Christmas was great and yes, I did Skype with my family and it was a
blast. Also kind of weird, but I did enjoy it and it was good.
We had lots of member appointments this week and it was fantastic! I really enjoyed getting to know the members of our ward better and getting to really love and appreciate them. One family made us goose for Christmas Eve and it was so good! I'm not even joking. It was super delicious. They also made us three different desserts, but we had to go back home and we were totally stuffed. So instead we now have a large piece of cheesecake and half of a pound cake sitting in our refrigerator at home. Yay for Christmas!
So, cool stuff that happened this week. We set a baptismal date! One of our investigators (her name is Zeynep and she is AMAZING) kind of told us a date about a month ago, but she was kind of tentative about it. Today, she told us that she was thinking of some New Year's Resolutions she could set, and she decided that she wants to try and finish Personal Progress in four months. When Sis. Knutson and I asked her why she had to finish in four months she told us that she wanted to finish before she got baptized. She committed to being baptized!!!! She was first contacted almost a year ago, and she will be baptized just a few months after her year mark. Her testimony is amazing, and she has this AMAZING desire to share the Gospel with everyone. She is incredible, and I cannot wait for April 19. That's the day. I am so hoping it happens. Many prayers and fasts will take place for this girl among the missionaries in Germany. Every single missionary who has ever met her has loved her immediately. She has also been mistaken for a member many, many times. So yeah.April 19. She will be a member, and it will be so cool.
That's basically it. I mean, we got to party for three days, so that was cool. By the way, Germany has three days of Christmas. The first is Heilige Abend (Holy Evening/Christmas Eve) is when kids get presents. They get them from the "Christ Child" who comes while they're out and about and doing other stuff during the day, and then they get to see the presents and open them that evening. Then comes Weihnachten (Christmas), where if you believe in Santa he comes and brings presents. Then come the day after Christmas. I don't know what that's called. They call it Boxing Day in the UK, so maybe that's it. All I know is that it's still part of Christmas, but it's the day you just hang out with family and relax. We had a ton of appointments during the last three days, and it was great because these three days are the only three days during the year that we don't have to limit our stay to one hour. We stayed at one house for 4 hours, and that was super cool. We also have the opportunity to watch a movie if we so desire and if the opportunity presents itself and if it is a good, family friendly, and preferably Christmas-themed movie. Sis. Knutson and I found Der Polarexpress for €5. We bought it, and had a party (with President Stoddard's permission) at the church with the Zone Leaders (who happen to be our area Elders) and two senior single sisters. It was so good, and we now have a really good relationship with those sisters and I can honestly say that I love them a ton. Sis. Grabarz is from Australia but has lived in Nürnberg for forever, and Sis. Kreuzmair is very sweet. She reminds me of Amanda a lot of the time.
We have SO MUCH CHOCOLATE in our apartment right now. It is ridiculous. What am I supposed to do with all of this???? The answer is: eat it. But eat it slowly. Suffice it to say that Sis. Knutson and I are going to be doing a lot more running and work outs in the next few weeks. We got a workout dvd last week, and it hurts. But it's good. We're building muscle and staying healthy, which is what we're supposed to do. So yeah. Good, healthy stuff happening. With a lot of chocolate that we will eat very slowly over the next few weeks. But we did buy vegetables today, so that's good.
Today, our plan is to go and visit the Dokuzentrum. It's a museum/historical site of where Hitler would stay when he was in Nürnberg. And it's right by the Zone Leader's apartment! Yay! We're going to meet up with the Ansbach elders (Elders Hatch and Murphy) and go with them. We invited them last night during call-ins and they just called and said they would come, so yeah. That will be fun. Hopefully not too depressing. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.
To everyone who gets to read these, please know how much I love and appreciate you. I know a ton of you are praying for me, and I hope that you know how much I appreciate it and that I'm praying for you as well. As much as I love it here in Germany, I never would have been able to come if it weren't for all the people who have helped me be prepared to be here. Whether it was through church, scouts, colorguard, or just being a friend to me and my family, I have appreciated the influence you all have had on me. You've done more good than you can possibly know. Thank you.
Well, that's it for this week. I love you all! Have a great day, and a fantastic week!
Love Always,
Sis. John
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