Last week in MTC

Last Week in the MTC!

WOW, I can't believe that this is my last email from the MTC. On Tuesday I will leave for Italy. It doesn't seem real. I feel like I have been born in the MTC and I feel like I will be here forever. This week has been really bitter sweet because I am excited to go to Italy but I am also sad to leave my new friends I have met here and I am also terrified to leave the good ol' US of A. I know I will love it but it will take some adjusting. I was so nervous before I came to the MTC and now I don't want to leave. I can only imagine how hard it will be to leave Italy in 17 months. The Italian is coming. I have probably said this a million times but I probably don't even realize how far I have come. I know more Italian now, after 6 weeks, then I ever learned in the 6 years of jr. high and high school french classes. I can carry on simple conversations, understand for the most part (what the teachers say to me), say prayers, teach gospel related lessons. It is challenging... my teachers told us that in about 6 months we should be fluent. So by my birthday next April I should be good! ;)

Ok so I have to tell you a funny story......

Every six weeks a new group of Italian missionaries come and go from the Missionary Training Center. Around last March a group of Sister missionaries found a old, gigham, NEON green button up shirt in a give away box. They started a tradition that every Italian sister missionary has to wear the shirt one day before they leave the MTC. 

Let me tell you... this shirt is so ugly. At first sight it doesn't seem bad but it really does look like an alien/cowgirl decided to go on a picnic. It's bad. Of course it is hilarious. One sister, who is like 5 feet tall made it into a skirt.....

It is really funny and she worked it! 

Another difficult problem with this shirt is that we can only do laundry once a week on Wednesday! SO....... lets just say that it doesn't smell the best after week. 

Yesterday was my day to wear the shirt. I actually was kinda excited because it was all part of the MTC experience. I thought it would be hilarious... and let me tell you it was! 

First off... I wore it on Tuesday. This was problematic because  Wednesday is laundry day and so when I wore it 6 girls had already worn it. It literally smelled like rotting subway stations mixed with Fabreze. I was gagging all day. Nevertheless, I was determined to rock the look. 

Besides the smell, it wasn't that bad. Until devotional time.....

 Every Tuesday night we have devotional where a Church general authority/leader comes and speaks to us. The Missionary choir also sings at the devotional. They broadcast the devotional on large screens in the auditorium AND to like 20 other MTC's around the world. 

So my companion is an amazing singer. (#classic mormon girl probs) I am a terrible singer/border line if I auditioned on American Idol someone would make a remix of my voice and it would be a total joke on Youtube. Anyways I always go to choir because I know my companion loves it. In weeks past when we perform it is a pretty easy song/arrangement. I can fake it (not really ever making it) but I make it work. THIS WEEK was the most difficult/advanced song arrangement I HAVE EVER HEARD! The entire time I am mouthing the words to the song. I can't even catch a bit of the tune. It's hilarious. During rehearsal I try to convince my companion that we should just leave and not sing.. but... long story short I did not win that debate. 

So it's time for the devotional. We take our seats in the choir. I am seated in the EXACT center of the choir. I am like oh great (typically I hide in the back to avoid the cameras that scan the entire choir that broadcast the performance to the entire MTC and the WORLD)  I might be on the camera.... I have no idea how to sing this song AND I AM WEARING THE PICNIC SHIRT!!!! I am so nervous. We start to sing the song and automatically I look at the huge screens all around the room. The green shirt might as well have been neon green lights! It was radiating! Then... I kid you not... The camera does a close up RIGHT ON MY FACE! I am not even singing.. I am mouthing every word and in the Italian picnic shirt that smells like a car full of post-workout teenage boys. I totally started to crack a smile and my entire zone just started to bust up laughing. It was just classic. 

To top it all off... the speaker at the devotional was Elder Godoy. He spoke at general conference in his native language of Portuguese. This is important because his SON is in my zone! So right after the devotional our entire zone met him, have a devotional review(discussion) with him and the ENTIRE MTC Presidency. At the end of the night everyone congratulated me on making the shirt famous. Haha! Good times, good memories! 

I love you all! I just finished reading the Book of Mormon again. My goal was to finish it before leaving the MTC! I did just in the nick of time. I honestly encourage everyone to read it and pray to our Father in Heaven if it is true. At least read the last chapter in the Book of Mormon. It is so powerful! XOXO! Next time I write I will be in ITALY! AHHHHHH!!!

Sorella Fuller

Week 4 Missionary Training Center

Hello family and friends!

THANK YOU 

 First off I want to give another big thank you to all those who sent me packages, letters and emails this week! It was great to hear from all of you! Thank you Alyson Freedman for sending me the dress! When I opened the package I was just overcome with appreciation! You are too kind! Also thank you Dad for the brownies overnighted from Brooklyn. When I signed for the package I was thinking what could have been sent to me from Brooklyn? I got a good laugh and my hipster friends were VERY appreciative. They were like "you have the coolest dad!" I just responded..... I know! Also we thought they were laced with pot because the bakery was called "Baked" and it was in Brooklyn but obviously not! HAHA

Daily life

 Hopefully you don't get too bored from all my Missionary Trainng center emails. I feel like they could get pretty repetitive. Every day is exactly the same but with different emotions. It's funny becuase you do the same thing every day but there are days that are the best ever and some that are more difficult. 

I want to describe one really good day to you all. It started when I woke up at 6:30 and did some daily study of the Book of Mormon in the book of 3rd Nephi Chapter 11. In this chapter it explains the accounts of Christ (after he was resurrected) visit to the people of the Book of Mormon in the Americas. It is probably the best chapter because it gives so much hope for the 2nd coming. Then I ran 5 miles on the MTC running track. It felt great to physically push my body again. Then we had to teach in "TRC". TRC is when we teach church members who speak italian (mostly volunteer return missionaries). We simply give them an uplifting messages and challenge them to a simple task like... reading the scriptures more, pray as a family, or give more charity to others. We do it once a week every Thursday. This week we taught a family in TRC! It was a mom and a dad with two little girls. They were ages 2 and 4! It was crazy! They were screaming and I had to think of what to say (in Italian) and have it be a meaningful experience for everyone! It was going crazy until Sorella Bray and I started to tell them our testimonies of the trueness of the gospel. All of a sudden the room was silent and the warmest feeling of the Holy Spirit came into the room. Everyone was happy and love overflowed! It felt so great! I can't even imagine how that would feel in Italy with actual investigator families! 

After TRC we went to language class! I just love my language teachers! They are super patient and funny! We crack jokes with them all the time and it really lightens the mood! Sorella Bray and I have made a ponit to be friends with our teachers because they are both like 22 years old and students at BYU. They are also our "fake investigators". So we practice teaching them all the time. The funny thing is that when we teach them they are in "character". They are not allowed to ever break character or use english. We have started to try to do everything we can to try to get them to break character. Sorella Bray and I have found the best way to do this is to get them to laugh. On this day we had the best success yet.... let me explain....

So one day we were playing a chuch history trivia game in our free time between lunch and language class. One of the questions was "what was the name of Joseph Smith's first born child?" Everyone in the class revealed the right name which was "Alvin Smith" BUT our teacher Brother Gessel said the name DON JUAN! We were like..... what are you talking about?!?!? It sounded so funny but I guess one of Joseph Smith's still born babies was named Don Juan. The name literally sounds like the next contestant on the Bachelor! HAHA! We were dying of laughter. 

So flashforward to this lesson we taught. We were done with teacher our investigator/teacher (Brother Gessel) about the power of prayer and attending church. We committed him to come to church-- he said yes. He asked if he could get a ride. I followed up by saying "Of course! Another member named DON JUAN will come pick you up." I had a totally strait face and he just busted up laughing! It was so funny! Maybe you had to be there but as a misisonary any opportunity for some humor is THE BEST! 

At the end of the day we had a devotional. The speakers name was Drubray (can't remember his first name) Anyway he is the head of all media for the church. Advertisements, Mormon message videos, "I'm a Mormon", social media.. you name it... he is in charge of it! He talked all about spreading the goodness and happy message of the gospel on social media. He also told us that the Easter video titled "Because of Him" that was released last April was veiwed by millions of people including people on mainland China! The gospel is truly spreading over the entire WORLD! He shared with us some BIG surprises the Church media department has in store for the Holiday/Christmas season. I am sworn to secrecy however I will say that on December 7th go onto the Youtube home page. Also NYC you have some big surprises coming your way!

He also talked about some experiences he had on his mission in New Hampshire. He said two main tidbits of wisdom that really resinated with me in regards to missionary work. I also think that it can apply to everyone! 

1) Do the very best you can... God will take care of the rest. YOUR best may be different than any other missionary (or person). Simply strive to follow the Spirit of God.

2) THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU! As a missionary (esp. in the MTC) it is easy to think..."I can't learn the language, I am homesick, I don't like my companion, I can't do this. etc" But once you realize that EVERYTHING we do as a missionary and in life should be to glory God and thank him for all of our blessings... everything will be worthwhile!

I hope all is well! I miss everyone but I know that serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is exactlly what my purpose is right now! 

Also I leave in TWO weeks! AHH! This Friday I find out my flight plans/if I got my visa!

xoxo Ciao Sorella Fuller

 This is Sister Dew. She was Eponine in Les Mis on Broadway! She is the best! I hope          we can be companions in Italy!

This is Sister Pavich who I randomly met in the SLC temple the day before I entered the MTC. She is amazing! Below is my companion Sister Bray! We had just taught an awesome lesson so we were really happy!

Ciao family and friends! 

Today I am officially half way done with my time in the Missionary Training center! I can't believe it! Days can seem so long but weeks go by in a second. I feel like I just got here! Wow! 

So this weekend was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints semi-annual General Conference. All of the modern day Apostles of the Lord and modern day Prophet speak to all the members of the church (and anyone else who wants to listen) about the beautiful messages and doctrine this church teaches. It is very uplifting and probably one of my favorite weekends of the year. It is broad casted on TV, the Internet, and radio to hundreds of countries around the world and translated in hundreds of different languages. You can watch reruns/clips of general conference on lds.org

Anyways I wanted to share with you some of my favorite uplifting messages that were shared this weekend! I really enjoyed listening to Jeffery R. Hollands talk regarding charity and service. We are taught that "charity is the pure love of Christ." This is so true. I really liked how he emphasized that we all need to be better in regards to giving and helping others. However, he was extremely BOLD in saying that he does NOT believe in handouts, he is not trying to push the panhandling business. We must do all that we can before we beg for charity. Obviously this can sound very controversial however the bottom line is... however you see fit.... we must join Christ and lift up the poor. We must count our blessings and remember "what would Christ do?" I have to remind myself of this everyday. How can I simply serve others in big and small ways? And sometimes even more importantly how can I have a good attitude/Christ like attitude while doing it? Twice a week we have "service project assignments." They might as well be called "weekly chores." We go and clean all the bathrooms in the MTC. It starts at 6:15 am and goes for an hour and a half. I have to say that it can be really hard to have a good attitude while do the projects. I am really tired and the last thing I want to do is pull long, hair out of the shower drain. However, I have to just think "what would Christ do in this situation?" He would find it a privilege to serve his fellow men. I challenge you all to do one act of selfless service this week (can be big or small) with a positive attitude! Hopefully we can turn more outward and not stay so inward. 

On Sunday nights we always have a live devotional here in the MTC. This Sunday night the speaker was a former BYU all stars football player, former Green bay Packers player, former Philly Eagles player, and most importantly a returned missionary! His name is Vai (I can't remember his last name b/c he has a long Polynesian last name) He now lives in Philly and works for NBC sports as an anchor. Before the devotional started I assumed it was going to be all about his life as a Mormon Pro athlete. However I could not be more wrong. He told countless stories about how for the last 20 years after his "official" missionary service he has tried to be an everyday missionary. Him and his family invite people over every week to have dinner with their family and the local missionaries. He told this story about how like 8 years ago he was getting on an airplane from philly to SLC and on his same aisle was an 9 year old boy who was wearing a BYU t-shirt. He was traveling by himself and was obviously Mormon. Then a moment later a lady came and sat in the middle seat between them. During the flight the lady started to read the bible. So Vai took it as an opportunity to talk to her about religion. She said that her boyfriend was a devout Catholic...she was not...so she wanted to read some of the Bible before they got more serious. She said that she liked the Bible however, she didn't like how "evil" Adam and Eve seemed. Vai continued to tell her that in his faith... Mormonism..... we do not believe that Adam and Eve were evil... in fact the Fall of Adam was necessary and extremely sacred and important for all of mankind. The lady did not believe that a Christian faith could teach that. She asked if that was Vai's personal opinion. He responded and said... "no that is a widely accepted truth we belive." He said "in fact-- even children know this truth." She didn't believe him. So he turned to the BYU t-shirt boy (who had been completely silent the entire time) and said to him "can you tell this lady what we believe in regards to the Fall?" This boy just continued to say the 2nd article of faith. "We believe that men are punished for their own sins and not for Adams transgressions." Vai said that he was SO excited inside! The woman was greatly impressed and took a Book of Mormon. Vai said she never got baptized however............. to this day Vai and that little boy have been in contact. That little boy is now a missionary in Eastern Europe and told Vai that that day was the day they may have not converted that lady but he felt converted himself. What an amazing story! Vai said that because of that little boy his new "travel uniform"  always has the BYU logo on it. He says he wears that because he can't wear a missionary name tag! What a great example of being a member missionary! So amazing! A mission doesn't end when we return from our assigned country... missionary work should never end! 

Life in the MTC continues to be great! I have made some great friends and am still struggling/loving to learn a new language. It is so difficult to learn however with the pain comes the best gratification! Every little progress seems huge! Even though we are half way through it still hasn't hit me that I am going to Italy! I don't think it will until I land in the country. 

I love you all! I love getting all the emails and letters and packages! Sorry if I can't respond right away! Just know that I love you all!! XO -Sorella Fuller 

Ciao! Week 2 at the MTC

You gotta take this shot while at the MTC!

       

Ciao family and friends!

So sorry that lasts weeks email was all over the place! The first week in the MTC was simply madness! Things have calmed down now and starting to feel pretty normal! 

Well first off this week was pretty exciting because some of the Italian missionaries (including myself) got to take a little adventure to SLC to have our visa interviews! We took the front runner train from Provo to SLC. Sitting on the train for an hour heading to the "big city" totally reminded me of New Canaan life! But instead of going to NYC we were going to were I was raised in the heart of SLC! It was so awesome and strange! Leaving the MTC and going into the "real world" as a missionary was super strange! You just felt everyone looking at you and I felt much more outgoing to random strangers.  It also felt strange to be a missionary in my hometown.
The interview went great and I should have my visa in two weeks! We got our flight schedule and we go from SLC-Chicago-London-Rome! We can't leave the airport but we are super excited! The best part of the little adventure was that we got to eat lunch at Jimmy Johns which meant I could get a DIET COKE! Enjoying the simple miracles in life!

Jimmy Johns and our DC!

                                       
This week more than anything I have learned about patience! Patience with myself, the Lord, with my comp, investigators, and other missionaries. Like I mentioned last week, Italian can be super difficult! Everyday we have language class and sometimes after I just think "did I really just learn anything?!" Everyday we also have to teach multiple people (fake investigators) in Italian. Sometimes I will walk out of the lesson and think...."did I even teach them anything meaningful?" "How will I ever do it in Italy?" My companion and I spend hours preparing and translating these beautiful lessons to give but, after it can be really discouraging because it doesn't go perfectly. However, I have hope and faith that it will come! Yesterday one of our teachers told us to give a lesson on the plan of salvation (where we were before birth, why we are here, and where we are going) on the spot-- no prep time, in Italian! I was thinking how am I going to do this? Then I said a little prayer and got up and gave probably one of my best lessons! Simple, clear, and genuine! I WAS SO HAPPY! It just shows that the Lord will uplift you if you have the Holy Ghost and patience in His timing. I must always remember this! What a miracle!

District/Zone

A district is a small group of missionaries (about 6) who have all their classes together and a zone is made up of like 6 districts. Our zone is super unique! Lots of different personalities! There are what we call the "babies" or "little brothers" aka the 18 year-old, right out of high school, elders. They are totally hilarious. There are some super "molly mormon"/classic sister missionaries. They are super spiritual and give the BEST insight! Wow! I am so impressed! There are also some super cool girls in our zone. One played Eponine in the NYC  Broadway production of Les Miserables, one is a world traveler who speaks 4 languages, one is a college grad who is super smart! Crazy talent! There is a little group in the zone of "hipsters" ---they are so hipster they don't even refer to themselves as hipsters. Its funny because you might think they are from LA or Brooklyn but they are from Idaho and Arizona. They read poetry and have deep conversations. I just listen on and think... wow they have the most interesting points of view and artistic brains and I just don't understand anything! It's hilarious! Anyways the miracle of it all is that even though we come from all different areas with different talents and interests we all get along so well here! We have so much fun and laugh so hard at our slaughtered Italian! We all support each other and love each other! Its a beautiful thing!

My companion Sorella Bray and I are having so much fun! We seriously get so stressed but laugh SO HARD! ALL THE TIME! one of our teachers is probably really annoyed with us! HAHA! Last night we were talking about Christmas traditions and started talking about those puppet Christmas movies like "The Year Without a Santa Claus" and "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" We were saying things like "I'm a man now Tanta Kringle" and we were laughing so hard that we literally fell off our beds and had tears rolling down our checks! I think our quality of what is funny has gone WAY down since becoming a missionary! But its all good because we are just so happy! 

I love you all!! Thank you SO MUCH for the letters, packages, and emails! THEY ARE MY SALVATION! 

Thank you Baba and Kenna for the package with treats! That trail mix was amazing and I think i shed a tear when I saw the Swig sugar cookies! 

Also I have to tell you that the other night we were all getting in bed and over the ENTIRE MTC intercom was "SISTER KARIN FULLER PLEASE COME TO THE MAIN OFFICE" I was literally terrified!I had to change out of my PJ's and put on a skirt. I was thinking.... was my skirt too tight, will they send me home, did a family member die, do I have to have an emergency meeting with President Nally (MTC Pres)??? Then I get to the office and they said "you have an one day delivery package. we are obligated to give it to you so we had to call you down" The package was the Bamburry Cross maple bars from Dad, Jed, and the Zwicks! IT WAS SUCH A HUGE RELIEF!! They tasted like a dream! And it was the night before fast Sunday so they totally hit the spot! THANK YOU!!!! 

The "emergency" donut delivery!

I love you all!!!! 

xoxoxoxo

Sorella Fuller