M&M Letter# 15

hey family,

Hey, so this week was interesting. I cant really remember wshat happened earlier in the week. But as for wednesday with the new german elders coming, it is so funny and so exciting to finally have new people here. I love em all. they are really cool. There are 2 or 3 elders thatare being fast tracked because they already know german so they leave in 14 days like we do. Lucky kids. They are all awesome though. my favorite is elder whitehead and elder lykins. they used to be companions but elder lykins got fast tracked. elder whitehead is so chill its so cool.

I met sister hammond...harman...idk. the ramey daughter. she came into my class and i thought it was just a random teacher who was lost but then she just looked and pointed at me and said "you!" freaked me out but then i realized i recognized the face a little bit and then it klicked. We had not started class yet so it wasnt an interuption. didnt talk much but i shook her hand and it was just a funny situation. The elders in my district latter were so confused. They asked if i even knew her and i said yes, but another elder was like "ah its ok, you only got excited and shook her hand because she was attractive" something along those lines lol. It was funny. she told me she was going to email mom back so you should have gotten one yesterday.

Ok so as for why this week was hard. Elder p and i have been slowly, well im not sure how to explain it. things have been hard but neither of us have talked to each other about it and just keep ignoring it. finally saturday stuff happened and, then we talked sunday. monday wasnt so good and we talked again on monday and the talk on monday was really helpful. I love my teacher brother wright. he is the most amazing man ever. He talked to us each together and then on our own. Never cried in the MTC until then. I am not good talking about emotions or whatever so it was hard but then i talked to elder p last ngitha nd it was all good. You will get a letter probably thursday giving details about how i felt and such. just know that was before we talked and such so all is good now. or atleast we are making progress to make it better.

Ok so responses to letters. Um not much in the way of questions or exciting things this week. lol. Im glad the fair went well. thats really cool. I am so excited nubia is getting baptised!!!! thas is so awesome. es fruet mich zu hören das (it joys me to hear that). theressome german for ya lol. probably didnt spell it right but its all good.haha. There was an elderthat got to baptise his mother while here in the MTC. he was announced and stuff in the middle of a devotional. it was reallz cool. he already has a head start on us lol. and the fact that theya re getting married is awesome as well. im really happy for all of them and the happiness they have in their lives.

wes, tell him to get his butt in gear. honestly. I think dad talking to him would be good. You can be very supportive yet forcefull at the same time when you need to be and i dont know why but i think you have something he needs to here. But yes going to church is kind of a necessity for that as well as other things. Keep me posted on how it goes and what he is up to. give me the address or email and i will yell at him. :)

Well some BIG NEWS!!! the ambassador from germany for the US is coming to class tomorrow to meet our district. so he lives in DC and speaks really good english and what not. anyway idk why he is coming or why he wants to talk to us but he is coming and its exciting. We have to have questions prepare for him and we have to call him "abassador" or 'his excilency" didnt spell that right but i can say it so whatever. lol. i will send a letter as soon as i can telling how it went.

Other big news is that president monson is coming to hamburg october 14 i think it is. thats in my mission!!!! and after i get there!!!! awesome. we really hope that they have a whole mission conference when he comes so we can go and see him. that would just be so cool.

So 14 days left as of today!!! its crazy. i cant believe we have so few days left. Only one more chance to go to the temple and only two more days of service. lol. and next week is our last p day. crazy. oh so before i foregt, one of the speakers last week mentioned temples and how it was always a good thing to do temple work for family while on a mission. so instantly i thought of nana and papa having all of the geneology work done and such. Unfortunatly i am near the end of my mtc stay so no more temple every week but if you could find one name and send it to me pronto so i can do it next week that would be great. our whole district is writing home and asking for a name to go through the temple with. i am sure there is atleast one anme that needs to be done. If the name still needs initiatory thats fine i can do that. the only thing i cant do is sealing and baptism. i know right. no baptism and im a missionary!!!! i was so mad when they told us we couldnt do that. so mad. But if it is a child i cna participate in the family sealing, and i cna do initiatory and endowment. so if it needs more work thats ok i will just keep the name with me and if it doenst get all done next week then hopefully one time i will get to go to the temple in germany and finish the work there. So a name or two maybe would be cool to be able to do work for my family everytime i go through.

Nothing else i can really think of. Just sprinting to the finish line and then starts the next race. I am super excited and so ready. maybe not my language but me as myself, i am so ready to go. should be loads of fun.

Oh i am super disappointed in the package being delayed so long. love ya :)  but i just had a feeling. Elder y is more excited for my package than i am because he wants that nashville tribute to joseph smith cd. is it in the package ir have you not found it yet. he asks me about ym package everyday if i came or when it will come.

anyway, over time. love you all and i feel good today and totalyl ready for the week so hopefully this week goes well.

Elder Ustach

M&M Letter#14

Hey Family,

  So not much this week. well i guess you could say the german tv crew was big but it seems like so long ago its crazy. to answer moms questions in the email, no, i dont think i brought that small duffel. i got the doughnuts. they were really good. My ctr ring size is i think a 13, but im not sure. have you guys gotten both the letters i sent last week? If not by the time you get this then hopefully later today or tomorrow.

  Thanks for letting me know abou the updates on the german trip and whats boing on. i dont worry about it to much, just get really excited to think i will be in germany in 3 weeks and then to be able to go back, because i assume i will love it. so ya , way excited. All the guys in the district hate it when the teachers talk about the missiona nd germany. we are all so ready to go and teach and just get out of here. its crazy. we want to go!!!! i am really nervouse to go and actually teach but i know that heavenly father is there for me and if someone is so prepared to recieve the gospel in their lives, that heavenly father will not let my lack of german get in the way of them recieveing the blessings of the gospel. he will be there every step of the way and i know that. i just need to trust in him and keep working my hardest.

  Ok so the "focus tv" crew. that is the name so look them up. they are out of southern germany and mostly austria. all of the 3 people that came are all from munich. The camera man was way cool. the sound guy was so chill he was like just whatever lol. the reporter was surprisingly very kind and genuine. it was really cool to see them all and see what they didnt know and what they wanted to know. They came and just recorded us having a small german lesson to see what it was like, then they interviewed sister alder (our teacher) and elder kincaid and smith. Then they followed us to lunch, and the mialroom. we were celebrities all day at the MTC it was so funny. everyone couldnt stop staring at us while we were eating lunch. It was kind of wierd. the camera in our face didnt help either lol. after thye left everyone came up and asked us about everything and who the heck they were and why. it wa really cool. one elder had a hard time with it. elder T didnt appreciate the attention at all. he seemed a little down. i asked him why, and he jsut said " i can see know why the MTC is so shut off from the world.I can see now why they shelter us so much while we are in here" and actually i could see it to. It felt wierd and just not right when they were here. we are here to learn and grow and become better missionaries. any outside or wordly influence just slows us down and take sour focus away from our goal and purpose. Elder spackman wa right.

  As for the ambassador, no go. he never came. someone else was supposed to come and he didnt come either. i felt bad for the other district because they were all excited, but they never came.

  Yes i have seen the awesomeness of the welfare system. i ahd no idea wha tthe church does and what the church wosn to support itself and the members. it is truly amazing to see. That is an interesting idea about the ranch in florida. would be cool and good to work at such a large facility, but i agree, florida...ewww. only reason i would go is for disneyworld and im fine with disneyland so no go there. tell me how it is when you guys go.

  Obviously from moms comment about convincing julie to go on a mission she has yet to tell you about her decision. she told me in her email she wants to. but idk. i told her it is a great thing and the best decision ever. did you know you can be as old as 40 YEARS OLD!!!! as a sister!!!! max agae for guys is like 25, but for sisters its like 40!!!! crazy. i met a sister that was 25 and we were talking about school and such. she was way cool. and we mentioned to our teacher about her age, and then sister A told us that 40 is the max age. crazy. Oh, so funny story about that sister, we were talking and she was way cool and then at the end of our onversation she asked " can i ask a really wierd question?" lol, we said sure so she asked if she could have our address. she explained it was for her sister at home who is 17 and it fed up with the rude and immature boys at school where she is.she told her sister that she wanted her to find some really cool elders who would be willing to write. we said sure and so we are now all expecting letters. funny stuff.

  Yes im still working out mom. we play soccer on thursdays and saturdays, every other day im in the gym working out running, and playing volleyball. As for the german culture day, kind of but not a full day of culture the teachers just mention a few things here and there and most of what they say is about the food and the bathrooms lol.

  Thats a bummer keltona nd emilie have not had a chance to go on a temple walk. it really is a nice way to wiond down and just have a peacful time at the temple.

ok hopefully you got tha email, it sent or just disapeared for no reason on the computer. idk. anyway, we get now german elders tomorrow. totally exciting. we diont get to host tomorrow because by the time we signed up it was full, but we are hosting next week and i would like to every week after ward.

We figured out that we will not have priesthood meeting ever again here at the MTC. Next sunday is the temple dedication, which we get to watch. then its fast sunday so its MTC wide conference, then after that its general conferenc and then done. We only have one more real sacrament meeting to where we are possibly assigned to talk. thats next week. so glad because its so nerve rackign when thye cakll out names every week to talk in sacrament in german lol.

ok out of time. didn tget to spel check anything because the computer sent it before i got the chance so sorry about that, and im over time so i will send letters or something later if i have more to say.

love you all.

Elder Ustach

M&M Letter #12

September 11,2012

Dear Family,

            Just writing  the rest of my letter home+ explaining more because email seemed way short and I didn’t get to finish.

            Ok, so first notes from the week. I was watching some of the videos on LDS.org  and one about church welfare. In the middle it was talking bout how the church gets food for bishop store houses and stuff. I had no clue we grow + raise our own food in the church so the idea popped into my mind that maybe I could be a large animal vet for the church ranches. IDK. Would be cool just a thought.

            Ok second, I have regained the nickname  of “the wall”.  OK dad did you call me that? AYSO back when I was 8-10 or so LOL. We played soccer against the Spanish missionaries. I didn’t want to because Im no good, and have not played in years., but playing goalie for 30 minutes and defense for the next 20, they never scored and never got close. We won 5-0. Everyone was amazed with my d skill. Even when we came back + showered I had people coming up to me at dinner telling me how awesome it is , or how they heard I was amazing. LOL! Word spread fast. We have another game Thursday. Should be fun.

            Third ,I have been here so long now that the Sunday fireide speakers are rotating + epeating! We had the same guy as my first Sunday speak 2 days ago. Crazy!

            Fourth, is the hunter address you sent me current? Or did she move + its out of date? Im onfused by moms letter.

            Ok so now for news on that t you heard about in my email. This is all because of Romney and the huge publicity the church is getting. It’s a german tv crew because USA politics are apparently more popular + important than their own politics LOL.So a TV station from germany called Focus TV is coming. They are interviewing each of us about the MTC, our mission + general mormen questions. We gad a public relations man came and brief us on correct + incorrect answers, sayings, dress+ how we behave. Its really exciting. I will tell yo morw tomorrow after it happensJ

            As for everything else happening, nothing exciting. I rarely write more than 3 sentences in my journal because everday is the same, nothing new.MTC is very boring, sorry. When I get out into the field my letters will be much better. Until then though one day at a time. Im almost done!! New germans come in 8 days!! So sweet!!

Love You all,

Elder ustach

Julie's Winning Pictures

"The Party's in the Back"

Won 3rd place

 "Taunticles"

Won 1st place

M&M Letter #11

September 11,2012

Dear Family,

Ok so i need to answer questions and comments first because im low on time becuase of other emails. Yes mom its elder gochnour not grenko, sorry. elder grenko is here at the mtc with me. elder stephens is not the little guy. he skinny but taller. like my height but 150 lbs. he is totally cool. to be honest elder stephens in my favorite elder so far. i really hope i get to be his companion.

i have not really written anything to anyone else other than travis, robby, stasia, jkulie, you guys, camden, and sims. i still have yet to recieve an answer from travis so tell him to hurry up and repsond, that jerk. have julie or someone get in contact with him and yell at him :) lol. Oh and yes i still get nicks emails. i never have time to write nick or jaron emails becuase of the timer on the comp but its ok. i will write them in the field.

I am gald bear is doing well and you guys found them when they ran out. I am glad thye know where home is and came runnign when you called. they are goo dnad smart dogs but with just to much energy :) love thme to death. im glad you sent pics. i now have something to show and have proof that my dogs would litterally eat some of the smaller elders here.

Dad you should send me your talk. i would love to read it and maybe perhaps i might have to use it :) i write a 5 minute talk all in german everysunday because they pick 2 missionaries from the congregassion to speak everyweek and nobody knows who until it happens lol. so sacrament is stressful for the first 15 minutes haha.

Oh thanks for the package!!! the pants are awesome, pics are awesome. the cd player works great and i can listen to primary songs now :) oh elder brereton asked if it would be possible to burn a cd of the "nashville tribute to joseph smith" aparently its a bunch of music and stuff. idk if you find it and think its appropriate then it would be cool if you would send that. i love all the stuff you sent though. thank you.

i am working on taking those pictures of th esign and the map. we talked about it briefly earlier. oh i have been wearing my blue pants. they are not hat bad.i like them actually. oh and i have a copy of my patriarchle blessing. its in my scriptures. i want your guys opinion. should i buy another quad? its a little expensive but i wont get it anywhere cheaper than here wiht my discout and free engraving. my quad right now is starting to fall apart in 2 nephi and i would like a new one to statr over and have a clean slate to start marking and suhc for my mission. tell me your opinion. sorry im our of time. actually over time. crazy thing is going to happen tomorrow. long story short. german tv station is comuing to interview us in class, i will explain in my letter which will come shortly. talk to you guys later.

elder ustach

love you all :)

M&M Letter #10

September 4,2012

Dear family,

            Im writing this Tuesday evening. I just read all of the letters. They don’t print and distribute dear elder letters until later in the day and it sucks but oh well. Just sitting waiting for the devotional to start and thought I would write.

            So today was good woke up at 4:45 to do laundry . We have to wake up that early to guarentee a washer. Problem is they have half the number of washers as they do dryers + the dryers are bigger and you can dry colors+ whites together but not wash them.. How after all of that… does having half as many washers make sense? It doesn’t.

            So I  saw an elder with a CTR ring that like collapsed + had multiple pivot point in it almost like a chain. It was so cool I want one.

            Oh!!Haha so my roommates learned not to startle me the last few nights. They find it funny to try + scare me right after we fall asleep.

            Oh so I was looking throught my address book and I don’t have hunters address or email. One or the other would be nice. I know candice’s stealthy internet stalker skills will come in handy or you guys could ask her grand parents.

            Ok so devotional is starting. I will write the rest tonight+ hopefully sne d this Wednesday morning.

            Alright Im back, good devotional. It was brother +sister kopishke. Siter k is the funnies german lady ever! We all laughed so hard during her talk. Brother K talked on repentance + how to tech it. It was really good.

            Alright responses to your recent letters. I have no clue who sister M is sorry, doesn’t ring a bell. Cool though that she is there and doing well. Tell he all is the same here , no differenceJ

            Dad your flight plans and idea of taking everyone to florida is crazy. Go somewhere else..oh I have a better idea J save the money for germany. Save non+ sacrifice a weekend in florida for awesomness I  germany later. Just a thought.

            To answer how they teach us they speak german24/7. Wehave a book that we call a board display book. It has different grammar skill/thing every page. Grammar is was it taught while vocab + the practice + repetition is up to us. We are in class actually “being taught” for 6 hours and only 2 of the 6 are german. The other  4 are gospel, doctrine, practice teaching our”mock” investigators, ect, We teach at least one 30 minute leeson all in german everyday. For books we have 2 large text book type things, for practice and personal study. A small phrase, grammer, + vocab book. The board display book. The BoM in german and a german dictionary. Lots of books. The little phrase,vocab,+grammer book is awesome because its organized by lesson in PMG(preach my gospel) so its all chronological, each lesson ha all of the vocab+some phrases in german. Its really helful.

            Oh, for karis fish. I feel so bad but I can totally see kari putting all of the food in at once.

            Yes elder Y is getting more mail. However he seems off when he mentions family. Not sure what is up, but he is a very private guy so I don’t pry his business.

            Cool that you are watching the blog. Did you see an elder T or G? They are the coolest guys ever and it is my goal to be their companion at least once. The would totally make my mission. Speaking of blogs do I have one yet? Or is it just facebook for now?

            I can’t believe its already sept. We are half way through the MTC + next week is the 6 week mark because the new germans come next week not tomorrow but in 8 days. It is so cool.

 Im glad you found Julie boots how much and can I see a opic. Does she like them?

            Oh  NO !!!My poor bear. I had not thought of them until nowL very sad. Is he better. I am sure he is still crazy as every as is gus. I realized I don’t have pics of them to show. If any pics of the  would be a necessity.

            Totally frame the map good idea +yes fly the flag outside support the germans!! I would be disappointed if you didn’t.

Oh! And the comment on me following the rules with  my ipod. Yes I am happy we went that route+ I am nicknamed sheriff because of my IDK “maturity” + rule    followingness that the other other elders don’t have. LOL my famous saying + why I got that nickname is “you need to calm down”” or “you really need to chill out” haha. But they know me and call me sheriff.

Tell me how things are. Love you all. Hope all is well. I hope you got my emails + pics.

Love elder ustach

M&M Letter #9

September 4,2012 Morning

Dear Family,

Yes i know that all the dear elder mail will come today. i wanted to wait to do email until i got it all butthat would be to late in the day and i would miss email entirely. I am excited for all the letters. i knew i wouldnt be getting any because of the timing of the holiday and the weekend. so no responses to your weekend but i can tell you how mine went and some resquests.

This week has been good. lots of fun with the district and such. No more older missionaries so it is very quiet in the hall. I am not sure if i mentioned but i got sick. even after dad sent me all the meds i will ever need in the MTC. its a cough and slight fever. but im always hot so maybe no fever. i took my temp and nothing, but idk. Its just a whole bunch of mucus in the back of my throught so coughing is like the only thing to get it all out. they sell mucinex in the store but im mostly over it by now so its good. saturday and sunday morning was the worst for it. I am feeling a bit better now though and coughing a lot less so that is good. drinking lots of fluids and trying to keep myself up and awake.

Sundays fireside there was no speaker. instead we watched the "golden days: a celebration of life" the thomas s monson birthday celebration. it was really cool. and then for the movie that night they were only showing one and it was called "labor of love" a super cheasy 90's film on ojne missionaries flight home. it was so funny. its probably on the lds website if you want to watch it. oh ok so on the lds website go to mormon messages and watch ALL OF THEM!!! they are all so good. they take up a lot of time and a really good thing to watch to invite the spirit and lift your mood if your feeling down. we watch them all the time in our spare time. they have specific ones for youth to which are really inspirational and helpful. they are all awesome.

candice: i love your random info everyday. i share it with all the guys in my district after dinner evertime we get mail. its so funny. my personal favorites so far are the over 400 zoos and the over 300 types of bread. we figured out that we could eat a different kind of bread everyother day and probably not run out before we leave :) I love kari's biorthday. that sounds like loads of fun. its funny who she invited to it as well. im sure she will love the fish and the clothes she got. perhaps i can get something together. draw her a picture or something and send it to her. i will do something. better late than never. oh so for the "mark is making a tractor for the classroom" what classroom are you talking about? im confused. in reaction to kira's comments about her incident. im sure you would have gone all the way under. i bet it was scary not being ablwe to move or do anything, and still feel and hear whats going on. any news on why or what heppened from the doctor? what did she say? are you on new meds? i need the details :) oh and for kira's relief socieity president. perhaps it is a learning curve for her. not all are perfect. none of us are. president monson was called as a bishop at the age of like 26. idk about you but i dont think he was perfect and maybe he had to learn how to deal with specific things like that. idk the circumstances but all will be well. kira, you are still in my prayers. i hope you can feel the saviors love in your daily life. i know he loves youa nd is looking out for you. im sure you klnow that, but i just wanted to say it.

no email back from simms yet. an address would be nice but if he didnt respond to me then idk when he will respond to you. oh well. all is good. idkl if you got the letter with the info, i had no idea julie already got an award for her pictures!!! thats awesome. which one was it? i think you already told me but i forgot. what did she get for winning? or am i just missinformed or crazy and i just wanted her to win lol.

Ok so things i want/need. my gray pants, between the legs they are starting to wear out. i wear them the most of all ebcause i dont wear my suit pants unless im wearing my suit which is only on tuesdays and sundayds. so other than that its the gray pants. thats why they are wearing out already. they are fine, but just wanted to let you know so maybe another pair might be needed soon. oh i would totally love a super sweet paisley tie, a super sweet pokodot tie. and a super sweet just straight solid color tie. the solid color tie doesnt need to be awesome. i just want it to i can have all myu companions and idstrict throughout my mission sign it. oh so still no idea how im going to usee my cd's. but i need to use them because elder kincaid ahs never heard primary songs and i have them all on cd but no way to share them. maybe you guys can figure out a way to do it. i would love a new tie tack as well. i lost the back to my other one. ya lots of stuff sorry. love you all. i hope all is well. we get new germans next week, so in 8 days and then we leave in 4 weeks!!!! its crazy. we are all totally stoked.

Love,

Elder Ustach

M&M Letter #8

August 29,2012

Dear Family,

             Ya, I really like the UPS story and its cool Julie is taking it to seminary.Tell me how they react to it. Im excited to her about her birthday party. Idea for the screen. Hang the sheet from the pool fence, that would be on concrete. For the grass attach one corner to where julies window opens and the other some where on the porch. One would be watch on grass or watch on concrete. IDK some thoughts.

            Dad’s meeting is crazy! I would be mad to. Today I was left out of something. Im a MISSIONARY I ALWAYS have a companion, and yet some how I was left. Reakly stupid. They think just because it’s the MTC its chill+ whatever but leaving your companion is a big no no even here. I was pissed. They kind of just blew it off, but I was mad. I calmed down immedietly though because trying to explain the importance of it + getting my  point across, would distract from the spirit and I have been working on controlling my thoughts and emotions to invite the spirit as much as possible. So anyway. Ya it sucks and was rude to leave you out. But dad get over it +focus on positive. Work hard+ whatever. Their loss for not having your bright smiling face there.

            Thanks for the support keep writing+ sending news. I love to hear about whats going on . Let kira know she is still in my prayers as well as in the provo temple. I don’t get daily updates so I will keep praying.

Love, Elder Ustach

M&M Letter # 7

August 28,2012

dear family,

So all is well. your right about the build up of letters on monday. i had six and everyone else didnt have more than 2. i felt awesome but bad for others lol. Thank you for the package with clothes and such. they really help. we work out 5 days a week and i did not bring nearly enough clothes to keep from stinking up haha. thankfully we are all guys and the sisters are else where because our whole floor stinks after gym time when we are all standing in line waiting to shower. its so funny. I guess to conitnue with gym, the first 2 weeks i played volleyball, kickball, and such. but we have an elder in our district who has to work out everyday, not play sports. His doctor said that was the condition for him to go no a mission. so he is a fitness guru anyway and its awesome, so starting a week ago i started to work out with him. its so much fun. we call his work out program MTC SPACK (pernounced spock, like from startrek). kind of like our own personal P90X. he destroyed me last week and i finally today can move my arms above my head. last wednesday i couldnt touch the top of my head. i had to get help putting on my tie because of the intenseness of it. he is awesome though.

Ok so the devotional was not the prophet, but we did have an apostel. niel l anderson talked to us. it was really cool. as soon as he entered everyone stood up (all 2700) of us and the atmosphere was so weird. dont know how to explain it but it was cool.  I dont have time to explain waht he talked about but it was good.

yes mom you are right about the older missionaries leaving today. One sister left yesterday and she was goign to alpine. The rest left today. i gues si have not mentioned them much, but when you told me that in the letter, that they were leaving it was kind of like 2 week old news haha. the older missionaries are like our mentors and our best friends. they seem way older and yet i was older the the zone leader. kind of wierd but cool. we were best friends especially with the triple sister companionship. sister young, reid, and peterson. All three of them were amazing they all had a MTC "yearbook" thing that we all signed. we took pictures with all of them. it was so funny. sister young was about to cry as we walked out of our classroom the last day before shye left. we were their favorite district. they told us that everyday and they hung out with us constantly. it was so much fun. but now they are all gone and no more fun. now for 3 weeks of serious work. we need to put our heads down and full steam ahead for 3 weeks. until the new guys show up :) oh so funny thing about the siters. elder kincaid, my companion is a little bit of a talker. he loves to talk to everyone and everything. 

Ok so my letter home which should get there tomorrow hopefully has the MOST spiritual stories ever. it was the msot spiritual experience of my life. long sotry short al elder got a package in the mail from someone that none of us knw. the letter was beautiful. and ya it was amazing. the letter explains more about why this guy sent it and what happened but elder c's prayer was answered literally, elder b was blessed with the package and the support from it and as he read the letter from this random guy to us all, we all felt the spirit and i think ahd many of our prayers answered or something simliar happen that day. we are now called the "miracle" district in the MTC to the older missionaries and the branch presidency. no joke, he called our district that in priesthood. lol.

ok nearly running out of time. answer questions as fast as possible. yes mom you can start a blog. no worries. i think it would be cool, and i kind of assumed you were posting these already on FB. KIRA I LOVE YOU!!! just wanted to say that. yesterday i was scarred and worried for here because i read one letter but not the othetr so i only heard about her forgetting birthday and such. i felt worried and sad  so i decided that today i would fast and pray for her. Then later that night ir ead about the grand mal and i freaked. thankfully she is ok and all is good and she should be going to the doctor today which is good. just want to let her know that i love here. im praying and hopeing all is well with her. she has yet to write me a letter so she cna do that if she wants. the spirit is so storng here and as i prayed i felt comforted that all will be well. i really hope so :)

love you all

elder ustach

M&M Letter #6

August 24,2012

Family,

            Depending on when your reading this. Either your crying because of the other paper, or you will be shortly. The letter on the other paper is to no one specifically  more to just write it down, almost a journal entry kind of but I feel prompted to share it+ share the truth a pray and how amazing the spirit and blessings are in the MTC and as a missionary.

            Hopefully you can read the hand writing . I wouldn’t want you to miss out because of it. Anyway please read  it .Its awesome. If your reading this after, feel free to share with anyone. I know mom will or if maybe if someone needs some extra push + faith buster to pray + receive an answer.

            Receiving an answer is not always a still small voice. Sometimes its strong like the feeling of the UPS man, or its an answer by reseiving a small package. Physical, spiritual, or emotional I know the lord answers prayers and I love him so much.

Elder Ustach

Quickly before I forget do you guys have a large german map and or flag? You guys need them by October 9.

            It will be really quiet when the older districts leave. We love the older group, especially the sisters. We are taking a picture with the three sisters because we are the best + their favorite district. They are awesome.

Im writing so I don’t forget this amazing story and I want you to know of the power of prayer. Elder Y is a great missionary. I love  him so much, we all do. The first week or two or three, though he didn’t receive any support via mail. He had not received a package until yesterday. Elder Y is a strong elder physically, spiritually, + emotionally, however after all the letters, packages+ support we all get, you could tell he was starting to feel bummed. We a felt bad + didn’t want anymore letters until he got more. We wanted him to be happy. One elder,elder H,was smart enough+ started to pray for Elder Y. He prayed every night, that Elder Y would receive a package + more mail. Finally a package came.Also he got a package from a man he did not know.Reading the letter inside the package we figured out that it is from a man who has no connections to any of us, or Elder Y. This man is from the UPS store where Elder H is from. Elder H’s mother was mailing a package to elder Y to cheer him up because she heard from Elder H that he was feeling down.

            So this man,who is alone near closing time at the UPS store in pleasant grove,utah after siter H had left, had an overwhelming feeling to write elder Y. He actually answered the spirits prompting vocally in the store”I Will!” In the letter from this man he explains everything I just wrote, and his testimony of the importance of a mission + how hard it can be. We just need to trust in the lord he said. He only had 1 baptism in his 2 years. And he didn’t even get to do it. Another  elder did. However he said the entire  2 years was worth it. Needless to say after Elder Y read that , we were all crying. And then Elder H explained I wrote, that he prayed for Elder Y. He then bore his testimony of the power of prayer and that heavenly father answeres us if we have faith.

            I know that if I need anything, prayer is the answer. Funny thing is that we are teaching our investigator about getting answers from from god + we prayed to know how to help her. Well heavenly father answered multiple prayers with a simple package from a random UPS worker to of our elders. The spirit is os strong and I love the lord so much. We then remembered that Missionaries are prayed for nearly 140 times an hour, because of all the temples. We feel so blesses and so honored to be serving the lord by being a missionary. I love the lord. I really do. Sometimes I don’t realize how blessed I am. Thank you ,lord. Thank You.

Ok so to add more onto this all. Today we are all so tired today! The spirit all day has drained us. We all agreed, the letter today, was the most spiritual experience we have had outside the temple. For me it’s THE most spiritual experience. Also later as a class we were reading the BoM. The spirit was so stronng and all we had time to read was 1 nephi 3:1-15 in 15 verses and 45 minutes we felt the spirit so strong. Crazy.

Love elder ustach

M&M Letter #5

August 23,2012

Dear family,

            So I have learned that as soon as a thought comes, I need to write it downL because I have had things to write back to you guys, I think of them, and then an hour later or when I get a chance to write a letter I forget. So lesson learned.

            It was not the prophet unfortunately. But it was an apostle Elder Neil L Anderson of the 12 came and spoke. His presence and the comments he shared were amazing. I took good note.

            Oh…3 days and its dad + karis birthday. Hope this gets to you soon. Happy Birthday!! Love you both. The big 52 + 4. Awesom.

            That’s crazy how fast sister bond is getting married. I am glad she is happy though and all is well. I will be thinking of her today, as today is when they are getting married. I assume its only a civil marriage because she cannot be sealed to more then one man? Sorry pen is dieing. Much better. So correct me if thinking that is wrong. Are you guys invited? Or are you just going to watchfrom candice’s or dads office windows. LOL

            So Elder P reported yesterday and he is in the room next door! Elder P is the one going to Belgium from our stake. Anyway it was good to see himand talk to him. I gave him a whole bunch of advice + we talked for awhile. We have about 10 new guys in our hall ranging from Belgium to Guatamala we have convinced the new elders that Elder S(in my district) is from Germany and does not speak good English. He is pulling it off so far and it is hilarious. Its so funny to see his new roommates play sherades with him to understand because they don’t know german.

Its been 30 minutes, I went to breakfast and I cant think of anything else, so until I get another random thought or until email. I will talk to you guys soon.

Love,

            Elder Ustach

Dear family,

            Not sure what I wrote this morning but I have to tell you about today. So today we taught Sister Pat is the investigators name. We were going to discuss family+ such because pat is 65, has 2 sons + 9 grandchildren. So we planned on family + how god loves family. We get in there+start with our lesson. We ask about her late husband and read alma 40:11-12 which explains he is happy. After we read that+ bare our testimonies on the truth of it she explains her husband killed himself…well we had no clue what to say. We were stuck dumb. Finally we said”we don’t know, but we know if you pray and ask god, then you can receive an answer about you husband+ how he is doing.” The rest of the lesson was on prayer which is completely off what we prepared. It was crazy. Elder kincaid shared a story of when he was converted. The spirit was so strong. Unfortunatly for me I was worried about what to say so I didn’t feel it. The more I learn to talk the more I can focus on the spirit hoepefully. I am bummed I missed out but will learn to recognize it+ go with it.

            Quick after thought because I forgot. I think I mentioned, no prophet. Elder Neil L Anderson. The weddings are awesome. I am so excited for wes. Please send him my love+ excitement for me. Tell Ms, if you can, I am happy Julie is in her class and I am grateful for her support. Pls send me that stuff asap,as well as mr. Sims address or email.