Ärztin, Maybe You SHOULD Check My Vision Again

Wednesday, 20th:

We had lunch with the Jabureks again. This time, featuring: Marillenknödel! Now THAT stuff was GOOD. I flipping love apricots. And they were sweet and all excited about spring and the new calling thing for missionaries. They said that their granddaughter wasn't so excited about it though, because it took time away from emailing. Bless Präsident Brown for taking away our time limit! 

Thursday, 21st:

We went down to near-Gmunden to visit the Familie Byrom. They showed us their pet ducks (they're quite proud of them). They're a sweet family from America, and I've rarely met someone so proud of their pets. We got to pet the smallest duck, and that was fun! 

We went to the doctor to set up an appointment to get this... Bestätigung... It's basically a paper saying we're physically able to drive. We had two options: Monday, and halfway through March. So we settled for Monday. And they told us they didn't do the vision portion, so we had to find a glasses place. 

Friday, 22nd:

We went to the eye doctor to get another Bestätigung, but this time to say we could see well enough to drive. But I wore contact lenses, and apparently that's not allowed. So they told us to come back the next day. 

Saturday, 23rd:

We went back! I asked for a "Sehtest für einen Führerschein", but apparently that's different from a "Sehtest Bestätigung für einen Führerschein", because they did the wrong thing (but like, really, it's exactly the same, they just didn't hear "Führerschein" the first time). So now I know my vision changed. AND I have a paper saying I can drive. The lady told me my vision is trash.... I know, Lady. I know. 

Sunday, 24th:

We practiced with the Choir in Haag, and the pianist/conductor was very pleased with my ability to read music. 

We had church in Haag, which went well. And afterwards there was a potluck, which was definitely a tender mercy because we had forgotten to eat breakfast and had packed a packet of soup to make for lunch. But we got a whole meal! Yay! 

Then we did 7 hours straight of finding to catch up, after all of our doctor visits. 

Monday, 25th:

It's time for everyone's favorite day... ZONENKONFERENZ! Or rather, country conference. I keep forgetting that people don't normally gather as "countries" of missionaries. So both the Salzburg and Wien zones came together. I loved it, as usual. :D Too bad y'all couldn't be there. ;) Präsident Brown talked about the story in Numbers when the Israelites send spies into Canaan to scope it out, and how most of the spies were afraid, and because of their fear they forgot about God. But Caleb and Joshua were faithful, and trusted in God despite the opposition. It was such a cool discussion when he applied it to missionary work, and how we need to just trust in God. 

We then went to the doctor again and we got cleared! The Ärztin was super nice, and we bonded over me considering the medical field. It was lit, and the secretary and everyone were just super friendly. :) 

Tuesday, 26th:

We went up to Linz for some Dirndl shopping, and Sister Kubricky got the sweetest sky-blue Dirndl! And surpise: I didn't get one, haha. It was fun talking to my parents the whole time, because they got to see a little bit of Austria. ;) 

Haha, funny story with this one. So we were in Linz, yeah? Well, we were like, "Oh, we've got an appointment, so let's go back to Wels." So we checked the travel boards and get on a train and sat down. Then I just kind of stopped. I felt weird, like something was wrong...I couldn't place my finger on it! Then I thought, "Oh heck." And the train took off. And yes, it was what I had feared: wrong train. The right direction! Wrong train. The one we were on didn't stop until Salzburg. Which is about an hour away from Wels by train. So... I low-key freaked out because that meant we had the wrong Tickets which means FINES. Which means . But the ticket people NEVER CAME BY. It was literally a miracle, because they ALWAYS come by on those trains. So we made some calls to the office and our leadership, and since Sister Kubricky needed to pick up her VISA from here (yes, here), we decided it was a tender mercy. But, the office closed at noon. So. We're staying the night! Yay! Impromptu sleepover! And we'll get her VISA in the morning. RIP.  

Favorite new word: Die Thyreoidea - The Thyroid. Just try to pronounce that word, I dare you. 

Favorite funny story: At Zone Conference, they always have the people who are in the country for the first time introduce themselves and say something they like about their comp. Well, Sister Kubricky got up and said, "I like how excited she is for General Conference!" And the rest of the time Präsident and Sister Brown just kept making jokes about it. I loved it.  Also, that just shows how obsessed I am. I've literally been counting down. (39 days left!) 

Favorite spiritual thought: So aside from Präsident Brown at Zone Conference, here's a cool idea for missionary work. If you speak another language, ask the missionaries for a Book of Mormon in the language you speak. Write your testimony in that language in the front of it, give it to the missionaries, and ask them to let you know when they've given it out! It's an easy way to do missionary work without having to give it out yourself! 

TLDR: I need to learn to read travel boards better, and physically I'm allowed to drive a car. 

Love you all! Pass auf euch auf!

Lg, 

Sister Hamilton