This week has been incredible. I´ve been dying this whole week to write and tell you about it.
I told you about the 3 girls we talked to on the street (Sabine, Sabine, and Anna) and that they wrote us a text message that night we met them. WELL!! We´ve had a bunch of miracles with them. First of all, we haven´t been able to meet with them til Friday, but we called Thursday to see if we could meet and they wanted to do a combined birthday party (the littlest daughter just had her birthday too). So we had bratwurst too (Yummy! Of course I´ve eaten tons and tons of Bratwurst. I love it) and then we asked if we could talk more about the church (we weren´t sure how interested in the church they were or if they were just interested in the friendship). So we talked about the Restoration and the spirit was SO strong. It was the strongest the spirit has ever been in a lesson for me. We testified that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and the mother got chills and had goosebumps. It was awesome. They all said they believed that is true, but the sixteen year old daughter had a concern that she wanted to talk to us about. She pulled me to the side, because she didn´t want her little sister to hear- but she told me some horrible things that she´s been through in her life. She said she believes in God, but doesn´t understand why he didn´t answer her prayers when she was going through all these horrible experiences. I tried to explain as best as I could, but no one really knows why these bad things have to happen to good people. I then explained the atonement of Jesus Christ and that He is the only one that can help us feel peace. She then told me she has only told these experiences to her mom and me. It was crazy that after just meeting on the street one time she trusted us enough to tell us things that she had only told her mom. We rejoined everyone at the table and while I was gone my companion was having a talk with the mom. I guess the mom kind of explained to my companion what was going on with her daughter. (They talk to us in English even though they´re German. They just like to practice English, but sometimes it´s hard to understand) But my companion told her that what we have to say and what we do really can heal us from these things that have hurt us. Then Sabine (the mom) told this awesome story! She said the other day she was taking a nap and she had a dream. She has 2 angels statues in her house and in her dream these angel´s faces were our faces. She told us that she knows what we say is true and that we are her angels to bring her family this peace. Then she said "Do you know the word.....Taufe?" (baptism) That made us smile inside. She said that she wants that really bad for her daughters and for herself. So they will be baptized August 31, which seems like forever away- but it´s the daughter Sabine´s birthday that day and she thought it would be a great day to have a new start and a new life. They are so sweet and contact us every day and love us so much and we love them so much! They have already told us thank you for bringing so much to their lives. So if you could keep Sabine Sabine and Anna in your prayers that would be much appreciated. The craziest thing is that this is a confirmation that we Sisters are supposed to be here! These sweet girls would not have opened up to men because they have had really bad experiences with men in the past. They needed the Sisters so they could be open to what we have to tell them. Even the mother herself said "Now is the time that we need to do this. I´ve thought about joining churches before, but it never felt right. But I know this is right." She already has a testimony! It´s so crazy. It´s like one of those stories you hear about but never think it´ll happen to you. But it did! I know first hand there are people out there that need the gospel and are ready for it! We love them so so so so so much I can´t even explain how much I love them. I can´t wait for them to feel the healing power of the atonement. Ahh. I love this gospel. I love Jesus. I love being a missionary.
I told you about the 3 girls we talked to on the street (Sabine, Sabine, and Anna) and that they wrote us a text message that night we met them. WELL!! We´ve had a bunch of miracles with them. First of all, we haven´t been able to meet with them til Friday, but we called Thursday to see if we could meet and they wanted to do a combined birthday party (the littlest daughter just had her birthday too). So we had bratwurst too (Yummy! Of course I´ve eaten tons and tons of Bratwurst. I love it) and then we asked if we could talk more about the church (we weren´t sure how interested in the church they were or if they were just interested in the friendship). So we talked about the Restoration and the spirit was SO strong. It was the strongest the spirit has ever been in a lesson for me. We testified that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and the mother got chills and had goosebumps. It was awesome. They all said they believed that is true, but the sixteen year old daughter had a concern that she wanted to talk to us about. She pulled me to the side, because she didn´t want her little sister to hear- but she told me some horrible things that she´s been through in her life. She said she believes in God, but doesn´t understand why he didn´t answer her prayers when she was going through all these horrible experiences. I tried to explain as best as I could, but no one really knows why these bad things have to happen to good people. I then explained the atonement of Jesus Christ and that He is the only one that can help us feel peace. She then told me she has only told these experiences to her mom and me. It was crazy that after just meeting on the street one time she trusted us enough to tell us things that she had only told her mom. We rejoined everyone at the table and while I was gone my companion was having a talk with the mom. I guess the mom kind of explained to my companion what was going on with her daughter. (They talk to us in English even though they´re German. They just like to practice English, but sometimes it´s hard to understand) But my companion told her that what we have to say and what we do really can heal us from these things that have hurt us. Then Sabine (the mom) told this awesome story! She said the other day she was taking a nap and she had a dream. She has 2 angels statues in her house and in her dream these angel´s faces were our faces. She told us that she knows what we say is true and that we are her angels to bring her family this peace. Then she said "Do you know the word.....Taufe?" (baptism) That made us smile inside. She said that she wants that really bad for her daughters and for herself. So they will be baptized August 31, which seems like forever away- but it´s the daughter Sabine´s birthday that day and she thought it would be a great day to have a new start and a new life. They are so sweet and contact us every day and love us so much and we love them so much! They have already told us thank you for bringing so much to their lives. So if you could keep Sabine Sabine and Anna in your prayers that would be much appreciated. The craziest thing is that this is a confirmation that we Sisters are supposed to be here! These sweet girls would not have opened up to men because they have had really bad experiences with men in the past. They needed the Sisters so they could be open to what we have to tell them. Even the mother herself said "Now is the time that we need to do this. I´ve thought about joining churches before, but it never felt right. But I know this is right." She already has a testimony! It´s so crazy. It´s like one of those stories you hear about but never think it´ll happen to you. But it did! I know first hand there are people out there that need the gospel and are ready for it! We love them so so so so so much I can´t even explain how much I love them. I can´t wait for them to feel the healing power of the atonement. Ahh. I love this gospel. I love Jesus. I love being a missionary.
Hahaha dad, you´re so great! "When I opened the card it was like I
was looking in a mirror." You´re so hilarious. I love it. I´m glad you
enjoyed the card and glad that mom didn´t kill you. Ü That is so crazy
that Blake has gotten chased by a Water Buffalo. Hahaha. I can just
picture him running through the rice fields like Lafoo.
There´s someone else we found on the street Friday named Robert.
He´s from Czech Republic and he has a very very hard life. His
girlfriend just broke up with him and he has had a couple strokes (He´s
only 20) so that is really crazy. But he is really depressed (he has cut
marks all up and down his arms and legs) We ran into him and his mom
on the street (after he had given us the false address). Then his mom
told us to come pick him up for church Sunday. He didn´t want it. But we
came anyway. And he came with us kind of dragging his feet. Then he was
really nervous that everyone would judge him (cuz he had a black eye
because he got in a fight). It was a special young women´s program and
the spirit was so strong and there were lots of musical numbers and it
was awesome. We talked to him after and he had a change of countenance.
He told us at home he was always worried and sad, but while he was at
church he felt peace for the first time. We told him it was the spirit.
We hope to meet with him again soon. He´s really cool, but there is kind
of a language barrier. But please pray for Robert too. (Also, maybe you
could talk to Will Peterson and maybe have him send me his testimony in
Czech? That´d be awesome).
The members are so awesome to us here and it does seem like they´re
very excited to have Sisters here. All the young women came up to me on
Sunday and wished me a late birthday. My birthday was great by the way.
We were really busy and my companion was so sweet and gave me like 3
candy bars and a bag of gummy bears and a card with a turtle on it. She
also made me breakfast, lunch, and banana bread. We love being together.
We might request to President that we stay together the rest of our
missions.
I would love if you could send me parts about Germany from
President Monson´s book. That would really make me happy. We are about
20 minutes away from where President Monson dedicated Germany for
missionary work and so we want to go there one of these days and read
the dedicatory prayer and say our own dedicatory prayer. We´ll have to
tell you when we do that.
That is super cool that you were able to talk to someone that knows
members in my ward. The member came up to me on Sunday and told me
hello from you and I was totally shocked, but it was a nice
surprise. Cool that you were able to talk to him. The members here are
really so so incredible, I love them.
I have thought about when I´m coming home, but then you told me to
stop thinking about it so I did. But if I must decide, I think I might
come in December. Because last New Years the work was totally dead after
Christmas, and I don´t really want to end on that note. We´ll see.
I didn´t realize the Keyes were going on a mission. That will be
fun for them. We really need Senior Couples- they help so much! They do
things that no one else can do and they really open peoples hearts. If
you see them again, tell them good luck from me.
Did you try out the reading by acting it out? I bet Rae would like doing that with Shiloh. Fun fun.
The top floor of trains are not first class. There are first class
sections, but it´s not all first class. Good thing they didn´t get
caught or they would have had to pay a big fee. That almost happened to
us this week (no- we weren´t doing it on purpose) But we had a
misunderstanding with tickets, we thought on weekends someone else could
ride on your ticket so we only bought one ticket. But on the train
found out that wasn´t true but luckily the "destroying angel" (ticket
dude) passed over us- or at least was merciful to us. We literally have a
new problem and adventure every day. I love it. It´s so great
We also had a lesson with a cool 20 year old guy named Michael (mee
hackaloogie ah el) who has also had a hard life. His mom was abused and
he had to watch her get abused every single day of his childhood. But
he knows that God is there because he would pray every day for his mom
and his mom is still alive so he believes very strongly in God and
believes in Jesus Christ because "if there weren´t any Jesus Christ, the
story would have died out a long time ago". He was really awesome. We
didn´t really get to talk to him about too many gospel principles
because he told us his story, but we´re excited to teach him. This week
has been an amazing week full of so many people that need this healing
power of the atonement. It has really been so awesome to have had so
many opportunities to think about Jesus Christ and how He will be able
to help each of these individuals with their very different problems,
but He will be able to heal all of their hearts. It makes me so happy
that I can share this message with them. I love Jesus Christ and He is
really there so that he can know how to stand by us during our times of
trial. I love Him and because He has helped me, I want to give others
the peace He´s given me. I love this gospel and I love the atonement.
I´ve learned this week more than ever that you never know what is going
on in people´s lives and what their backgrounds are. Some people have
broken hearts and are looking for the peace that the gospel brings. I
hope we will all share the gospel, because it can heal us. I know this
is true. I love you all so much, thanks for your support and prayers.
Love, Sister Niebergall
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