Beastgate!

Yo. I've been transferred y'all! I am now serving in the Eastgate Ward, which is a suburb of the grand ole' Cincinnati, and my new companion is... wait for iiiiiit.... Sister BLUDER! She is the bomb. She is a convert to the church and so I love listening to her testimony. And she is such a hard worker. I seriously love her so much! Needless to say, I am very excited for this 7-week transfer (the extra week is a one time thing and is due to the newly implemented 3-week-instead-of-two-week MTC stay extension being put into effect for English speakers)!!!

Me and Sister Bluder (I LOVE that we both have German last names!)

Anyways, we live in a house — yes...  A HOUSE!

My current home away from home!!!

And we are serving in a ward with a set of elders, Elder Van Alfen and Elder Hullinger (who is a new missionary) and they are great. This area is completely different from my first one, so I pretty much feel like a new missionary again myself, haha!

Tuesday was transfers, and miraculously I was able to fit all of my stuff into Sister Gimbel's car, and by 2:00 that afternoon, Sister Bluder and I were already back to work in Eastgate! This area is SO MUCH SMALLER than Decatur and so we have been able to visit A TON people, and it's been great! I dislike the fact that I don't really know anyone yet... But realize I just gotta give it a couple weeks — because the few people that I have met are incredible!

While visiting a ward member named Sister U, I saw that she had a cookbook that my mom uses called Six Sister's Stuff and I told her about the lemon cake recipe that is one of my favorites! Well, the next day she came out with us to a lesson (which ended up falling through) and afterwards she surprised us with... LEMON CAKE and it was AMAZING! Quite the nice little surprise:).

THANK YOU Sister U... You are THE BEST!!!

Thursday, we had zone weekly planning, and so I got to meet everyone... Our zone seems pretty chill and I am excited to get to know them all! Sunday was cray-zay because our church starts at 1:00! I don't think I have ever had church start that late! Actually... maybe I have, but it has been a while! So that means that all of our meetings on Sunday don't usually start until 10, so we have plenty of time to deliver breakfasts to people before church and then we have the afternoon to visit. Ahh, it was quite a refreshing change from the 9 o'clock church I have had for the past three transfers. And I was the lucky one who gave the opening prayer in sacrament meeting, and I also bore my testimony so that I could introduce myself to the ward. There are so many people (HUGE change going from a small branch to a large ward!)... my goal is to try hard to learn and know all of their names!

Spiritual thought: This morning, in my studies, I was reading in Alma Chapter 24 about Anti-Nephi-Lehi and his brethren. They knew the Laminates were preparing to go to battle against them, but they had promised God that they would perish rather than use their weapons to shed blood. These new converts were more afraid for souls than for their lives did not want to revert back to their old ways of delighting in bloodshed and hating their enemies. They were determined to avoid this risk at all costs, so they buried their weapons and did not fight. Then the Laminates began to slay them, but when they saw that they would not fight back, their hearts were softened and many of them were also converted, even a greater number than those who had been slain. As I was reading this, I was pondering the question: What weapons of war do I need to bury? In other words, what do I need to do to become more consecrated? What do I need to do so that I can be a greater example to others as a disciple of Christ? What do I need to do to more fully keep my covenants? I invite you all to ponder these questions, and use this week to ask God for your next step in coming closer to Him. I know He loves each and every one of you and desires your salvation. Just trust in Him! He will help you to accomplish you next step as long as you trust in Him and His timing.

Our new shades

Interesting experience from the week: Sister Bluder and I were going to visit an investigator, who ended up not being home... However, his son was home and we ended up talking to him a bit, but he was pretty much saying how he thinks if there is a God, that He is a woman; but that really we are all god, and the only way we can talk to God is if we use 'shrooms and other drugs. He told us, "Look, I read part of the Book of Mormon. I tried out your religion. So will you try out mine? Please, when you get the chance, use 'shrooms, and you will be able to talk to God. Your prayer won't do. Just trust me." Holy moly, it was SO SAD.... He didn't know what happens to us when we die. He had no idea or hope of anything. It was interesting to me how fast the Spirit was gone from this discussion... and I DIDN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL!

Anyways, hope you all have a blessed week! The church is true and the book is blue!

Love Sister Feil