The Final Countdown...

Well folks, I did it. In less than 1 week I will be in the beautiful land of ancient history, delicious foods, mouth-watering gelato, and stubborn catholics. I. COULD. NOT. BE. MORE. EXCITED!!!!!

I barely speak a lick of Italian but I'm going to invite everyone to be baptized :) hehehehe no one can stop the crazy blonde, American sister with the horrendous accent :) 

My travel plans include (I left them in my room so this is all from memory, exact times may differ a bit).   We fly out of Salt Lake on the Morning of Tuesday, April 30th. We leave for the airport at 400am sharp for a 730 flight. We fly to Chicago (don't know what it will be in Richardo's time) and have a 3 hour lay over. From Chicago I'm off to Rachel's stamping grounds in Frankfurt (what the Germany....) with another 3 hour layover. Then down to Milan!!!!!! I arrive in Milan at 0930am May 1st to be welcomed by President Wolfgramm.

Any advice for a not-so-seasoned traveler?! Especially since it will be an all-day, overnight affair?! Once in Italy, my luggage will be taken to the mission home but not all of us can stay in the mission home so it's most likely that I'll be in a hotel that night. I'd love any advice on what to do, expect and how to make my travels more enjoyable and easy :) Give it to me delta veterans!

Another Week at the MTC

Ciao la mia famiglia!

Another week completed at the good old MTC. Here are the deets.

 

Thursday was p-day and rocking. Seriously, they save my life. I was able to get so much accomplished and no nap for me :) No wasting the Lord's time.

 

Friday: Class, gym, class. haha This will be your life Becca. Gym time is the most divinely inspired 50 minutes of the day. I usually run or play volleyball, which I happen to be crazy good at not. If I had played like this is High school that would have been pretty awesome. It is a hoot because we have some missionaries that played in college who are of course, insanely good and then we have the missionaries who look like they are swinging a bat when serving :) It always proves to be an adventure. I've been able to lift some weights before and am trying to stop flabbing arms from occurning :) and I haven't gained a pound thank you very much! go me go me, go go go me!

 

Saturday. Class; gym; language assessments. hahaha we talk into these head phones and answer questions which are recorded and sent to our teachers. It's hilarious. Tons of missionaries stress out about it but I usually try my best, bear my testimony in 10 words and then leave a funny joke in english for my teacher. Gotta keep it light, ya know....The weirdest part of the week is Saturday night. Everyone and their grandma's cat are out doing something awesome and I sit in class :) A strange adjustment.

 

Half way dead, half way more stupid and half way to italy!!!!

I did it, I'm closer to my arrival day in Italy than I am to my arrival date at the MTC!!! Epic achievement for me! Yesterday was a normal date but I made my sisters do some epic celebrating with me last night...out came the glow sticks and we ate junk food (shocker....sisters have no limits) and party hard till 10:29. Such is the life of an obbedient missionary...

zoom zoom recap zoom zoom!!!

Life everyday at Mormon Hogwartz is pretty much always the same (read, study, eat, sit, study, sit, eat, read, sit, study, teach, eat, read, eat again cause we made it through the day) but these are a few of the high lights throughout the week.

General Conference: The MTC basically shuts down for conference and I was able to watch every single session. The theme's that stuck out to me where how important families and marriage are (funny, my heart is locked thanks General Authorities for teasing a sister), missions are essential to being successful and lay a foundation unapparrelled (shout out to the 65000! There are 3600 here at the MTC and shout out to Becca- one of the 20000 waiting to go!!!!! Holla at mission power!), and enduring "Happily" to the end. I loved every second of it and it was a much needed break from the everyday life. Story: So I'm sitting in between sessions trying to catch the segment about olympus and suddenly there is Scott! I start freaking out and hitting Sister Nelson, "Sorella!!!!!! That is my becca's boyfriend! That's my scott!!!!" SO then I am GLUED to the screen and there appears my Becca boo for like 15 seconds! So instead of being mature, I spring out of my seat, sobbing and yelling "THAT'S MY BABY SISTER!!!!!!!!" Thousands of missionaries just start hooting and pointing at me, a blubbering proud Sorella Alley. I had been shot with the excitement of seeing Becca. I blame you all, if the Alley's weren't so freaking awesome, I would still have dignity at the MTC. Oh well....

Week 2 Excitment

Mia Famiglia!!!
     Weeeeeeeekkkkk 2 done!!!!!!!! It's true what everyone says, the days here are so long and the weeks super fast. It's weird. But I'll start at the beginning!

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! I was totally not expecting anything from home so the wonderful packages totally caught me by surprise. I loved the cupcakes and even shared them with my district. Turns out 21 cupcakes is quite a few, way too many for sister alley to eat by herself, although I did indeed try (just preparing the bod for Italy. Average weight gain for sisters is 25 lbs.....hello tubby tinnie!) Anyways, I had to wait till after I got back to the room to open everything so at 930 at night. I was darn patient and very proud of myself but you are all too blame. The first tears of the MTC were shed at the hands of you people!!!!!! I started laughing at the birthday cards and then started crying because you goons make me miss you!!! Mom and Dad, thanks for the easter eggs!!! I found the golden egg (perks of being the Easter Bunny) and am saving the candy for a rainy day. Sister Nelson had a few doctor appointments off MTC campus so I got to escape for a few hours and chill by myself while she was getting checked out. It was the perfect birthday gift. I miss alone time!!! I never got to bust out the glow sticks because Sister Nelson wanted a blessing but it was still a fun birthday! 21 in the MTC-not how most young adults spend their first completely legal birthday!! Thank you for the love!!!

  Also, when you write on DearElder.com make sure you write START and END at the beginning and ending of the letters. The  mtc prints them all goofy so it can be difficult to decipher!!! Grazie


So Preparation days are the best days of the week.

Mormon Hogwartz

Hello my loveliest Family!

I finally get some time to email everyone. It's six am on my first p-day (Thursday's) and Sister Nelson and I got up early to do laundry. Turns out everyone and their dirty G's get up early to do laundry....dumb Mormons. :) So this is seriously Mormon Hogwarts. A few comparisons. Instead of little wizards everywhere practicing their spells, there are little missionaries practicing the invitation to be baptized in their language (Which lets be honest, most of the time sounds like a spell coming from us newbs). Instead of dementors (creepy ghosts that still souls at hogwarts), I reside among glorificators--always happy, free-compliment-giving, zealous missionaries. It is a grand ol' time.

Anyways....here are the details. After saying goodbye some elder passing in the hall said, "Sister, you'll live dry your tears." Um hello, I just said goodbye to my family jerk! Mostly though the tears were dried and into the work I went. I was ushered through a bunch of rooms where they draw your blood, label you with a tatoo number...jk....it just felt like that. I got my tag, rooming assignment and books (17 lbs worth!!!). I dropped my stuff off at the room and was ushered to the classroom.

Thus it Begins

Hi folks,
    This is my last post as Christine. From here on out Sister Alley will be doing the writing (how strange, it kind of feels like an alternative personality...). I definitely have no idea what the next 18 months will be like but I am grateful for this amazing opportunity; that the Lord trusts me to teach His children. Naturally, I am anxious but I am completely at peace. Saying goodbye to those I cherish has been ridiculously hard, and oh mercy how the tears have flown, but I am blessed to have so many wonderful people supporting me. Thank you awesome people!!!

Stay tuned. Thus it begins.

Love always,
      Christine

Called to Serve

Hi folks, 

Upon the request of many homies, my personal blog has been converted to a mission blog. It will be updated weekly with stories and pictures by my fantastic, technology savvy sister Liz. Mad props to her. However, this does not mean that you can read all about me without sending me updates about you, yes I'm talking to YOU. I promise to respond to every letter and let's be honest, who doesn't love getting mail! 

We will start at the beginning- How/when did I decide to serve a mission? 

Over this past summer, I began to seriously dread the approaching semester. I procrastinated registering for classes somehow convincing myself that perhaps if I did not register for classes the summer would be endless. This was highly unusual for me. I usually LOVE school. In the past I had taken 18 credits each semester and loved my pre-med track. Somehow, something had changed. My parents encouraged to register for a light load of easier classes. Being the oh-so-obedient daughter that I am, I registered for 12 credits and school started once again.

However, I still wasn't happy. A relationship I valued was not going where I thought/hoped it would,  and I was beginning to feel very lost. One night I fell upon my patriarchal blessing and felt myself being nudge in the direction of a mission. I decided to read the entire Book of Mormon within the semester with one question in my mind; to serve or not to serve? I highlighted in yellow anything I felt was an answer to my question. By October 1st, my Book of Mormon was completed highlighted in yellow. I had my answer.