Here it is definitely winter...ok well I guess just fall because I heard it gets a lot colder. It is still really beautiful. The leaves are all over the ground and are all kinds of colors. The sun is still shinning and so that makes the cold wind and weather not seem so bad. It gets dark really early here...earlier then I remember at home. It´s dark by about 6:30pm and when we change times this upcoming weekend then it will be 5:30pm when it is dark. It is really hard to do missionary work in the dark. We will just have to try and have more appointments at night, so we can do street contacting during the day when it is light. We shall see.
So this week was a challenge, only because our Präsident has asked us to teach 15 lessons a week and if we can do that we will receive many blessings...more happiness in our lives, better teachers, see more success and a bunch of others. So we plan and we plan and we plan and then we go to our appointments and the person is not home. We had so many appointments that fell out this week, but that is just the way it is. We are still trying to work hard to get our 15 lessons...we are doing our part and it is up to the people to be there!! :o)
We had an appointment with an older couple this week, Herr and Frau E. They are pretty courious about our church. They were an investigator in our area book, so sister Jones and I went by and made an appointment with them and then Sister Buynak and I taught them last Monday. The Man refused to let us pray and he said that he was very sceptical about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We told him that if he would pray and ask God, then he would find out it is true. He told us that he doesn´t really believe that he would receive an answer if he prayed. They are one of the nicest couples. It was never an argument...it was just a conversation. We have another appointment today and we are bringing a member with us...Bruder Wächter. He is about their age and him and his wife just got back from their 3rd mission..or something like that!! We wanted to bring them both, but we thought that maybe 2 members, 2 missionaries and 2 investigators would be to many people!! :o) We then went to Family Home Evening with the YSA and O came with us!! It was pretty good. They didn´t have a game or activity or anything...it was just us sitting around talking. Which is fine, but I think it would be more exciting if we did something. We can sit around and talk anytime (well not sister Buynak and me), but we get together on Monday to have fun!! We then had a lesson and that was good. O asked a lot of good questions and the YSA did a good job answering and explaining it. All in all it was a good night!! O was too busy again this week to meet with us!! She did come to church again though and she even stayed for and brought something for our ward lunch. She loves coming to church...she even takes notes. She has a lot of friends there already. It is so good to watch!! I love O, she makes me so happy. I really want to get her baptized so that she can have the fullness of joy that only the Gospel brings!! We have an appointment this week and I really hope that she will commit to be baptized!! She is so ready!! We shall see!!
We had interviews this week...which feels like so long ago!! lol!! They were really good. We had a zone meeting and then we had our distrikt meeting and then we had interviews. I love seeing Sister Thompson because she is always so happy!! It really boosts my spirits!!
We met with S this week and she is doing so amazing. She is reading every morning and evening in the Scriptures and praying as well. She is really excited for her new calling as well. She is so wonderful. She just needs more friends in the church. That makes it a little hard, but I think it will come with time. She is not like O...she is a little more quiet and reserved, but when you get to know her she is really fun and funny!!
So we were at the Wächter´s for dinner on Friday and Schwester Wächter said something really nice to me. The Elders and Sister Buynak were talking about all the cities that they have served in and when it came to my turn I said that this is my first. One of the Elders said...Oh yeah, I forgot that you are still in your Golden City. I was like, yeah...I think that some people in the ward have forgotten that too because they talk to me like I understand everything that they say. Schwester Wächter then told me that they probably think that because I talk like I understand everything. That my German is good enough that people wouldn´t think that I have just learned it. She said that ever since I got here she has thought that my German was good. That was a surprise to me because I think my German is bad. I mean it´s way better then when I first got here, but it is still not very good, but I was really flattered when she said that. A German thinks that my German is pretty good!! I still don´t have a very big vocab and I still struggle understanding people, but it´s coming. I love the German language...it´s a lot harder then what I thought it would be because I always heard how hard English is, but then again learning a second language is never easy!!
We had a street preach in Paderborn on Saturday and it was pretty good. Sister Buynak and I were only there for about an hour and a half because we had 2 appointments...which fell through...but it was still fun even for a short time. Paderborn is where the other 2 Elders in our Distrikt are. It´s about an hour train ride southish. It was pretty fun, although most people said that they didn´t have time. I really want to know what Germans do during the day because they always say that they don´t have time. I don´t know what Americans say, but I would be interested to know if it is the same thing or if it is just the German´s who never have time!! It just makes me laugh inside...mostly because I don´t want it to bother me.
We met with Frau A this morning. She left on vacation after S´s baptism and she just got back last week. She said that she only has time to meet with us one time a week...which is better then none. She said the Spirit was so strong. She asked us why Joseph Smith had so many wives. (a friend told her that) So we spent the first little bit explaining that. It´s hard to explain because I don´t full understand why. It went really well and I even told her that I don´t fully understand, but that God doesn´t do anything without a purpose. I think it went well. Our Joint Teach also really helped because she was a convert and also wondered the same thing before she got baptized. Then we taught her the Word of Wisdom and she commited to live it. She said that ever since Sister Jones and I told her that we don´t drink coffee, she stopped as well. Funny story. So we went and visited her before Sister Jones left and she brought us Coffee. We told her sorry, but we don´t drink coffee and I swear that we told her that we also don´t drink green and black tea. She then made us tea, but I guess she didn´t hear that, because I just found out today that she had given us black tea!! Oooppss!! Tea is huge here in Germany and we can drink fruit tea and herbal tea, but not green or black tea!! So she commited to stop drinking that as well!! She is still a little confused with there only being one true church on the earth, but we will hopefully clear that us next week!!
Sister Jones
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