So, it has been over a week since I got mail, making me a real missionary now! Woohoo!! I thought it would take a little longer, but it's okay. This past week has been pretty good. It has been wicked hot, but I guess I shouldn't complain at all. It's much nicer now, a little overcast, which is really good, and in the lower 20's. It makes dooring much nicer than when it is 33 degrees or some other ridiculously high number.
Things with Elder B are good. We really get along well, and he is a really nice person. He just has a really nice Amerrrrrican accent. Haha! But I really like him. I have learned a lot of valuable things this week. For example, if you zone out while a member is going on a rant, don't just nod and smile without knowing what she is talking about. You may volunteer yourself for things that you don't want to do, or that you don't even know that you do volunteer for and then they just think you are a retard. I am very excited for the day when I can understand this language. Hopefully it will happen soon. It is getting much better though! And I think people can understand me, which is good. Understanding them through their accents is a whole other story.
The main investigator that we have been working with this week is M. Yesterday we went to pick her up for church and she slept in so she couldn't come to church and then hung up from her apartment phone before we could ask her to come to sacrament (Church is a 9:00 with Priesthood, then 10:00 with Sunday School, then 10:50 Sacrament starts) Then later that evening, (yesterday) we had an appointment with her. We go walking and then find a bench to sit on and talk since we aren't allowed to be with her without another man present, but if we are outside it's allowed, and then we were planning on teaching her the Plan of Salvation. It was interesting because we didn't plan to, but both of us started talking about baptism a lot and other things, and then by the end she said that she was so sorry she hadn't been reading and coming to church and that she was going to do it starting today. She always is very concerned about her children and talks about them in our lessons and so she really wants her children to join the church, when we told her that she could help them by being an example I think something just clicked. Hopefully we will be able to have some better lessons with her now. I think now that we have a goal (baptism), and we both know what that goal is we will have much better lessons and everything.
As a general note, all missionary work is awkward in my opinion. I would never go up to random people on the street and start talking to them about religion. I would hardly ever talk to my good friends outside of the church about religion so to do it with total strangers is even more awkward. However, you just sort of have to embrace the awkward/ weirdness and go for it. The people we talk to react very much to how we feel. If we feel bored about something, they are bored. If we feel hesitant to give a committment, they are hesitant to keep it. If we are excited and bold then they will be excited to boldly keep their committments. I am growing more and more to love what we do. To talk to so many different people everyday is probably something that I won't do again, and when I talk to angry people, I am pretty happy that I won't. But when you meet cool people, even if they don't want anything to do with the church or anything, then it is still fun.
Speaking of people who are cool. We taught R again which was awesome. When we came over he was playing some video games. We met with him and answered a lot of his questions about the Bible and what not. He studied with Jehovah's Witnesses for 8 years and has their version of the Bible, so there are somethings in their that aren't in our Bible. When we explained to him about the different versions he was pretty okay with it, and even was good with the JST, which was really cool! He has been reading in the Book of Mormon and is now about halfway through 2nd Nephi. It's exciting to see him change. At first he was like 'This is not holy scripture at all!' And wouldn't even acknowledge it in our lessons, but now he is opening up a little more to it. The only problem is that he is Islamic, so if he converts to Christianity then he can be in a lot of trouble. He's still one of the funniest people I have ever met though.
We have been talking to a lot more people this week and I think that is will pay off soon. I am much better at talking to people so it is getting better. Everyday I feel a little better about my German, about talking to random people, about everything.
I had a bad migraine all weekend, so that sort of slowed us down, but we still got quite a bit done considering. It's better now though. Luckily I brought some medicine with me because it's really expensive here. The Gs said that it costs about 30€ for about 30 IBUProfens. So I will use them sparingly. They just get their kids to send them the giant Costco bottles. Haha! I love the Gs, they are so funny. We use them a lot for Joint Teaches because there aren't many members that live right in Innsbruck. It might be like how Slave Lake is with Jason, but most members live away from Innsbruck. The Branch President for example lives 2 hours by train away.
Things here are going really good. I love it. It's hard but I love it. I got the letters from the other missionaries and it was really good to read. I hope you are all doing good. And I miss you, and love you.
As for cravings, I had a bunch but I forgot. I will let you know next week. No chocolate or anything, it is way better here. I can't think of anything else. Love you guys a lot! Say hi to everyone for me!
Sincerely,
Elder Connor J. Thompson
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