Week 3 - Tic Tac?

Ciao la mia famiglia!

Thanks for all the prayers. I think I'm learning this language a lot faster than I would be if it weren't for such a good reason- to bring souls to Christ (WHOOP WHOOP!). I am very bad at pronouncing Italian words (other people seem to have a lot more natural talent) and am very slow at speaking... But, I am picking up the grammar, vocabulary, and verb conjugation as fast (if not faster) than the rest of the pack! I've memorized the missionary purpose, baptismal invitation, and first vision and can say them pretty darn fast and Italian-y! ;)

I think the major reason why this week went by so fast was because we literally do the same thing everyday, all day! It almost feels like half my day is spent in the cafeteria. It's been pretty cool being broken up into districts because we have grown so close! Everyone is generally really happy, but everyone goes through times where they are just miserable (homesickness, language problems, physical tiredness, etc.). Our district always uplifts the person that is down in the dumps and even though sometimes I really want to be alone, my district is becoming like my second little family! Elder Hogan got a miniature door-basketball-hoop in the mail and it's been such a nice stress-relief at the end of each day. Between a little game of PIG and a pushup competition with the Elders in my room, the stress just disappears!

Sometimes the Elders in my zone make fun of my Italian pronunciation of words, but lately they've been making fun of my English pronunciation of words! Apparently I pronounce the "i" in "pillow" and "milk" with an e sound when it's supposed to be pronounced with a hard "i" sound... Where is my (future) speech-language-pathologist-best-friend when I need her? ;) Earlier this week, I went to the toilet and left my water bottle outside the bathroom door. When I came out, my water bottle was gone. I thought it must've been someone in my district playing a prank on me, but my whole district adamantly claimed that they had nothing to do with it. Low and behold, a RANDOM Elder comes up to me like five minutes later and says, "Hey, I think I accidentally took your water bottle." The Elder had taken my water bottle and drunk out of it... I would be grossed out, but I feel kind of bad for the Elder that accidentally did it because he is super shy. So, now every time I pass him, he gets really red and apologizes over and over again!

Last night's Tuesday night devotional was awesome! The Presiding Bishop of the Church spoke on being bold and it was one of the best talks I've heard in my life! I'm predicting now that Bishop Causse is going to be one of the new apostles... He's as powerful at speaking as Elder Holland and has an awesome French accent!

A few weird things have happened this week. First off, I was walking a few days ago and noticed that I felt a little lopsided. When I looked down at my feet, I realized that I was wearing two different shoes! I had gone the whole day wearing two completely different shoes and no one even notices (well, at least no one pointed it out to me)! The second weird thing that happened to me this week was when I was talking to the MTC worker making my salad wrap. She knew my name was Noah and said that we were in an EFY group a long time ago... But, I had no idea who she was! I also saw Alyssa Royce working in the cafeteria this week and Monica Renda at a Sunday night meeting (she's going to Canada on her mission). Hopefully I'll see Leland sometime this week! ;) The third thing that happened to me this week wasn't actually a weird thing at all... It was a really cool trick my companion and I did! When Elder Esmay and I were sitting next to an Elder with TERRIBLE breathe in a meeting, I gave Elder Esmay a box of Tic Tac's. Then, Elder Esmay conveniently offered me one and then offered the stinky-breathed Elder one and he accepted. It was a beautiful example of companion teamwork.

Amo voi,

Anziano Anderson