Yellow Rose of Texas

The Yellow Rose of Texas by a beautiful worn down door.

*Summer was having computer issues this week so she asked that I share on her blog her spiritual thought to me.

Here is my spiritual thought to you Mom….. 

This week, a general authority came to speak to all of the missionaries in this mission. His name is Elder Johnson. He talked to all of the missionaries about a section in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-21. He talked a lot about how each part of the body are important and how without one part of the body, something else would fail. He related that to us and that each one of us is important, not only in this mission but in the church. We each have a special part that needs to be fulfilled. The only one that can do your specific job is you he said.  Although that is a nice thought, we will never fully understand our function and the capacity of what we can do until we understand completely who we are.

Elder Johnson continued to say that we need to understand what it really means to be a daughter (or son) of God. Once we understand this, we will understand what it means to align our will with His will. I told you a few weeks ago while talking about this same topic, that once we really learn how to accomplish that, life will become so much easier.

That is something that I would like to work on. I want to better understand what it means to be a daughter of God.

President Uchtdorf said, "He (God) wants you to achieve your destiny-- to return to you Heavenly home in honor....It is my prayer that you will experience a renewed and an expanded measure of the beautiful love of God in your lives, that you will find the faith, determination, and commitment to learn God's commandments, treasure them in your hearts, and live the gospel joyfully. I promise that as you do so, you will discover your best self---- your real self. You will discover what it truly means to be a daughter of the everlasting God, the Lord of all righteousness."

I love it! This is my new goal!

Love her so!

Have a lovely week! 

Service

Hallo everyone! 

 

This week was crazy! I feel like we had so much going on the whole week.  This week, one of the other sisters that we work with got really sick and couldn't really go out. We were able to do a few "mini" exchanges so that the sisters would be able to attend their appointments but still get the rest that they needed. 

 

Sister Mittleman and I had some good service opportunities this week. One of them is something that we do every week. We serve at the Ronald McDonald house here in Leipzig. It is a cool opportunity for us because we get to be able to help these families that have sick children in the hospital. We clean around the house and do garden work to make sure that the house is a nice place for them to come home and sleep at night. 

 

We also were able to help a bunch of students this weekend. There were a group of guys and a girl that all wanted to move into this apartment together. None of them are members, but the girl is friends with a member here in Leipzig. She called us on Friday and asked us if we could help clean their apartment before they moved in. We quickly found out that the people that lived there before completely trashed the place. It was so dirty. The front door was actually bashed in from the police last week so pretty much anyone could walk inside. But, it was a beautiful apartment. It was very big. It just needed a little help and fixing up. In about a month, we would like to help the girl move in and hopefully have the opportunity to see everyone again, they were all super awesome! 

 

So aside from all of the service projects this week, we were also able to have some really good appointments with the members. One of them was with our primary president. She got home from her mission just a year ago, so she knows what it is like to be in our shoes. It was really nice to talk to her though because she really opened my eyes to the reality of what it means to live in the now. I always enjoy what I am doing, but I don't think I realized how often I think and try to prepare myself for the future. Not that that is a bad thing. But she helped me understand that it is good to have a goal for the future in mind and maybe some ideas with how you want to reach that goal, but take the time now to really enjoy now. I love the quote "learn from the past, study in the present, to prepare for the future." Taking the time to enjoy where we are at no matter what will help us be able to live a more fulfilled life. 

 

I haven't really had to eat that much weird food on the mission, but this week definitely tops it off. We get to this eating appointment this week and the member told us that she made a fish casserole thing. At first we thought it was normal until she started to plop some onto a plate. The whole fish was dangling and plopped onto my plate. Siste Mittleman and I kind of just laughed and started to eat the fish. It tasted kinda funny when we first started to eat it. I made the mistake of asking how she made it. Little did we know, we were eating raw herring with mayonnaise and pickles.... Yes! That was new. I am grateful though that I am serving in Germany where weird food is not so common :) 

 

Other than that, it was a really awesome week. I love the opportunity that we have as missionaries to just go outside everyday and talk with random people on the street. Although many people are not interested, there are many people who just enjoy talking about what they believe in. We really learn a lot about different cultures and different people. I feel so blessed to have this experience. 

 

I want to leave you all with an awesome quote that I found this week from Präsident Packer. He said, "prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil." 

 

I think that is so cool and so true. So many people are looking for some source of peace and hope. Little do they know that often times it is just a sincere prayer away. God, our Heavenly Father, is there for all of us wanted to help us. Most of the time, he is just waiting for us to come to him. 

 

I hope you all have a lovely week this week! 

 

Sister Reed 

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

This sweet street musician!

I love the street musicians here in Leipzig!

 

Hallo everyone! 

This week went by so fast! It was the last week in the transfer. But I am excited that I will be staying in Leipzig another transfer with the wonderful, Sister Mittleman. I also hit my year mark this week! It is crazy how fast a mission goes by! But, I am determined to make the most out of these last few months. 

This week, I wanted to share a quote. It says, 

     "When adversity comes, do not let something you don't fully understand unravel everything you do know." -Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Although we might not know everything, we do know a lot. Sometimes people let the little doubts take control over what they do know. For example, some people think that they cannot be forgiven and have no hope for a good future. I can honestly say that that is not true. There is a God that loves each one of us and is always there to pick us up when we fall. 

But sometimes these doubts really bug us. When I think about this, I think about the story of Jesus walking on the water from the New Testament. Jesus approaches the apostles on the boat when Peter calls to him asking if he can come to him on the water. Peter fearlessly stepped off the boat. Soon after, he started to become afraid and he began to sink. Christ was there the second he needed him. 

I love this story. It is so true. I can have so much faith and then begin to feel like I am falling. Right before I sink He catches me and lifts me back up. If there are doubts that are bothering you, I encourage you to follow the counsel of Präsident Dieter F. Uchtdorf. "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." 

You are all wonderful and I hope you have a lovely week! :) 

Sister Reed 

 P.S. WE WENT TO THE ZOO!!!  I love Giraff's ;)