A Good Week

Well this has been a good week actually. I’ve had some spiritual experiences that i have been needing for a long time:

We were at zoko (zone conference) on Thursday and some things had happened that made me very upset and made me feel not so good about myself personally. At the end of each zoko we have the opportunity to bear our testimonies and share success stories. I felt like i should get up and bear my testimony but i wasn't sure what i should say. Of course i was at the end of the line and the elders kept sharing the longest most boring stories ever. One of the zone leaders caught my attention and told me that i needed to keep mine short because we were out of time. So then i was thinking that maybe i shouldn't even bear my testimony because of time. But i really felt like i should get up so i did anyway. Here's what i remember me saying:

"I don't know about any of you, but sometimes i have feelings of inadequecy. I like who I am and I am very proud of the person I`ve become. But sometimes i wonder if i`m good enough. Am i good enough for my Heavenly Father, my parents, my leaders? It's actually something i’ve been praying about my entire mission. I’m grateful to know that i am good enough. With all my flaws, the fact that i’m not perfect, i’m not a perfect missionary. I make mistakes. Like sister van den berg said, i’m this big --- But despite all of that Jesus atoned for my sins so that someday i can be perfect and live with my Heavenly Father and family forever. I`m so grateful to know that Heavenly Father does answer prayers. Even though we are only this big --- He still hears us. And i’m grateful that He has heard and answered my prayers."

Anyway that's pretty much what said. And if you could imagine me crying as i said this then that's pretty much what happened.

Well the sules didn't come to church. And they weren't home when we went there for our appointment. So i have no idea what's going on with them.

Yvonne came to church and stayed for all 3 hours! And she fasted! (next week is stake conference) she had a really not so good experience after church when she was home though and called us. We got really worried and told her that she needed to pray and read in the scriptures. As soon as we got off the phone with her we knelt down and prayed that Heavenly Father would help her know what to do. We then felt that we needed to bring the Elders with us to our appointment the next day to give her a blessing. So yesterday we went over with the elders and Elder McCurdy gave her a blessing. It was really spiritual and wonderful and just what she needed. What was even more amazing is that her daughter was spending the night at her grandmas house and wasn't there for our appointment. That was a miracle itself because her daughter is always a distraction and is always loud! So that was wonderful we had a lesson without the child and Yvonne got a blessing. Everything is better now however Satan is trying REALLY hard to get Yvonne. Please keep praying for her!

Anyway that's whats been happening here. Can't wait till mothers day!!!!

Note to Daniel86

Hallo Daniel! Your English is REALLY good – a lot better than my German that’s for sure! (Sie können auch auf Deutsch schreiben wenn Sie möchten) That is really cool that you want to learn more about the church. Where in Germany are you from? If you wanted I could have missionaries come visit you. They could teach you more about the church and how the Book of Mormon can bless your life and help you find answers to your questions. Sie können mich persönlich emailen: tanzenrach22@gmail.com und dann viellich ich kann Sie weiter helfen. Viel glück!

So That's Good!

sister olson and i have been sick so that's no fun. we`re on the mend though so that's good.

yvonne came to church on sunday and said that she felt the spirit! thank goodness! so she`s still on track!!!

the sules didn't come to church but we went to their house on sunday for our appointment and only Gloria was there. i don't know if they will continue on schedule BUT Gloria does have a desire to find out if this is true. so that's good. we gave her a baptismal calendar and so hopefully she reads what we have on there and prays as well and comes to church. we haven't talked to her sister or the husband yet so we`ll see about them.

so last pday we played soccer with a bunch of little german kids who were like better than us. but it was way fun! and i got WAY sore and i stayed sore all week because i was sick!

oh and sister olson and i sang together in sacrament meeting - not a good idea when you are sick. but people said that they felt the spirit. so that's good!

Four Baptismal Dates!!!!

Life has been crazy the past couple of days...

First of all – Easter was horrible! Worst Easter of my life! We brought Yvonne to church....not good. She got offended by someone and wanted to leave. She left before sacrament meeting (we do the schedule backwards so relief society first). And then no one talked about Christ! I was so looking forward to Easter Sunday at church and hearing all about Christ and the resurrection. Nothing. I wanted to cry everything that could like possibly go wrong – went wrong.

BUT – yesterday was amazing! We set 4 baptismal dates!!!!! Yvonne got over what happened and so we taught her yesterday and invited her to be baptized in 3 weeks and she said YES! Then the other 3 baptisms are from the Nigerian family: Christiana, her husband Prince and Christiana`s sister Gloria! We told them what we do and invited them to be baptized in 4 weeks if they find out its true and they are willing to do it and are coming to sacrament meeting on Sunday!

so needless so say we`ve got our work cut out for us the next couple of weeks – for this i am VERY grateful!!

Misc. Photos

HUGE hole in part of our area. They keep digging there looking for brown coal.

Castle in Krefeld -
We had fun last week at the castle. However my camera battery died so i didn't get many pictures but people in my district did so i`m having them give me some of the pictures. So hopefully i`ll have more to email next week.

Legoland

Legoland – well it was actually like a legoland discovery center and not a REAL legoland like the one in CA. bummer. But the elders had fun at the gift shop. But we did have fun hanging out in duisberg for a day. The weather was nice so we went to a park and played around.

from left to right - elder mcgowan, elder braithwaite, me, sister olson, elder holt and elder mccurdy

A Golden Investigator

Well things are going good. Transfer calls were this weekend. We got called late Sunday night... like after it was time to be asleep! But anyway we`re both staying.

The weather is getting really nice I love it! Friday was BEAUTIFUL and its our planning day… so we planned outside on our deck thing. And I got TAN. It was amazing!

We have an investigator! Her name is Yvonne. She's so golden! we`ve met with her twice already and we`re meeting with her again tomorrow. she's made some mistakes in her life and is really being humbled by them. She's SO close to the spirit. We had given her Alma 32 to read and when I asked her if she had read it she was like: yes I did and let me tell you I know what it's talking about. And she told us that faith is like a seed and when you plant things in your heart and if it's good it`ll grow, etc. and then she said it's like that story in the bible about when Jesus tells about a man who plants seeds on rocks and on good soil and told us the parable of the sower and related the two. Cool huh! And when we were talking with her she said that what we were saying sounded familiar to her – like she's heard it all before. In PMG is says that to some who are ready the gospel will be like an echo, something very familiar to them. Because they have heard it all before. We`re just reminding their spirit of what they already know! Anyway we`re REALLY excited about her. I think she really might get baptized! So pray for her! We are for sure!

Anyway I hope the weather gets nicer for you. I`m very grateful that it's getting warmer here. Today we are going to a castle in krefeld! Way excited. Will definitely take pictures!