Day Trip to France

Here are few picture from my day trip to Strasbourg, France. We had a really fun time, despite the ever changing weather. We got to go on a boat trip around the city, had an amazing lunch in a cool french restaurant, and we went inside the Münster Cathedral and climbed the münster tower after. I was pretty cold the whole time but climbing the tower warmed me up a bit. Since we were only there for half a day really, I didn't get to fully experience any French culture, but me and Mom will be going to Paris this week so we'll see how that goes. Enjoy the pictures and have a wonderful week!

We started out low













And we were lifted up! cool huh? We had to be raised 4 meters in order to continue down the river.






Scary, giant Geese...





Coolest pulpit ever! I think we need one of these in the Val Vista ward...

Mormons are the same wherever you go.

Ok so I made this cool video with a bunch of clips I took this weekend at a YSA conference I went to... But it's pretty small and I doubt you'll be able to read most of what I wrote. So, I'll give you a little rundown.

I arrived Friday night after a beautiful, four hour train ride. That night we ate a yummy dinner and danced all night long. These Germans really know how to party. Everyone was going strong till 2 AM and they drank this non alcoholic beer that is completely disgusting. ewe I don't know how they do it. I met a bunch of really fun kids who all spoke amazing english. Saturday I went to two classes and everything was in German, but my new friends are really good translators. After the classes and lunch we went bowling and played pool. So much fun! And I got to meet even more wonderful people. Everyone was so friendly. Saturday night we listened to a fireside given by a member of the seventy (i'm not sure which quorum). And even though I was really really tired, I still managed to dance quite a bit. The German members do this funny dance step thats like a swing dancing feel but a little different. And they partner dance to every song, usually two or three songs in a row!! haha so you better have a good partner. But all the guys are really good at dancing and are really really good at leading you around the dance floor. Sunday we attending sacrament meeting and sunday school and, unfortunately I had to take off early to catch my train.

The whole weekend was really great. I love meeting new people, and though I may never see them again, this experience was pretty priceless for me.

Rain

I wake up in the morning.

The clouds have blocked my sun.

I wash my face and tie my shoes

I wanted to go on a run.

I close the door behind me

and what is this sound that comes?

I hear it whisper through the hall

It's the sound like little drums.

I look out the window

and what do I see?

But sheets of rain

and no room for me

Now I am here writing this post.

Because it's you people who I love most.

YEAH!!

Pretty Crazy Conference Week

My weekend has just been filled with scary, crazy, smelly, beautiful, painful, cold, hot, uplifting, fun, and good times!!

It all started on Friday. I was hanging out in the common area with lots of people when religion was brought up... again. I get many opportunities to teach because drinking and smoking is a way of life and I participate in neither. So I talked about how our bodies are temples that house our souls and we continued discussing stuff for a few hours. In which I explained the book of mormon and the First Vision and I bore my testimony at least twice. It's usually so SCARY to talk about the church with people because I'm afraid I'll say something wrong or just not have an answer. But I had an answer for all of there questions. It was CRAZY! Not only do I think they understand mormons better but I understand mormons better too. haha. We had a good time discussing stuff until out Italian friend came over with his SMELLY weed, started passing it around and started talking crap about there being no God and no such thing as religion... meh but I felt good about our talk any way.

Then Saturday morning we all got up early to go on another hike in the Schwarzwald (black forest). It was so flippin hard! it was 5 kilometers of uphill climbing! There were three girls there including me and one of them was in front the whole time but me and Johanna were huffin and puffin the whole way. It was a PAINFUL hike. At the top there is a tower that you climb so you can see over the trees. It was really COLD and windy and there were alot of stairs but you can see so much when you're up there. The forest is huge and flipping BEAUTIFUL.

This is Anjelica. She's such a cutie. She is from Sweden and is here studying German.


When we finally got home I took a nap, a HOT shower, and then headed down to the church for the much anticipated first session of general conference!!! woo!!! Mostly all the ward watches the session translated in German but me and the elders and sisters watched it in English. It's weird watching conference live but at 6 in the afternoon, since we're 7 hours ahead of Salt Lake. I was in such need of being UPLIFTED by the spirit and conference really did it for me this weekend.

But the fun doesn't end there. I hurried home to finish some homework and then I had decided to go out with my friends. They were planning on getting drinks and then going clubing or something. I was hesitant to go because of the spirit I had from conference, but I decided to go anyway because there would be girls there and I need to make more girl friends. Luckily my friend Johanna, who also sings at the school i'm studying at, wasn't drinking either because she had to drive. So i wasn't totally alone. There were four girls there and they were all super sweet and we had a good time talking and stuff. Even though it was waaaaaay different then what I normally do on conference weekends, or any weekend, I still had a good time and never had to compromise my standards and could just be myself. So life is great out here in Germany. Can't wait to talk to my parents about there trip to Salt Lake for general conference:)