Thursday, November 22, 2012

November 21 email, 2012

So I have some news about Esther that is sad, she worked so much the past week that we have not been able to see her. But she really wants to come to church still so that is a good thing. Yes she speaks spanish and italian. So you will be able to she her someday. Yes I spelled the word wrong, I think it is pilazzo it is like a apartment complex or houses etc. I cannot remember who this woman is that you are asking about the big house. I cannot describe it you are going to have to try it (gelato). I know thanksgiving is tomorrow and today we are doing a turkey bowl sort of thing with our guys. So I get to wear pants or work out clothes for a little while. It feels so nice!! But first we have to find the place, you see the guys live on the side of verona where we do not teach so we are going to have an adventure, as always. Italians do not celebrate the holiday, they put up the christmas tree on saturday, it is huge, it is by Porta Nuova. That is one of our train stations. In verona we have two: Porta Vescovo and Porta Nuova. Porta Nuova is the larger one. Oh so tomorrow we are going to Genova to get my companions permesso. So I am getting out of verona for a day. Will be strange it is a 3 and a half hour train ride I think there and another one back. 
  I am so glad that they are getting along, I bet that it is a stress reliever. Right now it is not that cold yet. So I am totally fine, I will like I said buy warmer nylons that are think so my legs can stand the cold.  I keep forgetting to do this because P-day comes and there is just so much to do and little time. But I think I am going to be fine. 
 No the mountains in Italy are so different. They are so pretty. I love the mountains here and they are so close!! They are like stairs. have you seen pictures of how houses just sort of create stair cases down the mountains, they so that and then the mountains are just awesome!! I did not know that he had a cyst. Well I am glad that everything is ok and that he is doing fine. Well I bet he is happy to be able to do basketball again. 
  Anyway this past week has been kind of crazy. We got 11 new investigators. I really do not know how we did it. Man the lord blessed us. I told the president that during interviews yesterday and he was like I think that that is a record. Oh I want to tell you about a african woman we meet the first week we were in Genova. I am not sure if I have told you about her, but her name is Isoken. We have not been able to get a hold of her so we thought she was not working but there funny thing is she is interested. We decided to pass by her house on sunday and we taught her a lessons about the restoration and she loved it. She had so many questions for us and said she would read and want us to come back. Guess what we taught her 8 year old son joshua and yeah he was awesome too. Anyway it has been great, we are going to see Tina and Helen tonight and we will see how it goes and we will see Mary and Alexander (siblings, we meet them saturday) and teach them again. It has been pretty sweet.  Well I am glad that everything is well. Love you all. 

Sometimes she emails twice so here is the second one:

Oh I wanted to give you a little something else about the 11 investigators. Last thursday we were doing comp study and we read one of the talks from conference. It was about a missionary who looked at everyone as who they could be and not as what they are. We started doing that. We loooked at everyone as if they we dressed in white, as if they were going to be baptized. Once we started doing that the investigators started pouring in. That day we found 2 people and then the next day we found more and more until at the end of the week we had 11. What I have learned from this is that your attitude makes or breakes your mission. I know that this is only a small example and that there would probably have been other miracles grander, but this one was the one I prefered this week. Because we changed our ideas and then the miracle happed. First we needed to have faith before God was able to do his work through us. No faith, no work. I have a saying Faith is strength and attitude is the Key.

Friday, November 16, 2012

November 14th, 2012 email


On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 11:20 AM;
 Winter, I heard that it will snow and will be cold, but right now when everyone is wearing heaving jackets my companion and I are only wearing a cardigan (spelled wrong I know). It is not really cold at all. Haha one of our internal investigators Gica told me the other day why are you not wearing tights are you not cold or put a scarf on. Everyone wears scarves! Anyway I like the weather it is warmer than Utah. Oh and there is no snow right now, not saying that there will not be in the future but right now no. Oh so The mountains and are not to far away and we get to go to the Menighini family again this weekend, into the mountains we go, only a 1 hour bus ride to their house ( but takes up our day), bus contacting, sometimes that can be ackward when the person is not interested and you just sit and are there with the person who just rejected you for 40 more minutes. The thing is what do you talk about after that point. I have no idea.
  The couple that drives us to the grocery store are members. They have been members for a long time. Anyway so Esther is going to be baptized on the 30th!!! She told us that she feels ready and she has been picking chapters in the Book of mormon to read, she came to institute and is coming again today. She loves our church!! She really wants her family to be baptized in the church as well, she told us that she has seen the effect of reading the book of mormon in her live. She said it has provide her with more work and she just feels the love of GOD!!!!!!!! Ah I am just so happy, not that she is going to get baptized, but that the work we are doing is truely helping someone! Man this is awesome.
 We taught yesterday a inactive young single adult my age. She is Sorella Leaso daughter. Well anyway I think about how someone my age could go away from the church and I just think how in the world can I help her. But my companion and I just thought that if we teach her once a week and just try and be her friend and remind her what the church can do for her and how it will make her feel, we just hope that it works.
 Lately our finding work and casa and casa. has not been really working for us. We have tried and are doing everything we can, so in the future the blessings will come. This week not alot has happened, we had a lot of cancelled appointments as usually and well there is really nothing you can do about it. I wish I had a amazing story to tell you all but I really do not. I was having a hard time this week, I lost my patience a few times and I felt bad, I think that maybe the reason this week did not go as well, was probably because of me. And then it rained half the week so people were not outside and there was not as many to talk to anyway, sorry for the little rant. But yeah we will see how this next week goes. I love you all a  tons!! And thank you for telling me those thoughts in the email I needed them.

Love,

Ally  


  Alison sent us this small email just a few minutes after she sent the one above.

The other day we were doing casa and casa and we were doing door after door after door and a lady told us if we do not get out of her palazo she would call the police. So we left the palazo and at the end of the night when we were going home we passed by these two girls and we talked for 15 to 20 minutes just about how God loves us and she just seemed to happier. They just looked so depressed and she said she has had so many people tell her about god, that now she has a distorted view. And they way we talked of him was a happy version in a sense.


Sunday, November 11, 2012

Pictures of the MTC

We got a letter in the mail the other day that had these pictures of Alison when she was in the MTC
Alison at the MTC with Sister Willis and a sister going to Rome mission

Hanson, Willis, Durfee, next three sisters went to the Rome mission, Brown, Hoppe

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Today's e-mail

Hey Family, 

Well I know about the election. We went to the market this morning and the lady told us about it at the cash register. Then after we saw a member come in Sorella Mangia told us also. I am sorry I guess we will have to wait another four years. Haha I am glad you got a ton of candy for halloween. I bet Parker was glad, at least he eats the junk food. I know everyone here lives off of nutella, so it is not that bad, but my companion is trying to loss weight so we do not buy junk food. What we eat, well we eat three times a week with members and you just eat their meal and you cannot eat anymore. I have learned my lesson. And when they bring the first course of pasta, know that you do not want seconds of it because next will be the big meal with veges, potatoes, salad, pork, chicken lots of food, after fruit course, then the dessert. My stomach cannot handle alot of it but I eat it anyway. When we are not eating with the members we are having salads, chicken with the italian base brecimela things (it is good), pasta, enchiladas, tocas, soup, we like to try and make new things, but sometimes they do not taste the best. We experiments for fun. 

My apartment well there are three rooms and the kitchen, bathroom. On room is our study, one room for where we sleep and we have an extra room, no couch. Everyone here lives in apartments, the houses are to experencsive. The italians like to just tax for everything. Yeah I like to go to the bakery, I get the pastries and my companion only buys eggs. She is really weird about her weight. 
  I wish I knew what part of Peru esther was from. So we decided on monday that we would just go to her house and see her because we have not been able to keep an appointment. Because on Sunday she had a fever and could not come to church, last week her family did this big party and we could not see her. So we just went on the bus to caldiero and we had to walk 40 minutes to the outside city caldieno where she lives (probably spelled the city wrong) . But we past by all these grape vines and orchards and country villas in italy. Oh it was so awesome!! I just love the countryside of italy. But when we finally make it to her house she was there!! We were an hour late to her house then what we had told her we would be. So we walk in and talk to her. We say a prayer and after the prayer Esther just starts crying. She tells us about all her problems how she just left her companion a month ago, how she lost her job because of her companions ex girlfriend and is now doing a job she does not like. She tell us that the only reason she let us come over is because of the question on our white board. She also said she say us once before but did not have time to talk to us. She told us that the question ww asked her was how happy are you and she said it hit her because she was not happy she was at a 0 on a scale from 0 to 10. She told us that she is looking for peace and confort and wants to feel happy. Perfect!! We talked to her and told her how this gospel will help her and she was just so excited about it. She said she would read and come to church. At the end after she said the closer prayer, she said quitely I fell traquil, I feel peace right now. I think I was about to explode. She is such a wonderful person and wants to go to institute tonight. Man I think she made my mission. And her family were just so sweet to us, so we are going to ask esther if her family would like to learn about the gospel. Ah I am just so excited to teach her again!! Tina and Helen are from africa, Ghana. 

Well I am trying to think of anything else that is exciting but I cannot think of anything else. Well If I do I will send you a letter. Love you all so much!!

Love, 

Ally

E-mail from October 31st

Happy Halloween Family, 
Parker just looks like he weighs 500 pounds!! Haha it just looks funny. Then conner I like the sheild. Oh and mom it is only a American holliday, so there is no Halloween in Italy. Which is sad, but that is just how it is. 

I like how you had to list all the places we are from I did not know we were french. Italians, well they are really nice to you at first then once you tell them why you are talking to them and what they want some became a little rude. I think it is really a mix of things. And the italian people are afraid to have kids because of how expensive everything is here that people are saying that there will eventually be no true Italians. But they kind of look Spanish. I think we try different gelato every other day. MOM and DAD there is no peanut butter, I miss my peanut butter!! But I guess nutella will be my substitute. I like the gelato that has nutella in it and the nuts. Oh that one is good. 

Actually the other day because it has been raining brought in the cold weather. Oh it is funny my hands start to freeze when riding the bike because of the rain. But it stopped raining so it is a lot better weather. Oh I have a few stories to tell you, first the accident with my Companions bike. Her brakes stopped working and so we are getting it fixed today, but on monday we were coming down the large hill from church and so we were walking the bike and for the small hill we rode our bikes down, but she forgot that her brakes were not working and so her bike just zoomed down the hill and she had no way to stop, so she jumped off her bike and she had to continue to run when she got off or she would fall flat on her face. Then both her shoes go flying off. Her bike does not stop but continues to go down the hill straight into a car. It was lucky because her bike hit the tire of the car and bounced off the car was fine though and she was too. But two men come around the corner asking if everything was fine because they only saw the bike. But since everything was fine we were just busting up laughing. 

Next I want to tell you about a amazing bakery that is right across from our house, I love to eat their pasteries. You see my companion is a bit of a health freak and really does not like to eat out. But I do so I just got it for me. But the creme ohh it was so good. Well we found out on monday we cannot teach Helen or Tina anymore. They do not have there promessa which permits them to be in Italy and so they cannot get baptized and they are not legal. And whats stinks in the middle of the lesson Monday Tina asked us why she was feeling like her heart was bursting. She felt the spirit, but she cannot get baptized. Oh we have not been able to get a hold of our other baptismal date sisi, so yeah. Rosa we had a appointment scheduled with her and we went to her house, her son gave us back the BOM and said she was not interested in us. It was sad. But on a good not another woman we have not been able to see, came to church sunday and said she loved it so much she is going to set aside every sunday morning so she can come for the 3 hours. Her name is Esther and she is from Peru. Well we go to caldiero yesterday for her appointment and well we were waiting at a members house and the bus to bring Esther to where we were never came. She said she was waiting and waiting and the bus was not there. She was waiting out in the cold for an hour. I felt so bad, but we are seeing her tonight!!

Well that is a little of what has been going on love you all and well I guess the adventures are still to come. 

Love, 

Ally