Letter #41 - 6/24/14

Ciao Famiglia!

Well, guess what? This week is transfers! And Sorella Carter and I are staying together! YEAHHHHH!!! But...wait for it....we are getting another companion! Haha, we are going to be in a trio with Sorella Gillette! Haha, we are so excited! She is in the same group as Sorella Lopez, my trainer, so this is her last transfer in the mission so we are all in for an exciting 6 weeks :) haha, Sorella carter and I are so excited! It’s going to be so great.

Also, last Thursday I got to go back to Firenze for a double zone conference! We had to take a train at 6:28 in the morning and got back to Ravenna at 9:30 at night so we are still recovering from the trip. Haha, it was so weird being back. I remembered everything, it was like I had never left. I took Sorella Carter to get a leather bag by the Duomo before we had to catch our bus, and I got to see Sorella Jarvis again! She is still in Montevarchi :)

It was so great and it was an amazing conference. We talked a lot about our desires and how the only thing we can really give to the Lord in the end of it all is the desires of our hearts and our will to follow Him. Everything else we could possibly give him, he has already given us. Anziano Lee shared a talk by Neil A. Maxwell called "swallowed up in the will of the Father" and it was AMAZING. You all need to read it.

This week I have learned so much and I feel like I keep learning so many things I can improve. Not only in missionary work but just in life in general. We can all be so much better than we already are if we just focus our lives on the Savior instead of only thinking of ourselves. It’s something I am committed to improving.

Also, this week we are mourning the loss of our bikes: Davide and Isabella. They were stolen on Friday night :( i know, It’s so sad. We had them locked up outside of our apartment building and then when we went out on Saturday morning they were gone. So sad. Luckily, the Anziani felt really bad for us and let us borrow their bikes for a couple days until we bought new ones. Bless them. It was pretty hilarious, though, to watch Sorella Carter and I try and ride boy bikes in our skirts, hahaha classic.

And then by some miracle we were able to find new bikes on Monday. My new bike is a BEAST, haha.  I named her Helga, she is ancient. The bike store said as soon as they get another bike brought in we can come back and exchange her for free. Haha but it’s okay, she just has a lot of character. I am already getting attached to her. Sorella Carter’s new bike is named Irene. We really miss Isabella and Davide, but it’s okay, we are just grateful we have new bikes. Unfortunately, we now have to go out and find a third bike since we are going to be in a trio now, haha, we are going to look like a small army, the three of us riding alongside each other down these little tiny Italian streets. I’m so excited haha.

I hope Anna loves EFY! My new converts, Carolin and Alice are going to EFY here in Italy in august! :) I am so excited for them too. And Mom and Dad!, i got your packages! Thank you sooooo much!, from both me and my companion :) haha we loved it! :)

Well I think that is all for this week! I love and miss you! have a great week! :)

Sorella Yost

p.s. Hey Dad, in honor of the world cup, don’t forget "just get the ball to the Italians!"

name that movie :)

Letter #40 - 6/17/14

Ciao Famiglia!

Come state?? (how are you)?

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!! I hope you had a great day! Wish I could’ve celebrated with you, but in your honor I gave a talk in church, haha! It went alright, talking in Italian is becoming a little more natural and I was able to give like a 10 minute talk so I am improving little by little.

Thanks for all the family history info! I really needed it, haha. Oh and also, guess what? The other day, I must have messed with my alarm clock during the night because we woke up when my alarm went off (6:30, we thought) and then got ready and everything like we always do.  Then I was sitting at my desk right before we were about to get ready to walk out the door for church and I looked over at the clock on our wall and it said 7:15. I was like, what the heck...why is our wall clock wrong. So I went into our room and checked my watch. It said 7:15, checked the phone – it said 7:15 too. We were like...oh no. I think we woke up and hour early.... but just to be sure we called the Anziani (Elders) and were like "hey...can you guys tell us what time it is?" haha they were like 7:16... yep. We accidentally woke up at 5:30 on Sunday. and were dead tired the rest of the day, haha. Gosh. my poor companion, luckily she still likes me, haha.

This week has kind of been a rough week for us, just one of those weeks where it feels like no one will stop and listen. But we have definitely seen the hand of the Lord in our work and he has given us so many tender mercies to help us keep going.  We know that there are those who are willing to listen and who are searching for the truth. We just have to keep looking for them.

We are definitely learning a lot, that’s for sure :) It’s not meant to be easy.

I hope all is well back home! I love and miss you! thanks for all the pictures! I loved them! have a great first week of summer! :)

Sorella Alli Yost

Letter #39 - 6/10/14

Ciao Famiglia! :)

Come state(how are you)??   Literally as I type this I have sweat like rolling down my face, haha it’s SO DANG HOT here! It’s 35 degrees Celsius and thanks to Dad’s conversion cart he sent me that means it is 95 degrees Fahrenheit. What-The-Heck??  And it’s only June!! We might die, haha, and it’s really humid in this part of Italy too. But it’s okay, because the Anziani brought over their two extra fans (no AC remember? :)) for us the other day so now we study/sleep/eat/pretty much everything with those fans blowing on our faces, haha, blessed be the day.

Also, I discovered Mago Gelato this week, so all is well, all is well. It’s my favorite. When we do hours of finding, we reward ourselves with it, haha.

This past weekend we had this culture festival thing here in Ravenna and so there were all these different groups that had booths and we worked at the Church’s booth there this weekend and saw sooo many miracles. It was so great; we just would go out and talk to everyone at the festival and invite them to come over and look at our booth. We ended up giving away some copies of the Book of Mormon and we got many phone numbers so it was a huge success. I will send send pictures of the booth :) .

Then we did scambio (exchanges) this week so I was with Sorella Pace in Rimini! it was really great - all of our appointments but one ended up cancelling on us (or not showing up) but it’s okay! So we did a lot of finding, which I am starting to get better at with all the practice.  We were able to get a few people to stop and talk to us :) so that was really fun.

But I’m happy to be back in Ravenna with Sorella Carter, Ravenna is just so cute and Italian and I just love it. And Sorella Carter is so great, I just love her. We really, really hope we don’t get transferred – we are even planning post mission trips together, haha, she so great. Mom you and her mom need to be best friends. We came to the conclusion that you are practically the same person :) haha but yeah, I just love my companion, she’s so great.

OH MY GOSH GUESS WHAT!!!!! Remember my new convert Alice from Montevarchi? She got baptized in February? Well her mom and little brother just got baptized this last weekend!!!!! AHHH!!! I am sooo happy for them. We were teaching them back when I was still there and Alice’s mom had a baptismal date but she decided she wanted to wait for her son (11 years old) to get baptized with him and so they have been taught this whole time and finally got baptized last Saturday! I am so happy for them, and I am so proud of Alice and the huge example she was for them :) and another little boy (also 11) who was the son of a family in our branch in Montevarchi got baptized with them too on Saturday! The missionaries have been teaching him forever and he got baptized with his new friend, Alice's little brother :) HOW CUTE IS THAT?! I know. Just so happy.

Also I am giving a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday so say a little prayer for me if you can, please and thank you.

This week we saw another huge miracle with our less active sister we have been working with because she came back to church again for the second week in a row! MIRACLE. We are so happy, we can tell a difference in her and she is just so much happier now. Her heart is truly changing, it’s been so amazing to see her reactivate herself and let her heart be softened by the Lord. I just love this work, there are so many miracles.

Today we went with our Branch Mission Leader and his wife to a city called Comacchio and it was so cool! It’s a little city about 45 minutes away and it’s a water city so we rode around the city on the gondola and saw lots of old churches and it was so fun! Then they got us lunch and gave us a ride to the grocery store to do spesa (shopping). How sweet is that? We were so grateful. It was such a fun pday. They are just the cutest little couple and took such good care of us all day. So mom, all those missionaries you take care of over there in Seattle? yeah there are people like you out here in Italia too :) thanks :)

I think that is all for this week! We are finding and seeing miracles. Not everyone talks to us, but there are always the few that do and that’s what we are focusing on :) I hope you all have a great week! Good luck on finals and the ACT Abbi! (just choose B!), haha. I love and miss you Abbi, Anna and Will! Thanks Mom and Dad for all you do for me, I love you so much! Talk to you next week! :)

Sorella Yost

 

 

 

 

Letter #38 - 6/3/14

Ciao Famiglia!

So guess what! Today is my half way mark! How crazy is that?? 9 months down, 9 to go :)

Today we went to San Marinio and it was sooooo beautiful. There are these three towers and it is just this super amazing view of Italy from them. It was so fun. But I thought I was going to die on the bus ride, it was so winding and we got so car sick, haha classic, but so fun!

Also, remember how I told you the ocean was forty minutes away? Yeah I lied. It is like 10 minutes away from our house by bike, haha! So we are going there next week for pday :)

This week we saw a huge miracle! One of our inactive members came back to church for the first time in years this Sunday and then even bore her testimony in fast and testimony meeting! It was a huge miracle, we were so excited. We go and visit her every week and have started reading the Book of Mormon with her and everything and she finally decided it was time to come back. We are so happy for her because it has been so many years since she has been an active member. And she had such a great experience too, all the members were so nice to her and made her feel so welcome. It was so great.

I also got to play soccer with a little 6 year old boy in our branch this week after we went to go visit his mom and it was so fun. He was so cute, I loved it.

This week has been kind of hard on us because we have just been doing hours and hours of finding but we have been blessed with some amazing miracles that help us to keep going. We even were able to teach a lesson while doing casa (door to door finding) yesterday! That is the first time that has ever happened to me on the mission; straight up miracle. Also in the park the other day, we met a little girl from Nigeria named "Gods-timing-is-best" not kidding. That is her full name, haha! I have heard some crazy names on the mission but that one takes the gold for sure. She was so cute. And we taught her mom and she was super amazing. Hopefully she keeps her return appointment :)

Well I think that is all for this week! I can’t believe it’s already been 9 months. But then again I can’t believe there are still 9 months to go, haha! I love every day out here! I hope all is well back home enjoy the last few days of school :)

I love and miss you all!

Sorella Yost