Frankfurt!

I got an e-mail today from Rachel's mission president's wife - Sister Webb.
She writes:

We just wanted to let you all know that your missionary has arrived in the Frankfurt Germany Mission. They arrived a little ahead of schedule, tired, but excited to be here. They have had a full day and are off to bed now.

They will be able to write you next week on Tuesday about more details. In a couple of weeks you will receive a letter with some information about the mission and how you can support your missionary from home. We promise to do all we can to help your son or daughter have a successful mission. We are thrilled to have such a strong group arrive. They look and sound terrific.

What a relief to know that she made it safely to Frankfurt!

Phone Call From the Airport

Today my favorite invention of all time is the telephone! Talking to Rachel was the best!! She called from Texas where she had a 5 hour layover. Here are a few things from our conversation:

* She got 3 hours of sleep last night! She left the MTC at 3 am to catch the flight to Dallas. She'll fly straight to Frankfurt and will get there at 6 am their time. She'll get to stay with Sister Stewart for the first couple of days while they have orientation, etc. They'll stay in a hotel the first night in Germany. The second day she will meet her new companion. She wishes she could stay with Sister Stewart because they get along so well, but they both realize that they need to be with someone who knows what's going on in Germany! They will see each other again and hope to serve together again at some point.

* She was able to talk to Grandpa and Grandma, Adam, Meg and left messages for Allen and David. She feels bad that she didn't have phone numbers for Jessica and Aubrey. She says she is sorry! We looked up Jess's phone number on the BYUI website directory, but apparently it was the old phone number. Sorry girls... she tried!

* They met with an elder at the MTC who had just returned from serving a mission in Frankfurt. He showed them slides and told them all about his mission. She said it was great - very helpful - got them all very excited!

* At the Salt Lake airport, one of the elders she is traveling with ran into his mother. Apparently she wanted to surprise him. His comment was, "Ummm... mom... what are you doing here??" She brought Easter treats for all the missionaries. As much as I wanted to surprise Rachel and spend the 5 hour layover with her in Texas, I'm glad I didn't go. Talking to her on the phone felt good. She was positive, excited, happy and anxious to see Germany and start being a "real" missionary.

New Address

Here is the address of the mission home in Frankfurt. I know Rachel would appreciate some letters. She's been getting letters daily at the MTC... I hope she doesn't go into withdrawals once she gets to Germany.

Sister Rachel Doty
Deutschland Frankfurt Mission
CorneliusstraBe 18
D-60325 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY

It costs $.90 to sent a basic letter and you can do it from your own mail box. (I checked with the post office.)

Last E-Mail from the MTC

Here we go:

put this on my blog please:
Meg, Aubs and Jess: send me a dearelder TONIGHT letting me know your phone numbers - i've heard some branch presidents tell their missionaries that they can call their friends and the airport and my branch president hasnt said anything about it yet. so in case i can..send me your phone numbers tonight and what time would be best through dearelder. i'll be in texas for about 5 hours. Meg for WA time i'll be able to call between 7:47am-12:40. Jess and Aubs for you in ID and UT time i'll be able to call between 8:45am-1:40pm.

oh and post this too: NO more dearelders after today (thursday the 20th) please - not that i dont want them, but i wont get them because of the way they do dearelder letters here i dont get dearelders after friday night (which are the dearelders that you send on thursdays) and when you send them after thursday i get them on monday and i'll be in the airport or on a plane on monday!

dont worry mom i'm traveling all the way with sister stewart and elders eaton, johnson, hafer, berry, mcdonald and folley - so i'll have 6 elders with me and my companion! when i call i'll tell you all about what i'm going to be doing my first day in the field. we got a letter from our mission president all about it - its pretty exciting!

Jess thanks for the rolls! oh my gosh they were WUNDERBAR! seriously they were almost all gone the day i got them. i saved ONE for the next day! hahaha

the temple was awesome today - i'm sad that i'm leaving! i've had so much fun here..ok well i'm going to miss everyone that i've met here! i've made such good friends!! thanks so much to everyone for your prayers and letters! they mean SO much to me and help me keep going. wish me luck as i head off to germany and actually have to teach real people!!

I Guess I Forgot To Teach Her That...

Today I got a package in the mail from Rachel. I was surprised! I thought... she must be sending back the blouses that were too big. Imagine my astonishment when I opened the box to find one of the sweaters that I had just sent her - the one she told me she loves. Why is she sending me this sweater??? Inside the box was a note...

I have a snag in my sweater and I don't know how to fix it. Could you fix it for me??

What??!! She sent me a sweater all the way from Utah so I could fix a small snag??????? Does this mean that in the MTC compound with all those women and girls, she couldn't find someone - just one person - who could fix her snag??? Well - I don't know... but now I get to fix it and ship it back to her pronto so she has it before she leaves on Monday.

Just when I thought I had taught her all she needed to know...
So I sent her an e-mail tonight with detailed instructions on how to fix a snag.

She's Leaving On a Jet Plane...

FYI - Rachel will leave the MTC early on Monday, March 24th. So, Saturday will be the last day she can receive mail. And she has mentioned that the mailroom closes early on Saturdays... so to be safe... try to get your last letter to her on Friday. Thanks!!

New Haircut

Here are pictures of Rachel's new haircut. I think it's pretty cute! Notice the pictures of family on the wall behind her. I sure do love that girl!!!

The Provo Temple

Here are some pictures of Rachel and some other missionaries at the Provo Temple. The MTC (where she is now) is very close to the temple and once a week she and the other missionaries get to walk over there and attend the temple. Rachel really enjoys going each week!

The German Language

Here's a remark from Rachel's e-mail today:

thanks for everything that you sent me! thanks for my watch :) and the tape!!! oh my gosh mom and dad your part in the beginning when you're 'speaking' german almost kills me its SOOO funny!!! sister stewart and i die of laughter every time!! I LOVE IT so anytime you feel like speaking german PLEASE do it on a tape so i can hear it!!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about this... I took a year of German in Junior High... I think I know a little bit about what I'm doing... but apparently not!! Apparently my german is comical! I guess it's just good that we give her a good laugh every now and then. :)

She goes on to say:

speaking of german - its coming along really well! we're teaching the 2nd lesson for the LAST TIME next tuesday!!! can you believe it! we get our flight plans either today (although not likely) or tomorrow!!!! i can't believe how the time has flown by!!

anyway back to german, last night sister stewart and i were teaching sister balmer in the TEC and when we were finished she said that our german was so good and she was really impressed with us. she said that we had like an intellient conversation when we had taught her and she could understand us. now, i know that my german really isnt that good. i dont have the grammar down at all and i pronouce the words wrong i'm sure and i know i probably dont conjugate the verbs correctly. but she can understand me!! how cool is that! i think that that's really whats most important, that they can understand me and feel the spirit. everything else will come with time. but its a lot of fun i just open my mouth and try to speak and somehow it comes out in understandable sentences. Hahaha

This is good - apparently she has more talent with the german language than her parents do!

Ich Liebe Sie!

Thursday is now my favorite day of the week! I love getting an e-mail from Rachel. Here's the latest:

Time is seriously FLYING by! i think we get our flight plans like next week...AH! hahaha but i think i'll be ready. german is coming along - i'm able to speak it most of the day. on sunday and monday sister stewart and i spoke only german (although by the end of monday i was done and speaking in english haha) we're done teaching lesson 1 in german and now we're moving onto lesson 2 which we're teaching on tuesday in german. crazy huh!

oh my gosh!! so you will not believe who spoke to us at the devotional on tuesday night.....ELDER HOLLAND!!!!! he's my favorite apostle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was SO excited. he gave the most amazing talk. i love how bold and blunt he is, its wonderful. i'm making a copy of my notes that i'll send to you today. he's so funny too..at one point he was talking about how our younger siblings think of us as superheros with capes. dressed in missionary clothes but with capes... and he put his arms out like he was flying... and stood there pretending to fly for seriously a minute and then said: "Oh, I see evil - I will go down!" and then pretended to fly down. it was the funniest thing i've ever seen!! hahaha hes awesome

my knee was feeling really sore the other day - but i got some ice from the trainers and it hasnt hurt me since! its amazing! yesterday i played volleyball and sprinted around the track and my knee didnt hurt once! that hasnt happened in a long time, usually when i run it hurts but not this time. i enjoyed it :D

i'm praying for everyone every night... my prayers are so long - but they arent in spanish anymore... and theres hardly any english :D its wonderful

ICH LIEBE SIE! (I love you all!)
i've got lots of time today to send letters so be looking in your mailboxes!!!
thanks for your prayers - the church is true!!!

Rachel and Her Elders

This is a picture of Rachel, Sister Stewart and the Elders that they learn with every day. She has mentioned how much she loves them and how she's going to miss them when they leave for Germany because some are going to the Berlin mission. Rachel and Sister Stewart are the only girls in their district. Rachel seems to like it ok. Since she is the only girl in our family she's used to being around "guys". Plus, she mentioned that they get a lot of attention.

Rachel and Her MTC Companion

Rachel finally sent us some photos of life at the MTC. These pictures are from her companion's camera. She'll send me her photo card before she leaves for Germany and we'll get more pictures then.

This is Rachel with her companion, Sister Stewart who is from Orem, Utah. She said on a tape once that they share the same birthday, however Sister Stewart is taller... but it's all good because Rachel was born first - so they're even. Funny!