Servus! Baba

Servus Familie!

I am in Austria and I am so happy. It has been a good few days. I KNOW this is where I am suppose to be. I really feel like my time in Munich and Singen prepared me for this area. I just feel like there is somethings I am suppose to do here. I really feel like Graz is about to blow up and I am ready to see miracles. I am really happy to be here and am ready to give everything I have. Graz is really cool. It is way bigger than Singen, but smaller than Wien(Vienna). Ít is a perfect size and there are old buildings and architechture everywhere. We travel on strassenbahns and there are people everywhere. It is beautiful. The austrian accent is crazy, and I have to learn a new german, but I like it! My companion is Sister Regnier. She is super cool and from California. She has been out about 11 months. We are already having a lot of fun. I came hereon Thursday and we got in about 8:45 at night. I came with 5 missionaries from Munich to Vienna where I then met my companion. Then we headed on a 2 1/2 train ride to Graz. The Elders picked us up with the ehepaar the Tews. The Tews actually live in Fruit Heights-in the near from Tami! Everyone here is really great. I just feel really good here. I can't really describe it, but I just know I am suppose to be here and the Lord has work for me to do. All I can say is that I am so happy to be here.

 

It was a great week. The beginning of the week consisted of many goodbyes. O man it was tough. I love the gemeinde in Singen so much. Monday thru Wednesday consisted of us running to all ends of our areas and it was way busy. It was so cute, before I left the we had a joint teach with the Elders and they surprised me a with a goodbye gift. It was so nice! I love the missionaries and of course the Gurney's so much. I am going to miss them a lot. Thursday I was on the train all day. It was so much fun being in Munich and seeing Sister Tranum and Michael. I just love them. They are the best! I then headed on the train for the rest of the day. Friday we got me registered and we had a few appointments. I met a lot of the JAE's (YSA). I am so happy there is a JAE Zentrum here. I love working with the JAE's so it will be fun.

 

Saturday we headed to Vienna for the district leader meeting. That is one of my new responsibilities of sister training leader. I realized that it is going to be pretty crazy being sister training leader because we have to be in Wien a lot, and that is a 2 and a half hour train ride. But I am not complaining..I can go to Wien as often as they want me too. haha But that night we had stake conference. It was soo good. First off, I saw so many of the JAE's who I was friends with in Wien. It was such a wonderful surprise and everyone was so shocked to see me. I could've cried I was so happy to see these people. I have never loved people as much as I loved the JAE's in Wien. They have such a huge place in my heart. It was such a happy reunion seeing them. It was like I hadn't even left, besides the fact that some of them are married now. I just felt so at home being at the stake conference. I felt like it was where I was suppose to be. I can't even describe to you the connection I feel with Wien. I know I probably won't have the chance to serve there as a missionary (besides exchanges), but I really feel like one day I will be back in that stake. Something is waiting for me in Wien. I don't know.. I just know I will be back one day. But I was so happy. President and Sister Miles spoke at stake conference. It was the last Stake conference that they have as mission presidents. It was just so crazy that I could be at their last because I was one at one of their first stake conference when I was in Wien 2 and a half years ago. The whole session was about missionary work and they committed the members to pray for the missionaries and investigators by name. The best part was that they had made a video of the missionaries in the Wien stake that were out on the missions. It was so cute. David Meissner, Joel Dospil, Clara Nemec were both on it. It made me so happy. It was just a great night.

 

On Sunday we were back in Graz for stake conference. It was actually a broadcast from Salt Lake City. Elder Bednar and Elder Hales spoke. The best part about it was that Elder Bednar did his talk in German. He served in this mission when he was younger, but it was really powerful that he did it in German. It was soo good too! The ward is big! It is the biggest in the mission. I met a lot of members and I am excited to get to know them more. The GML is soo awesome. He is 23 and loves missionary work-everyone tells me he is the best gml in the mission, so we will see! I don't really know what else to say for now. I am so excited for these next few transfers here and I already said this but I really know this is where I am suppose to be. It will be great.

 

Well I love you guys. I am praying like crazy for our family. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST FAMILY A GIRL COULD EVER ASK FOR:)

 

Sister Allman

 

This is a picture in my favorite city in my area in Singen. Also I uploaded some pictures on dropbox mom!!

ConGRAZ on the new Area!

What a week what a week.

First off, I am headed to Graz, Austria! I am soo excited to go to Austria! It also means that I am in the Vienna Zone so I will be headed back to Vienna a few times a month for meetings and Austauches. I am beyond excited. Also the new zone leader in Wien is Elder Curtis who was in my mtc district so I am excited to be working with him as well! It'll be a great adventure serving in a new country and as the Sister Training Leader. ahhh Graz has the biggest ward in the mission and it is the 2 biggest city in austria! ahhh I am excited. I am leaving on Thursday and I will probably be in the trains for about 8-9 hours. It is sooo far. The Sister in the office told me it takes the longest to get to graz from any other place in the mission, especially because it is surrounded by alps and you have to go around a big mountain to get there. Goodness I am excited.

But with every ounce of my heart I will  miss Singen!  Man. It was soo hard saying goodbye to the members yesterday. I love this gemeinde so much. It is a whole lot of crazy but so full of love. I love it. Yesterday I just had to hold back my tears the whole day. It was so hard. Especially bearing my goodbye testimony. Man. I have been in Singen over 7 months! It is crazy. But I know I have eternal friends here in Singen. All day yesterday the members were saying that they were going to call Church head quarters and tell them that I couldn't leave. They all said I have to finish my mission here. It was cute. I am so incredibly grateful for my time here in Singen. I have learned more than I could ever thought and met people that have changed my life. It has been a great 5 transfers here.

This week was so great though. On Saturday our ward had a Talent Abend. It was soo wonderful. It was a great success and there were 5 nonmembers and some less actives! Our investigator Erwin was just the cutest and performed with the guitar and then Benji sang. He brought 3 of his friends and his daughter. They loved it and had so much fun. It was such a great opportunity to invite people to see the church and become acquainted with it. Erwin is making a ton of progress as well. This week we met with him this week and talked with him about baptism. He didn't freak out. It was really a miracle and the lesson went well. I have no doubt, one day he will get baptized. It will just take him some time. Yesterday when we were saying bye, he said that I have to come back and visit and go to the disco with his daughter. haha Goodness I love this work and the people you meet with it.

Last night we finally met with the very first potential I ever found in Singen. Her name is Marianna and she is from the country Georgia. We have been trying to meet her for the past 5 transfers, but it just never worked out. Well her lesson was incredible. She is so ready. She said that she has been searching for the truth and she knows there is a life after this. All of her questions were about the lessons we teach. I don't know if that makes sense, but she was so excited. She had a lot of back pain to and so Elder Gurney gave her a blessing and at the end of the lesson she said he pain was fading away! It was incredible. It was so cool to see that the first potential I found here in Singen is a new potential. She is going to get baptized. We are all sure of that. Sister Smith and her new companion will meet with her on Friday.

Oh and one other cool thing! We set a baptismal date this week! His name is Christoph and he is searching for the truth. He is african and such a huge believer. We taught him a great first lesson and he was soo excited to read and come to church! He is solid. We are meeting with him again wednesday.

Well that was the week. It was such a great week to end my time here in Singen. I love Singen so much and for all the incredible people I have met here. It has been such a blessing to serve here!! ahhh the mission is the best. I am so grateful to be here. There are miracles everywhere!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sister Allman

Singen immer noch in Singen

I am still in Singen! We actually don't have transfer calls until this weekend. So I have no idea if I am staying another transfer in Singen or leaving. So Don't stress yet! Why did yall think that it was this past weekend?? So I have been in Singen now about 7 months now, so everyone thinks I will be transfered, but I definitely think I could stay another one. I have no idea.. We will see what happens. It is weird to think that I could be transfered into my last area.. ahhh As soon as I find out I will get Sister Gurney to email yall:) But I am predicting I will stay here for a 6th transfer...

 I read in my journal from my first two transfers and it just amazes me how much I have learned and grown on my mission. I have made so much progress! It is seriously incredible and I am so thankful for that. I just think of how much the mission has blessed my life and I am overcome with immense gratitude. I always thought before my mission that I would be able to help so many people, but then I realized the mission has probably effected my life more than I have effected anyone elses. It is crazy like that. A mission is a win win, you can help others come unto Christ and let them to partake in his redemption, and you can also go through a refiners fire that helps you change which will help the rest of your life. It is incredible. Hopefully that makes since, but I am thankful for my Savior!

My Austausch in Offenburg was so fun! It is great to be able to experience a new area with a different companion. You learn so much! Offenburg is also so different than Singen. The scenery is just so different (Since they are in the middle of the black forest) and people talk with crazy accents there! hahah It was cool because I did the tausch with Sister Brinck and she is gluten free too! She gave me some great ideas with eating. I am becoming a gluten free pro. The Lord is helping me so much.

Sister Smith and I had the opportunity to teach seminary this week. It was so much fun. I love the youth, but I also realized how hard it can be to teach them, especially when they don't really care to be there. But it made me excited to work with youth again in the future. It is cool because our mission is doing a mission wide fast together for the youth of the church and so that we can teach more youth. I think it is great. 

Erwin is doing great! He has been to church 8 times and just loves every second. Yesterday after church he asked us if we could meet by the baptismal font for his lesson. He is making so much progress and he loves the gemeinde. We are meeting with him again on wednesday and he is also performing at the Talent Abend this Saturday. He is basically a member, he just has to get over his fear of baptism. One thing I have learned on my mission is that patience in a virtue, so we just have to have patience with him:)

This week we have Zone Conference in Freiburg which is about 2 1/2 hours away. It should be good, I am excited to learn from President and Sister Miles!

well i love you guys so much! Have a great week!!

Sister Allman:)

Here is a talk I have been really studying the past few weeks. It is the best!

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1974/11/good-habits-develop-good-character

Ich weiss das Gott uns liebt!

P-day was super relaxed today. We went on a 7 mile run which was so awesome. The whole time we were running through the trails by the river I couldn't help but be soaked up with joy. I love Germany so much! I am so lucky to be here. I was just so happy as we were running through the trees. It is such an incredible blessing to be here.

Mom!! That is the craziest thing about the ice storms. We met with one of the members in our ward on thursday and she told me something about Atlanta and kids staying over night in the school because of the ice, but I didn't really think anything of it. That is so crazy! I am glad you drove home safe!!!

So this week was super rough! I mean I was happy the whole week, but the work didn't go to great. EVERY single one of our appointments fell out. And people really didn't want to talk to us this week. I felt like everyone here in Singen knows who I am now, and they avoid us like the plague. It is funny sometimes how people react when they see us. haha It was frustrating week, but good. I am learning so much on my mission and patience is definitely on that list:)

I say this like every email, but I sure love the branch here in Singen. It is a whole lot of crazy, but just so incredible. Yesterday I just sat in testimony meeting in awe, listening to everyone bear their testimony. I just have so much love for the people here. Really when you think about it, love is seriously the key to everything. That is another thing I have learned on the mission, how to give your complete heart to things and just love it, even when everything seems to be going wrong. When we love those we serve, when we love the Savior, when we love what we do, EVERYTHING falls into place. There is nothing greater than love.

Speaking of Love, since Valentines day is coming up soon, Sister Smith and I decided to dedicate these next to weeks to doing personal touches. We are calling it the "Two weeks of Love" and going to do something for a member or an investigator every day to show them how much we love them! Then on Valentines Day we have Zone Conference so to end it we are making the whole zone Valentine's Card with quotes from Elder Uchtdorf's talke "The Love of God." Here is a good excerpt from the talk:)

"Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do... Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk. When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden."

Ahh, that talk is so good. But anyway. I love the holidays so much, and I figure that I could spread holiday cheer still! Even if I am on my mission. Holidays are the best:)

Well tomorrow we have Zone training meeting and then afterwards I am headed to Offenburg with Sister Brinck in the Schwarzwald for an Austausch. It is about 2 hours away from Singen so I am excited! It should be fun! 

Well I lvoe you guys!! Have a great week!!

Tschüss:)

Sister Allman

Here is a picture of me in Konstanz last week! It is soo beautiful