Dear family,

I WILL SEE YOU IN EXACTLY TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY. 

I just wanted to put that out there before telling you about my beautiful week. Actually, I don't really even know what to say in regards to the past seven days...they've just been jam packed with lessons!! All three of us Sisters exceeded our mission record of lessons taught to investigators, which was SUPER exciting!! Found about eight new investigators, too! I'll tell you about one of them—Dendy! We were planning zone training with the zone leaders and got a super random call from some man at a payphone. He said we gave him our number at a bus stop and that he wanted to meet up and learn? Haha well, we set up an appointment with him and turns out, Sister Roderer had briefly talked with him the week before. He told us he's been feeling distanced from God lately and was thinking about it one evening when the thought came to his head to call us...talk about not delaying promptings, right? Hopping on the nearest pay phone and calling a stranger who engaged him in a conversation about Jesus Christ....That's the spirit at work, no doubt!! Anyway, we had a great lesson with him!! Sadly he lives in Essen (like all the other cool Africans we meet), but that's okay! The Sisters there are awesome! They'll take good care of our payphone miracle man. 

We met with Ralph a few times this past week, too. He's (you guessed it) perfect. He found Preach My Gospel online and sat down for five hours the other day and read through it. The whole thing. He LOVED it. Ugh that man is incredible. His excitement about the gospel is unlike anyone's I've ever met!! He's taught me what it means to feast on the scriptures and declare the gospel with the sound of a trump—he's already talking to random people he meets about the church, as well as defending it when the devil sends people to try to shake him. The guy is as solid as it gets. He is obsessed with the gospel of Jesus Christ—as he should be! As we all should be!! If I've said it once, I'll say it a million times...I'm so glad we got the chance to work with him!! Haha, he came to church with notes prepared on baptism for our Sunday school lesson and our ward mission leader turned to me at one point during the lesson and was like "he really is perfect!" We're all looking forward to the 16th—Ralph especially. He let everyone know during the second hour yesterday that he'd be getting baptized on that day, and that they were all welcome to come (: 

Ben came to church yesterday, too!! I didn’t ever tell you, but he ended up dropping us at the end of last transfer because he got ahold of some anti-Mormon material. He has wanted nothing to do with us for the past little while, but we've been texting him over the past couple weeks to wish him a Merry Christmas & New Year, and he started showing interest again!! Sister Johnson seized an opportunity to invite him to church on Friday, and I ran into him in bahnhof after a split on Saturday! Sister Brown and I were walking to the front and Ben was walking our way, but I totally didn't even notice him! He moved in front of me, waved...and then we both FLIPPED. I was squealing and he was crying and it was just beautiful. I wish I had it on film. I asked him where he was headed and he was like "I'm hanging out with a friend, and then I'm going to my mom’s so I can be on time for church tomorrow!" I asked him if he was fasting, too (Sister Johnson let it know it was fast Sunday) and he said “yes! Since last night!" Sure enough, he came...and I've never seen him so happy! He was all smiles!! And...He agreed to start meeting with us again!!! 

BEN IS BACK MY FRIENDS. 
BEN IS BACK. 
I don't think I've ever been so excited in my entire life! PRAY OUR LESSON THIS WEEK GOES BEAUTIFULLY. Thank you. 

Clifford had a great time at church, too!! The gemeinde got 109 gold stars yesterday. They did such an incredible job talking to and fellowshipping the three of those men!! (: I'm excited to see the progress they continue to make over the next few weeks—especially with our awesome members supporting them and making them feel so welcomed and loved!! 

I love y'all lots! 
Hope you had a great New Years! Germany is literally a war zone on the 31st!!! It sounded like one, at least!! People go absolutely crazy with those fireworks! Be safe and I'll see you in eight weeks (: 

- Sister Terry