That one time the U-Bahn broke!

Hello my family! I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Our week was full of interesting experiences that is for sure. We taught some really cool people. B and N are the roommates of some members in our ward. They are from Nepal and are just so sweet and very receptive. J is from Nigeria. We watched the Restoration DVD with her and afterwards she said "Something is shocking me!" That's the spirit, my dear :) We taught W about temples and she got really excited about doing family history work.

Then on Friday and Saturday this week we helped out at the UN Women's Guild Charity Bazaar. It was HUGE. I heard that there were 20,000 people there. On Friday we did lots of work to help set up, including putting up some really big banners. Then on Saturday we were working the coat check. Luckily we did not lose any coats. We may have misplaced a few, but in the end, everyone got the right ones back :) The event was held in this big convention center right by where the UN has their offices here in Vienna. There were all these booths from different countries. They way I understood it is that each country picks a charity and all the proceeds they make go towards helping that charity. In addition the Women's Guild was selling old books and clothing and raffle tickets and there were also booths from Austrian charities and performances going on and oh my goodness SO MUCH FOOD. For lunch we ate Peruvian food and then an Australian dessert that I think is called a Pavlova that was basically the tastiest thing of my life. All the Wien Missionaries were there helping out.

Then after the UN thing on Saturday Sister Reid and I went to a Rice Feeding Ceremony for the daughter of S and O (they are the members living with B and N, mentioned above) Their daughter is about 6 months old, and at the age in Nepali culture you get together with family and friends and have a ceremony where the baby eats its first rice. It was so fun, and the food was absolutely delicious. So we had a very cultural Saturday.

Sunday was also great we had 4 investigators come to Relief Society, which is amazing because that's the first meeting and then they stayed for all 3 hours! Hooray!

We had a really unique experience yesterday night; I guess you could call it a miracle. We were going home from an appointment. We got in the U-Bahn. We only were going one stop, so we just stood by the door. As the train starts to go, all of a sudden we hear a big BANG and see a flash of light and the train starts slowing down and then stops. The main lights in the car turned off and just the lights by the doors were left. Sister Reid and I looked at each other and said "That's not good" We both quickly realized that this was probably not a problem that would be fixed in a couple minutes. So we looked around for some empty seats and spied two across from a woman and her son (who were speaking English!). So Sister Reid says "Let's sit down over there and share the gospel with these folks" So we march over and plop ourselves down and meet A and T. We chatted for a little, we told her we were missionaries for our church. Since they were speaking English, we asked them where they were from. Turns out they are Austrian; they just speak English to each other. As we were talking a little more, Anna just pulled out a business card and hands it to us and tells us to call if we ever need anything. Naturally we then hand her one of our cards and explain about the different church buildings in Wien. She was really interested in the English services and said she would love that so her son could speak English with some other kids (well, we've got a whole Primary full). She said they would come to church on Sunday and we gave her a Book of Mormon! Then the firemen came and opened up the doors of the train and we climbed down a ladder and walked out of the U-Bahn tunnel (something I never thought I would do in my life).

As we were sitting in that train, stuck in the U-Bahn tunnel, I just had the feeling that we were exactly where we were supposed to be. It was very peaceful, which I know is a strange thing to say about being stuck in a train several feet underground. Without the train breaking, we never would have met A and her son. Turns out they also just missed the U-Bahn and had to get on the next one. Who knows what will come of it, but I know that God definitely had his hand in the events of last night.

Today we are going to Graz because we are doing an Austausch (Exchange). So that means I get to work with Sister Pingree on my birthday! Hooray!

I am so grateful for the chance I got to serve a mission. I am constantly amazed at how much the Lord gives me. I have gotten way more out of this experience than I have put in, and for that I will be thanking my Heavenly Father for the rest of my earthly life, and probably the next one too.

Ich weiß, dass wenn wir Glauben ausüben und etwas TUN, dann passieren die Wunder. Wir müssen manchmal ein Schritt nehmen, ohne das Licht zu sehen, und dann schenkt der Herr uns das Licht, das wir brauchen. Dann erleben wir, wie das Sühnopfer uns Macht und Kraft gibt, weiter zu gehen. Der wichtigste Schritt ist der nächste.

(I know that when we believe and DO something, then miracles happen. We sometimes need to take a step without seeing the light and then the Lord gives us just the light we need. Then we see how the atonement gives us the power and strength to go on. The first step is the most important.)

Tschüss!

--Sister Stewart

Denn Gott hat die Welt so sehr geliebt (For God so loved the world)

How I got lucky enough to serve here I do not know.

This past week was great! My favorite day was Friday: We had 4 appointments scheduled, none of them fell out, and we found 3 new investigators! Hooray! Oh man it was an amazing day. We met first with J, who is from Africa. She had met with the Sisters a year ago. This past Sunday she came to church and said she would like to meet with us! Hooray for long lost investigators coming out of the woodwork! As J was leaving (we met with her at the church) who should walk in but W, our very favorite Chinese investigator. She was 40 minutes early :) We asked her "W, why are you so early?" She said "Well, I was out shopping and I thought 'I should stop' so I came here" Oh man I love that girl. She is so funny. Then later that evening we went to have FHE with a member in our ward. We talked about faith in Jesus Christ and then played Uno with her and her two roommates. Then afterwards her roommates told us they would like to learn more about the church! They are the cutest couple from Nepal. Our last appointment that day was with B, another member. She is from Africa. We talked more about Jesus Christ (of course). My favorite part of that lesson was that B wrote down all the scripture references we shared with her :)

During our lesson with W she asked us, "Why do you talk so much about Jesus Christ and not so much about the God?" We turned the question right around and asked her "Well, what do you think?" Then she said "Well, 'the God' (that's how she refers to Heavenly Father, always as 'the God') sent Jesus to the earth for us. And Jesus is His son, so He did all the things the God wanted to do for us" Yup, that's exactly right. It made me think more about how God and Christ really are one in purpose. Everything that Jesus did, He did because His Father commanded him to. So, when we talk about Jesus Christ, what we are really talking about is God's love for us.

Things that broke this week:

-Our cell phone. I may or may not have gotten the SIM card stuck in upside down. We had to take it into the store, where the clerk fixed it by carefully sticking a box cutter into the SIM card and pulling it out. I’ve never seen someone do that before.

-Our washer. There was a fair bit of water left in it that then spilled onto the floor. We mopped it all up. Then I had to make approximately five million phone calls to get it fixed (I'm not a fan of talking on the phone to people I don't know)

On Saturday we went to a Filipino birthday party. Some of the members were telling us how when they served their missions in the Philippines, sometimes the missionaries would live in the same building where the church meetings were. Sometimes there wasn't enough space downstairs for all the classes, so the missionaries would hold meetings in their apartment upstairs. It is so weird to think about how different a mission that must have been.

Ich weiß, dass mein Himmlischer Vater mich liebt. Er hat mich so viel schon gesegnet und ich weiß, dass er mich weiterhin segnen wird. Ich muss nur mein Bestes geben, ihm zu folgen. Es gibt so viele Beweise für seine Liebe. Das größte ist, dass er seinen Sohn Jesus Christus gab, damit wir alle eines Tages zu ihm zurückkehren können.

(I know that my Heavenly Father loves me. He has blessed me so much already and I know that he will continue to bless me. I just have to do my best to follow him. There are so many proofs of his love. The biggest is that he gave us His only son, Jesus Christ, so that we can all return to him one day.)

Mach's gut! Ich hab euch lieb! (Take care! I love you!)
--Sister Stewart

Weihnachten in Wien! (Christmas in Vienna)

Well, we got transfer calls on Friday: We're both staying!! I don't know how we pulled that off. I am excited to be able to spend my birthday and Christmas in a city I know so well, with a companion I get along great with, and with members and investigators that I have really come to love. It will be awesome!

This past week we were able to teach D twice. Once at Family Home Evening with the Bishop's family and one more time before she went out of town for Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for the opportunity that Sister Reid and I have gotten to know her. Sooner or later the Spirit will 'prick her heart' and she will get baptized. It's only a matter of time for that one :)

We also were able to meet twice with W, the music student from China. She is doing great at praying every day and coming to church most weeks, her main problem is finding the time to read in the scriptures every day, so that's what we've really been pushing with her. We read 1 Nephi 17 with her the other day and she really related to the story and was excited to read more!

They have started to put on Christmas lights on the streets of Wien, I'm just waiting for them to turn them all on! Some are on in the evenings, but there are still lots more. Oh, the city will look magical!

This past week we learned a lot about opening up more to the people we meet in the trains and on the streets. We practiced answering questions like "What are you doing here? Why did you come?" Normally I just give some sort of plain vanilla answer "Well, I'm a missionary for my church..." But what we learned and practiced recently was really opening up to the people and telling them the real reason you're here, letting them get to know you on a more personal level, because then they will be more likely to feel the spirit and to open up in return. I have been trying that out recently and the results are amazing! We were talking to this medical student the other day and he asked "So why did you come on a mission?" I was so excited to put my new training into effect. I told him about how the knowledge I have of the gospel really is a sure foundation for my life and how I realized that I want others to have that foundation as well. He really connected with that and we gave him a Book of Mormon and took his phone number! (Unfortunately he's German speaking so we had to pass him off, drat!)

This past Sunday we had a member come who got baptized in Ukraine in 2006, but has since moved here and lost contact with the church. She brought her little boy and stayed for the whole time! I hope we will be able to help her out, communication is a problem but luckily our ward clerk speaks Russian. And we invited the people from our English class to church and some of them came!

Some of the funnier stories from this week-

-We had FHE with the Bishop's family on Monday, at which we played a Ninja Lego game. I am still not too sure on what all the rules were; I just know it involved fighting Guards and finding Golden Weapons

-On Wednesday we ate dinner twice (it was an accident)

-On Saturday we went over to a member's house for dinner and turns out she also invited her friend (who we have taught a couple times) and didn't tell her we would be there. We were able to have a really nice lesson together. The look on the friend's face when she walked in was priceless.

Ich weiß, dass ich in der richtige Ort bin. Egal, wo der Herr mir schickt, werde ich seine Arbeit tun. Es ist wunderbar zu sehen, wie der Geist auf andere Leute wirkt und sie hilft, die richtige Entscheidungen zu treffen. Diese Arbeit ist wirklich die Arbeit des Herrn!

(I know that I am where I belong. No matter where the Lord sends me, I will do the work. It is wonderful to see how the spirit works on others and helps you to make the right choices. This work is truly the work of the Lord!

mit lieben Grüßen,  (with much love!)

--Sister Stewart

The Grasshopper and the Ant

Hallo!

Oh man, I love serving here so much. The ward here is like no other ward I have ever been in, nor will ever be in again. I can't believe how lucky I am that I got to serve here. Transfer calls are this Friday and who knows where they could send me next. I do know that wherever they send me will be exactly where I am supposed to go, but I will miss Vienna a lot.

This week we did an exchange! I got to go work in Graz for a day with Sister Holmstead. That was lots of fun :) Graz is a cool city, definitely smaller than Vienna or Munich, so it was a nice change of pace to be doing missionary work there. Sister Holmstead is one of the funniest people I have ever met. She is also an amazing missionary to teach with, because she really thinks and considers her words before she says them, which makes the people respect what she says a lot more. That is something I want to get better at. Sometimes I just start talking without really knowing where the sentence is going and it gets all twisted around itself. The train ride from Graz was also gorgeous. One of my favorite parts of this mission is the train rides we get to take :)

On Thursday we taught our favorite little family from Vietnam again. We had left them the Restoration DVD and we asked them if they had gotten a chance to watch it. The mom said "I think I watched it 10 times. Maybe more. It's now one of my daughter’s favorites" :)

On Saturday we did a "Finding Day" with our District, which we are now doing every week. Basically we spend one afternoon a week out on the streets talking to people. Sister Reid and I were in Baden, a smaller town about 20 minutes outside of Vienna. We walked around the pedestrian zone for a couple hours. The town was setting up their Christmas lights :) I am so glad that Christmas is coming soon and that there will be lights on at night, because it gets so dark so early here. Seeing all the preparations for the holiday is making me excited!

On Sunday we went to church twice: once in German, and once in English. We had an investigator that we brought to the German speaking ward. So fun, but also very exhausting!

One of my favorite parts of this week was the Relief Society lesson in our ward. This week we were talking about temporal salvation, so one of the topics we were discussing was food storage and being prepared with enough so that your family could get along if something were to happen. Well, as the discussion is going on, the story of the ant and the grasshopper came up. It's a children’s story that has a good moral about being prepared. Sister Picard, who is French, told it. It goes something like this: There once was a grasshopper and an ant. The whole summer long all the grasshopper did was lie out in the sun and sing, while the ant worked busily storing up food for the winter. The grasshopper made fun of the ant and told him that he should just enjoy life, it was summer after all! Then winter came and the ant was all snug in his house with lots of food. The grasshopper came to his door and said please, can I have some of your food? The ant said, no you sang all summer long, and now you can dance.

I kid you not, as soon as Sister Picard finished telling this story, Sister Appiateng, who is from Ghana, piped up from across the room "You forgot the next part. And then the grasshopper died of starvation and the ant added him to his food storage!" We all DIED of laughter. The timing was priceless. I love being in this ward for that very reason: we get so many different opinions and viewpoints that it is never ever boring.

One of our investigators finished the Book of Mormon on Sunday! I think that is the first time I have had that happen on my whole mission. I am really close to finishing too, I just have Ether and Moroni left. And then in January I will start it all over again and read with it with the whole mission!

Ich bin so dankbar für die heilige Schriften. Sie bedeuten mir viel. Das Buch Mormon ist ein Beweis dafür, dass Gott uns liebt. Weil er uns liebt, hat er uns weiter heilige Schrift gegeben. Er spricht zu uns immer noch heute, durch seinen Propheten. Auf Mission haben wir viel Zeit, in den Schriften zu lesen, wofür ich sehr dankbar bin. Ich lerne jeden Tag etwas neues!

(I am so grateful for the scriptures. They mean so much to me. The Book of Mormon is a proof that God loves us. Because he loves us he has given us another scripture. He still speaks to us today through his prophet. On  a mission we have plenty of time to read the scriptures, for which I am very grateful. I learn something new every day.)

Tschüss! Ich hab euch lieb!

--Sister Stewart

I think we are teaching a person from almost every continent!

Hallo liebe Freunde und Familie!

I continue to be surprised by how much the Lord really does bless us. Truly I notice His hand in this work daily. And I guess that shouldn't be too surprising, because after all, it is His work.

I love the ward here so much, and I love being in the city. It will be strange when (and if) I get transferred somewhere else that is not a big city. I don't know if I know how to be a missionary outside of a city... I might actually get to do all of my study time, and take all of my lunch and dinner breaks! In the city we just go, go, go, which I love, but also can be exhausting.

This past week was Halloween! I wore my Halloween socks and baked a Halloween cake (thanks mom!) that we then shared with D. I even saw a couple kids dressed up.

I will just take this moment to list the nationalities of the people that with met with last week (members and investigators) - Serbia, Hungary, Thailand, Iran, Vietnam, USA, Poland and China. Not a bad sampling of the world. I guess there is a reason it is called the International Ward.

One of my favorite things that we do is teach English class. We teach at the center for young adults. It is a free class that we do for an hour two times a week. The interesting thing is that the vast majority of our students are from Iran. They are either Christian or Zoroastrian and are fleeing Iran and trying to go to America to get a better life. They come here so they can wait for their visas. It is a lot of fun to teach, because they only speak Farsi and a very little bit of English, so we have to take it slow. But they are just about the nicest people you will ever meet. In Iran they are forced to live by the rules of the Muslim government, and all they want to have is religious freedom. Seeing them makes me think about all the people who have come to the US over the last couple hundred years, just looking for a better chance at life. I wonder about the circumstances of some of my own ancestors. It is cool that we can have some little part in helping them along their way.

They are starting to set up the Christmas markets! It is strange because in America there hasn't even been Thanksgiving yet, but here the Christmas markets open up around the middle of November. There is a big one right by the town hall that we pass by a lot and they are already decorating the booths!

Yesterday I taught the lesson in Sunday School. It was about Family Responsibilities. As I was preparing for and teaching the lesson, I really gained a better appreciation for my own family, especially my parents. I have been so blessed in my life to have the parents that I do. Thanks Mom and Dad for setting such a good example for me :) Some of the things I was remembering as I was preparing the lesson were Dad reading to us every night, or Mom asking us every day after school "What did you learn today?" or telling us as we headed out the door "Make good choices!" On my mission I have gained a deeper testimony of the importance of family and how important it is that we have that good foundation in our lives.

We are currently teaching the cutest little family from Vietnam. A whole family! They have two little kids and are here while the dad is getting his PhD. The language is a little hard, but luckily the church has lots of resources. The mom committed to come to church with us this Sunday! She is a little hesitant, but we reassured her that we will be with her every step of the way. I am so exciting to see what happens with them!

Ich weiss, dass der Herr alle seine Kinder liebt. Egal welche Sprache sie sprechen, Ich kann vielleicht die Leute nicht perfekt verstehen, aber ihre Himmlische Vater kennt sie und weisst genau, was sie brauchen. Wenn wir andere Menschen besser kennen lernen, dann lernen wir Gott besser kennen. Sie sind seine Kinder, genau wie uns. Er liebt uns alle!

(I know that the Lord loves all his Children. No matter what language they speak, while I may not understand them perfectly, Heavenly Father knows them and their needs. When we get to know others better, we learn more about God. They are his children just the same as us. He loves us all!)

Mach's gut! Ich habe euch lieb!
--Sister Stewart

It snowed today

Guten tag!

Today it snowed. And it's October. Luckily I have hats and scarves and boots to keep me warm.

Everyone serves us tea when we visit them, which is awesome because it warms you right up, but I always get too eager to drink it and end up burning my tongue.

We went to our Ward Mission Leader's house for dinner! He lives in a village outside of Vienna, so getting to his house involved a somewhat creepy train ride (it was just really dark) and then getting out at a stop that looked like it was in the middle of a field. The station was just one gravel platform. I think I have been serving in big cities too long. I am used to brightly lit train stations with multiple platforms. But the trip out there was worth it. He cooked a Filipino feast. Oh my word it was so tasty. I never knew until I served in this area just how good Filipino food is. We also got to go to a Filipino birthday party this week. There was a whole pig and Filipino sticky rice. Our Ward Mission Leader tricked us into eating intestines.

This week we also watched the Restoration video with one of our investigators in Tagalog. Maybe they just should have called me to the Phillipines.

On Wednesday we went finding with the other missionaries in our District in downtown Wiener Neudstadt. It's a cute little city about 30 minutes outside of Wien. It was so fun to spend the afternoon just wandering around the Pedestrian Zone just talking to people. We talked to one woman who was so touched that we wanted to give her a Book of Mormon. She said "No one's ever given me a book before." She also asked "Why did you talk to me, specifically?" I have been thinking more about that question, and I think that every person we talk to was put in our path by the Lord. Now, they may not want to listen to us, but that doesn't matter. Heavenly Father gives everyone a chance (multiple chances actually). We as missionaries just have to be in the right place at the right time, and then we will meet the prepared people.

Our investigator with a baptismal date postponed. She is still doing great, but she just wants to be really sure before she makes such a big decision.

Something I learned this week: When you have a problem that's bugging you, or when you feel discouraged, go to the Lord in prayer. He WILL help you. And then, once you receive revelation, ponder on what He has told you. This week I was struggling with something, and I prayed really hard about it and got an answer about what I needed to do. I did that, but then I still felt uneasy, so I kept on pondering on the problem and the things I could do to solve it, and then BAM. Heavenly Father was right there again with even more revelation, and more importantly, the peace of mind that I so desperately needed. Then I read in Helamen 10, and I really related to Nephi's experience. So I know that Heavenly Father will not leave us hanging. He will be there, every step of the way, until we find the peace that we are searching for.

Ich liebe euch. Ich bin so dankbar, für die gute Menschen, die ich in meinem Leben habe. Ich weiß, dass Gott mich und alle seine Kinder liebt.

(I love you. I am so thankful for all the good folks in my life. I know that God loves me and all of his children.)

Ich wünsche euch eine schöne Woche!

(I wish you a wonderful week!)
--Sister Stewart

Taufdatum in November! (Baptism in November!)

Hallo liebe Famile und Freunde!  (Hello--my loving family and friends!)

Well, I guess I will start with the biggest piece of news- We set a baptismal date! D will be baptized on the third of November! Please keep her in your prayers.

D is amazing, we have been teaching her for a little over a month now. She really wants to finish the Book of Mormon before she gets baptized (she's about halfway through). To support her in that goal, I decided I will also try and finish before she gets baptized (I am also about halfway through) Wish us luck! If you want to join in this crazy challenge, you can start today in about Alma 30 and then finish before November 3rd. Even if that's not possible for you, I still encourage you to push yourself in your scripture study. If you normally read 10 minutes a day, read 15. If you normally read one page, read two. I know the Lord will bless you as you feast upon the words of Christ!

This past week was one of the busiest so far on my mission. We did splits three times! Wednesday we had a Zone Training Meeting. The Graz sisters came up to Vienna for the meeting and then stayed the night because interviews were the next day. So we got to split with Sister Pingree and Sister Holmstead. Oh, it was so fun to work with Sister Pingree again! 

Thursday we had interviews with President Miles. I love interviews because it is that little extra boost that I need to help me through the transfer.

Friday we went to a work out class that one of the Relief Society sisters teaches in our ward. Oh man, my muscles (especially my glutes) were very sore.

Sunday we got to hear President Monson speak! It was broadcast from Frankfurt. We had two of our investigators come! One of them showed up at 11:15, and then it ended at 11:30. Oops. (I really thought it was supposed to go until 12). They had a translator for him. He would pause after every phrase and then the translator would say what he had said in German. I am so glad that is not my job! It is hard to translate on the fly like that, especially because German and English sentence structure are so different.

Fall has come to Vienna. The leaves are changing colors. The past two days have been very foggy. I am grateful that we can wear boots and scarves; they help so much to keep me warm. I think I will leave lots of my clothes here when I come home, but I will definitely bring back the scarves I have accumulated.

We memorized this scripture in Alma 26:12 this week, and it has become one of my favorites. I am striving to develop this attitude-

“Ja, ich weiß, daß ich nichts bin; was meine Kraft betrifft, so bin ich schwach; darum will ich nicht mit mir selbst prahlen, sondern ich will mit meinem Gott prahlen, denn in seiner Kraft kann ich alles tun; ja, siehe, viele mächtige Wundertaten haben wir in diesem Land vollbracht, und dafür wollen wir seinen Namen preisen immerdar."

(Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboast of my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.)

Ich hab euch lieb!  (I love you very much!)

--Sister Stewart