Hellllllooooo!
Wow what a week! We had so many appointments! Wednesday we had a lesson with Nicole, a woman found the transfer before I came but that we finally made contact with. She had missionaries come to her over 20 years ago but then they never came back. We showed her the book of Mormon and explained it to her. She asked us about what we believe about the after life and when we said we believe we can live with our families forever she told us that she would not like that and she wouldn't like to a lot of people again nor does she want life to go on... it was really sad honestly. But we talked about how God knows us perfectly and that He will take care of everything and we will have so much joy. She said she'll study the book of Mormon and pray about it. :) We then went and had a lesson with Maria and her daughter, they are from Brazil. We taught the plan of salvation and it went really well. They are such a cute, sweet family, and my Portuguese comprehension is slowly but surely improving:))) Wednesday night we did the Young Women's activity. We talked about missionary work and played some games and answered all of the young women's questions about missions. Our ward has such solid and amazing young women. I think a lot of them will serve missions. It was a super awesome evening. One of the girls asked if we had family pictures..the reactions to my (giant) family picture(s) were hilarious. They were all so shocked at the size of my family, Sister Gach and I were laughing so hard.
Thursday we went to Schwester Schulers and Bruder Caló was there as a mitbeleherung (a joint teach, aka he taught her with us.) We taught about the spirit world, temple work, and family history work. Bruder Caló was so helpful and has a lot of experience with it. Schw. Schuler made us lunch, and there happened to be meat, so I finally got to eat some meat...and also watch Sister Gach eat meat. Bahahaha poor thing. Then we met with Marilou before her appointment. Marilou is so sweet. She's having a hard time but she is honestly so strong. She's a good example to us of strength, and the gospel will only help make her stronger. We also were invited to the Lucas families home for dinner and we had vegetarian tacos and American brownies! It was awesome. Sister Lucas told us all about her mission and about life after the mission.
Friday we were able to have a lesson with Beatrice over Skype. It went really really well. She's amazing and I love her. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and she listened and understood it so well. She forgot to take her book of Mormon with her to Spain and she was so sad. She shyly asked if there was anyway to read it online or if there was "an online version" when we told her there was she was so froh! Beatrice is just so funny and sweet, I'm glad we are still able to meet with her and teach her over Skype while she's in Spain. :)
Saturday we spent the day in Zurich, we had a zone conference and Elder Johnson from the area authority was there. It was such an awesome zone conference. Elder Johnson spoke to us for a while and the opened it up for questions. It gave all of us a chance to ask questions we had and see his thoughts on them. There were some interesting questions asked but he gave such good answers, and you could tell he was led by the spirit with his answers. He's a really awesome authority and I'm grateful for the opportunity we had to hear from him. It was also really good to see Sister Mellor, Sister Hunter, and Sister Hill again. I love those awesome sisters!
Sunday we went to Bruder Prellers and had a quick delicious lunch and then we drove with him and the Lichtblaus to stake conference in Zolikofen. I sat next to Sister Lichtblau and she told me all sorts of stories from her life and all of the miracles she's seen and experienced. I could probably listen to her all day (and she could definitely talk all day). Sister Lichtblau has such strong faith and truly has seen so many miracles in her life. She is such a strong woman and an example of having faith to see the miracles. She doesn't have any doubts, she just believes. She's wonderful and I love her so much. The stake conference was really good. There was am interesting talk with props and a fairy tale and I felt like I was at the timpanogos story telling festival, but it got the children's attention and she tied the three little pigs into the gospel really well. We spent the evening packing and preparing to go to Munich early the next morning..
Yesterday we left our apartment bright and early and spent the day traveling to Munich. We went out to dinner with President and Sister Brown and then spent the evening in the mission home. This morning Sister Gach left and got on a plane headed home, and Sister McAllister and Sister Slack came and picked me up for a day in Munich. It's been so good to be back here, I love Munich! I go back to Switzerland tomorrow afternoon and will be picking up my companion Sister Harwood in Zurich and then we will travel to Reinach tomorrow. It's been a lot of traveling the last few days but it's been good.
Sister Gach has been such a great companion. I have loved serving with her and I've learned so much from her. I have seen myself grow so much from her example (and her cooking lolol but really...we be growing). I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with such a great missionary. I've learned something from each of my companions that I wouldn't have learned with anyone else. Ahhh I love all of my companions! I can't believe Sister Gach is going home and that missions aren't forever... I just really love my mission and this opportunity to dedicate my time to serving the Lord. ♡
"Once again may I emphasize the principle that when we truly become converted to Jesus Christ, committed to Him, an interesting thing happens: our attention turns to the welfare of our fellowman, and the way we treat others becomes increasingly filled with patience, kindness, a gentle acceptance, and a desire to play a positive role in their lives. This is the beginning of true conversion. Let us open our arms to each other, accept each other for who we are, assume everyone is doing the best he or she can, and look for ways to help leave quiet messages of love and encouragement instead of being destructive with bashing." -Marvin J Ashton
