It's a good time and I'm lovin' it! 10-21-08

Hey fam~
Well the MTC has been so awesome so far! It was so funny actually you know after that cry-fest "Called to Serve" movie and how we went out opposite doors? ha ha Well when I went out that door I guess my eyes were kinda red or something and this new elder came at me with his arms open like he was going to give me a hug and it was like he hit a force field or something like right when he got close to me he backed up and was like, "Oh I guess I can't hug you right now huh?" ha ha He probably thought I had pink eye or something with how awkward I look when I cry. ha ha It was a good time. My companion is way cool. Her name is Jamie Millis. She's from Bountiful and she's so soft-spoken and sweet. She's so quiet so when we're in loud areas it's hard to hear her but she's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. She's great. There are six of us Italian girls that came in together on Wednesday and there are 8 Italian boys that came in. All six of us girls are going to Rome but only one of the boys are coming to Rome with us. The other 7 are going to Milano. There are twins in our district! One going to Rome and the other going to Milano. They are sooo funny. They truly look like Tanner Thomas to me. Oh man they just keep us laughing all the time. They kind of have lisps and they talk about how their lisps get worse when they talk in public. ha ha Oh yeah and One of them was trying to tell us how to tell them apart and he was like, "Yeah I'm the fatter one. Tanner used to be the fatter one in elementary school and they called him the fat twin, but then he got salmonella and lost a bunch of weight." We were all laughing so hard but he was dead serious. Yeah they're great. So there's the 8 anziani and us 6 sorelle in our district. And our zone has 28 other missionaries going to Italy. They're WAY cool! They're all so loud and enthusiastic. It's so fun. They always shout, "Ciao Sorelle!" at us whenever they see us. And the anziani (elders) in our zone all shout "stand up" (but in Italian) whenever one of us sorella come to sit at the lunch table. Then all of the anziani stand up until we sit down. We sit at two tables in lunch and supposedly they're the tables that the Italian missionaries have been sitting at for 7 years! ha ha Kind of a cool tradition. So yeah they stand when we sit down and take our trays when we're done. It's cool. We all feel kinda awkward about it because....guys just don't do stuff like that normally but it's way cool and we appreciate it. So the goods: Language and gospel. The language is hands down the prettiest and happiest language I've ever heard in my life! It's so much fun to speak. We can do basic conversation, pray, and bear our testimonies in Italian. It's great! And we can sing any hymn! Because they only have one way to say each vowel. So if they want a different sound, they just put a bunch of vowels together because in Italian you pronounce EVERY letter. It's cool. We had the TRC yesterday for the first time. Sorella Millis and I had to contact someone as if we were in a park and just basically ask basic questions about them and then bear our testimonies to them. It was rough because the guy that we had to talk to was brutal. It's like someone forgot to tell him we'd only been there for 5 days. But it was okay. He asked us some hard questions. We only know how to ask things like, "how many people are in your family?" and "Where are you from?" and stuff like that. He asked my companion and I what the differences were between his church and ours...and he said that his church has a bunch of saints and asked if we have things like that. Don't ask me how I understood it but I'll tell you one thing....us responding was the REAL problem. ha ha Oh man so awkward. But good practice. Then we went back in and had to teach him the first discussion in English. We got a swift beating with the humbling stick! Man, he really gave us a hard time. He asked us some pretty hard questions and one time we asked him to read a scripture for us and tell us what he thought it meant and he totally twisted it to mean something WAY wrong. ha ha Oh dear. I guess we're just being kept on our toes. It was a good experience because it's incredible how much we have left to learn. We've learned a lot and it's seriously so fun but we have tons left to learn. Anywho la chiesa e vera et il libro di mormon e scrato scritto dei profeti antichi! I'll write you a letter later I suppose. Hope every thing's going well. Italian is bomb! It's a good time and I'm loving it. Sorella Hansen