Liebe Familie und Freunde,
Sooo I still can't
believe it is almost June. And! The sun hasn't even showed its face the
last WEEK! And it is supposed to rain the whole coming week. But! What
can you do? I would say dance in it..but the people here already think
we are weird enough..hmm..I will think of something..at any rate..it's a
good thing I'm not made of sugar! :)
So! Last week! Flew by. In the end, we didn't have a
whole lot of lessons....but! The ones that we did teach were AWESOME! We
are privileged to be working with some really special people here in
Stuttgart. I love them. And Tuesday we FINALLY got Sister Jencks's
Visa...so she is FINALLY legal to be a missionary here in Stuttgart!
Jetzt geht's los! ;) We also had a really neat District meeting. I love
missionaries.
Annnd Wednesday Sister Jencks woke up sick and was bed ridden
all day. Which left sister Bice cooped up in the kitchen. All. Day.
Well, mostly all day. We did make it to Ward Council. Which
was...hilarious. I love the German members. So. Much. I may or may not
have been laying in bed trying to sleep the other night..and I was
thinking about the fact that well..my days are numbered...annd I shed a
little tear or two. I really do just love these people so much. All of
them. Not just the ones I know, but the ones walking around on the
street, the ones in the bahns...just the German and Austrian people. I
guess that is one of the dangerous beauties of a mission. We are asked
to give our hearts to these people, and then we are asked to leave. But!
If they think they can get rid of me THAT easily...they've got another
thing coming. I'll be back some day. And until then, I'll be keeping in
touch. :)
Umm! We also had a Finding Day this week. Our distrikt
got together and tore up Stuttgart for 4 hours. I LOVE finding days. I
love working with other missionaries because whether the people decide
to listen or not, we just keep each others spirits up. And! We did
manage to find some WAY neat people! Boah. It just felt great. Finding
day is awesome because you get to share your testimony SO much, in such a
small time frame. Love it:) After finding day, we met the Bensons at
Stuttgarts one and only Pizza hut for a district dinner. Which was way
cool because...our waiter? Was a member! From Africa! But lost contact
with the church when he came to Germany. So we got his number. :) And!
Ok..now time for my
probably-should-be-embarrassing-but-I'm-more-proud-than-embarrassed
moment. Long story short. I ate a whole pizza. By myself. Not that I was
necesarrily hungry after half of it, but the Elders didn't think I
could do it and..well..sometimes my pride gets the best of me. They
looked at the pizza and looked at the size of me and so there was no way
but...where there's a will, there's a way. Ha. Yeaaahhh...I think our
Senior Couple was mildly shocked and appalled...haha. My mother would be
proud? Well..maybe not..perhaps my father....:)
So! Quatsch aside....yesterday was Sunday. Which is
always lovely. Apparently one of the Sacrament speakers didn't show up,
so they asked Sister Jencks and I to bear our testimonies. For which I
was really grateful. I still am not a fan of talking in front of
people..but my personal study was so good all last week that I felt like
I just had to get it out! Anywho..I was thinking about how neat
testimonies are. Behind each testimony lies lives, feelings,
experiences, etc, that lead an individual to know certain truths. Which
totally makes sense because our Father knows us perfectly and
individually. Anywho. Our testimonies just never stay the same. Sie sind
lebendig. They are constantly either growing..be that stronger, or
weaker. And yesterday as I sat thinking about it, I was almost
overwhelmed with how much my testimony has grown over the last 18
months. I am SO grateful for the opportunity that we have to change. As
children of our Heavenly Father, we have been granted, through the
Atonement, the ability to become better. It just is so neat. That we,
imperfect as we are, have the ability and potential to become like our
Savior, who is perfect. I have thought a LOT this last transfer about
missions and change and how I can retain the change I have experience d
on my mission AFTER my mission and decided that perhaps the greatest
things one can take home from a mission (and may I add perhaps the
greatest things we can take "Home" from this life..) are Christ-like
Attributes. What we have become. I truly do just LOVE reading about
Jesus Christ. And although I stand all amazed at all of His perfect
attributes, I think Charity leaves me the most in awe. The bible
dictionary calls charity "the greatest in the trio of things that abide
forever." Meaning of course faith, hope, and charity. And Joseph Smith
once said “Love is one of the chief
characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire
to be the sons of God.” To manifest="to be apparent; obvious.." Naja. I
read this and thought "Hmm..well Sister Bice, YOU are aspiring to be a
daughter of God..do YOU manifest His love..?" The answer..."Umm..not
always.." I mean I feel like most of the time as followers of Christ we
at least try to be loving people..but is it always obvious and apparent?
Just a thought...
Ok ok! I know that I am already way past most of your
attention spans..but! Neat little german scripture moment! 1 Samuel 3:10
"Rede Herr, denn dein Diener hört.." The english, "Speak Lord for thy
servant heareth.." And! Naja. The german is cool because you have DENN
and you have DANN. Denn meaning "because" and dann meaning "then".
Samuel doesn't say "Speak Lord, THEN thy servant will listen up.."
rather, he says, "Speak Lord, because I, thy servant, am already
listening.." I love that. I feel like sometimes I want an answer to a
prayer, but have more of the attitude that "as soon as God starts
speaking up, THEN I will certainly pay attention and listen!" When
really, we need to be listening, because as our loving Father in Heaven,
He is always speaking to us and trying to help us out....we just need
to decide to listen. :)
Ok! I will let it be before this thing gets any longer
and you all start drooling on your keyboards...*wink* I love you all!
Thanks for your love and prayers and support!
Love,
Sister Bice
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