For the Lord

Sorella McCann and Sorella O'Connor

Disclaimer:

I want to start off this week with a disclaimer.  I think last week I gave the impression that I was having a really hard time, because I got a lot of encouraging letters.  Thank you guys so much for that!  It's true I had a rough day my first week, but since then things have been incredible.  I think everyone has their things they have to get over in order to become a better missionary and to be more receptive to the spirit.  I'm just glad that Heavenly Father helped me get over mine early so that I could get to work, and  the work is so sweet. 

For the Lord

It's so cool to be at the end of the day and think, "Nothing I did today was for me; it was for the Lord."  It's very humbling to be on his errand and to make sure that you are doing your best in order to be productive and worthy of his guidance.

Understanding Italiano

I've felt so much help with this work so far, especially with the language. As my Italian professors can tell you, my Italian was terrible before the mission.  I've seen such an improvment in my ability to talk and to understand. 

When we are in a lesson with one of our investigators (we do a lesson about every day), I can understand everything and I rarely have to look at my notes in order for me to say what I want to. It's really cool to see that transition between the two languages. It's been very helpful too, because my companion is having a hard time learning the language, so it helps me to be able to teach her & to understand the needs of investigators during lessons. 

A Few of My Favorite Things....

I was going to say teaching lessons is my favorite part about the MTC; but I think that's a lie, because I have so many favorite things. 

My companion made me go to the MTC choir with her and that is definitely one of my favorite things. GO TO CHOIR. It's seriously one of the highlights of the week. The choir director is so funny, and he does devotionals during practice which gets you so excited to be a missionary. 

The other day after choir practice, I just envisioned myself standing up on a bus in Italy and just yelling "Everyone listen to me! I have a message you are NOT going to want to miss." Plus it's just so cool to sing in the devotionals and to be a part of something so big and so beautiful. 

Reminiscing on my Freshman Dorm Days

Temple Safaris

Another favorite is our temple trips on P-days!  We go to the 1:20 session & I'm worried they will tell us we can't walk up there because it's snowing. They didn't let us go on the temple walk our first Sunday because of weather and I was so sad about it. 

It's so crazy to walk out of the MTC and into the real world. I stand on the corner and frantically search for anyone I know that might know that would happen to be driving by.  It's funny too because we already feel like we are animals shut in a cage sometimes, and walking to the temple people just sit in their cars and look for their friends... so then we still feel like animals, but that people have come on safari to look at us strange missionary beasts. 

The Sorelle going to Rome

Sorella Andersen and Sorella O'Connor

District Sorelle

Missionaries!!  

There are so many missionaries here! When I came in there were about 800 missionaries in our group- the biggest ever to come in on one day-and about 3,200 missionaries total. This past Wednesday they said they had over 1,200 missionaries come in, and by the middle of the year they are expecting to have 8,000 missionaries in the MTC.  Over HALF of them will be sisters! Way to answer to the call, girls. 

My District

The Anziani from my District - love them!

Overheard At the MTC

Apparently, the leaders have noticed a lot of socializing in the lunch rooms, so they keep telling the teachers to tell us to keep "appropriate relationships between elders and sisters." It's not a problem in our district, but having so many sisters here does make things interesting.   I've started a "twitter account" in my journal called "Overheard at the MTC" where I write down all the funny things I hear people say... like:

 "You are just so awesome sister" about 1,000 times a day... 
 "I know I'm supposed to marry him, I just don't want to." 
 "I like your tie, and I like your tie too, and yours... I just really like ties." 

My favorite is the way the word "sister" sounds when used for reprimend:
"Quiet dignity sisters"
"Sister, you know you can't walk across the hall from your classroom to the bathroom without your companion holding your hand." Things like that. We laugh. 

No Distractions

Sounds like things are going well at home.  Don't worry about distracting me or making me homesick. I love hearing the news! It's almost more distracting for me NOT to hear from friends and family because I sit and wonder whether people are still out there, so keep me sane and keep writing me letters! I seriously love it. 

Congrats to the volleyball team! I miss those boys! Watching volleyball during gym at the MTC isn't nearly as much fun--especially without Danny's heckling.

I love you all. I love the work. It really puts things into perspective here. My MTC time is 1/3 of the way over. That is so crazy. But I already have such a love for the Italian people and I can't wait to get out there are really start giving people this amazing gift that I have been given. There is nothing else on earth I'd rather be doing than serving this mission. It has already changed me in so many ways and I can see how much Heavenly Father loves his children.

So che Dio Ci ama.

Con tutto del mio cuore. 

(Week 2 - Email Dated 2/21/13)