Livorno is BEAUTIFUL! - April 22, 2015

Buonasera! 

Hey, everyone! So another week has flown by! 

Okay, answers to questions! Sorella Kras actually speaks English super well (she learned it before her mission), so we speak English inside the apartment. But, she's also amazing in Italian and she speaks Spanish, so she's just super awesome. We've been getting along super well so far, so I'm happy! Livorno is BEAUTIFUL! The weather here has been pretty mild so far (probably because we're so close to the beach) so I'm glad for that, it was starting to heat up in Torino! We are in the Pisa Zone. We used to have Florence in our zone but unfortunately we don't anymore, so I can't go to Florence yet. But we also have La Spezia in our zone, which has Cinque Terre, which is supposed to be beautiful, so we'll probably go there soon! 

So, last Thursday, we had transfers! I went with Sorella Nilsen to Milano Centrale Train Station to go to transfer circle where there are 50 or so missionaries waiting for comps to show up. I got to see a ton of people, so it was fun!

"I met up with some people from my MTC group at transfer circles."

"And Sister Miller with a haircut!"

 Then I traveled with Sorella Welch (I went on a scambio with her once) to Pisa, where we met Sorella Kras and Sorella Welch's new comp.

"The train seats on the Freccia trains we took were assigned, so I was companionless for a few hours!"

"I saw the ocean again for the first time in forever!"

Turns out, Livorno is a biking city! I should've known that one biking scambio last transfer was preparing me for this! We had FHE that night and it was pretty fun! It looks like we have a lot of really cool members that we're working with here! 

Friday, we had weekly planning in the morning and then in the afternoon we saw Stefano (a member) and his friend Denise. Then we saw Sorella B. She was super cute and gave us gelato. Then we passed by a potential and she let us in! Her son married an ex missionary and moved to America, so she's just loved Sorelle Missionaries. Then we saw the ward mission leader's family that night. Their son is about to turn 8 and they want us to give him the lessons so he can understand the church doctrine better before he's baptized. 

Saturday, we did a lot of Area book and other organizing stuff. 

Sunday, we had church, and it was the ward's first ever ward conference, so that was pretty cool! Afterwards, we had a ward lunch! We are getting fed a TON here, so it's probably good that we have bikes!

Pizza!

Monday, we had district meeting and we saw a simpattizzante named Lucia. She was pretty cute. 

Tuesday, we unfortunately, had a few bidoni, but we also had English class (the members teach it here, so that's nice, we just show up and help!). And we were going to see the ward mission leader's family again after, but Sorella Kras's bike broke on the way and we had to get off and walk them. We also found an iPhone on the ground and picked it up and called a number inside to return it to it's owners. 

Today, we didn't do much. We tried to fix Sorella Kras's bike but we couldn't get the chain protector off, so we're going to have to take it in to be fixed. We'll probably do that after email. 





"The canal going through Livorno.  Livorno is beautiful!"

Anyways, Livorno is beautiful and the people here seem very open and friendly, so I'm happy to be here! Sorella Kras is super awesome and fun and we're both getting really excited for the Bednar conference next week!

"We went to McDonald's.  They're pretty classy here!"

I love you guys and I'm so grateful for everything you do! Have an awesome week! 

Love, Sorella Snow 

And the transfer news is... - April 15, 2015

"Look Mom!  We make Caprese too!"

Ciao, tutti! 

So, first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEPH!!! I hope it was a seriously spectacular day! 

Second, transfer news! So, I'm being transferred to Livorno! I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed at first and I'm still a little sad. I'm gonna miss Torino and I'm sad I only got one transfer here. I'm also gonna miss living in four and especially I'm gonna miss Sorella Mantz. We've seriously hit it off and I love her to pieces, and I know that we're going to be friends after the mission. We were pretty shocked, absolutely no one thought that I would be leaving. But, the Lord has other plans, so I'm going to Livorno tomorrow. My companion will be Sorella Kras, who is from Germany. Livorno is almost at the very south of the mission and it's in Tuscany and apparently on the coast, so it'll be beautiful! 

So, questions! Yeah, In bocca al lupo means it the mouth of the wolf and it's like good luck or break a leg. The response is Crepi! meaning Kill it! 

So, last week! On Thursday and Friday, Sorella Mantz got sick. Not with what I had, but a pretty bad sinus infection or something. She's much better now, but for those two days we stayed in mostly and took it easy. Thursday morning, we had zone training, so we had to go to that, and it was pretty good! Friday, I got permission to go out with Sorella Nilsen for a few hours to go to an appointment with Mariam. It was a pretty good lesson and it seems like she's really progressing! 

Sorelle Snow and Mantz with Nelly

Saturday, we got transfer news and we saw Susana. Sorella Nilsen is going to Piacenza and Sorella Stephens is staying here. Sorella Albos (from the Philippines) is coming to be with Sorella Mantz. The lesson with Susana was pretty good. She's really cool and I know that she'll join the church one day, even if it's not when Sorella Mantz or I are here.

Sunday, we had church of course! And that night we had a dinner appointment with Sara and her friend (who's not a member) Giuseppina. It was a really good lesson! Sorella Caggese has a beautiful testimony and a beautiful family! Her youngest son, Rafaele, is just about the cutest kid ever (besides my nieces of course!).

Maria and Sorella Snow

Monday morning, we went to a wedding! It was sooooo beatiful! It was for two of the anziani's simps, Joy and Godwin. They're Nigerian. It was so much fun! Africans really know how to party! We made some pretty beautiful brownies (they were super tacky) for the reception.

Throwing the bouquet

Beautiful brownies

Having fun at the reception

Then we had district meeting and we saw Susana again that night to say goodbye.

District

Trying to throw flowers into the air

Saying good bye to Susana

Tuesday, there was the baptism of Godwin and Joy. It was honestly, probably the most beautiful baptism I've seen so far! They were both just so ready and they are so excited to be sealed in the temple in a year! After, we had a baptism reception and birthday party for the anziani's other new convert, Fiorenzo. It was lots of fun! We of course made more brownies (Italians love 'em!).

Sorella Mantz wearing an African dress to the baptism

Today, we didn't do much, I finished packing, and we just kinda hung out, since half of our apartment is leaving Torino.

At the market outside our house

Some chocolate I bought for the family (specifically for Mom).  You'll get those in a year!

The other sorelle always write "Snow White" on my cereal box

"What happened to my boots after the winter ended!"

Name tags on the bed

Well, that's about it for me this week! I don't have a ton of time because our normal internet points were all shut down today and we had to come use the church computer. 

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for your support and love every week! I hope you have a fantastic week! Vi voglio un mondo di bene! 

Love, Sorella Snow 

Conference was amazing! - April 8, 2015

Hey, y'all!

Man, this was a crazy week!

So answers to questions! Conference was amazing! We saw the Women's session in Italian and we got to see the Sunday morning and Saturday morning sessions in English. I think we're going to try and download the ones we missed to watch them when we have time. But it was honestly amazing. One thing Sorella Mantz pointed out was that we were watching it at the same time as our families back home and singing with them and praying with them at the same time, so that was pretty cool!

So, this week has gone by pretty quickly again, I can't believe it's almost time for transfer calls! Last Thursday, we had a Scambio with our STL who is in Alessandria, this teeny little town that I think is down south of us. So, they have bikes in Alessandria and, I have to tell you, it is in fact possible to forget how to ride a bike. For one, I'm short so it was too tall for me. But, it was a good scambio, our STL, Sorella Jackman, is super cool, and you know back here in Torino, they got fed fish, so tender mercy that I missed that.

Friday, we exchanged back at lunch time and that night we went and saw a member named Maria. She was super cool. Then we once again had an adventure getting home, with all of the buses we needed being canceled. But what I'm realizing is that usually when that happens, there's someone we need to talk to. And sure enough we met this Albanian dude who was really cool and super interested in English. Plus, he helped us get to the metro safely.

Saturday, we did weekly planning in the morning and then had the Women's session at four and the Saturday morning session at 6, so that was super amazing! I love conference! We also dyed Easter eggs that night when we got home!

Sunday, in the morning we hid huge hollow chocolate Easter eggs that we'd bought for our comps and had an Easter egg hunt. We ate chocolate for breakfast.

We were invited to the Bishop's house for lunch and it was waaay fun! He had all the missionaries in the ward there and 20 members of his and his wife's family. They homemade literally everything, we ate for seriously 3 hours and we played Mafia! They play it the exact same here, so that was super fun!

The bishop's mother made these homemade noodles.  There were hundreds of them and they tasted so good!

The lunch table. 

This is just the first course...

This looks delicious!!!

Then we got to see the Sunday morning session of conference that night! We were sooo happy that we got to see Jeffrey R Holland's talk.

Monday, we saw A. It was a really good visit! At the moment she's going through some pretty rough stuff in her life, so usually she's really sad, but this time we were able to cheer her up and she was pretty happy.

Yesterday, I was sick all day, so that was rough. We had to  stay inside all day and Sorella Mantz was super productive and cleaned the entire apartment.

Today, I still feel kinda sick and now Sorella Mantz does too, so we stayed in and took it easy. But we're hoping that by tomorrow we'll be okay again, because we're going to have a zone training. We're super excited for it because we think they're gonna give us some more info on the Elder Bednar conference.

But, it's been a really good week! I'm so happy we had the chance to watch Conference and celebrate our Savior. I hope everything is fantastic for you all this week! Vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Love, Sorella Snow

Are you my mummy? - April 1, 2015

Buonasera, tutti!

Hey, everyone, it's been another crazy week over here!

Okay, so answers! Yeah, we hear about Italian operas and plays, we're allowed to go to cultural events, but pretty sparingly. Sorella Mantz and I might go see Romeo and Juliet next transfer if we're still together :).

Yeah, Maria Caci would be pronounced kah-chee with the emphasis on the first syllable. Giglia is a little tricky. The Gi would make the J sound like gem (so it's sound like Jee) and the gl makes a sound like the li in million, basically the l noise with kinda a y sounds after it. So, Jee-li-a with the emphasis probably on the li part. Hope that helped, I love talkin about Italian :).

Anywho, so, last Friday, all of our lessons unfortunately canceled on us, so we did a lot of work in our area book and some finding, woohoo! But, yeah, it was good cause we got more organized.

Saturday, we once again had a day full of lessons cancel on us, but we were able to arrange some last minute ones and we saw some cool people. One was a potential named Verdi. She's super cool and speaks English really well, so it was really fun!

Sunday, Mariam, our new simp from last week came and we were super happy to have her! We also went to an African party later that day. It was a birthday party for a little boy, so we thought it would be pretty tame, but it was crazy. We were walking up to the building and we could hear super loud music and were like wow, the neighbors are having a crazy party, then we realized it was actually the one we were going to. We got out pretty quick, but we got some super yummy African food!


African food handouts

Oh! Also we met some American tourists in Church, which was a little strange, not really used to speaking so much English :)

Monday, we had a district meeting, and for the training, the ZLs talked about the importance of members and getting them to come to lessons. We then did a "real play" (get it, like role play) and each coppia called some members to try and set up a lesson. We (Sorella Mantz and I) were having a really hard time getting anyone to commit to come with us, so we were all sitting in a circle making calls for an hour trying to set up one member present lesson. It was kinda funny how ridicuosly hard it was to get that one member present. We finally got it! But then the simp didn't show up to it the next day. So, that was pretty ironic. But that day we also had a really good lesson with the sister and mother of a man who got baptized this week. The sister wanted to know more about the church because she said she could see how much it had changed her brother's life. She was really cool and we're going to see them again next week!

Tuesday, we saw Angela and then we went to a baptism (for the man whose sister we'd taught). It was really cool. It was a man the anziani had been working with for a while and when they first met him, he smoked two 24 packs of cigarrettes a day. Now, he hasn't for a couple of weeks. It was really cool.

Today, we went to the Egyptian museum! Torino has a pretty famous Egyptian museum and it reopened after renovations and was free today! It was really cool. Lots of mummys :)

Are you my mummy?

Anyways, it's been a good week here and I hope everything's going well with you guys as well! I'm so excited to celebrete the Resurrection of our Savior this Sunday and to hear the words of the living prophet we're so lucky to have today. I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love, Sorella Snow