Pictures!

Hey everybody! 

This week was really great! On monday we had a fun p-day with the other elders and some sisters. We played Ultimate in a park! It was one of my favorite p-days. Just as we started playing, it began to rain really hard for about 10 minutes and then it was really nice weather for the rest of the time. Today we are going to by ice cream and then go to Schönbrunn and have a picnic. 

There were a lot of great moments this week. I have told you about L--- before. We met with him on friday and he wants to be baptized in the summer! He also came up to me on sunday and asked what he needs to do to go to the temple. He is such an awesome kid. We have been working with a girl from china named W---

 She is a member since about two years ago and we are just helping her to understand the gospel more because she is from a different background. She is really funny and plays the piano really really well.

We had an eating appointment on saturday with a family in our ward that only eats vegan food. It was delicious! It was also funny because the family also invited a few members of our ward who are from Fiji, and they were really surprised that there wasn't any chicken or beef. But they told me all about the different kinds of bananas that they like to eat in Fiji.

We also went to Herbs (that schnitzel place) as a district on Tuesday. I am really going to miss schnitzel when I am not here anymore. 

Everything here is going great. It is good to hear that you are all doing well too! Thanks for writing. I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

American Food

Hey everybody!

This picture was sent to us by Brother Cleavinger,
the Ward Mission Leader.

Sorry but I can´t send any photos today because my camera turned on in my bag and it is all out battery. But next week I promise!

I am all comfortable here in Vienna now. I really love it here. We had a lesson with a woman named N---. She is from Peru and we are planning on giving her a baptismal date on Wednesday. We also have a lesson planned for Friday where we are hoping to give L----

a baptismal date. Those two were at church yesterday and they are doing great.

We had a really great eating appointment yesterday with our ward mission leader Bro. Cleavinger. It was really great because they are from our valley and love everything america. We had a Sunday roast, and we have already planned our next two meals with them. J-dawgs, and cafe Rio. They also sent us home with tons of american candy. Bro. Cleavinger also wants to give us a Christmas gift by paying for a package back to you, so let me know what stuff you want in the package. 

We have already got a good week planned and I am excited for it all. One of my favorite things about Vienna is all of the transportation that is everywhere. It is a lot better than walking everywhere. 

Today we are going to a park to throw a Frisbee and play games. It should be a lot of fun, and luckily the weather cleared up since this morning. The weather was nice all week though. Not too hot, and not too cold. 

I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Eldredge 

English Speaker??

Hey!

Vienna is awesome! We are having lots of fun over here. It is great to be back in a four man apartment. Elder Ringger is also a great companion and we get along great! I love finally working in a big city. There are so many people and we see a lot of crazy ones. I am not the district leader but it is strange because I still live with the old members of my last district. I am also pretty sure that Elder Richmann is serving in Graz now. So he is in my zone. But seeing as my area is the entire stake, we are basically serving in the same area. I am technically still in St. Pölten as well. Pretty funny. It is really nice because we never need to ask permission to leave our area. 

The work here is going really well. There are a good number of investigators who really love the church. We have a good friend named L--- who learned about the church while he was an exchange student in Wyoming and we overheard him talking to the bishop about baptismal interviews. He is 17 and likes us a lot. We also taught a really funny lesson with two guys from nigeria n

amed C--- and F----. I am still getting used to carrying my english scriptures around and teaching everything in english. I had a really hard time singing the hymns in english and I found myself trying to use german pronunciations.

Our ward is awesome as well. There are tons of YSA guys who like the missionaries. We have members from all over. Some from Fiji, china, Afrika, Mexico, America, and who knows where else. There are also about 120 active members here. They are awesome. 

It sounds like you all had a great week! I can´t believe that Haley will be having her baby so soon! This transfer won`t even be over by that time. I will take photos of my apartment today so that I can send them to you mom! We will also spend some time sight seeing today so I will have some photos of Vienna next monday. I hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Eldredge

Ich bin ein Wiener!

I'M GOING TO VIENNA!!!!!!!!!

I am getting transferred to the vienna fourth ward! It is awesome because I already know my next companion pretty well. His name is Elder Ringger. He is the one who left from the heritage stake dad. I will be greeny busting him. I have been really excited since I found out. Also, Elder Stilger is going home this week. Time really flies! I am happy to stay in the Vienna zone as well. I have a lot of good friends. St. Pölten will get two new missionaries so there will be four now! The apartment will be a bit tight but they will do good work here. 

Things went really well last week. We taught W----- a few times and he was doing really well but for some reason he didn't show up to church. We should meet again this week and see what happened. 

We are going to herb's tomorrow for lunch and I am getting a giant schnitzel! We are having a zone training meeting right across the street from my next apartment so I am bringing a suit case to make my transfer day easier. It couldn't get much easier though. Especially compared to my other transfer days. The train ride only take 24 minutes. That is a lot better that 14 hours to Konstanz or 11 hours to St. Pölten! 

I have started the Book of Mormon over again this week and I am marking everything that has to do with the restoration and it has been really impressive to me how often it comes up. It has really helped me understand the importance of the restoration a lot better. I have also been learning a lot of lessons from the apostles in the book of Acts. They really knew how to do missionary work. I always think of what Alma said, "Use boldness, but not overbearance" (Alma 38:12). I love being a missionary!

I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Eldredge 

Patience and Miracles

Hey everyone!

This week was really great. It has been really interesting actually. During my time here I have been trying really hard to get things going, and we see lots of miracles every week. But we have never really been able to get some real momentum going. For a long time that was really hard on me and I was a bit frustrated that nobody wanted to listen to us. But I have noticed in the last few weeks, and this last week especially, that it was necessary for me to go through all of that so that I could learn to just be content with what I have. It has made me a lot happier and I am really content and pleased with my work so far. In romans 5:3-6 it says that "tribulation worketh patience." That is one of the big lessons that I have learned here. 

We had some great things happen this week. We met a man on the street on Saturday named W----, and we invited him to come to church the next day. He didn't end up coming and we were a bit disappointed but as we were leaving the church building we saw him walking with his friend at the end of our alley. Apparently he was in some catholic church asking for the mormons. We showed him our church and set up an appointment for that same evening. When the time came around we were in the church showing one of our members how to use the church's website but W-----

didn't show up. We went to the window to look for him and he had stood in the rain for fifteen minutes trying to open the door (it is broken). Our lesson was amazing. He was born in Dubai and he spent 48 days walking to get here. He was born muslim but he doesn't really have any connection with Islam. He kept saying that he just wants to start over his life and be a new person. We shared Ether 12:4 with him were it says "whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world." When he read that (in arabic) he started to choke up a bit and I know he felt the spirit. Without us asking he said he would start reading 3 or 4 pages a day, and he wants to meet several times a week. He also said the prayer at the end! We will meet again on tuesday evening.

Transfer calls are on saturday so who knows what could happen! I hope that you all have a great week! We sure have a good one ahead of us! 

That was an awesome video of you two mom and dad! If I do it can I go to bear lake too? Love you all!

Elder Eldredge