Another crazy week with transfers, they never go off without a hitch and it was the same this time. (Something to do with forgotten keys and area phones, too much luggage, a lack of elevators, and both being new in the area). But we made it!! It has been great serving in an area that is so different from Vienna, lots of pros and cons, and lots of things to learn. Sister Clark is amazing, I don’t think I could do it without her positive disposition.
This week I would like to tell the story of us meeting a less active member that we will call George. It begins with a list of suggested people to stop by from the Sisters who left the area so we would have something to do until we can start making appointments. On this list, in a town not too far away, was George. We decided to stop by him and see if we could share a spiritual thought. We went all the way out to the address that we had for him only to discover a Ukrainian and her son had been living at the address since early August. Luckily, we have a phone number for George so we text him to invite him to an event in the neighboring ward of Solothurn. He responded with a surprised, “How long has their been a Mormon church in Solothurn?!”. Funnily enough, the event was the 140 celebration of the church in Solothurn, which was proudly displayed on the flyer we sent him, but we answered his question anyways. He said he would think about coming.
Spoiler, he didn’t come. But in the afternoon after the event, we were heading home from another appointment and for some reason Google was showing that the only way to get home was this round about way that took an hour, we should have been able to make it in 30 minutes. But Google said it was the only way so that’s the way we went. We are walking back from the train station to our apartment (about 15 min walk) and some man calls out to us. It’s George! He called out because we had written him earlier and he had seen our profile pic so he recognized us. It turns out he actually lives pretty far away so it was really strange that he was walking down the street in the town we live in. We spoke about a lot of things on the side of the street, from his conversion 7 years ago to his choice to go inactive 5 years ago and his testimony that he still has.
He was clear that at this time his decision will remain the same and he won’t be coming to church, but he said said would pray and ponder about it and text us if he feels God is prompting him to.
It was crazy to see how God inspired the previous Sisters to put him on this list to vorbei, inspired us with the idea to text him, and then how we ended up on the same street as him that evening so we could speak which afterwards he texted us to thank us for the Spirit he felt during our conversation. He might be a tough cookie, but I think we might be able to get to him. The only way it will happen though, is when we follow the guidance of the Spirit. God has a plan for all of us and He knows us better than we do, and He knows George better than He does. So, when we follow His guidance, I know that He will help us know exactly what to do to help George find answers to all his questions.
I hope you all have a most wonderful week! (Also this week I hit 7 months, crazy!!)
Liebe Grüße, Sister Tripp
Massive cake, fruit, ice cream, and meringue dessert
Goodbye Sister Nelson!!
The Sisters in Wien!
Bern temple
Herzogenbuchsee
Made it to our area!
Puts the Kirch in Kirchberg
Random church
Sunset!
Cookie we made to bring to people
Church building in burgdorf
Sunrise!
Using the bikes for the first time