Adventure's out there!

Hello, hello, hello!

Wow, this week has been really busy. we did a lot of walking and I weighed myself. I've lots 6 lbs. in the last 2 weeks what with all the walking we have to do. And we walk fast -- probably 4.5mph. I'm pretty sure we walk about 10 Clicks a day, (for those of you who don't know, a Click is short for Kilometer, which is just over 1/2 a mile -- so, that's about 5 miles a day). We walk to the Bahnhoff/Forum (mall) about 3 times a day, and that's about click. Then we walked to several of the less active/potential and investigators houses, and those are a good 5 clicks a piece. Sometimes we go to Gießen (geese-en) and walk all over there. It’s crazy how much walking we do. But it's fun.

So last Monday and today (P-Day) was all errands and fun stuff like that. We did our studies, went food shopping, and then we cleaned the apartment, and now it's all pretty again. I did laundry for the first time here and it was weird. We have no dryer, so there were clothes hanging on the heaters (there's on ins every room) and on the rack in the bedroom. it was really funny, and I laughed a lot this morning.

Tuesday we went exploring in a suburb of Gießen, trying to find where our dinner appointment for tomorrow would be. We walked about 3 extra clicks, and somehow I had breath to talk the whole time, and even sing a little. We talked about family and a little about friends, I shared the music from some of my favorite musicales we talked about philosophies and Sister Blackhurst shared one her dad came up with. It’s "ABP =always be positive." I've decided that this is one of "my new philosophies" -- and yes, I did sing that song for her, Danika, and Cheyenne. it was great fun.

Wednesday was really hecktic. We went to a suburb of Gießen to meet with one of the ward members, sister Titse (Teat-sa) who is an American and is helping us with our German. we call it "German Class," and usually it's on Thursdays, but we were going to have Zone training on Thursday, but there was a Zug Strike (a train strike -- everybody knows what strikes are, right?), so we rescheduled German Class for Wednesday. it was really fun, and super informative. we practiced articles, which was way helpful because 3/4 of grammar is based on the articles. German is so complicated. But I think I'm starting to get the hang of the articles deal. it's great!

We had a lesson with Wolfgang at Moo's (Mo's), which is a bakery that's only popular here in Wetzlar. We usually meet at the one in Forum, which is probably more busy than the one just down the street, but that's where Wolfgang likes to meet, so that's where we met him. Wolfgang in the cutes little old man, probably in his 70s. he speaks pretty good English and so most of our lessons are in English. Sometimes Sis. Blackhurst slips into German, and he follows, and then it just switches back and forth, and it's really funny. So he likes to go off on random tangents and one of the tangents he got on this week was about taking Sister Blackhurst and her mother to Paris after Sister Blackhurst finishes her mission. (She hits her 1/2 way mark on the 19th of this month). So he does that, and it's just so cute. Sister Blackhurst and I both think he's ready for Baptism, but he's being stubborn and keeps saying "it's easy for you, you were raised this way, your whole family's members. I was raised as a Catholic." we've tried to convince him that he can still change, even though he's older. I don't know. We’ll get him there. He reads from the Book of Mormon when we give him chapters, and he's honest when he hasn't read. he's just the best. and his friend, Gunther, who -- prior to this- had had no interest in meeting with the missionaries actually opened up and expressed an interest in hearing us out, and he participated in the discussion with Wolfgang and it was great. I'm sure both of them felt the spirit, and I'm super excited to see them progress.

So, Thursday we DIDN'T have Zone training because of the strike, (which ended this morning) so we went to the Rathous (city hall) to see if we could make an appointment for getting my Visa. All the Goldens are here on Passports right now, and can be for about 6 months. Hopefully we'll all have our Visas by then. Anyway, we walked over there for that, and the lady that helped us said they’d sent me a letter with my appointment time. So we went home and made sure our mailbox had my name on it so I could get my letter. And I got mail for the first time since being in Germany. it was so cool. Anyway, then we went to Gießen and did street/bus contacting. It was fun. We had an appointment with Michael at 6, but he stood us up. Apparently he wasn't as interested in being reactivated as we thought. it made Sister Blackhurst and I both upset that he didn't call or anything -- he just didn't show up for the second week in a row.  I'm not sure if we're going to keep trying with him or not. I guess we'll see.

Friday after studies and planning, Our Appointment with Diana fell out, so we decided that it would be a good idea to coordinate member and area books with the Gießen Elders because our ward is huge, and things are kind of disorganized. So we tried and tried to get to Gießen to meet with them, but with the Zug strike, it was almost impossible -- our train got canceled, and then we had to take the bus, and we'd just missed one waiting for the Zug, so we had to wait forever, and then the drive over took over an hour, and by then it was about 7:30 and we had to be back to the apartment by 9, and the last bus came at 8:30-something and because we were planning we missed it (barely, which was aggravating) and so then we went to the train station and had to take a Zug back (thankfully it didn't fall out) and it was just the craziest most fun evening of the week. but at least we got started in our coordination efforts with the Elders. it was fun.

Saturday we had another lesson with Wolfgang (Gunther was, unfortunately, absent), but I think we may have finally gotten the "you can change" idea through to him. Sister Blackhurst talked about her friend that's serving his mission in Paris right now, and showed him pictures of Josh and her family and we ended talking about Temples for a bit and how, after he's baptized, Wolfgang can do his parents Temple work and they can be members, too. it was really cool. 

Sunday was Pfal Konferenz (Stake Conference), and it was tough. We got a ride with the Schneiders who know absolutely no English, and then we ended up going to their house after for dinner. Longest 6 hours of my life. Probably because I couldn't understand 3/4 of what was said, but I got the gist of it. it made me really tired, though. but it was great. it was super fun. I just wish I could understand more. Maybe for the next conference, I'll be able to say "Yeah, I understood most of it." we'll see. I'll let you know.

All’s well that ends well, and this week has ended very well in deed, and I'm super excited to see what adventures this new week will bring. I'll keep you posted.

Love you all, and miss you. Keep smiling because, as a good friend once told me "Satan hates it when you smile. Rub it in his face :)"

The adventure continues!

Sister Montgomery