Diligence is rewarded (January 27)

This week has been a great one.

Sister Judd and I set some great goals for this week and we decided to really, really focus on them. Well, we didn't quite reach them, but we have done better than any previous week!

Well, I think a big attributing factor is that we focused so hard on working with the members. Well that is exactly what we have been doing this transfer. We were invited Monday, to a home of a lady in our ward that said she would never have the missionaries over again, but she invited us, and it went wonderfully.

We had a couple good experiences with members this week. Including, oh boy, this is funny. So we have 45 min before our appointment, we decide to go dooring, which I have not done in a LONG time. Well, at one door, someone answers through the klingel. I introduce us and ask if we can share a message with him. His answer: Kein Zufall. Ich bin AUCH ein Mitglied der Kirche Jesu Christi (No chance. I am ALSO a member of the Church of Jesus Christ). I doored a member!! Church was awkward… But what a fun way to now have a connection with that member. We also made some personal touches. We dropped off some cute shower gels at 3 members. One texts us being so grateful and how it was a tender mercy because she just ran out herself. Another came up to us at church and talked to us for the first time. It was so awesome. We have been sending texts out to the members with a scripture, well that’s going great too! It is just so wonderful to work with members!! I know that it is with their help that we will see more progress in the work.

Working with those who are less-active can be by far the funnest part of the work. I love getting to know them and spending time helping them. We had a great lesson with our Peruvian less-active. She is the perfect example of a great wife (I actually wrote down a few reminders in my journal for the future :) ) and love in general. She is so great and is making a lot of progress. She wants us to teach her the lessons again so that she can regain her testimony. What a great thing! She was really able to open up to us because she saw how much we cared! Another less active we met with this week is reading so much in the scriptures and is making a lot of progress with her personal relationship with God. It is so spiritual for me, to see the change I am witnessing in these people as they align their lives with the gospel.

Well, our lessons with P__ this week went great. On our Saturday lesson, we picked a date for his baptism! It's just so great. He was so excited and asking so many questions and just so happy. He was singing gospel songs the whole way home. What a blessing it is to work with him.

This week was really just so great.

I got to have a great interview with President Miles, we were invited to 4 members houses, we set a baptismal date, both of our investigators are progressing, and few found three new potential investigators. The work is going great. I love it here in Graz!

This month’s attribute is diligence. I have learned so much and just really enjoyed studying it. First, diligence is a steady, consistent, earnest, and energetic effort. Being diligent means enduring to the end while being on the opposite side of the spectrum of slothful, diligence is VERY active.

All victory and glory is brought to pass with DILIGENCE (dedication and all our effort), faithfulness and prayers of faith (D&C 103: 36). The Lord tells us to be diligent, because that is how he can reward us. He doesn’t want us to waist the life we have. When we are anxiously engaged in a good cause, using our free will, we will be rewarded and bring to pass much righteousness. Diligence should NOT be conditional. Never plan on doing something tomorrow, be diligent and do it today!

In that video I sent 2 weeks ago the man says, "I’ve let him down plenty of times, but he’s never let me down." We must stay strong and diligent and try to do what the Lord needs of us and wants us so that he can HELP US. In Ex. 15:26 it says to diligently harken to the voice of the Lord. How can we do that? By being diligent in hearing his word, which we receive through prayer and scripture study. Sister Scoggin said in our zone training, "When our prayers are weak and routine, our missionary work will be weak and routine. "How true that is for not only missionary work, but every aspect of our lives. We must be diligent in going outside of our comfort zone.

In Preach My Gospel I love the questions that go along with diligence, they are a great way to measure our diligence and figure our where we can improve. (they can be found on http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospellibrary/manual/36617/36617_000_006_06-attributeActivity.pdf)

Diligence is so broad, but really simple. With everything we do, we must give it all we got. It is so important to be diligent in our studies and prayers, we must be diligent in work and with our families, we MUST BE DILIGENT IN ALL WE DO in order to bring out the best outcomes.

Diligence is a choice. Make the choice to be diligent and give it all you got.

I'm so grateful that I was raised in a home, where diligence was a priority.

Love you. Have a great week!

Sister Regnier

I just hit 10 Months! (Jan 20)

This week...

The best thing that happened- we met 2 new people and both of them came to church! They are ready for the gospel! We had a lesson with one of them, meaning, we got a new investigator. The spirit was so strong. We had a joint teach, who was really nervous because the lesson was in English, but it was wonderful. The spirit was strong and he committed to pray about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and agreed to a soft baptismal commitment. He is PREPARED.

The funniest thing that happened- Well, this week we had a tausch (splits). I was with Sister Jencks in Graz. We had a blast. The funniest thing was definitely when we were exiting the bus, the doors closed right in front of her btw. Right behind me and drove off, leaving me ALONE on the sidewalk. I laughed the whole walk to the next stop. I can't tell you why it was so funny, just know, when I'm with someone 24/7 and I walk alone for 3 minutes... its awkward. haha

The most awkward thing that happened- during ward council, instead of saying that our investigator is trying to quit smoking, I said she’s trying to take on smoking...... Just when you thought my German must be getting better because I just hit TEN MONTHS.... haha

The most rewarding thing that happened- was getting invited to so many members! After a low count of members inviting missionaries over, the Relief Society president asked us to stand up last week and pretty much tell everyone to invite us over, well it happened, we had a lot of great lessons with members this week!

The coolest thing I noticed about these members this week- how strong their testimonies are! Holy cow! For example, we went over to an older ladies house, she works so hard and ALL DAY on genealogy. She gives everything to the Lord and spends her time doing genealogy, reading church books, or studying the scriptures. She is amazing. Along with all the members we visited. We are so lazy in America. We complain about having to go to the Mocho building that is what, 30 minutes away. Some of the members here drive for an hour or more just for church or to fulfill a calling. Not to even mention how long they drive to go to the temple. They are so strong.

My favorite scripture was- DC 123:17

The most important thing I learned- goals are only going to help, when you diligently work on them

The best Mormon message we saw- https://www.lds.org/youth/video/stay-within-the-lines?lang=eng (dang good, Holland is a man. I am so grateful for EVERY missionary that is serving, and is worthy to serve)

Have a great week, Love you!

--

Sister Regnier

The spirit was there so strong (Jan 13)

Morgen.

So I don't know exactly what to talk about in this email, so I’m going to do a detailed run down of this week.

Tuesday. We left the apartment at 7.45 to get to Wien for Zone Training. Zone training was fun. Sister Judd and I were in charge of the training this time so we got to talk a lot about faith and finding. It was really fun. Actually, preparing for it was really fun. I just want to find all these elect people! The Elders talked about diligence. Diligence is an attribute that I have always loved :) Elder Jones shared this video with us. (http://www.lds.org/medialibrary/video/2012-01-008-rescued-bychrist?lang=eng&_suid=13896076435750031176634167784545?category=2012-01-008-rescued-by-christ&&lang=eng#2012-01-008-rescued-by-christ?lang=eng&_suid=1389607645872010454535896520622) LOVE it. After the beautiful train ride home, we went to the RS activity. It was about visiting teaching, and since we are visiting teaching, we thought it would be a good idea to go. Well, it was so funny to see the women in our ward laughing and having fun. We did skits of bad and good examples of a visiting teaching apt. Well, Sister Judd, the Relief Society president, Sister Tew and I did one together. Hilarious! We were a bad example, telling other people our sisters problems. It was quite interesting and everyone was laughing at us silly Americans :) 

Mittwoch. SO COOL! We met with our Relief Society president and went over the list of less actives relief society members. SO HELPFUL! It was seriously great. We know exactly what to do now. It was really great and so nice of her to come all the way down to town to talk to us about it. She loves these sisters. We then had a lesson with a member. It actually turned into a lesson with her friend who has been on and off investigating the church for what seems like forever. But real progress was made, because he promised that he would pray about the church. I am really excited to talk to him! Then we met with another Sister in the ward (we are working hard to get to know the members) She is so cool! She got married. They found the gospel soon after, were quickly baptized. Her husband died shortly after. She was remarried but he wasn’t too active and after 40 years she was sealed to the man she found the gospel with. Wow. Her story was amazing. The members here are so great and hard working. Its cool to see the obstacles she’s overcame and how active she is. She proudly caries the title of longest member in our ward. She is just the cutest. She also introduced me to cranberry tea. So yummy. 

Donnerstag. We had our studies and then went out with the Tews. Well, it was so fun! It felt like a spiritual road trip. We were able to go by on our referral! Yes referral, technically my first referral. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there. But that’s okay we left a note :)  We visited a couple more people, including a less active. Well she lived on an alpaca and a horse farm........ everyone was disgusted by the smell of manure..... but you know i was LOVING it. I even saw a girl riding..... mensch.  We got to see Elder Tew in action doing missionary work. They are the coolest eheparr ever! They work really hard and are really dedicated to the work. They have a blog that you may enjoy seeing, including pictures. Its  rickandgeorgiatew.blogspot.com.  After that, we went to the Peruvian less active that we are working with. We had fajitas. Yum. We talked about coming to church and brought her new visiting teacher along. It was really good to strengthen our relationship and talk about Relief Society. She seems really excited to come when she has the time to Relief Socity as well as sac. I also just had a great day this day. IN one tram ride, I had 3 meaningful conversations, was able to bear my testimony over a lot and even get to share some scriptures, I didn’t have enough books to give out! That has never happened. It was really a testimony builder for me on what we talked about on Tuesday.

Freitag. We went out with the Relief Society president on less actives that live outside of Graz. It was a hunt, we didn’t have the house number for one, we were able to find it trostdem! It was a really great experience to get to know her better and do this work together. Well, we also talked to one less active that said we could come back and left a Book of Mormon with him! Our last house was quite an experience. We klingeled and a Romanian lady answered. We told her who we were looking for, she said she doesn’t live here but was letting us in anyway. We were giving each other confused looks as we entered the house. Well, she was a.... IDK what they are called in English but a caretaker for this frail old lady. We sat on her couch and testified of our Heavenly Father. This lady had obviously gone through a lot and told us there couldn’t be a God, or a God who cared and let this happen to her. We were able to tell her she was a daughter of God and that it wasn’t an accident that we came here, even though this less active had never lived here. It was an extremely spiritual experience for me.... I felt so sad for her, and I felt Heavenly Fathers love for her..... Wow. It was so sad. I hope she comes to know hope and her father in heavens love for her. I’m so grateful I was able to have that experience because it really helped me.

Samstag. Well, to Wien again! We had a meeting with the new district leaders. We talked about their responsibilities and tausches. Afterwards, we went to the famous Herbs. It was so fun! We went with a couple elders and ate wiener schnitzels in Wien! I ordered what seemed to be the smallest, but don’t worry, it consisted of 2 that were bigger then my plate! Craziness. The elders went to town. We got home and headed straight to our apt. with Petra. It was awesome! An older brother in our ward came and was able to talk about his experience before he joined to church, which was very similar to Petras. It was an awesome lesson and the spirit was there so strong!

Sonntag. Always my favorite. Both investigators were at church all 3 hours! It was great. A lot of the young adults came. After, we went to a family’s house for lunch. We had a great time there and learned about them. It’s always SO fun getting to know these people! I feel like I’m learning more and more how hard it is to date here every time I here a couples story. hehe. The elders gave a great lesson on Joseph Smith experience. Then we had GMK. That’s always fun. An assistant gml was just called. So now we have one that is over everything and one that focuses on less actives. They are both so great!

Wow. What a great week. We were able to really build some connections with the members this week!

All things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all.... therefore hold on. DC 122

Love,

Sister Regnier

NEVER judge people from their appearance (January 6)

Happy New Year! 

Well, on Tuesday, it was new years! We had a wonderful district meeting talking about why we came on a mission and more importantly why did we stay out on a mission. It was interesting, there are so many reasons why missionaries have a desire to continuously serve. After that, we went to the bishop's house. It was a blast. We played games and had a lot of fun. When it was time to go outside, it was amazing. There are no firework limitations here, at least for which I am aware. New Year was crazy. The sky was LIT UP and it was the coolest fireworks I have ever seen. I realize that firework restrictions in the US are to prevent fires and such, but we saw fireworks over houses and fields and no harm done. I was a bit nervous, ..... but I think it would be awesome if the US had firework regulations like Austria. :) The kids wanted us missionaries to help set the fireworks off, but we have our mission rules and that is one they wanted us to break. Regardless, I really enjoyed myself. Well, we stayed up all night and were able to sleep in so that we could have 8 hours of sleep. Sleeping in was weird.... but very relaxing. That day we had lunch with a family in our ward. It was so cool. We watched this big concert that takes place in Wien. I never have really appreciated classical music, but it was wonderful. A lot of famous people were there. Well we had a great time with them.

Then we were headed to Muenchen. On the way there, we were sitting by a young adult woman. She had a lot of piercings and wore lots of black. Well, she was the coolest person ever. We got to talking to her and her aspects of life and how hard she strives to be the best mother she can be, was amazing. I was just blown away with how cool she was. We got her contact information, she doesn’t live in Graz, but it will be cool to stay in contact. It was just a confirming experience; we should NEVER judge people from their appearance. Sometimes the ones with tattoos are the most willing to talk about God, I have seen that a few times. 

Mission Leadership Council was great. We talked a lot about Diligence and finding with faith. It was just wonderful. We also talked a lot about our new goals for this year. I wish I could portray Presidents excitement to the rest of our zone. 

Well, we had to stay the night in Wien because we took a bus half the way home (saves a ton of money) well we had the opportunity to go to Naschtmarkt. It was so cool. So many antiques of every kind. I could have spent hours there. Well, we did have just enough time to buy my very own DIRNDL! I am so excited :) I wore it to GMK and during our planning sessions this week :) From Wien, we had to go straight to our appointment with Petra. It went wonderfully. We planned to talk about fasting. Well, the Spirit had something else in mind. It was fantastic. Walking to the bus, Sister Judd and I both just started saying how we think she’s so ready for baptism! I am so happy for her and all the progress she’s made in that last month. 

The other lesson we had this week, was with a new convert. As we were talking about a few things I realized how grateful I am for the Young Women's Program! It’s so great and gives us a wonderful foundation. I noticed how many questions this young adult had, that I learned in YW. I am just so grateful for the program and all that I learned in it. 

I am so glad I get to serve here in Graz for another transfer. 

Love,

Sister Regnier

DIRNDL