Sunday, December 27, 2015

December 23, 2015

Week 14
This week was pretty good. There is so much anticipation building up for Christmas.

Tuesday we exchanged with the zone leaders. I stayed in Linz while Elder Albrecht got to go to Salzburg. We got a new zone leader this transfer Elder Nebiker. He is a really hard worker and it was really awesome to work with him. That night we taught the Persian group and had ward mission correlation meeting. The lesson with the Persians was good but it just wasn't quite as good as the lessons we have been having with them.

Wednesday morning we were going to meet with a less active older lady. She is living alone so we needed someone else there with us to joint teach. We couldn‘t find anyone so we couldn‘t teach her this week. :P Later that day we went finding. We found this really nice guy that seemed really interested in the gospel! He was Catholic and believed in God but he thought the Catholic Church has fallen away from Christ. We gave him the first lesson on the street. He was a well off business man from Graz. Graz isn't in our area so hopefully he agrees for the missionaries to meet with him there! After this we exchanged back and Elder Albrecht and I went finding in Landstraße, which is downtown. We got invited to go to an Evangelist culture night/religious discussion. There was free food so of course we went! :D We talked with some people there and explained our religion to them. It's good when you can talk with someone about religion without trying to pick a fight and everyone respects each other's beliefs! After that we somehow had a conversation on the street with a guy from Italy. He didn't know German or English, haha! We gave him a Christmas card. :)

Thursday morning we had a joint teach with the sisters. This guy, Markus, is really a golden investigator! We taught him about the 10 commandments and invited him to come to church. He came to church and he already seems like he's a member, it's crazy! The rest of the day we went to Solar City and went dooring. That was our Thursday! :P

Friday morning we got a call from a less active older lady. She said that she has been really dizzy lately and needed a blessing so we went right over. For some reason they always ask me to do the blessing, haha! She was such a nice lady. She gave us chocolate and oranges. After that we did the rest of our studies and had weekly planning. That night we were supposed to teach the Persians but they didn't get the memo! The only one there was Masa, our other translator. We talked with her for a bit and got to know her better. She is the coolest! She can speak English, Persian and German. On our way home we had a wrapped Book of Mormon, for Christmas, and a note. We put this on someone doorstep and doorbell ditched them. Hopefully something good happens with it!

Saturday President sent us an email with a bunch of fun ways to go finding. He challenged us to do a different one everyday. We decided to go recipe dooring. You go around asking for ingredients for a recipe then go home to make it. You take back the finished product to the people who gave the ingredients to you. At first all the people thought we were so weird, haha! We got all of the ingredients for Vanillekipferl, an österreichisch cookie that is amazing!! That night we had a benefits concert at the church. It was really good! One of our investigators Rumy for Ecuador played in it. After the concert we played ping pong with the Persians for a bit and went home.

Sunday at church all of the Persians were there on time, which was awesome! We had Masa translate sacrament meeting for them with a little ear piece. This was the first time they've actually understood sacrament. :) After church there was a Christmas meal. All of the primary kids did a nativity for us. It was so cute!! Then we went caroling with the young men and women to members that were in old folks homes. It touching to see how much it meant to them. The homes over here are way different! They have bars and all of the old people just sit there and get drunk!

Monday we got groceries then cleaned the church. After that we ate at brother Obermyers house. When we got home we made the Vanillekipferl that we got ingredients for. That was pretty much our day!

Tuesday we went to Bahnhof to get Elder Albrechts package. Then went to the church for district meeting. After district meeting we made Schnitzel potatoes and gravy for a big party the ward missionaries were throwing for the Persians. :D The Persians made the rice which was so good! After we ate we gave them all presents because this was their first Christmas ever!! It was quite a big turn out, 16 or so Persians came! We all playing ping pong again and they taught us a bit of Persian. I know how to write my name and count to 10, haha!

Yup that was my week and a half. So many things happened it's hard to remember them all.
Dooring Ingredients (above)
Persian Christmas (below)
Okay so things I have learned this week are....

  • We are here for a future greater than anything we could ever imagine. That future, one day at a time comes alive when you do something more than just exist. It comes alive when you your live life to fill the measure of your creation, which is serving the Lord.
  • God knew that Abraham had the faith to sacrifice his own son. Sometimes God puts us through trials to show ourselves that we have the faith.
  • The Lord and the Holy Ghost can only work with what is there. We need to keep trying and doing as much as we can so that he can help us.

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