Less than a week and a half!!! (Dec. 16, 2010)

Dear Familie,
Well, I love writing letters to people because it makes me happy. . . I am perfectly happy about sending letters to them. . . just because it probably won't really happen all too much while I am in Germany. But I will go ahead and thank the Whitings for the Christmas card and also the Bishopric for their Christmas Card here on the Email!!!! So thank y'all for the cards!! They were very beautiful :-)

Well thanks for sending the packages. . . they should probably come today. . . also I actually just found out that they stop accepting packages after the 21st for local deliveries. . . so y'all are ok sending stuff after the 21st. Letters can still come and of course, the holiday days there won't be any deliveries. I am flying out like 6:00 or something in the morning on December 28th. . . So the 27th will be the last day I would be here to receive mail!. . . I will let y'all know the address. . which at this time is the Mission Home address in Berlin.

Well I am really excited!! tonight I recieve my flight plans. . . it is really happening now and in less than a week and a half I will be flying off to Berlin for the next 16 months. A few days ago we sisters in the MTC received a letter from Sister Reisnmay. We were very pleased with her letter because she told us that she doesn't understand a single thing people are saying and all she does is smile and nod her head. lol. It makes us feel a little more relaxed. .. She also said that Sister Wakefield already has 2 baptisms lined up for this month and they have only been there for a few weeks!! I am so excitied. She also said that it is freezing freezing in Germany right now and that she highly recomends boots, a warm winter coat and all that winter stuff. Hopefully mine can hold out for their winters. . . she said that you can easily get all that there though. . .She also recommends that when we get there to buy Alpaca Wool Socks. . She says those are the best to wear in your boots and to get those once we are in Germany. I am so excited!!

Well first off to Dad. . . If you want to call me Schwester then spell it S-C-H-W-E-S-T-E-R ... not Schuester.
Kimberly did send powder in the package . . . just sayin' and also thanks to Dad for getting me a disney globe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Browne is doing well. . . she is deathly allergic to shellfish and just needs to be near the food she is eating to have an effect on her. . . So for the next week and a half the Cafeteria is banned from having shellfish in their kitchen. I don't know the plans for Sister Browne yet, but she might get transfered to the Frankfurt mission because they have better health clinics in that mission.

Well Devotional this week was amazing. . On Sunday the BYU- Men's Choir came and performed a concert. . . I guess they come once a year to the MTC. One of the Men spoke in the Choir who is from Taiwan. I can't remember all the names or the last name of his family, but he is the youngest and before he was born his Parents met the Missionaries. . . then years later the family was baptised in Taiwan in the year 2005. . So Eric I don't know if you knew a young boy named Roger on your Mission, he would have been a young teenager. . But I thought of you as he told his families conversion story.

Then on Tuesday Paul B. Pieper of the 1st Q. of the 70 spoke alot on Agency. . One thing he said that stood out to me was "Without Christ. . . no matter what choice we make. . . There is no way we could return to God." He then went on to say that while being on a mission "This is the only time we will come closet to how Christ was." I really liked that and ask y'all to think about that too and the choices you make here on the earth.
I love all of y'all and Dad you should go see Harry Potter cause I need some one to tell me about it!! and Thanks to Kimberly for the best postcard ever!!!!!!!

Love y'all and next Thursday will be my last P-day in the MTC and so I'll say more in my letter for I am out of time!!!

Chow~~
Sister Brittany Anderson

dear familie,

Not much really happened this week. I am so ready to leave the MTC!
I just got back from class ... it was sad b/c Brother Duvall, one of out teacher's last day ... he played as one of my investigators and he showed us the investigaqtors that he was portraying pictures from Germany.

We got our flights plans today ...

We are flying to JFK and then we have a four hour layover and at some point of that layover I will be calling home. So figure out the time distance between NY and Texas ... which shouldn't be hard since Blake lives there. On top of that I have been chosen to be the travel leader ... so I am responsible for getting 17 other missionaries safely to Germany. I feel so overwhelmed by this resonsibility. I am in charge to make sure everyone has and stays with their companion. I'm responsible for their behavior and obedience to mission rules. And if anything happens with the flights, such as cancellation, delays, etc., I have to call Church Travel, but if we already have left the country, I must call the mission president. Once there I need to make sure veryone gets their luggage and go the mission president. I am so nervous for this responsibility.

I got my shot and I have to pay 70 something dollars for it ... I also pay for my second luggage ... so that is $50. We are only allowed one carryon so to avoid me having to check in a 3rd suitcase I will put my backpack in my smallest suitcase to carry on b/c we apparently can't take one suitcase and a personal item on. Otehrwise it will cost $200 dollars to check a 3rd suitcase in.

Thanks for the package ... I loved it all!
I am so scared, but I know I am not alone. This is the Lord's church ... he would never abandon someone doing his work.
I love y'all1
Love, Sister Anderson