3rd Nephi 17:2-10

Dear Family and Friends. This week was great. It was a little bit slow- and we are working on picking the area back up but it was still full of a lot of memorable experiences. 

I can't believe how quickly this transfer is flying by. It is kind of freaking me out honestly. I am not going to lie- I am excited to come home haha :) But I really have to say though that I am torn. I really love the people here in Germany. I have honestly given them my whole heart and soul- and then some. 

This week I had my "Leavers Interview" with President Stoddard. That was so cool- we talked for like two hours. I told him about my life goals and where I want to go and where I see myself- and then asked for his advice. It was special for me to recieve advice from someone that I respect so much. 

We also had zone training this week. It was great to hear from the testimonies of all the other missionaries. I did have this wierd flashback moment though. Because my very first Zone training was actually here in this zone (full circle) and I thought about all the different goals and antipication and dreams that I had for myself. I for sure did not expect what happened to me on my mission. So many crazy experiences and crazy people. haha but I have changed in a way I never would have expected. 

This week I was able to bear my testimony to a woman on the street from Romania. She was very sweet- and said she would love to hear more about the gospel. :) we are going to go by on her tonight. 

People that we met from different countries in just one week. 

-Afgahnistan

-Thailand

-America

-Romania

-China

-Iran

-Japan

-Serbia

-Albania

-Ukraine

-Russia

-Turkey

-Hungary

-Pakistan

...

oh yeah and Germany. haha 

seriously people. It is amazing!!! 

I wanted to end with a scripture that I shared at zone training as I was able to stand and bear my testimony. It is in the 3rd book of Nephi in the Book of mormon. 

In Chapter 17, verses 2-10. 

Jesus Christ had an agenda, and things to do. As he visited among the Nephites he said that he needed to go and visit the other children. But he looked at the people- and was filled with compassion towards them and stayed. he stayed and healed them and blessed them. 

This is a lesson to me to not get so busy with agendas and to-do's that we miss a beautiful moment to simply embrace the savior and serve others.

I love you all 

Sister Shurts

Imagine If...

E and V  (not putting their names out on the internet) were baptized this week. How to even begin with that story? Picture this. You have left your family, your career, your country... Everything that is familiar to you. You spend a month traveling on foot through the desert, for a week you don't even take off your shoes, and you barely survive off the food you receive. You even go days without food and water, and then you come into a country where you can't speak the language were you stay in a gym, with sheets hung up to make makeshift private living spaces for over a hundred people. And you endured all of this because you were searching for something. Something that you were not able to find in your home country, because of dictatorship and terrorism. Now imagine that you were invited to a church service where the things taught were totally different from what you were familiar with. There you learned about a son of man, who was also the son of God. You felt the light of Christ touch your heart for the first time. You then met the sister missionaries and they began to teach you about this man, Jesus Christ and about his restored gospel. And as you read the Book of Mormon you began to feel the truth in its words. You meet other people of your same nationality who help translate the message of the restoration.

Then you decide to accept the invitation to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority. This is a huge step for you, your life will forever be different. In fact by doing this you lose one of the things that means the most to you. Your whole culture, your history, your family. You gather your courage and tell your father that you have decided to choose to follow Jesus Christ, and he then tells you that if you ever return home you are not welcome and that you would be killed. You then gather up all he faith that you can muster and trust God and decide to be baptized anyways. And it becomes one of the most beautiful and amazing moments of your life. And then you realize that this was the right path for you all along, and that God has a great plan in store for you.

I believe that God has touched the hearts of these men. There is a divine dance on the earth as we speak. And beautiful choreography of people and cultures and races... And as we dance among one another we have the chance to share this good news of the gospel with those who never would have had the chance to hear it before... The world is changing and the dance steps are picking up speed.

Liebe Grüße

Sister Shurts

Little Miracles

Well.... this week, :) where to begin?

I think I'll just cut to the chase and tell you all about our amazing investigators. 

So we are teaching 4 men from Iran who are here as refugees in a camp. They are learning the language and the gospel at the same time. I am amazed at their willingness and excitement to learn about Jesus Christ. It is dangerous for them but they have such a strong desire they are basically teaching themselves. We have been juggling lessons and translators for the past 4 weeks. And this week they are going to be baptized. 

I am really excited. It is a miracle and blessing that I did not expect. These men, have such strong faith. They are teaching me more than I am teaching them. When we taught about the laws and commandments they accepted them without hesitation. saying that if God says it is important they will follow. Their testimony of the book of mormon and Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ grows more each day.

But I think for me one of the biggest miracles is the kindness and love that the German members show them. They have been welcomed with open arms in our congregation. They have been invited over to homes, offered rides home from church, been given meals, people have been teaching them german. Seriously... I brings me to tears when I think of all the selfless love and charity that people here are showing these refugees. Of course there are always those who oppose it. But on the most part they are doing their best to follow christs example and serve the homeless, hungry, naked. 

I am excited to tell you all about the baptism next week. 

all my love

Sister Shurts

Hello again!

Well hello everyone, this is me sister shurts. Wow! It has been a while since I've written a weekly... I would apologize, but I'm not really that sorry sooooo.... Yeah. :) life has been an interesting roller coaster of transition for me... I am actually still trying to decide how much I am going to write in this letter. Meh! We'll see what happens!

Anyways, my life. So I am in Friedrichsdorf now, and I am about a 6 minute walk away from the temple which is awesome.... Except that it is closed for renovation. But hey that is cool, I'm not bitter- ;) actually a lot of people ask us questions about what kind of construction is going on- and that opens a lot of doors to sharing the gospel.

My companions name is sister Meyer. She is awesome- from California and this is her second area on her mission. We have already had quite a few adventures together, which include but are not limited to...

Getting stuck in a tram underground in Frankfurt, being invited to an African over 21 party, ugly dancing in the apartment, opening Christmas presents, and burning countless meals... Yep. Life is a party.

We have had a lot of miracles happen though as we have served together this month. One of the biggest of those is that we have been teaching some of the most amazing people. 3-4 men from Iran. Who came here to Germany for religious freedom, who are look for God, and have found him through the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. :) they have their baptism scheduled on the 23rd of January! I am so excited for them. I am also learning a little bit of Persian on the side!

Other cool thing that happened,  So we take trains trams and busses everywhere in Germany... and they fall out a lot. Like it is ridiculous... And except for zone leaders no one has a car... So it is pretty easy to get stranded at a train station for a solid 2 hours.

Anyways... During one of these incidents we decided to go out and door a neighborhood near by, and my whole mission I have had a silly little  tick of knocking on yellow houses.  Even if it is super inconvenient, haha my companions love me ;) but it has to be a certain shade of yellow. Anyways... I saw this yellow house and I was like, oh yes! So we knocked... Nothing happened, started to walk away, then someone called out- and this German lady invited us in, and then her husband walked in! And then her daughter. and they are all super interested in learning about the gospel! :)

Anyways! Hope you all have a good week. I would appreciate your prayers :) Love Sister Shurts

Merry Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner!!! :) 

Sorry I don't have a ton of time to email today!!! but I did want to leave this little Christmas thought with you all. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly7c9scxB9I&list=PLq9T3v5R_q8s3PKfpND5SOh3lUZolLDMf&index=5&cid=HP_FR_12-18-2015_dMIS_fYT_xLIDyI-1_

or just christmas.mormon.org 

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

:) 

love you all

Sister Shurts

Week 1 in Friedrichsdorf!

I traveled all by myself to Friedrichsdorf... which I will not lie- I quite enjoyed :) There were a lot of nice people on the train who helped  me with my luggage so that was not even a struggle. I left so much stuff in Heidelberg- that is always a nice thing when sisters change apartments- we leave a ton of clothes in the next apartment for the next sister to sort through. Sister Bundersons next companion will be blessed haha.

My new companion is sister Meyer- she is from California as well!! Love that! (but she is from northern california not LA) She has been here for about 3 months already and now the two of us are going to kill it this transfer! We did a lot of contacting this week since we have like no investigators but so it is anytime someone gets transfered. We were able to find a lot of cool people though! on thursday we had time to contact a little, so we said a prayer and went for it. We talked to two young girls around our age and end up getting there number and setting up an appointment with them! We continued down the Fuß when we heard someone shout out, "SISTERS!"  The man told us he was a former mission president in new zealand and had been here for a week. He then said, "Would you like a referal?" ...uh yes!  After that we tried to find someone we had met yesterda...it took us a bit to find it. WE saw 132 and 128, buuut not 130. After going a little ways in the back of the cornerstreet we found the apartment. It was a little sketch, but not too bad. We couldnt find the name of the lady, so we rang the name that sounded the closest. It wasnt her, it was a polish woman named Vera and she let us in to share our message. It was a tiny room- and very humble circumstances- but it was beautiful to see how Vera was willing to listen to our message and accept a return appointment.

Saturday we had the privledge of having a helper, Sister Lymer (wife of the area seventy, elder lymer). This is actually the second time that I have spent the day with her. She went around with us and helped us with appointments. We had Stake Conference that evening and Sister Lymer brought 8 refugees from Iran. (she volunteers at one of the camps)
They are all very excited to learn more. they left Iran because being Christian was so dangerous. And now they are interested in the gospel. We were able to get them a book of mormon in their language and organize someone to help translate for them. It was amazing to see the bishop, stake president, mission president, area 70 and countless others come up to these men and make them feel welcome.... I am hoping we will have a white christmas! ;)

I love you all

Sister Shurts

Sister Meyer and I- our first day together

Lunch with sister Lymer before we head out on our day together!

From Heidelberg to Friedrichsdorf

So, I have been officially transferred to a new area. I am going to Friedrichsdorf. Which is just north of Frankfurt. I will be right next door to the temple, sadly it is under construction right now, but it
will be special to still be close by. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to Heidelberg this week. And
hard to say goodbye to sister Bunderson. I can't believe that I have been here for over 7 months! and on my mission for 15!!! (GAHHH!!) Wow, time has really flown by. I think back on all the people that I have met and all the miracles that I have seen. I think about Frau kocher, and her good heart, and Patrick- with his soap opera life story (he is doing well in his new city btw) and about special cute old ladies that we visited each week, and all the sisters that we went on splits with.  And yesterday I was able to be a part of another miracle. Ericsson, one of our investigators was baptized yesterday!!! :) 

Wow- where to even begin with him. He is a refugee from Nigeria, he has been in Germany for about 5 months. His story is amazing. He traveled from his war torn country in Nigeria and made his way through the Sahara Desert with other refugees. He saw his friends suffering and as he took a boat across the Mediterranean and was a survivor although many of his friends lost their lives. As he came to Europe he knew that God has saved his life- and he wanted to find him. He was raised Muslim but learned about Christ in Europe. As we met with him the first time he said- He would go wherever the truth is. As we have taught him these last couple weeks he has made a lot of progress. It has been amazing to watch him grow. I will be perfectly honest at first when we met him I was less than excited to meet with him. Something about him just annoyed me- However learning about more about his life, and praying to understand him more has helped me grow to love him. He is a great young man. My favorite thing is every time we leave- he says, "Sisters, I wish you a very blessfull evening." Wow- he is just the coolest. 

I am soo sad to leave heidelberg- but it has been a lot of fun here- while it has lasted. I am excited to go to my next area and see what sort of adventures await me there. 

Talk to you all next week!!!! 

with love

Sister Shurts

Ericsson's Baptism:

Saying Goodbye to Heidelberg