Week 5 - Countdown to Takeoff

by Unknown 9:32 PM 0 comments

It's been an exciting week here at the MTC... I past my 1 month mark on the mission (WHOOP WHOOP) and got my flight plans for Italy! I leave to the airport at 7 am on Tuesday morning and couldn't be more stoked. I am the "travel leader" for our zone when we fly to Italy (I think because my last name starts with an A) and I'm a little scared! I have to make sure everyone checks in at the right times and stuff, so we'll see if we actually make it to Italy! FUN FACT ABOUT OUR FLIGHT PLANS: We stop in Germany before flying to Milan... GERMANYYYYY!

I love the MTC more and more, but that doesn't change the fact that in less than a week I'm going to be interacting and teaching REAL INVESTIGATORS!

I taught 3 lessons this week that I want to tell you all about. The first lesson was the lesson I taught for priesthood meeting. I taught on the Gift of the Holy Ghost (in English) and afterward the 1st counselor in the branch presidency went on and on about how good my lesson was! In preparation for the lesson, I studied A LOT regarding the Gift of the Holy Ghost and it felt so good having my preparation noticed. The next lesson I want to talk about was my TRC lesson over Skype! TRC is kind of like home teaching, so Elder Esmay and I were assigned to teach a member of the church (from Italy) over Skype! I thought the lesson was pretty decent if I do say so myself, but when we finished, the member said:

"Your Italian is (in English)" and then gave two big thumbs down!!

Needless to say, Italians are super blunt!

The last lesson I want to talk about is our lesson with Claudio (one of our teachers who acts like an investigator). We were teaching about the atonement and the Spirit was CRAZY strong! I started baring my testimony on the atonement and I just started bawling... But, that's not all, I was speaking the most beautiful Italian I have ever spoken in my life! I was speaking really complex sentences (with tenses that I barely learned) and using vocabulary that I've seen like once or twice in my entire life like it was no big deal! I hear missionaries share stories like this all the time, but I've never experienced anything like it. The Holy Ghost was working through me with more power than I think he ever has in my entire life! After I finished the lesson, I could only remember a couple things I shared in that testimony... But, it's definitely an experience I'm not going to forget!

Another cool experience I had this week was the Sunday night devotional. Lloyde Newel spoke and he literally has the most soothing voice in the world. He is the guy that announces, "This is the 185th session of General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" before every broadcast. But, his church calling is also to direct the weekly Spoken Word broadcast with the tabernacle choir. So, on Sunday, we had a MTC Spoken Word lead by him. Brother Newel would speak on something, and then the MTC choir (which I am a part of) sang a song regarding what he said. Elder Hogan was sitting next to me with terrible gas, but besides that, I actually really enjoyed singing (a rare occasion for Elder Anderson ;p) in the choir that night.

It's scary how fast time is flying! I'll send you some awesome Italy pictures on my next p-day... IN ITALY! As for now, keep living life to the fullest family! I love you lots!

Vi Amo,
Anziano Anderson