Letter #29 - 4/2/14

Hi Mom and Dad!

Okay so guess what...I am getting transferred to....ALESSANDRIA!!!!! I am super excited! I leave tomorrow morning for Milano and then from there to Alessandria. I can’t believe I am actually leaving Motevarchi. This place really has become my home here in Italy and I love the people here so much. Saying goodbye is really hard because you really don’t know when you will see them again. But I know that my time here is now done and that I am needed somewhere else now and that these people here need the new Sorella.

This week was really really good. Sorella Jarvis and I both gave talks in church, haha. So that was fun. Did I tell you that last week I was the chorister? Haha. Yep that happened. Oh! So miracle story for the week. We were sitting on a bench outside the train station and there were lots of people around us on the bench and then this young girl came and sat down close by us and she totally stood out to me and I knew I had to go talk to her. So I did. I went and sat by here and started talking to her and turns out she is from Japan! She was super sweet and I felt like I loved her before we even started talking. We told her we are missionaries here and that we talk to people about Jesus Christ and she was like “oh okay, so teach me about Jesus Christ." Haha. She didn’t have to ask us twice. we taught her a lesson and she let us pray with her and it was one of the coolest experiences ever. She was so great and the Spirit totally prompted me to go talk to her and I am so thankful I did.

Also. Sorella Jarvis and I came up with a plan to help people get to church. We just have to convert all the train conductors, haha. We have taught a few so far – so we will let you know how that goes. Oh my gosh. WAIT IM LEAVING. Dang. Haha!

I really am so excited for this new adventure. I’ll let you all know how things are in Alessandria :)

I love you Mom and Dad!

Sorella Alli

 

 

Letter #28 - 3/26/14

Ciao Famiglia! :)

Well, This week was crazy. But what else is new? Haha. SO first of all, Sorella Jarvis and I both got proposed to this week in English class, haha. Remember that funny 80 year old man that is always super enthusiastic? Haha. Yeah, so we were teaching them about families and asking them questions about their families and things like that and he asked us if we were married and we were like "no, we are not," haha. And then he was like "hmmmm, you are single (pointing at sorella jarvis) and you are single (pointing at me). You marry me (pointing at sorella jarvis) and you marry me (pointing at me)." Hahahah, oh my gosh, it was sooooo funny. We both lost it and just starting dying laughing and were like "uhhh...NO!" haahaha so funny.

 

Then Saturday was Sorella Jarvis's birthday!! And we celebrated by going to visit one of our investigators! She is so, so awesome; she is the mom of our new convert that got baptized in February. We are teaching her and her son now. The mom is from Nigeria and she is married to an Italian and their son is 11, so Will's age! He is super funny, we love him. He always asks us to make him brownies, haha. But anyways, we went to go see the mom on Saturday and we were in the middle of our lesson and she was bearing testimony of how much she loves the book of Mormon and then all of a sudden she looks at us and is like "do you want to see my chickens? I bought 7." Hahaha. We were like "yeah! sure, let’s go see your chickens" hhaaha, so she takes us outside into her backyard in the middle of nowhere-Tuscany and there are just chicks running all over the back yard, haha. Then she took us into the coop and bent over and came up with 3 eggs and just put them right into Sorella Jarvis’s hands and was like "Happy Birthday!!!" hhaahaha, it was so cute.

 

Then the buses only come to her little city once and hour so she took us on a walk, aka, we went off-roading through a vineyard of olive trees, hahaha, so funny. We love her so much and she always bears testimony of how much her life has changed since she started learning about the gospel, it is so incredible.

 

Then Sorella Jarvis and I made tiramisu for her birthday and we came home and she opened her presents and I sang to her and she blew out the candles and we ate tiramisu, haha, it was a super fun day. I just absolutely love Sorella Jarvis, she is amazing.

 

Next week is transfers so I will find out on Monday or Tuesday what is going to happen. We will see. We had zone conference on Monday and I got your packages Mom! Thank you so much! My companion would like to know who picks out the cards, Mom or Abbi, hahahaha. So funny, I love them! Thank you so much! and I love the Seahawks shirt! I will wear that proudly, haha.

 

I think that is everything for this week! love and miss you all so much! thank you for everything! talk to you soon! :)

Love you!

Sorella Alli

Letter #27 - 3/19/14

Ciao Famiglia!

 

Okay so this week was crazy, I don’t even remember what happened, haha. So last week on Wednesday we went to the cinque terre and it was so beautiful! It is these 5 cities on the ocean and it is up by Le Spezia so the only way we could go was from Pisa after our scambio last week (hence the huge bag I am carrying in all the pictures...and trying to throw into the ocean in one of them haha) – but sooooo worth it, haha. It was so fun; we had a blast.

 

Also, the search for a cappella is still on here in Valdarno, we are still looking for a new place for our Branch to meet and this week our Branch President asked us missionaries to help him look too. So we are trying, we really want to be out of the hotel sometime soon. But the branch is still growing and doing so well! The new converts are such a huge part of the branch now, it’s like they have been here all along. I LOVE IT.

 

Another fun adventure we went on this week was to a children’s dentist office....hahah Sorella Jarvis had to get her permanent retainer removed so we got to go on a little adventure around Florence and ended up in a waiting room with like five 7 year olds. it was great. We also had district meeting in Siena this week so we were on the train like all day. But it was a really good district meeting, and I am so used to the trains by now it doesn’t even bother me.

 

So our new convert’s mom and brother are still doing so, so well and come to church every week! They are really progressing and love it so much, especially the mom. She is so cute. We absolutely love her. She has taught me so much about faith. She has so much of it.

 

We had a really cool experience last night on the train in Arezzo, we got on the train and were just sitting there like a minute before the doors closed and all of sudden Sorella Jarvis turned to me and was like "Sorel a,I don’t have my wallet!" aka she doesn’t have her abbonamento, aka if our tickets get checked we would have like a 45 euro fine! So I looked at her and was like "we have to get off the train NOW!" So we ran off right before it left and went a bought a ticket for the next train. It was so crazy but definitely a prompting from the Spirit for her to randomly check for her wallet. We were SO thankful.

 

Well I think that is everything for this week! Everything is great here in Montevarchi, I love it here so much :)  I love and miss you! Thanks for all your prayers and everything you do for me! Love you mom and dad!

 

Sorella Alli.

 

p.s. Also, I knocked over a completely full glass of water in the middle of a lesson this week. Classic.

Letter #26 - 3/12/14

Ciao Famiglia!

 

SO - First things first – I am in pants right now!!!!!! I know, best day ever. We went to the cinque terre today and it was soooo AMAZING. I will send pictures of it next week because last week on pday we went to the leaning tower of Pisa and I sent all those pictures today! We tried to do the classic "holding up the leaning tower" pose so I hope you enjoy that, haah, it was so much fun.

 

Guess what – we finally have an English class now in Arezzo! It started last Friday and it went really, really well. We taught them the ABC's song :) haha it was awesome. There was this like-70 year old man there who like LOVED the song. And he kept answering all the questions even when it wasn’t his turn, haha. We had to tell him to wait his turn; it was hilarious. They were all taking notes and got really into it. We do it every Friday now.

 

Also, this week we had scambio in Pisa! I was with Sorella Jameson and it was so great! We saw so many miracles and were able to teach five lessons! Oh yeah, and we did a singing mostra (show) together with the Anziani (Elders) which is where you are in like one of the piazzas and 4 of you are singing hymns together and then two (usually one elder and one sorella) are out handing out passalong cards and talking to people. It was SO fun! I loved it! It was not nearly as scary as I was expecting, haha. They asked us if we were good singers and it was like "well. Sorella Jarvis has an amazing voice (she totally does) and I am pretty talented at lip synching," haha. All those years of ward choir finally paid off! ;) haha - just kidding. But yeah it was so fun!

 

This week has been really good and our investigators are really progressing, especially in our new convert’s family. Her mom and little brother are coming to church regularly now and it is so awesome! We had Branch pranzo (lunch) on Sunday after church and it was so fun, they loved it.

 

We kind of got our hearts broken this week though because one of our super, super awesome progressing investigators broke up with us :( but its okay, we know everything will all work out and when the time is right she will be even more ready and prepared for the gospel :)

 

Thank you so much for everything! You are the best. I love serving a mission; I have seen so many miracles the past 6 months. And I am so excited for the 12 more that lay ahead :) love and miss you!!

 

Talk to you soon!

 

Sorella Alli

Letter #25 - 3/5/14

Ciao famiglia!

How are you all this week? This week was such a good week here in the land of Montevarchi! Sorella Jarvis and I are doing so well! We get along so well together and are literally always laughing. It is so great, and we have seen so many miracles this week too!

 

We have been working with the mom of our new convert (the 17 year old) and she is doing so well! This week she drove her and her son to church even though her daughter was in Pisa for the youth activity and her friend (our other new convert, the mom) was super sick and wasn’t able to make it to church. She is really progressing and loves the gospel so much and is definitely doing it for herself because she believes it so we are so happy for her! Also she hasn’t had any Word of Wisdom issues for 3 weeks now! She is super amazing and we absolutely love her.

 

Sad news though...my shoulder bag broke this week. I know, it was devastating. I have had to fix it a couple times and then I was standing in the kitchen in our apartment right before we were about to leave and it just snapped and fell to the group. I KNOW. So I have been borrowing Sorella Jarvis's extra bag this week and I am buying a new one today. Also, I finally reached my breaking point this week and caved and bought new boots. Mine were practically nothing, haha! When we walked into the store and I showed the saleslady my boots, she had this horrified look on her face, haha! It was great. Then once I chose the boots, she told me to keep them on and wear them out of the store, hahahaah so funny. But now my feet never get wet and I am so happy, haha Sorella Jarvis laughs at me because now I will sometimes purposely walk through the puddles just because I can!

 

Also, funny story for the week. We were waiting for our train in Arezzo on Sunday night to go back to San Giovanni and we were waiting on a bench in between binario 4 and 5 but we were facing binario 4 and didn’t even realize that our train was at binario 5 and had left. We literally missed the train while sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT. And we didn’t realize what had happened until like at least 20 minutes after it had left. How pathetic right? Haha. We felt so dumb but we got a good laugh out of it and took the next train like 20 minutes later.

 

I played the piano again in Sacrament meeting this week. And I had to eat like 10 pounds of Plantains this week at a member’s house this week. I KNOW. Okay it wasn’t actually that much but I thought I was going to die, haha! They actually weren’t too bad though – ask landon how often he ate those in the DR!

 

Tell Abbi to start getting herself ready now because we are doing to cleanse like the day I get back, haaha! Remember how much she hated that? Also I HIT 6 MONTHS THIS WEEK!!!!!! so crazy! It feels like it has gone by fast but then at the same time I cannot believe there is still a year left, haha! But I love it and I am excited for everything that lies ahead! Being a missionary is the best and I love these people so much. I have learned so much already and I have met some of the most incredible people. It has definitely been a humbling experience for sure. Thank you for everything you do for me! I love and miss you so much but don’t worry, I’ll be home one year from now ;)

 

Love you Mom and Dad (and Abbi, Anna, Will and Charlie :)) haha!

Sorella Alli

Letter #24 - 2/26/14

Ciao Famiglia!

Okay so crazy week out here in the boondocks of Italia, I have a new companion! Her name is Sorella Jarvis and she is from Virginia and she is super sweet. So I picked her up in Bologna on Thursday night, I ended up being companions with Sorella Holloways for like a whole day because they missed their train and didn’t get in until later in the night.

Then we got back to our area late that night and have basically been doing finding work ever since, haha - since she got here when there was still a week left in the month it didn’t make sense to pay 80 euro to buy a monthly abbonamento (train pass) so we have been doing strada (street) and casa (tracking) every day until the new month when she can get an abbonamento. It has been really hard and I can say that in 6 months of being a missionary I have not been let in to someone’s house doing casa (knocking on peoples doors) but we were able to teach a few lessons doing strada (talking to people on the street). It has been hard and totally out of my comfort zone since I have been doing train finding for so long, but it is good for me and I am learning things that will help me the rest of my mission.

Also, Mom and dad your dreams came true and this past Sunday - I played the piano in Sacrament meeting, haha - I haven’t played in so long and I miss it. But I haven’t missed playing in front of people, haha - still scary - oh well. Our new convert was officially sustained in church as the Relief Society 2nd Counselor and also our little 8 year old girl in our branch was sustained as the "person who writes the numbers of the hymns we are going to sing on the white board" hahahaha - how cute is that?

So funny, also, shout out to Fratello Valentine if you are reading this. Thank you so much for coming to church with us! haha - I am so glad you were able to find our little branch :) By reading my blog you were able to find out where our branch meets and it was fun to meet you.

This week has been really long and having a new companion is so different than I expected, but we are having a lot of fun together and we are excited to see even more miracles come out of this area.

Stephen B. Allen came and talked to us at our district meeting on Monday and he gave us a really good lesson on being focused missionaries. I learned so much and I know there are so many things I still have to work on, but luckily I still have a year to learn them :)

I love and miss you all so much! Thank you for everything! Have fun in Mexico, get a tan for me. I am getting whiter and whiter every day out here, haha - it is actually quite pathetic.

Love and miss you!

Sorella Alli

Letter #23 - 2/19/14

HOLY COW!

Crazy week, but so so good. First of all, our investigator got BAPTIZED!! Everything went well and she is baptized and confirmed and happy and all is well in Italia :) haha, but for real, it was a miracle we were there for her baptism because we had to go to the questura that morning to pick up my permesso and we got there on time and our number was 88....and they were only on #2, haha. It went so so slow and we ended up being there for 3 and a half hours before I got it, haha, it was nuts. We were freaking out because we thought we were going to be late for the baptism. How tragic would that have been? Haha, but we prayed really, really hard, like literally every time the number changed we said a prayer and by some miracle we made it out on time. The church is true people!

And the baptism was so so good, the Spirit was so strong and our Branch President was the one that baptized her and he was crying and she was crying and it was just all so beautiful. I LOVE MY JOB.

Also, transfer news! Sorella Lopez is being transferred to Varese and I am staying here in Montevarchi and getting a new companion! Her name is Sorella Jarvis. I am going to go pick her up tomorrow in Bologna! Sorella Lopez and I are sad to leave each other, we have had a lot of fun together and seen so many miracles but we are excited too :) she is going to do so well in Varese!

Also, guess what? Sprinkles do exist here in Italy! I found them the other day, and I bought them and now I am eating them with everything. It’s great and reminds me of home, haha!

I think that is all for this week, I am so grateful that I get to be an Italy Milan missionary, I love this place and I love the people even more. They are so special. Tell everyone hi for me and that I love and miss them! And tell Mal congrats on the baby! Tell my new little cousin I say “hi” and that I will see her in a year :)

Love you Mom and Dad!

Sorella Alli