A Mile in Our Shoes

Grüßle!

(A little bit of Schwäbisch dialect for you there, like all that I learned :))

I guess the most sensible place to start off is with transfer calls, that happened. I remember counting down to/loathing transfer calls for like days and weeks on in the past, but now it's just so casual. I guess I'm getting old and boring.

But we got a bit of a surprise - Sister Berry is going to München 2 to work with Sister Abram (she tausched there just this past week,) and I'm staying in Passau with........Sister BISHOP.

Yeah. That's right. My comp from 6 weeks ago is coming to be with me for a THIRD transfer together! I'm really sad that I've been gypped a transfer with Sister Berry (we were guessing that we would have two, since that's typical) but if anyone were to come right now, I'm SO excited that it's Sister Bishop. They just couldn't keep us apart. :)  Apparently Stuttgart ward was happy that we'd be serving together again.

With Sister Berry

I already mentioned it a smidgen, but we had Austausch this week! I got to work here in Passau with Sister Arnold. I was so happy that we were able to get tausch rescheduled, because Sister Arnold and I have had 2 mutual companions (we served with each others' MTC comps - so Sisters Smiley and Fenton) and I've heard SO much about her and how wonderful she is. And it turns out that everything that was said was correct! Sister Arnold is just lovely. And she reminds me JUST like my friend Katelyn from chamber choir at home. They're both super loving and spiritual and even look similar....pretty trippy. But it was lovely! She had a transfer in Passau so I think it was fun for her to come back for a day.

With Sister Arnold

Sometimes I get random musicals stuck in my head. I usually try to sing hymns to make them go away because they can be distracting, but if it doesn't pull my head and heart too far from the work in Germany then I'll indulge myself for a few minutes of whistling old tunes. I had "Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" stuck in my head this week and then busted out LAUGHING while hanging my laundry up to dry because I realized that it's actually about missionary work.

Me at door: "Hallo, wir sind Missionarinnen der Kirche Jesu Christi der Hei-"
Person at door: "Keine Interesse" *slam*
Me still at door: "CLOSE EVERY DOOR TO ME"

So I got a good laugh out of that.

A happy sister missionary from Kansas:  wearing a dirndl in Germany and
holding a sunflower--the state flower of Kansas.

I had a beautiful experience this week when I had a prayer answered. I had been having a hard time with something, and someone was able to help me with my specific situation, because she had walked that same road. I thought about that blessing a lot. If she hadn't experienced the same things that I was going through, she wouldn't have been able to help me so much. I'm really grateful for that help - because my road to walk was probably much less lonely than hers was, because I wasn't completely alone in it.

I got a letter this week from a missionary friend that I once tausched with. She told me that I had helped her with something when we worked together. It wasn't a big thing, but I was able to help her with that because I had been where she then was. (Is this making any sense? I know I'm using a lot of Subjunctive II right now.) But it was so humbling to know that I had helped her without even knowing it.

I was thinking about how these two experiences related one night while laying in bed. Heavenly Father is so perfect at orchestrating things. We go through life and have challenges that prepare us to help strengthen others. Then, when they must walk down lonely roads, their journey mustn't be as lonely as ours', because we can accompany them. We know how we can strengthen others when we've felt it ourselves. (This reminds me of the "Refiner's Fire" Mormon Message)

And then it dawned on me. Isn't that exactly what Jesus Christ did? Isn't that the whole point of the Atonement? Jesus Christ not only paid for the sins of all mankind and overcame the hands of death, but He has walked EVERY road that we have ever walked and ever will walk. Because He has been everywhere that we've ever been, He knows "how to succor them who are tempted," or hurting, or struggling, or trying their best and still coming up short.

Today we took a little scuttle about the grounds of the castle that looks over Passau. That was one of those moments where I punched myself and wondered why Heavenly Father was kind enough to send me to the place of my dreams.

Have a great week.

Love,

Sister Bushman