CAN WE TALK ABOUT AN AMAZING WEEK. Full of stress, naturally, but what's new in missionary life!?
First I will start with last monday. The Ehepaar (married couple) here in Stuttgart, the Bos' took us to an old medieval Hohenzollern castle a little south of Stuttgart. Because it is about an hour and half south of Stuttgart we were lucky enough to have to Bos' take us with them. The Bos' are amazing. I love them.
Hohenzollern is an old medieval castle that was originally built in 1000 something... It was destroyed a few times and rebuilt. So the current castle that we visited was only built in the early 1800s. It is a strategically built castle to defend the neighboring areas and has a dynasty of families and everything that still continues today. OKAY. The first room you enter on the tour has the family trees painted on the walls. JUST LIKE IN HARRY POTTER. I wanted to take a picture so bad, but had to be a good example. darn it.
It was most definitely one of my favorite things I've seen here so far and I felt like I had been transported in time. So cool! And it naturally had a gorgeous view.
The rest of the week happened. We had a zone training, which are always good! Nothing particularly stood out this week until Friday. We met with L on Friday morning. Everything was going very well, just preparing her for the baptism the next day, until she said the phrase, "Okay, I will tell you the truth..."
TALK ABOUT THE WORST THING THAT CAN BE SAID BY YOUR INVESTIGATOR GETTING BAPTISED THE VERY NEXT DAY. My heart completely stopped, naturally, and Sister E and I were on the edge of our seats. L continued on to explain that she cannot understand why the Lord is blessing her with finding money in random places so much recently. Like goodness gracious L! We were terrified, but the relief was so much sweeter when her concern was that the Lord was blessing her with money she didn't need. She is adorable. We explained to her that the Lord sends so many blessings that we sometimes cannot even hold them all when we follow Him and His commandments. Let's just say it was a HUGE relief and made me love her even more. She couldn't stop saying how excited she was to be baptised the next day.
Then on Saturday we woke up to, well not literal sunshine, but sunshine in our spirits and excitement for the Baptism (Taufe auf Deutsch) that day!! L looked absolutely beautiful in white and her excitement was even better. Elders Hunt and Killpack had an investigator also get baptised on the same day so we had a lot of ward members there and the love, spirit, and peace were so beautiful. The first thing L said when we asked how she felt after coming out of the font was, "I just feel so clean!"
I am sooo grateful for this week. Saturday was a little missionary "pay-day" cause it was a wonderful reminder of how much wonderful good the church can do. I am so very grateful for L and Bruder H and their desire to follow Christ and be baptised with the same authority that John the Baptist had. I am so very grateful for the chance we have to be clean from our sins through baptism. I know this Church is true. I love missionary work.
First I will start with last monday. The Ehepaar (married couple) here in Stuttgart, the Bos' took us to an old medieval Hohenzollern castle a little south of Stuttgart. Because it is about an hour and half south of Stuttgart we were lucky enough to have to Bos' take us with them. The Bos' are amazing. I love them.
Hohenzollern is an old medieval castle that was originally built in 1000 something... It was destroyed a few times and rebuilt. So the current castle that we visited was only built in the early 1800s. It is a strategically built castle to defend the neighboring areas and has a dynasty of families and everything that still continues today. OKAY. The first room you enter on the tour has the family trees painted on the walls. JUST LIKE IN HARRY POTTER. I wanted to take a picture so bad, but had to be a good example. darn it.
It was most definitely one of my favorite things I've seen here so far and I felt like I had been transported in time. So cool! And it naturally had a gorgeous view.
The rest of the week happened. We had a zone training, which are always good! Nothing particularly stood out this week until Friday. We met with L on Friday morning. Everything was going very well, just preparing her for the baptism the next day, until she said the phrase, "Okay, I will tell you the truth..."
TALK ABOUT THE WORST THING THAT CAN BE SAID BY YOUR INVESTIGATOR GETTING BAPTISED THE VERY NEXT DAY. My heart completely stopped, naturally, and Sister E and I were on the edge of our seats. L continued on to explain that she cannot understand why the Lord is blessing her with finding money in random places so much recently. Like goodness gracious L! We were terrified, but the relief was so much sweeter when her concern was that the Lord was blessing her with money she didn't need. She is adorable. We explained to her that the Lord sends so many blessings that we sometimes cannot even hold them all when we follow Him and His commandments. Let's just say it was a HUGE relief and made me love her even more. She couldn't stop saying how excited she was to be baptised the next day.
Then on Saturday we woke up to, well not literal sunshine, but sunshine in our spirits and excitement for the Baptism (Taufe auf Deutsch) that day!! L looked absolutely beautiful in white and her excitement was even better. Elders Hunt and Killpack had an investigator also get baptised on the same day so we had a lot of ward members there and the love, spirit, and peace were so beautiful. The first thing L said when we asked how she felt after coming out of the font was, "I just feel so clean!"
I am sooo grateful for this week. Saturday was a little missionary "pay-day" cause it was a wonderful reminder of how much wonderful good the church can do. I am so very grateful for L and Bruder H and their desire to follow Christ and be baptised with the same authority that John the Baptist had. I am so very grateful for the chance we have to be clean from our sins through baptism. I know this Church is true. I love missionary work.