Week #70 (9-28-09) "three weeks"

Well tomorrow is my last zone conference. When someone is brand new they have to get up and give their testimony in German at their first zone conference. Then the last one before they get sent home...they also have to get up and bear their testimony. Well...they also seem to also talk a little bit about their mission too. Well I´m really nervous for it. This is not real!! I just had my 18 month birthday on the mission last Saturday and it still has not hit me!! (That is probably a good thing though) I´m not going home, am I?? Weird. I just feel like I´m getting transferred, which I am, but I´m nervous for what comes this time. Before I had a little plan. ( I mean I was only transferred twice) But my plan was to go into the new city and meet the members and the investigators and just kind of jump into the city with both feet. I made goals on how I could do that and did my best to stick with the goals. Like sitting by a different member in church each Sunday so that I could get to know the ward....and things like that. Well now I don´t know what it is going to be like getting transferred home. I have forgotten how it is not having someone with me constantly, or how it is being able to sleep in past 6:30 when I wanted, or never really having my whole day planned out to the minute!! What is that like?? I have no clue!! :o) I have tried to work hard my whole mission and I still am working. I don´t want to give up when I am so close to the end!! I just don´t think about what it is going to be like....the transition will be weird, but I don´t have to worry about that till it comes!! We still have a ton to do here in kiel before I leave!!

 

This last week was busy. We still only have one investigator and we met with her on Friday. It was pretty good. The rest of the week we spent finding, planning English class and the music night. The fliers for English didn´t get done till Sat. so we FINALLY have fliers and posters to hand out and put up. I hope one week is enough time to get people to come. They want an English class and then don´t do anything to help us get it started. The music night is coming along, but I´m totally stressed out. We have a power point with pics and "power statements" about the principles of the gospel and also songs to go along with them. I just hope that music turns out good. We already have a nonmember that is coming. She is the friend of a member and just loves me...I don´t know why, but she does and she wants to come and hear me sing. She is so cool and I wish I had more time so I could teach her, but she is not interested in the gospel yet. I will be friends with her on facebook though and get her somehow!! :o) I hope that some other people come. Just pray that it will go good!!

 

We also sang last week at the Woman´s Day in Neumünster. The topic was "what am I worth" and we sang the YW song for the value individual worth. It went pretty well and the speaker did amazing!! We got to do it twice because she taught the class twice. Then we went to a Handball game. We did that as our district activity and took time out of our P-day today to do that for a few hours on Saturday. It was a lot different then I thought it would be. The Soccer fans in Germany are CRAZY...loud and drunk, but this crowd was a lot calmer. Once I started understanding the game it was better, but the little rules still confuse me. I would never watch it on TV, but it was still worth it to go. Kiel is the best team in the league of Handball teams...and they sure were good.

 

Well I will let you know next week all about the music night and zone conference. 

 

Sister Jones

Week #69 (9-21-09) "Four Weeks"

Well, something cool happened this last week. I got a call from one of the members of the bishopric in Bremen and they are opening their new ward building in a few weeks. They are going to be having a bunch of cool stuff to get people from the community to come and see what we are all about. I got to see the building when I was in Bremen, but it was still a contruction site...I had a hard time envisioníng what it would look like finished. Well, this guy called and asked if I would come back on the 8th of okt to sing for a music night they will be having. He had asked my pres. ahead of time and had gotten permission for me to go. I will be singing a song by myself and probably one with my comp. I feel so honored to have been asked. I´m aslo eycited because I get to see my wonderful ward members of Bremen again and also see some of the people that I taught. WAHOO!! I can´t wait!!

 

Other than that the work is going kind of slow still, but we are trying our best to find people. We taught this russian lady last week, but it was hard because she doen´t speak much German and I can´t speak any Russian. Sometimes she would say a russian word in her sentence and I could guess what she was trying to say!! :o) She is so cool and she wants to read the BofM, which we gave her in Russian. We also left her with a DVD of Joseph Smith, which she can also watch in Russian. I have seen that movie in so many languages and no matter the language I can always feel the Spirit.

 

I love this gospel and I´m so grateful that I´m able to serve a mission for the Lord. What a great time this is in my life to be able to sleep, dring and eat the Gospel. This is a really hard thing to do and I think that the hardest thing is just the weight of responsibility that we carry. God didn´t call me here to do an easy thing, he called me here to do the hardest thing I will ever do. I´m grateful that I am here and that I´m able to serve the Lord and the wonderful People of Germany.

 

Love ya,

Sister Jones

Week #68 (9-14-09) "5 weeks"

Well the days are just flying by and I can´t believe that it is Monday again. We got to see Präsident last week at Zone Meeting. It was great to see him and talk to him a bit. He is so wonderful and inspired. He is also so encouraging and has so much faith in me. I wish I could see in me what he sees in me. I´m so grateful that I´m able to serve with such a great leader.

 

We still had a lot of finding time this last week, but I think it is paying off. We found a few people who agreed to meet with us this next week. I hope and pray that they go through. We want to see miracles and know that they happen. This is a Gospel of Miracles and I know that God gives us them when we have faith.

 

We are planing a music night for the beginning of Oct. It was supposed to be on the 11th, but now it is one the 2nd. It should be cool...we have a lot of talented people here. I just hope that non members come. We found some cool music for it and I´m getting excited!!

We also had an Eis Party with the ward (Icecream party) and it was so great. I love this ward.

 

Well, I hope that you have a great week and enjoy the best state ever!! :o)

Love you,

Sister Jones

Week #67 (9-7-09) "6 weeks"

This week was a lot better, but still a struggle. We went by on a few old investigators...to try and get more people to teach. Suprisingly 2 of them let us in and we got to talk to them for a little bit. Neither of them wanted to meet with us again, but we got to leave a spiritual thought and even sing for one of them. I hope that they felt the Spirit and will one day remember what it felt like to have the missionaries in their home.

 

We sadly had to say goodbye to Matthew...our wonderful American investigator. I got to call America a few time this last week to talk to the Elders in MN about him. I had forgoten what the phone ring sounds like when you call an American number...yes that is weird, but they sound different here and I have forgotten that sound. Anyway, we taught Matthew about the Spirit and getting answers and we had the coolest experience with him. Our goal before we came to the appointment was to get him to feel of the Spirit while we were there. That has been a hard thing for us because he has a lot of questions and wants to discuse something till it makes sense to him. So we decided to talk about the Atonement and also the 3rd lesson (faith, repent, baptism, Holy Ghost, endure) and we were also going to sing him a hymn. Well, we got there and followed up on the Word of Wisdom and found out that he had not given up coffee yet. So we talked more about that and then we asked him how he feels when he reads in the Bof M or when he prays and he says normal...he doesn´t feel anything. So we talked a bit more and then I got the feeling that we should sing. So I told him that we were going to sing a song for him and then after the song we were going to kneel down together and he was going to pray and that we would not get up until he felt something!! So Sister Folsom and I sang How Great Thou Art and then we all knelt down and he prayed. It was the most honest and open prayer ever!! He even cried a bit...well, more got choked up and got watery eyes. We then sat down again and I asked him what he felt. He thought for a moment and then said that he felt like a burning in his chest and a tingling in his fingers and also like a feeling of assurance. I got to then bear my testimony that that was the Spirit of God that just bore witness that God is there and loves him. We finished up with a few scriptures and then we said goodbye. I don´t know if I will ever see him again, but if I do I hope that I see him a member of the church. As I walked away from the door I yelled back to him not to forget what he felt tonight. The Lord loves him so much, he just has a hard time trusting Him and having faith. He is so cool and the Elders in America said that when he comes back to Germany in a month and a half...he will come back a member...I hope and pray that they are right!!

 

We have interviews this next week so it will be nice to see and talk to Präsident. I will let you know how it goes.

 

I love you.

Sister Jones

Week 66 (8-31-09) "I lied last week...I am counting and now it is 7"

Well this letter is not going to be any good because I don´t have much time. I have a lot of feelings right now...mixed feelings and just wrote a huge letter to my mission Pres about what is going on inside of me and what my feelings and thoughts are....and now I don´t have much time left.

 

Our amazing American investigator, Matthew, is sadly going back to the US on Friday and will be there until after I go home. The good news is that he came to church again yesterday and he agreed to meet with the missionaries when he is in the US!! He is so great!! I really hope that he gets baptized. We are meeting with him again on Thursday night before he leaves!!

 

Frau Plagmann, who came to church last week, called us this last week and told us that she doesn´t want to leave her church and that she doesn´t want to meet with us either. She was very nice about it, but still has no interest in learning more. Welcome to my mission...I find great people who are not crazy and they read, come to church and/or keep commitments, but then they eventually say they have no interest!! I´m not bitter, just tired of not being able to see success here in Germany...man are these people so awesome, but SO hard!!

 

Other then that the week was ok. We did some service with an old member and she is so funny. Her family hardly comes to visit, so she is always excited when we come. She loves the missionaries.

 

Well I´m sorry for the crappy email. I will try to be more possitive and happy next week, but I´m afraid that if I keep writing I will be too negative

Sister Jones