It was a good week.

We had a good week starting last sunday evening with a gathering of men and women from church.  We had a lesson on provident living,  good food, and conversation.  The conversation was both German and English.  Monday we had Family Home Evening with the young adults.  Tuesday we went bike riding learning to get to the shops around where we will live.  We also went for a ride in the Tiergarten park.  It is beautiful even in late fall.  It will be spectacular in the spring and summer.  Wednesday, we did prep work for Thanksgiving dinner and taught English class.  Some of the ladies are really quite advanced in speaking English.  Thursday was Thanksgiving.  Dan and I were both feeling a little blue being away from everyone.  I got to talk to my family for a few minutes.  Too bad I had to wake them up to talk to them.(9 hour time difference).  Dinner was great.  We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  We served about 60 people.  The German's do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but they sure loved the dinner.  The kids all stayed and helped clean up.  We got back to our apartment about 11:00 pm.  We were tired but happy.
 The next morning we had mission interviews back at the church at 9:30am.  We met with the other missionaries in Germany, met with President Pimentel and his wife.  He introduced us to "Der Advent Der Wundur".  It is celebrated in Germany starting with the 4 sundays before Christmas.  You light a candle each Sunday.  The first candle, "The Candle of Hope" or the Prophet's Candle represents the prophets promises foretelling the birth of Christ and the hope we have in Jesus.  The second candle "The Candle of Peace" or Bethlehem Candle is a reminder of the city Christ was born in and the peace that God brings to us by forgiving our sins.  The third candle, "The Candle of Joy" or Shepherds Candle  represents the joy the shepherds felt at the news of Christ's birth.  The fourth candle, "The Candle of Love" or the Angels' Candle represents the angelic proclamation of love at Christ's birth.  the fifth candle, The Christ Candle or Christmas Candle is lit on Christmas Day.  It reminds us Christ is the light of the world and if we follow him we will never walk in darkness.  I love this tradition and would like to start it at home when we return.

Friday night we we went to the Freiburg Temple on a bus with the Young Single Adults.  We stayed over night in a Hostel and then attended the Temple the next day.  Jenny, a new convert brought a picture of her deceased father with her.  She was having him baptized by proxy in the Temple.  She was so excited.  It was very touching.  Her face and eyes just sparkled all day.  We were pleased to share her excitement.  Nadir and Stephanie went to the Temple for the first time.  Nadir is waiting for his mission call.  He joined the church 13 months ago.  It was home on the bus and choir practice. 
Yes I am singing in the Christmas choir.  We have a concert in 2 weeks.  Three of the songs are in German.  The only English song we are singing I've never heard!   I may not understand what I am saying, but I can feel the spirit of the season.
Today Dan and I had to speak in church.  We missed our train by 1 minute and had to wait another 20 minutes for the next one.  The bus was late, had to wait another 20 minutes.  Then the bus proceeded to hit every red light. We arrived 5 minutes late.  We didn't have time to get nervous.  Dan did half of his talk in German and half in English.  I started out in German but quickly changed to English.  They had a interpretor for us.  It went pretty well considering all things.  We attended the Gemiendessen after church(potluck) and arrived back at our apartment at about 3:00pm tired and ready to relax.
We are suppose to get some rain the next few day.  I just hope the snow holds off until we move to our other apartment.

We are in Berlin!

We arrived in Berlin after a long flight from Salt Lake.  The young girl at the gate gave us better seats so we had more leg room.  We were met by Elder and Sister Williams from bountiful Utah.  The drive from the airport to the Hotel where we stayed was an E ticket ride.  The narrow streets, the big van we were in and Elder Williams aggressive and jerky driving and Sis Williams navigation nearly got us killed (so it seemed).  We had dinner in a nice German restaurant and went to bed.  We couldn't sleep right away, then fell asleep ans slept through the alarm.  We awoke at 8:10 am and were being picked up for church at 8:30 am.  We barely made it.  Later we went to Maur Platz, a big field where part of the Berlin Wall had stood.  We quietly dedicated our mission to the Lord.  We had lunch with the Williams and went back to the Hotel to rest.  We met with the Monson's that night and finally were able to meet with President Pimental and his wife.  They had been away at a conference.  The next morning we had breakfast with the Pimental's and then got our assignment, Tiergarten, Berlin.  We went to our temporary apartment where we will stay until the middle of December.  It is in the Zalendorf suburb of Berlin.

We have been here almost 1 week now and love it.  We take the S ban and bus to the youth center every day.  It takes about 1 hour and 15 miutes without too much traffic or waiting.  We love the youth center.  The young adults are amazing.  The Nelsons, the people we are replacing are great.  Tomorrow they are going to show us how all the public transportation works.  On tuesday, we will ride bikes around the city learning where the best places to shop are.  Part of our assignment is to cook 2 days a week for the young adults.  We will buy the Nelson's bikes from them when they leave.  Our permanent apartment is right across the street from the Youth Center.  It will be nice to be that close.

Every day we walk around our neighborhood. The German is starting to get better, but we have a long way to go before we understandfully and can speak properly.  Most people speak a little English and we can figure out what we need to know.  Food is different, things are not as sweet.  Our apartment is very small so we go to the store almost every day to get something.  The washer is interesting, it takes 2 hours to wash 1 batch of clothes.  You have to manually open and close the washing drum.  We have no dryer here but will have one in our permanent place. Jet lag is still a problem.  We are wide awake at midnight and have trouble getting up in the morning.  They say to be out in the sun everyday but there is no sun.  It is cloudy and cold, about 35 to 40 degrees F (5 degrees C) every day.  I am wearing boots, sweaters, scarves, coats, gloves every where.  So is Dan.

Our First Week in the MTC

We just finished our first week.  We have been so busy our heads are spinning. Up every day to work out at 5:00am, dressed by 7:15am, to breakfast by 7:30am and in class at 8:00am.  We are in class until 12:00.  We go back to class until 4:30 pm, break for dinner and have German from 6-8:00pm.  It is a long day. Our classes are preparing us to be missionaries.  We taught our first lesson on Wednesday.  Boy were we nervous.  We did great.  The spirit was so strong as we tesified our belief in Christ and told of his love for us.  We were filmed while teaching so the instructor could give us suggestion about where we coud improve.  We did the same sort of thing on Thursday afternoon.  We  also started German tutoring this week.  It is really fun.  Our instructor has taught us a pattern to use to construct sentences using 25 words.  It makes it a lot easier to remember.  We had a testimony meeting with the other language missionaries on Friday night.  We all had to bear our testimonies in our new language.  Both Dan and I were abel to do so without too much difficulty.  Mine was short, but that is ok.  Saturday we awoke to no power so no hot water, no hot food, and no lights.  They have a generator going now but the main transformer won't be fixed for a couple of days.  At least we have normal power to our room.  Saturday morning we went to the Provo Temple.  It was cold walking up the hill.  There was a light dusting of snow on the ground.  We enoyed our time in the Temple.  Our German tutor and his wife picked us up for lunch and we went to In and Out for our last hamburger before going to Germany on Friday.  It was good!  A lot of the senior missionaries have left the MTC for their missions so it is quiet here.  The preceeding  pictures are of friends made while in the MTC.  They are Bro Wosniak, one of ou teachers, Our group with Bro Silitoe, our other teacher in the middle and of  Our district pointing to where we are going.  The Kennleys are going to Indiana, The Moss' are going to South Africa, and the Perrys are going to Southern France.  We are going to Germany.

Life at the MTC

We entered the MTC on a clear sunny crisp morning.   We were nervous but excited to be there.  We got checked in, found our room, went to orientation and were busy the entire day.  We ate in the cafeteria with all the other missionaries.  The food was good and plentiful.  We retired to our room after dinner and did some studying, and were in bed by 9:30 pm.  We awoke to cold rain.  It snowed in the mountains around us.  It stayed cold all day, but the rain cleared out about dinner time.  We went to a Devotional with Craig Zwick of the Seventy.  Both he and his wife Jan spoke.  Both were inspiring.  Tomorrow we teach our first lesson and start German class in the evening.  It will be another busy satisfying day.