Sister Samantha Costa and Sister Kimberley Meisenfelder are fulltime missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Basel, Switzerland, serving in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission. During the COVID-19 lockdown, they have also gained prominence as vloggers, regularly posting short videos online. The two undertakings are interconnected, as vlogging is giving them opportunities to share their strong belief in Jesus Christ.
The sister companionship is among many missionaries in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission using this vlogging approach.
“We have the opportunity to use Facebook as a tool to contact people,” said Sister Costa, from Richfield, Utah, USA. “What we do as a mission is make ‘vlogs.’ We use our creativity, gospel knowledge and ask people about an important question in life in 30 seconds.”
Sister Meisenfelder, from Cottbus, Germany, added, “When we made our first vlog, we had no idea what the aftermath of making it would be. The vlog was posted on Facebook and boom! One, two, three....10 people and more started contacting us. For once in a lifetime they were contacting us".
“We have had the opportunity to talk to scores of people through our vlogs using WhatsApp as a texting tool. What a blessing it has been to share our testimonies about God and Jesus Christ with these people who we don't know but have such a great connection to.”
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Sister Samantha Costa and Sister Kimberly Meisenfelder are fulltime missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Basel, Switzerland. They serve in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission. © 2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.According to the sister missionaries, one young woman texted them after seeing the vlog and conveyed her self-doubt and why she felt insecure. Sister Costa related, “We then shared with her how much God loves her and how much worth she has in God's eyes. The principles we shared with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ we know touched her heart, and she still writes us today because the Light of Christ is working in her.
“We have so much power as missionaries to bring light to peoples’ life in the world. It is because we have a message which changes peoples’ lives forever. “We don't have time to waste”, they say. “Through technology we can do so much! We are so thankful the work of the Lord can continue, even in quarantine.”
Sister Jenna Hodnett and Sister Alinda Groeneveld, who are serving in the city of Bonstetten, a few kilometres away from Zurich, are bold enough to say that for them “quarantine has been fantastic”, because they have used it to check old friends of the Church that have lost contact with the missionaries. “We were able to get some appointments and had some great lessons”.
It turns out that two people who were just numbers in their phone at first, now say they’ve received a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and expressed the desire to be baptized. With one of these individuals, they met virtually each day through the means of technology and saw how that person was learning more and more each day.
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Sister Jenna Hodnett and Sister Alinda Groeneveld, serve as full time missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the city of Bonstetten, not far from Zurich, Switzerland2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Sister Hodnett, from South Jordan, Utah, and Sister Groeneveld, from Düsseldorf, Germany, also started contacting the members of Church that belong to the congregation where they are currently assigned. Some of these members had stop coming to Church a long time ago. The missionaries quickly became very busy as they shared the First Vision with them. In one of the days, they got nine appointments. “It was really miraculous to see how the Lord helps us use technology in our efforts”, they exclaim.
A similar occurrence was experienced with another member of the Church that was not coming to Church regularly. Through the daily virtual meetings with the missionaries, this member was able to rekindle her faith in Jesus Christ, and in the words of the missionaries, “it has been incredible to see her light grow brighter each day”.
Sister Hodnett and Sister Groeneveld realize that all of this wasn't possible before quarantine, but through technology and the help of the Lord, they are now much more flexible and capable. People have also become more willing to listen to what they have to share. “We can do missionary work without even having to leave the apartment and we are still doing so much good. This is the best thing ever.” They conclude by saying “there has never been a more productive time on our missions than now - technology and the Holy Spirit of God are truly our best friends.”
Missionaries from the Church’s Alpine German-Speaking Mission serve at their own expense and minister to communities and congregations across Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Liechtenstein.
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