OK...actually THIS was the best week of my mission!

OH MY GOSH I HAVE THE BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD. It's crazy to me how each week just gets better and better. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had tausch with Wiener Neustadt, and I brought Sister Phelps, a brand new missionary, back down to Graz with me and we had a blast! Just love that girl :) we met with a couple of investigators, did a little finding, and talked up a storm with each other! It was great! 

Wednesday night we went to the last FHE until school starts again, so we said goodbye to most of the YSA's which was a little sad! 

On Thursday Sister Brinkerhoff and I went over to Chelsea's house and spent an hour helping her get this dumb mattress cover on her mattress so she wouldn't have to pay €400 to the student housing department. Haha...it was so hard, but so funny! We were just jumping around and pulling and pushing, and it finally went on, and we were exhausted! The whole weekend after that was a complete blur to me!! We had a surprise baptism for one of the Elders' investigators in another area, and we met with a bunch of investigators, had a lot of appointments fall through, I have been forgetting to take my iron pills all week so I was a SLUG, and we went to Nadine's marching band competition in a little town far far away that is so beautiful! So much stuff, and so little time to explain it all, but the things that made this week the best week ever were:

1. We got to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert in Wien on Sunday night!! 

Our whole zone went (about 30 or so missionaries), President Kohler and his family were there, and a BAZILLION investigators and less active's came!  And I got to see a ton of people from my last area in Wien, and say hi to all the Graz people that came up :) it was so great. And there were so many Americans (the families of the choir) and it made me so happy!!  Americans are so nice :) haha I never realized how much I miss Americans until Sunday!  Sister Brinkerhoff and I decided to wear our dirndls and wow did that cause quite the stir!  I felt like a celebrity, all these people wanted to take pictures of us and asked us if we spoke English (we do) and texted some pictures home to our moms, it was the best!!  

So the concert started at 8:00 and lasted about two hours, and it was the most beautiful concert ever!! During intermission I dragged Sister Brinkerhoff up to the balcony to take selfies with the whole MoTab, and they loved us because we are missionaries and we were wearing dirndls :)  gotta take advantage of these opportunities while I've got a name tag on! 

We heard rumors that David Archuleta was coming to the concert so I decided that my next goal, after my nun selfie goal, was to take a selfie with him! But unfortunately he ended up not coming :( Nadine came to the concert with us, and she loved it!!

2. We received transfer calls on Saturday! Sister Brinkerhoff is staying in Graz and training! She wanted to train really badly so I'm happy for her :) and I will be going to..... Augsburg! In Germany! Haha yay! I will finally be in Germany! I will be serving with Sister Abram and we will be the Munich Sister Training Leaders, so I'm excited! 

My last Sunday in Graz was a pretty sad one, I will definitely miss this place! As much as I want to leave and have a new adventure, these last 7 months have been so wonderful for me! I have made so many lifelong friends here, and I can't wait to come back and visit them with my parents!! I will finally be leaving Wien Zone, so that leads us to the next thing that made this week the best...

3. We had Pday in Wien! The concert ended super late on Sunday night, so we slept over with some of the Wien sisters, and the next morning we got up and headed out early to have the best pday in the history of pdays! We saw castles, palaces, hiked up a giant hill for the best view of the entire city, we went to Praterstern, the amusement park, and rode roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and the tallest flying chair ride in the world! Like the one at Lagoon, only taller :) it was the best day ever, and the best way to end my time in Graz, and in Wien Zone! I will miss this place, but it's on to bigger and better things! I don't know what exactly the Lord has in store for me, but I can't wait!

So this week a member taught me a really cool lesson. She said that when we get a new dress or a new pair of shoes, we always want to show them off and tell everyone about them and wear them all the time and all that stuff, but then as they get older and we get less impressed with them we just stop talking about them and maybe not wearing them as often. She likened this to the gospel. When we get baptized, or converted to the gospel, we get so excited about it and want to talk and share it with everyone and be the best missionary ever, and give them the happiness we have, but that can only last as long as we are LIVING the gospel. When we start to get lazy or complacent and we aren't living the gospel as fully, then we get scared to talk about it, or we don't even care enough to share it with other people. So, I challenge all of you to NOT GET LAZY! It's easier said than done, I know, but don't let yourself just level off and stay there. Continually convert yourself, and live the gospel as fully as you can, so you will have the desire, the courage, and the strength to share it with everyone you know! As missionaries, we can work and work and work and see maybe HALF of the success on our own compared to if we had the help of the members of the ward! Every member is a missionary, so take the responsibility and open your mouth. It WILL be filled! I love you all so much!! :)

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Thunell