Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Little Here a Little There (Sent 1/27/14)

hello friends!

So I only want to spend a little bit of time today on this email. So apologizes but not really. I have great news to tell yall. I am alive. I gave my first german speaking talk yesturday and I am still alive to talk about it. It was on God the Father and I had two pages worth of quotes and stories that I could read, but when I got up there I winged most of my talk with my own words in horrible German. But I felt good about it. Its one of the best feelings ever when you sit down at the end of your talk and you cant think of anything else you wanted to say and you feel like you said what you were prompted to. It was way funny though. There was a ton of members and non members that came up to me and said basically the same thing, "I didn't understand what you said but I felt the spirit so strong. Good job!" It was way funny but they were so sincere Gahhh I love the germans. There was this one non-member and he said to me, "du bist sehr mutig" you are so couragous/brave. It was so so sweet. 

I have been thinking alot this week about God. of course, and His nature. I was reading in Mosiah about the people of Alma. in chapter 23 verse 21 it says: "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people: yea, he trieth their patience and their faith" haha when I first read that I wont lie, it didn't exactly encourage me. But someone else gave me this scripture in 1 chornicles 28  ¶And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a aperfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord bsearcheth all hearts, and cunderstandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou dseek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
 10 Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.
And then I read in a talk this week from Elder Maxwell:First, because God has repeatedly said He would structure mortality to be a proving and testing experience. (See Abr. 3:25Mosiah 23:21.) Brothers and sisters, he has certainly kept His promise. He has carried out His divine intent, hasn’t He? Thus, even our fiery trials, said Peter, should not be thought of as “some strange thing.” (1 Pet. 4:12.) Hence, enduring is vital, and those who so last will be first spiritually!

haha I think the irony just got to me this week. As i thought about the different things that i have been going through, I know that they are small but i still often think why? well duh it is because God is putting me through that to become even bettter.

One of my favorite members from K-town put it this way: " I don't know if you've ever been to a blacksmith's before, but if you watch the metal to know when the iron is hot to strike at the point when it is best to shape it, you can see that the metal glows, it's a light that permeates the whole piece of metal. It's at that moment when we think we're on the verge of a melt down, when the heat seems unbearable, that we are at the most opportune point to shine, to become the person Heavenly Father wants us to be. I know you've heard the analogy of the reformer's fire before but I just wanted to tell you I know that it's true. We just have to have that glass half full perspective through even the most difficult times and to count our blessings, starting with the atonement."

Moral of this email is. If I could get through a 15 minute talk in a language I bearly know, And that was a "trail" from God to help me along on my own path of salvation than We can do anything that is hard that comes our way because we are never alone. We are children of a loving heavenly Father who knows us and loves us and is testing us because He can see the bigger picture. 

There really wasn't anything else much about this week to report on. BUT I will say that i have hit my 1/3 mark, gulp. I cant believe that it has been that long. Haha and the celebration of it consisted of not actually doing anything, 1 because I totally forget, and 2. Sis Beck was out of commission for like two days because she had an unmovable neck. So yep haha that was my celebration!! jawohl!

Love you all, go find a moment this week and just have 10 mins of ridiculous fun, then send me a picture of it. 

Love, Sister Wadsworth

Just a brief Note (sent 1/20/14)

Hey yall!

Just a quick note today. This week has been full of miracles but one was with a family that we are working with. They are from Iran and are refugees here in Germany. They have been coming to church for the past month and have such a desire to learn more about Christ. 

On saturday we had to sit down with them and discuss some details about their baptism, as the conversation progressed we began to see how unlikely it was going to be for them to get baptized until they knew that they could stay in Germany and not go back to Iran. Because this family was born into a country that didn't allow them the right to worship God the way that they want, they have to fear for their lives. Literally worry about if they get baptized christian if they will be alive a year from now. When we told them they would have to wait, they understood and said that they were going to trust god that everything wound work out. In our lesson, the eleven year old girls reviewed the plan of salvation for us and her face lit up as she explained with testimony where we came from, why we are here on earth and have to endure so many difficulties and where God has prepared for us to go after this life. We asked the mom if she had been praying. She told us yes absolutely. She had been praying to know how to keep her family together and safe and then she found this church and knew that God was answering her prayers.

Oh how quickly we forget the privledge it is to be diciples of Christ. How little we acknowledge Gods hand in our lives. and how quickly we fall into despair and lose our hope. I ask myself now, how am i showing my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for all that he has done? How can I become more like Christ because i have that priveldge?

I love you and keep you in my prayers. My the Lord bless you abundently.

Mit Liebe, Sister Wadsworth