Training Again!

Well folks, I'm stoked out of my MIND.

Transfers have once again rolled around. After Mission Leadership Council on Friday, President called me into the small office at the back of the Berlin Tiergarten chapel, just like he did three transfers ago as he transferred Sister Rückauer and me to Freiberg. I sat down at the same wooden table, in the same green upholstered chair, and directly across the same beaming President Fingerle. He held up 5 fingers and then thanked me for my 5 transfers of service as an STL. "Sister Hendricks," he said, "do you know what I do with the most diligent, obedient, and dedicated missionaries?" I really wasn't sure what to say, so he laughed at my awkwardness and
continued: "I make them trainers again. Sister Hendricks, you have learned how to love so many sisters and how to adapt to so many situations.The Lord wants you to now focus that love on one new sister missionary. Are you ready to train again?"

The thoughts that went through my head were more or less as follows:
1. Hallelujah no more leadership training meetings
2. Hallelujah I am staying in Hamburg
3. Dang it Sister Wasden is leaving. Only one glorious transfer together
4. Oh my goodness NEW MISSIONARY

As it turns out, the elders program will be closed, so my trainee and I will be in charge of 2 programs. Which exciting because they have been working with some really amazing people, but slightly intimidating considering the fact that we already have our plate
pretty full of people to teach and I'm still new in Hamburg. Also it's brutal that Sister Wasden and I only got 6 light-speed weeks together - most of it spent laughing so hard that it brought us to
tears. I've learned a lot from this dark-haired spunky Louisiana lady. She taught me how to find that sweet spot of being chill and not getting overwhelmed and still working incredibly hard, how to laugh at my quirks, and how to bravely and fearlessly tackle any situation that is thrown our way. I'm going to miss her a lot.

But hey, "come what may and love it," right? I'm gonna love it.

I've been thinking a lot about how I've changed through the course of my mission. In Freiberg I went through that mid-mission crisis where I couldn't see how I had changed. Now, with only 3 transfers ahead of me and the task of showing a new sister missionary how wonderful a mission is, I can see a little bit more clearly the difference between where I was and where I am now. President Ezra Taft Benson once said:
“Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world. Men changed for Christ will be captained by Christ. Like Paul they will be asking, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ (Acts 9:6). Peter stated, they will ‘follow his steps’ (1 Peter 2:21). John said they will ‘walk, even as he walked’ (1 John 2:6). Finally, men captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ. To paraphrase President Harold B. Lee, they set fire in others because they are on fire."

I'm not suggesting that I'm all the way there yet, but I do know that Christ is my captain and through Him, I am able to change and I am able to learn how to align my will with His. I am learning, if slowly, to be consumed in Christ and to help this fire that I feel be ignited in the hearts of others. I am so excited to help the flame of a love of sharing the gospel to grow in my new companion.

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Grace Hendricks