the brother: reunited.

i kinda feel weird being this excited about seeing jesse again, like siblings aren't supposed to get along or want to hang out or miss each other. so let me explain. my brother is easily my best friend. for the two years i stayed at dixie college he was basically my only friend. we hung out daily, stayed up late watching youtube videos on my laptop, and had more inside jokes than even we could keep track of. once he went on his mission i decided i didn't need to live at home anymore. (no worries, i still love you very much mom. you too christee.)

not even kidding, within two minutes of talking to him again it felt like he hadn't been 5,500 miles away for the past 606 days. i asked the sister missionaries if they thought we looked like siblings, they kind of debated back and forth between each other, "eh, i don't know.." "yeah kinda. look at the eyes." while me and jesse started joking back and forth, as we do. after a few sarcastic comments were passed between us, marissa turned to me and said, "yeah, i definitely see the resemblance now" rest assured, our humor is still the same.

he managed to get the family hosting him for dinner to agree to feed me and marissa, which was awesome. not only did that mean we were going to get to try a "real" german meal, but we also got to spend a few more hours together. after dinner he gave the family a spiritual thought, as is customary for missionaries to do.. apparently. he said it in german so the people it was intended for could understand it and i'm pretty sure that was also so i couldn't understand him. occasionally he would motion to me and say something like "meine schwester", and then i caught something about lehi and then he asked how to say disneyland in german. from that point on i knew almost exactly what he story he was telling as he recounted the tale of how it took my family 1-3 years (we debated on exactly how long it took us... i think 1 1/2 years but he's been telling people 3) to go 30 days without contention to earn a trip to disneyland, courtesy of the bank of M.J.Wilson.  at the very end of the story i could tell he went into testimony mode as he started talking about my family. that's when he got a little teary-eyed, as he has a tendency to do. i didn't pick up on most of what he said, although i'm sure i can guess, but there is one part i have no question what he was talking about. i heard it almost as if he'd said it in english: "meine schwester ist meine beste freundin"

we were attempting to take a serious picture when he blurted out "BAND PIC!" aaand i started uncontrollably laughing, like usual. 

guys, i've really missed that kid.

we left shortly after that, me and marissa to wander around leipzig for a few hours before dark, and him and his companion to go to an appointment. we met up the next day at noon to eat lunch and visit and such.

our time together on monday was spent mostly laughing, talking, taking/sharing pictures (like the ones you see above) and generally acting like we'd only just seen each other yesterday. i can't imagine any of you really want to read a play-by-play of our interaction together (except you mom, no worries i'll message you on facebook... or something). as we were parting, me and marissa leaving to head towards the train station to leave for berlin and him and his companion (elder voran, who some of you might know if you went to snow canyon.) were heading to go play soccer with the other missionaries. jesse shook marissa's hand goodbye and then went to shake mine. as i confusedly put my hand out he pulled me into a hug just as i was about to start complaining. that kid... you just never know with him.

it's weird, as we walked away from each other i didn't feel the type of sadness that i thought i was going to. i mean, i'm sad because i miss him. but it's just like i miss any of you. and that's the thing, the next time i see him will be at the same time i see the rest of you. i miss everyone equally (except for you katrina, you know i miss you more. oh, and you too mom.). it was refreshing to get to spend some time with someone i love over here.

oh, and turns out one of the 6 other people we shared a room with in the hostel in Leipzig was a member. when we went to the front desk to ask them how to get to the street the lds church was on she said she'd just barely googled that same address. we thought it was a little weird but didn't think about it too much. after getting home from church the asian lady who sat in front of us at church walked into our hostel room. both me and marissa turned towards each other with the same "ahha!" face. turns out her name is lee and she's from hong kong and was in leipzig visiting a professor (that knowledge was brought to you by marissa, who is friendly and talks to random people... unlike me.). when i told jesse about all this he got super excited. apparently all the missionaries know lee because she's been investigating the church for like three years. they're teaching some pretty awesome/strange people over here.



totally unrelated note: in my first two and a half weeks here in europe i have heard three of my favorite songs being played out in the streets. songs that i'm sure the radio stations in the US haven't even heard of, let alone have on file. that's how cool europe is, it GETS me. (wow, how pretentious did i sound just barely? -10 points.)

want to hear a gem of a song? it's a cover of one of my favorite songs: young blood (which i've heard echoing through the beautiful streets of innsbruck during a snowboarding thing)