Date
October 24, 2016
Area
Darmstadt, Germany
Companion
Sister Ashley Case
Pain, Patience, and Persistence!
Hey Family and Friends!
This week was a pretty good week for me, still a bit slow, but we got a new investigator! And she has a baptismal date for the17th of December!! She's super great and really a golden, her name is Naftaline and she is from Africa, but she's basically lived in Germany her entire life. She's catholic, but was very opened to what we had to teach her. We taught her the first lesson on Tuesday and then afterward Sister Case asked her if she would be baptized, she said she was already baptized, so we brought to her remembrance that it wasn't done with the priesthood authority and asked her again if she would be baptized, she said "sure, why not"!!!! It was great! And she also came to church with us!
Kaitlyn's lesson went pretty good as well... it was a make it or break it lesson, she passed because she said she'd keep all the goals we set this week, but we still might have to drop her later due to her circumstances.
One of my greatest challenges this week came from a misunderstanding over a meeting time with one of our new potentials. What happened is we arrived at our supposed meeting place at 3:30 and we waited for 20 minutes but she still hadn't come. We tried calling, but she only has a home phone so that doesn't do much. So we thought maybe we should check to see if she was at the church. When we arrived to the stop, I was happy to see she was there and was glad we had found her but then she got closer and I could tell... she was NOT happy... She walked straight up to me and yelled at me for a good 6 to 7 minutes about how she had waited an entire hour for us at the church and how I was a bad person... I was confused, but apparently she had written the appointment was for 3 at the church. She then yelled at me some more saying that my German was not good enough if I could make such a mistake, how I'm a bad person, and then told me goodbye...like a “forever” goodbye! I was literally shocked! I've never been yelled at like that before in my entire life! She was insanely intense!
Sister Case was standing to the side watching it all, and after looked at me and asked what we should do... that was also my question exactly... I said a small prayer asking God to help me know what to say and do, and also that she wouldn't yell at me again... And then went to the bus stop to talk to her. She was buying a ticket so I came up and asked her how much it was, pulling out my wallet intending to buy it for her. She turned to me and told me I didn't have to pay for it and then started to really cry and tell me how sorry she was for yelling at me like that. I also apologized for the misunderstanding and gave her a hug. I felt really bad that she was crying, obviously she was having a rough day besides what happened with us. We said a prayer with her to help her have peace and then rode back to Louisenplatz with her so she wouldn't be alone. She made another appointment with us and then left, already seeming a bit more cheerful and less stressed, so that was good. But as soon as she left the weight of it all hit me like a brick wall and it did Sister Case too. We both felt awful... We sat down, said a prayer together, though even after the prayer we still weren't feeling too good... I felt spiritually heavy and normally that means that I need to repent. So I did, then through the rest of the day and that night before going to sleep... I felt much better for doing so, and decided that we’d go “dooring” in her area the next day and drop off a note and some chocolate to truly let her know we love her and are sorry.
Amazingly, we were able to invite this potential, Marli, to a baptism on Saturday in Heidelberg! We all really enjoyed it! It was all in Spanish so we didn't understand all of it, but they had a person there to translate for us in German. Elder Allen was the one who performed it, he did a good job, he doesn't speak Spanish but he memorized baptismal prayer and he sounded great! After that they asked all the missionaries to sing... Haha it was in Spanish so those of us missionaries from Darmstadt had no idea how to say any of it! Haha! Afterward they had food and just social time. Marli met several members from the ward, including a sister who also lives in Darmstadt offered to drive her on Sundays to the Spanish ward, if she wanted. After it all, Marli thanked us for bringing her to see it and told us as she's never seen anything so beautiful, that the people are very nice and she feels very welcomed and loved and that she is grateful for us! I was really glad it went well and she enjoyed it, and still loves us. It was really scary just a few days ago... She also got the letter and the chocolate and it made her really happy and she was super sweet about it. And when she found out that it was brought by hand she was shocked and told us that we were super sweet!
I met again with the Neidhearts on Sunday for dinner! Oki is doing well :3 It was a lot more fun than last time because I was able to understand most everything that they said and was able to reply to it all! Last time it felt like I couldn't talk to them hardly at all. But it was a lot of fun, the kids even enjoyed talking to me a bit more and joking at the table because I was able to understand and talk as well! :3 She showed me that she still has my mom's engagement announcement, haha!
My companion is amazing; she's a very hard worker. She struggles a bit with the language, but she's been working really hard on it and has gotten a ton better! She's definitely already better than what I was my 5th week! .... She makes me laugh… we did emergency shopping for milk because we ran out Saturday night and we had gotten 5 cartons of it at the beginning of the week, and Sister Case drinks it like no other! We had to go and get some and we bought two just in case she went through a whole one before today... haha;3
We are going to a palace in Michelstadt with the district for Pday today! Should be fun!
One sad thing from today is that I got a ticket for riding the bus too early in the day. I forgot our cards to get on the bus don't work till 9 and we literally could've walked it was only one stop... and when he came and told me my card didn't work till 9 I was about to get off and walk but then the bus started going and I couldn't.... seriously so mad.... he still made me pay the full fee!
I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that the First Vision and the Book of Mormon has power. If any of you are struggling with having faith in the gospel I encourage you to remember the feeling you first had when you were baptized, when you knew that Joseph smith saw God and Jesus Christ. I encourage you to read the Joseph Smith's story again, and then read the Book of Mormon daily. I promise that when you put in your entire effort to find if it is true or not, that the Lord will give you the answer and you will feel the spirit testify to you that it is true.
Thank you for your love and support! Hope you have a great week!
Love,
Jesse