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

General Conference

This week was crazy. I did a ton of travel. All together about 18 hours in the train, but by golly it was fun! Sister Smith and I are again reunited! Ahh It is so great. We have just been catching up like crazy. It is really weird to think that we were both in an area without each other. haha But we are having a lot of fun and are ready to work so hard!! It is going to be a great two transfers.

Was conference not amazing??? Goodness, It is like Christmas for us as missionaries. I loved how much it talked about Love. Love is seriously the key to everything. I think my favorite talk was by Richard G. Scott, or President Monson. I've realized how important Love is on a mission. If you don't have love for your companion, your area, your investigators, a mission is just not fun. But when you love everything with your heart, that is when the miracles occur and the fun happens. I love being a missionary!

We have been meeting a ton of YSA age group potentials lately. I love it. On the way to Salzburg to pick up Sister Smith we met a group of about 7 American students here on a study abroad. They knew about the mormons already and they had friends on missions. There were a few of them that had sincere interest in meeting with us, and we are meeting with them tomorrow! I am excited to see what happens. The YSA in our ward our incredible. They are the best member missionaries and are always inviting friends and less actives to church. I love them so much!

As for our investigators, we are having to start from scratch. All of them have fallen off the face of the earth and so we are out to find more. Sister Smith and I have high hopes and we've experienced miracles once together, and we are ready to experience them again!!  We are the dream team:)

I think back on my time in Singen, and what a wonderul blessing it was for me to serve there. It was hard, but I learned how to be a true missionary. I learned how to find people. I learned how to start from nothing. I learned how to love the work even when it was going wrong. It is funny, as I was in Singen, I never thought our numbers were good enough, and that we were successful, but after being in a new zone I have come to realized how good we were doing. It is crazy to see that. So I know, if we were able to teach a lot in a small place like Singen, we can find tons of people here in Graz. Graz is going to explode:)

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

Sister Allman

Here is a picture of us having a picnic between conference sessions with the ysa!

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!