Stood Up in the Rain

This past week we didn't have very many lessons with investigators, but we've been building up the members of the ward. One of my favorite appointments was with the Young Women President because she told us all about her mission in France. It was great. :)

Right after that appointment, we were waiting in Karlsplatz on this bench for an investigator to show up when it started to drizzle a little bit. We zipped up our bags and kept waiting. Then all of a sudden the sky just broke and it started to POUR. It rained these wonderfully warm and large rain drops - and it rained a lot of them at once. We ran for cover under a tree, quickly realized it was doing nothing, and then ran inside the U-bahn Station. It cleared up after about 5-10 minutes, and we kept waiting for our investigator. He never came.

That night, we picked up the STL Sisters from the Bahnhof because they were on their way back from MLC and wouldn't have made it to their area by curfew. We set up some mattresses in our little living room (that may or may not have stayed there the rest of the week) and had fun talking.

Another day we visited two very nice older women who have been best friends for years (they investigated the church together). One of them is a member, and the other has had medical issues and is waiting on her doctor's approval to be baptised (going all the way under the water wouldn't have been good for her). It was funny, because one of them asked my companion if I had bad German because I wasn't speaking. Apparently I can't pull my usual be-polite-by-staying-quiet-and-listening-so-that-everyone-else-can-talk move. 

We went finding on at Stephansplatz (by Stephansdom) and then walked toward Schwedenplatz. It was interesting because we took the same path that my family and I did just over a year ago. It was cool because it brought back a lot of memories and also helped me to see how far I've come, even in just a year! Plus, we got Eis at the end of it, so that always makes things good. ;)

Sunday was cool because a really strong convert of two weeks brought some of his friends to church, and they all seemed really interested to come again. It was nothing short of a miracle, because we've lost a few investigators over the last week or so, and those we haven't lost are all on vacation.

Right after church, we went to the house of a girl who is about our age (she has a mission call to somewhere by DC - she has both the DC temple and Maryland in her mission). She made us pizza and walked us around her garden and gave us lots of tomatoes and grapes.  And I got to see her pet bunny!! 

Monday was Zone Conference. It was a whole day of learning and catching up with my MTC friends - I loved it! Plus, we got to go almost all the way to Salzburg. I also got to take home fruit - but it didn't last.  Also, our Mission President and his wife are just goals. They're so sweet.

On our way back from Zone Conference, we couldn't decide whether we should go home and do our studies that we didn't do in the morning because of the conference, or if we should go finding. We ended up choosing to go home. On the S-Bahn ride back, we were able to talk to this adorable young family! We found out the youngest girl knew a few words in English and we asked her to show off for us. She looked shy, but we overheard her dad tell her to share her testimony about how she's a child of God. They also asked us why we were carrying around so many books with us, and we explained that we were missionaries for our church, and that we just attended a conference where we were able to restock on some things. But then we got to our stop and had to leave! They seemed sad to see us go, and we were sad to leave them, but we quickly passed them a pass-along card as the doors were closing. Here's to hoping they call us! 

Today, we cleaned (the mattresses, and our recent favorite study spots, are now gone), restocked on food, and had a lovely picnic overlooking Donauinsel.

I realized I've been writing more of a log, and less of an overall explanation. So here we go:

Things I've Been Assuming that You Already Knew

-Day to day life involves waking up early, Fruhsport (usually running (ew) by the canal (pretty) ), shower/breakfast, study, lunch, finding/appointments, dinner, journaling, bed. 

-Vienna is gorgeous

-Tourists are annoying

-Pigeons are only slightly better than the tourists

-Schnikey, everyone smokes

-Europe has the best food, hands down

-Prickled water can be good, but water should always be cold

-Why no air conditioning?!

-I love how awkward everyone looks in all of the ads

-So much candy. My dentist is going to love me when he sees me in 16 months. 

-Oh my days I only have 16 months left! 

-Still shooting to be fluent by the end of my 4th transfer. 

-I'd love to serve in a more rural area at some point; I miss quiet.

-But the city is chill too. 

-My mission is about how I expected it to be - in some ways harder, and in others easier. In most ways better, though. 

Bis später! 

~Sister Hamilton

She lives SO close to the Ringstraße with famous tourist sites!