Leaving for Italy

Ciao Tutti!

 

so we got out travel plans this week. uh....... what??? yeah. so we leave the mtc tuesday morning around 8am and we fly out at 11:30. crazzzyyyy! i am so excited but also very very VERY nervous. my district leader shared Deut. 31:6,8 with me on friday night which really helped me feel peace about going to a new country and trying to somehow communicate the message of salvation to italians. God won't forsake me. ever.

 

in sacrement on sunday i sang "Be Still My Soul" ("Anima Mia") and it went really well. i'm getting pretty good at singing in italian ;] after i sang, my branch president spoke and shared one of my favorite scriptures that i've had written out by my desk- D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." man.. i feel like his whole talk was directed toward me. it was awesome. my branch presidencey is awesome.

 

so i have been super stressed about the language and praying and praying and PRAYING for help and i know that God has been guiding me through this whole process but it hasn't been the least bit easy, and i know its because He had a lot for me to learn. I have been struggling and stuggling with the language but for some reason, since this past monday, the language has been a lot more fluid for me and coming more easily. for the first time i talked the majority of the time in one of our lessons, after which, my teacher pulled me aside and asked what i did to prepare and told me that that was my best lesson i had taught up to this point.

this later monday night we had TRC (talking to returned missionaries and native italians) and i shared an experience in italian and i talked for like 15 minutes straight. i didn't even know i had 15 minutes of italian in me! ;]

anyway- after TRC, the volunteers write little evaluations of how we did and both of our slips mentioned me personally and said how good my italian is. yeah. God's blessing me...... a ton.....

 

okay well this will be the last email i write from the provo MTC. keep the letters coming to me in Italy!

Sorella Sudweeks

Italy Rome Mission

Piazza Carnaro 20

00141 Rome, Italy

 

vi voglio bene!!

 

Sorella Sudweeks

Real Investigator

lots to say and not much time! here goes!!

so this last week has been the hardest but the best! at the beginning of the week i had started to get a little discouraged because of how the language isn't coming along as fast as i had hoped and how i didn't feel adiquate enough to be teaching this gospel. and i was just overwhelmed..... i got a blessing from one of the elders in my district one night and i didn't even really tell him what was bothering me and the blessing he gave me was amazing and addressed every fear and concern i had about being here. it was the craziest thing. after the blessing i talked to my companions about it and sorella christensen said "its cause they weren't his words..." i know the priesthood is real and that those who are worthy to hold it hold the power of God. what a beautiful blessing!

this last sunday was fast and testimony meeting and our entire ZONE got to bare our testimonies in italian. it was so cool and so powerful! at our last fast and testimony meeting non of us could speak hardly any italian and now we are bearing witness of what we know in a very powerful way. its really awesome to see our progression.

so we have been doing this thing lately where one companionship teaches and the other companionship and the teacher get to watch through this mirrored window and observe our lessons. in preparation for our lessons, i usually write out sentences of things i need to say during the lesson cause i dont feel confident in italian. one of the elders in my district challenged me this week to not bring my notebook into my next lesson. i really really didn't want to but i knew it was necessary so i took the challenge. the lesson went AMAZING. it was SO hard but so awesome because i had to rely completely on the spirit to help me know what i should say and how to say it. it was awesome.

so now i am not allowed to bring my notebook into any lesson haha.... its good for me though.

okay! so remember Gabrielle, the cardullo's italian friend who came over for dinner that one night? who isn't a member? well he came to TRC monday as a REALLLLLL investagator!! it was sooo awesome and i hope he comes back. some elders in my district got to teach him which is UNREAL for the mtc. so cool! we sang to him in italian and it was just remarkable.

a couple nights ago one of my favorite sisters here left the mtc. Sister Mackenzie Gannon! montreal mission! shout out! love you girl and hope you are doing well. see you in 18 months ;]

um...... well we got our new district yesterday!! that means we are the old ones. i remember when we first came in, the old district seemed like they were YEARS ahead of us and now.. that's how we are to them. weird.

well i have less than 3 weeks left! i love you all!

Sorella Sudweeks