Pancakes!

      Hallo! Well I think i jinxed the sunshine.....darn it! haha we are back to freezing temperatures and snow here in Germany! However, spring is just around the corner hopefully and that gave me a little preview into the good things to come. Last week for Pday, we enjoyed some of the wonderful things that Berlin has to offer! We went shopping, and boy do they have stores here!! Its heaven. Both my companions are all for looking too, so we loved it! (Maybe too much, because we are doing it again today haha) We also played soccer with our Zone. It was a blast! It got topped off by a fantastic family home evening with my favorite members watching The Best Two Years.....um straight laughs. This is a movie that would not have caught my interest at all before the mish.....but it is SOOOO true. That stuff really happens. I LOL ed through that whole darn movie.
      Tuesday brought the adventure of this little town called Seelow. Its a little town tucked away, 50 minutes from us. We made out an appointment for a man that lives there so we figured we would make the travel time worth it and do some other work there as well. After being there all day we were starving. As we were walking down the street my companion all of the sudden yelled, "ICE CREAM!!" It was warm that day.....and there was, yes, an ice cream stand. It was heavenly. We just ate our ice cream with the sun in our eyes, and all of us wearing goofy grins. The little town of Seelow was good to us that day.
      This week was the week of the "big move". It was time for us to move from the apartment in Frankfurt Oder, to the little town of Eisenhüttenstadt. It is not fun packing up an entire apartment and moving into another one in just a measly few hours! It was exhausting! The church is keeping both apartments and rumor has it that elders will eventually be moving into the apartment in Frankfurt Oder. Our new apartment is....quaint haha. Well, it is TINY. Nice yes, but tiny. It doesn't even have an oven sadly! Plus, I have been downgraded from the couch, to the floor. At least its only for one more week!
      Speaking of which, transfer calls are this week!! I am soooo stoked to see what happens! Our drit will definitely be split up, which will be good. Apparently all of us will be training. I have no idea if I will be staying here, or going somewhere else....only time will tell! Can you believe I only have 3 transfers left??
      We have still been working a lot with part member families. We are trying to figure out what the problem is and create plans to over come them. It is been an amazing week with some of them, and I really think we can see some turn arounds in a least one or two of them. This week also brought the return of Ping Pong!! haha oh the sports here are so weird. I must admit it definitely was not as fun as Rostock, but it still was a great night! We had 4 investigators there and a few members. For this little area, that is really good! Hopefully we can continue to build this up every Saturday evening!
      Well I don't have much time today unfortunately to tell you about everyone we have been working with, but I will just tell you about my favorite people here in Eisenhüttenstadt. Ola and Ahmed come from Egypt. They have an amazing story that is known mission wide of them converting from the Muslim religion. They are in their 30's and both doctorate students. She is the relief society president and he is in the bishopric as well as our ward mission leader. We get to work with them often and I LOVE LOVE LOVE being with them. They are honestly some of the most incredible people I have ever met. You immediately feel right at home with them. Just as the Preets were my family in Rostock, Ola and Ahmed, are no doubt my family here. They make Eisenhüttenstadt worth it, because I know we have a friendship that will last the test of time. Plus, they made me pancakes last night haha....wow I didn't know how much I missed freaking pancakes!!!!
      Spiritual Thought: If our desire is to discard all doubt and abide in faith, we have to accept the invitation found in James: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and abraideth not; and it shall be give him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."  This promise motivated a young man to seek God in prayer. Just as with Joseph Smith, our prayers must be offered in faith, nothing  wavering. It was by faith, nothing wavering, that the brother of Jared say the finger of God touch the stones in response to his plea. It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Noah built an ark in obedience to a command from God. It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Abraham was willing to offer his son Issac as a sacrifice. It was by faith, nothing wavering, that Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the red sea. Now the skeptic, may say  that these mighty accounts of faith occurred a long time ago and times have changed. But have times really changed? Don't we today, as always need the Gods divine and protecting care? Don't we need his mercy? Times have no really changes. Prayer continues to provide power-spiritual power. It continues to provide peace-spiritual peace. "There is a golden thread that runs through every account of faith from teh beginning of the world to the present time. Abraham, Noah, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and countless others wanted to be obedient to the will of God. They had ears that they could hear, eyes that could see, and hearts that could know and feel. They never doubted. They trusted."
      I miss you all! I hope everything is going well back in the states! Have a great week and always KEEP THE FAITH!!
Sister Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Glashütten str. 1
15890 Eisenhüttenstadt
Germany