Driven To My Knees

My dearest Family and Friends,

Happy, happy November!! How can it already be November??

Sister Ahlm and I have stayed busy and anxiously in good causes throughout our week. We were able to say goodbye to a couple of the departing missionaries at the main train station before they left, just in passing through. It was kind of a weird moment for me recognizing the Sisters I came out with were leaving. It was a bitter-sweet moment and my heart this week has been full of gratitude that I have the opportunity to stay one more transfer.  Oh and guess what.....I'm officially the "oldest" (longest out) sister missionary in the mission!! (as far as mission time goes, that is.)

We met with Tenzin this week, and both meetings went very very well. He has the goal to be baptized in December, and we're doing everything we can as missionaries to help him reach that goal. Tashi, his wife, has no disagreements with him being baptized, and in fact, Tashi even sat in for a few mintues during one of our lessons! How much she really listened to, I'm not 100% sure, but we have a really good relationship with Tashi and have a solid foundation of trust. She even invited us to come over sometime to make Tibetian dumplings!

Bustling Busy and Beautiful Munich

Remember Hashim? Our super cool investigator from Somalia? We haven't had contact with him in the past couple months and we and the Elders were kind of bummed that he dropped off the planet and despite our best efforts we couldn't locate him. It just so happens that this week after going by on some less actives and getting just a little lost, Sister Ahlm and I hopped on the Ubahn to run into none other than Hashim! Because of his work schedule and because he got a new cell phone number, he had no way of contacting us and we had no way of contacting him! I was so grateful for even this small little miracle so that we can continue teaching Hashim.

We met with Sparks and Kai this week and had a fantastic lesson reviewing the Restoration. Sparks simply eats up the Book of Mormon, he absolutely loves reading in it. He even downloaded the LDS app onto his smartphone so he could read the scriptures and other Church materials while on the train going to school and work! He read the chapters we asked him to and beyond. In everything we ask him to do, he goes the extra mile! Kai is also a huge source of support to Sparks. Like I've said a thousand times, member-missionary work is the only way to go about this work! Sparks is going a thousand miles an hour to prepare for his baptism on the 29 of this month and smiling the entire way. Sparks is a perfect example of showing how the Gospel edifies and changes our lives for the better. 

As of late we've had the chance to make some visits to the older senior women in our ward. One of my really good friends I've made since being here in Munich is Schwester Seeber, a Swabian born and Swabian raised woman who has lived in Bayern with her husband for about 20 or so years. Bruder Seeber is nearly deaf and has many health problems, so he doesn't come to church very often. We had some "tee und kuchen" with the Seeber's one evening, and Bruder Seeber showed us all of his cool collections, which included model "old timer" cars (that's what Germans nickname vintage cars, "old timers"), beer coasters--Bruder Seeber has over 700, and old American stamps that date back from the 60's. Bruder Seeber gave Sister Ahlm and I each a model car from his collection to thank us for our visit. 

We began teaching a man by the name of Klaus this week. He was a referral from the Church. He watched a pretty interesting movie about the Mormons and in his curiosity he looked up our church on Wikipedia and found mormon.org. He loved so much what he saw there that he placed an order for a Book of Mormon, we got the referral the next day, and we met him two days later. Klaus grew up in a circus and is not super religious, but he says that he is on the search for hope and light in his life, hoping to turn his life around. Well, if anything can change anyone's life for the better, it would be the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We look forward to continue teaching him. (And whenever I say his name I can't help but smile. Such a great German name!!)

Herr Muanza is doing really well. We met with him with Sister Kohler as our joint teach, and we taught him about the Restoration of the Priesthood. Herr Muanza says he likes his church ward better, but he knows that everything we've taught him is the truth. We get the feeling he's scared and has some deeper concerns, and that's why he won't be baptized. We are still praying for him and hoping that he will have a change of heart. 

This week at District Meeting, I was really touched with our topic of prayer and answers to prayer. Elder Huff brought up a really good point when he mentioned that the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this magnificent gospel we have on the Earth today and everything that pertains to it, all began with one question. It all started with one simple, heartfelt question. When we sincerely desire to know something, and we turn to the Lord, He will bless us with an answer! He loves us THAT MUCH. No matter how great or how small our question may be, He will answer in His own beautiful way and in His own perfect time. I've seen that on my mission. There have been and there are things I greatly desire! I've seen the blessings of getting on my knees and simply asking. 

I love what President Abraham Lincoln once said,

"I've been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."

When life gets more than we can stand, don't forget that we can kneel. Some of the most powerful statements uttered are not in mighty speech, but in that of a whisper to the Almighty.

I love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week!!