La Vita Bella della Sorella: Ciao tutti!

LETTER TWO ~

Week two is officially complete!

We finished teaching our first "investigator"-- he was just another MTC employee who had served his mission in Milan, and started teaching two new "investigators"-- played by our 2 teachers. They're based off of people they taught in their missions. "Liz" is a young woman with a member friend and has a lot of questions about the purpose of life and where we go when we're gone. "Gianluca" is a guy who has a member girlfriend and is looking into a lot of different religions.

We are getting better and better every day, but if there's anything that they've tried to teach us, it's that the language is the least important thing.

The most important thing we learn is how to invite the Spirit to our lessons. It doesn't matter if we speak perfect Italian: if the Spirit is not there, it won't mean anything. The most beautiful and powerful thing about the message of the gospel is that when you teach with the Spirit, the people will be able to feel in their hearts and know for themselves that what you're saying is true.

Plus, if you have the Spirit, you'll be able to speak the language better than you can on your own. I've witnessed that firsthand in myself, my companion Sorella Dew, and the rest of my zone.

We've been reading aloud the Book of Mormon every day as a district (the 6 of us), and that has helped us so much!

il Padrone

I'd like to call this next little segment "Random Glimpses into my MTC Life":

- DearElder.com! Those things make our day!! We get them every day, they're delivered in the evenings! Write me on there!

- The food. The MTC Caf is usually less than appetizing, but there are options. There is this Wrap Bar open for lunch and dinner. Seriously I eat at least one meal a day from there.

- Sorella Hamilton has begun yelling in her sleep, it's the best thing ever. Usually stuff like "Don't! Stop! NO!"

- Our district is so tight. Anziano Clasby, Anziano Godoy, Sorella Thorpe, Sorella Hamilton, Sorella Dew and I. We've compared ourselves to the Breakfast Club. Outside of the MTC I don't know if any of us would have become friends, but now we're like best friends forEVER! We're planning on living after the mission in Rome for a year and then in Sao Paolo for a year. Just kidding. Or are we.

-The Italy and Romania group is also super close. We still all sit together at meals, like the big happy loud Italian family we are. It's crazy how inspired mission calls are. The other tables are always staring as we are always laughing and talking loudly and just having the best time.

-You meet people from everywhere going everywhere. As I'm just standing in the hall waiting to use the microwave at night, I've met girls on my floor from everywhere from Guam to Kitaibus (Spelling? A tiny tiny island of the coast of New Zealand). This morning I met a real Italian! The first one I've met here. He was from Taranto and... I ACTUALLY UNDERSTOOD HIM, even though we only spoke for like 2 minutes.

-The Spanish/Italian struggle continues! I can't speak purely one or the other. In lessons I'm always using Spanish words, and when I tried to talk to an elder from Madrid today I totally used Italian words. I think I'm just fluent in Spatalian. But all the Italy returned missionaries have told us that we will be speaking lots of Spanish in Italy because of all the immigrants!! And I get the opportunity to practice Spanish with Sorella Rincon and Sorella Tapia, native Spanish speakers who are in my zone.