One by One

Wow, talk about drinking from a fire hose! This last week has been one of the best and hardest weeks of my life so far and I am loving almost every minute of it! When The Lambs dropped me off at the curb I was really surprised because I felt nothing but excitement, maybe I was all cried out but either way I was ready! NO more tears, no more crying, it's time to go! So off I went, the Elder that picked me up is headed to France and he was super cool!

We dropped off my stuff in the Residence Hall and headed to my classroom where they taught us the most important rules about the MTC, the rules about the gym... kinda weird that was the first thing we learned but I guess it's priority! Then it was all Italian from there, our teacher Sister Francom is so nice, she speaks only in Italian and is so fluent! I've learned so much in the past week that I feel like my 4 years of Spanish are out the window except every time I say something in Spanish she says "Anziano... No espanolo!" and then she laughs so it's all good. 

The next step was to meet my companion, Anziano Gavin Campbell, he's a super cool guy! He's from Layton and went to North Ridge. (New Yorkers have no idea where that is but I'm not writing this email twice haha) He did a year at Spokan State playing golf! We get along super well and I'm really glad that we got to be companions, we don't have a super lot in common but we're finding more and more things to talk about. He's the youngest of 4 kids by 10 years so all of his family is a lot older than him. I'll add in some pictures to the end! 

We then group taught 3 investigators who are really members which is a good thing because some of the things that the other missionaries said were rather interesting... but it was really cool to be in a group of 50 missionaries teaching one person and seeing how we all have the same purpose but we all approach teaching the same person in a different way.

I don't really remember a whole lot from the first day other than meeting our zone leaders who are now gone and in Romania. Our zone consists of missionaries headed to Rome, Milan, and Romania so it was super cool to hear them pray in Romanian that first day and I never thought I would be able to get to that point in Italian but I haven't prayed in English in 4 days so It's not as hard as I thought. 

We met our Branch Presidency on Thursday night, they are all really nice people, the Branch President was a mission President in Arizona, he's a really strict President and gets very upset when we just call each other by our last names instead of Elder Bellucci or Sister Erickson. 

Day three was pretty interesting, we had to be up and ready to go at the Travel Offices by 7 so we could take a bus, train, and TRAX to downtown Salt Lake to get our VISAS from the Italian Consulate extension so we missed all of class in the morning but my companion and I met this man at the Central Station for the Front Runner in Salt Lake his name was Poncho and he was handicapped, a returned  service missionary but had made some bad choices and was homeless and unable to find housing because of some of the things in his record but he had started going back to church and he had an incredible testimony about repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. We offered to say a prayer with him and ask Heavenly Father to help him find a place to live and bless him for his faithfulness and guidance. 

It was really cool to be in Salt Lake as a missionary because literally everyone talks to you and at least 4 people offered to buy us lunch while we were there. This homeless guy was chilling outside the consulate and we offered him a couple of sandwiches from our sack lunches and he said "No, that won't work I only want soda!" with a few other profanities that I won't mention. SO Elder Campbell went into the Cafe across the street and bought him a 32 oz soda and gave it to him. He was less than grateful but hopefully someday he will remember the Charity of Christ!

When we got back it was time to teach our first lesson in Italian... it was kind of a train wreck of words BUT you could feel the spirit as we testified. (At least I think thats what we were saying)

Elder Campbell and I fell on the floor the second we got outside and both said "We're going home!" but thankfully its gotten a lot easier! 

The days kind of all rush together but the basic run down for everyday is we get up make our beds, shower, eat breakfast and go to class. We then have exercise time for an hour (The best hour of the day) and then we have half an hour to shower again and get ready for lunch and then after lunch its back to the classroom where the companionships in our district take turns teaching Francesca who is really just another teacher for the other Italian Districts. After that we work on TALL which is just online language learning. Then its an hour of Personal Study, an hour of Companionship Study and an hour of Language Study! Daily Planning and then write in your journal and go to bed and do it all over again the next day! With dinner somewhere in there...

One of my favorite quotes by Joseph B. Wirthlin is "Sunday Will Come" and it was so true! All week long it felt like the days were weeks and the hours were days, at 2 PM it felt like midnight, our heads hit the pillow and we were out! Then came Sunday... Temple walks and Priesthood lessons, we head from some returned missionaries from the Arizona mission where out Branch President served and fasting testimony meeting. We heard from almost all the missionaries in our Branch and the testimonies were so heartfelt from all these young men and women and the spirit was so strong. 

Every Sunday night there is a devotional from someone pretty cool. This week it was Sister Sheri Dew (If you don't know who that is you should Google it!) 

She was coming from Heber and anout 30 minutes before it was supposed to start she called and said there was a bad accident in Provo canyon and she was stuck. So the MTC President told her he knew about 1500 missionaries that would be praying for her to make it here. SO WE DID! She made it here only like 2 minutes late and the first thing she said was "If you guys were praying for me to get here it worked, and if you made that happen, theres something else I want you to pray for and its a husband! I could really use one!" Side note, she's 62 and never been married...

Her message was "Engage in the Wrestle" We have to be willing to wrestle our doubts and grow in our faith. Ask inspired questions and earnestly seek to find the answers and you will have a testimony but only if you want one. Sister Dew said "Are you willing to engage in a full-time, ongoing, spiritual wrestle? Do you want a testomony? Champion wrestlers understand leverage. Taking the strength of truth and using it to over power doubt. Spiritual Wrestlers are seekers of truth." One of my favorite parts was "You cannot think your way to conversion, your heart must be involved."

Sunday night is also Movie night. As in We get to watch recorder talks that people have given at the MTC in the past. We were told to watch "Character of Christ" by Elder David A. Bednar (Google him too) IT was an incredible video about simple Christ. The Character of Christ is simply Turning outwards when the natural man wants to turn inwards. He said "This mission is not about you. Who cares about you? This mission is about HIM  and serving HIM" and "When you don't think you can do this, you can't. But with the strength of the Lord; you can."

I wish I could say more about it but you all are probably bored! So I'll move on... 

Monday we taught Francesca again and we invited her to be baptized. She said she wasn't sure because she didn't know how her mother would feel because she is Catholic and raised her Catholic. I was able to testify to her and tell her that my family is also Cattolica and that if she followed the example of Jesus Christ that she would be blessed, that her family would be blessed and would respect and love her for her faith. By the end we were both crying and it was an incredible experience to testify with the spirit. She came up to us later and said that the lesson we had was incredible and that she as a teacher was able to grow in her faith even being a returned missionary. The power of the MTC is incredible and I am so glad to be here. 

The really cool part of the week was the Tuesday night devotional... Remember Elder David A. Bednar from before? Well he came to speak to us! 

He wrote a song called "One By One" which is said six times throughout the Book of Mormon. This song had never before been sung publicly. So my companion and I joined the MTC choir and we got to sing this song to him with his Grandchildren for the very first time. It was amazing! 5 of his grandchildren soloed (Sp?) and it is an incredible song. It will be published inthe NEW ERA magazine next month. His talk was about being the one and finding the one. I felt more than ever that our call to be missionaries is of God. The mission we were called to serve in is inspired of God. "You go two by two, to teach one by one just as Heavenly Father go two two to teach one by one" I know now more than ever that we are literal representatives of the Savior Jesus Christ. Often times we feel that we have gone too far off the beaten path to repent and become closer to God but that is not true. Elder Bednar said "The Atonement reaches farther than we could ever possibly go" It's never too late to come closer to Christ.

The MTC is a "Celestial Place with Celestial People" and the power and grace that is felt here is incredible. I am so thankful for all of you who helped me to make the decision to serve a mission and I want you all to know that I know this is Jesus Christ's Gospel. Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of us personally. "By the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things" (I have that one memorized in Italian too) I challenge you all this week to be the one. Be the one who is an example to others in your faith. Be the one to prove your love to Heavenly Father by serving others and loving your heart, might, mind and strength and living the Doctrine of Christ. 

I've heard this before but one of the sisters quoted it in our devotional review the other night she said "People aren't going to care how much we know until they know how much we care"

I love you all! Feel free to send me a letter through dearelder.com It will ask for my address which is also on my mission blog but its

Elder Jacob Anthony Bellucci
JUL12  ITA-ROM
2005 N 900 E Unit  73
Provo UT 84602

Dear Elder is free to use while im in the MTC and they print it out and give them to us everyday! I would love to hear from you!

Sorry this email is way long, i'll try to be more brief next time! Pictures to come!

-- 

Anziano Jacob Bellucci

Italy Rome Mission