Hiiiii! Transfers! Today is the first day of my 10th transfer in the
field as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints a.k.a. der Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage. I'm
getting a new companion on Thursday. Sister
Blohm is going to Wels, Austria. Sister
Judd (Katie’s trainer) also served
there. Sister Blohm is going to work with Sister Brinck who I was in the MTC
with.
I'm getting Sister
Bognar. She was trained in Zollikofen (Switzerland) and there for three
transfers but has been serving in Germany since then. She is from Hungary
and she is one transfer younger than me, but I’ve never met her. I know at the beginning of her mission
she couldn't really speak German or English
so let's hope she just speaks really good German now! That would be great for
us to talk mostly German together! So on
Thursday I will go all the way to Munich with Sister Blohm and all the way
back with my new companion. At least I think so.
F. came to church again yesterday!! But he came
late and missed Sacrament meeting because he missed his train.
I will tell you a story that happens every once in
a while. Losing potentials is a missionary tragedy. It can happen in many
different ways, but it is not good when someone shows interest in learning
about the gospel and the missionary never contacts them. Well this time the
story was like this. I was talking to someone on the train. First I told her I
liked her earrings. Then I asked her if she was from Solothurn. And then she
talked and talked. You can tell pretty fast if someone is willing to have a
conversation or not. And then I have to get out of the train soon because
Sister Blohm and I were planning on going by an innactive in this town. So I
have to wrap things up. I tell her I have to get out here. She said something
like, "Hopefully we will see each other again." So I said something
like, "Well if you would like to see each other again I am actually
serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
I love to talk to people about faith in God. Would you like to meet another
time to discuss about God and Jesus Christ?" Something along those lines.
I really can't remember. And she said yes and she started telling me about how
her daughter has never been baptized and this is something that they have been
thinking about. Here's the problem: we are now at this town and the train has
stopped. And the lady is saying, don't you have to get out here? And Sister
Blohm is standing at the door. We're supposed to sort of have this code where
if someone is talking to someone and they don't get up to leave the other
companion should just sit back down and pretend we're going somewhere else. Ha
ha. But this did not work. Sister Blohm stood at the door and kept opening it
and then it would close and she would open it again and she was just trying to
stall the train. But here's the thing: we don't even have an actual appointment
right now. It would be no problem to stay on the train. But Sister Blohm is not
getting the hint. But this lady already knows I need to get out here, but I
cannot leave without her number. So I tell her it's no problem I will just stay
until the next stop. I'm trying to play it cool because that might be kind of
weird, you know? But then I end up just getting her number really fast and
leaving anyway because Sister Blohm is not leaving the door even though I
haven't moved. But I was way stressed we are holding up this train and I should
have just done the awkward thing and went and told my companion, "Look, we
can't get off the train right now." And then gone back and made sure I had
all of her information. But I didn't. And I was frustrated with Sister Blohm
for just not getting the hint. The code thing did not work. And then I get off
the train and you know what I realize? The number I have for her has one digit
too few. And yeah that was not the best moment. A missionary tragedy. But she
does have a card with my number on it. But yeah these things happen and
afterward Sister Blohm and I prayed so many times that we would feel peaceful
and okay about what happened.
Kate says there are lots of cornfields where they serve, so it was time for a photo!
Sister Blohm and Sister Kate with Ivanka
This week we did a lot of service helping with a
wedding party that took place in the church. And today we helped a less active
clean her house and she made us lunch and then we went to an appointment with a
new investigator and gave her a Book of Mormon in Hindi. We will have to shop
for food tomorrow.
Guiseppe, remember him? He is pure gold. He wants
to help everyone and is visiting less actives and he is just an absolute gem.
The elders have an investigator named Osas who we
actually found and gave to them to teach. He is planning on being baptized and
he is making such good progress. He asked such good questions yesterday.
Sister Blohm made Elder Kelly and Elder Cottam
promise to be good to me after she is gone. We all have no idea what to expect
from Sister Bognar, but Elder Kelly isn't so excited about her. So the quote of
the week:
"Sister Blohm, we will sleep in a tent on the
grass outside the sister's apartment if we have to."
Sister Blohm is so sweet. She wants to make sure
I'm taken care of.
Looks like these Elders are "armed" too!
Mom, you have asked
what it is like to try and learn High German in a country where you just don’t
hear it that much! It’s hard! This week we had some members from Northern
Deutschland come to our ward. Talking to them was refreshing. The
Swiss try their best with hochdeutsch (High German) but it was just nice to
hear someone speaking clear and understandable German. I was loving their
accent. The language issue
just really does make things tricky. In church, people are supposed
to speak High German in lessons and talks. So they
do speak high German a lot but they also speak Swiss German a lot. And the only
way to ever speak Swiss German is to live here for 25 years. I think for prayers it's sort of an unwritten
rule that Swiss German is allowed. But mostly they still pray in High German.
Or Highish German. They still don't sound like Germans. And it's funny
for example sometimes someone will be bearing their testimony and then they
will be trying to say something and then they will realize they can't say it in
High German and they will say it in Swiss German and then return to High German.
When I hear Swiss German I can get the
gist. It depends how Swissy the Swiss German is and which dialect (yes, there
are also many variations on this VERY STRONG dialect….it’s actually more a
different language than a dialect) but yeah I can understand some!
Well life is good. I loove you all and I have to
go. I got your package and I was so happy!!
This picture scares me. I'm gong to have ask about these
damaged feet. I've seen the shoe tan lines before, but this looks scary.
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