Guess who has two thumbs and gets to stay another 6 weeks in Herne???

Guess who has two thumbs and gets to stay another 6 weeks in Herne??? This chick!!!!!!!

My prayers have been answered!!! We just had our transfer calls on Saturday... AAANNNNDD I get to keep working in the Ruhr Gebiet! I was so worried about leaving, Herne truly has become a second home to me, and everyone is so nice! This week Sister Davis and I had a little bit of extra time so we decided to klingle some apartment buildings. Behind one worn wooden door a cute old Turkish lady came out and talked with us for 30 minutes, she was soo sweet. She didn’t have any interest in the church but just enjoyed talking about God’s love for his children. I was able to bear my testimony that I know that God loves each and every one of us no matter what, and that his greatest desire is that we will return home to him. Before leaving her doorstep- this cute old lady tottered back into her tiny apartment bustled around and came back out with a little bag of Easter cookies. That was the cutest response to knocking someone’s door that I have ever had!

Next on my list of announcements is IPADS!!! Woo-Hoo!!! haha Elder Bednar is coming to our mission this month to spend an entire day with us to teach us how to share the gospel using modern technology- the entire mission will be coming together (so I'll be able to see sister Helmick!) 

This week has been amazing- Here in Germany everyone goes to the Church building to watch conference. I was impressed with the mindset that they have about General Conference- I feel like at home I used to think about general conference as kind of, a day off from church- we get to stay home in our P'J's and relax and not go anywhere. But here everyone dresses in their Sunday best and goes to the church to hear the words of the prophet and apostles. It was not a 'day off' for them but rather a day where they made an extra effort to come to church. It was fun to stand at the entrance and greet everyone coming in. Germans have this cute little cheek hug thing, that is soo not American... I used to be super annoyed by it... but I love it now! My favourite thing is ‘old grandpa Bruder Riebe greetings’- he is always so excited to see the sisters that he jumps up and says "Sisters!!" and since he can't give us hugs, he gives the next person around a hug, usually his wife, or sometimes a stranger- and says that hug was for us! haha I lOVE these people!  All of our investigators are doing well. We are still praying that legally things will work out for Familie Ciu Ciu and also that Frau Hellhammers husbands heart will be softened. Besmir has also made a lot of progress and has committed to stop smoking! I am so happy for them all and the changes that they are making in their lives.

I’ve decided to start collecting treasures, as in moments. And this week it was an appointment with Familie Ciu Ciu. Sister Davis and I both knew that they needed to receive as stronger testimony of the book of mormon. So we decided to read the first four chapters of Nephi together but with a little bit of a ‘Michaela Twist’ ;) We started reading and then all of a sudden I told little Adrian that he was Nephi and that his Dad had something very important for him to do. Adrian who had been poking his sister perked right up and stared intently at me. I said that his Dad wanted him to travel ALL the way back to Jerusalem to get scriptures!!! 3 whole days!! “Adrian sind Heiligen Schriften wirklich so wichtig?” (Adrian are Holy Scriptures really so important) He looked at his mom, and then nodded and said yes. I turned to each of the kids and kind of spontaneously gave them each a role and we acted the first four chapters of the book of mormon out as a family. The treasure was sitting there and having all the kids ready to say their lines, the mother was laughing the father kept asking what was going to happen next and Sister Davis was reading in the scriptures. It was such a miracle to see the stories begin to come alive to them. It is so important each of us to truly become captured by the messages in the scriptures- so that we too can apply the lessons taught into our own lives. I know that the book of mormon is true, and that we can each recieve a witness that it is from God. 

Liebe Grüße

Sister Michaela Shurts

from the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

Dying our Easter Eggs for our little tree!

Posing with our Gemeinde Missions leiter Left to right, Elder Stout, Bruder Oydowski, (Me!) Bruder Tewes (one of my favorite people ever) and Sister Davis

My Easter candy stash!

Sister Davis caught me unawares in this one... with my ex-umbrella (ex.. meaning i left it at the ciu cius and the broke it accidentaly... sigh.)

aaaand me wandering down a cute old street :)

Us hiding under our umbrellas at a bustop to keep dry... it was freezng. we had to make a tent.