"Sister Shurts, everything that God does is good and right"

"Sister Shurts, everything that God does is good and right"

We were able to spend 6 hours with an Apostle of the Lord on Friday. It was supposed to be in preparation for the IPads that we should have received, but Elder Bednar opened the meeting with a statement. He said "this meeting is not about IPads" He then asked us what we thought of that statement. The entire meeting went like that. We would ask questions and he would teach truths. The way that he answered our questions and prompted our thoughts and guided our revelations was masterful. It created the perfect atmosphere for the spirit

As Elder Bednar spoke he predicted an event that we might have with him in the future, but as he spoke I felt an assurance that it will happen to me someday. Someday I will speak with him again and I will tell him that I was one of the missionaries in the Frankfurt Germany mission in April of 2015, and I will look him in the eyes and tell him how much this day has changed and blessed my life. I cannot wait for that day- I want to be proud of the missionary that I have been and the person that I have become. I truly felt the spirit bear witness to me that Elder Bednar is an apostle of the Lord.

I was also able to meet up with old mission friends- it was so much fun to see my old companions and old district members! I can’t believe that I have already been a missionary for 7 months! The best part was, in the crowd of missionaries all of a sudden I spotted Kristyn Helmick, (a member from our good old small town, Dairy Creek Ward) and I squeezed through everybody and tapped her on the shoulder and she saw me and screamed and I screamed and I threw my arms around her! :D We ran outside and talked for like half an hour about everything. :) Oh it was so nice to see her. She loves her area and she loves missionary work, she is doing so great!

Our marathon day ended super late that night (it began at 3 o clock that morning) and we got home super late- but we were richly feed and spiritually uplifted. I don’t have a lot of time to write about the rest of the week- we were able to meet with a lot of people in our ward. We took Besmir to institute which he really enjoyed and I was able to go on a Split this week with the Sister Training leaders!

It seems to counter every great joy there is deep sorrow- On Sunday as we approached the church we encountered one member of our ward in tears. And found out that Schwester Quada, a young sister and her daughter had been killed while they were in Africa. You have to understand that I have been with this lady at least 2-3 days a week for 7 months. I loved her. She was the sunshine that entered the church each week and her bright testimony could be felt by everyone around her. In Relief Society, Schwester Tewes told all the ladies that she had been murdered in Africa, and that sound that followed was heart breaking.

Looking around at those women, as the tears fell from their loving eyes. Watching them hold hands in consolation and pray for each other and comfort one another taught me an important lesson about how we are truly hear to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. This ward is one big family, there is so much love here- and as a part of it, I have become a member of this family too. I was being comforted and hugged- sweet ladies wiped the tears from my eyes when they were truly the ones in deeper pain. My friendship with Schwester Quada had only been 7 months- not years and years.

These people are truly special sons and daughters of God. Schwester Emmerlich took me in her arms too and said, "Sister Shurts, everything that God does is good"

That has been my rock these last couple days. If we didn’t trust in God, then the whole world would become dark. The only way that there can be any hope in this life is through Christ. Once we internalize and understand the great plan that our father in heaven has created for us, no goodbye is forever, death losses its sting and light chases away the darkness. I have a testimony that death is not the end; that our purpose here on earth is so that we can live again- because Jesus Christ did. Everything that God does is good. 

Sister Williams and Elder Peatross and me, it is fun to get together with our old district. 

Sister Helmick and me!!! So fun to see my sweet friend!!

The most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard is the sound of water running in the church!

The most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard is the sound of water running in the church!

We had such a crazy week. But it has been the best week of my mission. Besmir Aliaj, a man we have been teaching was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this weekend!! We arrived at the church early and filled the font you could hear the water running throughout the church. The bishop came in and shook our hands paused and said, “Sisters do you hear that?” I smiled really big and said, “it is the most wonderful sound that I have ever heard”

As we were setting everything up Elder Stout called out, “Besmir is here!”  Sister Davis and I ran to the front. Oh my goodness he looked so happy. He walked in with his cousin and he was glowing, I am not even kidding- he was positively radiating. Sister Tewes gave him his white clothes to get into. I walked by once he was all in white and I am pretty sure part of me died and went to heaven haha. He looked up and smiled at sister Davis and I, a little sheepish and a little scared, but so happy. The members started arriving and we began our meeting in the chapel. Right before I walked in Bruder Roth came up to me and said, “Besmir really makes a good impression today, you can see it in his eyes”  It was totaly true though. I gave a talk about baptism and focused on the fact that this is a step. It is not a destination. How Besmir will now be on his way to coming closer to Christ, but that each week, day, hour is there for us to learn and improve.

 Then we all walked into the Font Room and sat down,  Elder Stout and Besmir walked into the font. Once the witnesses were there Elder Stout said the baptismal prayer and Besmir was baptized! I was so nervous and excited I wanted everything to happen slow motion so that I wouldn’t miss a moment of it. After he was baptized we all went back into the chapel to wait for them to get dressed. When Elder Stout and Besmir came in the chapel it was as if a light went on in the room,  If I said that Besmir was glowing before it was nothing compared to right then. He was wearing a white shirt and tie… which didn’t quite match his jeans, but it wasn’t bad- but he had the biggest grin on his face ever!  The Bishop bore his testimony about the joy Besmirs choice will bring him. As he stood up he also said, “as I was looking into the congregation I saw that Sister Shurts was smiling the whole time, as if Sister Davis had told her a funny joke, But I believe that it is because she is filled with joy.” And that was the moment I knew this was all right- if this is the only baptism I see on my whole mission it would make all 18 months worth it! And I still have a year to go! Man, I cannot wait to see who else will come unto Christ. I cannot believe that the same guy we met on that train station in Febuary is the same man who was baptized today. He has become a new person through Christ.

The next day (Sunday) Besmir came to church in a white shirt and tie, and was just shining. In sacrament meeting Bishop Nabroztky invited him to come to the front of the Chapel where he sat down in a chair and then some Priesthood holders in the Gemeinde came around him and put their hands on his head- and then with the authority of the restored priesthood Bruder Tewes blessed him and he received the holy Ghost. That moment was powerful.  After the blessing he stood up and Bruder Tewes gave him a bro hug, and then in turn each other man in the circle embraced him. That was a holy moment for me, because I saw Besmir as a son of God, as a great strength to the Lord! :D Now we just gotta get him on a mission!

There were so many other things that happened this week, but this was truly the highlight! I know this gospel is true. I have truly experienced the indescribable joy that comes from bringing a soul unto Christ, In Doctrine and Covenants 18: 15-16 it says,

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

I love you all so much!

Liebe Grüße

Sister Shurts

From the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

Besmir's Baptism day. Besmir surrounded by missionaries.

Me, Besmir and Sister Davis

This is the cake I made.... sister davis named it, The cake that got run over by a car that we ate anyways. 

Loridanna and Larissa at familie ciu ciu 

First Week of the New Transfer

Well, it has been another eventful week here in Herne!!

Sister Davis and I have been thinking a lot about what goals we want to make for this transfer, and I just get so excited when I think about all the things that could happen I can't pick one specific goal!! haha but i'll get back to you all next week about our goals!

Biggest news for this week is that our Albanian Investigator Besmir Aliaj recieved all the lessons and had his interview and IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!! :D People... I had no idea that someones elses decision could make me so happy!! This man has willingly made so many changes in his life to follow God. He grew up in Albania where he helped take care of his family. His mother is Catholic and his Father is Muslim, but at a very young age he decided that he wanted to follow christ and although Christians are only 10% of that country he decided to follow christ. He moved to Germany about 7 months ago in search of work, and as we met him in Febuary he said that he really wanted to learn more. Since that moment he has quit smoking and drinking, and committed to so much! It is such a miracle to see the changes that people make in their lives when they turn to Christ.

We are going to have to postpone the dates for several of our other Investigators, just because they are not quite ready yet. Familie Ciu Ciu, needs to go to the City Hall to figure out what papers they need in order to get married! (we are gonna hear church bells in Herne soon!) As soon as that happens though that family is going to get baptized. Now all we are waiting for is for her daughter to get her birth certificate and then travel to Germany! We are praying very hard for Frau Hellhammer, we have not been able to get in contact with her all week, and we are not sure why, which is why we had to postpone her date- keep her in your prayers!

This week Sister Davis and I got to go and visit an old mining museum! It was soo cool, the Ruhr Gebiet in Germany is known for its mining systems. We got to wander around underground and climb onto old mining tools... (not sure if that was allowed.. but nothing said we couldnt...) It was fun to spend a little bit of time just seeing everything. Both sister Davis and I are History nuts, so we were in heaven... but underground haha!

Earlier this week I had a really cool experience, I wanted to do better at contacting people, and so that morning I had made a promise to Heavenly Father before getting up and ready for the day that I would talk to a certain amount of people. We had been out an about all day, and I was tired and we were headed home, and I was one short of my goal. Which was still really good compared to what I had been doing before. But, as we were walking home I pictured myself saying my evening prayer and saying... well Heavenly Father, I almost did it. I really wanted to make the Lord proud and show him that I could live up to my goals. So I told sister Davis that I wanted to klingle one building. So we turned a corner and found a random house. We walked up to the steps and I reached up and pushed the bottom klingle. It buzzed open and so we walked up and there was a man standing at the door. He say us and at first shook his head and in broken English said "no! no interested" I immediately thought of a talk I had just read by Elder Ballard "A fireball missionary starts when an investigator says "No!" So instead of just walking out and counting my contact I asked if at least we could show him a cool video. He shrugged his shoulders so we pulled out our BecauseHeLives cards and he searched it on his phone. While we were waiting for his internet to work I started talking and explaining the video and our purpose here. It was so cool to watch his face- as he changed from being standoffish to more and more interested! And im just like "WOO-HOO GOO SPIRIT!! WORK THAT MAGIC!" haha turns out his internet was way to slow to watch the video right there... but he said that he wanted to learn more- so we got his number, name (Thomas) and gave him a book of mormon!!! :) That was just such a cool experience because it was like heavenly father was testing me to see if I would hold up my end of the deal- and because of that he blessed me with that experience.

Ich liebe euch alle!

sister Shurts

from the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

Here we find Sister Davis in her natural state...

Family!!! I found Zwieback!! just like off Sendung mit der Maus!! as you can tell... i was a little bit more than excited- and made sister davis take a picture in the middle of the store!!! 

And here we find Sister Davis with her little Stickies... haha she is almost as excited as I was about the double toasted bread!

Its a MINE!!! We got to see a little bit of the History of our area.. and as History nuts, sister Davis and I were more than pleased!

and more mine pics

I climbed into a yellow... thing... im sure there is some name for it.. but idk it- and touched the bright red button- sadly nothing happened. 

Needless to say... I have a problem of wanting to climb into things- 

A really cool old bike system they used to pull coal through the mines!

This is the view from the very top of the Zeche (mine)

View from the tower

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. 

Because He Lives!!!

It seems only fitting that preceeding the week where we celebrate the greatest miracle that occured on the earth, namely the resurection of Jesus the Christ, I seem to have found myself in the midst of miracles here in Herne. This week we have been meeting with all the people we ahve been teaching and they have all made so much progress. Frau Hellhammer keeps us both on our toes by asking so many questions, Familie Ciu Ciu is doing good, they are waiting to see when their daughter can join them from Romania- so that they can all be baptized as a family.
Specifically we met with Besmir, a man from Albania and taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ- as we spoke with him Sister Davis invited him to be baptized on the 18th of April and after pondering for a moment, he said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOLKS!!! Including the Elders investigators thats like 10 baptismal dates in Herne ALONE!!!!!!! :D :D :D

We had such a fun week! Sister Davis and I got caught in a thunder rain storm, but we avoided most of it by sitting in an old bus stop, and singing our favorite songs from the Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof! We also blew out eggs and tried to dye them red with old beet juice... yep, it was an epic fail- we just ended up with smelly eggs. 

I wanted to share a small moment that happened to me on the bus this week:

Sister Davis and I were sitting on the Bus when a mentally disabled woman got on the bus as well- I had spoken to her already several times and we fell easily into conversation. We didn't talk about much, just the weather and our Easter Plans- when a woman from behind me touched my shoulder and as I turned around she looked at me and said, that she was completly fascinated, she had known this handicapped woman for almost 25 years and had never heard her speak or had a conversation with her. I was surprised but, managed to say something like, It's not so hard, we just need to take the first step. Both women got off at the same stop and as I turned to look out the window I saw the woman turn and speak to the handicapped lady- with a smile on her face they began to walk down the street together. That was such a small little act, but it made such a big difference- to think that now those two women will no longer be strangers but have taken the first step to becoming friends.

This is the new Easter Video that the church has produced for Easter- I would like to challenge you all to watch it and share it with someone this week who needs to hear the message of hope that the gospel brings.

Link to Easter Video

Liebe Grüße

Sister Shurts

playing a game with Familie Ciu Ciu 

Our little easter Tree 

A rainy day in Hattingen 

Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof! or is it?

Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof... this is a well known idiom in German that translates into "Life is not a Pony Farm" or as Americans would say, "Life ain't a bed of roses" basically it isn't easy- This week I would beg to differ- well at least after a lot of hard work- it can be very rewarding.

2 weeks left in this transfer aaaand we just set another Baptismal Date!!! :) That’s right folks... remember that last family we started meeting with- the ones with the epic last name? Familie Hellhammer? yep! this week we met with them aaand SET ANOTHER BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Oh people! AHHHHH this is seriously so awesome and amazing and I can't handle my life! like at all... like really. :) We sat down and taught the first lesson with her- and she was all over it. She had read everything that we had given her. She had questions and wants to learn more and just ate everything up. I invited her to be baptized on April 18th and she said yes! :) She has been through soo much in her life she just needs the comfort the gospel brings. We were giving her a tour of the church building and another member was there as we were showing her around. The member asked us- Sisters, when is the next baptism in our ward? and Frau Hellhammer raised her hand and announced "I am! on the 18th of April!" haha as you can tell she is kind of excited

One day this week as we were waiting for our bus, we talked to this old lady, she was all dressed up and ready to go "wandern" (hiking) and she eventually sat down next to us and just talked about her life. At one point she was about to leave and realized that she had just talked about a lot of personal things with us. She started to apologize and didn't want us to think that she was just chatting. But that everything she said was honest and precious. I grabbed her hand, looked her in the eye and told her that I treasured every word that she spoke, and that every story that I hear has an impact on me. I was surprised by how much I really meant it.  I've thought about all the people that I have come in contact with here in Herne and how so often they each seem to offer a story of gold, a pearl of their faith,- so willingly and so readily. And I now have this treasure that doesn't even belong to me! A collection of emotions, a woman’s sorrow for a wayward son, a man’s passion of Jesus Christ, a child’s laugh looking up at me, a wrinkled old ladies weary smile as she told me, "Es gibt immer etwas dass Freude bringt" (there is always something that brings joy) I've prayed with students on a train as they nervously prepare for exams, I've hugged complete strangers, I've befriended those who had no one. And they have given me so much more in return. I used to think it was something about me that made people share their stories… but the more I have thought about it the more I have realized that it is because I am a representative of Jesus Christ. There is nothing special about me, on the contrary- it is the message of hope that we bring that catches people’s attention.  If this is not the greatest treasure I don't know what is.

Liebe Grüße

Sister Shurts

From the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

some important advice from the land of Germany... translation: "life is not a pony farm" 

Sister Davis and I meet the Essen Sisters at Zone Conference

Sister Davis and I at a bus stop- and my cute new scarf (thanks mom!)

Cicero (our Brazilian investigator) and I after a lesson

That moment your investigator beats you to the punch line and asks to get baptized…

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a roller coaster ride.  We met with Familie Ciu Ciu a couple times this week and during one of our lessons with them we felt impressed to talk about covenants instead of what we had planned. We started talking about the importance of families and how through promises or covenants with God we can be sealed together as a family forever. We were leading the conversation to the point where we were going to ask them if they would prepare to be baptized and then Schwester Ciu Ciu interrupted us and said, (translating for her husband) “So my husband wants to get baptized but he wants to know what he still needs to do to prepare himself” … And sister Davis and I are just sitting there like… uhhh haha ok!  I just felt so happy, as I looked at the family- each little brunette and their bright brown eyes looking up at us- I felt such an overwhelming love for each of them. Little Adrian (8) was sitting right next to me and I had my arm around him and was showing him the pictures in the book of mormon. Loridanna (11) was asking questions about the Holy Ghost,  little Larissa (6) was playing with my scarf, and Vanessa (3) was snoring on the couch behind me. Our ward doesn’t have any primary kids… so it has been over 5 months since I have been able to be around little people. And if anyone knows me even a little bit- they know just how much I love being around my siblings- and it was just so special for me to be able to sit and teach them the most important thing that they can learn in this life. What they need to do to be a family forever. We set the date for April 18^th- we are hoping that their other daughter, Fernanda (9) will be able to make it to Germany before then. She is in Romania right now with her Grandmother. But I have a lot of faith that God will cause miracles to happen to help this family enter into his fold.

On top of that miracle Sister Davis and I started teaching ANOTHER FAMILY!!! This is Familie Hellhammer- a mother with three young kids. She is so amazing and just wants to feel like she belongs somewhere. We sat down and taught her about the restoration… but then all of a sudden in the middle of the lesson I got the feeling to talk about baptism- which wasn’t in our plan at all… I still don’t really know how that happened, but before I knew it I had asked her if she would be baptized and she said that she can defiantly see herself doing that. She is just so hungry for knowledge about God and Jesus and her purpose here on the Earth. It taught me a lot about how precious what we know truly is; and that we should never take it for granted.

This week was full of canceled appointments and missed buses! Oh my word! Thursday was the worst! Haha We missed so many trains and busses and ended up going the complete wrong direction and talked to creepy people and then missed another train, which left us waiting in the cold for an hour which made us get home soo late we had to call the mission president… haha but- it also involved me teaching sister davis how to waltz at a bus stop! (I knew all those years of dance would be helpful for something!)

I was talking to a young man in our ward. His name in Lucas and he was baptized just over a year ago. He always comes up to me and says, “Sister Shurts! Sister Shurts! I have an important question!!” So naturally I sat down next to him, and this time he asked me- why I came on a mission… wow—haha what a question. I told him that I had always wanted to serve a mission- but I only realized why once I got out here. Because of the Joy. I told him at home I was a happy person, I was social and loved to be around people and smiled and laughed. But I also said, that I have never been as happy as I have been out here. It is a different kind of joy; an overflowing sensation that comes when your happiness stems from your love for other people. It is deeper and more real. That’s why Lucas- because I can see the joy I have for this Gospel reflecting in the eyes of those I teach.

I love you all

Liebe Grüße

Sister Shurts

From the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

My split with Sister Parker- under some awkward statue on D-Berg

Kandra's birthday cakes in Germany

Happy Birthday Kandra! Sister Davis and I had a party for you!! :)

Familie Ciu Ciu - Oh my Goodness I love these people so much!!! 

Sister Davis with Familie Ciu Ciu

Rosie from the Lebens Hilfe

Hanne Laura from the Lebens Hilfe... this little lady is my absolute most favorite person ever..

check out that adorable smile!