Attitude!

I'm going to start with a conversation I had with sister williams on the Bus earlier this week leaving our apartment..

"Sooo... Sister Shurts... guess what I just forgot.."

"... a book of mormon..?"

"nope.. remmebered that, something worse"

"...ummm what?..."

"The keys. on the kitchen table"

*dramatic pause.. with a touch of awkward*

"well sister Williams... This will be fun!"

Don't worry, we were able to get in touch with someone and after a long time of waiting and wondering some wonderful senior missionaries brought us an extra set of keys and some warm chocolate chip cookies! and then we got our heating fixed so we arn't freezing in our apartment! WOO-HOO!! its the little things that make life worth living! For example this week, like 3 people asked me what part of Germany I come from!! Im so gratefull that I can speak and communicate in the German Language and that Heavenly Father has helped me learn so much.

Our area has not seen very much progress for a while- and we are trying to get the ward excited about missionary work- but it has been harder than I thought it would be. I am learning a lot about putting trust in God. We do a lot of contacting because we need to find more people to teach- and sometimes we just don't know where to go. Sister Williams and I have been spending a lot of time praying and thinking about where we should go to find people to teach. One important thing that I have learned is that our attitude is everything. If we start our day, with the thought 'maybe someone will want to listen to our message..' we won't try to contact as much, or seek people out. But if we step out our door with the idea in mind, that Heavenly Father has prepared any number of people today for us to talk to- we will be anxious and excited to go and find them! I have been studying the parables of Jesus- specifically the parable of the lost sheep. We are leaving our flock (our family and friends) for a year and a half to find the symbolic one. On our front door, we have a big piece of poster board that says- FIND THE ONE - and then underneath we wrote down what attributes we can work on to be able to accompish that goal!

So even if a lot of our appointments fall out, or we get lost, or its freezing, or we get locked out of our apartment. It is so reasuring for me to know that Heavenly Father is in charge. Because he takes every single one of those experiences and teaches us something! I know that he is aware of where I am, and where my heart is, and the things that I desire- and I can't wait to see what this next week will bring!!!

Love sister shurts

from the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

josefinenstraße 19
44628 Herne
Deutschland

we bought a christmas tree!! Sister williams is the home decor lady! haha

Here's a excerpt from Michaela's journal about his sweet little lady (pictured above): OH MY GOODNESS!! today we had an appointment with THE CUTEST OLD LADY EVER!!! :D She is 84 and her name is Schwester Oydowski! She fed us cake and noodles and just talked our ears off. It was amazing, I felt like I was walking with her through the pages of a history book. She was telling us stories about how the 2nd world war started and how she was a refugee with her 7 siblings and her mother. She remembered her dad being part of some secret military group and how he left them. One time they were in town when a bombing raid started and they had to dive from ditch to ditch- she got really quiet when she said she can still remember the cold chill on her back as she saw a little boy on a porch holding the hand of his mother who had just been killed by an explosion. One aweful night they were in their small home when a bombing raid started - she was 13 or 14, and all that she remembered was that her Father had once told her to always stand in a corner if the house was being bombed. Miraculously their family was safe but they watched their house go completly to ruing right before their eyes. That night they took what they could carry and left all their belongings behind. One mother with 8 children and the trecked into Czecklaslovakia and then down into bayern. They were so poor- she remembered that any sort of food was delicious to her! Her Father found out that his family was a refugee and left his military group to try and find them for over a year! Finnaly he was able to find them and they made their way to Marl (which is where she lives now) 

... crazy story right? I love this opportunity that I have to be a part of this history- when will I ever get the chance to hear these stories from the mouths of those who lived them? 

us getting locked out, our new set of keys and the cookies they brought :)

how we look at the end of the day... well maybe its an exageration