Pie in the Face

This week was so great. The best part was Tuesday night. We had a Book of Mormon read a thon kick off with the Young men and Young women. We each presented them with a new book of mormon with a Picture with us and them, then all of the missionaries wrote their testiomonies in the book of mormon. Then at the back of the book of Mormon there is a Picture of all of us missionaries and it says "Your missionaires love you!" The youth loved it!!!! We then had an activity with them showing them how they could have good scripture studies and how to get really into the scriptures. So with the challenge if they read for 30 days a chapter a day, they get to pie the Person of their choice in the face:) So naturally we brought a pie for an example and we suprised one of the elders and pied him in the face. O man, the youth went crazy. They loved it and were all so pumped to read in the book of mormon. It was such an incredible activity and yesterday we had talked to the youth and they had been reading everyday!! The parents are also helping them really get into the scriptures. I just hope and pray this will help them gain a love for the Book of Mormon. We have seen a lot of great Feedback from the youth, and in the prayer at the end of the activity, one of them thanked Heavenly Father for such great missionaries in the ward. We were seriously on cloud nine after the activity. We love the youth in this ward so much.

We had a lesson with Lisa afterwards and it was awesome!!! The Spirit was so strong. She is really making Progress. She even fasted yesterday for fast sunday and we havent even taught her about that yet!! She did it completely on her own. She is incredible really. The members are doing such a great job welcoming her. Tonight we are going to Family home evening at Familie Lex and Lisa is coming with. She is so awesome!

We had another great appointment with Roberto!! He seemed to really like the Restoration. We also were able to find 2 new investigators this week, so that has been awesome. This week is already super busy and I am just doing my best to enjoy every Minute, every second, that I have.

O! Next week we will have pday on tuesday. Monday is a Holiday and everything will be closed, so we are switching pday, so dont be alarmed if I dont write Monday.

Well Graz is so great. I love the ward and the investigators here with every ounce of my Soul. It is really such a Blessing to be here.

Ich habe euch ganz doll Lieb!

Sister Allman

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here are Pictures of the book of mormons, and me with the youth doing atl shawty:)

Good Week

What a great Pday!  Baldur took our district to a beautiful mountain and we hiked up, then rode on a alpine slide looking thing in the Alps. It was einfach wonderful! It is super fun because the next pdays that we have are already planned out because members are taking us places. Next Pday we are going on a hike with Heather, then the next Pday our GML Bernhard is taking us to the chocolate factory:) We are very lucky to be serving here in Graz, the members are the best:)

This week was also really good. We were able to have a lot of sucess. Tuesday was spent going by a former investigators home and on our way, we met a cute lady who let us into her apartment! We ended up teaching her, and she seemed really open and receptive. The whole time she just kept telling us how we were radiating and beaming. She also couldn't believe that she let us in her house. She told us she had never done that before, but for some reason she wanted to let us in. Way Cool!! After that appointment we were walking on the street and stopped a man. We started talking to him about the purpose of life and the book of Mormon. He loved it. He told us that all day he had been thinking about it while he had been in bed, but then he had the strongest feeling that he needed to get out and go on a walk. He then met us and he kept telling us that it was no coincidence. It was such a miracle we found him! We were able to teach him a few days later. His name is Roberto and he is from Poland and just so spiritual. He has been really searching for the truth and is just so prepared. We are meeting with him again on Wednesday.

We had an awesome lesson with Lisa on Thursday. We brought Raphy Knapp along with us and he was simply der hammer. Such a good joint teach. We taught her the 3rd lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Raphy totally bore the strongest testimony of scripture study and how that helps him have the spirit with him! It was sooo good and totally helped Lisa. She seemed to really understand and liked what Raphy had to say. It was great.

This week we start the Book of Mormon 30 day challenge with the youth! WE have prepared for the all the own special edition Book of Mormon and with a marker. It looks so good. I talked to a lot of the youth and they are very excited and looking forward to pieing people in the face;)

Well time is short today. I think my next few emails will be shorter.. but just know I love yall!!!

Sister Allman

Dank Ihm

Hello Family!

I am running out of ways to start my emails. hahah But this week was good. We saw tender mercies everywhere and when life gave us puddles - we jumped in them! Literally!  haha  It rained a ton this week. Tuesday after district meeting we were headed by a few people homes and it just poured. Our feet were already wet so we decided just to enjoy each moment and jump in the puddles on the way. Sister Smith and I were just laughing and enjoying every second. We had Gemeinde Rat (Ward Council) that night and by the time we got back to the church, we were completly drenched! It was definitely a lesson to me about how we can enjoy EVERY moment, it is just up to us and our attitude!

We had a great lesson with Lisa about the Plan of Salvation. She loved it and said she doesn't understand why everyone doesn't have the goal to make it to the Celestial kingdom. It was awesome. The members also LOVE Lisa. Everyone keeps asking us if they can come to an appointment with us. Everyone just thinks she is already a member because she looks and acts completly like a member. It is so great. I am excited to meet with her again this week.

O! Cool little thing. Friday night there was a waffle night for the JAEs. We ended up having 11 non members there!! There were 5 members, 4 missionaries, and 11 non members. We were all so excited and just couldn't believe the turn out. It was einfach der Hammer.

So ya'll have probably already seen this video called "Because of Him." Well, Sister Smith and I have really been using it with members and investigators and we have gotten an incredible response. I just have realized that I have so man blessings in my life, and I wouldn't have any of them if it weren't for Him.

 http://easter.mormon.org/

So yesterday we had ward conference with the stake president and it was awesome. They introduced the stake mission plan and this is it...  Love the Gospel enough to share it. 1. Pray for charity and opportunities to share the Gospel. 2. Pray for the missionaries and investigators by name. 3. Have the missionaries in our homes.  There is the plan and that is what they talked about in every meeting. Lets just say that all of us missionaries felt very popular. They focused on the goal setting - and having the missionaries in the members homes.  Afterwards people were rushing to the  calendar to sign up for appointments and even Sister Geschwander, an elderly woman walked around writing down the names of all the missionaries. We have so many appointments with members this week. I felt a reality of the importance of missionary work and the responsibitily that I and all members have to reach out to others. I love that the whole plan starts with Love. Sharing the Gospel out of love. Powerful.

O! Pday was awesome today. Baldur took us to the Green Lake and it was breathtaking. Great Pday.

Well I love yall a lot! Have a great week!

Sister Allman

New Transfer

Heilige Kuh,

What a week, what a week. We probably spent around 18 hours in a train, but we sure had fun. Thursday and Friday we headed to München for MLC and when we got there it was this huge mission reunion. So many missionaries together and it was crazy. All of us together had a huge finding day around the place they host Oktoberfest at because Frühlingsfest is going on right now. (It is right down the street from the church). I think there were about 110 missionaries and we went around Theresienwiese(The place where Oktoberfest and Frühlingsfest are hosted) and invited people to come get a church tour. I think it was definitely a sucess, and we had fun as well. This mission seriously has the BEST missionaries in the world in it. Man, I just love the missionaries in my mission, and I hope I will be friends with these people forever!!!

After the Finding day we started MLC. We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon and how important it is to get our investigators to start reading it from the beginning. We all read the first chapter together, and it was soo incredible to see how much of the first lesson is brought up in just the first chapter! It talks about families, prayer, prophets, revelation, God, Jesus Christ, just everything!! It is incredible and I urge everyone to try and study just the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, and see how many different things it testifies of. I also heard a quote from President Eyring. Someone asked him how long they should read the Book of Mormon each day and he said "Read the Book of Mormon until you feel the spirit, then read a little bit longer." I love that soo much!! That should be the guideline of our daily scripture study each day! It was soo good. That night Sister Smith, Sister Henry, Sister Clark, and I got to stay at a hotel because this mission home was full, so that was a little adventure. We then woke up early and had another great MLC with Elder and Sister Dyches. We talked about Agency and how we should take control of our own lives. He talked all about how it is OUR CHOICE if we are happy, or if things are good. Dad, of course I thought of you. I just kept replaying over and over in my head when Mckay and I would fight, "He's not annoying you, you are LETTING him annoy you!" I couldn't help but laugh, but of course I loved learning about it again, because I think I could always be better at that. But agency is so huge within our happiness. It is really our choice if we are happy or not. One of my favorite quotes is "If you want to be happy, BE!" Who is to decide for us if we are happy or not?? It is our choice! We learned about transfer calls at MLC and guess what?? Sister Smith and I are staying together:) Of course we already figured, but I am just so happy that I will be ending my mission with her, and Sister Freimann!! She is coming to the Wien Zone and I am so stinking happy because I will get to see her and do a tausch with her too. It will be great!! But MLC and München was great. I love that city with my whole heart, and I love being able to go back once a month.

Saturday we had the JAE Sporttagung all day, and it was just a blast!!!! O man, we were soo happy to be there with the JAEs. The best part about it was that it was a huge reunion. I saw Naemi, Oliver, Dago, Marcella, Vera, Lukas, David, Magdelena, Rebekah, Chris, and so much more. I was just besides myself because I was just soo happy and so grateful that we were allowed to go and able to be there. Lisa was there as well and just loved it. It is great to see her make friends with everyone and just have a good time. It is awesome because it is like she is already a member!!

Speaking of Lisa, she is doing great. Saturday at the JAE Tagung she was talking to these two converts from Slovenia and they were telling her their conversion story, and Elder and Sister Tew told us that she teared up during the converstaion, and then she said "Can I be baptized tomorrow?" She is just incredible. She came to Albert's (The Elders Investigator) baptism yesterday and just fits in so well. She is just the best and we will be meeting with her again this week. Sister Smith and I are both freuing ourselfs and are just so happy to be able to teach her. She is just the greatest.

GUESS WHO CAME TO ALBERT'S BAPTISM??? David and Phillip!! O man, we haven't been able to meet with them for a while, but they came to Albert's baptism and just loved it so much!! It was seriously a miracle. David (the 10 year old) was soo excited to see me and ran up and gave me the biggest hug. He had told me that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon and that his dad was going to fix the dvd player so he could was The Restoration after the baptism. How cute is that??? He also said that him and his dad were going to come next week again to church with this big smile on his face. I was sooo happy. Phillip came up to me and just told me how David loved every second of being with the ward members, and he knows they have to come back again next week. Phillip enjoyed it as well, and we are able to set another appointment with them again on Wednesday. We are so excited!!!! Goodness, the Lord is blessing us so much.

This morning during studies I was just overwhelmed.. This next transfer is going to be incredible. I feel it in my bones and I just know we are about to start witnessing miracles and we are going to feel some of the purest joy this transfer. This week we have been able to make out a lot of appointments with members, investigators, and potentials. It is going to be great, and I am ready to work as hard as I can and use EVERY moment that Heavenly Father is granting me. This time on a mission goes by so stinking fast, so now I am just trying to cherish every second and do EVERYTHING I can to accomplish the work the Lord has for me.

We get weekly emails from the mission and this was in the last email that I thought I would share:

 Ein Missionar zu sein ist einfach das Beste.  Ich habe diese Woche eine kleine Zitat gefunden von Präsident Ezra Taft Benson die ich gerne mit euch teilen möchte.  Er sagte, „I challenge you to enjoy your call and to magnify it completely.  Be happy and joyful in the service of the Lord.  Love missionary work with all your heart.  I promise you that as you magnify your call this will be the sweetest and most glorious experience you have had.”

All I can say is, AMEN to that quote.

WelI Ich hab euch ganz doll lieb!! Ihr seid der Hammer!!!

Sister Allman

Here is a picture from Sister Smith and I in Salzburg, we had a hour layover in Salzburg on the way to Munich, so we were able to take a few pictures.

Almdudler

Last week we had another great lesson with Lisa. We taught showed the Restoration Video and she loved it. She just soaks everything up like a sponge! We were able to give her 5 chapters to read before our next lesson, and she was excited to read. I know she is going to get baptized, she is so prepared! Also, This weekend is the JAE Sport Tagung and she is coming to that, she is excited to meet some cute boys...hahah I am excited for her to be able to meet a lots of new members. 

One of our less actives, Schwester Sorko, came to church this week!! It was such a miracle. The greatest thing about it is that she said she felt the spirit so strongly, and she felt like she had this huge pounding in her chest. It was so good, and she loved it. She has made so much progress, and I would not be surprised if she starts coming regularly. She is just the best!!

Other than those two things, this week has just been crazy, but things aren't slowing down. Sunday night we headed to Vienna and got there around 7. Monday we had studies then were able to have a district P-day before are huge 2 Zone finding day. We were able to go to Stefansplatz, Praterstern, Belvedere, Karlskirche, we crammed a ton in. It was a lot of fun, Vienna is a magical city. We headed to the institutes zentrum at 4 for our massive finding day. Sister Henry and I were companions for this finding day and had a blast. In a little over 2 hours we were able to give our 3 book of mormons and find five potentials. It was great, we were so energized, and just ready to flood the earth with Books of Mormon. With 40 companionships we were able to find about 60 potentials. Not too shabby, but it definitely pumped me up again for finding. Tuesday we had a great mission tour with Elder Dyches. I learned a ton, and heard a ton what I needed to hear. It was a great versammnlung!

I got to see Oliver and Raphael!! I was sooo happy!! Two of my good friends from my time in Vienna, it was so weird, yet wonderful to see them again!! I was just so happy. The JAEs in Vienna are just the best. This weeked in the Sport Tagung which we get to attend, so I am going to see even more JAEs so I am stinking excited.

Well tomorrmow, early morning we are headed to Munich with the Zone Leaders. We will get there then have another huge finding day in Munich with all the Zone leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the mission, and the Munich, and Stuttgart zones. It will be good, and I am so excited. I am also excited because Mission Leadership council will be with Timothy J Dyches from the seventy, so of course I will learn a ton. Then we will get back late Friday night, then give a lesson at the Sport Tagung, and be there all day! Also, this weekend is transfer calls, but I am pretty sure Sister Smith and I will be staying for my last transfer:) It is crazy how fast time is flying, so I am just trying to enjoy each moment, and forgetting about time. I am looking forward to a transfer of miracles and fun. It will be great.

Well ich hab euch ganz doll Lieb!! Schöne Woche!!!!

Sister Allman

O es ist Wunderba

This week was so good. Tuesday we had our first lesson with Lisa which went very well.  She is so prepared. She knew all about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, the Word of Wisdom, and even things like Modesty. She said she has been listening to podcasts online about different topics of the church, and she loves it all. She loves how our church is run and how everyone has a part. She said she loves how she feels when shes at church and when she learns about the church, she thinks the church is true and accepted a soft baptismal date. Seriously, our jaws were dropping just the whole lesson, we were amazed at how ready she is. It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares people. The best part about it was that we asked her how she got her Book of Mormon. She told us how about 6 months ago that she ordered a Book of Mormon on lds.org and asked if missionaries could come to her home and visit. She told us that she was so sad, because missionaries never came, and the Book of mormon ended up coming in a mail. Sister Smith and I were both just shocked when we heard that. If anyone EVER wants a book of mormon, the missionaries bring it! It is really hard to to avoid the missionaries, because we are the ones who deliver the Book of Mormon-even if you don't want the missionaries to come. So I just think that is a huge miracle. When I first came to Graz I had been searching for the person I promised in the Pre-earth life that I would find them. I just KNEW that there was someone here that  I would help. When I thought of who that person would b, I pictured a brown haired, ysa-aged girl always came to my mind. So for the time I have been here I have been doing everything I can to find that person. I don't know, when Lisa told us that, I just KNEW it was her that I promised. It is no coincidence that Sister Smith and I are here at this time, to be able to teach her. We may have not found her, she found us! but She is suppose to be in Sister Smith and I's life. I just know it. She has already been such a blessing and helped me more than she or anyone will ever know. Or even maybe, I didn't promise to help her, but she promised to help me? I don't know, but one thing I do know is that My God is a God of Mircales, and Heavenly Father never ceases to amaze me with the miracles I have been able to witness on my mission.

Another little Miracle, I didn't tell you guys, but I had to go to the doctor a few weeks ago because I had an infection in my body (Don't worry about it, it was just something little). During my check up the doctor saw something and had to take a biopsy. I am not going to lie, but I was really nervous. I was able to get a blessing from Elder Tew and Elder Byers, but I still was really worried afterwards. Something that was said in the blessings made me think that something was wrong. Later that week we had a eating appointment with a YSA from America. Just so happens is that she is Gluten Intolerant. We got to talking about Gluten and the effects of eating it. She ended up looking up the things that could happen if one still eats gluten when they have celiac disease. I had the biggest wake up call in my life. I have never felt so much in my life how important it is for me not to eat Gluten. I was afraid, and I was nervous that I had lost my opportunity to treat my body right with healthy, gluten-free foods. I was worried I was a little too late. Well, low and behold, I am okay! The biopsy came back good. I have no shadow of a doubt that I went through this little scare, to know how important it is for me to follow the gluten-free diet. I know ya'll have heard this a million times, and everyone knows how terrible I am at eating gluten-free, but I literally had the biggest wake up call in my life. And in the blessing that Elder Tew and Elder Byers gave me said "You will be grateful for a Healthy Body." O man, I am grateful that I am healthy. I really and truely feel that Heavenly Father has given me another chance to eat gluten free so I can live to an old-healthy age. Now everytime I have the temptation to eat something with gluten, I think of stomach cancer, or not being able to have kids, and my temptation goes away. It is just NOT worth it.  It is another wonderful miracle I have been able to witness.

We had a tausch this week with Wiener Neustadt. I got to work with Sister Garrett who I was with in the MTC! She is a transfer older than me and just the coolest. She played basketball in college and always schooled me in the MTC when we would play. haha  But it just so happens that our Tausch fell on the day of the basketball game of Brett and Nolan. When we told her she literally fell to the ground and cried because she was so happy/excited to go. The game was soo much fun. There were less people at a professional basketball game in Europe than a JV basketball game in High school, but we had such a blast. The wonderful thing about it was that we were able to have 3 nonmembers there with the JAEs (YSA) and they all enjoyed themselves as well. It was a super close game and Graz ended up winning by 4 points? Everyone really enjoyed ourselves and had a great time. Afterwards we stayed and talked with Nolan and got his number. We will be meeting with him this week, and hopefully give him a Book of Mormon before he goes home on the 28 for the Off season. It was such a wonderful experience, and I realized how much I love basketball! Man, it is the best. I attached pictures of it.

Easter was so great. We showed up to church and all the members kept giving us chocolate bunnies, candy, meat, nutella-they showered us with gifts. It was so nice, our ward is just the best. Don't worry mom, they really take care of us:) Afterwards we headed to the Genge's for a nice Easter Lunch. It was so delicious, and just so much fun. I really love being here, especially in Graz.

Mom, next week I probably won't be able to email until Wednesday, we are headed up to Vienna on Sunday night because Monday we have a huge mission finding day with the Salzburg and Vienna Zones (We'll have around 80 missionaries), then on Tuesday we have a Mission Tour with Elder Timothy J. Dyches, then we will come home Tuesday night, so don't be alarmed:) Next week is literally going to be crazy. It is the last week in the transfer, and we will be in Graz on Wednesday, then Thursday and Friday we will be in Munich for Mission Leadership Council, and then Saturday there is a JAE conference and they want all of our district of missionaries to be there, so that week is going to be so much fun, and crazy, but I am excited;)

Ich weiss ohne Zweifel dass, diese Kirche wahr ist. O meine gute. Ich bin unendlich dankbar für unser Erretter, und Ich weiss mein Gott wirkt Wunder. Ich bin so dankbar eine Missionarin zu sein!

Love you guys!

Sister Allman

Here are pictures of all of us at the game, and here is a picture of Lisa and I at Elder Tew's birthday fhe!

Atlanta Hawks

We met two professional basketball players this week! We contacted both of them at different times and had some great conversations with them. I was sooo happy to talk to someone about basketball!!!! They are both playing over here in Europe and getting paid for it. One is hoping he will get drafted into the NBA soon and the other is content playing basketball in Europe. Well, it just so happens that their last game is Wednesday night and we got permission to go! I am so excited. We are going with the YSA of our ward and a lot of investigators and less actives. It will be so much fun. We are hoping that after the game we will be able to give the two professionals Books of Mormon. So we will see what happens:)

Osei got the priesthood yesterday and was able to bless the sacrament!! It was so awesome, he was beaming from every pore and did such a good job. Goodness I love watching people take on the gospel and change a little each day. It is the best!

We have an awesome new investigator!! Her name is Lisa and she is the best!! She is 19 years old and was introduced into the church by this mormon family who posts videos everyday of their life. Their names are the Shaytards? Something like that, well she follows their blog and became interested in the church through this blog. She just showed up to church 2 weeks ago and has been coming to YSA activities. On wednesday night at Institute someone wanted to give her a Book of Mormon, but she already had one! She had ordered one online 6 months earlier! How crazy is that?? She is just the cutest-she acts mormon already! I was talking to her and I asked her if she knew what General Conference was and she told me that she had already watched some of it!! She then goes on to tell me that she downloaded the Mormon Channel onto her phone and listens to the Mormon Radio sometimes. Goodness, she is just the best. Not to mention that we have soo much in common! She loves one direction:) hahaha But it is crazy because She has brown eyes, brown hair, and it is like she is my sister. I feel so blessed to have met her and to get to teach her.

Mom and Dad, it is so crazy because there are a few other girls in the ward that I look like. Their names are Siri and Kristin. Members will come up to us and just be baffled because they think we look like we are related or sisters. At least once a Sunday people will come up to us and say that. haha O and The Lex family here in Graz reminds me of the Felts. They would fit right into the Felt Family, so when I am with them it is always fun because I feel like I am with my real family. Basically the whole graz gemeinde is wonderful, and they are treating Sister Smith and I so well!

This next week is already full with lots of appointments, an austausch, and a finding day! It will be really good. I love being a missionary here in Graz:)

I love you guys!! Have a great week!

Sister Allman:)

-here is the picture with us playing frisbee with the JAES-sorry not a lot of people were ready... haha