Business as Usual

Hey everyone! 

Look at that cute baby! I can't wait to hold her! It is good to have another baby girl. It's only been like 11 years. Happy birthday Ainsley!

We had a great week over here! I think I mentioned last week that we were teaching a sixteen year-old girl from Alaska. We taught her again and she has gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith! She is really cool and she comes to the activities at the youth center so we see her pretty often. She also came to our stake conference yesterday and I think she really enjoys being around the other missionaries and she really feels welcome. She is doing really great and she is a good friend.

We are also teaching a man named M-----. He is a bit of a tough case. He has a problem that he can't trust anything. He doubts pretty much everything and it stops him from making any progress and becoming happier. It has made me reflect a lot about how we need to trust the spiritual confirmations that we've received. We can't panic at every question that we don't understand the answer to. If we approach our questions with patience and trust that the Lord will teach us when He knows is best, we will be much more peaceful and we will learn faster. 

There is no news about transfers. We are both staying for the next transfer. I am excited about it. I really love Vienna. It was a bit of a sad transfer call because a lot of my friends are leaving, but luckily our apartment is staying the same. 

Today we are going to go and see the cemetery! Elder Ringger says it is one of the biggest ones in Europe. There is also an LDS section so we are going to see that. 

Thanks for the pictures of Piper! She is pretty darn cute! Tell her I love her! I love you all too!

Elder Eldredge 

YSA Center

Hi everyone!

Sounds like a really fun week back home! We were also really busy this week. It was possibly the busiest week of my mission. It is really fun getting to teach someone everyday. The missionary couple that is in charge of the YSA center were out of town on a conference this week so we had to run the center and make sure all of the classes were being taught. It was a lot of work but everything worked out. They are still going to be gone until tuesday so we get to keep watching over the center. Tonight we are running the FHE activity, and on wednesday I get to teach institute. I am really excited for that. I get to teach about the first five chapters in the book of Mormon. 

Church was pretty crazy yesterday! L--- brought his parents to church. They wanted to see what he was getting into. They didn't seem to have a problem with us so that went well. W---- and G------ both came as well. We are helping them prepare themselves for the temple. Ever since we started meeting with them there has been a lot of progress. There was also three child baptisms right after church! It was great because most of the ward stayed and there was lots of food. They said there would be refreshments but it was a full meal for everyone. 

This wednesday we will find out about transfers. We had a seven week transfer and our next one will be a five week transfer. I will almost surely be "dying" here in Vienna. We will see though if Elder Ringger and I stay together. We probably will be.

You all need to let me know what I should put in this package for christmas or I am just going to need to shove it full of stuff I don't want to carry home in a few months. Just let me know!

I love you all and I hope that everything is going great!

Elder Eldredge

Enjoying Vienna

Hey everybody! 

There isn't ever a boring day in Vienna! We have lots of fun. This week especially. We had a double zone conference in Salzburg on Saturday. We had two other missionaries stay in our apartment over night on Friday so we had to wake up at 5 o'clock to leave our apartment at 6:30. We brought a lot of scones with us on the train for breakfast and the sisters made some no-bake cookies. It was a lot of fun to sit and talk with them for a few hours. The conference was really great but I barely knew anybody from the Salzburg zone because they are all so young. I got to talk to G-----(from Haag) on the phone when he called the Haag elders. It was nice to hear from him. We took a train back home and got to our apartment at about 9 o'clock and that was our day. I really liked it. 

We had a great time yesterday as well. We ate with a family from Fiji. They are really excited about missionary work and we should do family home evening with them and their friends in a few weeks. They also played the Ukelele for us and sang in Fijian. 

The new window on the house looks great mom! And those kids are all getting so big! 

L--- is doing really well! He is really looking forward to getting the priesthood and his parents are coming with him to church this Sunday. They just want to see what he is getting into but we hope to make a good impression so that they want to learn more. 

We are also working with a new convert named G-----. She is from Italy. We are good friends with her and she really wants to prepare to go to the temple. She was sick for a while but now she can start coming again. 

Everything here is great. My roommates and companion are all awesome. We make sure to have a lot of fun and work really hard. Thanks for the pictures! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

General Conference

Greetings from Vienna!

We had a great week as always but general conference was definitely the highlight. I loved not only hearing the uplifting talks, but it was also a great time to be together with the other missionaries in Vienna. I love being able to see my friends so often. On Saturday night we had all four st. Pölten elders with us in our apartment so that they could see general conference. We had eight elders in our apartment. It was fun. We made around 60 scones for breakfast and sang a lot of hymns for fun. We still haven't seen the Sunday afternoon session but that should happen sometime this week. 

L--- also came to two sessions on Sunday with us and hung out with us and the rest of the missionaries in between the sessions. He really liked conference. N--- also came and watched in Spanish, but she also brought her boy friend with her to the second session and introduced us to him because we talked about doing missionary work in our last lesson with her. She wants to invite another friend to church as well. She really enjoyed listening to a talk in Spanish that didn't need to be translated. 

Today we went to a park and played Ultimate for a while. It felt really good to go outside and play. It also made me miss my cleats because I fell over on the wet grass all day. The weather here is perfect. The leaves are turning and falling and there is always a slight cool breeze. I really like the fall.

Glad to hear that everybody had a good time at conference! I sure miss that chicken chili every time conference comes around. Have another great week!

Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

P.S. Dad, I got my card in the mail last week. It took a while but it is here.