Liebe Familie und Freunde,
Fun
fact for the day: "Austria" in German is "Österreich". "Öst" means
"east" and "reich" means "kingdom"..so! Austria means "eastern
kingdom"...fun huh? :)
So! Another crazy week in Wels. Actually, I feel like every day this
week I thought to myself, "Man, today has been crazy.." but in the end I
decided it was just from being in a dritt. Two companions is definitely
more exhausting than one companion. Hah. But! It was great. We actually
saw Sister Leben off yesterday in Salzburg. She is in Munich right now,
and MIGHT come back to us at the end of this week if her Visa doesn't
get here soon enough. We are keeping our fingers crossed for her. The
poor thing is ready to go to her mission...anywho! We had some good
adventures last week. I think Friday took the cake. Friday we took a
little field trip for an appointment with..Leo! Leo lives in
Scharnstein. Scharnstein is an hour long train ride from Wels. But since
he came to us on Tuesday, we told him we'd come to him Friday. Wellll
it turned out being..just a bit crazy. We took our ride to Scharnstein
and then walked 35 minutes, in the snow, to his little village. Right
before we got to his house he called and said he was going to be a
little late. A little 45 minutes late. Sooo there we were, stranded in
the middle of nowhere with nothing but a couple of houses and..a bar. A
really sketchy bar. Sister Leben thought it would be a "great missionary
opportunity" and wanted to go in, but..there are times in life when you
have to put your foot down and draw the line...annd after stepping one
foot inside, this became one of those times. So we did in fact not go
into the sketchy bar, rather froze outside until Leo came home. But! It
was worth it. Leo just has the neatest testimony. And! He has a
baptisimal date for the 23 of March! Now we just need to help get him
ready for it. :) Oh! Right! I finally earned myself an "embarrassing
language FAIL" story! Are you ready? So, there we were talking over
dinner and Leo asked about the Word of Wisdom. So we explained it a bit
and were talking about why it was important. I explained to him that it
was largely because our body houses our spirit, and so we need to take
care of it. In German they usually say the body is a "shell" of sorts.
Welll there happen to be two words in german that sound very similar.
There is "hülle", being "shell" and then there is "hölle", being...hell.
Apparently with my little american accent he understood the latter of
the two. After what I thoguth was a good explanation Loe said "..I am a
little confused..." No wonder! What I had told him was "Our body is a
hell for our spirit..." Uhh...I would be confused too! But! I
re-explained it and we caught the mistake. I couldn't help but laugh. It
happens to the best of us..? Hahah. At any rate, the week was good. And
I feel like I had a lot of "ah-ha" moments which is always good. And
Sister Judd (who by the way is a GEM! I love her!) made some good plans
for this week so...fingers crossed?
So! Though the week was great..I feel like I don't have a lot of
stories. So! I will just share with ya'll what I learned today in
personal study. :) I read a talk from Elder Holland called "Israel,
Israel God is Calling." Super great talk. Towards the end it said
something along the lines of "We can't do everything, but we can do
something..." Whiiich I really loved. I feel like this lesson is vital
to living a life capable of influencing those around us for the better. I
know personally that somethism, I feel like I need to do "everything".
But I aslo know that the moment I try to take "everything" be the horns
and wrestle it to the ground, I tend to get overwhelmed and end up
doing more or less..nothing. I think the real challenge is focusing on
the SOMETHING. On my mission, I have really had to laern the difference
between doing everything, nothing, and something. Obviously, I have not
done everything. Not every person I ahve talked to has joined the
church, and not everyt less active member in the areas in which I have
served has come back to the fold. But, for my own sanity's sake, I have
to believe that I have done something. Whether God seeth it fit
in His wisdom to allow me to see the effect of my efforts or not, I have
to believe that as long as I am doing my best, what I am doing out here
is doing something for someone. I am not perfect--I can't
do everything--but God isn't going to condemn me for that, nor is He
going to punish the people whom I serve for my imperfections. If we
give God our hearts, and give of our heart and love to everyone we know,
our Father in Heaven will make sure that something good comes
out of every day of our lives. Of that I am confident. I am so grateful
to have the opportunity to toil in the Lords vineyard. I am so grateful
for the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the testimony
my mission is helping me develope and strengthen. I am grateful for my
wonderful family-what a wondeful support you all are. I pray that in the
coming week you all can find a little time to forget about trying to
take on EVERYTHING, and focus on doing SOMETHING thoughtful for someone
you love. Ich habe euch alle lieb! Remember to set a smile on your faces
and show the world who you truly are--Children of God.
Liebe Grüße,
Sister Bice
PS. For you more valiant readers, I read this quote this week, and would HIGHLY recommend it. It is a real thought provoker...
"When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the
day, nine times out of ten, the most obvious sin is some sin against
charity. I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And
the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation
was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time
to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as
regards to those particlar acts. They would obviously be worse if they
had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a
man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what
sort of man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put
on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most
likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does
not create teh rats, it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way
the suddenness of the porvocation does not make me an ill tempered man;
it only shows me what an ill tempered man I am. The rats are always
there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily, they will
have taken cover before you switch on the light.
Apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in teh cellar of my soul.
And if, what we are matteres even more than what we do-if indeed, what
we do matteres chiefly as evidence of what we are- then it follows that
the change which I most need to undergo is a change that my own direct
voluntary efforts cannot bring about. After the first few steps in
Christian life we realize that everything which really needs to be done
in our souls can be done only by God."
Everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only
by God. So? Let us give ourselves to Him, and let Him change us. :) Love
ya!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Grüß euch!
....What a crazy week.
Monday: P-day.
Tuesday: Distrikt meeting in Linz and! Surprise phone call telling us we need to pick up Sister Leben in Salzburg on Wednesday.
Wednesday: Picked up Sister Leben in Salzburg, rode back to Wels.
Thursday: Picked up Sister Judd in Salzburg and sent Sister Drury to Wien. Rode back to Wels.
Friday: Relatively normal, except for the fact that we had 3 appointments! Ja wohl.
Saturday: Finding day in Wels. Surprise phone call saying Sister Leben might be flying out next week. Rushed to members house to use computer to fill out an hour and a half worth of forms for SIster Leben. Didn't finish the forms.
Sunday: Church! I sure do love church. Ate with members. Rode out to Linz to finish forms for Sister Leben at the Weidman's. Forms took 3 hours. Got home a 10:15pm...
Yep. That was our week here in Wels. Totally crazy. But! On the bright side! Being in a dritt is great! A little tight quarters in the apartment, but other than that, no complaints! And! My German has already gotten WAY better! It is amazing what living with a native can do for ya. And Sister Judd's german is also really good, so we are able to ALL speak in german, ALL the time. It. Is. Beautiful. I love it. Also! We were able to have quite a few appointments over the weekend! These two Sisters are great. Great teachers. I am really excited to work with them both. It should be a great transfer:) We did however find out that we might lose Sister Leben already on Sunday. That would be a tragedy! I mean of course we are excited for her..she has been waiting for her Visa for 5 months already, and she is ACTUALLY supposed to be serving in the Washington, D.C. mission. But! Yeah. We will be excited for her if she gets it finally, but we will mourn for our sake. Hah. I will keep you posted. :) Other than that? We have an awesome new investigator here in Wels! Well, new for us. He was being taught in Wien, but just moved to our area. Leopold Schatzberger. He is SO great! He has such a beautiful spirit about him. Yesterday we had an investigator class with a very wide assortment of investigators and opinions. We had an austrian who is actually muslim. A muslim wanting to become christian who speaks great persian and unfortunately very little german, a woman who was raised in the church but then her parents left and she believes on more or less nothing, and then Leo. We were all talking about God and who He is and how He is and..etc..and the discussion had become..naja tense is a little harsh but there was just a lot going on. When we asked Leo what he thought of it all he said to the class, "I'm not really sure. But the missionaries in Vienna once gave me a very good suggestion. If you have a question and want an answer, just ask God. He has all the answers." In his short, sweet testimony the spirit was so strong. We are meeting with him tomorrow, and we can't wait!! Feel free to add him to your prayers. :) He is wonderful, and he is prepared.
Soooo I know this email is a little...well..not my finest work? Short, hectic, perhaps even a little lacking in content. Welcome to my brain sometimes? Hah. At any rate, I am about out of time already. We have a ton to get done today. But! Yeah. President Miles sent us all a part of Elder Uchtdorf's last conference talk in his email this week. The one about regrets and resolutions. It has a quote in there that I love. „Wir sollten mit dem Glücklichsein nicht zu lange warten, nur um irgendwann zu erkennen, dass das Glück doch die ganze Zeit schon ganz nah war“ Hmm..right..english.."We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time!" I love that. I love the whole talk. Feel free to read it!
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng&query=regrets+resolutions
I feel like too many of us really do postpone happiness, always waiting on the "if's" and the "when's", fooling ourselves into thinking that our happiness has less to do with us and more to do with everything around us. Which! Is so not true! There is a reason they call Satan "the father of all Lies". Satan would have us to believe that happiness is just some abstract idea meant to torture us because we can see it in the future but it will always lie just beyond our reach. What a terrible outlook on life! It often goes back to the taunting "..the grass is always greener on the other side..." No, it's not! Silly Satan. I am conviced that the grass on my side of the fence is just as green as the grass on everybody else's side. The trick? Well, I guess I can only speak for me, but what I have found is that the MOMENT I just stop worrying about everybody else's grass, mine INSTANTLY looks so much better! God WANTS us to be happy. And He truly has given us every single thing we need to achieve it. And that doesn't mean some celestial day in the future. We, all of us, have everything we need to be happy, and we can do it today. So! In the simple but powerful words of Elder Uchtdorf, "Let us resolve to be happy, regardless of our circumstances."
That is my prayer for all of you. :) Ich hab euch Lieb!!
Love,
Sister Bice
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Transfer #10..ready or not, here it comes..
Liebe Familie und Freunde,
So! You are probably all wondering about transfer calls. Or more likely than not, you have better things to wonder about, and you forgot that last week was transfer calls until reading this sentence just now...but! At any rate...transfer calls..Whenever we get transfers, I can't help but think of the song, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord.." Or, in my case, "I'll stay where you want me to stay.."
That's right! I, Sister Bice, have the privilege of staying another 5 weeks here in Wels, Austria. And!
I couldn't be happier.
I will be honest, I didn't ever really think I was going anywhere. I just..don't feel like I'm done yet? Either I need Wels or Wels needs me a little longer. My only fear? I am already too attached to these people. Another 5 weeks isn't going to help my case...
So! While I didn't really see myself going, I didn't really see what was coming either. I kinda figured sister Drury and I would stay for another round here together. But! Surprise! On Thursday, Sister Drury will be packing out and heading to Vienna to work with....Sister Schulze. My dear Sister Schulze! Mensch! I am so excited. Sister Schulze is one of my favorite people in the world. They'll take good care of each other. :) It's pretty funny. She'll send my trainer home..crazy.
As for me? Well, I'm not getting a new companion.
.....I'm getting two.
Yep! Ready or not wels, here we come! I don't actually know either of them. Sister Judd (Who by the way was also trained by Sister Schulze..cool) is from Las Vegas and currently serving with my Mission Twin, Sister Smart. I have no doubt that I will lvoe her. :) And Sister Leben is definitely..german! She is actually going on a mission somewhere in the states, but is serving with us until her Visa is approved. I am excited to have a german comp again! I have no idea how long she will get to stay with us, but I will love her for as long as she does! At any rate, we have a lot to do to get the apartment ready for 3 sisters but..it'll be great. And of course working as a threesome will be..different. But! Change is good. It usually hurts, but it's for the best. IT is the change in our lives that keeps us on our toes and makes us grow. I will certainly miss Sister Drury, but! The Lord knows best. I hope that Sister Leben and Sister Judd are excited to come and serve in Wels. I am sure they will grow to love it just as much as I have.:)
So! The work in Wels is just trucking along. Slowly, but surely. Sister Drury and I have really been searching for new investigators lately, and have really enjoyed teaching the ones that we have found. Danny is doing great and progressing, we just can't seem to get him to come to church. He says every week that he is coming but alas, he hasn't yet. But! We are certainly working on it. He did however say that if he felt that what we are teaching him is true, he would get baptized. We are excited about his progress and praying that the spirit continues to testify to him of the truthfulness of our message and the joy that comes from it. :) Other than that we had a crazy (aka normal) week. Tuesday we were in Salzburg for another GREAT zone meeting.Thursday we were in Schärding for finding day. We had to eat blood sausage...again. I gave a talk in sacrament. We found a lot of potential investigators! And we laughed lots. :)
Last week I hit my "one year in the field mark" and did a lot of reflecting. Sister Schulze sent me a letter last week with a quote that I loved: "Missions don't change you, they shape you." I love that.I fell like in the last year, I have been pulled, pinched, stretched..shaped. And yet, I am still little old me. I am myself, but a better self. When I think back on the people I've met and the lessons I have learned the last year, I can't even imagine not having spent it here in Germany and Austria. I guess of all that I have learned, I have learned the most about..myself. Yep, the whole deal has been more or less a giant "journey of self". When I was in Göppingen I got a blessing from my district leader in which he said, "Your mission is there to show you all the things you can do, and not the things you can't do because/though others can.." I am really grateful for that lesson. I have learned so much about my abilities, my capabilities, my relationship with the Lord, about love, about, well, a lot of things. My mission has helped me discover myself, through serving others. My talents, personality, strengths, weaknesses...me. It has also taught me to love all of those things. To love myself for the things I am and also for the things I'm not. To love myself and others as Christ loves each one of us. And most importantly? My mission has taught me that we can change. My mission experiences have shaped me and helped me start the foundations of conversion that will undoubtedly help me throughout my whole life and in the eternities. And the best part? It's not over yet! I still have 4 whole months. :)
I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Soo I know this is already long, but I have to share my favorite take-aways from Zone training! Our zone leader, Elder Szvoboda, said something I found to be profound. He said "Try to find out who you are, and really radiate that." I feel like so much of our lives are wasted in trying to become something we're not. Which is a pity. If we all spenta little more time and energy trying to becomes our best selves and stopped worrying about becoming a mediocre version of somebody else's self, just think of the good we could accomplish.
Annd I am sure a lot of you have heard this, but Elder Weidman shared a cute little saying about TRIUMPH. Notice the first 3 letters...Try! But it doesn't end there. We need something else. We need a little UMPH! He compared it to James 1:5-6. James 1:5 is the try, but James 1:6 is the umph! Yes, we can always ask of God, and yes, He will always answer. But we need to ask in faith, nothing wavering! We need a little umph! So! Fear not to do good! And if at first you don't succeed, just try giving it a little "umph". :)
Ok I know I know this is long..don't worry, I'm finished. ;) I love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Bis nächste Woche!
Love,
Sister Bice
So! You are probably all wondering about transfer calls. Or more likely than not, you have better things to wonder about, and you forgot that last week was transfer calls until reading this sentence just now...but! At any rate...transfer calls..Whenever we get transfers, I can't help but think of the song, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord.." Or, in my case, "I'll stay where you want me to stay.."
That's right! I, Sister Bice, have the privilege of staying another 5 weeks here in Wels, Austria. And!
I couldn't be happier.
I will be honest, I didn't ever really think I was going anywhere. I just..don't feel like I'm done yet? Either I need Wels or Wels needs me a little longer. My only fear? I am already too attached to these people. Another 5 weeks isn't going to help my case...
So! While I didn't really see myself going, I didn't really see what was coming either. I kinda figured sister Drury and I would stay for another round here together. But! Surprise! On Thursday, Sister Drury will be packing out and heading to Vienna to work with....Sister Schulze. My dear Sister Schulze! Mensch! I am so excited. Sister Schulze is one of my favorite people in the world. They'll take good care of each other. :) It's pretty funny. She'll send my trainer home..crazy.
As for me? Well, I'm not getting a new companion.
.....I'm getting two.
Yep! Ready or not wels, here we come! I don't actually know either of them. Sister Judd (Who by the way was also trained by Sister Schulze..cool) is from Las Vegas and currently serving with my Mission Twin, Sister Smart. I have no doubt that I will lvoe her. :) And Sister Leben is definitely..german! She is actually going on a mission somewhere in the states, but is serving with us until her Visa is approved. I am excited to have a german comp again! I have no idea how long she will get to stay with us, but I will love her for as long as she does! At any rate, we have a lot to do to get the apartment ready for 3 sisters but..it'll be great. And of course working as a threesome will be..different. But! Change is good. It usually hurts, but it's for the best. IT is the change in our lives that keeps us on our toes and makes us grow. I will certainly miss Sister Drury, but! The Lord knows best. I hope that Sister Leben and Sister Judd are excited to come and serve in Wels. I am sure they will grow to love it just as much as I have.:)
So! The work in Wels is just trucking along. Slowly, but surely. Sister Drury and I have really been searching for new investigators lately, and have really enjoyed teaching the ones that we have found. Danny is doing great and progressing, we just can't seem to get him to come to church. He says every week that he is coming but alas, he hasn't yet. But! We are certainly working on it. He did however say that if he felt that what we are teaching him is true, he would get baptized. We are excited about his progress and praying that the spirit continues to testify to him of the truthfulness of our message and the joy that comes from it. :) Other than that we had a crazy (aka normal) week. Tuesday we were in Salzburg for another GREAT zone meeting.Thursday we were in Schärding for finding day. We had to eat blood sausage...again. I gave a talk in sacrament. We found a lot of potential investigators! And we laughed lots. :)
Last week I hit my "one year in the field mark" and did a lot of reflecting. Sister Schulze sent me a letter last week with a quote that I loved: "Missions don't change you, they shape you." I love that.I fell like in the last year, I have been pulled, pinched, stretched..shaped. And yet, I am still little old me. I am myself, but a better self. When I think back on the people I've met and the lessons I have learned the last year, I can't even imagine not having spent it here in Germany and Austria. I guess of all that I have learned, I have learned the most about..myself. Yep, the whole deal has been more or less a giant "journey of self". When I was in Göppingen I got a blessing from my district leader in which he said, "Your mission is there to show you all the things you can do, and not the things you can't do because/though others can.." I am really grateful for that lesson. I have learned so much about my abilities, my capabilities, my relationship with the Lord, about love, about, well, a lot of things. My mission has helped me discover myself, through serving others. My talents, personality, strengths, weaknesses...me. It has also taught me to love all of those things. To love myself for the things I am and also for the things I'm not. To love myself and others as Christ loves each one of us. And most importantly? My mission has taught me that we can change. My mission experiences have shaped me and helped me start the foundations of conversion that will undoubtedly help me throughout my whole life and in the eternities. And the best part? It's not over yet! I still have 4 whole months. :)
I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Soo I know this is already long, but I have to share my favorite take-aways from Zone training! Our zone leader, Elder Szvoboda, said something I found to be profound. He said "Try to find out who you are, and really radiate that." I feel like so much of our lives are wasted in trying to become something we're not. Which is a pity. If we all spenta little more time and energy trying to becomes our best selves and stopped worrying about becoming a mediocre version of somebody else's self, just think of the good we could accomplish.
Annd I am sure a lot of you have heard this, but Elder Weidman shared a cute little saying about TRIUMPH. Notice the first 3 letters...Try! But it doesn't end there. We need something else. We need a little UMPH! He compared it to James 1:5-6. James 1:5 is the try, but James 1:6 is the umph! Yes, we can always ask of God, and yes, He will always answer. But we need to ask in faith, nothing wavering! We need a little umph! So! Fear not to do good! And if at first you don't succeed, just try giving it a little "umph". :)
Ok I know I know this is long..don't worry, I'm finished. ;) I love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Bis nächste Woche!
Love,
Sister Bice
Monday, February 4, 2013
LIEBE Grüße aus Österreich:)
Liebe Familie, Freunde, Angehörige...und alle Andere,
Woah! February! When did that happen? I feel like somewhere inside of me I keep holding on to the hope that the time will slow down a bit out here, but I guess it is futile because the time just seems to keep going faster...
Well! Or should I say, Wels! I do love Wels. Do you know what we had in Wels this week? SUNSHINE! Wednesday and Thursday were little "teasers" for Spring. The sun came out, all the snow melted, and it was like 50 degrees! Herrlich. Annnd then Winter decided to rear its ugly head again..we are back to cloudy skies and cold and wet..and snow. But! If Satan thinks that is enough to dampen my spirits, he's got another thing coming. ;)
So! Other than the weather, the week was great. On Wednesday Sister Drury and I had the awesome opportunity to go to Salzburg and do some contacting with..the Zone Leaders. Wow, we learned so much! Our zone leaders here are just straight up great missionaries and it was neat to spend a few hours with them seeing how they street contact. I learned a ton. We talked about it later and I think one of the best things we learned is that they don't necessarily do anything wildy different from us. We are just all out here in the same boat looking for the Lord's elect! Our contacting for the rest of the week was awesome though. We didn't find many potentials, but we talked to TONS of people and...it was just great. AND a lot of fun. :) We also met with Danny again. We talked about the Plan of Salvation but didn't get all the way through because he had lots of questions. Which is also good! He did come to church again though. :/ But! We will keep on it! We also found another investigator named Jabab, who is a total sweetheart but doesn't speak much German. We did however find a persian translator, so we hope to be able to make some progress with him in the coming weeks as well. :)
As for this coming week...we have....zone conference!! Wait..that is a lie..we have Zone Training Meeting. But! I am really excited for it. I do believe that the Salzburg Austria Zone is the best Zone in the world. We also have an appointment with this WAY neat family that comes to church at least twice a month...but hasn't really ever felt the need to meet with the missionaries. Please feel free to pray for Familie Bauer!! We are also meeting with Danny again and...naja. We have a good and busy week planned. Which is good because on Friday come..
Transfer Calls.
Yep. You know what I realized last week? More like.."You know what hit me like a ton of bricks last week?"....How much I am going to miss Wels if I get transferred. I will confess, I have been more of the opinion lately that I am more or less ready to be transferred. Ready for a change. Like I need..well, let's be honest, I have no idea what I need. Mostly I have an inner turmoil on what is going to happen. I have no idea. But! The Lord knows and that is enough for me. :) I will let ya'll know how it goes next week.
Also! Do you know what this week is? By the end of this week, I will have been in Europe for ONE YEAR! One whole year. In honor of the occasion, I did some journal reminiscing this morning....
February 5 2012 "...Tonight we had a little testimony meeting with the departing Districts. It was in the same room we met in when we first got here. Strange. We all shared the biggest tings we learned here at the MTC: I think mine is just the power of Chapter 6 in Preach my Gospel, Christ Like Attributes. I love reading and studying about Christ. He truly is perfect. Never not once did He falter in His course of perfection. And the incredible capactiy He had to love everyone was..well..incredible. Over the course of my mission, I really want to strive my best to follow in His footsteps and become like Him. It all goes back to the simple "What would Jesus Do?" I firmly believe that every problem I will face on my mission and in my life can me overcome or avoided entirely as I work for and master the attributes of the Master..."
..I forgot about this little experience from the MTC. I forgot we ever even had a "share what we learned" testimony meeting. But as I read it this morning, it rang so true that I was surprised I could have ever forgotten it. I am glad that my "firm belief" from the MTC has been tried, tested, proven, and turned into a knowledge out here these last 12 months in the mission field. I can testify that every problem I have faced on my mission has been (or at least could have been..) overcome and/or avoided entirely as I have tried to apply the teachings of the Savior. And I am confident that it will be the same with every trial I face after my mission. It really IS as simple as "What would Jesus do?" Elder Bednar gave a beautiful address in the MTC last Christmas, where he talked about how Christ ALWAYS turned outward, when the "natural man" would be inclined to turn inward. He always. Just. Loved. President Miles has encouraged us to work on 1 christ-like attribute a month this year, and February is my Charity month. I opened up my bible this morning and just so happened to be in 1 Corinthians 13.
"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing..."
Without Charity, we can accomplish nothing, and we are nothing.
"4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
I encourage you all this next week to try to have a little more Charity. One little test I like to give myself is to plug my name into the above scriptures and see how true it us. "Sister Bice suffereth long, and is kind; Sister Bice envieth not; Sister Bice..." Etc. Sometimes it is a little bit uncomfortable but only in the good kind of "Hmm, you really COULD do better on that.." way. I know that as we try to have just a little more love for those around us, our Father in Heaven will help us and bless us with opportunities to serve others. "To every man there comes that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour." –Winston Churchill. We never know when our moment will come, but I believe that if we are truly doing our best to become more like Christ every day of our lives, we will be ready when it does. :)
Ok! I am sorry this is so eternally long. I will cut you all some slack and let you go. I love you all! Thanks for your thoughts and your prayers! Have a lovely week! And remember, there are only 14,441,346 members of the church, out of 6 billion people on the earth. That means we are all privileged to be 1 in 14 million! And that there are a lot of people out there still waiting to hear the truth. So Smile! I dare you to see what comes of it. :) Liebe Grüße!
Love,
Sister Bice
Woah! February! When did that happen? I feel like somewhere inside of me I keep holding on to the hope that the time will slow down a bit out here, but I guess it is futile because the time just seems to keep going faster...
Well! Or should I say, Wels! I do love Wels. Do you know what we had in Wels this week? SUNSHINE! Wednesday and Thursday were little "teasers" for Spring. The sun came out, all the snow melted, and it was like 50 degrees! Herrlich. Annnd then Winter decided to rear its ugly head again..we are back to cloudy skies and cold and wet..and snow. But! If Satan thinks that is enough to dampen my spirits, he's got another thing coming. ;)
So! Other than the weather, the week was great. On Wednesday Sister Drury and I had the awesome opportunity to go to Salzburg and do some contacting with..the Zone Leaders. Wow, we learned so much! Our zone leaders here are just straight up great missionaries and it was neat to spend a few hours with them seeing how they street contact. I learned a ton. We talked about it later and I think one of the best things we learned is that they don't necessarily do anything wildy different from us. We are just all out here in the same boat looking for the Lord's elect! Our contacting for the rest of the week was awesome though. We didn't find many potentials, but we talked to TONS of people and...it was just great. AND a lot of fun. :) We also met with Danny again. We talked about the Plan of Salvation but didn't get all the way through because he had lots of questions. Which is also good! He did come to church again though. :/ But! We will keep on it! We also found another investigator named Jabab, who is a total sweetheart but doesn't speak much German. We did however find a persian translator, so we hope to be able to make some progress with him in the coming weeks as well. :)
As for this coming week...we have....zone conference!! Wait..that is a lie..we have Zone Training Meeting. But! I am really excited for it. I do believe that the Salzburg Austria Zone is the best Zone in the world. We also have an appointment with this WAY neat family that comes to church at least twice a month...but hasn't really ever felt the need to meet with the missionaries. Please feel free to pray for Familie Bauer!! We are also meeting with Danny again and...naja. We have a good and busy week planned. Which is good because on Friday come..
Transfer Calls.
Yep. You know what I realized last week? More like.."You know what hit me like a ton of bricks last week?"....How much I am going to miss Wels if I get transferred. I will confess, I have been more of the opinion lately that I am more or less ready to be transferred. Ready for a change. Like I need..well, let's be honest, I have no idea what I need. Mostly I have an inner turmoil on what is going to happen. I have no idea. But! The Lord knows and that is enough for me. :) I will let ya'll know how it goes next week.
Also! Do you know what this week is? By the end of this week, I will have been in Europe for ONE YEAR! One whole year. In honor of the occasion, I did some journal reminiscing this morning....
February 5 2012 "...Tonight we had a little testimony meeting with the departing Districts. It was in the same room we met in when we first got here. Strange. We all shared the biggest tings we learned here at the MTC: I think mine is just the power of Chapter 6 in Preach my Gospel, Christ Like Attributes. I love reading and studying about Christ. He truly is perfect. Never not once did He falter in His course of perfection. And the incredible capactiy He had to love everyone was..well..incredible. Over the course of my mission, I really want to strive my best to follow in His footsteps and become like Him. It all goes back to the simple "What would Jesus Do?" I firmly believe that every problem I will face on my mission and in my life can me overcome or avoided entirely as I work for and master the attributes of the Master..."
..I forgot about this little experience from the MTC. I forgot we ever even had a "share what we learned" testimony meeting. But as I read it this morning, it rang so true that I was surprised I could have ever forgotten it. I am glad that my "firm belief" from the MTC has been tried, tested, proven, and turned into a knowledge out here these last 12 months in the mission field. I can testify that every problem I have faced on my mission has been (or at least could have been..) overcome and/or avoided entirely as I have tried to apply the teachings of the Savior. And I am confident that it will be the same with every trial I face after my mission. It really IS as simple as "What would Jesus do?" Elder Bednar gave a beautiful address in the MTC last Christmas, where he talked about how Christ ALWAYS turned outward, when the "natural man" would be inclined to turn inward. He always. Just. Loved. President Miles has encouraged us to work on 1 christ-like attribute a month this year, and February is my Charity month. I opened up my bible this morning and just so happened to be in 1 Corinthians 13.
"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing..."
Without Charity, we can accomplish nothing, and we are nothing.
"4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
I encourage you all this next week to try to have a little more Charity. One little test I like to give myself is to plug my name into the above scriptures and see how true it us. "Sister Bice suffereth long, and is kind; Sister Bice envieth not; Sister Bice..." Etc. Sometimes it is a little bit uncomfortable but only in the good kind of "Hmm, you really COULD do better on that.." way. I know that as we try to have just a little more love for those around us, our Father in Heaven will help us and bless us with opportunities to serve others. "To every man there comes that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour." –Winston Churchill. We never know when our moment will come, but I believe that if we are truly doing our best to become more like Christ every day of our lives, we will be ready when it does. :)
Ok! I am sorry this is so eternally long. I will cut you all some slack and let you go. I love you all! Thanks for your thoughts and your prayers! Have a lovely week! And remember, there are only 14,441,346 members of the church, out of 6 billion people on the earth. That means we are all privileged to be 1 in 14 million! And that there are a lot of people out there still waiting to hear the truth. So Smile! I dare you to see what comes of it. :) Liebe Grüße!
Love,
Sister Bice
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