Wow, a full week!

Allora,

I kept really busy this last week. And so I guess I'll just start telling you how eventful it was!!

First, tuesday night. We had a general authority come teach us about teaching. haha. Elder L. Tom Perry. That was pretty awesome. I sang in the MTC choir, and we sang Lead Kindly Light. It was pretty cool.

We also got new missionaries in our district. Four sorelle, and one anziano. He's from australia. haha. Melbourne.

On thursday the highlight was calcio. I don't know if I've told you, but mio collega is a killer soccer player. So me and Anziano Marzolla were both running at him and he faked us out, and then my cheek hit Anziano Marzolla's forehead!!! It was pretty crazy. But I bounce back quick, and it was a fun game.

On friday it snowed. Exciting for my district leader who's never seen it snow, but I wasn't loving it. The only cool thing is I got to wear my trenchcoat which worked out well.

Saturday was amazing. We had a zone conference. I can't help but tell you some of the quotes that we heard that really hit me, that I think are very helpful:

"Sometimes, fear of rejection or of giving offense looms before us like an impassable obstacle"
-President Henry B. Eyring

Something to think about.

The other one I really loved was this:
"We should live to possess the Spirit daily, hourly, and at every moment...which makes the path of life easy."
-Brigham Young

Sunday. I love sundays. Especially because it was fast Sunday!! So I got to bear my testimony in Italian, and the main thing I said was that la chiesa e vera, e quello semplice. The church is true, it's that simple. And lately we've been learning that what it all comes down to is just whether or not the book of mormon is true. And it is. So Joseph Smith was a prophet, and our church is true!

One thing for fast sunday is that we had mission conference. My favorite thing there was the noise. We were asked to all open up to a scripture, and it sounded way cool. Have you ever heard a couple thousand scripture pages being flipped? It was like a bunch of farfalle or something. Way cool. A very nice fluttering noise. : )

Okay, so this last week I found a ton of scriptures I wanted to share with you, and I would love to tell you some funny stories, but I loved these scriptures and I've never found so many like this before, so I thought I should share them.

2 Nephi 31:3 -Talks about how Nephi loves plainness, which I can totally relate because I think a lot of people complicate the gospel

Matthew 18:20 - About wherever there are two or three, there is the Lord. And on missions there are always two of us!!

Matthew 7:3-5 - This is one we hear a lot, but I think it's way important that we're careful not to judge others.

Ether 12:4 - I like how it's like, if you believe in God, than there's hope for a better world. Which if everyone did, I know we would have a better world.

Matthew 17:20, 21 - This is the one about faith as a mustard seed can move mountains. But what really stood out to me was the second verse. Because you can't just have that little bit of faith, you also need to do something. Like ...PRAY!!! And fast.

I also think something you should check out is Music w/a message. So good!! We listen to it all the time. You just go to lds.org, and then on the right side is the mormon channel, and then go to music with a message. I really like the Jesus Christ - Friend, and I like the service one. If you need some Sunday music it's perfect. Plus they all have good principles.

Hey!! I almost forgot something really exciting!!!! As of last tuesday, I can roll my 'R'!!! It's awesome. This language is really coming for me.

I also have a new favorite hymn. It's number 293. It's about having good friends, which I have definitely been blessed with amazing friends (um...they're basically all on missions right now!!)

Okay, so I'm almost out of time. But I've got something funny for you. The Spanish-speaking elders. Oh my. So in Italian "ciao" means hello or goodbye, but apparently in Spanish it just means goodbye, so they think we're being rude when we say ciao. haha. And the other one is that they say "bien", and we say "benne" And so when they ask how we're doing, and I say molto benne, I've actually been corrected before that I should say "bien". What a joke. haha.

They also have reminded me to turn off the lights in the bathroom because it's 10:15, and that's quiet time. (But "lights out" is at 10:30) So...idk. They're funny.

Well, I guess I better get off.

Con Affetto,

Anziano Banks. : )