Happy Birthday!!

Hey! 

I finally made the big stage! It is a little bit strange that everybody will see my face when they got on the site for the church. I already have like 5 emails asking me if it is really me. It's pretty cool though. I got a text from our mission office telling me that I was famous. Pres. and Sister Miles called to sing happy birthday to me and told me that I was famous. Apparently they talked about it all day. It was a pretty good gift from the church. 

You all sound pretty happy! Way to go Ben! Is it hard to catch with a golden glove? We had a pretty great week too. We did a lot of dooring this week because it kept raining and nobody on the street wanted to talk to us. I forgot how crazy dooring can be sometimes. You meet some weird people. We saw a house that was so big it could have held 50 people easily. We had at least 5 people let their dogs out on us. Luckily, everybody here just has those tiny dogs so all they can do to us is annoy us. But it worked. 

We had a really great district meeting on tuesday. It was the last time for

Elder and Sister Strong, so the sisters wrote new words to "Edelweiss" and we made paper flowers with our faces taped onto them. It was a lot of fun and really sad to see them go. But the Parkers are really great as well. They were a bit tired because of the jet-lag but they are doing better now.

My birthday was pretty cool. As a mission we were fasting that people would come to church, and two people came! One was a women that we met on the street and she didn't want us to come by so we just invited her to church and she took a card. It was cool because she seems to be really insecure, but the meeting helped her. Our members were all really awesome as well. They all spent the week in the temple so they came back really energized and happy, and they all bore amazing testimonies. The woman that came said that she will come again in two weeks. The other woman is named A-------. We found her on last Monday and committed her to coming and she came! She liked church too but she couldn't understand all of it because she is from Brazil. But she said she will come next week. For the rest of the day we did dooring and got attacked by the kids in our neighborhood. They think that we are from England and try to steal all of our cards. Elder buckley made pancakes with eggs, bacon, and hash-browns for dinner. It was pretty good. The sisters also sang happy birthday to me when I tried calling them to collect numbers too. It was a great birthday. 

Not too much has been happening other than that. It keeps raining on and off so we are working hard to not get sick. So far so good. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I hope that you all have another great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

The Heat is On

Hello family!

It sounds like you had another action packed week! Sounds like Ben did a great job in his tournament! It has been really hot over here for the last few days. At the beginning of the week it rained a lot but then the sun came out and stayed out. We had to pull out the fans for our apartment because it gets so hot, but luckily we are one the first floor so we don't have the heat from the other apartments. There were a lot more people out this week because the weather was so nice, well... I guess it was nice if you don't have to wear a tie all day. 

Our district is really great! We started eating lunch together on tuesday before district meetings and it is really fun to get to know everybody. This week the senior missionaries in our district, the Strongs, will be heading home and we are all really sad about it. But the replacements, the Parkers, are here. They are from Alpine. I am excited to meet them tomorrow. 

Elder Buckley and I are doing great. He is starting to leave his golden zone and is talking to more and more people. His German is getting much better as well. He will probably be leaving here pretty soon. Transfers are in three weeks and he has already been here for four transfers. But who knows, maybe he will stay. Speaking of people leaving, the Miles' are going to be going home really soon. We will have a conference in about two weeks and that will be the last that we see them before they go home. It is a little strange to be getting a new mission president but I am sure we will love him and his wife just as much as the Miles'. 

We found a guy named M----- last week and we taught him this week. He is 17 and really cool. He is just excited to learn more about Christ and wants to learn our message. We watched the restoration film with him and he really liked it. He is on a trip this week to france but when he comes back we will keep teaching. He seems like a really great investigator. 

Things here are just great. We are having a bit of a hard time finding people to teach but it will all work out. As long as we do our best the Lord will do the rest. I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Rainy Days

[Note: one of my colleagues from work is traveling with his wife in Austria and they met Parker at church on Sunday - they sent the pictures included here and the note added at the end of this post - Scott]


Hey!

We had another great week here. I am pretty sure that it rained for at least four days straight but we still aren't sick somehow. Seeing dads boss in church was pretty fun. I think the ward here might think that they were my parents so I might have to clear that up later but oh well. 

My first district meeting went really well. Our district is really amazing and the other missionaries always teach really inspiring parts in district meetings. I am really enjoying my calling. 

Mom, I have the same problem as you. As soon as I sit down to write I forget everything that happened and I don't know what to say anymore. I did meet a really interesting guy on the street. His name was Valentin. But that is just his street name. He asked us if we could give him some cigarettes but then he was interested in who we are. He kept saying "street life is rough man... street life." He also kept forgetting what he had already said so when I called him by name he almost freaked out. I asked him what my street name would be and, without hesitation, he said "Wolfstein." So I guess that is my official street name. He was a really funny guy with a lot of problems. It was sad having to tell him that we couldn't help him get off the street because he didn't want to stop stealing from people. But he was nice.

We had a lesson with a woman named A----- this week. She was referred to us by some members in Vienna and she is really nice. We are having a hard time getting her to understand exactly what our expectations are, but we watched the restoration film with  her and she said she was really touched. We also committed her to coming to church but for some reason she just didn't show up. But her friend in Vienna invited her to a fireside with several general authorities speaking and she is excited to go with her friend. Just goes to show the power that a friend has in inviting others to learn about the church. 

We are doing well. We do a lot of street contacting and trying to get in contact with old investigators and we get rained on a lot, but I love it. Sorry that there isn't too much to say about this last week. Oh! I got a call from pres. Miles the other day and he gave me permission to skype with M and L since they got baptized. I am excited for that. We just have to organize it with Elder Sardoni in Konstanz. So that is how things are. 

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

Elder Eldredge

Scott,

I finally have Internet access so I can write more about seeing Elder Eldredge this morning. Their meetings started at 9:00 but we were late and got there by 10:00. The branch meets on the third floor of a building used by businesses. It wasn't easy to find, but eventually we got there. The branch is very small, there were about 25 people present.

When we got there we introduced ourselves and asked where Elder Eldredge was. I guess what every parent wants to hear is that their missionary looks well, which he was. Eileen and I were very impressed with his German, in particular his pronunciation which is very close to native (and much better than mine). He and his companion are the only missionaries in St. Pölten and spend most of their time doing "bus tracking" which appears to be a way to approach people who are "trapped" on the bus. I asked if they did any door-to-door tracking and he said that they didn't. 

In any case I hope that you and your wife like the picture. I can give you a bigger version when I get home.

Best regards,
Bill Lund

Happy Mother's Day

Hey Family!

Skyping last night was awesome! I can't believe that those munchkins are talking so well already! You all look like you are doing great and it was great talking in real time. Like I mentioned yesterday, things here are going great. We have been having a hard time getting lessons to not fall out but I know we are just being tested a bit. I am confident that we will see a lot of success soon. Things are going up-hill! 

I just checked our baptized list from the mission and I learned that L---- and M----

were baptized! I am really happy that they made it even though it took a little longer than we expected. I am sure they are doing great and the ward in Konstanz loved them a lot before I even left so I bet they are already part of the family there.

We actually do eat a lot of asparagus here. All of the food has been great my whole mission. Even almost all of my companions have loved to cook so I have been treated like a king for the last 14 months. My favorite things to eat are probably Schnitzel (if it is made right), and then Leberkäs with a cold Almdudler (the austrian ginger ale). 

I was reading in the "teachings of the prophets: Joseph F. Smith," and he said something that I thought was really cool. He said that he started seriously studying the Book of Mormon before he was old enough to be a deacon, and that ever since then he never stopped studying the Book of Mormon. He said "Through my life I have read the Book of Mormon over and over again, and I have still not read it enough." I really took that to heart and I am trying to improve my Book of Mormon study and I notice the effect that it has on my overall attitude and also on my confidence as a missionary. It is amazing what the Book of Mormon can do to a person who decides to make it a regular and important part of his life. All imperfections start to wear away and you automatically become more like the Savior as you live the principals that are taught in the Book of Mormon. 

Well I hope that you all have a great rest of the week and I can't wait to talk to you next week! Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

A New Assignment

Hey everyone!

That sounds like you all had an awesome week! We had a lot of fun over here as well. Elder Buckley and I are staying one more together but I was called as the district leader. I am really excited! But today is the first day of my tenth transfer. I am hitting double digits! I still don't like the mission time warp. The work in St. Pölten is going well. I just got permission from Pres. Miles to buy bus passes and I think that will help us a lot. We have just been walking everywhere but now our playing field is much bigger. 

Mission tour was awesome! On monday evening I got to work with Elder Stilger in Vienna and it was for sure the most fun I have had contacting on my mission. We had a blast and talked to tons of cool people. Plus Vienna is beautiful just to top it off. Our conference on tuesday was also really great. I saw a lot of missionaries that I haven't seen in a long time and we got to catch up on each other's adventures. Elder Dyches gave a really cool discussion about working with real intent. It is always good to have a day where you just refuel a little bit so that when you leave you are ready to work hard until the next meeting. 

I found a quote from Elder Holland this last week and I decided to make it the theme for the rest of my mission but I also think that it also puts forth a good mind set for any member of the church. This is just a part of it: "We have got to take things to the edge. we have to move into the realm of the miraculous. We have to live in such a way that we cannot do it alone anymore - where we will resort to the Lord - where we will cry out 'without thy help I will fall - help me fly.' Go to the edge where miracles happen - move into the realm of the miraculous."

I got to work in Vienna on friday as well because we were on exchange. I worked with Elder Peterson from Salt Lake. We ran into five members of the church! Three of them were even students from BYU on a study abroad. We were supposed to have an appointment there but it fell out so we went by on some old investigators. The people that we talked to were all really awesome and we had a good time. The weather was beautiful as well, until about 7 O'clock when it began to drop buckets on us. It rained so hard in such a short time! There was thunder and lightning everywhere as well just to make it cooler. And because I was on exchange i didn't have a jacket so I just ran as fast as I could while trying to stay dry under my broken umbrella. It was a fun evening. 

The pictures that you sent arrived! Thanks for those! They will be great for showing people. Just so that you know I will be skyping at 6 O'clock (Austria time) from one of our members houses. I am really excited to talk to you all next sunday! I hope that you all have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Focus on the Basics

Hey everyone!

Well we had another great week in St. Pölten. Luckily I didn't get sick like the rest of you. I can't believe that pretty much everybody was sick through the week. So far I haven't been sick on my mission but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way. 

Well last week I had mentioned that we had been having a hard time finding people to teach but now things are getting a lot better. We were at a restart phase when I showed up and now it is starting to pick up pace a little bit. We met with a woman that we found last week named D-----. She is from Russia, and due to a lot of deaths in her family and losing her job at the same time, she fell into some pretty heavy depression and lost her faith. But she has now realized that she really needs her faith in Christ and she is studying in the Book of Mormon. Our only problem with her is that her English is not very good and neither is her German. She sort of speaks both of them at the same time. We understand her pretty well but she doesn't always understand what we are saying completely. We will probably start teaching her German pretty soon. 

We also found a young Austrian family with two children. They were really interested and they want to have a tour of our church building. They also wanted to come to church yesterday but they had somebody visiting them to see their new baby. The father had a lot of questions that were good questions but they weren't going to help him develop faith quite yet. He was asking us a lot of "deep doctrine" questions, and although we could have answered that he hasn't yet developed the faith to believe what we would tell him. I have found it interesting that no matter how much interest a person has about the Gospel, if you don't take the time and focus on the basic principles of the Gospel, you can't make nearly as much spiritual progression. 

Today all of the missionaries in Austria will have a big finding day in Vienna and I get to work with Elder Stilger! I am way excited. He has been working as a zone leader in Salzburg and I have only seen him a few times since he left Haag so I can't wait. We also have a mission tour tomorrow in Vienna, and Elder Dykes from the quorum of the seventy will speak to us. We will be there for almost the whole day. There will also be about 80 missionaries there so it should be a good time.

I am sorry that I have only been able to send a few pictures since I have been here. The computers are just too slow for it to work. Oh ya, this transfer is only five weeks long so we will get transfer calls on this coming saturday. Also, Dad, the address of our church that you found for your old boss is correct. And it does start at 9 as well. 

I hope that you all have a great week and that you are all feeling better now. Congrats to Haley and Andrew for graduating!

Love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Easter Cookies

Hello!

Hey everybody! It sounds like you all had a really great week! Some day I want to see this scooter riding/kite flying game. Thanks for sending the photos! I thought that you might had already sent them to Konstanz. 

We had a really good week here as well. I got to work in Vienna on wednesday and it was awesome! I have never seen so many people! While I was in Vienna, this member took us out for lunch with about six other missionaries. This guy happened to have a pretty good amount of money so we went to his old man tennis club and had over-priced asparagus for lunch. It was actually really good. This man told us that he got his money from working pretty high up in the Leica camera company. He told me that the next time I came to Vienna, I could just show up at his place and he would show me all of his antique cameras. He was a really cool guy.

Working here is pretty interesting so far. When I got here, Elder Buckley told me about all of the investigators and it sounded like a lot was being done, but when I came it had been a few weeks before they had met with their

investigators. They also didn't seem to have much interest anymore either, so we have been starting over. We haven't been seeing to much success since I have been here but I have a lot of excitement for this next week. We had a lot of uncontacted potential investigators and previous investigators that needed to be contacted and we are finally getting to the point where the ones with real interest are having time (especially with easter being done). So we hope that this week will be great and that we can get this place rolling.

We did see a really cool success yesterday though. On saturday we baked tons of cookies for everybody in our apartment building and wrote a note for each of them, just saying "happy easter" and stuff like that. We dropped the cookies on everybody's doorstep on our way to church so that they would find them. When we came back from the church we got a knock on our door, and a women from our building gave us a big plate of homemade cake and some easter eggs. She seemed to have been really touched. Plus our notes all had the church name and email address. It was pretty cool.

I am writing pretty early this week because we are going to have an easter party at one of our members houses. We are going to play soccer with one of the young boys in our ward there, and then we have to leave to go to another easter party with a family that is really big into football so they are huge people and they eat so much food! I hope I don't die.

I took a picture of our district a few weeks ago and I will send it to you today. I would send more photos but this computer at the church is just not ok with that. 

I hope that you all have a great week! Congrats to the Glenns for graduating! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge