Less than a week to go in the MTC!!

I am falling in love with this language! This week on Sunday the MTC showed Legacy in Italian, and all the missionaries speaking Italian went to see it together. As an added bonus there were two sisters native to Italy there as well, and two sisters going to Italy who already had a lot of background in the language, and therefore were not in our zone. It gave me a chance to really practice my Italian, and get feedback from someone with more than a month of experience. It turns out that you don't call people crazy in Italy unless they are actually crazy. It's super offensive, so that was nice to find out pre-Italy.
I've started to put a lot of work into the language. Partially because of the fact that we leave in one week, and partially because I'm starting to absolutely love Italian. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to learn a new language. When I first got to the MTC I was incredibly frustrated with the people at the tower of Babel for making my MTC experience so much more difficult, but I'm cool with them now.
Last night was our very last MTC devotional and Neil L. Anderson spoke. He did a stellar job of course. When the devotional was over it had started to rain so we stayed for a little bit and sang hymns to wait for the rain to kind of subside. It was beautiful. I absolutely love singing in the MTC is invites the spirit so much! When we finally left it was still raining so the Elders loaned us their suit coats so we could get safely home. The rain kind of irritated my lungs because I'm still getting over that dumb cold, but the important part of this story is the beautiful spirit invited by the singing.
We have been leaving silly little notes for everyone in our district a few times every week (silly things like give yourself a hand with a set of those hand clapping party favors) and it's been driving our elders crazy because they can't figure out who is leaving them. We told them that it is the missionary fairy, but they seem to be a little speculative. Yesterday when we came into class there was a sticky note on our desk that said you are awesome, you leaf in one week, with a leaf attached. So maybe there actually is a missionary fairy after all....
There is a running joke in our district about "teaching by the spirit" which in the minds of many of our Anziani {Elder} means not preparing a lesson. This of course is not what teaching by the spirit means and we have been scolded from the pulpit by an apostle of God about not preparing thorough enough lessons, but it reminds me of Dad so I thought I would share. Speaking of my father, he has asked that I share more growing experiences in my emails home so I will do my best.

This week I have learned:
Everyone is a child of God in a different phase of growth, with a different back story. It is so easy to judge people because of their basic actions but everyone is struggling and they all need love. I met a sister in the hallway going to New Mexico the other night. She seemed a little upset so I talked with her for a while. She told me about some struggles in her family and her fears of going on a mission. I realized that it would have been so easy to ignore her or dismiss her problems as unimportant but that's not something that the Savior would ever do.

I've also learned in the power of hard work. The more work I put into Italian the better I get. I have been waiting to wake up and be magically good at something but it doesn't work that way. Nothing worthwhile comes easy.

She said this one was right after they ran through the rain to get back to the MTC after devotional with Neil L. Anderson.

And this was one that she needed to take to send to her mission this week so they can get the paperwork ready giving her authorization to live in Italy without being deported!

She should have her camera by tomorrow, so I am hoping for TONS more pictures after she gets to Italy. I am grateful for those who have been sharing their pictures with me until then. I get to talk to her on Tuesday!!!