Goot en tog! (Just kidding): Saying Goodbye to Sister Lyman!

May 18th, 2015

Transfer Calls.... On Thursday I will be saying goodbye to my Trainer, Sister Lyman. I will be taking over my area here in Saarbrücken and meeting my new companion - Sister Bates! I have never met her before, so I am excited to see how it is to work with someone new.

Mensch. I don't know if it is just because we are Sisters and supposedly emotional or what, but Sister Lyman and I were a mess when we got the Transfer Call news. We got together with our District and all 10 of us huddled around by the phone as the Transfers were announced. When we heard the "Sister Helmick will be...joined with..." Sister Lyman freaked out and Sister Wilcox (Our Senior Couple Sister) took us into the kitchen where we all took a few minutes to cry. Then we had obnoxious Elders knock on the door to check in on us. (They are nice guys)

This is my Trainer's first area and she has been here for nearly 7 months. Our ward has about 45 people that regularly come to Church...and when you are a Missionary in a ward as small as ours, you get to know pretty much everyone. Sunday was full of a lot of tears and hugs. On Thursday this next coming week, Sister Lyman and I will be traveling to Kaiserslautern where we will say our goodbyes and I will be paired with Sister Bates.

Between now and then we have TEN scheduled appointments with members. Everyone wants to see Sister Lyman off. I think all of the love and support they have showed to her is a testimant in itself to how wonderful she is. I am so grateful to have had her as my trainer.

Great news: Sister Shurts (from my home ward in Oregon!) has been called to be a Sister Training Leader in Heidelberg. She will be covering my area, which means that we will possibly be able to go on splits together! That is so exciting, I am so happy for her. She will be a great example and leader.

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Miracle from the week:

Remember Juliane? The girl I met at my first Street Display who just happens to want to move to Oregon? Well, we lost contact with each other for about two months. I would call her about every three weeks and leave her a voicemail. We had made out an appointment and it fell out. I was feeling so sad about this, I really felt like (and still do feel like) I came to Saarbrücken because I needed to meet her. We have so much in common it is unreal.

I called her last week and she answered! She apologized for loosing contact with me for a while. She was working through some personal concerns. She told me that she knows she needs to meet with us because she remembers how she felt that day when we met on the street. It wasn't a coincidence. So we met with her on Monday!

We taught her about The Restoration of the Gospel and we answered her many questions. I feel like I am in a trance or something. ALL of Juliane's questions and concerns were MY questions and concerns. Before I found this Church, I had so many questions, doubts and fears. It has been such a blessing for me to be able to relate to Juliane like this. After our first lesson together, Juliane hugged me - and I mean really hugged me. That is something that I love about the German culture. They are a really private people, but once you have their trust, they love you so fully and unconditionally.

I am excited to continue meeting with Juliane and teaching her. I feel so grateful to still be here in Saarbrücken - I really can't imagine myself anywhere else right now.

I love you all!

Sister Helmick