Wow. Week FIVE.

Ciao cara famiglia!

Happy (belated) birthday (again) mommy! I'm glad you got my card and I'm glad you liked the little notes my sorelle added in for you :) Sor Sobeck was nice enough to let us come to the computer lab before going to the temple today so that I could send my email before you all left for Disney. I hope you have a great time!!!

Alrighty. So updates of the week. Here we go.

First of all, I'd like to apologize to all 14 million church members in the world because every talk in General Conference was for me. So, sorry. But really, conference was fantastic! We had all our classes and things cancelled on Saturday and just watched the sessions. The sisters got to watch the RS broadcast on Sat night while the Elders all went to the priesthood session. Okay. President Uchtdorf? He's just fantastic. Seriously. Both of his talks. I just pulled out my conf notes so I can share a few thoughts. Okay. So when Pres Monson announced that they are going to take the Provo Tabernacle (that burned down last year) and turn it into a temple, I audibly gasped. Like, people turned and looked at me gasped out loud. TWO temples in Provo??? AWESOME!!! As I thought about it, this is what I wrote in my study journal: "The Lord has to tear down what's there in order to build something up that is better. The Provo Tabernacle was beautiful, but it had to burn down in order so that it could become a temple. It will look the same but it will be better. I am a daughter of God, but the Lord needs to burn me down in the refiner's fire in order to build me up into the woman/missionary that I need to be." The Provo Tabernacle would never have had the potential to become a temple unless it had burned down. Awesome, right? So cool. Oh, and I was sitting next to Sor Teichert during that session (we both gasped at the Provo Tabernacle announcement) and THEN Pres Monson said that they're building a temple in Star Valley, WY. Sor T is from Cokeville, WY and as soon as he said Star Valley she said, out loud, "NO WAY!!!!" Haha. It was really awesome. I'm so excited for her! I love Sor T so much. It's a good thing we're not companions because as she told me last night "we'd never get any work done!" We would be too busy laughing all the time. Love that girl - uh - sister. Yeah.

Other notes from conf.... Mm, loved President Packer's talk and Elder Bednar's talk. And Carl B. Cook. Okay. I LOVED Sister Dalton's talk. I think everyone in the whole entire world should hear/read her talk. For those of you who missed it, her main point was "The most important thing a father can do to raise his daughter is to LOVE HER MOTHER." So sweet, right?! Also I loved Matthew O. Richardson's talk about teaching BY the Spirit, not in front of or behind. Oh. And during Kazuhiko Yamashita's talk (which was FANTASTIC) about missionary work, I think the whole auditorium in the MTC wanted to just die of awesomeness. I looked over at Sor Ivory during his talk and said "I think my mom might be crying right now" and she said "Oh, I KNOW my mom is crying right now" Haha. SO GREAT. Loved when he said "The people of the world are waiting for you. Please go quickly to where they are." I'm going as fast as I can!!!! Only four weeks left!!!!

Alright, last note about conference. I LOVE PRESIDENT THOMAS S. MONSON. HE IS A PROPHET OF GOD!!!! All you have to do is listen to him speak to know it, too. Just look into his eyes and you can FEEL the love he has for everyone - the love he conveys to us from our Father in Heaven as the Lord's mouthpiece on the earth. He. Is. AMAZING.

Okay, with my remaining 12 minutes I'll talk about my week!

Thanks to everyone (mostly my mom and dad) who wrote to me this week! It's the best thing ever. I love it. So thank you! Oh, and mom I got your package! Thanks so much! The letter was great (everyone was jealous that I got a 7 page letter!) and we've been thoroughly enjoying the chocolate covered pretzels :) You're the best! And I shared my extra nametag magnets with my sorelle so they say thank you as well.

Oh! Also. Big news. I ATE A COD NUGGET!!!! Haha. They had them at dinner Monday night and so I got some. I only ate one. Haha. I think they're made better than fish sticks, though, because when I bit into it I could see the fish lines. That makes no sense. Hm. Well It seemed like they just cut up a cod filet and then breaded it or whatever. Fish sticks seem pretty processed (not that that comes as a surprise to anyone).

Our roommates left on Monday! They were here just shy of 3 weeks and now they're both in New Hampshire or wherever they've been assigned in that mission (it encompasses several states). Also, my friend Sister April Atkin got here last Wednesday. It's been nice to see a familiar face. She is going to the Missouri Independence Mission and will be working at the visitor's center there. Woo!

Can someone PLEASE send me Sister Brooke Baker's address? Or could someone just send me the address to the mission home in Melbourne, AUS? That would be great. Oh, and also can you send me the address to the Milan mission home? I have no idea what that address is but I want to be able to give it to my friends here at the MTC so we can stay in touch - especially my sorelle who are all going to Roma!

We did a cool thing last Friday called "SYL". I hadn't ever heard of it before getting to the MTC, but it stands for "speak your language". So all day Friday all the Italians only spoke Italian. Even when someone spoke to us in English, we had to respond only in Italian. It was hard, but really great practice. We're going to do it again tomorrow. The other missionaries can pretty much understand us when we speak Italian because they can understand most of what we say since it's so similar to spanish and portuguese. Typically when we would speak to them in Italian they would respond in their language, not in English, which was neat. And if I've said it once, I'll say it again, the gift of tongues is real. It is a veritable miracle how well everyone in my district can speak Italian. It's only been 5 weeks and we speak English half the time here anyway! It's real. SO real. I can't wait to see how much better their language skills will get in the next few months when they finally get to Italy.

I'm pretty much out of time. I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and prayers. I can feel the strength that those prayers have given me as a missionary. The Lord has heard your requests and has subsequently granted me the patience, humility and charity that I so desperately need as a missionary - things that have strengthened me so much. I would not be able to do this work without them, so thank you. I, in turn, pray for all of you. This gospel is true. I know it. I hope you know it, too. If not, I hope you find out for yourself that it is.

Vi voglio benissimo!!!!

Love,

Sorella Soh

p.s. I know you're all desperate to shower me with love and send me packages but hesitate because you don't know what to send me. Therefore, I've made this list to help you:

-orbit sweet mint gum

-mini kit kats

-pens (particularly sharpie pens)

-COOKIES

-post-it notes

-stickers of any kind

-peanut butter M&Ms

-rolos

-pumpkin flavored anything

LOVE YOU ALL :D