Epilog: Wieder zu Hause

Back home on August 23rd, 2017

That's it.

A lot of missionaries write their final email they want to send out a couple weeks before they leave haha. Well I've been pushing it back and pday is coming to a close so I'd better start writing even though I don't know how to really capture how I feel in words.

I'm so happy. Really the happiest I've ever been.

The baptism was on Saturday and went wonderfully. I was pretty scared there because Satan was giving one of our investigators all these doubts and it was so frustrating, but he kept his eye on the prize and made it.

The whole ward came to the church building in Singen in Germany, because we don't have a baptismal font in our building. We organized all these rides for different investigators and we had like 7 different investigators and their families come. It was incredible. Such good vibes, you know? I was asked to give a talk again. Haha again. I think the ward is tired of hearing me talk all the time but I'm grateful for the opportunity, especially to speak about such a beautiful and simple principle as baptism.

I haven't written too much about Florian and Iliya who were baptized because I know that this blog is public and I don't want to write too much personal stuff, to answer the question of some people asking who they are haha :) I'll tell you all about it in person though, don't worry. 

I feel like I should be writing this amazing last email, but this week was just normal, except extremely happy. Like we still had to do Finding and had Fall appointments, but Sister Fullwood and I were just so happy and excited for Saturday. Do you know what it feels like to invite someone to baptism and help them to get there without having to beg or bother them because they're actually really searching for it? It's incredible.

Every night before going to bed, I would sigh as I thought of how the Lord has poured down blessings upon us, with this blessing, the kindness and involvement of members, continuing to find new investigators, continuing to meet with people we have found and who are improving and feeling the spirit, slowly but surely.   "Heavenly Father, I don't feel that I deserve this happiness, but I thank you for the many blessings nonetheless."

Pday today was getting a lot of stuff done and going to IKEA. Apparently Sister Fullwood and I are the same person and love this place. We understand each other. And we're very happy.

Hahahaha a relief society activity where Schwester Järmann was showing everybody how to aid elderly people if they've had a fall and can't get up (#lifealert) as you see, everyone is laughing because it was all very uncomfortable. I decided to leave the more intimate looking pictures out.

Hahaha she picked me out to be the demonstrator because I was the lightest one in the room. Apparently. But then as soon as I sat on the fold-out bed it literally bent in half, closing me inside hahaha. Light weight....yeah right.

The baptism. Florian is the one with the beautiful mustache. You can't see it here but he has a mustache, curled in perfect c's with wax, everyday. He's German. Iliya is the one with the hair I tried pulling off senior year. Haha. These two didn't know eachother before or anything, we just had their baptisms on the same day.

Out investigator Brigitte. Lover of the Bible. On and off church attender. Our mom away from home. And one of the most faithful Christians I know.

Our funny little district with Zurich, Dielsdorf and Schaffhausen

Flammia family. Filipo and I had an ongoing teasing battle. Susanna could only laugh and roll her eyes :)

Our nice American family the Pedersons. And their daughter Emily who we had to talk to for 5 good minutes to get her to hide behind her parents for the picture. Loved her though. She's awesome.

Michaela, Jörg, Silvia. Michaela is the best hugger of all time. Jörg has plane connections and upgraded me to economy priority on my flight home. And Silvia. The best unofficial ward missionary I've ever had. So ready to help. One of the most Christlike and spiritual people I know.

The lovely Wigger family. The guy with the red hair's name is Andreas. Felt weird everytime I had to write in my planner to call Andreas...

Pilatus Last pday

The amount of sweat I lost was disgusting. But so worth it. We hiked some of it and took the lift/trains on other parts.

Carried some sparkling cider to drink and celebrate at the top. Haha

Saying goodbye to the incredibly brave Asma.

Winnie, one of our investigator's daughters, and Vivi, the Wigger's daughter. So fun. Winnie has sass I tell you what. She invited me to her birthday party and in the same sentence asked me what I'm going to bring her as a present. I told her she owes me a present cause I'm leaving. So she danced to the prelude music for me haha. She does have moves though, I'll give her that. Definitely going to be one of those Disney channel kids someday.

Lovely Lea. Loved her mission and loved helping us with ours.

Balthasar, the theologist and preist-in-training.

Sola and Winnie

And last but not least Alba. Been a member since 5 years now and has an amazing testimony. She has a blind son who married a blind women and they have two kids now. She selflessly helps and serves them all the time even though it's really trying for her. Best Colombian accent when she speaks German haha

So there you go. That's it. That's my mission.

Just a snippet of it anyway. There's no way to capture pictures of or write about everything and everyone. But just know how much I have LOVED the past year and some months of my life. Boy did I learn all kinds of things. Faith, repentance, humility, sincerity in prayer, using your brain, following the Spirit, depending on the Lord, getting over fears, looking out and not in, accepting people as they are, having joy in difficulties, making friends, being bold and strong in your standards and beliefs, the Gospel and its doctrines, but ultimately, the Savior. I just know that He is real and that He is the Savior of the world. I know it.

I may have shared this quote but I'll share it again:

"The truth is, those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle--one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us--not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed." -Präsident Uchtdorf

Have a wonderful week.

Sister Lehmann

Missionary Spirit in the Air

Hey there!
This week was really nice again.

We're really looking forward to our baptisms this Saturday.
We had exchanges and I exchanged in Singen with Sister Lundgreen from
the MTC which was way fun. I don't know if you remember but I only
came with 2 other sisters from my district in the MTC and we were
pretty tight so it was fun to work together and see how far we've
come.

At church on Sunday I felt the spirit so strongly, not for any
apparent reason, but I was just so happy. I was so so happy. I thought
about why I was happy. I think it's because I love the people here so
much, investigators and members. It was funny actually, on the way to
church we met up with all our investigators along the way, a little
unplanned. When we arrived at the church it felt like it was the
church bus showing up haha.

It's been really incredible working here in the ward. We've had almost
every member helping us with another investigator. You can smell the
missionary spirit in the air. They are all so so excited for our two
boys getting baptized. It was especially nice in ward council. Someone
at the beginning was giving a spiritual thought. He said that he
wanted to share a spiritual thought about missionary work because
there's definitely a missionary spirit in the air.

Do you know how that is just music to your ears as a missionary?
But yeah they've been inviting them over to eat and to do stuff
together and to ride together to institute, which is all stuff we've
had to organize for people in the past on my mission.
The work is moving forward here and I'm so excited. Keep praying that
the baptism service goes as planned!

Sorry about the lost text from last week's email, I don't know what
happened to it....

Sorry about the lost text from last week's email, I don't know what
happened to it....