November 23, 2009

So, this week has been pretty good so far. Let me tell you about it. I know that i have to have hard times in the mission because then it will make me savor the good times better. you cant know the sweet without the sour. So last week was tough. Elder Ensign (from Chugiak Alaska) and i had some troubles. We had to work through some obedience issues. But now I think that we are all good. We have returned to a state of homeostasis. All is well. But last week i was wishing that at transfer time we would get separated. Which by the way this week was transfer calls.... (drumroll).... elder adams is staying here in salzburg for christmas!!!!!! We are needed in this area. Elder ensign and i, we got everything worked out and thank goodness we did because as we taugtht lutz this week we needed the spirit with us. We were teaching him and during the lesson i had the strongest feeling to committ him to baptism. He is accepting everything so well and holding all of his committments. I acted upon the feeling and invited lutz to be baptised. He said he wants to change his life and expereince the joy related to the gospel message and the spirit that we share. So Lutz Helmanseder will be baptised on the 19th of December 2009. In another lesson we taught him der wort der weissheit.... um i think it is called the word of wisdom in english, anyhow he wants to stop drinking coffee. He has held it so far. I am so proud of him. He is preparing for this baptism and we are super Excited. I think that that is the reason that we are staying. We need to help lutz learn more about the gospel untill that day when he closes the covenant of baptism and then we can help him gain his own testimony so that we can have strong members and new leaders of the church here in salzburg.
Elder Ensign had his birthday on the nineteenth of november. We didnt do anything special. we bought a dönner for dinner and we worked hard through the day.
We also had a musical fireside that the ward mission team (we call ourselves team salzburg) here organised for the purpose of finding and teaching new investigators of the church. We invited so many people and also told members that they should invite their nonmember friends. it was so spiritual. It was themed about the family. We had members give special musical parts where they played the cello and the piano. I also had the opportunity to sing in this musical fireside. I sang i am a child of God (auf deutsch ich bin ein kind von Gott) we would read a paragraph from each section of the Family a Proklamation to the World and in between each paragraph we would sing songs or songs would be played. It was so powerful. But the members here weren't so excited about missionary work or inviting people so not too many non members came. But it still worked out. I loved it. The spirit really was so strong. Music just has that power to invite the spirit.
As for thanksgiving here... it doesnt exist. I'm pretty sure the history behind thanksgiving is that the pilgrims landed in the UNITED STATES OF AMAZINGNESS!! and not Austria. So we dont celebrate that here. However we do celebrate christmas (also known as weihnachten) and we celebrate it for three days here. Well not us as missionaries but people here in austria do. so i assume that we will be getting some pretty angry people at us as we go knocking doors and as we go working on christmas.
Oh so i took some money out for christmas gifts. it might have been too much so if you could transfer some that would be cool. But that is amazing. I get to stay in salzburg for another transfer! thats during christmas time. People dream about being here in salzburg for christmas. Im living it. I am so blessed. The work is going so amazing, Slow, but we are seeing the blessings each and every step of the way.
by the way translation of what dad said to me, "dry your hair with a towell. Cut your hair like usual." Might i ask where this came from? Kommische leute. ha ha
Question about my companions. I think i answered earlier in this email but elder ensign is from Chugiak, Alaska Elder Wright is from bountiful, utah (by the way my trainer who became ap is now going home and now elder wright is the new ap) Elder Williams is from ogden Utah. Everybody says that i was trained by the greatest and that it shows and that soon i will be also taking positions of authority. I vote no. I just want to work it out here in salzburg the whole time and find people. well i gotta go write president. All is well here and I love you all. Have a wonderful week.
Elder Adams