What a week!

Wow!

So this last week has been crazy.  We have had so much happen, and I am leaving  on this coming Tuesday for Germany!  Without Further Ado, make sure that if you send me a letter, you send it to the following address, and not the MTC:

Germany Berlin Mission

Zerbster Strasse 42

12209 Berlin

Germany

It's 98 cents to send to Germany, and all of Europe I think. 

So this week we have had a lot of activity.  First off I am learing a lot.  I can feel the Spirit increase in power the closer to Christmas we get.  I love Christ and Christmas is very focused on him.  I am super excited to hear from several speakers this weekend.  A speaker on Christmas Eve, two on Christmas, and one on Sunday.  I don't know how I could be more spiritually uplifted.  The MTC is great, and I will have an awesome Christmas.  I have had a little too much Candy though, haha.  It's everywhere!  Everyone is receiving candy and giving it away, and such.  It's quite a time of excitement.

I tried out to be in the Christmas Day Talent show on Tuesday.  I messed up once and I was upset =/  But the lady told me that if I promise not to mess up again, that she liked my piece and wants me in the Talent Show.  I go to rehearsals tomorrow and play on Saturday.  I am so excited!  This will be the largest group I have ever performed anything for... 2,000 or so missionaries!  I'm happy :) 

On Sunday, during Sacrament meeting, our district president had something to tell us. (District president is similar to Stake President... it's like a branch president is to a bishop).  He told us that we have a problem in the German Zone.  The Zone of missionaries going to Germany has had more problems, sicknesses, problems at home, and injuries than any other zone in the MTC.  He informed us that this doesn't happen without a reason.  Satan knows that God has something planned for Germany and he wants to stop it from happening.  We are all meant to go to Germany, and we need to remove any contention from among ourselves to ensure that Satan doesn't hinder the work.  It was such a powerful day.  I thought at the beginning of my MTC experience that God has something important for Germany, and then it got reaffirmed.  We, as missionaries, are here to do the Lord's work. We cannot allow ourselves to fall off track.

I have been packing and getting ready to take off for Germany!  It's going to be quite a change, to go from such a confined space such as the MTC to the open world where everybody speaks a language I can barely understand, let alone speak.  I am putting my trust in the lord, and in Christ.  Christ has experienced all things and knows exactly how I feel.  I will be able to rely on him in Faith, and go and do the Lord's work.  Christ loves me and each one of us in the World.  He knows us each individually;  I know that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  We should all remember this this Christmas Season!

Coming up on the last weeks!

Only one more P-day before I am off to Germany!  This is really crazy.  My German is improving at unheard of rates!  The gift of Tongues is real, I don't know how missionaries would be able to teach effectively without it.  This last week Elder Barnes and I taught a man in the Teaching Resource Center here at the MTC.  I know it's all just volunteers and such, but he committed to being baptised and obeying the word of wisdom.  It's so hard to do things all in German, but I love it!  I can't wait to be able to be fluent enough to teach even more effectively.  I'm definitely happy here at the MTC.

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to be a "Missionary Host".  Basically I went around and brought missionaries just barely coming to the MTC to their rooms and classrooms.  It was a lot of fun!  I met many people and one of the sisters Elder Schwendiman and I helped was from Hawaii.  After we helped her with her bags over to the Sisters' Residence, where we dropped her off with one of the sister missionary hosts, she asked if she could give each of us a lei.  We looked at each other and said, "Well I never heard anything against receiving a lei!"  So Elder Schwendiman and I had the privilage to receive a real authentic, handmade lei!   I don't know if that's how it's spelled though.  That was fun.  I also met an Elder Miller from New Jersey.  Turns out he was good friends with Elder Naval who was serving in Gardnerville, NV before I left!  That was cool.  I told him that Elder Naval was at my house when I opened my mission call, haha!

So I am no longer a zone leader.  Elder Barnes and I got relieved from our assignment as the zone leaders on Sunday.  It's really interesting.  I don't like not being in the loop with things.  When I don't know what's going on I start worrying about all the missionaries in our zone.  I just need to learn to trust our new zone leaders (whom Elder Barnes and I are currently training in their duties).  It is hard, but it's also different to not have all the responsibilites.  It's a very cool experience.

Pretty soon I shall receive my travel plans to travel to Germany on December 28th!  It will be a lot of fun!  Christmas is soon, then right after Christmas is Germany, and right after that is new years.  I hope that I will be able to communicate at least a little bit with the German people! 

Well, all is well with me!  Good luck to you all!  Have a Merry Christmas, and remember Christ and all he has done for us!

Quick Post

Grüße!

Sorry I dont have a whole lot to say because the timer is running out.

It has been an excellent week, and the Spirit of Christmas and Christ is definitely here in the MTC.

I know that Christ lived and died for us.  He loves us and wants us to come back to him and Heavenly Father.  I feel their love everyday!  I hope everyone can feel their love this Christmas Season.

I leave for Germany on the 28th of December!  Its coming up quick!  

Another Fantastic Week

So I am sure that everyone is wondering how my Thanksgiving went.  Well here is the story:

Last week, on Thanksgiving, since it was my P-day, I had to do laundry that day.  In order to do laundry I had to get into the Laundry room at 6AM.  I did that, and that's when I wrote the last e-mail.  You could probably tell it was early, haha.  In the morning, we had a normal breakfast and a Morningside.  In the Morning Devotional Elder Jeffrey Holland came and spoke to us!  It was quite an experience.  Not long after that we had our "Thanksgiving Dinner".  Imagine having cafeteria food.  Now imagine that cafeteria food is Turkey, a roll, some mashed potatoes, and a slice of pumpkin pie.  That was my meal.  It was good though :).  The food was not quite like the food I would normally have, but the food didn't really matter to me too much.  (especially because I had a huge sore throat that day).  We then watched some humanitarian videos and learned how we can be of service to others.  We ate some little sack dinner/snacks after that and went to work to do some service.  We were preparing packets to make backpacks for those in the World who cannot affort school supplies.  We prepared enough materials to make 33,000 backpacks (I don't remember the exact number, but it was 33,000 something...).  It was a lot of Fun.  I enjoyed the whole deal. We then had the privilage of hearing from out MTC president, President Smith, and went to bed.

After that day I started feeling a lot better as far as being sick goes.  I definitely feel fantastic today!  Probably the best day (Health Wise) that I have had in the MTC.  I'm happy :)  I also had a very spiritual experience in the temple. 

The rest of the weekend seemed pretty normal.  Nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary.  I know there is something that happened that I want to tell about, but I'm not sure what it is yet.  Oh well it doesn't matter.  Monday was a wonderful day!  I just had a positive attitude and smiled.  It's amazing how you can change things by the way you think.  There is an awesome power in that.  I continue to learn a lot.  I became the Senior companion of our companionship too.  It's a lot of responsibility :P.  Senior companion and zone leader.  That's okay though, somebody needs to serve the missionaries of my zone, so why not my companion and me?  I love the service too.

Sister Beck, the general relief society president, talked to us on Tuesday.  She had a different way of saying things.  It was cool.   She talked a lot in terms of stories and such. 

Well, I am looking forward to another great week this week!  I hope all is well with everyone!   Only a few more weeks and I'll be in Germany!  I'm excited! 

Oh yeah!  On Tuesday we had a "Teaching Appointment" in what's called the TRC.  It was the first time that we were required to teach the first lesson completely in German.  Elder Barnes and I did it, and it turned out fantastic!  I was so happy!  I said things I did not know I could say, and everything went smoothly.  The guy we taught said he was super surprised that it was only our 4th week in the MTC.  That was fantastic.  I love speaking German.  It's a lot of fun.  It makes me want to start speaking other languages too! Ah, this work is so full of joy and excitement.  Can't wait to tell you more as it happens!

=)  You only get 4 more weeks to send me letters for free via dearElder.com!  Don't forget ;) haha. 

Ahhh, Another week ;)

So another week has gone by!  I think this has been the least "eventful" week.  There weren't any specific events that happened, but it was still good as usual.  Unfortunately, I am still sick.   This time with a really bad sore throat.  It is becoming harder and harder to concentrate on anything being so sick.  I am making it through though!   (Who knew that when I was sick before I came that it would last for another 4 weeks?)

I don't have a lot to say about the week.  Today is Thanksgiving and my P-day.  Since we have P-day on thanksgiving, I woke up earlier to make it into the laundry room at 6:15 to get my laundry done before breakfast.  Crazy stuff!  Many people have asked about my Thanksgiving, the schedule is as follows:

Breakfast

Fireside

Thanksgiving Dinner

Humanitarian Program

Devotional of some sort

Humanitarian Project

End of the Day Devotional.

As one of the Zone leaders I had the priviliage to tell everyone their thanksgiving schedule.  My Zone was not happy to hear they have to give up their P-day for Thanksgiving.  Funny thing, actually.  Just because Elder Barnes and I have the title, "Zone Leaders" everyone thinks we have the answers to every question of life.  It's funny when we have to explain that a Zone Leader does not have extra privilages over other missionaries, we are just assigned to have more responsibilities, and serve every member of the Zone. 

I did meet a Sister yesterday from Northern Germany.  It was fun to try my best to talk to her, and to be able to understand most of the things that she said.  I then asked her what her name is and where she is going.  She, Sister Kleine, is going to Temple Square!  Haha, funny thing.  She's been here for 2 weeks.  I told her and her companion to look for my sister when they got to Temple square.  I said that she can tell her that she met me, haha!  Also, one of the Janitors here said he was in Sister Frogget's Freshman Book of Mormon Class.   He was kind of a strange guy though. 

Well, I hope all is well with everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your day ;)

Pics from setting apart

Here are a few pics of me getting set apart!

Another great week

Well it has been another great week.

A lot of people have asked me about my zone leader responsibilities.  Well they are going great!  I don't get a lot of time to do anything like journal writing anymore, but it's alright.  I love being able to care for, and help out all  the missionaries who are going German Speaking.  My companion and I successfully planned out our first Sunday (which is a Zone Leader responsibility) and did Checkouts on Monday and Tuesday for departing missionaries.  On wednesday we got new missionaries and we did orientations for them, and we get to do more today!

Today at Breakfast, I saw a friend from my German class at BYU-I! (actually he said he was an "acquantance", he is really funny).  It was really cool!  He, Elder Evans, is going stateside though.  He thought it was crazy that I was going to Germany!   He said he forgot almost all of the German from that class, haha!  I don't know if I mentioned, but another Elder in my zone, Elder Hahne, was also in my German class Winter Semester of BYU-I.  He is going to the Alpine German speaking mission.  It's so weird that two people from that class (him and I) are both going German speaking!  So crazy.  I love it.

The weeks have been awesome.  Before I came here I had the opportunity to go to a Mission Conference for the Las Vegas West Mission.  During that conference, Elder Pearson talked to us. He was so powerful and I learned a lot from him.  In fact, I implement a lot I learned from him, and the Spirit during that conference, in what I do everyday here at the MTC.  Crazily enough, he came to the MTC on Tuesday!  He was our devotional speaker.  It was way cool!  He gave the same "talk" as in the LV West Mission conference, but in 1/3 the time.  It was still awesome. 

The MTC is good.  It seems long though!  I have already been here for three weeks.  I constantly think that if I were going English Speaking I would be out of here already!  I'm not though, and that's okay with me.  I can't wait to head out and serve the German People.

I see Elder Richard Francis pretty often.  It's cool to see him and talk with him when I can.  He and I are still building each other up!  We know we can serve great missions. 

Well, here is a really brief message :P ---

Nachdem das Evangelium Jesu Christi Jahrhundertelang verloren gewesen war, wurde es durch einen Prohpeten weiderhergestellt.  Der Himmlischer Vater hat ihn gesandt, weil er uns liebt. 

Ich weiß, dass das wahr ist.  Jesus Christus ist unser erlöser.  Das Buch Mormon ist wahr.  Ich weiß, dass Thomas S. Monson ein Prophet ist, und er liebt uns.  Joseph Smith war ein Prophet.

Well, there you go!

Week 2

Hey All!

Week 2 at the MTC has been great!  First off, it was kind of cool to not be the newest missionaries anymore haha!  That, and I am have been  finally starting to get the hang of everything!  It's sometimes awesome here, and sometimes it's really difficult. I don't know what to say, other than I have been doing a lot of studying, learning, classes, eating, and sleeping.  Same as the previous week.  This keyboard here is terrible and it's really annoying  rriigghhtt  nnow.  See?  It just typed a ton of stuff that I didn't type.  Oh well.  I don't have mmuucch time.

So, Sunday I was feeling good.  I thought I was finally getting the hang of this and getting less sick.  The branch president called me in to talk to me, and I was excited to be able to tell him that I am doing well.  As soon as I get in, he is really serious about everything and I am kind of awakened.  Sure enough, he explains to me that he wants me and my companion, Elder Barnes, to be zone leaders!   I thought I just barely got the hang of being an MTC missionary.  Now I am a zone leader!   It was a lot of responsibility all at once!  I have to do some readjusting again.  The lord knows how to make you grow to your fullest potential.  I guess I'm not supposed to be comfortable  as a missionary =P.

I have cool pictures, but we cannot upload them via the computers here at the MTC.  It is a little bit upsetting.  That's alright though.  I am going to post another post with pictures that my dad sent me of my setting apart.  Hopefully that will work.    I hope I can find a way to upload them soon.  I don't want to run out of memory on my camera! haha!

Anyway, Monday is crazy, learning some of the responsibilities of a zone leader.  I still have lots to learn about it though. 

Tuesday was fantastic!  The day was normal, like any other day for a while.  Then we had devotional that evening.  Guess who was there to talk at devotional!  Elder Bednar!  This is apparently the fourth week in a row that an apostle has come to speak here at the MTC!  His counsel was so incredible!  He taught us about Doctrines vs. Principles vs. Applications.  He told us the answer is ALWAYS  the doctrine.  I am so thankful to have been able to hear his words!  It brought so much clarity to me, and how I can be a more effective teacher throughout my entire life.

Later that night, I kneeled down to say my prayers.  I  always pray in German, it's part of the procedure here at the MTC when learning a language to always pray in your language.  Normally I have my phrases I know how to say, and the vocab I normally use.  That night, however, I was so full of the Spirit that I had so much I wanted to say.  I started to talk in german, and everything that I wanted to say was brought to my mind.  I said everything in German.  It was an awesome experience.  One that I have no idea how to describe.  Since then, my German has improved fairly significantly. 

I was just getting over being sick these last few days, and I was so happy about it too.  I was able to wake up easier, I didn't feel bad.  Then, I woke up this morning and I feel sick again.  It makes me kind of Sad.  I hope it doesn't progress much more than it is now.  It's difficult to be in the MTC and be sick.

Cheers to everyone!  I hope all is going well!  And, like always, don't forget to write me with dearelder.com =D

And for those who I sent this to via e-mail, it should also be posted on a blog: germanfrog.blogspot.com

Hello World!

Hey!

So I finally have gone into the MTC.  It has been an awesome week.  I have been sick, which has been difficult for me, but that's alright.  The first day was crazy, we did a lot of things!  I can't believe everything that we do.  The few days after that were equally as hectic.  We have so much time that we just sit and study.  I did not expect it to be this way.  I expected some classes and a lot of learning.  However I was surprised to find out that it is all done in ONE classroom!  Crazy.  Days start blending together because everything is the same and hardly changes.  That's alright though, I am learning a lot of self-discipline!  I definitely feel the Spirit here.  Everything just feels, different.  Things that I wouldn't normally do are starting to become interesting and fun. I don't know how to explain it!

I think that so far I really love all the languages going on here at the MTC.  Everyone is trying to learn their languages and practicing them on each other.  It's a lot of fun!  I get to use German all the time!  I have learned quite a bit of vocabulary with it too;  however, I looked through what we go over as far as grammar goes.   It turns out that everything I learned throughout my two semesters at BYU Idaho is what we go over.  So, I am going to have to learn to accept that I know this, and just try and help the rest of my district.  I am sure I will learn some new stuff too.

Surprisingly to me, a lot of my district have had previous German experience!  I think the Lord is preparing Germany for something great :)  I expected to have a little bit of a head start on other people, but I don't.  I do know a little more grammar, but that's it. 

My teachers, Brother Naumann, and Brother McCracken are both awesome:)  It's fun to get both of their different personalities and teaching styles.   I know I will learn a lot from them.   My companion, Elder Barnes, is a funny guy!  he is from Utah, and he takes a lot of me making fun of Utah-ans.  Good thing he can take a joke! ;) haha.  Normally they put 4 Elders to each room, but Elder Barnes and I have the privilage to receive the old cleaning closet converted into a room.  So we only have us two in there.  It's kind of funny. 

I have never used a watch so many times in my life!  Just a strange side note, haha!

I also wanted to note that I have seen so many evidences of the Gospel and the Spirit here at the MTC.  It has continued to strengthen my testimony.  Whenever my companion and I study, we always end up choosing to study something that teachers, and leaders decide to teach us more about later that day.  Everything is just falling perfectly into place. 

Every once in a while I do see Elder Francis.  It's cool. We don't get to talk a whole lot because there is always something to do, but it's nice to see him.  He goes to the MTC in Guatemala soon!  I bet that is super exciting!  He seems excited haha. 

I love letters!  DearElder.com is awesome!  I hope everyone decides to use it ;) haha.  I have received letters and such, and they make me happy!  I can only reply to them once a week, but they are great.  Keep them coming!

I'm running out of things that I want to write because I am so focused on typing fast enough before my time runs out! haha, that's alright though, I'll catch people up next week I suppose!  Thanks for everyone's prayers and good wishes.  Things are awesome here! 

FAITH IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT!

My Address!

I received an updated e-mail from the provo MTC.  They gave me my updated address at the MTC!  They also gave me some direction to be aware of.

I'm not supposed to meet up with anyone while on my mission at any time.  This includes temple walks and areas around the MTC.

Okay, now for the address!

MTC Mailbox # 143
GER-BER 1228
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Farewell Talk!

This coming Sunday, October 24, 2010, I am scheduled to speak for my last time before my mission.  I invite anybody that would like to come!  I would LOVE to see you there.  It will be at the Spruce church building, and Sacrament meeting starts at 10AM.  My days in Nevada are numbered!  I am excited. 

Just a side note:  While in the MTC you can send me letters for free using dearelder.com.  I would love to get and reply to everyone's mail!  I should be in the MTC until late December!  Keep checking the blog for updates!

=)

I Just Received My Call!

I just received my mission call yesterday, 27 August 2010.  I am going to the Germany Berlin Mission.  I report to the MTC the 27th of October 2010, and the following are my addresses for the near future.

In the MTC (October 27th):
Germany Berlin Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

In The Mission Field -- The mission office (About 9 weeks after October 27th):
Germany Berlin Mission
Zerbster Strasse 42
12209 Berlin
Germany

I believe it's 90 cents to send a letter to Germany from the US.