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

Elder Spiderman

I love to see the Temple

Abbey Road - Missionary Style

Buongiorno la mia famiglia! :D

It was so nice reading your letter this week. I was feeling a little chumped out because everyone in my district gets a ton of letters and Dear Elders in the mail everyday and the only thing I got this week was acne medicine from Group Health... But, I always have better emails from my family than all of them do, so I feel pretty good on p-days! ;p 

The joy of receiving mail!

I thought it was funny that Dad says the dorms here look the exact same way they did in the 80's because I was thinking the same thing... We do 75 minutes of service two times a week (at 6 in the morning mind you) and the Elders in our district are assigned to a super nice building! The bathrooms in the building have what appear to be GRANTITE COUNTER TOPS! Needless to say, I'm always a little jealous of the other Elders at the MTC when I do service. But, on Saturday, the jealousy I felt paled in comparison to the joy I felt... We were assigned to empty all the trash cans in the building and replace the trash cans with new garbage bags. I SCORED SO MUCH CANDY! I don't know why, but for some reason everyone was throwing away candy that was still in the packaging! So, I collected all the candy I found in a big box and now there is a drawer in my dorm room full of candy! The other Elders in my dorm room are way germier than I am and won't even touch the candy... But, I'm never going to turn down a Twix bar that's still wrapped up! ;p 

Candy Diving

I'm glad to hear that I'm not compeletely out of everyone's thoughts back in Olympia! I was a little bit scared that I might be considering that it seems like my own sister doesn't even remember me anymore... *cough* You didn't email me this week Abbey! And thanks for telling me about Ashley's farewell talk, mom! I'm glad she made a reference to her ex-boyfriend! ;) Although, hearing that story brought back feelings of embarrassment.... I remember after hearing that Ashley bought a prom dress, I was REALLY embarrassed that I didn't ask her to prom (oops ;p)!

Do you guys remember how I teach "investigators" here at the MTC (my language teachers)? Well, I have some pretty interesting stories to share about some of my lessons this week... Yesterday, one of my teachers was playing the role of a sleepy investigator to all the companionships in our district. After our investigator fake-slept in the lesson that Elder Esmay and I taught him, he ACTUALLY fell asleep in the lesson that Elder Hogan and Elder Mciver taught him! I don't think I would've been able to contain my laughter if he would've actually fallen asleep in our lesson with him. ;p 

Another time this week, I was teaching one of our investigators, Elena, about the Word of Wisdom. So, naturally, I had Elena read part of Doctrine and Covenants 89 where it talks about what we can't put into our bodies. Unfortunately, I had Elena start reading a verse before I wanted her to. Look up D&C 89:6 and look at my mistake.... THEN, to make it worse, when she asked if wine was okay to drink, I said it was (I wasn't familar with the word for wine and just went along with what she was saying)!

I had another embarrassing lesson with Elena during the lesson following the Word of Wisdom goof-up. The lesson was on the Law of Chastity. In the lesson, I heard Elena say, "Watching films is bad?" I thought she was talking about pornographic films because we had just got done having "the talk" with her and so I vehemently agreed that watching "films" was bad! Apparently Elena was actually talking about regular films... Like going to the movies and stuff before your married... 

Well, life here is pretty good! It's really hard at times, but one of my teachers says that post-mission life is WAY harder (he's the one that was so exhausted that he fell asleep in Elder Hogan and Elder Mciver's lesson)... So, I'm just trying to enjoy my experience here as much as possible! 

Amo voi,

Anziano Anderson

MTC Food is Great!

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

Nerf Dunkin

Bonjourno Famiglia!

Yes, everyone in our district is going to Milan! Interestingly, there are only 4 missionaries in our whole zone going to Rome (the rest are going to Milan). I was a little surprised when I first learned that considering that the temple is being built in Rome... But, I'm definitely happy with my call! From the stories I've been hearing, Milan seems like it's going to work out a little better for me than Rome would have! And if you could just take one look in the MTC cafeteria, you wouldn't even need to ask the second question... The MTC food is AWESOME! I've been eating a ton of hamburgers, veggie-ham wraps, and granola. I also have been taking advantage of the unlimited hot chocolate and cookies. ;) But, don't think I'm turning into a fatty, I've been drinking a ton of water, eating a ton of fruits and veggies, and have been going HARD during my daily exercise time! 

As for the three European Sisters: Sisters Goethals is from the Netherlands, Sister Weidmann is from Switzerland and Sister Bartsch is from Germany. 

The three coolest things that have happened this week are first, committing my first investigator to baptism. Second, getting to use the Melchezedek priesthood to give Sister Weidmann a priesthood blessing. And third, getting to hear Dallin H. Oaks speak in last night's devotional! When I say I committed my first investigator to baptism, I actually mean I committed Francesca (an MTC teacher) to baptism in a role play scenario... But, even though the situation was pretend, the Spirit was real! It's kind of weird now though, Francesca is now one of our Italian teachers (the person Elder Esmay and I taught is now teaching us)! Giving a priesthood blessing to Sister Weidmann was unreal! She was feeling really sick and asked me to give her a blessing... I was REALLY scared, but just trusted that I would know what to say when I was giving it (I didn't plan out what I was going to say at all) and I did! The words just came to my mind during the blessing and I couldn't even remember half of what I said when the blessing was over! It was a really cooly experience and Sister Weidmann is now feeling better. Getting to hear an apostle speak last night was an amazing experience too! I feel bad for all the other MTC's because they only get to watch a recording (or in some cases, live footage) of Dallin H. Oaks and we get the real deal here at the Provo.

Another highlight of my week was getting to watch Meet The Mormons on Sunday night. Every Sunday, they show a ton of different movies in classrooms around the MTC campus. But, when I say movies, I actually just mean they show recordings of talks! So, when they announced they were showing Meet The Mormons in a classroom on Sunday night, the Elders in my district and I knew we had to go because it was an actual movie! So, right after the Sunday night devotional, we BOOKED it to the classroom that was showing the movie... We may have had to get a little physical when it came to separating the crowd of missionaries to get to the classroom, but it was definitely worth it! ;)

You guys might be interested to know: there is a group of trees here that smell EXACTLY like cream soda when you smell the bark... I feel really bad for the poor missionaries that have to go to the Guetemala MTC because I doubt there is trees that smell like that there! ;)

Well, it's been a really good week... The MTC is an awesome place (even though it is really hard at times)! I just got a haircut (I decided to go with a classic buzz cut).

Sending you lots of love,

Anziano Anderson

p.s. Elder Esmay taught me how to tie a tie on the first day at the MTC and I'm actually getting really good! Now, I just need to work on keeping the ties I tie clean... 

Learning Italian is Exhausting!  

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),

District 33

My name is Noah Anderson. I am from Olympia, Washington and report to the Provo Missionary Training Center this Wednesday (August 19, 2015). I was just set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For the next two years, my dad will be posting excerpts from my weekly emails as I serve in the Italy, Milan mission.