A good week, and God loves us so much!

Liebe Mutter und Vater,

I love you so much. Quite a lot. I hope you know that. :)

Answers to your questions:

Wiener Neustadt has been a ward for about two years. We do have our own building. Specific responsibilities....sort of. I play piano in Primary every so often. If not, we go to Relief Society (Frauenhilfsvereinigung, or FHV). During the Sunday School hour, we go to Gospel Principles. We're supposed to sit apart from each other, and I've taken up translating during Sunday School. Then during Sacrament Meeting (the meetings go in that order), I have only translated once. We have a microphone/headphone system that isn't great, but usually José takes up the translation by sitting behind the Spanish speakers. 

Basically, I love my ward here. And the people. And when we come back, we HAVE to come to Wiener Neustadt. Because I want you to know and love the people here, too.

Tuesday was Zone Conference, and it focused mainly on two things: developing Christlike attributes, and naturally and normally sharing the gospel. Which are things I need to work on. :)  It was all very, very good. There is a suggestion to how to develop Christlike attributes in the back of PMG. I reeeeeally like that chapter......so if you ever need something to study OR just want to become more like Christ, it could be helpful.  But also, naturally and normally sharing the gospel, which we're working on doing. 

Wednesday, we had a lesson with a less active, C. She loves the gospel, loves the Church, has a testimony.......but just doesn't come to church. It's not that she doesn't want to, but I think she might be a little scared. But anyways, it wasn't really a "less active lesson," as it was a lesson with a member present taught to a potential, because she invited her neighbor to come over! We talked with her and answered a lot of questions, which was really cool, and gave her a Book of Mormon.

We taught P and M the Restoration---in Spanish, again. :)  It was great. I couldn't speak as much Spanish this time, but I think that Heavenly Father wanted a better balance between me and Sister Scoggin, and let her speak some more, which she did. It was very, very good. I LOVE them so much. We invited them to start reading the Book of Mormon and then pray to know if it was true. :)

Friday, we had lunch with some members. They are so awesome! Brother C used to be branch president, before WN was changed into a ward. But they have four kids, all under the age of six. They are super strong and active in the Church, and I loved the time we had with them.

We had a lesson with Cl that night. It was good but really hard. We talked about the first half of the Plan of Salvation, and that was really good. She's still reading in the Book of Mormon and wants to keep meeting with us.

Saturday, we had a ward party for the end of summer. It was a lot of fun. :D SO many people came!!! We invited as many as we could---less actives, investigators, members.... Yep. So, M, P, L, and M came with their kids, Cl and Co came, A came, L (less active) came, and we talked to so many people!! Bishop said afterwards that probably 25 or 30 nonmembers were there, because a lot of members invited their friends, too. It was wonderful.

Sunday, M, P, and their daughter, E, came to church! We walked to their apartment and picked them up, and they drove with us to church. I translated again, which was a lot of fun. José helped translate during Sunday School as well. We had four people there for whom we translated, and it was great. I didn't have to translate during Sacrament Meeting, which I was both really sad about and grateful for. I wanted to do so much; even though my Spanish isn't wonderful, it's enough.  But they already had Sister Köpf translate. So I thought and listened to the Spirit and the meeting during Sacrament.

I did have one thought that really put things into perspective for me. It is that Heavenly Father has entrusted me with the ability to speak three languages, and He wants me to use them---all three. The feeling was that He wants to prove me, to see if I will use the talents and gifts He's given me. But with that came also the feeling that It is so that He can bless me with more. This was profound to me.

Sunday night, we went and taught L, José's daughter, the Plan of Salvation. We acted it out and did a puzzle along with it, and it was so much fun. :) And then they kept us over for dinner. We stayed and helped clean the kitchen a little bit (Sonja is eight months pregnant), and just talked with her, which was soooooo good. We both thought she needed it a lot, both the talking and the cleaning. And it was good for us. She's another person I want you to meet and know and love. :)

The last couple days, study has been amazing. I was reading 2 Nephi 9 yesterday and today, focusing on learning about the Atonement, and it was pretty powerful. Oh my goodness. This is what I learned: God is a god of justice and of mercy. But yesterday, it was all about the mercy side (verses 5-6).  The plan of salvation is a plan of mercy.   If it were not so, the first judgement would have come upon us---death---and we would never be able to be resurrected and live with Heavenly Father again. That would be the end thereof. But because God has mercy, He planned a very merciful plan in which His Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth to make mercy possible. That's just a part. It's amazing. Go read 2 Nephi 9. Learn about it for yourself. :)

And also, invite the missionaries over. Or make a family mission plan. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the letters and sending the blessings, and the bag. I have decorated my wall, and will try to send pictures through Dropbox and email. But thank you for the bag, because I love it and it's PERFECT.  

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. You are WONDERFUL. I am learning so much and experiencing so much. And hopefully changing, as well.

Love, love, love,

Sister Winters