It must needs be that there is opposition in all things.
Well, I had a wonderful week. So despite getting this green junk,
that only comes out of clothes in the sun, on my white skirt (oh and there is
no sun), having my long skirt getting stuck in the escalator, pulling me down
and almost ripping the whole thing off (I am counting that as a blessing,
except I can't figure out how to get the grease stains out), and loosing my
beloved planner on the last week of this transfer, I had a lot of happiness.
Last week I mentioned Schwester K____, who came to church for the
first time in a very, very long time after we gave her a simple call. Well, we
had an appointment with her this week. I have never seen someone give SO MUCH
excitement over church before. The whole evening, she was saying how much
energy she received from church, how the messages were perfect, how everyone
was so happy to see her, everything. She loved it and came again this week. I
am so happy to see her remembering how much the church blesses our lives.
On Friday, we got a surprise call from another less active. She was
baptized in her birthplace of Peru, fell in love with an Austrian and has been
living here ever since. She told us she was making empanadas again and would
love to have us over. It was a party. We really had fun and were able to
discuss why she was not coming to church and why her husband doesn’t like it.
We shared a message on service. The nonmember husband was even participating.
Then, guess who was on the back row Sunday? Yup, that’s right, BOTH of them. It
was a miracle. The funny thing is that morning ON OUR WAY TO CHURCH I told Sis
K, "This next transfer, one of my main goals will be to get K___ to come
to church." Well, happened a bit sooner than I thought. :)
This week, I had an Austausch (a short-term missionary
exchange) in the English-speaking ward in Wien (Vienna). I have never been
a fan of Austausches and I think Wien is downright ugly. So, I was not
excited. How wrong was I! This was by far the best austausch ever! Wien was
amazing and I really enjoyed working with Sister Clark. I learned a lot and we
really enjoyed working together.
A great thing that brought me a lot of happiness this week is our
brand-new investigator, Dino. We had a lesson in the middle of a crowded McDonalds,
but the Spirit was SO STRONG. It was one of the best lessons I have had here in
Graz. Sister Kervinen and I worked well together to bring the Spirit and stress
the importance of prayer, the scriptures, and church in our life. I really
could feel the Spirit working through me. He was eager to set up another
appointment and read in the Book of Mormon before we meet again. I am so glad
when missionaries are lead to the people that are ready to hear the gospel.
We also taught our progressing investigator the Law of Chastity
(First time I actually have don’t that in German). It went wonderfully! She was
very accepting and is just working towards being baptized.
So, I obviously had some great lessons this week. However, NOTHING
compares to the lesson I had yesterday. I told you about the catholic priest we
met. Well, we called him a week ago and set up an appointment for this Sunday.
Saturday, we txt him to confirm the appointment, he told us that
"a couple young people wanted to meet us as well". Well, we
walked up to the address he gave us, turns out to be the church. Okay, that's
fine. We walk in, all these 16-18 year olds start shaking our hands and
introducing themselves. Well turns out our lesson ends up to be a sort of "mutual
activity" and the few young people were actually 18 youth. Haha. So crazy.
So we all sit down, and we start discussing what we are doing as missionaries.
The Priest loves us! He was pretty much saying they needed to have the
dedication we have. We talked about a lot of things like the priesthood,
eternal marriage, genealogy, polygamy (of course), seriously everything. The
best part was THEY were coming up with scriptures to support OUR
doctrine. Then when we got talking about Joseph Smith, someone asked where the
plates are now. After we told them, the priest started asking them where the
bible manuscripts are. No one knew. It was so fun! There was no contention
and it was seriously fun. They loved that our religion gives
a "second chance" after this life. One guy even said, he should
just join our church.... well, he should... haha. Afterwards, one girl
came up to me. During the discussion I had talked about how I knew I was
supposed to go on a mission. She asked me how I received an answer to my
prayer. At that time, in a Catholic church, I felt the Spirit testify through
me as I told her that she could receive her own answers and that she doesn't
have to depend on other people tell her the answers to her prayers. I was able
to learn a lot about what they believe. I really saw the truth to the statement
"Sie nahen sich mir mit den Lippen aber ihr Herz ist ferne vom mir.(They draw near to me with their lips but their heart is far from me.)"
I am really glad we had that appointment, even if we didn't receive
investigators, we were able to help them understand "the Mormons," now
they have all had a good experience with us and know the truth of what we
stand for. That night I spent time studying the bible, looking for things
I hadn't noticed before that really support exactly what Christ church believes
in. I can honestly say, yesterday with the combination of the miracle that so
many people came to church, that lesson, and my personal study, my testimony
really grew this last week.
It was truly a wonderful week.
Liebe Grüße
Sister Regnier
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| Catholic Youth Group and Priest |
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