I'm thankful that it's Christmastime.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I love Sister Scoggin. She's really wonderful. I do look up to her a lot. She really has changed a lot of ways that I think about things, that I do things, but I am also still trying to be myself. I am reeeeally grateful she was my trainer.

Well. Last Monday, we went up to Wien to go to the Thanksgiving lunch with the missionaries, which was a lot of fun.  After, we came home and had a really good short-notice lesson with a less active woman.  Monday and Tuesday it SNOWED!! My goodness! But then it all melted. There wasn't really that much snow in WN, but we saw it on our way to and from Wien for District Meeting. Lots of snow in Baden.

We went to A on Tuesday night. We had a won-der-ful lesson with her; she read in Alma 32, which is good! And she said she understood the analogy, which was awesome. So we talked about how we apply that to ourselves. At one point, the Spirit told me to ask her why she keeps meeting with us. Not as a condemnation, but really to find out. (A while ago, we had the impression to ask her that at some point, but the time wasn't right....till Tuesday night.) And she said that she wants to learn---learn the gospel, learn what this is. She doesn't believe in God (yet!), but she wants to learn. Honestly, I really, really love this woman. She's incredible. Seriously. If only people knew how obsessed we are with them! How much we love them! Goodness. Actually, they'd probably be surprised and a little scared of us. :) But we love them SO MUCH.

Wednesday, we went dooring. In between each house, we talked about what we were grateful for, and it helped a TON not to get discouraged.

Then.....we had dinner at another less active woman's home.  She cooks AMAZINGLY. We had schnitzel, then Palatschinken with marmalade in the middle. Mmmmm.....SO GOOD. I was so full. Oh, man. She's wonderful. We talked about gratitude, which was a great discussion! 

Palatschinken

Thursday, I was so determined to do better about contacting, so when we came off from the train, we talked to the first person we met, a young man (probably JAE age). We had a really good conversation about Heavenly Father's plan for us, and gave him a Book of Mormon. He said his name was N. Then, we talked with the next guy, also JAE aged young man. Told him about God's love, and talked about what he believed, then introduced and gave him a Book of Mormon. We asked him what his name was, and he said, "N." It was so weird and so funny but also a sign to me that Heavenly Father is watching out for me and for both of us here. Just that funny little moment, meeting two N's in a row. It was really great.

Thanksgiving activity

Also, coming back from Sport, we saw a bunch of people gathered around the museum and leading up into Hauptplatz. There were a ton of people coming out in creepy costumes, and we asked someone what it was. He said it was Krampus celebration---the devil, basically, comes before St. Nikolaus comes. Usually it's on the 5th, though, so I don't know why it was last Friday. Creepy.

 Saturday, we went up to Baden again. Schw. Enenkel had a birthday party, and being the wonderful member missionary that she is, she decided to rent out a movie theater and watch the movie Silent Night, produced by Christian Vuissa, a member who lives in Dornbirn, and invite ward members and her neighbors and non-member friends. We got permission from the APs to go and be there, because she especially wanted us there. And the movie was amazing. I HIGHLY recommend you go and watch it. Anyways, afterwards, we went to a heuriger and sat with some of her friends. We sang "The Spirit of God" (everyone sang) per Schw. Enenkel's request, and she told us about how important the Holy Ghost is to her. It was wonderful. 

Then yesterday was good. Church was just really, really good, full and rich with the Spirit. We went home and made Käse Späzle (SO GOOD!) and then studied. I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday, for the first time completely in German, which was wonderful. And it's as true as it ever was. We went and taught L the 10 commandments by playing charades, which was pretty fun. Then, we went to Bishop's for dinner. We ate, then went around the table and told David one or two (or, in my case, three) pieces of advice for his mission---he leaves next week. Then, we just sat and sang Austrian Christmas songs. Some of them I knew from Herr Embley's German class; others I had never heard. It was a won-der-ful day, and I was just so full of love and gratitude riding home.

I started reading the Book of Mormon in English again. Oh, man. I have never loved this book more. I decided to do something that Preach My Gospel suggests to mission presidents to do (very, very end of chapter 5).  Each missionary gets a clean copy of the Book of Mormon, and in different colors, highlights different things: 1) any reference to Christ; 2) his words spoken by prophets; 3) His attributes; and 4) the doctrines and principles in the entire book. I decided to pick two to do at once---highlighting the references to Christ (any time it mentions His name or any pronouns referring to Him), and His words. And the Spirit was just so strong during study. I love it so much. And I'm really excited to start doing this right now, right before Christmas! 

Anyways, things are picking up. We don't have any new investigators.....yet, but we are meeting more people with interest. It's good. I love the work. Trying not to think about home too much, because then I get homesick. But thank you for your letters and your love and your support. It means so much to me. :)

I LOVE you! I am so grateful for you, and that we are sealed together as a family forever!

Love,

Sister Elizabeth Jill Winters

The district before transfers