I am so excited to be here in Pforzheim. When I found out I was going to Germany on my mission, this is what I imagined. We live in the city itself and we many of the same people. The woman who walks her dog in the morning (when we go running) as well as many others. There are many small dorfs outside of Pforzheim that we visit. We have had much success with dooring here and even more success with contacting on the street. The people here are much, much more friendly than they were in Vienna or Munich. It must be a small town thing. We held a street display (Straßenausstellung) on Saturday and about 10 members from the branch came and helped us. We had many good discussions and made out a few appointments. We blew up balloons and tied family home evening cards to them and handed them to little children (we are so sneaky). I talked with one woman with three children and she told me she was a member, but since she married has not been to church. Surprise! We will meet tomorrow. We also had many other great experiences.
The branch is GREAT but our beloved recent convert, Julia is leaving for 7-8 months. That is a hard blow to take. We don't have anyone committed to baptism yet ... actually we dont have any progressing investigators yet, but Sister Anderson and I are working hard and praying hard to find good ones that will progress. I have high hopes. I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary when I can work my hardest. I am so so so grateful for a companion who lets me work until we are dying at the end of the day. It is great.
This week many were out of town on vacation, etc. so we did not have a big turn up at church. There were a grand total of 25 people at church including us, two investigators, the high council visitor and his wife and our branch. That was ... weird. But I loved it. I got to know everyone's name and no one could get through the cracks. They all love each other and accept each other for who they are. I love it here. I hope to spend as much time possible here. It is a dream to be together with Sister Anderson again and working hard all day everyday with her. She is just amazing.
One man that came to church (Edgar) met one of our members (Schwester Molthan) on the train and she invited him to come. He plays the organ and loved the music. We even formed a last second branch choir and all sang together after the meeting. He committed to come again next week and then meet with us and the Molthans after church for lunch. We will also meet with him Wednesday.
I am extremely impressed with how much our Gemeinderat is ready to help one another. They are missionary minded. We are working hard to get in contact with and meet with many inactive or less active members. One in particular allowed us to come visit. We did our best to invite her to come back and simply bear our testimonies, but she told us that we would have no success with the Germans, especially in our area. She challenged us to go talk to her neighbor across the street and told us he would never have interest. We did and set out an appointment to meet with him and his family for Friday. We also made another return appointment and a few numbers exchanged before the bus came. The Lord is helping us.
I LOVE being here! The gospel is true. We are working hard and sticking through the hard times.
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Sister Carla June Carroll
PS -- Schmuck means jewlery. There are lots of jewlery places here ... lots of manufacturing.
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