Creeper in my bed

Hallo! Guten Tag! What a great week it has been! Most of it has been spent outside of Rostock (my current area) but it has been fantastic, complete with some of the greatest news a missionary can receive. That news is that President Monson is coming to Germany!! Oh my heavens you should have seen all of us jumping up and down when we found out! This country needs that boost and I can’t wait to hear from him on October 14th in Berlin! General Conference and the Prophet live here in Germany all within a few short days.....missionary dream! I will definitely be sure to give a good report of it I promise!
      This week has been freeeezing!! It is only the middle of September but I have been able to see my breath a couple times this week! It is awful ha. I am going to die this winter! All of the other sisters were talking about how you end up wearing 3 and 4 pair of long johns and tights....my mouth was dropped to the floor the entire time they were telling me what they do to survive the winters here. Haha hey mom, you might want to send me all my winter hats....it looks like I will be needing them!
      This week, as I already mentioned, involved a lot of traveling! In Dresden I was very spoiled in that I was serving in the big city, so everyone came to us there. In Rostock you are far away from everything, so you end up spending lots and lots of time on trains. This week was the exchange for the transfer. There are only 3 cities in this exchange group for sisters. It is mine, Rostock, as well as Tiergarten (which is in Berlin) and Eisenhüttenstadt. We all meet in Berlin and then disperse to the various cities for the exchange time. My companion and I got up bright and early at 5am to leave for Berlin Thursday morning.
     My exchange this transfer was with Sister Young in Tiergarten which is right in the heart of Berlin. After 4 hours we arrived to Berlin and met up with all the other sisters. It is always sooo much fun to get together and be able to chat together. I got to see Sister Moon who I hadn't seen since the MTC. We all had lunch together and then it was off! Sister Young is a hilarious and feisty sister. Being in a city again was the greatest thing ever! It made me miss Dresden so so much though! I love the hustle and bustle, I find it so invigorating. It was also REALLY nice to be able to teach some lessons in English again! It has been so long, but it is the only time that I am able to feel like I am really contributing. I loved every second of Berlin! We were able to make some of the coolest new appointments. That city is full of life, and yes some crazy people that give some good laughs!
     I also had a very neat experience. My old bishop and his wife were called to this mission. They arrived in August but I honestly didn’t think I would have the opportunity to see them here in Germany. Well luck put us both in Berlin on Thursday night! It was so fun to be able to see them! Marianne let out this huge scream and ran over to give me a nice big hug! It was super weird seeing them though; they are the only people since the MTC that I knew before the mission. I am getting weird......it’s just happening. haha. I loved every little bit of the 2 days I had in Berlin! We had such amazing lessons and the days were jammed packed just the way I like them! Rostock is very different from the big city life. I found it a little hard to come back here to be honest.
    Me and Sister Nielson are working so hard to find people to teach, we just haven’t seen any success really yet. Big emphasis needed on YET. I know it will come, sometimes it is just really hard to wait. We both have such a strong desire to turn things around here, and I know that Heavenly Father will lead us to those people ready for the message we have for them.
     Yesterday, Sunday, was also another day of travel. We had district conference, which is the same thing as stake conference. It was in Neubrandenburg which is about 2.5hrs away. Because this part of Germany has so few members, our mission president is actually our District President. It was great as always to not only see both him and his wife, but to hear them give talks as well.
     My companion and I are still doing fantastic together. I don’t know what I would do without her! She has been such an answer to prayer! I will be so sad when it comes time for me to get another comp! She did something way funny last night though. She went to bed early last night (which she has never done) and I just did my thing until it was time to go to bed, The lights were off so I was trying extra hard to be super quiet. I climbed up to my top bunk and started getting in bed when I felt something warm. I freaked and nearly jumped off my bed....no worries it was just my companion pulling a prank of me. She had been waiting in my bed to scare me for 30 minutes.....hahhaha. This is why I love her.
     Spiritual Thought of the week: Well as always I have been thinking a lot all week about what I want to say here. But I am very aware that I can’t say things well. That is why for this week I am just going to insert a link to a mormon message that I feel will help some of you. It is only a 3 minute movie....but I sincerely hope you all watch it.
http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#the-will-of-god 
     I know that sometimes we find ourselves in life feeling like we just got "cut down". But I love what it says in this video. God loves us enough to cut us down because he can see into the future and he knows what we can become if he does. "He loves us enough to hurt us." Trials often hurt....but he loves enough to let us go through them to grow. Never forget he is ALWAYS with us....we just have to make the choice to turn to Him and allow him to guide our lives.
      Thank you for all the love and support! You all are amazing examples to me of getting through your lives looking up towards our Lord and Savior. I pray for all of you each and every night! Keep the faith!!

Sister Jessica Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Friedrich Str. 14
18057 Rostock
Germany

A Piece of Home

We got an email today from family friends Elder and Sister Bauman. They were recently called to serve a couples mission in Berlin. We never knew if Sister Linford and the Baumans would meet, but we were hopeful. And it is nice just knowing that some dear friends are somewhat close by. They sent some pictures and told us how well she looked. They talked with her mission president too and said he wished more missionaries could be like her! We knew she'd be a rock star out there!

Norma Jean

Hallo! Well it's official...I have been on my mission over 6 months now! Crazy I tell ya! Life in Rostock has been really great still! However, both my companion and I were sick this week making it a tad uneventful! I apologize for the lameness of this letter in advance! Last Monday, was a great night! It was the first FHE that we did with this new program that I came up with to try and boost things around here. It went really well! We had more people there than they have seen in months. We played pudding Pictionary. Germans don’t do things like that.....their faces when I told them what we were doing, were nothing short of priceless!! Too funny! It loosened everyone up though, and people really got into it. This week we also had an amazing appointment with a now investigator. Last week I make a quick comment about how someone had just called us and asked for an appointment. Well this is so insanely rare and freaking awesome! That person ended up being Herr Saß. He is about 65 and lives in a little town outside of Rostock. We had an appointment last Wednesday and it went so well! My companion and I both had the strongest feeling that he will be baptized one day! He is so prepared! He asked the best questions and was so open. We are excited to go back to see him tomorrow and he is coming to church this Sunday! This week we also met with a lot of members. I will tell you about two of them. The first is Bruder Schmidt! He is the funniest member that is famous mission wide! Unfortunately Bruder Schmidt had to get a pretty serious heart surgery and so visited him a few times. He is always good for some laughs! We also met again with the Preets. I have talked about them quite a bit. They are still coming to church ever week I am happy to report :). Plus, they helped to put on the Primary program yesterday. (Which by the way....its a whole new experience to have a primary program with only 3 kids....oh the joys of a tiny branch!) We love going to see their family though! However, as I commented before, both me and my companion have been sick this last week. We both got a weird flu. We pulled ourselves out of bed to make it to our appointment with the Preets. We hadn't eaten really all day and that is where Norma Jean comes in. It was so bad we named it. The Preets are so sweet and always are sure to have a little snack for us....but this time it was a frothy, pink, thick, some type of fruity, Indian concoction of wrongness. And just when we finished choking down the first glass.....the second glass came before our objections could. It was so bad. When me and my companion left we were both just trying to hold it down. We were laughing so hard because one of us would start gagging and it would make the other person start. It took us 30 minutes to get to the train station because we had to keep stopping at bushes and trees. You know you are good friends with your companion when you can laugh through the entire time of feeling like you are going to die. Norma Jean is what we decided to call those drinks. R.I.P. Norma Jean. Funny times didn’t stop there, we found ourselves way outside of Rostock in the Ghetto this week as well. We made some great videos out of it! Don’t worry mom, we were protected :). It's so nice having a companion that can make any situation a good time! We had some really awesome appointments this week. We are still trying so hard to build up this program here in Rostock. It has been tough, but we know some incredible things are going to happen! Hopefully this week we can get feeling better so we can really hit it hard and catch up for some lost time :). I also got an amazing blessing this week! As you know, I have really been stressing the language. The priesthood is incredible, that’s all I got to say. It promised me that I would be fluent one day; I just needed to be a little more patient. Gotta love that word :). It also said that I would be staying in Rostock for a while because there are people that Heavenly Father has been saving for me. The man upstairs is too good to me I tell you what! Anyway, there is my update! Spiritual Thought: Well for this week I had a request for Faith; and more particularly how to have faith when it may a difficult time in your life. I thought a lot about this, but every time I really got into studying I was led in different directions. Not that there isn’t ways to have faith in times of difficulty, but that maybe we need to focus on other areas to really have the faith necessary to get through the tough times. Where you will find your faith, is in your heart. Which is why I am going to focus on the Holy Ghost and having patience with the Holy Ghost. There are 3 things that I think we can do to keep the Spirit in our hearts. 1. Keep the commandments. 2. PREPARE. 3. Have the desire/willingness to be led by the Spirit. I think if we sort our priorities and lives, and listen to the Holy Ghost....You will never make a mistake. Which is where the fear with trials comes in....we are afraid of making mistakes or of pain. But, we need not be afraid of our trails. I am confident that if the Savior could take away anything in your life right now it would be fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. You are powerful! Know your own strength and believe it. Fill yourself with faith, by filling yourself with the spirit. This is where number 2 comes in. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, guides us, and testifies of truth. We need to learn to rely on the Holy Ghost. If we do, we will ALWAYS know what we should say or do. Without the spirit you will never succeed no matter how talented you are. The Holy Ghost brings the peace to your hearts that we seek in this life. That is the foundation that will bring balance to your life. In trials we often feel unbalanced. But that is just the feeling of our "comfort bubble" expanding. It is crucial that we look to the Almighty for our strength and power! It's always there! Prepare yourselves for the trails that are current and those ahead by studying topics you need help with and finding answers. As we search for answers don’t look for a voice to come....the scriptures are the voice of the lord! Don’t wait. Okay now onto the desire and willingness to be led by the spirit. This is actually sometimes the hardest one. I know for me actually going on a mission this is the one I struggled with most. Sometimes we don’t want to do what we know we need to. But God uses times like this to mold our character. This is where we need to have a great deal of patience. If we get frustrated, it creates a fog that makes it difficult for us to be receptive of the spirit and therefore it makes it difficult for God to work with us and help us. Luke 21:19 "In your patience possess ye your soul." We need to be willing to submit to all things that the Lord seeth fit for our lives. We ARE called for whatever we are dealing with currently. Patience sometimes can be found when we look for reasons why you are where you are right now. Put yourself in the Lords shoes....why is he having you go through this? I love what President Uchtdorf said about impatience, "Impatience, on the other hand, is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all-too-prevalent condition called “center of the universe” syndrome, which leads people to believe that the world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role." Just go forward. Forget yourself. Sure you will get discouraged, but forget yourself. Let us not forget why we are really here on earth. Finding faith in trials can be extremely difficult. But I know by focusing on just living with the spirit in our lives and being worthy of its direction we truly can be filled with faith....even more than we can imagine. The Lord is always there for us as well. Rely on his atonement. Let him carry you when you can’t go anymore. He has done that so many times in my life, and nearly every day of my mission. Come to know his love and you will come to know of your worth. Our worth can be found in Him. That is why we are here. To do his work. Lets us never forget that. Well thank you so much for everything! I love you all! I hope life is treating you well! I can’t wait to hear the happenings of life for you all in America, so don’t be email shy :)! Until next week, KEEP THE FAITH!!

Sister Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Friedrich Str. 14
18057 Rostock
Germany

Head Lock

Hallo! Greetings from the beautiful city of Rostock, Deutschland! I absolutely love it here! It is beautiful being around the water all the time! The air is so fresh :). However, it has been so cold! I was wearing my north face two day ago.....no joke. I went from 90s in Dresden to begging for 60s....this winter is going to be an adventure!

I don’t have a ton of time to write today, so I apologize for the bobbling of topics in advance! I will start with answering a lot of questions I have received. How is the companion? Still liking her? I absolutely LOVE Sister Nielson! She honestly will be one of my very closest friends forever. She is incredible and so powerful! We complement each other really well, and I hope we get more than just one transfer together... but we are both skeptical because it’s almost too good to be true haha. She may have had me in head lock where I couldn’t move for 15minutes the other day...NBD. So funny. How is Rostock? It is amazing! We have a TON of work to do here, but me and my companion are on it! We have seen SO many miracles this last week! We both have gotten blessings that have said there are going to be amazing miracles during our time together and that there are people that have been prepared for us to teach them and bring them into the gospel!! Pretty amazing huh? In my blessing it also talked about how this would be one of the hardest times of my mission due to trials. That trial is this little thing called German. Which leads into the next question, How is your German? It is slowly killing my soul. Okay that may be a little dramatic, but it really is SO bad. I am very very behind where I am supposed to be at this point. I don’t understand anyone’s accent in Rostock either. In Dresden we used so much English, I didn’t truly grasp just how bad my German really was. Well, a nice wakeup call has come upon arrival in Rostock. President is really hounding me to learn it quick too because he wants me to train early. Yikes. I have no idea what to do to improve. My companion only speaks German to me and it kills me but it is also so good. Hopefully some improvement will come soon or else I am going to die. Oh well.

Well this week we had our first zone training. It is something new that our new mission president has implemented. We will be doing president interviews and zone conferences only quarterly now, but we will be doing these Zone Trainings every month. My new zone is TINY compared to my last one. Everything is tiny compared to Dresden haha. All 12 of us missionaries got together in Neubrandenburg for our first ever District Training. We focused a lot on refining skills out of Preach My Gospel. President and Sister Kosak also attended. It's always good to see them and talk with them. It was a long day but a good day! I am still getting use to all the traveling that this zone requires! It took us 3hrs there and 3hrs back on train just to get to the Zone Training!

Wednesday brought a great appointment with a woman named Swetlana. She had a baptismal date a few months ago but couldn’t pass her baptismal interview. She got really mad and offended and hasnt had contact with us since. Well I had a feeling we just needed to take her cookies and that everything could be smoothed over. It worked like a charm! Last week we went and explained everything and in the end it was just one big giant miscommunication. We have seen her a few times since and are re-teaching her everything. It is going really well and she still has a very strong desire to get baptized!

We also have been working a lot with Manpreet and Amanpreet. I talked a little bit about them in my last letter. They are doing so good! We have FHE with them every week now and there has been such an incredible change in them! They went from not going to church in 6 months to meeting with us all the time, bearing testimony is sacrament meeting, and attending every week since I have been here! They are incredible!

Miracles have been everywhere. Serious it's insane. We had a man just walk right up to us and start talking, plus about 5 minutes ago someone just called us on the phone and asked to meet with us. This kind of stuff just doesn’t happen, but it is! We are working so hard right now to find all of the incredible people who are ready for this message! Me and my companion found this talk about purifying yourselves. It has been our goal this past week. We have fasted and prayed about the little things that we can give up and work on to truly purify ourselves. We want to be the best we can be so that we can truly devote 110% this next transfer. This leads me into my spiritual thought. Get ready for LOTS of scripture references! Read them along with it!

Spiritual Thought: What does it mean to be purified and how can we purify ourselves? Some synonyms that I found in the Scriptures were cleanse, refine, sanctification, and wash. In Mosiah 4:2-3 It talks what they did to obtain pure hearts....they humbled themselves and pleaded for mercy through the atonement. When they did this they were filled with joy and Peace of conscience because of their FAITH in Jesus Christ and furthermore their FAITH that they truly can be cleansed through Him. This taught me that the process of purification strongly involves repentance for what we are not doing correct and then having faith that Jesus Christ really can heal us. I see so many times that people claim to have faith in Jesus Christ....yet they dont believe in his Atonement. That truly mocks Jesus' very sacrifice to not believe he can heal you. If you have an issue in your life with having joy or peace of conscience, look for ways you can purify yourself. In Heleman 5:35, it discusses another people that did a very similar process to obtain purification of heart. It also answered how purification comes-it says it comes through yielding your heart to God. That is what faith is. That is what being humbled is. It is yielding your heart to God. Purification comes through Faith on Jesus Christ name. It says in Moroni 7:48 That we need to pray with all energy of heart. If we do this he will fill us with His love, which he gives to those who have faith on Him. We need to do this to truly understand our relationship with God. When I work to know my Father in Heaven, I gain understanding in my role as a Divine Daughter of God. Through that I then know what it really is for me to say I am a Child of God. This is how we become like Christ. Christ too was a child of God. He understood his relation to an almighty father in heaven. He always put the will of the father before his and yielded his heart to God.....that is what made him The Savior of the World. Yes he was perfect, but he was perfect through his unwavering knowledge of where he stood in relation to God and his faith that God knew best. So when we work hard to know our own standing, this is how we become like Jesus....this is how we see like he did and does, and this is how we obtain the hope that we too can be purified even as He is. This life is hard, but as we work to yield our hearts to the lord through faith, we can obtain a different viewpoint.....that viewpoint is lenses of more pure eyes. The more pure your eyes the more you can discern the spirit (D&C 131:5-8) With that spirit, it is promised in D&C 76-116-119, that he gives us seeing and knowledge to know for ourselves, power of manifestation that we may be able to bear his presence, and.....we will be glory, honor, and dominion forever to God and the Lamb. Wow. That is a powerful list! Through purifying ourselves we are promised that this is how we will be prepared to abide with Him when He comes again. I would like to bear my testimony of the power of purification. As me and my companion have been looking for the LITTLE things we can tweak to become better, the miracles have been poured out. I love studying the relationship that I have with my father in heaven, and through this study, my relationship and faith in Jesus Christ has increased. I pray that we can truly give our hearts to the Lord and let him make of us what we never could on our own. I know that this is the key to get through life with joy and peace of conscience. Life will be hard no matter what, but the journey can be enjoyable if we choose it.

I love all of you, and I pray for the people back home every day! I am so grateful for the blessings that my father in heaven has given me and for the immense humbling I have felt during my last week of focusing on purification. I hope this email finds all of you well!

 

Sister Linford

 

Kirche Jesu Christi

Sister Jessica Linford

Friedrich Str.14

18057 Rostock

Germany

Zone Training Meeting

Another picture posted of S. Linford on the mission blog by S. Kosak. You can see the whole post here.

Neubrandenburg ZTM

I'm hurr in Rostock!!

Hallo hallo! Another week come and gone! Well things have been quite different for me this week! I am now in Rostock!! New city, new companion, new ward, new everything! Rostock is VERY different from Dresden, but it still has the same German charm. I am right by the Baltic Sea and it is quite amazing! Thank heavens my new companion Sister Nielson is down to run every morning along the harbor.....it is so gorgeous! Rostock is going to be challenging, but I know this will be an incredible 6 weeks. President called me before I got there and said that he sent me here to "light it on fire". It is super hard leaving the program I had in Dresden to come to only having 1 investigator. Yep.....just one. But, we already have some big plans for how we are going to change that. Call me crazy, but I actually love coming into a city with nothing. It allows us to really get creative with how to help the church grow here. I am able to take a lot of what I tried in Dresden and what I have found works best and try to implement it here in Rostock. I know that we are going to see SO many miracles this next transfer. For some reason both me and my companion have the feeling I wont be here long, but I am going to do the very best with what I am given here. Okay onto my new companion. Um, can you say best friends? Sister Nielson hails from the state of New York. She is freaking hilarious! I dont know if I have ever laughed this hard! We get along so so so well. She is a hard worker too, we both are stoked for this transfer together. We call each other our "break" haha. Man I love her! She only has one transfer left after this one before she goes home. She is helping me out sooo much with the language! I am EXTREMELY behind where I should be with it too. She knows that and she knows her job this transfer is to help me learn the language and to basically train me how to train. She talks in German the entire day. She is so patient with me too. This is everything I needed. She really is such a stellar companion! Big things are going to happen this transfer!
Well this past week has been so crazy! Monday was such a long day! It was my last day in Dresden and we had so much to do! We had to divide all of our investigators up and have a big meeting with the Meissen sisters and the Dresden Elders and try and explain everything to them....stressful. Tuesday was a day spent mostly on a train! 7 hours by myself was sooo strange! That was the first time I have been alone in I don’t even know how long! Funny things happened along the way too. I had to get off at Berlin and take another train to Rostock, As I was waiting, a family runs up to me and ambushed me. They all were talking German 100mph and all at once. Haha I had no idea what to do. It felt like I was in 'My Big Fat German Wedding'. Before I knew it they were literally pushing me towards the McDonalds. When I said I wasn’t hungry and that I needed to get on my train....they would not have it, they just pushed harder haha. I quickly realized giving in would be the only solution. After they purchased me a McDouble they finally allowed me to run to catch my train. It was a riot! I only got 10min. with that family but it was fun to meet them! On the train to Rostock, I was sitting next to this family. The had a little boy who was 4years old. He took a particular liking to me and my hair. Yep he loved shoving his toys in my hair. Slightly strange I know, ha but it warmed his moms heart to watch me play with him. Long story short, I was able to give the whole first lesson to the mom and give the family a Book of Mormon! It was awesome! When I got off the train I was greeted my my new stellar companion, the two senior sisters serving in Rostock, and a member of the bishopric....they dont mess around here! ha. Wednesday we had one of the longest lesson of my life. In fact, I am confident that it was the longest. Rostock has had a crazy story this past few weeks. They met a Chinese student named Molin. They taught him the first lesson and he wanted to be baptized so bad. But.....he was leaving to go back to china 1.5week later! It was crazy but we were able to fit in 2 lessons this week where we taught him everything he needed to know! He only had 4 lessons total, but it was so incredible to see him  soak it all in! Even though he only had a week and half he really was so ready! He read so much of the Book of Mormon in that short of time. His baptism was on Friday! It was such a neat experience! Here in Rostock they dont have a church, they just rent space above a grocery store, so baptism are done in the ocean! SO PRETTY! I will send pics next week probably! A seal even swam over to watch the service :). Baptism the first week here is not a bad way to start out in Rostock! This week we have been focusing on seeing less actives because we have no investigators. One family in particular was a neat experience. Manpreet and Amanpreet, and the 2 kids. They are not actually related they are just friends from India, but they live together and took the lessons together last year. They were baptized last October by my home girl Kali Wakefield (hope life at home is treating you well Kayli!) Manpreet hasn’t been to church in 6 months, but after a way powerful lesson with her last week, we committed her to come to church! She not only came but she bore her testimony like we asked her to do! Oh my heavens it was so awesome! Then we went over last night and taught them how to have family home evening. It was so much fun! They cooked some dang good Indian food! My companion was dying, but I loved it! Any food other than German is a-okay by me :)! haha jk, the German food really is growing on me. Saturday we got to do a way cool service project! We went and did landscaping at a zoo!! So neat! It took us all day, but it was worth it! We did it as a zone. Which there is only like 16 missionaries in my entire zone? I came from a zone of over 50 in Dresden! But everyone is super great. I have an awesome district as well! I really have lucked out with the elders I have gotten to serve with! >Church was so different!! Because its a branch we only have church for 2 hours! I have to admit it was sooo nice haha. Sacrament meeting was so different! To only have like 18 people in a room when I am use to 120 is definitely strange! But it was really awesome at the same time, a very close-knit feel. I bore my testimony and it was just a really good day! Spiritual thought: I was thinking about integrity this week. What is it to really have integrity? It is more than just your character....it is the purity of your heart and mind. Integrity is having an absolute honesty with yourself, fellowmen, and God. It essentially is the very core of your human being. So it is our integrity that truthfully defines us. Which got me thinking how I believe integrity can furthermore be defined as being consistently honest and obedient. We all have been given temptations and trials in life, but we must convert those weaknesses one by one to righteousness. We need to look for and fix small changes in the things we do often. Consistent obedience will bring great improvement over time. There is power in steadiness and repetition. When you look to change your thoughts, words, or actions....then you change yourself.....which changes your life. This can go both in a good direction and a bad direction....so which way are you going? What is holding you back from making the little changes and being 100% dedicated? Heavenly Father wants to be with you....so be righteous and be consistent so he can be! Little changes will allow you to be honest with yourself and where you need to be in life. Honesty when in conjunction with consistency will increase your integrity and make your very core strong in the sight of God. This week has been a crazy busy one! Closing down Dresden, LOTS of traveling, a baptism to plan, a huge service project, and getting lost...a LOT haha has made it all zoom by. I have the strongest feeling that this really is where I am supposed to be. We have massive amounts of work to do to get this program built back up, but I wouldn’t choose anyone else to do it with than Sister Nielson. Life is good! That’s all there is to it! Thanks for everything, I love you all!

Sister Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Friedrich Str. 14
18057 Rostock
Germany