Going German

Phew! First post! I think some introduction is in order.

I'm Katie, I'm in love with a German, and I'm a Mormon.

After being inspired by others who've written about their journeys into the unknown world of love, travel, marriage and parenthood, I decided I wanted some kind of record. This is a solid way for me to be accountable: make my goals, and therefore my failures and successes public. Heck, maybe there's someone out there who needs some help - I sure need help. I've got a lot of trials waiting for me, a lot of difficulties, and a lot of changes. Maybe someone, somewhere, needs some advice from others, and how they managed these things. I know I'm not the only one to have fallen for someone outside of my own country's borders. So, how did that happen, anyway?

Well, I served a mission for my Church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - and I was called to labour (and labour I did) in Frankfurt Germany. Boyfriend was also called there, an occurrence not so regular. He should've been called to the Alpine mission (Switzerland, Austria, and southern Germany), since Austria doesn't happily open it's doors to Americans, and there are a lot of American missionaries out there in this wide world. Thankfully, Boyfriend was called to Frankfurt. Which is where we met, at a district meeting. In my third transfer (and his sixth), we served in the same district (a group of missionaries serving in several areas adjacent to each other), and had many more opportunities to get to know each other, and become friends. In fact, because of the closeness of our district, both geographically and in our friendships, we saw each other almost daily (Monday: Preparation Day, Tuesday/Wednesday: district meeting, Saturday: sports day with members/investigators). Then, I realised I was distracted - then-not-Boyfriend was a distraction for me from the work! - so I admitted the "crime" to my mission president and thankfully, at the end of that transfer, we were both transferred away to different zones (a series of districts make up a zone).

Fortunately, we were placed in areas and situations where we were able to see each other every 2 transfers or so, at zone meetings, as well as at Frankfurt's main train station, the Hauptbahnhof, where everyone was sent when they would transfer areas. In my last few transfers, I thought for sure that I wouldn't be seeing him again - he was in the southern part of our mission, and I was in the absolute almost-most-northern part... And then I heard on our transfer calls that for my last transfer I would be serving near Frankfurt, in a zone that would, that transfer, combine three times with his zone (and others), for a meeting to re-organize stake boundaries, and create another stake (made up of several "wards" and "branches" which are like districts, but in regular-member jargon), to say goodbye to our then-mission president, and to welcome our new mission president.

Suffice it to say, I realised I needed to tell then-not-Boyfriend how I felt about him, for fear that maybe he had some feelings for me, and I didn't want to miss an opportunity that perhaps Heavenly Father had brought us together, when we otherwise never would have met.

So, I "died", ie. finished my mission.

And then I told then-not-Boyfriend how I felt for him. And it turned out he felt the same for me!! I freu'd myself - I was ridiculously happy.

So! Here we are now. The situation: we've both finished our missions, I'm in Canada, he's in Germany. I flew out to visit him in late September/early October. I've worked like a madwoman since then, saved my money, and I'm waiting for the 15th so I can pick him up from the airport. Yes, he's coming to Canada. To meet my family. AHHH!! I've threatened to tie his ankles together so he can't run away from me after he meets them. They're... an eclectic bunch, like, the first set of silverware or dishes that you owned after moving into your first apartment, where you survived on a steady diet of ramen noodles and waffles.

I am a convert to the Church of almost 12 years. I am the only active member of my family, of which, my mother, two brothers, and my sister are members. We have, like every other family, a lot of issues, and a deep pit of back story. It turns out that Boyfriend, a convert of almost 6 years, and the only member in his family, also has a deep pit of back story. Our back stories have jived in such a way that we have a relatively deep understanding of each other, and the reasons why we are the way we are. This has made communication a lot simpler.

Speaking of which, on the topic of language: we both speak English, we both speak German. I'm lazy, and he knows this. We mostly speak English together, unless we want to speak in secrets, or I get into a mood where I want to speak German. He's stopped pressuring me to speak German (which mostly started because whenever we would talk, we'd do it when it was red-eye-early for me, and my brain wouldn't be able to get into German-mode. My laziness has won out since then, even though we now talk during the day for me, when it's sleepy-eyed-late for him).

Going back to the beginning, what kind of difficulties do I foresee in our future? Well, blending our lives, for one; finding an apartment for us in Germany, us getting married, satisfying both my Canadian, and our German relatives (I have a rather large collection of family in Germany) with the wedding plans; me moving to Germany and us having to deal with the paperwork, to say nothing of basically starting my life over and making new friends (sure, there's Skype, but it's not the same as going out with the girls), as well as attending school in Germany, in German. Basically, everything.

So, these are my chronicles. They're going to be filled with tears, and laughter. Definitely a lot of laughter. I have a great tendency to make a fool of myself. And I'll share these moments with you, and you'll laugh at me. But, that's okay, as long as you laugh. I'm going to be learning a lot, and not just German. Hopefully, through some good ol' fashioned trial-and-error, I can provide you with some good reading material.

The journey has begun, friends.