13 October 2010, or, I'm Going to ROME!!!
Hello!
I hope that Tommy's doing better. Ouch. That makes my head hurt just thinking about it. Mamma mia. Good thing they don't have basketball things in Italy, because nobody has yards!!! Of course crossing the street is like playing frogger but in spite of the insanity that is Italian driving they are generally fairly polite. But ouch...
So I'm GOING TO ROME!!! I'm going to Rome I'm going to Rome I'm going to Rome! Yeah. I'm kind of excited, Taranto is a little pesante, three transfers of nothing but finding work gets kind of exhausting. Hopefully we're closer to getting investigators that actually want to see us in this city but even the ones that come to church never want to see us, and in a ward where 120 people show up for sacrament meeting it's pretty stinking hard to ever see members. So. I am sad to leave our inactives, they are my favorite, they like us, and they are actually progressing. But Rome. Oh the things I can do for p-day.
So there we have it, Rome for the last 9 weeks.
This week has been another busy one. On Wednesday night Sorella TInoco came back to Taranto with me from Bari for scambi. That was a lot of fun. She's a cute little Peruviana who's lived in Genova since she was 11. So no English, but she's learning.
On Thursday morning we went to see Stefania Di Pietro, and she let us in, which apparently is difficult because we told a couple of people, including her family members, and they were pretty shocked. Haha, which I thought was funny, because Fllo Di Pietro Andrea showed us her house and asked us to visit her thinking the whole time that she would never let us in. But she did, and she was very nice, even though she didn't say amen or fold her arms or anything while we prayed. Then we went to see Anna LaTagliata, but we were a little late so we didn't get to do everything that we had planned. We talked with her and her daughter in law about how Heavenly Father loves us and how he provides a way for us to accomplish the things that he asks of us.
Then when we got back to Taranto we went by the houses of a few contacts, none of whom were available (after 12 pm they're all cooking and don't want to talk) (Taranto keeps the lunch hour VERY strictly...they close at 1 and aren't open until 5--it stinks)
Then in the afternoon we went to Lama to visit Fia which went well except we got a whole bunch of mosquito bites. But then we were late to English course unfortunately. However, the bus ride was priceless--Fllo Bellino was sitting behind us when a woman got on the bus and he told us "she's been to church a few times" so we thought, cool, we'll talk to her...So she closed all the windows on the bus to clock the wind and then came back and talked with us. One of the first things she said to Sorella Tinoco was "Ho visto il diavolo" ("I saw the devil"). ST was a bit surprised and the woman said "he's in the back of the bus". So we look back and there are a couple of 16 year old girls with their feet up on the seat. Suddenly the woman started muttering about them and how rotten they are, and the girls must have rolled their eyes or something, because then the woman went back and started yelling at them how they're delinquents and their parents should be ashamed and they should be in prison and they're children of the devil, and the girls were just kind of like "whatever crazy" and she finally came back and was still upset and talking badly about them and ST said "magari lasciamo stare" (maybe just let it go) and then we got up to get off the bus and the woman asked if we wanted to get off with her at the next stop and ST said "l'unica cosa che so è che scendiamo a questa fermata" (all I know is we're getting off here) and then "mi raccomando, tranquilla" (my advice to you is to calm down) It was hilarious. Oh man. The woman said maybe she'll see us in church. Che vergogna però. Poor lady.
On Friday we had correlazione which went well, and then planning. We went to McDonalds for lunch with some of the youth from the ward, except we didn't eat McDonalds because it costs too much. In the afternoon we went to visit Alma Mazzolari, whose 5 year old boy is absolutely adorable. I talked to the bus driver the whole way home from Lama, he was a really nice man, I love how open Italians are, that they just tell strangers exactly what they think about everything. He was way cool and I hope that we see him again, or that he calls us, or that he shows up at church. I left him a pamphlet but it was kind of hard to get a phone number while he was driving and such.
Saturday we did a Zonebust in Lecce, only four cities went though--Taranto, Statte, Brindisi, and Lecce of course. Beautiful city. Gorgeous city. It reminds me of Ragusa. Just Baroque, and gorgeous, and old, and none of this modern stuff, and CLEAN oh man it was so clean. We did a whole day of just trying to get a bunch of contacts for the Anziani in Lecce to start working with, and we closed off the day with a singing mostra. It was a good day. And then on the train ride home we all got transfer calls, which was fun--we were all there and all staring at the person who was on the phone with President trying to figure out what was happening. Anziano Acerson is going back to Sicilia, Anz Kinsey is going back to Calabria, Anz Pesci, Garcia, and I are going to Rome. Fun fun fun. We got home late.
Sunday of course we got to give our farewell testimonies in church. And Jlenia came to church!!! And the Young Women invited her to stay after and eat lunch with them!!! That was sooo exciting. Oh man. In the evening my companion got contacted by a Testimoni di Geova. We sat down to make a phone call and the woman came up and offered her a pamphlet and started talking to her, and then about the Bible and how it's changed and all the names have been changed in it and such and my collega was indifferent so the woman said "well what if you wrote a letter to a doctor and forgot to write his name? where would the letter go?" Slla Jones said "non vedo perché c'entra". I don't see what that has to do with anything. We left after that.
And we saw Flavia, who I adore but I wish her life wasn't so messed up.
On Monday we had about a million things to possibly do and a couple of fixed appointments and every one of them fell through! So we went to see Sorella Raspini in the afternoon and it went pretty well, she gave us three referrals. I like her.
Yesterday was a far better day, we taught a lot of lessons and we saw Patrizia. I hope she keeps progressing. She's started to talk about members and ask how old women are doing and stuff. And she is so much more open these days. It's really incredible to see the progress she has made. She still has a long way to go but I really had no idea what to do with her when S Hostetter left and she has transformed into a completely different person, what a miracle. I love that woman, she is so cool.
I am sad to leave this English class and I have only taught it three times!!! They are so great!!! Man, and there's a cousin of a member who is sooo sweet and I hope they invite her to hear the lessons because she is wonderful.
And today...packing, maybe we'll make ravioli, etc. I have packed a lot more efficiently this time than last, I have more stuff yet more space. Odd how that works. I will need to get rid of a lot before I come home.
Alex is going to be home really really soon, how crazy. He wants to be a lawyer currently. Bah.
Anyway, I love you, bye!!!
Liza
I hope that Tommy's doing better. Ouch. That makes my head hurt just thinking about it. Mamma mia. Good thing they don't have basketball things in Italy, because nobody has yards!!! Of course crossing the street is like playing frogger but in spite of the insanity that is Italian driving they are generally fairly polite. But ouch...
So I'm GOING TO ROME!!! I'm going to Rome I'm going to Rome I'm going to Rome! Yeah. I'm kind of excited, Taranto is a little pesante, three transfers of nothing but finding work gets kind of exhausting. Hopefully we're closer to getting investigators that actually want to see us in this city but even the ones that come to church never want to see us, and in a ward where 120 people show up for sacrament meeting it's pretty stinking hard to ever see members. So. I am sad to leave our inactives, they are my favorite, they like us, and they are actually progressing. But Rome. Oh the things I can do for p-day.
So there we have it, Rome for the last 9 weeks.
This week has been another busy one. On Wednesday night Sorella TInoco came back to Taranto with me from Bari for scambi. That was a lot of fun. She's a cute little Peruviana who's lived in Genova since she was 11. So no English, but she's learning.
On Thursday morning we went to see Stefania Di Pietro, and she let us in, which apparently is difficult because we told a couple of people, including her family members, and they were pretty shocked. Haha, which I thought was funny, because Fllo Di Pietro Andrea showed us her house and asked us to visit her thinking the whole time that she would never let us in. But she did, and she was very nice, even though she didn't say amen or fold her arms or anything while we prayed. Then we went to see Anna LaTagliata, but we were a little late so we didn't get to do everything that we had planned. We talked with her and her daughter in law about how Heavenly Father loves us and how he provides a way for us to accomplish the things that he asks of us.
Then when we got back to Taranto we went by the houses of a few contacts, none of whom were available (after 12 pm they're all cooking and don't want to talk) (Taranto keeps the lunch hour VERY strictly...they close at 1 and aren't open until 5--it stinks)
Then in the afternoon we went to Lama to visit Fia which went well except we got a whole bunch of mosquito bites. But then we were late to English course unfortunately. However, the bus ride was priceless--Fllo Bellino was sitting behind us when a woman got on the bus and he told us "she's been to church a few times" so we thought, cool, we'll talk to her...So she closed all the windows on the bus to clock the wind and then came back and talked with us. One of the first things she said to Sorella Tinoco was "Ho visto il diavolo" ("I saw the devil"). ST was a bit surprised and the woman said "he's in the back of the bus". So we look back and there are a couple of 16 year old girls with their feet up on the seat. Suddenly the woman started muttering about them and how rotten they are, and the girls must have rolled their eyes or something, because then the woman went back and started yelling at them how they're delinquents and their parents should be ashamed and they should be in prison and they're children of the devil, and the girls were just kind of like "whatever crazy" and she finally came back and was still upset and talking badly about them and ST said "magari lasciamo stare" (maybe just let it go) and then we got up to get off the bus and the woman asked if we wanted to get off with her at the next stop and ST said "l'unica cosa che so è che scendiamo a questa fermata" (all I know is we're getting off here) and then "mi raccomando, tranquilla" (my advice to you is to calm down) It was hilarious. Oh man. The woman said maybe she'll see us in church. Che vergogna però. Poor lady.
On Friday we had correlazione which went well, and then planning. We went to McDonalds for lunch with some of the youth from the ward, except we didn't eat McDonalds because it costs too much. In the afternoon we went to visit Alma Mazzolari, whose 5 year old boy is absolutely adorable. I talked to the bus driver the whole way home from Lama, he was a really nice man, I love how open Italians are, that they just tell strangers exactly what they think about everything. He was way cool and I hope that we see him again, or that he calls us, or that he shows up at church. I left him a pamphlet but it was kind of hard to get a phone number while he was driving and such.
Saturday we did a Zonebust in Lecce, only four cities went though--Taranto, Statte, Brindisi, and Lecce of course. Beautiful city. Gorgeous city. It reminds me of Ragusa. Just Baroque, and gorgeous, and old, and none of this modern stuff, and CLEAN oh man it was so clean. We did a whole day of just trying to get a bunch of contacts for the Anziani in Lecce to start working with, and we closed off the day with a singing mostra. It was a good day. And then on the train ride home we all got transfer calls, which was fun--we were all there and all staring at the person who was on the phone with President trying to figure out what was happening. Anziano Acerson is going back to Sicilia, Anz Kinsey is going back to Calabria, Anz Pesci, Garcia, and I are going to Rome. Fun fun fun. We got home late.
Sunday of course we got to give our farewell testimonies in church. And Jlenia came to church!!! And the Young Women invited her to stay after and eat lunch with them!!! That was sooo exciting. Oh man. In the evening my companion got contacted by a Testimoni di Geova. We sat down to make a phone call and the woman came up and offered her a pamphlet and started talking to her, and then about the Bible and how it's changed and all the names have been changed in it and such and my collega was indifferent so the woman said "well what if you wrote a letter to a doctor and forgot to write his name? where would the letter go?" Slla Jones said "non vedo perché c'entra". I don't see what that has to do with anything. We left after that.
And we saw Flavia, who I adore but I wish her life wasn't so messed up.
On Monday we had about a million things to possibly do and a couple of fixed appointments and every one of them fell through! So we went to see Sorella Raspini in the afternoon and it went pretty well, she gave us three referrals. I like her.
Yesterday was a far better day, we taught a lot of lessons and we saw Patrizia. I hope she keeps progressing. She's started to talk about members and ask how old women are doing and stuff. And she is so much more open these days. It's really incredible to see the progress she has made. She still has a long way to go but I really had no idea what to do with her when S Hostetter left and she has transformed into a completely different person, what a miracle. I love that woman, she is so cool.
I am sad to leave this English class and I have only taught it three times!!! They are so great!!! Man, and there's a cousin of a member who is sooo sweet and I hope they invite her to hear the lessons because she is wonderful.
And today...packing, maybe we'll make ravioli, etc. I have packed a lot more efficiently this time than last, I have more stuff yet more space. Odd how that works. I will need to get rid of a lot before I come home.
Alex is going to be home really really soon, how crazy. He wants to be a lawyer currently. Bah.
Anyway, I love you, bye!!!
Liza
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