Work with a strong mind and a mighty heart - WEEK 4‏

Ciao a tutti!

What a week. Almost half way done in the MTC and it's blowing my mind. In 5 weeks from today I will be in Italy probably in the mission home. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

Week 4 went pretty well, as every week you feel about every emotion at least once. Being happy and excited definitely trumps though and takes up the majority of everything else.

Thanks for letters/DearElders/thoughts/prayers this week. I got some really cool thoughts from people, and some very nice words. I thank you for those, they made me feel really happy and feel like I'm doing the right thing. While I know that for myself it is nice to be reminded by others that you're doing something good. If that makes any sense at all. I got an email about what my DearElder info is: I am mailbox #335 and my departure date is 1101. Mission code is ITA-ROM. Thanks :)

Ok, so this week was awesome. Last Wednesday when all the new missionaries came in I saw 4 friends!! First I saw Sister Alyssa Chard, on her way to Paris, France. We went to Jerusalem together last year and we were roommates in Egypt. The coolest thing is that exactly 1 year ago when we were in Egypt we were both talking about how we were seriously thinking about serving missions. And now we're both in the MTC together. Tropo forte. The second person I saw was Elder Brad Evans, going to Texas! He's from Clovis and it was great to see him. I actually see him a lot haha and he loves calling me Sorella. The third was Elder Chris Leon, on his way to Quebec Canada! Another friend from home!!! And lastly, I saw Sister Jessie Riddle, going to Chicago Spanish speaking and she just happens to be in the room right next to mine! We were roommates at BYU 2 years ago and I just love her guts. So great to see friends here :) It is a great boost!

Random thing: one of my teachers, Sorella Swenson, and I found some hilarious random connections. She is married and her maiden name is Christine Lewis. Janine, does that sound familiar? I showed her a picture of our family and she knew who you were and she figured out that you were her RS President in the Colony hahahahaha. She said you'd know her sister Jessica better? So funny. And also, Janet Reynders...you dated her brother! It came up when she said her brother served a YPM mission in Nauvoo, and we connected it that way. By the way - CONGRATS FRIEND!!! So so so excited for you to serve a mission in SLC :) :)

Other stuff from this week:

-Sorella Soh and I are working together SO MUCH BETTER in our lessons! We had a lesson a couple weeks ago that was not a good experience, and since then we've been workign really hard to do better. I am talking so much more in the lessons and she is talking less and trying to keep it simpler. We really have the spirit with us. I know that simplicity is KEY! And that we don't do anything, it's allllll the spirit who teaches.

-Speaking of teaching, we committed BOTH of our investigators this past week to get baptized!! AHHHH! Holy cow, it's an amazing feeling! For all who don't know, when we teach in teh MTC we are teaching our teachers, so it's not really real investigators. But they are acting like people they taught on their missions. So they are real people, and the experiences are very real for us. So everytime we teach we feel like their salvation is on teh line and it's good practice for us for what it's going to be like when we get to Italia in 5 weeks. Yep...FIVE WEEKS!! I am soooo excited!!!

-I can do a pull-up now. Yep, it's super legit. I couldn't do one even when I lifted weights during waterpolo/swim seasons, so I feel pretty accomplished because of this haha. We try a couple times every day. I love it.

-Sack breakfast is awesome. When we don't have to be somewhere until like 8:30, or if we have gym first, or if it's P-day (this is like 3 times a week total) we go get sack breakfast. There's nothing like a cinnamon sugar bagel in the morning with some yogurt! It's my favorite meal in teh MTC :)

I cannot wait for General Conference this weekend. Because of it, we don't have class on Saturday so we're all excited to have that break and just listen to the prophet and the apostles. Looking forward to it so much.

Quick note, if you sent me a Dear Elder last week (initials just happen to be G.H.B.) and you want a letter in return before that very significant event in 2 weeks arrives (you know what I'm talking about), you best send me your new address! Cuz I can't sent it telepathically as cool as that would be. Thanks in advance. A letter will be waiting for that address...

Our devotional last night was Elder Don R. Clarke of the 70 and it was awesome. Some of my favorite things he said:

-Subject line quote. If you take the scripture that talks about workign with all your heart, might, mind, and strenghth, and you reword it a little, thats what you get. Work with a strong mind and a mighty heart. Well said.

-DILIGENCE, NOT INTELLIGENCE.  That was my favorite thing he said. I feel like I hardly know anything, and I am not a Scriptorian at all like many missionaries here are. But if I keep working, I can do it! Applies to everything in life, as long as we keep going and keep trying, we don't have to be super intelligent. Take that how you will.

-If you love people, you will push them. If I write something intense, it's because I love you :) And because I know that so many things are important to know right now even if we don't want to hear them necessarily.

I hope everyone is doing well. And that everyone is happy. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. It has been so good for me to go through these things the past 4 weeks and I have learned so so so much. I'm so grateful for the love! Everyone's letters are so positive and they encourage me to keep doing my best. So that's exactly what I'm doing - my best. Vi voglio bene! :) Have a wonderful week.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Hermana Ray going to Peru. Love her!!!

This about sums up the relationship between my collega and me...we're a good match :)

The Book of Mormon is TRUE! - Week 3‏

3 weeks down. Every week I will say that I feel like I've been here for months, because its true! Not in a bad way, but we have lost all perception of time and it is really funny. We don't remember the things we did in the mornings, and if we do we think they happened last month. Yet we weren't here last month...hahaha it's grand fun.

Ok. Stuff for my 3rd week at the MTC:

-Lots of people have asked if my companion, Sorella Soh, will be leaving the MTC early because she already knows Italian or if she will be staying here the whole 9 weeks. I am happy to report that she will be with me until November 1st, when we will then depart from each other - me to Rome, and her to Milan. It will be sad, but I'm grateful that she can be with me now and help me learn the language.

-Sorella Soh did leave me for 2 days, however, to apply for her visa. Yes, I said apply. That is abnormal for missionaries to apply while on their mission, because it's supposed to get taken care of before we even come tothe MTC. She had lots of problems though. So early early MOnday morning she flew to the Italian consulate in Miama to apply for her visa. She was gone for 2 days, during which time I was in a trio with my other 2 roommates, Sorelle Teichert and Ivory. Sorella Soh had a wonderful experience as she applied for her visa, and miraculously they said it should be mailed to her NEXT WEEK. That doesn't happen. It really is a miracle, and because of that she will get to go to Italy on time and not serve stateside. She must need to be in Italy soon. It is soooo cool how it all worked out :) She is back safe and sound and I missed her so I'm grateful she's back!

-I love my teachers in the MTC: Sorella Swenson and Fratello Mortensen. They are just both filled with the SPirit so much and they help us every single day with something. I had a cool experience this week. One late night class Fratello Mortensen asked us to write down a question that we have maybe been struggling with about our investigators, and then told us to pray about it. After we wrote down our questions we sat in a circle and read from the Italian Book of Mormon together out loud. We then had a discussion together, in Italian. We are all trying really really hard to only speak Italian in class, and it's really helping us. So our topic of discussion went to exactly my question that I had asked. Afterwards I showed my classmates what I had written down, and we were all like "woooooow - that's so cool". The next day I told Fratello Mortenson about it and he got this completely humbled look on his face. He's a brand new teacher (we are his 1st district and he has been home from his mission for only 2 months!) and I know telling him that helped him realize that class really is directed by the SPirit. SO COOL.

-The Italian group 6 weeks ahead of us left yesterday morning and it was sad to say goodbye. Some of them I will see in Rome, but some are going to Milan and if I see them again it won't be for a long while. We always talk about how we're going to have a huge reunion with each other in Italy at the temple dedication haha. How amazing would that be if we could actually make that happen. I hope ALL THE TIME that I will be able to make it back for the temple. With my family hopefully!!!! Especially that one sister who served in the same mission as me...oh yeah...hahaha. :)

Here is my big sprititual shpeel of the week:

READ THE OCTOBER ENSIGN. I don't know when you at home will have access to it. They gave every single missionary a copy of this Ensign and told us to read it cover to cover. It is a special issue about the Book of Mormon and oh my gosh it is sooooo amazing. I think everyone should read it all the way through and think about how amazing that book is.

An awesome thing about why they gave everyone a copy. We have our Tuesday night devotionals, and last night was really special. We figured someone big was coming again, even after Elder Ballard came last week and it being so close to General Conference, because there were signs EVERYWHERE telling everyone to bring their Ensign and their scriptures. Very odd. And there was a little rumor going on in our district for a reason I'll share later. Elder Russell M. Nelson came to the MTC last night and shared his testimony of the Book of Mormon as well as some history about the printing and everything. It was such an amazing meeting. And then afterwards each district meets with each other with a member of their branch presidency to talk about the devotional and share thoughts. My branch president, President Johnston, is the BEST.

Here are some of my favorite things from the Ensign and also the devotional and my brach president, because I'm sure you all want to know what I think:

-Missionaries are NOT PESTS. While people may think that, we can never think that of ourselves. We are people's connection to their eternal glory. They don't know that yet, but we do.

-pg. 14 in Ensign - talk by Elder Nelson (coincidently) - "As we become His true disciples, we gain the power to love as He does. As we keep His commandments, we become more like Him."

-The Book of Mormon was made for OUR DAY. It was made for US. THe prophets who wrote saw us and knew what we needed. When Mormon compiled the book together he chose from TONS of writings. He chose what we specifically would need in this day - "included the topics and examples of greatest importance to the inhabitants of the earth in the latter days." - pg. 37

-pg. 40 - Wilford Woodruff said "All the ingenuity of all the men under heaven could not compose and present to the world a book like the Book of Mormon. Its principles are divine--they are from God. They could never emanate from the mind of an imposter, or from the mind of a person writing a novel. Why? Because the promises and prophecies it contains are being fulfilled in the sight of all the earth." AMAZING>

-Read the talk by President Ezra Taft Benson. He spoke it in General Conference in 1986 but I had never read it. Read it - it's so cool.

-on pg. 71 theres a story about an Italian man. :) :) :)

-pg 80 - testimony from Elder Holland - my favorite. "The Book of Mormon is the sacred expression of Christ's great last covenant with mankind." As a missionary, it is my responsibility to convey the GIFT of the Book of Mormon to the world.

I just said a ton of spiritual stuff, but I am a missionary. :) I know the Book of Mormon is true!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so grateful that I have a testimony of it, and that I can soon chare it with people in italy. 6 weeks away! Being a missionary is hard, from ALL my experience in the MTC, but I feel the spirit everyday and I know that I am supposed to be here right now.

I love my family! I went to the temple today and instead of doing a session I was able to participate in sealings and I'm so grateful for the temple and everything it represents.

The Italian language is beautiful. It is hard to learn, but it is beautiful. I love singing hymns in Italian.

Thank you to everyone who is praying for me. I am so grateful for letters that you take the time to write me, and for the support I have. You are all wonderful. Read the Book of Mormon! I tell you that because I love you and because that book is so important to this work. Have a wonderful week! Write me! :)

Love, Sorella Sobeck

BLUE DAY!

Red (U) Vs. Blue (Y)

Jeru friend! Hermana Hansen going to Chile.

Anziano Moh's birthday and we had some cake!

Pretty good cake...

Sister Windley - new hilarious roommate

:)

Ice cream makes my world a better place - WEEK 2‏

Ciao everyone! Week 2 is done and my oh my it went soooo much faster than the first week. Today we have been watching the greenies come into the MTC and keep thinking "that was me 2 weeks ago...yet it feels like an eternity" hahaha. It's good though, the MTC is a great place and I like it. Thanks for the emails and such. FYI, they are in the process of moving the mailroom this week so DearElders haven't been coming through since Friday. Everything else has been delivered though. (PS - Amy, thanks for the letter and pictures!!! It made my day :) :)) If anyone feels a super kind desire to send Sorella Sobeck a DearElder that I'd get tomorrow, I would love you so much. You don't realize how important mail is until you're a missionary...sorry to all my friends who I was terrible at writing to. Whoops. So yes, please write to me and tell me the significant or insignificant details you'd like to share. I can't email directly to people, but I can answer in letter form (the best kind!). So if you want a letter back please include your address. Thanks :)

So. My week.

-Preach My Gosepl is AWESOME. I've still hardly read any of it, but I wish I had the time to just sit and read and read and read it. It makes SO much more sense when you read it as a missionary, hence why it was made in teh first place. I love that book so much and can't wait to read all of it.

-My favorite words of the week: 1) Giu = down. It's pronounced "Jew". That is why I like that word. 2) Burrocacao = chapstick. Just saying that word is fun.

-Cafeteria FACT 1: Ice cream Wednesdays and Sundays at the MTC are one of the greatest things to look forward to. I just ate some mint chocolate chip ice cream with hot fudge after I went to the temple and it made me oh so happy.

-Cafeteria FACT 2: Ok...COD NUGGETS. Why? We all wonder that everytime we see those words on the menu. You would think they would stop making them when there is no line to get them. Sorella Ivory said this about cod nuggets: "Anything that comes in the form of a nugget that isn't chicken makes me want to kill myself." Obiously overexaggerated. But still, it is quite funny. No I haven't eaten them and no I will not during my stay at the MTC.

-One time we had class at 6:15-9:15pm. (And by one time I mean like 4 times a week). ANd we had one of our teachers for our 1st time, Fratello Mortensen. And he was so nervous because we are his first district ever cuz he just got home from his mission 2 months ago, and he was giving this great analogy with jackets about how you need to tailor the gospel to each individual person because one jacket does not fit all. And Sorella Soh was wearing Sorella Teichert's jacket. Sor. Soh is 5'10

" and Sor. Teichert is 5'4". So it looked sooo ridiculous and it was a great analogy. Except it was 8:30 pm at the very end of the week, and Sorella Soh just happened to pull a clump of grapes out of Sorella Teichert's jacket. Grapes. In her pocket. She stole them from the cafeteria. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Maybe you had to be there, but just picture our loopiness and laughing our heads off and our poor teacher...

-SOme of the Anzioni showed me some cool things in teh scriptures on Sunday. In 2 Nephi 12:2 it talks about top of the mountains. When Utah became a state the Saints wanted to name is Deseret but they weren't allowed. So the government chose to call it Utah. It was prophesied. Look in verse 2, lines 2-5.

          Mountain

           Established

     Mountains

               hills

Go down and it spells out UTAH. HAHAHA. Oh man the scriptures are awesome. Utah means "top of the mountains" in teh Ute language. Sooo coool.

-I met Tyler Docksteader int eh MTC this week. He recognized on my shirt Buchanan and he asked where I was from. Yep, completely heard of him.

-Italian is very hard for me, but it is so cool to see our progress. Understanding is hard, speaking my thoughts is hard, but I know it will come. The gift of tongues is real! I'm so grateful for prayer and for my teachers and ALL the work and support they give us.

*****Best thing of the week. Tuesday nights are MTC Devotional, and last night we had Anziono M. Russell Ballard come and speak to the missionaries :) :) :) He gave a wonderful talk and said so many things that we all needed to hear. He just has so much LOVE for us! I love hearing that the 1st presidency and the Quorum of the 12 all pray for us missionaries every Thursday morning in the temple. They love us so much. ANd we sure love them. It's amazing to hear how silent a huge room full of young kids gets when a General Authority walks in the room. I can't wait until General Conference in a few weeks.

So I guess that's kind of all I have. The Italian district 6 weeks ahead of us leaves for Italy on Tuesday, so it's going to be pretty lonely around here without them. WE love them so much. Then 3 weeks after that we'll get a new group and we'll be the older Sorelle and Anzioni. WEIRD!

I love being a missionary! There have been some really hard days but they you forget about them when you have positive experiences and because you're surrounded by people going through the same thing. I'm so grateful for missionary work and for the SPIRIT. The Holy Ghost is so amazing and I rely on it a lot. Thank you for all your support, please pray for me and all the missionaries to learn the languages we need to learn and to learn how to teach the gospel simply. It is very difficult, but we have been called by the prophet and therefore we know it is possible. I love you all! Again, please write! I'm not above asking for it hahaha, it is always a great surprise to get mail and it makes us feel loved.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Italian sorelle

All the Italians!

Where's the guns??

Italian/Portuguese Zone 

ITALIA!!!

Ï feel like Willy Wonka just threw up on my bed!"- 1st week‏

Hello! I have officially survived my first entire week at the MTC and today it has been so fun to see the new greenies come in. I feel so experienced...hahaha ok so maybe not, but I'm glad I'm not the brand new missionary anymore. This week has been the coolest, LONGEST, most spiritual, hardest week of my life in different ways than I've ever experienced before. Everyone who has been in the MTC before knows exactly what I'm saying. If you haven't, its just something that you have to experience! But I honestly can say that I love the MTC! I always heard about how strong the Spirit is all the time and how much you learn in a short amount of time. It's absolutely true, I can vouch for that.

My compa

nion is Sorella Soh (I know...Soh and Sobeck...it's awesome) and she's 22 and from North Carolina I guess you could say. Her dad's in the military so they've moved a little. She has taken 18 credits of Italian at BYU. So she can communicate in Italian already with a fairly good vocabulary, she knows all the conjugations and the tenses and all that fun stuff...and her collega (companion - myself) is just in awe all the time. This week has been VERY overwhelming as I've tried to get a grasp of how to pronounciate this new language and my companion isn't sharing that challenge with me. HOWEVER, she helps me sooooooooo much!!!! I am always always always asking her how to say something, and I always forget it and ask her to repeat it a million times and she never gets annoyed with me. I was worried about that at the beginning, but not anymore. It's helpful for her too. So yes, the very first day of the MTC we went to class and began to be immersed in the langage. They use an Immersion program where our teachers don't speak English, they don't necessarily teach us the conjugations and all that. We have to read out books and SPEAK SPEAK SPEAK. It has been hard for me but I'm getting used to it and I really do believe that it is the best way to learn a language the quickest! These people definitely know what they're doing when they teach missionaries.

So far I can bear my testimony and pray in Italian, along with a few other little things. When I say I can do these things, I mean they are always very simple testimonies and prayers. One thing I have learned so far is that simplicity can be very effective. It doesn't matter if you don't know how to say all that you want to say, or if the grammar is correct. As long as you can get your point across with simple words, the Spirit can be there. We began teaching an investigator our second day in teh MTC...only in Italian. Sorella Soh does almost all the talking in our lessons, but I do bear my testimony and say a prayer in the lessons. We've had 4 lessons with him (his name is Luigi) so far and each time my language is improving and my understanding is increasing. He does talk very fast though and because my collega understands everything he says and she speaks quickly, I don't always keep up haha. It's kinda entertaining. I'm trying my best to participate because I know the more I practice here the better off I will be when I get to Italy!

My district is very unique, in our boy/girl ratio. Last week we had 3 Anzioni (Elders) come in, and 7 Sorelle (Sisters)!!! That is unheard of and is so backwards from what it usually is. It is fun though. The ölder and wiser" Italian missionaries who came 6 weeks before us seem so experienced and they have a normal ratio, i believe 7 Anzioni and 3 Sorelle. I will simply say that I love all the Italian missionaries who are here at this time! They are so much fun to be around and I believe we are such a unified group of missionaries. At every meal the Anzioni always take the girls trays for them when we're finished eating. They always open our doors and they treat us with respect. It was weird at first but I have realized how uncommon that is in the MTC! Our guys are THE BEST! The older Sorelle have all taken Italian before so they know a lot and they are a lot of fun to be around and they always help us.

Some fun stuff that has happened this week:

1. Obviously I'm new at learning a language. And people always make mistakes. Whether it's in the meaning of the word or just the pronounciation, it can be hilarious. Sorella Soh was telling me how to say good job: buon fatto. Immediately I tried to mimic and sayed buon farto. Yep, like a fart. We don't know why but it was hilarious at the time and it involved me crying with tears rolling down my face. I guess stupid thigns are funny when you spend hours and hours in a classroom every single day.

2. The Sorelle in my room (there are 4 of us who came in the same day: Sorelle Soh, Ivory, and Teichert) have some physical goals we've set. Everyday we try and do at least a couple pullups and since I've never been able to do one this makes me happy. I am determined to do one real pullup before I leave the MTC. We also decided to do at least 50 pushups (no knees on teh ground) a day. It's been fun to have that goal together. SOme of the Anzioni do 300 a day hahaha...wé aren't aspiring for that.

3. I know that the gift of tongues is REAL! I have felt it and know that without the Lord's help I wouldn't be able to say anything in Italian at this point.

4. Subject quote - Willy Wonka. Quote from Sorella Soh when we walked in our room and found candy on our bed from Sorelle Ivory and Teichert. They are so cool. I love all my roommates.

5. I have felt the Spirit SOOOO much this week. I am so grateful for the things I've learned and how much I've come to rely on what I feel.

6. I have prayed more than I ever have in my life. It is so important and it helps me and comforts me. We all need comfort here from the feelings of overwhelmingness.

7. I love my Heavenly Father and I know that He is there!!!

SO yes, my pday is Wednesday. We went to the temple today and it was great. I love the temple.

Thanks to Mom, Sarah, Ana, Aunt Donna, and Janine for loving me this week. It was great to be remembered this week. I love you all!

Love, Sorella Sobeck :)

PS - 30 minutes on computer a week to read and type. SOrry for the typos and sorry it's not longer. I have so much more to say. Sorry! Love yoU!.

Classmates/roommates/FRIENDS

Matchy-match day with the sorelle