🐣 I'm a Good Egg 🐣

Mittwoch, 17th:

This day we had 6 miracles, one right after the other:

1- Sister Akre suggested we go by on Véronique, and when we stopped into her flower shop she had soooo much to tell us about a few different missionary experiences she had had. She was so happy. :) We had also been texting Kim earlier and learned that her pet bird had died and that it had hit her hard, so we bought her a flower from Véronique, a happy yellow rose arrangement thing that she had made that morning. 

2- On our way to Kim, we ran into Thierry, a friend of the Pratteln Sisters, and caught up with him for a couple minutes. 

3- We also ran into Random girl (I don't know her name), which is someone that Sister Akre has seen every now and then and it's to the point where this girl gets excited and gives Sister Akre a hug, but we don't have her number. And it's been several weeks since Sister Akre last saw her, so it was nice for me to meet her for the first time. 

4- We finally made it to Kim, and it was good that we came. We ended up spending an hour or more with her, just talking and lifting her spirits. She loved the flower, and we learned more about her and her history. I love her so much. 

5- When we were talking with Kim, she told us a story about how after we had walked her to work however long ago it was, one of her parents (she's a teacher, so technically one of her student's parents) asked her about who we were because he thought we seemed super nice. So she got to have a little missionary moment as well! 

6- On our way home, I was typing up a text and couldn't think of the right grammar principle and I was lamenting the fact that no one was on our tram who could help me, when Sister Akre tapped my shoulder and pointed, and I looked up and saw Elder Vogel, our resident native German Elder. Perfect timing! He helped me out right when I needed him (while Sister Akre talked with Elder Gilmour), and then we had to hop off at the next stop. 

So. All in all, a miracle-filled day. :) 

Donnerstag, 18th:

We went over to the Warncke family, a sweet older couple who were converted by/had their baptism celebration at the Uchtdorfs back in the day when they still lived in Germany. They talked all about "Harriet and Dieter" and how they had truly inspired them in their lives. It was amazing to hear their conversion story, and they even showed us a few pictures. Bless! They also showed us a book full of different entries from missionaries since about 20 years ago, and asked us to sign it when we left. And as we walked out of that appointment, they handed us each a bag of ripe cherries and a chocolate bar. Literally such sweethearts! 

We went finding. 

Freitag, 19th:

We taught Patrick a mock first lesson, and at the end he gave us German and teaching tips. He also handed us several printed-out PDFs of random things such as a PowerPoint on the connections between ancient Chinese history and the old testament, including a list of Animes that Sister Akre needs to watch organised by date when they came out and little notes to the side of how good they were. He cracks me up. 

We did some finding. 

We went to the Pratteln church and watched "The Testaments" in German for our language study. Sister Akre cried and I teared up. Then Sister Akre was feeling sick and I've really been able to tell that I'm reaching the end of my mission (I've stopped waking up to my alarms, and the other day Sister Akre literally held my alarm right next to my ear and threw a pillow at me (I'm guessing pretty hard, she's not afraid to use her strength) and I didn't even react, so she let me keep sleeping), so we took a nap in the nice, cool basement of the church.

Then we did finding again. 

Samstag, 20th:

We ate Hot dogs for Distrikt lunch, and 3 out of the 8 of us ended up spilling ketchup all over our clothes. Including me. Luckily, I had my handy-dandy stain stick (shout out to Becca for giving me that wonderful tip) so my white shirt is white again. What was that that Isaiah said? Though your clothes be as scarlet ketchup, they shall be as white as a ginger's skin? I'm pretty sure that's right. 

We had Interviews with Präsident, and I still love him so much. He called me a Good Egg.🥚I feel honored.  Also, I finally got my license!! Yeeeeeeeeee! I have no guesses as to transfer calls this coming Saturday, either. Sister Akre is feeling 50/50 that she'll stay/leave. We're crossing our fingers for the former. 

We had our Sport evening, and this time a member named Max came. He's awesome, and he's going to be a Dad within a week or so, so he got out all of his excitement and energy by literally FLYING through the air in basketball (apparently he can jump so high because he used to do hurdles). Also, he served in Malaga, Spain, so.... He's cool. We talked to his wife (Jessica) on Sunday and she said that he enjoyed Sport so much it was all he had been talking about. She's an angel, and I can't wait to hear the name they choose for their baby! 

Sonntag, 21st:

At church there were a couple of Bioinformatikers from ~BYU, so I got to translate for them because I don't actually know why, but it was really awkward because the one sitting closest to me fell asleep, and I'm pretty sure the other one couldn't hear, so for about half of church I was basically just talking to myself out loud. Gotta love it. Also, Präsident gave a talk since he stayed for church, and it was nice to see him for the second day in a row. 

We got a drive home by a member, and that was nice.

We went Finding to finish our weekly hours. 

I tried watching General Conference again for personal study, but for some stupid reason, it wasn't working (some issue with the download). Satan is lame.

Montag, 22nd:

We met with Véronique and had a fun conversation with her. We're trying to help her learn how to find answers to prayers. 

We went to Fabiola's house for family home evening, and 2 trains in a row were canceled, so we ended up showing up an hour late (Gotta love Deutsche Bahn). She fed us some burgers, which was fun, and because the Elders came, too, they gave her and each of her sons a blessing, and that was a very special experience.

Dienstag, 23rd:

Today we're going to a Waterfall down by Interlaken as a Distrikt. It's called Trümmerbachfälle, and I've heard it's gorgeous. Pics to come! 

K, I'm back (nice interlude). The waterfalls were stellar! So apparently they based Rivendell (from Lord of the Rings) on the waterfalls we went to. They were beautiful, and loud, and I got wet, and it was cold, and I loved it.  I highly recommend it. Also, on the train ride over, apparently at one point an avocado rolled into Sister Frome's foot, so we adopted it, carried it around with us, and at the very end sacrificed it to be eaten. Sister Grundvig used a Swiss Army knife and cut into it, and most of us enjoyed eating it. 

Favorite new word: Amtsenthebungsverfahren - Impeachment

Favorite funny story: Last night, before Fabiola's, we called the Elders at around 4 and asked if they were going to be making it on time. They answered and said, "Yep, we'll leave Basel at 6!" We stayed silent. They asked if we were okay. We said, "Elders, the appointment starts at 5." They proceeded to run to the train station, and barely made the train that had been delayed (but then it was canceled, and so was the one after it, so... They didn't need to run.  Also, at the end of the day, Elder Gilmour turned to Sister Akre and said, "For a Canadian, you sound a lot like a Valley girl." We're still not sure if he meant it as a compliment or not, because we think he might have, which confuses us. Also, she really doesn't sound like a Valley Girl, so basically we have no idea what he meant. 

Favorite spiritual thought: I've been trying to memorise a scripture every day, and it's been so cool, because I've already been able to turn to a couple throughout the day (not like physically, but they pop into my head). Plus, because I'm thinking about the scriptures all day, I think about them more (fancy that, ahaha). Wait, I feel like this has been talked about in Conference. Wasn't it called... Ponderizing or something? But yeah, I recommend you each try it. It's a blast. :D

TLDR: We had a lot of fun, and my weeks are honestly starting to fly by at the speed of light. I swear today is Wednesday of last week... But. Such is life! Just gotta enjoy every moment. :) 

Ich habe euch lieb!

Sister Hamilton

Pics:

Sister Grundvig cradling the Avocado

Sister Grundvig with an Avocado face

Me in front of a part of the waterfall

Sister Akre and I at a different part of the waterfall