LIEBE Familie und Freunde,

 ..this is a picture of our Stuttgart, Munich, and Salzburg missionaries...with Elder Nelson. Yep. That's me. Just to the left of his shoulder. SUCH an incredible meeting. :) Love you!

LIEBE Familie und Freunde,

Note to self: if an elderly member in Austria happens to give you a plant out of her garden to make tea, it may or may not happen to be...stinging nettle. And you may or may not have to find it out the hard way while trying to make your tea. People drink stinging nettle here.
Crazies.
So! Besides our little run in with stinging nettle (it's called brennessle..not sure if that is spelled right..but! "brennen" is "to burn"..that should have tipped us off..buuuut didn't..), Sister Baxter and I had a great week here in Wels. Monday: new investigator. Tuesday: new investigator. Wednesday: new investigator. Thursday: new investigator. We walked away from every situation with our jaws on the ground. I don't know why, but I seem to continually let the Spirit surprise me, even though I know He's always here to help! I think my favorite was Wednesday. We'd decided to take President's advice from Sisters Conference and work with more JAE's (young single adults) by hitting up the cafeteria for the technical school here. Across the way while waiting at the light, a middle aged man greeted us in response to our smiles. We asked what he was up to, and he said he was just going to grab something to eat. We parted and went into the cafeteria, while, unbeknownst to us, he'd went in too only from the other door. We got some food and started trying to scope out some promising JAE's when the man, Luis, waved us over. We sat across from him and blessed our food...which of course started a gospel conversation. We talked through lunch and walked out together. We asked if we could meet him sometime for a lesson and he said "Well, what are you doing now?" So! We all went to a mall, found a place to sit down (which happened to be on a couch in the "quiet" section meant
for mothers and sleeping children..hah), and gave a lesson. He is from the Dominican republic, and seems pretty solid! We are excited to meet with him again this week, as well as the other investigators we found! We are keeping God busy with our prayers on their behalf. :)
 

 Random side note! It was announced in church yesterday that President Thomas S. Monson...is coming to our mission next month. THE PROPHET! In Munich. We are still waiting to hear whether or not we get to attend...probably not..but! Still super excited! We are hoping he has some good news to announce for Germany! Like maybe that...they are finally recognizing our church as a religion? (They don't at the moment..) But! That's only speculation...he could just be coming to
speak..but we are still looking forward to it:) So! Back to Wels! Remember how we were bike missionaries for one glorious week?? It was glorious. Annnnd also short lived. My tire
decided to give up the spoon (paha. That's what the say in Germany for "give up the ghost" or "throw in the towel" or something like that..). Not to mention only one brake works. Annd the countless other little problems they have that we are currently working on getting repaired. But! No worries, in no time we'll be back on the pavement! Skirts and all. Haha. Love it.
 

Anywho. We certainly had a crazy week. Most days did not at all go as planned. But! We decided at the beginning of the week that we were going to MAKE a plan, do our best to follow the plan, and expect the Lord to take care of the rest. Which we did. And so did He. It was a neat feeling. Sister Baxter ist der Hammer. I remember on Wednesday, we had 10 minutes to get from our house to the train station, buy a ticket, AND get on the right train....I couldn't suppress my doubts. I said to myself.."Psh. Never in a million years." But Sister Baxter said as we ran out the door, she said "If God wants it to happen, He'll make it happen!" And He did. I still am trying to figure it out in my head. But! We got there, bought the ticket, and what do you know, the train was 4 minutes late. Just for us. :) I love Sister Baxter. She is such a great example! I am still running to keep up with learning all the things she has to teach me! I can't believe the transfer is almost over! When did that happen?? She said to me the other day, "Sister Bice, we have GOT to stop enjoying ourselves so much...the time is going too fast!" Hah. Love her. Although she DID try to pawn me off on Saturday. We'd contacted a JAE..a kid from Romania. He's 24, new here, and doesn't speak German. Needless to say,
he was happy to have somebody to talk to. He wasn't overly excited about religion but we gave him a watered down version of the plan of salvation. Then we tried to give him a Book of Mormon. He said "I don't read religious books". We bore our little hearts out in testimony, assuring him that it was OUR favorite book and he was sure to love it. Then Sister Baxter motioned to it and said "Are you sure you don't want to take it home with you?" Well, it just so happens that the book was at that point tucked under my arm (it was cold and raining) so when she motioned to the book, she also motioned to..me. So he said "take what home? Her? Or the book? Fine, I'll take them both, but that's my final offer." Pah. In the end it turns out Sister Baxter really DOES love me. She linked her arm in mine and withdrew the offer. Haha.
 

 Anywho...I guess I could explain all the little daily miracles Sister Baxter and I are experiencing but..I think most of them are only miracles in our eyes :) So! I will let it suffice to simply say that...I am so happy. I hardly even know what to do with myself. I've never been so happy before. I realized the other day that I haven't cried ALL transfer (except for on account of the Spirit..)! Quite the feat for a Sister like me. ;) In fact, my biggest problem the last week has been trying to figure out where to go from here. I feel liked I've topped out! But I can't stand standing still. So I have been trying to find ways to more fully consecrate myself to the Lord and increase my faith. Yesterday our Relief Society lesson was on sacrifice, and they talked a lot about missions. Somewhere in the middle it hit me that..."sacrifice" is kind of a funny word. I mean, I'm not so sure "sacrifices" exist for us as far as the gospel is concerned. Ja klar, we are asked to sacrifice certain things sometimes, but when EVER we sacrifice anything to the Lord, we ALWAYS receive so much more in return. I would say my mission has been a lot of things so far...but I would definitely not say that it has been a
sacrifice.

So! I read a quote today from my good friend Elder Christensen. It reads, in regards to missionary work, "We can't be side-tracked by results. Our job is effort." I love that. I think sometimes I tend to
throw those two into the same drawer but, there IS a difference. Obviously we all want to give our best and see good results. But, whether or not we see results, our job ist, immer noch, to do our
best. Our JOB is effort. Our results are just a natural consequence of our efforts, factored in of course with the agency of others. Point being: every missionary is a successful missionary, as long as he or
she doesn't compromise his or her efforts on account of the results that may or may not be visible...and that doesn't just apply to missionaries. Our job in this life? Effort. And while we don't always see the results of those efforts here on earth, we can have faith that God will make good on His promises in His time. We just have to keep on keeping on. :)

 I also got a quote from President Miles this week. He read it like 7 times at Sisters Conference. Every time he said "you know, I read a quote today. It's about balance..." then he would read it. Hah. but! Here it is:
"One of the great needs in our day is for Latter-day Saints to have balance in our lives – balance between zeal in keeping the commandments, and patience in achieving our goals; balance between a whole-hearted devotion to truth, and loving acceptance of those (including ourselves) who fall short. And in our personal lives there needs to be balance between a type of discontent – in which we are
constantly striving to be better than we are – and what Nephi calls “a perfect brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20), which is the quiet but soul-affirming anticipation that if we trust in the Lord and seek
earnestly to do our best, He will make up the difference in time and eternity." -ROBERT MILLET
Pretty great huh? Also pretty self explanatory. So I won't bore you all by dissecting it. I WILL however encourage each one of you to take a step back, look at your life, and see if you don't need to do a little balance adjustments. And I will do the same. :)

I love the Gospel. I love teaching people about the Plan of Happiness, because it reminds me over and over of how PERFECT it actually is. I ove having a purpose in life. I love having a vision. Both of which wouldn't be possible without the knowledge I have of who I am, why I'm here, and where I'm going. It's wonderful. I wish it for absolutely everybody. But! That's why we're here, isn't it? :)
I hope you all have a lovely week! Danke vielmals für euer Gebete, Briefen, Unterstützung, und einfach Liebe.
Love,
Sister Bice

And I think to myself, "What a Wonderful World."‏

Liebe Freunde und Familie!
My, what a week!
     Monday was super! We went to Salzburg and did us a little sight seeing. "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" But really though. The place was alive with music! It was so great! Little bands on every corner...I love music:) Fun fact: "The Sound of Music" was filmed in Salzburg, but none of the locals have actually seen it. Totally an American thing.
      As wonderful as Monday was, the week really started rolling on Tuesday! Tuesday started at 4am. Which, for the record, is WAY too early for a missionary to be awake...hah. But! What a day. What a marvelous, wonderful day. We rode out to Munich and met with about 50 other missionaries in the Stake Center there. Then, Elder Russel M. Nelson came! You know how they say, "the eyes are the window to the soul"? I'm quite certain that Elder Nelson looked right past my eyes and into my soul. He did the same to all of us. He took our hand, first looked at our nametag (..which happens to be right over our heart..) and then his blue light filled eyes looked right into our souls...or so it seemed. I can't help but wonder what he saw in there...hopefully something good! :) At any rate, my favorite part about seeing an Apostle of the Lord is always their eyes. So full of light. We then went up to the chapel and spoke to us. He opened it up into a Q&A session. It was inspiring to watch him answer our questions. The sincerity and thoughtfulness with which he handled each one was humbling. I definitely got enough notes and inspiration to keep me busy for the next little while. Sister Baxter and I had a great chat after Sisters Conference about all the ideas we'd gotten for our work here in Wels the last week. We've made some goals and hopefully we can get things rolling! Last week just made me realize, all over again, how much I love this work. It's a "marvelous work and a wonder." The biggest impression that I got from Sisters Conference as us sisters were all able to talk with each other is that...miracles are really beginning to flow into our mission! If any of us miss out on them, it's definitely not the Lord's fault.
    After Elder Nelson left we split into Zones and had zone conference. I LOVE my new zone! The Salzburg zone. We have as many senior couples as we do companionships! And they are SO cool! Love them! At the end I was shaking hands and Elder Erlacher (He's one of the senior missionaries..he's german) shook my hand and..didn't let go. I thought "Oh no, what did I do this time?" THen he took me by the shoulders and said "Sister Bice....you have GOT to speak slower English!!" hah! My old curse. He and his wife don't speak much english, and apparently had a really hard time understanding me. I wonder why...hah. The best part though? He then asked me "Where did you learn English anyway?" I said, confused, "English?" "Yeah, english" "Uh...at home?" "Oh! You're from America! I thought you were a German!" Ja wohl! Best compliment ever:)
     So! *We interrupt this broadcast for a short commercial break...* I feel like our work in Wels this week was more like...a short commercial break. We were pretty much only here on Wednesday. We did service by Schw. Mörtelbauer. She. Is. Hilarious. So our job was to clear her brick drive way of weeds. It wasn't so bad. Then it started to rain. When we finished, she drenched the thing in dishsoap, and then gave us a couple of brooms. Can you say....sudsy mess?? She stood there with the hose a good 15 minutes spraying down, instructing us to sweep the water off the drive way. Then down the side walk. Then...down the gutter. Yes, sister Baxter and I swept up....a puddle. In the rain. We were instructed to sweep it 20 feet down the gutter into the drain. I am pretty sure it was the weirdest service assignment I've done in my life. It the end we were soaked. But no worries! Sister Mörtelbauer didn't want us getting sick. She provided us with dry clothes. Her clothes. Underwear and everything! (Which we did in fact not wear..) Walking home we took the back roads as to avoid being seen in public until we could change into our OWN dry clothes. Haha.
    Anywho! Sisters Conference! Was so fantastic. All 24 of us out of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland! I won't bore you with all the details (aka I don't have a lot of time..) but it was so great. I am pretty sure I am serving with 23 of the best Sister Missionaries this world has ever known. I felt a little small in their midst! We got to Munich on Thursday and left Saturday. Friday, we definitely rented 26 bikes and went on a joy ride through Munich. Which was beautiful!! I think one of my favorite parts was Friday night. Präsident Miles had a talk with us about forgiveness and repentance. I feel like he confirmed all of the things I've been slowly figuring out the past 9 months. I've never understood the Atonement so well. Elder Nelson said "Through the Atonement, immortality became a reality." Then how does eternal life become a reality? Through the application of that Atonement. The price has already been paid. I love that we are able to love ourselves, despite mistakes we've made or imperfections and weaknesses we have. One thing that Elder Nelson said that I loved was "Don't waste a single moment of today's time thinking about something dumb you did in the past. Believe that the Lord will forgive you and get moving!" I pray that you can all take that advice and apply it! I've never been able to actually do that until now. It's a great feeling. :)
      I can't believe time is going by so fast. Long story short...I am so happy. I love the gospel. I love the time we are blessed with to study it and increase our understanding of it. "The gospel is perfect. We just need to understand it better." Elder Croft used to say that all the time. And as my understanding of the gospel increases, so does my desire to share it! It's a beautiful thing. I am so grateful for all I'm learning here. I hope to keep learning and keep changing. For me, the beauty of the gospel lies in the fact that we can change. We can always improve. Surely not all at once, but if we keep on keeping on and edure to the end, we will someday be able to say that we have become who the Savior intended us to. Of that I am certain. Now I just need to work on my patience a little. ;) Forwärts immer Forwärts! :)
With Love,
Sister Bice

Hallo! Ich bin es!..schon wieder:)‏

..the senior couple here took these. They are at the concentration camp..I can't really pull them up big but! This is my new district. Funny story: 4 of the 6 of us were in the same MTC districk. Annnd I was in Cadence with one of them at snow. Good times!

Liebe Freunde und Familie!
     Hallo for the week aus Salzburg! Yep. I am sitting in Salzburg at the moment. We have to go to Munich tomorrow, and so we are staying the night with the Neumarkt Sisters tonight...so we decided to take a little field trip this p-day and come here:) Which means you'll all probably get shafted on letter writing..again..but! One of these days...
     So! My oh my where to begin? Ok let's be honest, I don't have SO much to tell. I am still just loving Wels. It's super wonderful. The actual work is still a little bit slow going. We are trying to get the bikes in the basement fixed so that we can get around a little more quickly and efficiently. Right now we have been focusing on working through the ward list and the area book. It takes time, but it'll be worth it. I still feel like there is tons of potential is Wels just waiting to be discovered. Sister Baxter and I were talking in companionship study this week and decided that the problem we as missionaries have with miracles is that we don't EXPECT them. Sure, we hope for them and believe in them...but if we are obeying with exactness and giving our best, we are entitled to EXPECT the Lord to fulfill his promised miracles. Our new little motto on our front door is "Wunder: Erwarten und DANN erfarhren!" I truly believe that. Sister Baxter and I see countless miracles every day. This is the Lord's work. How could we NOT see miracles? I have come to the conclusion that if I am not experiencing miracles every single day of my mission, I'm doing something wrong. I think a lot of times we just need to know where to look. :)
    Tuesday we had a wondeful district meeting. I am loving our district already. 3 of the 4 elders were in my MTC district! And Elder Johnson was in choir with me at Snow. Hah. Small world eh? But! We had an ausstellung (Street Display) on Saturday and our Elders came to help out, as well as the Sisters in Neumarkt and the Zone Leaders. And we had members there!! Now THAT is a miracle. It was a super great day. We even sang some hymns for a while in front of our display to get peoples attention. It was super. :)
     Sooo this week I also had my first lesson at a bar. Hah. Ok, it was outside of a bar. We were contacting and ran into a lady who met with the missionaries once before. She said "let's have a seat somewhere". She bought us drinks (don't worry. we ordered soda:P) and we had a lovely little lesson. It is amazing to me how much I have really taken the gospel for granted in my life. I mean, the very fact that as members, we have a purpose in life is something that I never realized so many people DON'T have. I am SO grateful for a "gospel perspective". If we know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, we don't need to constantly be asking "Why?", and the challenges in life that would do most people in are made light through the Atonement of Christ. With repentance and the Atonement, we are never, ever left hopeless. President Miles shared a quote this week from Tad R. Callister's "The Infinite Atonement"...
“That is true repentance. It is a melting, softening, refining process that brings about a mighty change of heart. It is manifest by those who come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits. It is a burning resolve to make amends with God at any cost. Such a change means “we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” Mosiah 5:2
I love that. A "burning resolve to make amends with God at any cost." And the best part? This wonderful, beautiful "mighty change of heart" is available to all of us. We just have to want it. Seek. Ask. Knock. And the promise? We WILL recieve.
     So! Like I said, tomorrow we will be in Munich. Why? Because Elder Russel M. Nelson is coming to visit our mission! President Miles called me yesterday morning and asked me to lead the music. Hah. If I can't do anything else, I can at least stand up anywhere in the world and wave my hand around. ;) I am REALLY excited for tomorrow though. It is going to be wonderful. And then back to Wels for one day, and back to Munich again for....Sisters Conference! There are 21 Sisters in our mission, and we are having a little conference from Thursday to Saturday. Mensch! I can hardly contain the excitement. This week is going to be glorious. :)
     Sister Baxter said  something this week in a role play that I really liked. "Der Glaube ist lebendig." Faith is living. It's alive. I have been doing a lot of study on faith lately, and it is increasingly more and more fascinating. Faith is what makes hope possible. It is what makes everything worth it. Our ward mission leader (who is, by the way, heaven sent) said yesterday in an INCREDIBLE investigator class, that "Durch herausvorderungen, wird unser Herz Gold"..."Through challenges our heart becomes gold". Yes, sometimes, the "heat" of trials and challenges is uncomfortable. But the end result is worth it. The Lord is doing nothing but trying to shape and refine us to help us become our best selves. He does not send us trials just to see us suffer. He gives us what he knows is best. It is up to US to develope the FAITH to acknowledge that He knows better than we do. It's not always easy, but it is always possible. Nobody is more concerned with our success than our Savior. I sometimes envy the small children and their ability to trust so wholly in people. I think we often lose that as we get older. We learn that sometmes when we invest too much in someone, we get hurt. But Christ knows exactly what we feel. Think. Desire. And He is the One that will never, ever let us down. If we trust in Him, He will lead us safely home. "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." May we all strive to "become like a little child" and put our trust in the Lord. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's uncomfortable. But it us, without a shadow of a doubt, worth it. For He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
So! I am once more out of tme. But! I hope you all know that I love you all so very much! I am ever so and immer noch grateful for your support and your prayers! I wish you all as good a week as I'm gonna have! Bis nächstes mal:)
Love, Sister Bice
Oh! Right! My address is, officially,
Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Natasha Bice
Spöttlstr. 8/14
A-4600 Wels
Austria

...cloud nine.‏

Liebe Familie und Freunde, 

  Liebe Grüße aus....Obereösterreich!! In other words..or rather, in another language....greetings from Upper Austria!! 

  So! My first few days in Austria have been cold, wet, and I don't think I've walked this much in the last two transfers.

  .......and I've never been happier. 

Thursday Morning Sister Lin and I got on the train at 9:25am and rode to Munich. I guess the office Elders had messed up a little when they planned everything and had me riding alone to Austria, and so they changed my plans. I ended up sitting at the train station in Munich with some Elders. It was really great though! I got to see missionaries that I haven't seen since I got here! A lot of the Elders in my MTC district are training this transfer! So fun. :) Anywho, I finally continued on with my journey from Munich to Salzburg, where I met my new comp and the Zone Leaders, and we sat for another hour and a half until the Elders from Linz came and picked us up and rode with us to Wels. On the way over they asked "...so..what do Sisters eat anyway...?" Bahaha. They bought some food for us because the apartment has been empty the last transfer. Isn't there some nursery rhyme about bare cupboards? Hah. Apparently Sisters eat...hamburger meat, lunch meat, and...hot dogs wrapped in bacon. Haha. We couldn't help but laugh at the lovely assortment of "Sisters food" they had picked out for us. It was really sweet of them, and we managed not to starve before today...;) The Senior Missionary Couple met us there too. They brought us brownies and flowers. So cute:)

     Anywho! I don't actually have tons of time...or any time for that matter...we are having a district p-day..we are going out to see a Concentration camp in the area next to us. But! I'll do what I can! To answer some of your questions mom...

**The Area! Is super great. It smells a little funny due to the oil factory here, but I love it. It's bigger than my last area...or at least there are more people. The area was closed last transfer, but the Elders in the area next to it were actually spending a couple of days a week here trying to keep things going. They did a good job. We had two wonderful investigators at church yesterday! I feel like this area has so much potential. It's just up to Sister Baxter and I to bring our strengths and weaknesses to the Lord, figure out how to use them to the advantage of the area, and I think things will really start rolling here! Anywho..it used to be a bike area. Then the Elders started using the bus, but that is expensive. We took a look at the bikes and they are all broken but..we are in the process of figuring that out. If we walk everywhere here we end up wasting lots of time..so! Schauen wir mal..

**The apartment is great. A little col, but i actually like it a lot! Hah! Except there is a sticky note on the freezer..."Do not open under any circumstances...dangerous mold inside.." The missionary couple warned us about that.. not really sure what to do about it...but! We have an extra little freezer out on the balcony:)

**The ward! the ward here is WONDERFUL! An old man walked in on Sunday and said "Ein Wunder ist geschehen!" (A miracle has come to pas!) They are SO excited to have their "very own full time missionaries" again, and no less excited to have Sisters. Yesterday we had a very warm welcome. I have never served in such a missionary-minded ward. I think there are 76 families in the ward, but not all of them are active. At any rate, we have war missionaries! And our ward mission leader is so super! Yesterday we ate lunch with "Mamma and Papa Schmidl" and family. They gave us the low down on the ward list, it was nice. We have been having a hard time knowing where to start, and its hard to get around this place.. oh! Right! So back home, there was a missionary in Austria that served in our ward for a while. Sister Sander. On Sunday, I saw her picture and thought "Woah! I know her! I need to find her!!" Well! I did. I looked out into the hall and..there she was!! so crazy! She was just there to visit her sister! But! I love her. She is so adorable. I was like a little piece of home:)

**My companion! Sister Baxter is ....so wonderful. She only has two transfers left on her mission, so I will probably end up "killing her" ..or, sending her home. What an amazing missionary she is. I feel like she has learned SO much in her 15 months of being a missionary (yes Grandpa, I am Junior companion again..but it's great!), and i am running just to keep up with all I've been learning from her! She also just finished training, and her comp was from Hungary, so we are both enjoying having an English speaking companion again, even though we speak mostly German. :) We get along super great and have been having a great time of trying to learn the ropes of Wels. We definitely keep each other laughing. She is really phenomenal. I am glad the Lord decided she would be good for me. I just hope I can learn as much as possible from her in our time together. We are both really excited to be here and looking forward to a great transfer:)

  Well! I guess I don't have a whole lot more to say this week. It HAS been a little crazy trying to get the area and people figured out. But! Sister Baxter and I are both excited, and planning to give our best and our all to this wonderful and marvelous work, and hopefully we'll have more to report next week. :) Bis dann!

Love, Sister Bice