Frohes Neues Jahr!!

Tuesday, 25th:

So I know I included Christmas last week, but that was only part of the day! I got to video-call my family! I loved seeing their smiling faces, even though not all of them got to be there... but, I had a lot of fun answering questions about the mission and just in general spending a little bit of time with the family! I can't wait to do it in person next year. ;)

We spent Christmas Evening at the Hesses, where we ate duck and watched "The Other Side of Heaven". I was surprised about how different that movie is to me now that I'm actually a missionary and actually understand missions. Same with "Errand of Angels". I can't wait to watch "The Best Two Years" when I get home, haha.

People kept telling me that the holidays on my mission would be one of two things: either the hardest ones ever, or the most spiritual ones ever. I don't really feel like it was either, but I did feel like I gave a lot more to Christ this year for Christmas. It was hard work, and busy, so I never really sat down to just enjoy the Spirit, but I do feel like I was doing exactly what Christ needed me to be doing, and that made Christmas more special, even if it didn't feel like it in the day-to-day.

Wednesday, 26th:

We had a post-Christmas lunch with Familie Ausobsky out of Haag. They were super sweet and joked around the whole time. The father is inactive, and we don't really know why. We were told to be very careful of what we said and did because he's touchy about the church, but he was so open and loving and made sure we knew that we could come over every Sunday we were in Haag. I was so surprised, but also glad that we could help him to have a positive experience with the missionaries. :)

Thursday, 27th:

We finally picked up S. Spratt's VISA, so she's legal now! Yay! 

I packed a bag, and we were off to Salzburg to tausch with the Sisters! I stayed there with S. Mansell, while S. Spratt went back to Wels to be with S. Newcomb. We tausched in the evening, so we just got to talk while I cut S. Mansell's hair (guys, I'm now a professional. Some of the Schmidls want me to cut their kid's hair! When did I become known as the Friseurin?).

Friday, 28th:

Tausch! S. Mansell was sick, so we basically stayed in the apartment day, talking and going through areabook. When we tausched back in the evening, she said she was feeling a lot better, so that was good! She actually kind of scared me when we were talking about the deepest parts of the ocean, haha. I love the beach, but I won't be taking boat out to the middle of nowhere anytime soon! 

Saturday, 29th:

Transfer calls!! It was actually really funny, because we were expecting a call from Präsident Brown for literal hours, because our ZLs called and asked us what we wanted to have happen, and then promptly told us that that was exactly what was happening (that we were staying together, and that we were going to be STLs again). Now normally, Präsident calls the STLs to let them know. However, we were unaware that the ZLs call if you stay STLs, so we thought their call was just them telling us that they didn't actually know what was happening to us, because we were getting a call from Präsident. But, it was our actual transfer call, so I'll be staying here for another one! And probably for a couple more after that. :) I'm psyched that I get to keep working with S. Spratt, too! 

This is where the drama comes in. We had planned a full day of dooring/studies, when we get a call around 10 from the Salzburg Sisters. One of them had kind of had a meltdown about the fact that she had to stay in Salzburg for her 4th transfer in a row, because she was so tired and used to the area that she had wanted to move. So she had called Präsident Brown and asked for her assignment to be changed, when he told her she could either be in a dritt or stay there (and the dritt at the time was in one of her old areas, where she had been for 4 transfers). So she was stressing about picking between two things she didn't want. So.... her comp called us and asked for help/advice for her comp. We all prayed together over the phone, which didn't really do much to help her in the way of decision making, but her comp said she should get a blessing. And then S. Spratt asked them if they needed us there, to which they both said yes without hesitation. Which led to Tausch, Part 2! We called the Stringhams to move our apartment inspection, they got to us as soon as they could, we rushed through that, and then ran to our car and drove out to Salzburg. We made it just in time for the blessing. E. Pickard, one of the sweetest and purest people I've ever met (their District Leader, who is also going home tomorrow), gave her a blessing. After they left, we talked with her for a while, all prayed together again, and talked some more. It was clear to the three others of us what should happen, but she was still debating. We didn't want to make her choice for her, so S. Spratt and the comp left, and I went to another room and closed the door as she called Präsident. No decision was made, so we went to their church so she could play the piano to destress. Then we ended up grabbing some dinner and heading back to their apartment to Tausch back so we could make it home before curfew. The story continued through Monday, as Präsident called other people to help them in their own situations, as apparently there were other missionaries who were less-than-happy about their own assignments. But everything is worked out now, and this missionary is assigned to be in a dritt in a place she hasn't served before, and the missionary staying will be getting her MTC comp back. And everyone is happy again!

Sunday, 30th:

We had fun at our last 3-hour church meeting. I played the organ, see story below.

After church, we had a ward potluck, which was a lot of fun with a lot of food.

After Friday and Saturday, S. Spratt was forced to come to terms with the fact that she is not actually completely healed from her concussion. We both kind of forgot that she had one, but her head was killing her and she was so exhausted on Sunday that we went home to let her take a quick nap, but she ended up sleeping for almost 4 hours, and only woke up because she needed to go the bathroom. So we ended up taking it easy on Sunday, and we made some Valentine's decorations to heart-attack our own door.

Monday, 31st:

We had lunch with Familie Kräftner (the dad is our GML). It was fun! A little awkward, but they're good people.

We ran to Spar before our 6 o'clock curfew to buy ingredients to make cookies for Distrikt Rat (our Distrikt leader made a joke about how we should do that "because we're Sisters", which he felt really bad for making and apologized so much for, but we personally found it hilarious and decided to make some anyway). Anyway, while we were in the baking isle, we heard some yelling and crashing and saw the whole store flocking towards the vegetables. Despite all of our curiosity, we walked quickly in the other direction and stayed out of the way until things died down. Then, when we left, we saw a flock of Polizei around a group of people, but they all seemed pretty chill. And there was only one 5-seater police car there, so I think whoever was the big problem had already been arrested and driven away. So that was fun.

Then we made cookies for the new year!

Tuesday, 1st:

We had Distrikt Rat! It was good. :) All about goal setting, which I've decided I'm actually really bad at, so I was grateful for the opportunity to learn. Plus, S. Stringhams made the absolute BEST lasagna I have ever had. I got the recipe from her. ;)

We went streeting in Linz, as per Distriktrat tradition. At one point, we had stopped to talk to the Elders, when E. Larson (the Distrikt leader) finally realised WHY we brought cookies, and he laughed so hard that he took a few steps backwards and almost ran over a small child, to which the mother across the square laughed. 

Wednesday, 2nd:

Distrikt p-day! We went to an ice palace in Linz and took a lot of pictures (I even went down an ice slide). I felt like I was in Frozen. Then we went to Burgerista, a true burger place, complete with a sink to wash  all of the grease and juices off your hands when you're done. Me being me, went looking for a fork and knife, to which an employee laughed and handed them to me (because they don't even set them out). Everyone was so shocked and ashamed of me, and S. Spratt even said I wasn't a true American. In fact, she said I was "basically European", to which I told her I took that as a compliment. AND, I enjoyed my burger - with clean hands! ;) Then we went back to the Stringhams, finished our game of Wizard, took pictures of them, and wished them a safe flight home, as they leave for Utah tomorrow! We'll miss them a lot, but I'm excited for them to go home to their grandchildren. 

Oh, and guess what? We got a guitar from the apartment they're shutting down in Linz!! It'll probably end up going to S. Spratt, but for now, I get to use it, which makes me very happy.

Favorite new word: Zuallererst - first of all/first and foremost/above all

Favorite funny story: So once upon a time, we were greeting people at church, when Bischof comes up to me and asks if I would be willing to play the piano, as the normal player wasn't there yet. I said I would, so he takes me to the organ just a couple minutes before sacrament meeting starts. I had enough time to run through each song and realize it was gonna be a bit of a struggle. Long story short, my playing got worse throughout the meeting because the songs got harder and harder, and the normal player never took over from me, as expected. Anyway, the truly funny part is what people said to me afterwards. Remember their brutal honesty? >:) So I had people come up to me and tell me that "at least you tried", "oh, short notice, huh? I get that", "no time to practice? Yeah, that happens", "gut gekämpft", etc. But my favorite! Johann Schmidl, the sweetest, quirkiest old man, comes up to me and literally THANKS me for playing so poorly. He said, "because you couldn't play the hymns, you had to slow down to be able to play better, which allowed me time to actually think about the words we were singing. That was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had singing hymns, because I could really turn my song into a prayer (see D&C 25, I think?). I've already asked Bischof if the hymns could be played like that every week! Not poorly, just slowly. So thank you - I'm going to go let everyone know!" What a guy.

Favorite spiritual thought: I was reading the intro to Komm und Folge Mir Nach, the new Come Follow Me book, but comparkng the English and German side-by-side. It was so cool! From doing that and noticing the little nuances in words and such, I learned that Conversion is a literal Transformation into true Followers of Christ that comes from studying the Gospel. It was awesome.

Much love and best wishes with the coming year,

Sister Hamilton