CIBO

Written 3-19-14

 

It's true.  Life in Italy revolves around food, sleep and missionary work.  So last pday we just walked around Savona.  What a privilege it is to live here in this beautiful city next to the sea

So one part of missionary work is to help people with any projects.  We were able to clean Sorella S.'s house and it was awesome.  It's amazing how when we serve someone, it immediately lifts our spirits.  

So I got a shiny new bike this week because my old one literally died.  The M. family in our ward came with us to the Decathlon (aka BIG 5 times ten) and drove the bike back in their car.  It is so much easier to ride around Savona now because my brakes aren't dying and neither is my back.  YAY!

So our investigator G. finally came to church this week.  It was so wonderful to see her and her beautiful family.  They left after sacrament but we're hoping they come again.  We taught them about the temple and it was a beautiful lesson.  

So we're working with a new family from India.  A., his wife, N. and their daughter A.  We had another appointment with them but we got the times mixed up and they weren't expecting us.  But they let us in.  We answered more of their questions.  They confessed they hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon so we challenged them to start reading it.  Then the husband A. announced that he's going back to India for three months for education.  We're not sure exactly what we're going to do with this family but we're hoping that the missionaries in India will teach the husband and we can continue teaching the wife and daughter.  They gave us dried plantation banana chips, these clear, crunchy potato chip things and this gummy purple Indian dessert called Aluva.  Mom do you know what that is?  Can you research it for me please?  It was delicious. 

Sunday the Relief Society president and her husband invited us for lunch.  It was the best lunch of my life.  It was a 6 course italian feast.  We started off with olives, salami, prosciutto, 5 different kinds of bread and bread sticks, deviled eggs, these puffed pastry things filled with cheese.  Then came the pesto covered pasta and the pasta covered in a mushroom sauce.  Then came the curried turkey leg, salad, peppers drenched in olive oil, and more bread.  Following that was the egg plant with herbs and mozzarella cheese on top, more veggies and other goodies.  Then the fruit... I ate an orange and kiwis.  Finally dessert which was this creamy cheese stuff that tasted like icecream covered in a strawberry sauce and homemade tiramisu.  We ate over a span of three hours so I wasn't dying after.  We finished off with tea.  There was another family there and they spoke french so we were speaking Italian, French and English all at the same table.  AMAZING!  Also this family lives up in the mountains of Finale Ligure so they live in Italian paradise.  

Monday was an awesome zone conference.  The theme was that the power behind us as missionaries is greater than the obstacles in front of us.  I bawled the entire time and met amazing new missionaries.  I absolutely love all the missionaries here.  

Yesterday we had an absolutely amazing experience.  We went to W and L's house.  W wasn't there but L. was.  We sang hymns for him and played the piano.  He is really old and has really bad health and suffers a lot.  He then told us more about his life.  He is such an example to me of persevering to the end even when life is so incredibly difficult.  

Thank you everyone for all of your love, support and prayers.  The mission is hard but I've seen more blessings and refinement now in my life than ever!

The scripture this week is Ether 12:27

the challenge this week is to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help you have an experience where you are in the right place and the right time for that miracle to happen.

The word of the week is sbadigliare (sbaw-dee-lee-are-ay).  It means Yawn.

Love,

Sorella Hatch

Spring is coming

Written 3-12-14

 

Buon Giorno Tutti!

So life is perking up and spring is coming.  So we had amazing things this week.  First off, last p day I started talking with a man, A. at our internet point.  He's from India and he speaks English perfectly.  I got his information and a few days later we booked an appointment with him and his family last night.  They are catholic but it was an absolute miracle lesson.  We taught in half English and Italian because his wife N. speaks Italian and their native language Malayalam (P.S. that word is a palindrome... I know awesome right?) and he speaks English.  The spirit was so strong and they accepted a book of Mormon and immediately promised to read it.  They said they would come to church if their daughter A. is feeling better (she had a cold) and that if they received a testimony that it is true they would be baptized.  They also live just down the street from us.  It was hilarious because we had to leave but he looked at us and said his wife was bringing us snacks and that "It's very rude to not finish your plate".  We couldn't finish an entire plate of dried banana chips but they asked what we liked and not gonna lie, a dinner appointment of fresh indian food would be divine.  We were on cloud nine after the lesson and they were smiling and repeatedly thanked us for our time.  We're crossing our fingers.  

So a shout out to all you Romanian missionaries that I miss.. we are teaching a woman named Anna.  I think she's from Bucharest but not quite sure.  Anyways we met her on the street but she wouldn't give us her number.  We finally ran into her the other day and got an appointment at the church.  We gave her a tour of the church and she just lit up when she saw the picture of Christ.  We gave her a Book of Mormon in Romanian (which she started reading out loud and it was the coolest thing ever to hear native romanian... you're language is awesome!).  She immediately said that she would pray to know if it is true.  Also she asked about our sacrament.  We said we use bread and water and she immediately launched into a spiel about how John wrote that blood and water, not blood and wine, came out of Christ when he was pierced.  She is sooo smart.  So she's in Romania this week so if you run into her tell her hi for us.  Hope all the work in Romania is awesome!

We're working with our less active D. and studying Preach My Gospel with her.  It was an awesome lesson.  She wants to learn and really grasp the material.  I'm hoping this will help her start coming back to church.

So my bike is officially broken.  The tire is bent, the chain is officially, falling off, the brakes are dying again and the seat is too short.  I didn't get in a crash or anything... It's just dying.  We may be on foot this week but who knows.  

So Monday we went to an awesome district meeting and then we were going to go to Albenga.  But Sorella Bennett felt like we should go back to Savona.  Lo and behold all our appointments fell through for Albenga so we had to go back to Savona.  It was a miracle day.  We saw 7 different investigators/less actives that we haven't seen in ages.  We just kept running into them and we got in tons of prayer lessons (a verse and a prayer).  It was a huge testimony to me that this is the Lord's work and sometimes he'll shake things up a bit.  We have to be in tune with the spirit to follow it.  

Thank you everyone for the letters.  They mean so much and are a huge strength.  You are amazing!

Sunday was a day of miracles.  We got cookies, Mimosa flowers, a card and a family drew a picture of me for Festa della donna or Women's day.  I was feeling a little discouraged and worried about a lot of things.  When I received the picture, it was a testimony to me of the tender mercies that we receive from our Heavenly Father every day.  

So I finally checked the scale and have gained about 10 pounds since I got here.  Go figure since everything is white flour, carbs, sugar and comes in mass quantities.  But I'm happy to report that I've found one effective way to combat the weight gain and it's working.  I've stopped drinking milk and eating cereal.  I'm already starting to lose the weight and stabilize a little more.  I still eat cheese and yogurt and gelato so I won't become lactose intolerant.  

So we met with W. and walked around Sportono with her.  We saw this house that was literally falling off a hill.  It was tilting and there were tons of police and specialist people every where.  It was pretty darn cool.

Last p day was amazing.  We went to the Duomo aka massive cathedral here in Italy.  The architecture, paintings, ceilings, furniture, everything was old Renaissance Catholic Italy.  It was absolutely stunning and blew my mind.  They even had the skeletons of prominent priests in these glass coffins... that was a bit morbid and creepy.  After that we went and got farinata with our English class.  We had 21 people crammed into this teeny restaurant.  Farinata is basically a flower cracker thing that is fried and it's either white or yellow based on the flour.  It was absolutely delicious.  We also had this goat cheese that was outstanding.  Food, cibo, buonissimo.  

The biggest thing I've learned this week is about the spirit.  I've been struggling to have the spirit with me constantly but through personal study and experiences, I've learned that when we pray and truly desire to have the spirit with us, Heavenly Father will bless us.  Through the spirit I've felt so much comfort, love and joy from Him.  Lessons have been going better and my confidence as missionary is increasing.  It's still hard work but it's going awesome.  

Love you all and miss you!

Scripture of the week:  3 Nephi 11:11

Word of the week:  Farinata (Far-ee-naw-ta)

Challenge for the week:  Change one thing in your life to be able to feel the spirit stronger.

Slow Down

Written on 3-5-14

 

That's what I've done this week.  Slow down and go back to the basics.

Thomas:  I have an investigator that told me to wish you happy birthday.  I forgot to write it in my email last week.  AUGURI.  (Ow-goo-ree)

This week I learned a few words.  First of all, the word spaghetti literally means multiple noodles.  If you have one noodle it is spaghetto.  Also, in the states we use the word lasagna.  Lasagna actually means only one of the lasagna noodles.  The proper word for a pan of lasagna is Lasagne (la-zawn-yay) because it becomes plural when you add the E.  Also Halloween is a new holiday in Italy, only about 5 years old.  I was in English class and asked if the phrase trick or treat existed.  It does.  "dolcetto scherzetto." (Dole-che-toe-scare-set-toe) Fun right?  I love learning new Italian fun phrases.  

This week I also learned never ever again to eat torte verde (a pastry filled with spinach that is extremely rich), Focaccia formaggio (focaccia aka white bread drowned in olive oil with formaggio cheese aka super creamy fatty cheese inside) and focaccia with cheese and ham inside it all in one setting.  My companion and I were so sick for hours.  Yet it is all deliciously worth it in a weird way.  

So we lost all of our baptism dates.  None of them are coming to church or progressing.  But the work moves forward.  We've been doing tons of passbys, and other lessons.  But one of our less actives finally came to church.  During testimony meeting she bore her testimony and asked the elders in the middle of her testimony to come teach her son.  It was a funny moment but it was also a blessing for us and the branch.  

So apparently there was a chocolate festival in Savona and Sorella Bennett and I thought we would attend it today for P day.  Yeah it ended last Sunday.  We were pretty bummed but now that is on my bucket list.  And luckily there's never an end of chocolate here.  

We had a scambio where we switched companions with our sister training leaders.  I went with the beautiful Sorella McCan back to Genova and Sorella Bennett stayed with Sorella Lyman in Savona.  What a blessing that was.  Sorella McCan and I taught an incredible lesson to A.  Apparently A. wasn't interested in the church at all but we taught her the restoration and she accepted everything on the spot.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said the closing prayer at the end of the lesson.  The spirit was so strong and Sorella McCan and I taught as smooth as butter (and belive me, I'm in Italy.  I know butter.)  I'm sad I won't be able to teach her again but so grateful for that lesson.  But that day I got to see J. again.  Last time we scambioed I taught J. with Sorella Durfee.  It was so awesome to see him again and help him learn a little bit of English.  The Lord works in awesome mysterious ways.  At the end of the day we got the best dessert I've ever had in my life.  We got gelato but:  They filled the cone with warm nutella and then chocolate and strawberry gelato on top.  Let's just say I was in dessert heaven for an hour as I savored every last bit of it.  Nutella makes the world go round.  When we got back to the apartment I witnessed how we can be angels for others.  So (without too much detail) this transfer has been extremely rough for me.  There's been a lot of trials and extremely hard situations.  When I got to the sisters I laid there on the bed bawling my eyes out as one of the sisters gave me a shoulder massage, we listened to uplifting church music and all of them gave me words of encouragement and strenght.  I will be eternally grateful to these sisters.  I was able to vent to Sorella McCan and she helped me think of more solutions to handle everything.  I've made some changes and everything is sooo much better.   

We taught P. again and met her husband A.  They are both extremely strong catholic but that lesson was one of the most spiritual this week.  They are amazing.  We taught the restoration and they understood all of it.  We gave them a Book of Mormon and invited them to begin reading it.  It's amazing to see the look on an investigators face when they feel the spirit for the first time.  This peaceful look comes on their face and you can tell they are surprised and relaxed for probably the first time in a long time.  

Family and friends thank you sooooo much for your letters.  I got the package mom and thank you thank you.  Sydney, your announcement is sooooo sooooooo cute and you are gorgeous.  

We taught V again.  I love her soooo much.  We talked about how we are children of God and reminded her how she is a daughter of God.  I could tell that she didn't know that for herself.  But I felt the most overwhelming love for her from our Heavenly Father that He knows her and loves her.  That experience helped strengthen my testimony of that.  I can say that I know with all my heart that we are children of a Heavenly being.  Heavenly Father knows our every aspect of our hearts and minds better than we do.  His son Jesus Christ knows what we love, what our frustrations are and the little things that bug us.  He also has an infinite amount of solutions for our trials.  All we have to do is ask.  He literally walks by our side with His hand stretched out.  Asking is hard and can be uncomfortable.  But when we sincerely ask for strength, love, friendship, the Savior will give it to us.

Also this week the small miracle was nutella.  I had decided to buy nutella today because I've craved it for an entire transfer.  So V. received a 12 pound jar of nutella... yes such things do exist.  It's bigger than my head.  She literally gave us half the jar in a container.  We have about six months of nutella now... if it's eaten sparingly.  I hadn't been praying my guts out for it, but that was a small miracle to me because it showed me that Heavenly Father knows exactly my wants and needs every moment.  He knew that I wanted Nutella but was hesitant to spend money on it.  

Wow I guess this week revolves around miracles and nutella.

Anyways love you all sooo sooooooo much!  

Scripture for the week:  Helaman 14:8

Words of the week:  Lasagne, Spaghetto, Dolcetto Scherzetto

Challenge for the week:  Pray to be an angel in someone's life.  

Gem Cleaning

This post was written on 2-19-14

Buon Giorno Tutti!

So on Monday we cleaned the ENTIRE apartment.  It took us from 8:00 in the morning to 5 in the evening.  We literally cleaned EVERYTHING.  But not gonna lie the apartment smells really good now and we hardly had to do any cleaning for P day this morning.  

Good news.  THERE ARE ANZIANI NOW IN SAVONA.  We have Anziano Christensen and a greenie coming to Verazza, a city close to Savona.  This is a huge blessing for us.  Sisters cannot visit single men so we are able to give tons of scedas (records of investigators) to the Elders.  We are hoping that the work will really take off soon and that the church will grow.

So Sunday we had 3 investigators and 4 inactives at church.  WOW!  We've kinda plateaued right now so that was a miracle.  We also had a couple from a cruise who spoke English and a family from California because the husband is stationed in Italy right now.  It was so weird to be greeted by someone with an American accent.  But sacrament meeting was so spiritual.  The talks were fantastic and sitting next to one of our inactives, hearing him sing the hymns... it was priceless.

So please please pray for our branch.  The members are not as involved with the work as we would like and we are struggling to grow.  But with faith and effort, we will achieve the goals we have.  

Yesterday we had an awesome appointment with one of our less actives V.  she received a 12 pound jar of Nutella from an admirer for Valentines Day.  So we made crepes and helped her eat it.  DELICIOUS!  We also shared with her the book of Enos.  She shared a beautiful experience of how prayer has helped her life.  There was a wonderful spirit there.

So we visited a less active D.  D hasn't come to church in a long time and we've stopped by the house before she's just never been there.  Well she was finally there.  Half way into the conversation, come to find out that she does martial arts... in fact she does jiu jitsu and krav... aka the ones I do.  We bonded instantly.  To have someone in the mission who shares my passion, it felt amazing.  We talked about fighting for a while and then the conversation moved on.  All of the sudden she asked us to start reading preach my gospel with her.  She used to be a ward missionary and wants to start studying it again.  The spirit truly works changes in people's hearts.  

So how's the language, well I can understand about 80% now of what people say.  My goal is to understand 100% by the end of this month.  I know I can do it.  

We had a wonderful appointment with a less active Sorella N.  A friend had recently passed away and she wanted to know where we go after death.  We were able to teach her about the spirit world, resurrection and that families can be together forever.  We committed her to start preparing to go to the temple and it was a beautiful lesson.  

Thank you to everyone for the beautiful valentines day cards.  They are so lovely!  I truly felt the love from home.  Thank you thank you thank you.  

So I had a cold all week but it has finally lifted.  I have a new appreciation for my health now.  Now it's time to start losing all the pasta, pizza and sugar pounds that have accumulated this transfer.

Love you all sooooo much!  

The scripture for this week Alma 37:6-7

The challenge for this week:  Set a goal for this week and plan out how to accomplish it.  Then ask Heavenly Father for help to do it.  I promise if you do this, you will see how he helps you everyday to accomplish that goal.

Phrase of the week:  Lui Ci Ama.  (Loo-ee Chee Ahma) God loves us.

Buon Settimana

Sorella Hatch