Week 3 Berlin

 Hi!  This is Winston's mom taking over this week. Winston has been so incredibly busy that he hasn't had time to write, but he hopes to find time next week as he has finally reached his first area in Leipzig.  Winston's time in Butzbach came to an end as well as his home MTC.  What is home MTC!  Traditionally prior to Covid, those who wish to serve a mission would attend the MTC which stands for Missionary Training Center.  Missionaries go to the MTC for anywhere from 3 weeks to 9 weeks depending on where they are serving and if they have to learn a foreign language.  Since Covid has made attending impossible for obvious health reasons, missionaries have been attending the MTC at home using Zoom technology.  The missionaries are grouped off into what is called Districts usually people who are either going to the same place as you or studying the same language.  There were 9 missionaries in Winston's district who came from all over. but primarily Germany as Winston was marked as a native speaker since he grew up speaking German and took German in high school.  His instructors were out of England as that is where he would have attended the MTC.

Departing Butzbach he was given a send-off dinner by his Oma.  She is the best cook, so I am slightly jealous. 

On Saturday, they drove up to Berlin and stayed in a hotel close to the Brandenburg Gate till Tuesday when he entered the mission officially.  The drive from Butzbach to Berlin is about 6 hours and was uneventful. Winston and his father also took advantage of seeing a few of the sights while they were in Berlin. They took the U-Bahn out to the Olympic stadium, saw the place where Hitler died, visited the Brandenburg Gate, walked through the Tier Garten, visited Checkpoint Charlie, ate Sudanese Food, and also ate the traditional Turkish Donner Kebab. I am sure I am missing a few things, but in the report, I was given by Winston he was super excited to be in Berlin and he can't wait to start.  

Till Next Week!