An Attitude of Gratitude

Mittwoch, 20th:

On Wednesday we spent most of our time with Schwester Schüpbach. She made us lunch and we helped her plant Christrosen (I'm pretty sure that's what they're called - they're winter roses, and they were quite pretty). Our hands were black and freezing from the cold earth, but it was a lot of fun. :) 

We also met up with the Reinach Sisters to let them borrow our plunger. Lol, don't worry, we've only ever used it for our shower drain, and that's why they needed it too. But it did make for a fun conversation with a stranger on the train! 

Donnerstag, 21st:

We met with Frank, a new friend of ours, and got to know him. He's actually awesome! We weren't sure, because we found his phone number in our phone and didn't know anything about him. But when we got there he said that he recognized the truth and what he needed to do to change, he just didn't know how to do that. So he's excited to keep meeting with us and we're excited to help him come closer to Christ! 

After Frank, we hurried into the city to meet with a couple of Elders from the office (shout out to Elder Lehmann and his return to Basel for the day) who were visiting to take pictures and record for a video for our mission's Instagram page. Which, by the way, I don't think I ever mentioned. You should go follow it! It's @alpine.mission and it's in German, which makes it even cooler. ;) No guarantee that I'll show up on it, especially since I'm going home, but you never know. I could end up being famous. ;) 

Our phone died, but we had spontaneously worked out an appointment with Lucienne, so we made it over there and messaged the Basel Elders about it and managed to get this all done with only 1% battery. Solid, if I do say so myself. They came, too, and we had a nice little appointment with Lucienne. We're kind of worried that we might have to drop her, though. Every time we come she keeps trying to convince us that the Word of Wisdom isn't important, and she's not really even willing to try it. So prayers on her behalf would be appreciated. 

On the way home, Sister Smith taught Elder Bast some ballet on the bus, and we basically just had a grand old time. 

Freitag, 22nd:

On our way to our first appointment of the day, we went through Rheinfelden. We had only ever ridden our bikes through there once and thought how cute of a town it would be to find in. While we were walking to the appointment (we had time to spare and chose to walk instead of taking a bus), we ran into 2 wonderful girls who are so prepared! One of them even asked us if they could give us their number so we could meet. We laughed and said, "Yes, of course!" What's even crazier is that we spoke to these girls practically one after the other. We didn't have time to talk to many people, but the people we did talk to were golden!

We met with Schwester Burkhalter and Schwester Gessler came again. It was awesome. We invited her to start doing family history and offered to help her the next time we come. 

We met with Schwester Von Allmen at Manor, and she bought us lunch in the restaurant up at the top. It was really good, and she was sweet enough to offer to be a member present at any lesson we need her there for. We also learned that because she's been here in the ward for quite a while, she has stories and knowledge about most people and so we can go to her with any questions we have about someone we don't know!

We had an Ausstellung, where Sister Smith fed seagulls with a spiritual guy. Not much happened, but I wore Elder Bast's really warm real-bunny-fur Native American mittens. Those things are intense and so extra, but so awesome. 

We ended the night by getting frozen joghurt from our favorite Frojo Café. We're friends with the owner, Jack, and he's honestly probably one of my favorite people here in Basel. Such a good guy. 

Samstag, 23rd:

We met with Vivianne early in the morning and talked about obedience. It was a nice lesson. She's no longer on date for baptism, but she does still want to meet with us and now we know her concerns a little better so we'll be able to find a way to address them. 

We went by on the Lucas family just for a little bit and made plans to help them bake the pies before Thanksgiving. Sarah had bought a doll on etsy that was painted and weighted to look/feel real, so we had fun holding it and laughing about how we found a loophole to the rule about holding children. 

We had an appointment with Salman, another guy we found in our phone. He bought us hot chocolate and told us to look up his religion on Google (luckily, Patrick pulled through for us and sent us some Screenshots, because this guy wouldn't answer any of our questions). He was nice, and was excited to get a Book of Mormon. 

We went by on a member, Silvia, but she wasn't home. When we looked up a Fahrplan, we realised the fastest way to get back to our apartment was to walk across the river. So we did. #powerOfGod Jk, there was a bridge. Then we got a bus and went home. 

Sonntag, 24th:

We had Church, and a few less active members came that normally don't!

The new Sister in our ward speaks Spanish, so we asked her if she could come with us to visit a family were trying to get in contact with and teach who only speak Spanish. She agreed and said she had time right after church. So we traveled a while out there, they weren't home, and then we waited in the dark at an empty train station for 40 minutes. It was a good bonding experience. 

Montag, 25th:

We met with the new member to give her a Spanish Book of Mormon. She was so excited! She had accidentally left hers back in England. 

We had Distrikt meeting, which was a bit all over the place and went longer than expected, but such is life. 

We had Raclette for our Distrikt lunch, which was honestly so much fun and so much effort but so worth it. And at the end, we had a lot of extra cheese so Elder Bast put like 10 slices of cheese on top of like 2 potatoes and it was soooooo nasty watching him eat it. Somehow he's still alive. 

We met with Vivianne and taught about 2 Nephi 31. I think it really touched her. We also learned more about what she believes about what we've been teaching, so that was good. 

Dienstag, 26th:

So. Today... Was the most adventurous (Distrikt) P-day I've ever had. We basically hiked almost the equivalent of Mount Timp. #nearDeathExperience We climbed up a mountain to an abandoned World War II Bunker, which was really cool. Sister Rimmer walked up this thing with what could potentially be a colon infection, and then got altitude sickness on top of that. Hence the near death experience. But, she made it to the top like a trooper, and the adventure was coming back down because we decided that going back the other way would not be feasible with Sister Rimmer's waning strength. So we went through the bunker, back down the other side, through several cow pastures, and a couple of towns. We're currently on a bus to the Bahnhof which will take us to our 2 hr train ride home. We were supposed to be home right now. To be honest, this was one of the dumbest things I've done. Luckily, we were well prepared (lots of water, food, flashlights, coats, etc)! But basically, we were supposed to take like 2 hrs up, 20 minutes in the bunker, then like 1 hr to an hour and a half back down. So like grand total 4 hrs or 5 to build in time. We left plenty of time for getting back home, and everything. We ended up taking 8 almost 9 hours, and hiked over 18 kilometers. We all survived. I'll tell the rest of the story once I'm home.  But my testimony of the Priesthood and prayer has certainly been strengthened today. 

Favorite new word: Esp, banquete - feast / Deu, üppig - luxurious, schlemmen - to feast / Schwyzer Deutsch, Zmorge - Frühstück - Breakfast, Pfadi - Scouts

Favorite funny story: Man, this Distrikt pday. I'll attach a voice recording that Sister Preston made explaining it, but do I have stories to tell. 

Favorite spiritual thought: Thanksgiving! It's important to be grateful for the things we have in life, because we've been blessed with so much! How great that America celebrates gratitude. This week, I'd like to invite you all to take a mint or a... What're they called? Lozenge? Some sort of sucky flavorful thing. Then say a prayer of gratitude - just thank God for all of your blessings for as long as your sucky thing lasts. Gratitude prayers really help us to recognize just how much there is for us to be grateful for! Happy Thanksgiving! 

TLDR: I'm alive! And safe. And sufficiently humbled. ;) 

Much love to everyone! Have a great Thanksgiving, you turkeys! 

Sister Hamilton