Nicole coming to church

Hallo!

The highlight of the week: Nicole coming to church

We had a really good lesson with our investigator Nicole, and at the end we invited her to come to church. She's never come before, even though missionaries have been meeting with her for a while. So this time we looked up the bus times for her and arranged to meet her at the bus stop and walk in together. We also planned out a "greeter" and a "caretaker" (a member to meet her at the door and say hello, and another one to sit next to her through the classes). On Sunday, the bus came... and went. No Nicole. At first we thought she had just bailed, or slept in, but just in case we started walking in the direction of her house. A few minutes later we realized we had no idea where we were going (because we've never gone to her house from the direction of the church), so Sister Gardner said, "Let's just say a prayer to know where to go, and then we'll keep going." We said a prayer, kept walking for a bit, turned a corner and about 30 seconds after turning the corner we ran into Nicole! She had missed her bus and had started walking, but she was sort of lost, so it was really good that we had met her halfway! She had a really good time at church, and a lot of members came up to her afterward to get to know her. Everyone was super friendly, and one person even invited her over for Family Home Evening tonight, and she's totally going!

Other notable events:
- We went up to Münster for a district meeting, and afterward we were all starving, so we went to this Döner Kebab place, and I was really excited because I was craving Falafel, and Sister Gardner had never had them before, so we shared this HUGE plate of Falafel, and by the end we both felt pretty gross, and so neither of us wanted to eat the last one, and Sister Gardner said, "I don't want the last falafel! They make me feelawful!" hahaha I laughed SO HARD, hahahah. Maybe you just had to be there.

- I went and anmelded (registered) myself as a citizen of Hamm, and they had a bunch of old license plates in a scrap heap, and I asked if I could have one, and they gave one to me! Coolest souvenier ever, and also free. The coolest part is that in Germany, license plates have the first 1-3 letters of the city on it, and then the license plate number, and so for Hamm it says HAM in big capital letters.

- I called Sister Römer and got an update on our investigators, and oddly enough it made me homesick for Friedrichsdorf. I miss my investigators and I worry about them all the time, or I think of things I want to teach them, but they're not my investigators any more. Plus, I was in the Friedrichsdorf ward longer than any other ward since I was 17. At school I was always moving back and forth, never staying in a ward for more than a few months, or moving somewhere else for the summer. The Beavercreek ward was always my "Home" ward, but I hadn't been there in a long time, either. Friedrichsdorf was the longest I've stayed in one place for years. I kind of miss it. But Hamm is amazing, too, and I love my companions.

- We biked through the most epic rainstorm the other day, but it was worth it because we had a really good experience doing doors, and we were able to visit an inactive member. I think they took pity on us because we look so pathetically soaked. I was glad for that big black raincoat mom bought me for the mission.

- We had something called "Dedicated Zone Finding," where everyone in our zone does finding time (doors or street contacting) at the same time, each in their respective areas, for an hour, and starts and ends with a prayer. We went to the fußgängerzone (like... pedestrian shopping area) and at the end of the hour we had two new contacts and an appointment for this week! It was so amazing. We could really fell the faith of the whole zone working together. It made me realize that, on a much larger scale, that's what we do as a church. When we're all pulling our faith and resources together all at once, and working towards the same thing, we can accomplish so much more, even if it's just by supporting/encouraging. Just like the prophesy in Daniel says, this gospel WILL one day roll forth and fill the whole earth. Nothing can stop it. We can either be a part of it, or we can miss out! I'd rather be part of it.

Well, those are the highlights. I love you all! Hope all is well at home!
Alles gute,
Sister Jensen