Linda

Name tags are great things. First off they let people know who you are before you ever come into contact with them. Sometimes this worked against us as people would look at us and quickly cross the street to avoid any contact or conversation with us. Other times having a name tag proved a world of good for us and others.

We didn’t know a single person when we arrived in Freiburg. Most of the time this isn’t the case. Usually you come into an area where one of you has been for a few weeks. So at least one of you will know a few people. In our case, Sister Christopher and I didn’t know anyone at all.

We had just gotten off the train when this enthusiastic young lady came running up to us yelling, ‘Sisters, Sisters’.(see, name tags can come in handy) Before we could take it in she had us each in a hug and was smiling and chatting away. Her name was Linda and she was amazing. She was tall (everyone is tall to me so don’t take this to literally), and had black hair. She had a striking look to her. She was so excited to see us and wanted to know where we lived, what we were up to, how long we had been here and so on. We found out she was a member, a bit less active but she loved the missionaries. Her family was in our ward and she told us she would be sure to have us over for dinner sometime. What a blessing, our first week and we were getting a dinner appointment.

The Berg family was amazing. Sister Berg is one of those ladies would give you the shoes off her feet if she thought it would help. Linda was friendly and willing to help us in whatever way she could. We loved visiting them. They both where greatly involved in missionary work and would feed us anytime they could.

Linda loved to bake. Once we went and baked with her all afternoon. We had so much fun and talked about life. With my German she was always willing to slow things down and to ask constantly if I understood.

She struggled often and as Sister Christopher will testify, we prayed hard and often for her. There was something about her, she wanted to know and believe it all yet her testimony wavered from time to time. We saw her potential and she became not only someone we would visit and teach but she became a friend.

              

 

mit freundlichen Grüßen

Jenessa Jensen