When In Rome....

Dear Family and Friends,                                                           Monday, November 17, 2014

Happy birthday yesterday Mom!!!!  It sounds like you had a ton of fun.  I can’t lie, that Country Mercantile ice cream looked dang good.  Also I miss avocado, they don’t really have it here, and if they do it’s really expensive.  

Also, SHOUT OUT TO ADAM OTTLEY.  Happy birthday this week.  You are a fantastic Uncle.  You should move here and be a doctor.  The Drs here are pretty sketchy........

Awesome job at your debate tournament Amanda!  Email me about it, that’s sweet.  I prayed for you ALL WEEKEEND.

First, let me tell you why I’m stressed.  I probably won’t get the package you sent to the apartment directly.  I’m so sorry!  I should have made it more clear that things sent directly to apartments usually don’t get there.  People normally steal them.  Ahhh I feel so bad!  I hope it wasn’t anything expensive.  I’m really, really sorry!!!!  Also, more bad news.  I talked to someone in the office and he said sometimes it’s really expensive to pick up packages that are sent to the mission office.  So I’m pretty nervous about how much it is going to cost to pick it up the Christmas package you are planning on mailing.  They said sometimes it costs a lot but sometimes it doesn’t.  I’m sorry if it costs a lot of money!! Ugh I’m sorry this stinks!!!!!  I feel so bad mom.  I know it takes a lot of work to send packages and I’m sorry I might not get the one you sent to the apartment. Tell me it’s ok and that you still love me!!! 

Ok, I don’t have a ton of time because we had to go to Rome to write emails this week because the Internet point in Ladispoli is closed.  But here’s what I have for you for this week!!!!! 

It was a harder week than last week, that’s for dang sure.  haha we went from 5 investigators at church to getting A LOT of bidones (when they don’t show up to the appointment).  So that was hard.  Real hard.  But we still had fun and loved the gospel and got to teach some people.  None of our simps came to church yesterday either.  haha ya It was a bummer for sure.

 Also this week we invited a lot of people to be baptized who said no.  And then, I kid you not, ALL OF THEM hugged us afterwards.  We were getting some serious rejection hugs.  haha it was really weird.

Quote of the week from me and Sorella Marquis "well, at least we are baptized."  At the end of the day that’s a big relief hahaha.

Our water got turned back on. Pheeew. Funny story though.  We went to our neighbors to figure out if they had water or if it was just us without it.  BUT the problem was we are missionaries hahaha.  It’s a serious issue trying to get people to help you when you have name tags on and look like missionaries.  We could hear them all inside but no one would open their door. haha the life of a missionary.  We finally got our landlord to open his door.  He helped us turn a knob and get it fixed but was suuuper mean to us.  So ya that was an adventure haha. 

Mom, I had the best hot cocoa EVER.  Our simp. Domenica makes it.  It’s literally pure chocolate and is so so so so so so good.  You would love it. 

Also this week some kid asked us if Americans eat cocaine for breakfast.  The teenagers here...they struggle for REALS.

Kevin and Emma. I went up to someone at English course this week and instead of speaking English to them, I spoke jibberish like we always used to do. hahaha it was literally so so funny.  He was like "COME?!" which means "WHAT??!?!" haha it was greeeeeat. 

This week I remembered that we used to eat Saltine crackers and peanut butter after church.  That was the best.  You should do that this week.

Did you all know that obi won kanobi (no idea how to spell that) is ALSO A SINGER? There is nothing more disturbing for me than trying to imagine a Jedi singing.  

When it rains here it’s kinda hard.  We called someone to see if they were coming to English course yesterday and they said, "I’ll come back when the weather is better" haha.  That’s how Italians are.  If it’s raining life stops as we know it. But it’s all good.  

This week was zone conference! I almost forgot!!!!!!!  It was really really good.  I learned a ton about how to be a super stupendous missionary and got to see some fun people.  It took up all of our Monday night and Tuesday though because we slept in Rome on Monday night. Zone conference is just a bunch of training really.  President talks to us and then the zone leaders, aps, and sister training leaders.  We talked about obedience, baptism invites, and finding people to teach.  It was cool.  Also we ate lunch so that was of course yummy.   And the oranges here are SO GOOD.  I may or may not have eaten four of them in one sitting.  hahaa.

Yes, President Eyring is here. No, we didn’t see him.  He went to church at Rome 1 ward on Sunday so NO ONE was in our ward yesterday haha. So that was a bummer that we didn’t get to see him.  I’m not sure if he will talk to the missionaries.  The conference at the Vatican is on Tuesday so there is still a possibility to hear from him.

   

Sorry this is a really random email.  This week was good though, even though people are sometimes hard to teach, life is still SO GOOD.  I love the constant peace I feel.  I think it is because I know that no matter what happens, the atonement of Jesus Christ is there to help me out and everyone out.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there to help.  It’s pretty awesome. 

I think that’s about it for this week.  I love you all!  Keep doing awesome. 

Lots of love,

Sorella Brunson