Liebe Familie,

This last week was ever so excellent! We picked up three new investigators and had a day of miracles! Not too shab... :]

We teach English classes every Tuesday and Thursday. The vast majority of the people who come are people from Iran. They are Christian or Zoroastrian, and are seeking assylum. For them, Austria is a momentary stopping-point on their way to America. In order to assist the visa process for America, they need to learn English. So, in addition to the other classes they are all signed up for, they attend our classes as an extra boost. They love being there. One woman was supposed to fly out three weeks ago, but didn´t have the proper signatures at the ready, and the seats on the plane got bought. She told us, "I don´t mind. Now I have more time to spend with you! We are so grateful we have this place to come to." They are some of the coolest people I have ever met. Anyway, there was one woman, Anita, who started attending last week. After her second class, she told us, "There is something different about this place. You are all so happy, beautiful, and energetic. I want to know why." Sister Stewart and I started teaching her. We taught her twice, and yesterday, she brought her husband, son, and three friends to church with her! They stayed for all three hours. We have two people in our ward who speak Persian natively, so that was super helpful. Anita is so cool, and we are excited to keep teaching her!

Wednesday, we went to Wiener Neustadt for District Meeting. It was at the Ehepaar Thurn´s apartment. The bishop in the Wiener Neustadt ward and his wife wanted to make us missionaries a Thanksgiving feast. So, we had what they thought was Thanksgiving food. We had chicken (understandable, as turkey is incredibly expensive here) (I like chicken better anyway), Rotkohl (perhaps they confused this with cranberry sauce?), what was supposed to be stuffing (not entirely sure what that was), Almdudler to drink, and muffins. It was very tasty, but it was certainly like no other Thanksgiving feast I have ever eaten!

That night, the elders, Sister Stewart, and I met with Brown. He is a less-active in our ward with whom we have lost contact for the last two months. Then, he called us a few days ago and said, "I miss you people! When can we meet?" Sister Stewart and I were there to introduce Brown to the elders so they can start working with him. He is a hoot and a half (I think he actually qualifies as two hoots - for example, when we were meeting with him, we asked him if he had been praying. He said, "Yes, when, for example, I see a bunch of snakes. I say, ´Lord, deliver me from the snakes!´" Not sure where he is seeing these snakes in Austria, let alone Vienna, but glad to know he didn´t stop praying entirely:D). And he came to church on Sunday! It is so rewarding helping the less actives come back to church!

Friday was a day of miracles. First of all, we had four appointments (a miracle in and of itself), and second of all, none of them fell out (you have no idea what a miracle that is)! We met with Joy, the woman who just showed up at church last week. Apparently, she met with the sisters last year. She stopped meeting with them for one reason or another. She recently lost her job, and remembered how good things were when she was meeting with the missionaries last year. So, she decided to come back. She is from Nigeria and is so cool and so spirited! We also met with Wanni, and she is doing well as always! Then we met with Sarita, a less-active in our ward. She wants to do FHE, but does not know where to start. Sister Stewart and I went over to do FHE with her. We taught a lesson and played UNO with her and the married couple with whom she and her husband abide. After the closing prayer, Sarita said, ´´They have something to tell you.´´ The couple just smiled. So Sarita said, ´´They would like you to start teaching them!´´ They excitedly nodded their heads. We gave them Books of Mormon, and they invited us to Adrika (Sarita´s baby)´s Rice Ceremony this week. We ended the evening by meeting with Bright, another less active in our ward. She just got back from Italy, and is doing really well. She loves when we visit, and wants to come to church, but she has a crazy work schedule. So we continue meeting with her and strengthening her. Oh, and I bought my first Christmas present this day, too! I bought the game of Harry Potter Lego. I had a lot of fun putting it together, and Sister Stewart and I have had fun playing it!

Well, I best let yáll go! Have a wonderful week! 

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid