Dani - Alpine German-Speaking Mission

Thanksgiving Week

Hello again.  Another week has passed.  Crazy that it goes so quickly.  This week was amazing and so busy.  We had our normal meeting and we went hiking which was super fun!!!  We then had some new investigators come from referrals from the office.  It was great.  We met with one on Tuesday and it is this crazy old couple from Italy who speak OK German.  They really wanted to give us coffee and we had to keep saying that we don't drink coffee.  So they gave us herbal tea instead.  It is crazy how much tea I drink.  I don't really care for it, but everyone here drinks tea.  And that is what they offer every time you go there.  And sometimes I ask for water, but my companion loves tea, so she usually says we would love it.  Super funny.  But if you put enough sugar in it is tastes ok.  :)  My companion told me I eat too much sugar and she wonders how I do it every day.  Also how I don't eat very much.  She cooks for us luckily and I should probably be a better companion and cook for her sometimes too... But that will maybe come sometime down the road.  :)  Anyway... back to the Italian couple.  They really have some good friends who are all Mormon who they know from Italy which is really nice, but they really don't understand us too good.  It is really funny.  The guy told my companion that her German was really terrible when really his German is terrible.  But hopefully we can help them understand how important the church is.  But honestly I think it will be awhile with them.  But they are really sweet and nice.

We then had lunch with one of the members.  She is awesome.  She has 2 kids and she is from Finland, but she went on her mission to Germany. I love her and her kids.  Her little girl speaks fluent Finnish and is learning German, so she doesn't really talk to us.  She understands, but she is refusing to speak German right now, even to her parents.  She doesn't want to let go of the Finnish. But she is super cute anyway.  

We had a short lesson with our investigator this week, but her baby got vaccines and reacted not too good.  He got a really bad fever and got sick and so we only stayed for a minute.  We are really hoping we can get her on track for her baptismal date that we set for the 7th of December, but we will see.  

Something interesting that happened this week was we did a Skype lesson with some elders in Switzerland.  They have a Mongolian less active, so my companion was helping them out. I just sat there the whole time and ate food at the members house.  It is really bad how much I eat at the members.   I have gained a little weight that I will need to work off when I get home.  But it was really cool to see her speak Mongolian and help someone.  We are now going to start doing that every week with them.  He understands German, but not super well. 

We also teach an English lesson every week.  I teach....  Which is always interesting.  My English isn't that good, and sometimes she asks why and I have no idea why, I just know what sounds right.  Shows how much I payed attention in school...  :)  But it is ok.  It actually really helps my German, cuz I have to sometimes speak to her in German, or she asks what some words mean and I have to know all the words I'm teaching in both languages, so that helps.  

Then on Saturday we went out to a referral from the office.  It was 1:45 minutes away which was hard, but she was awesome.  She is only 17 and she was an exchange student in Montana for 1 year.  She stayed with a family and went to church, young women, and seminary the whole time she was there.  She really understands everything, except a few details that no one took the time to explain and she didn't want to ask cuz they seemed so basic.  She said she knows the church is true, but she has to think about being baptized.  So pray that she will be baptized soon and see how important it is.  Also that we can start teaching her family as well.  Her parents have some background in the church cuz her dad was also an exchange student and did the same thing she did.  She is just a little more interested than he was.  We are excited to start teaching her and get her set for baptism.  The hardest part is the distance.  We traveled for a total of 4 hours the other day just to get there and back.  And cuz its so far away we can't stay for a long time and she only has time for 1 a week since she is in school.  So....  a lot of obstacles, but we will work it out.  She is really cool.

The confirmations went soooo good yesterday.  We are super excited for our 2 newest members.  The ward loves them as well and we really hope we can get their German better soon so they can communicate better.  But the spirit was really great.  We also had the primary program this Sunday which was awesome.  We only have about 1/3 of the kids here, but it was just as good as it always is.  The kids were sooooo well behaved.  (not that kids in American aren't) :)

This week is going to be really busy.  We have transfer calls on Saturday and then depending on what they say, if we leave it will be next week on Thursday.  I think something is going to happen to us, but I don't know what.  It will be interesting to see what God has in store.  We also have a tausch this week (exchange).  So I am going to Stuttgart for a day to switch companions.  It will be fun.  We have such a busy week planned.  We also have a dinner on Friday this week with a family to have Thanksgiving.  I am really excited for that.  Our members are so good and take such good care of us. So you don't have to worry about eating my share, I have my share here.  Tell Grandma and Grandpa that I say hello.   

I am really praying for snow this year.  I am hoping we get some.  But it is still really warm here. I am going out in just long sleeve shirts every day.  It drives my companion crazy, but I love it.  She said today that she is embarrassed to be with me, so I guess I should stop.  But I really hope it gets cold and we have snow soon.

I think that's all for the week.  I love hearing from you and all my pictures are in Dropbox, but here is a few. You are always in my thoughts and prayers.  Love you loads.

Sister Poll