Two Weeks to Germany!

Halo!! This week has been awesome in the missionary department! It has been filled to the brim with the craziness of German. I seriously have had zero time this week because of all that we have had to do, but it has been awesome. I mean the highlight of my week was definitely not the embarrassing call down to the front desk. I was sick not allowed to leave my room (will discuss later) and I get called down to the front desk. To go to the front desk you have to be in church clothes, so I roll out of bed, get my comp, get dress, and we head off. I get there and told them who I was and the girls at the desk look at each other and said, "Oh.....you are sister Linford. (I knew it was going to bad at that point) Your Mom called and wanted to make sure you got your package. If you could make sure you email her on your P-Day so she isn't so worried." I literally just dropped my head on the desk and muttered something along the lines of, "This has to be a joke!" hahaha it was pretty funny though, but now 16 times a day I get reminded of it from my district. So to my over paranoid loving mother, yes I did get it in time for Easter! Shawty you da best!

Monday- P-day, the best day of the week! I got to take my first nap here at the MTC.....heavenly is the only word needed to describe it! That night we had another appointment with Andraus. My German went really well. It was the first time I felt like I was really able to communicate every principle I wanted to.

Tuesday- Well this wasn't as successful of a day with our other investigator. It was our first time teaching him. We got the information that he set up the appointment with us and he was interested. We went and knocked on his door....yeah he hated us. In fact he slammed the door in our face. Yes, that is a first in the MTC I think....a fake investigator slammed the door in your face haha. We were pretty bummed to say the least. Two minutes later our teacher who is playing the role of our fake investigator came into our class and said okay lets pretend its been two days and try again, so we did. Yep, I hope he got a real kick out of making me smell wood for the second time in a 4 minute period. Looking back on it now its funny and that will happen a lot in Germany so I need to get use to it. But, in the moment I was shocked and never expected that to happen in the MTC. The second time we at least got our testimonies out and schedule another time to come back. Tuesdays are awesome because the last half of your day is spent in a workshop which are always awesome and then a fireside from a General Authority. This week we had Elder Wickman, of the seventy. He did a fantastic job. He taught obedience in a new light. Here in the MTC you get hounded on obedience constantly. Thats all you hear. But he put it in a new way that made me want to comply better. He said that we need to replace the word obedience and think of devotion instead,. Our willingness to follow mission rules isn't obedience, it's your devotion to your serve your mission. Then he asked, "How devoted are you?" It made me and everyone think of it in a very good way.

Wednesday- The schedule on Wednesdays is the worst! We don't have any class in the day and then we just go to 6 hours straight of German until 9:30pm. It gets sooo hard to focus and retain things! We had a lesson on sacrifice though. I have come to realize that I have been very dependent on my scholastic abilities to learn German. Although that we help in school, I am not in school, I am doing a fast-track program in the MTC. I need a lot more help than my brain can offer me by itself. We think of the word sacrifice and it has such a negative connotation. In reality, sacrifice, is giving up something to get something more. It applies to my entire mission and each one of your lives. I have sacrificed a lot to come out on this mission, but I am getting SO much more in return. I realized I need to sacrifice my pride and my thought process that if I work hard enough I will learn the language; I need to give me complete faith and self to the lord and when that happens is when German will come.

Thursday- We had another lesson with Andraus. We weren't planning on talking about the Apostasy but when we got in there he guided the lesson to that. My companion looked scared out of her mind because she didn't know how to say anything about the apostasy in German. I had read about stuff the week before but didn't think I could recall anything. The spirit took over and that was one of the most powerful lesson yet. The spirit helped me find the German.

Friday- Yikes. This was not a fun day. It was the hardest German day we have had so far. Headache is an understatement. I was passing out Excedrin to my district like skittles haha. With the fast-track program the lesson plans that the teachers follow have all been changed and they have to improvise a lot. Somehow in all the chaos, some basic things were skipped over. One of them being....when you are memorizing vocab you HAVE to also memorize the Gender of the word (such as masculine) along with the word or you will be screwed later. Yep, well the whole screwed later part happened on Friday. I have a lot of back tracking to do. On a happier note, we had TRC again. That is where you teach members that speak German. I LOVE it! The pressure is going because you know they can understand even if you do have to use English from time to time. We taught to different lessons. We were assigned to teach on prayer. The first room was an older couple who served in Germany 8 years ago. The most spiritual teaching experience I have ever had happened in that room. I have never felt it that strong. I bore my testimony and said everything I wanted to. It was really neat, everyone including my companion was crying at the end. The second room was two college girls. I love teaching young adults. They were awesome and the spirit that was so strong in the lesson before carried right over to the second lesson. TRC makes my week soooo  much better haha. It is a teaching boost for sure.

Saturday- Well I wasn't really better from getting sick the week before. The MTC is having an outbreak of influenza type A whatever that means. They quarantine you for 5 days if you have it. Yikes! If you have any symptoms at all they send you to get tested and don't let you leave your room for a day. Well since I still had the sniffles....boom I was sent to get tested. At the BYU clinic I ran into Sarah Bilton!! Oh how amazing it was to see someone I know in the real world! That girl is too cute. The rest of my day was spent in  my room going crazy angry at the stupid MTC med people haha.

Sunday- EASTER! The morning started out with an amazing fireside from Boyd K. Packer. He did sooo amazing. I always remember his talk as being more serious, but he was hilarious. We had another fireside that night from the BYU Men's. Sundays are always fun and relaxing.

 

Well this week overall has been really good. My district is somehow getting even closer. My companion is still here haha so that's a plus! We just have security that follows us around now just waiting for her to do one more thing. Its awkward. Thanks for all the prayers, she has needed them. I honestly cant believe I will be in Germany in 2 weeks. I am stoked out of my mind! (Doll house, I better get a letter before I leave!!) This place really does shape you into amazing missionaries. I am loving this experience and wouldn't trade it for anything! Thanks for all the love and support, it's what gets me through! Loves~

Sister Linford