FROHE WEIHNACHTEN!!‏

..our senior couple is adorable, and they made us these:)

...annnd the bloopers. Always. Hah

LIEBE Freunde und Familie,
Fröliche Weihnacht wünsche ich euch alle! Oh! And Merry Christmas too! I can't believe it is already here! And next week is already...2013! Sheesh! Congratulations, by the way, that you all survived the end of the world. *rolls eyes* Hah. ANYwho!
So! Last week in Wels! You know, it is a really good thing they give us these handy-dandy planners, or I would never ever remembered what I had done in the past week...hah. Tuesday we spent the day in Linz to help the Elders find new investigators. They decided to shake things up a bit, so instead of street contacting, we rode the S-bahn (umm..kind of like a subway?) back and forth across Linz  for a couple of hours and contacted the people that sat next to us. It was actually a lot of fun. :)  We met a way cool guy on the train ride over and gave him a Book of Mormon! Unfortunately, he doesn't live in our area..hah. On Freitag we went...caroling! With the young men and young women..and the ward. Hah. It was actually really neat. We went caroling to some of the inactive members, the elderly widows, and to some of our investigators! I actually wish we had more investigators to go to because it was a really neat experience. I was really impressed with our bishop as well. You can just tell how much love he has for our little ward. It's really inspiring actually. We also met a cool french guy that day. He may been a little bit intoxicated. He said he would come to church on Sunday though! Then he didn't. But! We just keep on looking for the Lord's elect! Hah I think all of my journal entries from the last week look something like "...today was a really great day...I am really tired though...I don't know why..." Hah. Welcome to my life:)    Annd last but not least, Sunday! I LOVE Sundays in Wels Austria! We had our Christmas Sacrament meeting, which was all musical! We have SO much musical talent in our ward. I love it! Sister Drury and I sang in the ward choir, and then I sang in a little "womens group". I knew I was supposed to sing alto on a duet for part of "Silent Night" but last minute they nailed me with a soprano verse too..I haven't sang that high in forever! But I prayed real hard and it all worked out. Hah. The meeting was really powerful though. And there were a lot of part member families there, and a couple members even brought their neighbors. It was great. I love my ward. :)
SO! Now that all the technical stuff is out of the way, ya'll get to bear with me as I share what I've learned this week! And the last couple of weeks in general. While it IS weird not to be home for Christmas..again..I HAVE  really enjoyed this Christmas season, because I haven't been caught up in the madness of presents and parties and and and...I had a wonderful personal study this morning as I pondered about what the Savior means to me, and the relationship I have built with Him over the last year. With some of our members and thanks to Handel's Messiah always being stuck in my head, this last week we have read Isaiah 9:6 together. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." I love all of the different titles for Christ in this verse. And, fun fact, in 2 Nephi 2,9, 30-32 alone are 19 different names. Nineteen! But! My all time favorite of the Saviors titles from the scriptures is the German, "Heiland". We don't have that one in English. Healer. The verb "heilen" means to heal, which is exactly what Christ does for us. The adjective "heil" means "in one piece, in tact, whole" which is what the Savior makes of us. I spent the morning reading of scriptures of healing. Brace yourselves....
2 Kings 20:5 "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold, I will heal thee..."
Psalms 30:2 "O Lord, my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me."
Psalms 147:2 "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."
Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed."
Malachi 4:2 "But unto you that free my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings..."
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the 'Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, tho set at liberty them that are bruised."
2 Nephi 25:13 "Behold they will crucify him; after he is laid in a sepulcher for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God.
Alma 15:8 "..if though believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed..."
...and the list goes on. Hah. Those are some of my favorites though. Christ really is our Healer. And how?
1 Nephi 17:41 "And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod: for they hardened their hearts, even as e have: and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them: and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished."
Mensch. The "simple labor" we must perform to receive the healing that is possible through the Atonement of Christ is simply to "look" to the Savior. To try to become like Him. To follow His example, and to invite others to do the same. What a wonderful work to be engaged in at this special time of year. Psh, at any time of year!  I will admit, this last week has been filled with battles "in the silent chambers of my heart." I LOVE Wels with my heart and soul, but the work here has just been dragging lately and I guess my fear is that "it's my fault". Which I obviously know isn't entirely true, but I have been searching my soul for things I can give up, things I can change, ways I can be even more obedient, so that we will be able to find the Lord's elect that I KNOW are here. I can feel it. I have a testimony of it. I am just still trying to figure out how to put all that into a plan of action. Hah. I am trying to bear everything with patience, including patience with myself as I come to terms with my weaknesses and try to work out my imperfections in an effort to better serve my Lord. I love this work. I love my Savior. I have a wonderful companion and countless friends out here, and back home. And I am, as always, inexpressibly grateful for the opportunity I have to be on a mission, representing my Lord.
"Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord...Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Such were the words of the angel who appeared to the shepherds, and declared the glorious birth of the Shepherd of us all. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6. Let us use this wonderful time of year to remember with gratitude our Lord and Savior, our Shepherd and Healer, Jesus Christ, and try, in our own little way, to be more like Him. I love you all! And! Wish you, once more, a very merry CHRISTmas. :)
Love,
Sister Bice

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. :)‏

we have been doing a lot of caroling on the streets of austria lately. It is loads of fun! Annnd also really cold..hah

LIEBE Familie und Freunde,
Wow, I can hardly believe that Dezember is halfway over! And Christmas is so close I can smell it! But before I get too caught up in the coming events, lets talk a little about the past, shall we? :)
Mensch, this last week was so great! Ok let's be honest, every week in the life of Sister Bice is so great. I just love being a missionary. :) But! Last week we had...Zone Conference! Wow it was so good! Unfortunately..I left my notebook at home. Hah. But! I guess mostly it just made me think a lot. We talked a lot about Christ, and our relationship with Him. We read the account of Peter walking on water. That story never ceases to teach me. As I reflected on it this time around, I realized truly what the Lord is capable of. I love the quote, "The work of the Lord is done by ordinary people, who work in extraordinary ways." Christ could walk on water, but He was the Son of God. Peter however was an "ordinary" man, who Christ enabled to experience the extraordinary. Peter, so long as He kept His eyes focused on the Savior, was capable of miracles. In fact, he was LIVING a miracle as he walked across the storm tossed sea. And Peter was successful...until! He began to doubt! Peter had no doubt as he lept over the side of the boat to embark across the water to his Savior. The doubt snuck in after his journey had begun. And when it did, Peter began to sink and cried out "Lord, save me!" I thought about myself in Peter's shoes. I too had no doubts when I lept out of the plane in Munich last February! I was ready to hit the streets and convert Germany! There have however been times in the last year where I have perhaps lost sight of my Savior, and doubt has crept in, causing me to begin to sink. But! The beauty of the story? "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him..." Yep. Time and again has that become a reality on my mission. Regardless of how many times I have been "of little faith" and begun to sink, all I have had to do is cry out "Lord, save me!" And IMMEDIATELY He's been at my side. I mean, we all know I am a terrible swimmer. But these last 12 months, the Lord has been teaching me not only to swim, but to have the faith to walk on water...
So! Besides zone conference Sister Drury and I have been busy delivering cookies to less active members and! We have even had a couple of appointments! Look at us go! We even got to meet with Laura this week! I just love Laura. :) I've missed her! Annd she also taught us how to make Austrian Christmas cookies! Gotta love family home evening! It was so great. Well, mostly great. I woke up that morning not feeling overly well, but kind of just wrote it off. Well there I was mixing cookie dough when all of the sudden...nausea. Hmm...long story short: The last time I got the stomach flu I was in the 8th grade. Since then, I have often asked myself if my body was even capable of throwing up anymore....mystery solved. Annd then Laura fed us dinner. Chili! I should have said no, but it smelled so delicious...and tasted even better! Anywho, after dinner we even got to talk to Laura's mom for a bit (who is WAY cool! And! Asked us a couple of questions about the church!)  At any rate, her family has a great spirit about them. Wonderful people. And Laura is continuing to read in the Book of Mormon and develop her testimony. The gospel is wonderful. :)
......For those of you who were wondering about the delicious chili....it definitely tasted better going down than coming back up. (My apologies to those of you with weak stomachs..) Luckily it was just a little 24 hour flu and I am in tip top shape again! Just still haven't gotten my appetite back..
ANYWHO..At church this week I was in with the young women's class and we watched a little video that said "..Just brighten up the little corner where you are". I really loved that. Sometimes I get a little (hah, a little. Yeah. Right...) overwhelmed in this great work. Annnd in life in general. I mean if we think about it, there is just so much to do! And so many people to please! And never enough hours in the day! And, and, and! But! I am fully convinced that if each of us just focuses on the little corner in which we are found at any given moment, I am sure we can accomplish great good :)
Annnd in reading  the Bible this morning I was just really impressed with Luke 2. (I think it was Lukas 2...) where Gabriel tells Mary she is going to have a Son, namely, the Son of God. The only question she asks is "How?" Which! Sounds a little like doubt, but it was the "perfectly ok" kind of doubt. She doubted her OWN ability, simply not understanding how that was physically possible. She didn't however doubt the Lord, who, as Gabriel explains, had already taken care of that part of the equation. I likened it unto myself. I will admit that sometimes I DO have doubts out here. But they are all concerning MY abilities. But! As Neal A. Maxwell once said, "The Lord doesn't ask about our ability our inability but only about our availability, and if we prove to Him our dependability, He will take care of our capability." Luckily, this work isn't about me! It isn't about what I can and can't do. It's about what I am WILLING to do. What I am willing to do for the Lord. The Lord has a work for me to do, and I know that as I do my part, namely, prove to Him my dependability, He WILL take care of my capability. He did it  for Mary, and He can do it for me.
   Hmm. I feel like this email is a little scatterbrained. Sooo I think I am going to call it quits in an attempt to salvage it before it gets any worse. Hah. I hope you are all lookig forward to Christmas Spirit it brings. :) We are looking forward to another great week here in Wels with some caroling, an exchange with Neumarkt, and of course all of the new people we are going to find that want to learn about the Gospel. :) As for you all,  I hope you have a wonder-filled week! Take some time to read about Christ in the Gospels this week in preparation for CHRISTmas! I love you all and thank you once again for your love and support:) Frohe Weihnacht! 
Love,
Sister Bice

Brrrr. Yep, that's right. Brrrrrrrr.‏

Brrrr. Yep, that's right. Brrrrrrrr.‏

..lame. I started writing an email and it didn't save the draft. Hmph. No use cryin over spilled milk hmm? Ok here we go again...

Liebe Familie und Freunde,
...We just doored the building across from this internet shop. All of the doorbells sounded like something from a horror movie. If my doorbell sounded like that, I wouldn't be in a good mood when I answered the door either....but! We did meet a really sweet family. Unfortunately, the mom didn't speak German. We'll have to bring her by a croation Book of Mormon some time...anywho..
...I am quite certain, that I have NEVER been colder in my entire life as I was this last week. But! Mom, calm down. Today we went shopping, and bought some nice warm stuff. Apparently I've looked really pathetic lately too because some of the ward members brought some stuff for me to borrow on Sunday. I feel like a charity case. Bishop was making fun of me because I was wearing socks at the ward party, and I told him it was because my boots had holes in them and I was drying my feet out. He told me he'd do some begging for me and give me socks for Christmas. Hah. I love my ward. :) Anywho! The ward party! Was wonderful! All the members brought cookies, and we put together cookie plates for Sister Drury and I to bring around to less active members and investigators. They also asked everyone to bring some vegetables, which we all peeled and chopped up to made into soup, which soup we (a little "missionary team" that we put together) served at the soup kitchen here in Wels on Sunday. We sang some Christmas songs for the people there. They cried. It was a neat experience. And I was just so impressed that the ward turned their ward party into a giant missionary service project! Beforehand, we had a mini "one hour ausstellung (street display)" and we had SO many members show up! They even brought their kids! We stuck our table of Book of Mormons right in the middle of the walk way down town, and the kids had a blast giving out pass along cards. They wiped us out! I stamped 150 and was sure that we'd have tons left over, but nope! They handed out everything we had on us! It was the best! There is a little boy in our ward..he is probably about 10..and he was just on fire! It DID break my heart every time somebody rejected him. I mean I can understand them rejecting me..but an adorable little boy?? Hah, he didn't let it slow him down though. I learned a lot from the kids that day actually..amazing...
In other news! Last Friday, I hit my ONE YEAR mark. Has it really been a year already?? I still can't believe it. I've done a LOT of reflecting lately about the last year. And every time I think about it, it amazes me how far I've come...and yet how far I still have to go. At one point I hit a little panic mode when I realized...I only have 6 more months to try and continue to improve and change and become the disciple that Christ needs me to be! I feel like there is so much more I need to do and accomplish and become. But! We have been reading the 4 gospels together as a mission this transfer, and I was really impressed but the parable of the talents this time around. Super interesting parable! Especially with James E. Faust in the game.  . :) Faust says "the apostles, who, while of equal authority through ordination in the Holy Priesthood, as specifically illustrated by the parable of the pounds, were of varied ability, of diverse personality, and unequal generally in nature and in such accomplishments as would be called into service throughout their ministry." Perhaps this prable was directed towards the Apostles, but it was perfect application to...missionaries as well! And of course all of you out there reading this email. :) Though we are all of "equal authority through ordination," we are all different. "Of varied ability and diverse personality." Some of us have 5 talents. Some of us have 2. Other of us may have only one. But the Lord doesn't care "how many" talents we have. I mean, He's the one who gave them to us in the first place. What He cares about, is what we do with the talents that we have. Of some missionaries, or people, is more required than of others, but! It is all proportionate! Both of the faithful servants in this parable recieve the same reward, even though one ended with 10 talents and the other with 4. They both did the best they could with what they had. The Lord knows what we need, and He knows what each of us individually is capable of. He doesn't expect all of us to return to Him with "10 talents", but of all of us, He DOES expect an increase. So! That lead me to ask myself 1) What talents has the Lord given me? 2) What are they? and 3) What am I doing to improve upon and increase them? I think the saddest thing in the world is when we spend our time and energy trying to be something we're not. Sometimes I feel like I can get so caught up looking around me and striving to be like all the people, that I forget that God made ME special too! So1 I would just encourage you all to take a few moments and reflect on YOUR talents, thank your Father in Heaven for them, and then try to decide how you can use them to bless yourself and those around you. And I promise to do the same. :)
Mensch, I feel like I had a lot of good stuff to write this week, and now I am out of time already! I guess I will just have to take a rain check..as in..you will probably have to just wait 6 months to hear stories. Hah. At any rate, I just want you all to know, that I KNOW this church is true. It's funny, I am sure I have said that before in my life..and it's because I really believed it. But I am so grateful for the experiences of the last year of my life that have enabled me to say with every fiber of my being, that I know it. The gospel is true. It's simple. It's possible. And it's perfect. I know my Savior lives. I am so grateful for His perfect example. My favorite song is still "I'm trying to be like Jesus." That is, after all, the greatest thing we can strive for. To become like our Savior. Our Heiland. (Heiland is one of my favorite German words. It's a title for "Savior", but heilen means "to heal". He is indeed our Healer. The Healer of our souls..). I know that the priesthood, the power and authority to act in His name, has been restored to the earth. We are led today by a living prophet who holds and honors that priesthood. And we could not. Be. More. Blessed. So please! In the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, take the time to think about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords whose birth we celebrate this time of year. Take some time for your families. And don't forget the enjoy the moment, because once it's gone, it never comes back.
Ich habe euch alle sehr Lieb!
Love,
Sister Bice

Grüß euch! Und! Einen schönen guten Tag wünsche ich euch alle:)‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,
Wow I just can't believe that it is DEZEMBER already! When did that happen?! Obviously while I wasn't looking....anywho, today is the 3rd. Which means Friday is the 7th. Which just so happens to be my ONE YEAR mark! I. Can't. Believe it. I feel like I just got here! OK, not really..but I definitely don't feel like I've been here a whole year. I mean, I can't even begin to express my gratitude for this last year of my life. I have learned so much, grown so much, changed so much, and I am looking forward to the next 6 months that I have to continue to serve and try and show the Lord just how much I love Him. I know I'm still in the middle of it, but I can tell you right now that my mission has changed my life. I feel like the lessons I am learning on my mission are going to bless me for the rest of eternity. What an opportunity.
So! This last week was a little slow..but good! But that shouldn't surprise anyone because I am STILL a missionary...and therefor every week is a good week. :) I guess it was all good except for...lunch on Wednesday. We went and helped an old lady in the ward, then she fed us lunch. We sometimes eat crazy things there, but never too bad. She put some rice on my plate, and I thought "oh good! Rice! Rice is normal..." Then out of the next pan she pulled...a big, slimy, jet black piece of sausage. "Blutwurst" she said, and my stomach dropped. Blutwurst is blood sausage, and though I don't REALLY know what that means, the name is bad enough and then the look of the thing? Not to mention it crumbled all over the place when I tried to cut into it...bleh. I didn't translate for Sister Drury. I figured I would let her eat her sausage in peace. She asked me part way through.."Sister bice..are you ok? You don't look so good...." But! No worries. I managed to wrestle it down..AND keep it down. Now let's just hope I don't have to eat another one of those, and I will be a happy camper. :)
Anywho! Just for the record, things are still going well with my new comp! We definitely come from different pasts....but! Our present is united in purpose. "To invite others to come unto Christ..." And so! What else matters? :)
So Thursday! Thursday was a little bit crazy. But! It was great! We visited an older Schwester in the ward. She is always sick and mostly deaf, but never loses sight of hope. We had a lesson, then she had Sister Drury say a prayer...annd then she had me say a prayer....then she said a prayer. And it was beautiful. It really hit home what it means to "become like a child" for me. It was so simple, yet so fervent and so full of faith and gratitude as she pleaded with the Lord. At the end she said "..I know you can heal me.." and in that moment, I knew it too. That little prayer was a testimony to me that not only can the Lord heal that dear sweet sister, He can heal all of us. And He will, if we come unto Him "as a little child". I was really grateful for the experience and the lesson I learned from it:) And! Thursday night! Also wonderful! We had a lesson with Familie Martinez. She is a single mom and we have met with her a couple of times, but this time her two kids joined us as well and we had a great lesson on the Book of Mormon. At the end, Sister Drury suggested we say a kneeling prayer together. We all kneeled and Sister Drury reached to grab something, and Carmen (the mom) thought she was going for her hand so she offered it out to her..then they were both a little awkward and embarrassed so to save the situation I said "That's a great idea Sister Drury! Why don't we all hold hands while we pray?" Sooo we did. Hah. We laughed about it later, but I really think it was good for this little family to kneel in a circle and join hands in prayer. I love the gospel. And I love what it has to offer families:) Anywho, after our lesson we rode the train out to Linz. Sister Drury had some concerns she had expressed to me the night before and she wanted to get a blessing from the Elders. It was a neat experience as well. She hadn't told the Elders anything, but as I listened to the blessing I was amazed as every one of her concerns were addressed. It was just one more testament to me of the power of the priesthood. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I was really sick for about 5 days and not sleeping at night and..it was awful. Then on p-day I got a blessing from the elders, and the next day, I was totally fine, and have been fit as a fiddle ever since!
Annnd of course the ward here in Wels is as wonderful as ever. Our ward Christmas party is all centered on missionary work and visiting the less active members. The darling members here make Wels a little bit of heaven on earth. :) Yesterday in church we talked about enduring to the end, and someone shared a thought along the lines of...enduring to the end doesn't mean reaching a point and then flat lining it until "the end"...it's not a straight line. There will still be ups, and downs. The important thing, is that the overall line is always going up! I love it. We are not called to be perfect, we are called to make progress. :) Anywho, Bishop shared another good object lesson in his testimony. He was talking about his washing machine (..i think..) and some little valve on it that broke. He'd said to the repairman "I just don't understand how it broke..I never even USE that little valve..." And the repairman said "..which is exactly WHY it broke." Then he likened that unto us and the gospel. Take our testimony for example. I don't think a testimony could ever be diminished by sharing it "too much". When it comes to sharing testimonies, there is no such thing as "too much"! It is when we don't use them ENOUGH that they are in danger of "breaking". Hmm. Simple but true! I also had the opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament yesterday. Which always makes me nervous. And also makes me forget all the German I ever learned..hah. But! I've just been so impressed with the joy I have been able to find on my mission. I heard in seminary once a quote that said something along the lines of "There is nothing that could happen in any given day, that could take away the joy we experience through the restored gospel.." Back then I thought to myself "psh, there is PLENTY that could happen on any given day to take my joy away!" But! I have really come to know the truthfulness of that little quote here on my mission. I mean, I have lived an incredibly blessed life. I have a wonderful family, friends, and and and. And yet I have never been happier than I am now on my mission. Which, according to one of our young women shouldn't really add up because on a mission "you have to go to bed early, you have to wake up early, you can't listen to music, and you spend all day talking to people who don't want to talk to you and probably don't even like you..." Which! I guess is true to some extent..hah. So WHY do we experience so much joy on a mission? The conclusion I came to was 1) on my mission, I have tried harder to be EXACTLY obedient to ALL the rules (commandments) more than ever before in my life, and 2) on my mission, I have tried harder to spread the gospel and share my testimony more than ever before in my life. Which leads me to believe that if any of YOU are looking for a little more joy in your life, there is the key! Try a little harder to keep the commandments and try a little harder to share the gospel. And so! That is exactly what I would like to invite you all to do! After all, who ISN'T looking for a little more joy in life?:)
Annd on that note I have to scamper! I am every day grateful to my Father in Heaven for this wonderful opportunity to be here, serving Him. I am also grateful for my wonderful support squad back home:) Thank you all for your prayers and your love! Have a lovely week and, as always, don't forget to SMILE!
Love,
Sister Bice

...and the beat goes on..‏

me and baxter. pretty much defines our relationship. i miss her!‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde!

..Don't ask about the title of the email...I think it is a song..at any rate, it just popped into my head...ANYwho!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I just love Thanksgiving, because it is all about being GRATEFUL! Which is something that I don't do often enough sometimes! But when I really stop and think about all of the blessings Heavenly Father has given me....WOW! I could fill a book and then some with all of the things I am grateful for in my life. But! I will put that on my "to-do" list and spare you all the time...hah. But! I DO hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed spending some time with your families:) I spent Thanksgiving...on a train. But! We celebrated it on Sunday with some of our American members, so I did in fact get to eat some turkey. We didn't have any pie, but I guess that just means I will have to make up for it next year. ;) And for all of you wondering if they have Black Friday here? They don't. Thank goodness. I have always admired those that are brave enough to leave the house on Black Friday. My sense of self preservation never did let me do that...

Anywho! Let's see where to begin with last week? Monday? Monday sounds logical...so! Monday! Monday was lovely. Sister Baxter and I hopped on the train out to Linz and met up with Laura and the Elders for...the Christmas Market! It was a grand old time. The Christmas markets here are adorable. As well as a little guady and overpriced...but! It just brings a fun little atmosphere to the air. Yesterday we went contacting near the Christmas market in Wels and mensch! I have ever seen so many people in one spot in this place since I got here! Unfortunately amidst the "hustle and bustle" it wasn't a great atmosphere for people to want to give us the time of day..but! We will keep on keeping on until we find the One!

Annnd besides Monday, the rest of the week was more or less a blur. Tuesday was Sister Baxter and I's last real day in Wels together. Annd we actually ended up spending most of it in Ried helping the Elders. But! It was good. And Wednesday we headed out to Munich. It was the weirdest feeling knowing that both of us were riding out there, and only one of us was coming back....oh, Sister Baxter. I may or may not have cried after she left. Hmph. It's so crazy to think that she is HOME! And what's crazier? That's gonna be me in just 6  months...

So! fast forwarding a little bit...."The verdict" with the new companion? First off, do you know what never ceases to amaze me about the mission? How dramatically our lives sometimes change at the transfer, and yet how quickly our new situation becomes completely "normal." I love Sister Baxter so much and have missed her like crazy, but already it feels like Sister Drury has been at my side for months. Crazy!  Speaking of Sister Drury, she is just a gem! Wow! Her German is already great, and she has a wonderful "go, go, go!" attitude! Sometimes I feel like I am running to keep up with her! But I have just loved her excitement, her energy, and her sincere desire to share the gospel with everybody! I am doing all I can to make sure that excitement doesn't diminish. Just think how great it would be if EVERY missionary had the "golden spirit" their WHOLE mission! Sister Drury has inspired me to unbury my own Golden Spirit. After our second day here in Wels we came home for the night and she said "Sister Bice...I am a little confused. I always heard that missions were "the hardest thing ever" but...I'm having fun....am I doing something wrong?" I must admit, I couldn't help but laugh a little, because it reminded me of myself at our interview last transfer. I assured her that if she was having fun, she was doing something RIGHT and encouraged her to hang on to that the rest of her mission. Because we are engaged in a great and marvelous AND Joyful work! On a side note, she is from Idaho (which means I have yet to ahve a comp from Utah), has red hair, AND is skinnier than me. For all you doubting Thomas's out there, I am being serious! She also brought exclusively pencil skirts on her mission, which has been a beast with the bikes (..have YOU ever ridden a bike in a pencil skirt? Well, I haven't..but sister Baxter did once, and she said it was hard too!) But! She is a great missionary and is only going to get better with time. :)
As for myself, I am also doing just dandy! I have been once again amazed at the help that the Lord has given me already in the last couple of days. Sometimes I think to myself "What? I can't do that!" But when I trust in the Lord, go forward with faith...well, He has yet to let me fall. Which doesn't necessarily mean He has yet to let me fail. But I am convinced He allows us those experiences just for the sake of our personal growth. :) Lately I have just been concentrating on trying to make my prayers more personal and my study time more meaningful. My mission is just absolutely flying by, and I know I will never get this time back, nor have another time like it in my life. I feel like I mostly have been just tapping into the wonderful resources available to me out here, so I have been trying to figure out how to make better use of them. Which! Is a little tricky but..es geht:)

Mensch. I am out of time. We have lots to do today. But! I hope you all know how much I love you! And how much I love being a missionary! What a blessing. Ich wünche euch alle eine Woche mit dem Herrn!

Until next week und mit lieben Grüßen,

Sister Bice

New Transfer?..Achtung, Fertig, Los!‏

At the church where silent night was written

Liebe Fam und Freunde, 

 Oh sunshine, how I miss thee. 'tis now four long days since I have felt your loving warmth..... Here's the deal. If I wanted to ride through a cloud, I would get on an airplane. NOT on a bike. But alas, on the way to the email shop this morning, I found myself getting wet. I was perplexed. I looked up to the sky...nothing. No rain. No drizzle. No anything. Just straight up water hanging out in the air, trying to give me shower #2 for the day. Why do people live in humid climates anyways? Sheesh...haha In other news! The work goes on here in Wels, Österreich! This last week was busy. We had a mini finding day with the Elders, and street display in Ried, a Zone Training Meeting in Salzburg, and a way neat Family Home Evening with Laura in Linz, in which we made homemade ice cream in a bag, while teaching "the gospel of Jesus Christ". It was great. :) We also had some wonderful lessons WITH wonderful joint teaches. Wow, the members here really are amazing. We met with our Ward Mission Leader yesterday and talked about what we can do to involve the members more and give them more opportunities to do missionary work. I am looking forward to the upcoming transfer and am so grateful to be staying here in Wels... Oh! Right! I am staying here in Wels! We got our transfer calls last week. Friday morning. 7:30am. Phone rings. I made Sister Baxter answer it. They couldn't possibly tell her anything we didn't already know. Sad, but true. My wonderful other half is leaving me this week. She'll be sitting at home in just 5 days. Crazy. I am excited for her though. She's a wonderful missionary here in Wels, and she will continue to be a wonderful missionary back home. I am so grateful for the time we've had together. She's taught me a lot, and changed my mission and my life. Thanks Sister Baxter. :) So! Anywho. Then she gave the phone to me. "Good morning Sister Bice, how are you?" "I am doing just dandy President, and yourself?" "Thank you, I am doing well  myself.....Sister Bice, we would like to extend to you a calling..." He kept talking, although he didn't really need to. Those words were all too familiar, and I had a little flashback to just 6 months ago. Besides which, the only "calling" that can be extended to a Sister (at least in our mission..) is....trainer. I guess the best word to describe the feelings inside me is...humbled. It's funny...you'd think I'd feel more prepared or qualified to train than I did when the Lord asked me to train Sister Lin 6 months ago. I mean, I HAVE learned SO much since then. But! I feel about the same as far as the concept of training goes. With one exception. Instead of the panic I felt before training Sister Lin (yes, I was a little panicked..) when you called on Friday I just felt...peace. Why? Because although I don't maybe feel exceptionally "qualified for the job", the Lord showed me with Sister Lin that this is HIS work and HE is going to qualify HIS servants, regardless of any weaknesses and imperfections found in their trainers. "Any two people can accomplish anything. As long as one of those people is the Lord." I think some Golden Spirit is just what Wels needs. I've been so privileged to work with such an experienced missionary as Sister Baxter, and I have learned so much from her. So! Now the challenge will be trying to take the last 11 months of experience and use it to the benefit of my new sweet companion. I have no idea who she is, but I have decided I love her already. I have already done some reflecting about my first experience training, and made some goals concerning what I would like to do differently, etc. I have a lot of expectations for myself and my companion this coming transfer. We are going to be a lot of things. We're going to be obedient. We're going to be diligent. We're going to be successful. But most of all, we're going to be happy. Because! Being a part of this Great and Marvelous work and not being happy while doing it is a shame. So! I guess from here it's just going forward with faith and trusting in the Lord and loving every moment of it. :) At any rate, sorry mom, you'll have to wait a week on pictures! I ride out to Munich on Wednesday, and I will find out who she is on Wednesday night, then Thursday it's back to Wels and back to work!
 
      Annd before I scamper, just want to pass a little bit of Bishop Lehmann wisdom on. He bore a short testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday and it really made me think. He is a handy man for a living. He explained that last week, he got a phone call from somebody who had a broken keyboard that they wanted him to pick up. He drove over, and  saw the keyboard. His first thought, "Broken? It's not broken. There are just three keys that are broken..." I mean, we all know that a  piano can still be played with three broken keys. Buuuut anybody relatively musically inclined knows that it wouldn't sound all that  great. In fact, depending on which keys they were, it could sound  pretty terrible. Then he talked about how that relates to our lives.  Sometimes we like to fool ourselves by telling ourselves everything is  in order when we only have "a few broken keys." We keep on plowing  forward with our song, avoiding the broken keys when we can, and when  we DO come across it, we kringe are perhaps a little embarrassed, but  then keep going. I thought about it a little after the meeting, and  realized that that is exactly what Satan wants. I mean, obviously if  you were to push a piano off of a 7 story builing, there would be  absolutely no question to it's being broken. But Satan doesn't ask us  to jump off of 7 story buildings. He just chips away at us, one key at  a time. We tell ourselves that it doesn't really sound that bad, that  we are just fine. But! Why play on a piano with broken keys when you  can take it to the repair shop and do it right? From my experience,  Jesus Christ is an excellent piano repairman. :) So! My commitment to  all of you is to do a little reflecting this week, and think about  which of your keys are broken, or could use a little tuning. Don't  settle for a piano with even one broken key. The Savior came to the  earth, and suffered for our sins. The price has been paid. We just  need to choose to let the Savior bring our lives back in harmony, so  that we can become the Masterpiece He has in store for each of us.  The church is true! Thank you all for your prayers and support. Have a  lovely week and remember to SMILE!
 Love, Sister Bice
 PS! Happy thanksgiving everyone! Forget not to be Grateful!!

22! Starting of a new year of life..and almost a new transfer!‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde,
Mensch! What a great bunch of friends and family I have! But really though. I don't know how I got so lucky. Just a little shout out to all of you who sent a birthday wish my way for today. Thank you SO much. It was so neat to read through all of them! I just love ya all so much! It definitely added some sunshine to my day! Which is good! Because I haven't seen the sun once since I woke up! It's raining today. But! There is a german birthday song that says "Heute kann es regen, sturmen oder schneien.." I forget the rest of the words...but! It means "Today it can rain, storm, or snow.." and then goes on to say hat it just doesn't matter because it's my birthday! Haha. "Wie schön das du geboren bist, sonnst hatten wir dich sehr vermisst.." "How nice that you were born or else we would have missed you.." I would just like to turn that around a little and say...how nice that I was born or else I would have missed all ya'll!! Hah my distrikt leader called last night and asked if I was excited for my birhtday. I said "Ja wohl! Nothin' like being one year closer to dying!" Pah. Yes, I am still sassy sometimes. :) Thank you all for being so great. :) So! I woke up this morning at...5am. And tried to fall asleep. Fail. I walked out of the room to see balloons all over the floor and the walls peppered with birthday notes...daw! My sneaky little companion. Still don't know WHEN she did that..hmm...at any rate! Sister Baxter is the best. I am just so grateful for her. Every day. Anywho! I got up, turned on the oven light, sat myself on the kitchen floor, and read myself a couple of conference talks until 6:30. It was lovely. :) So! Enough birthday nonsense! Even on all of the other days NOT my birhtday, I am still doing great. :) Sister Baxter and I are just trucking along here in Wels. We had an exchange last week with the Neumarkt Sisters. Sister McBride and I took over here in Wels. Mostly..it was wet and cold. We had to buy a new light for my bike and as I was trying to open it and load the batteries with frozen hands, I dropped one. No big deal right? Right. UNLESS you are standing over a giant metal grate covering a giant pit of despair. Yep. Never gonna see that battery again. I just had to include that story so that you all know that I am clumsy as ever, and my luck hasn't improved much. ;) Anywho! I had lots of time to think. I am so happy here in Wels, but the work has just been at a stand still lately. So Sister Baxter and I talked about it during planning and came up with some new goals and new things to try out to try and find some new investigators. We've been spending some time trying to get to know the ward better and they are wonderful. Our Bishop even invited us over yesterday and brought us over to his neighbors house along with a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD..unfortunately she was sick and we didn't really get to talk to her...but it was amazing to see that they took missionary work and turned it into a family activity. They are great. We've also started checking a couple families a week and trying to bring them brownies or something of the sort. It was neat, 2 weeks ago we went by a familie and nobody was home except for the 15 year old son, who we had never met because he is inactive (His parents are divorced and his dad is against the church..). We just dropped off the brownies and a note and chatted for no more than 60 seconds and went on our way again. Well! He was in church yesterday! His mom explained to us that right after we brought the brownies, he called her and said, "Mama, sie waren soooo Lieb! Wie so machen sie so was??" (Mom, they were sooo sweet! Why do they just do things like that??) I guess he was just boggled that we would just do something nice for no reason, and decided to come to church yesterday. And we ate lunch with them afterwards. They are SUCH a neat family. I love them. Hah, Sister Auer found out it was my birthday while we were over there and made a last minute surprise cake. Sweetheart.:) Anywho, It was just kind of neat to see how we can have an influence for good in the ward as well as in the lives of all the other people we work with. Being a missionary is great. :) So! Study time! I did a lot of study on D&C 4 this week. What a great section! So short, but so jam packed with wonder! I noticed perhaps for the first time the use of the word "embark". I looked it up in the english dictionary and it said "to board a ship or a vessel". Kind of weird that missionary work is now a ship hmm? But! It makes for a wonderful analogy. All of us here in the mission field (or in life for that matter..) have already boarded our vessel! And, as a dear friend once told me, we have the choice: are we going to be out here on a row boat? Or a ship? We can spend our days and energy rowing away and not really getting anywhere (..if I were paddling we'd probably just be going in circles...I never was very good at the whole rowing thing..) or, we can board a ship with the Savior at the helm and trust that as we all do what we are assigned to do, we will be lead where we need to go. Usually, when someone gets on a ship, it's because they want to go somewhere, usually somewhere "better" than where they are currently at. We hope to sail towards the promised land. But of course boarding a ship takes a certain element of trust. We have to leave solid ground--our comfort zone and sometimes things and people we love--and out on a "risky venture" in hopes of becoming more than what we are. I have a quote on my wall back home, "Ships are always safe at harbor. But that's not what ships are made for..." I have always loved it, and especially in a missionary sense. Sure, I am always safe in my little comfort zone. But! That's not what the Lord has called me to do, and that's not what I was made for. Missions are about sacrificing the "solid ground", setting out to serve the Lord, and being willing to do WHATever He asks of us. ...I am still working on perfecting the application of this knowledge..but! The only way to discover our full potential is to give up our solid ground from time to time and see where the Lord can lead us. Aren't the scriptures just great? :) So! I am almost out of time. We have transfer calls on Friday. I have to admit..I am a little nervous. I mean, my companion is going home. So it's not a matter of IF I get a new comp, rather, WHO. But! If there is one thing I have learned about transfers, it's that the Lord knows EXACTLY what I need, and who I need. Even if I can't always see it from the beginning:) I hope and pray you all have a lovely week!
Liebe Grüße,
Sister bice

Hallo schon wieder! Und schon November!?‏

...zombie pday!

..we got those shirts from an old lady in our ward. she is a little crazy, but we love her:)

Pres. & Sis. Miles, Sister Bice

Stuttgart Zone- Leadership

Liebe Familie und Freunde!

Ja Hallo! Wie geht's euch? We had a really great week here in Wels...with a lot of lessons! First time in a long time. Ok so I guess we didn't have THAT many lessons, but the ones that we had were really good! We also had a couple of new investigators! Really promising ones too. Perhaps the kind that need a little more time than anything, but what is time to the Lord? It's not WHEN we "get there", it's simply THAT we get there. :) Wels is such a wonderful area. The ward here loves missionary work, and are so willing to help. I think for most of my mission, I have felt like the WARD was supporting the MISSIONARIES (which is also great..), but in Wels it feels like us, the missionaries, are supporting the Ward. Which is exactly how it should be. Last week, our bishop invited us and our Senior Couple to lunch. We got there and they had made it all fancy with sugar rimmed coctail glasses and everything. It was really cute. :) Annnd also eight courses. EIGHT! I think I was already full by the time we got to #3. Haha. It was fun though. I love the Lehmanns:)
I got sick last week. I went to bed at 8pm on Tuesday. And slept clear till 6:30am. Annd still couldn't properly function during personal study. So Sister Baxter ordered me to bed and I took a nice 2 hour nap. It. Was. Wonderful. And! I felt like a million bucks afterward. :) It's cold here already! Especially on a bike!  No wonder I got sick! But I have been managing to keep warm :) I will admit that I have looked like a spook sometimes...with my two jackets my wool skirt and my scarf wrapped from my neck clear to my eyes. Throw a bike helmet on top of that and...well, lets just say, its not a fashion show. Hah. I would have NEVER dressed like that back home. But! Desperate times call for desperate measures.
.....sooo I'm sure there were a lot more great things that happened in the week...probably some good funny stories too....i thought of some good ones on the train ride over here...buuuut I am afraid to say..I can't think of them right at the moment...hmm..
Mensch, I am just so grateful to be here. I like the way Elder Miller said it a couple weeks ago. "I am so grateful to be serving here and now!" Obviously the opportunity to serve is fantastic. But it's the "where" and the "when" and most importantly the "who" that makes each mission perfect for the missionary. I bet almost every missionary in the world would tell you, quite proudly and confidently, that they served in "the BEST mission in the WORLD!!" (Little do they know that I am actually the one serving in the best mission in the world..*wink*) But! That's what's so great about it. I took some time last week and flipped through my first mission journal....I don't think I've laughed so hard in a while. I have grown so much since then! Experienced so much. Learned so much. If somebody asked me "So Sister Bice, what have you learned on your mission?" I wouldn't even know where to start. I think one of the things I have learned most is simply to love. I read President Monson's talk from Priesthood session this last week, "See Others as They May Become" and! I loved it. It really made me think. I mean, that is the key to this work. To see others, and ourselves, not necessarily as they are, but rather, as they may become. "We must develop the capacity to see men not as they are at present but as they may become when they receive testimonies of the gospel of Christ." We MUST. It's essential to our progress, and to theirs. Taking a step back from the must, we notice the WE. If you think about it, it really is a kind of "carnal man" piece of advice. Sometimes, we are just a little too far from perfection to see things as they really are, AND be happy about it. So we have to try to look through somebody else's--the Saviors--eyes. Then! It hit me just how absolutely grateful I am for a Savior who, although He sees me for my highest potential and nudges me along on my way to reaching it, also sees me for exactly who and what I am. And He loves me. Weaknesses and all. I am so grateful for that knowledge. We had a lesson with the Young Women again this week and at the end Sister Fuchs said "So we all know that there are a lot of hard things that come with missionary work, but in just one or two sentences, could you please tell us WHY you do it?" It was a great question that I had never actually really thought much about. It was also a great opportunity to bear my testimony to myself as well as the darling young women. Why? Because I love my Savior. Because He gave His life for me. Of course He performed the Atonement for each and every one of us, but every day I am more convinced that if it was just me standing down here on this big old planet earth all by my onesies, He still would have done it. Just for me. And if I can give Him just 18 months of my life in a small effort to say "thank you", then please, sign me up, trials and all. :)
I hope you all have a wonderful week! If you are feeling a little bit down, just whistle a little tune to yourself! That always helps! Then again, so does being a missionary. I don't know how you could NOT be happy with a little black nametag with "Jesus Christ" on it!  I am so grateful to have such a wonderful army of support back home as I am privileged to take part in this wonderful work. :)
Love,
Sister Bice