January 23, 2012
I just want to start off with saying that I love you all and I hope everything is going well!
The MTC is so great! You learn so much so fast and everyone is so happy and cheerful. You can feel the spirit everyone, as long as you are doing what you should be doing, and you always have a happy feeling inside.
So we found out that the MTC has been doing an accelerated learning program for the last few months and that may be why so many missionaries have not liked it recently, but honestly its not that bad. You just need to understand that you're learning by the spirit and that you will be alright as long as you continue to work hard and keep God close to you. You just can't help but be excited about what you are doing in here, Christ love is really present in here.
Shout out to Frau Lindsay! You've been an awesome teacher for me and what you've taught me has helped me have a huge head start when I got in here. The language has been coming really well for only having been in here for 5 days. I have been able to use what you taught me to get a good idea of what our teacher is speaking to us (our teacher has only said one sentence in english so far) and I've been able to help others sometimes.
So our branch president is President Dunn. On Thursday he made me district leader which has been so much fun but a lot of work. The branch we are in has all of the German speaking missions (Berlin, Frankfurt, und Alplandish). We have 5 districts with 8 elders and 2 sisters in each. 2 of these districts are missionaries who came on wednesday, the other 3 have been here for 6 weeks already. Here are the people in my district:
Elder Davies: He is my companion. He is from Sandy and is probably the biggest Utah Jazz fan you'll ever meet. He so nice and friendly and such a hard worker. He hasn't had any experience with learning German before but he is catching on really quick. Everyone in his family thought he was going to Norway because his ancestery is Swedeish, his dad served in Finland, and his brother served in Denmark so had he gone to Norway they would have covered the Scandanavian countries. However, he is so excited for the mission he is going to which is the Alpenlandish as well.
Elder Gubler and Elder Niedens: They are companions and also going to the Alpenlandish mission. They share a room with Elder Davies and I and two missionaries going to the Paris, France mission. Elder Gubler is the man. He is so enthusiastic about learning the language and preparing for the work. He was in my mission prep class at BYU. We both got our calls on the same day so we announced them at the same time in Brother Bott's class. Elder Niedens is one of the most humble guys you'll ever meet. He comes off at first as your typical shy farm boy from Montana but he is such a hard worker and always willing to help others.
Elder Collins and Elder McLaws: They are going to the Frankfurt mission. They live next to us in the residence hall. Elder Collins is the one I relate to most because were both from Utah Valley (he went to Salem Hills high), Sterling Scholar in Social Science, and huge BYU football fans. We get along so well and have a great time in class. I am really good friends with all the elders but I probably would have hung out with him before my mission a lot. Elder McLaws is going to be the most fluent in German by the end of the mission. Whether he is the best now or not he is such hard worker and studies German so diligently. He is the reasonable one in our group.
Elder Divver and Elder Kutler: They are also going to the Frankfurt mission. Elder Divver is one of the funniest kids I've met. He is really good at basketball (he played on the Highland high team that took state). he is really enthusiastic about the work. Elder Kutler is from Texas and is super modest. You can always count on him to be smiling and be super polite to everyone.
Sister Homestead and Sister Sprouse: Sis. Homestead is going to the Alpenlandish mission and Sis. Sprouse is going to the Frankfurt mission. They are both really nice and very good at German.
Our district gets along so well with each other and there is no animosity its so great. But I have to go now my time is almost up!
I weiss dass die evangelium wahr ist und Jesus Kristus der sohn Gott ist. Ich bin dankbar fur diese gelegenheit um zu mission bediener. Ich lebe mein Himmlischer Vater und meine familie.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Keep the Faith
Just wanted to thank you as privately as possible for taking the name out of the post about the Elder who's (former) girlfriend was assigned to the same mission. They broke up when he left due to their young ages & maturing both needed to do, but have written fairly steadily as he has served & she has been at byu working on her education & dating other people so she has done dating experiences besides just one :). It was quite a huge shock & not a good one when she opened her call, but the weekend after, Elder Bednar spoke to her stake & it gave her great comfort, as well as helped her realize it is HER mission now, not Elder --'s. (I commented on an old post for privacy).
ReplyDeleteI had been following your blog because I knew they were companions, & Elder Bodily knew of my daughter at byu. Thanks for sharing what the mission is like so the greenies will be better prepared!