Christmas just kind of sneaks up on you as a missionary. We don't really have the build up of anticipation. The whole pre-Christmas season was kind of anticlimactic. It was pretty much just normal work days. We just changed our approaches to focus on Christ's birth.
We spent some time writing Christmas cards for the members and wrapping gifts for our investigators. We just turned on some Christmas tunes and wrapped away. It brought some normalcy to our Christmas activities. That was nice. After we were done we planned out some delivery routes. We almost got to all of them, but we still have a few lingering gifts on our table...
We started our Christmas eve afternoon at a devotional with our ward. There were some great musical numbers and some fun Christmas stories and poems. It was fun to see all the members and wish everyone a merry Christmas. Our members are so generous and we left the devotional with so many thoughtful sweet gifts.
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We spent our Christmas eve with a member eating potato salad and wurst. That is typical German Heiligabend food.
The 24th is the day when Germans open up all the presents. We wanted to participate in the fun tradition, but we also wanted to have presents to open on Christmas morning. So we compromised. We opened all of our Deutscher presents on Christmas Eve and then we saved our packages from home for our Christmas Day.
We spent our Christmas with Gossels. We ate really yummy food, played Settlers of Catan, and had a tiny jam sesh. It was absolutely perfect!
A Christmas Tree with Candles!
The best part of the day was most definitely Skyping home! It was so fun to talk to my family and to see all of their faces. Pearl's hair is so long and she looks so grown up. Maddie was wearing a fuzzy purple jumpsuit with pom poms. Gracie updated me on the latest drama in the 5th grade. Kai showed me the boxes for all of his lego sets at least 5 times each. The little girls got dolls for Christmas too. It was so fun to see what everyone got. It made me feel like I was right there with them.
Here's a funny Skyping story!
While I was skyping, Präsident Gossel came up to check and make sure the computer and skype and everything was working ok. At the time only Kai, Grace, and Pearl were on the screen. I thought I had told him about my siblings, but I am pretty sure I haven't. He walked in and looked at the screen and then asked me in a super puzzled voice who I was skyping. I told him that it was my family and then the whole family quickly gathered around the screen to say hi. He said hi and wished them a merry Christmas and then went back downstairs. Sister Hayden told me that he came back down and asked her more about it.
The whole thing was just super funny. He was just taken by surprise to walk in and find Sister Brown skyping with Asians :)
As a mission, we just finished reading the Book of Mormon. I had also made it a goal to finish Jesus the Christ. I started awhile ago, but it is a serious pursuit for someone who doesn't particularly like to read. I was able to finish them both on Christmas Eve. I learned a lot and my testimony of the Savior and His Atonement was definitely strengthened.
I want all of you to know that I have a testimony that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives and that He loves me and all of you and all of the people here in Germany. I know that He wants the best for us. He wants to help us. I know that He suffered for everything I will ever go through so He knows exactly how I feel. That means I am never alone.
I am so thankful for Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here in Germany and serving Him. I am grateful for the chance to put on a name tag every day with my name right next to His.
I wish you all a great week and a happy new year!!
Love,
Sister Brown
This weekend is transfer calls. I am getting pretty nervous. I have been here in Osnabrück since May so it might be time for a new area. I have some places I would love to go and then also a few that I have black listed. President Kosak told us all to stop submitting transfer wishes so this time it is all up to revelation :) We will see...
During the Christmas holidays we are allowed to have longer member visits. We used this extra time to learn how to knit. B K is a knitting master. She attempted to teach me this week. Sister Hayden is also pretty pro. She just needed a few reminders and then she was off!
I was not.
I think B realized that she had her work cut out for her when it took me like 15 minutes and 500 tries to get the first knot made. It was tying a string around a stick!! It should not have been so hard. I would like to blame it on the fact that I am a leftie and had to figure it all out backwards or on the fact that I was being taught in German, but those are weak excuses. I just can't knit. B should win an award for her patience and teaching skills.
At the end of the knitting sesh Sister Hayden held up her creation and B commended her for her efforts. The stitches looked so even and her rows lined up. She had done great! Then we all looked at my mess of knots and twists with a gaping hole in the middle...
I was told that it just takes practice so I have been working on it. It is kind of hard to develop new skills like knitting with all this nonexistent free time that I have, but I will work on it. One day I will send B a picture of a knitted creation and she will know her efforts were not completely wasted.
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