KEEP MOVING FORWARD

Hello again! 

It feels like I just did this a couple days ago... :) 

Some cool things that have happened between Thursday and now:

1. We had a movie night with Chelsea (our exchange student friend from Idaho) and watched The Testaments and ate pizza! It was super fun, and she is always so lonely cuz she doesn't have very many friends here, so we were able to keep her company for a little while! 

2. We have three new investigators!! They're all super cute and super awesome :) Brigitte is the daughter of a member here, and her own daughter is a member, but she's not!  She had been investigating the church about a year ago but stopped, and now she has said that she is interested again, and we are hoping we can set a baptismal date with her soon! The other two new investigators are daughters of a different member and they're so cute! They're half Ecuadorean, and they have finally agreed to start taking the discussions and they're starting to make great progress!

3. Another girl, Gina, that we are friends with finally came to church!!  She is soooo cute and I just love her guts! We are helping her with her English class at school, and little by little we will get her coming to church regularly!

4. We did a district fast for Nadine! It was a cool experience, and so nice of the whole district to join in to help our investigator!

So now for some sad news. Nadine's parents have refused to sign her baptismal papers, and they're confused about the church but refuse to speak with us or the bishop, or anyone else from the church, so she can't get baptized for now :(  It was so devastating and heartbreaking, especially after having planned the whole thing and having fasted with our whole district, but she will eventually get baptized!!  The date is now set for June 2017, when she turns 18, and I know that it will happen in the Lord's timing!  Having such a big thing fall through like that definitely sets you back a little, but luckily I had just read about Christlike attributes in my personal study that morning and part of having faith and patience means trusting the Lord and in His timing!  He wants Nadine to get baptized more than we do, and He is in charge! So I guess I'll just let Him be in charge still and not worry about it :) We are doing our part, and that's all that we can do!

Okay, so Sister Staack and I have decided to speak only German to each other for our last two weeks together so I literally can't think in English at all because my brain is a German jumble!  And for some reason random Spanish words pop into my head too and sometimes come out of my mouth. (haha)  Important lessons I've learned this week:

1. Follow and trust the priesthood.

2. Why be sad and discouraged when you can be happy and hopeful??

3. Fasting for something doesn't always mean you will get what you want.  Sometimes you receive a direct answer that is the exact opposite of what you expected!

4. When you actually speak German, you realize that you know A LOT more than you thought you did.

I've been thinking a lot about the end of my mission this week.  Which is a strange thing to be thinking about because I still have a year left, but I've been thinking about what kind of person I want to be on the last day of my mission.  I was also thinking about the things I need to do now to make sure that my goals and vision for who and what I am are reached, and not just wish upon a star that they will magically happen.  Then I thought about after my mission.  I want to be able to keep this same spirit with me, and continue to strive to try a little harder to be a little better every day!  I've heard that it can be a really hard transition back into normal life from mission life, but I decided that for me it doesn't have to be!  It will be just like getting a new mission call, with a little bit of a different mission purpose :) 

I know who I am, I know God's plan, I'll follow Him in faith!  So to apply this to your own life: think about who you want to be at the end of this school year, at the end of the summer, or at the end of this year in December!  Think about how you want to feel about yourself, how you want Heavenly Father to feel about you, and what you are going to accomplish, and then set a plan for how you are going to get there!  Make specific goals, not general ones that are blurry and immeasurable.  And start small!  For me, little goals like simply not eating while I'm studying the scriptures can help me fulfill my purpose better and feel closer to the spirit.  Have a little more patience, pray a little more, and move forward with faith! 

Love you all from the bottom of my heart!

German word of the week: spielvarenfachgeschäft (game store)

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Thunell