Durch den Herrn ist alles möglich (Through the Lord everything is possible)

Guten Tag!

I can hardly believe I've already been here in Germany for over two weeks! After the first few days, the time has started to go by a lot quicker.

One of the coolest things we get to do in this area is work with the young single adults. There is an outreach center here where they have Family Home Evening, Institute, and other activities. We've been able to help out a lot with that. There are some awesome young adults here and I have really enjoyed getting to know them. They come from all over the world and have such strong testimonies. At Institute last week, we talked about David and Goliath. One of the things that the teacher pointed out was that David prepared 5 stones, but then only used one to kill Goliath. The lesson I took away from that is we need to prepare as much as possible for whatever might come our way. I have learned as a missionary that when I am well prepared, I am better able to carry out the tasks that are expected of me. I may need to study more scriptures than I think I'll need for a lesson, and then when I'm teaching the Spirit will tell me which one will be best. I have to build up the spiritual reservoirs for the spirit to draw on.

One of the first days in our apartment when we were leaving we met our downstairs neighbor, Frau Brandl in the stairway. She is very nice. She asked us what we do and a little bit about the church. We told her we were missionaries who teach people about Jesus Christ. She said "Sure, feel free to come by sometime." So we did! We baked her some cookies and took her a Book of Mormon and taught her most of the first lesson. When we asked her if she prays, she said “No she doesn't really pray like they do in the Catholic Church, but that she just talks to God.” That's exactly what prayer is, talking to God! She is so prepared for this message. She is Catholic but has problems accepting some of the things the Catholic Church has done in the past. When we explained about the Book of Mormon, she said "So I need to read it. I'll find a time when I'm not distracted to read it." I don't think a missionary could ask for a better answer from an investigator than that. We couldn't get her to commit to making a return appointment, but we live right above her, so I think we'll be able to sufficiently bug her :)

On Thursday evening, we went to a Zumba class that they have at the outreach center (don't worry; we got permission from the Mission President!). The reason we went was to meet a friend of one of the young adults who goes to the class. We met a lot of really great young women, and hopefully we'll be able to invite them to church this week! (We ran out of time last week- we live kind of far away and we had to run to catch the S-Bahn).

On Sunday I translated Sunday School and Sacrament meeting for a new convert, Hui. Hui is a Student from China who speaks pretty good English and is learning German. She got baptized in January. Translating is hard work! Sometimes German words would slip into my English, or my English sentences wouldn't make a lot of sense. Thankfully Hui got most of what I was saying.

Ich habe gelernt diese Woche, dass ich dieses Werk nur durch den Herrn machen kann. Er weißt, wer bereit ist. Er kann durch mich wirken, um Leute näher zu ihm zu bringen. Ich bin so dankbar für die Gelegenheit, die ich habe, den Herrn zu dienen.

(I have learned this week that this work (missionary work) can only be done with the Lord. He knows who is ready. He can work through me to bring others closer to Him. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord.)

Ich liebe euch! (I love you!)

Sister Stewart

Maddy- E-mail me your home address and whatever mission addresses you have, please!