Aloha!
Highlights from this week:
*Fell asleep mid-sentence while reading out loud in an appointment. #hiddentalents
*Participated in a missionary training with 75,000 other missionaries all around the world. And by participated I mean I ate Chinese food and took copious notes.
*Learned that Shahrukh Kahn filmed a new Bollywood in Denmark or something like that...anyway, got to have a Bollywood moment with a guy from India!!
*Spent like 5 hours straight at the Duisburg Bahnhof, in appointments, and waiting/contacting while waiting on appointments. #McDonalds #besties #fried
World-o-meter
This week we taught or talked to people from:
*Algeria
*Nigeria
*Ghana
*Syria
*Bangladesh
*Germany
*Sierra Leon
*England
*India
*Ukraine
*Guinea
*Turkey
Deutsch
I always say that good things are a "Zeichen der Liebe Gottes" or "a sign of God's love"
Well... I was going to send that in an email, but I spelled it "Seichen" instead. I thought it was right because the spell check accepted it as a word. I decided to look it up, just in case...
It was a good thing I did.
Despite sounding almost exactly the same when pronounced, to "Seichen" means to wet the bed; to say nonsense; and possibly other things which for which I apologize.
This week wins for being the strangest combination of adventure and tragedy, miracles and disappointments, progression and standstill.
How exhilarating!
And yet, how completely and utterly exhausting.
Winter in Germany is fantastic.
We met him at the train station, and he took us on a bus for like ten minutes, where we then got off and started walking.
We soon entered the housing complex.
This guy passed us, and our investigator, recognizing him, stopped him, asked him where he was going, asked him if he spoke English, then invited him to come listen. We got settled in the room of his friend, and waited for his friends to arrive.
They kept coming!!
We kept having to stand up, and introduce ourselves.
"Hi I'm Sister Roderer, what's your name and where are you from?
"Oh! Nigeria!
Oh India! Do you know Rab ne bana de Jodi?
Oh, you lived in Bulgaria?
Oh, you're from Algeria?"
Our investigator went from door to door, and grabbed all of his English speaking friends and invited them to come join us.
All in all, there were seven guys from all over the world....and us.
Three very white, very American, and very surprised Sister missionaries.
He assembled them all and got their attention.
Then he gestured to us and said:
"Feed us."
Taken aback, we jump right into the The Plan of Salvation...
And when we talked about families we ended up teaching the Law of Chastity too...
So.
Much.
Fun!!
Well, the bus only came once an hour, so three of the guys walked us back, carried our extra bags, and waited with us until our train came.
Mission made.
And then we got on a train going the wrong direction, just so we didn't have to wait in the frigid cold, deep in the dead of winter.
The best part though, was some of the answers these guys gave to questions in the appointment itself. They were open, and had beautiful ideas about God and faith. It was so cool to see their faith in God, and their desire to learn more, and their willingness to accept the possibility that there could be just one true church.
We also gave a church tour to two people from Bangladesh. They felt the Spirit, and were so interested in what we believed and how the church was organized.
One man couldn't speak English very well, but he was pleased to hear that we as "Sisters" could marry.
He said
(sort of, his friend had to translate)
that it makes more sense this way, because this way we won't run out of people. #truestory
The best moment though, was when we were sitting in the chapel, and had watched a clip about Jesus Christ being the Bread of Life, and they both just felt the Spirit so powerfully. This same guy leans over and says:
"If the Al Qaeda could come here and feel this, they would be changed."
I stunned myself by responding that it was because Jesus Christ died for them too. And then I had to sit back and think about that one. Puts things in a different perspective, that does. What was most shocking is that I felt a glimpse of His love for them, and for me, and for us all.
It was a tiny bit life changing.
I have been thinking a lot about dips of late.
dips in motivation,
dips in faith,
dips in hope,
dips in self-confidence,
dips and chips,
dips in stress
dips in fear
dips in success
And more specifically, how we should act when a dip comes, whether it be positive or negative.
My thought is if something "dips" then something has changed.
Well, duh.
But I mean if every action has a reaction, then if the reaction is different, then an action or variable has changed.
Sometimes I feel like the variables changed without my permission, or that all of a sudden, I'm different, and something is harder or easier and I have no idea why.
Thank you, subconscious.
But, it also made me realize AGAIN how important agency is.
I love using circumstances to justify myself.
It's one of my favorite hobbies, actually.
It allows me to feel ok with feeling weak, and gives me a reason to fight back, because I know it wasn't really all my fault.
But I don't think that's necessary.
Or correct.
What IS necessary is hope.
What is correct is faith.
And determination.
And patience.
I was studying the Second Article of Faith yesterday, and I read a quote that put it deliciously bluntly:
"Your use of [agency] determines your happiness or misery in this life and in the life to come."
Terrifying.
And freeing.
No matter how bad it gets, no matter what happens, or occurs, we are still in full power. I think that's what it means to become more like Christ, and to take His Name upon us, and to Stand in Holy Places, and to Endure (or enjoy) to the end.
Love Always,
Sister Roderer
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