I trasferimenti, nuovo compagno, incontro un apostolo e un'aria di successo nel quartiere

My fortnight (Week 1)...

Monday we just did last min stuff... our last Gelato together (me and Sorella Hamilton) our last Focaccia... etc etc then we went to see Sorella Colombo.. a less active! She really opened up to us and we had a really good conversation and really got to know her better! We spoke about Easter and the Atonement of Jesus Christ! :) It was a really lovely lesson! :) Then we extended our p'day to the evening (cus this was during p'day..) to make up for it, so we went to the country with the Anziani, Gabe and Marco... We saw a castle and had a 'BBQ'. WE WERE SO EXCITED FOR THE BBQ, but let me tell you exactly what we ate- Spaghetti, tuna, tomato sauce and pepper. It was super good nonetheless and it was an excellent evening!! :)

Tuesday! Sorella Hamilton wanted to say her goodbyes to a few people, so we did a lesson with Rita, Rosemary, and Sorella Angelini!! Hammy shared her fave scripture with them! :) It was really good! The spirit was super strong and we bore our testimony of our Saviour and how we can rely on him in any moment! 

Wednesday! We did a ton of last min things... Sorella Hamilton finished packing, we did the dedicas and printed pics off. She wanted to make the most of Sicillian gelato, so we ate it twice ahhaha--- then we left for Catania!

Thursday we woke up suuuper earlyyyyyyyyyyyyy to drop Hammy at the station! :(:(:(:(:( 

A Hug Goodbye to Hammy

then I spent the day with Sorella Campos and Puzey.. We were all getting new comps!! So Yeah! We got a flower for our comps (I'll send a pic - it was so pretty) and like we went to the florist to get it and then the man just gave them to us for free!!! haha! 

Flowers for our New Companions

Beautiful flower....and it was free

SO I met my comp at the train station and she is SO SO SO SWEET AND CUTE!!!! However, I do look like a weird abnormally sized female giant next to her, but she is SO SO ADORABLE AND CUTE AND SUPER DEDICATED AND SUPER ENTHUSIASTIC AND EXCITED ABOUT THE WORK! So I’m suuuuper excited and so is she! This transfer will be awesome!!! She is from Dallas, Texas! She’s so cute! :)

Friday, we did weekly planning and it was awesome, cus we both have different ideas for finding and working with members, so we are putting plans together to really work well together! :  Then we had a dinner appt with VESCOVO and his fam!! It went so, so well. Probably one of the best member lessons I’ve ever had and it was with BISHOP!!! Then on the way home, Sorella Manzini asked us to work with her sister in law and their family who are less active, so they are trusting us!! :) We are really excited about this transfer .. I think I’ve said that a lot hahah sorry!

Saturday! We saw Rosemary and shared a scripture with her. She really appreciated it and bore her testimony to us of God! :) Then after, we saw Iolanda and had a discussion about missionary work, cus we know she really wants to serve a mission!! Then we invited her to study D&C 4 and to come finding with us one of the days this week and she was SO excited when we asked her!! :) SHE IS AWESOMEEEEEEEE! I love her!

Then Sunday, we had church, which was awesomeeeeeeeee! We taught gospel principles.. it was about the priesthood organisation. It was a bit long and kinda hard to explain, but it went well and Anziano Smith really helped us out! :  Then we had pranzo with Sorella Campo, Iolanda and Sorella Campos mom!! It was super good!! :) Then we made brownies for the neighbours, so Sorella Reber could introduce herself to them and we could tell them a bit about who we are and why we are here!!!

Ragusa Missionaries after Transfers

Week 2 of The fortnight

Okay!!! So, first I just wanna start by THANKING MY FAMILY FOR THE PACKAGE!!!! AND FOR THE BIRTHDAY PACKAGES THAT ARE ON THEIR WAY!!! YOU ARE ALL THE BEST AND I AM ONE LUCKY LIL GURLY! :):))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) I can't wait to make custard with cake for DDM tomorrow! haha

SO! I'll do it in the usual diary format!! Here goes!! Prepare yourselves for a long ish one!

Monday - So, we emailed and met the Catania Sorelle (DeFranchi and Campos), then we went to Ibla to explore and then eat gelato! It was super fun to be together with the Anziani  too!! Then after p'day we went to see Sorella Angelini and as per usual that was super cute and she gave us strawberries with sugar on top. As you can imagine, I really enjoyed that!!!!!!!! <33333

ANYWAYS! So yeah, really that’s all that happened on Monday!

Tuesday - We were supposed to have a lesson with Gaudia, but we got bidoned!  SO we just went straight to DDM, which as per usssssssssssual was awesome! I AM ALREADY LOVING THIS DISTRICT! So now we have Anziano Smith (DL.. who dies at the end of this transfer) Anz Brandon, Anz Jorgenson and Anz Kelly .. Me and REBERRRR! :) It is just awesome and we are already seeing miracles in our work!!! Both as a district and as companionships! :) I’m really feeling good about this transfer!!! Anz Smith gave the addestramento aboooooooooooout something really, really cool, but I forgot to bring my note book and this week has been crazy crazy, so I can’t quite remember, but I PROMISE IT WAS AWESOME! :) Then Anziano Brandon made us all lunch! Some kinda Philipino recipe! It was so good! :) Then Sorella Reber and I went to see Rita! :) We read some more chapters in the Book of Mormon with her (Moroni). It was all about the sacrament, so then we ended up speaking about the importance of the sacrament and invited her to come, but her husband is really ill again, so she wasn’t able to! :( Maybe next week! Then after our lesson we walked outside and IT WAS TIPPING IT DOWN!!!!! LIKE OKAY SO, as I’ve told you, Ragusa is one big giant hill. ONE BIG GIANT HILL!!! .. and we live at the top, but Rita lives at the bottom, so as you can imagine, the rain was all pouring down and flooding to Rita's end! So, (oh also we were NOT dressed for this kind of weather) I was wearing my gold little strappy shoes).. ANYWAYS Rita very very kindly gives us an umbrella... but we STILL get soaked hahahahahah; our feet were in puddles up to our ankles.. no exaggeration, I promise! So then we got the bus home and at home it hadn’t even rained a bit! The ground was BONE DRY! I couldn’t believe it!!!!!!!! It was super cool though, cus we were just laughing the whole time and we had so much fun in that rain hahahahaha! It reminded me of a photo mom showed me once of her and Ellen (from her mission)! Then we went to give brownies to our neighbours, to introduce Sorella Reber and find potentials (obv the 2nd was our real goal) hahaha. It was Sorella Reber's idea! She's great!!! So this one lady lets us in and talks and talks and talks.... and talks........ and talks.......................and talks some more. Until we were basically going to be late for English course.. so we were like 'we need to go because we have a class that we teach, but could we come back?' and she’s all .. but look at this room and look and these pictures and then goes into a whole new story ahahahhahaha SO CUTE! but then we had to RUN to the chapel for English course!! It was CRAZYYYYYYYYY! THEN! at English course this lady and her 18 year old daughter came! Apparently the Mom had been before and just thought it was time she came back! (they both speak incredible English.. They like it for the conversational practise!) Anyways! At the end we did a spiritual thought and then after Sofia (the 18 year old girl) came up and thanked us for it, and said that it really touched her, so we gave her a BOM and got her number and that was that (the story will continue I promise).

Wednesday - We saw Gaudia (we got to re schedule! :) ) but she like, left part way through, va bene! Boh! So we finished the lesson with her Mum! :) Then we went to do a member lesson with Sorella Frasca! Who is an amazing member missionary! :) Then we did a spiritual thought with the Chines! :) and did finding in between! Obv! :) I didn’t write a ton in my planner about this day other than the things I liked were: We saw the funny stretching man again and it made me lol. Iolanda was as cute as ever, as per!! An old lady who we went to see, Mima, let us in (she lives beneath us) and fed us biscuits and invited us back, and Gaia (a girl who lives in one of the apartments near us) came to our house and we were scared cus it was kinda late and didn’t know who it was, but we gave her an English course card before and she just wanted to ask us if she could walk with us there on Thursday! hahahah she’s cute and she’s 14!

Thursday! Pietro cancelled on us, so we went with the Anziani to help Fratello Di Martino clean the chapel :) He’s a really awesome guy! (he's the father of Elder Di Martino WHO IS SERVING IN MANCHESTER!). Then we went to have pranzo with the Clarks (one of the couples who work on the base in Catania) I ate horse!!!! yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss that’s right. I ate it. It was weird and sad, but tasted good soooooo yeah! New experience! Then we did finding and basically had the opportunity to do a Restoration lesson sul strada! So that was an awesome experience! We were blessed with the opportunity to give out 3 Books of Mormon!!!!! :) Got an appointment with Sofia! :):) For Saturday! and then we saw a really crazy man that scared us a bit ahahahah but all was well...

Friday! We did weekly planning! Set some really awesome goals! (my comp is a spiritual giant, no kidding she is amazing!!!!) It was just a really awesome planning session! Then we went to this place local, with the Anziani to do some service there! We helped feed the homeless and helped order clothes that this company are sending to Africa! :) Then on the way back, this guy on a motor stops us and speaks to us asking who we are etc!! So the Anziani give them his number and that was that, but it was just super cool, cus that like neverrrrrr happens! Then in the afternoon Sorella Reber and I did casa casa, since I’ve not done it for a while and this time.. if someone just buzzed us in - thinking it was someone else, we just went inside, so we could actually knock on the doors! It was super nerve racking at first, but then we got used to it! One lady let us in and invited us back! Her name was Maria and she had a dog called Lily! She said she would read the 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World' pamphlet! That was super cooool!! :):)

Saturday! We saw Rosemary! Did a lesson about recognising spiritual answers! Then at the end, Sorella Reber laid down this incredible promise and honestly, the spirit was so strong as she did this. She told Rosemary that as missionaries, before we come here, we are set apart by a priesthood holder and are given the authority to be a representative of Christ and part of that gives us the right to testify and promise you things. Then she said 'and we are here to promise you, Rosemary, that if you come to church, you will find peace in your life' and Rosemary was just really taken aback. and was like 'wow. okay, I like a challange' and we just bore testimony and promised that God is a man of his word and it was just an incredible moment! :) Then we met Sofia and she wanted to go to Ibla with us! We went and then just so so naturally got to teach the restoration! She was asking a ton of questions and one that was really cool that initially led to the conversation of the restoration was 'How do you progress in this life?' SHE IS AWESOME! Then after, we went with her to get gelato! :) Then we had correlation! :)

Sunday! We went to churchyyyyyy then the Guastellas house for dinner! THEY MADE LASAGNE AND IT WAS LITERALLY SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!!!! They put egg and ham in it too. IT TASTED SO GOOD! I'll have to ask for the recipe!! Then we were supposed to do a mostra with the Anziani, but Anz Smith was super ill! 

Monday- Tuesday! This is where we get to the real deal! SO we left the house at 10 to get the bus from the station to Catania airport! Then we waited around and then got on the plane.... then we got to Rome and it was RAININGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG hahahah it always rains in Rome! So funny! By the time we got there it was late, so we met at the office and the AP'S walked us to the hotel! So we stopped at this hotel. All of the Palermo zone, Catania zone and Taranto zone! It was so weird, cus we were all so close to each other and we could hear all the voices of the other missionaries when we were trying to sleep hahaha weiiiiiiird! As you can imagine .. not a ton of people slept very well! haha. Then we met downstairs the next day at 630AM for breakfast! Then headed to the other hotel where the conference was!! :) IT WAS SO GOOD TO CATCH UP WITH PEOPLE! I spent most of my time with Sorella Arnold and Sorella Nagliati! but spoke to everyone else too of course! Sorelle  Hamilton!! Brunson!! Winegar!! Then the Anziani from the district in Pescara!! :):):)) IT WAS SO COOOOL! 

I spent most of my time with Sorella Nagliati and Sorella Arnold

At the All Mission Conference

Then the conference started! Elders Bednar, Texiera and Allen came! IT WAS AWESOME! It was similar to Ammon’s by the sound of it! It was a very open discussion! I must be careful what I say about it though, cus Elder Bednar told us that once a month he googles his own name to see what the enemy says about him and it takes him to mission blogs hahahahahaha! Seriously though, it was a really awesome conference! There is just this amazing spirit that is present when an apostle is near! He is also super funny!!! He began by saying 'Ok, I’m gonna tell you that this conference is not about Ipads... now I want you to tell me how you feel when I say that' hahah it was so cool! Then he would ask questions and people could feel free to answer... then we could ask him questions and it was just really awesome! A lot of the conference was actually based on marriage, but then they spoke about using tools that we have, to better the work and to help the work move forward!!! It was just so so awesome! Then they spoke about using media for good! Then at the end I got to shake his (Elder Bednar's) hand!!! :) so that was coooooooooooooooollllllll!!! Then we just got to spend time with everyone! :):) I sat with Sorella Nagliati and Sorella Arnold :) Then we had pics! 

Mission Conference: Reunited with Friends (Sorella Nagliati)

Mission Conference: Reunited with Friends (Sorella Arnold)

Mission Conference: Reunited with Friends (MTC Group)

We also had a MTC Rome zone pic!!  :) Then we went to termini to wait for our night train!!! hahahahah So we got on the night train at 930PM and we had weird little bed things in the cabins!! hahahaha it was just a very different experience, but it was so much fun and just a really great experience!!!! But now it just feels like a big blur!!!

Wednesday- SO WE ARRIVED IN CATANIA AT LIKE 9AM! hahahah loooooooooooong journey!! 

ANYWAY! Quote of the week... we were singing with the Anziani’s simp (the guy who was on the motor bike) and then Anziano Brandon is all 'I know, now we should sing Joseph Smith's first dance' and we were like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? and he blushes and he's all 'no prayer, I mean prayer!' hahaha

So today! Thursday is p'day (due to conference).  We are getting to explore the caves! We're going with the Anziani, so that will be fun!

WELL!!! I'm going to have to LOVE YOU AND LEAVE YOU!

Have the best week! ALL MY LOVE ! 

Sorella Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx