Last Week of the Transfer

Hey!

So the big news: Sister Leonard is leaving me and going to Switzerland! Schwamendingen to be exact. And I'm getting a new golden again! It's great haha I look forward to it.

This week we had an especially great lesson with a really sweet Iranian family we teach. We taught them about eternal families and the spirit was so strong as we spoke. Sister Leonard and I both bore testimony of the temple and how holy it is there. They were so excited and asked us if we will come to the sealing of their family together. Sister Leonard and I both almost started crying of happiness I think haha. It's not everyday that your investigator reaches that point you know?

Also had the opportunity to go back to David and Irina again. They both had read and told us that when they had read they felt peace. It's really interesting, everytime we get there it's a little chaotic and crazy and maybe even dark but when we leave, the atmosphere is completely changed. It's so still and peaceful and light. And that's in no way to sound prideful, it's just to say that this whole thing about missionaries having power and authority and the spirit as a constant companion thing is REAL.

Last cool experience I'll share was at the beginning of this week when we were going finding. We had just been tracting in a particularly difficult apartment building on a particularly freezing day and even trying to be friendly and starting casual conversations with people on the bus was getting shut down. Suddenly though, as I sit down on the bus to take us home, this lady sits by me and starts talking to ME first! Haha what a delightful surprise; that always catches me off guard. She asked me what I was doing here, saying that she'd overheard me talking to someone at the bus stop just before. Her name is Jenny. I told her that as missionaries we prepare people to be worthy and ready for baptism. (Kind of weird that that came out, I don't usually put it that way...) She laughed and said, "well, you're currently sitting next to a very unbelieving, unbaptized person right now!" I laughed too and said, "that can't be true, you must believe in something even if it's different than me." She opened up a bit and said, "well, I do believe that Gods there, I believe that he looks over his children, that he loves us..." haha that caught me off guard but I was like, "yes! That's exactly right!!" She then went on to say, "yeah...I actually have been wanting to get baptized, me with my son together, my boyfriend too actually. He's really religious but also has never gotten baptized..." hahaha I think I forgot how to talk in that moment. Boy did that make me happy.  We look forward to meeting Jenny next week :) :) :)

Have a wonderful week!

Fresh Austrian buns, orange juice and Almdudler.

Banana

Loridana. Forgot to write about this!! This is the sweet lady we visited on Christmas. Unfortunately she's quitting her job and goes back to Romania, but we'll find her some missionaries when she starts work in Gratz :) we gave her a Book of Mormon in her mother tongue and she was soooo happy. We'll miss our sassy Romanian.❤️

Family home evening

The Donau

It's not from me, it's the Spirit

Hey!

Hope everyone's doing well. This week was just kind of normal and went
super fast so I'm not quite sure what to talk about...

The man that we're helping with his alcohol problem is slowly but
surely getting better. Last Monday we spontaneously brought him to the
family home evening we were going to and it went really well. It was
funny talking to him, the day before, on Sunday, someone gave a talk on
the Word of Wisdom which was kind of a shock for him.
"Wait wait wait," he said, "none of these people here drink alcohol??"
"Well....yeah. We're not all prefect but we try."
"Wait none of these people drink alcohol or smoke??"
"Well yeah..."
"Wait coffee and tea too!? There is now way all these people keep that."

Haha plus we talked about the 10 commandments, which he already knew
about but told us that there is no way anyone can keep all 10
commandments at the same time. It was funny, Sister Leonard and I
looked at eachother and we were like, ".....wellll....I think it is possible.
You can at the very least try..." He's doing well though!

We also went back to visit that sweet Romanian family that we found
last week and it went great! Kind of a funny lesson translated from
German to English to Romanian. It was interesting, sitting in that
lesson I suddenly had a flash back to going as a joint teach with the
Sisters in Geneva and I remember how the investigator was asking this
question and I remember thinking, wow! That's a really good point he's
making! What in the world are the sisters going to answer?? And they
just took all the questions so confidently and with authority and I
was always so impressed and thought, wow, I don't think I'll ever
reach that point.

But then flash forward to this lesson, and also the other ones we had
yesterday and it suddenly dawned on me how the spirit is able to work
through Sister Leonard and me. And I know for a fact that that is not
from me, it's the Spirit. Because the things that Sister Leonard and I
answer are things that we've never even thought or said before, but
they are perfect for that moment.

Have a great week!

Tracting
("Optimistic? Of course)

Another 5 course meal with a Schwester Dafalias!

Meat chain saw

A Plan of Peace & Happiness for Everyone

Hello!

This week was pretty crazy. Sister Leonard and I found so many potential investigators it was crazy. Really, I've never found so many on my mission before.

One day we were going to the Bahnhof (train station) to meet the Wels sisters after a series of events that made them lose something and Sister Leonard lost her tablet and it was all very complicated and annoying and to make matters worse, I arrive at Hauptbahnhof and realize that my companion wasn't with me anymore or even on the tram I was on. Haha so I stand there and wait, hoping she'll find some way to call me since I have the phone and suddenly this guy comes up to me and asks me if I'm Italian. Hahaha but don't worry he wasn't flirting! He was super cool and is trying to figure out with his girlfriend in what religion they want to raise the child they're expecting. He's Muslim and she's Catholic and he just has a bunch of questions about Christianity. Super pumped to meet up with him again. And don't worry, Sister Leonard found her way back to me before the conversation with the guy was even through, so we weren't separated for too long.

The next day I made a really dumb transportation mistake that made it so that we would miss our appointment with a less active member and suddenly had a solid two hours of finding. But it really was amazing because we ended up find so many people in just that short time.

I wish I could write all about the people I meet, that come from all over the world, some from really really horrific circumstances. I wish I could write about every single time Sister Leonard and I are able to just sit there and listen to them tell about their stories and also about their faith, or lack there of. I wish you could really be there when Sister Leonard and I are able to testify, really with this incredible spirit that just fills the whole room with silence, and peace and joy and this undeniable feeling that God is real. It's incredible. But I have to respect people's privacy a bit, and most of the time, you just have to be there.

One family for example: while sister Leonard was ringing on the doorbells of this apartment building, I went up and talked to this lady walking down the street. I think I startled her a bit haha. She told me she was on her way to work but I asked her if we could share a message about God with her when she is home. She didn't want to tell me her name and just kind of waved me off saying she lived on the 7th floor of the building there.

Well we went back and looked for her, twice, and found her! Turns out she's super super sweet, from Romania and, she just can barely speak any German. After some awkward attempts to communicate with her and explain who we were she finally just let us in. She has a son, about our age, who spoke some English that he's learned from League of Legends haha. Instead of using the words "they" or "she" or "it", he always says "he" so that was a bit confusing, but other than that he more or less translated what we were saying to his mom. 

They have only been here a few months and have barely anything, thankfully she found a part time job, but their apartment was gross and tiny and it broke my heart. The son had an accident 10 years ago that stunted his growth and really just broke all his dreams of playing the saxophone and studying in college and being an athlete. Now all he does all day is smoke and play league of legends while his mom works for them.

Heartbreaking, really really heartbreaking, but we were able to talk to them a bit and plan on going back next week with more Romanian church reading material. Haha when we asked when we could come back, both of them looked shocked and said, What!? You want to come back?? Ok!! Why?? Haha "Because we love you! And God loves you! And we have so much to explain to you and that will help you!!" ....although the boy really isn't a good translator because from all of that, all he translated was, "She said that she loves you." And then I think the mom got a bit creeped out and scooted further away from me on the couch haha.

So this experience along with many many others, opens my eyes so much to the world and what a horrific place it can be. And even more my eyes are opened to the fact that God is real and He is leading us and all of His willing children to those that are seeking for Him. He truly has a plan of peace and happiness for everyone, whether that plan is to be fulfilled now or in the next life.

Have a wonderful week!

From Linz with <3

Last Pday was a spontaneous little day trip with Sheila our best friend/investigator, but mostly just friend :)

Pöstlingberg view over Linz

Pöstlingberg selfies.

I'm gonna get hair like this when I get back. 

Had Zone training in Salzburg again

Sister Leonard was super distracted by the snowflakes that stuck and stayed in my hair while we were dooring. Haha seriously like every single day this week, multiple times a day I hear, " Sister Lehmann! You have a snowflake in your hair!"

"Sister Lehmann!!  You look like the abominable Snowman!" Thank you Sister Leonard :)