Most Difficult; Most Rewarding.

Wow. This week was one of the most difficult weeks I have had since being out here - and it was also one of the most rewarding. I have never felt more inspired and motivated to be a Missionary. 

Being a Missionary is not easy, it isn't supposed to be, nor did I ever expect it to be. Every day, we, as Missionaries, face rejection. That is not uncommon. But this week, oh mensch, there were times where I felt like my heart was breaking in two. 

On one occasion this week, Sister Lyman and I were cornered - literally, by a man and a group of preachers who wanted nothing to do but argue and yell at us. All we could do was tell them that we aren't here to argue, we are simply trying to share what we believe to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Another instance, we were chatting with a young man casually on a train on our way to an appointment. Once he saw our nametags, we explained that we are Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ. Immediately, he started using every foul word imaginable to describe God - and us. 

As I was thinking about these two experiences this week, my heart and my thoughts turned to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was seeking to better understand my personal role as a Missionary and why this work can sometimes be so hard. 

An Apostle of the Lord, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy, because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. How could we believe it was easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?"

Jesus Christ performed miracle after miracle and he was repeatedly rejected. As I read through the scriptures, I am constantly amazed at His example. The day after we were persecuted by the group of preachers, I read this verse from the Book of Mormon.

"And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." 

The repeated phrase "and he suffereth it" really stuck with me this week. Everytime I am persecuted for my beliefs, all I have to do is remind myself of the name I wear everyday. I am out here, in Germany, not to be on a vacation or see beautiful buildings and architecture. I am here, because of Jesus Christ. He lives. 

I promise this week wasn't all bad though! I attended a beautiful baptism, I traveled to Trier, the oldest city in Germany for a street display, celebrated Elder Taylor's birthday, and Sister Lyman and I found a new investigator to teach! 

Love,

Sister Helmick

Preparing for Elder Taylor's Surprise Birthday party!

One of the oldest Roman buildings in Trier!

Elder Taylor gave us birthday masks... Hulk!

This is what we do when we prepare to teach an investigator a lesson...

Homemade tortillas...prep for birthday.

They like to take pics of me sleeping...

The People here have stolen my heart.

I love Little old ladies! When I grow up, I want to be just like them some day. 

Here in Saarbrücken, Sister Lyman and I visit a lot of the widows in our ward. We serve them, often times, by being an ear and just listening to them. The Bishopric has specifically asked us to visit teach them until the Ward organizes a solid visiting teaching. Our ward has been struggling recently. So we do a lot of Member-Support and less-active work. 

I am amazed by These women. Many of them have lived through the War. Their strength and Courage inspire me. On Sunday, the oldest woman in our ward, Sister Güsgen, gave a talk about Prayer. She is widowed and her Body is very weak due to Age. She is also a convert of about 60 years. She needed help to stand during her talk. She literally used every ounce of her strength to bear her testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His restored Church. She said that even after 60 years of going to Church, she knows how important it is to go every Sunday. The People here have truly stole my heart, I don't want to leave Saarbrücken. 

Earlier this week, everything seemed to be going wrong. We have several cancelled appointments and to make it worse - we ended up locking ourselves out of our Apartment. We had planned to visit a former investigator, Frau Kirsch and we were beyond frusterated that our plans were ruined. We ended up coming up with an alternative plan for several hours. By the time we received a spare key it was nearly 7pm. (Which is late for the People here. Most People are home and retired in the evenings by that time). Sister Lyman and I prayed about it and ended up deciding to still vorbei on Frau Kirsch. 

As we got on the bus - lo and behold - we ran into Frau Kirsch! She had been out with her boyfriend and they had gotten dinner that night. We chatted with them for the bus ride and they ended up having us over for Drinks until the return bus could take us home. They told us that they had been out running errands all day, so if we had stopped by any earlier we would've missed them. Heavenly Father has plans that are beginner than ours. He knew that we needed to meet with them on that bus.

As we were talking, Frau Kirsch told us that her boyfriend's Opa (Gpa) had passed away a few days previously. Frau Kirsch had taken all of the Missionary lessons but had decided to discontinue Meeting with the Missionaries formally. As they were talking about His death, her boyfriend made the comment that he will never see him again.

Sister Lyman and I were able to testify that He would. The mood in the room changed. Frau Kirsch said, "He'll be taught about the Gospel...in the next life... right?" She remembered the Plan of Salvation that we had previously taught her. We were able to again testify to them both that this life is not the End and that those who have died without a knowledge of the Gospel, will have the Chance to learn of it in the next life. 

I remember the day when two Elders taught me the Plan of Salvation. They laid down lamenated circles on the ground - one for each Phase of God's Plan.

I remember looking at the Plan of Salvation and simply knowing that I had seen it before. This life is not the end. 

"But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ" (Mosiah 16:8). I know that this is true with everything that I am. Having this priviledge of teaching this to others, just as I was once taught, gives this time I have in Germany so much meaning. 

With Easter right around the corner, I invite you all to take a couple minutes and watch this video entitled "Because of Him."

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

Thank you for the continued love and Support! 

Love,

Sister Helmick

The oldest Castle in Saarland

The American Base Elders gave us Mac & Cheese!

Another Castle View!

Right next to the oldest Castle there is a Monument. I believe it is for Animal Support.

Giant bird Tree...random right?

My trainer's MTC comp and her golden! They are both Training right now.

I loved running into Sister Sant at Zone Conference! She was in my MTC Group.

Sister Lyman and I with the Chinese Alligators... I was just at Gaterland in Florida a few months ago! Now Germany. Wow.

Tower description

There are tons of older Churches in Germany.

Sister Lyman calls this the "poop tunnel". Did you know that is legal to poop in the streets of Germany? So Long as you don't expose yourself...this tunnel smells like a disturbing gas Station bathroom. But worse.

There Are No Such Things as Coincidences!

"...if ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me" (Moroni 10:23). 

I know that this verse is true. This week was the best week that I have had in Germany yet,  but it was also the most difficult week. I really had to Stretch myself out of my comfort Zone to do things that I did not think I was ready to do. One example was our first street display. 

About every Transfer (6 weeks), we host a Street Display in Saarbrücken, where we have tons of copies of das Buch Mormon in quite a few languages. This last week, we hosted one in the Center of a busy Shopping plaza. All of the Missionaries separated so that we could talk to as many People as possible. 

At first, a wave of Panic and fear overcame me. I thought to myself, "oh no, I can't do this without Sister Lyman." Sure, I have contacted before, but she has always been by my side to help me when I could not understand. I did not think that I was ready to talk to These People alone. 

Thankfully, I have a fantastic companion. Sister Lyman did a quick role play with me and gave me a Little bit of encouragement. I said a quick prayer and went my way, alone. Speaking German. 

With contacting, the first two or three People I talk to are always the most difficult for me. But once I started to try, with FAITH, Heavenly Father helped me with the rest. 

Two miracles from that day: 

1. Oh meine güte...the gift of tongues is real! I spoke with a man today while we were contacting. At first I didn't want to talk to him because he had a smirk on his face and I was pretty sure he was going to laugh at me. But I talked to him anyway. He was very philosophical and he did not seem interested in the Book of Mormon. He did not belong to any organized Religion, but he believed in God and Jesus Christ. 

I started talking to him about God's plan for us and I beared my testimony to Him that God has a personal plan for all of His Children. This man asked me a lot of questions and IT WAS A MIRACLE. I was able to understand him! I did not really understand the words he used or the direct Translation of what he said, but I knew what he was saying and I knew what he needed to hear. He even complimented my German and said that I perfectly answered his questions. He accepted a Der Erlösungsplan pamp. 

2. JULIANE: AHH! God is so real! He knows us perfectly. Everyday my faith in Him grows stronger as I see more and more "coincidences" here. 

I met Juliane at the Street Display. She is so Kind and personable. We talked about her belief in God and Jesus Christ  but how she has a lot of questions and she is so confused. She wonderered why there are so many different Churchs and why so much has changed. She listed several other main concerns...and every one of her questions was a question that I had. She mentioned several experiences that she has had -- and they were all experiences that I have had! I connected with her SO WELL. I was able to bear testimony to her that this Gospel is what she is looking for. That the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ is true. 

As we were talking she mentioned that she plans to move to the United States. She said that she wants to move to OREGON. Of all places in the world, Oregon. I told her that I am from Oregon. As we were talking, I felt the Spirit so strongly. I bore testimony to her that God knows her and that we ran into each other for a reason. It was no coincidence. She hugged me before she left and said that she wanted to learn more.

She called us later that evening and made an appointment with us. She told me that she knows it was not a coincidence either. We are teaching her tomorrow! I am so excited for Juliane. 

The best part about serving a Mission is the People you meet. I would not trade this experience for the world, and I am only in week 4. Thank you all for the continued Support, it means everything to me.

Liebe,

Sister Helmick

Saarland flags

We went on a hike today.

Hiking on P-day. I felt like I was home, back in good old Oregon!

There are swans everywhere here.

Germany is truly the Melting Pot of the World!

Oh meine güte...This week was crazy busy! It was full of appointments, loads of laughs, plenty of mistakes with speaking German, sprinting to make Trains and buses in time, and most importantly - tiny miracles each day. 

As I mentioned earlier, we are the first Sister Missionaries serving in Saarbrücken in over 20 years. Because of this - we have a TON of work to do with less-active members, visiting teaching, and potential investigators. Every day I wake up excited to learn, teach, and love These People. 

The Food... Wow. We had a dinner appointment with a less active Lady. She spent two hours cooking for us and she is in her 80s! We visit a lot of These older ladies. Most of them are widowed and they live alone, so they look Forward to our visits. Anway, at our dinner appointment she served us two large Scoops of a very common dish called Kanoodle... It is essentially thick stuffing and potatoes. It is very dense as well. I...really dislike it. A lot. But I ate it all! In fact, I ate it all so quickly that Sister Lieber plopped two more balls on my plate because she thought that I liked it so much! Haha. It made her happy to see that I was eating so much though, so that's what matters. 

Other than the Kanoodles, I love the Food here! It is definitely comfort Food though. And for some reason, everyone thinks that the Sister Missionaries starve everyday, so we are fed A TON of Food. I'm slightly worried about the weight gain! Haha. 

The Culture... Germany is truly the melting pot of the world. I have met People from all over the world in Saarbrücken. Sometimes this can make our missionary work more difficult because German is definitely not the only language spoken here. We try our best though. 

I experienced a real miracle this week with missionary work! We met with a Family this week who all speak Romanian. The mother is pregnant with her 6th child and her 5 other children speak Romanian as well. Her husband speaks Spanish. One of the older children speaks better German from School. Anyway, they have been reading out of the Romanian Book of Mormon together and have been wanting to learn more. The oldest child translates for us, but the Father cannot read in Romanian or German. So we gave him a Spanish book of Mormon. This week we have a teaching appointment with this Family and we are bringing a Spanish-speaking member with us to help translate...All of this has been very humbling for me! I can hardly speak German, and here we are, teaching a lesson to a Family who desperately wants to learn. From German to Spanish to Romanian... The Spirit was so strong when we were teaching this Family. I have such a strong testimony of the Holy Ghost, because I know that we are not the ones who are teaching this Family and filling their hearts. 

D&C 18:10: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" 

We are all Children of God, even those who reject him or do not yet know Him. And that is why He sends Missionaries - to preach the Gospel. 

Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them." 

Thank you for all of your personal emails of love and Support, and especially for your prayers. They lift me up. 

Sending all of my love,

Sister Helmick

First German Chocolate!

Pretty Church (not ours).

It is so beautiful here!

More service this week.

The Elders call this the Cancer Tree. They are all over Saarbrücken!

Where I sleep.

Our Church Building! It is so cute!

Our toilet has a zebra cover on it...the Elders lived here before us....haha!!

Overlooking Saarbrücken!

This is the Straussenbahn that we use everyday to travel. It is a few blocks from our Apartment.

First Week in Deutschland!

 Well, I'm here! In Germany. It is Kind of a strange Feeling. I wake up each morning and have to remind myself that I am in Germany. Not in the MTC and not in Oregon, but in Germany. 

I am serving in Saarbrücken! I am living sort of in the Slums of the City. It has a similar Feeling to it that Portland has. There are a lot of People here and a lot of cars. Parallel parking galore! It is beautiful here though. So many trees and so much green - even during this time of the year. 

Wow, have I been humbled this week. This Mission is not about me or about my wants and Needs. I am not fantastic with the German language, or with Navigation through public Transportation. I have to rely solely on my Trainer, Sister Lyman, for help. She is teaching me how to get along well in this area. 

We are the first Sisters to serve in Saarbrücken in over 20 years! So the members are incredibly grateful to have us. Our Gemeinde (ward) is so great. Everyone here is so loving and so friendly. 

Missionary work is not exactly what I expected here. I imagined getting of our flight and immediently street contacting or proselyting in some way. We still street contact but it is not our priority here. There is a lot of help needed in the ward. The members Need Support and they Need to be loved. Especially the women - and because the Elders cannot serve These People in the same way, the Bishopric have asked us to visit teach the women in the Church. 

So each day we meet with one of two in-active or active members and serve them in anyway we can. We always share a spiritual message and encourage them to continue to develop their relationship with our Heavenly Father. 

I am amazed at what the Lord has been able to do with my heart. I worried about being able to love These People before coming here. I worried that I would not be able to understand what they were saying to me and not be able to convey my Feelings to them in German. At my first appointment I realized just how wrong I was. 

I almost feel like the Grinch when he was softened towards the Christmas season. My heart grew three sizes in my chest. I felt an immediate love for These People. Even though there is still a language barrier, I am working hard to overcome it. And what really matters is that I am trying, because These People can see that. They may laugh at me to poke fun, but they know that I am trying. 

Matthew 10:39:

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

I am here because of Jesus Christ. He lives. I know that with everything I am. The only way to Lasting happiness and peace in this life is through following Jesus Christ, and losing ourselves in the Service to others. 

I love you all!

--Sister Helmick

Kristyn and Natalya were able to see one another in the MTC! :)

Sister Helmick & Syster Nielsen's last photo together in the MTC.

President Woffinden and I.

The Missionaries headed to Germany! 

Last pic with Sister Peterson and I. We matched.

Last meal at the MTC - some of us go with apples, some with Cookies. ;)

Kristyn's new companion, Sister Lyman is on the right. On the left is Sister Lyman's trainer. Three generations of  missionaries.

Service Project pic. We took down all of the wallpaper and paint. Europeans take down all the wallpaper and the flooring when they move.