What was that?

This is another one of those "What was that?" weeks. There was not a lot of astounding  experiences, but rather a blur of unexpected turns and changes of plans. It is amazing how we can go from day to day not entirely sure what to expect next.

With the regular Institute year over, we decided to not stop holding activities on Wednesday evenings, just no lessons, per se. This week we had the pleasure of one of our less-active families coming to get help with family history research. Sister B had a blast helping them and trying to understand what they were saying. They have a fairly strong local dialect. Through it all, I could hear her really doing well in speaking good German and she succeeded in finding some good leads for their research. Through it all, I was frantically (ganz sehr frustriert!) trying to help our Italian/Macedonian friend get tickets to go to Italy in his way back to Macedonia. That took quite a while with Sister B occasionally dropping in on my hair-pulling to help me keep my focus. In the end it all worked out, but I missed all the fun with the family history research.

Oh well, we had some good experiences yesterday in the church, finding some family history connections for another family on some microfilm research. I had arranged to have some films sent here and we have had good success finding people and filling in families for the family.

We had a wonderful time on Thursday evening visiting a Macedonian family in Markdorf. We have been "teaching" them for about a year already, but have not been able to make much progress because of the language barrier. Sasha helped them really understand a lot about the church and the Gospel. I are grateful that the Lord sent us someone to help us, even though we are still trying to communicate with him!  I am also grateful for the iTranslate app on my iPad that helps us communicate with Sasha. Unfortunately, I can only use it at home and at the church (wireless access).

We went out the the elders a couple of times to try to find people in Friedrichshafen. Once, as we were looking up an old investigator, they came across a member and had a good visit with him. We knew that he lived in Friedrichshafen, but never knew where or how to contact him. Now we have a connection. The Lord moves us where we need to be.

Also this week we have had the World Cup soccer games. Yes, it has been a bit crazy here. Last night the German team won the final championship game (as I am sure you probably already know). The people go absolutely nuts about these games, especially in the wins. We never see German flags anywhere, even on public buildings, but as mentioned a bit before, we see a lot right now. Also, driving around town (or even trying to sleep) is difficult when Germany wins. It was a long a noisy night last night.

There are only two pictures today and one has nothing to do with anything mentioned here - just a bit of fun.

This is a small sample of the celebrations here. They carry flags and honk horns, waving at everyone in the streets. Elder Richman got some good pictures and a video. I will see whether we can post something more later.

Whenever I see this I think about my fun days as a scout master. The boys would go nuts about this. The Germans, when they wish you a good trip say "Gute Fahrt!" 

Yes, it is pronounced that way (goo-tah fart).