Christmas in Germany

tomorrow is christmas eve and this is like the BIG day for germans. they open all their gifts that evening. we're going over to the Pavels tomorrow after our ward little christmas thing at the church. it's like a christmas devotional thing that all the churches do every year on christmas eve. then on christmas we're going to a part-member family (the husband isn't a member) and we're having lunch and then they are taking us to go for a walk in the Black Forest... i'm SO excited about it. she said we should wear jeans because it's cold and there's some snow :) then the day after christmas (it's called 2nd christmas) we're having lunch at a members home then we're going to the church to hang out with our district and watch movies and play games and such. so i'm really excited about this week i think it's going to be a lot of fun!

(And then on the evening of Christmas, she will be getting a phone call from her loving family!!! ♥)

sister barnhart and i have been really struggling. on sunday we had an appointment fall out and that was kind of the last straw and sister barnhart started crying so i took her into the bathroom and we just sat on the bathroom floor while she cried. our poor elders didn't know what to do. it's really hard being a missionary here at christmas time. no one cares. and we're so far from other missionares. it takes an hour to get to heidelberg and so we're like a 6 man island with no investigators and no success stories. our apartment is a dump and president doesn't care. i think sister barnhart and i are getting whitewashed out of karlsruhe at the end of this transfer cycle. well she's going home but i don't think there will be sisters in karlsruhe anymore.

we are getting really tired and we struggle not to cry to the point where everything is just funny. we're laughing SO much - i think we're going crazy. our elders can tell that we're just losing it so yesterday they were in heidelberg because one of them had to go see a doctor and they bought us a special dessert that you can only get in heidelberg and told us how great we are. it was sweet of them.

christmas is not a fun time to be a missionary and the bummer part is that it'll get worse after christmas because it'll just be cold and people are going to be grumpyer. every morning i wake up and do what bob does in What About Bob... he rubs his temples on the side of his head and says 'i feel good. i feel great. i feel wonderful'

jame: hey thanks for your email. you know i'm not picky about what people write in their emails to me. i love knowing what's going on with you and how you're doing and stuff. sounds like you're working a lot! money is always good. sorry you aren't on her facebook anymore. i haven't heard from her for like a year so i have no idea what's going on. when do you head to school?? FELIZ NAVIDAD!! :)

Meg. hallo liebe! yeah it's crazy how much snow you have there in redmond!!! don't worry about not sending my package yet. it'll be great to get something after christmas too!!! tell your family MERRY CHRISTMAS from me and to brian too. let me know how jamie's wedding turns out. take lots of pictures and email them to me!! LOVE YOU

Marci: thanks for the email! and thanks for sharing your experince with me. i love being in the temple. it's so wonderful and i'm sad that we're too far south to attend the temple. i know you will love it there when you feel you are ready to attend - it's such a great blessing! have a great christmas!!!

Pierre: that's cool that you get to spend time with pyper and roane - those two are so funny. i met roane when he was serving down here in the south when i first came to germany.tell them i say hi would ya? hafer is a great district leader. we were in the mtc at the same time and came to germany together. well i hope you're doing great and that you have a frohe weihnachten!