We Are All Enlisted

Hallo! 

So this week has been a complete whirlwind of craziness! Monday night we had a weird lesson with some crazy people who believe in black magic and something about his dead mother haunting him...(haha) but luckily we kinda swerved the subject back to the restoration somehow! We will see what happens with them. Tuesday and Wednesday we went on another tausch! (tausch = splits) This time I stayed in Wien and Sister Hollesen came to be with me.  It was so fun!  But also scary because I was the senior comp for the tausch so I was in charge of getting us everywhere on public transportation and taking charge of the lessons and talking to people and stuff. But I feel like I did a good job considering I can't really speak German that well yet!

German update: one day I just randomly woke up and I could understand like 75% of what people say, so thank you to whoever has been praying for me to receive the gift of tongues! Now I just need the actual tongue part (haha) because I still can't communicate that well. 

Wednesday, we went to the Johnson's for dinner, and they're from Texas so it was like stepping into heaven for me! We had cornbread and chili, my kind of meal :)  Finally a break from potatoes!! Thursday was super busy, and super awesome.  Friday was like one of the best days of my mission so far!  We got so many contacts in the street, and stopped by a former investigator and had a great lesson, and brought another investigator to a member's house and had a super awesome appointment, and then we went to waffle night at the YSA center!  I wish I could give more details, but 1. I can't really remember a lot of this week because it was just such a blur and so exhausting, and 2. it would take pages and pages to write!

At this point, I'm pretty much exhausted every single day. We get home and plan and then I just flop and die on my bed, but I sleep really well because I'm so tired! And I love being so busy with the work of the Lord.  It's way better than being bored and unproductive (haha.) I've learned to work through the exhaustion, and love it!  If I had to pick a theme song for the week it would be "We Are All Enlisted" by the Lower Lights.  I have it on my iPad and every time I have felt like throwing in the towel and giving up, or been impatient with Sister Jest, or homesick, I've just blasted that song and danced around a little and poof! All better!  Y'all should really listen to that song, it's a good one.  I have to remember that I signed up for this!  I'm officially enlisted until the conflict is over, so I just have to suck it up during the hard times and remember all the blessings I have, and keep an eternal perspective!  And really, even if you're not on a mission you are still enlisted till the conflict is over! :) so just "joyfully march along!" I mean might as well go through it happily, right?

I feel like each week of my mission just gets better and better, but at the same time harder and harder!  I've learned so much about myself, the gospel, and the love our Savior has for each and every one of us. I've been reading this super awesome book, it's called the Book of Mormon, and I've been reading it with a question in mind, "how can I develop stronger faith in Christ?" Let me tell ya, reading the Book of Mormon with a question in mind is the most powerful way to get an answer. Because it's over a longer period of time, and you are really studying and searching daily for an answer! My faith has grown soo much already! So if you want an answer to something you have been struggling with, then write it down and start reading :)

Love y'all and I hope you have a great week!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Thunell

Oh...P.S. Farshid got baptized!!  I don't know how I forgot that small detail.. But yes, here we are with Farshid and the Elders in our ward. Best day ever!