Ahoj Everyone!

So first things first, my toe is NOT broken. On Tuesday we went back to the clinic because I had worn that stupid shoe thing all week and it didn't feel any better. So they sent us to the BYU Student Health Center (we got to leave the MTC!!!) and we got some X rays done. So nothing's broken, there aren't injuries that they can see. BUT there are these bones in your foot call cezmoids (don't judge, I have no idea how to spell that) and most people only have two of them, but I just so happen to have THREE. Weird, huh? They don't know for sure if that is what's causing the pain in my foot, so I'm meeting with a podiatrist next Wednesday to see what he thinks. 

Next, on Tuesday we had our regular Tuesday Night Devotional, only guess who spoke?? Quentin L. Cook!! It was so cool, and since it was an apostle the devotional was broadcast to a bunch of other MTCs. I don't know if it was broadcast to all the MTCs, but a lot of them. He spoke to us on how mission calls are assigned, the importance of our work, and just gave us a ton of advice, it was amazing! We also got to sing in the choir for the devo and we sang Mack Wilberg's arrangement of Praise to the Man, which is one of my favorites. My favorite quote from Elder Cook's talk was what President Hinkley once told him, "Tell the missionaries that if they have more faith, they will have more success." That just really touched me and made me realize how important it is for us to be confident and trusting in the Lord, and that the more faith we have, the more the Lord can work through us, and the more success we will have. :) 

On Sunday for Relief Society, Sister Carol F. McConkie, the first councilor in the Young Women's General Presidency spoke to us. She told us stories of when her husband was a mission president and she gave us a lot of great advice as well. 

One funny thing that happened on Sunday was during Music and the Spoken Word. We watch Music and the Spoken Word every Sunday right before Relief Society, and this week's was quite the adventure. While we were watching it on the projectors with all the lights off, this object came in front of the projector. Something was flying around the room and guess what it was! A BAT!!! A bat had crashed our Music and the Spoken Word party! It flew around the meeting for about 20 minutes and then it just disappeared. A lot of sisters were freaking out, I just thought it was funny!

One more thing about Sunday. Daylight Savings is like 100000000 times worse in the MTC. They give you absolutely no recovery time! I think the whole MTC was a lot more grumpy this week because everybody was definitely feeling that missing hour of sleep!

One of the more serious things that happened this week has to do with my companion. Sestra Bailey heard from her friend that an elder in her friend's district got reassigned to a different mission because he just couldn't learn the language. Sestra Bailey really took that to heart and was freaking out about getting reassigned because she's been really struggling with the language pretty much the whole time we've been here. She had a really hard time when she heard about that from her friend and I had to sit her down and talk about all the amazing things she's done in learning the language so far. She's doing much better now, even though she's still struggling. That was a major bump in our road this week. 

Overall I'm doing well. I'm pretty much over being sick, and even though my toe still hurts pretty bad, at least I know it's not an injury. And it's comforting to know that I can still wreck at foursquare. ;) I actually weighed myself this past week and was pleased to know I've only gained three pounds, which is a lot better than what I had thought!

We're still teaching our two investigators, Viktor and Petra. Sestra Bailey asked Viktor if he'd get baptized in our second week with him and he really freaked out. So we'll see where that goes. Petra is really interested in the Plan of Salvation, and we've had a few really good discussions with her about it. We have high hopes for her.

I also got a calling in our branch this past Sunday. I'm the music coordinator (I can almost hear you all saying "surprise, surprise") so I just have to pick the songs for sacrament meeting and ask people to play and lead. 

Well it's pretty crazy to think that I've been here just over 3 weeks already. In some ways it feels like I just got here, and in others it feels like I've been here for an eternity already. Our zone is kind of at a stand still right now. We got 6 new elders yesterday (4 going to Turkey, and 2 going to Bulgaria) and now we're completely full. So we're not going to get anyone new until the older missionaries leave, but no one leaves for 3 more weeks. And once they leave we will be the "oldest." 

A huge thank you to everyone who has written/emailed me, it really means a lot! I'm sending a second email with some pictures from this week. One is of me and Elder Fairborn, I still can't believe how many times I've seen him around, seeing him actually makes me really homesick, but in a good way. It makes me miss all of my friends that have already been out on mission for over a year, I can't believe they all go home this year! Another picture is of drawings of everyone in our district. Elder Page drew all of us on the board and I think they are pretty accurate! The last picture is of my companionship at the temple on Sunday, with my hurt foot. :P

I hope you are all doing well! I love you all and this gospel is true!!!!

- Sestra Schaerrer