Wonderful Friendly People

So I haven't mentioned one of the most wonderful things about being here. The people you meet everywhere are really friendly and nice. From our neighbors, to people I have met at the grocery store, and out and about. I love it so much.

Our Ward, (our congregation at church) is super welcoming. We felt such a part of the Ward from our first day there and we just keep making more friends. It is so nice. We have gotten together with a couple here Heidi and Trent and they are always great to invite us to do things. Also our sweet neighbors in the complex that are also in our Ward are the McKinlays. I get together with Melissa frequently whether at our place or hers or at the pool. They had us over for dinner one night and to play games. Georg and her husband click really well. They are a lot of fun. Plus, they have an adorable little girl named Alivia.

We seem to find a lot in common with many in the Ward and they have already given us a lot of opportunities to be involved. We feel very needed here which is wonderful. There is a man here from Germany who recently was baptized and Georg loves to be able to talk German with him. We have gone with the missionaries to meet with him. Also, I am going to be going to Girl's Camp in July with the girls for our area, (in the Stake). Melissa is in Young Women's and told me that they needed another leader to be there. She was going to be out of town and is not much of a camper and wondered if I would be interested. Of course I was and Georg was enthusiastic about it too, he is excited for me. All the ladies in Young Woman are so grateful and amazed that I will be there the whole week. Also they had me come in to meet the girls on Sunday and they are super sweet. It was funny one of the girls came in later and thought I was one of the new girls, (still in High School) I loved the compliment and will take the chance to fit in with them anytime. Also, they have already asked me to teach once in August for Relief Society, the woman's organization. They don't have regular teachers they just ask everyone to do it so I thought that was very neat.

Also the Mission President and his wife for the Mission in this area are in our Ward. They serve for 3 years and they are going home this Friday. My Mission President and his wife in Portland, Oregon are finishing their missions at the same time as the couple here. I love them very much and grew very close to Sister Gessel, so thinking of her and all that President Gessel would have to do as they were going to be preparing to move back home I offered any service I could be to Sister Smith here. Gladly she took me up on it and I came to the Mission Home on Monday and helped clean for the new Mission President to come. It was so nice to get to know them especially Sister Smith better and they were so kind to give us recommendations of places they have enjoyed visiting and restaurants they have loved here.

We are finding all kinds of ways to be involved here and are enjoying every minute of it. We are going to another couple's home for dinner this week from our Ward. I mentioned in Relief Society that if anyone themselves did Calligraphy or knew someone who did, we would love to know, we have a fun project for them. Afterwards a woman came up to me and told me that here husband does it and volunteered him for our project, so we are going to dinner at their place and will bring and show them what we want him to do. It is an Ancestry Chart or Ahnentafel as it is called in German. We got it in Germany over our trip there in December and January. Apparently it is pretty custom for German families to have this hanging in their entry ways with their ancestors listed on it. We loved the idea and searched one out in the beautiful shops in Northeim just outside of Georg's families country home in Lagershausen that has been in the family for generations. We have been working on the Family History to be able to fill it out completely and realized our handwriting isn't the prettiest for such a thing as this. We will post a picture when the project is complete I am sure.