28 October 2009
Hello everybody!
So, I'm going to just start with Wednesday afternoon and work my way through the week. Wednesday evening we invited a lady from the Intermediate English Course to have dinner with all the missionaries and the Branch President's family. Anziano D'Auria and Anz Sapio are from Napoli, President Sorrentino is from Napoli, and Clorinda is also from Napoli. So, we had Napolitano food, and Clorinda had a good time chatting with Slla Sorrentino and the four kids. Then we did a lesson where we watched "finding happiness" and talked about where happiness comes from and asked Pres S and Anz D'Auria what gospel principles make them the most happy. Then we introduced the Book of Mormon and gave one to Clorinda, and we had all written her a note and a testimony and underlined a favorite scripture for her. She seemed really excited to get it, and maybe a little surprised that we had chosen her. She is a great girl, now that I have a new companion we'll have to work on getting to know her better again. At this point she doesn't know she's an investigator. But she wrote a note to Sorella Lewis in her dedica before she left and said that the Book of Mormon is a great present and she promised to read it.
Thursday we went to Comiso like always. We taught Esther the word of wisdom, she said she wouldn't have a problem with it since she doesn't drink or smoke. Then at Sorella Turtula's we made a pizza, with potato's again. I think if I were to make one that way, I'd put the cheese under the potatoes because the cheese is always pretty much gone by the time the bread is cooked. In mainland Italy they would call that kind of pizza a focaccia, but in Sicily or at least Ragusa, a focaccia has its toppings inside, not outside. Fun stuff. And we taught a lesson about testimony, and we all bore our testimonies together. Thursday night we waited very patiently for the transfer call that never came. That was kind of frustrating. The anziani got their call at 6 pm.
By 8 am Friday we had given up waiting and called the Siracusa Sorelle to ask if they knew who was coming. Then as soon as we hung up President Taranto called (he spells his name different in English and Italian, don't worry he's still the same person. It was Taranto originally but the immigration people or whoever changed it in the US). I answered the phone "pronto" like always and he spoke to me in Italian for the whole phone call which apparently never happens unless you're an Italian but who knows what that means. Anyway, my new companion is Sorella Black, this is her second city, she was in Bari for five transfers. I met her Monday. Still in Ragusa, don't worry.
Friday afternoon we had an appointment with Sorella Palermo and read her part of the talk from October 2006 conference about the importance of first generation members in the church, and how everything they do is important, and so on, and she almost cried and committed to come to church. She has been coming to all the activities and such, and corso d'inglese, but not sacrament meeting very often. So we committed her to come, and she fed us some brownies that were more like cake because she put lots of milk in them, but they were really good. I only got a few bites because we had to go to the train station because the Siracusa sisters were waiting for us there. I went to Siracusa and Slla Smith stayed with Slla Lewis for scambi. Siracusa is a 2 hour plus train ride, so we didn't get there until around 8. We talked to lots of people on the walk home. Siracusa is beautiful. Wow. It is really really gorgeous. And they have a chapel, but I didn't get to go inside. They are right next to the ocean,, lots of beautiful views. Their apartment is kind of like a little house, ours is definitely an apt, theirs is a condo. I got some heavy winter skirts for rainy Ragusa. Siracusa is pretty warm, it's lower, Ragusa is on a mountain so it's colder in general.
Saturday morning we did study, but companion study didn't get very far before the Anziani called and said they locked themselves out of the apartment. Which was okay, they were fun to see. Anz Branca is from Sardinia and he is great. He found the church on google. It was the first choice, and jehovah's witness was the second. His dad wanted to look at the TJs, but he said the should look at the Mormons because he had never heard of us before. So they did and after a while they all joined the church. Anziano Pesci was in my group at the MTC and he's a hilarious kid. After that we bought some fruit, and some ricotta calda which is really good. We went to the older part of the city to find some people, didn't end up finding the people we were looking for but we found lots of others. (side note--people in Italy do NOT take care of their teeth as a general rule. We met a man who can't have been more than thirty but he had like pirates of the caribbean rotting yellow teeth. It's really sad.) We met a man from Nigeria who said he had already promised someone he'd go to church with them this last Sunday, but he promised to go to our church next Sunday. He was really a cool guy, he was just talking about how he knows how much God has blessed his life, he's in Italy and has a permesso di sogiorno (i don't even have one of those and I might not for my whole mission) and is a free man now, and just wants to do everything he can to serve God. We also ate a kebab, which is some kind of middle eastern sandwich and really good. It was spicy. Nice to have something with a completely different flavor. And I saw the temple of Apollo. There isn't a lot left of it but it was cool anyway. We started a ripasso of the plan of salvation (review) with their investigator and it was really cool because I haven't taught any lessons from preach my gospel in Italian yet. And we had a member with us, and it just went really well. It was a lot of fun to work with Sorella Black. Then Slla Lewis and Smith came to Siracusa and Slla Lewis and I went back to Ragusa on the train. That took FOREVER because we had to stop in Modica for about 45 minutes. But oh well. We got back to Ragusa at 8:45, got a gelato on the way home, and went to sleep.
Sunday was weird because we had a fifth sunday speaker who filled up the first two hours and I have trouble listening to the same person talking for that long. And then he talked for another 25 minutes in Sacrament meeting. But oh well. We didn't eat with anyone because Slla Lewis needed to pack. And that night we tried our first Ibla singing mostra. We had two member families with us--The Cascone's and Gianni (which is pronounced johnny, by the way), and the Migliorisi's. There weren't tons of people out, but it was really cool anyway. At the beginning the Migliorisi kids were really shy, Maria is my age and she was kind of wanting to stand behind someone, because she knows these people and she didn't want anyone to be rude. And the boys weren't singing which is pretty normal for teenage boys. But by the end they all were and it was really cool, because Maria ended up reading D&C 25:12 and saying how cool it was that we had all been out there together praying and even if nobody listened, God saw us.
Monday morning we went to Catania, and as soon as we got there came back. I have Sorella Robb now, and she is great. We talk to tons of people. We've had so many conversations on the street in the past few days. We haven't had a chance to go back to Giorgia, I have no idea why we didn't get her phone number but we're going to do that tomorrow.We did see Esther yesterday and I really don't think she understands the church at all, so we need to go back over the lessons. But I don't know if she even wants to do that, if she'd think we were just being crazy. But she had told the missionaries she wanted to be baptized but not until after her baby is born, and we hadn't talked to her about it at all last transfer. So we talked about baptism yesterday and she had no idea why it was even important. She we'll see what happens with her. Sorella Turtula GETS TO COME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!! She'll miss sacrament though because the lady who's watching her mom can't do it past 11:45. We wish they would take it to her, apparently they think that there's some kind of rule that you have to be a full tithe payer or something to have them bring the sacrament and nobody has any idea if she is or not. Who knows. She was so excited though, that she gets to go to church even for just an hour and a half.
We're going to do a lot of stuff this transfer, it'll be fun. My legs are tired already. Sorella Robb is from New Mexico, she plays viola, she's kind of quiet but really nice, she likes cooking things--like vegetables and rice.
Sounds like you had a lot of fun this last week, I'm glad.
Well, I'm running out of time but I love you and I sent pictures on Monday so I hope you get them soon.
Love Eliza
So, I'm going to just start with Wednesday afternoon and work my way through the week. Wednesday evening we invited a lady from the Intermediate English Course to have dinner with all the missionaries and the Branch President's family. Anziano D'Auria and Anz Sapio are from Napoli, President Sorrentino is from Napoli, and Clorinda is also from Napoli. So, we had Napolitano food, and Clorinda had a good time chatting with Slla Sorrentino and the four kids. Then we did a lesson where we watched "finding happiness" and talked about where happiness comes from and asked Pres S and Anz D'Auria what gospel principles make them the most happy. Then we introduced the Book of Mormon and gave one to Clorinda, and we had all written her a note and a testimony and underlined a favorite scripture for her. She seemed really excited to get it, and maybe a little surprised that we had chosen her. She is a great girl, now that I have a new companion we'll have to work on getting to know her better again. At this point she doesn't know she's an investigator. But she wrote a note to Sorella Lewis in her dedica before she left and said that the Book of Mormon is a great present and she promised to read it.
Thursday we went to Comiso like always. We taught Esther the word of wisdom, she said she wouldn't have a problem with it since she doesn't drink or smoke. Then at Sorella Turtula's we made a pizza, with potato's again. I think if I were to make one that way, I'd put the cheese under the potatoes because the cheese is always pretty much gone by the time the bread is cooked. In mainland Italy they would call that kind of pizza a focaccia, but in Sicily or at least Ragusa, a focaccia has its toppings inside, not outside. Fun stuff. And we taught a lesson about testimony, and we all bore our testimonies together. Thursday night we waited very patiently for the transfer call that never came. That was kind of frustrating. The anziani got their call at 6 pm.
By 8 am Friday we had given up waiting and called the Siracusa Sorelle to ask if they knew who was coming. Then as soon as we hung up President Taranto called (he spells his name different in English and Italian, don't worry he's still the same person. It was Taranto originally but the immigration people or whoever changed it in the US). I answered the phone "pronto" like always and he spoke to me in Italian for the whole phone call which apparently never happens unless you're an Italian but who knows what that means. Anyway, my new companion is Sorella Black, this is her second city, she was in Bari for five transfers. I met her Monday. Still in Ragusa, don't worry.
Friday afternoon we had an appointment with Sorella Palermo and read her part of the talk from October 2006 conference about the importance of first generation members in the church, and how everything they do is important, and so on, and she almost cried and committed to come to church. She has been coming to all the activities and such, and corso d'inglese, but not sacrament meeting very often. So we committed her to come, and she fed us some brownies that were more like cake because she put lots of milk in them, but they were really good. I only got a few bites because we had to go to the train station because the Siracusa sisters were waiting for us there. I went to Siracusa and Slla Smith stayed with Slla Lewis for scambi. Siracusa is a 2 hour plus train ride, so we didn't get there until around 8. We talked to lots of people on the walk home. Siracusa is beautiful. Wow. It is really really gorgeous. And they have a chapel, but I didn't get to go inside. They are right next to the ocean,, lots of beautiful views. Their apartment is kind of like a little house, ours is definitely an apt, theirs is a condo. I got some heavy winter skirts for rainy Ragusa. Siracusa is pretty warm, it's lower, Ragusa is on a mountain so it's colder in general.
Saturday morning we did study, but companion study didn't get very far before the Anziani called and said they locked themselves out of the apartment. Which was okay, they were fun to see. Anz Branca is from Sardinia and he is great. He found the church on google. It was the first choice, and jehovah's witness was the second. His dad wanted to look at the TJs, but he said the should look at the Mormons because he had never heard of us before. So they did and after a while they all joined the church. Anziano Pesci was in my group at the MTC and he's a hilarious kid. After that we bought some fruit, and some ricotta calda which is really good. We went to the older part of the city to find some people, didn't end up finding the people we were looking for but we found lots of others. (side note--people in Italy do NOT take care of their teeth as a general rule. We met a man who can't have been more than thirty but he had like pirates of the caribbean rotting yellow teeth. It's really sad.) We met a man from Nigeria who said he had already promised someone he'd go to church with them this last Sunday, but he promised to go to our church next Sunday. He was really a cool guy, he was just talking about how he knows how much God has blessed his life, he's in Italy and has a permesso di sogiorno (i don't even have one of those and I might not for my whole mission) and is a free man now, and just wants to do everything he can to serve God. We also ate a kebab, which is some kind of middle eastern sandwich and really good. It was spicy. Nice to have something with a completely different flavor. And I saw the temple of Apollo. There isn't a lot left of it but it was cool anyway. We started a ripasso of the plan of salvation (review) with their investigator and it was really cool because I haven't taught any lessons from preach my gospel in Italian yet. And we had a member with us, and it just went really well. It was a lot of fun to work with Sorella Black. Then Slla Lewis and Smith came to Siracusa and Slla Lewis and I went back to Ragusa on the train. That took FOREVER because we had to stop in Modica for about 45 minutes. But oh well. We got back to Ragusa at 8:45, got a gelato on the way home, and went to sleep.
Sunday was weird because we had a fifth sunday speaker who filled up the first two hours and I have trouble listening to the same person talking for that long. And then he talked for another 25 minutes in Sacrament meeting. But oh well. We didn't eat with anyone because Slla Lewis needed to pack. And that night we tried our first Ibla singing mostra. We had two member families with us--The Cascone's and Gianni (which is pronounced johnny, by the way), and the Migliorisi's. There weren't tons of people out, but it was really cool anyway. At the beginning the Migliorisi kids were really shy, Maria is my age and she was kind of wanting to stand behind someone, because she knows these people and she didn't want anyone to be rude. And the boys weren't singing which is pretty normal for teenage boys. But by the end they all were and it was really cool, because Maria ended up reading D&C 25:12 and saying how cool it was that we had all been out there together praying and even if nobody listened, God saw us.
Monday morning we went to Catania, and as soon as we got there came back. I have Sorella Robb now, and she is great. We talk to tons of people. We've had so many conversations on the street in the past few days. We haven't had a chance to go back to Giorgia, I have no idea why we didn't get her phone number but we're going to do that tomorrow.We did see Esther yesterday and I really don't think she understands the church at all, so we need to go back over the lessons. But I don't know if she even wants to do that, if she'd think we were just being crazy. But she had told the missionaries she wanted to be baptized but not until after her baby is born, and we hadn't talked to her about it at all last transfer. So we talked about baptism yesterday and she had no idea why it was even important. She we'll see what happens with her. Sorella Turtula GETS TO COME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!! She'll miss sacrament though because the lady who's watching her mom can't do it past 11:45. We wish they would take it to her, apparently they think that there's some kind of rule that you have to be a full tithe payer or something to have them bring the sacrament and nobody has any idea if she is or not. Who knows. She was so excited though, that she gets to go to church even for just an hour and a half.
We're going to do a lot of stuff this transfer, it'll be fun. My legs are tired already. Sorella Robb is from New Mexico, she plays viola, she's kind of quiet but really nice, she likes cooking things--like vegetables and rice.
Sounds like you had a lot of fun this last week, I'm glad.
Well, I'm running out of time but I love you and I sent pictures on Monday so I hope you get them soon.
Love Eliza
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