OH HOW I LOVE MY LANGENHORN!!! ..AND PICTURES!!! :D

HAPPY DAY!! Another wonderful email...and finally some pictures. :D  But many of the pictures weren't able to send..so hopefully we'll receive more next week. 

                                                                                                             28 October, 2013

Liebe Familie :)

Hallo once again!

This last week was INCREDIBLE.

Sister Darrington and I continued to see so many miracles as we worked together in bringing people unto Jesus Christ.

We met with D*** two times this week!

The first day we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" and actually experienced a miracle right there with him relating to prayer.

We brought a film over but forgot to bring our portable dvd player. (He told us at our first lesson that his was broken and that he hadn't been able to get it to work the entire time he had been there).  We asked if we could say a prayer with him, asking God to help us figure it out so that we could watch the movie.  He just looked at us like we were crazy but then agreed.  After we ended our prayer we just bounced right up and went over to the dvd and picked up the dvd player.  We put the disk in and then turned it on and pushed play.  The movie pulled up.  D***was FREAKING out (hahahaha) and insisted on us telling him what we did to fix the player.  We insisted that it was all God, that he wanted us to be able to watch the film . . . In the end he finally believed us.

We watched the film in Russian and then discussed it after.  We talked about Jesus Christ and his ministry, his nature and character.

In our first lesson when we first met with him he said that he was very familiar with Jesus Christ but he didn't know if he believed in him as the son of God.

But after we watched this film and bore our testimonies he had changed so much. His faith already seemed so much stronger.

We ended up talking to him about the full gospel of Jesus Christ:  Faith, Repentance  Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  The Spirit was so strong in the room.

We talked about how he was feeling

and he identified "good" feelings that he felt as we talked about God and Jesus Christ and as we visited him.

It was especially cool because even though his head was causing him a lot of pain (due to  his illness and surgery) he still was able to sense the good feeling that came from the Spirit.  He ended up saying that he would think about being baptized, even though we never formally invited him.

I think that is a miracle right there too.  We had to leave but we promised we would be back soon . . .

We went back on Thursday and decided to take a walk with him.  It was just such a beautiful day outside.  We picked up beautiful leaves (Mom, I sent you one ;)) and Dennis insisted that we were crazy and that they were all the same. 

Most importantly though we were able to talk more about the gospel, and about some of the other things that we had talked about.  We eventually returned back to his apartment and we told him that we could send missionaries to him once he was back in Ukraine.  

*Quick insert:  On the day that we went to contact the referral from Sister Bohne and found D*** we had also received another referral in the mail.  It was from Elder Roggow, whose family is from Langenhorn, and it was a note on there that he had received his Visa and was now in Ukraine.  We didn't know in what area he was serving, but then we saw Bruder Roggow on Wednesday and he said that Manuell (his son) is serving right in the center of Kiev exactly where D*** lives.  That is no coincidence.  

So we told D*** that!  D*** is probably the most independent person I have ever met haha, and he insisted that he could just teach himself what he needed to know without the help of other missionaries.  But he did give us his address and his email address so that we could write to him and continue to share things with him.  We will also be giving him the address to the church in Ukraine which I am pretty sure is near to his house . . . And hopefully we can convince him to let us give his address to Elder Roggow.

I just know that all of these events happened for a reason,

that the Lord wanted us to find him, and that he will soon be baptized.

Before leaving I gave him one of the leaves that I had collected that was in the shape of a heart.  I told him never to forget us, or what we taught him.

Earlier in the walk he told us that leaves will just die,

but we insisted that they could live on and preserve a memory.

I told him that I was going to tape them in my journal that night so that I could always remember him and how he touched my life.  I told D*** that he could do the same :). 

And that night I taped a heart shaped leaf in my journal just like the one that I gave him and wrote:   "I will never forget my  Russian/Ukranian friend with so much faith." 

Wow we already miss him.

This week we achieved more than I have ever achieved on my mission yet.

There were a couple days where I just collapsed onto the couch after coming back home.  The crazy thing is that I am actually in heaven.

I like how willing Sister Darrington is to just GO GO GO.  Ha ha.

Let the real work begin!

We found so many people this week who were prepared for the gospel, set up so many new appointments, and got so many new contacts.

Honestly it was a little bit eerie, I felt like the people were just coming to us!  

E*** and Afs*** have to have their baptisms changed because they have had such problems with attending church.

E*** is so ready to be baptized but he really needs to keep this commitment before he makes a larger one.

We met with him earlier this week and read from 3rd Nephi 11 and ended up having the most powerful discussion about Jesus Christ and the Atonement.

I have never heard someone speak about the Atonement with such strong words.

He understands what Jesus Christ did for him personally,and he clearly knows what it means to repent.

He is just amazing.

He came to church yesterday finally at the third hour and had two of his kids with him.  THEY ARE SO DARLING.  Oh my goodness.  He is such an amazing father.

ALSO, I got an early Christmas present!

A*** was able to come to church yesterday!

That is the first time he has come to church since I have been in Germany.  It was good to see him there dressed up :).

I was able to translate the meeting for him since he doesn't speak any German . . .

Who would have thought I would be able to translate an entire German sacrament meeting after three  months??  Definitely not me.

Please please please keep praying for Afs*** and E*** though.  They will be baptized this transfer, but they need the strength of our faith and the strength of the Lord.

Oh meine gute . . Mama . . . I love it here so much.

I better be here for another transfer after this one or I will cry.

As for my Christmas package . . . I would love it if everybody in our family would write me a personal letter or make me a card or something . . .

And maybe you could invite other extended family members or ward members to write something? I don't know that there is anything I need.

As long as I have your love and support from home I have everything I could want or need.

Thank you all for everything.  I love you all very much and I hope you have a wonderful week.  Love you lots!

Sister Heidi Elaine Shelley

I will send  her package on Monday November 4.

Or you can send her a letter or package directly to the mission home address: 

Sister Heidi Elaine Shelley     (CHRISTMAS )
Germany Berlin Mission
Zerbster Strasse 42
12209 Berlin
Germany

***MAKE SURE TO LABEL THE LETTER or PACKAGE

"CHRISTMAS" in LARGE LETTERS.

***You need to allow four weeks for package delivery this time of year.

Christmas Packages and letters  need to be received at the Mission Home by December 2nd . 

Now for some pictures...

Found this outside of a hotel.  It was pretty cool lookin ;)

OH HOW I LOVE MY LANGENHORN! :)