This Week - Man Ey

Apparently "man ey" means like "oh wow".

Wednesday, 5th:

We met with Tense, a JAE who is probably going to be a ward missionary (she hasn't actually been called yet, but it's been proposed). We just got to know her, and she is SO much fun! She's a little ball of energy and sass, and is more than just a little boy crazy. But only for a certain boy. They met on their mission and have been in constant contact ever since they got back, and he invited her to a YSA/JAE convention in Wien this weekend, so she was very excited to get to see him again for the first time since the mission. And she wrote us and said that she had a boyfriend now, so we assume things went well between them, haha. 

Thursday, 6th:

I hit my Year mark! It was weird. It didn't feel real. And it still doesn't, really. But the next 6 months are looking veeerrryyyy short. Especially because I'll have 1 transfer left here in Switzerland, and then I'll go to my last area for the last 3 transfers. I'll probably have 2 more companions. It's scary. I want to stay here! But at the same time, I can feel the toll the mission is taking on my body, and I'm ready for a break, ahaha.  But enough of my existential crisis! 

We had Interviews with Präsident Brown, which means we also had Distrikt meeting. Both went well, even though Distrikt meeting was a bit all over the place. Sister Meisenfelder had a very good interview, which I'll get to in a second. 

After interviews, we went to this cool overlook of Zürich, which if I remember correctly from Google Maps has something to do with Romans? Sister Meisenfelder wrote a very special letter for a very special someone. This is what her interview was about. She has a friend who may or may not live in our mission who she may or may not have a crush on who I may or may not know. She asked Präsident if she could send him a letter through Tense, since he was going to be at this convention that she was going to. Präsident asked for their story, and she explained everything, and at one part Präsident just stopped her and said, "That's a sign from God! You have my permission to write him. You're just not going to serve where he lives. That is, at least until your last transfer." So, she was naturally very excited. After their interview, Präsident even walked up to me and held up his suitcoat so no one else could see/hear him, and he just said, "Now I know where she's NOT going to be serving, haha," and winked. We had a good laugh about that.

We went to Hauptbahnhof to wait for Tense, because she was going to pick up the letter to bring to Wien. There was this giant Puzzle on the ground of Switzerland, and they were letting people take pieces home with them. It was apparently the biggest puzzle of Switzerland, and the artist was even signing the pieces. So I got to take pieces of Zürich/Bonstetten/Affoltern am Albis. Then Tense came, and we had another good walk/talk with her, and handed over the precious letter. Oh, also, we ate some phenomenal Gyros. I've decided they're like döners, but Greek and better. 

Friday, 7th:

We had our apartment Inspection and passed with flying colors. 

We visited Ruth, and sweet older friend of the church, and helped her in her garden for several hours, and at the end she fed us. We had brought some wheat-not-coffee with us for her to try to see if it will help her give up coffee. We all tried it and it was actually really good! She honestly really just drank mostly milk and a few drops of coffee anyway, so she said she'll gladly make the change! 

We went to dinner at Cosimo's, and we invited 6 separate people and they all said no/canceled, so we ended up being the only ones to come. Meaning we had to eat outside in the about-to-rain weather, but it was a blast and we had some great laughs. 

Saturday, 8th:

So we decided to do a new way of finding! I originally wrote it up in German to send to our mission president, but I just ran it through Google translate so you don't have to. But I'm not gonna correct grammar, because I don't have time! So here's the experience:

We have experienced something great, and we want to share it with you. 

 So, Elder Uchtdorf has talked about that we should find in natural ways. I especially noticed what he said, that we should use our talents! I've been thinking about it for a long time because I can draw relatively well, and I thought that there was certainly a way to use that talent.

 At some point in the last week, I found out! Sister Meisenfelder and I discussed it together and decided to give it a try exactly on the day we would find 6 hours.

 We walked around and asked people if I could draw them (everyone said yes, except 1 woman who would have to reach her orbit). When I drew the people, Sister Meisenfelder naturally talked to them. Almost everyone has asked about the church, and Sister Meisenfelder has shared her blatant testimony! 🏼 On these drawings, I wrote that God loves the person, the church website, and our mobile number.

 The people were really looking forward to it! We too (Sister Meisenfelder even got goose bumps)! It was really fun and the 6 hours passed very fast.

 Now we have testimony that if we find in natural and creative ways, God will help us. 

Sunday, 9th:

We did some normal finding to wrap up our 12 hours for the week. 

The Elders and Cosimo came along to an eating appointment with Mohammad. He was super sweet and such a good host! We had some delicious traditional food and celebrated his daughter's birthday with him. :) 

At home, I tried a Nasendusche for the first time to try and help with the sickness/allergies, and I have to say I'm not a fan. Nothing came out and I just wanted to gag, so. Sister Meisenfelder enjoyed herself watching me, though. 

Monday, 10th:

We had Distriktrat in Chur, since one of the Chur Elders had an operation on his foot and it wouldn't have been advisable for him to make the trip to Zürich. Which means Distriktrat took up most of the day with travel times included. 

We went to the Ruetz family for dinner and had pizza and ice cream! What a traditionally Swiss meal, haha. 

Tuesday, 11th:

Today we went to "Technorama", a really really cool Swiss Science Center out by Winterthur. We spent 3.5 hours there and it felt like 1!

Favorite new word: Schnuckelchen - this doesn't have the best translation but it's basically just a pet name for someone (the dictionary says it's like babe or tootsie, but that's not quite it). I learned it because there was soccer playing on a TV at a dinner appointment, and Sister Meisenfelder thought #10 was cute and called him this. But by way of a more mission-appropriate vocabulary word: Sehnen - to yearn

Favorite funny story: So we were at the meal appointment last night, and the mom had one of those baby monitors, but the kids yelled for her, and she was able to answer them through the monitor - like a walkie talkie! So then Sister Meisenfelder and I were super excited about how we should buy walkie talkies, because then we could each be on a side of the street and give the other person pointers as to who they should stop and talk to or whatever. We were both like "Genius! We can talk without having to be right next to each other!" Then the dad piped in completely deadpan while eating his ice cream and said something like, "You know, there's this thing called a cell phone that all the cool kids use." Sister Meisenfelder and I both felt a little stupid, haha. 

Favorite spiritual thought: See Saturday. 

TLDR: Life is weird, but a weird life is better in Switzerland than it would be back at home, haha! 

Ciao zäme!

Sister Hamilton