Goot en tog! (Just kidding): The Best and Worst Week

August 3rd, 2015

I have been praying about Transfers all week. It started last week when Stella told me that she would be praying for me to stay each day. That little comment made me realize just how hard leaving would be. So, everyday of last week I prayed again and again for Peace. Peace with our Transfer call, no matter if I go or if I stay. I have been in Saarbrücken for over 5 months now, and that is around the time a Missionary is transferred (at least in our Mission.) So I had a feeling it may be coming. On Saturday, our District got together and we made breakfast and anxiously awaited our Mission-wide call at 9:00am.

As the AP's were going through the Different Zones announcing each individual Missionary's name and area, I intently listened. As soon as I heard "In Herne, Sister Taylor will be joined with...Sister Helmick" I felt a WHOOSH of peace. Seriously, that is the only way I can describe it. It was as if my head to my toes were being filled with peace. I felt excited, happy, and grateful that the Lord had answered my many prayers. And then - after a minute or so, I realized that Herne is the same area that Sister Shurts served in for 5 transfers! (Sister Shurts - most energetic and happy person I know, we are from the same Gemeinde and she is currently my STL in Heidelberg). Every Sunday we have something called "Call-ins" where our District Leader and then our STLs call us and we talk about our week. Yesterday during Call-Ins, Sister Shurts filled me in on who I need to talk to, who I will be teaching and just how much I will love Herne. Sister Shurts - you just became a lifelong friend!

I am holding onto that peace that I felt - and still do feel. I know that the Lord needs me in Herne and that I need the people there too. I titled this entry "the best and worst week" because leaving is the most bittersweet experience. Saying goodbye yesterday at Church was so hard for me. It is not like serving a Mission in your own Country, because you can cheerfully say, "Until next time - I'll visit." With Saarbrücken, I don't know if I will ever be able to come and see these people again. And some of them (I love my older ladies!) may not be around in the late future. This makes saying goodbye harder than anything because I know it really is Goodbye. Gott sei mit euch bis aufs wiedersehen takes an incredibly personal meaning.

Well, that is where I am at right now. Still sad. I have tonight and all of Tuesday and Wednesday full of appointments with people I love. Then on Thursday I have an hour Bahn ride to look forward to, then a 3.5 hour bus ride followed by another Bahn ride before I finally make it into Herne. And then - I will fall in love with all of the people there to. As Sister Bates and I were talking about my last Sunday she told me, "Hurting about leaving just means that you were the kind of Missionary that the Lord needed you to be for these people. I would much rather have all the pain of leaving than never having loved them at all." I am going to miss Sister Bates too.

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Okay, I am done being sad (at least in this email update). Here is the miracle story from this week:

About a month ago, our Gemeinde changed it's sacramant time to 9:30am instead of 11am. Unfortunately, the Church Website was not yet updated with the change in Sacrament time, so during our Sunday School a visitor walked in thinking that she was on time for Sacrament but she had just missed it. She came and pulled a chair into our circle for English Class. (For English investigators and the several American members that we have). As she sat down, I had the strange feeling that I knew her from somewhere. She just looked familiar to me but I was certain it was just a coincidence because I could not think of where I knew her from.

At the end of the class, I asked her for her name and then asked her to say the closing prayer. "Anna" she said. Hmmm. We then sat together during Relief Society, Sister Bates and Anna started talking about where they were from. Sister Bates is from Salt Lake City, Utah - so I have gotten used to conversations with visitors from the US. There are a lot of Mormons in Utah! All of a sudden I heard, "no way! Your Dallas's Sister! My roommate dated your brother!" And then Sister Bates and Anna were going on about that connection. After they chatted a little about Utah, Anna turned to me and said, "And you just look really familiar to me!"

Wow. I told her the same. After she asked me where I am from, I saw her face light up and she said, "What part of Oregon?! I'm from Oregon!" Eventually we found out that we went to the same middle school together! Evergreen Middle School. Anna then said, "We were even friends! We talked and had some of the same friends." We then started listing off the friends we both had in common - namely Taylor Doxey, Whitney Braithwaite, CasiDee Clement, Maddie Richards, etc. etc. At the time that Anna knew me, I was not a member of the Church.

So I told Anna a little bit about my conversion story and how I joined the Church in November of 2013. Wow.

The real miracle of this story was when Anna asked us if we could somehow arrange for her to have the sacrament. She had been traveling for some time - in Saarbrücken of all places too for her music. She plays the Violin. Due to her travels she hadn't had the oppurtunity to take the Sacrament or attend Church in 5 weeks. After talking to our Elders and then to our Bishop, we held a private Sacrament meeting just for Anna Galura. Anna chose two hymns to sing (in English! First time in 6 months that I have sung in English!) and the Elders blessed and gave her the Bread and Water - representing the Body and Blood of Christ and His Atonement for us. As we sat there during those significant prayers for the blessing of the Sacrament, and as I heard and felt the gratitude Anna had for it, I was filled with love. Love for this girl - who had traveled so far from home. Love for her from Heavenly Father. As we closed Anna's personal Sacrament Meeting in a prayer, I told her, "Anna. I don't think it was a coincidence that you came here today and had this weird connection with both Sister Bates and I. Heavenly Father loves you so much and He wants you to know that."

It was a sacred moment, one that I am grateful that I was able to be a part of. Family and Friends - Jesus Christ is real. I have gotten to know him through my reading of the scriptures. I have felt Him as I have been out on a Mission. He is more than a name of a page to me as I read about the life that He lived. I know that He came to this Earth to fullfill His Mission. He did everything that His Father needed Him to do - for us. All for us. The strength, love and peace I feel everytime I partake of the Sacrament always reminds me of why I am.

I love you all,

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Helmick