November 30, 2015

Hello, I finally have time to do some writing.

It is amazing here in Austria (Österreich aufdeutsch). It is so beautiful during Christmas time!! I can understand the people pretty well which is a surprise. The people here are so one minded. If they don't to talk to us or just aren't interested, they will say, to our faces, "I am ignoring you.”….Haha. On the other side when you become friends with them they are the most loyal friend ever and will be there for you always. Anytime they we have had someone tell us they are going to church they go, which has been really nice. They also don't like when you beat around the bush. You have to get straight to the point.

Okay so this weeks breakdown.

Monday- We had a district P-day for Thanksgiving! It was really fun. Everyone made something to eat but we don‘t have turkey here :P so we just made Schnitzel instead. We played American football and had a great time. If any of you know Ammon Takau, his cousin is my zone leader. I was on his team so naturally we won!

Tuesday- We had district meeting. I love district meetings because it gives me good practice in teaching people in German. I taught about member work and how important it is as a part of being a missionary. Working with the members is essential! We also got a referral for someone named Brother Schopf. His brother is a convert to the church and sent us an referral email. We had a really good lesson with him and will be going back to next Wednesday.

Wednesday- We didn’t have anything planned. So, just took one of the busses as far as it would go. We ended up in Pichlinger. It was a cute little dorf with not that many houses. We met this old couple that invited us in for tea (herbal of course) and Lebkuchen (really good German cookies). We talked to them about God and life and their beliefs. It was really cool talking to them. The crazy thing was that the old man, when he was a kid, went to one of Hitlers academies. He told us how he had seen Hitler before. Which is crazy!!! Another fun little fact is that Hitler used to live here in Linz, where I am serving, and his house is still here.

Thursday- We went up in the country and the hills it was soooooo pretty!!! Nothing really crazy or interesting happened this day but the view was so beautiful! Iin the afternoon, we taught the group of Persians! We love the Persians so much. Someone has to translate for us but we are all still really good friends. They all come to church every Sunday and are just amazing people all around. They are coming amazingly!!! We literally might start a Persian branch before we leave the area. We met some more Persians and they came to church yesterday. We have a whole different class in church for them.

Friday- This wasn't a really good day! We had two lessons fall through. It was kind of disappointing but we didn't let it get us down!!

Saturday- Saturday was a really good day!! We had a Straßenausstellung, which means a street display. We pretty much just did that all day. We had Books of Mormon in every language and gave out a lot! We met a lot of cool people and it went really well. We also ate at a Japanese sushi place with one of the members which was amazing!!

Sunday- Sunday was pretty good. We went to church but my companion was sick. One of the members took him out of class and gave him DoTerra oils to help and told me to, "make him use them!!" Haha. We ate at a younger couples, the Winkler‘s. They are the cutest, coolest, couple ever and their food was amazing! Sister Winkler even gave me her cookie recipe! :D

Update on Rumy- He was kind of overwhelmed with the baptism challenge so he is going to take some time until January. We will be there for him anytime he needs anytime. I really love him and it makes me sad but it doesn't really get me down. People usually have 7 different times coming in contact with the church before they join on average.

I love my mission so much. It has been the best decision I have have made in my life by far. I have learned so many things already!! I can't even write all of the things I learned!! I love you all. Until next week.