Sounds like it was a pretty cool week this week. Abbey Anderson sent me a picture of the score board of the BYU game haha. Its funny because she goes to Gonzaga and saw it in person haha.
This week I only have two things to talk about.
So on Fridays we usually teach a German class in the church and usually an investigator shows up and we help him with his German any way. The Sunday before Friday we had a bunch of Romanians come into the church and asked Bishop for money. (sidenote on Romanians: Its actually pretty sad. They are the panhandlers of Europe. They leave Romania because people over there tell them that everything is so great in western Europe and that they will basically be handed a job. So they sell everything and get on a train to Germany or Austria or Italy or France etc. and than they find themselves with absolutely nothing.) anyway, Bishop invited them to German class on Friday and then we were in the church on Friday and German class was canceled because the investigator that comes got sick and all the sudden like 10 Romanians come in. We started teaching them German but it was really hard because we dont speak Romanian and they only speak Romanian. We eventually found out through Google translate that it was a huge misunderstanding and that they thought bishop was going to be there to give them money. The devestation in there faces sucked all happiness right out of you. We let them clean their dishes in the church kitchen though, and let the men shave in the bathroom and loaded them up with water bottles.
We also gave them Book of Mormons or Books of Mormon (take your pick) in Romanian allong with Pamphlets in Romanian. Some of them immediately started reading. I remember this one guy in particular he was reading in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and I could tell that he was feeling the Spirit. He kept reading and his countance softened and he would look at the pamphlet then at me and then back again. It was cool that even though we couldn't help them with their physical desires or needs that we were able to feed their Spirits. Hopefully they make it back to Romania and find the Missionaries there. Because there was no way that we could talk to them.
On Saturday morning there was a funeral for a sister in our ward. She was a convert of about two years and I have only met her twice because she got really sick and I guess you already know the result of that. Anyway her sister was the closest one to her and she asked the bishop how much a funeral with our church was going to cost and he told her nothing and she broke down. Anyway the funeral was being held at the cemetary in a big catholic Cathedral thing but it was mormon style haha. There were huge crosses all over and a ton of Catholic looking pictures. I thought it was a weird and kind of creepy place but as talks about the plan of salvation echoed through the building I could feel that same familiar feeling. After the Trauerfeier (funeral service) we formed a huge line behind the casket, which was being pulled by four catholic priests and big creepy church bells started ringing. We got to the burial site and the priests lowered her into the grave and then bowed to her... Kind of weird. Then Br. Mauch dedicated the grave before the priests had a chance to leave. Br. Mauch is way cool haha. Anyway I started to feel the spirit again. BUT then came the most awkward moment of my mission. So it is tradition here ( I have no Idea about in the USA because I have never really attended a funeral) but the familiy threw flowers in and then dumped dirt in there did the little Catholic cross thingy and then some one else would do it. I found out that it is custom for everyone to do it. The missionaries included... I didnt even know the lady. PS we didnt have to do the Catholic cross thingy. But I did have to throw a flower in the grave and sprinkle a little bit of dirt on it and then stand there looking at it for a little while... I felt so weird.
Love you guys
-Elder Carr
The hockey player is the McKinnlay's son inlaw. I found the Hockey rink that he used to play at in Villach. #smallworld
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