We smoked the anziani! - February 17, 2016

Buonasera!

I hope you've all had a great week. Life's been crazy here like always. 

We had English class as always last Wednesday night. They're a super fun group. They told me I should be an Italian teacher when I go home :). 

Thursday, we saw Sorella A with Marisol to do visiting teaching. Sorella A is so funny but she always gets super off topic and we end up talking about the strangest things. We had a couple of appointments cancel that night and went to AMM, Italian mutual. It was fun, the youth are so great. 

Friday, weekly planning in the morning. Then we went and saw Cristiana. We finally met her oldest daughter. Cristiana's super nice and we're the first sisters who have ever really visited her so she loves finally having women to explain the gospel, she says it's easier to ask us questions. That night we saw Sanela. We redid the resto lesson because it'd been awhile and it was great. Cristian sat in with us the whole lesson and the end was asking perfect questions to lead into the plan of salvation, so we promised we'd teach him that next time. He also was telling his mom he might want to be baptized!! We just need to help her sort out some stuff first.

Saturday, we finally saw Augustine and Patience! They're a couple of simps we've been trying to see for months but they've been out of town or busy.  We also had a cool miracle that night. While we were waiting for our train to arrive to go home (it was after nine because we could only go see Augustine later), a woman shows up at the station, she is a friend of a member. We'd seen her the week before when we'd go to visit the member in the hospital. She started a conversation with us and we had a great discussion. She said she'd meet with us again so we're excited for that. 

Sunday, church! Plus Valentine's Day! Hope it was good for all of ya ;). I wanted to make my comp some heart shaped pasta for lunch but she nixed that idea. We saw Ben and family that night. 

Monday, we had district meeting in the morning and we did a how well do you know your comp quiz. We smoked the anziani. Then we had to take off for scambio. Our STLs are in Bologna now so it's a little bit closer for us to get to. All four of us stayed in Bologna for it. I was with Sorella Albos, who I actually did a little mini scambio with at the beginning of our missions so that was cool. Plus she and I have had three cities in common (Livorno, Lampugnano, and Torino) so that was pretty fun to get to talk about people we both knew. We went with a simp to have she with a member family. It was so much fun! 

Sorelle Dixon Albos, Arbon and Snow enjoying gelato

Tuesday, we were supposed to have an appointment but it canceled. We finished out the scambio and came home. We saw Diva and Debora. They're so funny. Then we went to Maria. She's still reading so we're really happy about that. 

Today! We've been taking it easy. It's been kinda rainy. We went to get some crescioni for lunch and while we were eating, the Rimini Sorelle actually showed up and ate with us. It was kinda funny, we weren't expecting to see them. 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Love, Kim 

Ear infection and new shoes - February 10, 2016

Hey, everyone!

Hope you all had a good week! Ours has been fine.

So, last Thursday, we were supposed to go see Cristiana and we caught
our bus and everything but our bus driver was new to the route or
something because he got horribly lost and didn't even go near her
house. So, we had a fantastic conversation with him and taught some of
the restoration and invited him to English class but we didn't end up
getting to see Cristiana because by the time we got there, we had to
leave because there's only one bus going back and we couldn't miss it.
So that was a bummer. Then we went with Marisol to meet some of her
friends. It was a nice lesson but they were super rushed so we only
got to talk to them for like 10 minutes. Marisol wants to take us back
though, so hopefully they'll have more time the next visit! Then we
went and picked up the new anziani from the station and showed them
how to get to their apartment. They seem like they're really nice guys
and they're willing to work hard so we're happy.

Friday weekly planning, like always! We also finally got to teach the
neighbor of Marisol, Maria! We did the rest and it went well. She seem
really cool and we're excited to start working with her.

Saturday, correlation in the morning. That night we did passbys.

Sunday, so we had church in the morning and during the middle of the
first hour, my ear started hurting horribly. I made it through church
and we got home and I called Sorella Dibb. She ended up telling me to
go to Pronto Soccorso, the Italian ER (don't worry, they go there for
everything, not just serious stuff). We did and the doctor there told
me I have an ear infection... In both ears. So that stinks. By the
time we got that all sorted out, it was late so we went home.

Monday, we had district meeting in the morning. That night we went to
go see Maria (Marisol's neighbor) at the home of Marisol. It was
really good, we taught her the plan of salvation. She's seems really
interested and Antonio said he'd give her a lift to church on Sunday.

Tuesday, my ears were hurting again so we took it easy in the morning
and did area book. That afternoon, we went to see a less active sister
with Marisol because it was the sister's birthday. It was a lot of
fun! Then we had FHE that night.

Today, we went to Rimini. We wanted to check out the markets there but
unfortunately, it had rained in the morning so most of them weren't
set up. We did end up going with the sisters there to an awesome shoe
store with cheap deals. Real leather shoes for an amazing price. It
was fun.

Cute shoes!

Well, it's been an interesting week. We've had a lot to do. I love you
guys and I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Sorella Snow

I'm just awful at English now! - February 3, 2016

Ciao a tutti!

Hey, everyone, I hope you've had an awesome week! Everything's going well here. So Dad pointed out that I called the senior couple weird in m email last week, so I just want to say they are most definitely NOT weird, that was a totally a typo, they're super awesome!

Last Thursday, we had our District meeting (we didnlt have time to do it earlier in the week because we and the anziani were busy with a ton of stuff). That afternoon we went and saw a less active sister with our RS president, Marisol. It was great, Marisol is so sweet and everyone just opens up to her. That night we also had mutual and branch counsel, so we were pretty busy. We went through the branch list and the president has asked us to go pass by all the people on the list that he doesn't know. 

Friday, we were supposed to see Gaia but she and her daughter got sick so we couldn't, but that's okay, we did weekly planning instead. We had a lesson with Maria that night and she's been reading!! We were really happy about that. Then we went and passed by Sandra again in the hospital with Marisol. She's not doing very well, she had a lot of back pain. President Gresta was there as well and he gave her an amazing blessing. We're all so lucky to have him, he's an amazing branch president! 

Saturday, we had correlation with our ward mission leader in the morning and we got transfer news. Sorella Arbon and I are staying together, like we knew we would, but there always has to be a surprise with transfers,,, Both of the Anziani are leaving Ravenna and we'll get two different ones. They're both pretty bummed to be leaving. That afternoon we did all of the passbys that President Gresta asked us to that are here in Ravenna. Unfortunately, all the people except one have moved away and the one wasn't willing to let us in. The rest of the passbys are in areas that are further out so it'll take us a little longer to get to them. 

Sunday, we had church! It was really good. Valeria came! She has been out of town for awhile and hasn't been able to. Also Augustine! The rest of the day there was a training on missionary work for the ward missionaries and ward mission leaders and full time missionaries that was held in Rimini. It was really good. The stake is doing a lot of new things to emphasize the importance of member missionary work. 

Sorella Carducci with Sorella Snow.  She got transferred to Savonna.

Monday, I registered for classes! Super weird. I registered to do summer term. We had district meeting which basically consisted of us helping the anziani get everything ready for them to leave. That afternoon we saw Marisol and Antonio . They're doing well. It's funny because we've seen Marisol like 10 times in the last week because we've been going out with her so much. She's amazing.

Our district was a "family" this last transfer because I was the mom and my
daughter is my trainee and Olsen and his trainee were father and son.
So we did we did a family photo with the uptight mom, oblivious dad
and fighting kids.

Tuesday, I was sick. I have a head cold. So we did a lot of area book and planning inside for most of the day. That night we had FHE where the branch said goodbye to the anziani. 

This morning, the anziani were told to leave this morning so we went and helped them with their luggage and picked up their apartment keys and phone to give to the new ones. They're super awesome elders so we'll miss them but I'm sure the new ones will be great as well.

Well, that's been our week! If my spelling and punctuation is just awful, I'm sorry. Gmail updated it's app and it's no longer compatible with the restrictions put on our ipads so I'm using the church computer, which has super sticky keys and ya know, I'm just awful at English now! 

Well, have a great week! I love you guys! 

Love, Sorella Snow 

Worldwide Missionary Broadcast - January 27, 2016

Hey, Famiglia!

I hope you all had a good week! Everything's going well here.

Last Wednesday, we had a worldwide missionary broadcast. It was really
great. We learned a lot about the spirit and how the most we can do is
bring the message of the gospel to people, the spirit is the one who
does everything else and we need to be using it! Then we had English
class. English class is starting to get back into the normal swing of
things with everyone starting to show up again, so that's good.

Thursday, we went with Sorella Gen to do visiting teaching to
Sorella Gres. It was great. They're both such strong solid women
with amazing testimonies. That afternoon, we went and saw Cristiana
again. She's really sweet. After not having any contact with
missionaries for a while, she's really happy to have us start visiting
her. Then we went and saw Maria. We set up gospel library for her on
her phone so that it can read the scriptures aloud to her (she doesn't
read very well) so we really hope that will help her get better at
reading and help her progress more. We had mutual that night.

Friday, we did weekly planning in the morning. That afternoon, we went
and saw Sorella A with Marisol to do visiting teaching. It was
good, Sorella A is soooo funny, then we got a ton of bidoni that
night so we did passbys.

Saturday, we did a ton of passbys again because we got some more
cancellations. We also did some finding and I spent some time making
calls to set up appointments for the next week because Sorella Arbon
was supposed to stay in Ravenna with the STL for a scambio. That
night, we saw Ben and his family. They wanted us to teach them the
vocab for praying in Italian so they can start practicing at home,
they're amazing!

Sunday, church! It was a really good sacrament meeting, entirely
dedicated to missionary work! Our branch is so awesome! We did more
finding, passbys that night. Then we went to the hospital to see
Sandra, our new convert, she hurt herself a couple of weeks ago at
work and she ended up in the hospital this week (don't panic, they go
to the hospital for everything here) she's not feeling too great so we
went to visit her.

Monday, we had to clean our apartment in the morning because our
senior couple came today to inspect and we had to get it done before
the scambio. Then we went and saw Marisol and Antonio. After we had to
jump on a train to go switch with our STLs and the rest of the day was
spent getting up to Venice.

Tuesday, I was in Venice and Sorella Arbon stayed down here. It was a
good scambio! The morning was rough because everyone canceled, but the
afternoon was great and we were able to meet with a lot of new people
the Sorelle had been trying to get in contact with. The Sorelle in
Ravenna had an awesome day as well. They were able to meet a new
person that Sorella Arbon and I had passed by about 5 times and
finally she was home! So we're really excited to work with her.

Wednesday, we came back down to Ravenna to switch. The STLs stayed and
went around the city with us for awhile. We went and saw some of the
churches with the cool mosaics.

Man, it's felt like a crazy week! We have a ton of appointments
planned for this week so I'm pretty excited, it should be really good.

I love you guys! I hope you have an awesome week!
Love, Kim

Eskimos and random new things - January 20, 2016

Hey, everyone!

Here are more pictures from San Marino last week.  It was really windy so our hair is a little crazy! 

So, last pday, we had English class that night. No one in the medium class showed up so I got to join Sorella Arbon in the Advanced one. It's always so fun to be in the advanced class because they just want to have conversations and we just end up talking about the most random things, for instance this week, we talked about Eskimos and a different tribe of northern living people who hate being called Eskimos. Yeah, the people in the class are always teaching us random new things.

Last Thursday morning, we went and did some pass-bys. That afternoon, we went with Marisol and Antonio to go visit Sorella Pog.. who's been kinda sick lately and hasn't come to church in a few weeks. Then we went to mutual that night. The young women class just got two new beehives, so the entire program just doubled in size! They're all really great girls,we love getting to work with them. 

Friday, we finally got to see a less active sister I've been trying to get in contact with for like three months! It was a really great lesson and she said we can come back again, so we're really excited to start visiting her. She's really sweet. That night, we saw Valeria for the first time in about a month because she's been out of town for holidays. She's doing well. She's really sweet and has a really good heart.

Saturday, we had correlation in the morning and in the afternoon  we tried some for pass-bys and dropped off Sorella Arbon's bike at a repair shop. Poor Anziano Olsen has been fixing it once or twice a week for the last month but has now said he can do no more for it, so we took it in, which meant we were bike-less until Monday afternoon. We walked to Maria's house that night and had a lesson with her. 

Sunday, we did our weekly planning and saw Ben and his family that night. They are so great! They just barely got back in town from vacations so we were really happy to see them again. 

Monday, we had more pass-bys and a few bidoni. We finally picked up Sorella Arbon's bike and I needed to replace the brake pads on mine. I thought it'd be quick but apparently I'm an awful mechanic because it took me a couple hours and I didn't even do it right (poor Anziano Olsen did it the next day for me).

Tuesday, we had some more bidoni and did some finding. We were supposed to have FHE that night but it got canceled last minute. 

Today, we went to Rimini to do some shopping (you all know how much I love shopping!).  We met up with the Rimini sorelle and we had a pretty good time. We're planning on doing it again before the sales end and we're going to go look at shoes, which is what I'm excited for. Tonight there's going to be a worldwide missionary broadcast with almost all missionary's across the globe tuning in, so we're really excited for that. 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you! 

Love, Sorella Snow 

Befana and more bike problems - January 13, 2016

Hey, everyone!

So last pday, it was the holiday of the Befana, an Italian witch who
brings candy to kids in their stockings, so everything was closed and
only one person came to English, but we had a good time talking with
that one dude.

Thursday, we had zone training. It's always kinda a long day because
we have to get up early and get home kinda late in the afternoon and
don't have time to see a ton of people. We saw Maria really quickly
and had a little lesson with her and then we had branch counsel. It
was good.

Friday, we saw Gaia in the morning. She's a really sweet member and we
love seeing her. She has an adorable little girl named Alice. We had a
good lesson with her, afterwards, we needed the anziani to come and
fix Sorella Arbon's bike because the brakes were putting too much
pressure and making it hard for her to ride. Turns out her wheel was
actually loose and was hitting the frame and that's why it was so hard
to ride, so it was really good we figured that out because otherwise
the wheel could've popped off while she was riding. We had an
appointment cancel on us after lunch and then went and saw Marisol and
Antonio. We hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks because they had
been out of town, so we were really excited to see them again. After
we taught them, they actually asked us to go downstairs and teach a
lesson to some of their neighbors, so that was super awesome! We had
another bidone after that and tried some more finding.

Saturday, we went finding before correlation and then did correlation
with our WML. We saw Sanela that afternoon. Unfortunately, she was
super sick and not feeling well, so we just left her with a small
message and then left her to rest. Then we went finding for a few more
hours and that night we had a dinner appointment with a less active
sister named Eliana. We've been trying to call her for weeks but she
hadn't let us come over. This week she actually called us and invited
us over, so it was a definite miracle. We had a really nice lesson
with her.

Sunday, we had church as usual. It was really nice. Afterwards, that
afternoon, we had another bidone (no show for an appointment). And
spent seriously the rest of the day finding. So our mission president
had asked us to try and get 21 lessons this week. We didn't end up
getting that many but we did triple the number of lessons we had been
getting and we finally got in contact with multiple people we'd been
trying to visit for months, so we saw a ton of blessings for all the
hard work we'd done.

Monday, we had district meeting in the morning, that afternoon, we had
another bidone. And we did more finding (I'm seeing a pattern! :)). We
also did weekly planning because we'd been too busy the last week to
do it.

Yesterday, we finally got in contact with another less active sister
and went to go see her. She unfortunately lives kinda far away, so we
left kinda early in the morning and it took us an hour and a half on
buses to get to her. It was an awesome lesson though! She promised to
come to church on Sunday! Then there wasn't a bus back until 3 that
afternoon, so we had to stay in this teeny mini village of like 8
houses until then. That night we had FHE. The branch decided to do a
movie night so we obviously couldn't stay but we went to help set up
and greet any friends or less active members who came.

Today, we went to San Marino. Almost the entire zone was there. The
Rimini Anziani had also brought a member with them who ended up
showing us all around the city, it was great!

San Marino

Sorry, the emails kinda lame/ boring. I didn't have a ton of time to
write today, promise I'll be better next week!!
I love you guys ! Have a fantastic week!
Love, Sorella Snow

It started raining - January 6, 2016

Hey, Famiglia!

So it's been a good week. We've been starting to get really busy again
because people are coming back from vacation, so we're really happy
about that.

Last Saturday, it started raining. So everyone's been telling us that
the winter has been really mild so far this year and that we'd better
buckle up for it to get a lot worse, so this week, it got worse. Still
not as bad as last year yet (finding in the snow is not an experience
I'm eager to repeat) but it's starting to rain and on the bikes we get
soaked. We did a lot of pass bys and had a few people cancel on us.

Sunday, we taught young women's in church. It was fun, kinda weird
cause I felt like I should still be the student, not the teacher :).
That afternoon we saw Maria. We shared the story of Esther and the
Mormon message about her and Maria loved it.

Monday. Okay so, in everyone's first transfer, President Dibb
challenges the new greenie and their trainer to get 21 lessons one
week, and that's this week for us. So we're kinda running around crazy
trying to do that. We saw Diva and Debora. They're really sweet and
love having us over, we also tried to pass by a less active sister and
saw a new convert, Sandra. This is the first time I've ever been able
to visit her because she's usually so busy. It was really good though,
a great lesson. Then we had a bidone (a no show) that night. Plus, it
was raining all day.

Tuesday, we saw the B family, a family of members and had a great
lesson with them. They're really cool have a lot of faith, they asked
us to start giving out the ward Facebook page to all our simps and
everyone we meet and they want to post "inspiring messages" to help
bring people closer to the church. It's just really great to have
people who are trying to help in any way they can think of. We saw
Gabriella also. To get her, we take a train ride, then a bus ride and
then walk a little, so that took up a lot of the afternoon. But it was
really great. She's really nice and has a lot of faith and trust in
the Lord and it was really beautiful to see. That night we had FHE.
For the past month, we've only had one new convert who's been showing
up to FHE, but people are finally starting to come back from vacation
so we had a good group this week.

Today, it's an Italian holiday, the befana. She's a witch who brings
presents to kids and puts them in their stockings. So basically
Italians take their holidays seriously and every single store was
closed today and it was also raining, so we stayed inside most of
today.

Well, it's been a good week so far, we've been keeping busy! I love
you guys and I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Sorella Snow