Liebe Familie,

So although this week was really great, the end was sort of a series of awkward moments. Did you know there is no word for awkward in German? Anyway...

Monday night, we taught a less active in our ward. It was such a powerful lesson. We talked about desire. The spirit was so strong. We made so much progress with her and finally realized what our focus with her should be: the temple. We all got so excited as we started discussing making plans to get her to the temple. We were contemplating meeting with her a lot less frequently for the last few weeks. She just really did not seem to be making any progress, and our GML thought we were wasting our time. But now we have a goal. She is totally going to the temple. And maybe we get to go with her?...

Thursday night, we had dinner with this older gentlman and his wife who are in our ward. They are powerhouse members. She has something wrong with a vein on her arm. She has to get the fluid from it drained every second day. Because the nearest temple takes at least 6 hours to travel to, they haven't been able to go to the temple since her condition developed - 30 years ago. I have been complaining that I haven't been able to go to the temple for the last 9 months, but that is nothing. I have been thinking a temple in Wien would be so great for a while now, but here is another reason why. When there is only a two hour trip to the temple, a day trip is a possibility. Also, it would serve the members in Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, and so many other lands whose nearest temple is so far away. I never realized just how blessed I was to have so many temples so close.

He told us how he was found door-to-door. I started thinking about what that one person meant. He has like 7 kids. They are all in the gospel now. His sons served missions, and we have the baptisms from their missions. Plus the people that those people affected. And those kids are also now raising righteous families. It so cool to think about the influence that one can have. Anyway, they are really great, and they served us Schnitzl! They watched us as we drove away, so we couldn't leave the note we usually do to thank people for feeding us. So, we came back the next day to deliver the note. We pulled up and noticed the grandkids in the front yard. We didn't see him, so we prayed they weren't watching from the front window. They weren't. They were in the neighboring yard watching the kids play. They said, ''Hey, it's the sisters! Hi, Sisters!'' I just waved, kept walking up to the mailbox by their front door, stuck the note in the mailbox, waved again, and walked away. It was so awkward! You can't just hand a thank-you note to someone in person. That creates another awkward moment. Oh well. As I am always reminding my companions, this is the one phase of our lives where we have something to blame our awkwardness on. So, embrace the awkward! 

The awkward moments continued the next day. But first. We met with Gordana. She is just about the sweetest lady I have ever met. She is from Serbia and can't read German. They have lived here for about 20 years, though. So her 15-year-old daughter who joined us for the lesson can read German. Anyway, we started out wanting to talk about the Plan of Salvation. We got to Adam and Eve, and we turned to 2 Nephi 2 to answer her questions. I asked if she still had her Serbian Book of Mormon (she was a former investigator). She told me she never received one! So, I gave her daughter the German one we had, and asked her to read to her mom. Then, they asked who this Nephi guy was. So, I explained the story of the Book of Mormon. When I got to the end, with Moroni burying the plates, they asked how Joseph Smith found them. So we got to share the story of the resoration. As I quoted the first vision, the spirit was so strong. It was so cool! I got as far as two personages, and they both excitedly said, ''God talked to him?!'' I  nodded and said, ''And Jesus, too!'' Then they leaned forward some more and asked what they told him. I told them more of the story. At the end, I concluded with my testimony. I told them that I had also prayed and received an answer that that story is true. The daughter asked in amazement, ''Wow. Did you see God, too?'' I smiled and told her, ''No, it was just a warm feeling in my heart. But I know that it's true.'' They were both so excited and had so many questions. They didn't want us to leave. Then Gordana asked us again if she could have a Serbian Book of Mormon. We told her we had one at home, but we would bring it next time. Then her daughter thanked us again and again for her Book of Mormon. Her mom told her she better read out of that book. We were just beaming after that lesson. The spirit was definitely there. 

We didn't really want to leave, either, but we had to get on to our next awkward moment: the ward dance. Yup, our ward has an annual dance. And the missionaries are supposed to attend. It was good, though, because we met a lot of potential potential investigators. But all of that Babylonisch music was weirding us out beyond belief. And we weren't allowed to dance, so that was weird for others that we were at a dance, but we were chilling in the hall. But the buffet was excellent. 

Transfer calls came, and Sister Smith and I are both staying in Neumarkt another transfer. We were both pretty excited, especially because there is so much work that we are just starting. Also, our new GML is pretty cool. He wants to start a missionary class. And why not? We have family history classes - classes for work for the dead; why not classes for work for the living? Members have so much potential, but they don't realize all that/what they can do. A great example of this is Abish in the Book of Mormon. Ammon did a lot of good teaching the king. But it wasn't until Abish started running around talking to everyone that Ammon was really able to help the kingdom. It is the same today. We can only do so much without the members. This class will be so great! 

That should suffice for this week. I hope you are all doing well! Be safe and make good choices!

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid