Labor day Pday

Hallo meine Lieben-

Mom...in answer to your question about where the church is not. Working in the international ward, I get to see first hand where the church cannot or does not have ties. Iran (Persian-speaking world), China cannot have proselyting missionaries, and Turkey. Those are the only ones I can think of now. Go on to LDS.org and check around and it'll tell you. Even mormon.org is good for that kind of info.

Missionary materials we give out are available in 166 languages
340 missions
There are 152 temples throughout the world either in operation, under construction, or announced.
Countries with Family History Centers 127
Countries Receiving Humanitarian Aid Since 1985 is 178

Vienna looks like it wants to have a least a little Autumn as the weather is predicted to cool down. My favorite time of year is FINALLY here.

We have a new baptismal date set for October. Her name is Justyna and she'S form Poland. We met her while visiting the Panophur family (from Iran, only he speaks German, no English). THeir oldest son was there with his girlfriend. We had received a referral for a Polish-speaking person a couple of weeks ago, but had been unable to actually make contact. It'S hard when they only give an address and no phone-number. Vienna is NOT a small city so we don'T often get to travel all over it all the time. Anyway, I felt like I needed to keep the Polish BoM in my backpack and now I know why. JUSTYNA needed it. She was thrilled with the lesson we gave and even came to church. She is really great!

Tsolmon (Mongolia) continues to do well and will most definitely be ready for her baptism on Sept 24.

Queen (Nigeria) came to a baptism on Saturday. She went up front with the kids so she could see into the font better. After the ordinance, she slipped her shoes off and started heading for the font. I had to stop her and while laughing she said that she wanted to be baptized now. That's when we set a date with her, but she'll probably be one of those ready before the date, which is okay by me. NO need to 'procrastinate the day of your repentance'.

Ron and Sydna - Sophie Appiateng'S son Michael (age 20) was baptized on Sunday.

We had Zone Conference on Friday. It was the longest one I have ever been to (instead of being the short and sweet 9am-1pm like Pres Condie always did). We had an AMAZING conference from 9am-4.30pm. It was awesome. Sis Downs and I did a musical number. She sang (she studies Opera at BYU) and of course, I played. Then at the very end was testimony meeting. Not everyone gets to bear their testimony at these, just the new missionaries and anyone going home before the n ext one. As they announced who'd be going when, I wasn't among the list. Phew, I thought. Not old yet. Then, as Pres and Sis Miles took their seats down in the congregation instead of staying on the stand, Pres whispered to me that I would be testimonying too. oh man! We got to ask any question we wanted at one point and my hand shot up....we had a sisters conference last year for 3 days where all the sisters were together for special training. I asked if we were going to have one. Pres said it is already planned. YES!!!!!!!

Also, has anyone else seen the LDS.org website for the Sister Missionary dress standards? It blows my mind! So stylish and awesome. Wish I'd had THOSE choices a year ago. Oh well, in 3 months I'll be wearing whatever I want anyways. I feel that I'm stylish enough for my needs. As shown in the attached picture. My 'model pose' as snapped by Sister Nelson. And the 'twin shot' with Sis Weed (being trained by Sis Nelson. No we did not plan to wear the same thing).

We got to go see an Opera at the Rathaus this week. It was film version from the 70s of Zauberflöte by Strauss. Really awesome and it was free!!! Yeah for summer Movie festivals of really good stuff.

Have a great week!

Gma, Gpa, Pat, Lydia, and Paul - PLease make sure lots of fun is had, and pictures are taken. I am rather disappointed your visit couldn'T wait a month or three. Miss you all and hope you have an awesome time.

Tay - I got your letter mailed on July 25th. Only took a month to reach me this time. Next time, try writing in pen instead of marker...your handwriting is hard enough to read already.

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Alles Liebe SISTER CHOCOLATE