Auf Wiedersehen - the Last Letter

Hey everyone!

This is nuts! This week has been incredibly trying. I didn't know that I could feel so many emotions at once. But I am happy because I can say that I made every day count and I did my best to serve the Lord. I love being a missionary and I will never regret a day of my mission. This was the best decision I have made for my life and I am excited to apply the things I know into other phases of life. 

I know that the gospel is true. It is the center-point of my life. Jesus Christ is our redeemer and he loves us. Joseph Smith was the Mighty Prophet of the Restoration. I have loved watching the lights turn on in other people's heads as they hear the things he taught and did. I have come to love the scriptures with all my heart. I get excited to read about Christ and the other prophets. 

I love my mission dearly and I am sad to come home. But luckily I have a loving family and great friends to make it a softer landing. I love you all and am grateful for your support! I'll see you on Friday!

Elder Eldredge

Mission Conference

Hey!

This week was awesome! There were sooo many missionaries at our conference in Munich! I basically got to see all of my friends that I haven't seen in a while. There were also a lot of missionaries that I didn't know because I have been in the Vienna zone for so long. I learned a lot and it is always fun to be in long train rides with other missionaries. 

We also had a lot of appointments this week so we kept ourselves busy. This last week just flew by so fast I can barely remember it. I am really enjoying my time though. This week will also be really quick. We are getting a good amount of invites and our friends are wanting to meet more regularly. I will also be giving a talk on Sunday.

Today we are playing Frisbee together as all the Elders in Vienna. I am really excited. I will send you a picture of our group from last time we played. 

It is a good life as a missionary. It is going to be a good week. I'm glad you all had a good time at Bryce canyon! Can't wait to go with you next year!

Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Cold and Snow

Hey!

This week was great! We have been having a lot of snow in the last few days. When we woke up this morning there wasn't any snow left on the ground but then it started snowing really hard and now we have a few inches! The wind is soooo cold! It has been pretty fun though. We're considering making a snow man today.

We have been trying really hard to work with some of our less-active members and we are having real success with them. We had three of them in church this last Sunday! We still have a lot of work to do with them though. The Europe area has a goal of doubling the active membership in 2015. Our ward is really motivated and we are given a lot of support in teaching them. 

This week we have a good amount of eating appointments coming up, plus a HUGE mission tour meeting this Thursday! Most of the mission is going to be there so I will get to see lots of my friends. We get to take a train at 6.30 in the morning. We will start the meeting at ten, it will go for a few hours and then we travel home again. We should get back to Vienna at around 9.30. I can't wait. 

Elder Nelson and I are doing great. We get along no problem and we really enjoy our time together. He is awesome. Everything in life is going just great. I love being here. 

I hope that you all have a good time at Ruby's inn! Stay warm! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Abinadi and Joseph Smith

Hey!

This week was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time in members homes, which always makes the day better. We really have a wonderful ward here. We also spent a lot of time on the streets and in the trains just talking to people. 

On tuesday night we left the youth center and on our way home we met a nice lady named A-----. She was really interested in learning about us so we made an appointment for the next day. She came early and we had a really great lesson. She was very touched and asked thoughtful questions. She is gone for the next month on a trip so I won't see her again but I am excited for her to learn more later. 

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day I was impressed by the prophet Abinadi. He told the priests and king Noah to not touch him because the lord would not suffer that he should be destroyed "at this time"(Mosiah 13:3). This, plus what he says in verse 10, shows that he knew that he would eventually be killed for preaching these things to the wicked priests. He showed great faith by doing it anyways. This reminded me of the prophet Joseph Smith. I am thankful that he was willing to do everything that he did in spite of all the persecution. 

I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Cafe Rio and Spicy Rice

Hey family!

This week was really really great. We had a lot of success and the weather was nice until yesterday when it snowed a ton. But we are happy campers. We ate home-made Cafe Rio at the Cleavinger's home yesterday. It was delicious! We have a wonderful ward. I am really happy that I am staying here until I go home. 

We met a new guy named K-----. He is from Nigeria, and we met at his home yesterday and taught about the restoration. He was really interested and he listened well to what we said. He also seems to have spent a lot of time thoughtfully reading the Bible. He understands it fairly well. We hope to meet with him this week again. 

We had a really funny eating appointment on saturday. We met with a less-active member and his family. They are from Nigeria and they fed us this really spicy rice with chicken. It tasted good but it was funny because they had us eat off of the same plate, and they had already eaten so they just watched us. It was hard not to laugh a bit. 

We are doing really well and the work is going good. I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

A Baptism

Hey everybody!

Thanks for all of the photos! It is good to see you all so happy. I had a really great week as well. Our friend, A-----, who was being taught by the sisters here was baptized into our ward on Saturday. She is really awesome and we all really excited for her. She let me baptize her as well. I felt very privileged. We spent a good part of our week preparing for the baptism and it all worked out great.

L---- is also doing really good. He is very excited about the scriptures and his testimony is growing deeper and deeper. The ward absolutely loves him. They talk about him all the time and he has a lot of friends in the ward. 

We all ate at Herb's before transfers again as a group of us friends here in Vienna. Elder Worthen got sent to Konstanz. We were all sad to see him leave, but we will see him again in a few weeks. We took a photo together outside after Herb's. 

We are having a good week already. Today we are playing Ultimate with the other Elders so I have nothing to complain about. I hope that you all have another great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Staying Put for the Last Transfer

Hey everyone!

We had a great week over here. We had transfer calls, but not surprisingly, Elder Nelson and I are staying together for my last transfer. I am really happy about that. I would have been sad to go somewhere else. Elder Nelson is awesome as well so I am happy that he will by my last companion. 

We had a really good zone training meeting last Tuesday. Elder Nelson and I got to teach for a few minutes about the pre-earth life. It went well and people were taking notes so we took that as a good sign. The mission has also started a new rule that we speak German from nine in the morning until nine at night. It is really fun to "have" to speak German all day. I already feel more confident than I did before while speaking German. 

It is a pretty strange feeling being in my last transfer already. This month is already flying by and I can barely keep track of the days anymore. I am really optimistic about it all and I am happy to work my hardest. 

We ate dinner with one of the members of our ward this week and we were sharing favorite scriptures with each other. I was really impressed with what he shared with us. He comes from a difficult background and was chased out of his country a long time ago. He shared Fourth Nephi 1:17

 17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.

He said that he can't wait until the time with this becomes a reality with us. I think that even though we need to be patient for the time when we are all one again, we can try our best to create Zion in our own homes. I am glad to have a family where life is about as close to perfect as it gets in this life, and where we are all together.

I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge