Basil anyone?

Hello!
      I hope everyone had a fantastic week! The weather here has been really rainy and drab, but it cleared up just for one day and that day was the most important :)......why it was May 24th of course! And the sun was shinning for all of Vienna to see! I think it was a little birthday present from the man upstairs. He also allowed me to hear Adele 6 times that day......6!! He is too good to me. My birthday was a good one! We had lots of good appointments but the best was at the end of the night! The wonderful Sister Martinz(I served with her in Berlin) invited me over for a fantastic birthday dinner and games! I had so much fun with her and her husband! She was the one who made my birthday last year so great as well with us roasting marshmallows......the girl knows how to make someone's day special! When I got home the cake mix that my mom had sent me was already made and frosted with candles in it waiting to be lit! The other sisters I lived with decorated the apartment and were waiting for us to come home, they are such cuties! We had a fantastic princess themed party and danced to efy cds. hahahaha, oh the life of missionaries!
     Things continue to go great here in Vienna with the work! We have had a fantastic week as we help Oyuka prepare for her baptism this Saturday! She has just been beaming the entire week. It is so cute to see her as she tells people that she is getting baptized on June 1st......she gets soooo excited every time. She has made so many amazing insightful comments this week in our lessons that have made me see things with new eyes.....the power of Oyuka is incredible. She strengthens my faith every time we meet with her. She is ready for this step, and I can't wait for Saturday to come!
      The ward continues to be a favorite topic for me! We had the funnest Talent Night on Saturday! The ward got soooo into it! It went almost 3 hours, and everyone loved it. We also were able to bring 5 different investigators to it! It was SUCH a fun night! We also were invited 5 different times this week for dinner, wowza this ward is making us plump haha. I love getting to know the members here and to hear their conversions stories are inspiring. This ward has definitely been the most enjoyable for me to serve in of all my wards. Plus they volleyball every Saturday......could it get any better? Nope, I don't think so.
      2 Funny things happened this week.....both happened within about 10 minutes of each other and both were at that beloved birthday dinner appointment with Theresa and her husband Perry. So Theresa asked me to go get some basil outside in the garden. I was like....um.....yeah, I have no idea what basil looks like! So she explained it and told me just to go pick a few. So i go out there and pull 3 weed looking these out and take them to her. She immediately starts laughing and shows her husband. I quickly found out that she wanted just leaves plucked out....not the whole stem with dirt hanging off the bottom......hahah I laughed and said basil comes in a bottle in America! We all got a good kick out of it.
      But, that was the lesser of the two embarrassing moments of the evening. The other one belongs to my companion. She was praying and was trying to say Perry and Theresa's last name....however she had forgotten and just tried to mumble out something that resembled it. Whoooo hahahahahah she was way off!!! She accidentally said the word for male genitalia......now she had no idea what that word even meant, but Perry and Theresa were choking they were laughing so hard! When they finally calmed down enough to tell us what it meant we died right along with them! I don't think Sister Lin will ever live that one down!
      Spiritual Thought: This week there has been a line that has particularly been stinging in my mind. It is, "Repent from Mediocrity " It has led to many thoughts about the topic of repentance. As I teach investigators about repentance it is always my hope that they can see it as an invitation of love to return towards god and not a chastisement. That they will understand that it is a journey and not just a one time event. It becomes apart of us, shaping the way we think and feel. Repentance means that there is always greater happiness ahead. Now that I have expressed my ideas on Repentance I hope to bring it back to this saying that has hit me deep this past week. What is so wrong with being mediocre? The distance between mediocrity and excellence can be ever so small. Its as simple as Gordon B.Hinckley put it, "Be excellent!" To do this we must “Look to God, and live” (Alma 37:47). He will help you. He will bless you. He will comfort and sustain you. There will be progress. There will be growth. There will be improvement. And there will be much of added happiness.
      Thanks for all the birthday wishes this past week :)! I hope you all know how grateful I am for such amazing friends and family! Have a great week, and KEEP THE FAITH!!!
Love, Sister Linford

Kirche Jesu Christi
Sister Jessica Linford
Hormayr Gasse 59/Top/9
Wien A-1170
Austria