First Week in the MTC!!!

Hello Everyone!

My first week at the MTC has been quite the experience. When I first got here, I was picked up by an Elder from Tonga. He was so nice and helped me with my luggage and find my class. I walked into the the class and my teacher, Fratello Mortenson, said some stuff to me in Italian, and I kind of laughed but it wasn't a joke. We are only allowed to speak Italian in class. It really stressed me out the first two days, and I kind of got frustrated because I couldn't understand anything or express myself. However, they definitely know what they are doing at the MTC because immersing myself in the language has helped me learn a ton in only one week. Anyways, I first need to introduce you to the district. There are 10 of us. 6 going to Rome and 4 gong to Milan. My dorm room is all of the Rome missionaries. It's pretty tight since we all have two years worth of luggage, but we are having a blast.

First, we have Anziano Kelley. I feel so blessed to have him as my companion. He is probably the hardest worker at the entire MTC, yet he is still really funny and is also smiling. He brings an enthusiasm to the work that is contagious. We get along great, and we are both pushing each other to be the best missionaries we can be. All is well here.

Next, we have Anziano Gardenhire. His personality is a lot like mine. We have gone on short exchanges with each othere twice this week. Once to chior practice for the world wide missionary conference thing this Sunday, and we sang Called to Serve and Hark All Ye Nations with 1400 missionaries. It rocked. We also went to pick up something I left in the cafeteria one day, and we stopped in a classroom and he played a sweet rendition of Be Still My Soul on the piano. That really calmed me down when I was super stressed about the language.

That brings us to Anziano Rigby. He is the spiritual giant of us all. He is from Idaho Falls, and he told me that he built his own truck. I thought that was pretty cool. More importantly, I have learned a lot from him. The first thing we learned to do in Italian was share our testimonies and pray. Even though we don't know the language, he still does so with so much sincerity and power. He has definitely made each one of us take this work more seriously.

Anziano Rigby's companion is Anziano Jones. He is probably the most gifted kid I have ever met. We nicknamed the book we are learning Italian out of the purple dragon. Don't ask why. Day 2, Anziano Jones earned the nickname "The Purple Dragon Slayer." He can teach the first 3 discussion in like perfect Italian already. We are all jealous.

Lastly, and surely not least, we have Anziano Romano from Boston. He is going to be the best missionary of us all. He is also the funniest kid I have ever met. We have class 3 hours every morning, 3 hours every afternoon, and 2 hours a couple nights a week. Not one minute of it is boring because of Elder Romano. Yesterday I talked to him for the first time about life back home. I found out a couple things. He was his student body president, the starting quarterback, has Red Sox season tickets, and was the Elders Quorum President his freshman year at BYU. Nuff said. He's the man.

Every night we have an hour in our dorm before we go to bed, and I don't think I have ever laughed harder or had better deep conversations. I feel so blessed to be able to serve with these 5 Elders. They are so great!

Anyways, I will talk some about my teachers now. I'm not even going to lie. My second day in the MTC was one of the most discouraging days I have ever had. I couldn't understand a word that Fratello Mortenson or Fratello Weller said. About 4 of us were almost in tears cause we didn't feel like we were going to be able to do this. Fratello Weller whipped out D&C 90:11, and I don't know if I have ever felt more peace and assurance in my whole life. It says, "For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of thegospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Chirst." We then read Ether 12:27. I've read it a million times, but this time it was different. I have been ordained of God to learn this language and bring these people a message they have been waiting for for a long time. The grace of Christ is sufficient to give me power to do it. It's not in me, it is only through me. That is so humbling. The first night at the MTC, we learned about our purpose as missionaries for a couple hours. Now I know why they did that. If I don't remember my purpose, I would give up. My purpose, "Inviting others to come unto Christ" is such a simple statement, but there is more power behind that invitation than we can comprehend much less put into words. However, I can feel the love of God through the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is how we are learning so fast. I have learned this week that God endows us with power when we work our absolute hardest to do his will. I have studied Italian a ridiculous amount of hours and humbled myself before God more than I ever have in an attempt to learn this language. Every day at 3, Anziano Kelley and I teach a girl named Valeria who acts as an investigator for us. The first 2 or 3 times is was a trainwreck. I was reading of questions and scriptures the whole time and I couldn't even pronounce the stuff right. Yesterday, I was able to pray, share my testimony, and 4 or 5 principles without notes. I can't believe that happened in a week.

Other notable experiences from the week: our entire hall wanted to sing Called to Serve one night, but we couldn't fit anywhere with enough light, so we went into the bathroom haha. There are about 60 missionaries on my hall (probably 40 Italian and 20 Romanian). Singing Called to Serve in a bathroom with 60 missionaries was pretty awesome. Devotional last night in the Marriot Center was great. Elder Gay of the First Quorum of the Seventy spoke. There were 4,000 missionarieis there. I feel so much better when I see the kids with Russian, Chinese, or Finnish tags. I know they have it way harder than I do, haha. Today our whole district went to a session at the temple together today. It was so great! I have been worried a lot about the language, but it was great to enter the House of the Lord and just ponder the big questions: Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going? That is why we are going on missions. We know the truth to the answers of these questions. The temple always gives me so much perspective/motivation to keep going.

Also, thank everyone who sent me emails/letters. All the missionaries sprint to the mailbox every day like kids running down the stairs on Christmas. Mail is worth more than gold here.

I almost forgot, Fratello Weller wrote the most powerful thing on the board ever when we were all pretty discouraged. "Italiano non e un muro. E non vi blocca." Italian is not a wall. It does not stop us. This gave me so much hope. When I get to Rome, my words will be simple, but they will be powerful because the Spirit will be with us. That's what it is all about.

Take care everyone. Please keep sending letters. I only get 60 minutes every Wednesday to email so letters are preferable because reading emails cuts out of my emailing time. Love you all!

Pace,

Anziano Smith