Sentimana numero 3

Hello!!

I have a secret to tell all of you! The only reason my e-mails contain so much information is because of the genius invention of sticky notes. Every night, I write some things down that I want to tell all of y'all and then I bring them to the computer to type. Also, I am speedy fast at typing. But I also spend the whole hour on this one e-mail. That won't happen when I actually get to Italy since I will have to e-mail my mission president more than the one paragraph I write to my branch president here. 

Sorry for no snail mail this week. I'll try harder this week. Dad, look for something on Father's day. :) Maybe it will be there on time. I'll try to send it today. There is literally no time. Throughout the day we study and we have class and we don't get back until 9:30 at night and then I get ready for bed and write in my journal. So p-day is the only time I have to write letters, and I wrote 3 last week to other people and was sick of writing letters. Plus I didn't have anything new to tell you. Sorry! Forgive me? 

This e-mail is also going to come in later than usual. This morning we moved into our new penthouse. And guess what! This one has an elevator and a view of the stadium for stadium of fire. Woohoo! We ain't even mad about having to move. Well, maybe a little bit. But the elevator made up for being on the 4th floor again. Picture coming later. The new building is all renovated and so much nicer than our other one. So much fun. We found out we had to move on Sunday, so kind of like an emergency transfer. 

So, mom said she had questions about our "investigators." It confuses me too. Our first investigator, Francesca is Sorella Russell who is now one of our teachers. Fratello Wortham acted like investigators he taught while he was on his mission, and that one was Marco. We are now done teaching both of them. Then Sorella Preston gave us all a less-active member of the church that she taught on her mission. Again acting like them. Her name is Domenica. She is the wife of the ward mission leader and her whole family is active. She has massive headaches and that is why she doesn't come to church. Then we found out that she was offended once. So we don't really know whether it is because she was offended or whether her headaches are unbearable or a little bit of both. We'll find out more when we teach her next. 

Sorella Bucco also gave us less actives to teach. Our's is Barnaba and she doesn't go because on Sunday, she'll wake up late or sick or she just doesn't want to go. But the rest of the week, she knows she needs to go. But she reads her scriptures and says prayers, so we're good there. She just needs to partake of the sacrament. 

We also taught a real lady in TRC last Thursday. So much fun to get out of role plays. We taught her about having faith in Christ and it is supposed to be like a home teaching/visiting teaching lesson. It was so much fun and the spirit was so incredibly strong. I think we all ended up crying. We do that again tomorrow and we are talking about trials and the 3 different places trials come from (our choices, others choices, and life) and how we need to forgive others and ourselves and pray in order to get through our trials. These are such fun lessons. 

We also got a new investigator that we start teaching again tomorrow. Sorella Russell is acting like another investigator and her name is Rafaela. She is from Brazil. Lives with her boyfriend, and a friend's daughter, I think. Her whole family are members in Brazil, but she doesn't remember what they believe. 

Speaking of other countries. Italy, especially Rome has a lot of people from other countries because it is the gateway into the rest of Europe. So, there are a lot of African people we might teach and people from south america. Italy doesn't try to stop immigrants from moving in, which might be why they are like the second poorest country in Europe. 

This last week, Fratello Wortham predicted where our first areas would be. Mine was Palermo, Sicily. I have absolutely no problems with that, and I think it would be hilarious if that actually happens. Yesterday was his last day, and we are all very sad. I think he was our favorite teacher. He is off to boot camp for the air force. Something fun they say in Italy instead of Good luck is In Bocca Al Lupo. Which means In the Mouth of the Wolf. Then to reply you say Crepe? I think, which means the wolf dies. It's kind of like "break a leg." The funny thing is that Buona Fortuna is the kind of good luck that you say in a sarcastic way. 

So, I've decided that I like having scheduled gym time because that means I actually work out. They have some great facilities here. They have a track where 10 times around is a mile. And they have weight machines. And machine bikes and ellipticals. So much to do. Plus outside sports. Somedays we play sand volleyball. Kind of like a pedicure with exfoliation on your feet. We usually lift weights. I promise I'm not starting to get addicted to getting "big". It's just nice to feel more muscle in your arms and legs since you wear gonna's and vestito's all day. (skirts and dresses) I ran a mile yesterday and I need to start working on my time. I think I need to use my long legs to my advantage and take larger steps instead of mini steps like I do now. 

We are also pretty lucky to be at the MTC right now. Next week all the general authorities are coming to train the new mission presidents so we might be lucky enough to see a few of them. So much fun. The spirit here will be amazing!!! Hoping I'll get to see Elder Uchtdorf, well any of them would be really fun. :) 

This last week, Elder Wooley (FHE husband) got a case of Virgil's rootbeer from his parents and he was kind enough to share with me and my companion. I didn't care for it in terms of rootbeer because it tasted like black licorice a lot. But, since I like weird flavored soda like Inca Kola, I liked it. Just not as rootbeer. It was also in bottles, and so everyone was staring at us as we took it into the cafeteria. Oops. Then this elderly teacher came up to us and was like, "I thought the bar didn't open until 5:00. We replied that the bar is open all day for pretty girls like us. 

This week I've learned that I need to speak up if I ever want to learn Italian. Staying quiet because you're afraid to make a mistake doesn't help. I've been better. I made a goal to be more confident because I know more Italian than I think I do. We've tried going on English fasts so days where we don't speak any English, but it doesn't usually last very long. Oops. I think if we ever did do it for a whole day, we would be a whole lot quieter. 

I saw Elder Frogget here at the MTC. He left this morning for the Tulsa Oklahoma Mission. Cool that he is going there, huh Heidi? :) It is fun to see people I know. I also saw Julia Blackham at the devotional on Sunday. She was one of the technical people. I love seeing familiar faces. 

This week, we had several interesting meals at the cafeteria. I feel like some days we play the mystery meat game. One day there were pork chops. Nasty. You couldn't even stick your fork in it, it was so tough. And then they said they were hamburgers one day, but they were sausage burgers. Quite nasty if you ask me. They have this chocolate cake here once a week though that has heath bar pieces on top of it. My favorite dessert of all time. Love it. And they have good sausage biscuits and gravy and breakfast burritos some mornings. The food isn't that bad, but I am getting tired of some of the options. Sorry Ty that you have to eat it for 9 weeks. 

One other activity we did this week was we went outside and stopped people to bear our testimonies in Italian. We stopped portuguese speaking missionaries and they said that is was the closest thing to Portuguese that they had heard. Kind of cool. Maybe Emily Magleby will understand me and I'll understand her when we get back from our missions. It would probably be better to just speak English though. 

Thank for all the dear elders. I get plenty of mail, but I love it all. And I love hearing about the "outside world". We talked this week how the MTC is kind of like a zoo. We feel like the outside world is peering in on us. haha.. 

Now for a few spiritual things. 

In class we were talking about why we decided to serve missions. And also how we are really the only religion that has missionaries other than Jehovah Witness. And the service missionaries of other religions for only a few months. I mean, who would want to leave their home for 18 months to 2 years without having a tv, a phone, no music, new language, no movies and have to pay to leave? Like really? But, this is the best decision I have ever made. I do it, because I know that this gospel is true and because I love my Savior. People may think we are crazy, but it says something that the church has 80,000 missionaries out doing this. 

Another thing. Fratello Wortham talked to us about the refiner's fire. He asked us what our refiner's fire is. And why we thought God gave us that challenge. He said the worst type of missionary is the one who is too scared to face the fire. The mission is hard... What do I do?.... Get over it. The Lord has great things in store for you. Let him weld you into who he wants you to be. Do God a favor by not giving up. Endure to the end. Abandon your will and start living God's. 

The other thing I really liked is that as missionaries we have the power and authority to be God's hands on the earth. This week, we wanted to promise Barnaba that her headaches would become bearable if she attended church, but we were worried that our promise wouldn't work. Then Sorella Bucco told us that since we have power and authority, and if we are obedient and hard working missionaries and we aren't promising things that aren't too out there, God will back us up. He knows what we promise to the people we are teaching and he will give them a witness of the truth. It is better to promise specific blessings than not specific ones. 

Last night at the devotional, Elder David F. Evans spoke. He is the member of the seventy over all of the missionary work. Really cool that he got to speak to us. He said, "Step forward with confidence. He will do what He does once we show our faith." 

I also want to know everyone's thoughts on the words sanctify/ sanctification and guile. I'll let you know all of my thoughts next week. 

Dad - Happy Father's Day, a little bit early. Hopefully you get your letter on time.  Enjoy Father's Day dinner! And know that I love you more than anything! Also, you'll be fantastic at Redeemer after 18 months. You are awesome! And I love you Babbo. :) 

Mom- Thanks for the letters. Also, thanks for raising me in Nevada. I didn't have to go to the consolate to get a visa. Yes for Nevada state laws, I think... I don't really know why I didn't have to go. 

Heidi - I'm glad you can hear my voice in my letters.You are great! Love you bunches!

Jake- Sorry to hear about your sunburn. Sounds painful. And, Heidi said you haven't been doing a gratitude journal. Pick it up! It really is helpful. Glad you are enjoying sunday school, institute and the beach day with the branch. 

I love you all! 

PS. Our room smelled like skunk this last week. We think a skunk might have crawled into the air vent. Gross! Another reason we are glad we had to move. Now we are in 17 M instead of 3 M. 

Love you!

Love, 

Sorella Flansberg