April 19, 2010

Hello people on the other side of the world !!!!!!!!!! I love you!!!!! Wow that totally tripps me out that i am on the other side of the world. I give up trying to spell and type proper englisch. I was reading through my journal the other night from this past transfer and i realized that because i have spoken hardly any englisch in the past couple of weeks my spelling has been severely affected. My children are going to think that their father was partially handicapped because of some kind of writing disability. But its cool my german is really good. That means i can better communicate with the people that are ready. Its really cool to be able to communicate fluently with the people here and be able to express feeling emotion to be able to convey the spirit so that people can realize that that which you are saying is true. It is so wonderful. Not gonna lie at the beginning of my mission i had the greatest fear that i would not be able to listen or understant these peoples cries of help or needs and then be able to help them through it. it is really good that i can help them. i love the feeling of satisfaction that i get from being able to help people. Nothing is better.
As for a story of prayer mom, for your lesson. A couple of weeks ago at the beginning as Elder Gruse became my companion i spent so much time in prayer. I wanted everything to flow perfectly. I wanted the beginning of his mission to be perfect. I wanted so much for him. I prayed for the ability to know how to be able to train him. To know how i could give him suggestions and how i could teach him so that he could become the missionary, the tool that the Lord wants him to be. I spent a lot of time on my knees. One week it was really tough. I felt like i was doing all the contacting, and everyone was shoving that what i was lovingly offering, harshly back in my face. It was tough. I took a little time that night to talk a little longer with the Lord. Instead of asking why everything was going so horribly, although that was my first thought of what to ask, i asked what i needed to change in order to see the success that i wanted to see. I then waited after my prayer in silence. in the dark of our apartment, in the silence, pondering. A thought then came into my mind. not in the voice of my conscious that i am used to hearing, rather in a much more familiar voice. It said, "Just Wait". I took the advice and concentrated on the divine advice that i had recieved. I exercised patience in the best way that i could. It is now a couple of weeks later and we have set a baptismal date with svetlana. Frederick snipes also wants to be baptised. We have a teaching pool of 14 investigators. I have never taught so many people at one time on my entire mission. The success came after i excercised patience with my companion, with myself, with these children of God here. and the principle of prayer helped me to find that out. we need to pray. the purpose of prayer is not to change the will of the Lord, but to make the will of the Lord and your will one, and when we recieve an answer, because we will (Dand C 4:7 , Matt. 7:7 and over a hundred times more in the scriptures) we need to act upon that answer that we recieve. That is the real intent that moroni is talking about in Moroni 10:3-5. I have had other experiences with prayer. ones that are really personal those i choose not to share at this time, however you are allowed to share this one.
As for my health situation. We are blessed in bamberg with americans. And in our ward we happen to have a doctor. i asked him casually about my throat lump (which i have named Claus) I asked him about it casually after priesthood class in the hallway between the young womens class and relief society. He checked it out right then and there and said that it was only a clogged salivary gland or a lymph node. He said i should be ok. Its getting smaller now as well and so i told him that and he told me that that is a good sign. he will check it again next week as well. We also have a dentist in the ward. He is also american. He said that he will fix my retainer for me. he told me as well that super glue was not a good idea. It doesnt have the strongest bond to teeth and sometimes it can be toxic. Man i was totally ready to go to the closest hardware store. :) Just kidding, love you mom. the rash on my throat is also getting better. I meditate for five minutes in the morning after doing exercise and that helps get the stress away.
Elder gruse is doing good. We are working hard together. There have been a couple of moments where it has been hard for him to keep going. He gets frustrated sometimes that the people here are so anti-christ. We were walking one time and i could tell that it was a hard day for him and so i told him that we would take five minutes and just sit down and talk about what was troubling him. I listened to his problems as we sat on the bridge over the water by the old council building (beautiful area) and then i talked with him about it. It was a really good experience for the both of us. He was frustrated with the people. and why it was so hard sometimes to get there attention or why they wouldnt even talk with us. But he told me that after our little talk he felt better. He told me that i am a person that really cares about the people but not only the people but him as well. He said that is was a good help that i just took some time to talk and to help him through his problems. I love elder Gruse. He is gonna be such a good missionary. my baby boy. I am so grateful that we have such a strong relationship. He says that no matter what we have to stay in contact after our missions and that i need to come to berlin to live with him. and that he is going to come and visit me in america too. Elder Gruse is awesome.
Well that is pretty much it for me. this week was great. We had to help with a young single adults activity here in bamberg. They gave us invitations the night before, adn we went and contacted people for about an hour. We gave out about 100 invites, i didnt have too much hope that too many people would come but to young girls that we contacted came to the young single adult activity. We got their numbers and hopefully we will have two new young women in our ward soon. We are working so hard and i love it. Well i gotta go and write president condie and go have an awesome p-day. LOVE YOU ALL have a wonderfull week. CIAO!!!!!