Well here I am in Italy! What a crazy couple of weeks this has been. Our last few days was crazy sauce. We had our last classes, packed up our bags, oh and we got to watch the Provo City Center temple dedication, it was amazing. On Monday morning we got up literally before dawn (our alarm went off at 2:30 in the morning). We dragged our suitcases across the MTC campus to the travel office. There we received our visas and passports and off we were. The airport was a little chaotic. For an early Monday morning it was pretty packed. Plus we were all so "delusionally" tired trying to figure out the technology machine to print our tickets was a nightmare. There were so any buttons and gadgets, after being pretty much technology free for 7 weeks it was a little too much for us to figure out. We had three stops on the way to get here in Milan, we went to Atlanta to Paris and then to Milan. The flights weren't awful, but we all had a hard time sleeping. There was some turbulence and stuff like that. When we arrived in Paris we had to rush to get to customs so we could make our next flight. This flight was only like 30 minutes long, but because of the clouds and fog it took us longer to land. But we made it! As we were landing our group from the MTC looked around and we realized, "This was it!" This is the start to our next grand adventure; we are now in the land of our mission! It was a weird thought. We got our bags and met our new President. President and Sister Dibb plus the assistants were all there waiting for us outside of the arrival door. It was so overstimulating. ( Mom here - I love that Hallie wrote this!) There were so many people and things going on, not to mention I was finally in Italy! Our first day was a whirlwind. We got to the mission office and started our work right away by going to the Duomo in Milan. There we did pass along cards and handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon. It was really good for the most part! Plus it was super beautiful outside. I love the sun, especially the sun in Italy. That night we went to the Mission home, and ate a yummy dinner. That night we had a small testimony meeting and then we went off to the hotel to go to bed. It was much needed rest.
The next morning we got up, finished up some training and then we found out who are trainers were and where we were going! And surprise..... I am in Busto Arsizio. My trainer's name is Sorella Roper and she is just the best! We are the same height and it is great because I feel like I am not the only one who towers over the Italians. So on Wednesday morning we were off to Busto. It's definitely not what I imagined my first area to be like, and mainly this is because I have never even heard of it before, haha. But it is really quite wonderful. It is just perfect. Not to mention our apartment is definitely not an apartment, it is way more of a town home, it's crazy. I was preparing my self for a smaller studio type apartment, but I got the complete opposite. We have a two story town home, and separate bathrooms it's quite wonderful. Busto has a cool city center area, it's nice when we hand out our little cards and to find people to talk to. The members here are absolutely amazing. They are some of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met, with amazing life stories.
My first few days here were jammed pack, minus my first night when literally everyone cancelled on us, haha. But both Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were filled with appointments. It was fun getting to meet people even though I literally had no idea what was being said, or quite frankly what I was saying. Some of the best news of this week is our investigator C. Is getting baptized! She is 15 and has been investigating the church for about two years, and last Friday we asked her again about being baptized and she told us absolutely yes! It was amazing, I was definitely not expecting to witness that in my first week. She is just an amazing person. She is so sweet to everyone, and is a good friend to those around her. So we are preparing her and her program for her baptism which should be on the 9th. I will never forget the big smile she gave when she told us she wanted to be baptized. It was absolutely miraculous.
Sunday was quite the day. As all of you know it was La Pasqua, or Easter. It definitely was not the same as it is at home. Our ride to church was a little late, so we didn't make to to church on time. And sacrament meeting was definitely not the same. Plus it didn't help that I literally understood nothing, maybe every 100th word. It was crazy. For lunch that day we went to C's house. Her mom made a fish dinner thing. It was super sweet of the to feed us, but oh my word it was full off salt. My companion and I kept on drinking water because we literally felt dehydrated after the lunch. But this family is amazing so it didn't really matter. We then taught C how to make brownies. People here are obsessed with brownies. It is a completely foreign concept to them but they love the. The members here in Busto call them "BRAWNEESS", haha. Monday and Tuesday were nice days too. Monday was a little rainy, but Tuesday was amazingly warm and sunny. We taught some great lessons and are trying to find some new people to teach as well.
Love
Sorella Teague
Funny things about Italy:
1) No one turns on their lights, like no one, the sun will be going down and the room will just get dark
2) Everyone seems to have this burning desire to know my genealogy. They want to know where my ancestors are from
3) People who have dogs talk to their dogs like people. For example if a dog is barking they won't just say "no" they will say "no, stop that we have people over" it's super weird.
4) In one of our visits a lady literally gave me a full plate of strawberries. Just for me, no one else. I'mm still not sure how I ate that many. My companion thought it was super funny.
5) People will give you food and say "You need to fatten up"
6) Even if it is beautiful and sunny outside everyone will wear their coat, and not just their coat but like many any layers as well.
7) People are crazy drivers, it's ridiculous
No comments:
Post a Comment