Hallo,

Sorry this is a little later than normal! We had a fun time with our district in Reine at the Zoo. It was pretty fun we got to see a sea lion show and also we got to play with some monkeys. t. However it was fun and then we realized that we had a 45 min walk and only 30 mins to get to the train station so we ran there... I was a hot mess on the train it wasn't fun and I felt like I was going to die. I think ladies can definitely say that running in boots is an adventure.

So this week was full of Miracles. To start off we had such a fun time last Monday in Hannover. I got to see some cool sites and then we got to meet with some really cool people. One of the best things about exchanges is that we get to learn from other people about how to be better missionaries. I learned so much from sister Larte. She really reminded me of Sister Molinari. She is totally the Blake version of Kirstin. It was so much fun. One thing I really took from her was how to be a more personable missionary. Then on Tuesday we found out sister Blake and Sister Kenecht didn't make the train. So they ended up coming in an hour late and we ended up getting home around 10:00pm haha! Everyone was really excited to see that we were alive the next day.

Wednesday was my birthday and seriously that was so much fun. Sister Blake and the Elders and the Ward are the best. To start off she made me pancakes in the morning then she surprised me with a few things one of them being the package that Mom and Dad sent. Thanks By the Way I love everything that was in it. The cloths fit great and the Candy is schon gone! haha Oreos I am trying to save they are my fav. Anyways yes that morning was a blast then we had district meeting and the zone leaders were there and that was fun too. We ate some cake afterwards! YUM oh ya mom you would be proud to know that I also made you mayo cake for later that day it was super yummy and everyone loved it. We had some great lessons and then we met by the church for a surprise birthday party for me! YAYa my branch is awesome Then Bruder Habermann showed me the video from you! Loved it.  It made my night! Seriously spending you birthday in the service of God is totally worth it! lol. The rest of the week went great too!! We had some pretty amazing miracles happen as well. One of them being Martina. She has been on vacation for the last month and we have no way to contact her. We didn't know when she was coming back and we were really worried that she was going to go back to China before we could see her again. However this week we just prayed and prayed and finally we went by on her on Thursday and she was there! She had just gotten back that Morning and She still is planning on getting baptized this weekend! So we are just praying nothing comes up and she can make the date! She is amazing and I know if she does get baptized she will be such a blessing the people in China. We have so many other amazing miracles that happened this week however Leider I don't have time to write them all! I am just so thankful that I get to see all the wonderful blessing that comes from being a missionary.

This week I read a talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave to the mission presidents this summer! It is called Fear not I am with the. It was amazing and I felt Like it was just for me. It was about Missionary work and not being Afraid. He talks about peter and his growth in being a disciple of the Lord. Then compared how our testimonies and work needs to be. It really touched me Everyone should try to find it and read it. I love this mission and being a missionary. Sorry I wish I had time to write more but hopefully next week. Also Read this scripture 3 nephi 5:13

Love you all

Sister Toma  

Miracles of this week

Guten Morgen Freunde und Familie,

So this week is for sure been an interesting one. I don't have a lot of time though because sister Blake and I will be heading on a train to Hannover for the day. We are going on an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders but the only day they could do it was on our pday! The fun part is it is another sisters birthday so we will be doing something really fun with them, like going on paddle boats??? So to start off I will talk about all the wonderful Miracles of this week. I have been trying really hard to keep up on this journal and so far I am failing! haha This week though I have set some pretty high goals on how I will make sure it happens every day. So one super great miracle this week was we went out to a members home to eat. By the way these members are Russian! The food was super weird however I ATE IT! that was a miracle in and of itself. HAHA The other horrible thing was all their dishes were dirty so I was eating off a dirty plate and spoon! Gross. Sister Blake tried this really nasty fat stuff and It was just covered in salt. Pretty much everything was bread and cheese and meat. haha! Oh yes they also brought out some fish that was the grossest part of it all! MMM yummy. Anyways right before we went inside we went to go check the bus times however sister Blake checked the wrong time. haha so we were stuck there for another hour before our next bus came. Anyway we decided we would go talk to some people and we ended up meeting this lady who was walking with her Grand kids. It was pouring rain outside but we just walked with her and made out and appointment to see her on Friday. She seemed really excited about it and I am totally stoked to go see her next week. So in the End I am pretty sure that we were supposed to be there in that moment and not on a bus home. Pretty cool.

We also had some crazy times this week. Well first off it is only 50 degrees here in Germany! Ugh normally I am sitting out in the sun or in the pool this time of year, but now I am wearing tights and a coat! Holy moly! haha. Anyways we went to visit a member who is really struggling with some personal issues! We decided to have a meal with her however when we showed up she was crumpled on the ground crying! We didn't know what to do and she was talking about all the crazy theories she had about our town sinking into the ground and that she has to move away because we are all going to die! The worst part was she was crying and crying and crying. Anyways she begged us to read something and finally she calmed down a little, however sister Blake then told me to start making some food and she would go in the bathroom and try to call a member to come and help us. When she did that this lady got up and said I need to go on a walk and I will be back in 10 mins just stay here. So we did we finished the food and sat there for an hour. She still was gone and we had no idea if she had taken her key or anything with her. Then we decided to stay because we didn't know if she was able to get back in. We did weekly planning and stayed there for 4 hours. Still not home finally we had to go because we had other appointments. We then got a call about 2 hours later that she was home safe. Mine Gute! That was sure an interesting day. However Something really fun about this week though is that we were able to Austausch with the sisters in Bielefeld! That means I got to see sister Wilson Again! so great! We only got to see each other for like 5 seconds but hey it was pretty great! I also got to know sister McBride and she is pretty cool too! We got to teach Family Kareem about Eternal Families and about the Temple! It was an awesome lesson! They really love their family and I can tell that really helped them. The Only thing that went horrible was is we missed our buss and didn't get up getting home until 10pm that night! What an adventure!

Oh we also got Darlene to come to church yesterday which was Amazing. That was the first time since I have been here that she has come to church! YES! Oh another cool miracle is that last Sunday we had an awesome appointment with Samuel at Bruder Habmermanns and President Habermanns! We taught the Doctrine of Christ and read 3 Nephi 11 and Samuel asked the best question ever! How much do I have to know before I will get baptized!! well let me tell you not that much! He is getting baptized here in a couple of weeks! And martinia should be home this week so that means next week she will be getting baptized! I am so excited for her!

Oh we also did a really cool project this week! We decided to draw the plan of salvation on the sidewalk for everyone to see! It turned out really cool and now we will be doing that every two weeks!

Well that was really all this week! Life here is great! I love it! I love being a missionary!

PS everyone that can watch the patterns of light by Elder Bednar! They seriously are so good! You can learn so much.

I hope everyone has a good week!

Love You all

Sister Toma

Noticing more of the blessings and miracles in my life

Guten Morgen Everyone,

So this really was the week of great miracles for me. It is interesting because I have been thinking about how I can be a better missionary.. or a happier one and it dawned on me that I needed to notice more of the blessing and miracles in my life. As a missionary I think we start taking little things like that for granted. I started keeping a journal and I started noticing how much more grateful I was. Also I have been trying to serve a lot more this week! It really helps just like Moroni says, Charity is the Pure love of Christ.

First off I just want to say that Germany is beautiful! We were traveling out to an investigator the other day and it just really hit me how cool it is here! I am so blessed!

So I don't have much time to today however I would just like to share a few of my wonderful experiences this week.

a brook in Branilburg! So beautiful there!

One to start off we had a great family home evening last Monday with a less active. She invited everyone over to come and play a game and have a lesson.  It was great.  We invited Samuel. He is from Ghana, and the less active lady Schwester Agbohda is also from Ghana so it was perfect. We had a blast though and taught a little lessons about the 10 commandments. Then on the way home we ran into this little girl who was crying and running around. She was lost and everyone on the street was saying she had been running around for about 30 min. As sisters we can't pick up little kids however Samuel just ran over there picked her up and helped her find her way home it was so awesome. I am glad that we were there. Then another really cool experience this week was there was a lady,  Frau Fritz that we met doing doors one day and she told us she didn't have time to meet but that we could come back in about three weeks. So we did come back and she was surprised to see us however she was happy to meet with us again and we made out an appointment for this week. It was awesome too when we showed up her son was also there. To start off as we started to get to know here she went into this story about how she knew who we were because a few year ago she was in America and she had visited temple square. She said that she just had this super great feeling there and that when we showed up to her door she just couldn't say no! WHAT? DREAM seriously.. here goes out to all those temple square sister missionaries for doing your job! Hopefully she wants to continue to learn.  She is pretty cool and she loves to speak English with us.. like everyone in Germany.. lol. Seriously one of the highlights of my week was church. We had four investigators come to church! It was crazy but amazing and I just was so happy that they were there.. I know for all you South American missionaries that isn't that many but hey for us here out in Europe that is progress! lol however seriously what a blessing. Church is seriously so important and I just know that it really helps the testimony of these people grow so much faster!

The year old potatoes!

Okay here we go now for the funny story of the week!

Sister Blake and I were baking some food for some of our converts and as I was walking into the kitchen I noticed these little things poking out of the top of our cupboard. I had never noticed anything before so I climb up on a chair to see what it was. We found potatoes that  seriously I think a year old! So GROSS however because we are both short we never noticed! here are a few pictures for all of you!

Well that is it for this week!

baby bird we rescued

Spaghetti Ice Creamm... dont worry they are not noodles 

I love being a missionary! Have a great Week

Sister Toma 

Guten Morgen!!

Well here we are already August? I can't believe it? Hey I would be finished with a semester at school by now! This week went by pretty slow though! Nothing too eventful to report about! Last week I talked about a little family that come from Spain! When we met them they were great and the man of the house had so many questions that seemed so similar to Joseph Smiths questions! We had a sister from our ward come teach with us because she can speak Spanish and we were all seriously crying because the spirit was so stron during the first lesson! However when investigators don't read or pray they cannot grow! We saw this week with some of our investigators!

On the bright side MY BIKE IS FINALLY FIXED! We took it to a bike shop and they said that they found glass in the tire! (all those beer bottles on the side of the Road)...Just another great blessing we will have in the second coming! Not more broken beer bottles on the side of the road! lol

So this week was really a test of how we could use our time! Since I have been here in Germany we have had pretty full and busy days every day. This week however we literally had no appointments planned for the whole week! Let's just say we had a lot of time to go street contacting! It was great though because we got to meet a lot of cool people! No one really wanted to meet with us but it is always great because you get to bare testimony of what you know to them.

We also said goodbye to Quan Quan this week! She went back to China on Friday. It was really sad and when we asked her if she wanted someone to come by and visit her from the church in China she said no! However she has now the foundation to find out for herself whether or not the church is true! I only hope that she takes the opportunity to do it!

Okay so to be completely honest I don't think we have 1 investigator that is actually German. All of them are from another country. It is fun, however at the same time it can be a little hard for them to come to church and stuff. Recently we have been teaching a lot of people from Africa! They are great because they believe everything that we say! haha however the problem is, is that whenever we make appointments with them they always fall out! So we have yet found the Perfect family! The wife is from Poland and her husband is from Africa. He believes anything and she is responsible with her time! Yes it all works out! They are amazing and they have two little kids Adam and Anna who are the cutes babies ever! This week we read a story with the from the Book of Mormon to help them want to read more in the Book of Mormon! It was so much fun! We read the story of Ammon and King Lamoni! They really loved it and learned so much from it! Just about praying and having a testimony and how we can gain testimonies! The Book of Mormon really is your greatest tool along with the Spirit in helping people come near to Christ! We really can't do it on our own!

This week I have also been spending a lot of time in the Book of Mormon. We are reading it together as a mission and right now I am in Mormon. It is so sad to me how fast the hearts people can change so fast! We really have to continue to work on our faith every day. It can't just be a onetime thing! In German it is Bis ans Ende Ausharen. or Enduring to the End! When we do this we can continue to grow in our faith and become more like Christ! If we don't continue to pray, read in our scriptures, go to church every Sunday and focus our thoughts on our Savior our hearts will begin to change fast and dwindle in unbelief! As a missionary we have to spend so much time in the scriptures and in prayer however even then if we are not doing things to help our testimony grow then things will start to get hard really fast!

Always remember the Savior and remember that we can Always rely on our Heavenly Father to help us with anything!

Ok Now for the funny stories of the week!

We have a ton of fruit flies out here! Seriously it is so gross! The other problem is, that we have to separate our trash! It causes more problems in my mind! So yet these fruit flies decided to make a little home in our Bio Mule! Or Biodegradable trash and We found little presents all over our floor and trash can one morning! It was seriously the most disgusting this I have ever seen! Little White Larva everywhere! Yummy!! So we enjoyed cleaning that up and the other great part was that right above our trash was a sticky fly catcher and as I was coming up from sticking something in the trash can All my hair got stuck to this thing with 500 flies attached to it! I was seriously freaking out, while sister Blake was laughing her head off! Then for the rest of the day I had sticky hair! So let's just say I caught all the bugs in Osnabruek in my hair that day! Later in the week we were going door to door and people here don't really trim their plants or take out their weeds! As we were turning a corner on a house my arm brushed up against a plant! All the sudden I start to feel this sticking pain on my arm and look down a realize that I am leaned up against a stinging nettle  plant!! Ahh Let's just say that my arm was read and puffy for the next couple of hours! Luckily it was too bad.

Well that is it for this week! Love you all Hope you all have a great Week!

Liebe

Sister Toma

I'm staying in Osnabruek

So I guess you already know from the subject heading, however Yes I will be staying here in Osnabreuk for another Transfer. I am totally stoked I really do love it here, even though it isn't very big and there are not a lot of cool things to do and see. I am just grateful that we have work and really I think the people here are so nice. I have heard about some other areas in Germany where the people are not good to the missionaries at all.

 This week was pretty interesting. I had my first Exchange. It actually went really well. We were late to a few appointments however we made it to all of them and I got my way around the city all by myself! YES! It was good though on our exchange we actually exceeded most of our goals and hopefully we can add a few new investigators to our teaching pool.

Anyways one really cool miracle that I say this week was my bike is always broken and so finally this week we bought weekly bus cards. So we were riding the bus and we say this mom and her daughter.. here in Germany you are not supposed to talk about religion on the buses, trains or bus stops. Anyways we just say them sitting there all cute and didn't really thing anything more about it. 2 days later we were riding the bus home and saw them again. Sister Blake saw them getting off and told me to hurry and get of at the same stop? I was so confused while our house was like 2 or 3 stops away. She then whispered to me and to go and talk to the girl and her mom. It was awesome though because we made out an appointment and then now her whole family is taking the discussions. It is Awesome they come from Spain in and really I can see how the Lord has already been preparing these people to learn more about the Gospel. The best part is they come from Spain and they speak Spanish.. It is so fun to hear them and it reminds me of Hunter and I wish he could be here to translate for us haha. Although we have a sister in our ward who is 1/2 Guatemalan and she can Spanish pretty well and she help us in the lessons. Anyways I am just so grateful that we found this family.

This week we also had an Ausstellung I don't know what you would call it in English, but maybe a table display? anyways We traveled to Badbentheim a little city right on the border of Germany and the Netherlands. It was so beautiful and I wish that I would have taken more pictures. There is a really Old cool looking castle there and so maybe hopefully this transfer or the next if I am here we can go back and I can take some more pictures. This town though is tiny and most of the people there were just walking around in circles so It was like we were talking to the same people over and over and over again. It was also pouring cats and dogs so that didn't help lol. It was really good the I got to practice and a lot of Germans couldn't believe that I could speak so well for only being here for a month and a half.

Oh fun news for the week Elder Bednar is coming next month! Whoo hoo I am totally excited and also we all get to travel to Berlin for the Day.

I miss you all tons and tons! Have a great week!

Liebe

Sister Toma