Livin On A Prayer

WOOOO-AHHHH! Half way there... OHHHHHH-OHHHH LIVIN ON A PRAYER!

I don't think Bon Jovi lyrics have ever summed up my life more perfectly. Today marks my halfway point in the MTC. Can you believe that??? Only two more letters and then I will be in Germany. SO SURREAL. 

 I'm just gonna take a moment and vent to you for a second about my hurdle of the week? Surprise, Surprise it's about German. I really try not to talk about the language all the time because I know that's not my purpose and I have many things to learn here BUT it really is my biggest challenge right now. 

It. is. so. hard. Whoever said that German was an easy language to learn? Big. Fat Liar. Whoever said there are three words for "the"..? Lies. There are actually 16 and it is impossible for me to figure out which one is Genative case and accusative and all that jazz... But I know you don't want a whole German lesson right now so we will move right along. So since I am way behind all my other smarty-pants-fluent-german peeps I know I need extra practice. We have an hour of language study which is used to review what we learned that day in class, do our pre-work for the next day, study our vocab flashcards, memorize some certain scriptures, learn the words we need for our lesson, memorize our prepositions along with some side-by-side scripture reading... All within that hour. That's impossible. So I practice. and practice. and practice. 

I sing my prepositions in the shower, say my purpose as I brush my teeth, wall sit and say memorized scriptures, recite my ABC's and numbers as I ride the bike during gym, do some flashcards while in line for lunch... All that multitasking and we are still only expected to be 30% fluent when we get to Germany... Am I in for a rude awakening or what?

BUT I truly am livin' on my prayers. It's crazy how much we pray here. (say morning prayer, walk 10 steps to breakfast and pray, got to gym and say an opening and closing prayer, give a lesson? pray before, during, after.) By 8:00 I have already said about 10 prayers! Catch my drift? LOTS of praying. Because of that, I have been thinking about how I can make my prayers better and how we teach our investigators to pray. Often we teach how you can have your very own relationship with God. You can talk to Him whenever you want and He will always listen and never be annoyed with all your problems.  How's that for a best friend? So this week I have been practicing what I preach and been working on making my prayers mighty and it has made ALL the difference.  This is HIS work I am doing so I might as well unite my will with His! Do it. Pray mightily this week and let me know how it goes for you :)

We had mission conference on Sunday and it was absolutely incredible. A definite kick in the booty to stop complaining and get to work.  They announced that the leaders of our church are making specific changes to help those who have forgotten how great being a prat of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints truly is.  I propose we just send them all to the MTC and that will make them remember real fast ;) But they have other ideas. 

"We cannot have them walking in the front door and out the back. Friendly hands and warm hearts must be there to greet them."

I am so excited to help people remember how happy they can truly be and the feeling they can have with them  ALL THE TIME. AHHH it's going to be great :) Because of this change, we are now teaching THREE people. Two investigators and one inactive member. It may not sound like a lot but between that and class for 6 hours and study for 3 hours and still trying to sleep and eat and not have your head explode? It's plenty. I love them so much.

I have gotten quite a few comments on my positiveity while being here which is shocking because I totally feel like I am a negative Nancy over here... but the other day I had an interview with the branch president (The Missionary Training Center leader for everyone going to Germany) and he commented on my "sunshine-y countenance" and how that is going to help people in Germany come closer to Christ. Wanna know how to make my day? That. Not kidding.

So my camera broke this week so that kinda put a damper on things... BUT luckily I have such dear comps who will send me some pics so here's the weeks play-by-play in picture form.

I love being a missionary so much. I know I say that every week but really I wish you all could experience it because it is impossible to describe. Don't forget to pray mightily this week!

German Word of The Week: Vichtig (Sounds kinda like fish stick. or at least that's how me and Sis. Williams remember it.;))

I LOVE YOUUUUUUU TO THE MOON AND BACK

Actually more than that.

XOXOXO

Sister Heywood 

We were a walking flag on the 4th of July. #perksofbeingatripanionship Quite the sight. Loads of compliments. It was great. Oh and I also got to see the hot air balloons from the outdoor breakfast line! Such a taste of home. Between that, and devo and fireworks and a yummy ice cream bar? It was quite the celebration.

Meet our adopted Elders. Elder Anderson & Elder Fitch. I'm not sure why.... but they are ALWAYS randomly with us... haha love em.

Just a little Pre-Service Picnic. No biggie.

One of the Elders in our zone tore his ACL. SO SAD. But the doctor says he still should be able to leave with us to Germany as Originally scheduled. Miracle? Absolutely. Oh and the Elder behind him? Elder Taylor. He knows the Kimballs... small world right??