Half Way!

Oh hi guys, guess what?

I am officially half done with my stint at the MTC. Can you believe it? It seems like forever and/or I just got here all at the same time. But I really can tell I'm learning. It's actually kind of hard to see the difference day to day of how much Italian I know, but yesterday when we did SYL (speak your language (only speaking Italian)) it felt so much more natural. I seriously get so pumped that I'm going to be speaking freaky Italian to freaky Italians in freaky Italy. My life! Mia vita!

We're supposed to bare our testimony to a couple people everyday, in Italian of course. So I was talking to some Ukranians who have been here a few weeks longer. Their friends walked up to join them and they said, "Dude, you missed it, she just bore her testimony like a boss. I can't speak nearly that fast in Ukranian and I've been here almost 7 weeks." Naturally I replied, as Jay-Z would have. "Ladies is pimps is too, go on brush yous shoulders off," then brushed off said shoulders. JK.

But the moral of the story is that sto imperando! But you should know what important thing I learned I was doing wrong this week and have said dozens of times. So don't be confused, Gesu Cristo non ha soffrito per nostri peccati, lui ha sofferto per nostri peccati.

Yup, that's right. He was not deep fried for our sins, he suffered for them. WHY did it take my teacher 7,000 years to tell me that?? I don't know.

So life continues to barrel on and I'm quite content. I sent you a tape for Christmas on Monday, my hope is that it gets to you in time for you to listen to it Christmas Eve. Ci sono troppo missionari qui nel MTC, non posso parlare con voi, ma in Gennaio quando starò in Chicago. Last night we heard from Elder L. Whitney Clayton. Maybe I was slightly dissapointed it wasn't un'apostolo (I mean we had D. Todd here right before Thanksgiving), but we decided he could be part of the Whitney Club we're forming. We're not sure what it entails, at least t-shirts, and def a club house of some kind. AND THEN he had all his kids stand up and I was like holda holda, I totally know his youngest sons. He and Kev were good dude friends and I see him in the cafeteria all the time since he teaches here, and I was like Sorella Bunker, we could totally extend him a formal invitation to join the Whitney Club. He would be secretary because he has a great booming movie kind of voice, perfect for recounting minutes from our previous meetings.

Our teaching continues to improve. Our main goals have been about asking good questions to really engage the investigators and it makes all the difference. I really do love teaching and I feel really lucky that I've been blessed with the ability to connect with people and connect with them and make them feel loved.

I think last week I talked about how prayer is pretty much the best thing evs, so now I'll tell you how I'm obsessed with the Book of Mormon. I think it's because I love to read and my options are now super-limited, not to mention my time. But this is the first time where I feel like I'm really feasting on what I'm reading, I'm reading to learn and find answers to questions and prayers, that combined with the fact that I think this is the fastest I've read the Book of Mormon, at least with a desire to really comprehend. I mean I feel like I do kind of when I read real books. I'm attached to the characters and amazed by there lives, and I want to keep reading to find out what will happen next. It really is true that that book can come alive. It can mean different things at different times and you can be continually learning from it, and as much as I wanted to get on past 2 Nephi, the begining of Nephi really is the perfect start to the whole book. I mean he just testifies over and over of God's power and His love for us. Who doesn't want to here that kind of shiz all the time?

Another goal I've had this week is to really get up ay 6:30 when I'm supposed to. For awhile I didn't really feel the need because I don't need hardly any time to get ready in the morning, but Sorella Miller is always testifying to us the power of obedience and how blessed we can be when we decide to be obedient, and man, I really feel that. Everything has been a little easier. I feel like I'm finally using my language study time well, I'm asking better questions when I teach, I'm getting more out of BOM reading and even gym time is easier for me to use wisely. Yesterday Sorella Bunker and I got up to running 4 miles. Yes that translates to 40 times around the hampster wheel, but it's so worth it. Plus we have a good system. I tell her gossipy stories from my life and she askes clarifying questions and counts our laps. Plus Grandma Sandi is a lady and a gem and sent me cuties this week, and one of my Rachels sent me a package filled with Whole Foods joy. For a few days I shall be eating like a real person.

I've even gotten better at being an example to the Anziani. I cannot make jokes during class pretty much ever, unless they're in Italian, because they get so distracted. But every now and then when I'm with the Sorelle I just stop thinking about what I say and we have some pretty great laughs. Sorella Forbes got a "Grow Your Own Nutcracker" thing in a package and she said "Look! It grows 600%!" Of course I immediately said, "I wish I could say the same for all men." She was doubled over for minutes. We have plenty of fun. Plus the spirit is here so strongly, why wouldn't I love the MTC?

Ian, I'll keep sending you letters everyweek, but I think it's time you write back again. Pentiti! I mean, if I can find the time to send you a letter with everything I'm doing, I bet you can find time. Good luck with the sleep study! I'm excited to see how all this blood work shiz will help you out.

And thanks to everyone who has sent me letters! I can officially say today that if you've ever written to me I have written you back. Sometimes I worry about my mail getting to people when I don't here back from them but now you can all know who should or should have be getting something. I can't tell you how much it means to get mail here. The days are long and when the mail comes at dinner it always feels great to remember how many people there are that love you and are thinking about you. After a letter I got from Mads this week I was thinking about how many great people there are in my life, and how a think a bit of me always stays with the people and places I love, and I can't wait to leave pieces of me all over Italy, even if it makes life a little more painful, it also makes it infinitly more beautiful.

Buon Natale! Sto pendando da voi sempre. Vi amo. I hope you get some snow and everyone gets healthy and you get some time to just relax and think about how glorious was Christ's birth, and what that means for us and for the world.

Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Bush

P.S. All I want to do these days is read Strega Nonna's Christmas, I feel like that's where all my previous expectations of Italian Christmas came from. Also, the Bunker Fam reads the Selfish Giant every Christmas so Sorella had them send it over and she read it to me as a bed time story this week. I am living the dream!

Okay, I don't remember what else I wanted to say, but I am now three minutes over (gasp). I hope you all celebrated my half birthday. Ha, can you believe six months ago we were in Hawaii?! Let's go back when Ian gets home from his mish, okay?

love love love amore amore amore per sempre, e ci vediamo