Californian Wedding Adventures

As some of you might have already heard … my little brother just got married to the love of his life! And as you might have heard or just guessed by the title, this did not take place anywhere close by but his wife Vita is form Sacramento, California in the US.



Christensen´s Backyard with a "little" creek

What a nice time to spend the Christmas and New Year season with our new family in law, the Christensens. So right after Christmas we packed our bags and left a snowy and chilly Munich and switched it after Amsterdam and Minneapolis for sunny and beautiful California. This was my first time in the sunshine state and first time at all for Franca to enter the United States.



Oakland California Temple

Expectations were high! We stayed at the Christensens whose house gave us a first glimpse of the different meaning and understanding of space in the States and in Europe. Everything is huge: houses, yards, cars, streets, and burgers and drinks ^^

Oakland California Temple by night

As we had some time before the actual wedding celebration we used it to visit different places and to explore beautiful California. Our first trip took us to the Bay Area close to San Francisco to the Oakland temple. This was actually one of my favorite temples, but I didn´t remember the name, so I was really amazed and felt a little bit dream come true as I saw the palm trees and the beautiful building with such a special meaning.



Muir Wood Park

Our next trip was to the Redwood coast and the Muir Wood Park, with a small remnant of the largest trees on earth that once covered all the Northern Californian coast. Some of these trees that belong to the family of the Sequoia were older than 1000 years and higher than 100 meters with trunks bigger than a car. Truly magnificent and breathtaking. These kind of experiences always remind me of the sublime beauty and the sheer endless variety of God´s rich creation.



Stinson Beach

Over the many turns of Highway No 1 we arrived at Stinson Beach, however at the wrong time of the year, even though locals say that even in summer the water is really chilly due to the cold coastal current.



The Capitol of Sacramento

We also stopped by the Sacramento temple and visited Sacramanto with a quite unique Oldtown and many interesting things to see.

2 Little Snow Angels



                 

Lake Taho & Olympic Valley

One of Franca´s favorite parts was our trip 2 hours north into the mountains (2300m) to Lake Taho and the Olympic Valley, where Franca saw snow for the first time in her life!!!! And she discovered that behind all the white glimmer and beauty lies a lot of coldness and even more coldness =) But we had a great time exploring the frozen sea shores and going sledding somewhere off the road.

Golden Gate Bridge



View on Alcatraz

Although Sacramento is quite nice, it compares in no way with the charisma and radiance of San Francisco. Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for real spanning the blue bay with a view of San Francisco and the little island in the background with the world’s most famous prison (Alcatraz) was a literal dream come true experience. We drove up and down the hills of San Francisco for hours, just because it was so awesome (and I really mean up and down, a real must see!!) and explored the harbor, the Oldtown and even took the famous tram from one end to the other.

Street View in San Francisco

Finally the big day had arrived: after many many hours of preparation, decoration, photo shooting (Julien Moritz came along all the way from Germany) and organizing everything around the wedding, we were able to accompany Pascal and Vita to the Oakland Temple, where they were sealed by the power of the Holy Priesthood for time and all eternity. It was simply amazing and a beautiful and inspiring experience and what a great blessing it is to know that families can be together forever. We said good bye to them, as they left to Hawaii on their Honeymoon, and to the Christensens and the Carters until we meet again.

May the newly formed couple live happily ever after …

2014 - or the year that changed everything . . .

Hallo and welcome back my dear friends!

I know it´s been a while since you have heard from me, therefore I would like to present my sincerest apologies that I kept you waiting and wondering what happened to that guy and his “vida loca” after he left Uruguay after a very special semester abroad, where the abovementioned big change in 2014 actually has its origin.


Somewhere in Mazedonia with our backpacks

But let me start off or more likely continue telling my story where I stopped the last time. As the winter was at its peak, in normally lovely Montevideo, Uruguay, with a moist and wet rainy cold that could be felt to the very marrow in the bones and that makes me shiver even now that I think about it (kind of like in the UK), however heavy hearted, I bade farewell to my newly found love Franca and headed back home to Germany. Of course with the promise that she would visit soon …

The following events of that legendary (some might even call it epic) summer that succeeded in my life, might even be worthy of dedicating another post or two to the matter to provide you with a better understanding of how awesome this trip was. Therefore I would just like to sum it up for you shortly: Together with my epic cousin Lukas we crashed the YSA convention in Switzerland and from there started our mind bending trip through all of Europe, visiting over 26 countries in less than six weeks (quite a challenge I might add). But more insights and pictures in one of my following posts.

La rambla in Piriapolis

Oldtown of Zadar, Croatia

Seashore of Biograd na Moru

After the holidays were over – how could it be in any other way – my studies took over again, however this time with a totally new experience, as we International Management students were facing our internship semester. I planned on doing my internship in South Africa, but due to the newest developments regarding my “love life”, I chose something closer to home so that Franca could visit me, get to know my family as well as this “oh so efficient” homeland of mine. Munich it was! I would spend the next 6 months working as an intern for Rohde & Schwarz in the department corporate development, where I grew and learned (to improve) in various aspects of my life, but I especially got to know the “real working world” and I enjoyed it very much (thanks David!).

In the meantime Franca arrived from Uruguay, hardly having had time to recover from the jetlag, when I already popped a ring on stage while performing “A whole new world” from the musical Aladdin in front of a (way too big and scary, if you asked her) audience, nevertheless or for lack of better words or judgment (just kidding^^), she accepted my proposal and the crowd went wild. (Most likely not because of my rather nervous performance but because … well you know). We were engaged!

View over Verona, Italy

In the following Franca studied a lot of German and got to know the only slightly different German culture, never ever experiencing any cultural differences at all. Really, I mean it! Well I guess you know me by now, so I trust in your ability to read between the lines even if some ^^ are missing. Fact is that by now after only a year of studying German she is fluent in my beautiful (and no German is neither harsh nor angry :P ) native tongue and really doing a great job overall! Very proud of you sweetie =)

And then we can actually already start with the “real” topic of this blog … the year 2014!

I´m not sure if you noticed ... but I love Palm Trees!

The wayfarer was going to get a new companion so that he would not be so lonely on his life´s journey and maybe also that he could be tamed and would not undertake so many and too daunt- or reckless adventures, helping him to settle down (at least a little bit). Nevertheless there were still many obstacles in our way that had to be overcome, so that we could actually get married and live together.  Firstly Franca had to leave Germany again, as the tourist Visa is only valid for 3 months, during which time she enjoyed her “Uruguayan” summer and basically planned the entire part of the wedding celebration in Uruguay on her own. I on the other hand had to study and pass my exams (somehow the thought occurred to me that I´m either passing some annoying exams or I´m travelling- especially the latter not necessarily a bad thing), as well as start the wedding prep for the German part of the wedding. Well, to make a long story short: after what felt like a never ending battle against German bureaucracy (reminded me a lot of poor old Don Quijote and the windmill) in order to get all the right documents with the correct translations, stamps and seals in the right way and order to the right authority and of course on time, we were finally "legally" allowed to marry.



Happy newly weds =)

Luckily, it´s over now ^^ and Franca was able to get back to Germany on time and we know that without the help of our Heavenly Father that would not have been possible (and yes we were praying a lot!) so that we could get married on May 15th, first with the legal authorities and then sealed together for time and all eternity at the Holy Temple in Frankfurt, Germany. What a marvelous experience that we could share together surrounded by friends and loved ones and how comforting to know that due to that restored authority we are not married until death do us part but for eternity. The party next day in Munich was a blast, we loved it and we wanted to express our deepest gratitude to all those who made that day possible, special thanks to my parents, my best man Sascha, Jonas and the kitchen crew. Thanks you were amazing =) We also wanted to thank all our guests for sharing and celebrating that special day with us and of course for the many beautiful gifts that we received. They were greatly appreciated.

Best and biggest Pizza ever!!!!

Somewhere at Lago di Garda

Even so it was not over yet … after only 2 days of relaxing and present opening, we took a flight to Uruguay to celebrate over there too!!! This was really awesome for me (and probably for Franca as well) because everything was so different than we do or would do things in Germany. I just love different cultures and their craziness (in a positive meaning of the word) from the perspective of an outsider. It was so much fun and we had such a great time over there, gracias también a la familia y los amigos en Uruguay, son los mejores!!! After the festivities we took a little time out at the beach house of los abuelitos in Las Flores (call it “minimoon” if you will) and flew back to Germany to start our life together =)

With the homies from LA at Lago di Garda, Italy

Back in Germany as usual I had to study, this time at the same time as Franca who was taking an intensive German course in Munich in which she did a great job as always. Then my parents left to the states to visit little brother Pascal and beside working (I continue working at R&S as a working student) and enjoying our spare time, we enjoyed 2 really nice vacations. The first one was with my homies from LA one week at the beautiful Lago di Garda, Torbole, Italy in this amazing vacation home. And our second vacation was two weeks with my brother Vali and his girlfriend Lara, and lots of friends in Biograd na Moru, Croatia. Both were simply amazing, just look at the pictures =)

And now is my last semester, Franca started her “Ausbildung” as Foreign Language Correspondent in Landshut, she started with French, is excelling in most of the subjects and she started teaching or tutoring in English and Spanish.

At the end of this post I would like to thank you for reading and also invite you to watch the 2 minute long video about the first gift of Christmas and the actual meaning of Christmas to enjoy a more joyful and meaningful Christmas season: Enjoy & see you soon =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs&feature=youtu.be

A touch of culture in Montevideo

Good Morning and welcome my dear friends and true followers … Hahahaha Well this was another week of almost pure awesomeness, only dimmed by the fact that I was bound to bed for about three days with a quite heavy flu so that I am even now still suffering from the aftereffects of the sickness. However, nothing can stop me as far as having a good time is concerned.

Zyro, Franca, me and Sean

At first I cannot help, but have to give utterance to the pure feelings of joy that inhabit my chest, as my beloved soccer club FC Bayern München won the flipping Champions League, therefore:   OHHHHH WIE IST DAS SCHÖN, OH WIE IST DAS SCHÖN, SO WAS HAT MAN LANGE NICHT GESEHN, SO SCHÖN, SO SCHÖN!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaha da ist das Ding!!!! Well so that should do it for starters, man what a match, what a journey and what a victory … that´s how history is made!!!

fiesta mexicana en la facultad

Another reason to rejoice, who would have thought that, are my first grades that I received here in Montevideo, and I must say, the studying, learning, revising and practicing of Spanish, were quite worth the pain and the sweat, as I can be more than content with my grades, even in Organizational Behavior (taught in Spanish), which really surprised me … anyway, I won´t complain!!!

ward temple trip

Hahahaha, so I just continued to write and although it´s been some 4 weeks that I wrote the first part of this blog, and it´s not so much up to date any more, I am not going to change anything as I figured it might be interesting to read anyway. But here we are, it´s already July and my time here in Uruguay is (un)fortunately drawing closer to the end, unfortunately of course because I´m gonna miss this beautiful crazy little country with all it´s interesting fascinating and sometimes also funny customs and my friends and the great people here, but above all of course my beautiful little angel. Fortunately on the other hand, because I´m also looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, to eating some German food and of course because of the awesome summer plans awaiting me … Which is I guess how every farewell must seem or feel like, a two-minded thought pending between the sadness of the goodbye and the cheerful welcoming shouts of a new beginning …

Well so let me continue telling my story of the last couple weeks and how Montevideo was treating me!

I chose this title because Montevideo is also called the Capital Iberoamericana de la Cultura and these last couple weeks I have had the chance and pleasure to discover this side a little more: For the first time in my life I went to a Ballet and I must say I really enjoyed it and was deeply impressed by the physical skills of the dancers as well as by the creativity of the performance itself, something different, maybe not for every day, but definitely once in a while worth a watch.

Then, with our Uruguayan culture class, we were able to explore the judicial center of power in Uruguay called el Palacio Legislativo, a really magnificent building with great architecture, majestic statues and columns and beautiful paintings. It really reminded me of the great architectural masterpieces we know from Europe. Built with over (I think it was a hundred) different colors of marble coming directly from the mines in Uruguay. We were even able to go into the chambers of the senate and the parliament. As to the quality of the laws being passed therein I would like to allow myself a quite sarcastic comment: Recently they banned ketchup, mayonnaise, and salt from the restaurant tables, because too many people suffer from hyper tension in Uruguay, but they legalized Marihuana and de-penalized abortion … I´m sorry, but I don´t get their point^^

We have been to a really small close-up theatre, were only 40 spectators were able to sit in front of and behind the stage and watched a piece about two men, their friendship, their verbal fighting, their love life and all that in a very funny way, in a pub. It was really Uruguayan, really funny and really awesome, even though I didn´t understand everything, great experience and I´m glad I went!

Meanwhile, without having nothing better to say, and herewith explaining one of the reasons why I have been a little lazy with blogging these last days, I survived all my partial and final exams and papers and I approved all the Spanish courses with quite good grades (well okay, one paper is still missing … but whatever :P ) So yeah that also means, that University or classes at la Universidad Católica del Uruguay are over now and I can enjoy my well-earned holiday of a very stressful and awesome vacation-semester abroad ^^

Just some short news: we had some great ward activities and I made some "real" bavarian OBAZDN and everybody loved it! We also had a temple trip together and of course there is an exchange student from the States (Sean) staying at the house of Francas family therfore "we" show him around^^ and of course sometimes the Uruguayan winter is really really really nice =)

 

And last but not least and actually one of the coolest cultural events that I have been to, was with Franca´s mother Monica and her best friend Laura, who invited us to see “les tambores” in the very traditional street “Isla de Flores” where since the early 19^th century the black slaves gathered to communicate and to dance and to have fun and to express themselves playing traditional drums (men) and women dancing to the thriving and pounding rhythms of the drums. Due to the winter season there where only some 30-40 drummers, 10 dancers and some 100? Spectators that were able to listen to and watch this fascinating spectacle. Drumming and pushing each other to wilder and ever faster tunes, the drummers were sweating and the rhythm of the drums almost seemed to develop a life on its own as to unite the individual drums into one single magnificent drum that seemed to be the direct cause of the movements of the dancers. . .  To put it all in a nutshell, I really liked it and it was awesome! Afterwards we went to eat very traditional Faina and Pizza in a cozy little famous place nearby … a great evening, with great people and some good charlas (chats).

There we go again and so far that´s all I experienced as far as cultural Uruguayan highlights go … I hope you liked it and we will see each other again … But of course I can´t let you go without a nice little uplifting thought! One aspect of why it is of tremendous importance to read and study the Holy Scriptures (Bible and Book of Mormon) is not in the first place that we read the words or understand the stories, but that we allow the 3^rd member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, to be present and to teach us what we have to know. We thereby abide in the light and knowledge of his gospel and are able to understand more truth (there is only one truth, which is the knowledge of how things really are, were, and are going to be!). Receiving more truth causes us to receive more light, enlightening our intelligence and thereby helping us to understand more truth … The spiral is going upward and brings us peace and happiness in our family and in our life. In reverse, if we do not study the scriptures and do not feel the spirit, we will not receive more light and we will not understand more truth, but even worse, through bad decisions, light will be taken (or will actually leave us) from us, which causes us to understand less truth, which causes us to lose (or reject more light) … the spiral is going downward toward more bad decisions, their consequences and unhappiness. Do we want to be happy?  It is our choice and I know that it works, because with all my imperfection and all my weaknesses I try to live His gospel.

Las Cataratas del Iguazú

According to the legend of the Guaraní, an indigenous people from the rain forests of the Iguazu area, a young Indian warrior named Caroba was in love with Naipur unfortunately so was the God of the forests. And in his attempt to escape the divine wrath down-stream the river in a canoe, the God shattered the river bed into pieces so that many waterfalls tore down the two lovers. Naipur remains henceforth at the feet of the falls as a rock and Caroba survived and was turned into a tree nearby, always having to watch his love gone by ... That is the origin of the spectacular wonder of nature!

But at first we had to get there ... So Franca (aka the best and most beautiful girlfriend in the world!!!) and I started our journey with nothing more than a backpack/bag each and some good faith the we might actually make it despite crazy bus drivers and rather interesting streets, we headed out into the great adventure on wednesday afternoon with our first stop in Asuncion, Paraguay. After crossing Uruguay and Argentina we reached our destination Asuncion after a 22h bus ride (but these buses are a little bit more comfortable than common ones and they serve food and drinks!)


First thing to do: get in contact with our friend in Paraguay for directions, changing money and finding the right bus stop. We really liked the Paraguayan flair, which is a lot more like one would imagine South-America to be ... Relatively poor, really warm and tropical, lots of green and surprisingly red earth (reminded me of Madagascar!) we soon found out that finding the right bus wasn't the hardest part of the journey, but to find the place where we would have to get off, because there are no buss tops, and also actually getting off the bus, because they are even fuller than buses in Montevideo (we had pass the luggage through the window!!!!) But finally we made it to our friends house where we were invited to share a meal (Paraguayan hospitality requires you to eat at least 3 plates and they made 3 kg of meat for 3 persons^^) I had my first cold mate, we were able to relax and they even showed us an Indian village of the Maka tribe, which was really interesting and different. As final event in Paraguay we went to visit the temple in Asuncion and were able to do proxy baptisms there. It was really awesome and such nice people!

From there we took the night bus to Foz de Iguassu, Brazil, which took only 6 hours and from there to the neighboring Puerto de Iguazu, Argentina, where our nice little promising hostel "Iguazu Falls" was located. I really got to appreciate the European Union as to traveling and border control because here you have to pass borders every single time, out of one country and into the next, but at least it's a nice collection of stamps in your passport (total stamps 14!!!!)

Well so we finally got to visit the falls!!! At first the Argentinian side! by the way, the first Europeans discovered the falls in 1542 under the lead of Alvaro Núñez de Vaca, only six years after the foundation of the city Asuncion. After the mighty Parana River mouths into the Iguazu, this almost infinite amount of water encounters a basalt platform, that abruptly ends and thousands of cubic meters of water per second are gushing down up to 80 m . The various waterfalls combined occupy more than 2 km in width.

Obviously the crazy Americans =)

Enough boring details, so we entered the park took a train and consecutive walk over 9 river arms to the Garganta del diablo (devil's throat/ Teufelsschlund) which which is the culminating point of a U-shaped waterfall system, but let the pictures speak for themselves ... Pretty impressive :)
We were then able to do another hike around the waterfall area with breathtaking views, sunshine and accompanied by monkeys, exotic birds and ring-tailed coatis, which took us down to the lower river level and a boat platform where we crossed over to La Isla de Martín. The island itself is really small but allowed us to get closer to the 3 main waterfalls of Iguazu and the walk around fancied our eyes with new angles, more beautiful landscapes, vultures, rainbows, … the list is endless! We concluded the day with a festive dinner buffet comprising all sorts of food that a gourmand´s heart could desire.

The next day started off with heavy rains and thunderstorms and we were almost about to abandon our plans of visiting the Brazilian side of the falls, if there hadn´t been 2 crazy Americans (there´s always a crazy American!!!) we had met at the hostel, that convinced us to do it anyway. Armed with whole-body rain-ponchos and all important things wrapped up rainproof, we headed out into what should turn out to become a funny splash around. We really had a lot of fun altogether, although or maybe because it was raining and rather a little bit foggy, but it was a totally different experience as to the day before, with a completely different national park on the Brazilian side that doesn´t bring you that close to the falls themselves but offer majestic panoramic views along the Iguazu River up to the main falls.

The next day (Sunday) we were already packing our things and got ready to undertake the trip back home, but first we went to church in the local Latter-day Saints (Mormon) ward, which is always a great pleasure to sing, pray and worship together, to be edified and strengthened for the week, but above all to renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament. Our last stop before the departure was the border triangle of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, being divided only by the respective rivers responsible for the falls. From there it was only a nice and comfy 18h bus ride to Buenos Aires, where we basically needed the entire day to get to the temple there, but it was worth the pain (in total more than 5 h city traffic and walking^^). And then tired, exhausted and really ready to fall asleep, but happy and content we finally boarded the ferry to get back to our beloved Montevideo . . .

At the end there are only two things left to say: first that God´s creations and the beauty thereof are precious and gorgeous beyond measure and that we need to make an effort to show our gratitude toward our maker e.g. by preserving it (start today and don´t throw your trash anywhere else but into a trash can!) and secondly that I thank my girlfriend for this great time together and I love her with all my heart.

Sign of life from Uruguay!

Hi my dear friends!!! Yes, the rumors tend to be quite accurate, I have not been kidnapped, hit by a bus or annoyed to death by planchas, ergo I am still alive. In other words, I´m sorry that I was kind of lazy these last couple weeks concerning my blog, posting and letting you know about my life, and I could try to invent some pretty good excuses, but I have just learned in my organizational behavior class, that this is called “la teoría de la autopercepción”, and so I won´t. Nevertheless I herewith solemnly promise improvement =) But enough of this introductory gibberish . . .

Atardecer a la Playa Ramirez

Altough I might seem to sound old in doing so, I cannot help but realize that time really flies and that I have been here in Uruguay now for more than 2 months already and the clock is in nowise slowing down. So yeah what happened during these last couple weeks, let me think, the last happenings where the Servicio Comunitario class and the General Conference … Wow has it already been so long? Anyway, I will start from there and tell my story.

 

Clase de Servicio Comunitario

 

Let´s start with the Servicio Comunitario class, that turns out not only to be a great success but also a lot of fun. These kids are really awesome and they might even have more than we do. We visit them once a week and share a class of one hour together, in which we teach them in a playful manner some English and help them to have some fun learning it. As they are around 8 years old we need to invent a lot of fun things to do, such as learn and sing songs, drawings, games, in order to keep them interested. Highlights so far were songs about traffic, the human body, and as you can see in the picture about a zoo.  Tomorrow we will stay a little longer and have lunch with them!!! Oh yeah the last time when we were waiting for our class to start on the school yard, I was talking to a little crowd of kids and then they wanted me to sing the German National Anthem … Hahaha!!! And so I did, but only in exchange for theirs afterwards and one of the kids insisted on giving me his precious bracelet. Just awesome & I love these guys =)

Roof top view in downtown Montevideo

 

So as life and also uni goes on, we had some midterm exams and the topic for our Spanish Essay was the building you can see in the picture with the museum of “El Gaucho” (Spanish version of a cowboy) which was really interesting, with its historic and cultural background. Additionally we had the exam in Uruguayan Culture, which also went really well and was after all pretty interesting, but maybe a little dry. And then just yesterday I had the pleasure to write the exam in Organizational Behavior, but despite my little doubts it went rather well. Yeah, I guess I finally understand Spanish (well you know what I mean^^) and can have conversations in Spanish, that do not end after the usual 1 minute of clichés exchange.

Us ...

Franca and I are still (Cómo no^^) doing really well and we love each other every day a little bit more and have a lot of fun together. And according to the tradition we also put a lock with our initials at the lock fountain in the center of the city, and it is said, that if two lovebirds do so, they shall return to Montevideo and still love each other . . .

La fuente de los candados

 

And of course I really appreciate not only the Uruguayan Culture in theory but also put into practice. Inasmuch as due to the many Asados (typical Uruguayan barbecues), to Bizcochos with dulce de leche and due to my generally rather large appetite, I am “forced” to do some running, but all those who know me, know that I also really love doing that, as you can see on the sunset picture which has been taking on one of my runs. I somehow always forget to take pictures of the Asados … dunno why? Maybe it´s because my brain suddenly stops working as soon as I see that delicious food and my thinking processes are being slowed down and somehow very focused until this unsatisfied need receives alleviation.

Well anyway … recently I was able to observe a demonstration of lots of farmers that come from the Interior (not Montevideo) and that was quite spectacular, as they were riding down the main street on their horses and armed with patriotic flags and banners, shouting “la tierra no se vende, la tierre se defende” (the earth cannot be sold, but needs to be defended). They are protesting against a huge Mining Project, from which the overall economy might maybe benefit, however this should not be achieved at any cost, as the government expropriates the lands of the farmers for very little remuneration.

Demonstration in Avenida 18 de Julio

 

So life is still awesome over here in Montevideo, although we start to notice that the summer is over and that it´s getting colder, but before I leave you and wish you a great day, I would like to share a little message that our Savior taught: After he delivers his great and famous sermon on the mount to the Jews and also to the Nephites, he invites all of us to do two things: to remember his words and do them, with the promise that if we do so, he will exalt us at the last day. He likens the wise man, who built his house upon the rock unto someone who hears his words and then does them, or puts them into practice, and when the floods and winds come to tear him down, he will not fall, because he is founded upon the rock. What are these things that we should put into practice? To love, to forgive, to be honest, to be kind, not to judge, to share and give, to pray and simply to follow his example . . . I really know that the application of these principles bring happiness to our life, because I have seen it not only in my life but also in the lives of many others. Just give it a try!