Week 1 of the fortnight …
So
week one of this fortnight was great!!!
There have been tears... only on one day though and I was in good company with
Sorella Hamilton. BUT DON’T WORRY. ALL IS WELL!!!
So
Monday!
We
did our everyday Monday things... cleaned the house.... did our
groceries....
E-MAILED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (MY FAVE PART OF THE DAY.. WEEK..) Then packed our backs for a trip to Catania for Zone Conference!!! On the way to the bus stop... we had a quick look in Zara (one of my new faves) because the ZL’s told us there was a comp for best dressed Anziano and Sorella..... so I had to look my best.. right? Anyways.. I got the cutest skirt! Then we got on the 2 hour bus ride and went on our merry old way! We arrived in Catania and went to buy Granita, which is basically flavoured ice, but it’s so good! I got lemon. Sorella Hamilton got jacked ... She put 3 euros on the side and this Romanian Gypsy out right blatantly took them .... so Sorella Hamilton was like errrrrrrrrr ... prego!!! We told her to give them back and she just made up a lie that she had nothing when she so blatantly took them.... then she just gave one euro back and when we demanded the rest she started dancing around like an outright weirdo... anyways we enjoyed our Granita and that’s all that matters :) Then we headed to the apartment where the Catania Sorelle live (Sorella Vasilachi... and Sorella Hassell). They fed us and we had a really good time with them! (I sent a picture with them this week).
E-MAILED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (MY FAVE PART OF THE DAY.. WEEK..) Then packed our backs for a trip to Catania for Zone Conference!!! On the way to the bus stop... we had a quick look in Zara (one of my new faves) because the ZL’s told us there was a comp for best dressed Anziano and Sorella..... so I had to look my best.. right? Anyways.. I got the cutest skirt! Then we got on the 2 hour bus ride and went on our merry old way! We arrived in Catania and went to buy Granita, which is basically flavoured ice, but it’s so good! I got lemon. Sorella Hamilton got jacked ... She put 3 euros on the side and this Romanian Gypsy out right blatantly took them .... so Sorella Hamilton was like errrrrrrrrr ... prego!!! We told her to give them back and she just made up a lie that she had nothing when she so blatantly took them.... then she just gave one euro back and when we demanded the rest she started dancing around like an outright weirdo... anyways we enjoyed our Granita and that’s all that matters :) Then we headed to the apartment where the Catania Sorelle live (Sorella Vasilachi... and Sorella Hassell). They fed us and we had a really good time with them! (I sent a picture with them this week).
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| With the Sisters of Catania |
Then in the morning we all got ready in our best! hahahah I didn’t really care
about this comp... but some Sorelle took it really really seriously! Then we
went to the Catania chapel for Zone Conf! :) It was really a good conference!
This zone is possibly the most fun zone yet (out of the 3 I’ve been in). The ZL’s
are Anziano Romano and Anziano Robi (who was my 1st DL when I was in Pescara),
so that’s super cool! I’m in the same zone as some people from the MTC and past
areas! (Anz Jorgenson, Beesley, Sor Cluff (MTC) ) (Anz Mika and Robi ..
Pescara). It’s really cool when you get to catch up with people you know!
:)Anywayssssssssss!!! The conference was about getting ready for the mission
tour, which apparently an apostle will come to? So that’s really exciting!!!
All about being the best example in the way we look and act etc! Then ‘our STL’
did an addrestramento on miracles... the ZL did one all about being friends and
knowing the members and the AP’s one was all about David and Goliath and
likening that to ourselves! Then after this, the results for the competition.....
Anz Beesley won (he splashed out on Gucci shades.. how ridic hahahahahah he’s
so funny"!) and one of the older Sorella..... but then I later found out
that I won, but Anz Romano didn’t want contention between the Sorelle, cus some
took it dead seriously; so he just announced her as the winner.... awks!
hahahahah sad I didn’t get my 10 euro H&M voucher... jk!! But yeah... Zone
Conf was awesome!!! I loved it!!! :):) Theeeeeeeeeeen, we headed home for Ragusa!
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| Photobombed at Zone Conference |
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| Photos at Zone Conference |
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| Before Zone Conference (Sorella Hamilton and Me!) |
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| Our Zone Photo at Zone Conference |
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| Photos at Zone Conference |
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| Photos at Zone Conference |
Wednesday
- Today not a lot happened... we did a lot of finding... and met Mose in Centro
(town centre) and booked an appointment with him! :) THEN we saw Rosemary!!! Got
her to teach us the Plan of Salvation to see what she remembered AND SHE GOT IT
ALL DOWN perfectly!!!! :D we were SO proud of her! :)
Thursday
- Friday were the scambiooooo with the STL and her greenie!!! (we only have 1
STL in this zone) SHE IS SO CUTE! Her name is Sorella Palmer and her greenie is
Sorella Puzey! I love them!!! We had a fun 2 days!! I went with Sorella Puzey
to see Sorella Ragusa (the meno attivi) it was a really good lesson! We taught
about how God is a ‘God of Miracles’ and he ALWAYS hears our prayers and
responds, sempre! :) She spoke a lot! When we left we headed to IBLA! … to do
follow up finding! I actually got us there by foot without getting lost!!!! I
surprised myself!!! None of them were in though.... then we knocked on the
wrong door, so when I said 'siamo noi, le sorelle... siamo venuto la settimana
scorsa eeeee ha detto che possiamo tornare.. quindiiiii siamo qui' and she was
like 'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr non ho capito... no no grazie' hahahaha … it now
makes sense! But then when we found the right door, she didn’t answer. So we
did some casa casa... then went to wait for the bus.... which never came...
sooooo we called the Sorelle and they got someone to pick us up (cus it’s a
long walk) THANKYOU ENGLISH COURSE SALVO and the Anziani! (Shout Out) haha THEN
we got home and ordered pizza! Me and Sorella Hamilton went halves... One half
mozz and the other half nutella pizza (that’s right!) … it’s so lush!
Friday
- TODAY I was in the bathroom getting ready.... brushing my hair and I found
something shimmering in the front, near where.. if I had a fringe, it would be
there. I looked closer.... It was grey!!!!!!! I FOUND MY 1ST GREY HAIR AT THE AGE OF 19 ...
gross! hahahahahha I couldn’t believe it! I took a picture, but it’s too gross
to send so I’ll save that one for later! I went out with Sorella Puzey again
and we did finding.... but found no success. Then we went to take the Sorelle
to the train station ... we said our farewells and that was that! (there was
actually a crazy miracle that happened here, but I will save that one to after
the mission... hahaha) then Sorella Hamilton and I tried to call Rosemary, but
she didn’t respond... so we had to do more finding. Nobody would answer and
those who did were rude. We were both so tired. We got to the point where we felt
that finding is all we do and we haven’t seen a ton from doing so. It was
really hard, dark and cold and we were both just crying after this one lady
shouted at us. We just walked and didn’t say a word. We just cried. Then when
we calmed down, Sorella Hamilton rang one bell and a boy game to his balcony in
his PJ’s.. he told us to come back when he wasn’t in his PJ’s.. I think he was
embarrassed.. but he was really nice and we felt a bit better after that... but
we were still feeling emotional. Then at the end of the day we got home and sat
in silence for about 5 or 10 mins. Then we knelt down to pray before daily
planning. I said it, and after I said 'caro Padre Celeste' I just balled
completely. Then it set Sorella Hamilton off. We just cried and it was one of
the hardest prayers I’ve done, but then after we planned, we spoke about the
day. Every day one thing we do as part of weekly planning (Sorella Nagliati
taught me this), we write in our planner at LEAST 3 things we liked about the
day. So that’s what we did and I was dreading it a bit, but when I sat and
thought about it, I thought of a good amount and we both felt so much better :)
Some of the things that we both liked were:
-
Having time with the Siracuse Sorelle (STL and greenie)
-
Man in PJ’s invited us back
-
And on our way home there was a couple in their running gear and it was just
hilarious to watch… we may have paused our cry for a few mins to have a little
chuckle. So all in all it was a good
day!!! :)
Saturday
- We did weekly planning! Then we had 2 lessons! One with a member, Sorella
Frasca! We spoke about the power of prayer and then she told us about ALL of
these missionary experiences she has had recently!!! She is a great member and
we really want to work with her more!! Then we had a lesson with Iolanda! (our
new convert!) We felt inspired to talk about our mission stories, because last
lesson she told us about her dilemma ... she wants to go on a mission, but isn’t
100% sure what to do, cus she has other options. We decided to do that. The
Spirit was SO strong in that lesson. She cried!! It was amazing! And to finish,
we sung ‘Be Still My Soul !! Her Mum walked in during the song to join us and
she started crying too!!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! <3 Then we
went to the chapel for correlation, but liiiike our WML didn’t show up, but we
were still able to sort out our missionary work with the Anziani!
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| A beautiful view at night time (Beautiful Ibla) |
Sunday
-- I sent a vid home about this day, cus it was so GREAT! We had church!! Then
had lunch with la famiglia cascone! :) We ate SWEET RICOTTA RAVIOLLI!!!!!!!!!!
My fave thing here so far!!! It was SO SO SO GOOD!! <3<3<3 can’t wait
for you to try it!! Then we did our calls for the week to confirm
appointments... and we called Mose, but no reply.... sooooooo then, he calls us
and says that he is busy today, but maybe during the week; so little by little
our hope is dying.... but then he calls back again and tells us he is in the
car with a friend and asked where the church is, so we tell him and he tells us
he is close!!!!! SO we RUN to the church (like a 50 second run) and wait...
then he calls again and tells us that he can’t find it.. it’s too long.. he’s
going home, so we RUN out to find him and WE find him!!! walk to the chapel and
do our 1st lesson with him!!! During the lesson he asked how church
functions... we explain! Then he asked if it is alright if he comes on Sunday!
OF COURSE we said YES!!!!!!! The lessons went so so welllll!!! We don’t have an
exact date of our next lesson, cus he is a translator (French to Italian), so
he works a lot, but he always calls when he’s free, so we basically have a new
investigator that we found!!! :D It was amazing!!! Then we went to centro with
the Anziani to do finding! Anziano Di Donato is sups good at spray paint art! …
so he was doing that and getting a decent sized crowd and it was a great
finding tool! We even saw Mose again watching! haha
SO
THIS WEEK TURNED OUT TO BE AMAZING!!!!!
I
LOVE IT HERE!
I
LOVE SORELLA HAMILTON
I
LOVE THIS GOSPEL
I
LOVE YOU ALL
I
LOVE A LOT OF THINGS!
I
know that this gospel is true! I know that we have to experience trials to
learn and to grow. I know people say that stuff all the time, but I can promise
that that is true. I can testify, as I’m sure you all can too ... that it
really is true! I believe that when we show that we have enough faith, even in
those difficult times, that Heavenly Father will show us miracles! I know!
I
know that Heavenly Father LOVES US!!! My fave thing to share with these people
is the Plan of Salvation and the love our Heavenly Father has for them! I know
that he listens to us. I know that he wants us to speak to him. I know that he
is waiting for us to pray, always. I am so grateful for this knowledge that I
have. I am SO SO grateful for a specific part of this plan, which is the
knowledge of eternal families.
I
love being a missionary. I have learnt so, so, much already and know that there
is much more for me to learn!!
Thank
you for being you!! I love each and every one of you!! So, so, so, flipping
much!!
Have
the best week!
Week 2 of the fortnight …
Hey
all!!!
SO
… this week consisted mainly of finding, so unless for each day there was
something specific I wanna share I will, but I’ll type the things that I said I
liked about the day :)
Monday
- I EMAILED HOME!! I always get butterflies before emailing home … I get so
excited!!!! I finished the song I wrote for Dad! Me and Sorella Hamilton bought
some meat (I wrote that cus I really like meat); then after pranzo we had 6
mins, so we had a 6 min nap hahahaha.
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| Cooking our Meat! |
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| Meat, cooked and ready to eat! |
Then we helped Iolanda and Stefano (Stefano
leaves to serve in the ENGLAND MANCHESTER MISSION this Thursday!!!! so we were
helping him, cus he wanted to call the MTC, but doesn’t speak English, so we
did it for him. That was cool!
Tuesday
- IT WAS DAD’S BIRTHDAY!!! Shout out for my Dad … I am so glad you had a cool
birthday and liked my little vid!!! and
if I’m honest, I may have felt a tiny bit homesick.. Anyways! WE had District
meeting! I had the 'role play', so I got everyone to do a street contacting
role Plan of Salvation, so we had to basically describe each part of the Plan
of Salvation in 1 or 2 sentences. That was coooool. I’m excited to use it as an
idea here! Then we did our weekly District Meeting Butchers sandwich trip! Me
and Sorella Hamilton shared, cus they are huge! We tried to find sweet ricotta
ravioli to buy ... but we couldn’t find it :( Then we did follow up finding,
but no-one was in, then we had English course!! :) … which is always a blast!
Wednesday
- Today we taught Iolanda!!!!! About tithing and fasting and fast offering
(after baptism lessons)! That went really well, SHE IS SO CUTE! Then we did
follow up finding! Again, it must have been the wrong time, cus no-one was in..
Then we were on our way to an appointment with one of the families in the ward,
the Migliorisi family! They own a dry cleaners, so we met them there in one of
the back rooms and did a spiritual thought with them. They are SO SWEET!! :):)
On the way to theirs, the rain and wind was SO STRONG. We had this umbrella -
one of those really really durable ones, that you wouldn’t expect to break and
literally 10 steps from their workplace, it folded outwards and all of the bars
folded in and ripped off the umbrella … IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING!!!!! I couldn’t
close it either and it was a huge umbrella. hahaha awwwkward!!!! but it was so
funny tooooo. THEN!! Gabe (one of the English course students that the Anziano
are also teaching and he comes to church most weeks... he’s awesome!) decided
he wanted to go to the Chinese restaurant (the only one here) and asked if we
wanted to come, so for dinner we went there!! I had my FAVE sweet and sour
chicken with some pork dumpling things and fried ice cream, which was really
interesting hahaha, but it was so cool!!! I’ve been craving Chinese for a
while! :)
Thursday
- WE FOUND OUR SWEET RICOTTA RAVIOLI!!!!!! -good day! Today we did more
finding; this week was a struggle to get appointments confirmed by most people!
A few people confirmed and let us over this week though - I will love them
forever!!!!! Then we helped clean the chapel! We made an action plan and one
thing that we desired was to find service opportunities, and our WML called us
and asked if we would help Sorella Campo clean the chapel! So we got to do
that!! :) Then we had English course! On Thursdays, Sorella Hamilton and I teach
the advanced students and we basically just have a big group convo, but this
time we made backup questions in case the convo went dead. One was 'If you had
1 day left to live, which meals would you have?' Well … it got to my turn and
for breakfast I said 'a full English breakfast and pancakes with syrup and
pineapple juice!!!' and MY FAVE QUOTE was introduced today, it was hilarious!
One of the students, in the cutest Italian accent, with the most passion in a
sentence I have ever heard, said: 'I THINK I AM VOMITING RAINBOWS RIGHT NOW' It
doesn’t even sound funny typed, but it was so funnyyyyyyy! Also, on this day we
went to the Puglisi family, because it was Sorella Puglisi’s birthday the day
before and she invited us in and gave us cake! :) THEY ARE SO CUTE! Then before
daily planning, as always we begin with a prayer... well Sorella Hamilton
prayed and half way through this prayer we hear the biggest man scream. WE had
to quickly end the prayer before we lost it. Our neighbour (below) always
screams and makes these strange noises, frequently hahahha so that was.. fun!
Friday
- WEEEEEEEEEKLY PLANNING. Then we broke our fast on SWEET RICOTTA RAVIOLI … IT
WAS SO GOOD, but I got so full I could barely breathe. I had to stand out on
the balcony to get back with it hahahaha. Then in the afternoon we did
MOREEEEEEE FINDING! Some people told us to come back, which is promising! Then
some would answer and then say 'No no non c'e nessuno' which means: 'No, there
isn’t anyone' which is strange.. cus we were definitely talking to someone!! Hahahaha
… but whatever.! Then we had an appointment planned with one of the DiMartino
families! It was so nice! They are such a LOVELY family!!!! We did the lesson
about the ‘Armour of God’ and they told us they did that for FHE on Monday and
the little boy Giorgo came out with his little shield and sword, which was
SUPER cute!!! They are a really sweet family!!! :) I loved spending time with
them! :) Then we did more finding and on the way home me and Sorella Hamilton
ran some of the way, cus there were some creepy men we were sure were following
us... but it’s okay... PLUS Sorella Hamilton has pepper spray attached to her
key which I think is totes hilar, but I guess one day it could come in handy!!
hahaha
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| Ready for another day of Finding in the Rain |
Saturday
- We had no appointments again, which sucked, cus it meant more finding in the
pouring rain. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m complaining, as I usually love finding, but this week it has
rained non-stop and all we seem to have done is finding aaaaaaand nobody is in
the streets or at home so like, not sure where the people go, but we can’t find
anyone, but THEN we met this guy and we thought he was an Italian, so we wanted
to introduce him to English course, since we haven’t done finding for English
course yet, but then he says he already speaks English.... then told us he
teaches English and charges... awkward competition... then he speaks English
and HE WAS IRISH!!!! It was so weird, but so cool!!! hahahaah. THEN we went
with the Anziano to see their investigators, Gideon and Faith. Faith had a baby
boy recently, Divine and he is SO BEAUTIFUL! They wanted us to go see them, so
invited us with the Anz for dinner. Anyways, we get there; they live in an African
camp (I think), but it’s nicer and smaller. We sit and talk and stuff for a
while (in English) and then they give us food - fried chicken and rice. I wasn’t
sure how to eat it.. all we had was a spoon, so then Faith taught me. I
literally just leave the 1 white bone, the rest I eat, so to start with I was
doing it wrong (how I do it at home), then at the end, she had me go through
all the left-over bones and eat everything left on them including the black
bones hahahahaha. So now, the missionaries are convinced that I am no longer
posh! They said that next time, they will make me fufu.... ahaha
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| No matter what the weather, we try to have fun too! |
Sunday!
CHUUUURCH! Church was great! Sorella Hamilton translated for Faith! Then we
taught the gospel principles lesson. All about the Holy Ghost! (in English) …
that went really well! :) Then sacrament meeting was super emotional!!! It was
Stefano’s last Sunday here!!! Lots of people were crying - this ward is super
tight!! Then we had dinner at the Chine’s house (they live above us in our apartment).
We had lasagne, meats, fruit and cake! Safe to say I WAS SO FULL!!!!! It was so
good!!! Sunday dinners never fail to please me!! Then we went to the lo Monaco
family to do a spiritual thought, building relationships and trust with the
members :) They are also a really lush family!!!! I love the members here!
THEN
TODAYYYYYYYYY I AM HERE EMAILING YOU ALL AND PRESIDENT WADDOUPS SENT AN EMAIL
THIS WEEK TO SAY THAT ON APRIL 28TH ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING TO THE MISSION TO
EXPLAIN IPAD MINI TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!! AND WE ARE ALL INVITED TO COME TO ROME
FOR THE CONFERENCE!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! 1) CUS IT’S ELDER BEDNAR AND 2) CUS
IPADSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Goodbye annoying paper work! :D
But
yeah, that’s all from this week. I’m sorry if this email was boring :S This
week was pretty repetitive!
I
just want you to all know I MISS YOU ALL SO SO SO SO MUCH!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO
SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH AND CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU IN A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!
I
know this church is true. I know that you are all the best and I know that
Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers!
Have a great week!
Keep being amazing! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <3 <3 <3 <3
ALL MY LOVE
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorella Robertson
