April 16, 2012

April 16, 2012,  MTC (3:50 PM)

Dear Family,

How is is it going? Thanks so much for all of your letters! It's nice being so far away and yet being in the loop about what is happening at home.

So, I'm happy to say that my basketball skills are starting to improve! I've been playing bump and 3 on 3 half court basketball games, which has been a lot of fun and a good way to burn off a lot of the food that I have been eating! And also all those goodies from Easter that were sent to me, haha! Jocelyn sent me pumpkin bread and we were so tempted to finish it all in one day but decided to save some for the next day, too!

On Wednesday, we met a missionary who flew to the MTC from Frankfurt, Germany. He's learning English in a 9 week program and is serving in Salt Lake City. It was his first day and there was no-one there to translate for him. Our district was going to dinner when a brother stopped us and asked if we could translate for him. I was like, "Heck, yes!" It was so cool! We went to all the classes he had to go to for about an hour and just talked with him and translated for him until they found someone else for him. he told us that our German was "Sehr Gut", but I realized that I have a lot to learn still because he spoke really fast and mumbled most of his words so it was a bit harder to understand!

Only one more week until GERMANY! Wow! I can't believe how slow the days are and how fast the weeks go! I've been writing stuff down on a card so I don't forget things during the day and then writing them in my journal at night.

On Thursday, we all switched up our seating arrangements in class to make things fresh! It was a good idea. Our investigator lesson with Brother Z was really good! The spirit was really strong and he committed to baptism. Brother S's lesson didn't go so well - just because we didn't know what to prepare. But we did learn a lot about him. I think this week we only have one investigator lesson with each of them. Pretty crazy!

We also received our flight plans on Thursday. We report at 8;00 AM next Tuesday, and leave on our plane for Amsterdam at 11:13 AM and then fly to Berlin! So crazy! I am allowed to call home - let me know if you would like to hear from me so I can buy a calling card!

Our teachers were sick on Friday so we had a sub who just came back from his Berlin mission last year in the summer, and he told us stories about his mission and Germany in general (the people and the places). It was really cool and got us very excited!

Elder Russel M Ballard came to our Sunday devotional and talked to us about how to apply the Preach My Gospel and what investigators must feel when we teach them. It was really great and he made a lot of funny jokes as well!

The spirit is amazing in this place and I love it here so much - but I'm way excited and ready for GERMANY! Can't wait to leave! I'm gonna make this week my best week!

Thanks for Oma's and Opa's address - I still need the postal code!

Yeah, I got my hair cut the second week I was here in the MTC and I need another one before I leave for Germany!

Mom, don't worry about the two weeks we didn't do any German. You were the best teacher ever, and I honestly needed the two weeks to do the things I wanted before I left!

I wrote Charlene and Kassandra a letter about 2 weeks ago...if it's not there yet, then I don't know what happened to it, but I can write another one!

I 'm so glad to hear that the shower went really well! And thanks for telling me about it! I'm glad that you all let me know what's happening!

Thanks, dad, for writing me a letter in German! haha! I actually understood everything it said.
 I've been listening to General Conference talks in German and understand about 3/4 of it. The other1/4, I guess on or write down so I can learn it! I can't believe how fast we learned German here, it's insane!

Hope all is well and till next week! Our P-Day is on Saturday, because on Monday we are packing!

Love, Elder Luening