And the transfer goes to...

Hi there!

We found out what's happening for transfers this week and... drum role please... Sister Tauche and I are staying together! And we're going to Burgdorf! Did I explain about Burgdorf? I don't think I did.


So last transfer, halfway through, the Burgdorf ward, that's the neighboring ward to Solothurn, lost their missionaries. One got sick and went home and the other was sent over to Germany to join another companionship. So Sister Tauche and I had to take over their area for a bit, at least making sure that the investigators were still being taught, along with our responsibilities in Solothurn. And now for transfers we're going over there together! It sounds like it could have been a smooth hand off from the last sisters to us, but that's not really the case. We're really white washing. Since the last companionship was so sick, they didn't get to do much work, so Burgdorf hasn't had very active missionaries in a little while. Sister Tauche and I get to clean up and build things up a bit again!

We're pretty nervous but also excited. There's a lot to be done. Mostly we're just relieved that we get to stick together. And the only sad thing really is that we have 2 investigators that we found and prove to have a lot of potential right at the end of this transfer.


Karyna for example (I mentioned her last time) is so great. We met her a couple weeks ago but was quite busy for a while so we didn't start regularly meeting with her until last week. She'd had contact with the missionaries before and even read the whole Book of Mormon but they lost contact for years and she was sad about that. But yeah we're teaching her again and she is so open and great. I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to walk out of a lesson knowing that the person felt the Spirit and are beginning to fill their life with meaning and understanding of life's purpose and God's love for them.


That was that week! Wish us luck in Burgdorf! Love you all!

-Sister Lehmann

My favorite flower is everywhere right now and I love it

Karla❤️

Rahel ❤️ (She's going to be an exchange student in Orem next year!)

The Smiths❤️

Pipi Langstrumpf style cleaning the church

Secretary Lehmann taking an eternity (trying) to text in German 

I was blessed with a vegetarian comp who likes salad mountains too :)

Last pday we were naughty and went to H&M and totally tried on dresses that didn't cover our knees. They may or may not have been maternity dresses haha

Look what I realized I can do

Should be the last week of transfers but it's not

Hey!

This week was really great! 

It started off with another fun Pday walking in the mountains with the Solothurn Elders and the Smith family. The Smith family is so cool! They have eight kids, all grown up now. Sister Smith is Swiss and Brother Smith is from Provo. They raised their family in America but suddenly, spontaneously moved to Switzerland recently and started their lives back up again, all their stuff and family business still in Arizona! Haha they're so cool though, and they know some cool trails. 

After that, on Tuesday we had another Zone training which was ssoooo good. Two missionaries are going home next week so they bore their testimonies and it was incredible. I also had the opportunity to listen to a homecoming talk yesterday in church too! It's so inspiring and wonderful to see what the Lord can make out of someone in such a short amount of time. They all glowed as they spoke. I pray that I will have transformed so much by the end of my mission, too.

Sister Tauche and I were talking to President Gappmeir (President Kohler's counselor) in church yesterday (we were in the Bugdorf ward since we're having to take care of that area a bit too since they lost their missionaries in the middle of the transfer). He said something I really liked. He said, Now there's someone who went on a mission, and really went on a mission! It's so true! Not everyone who goes on a mission takes advantage of it to its fullest. Again, I pray that I will!

After Zone conference we had Taush or exchanges, which I was ssoooo nervous for haha. It went great though! Sister Stelter came back to Solothurn with me and we had a great time! We went finding for a while and that was really great. We had a couple really great conversations. One lady we met was so prepared it was incredible. I ended up telling her about Joseph Smith's story and she was really touched it was so cool to see. Even the first question we asked her (What is the meaning of life) left her quite astounded. She believed in God and had been searching most of her life from church to church but had never thought about that question before! 

Anyway, you're probably smiling, thinking, oh cute, Sister Lehmann is getting overexcited about a simple street contacting experience, but don't laugh! We don't get too many people here who care, so be happy for me, ok? And be happy for this awesome lady who is finally finding what she has been looking for her whole life!

Another thing that I realized from this story, is how the Holy Ghost works through me. I think sometimes I hear these stories of people hearing a distinct voice, or getting a distinct command to go there, or do that, and I've never really had that before. And for a bit I was thinking, well, what am I doing wrong that I'm not getting that!? But in the street with this lady, I said a lot of things that I'd never really thought of before. I taught stuff that I already knew and everything but did so in such a clear and powerful way that I really had never planned or prepared. It was incredible to see. And its not even that huge of a thing in the moment, you just go with it, but afterwards, as Sister Stelter was telling me that she liked how I said this or that, I laughed and said, oh thanks but that was very much not me! So yeah. Figure out how the Holy Ghost speaks to you and works through you and don't compare yourself to others. If you know you're keeping the commandments and trying your best, then the Spirit will work through you. He will. And how he does so is unique to you! That's something I realized this week.

Oh darn, I'm sorry, this is an awfully long email so I'll condense the rest into bullets:

-We have a new investigator!! Her name is Karyna and she's a tatoo artist and she's awesome haha.

-We went to a fireside in Zollikofen and I saw Toby and Ronja and Moritz hahaha. (Apparently I was suppose to report to the church when I got my call that I have family in my mission. Ooops. I may or may not be in the correct mission. Oh well.)

-We met an awesome girl on the train coming home and it was like meeting myself. She's swiss, christian, lived in Geneva last year for a few months to improve her French, worked at a shoe store there for a very brief time and is studying illustration. Haha she's awesome though. Too bad she lives in Basel!

Ok, that's all, sorry if that was boring and long.  Forgive me, but it was a good week for Sister Tauche and me!

Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Lehmann

Last Pday's views...

They call me Heidi✌👌🇨🇭

Us and Brother Smith

This is Esther. She made me a Black Forest chocolate cake 'cause she knew how much I love them.❤

Mama ain't here to tell me I can't eat cake for breakfast😎

#sistermissionarypower

Hey there!


Week five all done! This would be the last week of the transfer but
it's being extended to 7 weeks this transfer.


This week started with pday where we intended to have district pday and
have a lovely "panorama trail" but the elder who was suppose to plan
it wasn't exactly sure how to actually get there so we ended up just
walking and it was nice! And the lovely Swiss alps decided to peak
through the rain clouds as soon as we left the mountain overlook haha,
but it was all good.


Other than that we did a lot of finding in the rain this week! Haha we
came home quite wet and soaked every night, but it's all good. I love
the rain.  Um, some sad news is that our investigators went from 4 to 1/2. One
moved to Bern, another told us she's just not interested, another we
had to give over to the elders because he was a little too distracted
by sister missionaries and then the last one isn't really progressing,
so we'll see this week.

But not to worry! Sister Tauche and I keep trying and working hard! We
really do our best everyday to reach our goals and even if numbers
don't show it, we are improving so much!!
We also had a fun service project this week moving large stones.
#sistermissionarypower haha, it was fun :)


Sorry, not too much for this week, we were out hiking all day today
and there's not too much time to write.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

-Sister Lehmann

Tender Mercy

Hi there!

(So I know we skyped yesterday but I don't quite remember all that I

said so imma just wiederholen some stuff.)

So last Tuesday we had district meeting in Biel/Bienne and afterwards

did finding in the city. That was cool. The city center there is much

bigger which makes it easier and cooler to do street contacting. But

yeah Biel is a mixed city of French and German so that was way cool to

talk to people in French! One lady was really nice and cool. Kind of

hard/weird at first having to suddenly switch to French after so long

and also my French gospel terms aren't great haha but I (in a very

creative way) taught the restoration! She was really cool. Really that

experience was a tender mercy. Every other time we went finding the

week before, we weren't able to talk to anyone. Sometimes I think when

we talk to nice cool people, it's not even for the person we talk to

(as much as I'd like to think it is) but it's just God smiling down at

me and Sister Tauche and saying, alright, you're trying really hard,

here's someone who will be nice and listen. Hahaha.

Other than that, a lot of finding this week! A lot of appointments

seemed to fall through, but that's ok because we had a couple

conversations on the street.

One highlight, I tried heating up some beans and put garlic in a hot

pan with oil and apparently that's not a good thing because then it just

goes black and quite smokey very quickly. But yeah I did that. Twice.

At least I didn't try putting water in the hot pan of oil the second

time! Our kitchen was quite stinky and hazy for a little bit there.

Anyway, I'm just not ready to be a mom yet I suppose haha.

But yeah life is good for me and Sister Tauche! We have lots of fun

and are always setting new goals of how we can improve. I'm seriously

so blessed to have her. She's really patient with my terrible memory

and me pestering her to help me practice German grammar as we walk

places.

I just wanted to share a great quote that really touched me this week!

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in

heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28–29).

Of this rest President Joseph F. Smith said: “To my mind, it means

entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in his

purpose and in his plan, to such an extent that we know we are right,

and that we are not hunting for something else, we are not disturbed

by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who

lie in wait to deceive. We know of the doctrine that it is of God, and

we do not ask any questions of anybody about it; they are welcome to

their opinions, to their ideas and to their vagaries. The man who has

reached that degree of faith in God that all doubt and fear have been

cast from him, he has entered into ‘God’s rest’” (Teachings of

Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 56).

Have a great week!

-Sister Lehmann

We almost kissed❤️👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

Sister Tauche likes old cars. Also we got flowers for Mother's Day.

This is the nice vase that came with our apartment.

Oh hair.

So last pday we took the bus up to a village and found a meadow and wrote letters. Not too shabby I must say.

German Coming Along

Hey!

Hope everyone is doing well! 

This week was spent doing a lot of finding. Sister Tauche and I tried a new method, of making a little flier/introduction of us and who we are and putting it in mailboxes and then going by dooring a couple days later. It was good! Well, not a huge success, but the people were a lot nicer :) One old lady REALLY did her research and told us everything she learned on the internet about Mormons (non-mormon websites of course) and that was interesting haha. She was quite heated and I tell you what when these Swiss Germans start talking fast and get heated I can't catch a word. Ok, that's not true, I understood 'Joseph Smith', but that's it. Haha Sister Tauche did well though. I understand whats going on in the conversation based on her responses which is helpful.

The German is improving though! My grammar is still atrocious but I am trying! It's getting there. The Swiss accent definitely takes some getting used to, but people are nice and slow down for me when I ask. I really think German is a beautiful language though. American movies make German seem so harsh and terrible haha! But it's not! It's really poetic and pretty. I also got to go to the temple this week and right after that, at district meeting which was right by the temple, Uncle Toby found me! That was cool! 

We also taught our new investigators Makda and David. It wasn't too bad! We try our best! Our next appointment with them fell through but then they invited us to have dinner with them which was super cool. It was Ethiopian food. (They're from Ethiopia) It was really great to get to know them better and understand a little more about their background. They're both quite religious! It was interesting hearing how traditionally Christian and religious Ethiopia really is. 

Well, that's all for this week! Oh, I held a frog. That was exciting. Haha but yeah, it's really great to be here. Not only is it beautiful, my testimony grows stronger everyday, my love for the people here grows and my eyes are more opened to how involved the Lord really is in this work. I pray I can continue to improve and progress and be a better instrument in His hands!

Love you all. Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Lehmann

Kissing the frog

The maps showed the trail through the forest was faster but I'm not so sure about that...mostly just muddy and pretty :)

Uncle Toby found me at district meeting in Zollikofen! Here's a slightly awkward no-touching missionary photo haha

Mmm found me some good left over spaghetti muffin

Herr Jäggi gave us flowers. Haha a LOT of flowers. What a ladies man. 

This one's for Max

My ironman badge companion.

Translation:

Weather Station

– If you can't see the stone, there is thick fog

– If the stone casts a shadow, the sun is shining

– If the stone is wet, it is raining

– If the stone is white, it is snowing

– If the stone is moving back and forth, it is stormy

– If the stone is moving up and down, there's an earthquake

– If the stone is hanging upside down, it's the end of the world

– If the stone is gone, it has been stolen