Week 5

I know I start every email this way, but this week was amazing. When I say amazing, I mean hard. I'm pretty sure about ten people had breakdowns, 6 people got injured, and 2 people threw up, but nevertheless, we are all still standing with one week left in the MTC before we leave for Germany!!!

We got our flight plans yesterday. There are 28 missionaries flying to Frankfurt. We leave on the 15th from Salt Lake, have a 4 hour layover in Atlanta, and then fly to Frankfurt. I think it's an 11 hour flight, but with the layover and the 8 hour time difference, we arrive on that Wednesday! The first thing we do when we get off the plane is either street contacting or working the booth they have set up in downtown Frankfurt. My Deutsch is really good for four weeks, but I'm kind of terrified for speaking with an actual native. Not terrified, more like I can foresee the impending awkward and embarrassing situations that will occur.:p

German is coming along well. We learned adjective endings, which are specific to the gender and the case of the word (whether its masc/fem, a direct object, indirect object, being owned, and if the first word describing the noun is "a" or "the/it"). It's like a gigantic flow chart process. It's going to be the greatest day when I can speak German without having to go through a mental puzzle every sentence:P.

So, one of our favorite things as a Mitarbeiterschaft  (companionship) is to have fun (surprise!). This week was pretty packed with pranks, etc. Sister Moeller sowed a shirt pocket for Elder Harman, so we decided to douse it in perfume before giving it back to him because he had accidentally let it slip that he hates all kinds of feminine perfume. It was hilarious, except he decided to torture us and left it in the room. We were all gagging by the end of the three hour class. Then, a few days later, we were all really bored, and we had found these really strong mints (chewable icebreakers), so Sister Griffin dared Elder Harman to eat a whole pack (16), and he did. After about two minutes he was gagging and crying because he couldn't breathe..... probably not the smartest thing we could've done, but he was okay after. Elder Allan decided to prove that Elder Harman was a baby and ate 17 mints the next day. Needless to say, he was just as much of a baby as Elder Harman. SO FUNNY! 

Back to breakdowns people have, one of our Elders, Elder Fromm, fell asleep in class. Our teacher, Sister Ahlm, was asking us if we knew what meningitis was  (in German) (She got meningitis on her mission), and Elder Fromm woke up and took it upon himself to answer, except he didn't know the question. After a few mumbled tries, he went off on a really long spiritual tangent about how the more we read the BOM the more we can get out of it. We were all so confused, so when he finished we all just bursted out into laughter. It's kind of the new joke in class.

Okay, I promise we have a lot of spiritual moments too. At the devotional, the speaker asked all of the missionaries who had a parent who served a mission to stand up. Almost all of the missionaries in the room stood up. Now that the age is lowered for woman, a lot more kids are going to have two parents who have served a mission. Imagine what that does for the family! It's kind of insane. The MTC is already so crowded (2600 missionaries in the Provo one right now). In about 20 years the number of missionaries is going to at least double, I think, so they are going to need to build a bigger MTC (you can't move in the cafeteria and it takes half of your meal time to get food).

Second cool experience: I was studying a lot about the Atonement this week. I never quite understood why Christ had to sacrifice himself, or why it had to be a sacrifice at all, so I got to studying the scriptures. It's amazing how the Spirit can guide you through your study when you have a specific question. I decided to make a list of everything I sacrifice for this gospel (it was about 8 things), and then I made a list of the blessings I received in return for my sacrifices (about 25 things). I then read 3 Nephi 24:10 where it talks about "bringing all your tithes into the storehouse"  and then that "there shall not be room enough to receive [the blessings]". God wants to bless all of us, but we must first sacrifice something, and then the blessing we receive will be innumerable (I'm sure the total of my blessings exceeds 25). I then read in Doctorine and Covenants 110:9-10. It talked about tens of thousands of people who the Lord would bless through others-- kind of like missionary work. I realized that my sacrifice, this year and  a half, is helping God to bring blessings to his children that he desperately wants to bless. I then related this back to the Atonement. Christ sacrificed himself to make way for the blessings the Lord wanted to give us, like repentance, eternal life, and so much more. 

I want you all to know that I love this gospel, and I love God. I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today if I did not have my testimony of the Savior, that he can and will help me through all of my trials and weaknesses. I know that we can find answers to all of our questions, worries, and doubts through prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. I love you all, I am here for you, and I pray for you all every day.

Liebe,

Sister Johnson

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Cambria Johnson