I Love the Fall

Hi there! 

Man weeks go by so fast. Seriously so so fast. Started off with a fun Pday with the Zollikofen sisters in Grindelwald again, but we went on a chill walk around the town and little Swiss houses. 

We also got to carve pumpkins that night for family home evening!! That was so fun haha. Second Halloween away from home but I still get to carve my pumpkin :) thank goodness. 

We had a fun time eating raclette after our district meeting. Honestly though, it was just to use the cheese Dagmar sent me haha. Did I mention that Sister Jones can't eat gluten, starch or any milk products? She can't even eat potatoes. This is the absolute worst country to be serving a mission in with that allergy, I tell you what. Anyway, my district was nice enough to help us finish the cheese :)

One of the highlights this week was when Bruder Jäggi received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. A scripture came into my mind as I watched in sacrament meeting. In 3 Nephi 17:20 where Christ looks over the faithful saints in the Americas and says, "Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full." That last part came to me as he was receiving the Holy Ghost, "my joy is full."  And it really was! Nothing fills your soul with as much joy as seeing someone covenant with Heavenly Father to always follow Him. Nothing fills you with as much joy as seeing someone be able to have the constant companionship of the Spirit with them from that point on. It's really beautiful. 

Another really cool experience was on Saturday. Kind of hard/weird to explain, but we've met the friend of a member. She had been to several church activities and loves the church and finds all these problems with her church, yet is very set in staying in her church. She doesn't want to change. Well anyway, we still have gotten to know each other through this member and one time I said, "hey! I bet you have some beautiful walks that you go on with your dog! Can we come some time?" And she said, of course!

Well we came, all ready to walk and when she found out that we had to leave in an hour she was like, "ah no, that's not enough time, let's just drink some tea all together!" So we did and it ended up being sooo good. She let us teach her all about the plan of salvation. She was also asking us all these questions about receiving revelation and answers to prayers. We asked her if we could pray for her at the end and she excitedly said yes. The spirit was so so strong. It was so incredible. She really felt in her heart that what we were saying to her was true! Incredible. You walk out of stuff like this, look at your companion, have no idea what you said in there but somehow the spirit guides you and creates a beautiful symphony of us bearing testimony, asking inspired questions, the person being taught being able to answer their own questions and the spirit bearing witness in all our hearts that our message is true. It's really beautiful. 

Hope everyone's doing well! Have a great week!

-Sister Lehmann

True love❤️

 

Selfies with the cows

Me stressfully writing emails on the train. Appreciate it if I email you or write you letters folks. It is stressful haha. Just kidding. I'm just glad I actually have people who like to write me! Still stressful... never enough time.

The Asians of Interlaken

There was a fridge-chalet-self-serve-alp-cheese thing. It was yummy :)

District finding in Biel

Biel again, exchanging with Sister Selph for the hour.

Trying to take cute autumn pictures but the umbrella broke and got stuck in my hair.

Our lovely appartment building. Our lovely dumpster❤️

Our lovely mail box (do you recognize Sister Jone's scarf, Grandma?)

One last meal with Esther, she just moved. So sad. But she treated us to Döner and that's not so sad. Haha that's my very first Döner. I hear in Germany you can find them for 2 euros!! Well here they're 15.

Brüder's Jäggi's Baptism

Hi there!

This week's highlight: Bruder Jäggi's baptism!!!  It was so great.

Well, of course it had its little kinks in the program, but we tried 😊

Like Elder Nielsen says the baptismal prayer and goes to put our tiny

74 year old investigator under the water, but it just didn't work.

Hahaha

Actually it was kind of bad because Bruder Jäggi was really trying to

go under but honestly it just looked like this missionary was trying

to drown this old man. And then all the ward members, the vocal ones,

were trying to tell Elder Nielsen what to do and and this kind of

frantic funny scene went on for five minutes. I'm not even kidding. It

was really five minutes. Finally, finally he got baptized, but I don't

think half the people were watching at this point but we all clapped

and some cheered, which I'm not sure you're suppose to do that at a

baptism but that's ok. Hahaha you had to have been there.

As funny as that was, it was still a really spiritual experience for

Bruder Jäggi. He was so happy. I've never seen him so happy before, or

emotional. It was really beautiful to see.

Seriously, he had completely turned his life around. Just a year ago

he didn't even know anything about God, but slowly but surely, his

life changed and he really knows God and has faith in Jesus Christ. It

took so much patience for me to teach him haha but now I look back and

I realize how blessed I was to be a part of this. Every week for six

months teaching him, I look back and see that I had little to do with

any of it. It's all Heavenly Father. It's all the Lord. And I've been

so so blessed to get a front row seat of the power of the atonement in

individual lives.

Have a great week,

Sister Lehmann

Had to show sister Jones some Bern...

On our way to a service project

Karyna and her kids and a random little girl. This is really the best picture, Zaiden refused to cooperate.

Hallo zusammen!

Hallo zusammen! (very Swiss German way of saying it)

Alles läuft super hier in Solothurn😊

Had a great zone training to start off the week. It's funny, I'm one

of the oldest ones in Bern zone at this point. Not the oldest

missionary, but one of the missionaries that's been here the longest.

We had exchanges that day too and that was great! I went back to

Burgdorf for the day and Sister Jones stayed in Solothurn. Haha it was

wonderful, I got a really nice break from always taking the lead and

knowing where things are. Honestly, exchanges are the best thing for a

new missionary, 'cause it helps them realize how much of the area they

actually know and how they really don't need their trainer to get

around!

So funny coming back from Burgdorf to my comp and her just going on

this long stressed rant about this person she called, and that train

connection she looked up, and this or that appointment that got

cancelled....we very much switched roles haha.

But seriously I love exchanges. For whatever reason, I'm always just a

bit apprehensive beforehand, but afterwards, I LOVE it. Miracles

always happen. Like Burgdorf hadn't been able to find anyone in the

last 2 weeks and suddenly in the hour Sister Fairbanks and I had to do

finding, we found someone, gave out a Book of Mormon to someone else,

and discovered where this long lost less active lady lived, who Sister

Tauche and I had looked for so long while I was there in June. Hahaha

Other highlights this week would have to be Bruder Jäggi's baptismal

interview going super well (seriously we went over the questions so

many times, but he did good. Incredible to see the change in his heart

over these last 6 months of teaching him.)

Then Saturday was dumb 'cause we were looking for this address forever

of a new lady in our ward, but no one knows her name and she lives in

an apartment building, so we literally had to ring everyone and ask

them if they happen to be a member of our church and just moved in

there. Haha they all thought we were pretty dumb. And the best part is

that she wasn't even home. And by this time we both really had to pee

and so I found the nearest McDonald's but we still had to walk a bit

and as you can imagine, it just felt like the biggest waste of an

afternoon. But, at McDonald's, we quickly said a prayer that with this

last hour of finding before we had to go home,  He would somehow help

us achieve our goal of finding 2 new people. And we did!!

One was a very very Muslim guy, but he said we could bring him a Book

of Mormon in Arabic. And then a really really cool guy. We were

walking down the street and he was raking his sidewalk. We went up to

talk to him and he was telling us that he already knew us and stuff,

but turns out he was talking about another church. We talked to him

for a bit about what we do and the Book of Mormon and I told him that

we share a message and invite people to pray about it and ask God if

it's true. Haha for whatever reason he got a real kick out of that

one. He said he wanted to see what his son had to say about that, and

that his son would decide if we could come in or not. So out comes his

6 six year old son. I ask him if he believes in God and he says yes.

And I ask them if they pray, and he said yes. And pretty much I told

him what I told his dad. I asked him if he understood what I was

saying and he said yes. Then his dad asks him, so what do you think

Ezra? Do we let them in? And he said we could! Thanks Ezra 😊 you're

the best.

Highlight of the week was when the bishop and a member of our ward

came over to give Karyna a priesthood blessing. The spirit was so

strong, it was SO STRONG. I seriously have never felt the spirit so

strong on my mission, maybe ever in my life. Everyone, especially

Karyna was glowing at the end.

I know for a fact God answers prayers and fasts. He answered so many

of my prayers this week, so so many. We just have to be a little

patient sometimes :)

Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Lehmann

Pday with the Zollikoven Sisters in Basel. Man I love this city, I can't believe I've waited so long to go! They have the greatest old town.

Sister Selph found this schnitzel on Donald Trumps face rather comical. No quite sure what that advertisements even for.

On our way to our ward missionary council, had to take a pic.

And last but not least, Sister Lehmann made some lentil soup. It was super good. Thanks for the recipe mom :)

Last Week that Never Sent

Last week that never sent....

Hello hello!

Another great week here in Solothurn!
It's interesting how having to introduce your companion to everyone in
the ward makes you realize how many people you actually do know! And
how just having to show a new missionary around makes you realize how
much you've learned and grown and improved. Seriously, haha I've
improved a lot. But I'm not saying that in the least bit to be cocky.
I know for a fact that EVERY skill I have obtained and improved thus
far on my mission has been from the Lord. It's just been so incredible
to notice in the last couple weeks with Sister Jones how truly the
Lord has answered my pleas from the beginning of the mission and even now,
to improve in this skill or to gain a testimony of that. You just
definitely have to have patience because being a missionary is so so
different from anything you've ever done. But it's AMAZING.
The highlights this week would have to include Herr Jäggi, or Bruder
Jäggi, as we're now calling him, and how close he's getting to
baptism! So so cool. This'll be such a jumpstart in his life for him,
and also for the ward! They haven't had a baptism in a bit of time
now.

Another highlight was from this Friday. Sister Jones and I were trying
really hard to get a service project this week but all our ideas were
falling through. Then another disappointment came when Karyna told us
that she'd have to cancel our appointment again. But that made it so
that a couple minutes later, when a member called and asked if we
could help her clean the church building, we could say yes! She was
super grateful for the help, since her husband was sick and it would
have taken her hours. Then we stopped by Karyna's real fast just to
say hello and see if there was anything we could do to help. She's not
one to like to ask for help, but thankfully she let us help her clean
up the apartment that she just had absolutely no time to clean up that
week. Karyna's really incredible though. I've gained a whole lot more
understanding and respect for all single moms.

Another cool thing is that for the next couple weeks/months is that
we're reading the New Testament as a mission. I LOVE it. We just read
Matthew 27&28 today. It made me so sad. So so sad. Earlier this week I
was looking out at all the people milling around the city here and
thought, quite sadly and angrily, why do they not accept this
message!? Why do they avoid us and look at us like we're weird and
yell at us, just for wearing the name of our Savior on our name tags!?
Why!?

And then reading these chapters in Matthew about when Christ was
crucified, it was enough to make me cry.
It's so sad to me all the people who could care less about what Christ
has done for them. But it makes my love for the Savior grow stronger,
knowing that he knew people would avoid him and look at him like he
was weird and yell at him, and ultimately crucify him, yet he went
about his purpose anyway. It is truly amazing and beautiful to me.
And anyway, I can't control the people here, all I can do is accept
Christ's sacrifice myself. And I'm doing my best to do that!

Have a wonderful week!
-Sister Lehmann

Went on a nice hike to the Wiessenstein last Pday. Lucked out with a comp that likes to hike. :)

But then reality set in that Pday is short, so we skipped the last 40 minutes of the hike
 and took the lift.

The view

Zollikoven Sisters we met up there

Haha look at this adorable card. Little Swiss girls writing in English.

We got to go to the temple again! So great.

Goodbye to Sister Eden

This was another great week here in Solothurn!

Had to say goodbye to Sister Eden. That was sad, we really got along so great. Although I must say leaving that morning to the Zurich train station was SO stressful and it was truly a miracle that we even made it. Sister Eden was up until very very late, haha or just very early, packing her bags. We had to leave at 7:25 and at 7:00 Sister Eden still wasn't up. I didn't want to be one of those companions that bosses the other around and pulls them out of bed, but I must say, looking at all the stuff she still had all over the appartment, and everything else she still had to do, my goodness, even I was stressed, which is saying something, 'cause I'm ALWAYS late. Then ten minutes before our bus comes, the Elders call us to let us know they caught the wrong bus and so they won't be able to come and help us with the three HUGE suitcases from Sister Eden. So we carried them all the way down our appartment building (because of course we live on the top floor haha) and sprinted as best as we could to the bus stop with seconds to spare. I swear, angels helped us, that was crazy. It was good though. We had 10 minutes at the trainstation so I ran and bought some Movenpick caramel ice cream for breakfast, because Sister Eden simply had to try this nectar from the gods before she left Switzerland.

But I love my new companion!!

Her name is Sister Jones. She's from Colorado, and just came fresh out of the MTC. She's so so excited to be here and get going, so great. I'm trying to be a good trainer. Trying to speak German even though I have to repeat everything I say in English right after, but she's starting to understand it a lot better!

And I tell you what, she is a lucky charm, we found a lot of potential investigators even though we didn't have too much time to go finding! Like one time we got on the bus (we seriously only hopped on for 2 stops, to an appointment, that I usually just walk to) and the bus driver started talking to us, asking who we were and what we're doing. He's interested to learn more about the church! But you must pray that he calls us. We didn't have time to grab his number, we were seriously on the bus for so short, what a shame. Haha it felt a little like the best two years, with the new missionary praying that "that man may call..." 

And yeah just a bunch of other things where we went up to people and they were interested!

General Conference was also super great. Haha SO much about missionary work, that made me nice and happy. I hope everyone takes the challenge and prays about what they can do for missionary work😀 Sister Lehmann would be mighty proud of you.

Have a blessed week,

Sister Lehmann

Ok so I shamefully had never even been in the two cathedrals that they have in Solothurn that I seriously walk past and around all the time for street contacting. But we hurry and did it with Sister Eden for her last pday. Oh my goodness. OH MY GOODNESS. Look at this!!! Haha my jaw dropped when we walked inside, I had no idea that it was so pretty. 6 months and didn't even know. Hahaha

And then Sister Eden's dream was to go on a boat ride which is free with our Swiss pass so that was groovy. This is the lake between Thun and Interlacken. 

And of course she had to try Ovomaltine.

And then we had some more time in Bern so we wrote letters by the university there. And then I took a selfie. My hair looks crazy

Hahaha I thought this was a funny picture.

Karyna and Zorian and Zaiden and us

The new comp