Woche 37: Sankt Pölten

Woche 37: Sankt Pölten

Montag

Monday was pretty good. We walked around in the city and stuff. And I kind of fed my addiction. I bought I tie and a bow tie... Don't say anything, haha! And then we later went to the Ziegners. It was way awesome, but super sad. It was the weirdest thing saying goodbye to them. I also started packing this evening. Well, I actually just took everything out of their drawers, haha. So I pretty much just created a mess.

Dienstag

On Tuesday, we took care of some business and then drove over to Donauschingen to go by on some people. Unfortunately no one was home. So we stopped by on a member, the Justagas. They were so nice to us. They fed us real quick and then we talked a bit about missionary work. they have us a referral and said that they hoped that he still lived there. They were just so nice! And then we went over to Sister Mohommads to make Potato Knödel. It was pretty intense... Haha, but it was a lot of fun. I guess I should be able to make Knödel now right? Oh, I forgot to say earlier, but I learned how to make Wiener Schnitzel from Elder Hancey! So nice right?

Mittwoch

Wednesday we went by on someone we had met a couple of weeks ago. We went by and she was there. She gave us something to drink and then she began to ask us what we did as missionaries. Well of course we told her that we are here to share a message about Jesus Christ and His restored church. Well, she already knew about the Mormons because she has a granddaughter who is living in Provo, Utah at the moment. She said she doesn't really want to know too much and definitely won't change.  Then she asked a couple of more questions and then we had the opportunity to talk about the Book of Mormon and what it was. We gave her brief history, read the introduction and then read the promise given in Moroni 10: 3-5. She really felt the Spirit and said she would read the Book of Mormon. We testified of it's truthfulness and then we went on our way.

Donnerstag

 Well, quite literally nothing happened on Thursday. I traveled from Schwenningen all the way to Sankt Pölten. And it took pretty much the entire day.   I woke up at 6:30 as usual and then we went from Schwenningen to Rottweil. And then we took a train almost immediately after to Stuttgart. And then a train to Munich. And then a train to Salzburg. And then a train to St Pölten. So it was pretty long.

Elder Wahl from New Zealand is my new companion and we live in the apartment with Elder Jakobi from Germany and Elder Seamons from Idaho.  Everyone in this apartment plays music!   Elder Jakobi and Wahl play the piano. Elder Seamons plays the violin.  If only someone played the Bassoon here and I could borrow it!

Well, St. Pölten is awesome. The dialect is way different here than in Schwaben land. But it is way cool here. The buildings here are so Austrian!!! It's crazy! I saw the Alps on our way over here. And I saw all of my favorites missionaries from the MTC! Elder Wahl is pretty cool. He is funny and stuff.  I love him.

 

Sister Fenton and I.  One of my MTC buddies!

Freitag

Ok, for starters, I am so grateful that I have been given the opportunity to come and serve in St. Pölten in Austria. It is so beautiful here. It is so different here than in South Germany. The dialect is so much different, the culture is different. Like pretty much everything is different here except for the Gospel. I guess, that's what makes Heavenly Father's plan so perfect. He created such a big world with so many different cultures and traditions and ways of living, but yet the gospel is the same and brings us together. It's like the poem by Emerson, I believe. The one that compared mankind to grass. Our roots are all connected some way or another. It is so true!!! We all connected through the Gospel. And as a matter of fact, one simple truth, that we are sons and daughters of a living God.

I just love being a missionary. We have an investigator right now named "I". This last week we taught her the Plan of Salvation and explained to her the doctrine of the Resurrection and that everyone is promised this. And then we later explained how children are saved through Christ without Baptism. She was so touched by these simple doctrines. She thanked us and told us that she feels the hope. She also said that when she prays about the Book of Mormon she really feels like God does answer her prayers! She is so amazing. Experiences like this blow away every bad thing on the mission. All of the rejections, rudeness, and everything else is blown out of the water.

Samstag

Saturday, our area was having a Baptism. It was so beautiful being able to witness another child of God take upon themselves Christ's name and enter those waters. Being able to witness a new beginning and see them start on a new path towards our Heavenly Father.

Siehe, ich bin ein Jünger Jesu Christi, des Sohnes Gottes. Ich bin von ihm berufen worden, sein Wort unter seinem Volk zu verkünden, damit sie immerwährendes Leben haben können   -3 Nephi 5:13

Look what I made! Those are very German and Austrian cookies. They are called Vanillekipferl.

I used an Austrian recipe so it was in dialect and I didn't understand everything fully. I had to guess a lot. But it still worked out!!!  Everyone said they were amazing, so it was good.