Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Finally!)

So first off, sometimes we do fun stuff on P-Day. Sometimes that means we don't do our emails until later in the evening after we do aforementioned fun stuff. Don't worry if an email is late. It probably just means I'm out experiencing history and learning culture and stuff.

Now that that's out of the way, it snowed! A whole heck of a lot! Which, admittedly, is not a ton. But it did snow, and there is about 2 and a half to 3 inches on the ground. So yeah. Sis. Knutson is super happy, and all the Germans are feeling a lot better about the climate. Seriously, that is a legitimate concern. Last week it was impossible to have a conversation with anyone in the ward for too long before it turned into a sob story about how there's been no snow for Christmas for the last five years and we're killing the climate. Which, there might be some truth to. But eventually you get tired of hearing it. So hopefully the snow will stick around for a bit and make everyone happy again.

This week we solidified a baptismal date with Zeynep! Woo hoo! She is super excited and can't wait to tell all her missionary friends! Unfortunately, she isn't excited to tell the ward. But we're working on that. She's just afraid of being judged because she's been an investigator for almost a year now and isn't baptized. I wish I could tell her about some of the ward memebers who were investigators for YEARS before they were baptized. Obviously, it's not ideal. We don't want eternagators (eternal investigators). But there's a man in our ward who was an investigator for seven years before he decided to get baptized. So yeah. We're going to keep working with her.

Also, bonus question time! Who knows where Elder Bednar served his mission? Answer: Germany! And he taught and confirmed a man in my ward here!!! Now, I'm not saying that this man is any better than any other convert to the church. But I am saying that it's a cool story and he is a super awesome member. He and his wife always do everything for everyone in the church. He is the official tech person for the ward and she is an amazing cook and always makes all the food whenever the missionaries have a big get-together or huge meeting (like zone conference) or whenever we have ward parties. They also invite the missionaries over a ton and always feed us a LOT. And it is DELICIOUS. They are a super cool couple, and I love talking with them.

Speaking of food though, I have eaten and liked everything a member has given me. Just the other day, we visited the Schwarm Familie, and Sch. Schwarm lived in America for ten years. She made us the most American food she could think of, and it was chili. It was absolutely delicious and even better than dad's. Sorry, dad. But it's true. It was super great, and her cornbread was just as delicious. It was super yummy. At the Preiss's (see Elder Bednar's convert who he still keeps in contact with), Sch. Preiss made a super yummy pumpkin/coconut soup. Then she pan fried some chicken with some spices I didn't recognize and served it with rice and a greek yogurt sauce with lime juice and mint. It was the first thing I have had here that was actually hard to eat. For those of you who don't know, I detest mint in every shape and form. But, a member made it just for me and made it with love and lots of care and served it to me because she wants to help us in any way she can. So I ate it, and I am stronger for it. Plus, it made Sch. Preiss happy, so really that's all that matters. 

Thanks for telling Tara about the blog, Mom. I realized too late that I forgot to give the link to her before I left. I think it's really funny that she emailed you this week though, because I've had to do a lot of explaining about what I did before I was a missionary and it's made me think a lot about Ally and how much I miss her. So yeah. Chalk that one up for tender mercies from the Lord. :)

We have so many appointments this week! We might actually be late to some of them because of how many we have one day! It's super cool, and I'm really excited. The last of the winter holiday days is on the 6th, so lots of members are inviting us over. It's super cool, and I'm really excited. Plus, it's a great time to get referrals from members, which is what we need. We actually recieved a referral from church headquarters this week. But when we went by, they said they weren't interested. It was kind of sad, but Sis. Knutson said that there must be a reason that we were sent to that building, so we klingled the rest of the building. At least, that was the plan. We actually ended up talking to the first person we klingled for 10 minutes about the Book of Mormon! It was super cool, and I was really grateful for my interview with President Stoddard earlier that day because he'd made me do a role play practicing contacting people. It was a great experience, and it really strengthened my faith in President Stoddard, and myself. We're planning to go back this week and finish that building and then do the rest of the area. I'm really excited.

 

So, last week we went to the Dokumentationszentrum (doe-koo-mehn-tah-tee-ohn-ss-zehn-troom). Basically, it looks like the Colosseum. Except that it's in Nürnberg. I'm not entirely sure what it was supposed to be, but today it's a museum that tells all about HItler's rise to power and how he gained control of the government and became the figure that we all remember him as. It was super interesting, because it tells about the propoganda that he used to keep the people in Germany quiet. Many of them didn't know what was going on. He had a Zeppelin Field built that was used for giant demonstrations of troops and big rallies that were tons of fun for the people, and distracted them from what was really going on. He also had a rumor spread that he was a German messiah, come to save the German people. He was an incredibly smart man. I really believe that. Incredibly evil and had evil desires. But incredibly smart and incredibly good at knowing exactly what to do to keep the people happy and indoctrinate them into his regime. The museum was really sobering, but really informational and super cool. I'm looking forward to going back sometime after Sis. Knutson leaves.

Speaking of Sis. Knutson, she goes home in three weeks! It's so crazy! But it's also so good! I love her to death but we're both getting super distracted by thinking about her going home and families and stuff. I'm going to miss her, but I am looking forward to having a companion who might not be going home in two transfers. As much fun as it is, it does get distracting. But it's fine. We're going to make the most of our time left together and hopefully get me ready to take over the area (which I will never be ready for, but I don't really have much of a choice so we might as well try!). 

New Year's was a blast. Literally! Germans LOVE fireworks so as soon as it was dark enough (or even kind of dark) there were people out shooting off fireworks. You could hear them constantly from 6 pm onward, so it was interesting. We started a puzzle at the Hart's but it was a thousand pieces, so we didn't finish. If we go over there at all this next week and it's still out, we'll work on it. After the Hart's though we went home and watched Meet the Mormons (with permission from President Stoddard) and put together the puzzle I bought for Christmas. It was only a hundred pieces and is a How to Train Your Dragon puzzle. It was awesome. We were allowed to be back in our apartments at 6 pm that day instead of staying out until 9 pm. It was really nice to have a few hours in the evening times to relax. But now we're back to regular schedules and more missionary work. So life is good. :)

We explored the cellar system underneath Nuremberg and learned a lot about beer, today. But it was cool, and we skipped the last half of the tour where they took us through the distilleries and breweries and such. It did not smell nice and the member who took us didn't want to go so we went up to the castle instead. That was super cool. We went to the top of this super tall tower and it was amazing! They had pictures of the view out of each of the windows of what the city looked like after it was bombed during WW2 and then you could look at what it looks like now and it was really amazing. If nothing else, the German people like to keep you informed about history and about all the cool things they have in their country. Especially in Nuremberg since it's so old.

Anyways, it's been a good week and a good holiday season. I'm excited to get a new companion next transfer but I'm more excited to spend the last few weeks I have with Sis. Knutson. She is an amazing missionary and has been a fantastic trainer.

I love you all. If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to watch the Mormon Message "Look Forward to Your Future." It's a super great video about looking forward to the new year and learning from the past, but not focusing on it. Then, if you're feeling super ambitious, 2 Nephi 31:20 goes really great with that video. I set some goals for the new year so that I can continue looking forward with a "perfect brightness of hope." I really hope all of you can do that same. I know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and if we look to Him and are willing to give Him all of our weakness and failures and work with Him to become better, we can have that hope. We can change and "becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord." (Mosiah 3:19). He is always there for us and He will always be ready to help us to become better in everything that we do. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our older brother. He loves us, and He will always be there for us.

Cool. Now that I feel appropriately cheesy and corny and stuff, I love yáll! Have a fantastic day, and a fabulous week!

Love Always,

Sis. John