Friday, February 15, 2013

An Abundance of Cinnamon Rolls, Spiritual Enlightenment, and German Words


In case you forgot when I leave the MTC, it is in the very near future. My district is already breaking out into missionary renditions of "One Day More" as we anxiously prepare to leave on Sunday morning (Berliners and Alpiners), though the 4 Frankfurters don't leave until Tuesday. Since my companion is going to Frankfurt, she will be left behind and we're a little sad about that. 
Apparently missionary parents don't know how to cope with the absence of their children, so they send them cinnamon rolls. Which is great and exciting when they come in package format. Except when we have 5 boxes at a time, plus a couple of pies for good measure. We're just loved that much. Our MTC teachers have thus been getting food as an extra perk. Also, my teacher Brother Hunsaker is part of Vocal Point. He's the solo on "All Creatures of our God and King." Crazy! Our district leader, Elder Krieger, is far from his warrior name. He was sweet enough to tell his mom who hadn't gotten very much mail last week and she decided to send all those people mail/packages. That is dear.
I know I said this last week, but I love my district. They really are an inspired group of people who are so spiritual and great and can handle the 11 day MTC rush and be prepared to teach right after. We gained one more Berlin Elder, bringing our district up to 15. We are together all day and love it. We have one 18 year old and the rest are 19, and all the girls range from 19-21. My German is actually at the upper end of the class, though far from perfect. I know that God is helping me though because when we practice teaching in German, I say things I definitely couldn't say two weeks ago. It's awesome. There are a couple of missionaries who still look like petrified children during a bomb raid whenever someone speaks German to them, but they should be fine. Eventually :) My zone leaders left this week and it was sad to see them go. They're from the Netherlands and China (who knew China sent missionaries?!) and were just so funny and awkward. A quote from the Chinese elder: "Everything is better with guns." Baha.
I got to take a field trip off the MTC campus this week and go the hospital with my companion because she had to get a nerve test done. That was pretty exciting.
The MTC is just a crazy place. My companion described it as a mix between EFY and boot camp and I can't think of another way to describe it. It's hard to get up at 6:30am every morning and I miss family and friends like crazy, but I learn so much every day and love being surrounded by people who just glow because their faith in Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel is so strong. Elder Krieger gave a really good thought this week and said that we usually don't do things because we're either lazy or afraid. Admittedly, those two things keep me from a lot. And if I didn't know that Christ lives and want to share the message of His church, I would not have lasted two days here. But I do know and that knowledge gives me power to overcome fear and laziness.
So here I go off to Germany! I might send a new German address next week, but if not, you can just mail stuff to the address already given. Muchas gracias and vielen Dank for your love, prayers, letters, and support.

-- 
Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

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