Failed lemon cake and teaching Sunday School

Hello hello hello from the most beautiful part of the world! :)  And from your favorite missionary! ;)

This week has been good. I'm trying to learn and do better.....as always.  And we encountered some funny situations...

Last Monday, we went to the Hohe Wand with Jand the elders. Oh, my goodness, it is so gorgeous. I'm sending you a bunch of pictures. It was absolutely gorgeous. Then, after 6, we went down to Pottschach to go give a Book of Mormon to this man, but ended up walking for a while, and then his address didn't exist, and it was dark and a bit sketchy. So we're back, safe, and have learned that we really shouldn't go down to Pottschach/Ternitz area on Monday nights anymore.

Tuesday was kind of boring. We had district meeting, then came back and went and made pumpkin pancakes at S's, which was fun. :) We had a lesson with A that night, which was really good, because J was there, and he is her cousin, and so he understands her.  We read 1 Nephi 1 together and stopped every couple verses to make sure she understood what was going on, so that was really good. The Spirit was there and was strong. 

Wednesday was.....interesting. It was a day that not many really hard things happened, but both Sister Scoggin and I were having a hard time throughout the day just trying to be effective, use our time well and not just give up. My bike tire went flat again---the second time in two weeks. So, we called C and rescheduled our appointment with her, then walked around and tried to find some less actives, none of whom were home. We took my bike to Bruder G, who started working on fixing it, but then we got to spend some time with his wife, which was so cool. She's not a member, but has been an investigator forever.  But it was really good that we had that time with her and her daughter, because Bishop thinks it's important to build up that relationship with her.  Afterwards, we went to M's for dinner with the elders. 

And then! S had her baby!!! We got the text during planning. Oh goodness....we were SO excited.

Thursday, we had a lesson with C, which was....interesting.  See, C is less active, but she's one of the best member missionaries in our ward. She has invited her neighbor over twice to meet with us, and she's listed as a member friend on a TON of the records. So, she invited J (her neighbor) over again, but then it took a while for her to come over. In the meantime, J's 4-year-old daughter came over, and we started talking about families, which was so fun. Then J came over with a friend, who was not interested in learning about the gospel. It was kinda funny, because the friend brought two dogs (one of them quite large) over with her, and in that small apartment.....it was a little rough. And then she just started smoking in the middle of C's apartment. Hmmmm......it was a little funny. But we talked with J about the family, which was good. Then they left and we talked with C about General Conference. 

Then, we went and visited S!! Just whenever we go to hospitals, I KNOW I'm going to be a nurse. I know it. The Spirit tells me over and over again. Ah! I love it! S is doing awesome, and they have another little girl! :) And she's perfect. Oh, my goodness!

We had German class, then I translated into Spanish for G during PFK.  Really. Heavenly Father helps us both so much with Spanish. It is the gift of tongues. I know it is. I don't realize how much He helps me, but He does. I see it so much in Sister Scoggin. She tries so hard to understand and to learn to speak and learn the accent.  Her one year, 9th grade Spanish has improved leaps and bounds, and I'm amazed. But I need to remember how much the Lord helps me, too. And I see it most when I'm translating. Well, in everything. I don't know how much of my Spanish I would be able to remember without the help of Heavenly Father, but I am speaking Spanish pretty almost-fluently. And then, He helps me understand German so much better so that I can translate directly, or at least very, very quickly from German to Spanish, with maybe a little English in my head in between. And I saw that so much on Sunday.

Friday. Record shortest weekly planning session ever.  Usually it takes quite a while, and because of appointments, we have to break it up over two days, but we didn't! We went down to Gloggnitz to contact a referral, but she wasn't home. :/  But Gloggnitz is gorgeous. :) Then, we came back for Sport, which was fun and dark! And we met Elder M, who is the new elder in Neustadt. We had a lesson with P afterwards, which was also just reading 1 Nephi 1, because she hadn't read it in the last couple weeks. But I love them so much.

We tried making a lemon cake this Friday morning. We were going to take it over to a woman across the street, who, when we lose our volleyballs, lets us jump over her fence and grab them. We had all of the ingredients, and it was going to be amazing. But at half the time it was supposed to cook, it looked done! So we pulled it out, put the glaze on, and went to study. We came back after studying, and wanted to try a piece, so we cut the end slice.......and the bottom half was completely runny. And the closer we got to the middle of the cake, the more and more runny it became. AH! Well, we ended up eating the top parts which really had cooked. ;)

Sunday. Goodness. So, between Thursday and Friday, nine people promised they would be there at church!  Potentials, investigators, less actives. Then...no one showed up. P and M got sick, C, J, and her daughter had conflicts, A couldn't make it, and S just didn't show. But then C and C showed up in the middle of Sacrament Meeting! Which was good......for the first part. Then, after Sacrament Meeting, they told us they needed to go back to Romania, but they didn't have money. Sister Scoggin and I didn't know what to do, because it's not a great idea to ask the members for 200 Euros to go back to Romania, but if they needed to..... but we're not supposed to get involved. And we don't want to get too involved. We said a prayer together, and I just felt peace, that Heavenly Father would take care of them. We tried to talk to them, to find some solution, but they weren't really happy that we'd said that we can't give them money. So we went and talked to Bishop, told him the situation and that we have absolutely no idea what to do. He took them and us into a room and figured out the whole situation.... Turns out, they really just wanted to go back to Romania and didn't want to have to work for it. It was so rough. Thank goodness for Bishop.

We went and taught L after lunch, then went by on a former, and then on K, a less active. MIRACLE. Absolute miracle. 1. Her boyfriend wasn't there. 2. She was at home, a little sick, so she had time. 3. And she let us in. This is the first time in three transfers that we have ever really talked to her. She let us in, and we talked with her and read the Book of Mormon together. She's pretty young, from Jamaica, and has an attitude. A lot of her attitude, though, was just making noise. And she's really funny. :) Oh, man, I love her.

Oh. Sunday School. So, Saturday night, in the middle of planning, J called us and said, "We're not going to be able to come to church, but I have to teach the Spanish class tomorrow. So either, Sister Winters, will you teach it, or just translate?" So, I took over for teaching.  Basically, we have so many Spanish-speaking people coming to church that the Gospel Principles class is being split into two--one German class and one Spanish class! So after planning, I grabbed the Principios del Evangelio book that we had, and started studying. I was a little terrified, so I said a quick prayer right before and pleaded that Heavenly Father would help me be ready. And that, He did. I studied until about 10, then in the morning, we made a puzzle, then went to church. And it went really, really well. We only had five people there---M, G, S, Sister Scoggin, and I, but it was really good. I taught Lesson 16, the Church of Jesus Christ in Ancient Times, and it was really good. Heavenly Father did a miracle there, too.

So, today, it's absolutely gorgeous outside. So we're going to Puchberg am Schneeberg, and going to enjoy the beauty! 

We both really miss the temple. AH! Lucky people in Switzerland! They get to go once a transfer to the Bern temple. Yep, I just can't wait to go again when I get home.  And, the scriptures are AWESOME. You find so many treasures in there if you're looking for them. :)

This work is amazing. I love it, I love it, I love it. It IS the true Church, and I know with all my heart that God lives and loves us and takes care of each of us.

I love you so much!  Have a wonderful week! :)

Love, Sister Elizabeth Winters

An der Hohe Wand

It's fall!