Late post

Hallo Familie!

So no need to beat around the bush, transfer calls came and went for us as well. I am actually staying, no shocker there, BUT this transfer marks my first opportunity to be senior comp! I'm getting Sis. Schneider from Basal--so yeah, my THIRD Swiss companion. I'm lovin this. So far I've had 3 Swiss, 2 American and 1 Texan companion, haha. Nur ein Witz.

So there you have it; I'm takin on this city as the senior comp. If there's one thing I've learned on a mission, it's using a map, and with the six weeks that I've been here, I'm not too worried about finding my way around; it gets easier with every transfer. 

So this week:

For Pday we did some Spring Cleaning that Sis. Pimentel gave our mission, so our apartment is of course squeaky clean. :) We did something a bit more interesting I guess you can call it for Pday--one of our less-actives somehow has already gotten his hands on the "17 Miracles" movie and we got permission to watch it! It was pretty intense but pretty good. Although watching movies is sort of a waste of a pday--I just have a list of things to watch when I get home and I'll take care of it then. It's just you look at the clock and you're like, "where did my pday goooo?" But don't worry it was good. I also played a bit of "fun" piano that I haven't been able to do for a while. Got to keep up the skills because everyone keeps asking me to play! It's nice to be useful in that way, though.

On Tuesday we went back to Sis. Härtig's to do more yard work for her, but she just invited the Sisters, and not the Elders? Anyway, we did more weeding but more like the ones you find in the cracks of cobblestone or pathways running along her house. She has this major moss issue and so we attacked it pretty well. She's kind of a crazy lady, but it was fun. She likes cooking for us afterwards, but she put straight up LARD in her Rotkohl. But did I know this? Not really, because I said, "oh, what kind of cheese is this?" because she had this block of it, and she said, "oh, this is BETTER than cheese!" and made me eat a piece!!!! It tasted like, really really fatty ham. Blarg.

We've had lots of OYMing miracles this week because of our huge Esprit des Corps and it's been amazing. It's amazing how many people we find that have already met with missionaries and are willing to meet again. We met a Frau Seidl who said that she met with missionaries and she said, "here's my address, I'm home every evening after 19Uhr, just tell me when and I'll be there!" and she lives on our street! We're practically neighbors! So that was one of many miracles. We had some members pray for a specific street for us to do doors or ansprach people on, but so far nothing totally apparant or mind-blowing. But it's awesome! We have like 6 lessons this week planned from our OYMing sucess this week and we're really excited. There were parts of the day that I thought to myself, "I've never been this happy on my mission" I've just been all giddy with excitement--I'm of course always happy, but happy about anspraching people? It's sometimes not all that fun and we do it because we know, duh, that's what we have to do if we want to teach anyone, but it's a lot easier said than done. I'm not thrilled when people look at us and think we have the plague and do anything to avoid eye contact or anything, like, what do they think we're going to do? Baptize them there? It's like the guys at Oak Park mall trying to sell their dumb lotion. 

Bennet is doing good--we made him a Taufkalendar with scriptures and he reads faithfully. It's tough because Sis. Laubaugh is being transferred very far away and you can tell he really wants her there, so she will hopefully be able to make it. I found out with the Querdurchsland karte that I can use it to get anywhere in Germany as long as I don't use it to take ICE or IC trains and it's around €50 so when someone major is getting baptized that will probably be my plan! But I don't plan on it anytime soon. But yeah, he's still doing great and he'll definitely make the date! aaaahhh! So exciting!

Tan is also good--he fasted for the first time yesterday for help with his German. He talked to his parents and his wife about being baptized and they all agree (and we do, too) that it will be a lot better for him once his German approves, because he has such a difficult time understanding what goes on in church, poor guy. I don't know how long he will wait, but he is going steadily through the scriptures and he uses them to learn German, it's amazing. Because that's a major way I learned German, too! :)

On a geek-alert, I've officially finished chapter 21 of Jesus the Christ, MEINE gute, that's not even half way through yet. BITTE.

This week we got lots of rain, but it was luckily not all that windy, which makes it not too chilly, but it's mean having to go back to leggings, boots and raincoats when we've been loving the sun. I'm trying to get as much sun and heat as much as I can before I go back to winter layers!

We got a bunch of Rhubarb from our English student, Garrett, interesting note. But we actually used it to make a dessert and it tasted a lot like an apple crisp, so of course it wasn't that bad, just random. The same day we got a random gift from another investigator--tea leaves! They're these tea leaves that smell strongly of citrus or lemon and it makes a GREAT tea. Of course with a few spoonfuls of sugar, but I got a picture of me in the rain with a fist-full of tea leaves in one hand and a bag of these humongous rhubarb stalks in the other. 

Do you wanna know the coolest thing ever? Our Neuebekehrt, Stefan told us this week that he completed the work for his dad and was baptized for him this past week. It was absolutely so amazing and the Spirit was electrifying. He's this big German but as he told us, he was so happy and his eyes got all glazed and they just had this light to them--you could tell it was a major deal for him since he could share it with his dad, and his mom actually is interested in the new changes in her son because he gave up smoking and drinking so quickly and so willingly. That kind of happiness you can't put a euro price on that.

This Sunday was my 10th month mark, meine GUTE. We of course had a miracle dazu. We weren't having much success with talking with people outside because of course, it's pouring, so I decided to call some contacts in our phone to see if we could pick up someone who hasn't been taught in a while. I call up Andrea who was not only THRILLED to set up an appointment with us, but she knows Carla, our Zumba instructor and she said, "I'm actually on my way over there now!" and so THAT was awesome. I love me some miracles. 

Well the Elders thing is sort of ridiculous, because I know that they're still young kids at heart, I can't expect every Elder to be mature or super stellar, because everyone has a story. Fine. But we have some issues with our District leader, and that's worse because he's supposed to be a help, not a hinder. I talked to my Zone leader who went on a Tausch with them on purpose to get a handle on the situation, and he's helping me out. It's just that when we have an issue, our DL thinks we're "sensitive" and we're anything BUT. I can handle the rough, rude people on the streets, but I'd like some support from someone who's supposed to be our leader, right? But he's competitive and from what my Zone leader said, (so it's just not us that feels this way) but if we say anything slightly critical, his pride is hurt and he gets mad, and at us. It's petty and ridiculous, but we had to tell someone that it's just not right. The Spirit is on the line, and Freiburg has been turned into an Elder's city, so we will be a district of 6 Elders, 2 Sisters and the Ehepaar. What's worse, the other Elder in our city actually has a problem with calling OTHER elders in other ZONES just to chit-chat and tells them how aweful we are, and we heard about it from one of the Elders that was "notified" that we were being brats. Can you believe the crap I have to deal with? But it's definitely a learning experience for me, because I know there will always be petty people, who like our Elders, don't work as hard as we do (not even close) but feel threatened by us, and try and dog us. I'm a believer of justice and mercy, but our Zone leaders know and they're going to try and help us out before this ridiculous problem gets any more complicated and ridiculous. Aye Aye Aye. So as the Senior Comp I have to be humble, but not a welcome mat, because I don't want trouble, but I'm not gonna take crap, either. So yeah, rollin' up my sleeves for that.

But for Jordan, feeling homesick is normal part of being a "Bean"--because the things you thought you could handle while being in the MTC sort of haunt you because you have to have integrity to NOT do things that are against the white handbook, because it's just you and your companion, and you aren't in that safety bubble of an MTC anymore. But just keep doing what you're doing, which is remembering random things that you're doing now that you can't do anywhere else, and the things you can only do now because your a missionary, too--because one day you'll miss everything about it. I was thinking today how I use so much German in my English and how I want that still when I get home, my random little "phrases" but I don't want to sound like an "RM snob" either. Or how the States probably has insufficient supplies of Fruchtetee. Mensch, now I have a list of German-ish things that I will have to try and take home to make it last. But I always felt that the weaknesses I have as a missionary was just me, that everyone else has a better handle on their lives and their thoughts or whatever, but really, we all have the same things going through our heads, some people just hide it better than others, or it doesn't effect others as much. I usually get homesick of just missing being able to just take a nap when I want without having to worry about wasting my time, or the Lord's time I should say. It gets hard, but just go with the Spirit. It says in Preach My Gospel that you will find more joy than you ever would while on a mission, and in our "Golden packet" under Stress management, it says, that we should find things that make our work and our Aufgabe, erm, our duty or work as missionary worth it or "satisfactory" because that gets us focused and excited to do our work and other things about home go away (until emails time of course!) But be patient with the language. People may not say it, but they are always very impressed with how much you can say and what you're actually saying. People sometimes tell us they have no interest, but they actually compliment us on our German (what a relief) and understand, "Deutschesprache, schwere Sprache" that it's hard and complicated, which I'm sure is not nearly as complicated as Japanese. But it'll open up quite a bit of career opportunities and connections. Maybe I'll hire you to help me translate my novels someday! Woot! But seriously how do the Brazillians get by in Japan anyway? Do they speak German or English? Mostly it's the old Polish or Russians here that don't understand us, but they at least have kids that understand and translate for them. Just know that you really are doing a lot better than you think and you know a lot more than you think you know. It's tough, but it's gonna be great! Time goes by WICKED fast after the first 2 or 3 transfers and the panic starts to kick in!

Anyway, that's it for this week! Ich habe euch lieb!

love,
Whit