Liebe Gruße, familie und liebe freunden! (Greetings, family
and dear friends)
Well. This week has been quite the
adventure.
The sun is finally shining here in the land of
Germany!!! And I'm getting over heated in my big wool coat. So we know that spring
is on the way.
Last Monday, we basically had a rest day; we
did shopping, and emails, and then went home and took a nap. It was really
nice.
Tuesday was fun, because we were running
around all day. We visited a few less actives, and had Gemeinde Rat (ward
counsel), in the evening. I was (am) still new to the area, so, I didn't say a
whole lot during the meeting. Then, Bishop asked me to say the closing prayer,
probably because I was so quiet. And then, after the prayer, one of the older members
turns and asks me from across the table “Where in Germany is you from?" I
laughed and answered that I was actually from Washington State, and every time
I say that, everyone automatically assumes that I mean Washington DC, and I
have to constantly explain that that's on the other side of the country. It's
quite funny, but also ein bisschen (a little) aggravating.
Wednesday, we visited several more Less
Actives. We do a lot of that, because there are a lot of them. I thought
Wetzlar was bead with almost 200 people on the ward list, and only 70 coming to
church. Here in Essen, there are almost 300 people on the ward list, and only about
70 of them are active. It posses a problem, which we are trying to fix, because
both Sister Bates and I have a problem with talking to strangers, so we're doing
reactivation work instead. It's still helping people come unto Christ, we're
helping find the sheep that have wondered off the path, and are bringing them
back. It still feels really important, even though we're not baptizing anyone,
or teaching investigators, really, right now. But it's still great fun.
Thursday we had district meeting, and I
gave a Theme (tay-muh=spiritual thought/lesson) on "recognizing the
promptings of the spirit." it was a pretty powerful theme. I was having trouble
when I was planning it, and so I prayed and asked for help. I basically said
"I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to help because I feel useless
right now. I'm in a new area that I don't know well, and can't seem to be much
help. Help me to know what to say to teach these missionaries about the
spirit." I have almost no recollection of what I said, or any of the other
tidbits that the others put in, but I do remember that it was powerful, and I
was not the one doing the teaching. It was very obvious that I
as not really in charge. It was amazing.
Friday, we did weekly planning, and had fun
encouraging each other to keep going because we had no appointments planned for
the day, and were both tired. But Sister Bates and I work really well together
because we have such similar personalities, so it's a lot of fun. We spend a
lot of our "downtime" (i.e. after planning/during meals) talking
about books. All the time. We've bonded over Animorphs (which most people have
not even heard of, but she's actually read several of them), and we've given
each other many suggestions for our trunky lists, and shared stories of books
that the other had not read. It's a lot of fun.
We had a couple appointments on Saturday,
but they fell out, so we ended up going home because I was not feeling well,
and we had called the mission Nurse and she said that I needed to take it slow
for the next couple days. So, we did.
Sunday was church. It was Fast Sunday,
and therefore, Fast and Testimony meeting. Bishop asked Elder Pasket (one of
the elders from my group who got transferred to Essen at the same time I did),
and I to bear our testimonies at the end. I don't remember all of the things
that were addressed in the meeting, but I remember that the spirit was very
powerful. We had dinner with Bishop Linnemann (Lynn-uh-man) and his wife last
night, and I got a sick blessing from him, and a good portion of the blessing
was "listen to your body, it's got a natural warning system; take it
really slow tomorrow, especially since it's P-Day." he also talked
about the great potential I have, and that I am only expected to do what I am
capable of doing: meaning don't push myself too hard, or try to do something
I'm not good at, but practice until I am good. Like you said in your letter to
me, Mom: Just be casual, learn by degrees, roll with the flow, and don't expect
to be perfect over night. Be a duck :) it was a really powerful blessing, and
it was wonderful. The first sentence Bishop said, I had been using almost the
exact same wording in my mind about listening to my body, and taking it slow.
And the thought that there was no way he could have known to use that wording
with out the spirit leading him.
That blessing strengthened my testimony that
the Spirit really does lead blessings, and he leads us and understands us.
Christ knows our thoughts and emotions; He understands exactly how
we feel because he had to go though it in the Garden of Gethsemane; He
understands our pain, and he understand our frustration; He knows our fears, and
our joys. He knows us better than we know ourselves; He knew us before we gave
up our memories to come to earth and gain bodies to be like him; and He loves
us so much. I know that He knows us on an individual level,
and wants us to be happy. We have the Atonement for that purpose. if we use it
to It's full extent, we can share our joy and happiness with so many other
people. It's amazing what even just a smile will do.
Also, fun fact, I hit my six month mark tomorrow.
Just one year left, and I'll get to see all your smiling faces again :)
Love you all, and always get so excited when I
see your beautiful names in my inbox. Emailing's quite the adventure :)
-Sister Montgomery
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