MTC Week 7

My last official P-Day at the MTC! 

This has been are really good week! It has been a lot of fun, and I feel like I have learned so much.

On Wednesday we had the new Zone come in. There are forty-seven new Italians and Romanian missionaries! Half of them are girls!! It has been fun getting to know them. It is interesting to see the dynamic of their companionship. I am glad that I have such a great companion and that we never had any problems.We spend most of our time with a tripanionship, they are all a lot of fun! It is fun to be "older" we get to help them!  Sorella Sharp and I do not have a class, so we jump from class to class and get to be "co-teachers." Most of the time we are helping in Sorella Preston's class, it is a lot of fun.

Sorella Preston

Elder D. Todd Christofferson was the speaker at the devotional last night! It was really exciting. They did not announce who it was like they normally do so we knew it was going to be someone really good! His talk was entitled "Questions from the Field." He told us about and answered some of the questions he gets from missionaries. It was really neat. I liked how most of the answers were the small and simple things we do every day, like reading our scriptures, saying our prayers, and being prepared. One of the things that he said near the end of his talk was "Quitting will not make you feel better!" I like this because so often we give up when things get hard, but giving up doesn't make life easier. I think this applies to everyone. We all face challenges, we all go through hard times, quitting is never the answer, quitting will not make the hard times go away. (Here is a link to the MTC Devotional - June 2, 2015)

Our Branch Presidency

Brother Ryan Egget is the MTC choir directer. He is so amazing at telling stories and applying them to the gospel. He can tell a scripture story, that you have heard a hundred times, in a that keeps you on the edge of your seat and thinking about the story in a new light. Yesterday we were singing "I feel my Saviors love" and he was telling us about some of the times he had seen the Saviors love in his life. He challenged all of us to think about some of the ways we saw His love in our lives. The Lord loves all of us so much, and He does so much for us every single day. I would like to extend to you a similar challenge.

 Look for times when you have seen the Savior's love in your life, write down at least five and tell one to another person.*

I will tell you one of mine. I was walking to Darren's house in between classes during the fall semester in college. I was almost to the end of the trail when I saw two guys and a girl. It felt really bad. I thought that they were probably doing a drug deal or something of that sort, so I past quickly and quietly. A day or two later I found out there had been a girl robbed by two men at gun point on the trail. I had witnessed that, practically walked through the middle of that, and I was safe, nothing happened to me. I felt so grateful, I know I was watched over that day. I have never told anyone this story and had forgotten it until yesterday. Hope you really think about my challenge this week.

Italia

We still do not have any word on my VISA. If it is not here by Friday I will be temporarily reassigned. That is okay, I will go where ever I am needed. I am so grateful for all I have learned this past week. I know that there is a reason, and I know I have received so many blessings from it!

Love and miss you all!

Sorella Victoria Pinnegar

*Leave one (or more) of the times that you found the Savior's love in your life as a comment on this blog post and I (Ryann) will send them to Victoria. She will love to hear them.

We expect that Victoria will be leaving the MTC on Friday, June 5. But we don't know where she is going! We will post a new address just as soon as we have one for her.

Our last temple walk as a Zone.

Our last photo with our District.

Saying good-bye to the Anziani was sad. We do cinnamon rolls.

Our District as sticks.

Fratello Knutson guessed our first areas.
Update 8/24/15, As far as she knows, no one ended up
 in the areas that Fratello Knutson guessed for them.

MTC Week 6

My second, Last P-day in America!!

It has been a rather interesting week. Wednesday was great! We hung out with the Anziani in our district and wrote letters. It was fun to spend time with them, they are a lot of fun.

Friday is where things start to go a little crazy! Friday was infield orientation, so all the  people who left this week went. It was good. We learned some about what to expect when we enter the mission field and about how to be effective missionaries. There were a lot of work shops which were actually rather fun. In field orientation went from 8:30 am - 5:30 p.m It was really long! At dinner Sorella Sharp and I were called to the front desk. When we got there we were told to go to the travel office.  Both of our VISTA's were running a few days behind, and because Monday was a holiday they would not be here in time for us to leave Tuesday morning. They believe they will becoming with in the week so they didn't want to reassign us. So we get to hang out here for a few extra days. It was hard, but I was grateful we would get to stay together. We were told to go and inform our parents. When we went to use our email, it was down. So we had to go and inform the IT department. They told us this has been happening a lot and the took our names down and told us to borrow someone else's email for the time being. We did, and if you could not tell our email works again!!! Yay!!!!! Later that night I asked on of the Anziani for a blessing. It was wonderful, it brought me peace and calm. I knew that there was a reason I would not be leaving Tuesday even though I did not know why.

Saturday was great. Our classes were wonderful. Two of our three teachers were out of town so we had a substitute for part of the day. She was a lot of fun. We informed our one normal teacher that we would be here Tuesday, and she arranged it so that our regular teacher would come!

Sunday was splendid. All of our lessons seemed to be exactly what I needed. The fireside was on how a mission is difficult but all is well. Our district sang in sacrament. We sang Praise the Man. It was beautiful! He talked about how we learn and grow on a mission and about how we learn to overcome our trials on our mission. It was really uplifting. Our branch presidency told us to be prepared to leave on Tuesday, just in case something happened.We finished packing that night. Monday morning we did our laundry and emailed home just in case. We had our last lessons with our "investigators." They both went really well! By dinner time it was apparent that we would not be Tuesday morning. It was really hard to have to say good-bye to the ones in our district. Both Sorella Sharp and I received blessings. We both felt good about staying, even though it was hard to watch everyone else go.

Tuesday was AMAZING!!!!!!! Our teachers came and we had class like normal. It was so cool, because it was completely focused on the specific needs of Sorella Sharp and I. I feel like I learned so much!! Our teachers have such great testimonies! They gave up their day off to come and teach us. I am so grateful! I think I might have gone crazy without a teacher. I really love my teachers! We were told to check the travel office at lunch time. Our VISTA's still had not arrived yet. One of the members of the branch presidency had called to check during his lunch time to see if they had come yet too! We were actually in the office when he called!!! It is so nice to know that they watch out for us. Do you want to know what the best part was? Guess who talked at the devotional last night? It was...wait for it...

ELDER HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was SO AMAZING!! His talk was wonderful. He began his talk having is grand daughter come up and bear her testimony. She just got home from her mission. She served in Milan Italy! That was really wonderful. His talk had four major sections.

The first section was about having our own personal conversion on our mission. I found it interesting that he used the word conviction more that he used the word conversion. Most of what he said in that section are only missionary applicable but he did say one thing on personal conversion that I would like to share. He said "You are God's investigator!" this goes for everyone. He wants each of us to continually be more converted.

The second topic was obedience. He told us that obedience is the first law in almost everything. He told us that he dislikes having to talk about obedience, because we sent in a letter accepting our mission call, accepting to do what ever the Lord would have us do. In order to do this we must be obedient. The only reason he talked about obedience is because we need it to have the third thing he talked about.

The third thing was, Preach my Gospel by the Spirit. This was the main topic of the devotional. Everything else he talked about was centered around the need for the Spirit of the Lord. In order to have the Spirit we must be obedient and we must be converted. He talked on how missionary work CANNOT succeed without the Spirit of the Lord.

The fourth thing that was discussed was opening our mouth. He said " The truth, to be the Truth must be spoke." We have to open our mouth and talk, that is the only way others will know the truth. Satan does not have power to kill us, but the next best think he has is the ability to shut your mouth. He does not normally bind our tongue like he did with Joseph Smith, instead he places doubt and fear in our mind. Because of our doubt and fear, we bind our own tongue. Elder Holland told us "Do NOT bind your tongue, if you do this Satan Wins!" He closed by telling us we are sent with the same message as Apostles.

 It was such a spectacular talk!!! I am so grateful I could hear it.

One of the members of our branch presidency came and did devotional review with us last night. (the same one who called the travel office.) They are such wonderful people. I am so grateful for all the amazing people Heavenly Father has placed in my life.

At the end of devotional review President Sell gave Sorella Sharp a blessing, he asked me if I wanted one as well, I did. These past few days my testimony and gratitude toward Priesthood, and Priesthood blessings has grow so much.

My challenge for you all this week is to look for the blessings in your life. Especially on the hard days, and during even the smallest of trials. This week has been challenging, but I have seen so many blessings in my life this week.

I love you all,

Sorella Victoria Pinnegar

Victoria and her companion are waiting for their visas to go through. We will post her address in Italy within the next week!

Link to MTC Devotional - May 26, 2015