I can't really remember my week right now, but I'm pretty sure it was good. Let's see if I can jog my memory a bit.
So.. I'm gonna look at pictures even though most of them aren't from this week.
1. Thanksgiving - Elder McCallister, Elder Ririe, and my Pumpkin Pie
2. More Thanksgiving - Elder Ririe and Elder Thom
3-5. I finally took some pictures of Burg Bentheim
6. Elder Crowther - which reminds me I did yet another Tausch this week - I'll tell you about it in a minute.
7.More Burg
8. The Back of the Weihnachtsmarkt in Rheine
Actually, all of those but the Thanksgiving ones are from this week.
So on Wednesday after Distrikt Meeting, Elder Ririe ran off to Osnabrück with his dear friend Elder Ririe, While Elder Crowther stayed in Bad Bentheim with me. First we went by some people, put some cards in people's mailboxes, and then we retaught the 2nd lesson to F, who was recently baptized. It was a lot of fun, and he spent the whole time making fun of Elder Crowther's writing/drawing skills.
While no one made fun of my writing/drawing skills, they would soon thereafter have ample opportunity to make fun of my driving skills. (To those of my readership who cringe at the site of words matching up in adjacent lines, I excuse myself for 2 reasons. 1. They probably won't line up as well in the format you read it in, and 2. It was meant to be a parallel statement, so it's actually nice in this instance) You see, Elder Crowther has not yet received his German Drivers license, but has surpassed the 6 months in which ones American license is valid. I then, was left to navigate the perilous journey to Rheine. Now when I say perilous journey, I mean the nice, quick, 20 to 30 minute joyride that is usually found between those two cities. Only I drive like an old lady. We actually made it to the city of Rheine quite well - however, once there I needed to fill up the gas tank. So we put the gas station in as a point of interest in the Tomtom, which I was able to follow fairly well, to our destination, which was in fact, a mortuary/gravestone engraving shop, and not a gas station, as our Navi claimed. Lest you take this as a foreshadowing of the ultimate restingplace of our journey, let me remind you that I am in fact writing this email, and therefore survived my ordeal. It is perfectly acceptable, however, to take this as an omen of the metaphorical ill turn which was taken. So I pulled off into a sidestreet where I telephoned my trusty companion to inquire as to the actual location of our gas station, which he was able to amply supply, inclusive of satisfactory instructions of how to reach said destination. These I followed very carefully and was able to get to the gas station without event. In the return journey I met my demise. From the gas station, it was a simple issue of returning to the Ring, which encircles the city center, until I was able to pull off onto the sidestreet where we are accustomed to parking. On an ordinary night, this wouldn't have presented much of a problem - BUT THIS WAS NOT AN ORDINARY NIGHT! (Did I tell you that the Blankens were watching that one time? Those crazy Lektektiliums or whatever they're called) Actually, the night was pretty ordinary, though the dark raininess didn't help me much. So, the Ring in Rheine is tricksy, false and wicked (Wow! that literary allusion was way depthier than I initially intended for it to be! I wasn't even thinking about what I was calling tricksy false and wicked...) for you see, there are lots of times when the lanes and turns, and roads sticking off of the ring are a little bit difficult to follow. And anything like that that's a little bit difficult is a lot o' bit difficult for me. So, I of course got confused when I was supposed to turn left to stay on the ring, but instead went straight onto a terribly constricting road, ended up driving in lots of circles, running into several dead ends and nearly into quite a few pedestrian areas before I finally met my final resting place in our usual parking spot. I cried out "Land!" as I tore myself from the wreckage that was our entirely undamaged vehicle. Our Journey whose naive beginning took place at about 4:00, at last found its close at 5:45. If I get a new companion in a few weeks, I really hope he can drive.
I think it's funny how the times I think I don't have anything to say are the times I get into story mode and end up taking forever....
Some other good things that happened during the week was a meeting with G, to which the Thoms accompanied us, which was quite nice, where we discussed the Plan of Salvation and more about Priesthood authority, The ward Christmas party on Saturday, which was quite a bit of fun, and to which M and her kids came. They also came to church, which was really good. Her daughter loves primary - I think she's the cheif force in getting them to church. I also had to give a talk (which I'd been assigned at the Christmas party, since the one in charge for the week had totally forgotten he was in charge) So I talked about Joy, since yesterday was the Advent of Joy, and thought the brief parts where I tried to say something out of my head were short, garbled, and terrible, I read some excellent selections from addresses of Elders Eyring and Wirthlin.
So yeah, it's been a good week. I know this church is true, and I know that through Jesus Christ we can have joy. Because of his sacrifice we can repent, be forgiven, and become more like him, and find joy therein. We can also fill our everyday lives with joy, despite our struggles, by looking to him, looking up, and learning to laugh.
Oh, and I suppose you asked me a couple questions that I ought to check on - just the singing thing. I sing along with the congregation in Sacrament meeting, and I sing a little bit in the apartment, but I think that sometimes drives Elder Ririe crazy. We were going to do some Christmas Carolling as a ward, but that fell through (see, my english is getting better every day). Otherwise, I don't sing to much.... I figure if someone liked my voice enough to ask me to I would, but I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable waltzing around inviting people to hear how amazing my voice is. I feel like that's an awkward place to end my email, but I'm gonna anyway, cuz that's how I roll. Have a nice life, a beautiful week, and a marvelous Christmas season.
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