Hey Guys!
So we had an apostle come and give us a devotional on Tuesday. Richard G. Scott came and spoke with us. I will take a picture or so of my notes and send them home. By the sound of things, I dont think he is going to be with us for much longer. Its sad but I know he misses his wife who passed away in 1995. His talk was amazing though. Hopefully we will get someone awesome for Easter Sunday too.
Things are going great. I get my travel plans today. I leave in 11 days. Aunt Glenda got me a calling card so I will definitelty call while at the airport. I am so excited to not be able to understand anything for the first 2 weeks! :) haha
My big goal for the next 11 days is to read the entire Book of Mormon auf Deutsch before I get to Germany. I started Monday and I am about halfway done with 2 Nephi. I am surprised I can understand a lot of it. Oh and did I mention that its 200 pages more than the English Book of Mormon! (I used an exclamation point because I cant find the question mark on the German keyboard)
Oh and I got the care package too. The wasa crackers were a hit with my bowels and the cat was perfect. Everyone here says I am like a cat. I still have some time today and I will probably be online at around 1 pm my time.
I hope all is well!
Love you!
Elder Trevor Baker
Thursday, April 21, 2011
April 15, 2011 Dear Dad
Dad,
I got a kick out of the Ncognito Baker thing on the letter. It's good to hear from you. It's nice to hear from everyone. I guess I am making more of an impat back home that out in Germany (understandable).
First of all, I got dibs on the front yard when I get home. I will weedwack too. I don't want to deal with 2 years' worth of Maddy droppings in the backyard.
I got a dearElder from Sean and thanks for the update. He goes into surgery today. I know he will do ok.
Ok you might want to work on your penmanship. I know mine isn't good, but yours is terrible. I had to read some sentences over 3 times and use context clues to see what words you were trying to use.
Good to hear about all the gun stuff, except for the bent die. Now we should be set for a zombie apocalypse! JK but seriously all we need is a rifle that shoots .38 and .357. Emma is a funny girl, guns and planes? Hahaha.
Today is 4-15 and I should be getting the package Mom sent before lunch. I love pictures of stuff back home so keep em coming! Luscombe pictures, gun pictures, family, dog, friends, girls who might be interested in an RM one day...whatever. I love pictures. Just don't send me one of the Neon. Hahaha. Maybe she will be waiting for me when I get home.
I hope I don't get Jeep sickness from sitting in a desk at the MTC all day.
Well, the more time I spend here, the more I realize I am running out of time here. I have been getting progressively busier. So this letter will have to suffice for Emma's letter, Grammaie's, and Mom's dearElder.
It's now 4-18 and we have less than 2 weeks here left. I can't wait; the food is horrible.
Well, that's all for now. I got your package and half of the wasa crackers are gone as well as the spam. I will see if I can squeeze in time for a few more letters today.
Tschus! Love you all!
Elder Trevor "Ncognito" Baker
I got a kick out of the Ncognito Baker thing on the letter. It's good to hear from you. It's nice to hear from everyone. I guess I am making more of an impat back home that out in Germany (understandable).
First of all, I got dibs on the front yard when I get home. I will weedwack too. I don't want to deal with 2 years' worth of Maddy droppings in the backyard.
I got a dearElder from Sean and thanks for the update. He goes into surgery today. I know he will do ok.
Ok you might want to work on your penmanship. I know mine isn't good, but yours is terrible. I had to read some sentences over 3 times and use context clues to see what words you were trying to use.
Good to hear about all the gun stuff, except for the bent die. Now we should be set for a zombie apocalypse! JK but seriously all we need is a rifle that shoots .38 and .357. Emma is a funny girl, guns and planes? Hahaha.
Today is 4-15 and I should be getting the package Mom sent before lunch. I love pictures of stuff back home so keep em coming! Luscombe pictures, gun pictures, family, dog, friends, girls who might be interested in an RM one day...whatever. I love pictures. Just don't send me one of the Neon. Hahaha. Maybe she will be waiting for me when I get home.
I hope I don't get Jeep sickness from sitting in a desk at the MTC all day.
Well, the more time I spend here, the more I realize I am running out of time here. I have been getting progressively busier. So this letter will have to suffice for Emma's letter, Grammaie's, and Mom's dearElder.
It's now 4-18 and we have less than 2 weeks here left. I can't wait; the food is horrible.
Well, that's all for now. I got your package and half of the wasa crackers are gone as well as the spam. I will see if I can squeeze in time for a few more letters today.
Tschus! Love you all!
Elder Trevor "Ncognito" Baker
April 14, 2011 Guten Morgen
Well its about 7.35 am here. My Emails are going to get a little weird soon. German keyboards are crazy. Just for a quick rundown, the z and y keys are swapped, there arent any semicolons or colons, no apostrophes, and there are umlauts all over the place ö ä ü, and then theres ß near the top. Fun stuff. I hope you all are having a fun time back at home.
I finally heard from Sean. Sent him a letter. He has surgery tomorrow, so I hope he does well. I get letters from Grandma every week. She sends money too, so if you all could thank her as well as me, that would be nice.
I met an older missionary by the name of Elder Noel. He says he has family from Charlotte, and he has played some golf with Don Shaw and knows Brother Jeff Shaw.
We got new German speaking missionaries yesterday. That officially makes us the oldest group here. Its scary to think about. It feels like just last week I was fresh off the boat.
We get travel plans in one week. I am excited for that. It means that I am actually going to Germany. Haha, I never thought I would actually make it there. I felt like I was spending eternity in the MTC learning gospel doctrine and German. I guess I can see the light so to speak.
I havent gotten your package yet, but at the same time, I havent gotten the mail yet today. I am going to send a package home this week with some stuff in it. Pics, and other things. I hope that you sent the package! It would certainly be embarassing to get a care package from a missionary. Hahaha.
But seriously, things here are going pretty well. I am learning German faster than ever, I have surpassed German 2 knowledge. I guess if I wanted to I could write a letter in German and see how you all do translating it, but that would take up all my email time.
I should be online later today. Probably around 11.30 to 1 my time. I will be expecting something... Haha
Viel Spaß!
Elder Baker
I finally heard from Sean. Sent him a letter. He has surgery tomorrow, so I hope he does well. I get letters from Grandma every week. She sends money too, so if you all could thank her as well as me, that would be nice.
I met an older missionary by the name of Elder Noel. He says he has family from Charlotte, and he has played some golf with Don Shaw and knows Brother Jeff Shaw.
We got new German speaking missionaries yesterday. That officially makes us the oldest group here. Its scary to think about. It feels like just last week I was fresh off the boat.
We get travel plans in one week. I am excited for that. It means that I am actually going to Germany. Haha, I never thought I would actually make it there. I felt like I was spending eternity in the MTC learning gospel doctrine and German. I guess I can see the light so to speak.
I havent gotten your package yet, but at the same time, I havent gotten the mail yet today. I am going to send a package home this week with some stuff in it. Pics, and other things. I hope that you sent the package! It would certainly be embarassing to get a care package from a missionary. Hahaha.
But seriously, things here are going pretty well. I am learning German faster than ever, I have surpassed German 2 knowledge. I guess if I wanted to I could write a letter in German and see how you all do translating it, but that would take up all my email time.
I should be online later today. Probably around 11.30 to 1 my time. I will be expecting something... Haha
Viel Spaß!
Elder Baker
April 7, 2011 General Conference
Liebe Familie,
Well today is Thursday, my P-day. We watched General Conference, went outside (we never do that unless we are walking between classes), made a snowman, and had April Fool's jokes, all in one week. LIfe around here gets boring, so we spice it up however we can.
General Conference was cool. It was the first time I actually watched all of it and I even took notes. The theme for the conference, as I perceived it, was all about women and getting married. I bet Stephen Allred like it--lol. When Thomas S. Monson started talking about marriage, all the missionaries in the Gym thought, NOOOO! It was faith shaking for a lot of Elders around here. We watched all of the sessions except for the priesthood session in our classroom which was cool.
We also saw the special program on the MTC. It was filmed before we got there, but I saw some people I know.
Thanks for getting me the info on Sean. I still need his address as of 4-7-11.
We also made a snowman up by the temple. (see pic) It was pretty funny.
Our April Fool's joke was pretty good, too. Elder Hunziker put an alarm clock in the vent of someone's room. That night I checked under my bed, found an alarm, and taped it to the door of Elder Hunziker before I went to sleep. We also convinced half of our district that the German missions were combining. Haha. They were even writing home about it. Haha.
The concept of time is interesting here. When you look at your schedule, you think, yeah I have plenty of time to work on letters or to go running. But when you sit down and do it, you start, get halfway through, and then don't have time to finish. It's not a matter of working hard enough, it's a matter of going through things thoroughly. It's been bothering me. I think it's the super structured life of the MTC having to be dressed up to work on certain things and not having to be dressed up for others.
The only other thing is that I never have time (or a companion) who wants to run. It gets kinda depressing. I was supposed to go running today but the Elder who was going to go flaked out. Barf. Whatever.
In a week we are going to be the top Deutchers. We are getting 30 or 31 new Germans. It seems like only yesterday we got here. I can't wait until we leave for the Fatherland.
Storytime: I was walking to the track an was wearing my German shirt. He said, "You're going to Germany?" I was like, "yea.." And he says, "Oh cool." I, being polite, asked where he was going. He said, "Mexico City." He then said, and I quote "I guess I am going to teach Lamanites, and you are going to teach Nazis." My response was after a semi long pause, "It doesn't work like that." Then I walked off. Well time for dinner.
Tschus, Love you!
Elder Trevor Baker
Trevor at the Provo Temple
American flag in the snow
Trevor at the Provo Temple
Trevor's new companion
Elder Snow
Well today is Thursday, my P-day. We watched General Conference, went outside (we never do that unless we are walking between classes), made a snowman, and had April Fool's jokes, all in one week. LIfe around here gets boring, so we spice it up however we can.
General Conference was cool. It was the first time I actually watched all of it and I even took notes. The theme for the conference, as I perceived it, was all about women and getting married. I bet Stephen Allred like it--lol. When Thomas S. Monson started talking about marriage, all the missionaries in the Gym thought, NOOOO! It was faith shaking for a lot of Elders around here. We watched all of the sessions except for the priesthood session in our classroom which was cool.
We also saw the special program on the MTC. It was filmed before we got there, but I saw some people I know.
Thanks for getting me the info on Sean. I still need his address as of 4-7-11.
We also made a snowman up by the temple. (see pic) It was pretty funny.
Our April Fool's joke was pretty good, too. Elder Hunziker put an alarm clock in the vent of someone's room. That night I checked under my bed, found an alarm, and taped it to the door of Elder Hunziker before I went to sleep. We also convinced half of our district that the German missions were combining. Haha. They were even writing home about it. Haha.
The concept of time is interesting here. When you look at your schedule, you think, yeah I have plenty of time to work on letters or to go running. But when you sit down and do it, you start, get halfway through, and then don't have time to finish. It's not a matter of working hard enough, it's a matter of going through things thoroughly. It's been bothering me. I think it's the super structured life of the MTC having to be dressed up to work on certain things and not having to be dressed up for others.
The only other thing is that I never have time (or a companion) who wants to run. It gets kinda depressing. I was supposed to go running today but the Elder who was going to go flaked out. Barf. Whatever.
In a week we are going to be the top Deutchers. We are getting 30 or 31 new Germans. It seems like only yesterday we got here. I can't wait until we leave for the Fatherland.
Storytime: I was walking to the track an was wearing my German shirt. He said, "You're going to Germany?" I was like, "yea.." And he says, "Oh cool." I, being polite, asked where he was going. He said, "Mexico City." He then said, and I quote "I guess I am going to teach Lamanites, and you are going to teach Nazis." My response was after a semi long pause, "It doesn't work like that." Then I walked off. Well time for dinner.
Tschus, Love you!
Elder Trevor Baker
Trevor at the Provo Temple
Sunday, April 17, 2011
New Mission President
President and Sister Schwartz
Here is the information about Trevor's new mission president that was in the Church News. President and Sister Schwartz begin their new mission July 1st. They were serving in the Germany Berlin mission as missionaries, and now they are beginning their 3 year mission as Mission President.
Lehi Karl Schwartz, 59, and Gudrun Bauch Schwartz, four children, Germany Frankfurt Mission; Feucht Ward, Nürnberg Germany Stake. He serves as a missionary in the Germany Berlin Mission and is a patriarch. He is a former counselor in a district presidency, branch president and counselor in a branch presidency. Retired managing director of Radiodiagnostic Business Line, IBA-Group Belgium. Born in Lahm Itzgrund, Germany, to Karol Pfeiffer and Leokadia Grünke Schwartz.
Sister Schwartz serves with her husband as a missionary in the Germany Berlin Mission and is a former stake institute director, stake Relief Society president and counselor, ward Relief Society president and counselor, and Sunday School teacher. Born in Husum, Germany, to Walter and Lissi Friedrichsen Bauch.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Documentary about the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah
Thanks to cousin Leslie in Utah for sending me this link about the MTC in Provo. It is really interesting to watch. Here is a brief intro about the MTC and the link to watch the video segments is listed below. I hope you all enjoy it, too.
An Army of Faith: Inside the MTC
By Carole Mikita
PROVO -- Thousands of missionaries arrive at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT every year in preparation to serve a full-time missionay for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The church is celebrating 50 years of missionary training in Provo and gave KSL's Carole Mikita a special look inside the building where millions of young men, women and elderly couples have prepared to preach the gospel in hundreds of different languages all over the globe.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=296&sid=14959815
An Army of Faith: Inside the MTC
By Carole Mikita
PROVO -- Thousands of missionaries arrive at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT every year in preparation to serve a full-time missionay for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The church is celebrating 50 years of missionary training in Provo and gave KSL's Carole Mikita a special look inside the building where millions of young men, women and elderly couples have prepared to preach the gospel in hundreds of different languages all over the globe.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=296&sid=14959815
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