Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany 3/20/2013 before getting 1st area assignments

"The picture of the soap dispenser is kind of an inside joke of a few Elders who arrived that day, especially Elder McGinn. It was in the bathroom of our hotel room and although we were all in different rooms, (I was actually the odd Elder out, so I didn't get a roomy that night) we all could not get the soap out, like we had NO idea, even with the diagram on the front because all the soap/handsanitizer dispensers at the MTC are either automatic or there's a tab to pull on the bottom. Actually, you just simply squeeze squeeze the middle, but when I finally did try that after about 10 minutes, I squeezed really hard and got a nice fat glob of soap that was probably enough to wash whole floor with.

The light switch in the room was also really cool. There was a slot right next to it to slide your key into, and nothing would turn on without it in place, and just the same, everything would turn off immediately when you pulled the card out. It was fun. Oh, yea and the box right next to the card slot is the actual switch for some individual light. They work just the same, it's not a button, they're just fat squares instead of skinny rectangles."

LEAVING the Provo MTC and the United States 3/19/2013!

                                      "That was us packing up onto the bus to go to the airport."

"I thought it was funny how ALL of the pay phones around in the Salt Lake airport were occupied by missionaries calling home."

Provo MTC District, classroom, teacher, etc.

[These next pictures we recently got are more in a group of pictures from Mark prior to leaving the MTC.]

                                   Elder Mark Standring with his MTC teacher, Brother Cannon.

                                                     "My MTC Teacher, Brother Cannon"

               This is Mark's district and their teacher Brother Cannon in their classroom at the MTC.

 "This is a picture of the Noorda twins from my German class at BYU who reported to the MTC the same day as I did. The one on the left is going to Frankfurt, and the one on the right (black suit) is gloing to Berlin."

A few more pictures of Mark with Elders from the MTC (see also the ones just posted previously)

Mark says: "This is an Elder named Elder Rock, so I thought Jason my find that interesting." [Mark's brother Jason's middle name is Rock!]

.

 "This Elder Smith. We call him Bruce sometimes because he looks and talks like the shark on Finding Nemo."

                                    "This is my Bud Elder Thomas going to the Alpine mission."

Some pictures prior to leaving the MTC

 These next several pictures are some we got that are from prior to Mark's leaving the MTC.  This first one is him with Elder Malmberg from his BYU Helaman Halls Merrill Hall freshman ward.

 This second one is of Mark with Elder McGinn who worked at the BYU Carpentry shop with Mark's brother David (and probably Garrett, too)...most all of the Standring boys have worked for the Carpentry Shop there! (The stamped dates on the pictures are wrong, by the way...perhaps Mark hasn't figured out or taken time to change the date!--They are super busy there, you know!)  Mark says: "This is Elder McGinn, who David knows from the Carpentry shop, he's actually in my same district right now, so I see him now and again."

 This is Mark and another Elder in front of the Provo Temple--if someone knows the Elder's name, let us know!  I couldn't read the nametag!

Mark says about this one: "This is a picture of the German Elders in my room and the crazy Russian Elders who also lived on our floor. We're buds now. :)"  [I think it's great to see that at least one of them is brushing his teeth while away from home!!  :) ]

Letter from President & Mission Blog Pictures

[WE RECEIVED THIS LETTER THIS WEEK FROM THE MISSION PRESIDENT BY EMAIL, AND THEY INCLUDED A LINK TO A MISSION BLOG--included below--WHICH HAD THESE NEW PICTURES ON IT! I'M ASSUMING THE FIRST ONE OF MARK & OTHERS MIGHT BE FROM THE FRANKFURT AIRPORT. APPARENTLY IN ALL, THEY GOT 37 NEW MISSIONARIES ON MARCH 20, 2013!]:

Dear Family, 

We are happy to report that Elder Mark Hunter Standring arrived safely last Wednesday.  Sister Schwartz and I met all the new missionaries at the Frankfurt airport and your son looked good and was happy to be here.  We are always grateful to have new missionaries come into the field as they bring a sense of excitement and a spirit of great faith.  It inspires and energizes the whole mission.   

After their arrival in Frankfurt, the missionaries visited the Frankfurt Stake Center where they completed paperwork so they could obtain their Visas to stay in Germany.  They also received their debit cards so they can access their missionary support funds and learned about mission transportation and apartments.   Sister Schwartz and I both spent some time getting acquainted with your son.  I also took a few minutes to conduct a brief interview with him.   He is a wonderful young man and we are so grateful to have him here.  After a light meal, the missionaries were taken to a nearby hotel for the night.  On Thursday, Elder Standring spent the morning in a meeting with the other new missionaries where they were introduced to their new companions.  The Spirit was strong and enthusiasm and excitement filled the room.  They had some more training and then headed off to their first areas of assignment.   

We are attaching a group picture.  There is a blogspot at http://frankfurtmission.blogspot.de Shortly photos will be posted and updated frequently.  Please refer to it frequently during the mission and feel free to distribute it to family and friends.   

The address where Elder Standring lives is: 

 Elder Mark Hunter Standring 

Kirche Jesu Christi 

Luxemburger Str. 124-136, Nr 912 

50939 Köln 

Germany 

The mission office address is up above.  Please send ALL packages to the mission office address and allow 2-4 weeks delivery.  When sending Christmas packages, post before Thanksgiving. 

Letter mail can be sent to the address where your missionary is serving.  However, we recommend that you send letters and packages to the mission office and we will deliver them as soon as possible.  It is easier for the mailman to deliver packages to the office because there is always someone there to receive the mail.  The missionaries email their families on their Preparation Day which is Monday in our mission. Make sure when addressing envelopes or packages to your missionary to include “Elder” or “Sister”, their first name, and their last name, because sometimes we have multiple missionaries with the same last name. There are a lot of these at this time. 

Elder Standring entered this mission at an especially important time.  We pledge to do all we can to insure that he has a chance to grow spiritually and develop a strong testimony.  We feel confident that he will be effective in this important work of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have been prepared by our Father in Heaven.  We know that your family will be richly blessed for your sacrifice (D & C 31:3-7).  Thank you for sharing your son with us.  We will keep him constantly in our prayers and we promise to do all we can to help him fulfill a successful mission.
    ---President Lehi K. Schwartz   March 26, 2013

1st EMAIL FROM GERMANY & picture with trainer/companion

HERE'S ELDER STANDRING WITH HIS TRAINER/COMPANION ELDER DAVIS AND WITH THE MISSION PRESIDENT SCHWARTZ UPON ARRIVAL AT THE MISSION HOME IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY...AND HERE'S HIS FIRST EMAIL BELOW:

So I feel really really bad about this, but I forgot my camera/memory card at home, and we're at an internet shop/cafe right now, and we don't have time to go back and get it. Man, this was going to be a super cool reveal of where I am right now too, because I have the perfect picture for it that a lot of people would probably recognize. Meh, I won't be selfish and I'll let y'all know anyway.

Ya, so I'm in Köln.

/Cologne (for you silly English speakers)

SO, it's super awesome that I've already been here before, even though it was only for a couple hours and that didn't help me to know the area AT ALL. Haha, I was totally thinking that it might, but no. Not even close. Köln has 2 million people in it, so it's definitely the biggest area in the mission. My Companion, who I was also previously acquainted with, actually, says that our Apartment Building, too, is the biggest/tallest in the Germany. Soooooo... Cool Beans :)

My trainer's name is Elder Davis, and he's from Utah (Turns out that most missonaries are), but more specifically, Provo. I don't think anybody back in Crescent City knows him, but we met breifly at BYU as he accompanied a girl in my German Class one day, which was actually just before he left on his mission. He's been out here about 18 weeks and in Köln about 6 weeks. He's a really awesome guy and super patient and loving, and his German is really really good. too. Cool story though, my first day here we didn't have any lessons, but we did have Priesthood Correllation Meeting, so I go to meet the Bishop right away! I didn't really say much at the meeting because I didn't have know what any of the plans were, but he said I have quite good German for being a Golden (what they call greenies here in the Frankfurt Mission). After the meeting there were two old women in the building probably working on genealogy or something, and they both agreed that I have no accent at all! And then a few more people at Sacrament Meeting said that I have really good German too, all of which is pretty surprising and a huge relief, and I know that Heavenly Father has really been good to me in Learning the Language Department. However, just being able to mumble without an accent doesn't get people baptised by itself! I learned that for sure on Saturday when we had a Strasseausstellung in a suburb called Bergisch-Gladbach, and it was SOOOOO COOOOLD. (Oh and bytheway, a Strasseausstellung is a Street Display) I'm definitely sure that it wasn't the coldest I've ever been in my life, but I just really, really do not enjoy windy weather, especially when it's already quite cold outside. It was in the negatives for temperature (Celsius that it), and we were out there for about three hours. The deal with it was, that yes, it was hard to understand people when they start talking about one of many, many, many things they don't teach you in the MTC, but definitely the hardest part was just starting. (Meaning that if someone were to look up the word 'starting' in a dictionary, it would say 'Starting ~ The hardest part of everything') It was exactly like when you're about to call somebody on the phone, and you've gone over the whole conversation in your head alraedy, so you've got it figured out, but then the moment someone answers, or the anwswering machine beeps... It's all gone... and not even 'gone' as in it left, more like 'never existed' is what I mean. Anyway, it's crazy, incredible, and a little bit frustrating. Ha, I talked to one guy and asked him about the purpose of life, and I'm pretty sure he was just doing it for a laugh, because he basically walked up to me and anwsered like, 'Ok, c'mon, tell me the meaning of life'. Didn't see that one coming.

Wow. Kids are super hard to talk to also, because.... ugh.. just everything, hah. I was trying to make up a story with the Bischof's kids who were at the Street Display and after the first round, I had like no idea where the story had gone. I know, tragedy. Tragedy that there had been four words put together as a story put together with no missionary to appreciate it because he didn't understand. After hours of mouling over, with consultation, I think the story went something like this:

An apple jumped and flew over a mountain.

the end. I guess.

One more awesome story:

So as a missionary, it's great to be friendly and talk to as many people as you can (easier imagined than done, especially about 10 seconds before you try), so I was trying to do that on a train the other day. Bytheway, let me just tell you, Germans have trains coming out of their ears, but in a good way. There's SO many trains, and they go EVERYWHERE, it super complicated, like it's a huge problem for my district right now because the missionaries can't figure out which ticket to buy to get where they want! Hahaha, anyway long story short, I told a lady on the train that I liked the color of her scarf and so she gave it to me.

What do you do, say 'no' after you just said you liked it? Bah, haha, so I have a very womenly-like knitted scarf in very fine shades of red, pink, and purple.

Anyways, I'm am so loving it here in Köln. Lovin' it, Lovin' it, Lovin' it. I had a Döner for the first time the other day, and it was way good. Also, Elder Davis says he's not much of a cook, so I get to subject him to all sorts of  the Culinary Experiments that I love doing! So far, I've made french toast, scrambled eggs with potato, tomato, and green-plant-that-I-found-in-the-fridge-ness bits, and mashed potatoes with onion, lots of butter, more green-leafy-stuff-that-resembles-spinach, and cheese! Lovin' it.

I can't quite remeber what else I'm supposed to tell y'all as far as answering questions go. I feel really silly that I left my camera home, especially on a P-Day. Oh, yep and we went to the Köln Cathedral today! Which is time #2 for me, although this time we also went up to the top of the steeple/tower, so that was new. My companion got pictures, but we'll both have to wait 'til next week I suppose.

I love you all so very very much. Thanks for your supporting prayers and letters! I've been praying for you too, so be awesome and feel the Savior's love in you life! I witness so, so strongly that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that he loves us more than we can fathom or understand. I know the Holy Ghost can help you to find solutions to those problems in your life that you've been thinking and worrying about. Let Heavenly Father bless you. Don't be afraid to be great. Don't be afraid to succeed. When there's something good you feel, do something with it. Act on that silly little thought you have to help someone. Be better than you were yesterday. I know through the atoning sacrifce, the Atonement, of Jesus Christ, all the bitterness, bad, and sorrow can be emptied out of us and we'll be filled back up with something happy, good, and loving. We will change when we do this, yes, but it's ok, because it's what you want deep down inside. I know there will be a way provided for us to do what Heavenly Father wants and needs us to do. Don't be afraid to succeed.

I love you more than little boys love cake and little girls love bunnies,

~Elder Standring :)