LAST ONE!!! 08/13/14

Alright. Here it is. The last email of Sorella Holloways mission.

Hahaha Yaaaaaaaaaaaa guys I am freaking out. 

Ok well- aside from the fact I am freaking out- GENOVA IS SOOOOO WONDERFUL. By far the prettiest city I have seen... maybe second best. Hahaha My Companion is officially my Best friend. I am with Sorella Astel, and we came into the MTC together so we are in the SAME GROUP anddddd we both go home the same day. Yeah thats real. Haha

Not to mention, we are opening Genova 1... Yeah That was a surprise hahaha I was like.. OH... Soooooo we have nothing... cool... we are starting from Zero and then leaving.... cool. Hahaha

But guys We are working so hard and are just going crazyyyyy!!!!!!! Ok a Normal week for missionaries here is like... 15 lessons and you are doing good, and 2 or 3 investigators a week is super solid, well my firends, Sorella Astel and I decided that for our last week in the mission we would break all of our goals, so just from Monday and Tuesday we have gotten 5 new investigators and 17 lessons, we have two people with a baptisimal date, and guys- we are soooo happy. I have never worked so hard hahaha

Last night was the biggest miracle- we were home at like 8:35ish so I said- ok lets get like one more lesson and then we can go home (We have to be home at 9) and we walked past this group of 4 people, they were yelling at each other, and were drunk sooooo we kept walking. We walked around till like 8:59 and were almost to the apartment and I was just like- Lets justtttt go talk to them Hahaha So Who knows what came over me but I walked up to them and asked "Cosa si Rende Felice??" Bahaha Aka What makes you happy- Not a super great question, in fact quite pathetic. But one women looks at us and asks us if we are missionaries, she said- "Where do we go after this life? My brother was murdered last week and I neeeed to know" 

Family- The Lord works in Mysterious ways- but I have no doubt that she was there and we were there at the perfect time. We prayed with them all, but man was my testimony strengthened. You would think I would be numb to that at this point- but nope- its still amazing. Every day. 

I also gave my last and dying testimony at Zone Training on Monday- That was wierd. I said Love God, Love yourself, and Love life bahahaha At the time it seemed like really great and now I am just like... maybe I should have thought that through a little more. Hahaha

Being that this is my last email (you might get like a one-liner next week) I just want to say I love you all, and I know the church is true. I am converted and if I could say or list all the things I learned in the past 18 months I would, but I cant. I am so thankful for every hard day and that I have changed. I am so proud of myself and so thankful Heavenly Father loves me enough to put me through heck and make me climb mouintains, because now I can do it with a smile on my face because he taught me what is on the other side. How great is our Lord and how important to make him known. I know our Heavenly Father and I know our Brother Jesus Christ and I have a relationship with them. I am so thankful I know. 

I will see you all next week- I CANT WAIT!!!!! I will try to call you at the airport... I think I know our phone number but if thats not it,,,, thennnnnnn you wont get a call from me hahaha 

Love you!!!!

Modena pitures

08/06/14 - 2 more weeks!!!! AND a transfer to Genova!!!

I HAVE LIKE 2 WEEKS LEFT AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It gets more real everyday!!! I had to pack everything this morning, why you ask? Because I just got transferred -___- hahahaha

That’s right folks I am Leaving Modena and going to Genova. It’s a part I have never been to so I am excited. I wish I had more than 10 days there but I will get over it. Hahaha It came as a shock to me and my companion, it was like two weeks shorter but not much I can do about it. I have taken over 100 pictures in the past 3 days JUST with investigators and members and I would say half of my suitcase is filled JUST with things from my family here hahaha They are so wonderful- I will miss this place so so so much. GA. 

So yes I am all packed, and I sent home a package today that was freaking almost 20 pounds.... so do the math there hahaha I send home a lot of books and a journal so I am literally going to fast to make sure it gets there cause I would DIE if it got lost. Join me in this fast everyone. No more eating. Not till it gets there. It’s in a really cute box though which they made me buy and switch all my crap to when I was there at the post office because they are just ridiculous.... it was like a 45 minute process. Ridiculous. But yeah- you don’t need to open it cause it’s just my English scriptures which I never use and my personal progress book and BOM that I did in Italian cause I felt like it hahaha anddddddd other Italian learning books and a journal - so it’s all pre-packed for school. Yay!!!

Awww I  just heard the bells of Duomo outside. Man will I miss that sound. 

Our new convert ended up not doing the surgery for a lot of reasons, but she is going to wait a little while. Everyone is doing great here and my favorite family that we teach here we said goodbye to last night- andddddddd I wept. 6 Months with them and then leaving is just like- a joke. Luckily they have skype and facebook and snap-chat so really I have nothing to be sad about. Thank goodness for technology. 

Thanks mom for cleaning my clothes!!!!!!!!!! I did not even think about those being gross but I suppose I have been gone for 100 years..... Hahaha I don’t know how I will feel about my clothes from the pre-mission life. But hey maybe I will really miss them! Chances are no- but we will see. I think I am most worried about the shoes... Hahaha I have no shoes. I have two weeks left and I refuse to buy new ones! It doesn’t make sense to.... soooooo did you see any flats in that box by chance???? I mean heals are great.. like.... once a week... for an hour... Lol! Yikes. 

I love you all so much and I can’t wait to see you all so soon! I have been writing a poem thingy through my mission that I add to every 3 or 4 months and I actually really like it so I think I am just going to share that for my homecoming talk. cause then I don’t even have to write anything. Muahahaha. It’s fun to read and you will like it :) I think. Hahaha

I love you so much!! I will see you soon!!!!!

 

07/30/14 - 3 MORE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!

FAMILY!!!! Alright so I basically started weeping at Stephen and Amanda's wedding invite- HOLY FREAKING CUTENESS!!!!!!!! I am sooooo in love with it!!!!! I am printing as we speak. 

Hahaha That’s so funny that people keep saying "That went by so fast" HA!!!! False. Days are long, weeks are short but man 18 months is a long time! Hahah Don’t get me wrong I love every second of it but it sure as HECK has not been fast. Lol

hahah I super hope Kate learns to not poke the babies eyes out... hahaha Also dragging a baby by the feet- nottttt super Ideal. But didn’t Jenna drag Stephen around? I feel like this might just be Carma. Hahaha KIDDING!

This week it has been raining so bad- so officially all the shoes I own are ruined hahah So I am hoping to buy a pair today to last me the next month. I am really hoping I have shoes at home. Which brings me to another point- are my boxes in the attic? cause I will probably need those. I plan on bringing very little clothing-wise home. Especially shoes. HA! None of those are gunna make it hahaha I have 4 pair and they ALLL have holes on the bottom. I really thought that was a mission joke- it’s definitely  not hahaha

Yesterday we had the coolest miracle EVERRRR And we met these two people who’s number was given to us as a referral, and we go over there and they are these two Nigerian women (seems to be a trend these days) and we teach the whole restauration and I asked them to be baptized on August 30 and they were both like "YES!" Hahaha So funny. They speak Benin which means in English they speak to us in pigeon but man it was sooo cool. They were telling us that they had both been baptized but they said "The man who baptize me. He know Nothin. He no Know me. He no know my sin- because he sinnah!! He no have Authority. That baptism was Rubish. Rubish!!" And this my dear family is why my English is fading. If I speak English I either speak British English or African Pigeon- take your pick.  

So that was a huge highlight- and also I learned how to cook Empanadas Yesterday which are freaking great so basically whoever I marry is one lucky guy cause I cook like a champ. Collecting recipes was the best advice evaaaaaaa

Side note: The other day I ate Ferrari pizza..... That means there was normal cheese with raw ham on it and then balsamic vinegar poured over the top... Wasn’t that bad- but extremely strange. Our ward mission leader bought it for me- What a Gem. 

This Sunday was really sad because the members are all leaving for vacations so they have all starting leaving and they are being soooo sweet and giving me little notes and gifts and then I just cry cause I love them so much EEEP!! But I am too the point that i am like- ready to stop saying goodbye hahah I have been saying it for wayyy too long so it will be nice to come home to be on the happy side of things. :) 

So about our New-Convert- she is doing great :) We ate with her last week- she is a very good cook- African Style :) She says she has to make us fufu soon and then I was like NONONONONONO That’s ok!!!!! hahah So I am going to teach how to make Pizza and Lasagna instead. Much safer :) We also taught her how to make cake and she was THRILLED! Hahaha I had never seen someone so happy!!! Hahaha This last Monday we went with her to the hospital (To translate for her)  because right after her baptism she was told she might have a brain tumor, But we went and it is actually just defect in one of her arteries that causes aneurisms and hemorrhages so next week she is getting surgery :( SO as long as that doesn’t get rescheduled, that’s where we will be aLOT next week. She has a three year old and a 6 year old so just pray for her. We are asking help from our members but a week is a long time for a mom with 5 kids all living at home. 

Other than that we have INCREDABLE investigators (yes, plural) and we love them! We have like, 4 people making progress maybe 5 and are working towards baptism. One problem we have here is that a couple of our investigators are Prostitutes because there is no work here, and it gets to the point where they have to stop and lose their house to be baptized-- and they are super nervous about it because they don’t know what to do- I mean all we can do is teach them and they kinda have to fix the other things but MAN I wish I could just help them more. If that isn’t hell, I don’t know what is especially when they have kids- Pray for them!!

I love you all so much and I can’t wait to see you!!!!! ITS SOO SOON!!!!! EEEEPP!!!!!

 

07/23/12 - 4 more weeks!!!!!!!!!!

FAMILY!!!!! No big deal but this you all will only get 3 more emails from me AHhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AMERICA HERE I COME!!!!!

Mom as for a Missionary moments:

Right Now i am in Modena, Italy which is just outside of the Tuscany Providence by Bologna (Bah- lone-ya). Modena is the home of Ferrari and was where they were invented so I see no less than 10 Ferraris a day. 

My Favorite thing about Italy is that it’s a modern world stuck in an ancient city. I mean sometimes I feel like I am thrown back into the 1700s and then I walk into rich rich Ferrari parking lot with business-men and women and it’s like getting whiplash ahhaha I like it! My favorite thing about Italian people is that they are honest. They say how they feel or if they don’t say it you can instantly tell by their facial expression and hand motions so I love that. Hahaha Full of honesty! 

When I get discouraged I just remember to "Zoom Out" as I call it. I usually sing "How great thou art" and remember gratitude for them million things I do have even if I am rejected and lonely for 100 months straight because bottom line, life can never get bad enough that there are no good things to notice. So the only thing you need is the energy to think of all the good things you got, and if nothing else, we have the knowledge of the gospel. That is sufficient for anyone. 

Of course after that- I just think of all of the funny moments saved up in my brain so I can just laugh. Hahaha Laughing truly is the best medicine, and the best therapy.

My favorite scripture this week/ transfer is "Perche Avete Paura- o Voi di Poca Fede?"- Why do you have fear, oh ye of little faith? orrrrr why do you fear, oh ye of little faith?  My translation isn’t good. But I love this one because we shouldn’t fear anything or we are telling ourselves it’s in our hands, and that’s not true. It’s all in God’s Hands, so if you truly trust him and listen to him- Tutto va bene. Everything will be ok. :) 

Right now Ecclesiastics 3 is super good too- There is a time for EVERYTHING. And my favorite part is when it says something about being happy with his portion. Nad I really am grateful for my portion and the work that Heavenly father has given me- It’s been a lot and very heavy and I am thankful for EVERY piece of it. Then of course the rest of the chapter completely explains how I feel. There is a time to be born, and a time to die (aka go home),  a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.... Hahhaha It’s pretty good :)

Hopefully that helps you out!!!

This week has been full of ups and downs and craziness and basically everyone knows I am going home soon so I have been taking a lot of pictures and everyone gives us food (Super great) and ya!!!! We work all day every day and we got another baptismal date with another African and it was the first date I set where I know I won’t be here... Lol SO THAT SUCKED hahaha .Whoever comes to take my spot here is SOOOOOOOO blessed. The people here are soooo awesome. I love them. sososososososososososossoso Much. :)

Anyway I am hoping there is money on my card cause I gotta send a box home... I am partially packed with all that stuff I won’t be using and yikes...... I had more than I thought... Lol I love you guys so much!!!

I WILL SEE YOU IN LESS THEN A MONTH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

 

 

07/16/04

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ITS SOOO SOON!!!! I CANT EVEN BELIEVE IT!!!!! But yeah I am so excited. I am ALSO thrilled I don’t have to wait till September to give my homecoming talk hahaha BLESSING. 

This morning I went through a suitcase and got out all that stuff that I was saving for "Later" Like my precious Crystal light and like Extra 7 glue sticks and markers and colored pencils and notebooks and sticky notes that I save till I run out well... THAT can’t happen anymore and there is no way I am taking that back to America. Hahaha I seriously doubt I will be overweight with my bags.... But I don’t know! I probably should send something home but I am afraid it will get lost and there is nothing worse than that. But the other two I sent got to you guys so that’s good. I will look and see what I can do. 

Speaking of Baptism- we had an incredible lesson yesterday with my favorite investigators EVERRRRRRR yesterday and they are all Atheists but the mom changed her mind a little bit, and wants to get baptized EEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP I love her so much and I am so excited for her. We had her read "Lord, I Believe" That talk Holland gave and BOOM. It was perfect. If you don’t remember which talk that is- you should totally read it again. I cry every time. Right now I am drawing her this tree (It sounds dumb but I swear it looks good so far) And I am putting a quote from that talk in in that says something like... "If your faith is challenged at this time or any other time, I invite you to lean on mine- for what once was a tiny seed of faith for me has turned into a tree of life" Anddddddddd thats Italain into English but its more or less that. IT’S SO GOOD!

Yeah that purple African dress FOR SURE is being worn to the wedding. NO BIG DEAL. Its sparkly and everything hahaha

Sooooo yeah my future apartment flooded???? That’s comforting...... -____- Hahahaha Freak now what?? Hopefully they fix that... in the month they have left hahahaha

Anyway other than that everything is going super good!!!! We teach a lot, I got to sing at another Baptism last Saturday for a lady from Poland- SUPER cool and it’s all great! I love Italy; it will be cool to come back as not a missionary... weird. Hahaha This Monday we went to visit this 92 year old lady in a Casa di Anziani and she was so sweet and gave us some really good life advice Haha And this Sunday she is going to re-teach us how to knit and we are crafting together haha YAY!!! It will be the highlight of my week. It’s kinda hard to understand the old folks in this place because none have them have teeth anymore, or if they do it’s just one or two, and they don’t really speak Itlaina- they speak the dialect Modenese .. so some things I will never understand but... I try. Hahaha My poor trainee has to try and learn normal Italian and then has to be talked to in Dialect hahahahaha Poor thing. She will live. 

Anyway I love you guys so much!!!! I will see you soon- BUT FOR REALS!!!!!

 

07/09/14 - 6 weeks left!!!

Hey Family!!! 

Yeah- Next month I am coming home! At this point I don’t really feel like it’s real. I feel like for sure I will be released but the whole going back to America thing hasn’t really occurred to me yet. Hahaha I just feel like I am about to get kicked out of the club. :( But other than that I feel all good about life. I don’t have any regrets ... yet? Hahahaha 

Uhhh so yeah it’s freaking hot and I am going to die. I wake up pretty much on the dot every morning at like 2:36 just sweating and I have to go shower -___-  I think we are at a rate of 3 showers a day? Yeah. Hahahaha Then yesterday it POURED rain. POUURRED And we had an appointment that is about a 35 minute bike right so we were sooo muddy and socked when we got there- as soon as we started the lesson- rain stopped- the SECOND we started to leave- it poured. -___-  Grrrr. But whatever. It’s either mud or sweat so gross either way. 

WE HAD A BAPTISM and it went sooo good! I think the best part is we kinda just thought there would only be like 6 people there but actually a tonnnnn of people came and we were sooo happy that our members came to support us! Now when I say a ton I mean like... 25 which is FREAKING GREAT for us. YES we did wear our African Dresses but we didn’t wear the headpieces in the chapel cause we figured it was a little irreverent hahaha But it was awesome- I will send pictures!!!

I got to sing at the baptism How Great Thou Art- a little in English and a little in Italian and it was sooo fun. I freaking loved it. I miss singing so much! FUN FACT I have become totally obsessed with song writing and Drawing on my mission. Weird right?? I like draw stuff and then frame it.. and then like... give it to people... So that’s a new random thing I do... Hahaha And the whole song writing thing- I have like an albums worth of stuff I need to get recorded when I get home. YAY! It’s really fun. Who would have thought?

I am glad everyone has fully dived into summer!! On the fourth of July I made my Poor German Companion suffer though me sing every American song I could think of from all 4 verses of the anthem- to "Proud to be an American" - to Surfing USA Hahaha It was really fun- Then that day we went to this place called "Porta Aperta" and we gave food to everybody who didn’t have money to buy it and it was soooooo fun! Although I will say I found some very appalling things as well. There was a huge bin of baby food and I found canned "Cavallo e Coniglio" Which means Horse and Rabbit..... Don’t you worry. I took a picture. Kendra and Jenna- please don’t ever ever ever feed your babies these things. It’s wrong. 

This week has also been a week of FABULOUS food. I ate Papawankaina Which is Peruvian food= FREAKING BOMB. It’s just a yellow sauce you put over potatoes and its spicy and creamy it’s to die for- and then we tried this Italian trend to Wrap Cantaloupe in Raw ham- Yeah. SUPER YUMMY. Hahahaha The texture is weird at first but the after taste is seriously sooo good. I could eat it all day. Not to mention my popcorn addiction is back in full force. Like errrrydayyyyy Hahaha 

One of the Anziani here put on my flash drive the "Living Scriptures" And My companion and I are OBSESSED hahaha We watch one a day at least right before bed- its our new favorite series.... aka We have a problem hahaha We are both Reading the Book of Mormon and the New Testament (I am reading in Italian) so we watch the matching films. IT’S GREAT. Hahaha 

Ok also- Sacrament meet aka Fast and Testimony meeting was freaking HILARIOUS this week. We have this lady who gets up about 15 minutes from the end of every sacrament meeting and stands under the pulpit and waves goodbye to everyone, and that’s usually pretty great anyway but this week we also had just hilarious stories told over the pulpit- it was probably the most awkward meeting ever. Confessions GALOR! hahaha Gotta love it. 

Anyway I love you guys so much and I am so excited to see yall SO SOON!!!!! Not that I am counting down- But I totally am :) LOVE YOU!!!

-Sorella Holloway