Letter #77 - 3/4/15

Ciao Famiglia!

Can’t believe this is my last email to you from the beloved land of Italy. So weird, doesn’t really seem real yet.

This week has been so great, we were able to do a scambio with the Como Sorelle, which ended up lasting two nights because of unexpected events and so after the scambio Sorella Russell and I had to sleep over in Como and I literally had nothing except my book of Mormon and the skirt I was wearing, haha like I had to borrow pjs and brush-my-teeth-with-toothpaste-on-my-finger kind of situation. It was great, haha and all 6 of us, because there are 4 sorelle in Como, slept in the same room. It was so fun.

Then Sorella Russell and I have just been running around and seeing everyone; and we found a super cool new investigator doing parco (park contacting) and it’s just been such a blessed week.

I’ve been able to think a little bit about the past 18 months and how much they have changed my life. I will forever be grateful for the experiences I had and the person they’ve helped me to become. I know I have a lot still left to learn and do in life but I know that my mission helped me to see a little clearer the plan the Lord has for me. My mission changed my life, but more importantly it changed me. I think back to the day when I realized that I needed to serve, and the happiness and excitement I felt when I finally decided, and I look back now and I realized why. It was just a tiny preview of the happiness and joy I was about to experience. It’s been the ride of a lifetime and I will miss Italy and the people here so much. I will leave a part of my heart here in this country but I know it’s time to go home and that there’s more to do. The mission never really stops, just changes locations :)

Love you so much! Thanks for all the support and love this past year and a half! Can’t wait to see you!

Vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Sorella Yost

MTC picture from 18 Months Ago Today!!  

Look for me at the airport this Friday - this time walking towards you.

Letter #76 - 2/25/15

Ciao Famiglia! :)

How is everything? :) So crazy how fast time is flying by! Next week will be here before we know it! So weird to think about, but we are so busy I feel like I’m kind of in denial, haha.  I haven’t started packing or doing my customs or anything yet, haha, there’s still time.

So this week was crazy, we did two scmabios, one in Lugano and another with Varese. I got to go to Lugano this time! So I was a missionary in Switzerland for a day. Pretty cool :) Italy and Switzerland are a little different I have to say, haha, you can tell when you pass the border. But it was super fun, and I was with Sorella d'aleo from Palermo. It was super fun and we saw a ton of miracles together.

Also this week was carnevale here in Italy. It’s a little like Halloween, everyone dresses up. We ended up having no appointments that night so we were out doing strada in the pouring rain and we talked to this man and had the coolest gospel conversation ever with him. It was really cool. It brought back a lot of memories from Alessandria being out in the pouring rain doing finding. It was awesome.

Then we did a scambio with the Varese Sorelle. I was with Sorella Richards and we had like the best scambio ever. We were doing strada after one of our appointments and we talked to the first woman we saw and she ended up really liking us and what we were teaching her and when we asked if we could pray with her she said she has a friend she wants us to pray and talk with too so she took us to her friend’s house and we ended up teaching them both the first lesson in the friend’s house. It was so cool.

This week has been so great and next week we have our last scambio and we are going to just work as hard as we can to the very end. My companion is starting to freak out a little bit that I’m leaving, she says she’s going to be an orphan, haha, but she’s so great, she can totally handle anything.

So crazy to think my 18 months are already coming to an end. I’ve loved every single day out here. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done but also the most rewarding and life changing.

Thanks for everything! Talk to you next week! Literally... ;)

Love you!

Sorella Yost

Letter #75 - 2/17/15

Ciao Famiglia!

Come state?? so....this week was a little rough. I had the flu! barf.. literally. We were stuck inside for a few days and I was so bored. We got so bored we watched the old 80's church videos, so yeah. It wasn’t fun. But I’m feeling a ton better now.

Funny story though, we had to go out one morning for Sorella Russell’s fingerprinting appointment for her permesso di soggiorno, and so, even though it felt horrible, I put a skirt on, put my coat on over my pug sweatshirt, refused to put on tights, flats, you get the picture; I looked like a total scrub. So we go out, get to the questura (police station) and they do the fingerprinting and I’m just concentrating on not throwing up in the questura. Then I get up to go collect the paperwork for Sorella Russell and get the instructions from the worker lady for the next set and i just got really light headed and my vision just went black and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor, haah. The lady kind of freaked out and helped me get up and sat me in a chair and gave me some chocolate (which i threw up once we got home). i think they thought i was diabetic. Anyways, yeah, it was super embarrassing. and my greenie grounded me to house arrest for the rest of the day, which turned into even longer. It was not fun, but now all is well and we are healthy and get to leave the house and I’m super happy ahah!

Mom, I got your Valentine’s Day cards!!! Thank you so much! I loved them :) oh and I got the kids’ letter too! haha thank you!!!

This week we have a scambio and I’m going to Switzerland this time! So I’ll get to be a missionary in Switzerland for a day which is pretty cool. And then next week we have the last two scambios and then we will be done. It’s been a crazy transfer for sure, lots of scmbios and stuff. But i love it! The Sorelle i get to scambio with are so great, i just love them.

Yesterday I had my last zone conference and we watched meet the Mormons! it was soooooo good. Also I did a training at the conference and I and two other missionaries who are finishing their missions with me all gave our 'dying testimonies'. It was a really weird feeling to be up there bearing my testimony and giving advice to the other missionaries, It’s a little surreal to think that my time here is almost over and some of theirs is just starting.

But i wouldn’t trade a day of my mission for the world. I’ve learned so much and I’m the person and missionary I am today because of the mistakes and lessons I’ve learnt along the way.

I love and miss you all! Crazy how soon I’ll see you all. Just gotta enjoy every last day I have here and I’ll see you before I know it :)

Love and miss you!

Sorella Yost

Letter #74 - 2/10/15

Ciao Famiglia!

Sorry this is going to be short again! Hey, I’ll see you in like 3 weeks right? ;) haha but this week was super awesome! Giovanni gave a talk in church on missionary work and he did such a good job! I was the translator for third hour so it was super funny translating his talk because he was talking about me and Sorella Hawks and just a little bit about his conversion story. It was really cool.

Then we had a big ward lunch after church which was super fun. And Sorella Russell and I survived our four scambio week with new missionary training and consiglio di missione! Haha, It was really fun though. We got to know lots of new sorelle.

And on Monday night we went out on what we like to call 'miracle giro' and we were able to teach two lessons on the street! It was so cool. The people we met were so nice and one of them actually was really interested to learn more and told us she has seen our church name before and had actually been really curious to learn more about it. So we got her phone number and should be seeing her in the next week – huge miracle.

And we did a family home evening with a part member family in our ward for the first time ever and they loved it and want us to come back again next week. So that was a really sweet experience too.

Sorry again his email is so short!

Love and miss you! talk to you soon! :)

Sorella Yost

Letter #73 - 2/3/15

Ciao Famiglia!

Sorry, short email again! I had to send in the monthly report!

Few fun facts from the week, apparently I sleep talk in Italian more than i thought...hahah Sorella Russell informed my I sat up and asked her if we could say a praying in Italian. She thinks I was teaching a lesson in my dream. And she said it has happened a couple times. ahha get ready for that Anna! ;)

Giovanni blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday and it was one of the highlights of my mission. It was the coolest feeling ever to see him up there. He looked so excited and happy, so cool.

Also, we are doing like 4 scambio this week so that’s going to be crazy. Plus new missionary training and consiglio in Milano, so that will be crazy – we’ve already done one so three to go for the week! hah

Sorella Russell is a champ. I love her so much.

Vi volgio bene! Talk to you next week!

Sorella Yost

Letter #72 - 1/27/15

Ciao Famiglia!! :)

Well this week has been crazy, like always! Haha!

And guess what? – my new greenie made it here safe and sound. Her name is Sorella Russell and she is from Alberta, Canada! She’s super sweet, and apparently it’s super cold in Canada because she has yet to wear tights!  She even wore a short sleeved shirt to church on Sunday! meanwhile I’m over here wearing my coat and scarf! haha – Sorella Russell is super brava! She’s going to take good care of Busto.

Unfortunately Sorella Russell has been a little sick, so I’ve been doing lots of study time. I’ve never sat for so long in like 18 months, haha! It feels so weird.

Also, Giovanni was ordained to the priesthood on Sunday!!!!! MIRACLE :) So awesome. He’s such a rockstar.

Also, I met my second cousin Anziano Smoot! Haha, It was really fun to see him, even though I don’t think I’ve ever met him before. I will get a picture with him when i see him again next week.

Sorry, not a lot of time to write more today. We have an appointment and have to go teach English class, but all is well here in Busto! We are just working hard and making the most of these last 5 weeks! SO CRAZY!!

Enjoy Mexico! Get some sun for me ;)

Love and miss you!

Sorella Yost

Letter #71 - 1/20/15

Ciao Famiglia Mia!

TRANSFERS – and yep, that’s right. I’M TRAINING AGAIN, hahahaha. So I’m staying here in Busto for my last transfer and training for my third time in a row. And it gets better, Sorella Nilsen, my first greenie, is now training too! Ha, so I’m going to be a "Grandma" in the mission too! Haha, I’m seriously going to have like the biggest posterity ever by the time i go home. It’s so great. But sadly, this means that Sorella Hawks and I are being split up. We are soooooo sad. But she is going to Trieste, with Sorella Burt, Becca's roommate! so cool :) 

President Dibb called us on Saturday morning with the transfer news and he was so funny, he was just like "Hey Sorella Yost, I have great news for you! You get to stay in Busto as a sister training leader! Oh and also . . . I need you to be training again." And at this point, I’m so excited because I get to stay in Busto, and then I realized what he said and I was like "I’m training AGAIN??" and he just started laughing and was like "yeah again!" haha. And I was like "so... for my third time?" and he just laughed and was like "yeah, for your third time! you know Sorella Woods can’t be the only one that trains three times, I need you doing it too." haha so yeah. Baby #3! I’m super excited! I loveeeee training. It’s been one of my favorite parts of my mission.

So I couldn’t be happier. I will definitely miss Sorella Hawks though, we think President knew how bad we wanted to stay together a third transfer, because when he was telling Sorella Hawks that she was getting transferred, he was like “so, Sorella Hawks, I’m sure you’ve heard by now that it is very, very rare for companions to be together for 3 transfers, and I know you and Sorella Yost have done amazing things together but these happy days are going to be coming to an end soon because I need you in Trieste."

We were almost crying the whole time he was talking to her, haha, but I’m so excited for her, she is going to absolutely love Trieste and just going to kill it there :) Also, other exciting news is that our new convert is going to receive the Priesthood on Sunday! He is doing so well; we are just so excited for him and his family. They are progressing, piano piano. We just love them so much and know that he is such a good example for them all.

I did a scambio in Como last week that was super fun. Funny story from it though, we were at an appointment with the Sorelle's baptismal date, and we got there and it was this lady with the baptismal date and her 16 year old son named Ricky. They were soooo sweet. So we get there and turns out it was a dinner appointment. I had no idea. Ha, so we sit down and it’s like 8pm, and this family lives like on the top of a hill in Como, like a bus ride and a walk, and we have to be home by 9:30. So naturally, I start freaking out a little inside. So it takes a little time before the food was all ready and then we finally start eating, (and the food was amazing by the way). Then we finish and are eating panettone and get to start the lesson, it was on the prophet. So we taught a good lesson, the spirit was super strong and we think they really liked it.

So the lesson ends and we say a prayer and we tell them we have to scamp because we have to make the bus. So at this point I would say that I was really freaking out because I didn’t know the city or how long it would take to get home or when the buses came. So the 16 year old son tells us to wait and that the will grab his coat and walk us down the hill to the bus stop. So I’m like in the door way like "okaaaaay we just have to hurry..." and then he comes and Sorella Ince just start booking it down the stairs, and out of the palazzo and then start heading down the hill. As we are going we tell Ricky to look up the bus times on his phone. which he does and then he was like” oh no...." and we were like "what Ricky!?!?!" and he said" well...there’s one that comes in 5 minutes....and then the next one isn’t for another hour..." (cioè we would get home at 11pm or later)  so I just look at them both and am like "we have to run, literally." So I just take off and start running as fast as I can and Sorella Ince is leading the way and we are just booking it down this hill and Ricky is just running right with us saying "are you sure we have to run?!" and I’m just like "RUN RICKY!" hahaha, it was so funny. Moral of the story, we made the bus and made it home by like 9:55 so we just had to call our zone leaders. But still, it was hilarious. But now Sorella Ince, Ricky and I are the best of friends. It was a great bonding experience. haha so funny.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday on missionary work and miracles I’ve see on the mission. Well I think that’s all for this week. Hope all is well back home! I love and miss you!

Stammi Bene! (Take Care)

Sorella Yost