🍁 Missionary work can be stress-FALL! 🍁

But so worth it. 😉

Mittwoch, 25th:

We had 3 appointments lined up for this day and 2 fell out, so we did a bit more finding than we thought we would be. I think this might have been the day when a guy spit at us/God. It's the first time I've ever seen anyone spit AT anything, so I think I just hit a landmark on my mission. 

We also had an appointment with Rretu, and taught her the Restoration, since it's been quite a while since she's had it. She bought us ice cream at the end, and we asked to meet more often. She said she thinks that would be great but she needs to check her schedule. 

Donnerstag, 26th:

We did some studies in the morning, during which I saw that I'm officially signed up for "My Plan", which is a thing for missionaries who are going home so they can make goals about life. That was a reality check about how much time I actually have left here (which is to say, not very much!). 

We met with Vivianne and invited her to be baptised. She has a concern, so we're hoping to address that the next time we meet. She's also going to be traveling for the next couple weeks, but she is just as sweet as ever! 

We did some finding, and met such a sweet girl. It was actually kind of cool how it worked out. So we were in old Basel, and they have a little square of trees next to the Münster, and I asked Sister Smith if we could go stand in it. I just wanted to feel out of the City for a couple of minutes. I've gotten used-to-ish the city, but some days my heart just aches for some peace and quiet. The trees helped just enough. But while we were standing under the chestnut trees, we saw this girl and Sister Smith felt like we should go talk to her. She turns out to have been searching for truth since her Father died about a year ago. She was so excited to meet us, and she gave us her number and hopefully we'll be able to meet with her. What's crazy about this is that because there's a little festival set up in the square there, if we had just walked past the square of trees like we normally do, we wouldn't have been able to really see her or notice her! But God led us to her. :) 

That evening we met with just Patricia, since Siria couldn't be there. It was actually quite magical! We taught the Restoration, and Patricia said that it all made sense to her. She really loved the story of the First Vision and said that she thinks it's one of the greatest signs of love that God could give to His children - an answer to a prayer. She was so excited to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and even told us that she was planning to guy buy one somewhere, and asked if we had any recommendations. We laughed and handed her the copy we had brought with us and she was overcome with joy. She was practically bouncing off the bench and almost started reading it right then and there, but told us she would wait until she was somewhere more peaceful and quiet where she could think about it. She also said she would pray to ask God if it's true. She's such a special person, and I'm so excited to see how she progresses. 

Freitag, 27th:

This was one of the most special days on my mission so far, especially considering it started out so normal. 

We did all of our studies in the morning, which we don't normally do, but circumstance called for it.

We went to visit Lucienne, since she had been sick the day before and we wanted to bring her hot chocolate. Happily, she was feeling better and up for a lesson that we had planned, too, so we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We read through 2 Nephi 31 with her, and she was so involved and asking questions. At one point she asked us if she needed to be baptised again, which I was impressed with because most people don't make the connection on their own. We told her yes, and that it was a big decision, so we invited her to pray about it and promised she would get an answer. We also invited her to come to General Conference and promised that she could get her answer there. We set up an appointment to pick her up on Saturday evening to go to Pratteln to watch it. It was a miracle that she agreed, since she normally tells us it's too far away for her. It was also sweet, because at one point in the lesson, Sister Smith got emotional while bearing testimony, so Lucienne brought out tissues, chocolate, and Basler Läckerli (basically nutty, flat gingerbread). It was very tender, and we enjoyed munching on the snacks. Lucienne has such a bright, kind Spirit. Please pray for her so she can receive her answer! 

After Lucienne, we did a little bit of finding, and then headed over to Bischof's house. I suddenly discovered part of why we had never been there before. They are the people who live the farthest out in our ward. It took us an hour and a half to get there, and we had planned to give a 15 minute Spiritual thought.  But, we were determined to get Bischof on our side and at Gemeinderat on Tuesday we discussed how we wanted to try and meet with more people and we were going to ask people directly if we could share 15 minute thoughts (not exactly a monumental thing, but like, we hadn't been doing it), and Bischof essentially jumped out of his chair in excitement and sang our praises for a couple of minutes about how we were FINALLY listening to his advice to us. So... Sister Smith called/texted him and said something along the lines of, "Hey, since we're going to start doing your idea, how about you become our first victim?" Jk, Jk, she said it nicer than that, but we did ask him if we could come by to share this thought. He said yes, which was awesome, and then I realised how far away he and his family are. But, we went out there. We navigated through the streets thanks to our handy-dandy Google Maps app, and arrived at their door right on time. It was a little awkward because when the door opened, it was like the entire family was standing right there, waiting for us. We shook each of their hands as if we were walking through a wedding reception line. We sat down and talked for a couple minutes, then we asked to share a video. So they turned on their smart TV and oh my goodness can I just say the new Book of Mormon Videos are GORGEOUS in HD. Anyway, we shared a pretty quality spiritual thought. At the end, I asked if there was anything we could do for them, expecting them to say no as most people do and mentally preparing to run to catch our bus so we didn't miss our one connection that would get us home on time. However, Bischof practically shouted, "Yes!" Even his family seemed surprised, haha. He asked us if we had time to help him with something, and I may or may not have said, "Yes, but only if someone drives us home." (it sounded more straight-forward and demanding in German, oops) Which surprisingly, I think he liked because he's always so adament that missionaries need to know when they need to leave, and he's tested missionaries on that before to see if they were responsible or not (he did it to us at Gemeinderat). Anyway, he then told us what he needed help with: "You see, Sisters, I made too much food... I need someone to help me eat it!" It dawned on me. He wasn't asking us to lift heavy boxes or clip roses. He was inviting us to stay for dinner! The whole family just grinned at us as our brains clicked. They jumped up and out of nowhere, set down a hot, steaming meal on the table. I don't know how they managed to keep that hidden - they said their goal was to make sure that we couldn't even smell it (the succeeded). They also said we're one of two missionary companionships who has ever made it to their house without getting lost (I'm not sure how that happened considering we have Google maps nowadays, but this family was impressed with us and I'll gladly take those brownie points). So I'm not sure how much of this appointment was them testing us to see if they would like us enough to give us food, or if they would've given us food anyway, but either way it was quite amusing and ended with us nice and full. They fed us a traditional "French" (actually North African, but thanks to immigration... "French") meal, no idea what it's called but it was basically a couple different kinds of sausages with a good sauce and couscous. Then, because Bischof grew up in France, they pulled out a platter of different kinds of cheese and had us try all of them. I have to say, goat cheese is pretty good. He then lectured us on the cheese culture () and how it's made for what felt like hours, but I was actually quite intrigued by. I never knew that I'd know so much about cheese! Then for dessert, we had a dark-chocolate-tasting session. He pulled out chocolate from milk all the way to 92% dark. After trying all of them, I think I'll stay in the 60-70% range, but 92% was definitely an experience - especially when Bischof pulled out high quality cream and butter and had us spoon it onto our chocolate and taste them together. It definitely enhanced the super dark chocolates, I'll have to say. But I'm still grossed out by eating unmelted butter, I've learned. 

Anyway, after this super sweet appointment, Bischof and his wife drove us home and he instructed us on his opinions about Elon Musk, because I had made a comment about Teslas. It was a lot of fun, and I'm so grateful we were able to go.  Plus, the whole family likes us now! 

Samstag, 28th:

We did studies and went finding at an Ausstellung. While finding, Sister Smith got a hug from the bubble guy (the one who has a bucket of soapy water, and dips a string tied at the end of two poles into it, and then lifts it back up and the wind does all of his work for him and the kids go bezerk and he makes bank from the parents). It was very awkward and he said he wanted to take her home so he could hang an angel above his bed. He also apparently thinks He's God. We dashed out of there ganz schnell. I'm sure the sweetness of what he was trying to say was lost in translation, considering German isn't his native language. But Sister Smith got to try her hand at bubble-blowing before things got weird. Also at this Ausstellung, a guy told us President Nelson is terrible and insane, and that was the last straw for me. I had been patiently listening to this man tell me I wasn't Christian and that the Book of Mormon is a false book, but when he went and attacked the Prophet like that, I felt something inside me snap. I looked at him with what I hope was a sickeningly sweet smile and calmly said, "I disagree. Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God. If you don't have genuine interest in learning more, you're welcome to leave." He kind of choked on his next words and changed the subject, but he stayed. He even took a Plan of Salvation pamphlet in the end. I promise I'm working on patience (it didn't used to be an issue for me). 

Then we had Sportabend where things got a little more competitive than necessary due to one friend who takes everything personally and doesn't actually know the rules of basketball but thinks he's the best at it. It also got too dark to see the ball around 30 minutes before the end - the real sign that Winter is coming. But it made it fun because you never knew who actually had the ball until it smacked into your arm and you realised a team member was trying to pass it to you. Jk, it was better than all that, but either daylight savings needs to happen soon or we need to make sport 30 minutes shorter. 

Then we got left alone in the dark at our bus stop while waiting for our bus and Sister Smith got freaked out and my only comfort was that there was a girl across the street waiting for her date who could call the police if anything happened. Then I realised if we were being real we'd probably be calling the police for her, considering she was alone and all cute and we were together and all sweaty. That was a sobering thought. But then she ended up walking away so I guess even the small comfort was gone. But then the bus came and all was well. I still don't know where all the other missionaries were; they're normally across the street waiting for their own bus. But we made a goal to just leave Sport early to catch the earlier bus so we won't have to be alone for so long in the future. 

Sonntag, 29th:

We did weekly planning in the morning and then went to church an hour early for a lesson with Véronique. 

On the way there we almost missed our bus so we had to run for it, and we thanked the bus driver when we got on but then he yelled at us for always being late and always running for the bus, and he said he would never wait for us again. That put me in a sour mood. I made a goal to never run for that bus again. And to maybe bring this bus driver chocolate one day. 

I had forgotten that Véronique had told us she was bringing a visitor, so our lesson plan for her was temple preparation.  But this guy was... Interesting? He kept asking weird questions but he said he wants to get baptised and is looking fot truth, but I honestly just got weird vibes from him and wanted the lesson to be over. But he kept talking and Sister Smith lost track of time so she kept asking him questions, and so I had to interrupt to ask Véronique to say the prayer so we could make it into the chapel on time (we had 5 minutes before it started). But then when we walked out of the room he kept talking and then one of our most talkative members came to talk to us and Sister Smith ran off to get a Book of Mormon and all I could think was "CHURCH STARTED 1 MINUTE AGO.... 2 MINUTES AGO.... 3!!" I managed to get us all seated as a member of the Bishopric was going through the opening bits. Needless to say, I was a ball of nerves and so the first half of Sacrament Meeting was me trying to calm down to feel the Spirit again. I've really realised that punctuality means a lot to me, so even being a couple minutes late to something makes me frustrated. 

Church itself was good, and I loved the introduction to the new program for the youth and children. I had two thoughts while watching it: "I wish they had had this when I was a kid!" and "I wish I had children so I could work on this with them!" Basically I'm psyched and I'm so grateful for modern revelation because I know that I can trust the Church Leaders and what they do, because I know they're being lead by Christ. 

After church we were invited to a tiny potluck, because there was miscommunication and only one family brought food, but they invited some people to join them to eat it. We felt honored, and got to bond with them a little. :) 

After that, we went home and did a couple of studies.

Montag, 30th:

We had Distrikt meeting, bought our monthly German tickets, wrote our letters to Präsident, did some finding at an Ausstellung where a surprising amount of people walked up to us to talk but all wanted to bash/tried to tell us what we believed was wrong (I got a little fed up, but I kept my cool and just got a headache instead (staring into the setting sun and squinting while trying to keep a smile plastered to your face isn't the best way to avoid a migraine)). Then 2 appointments fell out. So we went home and crashed because we were so tired. 

Dienstag, 1st:

We got shopping done this morning which was unusually stressful due to money confusion so I payed for my groceries and my companion's groceries with personal money. We think we figured out what was up though, and I'm going to be praying very hard that it gets resolved. 

We spent our day with a girl from our ward named Sarah. She's really into cosplay and loves crafts, so I took her to my favorite art store and she showed me a place that's like a cross between Hobby Lobby and Ace Hardware. Then we brought her home and went to a local department store to leech wifi and buy highlighters. I ate marzipan for lunch and so it was a good day. 

By the way, I realise looking back my week sounds kind of negative. It was a good week, overall, just with some interesting experiences. Plus, missionary work isn't always sunshine and rainbows! ;) But it sure is worth it. 

Favorite new word: Not much time, so just a German one today: Hebel - lever

Favorite funny story: At one point a bee was attacking Sister Smith and she ran/dance away saying, "Oh nein. Nein nein nein... I'm gone. It thinks I'm a flower!" It was hilarious in the moment, and especially with her intonations :) 

Favorite spiritual thought: Well, if anyone knows me and knows this time of year.... General Conference is on my mind! This week I challenge everyone to think of a question that is weighing on them, to pray about it every day and/or every time you think about it, and then to watch General Conference and to take notes! I promise if your heart is open you will receive an answer! I'll be trying it out, too. :D

TLDR: FALL IS HERE AND GENERAL CONFERENCE IS HERE AND I'M SO PUMPED! 

Ich habe euch alle ganz fest lieb!

Sister Hamilton