Email - December 28, 2011 In quattro settimane...

Buon giorno tutti! How was everybody's Christmas? Mine was fantastic! This email probably won''t be very long because of the letter I sent on Sunday. That pretty much summed up my whole week. Let me just say again, Elder Bednar''s talk was amazing!!! I can''t get over it. I''ll remember that for the rest of my life. Oh and Stephen Allen, Managing Director of the Missionary Department, spoke to us Christmas evening. And he was hilarious, but also had some really great points. I love all the speakers here. Oh, and last night Elder Walker of the Seventy spoke on 10 keys of being a successful missionary and basically used purely scriptures. Scriptures I have read before but never really thought about them the way he used them. That''s one thing that''s really great about being a missionary. It''s SO different reading the scriptures as a missionary.

After this we get to go clean the temple! I''m really excited. It''s been closed for the last two weeks but at least we still get to to clean it! I''ll be excited when we can go back next week. I love the temple!

Nat! Congrats on being the new primary president! I loved your package with notes and pictures from the kids. Niah''s letter had me cracking up. Did she get her iTouch? haha. I''m sure her spell book you made was absolutely fabulous. Tam! You''re baby will be here so soon! I''m so excited! I hope she''s born on my birthday. It''s a good day. :) Col! I want to see pictures of Pait! I''ll bet she''s grown so much since I''ve seen her. You can send pictures to this email and I can see them. So I would love to. And to see pictures from everybody''s Christmas! Kait! You got to talk to Kash?! Cute. How''s he doing? It sounds like he is doing awesome from your last letter. You picked a good one, kid. ;)

Mom and Dad! I''m writing you your own special emails. And they''re coming, so don''t be afraid. haha. I also finally got some more pictures developed and I''m sending those in snail mail! There are some good ones.

Life here at the MTC is as good as ever. I''m really looking forward to the food in Italy, because, not to complain, but I''m kind of getting sick of the food here. It''s pretty good considering how many people they have to cook for, but some real fruits and vegetables will be nice. haha. I''ve seen a lot of friends around. My friend Sister Kimball from Club Style just left yesterday for Hungary. I see Elder Chang from the Breakdance club who is going to China every now and then. Sister Smart who is going to Austria/Germany/Switzerland just left on Monday. She was roommates with some of the other italian sisters. My dear friend and roommate Sister Smith left last Tuesday for New York. We had some time on our Sunday walk before she left to take some pictures up by the temple. Love that dear Sister of mine.

Well, I think that''s all I''ve got to say for now. Except, I''M GOING TO ITALY IN 4 WEEKS FROM YESTERDAY! I''m really excited. I can''t wait. I love the MTC, but I''m feeling almost ready to get out there and to do some work!

Love you all! I hope all is well! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! Love you!!!

 

Sorella Forbes

Handwritten Letter - Christmas Day!

Moms & Pops! & Kait!
     Buon Natale!  How is Christmas going?  I wish I could write you more than just once a week.  I feel like I forget to tell you something every week!  Like this, a few weeks ago President Brown spoke in Relief Society and said we set an all-time record for Sister Missionaries in the MTC!  Cool right?!  Anyway, I'll be writing you again on Sunday.  They're going to let us since we can't call.  I hope this gets to you before Christmas.  It's just a little simple gift for you.  It's "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in Italian.  I know it's not much, but we don't have a lot to go by here....ha.  But, along with it, I just want to say thank you.  Thank you for living righteously, for marrying in the Temple, for raising our family in the Gospel, for teaching me how to live righteously...Everything I am today is because of you.  I am eternally blessed to have you as my parents.  I LOVE YOU!  Now, to accompany the Italian Proclamation...
     Io so che Cristo vive!  So che grazie a lui, possiamo vivere con la propria famiglia per l'eternita!  Che gioia!  So che Cristo e il nosto Salvatore & Redentore, e mediante lui possiamo pentirci, e diventare come il nostro padre celeste.  So che Dio e il nostro affetuoso Padre.  Ci ama.  Vuole siamo felice, e ha provato un piano che ci permette.  So che questa chiesa e l'unica chiesa vera mel mondo, e abbiamo un profeta vivente.  So che la mia famiglia e una famiglia eternale, e sono gratissima per quello.  E una bella cosa.  So che qui e dove devo stare, che questo e che Dio vuole per me.  Queste cose sono vere!  E dico queste cose nel nome di Gesu Cristo, Amen!
     My testimony in Italian.  It's a lot prettier spoken...ha.  Love you with all my heart family!  Mi mancate! Vi voglio bene!  Have a fabulous Christmas!  Grazie mille per la vostra amore e support (can't remember the italian word at the moment...)!

Sorella Forbes

ps Mom...thanks for the Italian message on the heart.  It wasn't quite right, but was a valid attempt and brought joy to my heart!:)  Love you so much!

Email - Christmas Day, 2011 Buon Natale! Che un Natale qui!

Buon giorno la mia famiglia! Merry Christmas! They are letting us email home today since we don't get to call. Pretty great. I am loving my Christmas here in the MTC. It has been amazing thus far. I'm writing you more details about it in a snail mail letter that I'll send tomorrow. Yesterday was so much fun. In the morning our teacher spent an hour and a half of our class time showing us pictures of his mission and telling us stories as a present to us. Then when he found out our gym time was cancelled he said he'd stay and play some language games with us. So all of the italian missionaries spent our gym time playing language games and improving our skills during the time we would have had gym instead of wasting it away doing other things that we had initially planned (like naps and long showers...ha!) This was way better and more productive for us. I'm putting more details of that in the snail mail letter. Last night we had a Christmas fireside where we sang a lot of hymns and they read the nativity story. Then we got to watch the Christmas Carol and eat popcorn! Movies are so much fun here. With 2000 missionaries, especially when they are mostly 19 year old babies, things can get pretty crazy. But it's so much fun. Then we italian sisters had been wanting to put on a nativity scene in our residence after, but it got a lot bigger when our Ukrainian sister friends joined in on the party. I was the angel and read the story in Italian and then we had a wiseman who read it in english for the crowd that gathered. We had almost our whole floor there to watch. So much fun! I'll send you pictures someday. haha.

Thank you so much for all of the gifts! From everybody! I think i forgot to say thanks to the ward for the big poster. That was amazing. people are so nice. I love our ward. This morning all the italian sisters gathered around one of our trees and opened all our presents together. I love them all. We had a great morning. More details in the later letter...

The thing I really want to tell you about is our sacrament meeting this morning. First of all, it was with EVERYONE. 2000 missionaries! It's the first time they've done that. And presiding? Elder David A. Bednar of the quorom of the twelve apostles! Merry Christmas to ME! He and his wife spoke to us. Elder Bednar gave the most powerful talk I do believe I've ever heard in my 21 years of life. There's somethng different about the apostles here when they speak. First of all, they are very funny. Elder Bednar did quite the great impression of the cookie monster today. But they also are very straightforward, tell it to you straight, make sure you understand, powerful in a way that sends chills down your spine like, "oh, I should really listen..." I mean I would listen to them anyway, they're apostles of our Lord, but man, I can't describe it. Elder Bednar spoke on what it means to be a true convert. About putting off the natural man. About taking on the character of Christ and turning outward and not be focussed inward. He told some amazing stories about people that he has met in his life that are absolutely amazing in their Christ-like attitudes. One story about a woman he met while he was a stake president brought tears to my eyes. Amazing! Maybe I'll include that story in a letter. But seriously... i was in awe. Since I've been here they've shown us a clip of a talk Elder Holland gave here a while ago, talking about how we must be our first converts. Elder Bednar expounded upon that and talked about how being a true convert was more than having a testimony, but "converting yourself to the Lord." I forgot what scripture he used with that... Alma 27? maybe? But about how thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, which is a testimony, but they were also converted unto the Lord, which meant they could never go astray. He urged us to strive for this every day, and to realize that we needed to be converted before we could help others to do the same. He said that being truly converted is to turn outward like Christ, and talked about all tht times when Christ was suffering affliction, but his thoughts were outward. One that amazed me that i don't think i've ever heard before, was after he had been fasting for 40 days and Satan tempted him, in the Bible it says that angels came to minister to him, but the footnote says that he learned that John was in prision, and so he sent angels to minister to him. He was thinking of others after this period of extreme hardship and trial. The most powerful part however, was his bearing witness of the Savior in the end. As he was testifying of the reality of our Savior and of the truthfulness of this gospel, and testified that Thomas S. Monson is true and living prophet and that this chruch is the only church with the fulness of the gospel, it was like I was hit with a spiritual baseball bat to the face (that's an expression I borrow from my fellow Sorella, Sorella Bush). I have never been hit so hard by a testimony as i was that one. I don't know what made it different than every time i hear an apostle bear witness of the Savior in conference. Maybe it was that i was just 20 feet away from him, maybe it was just what I really needed right now, but it was incredible. There was so much more, and i wish i could tell you all, but it really just blew my mind. I wish you all could have experienced it.

I love being here in the MTC. I know that it is a special place and that the spirit that is here can not be felt anywhere else. I feel blessed to be here at Christmas, and that I was able to hear the testimony of on of our Savior's twelve apostles today. I know that he is truly an apostle of our Lord and Savior. I know that Jesus christ lives! And i'm so grateful for this marvelous holiday we have dedicated to Him and His birth. I wish you a Buon Natale! Love you so much!!

Sorella Forbes


P.S. I'LL BE IN ITALY IN A MONTH FROM TODAY!!!!

just in case you didn't know...

EMAIL - December 21, 2011 Buon Natale!

Buon giorno tutti! Happy week of Christmas! It has most certainly been a good week here. Nothing to out of the ordinary. I now have two more investigators, Maurizio and Ottavio, and now I'm having the opportunity to play an investigator for the Anziani in our district. That's an interesting experience. It's a big learning experience to be on the other side. I sang in sacrament meeting with the 5 other sorelle this Sunday. That was fun. And I sang in the choir last night at the devotional. I love singing. Especially here. One of my favorite things is when we sing Called to Serve in the devotionals. That song is cool.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me some Christmas love this week! Dan and Teri! Thank you so much for the package! And the great letter. I was touched. And Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks for your package too! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to unwrap it yet, so I decided to save it for Christmas. It's sitting underneath my little mini tree in my room. Mom! I DID get your Christmas packages! All of them! And you didn't get my snail mail? Interesting... I don't think there was anything too important in there... And thanks Tam for the package too! Those cards were so cute and I love my headband. And who wrote a message with the sidewalk chalk?! If that was someone I know, you know you said Merry Christmas in French, right? haha. And I loved how it was right under the sign that said "Please do not write on sidewalks..." oooohh My family is the greatest. :) Did you watch Music and the Spoken word on Sunday! It was amazing! I was watching for Calli and Sarah in the dancing part, because it was taken from the Christmas Concert, but I couldn't see them. Were they in it?

I feel like I am able to think so much more clearly here. The spirit here is a big factor in that. It's amazing how much it helps me learn things and to realize things I never did before. There have been things I've been learning in our italian classes that, in the two years I took italian, never made sense. And here they click like it was so easy all along. I've also been thinking a lot about Christmas and how great it really is. L. Whitney Clayton and his wife came and spoke to us last night. They both talked a lot about gifts. One gift I'm grateful for, and one that I'm recently really realizing the grand importance of, is the Atonement. The Gift of the Atonement. It is a gift to us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in him perisheth not, but shall have eternal life." (I memorized that one in italian, so the english translation may be a bit off, but you get the idea... haha). God loves us SO much. He wants us to become like Him and return to Him, and we can only do that by coming to this earth, receiving a mortal body, and gaining experience and growing here. But in order to do that, man had to be taken out of the presence of God, which occurred when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit. The ONLY way to return to our Father in Heaven is through Jesus Christ. John 4:6 - "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." He was the only one that could take upon the sins of the earth. Only recently am I really comprehending what that really meant, what sacrifice was paid, the pain and suffering that occurred, how Christ was the only one that could do it, how God had to watch His son go through that. I think of how Christ willingly accepted to go through this in the beginning, how we knew what would happen, how we accepted the plan...because of all this, we are here on this earth. And we have a chance to be happy for eternity, to live with our families for eternity, to receive all of the blessings of our dear Father in Heaven, and it's all because of our Savior Jesus Christ. But we have to accept him. I hope everyone this Christmas season will really think about that. About what Christ really did for us. It amazes me. Don't take it for granted. I know I have most of my life, and I am determined to never forget again. The Atonement is a gift. It is the greatest gift in the history of the world! The Claytons, last night, talked a lot about the angel that visited the shepherds and how that was the best missionary scripture: "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." This message is for ALL people. I am blessed to have the opportunity and to experience the joy of sharing this message with the people of Italy for the next 17 months. But everyone of us knows someone that needs to hear this message. So, I encourage everyone that is reading this that knows this good news to share this message of our Savior's love and sacrifice with someone you care about. I will do my best from here in the MTC. It is the greatest gift you can give to anyone. And I promise if you do you will be blessed and they will be blessed. Remember this season the birth of Christ, our Savior, our loving brother. The greatest gift the world has ever known. As one of my favorite hymns puts it: "Born that man no more may die; Born to raise the Sons of Earth, Born to give them second birth." Reflect on that line, and really think about what it means to you. I know my Savior lives! I know that He loves me and He knows me. I am eternally grateful for Him and his sacrifice.

Vi voglio bene, tutti! E Buon Natale!

 

Sorella Forbes

Email - December 14, 2011 Che cosa sta facendo?!

The subject of this email is an italian phrase we love. It means "What the heck are you doing?" We say it all the time. Others... Lascia mi stare! (leave me alone)... menaggia! (dang...) Che cosa succede?! (what is happening?!), among many others. The italian language is so gorgeous. I'm convinced more and more every day that it is the most beautiful language on the planet, and definitely the most logical. Another phrase I love... Sogni d'oro! It''s what they say when they say sweet dreams. It means "dreams of gold!" pretty no? We had a day on Monday where we decided to speak italian all day! We got until about 6 o clock and then needed to speak english... haha but we''re getting there! It''s amazing how much we can already do in just our fourth week! This keyboard is weird so excuse me if there are some grammatical errors... haha.

So I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! So much. We got our Atheist investigator to pray and it was the most spiritual experience we''ve had yet. I was just going on and on in italian and at times I had no idea what I was saying, and then I found myself asking him to pray and he said he''d try. And it was the most beautiful prayer I''ve heard. I wanted to cry after. The spirit was so incredibly strong. After he prayed my companion invited him to be baptized. He said not yet but it still is amazing to see how the spirit works through us. There is no greater feeling than seeing someone open their hearts a little bit more to hear the gospel. And this isn''t even real yet! I can''t wait to experience it in Italy. I know it will be even harder, but I'm gearing up for that and really trying to do all I can to prepare.

We''ve had some GREAT speakers this last week. On Sunday, Ann Dibb came and spoke in Relief Society. She talked a lot about the prophet and I LOVED it. She said that the prophet's favorite color is yellow and he will always shake someone's hand if they are wearing yellow. ALSO, she said he loves red heads and will always shake their hands too. Sorella Bush and I were super excited about that. But then she said it was because he thought they got made fun of the most... especially the boys. Haha. But I still loved it! It was so great hearing personal stories about our prophet. She also told an amazing story about why the prophet was late to Conference in October. But she asked us not to share that too widely because it was more personal, so maybe when I get home and ask me and I will tell you. It was amazing and a true confirmation of how the Lord works and hears and answers everyone's prayers. Sunday night the BYU Men's chorus came and sang for us in a Musical devotional. It was beautiful. Last night Sister Elaine Dalton came and spoke to us. Her talk was amazing! I couldn't write fast enough while taking notes. Afterward Sorella Clark and I wanted to see if we could meet her. We did! She hugged me and then took my arm and looked right at me and said "I am so proud of you," and then looked around at the rest of the small group that was gathered and said it to them too. Then she looked back at me and said, "you know what the greatest weapon you sisters have for preaching the gospel? It's your smiles!" She was so sweet and took the time to talk to all of us. There were about 20 that stayed after to meet her. It was an amazing experience. She also told us we have some very special visitors coming this month to the MTC, but she wouldn't tell us who! I'm too excited!

Oh! Monday night we had a great experience. Tuesday morning the four Anziani that have been here for 9 weeks left for Italy! So Monday night all the Italian Sorelle and Anziani gathered for a little devotional and the four bore their testimonies to us. The spirit was so strong! I love all of them and am so excited for the people of Italy! They are great Anziani.

Mom and Dad! Please tell the bishopric thank you for the Christmas card. And also a thanks to Abby Olson (Clint's daughter) for the nice letter. That was so sweet. Also, Mom! I forgot to tell you, but I saw your friend my first Sunday here and she gave me a hug. She's sweet. I'll keep an eye out for her. Nat! Thanks for the Christmas card. That picture is SO cute. I loved what Niah was doing. haha. It's hanging above my bed now. And Mom! Thanks for the great package with the Rolos and Yorks. My favorites. My roommates appreciated too. You're the bestest.

I forgot to tell you last week, but our P-days are like this: We get up at 6:30, laundry @ 7, temple session @ 10, lunch, email, letters, 30 minute hot shower (one of my favorite things of the week... haha), and then study or do whatever else we need to do. We have dinner at 5:30 and class at 6:15-9:15. P-days are great. Today we did initiatories and a session since the temple is closing this saturday for two weeks. Kind of a bummer, but our zone gets to clean it on the 28th so that's exciting! I love the temple.

Love you all! Thank you for your love and support. I feel your prayers and I thank you for them. Enjoy this Christmas season too! It's the most wonderful time of the year! Til next week. Ciao!

Sorella Forbes

p.s. a member of our branch presidency told us that for Christmas we will probably have one big sacrament with everyone somehow with some very special guest speakers... Excited!!!

EMAIL - December 7, 2011 Oh, buon giorno!

Hello Family!

I loved your email! Sounds like there are a lot of exciting things happening. Kaitie going to Crete?!?!?! Are you crazy?! That's so lucky. Greece is fabulous. I haven't been to Crete, but want to so I'm very jealous. There's an old ancient palace on Crete, I can't remember the name of it right now, but it's where the Greek myth of the minotaur and the labyrinth originated from. Look it up! You'll have to visit it. The palace is still in pretty amazing condition considering its age. Cool Buggy! You are stepping out of your box! And I wish I could see Pait's "honk" haha. That sounds so cute. Miss you guys!

Mom! Thanks so much for the Christmas package! I got it on Friday. We loved it. The snow man is hanging on our window in our classroom and we named him Ghiaccio (Frost in italian). He's great. And the tree is on our desk, we had hot chocolate on Monday night and still have lots left, and the ornaments that everyone signed are hanging above my bed. I'll send you pictures sometime in the next couple of weeks. You're pretty popular around here, mother. :) And thanks to all of my family who have sent DearElders and letters and stuff. I love them. I'm beginning to think, however, that all of my friends (except Sam) have forgotten about me already or have died... haha. Just sayin'... (COUGH, nudge... ;))

This week has been pretty good. Pretty hard, but good. I've had a few moments of discouragement here and there, mostly with our atheist investigator. But I'm really glad I get this experience now before I get to Italy and have to figure it out for the first time in a real life situation. It's funny how you really begin to love these people and get so sad when they won't pray or even acknowledge that there is a God, because you know it's true but you don't know how to convey that to them. Especially in Italian. But we're learning! And our teachers are very encouraging and uplifting, and always have good bits of advice. I'm really understanding and realizing the importance of this work every day. I understand missionary work in a total new light and have a whole new respect for those that have served missions. It is HARD! But so important. And I feel blessed to be a part of it. I know that with help from my Heavenly Father, I can handle anything that's thrown my way.

I'm really getting into the Christmas spirit! They have lights all over the main quad at night, and we're now singing Christmas hymns all the time. I LOVE italian hymns. They're pretty different from the english versions. Our favorite italian hymn is an italian one that isn't in the english hymnbook. HA! We're special. We sing it every day pretty much. I'll sing it for you some day. It is so different being here for Christmas. But I love it. It's nice to be taken away from the commercialization that Christmas seems to have become and to really focus on why we even have Christmas in the first place. We have Christmas to celebrate one of the most important events in the history of the world! The birth of Jesus Christ! Without this event, Christ could not have atoned for our sins! Which is ESSENTIAL for us to return to the presence of our Father in heaven. We got to watch the Christmas Devotional on Sunday. I absolutely loved it. I love the leaders of our church. I especially loved when Thomas S. Monson said "Let us not spend Christmas, but keep it in our hearts and in our minds." I hope everyone will remember what Christmas is really about this season. I hope I can always remember in the future. Oh and did you love the video they showed of the Christmas story?! Those are filmed in Utah. And they have more! We can watch them on LDS.org when we have some free time. More are coming soon about the life of Christ and I'm real excited. Watch them! They're beautiful.

This last week I've been really missing music. Especially loud music. One day while we were in the computer lab doing our language study on the Language learning software, a russian elder showed me how to listen to music on LDS.org while I do it. It's been fabulous. There are only about 4 songs on there that I can stand, but I love it. haha. The MoTab has never sounded so great to me! :)

Our district is so awesome. Our two Anziani have been called as the new Zone Leaders so they keep busy with that call and Anziano Thomas is double-dutying with being a district leader too. They're awesome. One of my favorite times of the week is when we go back to our class room after the Tuesday devotional and talk about what was said. I learn so much from the comments of those in my district and it brings us closer each week. I love it! Last night our Branch President and his wife sat in with us and we enjoyed hearing what they thought about the devotional too. Last night Steven R. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke with his wife. Is that the Snow from our ward's dad? I wasn't sure. But it was great.

I'm just about out of time. I love you family! Merry Christmas season! And Col! Happy birthday today! I hope you party it up!

Love you!!! The church is true!!!

Sorella Kell :)