Friday 27 March 2015

Grande Amore per classe di inglese, gli impegni battesimali e Zona conferenza




Week 1 of the fortnight:
So as per usual I'll send you kinda like a diary entry cus it’s easier that way! I am so excited to see Sorella Nagliati at the Elder Bednar conference!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SOOOOOOOOO
Lunedi - We emailed, then yesterday one of the members left us food for pranzo, but we already had an appointment on Sunday, so we left it at church, then we ate with the Anziani for lunch on Monday. Then as per, P’day flew by and before we knew it, it was over, but we got to decorate the apartment with pictures of the Sorelle, as far back as we could, which is cool. Then we made a cheesecake for the Chines cus they ALWAYS give us food and stuff, but yeah other than that it was a pretty uneventful day!

Martedi - Today was another day of bidones (cancellations) meh! BUT we got to do FINDINGGGGGGGGGG YEY! Hahahahahaha, but really - we have been doing good with appointments lately and haven’t had a ton of time for finding, so we got to do that and I forgot how fun it could be haha... Then we had English course as per usual and that gave me lols as per usual. I LOVE IT!
Hearing the Italians speak English is my fave thing! ALSO I have sent you get the video of them singing the Michael Jackson song??!!!!!!!! SO CUTE it was so funny!!! (See the video below) :) 




Then one of the students was trying to say the word 'vegetable'; that was also really funny! Ahhhhhh I LOVE ITALIANS! OH and I forgot to mention, before English course; Gideon and Faith, the Anzianis and investigators wanted us to all go to theirs for dinner, so we went there! They are so cute and their baby is so lush! His name is Divine and he literally is divine - like if you saw this baby ahhhhhh so cute!

Mercoledi - We went to see a less active family, who we tried to see all of last transfer and failed every time! WE SAW THEM FINALLY! La Famiglia O!!! They are super cute! We spoke with them about their conversion story! He has a super strong testimony! He is great! Then, from them we went to Modica. We went with Vale, who is awesome!!!!!! Sorella Nagliati knows her really well too! :) SO CUTE AND SWEET! Then we went to see Rosemary and we shared parts of the talk given by Dieter F Uchtdorf titled 'Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth'. She loved it and proceeded to tell us 'I didn’t say I don’t have a testimony of these things you share; I have a testimony of everything that is the Word of God, by you, by the pastors and the priests'. We just bore our testimony and decided that the next time we see her we will explain the differences between this church and other churches. Then we got to see Pietro and finish off the Restoration with him, we invited him to baptism and he ACCEPTED! .. but the first time we asked him, he just stared at me in silence for the longest 30 seconds of my life... then he was like 'I need to prepare a lot' and we explained that we are here to help etc and he accepted and so, that was SO SWEET! Then we had ward council.

Giovedi - We went to Vittoria (a city 1 hour away) cus the office sent us through a referral... but when we called no-one answered, so we decided to go to the address. We got to the bus stop in Vittoria and then this lady asked us if we needed help (she must have seen us trying to find the street on the map) and she offered to take us to the street we needed!!!!!!! Cus she was picking up her daughter from school and it was close by. We had a really good gospel convo with her in the car and then she said she had seen us on that bus before and that next time she wants to speak more about what we believe!!! SHE WAS SO CUTE! and isn’t that the craziest thing; like, she was a total stranger and the Spirit told us it was totally okay to get into her car and she was so sweet and I personally believe that was the real reason we went there that day, at that time cus the referral didn’t let us in and what was amazing was that we weren’t even super discouraged, cus we both felt that we were there for a different reason! Then I thanked her and gave her a pass along card with our number and a galaxy ripple, cus I brought some for the ride to eat hehe but I wanted to leave her with something sweet for her kid! :) Then we went to see Lorena and we did a spiritual thought on obedience and then taught her and her friends English! :) Then on the way back to Ragusa on the bus, this lady came really really close to us and starts speaking English in a Russian kinda accent and it was kinda creepy. She was super close in our faces then it was silent and she turns to Sorella Hamilton and says 'How old are you?' - then Sorella Hamilton said 'Im 20 and she’s 19' then she whispered and looked really creepy in her strange scary Russian accent 'very very young' HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I DIED and Sorella Hamilton was so creeped out! Then we went for English course!!! On Thursday, me and Sorella Hamilton do advanced, which is basically just conversation, but this week we did differences between English words and American ways of saying them, so that was fun!! Me and Sorella Hamilton did the spiritual thought and we used the one my dad sent about putting the tape on the ground and putting something nice at the end of one and something like an empty package on the other... then spoke about decisions and blessings etc. They loved it!! :)

Venerdi - We did weekly planningggggggg! Then we did follow-up finding for some of the houses that told us to come back. One was an old lady... she let us in (everywhere is apartments) and then we got to her door and she was singing and walking around, then we heard her trying to unlock the door, then she was like 'non posso vedere niente!!!' (I can’t see anything) and then we hear her singing getting quieter and quieter, then we think she may have forgotten about us,; so we knocked again then the same thing happened... so we left her hahaha. Then on our walks we saw this man who started asking us about our church and what we believe about Christ then he asked us if we have anything for him to read! So we shared the introduction of the Book of Mormon using the pictures at the front, bore testimony and gave it to him- that was awesome!! THEN a man approached us 20 mins later and straight up asked us ‘What do I have to do to go to your church?' and pointed at our church (we were close to church, obv haha), so we said 'Just come!' haha.

Sabato - We saw Rita again and read the Book of Mormon with her! She loved it and told us she has missed reading the scriptures!! :) So we got her to choose a chapter that we will study and we can talk about it the next time we see her and she told us she has been trying her best to do kneeling prayers with her son every night! I love seeing her; she is so sweet and has such great faith!! :) Then we did more finding and old progress record callings.. then we went to eat with Gabe (salvo’s brother) - it was his birthday! Soooo we ate pizza :)

Domenica - This day was probs my fave day!! We went to church! Me and Sorella Hamilton taught gospel principles and it was about the scriptures!! It went really well! :) We did it in English as there were only English speaking investigators at church... Then we had dinner with the Chines (who live above us in the same apartment), theeeeeeen we had an appointment with the Cascone family. We did the spiritual thought in Helaman 5:12 and spoke about the 3 little pigs and the wolf and linked it to our testimonies.. Is ours built on sticks or bricks etc! THEY LOVED IT and then they gave us cake! Then we went to see the Puglisi’s and did the Orange spiritual thought about the armour of God! THEN they gave us cake too! We were all caked out by the end of the day!!!! Hahaha, but it really was a great day and the members love us.. (I think) and the Cascone’s even told us they can try and get us a referral! <3 :) OH and one of the less actives we have been to visit came to church and all the members were so welcoming to her! :) and when we were at the Chines house Sorella Chines was saying random words that she knows in English and it was hilarious!!!! 'OH MY GOSH' and 'SHUTUP' it was hilariouuuuuuuuuuuus!!!!!! ahhh I wish you could meet these people! Then they told us about how they met and it was the cutest thing ever and the way they each told it - was so funny!!! :)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND that was week 1!!!!! 



Week 2 of the fortnight:
SO
Monday - It was fun! Email obvs was the highlight of the week! :) as per yewsh! This email is gonna be very very rushed and I apologise!!! It rained a lot, so we didn’t do much, but then we had a lesson with a less active Sorella A! She is super cute!! :):)

Tuesday - We had a lesson with Rita, then went straight to Palermo in preparation for Zone Conference!! I SAW SORELLA WINEGAR!!!! IT WAS SO SO SO SO GOOD, I haven't seen her since our time at the MTC!!!!!! I will send pics! I saw MTC people and people from my FAVE district!!! (Pescara 1st) AHHHHHHHHHHH IT WAS AMAZINGGGGGGGGG!

Wednesday - THE CONFERENCE WITH ELDER TEXIERA WAS SO SO GOOD! I will say more about it next week, I promise!!!!! 

Zone Conference with Sorella Waddoups & Sorella Hamilton


The Zone

Thursday - We didn’t get back on time to get the bus from Catania to Ragusa, sooooo we stopped the night in Catania!) - then we went to Ragusa and were back to normal, although I picked up a really nasty cold from somewhere! Then Sorella Rollo... the cutest member, called us to have us over for lunch! That was super sweet!!!

Friday - We planned, then had a member lesson, which went really well! Again, I am so sorry this is not as detailed an email... this is just what happened. I promise it is way better than I can do justice right now, but I will make up for it next week!

Saturday - We did service! Blowing up 1million balloons for a 4 year olds party!!! :) haha, then a spiritual thought with their family! Then we saw Pietro!!!!!



Sunday - PIETRO CAME TO CHURCH!! It was so great!!!! :):)

Today we left the house at 7 ish to get here to Siracusa!!! We saw the Greek theatre! That was super cool and now we are emailing!!!! I’m gonna really quickly try to send pictures! I PROMISE; next week’s email, will be way better! So much happened this week, but I’ll have to tell you all about it next week!

I just wanna leave a brief testimony with you all that I know that this church that we are so SO blessed to be a part of, is the true church of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. That nowhere else can we find this kind of happiness! I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us more than we could ever comprehend. I know that the power of prayer is real. That there is a power that comes from studying the scriptures, something I didn’t really fully know or understand for myself until I came here, but I can testify that it is true now. I know that this gospel blesses lives more than a bar of chocolate ever could. I know that the family is FOR ETERNITY!! :) I know that everything happens for a reason. I know that today we can still see miracles and tender mercies if we look close enough. Sometimes we don’t even have to look close. They happen and they are real. I am so happy and grateful to be here!

I love you all crazy crazy amounts!

KEEP BEING AMAZING
I LOVE YOU ALL AGAIN xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorella Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunday 22 March 2015

Viele Empfehlungen, Viele termine

Week 1 of the fortnight …
Where to begin!?! I guess you can say that there are good weeks and bad weeks! This week was one of the latter! But hey, that’s missionary life! Basically we found nobody, we taught nobody, nobody answered the phone or was home when we went by, so we set up no appointments with anybody and the only number we could really report this week was one referral contacted- who had no interest anyway!!!! It was crazily stupid! But hey, it happens!!!! And it just motivates me more to try even harder!!! So, this week we're gonna be coming back fighting!!!!! #gameon

Let’s begin this week in Journal form, as it’s the simplest way to do it....

So Monday! It was P-day, as per … emails are the highlight natürlich!!! Then Familie Heim Abend. It was pretty good and Brüder Meier brought some ice cream cake for the treat, which was awesome, cause we totally forgot to get anything!!! Oooopppss!!!! Then in one of our mission emails, we find out that our MSF has been cut!!!! What!!!!!!!!  We barely survived before, here in Switzerland, but now … who knows how it’s gonna go...

Tuesday!! District Meeting was back to being in Chur! What a sight!! Although, whenever we have to go to Chur, it literally takes up an entire day!!! We have to leave at 8.20, so no studies, then we get back at like 18.00!!! It's literally ridiculous!!! But it's fun!! And we had a little raclette party for district lunch!!!! Which sort of made up for it!!! And the new district is pretty cool!!! Literally 4 of us out of 6 were in the MTC together! So life is great!!!

Wednesday we had a tausch! A little early in the transfer, but hey! It was a pretty fun tausch! I stayed in Bonstetten with Elder Timm! Not much happened, so in the evening we went to a member’s home, who lives in our ward boundaries, but goes to another ward, and she is Elder Timm’s aunt! So we went by to say ‘hi’ and they invited us in and she fed us, which was awesome! So, a pretty awesome end to a pretty dead day!!!

Thursday, we tausched back and had a termine with a member. It was really good! Her husband isn't a member, so we tried to involve him too.  He is totally open and ridiculously cool! After the appointment we found it difficult to understand why he wasn’t a member. And the food was great again!

Friday brings us to the 3rd DA of the week! (we have another 3 DA’s set up this week, I think that takes us to about 10 in just the first 3 weeks, when last transfer we only had like 2 in the whole transfer!!!) So we had a DA with our new GML. He is really cool and has an awesome vision for the work in the ward!!! I'm excited to work with him more in the coming weeks!!!

Saturday- I hit a low! Just nothing was happening, as I said at the start of the email! Luckily for me, I still had a bit left from my Valentine’s Package- so I had a fat day! I think I ate like 3 bags of chocolate stuff and then drank the whole thing of custard!!!! It was bad, but hey!!!! At least I had a taste of home to get me through!!!!

Sunday!!! One of the Less Actives we've been trying to get in contact with after she went to England a few weeks back, came to church!!!! It was so cool!!! Definitely agree with Ash when she said how exciting it is when a less active you work with comes back to church!!!! It was really cool!!! Then we had choir practice for Gemeindekonferenz next Sunday! Hardly anyone came!!! So me, Elder Paulsen and the choir director were the only men! And Elder Paulsen claims he can't sing, so sang ridiculously quiet! So I had to be loud, which I hated, plus they always complain that I'm singing an octave lower... it hurts my voice to go higher!!! You can't win! But hey, we got brownies from it!!!! Then the senior couple came by to drop off some Books Of Mormon for us and we also told them about a couple of things that we want sorting with the apartment, so our apartment will be perfect in no time!!! We already have like one of the best apartments as it is, but a few things would make it perfect! Then we went to Bishop’s for dinner! It was awesome!!! For our spiritual thought, we played the thankful pen game! It’s a visual spiritual thought, but it's really fun and works brilliantly with a family of any age!!! Basically, the idea is to pass the pen around the group/family and say something that the pen can do zum Beispiel this pen can fly, or this pen can be a dog! Absolutely random stuff! If the person says ‘thank you’ when they receive the pen, then whatever they say is true! If they don't say thank you, then whatever they say is false! Then you play it until people pick it up!! Then explain and talk about thankfulness!!! We shared Mosiah 2:19-20. I think it’s the scripture, but there are many others to use!!!! Then we sat with Bishop and went through a few less actives he wants us to work with.  So, that is basically our week! Plus, the last few days I've been doing language study on our beautiful balcony! With an awesome view of the mountains and the sun beaming down! It's pretty nice! Then today, I don't even have to wear a jumper, let alone a coat!!!! It is beautiful!!!!!!! Sitting at the chapel with the windows flung open!!!!! Life is awesome!!!! I can't wait to get my Easter package!!! I may get it tomorrow evening, as Brother Berg is the JM-Leiter, so he should be at Gemeinderat!!!! So we shall see!!!
Week 2 of the fortnight ...

Montag... Twas a pretty good day! Emailing is always the highlight, definitely my favourite part of the week!!! Then Familie Heim Abend! I had the lesson/spiritual thought and it went relatively well. I based it on 3 Christlike Attributes- Faith, Humility and Patience. It actually went really well and the point got across!!! In almost perfect Deutsch!!! 

Dienstag.... oh, Dienstag!! It was Zone Training day!!! So we headed to Schwammendingen! On our way we got a text from Jessi telling me that the package arrived and that Jacob would bring it to Gemeinderat... So I got it the very day it arrived! Zone Training was awesome!!! The STLs did an amazing part on The Atonement, the Spirit was so strong in that Zone Training it was amazing!! Our Zone is ridiculously tiny though! We only have like 22 missionaries! That may be big in comparison to some missions, but Zürich is the smallest zone in the mission. Like Bern was around 30 something and then München was an enormous zone (but then we had all the office couples there), but it was awesome! And the British elders loved the Vimto Squeezy stuff I brought with me from the package!!!! hahaha!!! Then we finished the day with Gemeinderat... They talked about whether or not to rent out a cinema to show 'Meet the Mormons'. Basically all wards in Europe are getting a copy of it and they were discussing whether to use it as a missionary tool and do a ward activity where people can invite their friends and neighbours and all.
 
Turkish Vimto!
And it's Mittwoch already!!!! We started the day by helping a member move the last few things to their new apartment, as her husband was away with work, but it needed to be done! So we helped move the stuff and then we had lunch. It was cool! So 1st DA of the week! Also, this explains the picture I'll send! Her Mom is from Manchester and they found fizzy vimto cans in a Turkish shop in Zürich, so she gave me a couple!!! It legit is vimto, just with the Turkish design cans. Then we had an appointment with Sister B. We brought a member who may be my favourite member! He's called Brüder M, he's Swiss through and through and probs in his late 60's and he speaks English! So we brought him to Sister B, which is in English and she asked if he can help her with some legal forms to do with tax and stuff, cause they were in German and he deals with that type of stuff for work, so he was explaining a few things and kept turning to us to get a translation of the most obscure German words to do with taxes. I was like, don't look at me, I have no idea!!! So it was an interesting appointment, but it was good and we taught her a lesson and the spirit was crazily strong in there, that there may have been a few tears from some people. Then we gave her a blessing and it was just amazing! The Priesthood is real, it is the power of God!  Then we were about to head home and Brüder M was like, "I'm hungry, there's a döner place round the corner that isn't too pricey, lets go - my treat!!!" So we went with him to this Döner place and it was great. It was huge and around the same price as a döner anywhere else in Switzerland, so there we had our second DA of the week and it meant that Wednesday we didn't have to cook anything!!!! Perfect!!!
And Donnerstag rolls around... We went to try and contact a referral we received on Wednesday that the Sisters in the Scotland Ireland Mission taught. Apparently he has loads of questions and is relatively young. It was like a 20 minute bus ride into the middle of nowhere, but he wasn't home. I think they may still be in Scotland though, as the postbox was full, like almost overflowing and the house was dark, so we'll try by again in a week or so. He seems like there's potential there, so we'll see! Then we received like another 3 or 4 referrals in the day from Salt Lake, so we shall see how the week goes! Then we went to see another member/less active. He's Mongolian, so they live in an Asylheim! We have to hand in our Aussweiss at the office before we visit and then we get it back when we leave!!! Then we had an appointment with a member, 3rd DA, but we were a little early, so went by a former who lives near by! We ring the bell and about 2 minutes later the guy comes to the door! Half naked! And not the half that would be normal on a warm day! He's in his 90's as well! So he's like, "oooo, I'm almost naked, come back on Saturday at 19.00!" (Translated from his Swiss German as best as I can, just so you can understand) ... so that was an experience!!!! Then we had our DA and it was really good! The Sister is from Syria, so I think it was some sort of Syrian Meal and it was really good!!!!!! 
Freitag! Not alot! Literally nothing happened, as Elder Pauslen was ill.
Samstag!!! It was full of Vorbeis and for a Saturday it was pretty bad, cause nobody was home! So that sucked! And then in the evening we went by our half naked 90 year old friend and he answered the door in the exact same way, but this time he let us in and we taught him about the Book of Mormon! A half naked man, like he wasn't even wearing any underwear, just a t-shirt and sandals!!! It was the weirdest thing ever! So we got a lesson with a half naked, 90 year old guy and he is now a new investigator, as we're going back on Friday! Hopefully this time he'll find some trousers to put on!!! It was interesting! 
Sonntag!!! Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!! And Gemeindekonferenz! So we had to be there at 8.30 to practice, as the choir for the musical item we were doing! It's like our own little MoTab! We even have an Orchestra- like legit- flute, claranet, violin, cello, etc. It was pretty amazing! The song we sang was one from the Primary book... I can't remember what it's called in English "Liebe Umgibt Mich Hier" in Deutsch! It's split into male and female parts! The male part in English starts something like 'Mine is a home where every hour, is blessed by the strength of Priesthood power'. I'm sure you know the one I mean! Then the talks were amazing and then Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society was mashed together and I believe the Stake Presidency talked about the Area Plan- so, like, the 3 point thing with the red, yellow and green card, but we had to help out in Primary, as the President was on her own! So we got to do Singing Time and Sharing Time... It was fun!!! Then in the evening we had another awesome DA with Familie A! Brüder A is a Dentist, who owns his own Practice, so as you can imagine, the house is huge and beautiful and dinner was amazing!!! It was very similar to a Sunday roast! It wasn't one, but it was very similar, so obviously it was amazing!!!! ... And that is basically this week!!!

Have an awesome week, I love you alll sooo, sooo much! 
All my Love,

Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday 13 March 2015

Permesso Frustrations, Fried Chicken, FuFu, Frozen Cheescake & Flirts

Okay soooooooooooooooooooo I’m just gonna jump into this fortnight!
Week 1
Monday - After emailing, we went to try and get Sorella Hamilton’s permesso... which failed again. How annoying. We were both super annoyed ‘cus the station is not situated in the most convenient of places (it’s a bit of a trek to get there) and this was like the 4th attempt... ANYWAYS! After that, we went to Gauduas’ house (Less Active) for an appointment that we had booked with her.... aaaaaaand her Mum let us in aaaaaaaaaand we waited and waited and sadly she didn’t turn up but LUCKILY.. as her Mum is also a Less Active, we did what we had planned with her! J So we still got to teach our lesson (even though it wasn’t with who we had originally planned). Her Mum is the sweetest little lady I have ever met!! <3 Then on the way home, we saw a man doing stretches. We were walking and there was this man in the middle of the street in his tight running gear just doing the weirdest stretch exercises in the strangest of positions. It made us lol hard. It was really funny. We also did some finding this day and 2 people told us to come back J
Tuesday - We went to get the Permesso again......... but they told us WE COULDN’T get it today, but I was not moving from that police station without Sorella Hamilton’s permesso!!! So we told them that this is the 5th time that we had been here and we had waited around for so long. So they told us to wait where ALL of the other immigrants wait and we had to wait FOREVER.  After waiting for like 2 hours, some people got their permesso’s .. but not us, so we went back to the front desk and asked again and waited some more (we ended up waiting for like a total of like 4 hours). BUT WE FINALLY GOT HER PERMESSO!!!!! Finally! Because it took so long, we got the Gela Anziani to pick us up (it was raining and we were far away and late for DDM)  J DDM was good! Anz Di Donato did the addrestramento. All about loving other people and ourselves. etc. Then we did the kinder egg predictions, which was awks ‘cus me and Hammy didn’t have time to buy an egg, so we sat there and guessed for everyone else. After, we went to see Rosemary. We did a 'do or die' lesson. We told her our purpose and then mentioned that one of those steps that we are here to help her take is baptism. She told us that she doesn’t think she will get baptised here in Italy, but if God tells her to, she will. So we are continuing to see her and are praying that she will receive and recognise that answer from God! Then we went to see the PJ boy that told us to come back. HE IS SO COOL! HIS NAME IS FRANCESCO. He is a student. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and he invited us back. He had a ton of questions and he seemed super genuine, so we are super excited about him!! JJ Then for lunch we had breakfast leftovers... and leftovers from the day before. FRIED CHICKEN bacon bits and pancakes! hahahaha I’m getting real good at frying chicken. I’ve sent a pic, hehe. Like we just buy normal chicken fillets I guess and then I batter them and fry them. Probs not the healthiest of things, but we like to treat ourselves. Then we went to see Sorella Colombo, a less active member. She is super sweet! J Oh, also, the rain was SO BAD!! but each time we left a building, it stopped. #rainstormmiracles.
Wednesday - We started doing a ton of follow up finding. IT WAS RAINING SO BAD AND HAILING ALSO. Like it sounded and felt and looked like it couldn’t get worst, but it DID!!!! It was crazy and we were out in it. No hail storm miracles today. hahahaha. but it was so fun. Then we did a Less active lesson with Sorella Criscione about the importance of attending church and being spiritually renewed by taking the sacrament. She loved it and fed us biscuits J Then we went to the Guastellas’ house to do a spiritual thought about the Atonement - with the water ink and bleach. Something was wrong with the bleach though and it didn’t work very well, but I think they got the idea, ha. awkwarrrd. Later, we had ward council. It was really good. Vescovo did a good addestramento on teamwork. J
Thursday - We went to Comiso (there are loads of LA there, ‘cus it’s difficult for them to get to church). We had a lesson planned with a NC/LA. We were gonna do English with her J She brought 5 of her friends along, so we had our own little English school going on and then did a spiritual thought on prayer and one of her friends asked for a Book of Mormon, so that was super cool !!! JJ
Then we got back just in time for English course! Oh, also, on this day on the bus to Comiso, we met a guy called Salvatore, who knows a Less active family in the Ragusa ward, so we got to speak to him a bit about church and he asked for our number to go and have a coffee with him one day haahhaha. We get that a lot. It’s funny, but maybe we can go meet him and sneak in a lesson, muaha.
Friday - Today we did more follow up finding, but nobody answered. Then we went to do Piano di Salvezza finding in centro, which was great. Then we headed to the train station to go to Siracusa (scambio .. exchange with STL). While we were waiting, I got the wooden PoS thing Sorella Nagliati gave me and sat next to a man. I was playing with it in the hopes that he would ask about it and ecco!!! He asked! So, I explained briefly the Plan of Salvation. It lead to a really good gospel convo! He was really cool! Then our train arrived. (OH side note, something funny that happened before.... we were walking in centro and these guys we ALWAYS see that are super creepy with us, walked past and stared as per and as we walked past Sorella Hamilton sung ’I’ve seen this creeeeeeeeep beforeeeeeee' to the tune to the Les Mis song, where they sing 'I’ve seen this faaaace before' and as she sung it they were doing the creepy stare and the whole situation was HILARIOUS. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. so funny.) Anyway, back to the train. We bought ourselves a kinder egg each, ‘cus we missed out before and then we did our own predictions.... Sorella Hamilton got the SPINNING TOPS, so I was like errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr you know what that means (everytime I get those I get transferred). So we were worried. On the way to Siracusa this guy on the train spoke to us. He was oriental looking and he asked us how long until siracusa (in English). So we replied and asked him where he is from and he said ‘the UK’, so we had a little convo about the UK. He was just travelling around loving life. He was super cute! J Then, that also lead to a gospel convo and he told us he has only ever seen the boy missionaries J That was cool. When we got to Siracusa, (IT’S SO LUSH!) the Sorelle and Anziani met us. We walked to a pizza place, bought pizza and ate it! Then went home and slept. J
With the Sorelle of Siracusa
Saturday - TRANSFER CALLS! None of us could concentrate on ANYTHING ‘cus we were convinced Sorella Hamilton was going and Sorella Palmer too, but FINALLY we got them and we are ALL STAYING!!! JJ When the AP’s called, they asked if we wanna know about anyone’s call and so we asked for pretty much the whole mission hahaha. SO for our district, we all stay the same apart from Anziano DURHAM. WHO GOES TO PESCARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’M SO JELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL AHHHHHHH!!!!! HES SO LUCKY!!!! and then we are getting Anziano Smith to replace him (he’s coming from Malta) and apparently he’s a really cool guy! So that should be cool! I think he will be our new DL too. For lunch, Sorella Palmer made lasagne. It was sooo, so good! Then we did some work in Siracusa. Then we went home in time for a lesson with Iolanda about temples, family history work and eternal marriage. It was really good! J
Sunday - So at church, I translated RS for Faith (one of the Anziani’s simps), then it was the Anziani’s turn to teach Gospel Principles. However, a group of Italians came in and so we had to split the class, so Sorella Hamilton and I had to do an Italian class (we usually teach it in English ‘cus all our simps speak English). That went really good J We got one of the guy’s numbers and have set an appointment with him for this week. He has a lot of questions, so hopefully something comes of that! J
Then we had dinner with the Guastella family!!! I ATE SO MUCH I NEARLY CRIED. So usually for a meal they start with a pasta plate, then a meat plate accompanied with something like potato or rice or bread and salad or something. Then fruit then CAKE and sometimes other things in-between or starters. They gave me so much pasta to start with, I barely finished that without crying ahhahaha. Then they pulled out the next dish and it was meat with a TON of potato. hahahaha I was praying so hard I could manage it. One of the most difficult times of the mish ahahah. Then fruit, then cake. I nearly died of food, there literally was no space left inside me for this food!!! They really know how to feed us J. Then we got home for language study and got a call from Sorella Campo inviting us over for dinner’ cus its Anz Durham’s last Sunday. SO 3 hours after the 1st meal, we had another.. so I very much nearly died again. hahahahah. But the food really is so so so so good they just give you so so so so much!!!!!!!! J

SO Week 2
My First taste of Fufu

Monday - I ATE FUFU WITH GOAT SOUP AND FISH hahahahahah … yes that’s right! I did it, yeah that was so cool! I’m feeling very cultured now hahahahaha
Tuesday - WE had our last DDM as a district! Before Anz Durham left to Pescara (jel). It was really good! HE spoke about things we can do to be better missionaries! :) I gave the spiritual thought about being grateful. I quoted parts of Dieter F Uchtdorf’s talk “Grateful in any circumstances “... I think that’s what it’s called! J It’s a really good talk! Then we had lunch at the butcher’s shop. We then studied the language... and took a district pic J 
Ragusa District Photo
After that, we went to an appointment, which we had booked with some members but they.... weren’t there... so that was a little awkward! So we went and did finding... and there was a man who was looking at us and as we walked past he was like 'STO CERCANDO PER 2 BELLE RAGGAZZE' (I am looking for 2 beautiful girls) and Sorella Hamilton replied 'ALTRE TANTO' (back to you) hahahahahaha it was funny ‘cus she didn’t hear exactly what he said. It was sups funny! Anyways! We gave a few pass along cards out and that was that! Then we went to do English course :) which was good as per!
Wednesday - WE went to see a less active member, Rita! WE spoke about prayer and the spirit was so strong, she was crying! I LOVE HER!!! We got her to commit to do a kneeling prayer with her 5 year old son every night and she said she would. The lesson was just amazing and the spirit was so strong! :) Then we saw Rosemary! She is doing so well! WE taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and she agrees with everything and told us she will continue praying to know the truth and she even said 'now that the weather is getting better, I might surprise you and come to church one of these days', so we are excited about that!!!!! JJJ Then we had an appointment with Pietro, (the guy who came to church last Sunday with a LA..... but for this lesson he came... with the LA and 2 OTHER PEOPLE!! A couple!!!!!!!! WE taught them all about the Book of Mormon and it went so well! WE GOT A RETURN APPOINTMENT WITH THEM ALL and the spirit was definitely felt!!! SO things are really looking up J

Thursday - WE went to Comiso!! WE did some less active finding there and left a note for one of the sisters who wasn’t in! Later in the day she called to set an appointment up for Saturday! Then we got lost and this guy called Vincenzo helped us and walked us to where we needed to be! On the way, we were able to have a really good conversation with him (in English). He speaks perfect English ‘cus he lived in California for 6 years, then lived in Africa and found a wife! HE IS SO COOL! We gave him our number and we pray that he will call us, ‘cus he really was so awesome!!!! JJJ Then we went to see Lorena to do the last 'after baptism' lesson! It went really well! And then we taught her and some of her friends English! THEN they told us that they wanna come to church!!!!!!!!! So we were super excited!! JJ Then, on the way to the bus stop this guy pulls up in his car and straight up asks us to go with him for a coffee..... and we were like “no thanks” then he was like (took his shades off) and said 'look into my eyes!!' hahahahahahha and I personally thought it was hilar, but Sorella Hamilton was like “ew ew no!” anywaysssss, then we came back to Ragusa and did English course! J which was really cool, ‘cus a girl we met on the bus last week came with her Dad! J
With Sorella Hamiton
Friday - WE made cheesecake for Sorella Campo, ‘cus it was her Birthday! J However, we made a lot! So we saved some for ourselves... and put it in the freezer. FROZEN CHEESECAKE IS MY NEW LOVE!! It was so much better frozen! MMM! WE did weekly planning and also set transfer goals and a bucket list! J It was a really good planning session! J After, WE saw a less active member, Sorella Ragusa! I LOVE THAT WOMAN. She is so cute!!!!! We did a really nice spiritual thought with her and it was just so great!

So, we have a problem with the bathroom door handle, so we have improvised and kinda fixed it with a hair bobble and two clingfilm roll tubes, hahahaha. OH AND THIS DAY I PICKED UP MY PARCEL AND Sorella PUGLISI GAVE ME A SKIRT and told me to wear it on Sunday.. so I did! haha J


A very happy day....treats from Home arrived today :)

Saturday - WE went back to Comiso to see Sorella Turtula (the lady who called us when she saw our note) and it was so nice to meet her! She seemed so happy to see us! J She doesn’t come, ‘cus she has to look after her Mum, who is in hospital, but she said she wants to try this next week! :) Then on the way back on the coach, there was just the driver, another worker, Sorella Hamilton and myself. They asked us to sit with them... so we were like okay... then the driver was like 'we should all go out one night and I can drive you around all these other places... and we were like erm ‘no thanks’, we are missionaries and we work a lot... anyways, he was being a huge flirt (even though he was wearing a ring), so that was gross! Then, we went to our appointment with our 3 NEW SIMPS! It was great! We did the Restoration lesson with them... although towards the end, where we were about to do the baptism invite, Pietro went outside to go get ANOTHER friend! BUT we went ahead and Mose and Carmella ACCEPTED the baptismal invite for 4th April!!!!!!!!!! JJ The lesson was amazing! And we are seeing Pietro today and we pray that he will feel the spirit too and accept this important step!! :):) Then after we saw lolanda! She is as cute as ever!! J Oh I forgot... at the end of the lesson with our new simps, we invited Mose to pray... and he read it exactly how it is written in the pamphlet... It was so cute! We had to teach him again. I think he was super nervous! bless him! J
OH ALSO! In the morning, when we were in Comiso... we managed to accumulate a pack of old men.. so we had a picture with them. It was hilarious! They were all talking Sicilian, so we kinda had no idea what they were saying, but one was quoting Sicilian poems hahahaha It was really funnyyyyy!!!!
With our "Old Men" Fan Club

Sunday - WE had church! LORENA, HER FRIEND AND HER MOM CAME!!!!!! EVERYONE WAS SO EXCITED!!! It was SO, SO, SO, GOOD TO SEE THEM! It’s amazing when you do less active work and then see them at church!!!! It made me so happy! J Also, everyone was wishing us well, ‘cus apparently, yesterday was International Women’s day!!! That was cute! Then we had pranzo with Sorella Rollo! The tiniest, cutesy little old lady!!!! I <3 her!!!
I have loved this fortnight. It has been amazing! WE are seeing the fruits of our work and it is so satisfying!!!

I know that this is the work of the LORD. That this is the Church of JESUS CHRIST. I know that there is nothing that can bring more happiness into our lives than THIS gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m so grateful that I have the pleasure of sharing it with the people of Sicily!!! IT’S SUCH A BLESSING!
I LOVE YOU LOTS!


Sorella Ashleigh Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunday 8 March 2015

P-Tag an der Schokolade Fabrik, Transfers, Reinigung Lektion und eine sehr erfolgreiche Ausstellung

Week 1 of the fortnight ......

We'll just shoot straight in with Monday!!! I'm sure by now you've worked it out that we went to a Chocolate Factory! It's called Läderach and it's like major posh, expensive, upper class chocolate!!! It only cost us CHF6 to get in and with that we got a CHF5 off voucher to buy in the store at the end! It was cool! We went as a district, so the group picture is basically our district.... It's a pretty lame district with it only being 6 elders, like that's pathetic!!! But half of the District were in my MTC group, so that makes up a little. We could also have unlimited chocolate from the fountain there! It was pretty awesome!!! So at the end we went to look around the shop and the cheapest thing was CHF6.50 for 100g of Fresh Chocolate, so I chose that! Cheap Skate and all! They had a variety of different types and I went for the Fudge Caramel one! It was amazing and really was fresh chocolate! It tasted amazing!!!!! You can see why people would actually spend CHF6.50 on just 100g!!!!

Free Samples.....it would be rude not too!

All you can at Liquid Chocolate for 6CHF




Tuesday! District Meeting! About 2 or 3 transfers ago, President came up with a schedule of what should be done in District Meetings, so basically he plans them each week and tells the DL what to assign. So our DL has switched it up and it was a really good meeting! Then because our district is huge in terms of area, we alternate each week, as to where we do DM, so this week it was in Richterwil and we decided as a district, so that DM isn't a waste of time for 2 hours; after DM we tausch and go finding in that area, to help each other out and work with other missionaries, so we started it last week! It was actually really fun and we found a couple of potentials! Tomorrow it's in Bonstetten, so we have to plan where we're gonna go to do it! Probably in Zürich, as there's actually people!!!! Then Tuesday evening was our first member spiritual thought! They are such a cool family! I decided to do the 'ask and ye shall receive' one - with half a frank! It was amazing and they loved it! Then we joined them for Family Scripture Study and then left, but they said they will have to invite us over for dinner soon! So... my master plan is actually working!!!! 

Wednesday was just a normal day and then we had a lesson with Rudi (Rudolf) I believe I told you about him! His wife was down from Deutschland this week, so we had an awesome, but not so awesome lesson! It was a real powerful lesson and we got his wife involved as much as my German would allow. And she bore amazing testimony!! The Spirit was ridiculously strong in there, we just need to keep those spiritual experience coming!!!! 

Thursday... what an interesting day! So the DL set up this appointment by text with Ursula that he found at the last Ausstellung. We needed to move it back one hour, so that the perfect member could come with us, but there was a mix up with arrangements and we go along with the day! We are at the chapel at 16.00 to do emails to potentials... and Ursula turns up! I'm confused, my comp's confused, we have no member, so we have to simply tell her that we will have to reschedule! Although now, we can't even get in contact with Ursula. So frustrating!!!!! Then in the evening we have Splits with members again, so Brüder Meier and I go by a less active! She was really nice!!! There are pictures or statues of cats all over her home. She has 2 Heilige Burmese Cats! She told me an ancient myth about why they are called that and why they have white paws! It was Interesting!!! All in Schwiezer Deutsch as well!!! I understood all of it, so if you ever fancy hearing it, just ask!!!! 

Friday was another day! We decided to do some vorbeis on some formers and potentials, but I fancied feeling like I was back in Kaufbeuren, so we skipped the city and did the middle of nowhere part of our area! It was beautiful! I don't think there's a single place in the mission where you can't see the Alps! It was awesome! Then in the evening we had another Member appointment. Because Tuesday's went so well, I decided to go for it again! They loved it! It is perfect for families with little kids! They try some of the funniest things to get the coin without touching a single hair on your head! Luckily coins here aren't magnetic! Phew! Then we had Dessert with them! It was carrot cake and tasted awesome!!!!!! And they also said they'll have to have us over for dinner next time!!!! Like I said..... IT'S WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday... well, well, well!!!! I realise this is the day you have all been waiting for!!! I must say, the night before transfer calls I normally sleep brilliantly, but this time I had the worse night sleep ever!!!! So, I showered at 6.30, forget Frühsport when transfer calls are coming!!!! So they called at like 7.25!!! Our ZL's do calls as the mission is so huge and it would take Pres. all day to do them. So we had a chat while waiting for Elder Requillart to get out the shower.... And we are staying together! We went on to have a lesson with a former. He just let us straight in and was really happy to see us! So that was cool!! We then had a DA in the evening where we had Thai Curry!!! It was amazing!!!! And during the appt. Pres called! I told him we're at a members, so we'll call back when we are done. We got home and called Pres. back and he said he wants to make a change! I stay and get Elder Paulsen and Elder Requillart goes to Biel. So I'm taking over an area for the first time!!! Scary much!!! Elder Paulsen is from Denmark, he is one transfer younger than Elder Requillart so in 5ish months time all of my comps will be dead!!!! Elder Little dies next transfer, Elder DeLeeuw the one after, a Elder Requillart the one after that and then Elder Paulsen after that!!!! He just finished as ZL in the St Gallen zone, so he's a real hard worker, although I've heard he can be quite quiet.... so we shall see!!! I'm sure he'll be great though and I'm excited to work with him!!!! Biel is an area that nobody wants to serve in cause we share Biel with the France Lyon mission, just like we share Brixen with the Italy Milan one, but he'll be great there, cause there are so many French speakers!!! 

Sunday! Not much really happened! Really, I don't remember anything specific! Although we didn't meet our Zone Goal of 25 New Investigators, but we got 18 and 5 tauftermines, which is like the best the zone have ever done in a number of years!!! So we still didn't fail!!!! 


Week 2 of the fortnight ........

Montag- Simply, not much!!! Emails, chatting to Sorella Robertson online and chilling at the chapel with the Richterswil Elders again, as the weather was pretty bad, so we couldn't do much!! So it was a pretty relaxed p-day! Then Family Home Evening and I had the lesson/spiritual thought to do, so I based it on member-missionary work! It seemed to go well, and my German isn't actually so terrible!!! I did it without even planning before hand, so it just flowed! Obviously with terrible grammar, but it went well!!! 

Dienstag- We had District Meeting and this week was in Bonstetten. Speaking of Bonstetten, when the weather is nice, I will get a pic for you - don't worry!! I think I may have said a few weeks back, with DM, we do a finding day as a district for 2ish hours after district meeting, wherever we have it. As we were in Bonstetten, we did finding in Zürich!!! I worked with Elder Vasicek for the last time, as he moved to Zolikofen on Thursday! We got 2 potentials in an hour and a half and taught this guy a lesson on a bench in the middle of Zürich!!!! It was crazy cool!!!! Miracles happen!!!! 

Mittwoch- We finally went to the temple!!!! Only the last day of the transfer and all, but it was about time!!! They did some renovations in December/January, so it was a little different from when I last went! They moved and added furniture in the celestial room, and it legit is identical to the one in London now!!! So cool!!! The weirdest part was going through Bern to get there! It was so awesome, but so weird, going back to my "birth place"!! Plus we were in Zolikofen like once a week as well for football on Saturday Mornings, so it felt way weird being back there!! It was a really amazing visit! Then when we got home Elder Requillart packed his bags for transfers!!!

Donnerstag- Oh man, where to begin!!!! Today was transfers!!!!! I think I told you a few transfers back, how transfers work! That we have 5 main Bahnhofs and everyone being transferred from/within Switzerland all come to Zürich Bahnhof! Then we all conjugate in the middle of Bahnhof with everyones bags, chat, catch up with people and tausch with our new Companions! So we got off our train and Jake was like the first one I saw, which was great! I don't remember what I told you about my new comp last week, so his name is Elder Paulsen. He's from Copenhagen, Denmark and has just finished serving as Zone Leader in the St. Gallen Zone!!! He's awesome!!! Like I legit love the guy!!! Such a brilliant missionary!!!!! This transfer is definitely gonna be a good one!!!! Then we had another 15-20 minute Spiritual thought appointment with a family in the evening and they fed us!!!!!! It was awesome and they are such an awesome family!!!! 

Freitag- Weekly Planning and I find out I have a broken companion!!! He has a bad back, like really bad! So we have to be careful how much we do that is strenuous, but it doesn't stop us from working and he is still awesome!!! 

Samstag- Second Ausstellung I've done in Gemeinde Bonstetten!! Same place as last time on Bahnhofstrasse and it was pretty good! I think this time we got 6 potentials, but we gave away so many Book of Mormons and pamphlets it was untrue! Like, it goes from 10.00 til 16.00 and by 12.00 we had no Deutsch pamphlets left and by 14.00 we had no Deutsch BoM's left!!! Like what the fetch!!!! And we have none in our apartment either, so hopefully the ZL's will pick the ones we ordered up for us on Freitag at MLC!!! Hopefully! Then we had dinner at our old GML's! It was pretty awesome. I finally learnt how you're meant to have Spätzli! We buy it all the time but just fry it, season it and eat it like that, but the real way to have it is cooked and then topped with a creamy type sauce with mushrooms and meat and such! It was amazing! Although I still may have it the typical missionary way, just because it's quicker!!! haha! 

Sonntag- Church! Oh man!! Testimony meeting was really brilliant. I love this ward with testimony meetings! Then Sunday School was also brilliant! We went to the English one with our Neubekehrt, Jeffrey! He's awesome! Then for Priesthood we were joint with the FHV(Relief Society)! They spoke for well over an hour about cleaning and how to clean the chapel properly and how you must wear gloves and goggles to protect yourself when cleaning!!  And how the box with the red cleaning supplies is for the toilets, the green is for something else and the blue is for something else!!!! I am now at the stage where my German understanding is pretty good if not understanding most conversations, so I was legit bored out of my brain!!!!! It was terrible!!! I was sitting with Jeffrey, who just received the Priesthood this Sunday, which was awesome! And we were just cracking up at how unusual the lesson was, certainly not normal!!! Like, I am so grateful we didn't have an investigator at church who stayed for the full 3 hours, cause it may have been hard to get them to come back after that!!! It was another Gemeinderat experience, looking around and seeing all the members faces!!! On the plus side, we got invited over to a family for dinner after church! Sister Ruetz just came up to us in the middle of the cleaning lesson and asked if we fancied coming over for dinner! So we said yes of course!! So 3 dinner appointments this week! Not bad!!! Dinner was amazing and they live in the most beautiful house I have ever seen!!! Legitimately! It is beautiful, maybe it made me a little covetous!! Like, they have the most beautiful view of the mountains as well, just to top off how beautiful the house is!!!!!!! It's crazy!!! Then in the evening we had a little move about in the apartment! Elder Paulsen says some of the most random liners on things he doesn't like! Last night's was "I don't like my bed being open on either side, I want a wall to lean against!" So we moved the bedroom around, so he can have a wall to lean against and also nearer to the window, as the night before, he said how he likes to sleep looking at the sky!!! So random!!! But that was our week!!! 

Plus we gave 3 blessings this week!! I had to seal the anointing for the first time with one of them! I was pretty nervous, but it was just the same as in the MTC when I gave Elder Nebeker a blessing! The Priesthood is real. It is the Power of God. He speaks through His servants, as they use that power and authority given to them! The love He has for each and everyone of His children is unquestionable! Being able to be a tool in giving a priesthood blessing is such a blessing in itself, to feel just a portion of that love He has for that individual! It is real and I have such a strong testimony of the Power of the Priesthood! I am so grateful for it in my life and for the opportunity and blessings I have to use that authority! 

Jake served with Elder Paulsen! He was in a dritt when he was meant to get a Golden, but his Golden didn't get out of the MTC, so they were working Luzern and Aarau at the same time! That was only Paulsen's second transfer as well, so he was still a Golden!! haha!! Craziness!!

That is basicaly everything for this week!!! Have a great week!!! 

All my love,

Elder Ammon Robertson