"I am excited to be staying in Essen and to be working with this ward"

Hehe I like how dad tells us all the secrets!! (Talking about his surprise trip to NYC for me) I am glad you had a good time and that dad even when you guessed right didn´t tell you (good job dad!) Sounds like the other things you did we fun too even if there weren´t what you thought they were going to turn out to be. Haha I think it is funny how it is warmer in Germany than it is in Georgia. That is so wrong! Anyways onto the week!

So Monday night we meet with Kristin and we got into her apartment and we started the lesson and then there was a ring at the door. It was this friend of Kristin’s and it was so weird he comes in and sees us and then talks about how he can tell we are not German and then sits in on our lesson. The whole time he was agreeing with us but in a way that sounded like a disagreement. One time I said to him ya that is what we just said you just worded it differently. That was fun but Sister Zenger was good with him and in the end we both knew the thing that would get him and that was bearing simple testimony of what we know. We were right it got him. At the end he said he would read in the Book of Mormon and he said that we were good teachers and that Kristin was making a good choice in getting baptized. So we left a good impression on him in the end. I don´t know if it will ever lead to anything but the coolest part was that Kristin stuck up for her beliefs and she bore testimony to him that she knows the things we teach and believe are true that was cool to hear her say that in front of one of her friends.

 

Tuesday we had lots of things planned but they all fell out. So we ended up going by some people and we actually went to this less actives house and found out that she had passed away a couple of years ago...that is sad this lady was dead and no one in the ward knew! Crazy huh. Then we also went by on Sister Irgang which is Kristin´s grandmother´s sister (it seems like everyone in the ward is related somehow) and she is really hard to teach! She has a really hard time concentrating but she is super nice so I was happy that we went by her and you could tell that she is super lonely. 

 

Wednesday we met with Bonnie and had a good lesson with her. I love Bonnie she is sooo nice and super helpful. I wish we could be more helpful to her. Then we were supposed to meet with this less active but she fell out so we went to another less active that lived close by and she wasn´t home but we left her a note so at least she has that. Then after that we went to our lesson with Kristin and this lesson we talked about the baptismal questions so she would be prepared. Then we also set up a baptism calendar with her so now we have all our appointments planned until she is baptized! We meet twice a week every week so that will be good. Then we had ward night which the elders did and we made cake.  The Elders showed a couple of videos/movies on prophets, which is good because that was one thing Kristin was having questions about. Everyone loved the cake and asked for the recipe and are upset that us Americans use measuring cups....sorry rest of the world

 

Thursday we had the feeling to stop by Sister Kretchmann because she lost her job. So we bought her favorite chocolate and wrote a card and went to her house. Turns out that that day was supposed to be her last day but her boss called and left a message saying they didn´t need her. She still wanted to go in because it was her last day and when she got there the boss yelled at her and told her to go home. So then she went home and she was crying for an hour straight and then we came. When she answered the door she said "do you know why you are here?" and she said “because Heavenly Father knows all" we ended staying for a little while trying to make her feel better. I think we helped a little and when we left she called us her angels which was cute. After her we went to the Mensa to talk with some students but didn´t have much luck. Next time we go I think we will eat lunch and then go to a library and do German study so that we can ask people for help. Then we did some more go bys with no success.

 

Friday we had zone training and it was super good! First we did a practice of bahn (train) contacting where people from the Dortmund ward pretended to be normal people on the bahns and that was cool. Then we did a practice of teaching in 4 mins where members pretended to be investigators and that was really cool too. But the best part was the last part. Our stake president came, his son is actually serving in Dallin’s mission his name is Dominic and the last name I don´t know how to spell it is something like Salza but I really don´t know, he did a question answer time and that was awesome, so many good ideas!!! I am excited to use them! After zone training we went home and did weekly planning! Woot actually it really was good, the best one Sister Zenger and I have had yet and I think we are really prepared for the upcoming week.

Saturday was transfer calls... Sister Zenger and I are staying together in Essen, which means this will be the area I have spent the most time in so far on my mission. If I stay one more I cannot stay in an area longer than this one. For the Elders, Elder Burger is going and Elder Clement will be joined by Elder Lyman. I am sad that Elder Burger is going, he is a really cool kid but I am also excited to work with Elder Lyman. Elder Lyman is the zone leader right know so I know him a little and he seems super cool. He actually reminds me of Christian Groll a little! I am excited to see what miracles he will bring to Essen. After Transfer calls we had our coordination meet with the Elders and came up with some really good ideas that hopefully will help the ward and the missionary work progress. After that we met with this lady named Frau Rickl, she is a referral from bishop and she asked us to go to church with her and we thought it would be a good way to show her that we respect her so we said yes. Man that was sooo weird! It felt like a movie to me I didn´t think things like that really happened....I never want to do it again. I couldn’t feel the spirit. After that we were able to talk to her some and it turns out she believes a lot of the same things that we believe like that Jesus appeared to the Americas the only problem is she thinks that her church believes it too...which it doesn´t. So that was fun we will meet with her again and see how it goes.

 

Sunday was a miracle day. The Elders and we together had 5 investigators at church. It was AWESOME!! It was cool to see the church a little fuller and I know that they all felt the spirit there and it was just AWESOME!! After church we met with Sister Roch and we helped her get over her fears about being baptized. She is such a sweetheart her fears were that she was not worthy and that she wouldn´t be able to stay worthy. We told her that she will have the Holy Ghost to help and she has the atonement and that helped her out to be not so scared. After her we were able to meet with Kristin and that lesson went really well we talked about repentance and the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. She is so strong it is awesome. Oh ya so this morning we woke up and we had only cold water in the bathroom....I was lucky that I took a bath the night before so I was good but Sister Zenger had to wash herself with warm water from the kitchen and a rag. Poor girl. We later had a member come over to see if he could fix it and it turns out that a breaker was just switched off which is what we thought. We just tried the wrong ones...we felt silly but he and his daughter were really nice about it and they seemed happy to help us.

Ya so that was my week, pretty good in the end I am excited to be staying in Essen and to be working with this ward. I feel really blessed and super excited for this upcoming transfer! LOVE YOU ALL

 

Sister Wrathall