November 26, 2012

Sorry people, this week will be short. And I probably won't be able to respond personally to all of your emails, but just hold your bunnies tight. Next week will be better. Probably. Mostly because I AM IN HAMBURG RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no time for you, just my lovely and favorite city ever. Besides Lyon. And Paris. So 3rd favorite.

Ok. Bielefeld is a dream and a half. No one was kidding, this place really is the land of dreams. We NEVER have time to talk to people on the street, and we're teaching like 20 people. We don't have time for everyone! It's ridiculous! Also my new companion's name is Sister Olsen. She's from all over (army brat), and she's pretty cool.

So one of the people we are teaching is named Joe. He is so cool! He keeps telling us that he really wants to find his faith in Jesus Christ, and he's really interested in the Book of Mormon. It's a dream, really, except for a small point - we teach him at his friend's house. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except that his friend is a suuuuuper anti-Mormon! Like times 10 million!! It's the weirdest situation ever. Joe in one corner, asking us about Christ and the Book of Mormon, and his friend in another corner, asking us about temples and telling us that Joseph Smith was a crystal ball glass reader. Whatever that means. Example conversation:

Friend: Did you know that when Joseph Smith died that he was found with a talisman in his pocket?
Joe: What the heck is a talisman?
Friend: An ancient device that helps people of the devil read the future. It's a symbol of bad things. Talismans are basically symbols that people carry around to remind them of certain things.
Joe: Like how the cross is a symbol of Christ?
Friend: No! That is different! Talismans are bad, and you can carry them with you!
Joe: Don't you wear a cross?

Bahahahaha hilarious. Sister Olsen and I were just dying. Also can I please tell you about one of our Russian members here? Ok I will. His name is Valentin (or something) and we meet with him once a week to help him with his english. So at our appointment with him this week we were talking about introductions and how in America we automatically say "how are you?" right after we say "hello!" because it's culturally polite. So then we asked him what they say in Russia. I quote the following: (In a thick Russian accent) "After we say hello, we say 'I WILL KILL YOU.'" Well, it took me awhile to recover from laughing, I think I fell off my chair. I'm just loving it here in good ol' Bielefeld.

The city itself is fairly small. Maybe the size of Omaha or a little smaller. It has this old castle thing that we are seeing next week. I'm in Hamburg today because we have a conference thing and we have to spend the night here, so we thought what the hey! Let's just go up early and spend our p-day here. Love it. I'm going to see some old investigators so I'm a little bit dying of happiness.

Ok I will go now.

Love your guts.

Sister Young