Liebe Familie,

This week was pretty great! 

We did an Austausch this week. I went to Wels with Sister Bice. When we first got there, we had dinner with a woman who is in her 70s and got baptized about four years ago. Apparently every third meal is questionable, so I either got meal one or two. She is very funny and loves to talk. She gave me a packet of soup and a jar of jam she canned (They were not one and the same: no worries), as she wanted to make sure I had stuff to eat in Neumarkt. She has so many stories, and I was so grateful I was not the missionary trying to teach her. Although it was a pleasant meal, it would have taken forever to get through any lessons:] But she was very sweet, and I am so glad I got to meet her! Wels got whitewashed my first transfer in Wien, and they are still struggling trying to find people to teach. Sister Bice and I went finding all Wednesday afternoon. We went by on formers and talked to people on the street. The bikes in Wels are broken, so we had to walk all over Wels. It was nice to be able to walk again! However, Wels smells very odd - there is a Vereinigten Fett factory in town.  Anyway, we found a really sweet girl from Albania while dooring a building. We got buzzed in by a random person (whose door we never could find. Then Sister Bice and I decided to door the building. We both walked to the same door and tried. It happened to be the only door we did knock on, but it was definitely a winner! She is in her 20s. She is Muslim, but if she is not planning on going back to a Muslim country, we can still teach her. She accepted the German Book of Mormon, so hopefully she starts progressing! 

The next day, we were supposed to tausch back after lunch, but the sisters coming from Neumarkt's train got delayed by 45 minutes. The Wels sisters had an appointment in Efferding at 2:00, and they had to catch the bus out there before the tausch could occur. So, I got to go to Efferding. I am very glad there were train problems. Efferding was such a cute little dorf! And the woman we visisted was incredible! It was a lesson zero, but she is so ready for the gospel. She was living with her less-active boyfriend until a little bit ago when he decided he wanted to start keeping the commandments again. Then she started thinking about the church and how serious it must be if he was willing to give up all that other stuff to be a part of it again. They are still good friends, and he took the kids on a walk while we visited. She had already started reading in the Book of Mormon and had a lot of questions (mostly about the Plan of Salvation (and reincarnation) and the Holy Ghost). Also, she thought I was a native German! So, I really liked her for that, too:]

Meanwhile, in Neumarkt,.Sister Judd and Sister Armstrong met with Anita. She is going to Romania the last week of this month to pick up the paperwork necessary so that she and Bobi can get married so that they can be baptized!!!! Last night, we enjoyed Romanian food (although it looked odd, it actually tasted really good!) with them, and Bobi told us that Anita wants to be baptized, but he still isn't 100% sure. Anita is so receptive to the spirit, but Bobi needs to experiment more before he recognizes the spirit. However, they are really excited about Pfahlkonferenz this weekend! We are so so excited for them and all of the progress they are making!

On Saturday, we had a mission-wide dejunking day. I could not believe how much weird stuff was in our apartment and basement (yes, our apartment has a basement!). But it was good. And for Frühsport this morning we organized the Liahonas, as that was the last thing to do. We have already made our first trip of taking stuff to recycling. We will have to make another trip of just garbage, and one more for Goodwill. But, it is really nice to have the aparment organized!

That is all for now! Remember, if you are doing the best you can where you are, that is what the Lord asks of you. Lift where you stand. 

Alles Liebe!

Liebe,

Sister Stephanie Reid