6th and Final Week at the MTC

Ciao Ciao Ciao!

Well, departure dates have been pushed back a week, and departure dates have been moved up a week. So here I am, 3 days away from a flight to Italy!! There is so much to be done, and so much to finish, but it has been quite the ride! I really have learned a lot! But sometimes, when you're laying in bed thinking about how you don't know how to order a glass of water with no fizz, you wonder if you've learned enough. But then I remember that's what the Senior Companion is for! It's exciting to think that the next lesson I help teach won't only be in broken Italian, but broken Italian AND somewhat fluent Italian. So that's exciting. 

We said some goodbyes already this week. The saddest so far being to our amazing tutor, Sorella Rincon. We all love her so so much and are going to miss her beautiful Italian. But, we have someplace to go, so we have to say goodbye. I also had to say goodbye to my bestie Sister Smith for 17 months, and that was pretty sad too. But she is now in Florida, serving the people. 

We got some good photos finally of the whole district. I have had a lot of just me and the other Sorelle, but non of us with the Anziani. But we all did a session at the temple together, and got some photos. 

I am so so excited to get to Italy, but am not excited for the long flight. But we have been super blessed to get a direct flight to Rome! So we don't have to do a bunch of layovers. But we have to leave the residence at 3:30 A.M. on Monday morning. Why do we leave so early? Only heaven knows, but we are still excited. Once we get to Rome, we get to see the temple, and I am SO excited for that. There are a lot of good things coming within the next couple of days! 

I love you all, and your support means the world to me!

Vi voglio bene!!

Sorella Thorup

5th Week at the MTC- General Conference!

Ciao!!

Well, If you missed it, this past weekend was conference, and it was AMAZING! The talks were just so good, and it totally made up for the lack of comfy chairs. And I got to sing in the Saturday Afternoon session. So that was really cool. I encourage you all to read or reread the talks, since they were just so applicable to our lives. I know it will be a blessing to you.  This week has been really busy, and we got to host the new missionaries! So that was really fun! I helped one sister who is called to Frankfurt Germany, and another going to Thailand. It was fun to see their excitement for the unknown.

This Sunday's devotional was pretty fun. We had Noteworthy come and sing for us.  We also had our first Skype TRC. So we taught a man in Honduras who spoke both Spanish and Italian. The connection was pretty bad, and when you add that with my poor language skills, it adds up to a pretty awkward lesson. But he was so patient with us and it was a good learning experience. So that was kind of fun. I couldn't fall back on English because he wouldn't have understood.  Anyways, I know it's a short email this week, but there's so much to do and so little time!

Vi voglio bene!!

Sorella Thorup 

Pictures- The one with my district and the windows: During class they all got distracted and proceeded to sent hearts towards the people in the other building. And it was just funny how they were all so invested in the people in the building across the way.

4th Week at the MTC

Ciao Everyone!

I'm sorry I missed emailing last week, things have been super crazy here at the Provo MTC. We have lots of rehearsals lately, and trying to find time to do everything has been quite the struggle.  It's hard to remember what's happened the last two weeks since every day is basically the same. It all really blurs together. One thing that sticks out is that we found out all of the Italian Districts will have to stay an extra week due to some timing error with the mission presidents. So we will be here until the 29th. We are all a little sad about the delay, and that we will miss the new Italian missionaries by two days. (they come the 31st) But it will be good and give me an extra week to learn more Italian.

I have been able to see so many friends here now, and it's always fun to take a second to catch up. But with the schedule, it really is only a second. They keep you going every min of the day here. We never seem to be able to catch our breath.  This weekend is General Conference, and we are all SO excited for it! We won't have any classes on Saturday or Sunday. It will just be a great time for us to recoup and hear the word of God. I know that there are some people who are waiting to have their mission announced this weekend. Their call literally just tells them that it will be announced, and they have to wait until then. So I'm excited to see where they are going. Also, the music is gonna be amazing this year!

 

Keep your eyes out during the Saturday Afternoon Session.... (hint hint)

I guess the last exciting thing is Christmas Lights! They are putting up lights on all the trees now, and it looks so beautiful! It's like a mini Temple Square! And it's fun to be able to look outside during our night classes and see all the twinkling trees. 

Anyways, I love you all!

Sorella Thorup

2nd Week in the MTC

Ciao!

This week was packed so full of stuff! On top of all the normal language and missionary classes, we got to Salt Lake to get our visa papers signed! So, Tuesday morning, 17 Anziani and Sorelle packed unto the bus, to head to downtown Salt Lake. It was so nice to be able to see the outside world again! But we took front runner and Trax. On our way down on front runner, there was this man making tiny oragami dinosaurs. It was the cutest thing ever. But after a couple stops, he got off and left them all there! So we took the dinosaurs with us, and they are now our district mascots. 

After we all went and got our visa papers done, we took a field trip to temple square and City Creek for lunch! And let me tell you- we all enjoyed eating some  "real food." When we decided to finally head back to Provo, we got on Trax, and ended up meeting an Italian! He had moved to the Sates when he was younger, and is now living here, as a head chef! He has such a cool story, and was so funny! He had all of the Anziani and Sorelle gathered around to here his story, as well as everyone else near us on the train. It was one of those movie like moments when all these strangers are gathered together, laughing, and listening. It was really cool. He ended up skipping his stop to keep talking to us. He went all the way to the Front runner station with us. We had a 40 min wait until the train came, so he continued his stories. He told us how he came to join the church a year ago, mafia stories with his father, and all about the life of being a chef. At the station, he asked us to sing for him, and we did. We all sang Nearer My God to Thee, and it was the most beautiful thing. All of the sudden, the Spirit was there, and all the other nearby people stopped to listen too. I'm pretty sure we all had tears in our eyes. It was a really special experience.

We have a a huge MTC Choir! We usually have 1000+ come to choir! It is sooo cool! I mean, that's basically half of the missionaries here! But I have a pretty unique opportunity today. I was chosen from the choir to be in a small group of 22. We are going to be singing outside of a BYU building tonight as people are flown in from all over to come to a big event. I'm excited to represent the Church through this. I'm also excited to leave the MTC Campus again haha. But it should be a really cool experience.

We also had a really cool devotional this Tuesday, where Elder Andersen came and spoke to us. It was really powerful, and we all learned a lot. He brought his grandchildren with him, and there were two little boys who were so adorable. One of them said they like the missionaries because they can be your friend when your'e sad. All of our hearts melted. This same little boy was sent out to go shake hands. It was so cute, and since I was on the end of the row, he ended up shaking my hand. It was just the most heart warming thing. 

There's been soo much more that happened this week, but these were some of the highlights. I love you all so much!

Sorella Thorup

At the MTC!!

Ciao!

I’ve made it through three days of the MTC. That has been quite the undertaking. This place is sooo different. I share a room with five other Sorelle. It’s pretty crowded at times. My Comp is Sorella Gisseman, and she is wonderful. We both are struggling with the language and trying to speak it outside of class. They strongly push SYL here which means always trying to speak in your language. My vocab is pretty limited. But I’m sure I’ll pick it up.

They say the first week is the hardest and that we just have to make it to Sunday. I sure hope that’s the case, because this place is terrifying. And getting used to always being with someone is hard. But the other five Sorelle in my district feel the same way, so we will all just make it through together. 

We are in the biggest branch at the MTC, so probably the biggest in any MTC. I think we have 120 missionaries. It consists of the Italian, Portuguese and Romanian speaking missions. But the older Italians leave on Monday so that will shrink our branch. But last night we met our Branch Pres. last night when I was with some of the Sorelle. My comp had walked just outside the classroom to the bathroom right there in the hall. I had stayed with the other Sorelle because the bathroom is one time we can be separated. But the president came in and asked where my comp was. I told him and he totally scolded me and told me I had to be in the bathroom with her. It was so awkward and a bad first impression so I just stepped out the door to wait for her. Haha so as you can tell adjusting is going great 😂🙃

One amazing thing here is the artwork. After hearing so much about the MTC artwork at work, I am a complete fan girl. None of the Sorelle get this and I think they’re annoyed whenever I point it out. Haha but oh well. I enjoy it anyways, so I included a couple of the big canvas pieces from the classroom areas. 

Apparently, every Sunday they randomly choose two missionaries to give a talk in Sacrament meeting in their language. I’m absolutely terrified. If I get picked, there is no good ending to it. But there are 30 new missionaries in my branch they could choose from, so there is a good chance I’m safe. So cross your fingers for me.

The food here is um... okay.  Yesterday morning Sorella Spencer found a long hair in her breakfast burrito and it just ruined the food for all of us. But they have a subway-style wrap station so it’s good. 

Anyways, I'll just make it to Sunday and take one day at a time. 

Lots of love! 

Sorella Thorup