Meine Liebe Familie und Freunden,

Right now I'm sitting in an "Internet Cafe" in Bad Homburg. By internet cafe I mean a bedroom sized room filled with computers that smells like cigarette smoke and mustard with the sound of German/Turkish babble and a lady watching an American T.V show that she thinks is hilarious. (Sorry Ian, you already read that.) But I am happy to be here because it means...EMAILS! And it's pretty awesome that I'm just sittin here being a resident of Germany. Well this week I get about double the time I did last week to email home which I am grateful for, but I have about half as much news to tell you.

First I will tell you that I have another companion. Sister Mosher. She has been my companion all along but I didnt meet her until I had been here a week. She's the Austauschkönigin (Transfer Queen or Coordinating Sister) So she is gone more than shes here, but she is really awesome. It is really great when me, Sister Kreth and Sister Mosher get to work together in a Dritt (Trio). We all bring something different to the companionship and it is awesome to learn from each other.

This week has been a roller coaster in every way. I have had really good days and really really hard days. I have had hours that seem like days and days that seem like weeks, but I have also had days that seem like hours and hours that seem like minutes. It has been a crazy week. I can't believe I have only been here for only one full week. I also can't believe this week is already over. I can imagine this is what it will be like for the next 18 months.

This week we had a lot of really awesome lesson plans that went right along with some really disappointing fallen out appointments. So geht's im Leben I guess though. It worked out just fine, but it makes for a pretty boring email.

We did have a good appointment yesterday though with a girl named Nora. She is so funny and laughs at everything... especially at our bad German. We made pizza with her after church and ate way too much of it. Then we watched a Mormon Message with her and the spirit was strong... even if you had no idea what the message was saying (me). Watch some of those Mormon Messages though (auf Englisch of course) because they are really awesome. Especially the new one -- Mountains to Climb. It is incredible.

Eating way too much is a pretty common occurance around here. It think there is a missionary stereotype that tells everyone that we are always hungry and can eat about three times as normal humans. So I pretty much stuff my face at every appointment we go to in the name of being polite... but hey, it's better than starving and hopefully all the walking balances it out.

Also the running. We go jogging every morning which is surprisingly wonderful. I really hate running and I am really bad at it, but we run through the forrest and field next to our appartment early in the morning and the sun is rising and the birds are chirping all around us. It is absolutely beautiful. Not many people, even the Germans, get to see that because its so early. It is a really great way to start your day. I imagine there are similar sights to see in Cedar City, but they are probably taken little advantage of. Especially with the freezing cold weather.

Germany is so beautiful, especially Friedrichsdorf, and I can't believe I'm here, but that is about the end of my report this week. I love you all so much and I really love hearing from you! Keep sending the emails, but it would be awesome if you could send some snail mail too. Either way I love hearing what is going on, especially all the crazy stuff. Thank you for your emails this week. Hope to hear from you all again soon!

Viele Liebe,

Sister Mary Jane Leavitt