Believe in the Impossible!

Buon Giorno!

Well another week is over and done! it literally feels like just yesterday that i was sitting in this computer lab writing my wonderful family! The time here FLIES BY. I really can't believe that I am already halfway done with my time here at the MTC. It is a surreal thing to think that in just 3 short weeks I will be in Italy. WOAAAAAAH. Crazy. I am SO STOKED. I cannot wait to get there!!! But I also still love it here. I really do. It one of the most challenging things that I have ever done, for sure...but also the VERY most rewarding thing ever as well! And just thinking about how even more rewarding it will be when I am actually teaching real investigators and talking to real life Italians. That will seriously rule!

Me and my wonderful collega! I just LOVE HER SO MUCH!!

I am learning so much about myself through this process, and I've only been here for three weeks! I sit down to write this email and i can hardly remember what happened this week! I guess we have journals for a reason! First of all, i feel as though i might be getting a little bit sick. I woke up today with a sore throat and i slightly stuffy nose...not too bad just that awkward feeling when you know a cold is coming? ya. but i'll be okay! Everyone gets sick here, so yeah i guess that I'm just normal?? ha But other than that I am doing great!

We had a super great week this week! We now have 2 regular investigators that we teach pretty much every day, and that has been a really amazing learning experience. They are both our teachers and one is much easier on us than the other. Fratello Guest or "Walter" is much more like our investigators probably will be in the field. He is a practicing Catholic and not very open to new ideas. Teaching is definitely becoming more comfortable as time goes on. As we practice and practice more, i can definitely feel myself improving! This week we didn't memorize any of our lines, we just studied the vocabulary needed for what we were teaching and prayed for the spirit to be with us, and just went in there and it was amazing the result! i truly learned this week that if you study your very best and are obedient, that the Lord truly will give you the words that you need to say! And its not like i go into the lessons and am able to speak perfect Italian, but I am able to go there and say how i feel in the very best way that I know how, and the spirit literally just makes up the rest! I don't know how to formulate sentences very well or all of the correct grammar, but that doesn't matter! That will come with time. For now i just have to be confident in myself and in The Lord and go for it!

Another great day for learning!

The only way that we can learn is if we just dive in! Yesterday in the Devotional, the speaker told this story about these divers...I won't tell the whole story but the gist of it was that one of the divers kept comparing his diving to the others, and he was only discouraged an down because he never felt like he would be able to reach the same degree as difficulty and accuracy as the other divers. You here that all the time here in the mission, "Don't compare yourself to others" which for me is a little bit easier said than done! It is very hard to not look at everyone around you and get discouraged that you aren't up to their level. But this week I think i figured out how i can do this...i just need to work the very hardest that I can, and literally only worry about myself. That sounds very much normal and not very profound but it is TRUE. I choose the outcome of situations. I am in control of what I do, and that is all. I've known this my whole life but it just really hit me this week! People just learn at different paces and that is fine!

I just know that this isn't supposed to be easy. It's hard because we are doing the Lord's work and what He went through was not easy by any means. We are His servants and therefore, we are going to have to work harder than anyone else! We just have to push ourselves to the veryyyyyyy edge. Go the extra mile every time. Never give up. It's not easy but it is alllllllways worth it! I also learned this week that we MUST have patience in this process! it is a process, meaning that it doesn't get better or happen over night. We have to suffer and struggle if we want to make it the the beautiful end! We push ourselves to the very edge of that cliff, and then through the help of The Lord, we can literally FLY. We must beleive in the impossible! It should be impossible for me to learn Italian or to know as much as I do right now, but through the Lord, nothing is impossible! I really feel like I am improving and moving forward in this each and every day! baby steps is how we reach great things!

I am so grateful to be a missionary right here and right now. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that I was called of God and that I was fore ordained for my mission to Italy Milan! I know that because i was called of God, He knows that I can do this and He is gonna help me do this!!! i really truly know that!!!

Our district.

Also, you can do soooooo much more with a smile on your face! so remember that this week as you are all going through something a little hard or a little new, just put a smile on your face and YOU CAN DO AMAZING THINGS. Believe in the impossible! Through the Lord we CAN fly! I hope that all is going well with starting school and such! i want to hear all about how that is going kay guys? so write me dear elders or something TODAY. And mom thanks so much for the Dear Elder, I LOVED IT. I hope that you are doing alright! you are so incredibly strong and i look up to you so much! i am SO proud of you for being so in tune with the spirit and being able to act on that prompting! man I just have the best family EVER! keep it up, you guys rule!!! Have a great week!!

Love,
Sorella Burt

Ready for a run!

Emmie was here...now she's gone!

Strength Through the Struggle

CIAO!!!!

Hey fam how i sure hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying their lives! i surely am! I am sooooo happy, it is unreal! week two at the MTC was full of beautiful and very hard times but that's just mission life i suppose! I'll hopefully be able to fully express my ideas in a way that it will make sense and is also somewhat enjoyable!

A temple selfie for your viewing pleasure!

With my companions.

To start off, i officially got my first real life MTC gym injury...drumroll please.......... I jammed my finger while playing a mean game of bball with the sisters...it actually hurt super bad and was all fat and nasty! but no worries, i have had a smooth recovery and i am happy to report that my finger is back to its normal size, no need to worry momma! also i fell down while playing bball and i got a mean bruise in the shape of a "Z", yes a z it acutally rules so yeah. be jealous that you all don't have one of those as well!

This week we taught our last lesson with our first investigator, "Chiara" it went super well and we extended the baptismal invite and she accepted! she just said that she wanted to learn more. although it is all role play, we were SO excited and just felt so much joy! I can't even imagine how it will feel when we have real life investigators progressing and wanting to learn more! We got two new investigators this week(well they are just both of our teachers) their names are Claudia (Sorella Nilson) and Walter (Fratello Guest) it is actually really cool because they are portraying people that they actually taught on their missions. Claudia is super easy to teach and really sweet and kind and receptive to our message. I'm pretty sure that Walter is out to get us because he is just really offish and not receptive at all! we've only taught him once so hopefully things will improve as we get to know him more and stuff!

Sorella Schoenhals and I in our classroom.

teaching is really fun, even if its in Italian! it's a struggle but if i learned one thing this week, it would be that you only develop strength through the struggle! we all come here to the MTC as caterpillars and hopefully leave our missions as beautiful butterflies! breaking out of the coocoon is part of the process. it is really the only way that we can grow...through the struggle! and the most beautiful thing about it is that our Heavenly Father will be there with us, helping us every step of the way!

Our teacher, Sorella Nilson...RULES. like she is the most amazing person. She has such an incredible, humble spirit about her and you can just tell that she is 100% invested in everything that she does! I literally have learned so much from her already, and it's only been like a week since we've had her! She just testifies with such amazing strength and i can really tell that she was an incredible missionary! i am so grateful for her! our other teacher is good too! I am grateful for teachers! they help us learn and improve so much!!

Studying done right...ha!

We had a couple really neat experiences this week that i wanna write about real quick! so first off on one of the days It kind of started off on a rough note for whatever reason. I don't really know why but i was just having a weird day. I  didn't know what was wrong, i just had like no motivation and the smallest little things were just bugging me! Sorella Schoenhals was kind of feeling the same way and so after lunch we decided to just go for a walk and try and clear our heads. we kind of talked it out and we really couldn't figure out what was wrong, just a lot of weird feelings!i had the impression that we should kneel down right then and there and say a prayer. So we did, we just asked that these weird feelings could leave us and that we could be filled with the peace and motivation that we knew we needed and that we wanted so bad. after the prayer we went back to class...still kind of feeling the same way. But as the class went on, i could literally feel myself changing! it was incredible! i was so excited to be learning and i was just SO happy. it was such an incredible change and i know that it only could have happened with the help of The Lord. It was such a testament to me that this is His work. and if we are humble, and obeient and we just ask Him for help, he WILL help us. We are doing his work, and if we are doing all we can, He will make up the rest!

The other neat thing that happened was this... the other day we had a few extra minutes to study, so Sorella Schoenhals and i decided to go outside and study. We have a table that we usually sit at but i was randomly just like, lets sit on those benches. So we did and this guy was sitting on a bench by us...he had an investigator tag on and he just started to talk to us. We got to talking and said that he wanted to meet with us and just talk with us about why we are so happy (most of the "investigators" here are members but some are real, but you just don't know) so we set up an appointment to meet with him. As we studied and prepared what we would teach him, we were super excited to be able to teach in english and just say the things that we were actually feeling rather than just like memorized lines. We went in there and the spirit was so strong from the very beginning. all we brought was a scripture and some thoughts in our heads and left the rest up to the spirit. It was INCREDIBLE. like one of the best experiences i've had here yet! we were just able to get to know Lance and truly testify to him why we are so happy and how we KNOW that this gospel is true. The spirit was guiding everything we were saying and it truly was amazing! we got out of there and were like on clouds! we are gonna be able to do this in ITALIAN in no time.I cannot wait for the day that we can do that. I cannot wait for real life investigators and the opportunity to help them to come closer to Christ! this work is incredible and i am so so soooooo glad that i get to be apart of it!

Jenny Oaks baker did a devotional this week and it ruled! also sister Oscarson the general young women's president did the one last night! i love the devotionals so much! especially singing in the choir!!!

Being happy makes all the difference here! happiness and patience and obedience! that's what it takes!
i am so grateful to be here and for all the support that you all show me!! please pleaaaaase keep it up! ya'll rule!!!!

Our crazy district!

have a great week!
love,
Sorella Burt

Companions - Sora Weaver (left) and Sorella Schoenhals (right).

I ran into Emmie!

#BESTFAMEVER

August 10, 2014

Grazie to those who that sent me letters.  You guys rule!  Everyone in my district was like freaking out that I got three letters in one day!  So thank you for putting forth the effort to write me and put them all in separate envelopes so that I looked SUPER cool and loved!  AND a big thanks goes to whomever sent me the smallest but cutest fan on the planet (I'm guessing it was mother).  But, at first we thought it was so small that it wouldn't work...like it is super little and doesn't make hardly any noise, but today we left it on ALL day (our room is SUPER hot) and when we came back tonight, it was actually cool!  So we are giving all the credit to the fan!  And to #mommaburt thanks a bunch!  Much LOVE!

So I failed to mention in my last letter that our P-day isn't until Wednesday, so I have to wait til then to email.  So ya, #sorryboutthat!

Anyways...I am doing really well today!  We had a super awesome and productive day!  The MTC definitely is challenging - that's definitely real, especially at first, but I feel so incredibly happy here!  Here they do this thing where you have to teach a lesson to an investigator the third day that you are here IN your mission language.  You can only imagine how hard that is after only three, technically 2 1/2 short days.  Our lesson today went really well.  We are teaching this girl named "Chiara".  Yesterday our lesson went fine, except for I froze up a lot and forgot what we practiced, luckily my comp rules and helped me out.  She took 3 years of Spanish so that is really helping her.  She is extremely kind and patient and encouraging with me though, I really do love her!  But our lesson today went so much better.  We practiced, studied and prepared a TON, and then we decided not to take our notes in and just go for it.  The Spirit was so incredibly strong in there, and it definitely wasn't because of what we were saying, because half the time we really didn't know what we were saying...but that didn't matter.  We had the Spirit with us because of our preparation, and it went really well.  We were super stoked afterwards and just WAY happy!  This is such an extremely happy work!  Bringing joy and hope into people's lives - how incredible!  I can't wait when it is for real with real investigators!

Sister Schoenhals and I at the temple.

Soooo, anyways...I didn't mention that we do live on the main MTC campus.  The other campus is for Spanish speaking missionaries.  Campus is beautiful, and we are starting to figure out our way around.  I love seeing friends from school and stuff!  There have been lots of people I know here, it rules.  The Spirit of the MTC is incredible and indescribable.  I just feel it so often.  It's fun because Elders and Sisters will walk around and ask if they can bear their testimony to you in their mission language, so you get to hear all sorts of neat languages!  We bore our testimonies to random people today and it was just really neat!  One of the coolest parts of being at the MTC is constantly being surrounded by good, wholesome, people that do nothing but lift you up and encourage you to do your best.  It's nice to walk around and know that rather than hear someone swearing or talking bad about someone, you'll hear them saying hello to you and asking you how you're doing.  It is just such an incredible atmosphere, no wonder the Spirit abides here in such great abundance!

Mi Italiano is definitely struggling!  Learning a language is hard stuff, peeps!  Especially when you only have a teacher for one out of your 2, three hour class blocks.  But we are trying to make the very most out of every second and I know that if I work my very hardest and put my trust in the Lord, great things will happen!  Also, obedience is KEY.  They pound that into your skull here, but it's so true.  I heard a quote today that made me think of it in a new light..."Obedience brings blessings, but EXACT obedience brings miracles."  I just loved that.  And we need to be being obedient for the right reasons or it's in vain.  We must be obedient to please God, not because someone told us to be!  And, yeah!  That is my 2 cents for the day!  I am very sorry, but I don't really have time to write you all back individual letters, but know that I love and appreciate you all.  Your love and support means the world to me, especially out here on the mission.  YOU ALL RULE.  OH, so on Tuesday I get to take a field trip down to Salt Lake to get my Visa, so that's exciting!

At the train station for our field trip to Salt Lake.

Our district on the train.

LOTS OF LOVE.
Sorella Burt

1st Letter!!

August 6, 2014

Mi Famiglia!

Day one today was such a crazy day!  Everything felt like a whirlwind, but I loved it all!  The feeling of the MTC is incredible, from the very second that you step in.  It is so happy and just a super feel-good place!  I already love it here and it's only been half a day!

So they brought us in and gave us the badges right off the bat.  Then they took us to our room, drop off our bags and they they took us straight to class.  I was, as we anticipated, the very first one in there.  My teacher's name is Sorella Miles and she is really awesome.  My companion(s) are super awesome!  I am in a trio.  It's Sorella Schoenhals, who is from Dallas, Texas (going to Milan) and Sister (Sora) Weaver, going to Romania.  She is the only person at the MTC going to Romania, so she is all alone!  But she's with us at all times except for during class time.  Sister Weaver is a little shy but super sweet and Sister Schoenhals is so cute!  We get along really well already, so that rules!  I'm really excited about the trio, I think that we'll have a lot of success and I am excited to get to know them better!

Sister Weaver (left), Sister Schoenhals (middle), and I.

Today was great and I am still alive!  It's all a bit overwhelming, as you could imagine.  Just one day at a time!  I am really very excited to be here.  It is truly an incredible place!  I have a lot to learn, but of course!  I know that if I work my very hardest and am exactly obedient, the Lord will help me.  I did learn a little Italian today...not much but it will come!  But in case you were wondering... mi chiamo (my name is) Sorella Burt!

So, uh ya, in case you forgot...that's it!  I am happy and living and super excited to learn all I can!  There are like 30 Italian missionaries here, Milan & Rome are mixed within districts, but our district is all Milan!  We have 3 Elders & 5 Sisters.  Everyone is really nice!  I have even seen some peeps I know from school already so that's awesome.

Our district.

The MTC rules.  I am so happy to be here and to be a servant of the Lord bringing people unto Christ!  It is a beautiful thing and I am so grateful to be a part of it!  The spirit is incredible here.  And I know that I am here for a very inspired purpose!  It is so incredible!

So yeah, everything rules!  I really love and appreciate you guys so much.  I hope that you're all holding up alright and not missing me too much!  hehe  Thanks for being the best fam ever!  I LOVE YOU so very much!

I am stoked to be a missionary right now and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me!  I love you guys, I'll hear from you soon!

Love, Sorella Burt

Let the Adventure Begin!

Bittersweet day as the journey of Sorella Karli Burt to Milan Italy began today as she was dropped off at the MTC in Provo!  We'll miss you Karli but you're going to be an awesome missionary!