"Was macht ihr zwei schöne Frauen denn da?" - March 10, 2014 - Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Hiiiiiii! Remember how last Sunday was a rough day? I forgot to add the part about someone being so mean to Sister Siems on the phone. But don't worry because yesterday was the best Sunday ever and the best day ever!!! For so many reasons. Sister Siems and I made a list and I will share some of them with you. The most important thing was that Jasmin came to church!! She just cannot accept the Book of Mormon, but she really liked church. It was so cool that she came. She has been invited so many times, but she just always said she would come sometime. And so we got a surprise phone call Sunday morning from her asking us to meet her so she could find the church (she did try to come one other time before I was even here but she got lost). Also another investigator came to church, who we have actually given to the elders, but he is another person where we had almost given up hope that he would ever come but he came and he loved it. Also the weather was fabulous, totally like spring. Also our branch president and his wife said they'd be in the choir for the Musical fireside! Also Schaffhausen officially introduced Tatiana and her Family and welcomed them to the ward with goodies after church. And we did part of our weekly planning in a field in St. Katharinental. It was just a good day! It could have been a bad day, because Maritza didn't come to church. I was all excited to tell you about Maritza, but now I'm not as excited anymore because she didn't come to church yesterday. But we saw her twice this week and set a baptismal date with her! And we're trying to help her quit Smoking and everything was looking really good until yesterday. But, it will still be good.

Also we sang "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel" with Jörg on the piano. It's such a beautiful accompaniment and this whole singing "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel" thing was really his idea because after I told him it was my favorite song (this was during Christmastime) he found this arrangement and now we finally got around to singing it in sacrament meeting. We also sang it to Sister Sprenger (our friend in the care home) the way we did it at zone training. She was so happy.

Also Jörg gave us this HUGE thing of peanut butter. Now I just need to find enough celery to go with it (it's hard to find!). Sister Siems doesn't like peanut butter and celery. Such a shame.

That's about all for yesterday. But earlier in the week Sister Siems fixed our sink. She took it apart and cleaned it so it would drain better. I just cleaned the rest of the bathroom and complimented her the whole time so she would keep going.

So today I ran into the Jehovah's Witness who we saw last Monday. She sat next to me on the bus. It turns out she wants to do bible study with us? And she said the brochure we gave her didn't come only from the Bible (ha ha it was a restoration brochure!). (FYI - Our belief that the true Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth through Joseph Smith is the essence of the restoration that is taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  There was such a long period of apostasy and then reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli paved the way to enable what would happen in America. America was a unique land where people came to pursue  religious freedom and it was this very environment that provided the fertile soil for the Lord to restore the fullness of the Gospel  through the prophet Joseph Smith in 1830.)  And she talked about how much she loves the Bible and I told her how much I love the Bible but then I said that I found it such a pity when people didn't accept more of God's word. (We believe the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and there is much in the Book of Mormon that adds unto). But I'm pretty sure she misunderstood based on how wholeheartedly she agreed with me!

Our new friend that I talked about last week is fantastic. She's like, our best friend. She reads a little in the Book of Mormon everyday during her Meditation time. I want to be like her when I am old. She has decided to invite us to anything that is spiritually related. So far we haven't been able to attend anything that she's invited us to because of previous engagements but next week we should be participating in a prayer circle with her.

Also remember Sylvain? He's in the Hospital now getting ready to go to the clinic for a few months.

Quotes of the week:

Me: "I want to know how the brain works."

Sister Siems: "Except I think your brain works differently than everybody else's."

We had the elders meet us in Thayngen for an appointment with an investigator that we wanted to give to them, but the appointment fell out. We forgot it was Fastnachts (Mardi Gras) in Thayngen that night and so everyone was partying like crazy and dressed in these crazy costumes.

Sister Siems: "These people are dressed so weird!"

Elder Bergström: "That's exactly what they think about us."

Too true. We were the ones out of place walking around party town with suits and skirts . . .

"Was macht ihr zwei schöne Frauen denn da?" (What are you two lovely ladies up to here?)

A little boy to us yesterday, he could not have been older than 4, as we walked past his house. He was adorable and he was driving this little baby tractor that Max (Katie's nephew) would have loved.

Sister Siems has a new theory that she is older than me because in Germany you're an adult at 18 and in America you're an adult at 21. I told her actually we are adults at 18 too and she said, "No because you can't buy alcohol!" Apparently the definition of an adult is one who can legally buy alcohol ha ha (since that is so important in the lives of Sister Siems and Sister Lewis). But she claims she has been an adult for two years and I for only one so that makes her older. Poor Sister Siems. She must be feeling intimidated by how wise and old I am, especially now that I am turning 22!

I'm almost at my half-way point so I'm going through a kind of midlife crisis trying to figure out how effective and consecrated a missionary I am. I am halfway through my fourth transfer in Schaffhausen, and it is so weird to me that I will probably leave after this transfer. Transfers are so weird. Any advice for me?

I can't believe you went to lunch with Sister Judd! How fun is that?! (Franklin and I were in Las Vegas last week and took Katie's trainer, who had just gotten home from her mission two weeks earlier, to lunch. We had such a great visit!)

President Miles sent us this today:

"Elder Holland once said that if you want to enjoy the blessing of miracles in your life, set goals that you can’t reach without the Lords help. His is a work of Miracles."

Welllll I love you! Thanks for all the support!