Last Missionary Training Center (MTC) Preparation Day (P-day)

Good afternoon my fellow Americans. Today is the last and final time I will be writing you from this great nation we call the United States of America. I leave for Albania next tuesday morning at around 4:30 AM (that is when we head to the airport). The flight plans are in a picture but I will briefly go over the stops on the way there. We fly from SLC to Dulles (home sweet home! only for 2.5 hours) then from Dulles to Munich and finally to Tiranë. That means we will be in transit for about 33 hours....in suits. Woohoo! Luckily we will be able to sleep on the plane and eat real american food one last time in the airports. I will be in Albania (or Shqiperia, as we natives call it) on Wednesday afternoon. It will be a fun trip and I am so excited to start some real missionary work.

So as you may or may not know, this past week was consecration week and I couldnt speak any English. I would be a liar if I said that I only spoke Albanian all week, because I didn't. Although, about 99% of the time I did and my speaking skills have grown so much because of it. I feel a lot more comfortable with muhabet (small talk) and I am a lot more comfortable with bearing my testimony (2 very important parts of missionary work in Albania). When I talk to my family on tuesday you can ask them how awesome I sound. 

This week's devotional was pretty good. Neil L. Andersen of the 12 (Quorum of the 12 apostles) spoke to us and it was really powerful stuff. He said that "We sacrifice for the things we love and we love the things we sacrifice for". This is so true with missionary work especially. I left my family at home and I left Hollie at home and I left school and marching band (which I am finding myself missing more and more everyday). These are all sacrifices that I have made because I love them so much. Being on a mission, I am learning how to put the "I" away and start focusing on others while putting my own interests aside for 2 years. If you know me, you know how hard this will be. Today, I will actually be getting my eyebrows waxed to prep for Albania. Yes, Im a princess. 

The walk home from the devotional was also pretty sweet. It was raining a bunch and we had to walk the 20 minute walk in the pouring rain in our suits. I loved it. It was the closest to being swimming as I will be for the next couple years. 

Thank you everyone for the packages and letters you have been sending me these past 9 weeks. They have seriously made my MTC stay so much better. Since I will be leaving the states next week, my address wont be the same. (mom, Ill tell you the address when I call you tuesday). If you want to continue sending me things, the best way to do that is by email or by sending packages to the mission home in Albania. 

I love you all so much and I look forward to writing you from Albania

Unë të dua!

- Elder Allgaier

Until I get his new address of where Elder Allgaier will be living in the mission field, we can still write emails to his mylds.mail.net address which he will get on his p-days. As far as I know, though, the missionaries are unable to print those emails up and take them with them. So, he will only be able to view the emails in the small window of time when he can check his email, and that's it.  If you need his full email address again or the address of the mission home, let me know in the comments and I'll email you directly.--Elder Allgaier's mom

a napping circle we made on the floor in our classroom

Our entertainment for the month was watching a guy cut down a tree in front of our classroom (just like TV!)

Our classroom building. We are the 2nd floor on the left. sweet balcony huh?

Just some çun boys

Price and I at the last devotional in the Marriott Center

Price and I at the last devotional in the Marriott Center

Consecration week nametag

Garrett's bracelet that he made me. Thank you Garrett! I love you!

Lunch with Uncle Andy. Pure coincidence...this time! 

Last p-day lunch in America.

Headed back to the MTC campus after lunch