"Vienna is the miracle capitol of the world!" - Sept 2, 2013 from Vienna

I'll admit it, I love to read about Katie in the letters of her companion and I'm so grateful that Sis. Judd has given me access to her  blog so I can read her letters and learn things that Katie doesn't write about.  Here is what Sister Judd had to say about Katie in her email this week...(and thank you so much Sister Judd and family for letting me be an invited member to your private blog).

"I am also excited to keep working with my trainee, Sis Lewis. She is awesome. I learn so much from her every day. She has energy like seriously no other. It is the best thing for me! I love teaching with her because she just takes part. She doesn't hold back, and she just loves it. She loves people. She loves hearing their stories. She wants to help. She is really just an awesome missionary. She told me a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to make sure that I was telling her everything I could to help her improve. She told me she has this little fear of being a "late bloomer" who doesn't become a stellar missionary until they hit their year mark. I just want the world to know, just like I told her, its bogus. She already is stellar. I think the first step of being a good missionary is just wanting to be there. Its like work, if you show up for the job ready and willing and with the desire to work, you are already a lot further along than half the other people."

A couple weeks earlier she said: 

"Sister Lewis is awesome. She is so motivated and excited to learn. Learn everything. She inspires me to be better and to work harder. We have set a lot of goals and had a lot of fun this past week. We laugh a lot. She is pretty funny. Anyway, I just feel like she is a lot further along as a missionary than I was when I got into the field. It is neat to watch the progression of the missionary work. Missionaries are coming out more and more prepared. ". 

I know they had some challenges to work through this week, and I have spent some time reflecting on what an amazing opportunity it is for both of these young women to work side by side wanting nothing more than to be united in the Lord's work and to do so while utilizing to their fullest the unique gifts each brings to the work while also having compassion for individual weaknesses and challenges. We are all such unique children of our Father in Heaven and that is much of what brings joy to life.  Katie loves and admires Sister Judd and is so grateful to have her as her trainer.

Now, for the letter from Kate:

Family!!!! Somebody tell my brothers that I would still love it if they wrote me once a month. Just send me an email or a couple lines. I love my family!! Did Austin and Liz ever get my letter?

One of our struggles is getting people to go to the ward they are assigned to. People are just used to the idea of picking which congregation they like the best, which pastor they get along with, etc. They have a lot of challenges with that here. (FYI - As I have explained once before, I think,  LDS members are typically  "expected" to attend the ward associated with where they live.  This is because as brothers and sisters in the Gospel we are accountable for each other and it is often through each other that the Lord answers the prayers of the individual.  Every congregation has stewardship over their membership and attending the "right" ward facilitates this.  Of course anyone is welcome to worship where they choose, but most members also have a service assignment (calling) in their home ward.  

This comes from a Christian CD that Sister Judd has by Christian Crowns called "Come to the Well" about their song "The Well." I just thought it was so profound and so true.

"The woman at the well thought she was standing by a well and talking to a man. In reality she was standing by a hole in the ground; she was talking to the well. She thought she already had her source but she was in fact dying of spiritual thurst. We often come to the Father with our well. We already have our own ideas of what will fill us. Then we ask God to bless our ideas, our source, our well, but we soon realize that Jesus is not the blesser of our plans; but the Author of life! He is our scource. Any other well we attempt to draw from is just a hole in the ground."

Having Jenni at church yesterday was so fun. Sister Judd was next to Jenni and I was a few chairs away and one of the members turned to Jenni and asked if she was a new sister missionary in our ward. Jenni's response was that she's just a soon-to-be member. Yes, she said that. Then the member saw me sitting a few chairs down the row and said, "Oh there's Sister Lewis" and felt really silly. But Sister Judd and I loved it.

Quote of the week is from Sister Judd: "Vienna is the miracle capital of the world." Truth. There are so many people and so many miracles. We notice "wunders" (miracles)  every day. But I have had to recognize that just because people don't necessarily progress the way that I want them to after that, doesn't mean it wasn't a miracle. They still progressed to some degree. Examples:

We're trying to figure out how to get somewhere and a lady walks up to us and starts talking aobut how she has heard that we have a book and can she have one? Alright fine, if you insist.

We sit down on a train and start talking to someone and it turns out that she just really needed someone to talk to. She tells us that they have cancer and that their daughter and her boyfriend haven't paid her rent in seven the years that they've been living in her apartment and she needs the money for medical bills but she's having to take her own daughter to court. She cries and we talk about God and give her a Book of Mormon. 

Our investigator sends us a text about how she bought a skirt for church. We told her she could come in pants or borrow one of ours, but she knows she'll be needing one for the long run so she invested. Jenni is the greatest. Did I mention that she has read the entire Gospel Principles book?

A former investigator answers his phone (neither Sister Judd or I have ever met him) answers the phone on a Sunday morning and says he has work so he can't come to church but agrees to come to grill fest (a ward activity we have this weekend).

Another thing: Sister Woods has Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat on her iPod. So yes I have listened to the whole CD by now and thought of Mom and Lindsey and laughed about our great memories of Joseph.

Listen to A Nashville Tribute's song about Emma Smith. I think it's called "How Much Can One Heart Take?" You will gain a new appreciation for her. 

It's hard for me to know what I have already told you, especially since a letter got lost. So do you know that we have German/English class every Tuesday and Thursday at the Institute Center? Well we do. If they don't need my help teaching then I get to learn German. Yessssssssssssss.

Love you!

 A glimpse into the apartment. It looks like the 

desk on the left if where Katie does her study and preparation.

In a multi-cultural city like Vienna, the missionaries have
Books of Mormon on hand in many languages.
As of August 2013 it has been translated into 109 languages!