Dad,
Thanks so much for the pictures. I laughed out loud at the one with Mum mowing the lawn :) I'll be more than happy to be a ward missionary when I come home. One of my favorite callings. Sarahy and I were companions before I left for my mission and she went to school. Will she be serving a mission?
This week I was also blessed to give a talk. Late Saturday night I received a call from one of the branch presidency members. He asked if I wouldn't mind giving a talk on Sunday. I said sure and afterward wrote down four ideas that came to mind and then went to bed. In the morning we went to the church early so I could print off a talk from General Conference to use in my talk and then finished preparing it. Well during the sacrament meeting the first two speakers and the intermediate hymn were over and I had 30 minutes left to fill. As I approached the stand President Daniel said I didn't need to worry about filling the whole time, that if I got to 20 minutes that would be fine. Well I managed to speak for over 30 minutes. I never would have guessed I'd be able to do that in another language and the talk wasn't written out, it was just a few bullet points I wanted to make. Many members came up to me and thanked me for the talk and one even said it was the best talk she heard that day. I really loved being able to share my testimony with the ward one last time and give them the spiritual strength and food that they need to continue to grow in their faith and testimonies.
That is sad that Elder Romero will most likely be transferred. Everyone writes about him in my emails so I thought it would be fun to meet him. Oh well. I will be returning to the mission home next Tuesday. I wrote Mum out the blow by blow that I know so far. Monday is my last day here in Bremerhaven and then Tuesday I take a train to Berlin and have interviews with President and the financial secretary and then we eat with the Kosak's, have a testimony meeting, spend the night in a hotel, and then leave early early Wednesday morning for home.
Sister Jensen and I had a great experience this week with members as a joint teach. We asked a member if she could come with us to our appointment and she said that instead she would call the investigator (who lives across the street from her) and invite him over for abend brot. Well he accepted and it was probably the nicest appointment for us because the members did the teaching and we were there just to testify that what they were saying was true and to add more to the discussion.
Each Sunday we go into priesthood and relief society and share a missionary experience from the week previous. We shared this experience and how that's how missionary work really should work. The members are the ones who should be teaching and the missionaries are there to facilitate. I think it was a good lesson for them all to hear and a new idea for others.
Next Sunday I will be playing my Oboe in sacrament meeting. There is a young man in our ward who can play piano pretty well so I asked him maybe a month ago to help me and we were able to meet up this week to practice. So far it sounds good. I'll be sure to record it so you all can hear when I get home.
XXXXXXX's baptismal date has been pushed back a week but he has his baptismal calendar and he is doing strong in quitting smoking and preparing himself. He is really excited to be baptized. XXXXXXX can't be baptized next week. We were never able to get past the commandment of coming to church. She has a lot of issues with it. We weren't able to have a lesson with her this week but tomorrow we have the chance to meet her and we plan on really laying out what our role is as missionaries and getting her to voice what she really wants. Pray for us in that appointment! We got a few new appointments this week that we are excited for. The work keeps on going!
Have a great week Dad! Love you!
-Ariel Nell
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