4-30-2012

Let's see. Flight was weird. Not too bad though. I mostly just didn't like sitting down for that long. It was a 10+ hour flight. Hour and fourty five minutes from Salt Lake to Seattle Washington, then then 10+ hour one to Amsterdam, and then an hour an a half flight from there to Berlin. Twenty-ish minute layovers each time. Taking off and landing were rather fun, but other than that it was just a whole lot of sitting down. Oh yeah, and turbulence was pretty awesome. I liked that. Even though we only ever got really mild stuff.

 

So I'd gotten rather little sleep the night before the flight, then I didn't really sleep at all during the flight, and then when we landed it was like 11 am, and we went straight into doing stuff. We were all dead tired. It wasn't horrible though. Mostly just rather crazy. And I kept getting all dizzy feeling, feeling like the ground was still moving around under my feet a little like I was still on the plane. -super- tired. Not so tired anymore though. It was mostly just that first day.

 

Germany is cool. Rather different cars. Lots of hatchbacks, plenty of smart cars, they all look kinda snub-nosed. The streets are tighter and a little crazier, but people are a lot nicer while driving. When people need to pull out into traffic, they just kinda do, and people just let them in. It's not even a big deal. Cool stuff.

 

Everything for the most part tends to look older in general. Older streets, older buildings, older trees. There are a LOT of trees. All the buildings are super tall too. Usually at LEAST three stories. Makes it impossible to get a gist of where you are because all you can see are the buildings on either side of you. I haven't been feeling claustrophobic or anything though.

 

The public transportation is crazy good here too. Lots of busses and trains and subways that are very useful. One card that costs 90 Euros, which is about 120 dollars, gets you free transit on anything in the area for a month. {good thing we get re-imbursed from the mission office on that one...}

 

My trainer {Elder Pierson} is a very cool guy. Really laid back. We're getting along very well. I am enjoying learning how to do the work and speak the language better. Not too stressful or anything, just working my way forward.

 

So far I am understanding about 50% of what is said by the natives. Some people talk really clearly and the only thing that holds me back is vocabulary. In those situations where I can hear them clearly like that, I understand more like 80 percent. Other people though slur a lot more or mush their words together. I only catch like 20 percent of what they say. My companion understands it all though and is very good about translating for me when I am asked a question that I don't understand. And as far as speaking goes, I feel that I am doing rather well for where I am so far. I can usually express myself rather well. I often don't know a word, but then I just ask my companion, and he suplies the word, so I use it and continue. My grammer still must sound very broken, and I am having a hard time using genders very effectively, but people understand what I'm trying to say, and that's nice. :)

 

In German and many other languages, every single noun has a gender, either masculine, feminine, or neutral. This affects how words like 'the' and 'a' are conjugated: 'the book' - in German book is a neutral word, so one would say das Buch. 'the skirt' - in German, skirt is a masculine word {very few words' genders reflect what they are} so for 'the skirt' one would say der Rock.

 

All in all, after taking into account conjugating for the gender of the word, whether it's plural or possesive, and what part it takes in the sentance {subject = nomnative, direct object = accusative, indirect object = dative, or part of a prepositional prase = whose case is decided depending on the preposition} there are in total 16 different possibilities, 6 different words for 'the', all of which used for at least twice in the grid of possibilities. der, den, dem, die, das, des Ridiculous, no?

 

Anyway!

 

I haven't gotten super homesick yet. But I don't feel like I'm the kind of person to get homesick, so we shall see. I'm getting pretty good sleep. Doing some good work. Gotten to contribute to some lessons so far, some more than others depending on how much I was understanding, and have been getting better at street contacting, though I still have a very long way to go. :) I'm doing well and I'm happy.

 

The food has been good. A little strange, but good. Ate asparagus for the first time the other day. It was a different kind than I was used to seeing. It was white. Didn't really like it, but I finished it off to be polite.

 

The weather has been good. Rather too warm actually. And the humidity doesn't help. End up sweating a lot. Not horrible though. I haven't really been bothered by it yet. :)

 

Oh right, I guess I should probably tell you what area I'm in... It's called Spandau. It's a section of berlin. Kinda like the sections of Salt Lake where they're pretty much their own cities, but they're not actually considered as such. In any case, it's on the west side. Rather pretty. Lot's of smokers and cars, but not horrible in any sense I wouldn't say. {Oh, gas costs like 1.30 Euros here per liter. That's something like 4 and half dollars a gallon or more. Ridiculous.}

 

They have these massive parks. Huge areas with lots and lots of trees, kinda wilderness-y. It's cool. There will be big buildings and bustling city on one side of the street, and a massive overgrown looking park on the other. Have yet to walk through one. They specifically build up and dense instead of out so they can preserve areas like that. It's cool. Recycling is a much bigger deal here too.

 

They also have dedicated bike paths on the sidewalks of all the major streets. {Please keep in mind that everything I tell you may only apply to the Berlin city area, and even then, may only apply to the Spandau area of Berlin.} These bike paths are serious. You don't walk on them, because you could get bowled over by a bike. They will ring their little bike bells at you and tell you unhappily to get off the path. Cool that bikes are that prevalent though.

 

In any case, that's all I can think of to talk about. I guess I'll stop there for now.

 

I love you guys! Keep the Lord close, and make sure you are filling your life with Light! Go make today good. :)

 

- Elder Miles

4-23-12

Hey everybody! Don't have much time today! Gotta get to my last couple classes. Leaving at 8:00 tomorrow morning. :)

I am actually the only one in my entire zone that has never flown. Thereby there are a couple people that know very well what does and doesn't work for luggage. We have one of those cool hanging scales that you hang your bag off of in the custodial closet so you can check how much your checked baggage weighs.

 I was about to tell you about an average MTC day, but I don't have time. I'll email you about it later. :)

And the spiritual note that I want to end this on is this: Stop focusing on what this glorious Gospel of Happiness tells you what you can't do. Don't worry about it. Instead, focus on all of the wonderous blessings of obeying these laws. We have an instruction booklet to life. Live it. You will find SO much joy. I can honestly promise you that. You got this. Have a wonderful week! Talk to you from Germany next!

4-16-12

I am getting a bit excited as the days go by. Still not much though. I am officially leaving on Apr 24th. Week from tomorrow. We will be leaving at something like 8 in the morning. Not too bad at all. Many of the other districts that we have seen leave, left at something like 4 in the morning. In any case, we'll be laying off in Amsterdam for an hour, and then on to Berlin. Also, from what I'm told, we will be getting off the plane, putting our bags in a car, eating a sandwich, and street contacting {paired up with a zone leader or other leader}. In that order. No real breaks. I'm excited and a bit nervous for that.

Deutch geht besser und besser jeden Tag. I kann Deutch sprechen. Es ist ein bissen seltsam. Vor zwei tage, ich war mit mein mitarbeiter sprechen, und ich habbe gedenket, "Oh mench! I kann Deutch sprechen!" Sehr seltsam... {I guess I can translate that for you. ;)}

First, the literal translation.

German goes better and better every day. I can German speak. It is a little strange. Before two days, I was with my companion speaking, and I have thought, "Oh man! I can German speak!" Very strange...

Now without the strange grammar.

German goes better and better every day. I can speak German. It is a little strange. Two days ago, I was talking with my comapnion, and I thought, "Oh man! I can speak German!" So strange...

It really is odd to think how much I have learned here. Conjugation, grammar, crazy stuff. It will still be very, very hard in the field because of dialect and how quickly they talk and how much the words will run together. But at least I understand grammar well enough to start understanding once my ears adjust. But at least for now, I feel pretty good at it. I keep having moments of realization where I realize I am actually conversing and understanding in German. Way cool. The Gift of Tonges is real. :)

It is very odd being 'off-grid' here. Every now and again you'll hear a noise that is reminicent of a cell phone buzz, and it throws everyone off. And it is actually rather odd, especially in my p-day clothes, not to have my phone always in my pocket. But it's not so strange really.

It is very strange here, becuase we don't actually do a whole lot of scripture reading, or have much time for it. We wake up and right away we have things to do. Places to be. Meetings, class, firesides, language study, meals, and by the time personal study comes around, you're so busy beoming more familiar with Preach my Gospel, or reading something like Jesus the Christ, or looking up specific scriptures to use for your faux-investigator, that there is very little time to actually just read. I used to read every morning and every night. Now I get to read a chapter or two every three days or so... I'm excited to be out in the field in that respect so I can get back on my own schedule as far as study.

I have been asked for advice for Ben or I guess, in general, just advice I would give future missionaries.

1. Careful not to eat too much. They pretty much give you all-you-can-eat buffets at every meal. It is so easy to overeat. Pick a good main course, one dessert, and make sure you drink lots of water. Oh and fruits and vegetables would probably be good.

2. Be warned. Personal and companion study time get sidetracked real quick because you're always doing it in a room with your entire district. One person makes a comment, and 20 minutes later, you've wasted 20 minutes talking about some dumb movie or Lake Powell or whatever. Be ready to ignore what is going on around you and simply focus on studying.

3. Make sure you have clothes for at LEAST 7 days. I thought I wouldn't need a white shirt for laundry day, but while my laundry was still wet and hang drying, we had to go to the temple. I nearly was without a shirt.

4. Make sure your family and friends know what your favorite candies are, but don't encourage them too much. When you get a package it is always good to make sure you get what you want, but they will flood you with candy. On top of that, the elders in your room, district, and zone will also be getting countless packages full of candy, and all the elders leaving each week like to dump what candy they have left on whoever is nearby. So make sure to only ask for what you really want, and sparingly.

Hmmm...

5. Don't stress. Stress destroys you here. Just let things come. They will. Don't worry.

6. When you're new, everyone will talk like they know so much, and treat you like a complete newbie. They aren't rude about it, or mean, but they still try to talk like they have so much wisdom to share with you. Don't get down about it or take them too seriously. They still have good tips and tricks and advice, but the phrase, "Big fish in a small pond," is a ridiculously huge understatement here. Sure they know more than you, but they've only been here for a few weeks themselves and are still learning all the time.

7. You'll do fine. Just trust in Christ. :)

Have fun everyone! Also, if you're planning on writting to me, do so promptly, else you might want to consider writting to my mission home address.

Elder Michael Bright Miles

Germany Berlin Mission

Zerbster Strasse 42

12209 Berlin

Germany

Just becuase I'm leaving in a week, and any mail that shows up here would take much longer to get to me out there. Also, you should still be able to use Dearelder.com when I'm out in the field too. The site should say whether it delivers to my mission or not. Go ahead and check.

Good to hear from those of you that are writing me! Been having plenty of time to write, so any of you that haven't written me, or stopped recently, feel free to write. I really would love to hear from you. Getting letters is awesome. :)

Go make today awesome! Keep smiling, and keep Christ around!

- Michael, Elder Miles, Calcium, Mikey

4-9-12

Hey! By the way, my companion's mom's maiden name is Miles. Julie Rae Miles. Her father is Leroy Ezra Miles, married to Rae Ellis. Leroy's parents are Lewis Leroy Miles and Sarah Jane Potter. Wanna find how we're related? :D Thanks!

Hello everyone! Do not be confused or alarmed if any of what I say seems to be in response to a question you never asked. It is only happening because I am mostly responding to my mother's email and letter. I hope you are all doing wonderfully. :)

I did have a very nice easter. We had an MTC-wide sacrament meeting{Abendsmalversamlung}. I actually got to pass. It was pretty cool. My companion got to pass to the presiding authority though. President Packer showed up with his son {instead of his wife} to talk to us. It was way cool. Wonderful to see him in person. He also seemed much less formal and scripted than he usually is at conference. It felt like he was sort of a grandpa kind of figure. Very cool.

That is a very interesting idea... We are no less living in eternity now, than we were before or after this life. It is all a matter of perspective. This really is all part of the bigger picture. I have often wondered what personality attributes I have because I had them before this life. I wonder how I'm gonna feel after this life, when all of the memories from before flood back into my consciousness... Fascinating stuff.

Oh. On the topic of deep topics, I am currently reading Jesus the Christ. {Thanks for sending me with your little scripture-print copy Dad, very useful.} There is some crazy cool stuff in there! I would recommend it for anyone wanting to learn more about Christ, or even about the Gospel. I'm loving it, and I'm only about a hundred pages in. I am excited to continue. Though it is hard to find free time to get any reading done... Anyway.

The sister from England has never been to the states before as far as I know. Fascinating to talk to her about differences in food and culture and slang and such. I've already asked her a plethora of questions. Very fascinating.

I am still having some trouble getting enough sleep, but I think I'm doing better. Had some real trouble doing a session at the Temple today though. Most tired I've ever been during a session. My head would start to droop, making me jump to wakefulness, and I would realize that I didn't even remember closing my eyes. It was ridiculous. It was good though. I am keeping up with things though.

A couple days ago, I had a moment sitting in a meeting where I realized that my biggest problem lately had been my attitude. More specifically my confidence. In the moment I created a little mantra, which quickly got translated to German in my head. {The language is actually coming along pretty well by the way. Nice to have the high school experience to give me a good foundation. The concepts aren't so new. I'm already praying in german. Though I have to use an english word now and again.} The mantra was "Ich kann, ich bin, ich werde.". That translates to "I can, I am, I will." I repeated it over and over and very promptly, with amazingly noticable success, my mood and outlook improved. After a minute of repeating it in my head on and off, I realized that the next step was to adapt the mantra. It then became, "Wir können, wir sind, wir werden.". "We can, we are, we will." I realized that I not only needed to have confidence in myself, but also in my peers. It caused me to put more trust in others. To love them more. To trust God's plan for them. It has helped me a lot.

Then right in line with that, the other night we watched a talk given here by Elder Bednar. {By the way, apparently all talks given here at devotionals are reserved exclusively for missionaries. There is no way to access them. The MTC is the only place that keeps a copy, or even gets to keep a copy.} He talked all about the character of Christ. How He always turned outward. Even in his darkest, hardest, most excruciating moments, He always bothered about others. Reaching out to John{?} during his last few minutes of suffering on the cross to tell him to watch out for Mary. Healing the centurion's ear after enduring a massive amount of sins and atoneing, and being betrayed by his own. Sending angels to minister unto John the baptist {who was in prison}, immediately after fasting for 40 days and nights and being tempted sorely directly by Satan. {Watch the footnotes for the JST on that one.} Elder Bednar went on to talk about the natural man, putting off the natural man and becoming a saint. Serving even, and especially, when we are in our darkest moments. It was wonderfully given. So amazing. It is hailed as the best talk in the MTC.

I did kinda notice how conference could easily have been entirely directed towards those that are not members. I have little doubt that our current publicity is a large factor in that.

In any case! I hope you are all doing wonderfully. I would very much encourage you to write me if you aren't already. It is so sad to me to see how many of my friends, who have previously talked at length about what fun we would have writing each other, have yet to write me a single letter. Here, let me make it easy: DearElder.com. Problem solved. ;)

God be with you all. See ya.

Email #3

My throat is feeling better now. My nose is very stuffy, but I get the feeling that it's more seasonal than anything else. And I still have a cough. But I am feeling very much better.:) 

The english sister was living in England, but this Provo MTC is the language learning MTC, so they shipped her all the way out here just to have to ship her back to Germany later. Odd, but understandable. Another favorite scripture of mine lately has been D&C 122:7. Love it. And I really like the one in Alma 32 about 'if ye can only exercize a particle of faith, plant it as a seed and let it grow in you'. Something like that. I want to say that the verse is in the mid 30's somewhere. Both amazing scriptures. I am still lacking sleep. But I am getting better at avoiding distractions. Getting to bed closer and closer to on time. Still very tired. Have a hard time staying awake during firesides and such. :P

I loved conference. We were seated in the big gym room with the pull out bleachers and a bunch of set up chairs. The set up chairs are so much more comfortable. We always try to get those. And we were very specifically told that were were NOT allowed to bring food, blankets, or pillows. Kinda funny. We were there for all 5 sessions. 2 on Sat, 2 on Sun, and then Priesthood. I wanted to be in the choir really bad, but they were only taking people with multiple years of choir experience, so I didn't get picked. Still loved conference though. My favorite talks were by President Eyring, and I loved how the whole thing was centered around family.

I loved hearing Come Thou Fount. Such a wonderful song. It's actually in the German hymn book too! Very very cool.

There are actually only 2 other Elders in my whole zone that are older than 19. And they are both 21. Funny happenstance. :) However, nobody pays attention to age anyway. Doesn't make a difference to anyone. At least not in our zone.

Oh. So apparently David Archuletta (probably spelled that wrong) is here. Guy in my District saw him. I don't even know what he looks like or sounds like. And I can't say I'm really of any oppinion on the matter one way or the other... Kinda funny in any case. I wonder if he'll do any musical numbers... We shall see.

Anyway! That's everything I got for you right now! Hope conference was wonderful for you all! Have a great week! Never wander far from Christ, He will never, ever walk away from you. Talk to you next week!