4-Day Visit

My friend Aaron came to visit this weekend. The reason we decided he should come the day before the stake ball was so he could see Die Kinder des Monsieur Mathieu and so I could see Ray and so we could play football Saturday morning. I had a lot of trouble getting the film and then he was an hour late because he had to drop off people who drove with him. We made a pie in the church and went upstairs to watch the movie, only to discover that the TV was locked away. Man! So, we took the pie home and talked until late.

























He is really good at parking his "weaksauce" car (as he describes it) in small parking spaces.















Saturday, we went to football, then got ready for the Leipzig stake ball (with the help of Sister Grayson). Sister Dixon was really anxious about getting there early to get good seats, though I tried to convince her that good seats aren't needed for a ball. She hasn't yet sent me the picture she took yet, and the only one that I have that I was in scares me. The stake had hired a Mormon opera singer who is originally from America but who has lived in Germany for the last thirty years to sing for us. He was really cool and he had no accent. Some day . . .

We did a lot of dancing and eating and then the Dixons wanted to leave early.












I'm not sure how it started, but some time in the car on the way back to Leipzig, we started our own whistling . . . band?





Sunday, we were two minutes late for church. Oops. I got set apart for my new calling as a primary teacher for the three year olds. Aaron couldn't decide what to do (drive home, go to lunch at one of his siblings' houses, etc.), so we talked and then started fantasizing about food. Our list included banana bread, French toast, brownies, Texas sheet cake brownies (Mom's version), and pancakes with maple syrup. We decided on French toast with maple syrup, and Texas sheet cake (which I couldn't eat, but I enjoyed Aaron's reaction). Unfortunately, these recipes require three things I didn't have: a LOT of sugar, powdered sugar, and buttermilk. Mom told me how to make buttermilk using vinegar, and I borrowed sugar and a mixer from a neighbor. By adding cornstarch and mixing, we made powdered sugar. Cool!


I'm not sure what it is with German guys taking slanted pictures when I let them use my camera.














I found this hilarious--an empty chocolate-covered plate with a cucumber. I declared that we needed some kind of vegetable, so we both ate some cucumber (which I now hate). But they're cheap.










The elders and sisters called to see if we would go knocking doors with them. Of course! One woman opened the door and said that our colleagues had been there before and she had the desire to learn and could we make an appointment? Of course! Her little girl was darling. She let me take a picture:














We listened to two talks and started Ray but were too tired to finish it.

Monday, we went jogging. Although I had to convince him to go, he was tons faster and didn't sweat a single drop. He took a longer route back and beat me there. At least I'm trying.










We still hadn't ever seen the movie (because of ridiculous DVD regions), and the institute had an available TV at 2. So there we went. He didn't enjoy the movie as much as I did. Afterwards, we sang hymns with whomever would sing with us. Sister Dixon convinced him to stay for family night so he could eat Mike's pancakes. I was in charge of the activity, which meant perudo! Wahoo! I was so excited and no, I did not win. I think I was the fourth one out of 8 to get out. Ha ha. We played some kicker after eating dinner and then went back to my apartment and talked about scriptures. I was very impressed by his knowledge and his spirituality. I'm really glad he could come and I can't wait to trade and see Dresden. :)