It is amazing how much the Lord prepares His children

Hallo meine leibevoller Geschwestern.

How is everyone doing this wonderful fall week?

Is it starting to get cold there. Mom loved your email this week about the fireside and props to the Sisters for getting investigators to come that is amazing. Also holy moly I can't believe Braden is a full blown driver now. It makes me feel so old. Actually the other day we were coming home from an eating appointment with the Elders and we got on that topic. Ok I am 3 years older than everyone in my district.... unbelievable haha. Anyways I am glad for the emails this week and I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I love getting your inspiring messages and thoughts. They fill my spiritual bucket. Oh ya and to answer Elder Toma's question about me training, I am training and it is sooooo fun. :) I love it.  Seriously Sister Egbert is soo much fun. I think we laugh too much and probably have too much fun. However it really is helping us stay motivated to find new investigators.

This week we have see miracles. It's so cool.

This week we have been going through the area book because I haven't met with most people that are in the area book. So we decided to call a few. I remember Sister Blake telling me a story about a woman they were meeting with back in February. Her name is Eva and she is from Bulgaria. She came to church one day with her uncle and then started meeting a little with the sisters. She started reading in the Book of Mormon and the sisters even got her on a baptismal date. Then they lost contact with her because she went back to Bulgaria. About a month later they saw her on a bus and had a good talk when Eva told them that she had read the entire Book of Mormon and still wanted to get baptized. However after that she went back to Bulgaria again and they were never able to get in contact with her. That was back in March. Since then they would call her every few weeks and unfortunately they never met with her at her house so they had no idea where she lived. Sister Blake talked about her all the time and said it was sad she was leaving because even if I saw her I wouldn't recognize her.

Well the other day like I said we were looking through our former investigators and I just got a feeling I Should try to call Eva. So I did, she didn't answer, however I was expecting that the sisters haven't been able to get a hold of her for over 6 months.  Sister Egbert and I were heading out to an appointment when all the sudden the phone started ringing. I looked at it and it was EVA!!! what so I answered it and talked to her and she remembered us and everything thing. She explained everything and said that she is living in another town but fortunately that town in still in our area. YES we set up an appointment and we will be meeting with her this week. So pray that it goes through.

So many other little miracles happened this week as well and I just feel so blessed. It is amazing to me how much the Lord prepares is children.

We did some fun activities this week as well. One thing that we started doing is drawing on the sidewalks with chalk.. the plan of salvation and other cool stories and lessons from the Book of Mormon. It is really fun and we are going to start doing it with our investigators and new members. So many people come by and just wonder what we are drawing. Great way to find investigators.

Ok so here is my funny/don't freak out mom story of the week.

So sister Egbert loves the ice cream here. It is actually pretty funny. So she had been begging me all week to get some ice cream, so finally on Friday night I caved and we went and got some ice cream on our way home. As we were walking and laughing and talking I turned around and saw this really creepy dude in a trench coat walking behind us. I thought to myself.. hmm that guy looks pretty scary I hope he isn't fallowing us. So we kept going. Sister Egbert then turned to me and said um sister Toma I think someone is fallowing us... sure enough I turn around and the guy was still behind us. we then started to walk a little faster and caught up with some boys who looked like they could be 17 or 18 and asked if we could walk with them for a little bit. So we walked with them for about five minutes to see if the guy would leave. We turned around one more time and he was gone... We totally thought we were in the clear. We said goodbye to the boys that let us walk with them for a few minutes and kept on walking home. About 2 minutes later sister Egbert turned around and saw the guy again fallowing us. Finally we started booking it..I wish that I could of had a video of us running with a bucket of ice cream in skirts in the dark.. hahaha... People on the street were probably laughing their heads off. Now that I think about it was soo funny. however at the time sister Egbert and I were freaking out. P.S. mom don't worry this is my first scary experience.. and we were safe about it and made it home safely. We actually lost him after about 10 minutes of running.  I know that heavenly father protects his missionaries. I am grateful for the protection and I am grateful that we were able to make it home safely.

Well family that is all for this week.

I love you so much I love being a missionary and I love Germany.

Liebe

Sister Toma

WOW! What a week!

Hallo Jedes dass meine emails bekommen. ;)

Sister Toma and Sister Blake

WOW! What a week. Well I hope everyone is doing well, I really want to thank everyone for the encouragement that you give me. It is amazing how much a little email can help. Well Last Monday sister Blake and said goodbye to everyone and we had a really fun Essens Termin with Schwester Wenke and Bruder Altmann. They made us Yummy Traditional Deutsch Essen. And Rotkhol! haha not my favorite however not too bad. Then On Tuesday Sister Blake and I woke up early and headed out to Berlin. When we got there I only had a few mins to say goodbye :( however we knew that it would only be till the next day. HAHA. Then I went and stayed in Langfitz (Berlin). That is the area and ward where President Kosak lives. It was fun and the sister there were really cool I learned so much from them.  And I got the wonderful experience of eating Liver!! YUM!!!! I would say it was a once in a life time experience because I don't think I want to ever eat it again. However we had a great lesson with her about the restoration. :)

On Wednesday I got to meet all the new missionaries. . . even though I wouldn't get my new missionary till the next day. However I got to go new missionary finding with Sister Reed and that was really fun. I did get to see sister Blake that day too haha. I also got to spend the whole day with sister Larte. Love her.   I'll miss her as my STL. The next day we got up early and went to go get our new companions. As we waited and waited finally they called Sister Egbert, you will be serving with sister Toma and Osnabrück!! YA!! It was so great I ran up and gave her a big hug! The anxiety was over! We took our picture said goodbye to everyone and headed to Haupt Bahnhof. However we got on the wrong train and become lost! Because I have no idea where I am going in Berlin haha. Luckily we made it to Haupt Bahnhof just in the nick of time to catch our train back to Onsabrück, where we would stay for the next 10 hours.  lol

When we got back we finally got in contact again with Familie Kareem. We haven't been able to see them in a little over a month! Sad, however it was good and hopefully we will get to meet with them this week.

The next morning we got up and had district meeting. It was great and we got to meet our new district Leader. Then we had a lesson with Miguel however I can't really understand him so it was interesting. The coolest thing about Miguel though is that he really is progressing. He has a lot of questions and come to each lesson with is questions.

Elder and Sister Bednar and the Berlin Germany Mission

Right after Miguel we got back on a train and headed back to Berlin for the Weekend! YAY haha it was really fun however lots of travel. I got to stay in Martzahn with Sister Tolman and Sister Jensen. It was fun however our train ended up being an hour and a half late so we got in really late that night. Mentsch! The next morning we all got up and headed to Tiergarten (Central Berlin)! Everyone from our entire mission was there it was So cool! The best part was of course that Elder Bednar came and spoke to us. He had asked us to do a few things first before he came though. One of them was to read a few talks he had given in the past. As we read them and prepared I really felt prepared to learn with him. He taught us so much, well in his words the spirit taught us so much. It was an amazing experience and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to listen to an apostle of the Lord. This Church is true and the Apostles really are men called of God to lead and Guide us. Something that really stuck out to me was, as we Exercise our faith in acting instead of being acted upon we really teach our selves. We really can for ourselves find the answers to our questions. We just need to be prepared to learn, act and listen to the spirit. What a cool experience. It cracks me up  because Elder Bednar every time I have been in a meeting with him he does a question answer session. Every time he says the same thing and every time he says You will never have an opportunity like this again.. lol I have had 3. I guess that doesn't happen very often though! I can just count my many blessings!!! =D

Sister Egbert and Sister Toma

Well I am sure you all want to know a little more about my new companion. Her name is Sister Egbert! She come from Fernley Nevada.. really close to Reno!! She was adopted and sealed to her family she has now two years ago! Pretty cool huh? She is also a convert to the Church for only 5 years. Seriously I am so blessed to have her as my new companion fresh from the MTC. She is seriously training me! She came so ready and has such a strong testimony. She is an amazing missionary and I am learning so much from her! We have lots of goals and plans for Onsabrück these next few months. What a blessing it is to train, I really feel there is just something special that comes from those missionaries who have just left the MTC. really truly. Plus she can help me with my German.. lol!

Well I love and miss all of you and wish you a WUNDERBARE WOCHE!!

Tschussie!!

Große Liebe

Sister Toma

I've been called to be a trainer!

Guten Morgen Familie.

Well this has been a week full of events. To start off Dad I am so proud of you. 10 tips for revelation that is way cool that you got put into the church news! AND it is on LDS.org! Happy Day. Also Thanks Mom and Dad for your uplifting emails. I really got teared up today as I read them. Mom you are absolutely right.  Here in the mission I may have bad days however I think as we dwell on those days it becomes harder to recognize the spirit in our lives. We start focusing on other things that are not related to the work here. I am so excited that you are in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. I love being able to be in callings where I really get the opportunity to know the people in my ward. That is one reason I love being a missionary.

There is something that really hit me powerfully today as I read the letter from Dad. His little story it really made me think about things and it has given me the answers that I have been looking for this week. As I read the story about the little family and the dedication of dad and his companion I just couldn't stop crying. I just felt the Spirit testify to me of your message and what and how I can accomplish this big task ahead of me for the next 2 transfers.

So here is the big one we got our transfer calls on Friday night and I have been called to be a trainer. I seriously almost broke down in tears and couldn't sleep for the last few day. I know Heavenly Father doesn't give us commandments that week can't do, however I just don't know why he would call me to be a trainer. I have been so scared this week for two things really. 1 I just finished my training on Sunday and I still feel so inadequate to help this bran new missionary have the best experience possible for her first two transfers. 2 because I really care about this area and ward and all the people here. I don't want to mess anything up I want to be able to be the best missionary possible to continue to help Heavenly Fathers Children here in Onsabrück and I can't speak German. As I read the letter I really thought about goals and this transfer with my new companion, who I won't be getting until Thursday and I don't know who she is I think the first thing I will do is set goals of what we want to accomplish this next transfer, and not just any random goals but goals that we have really thought and prayed about. I know that Heavenly Father will provided a way however we must have faith that he can lead us where we need to go. I memorized this scripture in German it is 1st Nephi 3:7 Ich will hingehen und tun was der Herr gebotet hat, den Ich weiß dass der Herr gibt den Menschenkinder keine Gebote ohne ihnen eine weg zu bereiten. Damit sie es volbrigen konnen was er ihnen gebietet. I dont know if all the spelling is right however It is the thought that counts lol.

Sister Toma, Sister Egbert (new compaion), and Sister and President Kosak

Ok as for my week  and events that happened. Well like I said last week I seriously have an amazing ward. My Mission Ward Leader took me out to the little town were my great something grandpa was from. Seriously so cool. I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to serve here in Onsabrück. It was most definitely no coincidence.

Birthplace of German ancestors

Then another cool experience was on Wednesday Sister Blake and I were coming home from our morning run when a girl stopped us and told us that she respected us. We were a little confused however we asked her why, because maybe we thought that she saw our name tags. However she just said she respected us because we were running so early and she was just coming back from partying. Haha.. however it turned out to be a great Missionary Finding Moment. The coolest part is we talked to her for about 30 minutes and she really wants to come to church with us. I hope that she can make that decision and she really said she needed something like church in her life. IT was really cool though and Sister Blake and I couldn't stop talking about it for the whole day.

Then On Saturday Samuel got baptized. It was so great and he is truly an example to me of someone who's life changed before my eyes because of the relationship he had with is Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. the whole week he just couldn't stop talking about how happy he was to be getting baptized. It was really cool. One of the coolest things about the Baptism was a lot of the Elders investigators showed up. That was really even a miracle for me, because for the last few months they have had no success and they really have so cool people who are preparing themselves right now to be baptized in the next few weeks.

Well as the tables are turning some of our investigators have told us they don't want to meet with us anymore, however we have a few who have been making progress. I think this next transfer will be really finding those people Heavenly Father has prepared to hear the gospel.

I love being here and serving this mission. I feel so blessed and privileged to do the Lords work. I am sad to see sister Blake go. She has been such an example to me. As I see her relationship with the ward and what kind of missionary she is i do realize the shoes that I need to fill and how big of an influence on the ward she has had.

Oh cool thing Elder Bednar is coming to speak to all of the missionaries this week So I get to go to Berlin not only on Thursday to pick up my new companion but also on Saturday. I am so stoked!

I miss you and I am glad to hear school is going well and all the kindos are fine.

I Hope that you have an awesome week

Can't wait to hear from you,

 Love

Sister Toma  

Letter from Brother Matthias Habermann (Osnabruk Ward Mission Leader)

Dear Brother and Sister Toma,

I am sure you have heard of your daughter and her new assignment as a TRAINER! What a great calling for her to receive! I know she is ready for that responsibility! Your daughter has had a really great trainer. Sister Blake got transfered and will now serve as Sister Training Leader in Berlin! 

You have probably seen pictures of the baptism your daughter had last weekend! Samuel is such a special guy and the whole service turned out to be great! i will attach some pictures and the programm for you! Sistere Toma delivered a great talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost!

The pday before that we were able to visit Schledehausen. I believe part of your ancestors come from their! What even toiuched me was the fact that we found the baptismal font that has been untouched and undamaged from the 15th century. We can truely say that we saw and touched the place where your ancestors have been baptized so long ago, prior to finding the restored gospel! What a great moment!!

We also visited the local castle that belongs to that little town. its also out of the 15/16th century!! I hope you enjoy those pictures!!

Matthias

An example of true conversion

Happy September First! Can you believe that fall is just around the corner.. well for you all, to be completely honest fall has been here for the last 3 and half weeks! The leaves are changing color. It is so crazy however really exciting because I love fall. I have pulled out all my winter Cloths and already started wearing tights. I don't know what the temperature is except that it has been around 15-17 degrees C here in Deutschland. Sorry for everyone that lives in America and I don't know how to convert it. ha-ha.

Well this week is that last week of the transfer so next week I could be telling you who my new companion will be. We should be getting our calls on Friday or Saturday, however president told Sister Blake she would be leaving so I am sad to lose my trainer. I pray every day that Heavenly Father will give me the strength to understand German or when I get a new companion she can speak it really well so that way I don't totally mess up the area. Ha-ha. It is good though I love Osnabrück, And today I am really excited because I get to go to a little town about 7 kilometers away where my family is from! Have I said how amazing my ward is? Seriously they are so great! They really do care about us missionaries here. We had an amazing lesson with here on Tuesday afternoon about the plan of salvation then we got everything ready for her baptism this weekend. We even went through all the baptismal questions and she answered them all with such a strong testimony. She seemed so ready and so excited. We were so excited for her. Then we came back on Wednesday afternoon and she came running out to meet us and the first words that came out of her mouth were I don't want to get baptized anymore. WHAT???? We had worked so long and so hard with Martina and it was heart dropping. I just kept rewinding things in my head lessons with her anything what could we have missed what were the signs that she wasn't ready. As we talked to her we came to find out that she was really really scared about going back to China and what her family would think and about what her friends would think and whether or not she would get a job. We just couldn't believe it. After all this time this was what was holding her back. As we thought about what to do about how to listen to her and teach her we prayed and fasted and just had hope that things could turn around. We planned a really great lesson and even had our Bishop come with us on Friday. I can't even explain how spiritual the lesson was and how we just taught her about faith and the important principles of having a testimony. We tried to comfort her that everything would be okay. By the end of the lesson she said she would pray about it and let us know by Sunday if she still wanted to get baptized or not. We then went by on Saturday and talked with her when she told us she was set on not getting baptized. We talked to her for a little while about what she believed and it was the saddest thing for me to hear that Someone who has a testimony of the Gospel and knows that it is true let fear overtake their faith. Martina is Wonderful and we love her so much we still have her in our prayers every day. I don't know if she will ever get baptized however I do know one thing. As I was riding this bus home from our last lesson with Martina I had a quote from Elder D. Todd Christofferson's Talk (As many as I love I rebuke and chasten) keep coming into my head

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

As I sat there and thought about it I realized Heavenly Father knows everything. He has given us our agency to choose what we want to do however he knows us better than we know ourselves. He knew Martina and her fears and I don't have all the answers as to why but I do know that for whatever reason Sister Blake and I needed this experience and Martina needed to meet us. What an amazing Father we have what an amazing care taker. 

I am so excited this week however because we have Samuel who is getting baptized. He is an amazing person and really hearing his stories makes me remember there are people out there who really need this gospel and that Heavenly Father has prepared for us. So here is a cool story from Samuel this week. So a few weeks ago we were talking to him about Church and he started telling us that when he first moved here 5 months ago he went to an African Church with some of his roommates and hated it. As they were walking home he passed our church building as told his friends he wanted to come here however his friends told him not to because it was a (White Man's Church) ha-ha. It was only a few months later and then he met Sister Blake and I, We invited him to come into the church however he had to leave because he was getting his phone fixed. It was a few hours later and he came back to the church. We were really surprised and didn't really know what to think. However come to find out he said to us yesterday that when he is here he feels the spirit so strong and knows that it is a house of God. It is really cool as well because The first day we met him he to us he didn't like church, that he didn't believe in going to church, however since we have been meeting with him he hasn't missed a day of church. He comes here with a Giant smile on his face and stays just to watch talks from the Apostles and Prophets. Super COOL. The best part is he can't understand a lick of German, yet he still comes. What an example to me of someone who truly is becoming converted unto Christ.

What an amazing thing a mission is! I love it here in Germany and I am so grateful to be a missionary for Christ Church. I love you all and Hope that You have an amazing week!

Aufwiedersehen

Liebe

Sister Toma