Week 9

Thursday (10/9/14)
Walk with the family.

Tamara, Peter/Svenja, Quentin, Finn 

Bernina Factory

I LIVE HERE! :D

Me, Peter/Svenja, Finn, Quentin 

Quentin trying to feed the cows

The boys walking home (the rest of us took a longer way)

Staying hydrated! :)

Svenja and Leon, one of the neighbor boys.
I'm pretty sure he has a crush on me... haha

Friday (10/10/14)
Well guys, I've reached an important European milestone: I've been on the German autobahn! Gotta tell you... doesn't live up to the hype. For some reason I've always imagined the autobahn as this huge six or more lane freeway with tons of wide curves/turns and people driving like they're pro race-car drivers. My imagination was WAY off. Most of it is just a two-lane freeway (two lanes one way, two lanes the other way). One lane goes fast, the other lane goes faster. I think the fastest we ever went was 160 KPH (just under 100 MPH). I could do that at home! I HAVE done that at home... 

*Side Note (mostly for my parents benefit): Don't freak out. I think I've actually hit 100 MPH like twice... sometimes I don't notice how heavy my foot has gotten on the pedal. 

Anyhow... yep, took the autobahn to get to THE BALL! I met Corinne at the train station in Weinfelden at 10:00am and then we walked to Dustin and Larissa's apartment (we took their car). These people know how to road trip! It was such a blast! They had all kinds of yummy snacks and the best music assortment - mostly oldies, Disney, and musicals - for such a long drive (5 hours). Once we got to Irrsdorf we went to our hotels to check in (Larissa and Dustin stayed in one, Corinne and I stayed in another one because there were no more rooms available in the same place when Corinne was making reservations) and then we all went to Larissa and Dustin's hotel to change and get ready for the ball! It wasn't what I was expecting. When you hear the words "ball" and "Austria" combined into a sentence describing an event, there's a certain image that enters your mind. At least in my mind. I'm thinking a grand old ballroom and people dressed like they just popped out of the 1800's. Or at the very least, something like the ball scene from The Sound of Music. Fancy dresses, fancy suits (tuxedos)... This "ball" was held at a school. When Corinne said it was free if you registered beforehand, that should have been my first tip-off. It turned out to be a church event. Hahaha! *facepalm* It was still REALLY beautiful. The decorations were lovely and it was pretty fancy for a church event. It was catered (the only thing you had to pay for was the food/drinks - which was delicious), there was a live band for dancing, and there were even some performances. It was really well done. And I got to dance a couple of times towards the end of the night. Sandra's husband Oliver kindly danced a "Viennese" waltz with me, and later on another dude that the group knew asked me, after being bribed. (After one dance he said I looked "destroyed." Well aren't YOU the charmer.) I must admit throughout the night I got more and more agitated. Probably a combination of being in the car all day and the frustration of not understanding most of the conversation that was going on around me (AND this thing went until like 2am... OHMAHGOSH BE OVER! haha). I was definitely feeling like I didn't belong. It's an emotional tug-of-war. You can't expect everyone to always accommodate you and/or your language needs, but it's difficult at times to keep that frame of mind and not think people are being rude. I'm trying though! It's all a learning experience.

Rolling hills of Austria

Larissa, Dustin, Corinne

The ladies!

The "Ballroom"

Our table 

Dinner: Wiener Schnitzerl (Pute) mit Kartoffeln und Salat 

EFY group? Kids doing a line dance haha.

Ballroom couple; danced the 5 standard dances.

Candy Bar EVERYONE freaked out about.
It's not a typical thing like the States, where
everyone has one at their wedding reception;
most of the candy wasn't even that good.

Violinist

Dancing (photo by Sandra)

Saturday (10/11/14)
I had showered last night so when I woke up around 9:30am I simply threw some clothes on, cleaned up, and went downstairs for breakfast. Corinne was already there. I just had some awesome bread and jams and an egg (sunny-side up) after the owner offered it. Yum! After paying - for both of us, it was only €80 so we each paid €40, which is €16 cheaper than the first hotel she had tried to book us at; not bad! - we went outside and Larissa and Dustin came and picked us up around 10:00am and we headed back to Switzerland! I slept for most of this car ride; I was legitimately tired, but also most of the time I didn't feel included in the (German) conversation anyway and I was tired of trying. I'm sorry. Real life, real talk. It happens. I'm not perfect and it's not all rainbows and sunshine all the time. 

The "hotel" where Corinne and I stayed:
Kirchenwirt Irrsdorf, Familie Schinwald

Cool looking church

These mountains were way more majestic and grand
than the pictures are showing....

Pretty sure that's a tunnel either for a train or cars...

Dustin and Larissa were kind enough to drop off both Corinne and myself at each of our residences. As soon as I got home, I had about 20 minutes before hopping in the car, again, with Tamara, Peter, Quentin, Finn, and Svenja to go over to Claudia's (Tamara's twin sister) for a little "game night." Tons of fun playing games and eating together. Claudia, just like Tamara, is super sweet and she does everything she can to make me feel welcome.

Sunday (10/12/14)
We had some American visitors in church today! From... UTAH! haha. They were businessmen who work at dōTERRA. It was a lot of fun chatting with them - everyone (not just me) really likes when people visit. One even bore his testimony during Sacrament meeting (fast Sunday)  and Sandra ran up to translate it to German for the congregation. It was great. 
After church Daisy invited me over for dinner, but her and another lady, Patricia, decided to have it at Patricia's place instead. So I went with Patricia and her two daughters with another lady in the ward who dropped us off at their apartment. Daisy never showed up (there was an emergency with a friend she had to help with) which was a little awkward. I felt like I'd self-invited myself to have dinner with someone who hadn't asked for company. But it was fine. Patricia and I chatted (Spanish) and I helped her make dinner while the two teenagers acted like... typical teenagers haha. I believe Patricia is Peruvian, but she has the air of a beautiful Spaniard - very regal and proud. It's extremely intimidating. She made an AWESOME tuna fish soup, and rice with veggies. Dessert was this weird healthy jello/custard-y stuff with cloves... it was.. very strong. I didn't like it at all. And I accidentally swallowed a clove because I was trying to just swallow the stuff without tasting it too long. Oops. While we were cooking, she also had me try some vegetable juice she churned out; it could have been worse, but I could only get down about half the cup. Bleh. After lunch we watched Mormon Messages videos and then I politely excused myself to leave. Patricia walked me part of the way to the train and once I recognized where I was I went the rest of the way on my own (after thanking her for everything of course!) 

Week 8

Monday (9/29/14)
7 hours and 50 minutes of housework. That's what I did today. This house looks FABULOUS, thank you very much. And yes, I totally count my Monday chore days as workouts. Totally worth the extra 2 hours to be able to have the time to go out with the missionaries on Friday though! I'm so grateful that Tamara and Peter are willing to be flexible. This extra time, plus babysitting Svenja this Wednesday evening, is Heaven sent. See? God provides a way for us to do His work.

Tuesday (9/30/14)
I am officially frustrated with the German language. The end. 

OK... not the end. But my patience is definitely being tried. We did a lot of number stuff today in class, and I am struggling. In German if I were to tell you my age, translated it would be "I am four and twenty years old." Really? Four and twenty!? What century are we in!? Why can't we say "zwanzigvier"? (zwanzig = 20, vier = 4). But no. They say "Ich bin vierundzwanzig jahre alt." It's like... backwards math. In a foreign language. UGH. Kill me.  

*Note: I do not mean ANY disrespect to Germans, Germany, or the German language. It's a BEAUTIFUL language. This is just real talk from a struggling foreigner. Please don't get offended :) 

Wednesday (10/1/14)
Peter and Tamara went out this evening with some friends so I watched Svenja then, which meant I had the entire afternoon for myself! It was a beautiful day, so I decided to go on a bike ride, back to Mammern! This time I didn't forget to bring my camera and I was able to stop along the way and take pictures. I even went back to the Gasthof Adler to get pictures there. You're welcome (such a sacrifice, haha). 

My backyard :)

You can never have too many flowers! 

Toblerone- und Mandelmousse mit hausgemachter
Glacé von weisser Schokolade und Rahm (Fr. 11.00)
(Translation: "Toblerone and almond mousse with homemade
ice cream  of white chocolate and cream."
BEST mousse I've ever had. So freaking good.)

So quaint! I love that they used grapevines
to create a covered terrace feel.

Gasthof Adler in Mammern

Presenting, the infamous Swiss cows!

moo

Thursday (10/2/14)
Today I watched Svenja in the morning, and then had the rest of the day for myself (besides school) because Tamara took Svenja to stay overnight with her grandmother. I called the DE Elders real quick to find out when I needed to meet them at the bahnhof in Konstanz tomorrow, then went for a quick bike ride to the bank to exchange some CHF for Euros. My butt is going to look AMAZING if I keep up with this biking. Why do I always live up a hill!? haha. I owned that hill today though. Yessireebob! I'm trying to catch up on my September updates, and my motivation is dying. So much to write, but then there's also pictures to sort through and add. October is going to be better. I'm going to write about the day, ON the day (what a novel idea) and then I'll be able to post the updates weekly instead of at the end of the month. 

Friday (10/3/14)
Got to sleep in this morning! Woo hoo! I woke up and started working after Tamara gave me a chore-list. I got all the important stuff done in 2 hours which gave me time to shower and get ready to go meet the missionary's for another visit with Daisy! It's her birthday so I went and got her some pretty orange-creamsicle colored roses and the Elders brought a card. She is such a generous, beautiful lady! I just love being around her. She is a light. 

After lunch the DE Elders were gonna drop me off at the bahnhof, but once we got there, they asked me if I wanted to come with them to another appointment they were having together with the Sister missionaries (Sister Henry and Sister Kutschke). Um, YES! 

We visited separately with two investigators. They are both African, and they live in the same building, which is in pretty rough neighborhood. I don't think I've ever felt the Spirit so strongly as I did sitting in those lessons. The first appointment, was one of the investigators and a friend of his. I'm pretty sure if we hadn't been there a drug deal/exchange would have gone down (a guy came in and when he saw us he was surprised and I saw him trying not to let us see the money in his hand).  But it didn't matter. And it didn't matter that the stench of marijuana filled the room. It didn't matter that there was porn on the walls. It didn't matter that these people had almost nothing. There was no doubt in my mind that God absolutely LOVES these men and that His arms are completely outstretched, ready and waiting for them to come to Him. Was such a powerful experience.

The second appointment was led by the Sisters during which Sister Henry asked me, unexpectedly, to share what the Atonement means to me. Guys, I felt like a REAL missionary. With a tag and everything! But that's the point! The only requirement to be a servant of God, is a willingness to do His work! He will GLADLY provide you with opportunities, with or without a tag ;) The Sisters also invited this investigator to be baptized! He seems to want very badly to know God, the only thing holding him back is he wants to know what's expected of him and what he has to do etc... He just wants truth and knowledge - don't we all? The Sisters assured him that they are happy to answer any of his questions and to continue their lessons, so he can be prepared for baptism. 

Saturday (10/4/14)
Was supposed to go up a mountain today with the family and some of their friends, but once again those plans fell through (this time the friends' kid is really sick). BUT that means I can go to Singen and watch GENERAL CONFERENCE in English with the missionaries! Blessings! :) Right when I got to the bus stop in Singen, I was trying to figure out which direction I needed to go to get to the church building (I actually figured out the map!) and all of a sudden, my shoe totally fell apart! Thankfully I was wearing stockings so walking barefoot on the dirty stone streets wasn't a big deal. So funny! 

So this happened...
RIP sophomore prom shoes :(

Nestlé Factory

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Singen, Germany 

Love the bright, bold splashes of color

Elder Roberts with a physalis fruit.
I'm not a fan. Pretty sure anything where the
selling point is "It's good for you!" is not
so great on the taste-buds... bleh.

After conference, when I was heading back with the Elders, everyone was offering shoes and car rides because of my barefootedness. I tried to decline (it really wasn't bad!) but after Sister Kutschke heard my shoe size, she peeled off her boots for me to borrow. A perfect fit. Elder Roberts pointed out that now I could say I've literally "walked a mile in missionary shoes" bahaha!

Sunday (10/5/14)
Back to Singen for more General Conference (and to return Sister Kutschke's boots!) 

It's raining leaves! Fall here is amazing.

The whole conference was a spiritual feast, but here's links to some of my very favorite talks:

The Reason for Our Hope - Boyd K. Packer

"'Somebody already has paid.'"

Which Way Do You Face? - Lynn G. Robbins

"Lowering the Lord's standards to the level of a society's inappropriate behavior is—apostasy."

Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The Everlasting and Almighty God, the Creator of this vast universe, will speak to those who approach Him with a sincere heart and real intent."

Loving Others and Living with Differences - Dallin H. Oaks

"When our positions do not prevail, we should accept unfavorable results graciously and practice civility with our adversaries."

Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence - Jörg Klebingat
"The decision to change is yours—and yours alone."

Are We Not All Beggars? - Jeffrey R. Holland
"'Are we not all beggars?' Don't we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don't we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don't we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case? ...we obtain a remission of our sins by pleading to God, who compassionately responds, but we retain a remission of our sins by compassionately responding to the poor who plead to us."

xoxo,

     Rebecca