160 mph

      I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving feasts and great sales! Oh how I miss both....I must admit the latter of the two gets me more excited though :). I would like to think that J.Crew was sad that I wasnt there this year. Although I didn't not have a Holiday this week in Germany, I have much to be thankful for! Everything is going so well here. My companion and I have gotten into a really great groove together and the work has never felt more enjoyable.
      This week I am warning this letter is going to be short and rather boring. Me and my companion got about 2 hours of sleep last night is all. There was a massive party in the apartment next to ours until 4am At first we were laying in bed loving life singing all the words to music we haven't heard in what feels like ages. And although I may have screamed in sheer joy as 50cent and Nelly came on.......after a few hours we just wanted the much needed shut eye. P day nap is going to be a must.
      I am excited to share some good news of the week.....we have two more baptismal dates!! Their names are Patrick and Charles! We are extremely excited to get them ready for such an amazing event in their lives :). The date that we set as a goal is December 29th. This is going to be a big month in Rostock! The average baptism in this city for the last 10 years, is one per year and I think we can get 3 or 4 this month hopefully :). So cool to be apart of! They are both really cool guys. They are roommates and it will be nice for them to have each other as a support through this whole thing. And of course they are English speakers!! Haha once again, I am now more sure than ever my mission was to come to Germany to find English speakers! We currently have 10 English speaking investigators haha. Everyone just shakes their head and says, "Sister Linford....I have no idea how you find them, but you are a magnet for English speakers!!" That's just how I roll.
      Anna is doing amazing! Wow she is a missionary's dream to teach. She is really soaking everything in and always has the best questions. She is even going to sing at our ward Christmas night this Sunday! We are excited to see her vocal stylings in action :).
      With this week being the first of the new transfer, we got to meet our new District leader. He is from Austria and is super nice. He is a transfer younger than me as crazy as that is, but I have been super impressed with him already. I am excited to get to serve with him. We also welcomed our new Zone Leader.....however, he is not new to me. Elder Riesen and me served in Dresden together my first 3transfers. He was the one who helped me plan all the fun pdays. He is stellar and I am exited to get to serve with him again as well.
      This week brought a unique experience. It wont exactly sound unique to most of you, if not all of you....but, I got to ride in a car this week!! Haha it has been SO long since this has happened! The only area in the mission that sisters get a car, just got shut down last week haha, so my dreams of not only riding in a car, but actually driving....just got shattered. Wow....18 months without driving might kill me, or my passengers when I finally do get behind the wheel again ha. Oh and yes I did drive on the Autobahn and we went approximately 160 mph. It was pretty freaking great!  
      Spiritual Thought: This week as we were teaching Anna the commandments, she gave a simple answer that has stuck with me for some reason. I asked her, "Why do you think that God gave us commandments?" Her answer was right on and ended with a sentence that was around, "so that you can become the person that you want to become." This is definitely not your typical answer involving safety or happiness....it is much deeper. Jesus asked a similar question. He said, "What manner of men ought ye to be?" Then answering his own question he said, "Even as I am." Jesus not only came to atone for our sins, he also came to show us the way. He is the way. You may not only become like Him, but everything is stacked in your favor to become like Him. Think of this life as a path on which you never stand still. As you move forward, you incorporate into your being the characteristics and qualities of God. As you move backward, you take on the qualities of Satan. Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every unfairness, sadness, tragedy, temptation, etc. all happens for one purpose only: to give you the opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus. As you do so you are changed to become more like Him. In short when you choose to follow Christ you move forward and assimilate attributes of light. However when you do not, you move backward and acquire attributes of darkness. So ask yourself, who do you want to become? What will happen if you don't plan? What will happen if you have no vision of who you want to become? There are two ways to evolve. Deliberately and accidentally. You can either decide who you want to become and deliberately work towards that, or you can just go with the flow and become whatever life makes of you. Whatever you become accidentally, it will not be nearly the full measure of your potential. Choose deliberately to move forward towards light and you will choose intelligence, strength, capacity, peace, contentment, grace, power, happiness, mercy, and every other good thing.
      This next week should be rather exciting. We have Zone Conference in Berlin! We haven't had a Zone Conference in SO long and they are everyone's favorite....plus, its our Christmas one! The mission gets split in half and there is two different ones.....which means I get to see half the sisters! Couldn't be more stoked about that! Also, I may get to go to a baptism in Dresden! I am really hoping my Mission President will allow this to happen. Melanie means the world to me, and being there for her baptism is something that I would remember forever. So cross your fingers with me :). Thanks for all the wonderful support! I love each of you! I hope you have a fantastic week, bis nächste montag!
Sister Linford

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