The Legend and the Legacy
Monday, July 18, 2016
To walk into a palace is to walk into a realm of near unreality. Hofburg was like a dream, and as I wandered through the red and gold damask rooms of Sissi and Franz Josef it was hard to imagine that this was their home. One of the things that I love so much about living in Europe is that its history never ceases to amaze me-- even AFTER it's been untangled from the legends.
But still after my preparation day ended and I returned to reality, I realized that I live in an amazing reality. I have never been so busy in my life, and yet I have never felt more fulfilled! We have had random people walking into the church who want to meet with us.... Random people walking into institute center who want to meet with us.....random people calling our phone who want to meet with us.... Even the guy who made our takeout noodles asked about our nametags, and by the time we walked away we not only had given out a Book of Mormon but also had his number so we could meet with him and also three free Turkish yogurt drinks (haha). He mentioned his talent at converting people to his religion so I don't know how much hope I have for this, but it's still cool. Other than that, we have had a number of back to back appointments, and our next week is supposed to be 10x crazier still. Although for my first several weeks in Wien we couldn't get ANYONE to come to church, we now have two of our friends who say they want to come every week! Also, one of our friends who we just started meeting is hoping to get baptized in September, and we couldn't be more excited for her!
Some other things that are going down:
* Sometimes I can't remember if we Americans call it football or soccer
* Speaking of which, I recently discovered that I LOVE playing Fußball
* I was at a member's house and I mentioned that I went to BYU-Hawaii,
and he said his best friend Erik goes there and anyways after all this
time this member finally figured out why I looked so familiar--
because I am totally in a bunch of Erik's Facebook pictures from the
cool hikes we did together. Small world
* Being in a drit is seriously the best thing ever because we have
just become instant besties plus with three of us we can play Wizard
before bedtime
* I feel like my rate of learning German is seriously accelerating and
I am so happy about it. I have seriously talked more than I ever have
my whole mission.
* ....except I add the word "like" into my German
* ..... And now I can't even remember all the Spanish days of the week anymore
* The way things are going now we may soon have to start a Farsi
branch. For now, our neubekehrts (AKA our three awesome new convert
friends) are AMAZING joint teaches for when we need translators
* I have the sister shoe tan line
* As Sister Training Leaders we get to go on lots of exchanges with
the other sisters who I just love
* People gave me compliments this week and it made me so happy, I
think I just want to go out and compliment people now
* I will reach my 5 year anniversary of receiving my patriarchal
blessing on Wednesday. It's interesting to think what it meant to me
then at age 14, and now as a missionary.
It's funny because often times people will say things such as, "Being a missionary must be so hard." That was something that really made me nervous before I reported to England. And yes, while you could say that it's challenging in the sense that you have to learn a new language and face rejection and talk to strangers and get up at 6:30 and sometimes miss your family a heck of a lot..... For me, I would not say that my mission is "hard." Every day we see the infoscreen at the subway station, and I realize that I am not in France dealing with the tragedy of yet another terrorist attack. I am not in Turkey dealing with the chaos political upheaval. I did not have to walk 2000 miles with nothing but the clothes on my back just to have Christianity. Sometimes people are surprised when they find out I am only a teenager and wonder why I am here, but after talking to a man who, after church, said that he "wants to come back because these people are so peaceful".... Well, I know that a lifetime of missionary work could not bring about world peace, because there is opposition in ALL things. But even if I could offer the little bit of peace that the gospel brings to those will listen.... That is worth it to me. To hear someone tell us that she really thinks she can turn her life around and finally find happiness by partaking of this fruit that we have give... It makes up for any sacrifice I have made 100x over. That is why I am here.
XXX
Sister Lundgreen
Pictures- Bubbles where Hitler gave his speech, gold decor from the Imperial treasury, a Parthenon-like art exhibit
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