This week was really a miracle week!

Hi there

This week was really a miracle week! So so cool.
Started off with some Zone training in Salzburg. OH MY GOODNESS
SALZBURG IS BEAUTIFUL. Sadly I could only see it on the bus ride to
and from the church building but still. It's so beautiful. Anyway, we
stayed there the night cause we had exchanges, but we were all in
Salzburg together. That was fun! Both us and the Salzburg Sisters had
pretty rough weeks last week in Finding new investigators but suddenly
that night Sister Williams and I were able to find 5!!! It was so
crazy. We were so happy.

Next miracle day this week would have to be Thanksgiving.
We started out the day with 2 fall out appointments which meant a good
solid entire day of finding new investigators. So we took a deep
breath and did it. We went somewhere we've never really been before.
It was a park, and we were hoping there'd be a lot of people but
unfortunately there were like 2 people in the big abandoned dead
looking park on a cold November day.
We went up to the one guy there and asked him what he was grateful
for. He seemed a little mentally handicapped at first, but we kept
talking to him and our conversation ended up going on for a good hour!
It was incredible. I don't really know how to describe it but I felt
like there was nowhere else I was suppose to be except talking to
this guy. He had had an accident 5 years ago where he got ran over by
a bus and that made it so that he had a strong speech impediment. For
one of the first times on my mission I also didn't feel this need to
change the conversation to the restoration or to even say that we were
missionaries. Without us even really saying anything this man began to
speak about church and how he wished he could go back and take the
sacrament (he's catholic), he just found it difficult to do
confessions since he can't talk to the priest very well. We talked to
him about prayer and repentance and stuff. The most beautiful part was
when I asked him, if he could ask or say anything to God, what would
he say. He laughed and paused and didn't talk for a while but then
finally said, "ich w-würde s-s-s-sagen, ich hab dich lieb, ich hab
dich lieb Gott.... und dann wird er sagen, ich m-m-mag dich auch, ich
mag dich auch." (I would say, I love you God, and then he would reply, I like you too.)
You really had to be there I guess but it really was one of the most
beautiful moments on my mission. I just felt, not like a typical
missionary, but really more like Jesus Christ. Like if he was on the
earth right now, I was doing what he would be doing. And that feeling
I think is the best feeling anyone can have.
He even came to church this Sunday too!! Isn't that miraculous? It really is.
The Lord continued to bless us with new investigators and some really
powerful lessons and conversations on the street this week, I wish I
had time to write about each one of them.
I know the Lord blesses us. We never really have to have fear for
today or tomorrow or whenever because God will always bless you with
something that day. He will always give you miracles, if you just have
the spiritual eyes to see them. And probably one of the greatest
miracles he can give you is you being put in someone's path who needs
your help.
Have a wonderful week!
-Sister Lehmann

Creeping through the cool library

I think I'm picking something out of my teeth with my tongue... 

Yet another Tausch with Sister Hancock, who finally got her wish to straighten my hair haha

They had kraft mac and cheese in their apartment!! Man was I happy.

Second Week in Linz

Hey there!

Second week in Linz and things are going great. Don't have too much time to write today but one of our miracle days would have to be Wednesday. After some sushi in town with Klaus, we went to a bookstore to do our language study that we still hadn't done yet. I asked the lady across from me where she got her watch and that conversation led to us being able to teach the whole Restoration! Haha that was so great. I've never had something like that happen before but I'm so grateful that it did! The rest of the day was great as well, giving out a lot of Books of Mormon, even the Spanish one I spontaneously had put in my bag that morning! Plus, all of our planned appointments that day actually happened, which if you've ever been a missionary, you know is a downright miracle haha

The next day was a bit tougher, pouring rain all day, talking to people all day, and finding no one.  But that's just how it is sometimes! 

Linz is great and Sister Leonard and I have high expectations for this transfer. We already have seen so many miracles! 

Thanks for all the prayers  :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Very expensive but very worth it Linztorte in the oldest bakery in Linz

First Week in Linz

Hey there! 

Well, first week in Linz! It's pretty good here, not as pretty as Solothurn, I must say, but still nice :) 

I was really sad to say goodbye to Sister Jones. We had a lot of fun together. I was also so sad to say goodbye to Karyna, but I'm excited to hear all about her baptism next month :) 

Last Wednesday I left the apartment at 7am, and finally arrived in Linz at 6:30 pm. Haha it was a long day. I really went from one side of the mission to the other. Sister Leonard from Seattle is my new companion. She's really sweet, just a bit stressed right now seeing as she's only been on her mission 6 week and is trying to show me everything. She also was sick, like in-her-apartment-all-day-sick-in-bed, her entire first transfer so that's also a bit tough but we're figuring it out!

Haha it was so funny, so we had a member appointment this week with a really old Schwester Dafalias who literally made us, the Elders and the senior missionary couple, a 5-course meal. It was delicious. It was absolutely incredible. The best was when Sister Leonard looks at me and says, "Can I have more soup?" I was a little dumbfounded and was like, "What, are you asking me?? What?" Haha and then one of the Elders goes on to quote "The best two years" when the other missionaries ask the new missionary if he wants to go the store and the new missionary then asks his trainer, "Elder Rogers, do I want to go to the store?" "I don't know Elder, I'm not your mother." Haha

Other than that it was super cool when one night we went street contacting and met these two guys. They said that they would come to church, but I've heard that one too many times to really believe that they would haha. Anyway, I prayed for them anyway, and they really did come! As everyone was filing in late to Sacrament meeting, two of the guys coming in looked super familiar to me and then I realized why! They stayed for all three hours of church and we have an appointment for Tuesday! Super super cool. 

We were at a family's house for lunch after church on Sunday and I was able to show Bruder Vogl the pictures from dad's mission and the ward members in Linz. He was only three at the time, but he still was able to recognize a bunch of them, and point out who had died or gone less active or who was still strong and active in the church. That was really cool. 

Have a great week!

Goodbye Yolo-thurn

Well I might as well share the big news right up front, I'm going to Linz in Austria on Wednesday!!

So crazy, I'm so excited. I'm really sad to leave Solothurn, especially for Sister Jones and for Karyna. I mean, I'm just missing Karyna's baptism! But that's ok. I'm just excited to hear all about it. When I heard who the sister was that's replacing me here, I was reassured. Haha I think I just have trust issues sometimes and just was scared that the next missionary won't work hard. But the sister is good and she'll be way better than I was :)

Saturday morning before we got our transfer calls, Sister Jones asked me where I'd want to go if I did get transferred. Hadn't thought too much about that, but then I said that I'd loved to go to a city, a real city, in Austria, and that's exactly what happened! I'm pumped. I will also be training again so that'll be fun!

This week was one of those weeks where everything was crazy and you are running around but feel like you didn't accomplish all that much haha. Like Wednesday for example. We had our studies in the morning then after lunch, went and did a service project, but not anything too fancy. Honestly one where the kids could be doing it and helping their parents out, but whatever :) Then we went to the hospital to visit a less active member who just got super sick, but we ended up being there for SO LONG. First we had to wait while the doctor was finishing up with her. Thought that'd take 5 minutes but it ended up taking 40. We did talk to a guy in the waiting area though who had investigated the church a good 40 years ago! He even remembered his missionaries, "Elder Johnson aus California!" is what he said. Haha but yeah, he wasn't interested to meet again. 

Finally got to go in to see her and just as we try to share a scripture her dad comes in, they talk, then a ward member comes in and they all talk and when they finally leave, another doctor comes in, and then when he leaves she has to give herself some shots. And then someone else comes in. And then we have to step out because the doctor is meeting with one of the patients in the room. And then suddenly it's dinner time and all the nurses come in with dinner. And all the while this old lady next to us is throwing up in a basin. Sister Jones was getting super nauseous. 

Haha so yeah. That was great. And then we step out of the hospital after literally hours and Sister Jones realizes that she left her iPad at a ward member who lives a little ways away. The members not picking up and we really needed this iPad back for the next day so we go there again, pick it up, and miss the bus that would have given us a little half hour to do finding. So we just go home then cause it's already time. Sometimes I like to tell myself that days like this happen for a reason, like maybe we're supposed to meet someone along the way, but the buses were empty haha.

Anyway, that's a lot of details about a not very good day but we did have other great days and moments! As we were walking away from our appointment with Karyna I was just filled with the spirit, so strongly. I just felt so elated and happy, because that's exactly how Karyna is, more and more as we meet. 

Also saying goodbye to all the ward members made me realize how much I love this ward!

Solothurn has been so good to me. It's incredible how much I've changed since I got here half a year ago. And I hope my work has helped or changed Solothurn, even if it's just a tiny bit :) 

Monday we went on this super pretty hike. Schynige Platte it's called. This was super dope, we were in the clouds at one point, with beams of sunlight going through.

Almost out of the clouds

😎

Check out the sea of clouds. We really hiked all the way up to this point! Really sore the next day though haha

Not a bad Halloween, I must say...

And then Sabrina, a ward member had us over for dinner that night! So sweet. She's super cool, just fresh off of her mission in Frankfurt!

The Joders, our beloved ward mission leaders, gonna miss these guys, they took such good care of us.

Sister Smith! (We had a spaghetti ward activity. That's why we're wearing aprons)

If you had a full body shot you'd see how ridiculously frumpy and shapeless we looked haha...oh winter months as a sister missionary....

Sonja Mösner ❤️

Rebecca and Melissa❤️

The young woman. Haha we may have gone to young women's more than relief society :)