Sister Elizabeth Winters: The Sweet Sin

Dear Mom and Daddy,

I have absolutely no idea where the week or the time has gone. It's crazy. The week was weird.

Here’s a rundown of where things stand with our investigators:

A: We have contact with her, but her work schedule is sometimes really crazy, so we haven't been able to meet with her. :( Still working on it.

A2: I'll come to it.

X: Plenty of contact, but she is SO BUSY with school, so she hasn't been to church nor FHE or anything. :(

M: Meeting with him and his family tomorrow. Bishop is going to meet with him this week and invite him to be baptized.

S: Yes. She's going out of town this weekend for a month, so we'll see her on Thursday.

R is AWESOME. Funny story. I was actually on Tausch, so Sister Arnold told me what he told her at Institute. Apparently one of his colleagues went and bought him a cup of coffee and just brought it to him, asking him if he wanted it. He said he'd been a little tired of telling people that he didn't drink coffee anymore, so he just took it, and poured the sugar in, and then looked at the sugar packet, which read: "Die Süße Sünde." Hahahaha. "The sweet sin." And knew immediately that Heavenly Father was just watching out for him so he didn't drink the coffee. :) After that, I was really worried because we hadn't seen him all week. We met with him on Friday, and as soon as I saw him, I knew everything was fine. The Spirit is SO GOOD. R is really so different since he got baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is really powerful to see that---it really changed his countenance. AH! So powerful.

He's having a hard time at work, though, because his colleagues all smoke and drink, and so he's kind of pulled himself away from them so that he stays out of the way of temptation. And that's difficult for him. But we have a ward activity this week that he invited some of them to, so that'll be really fun if they come. He just keeps saying, "If they would just come to church and see how it is here, they would understand." (In relation to his family and friends.) So hopefully some of them come.

R will receive the Aaronic Priesthood next week! And within two weeks after that, he should be able to receive a temple recommend and go to do baptisms. We're working on doing family history with him. If he goes, we will ask permission from President Kohler.

Here were the main events of the week:

I went down with Sister Motto to Tübingen! It was so fun. We just talked and talked and talked about lots of things. It was also incredibly good for Sister Arnold, who very successfully handled the zillion calls that came in that night and maneuvering her way around Stuttgart! It was so good.

Thursday, we met with A2. That was good but really difficult. We needed to rely on the Spirit a whole lot, because she already knows what the Church believes, but doesn't feel that need for it. We talked a LOT about having a relationship with Heavenly Father, and there were times, especially when Sister Arnold bore her testimony, when the Spirit was SO STRONG. The disappointment was that she doesn't want to find out if it's true, because that means she would need to change her life. It was SO HARD for Sister Arnold. We just went to the Zentrum, where we were going to do some studies, and she just cried, purely out of love for Alessa and because she can feel how much Heavenly Father loves her. It was difficult.

That night, we went to the Ss' house. It was a lot of fun. :)

Saturday was really fun. So, you remember the family, the Js, who was a referral way out in the far-flung corner of our area? We finally got out there to have an appointment. Mr. J's wife was held up doing some work for the city, and so we just sat outside under a tree (It was SO WARM.) and drank water and talked. That was an intense situation because we really wanted to do it right. Satan was trying so hard to stop us from meeting with them. But we had planned to talk a bit about eternal families---covering briefly also the restoration of the priesthood. We wanted the whole family to be there, but just ended up talking mostly with him. He was explaining his background and opinions with religion, and Sister Arnold and I were sitting there, thinking, "You are going to relate SO WELL with Joseph Smith," and that the gospel is going to answer his questions. AH! We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he's coming to the Noche Latina (the ward activity this week) and to church next week! It was INCREDIBLE.

That mostly was it.

I'm learning a whole lot about patience. Elder Nielson had this talk by Neal A. Maxwell (I think it was a BYU devotional, actually), called "Patience." It is BEAUTIFUL. I am loving it so much. And then this weekend, mostly yesterday, my patience was tried with a lot of little things that happened that just got on my nerves. And then I was frustrated because I'm not perfect and it sometimes really drives me nuts when I have to do the rough "figuring-it-out" things in between completely not knowing how to do something and perfect knowledge davon. I actually haven't had a lot of those moments since being with Sister Arnold. It was a lot stronger during the transfer before she came. I think Heavenly Father knew I couldn't handle that while training so He didn't let me get to that point. But yesterday, I did have a moment, and it was difficult.

But one of the most beautiful things to me this week is that I pray to my Father in Heaven. He is my Father, and so He always entgegnet (replies) me with love. I've been focusing on that more in my prayers, and it really helps the communication. I love Him.

I love you! I hope you have a won-der-ful week!

Love,

Sister Bethierooskaloo Winters :)

The Stuttgart Zone Sisters!! Sisters Powell, Smiley, Arnold, me, Motto, Pentz. In the back, Elders Talbert and Rozan.