Neunenschwander, Sickly, Leaving on a Jet Plane‏

Hey all~

Well things are going splendid here in the MTC. A fairly common American holiday went down this last week so I'll tell you a bit about that. So we didn't have classes on Thursday and so I thought we'd have tons of free time to study and write letters and stuff...silly me. Well so we did have like 2 hours to write letters but other then that they kept us busy with other tasks. Our day consisted of: 3 firesides, a humanitarian project, watching a choir film that was easily filmed in the 70's, had a thanksgiving dinner that just made me miss my mama's, and yup! That's pretty much it. Wow I hope that didn't sound negative because it really was a good time.We were all (and when I say 'we', I mean...the anziani in our district) thinking that for the devotional on Thanksgiving that they'd pull out the big guns and we were all prepped for the Prophet to come. Yup, you'd better believe we took our scriptures and letter writing goods to the building where the fireside would be a good two hours in advance. ha ha Ah we're so lame. Well come to find out when they told us that a general authority was coming to speak to us, in our minds we heard, "Oh, okay, the prophet it is!" but in reality it translated to the wonder that is Elder Neuenschwander. ha ha Okay I hope I don't sound ungrateful on this day of gratitude. Because he gave a great talk. But it was just funny that we were being so silly when obviously the prophet would want to be with his family on thanksgiving. ha ha Ah....my life these days....So for the Humanitarian project we did something crazy cool. So we had a fireside (yup, one of three!) about the humanitarian work that the church does and I think half of us were weeping like willows during that! So after watching that we got really excited to do this humanitarian project. The MTC made 10,000 first aid kits for Haiti and Cuba. It was so cool. Seriously service is a good time! It was way cool.In other news there's been some crazy strong germs flouncing about in here. Our zone has been getting it pretty bad. So my companion and I have been feeling yucky this past week but hopefully it's on the incline. But it's a doozy.OH! So ready to have your mind blown?! So...two weeks from today, nay, this morning at like 3 am.....I'll be on a flight to Italia! What in the world?! Seriously I can't believe it's come so fast. I think we get our flight plans this Friday of where are lay-overs are and stuff. Holy smokes! And I'm allowed to call from the airports so maybe I'll do that. I can't decide because I'll just talk to you like ten days later for Christmas so I dunno. You tell me. The last thing we want is some awkward, "How are the scriptures these days?" questions. ha ha Sorry Adam. :)Um...I'm trying to think of something awesome to tell you because my journal writing this week has been spars so I really have little recollection of what I actually did. I guess I'll tell you about the TRC yesterday. So we had to teach the second lesson in Italian. That one is brutality for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great lesson and stuff but teaching about things like resurrection, explaining Adam and Eve, Spirit world, and kingdoms of glory---in Italian...is easier said then done! Especially since we're supposed to make sure they understand the concepts that we're teaching them. All things considered it went well. We didn't have time to teach the whole lesson but on the positive side, I know for sure that she understand what we taught her AND she stayed awake and acted like she gave a hoot about what we were saying. Can't complain about that! ha ha There are two anziani in our district who have, to date, had THREE people fall asleep on them in their lessons. ha ha Poor guys.Well there's not a whole lot else that I can think of to tell ya. Sorella Millis and I are stepping up our SYL (speak your language) goals. Because ...yeah, we'll be in another country soon. So we're speaking in Italian to each other a lot more. OH! Fun news! So honestly, I thought that being in the MTC around Christmas time would be a bust, but on the contrary! They decked out this one section of the MTC with so many Christmas lights and a nativity scene. It's a happy sight indeed! I love it! But...as much as I love it...I'm sure Italy in Christmas lights will be SO much better!Well that's all I've got for you for now. Every thing's going well. Sorella Millis and I have a great time and work really hard. I think we're both going to go through with drawls of each other when we get to Italy because we just enjoy being each others companions. How cheesy did that just sound? Seriously, what's happening to me? Anywho...Italian is the most beautiful language and that's just a fact! It's so much fun to speak and I love attempting it even if I'm just muttering poor grammar Italian. :) I love all of the study time that we get here. It's so nice to have so much personal and companion study. It's a lot of fun to talk about different scriptures with Sorella Millis because we both get different things out of them but the other persons perspective is so interesting and makes them better. I love it! Well that's all for now. I hope none of you are getting sick, because that is just hardly ideal. Lots and lots of Italian love,Sorella Hansen