It just keeps getting better!

So! Last week I talked about an investigator coming to church that missionaries had been working with for a long time. Well, SHE CAME AGAIN THIS WEEK! I feel like that is bigger than coming the first time. Coming back is always the hardest. It's like starting a new school year. The first day of school is fine because it's just the first day of school, but going back for the second day was always harder for me because that is when you realize that this is for real. Sister Powell and I were freaking out when she walked through the door for the second time. And what's better is that the ward scooped her up. People went out of their way to go talk to her and get to know her. That is exactly how it should be. I was so happy for her. That was our biggest miracle this week, but there are always loads.

 This week in particular has been pretty hot. We wore our lightest clothes every day and drank loads of water. One day that was super hot (40 degrees Celsius) we were getting off a bus to go to an appointment. There was also a couple of love birds getting off with us (probably about 16 years old) and when the bus started driving away, the girl goes "My cell phone! It's still on the bus!"-in German though. Right away, the boy started running SO FAST after the bus. It was actually hilarious. He basically threw his whole life into catching that bus. I don't know how it turned out, if he got the phone or not, but that is when Sister Powell and I decided that chivalry is in fact not dead. 

On Friday we had an appointment with a less active member. She is from Nigeria so we speak English with her...which is so weird, but she is super sweet. When we got there she was on the phone with her brother who told her he traveled to Atlanta to perform (with a christian rock group), and his video was on YouTube. She promptly looked it up on her iPad and started freaking out. She got on the floor and waved her hands around and was singing along. It was pretty epic. She was so happy to see her brother on YouTube. She was so happy that she made us lunch! That was a nice bonus. It was delicious African food. Apparently fried bananas are a thing. They were really good. That was such a unique experience.

Lately we have had an abundance of potential investigators to go out and contact. Every area in this mission is pretty big so it always takes a while to get there, especially with public transportation, but we have gone to so many places so many times in a row and no one has been home. It's quite disappointing, but we have a new thing we do, where when we go to a village or something to go try and contact someone and they're not there, then we have to knock on at least six doors. There must be another reason that we are there. So far, no one has fallen to their knees when we've come to their door, begging us to be baptized, but there is always something. People are interested in our English class, or they need help cleaning something, or once we ran into an investigator on the street and they just talked to us a little bit. Heavenly Father always puts people in our paths.

The other day, we were on the train headed home and a teenage girl sat next to me. Not gonna lie, I judged her pretty hard pretty fast. It was horrible, I have repented since then, but while I was sitting there telling myself why there was no point in talking to this girl, it hit me that Heavenly Father loves her so much. He just loves all of His children more than we can comprehend, so I'm an idiot for deciding that she wouldn't want our message. Well, I started talking to her and she was the best conversation I had all day. She knew about our church and said that the people from it are always so nice. It didn't get much further than that, but it was one of those sweet experiences that I really appreciated.

 

Yesterday we were at a members house for an eating appointment. It was a family and the mom was German and the dad was American. In their house they speak a mixture of German and English. They have four kids who understand both languages, so I was super confused. I had no idea what to speak. My mind doesn't switch back and forth that fast, so it was a bit of a whirlwind. It was just kind of funny. The German is hard, but I think it's coming.

This is the last week of the transfer and we get the transfer calls on Friday morning. Then the actual day of transfers is the next Thursday. I think I'm going to stay in Ludwigsburg for another transfer or two, but Sister Powell has been here for five so she will probably be headed somewhere else. We'll see what happens. No one can really predict what is going to happen though because we have a new President, but that is just my guess.

Well, anywho, that's what I have to say for this week. The work is hard, but it is good, and I am so glad that I get to serve here. Hope everyone is doing well wherever you may be.

Make good choices!

Love,

Sister Smiley

Pictures: What a sister missionary looks like when she got all of her groceries done within her budget, one of the villages that we spend a lot of time in lately, Sister Powell super excited about the Spaghetti Eis (ice cream shaped like spaghetti)