Tuesday we had a district finding day in Kreuzlingen and it was good. We spoke to some pretty cool people and got a potential for the elders in that area!! Later that day one of our members is filipino and she gave us 3 kilos of chicken hearts and stomach soooo that was extremely interesting hahaha!
Wednesday we had an appointment with one of the members in our ward named Sister Schmid. She is a chef and made us some super good looking food! (pics below) we spoke to her about how Christ is the center of our church. In that lesson I spoke more than I have in any other lesson which was pretty cool! I just didnt really care about saying things wrong because she corrected me all the time haha. I was able to bear a very simple testimony with her and it brought the spirit!!
Thursday was my 3 MONTH MARK!!! It was funny though because it was the worst day of the week lol. Starting at 6:30 am people were calling us and cancelling our appointments. We had all 3 of our appointments fall out for the day so we had to change all of our plans around and figure out what we were going to do instead. We taught Abraham (our potential from last week) about the book of mormon and he said he would pray about it and call us when he had questions. That night we had a lesson with our recent converts and it was a very frustrating lesson. They were asking extremely deep questions and I had NO idea how to answer any of them. It really made me doubt myself and get frustrated. I left that appointment really down and confused. it was just kind of a mess of a day...
Friday wasn't a whole lot better either- haha! We woke up and went finding and people were so rude to us. There was a man who was really racist and told us we dont belong here and because we don't speak swiss german that we shouldnt be in Switzerland... That night we had a meeting with some members and the husband speaks extremely fast so I was exhausted by the time we were done with the lesson. But I got really good sleep that night so I guess thats a plus side to being completely lost in and stressed beyond belief about this language hahaha.
Saturday more appointments fell out, and more people were rude to us while finding and at this point we were pretty discouraged. It felt like we were doing nothing and making no difference after a week of complete rejection. We went to visit an older woman in our ward in a nursing home and while we were walking, we stopped on the sidewalk to find a scripture. An older couple walked passed us and the woman just freaks out and says how beautiful my hair wa!!- hahaha. I almost started crying it was the best thing ever. I thanked her and her husband hard core started staring at our tags and so I said we were missionaries and we started talking about church. except heres the catch... He wouldn't speak high german - he would only speak to us in Swiss German. So for anyone who doesn't know, german and swiss german are literally 2 different languages. I don't understand nor can i speak ANY swiss german. but i understood exactly what this man was saying to us!!!! It was an absolute miracle... gift of tongues again is so real. We talked about prophets and apostles and the priesthood. The conversation didnt really go anywhere, we offered him a book but he didnt want anything but I UNDERSTOOD!!!! I counted that as a win :)) It was so cool.
Sunday was so fun - we practiced with the little kids for the primary program. It was a hard realization though cuz 4 year olds can speak better german than me! hahahaha! I've never been the jealous type buuuuut yeah that was hard hahaha! It was the cutest thing ever though to hear them sing primary songs in german, it melted my heart. ALSO our excommunicated member sister lutz came to church and brought her boyfriend so that was way cool!! we will be meeting with both of them this week :)
Today we went and made swiss army knives so yes it was a day very much needed after this week lol.
During my personal study this week my testimony of the Atonement grew so much. After this week I really needed some comfort and I read in Alma 36 and a few verses really stood out to me. This chapter is speaking about Alma's conversion story. it reads...
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
Growing up when I was going through hard times, my mom would always remind me that "sometimes we have to taste the bitter in order to know the sweet." sometimes we have to go through our own personal conversion stories and go through hard times so we can know the sweetness and joy that comes from the atonement. Words cannot express how grateful I am for the Savior's sacrifice. I know that no matter how hard our trials may be, the comfort that comes from the atonement can heal even the deepest of wounds. I know that sometimes life is hard, but I also know that because of the atonement, we dont have to go through those hard times alone. I love my savior, I love this gospel, and I love being a missionary. Have an amazing week everybody and remember that you are never alone!!!
Sister Samantha Barnett
Ackerstrasse 5,
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland
1.Its been raining all week so lets go back to a couple weeks ago shall we??
2. cool tower at the Nunnery in St Gallen - I just may become a Nun if it means I can play BASKETBALL!!!
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| OH MY HEART!!!!!!! |
3. i love this woman
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| Momma Sister Stamp |
4. our lunch with sister schmid (the appetizer. And no thats not wine lol)
5. a view of the bahnhof (train)
6. our citaayyy st gallen :))
7. KÜHE (Cows)
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