Letter: 7 November 2015

Dear all, 

I love my mission! It is seriously the best decision I have ever made! (Besides becoming a member of the church and in the first place deciding to follow Heavenly Father's plan of course!) 

This week has been amazing! It has been so so busy and I have loved it. I seriously have learned so much and I am soo grateful for every experience! Here are just a couple: 

I learned that is really important to have a plan B! We met with a new investigator on Sunday whop said he was going to make us dinner.. little did we know that he planned to take us out for dinner! That was the perfect opportunity to teach him about the Sabbath but also we switched it into an opportunity to give him a building tour and ended up having a treat party with him in the chapel with the Elders :) It was quite the experience but I loved it! Thank you for those who give treats to missionaries! They make be used to save an very awkward lesson :)

Down in the metro (with the 1960s sci-fi walls)

We had a branch baptism this week! A lady and man that have been investigating for over 6 months joined the church this week! It was incredible and they are both glowing with the spirit! The lady took this huge breathe after she came out of the water and it was amazing! It reminded me that baptism really does represent a new beginning for us as disciples of Christ. 

Also on a random side note (this is mainly for Matt) but sis D and I started teaching a Chilean man! He is soo cool and he is here on vacation for a few weeks, met another member from Chile who is here, too and they started meeting with us this past week. Teaching them is soo different since they are soo bubbly and chatty but I have loved it!

I got a package from my family!

Testimony power this week: Sister D and I were calling potential investigators and one phone call was really tough and the woman didn't show any interest. However Sis D reminded me to testify and as soon as I started doing that, her heart was softened and she was touched by the Spirit. 

Heavenly Father has given us so many talents and as a missionary I am just starting to learn what that means in regards to service. Today, I had my first expreicnes translating a church meeting. Sis D and I were translating together but she wasn't feeling very well so she handed me the microphone and I translated most of the meeting. It was definitely led by the Spirit and I could feel my prayers being answered as I felt peace and comfort trying to understand this hard language and then translate it into English for district conference. We are also starting a German class this week! I am soo excited! Please pray that we will find people to teach!

We had a really long tough day this week and were picking up a few random things for dinner and we found some flowers and bought them for us! It was soo funny but we are loving our little pink roses that we get to look at each morning :) when in doubt: buy flowers

Today I am emailing a little later than usual because we did a service project this morning! We went and helped this sweet family with the assistants to prepare their horse ranch for winter. It was soo much fun and I wore more layers than I have in a long time since we thought it would be cold, but it ended up being a really warm day! It was soo much fun!  

Something that I really enjoyed learning this week is that the Spirit truly is the greatest teacher. We had some tough lessons this week that really felt like we were not teaching as well as we could have. But the Spirit taught us so much more. I know that by listening to the Spirit and inviting those we teach to simply read the scriptures, pray and attend church helped me to learn that it really is by the Spirit that we come to know the truth of all things. 

I love my mission so much but I love my Savior even more. He is the perfect example for us and he helps me to become better each day as I use is Atonement. 

I love you and thank you for all you do for missionaries around the world! You are amazing! 

S Laskou,

Sestra Manners

Riding on the tram