Mien Kampf?

Sent: Wednesday, July 2nd

So now it is the second week of the MTC experience. And here I am again sitting in front of a computer wondering what to say. Truly the MTC experience varies. It goes from great to okay to obnoxious. But its a good experience and it only makes you more excited to get out in the field and do the work that you have been called to do.

I have now completely abandoned any worries when it comes to the language now. The language will come and that will never be an issue. However there is a very simple message that has been relayed to me through every possible resource while being here and it is this. Unser Ziel (Our purpose) is to invite others to come unto Christ but at the heart of the preach my gospel and at the heart of the MTC the message is you must first come unto Christ. You must first come near to Christ so that he might come near to you. You must put being a disciple of Christ above everything else. We must be converted to the Lord himself. We cannot not be converted to the church we cannot simply have a testimony. All of those will fail, and they are only meant to strengthen your own resolve for becoming a better disciple of Christ.

The other day after having been in class all day we were now in our three hour study block of torture. And we were studying outside, one of the teachers from the building across from ours come out and asked us if we wanted to teach an investigator in English. As he could tell that we were going to be serving in a foreign country. So wanting to escape studying for a bit we said sure why not. So we went into the building and we ended teaching this lady named XXXX.

And yes we have random investigators that come to be taught at the MTC all the time. They have gold name tags so you can recognize them. But is was very interesting experience to just be taken in a moments notice to teach this lady. And this lady didn't have any real religious background and even said her only real knowledge of a prophet was from the show Supernatural.

We didn't really get to teach her much and you could tell she was a little nervous. But it was nice just to sit down and talk to her and get to know her and her get to know us. That way it felt like we were real people and there was a real purpose and we weren't just robots trying to get another number. We managed to slip in our testimonies of eternal families and I feel like we left her just a little bit more strengthened in faith than she was before we left her. In the end we are going to see her this Thursday to teach her again.

What else can I say? We are now teaching two people in German each day so two lessons a day. So viele Rollenspiele! And its amazing to see in just one weeks time how much better I have been able to speak German and even the quality of me and my companions lessons have skyrocketed. I am constantly amazed at how much we all can accomplish when we rely on the spirit to lead and guide us to literally be taught by God himself. And that when we go into a lesson with love and compassion for the investigator whether they be fake or real. And just listen sincerely and feel the weight of their words said instead of thinking of the next thing to say in German. The spirit will give us exactly what we need to say.

There are a lot of instances I can continue to talk about but I feel for now this is good enough to say. It is actually quite the daunting task to write a big letter and write down every single experience you had whether spiritual or not. I hope you don't expect a miraculous change in me every time I send a letter. What I have learned is that I will find myself once I lose myself in the work of the Lord. But I can only do it if I am not looking for myself. To be like Christ means to turn yourself away from the natural man to turn away from yourself when everyone else would turn in. As a missionary you must always turn towards others. I hope I can show Christ's love to the people of Germany and show them an eternal love not just a you live only once kind of love. And now I end my letter and say that I love you all and I pray for everyone's safety and happiness. I will write you on the next Vorbereitungs Tag!

Tchüss!