. . . and then there were Bison?

Hey, folks!

So, a couple of fun stories from this week. 

This one needs a bit of background. So Passau is called "die dreiflüßestadt" (the City of Three Rivers) because 3 rivers come together, and Passau is built on the peninsula of said rivers. In other words, major flooding is a thing that happens every couple years. In the summer of 2013 it flooded super badly, and ever since then I think people have been more emergency-preparedness-conscience. In other words, we have gallons and gallons and gallons of water stored in jugs under our water heater in our apartment. 

SO. Our water heater broke this last week...again. So we had no heating and no hot water. It was funny because it had barely been repaired a few weeks later, and here's the funny part. So last time, when the people came they were there for like, 45 minutes and tinkered with it until it ran again. (And it started acting up like, that same day again.) This repair guy came this week to look at our water heater and was there for over three hours, but replaced like, five different parts in our water heater. But what was funny is that at one point one of the jugs broke and he was like "...why do you have all of this water?" (Keep in mind, these jugs are super beat up, and some of them are completely broken and crushed...and dirty...etc.) And we were like "...uh, in case of an emergency?" And he was like, "If you drink that water, there will be an emergency!" And then before he left, he was like, "so what do you believe exactly?" So we grabbed a Book of Mormon off of our shelf and talked to him about it before he left. Afterward, Sister Bishop was like, "I don't think I've ever missionaried in my pajamas before!" (We were holding out on showering in case we had the opportunity to shower with hot water.)

Second of all, we have a really large area. Not the largest area in our mission by any means, but it's about 80 km in diameter...so basically, our area includes many little dorfs (villages). (I literally do not understand the state-side missions where your areas are so small. What can you do??) We got a referral through the mission for a girl who lives in one of those random little dorfs - and there was no phone number. So we would just have to trek out there and try and find her. Hmm. We looked at lots of bus and train options, and eventually decided on one that was only 45 minutes and went directly - not bad. 

So we take the bus on the appointed day, and Sister Bishop and I get off in the appointed city, and looked at our little google map we printed out. Turns out, we needed to walk about a half hour south. So we go there, and then do you know what happened? Do you? False. You are all wrong.

WE FOUND MINI AMERICA. 

It was literally the strangest thing, ever. This is in the middle of nowhere. And basically, we found this country-western-America-themed vacation destination. There were American flags with Harley Davidsons printed on them, Texas flags, and confederate flags (um?) everywhere. We looked over the fence and we saw a playground complete with teepees, stagecoaches, and conastoga wagons. Literally, what on earth?

And there were Bison. REAL BISON. IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE IN SOUTHERN GERMANY. I sang a rousing rendition of "Home on the Range", no worries.

So that was pretty weird. And the referral we were looking for? It turns out that she barely moved to München. Bummer. But we got the phone number of someone who should have her phone number, and we'll try and get her hooked up with the sisters in München. :)

All in all, a good week. We showed the Restoration video to this lovely lady and asked her what she thought of it. She said that she completely believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Spirit was super strong in that lesson. It was way cool.

And it snowed yesterday. And today.

I'm content. I just want to make sure I accomplish everything God wants from me before I can leave. :)

Love,

Sister Bushman