Bongiorno e tutti!!
This week has been so insanely crazy I don't even know where to start. My dad told me to describe step by step what happened to me after he dropped me off. So I'll do just that.
Right after I walked away from the car, a sister carried my bags and led me into a room where I got my own missionary Tag!! That was probably one of the best moments of my life. I have been waiting to put that tag on my shirt forever! Then we got a big bag of books and I was escorted to my room.( While i was walking everywhere, every single missionary would say "welcome to the MTC!")- they said that because we had a huge orange sticker on our tags. It made me feel so welcomed but after the 2,000th "welcome to the MTC!" I wanted to take my sticker off so I did when I went to bed. I guess everyone took their stickers off after a few hours but I forgot I had mine on. During this all, my escort took me straight to my classroom and immediately my teacher was speaking 1,000 miles a minute in Italian and she was expecting me to say something back to her in Italian. It was so insanely confusing but I guess thats how they do it here at the MTC. I sat next to my new companion whose name is Anzian (Elder) Mciver. He is such an awesome guy. He is from St. George Utah and he is as happy as anyone could be. He, along with everyone else in my class looked super confused at what was going on in the class so I felt way better. After class we got lunch which was super good. The food here is super yummy except the missionaries who have been here for a while say it starts to taste the same after a while... After that we went to a welcoming devotion by our mission president, President Burgess. After that we went back to class to learn another 2 hours of Italian and off to bed.
Our room is pretty sweet. I sleep on the top bink with my Companion and the two other elders from my district- Elder Essmay and Elder Anderson. They are pretty cool guys from Utah and Arizona.
Then at the end of class we were told that we would have to teach an italian "investigator" the next day! I thought it was some funny joke but they were serious. SO sure enough we had to prepare to hit the language barrier head on with our Italian investigator.
Each day here is so packed with class and study and more class. Our typical schedule is something like:
Wake up at 6:30, get dressed, be at class by 7:00. Study scripture or Preach my gospel for an hour then get breakfast. Go to the Gym and lift or to the field and run for 45 minutes. Then we come back to our rooms and shower, get dressed and go to class for 3 hours. After that we eat lunch, come to class, teach a lesson in italian, learn italian for 3 hours, then go to dinner, come back and study italian and gospel things for 3 more hours and go to bed by 10:30. It is so exhausting but so amazing being able to feel the spirit 24/7!
I wish I had more time to email but they are pretty strict about time here.
I'll talk about just a few more things. The missionaries here are for the most part super extermely nice. Here and there we see some disobedient guys but mostly everyone is awesome and obedient. They say the the days here feel like weeks and the weeks fell like days. So true! This week went by sooo fast.
The Sundays here are so amazing. Elder Allen from the Seventy spoke to us. He was so funny and so uplifting. Then after that we watched the "Character of CHrist"-By Elder Bednar, which was life changing. I learned that the savior would turn outwards when the natural man would turn inward. He also explained that if we focus on meeting the needs of other people and loose ourselves in the service of others we will find ourselves when we least expect it.
I have learned so much here at the MTC. It really has changed me so much already. I am still the same Willy except I have a better understanding as to why Im here. I have never been happier in my entire life. Each day I'm exhausted but extremely happy because I feel so accomplished. Being a missionary makes me so happy. I truly wouldnt want to be anywhere else!!
Some scriptures I love are: 3 Nephi 5 and Alma 7: 23.
Like I said I dont have much time so Ill have to hand some of you.
If you want to write me during the week use dearelder.com
or here is my address Elder William Hogan/ Sep 29 ITA-MIL/ 2007 N 900 E Unit 39/ Provo UT, 84602
I love you all! Till next week, Anziano Hogan
Willy, Anzian (Elder) Mciver, Elder Essmay and Elder Anderson
