An Amazing Week! 7/6/14

It was an AWESOME week. We were way busy. But it was awesome. So Monday like I said we had a lot of appts, so we had our PDay on Tuesday. We went down to Heidelberg cuz it's more tourist-y than Mannheim. Looked at some cool stuff, got some cool stuff. Nothing too exciting, but we hung out with the district, so it was really fun. Then we had a sleepover that night at our apartment because we had another ZOKO the next day! It was really cool. The new mission president is really nice. Basically it was him introducing himself and his family, and he stated his mission goals and his vision for what he wants the mission to be. It's really cool to see. We had a mix-up afterward with some of the people in our district afterward and ended up missing a lot of trains and stuff, so we got home a lot later than we wanted to and had to cancel an appt. :( That was stinky. But oh well. At least we were together, haha.

Thursday we were really really busy again with a lot of appts. This week was seriously a miracle week. We met with so many people, and so many people are making so much progress. Friday was the FOURTH OF JULY. It was good. Our investigator Sue has this huge blueberry plantation...thing that she basically has to run alone because her husband works a lot and they can't afford help, so Friday morning we went up there to help her pick blueberries so that she would be less stressed about Saturday. So we picked blueberries all morning on Friday. It was way fun, and they were sooo delicious. But we were really hot and sticky and tired afterward. Then we tried to visit some people who weren't home, then we got everything ready for the baptism on Saturday. So Saturday we played soccer, got ready, and then went straight to the church for the BAPTISM.

Sue came and was soooo cute and so excited. She saw her baptism jumper thing and put it right on and then

looked in the mirror and everything. It was so cute! She's adorable. Then, after dragging her away from some over-excited members who wanted to talk her ear off, we sat with her alone for a couple minutes and prayed and talked about how she was feeling. She was sooo prepared you guys. Her whole family came, too, which was also a miracle because she was afraid they wouldn't want to come. Her husband and son had found a lot of anti-Mormon literature online and were really skeptical. But they came! And her daughter came, too, which was awesome. I was kinda worried because it didn't look like a lot of people were going to be there, but, true German Mormon style, everyone showed up two minutes after it started. So there was a really good turnout. A couple people from the ward who were joint-teaches with us gave a talk about Baptism, and then she was baptized!!! It was so cool. Her now-home teacher baptized her. Then there was a talk about the Holy Ghost (obviously) and a couple testimonies from some convert women in the ward, because Sue really wanted some converts to bear their testimony about how the Gospel had helped them through their rough background. She wanted it for her daughter, because her daughter has been really struggling lately. Then Sue gave this AMAZING AWESOME testimony/talk. Seriously one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I wish I could have a copy of it. Sister Lehman and I have been debating on whether or not we should ask her to give us a copy, lol.

But basically it was so beautiful. She kind of gave a small life story and just told everyone how everything in her life led her to find the Gospel. She got really emotional during a couple parts, and I'm pretty sure everyone else in the chapel was in tears. Sister Lehman and I were, lol. But Sue was so amazing and bore her testimony about the Gospel and Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon. And she was like, 'I can't wait for what's ahead! There's so much--family history and temple work and all these things. I just can't wait!' The Spirit was SOOO strong. Afterward she was like, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen...HALLELUJAH!' It was the cutest sweetest thing ever lol! The Lord has been preparing this woman for years. She keeps talking about how the Gospel gives her the missing puzzle pieces and how everything is coming together. Every time we teach her a new concept like missionary work in the spirit world, she's always like, 'That is so COOL.' (Well, in German terms.) Sue has made my entire mission worth it. She is literally an answer to my prayers. On Sunday she was confirmed, the new Bishop gave her the Holy Ghost. It was also a really beautiful experience, and a lot of the ward members got up later and bore testimony about how touching the baptismal service was and how happy they were that Sue is a part of their ward. It was so amazing to see.

So. Yeah. It was a pretty good week, lol.

I guess that's the most exciting news from last week, haha. :) But this week is really busy, too. I have my EXIT INTERVIEW this week. That is so crazy. Sad to think that Sunday was my last Fast and Testimony meeting here. :( I forwarded my final flight plans because they still haven't fixed your email address. I emailed them once again and told them it was different. Also I'm sick again this week. That's stinky. Nothing too bad, but it's annoying. I remember my trainer was way sick pretty much our entire first transfer together. Sister Lehman keeps saying that my body is breaking down, haha. And just so you know, no, I don't feel trunky really. I don't know what to feel. Honestly most of the time I really feel as if I'm in the middle of my mission. It's only when I get emails about my plane ticket or get told my exit interview is this week that I remember that I really am at the end of my mission.