Two Experiences

October 5th, 2015

Lieber everyone,

Here are two experiences from this week:

Journal, Mittwoch 30 Sept:
"We were traveling to visit Alena this evening when I ended up
misreading the directions on our DeutscheBahn traveling app. We ended
up getting off at five stops too late and had to retrace our steps
backward in order to find the bus stop that went the other direction.
It took us half an hour of walking to find the next bus stop. As we
looked at the times, it showed that the Bus was to arrive every hour
at the :36. It was the :42 at this point. Sister Carroll and I figured
that we missed it, so we decided to walk to the next bus stop and move
forward. So we walked down the big hill, tired and dehydrated. And
GUESS WHAT. The bus turns the corner and starts to make its way back
to yesterday stop! It was late! I turned and looked at Sister Carroll,
picked up my purse to my chest, and sprinted up that hill.

You know those sprints that leave your chest aching and your throat
ridiculously sore? I have NEVER ran that fast. And up a hill too! I
made it right up to the corner, literally two seconds away from the
bus and I frantically yelled "WARTE! Bitte, WARTE!" Only to see my
efforts wasted as the bus took off right in front of my face. As you
can image, I was pretty frustrated. At that point, we had to cancel
our appointment with Alena and make our way back to Herne.
I had a pretty negative attitude with that experience. But I am
grateful for my companion, Sister Carroll. She is so fun, positive and
happy. She is such a great example of those traits. They are all
traits I need to work on. We choose to be happy and be grateful in
whatever circumstances we may be in. Even after we run up a steep hill
at the end of a long day and miss the Bus. What a silly little
experience, why waste the energy to frown and be upset, when I could
laugh and enjoy the moment? I can promise you, I ended up laughing
with Sister Carroll tonight!"

Experience #2:
I got home from my split in Duisburg on Tuesday night, to hear some
exciting news from Sister Carroll. Apparently she made out a few
appointments with some potentials. One of which, was a man we had
never met before who randomly called us up and requested that we meet
him at the church for an appointment.

On Friday, we walked up to the church to see a middle-aged man in his
car. Once he saw us, he came out and we shook his hand and introduced
ourselves. His names is Jurgens and he grew up in this area. We
welcomed him into the Church and gave him a Church tour. There were
already some members at the Church for our German class and they were
all very friendly and nice to him.

As we were getting to know him, he told us that he had observed us on
the bus and the street and had seen our name-tags. He ended up
researching the Church and had started reading the Book of Mormon
online from Lds.org! Wow! That does not happen everyday. He grew up
very religious and active in His Church, but has noticed things that
he does not approve of in his Church. He has been searching to see if
a Church exists that is modeled like Christ's Church in the Bible.
Wow! He is searching!

We met with him and taught him about the message of the Restoration of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Chapel. I have never had a more
powerful lesson than what We had with Jurgens. I felt the Spirit
working through us as we testified of the reality of God. How he is
the same yesterday, today and forever. How he continues to speak to us
just as in times of old through his chosen prophets and how Christ's
Church has been restored again.

As we came to a close of our lesson, I asked Jurgens if he came to
know if all of this was true, if he would be baptized. He paused for a
long moment and then looked me in the eyes and said, "I can't answer
that question just yet. But what I can say is that I am incredibly
impressed with you both, this Church and all that I have seen and read
of it. This is a deep faith." We committed Jurgens to watch General
Conference and to pray to know the truth. We will be meeting with him
weekly!

What I love about the German people is just how loyal, dedicated and
sincere they are. When they make a huge decision like joining a Church
- they are serious about it. If Jurgens one day joins the Church - and
I feel so strongly that he will, he will never leave it. Once a German
has become your friend, they never forget you and they never stop
loving you.

I am grateful to be serving in this wonderful country with some of the
strongest people I have ever met.

Love,
Sister Kristyn Helmick