Discovering Halle (week 64)

Lots of finding this week... we had only three appointments. For some reason Sister Egbert only does finding in parks, which I find kind of restricting, because technically we should be doing finding...everywhere...all the time! So we've been expanding our boundaries and discovering more and more of this beautiful city! I've been thinking about it, and I'm completely content with dying here. I don't know if I'd want to die anywhere else. Halle is great. 

Since not much else worthy of note happened this week, I thought I'd share with all of you some of the many funny German quirks that we experience all. the. time. In a funny way I've come to understand my mom more because I've been here—it's not just cause it's who she is, but because she's German. :)

—Germans blow their nose EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE. In the tram, in the middle of sacrament meeting, grocery shopping. They're not at all shy about it. 
 
—Germans love going "spazieren," which basically means going for a walk. It's so cute to see all the old couples waddling around arm in arm, haha.

—Germans ALWAYS say "you're welcome" before you ever say "thank you." They're really... I don't know how to describe it... a mix between polite and obnoxious. They do something for you like give you your food or pick something up for you and say "bitte schön" literally immediately with a huge grin on their face like they just saved you from imminent death or something. I've started doing it and Sister Egbert makes fun of me, haha.

—Germans also, for some reason we don't understand, like to sit in rooms without the light on. We walked into ward council on Wednesday night at like 8:15 and they were all sitting there with only the light from the windows. And the sun had already gone down. Don't understand it. This is something that my mom does NOT do. 

—Germans are really blunt and don't ever beat around the bush. They tell you how it is. They're also really stubborn, especially here in East Germany. Pretty much the only way to convince them that their point of view is wrong is through logic. Then you've won their respect, haha.  

Gotta love Germany.  

If you're still wondering when we're getting ipads...no idea. Something about the shipment getting lost and ending up in a FedEx warehouse somewhere in the world...we'll see how that works itself out.  

I LOOOVE being a missionary!!! My English has gone down the toilet, my body is chronically tired, it's so hard to have conversations that don't go about missions or the gospel, and the time is flying by. Sometimes I find that I actually LOVE going finding—never thought I'd get there. ;) I'm grateful to be here, grateful for Sister Egbert, grateful for the relationships I have here.

12 more weeks.

Sister Seamons