This week was really busy. Tuesdays are always uneventful. I don't
know why. I can never remember them. But, Wednesday, we had a split
with the other sisters here in Leverkusen because we had two
appointments. I went with sister Catherall. She's only been out one
more transfer than me. We went to an inactive members house to teach
the new convert lessons to their duster who just got baptized in the
Philippines. It was weird not having sister Riser there because
neither of us knew German all too well. I kept asking her for words
and she wouldn't know so we'd have to improvise and I'm pretty sure we
said "gott liebt dich" a million times. It was funny. We ate chocolate
on the way home to console ourselves:P.

I ran into ten Spanish speakers. Sister Riser and I have decided that
God is yelling at me to learn Spanish because she has never run into
so many Spanish speakers in her entire mission. Also, the amount of
hot chocolate I will have to drink this winter to have lessons in
cafes will keep the hot chocolate business alive. Gallons upon liters.

Our sink decided to threw up all of our neighbors drainage as well. We
came home one night, and I ran into the kitchen to get Oreo milka
chocolate (you don't even know how good) when I ran into a giant
puddle of water. The next day, it did it again, only we had definitely
never eaten what came out of the drain. Needless to say, our super
nice apartment smells super bad.

Ok, now I remember Tuesday. We had a lesson with Roberto at a members
house. They are from Columbia. Sister Riser was totally out of the
loop because they all spoke Spanish together. We were trying to teach
the restoration, and had brother Castillo just give a short
explanation of God's plan for us. Within 20 seconds he had jumped to
describing the kingdoms of glory. He also told Roberto that in order
to be in the highest kingdom we have to be married here on earth. I
was really grateful for the gift of tongues and that I understood
enough Spanish so that we didn't have any huge misunderstandings.
Whew! We also met with Roberto on Saturday with our ward mission
leader Casey. He's from America and served in Mexico and lives here
playing in some symphony now, so he's basically superman. He got
Roberto to really open up about his life at home which was good.
Roberto then bore testimony to us of this gospel. After four weeks he
says he can already see the difference in himself. He knows he's
becoming better. He knows it's true. I'm amazed because we haven't
done much for him. We've just given him the Book of Mormon and the
gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to follow Christ and God did
the rest. We're so excited for his baptism. It's going to be the best
day of my life. Roberto is like a 49 year old son (at least that's how
it feels when I set him up on "play dates" with Spanish speaking
members in the ward).

Craziest miracle on Monday. We had forty minutes so we went dooring.
We accidentally doored into the family of Micheova. We found out why
she hadn't answered us (she was in the hospital) and then the whole
family wanted to hear our message. So, we skyped in some Bulgarian
elders to teach them. It was kind of crazy. We just sat there for two
hours without understanding a single word. This family is so
charitable. They continuously throw food at us if we ever don't have
any food in front of us even though they are poor. It's interesting
how quick and easily some cultures accept Jesus Christ. She invited us
in because we had a book that said "another testament of Jesus Christ"
and then treats us super well because we wear his name. It led me to
think about how Christ felt when he was on the earth. What it was like
for him to receive so much love and charity from people who have
nothing. I always want to cry, but that's not socially acceptable and
they don't understand German so I couldn't explain why I'm crying if I
wanted to, haha:).

I've been thinking a lot about potential this week. I was trying to
understand why it is that God asked me to serve a mission. Why he's
asking me to be better than I have been when I was already good. Then
I stumbled on this quote from the Apostle, elder Uchtdorf:

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “God sent you here to prepare for a
future greater than anything you can imagine.” That future, a day at a
time, comes alive when you do more than just exist; it comes alive
when you live your life to fill the measure of your creation. This
invites the Lord into your life, and you begin to let His will become
yours."(Discovering the Divinity Within)

He's preparing me, just like he's preparing all of you, to truly
become like him. In 3 Nephi 27:27 Christ is speaking to the Nephites
after he established his church in the Americas and says, "Therefore,
what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I
am". I am nowhere close to being like Christ, but I get closer
everyday, and that's all that matters. "Wherefore, ye must press
forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of
hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press
forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end,
behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."(2 Nephi
31:20).

I will never be able to let the people I meet here go. They don't even
know how wonderful they are. Which leads me to the topic of all of
you:).You have no idea how amazing you are and how much I love you.
You really don't know how much you do, for me and for everyone else
you come in contact with.

Bis nächste Woche,
Sister Johnson