The magic Slippers!

Hello Familie!! 

How is everyone doing this week??? Wasn't General Conference Amazing!! Wow. This church is sooo true. I tell you. The power that you feel each time someone talks from that pulpit is incredible. This is Gods church on the earth.
This week was wonderful for Sister Shelley and I. Amazing things are happening here in Langenhorn!!! This week we were able to make contact again with a potential investigator that we had lost contact with. We invited her to general conference and she said that she would bring her husband and her daughter! We were so excited and even more excited when they came to the Sarurday Night session! We were thrilled to see them. She really enjoyed it and had a great time. She told us that she was ready to meet with us and have the lessons. We are so thankful for the spirit she was able to feel at gerneral conference. It softened her heart and now she is a new investigator! 

OH MY GOODNESS!!! BEST WEEK EVER! So each wednesday we go to this service project. It is called Tafel. It is where people come and get food that grocery stores in the area donate. It is really wonderful and a great way to contact people! Well for the last couple months I have helped the same woman. She is so sweet and I LOVE HER. Well, one day I was wearing those nasty... well kinda nasty... sister missionary black shoes I have.... and she was looking at them. She kept asking me what size of foot I had. She said, I love those shoes. Can i look at those shoes. Can I have those shoes... Well what do you do when a sweet old woman asks for your shoes?!?

No sillies... I didi not give them to her... then what would I have worn home! haha. No I just told her where I bought them, in America. Ofcourse when I said in America she liked them even more. Then she said, well what if i brought you some shoes. Would you like that. I told her that was very sweet but not neccessary, but she insisted! So this week my sweetheart best friend old german lady brought me some shoes and guess what!! THey were homemade crocet slippers!!!!!
And then she gave me some rotting fish to try as welll... I pasted on the fish but am in love with my slippers. And this is another reason to go on a mission!

Yes, to get homemade slippers, but more importantly to meet people. To talk to people. To make friends with people you would never even dream about meeting. I love this woman and I dont even know her name. She has tried to tell me, but I can not understand it for the life of me... haha. But she is so amazing. I thank the lord everydaz that I am here meeting the people I am. Associating with these incredible people. I love it here.

I love being a missionary. It is so wonderful!!! 

I love you family. Remember that god is always there waiting to put people into our lives that will change it for the better !! I love you!!! 

Jos

What a Week!

HAAAALLLLLLOOOO FAMILY!!!! 

This week has again been such a great week for the Langenhorn Sisters!!!!! CAN I GET A WOOT WOOT!!! Seriously what a great week I have had. I think it was heaven sent. Well actually I know it was... haha.  

GUESS WHO IS COMING TO OUR HOUSE THIS WEEK!!! MIRJA AND DANNY!!! Get ready for a party because they are the best!! Just have so much fun with them and see the great people that I get to be with everyday! I love GERMANS!!! THey are the best!!

This week we continued making progress with Eric, our investigator with a taufdatum. He is so inspired and really wants to make sure he is doing things for the right reason. We had a beautiful lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. He is so intune with the Holy Ghost and with the truth. He had a lot of questions about baptism that we were able to talk with him  about. It is amazing being in lessons with him. He sounds like he is already a member when he speaks. He is inspiring. I feel like I should be taking notes whenever he says anything!! WE are so excited for him to enter into the waters of baptism and become a member of Jesus Christ's Church. 

Another wonderful experience we had this week was when we were out finding. We saw some people moving into their new apartment(AFRICANS FROM THE CONGO!!! WHAT!) and we asked if we could help. They said YES and we were able to help them take things up three flights of stairs to there new apartment! We got to serve and a little extra morgansport!! OH YEA! Talk about success. We were able to talk to them a little bit about our gospel and they said that they would come to church this next week. We are praying for them and are hoping that we can continue working with them to progress in the gospel. 

GUYS!!!!!! All i can say this week is LOVE. Just LOVE EVERYONE. I love being a missionary because all we get to do is LOVE people!!! It is soooo wonderful. SO guys, just love. LIVE teh dream and have a good week!!! Until next week!!! 

Sister Nilson 

Little Miracles!

HELLO MY SWEET FAMILY!!!!!! How are you!!! Okay.Jacob is coming to GERMANY!!! I am still freaking out about that!!! I am soo pleased you will be joinging me here. COME READY TO WORK! Every day is a journey here. A mission is HArd Work, but is ALWAYS WORTH IT. WEll as many of you probably know... last week was a bust of a week for me. It was pretty terrible... haha. Not going to lie. I tried to smile, but it was just sooo hard!!! A lot of different things happened and NOTHING seemed to be going right. We were being 100% obedient and everything went wrong. It is in these moments you just stop and pray. As a missionary sometimes these moments happen. Sometimes you are told how silly you are. Sometimes you get yelled at. Spit upon. Laughed at. Some days you simply just ask the question,"WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING HERE!!!" Yep, I asked that question a lot last week.I really began to ponder why I am here? What am I even doing? Am I really fulfilling my purpose as a missionary? Inviting others to come unto christ? 

WEll let me tell you all something really wonderful. God Works. in the mitts of all these thoughts I turned to my best friend Nephi. He is the best. I read about him and his family. about everything that they went through.(As a mission we are starting the BOM over again and finishing it Christmas day. WE are reading it with a focus centered around the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And let me tell you it has helped me so much. My mission president is truly inspired). If Nephi could build a ship, make a bow, put up with crazies (aka LAMAN AND LEMUEL!), and still praise god all the day long, SO CAN I!!!!!! Yes, we do have to do hard things. Yes, we even question ourselves and realize that we are SO FAR FROM PERFECT (2 nephi 4), But at the end of the day as we get down on our knees we know that God is there. We know that even if the whole world turned againsst us that day, that we have someone who did not. Someone that stood by us when we were crying, feeling alone, sad, happy. EVERYTHING!! GOD is there. He is there. And if we give him our full heart and work side by side with him then he will make us into the person we are meant to be. Guys. I am telling you. God Works. He is the best. And he sends us little miracles each day to see that he is watching us, our every move. Recently a Miracle in my life has been a ward member. Her name is Mirja and she has become one of my best friends. She is HILARIOUS and LOVES the Polynesian culture! Can you say match made in heaven. I told her my love for them and we planned a trip to go there after my mission, (you all are invited!) But she has really helped me to laugh again. To remember that I am here in Germany for a reason and that some Germans actually do love us! haha. It has been great having her. See little miracles. Little Miracles. Sister Shelley and I are so  great. She is AMAZING! I am pretty sure she is training me. She is so wonderful. We get along great and she is so cute!! We have some wonderful adventures together!!
This week has been such an amazing week for Sister Shelley and I. We have been able to work a lot with ward members this week. Have constant contact with them and it really helped us have a lot to do this week. We were able to contact three referrals this week. And 2 of them, W.A., came to church on SUNDAY! It was wonderful. On Thursday an appointment that we had fell out. We were very sad and called up a member of the Bishopric and asked him for any WA members we could visit. He gave us two names and we were off. The first lady that we went to has not been to church in years. No one from the ward has had any contact with her. So we went by and to our surprise she was HOME! We went in and talked to her. She was thrilled to see us. She said that she had tried calling the missionaries for the last couple of months but no one ever called her back. We looked and saw that she had a false number for us! We know that God helped us contact her. She came to church on Sunday and the ward was SO WELCOMING! She had someone to sit next to and she had an incredible experience. It was such a miracle!
Then we had a lesson this week with an investigator. We had been planning to teach about the plan of salvation, and he comes in and was a little sad. We asked him what was wrong and he told us that his life was very busy right now. He proceeded to tell us that even though he had a hard day it was okay, because he had god. And through god he finds true JOY! WE were astounded. JOY!!! THat was exactly what we wanted to talk to him about. We told him about gods plan for us and how we know exactly what our purpose is, where we came from, and where we are going. WE were able to talk about Jesus Christ and bear our testimony of JEsus Chirst. Our Lord and savior. As we did that the spirit filled the room. He told us that he knew what we said was true. Then we asked him to be baptized and he said yes! We have a specific date and everything! So we are praying that it is gods will he meets the baptismal date. We know that with the support of the ward, bishop, and the missionaries he will be able to get baptized and confirmed and remain active in the church!!!
Hey yall. THe gospel is true. It is really what brings true happiness. It is like Eric said, Even when we have a bad day we know in our hearts that god is there. He is directing our lives and we have him forever!!! I love you my sweet family. I love being a missionary and LOVE LOVE LOVE LIFE!!! 
Sister Nilson 

Here is a picture at Zone conference... haha. I took it from the computer screen so hopefully you can see  it. :) 

I OVERCAME MY BIGGEST FEAR!!!

FAMILY!!!! This week I OVERCAME MY BIGGEST FEAR!!!

I GAVE A TALK IN SACRAMENT MEETING!!! IN GERMAN!!! WHAT THE WHAT! CAN I GET A HEY HO!! Yes, some people came up to me after and said, "I am sure it was hard to give a talk in another language,"... which is translates to... You did not do so good.... BAHAHA, BUT! I did it! And I thought that was an accomplishment of a lifetime. Wow... Missions really push you to become who the Lord wants you to be!

I want to give a shout out to the one and only BEAC OF THE WEST!!!!!!!!!!! You get your call on WEDNESDAY! I am freaking!! PLEASE COME HERE!! PLEASE! I dont think I can go 3 years without seeing your face/crazy hair... which is now gone! That is tragic. Grow it out again will ya? :) I am pumped!! BERLIN GERMANY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! 

As I say every week, Sister Shelley and I have had such an amazing week!! We have been blessed with finding prepared people that are so open to this gospel and coming unto the Lord. 

One investigator that we have been meeting with is named Eric. He is from Ghana and has lived in Germany for 11 years. He speaks pretty good german, has a very stable job and three cute kids. He has always been searching for god and says that he is not "filled" yet. We told him that as he continues to meet with us he will become "filled" with all the love of God. We asked him if when he knew this was true if he would get baptized and he said YES! Sister Shelley and I were thrilled. Hopefully this week we can talk to him about a taufdatum and get a commitment from him. He is such an incredible person who god has prepared to recieve his gospel. He is open to everything and really wants to progress in following the Lord. 

Our next success story is with a Lady named Alexandra. She is from Mexico, but is engaged to a German man. They are both Catholic, but she does not like the catholic church. We met her at our weekly service project and after were able to give her a church tour. She seemed very overwhelmed when we gave her the church tour and we did not feel it was teh right time to introduce the Book of Mormon, but we gave her an invatation to a PV Activity for her little girl. She was very excited and said she would come! The Activity was on Saturday and she came with her fiance and little girl! We were so happy to see her there. We introduced her to a lot of ward members and the Phal President talked to her for a really long time. She was so impressed and so excited. She said that she absolutley loves the spirit that she feels when she is in our church and when she is around the people. We have both her and her husband Books of Mormon and she was thrilled. 

We had so many moments this week that showed how much the Lord is here directing his work. I love being a missionary and am so thrilled about everything that is happening in Langenhorn!!

JOs! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE This gospel!!

Sister Shelley and I have had such an incredible week! It was full of lessons,finding, visiting, and so much more!

This week my testimony of prayer has really grown. Sister Shelley and I decided to say very specific prayers for our investigators. We have one investigator who has not been making any progress because she never has time to read in the Book of Mormon. We have told her it does not have to be much and testified thatit will help her if she reads in the Book of Mormon each day. Well on the day before our appointment Sister Shelley and I said a very specific prayer asking Father in Heaven to please bless her with time to read the Book of Mormon. As we went over to our lesson the next day we asked her, "Have you read in the Book of Mormon this week?" She replied, "Yes, I read this morning and it was so cool!" Sister Shelley and I were amazed! We were so thankful for prayer and knew that this was a direct answer to our prayer. She proceed to ask us many questions about the story of Nephi and was very engaged in our entire lesson, when normally we have a hard time getting her to talk. It was so amazing! She is finally starting to make progress and trust in us and this wonderful gospel.

After this experience Sister Shelley and I had the idea to have a ward fast next fast sunday for missionary work, but more specifically that ward members would have experiences that would progress into missionary dicussions and than to baptism. When we called the Bishop he said he would have to think about it and would let us know on Sunday. Well in Sacrament meeting the Bishop stood up and gave a beautiful talk and told everyone that we had this idea and that he thinks it would be wonderful for us all to join together and fast for this. It was great. We had members coming up to us all through church telling us, "We are fasting next week, for you!" It was really great to see the unity of our ward. I love the Langenhorn ward. The members are so strong and have such an amazing spirit. I know that as we come together in much prayer and fast, the lord will help us find those people who are prepared for this gospel

Here is a quick story of wonderness!! 

We had a lesson with Bruder Soltani and had a joint teach-he is this old german man named bruder Wolff and is crazy and had read teh Koran and is just crazy!! So we open the lesson and we start talking about the temple and the man who just got baptized starts telling us of all these problems tha the is having. HE WAS GOING NUTS! haha. It was hilarious. HE was laughing and than would get super serious! So basically the lesson went out the window and Old German Koran man and this new member just went back and forth. As I tried to gain control of the lesson and say something they would just mow me over. Literally for 20 minutes I could not say a word. Well after about 75 attemps at speaking I finally just said OKAY WE HAVE TO GO! haha. So our beautiful temple lesson that we had prepared was not even taught and the Spirit was not even there. I was thinking, "okay closing prayer and then lets go," and then I thought no, we need the spirit we need to sing. So my comp and I sang Nearer my God to thee- and I have never felt the spirit so strong. The Bruder Soltani just closed his eyes and thanked us after. He said he felt so much peace adn comfort. We ended with a closing prayer and we all left with the spirit. 

I love being a missionary! Each week seems to get better and better!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE This gospel!!

Much love! 

Sister JOSIE  Nilson 

When is it too late to stop dreaming?

Hello my sweet family!! How are you all this week?? I hope you are all doing well! Know that I pray for you all the time! :)

Well family this week i have decided that I want to go to the Olymipcs in Speed Walking! Do you think I could make it? Would I still have time once I get back from my mission?? Seriously. Someone needs to do some digging and find me a coach. As this week progressed each day I felt myself walking faster adn faster... want to know why??? BECAUSE GOD IS INCREDIBLE! and we had so many appointments this week! Okay not really that many, but it was so crazy anyways!!! We were walking everywhere and talking with everyone! We were able to get four new investigators this week which is basically UNHEARD OF! It was incredible! So many prayers were answered. I love being a missionary. Remember guys, even when we feel like we are just roaming and have no perfect path  WE DO! We have the path of the lord! We have this incredible gospel. and it is through this gospel that everything in our life will fall right into place. I know that sometimes things get hard, believe me, being a missionary is not just flowers and dasies all the time. It is hard. But we are able to get through it because it is Gods work. And he WORKS!!! 

Sorry this email si so short! But I have to go! Just know that I am doing so good and that Germany is an amazing place. My ward is so incredible. The streghnth of the Members is incredible. the Stake president in there stake conference gave every adult a book- it is a missionary book. They are to have the mission pres number and local missionaries adn they are to use this book and start doing as much missionary work as they can!! Isnt that awesome! So i am so excited! It is really pumping up the members. GERMANY IS GOING TO BE BOOMBING with the gospel!! I am so excited taht I get to be a part of it!! Remember everyone... NEVER astop dreaming... We have high hopes nad dreams for germany and they are all going to come to pass :) I just know it!!!

you are all in my prayers daily! Love you all!!! and
 Keep livin the DREAM! (right chad) thanks for that wonderful phrase! 

Alright family!! I love you all so much and just LLLOOOOOVE being a missionary!!! 

Have teh best week starting school! 

Love,
Josie

God Works

Why hello my dearest family who I love so much! I have some really neat stories!!! 

So remember that one time where I was singing on a bahn to the kid name kris and he almost got slammed in the bahn doors trying to give us his information.... WELL GUESS WHATTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

WE FOUND HIM!!!! God really wants Kris to hear the gospel!

Let me start from the beginning. After chruch yesterday we had an Eating appointment that went far to long. We tried to leave but a million different things happened that made us late getting out the door. We had an appointment scheduled with an investigator Marcus who lives an hour away. So we hop on the bahn praying that we will be ontime. Well a couple bahn changes later we realize that we are going to be 15 minutes late! In Germany you are NOT late. So I had to call them and tell them we would be late. It was really scary but they understood. So finally we get to the stop, jump off the bahn, run up the stairs, and see Marcus adn Marie wiating to pick us up. (from there we usually go to Marie's house). But because we were late we did not have time to go to her house so we had the lesson in the car. This TINY german car. But let me tell you... it does not matter where you have the lesson as long as the Holy Ghost is there everything works out! AND THE holy GHOST WAS THERE!!! It was a beautiful lesson that we had with marcus. So after our lesson we went back down to the Bahn. Well lucky for us the next bahn did not come for another 20 minutes!!! toll. So we just sat and waited and talked about the lesson. FINALLY the bahn came and we hopped on. As we are coming to the stop where we have to change bahns i have a prompting to look up. So thats what I did. And WHO did I see you ask..... KRIS!!!!  Remember that one time where I was singing on a bahn to the kid name kris and he almost got slammed in the bahn doors trying to give us his information.... WELL GUESS WHATTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

WE FOUND HIM!!!! God really wants Kris to hear the gospel! WE FOUND HIM!! I start FREAKING OUT!!! Jump off the bahn and Sister Shelley and I RUN over to him!! He was very suprised to see us and was a little nervous that we were going to start singing again... bahaha! But we told him we would not sing to him this time. haha. We talked with him for a while as we went on our way and guess what!! WE got his information and are setting up an appointment!!! SOOO HAPPYY!!! God Works everyone. Remember that! 

And!!! This week we were walking down the street and I started talking to this African Girl. She turned and looked at me and said, "I dont speak german!" Relieved I said, "HEY NIETHER DO I!!" We then had a lovely thought provoking conversation about the gospel in English. She told me that she was from Ghauna and had actually gone to church before. When she came to germany she had tried finding the missionaries but could never find them. She was so excited to meet with us. I got her name and address and then realized that she did not live in our area, but the Elders in our district were over the Area. So i told her that and told her they would be contacting her! She was so excited!!!! THE LORD is preparing people for his gospel! He is working hard so that every nation kindered tongue and people can hear his gospel! 

I am so thankful that I am a missionary! I love this work so much! I love being here in Germany and I LOVE MY SAVIOR!!!! 

Have the best week ever! Know that I pray for you all everyday! Have fun with Jacobs play and with school starting!!! I love you all!!! 

Josie