Ciao again

Hello my wonderful family and friends. Guess who is still in the MTC?? Yes, your very own Sorella Laws, trooping on with more faith than ever.

The trees are beautiful. Isn't fall the greatest season ever? I want to sit outside all day even though it's freezing cold and just walk around and talk to people. Good thing that's what I'll be doing soon.

This week was probably the hardest. Which I am grateful for. I am convinced and have a firm testimony that Heavenly Father pushes us to our very limits so that we can learn how strong we really are. I felt that this week. He's taken a lot of things away. I think of the Sufjan Steven's song "and he takes and he takes and he takes" but it's when He's taking that we learn what really matters. Sure, I've never had my own companion. And then he took my district. And then he took my teachers, who have made a valiant effort to visit but it's never quite matched up. Then he took my health. And he took my mailbox away (don't worry I got it forwarded to my new district you can still write ;)). The scriptures talk about how the Lord will have a humble people. And I'll tell you there is nothing more humbling than diarrhea. Or setting the record for most stool samples given in three weeks. Grossed out yet? Welcome to my life. But I realized that I can do things I never thought I could do before. Like you mentioned, Mum, I used to be afraid of all things medical. Now Dr. Brown is like my uncle and the nurse, Ren, is my best friend (not just because we have the same name). The lady at the counter knows me by name and I am now on my fifth antibiotic in 3 months (for three different things, but stiiiiill).

But now for the good news. Because once Heavenly Father has pushed you as far as you can go he gives back. So Monday they ran one more test and the nurse came up to my room and I met with Dr. B again (I think I should send him Christmas cards from here on out, he may be the person I'm closest to in the MTC, ha) and he said the test was positive!! So, since you've been asking mom, it's some virus and I'm taking medicine that tastes like metal three times a day (every time I swallow it I have to run around in a circle and shove food in my mouth because it takes SO bad, good news is it's helping inspire me to eat, because I had kind of stopped doing that because it just hurt too bad).

So when do I get to leave? That's a question I get ten times a day. I don't know. I'm crossing my fingers they let me go before the antibiHello my wonderful family and friends. Guess who is still in the MTC?? Yes, your very own Sorella Laws, trooping on with more faith than ever.

The trees are beautiful. Isn't fall the greatest season ever? I want to sit outside all day even though it's freezing cold and just walk around and talk to people. Good thing that's what I'll be doing soon.

This week was probably the hardest. Which I am grateful for. I am convinced and have a firm testimony that Heavenly Father pushes us to our very limits so that we can learn how strong we really are. I felt that this week. He's taken a lot of things away. I think of the Sufjan Steven's song "and he takes and he takes and he takes" but it's when He's taking that we learn what really matters. Sure, I've never had my own companion. And then he took my district. And then he took my teachers, who have made a valient effort to visit but it's never quite matched up. Then he took my health. And he took my mailbox away (don't worry I got it forwarded to my new district you can still write ;)) The scriptures talk about how the Lord will have a humble people. And I'll tell you there is nothing more humbling than diarrhea. Or setting the record for most stool samples given in three weeks. Grossed out yet? Welcome to my life. But I realized that I can do things I never thought I could do before. Like you mentioned, Mum, I used to be afraid of all things medical. Now Dr. Brown is like my uncle and the nurse, Ren, is my best friend (not just because we have the same name). The lady at the counter knows me by name and I am now on my fifth antibiotic in 3 months (for three different things, but stiiiiill).

But now for the good news. Because once Heavenly Father has pushed you as far as you can go he gives back. So Monday they ran one more test and the nurse came up to my room and I met with Dr. B again (I think I should send him Christmas cards from here on out, he may be the person I'm closest to in the MTC, ha) and he said the test was positive!! So, since you've been asking mom, it's some virus and I'm taking medicine that tastes like metal three times a day (every time I swallow it I have to run around in a circle and shove food in my mouth because it takes SO bad, good news is it's helping inspire me to eat, because I had kind of stopped doing that because it just hurt too bad).

So when do I get to leave? That's a question I get ten times a day. I don't know. I'm crossing my fingers they let me go before the antibios are done, because they go for ten days. We shall see. But I WILL get there.

New Italian missionaries come tomorrow and the Anziani have taken to calling me Sorella Nonna (because I am the grandma).

Like I said, when the Lord takes he also gives. I have more friends than ever before. The two Italian districts and Herm Rod's district all love me more than I deserve. In Volleyball we played my zone versus Herm. Rod's zone. The score is not important.

Anziano Flitton told me his ring would glow like the LotR ring if you put it in the microwave for 5 seconds. I knew he was lying to me but I wanted so badly for it to be true.

And I had an interview with Frat. Calder (teacher over my new district) last night and I realized. That he hasn't left me alone or without teachers. Because Frat. C. was already late and he took like half an hour to talk to me about how I was doing and how he was grateful to have me in his class. He asked me if I was happy and I had to pause, because yesterday was hard, but then I said, "yes" and he said, why? and I proceeded to tell him how lucky I felt that the Lord trusted me enough to call me on a mission and how He's given me so much and that he loves me enough to push me to be the best I can be.

I promise you that if you want to be a good teacher, the key is asking questions. It makes people say things they didn't even know they knew. And how much more powerful is it if it comes out of their mouth instead of yours?

And that's how you find out what they really need. Is by asking. It really is that simple.

Everyday I see reasons why it's good I am still here. I got to take Herm. Rodrigues in for her procedure. And when she woke up, it was hilarious. She kept asking the same questions over and over and asking me if I'd ever had an IV before. I got her to recite Joseph Smith's vision in Spanish. It was fun. The night before she had to drink gross stuff to clear out her stomach and I coached her through it and came in with inspiring scriptures now and again. We missed the devotional but we found out it was Elder Ballard so we sat outside and listened for a little bit. Then we decided we wanted to meet him and since we weren't in the gym we could leave whenever we wanted. So we walked around and got stopped by two "body guards" (aka 20-something-year-old guys who work at the MTC) so we walked through our building to the other side and long story short we saw him drive by and we waved and he may or may not have waved back. YAY! Ha. It's a small thing, but it was special for us.

Not being able to eat cheese is killing me. But at least I'm not gaining MTC weight.

We have been practicing 100% obedience so when they say "lights out" we sprint for the light switch. One night there was a huge mark in my journal because I had thrown it and my pen aside and run to the lights.

Laws School graduation is this week. I prepared a final that's pretty hilarious.

Mom, SHERI DEW came!! And she rocked our worlds. She talked about how the most important thing in our missions and life missions are: 1. Knowing who we are as sons and daughters of God. 2. Understanding the Atonement of Jesus Christ and 3. Knowing how to receive personal revelation. If we can do these, we are unstoppable.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!!!!

amore amore amore