On Saturday, the 30th of November, we were playing soccer. (Sidenote: I am getting way good.) Sis. Stout started being really distracted by the red that other players were wearing, and she got so disoriented that she forgot what she was doing when she turned around. She thought she was making it all up until she got hit with the soccer ball. Twice. So she sat down on the sidelines to take a break, when the church bells right next door starting ringing. For TEN MINUTES. She thought she was going to die.
That was the beginning of the strangest week of my mission.
On Sunday she didn't even make it 15 minutes, because she couldn't make herself respond to all the greetings and the German, and then the organ started and it freaked her out. So we had her lie down in the Genealogy Center so that I could stay and sing (with the opera singer again) before someone drove us home. We stayed inside all day Sunday, and she either slept or talked nonsense the whole day. It was hilarious, but also worrisome.
Monday she fooled me into thinking she was fine. We made it through emails, but while at the grocery store she got really pale and really . . . docile, I guess. I made her hold on to the cart and every time we got to a new section i would place her in the corner and make her stand there until I was ready to move on. She kept spacing out hardcore and I kept asking her questions like "Do you want the same bread as last week?" She'd stare at me for a couple seconds and then be like, "It was really. . . good." It was just so weird! We had to have the Elders come pick us up because I couldn't help her walk in a straight line AND carry all the groceries on the tram myself.
Tuesday I had to go to Jena so I could go with the Zone Leaders to Frankfurt for a leadership meeting. So I had to spend all morning convincing her that she DID need to eat, and DID need to put on her shoes, etc, like talking to a child. And then I took her to Jena so she could sleep in the Jena apartment for a day and a half, and then I took Sis. Leonardson to Frankfurt with me.
Wednesday was the meeting! I got to see so many of my friends, like Elders Guymon and Kent who were in Dortmund with me. We had a ton of fun and it was a very spiritual meeting. We focused on how important our personal testimony of the Book of Mormon is, and how we have to strengthen it and share it with others so that they will feel the Holy Ghost testifying of our words. We did a roleplay where I was the investigator and Elder Guymon taught me, and he almost made me tear up because the Spirit was so present. It was really strengthening to me.
Thursday and Friday, Sis. Stout continued to be crazy. We went to doctors and things, but no one has any clue what was wrong. I did a LOT of laundry and baked a LOT of cookies, which the elders then delivered to ward members for us. And I started picking up Sis. Stout's crazy a little bit!
By Saturday she was mostly fine, but we stayed in for most of the day just to be sure.
Sunday I gave a talk on how commandments help us to channel our righteous desires the way the Lord knows is best. Then a member invited us over for lunch and he told us all about how, on his mission here in East Germany, he and his companion had to take watch shifts in the misssion office to keep the police from sneaking illegal copies of the Book of Mormon into the office so that they could frame the Church for smuggling! Woah!
Anyway, this week was nutso but Sis. Stout has gotten over whatever was wrong with her, and we are looking forward to going outside a LOT this week. I love you all, keep being awesome, and don't forget my address!!
Tschüß!
Sis. Teusch
