Plus Près de Toi, Seigneur

Bonjour!

Sister Y and I are learning to sing Nearer My God To Me in French (Mon Dieu Plus Près de Toi). So that has been fun! We celebrated her 1-Year mark! I was able to surprise her at our dinner appointment by putting a candle in her ice cream. We also did a cute picture of her holding a 1 (for her 1 year), and me holding up a 2 (for my 2 months), but together they make 12 (12 months in a year!) I thought it was cute! We did a spa night to continue celebrating. We also went out to get Turkish food last Tuesday as a late (2 months) and early (1 year) celebratory meal.

In my studies this week, I have focused on learning different Gifts of the Spirit. I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost that allows me to have Gifts of the Spirit. One of the gifts the Lord gives us is the gift to be calm. I have noticed, as has Sister Y, that I have the gift to be calm, in conversations that could result to be contentious. I  believe that Sister Y has the gift of bearing mighty testimony, especially in those situations.

We have done lots of tracting this week, and a little bit of teaching. Last Tuesday, the second door that we walked up to, I noticed a handicap sign in the the car. I mentioned it to Sister Y and she said I should offer them service. So when a man opened the door, I said we were offering service to people. He asked what kind, and we replied we help with everything, even washing dishes. He said he had a pile of dishes and could use some help because his wife wasn't able to help him much. We said we could but he then asked how much. When we told him we were doing this for free, his eyes bulged out of his head! He swung the door wide open and let us in to a counter full of dishes. We spent some time helping out with those dishes, talking to his wife, who came and asked us the same questions as her husband. Towards the end, she tried giving us money, but we gave it back to her husband before leaving. This experience makes me ponder on the kind of world we live in. Everyone thinks you want something from them. Even just smiling at people on the street sometimes turns them the other way. Everyone could use more of Christ in their life, and you can be that Christ-like example by reaching out more, serving more, loving more.

Like we told someone yesterday, you don't have to have a name tag to be a missionary for Christ. We all need to have His name painted on our hearts and we would all live in a slightly better world. We will all become nearer to our Saviour.

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

"Come in"

"Come on in." : Said by a referral when we showed up for our appointment. We had a great lesson with them and the Holy Ghost was strongly felt. 

"COME IN!"  : Said by a young man who when we entered his house, then said "I don't know why you're in my house, but there's the door." Sister Y asked if he believed in Jesus Christ and his response was "When J. C. and I meet, we're going to have a fight. After asking if he knew anyone who might need a message, we promptly left.

"Come in, this is exactly what I need..." : Said by a lady answering the knock at her door. She said she really wanted to feel peace in her life and to belong to a church. We started teaching the Restoration and left her a Book of Mormon. We are looking forward to teach her more.

These all make me reflect on one of my favourite paintings of the Saviour knocking on a door without a doorknob. It is up to those inside that decide to let Him in or not. As we serve, we are like the Saviour, we are His representatives. It is up to the people in their homes to first, open the door and accept the invitation we extend on behalf of Jesus Christ. Many people brush us off, don't listen, or even don't open the door. Others might listen, but don't want to learn more at this time. A few are interested or open to learning and listening to our message.

He invites all to "Come, follow me", and as His representatives that is what we do as well, we invite all to come follow Him.

Part of that invitation is to be baptized like He was by proper Priesthood authority. Yesterday we extended that invitation to T. He said yes to the invitation and will be getting ready to be baptized next month. The Lord has said:

3 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! 

14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

15 And if it so be that you should labour all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

We rejoice every time someone makes steps closer to Jesus Christ, yet we also rejoice when someone turns us away, as we are able to move on to whiter fields.

Don't forget to let Him in.

Love,

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Leap of Faith

Hello to all!!

So Sister Y and I are staying together another transfer! We are excited to keep working together. =)

We had several appointments with our new investigators fall through this past week, so we are hoping to meet again with them this coming week. This resulted in us going out and finding others that are interested. We were also able to continue our technology training/study and we are becoming more comfortable with using FB to communicate with those we teach.

There have been several reminders this week of what success means. Sometimes all we can do is encourage and invite. Sometimes we don't get to see people's lives change by our example and what we teach them, yet it doesn't mean it won't ever happen. It is in those times that we take a leap of faith because all we can see is a few steps ahead.

As Missionaries, we take leaps of faith throughout our day. For example, in our daily planning we ponder and decide where we need to be at all times. At times we aren't sure and we pray about it and we get an answer, but most times we take that leap of faith that we will be and are in the right places at the right time. It could be possible for Heavenly Father to tell us clearly where He wants us every hour of every day. But He doesn't because He trusts us, and we trust Him. As we put our trust in the Lord, who sees the entire picture, He can lead us in the right path and we need not worry about the result, as we know we have been successful in following the Lord.

Love you all!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Shoulder to Shoulder with Christ

Hello to all!! 

This week has gone by so quickly! I had an amazing time at the Technology Training, Zone Conference, and the Trainer Trainee Meeting, and learned many, many, many things!

For those who have not noticed yet, I am now on Facebook. However, Facebook is a tool that the Lord has allowed in our Mission (the first Mission in Canada to have it) to bring others unto Christ. I would ask that you keep emailing me, as I will not be spending my time on it to communicate home. Please do not send me a friend request either as I will not be accepting them while on my mission. 

We have already seen the blessings of using the new technology we have been given. We went bus contacting for the firs time Friday after getting home from our training, and were able to talk to a couple of younger people who we are able to communicate to through FB. We also met a lady Saturday morning, and have been communicating to her through messenger daily! We hopefully will have our smart phone set up today, and will be able to receive even more blessings as we are led by the Lord with how to use the technology He has provided our Mission with.

I loved the training and meetings we had this past week. I also enjoyed going to the Temple with all the other new missionaries, and their trainers! We took a bunch of new pictures! I was able to learn lots with the overall experience. I particularly liked what Sister G said about us being shoulder to shoulder with Christ. I have been able to ponder her statement and how I may become more consecrated to the Lord's work. I was able to write down some ways I feel will help me most. As I've worked on them more and more the past two days, I have been able to see more of the tender mercies Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

I know that "... the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith..." (1 Nephi 1:20). I know that because I have been called to serve, the Lord will bless me according to my faith and my actions. 

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Heavenly Help

Hello to all!!

It warmed up this week so that was appreciated, since we have been doing lots of walking. We have been out lake-contacting, street-contacting, and tracting this week. The neatest about it is when we have a lesson fall through, so our backup is to go finding. We usually haven't had the time to plan out where we go, so we always pray about where we need to be. We've had some cool experiences this week, with meeting many people who have been exposed to the church and might be interested in learning more!

One of our investigators had a baby this week!! So we weren't able to visit her but we are planning to drop off cookies latter on today. Cool thing is that her boyfriend is less active, and they had the baby girl blessed this Sunday!!

I've really been learning how to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost as we pray for guidance daily. I've also learned how to rely on the Saviour's strength. I know that if I work my hardest, He will fill in the rest.

Lots of love!!!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach