Happy Salmon

Wednesday, 15th:

Sister Meisenfelder felt sick, so she took a nap on the couch, and then every time she woke up so we could catch the next train to go finding, she still felt sick, so we ended up staying in for most of the day. 

We did end up making it to a dinner appointment with our Relief Society secretary, Naemi, and her husband. They were so sweet and so funny, and they're about Mark and Kathleen's age so I felt quite at home and like I was just chilling with family. It was a great meal appointment. 

Thursday, 16th:

Happy birthday, Mom! It was nice to be able to talk with you and wish you a happy birthday. 

We met up with all of the Swiss mission leadership and hopped onboard a bus to Munich. It was a bit of a long ride, but I loved the scenery and it was nice to just chill. When we got to Munich, we had a nice devotional in the mission home and watched a video from YouTube called "Validation" or something (the main guy is Hugh Newman, and it's in black and white - I highly recommend looking it up (don't worry, we skipped the kiss at the end )). We talked about how it relates to missionary work, and it was actually really cool and insightful. Then the Elders left, and sadly, Sister Brown didn't read us a bedtime story, but it was already so late so we just went to bed. 

Friday, 17th:

We woke up and went to the Munich chapel for MLC. It was a lot of fun talking to other missionaries, and getting packages, and hearing more from Präsident and Sister Brown. I love them so much.  Then afterwards, the Austrian and Stuttgart zone leadership left, and we had about an hour and a half to kill. So we decided to head to the bus station early so we could buy dinner before being stuck on a bus for 5 or so hours. Then we got on the bus, and the way the seats were, I was alone up at the front. I actually kind of enjoyed it. It was my first alone time since coming on the mission. I just drew and slept and thought to myself and drew some more. Then we ended up getting home late and getting to bed even later, just because the bus got into Zürich Hauptbahnhof at like 9:15.

Saturday, 18th:

We had Pfahlkonferenz (Stake Conference), and since we're Sister Leaders we were asked to go early to the leadership meeting. So we did, and each of the talks were centered on Christ, and I was thoroughly impressed. Then we had the adult session in the evening, and 2 of our friends came! We were so happy for them! 

Sunday, 19th:

We had Pfahlkonferenz part 2, and both of our friends came AGAIN! It was incredible! Plus, we had Elder Paul Johnson of the seventy, and that was awesome. He did a short devotional thing for the Young Adults afterwards, and that was fun, especially because one of our friends even stayed for that.

After Stake Conference, we brought flowers and a card to a woman in our ward who is really sick (the flowers were from our bishop). Her daughter isn't a member, but she was so happy to see us, and apparently last time she hadn't even wanted to let the sisters in. 

Monday, 20th:

We had Zone Conference, and honestly, that's still like my favorite part of missionary work. I loved each part shared by the Browns, and I got to see some friends that I haven't seen since the beginning of the mission! It was so fun. Plus, I got to see a couple angel Sisters who are going home this transfer. One of them was on the train with me as I went from the mission home to Vienna on my first day in the mission! That was a blast to the past, and made me realise just how close I'm getting to going home... And they both helped me through a couple rough times, so I really treasure their friendship. 

We had dinner with the Laird family. They're from America, and so we were able to bond very quickly. The children are each so darling and precious, and we had a lot of fun playing "happy salmon" for the Family home evening activity (legit, I'm buying this game when I get back home). As always with any family, it was a bit crazy but you could see how much they love each other. 

Tuesday, 21st:

Today has been really rainy, so we didn't do much. We kind of just did a little bit of shopping in the cheaper stores on our finding street (i.e. H&M, not Gucci or whatever) and ate lunch at McDonald's and came to the church for wifi, where we've been writing emails and chatting with our Families. :) 

Favorite new word: Selbstmitleid - self-pity

Favorite funny story: The Husband in the family we went to on Wednesday grew up in a Spanish-speaking country, and his wife has a darker sense of humor, so they told us one of her favorite jokes in Spanish. I dedicate this to my brothers who have served Spanish missions: "¿Cuántos bebés se necesitan para pintar una casa?....... Depende de cuán fuerte los lances."

Favorite spiritual thought: So apparently the name "Jesus" comes from the Greek translation of the Bible, and in Hebrew (or at the very least when Gabriel announced to Mary what she should name her child) His name is Yeshua. Which is the shortened version of Yehoshua, which means something like "a cry of help to God". And it comes from the verb Yesha, which means "to save". So Christ's name means "one who saves" or "Savior". Also, back then, they would make covenants by drinking from a cup (and smashing it, to signify that it was final and binding). So whenever you read about someone drinking from a cup or like when Christ says "remove this cup" or "I have drunk from the bitter cup", He's talking about a covenant. How cool is that? 

TLDR: We've been very busy this week. I'm working through a couple things right now, but overall I'm doing well, and I'm so grateful that even on the hardest days of my mission, I get to wake up in one of the most beautiful places in the world! 

Hurrah for Israel!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Hamilton

Pics: MLC and Zone Konferenz, me because I liked the lighting, and a Pic of a small child that faceplanted into my lap and started sobbing because we weren't going to watch cars and then his sister rescued me #safetyzone

Sorry the email won't send with them again. RIP. They're quality.