Grüß euch, can you believe that the 16th was a third of the mission, gone, past, forever?! Nein nein nein, I don't know what is happening! It should slow down. But the weird thing is that since Elder Orchard and I are always doing something and don't have time for things like journal writing (I am almost caught up! Just two days behind...) it seems like we do so much and I can't tell if time is taking forever or if it is going fast. It is already week 4 of the transfer! Oh no! I will probably leave Klagenfurt in a couple weeks... I don't ever want to leave, but I also do want to leave. We shall see, though, so don't worry about that. So, we had a pretty crazy week! I totally forgot last week, as far as I remember, to tell you we were going to Wien for Interviews with President! So that was really cool, and we did a big exchange with all the Elders in Wien. I got to work with Elder Davies, the Elder from Sandy who knows my roomate Alex Burton! He is a great missionary and we had an hour out on the street on Tuesday night, so we decided to see how many people we could find. So we went out, and then Elder Davies got super excited when we saw on a projector at the subway station that Utah Jazz beat Miami Heat haha so he was just super pumped. Wien is much different, I felt like we were just handing out flyers for stuff, we were trying to just give cards to people who had "keine Zeit" oder "Kein Interesse." BUT we found one person who took a Book of Mormon and gave us his info then another person we gave a book to but then his streetcar came :/ But it was really fun, and I asked Elder Davies for advice, just as an older, more experienced missionary, and what he said was exactly what I needed, about things I have been trying to work on anyway. That was a little tender mercy for me! I also got to spend the night talking with Elder Janis haha I see him everywhere! He is finally out of Stuttgart and now in St. Polten, outside of Wien. I am the only missionary in our MTC group who has stayed in one area so long! Elder Janis and Robins both had 4 transfers in their first areas but they both just got moved. Pretty crazy. I love Klagenfurt. But yeah, talking with President was great, he is such a wonderful man.
Um, before I forget, I was wondering if you guys could find a way to get me a cool WdR ring? Elder Davies had a cool one (not like one of the 50 cent CTR rings) and he said he got it from Deseret Book, who does it through Ringmasters or something. That would be super cool :)
Um, damit ich nicht vergessen, ich versuche euren Fragen zu antoworten.... OH MY GOODNESS!!! MATT IS GOING TO SOUTH KOREA!!!!!! HOLY COW I AM SO HAPPY!!! I AM SO HAPPY FOR HIM! Oh wow, that is the greatest thing I have ever heard! Man he is going to do work in Korea!!! Oh man, that is so awesome!!! *Ahem*, sorry for that interruption. Twas for a good cause. :) Oh man, I can't say how cool that is!
Here is a question, almost all the mssionaries I know are having their parents come and pick them up at the end of the mission, and I have no idea what exactly our familie's plans are on visiting our missions sometime, since there are two of us... Picking us up isn't really a realistic option, but someday I will have to go visit Argentina. Just a thought. Then after my mission I can come back and play in the big Futsal tournament Bruder Mauch is doing in February! That would be so awesome!
We got to eat Chinese buffet again on Friday with Sister Schaunig, and we talked with the less active family who works there, and the Halls have an apointment with them tonight, where both the mom and the dad will be home!! Awesome. Sister Schaunig rocks! She offered her proofreading help for their studies and papers they have to write! Also, this week we were given a book by C___ (the man who contacted us on the bus our first pday), and we don't know where he got the book, but it is a book that Sis. Schaunig made a couple years ago about all the conversion stories of most of the people in the ward! It is so cool, I want my own copy which I will keep forever. They have some young pictures of some members who are now older, like the Bishop's dad, and it is just so cool :) haha. And yeah, I would say our fellowshipping efforts are going well! Gestern, Vasilli invitied us to go eat at his house again on Thursday! We didn't even say anything to him, he just asked us! I love this ward :) Plus, I am so excited for our Preisthood activity on Mitwoch!!! Guess what we are doing??? We are going bowling! Haha something that is apparently pretty American, none of the people here are very good, they say. We shall see. Hopefully they don't make Elder Orchard and me look better than we are haha. But guess what we are doing today for a district pday? Going to Graz and going bowling! So we get to practice. Bowling twice in one week in Austria! Crazy cool, eh?
Well, Wien took up a lot of time, but Thursday we had 4 appointments planned, back to back! We met with C___, who is such a goof haha. He is great. We taught the Restoration. And man, Dad asked if I felt that the Spirit was manifesting the truthfulness of the things we teach, and I can say, once again, that I have never felt such a fire as I do everytime we quote Joseph Smith´s account of the First Vision. With C___ and with R___, I didn't break eye contact at all, and I told them that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. There is nothing else like it, ever! Try it sometime ;) But yeah, we then met with R___ after C___, and we set a baptismal date for the 10th of February!!! :) We asked if he had read, and he had read 2 Nephi 31, and we asked if he prayed, and he said that baptism doesn't really mean anything to him, but that he should probably pray about it, eh? He said that to us! And we bore our testimonies about the importance thereof, and Elder Orchard read 2 Nephi 31:13 (I think) and it was perfect! And he agreed to set that goal! So all he has to do is pray sincerely and he will feel the Spirit, and we know God has promised answers to those who ask, so we have no doubts. He just needs to pray! We also found some new investigators this week, did lots of "0" introductory lessons, and we have 8 investigators I think, more than I ever have had in the last 5 months. Crazy! We are always busy. It is great :) Sadly, M___, the young man, just can't find the time to meet with us, so it has been two weeks. He cancelled I think 2 appointments last week and at least once this week. And we have been wanting to give him the baptismal date. Ach, that irks me! If he can't find the time for us.... we´ll see. He is going to call us tomorrow.
Other than that, the weather is cold! And we have lots of snow, but it rained gestern and it is kinda just sitting around on the sides of the street. But it should snow more this week, apparently. Oh, our appointment last week with D___ went well! Bruder Korak was great, and we had a good discussion about what the Gospel has done for all of us. And, D___ and B___ said that they are going to get us tickets to one of D___´s games!! Which is crazy because they are now in the 2nd round getting to playoffs and everything is crazy! I am totally getting some VSV gear! :) I must, D___ is a good friend.
We get chances to talk to lots of people on the street, and we just stay busy and time flies by while simultaneously dragging out like molasses. Missionary time, it is crazy. The work goes on, as always. Yesterday they had a speaker fall out, so guess who they asked? :) Yep, the missionaries! We just both had the chance to bear testimony about Joseph Smith:) perfect! Of course, I tried to write some things down, then stood up and everything disappeared. :/ Always! I don't know what language I was speaking, for real. It was rough on me. But I had some members come up to me out of nowehere during the Potluck afterwards and they said I spoke really good German and they really liked my testimony, and that we do good work. Well, thanks Heavenly Father for putting so many wonderful people in my life! It was a good experience nonetheless.
I must go, but I will be so happy knowing that Matt is going to Korea and that Kody enters the MTC this week. Life is so good, who can say otherwise (don't let yourself say otherwise, either). We are so blessed. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family and fantastic friends, and to know the people I know. You are all a blessing to my life. I hope your trust in God continues to grow each day, and I know that He loves each of us. Always find reaasons to smile. :)
I make an end.
I love you all!
Fare thee well.
Elder Jalen Lawrence Gibbons
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