July 12, 2023 Email der Woche

 There, just not back again


The Missionary Training Center has been incredible so far. I thought it was going to be hard walking in, but that has been the easiest part of the mission so far. One week ago I said bye to Jacob and my beloved father. And just as soon as I finished hugging them, we were off. Hundreds of missionaries were everywhere, greeting me and everyone else walking in with me, and it's hard not to feel their enthusiasm. They rush you around to get some prep stuff done to make sure you have everything you need, and then are escorted to your dorm where they say "here's your schedule, goodbye" and you and your roommates are left to fend for yourself. It sounds scary maybe, but after so much emotion it's actually the best way they could do things. 
Here's what my average day looks like:
6:20-6:30am: Try your hardest to remember why you decided to serve a mission
6:40-7:30am: run around campus looking for open equipment and then at 7 decide to just to calisthenics 
7:30-8:30: shower, get ready for the day, eat breakfast in 2 minutes and sprint to your 830 class because you have 4 minutes to run 1/3 a mile and climb 6 flights of stairs (true story we did it)
8:30-11:30: class, you are told no food in class but you just happened to bring 2 bagels and a pear into the room and grandma would be mad if it got wasted
11:30-12:30: Lunch, the lines are long and you are picky so you just got cereal instead 
1-5: study time (tip- if you do a few push-ups periodically you will not collapse from exhaustion), read scriptures, plan lessons with your companion to practice teach people who may or may not be members of our church (schrödingers disciple), study German for an hour, accepting that today is not the day you became fluent, find a piano to keep you sane
5-5:45: dinner, the lines are long and you are picky so you just got cereal again
6-9: class
9-10:30pm: get ready for bed and sleep at 10:30
11:30pm: continue talking with your roommates despite complaining about how tired you were all day until you come to a consensus with your roommates that it's probably time to go to bed

Some of that schedule probably sounds bad but I assure you it all adds up to a fantastic experience.

There is no other place I have felt so consistently close to God and his spirit, and been so sure he lived. I've become closer to the scriptures than I ever thought possible, even in just a week. I witness miracles every single day. Just yesterday I sang in the Missionary choir for one of our church leaders. As we practiced, all of the lights shut out. They announced that because the lights went out, the devotional planned by the church leader would not happen, but he would still come to hear us sing in the dark. Someone said a prayer, and I put my faith towards it and thought of all the perfect scenarios where the lights would magically turn back on, but none of them happened. I was a little disappointed, but we continued to practice in the dark, and sang with power. Eventually, the guy came and we all got to sing the song for him. It was powerful, and as we held the last lyric of the song "he lives!" all of the lights slowly flickered back on. Everybody was crying, it was such a miracle. We were then privileged to hear from the church leader and it was a fantastic message. God needed someone to hear something yesterday. He needed me to hear something yesterday. I'm not sure what, but I will find out soon I'm sure.  

Other highlights: 
Keyboards are all over the place and it's so fun to play during breaks and stuff

The elders in our district and I like to do what we call a "blue gang" and we all wear our blue pants, because unlike the sisters that is the only variation we have in our wardrobe

Complimenting people with "hey nice shirt" is always fun

Telling people that I'm embarrassed we accidentally wore the same outfit today

I got morning sickness and one time my district leader gave me pepto bismol, so I took it and just straight up choked on it

There's a guy in my district who looks and acts just like Bernard from Megamind

All of the sisters are like 6 feet tall

Me and the guys in my district have super deep existential crisis' conversations every night before going to bed

Me, my companion, and our DL spent 30 minutes trying to figure out the Grammar of the sentence "he must give her food to her" Auf Deutsch

Our classroom is on top floor of a 6 story building and one of our district goals is to always take the stairs so we haul ourselves up them at least 4 or 5 times every day 💪

Eating cereal in a cup for every meal (if anyone asks, I did it before it was cool)

Did some service yesterday by vacuuming with Ghostbusters vacuums

I think that's about everything I can think of this week! I couldn't be more happy to be here and while it is hard I know that as I strive to do my best I will be blessed for it.

Bis später!
Elder Rex








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