Gesù & Gelato: Happy as a seagull with a french fry :)

That subject was for you, Claire ;) (and mom)

Hey family & friends!!

It's been another crazy busy week here at the MTC! I've always heard that time is warped on the mission but now I'm beginning to understand that! I can never seem to remember what day of the week it is and the days just fly by.

I'm now officially the only Sister Neuberger in the MTC, Mayson left on Monday for Nebraska!! Best of luck to her.

Something that I learned this week is that we can experience celestial happiness and joy in this life! Joy isn't something just for heaven, we are able to experience it from everlasting to everlasting. I am so thankful every single day for the opportunity I have to be overflowing with the happiness that comes only through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have all been blessed with so much, so what's there to be sad about?!

All of the missionaries going to the Italy Rome Mission

Field trip to the Italian Consulate in SLC

On Friday, I got to go with several missionaries from our zone to the Italian Consulate in Salt Lake City! We took the frontrunner downtown and got to walk around Salt Lake. It was awesome to get away from the MTC for a bit and see familiar sights! This was my first time being out in the "real world" as a missionary with a nametag and as a literal representative of Jesus Christ. This experience made me that much more excited to be in Italy and talk to/smile at everyone in sight! After we finished at the consulate, I went to lunch at a café with 5 other missionaries in my district. We were enjoying every minute of doing normal things as friends, when the waitress comes to our table and tells us that our bill has already been taken care of. Wow. We were all speechless for several minutes and then we decided that that single meal was the best we have ever had as missionaries.

Vai Sikahema was the speaker in devotional on Sunday night. Most of you probably know him as a football legend, but he's also a really great speaker! He talked about the power of your personal influence and that by living a higher standard we are setting an example to those around us, whether we are aware we are doing so or not.

I was reading in Preach My Gospel this week and something that stuck out to me was "your attitude toward your mission reflects your attitude toward Jesus Christ". That really made me stop and think about my purpose as a missionary and why I'm here. I want to learn all that I can now, so that I will be better able to teach others and to share a message of pure happiness. In a way, this quote applies to each of us. We are all here on earth with a mission or a purpose. Does our attitude toward that purpose accurately reflect our attitude toward our Savior?

Our district (class) experienced a major plot twist this week: our "investigator" became our teacher hahaha. So now we have 2 teachers! Her name is Sorella Francom and she's a student at BYU who served in Rome with our other teacher, Fratello Hatch. She's an awesome teacher and definitely pushes me way far out of my comfort zone- it's the best and has increased my knowledge of Italian exponentially. Apparently Amanda (Sorella Huntzinger) was in Sorella Francom's class back in June! Small world.

Oh what a feeling, the temple!

We go to the temple on Thursdays (p-days) it's definitely one of the highlights of my week! It's awesome to leave behind the stresses of the MTC for a few hours and enjoy the peace that resides in the house of the Lord. Our district usually goes to the 12:30 or 1 pm session....if you happen to live in Provo and happen to be in the same session that sure would be crazy!;)

Every Wednesday afternoon we have something called TRC (Teaching Resource Center) and it's so much fun. Probably one of my favorite things we do. My companion and I get to teach two 20 minute lessons to member volunteers-- in Italian. We taught 2 guys yesterday, they both served missions in Italy. They told us our language was coming along well, so that was of course a huge confidence boost. We shared with them a message of service and charity and showed them the Mormon Message "Dayton's Legs". Go watch it on YouTube or the MormonChannel. Right now. I promise you won't regret it!

Funny language moment of the week was when we found out that "because" and "why" are the same word in Italian: "perché". It just reminded us of when we were little and asking mom "why?" And she says "because". "Why?" "Because." But in Italy I guess it's just "perché?" "Perche." Hahahaha I hope someone else finds that as funny as we did....

Trying to see the BYU football game.
We can hear the excitement at the stadium.

If I failed to mention it last week, my district is the best ever. After the devotional on Tuesday night, we went to our classroom to talk about it. Although we didn't spend too much time talking about the actual devotional, we did talk about how far we've come as a district in the past couple of weeks. We are so real and vulnerable with each other so let's just say there was lots of crying- happy tears! I know that my district was inspired and that Heavenly Father put me with these awesome missionaries for a reason. I have been able to learn so much from them and they have strengthened me testimony so much in such a short time. I am thankful that we have the opportunity to fellowship each other every day in the gospel!! It is by far the funnest thing I've ever been a part of.

One last thought! Isaiah 41:10&13, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness... For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." I know that the Lord will continue to help me as I serve Him! Because of Him I am able to progress every day in the Italian language. I have been strengthened and helped so much in the past couple weeks in things I know I couldn't have done by myself. I love my Savior and am so thankful for His guidance at this point in my life and always.

#SiblingShoutouts
Chase: #congrats on making #allregion #XC
Cade: #wishyouwerehere to enjoy all this #chocolatemilk with me
Claire: #thankyou for the #dearelders you always keep me #laughing

Also big shoutout to my parents! They are the absolute best, and their daily emails and dear elders help me so much throughout the day. I love you guys so much and I know I would never be where I am without you and the example you set for me. Oh and thanks for the packages, the bread was delish :)

I have a testimony that this gospel changes lives-- I've seen it in my own life in just these past couple weeks! I know that if we reach out with faith, the Lord will not let us down. In fact, He will strengthen us more than we ever thought possible. I'm so thankful to be a missionary! I love this work!!

Hope you have a great week! Can't wait to hear back from you :)

XOXO,
Carley