Woche 75 - "We are dealing with God's children here, not just anyone!"

Woche 75 - "We are dealing with God's children here, not just anyone!"

Montag

Monday, we went to go get hair cuts. Well, we got them. But when I was getting mine, we were talking to each other, me and the barber, and where  we were from and stuff. Well, we spurred a discussion about religion. He was Muslim, and I am Christian. It was a really good discussion though. We talked Prophets and Thomas S. Monson. They even looked him up on the internet! It was crazy. We ended having a crazy, long discussion with the entire shop. We got the barbers and their friends involved. Man, it was fun though. And then we eventually went to the Bachmayer's house. It was great. We had lasagna.

Dienstag

Tuesday, we went finding for the most part. We were supposed to meet with "R", but he thought the appointment was on 17 and we wrote down in our planner 16. Haha, oh communication. But we talked to each other later, and then saw each other at the church. Then we had GMK. We talked about having a street display. It is supposed to be this week. And then we practiced introducing the Book of Mormon. It was good, just keep it simple. And then we watched some broadcast for the Europe Area. Elder Ballard, and President Kearon spoke to us. A couple of other stake leaders from Europe also spoke. It was quite good. It was just very inspiring. Gave me a reminder of the power we have as leaders.

Mittwoch

Well, we went and got Elder Ashcroft officially applied for his Visa. Yes! We had to schedule an appointment and everything. And then they were late. But, it got done. And then we went finding and talked to a ton of people. But then we eventually went to some Japanese Buffet. A member took us there. You pretty much sit next to a conveyor belt and it constantly has different foods on it. It was awesome! So much sushi and coconut milk! Haha, it was so hard to even move after that. But then we went to the church to do our studies. We did them, and then Elder Bates called me! He had to ask about a couple of things. And then we went to go finding. It was great. And then we met with "Y". It was good. He talked a bunch. He is from Syria, but came here. We talked a bunch about the Book of Mormon and just trusting in God.

Donnerstag

Thursday we went to Salzburg! We had interviews with President Kohler! It was awesome. We had District Meeting as well. We talked about teaching people, not lessons. We are dealing with God's children here, not just anyone! But, my interview was good. We talked about college, and missionary work. And then afterwards, we had training with President. We talked about Paris, and the refugees. And then we talked about how we can become better missionaries. More efficient. And then we talked about Christmas! New ideas, and the new Christmas initiative! Wooh! And then, we practiced with the other district in Innsbruck for the Christmas Conference. We played and song Joy to the World. It has a small twist on it. Its great! And then we eventually went home.

Frietag

On Friday, we went to Ansfelden to visit the Obermayr Family. Well, they invited us over for lunch. It was super good. We had a veggie strudel. Haha, yum! And it was raining! But then we walked back to Bahnhof. And then we had a lesson at the church with "M" and the Persians. It was great! We talked about prayer. We read from Enos. It was super fantastic and got some great comments in there from them.

Samstag

On Saturday, we went to Lichtenberg and helped Br. Ivanovski out with his house. We moved a ton of coal from his basement/ first floor to his garage. We were so dirty. But we got to see it snow for the first time here! It didn't stick, but oh well. And then we came home, and did weekly planning.

A little dirty after doing some service last week

Sonntag

Sunday was great! We had choir, which was awesome! And then we had the Primary Program. They talked about the Restoration and Faith and receiving an answer! It was super good and cute! And then we had some classes. In one of them, one of the Persians was asked about Faith. Well, he told that he knew 100% that Jesus was the Son of God and that the Book of Mormon was true! Wow, that was a special moment for me, because I taught them from the beginning. I was so honored, to be the instrument through which the Lord testified and taught His children! And then we went to the Vogl's house. It was great. We had homemade pizza. And then one of the kids had my iPad and took over 3.000 photos on it. Oh my...

Woche 74: "I Am But a Small Tool in This Work"

Woche 74: "I Am But a Small Tool in This Work"

 Montag 
 Monday, we went to the Haribo store here! Wooh! It was so much fun, haha. I felt like a little child in a candy store! They had these small buckets, and you could dispense candy into it! Then we went to the Vogl's house. We did Family Home Evening with them. It was super great. Had Knödel and stuff! 

Dienstag 
Tuesday, we went to Salzburg and had our Zone Training there. We talked about obedience to God, and not to man. They used an example using two belts. They formed a "V" At first, we can "please" both, but then it comes to a point where we can't please both. We have to choose, and a lot of these decisions of choosing, are small. Sometimes they are large decisions, but mostly small and personal decisions. We also spoke about love. Love, true and pure love, comes from and through Jesus Christ. When we truly learn to love our fellowmen, then we can really reach out to them with hands holding the Gospel. If we don't have that love, our hands are shaky and maybe willing to fail on the person willing to reach back. We need to have love! And then we spoke about the spirit. The spirit is the key to it all. I cannot convert someone past my own conversion. Actually, I can't convert any one at all!!! I am merely the means of creating an environment to where the spirit can convert. I am but a small tool in this work. The conversion is between the Lord and the person. I only tell them how to get the communication going. Well, it was a good meeting to say the least. And then we eventually made our way back to Linz. And then we had GMK. It was pretty good. 

Mittwoch 
 On Wednesday, we went dooring in Leonding. It was so beautiful there! It was a small tiny town right outside of Linz. It is on a small mountain, so we were high enough to see the whole sun setting over the Alps! Sunset over the Alps. Wow, it was breathtaking! The direction we were dooring was up! Haha, so our view kept getting larger and we could see a larger range of the Alps! Awesome! But, we went dooring. We actually knocked on one door, and she didn't have any pants on! What the! Haha, it was so weird! She went back in and put pants on though, so that was good! 

Donnerstag 
On Thursday, we were supposed to have a lesson with the Persians, but the member didn't show up, so we tried google translate. That didn't work. So we called the member, and it turns out that he had to work! So, that was our lesson pretty much! But, we had to take care of some training stuff for Elder Ashcroft on the iPad. So we did that. Check, and then we went back home to eat and do German study. Well, we then went out finding. We spoke to a ton of people on the streets! We talked to this super cool guy from the Dominican Republic! He was super cool, and faithful! He had some mighty interest in the Book of Mormon. It was awesome! He even took us over to a bench to talk, and then invited us over to his house some time! Then, we went home, and got 40 Books of Mormon! Wooh! 

 Freitag 
 Well, we tried to get Elder Ashcroft applied for his visa, but that didn't work. We got there, copied his documents, and then waited for like, ever! And then we finally got in, and she told us we needed an appointment for that, what we did was for small questions! We wasted so much time doing that! Literally an hour and a half! Well, I did have a super good conversation with somebody on the Straßenbahn! So that was good! And then we later met with "R" We talked about Baptism, and then invited him to follow his Savior! He said yes, and was super excited! He is not sure that he will be ready by the 13th of December, but we reassured him that God is always there helping! It was amazing! 

 Samstag bis Sonntag We did a service project out in the hills of Upper Austria! So pretty. You can see the entire city of Linz. But we destroyed the floor of this guy's place. He is renovating, big time. So that was fun. And then Sunday happened. Church was really good. Some good messages about Forgiveness and Christ. Met a new guy who came to church randomly from Syria. He has interest, so we will meet!

Woche 73: The Spirit really knows what he is doing!

Woche 73: The Spirit really knows what he is doing!

Montag

Monday was a normal P-day. Shop, and go finding...

Dienstag

So, Tuesday was a lot of fun. We had our first District Meeting of the new transfer. And more importantly, it was Elder Ashcroft's first on the mission! Wooh! Elder Carr is the new District Leader. We played a fun game using the Word of Wisdom (Church Health Code revealed by the Lord, D&C 89). It was jeopardy. There are some blessings that we forget, so it was a good reminder! And then we talked about how the Word of Wisdom has a partner, the Addiction Recovery Program. We can help others keep this commandment! No matter what, it is possible! But afterwards, we had German study at the church. It was pretty good. Bishop Vogl was there. So we talked with him for a little bit. He is awesome! And then we went out talking to some people on the streets! That was fun. And then we came back to teach some Iranians. Well, our joint-teach didn't come with them. And none of them could speak German and only one of them could speak English, but that still wasn't very good. So, we still had to teach... we taught the Plan of Salvation. We drew on the chalkboard and it actually went pretty well. Not bad for the communication barrier. (quick side note: I actually learned the Arabic numeral system a while back and Persian is almost exactly the same! Never thought that that would actually be useful, but the Lord thought otherwise!) But it was super good! And then we had GMK. It was pretty short, because Br. Ausobsky had another meeting afterwards. But it was still pretty good. And then we went out finding again!

Mittwoch

So Wednesday morning, we had a service project. We went to a members house to help move her stuff from the attic to the cellar. Well, we actually sat together in her apartment and the Senior Couple here. We sang two hymns quite loudly(she wanted them to be loud and joyous), and we actually sang one of them first in German, and then the second part in English... And then we read the scriptures to them, both in Psalms (really good ones!) and it was really good! A good reminder that our songs of praise are scriptural psalms and prayers! But then we drank some Orange Juice and went up to the cellar. We eventually got everything down and organized! Then we went home, did our studies and then went to the church for a lesson with "D". Well, he ended up not showing up. So that was sad, but we had to keep moving forward and we went out finding again.

Donnerstag

Thursday was a finding day. We went exploring as part of our finding. We found new parts of downtown and the city center. It was pretty cool. Talked to a ton of people and had some really good conversations about the Book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ. And then we eventually went to a member's house to teach his brother in-law who is pretty new here in Austria. They are from Iran. Well, we got there, and were talking to the member. Things were getting confusing, because he was talking about a woman, even though the person at church was a man. He was saying pregnant in German, which if you have a different accent and pronounce brother in-law wrong, then that is what comes out. That was just weird, and we so confused. But, we were waiting on our other joint-teach, a soon to be missionary. Well, we were trying our best to extend the conversation and then "D", the joint-teach, finally showed up. It was cleared that it was indeed his brother in-law coming, but he actually couldn't because he was at the dentist! So we just gave a spiritual thought based on the Restoration with them. And then we went out finding some more. We actually went dooring for the first time together! Elder Ashcroft is doing way awesome at just doing the work, in spite of the language!

Freitag

Friday, we finally got Elder Ashcroft registered in the city. Well, to be fair, we just got his papers that day! So we went to the Town Hall. And that was fun and pretty. And then we went finding before heading to the church to have a lesson with the Iranians. Well, this time "M", the member, showed up! At first it was only three guys who showed up, so we began teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a scripture to share at the end, after we were done teaching the initial lesson. Well, for whatever reason(the Spirit), we shared right off the bat after answering questions about what they read from previous lessons. Well, we read Alma 36 with them. We thought it might have been too intense, but it went super well! We just used Alma as our example for doing the lesson! It was amazing! The spirit really knows what he is doing! And then we took photos with each other and then went out finding.

Samstag

Saturday we had our Weekly Planning session. So we planned a ton of stuff for the coming week. Essentially, we planned on how we want to help specific people we are meeting with come closer to Christ. And then we went finding in downtown. We went all over the place. Talked to a ton of people. We then went out dooring. We went north of the Donau(Danube) and went farther up north. It was dark, but super pretty! We doored a ton, and then we got let in to some random person's house. Well, he couldn't speak any German or English. But we did help him with his heating, so that was good. And then we went farther down, and got let into some Afghani's house. He could speak a little German. But he believes strongly in Christ! It was awesome! Miracle for sure meeting him! And then we went dooring some more, and this guy walked past us. We said hi. And then when he was farther down, he kept looking back at us. We got let in, and I think he tried coming into the apartment building. Well, we got rejected, so we went back out. And then he went across the street and tried hiding next to a tree. Notice I said next to, not behind! Then he hid in a car staring at us! We walked by, and he shoved himself in between the seat and door and pretended to sleep!

Sonntag

Sunday was amazing! We had six people come to church! Miracle! And the lessons were all so good. All of the people there(the Sisters friends as well) loved it all! It was amazing! And then we later went to the Erlacher's house. They live somewhere beautiful! And their house is amazing! But we ate lunch with them and then came back home!

Awesome week!

Woche 72: Elder Ashcroft!!!

Woche 72: Elder Ashcroft!!!

Montag

On Monday, we went to a castle with the sisters! It is right next to the City Center!!! It was so pretty! And there was a teeter totter! Haha, it was fun! And it had a beautiful view of the Donau. And then afterwards we went to the Erlachers. They are so awesome! They were watching three cute little Egyptian kids. They were so adorable!!!

  

Dienstag

On Tuesday, we had our trainer conference call. It was fun. It made things a little bit more real. Then Elder McArthur and I went to the church early before district meeting. We had to set up a couple of things. And then district meeting finally began. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We acted it out with people and chairs and everything. And then for each step, we had people give talks/ preaching to us. It was awesome! And the spirit was strong as well.  Afterwards, we eventually met with "M" and his friends. We had a super good lesson about the Apostasy. And then we had GMK.

Mittwoch

Last day with Elder McArthur! It was crazy! We first were at the Obermayr families house for lunch with the Grahams. They made something Serbian/Austrian apparently... Well, it was super delicious! And their conversion story is so awesome! That'll be a story when I get back.  And then we went to the church for a lesson with "M" again. We gave an overview of the Restoration. It was super awesome! So, then we got some music from Iris, a member, and then headed off to "R's" house. He is doing so much better now, not sick... He gave us bracelets that he made himself and then we taught the restoration lesson. The spirit was so strong!

Donnerstag

Transfer day! I was in Salzburg and it was crazy! And then Elder Ashcroft came in!!! We finally met! He is so awesome!!! He is from Hurricane Utah! We finally went back to Linz and went by on a referral(member). It was a small joke, Elder Ashcroft contacted her, we even made out an appointment. But she busted up laughing, and then we all started to laugh. It was way good. And then we went out finding! It was so awesome! I love Elder Ashcroft to death! He is so cool!

Freitag

Friday, we had a Service project. We helped tear up a ton of weeds! Like, a billion of them! And  we had a lesson with "M" at the church. We taught the restoration a little deeper! They are loving it!!! And Elder Ashcroft did amazing! Really, it was awesome! And then we met with "D" for the first time! It was pretty awkward...but the spirit was still there, and it was fine.

 

 

 

Samstag

Saturday we did weekly planning and stuff. And then we went out finding, super pretty day. And then we went over to "S" house and talked to him. He is doing so well! Just can't come to church because of work. And then we went to the Grahams. Dinner was so good, and they are awesome!

Sonntag

Sunday was fantastic. Got to know some more members. And "R" came! Wooh! It was great! And Elder Ashcroft gave a super great testimony! Well, I dont have anymore time! Sorry! Bye!