Wien ist wunderbar

Leibe Familie,

This week was amazing! We gained another 4 new investigators and are working hard to fit everyone in at this point! It is wonderful! I was worried in coming to this area that it would be hard to find people that prefer to speak Englisch and are interested in learning about the gospel, but I was proved wrong. Sister McGuire and I talk with everyone we can on our way to appointments. This week we met Nelson from Nigeria on the street and invited him to come to church. He came and stayed the entire time! We met with Liang, Erka, Caitlin, Victoria (new), Familie Cardenas, Tessy, Ekarin (new), Ren and his roommate whose name I cannot pronounce (from China--new), and even more! We heard beautiful prayers in Chinese, Mongolian, Englisch, Tagolog, Thai, German, and French. Oh it is wonderful!

One of the many highlights of this week was Erik Benge's baptism. He was baptized in Wien II and a nephew of one of the members I know. Caitlin came and I translated for her. The Spirit was so strong. She really enjoyed it and is enjoying meeting with us. There just is nothing better than bringing a progressing investigator to a well prepared baptism. It was wonderful. Caitlin has lived everywhere in the world and is starting to apply for colleges and is looking at the University of Utah due to the good reputation for medical students. :)

Like I mentioned, we met with Ren and his roommate. Ren teaches Chinese at the university (of which I can only count and say thank you, but I am learning "Good Night") and his roommate is studying helicopter engineering. Ren had met with missionaries before, but had kind of been lost for some reason for a while. His roommate was completely new to the gospel. Ren's English is a little rough and his roommate's was just a little better, but when we asked Ren if he still believed in the traditions of his country, he firmly and powerful stated, "No--now I believe in God". Writing it doesn't do it justice. One had to feel that when he said it. He will pick up again in the Book of Mormon. A very spiritual lesson.

Also, we met with Ekarin for the first time--he is from Thailand and a while ago said he was too busy to meet with missionaries, but we called him up and made an appointment. He is finishing his PhD in Computer Engineering (ha!) and speaks good English. He prayed at the end of the lesson though hesitant. He brought up a very good point in our lesson that I had not connected before. We asked him what he expected of us and of God and he said he prefers to be without expectations and thus will not be disappointed. Before I realized it, we were testifying boldly that God requires us to expect something--he requires that we pray in faith. We have to first believe. It is so important that we continue to take steps into the dark to learn to trust our Father in Heaven and to strengthen our relationship with him. We must be believing.

The Lord truly blesses his children. All he asks is that we keep his commandments. He gave us these commandments never to restrict us, but in order to help us to grow stronger and gain more freedom. We can only be blessed as we keep His commandments. Caitlin asked me this week, "but how can I know all the commandments I need to keep?" Well, Caitlin, because God loves us he gave us a way to know. We have a Prophet of God today. He speaks for God and he has the authority to speak to the whole world from God. Prophets of old wrote down their revelations and thus we have scriptures. We can learn of God's commandments as we read the scriptures. Isn't it so clear then how important it is to read daily in the scriptures? God has given many commandments. That is why the Pharisees and the Scribes were so confused in Jesus' time--not because there were too many commandments, but because they did not understand the priorities they needed to place. Jesus simply stated that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our Heart, Might, Mind and Strength and the second greatest ist to love our neighbor. All of this is made clear through scriptures. I am so grateful that we have scriptures. SO grateful we have a living prophet today. Through him doctrines are kept pure and more scripture is given.

Well, family, I know this Church is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. The truth is here in its fulness for the partaking of those who simply reach out and partake of the fruit. I am so grateful to be a missionary for my God and grateful for the sacrifices from my family and friends that have made this possible. Especially from Mom and Dad. There simply is no more important work than sharing the gospel.

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Sister Carla June Carroll