Behold a Royal Army
This week I learned that all missionaries everywhere are truly warriors for God, and that we're in one great army to bring truth to everyone - on both sides of the veil.
Wow, my goodness, what a day.
Sister Akre and I woke up nice and early to make sure everything was ready and to guarantee that we wouldn't be late. We made it to the main train station with no problems. Except for the fact that my heart was splitting in two! But egal. We bought some pretzels for breakfast, and we were munching on those puppies at the platform, when Véronique came down the escalators. She had asked if she could send Sister Akre off, and we told her of course! So she came up to us and gave Sister Akre the biggest hug. She was crying, and it turns out something traumatic had just happened to her brother and he had just explained it to her. So she had been on the phone with him. Plus she was going to miss Sister Akre. We had a good talk with her, and then the Preinach Sisters showed up at the Bahnhof. We had been texting the Elders to see if they were going to make it in time, and they were being lame and decided to take a train 5 minutes later than the one we had, which meant we'd get to Zürich 30 minutes later, which meant we weren't going to be able to pause to really say goodbye. But we chose to ride the train as a Distrikt, so we went with them. Véronique came with us and helped move the luggage as we switched to the other platform. Crazy story, as we were putting the luggage on the train, the door started closing on me! I shove the bag onto the train and stumbled up the steps as the door closed onto my legs. I turned around to push the button to get off the train, but the door didn't open again. Sister Frome and I looked at each other (we were both on the trainł and we looked outside at our comps. "We're the wrong ones!" Eventually a train worker came and unlocked the door and it opened and all was well. But it was a nice panic session for about 2 minutes. Anyway, so we find our seats and Véronique is sitting with us, but eventually she had to get off the train before it pulled off. So when she got off, she put a heart-shaped sticky note on the window and blew a kiss to Sister Akre. It was sooooo precious! The train took off and we waved goodbye. And the sticky note managed to survive all the way to Zürich Hauptbahnhof! So when we got off the train, I grabbed the note from the window and gave it to Sister Akre. :) But then we had to run! Because we ended up taking the later train, that meant we had no time to stand around and say goodbye. We got Sister Akre, Sister Curran, and Elder Drowns onto the train and waved them off. I could almost feel my heart breaking. It was really hard to say goodbye. Sister Frome and I locked arms with each other and I couldn't let go for a while.
We then had the privelege of hanging out in Zűruch for most of the day. I had to figure out my GA (Swiss Pass), because when the conductor came by to check our tickets it had been canceled again. 
But I got most of my money back, and the last little bit I'm going to try and get it reimbursed. But I also finished a Tschüß book entry for Sister Spratt, since I had never made her one (oops) and she goes home in 6 weeks. I had to run it to a train to give to some people who were going to Vienna so it could make it to her. I also had a blast hanging out with/talking to Elder Porter and Elder Buss! Elder Hema and Sister Kubricky were transferred out of Switzerland (on the same train as Sister Akre?), so the whole gang couldn't be there, but Elder Porter was there the whole time, and Elder Buss came at around 12.30, so we took a group of us and went to McDonald's for lunch. #notworthitbutstillfun And we also played Wizard on top of someone's suitcase. Basically, it was a party - just a lot of standing around. :)
Well, eventually, the train with all of the new missionaries finally arrived! I met my companion: Sister Bailey Smith, a very energetic dancer from Utah, a go-getter with a passion and excitement for missionary work! We exchanged goodbyes with everyone at the station, and then our whole Distrikt rode back to Basel together. Sadly, we had to book it to catch our train, so true goodbyes weren't said then, but it's chill because we'll see everyone else again.
We made it home, and we reorganized our bedroom (it looks so much better) and cleaned up a lot, and Sister Smith started to unpack.
Donnerstag, 12th:
We did some Studies in the morning and then headed to the Pratteln church, finding along the way. I was thoroughly impressed with Sister Smith's courage and fearlessness - she'll go up and talk to anyone and everyone! Such a stark contrast from me at the beginning of my mission. Sometimes it's a little socially awkward, but I think it's working because she's talked to sooo many people! I never knew that the people of Basel could be so open and willing to talk.
When we got to the church, I printed off the privacy notices for our contacts that don't have WhatsApp while Sister Smith did a couple of Trainings on Missionary Portal. We also had packed a lunch of sweet potatoes and apples, so we ate those.
We went to an appointment with Lucienne (one of our friends) who wasn't there. We texted her, and she called us, and it turns out an emergency came up so she wasn't going to be able to meet.
We decided to do some Finding, but first stopped for a snack for Sister Smith, and said hi to Véronique in the process. It turns out her brother is doing better, and they've been talking a lot about the gospel and the comfort it brings. He told her that if it was true, then it somehow made sense! She's doing such wonderful missionary work. 
We came home to do some Areabook (and by that, I mean keep sending out privacy notices).
Freitag, 13th:
(yoooo, happy Friday the 13th)
As an homage to this special day, we missed bringing our very full trash out, and the next trash isn't picked up for 2 weeks. We'll just have to be extra good about separating/recycling.
We went to a service project, but Google maps led us astray so we got lost. We had the right street Adress, but it had us a town over. So we showed up 30 minutes late, but it was okay. So we helped Sister Lucas and her daughter to pack for their move on Monday.
Sister Lucas took us out for lunch, so we went to a Mexican Restaurant. I had some mighty fine fajitas. 
We just had a good time talking to her and everything that's happening in her and her family's lives right now.
We went home to sent out more Area Book Notices, since our whole zone was doing them together.
We did our Studies to finish off the evening.
Samstag, 14th:
Wow did today test my patience. We started off by trying to register Sister Smith in the city. The woman there was clearly a bit exasperated with missionaries always coming in and told us off a little for not having a paper that she tells us every time to bring. Which of course made me exasperated, because I've been there twice (once where she told me I needed the paper, and the next time where she didn't even ask for it) and all of the blame was being thrown at me. Plus, our office should know about this paper and they should have sent it with Sister Smith. Anyway, so we left and I was taking deep breaths, and then we called the office and they were confused because they said they 100% for sure sent the paper with Sister Smith. Ha, well, no. So they emailed it to us while we sent off some packages/letters for the other missionaries. We then went next door at the suggestion of the post office people to a printer shop, and the guy there was super kind and funny, but watching an old guy try to work our phone also tested my patience. But it eventually worked, and we got the paper printed off. He told us we didn't need to pay, so we left a little happier. Then when we went back to the city office, it was locked and there was a sign that said it was closed because of sickness or something. So I was miffed. But then we bought a rittersport to give to the printer guy and went home and wrote him a card.
Then we did our personal study, which was much needed and I felt spiritually/emotionally refreshed after that.
We did some comp/ate a quick lunch, then headed into Basel. We had several really good conversations, and I was further impressed by Sister Smith's courage.
We went home to do more studies, then changed and headed off to sport. I noticed when I was studying that the skin on my toe had kind of split where it connects to the bottom of my foot, so it's painful and I'm not sure why it happened. Maybe my feet are dry or something, idk.
We played basketball again, and sadly this time no friends of the church were there, but we had several members come and a couple are phenomenal at basketball, but kind enough to channel their skills to let everyone participate. So it was a lot of fun. :)
When we were waiting at our bus stop to get home, Sister Smith was again courageous, although this time we both wished she hadn't been. She stopped 3 guys who clearly smelled like beer and were some degree of drunk, and it was getting dark, and we were alone at the stop, although the other missionaries were across the street waiting for their bus. My stomach kind of dropped when she started talking to them, but luckily they were respectful and didn't get into our bus when it came. We had a good conversation after that about situational awareness and safety. We both agreed that it turned out as well as it did, and that it was a good reminder for the future. So we now have a companionship goal of not talking to men after it starts to get dark.
Then we came home and kind of collapsed into bed because we were both so exhausted.
Sonntag, 15th:
We did weekly planning in the morning, which took all morning and we actually cut it short. It always takes so long the first time each transfer, and especially the first time with a new missionary.
We had to leave and catch our train into Basel, because they were doing a thing here where they close about 70 km of road to cars and encourage everyone to ride their bikes to promote environmental awareness and health. They called it a "slow-up". But it was a bit of a pain because that meant the bus in our town didn't run. Luckily we had the train!
We made it to church, and Sister Smith had forgotten her name tag, so she borrowed mine for the day, haha. Everyone was super sweet to her, and it was nice to see some familiar faces.
The Egens drove us home. They hadn't driven us in the morning, because they didn't know if the route they could take to church went past our house or not (thanks to this bike thing) but on the way to church they saw that it did, so they drove us home. :)
Then we did areabook and studies in the evening.
I also got a text during the day from my parents asking me to get permission to call them. I did, so I did. They let me know that my Grandma had died that morning, and then we talked about the Plan of Salvation and the comfort it can bring us. After hanging up, I realized that I had had an impression before my mission that I wasn't going to see her again, and that not only is she reunited with my Grandpa, but she just joined me in the missionary force! I realized just how merciful and loving God is. :)
Montag, 16th:
Because of the news about my Grandma, I decided to focus my studies on the Plan of Salvation. I read D&C 138 and 1 Peter 3-4. I just got so excited for my Grandma! She's truly among some amazing company, and she gets to teach so many people about the Gospel! Needless to say, these scriptures also got me excited about my own missionary work. :)
We got Sister Smith registered in the City, so she now legally lives here!
We did some finding, and then dashed off to a lesson with Lucienne. She was so precious, and I felt so blessed to be able to talk to her. I had planned this lesson with Sister Akre, and while planning I felt very strongly that we should talk about 1 Nephi 18 and the power of prayer. When we got to Lucienne and she was telling us what has been happening in her life recently, I realized that this chapter and lesson were exactly what she needed to hear, as there were some similarities between her story and Nephi's story. It was very touching, because she told us that she felt the Spirit and she knew we had been inspired to share that with her. She's doing well, but prayers on her behalf would be much appreciated. 
We left this lesson and went to an Ausstellung by Marktplatz. Sister Smith and Sister Preston (from her group) were on fire - going up and talking to everyone, and getting people to stay and talk even if they had originally sworn at them. #
Then we went home and finished our studies for the day.
Dienstag, 17th:
Today, our plans are to get groceries with the Zone and then to maybe go to a museum with the Reinach Sisters. :)
Favorite new word: Esp, granizada - hailstorm / Deu, Alter - dude, Kluft - chasm, kränken - to hurt someone emotionally or offend them, inständig - pleadlingly / Swiss, Mir hän - wir haben - we have (every wir turns into mir in Swiss German, which is a lot of fun to listen to)
Favorite funny story: Sister Smith at the Ausstellung yesterday wasn't completely understanding a guy and heard words like "shopping", "together", "dinner", "city", etc. and nodded her head saying yes the whole time. We'll, I'm pretty sure based off of what she told me that she accidentally agreed to go on a date with someone after church this Sunday, so we'll see if this guy shows up or not! (Soeur Ericson, I totally thought of you with your own experience this week!)
Favorite spiritual thought: I recommend studying what I did on Monday - it helped me to understand the Spirit World a little better. :) I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation!
TLDR: My Grandma is now a missionary right along with me, and the end of my mission is staring over my shoulder. Luckily, I've got Sister Smith so I feel a bit like I'm at the beginning of my mission again, which is making time slow down a little bit. For which I'm grateful, but I still get the feeling I'll be home before I know it, haha.
Much love to everyone (including and especially my Grandma),
Sister Hamilton
Pics:
Train adventures
Goodbye Sister Akre 
Train Station party with Elder Buss and Elder Porter
A gorgeous Sunset welcomed Sister Smith to Wyhlen
The Rhein with a Basel Flag
The 4 Sisters who stalk the streets of Basel
The one with the hearts is my favorite Pic of Sister Smith and I so far
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