February 10: Public Etiquette?

As I was finishing emails last week, there was a man that looked at me, looked at my nametag and said, "Sister Jardine!"

Uhhh.... Sister Jardine is in Hamburg. How do you know her? 

The conversation went on, and realizing that this man doesn't speak very much German, his friend stepped in to help. 

We chatted, I invited them to Heim Abend at the church and since then, we have met with one of them (Anas - the friend that speaks German and English) about 4 times now. 

We've been explaining to him who God is, who Christ is, and why that matters and he catches on pretty quickly. I am super impressed because this man is from Morocco and has no background in Christianity whatsoever. 

Yesterday, during the sacrament, he turns to me and asks "Is this baptism?". I explained the sacrament to him quickly, he looks down, then back to me and asks, "When can I be baptized?"

Who said that if people knew what we had, they would come to us and ask to be baptized? 

All Anas knows about baptism is that he can be forgiven of his sins from God. That alone has driven him to seriously investigate what we believe. 

I think about the wife of King Lamoni in Alma 19 - Her husband is basically in a coma and she tells Ammon that all she has is his word and the word of her servants... And yet she believes. What a beautiful example of faith!

We had another awesome experience with Hildegard this week! Her birthday is on the 6th of February, and she invited us to eat lunch with her. 

We have been trying to figure out how we can help her the best with the things she wants to know and the things she needs to know before baptism. We brought a Liahona about the temple and gave it to her. 

You should have heard her squeal!

Man, you would have thunk she won the lottery, or something! 

What else was really funny was that she was having a tea party or something later that day, and as her guests were chatting and eating, she was reading about the temple. 

We went over there on Saturday and she explained that she had received a pamphlet in the mail about "bible study" with the Jdubs. She looked at it for a minute and then thought to herself, "This isn't from the Sisters. They would have just come in!" and then she tore it up and threw it away. 

Haha she is the funniest. She will most likely be baptized in March. Pray for her, that she will be able to forgive herself?

I came to a realization this week. 

It's cold season, and Sister Wallin and I are both extremely congested.

Instead of excusing ourselves every five minutes to blow our noses, in Germany, it is perfectly and completely kosher to clean your nose in public. In fact, this bodily function seems to disturb no one - even if you are in the middle of a conversation. 

Thank GOODNESS.

I feel like I am going to make a fool of myself in America. Some cultural things just don't overlap.

I finally caved.
I bought a pyramid.

There is this store in Leipzig Hauptbahnhof that sells Christmas things year round and every single time I go in there, there is one wooden pyramid that I adore. And every time I tell myself, "I can get it next time" or "I can find it cheaper somewhere else". 

How much time do you have as a missionary to shop? Little to none.

So, I purchased this spectacular "souvineer" - the only one that I have so far.
I will send it home in the next few weeks. I need to pack it up nice and safely. 

Also, mom, in this same store, I found cucoo clocks. Handcarved Erzgebirge. Just thought you'd want to know :)

Cool insight into Alma 15 - 

You know how Zeezrom is like the vile sinner of this story? And then he is cast out of the city and Alma and Amulek are left to watch the saints burn?

Well, here. Something cool. Zeezrom goes to the land of Sidon and there he is on his bed, ridden with guilt and sick to the point of death when Alma comes in and Zeezrom asks for him to heal. What does Alma do? He takes him by the hand and says, "You will be healed according to your faith in Christ" and Zeezrom LEAPS from his bed and praises the Lord.

Zeezrom is the cause of all of the pain and suffering that Alma just endured... But as soon as Zeezrom asks for forgiveness, Alma gives it to him and turns him towards the Lord.

In that very instant, Alma knew exactly what Zeezrom felt like. Both of them were just swimming in their sins - sure, at different times - but the relief and the sweet peace that comes from repentance... Alma wanted Zeezrom to have it! Now I don't know if they became besties afterwards, but that is a perfect example of Christ like love. 

Can we forgive like that?

Sorry this is super random. We had a super random week.

Love you!!