Transfer calls.

You would not believe it!!

Friday as we were sitting at MLC (Mission Leadership Council) President gave us the transfer calls to those who were going to be affected. Before he read down the list he told us "Now, I don't want any crying or screaming when I give out these calls!" We all laughed of course and agreed. I found out that my companion Sister Regnier will be getting transfered to Augsburg, Germany, and that I would be getting a new companion. I was nervous to find out who my new companion would be because this companion is most likely my last!! As Pres. Miles was going through the transfer list of all the Sister Training Leaders and he got to Sister Rebecca Smith. She has been serving in Tubbingen for the last 4 transfers and is STL as well. He looked at her to tell her where she was going, and I was sure hoping she would going to my zone so we could do exchanges together. All of the sudden he said, "Sister Smith, you are headed to Graz, Austria to work with Sister Allman!" OF COURSE I SCREAMED! I COULDN'T HELP IT!! Everyone started laughing so hard. One of the Assistants, even took a video because he knew what was happening and knew what the reaction would be like! Sister Smith and I were the dream team in Munich as a companionship, and ever since we were transfered from each other we have been talking about how we want to serve together again, AND NOW IT IS HAPPENING!! I am so stinking excited. We both couldn't believe it. Literally every pday since we haven't been companions, we email each other saying how we want to be companions again, and now she will be my last companion!!! Ahh I am so excited. Everyone couldn't believe it either. It RARELY happens that you are companions twice with somebody on the mission. It is crazy as well because it was exactly a year ago that we became companions together the first time, and I was her trainer.  Now a year later we are will companions again! Of course I am a teenie bit nervous, because it was soo good in Munich, and I am nervous it won't be the same, but I think it will be great. I feel so hopeful about my last 3 months here and I KNOW we are going to see Miracles again like crazy. We seriously worked so well togehter, and totally balanced each other out, and we are about to do it again! Man. I am excited:)

 

My Birthday was good! We were in a train for 6 hours headed to Munich. The train ride was so stinking beautiful! It went through the Austrian Alps and it was just so dreamy. We got to MLC an hour late because we had ticket problems, but as soon as Sister Regnier and I walked in everyone stood up and started singing to me. It was really nice, and I felt a little bit awkward, but it was great. I LOVE THE MISSIONARIES IN MY MISSION. Man, after MLC I was just so happy. I have met some of the greatest people on my mission, and I hope I will be friends with these people for ever!! I feel so close to these people and so lucky to have been able to meet them. They are just the BEST! 

 

We were able to do a lot of less active work this week. It was wonderful. We have this less active who just finished reading to Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, she is progressing so much! She knows the BOM is true and that she can get answers for herself from Heavenly Father! The bishop and ward have been trying to find her member records but they cant find them anywhere. She was baptized when she was 9, but became inactive soon after that. We all believe that she was never confirmed, so her baptism wasn't final! So she will have to baptized again we think, and she is very exctied for that.

 

We had a miracle happen at church yesterday!  Two people showed up dressed and ready-and for Sacrament and they aren't even members!! There was a girl and guy and they are about 20 years old. Lisa, (the girl), actually had watched some videos about a mormon family on youtube and was really impressed and looked up the church in graz to see what is was like. She was really interested because she follows a families blog who is LDS. She brought her boyfriend along and they stayed for the whole 3 hours of church and really liked it!! Bernhard our GML-was soo awesome at befriending them. He invited them to the YSA Family Home Evening and they are both excited to come. We are hoping that we will be able to start teaching her soon, so we will see what happens.

 

This church is true! What I love about it is that none of ya'll have to believe me-You can find out for yourself!! You can read in the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and recieve your OWN answer! How amazing is that???? That is what I love about being a missionary, I dont have to force my beliefs on anyone, I can just invite people to find out for themselves. It is incredible!

 

Okay well today our distirct is headed on a hike to a gorge! It should be an adventure!

 

LOVE YOU GUYS and thanks for the birthday wishes:)

 

Sister Allman

 

 

Frühlings ist hier!

O man the weather is just so beautiful here in Graz right now! The sun is shining and I couldn't be happier. The week was great! We were able to have a lot of extra time, because mostly all of our appointments fell out, but it was great time to go by on people. Saturday we were able to help a family in our ward build their house! It was soo much fun. I honestly never thought anyone built their own houses anymore, but this family is, and what is done is mind blowing!! The lived in the green, countryside about 45 minutes away, and we helped with nailing wood, and cleaning all day. They even have sheep so we helped the sheep and chased them.. hahah It was such a blast. Sister Regnier, the Elders, and I were seriously in our element. We were your missionary form of Bob the Builder! haha

 

My tausch in Vienna was great! I thought it would be hard for me, but it actually made me realize that I am not suppose to be there. Definitely a Tender Mercy for me, but it was great to be back! I was able to go to the Institute Zentrum and see some of my favorite places there! It was a good reunion with the city, and Sister Motto and I had a blast together! We were able to find a lot of people together so it was definitely a success!

 

Osei had an incredible baptism this week! On Friday when we met with him, he told us that he had bought a new suit and he was going to get a haircut for his big day-He was so excited and ready!!! The baptism was soo good. The spirit was so strong and everyone was just teary up. He was just beaming from every pore.  It was so cute. He knew that he just made a huge step in his life and he is so excited to continue on the path. He told us that his goal is to go to the temple! Goodness. He is just such a good example to me. After the baptism we headed to Bishops house for an eating appointment with Osei. Bishop and his family totally welcomed Osei in the ward and Osei was just so happy. The members have played sooo much of a role in missionary work with helping new members and investigators. I have totally seen that on my mission as the members have welcomed everyone under their wings. Members are vital in this work!!

 

I love being a missionary. I love this work. I love this Gospel.

 

Have a great week!

 

Sister Allman

Happy Fasching

Schöne Liebe Grüsse!

Diese Woche war einfach der Hammer.

 

I still love Graz so much! It is just incredible.

 

Well to start it off, Tuesday was Fasching here. It was crazy! Fasching is like Halloween. Everyone dresses up in costumes and there are parades. It was so much fun. We had district meeting at the beginning of the day then headed off to Hauptplatz to get on a strassebahn to get to Familie Knapp's house for lunch. Hauptplatz was full of people dressed up like the craziest things. Sister Regnier and I were loving it. Music was blasting and everyone was enjoying themselves before this huge parade started. It was really cool to be able to experience a bit of Fasching in the center of the city before we headed to the Knapp's. It was soo much fun at the Knapp's. They are a family of 12, and just a hoot. It reminds me so much of our family. Their conversion story is crazy. Bruder und Schwester Knapp met the missionaries and 11 days later they were baptized!! And then they brought 10 wonderful children to the world, which now makes up a huge part of our ward. haha They are just the best. After our lunch appointment we all headed to the ward Fasching Party. It was such a blast and I grew to love the ward members there even more! At the party I was really able to get to know the youth-which I love! Music was playing at the party, and One Direction came on..Of course I went a little crazy, and I couldn't help but dance to it, and a member in our ward, Brother Sander, came up to me and said, "You are the coolest Sister Missionary ever!" He definitely has a great taste in music. haha It was such a great day though. I know I am like a broken record, but I love this ward already so much. I am so grateful to be here!

 

We have been working a lot with less active members here. A lot of the people we teach are right on the egde of being active again which makes it so fun to see their testimonies grow. It is so interesting to see how most of these people became inactive. It all seems to come by little things that made them inactive. They got lazy with reading their scriptures, or they missed a few Sundays, and then it just got a lot harder for them to come back. That just goes to show how important the little things are. We can never forget to pray, read in the scriptures, or go to church. These three things are what keep our testimony strong. Also, one time I was talking with President and he said that "A testimony isn't like a light switch. You can't just turn it on and off. Once you have a testimony, you always have one. It just depends how how much you do to strengthen it or not." I think that is so true. Once we have recieved a testimony, we do always have one, but it is up to us on how strong it is or not. We can never forget those little things!

 

Thursday and Friday we were in München for Mission Leadership Council which was way good. One of the fun things about it was that I was able to see most of my mtc district, and sister smith and freimann! It was such a happy reunion. But the best thing about MLC was to be able to learn from the APs and President and Sister Miles. We talked a lot about Virtue and I learned soo much!! I have always thought of Virtue of dealing with clean thoughts, but it goes way deeper than that. It also has to deal with our ideal thoughts or our negative thoughts. That hit me soo much! So I am going to work on having more productive thoughts.

 

We were able to meet with Phillip and David again! They are soo ready and open to learning. When we got there David (10) was soo excited and pulled out his Book of Mormon. He and his dad had read the first 4 chapters in the Book of Mormon! David also had this little planner and said "I want to make sure I know when you guys will be coming back!" It was so cute. The lesson got cut church so we focused on Prayer. Neither of them had a ever really just prayed from their hearts, so they committed to do it every night before they went to bed this next week. At the end of the lessons they both said a prayer, and it was so good. The spirit was so strong! We are meeting with them 2 this week and I am really excited for that.

 

Our investigator Paul is doing great. He will be baptized this Sunday! We are all excited. He understands the Book of Mormon so well. Everytime we ask him if he has read in the Book of Mormon, he gives us a recap of the whole chapter. He just gets the gospel and has been really prepared. Sunday will be great.

 

I don't really know what else to say besides that I love being a missionary. I am so happy right now. It is such a wonderful blessing and opportunity to bring Heavenly Father's children closer to him. I just love it. I love it here and I am just so incredibly grateful for this opportunity.

 

O! Tomorrow I am headed to Vienna for an austausch! So I will be there until Thursday. It will be fun to be able to work as a missionary in Vienna. It is going to be interesting being back. I am so excited!

 

Well I love you guys so much! Have a great week!!!

and Happy Birthday Grandpa Allman! I love you!

 

Ich habe euch ganz doll Lieb!!

 

Sister Allman

 

Here is a picture  at MLC with Elder Curtis and Elder Halverson! They were in my mtc district!

 

Österreich ist am Besten!

I love Graz. Without a doubt, I know this is where I am suppose to be! I have never felt so much like I need to be in any of my areas like I feel with this one. It is so weird how familiar Graz already has been to me. Man, I just KNOW that this is where the Lord needs me and I know he prepared me in both München and Singen so I could serve here. I hope that makes sense, but there is definitely a reason I am here. I have already fallen in love with the people, the city, the members, and I have only been here about 10 days!! So if I never come back to America...I am sorry! I just feel so at home here and love it here in Austria way too much:)

Well we saw some incredible miracles this past week. Monday night we were doing weekly planning (yes I know, way late), and I went through a list of old potential investigators from over a year ago and I noticed that a lot of potentials had never been contacted, so I decided to call a few! There was a name really stuck out to me so I gave her a call, and sure enough she stil wanted a Book of Mormon. She gave me her address and we made a plan to go take her one on Wednesday. Well Wednedsay we went to deliver this Book of Mormon. When we got to the address we couldn't find her name anywhere on the Klingle! Well as we were searching for the name this guy named Phillip came up to us and asked us if we needed help. We told him we were looking for a lady who spoke Spanish. He was all confused and didn't know. We ended up talking to him about the Book of Mormon and the church. Ends up that his friend is an investigator of the Elders (who has a baptismal date), and another one of his friends is a member! He just talked about how both these friends have totally changed their life with alcohol and drugs because of the church. We bore testimony to him about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and were able to give him one. We got his information and he said he would love to meet sometime! We were both so excited. We then said our goodbyes and he went into his house. We continued searching but still weren't have any luck. About 5 minutes later, Phillip walks out of his house and says "Wait, are you looking for my wife??? She isn't spanish, but she is from the Dominican Republic!" HIS WIFE WAS WHO WE WERE LOOKING FOR! It was such a tender mercy because Heavenly Father led us to a family that had interest in learning about the Gospel!! We were so happy, because sometimes it is so hard to find families here, but the Lord blessed us! We were so excited! We were able to meet with them yesterday and it was the best first lesson I have ever had with anyone! O man. The family is just the cutest ever.  Phillip is  34 an Austrian, his wife is Dominican, and they have 3 kids together: Jasmin (12), David (10), and Amber (9 months). When we got to the appointment Phillip had prepared dinner for us-he was just so excited! The wife, Yajiera (sp?) had actually met with missionaries before in Domincan Republic. She had lost her Book of Mormon and wanted another. Sadly when we had the lesson after dinner, she went with the 9 month old to lay down, but we still had a great lesson with Phillip and David. I just cannot even begin to describe how wonderful this lesson was. Phillip and his son soaked everything up like a sponge. They both have such a strong desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true. Philip had actually read a little bit in the Book of Mormon and had looked up some things online before our visit. We read some of the introduction with them and also Moroni 10:3-5. Everything they read they really liked. Phillip just kept saying that he knew in order to get an answer that the Book of Mormon is true he had to give his whole heart and do his part. He just kept saying he knew that he really had to search and want an answer. It was incredible! David was also so excited to read with us and after the lesson ended he asked, "Dad, Can they come back tomorrow??" haha It was so cute. We have a Fasching Party at the church on Tuesday and they are going to come and we also made out another appointment for Saturday. It was just so amazing and the Spirit was so strong throughout the entire lesson. They are both soo prepared. Before we left the just keep thanking us and were so excited to meet again. It was seriously such a miracle and we are both so happy. We are so thankful that the Lord led us to Philip and his family!!

Sister Regnier and I both feel that Graz is about to explode. The past year hasn't been the most successful  with work here in Graz, but we know it is about to get crazy. We are working soo hard and using our time as wisely as possible. Because of it I know the Lord is blessing us so much!

Something else I love about Graz is that we get to work really closely to the JAE's. The Ehepaar here and our GML wants us trying to go to the JAE Fhe, institute, and waffle night as much as we can. Of course I love that! I already love the JAEs here so much!  I had actually met a few of them before in Wien! Crazy huh? Tuesday we did splits with two of the girls Rahel, and Kristin. It was so fun for us! I was able to go with Kristin to teach our investigator Paul, and Sister Regnier went with Rahel to teach a less active. It was such a great opportunity for us. Kristin is seriously the coolest and is a returned missionary! She served in the St. George, Utah mission and inspired me so much while I was with her! We also had a really cool experience with one of the JAEs on Monday. We went to play basketball with the Elders and we invited some of the JAEs. Only Raphy Knap came but we all had such a blast. Raphy is seriously so cool! He is 27 and the Gemeinde Secretary. Well yesterday during fast and testimony meeting he got up and bore the cutest testimony. He said how he was just so grateful for us and the Elders and that we invited him to play basketbal with us. He said we invited him just when he need it. He said over the pulpit "Yes the investigators need the missionaries, but so do we, the members, because they can strengthen each of us, like they strengthened me on Monday!" It was so sweet. All of us were just teery eyed. It is crazy how the spirit tells us to do something when we don't even know the spirit is speaking to us. I know it wasn't just a coincidence that we played basketball last Monday and invited him, it was definitely the Spirit that helped it all work out.

My first real Sunday in the ward was awesome! I already love everyone so much, but I still hardly know anyone! I just feel so at home in the ward and everyone and everything is so familiar. I am not going to lie, at first it was super overwhelming because the ward is HUGE but then as church went on it got so much better! o man. I think it as big as the Mars Hill Ward which is crazy for here in Austria, but I am so excited. I LOVED Sunday. The Bishop is also just so awesome, and the members. Man. I am just so happy to be here. I can't even describe my happiness. This is where I am suppose to be!

Yesterday in Sunday School we had a great lesson on prayer. I really have taken prayer for granted since I have been on my mission. We are praying so much that sometimes I forget how powerful prayer really is! I was reading in Mosiah 27 and I read a verse that pierced my soul! This chapter is when Alma the younger was persecuting the church and then an Angel appears to him. Here is the verse that just was so powerful: "And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath ^aheard the prayers of his people, and also the ^bprayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has ^cprayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the ^dknowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to ^econvince thee of the power and authority of God, that the ^fprayersof his servants might be answered according to their faith."

Is that not incredible? The only reason the Angel appeared to Alma the Younger is because of the faithful prayers of his father! It is so easy to forget the power of prayer, but we should remember when we are praying with all the faith of our soul, we can move mountains! It is so amazing!! Man. I am just so happy! I love being a missionary. There is no where in the world that I would rather be, besides here bringing great tidings of joy to people! This is the best!

Thank you for all the prayers. I feel them and I am so grateful. This is the best thing in the world and I am just so happy to be here! I am praying for yall and I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Allman:)

Here is one of the only pictures I took this week! We decided to go grab a pizza for lunch one day, so here we are together at the pizza place!