As much as it stinks getting information about
school and stuff, thanks for all of the information. Going to school for free sounds pretty great,
Troy. I am thinking at this rate I will
probably just wait until Spring Semester, if it means that I can just go for
free. I'll think about it this week, but
that’s probably what I will end up doing.
Then I can just earn some money and go do fun things with my friends and
get my English good again. Because I'm
struggling with that one. Then I can
really figure out what to do with my life, and it would give me time to look at
classes for myself and stuff. Thanks for
the information though, I'll let you all know next week. Thanks for the ring mom! You're the best. Hopefully it will get to the apartment... haha. As for the other package, Mission Office is
definitely a safer bet! 
As for my week, I don’t know how or why, but Sister
Heywood and I are just being extremely blessed right now. It was the craziest week EVER. I think I can say that it was my busiest week
on the mission. And we were able to
teach a lot. It was just great. 
I'll start with Aiyana, since, well, SHE WAS
BAPTIZED THIS WEEK. All I can say is
that Satan played a hard game this week, but like it always should, good came
out on top. She had her baptismal
interview and everything went well. We
were having daily contact. We played
games at Anna’s and everything. And then
on Thursday night, Sören called us, saying that Aiyana sent him a message with
just a mile long list of concerns and doubts...most of them caught us off guard. We were feeling pretty discouraged, because
well, we didn’t know about any of them. We
had asked her a million times and she said she was feeling good and was ready
to be baptized. Well, we had an
emergency meeting on Friday, and talked through with her about all of her
concerns, and had her tell us what all she believed and why she wanted to get
baptized. It was a really powerful
meeting, and when the time came for her to be baptized on Saturday, she knew it
was right, and we knew it was right. The
spirit was so strong during that baptism, during the whole service, and she
just looked happy. It was amazing to me
to see how the spirit can just chase away all of these doubts and fears. That is where the power is, and we could feel
it and Aiyana could feel it.  |
| Her and Bruder Rosendahl. I love this picture! |
I think the greatest part was her getting confirmed
though. As Bruder Dröge started
speaking, you could just tell that it was coming from God. And when he pronounced, "Receive the
Holy Ghost," it was so strong that every single person in that room could
feel it. It just overcame my entire
body, and I can only imagine how Aiyana felt at that moment. You could see it on her face afterwards
though. She was literally glowing. She was so happy, and just hugging everyone. She went up and bore her testimony, and it
was short, but so sweet. Practically
what she said was, "I know this church is true, and because I know that
nothing could stop me from being baptized." And that is exactly right. That testimony that this church is true is
exactly what it needed to overcome any doubt, and obstacle that could face her. And this is just the beginning. Her testimony will grow stronger and stronger. This week was intense though. There were doubts and fears, but in the end,
we all know that that is the time when Satan tries to play his hardest game. He knows that once they have the Holy Ghost
with them, it is so much harder. But he didn’t
win this time. Aiyana is baptized, and
she is just glowing. I couldn’t be
happier for her!
Which brings us to Raphael. I. Love. Raphael.
I don't know how many times I have said that, but every time we meet
with him or see him, it just grows even more.
We met with him on Friday, and we talked about prophets to get him ready
for General Conference. We asked him if
he had been reading in the Book of Mormon, and he said that he had been studying
the Thema Charity. Which was just
awesome. He said that he loved learning
about the love of God, which just fit in perfectly, because we wanted to show
him a clip of President Monson's last General Conference talk, which was
titled, "Love—the Essence of the Gospel." He just ate it up. At the end, Sister Heywood and I always close
with our testimonies, and after we said ours, he asked us, "Should I say
my testimony now?" He proceeded to give the best testimony ever. It was
an awesome lesson. Then he went to the
baptism on Saturday. We were asking him
after how he felt, and he said, "Sometimes we just have these experiences
where we feel so good that we forget if we are in heaven or if we are still on
earth. This was one of those
times." Oh man. We ended up just
talking to him forever, and he said that every time he met with us, his head
told him that it was right. He knows
that it is good, and he just wants his heart to be in as much as his head is. He says when those two align, he will get
baptized. He is so close! He loves this church and he loves the
ward. He loves the Book of Mormon. This guy just glows. Yesterday at church, he just soaked in fast
and testimony meeting, and after sacrament, he just sat there reading the
conference talk that we gave him during our last lesson. I can't wait until he realized how ready he
is. 
Elkin is also doing great. We taught him the Restoration and the gospel
of Jesus Christ this week, and he has been reading and praying to know if it is
true. He is just such a humble guy, and
just soaks up everything that we tell him.
He wants this light that we have, and brings everything back to it.
We also met a guy from Mexico this week. Two Spanish investigators! This is getting crazy. His name is Ruano and he is here studying. One of his friends gave him a Book of Mormon
in Mexico and he read all of the Nephis and part of Jacob. He loves Christ. He came to church on Sunday, and although he
understands almost no German, he was just smiling and nodding the whole time. During Aiyana's confirmation, he leaned over
to me and poked me and motioned to his heart and told me, "I just feel
something so strong here. Whoa." I couldn’t
stop smiling. He’s a cool one. We also found an exchange student from
Minnesota named Calvin. He has a best
friend that is Mormon and says that she always just talks so highly of it, and
so he wants to learn more. We are
meeting with him Thursday!
 |
| Bananagrams...they weren't really happy with me by the end, because I kept winning. But I thought it was fun! |
Our other investigators are doing well. Anna too.
We had FHE with her family again, and they all love it. When we got there, Anna said that Leon had
been waiting the whole day for us to come and play Bananagrams. Anna loves it. She loves having her whole family together. It is great.
Man, just thinking about this week, it was just so
hectic. I am just blessed. We are working with some of the coolest
people right now, and it just strengthens my testimony so much to be able to
teach them, and testify and learn from them.
This hurch is true. This work is great, and I am loving every
moment of it. I crawl into bed every
night exhausted, but ready to go, because I just can’t wait to see what
tomorrow holds. Miracles, for sure.
 |
| I found this door really funny, because their family name is "Deutsch" and they have the most solid, metal door ever. Classic stereotype of closed off Germans...literally. |
I cannot wait for this weekend. We have the opportunity to hear from a living
Prophet. How blessed are we! Life is good for sure.
I love you all.
Savannah
No comments:
Post a Comment