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/
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
No comments:
Post a Comment