The MTC was so hype for new years. We went to class all day, had normal awful food, and went to bed at 10. It was so rad. I'm still recovering. But on a serious note the one cool thing was I could hear fireworks from my window!! I just put my hand on the glass and longingly looked outside of this prison. :) I'm glad to hear you guys did some fun stuff though.
In no way was my district a coincidence for me to be assigned into. I would not be learning and growing the same without them. The Anziani crack me up all the time. All we do is laugh. It's great. You get to know people reaaalllllll quick when you spend 12+ hours of everyday with them in one tiny classroom. Interesting stuff transpires that's for sure.
Newbies came in this week Tuesday and Wednesday because there are so many new missionaries. I couldn't even look at their scared faces!! It's too exhausting to remember that day for me. But I'm so glad I had the courage to walk into this place.
All this past week has been is teaching teaching teaching. We teach multiple lessons everyday and it is crazy hard sometimes. We started TRC (teaching resource center) last Thursday and it's so cool. It's where you get to teach volunteer investigators who speak Italian and it can be so intimidating at times holy cow! Sorella Hoffman had a family she worked with during her time in Pisa come in (they were visiting Utah to see temple square for the first time-their first time in America). I couldn't stop hugging the mom. She was this tiny sweet little lady and I was so excited to meet her that every question she asked me went immediately out the door. I just awkwardly laughed and nodded a lot and continued to hug her. It got me so excited for Italy but also I'm realizing they talk about 2039029385908305 miles faster than my teachers and have true accents so that's cool. Her family would ask my a question and I would just slap the knee and classic laugh and say "bene, va bene" and then they would stare at me like what the heck is your problem and I would then realize.. oh they asked me a question.
I'm slowly but surely getting a lot better at having conversations in Italian. The spirit of the language is true people. Not in the sense that it fills my head with unlearned Italian words that I spew upon my investigators, but he makes my mind clear and memory better to remember words I have learned in the past. That's why they say; yes you have the gift of tongues, but you need to work at it. AND WORK WE DO HOLY CRAP. The other day I was reaching a breaking point and my teacher began another spiritual/Italian lesson and I was like "STTTTOOPPPPPPP I cannot handle so much spirituality in one day! can't we just kick it for like one second?!?!?" Well, she happened to have just put a cookie in her mouth (Sorellla Russell) and immediately choked because she started laughing so hard. She legit couldn't breathe and I was like great I just killed her because I didn't want to be spiritual for a minute. She ran out of the classroom still laughing and had to drink like 11 gallons of water to get that CRISP chips ahoy down her mouth. It was the funniest thing ever. Lesson learned. It's almost always at 1, 4, and 9 PM where we all have individual breaking points. I try not to vocalize mine but when I'm hysterically laughing/crying/over life in general/can't take in one more new Italian language rule- I'm done hahaha.
This past Sunday was fast Sunday which to me I was dreading, not because I would be hungry, but because eating is our only break. So when we would have been able to take a breather and eat-we just kept studying. It was ridiculous. But it ended up being the best Sunday here so far. Sundays at the MTC are something else. I cant quite explain it, but the spirit is with you all day long. Even when you can't keep your eyes open anymore. And then I witnessed a horrifying sight when the cafeteria doors were reopened at 5:45pm and I saw a legitimate hunger games right before my very eyes. Needless to say I steered clear for a while. Everyone feeds on each other here so usually it goes like this "wow I'm kinda hungry, yeah just really hungry, starving, I have a migraine because I'm starving, I SWEAR I could eat my arm, I AM GOING TO DIE IF I DON'T SHOVE 11 ROLLS IN MY FACE" so that helps to paint a picture of what that place looked like when the doors opened. I was surprisingly fine actually. I don't like the food here so it was like a forced detox.
We had a powerful testimony meeting. Our branch Pres told us we can only bear our testimonies in Italian. Well the spirit forced me to stand and bare mine- classic. and I was like haha psych I can't do this in Italian. So I did italian-glish. It was such a great moment for me because I truly had no clue what I was going to say, but the spirit was with me and I ended up talking about personal prayer. I heard a quote this week that said "Most problems with prayer come from forgetting your relationship with the person you're praying to" and it really hit me. He is our father. Not just the God of this world and all its beautiful creations, but our FATHER. Turn yourself over to him and he will always give you strength. I can promise you that. No problem is too big, small, weak, or stupid to him. My branch Pres wife said to me "Thank you for being so real- you have no idea how hard that is to be" I think it was the best compliment I've gotten in here so far. It was really sweet of her to say and made me feel good that she understood what I was trying to say up there.
Then that night we had the best devotional I think we've had so far (sorry Bednar) surprisingly, it was from the president of the international MTCs. None of us knew how big of an impact it would have on us. He said things I needed to hear and I had the spirit tell me this was not a coincidence that I was hearing it. He and his wife were so funny and so real and so genuine. Their names are Kelly and Cathy Mills. I will never forget them. I have thought about it everyday since. They told many stories of missionaries from all over the world at different MTCs that they have met over time. I am a visual learner so what they did next had such an impact on me. They had some truly incredible stories about average people who changed their life around and decided to serve missions. He then put pictures up on the big screen and showed "before and after" pictures of them. One of them in their old life and one of them on/home from their missions. The before pictures weren't even all that bad but I have never seen the physical light of Christ shine so brightly then when comparing it to how they hold themselves and appear after serving others. Their after pictures were not of them all goofy smiling dumb with a suit on either. Both before and after were just normal pictures of them. But they had been changed. Their entire demeanor was different with experience and knowledge and testimony. You could easily see the difference and at many pictures I couldn't help but gasp out loud. These people had "invited others to come unto Christ, and the side effect was they came too". Truly life changing.
I have thought a lot this week about strength. Many amazing friends and family members in my life are going through some seriously challenging times. Romans 8: 31 is the most simple and profound piece of advice I could offer. I have read it many times as I picture myself taking on a HUGE European country filled with many scary and great and bigger than me and dangerous and beautiful things. He wants you to seek solace in him because he can and will be the only one to truly lift you up. So let him! What is the harm in asking? I often find myself too scared to ask questions in prayer because I am afraid I wont get an answer, and then what? Stop worrying about yourself and start trusting. Everything has its purpose in your life for a specific reason. Agency can be a love hate relationship when the tough times get hard, the only way to grow is to pour yourself to Him. BE humble-he will not leave you alone.
Go in thy might, surely I will be with thee.
Thank you for so many thoughts and prayers my way. I wish I could write individually to each of you but ALAS zero tempo. mamma mia!
I wish you guys could see how it is in here but I'm killing it and working hard and taking names and forcing people to be baptized. jk. kinda though. I had to explain in Italian why only men have the priesthood and why we can't go into the temples. talk about hard. BUT I DID IT AND IT WAS amazing. my investigator cried when I talked about the priesthood. it was incredible. love you all and proud of you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love Lindsay
Sorella Swenson and Sorella Williams
Temple walk on Sunday
Sorella Swenson and Sorella Williams
Temple walk on Sunday
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