Katherine of the Alps: Sister Fast

Stalactite

This week began in a a crevice of the earth, in a dank and dark cave illuminated just enough to see the chandelier stalactites. We crept through the mouth of the ancient mountain, first noticing the fossilized bones of a 20,000-year-old bear, and then following the twisty path to discover an underground world where minerals are the paint for peculiar colors. {Perk #273 of being short: Whilst everyone else had to duck, I could walk straight and still have several inches between my head and the rock.} In one room, water rained down from the stone ceiling into a still pool, the purest one could find.

I never cease to be amazed at the beautiful planet that our Lord created-- and the most magnificent thing is that this Being who performed such a magnificent feat is the same Being who literally cares about us and wants us to turn to Him for joy. This week Sister Selph and I did a fast in which we prayed for miracles in our work. After about six days time we became slightly discouraged because we weren't really seeing anything.... And then suddenly the blessings just started pouring out. Of course! God has His own timing! If He is willing to take A MILLION YEARS to create a colony of crystals crawling down from the ceiling of a cave... then surely we can be patient in knowing that the answers to our prayers will come eventually.

Wonders of the Week (to name just a few of many examples):

- Literally SO MANY PEOPLE whom we have been unable to make contact with for the past weeks and MONTHS we were finally able to get back in contact with. Things ranging from us running into them on random

subways and trams to them answering our emails to them finally texting us back just with a new number.

- A man contacted us through Mormon.org asking for a Book of Mormon.

- A woman in our ward whom we had been unable to visit since my first week here finally came to our appointment without cancelling. She is so sweet! We read Mosiah 24 about how the Lord doesn't necessarily

take away our troubles but rather gives us the strength to make our burdens feel light. For a long time she has been concerned that the people in the ward don't care about her (which is not true; I lost count of the number of times people asked us how she was doing) and that if she comes back to church after all this time then the people will be judgmental. And yet when she showed up th following Sunday, the ward members were just beaming with excitement and absolutely took her in. Oh how they had missed her! She stayed for all three hours and in Relief Society gave the most beautiful prayer. She even asked us to meet again next week!

- We visited an elderly member in our ward. We had originally planned on just dropping off a card, but she was so excited to see us that she let us in for an hour. She was just so happy and sweet and smiley and kept bearing her testimony. When she opened her card, she gasped because the design was of roses and roses are her favorite.

Some Other Great Things:

- MLC in Munich! I GOT TO BE REUNITED WITH ALL MY OLD COMPANIONS plus Sister Lehmann who was BASICALLY a companion in the MTC... I love President and Sister Kohler so much and that whole conference was just a spiritual boost. I have never been so motivated to not only be brave and do the work, but even just to improve myself as a missionary in every way.

- We got to help teach primary, which was about missionary work. We brought Books of Mormon in 15 different languages and then all the kids were given a "call" to different countries. This reminded me a lot of an activity we had when I was 9 or 10 which was the first time in my life when I really wanted to serve a mission.

- Members ask us for Books of Mormon to give to people they know.

- We went to an International Multi-Religious Peace Fest.

- My understanding of German had gotten pretty good already, but now I HAVE TALKED "AUF DEUTSCH" WAY MORE THAN I EVER HAVE.

Quote of the Week:

"We have Turkeys. Lots of Turkeys," said Teodora, whilst talking about refugees coming into Bulgaria. I think she meant Turks.

It has been a wonderful week and my testimony has been strengthened so much. One thing that I've noticed is that the more hardworking and purposeful I am in my day, the happier I am. I invite you all to go about your life with a purpose- whether that be to learn something new, to lift others up, to follow your dreams, whatever, the choice is up to you. But we have such a short time here on earth that the less time we spend doing mediocre or even meaningless things like playing on our phones and watching TV, the more time we have to truly make ourselves something greater.

XOXO,
Sister Lundgreen

Monday, September 12, 2016
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Deutschland

Austria

This week we rolled once again through the looming Alps, across the border and into Deutschland for Missionary Leadership Council. I discovered Munich to be a city of gleaming and glistening grays, much more modern than he colorful and Victorian Vienna. Yet around every bend was another ancient church and among its gems were the gothic Rathaus and the Parthenon-like monument, where they were already beginning to set up for Oktober Fest.

Missionary Leadership Council was a really cool experience because we not only got to meet lots of missionaries but also got so many pep talks that made us all pumped to be missionaries.

However, my favorite part of that whole trip there was when we were riding up. There were no seats anywhere on the train, and we were walking from car to car to car. Finally we found two 4-seater tables across the aisle, both with two people. This would have to do. As we were sitting down one of the guys sitting there just had the biggest grin. We were like oh no. But luckily he wasn't there to Bible bash us, he was just an American who has a Mormon best friend and thinks everyone should have a Mormon best friend. We ended up having a

two-and-half hour conversation about everything from his cool traveling career to learning languages to the cultural/governmental differences between Europe and America to why we are willing to make this sacrifice as missionaries. It was so neat!

IT'S TRANSFERS! Bet you're dying to know what's happening. At least I was. Well....

......Drumroll.....

I'm staying here with Sister Selph, and Sister Fast is going to Switzerland! We were shocked when president told us. Literally everyone thought I was leaving, but honestly I am so excited for another six weeks in the beautiful city of Wien. However, I am so sad that we blondies will be split up; we got along so perfectly and we will really miss the laughs brought on by Sister Fast. That girl has the biggest heart and the best stories.

Some other things that went down this week:

* We went running in our ghetto neighborhood and wandered into some random little park with a playset and then saw a sign that said that famous composers such as Mozart and chubert used to be buried there. #we're_not_in_kansas_anymore

* We went to an African festival for Pday me this guy with hip length dreads made me a ring so I had to buy it haha. Seriously though I want to go to Africa now. The culture is so colorful!

* A car drove past with the windows rolled down BLARING GERMAN FOLK MUSIC like literally accordion and everything. This guy was just hunched over in his tiny car NBD so yeah it was one of the funniest events of my life.

* Saturday was a disaster to the point of comedy. Sister Fast went into semi-shock after transfer calls so when she went to make her weekly bread she forgot to put in oil and salt. I also broke a ceramic bowl. Then we went to have our three appointments. 1) Our first guy

called last minute to cancel on our lesson. 2) We waited and waited for our 2nd lesson and he never showed. 3) Before we could go have an eating appointment with an elderly member, Sister Selph got sick to her stomach so obviously we had to cancel this one too. Then as we were heading home we forgot a bunch of stuff at the institute center and had to turn around and get it. So later during our dinner hour Sister Fast and I had a competition to see what we could do with the two ruined loaves of bland bread.... Sister Fast made fried powdered sugar donut holes and I started making a type of baked French toast. But you want to know what I forgot about in the oven? You guessed right.

* For district meeting we watched Elder Johnson juggle banana peels and we also sang harmonized hymn with the guitar. It only made me slightly campfire trunky....

* We spent the train ride talking to an elder and I was freaking out because I am 5.5 months out on my mission and could only understand like 30% of what he was saying. Then my comps told me he was speaking a North German dialect. Dang.

* I used to be terrified of praying in front of groups in English, but bishop has asked me to give the prayer in my German-speaking sacrament meeting TWICE in the past few weeks.

* On Friday I got up before 6 and played Fußball on a team of Germans.

* We had Bulgarian food twice in one week.

* Six months ago as a college student I could stay up till 4 AM easily, but then on Friday night we got home at 11 because our connecting train from Salzburg was delayed, and we were DYING of exhaustion haha.

* I tried a whopper candy again. I used to love those things, but the other missionaries and I were so sad because after living in Europe, whoppers taste so weird! Seriously though Europeans know what's up with their chocolate.

* As a note to students who think they can cheat their way through language class by typing their homework into Google Translate...don't. I wrote a few paragraphs in German and then pasted it into Google Translate for fun to see what it said. It spit out the most horrible

incorrect translation ever.

* Sister Selph's Young Women sent a package including three sister missionary sugar cookies for us three companions! So cute!

* My comps said that my personality like a mixture between Hercule's Meg and Tangled's Rapunzel and that made my day.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." -Ecclesiastes 9:10

Have a good week!

XXX

Sister Lundgreen

P.S. I am so sad, I accidentally brought the wrong camera cord so I will only have iPad pictures this week :(

Wednesday, August 17, 2016
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Never a Dull Day

Austria

This week we took the train to Graz for a 36 hour stay with the lovely Sisters Brinkerhoff and Petersen. Graz is so charming, and sometimes after weeks of appointments it's fun to have nothing to do but just go finding. We also got to help this cute teen work on her Personal Progress, and then she treated us to some Austrian children's lullabies and Kaiserschmarrn. (Legend has it this dish was created when a batch of the royal pancakes went wrong, so the chef chopped them up into bits, added some raisins and sugar, and fed it to the emperor anyway.)

As a missionary there are weeks when you have so many appointments that you can't even stop to catch a breathe, and then other weeks where you set high goals but literally everyone just cancels spontaneously on you. After getting home from Graz it was a definitively one of those slower weeks. Luckily we still got to see one our friends for the first time in a while at the fun Relief Society picnic! I am so grateful to our members who are so sweet and friendly to all the new faces. Then, the highlight of this whole transfer was when the 3 amazing new converts finally got the priesthood! As they received the blessed authority, they were then able to lay their hands on the head of the brother whose turn it was next. I have never been so proud of them!

Some other random interesting things this week:

1. We accidentally discovered an antique shop and I bought a beautiful little book signed in 1840 from a grandma to her granddaughter May, for €3.

2. I tried a pomelo for the first time. My throat swelled up. So my comps freaked out and told me to drink some milk because the base would maybe tone done the acid of the citrus. I took a swig and only then as I swallowed it did I realize the milk was rancid and curdled. Turns out we took home the wrong milk from the institute center and this one actually expired in May. Oh, and we made pancakes for the district with this milk earlier this week. Whoops.

3. One elderly man made a crazy face/motions to mimic the time he was hyped up on medication drugs. Later that same day, an elderly woman made a crazy face/motions to act out what would happen to me if I got smashed to "nothing" by the top bunk bed collapsing on top of me.

4. Think of some intense deep doctrinal questions... Then imagine someone you've only recently started teaching asking these questions for a solid two hours... And then imagine this being in a totally different language. I learned two things: the gift of tongues is REAL because I understood that whole thing, and second knowing the Old Testament is really good as a missionary because suddenly when someone is making these really obscure references to a verse Isaiah you know what they're talking about and can address their concern haha.

5. During a member appointment someone turned on Pirates of the Caribbean behind me and I about died, I wanted to turn around so bad.

6. For pday we pretty much just hopped on random trams and subways and did random things until we ended up on the banks of the Danube and laid in the grass for an hour.

Hopefully next week the pace will pick up a little, but I am glad to know that no matter what there is NEVER a dull day in the field. Speaking of which, I am about to head to an African festival, but first let me leave you with a scripture:

"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments;

and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye

should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he

hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you

and prosper you. And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and

granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him."

(Mosiah 2: 22-23)

Ciao!

Sister Lundgreen

Monday, August 08, 2016
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On the Border

Austria

Last Monday we took the train to Heinburg and hiked to the top of the mount. Although from the forested trail we ould not see the castle, we soon discovered a mighty fortress of 1000 years. How wild it was to trace my fingers along the same gray stone walls payed for by the ransom of Richard the Lionhearted... This place was called "ruins" as early as the 1600's, but the long-ago devastation by Ottoman Turks could still not dim the majesty of a place designed for the emperors. Even more incredible was the view- from one side was the River Danube, and from the other was the country Slovakia and its distant city of Bratislava!

So yeah. It's safe to say this week started with a bang, but I will be honest that it has just flown by. It was so crazy that I'm struggling to remember what happened. We have had some teaching opportunities, and this week we were so happy to have 5 of our friends show up at church!

I just want to say that I am so grateful for the members here. They treat us so wonderfully, sometimes I think we are just spoiled with the numbers of bags of treats and sometimes even clothes we bring home, as well as all the appointments, all the compliments, and all the help with the work. I especially cannot express enough gratitude to those who take those new at church under their wings. It really truly means a lot, both to those new and to us.

Well, if you want to know what being a Sister Training Leader is like, we seriously have so many spontaneous exchanges. Literally this week we had three exchanges. We met up with all the sisters for Pday and then split up for tausch with Wiener Neustadt until the next day. Wednesday was fairly normal but then Thursday we got to visit two people on opposite sides of town followed by us teaching Deutsch course followed by soccer night followed by another exchange. Sister Gunnderson is so cute and on our exchange we got up at 5:30 for a run to the top of Shönbrunn. We had a lesson with a member so we could teach her son, and the four of us hiked up this hill for a picnic with a lovely view. To be honest, I was freaking out because Sister Gunnderson is still a golden which means nobody would be there to help me if I didn't understand the German.... But our prayers were answered

and it went PERFECTLY! I understood almost everything and we just chit chatted away the entire time! Even better, she is Peruvian so along with Deutsch I also got to practice an eensie bit of Español too. Then right after that exchange ended my comps and I raced over and had ANOTHER picnic on a totally different but even more gorgeous mount Kalenberg! Gosh I love our members to death. We watched their cute dog run around in the

flower-speckled grass whilst we ate, and then they led us to the Sisi-Capelle snug in the forest before finally we stood at the edge of the mount to watch the magnificent sundown over a glittering Vienna. But before that appointment even ended we got a call from Wiener Neudstadt saying that they were on their way to spend the night in our appointment for another tausch. I'm tellin you guys, it's all a little nuts. I'm tired. But it's good.

This week I would invite you to always remember your divine worth. Even when life is stressful, take pleasure in knowing that you are a creation of God and He wants you to succeed. No, it won't always be easy and sometimes life is just exhausting, but remember that he has given you gifts that make you YOU. So use them, and push forward!

XOXO,

Sister Lundgreen

Friday, August 05, 2016
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Catacombs

Austria

The week began beneath the ground, under all the grandeur of St. Stephan's Cathedral and in the dank tunnels preserved despite the bombs of World War II. The ancient catacombs are an eternal house for 10,000 dead, from Hapsburg emperors to peasants alike, a place to give you chills when you really think about the prospect of your own mortality. "There," said our tour guide, as we peeped through rusty bars into a dark room where but the dimmest of lighting reflected off the old bones, "is a mass grave from the time of the Black Plague." If that's not creepy for you, then I don't know what is. However our spirits were much lifted when at the end of the tour we went to pay our guide. "No, no. We always let our sisters in free." "But we're not Catholic!" we protested. He gave us a look like "So what?!" and refused to take our money anyway.

This week has been absolutely crazy but I couldn't be more happy. From spontaneous three-way exchanges to speaking in zone training to picnics at Belvedere to zone tours in an old trolley around Vienna (courtesy of a certain amazingly generous Brother Van Rosen) to scheduling for another one of our friends to be baptized in September (!!!!!!!), every moment just makes me love being a missionary. Ok, so maybe I'm always slightly exhausted by the end of the day. But it's so good.

Quote of the week: "Sister Lundgreen, I think I've had more vegetables this transfer with you than I have my whole life."

Story time!

Whilst on tausch, Sister Zomborski started going through the closest, looking at random things that previous sisters left. She found a little BYU lanyard with a hot pink mystery bottle on it. "What is this?" she asked. "Hmm," I said, taking the bottle. "I don't know. Maybe it's like pepper spray or something." So obviously in my blonde brain it was only logical that I test the bottle to see if it wasn't empty or just unlabeled perfume. When I squeezed the nozzle, a little tiny mist sprayed out. Right as I was about to think, "It's nothing," the mist made contact with our rotating fan and basically exploded through the whole apartment. Our respiratory systems discovered the horrendous sensation of pepper and in an instant we were all coughing our lungs out. Let's just say we couldn't go to bed for a while. Let's also just say that I have learned my lesson about mystery bottles in a sister apartment.

We had a number of meetings with both members and nonmembers, but one of the days we were especially looking forward to was Saturday. That morning we left early and then had four back-to-back appointments!

1. First, we went to the rest home to visit Schwester Kapp again. The five of us Wien sisters sang hymns, and as we did so three nurses came in to listen! They also wheeled in another elderly woman to hear us, and the roommate was crying. As we were leaving, the nurses were all thanking us and asked if we were coming again!

2. Next we had a lesson about 3 Nephi with our awesome new converts...

3. followed by a lesson with a man who showed up at church last week (translated into Farsi by our same new convert friends).

4. Then we had another lesson. The interesting thing about this last lesson was that we had planned on teaching the Plan of Salvation... But when my mouth opened, what came out instead was a lesson about Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi. My companions looked at me like "what?" But afterwards I just told them I hadn't felt our plan was right for him QUITE yet. Instead I used the Tree of Life as a sort of introduction, asking him after reading the chapter together if he would be interested to learn more about what we believe, as a way to help him find a grip on the iron rod and reach that precious fruit. So the next day he came to church again, and when I looked at the manual for the Gospel Essentials class I just wanted to moan. This lesson did NOT feel right to me. Then our AWESOME ward missionary Emmanuel started teaching and said, "I'm going to switch things up today. I didn't like the lesson planned for today and felt prompted to instead teach the Plan of Salvation." After it ended I could only thank him for how perfect that was.

We are praying for those in Munich who suffered from the shooting, as well as for the others both at home and abroad who have experienced unexpected loss. These are dark and difficult times in which we live, and though we can't control the world around us, we can continually look towards God. We can continually strive to be our best selves, living in a way so that we have no regrets. Most importantly, we can cherish our loved ones because they are truly a blessing irreplaceable.

XOXO,

Sister Lundgreen

Monday, July 25, 2016
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