Hi to the fam. Well . . . where to start.
I actually haven't had my last fast and testimony meeting yet because we had stake conference!! Which means I got to see so many people from Schaffhausen!! (not sure if I've described this yet on the blog. The first Sunday of the month in our church is "Fast and Testimony" meeting. We fast from food and drink for two full meals Saturday evening until Sunday evening and donate the money you would have spent ...and more if you can....to the welfare programs sponsored by the church, both local and national and international. These programs reach far beyond church membership and is a program of our church that I'm incredibly proud of. Anyway, during this meeting anyone in attendance can come to the front of the chapel and share their thoughts and "bear their testimony" of the truthfulness of the gospel and how it strengthens their life.)
So we had a really weird weekend which is actually really not ideal. We had stake conference Saturday night and Sunday morning in locations closer to Olten and I had to practice with Salome and Elder Cottam for the song we will be performing in the Schwamendingen musical fireside. And Solothurn is also closer to Olten. And we had interviews early the next morning also still closer to Olten. So we spent two nights with the sisters in Olten. Not ideal. We had permission, but after talking to President it sounds like the permission from the zone leaders isn't typically backed up by him. But while we were in Solothurn we went to see Esther. I loved it.
Please pray for me that I can be an extremely effective missionary these last few weeks.
We saw miracles this week, as we do every week. And if we by chance didn't see any, then we are the worst noticers of the Lord's miracles. So here's one. We decided on Monday, the one over a week ago, that we would go stop by on this new member couple in the ward and bring them something. The woman is from Utah, married with a small baby, and is super smart, talented, and beautiful. Just the person who you expect to have it all together, you know? She has moved around a lot in the states, but moving oversees to German-speaking country when she doesn't speak any German has been hard on her. We already knew all that, but we went by and it was pitch black like it is way earlier these days after daylight savings. So we only rang the doorbell once, and then we were just going to leave a Swiss treat and a note in her postbox because it seemed like it was already so late (because it was soooo dark!). But suddenly the door buzzed open, and we were in her building. She was home alone with a sleeping baby and her husband on a business trip. She hadn't heard the doorbell, and she only happened to see my flower trench coat in the camera when she walked past her front door and then she hurried and let us in. A few weeks ago we had a Relief Society activity about food storage, and she came late. We had heard through the grapevine that she is pretty much a professional violinist and we had planned to ask her if she would participate in the musical fireside. So after the activity, which I did a terrible job of translating, Sister Oswald went to talk to her. She didn't want to start talking about the musical fireside right away, so they had a nice little chat. Later I talked to her too and that Sunday where we watched some general conference at church I talked to her forever. You could kind of see that she was starving for a friend. She told us while we were there on Monday night that she had struggled so much with this move and with her testimony that she had planned to just take a break from church for a few months. She came to that Relief Society activity, but she didn't feel like she had any friends there, so she had planned to leave that Relief Society activity and not come back for a while. That's when Sister Oswald approached her. She said if she had waited 10 more seconds she would have been gone. We talked about the things she has been struggling with, specifically the atonement, and it was really an incredible experience. It took a while for her to even trust us enough to share that with her. But we talked for a while and the spirit was very present in the room, and then she felt like sharing that with us. We are staying in regular contact, and we are planning on doing something else with her later this week. I know that God is aware of this woman and trusted us as His missionaries to reach out to her. It has been a very humbling experience, and it's not over.
So our progressing investigator is G, who I think I have talked a little bit about. She's amazing. She's not progressing this week because we went there this morning and she hadn't read in the Book of Mormon or in the restoration pamphlet we gave her :-(. But we taught her about the Plan of Salvation today. At least the first part. We really focused on teaching through the scriptures, and it was such a privilege to be there as she had her eyes opened to new doctrine. We also emphasized the importance of her asking God if these things are true. Her concern about prayer was interesting. She said she doesn't want to be the bratty kid who demands things from God, because she knows what it's like to be a parent. When she does pray she usually just expresses gratitude. So we talked about how we can ask God to reveal truths to us without being demanding, but I think it's something we'll have to talk more about.
That sure made me reflect on my prayers. I'm pretty sure I am just the bratty little kid 99% of the time. I want to try to be more grateful and adopt more of a "be it according to thy will" attitude. Not easy, as you all know.
Well, while we're on the subject of the Plan of Salvation, I just want to bear testimony of it. It is the truth. It answers the questions of my soul. Nothing that I believe goes against my logic. I know it to be true on all levels. I love it, and I'm so grateful for it. Well . . . Keep being the best.
Happy Birthday to Austin!
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