Week 2...

June 27th, 2011

Man! These days are long, but this week flew by! German is going good! We've taught like 7 lessons completely auf Deautsch now, and I'm really getting the hang of it! I am trying to help people out. It is kind of hard here, but I've just been trying to include some of the quieter elders and get to know them and stuff. It's pretty fun.

So guess who was here last week. Pretty much all the General Authorities! The First Presidency, The quorum of the twelve, and a whole bunch of the seventy. ! No... I did not personally see them :( They were training all the new Mission Presidents that are shipping out in a month. And I got to meet my new President!! His name is President Miles. he seems really loving and really cool. I can't wait to serve with him! He said he's going to be a "White Bible President"... So he'll be a stickler on the rules. But that's good for me!! Haha...

Not much has changed. Me and my companion are still getting along, and we are working together really well now. He's learning German really fast, but I still have to translate sometimes during lessons. The schedule here is hard, but fulfilling. I'm never actually read and studied the Book of Mormon as much as I do here. We have like 3 hours of personal study every day and I am just tearing through it. I'm already in Alma and I started when I got here.

But yeah! Everything is going awesome! Keep the mail coming! You guys can use dearelder.com to write a letter and they'll print it out and five it to me the next day for free! It's awesome! And you can send me cookies (wink,wink...) I am surely missing my Dew... :( So if you ever feel like sending me some of that as well, don't hesitate- haha

More to come next week! The church is so true!

Herzlich,
Elder Heinrich

Week 1

June 20th, 2011

So the MTC is amazing!! The days are really long and we study forever, but it's good because I have a lot to learn. I see my friends all the time. Elder Rasmussen studies in the floor below mine in the same building so it's sweet. And I walked to the temple with Elder Wilde and Elder Fausett yesterday. (High school friends)

Getting up at 6:30 is hard, but I'm so tired by 10:30 that I get a good 8 hours of sleep every night. Well. At least 7. Elder Hyatt, the one from my chemistry class, is in my same zone so I see him all the time. It's awesome! And my companion is freakin' tight. We get along really well and work really well together. And we have kind of the same sense of humor, I'm just weirder. His name is Elder Parker and he's super chill. But he's a hard worker when it comes to the gospel. He's from Kaysville and went to Utah State as well! What are the chances? Ha. But I'm lucky to have him. Oh! And I'm senior companion. Das wassup.

The MTC is waaaay better than I expected. And HUGE! There are so many elders and sisters here. I see some new that I know from High School or Utah State like every day. And the buildings themselves are pretty old, but they are pretty high tech with the computers and stuff. More than I thought it would be. We use headphones and mics to pratice vocab, and we have an ID card that we swipe to pay for stuff (6 bucks a week) and to do our laundry and stuff. It's pretty sweet. Speaking of tech- I'm missing my phone though... haha. Zach was the one that met me up here, and he hasn't got his mission call yet. Unfortunately, they took me in right away so I could only give him a hug and say goodbye. And I was planning on getting lunch with him so I was starving the whole day. The food here tastes good, but once it hits my bowels it wreaks havoc. For real.

They've started a new Pilot program here at the MTC and our district is in it. It's where you start teaching right away and learn most of the language along the way. We've already taught two full lessons to our untersucher (investigator) Thomas completely auf Deutsch! It was pretty stressful, but our second lesson was way powerful and really cool. We teach him again tomorrow morning.

The spirit really is so strong here. Yesterday we had a devotional and all 2,500 missionaries sang called to serve. Me and Elder Rasmussen (Jake) sat together and we were both balling like the whole time. I don't think I've ever felt the spirit so strong as it is here. It's amazing!

My German in high school has really payed off. My companion had a year of German, and can usually understand what's going on. Ha but I have to translate when we meet with investigators. Other than that, most of our district has no German experience. Remember how I said I wanted to test out early? Well I met with my teacher, but he said he want's me to stay in this class so we don't have to break up our companionship and so I can help the other missionaries. I can understand everything the Teacher and Investigators are saying(classes are usually 95% auf Deutsch) and I can read and understand the Book of Mormon. I can pray and bear my testimony as well. I was actually called upon during sacrament out of the blue to say it and some of the missionaries who have been here a few weeks were really impressed. Boo yah! Haha. But I still have a lot to learn.

I can't believe how long these days are... I guess that happens when you are used to waking up in the late afternoon... But! Besides my mini powernaps during personal study, I'm doing good! I'm just missing my mountain dew..

My estimated departure date is August 15th, and I'll get my travel plans and everything in a couple weeks.
The computers here won't let me upload my pics, but I'll print them off and send them to you. Will you post on my facebook my address again and ask people to write me?? I can't write anyone because I don't have any of their home addresses!!! It stinks.

Der Kirche Jesu Christ Der Heiligen der Letzen Tage wahr ist! Und ich wieß dass das Buch Mormon wahr ist!

I can say a lot more, but I gotta go. I love you so much!

Herzlich,

Elder Heinrich

P.S. There's no cool German word for Elder :(