November 28th, 2017

Hello! 

Wednesday, November 22nd

It was a rough day. Our lesson with a new investigator went terribly. I had to play piano for choir and could not play to save my life. 

Thursday, November 23rd

We were introduced to the Light the World initiative, which is amazing. Everybody go watch the video on Mormon.org! (Learn more about Light the World here.) Thanksgiving was weird here. But, we went to the temple and had an amazing time there. We had free time for the rest of the evening, so we practiced grammar as a district.

Friday, November 24th

We decorated the MTC for Christmas while everyone else was on a church tour! We set up nativities and decorated the Christmas tree in the lobby. There was music blasting over the loud speakers, and it was just our little Ether District family. Everyone was missing home and thinking of their own families and decorating for Christmas. It was good that we were all together and able to support each other.

Saturday, November 25th

Elder Z. had an interesting “discussion” at breakfast with Elder G., and then a bunch of others joined in. They were talking about “true conversion” and what it is. They were fine and were just talking, but then other people joined in, and it got heated. It was actually funny because Elder G. and Elder Z. weren't mad at each other at all. We played ping pong yet again for sport. I'm getting better, lol. We taught A., and it went really well. The Greek was flowing nicely. 

Sunday, November 26th

I was able to play piano for an hour while Elder R. was studying (Elder Z. and P. went to sleep), and it was lovely. Sister S. spoke in sacrament and blew our minds with her fluency in Greek. Elder N. slayed as well, and Elder R. killed it as usual.

Monday, November 27th

We went proselyting in Manchester for our last time. Nobody wanted to talk, so we handed out a ton of Light the World cards and calendars. Elder Z. managed to find the one guy in Manchester who wanted to Bible bash so that was fun. They were going at it for like fifteen minutes outside a market stall. I had a good discussion with the crowd control officer who came to observe and tell us that we had to leave within the next five minutes. The sister missionaries walked by and managed to help me pull Elder Z. away, lol. We were walking from there to the Greek coffee place when we stopped to give a man a card. His name was M., and he is from Australia. He looks like the Riddler from Gotham! He took a card and said his family are members. It was great to have someone be a ray of sunshine on a very rainy day. Once we got to the coffee shop, Θαλασεις was just getting on break, and the shop was empty. Elder Z. and Sister S. did most of the teaching. We showed him the Light the World video, and he loved it. Sister S. shared Moroni 10: 4-5 with him, and he read it aloud. When he was done, he said "πολή ωραία," which means “very wonderful.” It was really cool. Sister S. and I bore our testimonies in Greek. It was a great experience.

So, that's my week!

Elder Müller

Editor's Note: Click on an image to enlarge and scroll through all of them.

November 21, 2017: The Blue Bible

The Blue Bible (The Bible of Greek)

HELLO!

So, this week has been busy. 

Wednesday, November 15th

NEW ARRIVALS. There was a much smaller group this time. The MTC feels empty. We got to go to the temple that night because the rest of the missionaries had a welcome devotional. The temple was amazing! Everyone in our district felt the Spirit a lot, and it was just awesome.

Thursday, November 16th

Elder Z. was super sick again and stayed in bed. I fell asleep during personal study and started drooling on my arm and on my scriptures (lol). THEY TOOK PICTURES OF ME INSTEAD OF WAKING ME UP! Now, there is a small line in the gold coloring on my scripture pages where my saliva was. IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING. Elder Z. didn't come down until dinner, so I got to teach Alex with Brother T. as my companion. It was super stressful to have Level 18 Greek Speak teachers and then just me in the room, just me over here stumbling over every word. S., the chef, came and sat with our district and gave us chocolate because the Americans don't appreciate real chocolate. 

Friday, November 17th

LUNCH WAS THE PEAK: chicken tenders and fries, the highest quality MTC food you will ever have. We also enjoyed listening to music together.

Sharing Mama Schaefer's Email with Ether District

Saturday, November 18th

We learned command form in Greek. HAHAHAHA, I can order people around now. I didn't feel very confident, but whenever Brother P. checked my work, I got it right. So, we will see. I played piano for Physical Activity because I have two really hard choir pieces I have to practice. I also got a ton of music from one of the teachers here. IT IS AWESOME.

Sunday, November 19th

I played piano through breakfast. We did sacrament and then performed “Called to Serve” in Greek during sacrament, acapella. It was great. President Bunker's son, T., gave us the devotional. It was all about being a good companion. He and President are spitting images of each other. I recited the 42 doctrinal principles forwards and backwards during family home evening—now to learn them in Greek. Ether District demolished during our PMG/white handbook chase. We took home eight prizes. 

Monday, November 20th

We went proselyting in Manchester. Elder Z. was like a kid in a candy store. He was talking to everybody. We went to the Cypriate owned cafe the sister missionaries found last time we went. It was great. 

Now, the Blue Bible, the Bible of Greek, is included in the pictures attached. Please remember to zoom in on all of the pics I send. There are hidden gems in every single one. Now, you have to find them! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Love you all.

Elder Müller 

VIDEO OF MISSIONARIES SINGING! (Elder Müller is in the middle all the way to the back)

Elder Müller's Greek Practice

Γεια σας!

Τι κάνετε?

Πως είναι οικογένια σου?

Hello!

How are you/what are you doing (depending on context)

How is your family?

If you want to sound those Greek words out:

Ya (sounds like a German yes.)

Tee kahn-eh-tay

pos eenay eek-oh-yen-ya (same 'ya' sound as before) sue

Elder Müller's Pictures

Editor's note: Click to enlarge and scroll through all images.

The Frenchman

Missionaries!

Missionaries!

Greek Practice from the Blue Bible

Brother P., the Greek MTC Instructor

Brother P., the Greek MTC Instructor

Brother P., the Greek MTC Instructor

 

                                                            The Blue Greek Grammar Bible

November 14, 2017

Preparation Day!

Hello everybody!

So this week we had another Area Seventy come. His name is Elder Hirst, and he talked to us about becoming our next best person; look at who we are today, and imagine who we want to be. It may seem impossible, but before you know it, you will be there (more about Elder Hirst). That was on Wednesday. 

Thursday, we had lots of Greek studies and lessons. 

Friday, I don't really remember what went on. That's what most days are like in the MTC. By the end of the day, we can't remember what happened in the morning. Every night, we get together as a district and talk about what our favorite parts of the day are.

Greek Grammar

I don't remember if it was Friday or not, but we had one day where we spoke almost the entire day in Greek. It was awesome. It forces us to really expand our vocabulary and figure out the grammar. I think I sent the pictures of our grammar principles. THOSE AREN'T EVEN ALL OF THEM (hahahaha)!

Yeah we are drowning in grammar. One verb can be conjugated in over thirty-six different variations/meanings. So “I read” is “διαβαζω,” but “I was reading” is “διαβαζα.” Now, that is the easy part. If you put it into the passive simple future tense, then you have to find the continuous root, remove the accent, take away the conjugation; now, all you have to do is conjugate the verb using the six conjugations for passive simple future. Yeah, super easy. Oh, and move the accent mark to three syllables from the end of the word—all while speaking. Yeah, we can't do it either.

Saturday, I have no idea what happened.

Sunday, it was amazing, probably one of the best days in the MTC so far! Sister S. gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and killed it! We had a great district meeting and elders’ quorum. The afternoon was spent jamming with Sister S. and Elder P. Sister S. was on the flute, I was on the piano, and Elder P. was singing with his pumping bass voice. It was so much fun. Family home evening was great as usual (What is Family Home Evening?). President Bunker (the MTC president) gave a lesson on the 4 Cs of unhappiness: Complain, Criticize, Compare, and Cynical. If we are unhappy, we should probably look at these four principles and fix one of them. We had testimony meeting with all the departing missionaries. It was amazing.

Sister Bunker shared the following story about missionaries and what they are like.

Imagine a perfect mom who has a perfect house and three kids, and everything is always spotless, and she somehow juggles everything and never seems flustered. Now, imagine that the oldest kid wants to really help his mom. So, when mom goes to run errands, he asks his siblings to help clean up the house just like mom always does. “Maybe, we can even bake her some cookies,” he says. “I'm sure mom would love that.” And so, they clean and bake all day long just to try and make their mom proud and happy. When mom gets home, she sees the couches in the wrong places, the carpet half vacuumed, and three little kids covered in flour running up to her with a plate of burnt cookies. They are exhausted but happy to see their mom. They say, “MOM, we cleaned up the house and baked you these cookies. We hope you love them!”

Their mom looks at the house that isn't as clean as it should be, and the cookies that taste like coal. And she says, “Thank you so much for cleaning up the house boys; these are the best cookies I've ever tasted. I love you. Good job.”

We are just like those little kids. We work all day as hard as we can. And at the end of the day, we kneel down and talk to our Father. And we say, "I know I didn't quite sweep all of the corners, and the cookies weren't very sweet. But, I tried my best."

And, our Father says, "Thank you for all of your hard work. It is perfect to me."

So yeah, everybody had a great Sunday.

Monday, we had amazing physical activity. The German speakers had workshops because they left on Tuesday. So, it was just us and the new arriving German speakers at sport. Six versus six football is a lot of fun, the best sport that we have had so far. One of our teachers, Brother S., is literally my spirit animal. Except, he looks more like a hedgehog than I do. Just kidding, I love him. Our other teacher holds the title of “Most English Man Alive.” Brother P. is legendary.

Today has been good. Sadly, our German speakers left today. We have been together for six weeks, and they are family. They got on a bus at the same time we walked to the temple. Hopefully, they got to Germany safely. They are serving in the Alpine German Speaking Mission. We went into town and just got back. I'm exhausted but wishing everyone the best. Please email lots! I read every email but physically don't have time to reply. So if you don't get a reply, please don't stop sending them or get offended!!! I promise they are read and appreciated.

Fun fact about out district: We sing “Called to Serve” in Greek better than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Love you all!

Elder Müller

Editor's note: To see full size images, click on an image to scroll through them all.

Greek is Killing Elder Müller!

Studying Greek

Preston, England Temple

Studying the Gospel

Missionaries!

Elder Müller Having Fun With His District!

Preparation Day

November 7, 2017

Greece from the Sky

Hello!

This week has flown by. 

Both of our investigators, Αλεχ και Θωδορης, have committed to be baptized. 

Elder Z. and I have been sick all week. He stayed in bed on Thursday, and then it hit me really bad on Saturday and Sunday, sore throats and running noses and burning in my chest. I'm on the tail end of it now and hopefully will be better by the end of this week.

Friday we went to proselyte in Manchester again. Just like last time, Elder Z. and I had limited success. I'm so bad at approaching people! I went off with Elder P., and Elder Z. went with Elder R. It was fun. Elder P. and I walked past this lady and then turned around and went back. We had both felt that we should talk to her but hadn't heeded the prompting. Her name is K., and we had a 15 minute conversation with her. She said she would read some in the Book of Mormon because she likes learning about religions. We talked to a Cyprite who has lived here in England since he was 4. He was nice and took a Book of Mormon. We also met a Greek. We only understood about 2 words of the 5 minutes conversation though! 

Greek is really hard, but I am trying hard. 

P-day was good today. We just got back from Chorley. I got some chips (fries). I think we have all been missing home a little extra today. 

We listened to a devotional by President Uchtdorf about “Fearing No Man” (learn more about President Uchtdorf here). It was really good. 

I planned on writing a lot more but I am wiped from p-day.

Love you all,

Elder Müller 

Editor's note: To enlarge any of the images, just click on an image, and you can scroll through all the full-size images at once. Elder Müller wasn't able to send many pictures this week, so the aerial views are from a family friend who is a pilot who flew over Greece recently and sent these pictures to us. 

Elder Müller and Elder Z.

Elder Müller and Elder Z.

October 31, 2017

This week has been hard. Nothing much really happened, just very long classes and days. 

We go to the temple every Tuesday and do an endowment session (The Blessings of the Temple). The temple is medium sized but beautiful in its simplicity.

Nothing really happened this week at all. The new arrivals came, a lot of 18 year olds straight out of high school kids (Missionary Age Requirements). 

We just study all day and learn a little Greek. We teach lessons every day in Greek and eat lots of food, exercise, and sleep. I hurt my knee last week when Elder F. and I collided while playing chair soccer in the gym. Don't worry though, I'm 100% ok. 

I had to give a talk in Greek on Sunday; it went really rough. I didn't have the Greek written out and had to try and translate my English on the spot—went super rough. I played piano for S. (head chef) and his friends. They sang “Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy.” They smashed it.

I am working on a rendition of “Pie Jesu” with Elder F. and Elder G. Hopefully S. will be able to sing again as well. 

Sundays are the best day in the MTC by far. We have a great time and can relax but also have class. 

Several people have been struggling with really bad homesickness this week. I think it's because all of our friends left, and we are still here. Our district is going to be super sad when the German and English (second language) missionaries leave. They're amazing and have been our Physical Activity group. 

I can't think of much else.

Love,

Elder Müller

Editor's note: To enlarge any of the images, just click on an image, and you can scroll through all of the full-size images at once.

P-Day at the MTC

Elder P. at the Family History Center

Elder Müller by the Box 

Helaman District - Alpine German Speaking

Missionaries on the Move!

Elder B. by the Box