Week 1-3 MTC Preston

Sister Brandenburg left the MTC the day before it was p-day, so she had to wait a bit longer to send an update to her family. She is doing well and serving now in the Amsterdam Ward where she has met her younger sister who got married the day after sister Brandenburg left for her mission.
Below an update of the first few weeks as experienced through her own eyes...

 

 

6 July is the day. I am leaving for my mission in order to: Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I am very happy that I have the opportunity to do this for the upcoming 1,5 years.

I arrived at the missionary training center Preston and saw many (indirect) familiar faces. For example: sister Elgueta I met during my study exchange in Norway. At the time we both didn't want to go on a mission but last year we both received the prompting to go, and we are both being called to serve in the Hawaii Honolulu mission! Her companion at the MTC is sister Topp. She will serve in the same mission (after her visa issues are resolved, just like mine and sister Elgueta's... America... ;) ) We found out our brothers were companions in the Scotland-Ireland Mission. Coincidence>? I think not! we are going to do something awesome over there, I can feel it.

photo:Topp, Elgueta and I will serve in Hawaii

The MTC is smaller than the one in Provo (the one I was supposed to go) and I am glad because it gave me the opportunity to meet many great people. I had great teachers, great room mates, a great district (district Jacob - a prophet in the book of Mormon - for the win!), and a great companion. I had the honor to serve with the lovely Canadian sister smith. she will serve in the London South mission and she will charm and impress everyone there with her funny laugh and hard work.

The MTC was a good experience. I had the opportunity to understand the gospel even better and be reminded of how important the atonement is for us. Also I really got to understand that it is the Holy Ghost who is the teacher through us. Having that experience with the people you are meeting up with to teach is really amazing.

On July 26th (my father's birthday.. Happy Birthday Dad!) it was time to leave. It was early in the morning and the group that I left with... we weren't very lively due to shortage of sleep (2 hours). But we made it safely to the airport!. I was traveling in a cute little airplane (with 10 other travelers) to Rotterdam airport (never been there, cool!) and I was picked up by a hardworking and dedicated missionary couple, the Van der Puts (long time no see). They brought me to Leiden where I had to fill in some paperwork. The mission office of the Belgium/Netherlands mission is there. It was really weird to walk in Leiden as a missionary and not as a student!. One year ago I finished my bachelors degree there. from Leiden we traveled to my new mission area until my visa arrives... Amsterdam! 

 

photo: cute airplane

 

Photo: Sisters Brandenburg, Nyakoh and Lechtenberg