What do chocolate, the Alps, and happy cows all have in common?

Wednesday, 1st:

So today our whole mission did something called FIND, which is an extension of TTE (Talk To Everyone, a special day from last transfer). FIND stands for Finden In Neuen Destinationen, or Find In New Destinations. So instead of just going to the same places that we normally did, we were supposed to go somewhere new and see what kind of people we meet. We'll, since we're in a dooring area and every neighborhood we go to is new, we did something crazy! We went all the way to the edge of our area, the edge of our zone, and almost the edge of Austria! To a little town called Schärding. We were going by on a returning member out there. She ended up not being home, but we did some dooring (no one was interested), and the road trip was fun. On the way back to Wels we went by on another returning member but she hung-up her Sprachbox on us (basically a phone for the doorbell). 

We helped Arash with his homework, and at the end we shared 2 Nephi 4:35. We asked him about his previous experiences with prayer and learned he didn't really know how to pray. So we taught him how to pray and challenged him to pray before he went to bed that night. We've been inviting him to pray to close every time we meet with him, but he always got sheepish and said he would next time, and it was so interesting that today we finally figured out why. He's got a bright future ahead of him. 

Thursday, 2nd:

We got a Referral from Salt Lake, and contacted him. He wants a Polish Book of Mormon, but said he didn't have enough money to pay for it, so we told him it was free but in return he could meet with us and let us explain it, haha.  We've got an appointment for next Thursday. 

We had Gemeinderat, which was dandy. They told us we need to ask for appointments with members, which like, I'm down to do. Just a little busy. 

Friday, 3rd:

We met with Bianca, who taught us the first bit of the commandments in Lesson 4 (so up to Follow the Prophet) and then we just chatted for a while. It was really good! 

We stayed after Bianca's lesson (we had met at the church) for the JD (YW) activity. We ate marscapone and strawberries/blueberries, and then helped them practice for a song they'll be singing at FSY (the European version of EFY, because copyright). It was loads of fun. :) 

Saturday, 4th:

Transfer Calls! I'll give you a hint... It's the answer to the title: Switzerland! 🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭 That's right, my friends, after 7 transfers in Austria, I will finally be leaving the best country in the world for another best country in the world. I'm going to be serving in Bonstetten! It's a part of Zürich, smack dab in the center of German-speaking Switzerland. My new comp will be Sister Meisenfelder, from Germany. I'll be finishing training her and we are going to be STLs! I'm super excited, and a bit humbled at this call. It's a lot of responsibility, and it means that Präsident Brown trusts me enough to put Sister Meisenfelder's future into my hands, haha! I'm also sad to be leaving Austria (like, really sad, actually), but no one can be too upset when they're leaving heaven for paradise!  I'm almost all packed already, and I'm excited to see what the next little bit holds for me. 

After transfer calls, we went to Mathilde's home. She fed us a lot of food ("Aufessen! Aufessen!") and bless her soul, gave us each €5 for the train, and snuck an extra €10 in my goodbye-card! She also gave me a whole cucumber and promised some dill, so that I could make my own cucumber salad (my absolute Favorite!). She's a character, and I'm sure gonna miss her. 

Turns out the Linz Elders also got a Referral from Salt Lake, but she lives on the border of our areas and it's easier for us to get to her, so we went by to bring her a Book of Mormon. We talked for a couple hours and she was so intrigued about the connection it had to Jerusalem and the Bible, especially with Lehi being a descendant of Israel. She was super sweet and kind, and even though she didn't believe that Christ came to the Americas ("Nah, das glaub i ned!" (Nein, dass glaube ich nicht)), she was respectful and wanted to go searching in the bible for evidence of the Book of Mormon. She's wonderful, and I think she's actually quite prepared for the gospel. She didn't seem offended by anything, it was just new to her. And she said often that she found what we taught "genial" (inspired, brilliant, ace) - including the bit about temple work, when she asked why we cared so much about genealogy (she found the church through Family Search). I'm sad I won't be here to help her progress, but I'll be praying for her! 

Sunday, 5th:

Happy Birthday to me! And what a happy birthday, indeed. I played the piano in Haag, gave a testimony about Christ, and said goodbye to many people. 

We had lunch at the Grünauers, whose younger daughter had a birthday this past week, so for dessert they brought out a chocolate-banana-Creme cake with a candle and sang to me. It was soooo sweet and warmed my heart! 

We went by Mathilde's and got the dill she promised, along with some surprise blueberries! 

We went home ganz schnell so I could change because I had spilled some Gulasch on my shirt from lunch. Well, I didn't spill it, it splattered when I was pouring it over my Knödel...

We had dinner at Schwester Auer's, which was particularly special. She's been kind of my ward-mom here in Wels. She was surprised to hear that it was my birthday, so she chastised Sister Kubricky for not texting her in secret so she could bake me a cake. Instead, she put a candle in a chocolate chip cookie, and sang to me. She was so sad to hear that I'm leaving, but was happy that we had managed to meet one last time. 

Monday, 6th:

So since Friday was the 3 week mark of my License taking 2-3 weeks, I went into the license place as a last-ditch effort to get it, since I'm leaving Wednesday. I prayed so hard walking in, and they didn't have it, so I walked away kind of grumbling and upset. We went to unregister me in Wels, when I got a call while we were in the Bürgeramt. It was from a private number, so I was a bit sketched out, but turns out... My license had literally just come in! So we didn't get me unregistered, and instead I got my license! Well, I got a paper that says I have a license and the actual one will come in the mail. So I can drive again!!! 

We booked it over to Linz for a Training-call run by Präsident for all of the trainers about how to train. I came late because of the license stuff, but it was still really good. I love Präsident and Sister Brown!! 

We had our last Distrikt rat, which if course, meant testimonies from Elder Valencia and me since we're both leaving. It was sad, but a ton of fun. 

And since it was the last Distrikt lunch, we splurged a little and went to a Chinese buffet place. I tried sushi, and I can't say I'm a fan, although one of them was okay. 

We did Distrikt finding and got some Eiskönig to wrap up the transfer. 

On our way home (I drove!) the Mohammadis canceled our appointment since Arash had football/soccer.

We did a quick stop at the post office/a store to get some boxes so I can send some packages home, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to fit everything! 

We went home and I packed the packages and more of my suitcases, and I'm almost ready to walk out the door! 

Tuesday, 7th:

We headed over to Salzburg for one last hoorah! We ran into a couple returned missionaries who both served in this mission (now married to each other) and the parents, so that was a fun conversation, especially since the guy is from Highland and served in both Wien 2 and Haag, and the girl served in Wels. So I got to update them on his converts (still active, one is in the branch presidency), and that was a really cool experience. 

We met up with the Salzburg Sisters and went to a hand-painted egg store for Sister Kubricky, bought a couple touristy shirts (they're literal fire )got some frozen joghurt, and quickly stopped at the Mirabell Gardens. Then we headed home!

We have an appointment tonight with Schwester Strihavka and Bianca to eat dinner, and go to a cultural festival (I think) in Grieskirchen for Family Home Evening. I'm excited. It's a good way to end my time here in Wels. 

Favorite new word: glattgehen - to go smoothly

Favorite funny story: So once upon a time we were on a train on our way to Salzburg and this JW came up to us and started talking to us. We literally didn't say a single word and she just talked at us for about a solid 30 minutes or so. As strange as it was, I learned something very useful: exactly how NOT to teach. She didn't know anything about us! I don't think she even knew that Sister Kubricky didn't understand anything.  Wow. That... Was terrible. But hey, props to her for being so confident in her religion and for being so prepared. 

And you get a bonus funny story! Elder Valencia is the Spanish/Columbian one in our Distrikt, and he's going home this transfer, and he said he needed to practice hugging so he would be able to hug his mom when he got home instead of shaking her hand. So, since there's no official rule against it (our MTC president even lowkey sanctioned it with "it's only awkward if you make it awkward"), he gave us each a hug goodbye. But it was still a little weird because like... We're missionaries. But it was hilarious, too. 

Favorite spiritual thought: So if you look back at my story about the license... I had prayed so hard about it. For days, and right before we went in. When they said it wasn't there, I thought that that was God' S way of telling me I didn't need it, and even though I was a bit grumbly I did my best to accept it. We also could have left immediately for Linz, but I was trying to follow the Spirit and felt like I needed to try to unregister. If we had gone straight to Linz, I wouldn't have been able to pick up my license! And it did come in! So God answered my prayer, He just wanted to teach me something about patience and trusting Him. Often when we say a prayer, we get stuck in this rut of "this is how my prayers were answered before, so this must be how God will answer this prayer I just said", but that thought process can blind us to all of the answers that God sends that come outside of that box. So be open! Trust in Him! There's a wonderful video about this in LDS media library (I watched it in the app, but surely it's online, too) called "Faith Crisis: What do we do when we feel nothing?" I highly encourageyou to watch it. 

TLDR: I'm going to Switzerland! I'll miss Austria, but that's fine. I had a good birthday, and I love the people here. Pray! 

I hob eich leb! (Ich habe euch lieb) (I love you all appropriately and in a friendly way) 

LG, 

Sister Hamilton

Pics: Salzburg adventures, Birthday with Schwester Auer, Elder Porter after accidentally ~flirting ("I'll call you tonight"), and lilacs (I've decided they're my favorite flowers, and they're EVERYWHERE here)