Saturday 25 October 2014

Basilica, Battesimi, Biciclette e Bug


This fortnight has been WILD! I will try and fit it all in if it's possible!!!
Sooo! Starting off with the first P-Day of the fortnight! We went to Vatican City! To see St Peters Basilica! There's a "butt load" of stairs and you have to pay bare euros for it! ANYWAYS! We were at one of the many drinking fountains filling up our water flasks and Bernie (the nun) saw that we were missionaries... and just like that let us in there for free (and up the lift to avoid all the stairs) WHAT A HERO! We love Bernie! We got talking to her and she has like 1/3rd of her family who are Mormons (and 2 cousins currently serving LDS missions)!!! How awesome is that AND she gave us her number and said whenever us or our family want to visit.. give her a call and she'll get you in GRATUITO!!!!! (for free!) SO I got my contacts... Bernie the Nun! She's the best! So yeah... how awesome!!!!!


The Vatican on P-Day
The View from St Peters Basilica
Sooo ice cream is just the best here!!! So far I've tried:

Fragola (strawberry)
Kinder Bueno (my top fave so far)
Biscuitto or something like that (not so)
Coconut (another fave)
Nutella (italians LOVE nutella!)
I think that's it so far but I intend on trying them all hahahah!

So far our fave gelato place is a place called Blue Ice (right near our apartment... how convenient!)

VITTORIA IS GETTING BAPTISED THIS SATURDAY AT 6pm be there or be square.. I'm kidding but I will send pics!!!! She wants me to make something edible and English... I'm not sure what that will be but it's gonna be AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! She is literally the best! She sometimes tries to speak English with me for eg: whenever we say we have a story or a chapter of scripture to tell her she says 'so a sort of tale?' it's actually hilarious and it doesn't even seem funny typed like this and then Yesterday in Sunday School chapter 6 of Matthew was missing in her Sacra Bibia! (bible) and she turned to me and said 'this. is. a problem!!' haha awwwwwwwwww I LOVE HER!!!!! Her faith is SO STRONG AND Heavenly Father really did prepare her for us!!!!!! She is Amazing, she is a grand 


example to me!!!!!! I'm so proud of her.

We also taught the missionary prep class this week.. we have 2 GANS (YSA) prepping for a mish! A guy from Bolivia and an Italian girl. They're GREAT!

Yesterday we did 'gesso' so Sorella Perkins, Anziano Nomellini, Anziano Hansen and myself went to a piazza, dropped a black sheet down on the way and chalked out the Plan of Salvation.... They've done it before and been super successful.. yesterday wasn't one of those times BUT it was fun and we can try again another time!!!  
'Gesso' - il Plano di Salvezza
ALSO! near the chapel there is this patisserie kind of place and the missionaries have this tradition where we get a 'bomba' EVERY time without fail! They're like doughnuts with hot nutella! SUPER GOOD! Well, this time I didn't fancy one, so I stood there while the district bought them and the 

owner just gave me one for gratuito!!!!!! - for free (when someone in Italy gives you something for 
free you don't say no, because they'll get super offended). So I took it and it was legit the best bomba I've had so far!!! 

This week we did a scambi (Exchange) that was fun! 

Then we also had an unexpected sleepover HAHA! Soooooooo to cut a long story short we had a bug prob. In our beds, gross I know! We kept getting these fresh bites every day (mainly me) I'd get about 5 or more each day but only on my legs! and we couldn't figure it out cus I got them at night. SO Sorella Waddoups told us to get rid of the mattresses, because whatever it was probably lived in the mattresses (something we brought home from service like 2 weeks ago).  So we got rid of them and slept on an airbed that night. Then Sorella Waddoups wanted us to deep clean the apartment and requested that we sleep elsewhere for that night.... so we went to Rome 2 Sorelle's apartment. The next day the AP's bought us brand new mattresses! SO TENDER MERCIES .. they're super comfy.. the comfiest thing I've slept on since home so! VA BENE! it's all good!

Now for my 'Fave word of the week' because,  there are so many funny or beauts words! This week is a cool one I love. It's....

... bicicletta (pronounced: bi - chick- letter but all flowy and lush, so practise that one!) also talking about biciclette (an e on the end because plural, singular starts with an a) don't worry it confused me too! ;) ANYWAYSSSSSSSSS last P-Day we all went for a lovely bicicletta ride in Roma! It was lovely.. we were with the 4 Anziani of our district (they all had mountain bikes... and liked to explore, possibly the most dangerous routes ever.  Senza traffic (no traffic) so don't worry! Sorella Perkins and I had normal bikes.. not made for those kind of routes hahaha WE MADE IT ALIVE THOUGH and it was actually super fun!!! :)

Roma 3 District
So this week we not only had our own baptism... but we attended a baptism in Rome 2! (where the mission office is) her name is Sorour and President and Sorella Waddoups were there. They totally took the mickey out of my accent! ha! President said 'Next transfer I'm going to put you with a real Italian to get rid of that weird accent' (he was joking hahahahhahah but I really hope he doesn't do that cus that would suck ha!) and THEN!!!! Sorella Furia (a Sorella in Rome 2 who is Italian and speaks like 3 percent English) ) did the closing prayer .. in English (oh yeah this baptism was in English) and she was kinda struggling praying in English! After the prayer Sorella Waddoups turned to me and said 'One day you'll be able to speak English like that!' ahahahhahaha I love President and Sorella Waddoups!!! They're SO much fun and can joke around! They're GREAT!! Also at the baptism Sorella Perkins and I did a musical item (I played and she sang Saviour, Redeemer of my Soul :)

So... because Sorella Perkins is STL (Sister Training Leader)... we do lots of Scambis (exchanges) within the Zone, so this week we did one and I went to Ostia! It was so fun there!!! We taught 2 lessons, which I felt went really well! So that was fun! :)


Because it's Sorella Perkins' last week, we have quite a few dinner appointments.  We're excited!  You'll laugh...on Mondays, breakfasts are always the funkiest because it's the end of a week and food runs short... today I had Nutella on a stale wrap. It was nice....hahahah!! Seriously though we really are eating well! Pasta nearly every day ... I'm an expert now ;)

Pasta Dinners - I am a pasta Expert!
Sooooooooooooooooo! THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK!!! VITTORIA'S BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woooooooooooooo!!

Soooooooooooo we taught her a lesson in the morning of the baptism (last one from the Laws and Ordinances section of Preach my Gospel) and she did the prayer, but her words were jumbling up and she had to start again, then she said "SONO MOLTO EMOTIONALE!!!!' which means 'I AM JUST SO EXCITED'!!! hahahaha she's so cute!! The lesson was so so good! Then the baptism!!!  She was so so excited, but so so nervous ... but it all went so well! Sorella Perkins and Sorella Vickers did the talks,  I played the piano and we all did a musical item, then she got baptised, then as we waited for her we watched the Restoration video because she had invited a few friends and then we ate!!! It was so good but my fave part of Vittoria's weekend was on Sunday when she received the gift of the Holy Ghost. When Vittoria received the gift of the Holy Ghost the Spirit WAS so so so STRONG IT BROUGHT ME TO TEARS!! Her face was just glowing, she is so happy and content!!!! I love everything about this gospel and I love how much more I understand just from being here for 5 weeks!!!

We now have no simpatizzante (investigators) BUT this week we have planned LOTS of finding....and less active work!!! We found Vittoria through less active work, so I am positive and have faith that a lot of good will come from this week!!!

Yesterday we did Gesso.. again!!! This time we drew out a family tree (Sorella Perkins' family tree) and I DREW THE ROME TEMPLE!!!! it didn't even look too bad!! :) It was a lot more successful!!! Some of our Anziani walked around also with a whiteboard with the question 'What is the name of your great grandfather?' and they were really successful in talking to people!!! So we invited a few people to do family history, also our stake is running a family history weekend next month, so everyone is super excited about family history here!!! :)

'Gesso' - mia familiglia
Well its been fun!!!
I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU ALL!!!! 
TI VOGLIO BENE!

ciao xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunday 19 October 2014

Wunderbare Konferenz zwei Wochen

It was such a great experience watching General Conference on the grounds of the temple!!! That's right, we were in Zolikoffen for General Conference Weekend! (That’s right where the Swiss Bern Temple is), They showed conference in 4 languages (English, German, French and Italian I think)! Pretty cool! It was an amazing conference and I loved all of the talks! My favourites were the same as Ashleighs, which is pretty weird but Elder Jörg Klebingat, those 6 steps were just so perfect, they are: 1. Take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being. 2. Take responsibility for your own physical well-being. 3. Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience as part of your life. 4. Become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly. 5. Become really, really good at forgiving. 6. Accept trials, setbacks, and “surprises” as part of your mortal experience. 




Conference Weekend at Zolikoffen (Temple in the background)
Sas you know my trainer is District leader so we have to do work overs with every elder in the district! I had my first Ausstausch (exchange) this week!!!! I worked with Elder Lossau from Germany and we went to his area in Interlaken! Now, Interlaken, Chur and Innsbruck areas are the most beautiful areas of the mission, and no doubt it didn't disappoint! It was stunning although because of this the work is really slow as it is full of tourists or just non-interested people as they just assume you are just a “norsy tourist”! But it was such a great experience and the area is stunning, I hope I get to serve there one day! 

We also finally have our first new investigator- P T. He's from Sri Lanka and we teach in English! we've only had one lesson with him so far, sooo... J we will meet with this week hopefully!!! So I'll let you know next week how that goes! On Friday all of our appointments fell through, Elder Little and Meyer found an amazing family when I was in Interlaken and we had an appointment on Friday, but either Elder Little copied down the address wrong or we got a fake address. However, the great thing about Switzerland is you can track people down, as everyone’s name, address and telephone number is on some directory which we have access to! Mwahaha!!! 

The attached picture is mainly for you Ashleigh- 'I bet your Book of Mormons don't come in this size'! We use this when we do finding days in main cities as a zone! And as tomorrow is zone conference and we are joined with Zürich zone as it is in Zürich and we have a Das Buch Mormon flashmob planned around rush hour time in the city centre. I don't know what exactly is happening but it should be cool with about 60 odd missionaries from the 2 zones!!!


The Largest Copy of Das Buch Mormon
So on Tuesday I had my first Zone Conf. in Schwammendingen/Zürich! It was great to see President Kohler again! And it was pretty inspiring! Wednesday rolled round and we had a DA with the S family again, they are such a hilarious couple in like there 70/80s and they feed us loads.... And we had a brilliant lesson with our Weniger Aktiven Sister D about Family History and temples, so hopefully she'll start FH! Friday we also went to the temple as it was the Gemeinde Tempel Abend (Ward temple evening) It was beautiful, we were on 
the 7pm session with the ward.

The weekend (not that weekends feel like weekends) was great! Football in Zolikoffen which we have every week to build member and investigator relationships was great! I may start to be getting a bit better at it... I hope! haha! Sunday was brilliant. Church was great, and I understood quite a lot this week!!! Happy times! We had a lesson with one of our investigators which went okay. Then we had the CES Devotional from September as we are the JAE missionaries. It was pretty good by Elder Christofferson. 

Then P-day what a crazy day! We went to the Niederhorn near Thun to go Trottti Biking. We basically go up this mountain in a cable car and come down on the trotti bike. It's basically a scooter with bike wheels and brakes. It was a poor weather day to do it as it was raining (this is like the 2nd time it has rained since I've been here) and the Clouds were really low so you couldn't really see anything more than 10 metres in front. Crazy! Probably not the safest thing to do on a day with that weather! We went as quite a big group. The Bern Elders, Biel Elders and Zolikoffen missionaries so 11 in total, It was such a good time! I fell off once and now have a really badly cut knee and grazed hands, but life is great! 
Trotti Biking in Niederhorn


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Officiare, musica e incontri

So Sorella Perkins is a STL which means we do splits all the time.... which is kinda cool but super scary since I’m new and speak 0 Italian, ha ha kidding! (But everyone else is so so good and I can’t wait until I’m as good as them!!!) Finding techniques so far that we have also "chi scusi... dove e la bene gelato/pizzarie" (don’t quote me on spelling) but we basically ask people where the best Gelateria or Pizzarias are and then as they show us we talk hahahaha little sneaks we are!!
 
Sorella Perkins and Me
Yesterday we had to rush off to do some service! We helped Vescovo (Bishops) neighbours with their grape vineyard!! Picking grapes!! Which was actually super fun. I’m here now, with a ton of bites on my legs hahaha! yeah they got destroyed yesterday but life if good!! Bishops neighbours also fed us (great blessing)! 

Okay so ATM our investigators are D (a 9 year old boy.) V (I talk about her all the time I love her loads and she is all set for being baptized!) and AM! I’m actually going straight to the chapel after this to teach V (our golden investigator), then to do English course! Let me tell you a little about V (I think I already told you her story actually) but nevertheless.... SHE IS GOLDEN. I actually love her so so much!!! She’s so cute, she’s a little lady, about early to mid 40s, she wears pink crocs all the time and a little fanny pack. She is the most eager person I have ever met! She soaks up everything we teach her and she LOVES IT! She is super excited about getting baptized as she keeps going around to everyone telling them her baptism date and says how she can’t wait to be baptised. She is just so so excited and happy all the time and sometimes tries to speak English to me which is hilarious and so cute... the other day she said 'I am happy you are here' and it literally melted my heart!!! WE LOVE V!!!!!!!!!
So if I was to sum up Rome 3, I would have to use a quote from one of our Anziani! About the area "Rome 3 is just like a pineapple, scary and ugly on the outside but sweet and great on the inside". It is such a great place to be, I love it here!

We have been baking this week, we made Brownie. It was good but not as good as the stuff we make at home!! We originally bought flour for it, fresh from the shop... (or so we thought) it was infested with BUGS!! It was so gross, so we used the Anzianis flour hahaha! 

Random German Book of Mormon in our apartment

Well this week has been a long week because Sorella Perkins was ill at the beginning! so I was just study, study, study, which was good but I just wanted to get out! BUT she’s getting better now and it’s all good! So recently the missionaries were asked to sing at a funeral..... and as you can imagine I got roped into playing which I don’t mind at all! However, when we got there the funeral was at this  HUGE catholic chapel..... and it was an organ that I had to play!! Ha ha  also.... I then learnt that they wanted me to play as the coffin was brought in, along with a few other random songs and it was crazy because I had no idea what I was doing (I do love to practise first) ha ha ha ha! But it was great and it was a very interesting experience!!!!

Talking of music, I LOVE THE music you sent!!! The missionaries in the district were super excited too because we love doing musical numbers! So far I’ve participated in 3 musical numbers since being here! Zone conference a few missionaries sang Joseph Smiths 1ST PRAYER (and I played obviously ha!), then the Anziani had a baptism so I played Slla Perkins and Anz Budd sang “Lead kindly light”... then they loved it so much they made us do it again in sacrament meeting!
Playing the Piano at Zone Conference

ALSO funny thing of the week... somewhere.. someone in our apartment plays the harpsichird or something and the ONLY thing they can play is “the Pirates of the Caribbean” theme tune hahahahahaha its actually hilarious. They will play it over and over then change instrument to some other weird thing and play it on that ahhaah apparently they always do it so that’s entertaining!!

Conference was GREAT!!! It was cool seeing some speakers and thinking back to when they came to the  MTC to speak!!! Jean A Stevens! We saw her at the MTC! AND Tad R Callister.
I love how they can now speak in their native Language!! So cool! We got to watch it in English, Anziano Shiney bought his computer for us and we watched conference in the family history room! My favourite talk was by Elder Jorg Klebingat!! He was so to the point and each 6 of his points were so good and helped me! 1) taking responsibility for my spiritual and physical well-being  - we are free to choose liberty - stop making excuses (this helped me with the motivation to actually exercise hahahaha) i loved his quote 'our bodies become an instrument for mind and foundation for character' 2) We can’t love God without loving his commandments, casualness in spiritual matters never was happiness! 3) apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ 24/7. Since being on a mission I have been able to study more of the Atonement and come to more appreciate it! How blessed are we! 4) Forgive everyone! 5) Accept trials! 'we are spiritual beings having a human experience'. 6) Endure to the end! I JUST LOVED HIS TALK IT WAS SO GOOD! Never heard of him but he was so so cool!



I hope you all have a great week!

Sunday 5 October 2014

Suchen, Suchen und finden ... mehr


So we are the JAE (YSA) Elders, this means that we get to go to Institute every Tuesday evening to work with and chill with the JAE. We also get free dinner every Tuesday evening because they do a dinner before institute. So at least once a week we're always guaranteed one good meal!! :D 
JAE (YSA)  - where are the Elders?
Recently on our P-days we have gone out in Bern. Although I didn't take individual photos, We did have a few group pics as we got together with some other missionaries in the Zone. Funny story actually from that- We were walking across the bridge as we were going to see the bears, which are on the bank of the river (weird), anyway... There was a group of Chinese tourists and they asked who we were, as there were like 6 or 8 of us in white shirts and ties, so we told them we were missionaries for our church, and they wanted pictures with us... weirdest thing ever... So we had about a million pictures with chinese people... hahaha! 


Exploring Bern
Exploring Bern (The Temple is in the distance- top left)
Elder Little & Elder Robertson
Right now we have no progressing investigators! We have a potential who wanted to read the whole of the Book of Mormon before we meet up, he says he'll be done with it by the end of this week so you can pray that J has a spiritual experience with reading!  Then we have a few that were progressing before we were white washed in but we haven't had the chance to meet with them yet as they don't answer the phone 
or door so maybe we'll be able to catch up with them at some point this week!! 
Other than that we are just in the process of working hard and exercising faith in the 
Lord that we can find those that are prepared for us! Life right now is full of Finding!!! 

It's fun, and I can start a conversation but just have to hand over to my companion when they reply most of the time (Swiss German is very different to the German we were taught in the MTC)!!! Also I may need Ashleigh's help with some Italian contacting phrases as a lot of people that we contact are Italian speaking or French speaking or even Spanish speaking in Bern. The majority are Swiss German but we lose so many people because we have limitations in our Swiss German vocabulary 
and we can't say too much in their language! Which kind of sucks!
However, over the past two weeks The Finding has been increasing and we have actually found a few people that want to learn more!!! Exciting!!

So, we've had a crazy couple of weeks since my update of where I am and my first few days!! Talking about my Swiss German understanding,  I am finally understanding more in Church on Sundays which is great!! And Switzerland in general is amazing!! I'm also finally registered in Switzerland!! :D 

In the mission we have goals to do at least one 'personal touch' a week for the members which is such a great goal and really does help us as missionaries build relationships with the members. This week we have had quite a few Dinner 
Appointments with members, so it looks like it's definitely paying off. Let's hope that 
through this Member missionary work can hasten!

So last week on P-day we eventually got to go to Interlaken as a Zone. It was good! 


Interlaken



The Zone at Interlaken

Until next time!

Tshüss