You can Thun a piano, but you can't Thun-a fish!

Mittwoch, 24th:

We had a Mission-wide focus on Wednesday where we gave out "Commitment Cards", which are cool. There's 3 different commitments on each (Pray, Read the Scriptures, Come to Church) , with steps/info on each one and a QR code on the back that leads to one of the church's websites. They're awesome, and we had lots of fun with them.

We went to Kim's for a member appointment. We helped her bake a cake for her intern who's moving, and then afterwards we played with these story cubes that she has, since the three of us each love writing stories. The cubes are themed depending on the pack they came in (e.g. "Mythical", "Emotions", "Sports", etc.) and they have little pictures on each side. So you can use them either to help you get past writer's block, or just to have fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and decided to start a collection of my own. 

Donnerstag, 25th:

Tausch! I was with Sister Grundvig and Sister Akre was with Sister Frome. It was so much fun, and I loved being able to spend time with Sister Grundvig agsin! But it was also a super weird Tausch because we basically spent the whole day together anyway. Good thing Sister Akre and I get along, haha! 

Sister Grundvig and I worked in Pratteln, so I don't actually know the woman's name who fed us lunch, but she's a chef and made us one of the most delicious salads that I've ever had. It had onions, lentils, sprouts, zucchini, feta cheese, tomatoes, and more, and the only dressing: olive oil and a little bit of lemon juice. It blew my mind and I just started to hardcore crave it as I typed that up.... She was a super sweet woman, and Pratteln is lucky to have such a sunshiney spirit in their ward! 

We met up with the rest of our Distrikt on the way to a house in Pratteln for a service project. The family is moving from Reinach to Pratteln, and they needed help Painting almost every room in the house. We ended up staying so long that they fed us dinner (Yay wurst and fruit!) and even asked us to come back the next day to do the second coats. They gave us t-shirts from something from a year ago, so luckily no damage was done to my clothes. I did get paint in my eye at one point when I was painting the ceiling, but thanks to all of those high school science classes, I knew what to do. That is to say, I rinsed my eye out and force-cried a little to help things along. So my eye is fine and dandy now.  However, I couldn't help but think of... Okay, I think the movie might also (the Book is at least) be called the Agony and the Ecstasy?... But it's where Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and it made him go blind because the paint was always dripping into his eyes. Or something. Dad will get my reference. But I thought about it. :) 

Freitag, 26th:

We tausched back in the morning, and Sister Akre and I were headed straight back to this house to finish painting. We were the first ones there, so we got our pick of rooms (basement, please!). They gave us ice cream, and we're just starting to get lunch ready when we had to leave for our next appointment. 

We went to the Egens' home and had to sit outside for a little bit because the Elders were late (as always) and Patrick was the only one home. Soon enough, though, his mom and dad came, and so did the Elders. The reason for this appointment: the dreaded hot saucing. Yes, 3 million Scoville death juice. Somehow Sister Akre roped the Elders and I into trying it, and Patrick wanted to see it so badly that he promised to provide milk shakes and ice cream. Well, we tried it. I had somehow managed to get some on my fingers, and at one point rubbed my face/neck, and so I started burning before I ever even tasted it. But I mean, tbh, it hurt more on my skin than on my tongue. Especially with the ice cream to numb things a bit. We were all kind of disappointed in the sauce, because even though it was spicy, it wasn't as bad as we all expected it to be. I honestly think Sister Akre has bumped up my spice tolerance since being with her, too. 

We did Language study with Patrick after the Elders left, and his mom pitched in every now and then with her own input about questions we were asking. Did you know that "gleiche" and "selbe" both mean "same", but can't be used in the same instances and actually have very strict rules as to when they can and can't be used? I had no idea. I do now! I also learned that in colloquial German (like, very colloquial - think teenagers), they use "wie" where they should use "als", and that if we make that mistake no one would bat an eye. But it hurts my ears because it's technically incorrect grammar, so I won't be using that one. We also learned a bit about Cantonese and Patrick pulled out a couple things from when he was on his mission to show us. Basically, it was a lot of fun. 

We did Bible prophecies in the evening. I've mentioned them before, but for those who don't remember, you basically flip through the Old testament and say "stop" enough times to narrow it down to 3 verses (you go back and forth between pages/columns/etc). They're kinda stupid, but tradition to do them the night before transfer calls. So we did them. Some of them actually ended up being scarily accurate. 

Samstag, 27th:

Transfer Calls! The moment you've all been waiting for... Sister Akre and I will be staying together! Yay! We're pumped for this next transfer. Reinach/Pratteln are combining into one area, because Sister Fragapane is going to Tübingen and Sister Grundvig is going to...... WELS!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????? I've been over the moon the entire weekend, and I keep talking it up for her. Like honestly, I love Wels with all of my heart and soul, and now one of my favorite people gets to serve there, too! She's a little nervous because she had heard bad things from other people, so I'm trying to help her overcome that. And since she's on my weekly list... SISTER GRUNDVIG YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT SOOO SOOOO MUCH 

We had an Ausstellung, and it was nice and cloudy (with dark clouds) so we were enjoying the slight breeze that blew over the Rhein. It eventually turned into wind and rain, but we just quickly packed up and called it a night. We ended up staying longer than we had planned. 

We could tell that Sister Frome was a bit gutted about not only losing Sister Grundvig, but also about losing the 4 man. They still have the same apartment, but like... It's most likely going to feel very empty now. Also, Sister Grundvig was not as hyped as I was about her going to Wels (because of the falsehoods that were shared with her about Wels (okay, they weren't actually false, just outdated - it's gotten better. That's why it's no longer Hels but actually Waag)). Sister Akre and I both felt so sad seeing them both so down, that we wanted to do something to cheer them up. Sister Akre had the genius idea of chocolate and flowers, so we left the Ausstellung super fast and found some chocolate, and then ran across the bridge to Véronique and bought 2 big roses, which Véronique lovingly wrapped up like little presents. When we left the flower shop, it had started to rain, so we ran back to the Ausstellung to deliver the gifts. They were so surprised! Also, we gave Sister Grundvig the very first flower she's ever received in her life, and Sister Frome her second. Mission accomplished, because they cheered up a bit after that. 

We had Sportabend and played volleyball. I forgot how much fun it is! We played in the sand pit, and because it had just rained/was still raining the sand was nice and clumpy. I still managed to get it everywhere (Elder Gilmour and I may or may not have quoted Anikan about how we hate sand because it's course and rough and gets everywhere), including a nice big mouthful of grit because I was dumb enough to be talking while hitting the ball above my face. After an hour, we switched to basketball, which for some reason seems to be everyone's favorite. There were a couple guys already playing on the court, so invited them to join us. They seemed to have fun. 

Sonntag, 28th:

We had Church. When we were greeting everyone, the members were super friendly and set up a couple appointments with us. One woman even gave me a bag full of her Spanish books from the MTC. I'll have to return them when I leave, but I'm so excited to use them! 

A kid was ordained to be a Priest after church. The parents treated it like the biggest celebration I've seen in a while, inviting many people and taking pictures and videos, and even having a lunch in the cultural hall afterwards. It was a little... strange... but I'm glad the parents are proud of their son. 

Sister Akre wanted to continue our streak of surprising the members of our Distrikt, so we handed the Elders thanks-for-a-good-transfer letters at church and dropped letters off for the Sisters in their mailbox.

We did our last bit of finding and schaffed 12.5 hours, thanks to bus/train connections. 

Montag, 29th:

We had Distrikt meeting, and Sister Grundvig and Sister Fragapane gave their farewell testimonies. 

The Elders made French toast for lunch, but for some reason but sugar in the egg mixture, and on top of the toast, so like... It was way too sugary. But the strawberries, raspberries, and applesauce saved it. I don't know why applesauce on French toast/waffles/pancakes isn't a normal thing. It's sooo good! 

We wrote Letters to Präsident after, and then Sister Akre took a nap because she had had a level 10 headache all morning. In the meantime, I planned my life. I think I've got a good class schedule, if the classes for Winter 2020 at BYU have the same schedule as Winter 2019. 

When Sister Akre woke up, she destroyed a wasp nest outside of the clerk's office. I provided moral support. Then we went home. 

Dienstag, 30th:

Today we're going to Thun to ride a boat. I've heard it's beautiful! 

~~~~~

Update: it was beautiful! Also, I'm like 95% sure I've done it before. The Thunersee looked suspiciously familiar and the front part of the boat was too, and the many castle-mansions off to the side seem to ring a bell. I just don't remember the name of the lake that my family and I rode a boat on 2 summers ago, but if I had to place bets (which like, no betting, I'm a missionary) as to where I had been with my fam, I'd place them on this lake. But either way, it was well worth it. We only rode from Thun to Spiez, instead of all the way to Interlaken, but it's free for us (well, "free", the mission pays for Swiss Passes for us to travel with because it's cheaper than buying tickets all the time, and they cover boat rides ), and we're planning on going at least one more time before Sister Akre and I part ways at the end of this transfer (because let's be real, Präsident won't keep us together for 3 if she's going to already have been here for 5). 

Favorite new word: Umstände - circumstances 

Favorite funny story: Sister Akre gave Elder Gilmour his Bible prophecy, and she's been fed up with him for a couple things recently (mostly related to him not fully understanding the basics of church doctrine, but wanting to look up lots of deep doctrine, and how it can lead to him confusing himself and consequently not being 100% accurate with church teachings when sharing something cool he realised during personal study). So in his prophecy she opened up to Genesis and a story about Nimrod, to which she got a bit giddy and called him out on preaching false doctrine. It's funny because the past little bit she's been trying to do it subtly, but this time decided to just straight up say it. So she told him he needed to stop being a great hunter of men and leading them away from truth, and instead needed to focus on the basics of doctrine so that these men could be attracted to truth and light. Sister Frome, Sister Grundvig, and I were all cracking up because we knew EXACTLY why she was saying what she was saying, but it took Elder Gilmour a couple days to pick up on it. He finally asked her yesterday if she was being serious or if it was just a joke. She said she had worded it strongly so he'd get it, and so it was a bit over exaggerated but that she did think he needed to stay away from deep doctrine, at least until he was ready for it. Everyone told me Canadians were super gentle and precious souls, and Sister Akre is still sweet and precious, but she can be SAVAGE when she needs to be. I've learned that Canadians are in general gentle, until you get on their bad side and they (to quote Sister Akre), "tear out your liver and feed it to you." 

Favorite spiritual thought: "Agency or Inspiration - Which?" by Bruce R. McConkie (I'll attach it to this email) 

TLDR: Sister Grundvig is the Ritter to my Sport and the Alm to my Dudler (she's already heard this, but it deserves repeating), I'm staying in Basel, and time is flying faster than the speed of sound. Literally, it was just last week when I entered the mission. Now I only have 128 days left! At the end of this transfer I'll have 85.  I'm going to stop with the numbers now, haha. 

¡Viele Liebe a todos!

Sister Hamilton

P. S. A guy playing the accordion just bounjour-ed me and winked.