30 March 2009

Week #44 (3-30-09)

On Tuesday I decided to change bags that I was carrying around and use my side bag, but when I carry my side bag I can´t carry as much stuff. Well I had put my German scriptures in my bag, but then had a little thought that I should carry an extra Book of Mormon instead. So I took mine out and put in one to give away. Well we had a little time before Sister Sayson´s Doctor appointment and we had planned on doing doors in this one specific area. Well the first door no one was home, but then the second door a man answered. We talked to him for a bit and he knows a lot about religions...well long story short he really wanted a Book of Mormon...he was not interested in meeting with us, but he wanted to read the book...well guess what...yep that´s right...I had one with me!! It was a miracle because I don´t normally carry an extra one. We normally just bring it by to our first appointment, but I had the feeling and I followed it!! It was amazing!!

We saw a cool miracle on Wednesday. We had just finished an eating appointment and we were walking to the bus when we stopped this lady and started talking to her. She was interested in what we were saying and gave us her contact info. Then we continued walking a few steps when all of a sudden we realize that we have totally walked WAY too far...a block or 2. So we turned around and walked back, but if we would have noticed that earlier we would not have met this lady. It was cool to be lead by the Spirit and not even know it!!

On Saturday morning we got to eat breakfast with the Elders and this really cool family in the ward. They live kind of far away (30 minute train ride and then 15mins in the car) but it was cool. We got to help them make it and we had so much fun together. The family is really funny!!

We also met with Sch. Lütjen again this week. She has been sick for the last few weeks, but she is finally better. She is the inactive member that we have been meeting with weekly with the Relief Society President. She has come to church once so far, but then she got really sick!! Well we met with her and had a really good time...Sch. Lütjen and Sch. Fritzsch (RS Pres) like to talk a lot, but it turned out really good. Sch. Fritzsch is really honest with her and that is really good!! They get a long good and Sch. Fritzsch really encouraged her to come to church with her...well Sunday came and there they were...sitting next to each other in church!! SO COOL!!

We had an appointment with a man and his wife from Africa on Saturday...sadly the wife was not there. We taught him more about Joseph Smith and then we invited him to come to a baptism the following day of a 8 year old girl. We then talked about children baptisms and why we don´t baptize kids under 8. I committed him to read in Moroni 8 about child baptisms, but he still had a lot of questions...we couldn´t answer them all because we had to go to another appointment. Well when we were at church the next day (he was not there) we got a lot of answers to questions about baptism and child baptism!! It was amazing!! We learned a lot about it and know where to look now to learn more!! We are excited to teach him again!!

I have learned a lot about the Spirit this week and how to follow it. It is still not perfect and I don´t always listen, but I have been really trying to pay attention to what he is saying to me. We have an investigator that call the Holy Ghost her "inner voice" and that is exactly what he is!! He speaks to us and if we listen we will be blessed and we will be able to be an instrument in the Hands of God!! I know that the Holy Ghost really is there and that when we listen hard enough he will tell us what we need to do!!

I love you!!
Sister Jones

24 March 2009

Week #43 (3-23-09)

This past week was good. The miracle woman we found last week didn´t end up coming to church, but we met with her a total of 2 times and we have an appointment for this week as well!! She is super cool and the man she lives with is totally ok with us meeting with her.

We found quite a few contacts this week...6 total, but 5 were men and so we passed them off to the Elders!! Some of them were really good contacts...a lot of potential!!

We also got our Bikes fixed this week by a nice member in the ward. So we were so excited that the next day we rode everywhere on our bikes....everywhere...bad idea. By the end of the day my butt hurt so bad and my comps legs hurt so bad that we decided to walk our bikes to the train. Well, we were so tired that we walked slower then normal and then had to get back on our bikes to catch the train. I thought I was going to die. It hurt SO bad to sit down!! I tried to peddle standing up, but that didn´t work so well. I ended up gritting my teeth and riding through the pain. I prayed the whole time that I wouldn´t die and that we would make our train!! Well He answered my prayers!! :o) We didn´t ride bikes for a few days after that...and I had some issues sitting. My comp could barely walk because her legs hurt so bad!! Man are we fat and out of shape!!

We talked to a lot of people this week on the street that don´t believe that there is a God because of all the horrible things that happen in our lives and in the world. It was really hard to hear over and over and over, but it was a great time to bear my testimony that I know God lives and loves us. He wants us to be happy, but doesn´t protect us from sorrow and hurt so that we know what it´s like to be happy. When we don´t know what it feels like to be sad we will never know what it is like to be happy. They still didn´t listen to what we have to say, but they heard my testimony and I know that they felt what I felt as we spoke!!

I love this work and KNOW that we can find those that are prepared. There is a member in my ward that told me that the people that we talk to on the street are not prepared for the Gospel...we are preparing them for later. I told her no, they are ready...we just have to find them!! When the members don´t have faith that we can find...how are we supposed to find them!! We ALL need the faith to find and need the support from the members and their faith!!

Love Sister Jones

16 March 2009

Week #42 (3-16-09)

Last Monday we got to do some service for a woman in the ward. She has just moved into a new apartment and needed some help cleaning some stuff. I love doing service and being able to see other people happy because of it. We are planning on helping her paint her kitchen this week...that should be fun.

Tuesday we had an appointment with the inactive woman that came to church last week, but sadly she was relly sick. She babysits her grandchild a lot and he was supposed to be picked up last saturday (the 8th) but he was still there when we came. She was so sick that she wasn´t able to carry him down the stairs and go to the doctor...she lives on the 6th floor without an elevator. So we took her (my comp, me and schwester Fritzsch) to the doctor and then got her some meds. We then called her home teacher and they came over on thursday to give her a blessing...her grandson was still there. She didn´t come to church, but we are going to call her today and see if she is doing better.

Wednesday we had zone conference and it was so wonderful. I love being so uplifted and spiritually strengthened. We talked about member missionary work and how we can do that better. That is a really hard thing to do, but I do my best to work with members. They gave us some really good ideas and I´m hoping this next transfer to be able to try them out.

Thursday we went to the Pugmires so I could practice my song for sunday. They are a family from america, but they have lived here for a really long time. The husband was the bishop at some point, but is now completely inactive...there are a lot of those in this ward. We also met with our main investigators in Delmenhorst. We haven´t met with them for a few weeks because Herr Frizler´s sister died. She was actually killed by her exhusband. It was really sad. We taught them the plan of salvation and they had a lot of questions. Frau Frizler accepted it really well, but Herr Frizler is having a hard time believing in God. I used my talent to teach them though...my comp and I sang them a hymn before we started the lesson. It really invited the spirit. I think I will try that more often. We commited them to pray about the plan and to read in the book of mormon. Frau Frizler agreed, but herr Frizler didn´t. It is a little chalenging to teach to people when they are on different levels, but it will work out. They are really cool. We have a really good feeling about them.

Friday was amazing. We went out to talk to people in the morning before we did weekly planning and we met this woman in the park. She looked really rocker...red hair, lots and lots of piercing in her ears and smoking. She had a baby carriage with her and so we started to talk to her about families. I only got to say 2 sentences and then she asked us if we were mormons. We said yes and she started to get teary eyed. She said that her great Aunt is a member of our church and has been praying that she would meet the missionaries. She then wiped tears out of her eyes. I asked if she wanted to meet with us so we could teach her about eternal families. She said yes and we made an appointment. She lives right by us in our new place. It was such a miracle. God does answer prayers!! WOW!! We also had an appointment with the Meister Family again. We taught them about prayer and then played hide and seek with the kids (8 and 12). It was so funny. It was just in the living room with the lights off and there was not many places to hide. At one point I just layed on the couch and put the pillows on top of me. He then climbed up on me and taged sister Sayson who was behind the couch. I started laughing and then he started laughing and appologizing, pretending that he didn´t know that I was there...oh, he knew!! :o) Then I was really out of places to hide and he only gave us 10 seconds this time...well he opened the door and I still wasn´t hidden. I was right by the back glass door and saw the curtain, so I grabed it to hide behind it, but realized that it was shear....well I was out of time. I jumped behind it and tried to move as far away from the light of the glass door as possible. Well...he could not find me. :o) He looked everywhere. I was laughing so hard that I was shaking trying to keep the sound in. Even my comp saw me. I mean the room was a little dark, but I was pretty obvious...too obvious I guess. He finally found me and I just let out the biggest laugh...well lets just say he didn´t want to play anymore. I guess my spot was too good. :o) It was fun. We then left with a prayer and invited the kids to join us. The little 12 year old said that he doesn´t believe in God. He prayed with us anyway, but I thought that that was so sad. The mom and dad were offended and now their kids don´t have a faith. It´s really sad what parents teach their kids these days...or what they don´t teach them.

Saturday was transfer calls and was the last day to fix up our old appartment. Sister Sayson and I are still together and are so happy. We were praying that we would stay together. We are really excited for this next transfer and all the wonderful things to come in the area!! Then the appartment thing...We have lived in the new one for a little over a week, but we had to finish moving stuff out and painting the old one. Well last sunday they asked in priesthood who could come and help and NO ONE raised their hand. NO ONE!! I couldn´t believe it. We would do anything for the ward...we are always there to help them. I was a little sad because that is one of their priesthood responsibilities...to help and strengthen the ward members. Maybe they all just happened to be busy on that day!! Anyway, our GML (who is only 19yrs old) was there, the Elders from Bremen, Elders Robb and Brink (senior missionaries serving in Hamburg) and Katharina (a girl who has been a member for only a year.) Oh and her 3 kids (all under the age of 8)!! We had a lot of people, but all but 2 (not including the kids) were all missionaries. We thought it would only take a few hours, but we were actually there for almost 8 hours!! It looks good though and we had fun. Our GML is cool and will be a great missionary. He would do anything to help us!!

Sunday was also wonderful and funny!! First of all Tobias (the man we gave to the elders) came to church!! WAHOO!! He is so wonderful!! I sang my song and it went ok...I´m just glad that I can still sound decent even though I can´t practice everyday. What a blessing. The last speaker was a member of the stake presidency and he talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was very simple, but very very good. It was perfect and clear for Tobias. After the meeting he said I did a great job singing and that he really enjoyed the meeting. He wasn´t able to stay for the rest of church, but I´m just glad that he came!! I really wish I could teach him, but the Elders will take good care of him!! Later that day we went and met with Barbara (the woman we met in the park) She was still not able to talk to her aunt, but she was really excited to have us there. We taught her the plan of salvation, but it was hard because her son is 6 and kept making a lot of noise. The Spirit was not as strong as we had hoped, but she agreed to meet with us 3 times a week for 30 minutes and she committed to read in the book of mormon. Sister Sayson and I talked a lot after about why the Spirit had left and we both felt that it was for 2 reasons. Her son started playing some really loud music in another room and also...we had planned to talk about Families, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but she asked us what we believe come after this life. Well we just jumped into the 2.Lektion and then commited he to read. When we left we both left knowing that the Spirit wasn´t there. I think that we should have stuck to our plan....answered her question really quick, but then get back to the lesson. We plan through the Spirit to know what to teach and sometimes he tells us to change our plan, but when we don´t have a feeling or know what to do we should just stick to the plan. Let the Spirit lead the lesson and the not investigator. It was still a good lesson, but we have learned a lot from this experience and are going to make the next lesson really spiritual. :o)

Ok...so this day was funny because of this next story. So we had to go to our landlord's house to give her our keys and let her know what we left behind. In Gemany they usually take everything with them...including the kitchen sink!! So we walked up the stairs to their door and rang the bell. Well she opened the door to the cellar and called us to come down there. So we turned around and walked down the stairs. Well it had been raining the last couple days here and was really wet. We walked down the first few steps and then turned to walk down to the cellar...well, I'm a clutz and slipped down the stairs. I slipped right past my comp and ended up at the bottom with my foot behind me on the stairs. I couldn´t believe it. I tried to stand up and couldn´t for a few seconds and then when I tried to walk that hurt really bad. I hoped into her kitchen and she gave me some ice. I tried to tell her I was fine, but it hurt so bad that if I opened my mouth to talked I would have cried. I finally got control of my emotions and told her I was fine. My ankle hurt, but with the ice it was better. My tights got 2 holes in them, but I was still alive and had no broken bones. We talked about the appartment for a little bit and then left...and I was walking fine by then. Miracles are all around us. I think I will get a little blue, but so far today it is still flesh colored...just a little tender when I touch it. It was so funny. I was so embarressed, but we are still laughing about it today!! :o)

It was a good week!! I´m excited to start this new transfer...we have already started making goals for how we can do better and work harder. It will be great! I love this work and I love seeing miracles everyday. I think that I can really say that now...that I love this work. Not everyday...but I love seeing the light come into the eyes of the people I teach. We have some great investigators and we are going to do all we can to get them baptized. The Lord is really blessing us!!

My new address is Augsburgerstr 55 28215 Bremen.

I love you and hope you have a great week!!
Sister Jones

09 March 2009

Week #41 (3-9-09)

This week was great!! We saw some serious miracles. We met this man on the street last week (well 2 weeks ago) and talked to him about families and the purpose of life. We asked him if we could meet with him to talk more about this message and he said `gerne` (Gladly)...no one ever says gerne...we were so excited!! So we made an appointment with him to meet us in the church this last Tuesday...well miracles are everywhere because I have made a ton of appointments with men (well and woman too) to meet us in the church and they have NEVER shown up...well he did!! He was there!! We gave him a tour of our building and he asked a lot of good questions. We then gave him a book of mormon and talked to him about what we have to do in this life to return and live with God. He was really interested and really nice. He is divorced and has 4 kids. We asked him if we could meet with him again and he said `yeah, gerne!!` He said it again!! WOW!! :o) So we made an appointment for Sunday and after thinking a lot about it decided to pass him over to the Elders. Our Mission President likes it better when the women teach the women and the men teach the men...well only when there are Elders and Sisters in the same City...so we called the Elders and invited them to come. Well we went to the church and again he was there. We asked him if he had read in the book of mormon and he did. The Elders and us started to then teach the 2. Lektion...about the plan of salvation. It was so good. He had a lot of questions, but really thinks that it is possible for this to be god's plan. The Elders committed him to pray about it to god and he said that he would. He said that he has a desire to pray to god and to learn more. He is SO prepared. The Elders then set up an appointment to teach him. (He again said gerne when the Elders asked for another appointment!!) I then invited him to come to church to hear me sing next Sunday and he said he would love too!! Well as we were leaving the Elders asked him what he does for work...he then looked at me and said that he is a singer!! WOW!! I can´t believe that we didn´t ask what he does. He sings for parties and weddings and such and sings 1920´s music. I then told him that I was really nervous for next week...he just laughed and told me not to be!! He totally looks like a musician too!! When he left the Elders and us talked about the lesson and he is totally going to be baptized!! I really really want to teach him, but I just had a feeling and know it was right to pass him off!!

Another miracle that we saw was with an inactive woman. She said that she would come to church last week, but she wasn´t there. We asked her at our appointment last week (well actiually the member we brought asked her) why she didn´t come. She said that she was in Hamburg picking up her grandson who she watches pretty often. We again invited her to church, but she said that if her grandson is stil there she can´t come because her son doesn´t want his child in our church. (Her son is also inactive) Well I sat down in sacrament meeting on Sunday next to this cute old lady in the front and after the meeting I turned around and my comp got my attention and pointed to the back of the room...she was there...with her grandson. My comp had talked to her and she said that she had called her son the night before and told him that she was going to bring him to church. I think it was because her son was supposed to pick the little guy up on friday or saturday...the dad is really not very responsible. Since he was still there she just brought him. She stayed for all three meetings. I got to talk to her too and I also met her neice who is a little less active as well!! It was a miracle. The member that comes with us everyweek was so excited when she found out she was there!! I love being able to see the fruit of my labor!! We are still going to work with her because we need to get her into the church every Sunday...and get her to stay there!! :o)

It was a great week. I love being able to see the miracles that the Lord sends to us!! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he works through ordinary people to do extraordinary things. I have also learned and am still learning that through Him and His Atonement we can change who we are and become perfect. I have a lot of things to change, but I know that it is possible only in and through Christ my Savior!!

Have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Jones

02 March 2009

Week #40 (3-2-09)

Well my week was good. I don´t have as much time to write this week, but I will try to sum up the many miracles that we saw this week.

So we had another appointment with the interesting investigator that we got last week and it was still really weird. She won´t really talk to my comp or let her teach because she likes me better. I don´t say that to brag at all because I don´t want her to like me. I just told her the Joseph Smith first vision story and the Spirit was really strong. (that was last week) so she thinks that I am something really special, but really my comp is better then me!! But she doen´t really talk to my comp. In German there are a couple forms of "you"...formal, informal, and informal with more then one person. Well...lets just say that we were both there and she was just using the informal...not the one for more then one person. Since she is German she notices that she is only speaking to me!! Wow...it was kind of mean. But something cool happened. This woman's daughter was there and left with us...she lives with her dad...and she ended up walking with us all the way to Bahnhof...she lived in the other direction. She was super cute and nice and is pretty religious, but she said that her mom is a little extreme. She said that she can´t even talk to her mom about taking out the garbage without her mom relating it to something religious. She told us a lot about her mom and her mom´s past and it really explained why she is the way she is. We didn´t even ask for the information...she just started talking. People really trust us as missionaries, but sometimes I wish they wouldn´t tell me all that they do!! I really hope that we can see her again. She is only 14, but I really think that she would join the church and make a great member!! The other frustrating thing about the appointment was the fact that she was teaching us. She didn´t do her reading assignment, so we read with her and when we would stop to talk about the verse she would tell US what it meant and how to interpret it. We are going to try and go this week, but mostly just to see if her daughter is home.

I got to eat Peru food with an inactive member. It was SO good!! She even committed to come to church on Sunday!! And guess what...she did!! I was so excited to see her!! WAHOO!!! Now we just have to get her to church every Sunday from now on!! :o)

We had a baptism on Sunday for a 9 year old boy. The Elders and us have been switching off teaching him!! He is so wonderful and very happy!! His family are members, but have been inactive for the 9 or 10 months because they were offended from their last ward!! All who read this....NEVER let some stupid offence keep you from gaining Eternal Salvation in the Celestial Kingdom....it´s not worth it!! Luckily the Elders visited them a few weeks ago and they came to our ward and really like it here!! She makes a lot of comments about her last ward and it is really sad. Not everyone is perfect and not every ward is the dream ward!! We need to live where we stand...even if the ward is not friendly. Be friendly and help them learn how to be more friendly...people can change...you just have to give them the chance!!

This week was a hard, busy week!! It was still great though!! This work is hard, but worth it. Just trust in the Lord and you can get through anything!! He really is the way, the truth and the life!!

Love Sister Jones