Week 2

So, the MTC remains amazing. It's both sad and awesome, we sent off our Dutchies along with Elders Bodine and Reber, and Sister Frampton in the past two days. The Dutchies are off to serve in the Belgium-Netherlands Mission. Elder Bodine had a broken foot, but since it's healed, he went off to Sweden on Monday morning. Elder Reber and Sister Frampton were both supposed to go to the Norway Oslo Mission, but they're visas didn't come in, so they were reassigned last week and are now serving in Nampa, Idaho, and Raleigh, North Carolina repectively. It's seriously been so amazing to get to know these elders and Sister Frampton, and I know that they're going to be just as amazing out in the field.

Last Friday, Syster Stewart and I had prepared an amazing lesson for our investigator, Johan. We'd been waiting upstairs for several minutes when he came in and shirt and tie, and asked us what we were doing there. Apparently he's our new teacher. As a district, we've affectionately named him Faux-han. It's still a little bizarre to hear him speaking in perfect english, but he's an amazing teacher. We now have two investigators; Adam, who is a 10-year old chinese boy who speaks swedish (played by our teacher, Broder Jorgenson) and Alex, played by Broder Dunn.

It continues to get colder down here, and I'm really starting to appreciate my scarves and fleece-lined tights. Apparently BYU controls our heating, so we still get the air-conditioner blowing in our class-rooms, even though it's only 40 degrees out when we get there.

And they made us move classrooms! I'm still not entirely sure why, but yesterday they announced to us that we were moving classrooms. I'm not complaining; we used to be in the basement, where all we could see was the tunnels. Now we're on the top floor, and we have a lovely view of a tree, which is a great reminder that the world still exits. The only downside is that now we have desks that don't have room for our books, and the desk is attached to the chair. Gone are the days of padded, wheeled seats, gone are the days of chair-races down the hallway. Oh well, now we have a tree, and it's beautiful. Oh, and now we have a second British Elder across the hallway in addition to Eldste Edwards. I'm getting a lot of practice on my British accent.

So, Syster Stewart and I have officially joined the MTC choir. It's insane what they manage to pull off; we walked in to rehearsal on Sunday night and sight-read a Mack Wilberg piece we're supposed to perform tonight in devotional. It's absolutely amazing to hear; it's a version of 'Praise to the Man,' and of course, since it's Mack Wilberg, the chords are gorgeous and full, and the transitions are amazing. And amazingly enough, even though we're an enormous group of teenagers, we are managing to somehow pull it off.

Really, it's amazing to see how the Lord quickens our understanding as missionaries, musically, and in our lessons. I've learned more Swedish in the past few weeks than I know what to do with, and I would not have believed that we could learn a Mack Wilberg piece in so little time. Again and again though, I'm reminded that the Lord DOES watch over His missionaries, and He will help us as we work to serve him.

Love, Syster Maxwell