Eine wunderbare Woche.....Week 20 in Klagenfurt

Hello Everyone! This week. What a week it was. We had a lot of time to sit down and realize what life is all about. In the whole week we were in trains about 15 hours. Only a little bit of this was in local trains. The majority was those big 6 seater booths we sit in that take us up to Salzburg. We made 2 trips up there this week. One for Zone Training and the other for Stake Conference. There was a lot more information that entered my mind this week then normal and I'm still in the process of sorting through it all to find out what I can apply first and where I need to improve myself. Lots of thinking!

It started out Monday. I mentioned last week that we were going hiking. Well.. .we certainly did. We took a gander at DOBRATSCH, a mountain of 2159 Meters. We got picked up by a member and driven out to the mountain. There was a road that goes a good ways up it and so we drove that until we got to the starting point. Well from there we were set free... 4 Elders alone in the wilderness! It wasn't that bad...

When we started it was 1°C and it was actually way warm.. cuz we were moving. No wind to start. We got out to a cool place and then found a kinda back route that goes off around the back side of the mountain. A path nonetheless. It was so gorgeous! SOOOOOOO MUCH! I took a solid 250 pics this trip..

The higher we got the more snow we encountered until we got to the main ridge. We had a good bit of snow to trudge through. Then we reached the main trail again and headed up from there. We ate behind a church on the top (yes a church - the Dobratch mountain chapel) and there was no wind, but we prepared ourselves for the summit where wind was bound to blow. And it certainly did! But we were mainly warm enough! Got some epic pictures and all! I brought my Austrian Flag with me and we put that to good use. I even got a call from Jose and his daughters in Wiener Neustadt wishing me a Happy Birthday! It was like one of the best days ever!

We made it safely to the bottom, had fun sliding down the mountain. Even go passed by a skier! Then we got picked up and taken to their house for dinner! Ah people here are just so kind and loving! It was such a great day! We fell asleep easily that night! And actually had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning to get to out train to take us up to Salzburg!

So that we did! Rode our train, beautiful day! Pics for sure. Zone Training was so great. Elder Plumb, the sickest, got us so jacked up to act. It was like being on the football field again. Our new Zone Motto is "I WILL". Cuz if I don't do it, who will? I really enjoyed it. It was easily one of the best meetings I've been to on my mission.

We came back down to Klagenfurt and there was our day. We met with a less active the next day and we also got to meet with one of our good friends. Its amazing how some people have such a huge need for the Gospel in their lives but they don't recognize that. I think that's one of the hardest parts, seeing people who have a distinct need... and having a solution... but they just don't want it. We have a new idea for finding that we got from Zone Training. We are gonna use a survey to go around and use that to find. I'll report back on that in a few months.

Friday was local meetings and sport evening. Hockey again! Oh how I enjoy that! It was great! And more people made it this week too! One step at a time eh? We planned and then on Saturday got on a train to Salzburg for stake conference. Elder Fingerle from the 70 was there. It was cool cuz he is German.. and so he spoke in German! haha clearly... but that was neat! I got some great thoughts out of that meeting. Then we stayed with the Elders there and had a blast.

Sunday the same story. Awesome talks and experiences. It's so motivational to hear others report success. Just instills a deeper Hope within me. I love that! We got our train home after the meeting, ate and studied and hit the bed.

Now its Monday. Life is so fun! I just love the time here. It's the best thing I've done. I've had lots of thoughts this week on my time on a Mission. Lots of praying too. That's been my turn to the last little while and I am glad I know that through prayer and study, answers come our way. The Gospel blesses us! Me especially.

I wish you all a great week! LOVE from Austria!

Elder Rodgers <3

No shortage of pictures this week....lots of the hike!