July 26, 2023: IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII
IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII
"Revenge is a dish best served cold"
Today I bring you rad tidings of great joy. It rained like 4 times this week! With lightning and everything, it was wonderful. Reminds me of my days long past in the state of Oklahoma, with howling wind, skies ablaze, and lightning in the air. Tis all yet but an old memory. In all seriousness, during one of our 10 minute breaks we got to run all the way downstairs and outside to play in the rain for just a few minutes. That seems like such a little thing, but you really learn to appreciate the little things when you are here. Every normal thing you get to do is just filled with wonder and amusement. Also, The sky was almost literally on fire yesterday.
Sundays are incredible here! I used to not look forward to Sundays that much, but they're such a good breath of fresh air in the MTC. You get to hear your fellow missionaries bear testimony, knowing that they are going through exactly what you are. Uncertainty, Language stress, lack of feeling qualified, etc. It's amazing to hear how everybody deals with it differently, but that we are all united in our efforts to serve God and his children. We are always given two hours every Sunday just to study the scriptures. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but once I put my mind to it and study with real intent, it's hard to stop. It reaffirms my testimony every time, and reminds me why I'm on a mission. And I can't wait to share the words I read every day to the people of Germany.
There isn't tennis here. That has honestly been hard, I just love the sport so much. I've met quite a few fellow tennis players here though, and it's been cool to talk to them. If I can't play tennis, what do I do to scratch the itch? "I chose something far more humble: Megami-" JK it's Table Tennis, or Ping Pong as the younglings call it. It's so much fun. I'm the only guy in our district who has any experience in it, so I usually crush them a little bit (humbly).
We were playing winner stays, and then a random elder asked if he could play next, so I played him and next thing I know there's a line of 10 elders wanting to challenge me. So I took up the challenge and to my surprise I beat all of them! and thus on the 28th day in the days of the MTC, Elder Rex took the place of the judgement seat, and proceeded to reign in righteousness, to raise up a generation of ping pong players unto a knowledge of the goodness of their God.
We were bored one night in our dorm, so my district leader Elder Skeem and I had probably the greatest idea ever born to mankind. We were both wanting to play ping pong so we took a table only like 2.5 feet long and 1.5 wide, and started to play on it. There wasn't a net though, so after a bit I had an idea. We cut off the flaps of a cardboard box, and braced it on the edge of the table with water bottles, creating a teeny ping pong table. The tiny table levels the playing field between all of us, and It was seriously the most fun I've had in a long time. The only reason we stopped playing is because we got complaints that we were too loud. The best thing is, as long as you have a small table of any size, you can pack the cardboard and set up a ping pong table on any table in like 5 seconds! We play during class breaks now, and have named it "Tisch Tisch Tennis" which is "Table table tennis" auf Deutsch. Highly recommend.
On tie trading: There's this elder on our residency floor that has like 25 ties to his name, and he goes around wearing them all on his neck. He knocks on doors and asks people to trade for ties, bestowing them proudly. There's practically an entire ecosystem of ties now, and we somehow ended up with a Mcdonalds colored one. Probably going to hide it somewhere for a future missionary to find in our dorm, along with some other treasures we have collected.
Other Highlights
We moved classrooms because there are too many missionaries, and our room is super teeny now and it's really funny
a few days ago I had a glass of milk during breakfast, ate a giant plate of mac&cheese for lunch, and had 3 slices of pizza for dinner. That's about as much dairy anybody in my family can handle. I didn't throw up thankfully, but I'm just glad I didn't choke on the pepto bismol this time
Our favorite teacher left this week and isn't coming back :'(. We will never learn grammar again
I learned how to do a triple under with a jump rope. Somehow my 5th grade jump rope club skills still kick in in full gear still to this day.
saying "gottem" in a german accent (thats german for gottem)
they were selling ties for 7 dollars at the store, so I bought 3 including one to match with my district
We found a cat named sister mittens
Our service assignment this week was literally to dust plants
wir haben ein andere deutsch lektion gelerht! Es war schwer, und Ich war verängstigt. noch, es war zehr gut! I habe den Heiligen Geist gespüren. Enschuldegung für meinen schlecht Deutsch.
Just take one step forward at a time :)
Elder Tage Rex
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