Things I love:
- The gospel
- The Spirit
- Priesthood blessings
- Sister Gilmour
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well.....transfer calls came, as you obviously have heard. And we're staying together!!! I was pretty sure that Sister Gilmour was staying, but I'm SOOOOO grateful she is. We are best friends, and I LOVE it. She's incredible. (And I'm not sure I could take over Stuttgart yet without her help.)
Tuesday, we had District Meeting, where some members from the International Ward came and we "taught" them. It was fun. :) We went to Basteln after that. I love these people SO MUCH. It's at an Altepflegeheim (a rest home? I think that's what it equates to in America), and Schwester Meiswinkel (who is PRO at Basteln) does it every week with a group of friends. We're great friends with Uschi and Ines (the two workers who run the class) and then all of the old people. There are maybe 10 or 11 that come every week, and we just do crafts with them. At the end of it, we sang "Schönster Herr Jesus" ("Beautiful Savior"; it's in the German hymnbook!), and they cried. The Spirit and the love we have for them was so strong. They miss us when we're not there---and we miss them. It's a highlight of the week. :)
We went to the Ws for dinner, then back to the Zentrum for Institute. At Institute, we were there with E, and we talked about the Restoration, which was really good. Oh, she's wonderful.
Wednesday.......the bahns were on strike again. But! There were a bunch of busses running! Which helps a TON. So we went and visited N, a member who was in the hospital because of her athsma. I'm going to be a nurse. Also, it'd be really cool to be a nurse in Germany. :)
We finished off Thursday night with English class. I love those women so much. We're having a culture night this week---typical South American food!! I'm so excited! :)
Missionaries from both Freiburg and Stuttgart Zones were there. :) So I saw some people I knew, but also met other people that I didn't know before, who are friends/have been companions with some of my friends. We went down to Schlossplatz, all got a Book of Mormon, then sat down and read it for 15 minutes.
Afterwards, we got back up and sang a couple songs (which was wonderful), then spread. Sister G and I got on a bus and talked with people. It was actually a bit rough, because she's never contacted the "missionary" way to contact before---stopping people on the street---and it was difficult. And my back hurt---I had 12 books on my back. (Bad idea, I know. I didn't unload them at Schlossplatz like I should have. :P)
Afterwards, we got back up and sang a couple songs (which was wonderful), then spread. Sister G and I got on a bus and talked with people. It was actually a bit rough, because she's never contacted the "missionary" way to contact before---stopping people on the street---and it was difficult. And my back hurt---I had 12 books on my back. (Bad idea, I know. I didn't unload them at Schlossplatz like I should have. :P)
So we went back to Schlossplatz, and tried talking with a man, who then flat out told Sister Gilmour that she didn't want to be there, doing what we were doing. He didn't mean it unkindly, but it just made her cry. It was kind of a rough day/evening. Afterwards, we got back together and sang a couple more songs.
We got 70 potentials and gave out 55 books. The flash mob didn't go as well as we wanted it to. There are A LOT of people on Schlossplatz, and we are going to need a lot more than 60 missionaries to make the kind of splash that we did. But we did a lot of good and people were really taken by our singing. The Spirit was really strong. (from Sister Gilmour)
Sunday, we went to the Singles Ward with E, which was good! We forgot to set our clocks an hour forwards, so we had 15 minutes to get ready. In our own ward, I gave my talk on the healing power of the Atonement. And I felt so good about it, because I knew the Spirit spoke through me, and that was the most important for me, obwohl es nicht so lang war (even though it wasn't long).
After church, Sister Gilmour and I both got priesthood blessings, which helped me a LOT. And the one thing that was really special to me was that Elder Escher said, "There are people around you who appreciate you. They are here to help you, but they also need you to help them." This brought me a lot of peace. That I can and will and do still help people. There were a number of things that were really special, that showed me how much Heavenly Father loves me.
Afterwards, we had Gemeinde Essen ("Break the Fast"), then went home and finished weekly planning.
I love this work and I love the Savior. And I love helping people. ;)
And I love YOU!!
Love,
Sister Elizabeth Jill Winters
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