Liebe Familie,

Although we spoke yesterday, I did not tell you much about the adventures of my week. So, I will seize that opportunity now, as it was a pretty great week!

We worked last Monday, so we could go to Wien early on Tuesday and do our P. Day then. We got up on Tuesday, made ourselves ready, and left for Salzburg so we could umsteig to Wien. Sister Smith wanted to see Wien (although we really only had about three hours to do that, and I saw things in my fourth transfer I had never before seen, but I did my best). We went to Schönbrunn first. It was much prettier than it was in January, but it still wasn't entirely ready for the summer crowd. Then we went to the 1. District and looked at the cool buildings and Roman ruins. It was raining off and on, but it was good! We got to teach English class again, and then Sister Smith and I went on splits with the Wien 1 sisters. I also got to see Wanni again!!!!! She just screamed for joy, and I was laughing I was so excited to see her! Wanni is doing so well!! I love her with all my heart. Then Sister Lin and I had the opportunity to see Binod and Nita that night. They have a new apartment now, and are also doing well. Nita ran out of the apartment when I showed up and just hugged me. They were both so excited to see me again, and I was, too! They are doing the lessons again (recent converts go through all of the lessons again), and that night was the Plan of Salvation. Binod kept saying, ''Sister Reid, you taught this to us already.'' I kept telling him I knew that, but it was good to review. Then we would agree and listen. A few minutes later, I would ask a question, and he would again remind me that I had already taught them this. I would again remind him that review is good so we can remember how much Heavenly Father loves us. It was pretty funny:] 

We stayed at the apartment that night. It was weird how it was so much the same, but so different. It was kind of like coming back home, but it wasn't my home anymore. It was very weird, but we had fun:] 

The next morning was mission tour, and it was incredible! We had the Wien and Salzburg zones combined, so it was great to see a lot of old friends again. Also, Elder Teixeira taught us a lot of really cool things about how to do missionary work. It was an incredible meeting! I learned so so much about how to be a lot more effective.

After mission tour, I went back to Wels with Sister Hammock. By the time we got home, we just ate dinner, had language study, and went to bed. The next day, the one scheduled appointment fell out, so we found all day long. Sister Hammock didn't know the city super well, and I have no idea how many kilometers we walked (it was a Feiertag, and the buses do not run at all in Wels on Feiertags). My feet were very tired, but we found a lot of cool people, gave away a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon, and it was a beautiful sunny day! It was nice to be outside.

We had to get up at 5:30 the next morning to catch our train back to Neumarkt so that Sister Smith and I could get on a train to Salzburg so that we could catch the train to München. We had a little over an hour of an Umsteig, so I was able to repack a little bit. The weather changed for the worst in that hour, and it hasn't really stopped raining since.

But Munich was great! Germany had its Mission Tour go until 3, and then our first meeting for Mission Leadership Council started at 3, so I got to see a lot of those friends again, too! I loved seeing them all:] Elder Teixeira was there for that meeting, and he taught us a lot of really incredible things again. It was really neat to be taught by such a spiritual giant. 

Then we went to the mission home for dinner. Dinner was lovely:] After dinner, we had another meeting/testimony meeting, and President called on me to bear my testimony. I am getting better at it, but it is still not one of my talents. Anyway, it was great! The sisters all slept upstairs, four elders slept in the basement, and the rest slept at the mission office. Sister Graf and her golden, and Sister Stewart and her golden were there, so it was also great to see them again! 

I braided Sister Stewart's hair the next morning for Frühsport. It looked great:]

We had our final meeting that morning after breakfast, and then it was time to go back to Salzburg after lunch (Leberkäse sandwiches). We got back to Salzburg around 7, so we put on dry clothes and then went to help Christina with her German. We have started teaching her German this week, and she is doing very well. She loves having us help her, and we are enjoying spending more time with her. She will do great things someday.

We slept like rocks that night. It was the first night I had slept in my bed since 5 days. 

Today we went to the salt mines. It was cool, but it definitely wasn't something I would do everytime visiting Salzburg. However, the tour guide was very nice, and really liked us sisters a lot. She may have just been thrilled to finally have someone with whom she could speak German, but she was asking us all sorts of questions about what we were doing here, and she told us a few times that she was really impressed with us and what we did. 

We had a lot of fun this week, and we learned so much! We are so grateful for our new calling. 

Alles Liebe!

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid