Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Wow I hope that everyone had a great Christmas with your families and that you all ate good food (although I doubt that anyone ate better than me). And most of all, remembered Christ this Christmas. But also had lots of fun (: I know that I did. Christmas was so cool to spend in Italy! If anything, the day was so fun because it was so different from the norms. My district played a lot of games together and made French Toast out of Pandoro, which is like this nasty cake thing that they like here but for some reason tastes good as French Toast. We also got to watch a movie, and we chose Beauty and the Beast. Oh and we got to Skype our families!!! I loved being able to talk to my family and see that they are still as gooby as ever haha. And they even Facetimed other family members that weren't there so I got to see a bunch of different people through multiple phones haha it was sick. They probably looked a little insane holding up 3 phones while people talked to each other through them hahaha. 

My highlight of this week that's non-missionary related was probably the pranzo that I had on Christmas Eve with a family in my ward. That was my first legit meal with an Italian family, and holy cow MY LIFE HAS CHANGED. They made a lasagna that MADE ME CRY. A serious legit 5 course meal in one of the coolest houses I had ever been in with just a bunch of Italians roasting me in Italian and I can actually understand them... It was the greatest couple hours of my life, I swear hahaha. I loved it. It was pretty hard to do missionary work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We're not allowed to knock on doors, and no one is out. So we tried to do a little bit of finding, and the other Sorelle in our district actually made an appointment out of it! So that was cool. But mostly just felt like us wandering around in the cold pulling stickers off of street signs haha at least the lights in Bologna are really pretty this time of year.

On Christmas Day, we all went to the church in the morning to cook breakfast, open our presents from each other, and watch Beauty and the Beast. The Anziani got me a little book to start learning Arabic from Italian, which I'm so pumped for!! I actually just got back from a mini Arabic lesson with Anni and let me tell ya I definitely picked up Italian a lot faster than this one but it's not impossible! (: Mostly it's just fun, though. Anyway, after that we played some Italian card games, then we went to our pranzo appointment for Christmas. We went to a less active member's home whose husband is a nonmember. She's from Peru, so she made us some typical Peruvian food, which was turkey and rice and some kind of egg salad type thing. I ate a ton this last week, and it was amazing.

The other amazing thing that happened this last week is that we finally had a lesson with one of our potentials that they've been trying to see since before I got here. And it was awesome! Her name is Suki, and she's from Morocco and Italy. And she speaks 7 langauges. So she is my inspiration for learning languages right now haha. But we taught her the Resto, and it was awesome. Sorella Mitchell and I definitely need to work on our teaching skills and language skills, but the Spirit was strong, which is most important! And we are gonna see her when she gets back from Christmas vacation. We are so hopeful and excited for her. We also had other lessons with our African investigators, Samuel and Grace. Unfortunately, they're not really progressing. But they're really cool and give us a ton of food when we go because they "don't know how to eat Italian food." Lol I love them.

Well that was kind of my week! I guess a spiritual thought for this week is something that I found this morning during my personal study. I came across a scripture in 1 Pietro 3:15. It basically says that if we have the faith in Christ and the attitude of Christ that we should have as members of His Church, then we have to be ready at all times to answer questions about the Gospel because the way that we live will spark questions in others. I think that is so cool! A righteous example is the best way to be a missionary and a light for others! Christ was a perfect example of righteousness, and He brought so many people to righteousness also while He was on this Earth, and still does now. I've truly seen miracles in my life, especially while on my mission, that come from living the Gospel and trying to be like Christ. Other people see that, and they want to know Christ too. I am so grateful for our Savior and that I got to be a missionary on Christmas. And now I am so grateful that festa is this much closer to ending so that our investigators can come home haha. (: Okay I love you all! Enjoy the rest of your holiday season and Happy New Year!!!

San Donato church

Idk why everyone thinks I'm obsessed with nutella bc I bought it one time but they made me take that picture 

Buon Natale!!!!

Ciao everyone!!! How are things? I hope that you are all excited for Christmas this week! I, for one, am excited for Christmas to come and then go far away so that people are actually at home!!! Lol it's a serious problem for us right now, so we are glad that it's almost over. But don't worry, we are still getting in the Christmas spirit, and we have planned an awesome day! (:

My week was alright. It was pretty slow due to everyone being out of town for Christmas, so we didn't get to meet with any of our investigators or potentials at all this week. But we did reactivate a member family! Which we are so stoked about! I was so happy to see them at church, even though we had no investigators there. It was almost better (the best would be if everyone was there)! They are from Ecuador, and don't speak Italian super well. So the mom literally just speaks straight Spanish to us with some Italian words thrown in. And I can actually understand haha. So I've been picking up some Spanish this week, and I'm gonna start learning as soon as I can on top of Italian because there are a lot of South Americans in Italy, especially in Bologna.

I want to tell you guys about a crazy miracle that happened this week! So I was on exchanges with Sorella Blandford, and our plan was to have all the missionaries in Bologna take all the cookies that we made the day before during p day and deliver them to less-actives and other ward members with invitations to the Christmas party. So Sorella Blandford and I had just left the church where we made our game plan with all the missionaries, and we were waiting at the bus stop, and we decided to go give a Book of Mormon to the guy who runs the fruit stand. He wants to come to our English class, but he can't because he has to work. So we promised we'd bring him a book in English so that he can learn... So of course we brought the Book of Mormon lol. Then we saw what we thought was our bus come, so we ran without looking at the number and hopped on! Then we realized it was not our bus, so we felt dumb and had to get off at the next stop.

At the stop, there was an African man there. And Africans are just the coolest people to talk to. They are so open, and they love God so much. It's amazing. So we started talking to him just about random stuff, and he was really chill. On the bus, I kep talking to him, and I found out that he met the missionaries 3 years ago in Torino! And they gave him a Book of Mormon, but he has since lost it and kind of forgot about it. So we got his number, and since he lives outside our area, we passed him onto the missionaries in Ferrara. How cool is that?! So many things led up to us finding him that just worked out perfectly. And the fact that he remembered his experience from 3 years ago was really cool. I definitely have seen more miracles here on my mission than ever before!

Our Christmas party on Saturday was a success! We had about 8 investigators there, including our new simps that we stole from the Anziani because they were neglecting them lol. They weren't really mad about it, but we wanna teach them because they have so much potential and are a little family. The parents are Samuel and Grace, and they are from Africa. The Anziani say they haven't been progressing, but they actually haven't ever been taught a real lesson... So when we found that out we stole them hehe. And we are excited for them! We hope that we can see them this week after Christmas ends.

Yesterday was Zone Conference, which I just loved. There is something so powerful about being in a room with a bunch of missionaries and President and Sister Allen. It is so powerful, and the Spirit is always so strong. We learn a lot together, and it's unlike anything I have ever done before. I love being a missionary! There is just an undescribable feeling about being a member of God's army in this way! I love love love it. I also got to see some of my friends from the MTC! And some friends from high school too, which was a blast.

Something I have been thinking a lot about this week is the power of prayer. Prayer is something truly deeper than I have ever realized before. It's the power to spiritually create things and make little covenants with our Heavennly Father before we go about our day. And the ability to repent and ask for strength at night. I'd encourage you all to read Elder Bednar's talks from the April and October 2008 General Conferences, called "Pray Always" and "Ask in Faith." There is some deep stuff in there, but it also makes me mad that I haven't thought of prayer in this way before! I have been praying wrong for my entire life! So go read it, it's some pretty deep stuff. And even better, after you read it, actually apply it to you! That is the real hard part sometimes, is the doing part. But I know that we will be blessed for our efforts as we are constantly trying and improving.

I love this Gospel and the joy and changes that it brings to people's lives. It is truly amazing. I am so grateful for my Savior this Christmas. I know that he was born, and that He lives again! Take time this Christmas to ponder the Savior's birth and what it means for you, as well as His Atonement. Read about his life in the scriptures, and make changes in your life to be more like Him. I am so grateful for you all, and your support and love  and your spirits this Christmas! You are amazing! Ciao until next week!

Love,

Sorella Henderson

Pics 1 and 2: The Bologna zone!! (aka the best zone)

Welp sorry Mom, that's all the pictures I took this week. Lol I will try to be better next week maybe

4 SQUARE!!!

Ciao again everyone!!! Wow this week went by really fast. But it was a really good one, for the most part haha. How is everyone's Christmas season going so far? Christmas in Italy is absolutely gorgeous. Especially living in a big city like Bologna where they have a ton of beautiful lights and stuff is really awesome. Unfortunately this week, I didn't meet with any Africans so I don't have a cool subject line for you this week haha SORRY. Although I think that that subject line is still pretty cool.

One of the biggest things we did this week was meeting with less actives from our ward. The Bologna ward has about 500 members, and they are building another big chapel in the city, which is awesome! But unfortunately, at least half of the members are inactive. So we met with quite a few people this week who are having problems getting to church or other personal issues that the bishop asked us to meet with. Yesterday, we visited with the sweetest lady ever from Peru. She spoke to us in half Italian and half Spanish so I literally learned some Spanish from that conversation haha but it was just so great to see her recommit to doing the things that she needs to do, like praying and reading scriptures and coming to church! She also really wants to share the Gospel with others. It's great to see that kind of fire in the members about missionary work!

We've also been working on growing our English class and making it better. And the Lord has been blessing us this week with more members! It's been awesome to see more people coming and random people coming, too. We've started talking to some of them and are pretty hopeful for them. 

Probably the only not-so-good thing I have to say about this week is that our simps, Anna and Margherita have stopped progressing, so we didn't get to set a bap date with them like we thought we would this week. It was really sad to come out of our last lesson. The Spirit really wasn't there, and they had all of these crazy questions about things that they had looked up online and they kinda dominated our lesson so we couldn't even teach what we wanted to. It just wasn't very productive, so we are gonna try again with starting back at the basics to gain them a testimony. Because we realized that they are missing some of the basics that carry you through. So we are still hopeful for them! But right now they don't seem to be making much progress, unfortunately.

So I used probably the most important skill that I learned in the MTC to do finding... 4 SQUARE!!!! Hahahahahahahaha and it was amazing! We drew a court with chalk in the Piazza Maggiore, which is, as you can guess, a big plaza. We got so many kids playing with us. We talked to them a little bit about how we were missionaries, but they were actually on some kind of Catholic church field trip and their Priest was right there. So it was kinda weird. But we got a lot of attention for sure, and we found some potentials from it. And it was fun haha. Definitely the best idea I've had so far in my life.

Well I'm just living life out here in Bologna, Italy. Which is sort of crazy in itself. Just pushing through and enjoying all the ups and the downs. (: Thank you for your emails and words of support. They mean so much, and I love hearing from you guys. Keep pushing on, and remember to Light the World this Christmas! I know that service can be awkward sometimes, but there is always a time and a place for it. And you will be blessed for it too, as well. Vi voglio bene! Ciao until next week!

the gorgeous Piazza Maggiore
(check out the weird church in both pictures)

buon appetito

Additional Bologna pics sent to the family:

St. Bartholomew's church

statue of Petronius

Bologna apartment photos:

"The sack that holds the poo"

Ciao tutti!!!! Come state??? Sono in Italia!!!!! It was a long time coming in the MTC, but I'm finally here! And it's amazing! I have been assigned to the city of Bologna and my companion is Sorella Mitchell. We live with another companionship, the STLs of our zone. And they're great too. Bologna is amazing. It's a big city just full of young university students, which is awesome. It's so diverse; just a big melting pot of people. You can hop on a bus and hear a bunch of different languages - Italian, English, African, Spanish, Tagalog, Syrian, Arabic... I've heard it all. We carry Books of Mormon in all different languages with us all the time. And my trainer is amazing. She actually just got done training, so she actually can't really speak Italian... My speaking skills are better than hers at this point haha which is interesting. But we are working on it! Bless her heart, she's the best. But her comprehension is so good! So it works! I can comprehend some, but I've only been here a week, so there's still a lot that I don't understand yet. So sometimes, she will translate for me and then I will respond to a person if I can't understand what they said. Hahahaha it's kinda funny but it works! Our weaknesses are the other person's strengths! And we are both still trying to figure out this missionary thing together, which is a fun time haha. This is also gonna probably be kind of a long email because this week was full, but so much happened!

So I arrived in Italy on Wednesday, and we went to the Duomo and did some finding on the metro and outside the Duomo. I gave out a Book of Mormon, which was absolutely terrifying. But cool. I don't remember that much about the first day because I was so exhausted after so much travelling, but I just remember being overwhelmed and terrified, so that's cool haha. Then we split up and went to our respective cities. The day I got there, we had English class, and I got to meet our 2 investigators, Anna and Margherita. They are 2 Italian sisters, 17 and 20. They are the best! And so prepared! Honestly, the only thing holding them back from baptism is themselves. They are just perfectionists and think they need to be perfect people. I had my first lesson with them Monday night, and it was an awesome lesson! Anna really had a breakthrough moment where we just let the Spirit work on her, and I think it finally clicked for her that she doesn't need to be perfect to be baptized! Just trying! She was sharing a concern, and I shared 2 Nefi 28:30 with her. She read it, and I could see her thinking. So my teacher in the MTC told me that Italians will like stumble over their words and stutter a lot before they have a possible breakthrough moment, and she totally started doing that and like mumbling and making weird noises. And we just sat there for like a whole minute waiting, and finally the right words came out. And it was awesome! Lol Fratello Harbin was so right. So they are praying about a baptism date, and we are gonna set one when we meet next Monday! So hopefully they want it to happen before I leave here haha because they are still a little hesitant. We'll see. I am hopeful for them.

Another cool story! The day after I got here, I went to the post office to mail my permesso application, which is basically a permission to stay in the country for an extended period of time. And I was supposed to bring my passport, but I forgot it. And I felt like such a stoop! I was totally beating myself up because we had waited for half an hour, and the post office was closing so we couldn't go back. I just felt so guilty for wasting that time. But we went back the next day, and a crazy miracle happened! Our post office helper person (I don't know the word in English) was interested in the Gospel! So I gave him a Libro di Mormon and we exchanged numbers! And we have our first appointment with him tomorrow! The Lord works in amazing ways! It was such a cool experience to have that  happen on my second day, and I did it all on my own!

Now for the gross story, because there always is one. So I bet most of you don't know that I'm actually serving in Africa.... Jk but basically I am. There are so many Africans in Italy, especially in Bologna. So we teach a lot of Africans, and we have to eat their food. Friday night, my first dinner appointment, I had to eat banku (I have no clue how to spell it). Banku is an African meal that they think that we love for some reason...? But every swallow I think I might vomit. And I say swallow because you're not supposed to chew it. It's basically a ball of raw dough that you dip in spicy soup and then straight up swallow. And every time I swallow, it hits my gag reflex and I think I'm gonna be a goner. And they make me eat it all... So the first time I had this was at Friday's house.. Yes his name is Friday. And we go there every Friday lol. Ma comunque. So the next day I had to eat Banku AGAIN with Bunmi, Ohale, and Clinton. Not only banku, but also intestines. When asked what this was I was told: "The sack that holds the poo. Eat it now." So yes, I ate it. It didn't taste terrible, but it was really tough. We couldn't tear it. Bunmi says our "teeth are not strong." Oh well, what can you do. So yeah, I wanted to throw up basically but I was too scared of what would happen if I did that....

Now that I've totally skeeved you out... Sorry, but at least y'all didn't have to eat it! I wish I could write everything that happened, because so much did this week, but that would take ages and I've already written so much, so I can only give the highlights. The work is kind of difficult with Italians, at least. The Africans are amazing, but Italian people usually don't have an interest. We just have to keep talking to everyone so we can find the people that God has prepared to hear the Gospel! But we found 3 new potentials this week! And are finally starting to get into some Italian homes, so we are excited about that. Sorella Mitchell and I both have that newbie fire in us, so we are always so pumped and making good goals. It's gonna be an amazing transfer. My district is amazing. My zone is lovely. And Italian food is amazing. I love it. Keep working hard at home and enjoying this Christmas season! Go look at the Church's initiative to #LightTheWorld. There's something that we can do every day to give service this Christmas, and there are some great ideas in that program. Have a great week everyone. Vi voglio bene! Ciao!

Sorella Henderson

Pic 1: arriving with all my bags!! Woooohoooo

Pic 2: outside the Duomo in Milan! 

Pic 3: first meal in Italy! 

Pic 4: formaggio!!

Pic 5: cioccolato!!!!!!

Pic 6: Sorella Blanford and I pretending to be statues lol

Pic 7: the cutest little market in Ferrara 

I wish had the photos of all the nasty food I ate but people keep forgetting to send them to me lol maybe another week

Added from mission blog: pictures from the first day Duomo trip.and dinner

Arrival in Italy and Match/First City

Sorella Allen, the mission president's wife, keeps an excellent mission blog (http://missionemilano.blogspot.com/).  This photo of the new group was posted on the blog on December 1, 2017.  The missionaries had arrived the day before. This was taken right before leaving to their new areas.  Ashlyn was assigned to work in Bologna.  Her trainer is Sorella Mitchell.

new missionaries with their trainers

President and Sorella Allen with Sorelle Henderson and Mitchell

Facebook profile pic update December 2, 2017

Dallas Airport Pics

The father of one of the anziani in Ashlyn's travel group was able to see the missionaries on their layover in Dallas.  He ate breakfast with them and took pictures, which were then posted to the mission facebook page.  Ashlyn spoke to us on her layover in Dallas and was excited and exhausted and ready to be in Italy.

BUON GIORNO DI RINGRAZIAMENTO!

Ciao a tutti!!!! How was everyone's Thanksgiving?? I hope that everyone had an amazing day yesterday full of gratitude for your blessings and for our Savior (: My Thanksgiving was pretty cool, definitely the most memorable of my entire life so far! My whole week was good with a lot of teaching appointments. Our real investigator, Francesca, didn't answer our Skype call! So that was a bummer! We will never get to teach her now! Hopefully she talks to the next group of missionaries, or some missionaries in Italy find her because she is so ready to hear the Gospel! We also got to hear a devotional from Elder Nielson of the Seventy, which was cool! One of my favorite devotionals! And he brought Janice Kapp Perry and the choir sang one of her songs to her! First time she had heard it performed live ever! It was so cool to be a part of that. Also, Sister Perry is so funny. If she had a stand-up comedy show, I would definitely go, no question.

So Thanksgiving. The day started out with a choir practice and devotional. And my dream speaker came to devotional . . . ELDER BEDNAR AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! It was like my early Christmas present!!!! When they announced it, I just started freaking out hahahahaha it was like my dream come true. Every devotional, I always guess that it's gonna be Bednar because I want him to come so bad, but it never is! But this week he came!!!! And it was so cool! He passed out phones and had everyone text him questions, then he answered them. And it was so awesome. Bednar is so great with missionaries because he just tells you like it is and doesn't beat around the bush. You know exactly what is expected of you with Bednar. And he gives such great advice. That hour and a half was like the greatest of my LIFE hahahahaha. The rest of the day was cool though too.

We did an awesome service project with Feeding Children Everywhere. Their CEO converted and was baptized this year, and he shared his conversion story to everyone at a devotional. It is a REALLY cool story. Basically, service brings everyone closer to the Lord! We packaged like 350,000 meals for hungry children in Utah! It was so fun too and we got to listen to Christmas music. We also got to hear from Sister Eubank! LADY BOSS! Hahahaha she is so great. I love listening to speakers and letting the Spirit teach me while they talk.

The lunch yesterday was actually decent! Actually, it was good! That is not a daily occurrence here at the MTC. I am definitely ready for good Italian food. Luckily, I get out of here on Tuesday! That night, the Nashville Tribute Band came and played music for us. One of their songs got a little rowdy and the MTC Presidency looked so nervous hahaha but it was really fun, I thought. I don't love Christian music, but any reprieve from the hymns was just so awesome haha I've never heard better music. We are starved for entertainment here in the MTC. Then they turned on the Christmas lights and played Christmas music! It was so beautiful! Plus the weather here has been on point lately for some reason, so being outside felt awesome. Overall, Thanksgiving was a really great day. Something that I will remember for the rest of my life! 

My spiritual thought today is a concept that Elder Bednar taught us last night. He talked about the concept of perfection and how it is used in the scriptures. He said that in the scriptures, the word perfection actually means complete. God commands us to be complete. What the Spirit taught me about that is that we just need to created daily patterns for life that allow us to become more complete. We can't be perfect all in one day, but by doing things and continually changing, we are molding life patterns and also patterns for eternity so that we can continually progress forever. So don't be too hard on yourself! Just create life patterns!

Well that was my Thanksgiving and my week! I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving as well and ate good food. Enjoy this amazing weather, you Utahns! We are so blessed right now! I love you all! Have a great week; pictures are on their way next! Ciao!

Sorella Henderson

Pic 1: family dinner

Pic 2: Sorella Reeeeeeeeeder

Pic 3: sorority squatting #phikappatheta

Pic 4: basic

Pic 5: made everyone else be basic too

Pic 6: Christmas lights!

Pic 7:Thanksgiving lunch

Pic 8: best meal ever made at the MTC

Pics 9 and 10: choir practice lol

additional pic from Thanksgiving

ONE MONTH DOWN (almost)

Ciao a tutti!!! Come state??? I hope that everybody is pumped for Thanksgiving and listening to Christmas music because it's that time of year so don't be hating. I'm still surviving here in the MTC, and my 1 month mark is tomorrow! Which is crazy! This last month has flown by so fast, but I have also learned so much and progressed more than I thought I would in just one month. 11 days until Italy!!! I am very nervous but also very very very very excited.

So on Monday, we started member Skype TRC, which is when we Skype members in Italy and teach them a lesson. I was very excited, but Sorella Williams and I were both very nervous because we didn't know if we would understand anything that they said. Luckily, I got the gist of just about everything that she said. Not 100%, but I didn't feel like dying, so that was good. Unfortunately, we were kinda confused the whole time because she kept saying how she was Catholic... So Sorella Williams and I teach this whole lesson geared to a member (because they drill it into our heads so much that TRC is just members and not investigators), but we leave so confused because she acted like she knew stuff about the Church, but then she would ask kind of weird questions. So after the lesson, we asked the TRC people what was up with that because it seemed like she thought she was supposed to role play and was just terrible at it or something, and they had no idea. So then the next day we found out that she's an actual investigator! Hahahahahaha holy cow I felt so bad and so freaked out when I found that out. And turns out, she wants us to keep Skyping her and have her daughter come as well. So I guess it didn't go as terrible as I thought, but it really caught me off guard for sure haha. We teach her again on Monday, and we are so excited! But also nervous because it's very rare that they let you teach real investigators in the MTC so all the teachers keep like taking us out for coaching sessions and the like, which is fun haha and great practice. It'll be a great experience to teach Francesca (:

On Tuesday, Anziano e Sorella Parrella came to speak to us for devotional. Anziano Parrella is the newest member of the Quorum of the Seventy, and I believe he spoke in the last General Conference or maybe the one before that. I absolutely loved both of their talks! Holy cow they are astounding people! And also super adorable. Sorella Parrella talked about how being perfect people is just not attainable in this life. She said that we should try our best in everything that we do and hold ourselves accountable to that, but trying any harder than that and beating up on ourselves is just going to do more harm than good. I really loved that concept. Anziano Parrella talked a lot about the Spirit and the Enabling power of the Atonement. Christ's Atonement wasn't just for forgiveness for our sins, but it's also the thing that gives us help, after we have done all that we can do. I know that for me, as a missionary, I can't convert people to this Gospel or help them receive Christ on my own. I can study, be obedient, and pray for help, but after that, it's in the Lord's hands. And I have to rely on the presence of the Holy Ghost to confirm that what I am teaching is true. This is applicable to everyone in anything that we are doing. We have to have faith and trust in God that He will help us when we can't do something alone. I really am so grateful for the Atonement. (:

Well, I believe that's all the exciting news that I have for this week. Vi voglio bene! Have an amazing Thanksgiving, and remember to thank the Lord for all of your blessings (: Ciao!

Sorella Henderson

Sorry there aren't many pics this week!

Pic 1: Sorella Williams and I in front of the temple

Pic 2: La zona

Pic 3: trying to be K pop (I'm sort of embarrassed about this photo tbh)

PRESIDENT NELSON!!!

Hellooooo everybody?? I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying yourselves and this beautiful weather that Utah is having. It snowed the other day, so the other Sisters in my district and I, as well as Anziano Davey who has never seen snow and his companion, went outside and played in the snow for about half an hour instead of studying . . . Sometimes you just gotta take a break and do something that makes you happy. (: Well, playing in the snow is a strong word since none of it actually stuck, but it was great, anyway. Then yesterday, we had some amazing warm weather! Which was great because we like to go outside to the field and play kickball and frisbee and stuff, so we got to do that, probably for the last time. Exercise hour is the funnest hour of the day. I take my four square very seriously... 

So on Tuesday, we had a devotional, and the speaker was President Nelson! And his wife, Sister Nelson, also spoke. They were both seriously so awesome! I love hearing apostles speak, and this is the second time in the last three weeks that I have gotten to hear from an apostle! I seriously love the MTC. President Nelson spoke a lot about the gathering of Israel and how we have been saved as missionaries for this dispensation to usher in the Second Coming of Christ. It was pretty cool. Devotionals are such a blessing. We also heard from Brother Egget, the choir director, on Sunday Devotional (and every Sunday because the MTC choir is the best ever), and it was one of the best talks that I have ever heard. I wish that these talks were broadcasted so that not just missionaries could listen because they always have amazing speakers in the MTC for us and I just wanna be able to share it with everyone! But if you ever get a chance to hear Brother Egget speak - he teaches institute at UVU - then you should go because he is the coolest dude.

The highlights of my week were definitely the snow and the devotionals. But every day, I love teaching so much. We don't get to teach tonight, so I am a little bummed. But we did get to teach 2 times yesterday, and both were kind of on the spot because we didn't know beforehand! And they were so awesome! Our teacher is pretending to be someone he knew on his mission named Andrea. The word I would use to describe Andrea is a ragazzaccio... which in Italian means like a bad boy. Just a total shredder. There isn't really a direct translation of the word. But he was seriously SO MEAN to us during the lesson, but he couldn't keep a straight face so we were all just giggling the whole time. He did not want to be meeting with us at all, so I would just do funny stuff like crack jokes to try to get him to smile. And it was one of the best lessons we have ever had! Even though our investigator was so mean to us and hated us, I came out smiling because I knew that I did my best and it was also really funny seeing my teacher pretend to be mean hahahahahaha it was the best.

I am loving the MTC and loving Italian! Less than 3 weeks left in my MTC experience, which is CRAZY! But I am so excited and I will be so ready to get to Italy when the time comes. I can't wait to talk to everyone that I see, even the ragazzacci. (; This truly is the Lord's work, and I know that missionaries are so blessed and also their families for their decisions to serve. I hope that you all had a great week and that you stay safe in whatever you are doing. Vi voglio bene! Ciao!

Sorella Henderson

Pics 1 and 5: matching shirts!!!

Pic 2: snow day!!

Pic 3: the zone

Pic 4: bellissimo

more snow day photos

Ashlyn's Aunt Katelyn Hoffman has an aunt on her other side that works at the MTC. Ashlyn got to host (welcome new missionaries on Wednesday) with her this week, and we got this text from her.