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!!!!!!
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
Sorella Brunson
I'm
excited to see you guys!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Inviato da iPad
Inviato da iPad
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