Bären in Bern 🐻
Mittwoch, 14th:
We got Stood up! We had set up an appointment with a potential outside of a frozen joghurt place, and we were pumped. We haven't meet with new people in a while, so we were excited. At one point while we were waiting for her to show up, we saw this woman walk past us/look at us who looked kind of like her, but was dressed vastly differently from her WhatsApp Profilbild (she was a referral, so we've never seen her in person). A few minutes later, we texted and asked if she was coming. She never responded. And never came. So we didn't get frozen joghurt, and we didn't get to teach someone a lesson. 
So instead we decided to go to the Ausstellung that was happening at that time, and Sister Akre was again fire in giving out copies of the Book of Mormon. I tried. Gave out 0 again. Just goes to show that we have different talents, haha. 
We basically just went finding for the rest of the day.
In the evening I cleaned up our balcony and found a bag (of what we hope is dirt and WAY too many bugs) underneath an old rug. I wanted to ralph.
Donnerstag, 15th:
Sister Akre woke up feeling kind of sick, so I did my studies alone while she slept a little longer.
We went Finding on the trams, which meant that after a while Sister Akre felt pretty motion sick. So we got off at a random stop to give her some reprieve, and while there a grandma lady talked to me in Swiss German. I'm understanding more of it, but like... I'm just grateful she didn't ask me any questions, so all I had to do was laugh when she laughed. She told me some story about how when she went skiing she was so short that she got the child discount, even though she was 26 at the time. She felt this story was important to share because she didn't want to sit because it would make her shorter, and standing keeps her as tall as possible. 
We eventually got on the next tram and just headed home.
We did more studies in the evening so Sister Akre could get some quality time with the Scriptures.
Freitag, 16th:
We did Personal study, then we headed into Basel to do our Sprachstudium with Patrick, partially because we had this one guy who keeps inviting us to grill with him on the riverside, and I'm pretty sure he expects us to go swimming as well. We've managed to dodge him bisher, though, and if/when we ever meet with him it will 100% guaranteed be a pass-off lesson to the Elders. But anyway, we did sprach with Patrick and had fun learning how to more accurately pronounce the vowels, and in particular the umlauts (äöü). I'm getting better, and he said my ü sounds pretty spot on. We also joked about the ö and how it sounds like there's a little British 'r' hidden inside of it, which just left Patrick so confused but like, is the key to pronouncing it correctly.
Sister Frome's new phone finally came to our apartment, so we picked it up (along with some Parmesan cheese) and brought it to the Elders to give to Sister Frome at Sport the next day, since we had accidentally scheduled a member appointment on top of it, and we wouldn't be seeing her.
Samstag, 17th:
We did our Studies and went finding. We actually ended up with 16 hours of finding this week, so... Go us!
We went to the Lucas Family and they made us homemade burgers. I bonded with the daughter about how I knew some things about the internet that most normal people don't, and we basically just had a blast on the back porch eating and talking about the randomest things. The daughter and the son were both shocked that I've been on my mission for so long because they realised that I've missed so many memes and Youtube drama. So they caught me up a little bit, but I have to say, I'm still just as lost as ever. Who are these people? And what even is pop culture anymore?
Sonntag, 18th:
We went to the church building early so that we could do personal study in the nice, cool basement. We ended up talking to Jennika for a little bit (she belongs to Pratteln ward, but the JAEs also kind of float around a little and interact with the missionaries somewhat). She had had a looooonnnnggg night, so she needed to rant, and we got to be there for her. Then we finished out our studies.
We had actual church, then we got a ride home with the Egens. They kind of remind me of the German version of Annemette and Ole. They're super sweet. :)
We ate dinner, and then had a movie night because we were over our minimum hours and Sister Akre hadn't taken it very easy this week, so we had her take a sick evening. She does seem to be doing better, though. She realized one of her headache medicines has something in it that she's allergic to, so she stopped taking it. Even though her headaches have gotten a little worse, she feels more like herself, less sick, less foggy/groggy, etc. So she's happy that in some sense of the term, she's feeling better. :) I'm happy for her, too!
Montag, 19th:
We had Distrikt meeting, in which I gave a bomb assignment because I actually prepared for once. We also had... Oh shoot, I don't actually remember the name. It might be something like Alpenspätzli or something? Well anyway, we had it for lunch (provided by our lovely Preinach Sisters). It's basically Käse Spätzle (with onions) with applesauce. Surprisingly decent, something of a Swiss treat, but I think I still prefer the traditional German version.
After Distrikt meeting, we headed into Basel and we were trying to decide where we'd do our studies, but ended up talking to the Elders in the rain. We didn't feel too bad, for reasons explained in the funny story, but afterwards we did end up doing a few minutes of finding before heading off to a member appointment.
We had dinner with the Gessler Family, and we got Raclette! For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it's basically melted cheese on top of potatoes. But you can add other things to it, and you cook it on the table with this grill thing, and you can also grill like bacon and veggies and stuff, and it's basically like a different way to do fondue. Elder Gilmour savaged it once by saying, "You know, the Swiss people are so proud of their Raclette and Fondue, but anyone can melt cheese." But it actually does taste good, and it's fun, it's just like a grown-up way to play with your food. Something unique, though, they had bananas wrapped in bacon, and they slapped those on the grill thing, and it was actually decent. Who knew? But yeah, I also really enjoyed giving the Spiritual Thought there, and it reminded me a little of my time in Wien. :)
Dienstag, 20th:
Today we went with the Preinach Sisters down to Bern to see the Bears. They were cute, and from a nice distance and behind bars, it really makes you wonder how they could be so vicious when they just look like fuzzy blobs. But yeah, these bears are spoiled - they even have their own section of the Aare where they can go swimming whenever they want.
After the bears, we went to the capital building and looked over Bern, which was gorgeous.
Then I finally bought some shoes to replace the ones I tore through (RIP pair #2). They kind of look like Elder shoes, which makes me laugh, but they'll be nice protection from the rain, and they were on sale which is nice! Plus, they should last to the end of my mission, so that's solid.
Now we're heading back to Basel so I can do some things for BYU, write emails, and talk with the fam.
Then tonight we have a dinner appointment with the Egens as a farewell to Elder Gilmour.
And that should about wrap up the p-day. :)
Favorite new word(s): Esp: desviar - to deviate, rechazar - to reject, vencer - to win, pecado - sin, Deu: verprügeln - to batter/clobber someone, Schwyzer Dütsch: Xeh - gesehen. This means g'si might also be spelled Xi. Also, nöd - nicht. z. B. "Häsch xeh? D'Mann könnte nöd löfä." = "Did you see? The man couldn't run." (be sure to have lots of ups and downs in your intonations)
Favorite funny story: So. Once upon a time.... Elder Gilmour pulled the greatest prank of all time. He calls us late on Sunday night (to do the weekly check-in calls as the Distrikt Leader should), but normally they call us around 21-21.15. He called us at like 21.45-21.50, which weirded us out because we can't call/text past 22, and normally these phone calls go on a bit so he can see how we've been doing, get our numbers, etc. So when he called, he said something like, "Sisters, I'm so sorry I'm calling late. We've had a crazy evening with lots of phone calls. Can I just get your numbers?" We asked him why they had had so many phone calls, and Elder Gilmour spills the beans/poured the tea about how he was being transferred to the Office, and it was lowkey an Emergency Transfer because one of our Office Elders is going home early due to medical reasons. He included a little more detail about who/where/why/etc, but then they had to hang up so they could call the other Sisters in our Distrikt. After they hung up, I may or may not have lowkey shed a couple tears (but only a couple) and Sister Akre and I lamented the loss of our belovedly obnoxious Distrikt leader in a 9-minute-long voice recording to the Elders (sent at 21.59). But after 22 passed, we sat for a minute and did some thinking. It was all set up a little /too/ perfectly. Like, it /had/ to be a Prank. So we went to bed a little salty, and Monday morning we messaged the other Sisters and asked what they knew, and they didn't know anything about Elder Gilmour being transferred. So at Distrikt Meeting I called him out on his Prank. But then... Turns out it's not a Prank. He's legit leaving us, and now our Distrikt leader is going to be Elder Vogel, and his new comp will be Elder Drowns. It's been a very emotional couple of days. It's funny, because Elder Gilmour had told us a couple weeks ago that he was planning a Prank towards the end of the transfer (and like, it's the middle), so we totally thought he was joshing us. But the joke's on us, because he wasn't. So it's the most beautifully pulled Prank, because the Prank is that it's not a Prank.
Also, as a bonus, a quote from(e) Sister Frome: *punches me because she sees a nun* "... Wait a second, that's not what they wore in 'Sound of Music'!" (the nun was wearing some sort of polo uniform shirt (might have been for a hospital or something, idk) on top of her normal clothes)
Favorite spiritual thought: https://www.
It's a talk by Reyna I. Aburto about unity. She asks this question, and I ask it of you: "How can we follow the Lord’s perfect example of unity with His Father and be more unified with Them and with each other?" Think about it. 
And then act.
TLDR: Well, it was a pretty normal week in the life of a missionary. Thank you everyone for your prayers for Sister Akre, because she seems to be doing much, much better! Our Distrikt is getting a little shaken up, but what's life without a few surprises?
Viele Liebe a mis amores y amigos!
Sister Hamilton
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