3 Days til 1 Month!

Wed. November 19, 2014

Well hello!!! Wie Gehts? How's everything going back home? Feeling cold yet? Cause its COLD here! I'm going to freeze in Germany! 

Ok, so on Wednesday we did initiatories. I met this 88 year old woman! All the sisters make fun of me because I always talk to old people! I think it’s interesting to learn about their life though and get to know them. We also got to take a nap! What? Yes, a nap! It was the best!

Thursday I wrote down that we taught a crappy lesson to one of our investigators... that happens kind of frequently so it’s not really a surprise. We also learned how to do effective language study plans. It’s helped a ton! I'll have to send a picture of my planner so you can see what I do! I also got two packages! Thanks Kera and Savannah! It also SNOWED!!! Just a little, and nothing stuck, but people not from here thought it was pretty cool!

Freitag, I got a package from the Kay's! Thank you so much! I loved it! Also, Friday is Pizza day for dinner! They serve Papa John's pizza! How they get enough pizza to feed all 2000 missionaries I don't know, but it’s SO good! So while eating pizza this old guy walks past and just kinda says, "Hey sisters good food huh?" And as he is walking by I say "Ya! Today there is because they have pizza!" I don't know if he heard but...all the sisters asked me if I knew who that was "uh...nope" It was president Nally... the PRESIDENT of the MTC...yep! I pretty much told the president of the MTC that the food sucks! Awesome.

Saturday. I wrote that we had a good lesson taught by Brudder Liddle and Brudder Brogden. We practiced teaching and it was good! We could all really feel the spirit! I also got to play the piano for a little while, and take like a 20 min nap! 

Sunday! Oh, they are my favorite!! I played the piano in Sacrament meeting! No joke, I played worse than I have EVER played in my entire life! But that’s ok. Also, we always have to prepare talks because we don't know who will be speaking! It’s the most stressful thing I do all week, because it has to be in German! For Relief Society the Primary President spoke! Also, you HAVE to go watch “O Come, Emmanuel” by the piano guys! You can just look it up on LDS.org. It’s amazing and I cried like 4 times because I just keep watching it over and over again! Also, the temple walk was freezing and there is always newly married or dating people at the temple with all the missionaries! It’s kind of funny! 

Monday....I got a package from Missy for all the Elders!! THANK YOU! You should have seen their faces when they saw the Coke! They loved it! So...one of our untersuchers (investigators) accepted to get baptized! WAS?! Yeah...so we now have to teach him EVERYTHING in the next couple of weeks! I believe that our teacher is doing this to us so we can know how to prepare people for baptism! So uh, wish me luck! Or pray for me! That would probably be more efficient!

Also, later that night I look over and Sister Israelsen is putting conditioner on her face! We asked her why and she thought because it moisturized her hair that it might moisturize her face. Sister Garcia is majoring in Bio-Chem so she looked on the ingredients and its really bad to put on your face! So...don't put conditioner on your face! haha! 

Tuesday! Oh meine gutte! I believe we taught our BEST lesson we have ever had! It was to Lukas, (so Brudder Janis) and we had been really struggling with knowing his needs. So we planned a lesson on getting to know what he needs. It went awesome! We recited the First vision to him! Man it was cool and the Spirit was so strong there! We had choir practice which I LOVE!  And the General Relief Society President came and talked to us for the devotional! It's awesome that we get to hear so many great speakers! It's like being in general conference twice a week! 

Well, in other news, I get my flight plans tomorrow I believe! I'm SO excited! But nervous also! The Branch President said that we would have a layover in Seattle and in Amsterdam! So, that’s pretty cool! Ok, so, everyone here said they are getting Euros in cash. Either having their parents get some and send it to them in the MTC or doing it at the airport! Everyone is getting about 300 euros. I don't know what you guys want to do, but I need about 200 for the bike fund right when I get there! Let me know! 

Also mom, I do need my Bare Minerals primer and foundation. Maybe some enzyme pills, some Proactive, but just the face wash. Not a huge one, just a normal one will be fine. Also some cotton balls and q-tips would be good. Not a ton of them, but like a couple handfuls of each. 

It's amazing how being here I can feel the Spirit almost constantly! I study for 3 hours straight and still feel like I could do more! I had no idea the power of the scriptures in converting until I starting using them in lessons! It’s amazing! We can plan all we want for lessons, but if we have schriftelles that apply to what we are teaching the lesson will go 100% better! Strive to have the Spirit in your lives always! I think you will be amazed at how it will help. I can really see the difference between the Elders and Sisters here who really work to have the Spirit with them, and the Elders and Sisters who are not fully into it. It's amazing what the Spirit can do for your life and even just the way you think. LESEN DIE(der,das...?ich weiss nicht) SCHRIFTEN!!! We need the scriptures in our lives! Read them in the morning if you can! Actually, I know you can! Because I did every day when I was at home, and if you knew me in the mornings that is a miracle! Don’t say you don't have time, because you do! Get up five minutes early. Also, I know this is hard for my family at least, but you should try to read them as a family and talk about the scriptures that you read. I don't know why, but I felt that it was important to include that. I love you guys SO SO much! Have a great week!!! 

 

Liebe, Sister St. John

One of my favorite pictures of me and Sister Israelsen! 

 

 The map. I can't reach Germany....

We separate by companionships for study time so we can focus. This is how study time for me usually goes! I get sick of sitting so I lay down! This is language study. Side by side PMG reading for about 15 minutes then I do other things. I've never used a dictionary more in my life. (yellow book)

 

Me with food at night is a regular!

I LOVE this picture! Its Sister Israelsen, Sister Curry, me, Sister Rodgers in the back, and Sister Garcia. We were walking back from class at night. See the black fence thing? Well there is construction all over the place and its all blocked off. About 4 buildings are under construction right now! Weird.

Our elders loved the coke! Thanks Missy! 

 

From our temple walk...

 

Temple...

 

 Our Elders at the temple walk...left to right, Elder Gurlock, Elder Stott, Elder Clementz, Elder Oldaroid, Elder Westbury, and Elder Woodside. They act like they are 18 year old boys...surprised? Me either!

 

Isn't this kinda cute? I made us do a jumping picture! And it was FREEZING! I love my companion!

Half Way...MTC

 

Wed. November 12, 2014

 

How are you guys? I love getting your Dear Elders and emails! Sorry if I don't always reply because I’m focusing on writing this email! But thank you so much! I love them all!!

 

Well, I'm half way done with the MTC! Is that crazy or what? It makes me sick actually! I'm NOwhere near ready to leave this place! There is so much to learn, and so much to improve on before I leave. Plus I will have to say goodbye to all of my zone! And my companion! But, I try not to think of that! 

 

Ok, so Wednesday, we went to the temple and did a session! We always eat in the cafeteria in the temple before we do our session, because the food there is SO much better! My teacher Brudder Liddle gave us some family names of his to do, so we did the endowments for them! That was really cool! I stayed awake better this time! ;)

 

So, I also shaved on Wednesday! Weird to update you? Maybe! But I thought you should know that yes, I do actually shave here... ya know, once I got my razor from home!

 

Ok, so then on Thursday I wore my black shoes for the first time! They were comfy! But all I do all day is sit, so they didn't make much of a difference! We also had our first day of TRC, (No one knows what it stands for) It’s where we go and teach/leave-a-message with members.... that speak German! Who knew there were so many BYU students that spoke German! So our first TRC lady was actually FROM Germany and when she spoke we couldn't understand ONE WORD, not one. It was great. I'm not going to know what’s going on at all when I get to Germany. Not at all! But anyway, she was really nice and we had to ask her to speak slowly like 5 times each time she said anything. Luckily she spoke English also and left us with some encouraging words, and we left the lesson crying. Luckily my companion cries almost as much as I do. Almost, but not quite!

 

So I get quite a few packages from family, and I got one from the Misers this week! (THANKS LIZ!!!) And Chelsie the cookies were delicious! The District Leader is who goes and gets the mail, and he hands me a little slip, then I go and get the package! Ok, the point of this is that I get a lot of packages which I’m SO thankful for! But people keep making fun of me because one time I got handed a slip at dinner and it was FREEZING outside and I didn't want to go get it, so when Elder Westbury handed the slip to me I said, "Another one?" and then kind of sighed... I promise I was SO grateful for the package, I just didn't want to run and go get it! But now everyone makes fun of me every time I get a package! They all say "Ugh, another one? Why do I get so many packages? My family just loves me too much." It’s kind of funny! But I REALLY do enjoy the packages! THANK YOU everyone!! 

 

So Friday was a little bit of a tougher day for me! I felt like I wasn't progressing at all! Sister Israelsen and I didn't teach very good lessons, etc. Just nothing was going right! But I made it through, and it seems that every time I'm having a hard time Brudder Liddle notices! He came and talked to me and Sister Israelsen and like out of nowhere starts saying things that we NEEDED to hear! I almost cried! I actually almost cry every time any teacher comes and talks to us about spiritual things.

 

Ok, but another thing I wrote down about Friday was that EVERYONE here thinks it’s going to be SO much easier once we get to Germany! I don't think that's the case! Maybe, just maybe it will be easier to learn the language. But that doesn't mean we aren't going to have to work at it! I don't know, that's just something that people say that bugs me! They just don't realize that they aren't here to go on a vacation! This is work! It’s the LORD’S work! It’s hard when no one is focused during study time, and people always talk about movies and sing songs from home. Anyway, that's a little rant on things that bug me. I'm trying to be obedient!

 

SO funny! On Saturday for dinner they had this German chocolate cake stuff, and our group eats dinner a little later so usually all the good dessert is gone. So Sister Israelsen really wanted some cake, but it was gone. So as we were walking we saw this kid who had a whole piece of cake, untouched, headed to the conveyor belt where we put our trays and stuff. So, jokingly I said, "Sister, you should ask him for his cake!" and I laughed about it to myself and kept walking to the designated table with the rest of the Germans. A couple minutes later Sister Garcia and Sister Israelsen come and sit down with a piece of cake.... I started laughing and asked if they really asked that kid for his cake they said "not exactly..." so I asked what they did! They would NOT tell me! But I finally put it together! They waited til he put his tray on the conveyor belt and then grabbed his cake off of it!! HAHAHA!! I was DYING! The things people do for good food!

 

Ok, so Sundays are my favorite, but also my least favorite! I cry every Sunday! The sisters get to watch music and the spoken word before Relief Society which is AWESOME!! It was soooo good this week! If you didn't see it, go watch it! My favorite song they sang was "Down to the River to Pray" and then sister Oscarson (yw general president!) spoke. She was so good! She shared a lot of stories about her kids on missions! It was awesome! For the evening devotional we heard from Sister and Elder Condie from the 70! He served in Germany! So the speakers usually call out countries to say hi in their language, and EVERY time we get skipped! EVERY time! So we thought this would FOR SURE be our chance to just say guten tag!! But no.... he didn't shout us out! But...he did make a joke in German during his talk that all the Germans laughed at because we got it! But no one else did! So that was funny!

 

After Sunday night devotionals they show movies or talks that we can go watch! It’s great actually, because I miss my movie Sundays! So this Sunday we watched “Legacy” and guess what? First it has a great message of faith, but second there is ROMANCE!! WHAT?!?! They kiss 5 times. We counted! The awkwardness in the room when they kissed... haha! You could seriously reach out and touch it! Everyone like laughed and we like felt weird watching! haha! But it was a good movie! :) Sundays are also the day that I get most homesick on... it’s rough, but I make it through!

 

On Monday we do service at 6:15! So no, we don't wear dresses when we do service! I really just get up and do service in my sweats and with no makeup. We cleaned whiteboards for like the second week in a row. Then we polished doorknobs! It was awesome, let me tell you! Actually, I will be the best polisher of things when I get back! I'll have to put my skills to use when I get home! So after service we go and get sack breakfast! Basically I get milk to put in a bowl of cereal that Brooke sent me! :) My roommates started looking at the calories of things from the sack breakfasts like their yogurt and chocolate milk! It was funny to see their reaction to how much sugar and calories things have! So we had an hour until gym and so Sister Garcia and I decided to clean and vacuum while Sister Israelsen and Sister Seare took a nap! So the vacuums in our residence are OLD! Like I’ve never seen a vacuum so old! So there are only four and the first one we brought in didn't even work, and so the second one we brought it turned on, and so Sister Garcia starts vacuuming and it starts to smell like burning rubber. I told her to just keep going because our floor space is like 5 square feet! But then the sisters wake up from their nap and smell the smell and tell us that it isn't normal so we turn it off and go get another one! Long story short, it took us 3 vacuums to find one that worked! Then our room smelled like burning rubber for the rest of the day!

 

Later that day we met some of the elders going to Denmark, so they are learning Dutch! And we could understand each other when we spoke in our languages! Crazy cool! Their classroom is two floors above us, so we go visit sometimes and talk in Dutch and Deutsch!  Also, we taught Lukas (Brudder Janis) a lesson yesterday about the sacrament and the atonement and it went SO good! Our German isn't very good, but we had the Spirit! Which we had been struggling with! But it was with us in the lesson! We all felt it!

 

Yesterday was pretty much the same! We had choir practice, and had a devotional by a bishop that was really good! I also got your package! Thank you mom! I also worked out pretty hard yesterday and ran and did legs and abs... I’m SORE today! It’s good though!

 

Ok, and...Chalis is having twin boys?! Man! And what was happening was so scary!! I've been praying for her! And for Brittney! Actually, I pray for everyone! Prayer is powerful! Especially when I can pray in German! 

 

I can't believe that Rachel is going to Taiwan!!! CRAZY!! The missionaries going to Taiwan here are awesome! She’s going to do great!! 

 

I almost cried when I saw the picture of Abby! I miss her so much! I'm sad I didn't get to see her! If you see her, tell her hi for me!!!

 

Ok, so the rules for a companion is sight and sound! The bathroom on our floor of the classrooms is only one bathroom. (It was made when there weren't very many sisters!) So there is a bench that I wait at while my comp goes to the bathroom. In our residence and cafeteria we just have to be on the same floor. But we can be anywhere! 

 

No one is from outside of the US in my zone! There is someone from Australia that is going to Italy. We talk to him sometimes. He doesn't have an accent when he speaks Italian! Weird! Some people from my zone are from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Colorado, Virginia. Nowhere super exciting! But a lot of them haven’t seen snow, so I want it to snow so they can see it! And if you don't live in Utah you don't know about Music and the Spoken Word, I guess...? Weird! 

 

Ok, so I'm sorry I do this every time...but I have a list of things for you to send please!

I'm sick of all my plain shirts! If you could, will you please send me my grey sweater with the chevron black thing on the front? Also, my black and white striped shirt the one with the thicker strips would be awesome! Also some of my button down shirts! (Not my see-through mint one though!) Anything with a pattern please! My grey polka dot one! Oh! And my coral cardigan! If my suitcase will be too heavy I will send things back! I just need them for here! 

 

So there are some elders that we have noticed that don't get anything from their families! Not even letters! Most of their families live far away so they can't really send packages! So I have a request! Could you please send some real coke? (with caffeine!) The elders saw me with my diet coke with caffeine and said they would sacrifice things for a can of real coke! There are about 6 elders that I'm friends with that would love some coke, and some beef jerky or something! Just ask Colten what he would like! They really like cool ranch Doritos...but that would be awesome! We have plenty of food for the sisters! But the elders don’t like a lot of the stuff we have!

 

Oh! Dad, so I'll send a picture of our teachers when we leave! I can't just whip out my camera and take a picture of them! That's weird...so I'll get one to you sometime! 

 

So on a more spiritual note to end things....Brother Condie said something along the lines of, "The Holy Ghost teaches man, what we cannot teach each other!" that really stuck out to me! Having the Spirit with us as missionaries is no different than having it with you guys! We still have to work for it and invite it into our lives! I didn't think that it would be this hard to do! But it is! I've been trying to be SUPER obedient! Study when I'm supposed to, wake up when I'm supposed to, think about what I'm supposed to, etc. I weiss that when we do what the lord wants us to, we will have the Holy Ghost with us, and it will help us! I couldn't do it without the Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost is the true converter! Also, music is HUGE when it comes to feeling the Spirit! Listen to good music!! (directed to my teenage siblings mostly) Just be careful! “Glorious,” by David Archuleta is always a good fallback when you don't know what to listen to;) I seriously could sing that song 1 million times over and over again by memory! I listen to it every Sunday for about an hour straight!

 

I'll send some pics in another email! Love you! 

Leibe,

Sister St. John

 

So all the sisters in our zone sang this in sacrament meeting this past Sunday! We thought we would record it and send it to our families! We don't sound the best, and if you hear anyone that's off...that's me! We sing two verses in German, and then repeat the last verse again in English so people can understand it! Its my favorite hymn, and its actually in the German Hymn book! 

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

(click the words to hear)

 

I told Sister Israelsen that we needed a laughing picture! I thought we did pretty good!

This is Ashley Silver's (one of Cass's friends) grandpa, we're with him every Sunday. He is AWESOME!

The laundry joint! With Sister Israelsen, me, and Sister Garcia! 

 

My great companion pretending to read the Book of Mormon! :)

These are my friends! top row left to right...Elder Westbury, Elder Clemets, Elder Oldroid, and Elder Woodside. Bottom row, Sister Garcia, Sister Seare, me and Sister Israelsen!

Me, Sister Israelsen, Sister Seare, and Sister Garcia! We love the temple walk on Sundays! :)

 

November 5, 2014 MTC

Wed. Nov. 5, 2014 MTC

Dear Family, 

Wow! It seems like just yesterday was P-Day, but then again it seems like 2 months ago! Time is weird here! I've had a great week! My schedule is still the same. Dad said he was confused about me not having a teacher in the morning. We just don’t! We do all of our studying in the classroom after working out and before lunch. Then after lunch we have a teacher until dinner, then after dinner we have a teacher.

Ok, so I knew that our investigator wasn't a real investigator... But what I didn't know is that he is our teacher!! So now we are taught by him! Which is actually really nice because he can teach us what we can improve on! So we now have 3 teachers! We also got 2 new investigators! They are both our teachers acting as one of their own investigators that they had on their mission! It’s kind of hard to take them seriously! Especially Brudder Janis, because he breaks character and laughs at us a lot! I've found that even though the investigators are our teachers I want them to learn and grow and come closer to Christ.

So SYL (speak your language) is what we are supposed to do here, but it’s hard when you don't know enough of your language to say what you want to! Anyway, my story with this is that as a district we made a goal to immer (always) SYL!! We have been trying really hard, and the day that we started it Brudder Janis came in and was SO proud of us!! He gave us all fist bumps and everything! Haha! But it’s really helping all of us learn German quickly I believe! But I just have to keep reminding myself that I'M NOT the one that’s learning German, its GOD that's helping me learn it! There is NO way I could have learned as much German as I know right now by myself! Heavenly Father is helping me out for sure!

So something that I thought was interesting that you guys might want to know is that our huge devotional room is also the gym! Bleachers pull out, and they lay a big carpet thing and bring in a stand. Anyway, it’s really interesting that it’s our gym... but they have it be the devotional room also! So one day this week, I believe it was Friday, I decided to go running around the track on the top floor. So as I was running around, and around, and around (it’s a half track) I noticed that there was actual gym equipment!! Like I can do triceps and my shoulders and they have a squat machine and stuff! It was so nice to find those! During gym time you are allowed to be separated from your companion as long as you are in the same building. So I can go do weight stuff with some of the other sisters while my comp. is doing something else! 

So, I had been being really frustrated that I couldn't understand German as well as I thought I should be able to. I had really been praying and trying to do all I could to progress at the language. My teacher, Brudder Liddle interviewed us all separately and asked us if we felt like we were struggling with anything. I told him that I felt like I was struggling with understand the language. He said "Really? Because Brudder Janis and I were talking the other day about how we were impressed that you could understand it so well!" This made me feel a lot better!  He also told me to notice in class when I understand things, and look at the others in the class and see if they understand it. (That sounds bad like I’m trying to beat my other members of my district, but I think he just wanted me to feel better about myself.)  Ok, so Brudder Janis (He's like my favorite teacher. He got off of his mission about 4 months ago! So that means that I had my call before he got home! That’s crazy to me!) doesn't compliment people very often, and he is  pretty fluent in German and is pretty hard to understand. So he was explaining at the beginning of class that he wanted us to run around the building 4 times, and up and down the 3 flights of stairs 3 times. (It was a lesson about stress.... and Sister Israelsen and I were in dresses!) So I asked him if he was serious and he said yes! And the rest of the class was totally lost, honestly no one but me knew what he had just said. He repeated it about 4 more times and when no one else got it he asked if I really understood what he was saying, so I said that I did and repeated what he had said to us in English. He looked so surprised and asked me to make sure that he was remembering that I didn't have any German before. I assured him that I had NO German before coming. He told me that he was impressed at how fast I was being able to understand German for not have taken any before coming! This just made me feel SO much better! If Brudder Janis was noticing that I was understanding German pretty fast then maybe I was and maybe I don't need to worry about it. Obviously I will always keep praying to learn the language and keep studying! But it is nice to just notice the small improvements!

Ok, so funny story! As a district we get a little distracted during our personal study time, so we made a goal not to talk during that hour at all! So the first day we were enforcing the rule, it was DEAD silent and Elder Luchs farts SO loud!!! And he just goes "sorry!" I know it doesn't sound that funny, but it was! And we all just kept studying, no laughing! So Elder Luchs and Elder Roode leave for lunch and as SOON as they are out the door and shut it the rest of us burst out laughing!! We honestly couldn't stop for like 10 minuets!! It was SO funny!! I mean, the ONE time that we are silent during personal study he has to fart!! It’s SO funny!!

Halloween! So it was fun! Nothing special, and we all dressed up as missionaries! Ha! I wanted to dress up as a normal person and wear a t-shirt and pants... but I didn't think that would fly very well! I got two packages the day before Halloween! It was SO nice! Thank you so much Mom and Brooke! Brooke, I shared those sugar cookies with my district and all my teachers! Every one of them said it was best sugar cookie they have ever had in their life! That recipe is sure one of a kind! Tell Adi thank you for her note and flower pot! I loved them! Her school picture is so cute! We took some fun pictures with the props you gave me Mom! I’ll have to see if I can send some! It’s a little tricky to figure out how to send pictures here! Also, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apples...BEST IDEA EVER!! No one in my room had ever had one before, so they thought they were heavenly also! They keep telling me that I have the best family! I would have to agree! We now have enough food and snacks to last us for the six weeks I believe! I’ll let you know. Thanks for the pufmeis (popcorn! It’s my new favorite word! you say it like poof-mice) everyone again was so surprised that it was WAY better than microwave popcorn! Haha! 

After service on Saturday we had extra time and I got to play the piano for a little bit! It was so fun! I'm glad I got to do it. It helped me clear my mind for a little bit. I also LOVE singing in German! I didn't think I would like it, but I really do!  I'm surprised at how well the words fit into songs! And guess what?! Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is in the German song book! It’s my favorite and all the sisters in our zone are singing it for a special musical number for sacrament on Sunday! Oh! Also! Can you send my Silent Night sheet music? Our music coordinators want me to play possibly the last Sunday we are here! So if you could send me that, that would be awesome! 

So for my high school friends... I saw Devin Orton! And for those of you who may have gone to elementary school with me, I saw Dallin Dorius! I'm always so surprised when people remember me. I also saw President Butler, and President Mills! I'm glad you got his text! It was so fun to see him!

So devotionals are AWESOME! We got to take a field trip yesterday to the Marriott center for a BYU devotional! (It made me want to go to a B-Ball game! and it was weird to see normal people! Haha!) It was by Elder Evans. It was good and a ton about marriage. Interesting. Then later last night another area 70 Elder Golden talked about remembering where your power comes from. I also sang in the choir!  I LOVE doing that!! 

Ok, so my companion is from Switzerland! Did I really forget to tell you that?! Wow! Hahaha! Ok, I’m just kidding! She’s from Logan! Like 10 min. from Utah State! 

To answer some of your questions....

1. The showering situation is ok! I really hate showering but it’s good. I shower more here than I do at home. I shower at least once a day! I always wash my hair at night though.

2. I'm planning on either leaving the hangers here or sending them home. I'll let you know. 

3. I know how to send a box home! When I send one home I'll send it to the Springville pharmacy! That’s where you send your packages through right?

4. We don't need a visa to enter the country! Just our passport so that’s good! 

5. I do save the Dear Elder letters and that would be awesome if I could send them back to you! I'll let you know when I send some back! 

6. I'll write you in letters those paragraphs about my call opening and my temple going!

So my spiritual thought this email is from Sunday when I was watching Mormon messages! Yes! We get to do that on the computer lab on Sundays! They are awesome! I don't know why I didn't ever watch those before. Anyway, you should watch the one called "You never know" it’s about a mom and she’s super busy... you will just have to watch it! Also, watch “Patterns of light.” That one is good! I found a quote that I really like from that one... at least I think it was from that one! But it says, "of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to deity, he has asked us to call him FATHER!" I LOVE LOVE LOVE that! Heavenly Father is our father! And he loves us and cares for us like a father does. He wants us to succeed and he wants to help us return to him!! 

I love you so much! Thanks for all the love and support! You are awesome! I will write letters soon!!

Love – Sister St. John

Me, Sister Garcia, and Sister Israelsen in our room!

 The flag circle that's your favorite Mom! It was the first time I saw it from the inside!

Me, Sister Isrealsen, and Sister Sorensen and Sister Wadsworth (Megan that I met on Facebook! She's awesome! On the left).

 My nametag!

This is our whole zone on Sunday at the temple walk!! Sister Garcia and I are about the same height! It makes me happy! And...sorry to say Dad, but she doesn't have a Spanish accent so I can't answer your questions about accents and learning German! She said it's easier to learn the sentence structure because its close to Spanish's sentence structure! 

October 29, 2014 MTC

Halo Family!! Wie gest es ihnen?! (how are you?) Thank you SO SO SO much for you Dear Elder letters, and your emails! I love Dear Elder letters they are my favorite!! Send more of those please! :) 

Well, it sure has been a roller coaster! I honestly can't believe I've been here for a week! It seems like I've been here for a month at least, but at the same time it feels like I got here yesterday!

I get up at 6:30 every day, and earlier if we have service! (cleaning the MTC because they don't want to pay people to do it) Then we have to be at the classroom dressed and ready for studying. We are with our district for like 10 hours! Our district is me, my mitterbeiteren (companion) Sister Israelsen, (and yes, like the country "Israel" then "sen") Elder Westbury, Elder Woodside, (we call that companionship the westside companionship! haha!) Elder Looks, and Elder Roode. We are all going to Berlin! Only 6 missionaries (only one of which is a sister) from our zone of about 35 are going to Frankfurt!

I love our zone, and our district! Our district has a little bit of a hard time focusing on studying when our teachers aren't with us, which by the way, is WAY more than I thought it would be! We are only with our teachers for three and a half hours between lunch and dinner, and then from 6:30 to 9:30. It’s not like EFY where you are with an adult 24/7! Oh! My teachers are only 23 and 21! Brudder Janis (yah-nis in German) got off of his mission only 4 months ago! He doesn't get my sarcasm yet because he is so fresh off of a mission! It's quite funny actually!

Ok, so my daily schedule.... Get up at 6:30 get ready till 7(which I have been doing pretty good at!), study in the classroom until 8, breakfast until 8:30, work out until 9:30, 9:30-10;00 get ready and back to the classroom for personal study, companion study, and language study. 12:50 is lunch, 2:15 is class with either Brudder Liddle, or Bruder Janis. I can understand Bro. Liddle better because he uses simple terms and acts it all out for us! Bro. Janis is harder to understand because he is so fresh off of his mission! Plus he went to the Alpine mission and they speak very throaty there! Then at 5:45 is dinner. Then 6:30 is class again with whatever teacher we didn't have earlier in the day. We usually teach our investigator at 6:30. He's good, but it’s hard to teach in a language you know NONE of!! Then we go to our room around 9:30 and we are supposed to be in bed by 10:30 which is hard! And then repeat!

The food is gross...it reminds me of school food. Obviously it’s the Lord’s school food, so it’s a little better, but school food all the same. I eat a lot of cantaloupe! Like I've probably eaten 4 whole cantaloupes since I’ve been here, and 7 heads of lettuce! So... send me food!!! Anything would be much appreciated! And yes, we had a food closet the first day because some of the older Deutschers gave us chips and queso (nacho cheese dip!) and it was heavenly!

I loved all the food and things sent to me in my package!! Tell the siblings that I loved everything that was in there! So you sent the package on Saturday and the mail room closes at 2, so I got the slip later than 2 to go get the package, so I had to wait until Monday to open it! :( The best days to send me packages would be on Tuesday, or Thursday, or Friday! Oh! I loved the smelly laundry pellets! Except they made the muffins taste like laundry soap like really strongly... sooo.... could you maybe send me some more of those muffins?! I really love those!! Also, we can't chew gum, so mints would be great! Any kind, just not Grandpa Mark’s kind;) also maybe some apples! Oh! And my grey lace up toms! Thanks:)

I've been able to exercise and it’s been great! We exercise every day but P-day and Sunday! I do all kinds of stuff and I’m really sore today from abs and push-ups! We ran to the lower field by the temple one morning and watched the sun rise! That was cool! I also play a lot of basketball, 2 on 2 or 4 on 4! Sometimes even against some of our Elders which is fun because I get competitive and it gets me moving!  

All the other girls in my room are great! It’s Sister Seare, and Sister Garcia (who is my height!) They are hilarious! We have a good time! We are all going to Berlin!

P-day we get up, study, eat breakfast, do laundry, eat lunch (which we will be doing at the temple) going to a session, then we have till 6 to do whatever! The laundry situation is great! Tons of washers and dryers to do laundry in! The only problem is that the dryers are on top, and I honestly can't reach the back of them, even if I jump, so sister Israelsen has to get my clothes that I can't reach for me!

So a few things that I have really enjoyed about the MTC is all of the pictures in the halls! They have TONS of pictures just lining the halls! They are all of people on their missions from all sorts of places and years! It’s SO cool! They also have the biggest map I've ever seen! I’ll take a picture with it sometime!

Also, most of the time, Deutschers will leave on Tuesday, and then new ones will come in. But this one was a little different because they got delayed and so we got to meet them and hang out with them until yesterday! It was seriously such a blessing because we had NO clue what we were doing! We had a schedule, but we didn't know what to do with our study time, etc. I made some great friends and it was sad to say goodbye because 25 of them are going to Frankfurt, and the other 25 are going to Berlin! My favorite is Sister Hill! She is so funny and active! I just love her! Look for her and all the other people on the Berlin mission blog! I will know everyone there coming from the Provo MTC! 

So, weird, but I never see the sun rise, or set. We go back into our room when it is already dark, and we are out before it's already light. Plus, all the sidewalks are covered so we hardly see the sky! It will be nice when it snows to have it covered, but for now it kind of sucks! I'm always thirsty because I use my throat more to talk in German than I do to talk in English! We have to leave our bags and stuff in class, so I keep forgetting to take my pill before I eat! I've been getting better at it though! 

The language is pretty frustrating, and I have a headache every day after class, and it’s hard to fall asleep sometimes because my brain just keeps thinking to itself in German! I've always done pretty well in school with learning, and this feels like my 1050 math class without Dad’s help for a tutor! It’s just frustrating, and I get down on myself about it. I just have to remember that we are all doing the same thing, and that I’ve only been here for a week! I do know how to give a simple prayer, and to testify auf Deutsch though! And my mitterbiteren and I have taught 3 lessons auf Deutsch so we know some! 

Ok, funny moment! Elder Westbury and Woodside came in from teaching their lesson and they were just dying laughing! So Elder Westbury told the investigator that they would be teaching a lesson on taufel (the devil) instead of taffen (baptism)! And the investigator asked Elder Westbury three times if he knew what he said and Elder Westbury was like "yeah! I do!" every time because he thought it meant baptism! Then the investigator was like dying laughing and said “uh... the devil? We are having a lesson on the devil?” And Elder Westbury just dyed with embarrassment! hahaha!! So so so funny!!! 

I got all the pictures and loved them!! I loved all of your costumes! River, your messy bun looked great! And Hadlie, that was a perfect missionary outfit! I’m a little disappointed that Dad didn't wear his hat with the fish attached to it that he ACTUALLY wore in Hawaii! haha! But you guys looked great! I hope Hadlie and River are enjoying the T-Swift album! We can't listen to ANY music here! Not any! But when we get out into the field we will be able to! 

So, I almost forgot! Sundays are the best! We get to watch Music and the Spoken Word for Relief Society, and then have a speaker! Sacrament was small, and all in German! But it will be even smaller next week because the veteran Deutschers are gone! So 50 of them left! They all sang during sacrament meeting and it felt like another farewell! I cried! They are such good examples! I don't know what it is about me and the people I'm always with, but we look SO much younger than the group that just left! All of the Elders that just left look way older than our Elders! It’s crazy!

So after sacrament we went on a temple walk with all the Deutschers! WE GOT TO LEAVE!!! It was amazing!! We took a lot of pictures! and... all of the people not from Utah are obsessed with the mountains! They are beautiful, but it’s funny to hear people talk about how huge they are! Even the West mountains! It’s kinda funny! People don't believe that I live on a mountain until I show them pictures of the view from our house!

After the temple walk we ate dinner and went to choir which was amazing! I love singing especially because we can't listen to music! We then had a speaker who at the moment I have forgotten his name! But it was good and exactly what I needed to hear! We also have choir on Tuesday nights and we have a devotional, and we sang Lead Kindly Light as a choir and it was so powerful! The speaker for Tuesday was the Primary General President and she was so good! And again, exactly what I needed to hear! 

I can't think of anything more to say... I'm sure you guys will have questions! Ask me them! I liked the list actually! :)  I love and miss you guys so much! Sounds like things are going well and I love getting your updates! I keep thinking that I get to come home for a weekend or something... but then I realize that I won’t! This is hard, but it’s SO good!  

Remember to reflect the Lord’s light, don't use your own dimmer light! The work is not about us! I don't do anything for myself! Everything I do reflects around unser ziel (our purpose) as missionaries which is to bring others closer to Christ! NOTHING I do here is about me! It’s about the people in Germany, and spreading the Gospel to them! I thought I knew a lot about the Gospel, but I learn something new every day about the Gospel! Honestly it’s amazing and I’ve never felt the Spirit so strongly! Even though I miss home, and the food, and my family and friends, I’m truly loving it here! This is where I’m supposed to be! I don't know why the Lord decided that I could learn German, but He has faith in me, and I have faith in him! I love you so much! I will send pictures in a separate email!

Love – Sister St. John

 

 

 

 This is my bed, and closet, and my study desk, even though we don't study here or at night!

Me and Sister Israelsen! She kind of reminds me of Hailey Bunker! She is awesome and we get along great! 

Us on our temple walk! The Elders are funny! LOOK how SHORT I am!! hahahaha!! 

Our district!!! Left to right, Elder Woodside (hes 6'7! haha!) Elder Westbury, me, Sister Israelsen, Elder Looks, and Elder Roode at the bottom.

 

 

First Letter!

This came as a physical letter, not email, so mom is typing it for the blog...enjoy all of her exclamation points! I think she's excited!


Oct. 22, 2014

Dear Family,

I just wanted you all to know that I'm doing well! It helped that I knew the Elder who helped me with my bags, and Courtney Schultz's mom welcomed me and put my nametag on. A sister who's going to Kale's mission then showed me to my room and to my classroom! Our district, oh! Wait! My companion is Sister Israelsen! She is awesome, so sweet and loves photography! We BOTH love photography! We are the only sisters in our district! Four Elders are the other part of our district. Sis. Isrealsen and I are the loudest ones in there, if that tells you anything.

So we went to class. Bruder Liddle is our teacher! He's great! I couldn't speak much, but I can understand some. Most words are very similar! Then we had MTC Presidency welcome! 360 missionaries came in today. It's the first time since the Summer of 2013 that all the new missionaries stay on this campus (not in Raintree). There's about 2,000 missionaries here at this MTC! Crazy! Then we had dinner at 4:00! (4!!!) We met Zone leaders and had a People & Purpose lesson!
There's six beds, and four girls in my room! So we made an extra closet into a food closet!

My P-day is on Wednesday! I'll email you then! Can you please sent me my LDS account username and password? I don't have it with me, and I kind of need it to email! So send it in a letter please! I'm doing great! Im loving it! Love you!

Love - Cas Sister St. John

PS Please send me Savannah's notebook. We use a lot of paper!