"You came here for water?" September 9, 2013 - from Vienna

Hey first I want you to know that I'm doing a lot better. I mean I was never doing bad but I'm not feeling the I-feel-like-I-just-got-hit-by-a-train tired so much. Just still tired. Do you think I should have some sort of protein supplement in the morning

I keep forgetting to tell you that I have gotten to play soccer! Basically one of my life goals was to be one of the missionaries playing soccer on that missionary field by the temple. And I lived the dream. I still have a bump on my leg from an exceedingly hard kick directly at my shin. I had a fantastic bruise for a while. And we played soccer with our zone once here and it was so fun! And we have played volleyball a lot of Saturdays with some members of the ward and less actives and investigators and contacts that we can get to come. And we played at our ward barbeque on Saturday! We had this ward activity called Grillfest. It went so well! Perry (our gemeinde missions leiter a.k.a. ward mission leader) figured out that about a fourth of the people there were non-members. We invited everyone, and a lot of people came!

Did you get a pic from Baagii Huy? Actually Miga sent it.

Miga sent this from her iPhone.

It was such a treat to get it in the 

middle of the day while I was at work!

 So remember how I told you about Tanja? She’s been giving us Kangen Wasser and every time we go see her she wants us to bring these bags that she gave us full of bottles of Kangen Wasser back with the bottles so that she can refill them for us. But when you're a missionary you don't just go from home to go visit someone and then go home again. You go a lot of places in a row. And carrying around bags of bottles, whether the bottles are already full or not, is not the most practical thing in the world. Not being a member of the Church, she really doesn’t understand this. And we told her that really there's no way that we're ever going to buy one of these machines from her. And she got a bit offended and told us that she knew we weren't going to buy one she just wanted this water to bless our lives and she really believes that we will be healthier and happier when we drink this water.

So we're going out of our way to let someone who's not looking for a church and isn't loving the idea of coming to church again serve us. Yeah we're trying to figure out how to fix that. But she was more than happy to come to Grill Fest and to talk to everyone. But we stopped by to see her the other day and she loaded us up with these bags and bottles that we had tried to leave with her permanently the last time we were there. And Miga was with us and she was so confused the whole time. She roped Miga into taking a bag of her own Kangen Wasser. As soon as we were on our way home and out of Tanja's earshot Miga said, "You came here for water?!" She was so confused. But no, we went there to maintain a good relationship with Tanja and to tell her that we were looking forward to seeing her at Grillfest. But it's kind of a tricky situation for us. Don't worry Mom, the more I get to know Tanja the less she reminds me of you. So that was the quote of the week. "You came here for water?!" We love Miga so much.

I am so happy to be on a mission. It was so the next step in my life and I'm so here. And I'm so learning German. It's coming. Slowly but surely. I speak a whole lot more German than I did three months ago!

So Mommy you should be being invited to the Facebook group for the mommies of the missionaries in this mission. Adorable, right?

I hope you and Dad have an enjoyable relaxing few days. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DADDY! Love you ETBOP.

Did I mention that September 23rd is my new favorite day? Jenni is getting baptized on that day. We really hope it works out because she doesn't turn 18 until the middle of October and she hasn't talked to her mom about getting baptized yet. On Saturday we had a lesson with her after our ward party and we were talking about faith and sharing Helaman 5:12 when all the lights in the building went out. Someone forgot or didn't know that we were there and turned all the lights out. While I ran to turn the lights back on, Jenni continued reading Helaman 5:12 using her phone as a flashlight. I guess I turned the lights back on right as she finished reading. Later Sister Judd talked about how Jenni's faith has lit up her life, and about the difference between the light and the dark. She didn't use to believe in anything, and now here she is accepting the gospel without hesitation. She really is amazing! We reminded her to pray about a date after the lesson and she told us on Sunday that September 23rd was the first date to come to mind and she prayed about it and felt good. 

Sister Woods was transferred to Germany. Waaaaah. Now we have Sister Chelsey Clark from American Fork in our apartment. She is also really great.. 

We had been wanting one of these fancy smoothie drinks for a long time. 

We finally got some. We took pictures.

One new thing I have eaten: Topfen. It's like a different kind of yogurt. And I have had topfen strudel. There's actually few things that are better. 

Mommy every time we walk through a dining car I think of that one time that we ate in one in Switzerland together.

You asked about “Finding days”… Finding Days are days where we have a block of time where we don't make other appointments and we get together as a district and make goals and then split up again and just find, find, find. One companionship is in charge and the finding is primarily for them. I'm still holding out that my first letter will get to you. Sorry this one was crazy. 

You mean it wasn't fun to decipher my letter?! Ha ha sorry I know that was crazy.

I love you so much too Mommy! And all of my family!