Liebe Familie,

This week was a little slow, but it was so great, especially the weekend!

We taught Clara the Plan of Salvation this week. She just smiled when she read Alma 40:11. She looked up and said, ´´My boy is with Jesus. He is okay.´´ She smiled again, looked back at the scriptures, smiled even bigger, then looked back to us for more instruction. We just love teaching her. She is so ready for the gospel.

We got two new investigators this week! It is a little family. They come from Vietnam. They are probably in their early 30s and have two young children. Ian (a girl who is about 3) and a boy (who I can´t remember his name, but he is about 1). They are very energetic children but so cute! He is here getting his Ph.D., and she is a stay-at-home mom. They have absolutely no religious background, but they are very eager to learn more about Jesus. She has a Christian friend, so she knows a little bit, but she really wants to learn more. On the first few pages of the Book of Mormon, it has a page that says what all of the cross-reference symbols mean. She thought this page was giving an overview of the first two books in this series about Jesus Christ, and she expressed her concern in reading the third book in the series, when she had not yet read the first two books. We explained what it meant (the cross-references), but realized we really are starting from ground zero with this family. We are going to have to go very slowly, both for gospel and language understanding, but it will be great! They are so cute, and so willing to learn!

After this appointment, Sister Stewart and I realized we have investigators from every continent except Australia. Also, we are not teaching any Austrians. That was kind of interesting to think about! But it has been so cool learning about all of these different cultures!

Since transfers are this week, we got transfer calls Friday. Sister Stewart and I are staying in Wien, but we are getting two elders for our ward, too!! That will be so nice! We have been crazy with all of the new people we have been finding, so it will be so nice to have another companionship to share the load. Also, joint teaches will be lightyears easier since we are giving the new elders the boy area book. Yes, we have two area books – one for boys and one for girls. The new elders will be an Elder Johnson (?) and his golden! And Wien 2 is also getting another set of elders! The work in Wien is really progressing!!

General Conference was this weekend. Mom had some questions about how that worked, so allow me to clarify. The sessions are broadcast at the church. The families with young children often stay home and watch it online, but we still have a good turn-out at the church. We had all of the wards in Wien, except Wien 5, in the stake center. And the St. Pölten elders were there, too, but I don´t know if any members from St. Pölten were in Wien… We watch the Relief Society broadcast on Saturday at 3. Then, we watch the Saturday morning broadcast live at 6 pm. So, we heard the announcement of the missionary age at the same time you did! (We were all going crazy – that is such big news! We are going to get so many more missionaries now! It is also weird for those of us who are already out here, because we are going to be so old when we get home now! Aber, was auch immer. We are way excited about the change, It honestly makes a ton more sense.)

Sunday, at 2, we watch the Saturday afternoon session. An investigator who will be passed off to us this week, Dawn, was there! She is crazy, so I will tell you about her later. We were so glad she was there, but she had to leave early to catch a movie. We were both hoping that she left before that last talk. Mensch, that was rough. But we were so glad she came!

At 6, we watch the Sunday morning session live. That was such an excellent session! And, Wanni, Bobby, Delores, Peter, and Peter´s friend came! Peter seemed to love it, and he brought a friend. She was very cute and really liked us sisters. She is from Lithuania, but she moved to England when she was 10(?). She was crying during the parts where the spirit was very strong and taking notes during the important parts. We gave her a Book of Mormon at the end, and we are meeting up with her and Peter next Wednesday.

I heard that we watch the Sunday afternoon session next week, or something, but I am not entirely sure. But, yes, we do get to watch general conference, and that is how it works:]

Well, I hope everything is going well in Utah!

Ich liebe euch!

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid