New companion - November 18, 2015

Ciao, Famiglia!

Hope you all had a great week! Everything's going well here.

So, last Thursday morning, I took Sorella Burgess to the train station
and she met up with another sister and they took off, I spent the
morning and afternoon here in Ravenna with an Italian sister while we
waited for our comps to arrive. That was interesting, hanging for so
long with a sister who really only speaks Italian, it was cool to see
how much I've learned :). Our comps arrived and I met up with Sorella
Bastian! She's really great! We have a similar sense of humor and
we're both big readers, so we bonded quickly :). We went to mutual
that night and met the new Anziano. Anziano Olsen is training and he
got an Italian greenie named Anziano Marataro, so that's fun, to have
a legit Italian in the disrict.

Friday, we started weekly planning and we went and saw some people. We
saw Sanela and Maria. They're both doing well. They both had promised
they'd come to church (in the end, Sanela ended up needing to go the
the doctor Sunday but Maria came!)
We also did a ton of passbys, I'm just basically trying to help
Sorella Bastian get to know the city and people as quick as possible
because this transfer is going to be so short and we don't know if
I'll stay another.

Saturday, we saw Anna and also Valeria. They're both doing well.
Valeria is kinda insane and she's super funny, so we always have a ton
of fun when we go see her.

Sunday, we had church! Maria was there and also a few less active
people we're working with, so it was exciting. Augustine, another simp
showed up for the second two hours, so that was good as well. We were
super bummed Sanela didn't come though.

Monday, we went and saw Sanela again. We're trying to think of good
ways to help her quit smoking, it's just such a problem here! We also
saw Maria and Alessandro. They're doing well. That night we went and
saw Sabrina and Paolo like usual. We read a talk from conference
about Turing to Christ to find the answers and the steps you can do to
find answers, they really liked it.

Tuesday, we had zone conference! It was good. We went to Rimini and we
had to take off pretty early in the morning to make it in time. It was
really good. We talked about a lot of cool ideas to use our iPads to
the fullest in lessons and studying. Also, Meet the Mormons is finally
out in Italian and is on YouTube for this week only, so we're going
crazy trying to help publicize it. That night for FHE we watched it in
the church. It was really fun. The members are getting involved in
helping to publicize to their friends as well.

Zone conference

Today, we took it pretty easy. Neither of us was feeling too well so
we basically just stayed home for pday and got organized. It was nice
to chill for a second.
Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you!

Love, Sorella Snow

I can officially say I made it to Venice! - November 11, 2015

Hey, Famiglia!

So looks like you all had a good week. Happy birthday shoutout to
Zach! Hope it was a good one!

Pictures of San Marino from last Wednesday

So, last Wednesday, we went and saw Sanela before English class. It was
good, she told us she's been watching a ton of Mormon messages after
we helped her download the gospel library app. We had English course.
It was good. They're a nice group of people.

Thursday, we saw Diva and Debora in the morning. Diva's less active
and her daughter Debora is a simp. They're sweet ladies but they just
talk the entire time we're there, it's hard to get a word in! Then we
had our scambio for the transfer! I went with Sorella Schoenhals to
the Mestre/Venice area! So cool! We saw a few people and one of our
appointments was in Venice, so I got to walk around a little bit there
and get a few pics. I can officially say I made it to Venice!

It was dark, so the pics aren't great, but it's Venice!

We switched back Friday morning, we saw Valeria and she's doing well. She always
tells us that she fits so well into this church and loves coming. She
just has to make the final leap but Italians like taking things slow.

Saturday, we got transfer news! I'll finally relieve your curiosity.
I'm staying here in Ravenna and Sorella Burgess is leaving. She's
bummed but I know she'll do great in her next city! My new comps name
is Sorella Bastian. I've met her in passing a couple of times and she
seems sweet, so I'm excited. This night, we saw Anna like normal and
then Sanela.

A canolo from the chocolate festival

Sunday, church! It was great! There's a German member, Ben, who just
moved here and doesn't speak a ton of Italian, and he was supposed to
give a talk, so we helped him translate it and prepare a little, he
was awesome! He spoke about reverence on Sunday, and even though he
struggled with the language, he was great, we felt the spirit. We had
lunch with a member, Meris and then saw a simp we've been trying to
see all transfer, Augustine. He and his wife investigate, but they
don't have a car and it's really hard for them to make it to church,
but they're really cool and he comes whenever be can. Then we saw
Valeria so Sorella Burgess could say goodbye.

With Meris

Monday, we had lunch with the O family, a member family,
they're great! Then we went with Marisol to Sorella A to do
visiting teaching. Then we went and saw Sanela. She didn't come to
church again on Sunday, so we kinda sat her down and explained the
importance of Sunday and coming to church. We went over the steps and
commits that are necessary before baptism and she agreed to commit
herself more. We're praying really hard for her! Hopefully, she'll be
able to make the date we've been working towards. That night we had
Paolo and Sabrina. They were really sad to say good bye to Sorella
Burgess.

Our district

Tuesday, we had a ton of appointments but they all canceled, bummer :(
but we also had FHE and a ton of people came to say goodbye to my comp
and Anziano Diego, who's also leaving. It was a lot of fun. The
branch is so good to us missionaries!

Today, we've just been running around doing stuff to get ready for
Sorella Burgess.

Well, it's been a good week. I'm excited for the next transfer, this
ones only going to be four weeks because if it was the full six it'd
end on Christmas Eve. So we're excited to get to business really
quick.

I love you guys, thanks for being so good to me!
Love, Sorella Snow

Today, we left the country! - November 4, 2015

Hey, Famiglia!
How are you all doing? I hope you all had a good week.

So, last Wednesday, there was a baby shower for a women in our ward.
It was super fun! The women who is pregnant is German and speaks some
English, so it was kinda crazy with all the languages flying around.

Last Thursday, we went and saw Sanela with the branch president.
She's really great. She's super ready for baptism, we've just gotta
teach her. Then we went and saw Maria, the investigator that just got
back from Serbia. She's really sweet.

Friday, we did finding in the morning. In the afternoon, we went with
Sorella Gresta to do visiting teaching with a member named
Gabriella. They're both super awesome ladies. Sorella Gresta is a
family search missionary. We passed by a simp that is new but we were
bidoned. That night, we were supposed to see just Valeria, but a
member invited her and some other members to dinner so we all went. It
was fun. She's really cool, She's been investigating for about 2 years,
people investigate for a loooong time here.

Saturday, Happy Halloween! Correlation in the morning. Then we did a
pass by. That afternoon we went to see Sanela. We read a little to her
and did a re pass of some of the stuff we've already taught to make
sure she understands. We saw Anna that night, she's cute, she always
tells us we don't annoy her which is her way of saying she likes us
(at least we hope :)). Then we weekly planned that night because we
figured no one would really want to see us Halloween night.

Sunday, church, Valeria and Sabrina were both there. We saw Ben and
his family that afternoon, they invited us over to have cake with
them. They're such a cute family! Then we did a ton of pas bys that
night, didn't get in anywhere.

Monday, we had district meeting in the morning. Then we went and had
lunch with a member and her two kids. It was a lot of fun, they're all
really sweet. We set up a family mission plan with them. Then we saw
Antonio and Marisol. We talked about the priesthood, which is always
kinda interesting because neither of us a is a priesthood holder. But
it was good. Marisol gave us the names of some more less active sisters
to try and get into contact with, so we're excited to do that. Then we
saw Sanela. She was looking for work on Sunday and didn't come to
church, so that's sad. But she's doing well and still progressing
towards baptism. Her son came and joined us for a little while because
it was a festa today and they didn't have school. Usually, we go when
he's at school because that's when Sanela prefers that we come, so no,
he doesn't usually sit in on lessons with us, but we want to ask
Sanela if she'd be okay with us teaching him as well. He's awesome. I
was explaining the Holy Ghost to him and he was like, woah! That's
just what I feel when I read the stuff you leave! That night, we saw
Sabrina and Paolo, like always. They're doing well. Sabrina said she's
been reading in the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday, a lot of pass bys. We had one set appointment in paesino (small village),
but the less active didn't show, so that was a bummer. Hopefully we'll
be able to get in contact with her. We passed by Maria. She's doing
well, she's super cute. Then we had FHE that's night. It was a lot of
fun! We have some amazing and supportive members here.

Today, we left the country! Technically. We went to San Marino, this
tiny little city on top of a mountain that is declared a country apart
from Italy. Weird... But it was cool. It was a beautiful little castle
city.

Well, I think that's about it for me this week! I love you guys! Have
an awesome week!
Love, Sorella Snow

Ready for zombie apocalypse - October 28, 2015

Ciao Famiglia!

Man sounds like a crazy week at home! I'm so excited for a new niece!
Answers to questions, we get so many flat tires because the streets
are just filled with trash, nails, broken glass, thorns and whatnot.
The streets aren't very well kept in Italy. We've taught Sanela all
the major lessons, we just need to do all the commandments with her
now. She doesn't know how to read very well, but she's trying really
hard to read the pamphlets. We're trying to find the Book of Mormon on
tape in Italian to give to her.

So, last Friday, we did weekly planning in the morning, as always.
It's always a LONG process, but worth it. We went and saw Sanela that
afternoon. We'd planned to do the word of wisdom, that's one of the
hardest things for Italians, but we ended up answering all of her
questions. We passed by a referral from the anziani and it was
a cute old lady, we set up a date to come back and see her.
She reaaaally wanted to pay for the Book of
Mormon we gave her and wouldn't believe us when we told her it was
free! That night there was a talent show. A member asked Sorella
Burgess and I to sing with her. We were with sick with pretty bad
colds, but I think it sounded okay.

We made pizza!

Saturday, we saw Monica, but just for about 10 minutes. That
afternoon, we saw Anna and then had correlation. We passed by
Alessandro and Maria that night and saw them. Maria is a simp we have
who just has to quit smoking. She's been in Serbia since I got here
and just got back so I was super excited to meet her.

Sunday, we biked by Sanela's house to pick her up for church and she
was waiting out front for us! She rode with us to church and was able
to stay the first two hours. We did a bunch of pass bys that night but
no one let us in.

There was a crowd of zombies in the centro one day...

We are so ready for the zombie apocalypse!

Monday, district meeting. We saw Sanela that afternoon. It was GREAT!
She said she felt so good after church the day before. She got her
son, who's nine, to read the restoration pamphlet to her and she said
she felt the spirit all day. We taught the word of wisdom and she said
she would agree to start cutting back her smoking and stop everything
else. She wants to be baptized and accepted the date we gave her.
She's so awesome! When her kids got home from school, her son, the
nine year old, Cristian, he said he liked the pamphlet he'd read with
his mom and was asking us questions about it, he said he wanted to
read the other ones we left with his mom. They're an awesome family!
We saw Sabrina that night, she's doing well. She's sick, so she's
going to be stuck in the house for a week on doctor's orders and won't
be able to come to church.

Tuesday, another day of pass bys. We saw one of the youth in the ward,
Veronica, she's awesome! We had FHE that night. There's a new convert
who's so awesome! He's in a wheelchair, and he lives like a 10 minute
bike ride from the church, but he always wheels himself there for
activities.

Today, we bought a pumpkin and carved it (well I wanted to carve it,
Sorella Burgess just kinda humored me:)). We also checked out a pretty
huge market. It's been kinda rainy, so we took it pretty easy.

I carved this, the little triangle was going to be the nose, but I decided it looked like a cute little mouth!

Well, that's my week! We're going to a baby shower for a German lady
in our ward today, she speaks English and they need us to translate.
That'll be fun! It's been a good week!
I hope you guys have a fantastic week! I love you!
Love, Kim

They have big hearts - October 22, 2015

Ciao Famiglia!

Don't worry, I am in fact still alive! Sorry about the delay, our pday
ended up being today.
So answers! Sanela is actually from Serbia. We work with quite a few
foreigners here. Ravenna's a little bit farther up north and to the
east so that might be why we have more foreigners than in my last
city. My favorite thing about Italy so far is most defiantly the
people. They have a culture of belief in Christ and almost everyone is
Christian. They can be a little hard at first, but once you get into
their hearts, they love you and would do anything for you. They have
big hearts.

So, last week, we ended up needing to do a ton of organization on
pday, so we didn't end up doing any touristy stuff. We went to see
Alessandro that night and on the way my tire popped. So we had to walk
the rest of the way to him and then walk all the way to the church. We
made it 10 minutes before English class ended but luckily our anziani
had taken care of all the students. Also, luckily, some members
happened to stop by the church and they gave us a ride home, which is
good because walking home for 30 minutes at night is never a good
idea.

Thursday, we went and took my bike to the shop to get it fixed. We
went and saw Debora and Diva. It was fun. They're this cute older mom
and daughter. They're kinda crazy and get side tracked super easily.
We also went to a paesino to see a family that is kinda new as simps.
They're really sweet, they're Muslim but not super practicing.
We'll see what happens with them. We also saw a
member family that just moved here from Germany for work, they're
super fun! The parents speak English.

Friday, we had weekly planning, as always :). We saw Sanela again.
She's so great! She had a friend over so we taught her a little bit
too and we'll see if she wants to learn more, she seemed interested.
We went and Valeria tonight also. She's good. She's a super sweet
lady. We're always really happy to see her.

Saturday. We had correlation. Our ward mission leader is great! He's
super sweet and really willing to help us. Unfortunately, today turned
into one of those days where everyone bidoned us. Also, we finally got
someone who said we could come over and my tire popped again. This
time in the middle of centro (the city center, basically the busiest
part) and since there were so many people, Sorella Burgess didn't
realize I had stopped and she kept going. I haven't gone to see this
person yet so I have no idea where they live and so I lost her and had
no idea where to go. So I waited for like half an hour to see if she'd
come back. She didn't. I finally asked someone to use their phone and
called her and she'd made it all the way to the simps before she
realized I wasn't with her. Uh oh. All's well that ends well, we met up
took my bike to get fixed. I was companion-less for a half an hour
though and that was super bizarre!

Sunday, Sanela's uncle (who is Alessandro's dad) ended up in the
hospital so neither of them came to church. Really sad. But they said
he's better and they'll come next week. We had a member invite us over
for lunch. Her name is Meris and she's super sweet. She made enough
pasta for like 8 people for just the three of us and insisted we had
to take the leftovers home. We saw Anna today. We also saw the
Tri... family. The mom and 1 daughter are members, the dad and
other kids aren't. They're fun, super crazy cause they're from Naples,
but really fun.

Monday, everyone canceled on us, except for Sabrina and Paolo. They're
good, Sabrina's really trying. She's so close to realizing how much
faith she has but she just doesn't know it! We made them a dang fine
apple pie, not relevant, but we were proud of ourselves!

At Sabrina and Paolo's

Tuesday, we met Gaia, she's a member and super sweet. She has two kids
and a husband who's not a member, so she has trouble making it very
often, but she's super sweet! We saw Sanela. We read with her. She
doesn't really know how to read, so we read aloud with her from the
Book of Mormon so she can hear it. Then we saw Alessandro. He's doing
well. He said he wants to commit himself more. Tonight, we took off
for Bologna to stay the night. I can't remember if I told you, but we
had a conference in Milano on Wednesday, so we stayed the night in
Bologna.

Wednesday, we had a conference! Sister Oscarson and Sister Burton of
the general young women and relief society presidencies came and spoke
to us. It was really good! They're amazing women and all of the
sisters in the mission came for the conference. One of them talked
about how missionary work and the relief society are connected. The
missionaries bring the simps to the waters of baptism and the relief
society helps sustain and uphold these members to bring them to the
ordinances of the temple. It was a great conference.

Sorelle Hawks & Snow

Sorelle Harris & Snow

All the sister missionaries with Sister Linda K. Burton and Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson in the back.
Can you find Sorella Snow?

Today, we did a church tour of the city. In answer to one of your
questions, the mosaics are mostly of Christian events. They were
gorgeous, most of the churches had them. They are seriously so
beautiful. It was awesome! Unfortunately, since we didn't do pday our
normal day, we had to do mutual and ward council today, and ward
council went like an hour over, so we only have like half our normal
email time to write, which is why this was done so fast!

I love you guys so much! Thanks for everything you do! Have a good week :)
Love, Sorella Snow