Sooo....I have asked the lovely lady responsible for organising everything that has to do with missionary travel to please postpone my report-date by six weeks. I need more time! There is still so much that I need to do, and I am not going to manage to get everything done within two weeks. And, to be completely honest, I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye and leave everything behind me just yet. Yes, I know that it's only for one and a half years, but so much can and will happen during that time, and I want to be able to let go properly and not spend the first nights in the MTC crying myself to sleep.
It was quite a difficult decision to make, because at first I wanted to leave as soon as possible. I realise now that I never would have managed in the short time that I had to prepare everything (only six weeks) and two weeks ago I was so frustrated that I may or may not have cried. A lot.
I am happy with the decision I have made, I no longer wake up in the morning and think "okay, 22 more days, I still need to do this and this and that...I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME".
Now I do. And it's such a relief!
This past weekend I drove to the temple in Frankfurt with my mother and little brother. When we arrived we checked in to the temple hotel and my mom got ready to do a session. My brother and I walked around the beautiful little town in search of a supermarket and finally found one after about fifteen minutes. Friedrichsdorf is absolutely tiny! We saw a lot of pharmacies, one butcher, a few bakeries...and that was it. We bought some food and walked back to the hotel, where we waited for our mother in the cafeteria. It was rather late and we were all tired, so we went to bed after she came out of the temple.
The next morning we got up super early and got ready for the tour of the Temple grounds, done by the wonderful sister missionaries in Friedrichsdorf. I learned so much about the Frankfurt temple. For example, I had no idea that it was shaped like a tent! They built it like the first temple, which was a tent. It was awesome to see Sister Chard, she is absolutely wonderful and has such a bubbly personality. We watched a short movie about temples and then got ready to go inside. My best friend and my brother were going for the first time, I was going for the last time (before getting endowed) to do baptisms for the dead. It was amazing. My brother got baptised and confirmed for his uncle and the spirit was sooooo strong. So many people started crying, even though they had no idea who my brother and his uncle were.
On our way back home we had to stop because of traffic on the Autobahn...a car had burst into flames (how is that even possible?) and there was a huuuuuuuge pillar of black smoke. We drove around in circles for a bit until the Autobahn had been cleared and the cars started moving again.
It took us ages to get home and I was soooo happy to see my dogs! My brother loved being in the temple and we are both excited that we get to go there again in October. I am so grateful that I live only two short hours away from the temple and that I can go there pretty much whenever I want to. I love the temple!
The Temple in Friedrichsdorf
