HI FAMMILY!!!!

Disclaimer- Really i cant spell in english and the shift key on this keyboard is broken so i appologize for all the lowercases.....

ya the whole no gluten thing really sucks. Hahaha Last night I got rebellious and had some Pringles.... and by some I mean like half the can and I just feel GLORIOUS now hahaha but Yeah I have a lot of GlutenFree options here so its not bad at ALL jst the lack of flavor is kinda harsh... haha But I did find some fruit snacks in the vending machine that are gluten free so thats fabulous. :D haha Italy will be interesting for that- but I am pretty sure Heavenly Father will just take care of it. I only have so much control of what I have access to sooooooo YOLO.

Also I sent a box home with just some stuff I didnt need and I may or may not send another one. It only cost like $5 to send HOLLA so I will see what else I can spare to loose. They really really really want us to take as little as possible so they said anything we can afford to loose to just leave. They gave us the impression there was like a 60% chance of us loosing our bags- not on the plane but on the train so thats sketchy. joyyyy

I GOT THE PICTURES OF KATE!!!! Well... 6 of them, I dont know how much you sent but I love the ones I have!!!!!!!!!! I have absoulutly NO PICTURES so not I have a couple pictures to prove I really do have a family :D Man she is the most perfect baby I have even seen in my life- but I dont know Grandma says I was a pretty perfect baby so Kate has a lot to live up to. :D I also got the packages!!!!!! I have never read "Missionary Commission" holy cow... intense much??? Hahaha But thank you SO MUCH!!! My district and I attacked that stuff and I doubt ANY of the treats will see the plane hahaha The funny thing is, is that I was goign to ask you guys to send my a coloring book for the plane and then whatdoyaknow????? I get a tinkerbell activity book!!!! Haha My whole District literally thinks I am 12.... I dont know how they figured it out.

BYTHEWAY I met an elder here and he claims the his family has popcorn EVERYNIGHT- so every p-day we wollow in self-pity and have like 8 bags of microwave popcorn. Its really quite pathetic.

 

YAY SAM!!!!!! Thats so sad I am missing his farewell but how fun that everyone can be there for it!!!! I doubt it will be 11- 12:30 cause thats 9:00pm in Italy.... I bet you guys are going to have to wake up HOLY early but thats just a guess. I would assume they have us skype around 5. Lets be honest I have NO IDEA.

The MTC is so much fun! I got to be a host yesterday for new sisters and Elders and I felt so old. Its weird knowing I got a nice 18 hour flight coming next week. But every week we get 600 new missionaries and the MTC is continually swarming with people its so much fun. My district/ zone are already acting like a bunch of Italians, we cant NOT talk with our hands or Not be excited about everything its how I imagine an adult cheerleading team to be. Like during conference the one time they showed a picture a temple, it was of th Rome Temple and our whole district stood up and just cheered- all at once without even thinking- ITS SO FUN! Also Italy only had one original hymn and its kinda a power hymn so we learned it as holy cow do we sing that song. Waywaywaywayway fun.

On sunday we have relief society and they always ask the new sisters to stand and then the sister leaving this week to stand- I FINALLY GET TO STAND AHHHHHHHHHH YOU GUYS I AM MOVING TO ITALY!!!! How cool is missionary work??

Random story: I sleep on the top bunk and my collega sleeps below me  and we have all our suitcases just on the floor next to the bed (they dont fit underneath the bed... whos idea was THAT) so I am climbing down from my super safe and sturdy, moves like jello ladder so I can saftly reach the ground one night, and my collegas suitcase is right at the bottom of the stairs, natuarlly- where else?  so I attempt in my gracfullness to just skip that last step on my so faithful, reliable ladder and juts jump over the suitcase! Good idea right? Well i imagine the room to be much bigger then it is. So I jump off the ladder backwards and my elbow, RIGHT inbetween the funny bone and ... other elbow bone... the closet door just jams right inbetween those as I jump back with all my weight thus bouncing me to the ground hysterically laughing in excruciating pain. -____- This continues for a solid half hour but it hurt so bad that I couldnt stop laughing but I wanted to cry but I couldnt! I had TOTALLY dead arm, literally had no feeling in my left arm till the next morning. You can Imagine the climb BACK UP the ever-so-steady-and-reliable latter -____- Good times.... Good times....

Hopefully in Italy I will have more time to actually write but my time is up even though I still got some great stories, I will try to write them down for next time. Thanks for everyones support- I pray for yall everyday!! Like... 50 times!!!! Literally... we. pray. all. the. time. .... Ok Love you!!!!

-Sorella Holloway

HEY YALL!!!!! So much to tell everyone, but first off let me just tell you how homesick I am????? SHEESH i blame it on Kate I am super trunky!!!! I wish I could see her so bad so I can't wait for pics cause I am DYING. DYING PEOPLE.

Ok so I am just gunna start out with my SUPER AWKWARD story and I apologize to anyone who this offends.. suck it up. Alright since we are supposed to speak Italian pretty much all the time, we have to learn pretty quick and flash cards are just ridiculous cause you go through about 3 pads of 50 a day.... So one of the words me and my companion use a lot is excited. Why? Cause I am 19 years old and i actually am excited about pretty much everything. So my companion says Excited in class yesterday and my teacher informs us that there are 2 ways to say excited in Italian. So.... we were using the wrong one. In fact we were using the one that means "sexually aroused/excited" and NOT I am so excited to be here. SO That was fun to find out.
We have been saying this with our investigators and with real members for 2 weeks
aka
"we are so excited to be here"
"we are so excited you want to be babtised"
"we are so excited to meet you"
The list goes on and on..... You can imagine how awkward this was for us. YAY FOR TRYING TO LEARN ITALIAN BY OURSELVES!!!

On the bright side at least we learned this BEFORE italy. Fabulous

Another highlight of the week was that Richard G. Scott came to speak to us EEEPPPP!!!! It was so powerful and I was only a few rows back. He couldn't get over how many sisters and senior missionaries there were here. And he is right- girls are about 44% of the MTC so we just set a record! He was telling the elders how amazing it is that women come by choice, and that they need to respect us ahhhhhhhhh how cute is he?
Mary Edmonds also came this week and her talk was SO GREAT. Loved her too. I am so lucky to be here. In a way its like being in the temple allll the timeee. But more loud. and busy. and Hecka crowded.

Another great thing about yesterday was that I got to be a host for the new-bees coming in and yesterday we had 500 new missionaries. So I got to show 3 girls around and I felt so old cause I have been here for 4 weeks but it feels like 2 days. They weren't kidding when they said it flys by. Cause I cant believe i am flying out in less then 2 weeks?!! AHHHHHHH Ok I got my visa and no one here has had trouble getting their visa's to Italy. We got to go to the Italian Embassy so we could sign a million papers but yeah! I am good to go! I won't get my flight plans till a couple days before I think but I know I am at the airport April 30th. SO keep that day free :) I think the usual stops are in Chicago and Frankford, Germany and then Italy but I have no idea.
Ok for real I have NO TIME to email and it is actually making me really mad cause I feel like I am on my own little planet with no communication and that part SUCKS. But I love being here. I am getting everyones DearElders and I write back pretty quick so hopefully everyone is getting those even though they are lagged because of snail mail. I hope everyone is doing good- I miss everyone like CRAZY but i love my family here too. Look for my letters in the mail cause I send them out all the time.

Also can I get grandmas address? She put on her letter the Tacoma sticker which isnt exactly helpful for writing back Hahaha unless I missed something.... yikes.

I love you guys! Richard G. Scott told us that us being missionaries is the best thing we can do for our families so hopefully its working!!! hHahaha LOVE YOU!!!

Love Sorella Holloway <3

PS- I auditioned today to sing at a devotional for all 3000 misisonaries and it went really good :D!!!! More news coming in the mail

April 4th, 2013

Hey yall!! I have survived yet another week and am now 1/3 of the way done with my MTC experience. Also- I have written this email about 3 times now and it keeps deleting itself which is SUPER cool. Actually not at all.
Ok So I love my district!!- In case I have already been brainwashed with MTC jargon- a district is what they call the group of people I have class with for 6 hours a day along with an additional 4 hours of personal study/with a tutor or whatever. So Love them all and we are all really close which makes the days go by really quick :D My campanion is awesome and she never fails to crack me up. The other day the zipper broke in the back  of her skirt like BADDD and is by the funniest moment I have had in the MTC. Why? Cause we were about to walk into the caferteria.... There are over 3000  missionaries... Try to process that. Hahaha YAY MY CAMPANION.

Ok Mom you will appreciate this- Sherri Dew came to give a devotional here on Easter that was SO GOOD. She is incredable- also Presiding Bishop of the church President Cassue and his wife came to speak which was also incredable!!! On easter we had the sacrament ALL together so more then 3000 missionaries all taking the sacrament and it still didnt take more then 20 minutes!! But they had 3 differant buildings and 4 long tables with 100 missionaries all passing the sacrament. So cool. I also got to part of the MTC choir on Easter and at the devotional- MTC choir is better then ANYTHING. I rather go to choir then sleep or eat anyday haha I also am going to audition to sing a solo and with a qourtet to sing at a devotional. I dont know if I have ever sang in front of 3000+ people buttttttttt oh well! I will let ya know what happens.

But Yeah I need to send about a kajillion things home. Remeber that one time when they said to plan on having an additional 15 pounds? Ya. BULL. They really meant like 100. I have so many language books and stuff that I gotta take over to Italy. Soooo thats kinda fun.

hey if I have any friends reading this- SEND ME YOUR HOME ADDRESS! I can't email anybody back cause I dont have time!!!

Ya I would LOVE to get my nylons- I didnt realize exactly HOW white I was until I started living here...... yikes.... There is something not normal about this skin of mine. Also I love G-2 pens and stickers (perferably Disney) if ya find any of those to throw in.

Dad: I can't believe you called the cops on mom Haha Thats pretty AWESOME, but I am pretty sure the cops should be at house R's house 24-7 anyway, so it would have done nothing but good.

Mom: On behalf of me and my ENTIRE district- THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!  Carmel corn lasted for dayss and we ate it all through class. It was never-ending which was PERFECT! unless my stomach has shrunk..... I would be surprised.... food here is sketchy.

Hey can you send me stephens address??? I wanna write him!

Anyway I love it here!!1 Hope ya liked the pictures!!!! cant wait to head out, The language is coming along.

Funny story: I ran into a girl from Italy today...... She tried talking to me.... they are DEFIANTLY teaching me the wrong language... Not one word did I understand hahahaha

Is anyone getting my letters???? I feel like they arent getting sent... -___-
 Also my companion has a messed up back so 3 times a week we go see a chiropractor- so I get missionary opportunities all the time! Whats embarrassing is when someone asks me where I am going and I couldnt for the life of me figure out how they knew I was serving a mission. THE NAME TAG. Ya I am an idiot. But we get tons of high fives everywhere we go and then when they find out I got my call at 18 they are always like WOWWWWWW You are a baby!! So thats fun too- now that I am 19 I almost fit in but I still get the whole "wow you are insane" talk- I wouldnt wanna be anywhere else!!
I get to go to the temple once a week so that is fabulous as well anddddddd dad I hope you get thaat picture of "steak" we had here at the MTC.... I mean really that hardly qualified as meat period. Haha Love yall!!! I send ya my love!!

Seriously where is Kate. I can;t stop talking abut it. Am I an Aunt??? Is Jenna ok???? WHAT IS HAPPENING.

April 11th, 2013


Hey yall!!!!!!

I am having a blast here!!! Best decision I have made it my short 19 years Haha
Ok so something I just LOVE about the MTC is I meet people from EVERYWHERE. For example- I was walking into the bookstore and we met these 2 elders from Tonga and Brazil and they wanted a pic so we stopped these two other elders walking by, one from Canada (french-speaking) and the other from Tokyo. WEIRD. We proceeded to lunch and sat next to two other elders- one from New Zealand and one from Australia. WEIRD. Then after lunch we walk into the hall and there are MOBS of asians were coming in. Like at least 200 all from China and Tokyo and about half were girls. COOLEST THING EVER. Not only are missionaries being sent all over the earth but missionaries are coming from all over the earth. And it doesn't seem too weird cause everyone is talking in a different language anyway... so all accents you cant tell if they are real or not. Haha!
I don't know if this is how it worked when Stephen Jay and Jenna were out- But we have investigators here (all Italian) and TRC were we teach Italian members and share a thought with them. So its way fun and one of our investigators has agreed to be babtised!! Haha too bad its not real... but who cares its awesome! Haha Also- the very first investigator we had is named "Nico" and we thought he was real- so after about 8 lessons with him out teacher said we werent teaching him anymore! So of course I was heart-broken and was SUPER dissappointed cause our next lesson was going to be about babtism and then inviting him to be babtised. So yeah- super bummer. The next day guess who walks into the classroom..... Nico.... AS OUR TEACHER. So my life had been revolving around this investigator and wanting him to know the truth and I was praying for this investigator- going out of my mind when JUST KIDDING he already knows and now he is going to be teaching ME. I almost died/ passed out. -___- We also gave him a lesson the second day here so obviously my Italian was pathetic so I am so glad I get to be thouroughly embarrassed by my teachers who are ALSO my teachers. Whaaaaaaaa. (I am slowly realizing this is probably confusing)... TO be clear, very few people speak Italian, so Our investigators are our teachers pretending, and our Active Member lessons are RMs from Italy... Yeah.
Mom- I have soooo much to send him. Buckle up.
My district is awesome- we have wayyy too much fun which makes the MTC so much less stressful especially when I am English deprived. Yay.


Mom!!!! I am super jealous you get to be with Jenna and be shopping and eating popcorn and having fun WAHHHHHH I will be there for the next one! Also in regards to your last questions- I am generally healthy... The food here is Sketch. But I do occasionally have some Captin Crunch for breakfast in your honor so I get those vitamins at least twice a week. :) Haha uhhhh I sleep! Man I should send you a picture of the beds. They look how I imagine a bed in a jail too look like Hahaha Which is fine I still can fall asleep but OH MAN the would "comforter" does not exsist here. Its a nice tope-brownish sheet that I am sure has some purpose I just havent discovered it yet. Haha Also our schedual says we have 6:30- 7 am to get ready for our day..... So thats funny. Hahaha Like anyone in the world can do that... My Italian is good enough that I havent offended anyone yet? So thats a step I suppose. I will get around to it Hahaha I will try to get a video of me saying something so yall can see. Not that I have.. video... on my camera.... not that I already have videos.. cause that would be disobediant... O.o

Love you guys!!!!! The Church is true!!! Lets be honest- Why else would I be here cause its NOT like its a breeze.... in fact quite opposite. :) Talk to you next week!!! Smother Kate with Love for me on Monday!!