08.28.13 {week 5}

Ciao ciao!

Well, this is my last email from the MTC.  Can you believe it??  I can't.  We got our travel plans this week.  We meet at the travel office here at 5:30 on Tuesday morning.  Then from SLC, we'll head to Chicago, then London, then Milan.  We'll get to Milan around noon (Italia time) on Wednesday.  Ahhh!  So excited.  I'll send you a picture of my travel plans so that you have times and flight numbers and everything.  I'm not sure when I'll be calling yet.  So expect a call from me either in SLC in the morning, or in Chicago, early afternoon.  :)

Thanks for the pictures of Aunt Peggy's funeral.  It was beautiful, just as I predicted.  And Grandma looked lovely.  Mom, I got the package you sent me with the treats for my district!  Thank you!  And I got the gift and card from Grandma.  I'll be writing her today, but in the meantime, tell her I say thank you!  I also got a party in a box from Mitch - awesome.  :)  And thanks to Shelley for the music and the stickers!!  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Getting mail is the best.

I can't believe Nora's getting baptized THIS SATURDAY.  I got the adorable invitation in the mail!  It made me sad that I won't be there, though.  I'm sure it will be incredible.  Give the kiddos hugs from me!  I'm so sorry to hear about Casey Sorensen.  That is so sad.  I'm glad you guys were able to go to the funeral and I'm sure Dad's words brought a lot of comfort.  Gosh, I keep getting all this bad news.  What in the world?

I hope you had a happy anniversary!  Sounds like the exhibit was cool - I have very faint memories of going to museums and movies and out to dinner, and the like.  Those were the days, weren't they?  Glad to hear you got the letter from my district.  My district's the best.  One day we just decided we wanted to write each other's families, so we drew names and then wrote letters.  It was fun.  When I think about how we're going to be split up next week I just....I can't think about it.  It makes me really sad.  We had to say goodbye to Sorella Fairbanks yesterday.  Oh my goodness, let me tell you about Sorella Fairbanks.  She is incredible.  Whenever I would be walking down the hall to our classroom and I would see her sitting in there, I would just automatically get so happy!  She is probably one of the sweetest people I've ever met.  Yesterday was her last day because she's heading to DC for an internship.  For the last hour yesterday, she just answered all of our questions about Italy and she showed us pictures of the people that she taught in Italy.  So the "investigators" that we've been teaching here are real people that she taught in Italy.  It was awesome.  She just got me so excited to head to Italy.  SO excited.  I may or may not have gotten a little emotional when she left.  And then we ran into her this morning in the dressing room of the temple!  It was great.  I love her.  Oh and yesterday, at the end of class, she made predictions of where each of us would be assigned first.  She guessed that I would go to Como first (She called it "Cieli sulla terra" = "Heaven on earth").  One can only hope!

This week was a good one.  Yesterday was kind of crazy.  The four of us sisters had to make a stop at the BYU Urgent Care because one of us was ill.  And, just...lots of stuff.  Let's just say, we're glad yesterday is over and we don't plan on every repeating it.  BUT last night, Elder Neil A. Andersen came to speak at the devotional.  He gave an awesome talk about missionary work.  And then, when the devotional ended, President Willis got up and said that we were just going to hang out in the Marriot Center for a while because there was a bad lightning storm outside.  It was pretty exciting.  So we all just hung out in there for a while, singing hymns - oh, the life of a missionary.  My collega, Sorella Carter, prayed for the power to go out because that would have been even more exciting.  Especially since none of us have phones.  No phones = no light.  But, alas, the power stayed on and we eventually braved the storm.  So the Anziani gave us their suit coats to hold over us as we made the trek back to the MTC.  It was POURING.  It was so much fun.  And bonus!  District meeting was cancelled.  ;)  On Sunday night, we watched "Legacy" in Italian!  That was super cool!  I couldn't understand all of it, but I could understand quite a bit.  Granted, it's a church movie.  And I only know how to talk about the church in Italian, so that worked out nicely.

Since I've been at the MTC, I've gotten two "You look like Rachel McAdams" comments and one "You look like Emma Stone" comment.  That was exciting - especially since I haven't heard that one about Rachel for a year or two (we're on a first name basis, apparently).  And I'm pretty sure the Emma Stone one was only because I was wearing lipstick.  And cuz I have bangs.  And after the random girl stopped me to tell me that I look like Emma Stone in "Spiderman" she said, "Yeah, you totally look like her...from the side."  So it doesn't really count.  But I'm counting it!

Random things that made me laugh this week:

We tried giving companionships names this week by putting their names together (you know, like Brangelina...) and my favorite one was for Sorelle Spencer and Marquis - Sparquis! (Sounds like Sparky.)  Sorella Carter's and my name is Gunter...which sounds pretty nerdy.  So it works.

So there's this "missionary fairy" in our district that leaves random gifts on the elders' desks with punny notes having to do with the gift.  The elders don't know who's doing it.  (At one point they thought it might be Fratello Cena.  Oh, if only you knew Fratello Cena, you would know how funny the thought of him leaving gifts on our desks is.  He's pretty serious.  It's definitely not him.)  Anyway, on Tuesday morning the four of us sisters came into our classroom to find a leaf on each of our desks with a note that said, "You're great!  You leaf in one week!"  Our elders are so punny.

We were at a meeting a week and a half ago where the MTC Presidency's wives were talking to us about how to dress and look and fun stuff like that.  One of them started talking about how wearing makeup is optional, but recommended since we're supposed to look our best.  She literally likened it to "painting the barn."  .......So apparently our barns need painting.  It's fine.  Gotta love the MTC.

Instead of #YOLO?  #YOLFE.  (You only live for ever.)  Guys, we're funny.

Well, the next time you get an email from me, I will be in ITALIA!!!  Can't wait.  Thanks again for all of your love and support.  I'm doing my best to prepare to serve the beautiful people of Italy!  I know next week is going to be hard, so any extra prayers would be greatly appreciated.  Most importantly, the church is true and I can't wait to start declaring this gospel in Italy.  :)  Wish me luck!  AMORE!

Sorella Gunnerson

Us with Sorella Fairbanks.

This is us after walking home in the rain.

Sorella Carter and me on Sunday!  (With guest appearances by Minion and Sorella Marquis.)  Temple walk!  Good times.  That third picture is one of my favorite pictures of all time.  Love her!

Sorella Marquis gave me a haircut this morning.  She's the best!

Sorella Carter likes to share her package spoils with me.  This time?  Fuzzy socks!

08.21.13 - {week 4}

Ciao, famiglia!

It's so good to be writing you again!  And I was so happy to get so many emails this morning!  You guys are the best.  First off, I'm so sorry to hear about Aunt Peggy.  I'm so sad, but how great is it that we have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation??  I'm always so excited to teach our investigators about that, because it brings so much hope and happiness!  I know that so many people were excited to greet her in heaven, especially Uncle Bill.  I hope the funeral goes well this weekend - I'm sure it will be beautiful.  Please let me know how Grandma's doing with all of this.  I'm worried about her.

Well, all is well here at the MTC!  We're 2/3 of the way through!  This makes me both incredibly excited and incredibly nervous.  I don't know enough!  But I CANNOT wait to get to Italy.  We get our travel plans this Friday!  I've heard that they send them to your family as well, but I don't know that for sure.  If not, I'll be sure to let you know the plan next Wednesday.  This week was pretty normal.  Monday was the best Monday here so far.  And we even had to go to TRC on Monday, so that's saying something!  But TRC went really well.  We were supposed to teach about the Book of Mormon, and I tell you what, I have NO problem testifying about that book.  I fall more in love with it every day.  We taught one girl who just barely got back from the Milan mission, so that was awesome!  And then, Anziano Barrow's parents both speak Italian so they came and volunteered at TRC and we got to teach his mom.  It was awesome and she was so sweet.  The volunteers have to leave comments after and hers made my day!  (I'll send a picture of it...)  And then Tuesday was also great!  We taught Dario for...I think the sixth time?  And it went well for the first time...  We taught about the Atonement and the Spirit was SO strong.

You know what's beautiful?  The Italian language.  I'm still struggling but, holy smokes, I love speaking it!  We've been trying to translate random songs this week.  We attempted doing "Carry On" by Fun and putting the words from the hymn "Carry On" to the Fun tune...  It did not work so well.  BUT we translated the theme from Arthur.  Yes, the cartoon.  Arthur.  So that was random.  And awesome.  "E dico, 'Ai!'"  

We were working on learning past tenses this week and we found out that we've been saying something VERY wrong...  The verb for suffer is "soffrire", so if you go by the regular rules of making it past tense, it would be "soffrito."  So all along we've been saying that Jesus "soffrito" for our sins.  But...we just found out a few days ago that the correct conjugation for that verb is "sofferto" and the word that we've been using ("soffrito") actually means "deep fried."  So...you get the picture.  Whoops.

Funny story:  A couple of anziani in my district were teaching an "investigator" the other day.  She asked them a question.  She thought they were asking if they believe in repentance.  So of course they nodded their heads and said yes.  They came to find out AFTER the lesson, that she had actually asked if, in our church, we confess to priests.  Haha we laughed about that one for a long time.

Whenever we remind Sorella Spencer to SYL (speak your language) when she's telling a story, she just talks quieter.  She's hilarious.

This guy named Vai Sikahema came and spoke to us on Sunday night for the devotional (I know he's, like, really famous in football or something, but...that means nothing to me.  Sorry.)  Anyway, he was AWESOME.  He basically just told this story of a guy he converted while on his mission and the guy was there and helped him tell the story.  It was great.  And last night Richard J. Maynes from the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke.  He talked about how there is a linkage between people and about how we must play our part well so that none of the links go missing.  We must find the people we're supposed to share the gospel with so that they can share it with the people they're supposed to and so forth.  Devotionals are my favorite.

Anyway, that's about all that's going on here!  Sounds like the house is going to look totally different by the time I come home!  And the internet will work!  That's exciting.  ;)  Sounds awesome though - you'll have to send me some pictures.  To answer some of your questions, my arm is pretty much all better now.  It was pretty bad for a couple of days, but it's all good.  Mom, I got the music and pictures you sent!  As well as the raincoat.  Thank you!!  Yes, I did get the letters from Keith and Heather - I sent them a letter - did they get it??  Basically just send any recipes you feel I would want, I have no idea.  Oh and can you send me some family history stories?  That would be awesome.  Hey, you all should send me more pictures (especially those of you with children!) and I don't have a way to print them off here, so if you could send me hard copies every once in a while, that would be awesome.  Basically, I would love to have all the ones you sent me in the email today, Mom.  And if you could print off a couple of those ones from Egypt/Israel/Jordan, that would be cool to have!  Even though I look twelve.  Oh, and Mom, could you send me a hard copy of that picture of me with Grandma on the day I came into the MTC?  I still don't have a good one of the two of us.  THANK YOU!

Thanks for all of your support and letters and packages!  They seriously mean the world to me!  I'm working on writing everyone back - it'll happen eventually.  :)  (P.S. Bep - the cookies were perfect!)  Hey, guess what?  The church is true!  AMORE!

Sorella Gunnerson

Sometimes we just gather all of the random food that has been sent to us and eat it all.  This festa was extra special because Sorella Carter had just received a Harry Potter themed package!  So we had butterbeer and chocolate frogs!

We all have animal sweaters so...we wore them.  And then we took double chin pictures for some reason.

  They're weird like me - it's fine.

The evaluation of our lesson at TRC with Mamma Barrow!  Love her!  (I taped this evaluation in my journal - I'll have it forever!)  Also, the second picture is so great.  On Sunday night, we (the four sorelle) got home from movie night to find this taped to our door!  Anziano Pinnock drew the picture and then all of the anziani in our district wrote down their favorite scriptures!  Then they gave it to the other sorelle in our zone to put on our door. It made our night!  We may or may not have gotten a little teary-eyed.  

We love those anziani of ours!

This is Sorella Carter and me RIGHT NOW.  In our Italia shirts!

08.14.13 {week 3}

Ciao Family!

 

Here we are again at another P-Day.  Cosa??  That's cray. 

 

This week was pretty normal except for ELDER SCOTT SPOKE AT THE DEVOTIONAL LAST NIGHT.  It was seriously incredible.  We've known since choir practice on Sunday that there was going to be someone big coming because we found out it was going to be broadcast to all of the other MTCs around the world.  So we were really excited.  And for good reason!  He spoke about missionary work a little bit.  When he first got up there he could barely speak because he was so emotional and then he said, "I love missionaries."  Cue the sniffles throughout the women's section of the choir.  He mostly focused on prayer.  And it was so refreshing because he kept telling us things that we say to investigators a lot:  "Prayer is communication with God.  He wants to hear from you.  He loves you."  I feel so blessed to be on the "giving" end of those words almost every day, but it was so nice to be on the "receiving" end.  He also talked about the three ways we receive answers to prayers.  First, we feel peace, which indicates "yes."  Second, we feel bad or a stupor of thought, which indicates "no."  Third, we feel neither of these feelings because we just need to make the decision on our own.  And then he said, "When God gives you no response, thank Him for having so much faith in you."  Incredible, right??  I had never thought of that before.  And then, after the closing prayer, everyone just sat in silence forEVER because the spirit was just so strong.  And then Elder Scott finally got up to leave the stage, so we all stood and he just kept waving to us as he walked out.  And then at one point he yelled, "Be good!"  I adore him.  Guys, I can't even explain how happy I am to be on a mission.  Last night, after the devotional, I was practically giddy with happiness.  I just couldn't wipe the smile off my face.  I am so in love with this work.  It's hard and my patience is tested every second of every day, but I seriously love it.

 

On to other things...I got the most incredible packages in the mail this week!  Thanks to Tammy, Mom and Dad, Mitch, and Bep!  I was so overwhelmed with love this week from everyone.  Thank you!  Yes mom, I got the cookies as well.  SO YUMMY.  And thank you for sending my nail polish and everything else in there.  It was perfect.  And Bep, thanks for almost making me cry with the letters/pictures your kids did for me.  ;)  I showed off JB's letter to my district and they all thought it was adorable.  Probably because it was.  And thanks to everyone for the letters/dearelders/emails I've received!  I'm working on getting back to everyone!  (P.S. Amy, I haven't received any doughnuts yet...you should definitely talk to that company you ordered them through.)

 

We had a fire drill in one of our buildings today.  That was exciting (we're a little bit starved for excitement here, can you tell?).  I decided it's because the Anziani kept yelling "Fuoco!" the week before.  They were practically asking for it.  But, alas, no fire.  I've found that the quickest way to gain respect from the Anziani in my zone is with four simple words: "I have a degree."  Haha, hey it's good for something!  ;)  Also, praying in public isn't weird anymore, so that's weird.  Everyone's just praying in public all the time here.  Good ol' MTC.  Oh, I got my chicken pox vaccine on Monday and my body is reacting kinda strangely.  I have a large hive/rash thing right where I got the shot.  We've been tracking it, and it keeps getting bigger every day.  But I don't want to go to the health clinic because I think they'll make me spend more money.  And that shot was a hundred bucks!  Anyway, I'm sure I'll be fine.  If it gets worse, I'll go get it looked at.  It's just kinda strange.

 

Mom, to answer your question, no I have not sung in Sacrament Meeting.  I do play the piano for all the songs though.  There are only three weeks for me to have musical numbers (because the other two weeks are fast Sundays) and I really wouldn't be comfortable taking one of those for myself.  We had four of the Sorelle in our zone sing this last Sunday and we have an Anziano playing a piano solo this Sunday.  We have a ton of musical talent in our zone, so I am just here as a support.  :)  I am going to audition to sing at a fireside/meeting thing though.  Speaking of, Mom, can you send me a copy of "Once There Was One"?  Their music library here leaves much to be desired.  If you could send that to me ASAP that would be great!  Thanks!  You da best!  Anyway, so we'll see how that audition goes.  I'm also accompanying people in my zone for three other auditions.  Yay music!

 

I'm glad to hear the reunion went well!  I hope you gave everyone my love and painted as many faces with a big red "U" as possible.  ;)  Can someone please give me an update on Reesie?  I'm worried.  And I did not like hearing about what happened with Grandma.  I hope she's okay.  Hopefully the transition to Aunt Jan's house can happen sooner rather than later.  She's in my prayers.  You all are!  Hey I got the pictures you sent and that suitcase is AWESOME.  Thanks, Dad!!  Good eye!  I can't wait to see it...when I get home...in 18 months minus three weeks....  (But who's counting?)

 

We got to go to the temple this morning!!!!  Oh my goodness, best morning ever.  And we got to watch the new temple video.  Have you guys seen it??  It's so incredible!  I loved every second of it!  Also, you know NieNie?  And her sister CJane?  Well I've followed CJane's blog for forever, so I feel like I basically know her and her family (even though I obviously don't) and CJane's husband is the new Peter!  I was shocked!  Anyway, it was awesome.  Go to the temple, everyone.

 

This is random, but my companion has a blog also!  kynialikethecountry.blogspot.com  Just in case you want to hear about our experiences from her point of view.  :)  She's the best, so I have no doubt that her emails are awesome.

 

We had a bunch of lessons this week.  Some great!  Some good.  Some...not so good.  We have one simpatizzante (investigator), Dario (who's actually Fratello Cena), who didn't believe in God when we first met with him.  That's super hard.  Because you have to try to get them to build that foundation.  During our second lesson we taught him about the Restoration and I recited Joseph Smith's vision (memorized in Italian!) and toward the end of the lesson he said, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand why this is important for me to know."  Dude.  It broke our hearts.  It was rough.  At our third lesson with him, we talked about the Holy Ghost and at one point he got all teary-eyed and the spirit was so strong and I felt like I should ask him if he believes in God.  So I did.  And he said, "I don't know, but I want to."  YOU KNOW, DARIO.  That's what I wanted to say.  It is so hard when people won't recognize that what they're feeling is the spirit!  The love of God!  And this isn't even a "real" person!  I'm sure it will only become more heartbreaking when I'm in Italy.  But the spirit was there and I know he felt it, so I have faith that he will continue to progress.  We also taught a "less active" member this week.  We went in with this whole plan of what we were going to talk about - we were going to talk about prayer.  We had scriptures ready and everything.  But we got in there and he started telling us about hard things in his life and we didn't even touch what we were going to teach.  We ended up going a totally different route - talking about il piano di salvezza and l'amore di Dio.  It was such a cool experience.  It was one of the first real missionary moments for Sorella Carter and me.  It was awesome.  Missionary work is so great, guys.

 

Things we learned from watching "The Testaments" on Sunday night?

How to pick up chicks 101:

1. Throw rocks at her

2. Use creepy pick up lines (i.e. "I know your name...")

3. Trip over the baskets

(Also the end of that movie made me bawl like a baby.  You should all watch it.  Right now.  Just watch it.)

 

Anziano Petersen, in the most serious, concerned voice: "Guys, I have a secular song stuck in my head..."

 

Anziano Barrow: "In the real world, the saying is 'There's an app for that.'  In the MTC, the saying is, 'There's a rule for that.'"

 

Well, I'm running out of time, but I love you all!  Lots of love from the MTC!

 

Sorella Gunnerson

Our living quarters!  (Amy, be sure to show Ava that her pictures are taped up right by my bed.  And Bep, Claire's and JB's will be there soon!)  (Also, did you notice my awesome companion's awesome bedspread?  Yeah, we're best friends.) 

 I just had to take pictures of the incredible things Tammy sent me!  It was so incredibly nice of her!  And look at those cookies!!!

Some of the anziani in my district.  They're the best.  (And we found an elder with the last name of Franco!  So Anziano Hansen [the lost Franco brother] borrowed it for a sec and we took a picture.)

08.07.13 {week 2}

Ciao!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm already writing you again!  This week has just flown by.  It's been such a great week.  Still not easy, but I already see myself stretching and growing.  I really have no choice...  Haha.  Where to start?  Well we got to go to the Provo Temple this morning to clean!  The temple's been closed for the past couple of weeks (it opens again on Monday), so we've been kind of sad that we wouldn't be able to go for a while but then our district got chosen to clean this morning!  I was SO excited!  I've always wanted to clean the temple, but never have before.  It's like Heavenly Father knows me or something...  ;)  There were only two districts there cleaning and guess what the sisters got to do?  Clean the crystal chandeliers in the sealing rooms.  It was so cool.  We had to take each and every small part out and clean it with vinegar and wear white gloves and everything.  It was awesome.  And then they gave us a tour and everything.  So now I just know all of the inner workings of the temple.  BEST MORNING.

We did TRC for the first time on Monday.  Oh man, it was crazy.  So basically, you just go in and meet some random person and just teach them whatever you/they want to hear for twenty minutes.  We were so nervous.  The first girl we taught was from Italy and spoke SO FAST.  She would go on talking and talking and then she would stop and just look at us and Sorella Carter and I would just look at each other with wide eyes.  And then we'd just find a scripture and start talking about it...  Haha.  It was interesting.  And then our second person was this older lady from Colorado (not sure why she's fluent in Italian) and she was my favorite person all day.  She was so sweet and talked at a relatively normal speed and the Spirit was so strong even though we were speaking Tarzan Speak and we asked her to give the closing prayer and she got all choked up, so we got all choked up and it was just incredible.  I was so glad we had her second because she made us feel like we might actually be able to do this.  ;)  We've started teaching our teachers as if they're investigators also, which is so intimidating!  But they're awesome, so it's okay.

I've taken a liking to yoga.  So that's exciting.  I might, like, actually get into it when I get home.  We get up early on Thursdays and Saturdays (Didja hear that, Mom?  I voluntarily get up early on Saturdays!) to go to these yoga classes they offer.  It's basically my new favorite thing here.

Guys.  My district is the best district in the history of districts.  I seriously love everyone so much.  Sometimes we all love each other a little TOO much.  Like, sometimes we can't sing songs or say prayers reverently because we're laughing so hard at something someone did or said right before or during said song or prayer.  Ugh I'm so weird.  Laughter is pretty much the only way to get through this and stay sane, though.  Everyone is just so funny.

I was so overwhelmed with treats this week, everyone!  Thank you SO much!  They make my day every time.  And if I get fat here, it's not going to be because of the MTC cafeteria food, it's gonna be because of all the yummy cupcakes and cookies y'all send!  They're the best.

Time is really weird here.  Every day feels so incredibly long.  On Monday, I literally thought that something that had happened that morning had happened the day before.  It's so weird.  But then to think that our last P-Day was a week ago seems crazy!  That was just yesterday!  That saying "A day feels like a week, but a week feels like a day" is SO true.  I didn't get it at first, but I do now.

Some funny things that happened this week that may or may not be funny in the real world (I really can't tell anymore):

We've named the area where you drop off your tray in the cafeteria the fire swamp, because it's really nasty and muggy.  Many "Princess Bride" jokes have ensued because of it.

One day we were all sitting around talking about what we like and don't like about English and Italian.  Anziano Hansen said genuinely, "The thing I like about English...is that I speak it."  Truer words have never been spoken.

Sorella Spencer is constantly wandering off and everyone's always asking Sorella Marquis where she is.  Sorella Marquis always jokes about getting a leash for her and her new response to that question is going to be, "She got out."

The Anziani kept using the word "fuoco" to help us focus in class when we'd go off on random tangents.  They thought it meant focus, but it really means fire.  So they've basically just been yelling "Fire!" in our building all the time.

One day, Sorella Carter and I were heading to the bathroom but Sorella Marquis thought we were going to go teach the investigator, so she said "Buona fortuna!"  So now whenever anyone goes to the bathroom, we're sure to wish them luck in there!

Anziano Petersen was teaching one of the investigators on Monday at TRC.  The lady was telling them that her grandmother is in the hospital and not doing so well.  Anziano Petersen thought she said her grandma was dead, so in response to "My grandma's in the hospital," Anziano Petersen said, "Oh, I'm so sorry.  My grandma's dead, too."  We all had a good laugh about it after.  I'm literally laughing about that one as I type this.

We were learning about times and dates in class yesterday and so our teacher asked us what time we go to sleep.  Anziano Barrow, without skipping a beat: "In two years."

I seriously love it here, guys.  It's weird.  And class is hard.  And if I didn't have the district I have, I might go crazy.  But it's awesome.  Oh, one night there was this massive insect flying around our room.  We named it Moby Dick and then I killed it.  Just call me Ishmael.

Thank you all so much for the love and support!  It really means so much and makes this whole experience that much better and more surmountable.  I love this gospel with all my heart and I'm so excited to dedicate the next year and a half of my life to it.  LOVE!

Sorella Gunnerson

Our room on our first night here at the MTC!  Left to right: Sora Smith (Romania), Sorella Spencer, ME!, Sorella Marquis, Sora Newell (Romania), and Sorella Carter.

Our district in our class!  Don't ask what the creepy flags to the left of the Italian flag are - we have no idea.

Sorella Carter is crazy about Dr. Pepper so we have a whole stash in our room from random packages she receives.  She likes to share with me.  She's the best!

This last Sunday at the temple.  (Did you notice our Italian flag?  Yeah, we're cool like that.)

This picture was taken about an hour ago as we were trying to go through our mail before getting back on the computers and writing peeps back.  Crazy!  You guys are the best!

Sorella Carter and me on our first Sunday at the MTC.

My district on our first Sunday.  L to R, Back row: Anziano Graham, Anziano Petersen, Anziano Barrow, Anziano Pinnock, Anziano Hansen.  L to R, Front row: Sorella Spencer, Sorella Marquis, ME!, Sorella Carter

Classic map picture.  Minus the anziani.  Whoops.  We'll take an official district one soon.