Sunday, December 16, 2012

I Love the Pictures!!!


I do not have any names but there is someone who works with these young men at the MTC who went to Finland 23 years ago.  This week while we were at the Salt Lake Temple lights I received an email with this picture.  The caption on the letter said that these fine young men are doing well with the Finnish language.  It absolutely made my day to get this picture.  I miss seeing my son and an occasional picture is AWESOME!  Don't they look great!

His letters are great.  He said he has many, many meetings.  He also spends whatever free time he has working out.  He said he is the champ at the rowing machine.  That kid...always so competitive!  He sounds so happy.  One of his favorite things is receiving letters.  He loves to hear from everyone.  We have made a point for the whole family to each write a letter to him each week.  I need to keep everyone doing that because he really loves hearing from home.

If we thought his spelling was bad before he left, it is horrible now.  Apparently the vowels are completely different in Finnish and he struggles to write in English.  He write an email home each week and a nice long letter as well.

I just wanted everyone to know that Michael is doing great.  He is loving the MTC and loving being a missionary.  He is extremely appreciative of his mom and dad, which is awesome.  He raves about how well he said he was raised and continually apologizing for anything he may have done growing up.  That part is really fun!  I know he misses home but I also know he is exactly where he wants to be doing exactly what he wants to be doing.  Thanks for loving and caring for him!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Happy in the MTC!


We were fortunate enough to have a couple in our ward work at the MTC.  They saw Elder G and gave him a hug for us.  That was actually a very sweet blessing for me...it meant so much to me. She went back the next week to work at the MTC with her camera and took this picture for us of Michael with his companion.  He looks so good!  He is a District Leader for his group and spends hours in meetings as well as other classes.  I asked him to tell me about what his days and duties are like so hopefully I will hear about that in his next letter.

I have been asking him for advice as to what to study.  He has told me to study the "Preach my Gospel" manual.  He said to start with the Charity section in chapter six.

Elder Golling is doing great.  He is studying very hard and is teaching lessons in Finnish now.  His letters are mixed with English and Finnish.  On one of his emails he went from English to Finnish in mid sentence.  He was in a really big hurry when he emailed and I don't even know if he did that. He said his spelling has gotten really bad.  It wasn't that good to begin with.  

In his spare time at the MTC he is working out very hard.  He is a very physical guy.  He has mastered the rowing machine and is apparently the champ at it.  He has lost inches but is gaining in muscle weight.

He has never been so happy before.  Our friend told us that he just glows of the spirit and is everything a missionary should be.  We are so happy for him!

He really did go to Los Angeles to get his visa.  He and his companions flew to LA and back in a day.  They had lunch in Beverly Hills and said he saw some really "sick" cars there.

He misses his friends and family but he is exactly where he wants to be.  Hopefully I will post again soon.