MIZZICA!

A couple weeks ago my companion told me she knows a place that sells
brown sugar. I started freaking out because like brown sugar means
banana crumb muffins, cinnamon rolls, CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, and so
many other buoni American dolci, but really most importantly and above
all else, CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. I was a little skeptical because I
had searched before for brown sugar in Ragusa, and Sorella Roberts and
I found the closest thing was jaggery, which is an Indian sugar and
made our Christmas cinnamon rolls very interesting. But my companion
was like no don't worry, I bought this kind at home, it tastes sooooo
good, this is the real brown sugar. So like, of course, last week I
bought seven bags. I had to stock up because you never know when
you'll come across that again! So last week we decide to make
chocolate chip cookies, I opened the bag, tasted it, NOT BROWN SUGAR.
Bleh, haha. So I have seven bags of that, but we decided to make the
cookies anyways and they were still really good. But like in a year
and a half when I get home, I'm expecting a bowl full of brown sugar
and a spoon waiting for me so I can just dig into that deliciousness.

This week was fantastic! I gave a talk in church yesterday, it went
really well. Last time I gave a talk in church was, aha unforgettable
for sure. I never wrote about that because it was so embarrassing lol
but yesterday made me realize like wow! I've been out here for a good
amount of time now! I can speak. Having an Italian companion really
does help, she's so great.

This week were transfers, and I'm getting transferred to Pescara! I
hope that was as much of a shock to you all as it was to me! I had a
feeling I would get transferred but at the same time, weird because I
only did 6 weeks here. Everyone was shocked, and it's weird but at the
same time I feel like I was here and I was able to do what the Lord
needed me to do in this time. We got blown in here together and there
was literally nothing, and things were really crazy, but I feel like I
was able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to help find
some of the people He has been preparing. Even if I won't have the
opportunity to be here and help teach those people, I feel like I did
the work I needed to.
I'm going to miss Palermo dearly, but I'm excited and I've heard good
things about Pescara! It's on the north end of the mission, and
another seaside city. Thursday I'll take the train to get there.
Sorella Workman, who is serving on the other side of Palermo right now
will be getting transferred to an area in Rome, so at least I'm not
going alone! It is 12 hours to Rome and so weird to think right now
I'm as far away from the mission home as my home in Stockton is from
Provo. Weird! My next companion is Sorella Anderson from Alaska, and I
will be her follow-up trainer! Which really just means I'll be her
first companion after her trainer.
There are good things waiting in Pescara :)

Since we have like an easy bake oven and not a real one, we just bake our cookies in a pan like brownies annd everyone was like, oh brownies, thank you! And we were like nooooo, these are cookies shaped like brownies because we could only make like 2 cookies at once if we did them as circles

windy day

Selfie :)

Greek Temple Ruins

We went to Agrigento today, better photos on the camera maybe you'll get those next week.

It's so beautiful!

On the 8th of March there were special flowers that they gave to all the women in Italy. We got some :)

Vida

Sorella Holiday, Vida and Sorella Rossi

Sister Mannino

Ginerva

Haha :)

Ye fre me Yaa (in Twi, My name is Yaa )

Wow thank you for all the prayers, because this week we made it, 7 for
7, a meal appointment EVERYDAY. Perfect week. Haha, but jokes aside
this week was soooo fantastic!

So like I said last week I was feeling kind of down and really just
being a loser, and I was pretty much sad when I realized that everyone
I've taught on my mission somehow disappeared or wouldn't commit
themselves to anything and so they never progressed. And I was like
what the heck! Like the joy missionaries talk about from serving a
mission they say comes from seeing people change and the joy they
receive from accepting the gospel. But then Jen emailed me, she's so
fabulous and wise, and she told me to read a section from preach my
gospel. So I read it and it really broke my boxes about being lame. So
I was like, okay, why am I sad?! Well like of course I'm sad because
all those people disappeared, but I get to serve Jesus Christ with all
my heart for 18 months! That's awesome! So I decided to stop focusing
on the bad things and remember how blessed I am.

This week one of our investigators accepted to be baptized! April
23rd, we're really excited for her. In church we had 10 members, who
never ever come to church, that came to church! Also the wife of one
member, he has been praying for years that she would come, she's not a
member and the Elders had been teaching her and they passed her off to
us and we saw her this week and she came to church for the first time!
Samuel was so happy it was so sweet.

On Thursday, we went to the house of one of our families in the
international branch, they're from Ghana. The father and the daughter
are members, but the two sons and the mother are not. The daughter
invited us over to eat Fufu, on Thursday but her mom said it would
take a while to make the sauce...soup,broth? Boh. Comunque, that thing
for the Fufu, so she made us another food from Ghana with yams, and
invited us to come back Friday. But long story short, we've become
best friends in those two meal appointments and she invited me and
Sorella Rossi to come to Ghana next year with her. So that's on the
agenda for 2017. But what was even cooler was on the second day,
Friday, she read the Book of Mormon with us! (The mom) it was a
miracle because she has been very very against the church. Also, she
doesn't speak very much English or very much Italian, so for her it's
pretty much just Twi, but her daughter and her daughters friend who is
also a member was there and translated while we read the introduction
of the Book of Mormon together in Twi. We brought the Book of Mormon
in Twi just in case we had the chance to do something with her and not
just her daughter. It was awesome. I was so proud of those girls
translating and explaining everything to her, they're going to be such
great missionaries some day! I also learned that my Ghana name is Yaa.
Haha. The subject title of the email means "My name is Yaa" in Twi.

Other highlights, I got to teach someone how to play "I am a child of
God" on the piano. I went to a Chinese buffet. Teaching a woman from
New York, grew up there but is Italian and lives here now, and just
goes in and out of English and Italian when she speaks. Haha, what
soul sister.

Yay have a great week, and special shout out to the women because
tomorrow is woman's day in Italy!

Sorella Holiday

 It's been really windy lately

 This area is behind our church building

 Selfie

 Fufu party

 The Fufu

For pday today we went to Monreale. It's really beautiful and we saw a

church that is almost all gold on the inside. It was so cool

 Outside the church in Monreale

 Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob

 Inside the church it tells almost all of Genesis starting with God

creating the world, and ending with Jacob having his name changed to

Israel. And then there is the whole story of Christ's life behind the

pillars. IT WAS SO AWESOME. Especially being able to understand the

bible and my companion understands Latin so who needs tour guides!

 Fish slayer statue outside of the church

Too cute

 Typical Italian missionary lunch

This is the train station

Happy Leap Day!

Woah, we had FOUR meal appointments this week, almost 5 but one got cancelled. Needless to say, it was a great week. The "Perfect Week" missionaries joke and say is getting a meal appointment each day of the week, I've only heard of it happening once but hey, we got pretty close, haha :).
 Today we ate really yummy Palermitano sandwiches with liver and panelle. Panella is fried chickpea flour, it's really good. And yay today's leap day!


 Friday I was feeling really down and depressed, and questioning everything. I wanted to work hard, and I was out there going to appointments, but the energy was gone and the will to open my mouth and talk to people just wasn't there. I was just feeling really discouraged for a lot of reasons. We're talking no-teeth smiles to strangers and only English to my companion because English is like comfort food, and you can't really carry a spoon and jar of Nutella with you in the bus going places. After pranzo we headed out to see a contact that we had met on the TRAM (tram is kind of like a BART that only runs through Palermo), we had set up an appointment but we weren't really sure that she would be at home. But we got there and she WAS! And I can not describe the joy I felt when she opened up her window and smiled when she saw us outside and welcomed us in. It was a small thing but it really helped lift my spirit and strengthen my faith. It reminded me of the scripture in Alma 26:27, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Siciliani, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."  (It doesn't exactly say that but pretty much) It was really in that moment that I needed it the most.

So this woman's name is Annamaria, she is 70 years old but could seriously pass for 60. (Side note, why does everyone in Italy look so much younger than they actually are?! We need to add more olive oil to our diets). Anyways, she has 6 children and 7 grandchildren. She has one child who lives in Chicago. Two of her children live at home with her right now. Her daughter actually recognized who were are because she used to go to English Course, but in the Palermo 1 zone and said it was too far so she stopped, but she lives right around the corner from the Palermo 2 building so yay! And her son walked in and recognized us from the bus, crazy! Annamaria lost her husband a few years ago, they had been together 51 YEARS, they got married at ages 15 and 16. She shared with us how hard it was, because he was a really good man and a good husband and father. And we shared with her how we have a message that will bless her and her family. She needs the plan of happiness so bad, and I can't wait to share it with her!

Heavenly Father is really aware of us, don't ever forget that! We saw so many miracles this week I can't believe I took those all for granted and felt the way I did on Friday, but it's normal and we all feel down once in a while.

Okay have a great leap day because you can't celebrate it again until 2020 which seems like a lifetime away!

Sorella Holiday

Here we are on Rita's baptism Friday, she is an investigator of the Anziani

Here's where we live now. I've really got to send you more pictures because Palermo is really beautiful. Big mountains, really old attractions and the ocean. I'm not able to get my pictures from my camera onto my iPad right now.

Food is my love language and Palermo really loves me

This week we had zone conference! So awesome, so inspired.
I hit six months! Scary, time flies. But I also feel super old, it's weird.
Sorella McPheters made delicious lasagna this week, holy cow that girl
can cook!
Today I met someone from Oregon, crazy! Palermo is a totally different
place from Ragusa, same island but seriously, a different world. In
Ragusa we walk everywhere, but Palermo is too big so it's all about
the public transportation, and instead of walking it's RUNNING to
catch buses and trains. Like seriously, yesterday we had a couple full
out sprints. Ragusa is more country side, traditional, and older. And
Palermo is more industrial and way more diverse. We meet people from
all over the world everyday! But the girl from Oregon was the first
American so that was cool.

So as missionaries we have a general set of lessons that we teach to
people who are investigating the church. The first lesson we always
teach, unless we feel prompted otherwise, is the message of the
Restoration. The second lesson is always the Plan of Salvation. This
week, for the first time in my mission, I had the opportunity to teach
the entire plan of salvation to someone for the first time on my
mission! We've just never made it that far before, or with our two
people we had continually met with in Ragusa, the sisters had already
taught them the plan of salvation so I just came late in the game. Man
it's been hard, and it's been a lot of Restoration the past six
months, which is great because I do love the message of the
restoration, but the plan of salvation is what really ties it all
together and gives people the perspective. It happened because we were
at a new converts home one evening and we had planned to do the
restoration with her. Her boyfriend was there and the grandma too, and
his mom is visiting from Milan with her new husband. The new husband
hadn't even heard of the Book of Mormon before, so it was a lot of
fun. It was funny seeing his surprise when he heard me speaking
Italian after being in Italy for only a few months, and realized the
depth of the things we were talking about being only 19 and 20 years
old. It was awesome watching as his mind made more connections, like
"yea that makes sense", and it was also really cool having 4 other
members there to testify and explain each part of the plan.

I LOVE Jesus Christ SO much. How lucky are we to have someone who
gives us a perfect example of what our Father in Heaven is like? So
patient, so humble, so loving. When we talk about Charity, we define
it as the pure love of Christ. And we usually explain it by saying we
have that pure love when we love others as Christ loves them, and
serve them etc. I never really thought about it until recently as a
pure love of Him, like you having a pure love FOR Christ. It's
something I still need to work a lot on, but that love helps me push
forward,and helps me love others. I know that Christ lives, and that
He knows understands and loves each one of us individually. If we love
Him, He has paved the way for us to follow Him. How awesome is that?

Sorella Holiday

Selfie :)

Ciao tutti!

Wow I've never been so tired
This email will be pretty short because for pday today we went bowling
and taught American football to Italians so we've been all over the
place.

I can't really remember all that happened this week, but I know coming
home every night I have never been so tired in my life!
It's really fun living with four sisters
Palermo food is really good
We get free food from the bakery we live next to because they love us
I can't really think of what to say so my companion is giving me ideas....
Okay! So this week I made one of my goals to start working on opening
my mouth more and talking to more people. So we were on the bus coming
home (so many good stories start this way) and we were sitting across
from this man, and usually if it's just an older man by himself I
justify it in my mind that I don't have to talk to him but I can leave
him for the Anziani, BUT I remembered my goal so I just opened my
mouth and the first thing that came out was, "where are you from?".
Apparently that was the perfect question and it started this
conversation about the island he was from and it turns out he noticed
our name tags and was curious about some of our beliefs, and
afterwards he was like wow you guys are so sincere it was so great
talking to you I really hope I run into you again (said that twice).
We left him with a Mormon.org card because he doesn't live on Palermo
so we wouldn't see him anyways. Sweet! So then before we got off I
invited these ragazzi probably dating to English course and they gave
me the Italian equivalent of flipping someone off. So like ya know,
you've got to open your mouth anyways because in the end you don't
know what you're going to get. They could be really nice or kind of
not but it never hurts to try!

Heart attacking our english branch <3

The Promised Land

Palermo is sooooooo AWESOME. Okay, but before we get to that, we have
to rewind to last Monday when I was still in Ragusa! So last Monday
night we went to say goodbye to one family. The first and only time
I've cried on my mission, it's not really my personality but I was
really sad because that family is really special. Anyways, afterwards
when we were getting ready to leave they brought out some pictures of
sister missionaries that had come over to them maybe 10-12 years ago
now, and one of them looked so familiar, and then I realized, IT WAS
PROFESSORESSA TIRALONGO! She's from northern Italy and was my Italian
teacher at BYU. So like, that was pretty awesome. It was hard and
really weird to leave Ragusa, and sad leaving Sorella Roberts. When we
were all in Catania, dropping off companions and getting sent away it
was nice seeing all the sisters but weird that a lot of them you won't
see again for at least until after the mission!

Palermo is not my little mountain city like Ragusa was, it's on the
coast and at the bottom of a mountain. The chapel is right at the
ocean. Me and my companion are over a ward and also an international
branch. The international branch speaks English, but it's still all of
their second languages so it's interesting. The president of the
branch is Italian but his wife is Chinese and they speak Chinese,
Italian, and English. Talk about POWER COUPLE. They also have really
adorable little kids. This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting (so
the Sunday we fast and instead of talks during church everyone has the
opportunity to go up and bear their testimony) the spirit was so
strong! Last week one girl from Ghana in our international branch was
baptized and it was just really awesome to hear her testimony, and to
hear her dad who was also a member in Ghana talk about how long he had
been praying for this day.
After church the ward threw a going away party for one of their young
men who will be leaving to go on a mission  this week. He's going to
France! It was really sweet to see their excitement for him, they had
all pitched in to buy a couple sweaters and shirts and two new
suitcases. It was awesome and there was such a sweet spirit in both
our ward and branch.

Being blown in to a city hasn't been as bad as it could have been. My
companion is really great with maps, and the members have been
helpful, and the last sisters left pretty great notes. Also, my
companions English is fantastic! Which is great because we kind of
need both languages for our area. Palermo is really huge, and there is
another set of sisters in our apartment and they have one half of the
city and they have the other half, we have the ghetto half. I love it.
Some areas we're not allowed to go to day or night, and if we go home
at night we have to be accompanied by someone. The rule will hopefully
be changed in the near future once we get more light hours. It's
really not that bad, and I think especially now we won't get any
problems. My companion is Italian but she is also the one with blonde

hair and green eyes, so pretty much if she opens her mouth were good
and they'll just assume we're both Italian, haha.

Ahh! I just love Palermo. I love being in a 4 sister apartment, and
all the wonderful people here! We have seen so many miracles in the
past few days, and it has just reminded me of how much this is HIS
work. It doesn't matter if we're both completely new to the area,
because He will let happen what needs to happen.

I love you all have a great week :)

 Welcome to Palermo

 Fabulous woman

Quest è il nostro corso di inglese 

 Our final dinner/post daily planning snack together. Sorella Roberts

was so great!

My new Ward!

They had a little going away party after church for one of the boys who

leaves for his mission this week! He's going to France. 

 Our first Palermo eats. Oh my goodness we went way too hard today I

think I'm going to barf

 Teatro

 Soooo good but way too much

Brioche

 Another theater

 The best arancine in Palermo!

Oh my goodness woooowwwwwww. So we basically just walked down the same

street for pday and came across all these amazing things we heard

about so naturally we had to try it all....in the same day. But wow

mamma mia. There's a war I guess between who has the best arancini,

Catania or Palermo, and Catania will always be in my heart but Palermo

wins. Mine was mozzarella spinaci

 I love this family!

Okay yea, I sometimes don't wear makeup on pdays. Sometimes the face

needs a break, but this is last pday, when I was saying my last

salutes to people of Ragusa

Yay! :)

They made me pranzo before I left Ragusa

PROFESSORESSA TIRALONGO

 A Ragusa goodbye

Another goodbye picture :)