Monday, June 17, 2013

Bargain shopper

      Hey heyyyy! It is soooo hot here in Vienna, but beautiful as ever! My farmers tan is really starting to take nice form :). I hope everyone is taking time to enjoy Summer 2013 while we have it!
      Well biggest news of this week, I have a new companion! If you have followed my emails at all, you know that companions scare the crap out of me. They can be reeeaaaallllllll crazy and difficult. Each time I get a new one I am nervous at what is going to be thrown at me that the eye cant see at first meet or even in the first week. However, this time was different. I had heard great things about Sister Judd and had the greatest feeling of peace as I heard that she was coming here as my last companion. AND HOLY COW IT IS FANTASTIC! I have laughed non stop since Thursday afternoon! She is such a hard worker and has fantastic German! We have clicked so quickly and have found it so easy to teach together. She was prayed into my life at this time, and I honestly wouldn't want anyone else to end my mission with......don't hate on the cheesy-ness of that last line :).
      The work continues to go so well here! I have said this at least 30 times before in emails.....but I LOVE VIENNA!! The people here are so deep in my heart. Oyuka continues to just amaze me! She has done so incredibly well since her baptism. Last week at church she turns to me and tells me she wants to give a talk. I looked at her confused and asked in about 5 different ways to clarify if I was really understanding her correctly. She finally said, "Look I want to give one! How else is the ward going to get to know me?!" hahaha,so I went up to the bishop and we got her on the schedule yesterday. It was sooooo amazing to see her up in front of all 100 people just bearing her testimony and telling them how much she loves them. It was one of those, "My baby is all grown up!" moments. Sadly, she leaves for Mongolia this week until August.....which is after I leave to go home....so this week is goodbye :(. Wow, she has changed my life.
      The Loh family is a part member family we have been working a lot with.She is from America, he is from Germany. They have 4 beautiful daughters. I have worked really hard on this family ever since I got here. We have seen soooo much progress with them! We meet with them every week now. The little 9 year old is getting baptized soon, we are setting a date this week :)))). I feel the Father will be soon to follow. Working with families is so awesome! Speaking of families, the Mörwalds are also making lots of progress! She is coming to church this next week and they pray as a family every night now. Another family we work with, Doris! She continues to love the plan of salvation and we are really working with her now on how to implement the gospel teachings into her family's life. Working with families is so incredibly rewarding. I haven't gotten too many chances on my mission, and I feel so blessed to be getting them now!
      Also this week......i found a love for Flomarkts as they are called here. I cant even remember the word in English for it ha, but its place where people come and set up booths with really really cheap stuff.......oh my heavens I found some goods....and they are soooo cheap! Me and my comp were going nuts, "Oh my gosh....look at this!! Its so German looking right?!", "I bet I can get it for 2 euro!", "Put it on the table and walk away......you can get it for half that. Yep, she fell for it!" We were loving every second of it. Last 6 weeks of p days here=FLOMARKT SHOPPING!
      Spiritual Thought:I was reading the last few verses in the Book of Mormon the other day. What a task it would be to try and find the words to sum up a book of such significance. It gives such powerful advice though. #1.It tells us to Come Unto Christ! To do this we must allow him/choose to be perfected IN him. Please not that IN is an action word. It is not sit there and he will come to you. It requires us to do. SO what are the actions we must do? It says we must first, deny ourselves of all ungodliness. This means to really commit your ways to the Lord. Not just saying you want to be good- but actually being good, by steering far away from any bad.The second thing we must do is to love God with ALL your might, mind, and strength.Love needs to be the purpose behind your good or godly acts! You need to completely surrender yourself to the Lord-your whole self. These two work hand in hand. You need both. They work hand in hand.
      When we do this, THEN, #2. His grace is sufficient for you- and by His grace you MAY be perfected in Him! This is our goal here on earth! To be perfected even as He is! Our process of being perfected, is brought about by His grace. I also want to focus on the word "may" here and look at it more of a "you will be allowed to". It is still our choice- if you dont do the things in #1 then you are choosing not to be saved/perfected by his grace. they also give a promise here....that when you see the grace of Christ (or even the Light of Christ) you cannot deny there is a God! it is through people that are doing the things found in '1 that radiate this light for others to see.They become a living testimony of Gods power and grace. #3Santified in Christ by the grace of God! "deny not his power, you allow yourselves to become perfected in Christ, by the grace of god"--Then by that same grace you will become sanctified!! This sanctification is through the shedding of Christs blood. Which is the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins.Sanctification is becoming holy-holy without spot.It is a setting apart, a changing, a cleansing, that the powers of earth cannot touch.As Heleman 3:35 says. Sanctification comes when you yield your heart to God. When we are sanctified, the scriptures ends with saying, THEN, we are ready to live with God our eternal father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, forever.
      Thank you all so much for the love and support! It has been so felt the last little bit as the end is in sight. I wish all the best for you and pray that you will always KEEP THE FAITH!!
Love, Sister Linford

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

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