ciao di nuovo.

hello hello

 

another fab week here at the mtc. i love it here. and so should everyone else!

 

thursday:

-discovered the greatest pie at the temple. beus and i deemed p-day as pie day. bummer that they don't sell pie in the wee hours of the morning when we went today. NO idea why.

-we got the lyrics to come thou fount in italian. that song is seriously my testimony set to music. i have yet to sing it without weeping.

 

friday:

-i got the most delicious cookies from the fabulous lisa riddle. i shared with my family (the mtc one) then went to give some to megan. turns out she was heading over to share her riddle family cookies with me. we are spoiled missionaries from the valley park stake. thank you lisa! they were a HIT!

-this was supposed to be a secret but i'm telling you ... joseph smith is at the mtc. remember the restoration movie they play at temple square (and that they play here every sunday night)? well yeah 14 year old joseph is here with brown hair. he's not fooling me. no way. oh and surprise surprise, sorella popular (aka beus) is friends with him.

 

saturday:

-i received the largest tender mercy of my mission thus far. preface: i love disneyland. sister beutler loves disneyland. all we had been talking about this past week was ... that's right ... disneyland. so we got some new roommates last week, sister bradley and sister johnston (going to the honolulu hawaii temple visitors' center...rough life right?). sister johnston hung up a walt disney quote:  "doing the impossible can be fun!" and, of course, beutler and i raved about it. we asked her why someone sent that and she said "oh i used to work at disneyland." WHAT?! "oh yeah i was ariel." WHAT?! we spent the rest of the night like little girls, asking her every question imaginable. i don't have time to tell you all of the secret that i learned (my family can attest to the fact that i LOVE me some good disneyland secrets) SO many nuggets of fun to share with you. i'll send them to court and she can publish them here. you DON'T want to miss this.

-there is an elder in our district that has a catch phrase of the week, i think. he just repeats things over and over. my favorite one is "questo uomo" (meaning "this man") with the thumb pointing at the mentioned "uomo." i die everytime he says it. i don't know why, it's just funny (things are funnier in the mtc and in languages that you pretend to know). we went to saturday's workshop together but the sisters and i were somehow separated from the italian elders. then when we got in they did the classic go-sit-by-someone you-haven't-met-before so we were all alone. scary, right? it was. the speaker asked for a volunteer to pray and some elder that we don't know says "this man will pray" and simultaneously all of the sorelle in my district point to him and say, in unison, "questo uomo." probably nobody is laughing now but i was and am now. you had to be there ... maybe that was a waste of my precious timed time. moving on.

 

sunday:

-i told sister mcmullin, the wife of the second councellor in the branch presidency, all about our "sister ariel johnston." she listened intently but i knew she didn't appriciate it as much as beutler and i did. she later spoke in sacrament (after me ... i was randomly selected to give my talk in italian ... ssscccaarryy, but it was alright) and said that she wants to be me more than any princess. it was classic. love her.

 

monday:

-we got our first new italian sorella! she is from germany and is headed to rome. italian will be her 5th fluent language. yeah, she's cool.

-we teach in what is called the TRC (training resource center) every monday. volunteers from around provo come and we teach them in italian. so far it is one of my favorite tools here at the mtc. it is so inspiring! we taught a 40 minute lesson this week to a girl who just finished her first semester of italian at byu. she is so good! i was so impressed that she came and had a 40 minute discussion with us, all in italian, with only three-ish months of lessons! her mom and dad and sister and brother all served in italy! she's 20 and you better believe i was pushing a mission for her. they should be required for everyone, seriously. best thing i have ever done ever ever ever!

 

tuesday:

-i'm "il nativo" again. so solo italiano all day, errday.

-we cleaned the showers ... again. i heard sister beus gagging in the other shower while she was cleaning the drain and OF COURSE that is when the holy ghost chimed in and told me it was the time i had been waiting for to best serve her. PERCHE?! we suffered together. but when we're helping we're happy ... or at least that is what the other sisters were singing in the bathroom while we fished their moldy hairs out of the shower.

-i predicted all day that elder bednar would speak at the devotional that night. i was wrong. it would've let everyone down but the speaker, rex pinegar, did a beautiful job so we were happy!

-i decided that i am naming a child rex. he'll thank me someday.

 

wednsday:

-we got our 28 new italiani missionari!!! it felt like christmas! we're so happy they are finally here. the sisters are perfection. really. they have been prepared and ready to work! i can't wait to get to know them. oh! 3 are going to rome, so i won't be alone like i thought i might be.

-i felt sick that day and wanted to be able to throughly explain my state of being. so i asked sister beus what she thought the word "to vomit" was. she said "vomitare" and she was right. we are so good at making up words and the best part is we are starting to be right! luckly no vomitare took place.

-mom became the favorite chef at the mtc with her cookie package. congrats mother.

 

i love you all so much. thank you for the prayers and support and the love. please know i am doing my very best to send it right back to you!!

 

love,

sorella wightman