Hugged By a Druggie
Tuesday, 18th:
After Dirndl Shopping, we also taught English course, and Majid and Shahroon both came. We found Majid on the street near the university, and Shahroon is his friend; they're the sweetest little souls. They're both doing their PHD in English, and they have to defend their thesis in English, so they want to get better at speaking. They also both accepted A Book of Mormon in Persian! Fun fact: Shah = king, Roon = day, so Shahroon = "king of the day" and Majid = "one who spreads kindness". I just thought that was cool. :)
After Dirndl Shopping, we also taught English course, and Majid and Shahroon both came. We found Majid on the street near the university, and Shahroon is his friend; they're the sweetest little souls. They're both doing their PHD in English, and they have to defend their thesis in English, so they want to get better at speaking. They also both accepted A Book of Mormon in Persian! Fun fact: Shah = king, Roon = day, so Shahroon = "king of the day" and Majid = "one who spreads kindness". I just thought that was cool. :)
Wednesday, 19th:
We visited Schwester Kraus again, and this time we got mushroom soup with Knödel. She's still super sweet, but I think she's starting to get a little tired of life. She's been living alone for a while, so her visits with missionaries are really a bright spot for her. And for us.
We finally met with Gesundheit guy! His name is Jeannot. We taught him "God is our loving Heavenly Father" and introduced the Book of Mormon. He asked us some really good questions about God's relationship to us, how we can discern between truth/inspiration and deceit/temptation, and the Holy Ghost. It was truly an awesome conversation, and when I shared a couple of answers to some of the questions, he actually accepted them! It's crazy because the first time we talked to him, he was a little push-backy. But he took a BoM and said he would come to church.
We visited the Huber kids and built a "testimony tower" with them, using plastic cups to represent different things that we can do to build our testimonies. We had a blast with it, and the kids at the end each got a sticker that says "Team Christus" on it, with a sun. But then the boy started crying because he didn't have a box big enough to put it on, because he wanted to play in the box and "play God". And then he turned to his mom and said "that's why I wanted you to have another baby!" She explained to us that they use to buy diapers from Amazon in bulk, so they had giant boxes to play with. He had a moment of hope when he thought about gluing shoeboxes together, but then he started crying again because it wouldn't have a roof. Ah, the joy of parenthood. Looking forward to it.
We visited Schwester Kraus again, and this time we got mushroom soup with Knödel. She's still super sweet, but I think she's starting to get a little tired of life. She's been living alone for a while, so her visits with missionaries are really a bright spot for her. And for us.
We finally met with Gesundheit guy! His name is Jeannot. We taught him "God is our loving Heavenly Father" and introduced the Book of Mormon. He asked us some really good questions about God's relationship to us, how we can discern between truth/inspiration and deceit/temptation, and the Holy Ghost. It was truly an awesome conversation, and when I shared a couple of answers to some of the questions, he actually accepted them! It's crazy because the first time we talked to him, he was a little push-backy. But he took a BoM and said he would come to church.
We visited the Huber kids and built a "testimony tower" with them, using plastic cups to represent different things that we can do to build our testimonies. We had a blast with it, and the kids at the end each got a sticker that says "Team Christus" on it, with a sun. But then the boy started crying because he didn't have a box big enough to put it on, because he wanted to play in the box and "play God". And then he turned to his mom and said "that's why I wanted you to have another baby!" She explained to us that they use to buy diapers from Amazon in bulk, so they had giant boxes to play with. He had a moment of hope when he thought about gluing shoeboxes together, but then he started crying again because it wouldn't have a roof. Ah, the joy of parenthood. Looking forward to it.
Thursday, 20th:
We had interviews with Präsident Brown again! This time, he had us share a conversion story, and so I talked about the Knight Family. He got really excited, and we had a good conversation about the Knights' involvement in the early years of the church.
We had a lunch appointment with the Baumann Familie. The dad is in the Bishopric, so it was a little intimidating, but he's a jokester so it was all alright.
We went finding and stopped this Polish girl. At first she didn't really want to talk to us, but as we treated her kindly she really opened up. She ended up taking a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it on the train home, and that she felt like we could be what she was looking for.
We had interviews with Präsident Brown again! This time, he had us share a conversion story, and so I talked about the Knight Family. He got really excited, and we had a good conversation about the Knights' involvement in the early years of the church.
We had a lunch appointment with the Baumann Familie. The dad is in the Bishopric, so it was a little intimidating, but he's a jokester so it was all alright.
We went finding and stopped this Polish girl. At first she didn't really want to talk to us, but as we treated her kindly she really opened up. She ended up taking a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it on the train home, and that she felt like we could be what she was looking for.
Friday, 21st:
We taught Bruna about tithing, and she has a very strong and powerful conversion story that goes with it. I'm always amazed the more I learn about people.
We had another Book of Mormon Extravaganza. We went on splits because a Sister was feeling really sick, so we wanted her comp to have a good experience. Anyway, while I was with her I gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon on my own! Wooh! We had a goal to give out 11 copies for the week, and we got 9 of those at the thing. And we reached our goal!
We had a lesson with Moses, finally. He asked us really amazing questions and told us he had read quite a lot of the Book of Mormon (he even falls asleep while reading it). He said that he wanted to read more though, and that he would surprise us at the end. And partway through this amazing lesson, this creepy guy came up and sat next to us and starting asking in appropriate questions and swearing a lot. Moses stepped in and answered his questions with respect, and S. Neumann handed him a card to get him to go away. It worked, but only after he swore a little more. Moses felt really bad for us and wanted to make sure we would be safe, and we assured him that we would be. He was so sweet, and it was truly a beautiful lesson.
We taught Bruna about tithing, and she has a very strong and powerful conversion story that goes with it. I'm always amazed the more I learn about people.
We had another Book of Mormon Extravaganza. We went on splits because a Sister was feeling really sick, so we wanted her comp to have a good experience. Anyway, while I was with her I gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon on my own! Wooh! We had a goal to give out 11 copies for the week, and we got 9 of those at the thing. And we reached our goal!
We had a lesson with Moses, finally. He asked us really amazing questions and told us he had read quite a lot of the Book of Mormon (he even falls asleep while reading it). He said that he wanted to read more though, and that he would surprise us at the end. And partway through this amazing lesson, this creepy guy came up and sat next to us and starting asking in appropriate questions and swearing a lot. Moses stepped in and answered his questions with respect, and S. Neumann handed him a card to get him to go away. It worked, but only after he swore a little more. Moses felt really bad for us and wanted to make sure we would be safe, and we assured him that we would be. He was so sweet, and it was truly a beautiful lesson.
Saturday, 22nd:
We went finding and stopped a woman named Martzel, who was very angry with the world. She told us that sometimes she doesn't feel like life is worth living anymore. We testified about Christ and how she is a child of God and how that means she is important. We showed her the 21 Day challenge and even opened up to the scripture that goes with the second question (how can I find joy?), so hopefully she reads it. We also got her phone number, but I so I hope we can meet with her and help change her life around.
We went finding and stopped a woman named Martzel, who was very angry with the world. She told us that sometimes she doesn't feel like life is worth living anymore. We testified about Christ and how she is a child of God and how that means she is important. We showed her the 21 Day challenge and even opened up to the scripture that goes with the second question (how can I find joy?), so hopefully she reads it. We also got her phone number, but I so I hope we can meet with her and help change her life around.
Sunday, 23rd:
Jeannot didn't come to church. We got a text late at night from him and all it said was "I am so sorry". I don't know why, but I found it amusing.
We met with Leonie and taught the Neubekehrt Plan of Salvation lesson. She didn't have any questions, but later that night she sent us a text asking about the Telestial Kingdom because she was explaining the Plan of Salvation to her nonmember friend. She was so grateful for our help, and we were so happy that she's doing missionary work!
We had dinner at Bischof Merl's home. He came a little late from the church and his children were a little crazy, but I was happy because it reminded me of when I was younger and Dad was the Bishop. I could see how much they were investing in us, and I was grateful for the sacrifice of their time.
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Jeannot didn't come to church. We got a text late at night from him and all it said was "I am so sorry". I don't know why, but I found it amusing.
We met with Leonie and taught the Neubekehrt Plan of Salvation lesson. She didn't have any questions, but later that night she sent us a text asking about the Telestial Kingdom because she was explaining the Plan of Salvation to her nonmember friend. She was so grateful for our help, and we were so happy that she's doing missionary work!
We had dinner at Bischof Merl's home. He came a little late from the church and his children were a little crazy, but I was happy because it reminded me of when I was younger and Dad was the Bishop. I could see how much they were investing in us, and I was grateful for the sacrifice of their time.
Monday, 24th:
We had Distrikt Rat, and it was interesting because we had both the St Pölten Elders and the Wiener Neustadt Sisters Skype in to save travel time and money. It worked out pretty well, but it was a little bit of a hassle. It's more practical, though, for them.
We had two appointments with members for lunch and dinner and both appointments fell through. RIP.
So instead we went finding. We do our best to stop everyone and to not judge people, but there's a certain element of righteous judgment that prevents me from stopping certain people. I call it discernment. S. Neumann is occasionally oblivious, which may be attributed to the fact that fear also sometimes prevents me from stopping someone, so if I don't stop someone she usually thinks it's because I chickened out. So anyway, yesterday we were finding and there was this one guy and I thought he was a little sketch so I decided not to stop him, but she swooped in and stopped him! He seemed normal-ish at first, but as we were talking he started bringing up drugs. He asked us if we knew the "vibes" and talked about some illegal things and his druggie friends and how he wasn't as much into drugs as marijuana, etc. We kept trying to end the conversation, but he wasn't understanding us, so it went on even longer. At the end, we stuck out our hands for a hand shake and he hugged us! 🤤 I choked a little bit, but he quickly left and I just looked at S. Neumann and she just shrugged her shoulders. "Es passt schon."
When we learned that our dinner appointment fell through, I was very hungry. So we went to a little "Californian Mexican Restaurant" called Max and Benito's. It's Europeans trying to make Mexican food, so it's not echt Mexican, but it's still good, and the grilled veggies remind me of Dad's (but not as good!).
When we got home, I tried to make Pflaumenkuchen in a time crunch. I didn't want the plums to rot, so I did my best to crank something out. So the cake got no rising time and probably about 1/3rd of the cooking time that it should have had, and we still went to bed a tiny bit late.
I had high hopes for it as I went to bed, because I just turned off the oven and hopped into bed without checking the cake (it smelled good, too!) , but when I looked at it this morning I basically cut into a crusty solid-dough blob. So. I still have about half of the plums, and I plan on trying again. This next time with more time for it to cook.
We had Distrikt Rat, and it was interesting because we had both the St Pölten Elders and the Wiener Neustadt Sisters Skype in to save travel time and money. It worked out pretty well, but it was a little bit of a hassle. It's more practical, though, for them.
We had two appointments with members for lunch and dinner and both appointments fell through. RIP.
So instead we went finding. We do our best to stop everyone and to not judge people, but there's a certain element of righteous judgment that prevents me from stopping certain people. I call it discernment. S. Neumann is occasionally oblivious, which may be attributed to the fact that fear also sometimes prevents me from stopping someone, so if I don't stop someone she usually thinks it's because I chickened out. So anyway, yesterday we were finding and there was this one guy and I thought he was a little sketch so I decided not to stop him, but she swooped in and stopped him! He seemed normal-ish at first, but as we were talking he started bringing up drugs. He asked us if we knew the "vibes" and talked about some illegal things and his druggie friends and how he wasn't as much into drugs as marijuana, etc. We kept trying to end the conversation, but he wasn't understanding us, so it went on even longer. At the end, we stuck out our hands for a hand shake and he hugged us! 🤤 I choked a little bit, but he quickly left and I just looked at S. Neumann and she just shrugged her shoulders. "Es passt schon."
When we learned that our dinner appointment fell through, I was very hungry. So we went to a little "Californian Mexican Restaurant" called Max and Benito's. It's Europeans trying to make Mexican food, so it's not echt Mexican, but it's still good, and the grilled veggies remind me of Dad's (but not as good!).
When we got home, I tried to make Pflaumenkuchen in a time crunch. I didn't want the plums to rot, so I did my best to crank something out. So the cake got no rising time and probably about 1/3rd of the cooking time that it should have had, and we still went to bed a tiny bit late.
Tuesday, 25th:
Distrikt p-day! We played soccer at a park close to our church and made crepes. They were pretty good, and it made me reminisce about several things from back home. Playing AA soccer, rolling my ankle at marching band, eating an echt crepe in France, the MTC, last district p-day... It was good fun. :) Plus, now I have a recipe for crepes and a recipe for buttermilk syrup.
Distrikt p-day! We played soccer at a park close to our church and made crepes. They were pretty good, and it made me reminisce about several things from back home. Playing AA soccer, rolling my ankle at marching band, eating an echt crepe in France, the MTC, last district p-day... It was good fun. :) Plus, now I have a recipe for crepes and a recipe for buttermilk syrup.
Favorite funny story: the Huber boy crying about not being able to play "God". The other stories will be funny after some time has distanced them.
Favorite new word: Schrecklich - terrible (Kyle and Alex and co. will find it amusing)
Favorite spiritual thought: the "21 Days with the Book of Mormon" challenge. It's a thing being promoted by missionaries here in Europe (possibly elsewhere, too) where there are 21 questions of the soul accompanied by 21 references in the Book of Mormon as answers to these questions. It's been really cool to use it with finding, because people are much more willing to take the Book of Mormon, and members have been very interested in helping their own studies. I'll attach a PDF of the pamphlet at the bottom, but you can also search for it on lds.org. It started on the first of September officially, but there's no dates attached so you can start it whenever.
Favorite new word: Schrecklich - terrible (Kyle and Alex and co. will find it amusing)
Favorite spiritual thought: the "21 Days with the Book of Mormon" challenge. It's a thing being promoted by missionaries here in Europe (possibly elsewhere, too) where there are 21 questions of the soul accompanied by 21 references in the Book of Mormon as answers to these questions. It's been really cool to use it with finding, because people are much more willing to take the Book of Mormon, and members have been very interested in helping their own studies. I'll attach a PDF of the pamphlet at the bottom, but you can also search for it on lds.org. It started on the first of September officially, but there's no dates attached so you can start it whenever.
Much love!
Sister Hamilton
Sister Hamilton
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