Heyyyyy Family!!
I want to tell you a nice story. So remember the
man from last week we met at a train station and then we rode the train
together? Well here's the whole story (so far!). So his name is F. That will
make things easier if I have a name (but I don't think I'm supposed to use
names so you might have to leave out names on the blog). And he was actually in
our phone as a potential because Sister Blohm met him on the bus once and he
talked to her and said he had met with missionaries before so she got his
number. So that's why I ended up calling him. Then he recognized us at bahnhof.
Since we met him we have had 3 lessons. On the second lesson we set a baptismal
date. It came very naturally and baptism is something that he really wants. But
we set this baptismal date on Tuesday and we set another appointment for
Saturday and he wanted to meet at this park that is easier for him to get to
than the church but I told him we would talk about it again on the phone
because I really wanted a member at that lesson and it's easier to have members
come for lessons at the church than at a park. But it turns out he only has a
home phone and he is never home. But we did not know this when we were calling
him all week, getting really worried we would have no lesson with him on
Saturday. Even starting to worry if he was avoiding us and if he didn't want to
get baptized anymore. So what to do when it comes to Saturday and we're not
sure if our appointment is at the chuch (in which case we would have to have
another woman there) or at the park, or if our investigator is even going to
come? Well what we did was we asked our dear friend Sister Pang who lives
across the street from the church to keep an eye out and see if Fadil was there
and to be our joint teach if he came and to call us either way. And we went
looking for him at the park he suggested. But this is a big park. So we're
walking around the park and there's these people having a picnic and this girl
says hi to us. And who is she? I’s daughter! Who never really wants to talk to
us and who is verrryyy innactive. But she said hi to us and we met her
boyfriend and talked to her for a minute! Good. Then we kept looking for F.
It's after the time our appointment should have started, we're still walking
around the park, not hearing from Sister Pang, and getting pretty sad about F.
But then we get a call from a flustered Brother Pang telling us to get there as
soon as possible because Sister Pang is outside the church with our
investigator. Sister Blohm and I were so excited. We hugged after that.
Seriously we thought we had maybe lost him and all the information we had for
him was this one phone number. By the time we got there with the bus F was in
the Pang's home with them and we were able to have a good lesson. He still
wants to get baptized. He came to church yesterday. He sat with the Pangs. Oh
and what happened on the bus on the way to the church? An old man sat next to
me. I started a conversation and he said, "Hey, you left me a note in my
mailbox." Well we've been leaving a lot of notes in mailboxes. We do that
for a lot of people who have showed interest but we just have their address. So
I said, "Oh, really? What's your name?" Yeah we had totally left him
a note. I remembered all about him and he is busy for the next two weeks but he
gave me his phone number. Coincidence that we were on that bus at that time and
in the park at that time? Nope, don't think so. God knows what he's doing.
What else. The elders now have 4 baptismal dates.
But all of them speak English. F speaks German, which is wonderful for him to
be integrated into the ward. Some of them still might be baptized on the same
day. And one of the elders' investigators with a baptismal date Sister Blohm
and I actually found and gave to them . . . just for the record. ;)
Yesterday at church Elder Kelly basically handed me
the microphone and headphones for translation and basically said, "Look,
Sister Lewis. I've been doing this almost every Sunday. You're up." And I
said, "Sister Blohm?" She always talks about how she did it every
week in St. Gallen (translated from German into English) and how she was good
at it. And he said, "Uh no. You." So I translated Sacrament Meeting
for one of the elder's investigators and two members who speak English. And it
went okay. I usually try to avoid translating at all costs so I haven't done it
very much.
Quote of the week:
Elder Cottam: Sister Lewis, don't think I'm
discouraging you from translating but I just want to tell you my favorite part
of today (this is something I said): "Ships are safe in the harbor. But
ships have to go places."
Except that was a pretty good translation! The high
councilman was giving this whole analogy on how ships leaving the harbor is
like us leaving the pre-mortal existence and coming to earth.
After Sacrament Meeting the investigator sincerely
thanked me for translating and one of the members said he wants me translating
every week. I think I made Sacrament Meeting more entertaining for him.
Then it was Sunday School and I don't know what
happened to the investigator class (Somebody seriously dropped the ball.
Actually more than one person.) so we were all in the Old Testament class.
Minor disaster. Brother Pang said later, you should have just taken your
investigator for a lesson if there wasn't an investigator class. He was
probably right. Hopefully it was all for a reason. But I was supposed to
translate Sunday School too but it didn't take very long for me to say,
"Yeah right, Elder Kelly. Here you go." And then I gave him all the
stuff back. My knowledge of German/Kings and Chronicles was not sufficient.
We visited the referral from Hal! They are the best
people ever. I want to know if Hal heard about our visit and what he heard! I
hope good things. They treated us like queens and invited us to dinner and we
ate Majestic Herring and Wild Boar. And not only were they just in Denmark,
Jorgen is actually Danish! It was perfect. We talked about Denmark and how much
we love the Tueller family. I really like them. We gave them a thank you note
but their mailbox is hidden so we just stuck it in their door. I hope they got
it. Tell Hal thank you from me for the referral!
I hope the couple liked me and our visit. I really
like them. (Hal told me that this couple – she is the president of the company
he works for – really enjoyed them and thought they were “awesome”!)
Love you family! The church is true. The plan of
salvation is real. Take the opportunity to share it this week. Pray for
opportunities to share it. Byyee.
Do you remember this adorable
family from Schaffhausen?? Sister Siems and I were the first to have contact
with them (well, in Schaffhausen). And Fabrithio just got baptized!!
Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy. I love this family.
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