Week 29-Mission Blog

Guten Tag Familie und Freunde!!

I feel like every week I say we had a busy or crazy week, but it always seems to be true! Although this week does seem to be a little more than usual. This week involved several long distance trips, I have never spent so long on trains, buses, and cars.

It began with our trip to Salzburg last P-day, which was a blast. It is about 2.5 hours away, so we got to spent 3 hours there. We mostly just wandered through the city and took lots of pictures, got ice cream and sacher torte, and possibly got a little sunburned.

Then after several appointments Wednesday morning (including getting to see Sister Archbold and Ralph for breakfast!) we headed all the way up to Munich, about 4 hours away. Our train got delayed multiple times though so our trip got extended to 5.25 hours and we didn’t make it to the Munich Sisters' apartment until 10:30pm when we had planned to get there at 9pm.

In Munich, we had Sister Nelson’s visa appointment which went smoothly and quickly so we were headed back to Vienna by 11:30. As soon as we made it back though, we began a Tausch with the Graz Sisters so I got right back on another train to Graz. But, this train only made it the half hour to Wiener Neustadt before it stopped permanently. Some storm interrupted all trains traveling through southern Austria, so we were not going to be able to get back to Graz that night… unless we take buses. So we got on a bus that would take us halfway to Graz (about an hour) and then we would need to take another. The first one ended up being delayed though, so we missed the connection and were stranded in the middle of nowhere. We ended up calling a member down in Graz and she was a real angel, she agreed to drive the hour out to pick us up and the hour back to Graz. So we waited in a gas station for a while and made it to our apartment by 10:45pm.

Then the next afternoon we were on a train back to Vienna (thankfully they were running again) so we could switch back to our regular companions. My legs got so sore from sitting the same way all week though for hours at a time.

But the moral of the story is that the sweet member down in Graz was so amazing in her willingness to drive out to the middle of nowhere to save the Sister missionaries. She set such an example of Christ-like love and service to me. It reminds me of the scripture in Matthew chapter 25: “34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”

I hope that I can be as willing as this kind member to go out of my way to help those around me, not expecting anything in return, through the rest of my life. And I invite all of you to try and exemplify the Savior in this way as well, I know you will be blessed when you do so. This member really saved us without knowing just how much she was doing, she wasn’t the first person we had to call either. It can be hard, but the more we turn outward in this way, the more we become like the Savior and in helping others we help ourselves.

I hope you all have a most amazing week and stay healthy!

Liebe Grüße, Sister Tripp

companions