(Mom's disclaimer - sorry everyone, Mom was under the weather and unable to update until today but now you have 2 entries!)
Oh my gosh!!!! So the short version of this whole week of experience is as follows: We got out of the MTC around 5:30 am or so and went on our way to the airport. Everything was great as we got there. We stopped off in Atlanta and has around 2 hours to wait there. You could tell we had reached Atlanta because everybody was black (blessed black people). It was cool at the airport but eventually we had to leave and get back on the plane for the really big flight. It doesn't really matter how long we were on the flight because either way I got maybe 2 hours of sleep. It worked out though. So eventually we landed in Munchen and met the Condies and the Assistants to the President. Everyone was so nice to us. We immediately got out and on to a Schnell bahn where we tried talking to people on the way to Solln where the Mission home is. We almost lost Sister Nelson when she didn't get off with us at the stop. She made it back though. We walked to the Mission office and went downstairs to have a really long meeting where we learned a lot about the mission and what we do. It was soooooo hard to stay awake during that meeting. Even standing up almost let me to falling asleep, mostly because of jet lag. Once it was over, we walked down to the Mission home and had a little testimony meeting with everyone. Then came a wonderful (huge) meal with everyone. After the meal we got together in the living room to find out where everyone was going. It was soooo exciting!!!! Elder Clark was the first and we found out that he was going to Switzerland. He was way excited. Elder Dilg was sent to Wels which is a little farming town in the middle of nowhere just like he wanted. Then came Sister Nelson to Wien 2 and Elder Olsen to Wien 4 (the international ward which covers the entire city). The it was down to me. President Condie asked me, "If there is one place in the mission that I would love to serve, what would it be?" I obviously responded with "Well, I will go anywhere that the Lord sends me, but I would really love Wien". Then he told me that I would be serving in Wien 1. I was sooooooooo excited! I couldn't believe it. We then gathered around the piano and Sister Condie played 'Wien du Stade meiner Traume' while I sang along. They were so happy to finally hear an opera singer since the song (they always play it when someone gets sent to Wien). It was great. I also sang, at President Condie's request, 'If with All your Hearts' from 'Elijah' which is a tenor aria but I did alright on it (I guess). We had a really good sleep that night. We woke up in the morning and had boiled eggs and apples since that was all the Assistants had in their apartment (sadly for them). We left to go to the Bahnhof and got on a train to Wien. We met some other Elders and Sisters on the train including Sister Carrol who is one of Sister Downs' old companions. I met a Sister McGuire who is also a vocal performance major at USU. They were all very nice. The train took a while but it was alright since it wound its way through the BEAUTIFUL Austrian countryside with quaint little villages along the way. Eventually we got to Wien and I got to meet my new companion Elder Foremaster who is awesome and has been helping me a lot. I also saw Sister Downs and it was fun, we're going to talk at some point and get caught up. The next few days were a bit of a blur but I'll try to recount some of the things that we did. We did a lot of street and Bahn contacting. Most people are not incredibly friendly but some people will at least stop and tell you no. We spent a good amount of time at the JAE (YSA) Institute Center. There we teach an English class and invite investigators to activities. There are even some Americans that come to the center and they are all really nice. We taught quite a few lessons. We had one with a kinda crazy little old man who said a lot of really intelligent sounding things but didn't make one bit of sense. He spoke really good English but I didn't understand what he was getting at. We have an awesome Haitian investigator named Asmie who speaks German and French. She is working on getting an answer of whether the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. She reads and prays and usually comes to church though so she's really doing well. We taught a schizophrenic guy named Christoph who is a member but less active. We're trying to get him back to church and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He spends most of his time sitting at home in his little tiny apartment watching zombie movies...yeah. We also taught Anna who is the girlfriend of a newer member named Mostafa. Anna is Hungarian and we gave her a Hungarian Book of Mormon and we taught her a little bit about the church and found out what is important to her. She told us that if she found out that the church was true she would get baptized. Yes! It's so awesome. We also taught a Polish man named Julian who has been taught for a while and has an issue with alcohol. He is really long winded and will talk forever and sometimes tries to turn the lessons into his time to teach us. But, we always bring him back somehow and try to teach him more. He really is great though and he's trying really hard to change. We also taught a girl who found her way to us through the English class. She speaks Persian and left the Middle East because she said Jesus appeared to her in a dream and told her to go learn English so she can help her people. (Did I mention that the current Persian version of the Book of Mormon is an incomplete one?) So I hope that she finds our message interesting. We may have to send her to the Wien 4 Elders since she doesn't speak German though. Everything is so great. Today we'll probably be going to see stuff and buy some things in the Innenstadt. I found out that we are allowed to go to an opera on P day!!! Could you check for me and send me a list of the operas playing at the Vienna Staatsoper and at the Vienna Volksoper? I can't surf the internet so someone else will have to tell me. Karen: Tanz der Vampire is playing right now here, thought you might want to know that. My address where I live will be a better place to send letters. It will be faster than sending it to the mission home. By the way, mom, we did get fed twice this week. Once on my second day by a sweet old lady named Schw. Stahl who made Sauerkraut and Pork with Knodl and Strudel for dessert. It was amazing. We also had tacos (of all things) from Schw. Kopf who has two crazy cats and knows a lot of operas. I found out from a member Bru. Peter Cunia that Peter Alexander the famous German entertainer was born a Neumayer. I didn't know that. The people seem to love me so far but I love them even more. It's just great here. I hope everything is going great at home and at good ol' BYU. Tell everyone I say hi. By the way, I really love Wien despite how bad it seems at times and the rat I saw yesterday. Neither he nor the pigeons want any pass along cards despite my constant offering. Have a great week!
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