Rose, the unforgotten daughter of God

Hello!!!!

So my mission president sent me a quote this week that reads.

Ultimate hope and daily grumpiness are not reconcilable. It is ungraceful, unjustified, and unbecoming of us as committed Church members to be constantly grumpy or of woeful countenance. Do we have some moments of misery or some down days? Yes! But the promise is that Christ will "lift thee up" (Moro. 9:25.) The disciple can note the depressing signs of the times without being depressed. He can be disappointed in people without being offended at life. Thus it is that ultimate hope, if it does not finally dissolve our daily disappointments, at least puts them in perspective. (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Local Thanksgiving speech [untitled], November 26, 1980.)

This quote got me thinking about what I am about to write. I am going to be honest I try only to write the uplifting story's, stuff that is either  informative about my life here in Germany or makes you feel good after you read it, this week I am going to try also expanding that in to some of the darker moments in a mission.

It has been an extremely wonderful, miraculous week up here in Longenhorn however there is a certain aspect of the work of pulling men out of the world that you cant escape as a missionary; and that is that of seeing the filthiness and degeneration of the world around us which is over whelming at times.

Last week on the way home from Hamburg we were put in contact with this women called Rose (name changed)  who is 28 years old. It was one of the few times in my mission where I felt the spirit completely take over me and before I realized what was going on I was talking to her. She had abuse scares all over her body, was wearing filthy old cloths, and when you looked into her eyes she looked as if she had died many years ago. As I talked with her, she recounted one of the most gruesome, horrifying, demented life story's I have ever heard. At points I was sick to my stomach because of the experiences she had to live through. I was brought to tears because of the brutality's and the evilness of the people she has had to fight to stay alive. As we continued to talk I asked her if she believed in a God, and for me her response was expected. ''Ya....but he has forgotten about me'' For hake sake she BELIEVES in God! This women who had been living in Hell for the last 28 years believes in God. By her response she also indicated that she believes we can have a personal relation sip with Him. I was speechless, she believes in our Father in heaven... but because of the incredibly unfair, abusive, and at times down right sickening life she has had to endure she no longer believes God her Father loves her. You guys, as I got to act as Gods hands that day, and help her get some food to eat, bought her her first flower, and talked with her about our relationship with God I was humbled. As I was able to explain to her that her ,Daddy, in heaven' loves her so much that he sent us (My Companion and I) to let her know that he had not forgotten her, my testimony of our fathers love was solidified. As I was able to sit with her and comfort her, a love passed through me to her that I can only explain as the pure love of God. I felt like a was a conduit in some way for Heavenly Father to show His love to Rose.

I KNOW that God lives, I know that he knows us individually, and that His love for us is never ending. Meeting Rose had been a hug testimony builder to me that God stands by us and that he never forgets about us. As I said at times it is extremely over whelming to see the crap, and to love those you are serving so much that you seem to take upon yourself some of the pain they are experiencing, but 'The Son of Man hath descended below them all'' ... and I know I am not greater than he.

My challenge this week, is that of opening your eyes to the pain around you, and then helping in whatever way you can.

I am humbled by the out pouring of love and support that I receive every day by all of you back home. I love you all so much and hope you are doing well.

-Sis Kim Bohne

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                     Ok so currently I am in Longenhorn, which is a suburb of Hamburg. Sis Rebecka Schear is my Comp and SHE IS WONDERFUL!  She knows how to work hard, but just as impotently she knows how to play hard. We are having a BLAST together. I don't think I have stopped smiling since we have meet. She has a solid testimony and seems to really understand what it means to be a missionary. She reminds me a LOT of Libby Baum and my sister Wendi .  I am excited to learn from her.

                    The word has OVER 100 people!!!! I feel like I am back in SLC or something. There are  truly individual yet absolutely amazing people. They LOVE feeding us, it is GREAT. We eat all the times with members, and when we are at home I just drink smoothies. It makes shopping and clean up really easy. ;)

                    The people we are teaching here are great, We are teaching this one man names Gunsterblum, he reminds me of Uncle Roger, the old man that lived near us when Jesse and I lived together. He is kinds frayed from all the drugs, but he is still able to understand the messages, and seems to really be wanting to do something else in his life. I am hoping we can help him, in a way I feel like I am helping Roger.

                     We are also Teaching the man named Khelil, he is from Iran and was raised Muslim. He has the coolest story about how he was found, a perfect example of how when members and missionaries work together the work really moves forward. The sisters found him some time ago after asking a member family to pray about a street that they could, as a family, pass out pass-along cards. Well the family ended up putting a card in Khelils mailbox. When the sisters whet back to knock on the doors they meet him on the street. At first he was not interested so the sisters tried to give him a pass-along card, the same one the family had passed out. When he saw the card he recognized it and invited the sisters into his home to learn more. He now has a baptisimal date!

 

                 Well you all I hope everyone has a wonderful 24th of july tomorrow, have a nice cold Coke for me and take a picture :)

 

Till next week,

Sis Kim Bohne

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So I have been transferred to a town called Longenhorn, I will be headed up there tomorrow morning. It is about 30min outside of Hamburg. They speak hochdeutsch, which is the clearest, most refined German, and from what I have been told the the most easy to understand. My new comp is named Sis Schär, she is from Washington DC, and from what everone says one of the best sisters in this mission...needless to say I am excited. I little bit scared, and reserved because I feel like this really is going to be a big turning point in my mission. I feel like my testimony is strong enough at this point, and my understanding of this gospel that the language will be a BIG focus. I will keep you updated!  

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Todays Test are Tomorrows Testimony's

 

,,Today's Test are Tomorrows Testimony's.''

 

Many times while being a missionary and while going through life we do many things in faith that one day we will gain testimony of why we are doing them.  

 

This morning while going shopping I experienced a tender mercy that I believe gives example of the positive changes that we create, that most of the time we don't ever find out about.

 

As me and my Companion were walking down the street, my companion made contact with a man and stared teaching him. I decided to 'split the efforts', and right behind him was this older Lady that I went to talk to. When I first saw her she looked familiar, but I was not sure of where, or when we would have talked to her. As I began to introduce myself, she stopped me and started to thank me profusely for the faith that me and my companion had. She was telling me how she KNEW that it was our faith that healed her husband. That he should of died but because of our faith he now lives. I at first was extremely confused, I was not sure that I was understanding her correctly, and when I knew for sure what she was saying,  I was think that she had me confused with someone else. I then remembered when we had first meet.

 

It was the 2nd week I came to Germany, about 6:40am. My companion and I were being good missionaries and were in the middle of morning exercise, which consisted of running around in a park, contacting anyone we could find and handing them pass along cards.

 

On that morning we had stopped an older women walking her dog. To me she looked upset..however I was in Germany and most people don't look extremely happy so I didn't think much of it at first. As my campion began to talk to her I caught two words, Mann (Husband)  andTot (Dead). I came to the conclusion that either her husband had just recently passed away or was on his death bed, I was not sure which one it was. Either way I had a very strong impression that we needed to say a prayer with this women, thankfully me German speaking companion also had this impression. We asked the women if that would be alright and then began to offer up a prayer. It is hard to explain the feelings I was having during that prayer. I was unable to understand a single word that was being said but through the spirit I know what my companion was saying.

 

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank you for this chance that we have to come together with faith, in pray for our grieving sister. Father we know that you love us, and that you are watching out for us. We know that you hear this prayer that we are offering. We pray that your daughter may feel the love you have for her. We also pray as they children that Thy will be done in this situation. We thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, in whom all pain is swallowed up. Father we love you. And say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

When I opened my eyes I realized I was not the only one crying, but also my companion and this women. We gave her a hug, and a card with the WWW.LDS.ORG website on it and then parted ways.  Until today never knowing what the outcome of that prayer was.

 

Her husband soon after our prayer recovered, despite what the Doctors had said, and is now back to full health.

 

I KNOW God lives and that He answered our prayer that day. I know that Jesse Christ is the Son of God, My Redeemer, My Savior. I KNOW that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is lead and directed by Jesus Christ today.

 

Press forward in faith for ,,Today's Test are Tomorrows Testimony's.''

 

-Sis Kim Bohne

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Hey Everyone,

 

So I just got reprimanded by me wonderful, loving, caring, mother about not keeping up on the posts. So this is me promising that I will do a better job at posting even it is just a little something every week. Thanks mom for the push to keep this blog going.

 

Well where to start. It has been some crazy weeks lately, the work continues to more forward almost at faster pace then we can keep up with. With the weather getting better, more and more people are outside, and we are contacting like crazy. I am continually amazed by the amount of people God prepares to hear this gospel. Just when I feel like the work starts to slow down, God hands us some more of his children to work with.

 

Updates on some of the people I have already mentioned.

Erick: BAPTISED on June 30, 2012

Uwa: Continuing to progress. ( I Love meeting with him, I feel like I am in my element when connecting the gospel to nature)

Max: Moved, but because of location doesn't have missionary's so we have remained in continued contact with him. Still continuing to progress on his own. Well be moving back in two months for School and will continue lessons.

The Young Women: We came into contact with a group of  6 young women, all living by each other. Such strong girls. It's fun to teach them because I feel like I am a beehive teacher...my apologia to all of my beehive teachers :)  

My Comp is still Sis Szvoboda. She is a power house of a missionary! I have been with her now over two months and the only weakness I can find is that sometimes she is just way to nice, but I guess that really is not a weakness. I feel so super blessed to have her as a companion.

I am still in Eisenhüttenstadt and LOVING IT, I am almost convinced that if I  could I would serve here the entire time I would (President this is for you if you are reading this post :)

 

Well I hope all is good back at home. I just wanted to let everyone know that I LOVE THIS CHURCH!!!! 

 

-Sis Bohne

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