I love being a missionary

Guten Morgen Lieber Familie.

Well another week another Transfer. Can you believe it? This weekend is transfer calls so who knows next week I could be writing from another city. I don't think I will be though thank goodness. I love it here in Onsabrück so much It will be really hard for me to leave it one day.

So I don't have a lot of good stuff this week sadly, and I am writing from an Internet cafe this week so I can't send Pictures Leider.. However I will try to make this email as interesting as possible. :)

To start off sister Egbert and I are doing great. She is so wonderful and teaches me so much. We have a goal in our mission to receive 125 baptism before the end of the year.. (that is a lot for Germany) that means every companionship will have at least 1 baptism. I love that our mission made that a goal!

Sister Egbert and I have been making little goals to help contribute. I think this transfer will be great and we are hoping to see at least 2 or 3 baptism here in Osnabrück as well.

This week we met with Francisco again that was a great lesson. He really has a lot of questions and the best part is we teach him in English.. Really it is so crazy how much more you can teach when you can speak in your mother language. However I love German and I hope that one day I will just be able to say everything that I want to in order to teach a lesson. Francisco is pretty cool though. He came to our lesson with a little note book and brought notes and questions from what he had read the week before. It was so cool! Sister Egbert and I were just so excited.

Meeting with Migeul this week was also so cool. He is just such an awesome person. It was the best because the first thing that he said to us when we started the lesson was that he has been praying every morning and night for the past week. That was such a miracle to me! He is also praying about things that he said he would never pray about when we first started meeting with him.

This weekend we were so blessed that so many of our investigators and less active members showed up to church. It was pretty cool. Such a blessing. So this last Sunday we showed the last 2 hours of General Conference. It was great except for the part where they didn't provide the English version this time around.. um ya 2 hours all in German (lets just say that I had a great sleep last night) haha. However I just loved Elder Bednar's talk. It was just so great and So many of our investigators really felt the Spirit as well.. What a cool Experience. The one thing that just broke our hearts later was come to find out one of our investigators just signed the papers to move in with his Girl Friend.. AHH NOO. He just makes so much progress "5 steps forward and then takes 4 steps back" He is so great and we love him and just pray that when we teach the Law of Chastity that all goes well.. haha.

One cool experience that we had this week, was that we were invited to go to a Frau Versammelung (Women's Meeting) in Oldenburg on Saturday. The Relief Society needed help in an activity that they were doing. Our job was to be flight attendance. HAHA it was a hoot while I was reading the Flight safety instructions and sister Egbert was trying to fallow a long having no idea what I was saying but showing all the women how to use the oxygen mask but really I was saying fasten your seat belts... All the women were laughing and having a great time watching us two struggle. However the experience was great. The whole point was being prepared and doing everything we can now so that one day we will be ready to meet God. 

So after we struggled giving instructions we took our seats and the plane crashed.. Everyone died and then an angel came and told us that we needed to prepare ourselves to be judged today? It just made me think am I doing everything I can to stand before God and feel like I really strive to live my life more like the savior? When you think about it there is always more that we can do, more that we can work on. I really took it as a challenge to study more from preach my gospel about the Christ Like attributes. I challenge us all to do that. That is our goal here on earth to repent through Christ and try to become more like him.

Well anyways yesterday was pretty funny when we went to church the word had gotten around that we were the flight attendance for the FHV Meeting. So everyone in the ward started calling us to help them with silly things or would ask us silly air plane questions. it was funny.

Well I think that is all for this week. I love being a missionary. Thank you all for your amazing examples. I hope you all have a great week.

Große Liebe

Sister Toma

Listening and teaching by the Spirit

Guten Morgen Familie.

So sad news again we have to wait till next Sunday to watch the last session of General Conference! Schada!! I was really looking forward to it this Sunday, however it was fast and testimony meeting and that is always good as well.  So the weather is turning cold their huh? well here in Germany it has been cold since August.. hasn't really changed a whole lot since then maybe gotten a little colder or more consistently cold.

Oh I also wanted to say how proud I am of mom for using a German Word in her letter to me today!! So cool! =) "Zeal" I love it.

Well this week was pretty great I am not going to lie I can't believe that it has already been another transfer.. Ahh like I said time is flying by and DAD you are so right I have to make everyday count.. It is so important. I would have to say though I am really looking forward to Christmas time. =)

So to start off for the week Monday Miguel came to Familie Heim Abend. (Family Home Evening). That was great and I think that he really enjoyed himself as well.. we are hoping he comes with his girlfriend tonight as well. Miguel is making great progress however He just needs a little push to move towards baptism.. I am pretty sure that he will get baptized though before the end of the year. 

We taught him the Word of Wisdom on Friday and come to find out he already lives it!! SCORE. It was a great lesson and also he taught us a few things about how we could live healthier lives.. haha I need it because come to find out I have gained about 20 lbs since I have been here.. If you were wondering why I have some new cloths in my closet it is because I literally can't fit into anything anymore.. I can only fit into 4 or my skirts I brought and I was lucky to inherit one from another sister while I was in Berlin.. however because I wear them so much they are getting a little worn!! Don't worry I am trying to eat healthier however it is hard when we go to an eating appointment and the women here won't let us leave without having seconds lol..

We found a new investigator this week his name is Francisco and he comes from Mexico.. He is pretty cook he served a mission here in Germany for the Catholic church however he is showing so much excitement in learning more about the gospel.. I really hope that we are able to keep working with him that will be so awesome..

This week we had zone training meeting which was great I learned so much about overcoming our fears and working with the members. Two really important things to remember. We also had interviews with president on Friday which was great.. I love our interviews he teaches me so much and helps me become the missionary I want to be..

Well I Don't think that we really have anything else that is exciting. or new haha and No really funny stories for this week. Honestly We did a lot of traveling..

However I just love share something cool I have learned in Personal Study this week. I was reading in Alma 11 12 and 13 and just thought about how amazing Alma and Amulek's testimonies were.. How they were really amazing at listening and teaching by the Spirit.. I think that is something that we can all work on. Me as a missionary and others members as Friends, Home and Visiting teachers. When we teach and listen by the spirit Heavenly father will help us to know what their needs are and helps us to say what they really need to hear.. It is  something that isn't easy but possible!

Well that is all for this week. I love you all and Hope that you all have a great week!!

Love Sister Toma.

Here is a list of some of the investigators we are teaching and our New Members..Some of our new converts are really struggling so keep them in your prayers...

Investigators

Miguel

Francisco

Ginda

Mala

Herr and Frau Westphal

New Converts

Janina

Samuel

Dong Dong

First German Holiday

Guten Morgen Freunde und Familie.

Wow another week just flew by. I can't believe it is already October. Um... parents do you know what that means.... I come home in exactly a year from now! I am crying a little bit in side. I can't believe how fast it is flying by. It just makes me think about how grateful I am to be here.. To hasten the work. Plus did you just love how much the apostles were talking about me in General Conference this weekend. Missionaries this and Missionaries that.. Just kidding however I just feel so privileged to be called of God to hasten his work. And WOW did I learn so much. I am really sad though that we have to wait till NEXT SUNDAY to watch this last session of General Conference. Schada, aber.. That just means more great guidance for the next week. I am glad to hear though that everyone had a great conference weekend.. and I really was missing those Cinnamon rolls.. especially because we weren't allowed to eat anything during conference.. The Germans take it pretty seriously here. They even stand up at the end of conference when the prophet leaves.. Super serious. Us (Americans apparently are too casual for conference.) however we can all learn a little something more especially because Germany hasn't always had the opportunity to watch General Conference.

I was so surprised to hear about Elder Toma's transfer calls. Holy Moly. That is so crazy. I am excited for him though, maybe he will get called as a district leader somewhere.. :) Speaking about that we had exchanges again this week. They went so well and I am so proud of Sister Egbert. She got around and to all of the appointments by herself.. So proud of her. I learned a lot too while I was in Hannover with Sister Wigbournei. She taught me a lot about myself and how to turn my weaknesses into strengths. One thing that I just Loved that She said was how sometimes our weaknesses are weaknesses because the Devil knows that when and if you overcome that weakness than it can turn into your biggest strength.. that there is obviously a reason why he doesn't want you to have  that one specific thing. WOW that made me think really hard about what I NEED TO DO. However then she kept telling me that President is going to call me to be a Sister Training leader... I hope not.. SCARY thoughts and even President told me that in my first interview.. maybe I will just start doing a bad job here in Osnabrück.. Ok just kidding I would never do that there are too many other important things to worry about than myself.

Plan of Salvation Chalk Drawings

Ok so I am sure all of you are bored now with my going on about dull and unimportant things... I know you only want to hear about the Miracles that we see here in Germany right? So here are a few that I just love,

So This week we met with Miguel and invited him to baptism.. He said no.. That is okay though because we found something else out, He believes the Gospel is true.. the next step in helping him accept the gospel is to help him apply it in his life, However easier said than done. I know he will get baptized though, it just might take so time. We are praying and working to help him really gain the desire to continue to progress. We also taught him about temples and eternal families and he just soaked that up and loved it especially because he is thinking about getting married to his girlfriend that he has been dating for 8 years. :)

Another Miracle for the week was GINDA. So it was about 20 minutes before our lesson with Ginda and I remembered something that I learned from Sister Wigbournei.. about these little caps to help you teach the first lesson.. or the Restoration of the Gospel. I just felt like we needed to use them for Ginda and so we hurried and made this little crappy paper ones.. Haha they were really Schilm However as we were teaching I just knew that it was the right thing. As we bore testimony and taught her the lesson she started to cry again knowing now that it was no coincidence that she met us on the street. So the sisters in the past have been trying to get her to pray about joining the Church for the last 6 months and Finally Saturday she said she would pray about it.. What a Miracle/ blessing.. She is so great and has a little son about 3 years old.. She loves him so much, it is such a testimony to me of the Family and how we need our parents. How we need a family here in this life and that is really is a blessing from our savior.

Matching outfits!

Ok so for my insights on General Conference. I Loved it.. so many wonderful talks.. One thing about Conference on your mission is you just soak everything up. So I went with a bunch of questions and I didn't get the answers I was expecting.. However they are some pretty good ones. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was preparing myself to be a Mom. I loved how Elder Anderson talked about securing our own mask before helping others with theirs.. Even though the answers I received were maybe not exactly what I was expecting I know that they are what I needed right now. I know that this mission will help me gain the testimony (secure my own mask) to set the foundation to help my children build their foundation upon the Savior. (they quoted Hel 5:12 a ton) also to help them gain a testimony of the prophet and to really understand the importance of the sacrament and to continually help the poor and to follow the footsteps of Christ. One last thing my favorite quote from conference was from Elder Uchtdorf, The gathering of spiritual light is the quest of a life time.. as we live in this life and grown we need to continual do the five fundamental things to reach exaltation 1. Build our faith in the Savior Jesus Christ  2. Continually use the Atonement in our life and Repent. 3. Be baptized and partake of the sacrament in renewing that covenant with the Lord every Sunday. 4 Receive and remain worthy of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and 4. Endure to the End. I know that this gospel is true.. It has brought me so much happiness in my life. This is the way to true and everlasting happiness. Our Father in Heaven really does love us and our Jesus Christ loves us so much as well.. As we strive to become more like him we WILL become happier everyday.. I love IT!!

Ok so for some of the funny things of the week.

I played Ping Pong and did horrible and Friday was my first German Holiday.. It was very.. very interesting. We had a few drunk men hit on us and then one that was walking into our apartment complex even dropped his pants in front of us... So awkward we just ran away and tried to avoid talking to any men for the rest of the day

haha..

Also the bus schedules change for Holidays. I forgot about that and we ended up waiting for a bus for 40 minutes that never came.... Oh Sister Toma me and my blond moments as hunter would say..

Well that is it for this week I am so grateful to be a missionary!

Love you all so much hope you have a great week! Can't wait to hear the news from Elder Toma

Große Liebe

Sister Toma

Sharing a copy of the Book of Mormon

Hello Family,

How is everyone doing? I sure do miss all of you, and I am sure going to miss the yummy cinnamon rolls this coming General Conference.

Well sadly this week I don't remember anything we did ha ha. I think all my days are starting to blur together and weeks and months; however, we did something a little risky. . . all thanks to Dad's letter a few weeks ago.

So to start off Monday was so much fun.  We got to go to this castle in Badbentheim, a little town on the border of the Netherlands. It was seriously beautiful and don't worry I took lots of pictures, you know me. Then from there it all kind of seemed like one day.

One thing that is kind of sad is we never got to meet with Eve the investigator from Bulgaria. That was sad, however hopefully we get to meet with her this week sometime. Also wish us luck it will be Sister Egberts first austausch this week.

On Wednesday we went up to this little town on the out skirts of Onsabrück called Hollage. There we were doing some doors when it started to poor rain. Neither one of us had and umbrella so we decided to find some shelter for a little while until we could go back out.. there was a little ice cream shop down the street and sister Egbert and I hurried in. The lady was so nice to us and just told us we could stay as long as we wanted  because the rain outside. As soon as we finished our ice cream we realized what a perfect opportunity it was to hand out a book of Mormon. So I hurried and wrote down my testimony and then a few scriptures that she could look up. I could tell family was important to her since she had her children there and a few of her other relatives so I wrote down scriptures that testified of eternal families. We then got up and she told us to sit and stay a little longer, it had stopped raining though and we needed to get back to work so we thanked her so much for her generosity to us and gave her the Book of Mormon. It was really cool, I don't know how much interest she has however she took it and seemed really thankful.

We just had a lot of time this week to really talk to people and bear our testimonies.

One thing that was so wonderful this week was our lesson with Migeul. We went it planning to teach him about Prophets, however when we got there it I just knew and felt that there was something deeper we needed to find out. I am so thankful that I listened to that prompting. He finally came to church for the first time too on Sunday which was amazing and he even said that he received answers to his questions. YES!!

I have to say that I really enjoyed Hunter's email from last week. It was so good. The last thing that just really stuck out to me was what he said about how this is the Lords time.. It got me thinking about all the things that I can do to see more miracles here. I know as missionaries there are always ways to improve and always more that you can do in the service of God. It just narrows down to again being diligent in all that we do.

Today we spent the whole time helping Bruder Altmanns move. It was hard work, I actually broke a sweat hahah.. however it just was so rewarding.  The biggest reason was because I know Bruder Altmann doesn't have a lot of money, yet he gives and gives and gives and gives. The man never rest. He is truly and example to me of someone who has charity. He just does so much for us and yesterday as i was contemplating spending my p day working I just couldn't get the thought out of my head about how much he does for me and how I could make this little sacrifice for him... He even brought us little sack lunches and everything. I just love the people here in Germany and our ward and am so thankful. I really am so blessed to be here in Osnabrück.

I am so excited for General Conference as well. We get to watch it however they are at funky times and we don't get to see the last session till next Sunday.

My mission president and his wife are amazing. I love them both so much. They teach me so much and I just know how much they care about me.  However he really is such a great mission president and just pushes us to do our best. Sister Kosak is so sweet and really is just like a mom to all us little missionaries out here in Germany.

Haha my German. I have been told I have pretty good German, however I don't know about that, I do try really hard to speak it every day 9 to 9. That is one thing that has helped me, as well as reading from my scriptures everyday out loud in German. I write down words I don't know and look them up later, and I also work from this little book called German and Review sometimes. When I have the chance I also really like to listen to talks in German, it helps me to understand things. I do have goals every week right now we are working on learning scriptures from memory. I have 10 that I chose myself that I am working on right now and then after that I need to learn the articles of faith. It is pretty cool. I also really want to have the book of Mormon in German finished by Christmas.

Well that is really all for this week, hope everyone has a great week,

Große Liebe,

Sister Toma