Eine starke Verteidigung!.....Week 12 in Klagenfurt

Yet another week gone by and I find myself sitting at the same computer as last week. Mo Mornings are repetitive, but its a repetition that I'm a big fan of! Because no matter how much I may complain about the pains of writing I enjoy emails! Just think of the blessings... I don''t have to write letters... I don't have to engrave markings into metal plates... I'm blessed beyond measure! haha in that sense, emailing is so good!

This week was like... weird. It's always a feeling of mixed feelings. Full of goodbyes and hellos. A weird change. We sent off 2 Elders and picked up 2 new ones. But leading up to that Thursday we had a lot of eating appointments!

We had this Chinese Buffet on day for lunch. I've become a huge fan of Asian food... in Austria. Really? But its so true. Noodle Boxes and rice and goodness everywhere. So we went to this buffet. Wow was it ever good! I was loading on the pounds from that one! A week full of good food. And I found that rice was a reoccurring food this week. Good thing rice is awesome! With a ton of different sauces too. YES!

Thursday was hilarious. We said our goodbyes at Bahnhof (train station) and then ran them off :) And we do that by running along the train beside their window until we cant keep up, its fun :) And they were gone!

Well. Elder Bliss and I got to spend the day together. Oh he is a wonderful man! He is so funny. He understands my needs. Hahahaha oh he is way fun. So we like.... had a way funny day and then picked up the new Elders at the end. The Wades prepared a meal for us at the church to welcome them in! Way fabulous! And so it begins. Transfer 13 with Elder Carr.

He has been blessed his mission. I will be his 2nd Canadian Companion! And his 3rd overall. Which means 2/3 of his comps are Canadian! EPIC! What a wonderful statistic let me tell ya! But of, I cant say enough good about him. We get along great. I'm really looking forward to the things we do. We will have a ton of sick experiences!

So he was telling me on Friday.... "I hear the Austrians are like way nice... You go by and they say no interest... But then they'll just invite you in for a drink and cake." And then Sunday... we had a bit of time out on the street and stopped by on a former from 5 years ago... and he told us through the window that he had no interest... but then invited us in for a Coffee. Told him we didn't drink that... and instead went up for a nice Fruit Tea :) Haha people are the best! We then were able to have a way good talk with him.

Church yesterday was stellar! The 2 talks in Sacrament meeting were the best! It was along the topic of Reach out and Rescue. The one speaker had us all get up, fill in the back rows and full as we could get them and then mentioned the emptiness of the remaining rows in front of us. He said to fill them again, we need to Reach out and Rescue! It was so good! Like he made us see how much work there is to be done and that its up to the ward members to do it. It was so sick!

I came up with a way good lil thought this week! I noticed it as I was reading in Nephi and in Moses. In Moses.... So Moses just learned the process by which the world was created. Immediately after he had spoken with God face to face he was wicked exhausted. And then... Satan waltzes on in and starts to tempt him. Moses has just had like the biggest spiritual experience like ever... and Satan came nonetheless.

Nephi.... with Laman and Lemuel. They were being way Lamanite about it and beating on Nephi when an angel came and chastened them. They saw an angel! And then like not even a chapter later... they succumbed to Satan and were back to their rebellious ways and were going against what they had clearly known.

Even in the story of Jesus. Satan tried to tempt Jesus to worship him after he had fasted 40 days. He was just coming off a highly spiritual experience and was tired. And Satan was there... diligent as ever.

So I thought about that. How important it is for us to continuously strengthen our testimonies and to always be on guard because although we may have really spiritual experiences... Satan is gonna be there. Likely even stronger too. He comes and tries to take down that fence we just put up, or to tell us that it wasn't good. Oh he is just sneaky, getting right on in there. Its so important to always fortify our testimonies and families! Gotta protect! The best offence is a good defence! Best defence is our testimonies!

I love you all! I hope you will always hold dear that which you know and reach out to those who once held the Gospel dear! Its worth it!

LOVE YOU!!!
Elder Rodgers <3