🍁 Turning a New Leaf 😉
Mittwoch, 23rd:
On Wednesday after doing our studies, we wandered around Basel trying to go by on several less-actives. Most of them either didn't exist or weren't home, but one guy answered and told us he wanted nothing more to do with the church. So while doing that we also snacked on some over-baked cookies that I had made in my personal time on Tuesday night to give to Sister Rimmer to welcome her to Basel. At some point we decided that they were overcooked anyway so they wouldn't make the best present, and we just finished them off. So much for being healthy. 🤷🏼♀️ JK, we're still trying.
I had gotten permission from President Brown to contact Kyle and finalize things for our BYU schedules. So once we were done contacting we went back home (or phone was about to die, so I needed to plug it it), and Kyle and I worked things out. It was kind of weird talking to family on not-a-P-day, but it was so fun and I loved getting to talk to him. (I love you, bro!) Especially because he even hacked into my account and signed up for the new classes and dropped another, and I checked yesterday and I'm correctly signed up for everything. That was a huge service, so my gratitude goes to him. 
️
Donnerstag, 24th:
We took our Bikes to a little shop in our town to get fixed. I expected the repairs to be in the hundreds or something (I actually had no idea, but I was trying to overestimate) because Sister Smith's bike was so thrashed. But when we rolled up, the guy just pumped our tires, tightened my brakes, gave Sister Smith's bike a test ride, and said we were all good to go. I don't know what he did to fix her gears, but somehow the bikes are in decent condition again. And, he did it all for free! God really watches out for his missionaries. 
We rode home with happy hearts and quads that weren't on fire. 
We took our bikes into Basel because we were so excited to be able to use them again. We parked them outside of an animal park that I wasn't aware existed, and we did our comp study while walking around a little. It was gorgeous, and reminded me again of how much I really am not the biggest fan of cities. Don't get me wrong, they have their own unique beauty and I do like the older buildings with all of their history. There's just something special about nature...
We met with Schwester Chalita and her two kids and walked to the nearest park so they could play while we talked. She's the person responsible for missionary work from the Relief Society, so we've been trying to develop a better relationship with her. This talk was actually quite monumental, for lack of a better word, and we learned that she really trusts us - more than I thought she did. I love working with members.
After our lesson with Schwester Chalita, we went to Rheingasse to meet with the Basel Elders. This is where I met Elder Bast for the first time (he's our new Distrikt leader, and I have heard legends about him for several months, so I was curious). The verdict: HE'S INCREDIBLE. The legends are true, he's a total beast. He's quirky and unique, is from Berlin, and is the first missionary I've ever met with a beard (albeit slight, but he does have permission for it). He gave me a letter from Sister Spratt, now Sydney (I love you and miss you!), who just went home. While we were talking and getting acquainted, our local Bible-basher came up to us and tried to tell us we didn't believe in Jesus. This is when I fell in platonic-love with Elder Bast and he gained my respect. He just stood there so calmly, smiling the whole time, listening, and absolutely JUST LAID DOWN TRUTH. The conversation went something like this:
Basher: "You don't believe in Jesus! You go around spreading lies! People are scared of you because you have Satan's book!"
Elder Bast: "We believe in Jesus."
Basher: *repeats himself*
Elder Bast: "See, His name is on my nametag."
Basher: *continues to say nothing new*
Elder Bast: "All we do is teach others about Jesus and share His love for them."
Basher: *starts agreeing with Elder Bast, eventually realizes he doesn't actually have anything to say against us that holds any validity, starts to leave*
Elder Bast: *politely bows/nods in his direction* "Have a nice day, and may God be with you."
Basher: *walks away very confused*
Me: "Welcome to Basel, Elder Bast. Please enjoy your stay."
It was so much better in person (plus it's been a while so I don't actually remember what was said, just the generals). All I remember is standing there watching this go down (the Bible basher basically ignored the other 3 of us, but I was proud of Sister Smith for speaking up and giving her two cents as well), realizing that I was actually smiling, and then trying to stop myself from smiling because I realized it was kind of weird to be smiling while someone is telling you that you're an Antichrist even though you literally gave everything to be standing there as Christ's representative, then realizing I couldn't stop smiling, and trying to figure out why. I realized it's because I could see just how futile all of the arguments were. Everything he said was like soggy spaghetti, and everything Elder Bast replied with resonated with truth to the point where by the end the Bible Basher was agreeing with what Elder Bast was saying, hahaha. I was smiling because I knew that we had the truth, and it didn't matter what this guy was saying about us/at us, because I had confidence in God. That was a cool moment. I've never felt such peace while being attacked like that before.
Then we parted ways and just did some finding around the city, before riding our bikes back home along the Rhein.
Freitag, 25th:
We were still excited about our bikes, so we rode them to our first appointment for the day, with a Schwester Burkhalter. She's a less active who was really excited to meet with us, which I was surprised about. When we got there, she was practically bouncing off the walls because she had a surprise for us: the Relief Society President, Schwester Gessler, was also going to be coming. She hadn't told either of us, and I was actually quite happy with this because it meant we were going to be caught doing something good, which meant the ward would know that we were being effective missionaries. But what was even better! While we were sharing our spiritual though, Schwester Gessler shared an amazing testimony and invited this woman to read the Book of Mormon with her boyfriend and to come to Stake Conference. It was like she was our 4th companion (3rd goes to the Holy Ghost), and I was so grateful! It was actually an amazing lesson. :)
We then rode our bikes home and took a train into Basel, where we met with Véronique in her apartment. She was sooooo sweet and had set up an entire lunch for us in her matchbox of an apartment. We had so much fun just talking and laughing, and we taught her a little lesson about temples because she wants to start preparing to go. At the end, she gave Sister Smith and I both sweaters because she's just too sweet like that, so you know this thing is going to be coming home with me.
We went to our Ausstellung and it went by pretty uneventfully until we started to pack up. Sister Smith and I were about to ride the bikes to the Basel church, when another Bible basher came up to us and started to yell things in Swiss German. He was obviously drunk and could barely see straight, and was leaning all over he Ausstellung bike pointing at us and such. Again, mad respect for Elder Bast, and this time also Thierry (a member about our age) for handling him calmly and making sure he didn't get aggressive. He tried to get Elder Bast to take off his glasses and told him God didn't need glasses or the internet. At some point Sister Smith handed him chocolate and told him that now was the perfect moment to start with happiness. He started crying. We started to bike away because at that point he wasn't on the bike, and when we looked back he was broing it out with the men by high-fiving them and whatnot. Sometimes I'm just amazed at what an adventure it is to be a missionary.
After dropping off the bike at the church, we went to Lörrach to go to Bauhaus (German version of Home Depot) to get something like WD40 for our door lock, because for some reason in the last week or so it decided it doesn't like to turn and we're scared we're going to break our key in it one day (spoiler alert, it didn't help). We also found the paint chip section, and if you know me and paint chips.... I may or may not have one of each of them. :) They're pretty! We also got some drain cleaner because our shower had stopped draining again.
Samstag, 26th:
We rode our bikes to and from Sport, which was pretty poorly attended considering how many people are normally there.
We did our Studies.
We went Finding and today our mission was trying the thing where you ask a new question each time you stop someone. Most of the people we talked to were athiest, but they were still willing to talk! I was impressed. We talked to a guy with a drone, and that was cool because he showed us how it all worked. We also got to see Herbstmesse actually going because it started on this day. Lots of screaming, but the food looks good. :)
Sonntag, 27th:
We woke up and Sister Smith showered before me, and when she came out she announced that the drain had officially stopped draining. So instead of showering right away, I took a wire hanger to it. I'll spare you the gory details and just say I know why it wasn't draining. But just to be safe I poured the drain stuff down there anyway. Not my favorite way to start a Sunday, but I needed to smell nice for Church.
We spent our study time in the morning Texting with a guy we had stopped yesterday who actually used our card to text us. Let's just say we quickly found out that there was a specific reason he texted us, but we got to teach him the Law of Chastity over text. We won't be meeting with him. 
We left to go pick up Pascal, a guy we had also stopped on Saturday. He said he'd come to church, so we met at a tram stop near his house and brought him to church, and quickly introduced him to the Elders. He told us on Monday that he loved church, so that was good! We have an appointment for a pass-off lesson with him. Yay!
Peter also came to church, and he quickly bonded with Elder Bast, which was a huge miracle because normally he says he'll only talk to women. We're taking the opportunity to pass him off to the Elders.
We went Home and did Weekly planning.
Montag, 28th:
We rode our Bikes to the church again (my quads are getting quite strong) so I could work on MyPlan before the day got started.
We had Distrikt meeting which was a little weird, but it always is when you settle into a new vibe of people. By the way, Sister Frome, if you actually read my weeklies (I know, they're long) I adopted your chair.
The Elders made some AMAZING-looking French Toast, which hurt my soul because it's one of my favorite foods but we were fasting for Véronique. Proof that I love her, because I didn't eat that sweet goodness.
I tried to help Sister Rimmer sign up for her classes for college, but I was introduced to the atrocious system that is BYU Idaho. I'm blaming my lack of progress on her account holds, but I'm only somewhat sure I'd be able to figure it out with those problems resolved. She's supposed to be working it out with her mom today, and then we're probably going to do a mini-tausch later this week to get things rolling. Mal schauen.
Afterwards, we walked our bikes to the Ausstellung, and quickly learned that today it was going to be FREEZING, and we were not properly dressed. We did a circuit around the city and made it back to the bike in time for it to end. Luckily, no bashers today. We had plans to go to another town, but my fingers weren't bending and Sister Smith realized she was cold, so we went home and made tea instead. And did studies. :)
Dienstag, 29th:
The Temple! This was my last time going to the temple on my mission, and it was so good. I went through auf Deutsch, which was yet again such a cool experience. I just focus on different things in a different language, and I'm always reminded that the gospel is true in every language. :) We also met up with the Reinach Sisters and Ellie Magleby, who served here a little bit ago (turns out we're related) and got Döners, which will probably be my last one as well. It was a good day. :)
Sister Smith is currently shoe shopping because she already broke the ones she came in with. And I'm writing emails!
Favorite new word: Esp, che - yo / Deu, spiegeln - to reflect, dazzle, or mirror / Schwyzer Dütsch, Adieu (pronounced something like a nasally "andew", and not the French way (sorry Seour Ericson)) - goodbye
Favorite funny story: It's a triple whammy this week, you get three funny quotes, and they're all from Monday!
~
S. Smith: "I think it's great to spend time around Elders on the mission."
Me: "Oh, really?"
S. Smith: "Yeah, then they can know what a real woman is like!"
~
S. Smith: *sings* "I'm trying to be like Jesus!" *starts tap-dancing*
Me: "I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't dance like that..."
S. Smith: "You're right. He'd dance better."
~
S. Smith: "So what do you look for in a husband?"
Me: "Well, the short answer is: Someone who loves the Lord and loves me. But the long answer..." *pulls out a literal list that I have*
~
Also, while typing up this email we were sitting in a tram (well, I was sitting and Sister Smith was standing), and it's wet and rainy, and the tram went over a bump. I heard a squeak and a thump. I looked over my shoulder to where she was standing, tilted my glance downwards, and saw my baby dancer on her natural habitat... The ground. As graceful as dancers seem, they are quite clumsy. She got up quickly and pretended like nothing had happened, but God and I both know better. ;)
~
Favorite spiritual thought: It's another talk this week! I've been doing a lot of planning and goal-setting recently, so this talk has been on my mind. :)
TLDR: We're biking legends. Life always seems to have something up its sleeve, but with God on our side we can't be beat!
Many warm greetings being sent your way,
Sister Hamilton
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