Hallo!

The Jazz Man

Highlights:

*Two splits, one Düsseldorf zone training, and one MLC make for one
very busy and wonderful week!
*Met a man in Essen who is about 89 years old, and is a Jazz
accordion/piano player. He had met with missionaries decades ago, and
told us about being 18 at the end of the war, and playing classic
American Jazz for the troops in Heidelberg. He told us how a
missionary's father sent him the most wonderful tie with an American
flag on it, and how he loved it, but wasn't sure where to wear it.
We told him to wear it to church. Haha
*We were standing by a bus stop in Köln and we saw this man who looked
at us briefly. The feeling to talk to him was pretty direct, so we
chose to do so.
1.5 hours later, we had traveled into the city on the same bus, and
taught him the ENTIRE lesson about the Restoration of the church in
McDonalds, given him a Book of Mormon, and committed him to read it
and pray about it.
He lives in Hamburg, and was cautious about giving his info out, but
the Spirit in the lesson was super strong.
So cool!
*The "Spider" gave his first talk in German yesterday in Sacrament
Meeting! He did such a wonderful job!!

They are Elders!!

*We had a "Persian only" class, where two newly baptized members taught two other interested people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the importance of being baptized. They shared their baptism experience, and the Spirit was there! So cool to be able to watch
their interaction (even though we didn't understand everything/anything that was being said hahaha) and share their newfound love for the Savior, His Gospel, and His church.


                                                                 

                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                
I was studying Preach My Gospel about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Under the first point it says:

"Becoming clean from sin is being healed spiritually"

That struck me like a jolt.
I was like
"Wait a second...that means that when we don't feel "healthy" or
"healed" or when we feel listless, lost, frustrated, forgotten, alone,
or confused, the solution literally is repentance."

At first I was not so comforted by this idea.
"Great"
I thought
"Yet another way we can fail.
Fail while you're failing...
Beautiful."
But then I realized that my understanding of Repentance was
fundamentally flawed.
It reminds me of another quote from Preach My Gospel:

"Repentance includes forming a fresh view of God, ourselves, and the
world. When we repent, we feel godly sorrow, then we stop doing things
that are wrong and continue doing things that are right. Bringing our
lives in line with God’s will through repentance is a central purpose
of our lives."

So, repentance is a beautiful thing, and it works.

That's all!

Love always,

Sister Roderer