Hallo
Familie und Freunde!!
Ich hoffe, dass ihr alle eine gute Woche gehabt habt. Ihr seid alle wunderbar, und kann Ich euer Gebete und Unterstützung sehr Stark spüren. Vielen vielen Dank dafür.
Ok now I will speak in English! You don't have to translate that! I don't think it will make too much sense anyways!!
Well, this week as been a little bit of a test of my faith for me. It is good though, I know God gives us trails and test to help us grow. There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone.
Ich hoffe, dass ihr alle eine gute Woche gehabt habt. Ihr seid alle wunderbar, und kann Ich euer Gebete und Unterstützung sehr Stark spüren. Vielen vielen Dank dafür.
Ok now I will speak in English! You don't have to translate that! I don't think it will make too much sense anyways!!
Well, this week as been a little bit of a test of my faith for me. It is good though, I know God gives us trails and test to help us grow. There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone.
 |
| Sister Toma, Lydia, Sister Stacey |
Linda one of our investigators on baptismal date went to Berlin on Monday. We haven’t
had contact with her all week, but her brother told us in hope that she would
be coming home on Friday. She went to go get her Visa renewed, and sometimes
here in Germany it can take a while. So with that Sister Stacey and I were
praying and fasting that she could make it home before Friday at the
latest, so she could make her baptism on Sunday. I kept stressing out over it
and couldn't sleep because of it. She is so ready but due her dumb Visas she
couldn't be here. I didn't want to make her wait! On Friday as I was in my
personal study, I was reading in 1 Nephi 17
in vs 7-8 it is God commanding Nephi to build the ship, then In vs 9 is really
where it hit me
7 And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.
8 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.
9 And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?
God commanded Nephi to build a ship, which for him was pretty impossible. For having not ever built one in his life before. However, all he responded with was... where shall I go to get materials to make this ship. So much faith, so much humility. Not even questioning, just doing. He understood Gods will for him, and had so much faith to just do it.
I realized in that moment, that instead of asking God, Please make it possible for Linda to come home in time for her Baptism, I needed to just say God whatever your will is for Linda, Help me be ok with it.
Then on Saturday, still with no contact, I felt that it was Gods will for her to wait. That she maybe needed a little more time, and that we should put off her baptism. Her brother reassured us that she would be home by Saturday morning, so before we even knew that she wasn't home yet we sent out the message that her baptism was being pushed back and submitted ourselves to the will of God.
That evening we went by again, and found out she was still in Berlin. We are still not sure when exactly she is coming back, but please continue to keep her in your prayers!
This experience helped me so much this week to realize how much more I actually need to rely on God. That part of this mission on earth is involving our Heavenly Father in our Joy, our sorrow, and the many other earthly experiences that we have here on earth.
My most favorite story about fallowing the will of God is from D Todd Christofferson. He recalls a man who was a gardener and his experience with Gods will. It called "The Will of God"
there is a Mormon Message too, here is the link
The Will of God (3:02)
I love this talk so much, It has helped me so much throughout my mission. I know one of the biggest things or weaknesses that I need to overcome is being more humble and submitting myself to Gods will, or even being humble in other situations.
7 And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.
8 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.
9 And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?
God commanded Nephi to build a ship, which for him was pretty impossible. For having not ever built one in his life before. However, all he responded with was... where shall I go to get materials to make this ship. So much faith, so much humility. Not even questioning, just doing. He understood Gods will for him, and had so much faith to just do it.
I realized in that moment, that instead of asking God, Please make it possible for Linda to come home in time for her Baptism, I needed to just say God whatever your will is for Linda, Help me be ok with it.
Then on Saturday, still with no contact, I felt that it was Gods will for her to wait. That she maybe needed a little more time, and that we should put off her baptism. Her brother reassured us that she would be home by Saturday morning, so before we even knew that she wasn't home yet we sent out the message that her baptism was being pushed back and submitted ourselves to the will of God.
That evening we went by again, and found out she was still in Berlin. We are still not sure when exactly she is coming back, but please continue to keep her in your prayers!
This experience helped me so much this week to realize how much more I actually need to rely on God. That part of this mission on earth is involving our Heavenly Father in our Joy, our sorrow, and the many other earthly experiences that we have here on earth.
My most favorite story about fallowing the will of God is from D Todd Christofferson. He recalls a man who was a gardener and his experience with Gods will. It called "The Will of God"
there is a Mormon Message too, here is the link
The Will of God (3:02)
I love this talk so much, It has helped me so much throughout my mission. I know one of the biggest things or weaknesses that I need to overcome is being more humble and submitting myself to Gods will, or even being humble in other situations.
However,
there was many other humbling experience this week that helped me to realize
there is so much Growing that I need. I have a long way to go and still a lot
to learn.
Elder
Oran F Whitney once said,
"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. . . . All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable. . . . It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”
Oh
it was cool this week. There was a wedding from the brother of our bishop, and
it just happened that the girl he is marrying is from Osnabruck... She is one
of my favorite people ever too so I was just so excited for her, but because
she is for Osnabruck a bunch of people from the ward came and I got to see
them. I got to see President and Sister Habermann's cute new little baby. It
was a sweet reunion. I saw Matthias Habberman, and told him I would be in Osnabruck
in a few weeks and he decided to set up a bunch of appointments for when I
come. I am really worried, because I am trying to make sure the exchange
doesn't become a huge reunion, rather for me to go there and focus on the
sister I am exchanging with. Can you send any advice my way?? Ha-ha it will be
good though, to see those I love in Osnabruck again.
She
is such a sweet little Ghanan Woman. We met Lydia through one of our new
members. We went to go help her with some translation and when we got on the
train the first thing she said was, "Hey I found someone new for you to
teach" ha-ha then we met Lydia. She had just moved from Holland and will
be having a baby in about a moth. The week that we met it her things just fell
right into place! We met with her, she came to church, and then she told us she
wanted to be baptized! She is an amazing lady, she just loves us and the church
so much! Ha-ha, she loves when we come over, but knows why we are there. We
don't come to small talking right when we sit down she ask us to pray. Then we
start right into the lesson! She is so great! We are friends though she is so
funny!
Life
is great though! I love Hannover, and all the wonderful miracles and wonders of
this city! I am so blessed to be here, with amazing people and an amazing
companion!
Thank
you all for your wonderful love and support! Your prayers are so helpful! And
Wonderful!
I
Love you All, Have a Great Week.
Liebe
Grüße,
Sister
Toma
Ps.
Update on Lucas and his family!
They came again to church on Sunday and they brought
another one of the family members from Lucas's host family! I got a picture
with them too! They really enjoyed church, I kept praying and praying that I
would know what to say so we could get an appointment with them, or even get
their number. I asked a few times and she said no every time, finally sister
Stacey asked if we could bring Tori Shultze with us one day and just come by,
she said she will think about it. Just pray that he and his family will feel the
need to call us and learn more! They are so so good and could be so prepared, I
think they are just scared. All I hope is we left a good impression with them!
At least they enjoyed church! It is still a miracle in and of itself though.
