Went to Switzerland!!!!

Well, I am in my second week in Freiburg now and I am still figuring it out and getting to know the transportation and the area, but it is going great. Yesterday we had stake conference actually and right now I am in the Zürich Stake, so that meant we had to go to Zürich yesterday...yup, life is hard :) It was super nice because our ward rented out a huge coach bus, so we all met at the church in the morning and drove together for an hour and a half. Talk about a ward road trip. It was so great. And SO pretty. We got a few glimpses of the Swiss Alps. I tried taking some pictures, but my camera would just not do it justice. 

Anyways, we got to conference. None of the ward buildings are big enough for the whole Stake, so they rented out a conference hall sort of thing at a university there. It was probably one of the coolest Stake Conference experiences of my life. The whole room was red :) Conference was really good. President and Sister Kohler were there. I love them both a lot. Sister Kohler got to speak and she talked about when she decided to serve a mission when she was 21. She served a mission in California (somewhere) and said that she started out with just a little wish to serve a mission, and over time it grew. I have noticed that throughout my mission too. Of course I started out wanting to serve, but the more I do it, the more I want to keep doing it. I did not come on a mission simply to get high numbers and go on the most insane tour of Europe of my life. I came here to invite people to come unto Christ, and let me tell you, it is so worth it. So yeah, conference was great. It was also fun because I got to see a lot of missionaries that I haven't seen in a long time. We all chatted and caught up on what we had been doing for the last number of months and then Sister Earnshaw and I hopped on our bus back to Freiburg. It was a really good day. And of course, we brought snacks, because I don't like being hungry :)

In Augsburg, we had a sport abend every Thursday where we played volleyball. It was a great activity to invite basically anyone to. Well, I was finally getting the hang of volleyball when I got transferred here. Guess what? There's a sport abend in Freiburg too! Except we don't play volleyball...we play soccer...and all of the YSA's come. I haven't played any soccer since I was in the MTC and it's not like I had any real skill there either. Well, you will be happy to know that I actually scored two goals this week. They were the kind where I accidentally kicked the ball in the right direction and everyone watched it slowly roll into the goal, and then they all looked at me like they couldn't believe that actually just happened, but I'm going to call it divine intervention. German YSA's playing soccer is intense. It is seriously no joke, but it was way fun. We'll see what happens next week. 

On Saturday we did a service project. There is a family in this ward that heats their house with wood (I think it's more economical) but that means that they need to go into the forest every Saturday and chop down loads of wood. So we went with the Elders and met this family in the Black Forest (it was so pretty) and the dad cut down a bunch of trees with a chain saw, the Elders chopped it, and then Sister Earnshaw, the mom, the daughter and I carried it to the stack. It was a solid work out, but after my suit case escapade on transfer day, it was really nothing. I think I actually have biceps now. That's a new sensation for me :) We were there basically the whole day doing that and we got pretty dirty, but it was so great. We roasted wurst over a camp fire for lunch and had potato salad and drank loads of water. It was something I had never done before, but it was good. Not many people can say that they went to the Black Forest to do a service project.

So yeah, that was basically my week. When I say basically, I mean that is just part of what happened. I couldn't possibly write everything that happened, because a lot happens in one week, especially on a mission, but it was good. I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!

Love,
Sister Smiley
 
Pictures: Sister E and I with a "welcome to the district" gift from the Elders, the main part of Freiburg, Sister E and I at Stake Conference with our bus :)