Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

Buongiorno Tutti!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving here was pretty enjoyable. We were surprised in the morning by Elder Richard G. Scott who spoke at the morning devotional. He gave a great talk on gratitude. At the end of his talk he told us that he was going to be the speaker for Tuesday devotional as well. So that's who we heard from again at yesterday's devotional. But let me finish with Thanksgiving Day.

After the devotional we had a neat humanitarian fireside. It's really neat and amazing how much the church helps when natural disasters happen. So anyways, half of us missionaries went and put first-aid kits together while the other half of us had a "sing-a-long" where we learned about the stories behind some hymns and then sang them. Then we had our "Thanksgiving Feast." Definitely not a satisfying Thanksgiving meal, but what can you expect with 2000+ missionaries to feed. We got to take an hour nap which was pretty nice. We ended the night off with a fireside by John Bytheway. It was surprisingly good. So yeah, that was my Thanksgiving in the MTC.

Friday was a normal day in the classroom. Just worked on our lesson for Monday. Saturday was service day. We empty all the trashes in 11M- the TRC building for those who know what I'm talking about! We had class again.

I love Sundays here. Sister Sheri Dew spoke to us in Relief Society. One thing she talked about was how lots of things that aren't possible happen. She told this story about how she was flying from a small airport in New York to JFK International Airport. Her flight was late getting in and she basically had 7 minutes to run from the tarmac, up into the terminal, and make her connection to Salt Lake. She said "Anyone who's been to JFK Airport knows that making a connection in 7 minutes isn't possible." But she continued on and to make a long, funny, story short... she made the flight after running through the airport in high heels and yelling to hold the door from 20 ft away! 7 minutes! That blows my mind. I've been there a couple of times myself and know that that was pretty much a miracle! She related it to Joseph Smith restoring the gospel, to missionaries being able to serve in the Soviet Union, and to us being able to communicate with God. All things that seem impossible... but have happened. It was a great talk, what an amazing lady. We went and gave her a hug afterward! :)

Also on Sunday, I got called on to give a talk. Here, they don't tell you who's speaking until they announce it after the sacrament. So luckily I had prepared my Italian talk about the Book of Mormon. I don't think there were many who understood it, but oh well. Now I'm off the hook for awhile! We decided to go to the choir, so we learned the song "Faith of our Fathers." Great song! The evening fireside was great. We learned how to be selfless missionaries and how there's no room to be selfish. About a week ago I got a letter from Marg that goes along with this and is something that is so important. She said "you really have to put away all selfish thoughts and focus on the work." I learn that more and more everyday. It's a hard thing to do but it's got to be done to really lose yourself in the work. It seems that I'm reminded everyday of Mom, Dad, and Andy and they're selflessness and focus on the work in Italy. What a sacrifice missionary work is, but it is so worth it.

Monday we taught our last lesson in English. It went well and now we get to teach next week in Italian! I'm really excited about that!

I also received your package Mom, with the duplos in it! Grazie mille! I haven't seen Brother Fife yet, since he's not my teacher anymore, but I'll catch him sometime and he will be so happy! Thanks again for doing that!

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had Elder Scott come again. He spoke on the spirit and how we must use it to teach our investigators. My favorite part of his talk though, was his testimony. It's probably one of the most powerful testimonies I've heard from an apostle. He bore such a powerful testimony that Christ lives, that he is real, and that he wants so much to help us. The other best part was shaking his hand. He took time to shake every missionary's hand! It probably took an hour and a half, but since we were in the choir, we only waited for 20 minutes! He shook my hand and said "thank-you" really sincerely and so did I. What an opportunity!

Well, that's about it. We just got back from walking in the cold snow from the temple. I love our visits there. I'm going to miss going while I'm in Italy!

I'm grateful for your letters. I love hearing how you're all doing. Things couldn't be much better here!

Love,

Sorella Boynton