👨‍💼 One of my favorite holidays! 🙋🏼‍♀️

Mittwoch, 2nd:

Tausch! In the morning, we switched companions for the next 24 hours. I went to Bern/Zollikofen to be with Sister Adams. It was fun to reminisce, because the last time I tausched with her was almost exactly a year ago! We've both come so far... 

We did some finding in downtown Bern, and didn't really talk to very many potentials but got stopped by a surprising amount of members! Some of them had just come from a sealing, some were just there for a Temple session, and others were doing a family history trip and trying to collect records for their family, while also stopping at the temple. I felt like a celebrity, and it was a little weird.

We ran to teach a lesson to their recent convert, and we taught about Patriarchal Blessings. Apparently she's preparing to get her own, so that's exciting! 

We stayed at the church for Deutsch Kurs, which was unique. The teacher made a few mistakes, which I tried to call attention to without being a brat about it, but because of my more passive approach the mistakes weren't corrected (z. B. She swapped around the dative and genetive cases). Luckily (or unluckily?) the lesson was going over the heads of the participants anyway, so I don't think it'll affect them. But they were also able to constructively figure out a better way to teach these lessons in the future, in a way where these people will better be able to understand what's going on. 

We had a tasty dinner and Sister Adam's gave me a much-needed back massage.

Donnerstag, 3rd:

We woke up and went to their GMK, or ward mission correlation (or whatever it is in English). Not much to talk about there, I had no idea who they were talking about and mostly just zoned out. 

We Untausched in the Bern Bahnhof, and on the way we yet again ran into more members. 

We ran to catch a train to get to a Member Appointment. Well, we got to the Address and... It was the wrong town. I had had a feeling... But I was trying to have hope. So we called them and said we'd be an hour late. We went back to the train station and waited for a while, then caught our train to a different place where we would be umsteiging. Then we ran to catch our next train, but even though it had just stopped and we should've been able to catch it, it pulled off without us in it.  So we called these members and canceled our appointment (well, asked to reschedule it), because by the time the next train came we were going to be around 2.5 hours late.... But!! Are you ready for an amazing missionary miracle?? 

So, on our way to the wrong town, we ran into a member named Emiliana. She speaks only Spanish, and she was trying to get to Basel SBB, but she was on the wrong train, so we tried to help her as we continued to get to our own appointment, and she got off at a random stop as we continued on. After we realised our mistake with the towns and waited at the train station, when the next train came it had this member on it again! So we helped her to get off again at a different stop, and tried to direct her to her platform, before running off for the train we ended up missing. As I watched the train pull off, I turned to Sister Smith and said, "God wants us to help this woman." So we ran back up the stairs to a different platform and met this member again. We accompanied her all the way to Basel SBB, and from there she knew where to go to get to work. So even though we missed out on an appointment, I was actually so happy to be able to help Emiliana. And, we got to practice our Spanish! 

After helping Emiliana, we went straight to our next appointment for the day and went to visit the Hardy Family, an adorable young couple in our ward with a young son. They made us southwestern tortilla soup and were so precious! We were in and out in an hour, even with sharing an awesome Spiritual Thought using the Book of Mormon Videos. I love them! 

The sky was a gorgeous Red/pink on the way home. :) 

Freitag, 4th:

We went finding and did studies, etc.

We went to an appointment with the Nordstrom Family, which ROCKED. I've loved this family since I came here, and I've been dying to meet with them. When we got there, they pulled out Hausschühe for us (it's officially cold enough for people to start using those again), and I noticed a Boston Red Sox hat in their chest. Then when I hung up my coat I noticed a Patriots jacket. You know that scene from the animated Grinch where he does his evil smile and everything curls up including his hair fluffs or whatever? That's the best way I could describe how I felt inside. I practically jumped into the kitchen where the mom was and asked if they ever lived in Massachusetts. She looked at me and said, "Yeah, we were in Boston for several years!" I jumped off the walls and started a very excited conversation about the Sox, and when she asked how I knew about them, I said I was born in Massachusetts, and that my parents where from New York. This woman practically passed out! She just gasped and dropped her wooden spoon that she was using to cook. She looked at me and asked, "Your parents are from NEW YORK and they're RED SOX FANS?? How is that paradox possible?" I knew I liked this family for a reason.  The little girl entertained us with her inventions and books and crawling around in a backward bend (she looked like something straight out of the exorcist). Anyway, when the husband came home from work (after an hour of us being there), he lectured o us on the history of Baseball and also the smartest way to do medical school (as in, study in Germany and if you really want to work in America then you just have to take an exam and bam you're set, where if you study in America and want to work in Germany, the process is a lot more complicated). Then we ate homemade Pad Thai and some red curry soup of some sort. It was quality, and honestly probably some of the best Pad Thai I've ever had. We also used the Book of Mormon Videos to share a spiritual thought, and then we played a game called Zonk. It's a dice game, and actually quite fun. I think you can look up the rules online. Then the mom drove us home.

Samstag, 5th:

In the morning, we both kind of felt a Sickness coming on (the family from last night actually had another daughter, but she was hidden off in her bedroom because she was so sick), so we decided not to risk it and slept in a little. Then we basically stayed inside all day and did studies, baked cookies to give away, and in general just got ready for.... 

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! It's weird to have it in the evening... I miss having it in the morning. :) 

On our way into town, we ran into Patricia, Siria, AND Eutacia! God blessed us so much! It was so wonderful to see all of them.  We also picked up Lucienne, who came with us to the church to watch General Conference. :) She really liked it, and even got some answers to her questions that she prepared for it. :) We were so happy she came, even though it meant we had to watch the first session in German. It just means we get to watch it again! 

Sonntag, 6th:

Happy 16 months to myself.... 2 months to go! 

We had a whole day of GENERAL CONFERENCE! 3 sessions in one day, and an entire day at the church... Kind of leaves you mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted, but it was soooo worth it. :)

Montag, 7th:

We did finding in the morning, which was nice and crisp. A guy wished me a safe flight home, which threw me for a loop. Apparently I'm close enough to going home that that's necessary. First time it's happened so far. 

We did a comp study while Downloading the last session of General Conference. 

We went home and watched it! It was so good! 

We started weekly planning, but I had such a bad headache that I just wanted to throw up and pass out. So I got ready for bed and fell asleep at 20, instead of 22.30 like usual. It was very needed. 

Dienstag, 8th:

Today we went to the Niederhorn for Distrikt P-day! It was a pretty hill/mountain at the bottom of our mission (Yay Interlaken!). We had a nice view of the lake, and it was nice and crisp and we took lots of pictures. :) 

Favorite new word: Esp, faenas - tasks / Deu, Hocker - stool, Hocken - to squat/crouch /Schwyzer Dütsch,  Fynöggeli - a soft-spoken/delicate/nice person (courtesy of the Bern Sisters, for sending us a list of Swiss-German words) 

Favorite funny story: After getting rejected by someone, Sister Smith was just grinning and bouncing up and down once we turned the corner. She said, "Oooooohhhhhhh the little seed! We're planting seeds everywhere! The whole WORLD is gonna bloom!" 

Favorite spiritual thought: General Conference! I love it so much! I don't remember if I wrote this last Conference, but I know I've at least said it before and I will say it again: General Conference is one of my favorite holidays! We've got Christmas (the birth of Christ) and Easter (the death and resurrection of Christ) and General Conference (where Christ speaks to us)! Isn't it great? I hope you all enjoyed watching and got a lot out of it. My main takeaways might not be the same as yours, but I noticed that they talked a lot about blessings and how we can all receive countless blessings - no matter when they come. But that also living the gospel isn't easy, and we have to be willing to give up anything that is keeping us away from following Christ. "More Holiness give me." Make Him the Center of your life!

But whatever your takeaway was, it's now important for you to apply it to your life. Go and do! 

TLDR: I love General Conference! And I'm less stressed this week. :) 

Ciao zämme, ich hab euch lieb!

Sister Hamilton

P. S. Does anyone have President Nelson's phone number? He said if we wanted an extra grandpa we could give him a call...

Pics:

Distrikt pday at Niederhorn!