Our district with Sister Allman, one of our German teachers

My Last Week

I'm not even sure I can call it a week, can I?

I only have 5 more days until I board a plane heading to....... Seattle, and then a plane going to Amsterdam....and then finally a plane to Germany!

I have enjoyed my MTC experience but my dad pretty much summed it up in his letter he sent me when he said, "The MTC is great, but you were not called to serve there, you have a great work to do!", and that is exactly how I feel. I am so excited to get to Deutschland and to meet the people that I am going to serve!

Concecration week went great. All German...all week...I pretty much got through 3 hours and realized I had used up all that I knew.  Needless to say, I learned how to say a lot of things this week and that is great.

Hopefully I will have more to write about once I am in Germany. Here in the MTC everything is the same, all of the time.  It's like being in the Twilight Zone!

I love all of you and I know this church is true!

Next email I will be in Germany!

-Elder Gavin Schmalz

The Start of Week Six

Sorry about last week, the MTC servers were crashing so they kicked us all off of the computers!

Life is pretty much the same. I'm still here learning German, and I'm still learning to be an awesome missionary ;)! Really though, I have learned so much already.

 

Since I got kicked off last week I have to tell you about 2 weeks of MTC life...

 

Last weeks highlights:

I got to see Colton at the temple! That was really cool, he is going to do great things in Chile!

I had the awesome opportunity to teach a Skype lesson to an awesome sister named Andrea Novak who lives in Frankfurt Germany. While we were teaching her the craziest thing happened...... I could understand her (barely) but I was able to communicate with her! We taught her about how much Heavenly Father loves his children and the ways that he shows it, and at the end of our lesson we sang her a hymn in German. I thought it would be awkward to sing a hymn in a language I don't know super well and to a person I didn't know at all, but if there is one thing you guys can learn from this email is that the Holy Ghost doesn't care about those things. As long as you are trying your best and giving it your all, the Spirit will testify of the truth, Even over a Skype call!

So yeah, that was pretty much the highlight of last week (plus conference!)!

So this week was Good. We had a devotional from the church media director and he showed us the new Christmas video, and Heilige Kuh (holy cow) Its awesome! It comes out the day after Thanksgiving so just keep your eyes peeled for it.

He also taught us how to use media in our lessons and it was very helpful.  Elder Vellinga and I put it to use in our last lesson with Amo. 

Also we get our travel plans tomorrow, and there is only 13 days until I'm on a plane to Germany!

Starting tonight at 6:00 is Consecration week. What that means is that we are only speaking Deutsche for the next week!!! Pray for me haha because I think I will need it. I know I will be able to do it. My German has improved so much in the last 5 weeks. Wow, that is weird to say,  and I cannot wait until I get to leave the MTC and head to Germany!

So yeah, that's pretty much what's been happening. 

Oh, I also have two more weeks that I can write you a letter that wont take 2 weeks to travel, so write me, and I will respond. I have 20 US stamps I've got to use!

One last funny thing. The one time people can pronounce my last name correctly and they have to point out that it means something funny... Schmalz in German means LARD........ and every German person I have seen has laughed at that for 10 minutes or more! Hopefully it can and will help me in Germany. Whatever it takes...

 

I love all of you! and I hope you are all doing great!

The Church is true!

Elder Alexander Gavin Schmalz

OCT29 GER-BER

2009 N 900 E Unit 175

Provo UT 84602

Priesthood Session

We all felt like we were able to spend the night with our very own Elder Alexander Gavin Schmalz as we were intently watching the Priesthood Session for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just trying to catch a glimpse of his cute face. He had the most incredible opportunity to get to sing in this sea of white shirts and ties with other missionaries from the Missionary Training Center. I am pretty sure I could hear him in every song they sang, and I am pretty sure that we weren't the only mother, father, and siblings that jumped up and down and screamed and then spontaneously burst into tears as soon as we saw our missionary, and I am also pretty sure that the music in the Priesthood Session has never been quite this good before.
Oh, how I love my missionary son. I am so grateful that he was able to take something that he has loved doing for so many years and who happens to be pretty talented in and share it with the world. We LOVED every single minute of it!

Rachel nailed it! Gav is still fiercer than ever!

MTC LIFE

 

First things first. I want you all to go watch the mormon message "The Hope of Gods Light".

I just have had some promptings to tell all of you to watch it and must listen to promptings...

The MTC is awesome! I'm learning so much every day! 

 

So just to clarify the whole investigator thing. We don't actually have investigators, we teach return missionaries that are acting as one of their investigators on their missions. Its actually one of the first things you do when you get here.......... in 100% German. but I have learned to love it so much.

 

Right now we are teaching this sister named Birko, she is 24 and she is a Geology student at the university of Munich. She actually contacted us after she came and visited Utah and went to temple square.

Amo is our second "investigator". He is from Syria and his brother and his father died in the war. He is a refugee in Berlin and he doesn't have any papers (passport or ID) or a job and his mother is really sick with cancer......

 

So as you can see missionary work isn't something that is cookie cutter, it is personally tailored to every person it touches and that is why I love it!

 

We also do this thing called TRC and I have no idea what it stands for, but its basically us teaching members Family Home Evening lessons in German. most of them are elderly couples from Germany and Austria. This week I took the lead and pretty much did most of the talking.  I decided to teach my two TRC families about eternal families. It was my first time teaching them and I was having a super hard time getting them to interact with me until the thought came to my head to show them a picture of my family and just talk about how happy I am that I can live with them forever........... and it worked! My family is my favorite subject so of course it worked! So thank you for helping me teach a lesson to a small German woman and her large intimidating German husband!:)

I love all of you!

The Church is true!

Elder Schmalz

Dear family.

Your package you sent was exactly what I needed.
My time at the MTC is starting to get really fun but at the same time super stressful. It's slowly starting to make sense...the German that is. Me having pretty much no German experience might actually be a blessing in disguise. Apparently in Berlin, they use a more formal form of German and it's different from what people learn in school, so my district is really struggling because they have formed some bad habits and now find themselves in a situation that they are having to start fresh.

Found out some good news...My mission President will allow me to listen to the Killers!!! I am so excited!
I have missed you A LOT!
How is my dog? Is she doing okay?
The pictures you sent me are awesome!
Tell everyone that they need to write me!
You guys helped me in a lesson I was teaching to a little German woman, so thank you. I love you!!!
If you send any more treats, can it be salty stuff? I am all sugared out! I LOVED the wasabi peas...

I need Matt and Jenn to send me a family picture (4x5) to put in my photo album, so get them on that :)

Ich weiss, dass die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage wahr ist.
Ich liebe meine Familie und wissen, dass ich mit ihnen für die Ewigkeit leben können.
Ich bete für euch die ganze Zeit und Ich liebe dich.
Im Namen Jesu Christi, Amen

Love, Elder Schmalz

More Pictures of Life in the MTC

Week 2 has been FANTASTIC! Right now I am teaching my 2nd investigator in German (actually more like German charades) but I think she gets the point!

 

So this week I was really discouraged about the language until I bumped into a kid that was speaking a language I can only describe as a cat puking up a hairball.....  So as I heard him making those disgustingly gruesome noises with his mouth I decided I had to hear this guys story, so I went and talked to him. His name was Elder Hunt and he has been in the MTC for 10 weeks and has been learning Armenian. He said that even  after 10 weeks he couldn't even bear his testimony.

It was that moment that I realized how big of a baby I was being!

I realized I needed to change and start being more grateful for the talents and skills that Heavenly Father has given me! I need to stop comparing myself to the other German missionaries.

I can teach a whole lesson in broken German and bear testimony of my savior!

That is pretty dang cool!

Elder M. Russell Ballard came last night and he started off by saying "I didn't want to prepare a talk tonight.......so we will see where the spirit takes us." His talk ended up being a hour long spiritual toppling talk that seriously blew my mind! He talked about the widows mite and how the Lord isn't asking for us to match the other missionaries stride for stride... but he is asking us to give all we have.

So yeah the spirit has taught me a pretty clear lesson this week and I know and recognize that I need to change!

I know this church is true and I love it with all of my heart and I cant wait to teach the people of Germany!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about another huge thing that happened this week!

I was one of the 300 elders picked to sing in the priesthood session at general conference!!!!!

So keep an eye out for me!
 

Temple Trip

 

My Badge

The Sisters

My Roomies

My Thinking Bench 

Will you tell everyone that I love them and that I'm sorry I couldn't respond to all of them! I have very limited computer time and so far I don't know how to send pictures!

Elder Scott came and talked to us last night and it was amazing!

So far, with running and healthy eating, I have lost 5 pounds!!

My German is sort of coming along, I can teach a lesson with the help of the game charades.
 

We do have sisters in my district. 4 to be exact! I will tell you more in my letters!
 

The letters and packages from you have been such a tender mercy and I have absolutely loved them!

Give everyone hugs for me and take mini on a walk or something!

So far without me saying anything about it. I have been compared to a baby bear and Ferdinand the bull? what ever that is? I think its a book/story, so look up Ferdinand the bull and get back to me and tell me what its about!

 

Sorry this was not a very good email but they are kicking me off of this computer.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!

PS the elders in my district say your cookies are the best they have ever had, so yeah, you are the best! and tell dad his letter made my day yesterday! And that we heard Elder Scott speak last night and we sang Called To Serve.

Also...

This is the first time in history that they have ever sent so many missionaries to Germany. (Germany is the most expensive, least productive mission.) There are 50 in our zone! That's huge!

I cant wait to tell you even more about this amazing adventure and you are all in my prayers! also thank dad for his awesome example of love and leadership and have him give me his email cause I never got it!

 

Im not doing super great in German...

but that's when I compare myself to the rest of my district who all have multiple years of German under their belts. But hey, I CAN Beten (pray) and zeugnis Geben (bear testimony) in German so that must mean I am learning a lot!
I was called as district leader which at first was super stressful because I feel like I am so far behind my district in German. I feel overwhelmed because they are asking ME for comfort and guidance. I do know that who the Lord calls He qualifies.
I have a talk/video you all should look up. It's called The Character of Christ and it has changed my life. It's by Elder Bednar.
You are all in my prayers and I can't wait to hear from you. If it's not too much trouble to ask...Could you all send me pictures? I need pics of mom, dad, siblings, friends, family, Pearl, Mini.

P.S. The package was Wunderbar!!!
P.P.S. Gentry, your drawing is awesome! It's the first thing I see in the morning because I hung it right on my wall.
P.P.P.S. I'm already staring to spell things wrong and my sentence structure is all screwed up because of my German learning, so bear with me.

Ich Libe Dich!

Elder Schmalz

First letter! Short, but sweet

Gutentag!

So today is my 2nd day! Yesterday was good. Stressful, but good. My companions name is Elder Vellinga. He is from Chicago and he is pretty quiet. We are in a room with two other Elders. Elder Williams and Elder Glissmeyer. Elder Williams is a very talkative kind of guy and Elder Glissmeyer is seriously like 6 foot 6 or 6 foot 7 but is super chill.
I am the only one in my district that doesn't have 4 plus years of German experience, so pretty much I feel like an idiot, but its all good.
I love you more than words can even explain. I am praying for you. ♥

Love, Elder Schmalz

Ich Libe Dich!!!!

P.S. You should all write me some letters or do dearelder.com. It's pretty sweet!