I'll tip my hat to that!

This week an old man tipped his hat to me. I was sitting on the train and I was having a conversation with a young student when he boarded and sat down across from me. I invited him into our conversation and he smiled and jumped right in. Once the student got off we continued to talk. He told me that he had spoken with many missionaries before and was always impressed with how friendly and open we are. He said that he is always drawn to the missionaries when he sees us, that there is some sort of light in our eyes that is inspiring. He had to get off he train at the next stop but as he stood he turned to me, and with a quick little bow took off his old hat and explained to me that, "in the good old days taking your hat off for someone means great respect, and that I truly wish you a wonderful day and a wonderful mission" Basically that was adorable.

This week was wonderful, now that I look back on it I realize at a lot of appointments fell out... But it was still great. We met with Frau Kocher again. I love her. Like really. She humbles me with her desire to change and become a new person. She has had such a hard life and because of that she has turned for comfort to things that cause addiction and pain. But she is so willing to turn her will over to the Lord.

We also had a baptism in our ward this week. Callisto is a man from Africa that the elders have been teaching. We had the baptismal service early Sunday morning. It was the perfect way to end the week.

We got there super early to help set up. Elder Von wallwitz, elder Roberts and I had a musical number together. We sang "I am a child of God" in Portuguese, German and English. It was really beautiful. I really love to sing, it may not sound that great, but I love to sing anyways. :)

Cute little moment of the week. I was sitting in church and watching all the people: when I noticed this little boy whispering something to his mom, and then look at her questioningly. She gave a nod of approval and this little boy- very quietly walked to the back of the room all by himself and sat down next to a cute old lady who was sitting alone in the back. This woman patted the boys head and then out of her brief case pulled a little bag of gummy bears! That little boy was grinning from ear to ear as he walked back to his mother triumphant! The best part was that, he wasn't the only one! Throughout the course of he meeting there were two other little people that got some gummy bears... I have to say I was quite tempted to steal that coveted spot and get some gummy bears myself!

I know that this work is the work of God. That the power by which God moves is through faith. And if we have faith his his son, Jesus Christ miracles can happen. I would tip my hat to that :)

I love you all

Liebe Grüße

Sister Shurts

Sister Bates and I on a split having a blast.... Doing missionary work??? Haha

I can't miss this!!

This week was awesome. It kind of felt like a lot of things started to fall into place. Ok a couple of things fell out of place, like our door... and also the hungarian family that we had been teaching is no longer interested in learning more... and I got stung by a bee!! but other than that- this week was fantastic!! Some of the highlights were, having a drunk man sing to us, and give us free heidelberg postcards. I also got to go on a lot of splits this week... there may or may not have been a lot of delicious german chocolate involved.

Ok, story time though. The other day I was on a split with Sister Terry- and we both had no idea what we were doing. I felt really flustered and knew that I was supposed to be doing something else. So we sat down and said a prayer and then got moving because we both had the impression to go by on one of our many back up plans. We ended up knocking on some doors on this one street and there was this lady who was on the phone. She asked us what we wanted. And Sister Terry said that we wanted to share a small thought with her and a short video. She answered a little bit shortly- "A video about what" I was quick to reply, "Jesus!!" she looked at us for a moment, turned around and said into the phone, "Sorry honey, there are two girls at my door who want to teach me about Jesus, I can't miss this!"
Best moment of my life.
Basically I thought about that a lot. And really- how often are we so busy with life, that we ignore things. Sometimes we just need to realize the importance of the time that has been given us- hang up with life- and say, "sorry, but I can't miss this!"

all the best

Sister Shurts

Sunshine in Heidelberg

Sunshine in Heidelberg!!

So I like forgot to mention last week that the weather was over 100 degrees most of the week... I was a nasty gross sweating machine. But hey all I gotta say is I am so glad I don't have to pull a handcart in this weather!!

There were several cool things that happened this week. First off we had two zone trainings! One in Kaiserslautern and another one in Heidelberg! The theme of trainings was the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I was able to speak at both of the trainings (which stressed me out) but it also gave me the opportunity to really think about what his message means to me personally. Who I am and what I believe stems from a question that a fourteen year old boy asked in 1823... And the miraculous answer that he received. :) as a sister training leader I am able to work with a lot of different sister missionaries, and this week we asked them all to do something- and I would like to extend the same invitation to you guys. To read and ponder the message of the restoration of the gospel and think about what it means to you personally.

This week... I found myself smiling at random moments, because of all the sweet tender mercies of the Lord. I met a cute girl on the street this week and was able to set up an appointment to meet with her...

Later this week when we showed up, she wasn't there, but her family was!! And they invited us in, and want to learn more- their faith in Jesus Christ was so strong, and their life story was amazing as well.

Hey are from Hungary and have lived all over the world. But throughout everything he one constant in there life has been Christ. We also had an appointment where we taught about the Book of Mormon in German, as it was translated in Spanish for a deaf woman from Peru. Can I just say... I love my mission :)

I hope you all have a fantastic week and enjoy summer!!

Sister shurts

From the scribbled notes of a sister missionary

Sister Williams and I at zone training... Love this girl :)

Sister wahlquist, the gublers elder Roberts and I set up for zone training :)

Momdays :) emailing at a cafe in Germany loooove

Gute nacht liebe Altstadt!

This week was full of so many little miracles and fun moments!! I think the highlight of the week was Last night I was sitting on our window sill, enjoying the sun set and the warm breeze right before bed. When all of a sudden a little girl in the apartment across the street opened her window and waved at me! Then in her pink pajamas and sing song voice she called out, "gute nacht Liebe altstadt!" Or goodnight dear old city :) It was the cutest thing ever. And it made my whole week. I totally felt the same way. Good night dear old city! What a blessing it is to live where I live and to experience the things that I get to experience.

We met with Monice this week- and his two adorable kids. He is awesome- We were even able to pick him up for church on sunday. That was my favorite quote of the week, "Sister... this was awesome, I think I'll come back next week" YEESS!!!! :)

This week we celebrated the fourth of July! Sister Wahlquist and I dressed up in our patriotic red white and blue clothes- and no one was the wiser! As the fourth came to a close sister Wahlquist and I stopped at the Kiosk near our apartment and talked to Ozgur (the owner of the shop) and he gave us free bratwurst - as usual - and told us all his dreams about moving to america and becoming a hermit in the mountains. haha he is awesome I sure love him.

I also went on a split with week with the amazing sister Roundy! We had such a great time. Basically we did WORK! :) I went into the split praying for the chance to find a new investigator for the sister. But as the day wore on we were not seeing much success. It was seriously right before we were going to head home, that we met someone who was so excited to learn more he just couldn't wait to get our number and insisted that we set up an appointment right then and there!!! :) and then we ate icecream, and talked and laughed and enjoyed ourselves. That is the best part about being a missionary- you are allowed to enjoy the little moments.

I just wanted to let you all know how much I love and appreciate your support and prayers!

I know that peace comes when we give up what we think we can control and turn everything over to the Lord.

All the best

und Gute Nacht!

Sister Shurts

from the scribbled notes of a sister missionary 

Me and my old sister training leaders

my wall

Rain

Thunder storms, sunshine and rain

This week the weather was all over the place, we had sun and fog and thunder storms; but I have to admit my favorite was the rain.

Oregonian to the heart. Yesterday we went running along to river and halfway through it began to pour. We were both soaked through! And it was glorious-it reminded me of all those mornings going running with Kiana and mom, or all those cross country meets were we were drenched by the end of the race. There is something cleansing and beautiful about rain. It brings life and freshness and joy. Let's face it... Who doesn't enjoy jumping in puddles?

I needed that feeling this week. It has been a week full of sunshiny miracles but also distressing thunderstorms... Ending with cleansing rain.

As for the miracles... God showed me how to reach out to others even when I didn't really feel like doing that at all. He gave me words of comfort to speak to strangers on busses and on trains. He helped me to turn out and see others who were struggling. As for thunderstorms I guess that would just be me wanting to be home with my family for the funeral, and to share my love and support with them all. And to be able to be a part of hearing and sharing all the memories of my grandmother.

But like I said, it ended in cleansing rain. And that was today- today I felt the cleansing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He was there for me, He is there for me. Wherever we are in our lives He is there to lift us. It may be painful, and it may hurt. But I testify that it is always the right decision to turn to Him.

With love

Sister Shurts

Father's Day

The quorum of the twelve apostles said, "of all the titles of respect
and honor and admiration that are given to deity, He has asked us to
address Him as Father."
With Father's Day yesterday I was able to think a lot about my dad.
And how grateful I am for him and for the man he is. I received the
news this week that grandma Shurts passed away- which was quite a
shock. Actually it was devastating. But I've spent a lot of time
thinking about what grandma has done for me. And I have come to the
conclusion that she gave me one of the greatest gifts possible. She
raised my dad. If there is one thing in this world that I treasure the
most it is my family-and dad has always been the quiet leader. what I
love and cherish in my father I owe to a wonderful and dedicated
grandmother. It is going to be hard to be out here in Germany through
all of this-in fact a large part of me wishes that I could be home
right now.

But there is something keeping me here. And that is the knowledge that
I have a father in heaven who I owe everything to, my family, my home,
my faith... Truly everything. On this Father's Day I wish I could be
home to support my family, but I am doing all that I can for them here
in Germany, serving my Hather in Heaven.

This week we had transfers and Sister Wahlquist and

 I are staying together for another 6 weeks
here in Heidelberg. I am really grateful for that because I still
don't feel that comfortable with the area yet (too many different
trains and busses and streetcars to memorize!!!!) We had several
miracles this week which helped me to realize that I am here for a
specific reason. We met a woman on a streetcar and found out she had
visited Utah before and looooved it-we asked if we could come by but
only got a street name and last name before we had to jump off.
However the lack of information did not dissuade us- we proceeded to
knock that whole street a couple days later and found her!! She was so
happy to see us and proceeded to tell about her adventures in Salt
Lake City- and how complete strangers invited her over and welcomed
her. (Quick note to all you guys, never hesitate to invite someone
over, you never know what kind of a lasting impact it will have on
that individual, or on some sister missionary serving in Germany in
the future) anyways long story short this woman was so touched that we
came by she invited us over again :)

I sure love and miss you all, I wish I could be there with you right
now, and give you all hugs and feel your love. But I guess it will
just have to wait eight more months.

All my love
Sister Shurts

A day in the life of a Sister in Heidelberg

It has been another fun packed week here in Heidelberg as a Sister Training Leader. But I wouldn't have it any other way! We have been on a lot of splits with the sisters in our two zones- and that makes the weeks go by very quickly. I love being able to work with so many sisters- Seriously I am learning so much from them all :) Especially Sister Wahlquist. She is so amazing. This week we were talking a lot about how we can become one as a companionship- We talked about how as we both come closer to christ, we will come closer to eachother. The thing that I love about sister Wahlquist is that as opposed to some girls who stay up late talking about boys, or drama, or movies... we stay up late sometimes talking about the gospel.

Since I know I've been slacking a bit on the emails I thought I would give you all a rund down of a day in the life of Sister Shurts in Heidelberg...

1. Wake up- go on a run along the river or up to the castle

2. Get ready- shower, breakfast, get dressed (sister Wahlquist and I have joint closets... which makes getting dressed a joy- we have a closet for both of our skirts/dresses and a closet for both of our blouses/sweaters)

3. Studies- This week I have been studying a lot about christ- because I am giving a talk/leading a discussion at Zone Conference- I have learned so much about how we can do little things each day to become more like him. The theme of it is the Attributes of Jesus Christ.

4. Out the Door!! -  We normally have to run to catch a train- which is pretty close to our apartment. If we have extra time we stop by a small Kiosk (little store) and talk to the Turkish man who owns it- He always tries to give us free food and tell us how he wants to live in the mountains and become a hermit because he hates people...

5. Appointments-  We then take the many trains and busses and street cars as we are running to and from appointments with people- and talking to people as we go to and fro.
6. Grab some delicious Italian Gelato :) just because

7. Splits (companion Exchange)- We have at least 2 a week! So usually in the late afternoon or evening we take a 1-2 hour train ride to split with another pair of sisters.

8. Home- we plan eat something and talk a little bit and then fall into bed in delightful exhaustion. :)

What I have learned the most this week is that our personal motivation to follow christ must come from our heart. As much as I want to to give someone else a part of my excitment- it needs to come from themselves. As for our work here in Heidelberg we have meet with many people. We have had a hard time getting in contact with Rahil- but we are also planning on having a lot of appointments this week with new investigators!!!

SOO EXCITED!!!

I love you all!!!

Sister Shurts

Some missionaries in our area getting together to play some frisbee on a P-Day

Scenes from Heidelberg

Our kitchen Flooded... so we had to do dishes in our tub

Sister Wahlquist and I get all ready for sunday night call ins!