Hallo!‏

Dear friends and family of mine!

Wow! What a crazy week! No, really though. There have been moments more than a few when I have felt that I am going crazy! But...in a good way? Haha.

Umm! My advance apologies for any scatter-brained-ness included herein...

This week was my last "normal week" in the MTC! Weird! Because this coming week is full of all sorts of crazy stuff. I still can't believe I've been here so long. Last Wednesday marked my 50 day mark! Sheesh!

Anywho! So yesterday was Sunday and...guess who gave a talk in sacrament? Sister Bice did! Guess what language it was in? German! What the what?? When did that happen?? Hah. I was a little nervous, but it really is amazing how much I've learned here these last 8 weeks. Or should I say, we. We being...me and the Lord, because I can promise you I haven't done it all on my own...anywho! My talk was on enduring to the end. Also, after the meeting, I got a lot of comments about "how fast I talk"...apparently the German isn't going to be slowing me down for long. Haha. Also! I sang in sacrament with 3 other missionaries. Our branch President had assigned me and Elder Johnson to do a musical number, so we wrote our own little arrangement of "Näher mein Gott zu dir (nearer my God to Thee) and then recruited my companion and a third missionary to sing with us. We may or may not have procrastinated until...the morning of..but! It turned out really well! We did have a little scare just before though...we were eating lunch and all the sudden my companion said in a raspy wisp of a voice "...I lost my voice!" And i said "What??!" And she said "Sometimes, I'm allergic to cantaloupe..." What in the world? Anywho, it came back just in time, so all was well!

So! Thursday we got....flight plans! I, Sister Bice, will be flying out of Salt Lake at 8:30am to Atlanta, Georgia, and then from there to...Munich! So crazy! We don't land in Munich until 7:40am on Tuesday. The flight itself is 12 hours, and there is an 8 hour time difference...can you say jet lag?? Apparently they don't give us anytime for nonsense such as jet-lag, and they'll have us street contacting shortly after we step off the plane...ah! I'm a little nervous, but SO excited!

So this coming week, we get to host the new missionaries again on Wednesday! yay! Also, my teacher recommended my companion and I to help with the workshop that all the missionaries go to their first night here. There is an "Investigator" and a big group of missionaries, and then two missionaries (my and my comp) come in and do a "lesson" for a few minutes, and the new missionaries pick it up where we left off...or something like that...I don't remember how it went exactly..anywho we have a meeting for it today...\

And Friday is...in-field orientation! Woo! I don't really know what that means, but I'm' sure it will be good:)

Also, Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of the MTC, and they're making a huge deal about it. There are rumors that the first Presidency is coming, but we'll see what happens. Rumors like that aren't uncommon here and the MTC...

Anywho! Im' out of time..so! Thought for the week comes from the story in Luke 18. They talked about it briefly at our fireside last night. It is the Savior talking to a young man who approaches him and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. He says he has lived a good life from his youth, and Christ says "Yet lackest though one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and though shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." "And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful..." So my question is...do we have things in our life that we are holding on to? A part of ourselves that we are withholding from our Lord? If so, it's probably time we do some soul searching. We must give ourselves to the Lord. Our whole selves. And when we do, we will be His. He will make us into new men and women. He will give us a new heart. And we will know His voice when He calls.

Anywho! I'm officially out of time, but! I love you all, and I thank you for all the love and support that I feel from you:) Have a beautiful week!

Much love,

Sister Bice.