Monday, October 27, 2014

I guess it's true that I sleep talk - October 22, 2014

Ciao, famiglia!

So, one more week until we take off for Milan! We got our flight plans this last Friday and we are so excited to go!

Mom, that Pres. Monson quote, seriously one of my FAVORITES from conference! Wow, he is just so awesome! We can't wait to get conference Ensigns, but we think they might be in Italian since we'll be over there by the time they come out. I may not be able to fully understand them for a little while!

The Build-a-Bear idea for Juliet is so cute!, Ugh, whenever we have a free minute, everyone talks about how much they miss their nieces and nephews, they're just so cute!
I got the temple cards last Friday! We're planning on doing them today! The other sisters are just as excited as me! They think that it's so cool that we're actually doing real Italian names right before we leave for Italy. Two of the sisters are actually going to Rome, so Sicily is in their mission! We were all reading the names and getting super excited last night!

I got my package this morning! Thanks! So much! We're super excited to have some goodies and I think we might save some to take on the plane. I was psyched to get it! Thannnks!

So, this week was pretty good for all of us. We had our last lesson with Keyla because Sorella Mohrman wants us to act as simpatizzanti for each other for the last week. We've also had some really good lessons with Antoine again, it's going to be weird having real investigators that don't have to meet with us when me get there, but we're super excited!

Our Devotionals this Sunday and Tuesday were really good. We had another football player, Chad Lewis (Fratello Knutson was jealous) and Elder Godoy of the 70. I think I already mentioned this, but his son is in our zone, so it was pretty cool for him that he got to see his dad and mom for a day. The devotional choir director mentioned to us that the next month is going to be seriously awesome speaker wise, so we're a little bummed cause we think there's going to be a few Apostles in the next month.

Some fun/funny things this week: At the temple this Sunday, as we were walking around the grounds, this little boy came up and started waving at us and shouting "Hi missionaries!" we all felt pretty cool. My collega says that she woke up one night to me conjugating a verb in my sleep and then singing Ho Bisogno, which is the Italian version of I Need Thee Every Hour. So, I felt a little bad that I woke her up, but pretty psyched that I was talking Italian. Oh, and earlier in the week, I actually said a word so loud in Italian that I woke myself up in the middle of the night. So, I guess it's true that I sleep talk, I never really believed people when they told me.

One anziano fell asleep in a devotional this week and his head was swinging back and forth and he almost nailed the elder in front of him. We were dying. I was trying to say that  we are the covenant people of God and accidently said Siamo il popolo delicioso di Dio, or we are the delicious people of God.

I had a kinda bad cold this past week, which was pretty frustrating because it makes averything so much hard and can really drain your motivation if your not careful, but I'm happy to report that I feel pretty much fine now.

Hmm, I think that's all for now! I'm just so excited and can't wait to serve the people in Milan! I know that the Lord has been helping me every step of the way so far, there is no way I could have learned and grown so much in this amount of time without Him. I love you all! 

Love, Sorella Snow

Saturday, October 18, 2014

It's Babylon out there and Zion in here - October 15, 2014

Ciao, Famiglia!

So, wow this week went by super fast. It's crazy, every day feels like a million years and each week is super fast, oh well. 

So, questions, I think everything is on schedule for us to leave, and they haven't told me about any problems with my visa. I can't remember if I told you, but the second week or something, most of the zone had to go to the consulate to finish up visa paper work. Sorella Hawks and I didn't go because she had already done it in NY and I guess SoCal and some other places don't need to go in because it's easier for them, so I think I'm good on my visa. 

Some of the other MTCs and missions in the US get to see Meet the Mormons, but we haven't yet. We've watched some trailers with the district and we realllly want to see it, but I don't think it's gonna happen here and no way it will in Italy, so that's a bummer. Oh well, I'll have plenty of time to see it when I get home. 

My birthday was seriously awesome. A lot of missionaries got me cards and stuff and the sorelle threw a little party in our room at the end of the day, using the decorations you sent mom! Sorella Mohrman and Fratello Knutson both had the district sing Happy Birthday to me (Tanti Aguri- Many congratulations) Grandma Vacc sent me this huge poster card and it was delivered in the cafeteria and I opened it front of everyone, it was pretty fun!  I got the boots and Grandma Snow's package on the 8th and Mom's package and Sis Chapple's cookies the next day. It was so awesome getting all of that! We all love packages and letters and Dear elders! The boots are good mom and I like them, so thanks! 

Okay, so what's happened this week. We loved the comic strips mom! We all sat in a circle passing the pages around so we could all read them. We don't really know what's happening outside the MTC, and whenever we ask F. Knutson he says that it's Babylon out there and Zion in here and that we can't talk about Babylon in Zion. Oh well. 

We watched The Testaments. It was super cheesy but I love the parts about the Savior and all of the miracles He's done. The rest of it was kinda of goofy but we had fun! 

Monday we met with Antoine again (yeah our investigators are our teachers but we are supposed to do our best to treat it like it's real and they won't help us with the language during the discussions) . He'd committed to stop drinking and he did pretty good but slipped over the weekend. We taught him the rest of the word of wisdom and read Corinthians 3:16(I think) which talks about how our bodies are temples of God. I think this really helped him understand the WoW and he's committed to live all of it. We invited Keyla to be baptized and she said yes! We also invited her to bring her mom with her to lessons, so We'll see if S. Mohrman has to bring another teacher to be her mom.
 
So, this week we accidently got caught up talking right before bed and didn't realize how late it was until 11:45! We were zombies the next day. that was Monday, and the elders had a bad experience that same night. One of the anziani sleep walked (sp?) got up turned the lights on and told everyone it was time to get up, at 11:45 at night. The Anziani were all pretty upset and tired the next day.


One of the sisters in Kim's room took this picture of her because she thinks
Kim looks like a caterpillar in a cocoon in the mornings before she gets up.

We did choir again this week and it was pretty good, the director has the best stories! Oh, and the Anziani got to host senior couples this Monday, so we had class alone with Fr. Knutson and it was pretty fun, he's so awesome. Then we combined with some other sorelle for an hour to have a sister power discussion and F.K. was just sitting there nodding and smiling and giving thumbs up while we talked about how being a missionary can help us become better moms. 

What else? We sang Christmas songs yesterday during all of our classes becasue it was p-day eve. 

I LOVE Italian. It's so beautiful and I can't wait to go! We only have two more weeks and are getting super excited. Oh, one mess up this week. One of the anziani asked S. Mohrman if we could take a break and go to the bathroom. He said Facciamo una pausa e essere il bagno? Which means "can we take a break to be the bathroom?" So we teased him for awhile about that. Other cool words are bello for sweet or forte for cool. Ummm, I think that's it for now! 

I love you all and I love and appreciate all of your letters and support! Talk to to you in a week! 

Love, Sorella Snow
Ghost Buster!  Giving service can be fun...especially when you get to use the "ghost buster" vacuums!
 
The district at the Provo temple
 
 
 

 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

"We are the green beans of God" and other mess-ups - October 8, 2014

Ciao Famiglia!

Come va?!?! (How's it going) We had another awesome week here at the MTC. We had TRC on Friday where we go talk to members or anyone who speaks Italian. There was actually an Italian convert from Southern Italy who was in town for conference and we talked with her. It was pretty crazy and intimidating, she talked so fast! It's amazing knowing that we'll be able to understand that in a few months! 

We also watched a talk from Elder Bednar that he gave at the MTC about the 20 Mark Note, you've probably heard it before but it was awesome and he talked about how you don't know you have spiritual revelation until after, you don't always recognize that you're acting with the spirit in the moment. I really liked it because it's sometimes hard to know when you have spiritual promptings. He said just be good and do your best and don't worry, the spirit will do the rest!

We had another lesson with Antoine on Friday, and wow, it was amazing. The first lesson was discouraging because he was talking about how much he loved to drink and party and we didn't think we would ever get through to him. This lesson, we had all of our lesson planned out and knew what we wanted to say, but when we got in there, the spirit had another idea. We were talking about prayer and I felt the impression to say how prayer gives me happinesss, and he really latched on to that. He talked about how he wanted to be happy, that drinking only made him forget temporarily. He asked if prayer could make him happy all the time and we said yes. He said he wanted that, so we challenged him to pray right there. He did and by the end of it, he was crying!! We asked him to be baptized and he agreed to do it on the 22 Oct! It was just so spiritual and amazing!! We had been determined to teach another lesson, but the spirit lead us right where we needed to go to help him! He said he would read the book of mormon and pray about it and attend conference! It was just incredible. I have never spoken the language so easily as I did during that lesson with Antoine. I usually hesitate or don't speak because I;m afraid of butchering the language, but wow, I just went for it and I learned that the Lord will help make up the difference! It was an amazing lesson and experience for me as well. After, our teacher came up and said that it had been like a spiritual sauna, and that he was amazed! I just want very lesson to be like that!

I loved the conference talks! You're right dad, I loved Elder Bednar! The whole conference we wanted a missionary talk because we're missionaries here now, and wow he was awesome! I also liked Elder Ballard's river rafting allusion and Elder Godoy's talk (his son is actually an anziano in our zone!) Elder Holland was amazing as always. It was just so spiritual and awesome!! Wow. I don't have my notes, so I don't remember what quotes I liked, but the whole experience was amazing. 

So, I can't remember if I told you guys these mess ups before, but here they are. Sorella Yonk said that Jesus deep fried for our sins, becuase deep fried is soffrito, very close to the actually word for suffer. Sorella Bray asked an investigator if they had a relazione with God. She wanted to say relationship, but that means exclusively a romantic relationship. Anziano Davis tried to say we are the children of God (Siamo i figli di Dio) But he said siamo i figilio di Dio, which means we are the green beans of God. 

We watched the Restoration film on Sunday, which was about Joseph Smith, and I was seriously sobbing because the end is so sad!! Oh, well. Sorella Hogan was laughing at me! Also, we had a devotional where Vai Sekehema talked. He was some football player. Anyway, he was sooo funny, he told the most amazing stories about being a missionary every day! 

We didn't get to watch priesthood session, but we saw videos of the elders singing at devotional on Sunday night, we saw some of the anziani a ton! Man, I miss London! She is just too cute!! That's so cool, Mom, about Lauren's experience, wow, there was some serious help from the spirit going on there! The other sisters loved it also! I am so excited for a package, that and letters or dear elders are basically the most exciting thing to happen sometimes!

One of the anziani actually showed us a little wooden plan of salvation puzzle thing in italian that his seminary teacher sent him. Was it like that? It was super cool!  

Well, it was great to hear from you! Lots of love! 
Love, Sorella Snow

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Week Has Flown By For Me - October 1, 2014

Ciao, Famiglia!
 
Thanks for your emails! Seriously there is nothing better than getting letters and email!
Dad, that story was so awesome!I really appreciate Elder Ballard and his sense of humor now. There are four elders in my district, in addition to me and my comp. There are six sisters in my room, the other four are in a different district, sorry if I wasn't clear! There are about 34 people in my zone, five of whom are going to Romania and are learning Romanian, and the rest are going to Italy, about half to Rome and half to Milan. Everyone in my district is going to Milan and two of the other Sorelle in my room (Sorella Hogan and Sorella Yonk) are as well. I seriously love my district and my roommates, they are all so awesome and fun (we joke that only crazy and fun people get sent to Italy), but we can also get down to business (to defeat the Huns) and feel the spirit as well. 

Sorella Hawks is from New York, about an hour north of NYC. She loves signing and is super good at it! We sing hymns like 50 times a day and I always feel the spirit so strong (even if Italian hymns are crazy and weird and mush words together!)

I love your ward goal! I love going to the temple so much, Mom should really send me some names when I get to Italy so that I can do them in the Rome or Swiss Temples!

Sorella Hawks and Sorella Snow at the Provo temple
I am geeking out so much about the Dodgers, but none of the other Sorelle really care about baseball or Kershaw. Ah, so sad! 

I liked what you said about getting members more active in helping with missionary work! We've been learning a lot about how members and referrals are the best possible way to get to know investigators. It;s so important and I never realized that before!

Mom, Yay, I'm so excited you're not in last place! Hahah.But seriously, good work! I told some of the other Sorelle about your bowling reports and they're loving them! That's really interesting about your family history, it's kinda like it's  a mystery or puzzle sometimes. I liked what you said, Mom, about being the answer to someone prayers! What we keep on learning is that God is preparing the people in Italy to hear and learn about the gospel, even as we are being prepared to teach it to them, and that there are people there we are meant to teach! It's really crazy to think about!

Well, this week has flown by for me! Our Simpatizzante, Claudio, became our teacher, Fratello (Bro) Knutson! He's really awesome and an amazing teacher. We now have two new simpatizzanti, Keyla(said like Kayla, and played by our teacher Sorella Mohrman) and Antoine (who is once again Bro. Knutson) these simpatizzanti are based on actual investigators that our teachers had in Italy, so it's pretty cool! 

We had fast sunday this week, and it was a really interesting and spiritual experience to have it at the MTC! That night we watched a film called Legacy and it was just the cheesiest and most ridiculous thing ever! We had fun watching it because it was so cheesy! I told Zach more about it, so get him to show you his email if you're curious! We sang in the choir again this week and it was super cool. I love the speakers we get here, I feel the spirit so much every day! 

One funny thing, so apparently, one night, one Sorella woke up during the middle of the night and after being awake for a minute, she heard me speaking in my sleep, and she said I was saying Italian words! Kinda weird, right? Maybe thinking about it all night will help me learn faster! haha

Well, I'm almost out of time so I'd better go! I love you all! 
Love, Sorella Snow