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
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