Date: Monday, July 12, 2010
Family!
Well my goodness, it was great to get an email from every single one of you, almost. :) I was so grateful to read them all! And 'I share in your excitement for Thursday. It really is hard to believe that my service here will come to an end in a few days. I have loved my mission and the people here. I said it last week but I have to say it again. I have loved it. It was funny, on Saturday night we got a call from our ward mission leader saying that he was sick and wouldn´t be at church the next day and asked me if I would teach the Gospel Principles class. The lesson he assigned me was on Sacrifice. As I taught the lesson on sacrafice I felt the spirit so strong. There is a scripture in Matthew 19:29 ( I think) that says whatever we give up to serve God will be rewarded to us a hundred fold in this life and we will inherit eternal life. As I bore my testimony of that, I knew it was true. Serving a mission hasn´t really been a sacrifice of my life pursuits. It was an opportunity to be empowered by God's strength, wisdom, love, and power for the rest of my life. Whatever I have given here, God has given me much more than my due in return, because He is a merciful, loving God. This is a great work and I love the words in D&C 128, "Courage Bretheren and on, on to the victory!"
Updates on this week, um, we had some great last appointments with some of our investigators. One of our investigators has been making slow progress, but the last time we met with him on Thursday he said the closing prayer and in his prayer he thanked God for all he has learned from the Book of Mormon and us and how he has been shown how to come closer to Him. That was a tender mercy of the Lord to hear his sincere prayer of gratitude for the truth.
Well I have to go, but I will see you all on Thursday!
I love you all!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
P.S.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Missionary Work
Date: Monday, July 5, 2010
Family!
Thank you for your emails. I am glad you had a wonderful fourth of July holiday and were able to be inspired by friends, family, and patriotic speeches. That is wonderful. My companions and I sang the National Anthem, and read about when Christ came to America. :) We also had grilled hot dogs for dinner. It has been extremely hot lately. They say this is the hottest summer they have had in the last 20 years. This winter was the coldest winter and this summer has been the hottest even though it got a late start because of the super long cold winter. But anyway, it was great hearing about your lives this past week.
For me this last week was also wonderful. That is great that you expect to hear miracles, that is the way it should be. And we did see miracles this past week. The most recent one happened on Saturday night. We had planned to go by a former investigator but she wasn´t there, so we were walking somewhere else when we saw a man walking very quicly towards us. Not actualy toward us, but to the bar right behind us where the World Cup was being shown and Germany was playing. Of course we contacted him about Gods plan and he of course said that he was on his way to watch the game. We said we realized that and asked for his name and number so we could talk some other time. He gave it to us and then we gave him our card and he left very fast. That night he called us! And said that he wanted to meet and learn more about God. We were completely overjoyed and set up an appointment for the next day. He is from Poland and his German isn´t very good and what English he knew got mixed up as he was trying to learn German. But coincidentally at church we just happened to sit by a man in our ward that is also from Poland and said that he did not have any plans that night, so he came with us. It was wonderful! The member did an excellent job and the man we taught wants to read the Book of Mormon. It never ceases to amaze me what can happen when we just even share a little truth and give an invitation for more. I didn´t really think that he would call, but he did! And the last time that happened to us he ended up getting baptized. So I have high hopes. After the appointment he was so excited to talk to me about Ireland. He said he had lived there for a few years and there were Fitzgeralds all over the place. And many stores that were called Fitzgerald. It was funny. I told him how my sister had lived there and had noticed the same things.
As for Roy, the British man, our appointments have actually fallen out, but we have one tonight so hopefully it all goes well.
Well I should probably go, but it has been so good to write you! This is the part where I usually say, til next week, meaning that we will write again, but this time I will not only write, I will see you all! I can hardly believe this is my last full week as a full time missionary. I have been so grateful to serve these wonderful German people. I truly cannot put into words the feelings of my heart. I feel inadequate to express the million lessons I have learned and the new understanding I have received. My testimony was founded before and it has just been strengthened and fortified and enriched and deepend since then. I know God is there, and that He loves us. I know that He is consistent and as we do our best to follow the Spirit and come into harmony with Him, that is when we start to become consistent too, cosistently happy, and peaceful, and loving, and courageous. Sacrficing of our desires is really just the begining to fulfilling our greatest dreams. I have loved my mission the whole way through. There were challenges, but God was always there to help me and I cannot be grateful enough for what my mission has done for me.
I look forward to serving God with all my heart, might, mind, and strength this coming week, and to seeing you the next.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!
Thank you for your emails. I am glad you had a wonderful fourth of July holiday and were able to be inspired by friends, family, and patriotic speeches. That is wonderful. My companions and I sang the National Anthem, and read about when Christ came to America. :) We also had grilled hot dogs for dinner. It has been extremely hot lately. They say this is the hottest summer they have had in the last 20 years. This winter was the coldest winter and this summer has been the hottest even though it got a late start because of the super long cold winter. But anyway, it was great hearing about your lives this past week.
For me this last week was also wonderful. That is great that you expect to hear miracles, that is the way it should be. And we did see miracles this past week. The most recent one happened on Saturday night. We had planned to go by a former investigator but she wasn´t there, so we were walking somewhere else when we saw a man walking very quicly towards us. Not actualy toward us, but to the bar right behind us where the World Cup was being shown and Germany was playing. Of course we contacted him about Gods plan and he of course said that he was on his way to watch the game. We said we realized that and asked for his name and number so we could talk some other time. He gave it to us and then we gave him our card and he left very fast. That night he called us! And said that he wanted to meet and learn more about God. We were completely overjoyed and set up an appointment for the next day. He is from Poland and his German isn´t very good and what English he knew got mixed up as he was trying to learn German. But coincidentally at church we just happened to sit by a man in our ward that is also from Poland and said that he did not have any plans that night, so he came with us. It was wonderful! The member did an excellent job and the man we taught wants to read the Book of Mormon. It never ceases to amaze me what can happen when we just even share a little truth and give an invitation for more. I didn´t really think that he would call, but he did! And the last time that happened to us he ended up getting baptized. So I have high hopes. After the appointment he was so excited to talk to me about Ireland. He said he had lived there for a few years and there were Fitzgeralds all over the place. And many stores that were called Fitzgerald. It was funny. I told him how my sister had lived there and had noticed the same things.
As for Roy, the British man, our appointments have actually fallen out, but we have one tonight so hopefully it all goes well.
Well I should probably go, but it has been so good to write you! This is the part where I usually say, til next week, meaning that we will write again, but this time I will not only write, I will see you all! I can hardly believe this is my last full week as a full time missionary. I have been so grateful to serve these wonderful German people. I truly cannot put into words the feelings of my heart. I feel inadequate to express the million lessons I have learned and the new understanding I have received. My testimony was founded before and it has just been strengthened and fortified and enriched and deepend since then. I know God is there, and that He loves us. I know that He is consistent and as we do our best to follow the Spirit and come into harmony with Him, that is when we start to become consistent too, cosistently happy, and peaceful, and loving, and courageous. Sacrficing of our desires is really just the begining to fulfilling our greatest dreams. I have loved my mission the whole way through. There were challenges, but God was always there to help me and I cannot be grateful enough for what my mission has done for me.
I look forward to serving God with all my heart, might, mind, and strength this coming week, and to seeing you the next.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Monday, June 28, 2010
People waiting to be found....
Date: Monday, June 28, 2010
Family!
Thank you for your emails! They are such a strength for me. Mom thanks for giving me an update on the Stokes reunion. That is so neat that Aunt Edie and her husband were able to fulfill the mission that they were called to serve and give the church some positive public recognition in their area. You suggested that I write a letter to the newspaper here. I might, if I feel the urge or impression :). There was an article done on my companion and me actually, back in November. I am not sure if it was ever published anywhere, but that was neat. I just got a copy of it the other day. I´ll have to show it to you when I get back. I would send it, but it is in German and you may or may not be able to understand all of it. :)
Anyway, this last week some really neat things happened. One happened on Thursday. We were teaching our English class and about 20 minutes into it there was guy that came to the door. Sister Rauh (a senior Sister) opened the door and this guy said, "Is this where I come to talk about Jesus Christ?" She said "Yes." And then pointed him to us. He came over and sat down. Then right off he started asking questions. We said that we would love to talk with him more about his questions, after the English class was over. He agreed. We then decided to have everyone introduce themselves and told him he could go first. Well then he really introduced himself for the rest of our English class. :) He told us all about his life how he was from England, but moved to Germany as a boy. He described his family situation and related all of the concerns he had in his life right now. How he wanted to help his friends change and see the light (he is 21 and a soldier in the British Army). But also wanting to learn more about Christ himself and figure out what God wants him to do. How he can be a better son and help his mother develop faith in Jesus Christ and help her understand how that would help her. He said his father is trying to help her, but can´t do it alone. Also how he can be a good father when he has children "so they won´t get messed up in this confusing dark world." We were amazed at his faith and righteous desires to help those around him. At the end he said, "So I´ve just explained a lot of my life, and the questions I have. Are you the right people? Can you help me?" At that point we decided addressing his needs were our priority. (There was only one English student there and he was our investigator, and we were talking in English :). We just bore testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. How it has the answers to the questions that he has and that it can bless him and his family. After that institute was starting so we invited him to stay. He did and afterwards he said it was really deep, how important decisions are (they discussed 2 Nephi 2 opposition and agency). But that he had really enjoyed it. Right before he left he said, "I don´t know why I told you everything I did. Normally I am a very shy person, but I just felt like you were the right people." We assured him that he had come to the right place and made an appointment to meet today. I am looking forward to our appointment with him. He has so much passion (like most British people do) in wanting to find the answers to the questions he has. He has so much faith!
And my time is gone. But that long story was worth it. Miracles never cease to amaze me. I love this true restored gospel of Jesus Christ and I love sharing the hope with others that I receive from it. I am looking forward to sharing it the rest of my life!
I love you family! Stay passionate in the gospel. Love the truth and stay true to it!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!
Thank you for your emails! They are such a strength for me. Mom thanks for giving me an update on the Stokes reunion. That is so neat that Aunt Edie and her husband were able to fulfill the mission that they were called to serve and give the church some positive public recognition in their area. You suggested that I write a letter to the newspaper here. I might, if I feel the urge or impression :). There was an article done on my companion and me actually, back in November. I am not sure if it was ever published anywhere, but that was neat. I just got a copy of it the other day. I´ll have to show it to you when I get back. I would send it, but it is in German and you may or may not be able to understand all of it. :)
Anyway, this last week some really neat things happened. One happened on Thursday. We were teaching our English class and about 20 minutes into it there was guy that came to the door. Sister Rauh (a senior Sister) opened the door and this guy said, "Is this where I come to talk about Jesus Christ?" She said "Yes." And then pointed him to us. He came over and sat down. Then right off he started asking questions. We said that we would love to talk with him more about his questions, after the English class was over. He agreed. We then decided to have everyone introduce themselves and told him he could go first. Well then he really introduced himself for the rest of our English class. :) He told us all about his life how he was from England, but moved to Germany as a boy. He described his family situation and related all of the concerns he had in his life right now. How he wanted to help his friends change and see the light (he is 21 and a soldier in the British Army). But also wanting to learn more about Christ himself and figure out what God wants him to do. How he can be a better son and help his mother develop faith in Jesus Christ and help her understand how that would help her. He said his father is trying to help her, but can´t do it alone. Also how he can be a good father when he has children "so they won´t get messed up in this confusing dark world." We were amazed at his faith and righteous desires to help those around him. At the end he said, "So I´ve just explained a lot of my life, and the questions I have. Are you the right people? Can you help me?" At that point we decided addressing his needs were our priority. (There was only one English student there and he was our investigator, and we were talking in English :). We just bore testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. How it has the answers to the questions that he has and that it can bless him and his family. After that institute was starting so we invited him to stay. He did and afterwards he said it was really deep, how important decisions are (they discussed 2 Nephi 2 opposition and agency). But that he had really enjoyed it. Right before he left he said, "I don´t know why I told you everything I did. Normally I am a very shy person, but I just felt like you were the right people." We assured him that he had come to the right place and made an appointment to meet today. I am looking forward to our appointment with him. He has so much passion (like most British people do) in wanting to find the answers to the questions he has. He has so much faith!
And my time is gone. But that long story was worth it. Miracles never cease to amaze me. I love this true restored gospel of Jesus Christ and I love sharing the hope with others that I receive from it. I am looking forward to sharing it the rest of my life!
I love you family! Stay passionate in the gospel. Love the truth and stay true to it!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
New investigators!
Date: Monday, June 21, 2010
Family!
I understand the whole internet thing not working out. That happens sometimes here and we have to go around to the different internet shops. So you are forgiven. :) I forgot the Fitzgerald reunion was this past week. Did you tell everyone hi for me? I hope they are all doing well. And the Stokes reunion is this week? That is wonderful. Tell everyone hi for me there. I love going to the Stokes reunions! It´s funny the other day my companions and I were talking about families and what we want to do with our future families. As I thought about it I just became so grateful for the reunion heritage we have in our family. That is something I want to keep up. Thanks for keeping me updated.
Things here, . . . I had my last Zone Conference. And it was really good. We talked about the importance of faith and becoming sanctified. And building our relationship with Jesus Christ. The last part we talked about how we can find new investigators. What they said must have inspired us because we found more new investigators this week than ever before in my mission. It was so cool! A couple of them were referrals from a member family in our ward. They invited this family over for dessert and a discussion about Christ. We came too and taught them about the Book of Mormon and how it blesses families. When the husband saw the book and read Moroni´s promise he got so excited and said, "I have this book. My family gave me a copy of it from Africa." We of course were excited and asked if they wanted to learn more about what we believe they agreed. Then the members invited them to come to church next week and they got so excited again.They said they would love to. It was incredible! Then the next day at church as we talked about this appointment with our Ward mission leader he got so excited and said that this was the first member referral they have had in a long time. And that this new investigator family would bless almost every organization in the ward, the Elders quorum, the Relief Society, and the primary. It was so neat to see their excitement. My testimony grew of member referrals. Member referrals are more stable and it lets the ward see that they can be agents too, helping their ward grow. It´s great.
Another neat thing was taking Hans Peter on a joint teach with us. We have been teaching a man since February who knows certain things are true, but then has concerns about other things. Anyway, during the appointment our investigator kept asking Peter questions about his conversion, if it really helped him and changed things for him. Peter gave such a strong testimony and said the change wasn´t huge, but it made life a whole lot better and more positive. Our investigator really appreciated it. I really appreciated it too. :) It was great to hear.
Außer dem, life is great. It has been a little chilly here. One day it will be really warm, and the next it will be cold. Sometimes warm rain, sometimes cold rain, but a lot of rain. :) That is about how things are going here.
I love you family! I love Germany, and being a missionary here. I love the people we work with. It has really shown me what God does for us, and wants for us. It is a marvelous work and a Wunder (Wonder, auf Deutsch it means Miracle, that´s true!)
I hope you can see the miracles in your lives. They are there, we just have to notice them.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!
I understand the whole internet thing not working out. That happens sometimes here and we have to go around to the different internet shops. So you are forgiven. :) I forgot the Fitzgerald reunion was this past week. Did you tell everyone hi for me? I hope they are all doing well. And the Stokes reunion is this week? That is wonderful. Tell everyone hi for me there. I love going to the Stokes reunions! It´s funny the other day my companions and I were talking about families and what we want to do with our future families. As I thought about it I just became so grateful for the reunion heritage we have in our family. That is something I want to keep up. Thanks for keeping me updated.
Things here, . . . I had my last Zone Conference. And it was really good. We talked about the importance of faith and becoming sanctified. And building our relationship with Jesus Christ. The last part we talked about how we can find new investigators. What they said must have inspired us because we found more new investigators this week than ever before in my mission. It was so cool! A couple of them were referrals from a member family in our ward. They invited this family over for dessert and a discussion about Christ. We came too and taught them about the Book of Mormon and how it blesses families. When the husband saw the book and read Moroni´s promise he got so excited and said, "I have this book. My family gave me a copy of it from Africa." We of course were excited and asked if they wanted to learn more about what we believe they agreed. Then the members invited them to come to church next week and they got so excited again.They said they would love to. It was incredible! Then the next day at church as we talked about this appointment with our Ward mission leader he got so excited and said that this was the first member referral they have had in a long time. And that this new investigator family would bless almost every organization in the ward, the Elders quorum, the Relief Society, and the primary. It was so neat to see their excitement. My testimony grew of member referrals. Member referrals are more stable and it lets the ward see that they can be agents too, helping their ward grow. It´s great.
Another neat thing was taking Hans Peter on a joint teach with us. We have been teaching a man since February who knows certain things are true, but then has concerns about other things. Anyway, during the appointment our investigator kept asking Peter questions about his conversion, if it really helped him and changed things for him. Peter gave such a strong testimony and said the change wasn´t huge, but it made life a whole lot better and more positive. Our investigator really appreciated it. I really appreciated it too. :) It was great to hear.
Außer dem, life is great. It has been a little chilly here. One day it will be really warm, and the next it will be cold. Sometimes warm rain, sometimes cold rain, but a lot of rain. :) That is about how things are going here.
I love you family! I love Germany, and being a missionary here. I love the people we work with. It has really shown me what God does for us, and wants for us. It is a marvelous work and a Wunder (Wonder, auf Deutsch it means Miracle, that´s true!)
I hope you can see the miracles in your lives. They are there, we just have to notice them.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Answers to prayers
Date: Monday, June 14, 2010
Hello Family!
From now on my emails will always be on Monday, but this week was the last of the interesting weeks. We just got back from the temple and it was such a treat. I love the spirit that is there and for the truths that we learn and can apply to our lives. I am also grateful for the guidance that God gives to us there for our lives. I know He is there and answers prayers.
One prayer he answered, we got to find out about from Peter. We have been teaching him the lessons again after his baptism. As we were planning for this week, last week, we felt we needed to teach a specific lesson. So we did and it went really well. Then afterwards Peter told us that he had actually had some questions about that topic and had prayed to God to find out the answer. And he found the answer out during our lesson. That was such a tender mercy to me to know that we are led by the spirit. I was really grateful for that. While we were at the temple today, we went to the distribution center and I saw a new film called "On the Lords errand" and the caption on the back was "The greatest feeling is to follow a prompting and find out later that it was the answer to someones prayer." I totally agree. That is the greatest feeling.
This week we have been finding a lot of new people. It is pretty great. It´s kind of surprising, I´ve never found like this before on my mission. I am enjoying it. :)
Well things are going well. And Zone Conference is tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes next week!
I love you family. I didn´t get your email this week, but I hope all is going well!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
From now on my emails will always be on Monday, but this week was the last of the interesting weeks. We just got back from the temple and it was such a treat. I love the spirit that is there and for the truths that we learn and can apply to our lives. I am also grateful for the guidance that God gives to us there for our lives. I know He is there and answers prayers.
One prayer he answered, we got to find out about from Peter. We have been teaching him the lessons again after his baptism. As we were planning for this week, last week, we felt we needed to teach a specific lesson. So we did and it went really well. Then afterwards Peter told us that he had actually had some questions about that topic and had prayed to God to find out the answer. And he found the answer out during our lesson. That was such a tender mercy to me to know that we are led by the spirit. I was really grateful for that. While we were at the temple today, we went to the distribution center and I saw a new film called "On the Lords errand" and the caption on the back was "The greatest feeling is to follow a prompting and find out later that it was the answer to someones prayer." I totally agree. That is the greatest feeling.
This week we have been finding a lot of new people. It is pretty great. It´s kind of surprising, I´ve never found like this before on my mission. I am enjoying it. :)
Well things are going well. And Zone Conference is tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes next week!
I love you family. I didn´t get your email this week, but I hope all is going well!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Dreams and Testimonies
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Hello Family!
I am glad how God works in our lives, that he was able to make my P-day later this week so you would have time to write me. :) And wow, talk about cross country travelers. It seems like every email I have gotten the last few weeks has talked about some road trip somewhere to visit someone. It´s actually really funny, Germans don´t understand that at all. But anyway, Jason thanks for your email. It was fun to hear your version about your date. And I am excited to see you too! It doesn´t seem real yet, which is good, that I will go home in a few weeks. I really feel like I will just be in Germany forever doing missionary work for the rest of my life. :) I had the same feeling in Nauvoo, I just felt like I was there to stay to plant and take care of flowers the rest of my life. It´s funny how that happens.
But this week has been good. One really neat thing was having our investigator Sencan come to church this past Sunday. He has been super busy with school, but he finally committed to coming. And the spirit was so strong during testimony meeting. There was a baby blessing before hand and the mother got up and bore her testimony of how God knows our hearts. She said a few years ago she had served in the Berlin mission and her dream was to find a German family (she is American), teach them the gospel, and lead them to coming nearer to Christ. She said she never let a mother pass her by, she ALWAYS gave them something. But at the end of her mission she had not been able to find a family that was ready to be brought into the gospel. She said she was a little frustrated and confused. Before her mission she had felt that is why she went on her mission. Then a few years later while at BYU she met a german man and they ended up getting married, and now they are living here in Germany and she is the mother teaching her family the gospel and is leading them nearer to Christ. She was the mother she had been looking for while on her mission. As she spoke I felt the spirit so strong, confirming to me that God knows who I am, and what is in my heart. It does not go unnoticed. God knows us better than ourselves and seeks to make our dreams come true. We just need to have faith in Him and do the things He commands us personally. God speaks through prophets and through our hearts. If we trust that, and follow the directions He gives us for our life, we will find our dreams fulfilled.
Yesterday we had the opportunity of attending the Zone leader conference. Every transfer the Zone leaders and the Assistants meet together with President Ninow to talk about what needs to be taught during Zone Conference. They also invite one companionship of sisters to come and take part. I have always wanted to go, but this was my first chance. It was so incredible. One of the Zone leaders gave a great lesson on sanctification and after he was done President Ninow thanked him and asked if he could take a little more time on that. Then President spoke and we read scriptures together and read in preach my gospel together and discussed what it really means to be sanctified and how the process works. The spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for the opportunity to watch the priesthood in action. I feel like that is one reason I am so glad to be here on a mission. We get to work directly with many priesthood holders bishops, stake presidents, district leaders, zone leaders, our mission president, and I have gained a great testimony of how it works and the importance of it.
Mom asked about the young man, Tom, who ran after us to ask about family history work. He forgot last week, and so we are going to go there tomorrow together. We´re hoping for the best.
Family, I love you, yes I do!
Til next week!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
I am glad how God works in our lives, that he was able to make my P-day later this week so you would have time to write me. :) And wow, talk about cross country travelers. It seems like every email I have gotten the last few weeks has talked about some road trip somewhere to visit someone. It´s actually really funny, Germans don´t understand that at all. But anyway, Jason thanks for your email. It was fun to hear your version about your date. And I am excited to see you too! It doesn´t seem real yet, which is good, that I will go home in a few weeks. I really feel like I will just be in Germany forever doing missionary work for the rest of my life. :) I had the same feeling in Nauvoo, I just felt like I was there to stay to plant and take care of flowers the rest of my life. It´s funny how that happens.
But this week has been good. One really neat thing was having our investigator Sencan come to church this past Sunday. He has been super busy with school, but he finally committed to coming. And the spirit was so strong during testimony meeting. There was a baby blessing before hand and the mother got up and bore her testimony of how God knows our hearts. She said a few years ago she had served in the Berlin mission and her dream was to find a German family (she is American), teach them the gospel, and lead them to coming nearer to Christ. She said she never let a mother pass her by, she ALWAYS gave them something. But at the end of her mission she had not been able to find a family that was ready to be brought into the gospel. She said she was a little frustrated and confused. Before her mission she had felt that is why she went on her mission. Then a few years later while at BYU she met a german man and they ended up getting married, and now they are living here in Germany and she is the mother teaching her family the gospel and is leading them nearer to Christ. She was the mother she had been looking for while on her mission. As she spoke I felt the spirit so strong, confirming to me that God knows who I am, and what is in my heart. It does not go unnoticed. God knows us better than ourselves and seeks to make our dreams come true. We just need to have faith in Him and do the things He commands us personally. God speaks through prophets and through our hearts. If we trust that, and follow the directions He gives us for our life, we will find our dreams fulfilled.
Yesterday we had the opportunity of attending the Zone leader conference. Every transfer the Zone leaders and the Assistants meet together with President Ninow to talk about what needs to be taught during Zone Conference. They also invite one companionship of sisters to come and take part. I have always wanted to go, but this was my first chance. It was so incredible. One of the Zone leaders gave a great lesson on sanctification and after he was done President Ninow thanked him and asked if he could take a little more time on that. Then President spoke and we read scriptures together and read in preach my gospel together and discussed what it really means to be sanctified and how the process works. The spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for the opportunity to watch the priesthood in action. I feel like that is one reason I am so glad to be here on a mission. We get to work directly with many priesthood holders bishops, stake presidents, district leaders, zone leaders, our mission president, and I have gained a great testimony of how it works and the importance of it.
Mom asked about the young man, Tom, who ran after us to ask about family history work. He forgot last week, and so we are going to go there tomorrow together. We´re hoping for the best.
Family, I love you, yes I do!
Til next week!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Dreams come true
Date: Monday, May 31, 2010
Family!
Thank you for your emails. It sounds like Chris´s graduation went really well. I am glad that Dad is doing better and grandma too. Hopefully they just keep getting better until I get home. Candace that was so cute that Clara still remembers the Peel Banana dance. That made me laugh. She´ll have to do it for me when I see her. Family it is so great to hear from you.
So the most exciting thing this week was of course Peter´s baptism. It went very well. The Spirit was very strong and a lot of the members came to support him. It was so cool. After he was baptized he bore his testimony and said that at our very first lesson he said he felt something inside him telling him there was no way it couldn´t be true, and he knew from the start that it was. But we committed him to pray, so he did anyway even though he already knew and he got an answer saying, "You know it´s true." I am so grateful for the Spirit and that He is dependable and always does His job. We just have to teach and the Spirit lets them know and understand the truthfulness. The next day he received the gift of the Holy Ghost and partook of the Sacrament for the first time and said he felt so good. It was so neat. Something else that was neat was last week he said he wanted to know more about the temple and so we scheduled a temple tour for this week to do with him. Then yesterday the Frankfurt Temple President and his wife visited our ward and taught the Sunday School lesson about the temple. He was so excited. God gives us so many miracles every day, great and small, überal! :)
Another fun thing was earlier on in the week we were running to an appointment and we passed by this college age student and we just smiled as we kept running. And after we passed he came up behind us and started running with us and asked if we were Mormons. We stopped and said yes. He then asked us if we were the ones that did Geneology. We said Yes. He then said that he was interested in finding out who is ancestors are. We of course were totally pleased with his desire and got his name and number and set up an appointment at the Geneology center. It was just funny that he started running with us. But we look forward to meeting with him this week.
Before I forget. This week is transfers and we got our call yesterday that said Sister Ashby and I are staying together in Mainz (this is our fourth cycle together, 6 months) and we will stay a three some and will get Sister Egleston. Sister Dexheimer is going back to Grantsville having served a faithful mission. :) I will tell you more about Sister Egleston when I actually meet her, but from what I know so far she is from Blackfoot Idaho, and has 19 children in her family. Yes, 19 children. Her mother had 14 and they adopted 5. I am looking forward to serving with her for my last cycle.
In closing, :) I would like to share a quote with you that I found from Joseph Smith it is as follows:
"He who scattered Israel has promised to gather them; therefore inasmuch as you are to be instrumental in this great work, he will endow you with power, wisdom, might, and intelligence, and every qualification necessary; while your minds will expand wider and wider until you can circumscribe the earth and the heavens, reach forth into eternity, and contemplate the mighty acts of Jehovah in all their variety and glory." (History of the Church 4:129).
As I read that I felt the power of it, and I felt like I have experienced that on my mission. I know that Heavenly Father has blessed me with His power, wisdom, might and intelligence in order to help resolve the concerns of those I have worked with and to understand what I needed to change and do in my life. And because of that my mind has been expanded, it had to expand in order to understand the mighty work of our Savior and Father in Heaven. I firmly testify that they are glorious, intelligent, and perfect Beings. They love us and seek to help us in our lives. They have no limits of knowledge or experience, or love, or understanding. God is our perfect Father in Heaven who has all patience to help us work through and resolve our struggles. Our Savior and brother Jesus Christ is just like our Father and seeks to help us to become clean and happy. The Holy Ghost teaches us and reveals things to us to help us understand what steps we need to take in resolving our problems, concerns, and receiving the light of our Savior Jesus Christ. This work is great and I love it and don´t want it to end. I just want to give everything I have left, and come home on a stretcher. :) Like Elder Holland has said we should. :)
I love you family! And pray for your happiness!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!
Thank you for your emails. It sounds like Chris´s graduation went really well. I am glad that Dad is doing better and grandma too. Hopefully they just keep getting better until I get home. Candace that was so cute that Clara still remembers the Peel Banana dance. That made me laugh. She´ll have to do it for me when I see her. Family it is so great to hear from you.
So the most exciting thing this week was of course Peter´s baptism. It went very well. The Spirit was very strong and a lot of the members came to support him. It was so cool. After he was baptized he bore his testimony and said that at our very first lesson he said he felt something inside him telling him there was no way it couldn´t be true, and he knew from the start that it was. But we committed him to pray, so he did anyway even though he already knew and he got an answer saying, "You know it´s true." I am so grateful for the Spirit and that He is dependable and always does His job. We just have to teach and the Spirit lets them know and understand the truthfulness. The next day he received the gift of the Holy Ghost and partook of the Sacrament for the first time and said he felt so good. It was so neat. Something else that was neat was last week he said he wanted to know more about the temple and so we scheduled a temple tour for this week to do with him. Then yesterday the Frankfurt Temple President and his wife visited our ward and taught the Sunday School lesson about the temple. He was so excited. God gives us so many miracles every day, great and small, überal! :)
Another fun thing was earlier on in the week we were running to an appointment and we passed by this college age student and we just smiled as we kept running. And after we passed he came up behind us and started running with us and asked if we were Mormons. We stopped and said yes. He then asked us if we were the ones that did Geneology. We said Yes. He then said that he was interested in finding out who is ancestors are. We of course were totally pleased with his desire and got his name and number and set up an appointment at the Geneology center. It was just funny that he started running with us. But we look forward to meeting with him this week.
Before I forget. This week is transfers and we got our call yesterday that said Sister Ashby and I are staying together in Mainz (this is our fourth cycle together, 6 months) and we will stay a three some and will get Sister Egleston. Sister Dexheimer is going back to Grantsville having served a faithful mission. :) I will tell you more about Sister Egleston when I actually meet her, but from what I know so far she is from Blackfoot Idaho, and has 19 children in her family. Yes, 19 children. Her mother had 14 and they adopted 5. I am looking forward to serving with her for my last cycle.
In closing, :) I would like to share a quote with you that I found from Joseph Smith it is as follows:
"He who scattered Israel has promised to gather them; therefore inasmuch as you are to be instrumental in this great work, he will endow you with power, wisdom, might, and intelligence, and every qualification necessary; while your minds will expand wider and wider until you can circumscribe the earth and the heavens, reach forth into eternity, and contemplate the mighty acts of Jehovah in all their variety and glory." (History of the Church 4:129).
As I read that I felt the power of it, and I felt like I have experienced that on my mission. I know that Heavenly Father has blessed me with His power, wisdom, might and intelligence in order to help resolve the concerns of those I have worked with and to understand what I needed to change and do in my life. And because of that my mind has been expanded, it had to expand in order to understand the mighty work of our Savior and Father in Heaven. I firmly testify that they are glorious, intelligent, and perfect Beings. They love us and seek to help us in our lives. They have no limits of knowledge or experience, or love, or understanding. God is our perfect Father in Heaven who has all patience to help us work through and resolve our struggles. Our Savior and brother Jesus Christ is just like our Father and seeks to help us to become clean and happy. The Holy Ghost teaches us and reveals things to us to help us understand what steps we need to take in resolving our problems, concerns, and receiving the light of our Savior Jesus Christ. This work is great and I love it and don´t want it to end. I just want to give everything I have left, and come home on a stretcher. :) Like Elder Holland has said we should. :)
I love you family! And pray for your happiness!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
What a wonderful time...
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Familie!
This week I just want to say that life is totally wonderful! Peter is just making leaps and bounds of progress. It is amazing. On one day he mentioned to us that at work he was so stressed that he had given in to temptation and had smoked half a cigarette and then his conscience told told him, "What are you doing? You are sinning." And immediately he tossed it. During that appointment we could tell he was not himself and at the end he told us what he had done. It turned into a great real teaching opportunity, we talked about repentance and how he had already done the first few steps of recognizing it was wrong and a sin and stopping. Now he just needed to pray to God in his personal prayers and confess and ask for forgiveness. The next appointment I noticed a change. He was humble and more grateful to God. He had done what we had said. He told us that he felt so much better, and we could tell. I can´t describe what I saw in him, but it was a change. He had a change of heart. We had another appointment with him yesterday and we told him we would meet him at the bus stop. When we drove by in the bus I will never forget what I saw. He was there sitting on the chair with Book of Mormon in hand just really delving into it. When we approached he told us that, that day he had had a really strong craving for a cigarette and so he decided to write down his testimony and then he just started reading in the Book of Mormon. I was so happy. It was so wonderful.
My time is almost gone. But I am just so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Mainz working with these wonderful people. A change of the heart is a miracle only God can work. And it is amazing to see.
I love this gospel, this work, and you!
Love,
sister Fitzgerald
Familie!
This week I just want to say that life is totally wonderful! Peter is just making leaps and bounds of progress. It is amazing. On one day he mentioned to us that at work he was so stressed that he had given in to temptation and had smoked half a cigarette and then his conscience told told him, "What are you doing? You are sinning." And immediately he tossed it. During that appointment we could tell he was not himself and at the end he told us what he had done. It turned into a great real teaching opportunity, we talked about repentance and how he had already done the first few steps of recognizing it was wrong and a sin and stopping. Now he just needed to pray to God in his personal prayers and confess and ask for forgiveness. The next appointment I noticed a change. He was humble and more grateful to God. He had done what we had said. He told us that he felt so much better, and we could tell. I can´t describe what I saw in him, but it was a change. He had a change of heart. We had another appointment with him yesterday and we told him we would meet him at the bus stop. When we drove by in the bus I will never forget what I saw. He was there sitting on the chair with Book of Mormon in hand just really delving into it. When we approached he told us that, that day he had had a really strong craving for a cigarette and so he decided to write down his testimony and then he just started reading in the Book of Mormon. I was so happy. It was so wonderful.
My time is almost gone. But I am just so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Mainz working with these wonderful people. A change of the heart is a miracle only God can work. And it is amazing to see.
I love this gospel, this work, and you!
Love,
sister Fitzgerald
Monday, May 17, 2010
I saw the Amazon! and Hans Peter is doing great!
Date: Monday, May 17, 2010
Familie!
Sorry this will have to be a really fast one. But I thank you so much for the emails I received. They were wonderful and so full of details. Thank you Tara I REALLY enjoyed your email and everything you shared about Melissa´s reception and Ric's homecoming and everything else. It filled me with joy. And I am sorry to hear about Jason's sad dance experience. Didn´t Sean brake down on one of his dates too? I am glad he had a fun date experience though. Chris congratulations on Graduation!! That is so cool! I can´t believe you are graduating that is crazy, but wonderful. Wonderful things are ahead, I can promise you that!
Well as for my week last week, I just want to say that Peter is doing great. Really great. We met with him a few times and then had another scheduled appointment but he called us and said he had to cancel because he was sick. It turns out since he´s been keeping the word of wisdom he has gotten really bad headaches and very nauseated. But we went to visit him to see how he was doing and he said, it was ok that he felt sick because it meant he was on his way to becoming a better Christian. We were all overjoyed at his faith. He said it was much better the next day, and the days following, just the first few were pretty difficult. And we put him on a stop smoking program on Saturday, and when we saw him on Sunday he said that he never knew it could be so easy to quit smoking. Thank you for all the prayers you have said in his behalf. (I can´t spell anymore). I know a lot of people in our ward have been praying too. He is just doing wonderful, but I know Satan will work really hard on him because he is so wonderful, so keep praying for him, and we will keep meeting with him. :)
Also just a fun German thing before I go. This week we were asked to go visit an old lady in our ward that lived too far away to go to church. Anyway, we went to Bad Münster. And found that any city in Germany that has a "Bad" in front of it means it´s a "kur Stadt" a "cure town." There was this special water there that helps keeps the air fresh and does good things to your body when you drink it. Anyway, it looked like the Amazon. Everything was incredibly green and vibrant, and beautiful. There were trees and rivers and mountains every where and castles. It was gorgeous. I have decided to retire there. :) The city has a lot of old people there and there are a lot of rehabilitation clinics for old people and children. IT really was a wonderful place with fresh air and beauty. Wow.
That is all the time I have today, but I love you family!
Oh, I cannot forget Hao. So we took Hao to do a temple tour at the Frankfurt temple. And during it, it was so strong. He comes from China, and wants to be able to go to the temple someday but is a little nervous that he won´t get the chance if he goes back to China. We told him there was one in Hong Kong, but he is really far away from that one. Anyway, during the tour the spirit was so strong. And he said at the end, "That is what it means to be holy. It means perfect and complete." It was so neat. He said he wanted to have that feeling with him all the time. I said I agreed. I love the temple and the love that we feel there. I know the temple is where it´s at. Everything we do in this life points us to being worthy to go there and enjoy in the MANY blessings that come from going.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Familie!
Sorry this will have to be a really fast one. But I thank you so much for the emails I received. They were wonderful and so full of details. Thank you Tara I REALLY enjoyed your email and everything you shared about Melissa´s reception and Ric's homecoming and everything else. It filled me with joy. And I am sorry to hear about Jason's sad dance experience. Didn´t Sean brake down on one of his dates too? I am glad he had a fun date experience though. Chris congratulations on Graduation!! That is so cool! I can´t believe you are graduating that is crazy, but wonderful. Wonderful things are ahead, I can promise you that!
Well as for my week last week, I just want to say that Peter is doing great. Really great. We met with him a few times and then had another scheduled appointment but he called us and said he had to cancel because he was sick. It turns out since he´s been keeping the word of wisdom he has gotten really bad headaches and very nauseated. But we went to visit him to see how he was doing and he said, it was ok that he felt sick because it meant he was on his way to becoming a better Christian. We were all overjoyed at his faith. He said it was much better the next day, and the days following, just the first few were pretty difficult. And we put him on a stop smoking program on Saturday, and when we saw him on Sunday he said that he never knew it could be so easy to quit smoking. Thank you for all the prayers you have said in his behalf. (I can´t spell anymore). I know a lot of people in our ward have been praying too. He is just doing wonderful, but I know Satan will work really hard on him because he is so wonderful, so keep praying for him, and we will keep meeting with him. :)
Also just a fun German thing before I go. This week we were asked to go visit an old lady in our ward that lived too far away to go to church. Anyway, we went to Bad Münster. And found that any city in Germany that has a "Bad" in front of it means it´s a "kur Stadt" a "cure town." There was this special water there that helps keeps the air fresh and does good things to your body when you drink it. Anyway, it looked like the Amazon. Everything was incredibly green and vibrant, and beautiful. There were trees and rivers and mountains every where and castles. It was gorgeous. I have decided to retire there. :) The city has a lot of old people there and there are a lot of rehabilitation clinics for old people and children. IT really was a wonderful place with fresh air and beauty. Wow.
That is all the time I have today, but I love you family!
Oh, I cannot forget Hao. So we took Hao to do a temple tour at the Frankfurt temple. And during it, it was so strong. He comes from China, and wants to be able to go to the temple someday but is a little nervous that he won´t get the chance if he goes back to China. We told him there was one in Hong Kong, but he is really far away from that one. Anyway, during the tour the spirit was so strong. And he said at the end, "That is what it means to be holy. It means perfect and complete." It was so neat. He said he wanted to have that feeling with him all the time. I said I agreed. I love the temple and the love that we feel there. I know the temple is where it´s at. Everything we do in this life points us to being worthy to go there and enjoy in the MANY blessings that come from going.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Monday, May 10, 2010
What I forgot...
Date: May 10, 2010
Dear Family,
Well as I got off the phone with all of you yesterday I realized everything I forgot to say. The first is mom, "Happy Mothers Day!" I am not sure how that slipped my mind, but I am so grateful for all that you have done for me my whole entire life long. The older I get the more I realize what really goes into being a wife and mother and raising a family. Wow. Thank you so much for your kindness and patience. I truly feel like our home was a heaven on earth because of your kind loving example of patience. I love you. And Candace I meant to have you tell Evan and Clara hello too. I don´t know if I said that on the phone, but Evan I am glad you have so many talents and were able to play the organ for your ward. It was so wonderful talking with all of you. A very special treat for me. Thank you all for your testimonies and love and support and stories. I just loved it all.
I am not sure what I told who to, so I will just do a quick recap of last week. Um, we met with Hans Peter and set a baptismal date with him for May 29. As we were committing him we said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized . . ." (the commitment goes on to say by "one having authority . . .") and he interrupted and said right then, "May I?" And we just stopped and said, "Yes!" The spirit was so strong and there was light in his eyes as he said yes he would prepare himself to be baptized on that date. Also, before we taught the lesson we asked him how keeping the word of wisdom was going especially with smoking. He said that he had prayed to God for help and that God didn´t answer him with words, but through actions. He then related to us that the next day he had gotten to work and his boss had switched working crews and that the guy he would be working with was the only guy that didn´t smoke. We were so happy and I thought it was so neat that he was able to recognize Gods hand in that. There are no coincidences, when we pray and receive the help we need. As he shared that with us it strengthened my testimony to know that God is reliable, and dependable. When he gives us a commandment he does provide a way for us to keep it, we just have to trust him. It was very comforting to me to feel that.
Also Brother Himioben, who was baptized a month ago, received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. That was so special too. I think I told mom, I feel like Mary Poppins. As missionaries, we come in and see the what the situation is and help the investigators to know how it can be better. Then once they do it, they are so much happier than they were and go on living their life. And then Mary Poppins goes, and it´s like she was never there.
Those were the most exciting things this past week. But what was also good was Zone Conference. We talked about the Book of Mormon again and how Presidents challenge for us to read was helping us in our work. And I was so touched by the spirit. I was so close to tears during it. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. It gives me hope to go on and to know that because of Christ all things will be made right. Reading it gives new found insights to life, and happiness, what it is and how I get more of it. It has just made me happier all around and has brought the Spirit more into my work as a missionary, enough to know how to help investigators. It´s really improved my outlook on everything. I love the Book of Mormon and know it is true.
I love you family and hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's day!!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Dear Family,
Well as I got off the phone with all of you yesterday I realized everything I forgot to say. The first is mom, "Happy Mothers Day!" I am not sure how that slipped my mind, but I am so grateful for all that you have done for me my whole entire life long. The older I get the more I realize what really goes into being a wife and mother and raising a family. Wow. Thank you so much for your kindness and patience. I truly feel like our home was a heaven on earth because of your kind loving example of patience. I love you. And Candace I meant to have you tell Evan and Clara hello too. I don´t know if I said that on the phone, but Evan I am glad you have so many talents and were able to play the organ for your ward. It was so wonderful talking with all of you. A very special treat for me. Thank you all for your testimonies and love and support and stories. I just loved it all.
I am not sure what I told who to, so I will just do a quick recap of last week. Um, we met with Hans Peter and set a baptismal date with him for May 29. As we were committing him we said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized . . ." (the commitment goes on to say by "one having authority . . .") and he interrupted and said right then, "May I?" And we just stopped and said, "Yes!" The spirit was so strong and there was light in his eyes as he said yes he would prepare himself to be baptized on that date. Also, before we taught the lesson we asked him how keeping the word of wisdom was going especially with smoking. He said that he had prayed to God for help and that God didn´t answer him with words, but through actions. He then related to us that the next day he had gotten to work and his boss had switched working crews and that the guy he would be working with was the only guy that didn´t smoke. We were so happy and I thought it was so neat that he was able to recognize Gods hand in that. There are no coincidences, when we pray and receive the help we need. As he shared that with us it strengthened my testimony to know that God is reliable, and dependable. When he gives us a commandment he does provide a way for us to keep it, we just have to trust him. It was very comforting to me to feel that.
Also Brother Himioben, who was baptized a month ago, received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. That was so special too. I think I told mom, I feel like Mary Poppins. As missionaries, we come in and see the what the situation is and help the investigators to know how it can be better. Then once they do it, they are so much happier than they were and go on living their life. And then Mary Poppins goes, and it´s like she was never there.
Those were the most exciting things this past week. But what was also good was Zone Conference. We talked about the Book of Mormon again and how Presidents challenge for us to read was helping us in our work. And I was so touched by the spirit. I was so close to tears during it. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. It gives me hope to go on and to know that because of Christ all things will be made right. Reading it gives new found insights to life, and happiness, what it is and how I get more of it. It has just made me happier all around and has brought the Spirit more into my work as a missionary, enough to know how to help investigators. It´s really improved my outlook on everything. I love the Book of Mormon and know it is true.
I love you family and hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's day!!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Temples
Date: Monday, May 3, 2010
Family,
Well before I forget to mention it, I will be calling on Mothers Day around 9:30 am your time. It will be my first time calling out of the country so I will try to figure it out and call at that time. The order in which I will call everyone is as follows: 1. The family in Rexburg, 2. Candace and Evan in Arizona, and then 3. Dad. Um, I don´t know the time zone in Arizona so Candace and Evan just know I will call between 9:30 and 10:30 am MST. :) I hope that is OK. I wasn´t sure when your church was. Our is in the afternoon now, so yeah, I hope that all works out. If in case I can´t figure it out feel free to call me Mothers Day at (49)176-183-008-60. Sister Ashby called home for Christmas so she knows how to do it and can help me. :) I am looking so forward to talking with all of you. Will Sean and Kim be in Rexburg or Arizona, or Utah with Dad? I guess if not you can just give me their phone number on Sunday. YEA!
Ok, Mom I am so glad you got the chance to go to Women,s Conference. Sister Beck is amazing. You are amazing too. It sounds like are just bustling over there. In Tara´s email she talked about going back and forth to Utah and has only been home two days in the last few weeks she´s been at home. Wow, I haven´t left my city in the last 8 months, and you all are going cross country. :) But you do it to serve one another. I find that noble. That is what they say in German a lot, "I find that . . ." or they actually say, "Ich finde daß . . ." So yeah, anyway.
Mission life is completely wonderful!!!!!! I should also say before I forget, there was a surprise sister that came with all the other missionaries last week so we are still in a threesome. But Sister Cutler left us and now we have Sister Dexheimer. She is from Grantsville, Utah. And a very happy person. I love having her here. It´s funny because I knew her too in the MTC. She was the group right before me that left for Germany. The last few days have been pretty good.
We taught Peter the Word of Wisdom this week and we taught it at a convert families house. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and the members were so supportive. He was a little nervous about a few things but the members were a great help. They shared with him how they were able to overcome their challenges and that gave him hope. After everything was resolved he looked at us and said, "It´s not a matter of if, I will follow it, I just need to figure out how I can do it." MY heart filled with glee at his faith in the doctrine we taught. There is nothing I love more than to look into the eyes of a believing investigator and promise blessings that God has waiting for them. I love it! Well what I do love more is when they live it and tell us the blessings we promised came true, for they experienced it for themselves. Oh my goodness family, this church is true! And it fills me with hope and happiness inside and out! After we taught this lesson, the father of the family called us up the next morning and asked us for our investigators full name. This father was going to the temple and wanted to put Peters name on the prayer roll. I was so touched by the concern of the members for our faithful investigator.
That is the highlight of the week. And you know me, I like to say a few of my thoughts at the end of every email. :) and that is the temple. this week we taught a less active member about the temple. At the end we read in Doctrine and Covenants and all promised blessings that come from making the changes necessary in our lives so that we cango to the temple. The spirit was there because he said, "You know what you guys, I really want to find another job so I can go to the temple." (His job requires him to work every Sunday so he can´t go to church). We set up a temple tour and we will be going with him next week. As I have thought about the temple I have not been able to stop. :) IT carries me away to many other thoughts, that all help me realize that it is our destination. I have a strong testimony that baptism is the door to eternal life, but our destination is the House of the Lord, His Holy Temple. When I talk with people on the street they have so many concerns that need to be resolved. If they are humble and willing to try what we say (have faith), we can help them. If not, they continue in their sorrows and darkness. The gospel does bring light. Sometimes that light shows our weaknesses or mistakes, but then it helps us see where we can improve. When we rely on our Savior and do improve by making necessary changes, then we receive more light. And this process and light grows and grows until the perfect day, when we are full of light and have no more darkness or confusion or weaknesses or secrets. We can become totally clean and full of light through our Savior Jesus Christ. The guilt we have can be swept away, if we WANT it to be and SHOW that we WANT it by being humble and willing to submit to making changes. That is what I have learned on my mission. It has been a hard lesson. I had secrets like, "I actually don´t know how to teach, or I can´t actually speak German, but I will just pretend like I know until I figure it out." But then when people told me how I could improve it hurt, because it was true. And sometimes I wouldn´t follow their council and it would just keep coming up and bother me. Until I just decided it wasn´t worth it I should just try out what they said. So I would and at first it was still hard, but as I brought it to the light and asked for help, I was able to receive the help I needed either from my companion, my mission president or my father in heaven. Once they were fixed they didn´t bother me anymore. Then I could work on other things. I still have a lot to work on, but I am not the same missionary today as I was last year. I have learned a lot and have made a lot of changes. The more changes I decide to make that lead me to improving myself the happier I am, and the more confident I am. And yes, this all does go back to going to the temple. :) Like I said before thinking about the temple takes me away to other thoughts. :) But what I wanted to say overall is that the other day I read in the Doctrine and Covenants something like, Let us not glory in man, but let us glory in God. And I like that. Well, my time is officially gone. I just went off for a long time. I thank you all for your support.
I love you and I CAN´T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!!
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Family,
Well before I forget to mention it, I will be calling on Mothers Day around 9:30 am your time. It will be my first time calling out of the country so I will try to figure it out and call at that time. The order in which I will call everyone is as follows: 1. The family in Rexburg, 2. Candace and Evan in Arizona, and then 3. Dad. Um, I don´t know the time zone in Arizona so Candace and Evan just know I will call between 9:30 and 10:30 am MST. :) I hope that is OK. I wasn´t sure when your church was. Our is in the afternoon now, so yeah, I hope that all works out. If in case I can´t figure it out feel free to call me Mothers Day at (49)176-183-008-60. Sister Ashby called home for Christmas so she knows how to do it and can help me. :) I am looking so forward to talking with all of you. Will Sean and Kim be in Rexburg or Arizona, or Utah with Dad? I guess if not you can just give me their phone number on Sunday. YEA!
Ok, Mom I am so glad you got the chance to go to Women,s Conference. Sister Beck is amazing. You are amazing too. It sounds like are just bustling over there. In Tara´s email she talked about going back and forth to Utah and has only been home two days in the last few weeks she´s been at home. Wow, I haven´t left my city in the last 8 months, and you all are going cross country. :) But you do it to serve one another. I find that noble. That is what they say in German a lot, "I find that . . ." or they actually say, "Ich finde daß . . ." So yeah, anyway.
Mission life is completely wonderful!!!!!! I should also say before I forget, there was a surprise sister that came with all the other missionaries last week so we are still in a threesome. But Sister Cutler left us and now we have Sister Dexheimer. She is from Grantsville, Utah. And a very happy person. I love having her here. It´s funny because I knew her too in the MTC. She was the group right before me that left for Germany. The last few days have been pretty good.
We taught Peter the Word of Wisdom this week and we taught it at a convert families house. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and the members were so supportive. He was a little nervous about a few things but the members were a great help. They shared with him how they were able to overcome their challenges and that gave him hope. After everything was resolved he looked at us and said, "It´s not a matter of if, I will follow it, I just need to figure out how I can do it." MY heart filled with glee at his faith in the doctrine we taught. There is nothing I love more than to look into the eyes of a believing investigator and promise blessings that God has waiting for them. I love it! Well what I do love more is when they live it and tell us the blessings we promised came true, for they experienced it for themselves. Oh my goodness family, this church is true! And it fills me with hope and happiness inside and out! After we taught this lesson, the father of the family called us up the next morning and asked us for our investigators full name. This father was going to the temple and wanted to put Peters name on the prayer roll. I was so touched by the concern of the members for our faithful investigator.
That is the highlight of the week. And you know me, I like to say a few of my thoughts at the end of every email. :) and that is the temple. this week we taught a less active member about the temple. At the end we read in Doctrine and Covenants and all promised blessings that come from making the changes necessary in our lives so that we cango to the temple. The spirit was there because he said, "You know what you guys, I really want to find another job so I can go to the temple." (His job requires him to work every Sunday so he can´t go to church). We set up a temple tour and we will be going with him next week. As I have thought about the temple I have not been able to stop. :) IT carries me away to many other thoughts, that all help me realize that it is our destination. I have a strong testimony that baptism is the door to eternal life, but our destination is the House of the Lord, His Holy Temple. When I talk with people on the street they have so many concerns that need to be resolved. If they are humble and willing to try what we say (have faith), we can help them. If not, they continue in their sorrows and darkness. The gospel does bring light. Sometimes that light shows our weaknesses or mistakes, but then it helps us see where we can improve. When we rely on our Savior and do improve by making necessary changes, then we receive more light. And this process and light grows and grows until the perfect day, when we are full of light and have no more darkness or confusion or weaknesses or secrets. We can become totally clean and full of light through our Savior Jesus Christ. The guilt we have can be swept away, if we WANT it to be and SHOW that we WANT it by being humble and willing to submit to making changes. That is what I have learned on my mission. It has been a hard lesson. I had secrets like, "I actually don´t know how to teach, or I can´t actually speak German, but I will just pretend like I know until I figure it out." But then when people told me how I could improve it hurt, because it was true. And sometimes I wouldn´t follow their council and it would just keep coming up and bother me. Until I just decided it wasn´t worth it I should just try out what they said. So I would and at first it was still hard, but as I brought it to the light and asked for help, I was able to receive the help I needed either from my companion, my mission president or my father in heaven. Once they were fixed they didn´t bother me anymore. Then I could work on other things. I still have a lot to work on, but I am not the same missionary today as I was last year. I have learned a lot and have made a lot of changes. The more changes I decide to make that lead me to improving myself the happier I am, and the more confident I am. And yes, this all does go back to going to the temple. :) Like I said before thinking about the temple takes me away to other thoughts. :) But what I wanted to say overall is that the other day I read in the Doctrine and Covenants something like, Let us not glory in man, but let us glory in God. And I like that. Well, my time is officially gone. I just went off for a long time. I thank you all for your support.
I love you and I CAN´T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!!
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wonders! Wonders!
Date: Monday, April 26, 2010
Familie!
Well it sounds like things are still busy around there. That is wonderful. And it was great to get the news on things. I will be praying for Dad that everything goes well with work and the surgery. I am so happy that Chris is enjoying his class at BYU-I. Way to be Chris. Jason is siging up for AP classes, that is awesome! Go Jason! That is what I like to hear. From all of you, it sounds like you are all stretching yourselves in different ways. I am so happy for you. Wahoo! And Candace you are having a boy! That is so exciting! I hope Clara can enjoy him once she actually sees him. She sounds like she is growing up so much. I just can´t even believe it. Mom, thanks for calling around and getting information on Apartments and things. I appreciate that so much. Tara, thanks for registering me for classes. I am so grateful to you. That´s fun you all went and enjoyed Yellowstone. There are a lot of people that have visited Yellowstone here. So that´s fun.
As for me and the work in Mainz, there have been miracles happening. Wünders! A funny fact first, because of the volcano all the missionaries that were going to fly home found out a couple days before that they couldn´t and all the missionaries coming couldn´t until the planes started running again. Anyway, so things stayed the smae for a week, so this week things will change. But as for the miracles. I will start with the most recent ones. Hans. He is awesome. We met him on the street a week ago and everytime we meet with him he always says its better than he imagined. It´s so great! Also he came to chruch for the first time yesterday and was so pleased about the practicality of the gospel and how we apply it to our lives. Also the sincerity of the members. A lot of people went out of their way to talk to him and sit by him and answer his questions. It was all so wonderful. He says he has noticed a change in him ever since he started meeting with us. He has more hope, and things are more postive. Also, he reads in the Book of Mormon every night before he goes to bed. An experience he shared with us helped us see how he is applying what he is learning. I guess there was a man that he worked with that was pretty hard to get along with, but he said as he read in the Book of Mormon it helped him to change the way he looked at the situation. And he forgave the man for the things he did, and since then they have gotten along much better and he enjoys going to work. We were so happy. The Book of Mormon really is the word of God. It helps us in our lives when we apply it.
Our other investigators are coming along. We haven´t been able to meet with Jules in over a month, but he just got back from vacation and he surprisingly came to church. I was so shocked, he just walked right in during sacrament meeting, and once again we were so happy. Hopefully we can start meeting with him again. Annina also came back from vacation in southern Brazil. She asked if she could meet with us, we said yes. She told us of a few spiritual experiences she had had and the spirit was really strong during the lesson. We are also hoping we can start meeting with her again too.
There have been many other miracles through the days, and I am so grateful for God's hand in all things. I have been studying about desire the past few days. And I know that God does give us what we want according to our knowledge of the consequences or blessings we will recieve from the desire. It talkes about it in Alma 29:4-5, but it reminded me of a song on The Incredible Mr. Limpet. "Be careful what you wish, for wishes can come true. Make sure that every wish you make, is one that´s right for you . . ." True happiness comes from doing Gods will for us in keeping commandments and following the promptings of the spirit, but He will not force us to be happy. Happiness comes from transforming our desires into desiring what God desires. That is joy. And I could talk about that for a long time. But it sufficeth me to say, "Wickedness never was happiness." (Alma 41:10) and "Learn wisdom in thy youth, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." (Alma 37:35). That is so true. I cannot say enough how true that is. I just see too many youth not follow that counsel and they fall into strange paths, and are not happy. God is the source of happiness, if we want to be happy we need to get closer to him, when we do, we fill feel happier. It´s true.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Familie!
Well it sounds like things are still busy around there. That is wonderful. And it was great to get the news on things. I will be praying for Dad that everything goes well with work and the surgery. I am so happy that Chris is enjoying his class at BYU-I. Way to be Chris. Jason is siging up for AP classes, that is awesome! Go Jason! That is what I like to hear. From all of you, it sounds like you are all stretching yourselves in different ways. I am so happy for you. Wahoo! And Candace you are having a boy! That is so exciting! I hope Clara can enjoy him once she actually sees him. She sounds like she is growing up so much. I just can´t even believe it. Mom, thanks for calling around and getting information on Apartments and things. I appreciate that so much. Tara, thanks for registering me for classes. I am so grateful to you. That´s fun you all went and enjoyed Yellowstone. There are a lot of people that have visited Yellowstone here. So that´s fun.
As for me and the work in Mainz, there have been miracles happening. Wünders! A funny fact first, because of the volcano all the missionaries that were going to fly home found out a couple days before that they couldn´t and all the missionaries coming couldn´t until the planes started running again. Anyway, so things stayed the smae for a week, so this week things will change. But as for the miracles. I will start with the most recent ones. Hans. He is awesome. We met him on the street a week ago and everytime we meet with him he always says its better than he imagined. It´s so great! Also he came to chruch for the first time yesterday and was so pleased about the practicality of the gospel and how we apply it to our lives. Also the sincerity of the members. A lot of people went out of their way to talk to him and sit by him and answer his questions. It was all so wonderful. He says he has noticed a change in him ever since he started meeting with us. He has more hope, and things are more postive. Also, he reads in the Book of Mormon every night before he goes to bed. An experience he shared with us helped us see how he is applying what he is learning. I guess there was a man that he worked with that was pretty hard to get along with, but he said as he read in the Book of Mormon it helped him to change the way he looked at the situation. And he forgave the man for the things he did, and since then they have gotten along much better and he enjoys going to work. We were so happy. The Book of Mormon really is the word of God. It helps us in our lives when we apply it.
Our other investigators are coming along. We haven´t been able to meet with Jules in over a month, but he just got back from vacation and he surprisingly came to church. I was so shocked, he just walked right in during sacrament meeting, and once again we were so happy. Hopefully we can start meeting with him again. Annina also came back from vacation in southern Brazil. She asked if she could meet with us, we said yes. She told us of a few spiritual experiences she had had and the spirit was really strong during the lesson. We are also hoping we can start meeting with her again too.
There have been many other miracles through the days, and I am so grateful for God's hand in all things. I have been studying about desire the past few days. And I know that God does give us what we want according to our knowledge of the consequences or blessings we will recieve from the desire. It talkes about it in Alma 29:4-5, but it reminded me of a song on The Incredible Mr. Limpet. "Be careful what you wish, for wishes can come true. Make sure that every wish you make, is one that´s right for you . . ." True happiness comes from doing Gods will for us in keeping commandments and following the promptings of the spirit, but He will not force us to be happy. Happiness comes from transforming our desires into desiring what God desires. That is joy. And I could talk about that for a long time. But it sufficeth me to say, "Wickedness never was happiness." (Alma 41:10) and "Learn wisdom in thy youth, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." (Alma 37:35). That is so true. I cannot say enough how true that is. I just see too many youth not follow that counsel and they fall into strange paths, and are not happy. God is the source of happiness, if we want to be happy we need to get closer to him, when we do, we fill feel happier. It´s true.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Monday, April 19, 2010
Transfers...
Date: Monday, April 19, 2010
Hello Family!
It sounds like you have a busy week this week. Wow. Good luck with everything. That is exciting that Tara is now at home again and that Jason is old enough now that he was able to bless the sacrament and that Chris is starting his first college class. Oh, also that Crozier led the whole fifth grade class in the DARE song. Way to go Croz! Wow. So much is happening in your lives. When you go to Aunt Ladeans funeral tell everyone hello from me. Also thank Aunt Rita for her email a while ago. I really enjoyed it. Tell Melissa congratulations for me. I am so happy for her to have found a wonderful guy.
As for my week, we found out about where everyoe is going for the coming cycle. Sister Ashby and I are staying in Mainz! Sister Cutler will be going to Heidelberg. I was really surprised to hear I was staying, but I am happy to continue working with the people here. I want to see more people come closer to Christ through baptism before I go home. I know it´s possible, and we are working right now on getting more lessons per week. That will help. It will be weird going back to a twosome. I really ejoyed being in a threesome. I felt like we were able to be more productive because there were three of us. But it will be good.
Other exciting things that happened this week were, well we met a man on the street. (Surprise :)) And we talked to him and gave him a pass along card. Then about an hour later he called us and said he had gone straight home and had looked at the chuch website had liked what he saw and wanted to meet. So we met and he agreed that we needed a prophet again on the earth and was so excited to read in the Book of Mormon. It was such a blessing for me personally that he was so interested. Because that appointment we had had before that was disappointing, so to see this man full of faith and so excited about the gospel was wonderful. We are meeting with him again on Wednesday and are looking forward to that.
We have also had a lot of good conversations on the street. People are searching for answers and as we talk to them they admit that they notice something special about us and we tell them it´s the spirit and that we have the answers they are looking for because the truth has been restored. "oh that I were an angel . . ." Sometimes I think that. :) After this week I just feel like saying Wake up world! Wake up! But the work is still rolling forward and now it just needs to go faster.
I am so grateful for this gospel. It helps me see the world through different eyes. It makes it easier to detect evilness, sadness, and misery, and also what the path is that leads to joy, peace, lasting happiness. Of all the roads to choose I choose that one, thanks to the restored gospel. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I have been studying Jesus the Christ and I am so grateful for all that he went through and did for us. He is truly loving and kind and forgiving. And I like that. I want to be more like that.
I love you family! And I will talk to you next week!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
It sounds like you have a busy week this week. Wow. Good luck with everything. That is exciting that Tara is now at home again and that Jason is old enough now that he was able to bless the sacrament and that Chris is starting his first college class. Oh, also that Crozier led the whole fifth grade class in the DARE song. Way to go Croz! Wow. So much is happening in your lives. When you go to Aunt Ladeans funeral tell everyone hello from me. Also thank Aunt Rita for her email a while ago. I really enjoyed it. Tell Melissa congratulations for me. I am so happy for her to have found a wonderful guy.
As for my week, we found out about where everyoe is going for the coming cycle. Sister Ashby and I are staying in Mainz! Sister Cutler will be going to Heidelberg. I was really surprised to hear I was staying, but I am happy to continue working with the people here. I want to see more people come closer to Christ through baptism before I go home. I know it´s possible, and we are working right now on getting more lessons per week. That will help. It will be weird going back to a twosome. I really ejoyed being in a threesome. I felt like we were able to be more productive because there were three of us. But it will be good.
Other exciting things that happened this week were, well we met a man on the street. (Surprise :)) And we talked to him and gave him a pass along card. Then about an hour later he called us and said he had gone straight home and had looked at the chuch website had liked what he saw and wanted to meet. So we met and he agreed that we needed a prophet again on the earth and was so excited to read in the Book of Mormon. It was such a blessing for me personally that he was so interested. Because that appointment we had had before that was disappointing, so to see this man full of faith and so excited about the gospel was wonderful. We are meeting with him again on Wednesday and are looking forward to that.
We have also had a lot of good conversations on the street. People are searching for answers and as we talk to them they admit that they notice something special about us and we tell them it´s the spirit and that we have the answers they are looking for because the truth has been restored. "oh that I were an angel . . ." Sometimes I think that. :) After this week I just feel like saying Wake up world! Wake up! But the work is still rolling forward and now it just needs to go faster.
I am so grateful for this gospel. It helps me see the world through different eyes. It makes it easier to detect evilness, sadness, and misery, and also what the path is that leads to joy, peace, lasting happiness. Of all the roads to choose I choose that one, thanks to the restored gospel. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I have been studying Jesus the Christ and I am so grateful for all that he went through and did for us. He is truly loving and kind and forgiving. And I like that. I want to be more like that.
I love you family! And I will talk to you next week!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
What wonderful work
Date: Monday, April 12, 2010
Hello Family!
I loved hearing from you this week, like always. Mom thanks for all your thoughts on conference. There were so many things that touched my heart. The church is true, and we have it because the family is so important. The church is centered around the family, so that we can build the kingdom of God. There has been so much I have wanted to say to you all lately. Right now I have tears in my eyes just thinking of you all. Dad, Mom, Candace and Evan and your family, Tara, Sean and Kim and your family, Ritchie, Chris, Jason, and Crozier. As I think of you all individually I feel an overwheliming sense of love. I know families are eternal. And we learned a lot about that in General Conference.
This last weekend was really wonderful. Brother Himioben was baptized and confirmed this week and it was a wonderful baptism. A lot of the ward came to support him and his brother in law baptized him. His father in law said that they had been praying for him for 30 years to get baptized and they were so grateful he had finally decided to do it. IT was very spiritual for all there. It was also special to hear him bear his testimony yesterday after he had received the Holy Ghost.
I am so grateful for the Spirit that helps others know and love the truth. We had another investigator there that attended the baptism and he ended up giving us a referral which we called and he said that our investigator had told him we would call and is excited to meet with us tonight. We were also very happy. Also a neat thing was yesterday morning during personal study I had the prompting we should call and invite Sencan to church. He was the one that came to the baptism, but had said he didn´t have time and would see us on Monday. Well after studies we called him really fast and he said that when we called him he had been thinking about us and said he would like to go to church. It was something really small, but great. After sacrament meeting he said he knew this was the right way for him to go. He said he feels so good every time he comes to church and meets with us, something he has never felt before any where else. We told him it was the Spirit, and he could always have it by him if he got baptized. He said he wanted to get baptized, and so we are meeting with him tonight to set a baptismal date.
I have been thinking a lot about the temple lately and it´s importance. I realize the importance of making more covenants for yourself, without it we cannot live by God. But also I have been thinking about the importance of returning to the temple. The other day as we were contacting I could sense the uncleanliness of the world. And as I sensed that I thought of the temple. How holy and clean in every sense of the word it is. I realized how much my testimony of the gospel has grown since I have been through the temple. And that would have never happened with out going there, and not just once, but repeatedly. When we go to the temple we make covenants and come to a better understanding of who God is. And because of that I know better who I want to be. And I learn more and more of what that is every time I go. And it is something wonderful.
I have many other thoughts, but I will leave them be. :) One last thing before I go. :) Because of our potential Satan tries so hard to distract us and unprioritize our priorities. I cannot even describe the sadness and heartache I have seen since being out here from people that got distracted and stayed distracted from walking on the straight and narrow path. I have been thinking about how much happiness God promises us, and how much happiness Satan promises us. How is a person to know what will bring happiness? They both look good a lot of the time. And I like what President Uchtdorf said that temptation wouldn´t be temptation if it didn´t promise pleasure. We would not be stupid enough to be tempted if Satan didn´t make it look good. But in my short life so far, I have really come to know that Gods happiness lasts and doesn´t bring lasting pain. I really liked the analogy shared in the Sunday afternoon session of conference that a mother takes her baby into the doctor to get a shot on purpose because she knows that the little pain now will go away, and is nothing compared to the pain that the baby will have later on if it does not get the shot and gets measels. And if we submit our will to God now, not only will we not have pain someday, but he will replace it with more happiness and joy than we can even imagine with our mortal senses. Of this I am sure.
I love you family and I will let you know what happens with transfers next week.
Til then!
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
I loved hearing from you this week, like always. Mom thanks for all your thoughts on conference. There were so many things that touched my heart. The church is true, and we have it because the family is so important. The church is centered around the family, so that we can build the kingdom of God. There has been so much I have wanted to say to you all lately. Right now I have tears in my eyes just thinking of you all. Dad, Mom, Candace and Evan and your family, Tara, Sean and Kim and your family, Ritchie, Chris, Jason, and Crozier. As I think of you all individually I feel an overwheliming sense of love. I know families are eternal. And we learned a lot about that in General Conference.
This last weekend was really wonderful. Brother Himioben was baptized and confirmed this week and it was a wonderful baptism. A lot of the ward came to support him and his brother in law baptized him. His father in law said that they had been praying for him for 30 years to get baptized and they were so grateful he had finally decided to do it. IT was very spiritual for all there. It was also special to hear him bear his testimony yesterday after he had received the Holy Ghost.
I am so grateful for the Spirit that helps others know and love the truth. We had another investigator there that attended the baptism and he ended up giving us a referral which we called and he said that our investigator had told him we would call and is excited to meet with us tonight. We were also very happy. Also a neat thing was yesterday morning during personal study I had the prompting we should call and invite Sencan to church. He was the one that came to the baptism, but had said he didn´t have time and would see us on Monday. Well after studies we called him really fast and he said that when we called him he had been thinking about us and said he would like to go to church. It was something really small, but great. After sacrament meeting he said he knew this was the right way for him to go. He said he feels so good every time he comes to church and meets with us, something he has never felt before any where else. We told him it was the Spirit, and he could always have it by him if he got baptized. He said he wanted to get baptized, and so we are meeting with him tonight to set a baptismal date.
I have been thinking a lot about the temple lately and it´s importance. I realize the importance of making more covenants for yourself, without it we cannot live by God. But also I have been thinking about the importance of returning to the temple. The other day as we were contacting I could sense the uncleanliness of the world. And as I sensed that I thought of the temple. How holy and clean in every sense of the word it is. I realized how much my testimony of the gospel has grown since I have been through the temple. And that would have never happened with out going there, and not just once, but repeatedly. When we go to the temple we make covenants and come to a better understanding of who God is. And because of that I know better who I want to be. And I learn more and more of what that is every time I go. And it is something wonderful.
I have many other thoughts, but I will leave them be. :) One last thing before I go. :) Because of our potential Satan tries so hard to distract us and unprioritize our priorities. I cannot even describe the sadness and heartache I have seen since being out here from people that got distracted and stayed distracted from walking on the straight and narrow path. I have been thinking about how much happiness God promises us, and how much happiness Satan promises us. How is a person to know what will bring happiness? They both look good a lot of the time. And I like what President Uchtdorf said that temptation wouldn´t be temptation if it didn´t promise pleasure. We would not be stupid enough to be tempted if Satan didn´t make it look good. But in my short life so far, I have really come to know that Gods happiness lasts and doesn´t bring lasting pain. I really liked the analogy shared in the Sunday afternoon session of conference that a mother takes her baby into the doctor to get a shot on purpose because she knows that the little pain now will go away, and is nothing compared to the pain that the baby will have later on if it does not get the shot and gets measels. And if we submit our will to God now, not only will we not have pain someday, but he will replace it with more happiness and joy than we can even imagine with our mortal senses. Of this I am sure.
I love you family and I will let you know what happens with transfers next week.
Til then!
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
General Conference
Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Family!
I have realized I am not very good about responding to emails. I email every week, but sometimes I forget to answer the questions or things you tell me. They always mean a lot to me and in the excitement to tell you what's happening here I forget to respond specifically to you. So I will try to be better at that. Before I forget, starting next week my email will be one day earlier, on Monday instead of Tuesday. So feel free to write before Monday. :) Chris, thanks for sending an email for mom. And Mom thanks for sending your other ones. Thanks for getting all the school stuff taken care of. I appreciate that. And I am glad that you were able to share with the Rexburg Sister Missionaries the thoughts my mission president shared with us. It has continued to do me a lot of good. Being in control of our thoughts is a wonderful thing. Also, I was looking forward to reading Mynoa´s email about the Savior, but I never received it. I am sure it was wonderful.
Speaking of wonderful, General Conference was wonderful. I haven´t been able to see the last session yet, we´ll see it next week in church, but all the others were very good. I guess no one has any doubt now on how important the family is. It helped me to realize the importance of motherhood and father hood. I forget who said it, but that we will all be released from all other callings and assignments expect for that of father and mother. I thought that was so powerful. The family is the most important thing. And everything else is there to simply help the family. I took a lot of notes. Before the session started I wrote down some questions I had and was amazed at how quickly they were answered, in pretty much every talk. I am grateful for truth and personal revelation, and for those who are willing to dedicate their lives to serve God and fellow man. It was so inspiring.
This week we have been able to find a lot more contacts, maybe because the weather is warming up. We are still trying to get them to turn into new investigators. We have a new Chinese investigator, Ji. It is so interesting teaching Chinese people. They have no concept of who God is or who He could be. Whatever you tell them about God they accept because they have no misconceptions in their mind, except for the fact that He may or may not exist. In Germany religion is a requirement in school and everyone knows about God and Christiandom. And so it can be hard for them to understand the truth about God, that he is literally our Father in Heaven with a body. It just makes sense for Chinese people. Interesting. Along with teaching Chinese people comes eating with them too. I have had some pretty exciting food lately. The most recent was cuttle fish. It looks like a baby octopus with tentacles and everything. It was really good though, which was kind of surprising. It made me think of Sean and Ric serving in Taiwan. As I was eating it, Hao, the one who had given it to us, was just laughing. He said we would starve if we took that long to "research" it in China. It was funny.
Well that is it for this week family. I love you so much and hope that God is continuing to bless you in your lives. I know He will as we continue to search for Him more and more in our lives.
Until next Monday!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!
I have realized I am not very good about responding to emails. I email every week, but sometimes I forget to answer the questions or things you tell me. They always mean a lot to me and in the excitement to tell you what's happening here I forget to respond specifically to you. So I will try to be better at that. Before I forget, starting next week my email will be one day earlier, on Monday instead of Tuesday. So feel free to write before Monday. :) Chris, thanks for sending an email for mom. And Mom thanks for sending your other ones. Thanks for getting all the school stuff taken care of. I appreciate that. And I am glad that you were able to share with the Rexburg Sister Missionaries the thoughts my mission president shared with us. It has continued to do me a lot of good. Being in control of our thoughts is a wonderful thing. Also, I was looking forward to reading Mynoa´s email about the Savior, but I never received it. I am sure it was wonderful.
Speaking of wonderful, General Conference was wonderful. I haven´t been able to see the last session yet, we´ll see it next week in church, but all the others were very good. I guess no one has any doubt now on how important the family is. It helped me to realize the importance of motherhood and father hood. I forget who said it, but that we will all be released from all other callings and assignments expect for that of father and mother. I thought that was so powerful. The family is the most important thing. And everything else is there to simply help the family. I took a lot of notes. Before the session started I wrote down some questions I had and was amazed at how quickly they were answered, in pretty much every talk. I am grateful for truth and personal revelation, and for those who are willing to dedicate their lives to serve God and fellow man. It was so inspiring.
This week we have been able to find a lot more contacts, maybe because the weather is warming up. We are still trying to get them to turn into new investigators. We have a new Chinese investigator, Ji. It is so interesting teaching Chinese people. They have no concept of who God is or who He could be. Whatever you tell them about God they accept because they have no misconceptions in their mind, except for the fact that He may or may not exist. In Germany religion is a requirement in school and everyone knows about God and Christiandom. And so it can be hard for them to understand the truth about God, that he is literally our Father in Heaven with a body. It just makes sense for Chinese people. Interesting. Along with teaching Chinese people comes eating with them too. I have had some pretty exciting food lately. The most recent was cuttle fish. It looks like a baby octopus with tentacles and everything. It was really good though, which was kind of surprising. It made me think of Sean and Ric serving in Taiwan. As I was eating it, Hao, the one who had given it to us, was just laughing. He said we would starve if we took that long to "research" it in China. It was funny.
Well that is it for this week family. I love you so much and hope that God is continuing to bless you in your lives. I know He will as we continue to search for Him more and more in our lives.
Until next Monday!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The character of thoughts
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Hello Familie!
I just have to say it was so refreshing to read your emails today and it is so refreshing to email you. I am just so glad to be here right now writing you. Before I forget our P-days have been on Tuesday but because they are merging the German missions President Ninow has changed P-day to Monday. So I will be sending my emails now on Monday starting in two weeks. This week we had Zone Conference and it was so powerful. In our last Zone Conference President challenged us to re-read the Book of Mormon and highlight all of what Christ says, His doctrine, His attributes, and His names. So this time his wife Sister Ninow talked about the things she has been learning from doing that challenge. And it was so inspiring, it helped me to see what more I can get out of my reading. I have been very impressed with the clarity of the doctrine in the Book of Mormon. Quick story really fast last week we taught this wonderful family from Russia that were born again Christians and they were really thinking about what we were teaching and when we finally got to the Book of Mormon they were very hesitant and cautious. Anyway we had a long discussion about the Bible and Book of Mormon. What it came down to was that he said the Bible was hard enough to understand he didn´t need another book to read to try to figure out. We tried explaining how simple the Book of Mormon is. Anyway after the lesson one of my companions said, "The Bible was written for members of the church, that is why Paul stresses faith so much in the New Testament. The Book of Mormon was written for the intent to convince everyone in the world, in every language, and in every culture, that Jesus is the Christ and explains the doctrine very clearly so that everyone can understand." And it´s true the Book of Mormon is so simple. So I am grateful for that challenge.
Also President Ninow talked about the thoughts we have, how they influence the way we feel, and the way we act. And he talked about how because we are agents we have the ability to choose what we think about. We can create a new reality. He then talked about the expectations we have as missionaries. When we expect someone to say no to us, that can be very discouraging and will probably happen. And then we feel like we are being acted upon instead of acting. But then he said if we raise our expectations and expect people to say yes to us, that is a lot more hopeful and also people are more likely to say yes. I wrote down a lot of my thoughts about it, and I can´t remember them all right now. But it was interesting to hear because I did realize that throughout my mission the times I have been the happiest were not necessarily when things were going the greatest. It was when I decided to just be happy and positive and look for things to be grateful for. When I focused on those things and thought about them I was happier. The opposite is also true. There have been times when things have been going really well, but I am still disappointed or sad, only because I choose to think on those kinds of things. I have come to realize what kind of self control is to be had when we can control our thoughts. It is amazing. MY testimony grew to know that we really are agents. I know that it takes self control to decide what to think about and to get rid of the thoughts that we don´t want to think about, but since I´ve really started doing it I have noticed a difference. I am much more in control of my life, and my feelings, and what happens around me actually. It has been enlightening.
That was Zone Conference.
This past week we were able to get a lot of new contacts and now we are working on getting them to become investigators. Brother Himioben is getting baptized next week and we are looking forward to that. We heard from Shan Pan and she is still really excited about the gospel and gets back next week, hopefully we´ll be able to meet with her right away and set a new baptismal date.
I love you family and I wish you a very happy Easter! I know that Christ lives and that He suffered for us and died for us and rose again all because He wanted us to live with Him by our Father in Heaven. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the World. I know that there is a living prophet and that the Kingdom of God is alive on this earth. Truth is not history it is present.
I love you family and I am excited to hear your insights about General Conference.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Familie!
I just have to say it was so refreshing to read your emails today and it is so refreshing to email you. I am just so glad to be here right now writing you. Before I forget our P-days have been on Tuesday but because they are merging the German missions President Ninow has changed P-day to Monday. So I will be sending my emails now on Monday starting in two weeks. This week we had Zone Conference and it was so powerful. In our last Zone Conference President challenged us to re-read the Book of Mormon and highlight all of what Christ says, His doctrine, His attributes, and His names. So this time his wife Sister Ninow talked about the things she has been learning from doing that challenge. And it was so inspiring, it helped me to see what more I can get out of my reading. I have been very impressed with the clarity of the doctrine in the Book of Mormon. Quick story really fast last week we taught this wonderful family from Russia that were born again Christians and they were really thinking about what we were teaching and when we finally got to the Book of Mormon they were very hesitant and cautious. Anyway we had a long discussion about the Bible and Book of Mormon. What it came down to was that he said the Bible was hard enough to understand he didn´t need another book to read to try to figure out. We tried explaining how simple the Book of Mormon is. Anyway after the lesson one of my companions said, "The Bible was written for members of the church, that is why Paul stresses faith so much in the New Testament. The Book of Mormon was written for the intent to convince everyone in the world, in every language, and in every culture, that Jesus is the Christ and explains the doctrine very clearly so that everyone can understand." And it´s true the Book of Mormon is so simple. So I am grateful for that challenge.
Also President Ninow talked about the thoughts we have, how they influence the way we feel, and the way we act. And he talked about how because we are agents we have the ability to choose what we think about. We can create a new reality. He then talked about the expectations we have as missionaries. When we expect someone to say no to us, that can be very discouraging and will probably happen. And then we feel like we are being acted upon instead of acting. But then he said if we raise our expectations and expect people to say yes to us, that is a lot more hopeful and also people are more likely to say yes. I wrote down a lot of my thoughts about it, and I can´t remember them all right now. But it was interesting to hear because I did realize that throughout my mission the times I have been the happiest were not necessarily when things were going the greatest. It was when I decided to just be happy and positive and look for things to be grateful for. When I focused on those things and thought about them I was happier. The opposite is also true. There have been times when things have been going really well, but I am still disappointed or sad, only because I choose to think on those kinds of things. I have come to realize what kind of self control is to be had when we can control our thoughts. It is amazing. MY testimony grew to know that we really are agents. I know that it takes self control to decide what to think about and to get rid of the thoughts that we don´t want to think about, but since I´ve really started doing it I have noticed a difference. I am much more in control of my life, and my feelings, and what happens around me actually. It has been enlightening.
That was Zone Conference.
This past week we were able to get a lot of new contacts and now we are working on getting them to become investigators. Brother Himioben is getting baptized next week and we are looking forward to that. We heard from Shan Pan and she is still really excited about the gospel and gets back next week, hopefully we´ll be able to meet with her right away and set a new baptismal date.
I love you family and I wish you a very happy Easter! I know that Christ lives and that He suffered for us and died for us and rose again all because He wanted us to live with Him by our Father in Heaven. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the World. I know that there is a living prophet and that the Kingdom of God is alive on this earth. Truth is not history it is present.
I love you family and I am excited to hear your insights about General Conference.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Helping Hands
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Family!
It was so good to hear from you this week. I have such a strong testimonies of how important families are. How important it is to have support in this world that is sleezy. So thank you for being supportive for me and for each other. IT sounds like things are continuing to go well at home.
Things are going well here. This week wasn´t as good as last week, but still filled with miracles. One of them happened on Sunday. We really wanted to get one of our investigators to church, but through the week he had canceled his appointments with us and we just kept praying he would find the time to come with us. Well Sunday morning came and one of my companions was very ill and couldn´t get out of bed. And so we did everything we could to find a member that would be willing to come with me for the day and to help get this investigator to church. We found someone, and on the way to the train station I was feeling so stressed that our investigator wouldn´t even be there. But after this feeling came another feeling of peace and I felt the spirit tell me that everything would be OK and that he would be there. Sure enough he was, and after church was over he told me that he had really enjoyed it. He loved how everything was focused around the family and that the classes helped him to apply the gospel to his life, it wasn´t just stories. I was so grateful! The spirit was strong during church that day and I was so grateful for the Spirit to calm me down that morning before we got there. Heavenly Father is keenly aware of our situations. I am very grateful for his foresight. It is because of His foresight that he can comfort us and guide us in our day and throughout our lives. I know God leads our lives, and that He requires a lot from us. Sometimes we may think certain things He tells us to do aren´t that important, or we are not sure how to handle everything. I believe very strongly in 1 Nephi 3:7, that when God commands or requires things of His children He provides a way. I also know that He has answers to why He is requiring it of us, or asks it of us. Those answers don´t always come right at first (Ether 12:6- our faith is tested before we receive a witness) but they do come.
The other day my companions and I read together in 1 Corinthians 3:10-14. And it talks about how important it is to build our faith in Jesus Christ, but that some will build on gold or silver or other things. But the day will come when there will be a fire to see what we are made of. Of course those who have built on Jesus Christ will be able to withstand the fire, those that build on anything else will not be strong enough. And it helped me understand more of why this life can seem so hard or unfair. It is not a comfortable feeling to be burned. But God has given us the things we need to build and to withstand the fire that he will send. The fire is a purification process. It´s not just a test to see who built on Christ, but it is a part of our very progression to becoming worthy and able for exaltation. What makes it even harder is Satan will send storms to confuse and beat down on us. It´s important to note though that God prepares us for the fire and does it for our benefit, for our progression to become a better person, and Satan does it to destroy us. But we need not fear, we can withstand anything when we do our honest best in keeping the commandments. God does not leave us alone or turn away, He is there.
I know the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. The world is filthy, dark, and confusing. It is selfish and rude. The gospel of Jesus Christ is clean, and nice, and loving, and bright. Christ is the way the truth and the life, the life we really want. Let´s follow Him.
I love you family!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!
It was so good to hear from you this week. I have such a strong testimonies of how important families are. How important it is to have support in this world that is sleezy. So thank you for being supportive for me and for each other. IT sounds like things are continuing to go well at home.
Things are going well here. This week wasn´t as good as last week, but still filled with miracles. One of them happened on Sunday. We really wanted to get one of our investigators to church, but through the week he had canceled his appointments with us and we just kept praying he would find the time to come with us. Well Sunday morning came and one of my companions was very ill and couldn´t get out of bed. And so we did everything we could to find a member that would be willing to come with me for the day and to help get this investigator to church. We found someone, and on the way to the train station I was feeling so stressed that our investigator wouldn´t even be there. But after this feeling came another feeling of peace and I felt the spirit tell me that everything would be OK and that he would be there. Sure enough he was, and after church was over he told me that he had really enjoyed it. He loved how everything was focused around the family and that the classes helped him to apply the gospel to his life, it wasn´t just stories. I was so grateful! The spirit was strong during church that day and I was so grateful for the Spirit to calm me down that morning before we got there. Heavenly Father is keenly aware of our situations. I am very grateful for his foresight. It is because of His foresight that he can comfort us and guide us in our day and throughout our lives. I know God leads our lives, and that He requires a lot from us. Sometimes we may think certain things He tells us to do aren´t that important, or we are not sure how to handle everything. I believe very strongly in 1 Nephi 3:7, that when God commands or requires things of His children He provides a way. I also know that He has answers to why He is requiring it of us, or asks it of us. Those answers don´t always come right at first (Ether 12:6- our faith is tested before we receive a witness) but they do come.
The other day my companions and I read together in 1 Corinthians 3:10-14. And it talks about how important it is to build our faith in Jesus Christ, but that some will build on gold or silver or other things. But the day will come when there will be a fire to see what we are made of. Of course those who have built on Jesus Christ will be able to withstand the fire, those that build on anything else will not be strong enough. And it helped me understand more of why this life can seem so hard or unfair. It is not a comfortable feeling to be burned. But God has given us the things we need to build and to withstand the fire that he will send. The fire is a purification process. It´s not just a test to see who built on Christ, but it is a part of our very progression to becoming worthy and able for exaltation. What makes it even harder is Satan will send storms to confuse and beat down on us. It´s important to note though that God prepares us for the fire and does it for our benefit, for our progression to become a better person, and Satan does it to destroy us. But we need not fear, we can withstand anything when we do our honest best in keeping the commandments. God does not leave us alone or turn away, He is there.
I know the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. The world is filthy, dark, and confusing. It is selfish and rude. The gospel of Jesus Christ is clean, and nice, and loving, and bright. Christ is the way the truth and the life, the life we really want. Let´s follow Him.
I love you family!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Monday, March 22, 2010
Wow, what a week!
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Familie!
Mom, you asked if I could feel the families prayers and the answer is YES! This week was none like any other in my mission. We were able to teach SO many lessons and get our investigators progressing! IT was so incredible.
My favorite thing this week was teaching Jules. He had had a lot of questions about Prophets and the organization of the church and so we had a lesson about that. We talked about it and watched a clip from Special Witnesses then at the end committed him to pray to know if it was true. He said that it didn´t matter to him if there were prophets or not, it wouldn´t change anything in his personal life. I was surprised at his response, and knew there was something he wasn´t understanding. Then I just looked at him straight in the eye and bore my testimony and the spirit just took over and I was able to share how following the prophet has helped me in my life and how it could help him in his personal life. We talked about some other things and then asked him again if he would pray and he said that he would like to know and he would pray to find out. There was a total turn around in the lesson and it was amazing to see how the spirit helped us meet his needs. I can´t even explain it very well but it was so cool.
This week we also taught another one of our investigators that we haven´t met with for a while. He was having a hard time understanding the restoration so we did a review and watched the restoration movie and talked about it. At the end we asked him what he liked about it and he said that he felt it was true. We then asked him if he wanted to be baptized. He said Yes! It was awesome. We had talked about baptism before but he wasn´t sure and didn´t understand, but this time he felt the spirit very strongly and now wants to be baptized. Hurray!
Another neat thing this week was going to FHE last night. We had a couple investigators there and a less active we are working with right now. What made it special was having Joseph B. Worthlin Jr. and his wife there. It was such a treat. He is working for the church here in Germany and is over the Outreach Centers here. IT was fun to talk with him and his wife. She is from Sugar City and so we talked about that for a little while. They brought the spirit with them and were really good with the people that were there.
I am grateful for what the church does for us. IT helps us in all aspects of our lives.
I have to go now, I don´t have a lot of time today, but I love you very much. And thank you again for your prayers. They help!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Familie!
Mom, you asked if I could feel the families prayers and the answer is YES! This week was none like any other in my mission. We were able to teach SO many lessons and get our investigators progressing! IT was so incredible.
My favorite thing this week was teaching Jules. He had had a lot of questions about Prophets and the organization of the church and so we had a lesson about that. We talked about it and watched a clip from Special Witnesses then at the end committed him to pray to know if it was true. He said that it didn´t matter to him if there were prophets or not, it wouldn´t change anything in his personal life. I was surprised at his response, and knew there was something he wasn´t understanding. Then I just looked at him straight in the eye and bore my testimony and the spirit just took over and I was able to share how following the prophet has helped me in my life and how it could help him in his personal life. We talked about some other things and then asked him again if he would pray and he said that he would like to know and he would pray to find out. There was a total turn around in the lesson and it was amazing to see how the spirit helped us meet his needs. I can´t even explain it very well but it was so cool.
This week we also taught another one of our investigators that we haven´t met with for a while. He was having a hard time understanding the restoration so we did a review and watched the restoration movie and talked about it. At the end we asked him what he liked about it and he said that he felt it was true. We then asked him if he wanted to be baptized. He said Yes! It was awesome. We had talked about baptism before but he wasn´t sure and didn´t understand, but this time he felt the spirit very strongly and now wants to be baptized. Hurray!
Another neat thing this week was going to FHE last night. We had a couple investigators there and a less active we are working with right now. What made it special was having Joseph B. Worthlin Jr. and his wife there. It was such a treat. He is working for the church here in Germany and is over the Outreach Centers here. IT was fun to talk with him and his wife. She is from Sugar City and so we talked about that for a little while. They brought the spirit with them and were really good with the people that were there.
I am grateful for what the church does for us. IT helps us in all aspects of our lives.
I have to go now, I don´t have a lot of time today, but I love you very much. And thank you again for your prayers. They help!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Friday, March 12, 2010
Another transfer has come again...
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hello Family!
Well we got a call on Sunday night saying that we would all be staying together in Mainz. So six months here behind me and one and a half more, at least. Yea! Transfer times are so interesting. You love the people you are working with and you don´t want to leave them, but also you know the joy and adventure and new lessons that will be learned that come with a new city and ward. In the end I am just grateful to know where I will be so I can just get going. I am grateful that I will be here in Mainz for at least one more cycle. I really feel that if we exercise our faith more than ever, we will see miracles more than we have ever before. That is my prayer that I can just have the faith and desire necessary to see these miracles the Lord wants to give us.
We are actually working with a lot of investigators right now, which is wonderful, but somehow they are not all progressing. I really want to help them make progress towards baptism. We have more investigators now than ever before on my mission, and I can see the potential of all of them. I know that if they would just make the certain necessary steps they would see such a change in their lives for the better. My goal this cycle is to help them all understand that and get on that path. No diddly dum, this work needs to roll forward! I pray that I can be an instrument in Gods hands, I just want to make myself as effective as possible so that He can just use me as He needs and get this work going here. I want to wake up and help get these people through the gate to eternal life. It´s so important.
I´ll save you on the other thoughts I have concerning that. Just pray that we will be inspired to know how to help the people here.
I would like to say that on Sunday we had a most spiritually uplifting fast and testimony meeting. Several of the members in our ward took President Uchtdorfs counsel to heart and had several missionary opportunities this past week. That was a sweet experience to hear how they shared the gospel. Now it´s just a matter of getting them to invite them to learn more. :) The spirit really was so strong during that meeting and I feel like we are all on the edge of truly miraculous things, and it´s just a matter of taking that leap of faith into the air, having the faith to know that when we do, God will help us fly. That is my prayer this cycle to develop that faith and follow through!
Thank you for your support family. You are truly wonderful and scrumptuous too. :) I reread through your testimonies you mailed me for Christmas and I felt your strength and the spirit so strong. I love you, and will for always.
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
Well we got a call on Sunday night saying that we would all be staying together in Mainz. So six months here behind me and one and a half more, at least. Yea! Transfer times are so interesting. You love the people you are working with and you don´t want to leave them, but also you know the joy and adventure and new lessons that will be learned that come with a new city and ward. In the end I am just grateful to know where I will be so I can just get going. I am grateful that I will be here in Mainz for at least one more cycle. I really feel that if we exercise our faith more than ever, we will see miracles more than we have ever before. That is my prayer that I can just have the faith and desire necessary to see these miracles the Lord wants to give us.
We are actually working with a lot of investigators right now, which is wonderful, but somehow they are not all progressing. I really want to help them make progress towards baptism. We have more investigators now than ever before on my mission, and I can see the potential of all of them. I know that if they would just make the certain necessary steps they would see such a change in their lives for the better. My goal this cycle is to help them all understand that and get on that path. No diddly dum, this work needs to roll forward! I pray that I can be an instrument in Gods hands, I just want to make myself as effective as possible so that He can just use me as He needs and get this work going here. I want to wake up and help get these people through the gate to eternal life. It´s so important.
I´ll save you on the other thoughts I have concerning that. Just pray that we will be inspired to know how to help the people here.
I would like to say that on Sunday we had a most spiritually uplifting fast and testimony meeting. Several of the members in our ward took President Uchtdorfs counsel to heart and had several missionary opportunities this past week. That was a sweet experience to hear how they shared the gospel. Now it´s just a matter of getting them to invite them to learn more. :) The spirit really was so strong during that meeting and I feel like we are all on the edge of truly miraculous things, and it´s just a matter of taking that leap of faith into the air, having the faith to know that when we do, God will help us fly. That is my prayer this cycle to develop that faith and follow through!
Thank you for your support family. You are truly wonderful and scrumptuous too. :) I reread through your testimonies you mailed me for Christmas and I felt your strength and the spirit so strong. I love you, and will for always.
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Familie!
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hello Family!
I say this every week but it was good to hear the details about everyone's life again. I love hearing about it and it makes me so happy. It sounds like you are just going great guns over there in den USA! Keep it up. I was so happy to hear that you have been working with the missionaries in your areas. That pleases me so much. I cannot even say how much members help in lessons and their support for the investigators. Members have so much power and they usually don´t even know it. So I am glad to hear that you are experiencing the joy that comes from that. Yea!
This week was also a good week. We met with our investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for 2 years and is getting baptized in April. We talked about the Book of Mormon, the importance of it and how it testifies of Jesus Christ and watched Testaments together. The spirit was so strong as we bore testimony. I started crying while I was talking. That hasn´t happened to me yet on my mission and it was so surprising. I was so touched by the kindness of the Savior and His sincerity in all that He did. Anyway, the lesson did go well. Brother Himioben talked about things he had learned and felt while watching it. He is looking so forward to getting baptized. I am too! He is so ready. He is getting baptized on Jason's birthday, April 10th! Hurray.
Shan Pan is on vacation and so we are praying that her testimony will continue to grow as she reads and prays while she is gone.
One of our investigators we met last week met with us again and told us how grateful he was to have met us. He went to the Institute center and said he could just feel that it was good, and trustworthy. As he said that I was so grateful for the spirit. He does His job very well. I am so grateful it is Him that bears the convincing testimony of the truth. It is so amazing.
We met another Student last week and invited her to FHE yesterday. While we were at FHE it came up that there would be a special institute class in Frankfrut for the whole region and she asked us if we were going and we said no because we had another appointment. She said, "Oh are you teaching English?" WE said ,"No, we will be talking about God." then we explained who we were and what we are doing here and right after she said, "Well could I talk about God with you?" We said, "Yes, when do you have time." She said, "Tomorrow" We said OK. And so we will be meeting tonight. I am so excited. She comes from Russia and is so excited to meet with us. She just seems to soak in everything we say so we are hoping for the best tonight.
That has been our week this week. Also transfers are this week, I will let you know where I will be next week.
Before I say good bye I would like to say that I know this church is true. This is God's kingdom on the earth. This is Christ´s Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is through prophets called of God that He reveals to us everything we need to know to be happy, peaceful, joyful, successful, and knowledge on how to progress to become perfect in every way. That doesn´t mean the same, that means unified in perfect harmony. I feel like people throughout history, philosophers and scientists, and others dreamed of that, to become perfect. It has been the goal of human kind to become as efficient as possible, as knowledgeable as possible, and to have peace at home and abroad. It´s nice to know that that is also God's goal for us. That is why we are here, and that is why Christ established His church on the earth, to provide a way to make this possible. As we follow the commandments and receive the Holy Ghost we truly can know "the truth of all things" (Moroni10:5) "both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms" (D&C 88:79). Knowledge is important, that is why it is so important that we live worthy to have the spirit with us so that we can learn all things and become perfect even as our Father in Heaven who is perfect. This is the way, and the truth. I know it.
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
I say this every week but it was good to hear the details about everyone's life again. I love hearing about it and it makes me so happy. It sounds like you are just going great guns over there in den USA! Keep it up. I was so happy to hear that you have been working with the missionaries in your areas. That pleases me so much. I cannot even say how much members help in lessons and their support for the investigators. Members have so much power and they usually don´t even know it. So I am glad to hear that you are experiencing the joy that comes from that. Yea!
This week was also a good week. We met with our investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for 2 years and is getting baptized in April. We talked about the Book of Mormon, the importance of it and how it testifies of Jesus Christ and watched Testaments together. The spirit was so strong as we bore testimony. I started crying while I was talking. That hasn´t happened to me yet on my mission and it was so surprising. I was so touched by the kindness of the Savior and His sincerity in all that He did. Anyway, the lesson did go well. Brother Himioben talked about things he had learned and felt while watching it. He is looking so forward to getting baptized. I am too! He is so ready. He is getting baptized on Jason's birthday, April 10th! Hurray.
Shan Pan is on vacation and so we are praying that her testimony will continue to grow as she reads and prays while she is gone.
One of our investigators we met last week met with us again and told us how grateful he was to have met us. He went to the Institute center and said he could just feel that it was good, and trustworthy. As he said that I was so grateful for the spirit. He does His job very well. I am so grateful it is Him that bears the convincing testimony of the truth. It is so amazing.
We met another Student last week and invited her to FHE yesterday. While we were at FHE it came up that there would be a special institute class in Frankfrut for the whole region and she asked us if we were going and we said no because we had another appointment. She said, "Oh are you teaching English?" WE said ,"No, we will be talking about God." then we explained who we were and what we are doing here and right after she said, "Well could I talk about God with you?" We said, "Yes, when do you have time." She said, "Tomorrow" We said OK. And so we will be meeting tonight. I am so excited. She comes from Russia and is so excited to meet with us. She just seems to soak in everything we say so we are hoping for the best tonight.
That has been our week this week. Also transfers are this week, I will let you know where I will be next week.
Before I say good bye I would like to say that I know this church is true. This is God's kingdom on the earth. This is Christ´s Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is through prophets called of God that He reveals to us everything we need to know to be happy, peaceful, joyful, successful, and knowledge on how to progress to become perfect in every way. That doesn´t mean the same, that means unified in perfect harmony. I feel like people throughout history, philosophers and scientists, and others dreamed of that, to become perfect. It has been the goal of human kind to become as efficient as possible, as knowledgeable as possible, and to have peace at home and abroad. It´s nice to know that that is also God's goal for us. That is why we are here, and that is why Christ established His church on the earth, to provide a way to make this possible. As we follow the commandments and receive the Holy Ghost we truly can know "the truth of all things" (Moroni10:5) "both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms" (D&C 88:79). Knowledge is important, that is why it is so important that we live worthy to have the spirit with us so that we can learn all things and become perfect even as our Father in Heaven who is perfect. This is the way, and the truth. I know it.
Love,
Sister Melinda Fitzgerald
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Desires and Miracles
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Family!!!
Hello, I really enjoyed reading the emails this week. Every week just feels like a month because so much always happens. Wow, this week so many things happened and I don´t know where to begin. I will start off with what I forgot to say last week which was, I gave my first talk in Germany and in German last Sunday. It was on humility, very fitting for what I talked about in my email last week. :) So that was a neat experience. I thought you´d like to know. Last Sunday we had Stake Conference. And what an amazing Stake Conference it was. One of the reasons was because President Uchtdorf came to Berlin and the meeting was broadcast to all German speaking wards in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It was so powerful. It was neat to hear President Uchtdorf and his wife speak in their native tongue and be able to understand it. That was really neat. And also the spirit was so strong throughout as he spoke and other councilors in the Europe Area Presidency. It was ALL about missionary work. I was a little surprised, but all the speakers talked about how important it is to do missionary work. Many of the areas with missionaries are shutting down, and it will be even more up to the members to find people to teach. As President Uchtdorf gave his testimony of the Savior and how important missionary work is I felt such an urgency. I felt it to a degree I have never felt before. I know the Savior lives and is preparing to come for the 2nd time to gather His people. That is why it is so important we find His people. I have been reading in Acts the last little while and I am so amazed with Christs early apostles everything they did and went through to preach the gospel, and to see the focus they had, and then to go hear an apostle in our day and see the focus he had on how great and marvelous this work is. It is so amazing. I remember the song we used to sing, "A Marvelous Work is about to come forth among the children of men. . ." and I feel that marvelous work is here. It truly is sharing the gospel and finding scattered Israel. Wow, it´s incredible.
Another really neat experience during that Stake Conference was President Uchtdorf telling us that there was no record of Germany as a whole being dedicated to the preaching of the gospel. So earlier that morning he and the area presidency along with some of the mission presidents were able to at sunrise dedicate Germany to the preaching of the gospel in these last days. When I heard that I couldn´t believe it. I lived church history here in Germany. I feel that many more miracles are going to happen here.
Some of the miracles include Shan Pan. I talked about her last week. And this week we were able to set a date for her in April to be baptized and she is so excited and so happy. When she came to stake conference we asked her what she thought about it and she said she felt that it was true, but she would go home and ask God if it was true that night. She is great. Another investigator we have, Sulay, has been hard to meet with. But last week we met with him and taught him about the basic principles of the gospel and asked him some questions about when he had felt the Spirit in his life. And he told us an amazing, miraculous experience he had in Africa when the Lord had protected him from getting killed. At the end we asked him if he found out this church was true if he would be baptized so he could always have the spirit with him, and he said yes. There is a lot he still needs to understand, but the spirit was really strong during our appointment. That Saturday was a great day. I felt like I was in General Conference or the temple. It was the feeling of . . .of . . . oh I don´t know how to describe it. You feel like heaven is simply on earth. That is what it felt like. It was amazing.
We also just got out of the temple, and while there I just felt so strongly of Gods love for me and for all His children. I also felt His unchangingness. I know that God is there, and His goal has been and ever will be "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I know as we align our goals with His, we will be in harmony with Him and we will feel more in tune with the Spirit and receive more inspiration for our lives.
So, that was my week last week, and there is still more, but I need to go. God wants to show us His miracles we just have to put forth the effort to find them. And I know that when we find them, we will find treasures.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!!!
Hello, I really enjoyed reading the emails this week. Every week just feels like a month because so much always happens. Wow, this week so many things happened and I don´t know where to begin. I will start off with what I forgot to say last week which was, I gave my first talk in Germany and in German last Sunday. It was on humility, very fitting for what I talked about in my email last week. :) So that was a neat experience. I thought you´d like to know. Last Sunday we had Stake Conference. And what an amazing Stake Conference it was. One of the reasons was because President Uchtdorf came to Berlin and the meeting was broadcast to all German speaking wards in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It was so powerful. It was neat to hear President Uchtdorf and his wife speak in their native tongue and be able to understand it. That was really neat. And also the spirit was so strong throughout as he spoke and other councilors in the Europe Area Presidency. It was ALL about missionary work. I was a little surprised, but all the speakers talked about how important it is to do missionary work. Many of the areas with missionaries are shutting down, and it will be even more up to the members to find people to teach. As President Uchtdorf gave his testimony of the Savior and how important missionary work is I felt such an urgency. I felt it to a degree I have never felt before. I know the Savior lives and is preparing to come for the 2nd time to gather His people. That is why it is so important we find His people. I have been reading in Acts the last little while and I am so amazed with Christs early apostles everything they did and went through to preach the gospel, and to see the focus they had, and then to go hear an apostle in our day and see the focus he had on how great and marvelous this work is. It is so amazing. I remember the song we used to sing, "A Marvelous Work is about to come forth among the children of men. . ." and I feel that marvelous work is here. It truly is sharing the gospel and finding scattered Israel. Wow, it´s incredible.
Another really neat experience during that Stake Conference was President Uchtdorf telling us that there was no record of Germany as a whole being dedicated to the preaching of the gospel. So earlier that morning he and the area presidency along with some of the mission presidents were able to at sunrise dedicate Germany to the preaching of the gospel in these last days. When I heard that I couldn´t believe it. I lived church history here in Germany. I feel that many more miracles are going to happen here.
Some of the miracles include Shan Pan. I talked about her last week. And this week we were able to set a date for her in April to be baptized and she is so excited and so happy. When she came to stake conference we asked her what she thought about it and she said she felt that it was true, but she would go home and ask God if it was true that night. She is great. Another investigator we have, Sulay, has been hard to meet with. But last week we met with him and taught him about the basic principles of the gospel and asked him some questions about when he had felt the Spirit in his life. And he told us an amazing, miraculous experience he had in Africa when the Lord had protected him from getting killed. At the end we asked him if he found out this church was true if he would be baptized so he could always have the spirit with him, and he said yes. There is a lot he still needs to understand, but the spirit was really strong during our appointment. That Saturday was a great day. I felt like I was in General Conference or the temple. It was the feeling of . . .of . . . oh I don´t know how to describe it. You feel like heaven is simply on earth. That is what it felt like. It was amazing.
We also just got out of the temple, and while there I just felt so strongly of Gods love for me and for all His children. I also felt His unchangingness. I know that God is there, and His goal has been and ever will be "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I know as we align our goals with His, we will be in harmony with Him and we will feel more in tune with the Spirit and receive more inspiration for our lives.
So, that was my week last week, and there is still more, but I need to go. God wants to show us His miracles we just have to put forth the effort to find them. And I know that when we find them, we will find treasures.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Faith and Humility
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2009
Hello Family!
It was so good to hear from you again this week. That is fun that the Flakes were there. I am sure that was such a treat, well more like a feast. :) They are so wonderful. It is great to get the up date and hear how everyone is doing. This week has been pretty full of a lot of things. :) I will start with the highlight. It was Shan Pan. We met with her this week and asked her what she thought about "The Living Christ" (we gave it to her to read our last appointment) she told us that it was so great to learn more about Him and what He has done for her. She proceeded to tell us that she not only read the Living Christ but all the verses of scripture that it listed in paranthesis and not just the verses, but the whole chapter that went along with the verses. She did all that on top of reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and praying. We have only known her for three weeks and she is making huge progress and is so thirsty for the gospel. But anyway, we taught her about Gods plan this last week. And after we got done teaching it we asked her if she had any questions and she said, "So what do I need to do to go live with Heavenly Father and my family?" We told her she needed to be baptized and then asked her if she wanted to do that, and she said"Yes"!!!! IT was so great. The spirit was there and it really touched me. Her humility and faith and desire is humbling and inspiring. She is so ready and it fills me with so much joy. I know Heavenly Father prepares His children to hear His word and feel of His Spirit.
Another highlight this week was Zone Conference. We haven´t had one since before Christmas and I was truly hungry to be taught and feel of that Spirit that comes with Zone Conference. This conference was a special conference because Elder Texiara (Europe Area President) did a mission tour and we had the opportunity to teach and learn from him and his wife. IT was also humbling and inspiring. He spoke a lot on faith. How we can strengthen it. I was humbled and realized I needed to do those things that would strengthen my faith. He gave a whole discourse on faith, that was truly enlightening. He explained it in a way I had never really thought of before. He said that faith is not faith unless you step into the dark. Faith is something that "you cannot see," but "is true." He then talked about faith in missionary work and goal setting. He said that the average number of new investigators is 1 or 2. Then he said, "What if your goal was 10 new investigators in a week. Would you work differently?" As I have thought about that I thought, when I set the goal to find 2 new investigators I feel like I can do it with the Lords help. But when my goal becomes 10 new investigators, I can no longer do it, I must rely totally on the Lord. It reminded me of Elder Hollands quote, "We must go to the edge where miracles happen! We must say to ourselves ´Lord without thy help I will fall, help me fly!´" At the end of Zone Conference Elder Texiara said, "I am not asking you to increase your numbers, I am asking you to increase your faith." It was really powerful. I have a lot more thought on the subject, but my time has come to an end.
Family I love you and pray for you. I hope you know that Gods plan includes your every day life. It includes every struggle he gives you to come closer to Him. It includes feasting upon the love that He has given. It includes receiving of His strength to help in absolutely whatever situation we find ourselves in. As I have read in the Book of Mormon I have realized that God is there to help us in our lives. That is what He does. He is there to help us overcome all things, whatever the "all things" may include. Probably all things. :) As we do things that build our faith in Him, that we may think we can´t do, we will find out we can, because God will help us overcome our fears and doubts.
I love you! Til next week!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
It was so good to hear from you again this week. That is fun that the Flakes were there. I am sure that was such a treat, well more like a feast. :) They are so wonderful. It is great to get the up date and hear how everyone is doing. This week has been pretty full of a lot of things. :) I will start with the highlight. It was Shan Pan. We met with her this week and asked her what she thought about "The Living Christ" (we gave it to her to read our last appointment) she told us that it was so great to learn more about Him and what He has done for her. She proceeded to tell us that she not only read the Living Christ but all the verses of scripture that it listed in paranthesis and not just the verses, but the whole chapter that went along with the verses. She did all that on top of reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and praying. We have only known her for three weeks and she is making huge progress and is so thirsty for the gospel. But anyway, we taught her about Gods plan this last week. And after we got done teaching it we asked her if she had any questions and she said, "So what do I need to do to go live with Heavenly Father and my family?" We told her she needed to be baptized and then asked her if she wanted to do that, and she said"Yes"!!!! IT was so great. The spirit was there and it really touched me. Her humility and faith and desire is humbling and inspiring. She is so ready and it fills me with so much joy. I know Heavenly Father prepares His children to hear His word and feel of His Spirit.
Another highlight this week was Zone Conference. We haven´t had one since before Christmas and I was truly hungry to be taught and feel of that Spirit that comes with Zone Conference. This conference was a special conference because Elder Texiara (Europe Area President) did a mission tour and we had the opportunity to teach and learn from him and his wife. IT was also humbling and inspiring. He spoke a lot on faith. How we can strengthen it. I was humbled and realized I needed to do those things that would strengthen my faith. He gave a whole discourse on faith, that was truly enlightening. He explained it in a way I had never really thought of before. He said that faith is not faith unless you step into the dark. Faith is something that "you cannot see," but "is true." He then talked about faith in missionary work and goal setting. He said that the average number of new investigators is 1 or 2. Then he said, "What if your goal was 10 new investigators in a week. Would you work differently?" As I have thought about that I thought, when I set the goal to find 2 new investigators I feel like I can do it with the Lords help. But when my goal becomes 10 new investigators, I can no longer do it, I must rely totally on the Lord. It reminded me of Elder Hollands quote, "We must go to the edge where miracles happen! We must say to ourselves ´Lord without thy help I will fall, help me fly!´" At the end of Zone Conference Elder Texiara said, "I am not asking you to increase your numbers, I am asking you to increase your faith." It was really powerful. I have a lot more thought on the subject, but my time has come to an end.
Family I love you and pray for you. I hope you know that Gods plan includes your every day life. It includes every struggle he gives you to come closer to Him. It includes feasting upon the love that He has given. It includes receiving of His strength to help in absolutely whatever situation we find ourselves in. As I have read in the Book of Mormon I have realized that God is there to help us in our lives. That is what He does. He is there to help us overcome all things, whatever the "all things" may include. Probably all things. :) As we do things that build our faith in Him, that we may think we can´t do, we will find out we can, because God will help us overcome our fears and doubts.
I love you! Til next week!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
News
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Familie!
It was great to hear from you this week. This will be a fast email, because . . . . the church got a new emailing system and we had to transfer over to it today, and it took a long time, and if you didn´t notice my new email address is melinda.fitzgerald@myldsmail.net. So my other one melfitz4@myldsmail.net won´t work for very much longer. Just so you are aware. :)
Anyway, family, it sounds like this week was inspiring once again for you. That makes me so happy. This was a good week for us too. My favorite parts were teaching Brother Himioben about the Priesthood and teaching Hao about the temple. Brother Himioben will be baptized in April and has been investigating for a long time. So we taught him about Priesthood and how he could receive it one day and bless his family and others. He got so excited, and it was so wonderful. As we explained it I was able to use the Priesthood line of Authorities that Sean and Dad both sent. Thank you so much! It helped him to understand where it comes from and how it´s passed on. I really appreciate you both getting me those. Also as we talked about how because of the priesthood we could be sealed in the temple as forever families he and his wife looked at each other and smiled. IT was awesome! I love this gospel and how it blesses our life.
Now for Hao. we taught him about temples and he just couldn´t stop asking questions and asking us when the temple prep class started in the ward. He is doing all he can to find a new job so he can start coming to church and not have to go to work instead. It is great to see his desire to follow God.
Well my time is running out, but I want to say I love you all and I know this church is true. I know it through and through.
Thank you for all that you are doing to strengthen yourselves and others. It´s so important.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Familie!
It was great to hear from you this week. This will be a fast email, because . . . . the church got a new emailing system and we had to transfer over to it today, and it took a long time, and if you didn´t notice my new email address is melinda.fitzgerald@myldsmail.net. So my other one melfitz4@myldsmail.net won´t work for very much longer. Just so you are aware. :)
Anyway, family, it sounds like this week was inspiring once again for you. That makes me so happy. This was a good week for us too. My favorite parts were teaching Brother Himioben about the Priesthood and teaching Hao about the temple. Brother Himioben will be baptized in April and has been investigating for a long time. So we taught him about Priesthood and how he could receive it one day and bless his family and others. He got so excited, and it was so wonderful. As we explained it I was able to use the Priesthood line of Authorities that Sean and Dad both sent. Thank you so much! It helped him to understand where it comes from and how it´s passed on. I really appreciate you both getting me those. Also as we talked about how because of the priesthood we could be sealed in the temple as forever families he and his wife looked at each other and smiled. IT was awesome! I love this gospel and how it blesses our life.
Now for Hao. we taught him about temples and he just couldn´t stop asking questions and asking us when the temple prep class started in the ward. He is doing all he can to find a new job so he can start coming to church and not have to go to work instead. It is great to see his desire to follow God.
Well my time is running out, but I want to say I love you all and I know this church is true. I know it through and through.
Thank you for all that you are doing to strengthen yourselves and others. It´s so important.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
I can't keep track of the miracles
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010
Familie!!
I want to start off today by saying I love you all. But more than that I know that God loves you all way more than I can comprehend. I read Lehi´s dream a few days ago and it hit me how sweet the love of God truly is. It is the most desirable thing. I wish I could say I always feel it, but even when sometimes I don´t notice it, I know it is always there. I notice it in greater abundance when I go to the temple and think of Him, or when we as a family do something together. I also feel it when I learn of Him, and also when I recognize an answer to prayer. This feeling is sweeter than any other thing.
As for the other things. I really cannot count the miracles. It feels like so many things have happened. So many things have happened every day and I truly can´t keep track of them. I now understand why some of the Book of Mormon writers said, "And for the space 400 years there was peace and many miracles in the land." Sometimes that´s all you can say. As for the miracles that I can remember. . . . Jules sticks out to me most. He is a student and when we first met with him he said he only had 10 minutes. So we taught him about God and asked when we could meet again. He said, "Well I have a little more time, you can keep going until my friend calls, then I have to go." So we kept teaching and about 10 minutes later his friend called. He answered it and said, "Hey, can I meet you in 15 minutes?" Then he hung up and looked at us and said, "I have 15 more minutes." So we kept teaching and at the end we committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We asked if we could meet after finals were over (this week) and his response was, "Well if you have time, I could meet with you during finals week. I could meet with you instead of doing sport one day. This is important and I want to learn more." The spirit was so strong and I know he felt it. It was really neat. Another miracle was Shan Pan. WE met with her again last week and she said she didn´t have very much time but still wanted to meet with us. So we met and taught about God and after the lesson we asked her who she wanted to say the prayer. She said, "Oh can I say the prayer? I really want to talk with Heavenly Father." It was so sweet, and so innocent, it reminded me of a little child. It was such a beautiful prayer too. After the lesson she told us that she had been reading and praying every day since she first met with us. She is enjoying the Book of Mormon. That is a miracle.
Many other miracles have happened, but those are the ones that stick out most.
I also want to say, I got your Christmas package! It was so much fun to open. It felt like Christmas all over again. My companions had us sing a Christmas song before I opened it. It was funny. But thank you, thank you, thank you. Everything you sent was exactly what I had wanted and dreamed of. I love the scarf, and the new scripture case, and the Mormon Tabernacle CD, and the gumball machine :) It truly was perfect. Most of all I enjoyed the letters you wrote and the testimonies you shared. They all strengthened my testimony and helped me to feel the Spirit. As I read them I was amazed at how the simple statements of truth brought the Spirit into my heart. Thank you so much family for your examples and faith. I admire each of you so much.
One last thing before I go. Yesterday we were asked to give the Family Home Evening lesson for the Young Adults and we decided to do it on the Hymns. We talked about how important they are and how they have helped us in our lives personally. Then we had those who wanted share their favorite hymn and why, then we sang it. By the end (most) everyone :) was wanting to continue singing. We had an investigator there and it was so neat to feel the Spirit of the hymns. I thought Grandpa Stubbs would be proud. :)
Well I better go, but I do love you family! So much!
Til next week,
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Familie!!
I want to start off today by saying I love you all. But more than that I know that God loves you all way more than I can comprehend. I read Lehi´s dream a few days ago and it hit me how sweet the love of God truly is. It is the most desirable thing. I wish I could say I always feel it, but even when sometimes I don´t notice it, I know it is always there. I notice it in greater abundance when I go to the temple and think of Him, or when we as a family do something together. I also feel it when I learn of Him, and also when I recognize an answer to prayer. This feeling is sweeter than any other thing.
As for the other things. I really cannot count the miracles. It feels like so many things have happened. So many things have happened every day and I truly can´t keep track of them. I now understand why some of the Book of Mormon writers said, "And for the space 400 years there was peace and many miracles in the land." Sometimes that´s all you can say. As for the miracles that I can remember. . . . Jules sticks out to me most. He is a student and when we first met with him he said he only had 10 minutes. So we taught him about God and asked when we could meet again. He said, "Well I have a little more time, you can keep going until my friend calls, then I have to go." So we kept teaching and about 10 minutes later his friend called. He answered it and said, "Hey, can I meet you in 15 minutes?" Then he hung up and looked at us and said, "I have 15 more minutes." So we kept teaching and at the end we committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We asked if we could meet after finals were over (this week) and his response was, "Well if you have time, I could meet with you during finals week. I could meet with you instead of doing sport one day. This is important and I want to learn more." The spirit was so strong and I know he felt it. It was really neat. Another miracle was Shan Pan. WE met with her again last week and she said she didn´t have very much time but still wanted to meet with us. So we met and taught about God and after the lesson we asked her who she wanted to say the prayer. She said, "Oh can I say the prayer? I really want to talk with Heavenly Father." It was so sweet, and so innocent, it reminded me of a little child. It was such a beautiful prayer too. After the lesson she told us that she had been reading and praying every day since she first met with us. She is enjoying the Book of Mormon. That is a miracle.
Many other miracles have happened, but those are the ones that stick out most.
I also want to say, I got your Christmas package! It was so much fun to open. It felt like Christmas all over again. My companions had us sing a Christmas song before I opened it. It was funny. But thank you, thank you, thank you. Everything you sent was exactly what I had wanted and dreamed of. I love the scarf, and the new scripture case, and the Mormon Tabernacle CD, and the gumball machine :) It truly was perfect. Most of all I enjoyed the letters you wrote and the testimonies you shared. They all strengthened my testimony and helped me to feel the Spirit. As I read them I was amazed at how the simple statements of truth brought the Spirit into my heart. Thank you so much family for your examples and faith. I admire each of you so much.
One last thing before I go. Yesterday we were asked to give the Family Home Evening lesson for the Young Adults and we decided to do it on the Hymns. We talked about how important they are and how they have helped us in our lives personally. Then we had those who wanted share their favorite hymn and why, then we sang it. By the end (most) everyone :) was wanting to continue singing. We had an investigator there and it was so neat to feel the Spirit of the hymns. I thought Grandpa Stubbs would be proud. :)
Well I better go, but I do love you family! So much!
Til next week,
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Desire, Belief, Work, and Blessings
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2009
Hello Family!!
This week was a wonderful week. Before I forget, I am staying in Mainz with Sister Cutler, and in addition to that we are getting a 3rd companion, Sister Ashby from Southern California. I am excited I feel like we will see a lot of success together.
Speaking of success, we got two new investigators!! So I talked about Sulay last week, and our other new investigator is Shan Pan from China. We contacted her on the university and when we met with her she said that she had had experiences in her life that made her think that there was a God. Also, in the past week she said that she had decided she really did want to know more about God, and then we contacted her. Then she said, "I think God sent you to me." We said, "Yes, He did." The spirit was there and it was so neat. I love bringing the gospel to those that are searching. I love telling people their relationship to God and how much he loves them and wants to be a part of their life. Teaching the gospel brings more happiness than I have ever known. I guess the happiness comes from feeling the Spirit, and the Spirit is there when we testify of Gods truth. It reminds me of "Teaching, no greater call." The Spirit, no greater feeling. The Spirit brings in the joy, the love, the peace, the knowledge God wants us to enjoy. We also met with one of the less actives we have been working with and he told us that he has realized he is behind and wants to catch up. He wants to prepare himself to go through the temple. I got so exctied when he told us that. It is so neat to see the change that is happening in him. He wants the Spirit more with him. On his wall he has a lot of pictures and posters of his favorite movies, but last week I noticed a new collage. It was pictures of the Savior he had cut out and put nicely together. It made me smile inside and out. He is on his way to having the Spirit more in his life.
This morning I read 1 Nephi 11:1. And I have been thinking about the formula there for the past little while. That is desire, belief, work, and then the blessings. It all starts with desire, desiring what God wants for us (right now for me it is getting investigators that will progress to be baptized), and then actually believing that it´s true (believing that there are actually people out there that God has prepared to hear the gospel and be baptized), then doing the work necessary for that desire, that belief to come true (actually going out and talking to people, and improving teaching skills to meet their needs better so eventually they will accept and believe the gospel), then once we do all that God blesses us. This formula is throughout the scriptures (Alma 32:27-28, Moroni 10:4-5, D&C 130:20-21 and others). If we really want something, and have our minds and hearts believe that it can actually happen, then do our part to show our sincerity and faith, God will bless us accordingly. I think I just explained the same thing like 10 times, but I typed as it was coming to me and as it started making even more sense. Anyway, that was my little insight for today.
I love you family, and may God be with you til we meet again.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Family!!
This week was a wonderful week. Before I forget, I am staying in Mainz with Sister Cutler, and in addition to that we are getting a 3rd companion, Sister Ashby from Southern California. I am excited I feel like we will see a lot of success together.
Speaking of success, we got two new investigators!! So I talked about Sulay last week, and our other new investigator is Shan Pan from China. We contacted her on the university and when we met with her she said that she had had experiences in her life that made her think that there was a God. Also, in the past week she said that she had decided she really did want to know more about God, and then we contacted her. Then she said, "I think God sent you to me." We said, "Yes, He did." The spirit was there and it was so neat. I love bringing the gospel to those that are searching. I love telling people their relationship to God and how much he loves them and wants to be a part of their life. Teaching the gospel brings more happiness than I have ever known. I guess the happiness comes from feeling the Spirit, and the Spirit is there when we testify of Gods truth. It reminds me of "Teaching, no greater call." The Spirit, no greater feeling. The Spirit brings in the joy, the love, the peace, the knowledge God wants us to enjoy. We also met with one of the less actives we have been working with and he told us that he has realized he is behind and wants to catch up. He wants to prepare himself to go through the temple. I got so exctied when he told us that. It is so neat to see the change that is happening in him. He wants the Spirit more with him. On his wall he has a lot of pictures and posters of his favorite movies, but last week I noticed a new collage. It was pictures of the Savior he had cut out and put nicely together. It made me smile inside and out. He is on his way to having the Spirit more in his life.
This morning I read 1 Nephi 11:1. And I have been thinking about the formula there for the past little while. That is desire, belief, work, and then the blessings. It all starts with desire, desiring what God wants for us (right now for me it is getting investigators that will progress to be baptized), and then actually believing that it´s true (believing that there are actually people out there that God has prepared to hear the gospel and be baptized), then doing the work necessary for that desire, that belief to come true (actually going out and talking to people, and improving teaching skills to meet their needs better so eventually they will accept and believe the gospel), then once we do all that God blesses us. This formula is throughout the scriptures (Alma 32:27-28, Moroni 10:4-5, D&C 130:20-21 and others). If we really want something, and have our minds and hearts believe that it can actually happen, then do our part to show our sincerity and faith, God will bless us accordingly. I think I just explained the same thing like 10 times, but I typed as it was coming to me and as it started making even more sense. Anyway, that was my little insight for today.
I love you family, and may God be with you til we meet again.
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2009
Family!!!
As I read the email Tara wrote in behalf of mother I felt the spirit so strong, and peace just filled my heart. I am so grateful for the peace the gospel brings. I was so grateful to hear that you have all felt it too. Tara thanks so much for sharing all those precious experiences. Mom thanks for your email too. Throughout this whole week I have just felt that everything would be OK. My testimony has been strengthened to know that God IS there, and knows each of us personally. He knows what we are going through and blesses us with His love and peace. I cannot deny that. The emails I read today were very pleasing. I am so grateful things are going well. So, so grateful.
Um, this week something really neat was we set up an appointment with a contact we got in November. He finally had time to meet with us this past week. But anyway, we were in the train station waiting for him, but I couldn´t remember exactly what he looked like, only that he was black. After a little while we looked around and saw a black man also waiting, and we thought it could be him but weren´t sure. So we went up and asked him if he was Sulay (our contact) and he said no, he was just visiting Mainz for the day and waiting for a friend. But we started talking to him and it came up that we were Americans and Mormon. Just then another man passed by and said, "Did I hear that you are Mormons from America?" We said, "Yes." Then he said, "I am from America and wanted to meet the mormons there, but then I moved here and didn´t get the chance. I didn´t know you were in Germany too." He then asked if we had time to meet with him, and we did :) and so he gave us his business card and asked us call and set up an appointment. It was just a little miracle, but so wonderful. Last week I think I mentioned that it was a "Sacrifice week" so we sacrificed things we thought we could give in order to find more investigators and teach more lessons. And I feel we saw blessings come from it. That was one. We also did meet with Sulay and had a wonderful appointment and will meet again on Friday.
We were in the temple this morning and while there I felt like there were so many more things I wanted to share with you, but now I feel like they are not as important. What is important is that the work of God is rolling forward, I am still alive, and I know that you are all well and being strengthened there at home.
And transfers are this week. I will let you know what happens to me. :)
Family, I can just not adequately express the way I am feeling right now. I am just so glad that things are going well for our family right now.
Ritchie, welcome home. I know I am not there, but I still want to say it. :) I told mom to give you a hug from me. I hope she did. I love you, and wrote you a letter last week. It should get there soon. Mom and Tara have told me of the Spirit that you radiate. That makes me so happy. Thank you for doing the things necessary for you to become what Heavenly Father wants you to become for I know it is something marvelous indeed for you truly are His child.
Well, until we write again, next week . . .
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Family!!!
As I read the email Tara wrote in behalf of mother I felt the spirit so strong, and peace just filled my heart. I am so grateful for the peace the gospel brings. I was so grateful to hear that you have all felt it too. Tara thanks so much for sharing all those precious experiences. Mom thanks for your email too. Throughout this whole week I have just felt that everything would be OK. My testimony has been strengthened to know that God IS there, and knows each of us personally. He knows what we are going through and blesses us with His love and peace. I cannot deny that. The emails I read today were very pleasing. I am so grateful things are going well. So, so grateful.
Um, this week something really neat was we set up an appointment with a contact we got in November. He finally had time to meet with us this past week. But anyway, we were in the train station waiting for him, but I couldn´t remember exactly what he looked like, only that he was black. After a little while we looked around and saw a black man also waiting, and we thought it could be him but weren´t sure. So we went up and asked him if he was Sulay (our contact) and he said no, he was just visiting Mainz for the day and waiting for a friend. But we started talking to him and it came up that we were Americans and Mormon. Just then another man passed by and said, "Did I hear that you are Mormons from America?" We said, "Yes." Then he said, "I am from America and wanted to meet the mormons there, but then I moved here and didn´t get the chance. I didn´t know you were in Germany too." He then asked if we had time to meet with him, and we did :) and so he gave us his business card and asked us call and set up an appointment. It was just a little miracle, but so wonderful. Last week I think I mentioned that it was a "Sacrifice week" so we sacrificed things we thought we could give in order to find more investigators and teach more lessons. And I feel we saw blessings come from it. That was one. We also did meet with Sulay and had a wonderful appointment and will meet again on Friday.
We were in the temple this morning and while there I felt like there were so many more things I wanted to share with you, but now I feel like they are not as important. What is important is that the work of God is rolling forward, I am still alive, and I know that you are all well and being strengthened there at home.
And transfers are this week. I will let you know what happens to me. :)
Family, I can just not adequately express the way I am feeling right now. I am just so glad that things are going well for our family right now.
Ritchie, welcome home. I know I am not there, but I still want to say it. :) I told mom to give you a hug from me. I hope she did. I love you, and wrote you a letter last week. It should get there soon. Mom and Tara have told me of the Spirit that you radiate. That makes me so happy. Thank you for doing the things necessary for you to become what Heavenly Father wants you to become for I know it is something marvelous indeed for you truly are His child.
Well, until we write again, next week . . .
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Family I love you!
Date: Tuesday. January 12,2009
Family!
I love you! That is the subject of this email. I love you all, individually for who you are and what you mean to me. I am so grateful for the gospel that teaches us that the happiness we enjoy in families lasts forever! You all make me so happy and I know that will last forever. Gos has given us the gospel to help strengthen us as individuals and also to help us strengthen each other in our families. For this reason I love the gospel.
This past week was good. Some highlights were our Zone development meeting. We were able to feel the spirit and our zone leaders asked us to do a sacrafice week. We could choose what we wanted to sacrafice. But they wanted us to have greater focus. We have already seen the fruits of doing that. We got two contacts yesterday. One of them came to us and asked us which church we were from. We told him and he said that he wanted to meet with us. That was very surprising and wonderful. Another neat experience was contacting a younger man, who told us he didn´t need us. So we kept walking down the street then a few minutes later he called to us and ran up to us and asked us if we had a card to give him, because he wanted to look up more information. Of course we gave it to him. :) I had an interview with my mission president last week and we talked about how we could recognize the Spirit better to know the needs of the investigators and those we are teaching, and through that giving them the commitments they need to really come closer to Jesus Christ. Well, yesterday we taught two different lessons. As we were planning we decided on the lessons we would teach and the commitments we would give them. As we thought about what we would teach them the tiniest little thought and feeling came that we should teach these topics. So small that I really wondered if we should seek the spirit more. During both of our lessons the people we were teaching told us that that was exactly what they had been thinking about and had questions about. It really was a testimony to me how small the Spirit can feel sometimes, but as we give Him heed, it will always be the right thing.
Well I am out of time, but once again I love you each and all.
Till next week, when we shall share our experiences once again!
Love,
sister Fitzgerald
Family!
I love you! That is the subject of this email. I love you all, individually for who you are and what you mean to me. I am so grateful for the gospel that teaches us that the happiness we enjoy in families lasts forever! You all make me so happy and I know that will last forever. Gos has given us the gospel to help strengthen us as individuals and also to help us strengthen each other in our families. For this reason I love the gospel.
This past week was good. Some highlights were our Zone development meeting. We were able to feel the spirit and our zone leaders asked us to do a sacrafice week. We could choose what we wanted to sacrafice. But they wanted us to have greater focus. We have already seen the fruits of doing that. We got two contacts yesterday. One of them came to us and asked us which church we were from. We told him and he said that he wanted to meet with us. That was very surprising and wonderful. Another neat experience was contacting a younger man, who told us he didn´t need us. So we kept walking down the street then a few minutes later he called to us and ran up to us and asked us if we had a card to give him, because he wanted to look up more information. Of course we gave it to him. :) I had an interview with my mission president last week and we talked about how we could recognize the Spirit better to know the needs of the investigators and those we are teaching, and through that giving them the commitments they need to really come closer to Jesus Christ. Well, yesterday we taught two different lessons. As we were planning we decided on the lessons we would teach and the commitments we would give them. As we thought about what we would teach them the tiniest little thought and feeling came that we should teach these topics. So small that I really wondered if we should seek the spirit more. During both of our lessons the people we were teaching told us that that was exactly what they had been thinking about and had questions about. It really was a testimony to me how small the Spirit can feel sometimes, but as we give Him heed, it will always be the right thing.
Well I am out of time, but once again I love you each and all.
Till next week, when we shall share our experiences once again!
Love,
sister Fitzgerald
Happy New Year's!
Date: January 5, 2010
Hello Family!
Another week has come and gone. My goodness time flies by. Well thanks for all your insights mom. They are good to hear. I especially loved the quote by Joseph Smith how the blessings of this gospel are unsurpassaple. The trick is helping others to see that. I liked what Ritchie said in his email, I guess he was quoting Chris, that nothing else makes sense. This gospel is the way that makes sense. I was talking with a lady on the train yesterday and she asked me if we believed in reincarnation. I told her no, that we believed in the resurrection. She said, "oh, well I like the idea of reincarnation because you get to live again and keep progressing and becoming something better. Heaven and hell just doesn´t make sense." I said, "yea, we believe that there is more than just heaven and hell. We believe in eternal progression. Because of the resurrection we can have our bodies back and keep progressing. We also believe in eternal families. With the resurrection we can still be in our family unit and live together. With reincarnation you don´t have that." She said, "Yea, that makes sense. If there was reincarnation we wouldn´t be in families. I never thought of that before." then I said, "I´m grateful that God prepared a plan for us so that we could live as families forever and be able to become better." Then I had to get off the train, so I gave her a pass along card. But yes, this gospel makes sense, because it´s true!
Anyways, Ritchie, that is awesome that you were able to baptize someone. I pray that she will continue on the gospel path. Thank you for showing her the way.
Well I don´t have a lot of time today, but I wanted to share with you what a German New Years is like. So at about 11:50 pm on New Years Eve "Sylvester", they started lighting fireworks, and they were right in front of our window. We woke up and were able to watch them from our beds. I was pretty sleepy so I didn´t see very many, but it was really fun. Then the next morning our President called it "Winter Cleaning Day" so we just stayed inside and deep cleaned our apartment. While we were cleaning we heard some marching bands and so we ran to our window and there was a marching band right down our street. They were all dressed up in colonial style uniforms and the band consisted of drums and chimes. It was a parade! But they weren´t all together. One band would come by at a time. And that was the parade, one marching band after another. Every band was dressed up differently but in colonial style clothes.I felt like I was in George Washington´s time, in Germany. It was awesome. Also the bands consisted of all ages old men and women, teenagers, and little kids. It was so fun to watch. In America there is a lot of advertising, not here. It was pure talent and families. It was a neat experience.
Well I better go. I love you family. And I hope all is well at the begining of this wonderful new year of 2010!!!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
Hello Family!
Another week has come and gone. My goodness time flies by. Well thanks for all your insights mom. They are good to hear. I especially loved the quote by Joseph Smith how the blessings of this gospel are unsurpassaple. The trick is helping others to see that. I liked what Ritchie said in his email, I guess he was quoting Chris, that nothing else makes sense. This gospel is the way that makes sense. I was talking with a lady on the train yesterday and she asked me if we believed in reincarnation. I told her no, that we believed in the resurrection. She said, "oh, well I like the idea of reincarnation because you get to live again and keep progressing and becoming something better. Heaven and hell just doesn´t make sense." I said, "yea, we believe that there is more than just heaven and hell. We believe in eternal progression. Because of the resurrection we can have our bodies back and keep progressing. We also believe in eternal families. With the resurrection we can still be in our family unit and live together. With reincarnation you don´t have that." She said, "Yea, that makes sense. If there was reincarnation we wouldn´t be in families. I never thought of that before." then I said, "I´m grateful that God prepared a plan for us so that we could live as families forever and be able to become better." Then I had to get off the train, so I gave her a pass along card. But yes, this gospel makes sense, because it´s true!
Anyways, Ritchie, that is awesome that you were able to baptize someone. I pray that she will continue on the gospel path. Thank you for showing her the way.
Well I don´t have a lot of time today, but I wanted to share with you what a German New Years is like. So at about 11:50 pm on New Years Eve "Sylvester", they started lighting fireworks, and they were right in front of our window. We woke up and were able to watch them from our beds. I was pretty sleepy so I didn´t see very many, but it was really fun. Then the next morning our President called it "Winter Cleaning Day" so we just stayed inside and deep cleaned our apartment. While we were cleaning we heard some marching bands and so we ran to our window and there was a marching band right down our street. They were all dressed up in colonial style uniforms and the band consisted of drums and chimes. It was a parade! But they weren´t all together. One band would come by at a time. And that was the parade, one marching band after another. Every band was dressed up differently but in colonial style clothes.I felt like I was in George Washington´s time, in Germany. It was awesome. Also the bands consisted of all ages old men and women, teenagers, and little kids. It was so fun to watch. In America there is a lot of advertising, not here. It was pure talent and families. It was a neat experience.
Well I better go. I love you family. And I hope all is well at the begining of this wonderful new year of 2010!!!
Love,
Sister Fitzgerald
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