LIFE IS A GIFT - LANKWITZ [ BERLIN ]

February 10, 2014

News from Heidi :  a few short emails in answer to a some of my questions  and her weekly family email:

I received news that Eric, Ev**’s brother  who we had begun  teaching in Langenhorn, , was baptized yesterday!! Isn’t that so AMAZING!! He was so prepared for the gospel.

Sister Hansen and I are getting along really well. She is really sweet. And this week we had  such an amazing time!!!

I'm kind of  developing a love for EVERYTHING here.  Ha ha I have a growing growing growing list of things I want to study when I get home, things I want to do, etc. :)

 Liebe Familie,

I am sitting here struggling for words to type . . . Normally my fingers just fly across all the keys, and I just can't stop!  But today, I just want to say something that is really meaningful.  I almost feel like the prophets in the Book of Mormon . . . It was a hard process, but they reserved the limited space they had for the things of their heart.  The spiritual matters.  Their words are what we read today. The words that help us, motivate us, and give us opportunities to learn more about the world and about ourselves.  Words can be a very special thing.  Words can be simply spoken, written, or said, but depending on the heart and intent of the deliverer they could mean something completely different.  It is my goal to say things that I really do believe, things that I really mean, things that are really important for me, things that I hope will in some way help you.  

Here are some of the thoughts that have been on my mind this week.  

Life is a gift.  Take a second and close your eyes.  Open your eyes and try to look at EVERYTHING around you.  Think about what a miracle existence is.  Life is a gift.  I think about how wonderful it is to know pain so that I can know joy.  JOY.  In life we will find light and dark, happy and sad, and I am determined that the complexity and completeness of these emotions and experiences can be labeled by the umbrellaed  title of BEAUTY.  I think about how my Spirit responds to light, to good, to warmth.  We are spiritual beings having a physical experience.  God lives.  We can find him in our life.  The Spirit is real.  The Spirit testifies of truth. I have learned personally, that the Spirit can lead me to what is brighter, to what is warmer, to what is happier and better. 

Last night we sat in the kitchen at the university housing.  Mir***, our joint  teach,  had the idea that we could bear our testimonies to M***, that he might be able to feel the Spirit testify of our words.  It turned into a very personal, and touching situation.  M*** had felt the warmth of our words.  He had felt SOMETHING.  He pulled out a photo of himself when he was only five years old.  That was on his first trip to Mecca. In our meetings we often talk about feelings, about the Holy Ghost, about the reality of God touching people and touching hearts.  What feelings had he had as he had visited the holy city of Mecca?  What power had he felt as he had prayed five times a day his entire life, out of obedience, but also out of love for God?  

To be gathered together as believers is a powerful thing.  Allah?  Heavenly Father?  Somebody has to be right.  I wouldn't be here though, if I didn't know myself.  I know that God lives.  I know that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

Pages turn in German, English, and Arabic . . .

We read together . . . 

3 Nephi 11: 32 And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.” 

As we sat together, we talked about our feelings.  Our Spirit responds to goodness, to light, to God.  We don't tell people that they are all wrong, that we are all right.  We tell people that God lives and loves them.  There is truth upon the entire earth.  But we are claiming to have a fullness of the truth, as it was restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith.  We have a prophet today.  God is the same yesterday, today, and FOREVER.  He loves his children.  He wants them to be happy.

 Yesterday J*** came to church.  Man, I love this guy.  Here is the text we got from him in the evening after asking him about his church experience.

"I learned something new for me. First, I know the 16 prophets today. Three of them were Mr. Smith, one is Thomas, and Brigham Young. They looks upright! Second, I find I have overcome the indisposition of church when I saw some lovable faces. Third, I am happy all the day. Is that enough? I think you changed me somehow, and bring me to somewhere with brightness."

To watch somebody experience the joy of learning about the gospel for the first time is an incredible opportunity.  In the first couple visits we had had with him he literally had a glow about him.  Then, the doubt set in.  Did this really happen?  Is this really true?  I see what a destructive force fear is when battling against faith.  Yes, this really did happen.  Yes, this is really true.  But how can we KNOW?  We invited J*** to pray, we invited him to go to the source of all truth.  That is, let him ask of God.  

Turning pages in Chinese and English . . . 

James 1:5
 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth  not; and it shall be given him.”

I have a testimony.  I know that anybody who wants a testimony can also have a testimony.  I know that if we have questions that we can find answers.  I know that God lives.

J*** wore his suit to church yesterday, and he just had a smile on his face!  Did I change him somehow?  I think not.  But I believe that I helped him to find the way that he can change himself, or at least allow himself to be changed by believing in God.  To read somebodies own words telling me that I helped them come 'somewhere with brightness.'  That fills my heart.

I love being here.  I am grateful for my life.  I am grateful that I have this time to serve my God.

Love you,

Sister Heidi Elaine Shelley

That one Blondie in BERLIN.

Sister Hansen and me!! :D

          P.Day:  Visiting  Berliner Dom- The Cathedral church in Berlin  is the largest church in the city.

I stood  inside of the Church and looked upwards at one of the most beautiful artistic masterpieces.  So incredible!! 

We climbed  the stairs to the top  and looked out over the city of Berlin :)

What an incredible view of Berlin!!

This  painted building is  an apartment building in our area.  There are a whole bunch of apartments with the cutest murals. Berlin has a lot of history, so a lot of the city is really old but there is also a lot of modern influence.  LOVE IT :)

Me and the little  green man.  He is called the Berlin Ampel Man.  It's the little green guy that appears when you cross the street . . . 

               Me with the Berliner Bear.  There are so many of these fun guys everywhere in the city! 

 This one of me by the fitness bear . . . I was very enthusiastic and excited to be outside and talking to everybody                        . . . We made a joke that I was like a little puppy being let off my leash . . . :D 

                                                           Buildings near the Berliner Dom.

Standing on the line where the Berlin Wall once stood.

 My  package arrived!! That package was filled with so much love!!!! You should have seen how happy I was when I opened it :DDDDDD    I love the apron and the cook book!!  In this photo I had made some homemade spaghetti with smoked tofu with LOTS OF delicious vegetables and it was so delicious!! :D

                                        

                                    OH MEINE GUTE I GOT TO SEE SISTER NILSON!!!!!!!!!!! :D

THE FIELD IS WHITE AND READY TO HARVEST...LANKWITZ [ BERLIN ]

February 3, 2014

Dearest Family,

I just read President's email and a point of it really stood out to me.

"in the scriptures we find an example of a young man who obeyed his father’s directive that the family depart into the wilderness leaving their belongings behind, who went back to his hometown to retrieve things his father asked him to get and who was asked to help build a boat and depart for a promised land.
Normally, we would identify that person as Nephi, and it would be right too. But let us take Laman - he did the same but it didn't change him. He went through the motions, but he was complaining and murmuring, and he did not receive a change of heart that brought about conversion."

How true is that?  

I am almost to my halfway point on my mission.  At times I have murmured.  At times I have complained.  I have tried.  I have failed.  I like to think that I have succeeded.  Sometimes it's easy to question that though.  I want to be like Nephi though.  I want.  I know that "to want" or "to desire" is to precede something better.  

As I have been serving in Berlin for about a month now, I feel like I am finding some of myself that I've been missing a little bit.  The part of me that is a little stubborn, sometimes a little too competitive, that will not give up easily.  I really am trying, working hard, and I am really enjoying the work.  

Before I tell you that J*** is getting baptized on March 15th, I have to quickly knock on wood.  **klopf klopf**.  But Yeah, J*** is planning on getting baptized!! On March 15th!! After teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and about the Gospel of Jesus Christ he was feeling a little overwhelmed.  We sat there in the community kitchen of the Student apartments and he admitted shyly that he was a little bit confused. I really love thinking about the people here and putting myself in their shoes.  What would it be like to sit on the other side of that wooden table hearing some young girl tell me who God was, that he loves ME, that he has a plan for ME.  God wants ME to be baptized.  How would I feel?  I would probably feel a little confused too.  It was about two weeks ago that J***told us that he was uncertain if there was a God or not.  But in this lesson, we stopped at this point, and we invited him to say a prayer.

 We invited him to pray and ask for understanding, for peace, for a confirmation that what we taught him was true.  He spoke the prayer, and his sincere Chinese spoken English words really touched me.  After he ended his prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, I asked him.  "J***, how do you feel?"  He looked at me like I was slow or something, and then clapped his hands together!  "I'm ready to go!  What more do you have to teach me?!"  He described the good feeling that he gets when he meets with us and reads in the scriptures.  J***recognizes and identifies the influence of the Holy Ghost in his life.

He came to church yesterday, and I got to translate the Sunday school lesson for him from German to English.  In part of the lesson we read in the manual about steps we can take to come closer to God.

"We can know God if we will:

1.    Believe that He exists and that He loves us (see Mosiah 4:9).

2.    Study the scriptures (see 2 Timothy 3:14–17).

3.    Pray to Him (see James 1:5).

4.    Obey all His commandments as best we can (see John 14:21–23).

As we do these things, we will come to know God and eventually have eternal life.

·  Ponder what you can do to draw nearer to God." (Chapter 1, gospel principles).

I asked him if he believed that God was there.  Yes.

Does he believe that God loves him?  Yes.

At the last point, I asked him to ponder himself on ways that he could draw nearer to God. "Well, I can get baptized!!  And I can read more in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible.  Just like I read in 2 Nephi 31 and in the other chapters I've read!"

Let me restate the fact that I love Asians. 

Also, listening to Y*** Y***and J*** speaking excitedly in Chinese about “who knows what” is music to my ears.  Even if it is during sacrament meeting. . . 

Sorry I don't have a lot more time to write, but I hope you are all doing well.  I will keep on praying for you.  Please remember to pray for me as well :D

LOVES!!!

Something I also say when I leave people is "Tschüß!! Papa!!"

Ich liebe euch :)

COLDEST WEEK OF MY MISSION YET... AND PICTURES!!! :D:D LANKWITZ (BERLIN)

January 27, 2014

Liebe Familie,

This week was the COLDEST of my mission yet, and to be quite honest I am surprised I am still alive.  We had been having weather around 5, 6 Celsius and then it dropped to about -20.( -4 Fahrenheit)  Let's just say I made some people smile as I took some serious measures to ensure my personal survival . . .

I cracked and wore the Schwester Timm "Princess Coat."  MMM hmm.  It's pretty much like wearing a feminine sleeping bag that is decorated with flowers around the skirt part of it.  Then Sister Hansen, Meine liebe Mitarbeiterin, donated a knitted hat her grandmother had sent her . . . So I had a lovely magenta, turquoise cap on with a large flower off to the side . . . Add to that cheetah print ear muffs . . . And my enormous bright red mittens that are so big they could be hot pads . . . Buahahahaha.  We didn't find any "Neue Untersucher" on this day.

I think everybody needs to have at least one disastrous law of chastity lesson on their mission.  We had ours this week.  (Sister Hansen didn't mention to me that she has never taught his lesson before.. She opened areas her first two transfers and has had really hard areas which means not that  many progressing investigators.)  We like to make fun of "The District" movies sometimes, and we are proud to say that we used the classic "Er hat es gebrochen" or "He broke it" line. (I feel like this will only be funny if you are a missionary, but I will share it nonetheless ;)). 

This entire week I feel been thinking about the temple a lot.  I had some questions on my mind, and I just wished I could go to this holy place to think and ponder.  It's crazy how the desires of our hearts can be influenced over time . . . Honestly, before I came on my mission I didn't really understand the temple that much nor did I have that much of a personal appreciation.  I finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants this week and perhaps it has also affected me in some way.  I have such a deep gratitude for the saints that came before us, who began the  work of building temples that we might help with the salvation of others.  I am grateful for the opportunity that we have to go to the temple for ourselves as well.  I also have such gratitude for Joseph Smith and for his sacrifices and conviction.  I think it was in Doctrine and Covenants 135 that I read earlier this week and I concluded my personal study almost in tears because of the feelings I had in my heart regarding the Prophet of the Restoration.

Sweet Y** Y** agreed to a baptism date for the 15th of March. SHE DESIRES TO BE BAPTIZED.   She's different from anybody I have ever met or taught on my mission yet.  She has such a strong faith that has developed so quickly.  I was sitting next to her in sacrament meeting yesterday and at one point she just pulled out her Book of Mormon and began studying in 2 Nephi 31 again (The same chapter we had studied together the night before).  She asked me in a whisper what it meant to "feast upon the words of Christ."  She had the whole two pages marked up with a pen, with notes and thoughts written in the margins.  I was very filled with joy.  Y** Y**, she is already feasting!  Please pray for her though. She may need to return to China.  Even though the church is getting a lot stronger in China, there are no missionaries there.  I have never seen somebody so HAPPY and seen the gospel make such a difference in  somebody's life.

We met with Mo** last night and had another man from our ward present at the lesson.  The other man converted to the Church in 2001, and his own personal conversion story touched all of us.  Mo**wants to believe us, he wants to believe that Christ is the son of God, not just a prophet, he wants to believe that we have a living prophet on the earth today.  But he is scared.  It's like an internal battle within him.  A battle of feelings.  He just wants evidence.  At the conclusion of the lesson I began to speak and I know that the Spirit was with me.  I took my little pocket Book of Mormon in my hands (That book has become so precious to me!), and I told him to take his into his hands as well.  "Mo**.  You are holding in your hands the evidence.  This is the evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  This is the evidence that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, that we now have a prophet on the earth.  This is evidence that what we have taught you is TRUE."  He's so worried about overcoming this inner obstacle of feeling within him, but I told him that through the power of the Book of Mormon, he doesn't have to change his heart, his desires, or his feelings.  The Spirit will touch his heart, change his heart, and influence his desires and feelings.  I know because I have experienced this.  He has only been reading a little bit here and there every week, but if we really study, and search, and give the attention to the Book of Mormon that we should, we WILL find out for ourselves through God's Spirit that it is true.

I am so incredibly happy and content as a missionary.  I LOVE this work.  It has been so cold, but we like to say that the Spirit keeps us warm!

Thank you for all of your love and support.  I love you all so much.  Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Sister Heidi Elaine Shelley  

The first week I was in Berlin I was in a drit ( threesome ) with Sister Hansen and Sister Ahrenholtz.

Me and Sister Hansen

                                               Sister Ahrenholtz, me and Sister Hansen

                                             

This was us with the sister who was sent home due to illness. P.S. I LOVE being right next door to  the mission office.:D

                                                      In front of Brandenburg Gate

                                                           Reichstag Building-Berlin

                               Me and Sister Hansen in front of the Reichstag building

                                                              Berlin Victory Column

                                    COLD WINTER DAYS IN BERLIN....BBBRRRRRR

Banana chocolate chip pancakes..of course!! :D:D

LOVING LANKWITZ - LANKWITZ [ BERLIN ]

January 20, 2014

Heidi and I were able to chat for a few minutes through email early this morning. I have included a few of her comments.

“ I am so happy here in Lankwitz.

The ward is really small here - definitely smaller than Langenhorn. There are a lot of wards in the Berlin area.  This is just one of them, and it isn't really in the center of Berlin- more in the suburb area. But there are some really nice people in the ward, and it is so different because we serve with two elders and the elderly couple, too

.

We are working with so many incredible people.,and I am just LOVING my companionship and that we are so close to the elders and see other missionaries a lot.

Also, just wanted to tell you how amazing it is that since my priesthood blessing I have had NO homesickness whatsoever, no anxiety, no depression, no nothing.  I am just so happy! :)

It is seriously so cold!! I think I am going to buy a warmer coat today.”

Now for her weekly email:

Quote of the week:  "I hate blondes, but I can love you through Jesus Christ." -Schwester H***

It was also with Schwester H*** that we helped her throw her Christmas tree out of her third story level apartment last week. . .  Always an adventure!

More comical moments of the week:

We were out doing doors and we go walking up the stairs after a man rang us in.  "Hallo, wir sind die Missionarinnen . . ." The man seriously jumped back and squealed like a little girl hahaha it was so funny.  So I asked him, "What's wrong, you're scared of a couple of girls?" ... 

The word "Missionary" can have quite the effect on people!

I learned from Sister Darrington, "I will do whatever it takes."  We were talking to a man at his apartment and it turned out that he had supposedly read the Book of Mormon two times already but he had decided that it wasn't the word of God. I asked if he had prayed about it, but he had not.  I was just so intrigued by this man and was a little bit stubborn so my companion stood next to me in horror as he fetched a bible almost the size of me, holding it in his arms and opening it up.

 I then proceeded to read in 2 Nephi 29 . . .  " Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. . .

Let's just say, I think I have overcome my fear of talking to people :P

I have only been here for about two weeks, but it is crazy how quickly a place can feel like home.  I love the people here.  I love how everybody is different.  Everybody has their own story. There's something I can learn from every one of these people.

There is J*** from Australia with the coolest accent and the coolest dinosaur pajamas.  He claims to be Aethiest, and yet he prayed at the end of our lesson with the most earnest and sincere call to God that I have ever heard.  He just wants to KNOW.  He is willing to try because he's not worried of failing.  It just really touches your heart when you hear somebody really pray for the first time, really trying to communicate with their Father in heaven.

There is M** from Egypt who has half of the Quran memorized.  It is so hard for him to just change his way of thinking because Islam is so different from Christianity, specifically Mormonism.  Imagine believing with your whole heart that Jesus Christ was just a prophet, but to try to change your beliefs that He was and is in fact the Son of God.  He prayed just last night and asked God to help us find the necessary means so that we can teach him, show him the evidence that he needs, and really help him so that he can know the truth, to close the doors that need to be close and open the necessary doors that need to be opened. 

Y***  from China who is young, beautiful, and a master pianist. Just in December she had no idea who God was, and Jesus Christ was just a name that she had heard.  We have met with her a few times since I got here and her rate of progression is incredible.  She prayed at the end of our lesson earlier in the week and we challenged her to specifically ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and whether or not the Book of Mormon was the word of God.  When we ask her if she felt like she had received an answer she just spoke of the feelings she gets when she prays.  "I feel so light when I pray.  Like everything is peaceful.  I just want this to become natural for me.  I just want all of these teachings and commandments to be a natural part of life for me."  It was so special that we could testify that that is why we have the commandments in the first place.  God loves us so much, and He gives us the commandments to help us find happiness in life.  She went on asking all sorts of questions about our purpose in life, and she just listened so intently to the answers and scriptures that we provided. 

J*** from China.  In meeting last night we watched "Finding Faith in Christ."  We shared our own testimonies of why we believe in God and Jesus Christ.

 Why should we believe in God?   

Not only does it bring us peace and hope.  But it helps us know our direction and purpose in life.  We are here on the earth to have joy, to learn, to grow, to make covenants with God.  Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy ghost, and enduring to the end.

 We didn't really have that much time to talk in detail, but we invited J*** to say the closing prayer.  We had taught him how to pray in the beginning, and by the end of the lesson he was thanking us so sincerely for helping him to become aware of God, of Jesus Christ, of his purpose here on the earth.  He was so grateful.  He prayed for the first time then.  Again, incredible for somebody who just an hour before had wondered about his own existence, wondered if there was a God, or some higher power.  "Please help me to know if you are really there God.  Please help me so that I can learn what I need to.  Bless me that if it is right that one day I might be baptized."  We hadn't even invited him to be baptized, but he knew it was something expected of him from God even without the invitation. 

We need a DESIRE.  It is the desire of these people that allows them to truly learn, and to allow the Spirit enter into their humble hearts.

I am so happy here in Lankwitz and it means a lot to me that people see in me one who is enjoying the work.  It's crazy looking back sometimes and wondering why I ever struggled, why I ever doubted, why I ever feared?  Then I realize that's just always how life is.  But it feels good knowing that I have overcome things that were once hard, and have learned things that were once confusing.  I am learning more to enjoy things that are hard, especially when I realize that doing hard things makes me stronger.  

I love you all!!

Sister Heidi Elaine Shelley