Cassidy Nichole: Monday January 5, 2015 Halle, Germany

One Month In Germany!

If this wasn't a mission I would totally say that a month in a country is the perfect vacation time! Just enough time to kind of get used to things, get to know the culture, get to see everything, etc....However! I'm SO excited that I get to stay here for longer than a month! SO excited! P.S. When I get home and travel the world, (I'm going to do it...someday!) I would really like to stay in the country for like a month! Anyway...totally off topic! You guys sound like you had a really fun Christmas break! Love hearing all your updates! New Year’s sounded like fun! Wish the kids luck going back to school, and wish Dad (and you mom) luck with going back to work! I always hated going back to school. I think I wore hoodies every day the couple weeks after Christmas break. (Which I really wish I could do here also, but its ok!) Also, Rivers coat is the cutest thing ever! And I'm glad to see mom, that my boots are getting used still! Also, Hadlie’s black boots are very cute! I'm sure Colten has some cool clothes too! And yes! I did in fact buy a coat! Because....It is FREEZING here! It was on sale from about 170 € to about 99 € so yes, $122 sounds about right! So, uh, Merry Christmas to me for the next two Christmas's I guess!

So, last Montag the Elders were complaining about their dryer not working! (The dryers here suck by the way) So I was asking them if they cleaned out the filter thing, they said yes. Then in our dryers it like sucks the water out and keeps it in this thing that we have to empty. So I asked them if they emptied the water thing...they hadn't, like ever. Typical Elders! So now their dryer works! Haha! I also bought my coat on this day!

Dienstag we went grocery shopping for two less actives that really, physically can't shop for themselves. We counted it as our service for the week! Nothing too exciting happened this day.

Mittwoch was New Year’s eve! We had two eating appointments one at the Wutzlers. They are kind of a less active family...all I know is that going over there feels a lot different than going over to any active members house! Plus the food is always interesting! Sister Lisonbee tried to ask them what the meat was that we were eating. Elder Silver stopped her quickly from doing that! Then we went to the Burkhardts! They are my favorite! They have a 10 year old that is my height. Awesome. But she is fun! We played a board game with her. We ate some schnitzel and some really good mushroom sauce, and bread of all kinds! SOO good! Then we did fireworks! Which, by the way there is like NO rule for how big, or how early, or how many days before or after a holiday you can set them off! SO...for the past two weeks fireworks have been going off! So fireworks and sparklers were fun. Then we went to bed at 10:30. I don't think there is any physical way I could stay up till 12 on a mission!

Donnerstag New Years!! We had another eating appointment at the Ratzenburgs. She talks a lot, and very quickly! We all almost fell asleep! It was bad!

As a mission we started a Book of Mormon challenge! I'm reading it auf Deutsch (with a little help from the English scriptures to begin with) and I have a new way of marking which I'm really excited about! I have like 6 colors and the each represent something different. It's really cool! Ok, so this is what I want you to do! I'm going to send you a schedule of what chapters we are supposed to read, and I thought that It would be cool if you guys, either as a family (preferably as a family) or on your own would read it with me! It's like a chapter a day! Nothing too hard! And if anyone does it, it should be Colten! Because I think it will help with him preparing to go on his own mission!

Freitag, we had a lesson with a new investigator David. He is about 20, and from some country in Africa, speaks French, doesn't speak English, speaks a little German, and he can't read any language. In other words...It's really hard to teach him! But he wants to be taught! He loved it when we showed him pictures of the first vision, and baptism! It’s kind of like teaching a primary kid!

Samstag, we did finding for 6 hours and didn't find anyone! That was a little frustrating, but it happens sometimes! We accidently talked to some Jehovah Witnesses! They weren't wearing their skirts, and we talk to everyone we pass, so yep! We talked to them! They quizzed us pretty much and we invited them to our church and they invited us to their church (we were tempted to go, but we didn't). We also found a castle that’s a museum now! It's not open on Mondays though, so we will have to ask President if we can change some of our hours to go do that!

Sonntag, I got my hair stuck in Sister Lisonbee's blow dryer! It was only a little bit! Sister Lisonbee had to help me cut it off! Ha! But don't worry Brooke, I don't even know where it happened, so no, you can't tell! And guess what?! David came to church!! Oh we were SO excited!! We had him sit next to me and another lady in our ward who speaks French! It was awesome and she is a life saver! It's soooo sad because I want to teach him the gospel so so badly! But it’s so so hard! We really have to rely on the spirit for this one! I know he is looking for something! And I know that we have it! I just hope he can feel the Spirit when we teach him and when he comes to church!

Today we are going to the Chocolate factory! One of the oldest ones in Germany I think! So that will be cool!! Love you guys so so much! Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you! Also (mom), Sister Lisonbee told me to have you read Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale!

Love, Sister St. John