Extremely hot and sweaty week

Hi there!

As I was reading through my journal this week, trying to remember what
had happened this week to see what I could include in this email, I
realized what an actually great week it was!

I was feeling pretty nauseous and sick most of the week which made a
little harder to want to go out and talk to people, but you know what,
I was grateful for it. One day I was feeling especially just
completely drained, and as Sister Eden washed up the dishes from
lunch, I went to go lie down (such a nice companion, I know.) But then
I didn't lie down, I knelt down, and prayed that Heavenly Father would
help me have the strength to go out and do my work that day.
And you know what, I was given strength for that day! We had a lot of
planning for that day and then when we went out, I was able to give a
girl a Book of Mormon, even though it was a pretty short train ride,
and then we had some really good discussions with people in the
street. Really it was incredible that I had the strength to do it but
I did! Haha and I know that was from Christ because as soon as our
work was done and walked through our door that night, I totally
crashed and had to go to bed. Haha. But hey! Prayers are answered and
I'm grateful for that.

We really did have a good week though. We had opportunities to teach a
lot! It was so great. Leah, Karyna and Herr Jäggi are all progressing.

 Oh! And I don't think I included this last week, but Joy, our
investigator from Nigeria who is a refugee here wasn't answering any
of our calls or texts so we were scared that she had to suddenly leave
the country (the government told her that she has to leave in the next
couple of weeks). She lives kind of far so it's hard for us to just go
by, but a member called us and told us that he went by and saw her and
she's still here! Yay! We were so happy. Seriously, imagine having one
of your nicest and favorite people you meet with suddenly get deported
and you have no idea where they are or if they're ok. But she is ok! We
decided to go by but she wasn't there. But then a couple hours later
as we were at the train station close to where she lives we saw her! We
ran over, gave her a big hug, and ran over to catch our train. That
was really a tender mercy that we saw her.

Hope everyone is doing well!

-Sister Lehmann

P-Day in Thun again❤️

The squad.

Karla threw this adorable birthday party for her little Victoria. Hahaha she's so spoiled. I like the kid in the corner photo-bombing.

They had about 5 different events going on in Solothurn on Saturday and one of them included llamas.

Sister Pang gave us crispy duck hahahaha. It's been in our freezer a while so we thought we'd try it out.

Phone Call to Heavenly Father

Hi there!

This week was really great.
It started off with a very stressful and not at all worth it trip to
Basel, across the border to Germany to go grocery shopping for
cheaper.

Next day we had district meeting and ended the transfer with some good
old raqulet. Haha, I'm not sure how to spell that [Ralf's insert: it's spelled
"raclette", in case you want to google it]. So funny though,
sister Eden was like, oh hey, sister Lehmann, we're good with cheese,
right? Like we can bring some of what we already have in the fridge?
And I was deeply offended and said, NO! Sister Eden! We cannot just
bring any cheese to raqulet, we have to bring raqulet cheese!
She thought I was joking. But I obviously was not. My parents raised
me good and proper to know you must use raqulet cheese for raqulet,
when you're living in Switzerland anyway :)

We had a couple of really great appointments with Members this week. I
LOVE the members here in Solothurn. They do such great missionary
work. People think sometimes that member missionary work is just
sending the missionaries to this person or that, but it's so much more
than that, and there are such better ways. There are a couple families
here that do things so well, they just invite neighbors, friends and
family over for dinner, for a fun evening, just to be friendly and
outgoing! And these members, being proud members of the church, end up
in some way shape or form having to explain or share something about
the church to these people since it's so central to their lives. Or
better yet is the experiences members have told us of how they were
able to talk to this person or that and really bear testimony to them
of how the gospel has helped them personally in all veins of life.
I think sometimes as members we get scared that our friends will be
offended and think we want to convert them or something. Well
obviously we would love for everyone to join our church, but isn't the
reason we do missionary to share with others what has helped and
changed us so much. To share our purpose and goals and meaning of
life? And if that is our genuine motive to do missionary work, then
the genuine friends we share the gospel with will be able to see that.
Oh man, I'm sorry, I went on a rant there, but yeah, just know the
members here are great :)

Best part of this week would have to be our lesson with Leah. I have
been praying and fasting a lot for all of our investigators that they
might receive answers to their prayers to find out for themselves if
all that we teach as missionaries is true. I still hadn't experienced
on my mission that an investigator says, hey! I got an answer! What
you guys are saying is right! And then wonderfully and gloriously,
Leah got her answer. Not a huge one and not completely life changing,
but enough that she's beginning to really understand what it is that
Sister Eden are trying to share, not just with her mind, but also her
heart. So so amazing. The best part is when Leah prayed at the end. It
literally just sounded like she was talking to God. Sometimes I think
our prayers sound a little recited, but Leah's was so simple and
sincere, a little phone call to Heavenly Father.

Well, hope everyone is doing well. Love you!
-Sister Lehmann

Call me!

Hello!

This week was great.

Started off with a nice and chill PDay with the Burgdorf Sisters in Bern.

Later on we had MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference) in München for

2 days which was SO GREAT. I love my mission president and his wife

so much. President and Sister Kohler are so great. They both are

really bold and sometimes say dagger-to-the heart-stuff but if take it

well, and are humble and heed their council, you become such a better

missionary. So yeah, that was really great. I heard a lot of things

that I need to hear. I just pray that I can pass it on to the rest of

my zone as well.

It was funny, this week, Sister Eden and I were riding the train maybe

5 minutes to a neighboring town. We often sit in different seat

sections so we have more opportunities to talk to people. I  was on

the phone with a member and Sister Eden started talking to this guy.

Our stop came up pretty quickly though and I walked out of the train,

but out a door behind Sister Eden. I thought I'd just see her outside

but I was out there and she still wasn't coming and all the train

doors were closing. I was watching through the glass and she was still

talking to the guy! I ran to the button to open the doors, all the

while still trying to hold a conversation with this member on the

phone and get Sister Eden's attention. Haha thankfully she made it out

in time, but the best part is that their conversation started about

the weather or something and then led to Austrian cuisine and suddenly

our stop was there, so Sister Eden had no time to talk about

gospel/church related things, let alone even tell the guy that she was

a missionary for the church. So all she did was jump up, have to

quickly interrupt him and say, "I'm sorry, this is my stop! .....here

(handing him a pass along card) ....call me!" And ran out the train.

Hahahaha when Sister Eden told me what had happened I was dying. I

told Sister Eden that as much as I would love for the guy to call us,

I'm pretty sure all he would call us for is cause he thought Sister

Eden was flirting. And then I really hoped that actually he wouldn't

call us.

Well, that was our week! It was good! Hope everyone is doing well.

-Sister Lehmann

Bern

Bern

New MLC friends.

Me and Sister Gach each ate entire pizzas and it was wonderful. It was at this cool Italian restaurant in Munich

(PS: "Kinder" means "children" in German)

Feeling the Love of God

(August 8, 2016)

This week was a good week! Until I got a scary email from dad on

Sunday, but I'm glad to hear everything is ok :) Thank goodness.

But yeah, Monday was the 1st of August which is Switzerland's national

holiday so that was fun! We went to the Matterhorn as a district and

our investigator Leah. It was fun! Also kind of sad cause when we

first got there, it was foggy, like incredibly foggy, but then

miraculously our fervant prayers were answered and it cleared up!

There was no point when the matterhorn was really clear, but we saw

bits and pieces of it so we were happy! Then that evening, we went to

a members house who was having a party. It was great! They were all

about 3 times our age, but it was fun spending the 1st of August with

some proud Swiss citizens.

Then the rest of the week was a miracle week. Caution, this may be a long email.

We had exchanges with the Sisters in Reinarch and that was super

great. One of their investigators was actually an investigator in

Solothurn before but she moved to Reinarch at the beginning of last

transfer and now she's getting baptized!! I think I actually wrote

about her. Her names Linda, she's from the Congo and I got to teach

her once while she was in Solothurn cause she only speaks French! And

then on Tausch, exchanges, they had a lesson planned with her and I

got to see her again. So incredible to see. She really has a testimony

of the Restoration and simply cannot wait to be baptised. I was having

to translate, asking details about the baptism, when it should be and

who should baptize her, and she kind of waved off the details and was

like, I don't really care, I just want to be baptised already! So

great. She also has an incredibley sad story. She's a refugee here,

she has 3 kids still in the Congo, one with her here, and she has no

idea where her husband is, they were accidentily split up in Russia

and she hasn't seen him in a year. She has no idea if he's even still

alive. She really had given up all hope until one day the missionaries

came and invited her to come to church. She went and just cried and

cried the entire time becasue she felt God's love so so strong. Isn't

that incredible? That's the Sunday I got to teach her, and then I was

transfered, so didn't hear anything else about her, but then this

week, I got to see her again, still in an incredibly difficult life

situation, but with a real light and hope in her eyes that wasn't

there before. She was practically giving the lesson as she bore

testimony of the reality of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and of the

truthfullness of the Book of Mormon and this church. So incredible.

Then that leads to Linda's roommate while living in Solothurn, Joy.

She's from Nigeria. She is also going through an incredibly difficult

time. A couple months ago, she was also really struggling, she's all

alone here, only 25, and has a baby who has been getting sick quite a

bit. Well she was praying and praying, saying, "God I need a church. I

need to you to lead me to a church where I can feel your help and

strength and where I can pray to you." And then one day she saw the

missionaries with a ward member and ran down to them. Turns out they

were picking some other people up for church that day, and she asked

if she could come along. She went to church and loved it. She had

missed it so much, and she said that she had really felt God's

presence there. So so cool. For some reason she wasn't taught right

after that but when Sister Eden and I came, a ward member told us

about her and we called her up and now she's an investigator and

coming to church. So so cool. She also, just like Joy, already has an

incredible testimony of Jesus Christ, his Atonement, and the power of

prayer.

Well, those are just two of the many many miracles we saw this week. I

wish I could write them all. But yeah, the work here is soaring.

Sister Eden and I have had so many oppurtunites to teach. We have

found so many new investigators here it's really incredible. And guess

what, yesterday, 4 investigators came to church! Haha we were

hyperventilating a bit I think. So yeah. The work is good. The church

is true.

Sometimes Sister Eden and I get so sucked into the work and get really

hard on ourselves but then we remind ourselves, hey! We are two little

19/20 year olds in this big world, sort of on our own here, but we are

relying on the help from heaven! We are FAR from  perfect, but we are

trying! And if there's one lesson that we see over and over again in

the Book of Mormon, is that those that try their best to do what God

would have them do, miracles happen. Miracles always happen.

Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Lehmann

Our view of the Matterhorn

Us and Leah

District picture, Elder Stahle, Elder Cornetta, me, Elder Ashcroft, Sister Eden, Leah, and Elder Kilgore taking the picture

What the view should have looked like

🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭

Sunday lunch at the Pangs. She made her secret invention, avocado icecream. She just blends avocados and icecream together, it is SO GOOD.

Sister Eden straightened my hair

The process of straightening... It took a long time.

And then the next day it rained. Hahahaha

As Happy as Living with Heavenly Father

(August 1st, Switzerland's National Holiday)

Hi there! This week was super great!

Started off with a wonderfully chill Pday. We went to Bern and ate
Mexican food. REAL MEXICAN FOOD. It was so good oh my word, Sister
Eden and I were in heaven. Sister Eden hadn't had Mexican food in a
year. She was pretty ecstatic.

Next day we did some street contacting in Biel as a district. And then
went around the same area where we found so many new potentials last
week and found some more! It was so great.
One highlight was when we went on a hike with investigators that we
were having a hard time really having a good relationship with them.
They are quite shy, and there's a bit of a language barrier but we
invited them to go on this walk up to this little church they have in
a mountain by Solothurn and it was so great! It was a family, the mom
and her three kids, from Ethiopia. At the beginning they shyly shook
our hands and it was quite quiet but by the end we were all hugging
and the mother, Ababa, gave us a huge hug and kiss, thanking us so
much for the time we spent with her. Really such a blessing, it was
wonderful.

We also had Tausch this week! Exchanges, in English. That was so fun
cause Sister Tauche came to me in Solothurn! Haha it was so weird at
first. Back to the good old days. But better! Really, it was such a
blessing to be able to work together with Sister Tauche again. We have
made SO MUCH progress. Really, the Lord has blessed us a lot for our
efforts and we are still far from perfect, but we have improved, thank
goodness. All we could talk about the whole time was how awesome being
on a mission is haha :) We also set a goal to be a lot more creative
as we did street contacting which was so great! Like asking questions
at first about where people would rather go on vacation, where they
are happiest, and being able to talk about how happy we will be one
day when we go back to live with Heavenly Father. Anyway, hard to
explain in an email, but it made it WAY more fun for us and a lot more
comfortable for the people we were talking to.

Sorry, this is getting long, but another great thing this week was the
members we visited. We didn't have too many meal appointments by
members so we decided to go and visit some! It was wonderful! Bruder
and Schwester Melly were so great, they showed us all these tricks to
do family history, and gave us fruit and yogurt and cake, told us
their life stories, gave us chocolate and Sister Melly, who knits many
baby booties and beanies insisted that we take a set for our first
children hahaha. And Schwester Kurth also told us her life story. She
is 93 so as you can imagine we were there for a long time. Haha it was
awesome, we love her.

Have a wonderful week!!