Monday,
January 25, 2016
See You
Later Alligator…
Madoooooo
This week
was so fantastic! Let me just say that this trio is SO FUN. We've been
having way, way too much fun. I've got some stellar stuff to talk about.
First off,
I forgot to talk about how I sang in church last week. And it wasn't
even in a choir. It was just me, Sorella Dew, and Anziano Blackwell. I'm
really not the best singer.... So that was interesting. The mission has
you do so many things you would never do in real life. Then that night I
sang AGAIN for a young women's activity. Dad, don't sign me up to sing
some solos in church. I'm not down for that.
The
senior couple here (the Hansens) are leaving tomorrow. The new couple (the Fitzners) arrived
this week. It has been fun to help them out. We even got permission to
have them over for lunch because they are living in a hotel.
Because we are taking care of two areas at once, this week I ended up on
an exchange with both the senior couples. I never thought I would have an
experience being a 5th wheel in my mission, but it totally happened.
Just two couples, and Sorella Brunson. Classic. I love senior
couples so much though. We threw a surprise party for the Hansens this
week and it was wonderful seeing all the members of their ward who came
and how many people they have touched. Those of you who are retired and
have the means, go on a senior couple mission. Your grandkids will be
more blessed as you serve the Lord than if you stay home with them.
This week
at English course I was talking to one of the students who speaks
English pretty well. She's like a 70 year old lady. As she was leaving I
said, "See you later alligator." I thought she'd be really confused
but she looked right at me and said, "in a while crocodile." This
random Italian lady! I died laughing it was so unexpected! Italians
never fail to surprise me.
Speaking
of how awesome Italians are, I just want to explain one of my favorite
parts of Italian culture. Saluting. Saluting means kissing people on the
cheek to say goodbye (or hello). So let's say you're at a big party with
25 people. And you have to leave. In America you just stand up, wave a
hand, and scamper out the door. In Italy if you say, "Ok bye
everyone." Everyone stands up and you salute (kiss on the check) EVERYONE
in the room personally. It's so cool. Let's say you say goodbye, you salute
some people, but them someone needs to talk to you and you end up
staying another twenty minutes. You salute EVERYONE. AGAIN. I love it. I
love how loving these people are. I love how much they love food, and
how honest they are, and how giving. I love how important their families
are to them, and how loud they are, and how much they use their hands
when they talk. It's gonna be tough to leave these people.
Another
cool thing happened this week. We felt like we should stop by a member’s
house and had a little bit more time before we had to be home. We
stopped by and it was exactly what she needed. She called us angels and started making us pasta and
dinner. (Even though we told her a million times we just wanted to pass
by haha). She said, "Sorelle,
I don't really have much in the house right now but we will see what I
can whip up." Five minutes later we were seated down to a table with
cheese, crackers, olives, bread, pasta, nuts, dessert and Coke. It was
legit a gourmet meal. Americans version of "whipping things up" is
Mac and cheese.haha. Comunque it was so wonderful talking to this member.
She's pretty lonely and both her children are inactive, which is really
hard for her. I just have loved experiences like this in the mission.
Feeling like you should stop by to see someone and then making their day
(but really they end up making your day). So great.
We had a
way sick experience in Trani this week! Leonarda lives there, remember
her? Well I told a story a couple weeks ago about how we had found some
information for people who used to be taught in Trani 20 years ago. This
week when we went there we found an address and decided to go try and
see if this man wanted to hear more about the gospel again. So us three
missionaries and Leonarda (the member) hit the town. We didn't have a
very good map and got lost. Classic Sorella Brunson. We asked some
people and walked around in circles for a while. I was at the point of
giving up when Sorella Taylor piped in..."we could pray..." So
we did. We found a quite spot on the side
of the
road and said a quick prayer that we could find he street we were
looking for. We ended the prayer, walked for 20 seconds and then Leonarda
said, "Sorelle, look! The street is right here!" We walked up to
the first door in the street and found the guy's name on it. He came
down the stairs and was shocked to see us! It was the same man who the
missionaries had taught twenty years before! We talked to him and the
spirit filled the room. I could see him remembering all the things he
had felt 20 years earlier. We talked for a while and he told us we could
come back next Saturday. It was a wonderful experience!
This Sunday the
ward asked me to give a departing talk. It was such a cool
experience. I talked about the importance of loving one another and got
to share some cool experiences from my mission. This ward is so
wonderful, and the bishop thanked me for my service. It felt good to be
thanked. It was such a great Sunday. I really do feel at home here.
Ahhh man.
Ok last
awesome thing. One of the members in the Poggiofranco ward had a mom who
recently passed away. The tradition here is a month after the funeral to
meet together again and talked about who passed away. The member invited
us, so we went. We watched a slideshow of the pictures of this wonderful
woman who has passed away. Then she had us share a spiritual thought. We
were able to testify of Jesus Christ and that death is not the end. The
majority of the people there were non- members. The spirit was so strong
and I was just hit by how lucky I am to have the hope that I have. To
know that whatever happens, everything will be ok because of Christ's
sacrifice for me. Nothing
will be
perfect, but in the end everything will work out. It was a powerful
night.
I guess
that's what I've got for this week. We had too many sweet things happen.
I could probably keep writing forever. As you guys know.....I'm coming
home in a week. Daaaah. Next week I'll write an email but it'll probably
be short because I won't have much time. So this is kinda like the last
one. I wish I had something super profound to say.....really all I can
say is this has been the best 18 months of my life so far. I have
learned so much. There is literally nothing better than serving my
Heavenly Father every day. I love the people here. Oh I love them! I
know that the message that we carry is one of great importance. I hope I
never stop sharing it! I also need to thank everyone for all the
prayers, letters, and support I've received during my mission. I really
can't thank everyone enough!!!!!!
The
gospel is true, the Book of Mormon is true, we have a living prophet to
guide us today. After centuries of being lost, the church of Jesus Christ
is on the earth again. We have a loving Heavenly Father whose goal is
for us to come home to Him.
Life is
good.
I love
gelato. And pizza. And pasta. And bread. And cheese......I'm just gonna
finish ‘cause I really could keep going forever.
Vi
voglio bene!
Sorella
Brunson
I'm
excited to see you guys!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Inviato
da iPad
