Woche 87 von 102- Lederhosen Eingekauft, Tausch in St. Pölten, Ostern Vortrag und Dienstprojekt!
Hallo!
So, after studies we began p-day by heading to the centre, so that Elder Brady could sort Uni stuff out on the computers there. So I did a bit of emails while he did that and sorted a few other things, then when he finished we decided we would just keep doing emails then, so we did. Then we headed out- I printed pictures off to do some Tschüssbuch entries and then we went Lederhosen shopping for my comp. We found a place where the hosen were on sale, so he got some and I couldn't resist, so I also got some. Although I didn't get the full outfit and just got the hosen and socks. You know, Lederhosen are actually super comfortable! They're great! Then we headed back home, went food shopping and it was time to work. This evening we were invited over to dinner and FHE by Familie S. It was a really nice evening. The Sisters did a really nice spiritual thought, then P asked us for a blessing, as he was ill. So we did! They are a really cool family! Then home, planned, had a Lederhosen party and the day was over!
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| Lederhosen Party |
So Dienstag morgen began with a bit of studies before heading back to the Lederhosen shop, as they forgot to give Elder Brady his change back and he didn't realise till we were almost home yesterday; so we went back to pick that up this morning and we went in and they were like completely einverstanden and gave him his change. They said that they did realise they were a little over on the till, so it all made sense! Then we headed this time to Pfahlhaus to have district meeting. It was pretty good, based on commitments again. Then after DM we joined with the other two Wien districts and practiced our missionary musical number for the thing on Friday. We finally settled with 'I Know that my Redeemer Lives', went through it a few times and we ended up sounding pretty darn good. Then we tausched and I headed to St. Pöllten with Elder Gappmayer, so when we got here we headed over to the GML (I think that's who he was) and gave him a blessing and then they also fed us dinner. After that, we headed over to the Chapel where they were having a course for teachers and they wanted us to join in and input and stuff, so that filled most of the evening; then we headed home, did Sprach, planned and now I am writing my journal!
Mittwoch began with studies and lunch before Elder Gappmayer and I headed out to do some finding in the Innenstadt for like 3 hours or so before tausching back. Then Elder Brady and I headed back to Wien, popped home to drop my bag off and sort out a progress record before heading off to the H's for GMK. They're both ward missionaries, so we do it at their place. Then we did some finding before heading home for dinner. I still really need to sort some Tschüssbuchs out, so that was my day! Oh, I forgot the crazy circus girl story. So as Elder Gappmayer and I were finding we stopped this guy and had a little chat with him and whilst we were talking to him, this woman/girl stopped and started lingering around us, then the convo with this guy ends and just before we start walking - this girl starts shouting at us at like the top of her lungs about animal abuse and how wrong it is. Like who knows where that all came from! I'm guessing she just wanted a rant and figured that we would listen to it. Then she's going on about how animals have feelings, just like humans and how they only get vicious because of the way humans react and treat them. Then she goes on about how she was born and raised in the circus and has like a pet tiger and bear and how next time she comes out to town she's gonna come out with her tiger on her shoulder and her bear, which is like this tall (as she gets on her tiptoes and reaches as high as she can); and she won't even put a lead on them, as she'll just let them roam and then we'll see what happens. Then she just went on and on forever about how evil people are to animals. It was fun! It was just like one of those crazy tausch moments.
So, Donnerstag began with studies before heading out to do some finding for a few hours before heading back for a late lunch. So, finding began by the chapel as we saw a guy waiting outside reading the notice board they have, so we thought we'd stop him and see if we can help. He said he wanted a Book of Mormon, so we gave him one and got to know him a bit- he didn't have any interest to meet, but told us his religious background, of which he believes Joseph Smith is a prophet and that Christ, Mohammed and Joseph Smith will all come down in an UFO for the second coming - and our genetics will change, so we can live for 1000 years, it was crazy! Then the rest of finding sucked, nobody wanted to know, let alone stop to speak with us. Then home to eat and then out again. Headed to the centre for Deutsch course, then we taught our less active who has now started going to Deutsch course. It was cool. Then we helped the Sisters sort the thing for tomorrow's Easter devotional and that was our day!
So, Freitag was a very plain day for the majority of it, so studies, lunch, weekly planning. Then after we finished with that we headed to the Instizentrum to finish a few preperations for tonight, practiced our musical number and then we had a quick 15 min lesson with a guy who has fallen out every time since I've been here, until he came for tonight's thing, so we nabbed the opportunity to teach him. Then it was our Easter Fireside. It was actually pretty well attended- and the majority of them were non-members, granted they were from Deutschkurs, but it was really well attended and went really well. It was a really nice evening. Plus I made some Choc Fudge Cake and it went down pretty well!
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| Singing at our Easter Fireside |
So Samstag was all planned out and we were going to have a real power find today, but then last night Wien 5 asked us if we could come and help out with a service project, as a family in their ward was moving house and they needed more hands than were available, plus it was one of our Bishop's brothers, so we agreed and got up nice and early to get to Deutsch-Wagram for 9.00 this morning. So we basically took stuff out, loaded the van and then drove over to the new place and unloaded it. It took quite a while, plus some of that stuff was beastly! Like my biceps are gonna be way sore in the morning and my back might be a little achy aswell. So it took like 3 trips as well and each time that van was chocka, but it was fun! They also fed us lunch during. Then we needed to head home to get re-showered and changed before heading to the other side of Wien for a dinner appointment. It was really nice and the Sisters took the spiritual thought again.... Then to the centre for a lesson with M and B! It was soooo good! We told them last time that this time we want them to teach us the restoration, so they need to prepare. So tonight was it.... It was soooo good! They are the sweetest guys ever and they did such a great job, legit the Spirit was there as they taught, it was sooo cool! Then we headed home and hopefully can get an early night after today and seen as the clocks go forward tonight.....
Sonntag was a tiredsome day! I like just died, but we were still in good time for church to greet people and get given colourful boiled eggs... Very different to getting a chocolate egg back in the mother land.... Here we get colourful boiled eggs; but church was great. The talks were all based on Easter, the Atonement and the Resurrection. It was really nice. Then Sunday School was on the Sacrament linked into Easter again. It was really good! Priesthood was also pretty good, so yeah! Then we set some appointments! We set up a J appointment as well, which we are super excited about (Bruder J was one of our MTC teachers). Then a few people turned up to church at the very end of the meetings, so we had a chat and tried to get a potential or two out of it. Then we finally got home, had lunch and did studies before heading over to Sister P for dinner. It was soooo good and we got the spiritual thought this time. Wahey! Then we did a bit of dooring and had a funny/terrible experience. So Elder Brady was at the Klingle and all of a sudden one of the bells just got stuck in and kept ringing and just wouldn't come out, so he pressed the next one to try and stop it, but then that one also got stuck in, so we had two bells ringing on a constant ring and couldn't stop it. So we try like everything and then managed to stop them. Then it was just too awkward to keep dooring there, or ringing the klingel at the front door of this apartment block. Plus, it was close to our time to go home, so we just walked it and that was our day!
It was an okay week. It kind of sucked, like we could barely get in contact with anyone we wanted to and next to nobody wanted to speak to us on the street, but hey, it happens! Well, I have no idea what the plan is today, so we shall see next week what happened.... Have a great week guys! Love you loads and loads!
Fröhe Ostern!
Alles Liebe,
Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxx
Woche 88 von 102- Schönbrunn, Karlsplatz, Gelato, 100 Days, Dienstprojekt und General Konferenz!!
Höi!
So, Montag began with Personal study, then we headed to the chapel to watch some of the Women's General session of General Conference, cause like you know! It was actually really good! Then we did emails, which is also fun before heading home for essen. Then the afternoon was the real P-day. So we began by heading to Schönbrunn, walked around the grounds and took some pictures, then we felt like a bit of Errand of Angels, so headed to Karlsplatz and took some pictures and walked around for a bit, then we popped up to Schwedenplatz and had some Eis/Gelato at that place which is supposed to be the best in Vienna, so I'm guessing that's the one Dad or Mom mentioned a few weeks back that's supposed to be the best in Europe or whatever it was. It was soooooooo good! I had Hazelnut, Mango Cream, Raspberry Cream, Strawberry Yoghurt and Praline. They were all soooooo good!
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| P-Day in Vienna |
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| And they even have authentic Italian Gelato |
Then we headed to do some work - did some vorbeis and finding. Then we were close by a member who the GML mentioned to us hasn't had HT/VTs for a while, even though they are like super active, so we went by and they let us in. Got to know them a bit and it was super cool. We shared a spiritual thought and they invited us to come back again on Thursday, but this time for food as well. It was super awesome and they are really cool! Then we did some more vorbeis and finding and that was the day!
So Dienstag began with studies before heading off to district meeting. So this week my assignment was to speak about district meetings and why we have them and so on. It seemed to go pretty well. So yeah! I also got my '100-day' poem from Papa- loved it! Doing a bit of Maths with today being 100 days to go - Did you know that it will be 2 years and 103 days between the moment I opened my Mission Call to the moment I step off that horrible plane journey.... Craziness! Well, after DM we met with M and B. It was good! Then we did a bit of finding around the Rathaus and found a guy from England. He lives in Leicester and just graduated last year from DeMontfort, so that was cool! He was totally open to meet with missionaries, so we got his details and then when we popped back to the centre for Deutschkurs, I put his stuff into the referral system. It was so cool, but weird - sending a referral back to my home mission! Then we helped a bit with Deutschkurs, before going shopping as all the shops were closed yesterday, so Pres told us to shop on Tuesday instead. Then home, did Sprach and had essen!
What a looooooonnnnggggg day! So Mittwoch studies consisted of personal and then leaving the apartment to get to a less active members' to help her move house. Meine Güte!! It was craziness! The Sisters were there helping all of last night and got there early this morning to help sort stuff and pack it all into boxes and bags and stuff .. and we got there this morning at 10 and the place was still crazy. Like my goodness! So we went and basically carried everything from the top floor of this building and down the stairs (which was like a narrow, windy staircase)! It was crazy and there were some beastly items, like 2 washing machines and a monster of a cupboard, a giant sofa and like boxes which were absolutely chocka full of books! It was mental! So we were there most of the morning and early afternoon, before we took a lunch break. So we headed with the Sisters to this Indian restaurant, which they wanted to try out. It was actually really good, and a good price as well.
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| hungry and weary from Service we went and got Dinner (Indian) |
Then we headed back to help some more before we needed to pop home to get changed to have a few lessons. So we headed to the Instizentrum and met with F. We spoke about the 10 Commandments with him and stuff. It was a good lesson. Then we had a bit of time to think of what we were gonna do for the next one. So there's two guys who are part of Deutschkurs who also want to do Englisch to improve their Englisch, but we are supposed to do Englisch, the same time as Deutsch, but no-one ever comes for it, so we decided we could do another Englisch class for them, so we had our first one with them. We basically just did a getting to know/conversation based class, so we could come to know how much Englisch they can speak and what areas we can actually teach, to help them. Legit though, their Englisch is great, so we are kind of stumped, but they are gonna come up with some things they want to learn and will let us know tomorrow at Deutschkurs. So that was cool. Then we were about to leave the centre and the Sisters call us to say that this less active we were helping still needs help and could we come and help. So like we are in missionary clothes, it's 19.00 and if we went home to get changed and then back to hers we wouldn't get there till 20.00 at the earliest, so we just went in our missionary clothes. It was like the most unorganised move ever. But we also had the help of M and B this evening. They are legit the coolest investigators ever! I love them! So we help with all of that and then didn't end up getting home until late. These are the times when a 4-man apartment is the best, cause we just called them up and said we are like 10 mins away; can you throw a pizza or something in the oven, cause like we were starving at this point and tired and sore, but it was a pretty effective day, even if we did do way more than our allowed 4-hours of service a week.
So Donnerstag after studies we headed out to the Familie S for lunch and ate soooo much Schnitzel it was unbelievable! Then we did a bit of finding before going to set up for Deutschkurs and helped out with it. Then cleared away, spoke with our Englisch course friends and then headed out to the lady we helped yesterday, as we needed to collect B's jacket, which he left in the moving van - and she also wanted a blessing. Then we met them to give him his jacket back before being back out on the street, before coming home for dinner .. and that was the day!
April Fools! Freitag after Comp study we headed off to the J's and so we went round to just talk about missionary work and see how we can help them and how they can help us in the work and to get to know them better. It was a really cool appointment and of course we had to get a picture with him. Then we headed home for lunch, did sprach and then weekly planning. Sorted a Fortschrittsbericht and then headed to the H's for GMK and dinner. It was a pretty chilled day, which was kind of needed after Wednesday's moving.
So after studies we headed off to the centre to meet with the Deutschkurs students who we are also teaching English to, so we met them and taught them about Tenses in English. My mind was blown! Teaching your native language is so difficult. Then after that, we did some finding, bought a new Monatskarte seen as ours run out today, then headed to a member's. It was a really strange appointment. Like super weird! Then we rushed it to Pfahlhaus to get there just in time for General Konferenz! The signal kept dropping so it really sucked, but from what we got, it was a really good session! Oh, also I saw something cool today on a wall as we drove past on the tram. It was like engraved, but not engraved, I don't know how you call it, like it was sticking out of the wall, but written on it and it basically said: "Don't be an Apple if you are a Banana, you will always be a second rate Apple" I thought that was pretty cool, like don't try to be something you're not, don't try to be someone else, or even like someone else, cause you will only ever get to second best, but when you are the original you, you are the best you. I just found that super cool, so figured I'd share it.
Sonntag morgen after studies we headed off to Pfahlhaus for a beautiful day filled with Conference!! This time everything worked perfectly, like I think they decided to use the internet today, cause the satelite was being real bad yesterday and we missed half of it, but today was no problem! It was all just awesome! I loved the Priesthood session and the other ones of course, but I just got sooo much out of the Priesthood one! A lot of it was based on Marriage and Family, which was kind of strange with being a missionary, but it was also a really good Conference! Although my favorite line came from President Uchtdorf when he said: "Es gibt nichts Gutes, ausser man tut es... For those of you who do not speak the Celestial Language......." Hahahaha! That was just my favorite line from the whole thing! It just made it even funnier considering we all understood it anyway and then he pulls the whole celestial language card! Hahaha! It was the best! Also, for meals we did lunch for our district and then the Sisters did Dinner and for that they did a Roast Dinner! It was super good - with Yorkshire Puds and everything! It was a really good day, but I am so tired!
Sorry this email is really short and not much happened this week, but I do have a load of pictures, so I hope that will make up for it!
Alles Liebe,
Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxx
