Get up at 4:30 am?

Received October 17, 2011

I'm sure that's what everyone else was saying on Saturday evening when we had to decide when to get up on Sunday to get to Wels on time for Stake Conference. I'll tell you why. But first a little about the week. It was Elder Schulzke's birthday on Wednesday. So naturally we burned the apartment down...na just kidding, but we did have a little celebration. Elder Chandler bought him a Magic the Gathering deck so that he could learn how to play. It's a big game here in the German-speaking nations and it was interesting seeing the cards written in German. That night we had a big dinner and all played Magic together. It's been a long time since I played, but Elder Chandler's deck was really good and I held out pretty long, until the vampire cards started coming out...it was all over then. On Friday we had a lesson with a lady named Regina in the morning and she became a new investigator. Only problem is, she only has time then on Friday morning at 10 when she can meet with us. We'll see how that works out, but she is from Camaroon and a very nice lady who liked the idea of the Book of Mormon (I mean, who wouldn't? But na ja). On Saturday we began all the Stake Conference insanity. The Innsbruck Elders said that they were going to come and do some work with us that day. The Salzburg Elders were coming to spend the night. We got a series of phone calls that ended up with those four Elders, three senior couples, Sis. Miles, and us four Elders from Linz all going out to eat at a place behind the church where we partook in delicious Wienerschnitzl and engaged in much conversation. It was a little party for sure. We then went to Conference, which was held in Linz instead of Salzburg and I sang in the choir for two songs. President Miles was the final speaker. Sis. Miles actually gave a talk in German which was actually written perfectly. I admire her for her courage to give a talk in German after having been here only 5 months or so. We had a great time and it was nice seeing everybody in the stake, especially some people that I knew from Wien who actually live in this Stake when they aren't studying. That evening we went home to our apartment and, as planned, the Salzburg Elders stayed the night. I don't think that anyone can really fathom the kind of craziness that ensued both on the funny and the logistical side of things when six Elders are all in the same little Austrian apartment. There were plenty of stories to go around and everyone loves Elder Patchett and Elder Graff. It was amazing and we baked pizza for dinner. The logistical problems really began the next morning when, as already stated, we had to wake up at 4:30 in order to get everyone ready, walk to the train station, catch a train to Wels, and then walk to the Stadt Messe to get there before choir practice at 8:30. We had a good time with it all and we even got there on time. During the practice, they decided to have The Spirit of God be sung with four soloists, which was a really cool idea and it turned out really well. I still had the last verse which I believe is a little different than the English version and it was a really good fit for a missionary to sing:
O könnten wir's sagen wie tief wir's empfinden
Vom Heiligen Geiste erfüllet zu sein
Ach, allen, ja allen wir wollten's verkünden
Und laden sie alle zum Mitgenuß ein
Now before y'all throw that into Googletranslator, I'll just translate it for you:
Oh that we could express how much we enjoy being filled with the Holy Spirit. We want to preach to all people and invite them enjoy this Spirit with us.
More or less, but the message is perfect for a missionary. Besides that though, I was sick that morning. I guess Heavenly Father thought it necessary to spare the real onset of the stuffy nose and achy throat for after the conference and I was spared from utter embarassment. I recieved a really nice complement from a man who said, "I'm sure you get told this enough, but your voice is really something. It's really easy to listen to." That's the kind of compliment that I like to hear. The rest of the conference was a little hard to pay attention to. It was all in a very quick Oberösterreichisches (had to put on the correct adjective ending) dialect. It was also really stuffy in that building and I had a view of every single distraction that there was to see, so not much was learned.
This was a lovely week though and I'm still loving every minute of being back in the Fatherland and preaching the message of the everlasting gospel and how it was restored through Joseph Smith. It's pretty cool. I hope everyone has a lovely day, week, whatever and that everything is going well. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!