Letter #23 (11-3-08)

This last week has been so fun. We kind of went on a mini vacation/trip!! lol...not really, but really!! :o)

On Tuesday we went and visited a contact and we taught her a lesson. She is from Russia and her German is not very good...her daughter had to translate a lot of what we said. She was a JW, but she doesn´t go to their church anymore. We taught her about the plan of salvation and also showed her a short Joseph Smith film in Russian. We started out with Joseph Smith, but as with all JW´s they care more about the millennium and the after life...so we switched gears and laid out this super cute plan of salvation puzzle. I think that she really started to understand. The problem is really the language barrier. If she comes to church we have no members that can speak Russian...except for O our other Russian investigator. She might be able to translate for her...we will see. She didn´t know when she had time this week so we have to call her and set up and appointment. She is super cool!!

O didn´t show up for our appointment on Wednesday night, but she called us on Thursday morning and apologized...she was at the University and couldn´t get out of what she was doing. Normally she is really good about calling us...she is not flaky. I told her it wasn´t a problem and reminded her about Stake conference in Hanover on Sunday. She said she would be there!!

We didn´t get to meet with Frau A last week because she was sick!! But we met with her today and she is doing so good...she had a few word of Wisdom problems, but we can work through them. She was reading in Acts 3 in the Bible and she was thinking that the Scripture (vs. 21-24) was talking about Joseph Smith...we turned there together and OH MY GOSH!!! She is SO spiritual and understands WAY more then me. I had written a note in my English scriptures about this scripture...that it was about the restoration of the Gospel. (We teach her in English...did I tell you that??) And so it was totally about Joseph Smith....I know that the Spirit was speaking to her and helping her to understand that the prophets of old really have foretold of Joseph Smith!! We had a really good lesson and at the end I asked her if she would get baptised when she found out that this church was true and she said yes....but she will only do it if her Husband joins as well!! She has hope for him and she wants the elders to teach him (we actually set up an appointment for them). He is a little stuck in the Catholic church, but that doesn´t matter. I think her example will help him. She is so ready, but she will only come if her whole family comes....that is one of the only excuses that I except. I don´t think God wants us to break up families!!! I just hope that he will meet with the Elders and try to find out if it´s true or not!!

On Wednesday night we carved pumpkins with the JAE´s (YSA). It was so much fun....they don´t really have good pumpkins here, but we did the best we could with what we found. They sell them, but they are REALLY small...I will try to send pics next week!! We had fun though. The young people here are SO cool!! I love them.

Then on Thursday we had Zone Conference. It was so good and I learned so much....almost tooo much...it´s sometimes hard to know what to work on, but I have a small list of things that I want to do better with!! After Zone Conference Sister Buynak and I rode to Hamburg with the President and his wife. Sister Buynak had tooth problems a few transfers ago and so she had to have her last check up. She was serving in Hamburg when it all happened. It was just easier to go there and not to have to explain everything to a new dentist. So we got to spend the night in the Mission home!!! WAHOOO!!! That doesn´t ever happen...unless you pick up a new missionary of course!! It was cool!!

Then on Friday we took our p-day and went to the dentist and then went shopping with Sister Thompson. She even took us to lunch. Then she had to leave so we toured around Hamburg for a few hours. I was kind of grumpy because we had to pull our suitcase around everywhere and it was kind of big and heavy, but I sucked it up and had fun anyway!! Then we traveled down to Hanover that night and did an exchange with the sisters there. So we spent Saturday with the Hanover Sisters and then on Sunday went to conference at the church with the whole stake!! Then we took a bus back down with the ward. O came!! She is so wonderful!! I love that girl...I´m just sad that she is so busy!! She is practically a member, but she has to meet with us to get baptised!! Hopefully she has time this week!!

I love doing exchanges because I learn so much. I learned so much about myself and what I want to change to make my comps life easier and also to help us work more in unity!! That is so important. Sister Jones and I taught the same way so it was easier, but now we teach a little bit different and we just need to figure out how we can teach together a little better. It is not bad, but it could be better. I have learned so much this last week and I hope that I can take that and do something to change and be better.

So that was my exciting week!! We were kind of all over the place so our numbers weren´t very good, but we learned a lot to help our numbers and our missionary skills. I´m excited for this week!!

Love Sister Jones