Melissa's Mission Updates: Ich fühle mich hier sehr wohl (I feel very comfortable here)

(Melissa got to spend a day in Schwellbrunn, Switerland where our Alder ancestors are from)

Gruetzi miteinand!

Where do I start??? So Schwellbrunn was sweet. As we were approaching in the bus I just felt like I was coming home :) Lots of signs around for companies named Alder and the mostbeautiful landscape ever! The church was beautiful, wrote my name in the guestbook, looked at the windows and the golden ball on top. Checked out the graveyard, took some pictures of Alder and Frischknecht gravestones. My favorite part was seeing Johannes and Anna Alder's store and home. I have read that story over and over again on my mission about Anna wanting to convert and trying to convince Johannes to listen to the missionaries. Them getting baptized and the town persecuting them and the stones thrown through the window that almost hit the baby girl. No one coming to their store any more because they were Mormon. Selling their stuff in other towns and heading for America. Crazy. Unfortunately the hair shop there was on vacation and no one answered the door to the home so I didn’t get to go in. Went to the Gemeinde haus and got a free book about Schwellbrunn because I am an Alder and unfortunately Bruno and Vreni sold that hotel and moved away. The woman in the Gemeindehaus told me of another Alder family with a Restaurant which was a 40minute walk which we started out only to find out they were closed due to construction. I still wanted to go because they also live there, they might be home, but lets remember I am tugging along 2 German sisters with me... anyways... I had a wonderful day in the place of my roots!

On the way back a woman had a stroke and fell straight on her face before our eyes. It was an interesting experience trying to not do anything inappropriate since missionaries aren’t supposed to help with things like that but Sister Hecht is a paramedic and I have a little clue about first aid.... anyways brought back a lot of memories.

On Wednesday I left Schaffhausen at 9 in the morning and arrived in Vienna a little before 7 pm. I had a sweet direct train fromZürich to Vienna and had a wonderful time reading and writing in my journal, getting to know the couple next to me who we exchanged email addresses and their son is in Eugene they are from Switzerland. He's met with missionaries in the past, we discussed lots of things and he told me probably my favorite German phrase yet, which I have collected on my mission

Die schwierigste Erfahrungen des Lebens sind die kostbarste Geschenke, aber eingepackt in hässlichen Papier.

Got sweet views of the Boden Seeand Swiss Alps but the second I entered Austria and heard an Austrian accented person on the lautsprecher man I just felt at home! Maybe I just imagined it but everything just felt more familiar and I gloried in being in Austria again.I have loved being in Vienna where I know my way around a bit. It’s been a really interesting experience here in the Vienna international ward. The work is different because we focus on the English speaking people. And church in English was just weird. The weirdest part was when I heard a toddler say something in English.... And there are lots of byu students at the center and they are so American, its weird.

I leave for Bruck on Thursday,crazy huh?? I think I am there until the next Tuesday no idea what happens Wednesday and supposedly Thursday someone’s making me board a plane.

So far in this transfer the biggest lesson I havé learned is there is 2 sides to every story. Yup. I feel like I get this birds eye view of every companionship and I wish I could just solve everything but I can only try to set an example of love and service to each other and hope they chose to do the same. I also have had the cool experience of seeing how the Lord gives us experiences and challenges to help us change and become better. We do have to accept the challenge and be willing to change.

eure,

Sister Alder

no big deal just doored into some alders... they were too busy reading books with their kids to listen to us :)