Fall is in the air...and it's gorgeous (11.10.10)

Highlights of the week

Montag - Set a Baptismal date with Shirley - November 7th. It's more of a goal for her than an actual set date because she still has a long way to go. We committed her to have a phone appointment with us during the week since she's in school. I hope she can recognize the changes she needs to make in her life not only for baptism, but so that she and Janosch can work things out. He's willing to give her a second chance, but she doesn't realize what her actions are doing. Ayban texted us to say that she had to cancel our appt for tonight and the rest of the week because she was too busy...I got worried she didn't want to meet anymore at all.

Dienstag - Interviews in Vienna. We met up with the Elders and the Eheparr (Senior Couple) on the train. At the church building in Vienna, we had a District meeting with the Zone Leaders while President Condie pulled one person out at a time for a 10 min interview. Our District is really small so it didn't take long. In our interview we were asked to share a scripture that really touched us this week and then share an experience of when we noticed the Holy Ghost affecting our investigators. Then, we could ask President Condie any question we wanted to and talk about anything. It was great and I learned a lot. We also got mail and supplies...we are now the proud owners of duvets...we didn't have any and had been sleeping under only sheets.

Mittwoch - Stopped by on Ayban - not home

Donnerstag - I decided that there are no black cows in Austria...only brown (maybe that contributes to the fact that chocolate is so much better here....already brown, no need to dilute the stuff from black cows).

Freitag -

Samstag - Since all of our regulars investigators were either out of town or didn't have time to meet with us, we had A LOT of time to go contacting (honestly, my least favorite thing). We'd decided to stop by a member's home so we drove there and then wanted to 'door' the building. We hiked up to the 7th floor (no elevator) and started from the top. No one was home and I was getting discouraged. As we hit the Erdgeschoss (main floor) we knocked on a door and a woman came out. We gave our spiel and then asked her if she'd like to come to church tomorrow. She (Martina) agreed and we made out an appointment for Sun evening. Then, we called a member to see if they could pick her up, they agreed. Martina is kind of scary. She wears all black (even her hair and glasses), wears alien\Iron Maiden Tshirts, and smokes. I was intimidated.

Sonntag - we met the member at Martina's apt - she was waiting outside for us (wearing all black, smoking, and wearing a cross around her neck. We decided to go with her and the member to church and just leave our car there till later. Church was great. Martina stayed for all three meetings. RS went in with Priesthood and the lesson was on Faith in Jesus Christ. Martina said she liked how everyone could participate and make it a discussion. Since we meet in the chapel, she also asked why there was no cross up. Ping, teaching opportunity. We taught Sunday School\Investigator class. We had decided to watch the Restoration. Since Martina was the only investigator there, we invited Sis Cseh and Mark (from Hershey) to join us. The discussion after the video was perfect. Sis Cseh and Mark both bore their testimonies (we had to translate for Mark). Overall, great. It was also nice that it was Testimony meeting. She liked that too. After church, we decided to go vorbei on Shirley since she had cancelled our appt on Fri and Sat and wasn't at church. She didn't come to the door even though we heard her and Lukas inside. Then we walked back to pick up the car - a good 40 min walk or so. We decided to take the scenic path over the mountain instead of around it. Our walk took us over Schloßberg (the big clock - every city has one). Along the way, we called an inactive member to see if we could stop by later. She said that she and her son we just eating and then were going out to enjoy the sunshine and invited us to come along. So we caught the bus (because our car was farther away than the planned) and drove to Schw Hernaus. When we got there, she told us to get in the car. We thought we were just oging to sit outside in the sun, but oh no, not in Österreich....we were going in the mountains. 2 hours later, we had our appt with Martina. She'd invited three of her friends to be there and after entering the extremely smoke-filled room (everyone and their dog smokes in Austria) we got started. 30 min later, we had four new investigators (Martina, her friends Anita, Linda, and Anton). After Martina, we didn't have any set appointments, so we decided to go visit some inactive members in Leoben and stop by on Ayban since we hadn't heard from her all week. First, we went to her apt which is in a creepy building in an interesting part of town. Luckily I had my flashlight. She wasn't there so we left a msg and then decided to try her boyfriend's house, where we usually meet. Along the way, we got contact information and taught plenty of people. Night time, Sunday night is when interested students are out and about. She was there and was so happy to see us and even made out an appointment for us to come back. As we got outside the building I just stopped and was awestruck by the stars...they were all there and glowing brightly. Sis Alder and I just stood there and stared for about 10 min. They truly are a beautiful sight when you'r ein the mountains. I saw the big dipper and it reminded me that home isn't that far away because that exact same big dipper shines over our driveway at home.

Pic 1 - The day we rented Bikes.

Pic 2 - I just love seeing my name all over the place. I'm not even sure anymore if my ancestors really did come from Denmark...maybe Austria should be my new home

Pic 3 - The German word for 'Repentance' is 'Umkehr' and the word 'Möglichkeit' means 'possibility'...I just love German words

Pic 4 & 5 - Schloßberg in Bruck an der Mur

Pic 6 - Aren't the mountains BEAUTIFUL in fall.

Today, Sister Alder and I are going Wandern with Sister Cseh (the little old lady who miraculously speaks English). We're going to a place called Grüner See (Green See\Lake). I'm super excited because I've heard so many wonderful things about this place. Especially with all of the fall colors coming in, IT WILL BE BEAUTIFUL!! Next week we're going to Bärenschutzklamm (which is world famous) with the Elders in Graz and our Branch President. It'll be awesome! Look it up, there are some really neat pictures of it. Basically, it's a ____ with waterfalls and rickety ladders that climb all the way up.

The church true, the book is blue, and my shoes still feel like new (that's the only rhyme I could think of). No matter where you go in the world, there's a comfort in knowing that you learn the same things and feel the same spirit.

Alles Gute

Sister Lind

President Condie has asked me to get a Driver's License. We have to pay the first €60 and then the rest is reimbursed. I have to get a doctor's appt (€35), a translation of my american license (€15) and then the actual license (€150ish).