Monday, July 30, 2012

At the ward picnic there was potato salad :)



Hallo!

This past week has been great, in part because it has mostly stopped raining! It has also been really hot, though. And unfortunately Europeans don't believe in air conditioning.

Serving in an international ward is lots of fun for many different reasons. The ward is very diverse. We have a large Filipino contingent, most of whom are related to each other in some way. There are three older Filipino women who really are the "Mamas" of the ward. They are so cute and so little, but so strong in the gospel. We also have lots of Africans. And then of course there is a smattering of Americans. The UN has some offices in Vienna, so some of the members of our ward work there. The food at ward functions is delicious. At the ward picnic on Saturday there was (among other things) Filipino noodles, burritos, brownies, sticky rice and homemade popsicles. So far I have taught lessons that have been translated into Chinese and Tagalog. For many of our investigators and members, English is not their first language. They are just more comfortable in English than in German. We teach so many Chinese people! Right now four of our investigators are Chinese.

This past week we rode bikes to District Meeting :)  It is a long walk from the Bahnhof and because of my ankle, Sis Taysom asked the Elders if we could borrow their bikes. We have District Meeting in Wiener Neustadt, a smaller town outside of Vienna, so we got to ride down this beautiful path that runs alongside a creek. So much fun!

This week we taught about Alma 32 to one of our Chinese families. The Mama was so cute. She told us (through her daughter who was translating) that since we have been meeting with them, she really has felt her faith grow. The daughter who was translating is a member, and it has been so cool to watch her share her testimony with her family members.

I am getting more used to living in Vienna. There is a church down the street from our apartment, so the church bells always let us know what time it is. Vienna also has a lot of street cars, or Strassenbahns, many more than Munich. It is always a gamble which one will come though, because some of them have air conditioning, but some of them don't.

Ich liebe es, auf Mission zu sein. Ich weiß, dass der Herr seine Missionare schickt, wohin er sie braucht. Ich bin dankbar für die Gelegenheit, die Menschen hier in Wien kennen zu lernen. Es gibt so viele, die bereit sind, diese Evangelium anzunehmen. Ich weiß, dass Gott wirklich Wunder wirken kann. Deshalb ist es so wichtig, dass wir immer bereit sind, sein Evangelium zu teilen. Wir müssen unsere Münde einfach öffnen. Wer weiß, wenn etwas wunderbares passieren wird?
(I love being on a mission. I know that the Lord sends his missionaries where he needs them. I am grateful for the chance to get to know the people of Vienna. There are so many who are willing to accept the gospel. I know that God can truly perform miracles. That why it is so important for us always to be willing to share the gospel. We just have open to our mouth or in other words:  We have to speak up. Who knows when something wonderful will happen?)

mit lieben Grüßen
--Sister Stewart

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