Acting on a Hope

3.5 Swiss People....all in the Swiss Missionaries are serving in the same zone

• We had Dortmund Zone Training, which was focused on stress relief, which means we threw  spaghetti at an Elder wrapped in Saran Wrap. 
• Taught the Ten Commandments to our Iranian friends, and they surprised us by asking what our favorite commandments were. I didn't know how to answer! One of their favorite ones fit perfectly with the next part of our lesson...Law of Chastity. It is so wonderful to hear them talk about how sacred and beautiful marriage and family are! They are so fantastic!!
• A former member showed up to church with his wife a couple of weeks ago, and they both want to be baptized! They are so incredible, no email would do them or their story justice!
• We found out the character differences between our companionship when we found an invasion of squiggles on our balcony: 

Sister Markl: Let's pool our resources and find the best, most sanitary solution.

Sister Roderer: We can wash our hands when we are done.

I also learned that Sister Markl does not like bugs, and if you want to make her scream, bugs are the best way to go. Hehe






I studied one of my favorite verses this morning, which I see as the companion scripture to Ether 12:27.  It's in Jacob, who is simply brilliant with his word choice. :)  Jacob 4:6-7

From my study I learned something beautiful about hope, which changed the way I see faith.

Hope means you acquire the grounds or justification
for acting on the words of Christ.
Faith means you have enough hope to act; it means your heart is soft enough to change.
You can gain hope through studying the experiences of others, and by making
your own experiences.
Miracles and mountain-moving-faith comes from the experience of having completed the process of acting on hope and faith.

So, faith is acting on the grounds that something will happen. Hope is the initial thrust that  provides the desire to change. Faith is the act of changing or acting, which activates the power of miracles.

Dortmund in Spring

It's really the small things that make
the biggest difference! God's plan is really perfect.
God lives.
He's really there.
Jesus Christ is His Son, and our Savior.
What you do matters.
You matter!

All my love,

Sister Roderer

Heavenly Blessings

SPRING!!

Highlights:

*We got to take part in a lot of District Meetings this week, so we could be there for their goal setting, and understand where they were coming from, and what we could do to help. That was fun, and we got to use Skype!

*In Germany they watch the last session of General Conference as part of church, which we did yesterday. We had the session in German, English, Persian, and Chinese!


*Everything is blooming, and I got a sunburn last Monday, which was a beautiful feeling.

"That one time when..."

*you try to talk to your Iranian investigator with google translate, and he slaps his hand on your iPad and says:
"Nein! Translate schlecht. Nur Deutsch sprechen!"
We put the iPad away.

Sunday Linger Longer

*you are at a member's house, and leave the appointment before your investigators do, because they are watching soccer on the big screen with the members.

*you are in a Bahn, and lose your balance, so you go to grab the pole that should be there, but instead you grab a person instead, then suddenly realize what you are doing and snap your hand back like it's been burned.

*you watch "A Shower of Heavenly Blessings" with a family, then write down your blessings on a blue piece of paper, the crumple them into "raindrops" and play a version of umbrella dodgeball for Family Home Evening.

Making a wish

I have been rather excited about the new Mormon Message that just came out last month. It's called "A Shower of Heavenly Blessings". I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I have literally come up with reasons to show it to people.

It has made me think a lot about patience, faith, blessings, joy, etc. I read a quote this week that hit me really hard, and I wanted to share it with you all.

"Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe, rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance. Put another way, too much anxious opening of the oven door and the cake falls instead of rising. So it is with us. If we are always selfishly taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we will not be.” Elder Maxwell

Well, as usual, there is no time to say what I want to say, but be patient, and the blessings will flow.

Christ lives.

He is our Savior.
I testify of Him!

Love always,

Sister Roderer

The Bird-en of Growth

Almost my name

Highlights:

*We taught a first lesson in a men's African barbershop...in Germany.

*The man we contacted so quickly last week said he'd like to be baptized...but he doesn't live in our area.

*We did a finding activity as a district in Wesel, and I contacted this guy who was most definitely under the influence of something. I asked him if he believed in God, and he looks up at me, and says
"Believing in God means to be able to see without wearing glasses."
Thanks, friend. Haha

*A couple in our ward went contacting together for Easter, giving out
candy and #Hallelujah cards, and they talked to this sweet lady from
China....who came with her daughter to church yesterday!

World-o-meter:
*Turkey
*Syria
*Iran
*Germany
*Ghana
*Nigeria
*Angola
*India

Deutsch:
There is this hobby shop in Duisburg, and we were considering going in
there for something, and I was speaking in German and turned to Sister
Markl and said something about finding a "craft" except in German
"Kraft" means "strength", not something you create. Whoops.

I've been studying what it means to have a soft heart this week, and I
found this AMAZING quote a couple of days ago that I wanted to share
with you.
January Ensign 1999:

"Few mortals share with Alma the Younger or Paul the Apostle the
dramatic experiences which resulted in their spiritual rebirths over
short periods of time. In fact, I believe those experiences are
recorded in the scriptures not to define the time frame during which
one may be reborn but to provide a vivid picture of what the
accumulated, subtle changes are that take place in a faithful person
over a lifetime."

It was such a lovely thought, that it's not about just a few people
finding this deep conversion and the rest of us struggling for our
entire lives to feel something, rather, it is ALL of us on the same
journey to total and utter conversion.

Despite this knowledge, it is so easy to feel like an ugly duckling.
Something that the Lord has been teaching me this week is that no
matter how ugly we may be right now, if we keep trying we someday will
still become a swan.

Love always,

Sister Roderer

Baptism right before Elder Evans gets transferred - Friends always!

The Gentle Dews of Heaven

Duisburg in its Glory

*So...I was on a split, and we were heading for our Bahn. We had exactly 4 minutes before it left. We walked passed this guy, and I had the impression to talk to him.
NOW? I thought,
but I stopped and said the first words which came out of my mouth, which were...
"Hi, we're missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...do you believe in Jesus Christ?"
"Yes."
"We know that the church that we represent is true and that it can fulfill all of your deepest desires...
Would you like to learn more?"
"Yes, I would."
We typed his number into my phone, and booked it for our train.
God has promised that He will fill our mouths if we open them,
 and sometimes the words that come out are surprising.
*I was on a different split, and we were running for the Bahn, were
Sister Markl was waiting for me, so we could head home. We were
running, and some guy yells out
"Run, Forrest, RUN!"
We keep going, and then every muscle in my body tensed and froze.
I was literally running as fast as I could, and it was a waddle.
Like if snails could waddle, that's about how fast I was going.
We get to the stairs, and there at the top is our Bahn, waiting to go,
held back only by this tiny little chocolate man, who was standing in
the doorway, keeping the doors from closing.
Sister Markl is at the top of the stairs, yelling at me to RUN
And here I am
Waddling
One excruciating step at a time
I finally eeeeep to the top and we jump in.
. . .
We go one stop and then realize that I still have the other sister's Bahn card
. . .
Back to Herne we go!


*Showed the Hallelujah video to two girls smoking and drinking in the
middle of a field.
*Had that moment when your mitglied dabei plan doesn't work, and you
teach half the lesson outside over loudspeaker on your mission
cellphone.

General Conference in Bonn!

*When your sick investigator studies the gospel principles book in the corner of the train on the way to General Conference, and he doesn't want to sit too close, so he doesn't make anyone sick.
*And then after eating together as a group between sessions, you have to boil hot water in the church building to wash dishes covered in
beef and tomato sauce.

I read this incredible talk this morning.

It's called The Atonement Covers All Pain
Here's a snippet:
Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we
experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development
of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. … It is
through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the
education that we come here to acquire.”


I have so much I want to say, and literally zero minutes to type it
all in, but I want to testify that because of Jesus Christ, there is
always enough strength to keep going. The pain can be excruciating,
and sometimes we will fail, just a little but, or maybe a lot, but I
PROMISE you, with all of the authority that my calling holds, there is
no pain, no suffering, no mistake, no failure than can not be made
right through the atoning blood of He who committed no sin, made no
mistake, and yet took it all upon Himself.
Christ lives.
He is your Savior.
He is mine.
That's truth.
I give all that I am for that truth, because I know He lives.

Love always,

Sister Roderer

General Konferenz selfie