Allora.. Week one ...
This week has been a little different.
Monday was a shopping day. The SALDI (SALES) here are super super
amazing and it just gets better and better. I figured I could even get my home
clothes eg jeans and stuff here too while they're really cheap and save a ton
of money! I didn't actually find a ton though, just a jumper, cardigan and some
cuuuuute chinos. Don't even know if the stuff is classed as 'cute' tbh, but
whatever #postmissionprobs. Oh, on the way to the shops, the bus was PACKED. It
took me back to my Rome days. They squeezed us in so tight! Then there was a
woman who was listening to us and clearly not understanding English, cus
another woman asked her if she understood our English (all in italian) and the
woman listening to us was like "non tutto ma generalmente quello che
stanno dicendo, si.. Dicono che noi italiani... Siamo 'snob'" and we
weren't even talking about Italians hahaha I was so annoyed, but whatever. I
didn't wanna embarrass her and I don't think she thought we understood Italian.
Pazienza! Honestly didn't know what the right thing to do was.. Correct her or
just leave it; so I left it. Bohhhhh. After that, we got fruit, emailed and
headed over to see la Famiglia G. Sono veramente bravissimi. I love them. We
spoke about missionary work. Straight after them we headed to church to see G.
Oh side note.. I also got a phone call while I was emailing from Sarah
Grice (I don't remember her married name) and it was so good to hear a brummy
accent haha. To start with I thought it was mom. She was all "Hi
Ashleigh" in that cheeky little brummy accent that mom sometimes does and
I was like 'hi......?' hahah honestly I was lost for a moment
and my heart stopped haha. It was super awesome to hear from her though and we
are planning on doing a pday with her soon, so that's gonna be so awesome. We
are only allowed one pday out of our area though, so it's so so so sad. I guess
Pompeii and Volc Vesuvious and all that good stuff will have to wait til out
trip back... but we are planning on riding around the Amalfi Coast.
Tuesday, we headed straight to Napoli for DDM and it ended with an
awesome Restoration role play. He is really good at that; making role plays
fun. Anyways, the best part was probably going to get pizza... Then having to
eat it outside the station. Fun! Then we went home, studied and saw Sorella B.
She gave us so much chocolate and cake and the spiritual
thought went well. After, we headed straight to Corso. That also went well. Our
spiritual thought was so good. We did the second part of the Restoration, all
focused on families. Started with Earthly Father, Heavenly Father.. asked them
questions, involved them and just spoke about the importance of the family and
the need for the teachings of Jesus Christ. We also emphasises how we are one
big family and children of our Father in Heaven. Then at the end; invited them
to read 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World' and they all accepted! Then
we chatted to some of the students that came.. who came a while back and were
taught by Anziano Smith when he was here! Super cool!
Oh ALSO. Highlight of the day. We were on the train on the way back home
from Napoli. The window steamed up and we started drawing on it.. Then as
missionaries do, we wrote 'mormon.org', so typical I know;
but we did it to see and the man next to me TOTALLY went on it on his phone
hahaha it was so so so cool. He was doing it all sneaky hahah, so we started
speaking to him and we had an awesome gospel conversation with him. His name
was F, so please pray that he contacts us!
Wednesday ... Today was so fun haha... Well, the morning was; between us
4 missionaries we have 3 bikes, which, usually the Anziani just use. It's cool
seeing them around with their suits and helmets haha.. Like they look like real
missionaries! It reminds me of home. Anyways, they told us we could use them
and we had appointments farrrr from home and wanted to get as much as we could
in the morning as we were heading to Battipaglia for a scambio. So yes, we
looked so attractive. It was pouring down with rain, we had like raincoats on
with the hood up, with the helmets on our heads and our skirts on.
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| Hastening the Work with the use of the Elders Bikes |
These bikes
are also just the most random looking bikes I've seen in my life. One we used
is a really old, kinda cute red bike and the other is like a speedy bouncy boy racer
bike.. I had that one! So yeah, I hope you're getting kicks out of this, cus I
would if it were you. The bikes were SO EFFICIENT though; what would have taken
us about 45 on foot took only 15/20. Incredible! We got 3 lessons in that
morning. J, M and G. After that, we had the quickest pranzo ever. I am literally
obsessed with Zucchini. Like, I absolutely love it. I make this soup kinda
thing which literally consists of zucchini, tomatoes, rosemary and like a few
random spices with half a meat stock cube and some water. Literally though,
I'll eat the stuff with anything, it's so good. I remember when I hated it as a
child, but now it is just like my fave veggie! The ride to Battipaglia was
long. We got there and it was one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had. I
was with Sorella Rackham, who is literally one of the sweetest girls I've met.
She came in with the sweetest girl I have ever met.. Sorella Roberts.
Apparently in Battipaglia, they have this deal (which apparently started in St
George Utah) where the Mormons get together with the Catholics and sing during
one of their masses. Yeah, don't ask me. Anyhuuuu. That's what I spent my
evening doing. At least the Priest gave us a shout out. It was so weird. So so
weird! Meanwhile, poor Sorella Defranchi was sick and Nelson was playing nurse
and that was Wednesday!
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| Scambio with the Sorelle of Battipaglia (great views) |
Thursday... I was with Defranchi. We were supposed to go for an
appointment with someone, but they gave us a big fat bidone... So we ended up
going to Salerno with the sisters and elders to do a Gesso Mostra. It was a
family history and honestly not many people were interested. One of the new
converts, S came (he's YSA, super cool) and the Branch President came. The
Branch President was a killer finder. He was literally probably the most
awesome Branch President/Vescovo I've ever met in my life. Cento percento
stellar! My companion was just going hard core and I was trying too and after a
few hours of that, we went to eat at Burger King. Yeah. Who goes to Burger King
when you're in Italy? I have no idea, but we did hahah. I got the double bacon
cheese burger and they gave it me in XXL, but it was ok, cus here in Italy
EVERTHING is half size and double the price, so I managed! Then we caught the
train and headed home. First experience was a young lad who thought he had it,
you know! Like, he tried to 'make friends' with us... By attempting to impress
us with his English skills. (He literally just said Hello), then when we asked
him if he spoke English, he was like 'a lot'; but did the hand gesture for so
little, so that was funny! Then when it got awkward he was like 'I must go ..
Hello' and left hahaha. Then we had a change over at Cancello. There was this
man called P, who stopped us and asked a bit about us, so that was a cool
experience. Hopefully we'll see him around. Then this man tried selling us a
dustpan. Then we got on the train and headed home, so you see, my last scambio
ever turned out to be the weirdest one. We dropped our bags and stuff off at
the church and went around sticking English course posters up before
correlation. Then after we had English course.
Friday... We began with weekly planning. Then headed to see G. He is
really an awesome guy, but with all of this stuff he is facing right now, it
just.. I guess is just too much for him. After that, the Anziani set up this
'mini district meeting' basically talking about the work in the ward. After
that, we went home and finished our pranzo. After Italian, we headed to M who
lives below the Anziani.. She fed us SO MUCH PIZZA hahahahah. Then we did the
restoration. It went well, but she wasn't interested in being baptised...
Because she is 'too old'... I spoke with her about R and so that was cool and it
made me think of that sweet sweet little woman, but she still wasn't
interested. Then we headed to a less active sister. We did the restoration with
her and that went really well too. She is super sweet! Then we headed to try
and see G who lives above us, but she ignored us... So we made calls and set up
a couple of appointments for next week, with potentials.
Highlight of today though, as we were walking to the less active sister,
we saw A in his shop, READING THE RESTORATION PAMPHLET.
Funny highlight. In the night Sorella Nelson shouted "SORELL"
and I was like wwwhat? And she was like "WHERE ARE
YOU?" And I was like "I'm in bed ... Why?" and she was all “I
thought you were going to Caserta..." Then I was like "WHAT THE HECK -
ARE YOU JOKING???" All confused; hahaha then I was like "Are you
conscious?" ..and she was like "I think so!!!" Then we just like crieeeeed with laughter. So
funny!!
Saturday .. We saw A and her 3 beautiful beautiful beautiful children!!!
They were in and it went sooooo well! We tried to see A... Turned out the
Anziani saw him already. Had pranzo and lingua, then went to Capua to see V. We
did the restoration and it was super cool the way we did it. It was Sorella
Nelson’s idea. We basically all 3 taught. Like one another, kinda just each
took turns. He is so awesome, literally will be such a stellar missionary one
day! After him, we met with L (jun) and got a gelato, spoke about the
conference and our purpose, mentioned the importance of baptism and how to get
there etc. Not sure if it scared her off, but she just told us she wants to be
100% sure... Then we headed to help the DG family with their technology
haha.
Sunday.. We began helping a visitor get her purse which she left in the
cab she took to church. Luckily it was there still and the driver brought it.
Miracle moment :) The talk went well, MENOMALE. It was aimed at the
primary children and I focused it around sharing the gospel. I'll send it to
you if you want? :) It was pretty simple and only lasted about 10 mins. Then
the other talks were super awesome! Sunday school was super great too, then for
Relief Society I translated. It's getting easier and easier, just as I'm about
to leave haha. Sad times, but it was all about Christ; taken from the new
manual. Chapter 1 'Jesus Christ-- our only way to hope and joy'. I loved it and
it was taught by Sorella R really well :) Then there was a linger longer. Then
we headed home, napped and studied, then headed out to see A, K and F. It went
really well. F is A's brother and he was baptised a while back. His family
(wife and kids) are still in Ghana. They are so cool though. He's solid and
absolutely loves the missionaries. The rest of the night consumed of trying to
find less actives.
We have been kinda lazy with running this week, due to scambio, but we
went probably like 3 times at least :)
I still have a testimony. I'm still growing and I am constantly facing
things that enable me to develop humility. I still need to be less sassy, but
I'm working on it. With Christ, anything is possible right?
I know the church is true. Missionary work is the best, even when it
gets tough.
I love you all and can't wait to see you soon.
Meeeee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Week two of the fortnight ...
Heyyyyyy. So this week I have literally not had time to write every day
as it has come, so this email is super brief... Plus, next Monday (which would be
this Monday as you read this email) we are doing our 'out of zone' pday, so I
literally won't have much time to write, as I'll be travelling around Napoli
and its surroundings. We haven't really planned it properly yet, but we will
haha AND we'll take lots of pictures (when we feel safe to do so... Cus I
mean.. It is Napoli haha) but pizza from Napoli tho, like usually I'm not a
Pizza fan unless it's Texas BBQ from Dominoes hahaha; but this is the real
deal.
Monday. We really wanted something cool to do, but it kinda sucks as in
Caserta you have the Reggia, Reggia Vecchia and that's like kinda, basically
it.
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| Reggia Vecchia in Caserta |
All the cool stuff is in the Castellammare area.. And we can only have 1
out of area pday a transfer... Anyhuuuuu. We tried to have fun. We went to do
spesa, like a proper spesa for the first time in a while. Did email, tried to
find an old theatre, but don't think it exists anymore, so hit up some saldi. I
just got some cute trousers and a cardigan. The real buy though... Was my Gucci
perfume. I figured most people buy something kinda swaggy and expensive, like
the Anziani buy suits and obviously that costs way more, but I got the perfume
in the sale so ended up spending about €68? It's so hard not to use it! I have
wanted a new perfume forever since my Nina Ricci ran out .. Anyhuuuu, we then
had a weird experience meeting with a contact we made making calls. She met us
in her school. I'm honestly not sure what she expected? I think she thought we
wanted to go to her school for help with Italian? No idea HAHAHAH so we get to
this office room and there is her and like 4/5 other women and then we just
drop our purpose and she's all like 'Oh, in that case, I'm not really
interested!' So as awkwardly as you guys could probably even imagine we got out
of that room and headed over to the G fam. We did the restoration with them and
cus we had more time, we headed out to do some publicity for our English course.
Tuesday. We met L in the centre... She needed a coffee for the strength
to walk to the church, so she got that, then we went to the church. She loved
it. After that we met G. That went really well. Honestly can't remember what we
did, but it went well. I think it was the helping him to quit smoking lesson.
Then we came home/had pranzo/made treats/studied. We figured maybe if we pull
that 'we slaved away making you treats' trick, that maybe some of the less
actives that either we have never tried and don't know or that just ignore us..
Would let us in. It didn't work unfortunately. They just came down, got them
and thanked us telling us they were too busy. Less active work I think is
probably the most frustrating in missionary work. It's probably the element of
missionary work that we've seen the most success in, but it's definitely for me
at least, the most frustrating kind. Anyway, we basically giro'd around all
afternoon/evening doing that then went to English course. It went really well.
We spoke about Dispensations for the spiritual thought. Then this woman walked
in as everybody had left.... And we had planned to do a spiritual thought with
R... Who is a member who got baptised in Chili, but her records seem to be
missing and this lady (O, who we had never ever met before) wanted to join.
From there we swapped numbers and that was that.
Wednesday. We headed first thing to Napoli for DDM. It was good. He
taught a lot of things, boxes were broken as much as time and then we did an
awesome role play. Honestly role plays are THE worst. Pretty sure I'm like the
only person who hates them this much, like yeah, all missionaries apart from
him hate role plays, but like the level of hate I have for doing them exceeds
all limits HAHAHAH BUT that is something our DL is pretty good at. I actually
enjoy the way he does role plays, cus it's not the typical way missionaries
organise them. After that we went for pizza. 'When in Napoli...'. After lunch
we headed back home, studied then saw Sorella V. She hadn't been to church for
a few weeks, so we wanted to check up on her. We tried speaking about being an
example and teaching our children principles of the gospel. WE SAW O and she is
literally golden. We did the restoration. She wouldn't set a baptismal date,
but agrees to be baptised if she received an answer to her prayer. She met with
the missionaries over a year ago and I guess it just wasn't her time. We just
filled the remainder of time with finding.
Thursday. We headed to San. Maria Capua to find some less actives who
haven't been seen for I don't know how long. None of them even lived there....
I guess they're lost now, so sad. That took up our whole morning. It consisted
of walking around a city none of us knew, so it wasn't the most straight
forward search haha. Before pranzo, we headed to the hospital to visit G, cus
her little beautiful beautiful daughter is there. Then my super awesome bold
bold bold companion just was like stating our purpose loud and proud for the
whole hospital room to hear and it was just super awesome, some of them seemed
interested and asked a ton of questions for us to answer... then we headed for
pranzo.. A little later than usual because of how the visiting hours worked. We
originally planned to get the bikes and head out far to some more less actives
that we are working with, but there was a problem with the bikes so we headed
to church and S (a girl who the elders taught way back when) was there sooooo
we did a lesson with her and that went super well, even got a return
appointment #newsimp. Then had Corso.. Then taught V who was there. We did a
repeat of the apostasy, cus he had some questions.
Friday. We did weekly planning, the usual. Nothing new.. Then L called
and so we went and did a lesson about prayer and receiving answers with both
her and her daughters. After that, we headed to see J and used a talk called
Overcoming discouragement. It spoke about 3 things we must do when we are faced
with challenges and I really liked it so here you go:
Many of us face significant challenges. Even the great prophet Enoch
experienced sadness when he viewed the wickedness of the world: “And as Enoch
saw this, he had bitterness of soul, and wept over his brethren, and said unto
the heavens: I will refuse to be comforted; but the Lord said unto Enoch: Lift
up your heart, and be glad; and look” (Moses 7:44).
There are at least three steps to take when striving to overcome
discouragement:
1. You can work on changing your attitude toward the problem. Even
though you can’t change the circumstances in which you work or live, you can
always change your attitude.
2. You can receive help from those who are close to you--your family,
friends and ward members, those who love you the most.
3. You can develop a more powerful and complete trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I think it went well, since she accepted help, so we are making
progress. :) We originally wanted to teach her all about humility and then we
found this talk and it fits in, but gives a different perspective. It's a
really good one, cus it then goes on to explaining the points. :)
Then we did a bit of finding. From this, we got to teach 2 extra
lessons. One to a guy called M and another to a guy called R. I have written
down in my numbers we taught more, but didn't write who, so that's sad :(
Oh we also met a beautiful beautiful girl from Guatemala who had spoken
with the missionaries about a year ago ... that was also suuuuper
awesome.
Saturday. Well, we started the day with a pretty intense work out. Then
came home and learnt that we had no water.. In fact basically the whole of
Caserta had no water, but anyways we NEEDED to shower. It was hair wash day for
both of us and, as I said we worked out hardcore. So we got all our stuff (we
basically packed a scambio bag) and headed to the chapel. Luckily, this area of
Caserta wasn't affected. So, we used the custodial shower thing, that isn't
like, actually a shower, but it gave us hot water. Not sure how clean it was,
but we had soap and shampoos and stuff #tramps hahaha. But hey, you gotta do
what you gotta do. Like I said a while back, if you wanna serve a mission,
you've gotta be willing to give up all forms of pride. Non c'è spazio per
queste cose, ma veramente! Anyways, after we met with Gand R and spoke about
repentance. After, we went to print some stuff off at a stationary place and
got to teach the restoration to the guy working there. That was super cool!
Then we headed to the DG's and taught them some Italian. :) They're a sweet
sweet couple! The rest of the day wasn't as hectic as the morning.. We saw O.
GOLDEN. Her prayers are THE best. Literally like conversations with God. I love
hearing her pray! Then we spent the rest doing finding finding and moreeee
finding.
Sunday. Today was great! The B couple are back, yeyyyy! They helped us
in getting L to church. It was so awesome. She was just making friends with
EVERYONE. Church was awesome. The talks were great and the Sunday school lesson
was too. It was all about the tree of life and Fratello G had really taken a
lot of time in preparing it. It paid off and he did an awesome job! Then Relief
Society, then we had correlation. B is the best WML I've ever had. After, we
had pranzo and studies Italiano... Then nobody would answer and those who we
had set appointments with had cancelled. Sooo, we went finding. Case casa. No
luck, but we bumped into an English course student and her husband knocking on
one apartment complex.. But they were heading out to the cinema for a date.
They invited us along too haha so cute! So we continued doing that a bit. It
was SOOO COLD. like the cold here is like such a bitter cold that gets right to
your bones. Like it's cold back at home, but this is like a different kind, so
we were prayingggg that we would find someone to teach indoors. Then we made
some more calls while one of us knocked.. In the end we taught R at hers, about
the plan of salvation. Then O wanted another lesson. We focused a lot on
Christ, authority and baptism and this time she agreed to set a date to be
baptised :) so she has a date for the 27th February. Obviously I'm not
gonna be here for it, but it's just super awesome, cus it's totally gonna
happen. She wants us to teach her the commandments, so she can make sure she's
keeping them all. Haha I love her! She took us home and that was our
Sunday.
Well, it's Sunday night and I'm finishing this email off.
Tomorrow we are going to use our 'out of area' day to go to Pompeii and get
some things from Napoli eg: Pizza and Ties for our dads and brothers heheheheh;
so I'm excited about that. I know I'll have time to send this and I'll take a
good amount of pics.
It's beginning to hit me that I have such a short period of time left
here. I just honestly love this lifestyle. I'm super excited to be home and
live the more 'normal' lifestyle too tho haha; but really I just love being
here and doing the Lord's work. There's nothing more rewarding.
I love you all. I miss you a lot! See you soon 😇
Sorella Robertson
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
