What a week, what a week..

Liebe Familie und Freunde,
What. A. Week. Hmmm. What happened? Where to start...
This last week we FINALLY met with Leo again! He is SO solid! Way cool kid. WAY cool testimony of the gospel. Now, he just needs to decide what to do with it!
This last week (and by this last week I actually mean today..hah) we had an AWESOME p-day in Gmunden! Which! Is beautiful. Our train left at the crack of dawn and got about 100 feet from the station before..it broke. So we had to sit for a while. And then wait for the next train..an hour later. But! That was perfect because I got talking to the kid next to me who was AWESOME! And from Wels. We swapped numbers, and hopefully the Sisters can have an appoinment with him soon!
This last week we visited a member in the ward we haven't seen forever. She gave us coffee. A lot of member here give us "coffee" but it's actually postum. Yeah. No. This one was coffee, which I figured out after dipping a cookie into it. She told us it wasn't a sin to drink it just this once buuuut...naja. I hope she wasn't too offended that, after a long discussion, we left it untouched on the table.
This last week we went to young mens/young womens! It was so good!! They had a missionary theme and so we went and answered a whole slew of questions! Annd then the elders had a contest with the young men to see who could do the most cumulative push-ups. Haha. It was a lot of fun.
This last week we pulled our bikes out of the keller! Woo! Freedom! I loooove me some bike riding. Annd sister Judd was hilarious. She almost died. Like 10 times. She went to swing her leg over the first time...bahaha. Umm, with a girl bike, you don't have to do that..annnd she got her leg caught on the basket..annnnd man. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. Psh, who am I kidding..I am always laughing..but! It is great to be on bikes again:)
This last week we had Stake Conference! In Salzburg. It was great! Annd on the way home, (we were riding with some members..)...the car motor....died. Straight up. So we got to sit on the side of the auto-bahn for a while until the tow man came and towed us to a little town, where we had to wait for the other tow truck and..naja. It was an adventure. The Schöneborns are so great. They had a great attitude about the whole thing.
This last week we had ZONE CONFERENCE!! It was SO GOOD! zone conference is always good, but this one was especially good. I don't know exactly what it was to be honest. I mean yeah I heard a lot of great things but..what I felt? I think I felt the spirit more that day than any other given day..of my life. Well, maybe not but..it was definitely up there. Which was interesting because what I was feeling and what I was learning had relatively little to do with what was actually being said by anyone. Mostly, the Spirit used zone conference as a wonderful opportunity to teach me a lot about faith. It never ceases to amaze me that although faith is the first principle of the gospel, I can never learn too much about it. Wow. I realized that I need to let my faith guide my goals a little more. So..I will work on it:) It was so great. I would try to pass on all the wonderful things I learned but..I can't. And! I think my favorite part was the testimony meeting at the end. They always have the new missionaries give testimony, and the ones going home. It was so powerful. To start it off, my distrikt sang a beautiful arrangement "I know that my Redeemer Lives". At the end of the meeting president sometimes calls 2 extra missionaries to bear testimony. One of them was Elder Weidman, the senior missionary in our district here. I love the Weidman's. At the end of his testimony he said "And now I am going to pick on Sister Bice a little bit...I don't know if you all heard her during the song..I'm sure you did (..Everyone knows I sing loud..oops.) but I was standing next to you. And I tell you what, when that line "I know that my Redeemer lives" is sung loud and clear...it is powerful." His lovely wife leaned over and told me that they loved me. Mensch.  I love the Weidman's. I am going to miss them. Sister Weidman cried when I called and told her about transfers...
Oh, right. This last week we had transfer calls. I wrote my feelings the night before.."Dear me,...Transfer calls are tomorrow. I'm...nervous. Well. Not nervous necessarily. I just..I don't know. I am just so up in the air with this one. I have NO idea what God has in mind for me, except that I know it will be what is best for me. That's the best thing about transfers--knowing that the Man in charge..knows Me. Way better than I know me. And therefore He also knows what is best for me, as well as for the people I am serving. this is probably the only transfer on my mission where I can honestly say that..I have no preference as to what happens. I guess maybe it is just a peace that comes with trying to surrender your will to God? Something I have finally learned after 10 transfers..hah. Naja. So, nervous for what will happen? No. A little uneasy aobut the unknown? Yep.But! Come what may and love it right?" Annd then Friday morning.."Dear me, so, transfer calls. The moment we have all been waiting for hmm? Luckily we didn't have to wait long. President called shortly before 8am and informed sister Judd that she would be training. Here in Wels. Which leaves little room for little old me. She gave me the phone.."Sister Bice, we want to thank you for your wonderful service in Wels..." ...I am getting transferred. They're sending me back to my "homeland" of..Germany. Stuttgart. Now, you may be thinking to yourselves, "but Sister Bice, I thought there weren't any Sisters in Stuttgart?" Well, there aren't. Yet.
I will be white washing.
And by white washing, I mean opening the area...
....and training.
Scared? Not necessarily. Fear and faith can't co-exist. Scared? No. Humbled?
Yes.
Mensch. I really love Wels so much. It is going to break my heart to leave these people. But the Lord has other plans for me. "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord.." I'll step into the unknown. Mensch. Opening an area and training. I feel like I should be..terrified. But I'm not. If there is one thing the Lord has taught me on my mission its to trust in Him. I have NO idea what the next 2 transfers are going to look like but..i know what I'll learn what I'm supposed to learn, I'll meet who I#m supposed to meet, and If I do my best to try my best, I'll accomplish whatever it is the Lord is sending me to Stuttgart to accomplish..whatever that may be.."
...Yep. I feel like that journal entry pretty much sums up my feelings right now. Well, a small portion of them anyway. Except for the fact that "it's going to break my heart to leave these people" is turning out to be an understatement. The last few days have been filled with goodbye's and aufwiedersehen's. It has not. Been. Fun. I will miss my little Welsers....so much. But! Rather that be sad that I have to leave them, I will just be grateful, ever so grateful, for the wonderful opportunity that I had to serve at their side these last 7 months....
Do you know who else I will miss? Sister Judd. She has been a gem. But she is going to make a great trainer. I am excited for the adventures that lie ahead for her...and! She lives in Vegas. So I will be sure to visit her after her mish:)
Ok I know I didn't give you any spiritual thoughts but..my time is up for the week. Forgive me? I will see what I can do for you next week. I love you all! Thanks for your support and your prayers!!
Love,
Sister Bice
Ps. no new address yet but I'll get it to you next week. Loves!!