Bremen is beautiful.

 On the train with a random man.

 Bowling with the District on P-Day

Ha!

W U N D E R

I can hardly begin to articulate the gratitude that I feel for my experiences this week.

Sister Moffet and I felt the need to really try to find new people to teach this week. In the rain, wind, and cold we walked, trying to find people on the street who wanted to talk to us. We had no success. I was a little bit disappointed because we really did feel like we should go finding. On the train back home on Thursday night, we met the coolest Palestinian guy. His mother is from Jerusalem (!), his father is from Bethlehem, and he moved to Amman, Jordan when he was 17. Small talk about Jerusalem led to us talking about why Sister Moffet and I were in Bremen and lo and behold we got to talk about the gospel and bear testimony right then and there! He sounded really interested in our message and we hope that he will call us next week. 

Martin Guhl, a 28 year old university student, has been investigating the church for 3.5 years. On Friday, we committed him to be baptized on December 28th. We talked about faith and how faith yields confidence (he has been so afraid to tell his parents that he has been investigating the church and that he wants to get baptized). We used some of my very favorite scriptures: James 2:17 and 26, D&C 6:36, and Ephesians 3:11-20. The Spirit was so strong as we testified that he is ready for this - that it is time to ACT on his faith. We are so overwhelmed with love for this awkward, sweet 28 year old man. We know that he is ready. 

Our day on Saturday started out pretty slow - studies, finding in three different cities with no success, and then we needed to let the Bremen 2 Elders into the church building (we wish they had a key). Right as we were leaving the church building, the church doorbell rang and a lady said that she always passed the church and wondered about it and asked if she could look around. Sister Moffet and I gave her a tour of the church and as we walked into the chapel, the spirit hit us like a wall of bricks. Her face was indescribable as she told us how she felt that this place was holy, sacred, and a place of real worship. We asked if she had time to talk with us for a while. While we talked with her in the classroom, she told us a bit about her life. She's had a really hard time. We taught her the 1st lesson and she loved all of it. She was in tears. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted. We are so excited to meet with her more (we have an appointment for tomorrow at 11!). Sister Moffet and I just sank to our knees in prayer after she left. 

I apologize for the length of this letter, I just am so overwhelmed with gratitude. As one very wise Elder serving in the Russia Rostov mission explained, 2+2 does not always equal 4. I think that despite our lack of success on the streets, labor is labor in the Lord's eyes and He puts prepared people in the path of prepared servants.

Big things are happening in Bremen. I love my companionship: Sister Moffet and the Spirit. We're working really hard. 

Liebe Grüße, 

Sister Grace Hendricks

Greetings From Bremen!

Hello from Deutschland! Oh my goodness I don't even know where to begin - the past week has been such a whirlwind. I am serving in beautiful Bremen with my trainer Sister Moffet.

President and Sister Kosak picked us up from the airport, then we spent time on paperwork and interviews and getting oriented in the city. Later in the evening, I turned a corner in the church where we were meeting and ran right into Elder Brigham Gallacher!!! We were so happy and kept accidentally calling each other Brigham and Grace. The next day, I met my trainer, Sister Moffet, and we traveled (slowly but surely as trains broke and were delayed) back to Bremen.

My district is wonderful and we're especially close with the the other two companionships of Elders that serve right here in Bremen with us. We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday and we got a lot of our investigators and Less Active members to come!

My favorite part of the week was having one of our investigators, Martin, come to church! He has been investigating the church for 4 years and has a really strong testimony of the gospel, but he has a hard time coming to church. BUT HE CAME! Sunday was his first time to church since General Conference! I have a feeling that this week is the week - we're going to help him finally accept the invitation to be baptized!

Other interesting moments here have included being hit on by very drunk Bulgarians, having one of our investigators cry so hard during Sacrament meeting that we had to leave, talking to a high Persian guy who kept calling us nuns, getting a phone call that our recently-baptized Bulgarian family all of the sudden just decided to move back to Bulgaria today, and bearing my testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday completely auf Deutsch.

German is hard, and quite frankly a little overwhelming BUT I know that with the Lord's help, I can do it. I've already learned so much. I love all of you and I know that I'm supposed to be right here in Bremen!

Liebe Grüße, 

Schwester Hendricks