May 12: Happy Mother's Day!!

Did this week even exist?

I mean, I feel like it went by SUPER fast. Number one because half of it was spent in Neukölln and half in Dresden, two because it was Mothers day and three because I have NO IDEA what I am doing!!! haha

Okay, that sounded a little stressed. I am not THAT stressed. Nor am I that incapable. Sister Sanders and I have just been trying to figure out what to do with this program here.

I will talk about Sister Sanders later, but I wanted to share a few experiences that were AWESOME before I left Neukölln. 

My birthday. Ha, okay so it wasn't some epic adventure, but it was fun. Mainly because we got to hang out with B-Stein before he left (shoutout!) and got him some FRESH shoes. I felt good. Serving others with knowledge of fashion on my birthday. What could be better than that? ;) I kid, I kid. 

We also ate at Jim Block. The only place in Germany with decent hamburgers that don't cost your entire life savings. 

In short, my 22nd birthday was good! 

Next up. IBRAHIM. 

Miracle story. I think I talked about this last week when we were able to meet with him after not seeing him for MONTHS?! Well, we met with him again and not only has he been reading in the Book of Mormon, he recognized that he was missing that peace in his life. Of course, that is somewhat hard considering his circumstances, but that inner peace knowing that God can help you... That was what he was missing. He agreed to be baptized on the 24th of May. WUH HOO!!!!!!!

Wednesday. We had Sister Meyer with us (ha. Two transferrs ago, the three of us were in a drit waiting to drop off Sister Meyer to train, and this time we were waiting to drop me off... I feel a pattern...) when we went to Frau Janus. The cute little Polish lady. As we were teaching the rest of the Plan of Salvation, she got so excited and this is basically what happened:

"Frau Janus, will you follow the example of Jesus Ch....."

"YES. Of course!"

"And be baptize..."

"YES!"

Haha great, right?!

She had no idea what she was agreeing to, but she knew that she wanted to follow Christ. And you know what? That's all it takes.

We visited a few members to say goodbye (for now. You don't know mine and Sister Syke's plan to take a semester abroad and study at the free university in Berlin... We'll talk about that later. Haha) and then we had a sleepover on the balcony. Not the best night of sleep I have ever had, but it was fun.

Thursday was full of wonderful words of wisdom from President Kosak and our beloved APs (only half sarcastic. I do really love them. I am pretty sure I have like a million favorite people on the planet, but they are two from that.) and I got Sister Sanders!!!

Sister Sanders is from West Jordan, Utah, she has her associates and is going to study at the U when she gets back. Linguistics. I could definitely take a lesson from her. Haha

But she is super excited to get everything going, and since we have been starting the program, it's been really cool to have a fresh perspective and we can do basically whatever we want with it. She turned 20 the day I picked her up, and she definitely has a good head on her shoulders. That will be nice. :) She's super funny, too. I am looking forward to working with her.

We weren't able to get a whole lot of tracting done because the last few days were full of meetings with the ward, trying to figure out the area book and trying not to live in a war-zone (unpacking) but I think we have everything taken care of in that area so we can focus completely on BAPTIZING. 

Our mission is focusing on the Book of Mormon and how we become better disciples of Christ, and as I was reading this morning I was thinking about Sam. 

Sam is like, the unsung hero in the Book of Mormon. 

Look how GREAT he is:

17 And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the thingswhich the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And itcame to pass that he believed in my words.

Here is Nephi, telling Sam that he believes the visions of his father, feeling the Holy Ghost himself and what does Sam do?

He simply believes. It reminded me of a quote that President gave us a while ago from Elder Boyd K. Packer,

"A few years ago I indulged on one occasion in some introspection andfound there were reasons why I didn’t like myself very well. Foremostamong them was the fact that I was suspicious of everyone. When I metsomeone, 1 had in mind this thought: “What’s his motive? What’s he goingto try to do?” This came about because I had been badly manipulated,abused by someone I trusted. Cynicism and bitterness were growingwithin. I determined to change and made a decision that I would trusteveryone. I have tried to follow that role since. If someone is not worthy oftrust, it is his responsibility to show it—not mine to find it out."

Obviously we don't have to spill our entire lives to people, but to trust? That should be easy. We find that we will like ourselves more and that we are happier. Not only that, but we are more receptive to the spirit. We simply believe. 

Oh the little gems you find in the scriptures. I hope you find them, too!

Have a good week!!!

Love you!

P.S. It was SO great to skype with you! I enjoyed it immensely. :) See you again in two and a half months!