Today, we traveled many hours to visit the snow-frosted Oberammergau.
I have never seen anything like the frescos splayed in dramatic detail across the outer walls of buildings; nor have I seen such beautiful wood carvings, which the town has been famous for for centuries. We wandered though many shops before I chose which Nativity set to purchase. In one, we spoke to a man whose picture was framed on the wall on the front page of a newspaper. His brows were creased in concentration as he whittled away his masterpiece, wood shavings left and right along with other completed proofs of his amazing talent. He told us about the once-a-decade Passion Play, put on by the residents of Oberammergau, a beloved tradition begun in THE SIXTEEN HUNDREDS. "The people here must be very religious," guessed Sister Gach. He agreed with a solid yes.
*stay tuned next week for more pics*
The best way to sum up this week is that the morning after Sister Franchino got here I tried to get up and then immediately had to lay on the floor before I passed out. It's been a fun few days of fevers, coughing, freezing, and struggling to breathe. But all is well in the land of the Celestial language, at least it's pretty here. As a trainer, one has to try and give their golden a good first taste of the mission she has been called to. For the first dinner hour we visited the Christmas markets. I also had to make sure she tried a döner. I felt bad that I was so out of it but we worked hard anyway.
The golden fire is REAL.
Notable Notes
- I look forward to this following week of knocking on as many doors as possible before Christmas is over.
- Sometimes in tiny towns the buses come very rarely so you just get to take an hour walk through the rolling hills.
- It was so depressing saying bye to Sister Howsmon.
- I was showing 5-year-old Spanish twins all my pictures and for those of you who understand Spanish they were calling all my pictures feo and estupido haha
- Accents are a struggle when learning a language. Nobody wants that super-American "ar", but sometimes it's hard to do the German R than to just skip the R altogether. For example, I was trying to talk about how in Arizona we have spicier ("scharfer") things like how we grew jalapeños in our garden... But in my attempt to not sound American she thought I was talking about sheep ("Schafe").
- We got a have a nice chat at an Irish pub
- A flirty guy slipped his number to my golden #awkward
- We have gotten so many little gifts from members, they are the best.
This week I have been reading lots in the New Testament as well as in Preach My Gospel. There are two quotes that I found: "Pure religion includes caring for the poor." and "By caring for the poor we help fulfill our baptismal covenant and retain a remission of our sins." I love that. I was so proud of the young women's and young men's groups this week as they brought what they could together, to decorate for Christmas the home of a family who's father recently lost his job. We don't have to do much to show others that they matter, and I think that really shows all the difference.
Love Always,
Sister Lundgreen
