President Kohler

Hey everybody!

This week was great! We taught a man named H--- on Monday evening. It was a really great lesson and he was excited to read the Book of Mormon. To get to his house we had to walk along this road for like 20 minutes in the middle of a lot of farmland. Austria is really really pretty! We set up an appointment for last saturday but sadly he all of the sudden had to go to germany for work and he won't be back for about three months. Hopefully the missionaries will be able to get a hold of him then. 

We also taught a woman named L---. We brought one of our members with us and he bore really strong testimony. L--- was pretty quite the whole time but we could tell she was listening. She told us that she is going to have a baby and we think that is one of the reasons that she decided to meet with us. 

We had interviews with President Kohler this morning in Vienna (that is why I am so late today). We always have district meeting while interviews are going on and our meeting was really really great. Our district is really happy and everybody is trying really hard to be there best. Pres. Kohler was good to meet with because he took a lot of time with each of us. I think my interview was around 30 minutes. It was relieving to finally get to know him more personally. 

I haven't gotten any emails from sarah for a while so maybe she is sending them to the wrong address. When is the last time that she wrote? Thanks for the line of authority dad! 

Transfer calls will be in a week and a half from now. I am pretty curious to see what will happen. Unless things get crazy I will be moving into my last area. While I was talking to Pres. Kohler today he said that I am entering that part of my mission where I will either be a powerful missionary or I will get tired and lazy. I am determined to be the first. 

I hope that everything is well at home! That new door looks great! It took me a minute to realize where it was in the house. I thought you might have built new stairs somehow! Thanks for writing! Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Another Kind of Flood

Hey!

This week was awesome! Elder Anderson's foot is ok now so we got to work. We had a great zone conference on tuesday. Our district won a bunch of cookies because we built the highest paper tower. Ours was actually the only one that stayed up but it was still almost seven feet tall. It was to teach us about planning, because we built two towers, and the first one we couldn't make a plan our talk with each other and it fell over, but the second one we had a few minutes to plan together and it worked a lot better. Imagine that. 

I got to work with Elder Abbott on exchange this week. It was way fun because we were in the MTC together. It was fun to see how much we have both grown in the last year and a half. We talked a lot about how we could make the Book of Mormon a bigger part of our work. We both felt that our zone could do a lot better at giving books out, so that was our big focus. We were able to give out quite a few before we changed back. Our next district meeting will be all about how to effectively give someone a Book of Mormon and how we can do it more often. St. Pölten is getting flooded with the Book of Mormon!

We had a hard time having appointments this week because we went a week without being on the streets, but we got to do a lot of contacting, and hopefully the people that we found this last week will become new investigators this week. We had a really cool experience the other day. We went to a place called Hainfeld because there were a few people to visit there, but we didn't have a map. We were walking around asking for directions. We walked past this group of ladies eating at a restaurant outside and asked another man for help. He said that we needed to turn around, and on our way back these ladies asked if we needed help because they were watching us walk around, and then they wanted to know what we were doing. We told them that we were talking to people about the Book of Mormon, and they were interested! I opened my bag and just started handing them all of the books that we had brought with us. They really liked our message and we should meet in about two weeks. 

So things are great over here. The weather has been perfect all week. Even a little cold, which is the best for us. I'm happy out here, and excited to work hard again this week. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Don't worry mom, I always have my camera with me and I will make sure to send some photos soon.

Elder Eldredge

Elder Anderson's Foot

Wow that was a lot of photos! That looks like it was a lot of fun! We should make it a tradition so that I can do it too! 

We had an interesting week over here. On monday we went to the doctors because E. Anderson's foot has been hurting a lot, and the doctor said that his foot was over-worked and that he shouldn't walk for a week. So... I got a good amount of studies in, our apartment is clean, and our area book couldn't look better. We did work as much as we could when we already had appointments made out so we kept ourselves pretty busy. The only day where we couldn't go out and really work was on Saturday. 

So I am really excited to work this week! We did have some good successes this week though. We met again with Bro. K------ and he bought us ice cream before we had our german class. We spent that time talking about the church and he said he has still been reading everyday in the scriptures! We also invited him to come to the entire sacrament meeting because he was only coming for the last twenty minutes or so. He ended up coming for all three hours! He was even commenting and asking questions during the priesthood class. I had to show him how to tie a tie because it has been a while for him. It is a really big success seeing as he hasn't come for about 15 years. 

Being on a mission is awesome! I am still surprised with how fast it is going. in three weeks the sisters who were in the MTC with me will go home and I will be officially "old." 

Our district meeting this week went great! I talked about how important it is for us as a district to be completely obedient and to have courage using the story of the stripling warriors. Everybody was excited for the coming transfer. Our district is really really amazing. I have had the best missionaries in this district. They make my job much easier.

I am doing well! I was wondering if I could get my line of authority though. I hope everybody is doing great! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge 

Journal Writing and Scripture Study

Hey! 

This week was awesome! We had a lot of fun. Last sunday we set up a few appointments with some of our members. That really helped us be busy throughout the week. It is hard to do normal contacting in the evening because the people go home so it was nice to have appointments in the evening. We also had a good lesson with a guy named M-----. He was invited by a member to come see the church and to meet us and we ended up teaching all about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He felt the spirit really strong and is now reading in the Book of Mormon from the beginning until we meet next time. 

You should all be proud of me because I actually have been pretty diligent in writing in my journal everyday. For the first six months or so I wrote every few days but I have made it into a habit to write after we plan. I was reading last night about my time with elder Stilger and it reminded me of some of the crazy things that happened. I also so how I grew a lot since then. 

We had a meeting for district leaders in Vienna on saturday. It was awesome because Elder Abott (the new zone leader) was in my MTC zone and it was fun to talk about our missions since then. 

In the last few weeks I have been studying really hard to learn the scriptures better. That has been one of my focuses in this area but it has really picked up in the last three weeks or so. Our Branch President here is really smart and he lets me ask him all my questions and he gives me some reading assignments as well. I am beginning to see how important it is to be constantly learning. We should always be trying to find answers to our questions about the gospel and we can never become spiritually "full." 

Well, things are going well. I'm happy. Have fun with your "staycation!" And thanks for the info dad!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Staying in St. Pölten

Hey!

This week was pretty great! We are not getting transferred so I will spend at least another six weeks here in St. Pölten. I am excited to work with Elder Anderson for another transfer. It sounds like England is treating you all well. Going to church a lot and eating at other peoples houses sounds a lot like my life over here. 

We have been working a lot with a less active member named Bro. K-----. I think I have already told a little about him, but he came to church again yesterday and is getting really active in genealogy work. That reminds me, I have been meaning to ask how long our family has been in the church? I looked up how many of our ancestors were pioneers and there were a ton! There was even an Eldredge company. 

Elder anderson got sick on thursday and that put him out for the rest of the day and he was still a bit sick for the next two days. I gave me a lot of time to study on Thursday. I have been trying super hard to write down everything that I learn that impresses me, and the more I am ready to write down impressions that I have, the more impressions I get. It is really amazing. I have noticed that my understanding of the gospel and especially of the Atonement has improved in a large amount. I still have a lot to learn, and I am excited to keep learning.

We are having a lot of fun. Today we are going to Vienna to have fun with the district before two of the sisters go home. We are getting two really young sisters. One is being trained and the other has only been here for three months. Other than that our district is staying the same. I am happy that I still get to be district leader. It is a lot of fun. 

I love you all! Have another great week!

Elder Eldredge