches, even though I have no clue really what they are saying back to me. I have a part in every lesson that we teach and I talk with more people on the street then I ever thought possible. The work in this city has slowly been going down hill, but we are working our little tails off to change that around. I love how she just does what she is asked and what is excepted without asking questions or making up excuses. I don´t want to make her sound perfect or anything, but she is the perfect comp for me. We have a lot of the same goals and things that we want to change and make better in this city!! I'm just so happy.

Friday was our first full day together and we got 3 contacts from talking to people on the street. We called them the next day and have 2 appointments next week from the 3 contacts...that is amazing!! She also rode a bike for the first time on her mission on friday!! It was really funny...she makes everything fun!!

We met this woman on the street...one of our contacts..and I couldn´t understand her, but she said something and I bore my testimony about the book of Mormon. The I started to explain it a little bit before giving her the Book on the street. I talked about how it is another testiment of Jesus Christ and then she said something else that I didn´t understand. A thought then came into my head as my comp replyed to her and I turned to 3 Nephi 11 (when Christ appears to the Nephites) and I then told her to start reading in that chapter and quickly told her what it was about. She said she would read, but she didn´t want to give us her info. She said she would call us when she had more time and I really think she might...she was really excited about it. After we walked away I asked my comp what she said and I guess she told us that she doesn´t know anything about Jesus Christ, but she wanted to learn more...normally I just have people read moroni 10 when I give them a book on the street, but I had a feeling to do something different and I followed it. It was so cool. I may not be able to understand everything, but that was a testimony to me that Heavenly Father can still work through me to bless other people. It was so wonderful to see the joy on her face as we bore testimony of Jesus Christ!!

On saturday we had an eating appt. with the GML (ward mission leader) and that was good. My last comp didn´t like the GML, but we both think that he is great. Before we ate he asked if sister Jones would say the prayer, but didn´t look at either of us...we just stared at him and then he looked at us and laughed. He then asked the older sister jones to say the pray...still without looking at us. So we all folded our arms and waited...Sister Jones is older on her mission and I´m older in the area, but we both thought it was the other sister Jones. Again the GML laughed. Then he finally asked me to say it. It was funny!! So many times already we have had funny things with our names..."Hallo, Ich bin Sister Jones." (Hi, I´m sister Jones) "Ich auch." (Me too) It´s really awkward, but WAY funny!! We had another lesson with Andrea on Saturday and she is doing ok...she hasn´t read since the last time we met. If you aren´t reading or praying then you won´t progress. I recommited her to pray and read. I committed her to pray specifically that she will be able to come to church...she has to work on Sunday mornings, but I know that the Lord will provide a way, but she has to CONTINUE to do her part. I have come to see how important reading in the Book of Mormon is. It was written for our day and I can always find things that apply to my life now and what I am going through. I love it. Through the Book of Mormon we come to know of God´s plan for us, plainly and clearly and we also learn that it is only through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end that we can be saved and return to our heavenly Father. It is repeated so many times and it is the only way. Also through the Book of Mormon we can gain a testimony that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Gospel was restored through him. I love telling the first vision auf Deutsch...I feel the Spirit so strong everytime!! It is amazing how strong the Spirit can be felt, even when you tell it so many time. It´s because it´s the truth and I know it. I love this work...it is amazing and we are seeing miracles everyday.

I LOVE SUNDAYS!!! I always feel like I have made so much progress!! I spoke more in church today then any other Sunday. In our Sunday morning meeting I had to try and explain how our investigators are doing and what the ward can do to help...I managed to get through it. I then set up a few appointments, joint teaches, and even changed one of our meetings this week to a different time!! It was so fun. I just went from member to member and said what I could and listened intensly. I understand a lot more every Sunday, which makes me so excited for a new week. Oh my gosh...do you remember Sonja?? She was an investigator that we "Tschüss"ed because she wasn´t keeping commitments. Well she showed up at church today. We saw her on the street the other day and asked if she was coming to church. She said yes, but I had heard that so many times from her and she wouldn´t come...I know, I know I didn´t have any faith...but she came!! She was about an hour late for sacrament meeting, but she stayed for the rest of the meetings and even stayed for our ward lunch. We set up an appointment with her this week to see if anything has changed!

We have so much going on this week. We have been setting up appts. like crazy and we are working hard to have joint teaches. They ask us always to have a joint teach (bring a member) after the first lesson so that they can make friends in the ward and also see that it is possible to live this life because there are others who do it...not just us weird looking missionaries!! ;o) It is so fun the have a joint teaches.

After church we went to visit a contact, but silly us...we forgot to write down what building she lived in, we only had the street. So we just started checking the names on the klingles (the door bells). The first building we came to didn´t have her name, but I had a feeling to just klingle the building (do doors in the building) the second one we klingled let us into the building...so we walked up the stairs to her door and she wasn´t interested. So we just knocked on the other door on our way down the stairs. After a few rejections we finally came to a door and a woman answered and said we could come back. We gave her a Book of Mormon and left. Then as we were going home from that area we stopped a girl on the street who was interested and she said we could come back on Tuesday. We didn´t end up finding the actual contact, but we got 2 others that we are going to visit on tuesday and the original one as well!! People really are placed in our path. It was so cool!!

It will be a good week. I hope to be able to tell you about a lot more investigators next week. Right now we only really have 1 that is progressing and she (Alicia) is 10yrs old...her mom is a new member and Alicia has a baptisimal date for the 9th of Aug. Other then that we don´t have much...this week will be good for us.

I love this place and I love the people. It is hard sometimes when they turn you down, but that is just the way it is. Missionary work is the hardest thing you can do, but also the most rewarding. I love seeing miracles and I hope to be able to recognize even more as time goes on!!

Sister Jones