One More Down

This last week was kind of tough, being the first full week back at school, but we made it!!  And during the week we had our first real snow in a while, it didn't stick around long, but I was so excited!!  It was just like a little taste of Provo again.

 This was this morning, now the snow is starting to stick and I love it!

 Last night I got to skye with Tosha for a little while and she is busy, but doing well at BYU.  I can't wait until the Sumer when she will be here again.

That's basically it for this week, we also brought in a new senior couple, I had choir, we just did normal things.  Not much is different.  I wanted to share something from a letter from Tanner that he wrote from me.  I was kind of in a slump last week and wasn't very excited about school, and church, and Germany in general and Tanner said this, 

"...as I looked around the little Chapel here in Moldova at all of the new people that I have met here, and I thought about how distant I felt, but how much I actually did love them it seemed ok. When I think about how weird and crazy life is for you at MIS and with the ward there, and with FSY coming up, I know that everything will be ok. In a little while all of these adventures will be over. Every person we are surrounded by will disappear from our lives...I can't believe that we are doing what we are, but I know that we should be here....When all else fails, and even the weather is terrible, I just go outside, look at the sky, thing about Heavenly Father looking back at me and I just smile. And I know he is aware enough to smile back :)"

Tanner is such an amazing missionary, and has such a gift for being positive.  He is a great example to me, and I hope you all keep him in your prayers.  

18 Months!

So Christmas was really good and we did a lot of fun things leading up to it.  Here are some small gifts I made for a few of my friends and my homeroom teacher.

 Rachel and me having a blast at a youth fireside where we watched The Polar Express

 ...And Maurice

 Then we got to go see our friend Angela Brower in the opera Hänsel und Gretel.  it was SOO good.  She played Hänsel and she was amazing.

 Our good friends the Wilsons were there too and we ended up sitting next to them.

 One night a lot of the American youth got together and played basketball and had hot chocolate and that was super fun.  I'll miss this crazy girl when she leaves this summer.

 On Christmas eve I helped make our traditional Tea-ring and it turned out nicely.

 On Christmas day we had a fun time as a family opening presents and then we went to Englischer Gardens and walked around, because it wasn't too cold.  There were tons of people there.  We sat on a bench and I took some artsy pictures.

 That night we got to Skype Tanner and I don't have a picture, but it was really good.  It felt so good to be reunited as a family and just get a boost from being together even if it was just for 45 minutes.  Tanner is doing so well.

The next day we headed to Linz, Austria and Sister Kohler wanted to stop and take pictures by these hay bales.  That day was also our 18 month mark here in Germany.  I can't believe it's halfway over already!

 We saw a cool church there...

 And did a freezing and foggy sculpture walk along the river.

 We also went to this nasty, weird museum called the Tooth Museum.  There was no one there and it had all these old dentist office set ups and nasty tools and old teeth.  It was so gross.  When my parents started watching videos I couldn't handle it so I just left and waited outside.

 "The Toothbreaker" (Ew)

 A case of old teeth

 A mannequin that kept scaring me

 Then we got some pastries and a large cup of hot chocolate.  So good.

 After Linz we headed to Vienna and road a tram up the mountain and did other various things, along with eating Chinese take out in our hotel room.

 We came back just in time for New Year's Eve where some of the youth had a little gathering.  Afterwards the whole city was exploding with fireworks.  Driving home was crazy with all of these explosions, smoke, and fog in the air, it was almost impossible to see.  It was like driving through a war zone!  The Germans love Sylvester!

 Then last night we got to go to the opera AGAIN to go see The Magic Flute.  It was long, but very well done and enjoyable.

Thanksgiving to Christmas and all in Between

So, it's been a while since I've posted, but we had our Thanksgiving dinner here with the missionary couple from the office, our friend Michael, and a couple of my friends, Saga and Alex from school.  We had a good time and ate and played games and just relaxed.  Of course we had a turkey and there was a wish bone.  Once it was dry, my Mom and I broke it and mine was longer!  But I'm not telling what my wish was...

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the homemade pumpkin pie.  It's hard to fine canned pumpkin here, but we had one can so we Sister Kohler made one pie, and from that came delicious pie crust cookies.  

Soon after Thanksgiving, the Christmas markets in the center of Munich opened up!  My choir sang on the balcony of the Rathaus on the night they opened in front of all of the center of Munich.  It was awesome!

On Thanksgiving we got to skype Tosha and the Kohler family...

Then the whole Clark family...

Then a few of our great returned missionaries, Elder Packer and Elder Spencer.

Early on in December I went to see the second part of Mockingjay with Rachel Sneddon and it was AMAZING!!!

I had lots of choir concerts throughout December and love being with the girls.  (Jodie and me)

Throughout December we have been lighting another candle on our Advent wreath every Sunday.  Here is the first one!  Almost time to light all four!

Then we FINALLY put up and decorated our Christmas tree

We missed Tanner this year, but he was still here in decoration!

Decorating the tree is not President Kohler's favorite activity...

Throughout December, President and Sister Kohler traveled around the mission and did four big Christmas zone conferences.  I couldn't go to most of them because of school, but I was able to go to one in Salzburg.  Waking up in the hotel there the view was GORGEOUS!

Sister Ahlm and me (she used to serve in Munich and we got really close)

On our way home we went to church in the Neuötting branch.  Afterward we went to a place in Altötting where there are four churches in one place, and I think you can see at least three of them there.

They had really cute rides and stands there with their Christmas market.

Then there was the transfer!!  Some great new missionaries came and then we sent the other ones home.  This was our first group of sisters that we brought in, Sister Mehr being THE very first sister that came.  She also served in Munich and I got close with her as well, along with all the other missionaries in this group.  A great loss to the mission.

This last weekend we went to the center of Munich to finish some Christmas shopping and the view from the top of the parking garage was AMAZING!  I love this city.

That night we were invited to the international ward Christmas party and there was a wonderful nativity put on by the youth.

Tonight we went bowling for mutual and had a fun time.

CAUTION!!!  DO NOT KEEP SCROLLING IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH!

A while ago in science we dissected pig hearts and it was my first dissection.  It was kinda gross at the beginning, but actually really cool.

SO COOL

The heart and me

My wonderful partner, Ashrita

Future biologist, Alex

If nothing else, dissecting the heart and learning about the human body is such a testament of God to me.  How amazing are these creations that work perfectly and are so intricate and complex?  And there are those who believe this all came from a big bang...