Dear family,

I don't remember much from my setting-apart blessing, and I couldn't tell you much about the interviews I was part of before my mission, either. The one thing I haven't forgotten over the course of the last 18 months, however, was a single sentence spoken by the Lord through dad as he laid his hands on my head a few hours before entering the MTC and gave me a father’s blessing. He said "As you diligently serve the Lord, you will have the opportunity to witness many people change their lives, but the biggest change you will see will be within yourself".

I want to report at this time that that prophecy has been fulfilled. Out of all the people I've taught and lives I've seen touched by Jesus Christ and His gospel, the biggest transformation I've seen truly has been the one I've personally undergone. Helaman 3:35 describes that change better than I could, though:  

“Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” 

Although I'm definitely still in the process of stripping myself of pride, I have gained an incredible understanding of my constant dependency on the Lord and the fact that all miracles that occur, blessings that are received and successes I see come from His merciful hands and not from the works of my own.

While many a shot have been fired at my testimony and it has suffered some serious battle wounds over the course of the last 18 months, I have received very clear answers from Heavenly Father that Jesus is the Christ and this IS His church—answers with roots that are firmly planted.

Though my heart may need to undergo a lifetime of purification before it meets the Lord’s standard, I feel much like those in the Book of Mormon who were present for King Benjamin's address and experienced a "mighty change" in the sense that I "have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually".

I am so eternally grateful for the opportunity I had to serve the Lord as one of his full time missionaries. I'm really struggling to put the emotions I'm feeling into words, so I'm going to continue to let my scripture heroes do it for me:  

“1 And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? 
2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? 
3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. 
11 ...I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. 
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” 

At the beginning of Preach My Gospel, it says "The Lord will reward and richly bless you as you humbly and prayerfully serve Him. More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among his children." At the beginning of my mission, I thought "Ha. Yeah right." But now, as this chapter of my life comes to a close, I can confidently testify of the 100% accuracy of those two sentences. My heart is brim with joy. I've never experienced more happiness in my entire life. And I will be FOREVER thanking and praising God in prayer for allowing me to have this incredible experience.  

“16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.” 

I can't say the smallest part which I feel, either. Words don't even begin to do my joy, my love and my gratitude justice. I want to leave you with my testimony, though, that this the church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth. Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and our Savior and through the power of the Holy Ghost, he translated the Book of Mormon. I know it's the word of God. He has communicated with me through it countless times. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and his counselors, along with the quorum of the 12 apostles, are spiritual giants called of God. Heavenly Father loves His children, and He's ready to shake the heavens for those who obey His commandments and follow the example of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for the Redeemer. Through the enabling power of his atonement, I was able to overcome those first few months of darkness and depression and end up having an experience that couldn't have been more beautiful had I dreamed it up myself. I feel so blessed to have spent the last 18 months as one of the Lord’s full-time missionaries, and feel especially privileged to have been able to labor in Germany. I love this country more than I can express and will miss it & its incredible people deeply.

Just for the record, whoever said "you'll shed many more tears leaving the field than you will entering it" hit the nail right on the head.

I love y'all lots.
See you on Friday

Love (for the last time),
Sister Terry

 PS Richards’s baptism went great!! Couldn't have asked for a bette r end to my mission (:

Dear family,

OKAY. I KNOW I START OUT ALL MY EMAILS THIS WAY BUT THIS WEEK WAS INCREDIBLY MIRACULOUS AND I LOVED IT. GET THIS. The week before last, we talked with a couple from Iraq on the ubahn and had about a minute-long conversation with them before they had to hop off. In those 60 seconds we found out that they were actually Christians who fled from the Middle East for religious freedom, and I explained very briefly what we do as missionaries—help those who don't believe in Christ develop faith, and help those who have faith develop an even stronger relationship with him! We were able to switch numbers just before their stop and when I called on Monday night we set up an appointment Wednesday afternoon!

And?
They are perfect.
First off, they made us a feast and it was delicious so wow thank you.
Second off, THEY ARE PREPARED BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS.

We brought them a Book of Mormon in Arabic and began explaining the background to the Mays (the 21 year-old daughter) and she was like "Joseph Smith! Yeah! I've heard about him!" And we were kind of like "okay yeah actually probably not because you're from IRAQ but that's cool" ...but then her mother came in from the kitchen and, in her broken English, said "I know this book! Mormon! Yes! About 10 years ago, I turned on the TV and I watched something about your church. It was about the boy who translated this book. His father was a...Gardner..." (She couldn't remember the word for farmer). She went on to describe a film that sounded a whole lot like The Restoration, and we were literally BAFFLED because, at the time, she was living in Iraq! She continued, "You won't meet very many people from my country who know much about him. Besides me. And my friend. After I saw that film, I asked my friend about Him and he had never heard of him either...so we tried to research him more."

AND THEN (BRACE YOURSELVES) SHE SAID:
"After learning about Joseph Smith, I said that if I ever moved to America, I would be part of that church. And? Well, here you three are!"
Our jaws were literally touching the floor.
And I don't think our eyes have ever been bigger, either.

Eventually, words started to come out of one of our mouths, and we testified that God was aware of her, that the Lord knew of her righteous desires and her INCREDIBLE faith, and that they had led us to one another so that she could accept the gospel that she's waited so long to learn more about. "You didn't need to move to America! The Lord has brought His church to YOU!" we said. I don't even know what commentary to provide. It was another one of those "oh my heavens, I NEVER want to stop being a missionary" moments. There is nothing more exciting, more fulfilling, more joyful than this work!! The hand of God in the details of our lives has never been so apparent to me! This family fled from Iraq to Syria and from Syria to DUISBURG GERMANY of all places. I know, whether they realize it or not, they were being led by the spirit. And so were we when we talked to them the other week on the bahn! (:

On Friday, we met with someone named Nadar! Sister Roderer contacted him the other week on the train. He said he couldn't meet because he was headed to Berlin, but that he'd call when he was back in town...and he did! And he brought his brother along for the appointment, too! (: They were really special. Syrian refugees—from Damascus, actually! That's right. DAMASCUS. Anyway, the brother couldn't understand too much, but Nadar could...and he was SO accepting! Of everything! Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon—you name it, he loved it!(: I'm so excited to meet with them again next week! They're going to progress really quickly.

We also had a neat experience with Henry this week—one of our African investigators. We scheduled a lesson with him on Saturday, but he showed up to the church on Friday night thinking we were supposed to meet then. We had a lesson planned with Richard, but figured we could use him to our advantage since they're buddies! And as if the evening had been executed by God himself (haha), the lesson went perfectly! Henry had lots of issues with the restoration message we shared with him, but at one point, we turned to Richard and were like "hey, you're getting baptized into this church next weekend! How did you come to know that this is true?" Richard shared the most beautiful testimony about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith...and it touched his friend’s heart so deeply! He was way more open to accepting our message once he heard his friend testify of its truthfulness (:

Needless to say, Richard is doing great!! (: We're looking forward to his baptism on Saturday!! This week is going to be absolute MADNESS trying to get everything together because we're on a split until tomorrow night, have MLC all day Friday AND have tons appointments with members who want to say their last goodbyes...so send some prayers out way, would ya?!(:

Speaking of baptisms, we were able to set a couple dates with some new investigators on Saturday night! We had a lesson with a man we nicknamed Chubaca (Sister Roderer contacted him a little while ago, but couldn't remember his name). Anyway, he brought a friend with him, and we were able to teach them both about the restoration! It went super well! They'll be getting baptized in about a month from this upcoming weekend!

I think it goes without saying...but the Lord really loves Duisburg. He rains miracles down on this place. Between us and the Elders, we had over 10 investigators (plus a few other non-members) at church yesterday! I'm so lucky to have gotten to serve in one of the most happenin' places in the Frankfurt Germany mission. It's going to be really hard to leave :(

But hey,
See y'all NEXT WEEK.
WHAT THE?!

Love you (:

- Sister Terry

Dear family,

This week was MADNESS. 

After P-day ended on Monday night we had a lesson with Ralph. Once we finished, we looked at our phones and had about 10 missed calls from the Sisters in Düsseldorf, the Zone Leaders, and President. Turns out, everyone was playing soccer at the gym and one of the Elders kicked it, hit Sister Jeppeson in the eye...and caused it to go blind. She had bleeding in her Retina or something? (I WISH I HAD PAYED MORE ATTENTION TO YOU WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THIS KIND OF STUFF BACK HOME, DAD). Anyway, she was in the hospital for a few days, so we spent the majority of this week back and forth between Duisburg and Düsseldorf so they didn't have to cancel all their appointments. We also had two zone trainings on top of that! Although it felt like we were hardly in our area AT ALL, we were still able to get a lot of good work done! (: 

We had a super neat experience with Richard on Thursday! 
But first? Some background info for you: 

We had an eating appointment scheduled at the same time as his appointment...but didn't have his number in order to reschedule. We couldn't cancel on the member, but we knew if we didn't show up to the church when we told Richard to meet us there, there was a pretty good chance we would lose all contact with him. Sister Johnson prayed all week that the members would cancel, but they never did. 

Or so we thought. 

We got to their apartment, but they were kind of like "mom said she talked to y'all and cancelled"...but none of us had spoken with her. I had accidentally left my phone at home, so I'm assuming she just left a message on it or something? Either way, we headed back to bahnhoff to meet up with the Herne sisters, then traveled back to Neuenkamp for our lesson with Richard (by this point we had been able to track him down through a mutual friend and move the appointment a couple hours later). AND I’M SO GLAD WE DID BECAUSE HERE’S THE MIRACLE STORY OF THE WEEK: We took him to see the baptismal font and there, perched right inside of it, was THE BIGGEST spider any of us had ever seen! Richard had a little spaz attack and was like "oh my gosh. No way. IN AFRICA, MY NICKNAME IS SPIDER." and we were like "GOD’S TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING" and he was like "YES PRAISE HIS NAME THIS IS A SIGN FROM THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY" and we're we like "HALLELUJAH". 

DO YALL UNDERSTAND?! 
EVERYTHING HAPPENED EXACTLY THE WAY IT DID SO THAT GOD COULD POSITION THAT MONSTER SPIDER IN PLAIN VIEW SO THAT HUMAN SPIDER WOULD SEE IT AND REALIZE THAT GOD WANTS HIM IN THE FONT, TOO! 

It was a beautiful moment. 

And the lesson went great, too! We taught him about the word of wisdom, the law of chastity and tithing! Spider is ready to give up EVERYTHING in order to be a member of Gods church! (: looking forward to the 27th!!! (: 

Rahi is doing great! Because he is Muslim, he had to interview with president and get "cleared" to be baptized. Send lots of prayers his way, would ya? The interview went well, but talking with his parents probably won't. We're gonna have to call down some HUGE miracles from heaven if he's going to get baptized next week! 

Speaking of interviews with president...my leavers interview was heart wrenching. I was balling before we finished the opening prayer! It was one big President & Sister Terry friendship cry fest. I'll give y'all the details when I talk to you in a couple weeks...but I just want to express my love for that man. He is one of the most inspired leaders I've ever met in my entire life. When I got out into the field, this mission was quite honestly kind of a joke. People would look at missionary blogs and ask "are y'all study abroad students or missionaries?" Hard work and diligent discipleship were secondary to fun and friendship. Since President Stoddard got here, however, this mission has completely turned around. We're crushing past mission records, we're seeing more success than ever and we're witnessing miracles left and right. I am so grateful for him. I really don't believe my mission would have been quite as incredible as it has been without him. He didn't just set the stage for an amazing 18 months, though, but for the rest of my life, as well. 

I love being a missionary, y'all. 
I'm devastated that this undesirably wonderful chapter of my life is coming to a close…but I look forward to seeing y'all in a few short weeks!! 

Love you so much! 
- Sister Terry

Dear family,

Thursday was a rare occurrence in the life of a missionary serving in Germany...we had 2 eating appointments in the same day! (: 

The first one was with home girl Charley. That's always a good time. She and her husband and their little baby child moved from England a few months ago! The second was with Sister Wagner...which was also a blast! She was baptized at 11, and removed her name from the records of the church in her 20's or 30's. Time passed, however, and she recognized something was missing in her life. She worked to get re-baptized and is now an active, stalwart member of the church. 

After each of their appointments, we did something we call a wunder stunde (miracle hour)!! We pulled out 1 Nephi 16 and read verses 23, 24, 30 and 31 with them (this is right after Nephi broke his steel bow and had to set his family straight because of their murmuring): 

23 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food? 
24 And it came to pass that he did inquire of the Lord, for they had humbled themselves because of my words; for I did say many things unto them in the energy of my soul. 
30 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon the ball. 
31 And it came to pass that I did slay wild beasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our families.

Then we were like "Alright! We have our weapons! We've got copies of the book of Mormon, Mormon.org cards, pamphlets and we want YOU to pray about where we should go hunting for those who are ready to hear about the gospel! We have a map right here! Pick an area for us to door, we'll kneel together and ask the Lord if that's where we should go, and we'll call you in an hour to let you know what miracles we saw!" 

And boy did we see them!! In Charley's neighborhood, we met a lady who met with missionaries 30 years ago and formed a really, really strong relationship with them. She's read in the Book of Mormon and thinks super highly of the church! We also met two people who invited us to come over and teach them this week! In Sister Wagner’s neighborhood, we had some really awesome conversations and met a man who also used to meet with missionaries! He learned about the church while he was in Florida, and continues to read the Book of Mormon to this day! He ended up giving us his address! We’ll be stopping by this week to read with him (: 

It was the NEATEST experience getting to call the members afterwards and share our successes with them. You could tell they were just grinning from ear to ear upon hearing the miracles that stemmed from their heaven-sent inspiration. I'm so grateful for the members of this church—especially the ones here in Germany! Nothing brings me more joy than getting to work alongside them! (: 

Rahi is doing great. 
I'm obsessed with him. We all are. 

On Friday, we began part one of lesson #3 otherwise known as lesson "how to please the God". We went in there planning to discuss faith and Jesus Christ, but we ended up focusing most of our time on the nature of God. Rahi was totally stunned by our descriptions of Heavenly Father, who according to him and his Muslim upbringing, is indescribable and undefinable. While I was in düsseldorf on a split on Saturday, the sisters met with him again...twice. The first time around, they discussed repentance (which Rahi ATE UP). The second time around, Minor (Rahi's buddy) had apparently been looking up videos about the life of Jesus Christ and other stuff on the Internet and was like "get the Sisters over here" so they gave us a call and they were able to teach him (him being mainly Minor) a little more about the Savior! 

I love that when people have thoughts or questions about Jesus Christ, they turn to US for answers and guidance! (: That is just such a testimony to the workings of Holy Ghost! There's no other way to explain the fact people look at 20-25 year old men and woman for spiritual understanding other than that the Holy Ghost is bearing witness to them that we really are representatives of Jesus Christ. I'm so unbelievably grateful for the chance I've had to be a part of this 75,000 person army, sent out into the world to bear testimony of the Savior and His restored church!(: 

Other highlights: 

- SISTER JOHNSON AND I GOT TO GO ON A 24 HOUR FRIENDSHIP DATE OF LOVE AND HAPPINESS. 

We had a split planned with dortmund, but they called us and let us know they both had to stay there for some mysterious reason. We decided to go ahead and do the split, anyway, and just send Sister Roderer up to them and let her 'taush with both of them. Allow me to answer your questions: 

Yes, we were freuing ourselves 
Yes, we were our wifey shirts. 
And No, we didn't get much sleep. 

Despite our exhaustion, it was still a great day (: we met with Richard, our miracle man from last Sunday and were able to set a fest baptismal date with him! He's way excited!! (Fun fact: He, along with every single one of our investigators who we consistently meet with, came to church on Sunday!!). MIRACLES. 

- ONE OF MY WILDEST MISSION DREAMS CAME TRUE. I'm OBSESSED with umbrellas here in Germany, right? Right. I'm constantly pointing them out and complimenting them because they're literally works of art. 

WELLLL while on a split in Essen this past week, I turned to a man sitting across the aisle from us, asked him where he bought his, and he handed it to me and said "I don't know. Someone gifted it tome....now I'm gifting it to you! You can keep it." 

I literally almost peed myself. 
I can go home in peace now (; 

Speaking of going home...I have my Leavers testimony AND my leavers interview this week!
AHHHH. 
WHERE IS THE TIME GOING?! 
WISH ME SO MUCH LUCK. 

Love y’all!! 
See you soon! (; 

- Sister Terry

Dear family,

Holy cow. This week FLEW BY. I can't believe it's already p-day again! We've done a whole bunch of sitting over the last few days...MLC on Friday (always a blast), weekly and zone training planning on Saturday (such a party) and then church yesterday (best part of the week!)...however, we were still blessed with some really neat experiences!! 

Wednesday was one of my favorite nights OF LIFE. 

The David's invited us over to do a special musical family home evening with them and a bunch of neighbors (that's what happens when you have two super talented companions!!)! There were just as many non-members as there were members...which was AWESOME. Definitely one of those "I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE" evenings. Rolf and his son Dommy were there (I met them at an FHE when I first got here!) and they brought Nellie along, too! She's 9. And one of my new best friends. I braided her hair and we played games and it was beautiful. They also invited an elderly couple over—Reta and Ulvs—who are two of my favorite Germans EVER. He comes from a family of 6 (which is large if you're not a Terry), so we bonded over that for quite a while (: 

I got home that night on cloud nine. 
I love the German people so unbelievably much! 
And missionary work in general. I don't care what Disney world says, THE MISSION FIELD IS THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH. Hands down. 

Sunday was another special day this past week! 

We saw Rahi and Minor on the bus Saturday night and let them know we'd be coming by Sunday morning to pick them up for church. They were kind of hesitant at first, but we insisted and they eventually agreed. 

We went over and Rahi let us in, sat us down and fed us grapes and oranges as he finished getting dressed. We walked over, and he just fit right in! Two random men Sister Johnson and Sister Roderer contacted on their split with Sister Jackson came, too, so we met with them and Rahi during the second hour and taught the restoration!! We focused the majority of the lesson on Jesus Christ because all three of them come from Muslim backgrounds. 

It went so well. 
Rahi is literally perfect.
One of the most humble-hearted people I've ever worked with! 

At the very end of the lesson, he said something along the lines of "Christ came and taught us how to live good lives. He taught what we need to do to make God happy. What do I need to do to please God? I want him to be happy with me. That's the most important thing in this life." 

Can't wait to meet with him this week and discuss the answer to that question (;  

The Sunday miracles didn't stop there, though! Last week, an African man got on the bus with one of our local JWs. There were no two seats together, so he sat by me and his Jehovah Witness friend sat down across the aisle next to us. I figured it was kind of inappropriate to engage him in a conversation about the gospel as he was clearly about to meet with her, but I also figured he was also probably definitely seeking for truth...so, I just talked with him about normal everyday things with a prayer in my heart that we'd meet him again and be able to lead him to the source of all knowledge and understanding—namely Jesus Christ and His gospel. WELL, we ended up crossing paths with him yesterday after meeting with the Kilgores! Sister Johnson not only contacted him...but proceeded to commit him to baptism right then and there on the bus! HAHAHA if that's not an answered prayer, I don't know what is!! (: 

Our appointment with the Bishop and his family went...well hahaha (I think I told you a little about this last week, mom). He asked us last week at church if we were still planning on coming over and I was like "they will, but I'll be on a split" and he was super NOT okay with that at all and told me we would have to reschedule the split or our appointment with them because he (and this is a direct quote) wanted to "talk about marriage". HA. He's trying REALLY hard to keep me focused on the work ‘til the end (; it was great, though! He had lots of really good advice and even recommended some books. Mom, if you could order "first comes love" and "for all eternity" for me, Bishop Pabst would be very, very pleased. 

Gag. 
You better not. 
I'm never going to his house ever again. 

Love y'all lots!!(: 
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH <3 
AHHHHHHHH 

- Sister Terry