Letter #30 - 4/9/14

Hi Mom and Dad!

How are you? How was spring break?

So....I am in Alessandria! And I love it so far! Even though it is probably about as different as you can get from Montevarchi, hahaha, I went from a tiny branch with 20 active members that meet in the basement of a hotel to a WARD with 120 members that have a building! Hahah, it is so crazy. But it is so good and I love the area already. Our Bishop is Amazing and so involved in the missionary work. Last night I went on splits with some members of the ward (apparently that’s a thing) and it was so cool to see the members so involved and willing to be a part of the missionary work going on in the ward. MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK. Pass it on ;) haha!

So last week was really hard saying good bye to everyone, I had to say “bye” to the four new converts and some investigators I was really close with - AND THEN - I had to say “bye” to Sorella Jarvis, which was one of the hardest goodbyes. We really have become so close and I already miss her so much. I have been so blessed to have had such Amazing companions.

Menomale (Thank Goodness) I will see all of them somewhere between BYU and BYU-Idaho when I get back :). And I got to see Sorella Lopez when I got transferred! She waited for me to get off the train and then we ran and hugged and created a huge scene in Milano Centrale, haha, it was great! I have the best Mission Mom ever! And she was in Milano picking up her new companion...Sorella Carter! yeah Sorella Carter that I was in the MTC with! haha I am so excited for them, they will have so much fun together. And I got to see Sorella Woods! It was like the best day ever haha except Sorella Mcpeek wasn’t there :( it’s okay though, next time! Hahah.

Then I got to meet my new companion Sorella Hoffman! Oh my gosh, she is so awesome too. We get along like we have known each other for years, haha, I just love her already. She is a really great missionary and we are so excited to be together here in Alessandria because there is a lot of work to do here.

So this weekend was General Conference, aka, best weekend ever to be a missionary. I LOVED IT. SO good. I wish I had really appreciated conference before the mission. One of my favorite talks was by President Uchtdorf on Gratitude. So good. We got to watch them in English which was really nice, except the Women's General Broadcast which we watched in Italian. But I actually ended up translating for that one for a woman in our ward from the Philippines. So that was scary, but it actually went pretty well!

And I got packages yesterday at our zone training in Genova from you, Mom! Thank you soooooo much! You are the best!

Oh, quick miracle story! So on Sunday we went out to do some finding in between the sessions of conference, and we had taught 3 lessons lessons – but sorella Hoffman felt like there was one more person out there. So of course we went looking for them and I saw this bench with 2 Young girls sitting on it and I was like "this bench right here" so we went over and talked to them and they were the sweetest ever and were super interested and want us to come over and teach them and their families. AND they already know one of the young women in the ward from school. It was a huge miracle and we are so excited to see them again :)

Well, I think that is everything for this week! All is well here in Alessandria, I love it already :9 but I know a part of my heart will Always be in Montevarchi. It’s kind of funny, you just kind of leave a little piece of your heart with people everywhere you go along the way.

I love being a missionary, I have learned SO much and I know I have so much more to learn too. Good thing I have 11 months left to do it :) love and miss you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK ABBI!!!!!  Love ya!

Sorella Alli