6 Monate - WHAT? (Week 27)

These were taken the day we took Mariah to Utah, for the MTC.  Michelle DuBois was getting chemo and we popped in for a quick visit and hug goodbye.  We will all be forever grateful for that time. Michelle worked her magic, encouraging Mariah and talking her through any doubts or concerns she had.  #welovemichelle

May our lives be filled with more "Glad I Did" moments than "Wish I Had"'s

Liebe Familie,

I can't believe it's already been six months.. And at the same time, I
can. Time is such a weird thing. I am so SO thankful to be here. I am
thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who know me, loves me,
challenges me and blesses me.

We saw lots of little miracles this week! I was feeling a little
discouraged and was wondering why I haven't seen many miracles. I
realized it is because I haven't been looking for them. I prayed all
week to be able to recognize all the ways that Heavenly Father is
blessing me, and it was really amazing.

On Tuesday, we went by on a former investigator and they let us in and
invited us back! They are an older couple; the Frau is German and the
Mann is from Haiti or something. We also went by on another former
friend of the church and she answered the door and told us today was
not a good day. Her mother had recently passed away and she had just
found out that her best friend's son passed away. She teared up and I
felt so much love and compassion for this woman. We told her that we
would pray for her and gave her our card, which I realized later said
"Familien sind ewig."

We had Zone Training Meeting this week. Our Zone Leaders did an
activity to show the importance of family history work. They had one
room of people who had known about and done the homework, so they got
to relax and eat chocolate. Then in the next room, a couple elders and
I who hadn't known about the homework got to do a 7 minute workout (a
workout app on the iPad)... (So we did crunches, push-ups and wall
sits in our church clothes - their suits and my pencil skirt.) The
other group sat around while one Elder tried his best to fish our
names out of a huge bucket of names and take them to the temple, so
that we could "upgrade" to the hangout and eat chocolate room. Haha.
It took a while. We did the whole thing again, but this time, all of
the 3rd group helped and it didn't take long at all for them to find
all of our names. The point was that when one person is trying to do
all the temple work, it takes forever, but when we all work together,
it is so much easier and better. There are people who are waiting for
the blessings of salvation who just need our help to do it for them.

We klingled a lot of buildings this week.. Most of the people are
pretty nice, but not always interested. We met this cool lady who just
moved from Venezuela to Germany 6 months ago. Later in this week, we
met a very friendly (very Catholic) Polish man. He was not at all
interested in changing his beliefs, but we had a nice conversation
about why we were here as missionaries and what our church believes.
He told us we should find some handsome Ausländer Jungs to marry...
Haha, nein. We also met this little girl on the bahn (she was
traveling with her mom and aunt, who are Muslim and from Turkey). She
was 7 years old and stared at me the whole train ride. She kept asking
me questions and complimenting me. I asked her about her family and
showed her pictures of mine. :) She's my new little friend.

We met with Schwester Heumann again. We taught her about God's plan
for us and why we are here. We also met with another former friend of
the church with the Senior couple missionaries in our ward, the Gills.
We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, how it was written by
ancient prophets and about people from thousands of years ago for us
and for our time, and how we can learn about Jesus Christ from it. We
also talked about how everything builds on the Book of Mormon, because
if it is true, then Joseph Smith was truly a prophet of God and he
translated it by the power of God. That means that this is the true
church on the Earth. The Book of Mormon is a challenge, and invitation
to find out for yourself. Moroni 10:3-5 promises us that if we read it
and pray about it with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in
Christ, we will know for ourselves that it is the word of God. I love
the Book of Mormon.

I was sad to hear about Michelle and I definitely cried. She is such a
special person to me. I won't see her again for this life. But I know
that I will see her again. I know that because of Jesus Christ we will
all be resurrected. This gospel brings me so much hope; Jesus Christ
brings me so much hope. He is the promise that we will live again,
that death is not the end. I was reading a talk from General
Conference this week called "And there shall be no more death".
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/and-there-shall-be-no-more-death?lang=eng
His daughter lost her fight with cancer too. But she knew (and I know
Michelle knew) that Jesus Christ is the source of healing, both for
our physical bodies and our spirits. She said, "... someday I will be
healed and someday I will be whole. Someday I won’t have any metal or
plastic inside of me. Someday my heart will be free of fear and my
mind free of anxieties... But there is a cure, so I’m not scared.
Jesus has already cured my cancer, and yours. … I will be better."
Sometimes our 'cancers' are not just physical. Sometimes it is the
pain and heartbreak of losing someone you love. Sometimes it is
feeling of complete inadequacy. Sometimes it is hopelessness. Whatever
it may be, I believe with all of my heart in the power of Jesus Christ
to heal what has been broken. I don't understand it completely, but I
know we can trust Him. He was broken by the weight of the world, He
endured all so that we don't have to bear our burdens alone. I love
Him. I am so thankful for this chance I have to preach of Christ, to
learn of Him and to follow Him.

I love you. I hope you have a great week.
Sister Simpson

P.S. Today we were interviewed by the local newspaper.. (Set up by our
ward publicity chairman, or something like that). There's a young man
in our Gemeinde who goes to his mission in England this week, so it
was us 3.. Thank heavens he was there. :)

picking blackberries today on the side of the road (yay for a tall
companion who can reach them.. Haha:)

Zone Training Versammlung

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Bückeberg (eine kleine Stadt in unser Gebiet)

Bückeberg (eine kleine Stadt in unser Gebiet)