Well yet again I have no time. I save my weekly for last... which is kinda dumb. Anyway here is a cool little story I want to tell
So we have been focusing a lot on members and especially less actives this week. So we have called an gone by on tons of people. There was this one older lady on our list that didn't have a number so we thought we would go visit her and set up an appointment to get to know her better. Turns out the address was a care center, but we still went inside and asked around to see where her room was. We were misdirected a few time before we finally were in the right area and asked a worker where she was. The worker went to her room and brought her into the lunch area.
This sisters name was Schwester Hofer. We sat down with her and said "Hallo wir sind die Missionare, wie geht es Ihnen" (how are you doing) and she responded with "Gut, gut gut" and so we asked her if she needed help with anything and she repsonded with "Gut, gut, gut..." we quickly realized that this Sister could not say anything but the word "Gut".... But everytime we would speak she would lean in close so she could hear and understand. Essentially, she could recognize and understand what we were saying, but because of her dementia/alzheimers she could not communicate. Elder Palmer told me to take out my Book of Mormon from my bag. As I pulled it out, she immediately lit up. I asked her if she could remember what it was. She then pointed at the cover and just said "Gut, gut, gut". I asked her a few more things and I looked into her eyes as I did so. We all know the phrase "the eyes are the window to the soul" -- but I don't think that phrase does this expereince justice. When I looked into her eyes, I saw love. I saw understanding, and even though she could not communicate with her mouth -- she didn't need to. Her eyes did the talking -- I knew that this Sister was going to be ok. She expressed so much emotion and love and purity through her eyes, and it is something that I will never forget. I learned that we all face trials and in her case -- it was a harder trial than most. But, we have to take we get and go with it. This sister could not effectivly comunicate, but that didn't stop her from loving and caring and knowing what was important. So lets not let anything in our lives stop us from doing what is most important.
I have some other great stories from this week, but they will have to wait till next time! I love you all!
-Elder Johnson
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