Two and a half weeks left!

Dear Mom, Dad and Family,

Mother's day was fantastic. I'm so happy I got the chance to call you guys so early on, and I get to call you again in about 2 and a half weeks :)  (He will be able to call us from the airport when he flies to Germany) The time here has flown. I can't believe it's almost time to go to Germany!! We should be getting our flight itineraries soon. Maybe within a week! I had a good accent?? That's good to hear. I try really hard to learn not just the words, but the pronunciation. It's so important. We speak German about 80% of the time we're not in class too. I'm glad I sounded happy! Because I am happy! :) This place is the best!

Good luck on your tennis tournaments!! You guys will win, no problem. Easy as pie. That's one thing I really miss here. I wish we had tennis courts. GAH! Elder Scalese and I are both Tennis players, and I've been DYING to play him in a match. I guess four square will do. I'm pretty dang unbeatable, but Elder Scalese is the real King. He's won it 5 times! 3 times this week! I've won 3 times, so we're almost even. 

"Owning the King of Four Square shirt"

"Winning tallies on the shirt"

There's so much to be thankful for. Dad, you've started to do some hardcore training, huh? Sounds awesome!! I bet it feels great. I'm glad you guys decided to do that. It feels so much better to be physically active. I've been hardcore training harder than I've ever worked out before. I've lost fat and gained a lot of muscle. I'm starting to look like I used to, and the best feeling ever is finding out that your biceps are almost too big for your sleeves. GOALS.

Keep training, and let me know how the half marathon goes. That's so exciting!!You can do a half marathon, Mom! I hate running too, but you can power through it!  We've had beautiful weather too. Sun shining, amazing clouds, and warm temperatures. I'm thinking around mid 70s. The Owl's are gone?? I loved getting pictures of them. That's so cool. 

You caught a hummingbird in Kennewick?? That's so cool! I didn't know that was possible! And about Jasper, I told ya he'd get over it. He may be lazy, but he's tough... well, sometimes. 

This week was amazing! A couple days ago we had a substitute teacher, because our teacher's wife had her baby. Our sub was Brother Nielson. Easily one of the most spiritually tuned, caring teachers in all of the MTC. We had a great humbling. The best way to describe him, is a bold speaker. He has that mastered. He reviewed our planners, and our study habits and essentially told us they suck. He said we're "Really bad planners." Then he bore his testimony about how much more we can do if we plan effectively and study more diligently. That's the short version, but needless to say we were very humbled.

 I got the most out of his teachings than any other teacher, and he only taught us twice. I'm so thankful for his advice and guidance. Because of what we learned from him, we were able to better prepare for our investigators, and member lessons. We taught an amazing less active member with an Anti-Mormon husband, and got her to come to church. She has a testimony, and now we're working with her on how she can better help her husband to see the goodness of the Gospel. The spirit was on fire. 

We also taught two member volunteers about what we can accomplish through Faith in Christ. One of them was an old man named Brother Beyliss, and we've taught him twice. He's so wise. I'm sure we're getting as much teaching from him as he is from us. The other is a young man named Mike. He didn't serve a mission.  He has a strong testimony. By the end of the lesson, he made a strong commitment to read his scriptures daily and try to be an example of Christ to his new wife and his future family. We taught them all in German too. 

From what it sounds like, we'll most likely never get to go to the Temple in Germany. The only Temple within our boundaries is in Switzerland. But that's ok!! Every time i go i see something from a new perspective, and learn so much. 

"Love the temple"

Dad, you asked...What can we do to help the youth remain righteous and faithful?  

I discussed your question with the Edlers and Sisters and hopefully got some good material for you:

1. As a parent, we think it's important to put emphasis on the development of one's own testimony.

2. Parents should lead by example, that example being Christ. Sometimes all parents do is tell their kid how to live, but it's much more than that. It's showing their kids the goodness and joy that comes through living a Christlike life. By example.

3. No tolerance of bad behavior towards family. Too many parents let their children be mean to their siblings because "That's what brothers do" or "boys will be boys" or "They're siblings, it's fine to be like that." That cannot be the attitude. What you did with us is a great example. You both taught us to love each other and to never say ANYTHING rude or mean to one another. It shows in our family. We all agreed that that is essential to helping a child develop charity early on, and better developing their own testimony.

Is that good?

 Hmm... good shenanigans...

Here we go:

- My camera pouch came undone, and my camera fell all the way down our four story building stairwell.  Needless to say, es ist kaput. 

- Elder Stark serenaded us all to Phantom of the Opera in the shower this morning! It was... interesting xD

- Sister Phelps saw a ghost in their room at 3 in the morning. She saw a little girl kneeling in the middle of the room, and realized it wasn't one of them after counting them all in their bunks. In her fright, she merely turned over in bed and prayed. In the morning, whatever it was was gone.

-Our building is haunted! We've woken up twice in the middle of the night to the sounds of all the bathroom stall doors slamming simultaneously. Thus far, no one has had the courage to leave the room to find out why or what is causing this. It usually goes on for about 5 minutes.

- Elder Larsen (other) took a line shot to the family jewels in four square. Ouch.

- A mouse was spotted and subsequently sent to the celestial kingdom after it scurried out from under Elder Hiatt's bed. Everyone in the room saw it and instantly started screaming like primary children and trying to climb up on anything they could to avoid it. I wasn't there, but it sounds like it was a spectacle! After it's death by the foot of Elder Barker, we had a brief funeral procession in the bathroom stall. Many a tear was shed. 

- The vending machine in the basement stole my money and didn't give me the pink lemonade i ordered. Rude.

"It's okay, we fixed it".

I did indeed get the package!! It was amazing!! I already ate the chips x) It was everything i could ever hope for. Thank you so much. :)

I don't need anything except the camera! But you are welcome to send me anything ;) I found that at the MTC sometimes really small novelty items can make all the difference. (You should send me a small Nerf gun, like the one Skylar uses all the time) It would be awesome. Everyone has a little bouncy ball or Nerf gun or little item they can use when they need some action. If not, i don't need it, so don't worry. But it'd be nice :)

Rachel can do it! She's strong. She has great endurance, and with enough faith, she'll be the best cosmetologist ever. Is that a word? 

I'm starting to lose English. Every third word I type is German and I have to go back and fix it xD. I dream in German. I am always ending up accidentally writing German or speaking German to people that don't know it. Woops!

I had a nightmare last night that we were having a parkour contest, and I was losing. You were all amazing at it and were beating me to the finish and i was like: WHAT??? It was so sad. 

I hear from everyone in the family, and Blake, and some friends :) yeah my last pair of contacts is gone. I've been wearing my glasses. That's ok! They're good glasses :) 

 Well I gotta go change my laundry. Thanks for the update Dad. I love you, and I miss you everyday. I teared up a little bit today, because I looked up out of my window at the sky, and the clouds were so beautiful today. I imagined you coming up behind me and pointing at the clouds, and telling me exactly what the air was doing based on the shape and speed of the clouds, like you always did. I miss little things like that. Instead I was forced to just watch them fly by, and wonder why they did. I marvel at the beauty of this earth every day.

Thank you so much for the pictures mom :) I love you, and i love you all. I miss you guys so much. I'm always reminded of you guys by things i see throughout the day. Stay strong, and be lifted up by God. 

Thank you, I love you.

Your son, 

Darth- i mean Elder Tanner Larson.