A lot of the week was spent preparing for the ward Christmas party in Hanau, which made for some really cool experiences. Monday I got to visit the Hanau Weihnachtsmarkt and pick up a few souvenirs. The Rathaus in Hanau had a advent calendar in the windows, like the Rathaus in Paderborn last year, and this one, from what I hear, is the largest advent calendar in Germany. The images they put in the windows are of scenes from the stories of the Brothers Grimm. That night my companion and I met with a man who years ago had contact with missionaries, and was very open to meet with us again. We also invited him to church and the Christmas party (both of which he ended up showing too!).
Tuesday we traveled around delivering party invitations to less active members, and along the way, I found some pretty geeky graffiti which of course Ultron got a picture with. In the evening I went on a split to the city of Giessen. Wednesday on my split we went out to a town to talk with people, and in the evening we had dinner with a member family. After that the split ended.
Thursday we had zone conference in my first area, Offenbach. Elder Johnson of the Seventy was there, and Christlike Attributes was the theme of the conference. What was unique to me about this conference was that when we closed by singing "Called to Serve" (in German, of course) it hit me that this was my last time in a zone conference, and I would never have an experience like that ever again. It was a powerful little moment, for me. Friday we met with a man who lost contact with the missionaries, and set expectations with him. We invited him to the Christmas party as well, and he ended up bringing his entire family the next day to the party! Outside of that, we continued to give out invitations, and then set up tables in the church.
Saturday was the day of the party, which we helped set up, and then practiced with the ward choir before the program started. We had a lot of people show up that we invited, which was really cool to see. With having a large ward, it was a little overwhelming to get to know those around me, but I survived. We ended the day cleaning up after the party. To close, in church we had two investigators come for sacrament meeting, which was themed for Christmas. Us Elders sang with the ward choir for the program and we ended the day attempting to visit the member in the hospital we visited last week, but she was moved to another hospital. So, instead, we talked with people on the streets.
Now let Christmas begin!
Aaron's Christmas tree
Advent Calendar
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