We keep having great experiences on our mission.
Every day we thank Heavenly Father for our mission. It is truly a growing experience. We have had to learn more patience (didn't we learn that raising kids?), better self discipline, and trust in the Lord's timing.
Just this Sunday a wonderful thing happened. A long time ago I shared about a young girl named Maria. Her mother is Muslim and we were helping the sisters teach her. I had given Maria a Book of Mormon and befriended her. She reminded me of myself so much in that she is painfully shy and unsure of herself and especially sensitive. Her mother withdrew from the missionaries. I was so disappointed. But that does happen a lot.
Recently, I had suggested that we contact the mother again. She was glad to see us, but distraught that her life was in such upheaval. Since she had divorced her husband she had been in the hospital several times with severe depression and was panicking because she was only getting 300 Euro a month from the government. She speaks broken German and had allowed her papers to expire, not knowing she was given a warning to come in to renew. Now they are punishing her---the government people. Maria and her little brother suffer because they have to live in a group home. Maria gets bullied and teased a lot. Now I have gone on and on about their situation.
The best part is that Maria and Daniel came to church last Sunday with their mother. We have been fellowshipping the mother and through other members of the ward trying to sort out her financial situation. Maria didn't want to go to the class with the other kids her age, so we spent two hours talking. She shared that she had been reading in the Book of Mormon and had made a few new friends. We read from the Book of Mormon together. It was so wonderful connecting with her again. I immediately invited her and her mother and brother to our apartment for dinner and FHE ( it was a holiday and so no FHE with the single adults). We invited the Elders, too. I had no idea if I even had enough food, but we have learned to be very flexible. We had a great time. She and her brother loved the game we played. Hopefully, now we can see her every other week at church when she can leave the group home (which is far away in another town).
We also have been assisting teaching a young man from Iran. We have a member of the ward that speaks the same Persian language at the discussions to translate. He has questions every time that he writes down. He shared that he had a dream. In this dream, he was standing at the edge of a sea and around the shores were large groups of people. Someone approached him and tried to hand him a staff. He refused at first, but then accepted. After he had accepted this staff, all the people standing on the shore came to him and he realized they were his family.
They were very happy and he woke up with a warm, peaceful feeling. He said he had no idea what that dream meant, just that it was so powerfully emotional for him.
Yesterday, he said he wanted to be baptized 100% and wanted to get closer to the Savior.
He said he wanted to talk with his wife and family back in Iran about it. It would impact them in that him becoming a Christian would be a black mark on the family and they could possibly experience persecution.
He has to wait till he gets his official residency papers in Austria to be baptized anyway. But he is reading in the Book of Mormon, praying, and attending church. I told him it was an honor for us to share the gospel with him and that I felt how much The Lord loved him. He was in tears.
This kind of experience makes any sacrifice worth it to serve a mission.
Well, that's all for now. We are happy. We are grateful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. We love Linz and Austria!
HAPPY NEWS:
We had a great time with Brea and Mike and Christina and Scott and Claire. What a joy to have family visit!!! We thought we would have many more visitors, but we are thrilled with this last visit! Brea found out she is having a boy!
Every day we thank Heavenly Father for our mission. It is truly a growing experience. We have had to learn more patience (didn't we learn that raising kids?), better self discipline, and trust in the Lord's timing.
Just this Sunday a wonderful thing happened. A long time ago I shared about a young girl named Maria. Her mother is Muslim and we were helping the sisters teach her. I had given Maria a Book of Mormon and befriended her. She reminded me of myself so much in that she is painfully shy and unsure of herself and especially sensitive. Her mother withdrew from the missionaries. I was so disappointed. But that does happen a lot.
Recently, I had suggested that we contact the mother again. She was glad to see us, but distraught that her life was in such upheaval. Since she had divorced her husband she had been in the hospital several times with severe depression and was panicking because she was only getting 300 Euro a month from the government. She speaks broken German and had allowed her papers to expire, not knowing she was given a warning to come in to renew. Now they are punishing her---the government people. Maria and her little brother suffer because they have to live in a group home. Maria gets bullied and teased a lot. Now I have gone on and on about their situation.
The best part is that Maria and Daniel came to church last Sunday with their mother. We have been fellowshipping the mother and through other members of the ward trying to sort out her financial situation. Maria didn't want to go to the class with the other kids her age, so we spent two hours talking. She shared that she had been reading in the Book of Mormon and had made a few new friends. We read from the Book of Mormon together. It was so wonderful connecting with her again. I immediately invited her and her mother and brother to our apartment for dinner and FHE ( it was a holiday and so no FHE with the single adults). We invited the Elders, too. I had no idea if I even had enough food, but we have learned to be very flexible. We had a great time. She and her brother loved the game we played. Hopefully, now we can see her every other week at church when she can leave the group home (which is far away in another town).
We also have been assisting teaching a young man from Iran. We have a member of the ward that speaks the same Persian language at the discussions to translate. He has questions every time that he writes down. He shared that he had a dream. In this dream, he was standing at the edge of a sea and around the shores were large groups of people. Someone approached him and tried to hand him a staff. He refused at first, but then accepted. After he had accepted this staff, all the people standing on the shore came to him and he realized they were his family.
They were very happy and he woke up with a warm, peaceful feeling. He said he had no idea what that dream meant, just that it was so powerfully emotional for him.
Yesterday, he said he wanted to be baptized 100% and wanted to get closer to the Savior.
He said he wanted to talk with his wife and family back in Iran about it. It would impact them in that him becoming a Christian would be a black mark on the family and they could possibly experience persecution.
He has to wait till he gets his official residency papers in Austria to be baptized anyway. But he is reading in the Book of Mormon, praying, and attending church. I told him it was an honor for us to share the gospel with him and that I felt how much The Lord loved him. He was in tears.
This kind of experience makes any sacrifice worth it to serve a mission.
Well, that's all for now. We are happy. We are grateful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. We love Linz and Austria!
HAPPY NEWS:
We had a great time with Brea and Mike and Christina and Scott and Claire. What a joy to have family visit!!! We thought we would have many more visitors, but we are thrilled with this last visit! Brea found out she is having a boy!
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