July 31, 2013

Hallo Familie!!

First off, I had NO EMAILS TODAY. What?! Mom and dad, I am so glad that you guys dear Elder’d me. Seriously, it was like the highlight of my day when I got that. But Troy, and Taryn! WHY? I expect some letters from you guys soon. And my friends! So today, I expect you to get on Facebook and tell allus mein friends that they are LAME and explain to them how to Dear Elder because I can't write to them if I don't have their addresses. Plus, I just want letters. Elder Maine gets about 50 a day and mein mitarbeiterin (interpretation: my companion) and I get none.

So, now that I got that rant out of my system, Hello! I loved getting your letters. Vater, I'm glad you still have a job and I'm praying for you every day. One thing I've learned here is of the power of prayer, but I'll talk more about that later. Mom, I can't believe Teresa got you to go and pick weeds. That's friendship right there. And also I loved the story of you scaring the sisters. Classic Mutte right there. Troy, Congrats on getting the BYU Pre-Med chair! I know that you will do great. Troy, I also found out that your name in German (spelt Treu) means loyal / faithful. Pretty toll…and Taryn, that is so cool that you got to pet an elephant! But not quite as cool as riding one.

Mutte, to answer your question, I have seen a TON of friends here. I've seen Cass and Katy and Brian and Tanner and Shauntel…and the list goes on and on. I've seen Cass so much and it's just such a great part of my day. Also, I can already tell you are in for a treat when it comes to correcting my grammar. German is so cool, but it is so weird. When you talk, instead of saying something like, "Help us to feel the Spirit" We say, “Helfen uns die Heiligen Geist fuelen" which is “Help us the Holy Ghost feel". I feel like I'm Yoda when I'm talking, and it's awesome!

My Companion and Me

German is hard, but for only being here a week, it is coming along nicely. I just need to remember that it has only been a week. It's frustrating because I want to know it NOW, but I can't. They don't mess around here at the MTC. The first day we got here, we went straight to class where our teacher was talking to us in only German. That's all he ever talks in, and it's so cool because I can actually understand him. I'm pretty sure we learned in about two days what took me two years to learn in Spanish.

We have a fake investigator named Thorsten (pronounced Torsten).  We had to start teaching him on Friday, after only one day of learning German. Seriously, it was the hardest thing of my life. I went in there and we were wanting to talk about the Book of Mormon, but I kept talking in SPANISH. Not English, not Deutch, but Spanish. Really? Oh well, he and my mitarbeiterin just laughed and me. But I'm trying my best to learn. We've already taught him four lessons, all in German. Seriously, I've been here one week and we've already done that. One of the lessons was actually amazing too. We were talking about Joseph Smith and we really got him to open up to us, and when I bore my testimony, I felt the Heiligen Geist so strongly that I started crying. It's amazing how the Holy Ghost is powerful enough to break through language barriers and allow us all to feel it. I'm really going to need to remember that when I get to Germany, because I have a feeling that I am going to be so lost. But oh well.

Oh, also, I realize I'm writing random words in German, but I am speaking and hearing German so much that it is just coming out, so have fun with that...

My district is AWESOME. I seriously love them so much. They have become my best friends and it's only been one week. It's going to be so sad when we all go to different districts and zones out in the mission. There are only 8 girls in my zone, and 6 of them are going to Frankfurt with me. Our zone does something different than everyone else in the MTC where the whole zone is shipped out at one time, so I'm really going to become close with everyone else. In my district, there is Elder Maine, Elder Dean, Elder Overall (we call him Uberall), Elder Shively, and my awesome mitarbeiterin Sister McMurry. Oh…by the way, we aren't called Schwesters in Germany. Apparently that's the name the nuns use, sooo…I'm glad I found that out…haha. Elder Maine is someone I would've been really good friends with in high school. He loves making fun of people when they do something dumb, so needless to say I've been laughed at quite a bit. Elder Dean is seriously the FUNNIEST person I've met. Ever. Elder Uberall is just extremely smart and happy and Elder Shively calms us all down. My companion (which is mitarbeiterin and probably my favorite German word I've learned yet) is one of the nicest people I've ever met. We work so well together. She brings out the best in me and we just have such a great time together. I'm so glad. Needless to say, I have the best district. I don't thing I've ever laughed so hard before. God put me with them for a reason. He knew what I would need and everyone has something different to offer. All the other districts in our zone are jealous, because we definitely have the most fun. (And study hard too, of course...but seriously, we are so diligent). My mitarbeiterin also loves to exercise. She does triathlons for fun, so needless to say, she kicks my butt during workout time. Oh that reminds me, Mutte, will you send me out my headphones, because I can listen to them while I work out in the gym. Oh, and auch, my district's word of the MTC is komisch. I probably hear / say it about 100 times a day. It means weird or awkward, and that is exactly what we are. Even our teacher, Bruder Pedersen, says it to us.

So, of course I've had a lot of embarrassing moments this past week, like speaking Spanish (which now is a mix between Spanish and German…weird), falling, and saying dumb things. Like today. We were doing laundry (which I was sooo excited about) and I took my clothes from the washer and put them into what I thought was a dryer. Well it was another washer. So of course I start it, and it locks the door and I can't get my clothes out until the load is completely done. And the worst part was that Elder Maine just stood there watching me and then started laughing once I push start. Really toll, Elder.

So I guess I should be spiritual now. I've learned so much here. I love the spirit that I feel and the happiness of the people around me. They are so uplifting and machvoll in their Glauben. I've really learned the power of prayer (oh by the way, I can say all my prayers in German now, which is SEHR TOLL! And my testimony too!). Sister McMurry and I pray for everything, and I've seen God answer my prayers. Even though Thorston is a fake investigator, we love him like it is completely real. We pray for him and pray to know what to teach him. It's amazing that when we pray to know what to teach him, everything we learn about in class and in personal study is exactly what we were going to teach. The Spirit really helps guide me and let me know what to say.

Also, you know my host from the first day? She was the best host ever. She left on Monday, but every night until she left, her and her friends would come into our room and give us a pep talk. And the coolest part was that every night, it was exactly what I needed to hear. She was exactly what I needed to get me through the first part. And best part now, starting today, I am no longer the new person on the block. Fresh meat came in today!

Tuesday night’s devotional last night was awesome. I really needed it. We watched a clip from Elder Holland and in it, he was saying why missionary work was so hard. He asked, "Why don't people just come flocking to our doors to hear our message? It's because Salvation is not cheap. It requires work and it requires diligence.” He talked about how even the Savior asked "Isn't there an easier way?" Well, why should we get it easy when Christ never did? We all have to go through our own Gethsemane to obtain blessings. I need to remember that. Speaking of talks, Vater, I have a request for you. While I'm in the MTC, I can't listen to talks on my iPod, and I really want some good General Conference talks to study. If you could Dear Elder me a talk a week or so, that would be AWESOME. Especially if you can somehow find this one from Holland. Danke!

Also, one thing cool I've learned…the sacred name of Jesus Christ that I have written on my name tag means nothing if I don't have it engraved in my heart. This gospel is centered on Him and we need to always remember that. We need to be bold with our invitations, because often times that's all people are waiting for. An invitation!

Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. I'll need all the prayers I can get as I learn German and teach people.

Ich viess dass Gott ist unser Himmlisher Vater. Er liebt allus Kinder und dat Jesus Christi ist unser der Erretter. Dis kirche ist wahr! Ich weiss dass Das Buch Mormon wahr ist un der Gott ist. Die Worten der Propheten von Gott kommen und dass das Evangelium uns segnen und ist wichtig. Ich liebe mein God un mien Erretter. In namen Jesus Christi, Amen.

ICH LIEBE DICH.

Sister Savannah Teeples

P.S. TELL EVERYONE TO DEAR ELDER ME. And I want Megan's address. There's something I want to send her. Give everyone my love and feel free to send me my headphones, Mom. And another one of my t-shirts, I use them for working out every week. And some cookies. My district wouldn't mind that.