But anyways, last week during p-day, we just did some shopping and afterwards we explored Augsburg a bit. We went into the Rathaus (court house) and found a super pretty golden room. Sister Mehr and I were freaking out a bit becuase is was so pretty. There are loads of buildings in Augsburg that are older than America. You just have to wander into them and you will see some amazing things.
So the drama in the mission right now is Sie sprache vs. du sprache. In German there are two forms of you: the formal and the informal. For the longest time they made missionaries use the formal you on everyone. About a year ago they changed it so we could use du sprache when it was appropriate (other missionaries, those younger than us, and people we work with a lot who we have a good relationship with). Well, just this month they changed the rule again to using Sie sprache on any missionary who isn't the same gender as you (so all of the Elders) and anyone who is over the age of 18. Among missionaries, it really doesn't matter what form of you is being used because we are all just learning German here, but when you are working with someone who is about 23 or around that age, they think it is so weird for a 19 year old to be using formal you with them. Also, it is kind of insulting to switch back to formal when we have been using informal with someone, so it's been kind of interesting. We have to be obedient and use the formal you. Especially because word on the street is this rule came from President Uchtdorf, but we have gotten into some heated conversations about it for sure. It's an interesting situation that we are working with. So yeah, that's the drama in the mission right now.
Sister Mehr and I are working really hard on getting to know the Ward right now because we know we can't do this work without their help, so we're just trying to build relationships and now we have a plan! We do this thing called EXTREME PERSONAL TOUCHING!!! Basically, our area is really big and everyone is quite spread out, BUT that will not defeat us, so once or twice a week, we pick a family in the ward or someone on the list to "Extreme Personal Touch". We then call them and see if we can come over to give them a Preach My Gospel lesson or just say hello (no food required). If they have time for us, that is awesome, if not, we now know a little more about them from talking on the phone and we bake something or get flowers to drop off at their house and leave a nice note. Getting to their house can easily take a whole day with public transportation, but it's been working. We are slowly but surely building relationships with the members in this ward. We are also really big on writing thank you cards and sending them in the mail because everyone loves getting mail...at least, I really like getting mail.
So on Saturday, there was a lady in our ward moving from a three story house to a one floor apartment, and she had to get everything from the old house into the new apartment in one day. Like a good missionary, we were there with the Elders and a bunch of ward members. Our big group seemed invincible at the beginning, but mensch she had a lot of stuff to be moved. It was an extremely long day of moving stuff and figuring out what goes where but it was good. We managed to get everything into the new apartment. It was kind of funny because there was one point where literally the only thing to do was move the gigantic pieces of furniture around and heaven forbid a sister touches something heavy, so Sister Mehr and I had about an hour of "What do we do?" We ended up just talking to the lady who was moving. She was pretty stressed, so I think it was a good thing. After we got everything moved, we went to KFC. That's right, KFC in Germany. It was fun. It was pretty fatty, but it was fun. It made me think of going to Taco Bell after doing baptisms in the temple when I was in Young Women's. Good times.
Yesterday at church I walked through the doors and there were two familes from my ward in Ludwigsburg visiting. We all made eye contact at the same time and it was so fun! Seeing all of them was a nice tender mercy for me. They were the people who invited us over for eating appointments on a regular basis, so it was like seeing family again. That's the cool thing about a mission...or one of the many cool things, you just build bridges everywhere you go. The Ludwigsburg people have such a special place in my heart, just like the Vienna people, and now the Augsburg people. It is just so amazing the people you get to cross paths with. It is a real honor to be able to be here and be doing this. I hope I and other missionaries never take this experience for granted.
But yeah, I hope you all have a good week and make good choices!
Love, Sister Smiley
Pictures: The golden room in Rathaus last week, extreme personal touching a member (they told us to leave it under the stairs), and we treated ourselves to dinner last week because we wanted to and we could.
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