Good Lessons

We were able to meet with the same people we usually do and have really good lessons.  We were teaching Merhawi (who is a person that I gave a pass along card to at a bus stop in May) and we taught the Word of Wisdom.  We got into discussion about it and then I felt the need to ask him how many cigarettes he usually smokes a day and he just looked at me and then looked away and then opened his mouth like he wanted to say something more but then closed it again.  I waited patiently for him to respond and then he said, "well actually it is funny because today I haven't smoked any!!"  And he just sat there really thinking why he didn't.  He said that he couldn't explain it but he just didn't want to today.  I know that when we strive to do what the Lord wants us to do, everything else falls into place.  And when we live the gospel, like coming to church, being charitable, and being an example, it changes you.  Not only a spiritual change, but a physical change as well.  I have a testimony of that.  I cannot explain it but when I read my scriptures, and learn more about Jesus Christ I truly do feel different.  I feel like a better person and I feel like I can do anything and maybe that is why Merhawi didn't want to smoke that day.  Just recently my dear little sister Ashley Kay was in a car accident and I just want to thank all of you that pray for my family.  I know that it was by God's grace that she is okay and is well.  And I know that it is because of those extra prayers of love and protection.  My family means the world to me and I am just so grateful that she is okay.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Miracles happen every single day.  One thing I learned is that when we see a miracle happen, we should always write it down.  Write it on a post it note, or in a planner (for all you missionaries haha) or anywhere because when we recognize God's hand in our lives, He just blesses us more and more.  He really does work by miracles and I testify of that.  Congrats to Jennifer Peterson with the new baby girl!!!!  She is gorgeous!! My mom sent me a picture of her :)  What a doll.  And congrats to my cousin too on her baby girl. :)  I love you all and always in my prayers.  Liebe, Sister Tuschling

Transfers...

Transfers!! My dear beloved companion Sister Garlick is leaving me and Sister Sprouse here in Dortmund for the beautiful city of Heidelberg.  Transfers are definitely from Heavenly Father because He knows exactly what needs to be done in the missions all over the world and He knows how to make missionaries grow into the people that He knows they can become.  Example, me and Sister Sprouse.  I am now technically the older companion but I am still in the first half of my mission and right now 1) We barely know Dortmund still 2) Still getting to know the ward 3) Barely can understand German 4) Barely can speak German and now we are together for at least 6 weeks.  Boy oh Boy Dortmund you better be ready and Heavenly Father You better be ready to help us :)  Bitte :)  I am excited for this point in my life to grow and to do things I have never done before.  I have a testimony of setting goals and when having the faith they actually come to life and become reality.  Our mission has a goal to find 10 new people to teach every week.  And we (the drit) have not been able to reach that yet so last week we set that goal to reach it!!  Yesterday we were still 4 people short.  After a wonderful day of church and being filled with the Spirit we had 3-4 hours to find them.  It all started after we got out of an appointment at 2pm.  We missed a call from an unknown number.  These are the best treasures because you honestly don't know who they are from!!  We called it back and it was actually a young man that I invited to come to FHE and gave him a pass along card.  I didn't think much of it but he called and wanted to meet that day!!  His name is Abdoul and comes from Africa and is really confused on why there are so many churches in the world and his parents are Muslim but he is not practicing\active.  He has a sincere heart and we explained the story of a yound man named Joseph Smith who had that same exact question.  The only way he found out was by praying to Heavenly Father and asking.  We taught him how to pray in the park on a bench.  After we said the closing prayer and after him promising next time he will try, he opened his eyes and said, "O das ist  nicht so schwer," und ich habe gesagt, "Nay, es ist nicht so schwer." :)  I love teaching people how to communicate with Heavenly Father.  He truly wants to hear from all His children because "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."  My life dramatically changed when I started to pray.  I started to understand that I matter to Him, that He loves me, and that no matter where I go or do He is always with me.  I am so grateful to be able to teach people how to pray to Him so that they can experience that for themselves too.  I love this work and I love hearing people say, oh that isn't so hard, and walk away wondering on what they will say to the One that always wants to listen.  And I love seeing the change in people.  Kathir is a man that the elders are teaching right now and we had the opportunity the other day to teach him.  He is from India and truly wants to know "the God."  He wants to know who "the God" is and how we get to know Him.  He has been to every activity the church has, every baptism we have been able to witness, and every church meeting.  Every time I see him he looks brighter and happier.  Just the other day the elders called us because he decided he would like to be baptized.... My heart filled with warmth and joy.  Someone who didn't believe in God is now wanting to enter into the waters of baptism.  I know that this gospel is true and I know that when we live it, it always changes us for the better, and we feel so much "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance" (Galations 5:22-23) and these feelings only come from God, because everything good comes from God (Alma 5:40).  I am honored to be a part of this work and to witness God's hand in my life and to experience it personally as well.  Bis Später!  Tschüß! Liebe, Sister Tuschling

Happy 4th of July!!

  I am so very blessed and loved by so many people here in Germany and all over the world.  I received the hugest package from Casper, Wyoming this week from my mama and it had America inside!!!! It is so perfect because for the 4th of July we are going to dedicate our time trying find just Americans haha and invite them to a 4th of July party at the church.  I am pretty sure we'll just have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and sparklers (I hope).  Germans are so cute.  They have all kinds of different scarves but the ones that are "in" right now are American flags.  So Sister Garlick and Sister Sprouse will definitely be purchasing them and wearing them on Wednesday too!!  Another reason I am so loved is because the day of my 2 year marker for being baptized I got to have breakfast with one of our new converts Dani.  She made the breakfast appointment just for me so we could spend it together.  So one our way there we had to purchase ein par von Brötchen (really good bread!!) to take with us to have breakfast.  So we stopped by the Backerei and sprinted for the bus.  As we were running we heard an Australian voice yell "Oi!! Hey!! Where ya goin'?!"  We looked over and saw Elder Walker (from Australia), Elder Garlick, Elder McPherson, and Sister McPherson.  Running we answered, to catch our bus we've got an appointment!!  But we ended up stopping to see what they wanted.  The McPhersons (the Missionary Couple) made me muffins and breakfast burritos for my 2 year baptism anniversary :)  I tell you what my heart was so warm and tears were in my eyes.  They even gave me a present; a German hymn book that I have wanted for such a long time.  It is really cool because two years ago I received my first Hymn book from Clayton Avery's family.  Heavenly Father sure does know how to inspire people to feel loved :)  It was a great way to spend my 2nd birthday!! 
     One of the coolest days this week was that we dedicated Saturday our International Finding Day.  We were determined to find people all over the world to teach them.  We left the appartment with 9 different languages (Turkish, Polish, French, Russian, Greek, Spanish, Swahili, English, and German) of the Book of Mormon and were determined to give them all away!!  The first person we talked to was from Greece :)  Oh ya you better believe it that she left with die Wahrheit in her hands!  We then sat next to a girl that had only been in Germany for 2 days and she was from...... Poland.  She took it gladly too with promises from us to teach her German too!  We went to another area and we turned on a street and started walking towards a couple young men.  As they were passing us I recognized some French, they left with the most powerful book I have read in their hands too :)  On the same street we met another man and he knew 4 different languages.  He left with Spanish :)  On the street we were able to teach him how to pray too and it was so awesome!!!  On our way home we stopped at this cute little German house and knocked on the door.  A woman answered and said that she isn't interested because she is Buddist but right then a car pulled up in the driveway and she said, maybe he will be interested.  We ended up sharing about the Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it.  We ended up giving away more than half of our Books in ALL different languages.  Heavenly Father truly is there for us and knows what are plans are.  He wants to help but its up to us to find out and the best way is through prayer.  Prayer has changed my life.  The moment I prayed for the first time I remember my life never being the same after that.  Through prayer we can know what Heavenly Father wants us to do and its the best way to feel His love too.  I am grateful for this experience in my life and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to spend my 2 year marker here with my companions and the German people.  Happy 4th of July!!!!! Liebe, Sister Tuschling

"Charlie's Angels"

I am so grateful to be a missionary.  Without being here I wouldn't have had the opportunity to witness Benjamin Petzold enter the waters of baptism on Saturday and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday.  Not only is he a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but he is a father of 3 beautiful little girls that can now protect them with the Priesthood, a husband to a hard-working woman that can now live in harmony because she has a man that can take her to the temple (she was less active before), and now they can all be sealed together for time and all eternity together.  I am so grateful to be able to witness that.  I am so grateful to be on a mission to witness His hand in every situation and I know it is Him.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 will be my 2 year anniversary of my baptism and I cannot explain how much this gospel means to me and how much I have learned.  I honestly don't know where I would be without it and I know for certain I wouldn't be here sharing it to Germany.  I wouldn't have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost who is my Comforter and Protector.  I wouldn't have this burning desire to draw closer to Jesus Christ and learn more about him.  I wouldn't have this excitement to one day meet my Maker's face.  I wouldn't have this dream of having my family together forever in harmony.  I am so grateful to be a member of this beautiful gospel.  It saved my life and I am in forever debt to all those who helped me build faith and helped me recognize the truth.  I love it with all my heart, and I am forever changed.  Okay enough with the mushy gushy!  This week we have received another sister in Dortmund!!!  Her name is Sister Sprouse and is from Utah and is awesome!! We actually met each other in the MTC and we both know Rhett Long and we both don't know much German so we are going to grow so much together!  Sister Garlick is awesome at helping us with our German.  We are currently "Charlie's Angels" too.  Sister Garlick is shorter than me with brown hair and brown eyes, I am shorter than Sister Sprouse and I have red hair and green eyes, and Sister Sprouse is the tallest with blonde hair and blue eyes.  Dortmund watch out!!! Here we come!!!  I am excited to learn from them both and ready to get twice as much missionary work done!!  Thank you to all who read this and I am grateful for you.  Keep up the good work in the branch back home!!!  Alles Gute!!! ~Sister Tuschling  Alma 36:24

Hello Everyone!!

 Hello everyone!! Another week has flown by!  One cool story I'd like to tell is about the Kersten Family.  They are less-active and haven't been to church in quite some time.  No one in our ward knows them so that means they haven't been there for forever.  We saw them on our list and noticed that the day of Schwester Kersten's birthday!  Usually we call people on their birthdays to say hello and sing to them "Happy Birthday" which makes their day :)  And the way Germans sing it is so cute haha.  But as we went to call her we noticed that she didn't have a phone number.  So we though we'll go and surprise her and sing it to her at her door with a little bakery treat :)  We said perfect!!  But when we looked to see where she lived, we were like holy cow she isn't even on our map!!  Having faith that the Lord would help and direct us we left the house for an Abenteuer!  (Adventure)  We headed to the city near her city and guessed trains, buses, and U-Bahn times to get there.  After arriving correctly in her city, the real trick was  to find her street.  First of all, we took a bus in the wrong direction and we walked on the wrong street like 4 times when really her house was right under our noses.  We get there and we said a prayer that she would let us in, that she would be kind, and that she would be home haha. We klingeled the door and said no answer.  So we rang it again.  This time she said "Hallo, wer ist da?"  "Wir sind die Missionarenin von die Kirche Jesu Christi...." and before we could finish talking she buzzed us right up!  She is the nicest Korean woman I have seen in Germany yet.  And she has a beautiful daughter that is way nice, and a son who has down syndrome but is the cutest thing too.  Since it was her birthday they were planning to head to the city and spend time there and we caught them as they were going out, but instead they stopped getting ready, cleaned up the table, served us orange juice, apples, and wafer crackers, and let us give them a spiritual thought and a happy birthday song  :)  We handed her a part of the Pres. Uchtdorf's talk (Forget Me Not) and had her read a couple sentences from it but instead of just reading the small sentences she kept on reading and reading and reading and she just loved it!!  She asked who the Prophet was now and if she could keep the talk.  "Naturlich" we answered!! (Of course).   Later after leaving she explained to us that it was a miracle that we caught her at that time.  If we could have taken a wrong train, or continued going in the wrong directions, we would have missed them.  And since it was her birthday, that day we went was the only day she was home, and it was the only reason she was together as a family.  I know that small and simple things are what matter in this world.  Small and simple :) 

A family named the Petzold family have really taken my heart and have ran away with it.  I love them so much.  This is the family that we worked in the garten and cleaned her house.  She has 3 beautiful little girls that are all under the age of 12.  We were able to teach them how to do a family night a week ago and then we were able to help her cook dinner and to move heavy furnature to their upstairs which was an adventure itself because German stairways are the narrowest stairways I have ever seen before in the world!  I was a little bit sore the next day :) Anyways because of our service and our time with them, her husband Benjamin has been open to our message as well.  They have met with us and the elders for awhile now and last night the Petzold's called us to tell us not to have anything planned on Saturday at 5 o'clock because Benjamin would be entering the waters of baptism :)  OH HAPPY DAY!!!!!  I am so happy for Sister Petzold.  After being inactive in the church for 10 years she is now going to have her husband and children enter the waters of baptism and be together as a family forever and ever.  I am so very happy for her and so happy for Bruder Petzold too to have this experience!!!!  Miralces happen everyday and every little piece of sweat is worth it, and every tear that we shed for other people is worth it too.  We all just need to have trust in the Lord because He always knows what He is doing.  I know in my heart that this is His work and He is the only One that knows how to do it and we are merely his instruments and I am so grateful to be called that and even to be qualified to be called His helper.  I love you all and the work is rolling forth here in Germany Zion :)  PS-  Good luck to Nate and Jake Tuft on their farewell talks and have fun in the MTC!!!  Being a missionary is the most beautiful experience you'll ever encounter! Liebe Grüße, Sister Tuschling

LEBEN IST GUT

Yesterday was the craziest Sunday I have ever experienced in my life!!  We committed our family from Africa (Emeka's) to come to church as a family on Sunday but because of buses and transportation reasons we had to go and pick them up and take them back.  Just imagine one African woman with 5 children (all under 13) on a bus, U-Bahn, and train to get to church which took about an hour or so..  The missionaries were a little stressed as well!!! But it was all worth it because they loved church and want to come again next week!!  Not only that but we had 12 new people in church yesterday!! That is unheard of and our ward didn't know how to handle all of them at once because it felt like Africa came and conquered Deutschland haha.  But it was wonderful :)  The biggest miracle that happened this week was Merhawi.  He comes from Ethiopia, Africa.  He has been searching all of his life for something that ends the hunger of his soul.  Those were his exact words.  Wow did he find the right people.  While I was on my split with Sister Bognar, we ended up talking to him and asking him if he wanted to learn more and he said yes!!  I never knew he would turn out to be such a faithful reader in the Book of Mormon.  He said that he truly is searching to see if it is from God.  And I know that if people truly have a humble heart and a desire to know Heavenly Father will tell them their answer.  Even when people that aren't searching for the truth feel the love of God from it.  Anyways,  Merhawi came to church, loved it, and has come to activities left and right and wants to tell his "colleages" about it :)  There are people everywhere that have been searching for truth in the world, no matter where you are, no matter who you talk to they have been prepared by the Lord in one way or another!!  Missionary work is the best!!!!  And it truly is special for me to see him grow in his faith because I saw him on the street waiting for a bus, and because the Spirit told me to talk to him, he is now reading the most precious books I hold dear to my heart.  Leben ist gut :)

Coolest Day!

Tuesday was literally the coolest day I've had on the mission!!  SO many miralces happened!! We started personal study like we usually do after our morning run and we get a text from this number that we didn't recognize.  It was like in half German and half English (American) haha and as we read through it, we noticed that it was from a guy that we talked to from the University from our Finding Day!! His name is Lukas and he texted us wanting to meet up!! Okay just to let you know, this never happens!!  Once you give out a Book of Mormon, brochure, and Pass Along card, and not getting a number you basically NEVER see them again!! And here he was texting us!!!  How cool!!!! And we were able to teach 6 lessons that day!!!! One of our appointments was with a cute married couple from Camaroon, Africa, Claude and Annoinette.  They are people that remind me that I should have studied and remembered ALL my french because they speak French, little English, and little German so we just let the Spirit do the rest :)  We went over to their house (which was a mircale alone because our other appointment fell out) and went through the Restoration of the Church and taught about Joseph Smith and handed them a Book of Mormon in French.  We didn't have just the blue copy of the Book of Mormon in French and only had the Triple (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price).  We were worried if it would be too much for them since it was the first time we were meeting with them.  We read through Jospeh Smith History when he went into the Sacred Grove and prayed and after he read it in beautiful French, Claude stopped and said in broken English "This man is called of God.  He prayed, and the Lord answered.  We can learn so much from him."  And then his wife said the same thing.  They were bearing testimony about Joseph Smith the entire time!!  Then we taught about how the Book of Mormon came about and read out of Moroni 10:3-5.  When he started reading its like he couldn't stop.  He read the entire chapter!!! And after words he says again in broken English, "This book helps me understand the Bible.  How much can I pay for this book?"  We explained that it was free and that they may keep it forever and ever and they were so pleased.  Anntoinette wanted one too :)  I thought I was on my mission in Germany, not in France!! Haha I love the diversity here :)  After we prayed together and before we left, he told us about the night we met him.  First of all, Sister Garlick and I were walking home, probably after 9:30pm whoops and saw a man holding a Bible on the corner waiting for the light to turn.  Since we were waiting for the light to turn too, we turned to him and asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and he said, "Yes, who are you?"  We explained that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that we teach about him and about how we get to know him better.  He was so overly joyed!  We got his contact information and we headed home with our hopes high.  Well from Claude's point of view, it was totally different.  He said that night he was praying and reading in the Bible to know what God wanted him to do.  He had been reading in the Bible and wanted to know more, and how to understand it better.  He was headed home after a night full of confusion, he said he met us.  He said we were sent from God to tell him what he needed to do.  Now him and his wife are reading in the Book of Mormon together and we cannot wait to meet with them again!!  There are truly people prepared by the Lord and all we have to do is open our mouths.  And sometimes we don't even need to do that, sometimes we just need to be at the right place and the right time because Heavenly Father wanted you there.  Its His work :)  We are also teaching another family, the Emeka family and she and her husband and her 3 older kids (8, 9, and 12) want to be baptized!!!  Their baptism date is in July!!  We will be working with them until then!!