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.