Week #28 (12-9-08)

Well we moved our P-day again. We had so many people who could meet with us yesterday that we moved it to today. It is really funny because we normally meet with Frau A on Monday (which we still did) but every time we move our P-day we still seem to have Frau A in the morning. I don´t think I have had a P-day with out Frau A for many weeks!! I love it though because she is so cool!!

This last week was so great!!
Tuesday:
We had an appointment Frau O, which was a referral from a member. She is from Africa and speaks English. She is a strong believer in the Bible and very religious...just like most Africans from Gauna and Nigeria. She has a 4 year old daughter here in Germany and 2 sons back in Africa with her mom. We made another appointment with her for later this week and so she became a new investigator.

Then we stopped by an old contact O and we set up an appointment with her. We had already taught her, but since she didn´t have time to meet with us before we never had a time to make out a new appointment with her. So since we made out a new appointment she became a new investigator.

Then we went to an Enrichment Activity with Frau S. We took Marzipan and molded it into animal shapes...I´m not to good at that!! Marzipan is this sugar stuff with Almonds ground as small as it will go. They put it in almost EVERYTHING here. I didn´t really like it at first, but it is growing on me!! We had a lot of fun though. And because Frau S came she also became a new investigator.

We got 3 new investigators in one day!! WOW...it was so cool.

Wednesday:
Today we went to visit another old contact...actually she was a referral from a member who didn´t have time to meet with us before. Her name is Frau S and she is an Artist. She is SO cool and she ended up letting us in again and we taught her and set up a new appointment....NEW INVESTIGATOR!! That was the 4th in 2 days!!

We then ate at the Schneider Family...they have the missionaries over EVERY week on Wednesday. They have been doing it for like 20 years or something. I don´t mind it...except when she makes us play games with her for an hour or 2. It´s getting better though. Our president has really stressed only 1 hour eating appointments..so we are trying our best!!

Thursday:

We had District Meeting in the morning and then made Pancakes afterwards. I have four Elders in my district and only 1 of them helped and the rest just sat around laughing at pictures on people cameras. I´m so glad that there are guys out there that help without being asked. I could never marry a guy that just sat around as I cooked dinner...I´m just not going to be that kind of wife. I was really grateful to see that I have a chance of finding a guy like that some day, my chances are just really slim!! :o) Anyway...We then went to Kerstin´s...a member who was baptised in Jan and had a talk with her. We meet with her every week, but I haven´t been seeing much progress. I think I told you about her. She works on Sunday so she cannot come to church. She has not been for a while even though she was supposed to come once a month. She told us today that she feels different. She feels like some things have left. She used to have a strong good feeling a lot of the time, but she said that that has gone away. I asked her if she thinks that that is because she doesn´t go to church and she said yes. She seems to finally be catching on to what me and my comps have been trying to teach her. You cannot progress very far if you don´t go to church on Sunday. I NEVER realized before my mission how important it was to be in Church EVERY Sunday. No matter where you are...you should be taking the sacrament on Sunday. There is nothing more important then that...except for the temple!! She is finally catching on, but says that she can´t come to church till Jan. She is moving in March to where her mom lives and plans to get a job where she doesn´t have to work on Sunday. I hope that she doen´t lose to much of her testimony before then!!

Friday:
We met with Frau O again today and it was pretty good. She is really knowledgeable about the Bible...I´m not so much!! I love the Bible, but I have spent more time in the Book of Mormon then in the Bible because it is easier for me to understand. We tried to commit her to pray about the Book of Mormon, but she doesn´t think that she has to because she thinks that it is a good book just like a lot of other Christian books. She said that nothing is as good as the Bible. She finally committed to pray about it, but it took some convincing.

Saturday:

We met with Frau S today. It was pretty good, but she likes to talk. We all talk a little slow in German because it is not our first language, but she likes to talk a lot and will interrupt you if you don´t talk fast enough. During the lesson Sister Cha asked her about what she remembers about Joseph Smith...well she started to talk and within a few minutes was talking about how many days are in February. I was so confused how we got there. Later when I was talking I was talking in like spurts because I would say a sentence and then be in the middle of another sentence and then I would pause for just a second to think of a word or how I should say something and I would see her mouth open to start to talk, so I would quickly finish my thought before she could change the subject by talking. That was how my whole part was...I would talk and then have to speed up to finish my thought...and so on!! It was really hard for me because I didn´t feel like she was listening to us. She just wanted to hear herself talk it seemed like!! She is super nice, but needs a lot of help. I try to be a good listener, but she goes off on these random tangents and I have a hard time concentrating. We will see how it goes!!

Sunday:
Well Frau S came to church and it was really good for her I think. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and I think it went well!!

Monday:
We met with Frau A today, but her daughter is in the hospital for a few days. I´m not sure exactly what happened, but she is doing better. We made a plan to go tomorrow to the hospital to visit her and her daughter and to have the Elders give her daughter a blessing. We talked to her about her husband and what he thinks and she said that they watched the Restoration film together and that he really liked it. I really hope that now he will take to time to meet with the Elders. Frau A also wants us to go shopping with her. That is going to be hard to say no to, but we cannot be her friend. She will not take us seriously and keep her commitments if we become to good of friends!! She is so cool though...!!

We then met with Frau O and she is getting a little more stubborn. She said that she could never put another book equal to the bible and that she will not pray about it because she knows that it is true and good, but nothing is as complete as the bible. But then at the end of the lesson we were talking about how the bible is missing verses and books and has been translated so many times...she totally agreed and even told us the amount of verses missing...doesn´t sound so complete to me!! :o) It will just take time. She is reading in the book and that is what is important now!!

We met with Frau Sauer again and brought the member that referred her!! That hadn´t seen each other for 3 years, but the member had continued to send her church material. I wish I had time to type everything that she said, but I don´t. She is so cool though and the member is perfect for her. They get along great and Frau Sauer has great respect for her. She said that if the Bible is true then the Book of Mormon has to be true. She is really religious and reads everything that we give her to read!! She is GREAT!!!

Tuesday:

We met with Frau A and her daughter in the hospital. The Elders came and gave her a blessing. It was really cool. Then the sisters taught her and answered her questions as I played with her cute daughter. We had a good time and are going to go back tomorrow as well.

Well...I have to run now!! Our Christmas Zone Conference is on Thursday and transfer calls are on Saturday!! Sister Cha and I will sing at zone conference...I love singing with her. She is a professional!!

hope you have a great week!!
Sister Jones