16 September 2009
Hi! Well, I'm here, in Italy and in my first area.
We got our bags back last night, I think they just sent them on a later flight because there wasn't room on our plane, but the airport called last night to tell us they were there, and everyone got all their luggage, which is a good thing.
Last night we did some paperwork to get started on our "permesso" which is basically the Italian visa, getting a visa from the consulate really isn't good enough for an extended stay. So that took forever and unairconditioned buildings with closed windows are pretty hot here. The building had a really old elevator that looked like there was no way it could possibly run, but it did.
This morning we got up and ate breakfast and such--waffles and nutella. Then we had to stay upstairs while all the trainers got there and president Toronto talked to them. So we could hear them all talking and laughing but we couldn't see them. The mission home is gorgeous, by the way, it has four stories and a spiral staircase that is fifty three steps that connects them.
So anyway, then we all got invited down and saw our possible trainers, and we started the meeting with a few business like things and a spiritual thought. And then the big news. My trainer is Sorella Lewis, she's way cute and tiny with a big smile. And she speaks really well. This is her last transfer, and we're in Ragusa. We live on via Michelangelo Buonarotti, but I'm not sure what the cross streets are. But we spent a few hours waiting for the bus and then on the bus, and I slept for a bit. I'm still pretty tired, it's quite a time change. But I'm doing okay. My MTC companions are in Catania (Sorella Miller) and Palermo (Sorella Jenkins). So I got the nice old town and not the big city, I think I'm okay with that.
Our progressing investigators are all Africans right now, there are a lot of them here evidently. I haven't met any of them yet, after the bus trip a member picked us up and drove us home, and I could understand fairly well what she was saying but she for sure talked like a Sicilian. I've been told it's a good thing I'm starting out here, because if I can understand he Sicilians then I can understand anyone, it just gets clearer on the mainland. Four of the elders that were with us are in the Puglia, and the other two are on Sicilia. Anziano Pesci is getting trained by an Italian who only started speaking English on his mission, so he's going to learn Italian really fast.
People here like to talk. We were walking behind an old married couple on our way to the internet (we will walk everywhere) and Sorella Lewis asked them how long they had been married. So they stopped and told us they had been married for 50 years exactly. And then they introduced themselves--Santo and I can't remember the woman's name. But she told us that the secret to marriage is "comprensione". So we had a nice little conversation with them. It was fun...they spoke a lot more clearly, I could understand them.
And on the way we said buona sera to everyone, and they all smiled and said it back. And my companion started talking about the church with the internet guy a bit, and it was kind of cool, he acted a lot like some of the MTC conversations we had.
I'm going to start a new email in case I lose this..
ciao
So anyway, my apartment is gorgeous. We're just on the second floor--I'm not sure anyone ever lives on the first floor, because everyone needs a balcony. We have airconditioning in our bedroom, just a small wall unit that works really well, but the other rooms we just open the window sand there's always a breeze. WE have a big balcony that wraps around our apartment. And the apartment itself has two huge bedrooms, one we sleep in and study in, the other we keep our clothes in and it has extra beds for when other Sorelle come to do splits with us. And we have a little kitchen, fridges come smaller in Italy, and our oven is small. And our bathroom, we have a washing machine in, and we also have a bathtub which is apparently quite the novelty. European bathrooms are kind of weird though--toilets don't come with seats as far as I can tell, none of the airport ones had any.
So anyway, airplane stories. Anziano Bahr lost his passport in JFK. Fortunately he realized before we left and they were able to find it. It's actually really easy to not watch a movie on Delta flights these days, inf act it's harder to watch it. You have to supply your own headphones for one. But they have personal touch screen computer/TV things, and you can pick from several movies, or tv, or music. But we didn't watch or listen to anything. We did, however, play games. They had a trivia game that about half the fight was playing at one point, and it showed you the scores of everyone else, and it was fun. We were pretty competitive. They also had bejeweled and chess and a bunch of other things. SO we played those to keep us entertained. And we tried to sleep on the flight from New YOrk to Rome, but it was difficult. I was sitting by Anziano Pesci on every flight, and that one we were on row 42 and everyone else was on 23, and apparently that was a good thing because we both wanted to sleep and I guess we're the only ones who did.
But we made it, safe and sound. Tomorrow we start sharing the gospel. Our p-days are wednesdays, and next week we're going up to Catania and meeting the other missionaries between Ragusa and Catania to go to an old city, I can't remember the name.
I need to start working on Italian, it takes a lot of focus. But we'll set speaking goals pretty soon here. My companion thinks it says a lot about me and my ability that President sent me here, when she has only a transfer left so I only have six weeks to learn how everything here works, and she also does translating during church so we'll see if I get good enough to do that.
Anyway, I love you!
Bye
By the way, I don't know if I mentioned that Ragusa is in Southern Sicily, below Siracusa, a two hour bus ride from Catania.
We got our bags back last night, I think they just sent them on a later flight because there wasn't room on our plane, but the airport called last night to tell us they were there, and everyone got all their luggage, which is a good thing.
Last night we did some paperwork to get started on our "permesso" which is basically the Italian visa, getting a visa from the consulate really isn't good enough for an extended stay. So that took forever and unairconditioned buildings with closed windows are pretty hot here. The building had a really old elevator that looked like there was no way it could possibly run, but it did.
This morning we got up and ate breakfast and such--waffles and nutella. Then we had to stay upstairs while all the trainers got there and president Toronto talked to them. So we could hear them all talking and laughing but we couldn't see them. The mission home is gorgeous, by the way, it has four stories and a spiral staircase that is fifty three steps that connects them.
So anyway, then we all got invited down and saw our possible trainers, and we started the meeting with a few business like things and a spiritual thought. And then the big news. My trainer is Sorella Lewis, she's way cute and tiny with a big smile. And she speaks really well. This is her last transfer, and we're in Ragusa. We live on via Michelangelo Buonarotti, but I'm not sure what the cross streets are. But we spent a few hours waiting for the bus and then on the bus, and I slept for a bit. I'm still pretty tired, it's quite a time change. But I'm doing okay. My MTC companions are in Catania (Sorella Miller) and Palermo (Sorella Jenkins). So I got the nice old town and not the big city, I think I'm okay with that.
Our progressing investigators are all Africans right now, there are a lot of them here evidently. I haven't met any of them yet, after the bus trip a member picked us up and drove us home, and I could understand fairly well what she was saying but she for sure talked like a Sicilian. I've been told it's a good thing I'm starting out here, because if I can understand he Sicilians then I can understand anyone, it just gets clearer on the mainland. Four of the elders that were with us are in the Puglia, and the other two are on Sicilia. Anziano Pesci is getting trained by an Italian who only started speaking English on his mission, so he's going to learn Italian really fast.
People here like to talk. We were walking behind an old married couple on our way to the internet (we will walk everywhere) and Sorella Lewis asked them how long they had been married. So they stopped and told us they had been married for 50 years exactly. And then they introduced themselves--Santo and I can't remember the woman's name. But she told us that the secret to marriage is "comprensione". So we had a nice little conversation with them. It was fun...they spoke a lot more clearly, I could understand them.
And on the way we said buona sera to everyone, and they all smiled and said it back. And my companion started talking about the church with the internet guy a bit, and it was kind of cool, he acted a lot like some of the MTC conversations we had.
I'm going to start a new email in case I lose this..
ciao
So anyway, my apartment is gorgeous. We're just on the second floor--I'm not sure anyone ever lives on the first floor, because everyone needs a balcony. We have airconditioning in our bedroom, just a small wall unit that works really well, but the other rooms we just open the window sand there's always a breeze. WE have a big balcony that wraps around our apartment. And the apartment itself has two huge bedrooms, one we sleep in and study in, the other we keep our clothes in and it has extra beds for when other Sorelle come to do splits with us. And we have a little kitchen, fridges come smaller in Italy, and our oven is small. And our bathroom, we have a washing machine in, and we also have a bathtub which is apparently quite the novelty. European bathrooms are kind of weird though--toilets don't come with seats as far as I can tell, none of the airport ones had any.
So anyway, airplane stories. Anziano Bahr lost his passport in JFK. Fortunately he realized before we left and they were able to find it. It's actually really easy to not watch a movie on Delta flights these days, inf act it's harder to watch it. You have to supply your own headphones for one. But they have personal touch screen computer/TV things, and you can pick from several movies, or tv, or music. But we didn't watch or listen to anything. We did, however, play games. They had a trivia game that about half the fight was playing at one point, and it showed you the scores of everyone else, and it was fun. We were pretty competitive. They also had bejeweled and chess and a bunch of other things. SO we played those to keep us entertained. And we tried to sleep on the flight from New YOrk to Rome, but it was difficult. I was sitting by Anziano Pesci on every flight, and that one we were on row 42 and everyone else was on 23, and apparently that was a good thing because we both wanted to sleep and I guess we're the only ones who did.
But we made it, safe and sound. Tomorrow we start sharing the gospel. Our p-days are wednesdays, and next week we're going up to Catania and meeting the other missionaries between Ragusa and Catania to go to an old city, I can't remember the name.
I need to start working on Italian, it takes a lot of focus. But we'll set speaking goals pretty soon here. My companion thinks it says a lot about me and my ability that President sent me here, when she has only a transfer left so I only have six weeks to learn how everything here works, and she also does translating during church so we'll see if I get good enough to do that.
Anyway, I love you!
Bye
By the way, I don't know if I mentioned that Ragusa is in Southern Sicily, below Siracusa, a two hour bus ride from Catania.
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