Week 1 - Provo Missionary Training Center

Ciao Famiglia!

There is a little saying that I've heard this week that goes something like, "There are 3 parts to a mission. The first 4 days in the MTC. The The rest of the MTC. And your time in the mission field... And they are all the same length!" That saying couldn't be more true... This week has been one of the most emotionally challenging and longest weeks of my life! The day I got to the MTC was absolute madness. There were hundreds of Elders and Sisters helping the other hundreds of arriving Elders and Sisters get settled in. I think I must've had the phrase, "Welcome to the MTC" said to me about 50 times the Wednesday I arrived at the MTC (my orange 'dork dot' let everyone know that I was a noobie).

I have a really awesome district. My companion, Elder Esmay, is from South Jordan, Utah (big surprise, huh? #EveryoneIsFromUtah)! He's a really nice and has a really big heart, although he's a little bit on the liberal side (don't tell Ashley ;)). The other Elder companionship in my district is made up of Elder Mciver and Elder Hogan. Elder Mciver is from St. George and is always joking around and laughing. Elder Hogan is a surfer from California who is a little too cool for school. Elder Mciver and Elder Hogan sleep in the same dorm room as Elder Esmay and I; we've all grown really close (although they always give me a hard time about my stinky feet)! We also have a trio companionship of sister missionaries from Europe in our district. They are SO funny and it's really easy getting off track during our 9-hour study days when they're in the room with us all. I feel like the sisters in our district our going to be my Abbey replacement for the next 5 weeks... They are all like my little sisters! When some elders came up to them in the cafeteria the other day and gave the sisters their emails written on a napkin, it made me really mad! My district has given me the nickname of Tic Tac because I've been eating a packet of Tic Tacs a day (which is about 260 calories)!

We are taught by a teacher for like 3 hours a day and then we are supposed to study by ourselves for another 6 hours. After each day, I go to bed feeling for satisfied than I ever have in my life. It's really hard being so language-learning impaired. The European sisters in our district each know 3 languages already, so a 4th is no problem for them! As for Elder Hogan and Elder Esmay, they are just clicking with the language really fast... As for Elder Mciver and I, we're a bit slower than the rest of the pack. We taught out first "investigator" (an MTC teacher pretending to be an investigator) on our SECOND day at the MTC named Francesca! I'm glad that Elder Esmay is clicking with the language because we (mainly him) are really helping her progress in the Gospel!

I got called as a Zone Leader earlier this week and I'm really feeling the pressure... The other Zone Leader isn't from my district and he is a total stud! He's a really tall, confident, charismatic, spiritual giant. I feel so inadequate leading with him because he's usually the one to take the bull by the horns and get things done. On Sunday, we had two different priesthood meetings in our branch (I was attending one and the other Zone Leader went to the other one). I assigned an Elder to give a lesson, but his lesson only lasted like 5 minutes. So, I had to give a 40 minutes lesson on the fly! I was really scared, but the lesson actually went really well (probably because we don't have to talk in Italian in our Sundaymeetings)! On Sunday night, we were able to watch a talk given by Elder Bednar called Character of Christ. The talk was SO spiritual and it really hit me hard. I don't want to be one of the Elders that comes home from their missions and falls away from the church because they aren't really converted to this Gospel.

Yesterday was definitely the best day I've had at the MTC so far, mainly because I got to leave the MTC! 9 Elders and 2 Sisters from our zone got to leave the MTC yesterday and take a train to downtown Salt Lake City to visit the Italian consulate! We all had to sign the our Italian Visa information... It looks like I'll be going to Italy on time (I hope the other Elders and Sisters in our zone get to go on time too)! It was such a cool experience wearing the missionary name tag out in the real world (even though the "real world" consisted of all Mormons)! I got to talk to lots of people about the church and going on a mission. I talked to one man about the church and he wanted your information dad (after he heard you were a bishop)... So, I did! He's a little off his rocker (he's even been queened by the Queen of England and is on a secret mission for the president of the United States), but I can tell he has a really good heart.

Life here at the MTC is really really hard, but I just feel really good being here! I can feel the Spirit so often which makes my time here bearable. Have a good week family!

Ti Amo (that's the romantic kind of "I love you", but I haven't learned how to say the non-romantic kind),