The Lord is the Master of Simplicity

Well this week was crazy- I am pretty sure that sister Bunderson and I were out of our area more than we were in it!  

It started off with the amazing opportunity we had to go to Offenbach and listen to the Europe Area Presidency and Elder Ballard speak to us. It was mainly directed towards the wards and congregations but also included the missionaries. There was one thing in the whole evening that really stood out to me- at one point- elder Ballard said, "the Lord is the Master of Simplicity" We need to simplify our lives. Magnifying our calling does not mean adding bells and whistles- or making things a bigger deal than they are. On the contrary it is like a magnifying glass- honing in- or focusing up close on the core or center. Magnifying our calling means that we get to the point. Remember the whole purpose of why we even have a calling. We are here to serve Christ- and to lift others. 

This week we also visited schwester Breitenhuber, a dear sweet old lady in our ward... and I was chastised. hahah man- this little old lady- can see right through me. haha I was talking about improvement and progression. And how I have far to go (which I do) and she just looked at me- and said. Sister, How old are you? You are young! You haven't even had the chance to do anything wrong! Why are you never at peace!? You are Missionary! You are doing hard work- recognize the good that you do!... anyways- I was feeling the flames as this old Austrian lady yelled at me- but it did remind me that all too often we are a little bit too hard on ourselves- We need to take a step back and allow the Lord to tell us the good that we have done. 

We also introduced the Christmas initiative this week at the Kaiserslautern Zone Training. It is going to be a pretty amazing Christmas! To do that sister bunderson and I dressed up in ugly Christmas sweaters- and I wrapped her up in Christmas twinkle lights- and she got in a box- then I burst into the room at the appropriate moment and started shouting Who's excited for Christmas??- And then- after an embarrassingly long struggle with the door I opened it *behind which sister Bunderson was lying in wait in a box) and I kicked the box- and sister Bunderson popped out and shouted merry Christmas! Yeah... we kind of enjoy having awkward moments like that..... Stay tuned for the Heidelberg Zone Training coming up next week :)

As for people that we are working with- I am very excited for our investigator Eric. He is from Nigeria and has been to church for over a month now. He really loves the Gospel and this week he told us that after a lot of thought and prayer he wants to be baptized on the 6th of December! :) I am so excited for him. He is a pretty amazing young man. Another Miracle from this week is that we were able to meet with Family Kwiek again. She took a book of mormon and has more interests in learning about the gospel. The big trick now will be staying in contact with them- since they don't have a working phone.  

Anyways :) I just have thought a lot about what elder Ballard said, "the Lord is the Master of Simplicity" and I want to simplify my life and focus this Christmas season on the Savior- and get down to the core of his gospel

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I love you all

Sister Shurts