If you pay attention, you will see God...

Um... guys. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Today has been AMAZING. I have never felt that God was more merciful, more understanding, more forgiving, and more aware of me personally, than I have today.

Last night, Tamara very kindly offered to get up early to drive me to the train station this morning and help me get my ticket so I could get to church. It's literally like a 3-5 minute drive from the house and maybe a 10 or 15 minute walk which is AWESOME. So we got my ticket squared away and she gave me instructions about which stop to get off at etc.

The train comes and the only reason I knew it was my train is because it was headed in the right direction, and I knew my train was the 8:07am. I was still having some doubts though, because it said St. Gallen on and I was headed to Kreuzlingen - Seepark. UGH. So I'm sitting, sitting, sitting, waiting to hear my stop on the intercom announcement thingy. I'm on the verge of a panic attack... Before the train had even arrived for me to jump on, I'd said a prayer in my heart. "Please God, let me get to church. Don't let me get lost. Just let me make it to church." I have never looked so forward to going to church in my life. I needed to be there. I needed the reassurance and consistency that the church provides. So, we're at another stop, and I know I'm getting close to where I have to get off, but I'm still second-guessing myself and I'm on the verge of an intense freak-out, when I see a young man, dressed in a suit, carrying a scripture case. I have NEVER been so happy to see a man in his Sunday best. I knew, "that guy HAS to be Mormon." I calmed down a little. I ALMOST got up from my seat to go ask him if he WAS in fact LDS on his way to church, but the idea that he might not speak English and I'd just look like a lunatic was too intimidating. So I just settled with keeping an eye to see where he got off the train. We passed another station and the next one, I was fairly sure was my stop... "Please, God, let him get off at the next stop"... one, so that I would be certain that WAS my stop, and two, so I could follow him to the church building, since I wasn't sure of its exact location. He got up. YES! "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER!" I was totally in stalker mode, but I didn't even care, cause I was in the right place, and I knew Heavenly Father was helping me get to where I needed to be. The church building is literally RIGHT by the train stop. Two other young men hopped off the train so I just followed these three dudes right up to the church.

It took all my self control not to start sobbing when I saw "Kirsche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage." I couldn't stop myself from tearing up though. Finally, something completely familiar! Even with a language barrier. Even with cultural differences. Home. Totally, completely home. I walked in and a missionary (one of the guys who had just gotten off the train) greeted me and quickly realized I did not speak a lick of German haha. He asked me where I was from (in English), I responded that I was American and he asked what part of the U.S. I was from. "Utah." "Oh! My companion is from Sandy, Utah!" and around the corner came the guy I'd been stalking! :D!!!! He was almost as happy to see a fellow American, especially one from close to home, as I'd been to find a Mormon missionary on the train (I hadn't realized he was a missionary before, I missed his tag earlier). His name is Elder Annan, he's been here 2 weeks, so he totally gets where I'm at with German haha. I told him about seeing him on the train and that he was an answer to my prayer. His companion, Elder Strauss, is a native (from Germany I believe...). I also met Elder Sanft and his companion Elder Sardoni. Elder Sanft is from California, so he was happy to meet a California native *high-five status* I talked with them in the entry way while they greeted the members and EACH AND EVERY ONE of the members that came by, greeted me as well. Everyone was SO friendly and welcoming and inviting. WOW. I was literally blown away at their kindness. Many of them spoke English so that was also very comforting to me, but even the ones who didn't were very eager to say hello and make me feel welcome. In fact, one of the members who seemed most excited by my presence was a sweet lady who could barely speak any English at all. She was so very kind to me though. We've decided to help each other out - she'll help me with German, and I'll help her with English :) haha. The Bishop also introduced himself and asked me about myself. I'm actually supposed to go to a ward in Frauenfeld (I knew this, but Tamara had told me about this building and showed it to me on the way to her sister's so I thought I'd go here my first week at least since it was easier and somewhat familiar) but he said it is much easier to get to this building from the town I live in than the other one. To get to the church in Frauenfeld I guess you have to get on a train, then get off, onto a bus etc... YIKES. haha. But they don't seem to have a problem letting me crash their meetings instead :) Hopefully they can find my membership records cause I think the YSA ward I was in already sent them away...

Before going in for Sacrament meeting, Elder Strauss invited me to sit by him and he would translate for me. He had to help prepare and bless the Sacrament first so Elder Sanft let me sit by him and he translated what he could for me until the Sacrament had been passed and Elder Strauss could take over. So, many people probably don't know this, but singing the hymns is probably my favorite part of Sacrament meeting. If I can't sing the hymns, it TOTALLY bums me out. I was really afraid that I wouldn't be able to participate because you know... I thought maybe I should pull out my iPad and sing them in English, or just hum. But I didn't. I sang in German. I'm sure my pronunciation was atrocious, but I KNEW these hymns. I tried my best, and I know that's all that mattered to the people, but more importantly, I know that God knows even though my understanding is lacking at this point, the feeling and testimony behind this imperfect attempt was sincere. And it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be; I just tried to copy the people next to me as best I could haha. One of the hymns was even "I Stand All Amazed" - except in German haha. The word "wunderbar" has never been sweeter or more sacred. AH! And to top it all off, the entire meeting was about trials and finding gratitude amidst our trials - things I have struggled with for years. Since my brother died actually. I've never heard these topics spoken about in more loving words or in a way that pierced my soul so. Apparently all I had to do was fly to Switzerland to make sense of it all, not necessarily in my mind, but in my spirit. If that makes any sense whatsoever to anyone reading this...

After Sacrament meeting Elder Sanft introduced me to one of the members, Daisy is her name I believe, who speaks Spanish! AH! :D A language I'm familiar with! She was an absolute delight. Almost as soon as she learned I was new and spoke Spanish, was she inviting me to have dinner with her and her family sometime! OH MY GOSH. The sweetest!

After speaking with a few others, I headed to Sunday school and Elder Strauss said he could translate for me again if I wanted. I told him I didn't want to bug him, but he assured me it wasn't a problem and he appreciated the chance to practice his English. Fine by me dude. Fine by me. So he translated again during Sunday school, which was about Elijah (one of my favorite people from the scriptures). P.S. I said the opening prayer in Sunday school! Someone asked me, and said I could do it in English, so I agreed. I'm willing! Just let me speak a language I know and we're good! haha. Anyway, after class Elder Strauss told me where to go for Relief Society haha. Poor guy. I'm not always so helpless I promise! He was very nice about it, and didn't seem to mind, thankfully. I thought about asking the missionaries for a contact number, in case I need a Priesthood blessing at some point, but... I was getting self-conscious about how needy I must have seemed haha.

The Relief Society president is a doll, from South Africa (totally mistook her and her husband's accents for Australian accents at first). She asked me if I'd introduce myself a little and got one of the other girls (Larissa) to translate for me - not only my little introduction to everyone, but for me during the lesson. She and her sister Sandra are SO nice. Their family practically makes up the entire ward so it seems (and to call it a ward is a bit of a stretch. Also, I thought our church buildings in Utah were small. This building is TINY!)

After church I asked Elder Annan if he knew when the next train to go back was... he didn't. And I totally gave him crap about it. "How long have you been here?" "2 weeks..." "2 weeks! I've been here since Wednesday! I have an excuse! But you've been here for 2 WEEKS!" "Yeah, but I just follow Elder Strauss around! I don't know anything! I just follow him!" haha so I asked Elder Strauss when he showed up again, and he told me I had about 20 minutes. Then he asked me if I wanted their contact number (thank you again Heavenly Father) in case of anything. I gratefully accepted and said it would be great in case I need a blessing or something.

I went to say goodbye and thank-you to the Relief Society president, and she walked with me to the train stop and waited with me. Holy cow. To say this ward goes above and beyond is a HUGE understatement. Good grief. Everyone back home, we need to STEP IT UP. Seriously. If everyone felt like I did today when they came to church, no one would be inactive.

I got off the train in my town, and I got a little lost trying to find the way back to the house (why didn't I pay closer attention in the car!?) I walked up and down the same street about 3 times trying to figure out where I needed to go, or what I was going to do... I finally sat down and I remembered walking past a church on my walk the other night... If I could find the church, I could find my way home. You can read into THAT symbolism all you want. Problem was, the only church I could see, I didn't recognize... so I walked down the street again and I just knew it was the wrong way, so I turned around to go back, yet again, and I looked over to my left, and I caught a glimpse of the church, and in front of me was a little pathway that went under a tunnel, which Tamara had mentioned a tunnel when she was trying to explain how to walk to the train station yesterday... After finding the church, it was pretty easy to recognize the street I had taken my walk on, and from there I could easily find the way home. God is awesome, and He is TOTALLY taking care of me. When you're trying to do the right thing, He's gonna have your back. Always. 

Later on in the afternoon, Peter's parents stopped by for a visit and then we all went for a walk down by the lake. Here's some pictures: 

Old house from 1459

bleh. haha

Oh hi Germany! :) 

beautiful Lake Constance aka "Bodensee"

cute girl! :)

Peter, Svenja, Tamara

xoxo,

     Rebecca

My First Week

Ok. Sorry for the delayed update! I’ve been dying haha. Not literally, but jet-lag is brutal man! The struggle is real! Anyhow, here’s updates for the last few days.

Wednesday (8/13/14)

I made it! :D

This is the face of a girl who is SO happy to be done flying! (for the time being)

I flew from Salt Lake City, to Dallas-Fort Worth, then JFK in New York and FINALLY to Zürich. It was absolutely perfect. I had no problems at all, even though apparently I almost missed the connection to JFK, but until I got to the terminal and they told me they were getting ready to close the doors, I was unaware haha oops! And in New York, my flight was ALMOST delayed for 2 hours, but only ended up being about 20 minutes thank goodness.

I kept falling asleep on each flight, then waking up thinking hours had gone by… but they hadn’t. I swear time slows down in the air. It’s crazy. Thankfully, during my longest flight, no one was seated next to me, and you bet your little tushy I sprawled out like an animal.

When I finally arrived I loaded my ginormous suitcases (by myself) onto a trolley – I was a little surprised no one stopped or offered to help my little 5-foot self hefting these 60+ lbs suitcases that are like almost ¾ my size… but you know, whatever. I don’t need a man! …moving on – so yes, suitcases, trolley, and then I found the family waiting for me in the greeting area. Hallelujah! I was so nervous I wouldn’t find them and I’d have no way to get in contact with them (airport wifi is THE WORST fyi). They had just gotten there like 3 minutes before I walked out; guess that 20-minute delay in NY was worth it! ;)                                                           

Ah, it was SO great to finally have these people right in front of me, in the flesh. They were extremely warm and welcoming. We ran a few errands, then headed home where they gave me a tour of the house (which is gorgeous, albeit completely different than a typical American home) and let me unpack. Um, I’m in love with my room and bathroom. It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting, which was a lovely surprise, and it’s so… stylish! I will post pictures of them, and the rest of the house, later. For now, here is a picture of the view from the house:

I live in a postcard. SO beautiful here.
(Taken Sunday 8/17/14 - finally a sunny day! It's been rainy all week.)

I unpacked and my very first meal in Europe… pizza! haha :)

I was out at like 7:30pm. Yay jet-lag!

Thursday (8/14/14)

Awake at 5:30am. UGH.

Today some of Tamara and Peter’s friends stopped by to visit on their way home. It was a little awkward for me at first, but eventually, it wasn’t so much and I tried to follow along their German, but they kept switching back and forth between German and English for me.

Later Tamara took me and Svenja to her sister’s house to visit her sister (obviously), nephew, dad, and step-mom. Her sister was SO nice and offered me all sorts of beverages and refreshments. She had these delicious fruit cakes that we all ate and I tried to follow along all the German conversation (their parents don’t speak English). Tamara and her sister kept translating for me every so often, which was very sweet. They were all very kind and it was actually a lot of fun, even with the language barrier.

P.S. “Cake” is not cake like in America. It’s not as sweet (which I’m fine with) and it was like… pie meets custard meets fruit. With a cheese-cakey texture… sort of. haha. It’s difficult to explain, but it was DELICIOUS. I had a piece of a cherry one and then the sister was having her 3^rd piece and offered me another one for the third time and I couldn’t keep saying no haha so I tried some of the plum one.

Tamara "made" this on Sunday. A little different, but you get the idea

Friday (8/15/14)

Oh Friday.

Friday was rough. Like “what the freak am I doing here, God?” rough.

It wasn’t that anything bad happened… I think it was more of just reality setting in. I’m not in MY country. I’m all alone. I have no friends or family here. And I won’t see my friends of family for 1 year. 1 YEAR! That’s a dang long time! I’m also still very tired, and I cannot express to you the frustration of seeing a person, a normal human being, smiling at you, and you at them, and then they speak, and it is complete GIBBERISH to your ears. AGH! I SO badly WANT to communicate and understand. I keep reverting to Spanish in my head, and then it’s like, just kidding, that doesn’t work either! *grumble grumble* I hate to admit it… and when I say hate, I mean loathe… but this experience is definitely going to be much more challenging mentally and emotionally than I thought.

On a positive note, I put together this awesome desk chair Tamara bought for me, all by myself! With a little help from Peter at the end cause the little knob things at the bottom of the chair legs did NOT want to go in. He even struggled a bit with them. I feel so accomplished haha!

I've got mad skills

I also went on a walk by myself in the evening to explore the area I’m living in a little bit. I couldn’t find anything of interest – it was pretty dead. And I was afraid if it got too dark, I would get lost so I was only gone 20 minutes or so.  

Saturday (8/16/14)

Today has been a lot better. Tamara and Peter dropped me off in Frauenfeld so I could explore a little while they went to the gym (they took Svenja with them). It was such a surreal feeling knowing that I was wondering the streets of this little town in Europe, alone. I couldn’t help but think about my Dad’s utter terror at the idea of his “little girl” exploring the big-bad-world by her lonesome haha. It was fairly uneventful though (don’t worry Dad!). I walked and watched for about an hour and a half, looking at the little storefronts and bistros. I even found a tiny little famers market (no idea what it’s called here) and if I’d had some smaller bills or change, I would have bought something. AH! There was a bratwurst vendor in front of a grocery store where I sat for a bit… SMELLED SO GOOD. I was afraid they wouldn’t have any change for my massive bill, but it looked so good.

I walked back to the bus station and sat where Tamara and Peter dropped me off to wait for them to return. While I was waiting, this guy came up to me with some sort of petition asking me to sign it… All I know, is that it had to do with handicapped people. I kept trying to tell him I didn’t speak German, but he was one persistent bugger. Then I thought he was telling me he was deaf cause the motion he was doing, means “deaf” in ASL… but then I was like, that doesn’t make sense cause obviously he can hear me! haha. Ugh. I could have signed something that says we should throw handicapped people into the sewer and make them live underground, and I wouldn’t know it. It gets better though hahahaha I think he was telling me I was very sexy… AND THEN, he just straight up asked me for sex. BAHAHA. He kept saying sex, but, you know, language barrier and all, I thought I was misunderstanding or something, and I looked confused so he said, “Sex, you know? Um… you, me, sex?” and then my brain was like OH! hahaha and I laughed and shook my head no. He took the rejection a lot better than most American boys. Ah, Europe! :) 

xoxo,

     Rebecca

Drumroll please...

After months of preparation and waiting, completing mountains of paperwork (ok, not really but just roll with it haha), many scans sent back and forth, and stalking my house for FedEx workers daily...

...my visa has finally arrived!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I would just like to say that 

1. faith and prayer work 

and 

2. God is in the details of our lives. 

FIVE DAYS! :D

xoxo,

     Rebecca

Crunch Time

First of all, a big ol' shout out and happy birthday to mah little bro! - he's not really younger than me, he's just the youngest brother. He turned 32 today! SO OLD! ;) haha 

Now, back to me ;)

12 freaking days guys! TWELVE. 

Hooooooly crappola! I am freaking out! - but only on the inside, shhh! don't tell! :P 

It has been a pretty stressful week. My work papers arrived (yipee!) so I spent the majority of my day on Monday trying to figure out exactly what paper work I had to gather and send over to the consulate, which turns out the one in SLC doesn't do anything with visas so I had to send everything to San Francisco. I finally figured it out and my mom helped me gather and overnight everything. Mah lovely visa should get here next week sometime! I won't be at ease until I have it in my hands - knowing when my flight is and not having the visa with me yet is NERVE-WRACKING to the MAX! hahaha. I am staying positive though; everything will work out :) If you want to say a prayer for me, or throw out some good vibes directed my way, that would be AWESOME! 

It was also my last week teaching at the dance studio :( *tears* I am going to miss my cutie-pie students SO much! They have worked so hard! I can't believe how much improvement they have shown in such a short amount of time! 

I am SO excited for the time to finally be here, but I'm having a hard time looking forward to it with piles and piles of things I still have to do. It's time to prioritize! :P This weekend and next are gonna be a doozy! haha 

xoxo,

     Rebecca