ARGENTINA BAYBAY! Oh
man, that is so sick that Matt Jensen is going to Argentina. It is crazy…that means that every one of my
church friends from our ward is going Spanish speaking…except for the one
person that wanted to major in Spanish. Pretty
ironic, huh? Haha! But at least I still get to use it here. Who would’ve thought? But mensch, I am so excited for Matt! He is going to love it. I can’t wait to tell Damien’s family. They are going to be so excited! I’ll have to figure out what mission they
used to live in. 
That is sweet that you have started playing Citadels. I miss those P-Days in Nürnberg when we would
just play. I am excited to play with you
when I get home. Also, I haven’t gotten
my package yet. It could be at the
mission home, but I don’t know. The
elders will be up in Frankfurt in the next week or two, and they will bring it
back if it is there. Isn’t that so sad
that our mission president is finishing soon?
Shoot, I will miss him. I had an
interview with him this week, and it was great.
He always knows exactly what to say to make me feel better. It will be sad not to have a native German as
my president. No one can rival President
and Sister Schwartz. 
Things are going well down here in Heidelberg. It’s been a little tough because we have had
a lot of investigators say that they don’t want to meet with us anymore, so we
spent a lot of time trying to find new investigators. We called a lot of previous investigators and
potentials, and were able to find two that want to meet with us this week. We have appointments with both of them, and
we are excited about that! 
I think probably the coolest thing that happened this week was
that Cathy came to church! She brought
her daughter, Michelle with her! It was
the first time she has been to church in years, and es war wirklich so kühl. Seriously.
It reminded me of the week in Nürnberg when I saw the Fosters come into
church for the first time. I cannot
describe the feeling, but it is just so great.
Just seeing these people that you work with week after week finally
deciding to do something. The coolest
part was that it was fast Sunday, and she went up and bore her testimony! While she was bearing her testimony, she said
that she had been praying a lot and felt like she had to start coming to church
every week, and that she wanted her daughter to be baptized. After church, we went up to the Leonhardts
with Cathy and they made tacos. We just
had a good talk. I talked to Cathy and
she said that she wants Michelle to start taking the missionary lessons! I am really excited. We are going to start that this week. This is something I have been waiting and
praying for since I came to Heidelberg, so it is definitely a big miracle and
answer to my prayers! 
We also had a really good lesson with Frau Schill. Her daughter ended up sitting in on the
lesson with us, and had a ton of questions.
Frau Schill had read Alma 40-42, which we gave her to read, and she had
a ton of questions about the Spirit World and where her mom was right now. We were able to help her understand more, and
then we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her biggest concern was that if she chose to
go farther, then she would be doing it alone, so I asked her daughter if she
would take the lessons with her mom. She
said would! So we set up a return
appointment, and are going to bring a Young Woman, Talea, with us, so that she
can be friends with the Linda. We are
excited.
Remember how I said that the ward is great here? I swear it has gotten even better. It was nice to have a normal Sunday yesterday. The bishop announced that he wants the
missionaries to start going to a member’s house each day. He has a vision where we go to a member’s
house and then set up a follow up appointment and challenge them to invite a
friend to be there with them. I feel
like the members are really starting to trust us, because after sacrament, I
had so many members come up to me and just thank me for everything that I do,
and invited us over. They are also
inviting their friends to activities and church and everything. After my mission, I would be perfectly fine
just moving here and being best friends with all of them.
 |
I am excited for this week!
The elders have a baptism on Saturday and I am really happy for them. Hopefully we can get Kristin there and help
her realize how badly she wants it for herself.
Also, if there is one thing I have learned this week, it is the
power of prayer. I don’t know if I have
ever prayed so hard before. I know that
God always answers them - even if I don’t like the answer. I was reading in True to the Faith, and it
was saying that sometimes God will answer with "no". I don’t know why, but that hasn’t hit me
until now. I feel like it should be obvious,
but it was kind of an "aha!" moment, that "no" is an answer,
too. God knows what I need more than I
do, and sometime, even if it is a righteous desire, he will say, "No, not
yet". That stinks sometimes (well
most of the time), because you all know how impatient I am (and that hasn’t
changed much), but I know that there is always a reason behind everything. While reading, I also saw something that said
that God will never give us something that we can’t do by ourselves. If we pray for something with real desire and
intent, He expects us to get up and work for it, not sit around until He gives
it to us. I have definitely seen that
this week. Sister Wrathall and I have
tried EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, to get new investigators. My Heavenly Father has seen how hard we have
worked, and He has blessed us. I am so,
so grateful dafür.
I believe in a God that loves us and knows us perfectly. I believe that He is there, and is waiting to
help us. We just need to get on our
knees and talk with Him, give thanks, and ask for specific blessings.
I love you all so much! I
am freaking out over here because I just realized two days ago that my nine-month
mark is next week. That means it’s all downhill
from here, and that is just scary. I
love my mission so much, and I just want to help people feel the happiness that
I feel! Thanks for all of the prayers
and support and emails!
Gott sei mit euch bis auf wiedersehen!
Liebe, Sister Teeples
P.S. The Schiffmanns have translated either 3 or 4
of the letters that you sent me, and they said that they are way cool. She forgot to bring them to church on Sunday,
so I will get them from her soon, and send that to you ... hopefully next week! But in the mean time, feel free to scan some
more in. They LOVED it.
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