Week 5

Ciao!

So first things first. We got our travel plans. I leave on Monday, July 6, and I have to be at the travel office at 3:30 a.m. So, really... I feel like I'm leaving on July 5. haha.. My flight leaves Salt Lake at 8:30 a.m. and I will arrive in Atlanta Georgia at 2:20 p.m. Then I leave Georgia at 3:44 p.m. and arrive in Rome at 7:30 am on July 7. Yay for long flights. There is a 6 hour time difference between Atlanta and Rome, so the flight is not as long as it seems, but still pretty long. Since I only have an hour layover in Georgia, I will be calling you from Salt Lake, which means it might be pretty early in the morning. But, you'll wake up for me, right? :) It will probably be around 5:30 or 6:00 your time. I am assuming.... But go to bed with your phone volume all the way up dad, and I'll call you. Also, Heidi... if you would like a short phone call, dear elder me your phone number and I will do my best. They haven't given us any instructions on it or any rules about how long it can be or even if I can call two different people. If I am unable to call you Heidi, I'll tell mom and dad and jake when I talk to them. I can't believe I have 5 days until ROME! Cosa? hahaha. I'm sort of sad that I am leaving the MTC. But more excited than sad. I can't wait!!!

So, this week was very eventful. Which makes for a fun e-mail. Last Wednesday was my last time doing a session in the temple for a very long time. It was really amazing, and the spirit and peace I felt was so strong. I really love the temple. Although, I feel really lucky today, because we get to go clean it for 3 hours. It will be such a great experience, and our district is the only group who gets to out of our whole zone. Yay! Everyone is very jealous... :) But they get extra time to pack which is not always a bad thing. 

This last weekend was the week the mission president's were here and all the general authorities (cool stories with that part...coming up). But to the point. They moved the cafeteria to the gym and the first meal was dinner. They fed us a grilled chicken breast and a roll. No side dish or anything. We thought that prisons eat better food than us... ahha.. and then everyone was excited that we were having catered food, but it really wasn't all that great. The breakfasts were horrible, the lunches we had were taco bell, costa vida (I actually ate lettuce that they put on my salad), we had subway for dinner with all the lovely goodies that I don't like which also made the bread soggy, and chick fil-a chicken sandwiches which were extremely greasy. Needless to say, and I never thought I would say this, I was grateful when the cafeteria opened back up. Yes, I really did say that. 

Also, on Thursday, we were sitting in our classroom, and the intercom piped up and said that all the sisters need to come to a meeting in 19 M. So, we went and we tried to figure out why were there... hoping that we would get a general authority speaking to us or something.... and then come to find out. We had to move again. The new building was home to some squatters.. namely endangered bats. So, we had 2 hours to move all our stuff, eat dinner, and move it up to the 3rd floor in a building that is worse than the first one we lived in. Oh well.. I'll try not to be too bitter. Who else can say that they lived in 3 different buildings at the MTC? So, now I live in 5M with no elevator... Lugging my suitcases up all those stairs was a great workout. 

I guess one apartment of girls woke up and a sister had a bat on her shoulder. I am so glad that wasn't me or else everybody would be able to hear me screaming throughout Provo. 

We also had the opportunity to have the mission presidents come teach us a lesson on Thursday and Friday. I absolutely loved the ones who came to our class. Their names were President and Sister Heder, and they are the new mission presidents for the Athens, Greece mission. The one I had a dream about... They were incredibly awesome and so cute.. and very young. One of their daughters is doing 3 years of high school in Greece. I don't even feel bad for her. hahaha... I guess Pres. Heder served in New York City speaking Greek and he is one of the first ones to actually go to Greece. So exciting! They were absolutely awesome, and the spirit was so strong, and they had really great insights on the importance of prayer and the Book of Mormon in conversion. I would tell you what they are, but I don't have my notes with me. You'll have to wait for your snail mail. 

On Friday, Sorella Rackham's name was on the board to go to the information desk. 1 M is closed for the president's seminar so we walked around to the front where we are supposed to go in. She was talking to the lady at the desk, and Elder Russell M. Nelson walks right by me... 5 ft away.. No joke. My jaw dropped, I stared, he smiled and waved, I waved back and he was gone. What? Bad part of the story is that Sorella Rackham's passport was missing in action. She had to go to the Philadelphia consolate to get her visa and the lady has something against the church and so she still hasn't approved it. It is "still in process". And "they are aware of her July departure date". Sassy much? She might have to spend a transfer in the states, which is sad... but she has come to terms with it. 

P.S. Thanks for raising me in Nevada so I didn't have to go to the consolate. I don't know why, but Nevada is special for some reason. I hope my visa is here... they don't tell us anything....

Oh, Elder Rasband walked by too... 

Sunday was the next eventful day. We went on our temple walk, but important people (namely Pres. Thomas S. Monson was arriving at the MTC or someone else super important.... so they made us wait before we could leave the MTC... On our way back, they were leaving. We saw Pres. Uchtdorf and his wife. They rolled down the window and waved, and then we saw Pres Thomas S. Monson leaving too. So special. You could feel the love they have for each and every one of us. 

I also volunteered to play the piano in sacrament meeting.. We had a smaller room this week, and it only had a keyboard. Sad day. I don't like keyboards. Anyways... I thought that maybe since I was playing the piano, I'd get a break from being one of the random speakers... and I was glad because I didn't bring my scriptures or preach my gospel with me so I was not prepared at all to speak... but guess what? Heavenly Father seems to have a sense of humor when it comes to these things, so lucky me... I was asked to speak. Really? It actually didn't go as bad as I thought it did.. and I don't really remember what I said either.

That night, they played the Testaments in Italian. The movie had english subtitles with it, which kind of bugged me.. But I understood more than I thought I would. It was really great to listen to it in Italian... I wish the subtitles were in Italian though.... Oh well. 

Funny things that we did in class this week, or learned about Italian. The word six-pack in Italian is la tartaruga. Which is also a turtle. And turtles have six packs if you flip them over on their shell... pretty funny. Also, the word left like a direction is sinestra. So, if you choose the left, it's like sinister.. Always choose the right... :) And "I don't care" is said in a nicer way in Italian. You say, "per me fa lo stesso" . Which translates to, to me, they are all the same" . We also learned commands this week, so we played Simone Dice. "Simon says". 

We got new german elders this last week. They are all elders and there are probably 25 new ones. I guess they haven't had sisters for the last 3 transfers. Weird. They are all super fun and we enjoy calling them "tedesci" I think... which is Germans in italian.  and the brother of Erik Mika is in one of the districts. Erik Mika is in the Rome mission, and his brother is going to Berlin. Kind of fun. Erik Mika is also a BYU basketball player. His girlfriend is also in the Rome mission. Don't ask me how that happened. 

We've been trying to speak in only Italian all week to prepare us for Monday, but we haven't been successful as of yet. Maybe someday.... hahah... I'm actually hoping my trainer is a native Italian. Then, I'll learn the language quicker... but it would definitely be a rough adjustment. 

Oh, Thursday... we got to skype with a real italian.... We knew of the lady who posts on the facebook group about that... and we were a little worried when we saw her name on the Skype call... But, it turned out fine.. Speaking of that.. mom! I want to know what your conversation was about with her. You can't mention that and then not tell me what she said or what you said. I want to know if she said how badly we are at Italian and anything else. Please dear elder it to me... I want to know! 

We have one more service on Saturday, and I'm sad... I actually enjoy the service part. It gives us something else to do than sit in our classroom all day. On Saturday, we had to clean the windows, and in the stairwells, they have these giant windows that are like 7 ft tall... so I am the only one who can reach all the way to the top. Yay for being tall... 

Yesterday, we went to the small gym ( la palestra piccolo) and we stretched and did ab stuff and then we saw that they have rowing machines..So I rowed 1500 meters on that. I had calluses on my hand when we finished. And my shoulders are a little bit sore today. 

Thanks for the package mom. I will enjoy the cashews and I like the skirts... Thank you! It switched up my outfits a bit. 

Also, if you want to dear elder me.. do it before Friday at noon. Or else I won't get it. They don't come on Saturdays and I think noon is when they print them off and I'll be on a plane on Monday. 

Also, I will respond to you individually in my snail mail that I am sending out. I will send my package tomorrow. I think... And I am glad Jacob and Heidi both had great birthdays. and my letters did their job if they almost made you cry. :) 

I love you all. Thanks for all the support and love. I love this gospel and missionary work! 

Love, 

Sorella Flansberg