Gebet

Hallo Leute,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I ate a big sandwich for me meal..haha.

This week was full of miracles! We had a split, so I was with Sister Alves and it was crazy!! But awesome! We prayed a lot and saw a lot of miracles. It's pretty amazing that when we pray with real intent about something good and believe that it will happen, it will if God sees it as good too!

Every prayer we said on Monday and Tuesday was answered. We found a new investigator on Monday and had a lesson on Tuesday night with him. We waited for 30 min at the bahn station and prayed that'd he'd be on the next bahn, he was. The lesson went long and so we didn't split back with the other sisters and Sister Alves needed to be back in Hamm for a meeting at 9, so we prayed to be able to get a ride with the elders, 5 min after that prayer we got a call that said we could be taken in the Elder’s car to Hamm. A lot of other little prayers like that through the day helped a lot. When you are in the service of the Lord, God will guide you and help you do everything you can to accomplish what he has set for you.

Another cool experience had to do with the new Christmas video on Mormon.org, everyone go watch it!!! It's cinematic perfection (Christ is in it). We were so excited for it and so

we went Park contacting to show the video and I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to let us show the video to at least one person. So, I, of course, thought for sure we would share it to someone there. Nope. We had a lesson after that and I was losing hope of showing it. But we went dooring after our lesson and it was darker out and I see this building that was lit up and I told Sister Carpenter that we had to go door it. We did and ended up showing the video 4 times and getting 2 lessons set up for this week! It truly is a wonderful video and everyone we have showed it to say how beautiful it is and how important it is to serve others. It also is a great way to bear testimony of the Savior and how we can follow Him through serving others. No one can really argue that serving others is wrong.

This pic is of the lit up building and us.

I’m seriously so grateful to be out here. Time is going by so fast! No! Truly nothing is better than serving a mission!

On a side note, my district always matches...this picture was due to everyone wearing navy blue

Have a wonderful week and remember that God is just one prayer away:)

Liebe Grüße

Thanks so much to my amazing mom for sending a much needed package..the hi chews are almost gone..

die Welt ein Licht

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I actually forgot that it is Thanksgiving this week since we don't celebrate it here in Germany so thanks mom for the reminder:)

This Tuesday we had our mission tour and Elder Alder from the Area 70 came and talked to us. We practiced introducing our new pass along cards, die Welt ein Licht, and I practiced introducing it to Elder Adler...no pressure. He was actually really helpful and helped me realize that I need to be more personal when I share me testimony to people on the street and invite them to take the lessons. Very humbling experience but also I'm at the point where I can speak okay German, but now it's time to make it more meaningful!

People

We stopped by a member this week and she gave us pumpkin pie! We got to talk to her about how she met her husband. Really cute story, her mom told her she should go to the temple with her ward but she didn't want to, her mom insisted, and so she went to the  temple and met a guy there who became her husband! So cute! I love the members here and am so grateful I get to serve in Dortmund. This place is my home! 

We met a man named John on the street this week and he came to church! We had to go find him though because he got lost and we were drenched when we came back. I translated for him! He can only speak Urdu and English so I translated for two hours. That my friends, is super hard but super cool! 

Pday
CHRISTMAS MARKET IS OPEN AND LITERALLY IS THE BEST THING OF MY LIFE NO JOKE! So cool and we spent 3 hours wandering around it hence why my email is short. I love the Christmas Spirit and so does Deutschland. They finished their big Weihnachtsbaum and I'm pretty sure it's the biggest in the world! We didn't want to leave!

But I guess none of you back home are quite yet at the Christmas phase because Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet, but ah! So excited!

I’m grateful for this Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm thankful that I can share it with the people here in Germany. I'm thankful for my family and the knowledge that I will live with them for eternity. I'm thankful for all of my wonderful friends who have supported me so much and dealt with me through everything. I'm thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers my prayers in the way He knows best, the way that helps me learn and grow. I'm thankful for the German language and that I get to learn and speak it (2 months ago I would've said otherwise..). I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and for the ultimate sacrifice He made for me and for everyone. Every day I reflect on how much love He has for me and I'm truly grateful I can be cleansed from my sins. 

I hope you all have time to reflect on all the things you have been blessed with this week and beyond this week. We are truly lucky to be on the beautiful earth!

Liebe Grüße 

Sister Farner

Ps rain storm hit and I got drenched..

Sister Carpenter

Hallo Leute,

What a week! New companion and new adventures!

Companion

Sister Carpenter is from Texas(yes, I got another southerner) and has been out one more transfer than me. She likes drawing, cosplay, singing, musicals, Zelda,etc. so pretty different from me haha but it's a blast! She came to Dortmund ready to do missionary work and our first lesson together was the day she got here. And it went super well! We're already working well together to bring others to happiness!

 

People

We got two new investigators this week!

Cesar is from Syria and he came to the lesson with his friend and we originally planned on only his friend coming. But he came and was interested and his friend ended up not being:( But he's awesome! He kept emphasizing that religion comes from the heart not just the mind and how true that is. Too many people focus on the logistics instead of what they feel about something. For instance a lot of people don't believe Jesus is the Son of God because how could Mary just have a baby. They forget that they can pray to God to know if in fact Christ is His only begotten Son and get an answer through the Spirit. 

Nasim, funny thing about him was that I couldn't remember who he was because Sister Thurgood had set up the appointment. So when Sister C and I met him at the church we went in blind. He was super nice and pretty young, yet had the desire to learn about the gospel. We were reading Moroni 10:3-5 in the Book of Mormon and he kept on reading through to 7 and we had to stop him and said he could read more later hahaha. 

I'm so grateful that I can be here and serve my Heavenly Father and bring His children to the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's not easy, but it is always worth it to open my mouth and share with others what has given me so much joy. There is nothing more rewarding than being in the service of God. Seeing someone pray for the first time to their Father in Heaven or seeing something start to make sense to someone is worth every step I've taken and every rejection I have received.

I'm so thankful for the Gospel, I'm so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and for the strength I receive from Him day to day. I'm thankful for my family and that I will live with them for eternity. I promise you that when you share the Gospel with others you will feel so much happier, even if they don't accept it, because you have made the effort to serve Someone who has given you everything you have!

I love you all and I love Deutschland!

Sister Farner

Ich kann nicht glauben dass ich für vier Monate auf mein mission bin

Hallo Leute,

First off, I'M DONE BEING TRAINED! Whoop whoop! And that also means we had transfers this week and I'm staying in Dortmund:) Sister Thurgood is off to Michelstadt, a Dorf outside Frankfurt. So we are calling her a Dorf girl. My new companion, Sister Carpenter comes tomorrow! Only thing I know about her is that she is one transfer ahead of me! So excited to meet her!
We decided this week to eat healthy. Which meant laying off the chocolate and the bread and eating salad. Let's just say we would have done better with this if we didn't have such great members and investigators that gave us hot chocolate, cookies, cake, etc.
But I did manage to eat a nice salad sandwich thing for dinner...my comp didn't seem so thrilled about the idea.

Anyway we had some great lessons this week. And we took a ton of pictures because of transfers so be ready to see the amazing people I get to work with in Deutschland.
Schwester Röder, adorable woman with the strongest testimony ever. We went by her and shared a message on finding personal peace and she slept right through it. Her way of finding personal peace.:)

We teach twins, Lisa and Celine, and they are the most mature teenagers I have ever met. They are super smart and treat everyone like their best friend. Lisa is getting baptized next month and we've been going over the lessons again and we talked about Christ and our relationships with him. Lisa shared her favorite scripture, 2 Nephi 25:29 29 "And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out" as she was sharing it she teared up. True testimony to me that it doesn't matter what age you are, if you're 82 or 10 you can know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. So grateful I get to see people build their relationships with Christ firsthand. Truly no greater thing to see. (In the photo they have the remains of their Halloween costumes on hahaha)

Another great investigator we have is Freddy. We've been teaching him since Sister T got to Dortmund and the progress he has made in coming closer to Christ is amazing. He's been able to share the Gospel with others and has become one of my best friends. We were able to teach him about baptism and Priesthood authority this week and the importance of both. We had the members pray for a date to extend to him for baptism and we extended it to him and he said no. I asked if he wanted more joy in his life and he says no because it would be too much. Haha. He's great and I know he will make that step soon because he is ready to receive the blessings and joy that come from following Christ and being a part of this gospel.

Here we are at the Dröges home. Nicest people and most helpful people you'd ever meet!

So this was just a glimpse at some of the amazing people I have the opportunity of getting to teach and to learn from. There is no greater service or work I could be doing than to bring people closer to Christ and to God. I'm grateful to have been brought up in this Church and to have this knowledge so that I can share it with others around me. There is no place I'd rather be. Deutschland is amazing and I'm blessed to be here for 18 months.

Liebe Grüße 

Sister Farner