I never want to leave!

It will be fun to come to Germany again sometime. Actually I am hoping that I can find a way to come back in May next year because there will be a dedication to the Freiburg temple then. How cool would that be if we could all come back then? Start saving now for it. :) 

Hannover is so cool I love love love it here never want to leave. Ha-ha 

So great stuff this week we saw so many miracles and we will see so many more. 

I went on exchange this week to a place called Hildesheim wow it was so beautiful, I just felt like I was in actual Germany, so tradition and so beautiful.. I just loved it so much. 

Emma was baptized this week she is amazing I just love her so much and we are so excited for her and her new journey. :) 

We set a baptismal date with a kid named Jacob he is so cool from Liberia. 

We have a cool technology conference for I pads this week. Not sure if we get them or not but we will be for sure getting them here in the next few weeks, pretty cool huh? (Japan stole ours for this week ha-ha)

I set some awesome goals this week and just had so many prompting for people so I need your prayers so these people can be baptized on May 17, 

Martina 

Jacob 

Nanna 

Ophelia 

Shella 

and Pracilla 

They all want to be baptized however we know it will be hard without prayers faith and good work on our part.

We have a couple Germans in the mix too but I think I will see a lot of Success here, actually I think there is a pretty good possibility I will finish my mission here. Crazy right last area possibly. But it is good- 

It is spring here to in Hannover, beautiful, today and tomorrow should be around 70 hurray. 

 

I love this city so so much... 

Thanks so much for all your support and love on the other side of the ocean. 

Love you, 

Kinzie

Herztlich Willkommen zu Hannover

Guten Morgen, Liebe Grüße von Hannover :)

Wow I cannot believe I am here. Well let me just start off by saying I do miss berlin, before I get into How wonderful Hannover really is.

To start off my companion Sister Walker is AMAZING!! I love her and am so excited to be able to work with her and get to know her. She is really something else and we just want to work hard and get things done here. We have some big goals for Hannover.

Kind of crazy but like 90% of the people we teach here are from Ghana ha-ha, it makes for a good time though. I love the Africans. They always give me a boost of Faith and boost of Energy. They just love you and want you to spend time with them all the time. Not really what I have been used to for the last year of my mission. Ha-ha. But It is so great and I am enjoying every single minute of it and just enjoying the blessing that are coming from this wonderful area.

So here is a little run down from the week, We finally got to Skype with Olga this week, She is doing so wonderfully and we are so excited to be able to have the experience :) She can't go to the church in Azerbaijan however her faith is still strong and she reads in the book of Mormon every single day. We miss her so much but it just warms my heart to know that she is doing ok. Then after wards I traveled to Hannover and met my new companion. And we hit it off right away... Later we met with an investigator Juliet she is something else but we love her. It is just so much fun to teach them. I really get to work on though refining my teaching skill helping others understand the gospel and teaching simply. I really think that is key when teaching. And they are just the perfect people to be able to do that with and you already just gain such an amazing love for them in the 1st five minutes.

The next day we just went from appointment to appointment and everyone was home. We taught and taught and taught and talked to people on the bahns and in the streets and they listened to us. Crazy. We have found so many new people this week it was so amazing. Then
we met with an investigator Emma who will be getting baptized this week. Please pray for her, However she is so golden. She has so much faith and knows that this church is true. I love meeting with her I can just feel the spirit so strong every time.

Something else that is really cool about Hannover is this is where I had my first exchanges. So I actually knew a lot of the people we are teaching before... It is so much fun to go to an appointment and just say, hey remember me and they just get so excited that they can see a familiar face. I love it. :)

I also tried African food for the first time this week. My one trial here. Ha-ha FUFU!! Actually Emma cooked for us and it was pretty good. However I am just gearing up to prepare myself for this adventure. We meet with Emma as well really early in the morning so we got to eat the rice at 10:30 with some cold hot chocolate. Yummy. I love it though they just find what ever they can stick it on a plate and put it in front of you to eat. Their way of Germany manners. It is the best.

We just see so many miracles here every day I can't even think of all of them.

The ward here is Amazing it is huge, kind of makes me feel like I am back in America I like it. Our bishop is so cool and Loves missionary work, I am so excited to be able to work with the members here they are just so much more involved than any other area I have been in.

Cool thing that happened was that one of the YSA in my first area Osnabrück was in the Hannover ward this week so I got to see her it was so amazing and brought back so many memories. I can’t even say how blessed I am be back in the west. Berlin and the people are still in my heart though and forever will be.

We got to see the last session of general conference this week. It was so good. I just love general conference. I just feel the spirit so strong and have really come to focus on these last 6 months and how I really just need to use them to my very best capability. General conference helped me so much this week to be able to receive answers to how I can do that.

Well that is really it for this week,

I love you all,

Sister Toma

I can't sent pictures, so next week sorry. =(

Guten Morgen.. really i should say night because it is all 12 or 11 your time haha,

anyways sorry for no emails yesterday it was CRAZY... plus here in Germany Easter is 5 days long so the Internet cafes were closed!! :(

Well lets start off with the exciting stuff..

1.. Can I just say I teach the best people here in Dahlem.. they are so wonderful and I can just see the light they have in their eyes to learn about the gospel.. they thrive for it and they all have told me now their desires to attend BYU haha pretty cool.

2. Not such exciting news.... Yup I got transferred.. Ahh I am leaving my precious dahlem and moving across Germany back to the west to serve in Hannover with my new companion sister Walker.. I am freaking out.. but it is good I will teach a lot of Africans.. its is funny because that was sister Wiborny's last area haha so we just did a little swap and now she is getting sister Rückhour here and she is coming from Osnabrück and was trained by sister Egbert.. man I can't believe it has already been that long since I have left osnabrück.. I don't even feel like I am on a train anymore it is truing into a jumbo jet.. All the time is flashing before my eyes and I can't believe i am ending my time here in Dahlem. Beautiful city of dahlem. I will miss this place so much Berlin was such a wonderful experience for me and I truly felt like i could thrive here.

Well now to the events of this week.

How was general conference for everyone? I thought it was so good. Ah every talk had a answer to the questions that I had. There is just something about serving a mission and watching general conference that makes it the most wonderful experience ever.. I really just love the talk from elder Holland how powerful!! wow. I think my favorite talk was though from Elder Ringwood about just being genuinely good.. It really hit home for me.. Sometimes I forget that I really can learn so much more from the others sisters.. because even if they are not in leadership they are still AMAZING missionaries. I hope I can take that on to hannover with me and just realize that with the my sisters there. Overall though it was just a great conference and sadly I don't get to see the last session till Sunday as normal.. Man next general conference though will be sad for me.. Mom and Dad are you prepared for that yet? We don't think about it don't worry..

Well Ignacio is doing great, I can really tell that you are praying for him. It was crazy because on Monday he called and said that he doesn't think that he can do it anymore, we called him and just calmed him down to the point he would meet with us just to read the book of Mormon. We met with him yesterday and He is still doing so well... all he could tell us is how much we are helping him with his faith..He is so cute.. I am sad that I wont get to be here for his baptism! =(  ugh!

Easter was so much fun we spent it with just members and investigators, the whole weekend we were just packed with appointments It was so great! :)

It was hard though because our Ward mission leader and his family were out of town this weekend so I wasn't able to say goodbye.. ugh I come back to berlin in 3 weeks though so it is okay.. but he really has been the best Ward mission leader I have ever had! So strong in the gospel and so willing to help.. It will be sad not to have that anymore, but I have heard that hannover has an amazing ward and bishop so I am excited for new adventures..

Well I don't really have anything else.. life is so great I love this mission and being a missionary..

Happy Easter,

Liebe, Grüße,

Sister Toma 

Happy Easter

Hi everyone hope your week has been going well,

This week has been a blast here in Dahlem Berlin.. We have been enjoying beautiful weather.. with 40 mph winds and rain everyday.. =) no just kidding the first half of the week was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L-L!!

to start off we had MLC this week and also a Sister Training Leader conference at president Kosaks.. So fun.. I love our mission president.. him and his wife are such wonderful examples. I just learn so much from them! Plus sister Kosak, is an amazing cook! =)

So here are some cool stories and miracles from the week. On Monday we met with a man name (man aus shrilanka..) we can't pronounce his name.. so we need to get on that, but it is kinda hard haha. the first time me meant him he was drunk and we thought he wanted to marry us, however then it turns out he really was interested and we had a great lesson with him this week! It was a little hard though because we had to do it in a park and there was a couple getting married and the girls was wearing a bright blue wedding dress.. Crazy..

then I don't know if I  told you last week but last week on exchange with the Dresden sisters, sister Hill and I talked to this man on just sitting on a bench in the park, we started just talking about music and turns out we got his number and set up an appointment to meet with him.
On Tuesday we finally met with him and only had enough time to talk about the book of Mormon. It was a great discussion, we asked him why he wanted to meet with us and this was his response. (I was praying last night because I have been thinking about what I want to change in my life I have been feeling that I need something more I need something fulfilling.. then finally I prayed to God and the next day as I left work and was just sitting there thinking about it you came and talked to me) There are prepared people out there waiting for us.. so true.. After we left we had another appointment but as soon as we got home we got a call from Ignacio he had already read the chapter we gave him and had a ton a questions, one of them being about baptism.. He said he knows that it is true and he wants to fallow the example of Christ and agreed to be baptized on the 26 of April! MIRACLE!! it was seriously so unexpected and we met with him again on Saturday and seriously he is so cool and so ready.. I am so blessed to be here in this mission at this time I truly feel the blessing from God everyday in my life.. Please pray for Ignacio that he can feel the spirit and have no fear about changing his life..

We had a great exchange with Lankwitz this week.. well my part was good however Sister Wiborny had an adventure.. let me tell ya.. So the lankwitz sisters have someone on baptismal date however she isn't very good with people... and doesn't like other visitors, but the sisters. so when she found out that sister Wiborny would be teaching her that day instead of sister Sorenson she was not very happy about it. Sister Miller started on teaching her about the word of wisdom and how she needed to stop smoking, then sister Wiborny would say something like.. "I know it will help your life" and she freaked out on her and in a yelling voice said "YOU CANT TEACH ME DON'T TEACH ME" then she tried a few more times just to say something nice and she freaked out every time until she said "I have had the devil in all my life, I finally got rid of him and now he is back in my home"  Poor sister wiborny just got it that night for no reason.. people sometimes I just have never understood them..

Okay another miracle of this week.. we came to church yesterday and 4 less actives that never come to church came this week! AHH so cool right? we were freaking out...

Alright last thing I will leave you with something spiritual. This week was the last week of the life of the savior before he died for us

 5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

 7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

 8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

 9 And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.

 10 And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.

 11 For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.

 12 But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the time to think about Christ, what he did for us, what the atonement is, and the importance of his life.. I would like to share our initiative now.. it is called Because he lives.. everyone go on to www.helives.mormon.org and watch the video and share it.. share #becausehelives on facebook, twitter, instagram text and emails.. and then on Easter there will be a youtube take over.. help people come unto christ and realize their potential..

Ill just share my testimony in German now.. you can google translate it if you really want to know what it means haha..

Ich weiß dass mein Erlöser lebt, Ich weiß dass Jesus Christus der Sonn Gottes ist, und das er ist für uns gestorben. Ich weiß dass es ist nur durch ihm dass wir zu unser Himmlischer Vater zurückkehren können.. Ich weiß dass Gott uns liebt und deswegen hat er sein eigene Sonne zu uns geschickt. Ich weiß dass wenn wir ein Zeugnis von Jesus Christus etwickeln, können wir durch ihm rein gemacht werden. Ich kann ihnen Versprechen dass durch das Sühneopfer, haben wir alle die Potential wie Gott ist werde.. das lasse ich in Namen Jesu Christi, Amen.

thanks so much for all your prayers everyone I really do feel your love and support! I hope that you all have a wonderful week.. I miss you tons,

Love sister Toma