Motivation and Miracles

Hi family and friends!! 

This week was a week of miracles!  We had a goal this week of teaching 8 sonstige lessons, and by Thursday we still had zero!  So many appointments had fallen through, which was disappointing, but we were determined to do everything that we could to make these 8 random lessons happen!  So we hit the streets with tons of faith and started talking to people!  I don't know why we were so pumped about all this finding we were doing, but we were!  And it paid off!  By Saturday we had taught 7 lessons about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to random people on the street, and talked to about a million more than that! Sunday came and we knew we needed one more lesson!  So we went out in the freezing cold, determined to not come home until we had taught a lesson!  Well, I was reminded of how sometimes Heavenly Father requires us to do all the work before we see the blessings. We had been outside for about an hour and a half, and tried talking to sooo many people, but still nothing!  Then, I decided to stop one more random man and then we were gonna call it quits so we could get warmed up and do our studies.  This man happened to be the chosen one to listen to our last sonstige lesson we needed to hit our weekly goal!  And fun fact: he's from the place where Noah's ark landed after the flood!  Haha...so we talked to him for probably 30 minutes, and in the end he told us he would come to church next Sunday!  So keep your fingers crossed and pray that he comes next week!  Heavenly Father truly blesses those who put their faith in Him and then GO TO WORK! :)  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary.

On Tuesday we had a dinner appointment with the elders at my favorite family from Australia's home. We had a planking contest first thing, because Sister Howsmon and I are obsessed with planking now, and we totally won!  Haha...practicing every night pays off! 

Then after dinner we shared a spiritual thought that I stole from my dad :)  Each of us started playing super loud music on our iPads, and then we just started the spiritual thought like normal and asked them to share some experiences that they have had with feeling/following the voice of the Holy Ghost.  Well, obviously all the music was super distracting, and no one could really hear each other, and they were all super confused!  So we decided to get rid of some "worldly voices" and turn one iPad off.  Then, because it was still distracting, we turned off some "distracting media" and then we turned off our "constantly being glued to our phones,"  Then we told them to be very quiet and listen, and they would hear something very special.  On one of the iPad's we had President Monson's voice from a general conference talk playing, and finally after a little while of intent listening, everyone could hear it!  We explained how this is like how we need to have more time set aside in our lives to pause and listen to the Spirit and ponder and pray, and how distracting this world can be!  It was super awesome and they loved it :)

This week I have learned a lot about repentance and the atonement.  I feel like that was a huge topic in this past General Conference, and as a mission we are all reading the New Testament, so it has been the perfect opportunity for me to dig a little deeper and learn a little more!  I know with all my heart that Jesus Christ died for us because He loves us and wants us to return to live with our Heavenly Father again.  I was reading a little bit about Barabbas, and I found it interesting that Jesus Christ took the place of Barabbas by being crucified, while Barabbas was set free.  He, the perfect Son of God, was crucified to save an imperfect sinner.  And that's the message of the entire atonement for you and for me. Jesus Christ died so that we, imperfect, mistake-making, natural men, can be cleansed, saved, forgiven, and whole.  I am so grateful that I get to share this message of hope with these people of Germany!  What a unique time of my life :) 

Well, I love you all, and I hope you have wonderful weeks!  We went to Neuschwanstein again for pday today, so here are some pictures!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Thunell