Stories

Well... I honestly don't even know where to begin because so much has happened the past two days.

My brain is also on vacation because I over-worked it, so bear with me.

Friday night I finally decided to go and meet these other nannies. Everything went ok.

When they were deciding what movie to watch I just spoke up and convinced everyone to watch one that I could, so that was no big deal.

One of the girls did bring vodka and wine, of course. But when they were asking who wanted to drink, I was just straight up about it and said I don't drink.

Then they kinda all just decided not too, which was good.

Since I was new they were all asking me questions and when I told them I was from Utah one of the girls was all,

"Oh, so then you must be a Mormon?"

You would not believe how many times I've been asked that since I've been here.

Anyways, the rest of the girls were all confused. Apparently they had no idea what a Mormon was.

So then they all were curious, what is a Mormon? What makes me different from everyone else? What do I believe?

If you know me, you will know how much I LOVE being put on the spot like that.

Obviously there is no simple answer to everything they asked me.

But basically I said that everything we believe in revolves around Jesus Christ, and that His gospel has been restored upon the Earth.

They asked me questions for about a half hour. The usuals, like why I don't drink alcohol or coffee, smoke, have tattoos or piercings, the law of chastity... etc.

I answered everything a simply as I could, and they basically were just like, "oh that's cool, good for you."

But don't worry, that's not the good part of the story

.

I left with one of the girls around midnight to catch a train home because the others were having a sleepover.

She is 21, from Canada, and is just one of the nicest girls ever.

But, as we talked I found out that she has had a really hard life.

She was curious about what I had said, and asked me more about it.

I basically just bore my testimony to her, and told her that if she wants to know more I'd be happy to tell her or introduce her to my "friends" aka the missionaries.

She said she would think about it, and gave me her her number.

And I guess we are going to do something next weekend.

Today, I had a similar experience.

I met this columbian kid in my German class. We will call him Columbia.

Nice kid, but don't worry folks he's like 28... so it's kinda weird for me.

Anywho, Columbia was the one who invited me to go clubbing and to this "festival" in Zurich.

Come to find out when I googled it, "Langstrasse" is actually the "red light district" of Zurich.

And if you don't know what a red light district is... google it, and you will understand my serious hesitation.

I took Kris and Joey's advice and decided nothing good could come from going.

He was... persistent... to say the least, though.

Instead, I talked him into going to the world championship of cliff diving in Sisikon.

It turned out to be super AWESOME.

The lake it took place at was gorgeous, the diving was kick butt, and they had burgers there the size of my face.

On the train back he randomly says,"So I heard you are probably crazy."

I was worried someone had ratted me out. But I asked what he meant anyways.

He said, "I don't know, you are Mormon or something."

Oh, that crazy side of me.

I told him yeah I was, but why he thought that made me "crazy."

He said it's just what one of his friends had told him.

He asked the standard questions, and I gave the standard answers.

But unfortunately, unlike the girls, it wasn't enough for him.

He wanted how I could be so sure about something I couldn't PROVE.

About why I was so content to just live a "boring life."

(Um, hello. I just moved across the world, didn't I? Pretty sure that is classified as NOT-lame.)

I had to try really hard not to argue with him, because I knew it wouldn't do any good.

I once again just bore my testimony, and left it at that.

And strangely enough, he was curious.

He said he wanted to "learn more about me, and what I believe."

I basically said, ok sweet. We will hang out again and I'll tell you more, or have my "friends" answer your questions.

And he agreed.

All of a sudden I'm feeling like I'm on a mission here.

It's so completely strange to me, not having everyone believe what I do, and know what I know.

And it's even harder for me to understand why they can't just automatically accept it.

I know it's true, so why don't they?

It's all so simple to me, but I guess it's a hard concept if you haven't grown up with it.

So this week, my gratitude for the gospel has jumped leaps and bounds.

How lucky am I to have grown up knowing what I do?

I feel so incredibly blessed right now. And I'm also really starting to see the big picture of missionary work.

I understood for a second what the missionaries feel ever day.

This crazy intense desire to give them what I have, the thing that would bring them true happiness.

It's like I wanted to take my brain and heart out and let them borrow it for a second so they could feel what I feel and know what I know.

Like I said, bare with me, I'm super tired ok?

But anyways, my appreciation and admiration of what the missionaries do everyday has just exploded.

I'm completely emotionally wasted. How can they do this everyday????

Anyways, that's what I did this weekend.

P.S. This is one of my Schweiz outfits. Yes, I did take a picture of my reflection in door while walking down the street. What's your point?

Miss you all! Peace out.