The Browns are Literal Goals
We planned 2 appointments, they both fell through, and then we had 2 spontaneous appointments. Ah, the joy of life as a missionary. In one of them, we decided to talk about the Restoration, but the guy kept asking us questions about the Plan of Salvation, so we went with that instead. Wooh!
Thursday, 8th:
We went to the Hubers! It's a Mom and her two kindergarten-aged children, and so it's always a party (the son is the one who cried about not being able to play God). This time, they told us about their Laterne that they made in school for some sort of Catholic holiday. Then we made fortune-tellers with them and called them "peacemakers" and wrote things they could do to spread peace on the inside.
We also met with Dalil at the Konditorei in Oberlaa, so it was really fancy and I felt so out of place, but we got cake and hot chocolate, so it was worth it. And then he paid for us, because that's the culture here, and so that was a bonus, but I felt a little bad. But it was a great lesson, because he's on page 93 of the Arabic BoM (we looked it up, that's 2 Nephi 9), and so we were able to talk about some things in the BoM and he also googled us in front of us, so we were able to shut down some falsehoods. And he was so excited to get an Arabic pass-along card so he could look up mormon.org. He's legit, and a great friend. He offered to teach us Arabic!
Friday, 9th:
We met with Eunice! S. Neumann and I found her last transfer, but she was hesitant and so I didn't think she wanted to meet with us, but by some miracle (or maybe S. Smith's charisma), we set up an appointment with her! She is so open about her life, and she has such a deep love for God. We're currently on the hunt for a Twi Book of Mormon...
We also met with this guy named Joseph for the first time. He's interesting. He really likes to talk philosophy, which is probably my least favorite thing when teaching people. Like honestly, stop saying that I can't say I believe something, and just pray with sincere intent! Ugh. People get in their own way of happiness. We're here to help them step to the side. ;)
Saturday, 10th:
Deep cleaning! We scrubbed at mold, found smoke stains behind our fridge (I'm pretty sure a copper piece burned the paint a little bit before I came), used up almost an entire bottle of grease remover in our oven, etc, and didn't finish. I'm hoping to get it all wrapped up before transfer calls this coming Saturday - if I leave, it'll be a good legacy. If I stay, it'll make my life easier.
Then we had part 1 of stake conference, and S. Brown (our mission president's wife) gave an amazing talk entirely in German! We were all so proud of her. <3 She shared her conversion story with an emphasis on member missionary work. We've already used her talk as a spiritual thought in a dinner appointment, and the members remembered what she had said and were so excited! S. Brown is such a special and wonderful woman. She truly is our Mission Mama.
Sunday, 11th:
Stake Conference pt 2. This time, Präsident Brown gave his talk. He also talked a lot about member missionary work, so it just went hand in hand with S. Brown's talk. He shared the conversion story of Elder Luke (serving in Wien 4) and even had him come up and clarify little details. It was awesome.
Monday, 12th:
Interviews! My absolute favorite part of Missionary Life. I love having the one-on-one time with Präsident. He is such a special and wonderful soul. <3 Honestly, every time he looks into your eyes, you just feel like he's searching your soul. But he smiles so much and laughs so much that it's not even intimidating, it just feels like you've known him for ages. And he has the cutest smile wrinkles around his eyes that just make you smile in return, and just my HEART! But yeah. So I went in to interviews, and he had asked us to bring our marking-each-reference-to-
But then it was awkward, because even after composing myself in the bathroom I still walked back into Distriktrat with obvious signs of crying.
But then! Because S. Brown had come along, she had "Mom talks" with each missionary, so we basically had two interviews. In our talk, we spoke about the 4 personality types, and then I told her about the Meyers-Briggs (?) 16 personality test, and basically we had fun getting to know each other a little bit better. Also, Mom, she says you're very sweet and that you're an angel!
And after interviews, we went to a member-dinner appointment with the Merls. It's a young married couple and S. Smith knew the wife from her first area, and then a JAE named Marie-Louise came along, so we had many laughs. And an amazing Kurbis soup and Apple crumble. <3
Tuesday, 13th:
Distrikt P-day! We somehow got roped into making crepes. XD But everyone brought ingredients, so it wasn't actually that bad. I just used a recipe from E. Weisler (RIP, 11.2018). And so we had a lot of fun eating crepes. Also, Marie-Louise came along to play volleyball (because we had invited her last night), but then nobody had brought a volleyball, so instead we went to the park to play football/soccer, but then we saw a playground, so 1/2 of us (including Marie-Louise) ran to it and we played "Lava" on the climbing-rope-thing. My hands hurt, but we had a lot of fun.
And now I'm writing emails! Yee.
Favorite new word: gegebenenfalls - as the case may be/where necessary/as may be necessary
Favorite funny story: I'm sick for the 4th or 5th time since coming on the mission, which equates to about once a month. When back home, I was sick about once or twice a year. RIP. Is it just living in a city, or is it the fact that missionary work takes everything out of you? Probably both.
Favorite spiritual thought: When we met with Dalil, he asked us why Nephi was called "Nefi", because apparently in Arabic that means "exile". *mind blown*
Also, how Präsident Brown prays. You know all of those stories where people pray like God is standing right in front of them and they're having a conversation with Him? Yeah, that's how he prays. Hence, tears.
I hope life is treating everyone well.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Sister Hamilton
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