December 31, 2012

Guten Rutsch people!

That is the German way of saying "happy new year" and it translates to "good sliding!" as if they were condemning you to slipping on the ice and breaking your neck. Oh, those Germans...

Well. Christmas was a dream and a half. Also extremely uneventful on the missionary side of things, but interesting nonetheless.

Breakdown of German Christmas traditions as follows:

Christmas Eve/ Der Heilige Abend
Perhaps the one day in the year that most of Germany shows up at church for an "Andacht," or devotional. The Andacht is different depending on which church you attend, and ours was just a breakdown of the Christmas story and a couple of talks from people in our congregation.
Then everyone scurries home and gets ready for the Weihnachtsmann (Santa) to come and bring presents. As a last ditch effort to teach children the real meaning of Christmas, religious families might do a little nativity thing and sing "Silent Night," which is the German pride and joy (it was originally written in German and you are ONLY allowed to sing it on Christmas Eve). Then all the adults usher the children into another room and have them try to look for the Weihnachtsmann out the window while they bring out the presents and put them under the tree. Then to the children's surprise, the Weihnachtsmann snuck into their house unnoticed! But they don't care, they have presents and that's all that matters.

After opening all the presents, the family gets together and eats a giant feast and calls it a night.

Christmas Day 1
This day usually consists of lounging around, playing with the new presents, and eating left overs from the night before, and drinking beer.

Christmas Day 2
Oh yes, there are 3 days of Christmas here. More chances to get drunk! And also more excuses to spend time with family and relax.

And that is all.

We made out some new baptismal dates with Gabriel and Michael, some of our investigators. That's always exciting, I guess. I really have a lot of faith in Michael though, I am pretty sure he'll make it. Our lessons with him are so good! And he's starting to recognize the Holy Ghost, which is new for him and super exciting for us. He just needs to come to church more regularly and he'll be set!

Aaaaaaand we had transfer calls. These get less and less exciting as time goes on haha.

BUT guess who's going to be a trainer for a record of THREE TIMES?

Me. I am. Trainer Sister Young. And halleluja to that because I need someone really young for my last 2 transfers to help me stay focused. Also I really love training.

Well, I love your guts. I hope your Christmas was magical and you got everything you hoped for and gave even more!

Love,
Sister Young