Buon Giorno!!!

Ciao mia famiglia e tutti!

My first week at the MTC has been pretty fun! I love being here and feeling the spirit that is here! I love the other Anziani in my disctrict! They make this so much more fun and bearable and we are able to learn really well together. Italian is so much more difficult than Spanish but it is because of the little rules and things that you have to remember that it is so much more beautiful! I am so happy to be learning it right now! My companion Anziano Barone is awesome and he is a hard worker and is fun to be around. He is from California, but his family is from Napoli Italy. Fortunately for me he can speak a pretty good amount of Italian and he can understand very well also. He has been a huge help to me and the others in my District and we are learning much quicker because of his help. I try to speak the language a lot, but it is becoming very repeditive... I only know so many words right now.

So every day except for Sunday and P-Day we have been teaching an "Investigator" named Giuseppe. After a few lessons we found out that he is actually our second teacher and he is a very nice guy! Our first lesson I was only able to read things that we had prearranged to teach him and even then only very little. My companion had to carry the lesson for the most part and answer the questions. As the lessons went on I have been starting to understand kind of the basic idea of what he is saying, but still most the time I have no idea how to answer his questions, so I simply read off of little note cards that I make with key phrases that we want to emphasize to him. I have begun to be able to bear my testimony without notes, but even that is still not all the time. It is so much fun to learn this language though and I wouldn't choose any other one to learn. Italian is awesome! I have been working to learn new vocab words and memorize how to conjugate verbs a lot lately. It will just take time.

The MTC was hard the first few days and even though I was happy and loved being there I was getting tired. I was mentally tired of those first few days and I was wondering how in the world I would do this for two years and then the Sunday night devotional came. It was like the answer to my prayers. I don't specifically remember the talk, I just remember the feeling of love and happiness I felt. I knew that my Savior Jesus Chirst loved me. I knew that he loved the people of Italy just as much and I really in my heart realized how much I want those people to feel that joy and happiness that comes from the love of the Savior. It is an incredible thing and I am so grateful that I get to teach people about this amazing Gospel and that I get this oppurtunity to turn outwards and serve them. I have always been kind of one to turn inwards when challenge or difficulty comes and I hope that on this mission I will learn to turn outwards and give my service and heart to the people of Italy. I want to learn to act as the Savior would and give them that kind of love and kindness. I know that if I actively strive to achieve this that Christ will bear me up and help me accomplish it. He is the one who will carry me through the trials and challenges of this mission.

So the other day we found out that the Pope is stepping down. We joke that he is scared of this wave of about 60 Italian missionaries coming. We are all so excited to get to Italy and to try and preach the Gospel in our broken Italian. Italy is already the pinnacle of all the countries in the world and by far the best mission that we could be serving in! I love this work and everything that is coming from it. I am praying that I will be able to some how teach Italians even though we struggle with the language. The spirit will be doing a lot of work when we get there and can only say a few phrases. Thanks for all of the letters and things that I have been sent! They make my day and I am so grateful to have friends and families who remember me! Keep sending them please!

Much love,

Anziano Benjamin Burton