Miracles and Conference

So, yes.

Ebeil Rettum dnu Retav,

This week has been good and more productive and much better and wonderful. And we've seen miracles. :) I don't know how well I communicate this, but I LOVE the people here. I think last week, I wrote a letter like, "We did this and this and this and this and that's all." And that's not a wonderful letter. 'M sorry about that.

BUT! I LOVE this place and I LOVE the people here. I want to stay here for a while, and if I were here at Christmas, I wouldn't complain. This place is like my second home. If I ever decided to come back later and live in Europe, I would possibly consider Neustadt. It's pretty, accessible to lots of things, not a huge city, and the ward is wonderful. I can't wait for you to come out here and meet them. You will LOVE the people here.

Tuesday, we had a tausch with Wien 4!  Zufällig, Sister Scoggin and I dressed matching.........not on purpose.  Yep. We're companions. :)  Sister Clark came down and worked with me, which was so much fun. We did so much that day. We had a lesson with Beate, a woman who works in Wiener Neustadt. It was so good. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and I think she really likes it. Then we had a lesson with C about God's help. She needs to just pray! She is so wonderful. She just needs to know that she's a daughter of God and believe that Heavenly Father will help her.

And then.......German class Tuesday night, we had FIVE people there! S, P (investigator), M (her husband, less active), E, and Z (the last two from Afghanistan). It was really fun. We've never had so many people there.

It was so good to lead the tausch, though. The thing I learned most from it was that I know better than I think I do what I'm doing, and that I need to be more confident.

Thursday was the next exciting day. Oh, man. So, first, we went by on a less active whom we have never met (she doesn't usually want to meet with us....)....but she was home! We set up an appointment for Friday. We had another lesson planned with B, to teach the Restoration, but at 12:15, she wasn't there. (We usually meet in front of the city museum.) So we waited for a few minutes, then left. We went and visited a less active whom we'd been trying to meet, but hadn't gotten in contact with, and she was home! But...she doesn't want to be a part of the church anymore, which was really sad. So then, we were walking back up a street, and who should we see, but Beate! So we went and taught her the Restoration. And the Spirit was so strong. It was awesome.

Then we had German class again, which was another great class. Patricia, Marcelo, E, and Z were there. (E is the man to whom we gave the Persian Book of Mormon and he read it in two weeks. He's not an investigator yet, because it's hard for him to communicate in German. I should just learn Persian.)  We conjugated the verb sein (to be), and practiced it, and then talked about colors (in German, Spanish, and Persian), and then the weather.

The coolest part was after it was officially over. We said a closing prayer, and then we each took turns drawing on the board where we each come from. So I drew Utah, and then Sister Scoggin drew Idaho, and we showed that they were next to each other. Then, E got up and drew Afghanistan. He drew a clear line down the middle and showed us that the left side is the place that has "problems."  You can go from the right side to the left side (across some kind of border), but you can't come back. He showed us where the safe parts were, the bordering countries, which ones have "problems" and which ones don't, and which languages were spoken where. Apparently, Afghanistan is very mountainy and snows pretty often. I didn't know that. Then, M got up, and drew the Americas, and where Ecuador is, and some of the surrounding countries, and he told us about Ecuador and how there are three "parts" to the country.  One has a desert (I think?), one is a beach, and the other is rainforest. Or something like that. I don't remember it exactly. But it was just SO cool. I learned so much more that Heavenly Father loves His children---ALL of them.  And my eyes were opened a bit to the world.  See, the only concept I have of people that come from the middle east is a pretty racial concept.  These two men who are coming to German class understand what's happening in their country. They know that there are problems and where the problems are, but where they are (here) is safe, and they are here in Austria, trying to learn German. It was an incredible experience.

Friday was a-ma-zing.   We saw miracles.  In the evening, we went to Sport Abend. We had so many people there! It was pretty fun....until we hit the ball over the neighbor's fence. (Oops.) It was 6:45, so Marcelo decided it was a good enough time to have a lesson, so we went inside and changed back into skirts and grabbed Jose.

SIDE NOTE: Thursday night, during planning, we were thinking of commitments that we could give P, and Sister Scoggin said, "I want to commit her to get baptized." And as soon as she said that, the Spirit got REALLY strong. Oh my goodness. We both had a STRONG confirmation that that was the right thing that needed to happen. It was so powerful, and we both knew that it was going to happen and we needed to invite her to be baptized. But when we stopped by José's apartment to ask him to joint teach and to talk with him about inviting P to be baptized, he was a little unsure. He thought she was very Catholic (which she is, but not as strongly as he thought), but he said, "You're the teachers, the missionaries, and if you feel like it's the right thing to do, then do it."

Okay. Fast forward. The lesson. We needed to follow up with her about reading in the Book of Mormon and praying about it. She had done it, but hadn't received an answer.  She said that she wanted to keep reading in the Book of Mormon and praying. She knew that it was good, but wasn't sure yet. Jose jumped right on that and started teaching about faith, which was so perfect. That was what she needed to hear. We read a lot of Alma 32, because she described exactly what it talks about. She planted the seed and is trying it's goodness. And the whole way through, I was asking in my head, "Is it okay to invite her tonight?" And the Spirit confirmed it. So, at the end of the lesson, when the conversation had kind of died, I asked her if, with the faith she has, when she receives an answer, she would be baptized, and she said yes. Absolutely, of course. Oh my goodness. It is hard to convey in words the joy Sister Scoggin and I felt and the love for this good, good woman. It was incredible.

Part of this whole miracle is that we are speaking Spanish. There is no way we could be doing any of this without the gift of tongues. Heavenly Father is blessing us IMMENSELY. In normal conversation, Sister Scoggin says she understands about 30%. And we can't speak that much! I trip over my words a lot. But in gospel settings, when I need to be understanding and speaking well (i.e. lessons and at church), we understand 75-90% of what is being said, and can speak and our words flow. I am so amazed at this---Heavenly Father is showing us a huge miracle every time that we speak Spanish.

Oh my goodness. We're learning so much. I'm learning so much. I LOVE the scriptures, so much more now than I did at home. One thing I'm doing for language study is reading the New Testament in German. And it's really fun. :) I love it. I haven't read---really read---the Bible, the New Testament in a while. And it is so beautiful, and I love reading it in German. It is so much clearer. I'm understanding things in English better, but I'm also getting a lot of nourishment. It's so rich and wonderful. I'm going to read the gospels in German before Christmas, which should also be fun. And also, I love the language in Romans. Every time I read in Romans, the language is so flowing. I love it. 

Guess what??? Conference is this weekend!!! So, I showed you our countdown, right? Our paper chain? What we've been doing is taking one off every day, and taping it to a paper (there's a picture), but we also read that apostle's talk that day during study. It's pretty amazing. I have LOVED doing it. We have the conference Liahona from the 2012 April Conference, which is also wonderful, and I have been reading the talks from there, too. What I have noticed is that the talks from this last conference are all about strengthening the family.  It is in the little, tiny things we do (personal and family scripture study, personal and family prayer, FHE, living the commandments, keeping our covenants) that keep us protected from the world, from Satan, and help strengthen our homes. Today, we read Elder Hales' talk from Priesthood session about the armor of God. It is in the small decisions that we make that will strengthen us. I love that he says that we NEED to put on the armor of God. It is not an option. We HAVE to put it on, or else we're going to go off the path, or at least not be able to stand the fiery darts of the devil. It is absolutely necessary. 

One thing I want to add---there's a song on Sister Scoggin's iPod that we've listened to, and it has become my favorite for right now. It's  "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands," sung by the BYU choirs, and I especially love the last verse:

"Behold His wounded hands and feet! Come touch and see and feel the wounds and marks that you may know His love for you is real. And as you fall to worship Him and wash His feet with tears, your Savior takes you in His arms and quiets all your fears." I'm learning a lot about the Atonement in my life and how I can trust the Savior more and have more faith. And this song just reminds me that He does love me and He wants to forgive me and bring me closer to Him. I know that---and He loves each individual, every single person. So, so much.

I love YOU so, so much! 

Love,

Sister Elizabeth Winters.