Crazy!

Pablo Penalillo said that you mom and dad can call him anytime. Also, have you ordered my bike yet? If you could let the mission office know when you do so that they can pick it up that would be great. Thank you so much for the letters they're awesome!

I'm almost done at the MTC and it's crazy! Also it was the 50th anniversary of the MTC this week. Wow so many milestones. I'm super excited to get out in the field. I think we're all getting a little cabin fever because we've been doing a bunch of DLTs lately Dumb Little Things (sorry Grandpa I tried, but now I know why they do so many).

So Aaron wanted funny stories and mom wanted spiritual ones so I'll do my best: On Saturday we were being especially goofy. I was standing in the hall waiting for my companions who were in the bathroom. I open our classroom door and Elder Sanchez who is sitting on a chair yells "Hermana Probst watch this!" The next thing I know he flings himself back in the chair and he crashes to the floor and the chair goes flying! We were all laughing so hard we were crying! It was so funny! Apparently he was trying to show me that he could lay flat on the chair, but he did it too fast and so now the joke is that Elder Sanchez is head over heals for me. Oops. Story 2: The other night I had a dream that president Brown was showing our district around and giving all these spiritual insights. Suddenly it sounded like somone was snoring and we were all mad at them. Then I realized it wasn't in my dream it was real! I get out of bed and go to the other bunks and I hear H. Collins giggle and say "I have no idea who it is." It was Sister Martina and she sounded just as loud as dad does! I tried saying her name to wake her up and all she did was roll over and keep snoring. It was so funny we didn't know what to do. Eventually she stopped, but it was pretty classic. Story 3: As coordinating sister I have to go to weekly meetings where our floor representatives basically complain about how loud the elders above us are. I usually study or fill in my planner. But finally I remembered that a recent maintenance report I had issued had not been filled so I commenced to tell the branch president of my complaint. I told him that the toilet seats were broken in our bathroom. He didn't understand the problem. I tried to explain to him that the seats move because they're not properly attached. He still didn't understand. Finally turning bright red and the entire room quietly laughing at me I told him that when you needed to use the toilet it made it difficult because when you sit down it slides all over the place which makes it rather difficult to fulfill your purpose of using that toilet seat. He finally understood and everyone was laughing at me. Yep good story.

So the call of the Ziegler has almost been resolved. We have been going to many doctor's appointments with her lately because if they're in Provo we have to go with her and if they're outside of Provo she gets an escort. Unfortunately most of hers have been in Provo. And they don't really tell us when they are they just send us a message that we have to go right then. One day we had 4 appointments in one day! I was really worried that it would mess with our schedules, but the resource teachers have taken special care to work one on one with us so we really haven't missed much and we've gotten really good at studying in waiting rooms. H. Collins and I get to switch off who goes and who stays and whoever stays becomes a solo sister and the elders from the district are her companions. She just discovered that she has ADHD and her hiccups are a genetic tic that is affected by her ADHD and if she keeps her mind occupied they don't happen as much. Can I just say I called it. We had to meet with District President Brady who was Grandma and Grandpa Probsts stake president and sent Brian on down on missions. I think this was a compliment but he said he didn't think they were old enough to have grandkids on missions. He says hi and he thought you were all great.

My back is doing much better and I only have 2 more appointments with Butler. I think I'll miss it. Two of our investigators are getting baptized but one recently told us that she believes the Catholic church is true and the LDS church. We may have to postpone her baptism. We got to see the Christmas Devo and it was awesome! Also we got a promise from President Brown. He promised that if we read the Book of MOrmon for 30 minutes every day our biggest problems in the mission will dissolve and will be fine. Which is good because last week I was really discouraged about my spanish. I felt like I wasn't learning anything and I couldn't speak anything. H. Forsyth took the time talk to me about it and share D&C 98: 1-3 and it just hit me really hard. I have to be patient with the Lord because he has made us promises. I have really learned to rely on the spirit more because we just need to trust and all will work out for the good. We had a really sobering experience on Sunday. We missed our Sunday temple walk because we were giving our branch president the first lesson. When our whole district went outside there were protesters standing at the gates with massive crosses. They were yelling at all the missionaries coming back from their sunday walks and chanting. I never would have thought that would happen here. It made us all realize more realistically the kind of challenges we're facing and how grateful we are to be protected by the Spirit. Our biggest challenge will not just be learning a language but the opposition we will face from the adversary. I am so grateful to be a missionary. We've had a lot of really good bonding experiences as a district this last week. Almost every single person has is our suffering some major opposition. One elder has to be the example to his parents of being a good member because only the kids live the Gospel and the parents don't. Another elder was basically the father of his younger siblings because his dad is a work-aholic. Another elder has basically been completely forgotten by his family and they never really support him or anything. I have learned so much about how strong our generation is and I'm so proud to be a part of it.

I will send pictures when I can but they don't have USB ports on these computers so it might have to wait until I'm in the field. I'll send out my Washington address next week but I can't remember it now

I love you all and know that the Church is the only true church on this earth!

Love you!

Herman Probst