Where in the world is Connor?

So, things here are going really good! I am in Innsbruck, Austria! Just where I wanted to be (Sort of... Vienna was my first choice, just anywhere in Austria was good for me though!). It is beautiful here. I've been told by many people that this is the most beautiful part of the whole mission. We are actually right in the middle of the Alps. I sent some postcards home today, so hopefully that will give you an idea of what it looks like. I am also fairly certain that you will be able to creep around the area a whole lot to find what it looks like. It's beautiful though, trust me.

As for Innsbruck again, it is beautiful. I think it hosted the winter Olympics twice? The population is about 100,000 people maybe, but I am sure you can just find all that out. I will try to send some more pictures.

So first off, my companion is Elder H. He is from Draper Utah (Lame...), but he isn't Utahrded which is good. Haha! He is going home in March, so he's been out a while, but he still has some time here. He's served mostly in Vienna and other parts of Austria, this is is third transfer in Innsbruck, but his second in a row (he was here earlier on in his mission). We get along really good, he's funny, and we have similar ideas on things, so it makes everything a lot easier.

It is just us two missionaries here in Innsbruck, but we also have a senior couple who have been called to work with the YSA members of the ward and help start doing more YSA things, this is because Innsbruck is a University city, so in during the year there are tons of kids, however, right now in the summer it is a lot more empty. The senior couple are hilarious though. Elder and Sister G are their names.

The ward here is really good. There were about 40 members on Sunday, which apparently isn't very many. I thought it was a good amount though. The church is actually its own building and has a tiny little gym and everything. I like it a lot! Elder H and I had to play piano in church. Oh how I wish I hadn't of given up lessons. It was terrible! On the brighter side, we will not be asked to play again, so we don't have to worry about that hopefully. Haha!

After church we went to a supper appointment with a family, and they made so much food. It was ridiculous! And remember how you told me that if I said I didn't want any more food I could say and they wouldn't be offended? FALSE! People here are. Luckily, these people were younger, like Matt and Kari's age, so they weren't offended. Actually, I think if Matt and Kari were German, it would have been these people. They had two daughters (almost 4 and almost 2) who were crazy, but the oldest one would say the funniest things. Halfway through the oldest went to the bathroom and came out brushing her teeth with only her underwear (European...), and just smiled at us while she walked by. It reminded me sooo much of something that Aiden would do, and then their younger daughter was crazy like Dexter. Actually crazy. Haha! But anyways, they weren't offended at all. They made salad for the first course but so much of it (what I would get at a restaurant), and then for the main course they had like half a chicken, tons of mashed potatoes, and cooked vegetables. It was soo much! They (Elder H included) told me that if I didn't eat all the food at an Old Lady's house then she would cry. I believe it too. There go my chances of coming back skinny! Haha!!

I am trying to think of cool things that we have done this week. Not a whole bunch. We have taught some lessons to some inactive members and one investigator, and one investigator family with the Glovers. All of the lessons went good I guess. Haha! The German is super fast, and I've heard that outside of Switzerland, the Tirolish accent (Tirol is the State we're in) is the hardest accent to understand. So it's interesting. It stinks to try and learn to because I don't know any German grammar at all. Absolutely zero. Because I never learned any when I was here, and not in the MTC either (well, a bit, but not a whole bunch) because I was only there for three weeks. But I think that I'll learn it here faster. Hopefully. Would be nice to know how to speak it now because I just sit there and smile and nod. Haha!
So a little more about my week, we've been trying to find new investigators. Two weeks ago, they had a bunch of solid investigators, but then because school is out for summer they all went home. We've spent most of our time tracting (We call it dooring), which is interesting.... To say the least. Let's just say that people here will stop whatever they are doing to answer the door, and don't worry too much about their attire. I've seen lots of nice beer-bellies, a couple nice pairs of little tiny boy underwear on old men, and my favorite is the strategically placed shirt. Yikes! All of these from Old men. They seem to be the only ones who have a problem with this, but its nice to say ''We have a message about the Book of Mormon we would like to share with you'' when they are standing there super nude. Surprisingly they say that they aren't interested at the moment. I don't get it.... Haha!!

We hadn't had any success with anyone wanting to meet with us until today. So after 4 days of tracting, and this lady came up to us on the bus and wanted to know more, and then another one on the next bus (Oh yeah, we do not have a car or bikes, we walk and ride the bus) told us she would be okay to meet with us. Hopefully they will both work out and we will have two new investigators. It would be nice to have one of those. Haha! The moral is that on P-Days we have the most success. Everyday P-Day? Why not? Haha!!

All in all, things here are good. It's so much nicer than the MTC, but so much harder as well. I think I am glad that I was only there for three weeks, but sometimes I wish that I would have learned more German. So it's hard to say. There has got to be a reason for me being here now though. So hopefully I can find that out sooner than later. It would be nice, but I might not know what the reason was for years. Who knows. I have faith though that there is a reason. I have really been studying that a lot as of late, because I have heard people say that it's not faith, it's just blind obedience. Which are two very, very different things. I know that the direction I am receiving here truly does come from someone much higher than us, and that there is a reason for everything. Finding the reason, or the thing that we need to learn is the hard part of life, but I think once we figure that out, then we are golden. Much easier said than done.

Thanks so much for all that you guys do for me. I hope you are having a wonderful vacation, and a lot of fun. I miss you. Say hi to everyone, Ron and Laurel in particular, I may have had to read their cards a couple times over the past couple of days.

Elder Thompson

P.S. I don't know if I told you or not, but Jerry and Jeanette sent me a letter a week or so ago in the MTC. It was really nice. I don't know how to get in touch with them, but say thanks for me. It was very much appreciated!