He is on his way!!

Colter called from the Salt Lake City airport this morning. He sounded really good and happy. We got to visit for about 40 minutes before he left. It seemed a lot shorter than that. He will have a lay over in Atlanta and arrive in Munich tomorrow morning. The best way to reach him until we know his new area address is email. He'll pick emails up next monday. His first few days are probably going to be challenging, so everyone please email him words of encouragement!: colter.d.anderson@myldsmail.net.

Colter's final MTC email

Well we got our flight plans last week. It says we don't switch planes ever. But i'm not sure if we are chilling in Atlanta for a while. Hopefully...15:20 on a plane in a suit is a little too much for my taste. haha. I got a phone card, so i should be calling in the SLC airport. probably around 7:45 my time. We leave the MTC at around 5:30 and our flight is at 8:30, so yeah, that's probably a bad time for you, especially since it's the beginning of school. But hopefully I can reach you! um...what else. Our teacher Sis. Jones last day was yesterday, so we got to see all of her photo albums. We are so pumped to go! And Bro. Sorber got back from Germany yesterday and starts teaching again today. Elder Kunzler and I actually got to see him in the temple! Which was really cool. 4 of us tried out with Prayer of the Children for the fireside on sunday. Unfortnately, we didn't realize that they plan these like, a month in advance. So most likely we won't get to do it, even though she liked it a lot. Oh well...

I hope everything is going good at home and that people aren't stressing too much about school. I hope emma got the letter i sent her. I think i'll write a couple to madi and mitch today. Well, i won't get to email you guys for a while. P-day in my mission is monday, so i won't get one for about 11 days. But i'll be able to talk about the first week in the field!!! And all about my trainer and about my first area. I'm so excited! anyway. Hmmm. I haven't seen Nathan yet. Which is crazy. You'd think i'd have seen him! it's been over 2 weeks! oh well, i got to see matt potter a couple of times and David Bentz a few. I'm really glad too. Matt came in yesterday, and i really wanted to see him. I heard that Derek got his call. Atlanta Georgia English speaking. haha. I'm not sure he's all THAT thrilled, but i'm sure he'll love it. Make sure to tell people i'm no longer in the MTC on the blog/facebook. I'll send you my address in my new area. I've heard that letters take about 2-2.5 weeks to get to Germany, so just keep that in mind. Cause i don't want to have been transfered and then a letter get's to the apartment in my old area. But i should be in my first area for at least 2 cycles (12 weeks) so you won't have to worry about that for a while. I hope i get called to Vienna first. That would be awesome. A teacher for a different district talked to us about Munich/Austria mission, and he said that there are a bunch of dialects that take a bit to get used to. That's the ONLY thing i'm jealous about. The Hamburg missionaries especially. Hamburg has the best german, and i'm sure there are very few dialects in that mission. Or in Frankfurt and Berlin for that matter. I'm just glad i'm not going to Switzerland for that reason. I heard that it's not even German there. haha. But, we in Munich/Switzerland have the prettiest missions in the world, so i guess it's ok. :)

OH YEAH. Richard G. Scott spoke on tuesday! He was awesome. And we had a really spiritually district meeting about it afterward. Well, i don't have much time left, so i'll get off now. But know that I love you all and that you are in my prayers. Good Luck with School! Especially Emma. You have a BEAST of a schedule. But you can do it. I did it didn't I? and you are just as strong if not stronger that i. Ich liebe alle sie, und ich hoffe, dass sie eine gute zwei Jahre haben. Und wissen Sie, dass I ok sein werde, und ich werde meinen besten Arbeiten tun. I weiss dass mein Erloeser lebt, der alle uns liebt. Auf Wiedersehen!!!! Colter

Our best translation for the German part:

"I love you all and I hope that you'll have a good two years. And know that I will be OK and I will do my best work. I know that my Redeemer lives and loves us all. Good-bye!"

2 weeks left!

Colter only has 2 more weeks in the MTC!! He leaves for Germany on the 31st and gets to phone us from the airport!  We are really excited for that - even though school starts on that day also.  He has loved the MTC, but seems anxious to get on with it!  Here are quote from his recent email:

We got new missionaires yesterday. 13! Which is great cause we only had 9 the first couple days. They are all awesome, and most of them are about 6'1" so Volleyball should be fun again! 

I haven't seen Nathan yet :( But i have seen a couple people from BYU. I got to host the new missionaries yesterday, so that was fun, but while i was doing it, one of my friends (David Bentz) arrived and i didn't know he was coming yesterday! I only got to say hi though. and i havn't seen him again, but i probably will on sunday. Thanks so much for the CD player and Chess set. I actually haven't tried the CD player yet, cause there is a boom box that has been passed down from district to district, so we have that in our room. I should open mine and try it out though. The chess set is awesome. We all love it! Elder Webber even thought about writing you a thank you note! haha. I got a letter from Grandma last week, She said she was doing fine and i wrote her. It was nice to hear from her. MENSCH! I'm so stoked to go!!! these next 2.5 weeks are going to go so slow... oh well, we definitely need it. Our teacher (Bro. Sorber) left for Germany today so we won't see him again until right before we leave. Which is sad. We all love him. Luckily we still have out other teacher, Sis. Jones, and the subs are all great i'm sure. hmmm... what else. Not much! My comp and I are doing great. Being ZLs is a lot more stressful, but i guess it's fun.

Love,
Colter

Colter's email address

Remember Colter loves to get emails from everyone! His address is:

colter.d.anderson@myldsmail.net

Quotes from Colter's last email:

... My alarm is waking me up fine. I've only over slept once, by like 4 min. And that was cause instead of snoozing my alarm, i reset the actual TIME instead of the ALARM. :P
Yeah! Morning Devotionals are awesome. Every morning before breakfast, between 7 and 8:15, we get personal study. I have started a scripture journal, and it's awesome. I know it's scheduled into my day, so it's easier for me, but i really encourage all of you to. even just a couple scriptures at breakfast. Maybe the night before you can even print them out and put them on the table for the kids. It really starts off the day right.
The older missionaires are leaving on Monday, which will make my district the oldest at the MTC. Which is really weird. We don't really feel prepared! But we'll do our best. For 2 days, the German zone will only be 9 people! But then we'll have 14 new missionaries on Wed, which is cool. July is over, and so we SHOULD be getting a General Authority soon. One of the Branch Pres alluded to someone that Pres Uchdorf will speak before the Middle group leaves, so hopefully that will include us too! That would be awesome!
I guess i'll send some pictures home soon. I'll make sure to send a picture of my nametag. I'll could tell you what it says now too. Hmmm. I think i will: Elder Anderson
                 Kirche Jesu Christi 
                 der Heiligen der Letzten Tage
They use Genitive 3 times! haha.

German is going pretty well. I can teach the first lesson and probably stumble through the second and can carry on a conversation pretty well. It's really fun, i'm so excited to become fluent! I don't know what else to say!

QUOTES!

Emma & Sally have decided to include quotes from Colter's letters and emails - so that you can "hear his voice".  We'll choose the best ones in reverse chronological order!:

(July 30) Wow, yeah it's crazy i've already been here a month! I doesn't really feel like it. I feel like my german is coming along pretty well. My comp and i taught our first lesson in German to our teacher, Sis. Jones. It was cool and very hard. So now we are going to be doing even MORE in german, which seems impossible.

I have seen friends here. I see Seth kind of a lot. His schedule just works out with mine. We have gym together some days. I see people from BYU a lot too. Nathan probably comes next week, or he's already here and i just haven't seen him. We haven't had any visits from General Authorites. Apparantly, July is there month off. So we might get one on sunday!!! We have gotten a few emeritus 70s though. we also go the guy who wrote "other side of heaven" that was cool. For excercise, i play volleyball mostly. But sometimes soccer and every week we have "sandlot tuesday" which is softball as a zone. This week i hit 3 triples and hit it the farthest! :)

The MTC is so cool. My teachers are awesome, everyone is nice, i'm learning a ton, and i've even started a scripture journal. I'm going to go through the Topical Guide and study stuff i think sounds interesting. Right now i'm doing the Abrahamic Covenant, which is really facinating. Also, my comp and I have finished the gospels and are working our way through Acts. We read about 6-7 chapters a day together. My district is awesome, and i hope that i can work with at least a couple of them in the field. (my comp is the only one in our district going to Switzerland). I'm only district leader for a couple more days, i'm kinda glad, it's been an honor, but i just want to be a missionary, sure and simple. However, there's a 1 in 3 chance i'll be made zone leader on sunday, cause there's only 3 companionships in my transfer. Anyway, I should go, but i'll do my best to write a good letter today. We don't get much time on P-days, with laundry and everything. And naps are really important, I'm always exhausted by thursday, so i take a nap! haha. Have a great week, i know I will. and btw, my diet is faltering a bit. I didn't lose ANY weight the like, week i ate only salads. so i just try to eat only as much as I am hungry. Anyway, i'm going now. Thanks for Danny's address. He's been in my prayers.

(July 23)  We got a new district on Wed. We have 2 sisters and 1 elder. Which is weird for him. He is a solo, which means they have special rules. He's essencially part of another companionship in the Zone. Also, one of the sisters is from Armenia! She prayed yesterday in Armenian. It was so cool.

(July 16)  Here I am doing laundry again! I went to the temple again today and did another endownment session. There isn't that much to report on, I love it here, but it's very routine. I'm getting along with my companion fine, and my district is awesome as well. German is coming along pretty well. we are still reviewing grammar i already know, but it's nice to relearn it. The best thing is just practice, which we do a lot of. My comp and i are actually teaching our first lesson in German to a progressive investigator, which is exciting and scary. Probably the highlight of the week was when we went to the call center. We got some incoming calls and a woman from NY, NY called. She wanted a free bible, cause she recently moved and realized she didn't have a bible in her house. So i sent it to her WITH the missionaires. It was awesome, and she was really nice too and rememberd my name throughout the entire phone conversation. It was great.

(July 9)  This first week was soooo cool. My district is awesome, and so is my companion. Elder Kunzler. He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho. The rest of my district I think I also told you about in my letter on my first day. Classes are awesome and my teachers are amazing. Brother  Sorber is so funny and amazing. He went to Frankfort on his mission and got back 3 years ago. Equally as awesome is my other teacher, Sis Jones. She also went to Frankfort and is really sincere and truly loves us for what we are doing. 

i guess i'll give you an overall of my day. Wake up at 6 so i can be ready by 7, study til 8:15, eat, study til 1 (or have a teacher), eat, study til 6 (or have teacher or practicing teaching "investigators"), eat, study til 9 (or have a teacher). There's LOTS of self directed time. We pretty much spend more time in our classroom then in our rooms. That includes time sleeping. I was so exhausted today, that during personal time (oh, today is P-day) that i crashed and took a 2 hour nap.

One Month in the MTC

Colter's had a great first month in the MTC!  His letters and emails are full of enthusiasm and positive thoughts.  These are his roomates:  His comp, Elder Kunzler from Idaho Falls, Elder Kohl from Indiana, and Elder Foremaster from Utah. Elder Kunzler is going to Switzerland, and the other two are going to Munich with Colter.    He loves his teachers - Brother Sorver and Sister Jones. 

Colter seems to be feeling pretty good about his German progress.  He feels like he is learning a ton.  He's also started a scripture journal.  For the past month he has been district leader.  Life at the MTC is amazing, but exhausting, so he likes to take naps on P-day.  He put himself on a diet for a while - saving his calories for German pastries!

We love hearing from him.  He really sounds great and happy.