Partial Solar Eclipse (week 57)

Europe had a solar eclipse this past Friday. Here in Greifswald we had a 70% maximum partial solar eclipse. One of the most interesting things I've ever experienced!!

You CAN actually see the sun's reflection
a little off to the right of the sun!
HOW COOL IS THAT!

Our ward mission leader sent us a text about 20 minutes before it started, letting us know to look out for it—otherwise we would have had no idea, haha. It was supposed to start at 9.30 am and we kept looking at the sun to see if we could see anything, and all of a sudden, a chunk of the sun was gone! And it kept getting bigger and bigger until about 70% of the sun was covered up. You couldn't really see it unless you looked hard enough because the sun is just that bright, but as we were walking to district meeting, it seemed like a cloudy day but there just wasn't a cloud in the sky... There was literally less sunshine. And you noticed it. I tried to get a picture of it but my camera wouldn't actually take the picture when I could see it (I looked through the camera lens so it didn't hurt my eyes) BUT as I was looking back at the pictures I took, I found this one!

Another exciting thing about this week, I finally got my German drivers license! I started it in Hildesheim and then got transferred and then got transferred again but finally I got it. I had to give up my Utah one to get the new one, and that was rough, and who knows if I'll ever even drive a car in Germany, but hey it looks cool.

We found another new investigator this week!!!! That's #3 in my four months in this place... We were in Stralsund on Friday and I had forgotten the map (it was a rough morning) so we thought the day was ruined. We went by on some contacts that we already knew where they lived, and they weren't there...great. After leaving the last door, I turned around and talked to the first woman we saw. We had a great conversation about families and we gave her a Book of Mormon, and then she said, "That's all great, you know, but I'm more of a people-person. I could read in the book but I'd love to actually meet and talk to people about it!" We picked our jaws off the ground and told her that's exactly what we do! ...and then her phone rang. She said that she had to answer it and that she would just walk down the path a little ways and then come back. At first that sounds really sketchy and like she's just trying to get out of it, right? But we took her very seriously and waited like 20 minutes before she actually came back! She came back and said, "Now, where were we... right. We were just about to make out an appointment!" She gave us her name, address, AND phone number, told us to text and remind her about the appointment. Solid. So so solid. She's German and has two young kids. We're so excited.

I'll end with a great piece of advice from the oldest member in our ward that we visited this week. This guy is so old and is basically confined to his house, and the only people he comes in contact with are his kids, the missionaries, and a woman who takes care of him for work. So he concentrates all his missionary efforts on this woman. He invited her to read to him from the Book of Mormon because his eyesight is bad, and purposefully bears testimony that he'll see his wife again when she's in the room. While we were there, he told us that not reading from the Book of Mormon/strengthening your testimony every day is like reheating the same food over and over again, every single day. Why do that when you can have a new meal all the time? Words of wisdom, I tell you.

So I'll sign off with that...don't eat leftovers everyday. Eat a feast because you can.

Sister Seamons