09/25/13

Heyyyyyy Everybody!!!!!!!

 

Just sending my weekly I’m alive email!!!! Lol

 

Hey Mom when you went to education week did you go to a lesson by Brad Pearce??? Cause his daughter is my roommate and he taught about raising well-rounded children or something Haha

 

A LOT of funny stories this week cause I actually wrote them down....

 

STORY ONE: Last week at FHE  this lady brought Pizza so I open it up to start to cut it and ya know what’s on it? Octopus. Like.... mini Octopus.  So I squeal and close it and yell "é QUELLO VERO????" And they confirmed, yes- that’s real. And the lady just starts laughing and opens the box back up and picks up one of the mini octopus and eats half. I died a million deaths and refused to cut that pizza. Oh hecka ew. I also found out eating Horse is totally normal here and we found Canned horse at the store today... just casually doing some shopping....  then the Anziani showed us a video of them eating with some members for dinner and guess what they were eating... Duck Fetus.

I miss America.

 

STORY TWO: I got to watch The Best Two Years with a sick member this week- dude that is a mission...... it is like the same EXCEPT we would never be that dis obedient.... lol I don’t think we are physically or mentally capable.

 

STORY THREE: I have had a problem this week and all I want is popcorn and I have had it for Pranzo.... Lunch 3 times this week. It never gets old.

 

STORY FOUR: Our washing machine broke like two weeks ago so we had to wash our clothes in the wisk for a while and I know I have mentioned this but they don’t have dryers here in Italy. Totally not a thing, so our clothes took FOREVER to dry cause they weren’t being spun. So we got a new one and one of my roommates says after a couple of days- OH NO ITS BROKEN!!!!! So they mess with it a little while, drain it, while she hangs her cloths to dry and we knowwwww its gunna be at least 4 days till those are dry and then after they have gone through all this week, translating this Italian manual I yell- "Did you guys make sure the power switch is on?" there is like a light switch on the wall that has to be on as well with everything on the machine....

They yell back "WHAT???????!!!!!!!" hahahahaha Sooooooo They forgot there was a power switch and all their work was for nothing. Good times... Only two hours wasted of their lives right??

 

STORY FIVE:

I had this really brilliant Idea to wear red lipstick to church and it was all great and normal and then we go to third hour- Sacrament meeting. And there is this REALLY cute little 5 year old boy and we were playing with each other in the back of the chapel and I smeared my lipstick and he thought it was SOOOO FUNNY so we just start making faces at each other and were just having fun. Well after like 15 minutes of this I obviously FORGOT I had done this too my face and started talking to this member who said I should probably go to the bathroom and my companion looks over and just BURTS out laughing and I didn’t get it!!!! Hahaha So a couple more members come over and start laughing anddddd I remember...... That was soooooooo awkward. -_____- Right in the middle of sacrament. GOOD TIMES.

 

STORY SIX: Well we were hunting down this apartment and this man tries to stop us to "ask us for directions"..... ya I am not stupid....... and so Sorella Haslem immediately reaches for her Pepper Spray in case we find ourselves in trouble, anddddddddd she pushes the unlock a litttttle too quickly and just sprays....... So I just said "Sorry this isn’t our zone" and pull her away in her coughing fit and two seconds later her face and throat are burning cause she touched her face Hahahahaha Don’t worry about us. We have everything under controllllll Hahaha Best believe we went home after that hahaha

 

STORY SEVEN: We went to a Cafe for our 6 Month on a mission mark celebration hahaha And we ask if they had Root Beer....... They said "Sorry we don’t sell beer, but we have Rum, Wine, Ectt...."

  Sooooooo That was awkward. Definitely couldn’t swim our way out of that one. Lol

 

That’s all I can think of this week Hahaha Love you guys!!!!! I will hear from you soon!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

09/18/13

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!! I love you guys

 

Ya the weather here is straight up Bi-polar we will like sweat all day and then be absolutely freezing at night. Lol And now it’s raining some so we have to go hunt down boots with warmness inside that are water proof...... That should be an adventure but I think I am ok coat-wise but I don’t know. I think I am more worried about the shoes sine I have NONE hahaha Nerve racking much????? Lol

SO GLAD you got my letter for the primary- that got there in like a week! I am so surprised!!!!! School is started here so everything is moving faster haha

Ya Dad will probably tell you this but I DID GET THE POPCORN popper, unfortunately I can’t use it... Lol I have to get an adapter cause the wattage is too strong andddd I almost started a fire. It was a good time. Lol

Uhhh about the Whole Insurance info- No worries but on Monday I got a really bad Gluten Reaction cause my companion gave me a cinnamon roll and I just ate it not thinking and ya. That was a lot of gluten and I DIED lol My Whole body just felt like pins were in my blood and it sucked. Butttttt give it three days and it passes. YAY!!!! But I was told to go to the doctor to figure out what was wrong BUT I couldn’t get out of bed so that was impossible BUTTTT now I am fine life is bliss and I will just avoid gluten at all costs. :D Pray for me!

 Best Story aka saddest story in the world: Yesterday we had a lesson with this family from Romania and they talked to us about their circumstances. The Husband was jobless, homeless (They have a barrack) , and he came with his three children and his wife. We were sharing the Restoration with them and were showing him how it will bless his life and he is the most humble person I have ever met. They were all so happy even when they had nothing and were so willing to accept anything God wanted for them. Such a sweet experience that in the closing prayer Sorella Haslem and both the parents were crying. They also got the opportunity to meet Sorell Dibb our Presidents wife so she is in contact with them. SOOO SWEET. I don’t know how other to explain it other than it being emotionally draining to sit there with this family and not even we knew how to help. It was probably the most emotional draining day of my life. More than my P-Blessing, the temple, those things were incredible but I was SOOOO exhausted after that lesson. I could have died. Just help me know how INCREDIBLY blessed I am- That I have NEVER had to be hungry or sleep outside, or anything close to it- Literally my life is bliss. This world is a sick, Beautiful place that I will never understand. Thank goodness all will be made right through the Atonement. That’s all I have to say.

Lol our poor members- It was Serata Familiare that nigh,t so like all the members were there and I couldn’t be in public- and you know me!!! I CANT EVER STOP CRYING!!!! lol SO was like in the bathroom for 20 minutes crying my face off hahaha Our members were like offering me chocolate and I was like PEOPLE DONT EVEN HAVE HOUSES ARE YOU CRAZY??? Hahahahaha It was pathetic.

 

Funny Story of the week: We went to an investigators house to teach and eat which was AMAZING in case you were wondering. Lol Andddddddd she starts off telling us how she came to Italy..... It was terrifying because it was not legally.... in fact not even with her real documents! Soooooo She is like confessing all of this to us like NO BIG DEAL! Hahaha And we just laugh and say "Yaaa ahahaha that’s like not okk... hahaha you can’t be baptized if you are legal hahaha cough COUGH".....

So awkward. So awful.  Man oh man.

 

Anyway I love you all!!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! HAPPY SIX MONTH MARK TO ME!!!!! SEE YOU IN ONE YEAR unless you count skype thennnnnnnnnn 3 months. EEP!

 

09/11/13

I GOT MY PACKAGES!!!!! I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mail day was probably the best day OF MY LIFE. I cried. Not kidding. All day I eat peanut butter with a spoon and in between spoonful’s I eat starbursts. Best things in the world.

Also mom- you are officially a choosey mom- cause you chose JIFF. :D

YAY! I am excited for Tim; I bet he will LOVE being President. It’s kinda a trick calling..... it’s like you have to pay that much more attention in class cause whether you realize it or not you’re an example for the class so you have to pay attention. Bro. Morrison is a very smart man. Man I miss seminary!

That’s cool that Stephen got another house! HOLLA!  His ward sounds great so he should totes rent one for me too. Cool.

Lol Mom I am so proud of you that you have made it an entire 2 weeks without going to Utah! Lol IT’S A RECORD! Lol I can’t wait to join you guys. Also I SUPER miss going to the movies. Wahhhhhhh- Only one year away.... right??????

This week has been pretty great, but I gotta tell you this just... AWKWARD lesson we had with this man I am going to call Phillip. Now.... this guy is just crazy. So we are meeting him at a park and to get to this park you have to walk down this path.... well this path is quite thin.... and here’s a fun fact- It has jumping lizards. Now lizards are EVRYWHERE here, but this path, they jump. OH HECKA EW. So I got to walk all the way down that joyous yellow brick road with lizards crawling over my feet- to get to this lesson. THEN we finally meet up with this guy, and we try to have this really great lesson and he starts tellin us we have to throw our thoughts and feeling to the sky and let the universe help us get on the same time................... ok.... So we struggle through and about half an hour later we just say, OK Can we leave you with a prayer? And would you like to say the closing prayer? So he says SURE! So We fold our arms, and bow our heads and what do you know? He starts singing the American National Anthem.............. Amen.

What?

Either way- I get prouder and prouder to be an American Every Day.

That was by far the highlight of my week hahaha Sorella Haslem aka my Companion got really sick so I have sitting at home wallowing in self-pity :) I'ts pretty fun... cough cough.

HEY WHAT THE FREAK IS GOING ON WITH SERIA, everyone is freaking out about it here so if I could get some updates about what the freak is happening that would be cool. Is America involved with this or joining or anything cause that’s like a hugggeeeee big deal.

 

Also I don’t know if this is a thing in the States but do we have talks on Chastity and Word of Wisdom in sacrament meeting? Or is that an Italian thing? Cause I was sure caught off guard.... Yikes.

My motto for this transfer is SVEGLIATEVI, SCUOTETEVI, ALZATEVI 2 Nephi 1:23. It’s so good. I love it so I just say it every morning and It’s just SO GREAT. Wake Up, Shake it off, and ARISE!!! BOOM!!!!!! Pumper-Upper every day.

I love you guys so much I love hearing about everything. Have a great week!!!!

Sorella Holloway

09/04/13

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You guys all sounds like you are doing great!!!!!!!!!

mom I don’t really know how to help you with a theme- my last too "themes" for a transfer have been.... very 19 year old hahahahaha One was

KEEP CALM and read a HOLLAND TALK

and the other was

Find Your Puddle (Basically stay positive and have fun even in the pouring rain, and if it’s too hot just sweat yourself a puddle) 

So feel free to use those if you would like them :) Hahaha

 

Ya Tim’s schedule sounds kinda crazy- I hope that all works out!!!! Ummmmmmm Sheesh singles ward really? My word. I think he should totally go to activities and Family Home Evening but uhhhhh ya...

Does grandma live in south Jordan? If not I sent her letter to her old address.......

YAY HOUSING!!!!!!!! Ya I am so excited for that!!!!! I miss school a lot actually so it’s fun to hear little updates. Thank so much for looking!!!! Ya Sorella Lopez was in the group Right before me, so I will be going home with her I think.

I don’t know if I explained this, but  my coming home date is September 20th which is a problem because the fall semester has just started, so I will either be going home 6 or three weeks early to go back to school. If I don’t I lose my scholarship. So Really Sorella Lopez and I will be going home the same time..... Hopefully that makes sense. 

 

THIS WEEK WAS SO AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We had the Baptism this Saturday which I can hopefully send some pictures of AND GUESS WHO CAME???? The Mission President Of ROME and of the MILAN mission with their wives. THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN. It was sooooooo coool. And so random and we were all freaking out. Hahahaha Way cool. I sang at the baptism which was terrifying cause I didn’t realize I would be singing for the presidents over all the missionaries in ITALY but whatever, and I am singing at this fireside at the end of September now for GONZ which should be super fun! I am sooooooooo glad I get to sing while I am here since dancing isn’t really an option. 

The work here is really good, one of my favorite times of the week is English class- Hahaha It’s really fun cause they all have accents and then I feel really smart cause I speak English hahahaha it’s like the only time of the week where my brain is fried hahaha

Hey no worries about the whole pepper spray thing- We just learn everyday something new, whether it’s a new area to avoid orrrrrrr a new approach to teaching but learning to protect ourselves is just one of the things on our list of things to learn. WHOOHOO!!! No worries, we have an awesome District Leader and he takes good care of us. 

I love being a missionary and I love my life!

Transfers are TODAY! Hahaha And Sorella Haslem and I are starting the next transfer together. The only change that really affects me is that my sweet Italian roommate leaves for Rome Tomorrow. :((((( And I love her. And she taught me how to make a lot of yummy Italian things. :)))) Hahaha So we get a new roommate and I have only heard amazing things about her so I am excited. YAY!

We get mail when we have a conference which has been....... 9 weeks since our last one so hopefully no more than 4 more weeks till our next one...... The new Mission President has a lot to deal with so that’s just one thing that needs to be put off...... Wah. 

Hope yall have a great week- I love you guys too much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

08/28/13

Don’t want me to get homesick?? PSH.  TOO LATE ahahahaha like 5 months too late hahaha

What a beautiful wedding! I wish I was there, I LOVE the Jason cutout, so classy. Where was mine SHEESH Hahaha

I totally miss our crazy trips to Utah we always had 100 things to do so much fun :)

Education week sounds aammmaazziiinnnggg as usual. Always one of the best weeks of the year! WOOHOO!!!

Are Tim and I really going to miss each other when he goes to serve?..... Like when can he serve? I only have a year left...... hummm super not ok with me. maybe we can pull a Jay and Jenna type scam.....

 

My week here had straight up been hard. My companion got the flu so that was a good time, missionary work from locked inside an apartment, then the baptism happening this Saturday almost got canceled, transfers are next week, ITS ALL MADDNESS

Hopefully this doesn’t freak anyone out but this week my companion and I were actually forced to run away from certain places- always a good time and now when we walk around we carry pepper spray. Good times. Don’t worry we talked to President about it... Lol   But yeah Other than that I got purposed to twice this week, I said no both times, so no worries there andddddd YA! That pretty much sums it up.

Yesterday we had a lesson with our Investigator (AKA Simp. short for simpantizanti) and she had a friend that also wanted to learn. Crazy lucky. so we were teaching them and you won’t believe it but they don’t actually speak Italian....... They speak Spanish... So we walk out of this lesson and we just look at each other and we said... "that wasn’t Italian, was it...." And then we just started laughing cause we just taught this great lesson in a language we don’t speak- Then to really throw us off- we get on the bus right after and try talking to this Italian lady and we understood like... 2 words she said "Vechio e giovanni" e basta.... we were like "Shoot we don’t speak Italian anymore only Spanish!!!!!" Hahahaha We were very confused that day. The gift of tongues is real. This I know.

Last P-day I found a PRINCESS NOTEPAD so in case you’re wondering I haven’t matured at ALL cause I almost cried when I saw it and paid $10 for it...... (it came with an office supply set)

My hair’s grow freaking fast here- it’s like almost half way down my back so when you see me Christmas time I hope it surprises yalll!!!!!!

OK So this week we have a baptism so You will be getting pictures soon! and Mission President and his wife ANDDDD the mission president from Rome said they would come cause baptisms are kinda a big deal. Hahaha I am so excited guys- I love being Senior Companion, I probably won’t be after this transfer unless we stay here which is very likely- NON SO!

I miss you all like crazy and I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!!

see yall soon!!!!!

 

08/21/13

WOWWW Hank Smith is BY FARRR my favorite speaker!!!!! I am so jealous you got to hear from him SHEESH 5 kids??? That’s amazing. He is one cool guy.

 

Well that’s just leads RIGHT in to my cool story for this week!!!! As missionaries we are told all the time that we are surrounded by angels and that we are instruments in the Lords hands WELL MY FRIENDS Yesterday I 100% felt that. I have a testimony that angels are with us. Yesterday was my 5th Month mark so we were gunna ask 5 people to be baptized to celebrate and that mean we had 7 lessons in one day.... that’s a lot (The Mission goal is to get 15 a week) so 7 in one day is just.... madness. Lol But the second lesson of that day we met with this women and her daughter. The daughter has already accepted the invite to be baptized (she is 20) and we wanted to ask the mom. So we start teaching our planned lesson about the restoration and at the end of this lesson this women just starts crying. She explains to us she had been praying for someone to help her family, and then she met us. I don’t know how to explain the rest but..... I just know the miracles we see here are not our work. It has nothing to do with me but ONLY cause this is the Lords work. I loveeeee being a missionary. 

Funny story of the week: We got mistaken as prostitutes. Twice. In one week. -____- I swear we are modest. It’s only funny because of their faces when we tell them we represent Jesus Christ.... It’s like PURE HORROR. Lol I almost feel bad for them but not really.....

I miss you guys so much and I hope you have an AWESOME rest of your summer. CONGRADS TO BECCA I can’t believe I am not there to party with you guys. Wah. Throw some rice for me Hahaha

Love you love you!!!!!!!!

Sorella Holloway