30 January 2012...sixteenth letter from Austria

30 January 2012 Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Hey Dad!

We had a great week! I gave Robert the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. Elisabeth will be baptized on Saturday and Kiki two weeks later!!! I'm so excited. They are progressing amazingly...Elisabeth gave up watching TV because it distracted her too much!

60's in St. louis!??...that's crazy! It just got to be really cold here! Yesterday was brutally cold and my toes and hands were frozen haha.

Yes, any media for the church is good. I contacted a kid a couple of weeks ago that had seen the episode in South Park about us and he took a Book of Mormon!! :)

We sometimes help one of the members here to take apart his house as part of a renovation...

Have a great week! It was great to hear from you!

Hello mother...
we are going to vienna today to play a little fottbal (soccer) and have fun!

oh, an investigator said he wanted to come hang out in america when i get back! that would be so cool! His name is volker schafer and he is really cool and funny. He's about 40 years old... if thats ok with you! :)

I really had to pray with energy this past week because I gave robert kraftl the holy ghost and needed the leadership of the holy ghost to say the right thing. I was feeling it a whole bunch at church yesterday too! But this week we will do better!

We are riding bikes in wienstadt and walking everywhere else!

I read a little about praying today and it says when we pray we can have the spirit with us and know that we are being lead by the spirit... we will receive the holy ghost by the prayer of faith...Doctrine and Covenants 42 right side of the passage, left column... in german or english im not sure!
This gospel is so true WE will be together forever! :)

elder Sonne

23 January 2012...Fifteenth Letter from Austria

23 January 2012

Wiener Neustadt, Austria

The investigators are progressing!!!...Elisabeth will be baptized on the 5th of February and Robert Kraftl was baptized yesterday!!!! My companion, Elder Larsen and I were the witnesses!!

So cool!

Kiki, who we thought had dropped us and then the spirit comforted me in this moment, came back and said she definitely wanted to be baptized. I told her that the Lord normally gives us answers through the Holy Ghost and that is how he speaks with us. She then said she really felt the spirit right in that moment that i said that!!! ahh, it was cool to see that the investigators are feeling it when we speak through the spirit because I felt strongly that I should say that...

Oh and another experience in following the spirit...We were teaching Elisabeth and we had planned to talk about tithing, but the spirit was really strong when my mind rested upon asking her about her family. I asked her what her family was like and I had suspected that her mother had died....She had died and I then felt that we should mention baptisms for the dead but as she was talking, she mentioned that she was planning on doing her work in the temple during the summer!!! The spirit is sooooo cool!!! There are many other stories I could tell about following the spirit, but here were just a few. I love you and have a great week!

23 January 2012 Hey mother !!!!

Yes i have been out of town for a while!!! my goodness! It doesn't really seem like it has been so long ahh!

So Robert Kraftl was baptized yesterday!!! that was so cool! the spirit was so strong and really testified of the truthfulness of what happened. I am so grateful to be able to be led and guided by that member of the godhead in my life!

elisabeth is steadily moving towards being ready for baptism and I am super excited for her!!! ahh. This place is like the land of bountiful... there are so many members ready to help us teach and 4 or 5 people are coming to church weekly, which is a big change from 1 per month in waiblingen!!! i am so blessed!

Elder Sonne

16 January 2012....Fourteenth Letter from Austria

16 january 2012….hey mom...the one investigator, elisabeth huber, is really progressing well and reading Preach my Gospel and the Book of Mormon more than we are everyday! She is so cool and the spirit is so strong when we teach! Elisabeth is the investigator I used to dream about when I was in Deutschland. Wow, the Lord has blessed me so much... I love you and have a great week...

Elder sunshine

16 January 2012...Hey dad!!! It's really true....the Lord is completely in control and it's pretty great. I have stopped worrying about trying to convince people to listen for just one more second, on the street and just try to bring the spirit so they can recognize what is true. I just let them go because I have never seen anyone who is argumentative who ends up becoming an investigator. Just like Brother Shumway says, "We are on the winning team" and nothing is going to stop us...nothing...that is how it was from the beginning and that is how it will be in the end! The hearts of the children wil be turned to the heart of our Father in Heaven and we are going to overcome the adversary and will shut him out of our lives in so much that we give him no room to enter our minds, hearts, or our lives.

I love you! Thank you so much for all that you have done for me. For raising me in the light and the embrace of the Gospel and always being an example of service even when the only thing you want to do is sleep...I have really had to draw on a lot of strength not to go back at night and simply go to sleep. I love you and wish you a very happy birthday!

Elder Sonne

9 January 2012...Thirteenth Letter from Austria

January 9, 2012 Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Dear family and friends!

Wow this week was crazy... just like every other week since June 15^th…. but crazier. This week I really learned that this work is not about us at all. The Lord does his work in his time and his way and we can only enjoy it along with him. Do you remember my time in Waiblingen? We had an investigator come to church every couple of weeks. This past week, we had 5 people at church even though we didn’t even have any contact with the people the week before. The lord really leads them to come and he is the only one that when he tells someone to wake up and go to church, that the people will LISTEN to. But it was really a miracle. Oh we have had so many wonderful experiences this past week. There is a member who we visit who doesn’t come to church and is really having trouble coming back, but he has the strongest testimony of the truth and of following the spirit. He is like Nephi and will drop everything to follow the promptings of the lord! His name is Martin Schiebl.

Kiki, (or Holley), came back to church. Our bishop said that she didn’t want to meet with us anymore and she switched phone numbers and we couldn’t get a hold of her but she ended up coming to church and saying of course she wants to be baptized!!! And then there is Barbara Rollett who was a former investigator with whom we reestablished contact. The spirit was there the entire time, leading and guiding us to know what to say and to testify of the truth! I have never had such a spiritual appointment. He was STRONG the entire time. Her and her son have genuine interest. At the beginning she was telling us all the reasons why she shouldn’t change religions and how its would be tough to get so far away to church and then at the end she asked us if we wanted to make an appointment and said that she wanted to find time to come to church. The Holy Ghost changes people. Like I said, when we ask people to come to church, they don’t do anything, but when the lord tells someone to come, they LISTEN; if they are ready to heed to the promptings of the spirit.

Oh and then there is Elisabeth who is ridiculously ready and knows that the church is true. Last Saturday, we taught fasting and then committed her to fast the next week because it was already too late to start then... and then I saw a strange look on her face and then asked ... you’re already fasting, aren’t you? She had already started. Oh my goodness hahaha so great! The work moves forward with the hand of the lord!!!! Have a great week! There is nothing more true than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s perfect.

Elder Sonne

2 January 2012...twelveth letter from Austria

2 January 2012

Wiener Neustadt, Austria

hey mom! we have no snow. it has only snowed once and that was on new year right as it was 12. my pday is still on monday. i dont have time.. im sorry i have to go. I love you! this week was crazy. we were sick and then we had a bunch of people drop us. We also had crazy good lessons!!! Wow crazy week and so much spirit and sickness! Thank you for the prayers and it was so much fun to see you and hear your voice... you sound a little bit like this one woman from a senior missionary couple here. It was funny becuase im not used to listening to americans. i love american accents! I miss you and love you! have a great week!

Elder Sonne

Hey dad!!

Sorry that we didn't get the chance to email last week. It was a little bit hectic. I was sick on Tuesday and my companion was sick on Wednesday....we were pretty sick and we could not take any more time to email than we had already wasted being sick.

So the investigators...Roberts baptism is being pushed back to the 15th. Viktoria will be baptized sometime in February. Kiki dropped us. Odu did not come to church , so we have to postpone his baptismal date. Georg has not been coming to church...

But...it's ok because we found a new person who is so ready and has read the Book of Mormon 1 and a half times through and reads all the time and says she feels the spirit and is progressing very nicely!! Her name is Elisabeth Huber and she is about 33 or so. She is very happy and has a lot of patience with us and helped us give out a Book of Mormon the other day.

Thank you for the prayers! This past week has been crazy with the people we have met on the street. Twice, we have met people while we have been in a hurry and we ended up giving them a Book of Mormon and making an appointment or getting a number. I have to go...I love you!

Elder Sonne

21 December 2011...Eleventh Letter from Austria

21 DECEMBER 2011

Hello friends and Familie!!!

This week was full of miracles. At my first area, I dreamed about a place like this. Where investigators come to church and people listen and where we bear testimony. There are so many amazing people we meet with to talk about the Gospel.

I don't know where to begin. They are so great.

Kiki is so funny and really honest. She is from Jamaica and loves fashion. We thought that she could make a clothing store called kiki with fashionable clothes for missionaries. haha. I am not sure if there is really a demand for that though...haa.

She has a baptismal date for the 7th of January. She feels the spirit really strong when she prays and when we visit. She says it feels like a fire.

Robert is a great 9-year-old boy and the son of a recently baptized new member.

He is like my little brother. He loves Star Wars and is really excited for Christmas and is ready for baptism on the 8th of January. I am so excited for him.

Viktoria is like a grandmother to us. She loves telling us stories, even though we don’t really have that much time to teach her. She is so great and really kind hearted. She makes me laugh so hard because she is just so funny and happy.

She is a little crazy and has a baptismal date on the 8th of January.

Georg has been meeting with the missionaries for the past 2 years and loves us. He really loves the gospel and talking about life. He will be baptized on the 10th of February.

Odu is a man from Nigeria and is studying here in Austria. He is very curious and is really easy to get along with. He loves to laugh and learn. We are helping him prepare to be baptized on the 14th of January.

These people are so great. Please pray for them. I am so grateful to be serving and representing Jesus while celebrating his birth and the great message of Christmas. I wish you a frohe weinachten

(merry Christmas).

Elder Sonne

12 December 2011...Tenth Letter from Austria

12 December 2011

My last week has been the most successful week of my mission! We set 3 baptismal dates and we taught more people than I have any other week. We are really getting the work done!!! We usually spend most of the day either teaching or going to teaching appointments and in between, we are finding and contacting everyone we can.

We taught 18 lessons which is actually really good for this mission. We had 4 investigators at church and have 4 baptismal dates.

We had the little kids give the primary program this week and I laughed and cried!

We have some new people that are getting baptized! Volker Schäfer will not be baptized this week. But, Kiki will be on the 7th and Viktoria on the 8th and Robert kraftl who is 9 years old, on the 8th, and Andreas Glaser on the 25th now!

The trains are super nice here... nicer than in Germany! The seats are super comfy.

I have no boots and we aren’t really supposed to wear boots unless we are given the permission of the president.

So let father know that someone here... actually a lot of people know Alma Sonne! Apparently there is a less active couple who read about him in the Ensign and want to meet with us because of that... haha i am still being beaten by my grandparents at everything on earth and he’s not even here any more. haha.

I want to go to the temple!!!

WHat 6 months ??!!! I mean I just got out :(

I love you have a great week!!!