18 Months

Hello Family!

Questions From Mom-

So do you have a p-day the week you come home?  Yes, it's a normal week next week too so normal PDay.
Do we write you next Sunday still? I would appreciate an email, so I would suggest a yes.
What will your schedule be that week?  The schedule is monday. PDay to pack and say good bye, Tuesday get to Berlin by noon and have exit interviews and make sure finances and medical and other paper workey jazz are in order. Then dinner and  testimony meeting with the other finishers and the Kosaks, then early Wednesday morning get on a plane. From there I Have no idea what my travel plans are so you know more than I do.
Will you be traveling with other returning missionaries? no idea.
 Will you call us at all? no idea
 What are you doing this week?  missionary work. Lots of member appointments, finding new people, service prjects, and there is a dancing Relief  Society activity where Sister Piteck and I are in charge. She is a dance teacher at home so will teach ballet, perform a piece, then we'll dance a duet she coreographed and she wants me to teach a little tap if there is time left over. (she said my tap was good which is funny)
Everyone keeps asking me how you feel about coming home.  So, how do you feel? everyone asks me this question too and I don't know what to say to them. I don't feel anything special. I signed up for 18 months of service to the Lord, I have served as best as I can for 18 months and 2 days now, with 8 or so more days to go, then I will come home. I am sad to leave the members, the German food, and my nametag, but I knew it was coming. I am not sad to leave the lame pillows here, the bad heating systems, or the inappropriate billboards. I am a little nervous for school, work and boys, but don't think too much of it. I think a lot about what I have done on my mission and if I should have done things differently but feel like everything has taught me and was for good. I feel like this next week will be a good week and am excited to see if it is. I feel a little stressed out when peopl eask me this question becuase it's like they expect a certain answer but I don't know what it is. 

This past week was good. On Wednesday we had an appointment with the Elders so we could hand off one of our male investigaotrs to them. The lesson went very well and our investigator's gilrfriend was there and we got her number! We are working on getting her to be an ivestigator too. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she'd read it. The lesson focused a lot on the Book of Mormon becaue they both are pretty strong Catholics and it is a little strange to have a new book. I was able to use a lot of scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon about their questions and was impressed with myself for remembering the references to them all but that was the Spirit. Hope that gift stays after the mission.

On Thursday we were looking for a less active member and after a series of strange events involving a bike and cookies, my middle finger was crushed between a door and a wall. At first we thought it was broken because the sweeling happened so fast and it hurt so much. The skin split because the swelling happened so quickly and little red spots appeared where we think veins exploded. it was fatter than my thumb. Sister Piteck freaked out a little and wanted to take me to the doctors but I didn't want to go. She took me to a member's house in the area instead who's sister is a nurse, and what do you know, the sister was there for a visit! They cleaned me up and gave me a make shift cast. Good thing it has been freezing here because there was no ice to ice it with but i just had to have no glove on or touch a meatal pole. It was a cool purple colour down to the second knuckle, just so your mental image is accurate. This picture was take a day or so later and the swelling and colour was  already sugnificantly better and it is not broken, I can move it now. This lovely illistration is in the children's version of the D&C which we found in the church.
 

Saturday was my 18 month mark since entering the MTC! Now I'm in overtime missionary mode! We celebrated by singing in Stake Conference. (Dad, no investigators came to church because it was in Dresden and that's too far away they said) In President's talk, he made a joke about how the finishing missionaries getting married and then he looked right at me. All members of my ward were dying laughing in the audience. But it was a good meeting. It takes 2 hours 20 minutes to ride the train to Dresden and it was a little silly to drive back to Cottbus after the meeting, getting home late, to wake up early to get back for the sunday meetings, so we slept over with the Dresden Sisters! There are 4 Sisters in Dresden and 2 other sisters slept over to so there were 8 of us! It was a party. Sister Piteck's birthday was Friday, my 18 month mark Saturday and then another sister in Dresden got permission to extend her mission (which is new because since the age change we have not been allowed to extend, but it's changing now!), so we were partying for 3 reasons! It was fun.

Hope you have a great week! And Cameron, that was a wonderful talk! Good job :]

Love you all!

Love, 
Sister Walker