Just a Small-town Girl

(except not, because that song isn't really mission-appropriate )

Tuesday, 11th:

We had a picnic with the Wiener Neustadt Sisters. We had a nice couple of hours of chatting, and they were kind enough to make us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which is the first one I've had since leaving home. #throwback

We also went shopping for a while, and we both ended up getting some boots for winter. I had rainboots before, but now I have some boots for when it's not wet but most definitely cold. 

Wednesday, 12th:

We wrote our letters to Präsident while we waited for Jeannot, the sneeze-mini-miracle, to show up for a lesson. Sadly, he never did, because he forgot. So we set up another appointment for Friday.

We had a dinner appointment with the Schäffner Familie (the mom is the JD president, the Dad is such a jokester, and they have a two-year-old daughter) and the Elders. It was such a fun and funny night, and the daughter basically adopted me as her nanny when we're over there - she'll have me feed her and pour her water and she always asks me to pick her up, and it breaks my heart a little because we're not allowed to do that as missionaries...

Thursday, 13th:

Tausch! This time I got to go to Graz. I loved how it was a bigger city, but still had that small-towny feel. I never would have called myself a "smalltown girl", but I have since learned that Cedar Hills is a small town and I am no city-slicker. Anyway, Tausch was good. There's some drama between S. Neumann and the STL I tausched with about the way a missionary should work, and I don't want to get too much into it, but they were kind of both indirectly trying to get me on their sides. It's not something I want to get dragged into, and I learned that as long as I'm doing my best to please God, I'm going to be the best missionary I can be. But also, we ate Dunkin' Donuts, which is new to Graz.  It was pretty good (and woah, I forgot how much sugar donuts have), but the best DD is still in Massachusetts.

Friday, 14th:

We tausched back, and met up in Mürzzuschlag (?) before parting ways. The STL saw my sketchbook and started enouraging me to go into fashion design. She mentioned a good school in Berlin that actually sounded like a lot of fun. I'm not going to lie, I seriously considered it for a second, but I don't think that's the direction I want my life to go in. So imma stick to Computer Programming with Animation and eventually PA school.

We met with Sandra! I don't remember if I've already talked about her, but basically we've met with her 3 times now and gone through the three lessons. She's very quiet and internalizes everything, so it can be hard to tell what she's thinking. Last time we had talked about the Plan of Salvation, and when we opened the lesson this time she said, "I don't feel like it's that easy to get to heaven. I feel like there's something we need to do, first." What a perfect lead-in to the third lesson! And after we taught the five points of the gospel, we invited her to be baptised! She said "Vielleicht", which isn't a no! She said she didn't feel ready to get baptised really soon, and we told her that we weren't going to force her to go faster than she felt comfortable, and invited her to church.

We also taught Justin, whom I've never met before, but S. Neumann had taught three or four times. He's pretty chill, but we'll be giving him to the Elders soon.

We also got pulled into a lesson with the Elders, because our appointment with Jeannot fell through again. They were teaching this girl who has a LOT of questions, mostly related to feminism. It was interesting teaching her about women and the Priesthood, the First Presidency/Quorum of the Twelve, and the Law of Chastity. It was crazy, too, because I was able to just spout out answers, which I would not have been able to do before. :)

Saturday, 15th:

We went to Frau Martina's again. Apparently, she ships S. Neumann and E. Weisler, so that was amusing but also kind of awkward. She told me I wouldn't be a good wife for him. 

We met with Elvira, and I have some big news: she prayed! It's a true miracle! She's willing to pray again, and she agreed to do the "21 Tage mit dem Buch Mormon" challenge! She is officially making measurable progress! I have so much love in my heart for her, and we got teach her about Christ - she didn't truly know who he was, and it was such a special experience to share our testimonies with her. ️

We had an Essentermin with the Elders at Eva Könnyü's again, and her non-member husband not only stayed for conversation, but he also stayed for the spiritual thought! I can see how much it hurts Schwester Könnyü to see him so against religion, so I was relieved for both of them that he stayed.

Sunday, 16th:

We taught Karen the Plan of Salvation. It was so good! She asked really good questions and she looked so grateful that we were both willing and able to answer them. She was so concerned about her friends and family that wouldn't be baptized in this life, and when she heard that they will have a second chance she just beamed! The more we talk and meet with her, the more I love her. #MissionaryLove #TheBestKindOfLove

I also felt so comfortable teaching in that lesson! Being a missionary is getting easier! 

We had another Essentermin with the Elders and the Helmrich Familie. The 7-year-old daughter gave us both bracelets, and that was really sweet. I remember doing stuff like that.

Monday, 17th:

We visited the mom of a super sweet woman in our ward named Magdalena. Magdalena is studying differential calculus, so first off all she's really smart, but also she comes to lessons with us so she's very kind as well! Her mom runs a flower shop, and when we stopped by she gave us two sweet little flower pots.  It warmed my soul.

We also had an online referral, but when we went to stop by the person there didn't know who we were looking for. RIP.

Tuesday.18th:

Today we did our normal P-day duties, and for our fun activity we went Dirndl shopping! So I may or may not have another Dirndl now, but I really didn't think I was going to wait too long before I caved, haha. S. Neumann and I had a lot of fun trying on a few different dresses, and the women there actually offered S. Neumann a job! I figured that after my mission (you know, when my German is good enough to work in Austria), I could also work there. That would be so fun!

We also stopped by a juice place because Bruna works there, and we wanted to say hi really quickly. It was kind of like a Jamba Juice, but smoothies aren't really a thing here (they're more like purees), so they tried. But Bruna was super sweet and I'm glad we stopped by.

That was pretty much our week!

Favorite funny story: Frau Martina shipping S. Neumann and E. Weisler

Favorite new word: meine Süße - my sweetheart (essentially)

Favorite spiritual thought: "The Principle of Work", April 1993 - missions are supposed to be hard! That's what makes them worth it! Also, just in general it's a good talk about hard work.

Love y'all!

, Sister Hamilton

1 Castle on the way to Graz

2 Village on the way to Graz

3 Dunkin' Donuts! We cut them with a mini Swiss Army Knife. 

4 I was cold during comp inventory. 

5 Flowers! 

6 Juice Factory