Mullet!

      Hallo Hallo! I hope everyone is surviving the tail end of February! I can't believe another month is almost gone.....whoooo where does time go?! I must admit though time does move a heck of a lot slower in Eisenhüttenstadt. Haha maybe its because there is no body that lives here, or that it is easily the ugliest place I have been to in Germany, or that we aren't exactly busy either (refer to the first point)....but days seem to go by insanely slow. Oh well, lets chat about the week, shall we!
      Last Monday, I finally caved. I have been avoiding getting a haircut here like the plague. I have seen many go really wrong and it has created quite a hesitation inside of me. Now, with having 2 native companions that can help translate, I finally decided that it just had to be done. ERROR: Germans don't know how to cut hair! I currently have a fetching mullet. It is wretched I wear my hair in a ponytail everyday and will continue to do this until the "layers" aka Mullet grows out a little more and I can get it fixed. My MTC companion made this comment when she saw it....."Ohhh, you um, cut your hair? Wow........who did this to you?!?!" hahaha AHHHH. No mom, there will be no pictures being sent home the next few weeks!
      On other fronts, we do teach a English class at our church. Every week we have about 8 people come, none of which are members of our church. It gives us a great opportunity to serve the community and build relationships with potential future investigators. I have never taught English before on my mission, but it is the funniest darn thing to hear the German accent speaking English for an hour every Tuesday night! I just sit and giggle to myself the whole way home. Last week we taught the words for Animals.....straight laughs.
      This week was another full of service projects. With our very small area, we try and get anything we can to help these people. We have moved some people, cleaned a basement, and even chopped wood this week! I absolutely love doing service projects!
      We got some interesting news this week....we will be moving apartments in a week and a half. I guess the plan is to eventually put elders in our apartment we are living in now, and move the sisters to the actual town of Eisenhüttenstadt. The new apartment is still only meant for 2 people, so it will still be the couch for me! This means for sure there will be no tri (3 in the companionship) next transfer.....thank goodness!
      Which leads me into companions. Well.....a tri has proven to be much more difficult than I thought. It is very difficult to please and focus enough attention on both companions at the same time..... I love both of my comps... However, I know that I am here for a reason. This is only for one transfer, and I guess that darn "Patience" word, is going to get some more practice in the remainder 3 weeks of this transfer.
      Onto the people we are working with! Well as I said last week, I am super impressed with the members here. This branch is tiny and had a measly 12 people at church yesterday, however, they are so strong. They are always willing to help. We had the funniest ever eating appointment yesterday. We just laughed and sang songs with a guitar.
      Marcel. Marcel is a less active, that has had some problems in the last few years. He came to church for the first time in a really long time my first week here. I was able to talk to him for about an hour after church and commit him to come to institute. ANd he came!! This was a huge step for him, and it was awesome to see him love Institute. Because our branch is way too small to have our own institute, we traveled the two hours into Berlin and went to the massive institute there. It was awesome!! Oh Berlin, how I love you! We have had the opportunity to come to Berlin a lot. We have DCM every week here, as well as a baptism last Saturday.
      The baptism was awesome! It was the elders from Marzan that had one. There is always the strongest spirit at baptisms! In fact one of the little girls felt the spirit so strong that it made her throw up.....multiple times. haha ask the missionaries right??? Yep, I had to clean up the throw up. If your wondering if the mission is changing me......here is your proof. I just wont be eating Bratwurst for a realllllyyyyyy long time!!
      This week we also had zone training in Berlin. This is where our entire zone gets together once a month. It is sooo fun to be in a zone with other sisters! I didn't have that for over 6 months!! There is a whopping 9 sisters in our zone currently! Partayyy. Sister Bohne my MTC companion is one of them. As well as the first 19 yr. old sister to touch down in Germany. Her name is Sister Sykes.....she is hilarious and I love her already. Good things are coming for this mission.
      Spiritual Thought: Today I wanted to discuss the term Consecration. WHat is it? I think that consecration is yielding oneself to God. Your heart, soul, and mind were the encompassing words of Christ as he gave the first great commandment (Matthew 22:37) Many ignore consecration because it seems too abstract or daunting. However, it is important and we must realize it is a journey. Spiritual submissiveness is not accomplished in an instant. It is made through stepping stones, which are meant to be taken one at a time. Yes, some may fear that stepping stones take you into a new territory in which we may be reluctant to explore. But, before enjoying the harvests of righteous efforts, we must align our will with Gods. God has given us our lives, our agency, our talents, and our opportunities.....so why don't we always believe him when he said, "My grace is sufficient for you...." (D&C 17:8) or believe his promise in Ether 12 where he said he will make weak things become strong?? As we develop additional love, patience, and meekness through taking the stepping stones, our wills can be "swallowed up by the father". Allowing us to receive all that the father has to give. (D&C 84:38). Are we willing to submit to this process?? The greatest happiness in God's plan is reserved for those who are willing to stretch forth and to trust in the journey.
      Thanks for all the love and support! I miss you all and pray for you every darn day! KEEP THE FAITH!!!
Sister Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Heilbornring 11
15234 Frankfurt Oder
Germany

My life with the Swissters

      Hello!! Another week down, another new crazy experience! I survived my first week in Eisenhüttenstadt! With every new area, it seems that life completely changes. Life in Eisenhüttenstadt has been different but great! Well I will start with explaining the area I am now in. We basically have two small towns we are in charge of. We live in one of the two called Frankfurt Oder, but our church is in the other which is of course Eisenhüttenstadt. We are in both nearly every day, which is challenging with travel time. The cities are about 50 minuites away from each other by bus and 25 minutes by train. Both towns are TINY. Haha I realized that I have never in my life spent more than a week in a place that wasn't a city.......well that's about to change isn't it!!
      Our living situation is also a tad tricky. My bed as well as my desk is currently our couch! Our apartment is not made for 3 sisters and nobody seemed to care -ha. So that will be interesting to be living out of a suitcase for the next 4 weeks. This transfer is only 5 weeks and I have been told there is a small chance that I will actually stay in Eissenhüttenstadt. I am just here to help our the sisters that are here and currently struggling.
      Which brings me to the next item of bidness, my companions! There is weird food in the refrigerator again, which means I am back to having a native companion.....2 of them! ;) They are awesome though. Sister Müller and Sister Schneider both come from Switzerland. They are both older than me in both age wise and mission time wise. Both of their English is insanely good, so no real miscommunication here. It has definitely been an adjustment figuring out how to work effectively with an odd number, but we are trying our best.
      This past week here has been pretty crazy. We have had to go back and forth to Berlin a few times. Berlin is about 2 hours away, so it has definitely eaten a lot of time. However, they were for good reasons. We went there for our weekly District meeting, institute, and last but not least Golden finding!! Golden Finding is the first night that new missionaries arrive we take them out and hit the streets talking to people! I still remember how terrified I was my very first few hours of being in Germany and having to go out and try and talk to people! I remember that night so clearly. And I got the joy to be apart of this night with the new sisters that came in this past week! I was assigned Sister Clark for the evening. She is such a cutie that hails from Ohio! She graduated from BYU and is hilarious. She is going to be an amazing sister! We were able to make out more appointments than anyone else there that night.....boo yeah! I love Berlin too much.
      This week has also been filled with service projects and getting to know all the members and investigators here. There isn't a ton of work going on in this area right now, but the people they do have are awesome! I hope that we can really put our experience to use in this companionship and bring some fire to this program.
      Sunday was awesome. Its always a little unnerving coming into a new ward. Especially because my German isn't very good. However, the branch although it may be small, is sooo awesome! Holy Cow! The members are so dedicated! That was something that was the struggle in my last area, and to see the difference makes me so excited to be able to get to know this people.
      Spiritual Thought: On one occasion an inquiring lawyer came to the Savior and asked, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” The Savior responded, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” This made me ask myself....so how can we show our love to God? We demonstrate our love by how well we serve our God. There is a spirit in serving God. This is the spirit of putting Him first in our lives. Though we may not necessarily forfeit our lives in service to our God, we can certainly demonstrate our love for Him by how well we serve Him. When we serve our God, when we love Him, He knows it, and He will take us by the hand and give us answers to our prayers.
      Thanks for all the love and support! I miss you all like crazy! KEEP THE FAITH
Sister Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Heilbornring 11
15234 Frankfurt Oder
Germany

Down Sizing

Hello Hello!
      I hope everyone had a fantastic week! This week was a big one with Transfer calls. Going into it, I was fairly certain I would be transferred. However, there is never a certainty to this bidness. Well the phone call rolls around and instead of doing it in a big conference call as normal, they now do it to the individual companionship's. It was Elder Bangater that called, one of the APs. He said, "I will start with Sister Linford. SIster Linford, you have been transferred! You will be going to Eisenhüttenstadt next Tuesday!! You will be in a drit(german for tri) serving with Sister Müller and Sister Schneider!" I was SHOCKED! That is the very last city I wanted to serve haha. It is THE smallest area. You can bike around the whole town in no time, so I hear. 4 of my 5 companions have served there and all they say about it is, "Ugh, that place is awful!" haha, but really all negativity aside, I am stoked! Plus, I have two Swiss companions! I know both of them well, and I am very excited to serve with them! It will only be for one transfer with new sisters coming in next transfer. I really am so excited to see what serving in a drit is like. It is also good for me (well maybe haha) to see what a little town is like. I am going to suprisingly an even smaller branch, however the members are famous for being incredible! Fun adventures will be had!!