Faith is great!

Good morning, liebe Mutter und Vater! :) How are you doing? I'm tired, but very happy and just learning a lot.

This week was very interesting. It was hard. A little bleak. But Heavenly Father is taking care of us, and I'm learning and growing. I'm remembering to be more grateful for tender mercies, and I'm also learning to not care so much about myself. 

So, Monday, we carved pumpkins! It was so fun. Then, we went to Schwester H, a semi-active member, and showed her the DVD and ward/family mission plan. It went really well. The Spirit was strong. I really think this is going to help the ward, which is good.

Tuesday, we had a completely open day until about six. So we went up to Traiskirchen (during the day!) to see if a less active member was home, but he wasn't. We then visited the Cs and had lunch with them. The Cs are so great. Afterwards, we came back and went by on some potentials that the elders gave us, then taught German class. Afterwards, we went to A. I love that woman so, so much. She was sick last week, so we didn't meet with her, but it was so good to see her again. M's mother was also there. But we could tell A was having a hard time. So I sat and French braided her hair, which I love doing. Also, I love speaking Spanish, I hope you know. I can't wait till you come back and we can visit these Spanish-speaking people here in Austria. You will love it and so will I. :D

Wednesday was also a little hard. We went to find some other former potentials that hadn't been contacted in years. C fell out, so we went up to see how Schwester H was doing. That woman is amazing. She visit teaches a number of women in our ward, but also, this week, she basically put together an entire wedding reception for one of the women whom she visit teaches. But we talked with her, helped her a little bit, then went to visit a couple members/potentials in the area, then went back home to make some calls. Basically, we were walking around all day. We were trying and trying and trying to talk to as many people as possible, but no one wanted to listen, or just didn't have time. We passed out a lot of cards, though. Afterwards, we took my bike to Bruder G to fix my flat tire, then walked to the church and helped Schwester H to set up almost everything for the reception.

Thursday was filled. We were going to go dooring, then didn't, but went and visited Sister H2. She fed us....right before GMK at J's. After GMK, we went to the church again to help with the reception (Thursday night). Problem---we were there for the rest of the day, which was really hard. We weren't planning on staying there that long. But also was good---both of our investigators were there, and there were also a number of nonmembers there. But it was all definitely different than an American wedding reception. 

Thursday night was hard after we went home. We had no numbers, we've been trying to talk with everyone as normally possible, trying to find people, have lessons with less actives, but everything fell out. It was hard for me. Then I was flipping through some of my "old" letters---letters from the beginning of my mission, in the MTC and such, and I came across a letter from one of my friends. It was an email I'd printed out while in England. At the end of it, he said, "I wish you an INCREDIBLE TIME serving the Lord. You are great, and I know that you will see miracles." And I sat there thinking about it for a bit, then decided that it was a test of my faith, because the only way we're going to see miraculous things occur here is if I have faith. And I'm not the best at faith. :) I usually flake out when things get hard for a couple days. But I told myself that I was going to have faith till something changed---either we find more people, or my faith gets a lot stronger.  The Spirit gave me an eternal perspective for a couple seconds---how much my faith can grow if I just trust in the Lord and keep holding out, keep doing, because that's what faith is. And Heavenly Father wants me to have faith. So I changed my attitude and went to bed.

Friday. Thank goodness it fell on a Friday, because it was a holiday. We studied all of our studies, then did weekly planning. Sister Scoggin and I were both feeling it: we haven't found new investigators for the last month or so. And we're trying and we're being obedient and praying and trying to work, but we aren't seeing any apparent success. But I was holding on to the night before. So we planned, then ate lunch, then finished. We went out, talked with H, visited Schwester P, who was sick, then visited a potential. Finally found his street, but then he had no interest. So we just went to the church to make some calls before Sport Abend. There were only four people to call, and two of them didn't pick up. One had a visitor (because it's a Feiertag (holiday)), so she couldn't talk that long. Then, we were kind of sitting around, because we still had more time than we expected. But then! D called us back! Miracle. 

Here's the story. D is a former investigator. She believes in Christ very strongly, but wants to pray to Mutter Maria (Mary), and so after meeting for a long time, the missionaries dropped her. We met with her once, way back in August, and I felt so much that the Lord loves this woman, but then we also recognized from our Termin (date, appointment) that she really probably wasn't going to make much progress, so we haven't gone by on her since. She has a daughter who lives in Wien, who hasn't spoken with her mother in six years since she (D) got divorced. (Incidentally, D got remarried at the end of August, which also contributed to the not going by on her.) But because D has faith in Christ, she asked us to go by on her daughter, to see if a good Christian religion/message would help soften her daughter's heart. D has been trying to do everything in the last six years to try and repair the relationship, to no avail. So we referred her to the Wien 1 sisters, who went by and said that she (the daughter) had no interest.

But then... D called back. She asked if we'd been to visit her daughter, and we explained that our friends in Wien had. She said that her daughter called her two weeks ago and apologized for everything and the last six years, which in and of itself is incredible! And then, D said she wanted to meet with us again this next week sometime! I don't know if it is that she wants to talk about the gospel again, or just wants contact from missionaries, but it was a tender mercy. It showed me that more is happening in the lives of people than we see, and also that Heavenly Father is watching out for us. It was an answer to prayer. 

Then. Sport. P, M, E, AND M, L, E, and A came to Sport!! It was a completely Spanish Sport Abend. :D

Skipping Saturday (district meeting, walking around WN, and trying to contact formers, none of whom had interest) and moving on to Sunday. I gave the gospel principles class in Spanish again. Another miracle---we had very short notice. But also, my Spanish was fine, and the discussion was REALLY good. P was there, and I think she enjoyed it a lot. We talked about Nephi (1 Nephi 3), about how faith needs works, and it was so, so, so good. The Spirit was really rich.

We had lunch with the P family. They're so awesome. Shared the DVD and family mission plan with them. The wonderful thing, though, was in the car. Both Bruder and Schwester P drove us home, and after we dropped J off, Sister Scoggin said, "Okay. Who are people that we can focus on?" Sr. P is the RS president and Br. P is first counselor in the bishopric. We talked about people that we can pray for and focus on, which was so good. The Spirit was so strong. Then, Bruder P said, "Is the ward doing enough for you?" And what I love is that we have a relationship with the ward such that we can tell them that we walked around for three days, with no success, and it was hard. We need the members to invite people. But they know very well that we are here to care about them, to care so much for the ward, and that we love the ward and want and are trying to help. It was such a wonderful discussion.

The work goes forward.........I hope. At least, I'm going forward. I'm working on it. I really want this experience to make something out of me, and I'm going to try to get to where Heavenly Father wants me to be by the end of this eighteen months. It's progressing. Also, I love speaking three languages. This week, I noticed it in small ways. I feel very comfortable in German and also very comfortable in Spanish, and I know that is such a blessing from the Lord. I really want to learn another language---either here (if I can?) or when I get home, because I know that I am a more powerful instrument in the Lord's hands because He helped me and guided me to learn both Spanish and German. I really love it.

And I love you!

Love, love, love,

Sister Elizabeth Winters.

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