Ich gehe nach Wien! (I am going to Vienna!)

Hallo!

First big piece of news- I got transferred to Vienna! I will be serving in the Vienna 4th Ward, which is an international, English speaking ward. Hooray for Austria! Sister Pingree will be staying in Munich and getting a new companion. Sister Roffler will go to the MTC in two weeks.
I bet you all are probably waiting for a new address. Here it is-

Sister JeanMarie Stewart
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Hormayrgasse 59 top 9
A-1170 Wien
AUSTRIA

You can also continue to write me at the mission office, it will just take longer to get to me now, since I won't have direct access to the mission office.

Well, after we got the call on Thursday, things got a little crazy. Actually the week was crazy before that, too.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we did splits with one of the young woman from the international ward. She came out with us as part of a Young Women Personal Progress Project. Isn't that a cool idea? We didn't have any appointments set up for the time she was going to be with us, so we did some tracting. Since we were four, we could be in two places at once! So Sister Roffler and Sister Pingree worked together and I went out with K. Now, I was kind of nervous, because tracting can be pretty hard the first time when no one listens, and I had no idea if we were going to run into any one who spoke English (K.  is American). But I said a prayer and off we went. Tuesday night we talked to a woman for a while (who spoke English) who wasn't too interested but was very nice and asked some good questions that K was able to explain. And then on Wednesday we talked to another woman for a while and K was able to give her an English Book of Mormon! It was so cool to see how excited she was. She's a great missionary, and if she decides to go on a full time mission, she won't have any problems at all.

Tuesday we had Interviews with President Miles. Sister Miles talked to us about improving our teaching skills, and we did some role plays taking the roles of our investigators. It is always awesome to be able to benefit from the wisdom of President and Sister Miles.

This week we had two appointments with H! He is from Nigeria and had a bad accident three years ago. He can walk some, but mostly uses a wheel chair to get around. For the second appointment we brought the international elders (because H.  speaks English). They had an appointment with him today, and I hope it went well! H. is so ready for this gospel. He swallows our lessons in great big gulps, and is hungry to know more.

I think one of my favorite days this week was Saturday. We went out to the end of the S-Bahn, to Petershausen to be exact, to help a less active family do some cleaning. They live way out in the boonies. We got to enjoy the countryside on the way out and back. Man, do I love Germany!  The skies on Saturday afternoon were a perfect shade of Bavarian blue, with puffy, white clouds. It just pulled on my heart strings a little to know I am leaving this place, and all the people I have gotten to know here. I know Vienna is a beautiful city, but I sure will miss Munich.

Sunday was crazy, as it always is. Sister Pingree and I wore our Dirndls. I gave my testimony. We had two eating appointments, both of which served us some sort of ground beef dishes, which were delicious, but also pretty heavy for a warm summer day.

This week we also
-made a Potter Puppet Pals style rap with Elders Melville and Clark.
-played Fußball with the young single adults
-never really finished Weekly Planning
-got free Gelato, again :)

This afternoon we played soccer, and I twisted my ankle (oops). It's not too bad, but I will be wearing a wrap for the next few days. I'll just pray I won't have to umsteig (transfer trains) to quickly on my way to Austria, or that I will be traveling with some strong Elders who can help me with my suitcases. It will be an adventure!

Ich hab euch lieb! Ich weiß, dass wir heir auf diese Erde sind, um uns zu entscheiden, ob wir Gott folgen wollen oder nicht. Wir habe die Entscheidungsfreiheit, aber es gibt immer Folgen. Ich weiß, dass wenn wir Gott wählen und die Gebote halten, werden wir die Segnungen sehen.

( I love you all. I know that we are here on this earth to decide whether we want to follow God or not. We have free agency, but there are consequences. I know that, if we decide to follow our Lord and keep the commandments, we will blessed for that.)


Alles Gute!
--Sister Stewart