Eye of the Tiger

Hey Everyone!!!

Guess what? I survived my first week at the MTC!! I feel like I should be singing "Eye of the Tiger" as like a victory song or something. Shoutout to Mom, Jakes, Britt, and Annie Pasquale for the DearElders, I loved them sooo much!! Thanks tons.

Wow, where to start!

Well I've begun to love the MTC now! The first few days I was really confused and it was super duper overwhelming. But because this is the Lord's work, he definitely takes care of all of us. And has given me peace while I'm here, that I just feel comfortable. My district has 8 people total, 4 elders, 4 sisters. Oh man, I love them already. All of us sisters are all really chill, and I'm so grateful for that. Because I am definitely an anti-drama person. There are about 50 people in our branch, 28 ish of us are going to Berlin, the other half to Frankfurt. Apparently the other 50 just flew out the Tuesday before we got here, so everyone knew who we were.

One companionship of elders in our district is hilarious because one is about 6'5", and the other is barely 5 feet tall. Haha.

My room has 6 girls, I love them all. While the first few nights were pretty restless, it's gotten better and I fall asleep within minutes of 10:30. I love my companion, she's sister Medley from Tooele, Utah. We're basically the same person. We both LOVE airplane rides, cereal, PB sandwhiches, going on walks and runs together, and we both love the Pride and Prejudice movie with Kiera Knightly!! Can you say, inspired? She's really sweet, and although we're different in other ways, we still work together great.

Also, I'm currently looking into the German equivalent of "peeps", I'll let you know once I've found it. And "muffin top" in German is exactly the same, you just say it with an accent. "Moofin Tope". I love it already. Important stuff, I know.

No one in my room has flown internationally before, so they all say they'll be clinging to me as we leave on Oct. 28, to get them to Germany safely. Haha, it's great. I'm just super grateful to have had lots of travel experience, so that I feel confident with it to help this sisters out!

Our office couple has been with us here in the MTC for the past week. They're leaving for Berlin next week, I believe. They seem awesome, and I'm excited for them to be in the mission.

So I can now pray, bear my testimony, share scriptures, and simple thoughts in German!!! It sounds pretty bad, but I'm grateful to have learned so much already. The gift of tongues is real, definitely. But it's not like a magic power. Like Elder Scott reminded us in Devotional last night, we still have to work hard with sincerity and diligence. And the gift of tongues will give us that increased ability to learn and remember. It can also give us the words in times of need. And I love that, and have to keep remembering that, because I get discouraged when I just don't automatically understand everything, or have the words magically flow from my mouth. But I can say that my learning has been increased, what a blessing. I can usually get the just of what our teachers are saying. And we've already taught our investigator 3 times now. We'll have our 4th lesson tomorrow. All in German, of course. Talk about overwhelming! Even though my German is very broken, as long as we go in with the spirit, having humility, and love for our investigator, our lessons work out the best. Because I'm constantly reminded about how German is just a tool. The spirit it the teacher, not us. :)

I hope all is well with everyone, thanks for your suppport!! If you have extra cookies, or goodies, and are going to throw them away... think of your favorite sister in the MTC! I'll never say no to goodies. And pictures to come next week!

I love this gospel, and have felt the spirit so strongly every day here. There's no way to deny this work, even in the moments when I get frustrated or discouraged. It is all very real. And the Lord is taking care of his daughter.

Funnies of the Week:

- For their weekly service project, the Elders got to clean out all of these old rooms for a building that's being decommissioned, and they found Christmas lights, a bunny with a parachute, tons of old cookies and bed sheets. They were so proud of their findings, it was hilarious.

- We found the secret linen closet, and have already taken advantage of our discovery. :)

-EVERYONE sings in the showers here. Wicked songs and Tangled are favorites. The elders even have themed song nights where they harmonize together in the showers, so I'm told. Last night was 80's night.

-Elder Gunther in our district got a bagel for lunch the other day, and spread what he thought was cream cheese ALL over it. Only to quickly realize it was butter. His face was hilarious.

-There are lots more hilarious things that happen, mostly involving me being awkward, of course. But that's all I can think of right now...

Favorite saying in German so far: Sie Mutig! (Be courageous)

I love you all family and friends, thanks for your support. It means the world! If you ever are bored, feel free to send a Dear Elder my way... :)

Liebe immer,

Sister Titensor