{"id":247,"date":"2013-05-16T17:49:03","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T17:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2013-05-16T17:49:03","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T17:49:03","slug":"2nd-week-in-the-mtc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/2nd-week-in-the-mtc\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Week in the MTC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Caro la mia famiglia,<\/div>\n
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Thank you so so much for the letters and the pictures.\u00a0 Tell Grammie that I got her package, and thank her for the candy! I’m gaining weight…I can feel it.\u00a0 But I promise I am exericising every day. I still have trouble falling asleep at night even though I’m exhausted. I think with time that will stop, I hope.<\/div>\n
So the time goes by so much faster. I feel like I just emailed you yesterday, and yet, so much has happened. Sorry I haven’t responded to anything yet – but I love hearing from you and you will hear back from me soon I promise! I’m\u00a0trying to write letters only on P-day so I can really focus \ud83d\ude42 This week has been amazing.\u00a0 Really, every day I get in bed and I think – wow. It has been such a great day. Life is so good. The gospel is so true.<\/div>\n
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Let’s see. So, I told you about Patrizia last week, our “investigator.”\u00a0 Anyways, we taught her our last lesson, and when we challenged her to be baptized – she accepted! Then we found out the next day that she was actually our teacher \ud83d\ude42 So Patrizia is really Sorella Fairbanks, and she is wonderful! We weren’t as prepared as a companionship for that lesson, and so while I thought that lesson went really well, Sorella Carlock didn’t feel so great about it.\u00a0 It’s so important to be on the same page with my companion, and I’m really grateful that Sorella Carlock is my companion.\u00a0 We’re extremely different.\u00a0 We have different strengths and weaknesses, and I know that we are learning from each other.<\/div>\n
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Speaking of getting along with people, I have learned a lot about that this week. Our district – we are awesome.\u00a0 We have so much fun together. Sometimes, we need to work on being more reverent.\u00a0 Anyways, we try to make goals together as a district and be more reverent.\u00a0 As we have done this though, different people take it personally and a lot of confrontation has taken place. It’s interesting, but we’ve learned a lot \ud83d\ude42 I’ve realized I’m not really a confrontational person because I don’t like hurting people’s feelings, but it’s important to be honest with each other because otherwise things can build up and major blow-ups happen. (don’t worry, I haven’t blown up at anyone yet. But there’s been a couple show-downs between people…). Also, girls are girls, no matter if you’re in the MTC or in high school or roommates 50 years old \ud83d\ude42<\/div>\n
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Sundays are such great days at the MTC.\u00a0 This week, Janice Kapp Perry came and spoke to the Sister Missionaries for Relief Society (an LDS organization for women).\u00a0 She re-wrote the lyrics to “As Sisters in Zion” to be about sister missionaries.\u00a0 We were the first group of people to sing it – and it was amazing.\u00a0 Tears were streaming down everyone’s faces as we sang these words with all of our hearts.\u00a0 I wish I could remember the lyrics – but I wrote down a few lines:<\/div>\n
“The sisters of Zion are called to God’s labor.<\/div>\n
We go forth enlisted with Helaman’s Army<\/div>\n
We go forth in numbers much greater than ever before.”<\/div>\n
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A-ma-zing.<\/div>\n
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Also, each week every missionary is expected to prepare a talk about a topic for Sacrament meeting – this week was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Such a big topic about the most important event in the history of the world. The branch president will randomly call the missionaries from the pulpit who were about to speak.\u00a0 It was funny, my companion and the other girls in my district were so convinced they were going to be the one to speak – they all really wanted to.\u00a0 I wanted to, but I wasn’t jumping out of my seat saying “pick me, pick me!” And then I’m sitting there and all of a sudden President Miller is saying that Sister Strong will be giving a talk on the Atonement.\u00a0 I can’t really remember what I said\u00a0– but I know with all of my heart that\u00a0giving that talk was an answer to my prayers this week.\u00a0 Being a missionary, I am surrounded by so many amazing people.\u00a0 Sometimes, it’s hard because I compare myself to\u00a0others.\u00a0 In attempts to be humble, I appear not confident. Which is ridiculous, because\u00a0if there is anything that I am confident about, it is the fact that I am on a mission and doing the right thing right now.\u00a0 For me, accessing the Atonement right now is realizing and remembering that\u00a0I don’t have to be perfect<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0My Savior died for me, and\u00a0he loves me\u00a0always.\u00a0 I am on a mission because I love Him! I shared this with our branch.\u00a0 Being given the opportunity to share it gave me confidence and reminded me of the great blessings of the Atonement.<\/div>\n
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Last night,\u00a0the apostle\u00a0Russell M. Nelson\u00a0came and spoke to us. It was great! I learned a lot of things.<\/div>\n
Some quotes from the devotional: “Obedience brings success.\u00a0 Exact obedience brings miracles.”\u00a0 “When people ask you who you are say, ‘we follow Jesus Christ.'”<\/div>\n
He also said, when people click on the button on our websites that say want to visit with a representative?\u00a0 THAT’S YOU!<\/div>\n
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We also got two new investigators this week (really our teachers).\u00a0 Sebastian and Rosalba.\u00a0 We don’t know that much about them yet, but I am excited to get to know them and teach them about the gospel.<\/div>\n
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Couple random things:<\/div>\n
– I am so grateful for ice cream Wednesdays and Sundays.<\/div>\n
– I just love everyone. Seriously, I love learning all of these missionary’s stories.\u00a0 We are all here, ready to serve the Lord.\u00a0 Some of us have been through much harder things than others, but we’re all here with the same purpose: To invite people to Jesus Christ.<\/div>\n
– I love p-days because I get to wear pants and not feel like a mermaid \ud83d\ude42 haha.<\/div>\n
– Italian really is the most beautiful language in the world.<\/div>\n
– Sometimes I have nightmares about turning in papers late and I wake up panicking, then I realize I’m in the MTC.\u00a0 And that the work that I’m doing is way more important than any paper I’ve ever written.<\/div>\n
– I’m already dreaming in Italian, and I keep waking up saying the First Vision in Italian.<\/div>\n
– It’s weird that I’m still on BYU campus.\u00a0 I kind of miss the outdoors a little bit. Okay a lot.\u00a0 But I’m learning so much and I’ll be in Italia soon enough!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Io so che Gesu Cristo e il mio Salvatore. Io so che Il Libro di Mormon e un libro di Dio.\u00a0 So questo con il mio cuore. Io so che Chiesa di Gesu Cristo dei Santi degli Ultimi Giorno e la chiesa di Dia sulla terra oggi.\u00a0\u00a0 Io so che Dio e il nostro affetuoso Padre Celeste, e che ci da i profeti sulla terra oggi.\u00a0 La restaurazione del vangelo di Gesu Cristo tramite Joseph Smith. Quando leggiamo il Libro di Mormon possiamo sapare queste cose sono vera. Io so che queste cose sono vera!<\/div>\n
I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior.\u00a0 I know that the Book of Mormon is a book of God.\u00a0 I know this with all of my heart. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s Church on the Earth today. I know that God loves His children, and that He gives us prophets on the Earth today. He restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith.\u00a0 When we read the Book of Mormon, we can know that these things are true. I know these things are true!
\nRead the Book of Mormon! Always! It’s the best book in the world.<\/div>\n
(There’s lesson 1 for you in a couple lines :))<\/div>\n
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I love you all and miss you! Write me. Letters light up my day and remind me that there’s an outside world.<\/div>\n
Vi voglio bene,<\/div>\n
Sorella Emma Strong<\/div>\n
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\"Emma<\/a>

Emma and the sisters in her district.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Some<\/a>

Some Elders in her district<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Emma<\/a>

Emma and her companion.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Emma<\/a>

Emma on her Prep day at the temple.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Her<\/a>

Her district<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The sisters she rooms with.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Emma<\/a>

Emma and Ellie (Sister Ott) They were roommates freshman and sophomore years. Sister Ott is going to Poland.<\/p>\n

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\"Emma<\/a><\/dt>\n
Emma and McKenna Lawrence (lifetime friends). Sister Lawrence is going to Argentina!<\/p><\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caro la mia famiglia, Thank you so so much for the letters and the pictures.\u00a0 Tell Grammie that I got her package, and thank her for the candy! I’m gaining weight…I can feel it.\u00a0 But I promise I am exericising every day. I still have trouble falling asleep at night even though I’m exhausted. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}