Monday, June 4, 2012

I met Adolf

After last week I have gotten a lot of concerned emails haha, but haveno fear this week was amazing!!  The transfer is over tomorrow, crazyhuh?! 12 weeks of my mission down! Let’s get into the week!
Monday- We went to the YSA FHE night just like normal. Nearly every week weteach Melanie, who is getting baptized in less than two weeks, after FHE isover. Just like normal we were walking into the room in the church and Igorasked if he could join us. I have seen Igor from time to time at FHE andinstitute, but never knew his story. He is from Russia and I just assumed theElders were teaching him. Well come to find out, he doesn’t let anyone teachhim. He just comes to activities randomly. So anyway, we watched the movieFinding Faith In Christ. Melanie handled it like a pro as always, but the realsurprise was Igor. He cried he felt the spirit so strongly. He said that itanswered so many questions he had and he agreed to let us teach him. We stolehim from the elders :) muhahaha.
Tuesday- We have been working with a less active Schwester Jander for a monthnow. She is probably 60 and has a problem with smoking. I gave the whole lessonin German! All by myself, yay! It was on repentance and the atonement. My Germanis still laughable awful and really not improving, but I was able to getthrough it. Tuesday not could not have ended better! Cuong is an investigatorthat the sisters have been teaching since January. He is a student fromVietnam. When I got here the sisters were really starting to lose him. I didn’treally see him around my first two weeks, but we have got him back and he isawesome! We did a FHE with die familie Ebisch. They are a young couple that Iam close with, in fact I think I have talked about them before. She is from St..Georgeand he is from Germany. They recently got married and she just moved here. Sheis the one who brings me marshmallows haha. Anywho, it could not have gonebetter! Cuong loved it and they were so good to him. I really think he is closeto baptism. We have an appointment with him tonight and I think we can get himon date!
Wednesday- We had district meeting as always but this time it was a little sad.Our senior YSA couple is going home along with our district leader, plus weknew there was going to be a lot of transfers happening within our district. Weknew this would be the last time together. I have really enjoyed this districtand will miss them all! Wednesday is when the extra 2-day tausch (exchange)began! I went to Freiberg with Sister Schneider. She has only been out 1 moretransfer than me so we are both pretty new. She is also from Switzerland and isa native German speaker. Thank goodness for that too! I love doing exchangesbecause it not only gives you a break from your companion, but you get to seehow other cities and towns are different. Freiberg is a much smaller and morespread out city. There are no buses or trains, just cars and LOTS of walkinghaha. It is beautiful there though, and it is where the temple is which is veryspecial.
Thursday- I had my first complete study day. Like, I actually had companionstudy for the first time! My first companion doesn’t really study and to haveSister Schneider was so nice! It set the day off right! Sister Scheider had afull day planned and it was so nice to just get to work finally. We started outby translating for a member, Brudder Adolf. Yep, just like Adolf Hitler, but noworries there is no relation he was quick to inform me haha. Then we met withMarcus. Marcus is someone we met the day before on the street. Wowza he speaksreally fsat haha. Freiberg is different from Dresden in that most of theinvestigators speak German...go figure! It reminded me of just how bad myGerman is ha. Sister Scheider did amazing though and I was able to help outwith finding applicable scriptures and bearing testimony. We also taught aenglish class! It was so funny to hear all of these people talk with theirGerman accents. "Veeeelllcome" (welcome) "Vas eeez yourneym" (what is your name?) It’s okay to make fun, they do it to me all daylong haha. But the real miracle was saved for the end of the day. It was in theform of Xiang. Xiang is from China and has been an investigator for 1.5yrs. Weran into when we were walking the day before and I had the crazy strong feelingthat I had with Danita. He kinda freaked out over something and has beenrefusing to meet with the missionaries the last month however. After talkingwith him for a while he agreed to meet with us. I was looking forward to hisappointment the entire day! And wow......I know I have said this before, but Ihave never felt the spirit that strong in my life. I honestly can say that Iwill remember that lesson my entire life. The spirit was pulsing throughout theroom. Things were just flowing in my heart to say. It redefined what teachingby the spirit means to me. I am happy to report that a miracle that has been1.5 yrs in the making happened....I asked him to be baptized on June 30th andhe agreed for the first time :). At the end he said the sweetest thing, "SisterLinford you are really good at this. I prayed to God to come and I know heanswered my prayer by sending you. Can I come to Dresden and have you teach meagain one time?" I was flattered but I assured him that It was not me thattaught him in there....it was the spirit. And he did the right thing bylistening to it and letting it into his heart. He made me promise that I wouldcome to his baptism if I could make it work, I agreed to that :).
Friday- My district got to go to the temple! Since I was already in Freiberg,we just made the companion switch back at the temple Friday morning. You don’tget to go to the temple very often on your mission here, in fact some don’t goat all. I was very lucky to have the opportunity this early on though. Thetemple is just amazing that is all there is to say. It is rejuvenating. And isif that wasn’t enough, it was also the day of Elina's baptism!!!! Mensch I havebeen so excited for this! Planning a baptism is a tad stressful but soexciting. The night was amazing! Elina just kept hugging me and saying,"It's here!!"  She asked me to be the one to help her so I gotthe best view of the baptism...from the side on the top stair. When she steppedout of the font she stopped....gave me a soaking hug....and said, "I feelit.....the difference." She glowed the entire night. She was so happy andso was I. This was such an incredible night to be a part of.
Saturday- Saturday could not have come fast enough. It was the long awaitedtransfer calls. Well it was worth the wait! I GET TO STAY IN DRESDEN!!! I am sofreaking happy! I mean it’s crazy that I am a first transfer golden and I amalready taking over a city, and furthermore Dresden but I am so ready for thechallenge. My new companion is Sister Kläy. She is dying aka I am killing heraka this is mission lingo for this is her last transfer before she goes homehaha. She is very tall and a little shy but she is a hard worker and I can’twait to share the last moments of her mission with her. I am ready to reallylearn from a trainer the things that I was supposed to learn my first transfer.She is coming to Dresden at a great time and I am excited to get to know herbetter starting tomorrow. Bonus....because she is done in 1 transfer, I get tostay in Dresden for at least 12 more weeks :))))!! Other highlights ofSaturday.....a midget attacked my companions rear end. He had some mentalproblems but it was the funniest thing ever! We got hunted down by JehovahWitness missionaries, also very comical. And last but not least.....I officialgot my first hole in my shoes.
Yesterday was a fantastic Sunday as usual! Filled with many great appointmentsand the spirit of course! I also had a fantastic talk with my companion whereshe agreed she needed to get some help. It has been a really rough time withher, but I honestly feel bad for her. She isn’t happy here, and I want her tofind happiness in this amazing work. I wish her the best with her next transferand figuring out whether a mission is the best thing for her or not.
This week has been freaking amazing! So many miracles. My spiritual thought ofthe week:
If we understand the ways of the Lord, we must understand that we are Hisservants. We sustain him, it is His work. It is not our work. We must submitourselves to his will and purpose.  It doesn’tmatter if its priesthood work, missionary work, or any other work in thechurch; we are to do it the way the Lord wants it done. This is the Lords plan.We think about it, we talk about it, but in reality we sometimes forget it. Letus remember we are here as servants of God to do what He wants us to do. I bearmy testimony a disciple of Jesus Christ; this is the work of our HeavenlyFather. Be more Courageous. Be more definite. Be more dependable. Be more of aservant.
-Sister Linford

Send anything for the next few months to:

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Linford
Wiesen Strasse 8
01277 Dresden
Germany

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