"Spacca la face" is the phrase of the week for our district, but it's more fun if you yell it and do a karate chop. We learned this phrase from our teacher and it literally translates to "splits the face"!
11 days until Italy, but who's counting?! (thanks for the countdown chain, mom) We get our flight plans TOMORROW. It's getting real.
Big news of the week is that President Russell M. Nelson came for Tuesday night's devotional! His talk was based on 2 Corinthians 3:3 and the importance being an epistle of Christ and having the Spirit of God written on the fleshy tables of our hearts. I find so much comfort in this because I know that at least one conversion will take place during my mission and that is my own!
President Holazpfel came for devotional on Sunday night, he is the stake president of a YSA stake here in Provo (he's Fratello Hatch's stake president!) and his talk was amazing. He served his mission in Milan and so all of us Italians got the first 3 rows reserved especially for us! President Holazpfel made a really cool analogy that I absolutely loved: Captain Sullenburg, the pilot of flight 1549, completed the most successful emergency landing of all time. He completed the procedure without consulting a manual because flying was second nature to him. He learned how to be successful through practice and failure. Similar to Captain Sullenburg, we are all here on this earth to learn how to be successful and happy! But we can't let our mistakes or embarrassment keep us from trying because failure is a part of our quest for perfection. How we respond when we fail will ultimately determine how we succeed. I hope to be able to apply this throughout my mission and the rest of my life! That when I fail, I'll be able to learn from it, be optimistic about the future, and willing try as many more times as it takes to be successful.
We got to host the new missionaries again yesterday! You can probably imagine how happy I was when I found out we got to be hosts again!!!!!! Only 250 new missionaries this week in comparison to last week's 520. I had a small world moment when I got to host Sister Anderson!!!!! Katie, one of my super good friends from EFY that lives in Peachtree City, got here yesterday and it was awesome seeing a familiar face at the curb and we both just ran to hug each other. She is serving Spanish speaking in Salt Lake City West and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing her around this next week! Ah I just love the MTC.
The language is coming along so well! Italian is seriously so beautiful I never want to speak English again. But sometimes it's hard sitting in class all day.... my motivation at this point is being able to communicate with Amanda (Huntzinger) in a foreign language post-mission hehe ;) Things are also going really well with "Antonio" (our "investigator"), I asked him if he would follow Christ's example and be baptized by immersion and he said YES! Lots of tears on my end as I promised him the blessings associated with such a commitment and as I recounted memories of my baptism and the spirit that has guided me since.
Sacrament meetings here in the MTC, at least for our zone, are full of anxiety.... or maybe it's just me? The way it works is this: every person in the zone prepares a talk for each Sunday. Then, once everyone has taken the sacrament, the branch president stands up to announce the speakers. When he sits down, the speakers head up to the stand and start talking. How intimidating is that?! That room gets pretty tense haha. I've somehow managed to survive the first few weeks unscathed. This coming Sunday is testimony meeting, and then our last Sunday the meeting will be in Italian. So the people speaking that day have to give their talk in Italian! Whew it's a crazy place here, that's for sure! But I love it.
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| Weekly companion pic "That tree is on fire"  |
One last thing-- huge favor to ask of everyone... if you could please keep Elder Castiellos in your prayers. He is an Elder in our zone going to the Milan mission that tore his ACL and his meniscus this past week. So after he finishes out the MTC, he will have surgery, 4 months of recovery, and then he'll head to Milan. I can't imagine how tough this must be for him, so please keep him in your hearts and prayers!
#SiblingShoutouts
Chase: #buonafortuna in #statemeet
Cade: aren't you too old for #trickortreating? #jk
Claire: #congratulazioni on making the #basketballteam
Thank you to my awesome family for the most adorable Thanksgiving package I have ever seen. And thanks to the Todd Neuberger family #stlouiscousins for delivering enough Halloween candy to feed like the entire MTC! Yall are the best!!
I am so thankful to be here at the MTC! I have progressed so much in just this past month that I can't even begin to imagine where I'll be in 17 more months. I'm thankful for the atonement in my life! I know that through it we can all find the energy and guidance we need. I know that if we continue in faith, the Lord will always be there to help us. I love being a missionary!
Love you all!
Until next week,
Carley
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| Happy Halloween! |
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| Practicing for our musical number |
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| District Picture - Think Pink |
