Here's the latest from Elder West after three days in the MTC.

"....I've been so busy!  Everyday I wake up, get ready for the day, and get to work.  It's crazy!  Can't even stop to get a breather.  My whole district feels insanely tired after each day with Italian phrases swirling around in our heads...

I love my district.  They all contribute to get through the day.  I guess we have each other to lean on.  Anyway, we started to teach our first investigator, name Dina.  This was, of course, role-playing...Elder Pinnock and I taught our first lesson with her on Friday (July 26) and it was terrible.  Spirit was not there, we could not understand her, and we could not communicate.  Later, during our daily planning session, we decided to have better preparation in our lesson plan because our first lesson was finished in five minutes!  We were supposed to teach for 20!  We also decided we needed the Spirit, big time, for our next lesson the next day.  That was they key goal.  So we had our next visit with Dina the next day (July 27) and we taught about the Restoration.  We had an opening and a closing prayer, which, in Italian, it's kinda different to say, but that helped to set up the Spirit.  Then, when Anziano (Elder) Pinnock read the First Vision....BAM!  The Spirit raised the roof!  Dina believed our testimonianze and we even committed her to come to church, read the Joseph Smith History, and to pray to see if Joseph Smith was a true Profeta and if the Book of Mormon was true.  It felt so good to teach and have someone accept it!  It was amazing!  I was actually feeling kinda homesick that morning but after teaching I was on a spiritual high.  If I can do that throughout my mission, I know that I can enjoy it....