Read about Katie's adventures as a missionary
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Ciao ciao ciao ciao                                                                        Monday, October 6, 2014
Guess what?
Chicken butt. 
And also... it’s my TWO MONTH MARK TODAY! Wow.  Time has flown.  So fast.  And also gone so slow hahaha.  I feel like I will be on my mission for the rest of my life.  Which would kinda be fine with me cause I loooove it.  But I miss you all as well, don’t worry. 

Thank you for the weather forecast!  We literally never know the weather.  This week we got caught in two more storms.  haha one of them was literally so bad.  The rain was pounding and we had to go to a bar and wait it out.  It’s not weird to go to bars here by the way.  It’s different.  So ya the forecast is much appreciated.  I’m going to write it in my planner.  

Was conference good for everyone else?  I can’t tell if I loved it just because I’m a missionary or because it was super stellar?  Everyone has been asking how I watched it.  We watched the Saturday morning session at 6:00 at the church.  Except Bishop didn’t tell us he told someone from the ward they could watch it there....so we had to watch it in Italian. bleeh that was hard.  Turns out I don’t speak much Italian...haha.  The Saturday night session we watched Sunday morning in English.  Then the Sunday morning session we watched at 6:00 on Sunday night in Rome (because people were watching it in the church in Ladispoli in Italian).  Conference is like Christmas here in the mission.  We bought some food and ate lots of stuff and had a mini party.  It was way fun.  

I’m glad that dad and the boys had fun at conference.  I’m glad that they got to go.  What a neat experience.  Kevin, I’m sure Elder Uchtdorf was looking right at you and I’m glad you enjoyed the bathrooms so much hahhahahaha.  I watched Priesthood session actually, it was really good!  And I bet the choir live was super great.  Emma, good job being goalie, I’m sorry you got hit in the face.  yikes.  Mom awesome job with the shower!! Goodness you are an awesome lady.  Did you know that?  Cause you should.  haha from your letters I can tell that 90 percent of your life is serving others.  And 10 percent is doing fun stuff.  You are such an example.  Do you want to come live in Italy and we can use you to help us?  Thanks. 

I’m not sure what do without questions to answer!  haha its very strange.  Let me first tell you that this week has been amazing.  I know I say this every week, but I really mean it this week.  IT has been amazing.  Last week we were frustrated because we only really had two investigators.  And only one was progressing.  So bleeh.  We have been working hard though.  This week we got (drum roll please, hold your breath, be excited) 5 NEW INVESTIGATORS.  Sister Marquis said that has rarely ever happened in her mission.  I’m not sure if this is interesting to you all but I’ll tell you a little bit about them. 

Dominica (yes, her name means "sunday" haha no coincidence).  We met her at English course.  She has been coming for a while.  I was giving a spiritual thought at the end of English course and she raised her hand and said, "What do you believe about the afterlife? because my nephew died in a car accident this week" (that’s why I love the Italians, they just say things they think, instead of skirting around it.  It’s cool).  So we explained a little and after English course I ran after her and told her we could teach her more!  And we did and it was awesome.   

Anna and Paola: Also came to English course.  They took a BoM and said they wanted to learn more.  We taught them the restoration and they loved it!  We love them soooooo much. haha they are the best.  We are teaching them this week and going to get pizza with them.  They have a daughter named Samuela and she’s 16.  She needed help with her English history homework.  YES EVERYONE.  I got to TEACH HER HISTORY IN ENGLISH. It was the best thing of my life.  

Tamara: The mom of a previous investigator.  We’ve been trying to teach her and now she finally said we could!  

Federica: Came to English course, came up to us and said she wanted to know more!  She is 25 and trying to make lots of decisions.  She is beautiful!!!!!!!!!  

Those are the five. I love them sooo much!  In fact, I love them so much that I now understand how much Heavenly Father loves all of us.  It’s amazing.  

Oh I keep forgetting so listen up.  Here is my address!! You can send me letters directly and I’ll probably get them!
  
Sorella Kathryn Brunson
Via Flavia 21
00055 Ladispoli RM
Italy

Can I have all the kids emails? Tyler? Kevin? I have Amanda’s.
Also can you send me some information about converting Kilocalories to calories?  I can’t tell how many calories food has because the information is in kilocalories!  Thanks :) 

Ok you said you wanted to know more about life in Italy.  So let me tell you a little bit.  

1) Italians are very affectionate.  For those of you that know me.....I’m not exactly someone that loves to be wrapped in a warm embrace for an extended period of time.  Let me tell you this story. 
There’s a lady in our ward.  She’s great.  But loving.  Very loving.  This happened my first Sunday but I forgot to tell you.  So this lady was talking to Sister Marquie and took her in this warm embrace and hugged her forever.  And I was like "phew, good thing it’s my first Sunday and this lady doesn’t know me.  I’ll totally get away with a handshake today.  All of the sudden, the lady grabs me and starts hugging me.  My nose and mouth got stuck in her arm and body.  So I literally COULD NOT BREATHE.  Like I was suffocating.  She was hugging me and kept hugging me and still was hugging me and I wasn’t even breathing!!!!!!  Finally I made a "ahh I’m suffocating in here" type noise and she released me.  That’s when I knew that this country was crazy.  In a good way.  

2) Italians tell you what they think.  And correct your Italian.   Italians are super nice at helping me with Italian.  But they correct me like as I’m talking haha.  I gave a spiritual thought and they were finishing my sentences for me.  It was funny. I love them so much! 

3) Italian food is delicious.  But not always nutritious.  Mostly not nutritious.  Ok, here is my sort of sad story about the beginning of the week.  Here in Italy they have this thing called "Kabob."  It’s where they have this hunk of meat and they slice meat off it and put it in a taco thing.  It’s really hard to explain.  Anyway, it’s a LOT of meat but really good.  So everyone told me I needed to get my first Kabob.  I’m not one to ever turn down food, so we went to grab one.  I scarfed that thing right down cause let’s face it, I’m always hungry.  Everyone had warned me that kabobs are good, but you might experience "kabob remorse" in the form of stomach issues....... but I ate it anyway cause everyone says it’s worth it, even if you get the remorse.  
The next morning I woke up SICKER THAN A DOG.  Ahhh it was terrible.  I almost threw up major.  But we had district meeting and a day full of missionary work so I pressed on.  I almost threw up on the train hahha.  I held it in though cause I figured people don’t really like it when you throw up on them.  I was sick all day but I took a nap and took it easy.  It was terrible though I can’t lie.  I was sick for sort of two dayish.  I’m NEVER EATING KABOB AGAIN.  haha.  

Information about my health; haha my health is good, besides the above experience.  I haven’t really had headaches at all but still take my medicine every other or every 3 days.  I’m not really stressed cause life is soooo good.  

Before I go one more story briefly
I was really hungry this week and hadn’t eaten anything like all day (my bowels were back to normal after the kabob experience).  We were headed home on the train because we went to Ostia to play beach volleyball for pday.  I was so hungry but didn’t want to buy anything.  We met this lady we were talking to that was on a cruise that stopped in Rome and she pulled out of nowhere these HAM ROLLS WITH REAL BUTTER ON THEM.  And she was like "we bring these to give away" (she was speaking English) and I was like NO WAY.  So this week Heavenly Father gave me a miracle ham sandwich.  And that’s how I know He really does love me sooo much.  haha it was delicious.  

So spiritually please let me tell you that I love teaching the gospel.  The more you learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church, the simpler it becomes.  I cannot believe that I get to help people every day come closer to Jesus Christ.  That’s what the Church is all about!  I wish everyone could know how much Heavenly Father loves them!  In two months I’ve mostly learned that Heavenly Father loves His children.  If you don’t know that, pray, and ask.  He will help you to know!  He loves us no matter who we are or what decisions we make.  He will always love us.   PLEASE this week pray to find that out if you don’t know.  Even if you think you know, pray anyway.  I promise as a missionary called of God that Heavenly Father will help you to know that He loves you if you ask.  

Thanks for being awesome!  I love you all!! 
Much love, 

Sister Brunson

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