Frankfurt Germany Mission #2

Hallo meine wunderbares Familie und Freunden!

Week 2 of my MTC training is over! It's crazy how fast it is already going by. This week was really crazy because I was always doing something, and when I wasn't, I was usually falling asleep on the couch in my full shirt and tie (oops). It's crazy how exhausting being on the computer all day can be even though I'm not really moving much. 

This week was especially exhausting language-wise because we are starting to really dig deep into German. Although I had some experience in German from high school (thanks Frau Montalbine), the intricacies of German grammar are pretty different from English, so it takes a lot of brain power for me to speak in German with flawless grammar (there's more than 1 comma in a German sentence, you're in for a rough ride). Something that I have always struggled with is that a lot of the time German verbs are at the end of the sentence, so if you mess up in the middle of your sentence or stop to think, you often forget where you were and have to start the sentence completely over haha. That being said, I knew I was progressing when this week I was able to teach a full 20 minute lesson about prayer to someone completely in German (albeit with an occasional word or two in english)! 

I'm finally getting to know my companion and my district really well and we like to have fun. We aren't really supposed to be eating during class so we have sorta made a game of who can be the sneakiest when having a snack during class. My go-to move is to pretend to cough with M&M's in my hand, or sometimes I pretend to lean over to pick something up and then sneak some crackers while I'm down. 

Something that really stood out to me this week is how we can access the Gift of Tongues (for those who don't know what this is, its essentially that if we do the Lord's will, He will bless us with more focus and ability to learn and speak the language, or in this case, German) and become more effective teachers. In addition to working hard and believing in yourself, you have to be willing to LOVE the people you are teaching or working with. There is too much hate and contention in this world for people to REALLY listen to each other or value each others' thoughts. One of the only reasons people listened to Christ when he was on the Earth is because he showed them that he loved them unconditionally. If you are ever stuck in your life, just think about how you can show more love for yourself and others.

P.S. Frau Montalbine - Wenn Sie wollen, können Sie eine E-mail zu mir auf Deutsch senden. Es ist gute Übung für mich. :)

--

Elder Allan

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Kirche Jesu Christi

Corneliusstraße 18

60325 Frankfurt a. Main

Germany/Deutschland