Week 57 BJF Dec 14

This week has been all over the place and I don’t know where to start.

I guess I’ll go day by day.

Last Friday the Wesel branch had a Christmas party which my companion and I had the honor of participating in. There was lots of food and some interesting German traditions and Weihnachtsgeschichten. But the highlight for us was as we performed „Rockin around the Christmas Tree“ while dancing around a very pitiful tree. In the moment we were very proud Americans. We then ran out of the room before they could applaud so we could go quickly change to preform a second song. We sang Feliz Navidád complete with sombreros, ponchos, and maracas shaped like fruit. We don’t have the video yet so I’ll attach it next week. I’d say we stole the show. We also had a visit from Santa and all the kids got presents and it was adorable.

As we began to clean up some of the children ran up to me screaming „Es Schneit! Es Schneit!“ and low and be hold, as I ran out with the kids there were giant flakes of ice descending from the heavens. I haven’t had much experience with snow so I was freaking out as much as the kids.

The following Sunday we almost cancelled church due to the possibility of more snow. After we finished the 3rd hour it started snowing rather heavily. We were spontaneous invited to our branch presidents house and we drove through the heaviest snow storm I’ve ever experienced as he told us stories of winters past. After a pleasant lunch appointment we almost couldn’t get back home since the roads were dangerous and most the trains weren’t running. We were able to get home and my companion (from North Dakota) kept complaining about stuff shutting down. Since he gets 100ft of snow every day back home he thinks the rest of the world is prepared for sudden snow haha. 

The snow would fall heavily in the morning, melt in the evening, be gone the next morning, and then snow heavily again. On Monday I spent the day on an exchange in Duisburg. We got there just fine but as my temporary companion and I got ready to go out we realized the streets were again covered in the icy magic from the sky, we were able to catch a bus half way to our first destination and were then stuck in that part of the city til the snow melted again in the evening. 

I like snow days.

In other non ice related news. We’ve got a few new guys we’re working with. One who’s been investigating the church for 10–15 years and might finally be ready to move forward. Another one just randomly showed up to church again after 6 months.

We continue to work with our Spaniard and he’s making more progress than ever.

We also now have Smartphones....so that’s new...and weird.

We went to another Weihnachtsmarkt in Dortmund. Lots of Christmas stuff and lots people.

Yeah, til next week.

–Elder Fuller

That's quite a hat, Elder!!