MAMA MIA!!!! Ok wow. I have so much to tell you. So backtracking a few days.........I never thought I would be sad to leave the MTC, but unfortunately I was a little sad. It is just a weird place because it's like prison but it's also such a spiritual place. I was really sad to say goodbye to my teachers but it's ok.
As you know, we missed our plane but luckily our plane to Italy wasn't packed at all so I got two whole seats to myself which was so nice. President and Sister Pickerd and the APs picked us up at the airport. We went straight from the airport to the temple sight and then handed out some pass along cards on our way to all of the main tourist sights. It was really cool to see them all. We didn't get to stay long though. The Trevino fountain is so cool.
We didn't have water at the mission home that night which was pretty crazy because there are like ten girls freaking out about not being able to take showers. I slept on the floor that night because it was too hot to sleep in the bed.
The next day we just had like training all day long. And THEN we did "golden envelopes" where they put in a yellow envelope the first city you are serving in and your trainer's name.
The next day we just had like training all day long. And THEN we did "golden envelopes" where they put in a yellow envelope the first city you are serving in and your trainer's name.
I am in the beautiful city of TARANTO. Taranto is right on the ocean and it is beautiful. The actual city is pretty gross though. My trainer is Sorella Flansberg. She has been on her mission for 14 months!!! Which is so long haha. She's from Carson city Nevada. She's very nice.
So we had to take a train down to Taranto at 6:26 in the morning so we woke up at 4!!!! It was about a six hour train ride and I was on the train with Anziano Anderson who was in the MTC with me and Anziano Friedman who is our district leader. He is the best guy. He is from Texas and he kind of has a lisp but he is a great missionary. Super happy and excited about everything.
So we had to take a train down to Taranto at 6:26 in the morning so we woke up at 4!!!! It was about a six hour train ride and I was on the train with Anziano Anderson who was in the MTC with me and Anziano Friedman who is our district leader. He is the best guy. He is from Texas and he kind of has a lisp but he is a great missionary. Super happy and excited about everything.
My comp and our senior couple picked us up at the train station in Taranto and took us to our apartment. The senior couple is Anziano and Sorella Lahaderne. They are so helpful. We are so lucky to have a senior couple in Taranto.They are such a blessing. And we are in a ward!! Which is also very lucky. Our church building is its own building which is rare and it is very close to our apartment which is also very lucky. It is the only building at the end of a pretty long street and sometimes at night there are really sketchy cars there with people in them doing really creepy things haha. Nasty. And the roads are so full of garbage and
smell like sewage. Every single person smokes and I am praying that I don't get second hand smoke on my mission haha. But the city is also very pretty.
smell like sewage. Every single person smokes and I am praying that I don't get second hand smoke on my mission haha. But the city is also very pretty.
After we unpacked our suitcases we went to English course which was my favorite thing. The lesson was "at the dentist" and no Italians can say the "th" sound so hearing them struggle through tooth and teeth was as you can imagine, very funny. We share a spiritual message at the end of every English course and the greenies were asked to bear our testimonies. First day here and already bearing testimony!! It was a little rough but I did my best and the Italians were very nice to me and told me that I speak good Italian, which is not true. But they were very nice about it.
On Sunday we had an awesome church meeting. It was kind of hard to focus because I don't know what is going on and my companion had to play the piano so I sat by our investigators alone. I could understand the main topic of every talk but it's hard to understand everything because you kind of translate word for word and then you get some you don't know so you get stuck and then you are behind but I did my best to try to pay attention. Also the sacrament bread was like a baguette so that was a great addition.
On Sunday we had an awesome church meeting. It was kind of hard to focus because I don't know what is going on and my companion had to play the piano so I sat by our investigators alone. I could understand the main topic of every talk but it's hard to understand everything because you kind of translate word for word and then you get some you don't know so you get stuck and then you are behind but I did my best to try to pay attention. Also the sacrament bread was like a baguette so that was a great addition.
We bore our testimonies in sacrament as well. In my testimony I talked about how grateful I was to be here and how I was called by a prophet of God to be here and to do His work and a lady came up to me after church and said she was so touched by testimony. She started crying and explained to me about how it reminded her of her mission. That was a very tender moment for me and one I will never forget.
After church we made chocolate chip cookies! We found some brown sugar and for what we were working with I would say we did a pretty good job of it. Then we had an investigator named Elena that we had a lesson with. The lesson was TWO HOURS LONG!!!!! Hahaha. Oh man my head hurt so bad after. She is very intelligent and very scholarly and she knows English so she would speak in Italian about science and about everything that happened with her family and her whole life and then she would switch to English and then back to Italian. Haha she is awesome though and she might be getting baptized!! We asked her to pray about it but we will see. The stuff she says is really confusing and relates everything back to physics. But she said a really beautiful prayer at the end of the lesson. Sorella Flansberg said that was the first time that has ever happened.
Today pday was very fun. We met the Anziani at the church and took a bus into centro which is just the city and we ate panzerotti which is basically just a calzone and then toured this really old naval base castle thing. It was cool and after we got granitas! I ordered coke
flavor and it's kind of like a slurpee haha. They do there best. I'll probably just stick to lemon gelato next time though. We are going to a birthday party tonight of a Tongan lady so we'll see how that goes. Right now I just kind of go along with the flow because I have no idea what's going on haha.
Now I am going to share some things that might take me getting used to here in Italy.
After church we made chocolate chip cookies! We found some brown sugar and for what we were working with I would say we did a pretty good job of it. Then we had an investigator named Elena that we had a lesson with. The lesson was TWO HOURS LONG!!!!! Hahaha. Oh man my head hurt so bad after. She is very intelligent and very scholarly and she knows English so she would speak in Italian about science and about everything that happened with her family and her whole life and then she would switch to English and then back to Italian. Haha she is awesome though and she might be getting baptized!! We asked her to pray about it but we will see. The stuff she says is really confusing and relates everything back to physics. But she said a really beautiful prayer at the end of the lesson. Sorella Flansberg said that was the first time that has ever happened.
Today pday was very fun. We met the Anziani at the church and took a bus into centro which is just the city and we ate panzerotti which is basically just a calzone and then toured this really old naval base castle thing. It was cool and after we got granitas! I ordered coke
flavor and it's kind of like a slurpee haha. They do there best. I'll probably just stick to lemon gelato next time though. We are going to a birthday party tonight of a Tongan lady so we'll see how that goes. Right now I just kind of go along with the flow because I have no idea what's going on haha.
Now I am going to share some things that might take me getting used to here in Italy.
First off the water in the south is bad. We can't drink it or we will get salmonella so that's not good to get that.
Second we don't eat dinner. Italians have what they call pranzo, which is like meal/nap time which happens anywhere from 12-5 about and all of the stores are closed and no one is out. So we eat breakfast in the morning and then we eat a really big lunch and that's it. None of the members invite us to pranzo either and the bishop won't let us like pass around a list in relief society for some reason haha so we are working on that.
The weather in Taranto has been SO AMAZING. It has been like perfect. One day it sprinkled a little and another day it was sunny but not hot and the good thing about being right by the ocean is that it's ALWAYS windy. So the weather hasn't been too bad at all and I have actually been able to sleep quite well. I wake up quite a few times every night but it's been pretty good.
The Food is great. We haven't eaten out much because we make ourselves pranzo everyday but the times that we have it has been really good. Also I need to get used to bacios. Those are like the double cheeked kiss thing. We only do it with sisters of course but I still find it weird haha. I will get used to it. Italians are also the craziest drivers. When crossing the road you just have to walk across and they will stop for you but there is a very high possibility you could get killed very easily though haha, but we are protected. The language is alright. It's tough but I'm trying. Italians just have such thick accents and slur all of their words together so sometimes it's really hard to understand. And NO ONE can say our last name, literally no one can say it. Mamma mia gli italiani.
As far as studies go, this morning I read the talk elder holland gave this past general conference and if you are ever needing a boost of hope or faith I would encourage you all to read it. It is titled "tomorrow the lord will do wonders among you" and it really just gave
me a needed boost of hope. The thing that touched my heart the most was when he says,
"So keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
I love that. Missionary work is so not easy. I have found it is definitely not for the feint of heart, but I also know that it is the most important thing we could be doing and it really all just depends on our attitude.
As far as studies go, this morning I read the talk elder holland gave this past general conference and if you are ever needing a boost of hope or faith I would encourage you all to read it. It is titled "tomorrow the lord will do wonders among you" and it really just gave
me a needed boost of hope. The thing that touched my heart the most was when he says,
"So keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
I love that. Missionary work is so not easy. I have found it is definitely not for the feint of heart, but I also know that it is the most important thing we could be doing and it really all just depends on our attitude.
Our mission decided to do this thing where you say "in the Rome Italy mission we......" But I have decided to make it my own and say, "In my mission I am choosing to be happy." I love you all and am so grateful for all of you and for all of your examples. I hope you know how much I miss and love you all.
Tell duke I love him and I thought about him tons on his birthday. Tell Adelide congrats!!!! She looks beautiful in all of her pictures. I am so happy you guys got to see Henry! I bet he is so cute. It sounds like he was an amazing missionary. I am so jealous you get to
go to lake Powell that will be SO FUN.
I think you're supposed to send letters to the mission home which stinks because I only get them every six weeks but it's ok.
With so much love,
Lucy Annie
Tell duke I love him and I thought about him tons on his birthday. Tell Adelide congrats!!!! She looks beautiful in all of her pictures. I am so happy you guys got to see Henry! I bet he is so cute. It sounds like he was an amazing missionary. I am so jealous you get to
go to lake Powell that will be SO FUN.
I think you're supposed to send letters to the mission home which stinks because I only get them every six weeks but it's ok.
With so much love,
Lucy Annie
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