Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Creepy Creepers in Collegno
The first day, my companion told me there aren't creeps in Collegno.
Don't worry, we found them. Day 5 they were in the library and they
wanted to date us. No please.
I am already falling in love with this place (even the creepy men are
rubbing off on me a little bit). Seriously, the members here are
awesome and I don't think I've ever laughed so much during lessons and
prayers. Okay probably not the best thing to be happening, but it
happens. Let me just make a list of the highlights of the week and
some fun facts:
• During the middle of a lesson, a mom pulled down her sons pants and
started rubbing
aloe on his bottom... Okay
• We played the game of concentration with English class and I have
never laughed so hard in my life because this one lady did NOT
understand the game and this other guy kept getting so frustrated with
her and we could not get through the song without her blurting out
some random word
• We asked for directions and got a tour guide. Thank you old folks of Torino.
• A guy filled his cup with water and then added Coca-Cola. Please no
• We were eating at a members house and right before the prayer,
Sorella R stuck a huge bite of food in her mouth and then the member
started praying and so she and I were laughing so hard during the
prayer and kicking each other under the table
• The bishop and first counselor wear gold chains.
• Monopoly man with his dog have a wife and she is super cute
• We've almost missed so many buses, but we book it across the street
just in time
• There is a game shop right by our apartment filled with teenage to
middle age dudes with long hair, playing magic card games, and they
stare at my companion and I every single day.
• I tried to lure a cat into the apartment and I got him onto the
fourth floor and then he wouldn't come in the door :(
• We have nightly massages while we watch the addiction recovery program videos
• We only got lost twice this week. One of the times was for an hour
and the other time only for 15 minutes :) we're getting better
• Pillow talk is real and sleep is slowly (but surely) decreasing
"I have been thinking recently about choices. It has been said that
the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives.
The choices we make determine our destiny.
When we left our premortal existence and entered mortality, we brought
with us the gift of agency. Our goal is to obtain celestial glory, and
the choices we make will, in large part, determine whether or not we
reach our goal." (Choices -Thomas S. Monson)
"In our church, we deal with eternity" (missionary) Sometimes I forgot
that we seriously are dealing with all of eternity. The choices we
make here have such a huge e impact on the rest of eternity. We have
this beautiful gift of agency that we take for granted. God is
omnipotent and all powerful and He could control all of our actions if
He wanted to, but that would completely go against His plan. We are
here on earth to CHOOSE happiness and CHOOSE to return to Him, and our
daily choices will determine our eternal destination. We must choose
wisely and keep in perspective our dream destination aka Celestial
Kingdom.
Also, I am currently getting my hair cut. The end.
Vi voglio bene,
Sorella Meager
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him.
Don't worry, we found them. Day 5 they were in the library and they
wanted to date us. No please.
I am already falling in love with this place (even the creepy men are
rubbing off on me a little bit). Seriously, the members here are
awesome and I don't think I've ever laughed so much during lessons and
prayers. Okay probably not the best thing to be happening, but it
happens. Let me just make a list of the highlights of the week and
some fun facts:
• During the middle of a lesson, a mom pulled down her sons pants and
started rubbing
aloe on his bottom... Okay
• We played the game of concentration with English class and I have
never laughed so hard in my life because this one lady did NOT
understand the game and this other guy kept getting so frustrated with
her and we could not get through the song without her blurting out
some random word
• We asked for directions and got a tour guide. Thank you old folks of Torino.
• A guy filled his cup with water and then added Coca-Cola. Please no
• We were eating at a members house and right before the prayer,
Sorella R stuck a huge bite of food in her mouth and then the member
started praying and so she and I were laughing so hard during the
prayer and kicking each other under the table
• The bishop and first counselor wear gold chains.
• Monopoly man with his dog have a wife and she is super cute
• We've almost missed so many buses, but we book it across the street
just in time
• There is a game shop right by our apartment filled with teenage to
middle age dudes with long hair, playing magic card games, and they
stare at my companion and I every single day.
• I tried to lure a cat into the apartment and I got him onto the
fourth floor and then he wouldn't come in the door :(
• We have nightly massages while we watch the addiction recovery program videos
• We only got lost twice this week. One of the times was for an hour
and the other time only for 15 minutes :) we're getting better
• Pillow talk is real and sleep is slowly (but surely) decreasing
"I have been thinking recently about choices. It has been said that
the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives.
The choices we make determine our destiny.
When we left our premortal existence and entered mortality, we brought
with us the gift of agency. Our goal is to obtain celestial glory, and
the choices we make will, in large part, determine whether or not we
reach our goal." (Choices -Thomas S. Monson)
"In our church, we deal with eternity" (missionary) Sometimes I forgot
that we seriously are dealing with all of eternity. The choices we
make here have such a huge e impact on the rest of eternity. We have
this beautiful gift of agency that we take for granted. God is
omnipotent and all powerful and He could control all of our actions if
He wanted to, but that would completely go against His plan. We are
here on earth to CHOOSE happiness and CHOOSE to return to Him, and our
daily choices will determine our eternal destination. We must choose
wisely and keep in perspective our dream destination aka Celestial
Kingdom.
Also, I am currently getting my hair cut. The end.
Vi voglio bene,
Sorella Meager
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Goodbye Beach, Hello Mountains
The hymn of the transfer is "I'll go where you want me to go"
There’s surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth’s harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life’s short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I’ll be what you want me to be.
I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain or plain or sea;
Well, I left a part of my heart in Rimini and went as far north west
as I could go, to Collegno. The train was long and tiring but it
worked out. Thursday afternoon at 16:17, I said goodbye to my best
friends and the dream team (Meager, Blandford, Da Ponte, and
Castronovo) got split up. My heart hurt and I would've done anything
to say a little longer with them, but I knew it was time to go and
there was a peace as I stood and the train and waved at everyone. Then
I turned around and there was a cat on the train. What. I stared at it
the whole train ride and tears were free flowing as I moved farther
and farther away from home.
Train ride #1 was short and I got to Bologna quicker than I wanted.
And then there was no one at the station lol. So I got off, found
which binario my next train was at and hiked my luggage over there.
While I was waiting, I called the Rimini Capi to tell them that I had
gotten to the station safely and to tell the Bologna Capi that I'm
okay and waiting for my next train. Then came the wave of tiredness. I
knocked OUT on the next train and was asleep for most of the time and
when I wasn't sleeping, I was staring at the black window and
imagining what it would look like during the day.
I finally arrived In Torino at 20:03 and got off the train and started
walking and thought that no one was there so I thought for sure they
forgot about me. But after a few minutes I found them and my companion
and I hugged and took a picture and then we were off! We rode the
train and then the bus and Sorella Rindlisbacher pointed out the
places she knew and we talked about the people and I already feel such
a love for Collegno. And then we missed our bus stop. But we
eventually made it "home". (Still feels weird saying that). However,
I'm excited for this transfer and I'm ready to lose myself in the work
of the Lord. :)
Collegno facts:
The longest straight street in Europe is right next to our apartment
Bus 44 never comes
They have this chocolate called "Gianduia" and it is good in chocolate
form but NOT in Ciobar hot chocolate form
We don't have bikes and my feet are taking a hit cause I just bought
new shoes the day before I came here... Needless to say, I'm breaking
them in
Our apartment is probably haunted
Our neighbors do not ever go to sleep
The old man from monopoly walks his dog in 3 ft diameter circles in
the street by our apartment
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
Matthew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that
loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Here is a picture from mostra Saturday when we got lectured for 10
minutes by a 80 yr old about not letting the dog walk in front of us.
Not pictured: Anziano Wagstaff (we had a 95 yr old take the picture)
There’s surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth’s harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life’s short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I’ll be what you want me to be.
I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain or plain or sea;
Well, I left a part of my heart in Rimini and went as far north west
as I could go, to Collegno. The train was long and tiring but it
worked out. Thursday afternoon at 16:17, I said goodbye to my best
friends and the dream team (Meager, Blandford, Da Ponte, and
Castronovo) got split up. My heart hurt and I would've done anything
to say a little longer with them, but I knew it was time to go and
there was a peace as I stood and the train and waved at everyone. Then
I turned around and there was a cat on the train. What. I stared at it
the whole train ride and tears were free flowing as I moved farther
and farther away from home.
Train ride #1 was short and I got to Bologna quicker than I wanted.
And then there was no one at the station lol. So I got off, found
which binario my next train was at and hiked my luggage over there.
While I was waiting, I called the Rimini Capi to tell them that I had
gotten to the station safely and to tell the Bologna Capi that I'm
okay and waiting for my next train. Then came the wave of tiredness. I
knocked OUT on the next train and was asleep for most of the time and
when I wasn't sleeping, I was staring at the black window and
imagining what it would look like during the day.
I finally arrived In Torino at 20:03 and got off the train and started
walking and thought that no one was there so I thought for sure they
forgot about me. But after a few minutes I found them and my companion
and I hugged and took a picture and then we were off! We rode the
train and then the bus and Sorella Rindlisbacher pointed out the
places she knew and we talked about the people and I already feel such
a love for Collegno. And then we missed our bus stop. But we
eventually made it "home". (Still feels weird saying that). However,
I'm excited for this transfer and I'm ready to lose myself in the work
of the Lord. :)
Collegno facts:
The longest straight street in Europe is right next to our apartment
Bus 44 never comes
They have this chocolate called "Gianduia" and it is good in chocolate
form but NOT in Ciobar hot chocolate form
We don't have bikes and my feet are taking a hit cause I just bought
new shoes the day before I came here... Needless to say, I'm breaking
them in
Our apartment is probably haunted
Our neighbors do not ever go to sleep
The old man from monopoly walks his dog in 3 ft diameter circles in
the street by our apartment
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
Matthew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that
loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Here is a picture from mostra Saturday when we got lectured for 10
minutes by a 80 yr old about not letting the dog walk in front of us.
Not pictured: Anziano Wagstaff (we had a 95 yr old take the picture)
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Sofia, future missionaryFlorence skyline - view from Sorellas apt
Meags gets to drive & Blands is hot Glory's baptism
Wings, Calcetto & a BAPTISM!
It doesn't really get any better than that, does it? Glory got
baptized and it was so beautiful and she looked like an angel. The
baptism was beautiful and the members were so kind even though Glory
doesn't speak Italian so there is a bit of a language barrier.
We did Scambio in Firenze and oh my wow I love Firenze. It is so
beautiful and such a dream. And the sorelle live on the top story so
HUGE PLUS because the view was amazing in the morning when the sun was
rising.
It is legal to have a wolf as a pet and so I pet a wolf on Saturday
and it was pretty great and I wanted to take a picture, but we were
teaching a lesson. #missionaryprobs
We had a feeling to call Christian and invite him to church and he
answered the phone and was like "HEY GUESS WHAT?" And guess what
y'all, he had just finished reading the book of Mormon. Coincidence? I
think not
We went to read the Book of Mormon with Giusy Sunday night and it was
soooo funny. There was another woman there, Mona (like the Mona Lisa,
she's French) and she speaks French, Italian, and English so we were
all sitting there and Mona was speaking to us in English and after a
little while, Giusy looks at us and says "Voi capito Francese??" We
all just busted out laughing and we were like no Giusy, we're speaking
English. Hahaha
Giusy was telling us that she puts on makeup at night so that when she
wakes up, she's ready to go. I think I may need to start doing that
too...
We get transfer calls Saturday and I already think I'm gonna throw up.
Everyone thinks I'm leaving and the ward doesn't want me to leave and
I don't want to leave and ugh life. I love these people with my whole
heart. Fratello Bazan (ward mission leader) told the stake president
to ask President Allen NOT to let me leave Rimini. Help.
Blands and I taught Serata Familiare last night and we talked about
building a sturdy foundation on Jesus Christ. I just wanted to share a
quote that we read and discussed last night with the ward and Sofia
and Raff!! :)
"Like the designers and builders of our time, our loving and kind
Father in Heaven and His Son have prepared plans, tools, and other
resources for our use so that we can build and frame our lives to be
sure and unshaken. The plan is the plan of salvation, the great plan
of happiness. The plan lays out for us a clear picture and
understanding of the beginning and the end and the essential steps,
including ordinances, which are necessary for each of Father’s
children to be able to return to His presence and dwell with Him
forever.
Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring
to the end are part of the “blueprints” of life. They help to form the
appropriate building blocks that will anchor our lives to the
Atonement of Christ. These shape and frame the supporting structure of
a person’s life. Then, just as temple plans have specifications that
give detailed instructions about how to form and integrate essential
components, praying, reading the scriptures, partaking of the
sacrament, and receiving essential priesthood ordinances become the
“specifications” that help integrate and bind together the structure
of life." (A Sure Foundation)
I know that when we build our faith, our testimonies, our lives on
Jesus Christ, that nothing will ever be able to knock us down. That is
a promise from our Father in Heaven written in Helaman 5:12 that we
will not fall. Ever. Not if we build our foundation on Christ aka the
Rock of our Salvation.
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
baptized and it was so beautiful and she looked like an angel. The
baptism was beautiful and the members were so kind even though Glory
doesn't speak Italian so there is a bit of a language barrier.
We did Scambio in Firenze and oh my wow I love Firenze. It is so
beautiful and such a dream. And the sorelle live on the top story so
HUGE PLUS because the view was amazing in the morning when the sun was
rising.
It is legal to have a wolf as a pet and so I pet a wolf on Saturday
and it was pretty great and I wanted to take a picture, but we were
teaching a lesson. #missionaryprobs
We had a feeling to call Christian and invite him to church and he
answered the phone and was like "HEY GUESS WHAT?" And guess what
y'all, he had just finished reading the book of Mormon. Coincidence? I
think not
We went to read the Book of Mormon with Giusy Sunday night and it was
soooo funny. There was another woman there, Mona (like the Mona Lisa,
she's French) and she speaks French, Italian, and English so we were
all sitting there and Mona was speaking to us in English and after a
little while, Giusy looks at us and says "Voi capito Francese??" We
all just busted out laughing and we were like no Giusy, we're speaking
English. Hahaha
Giusy was telling us that she puts on makeup at night so that when she
wakes up, she's ready to go. I think I may need to start doing that
too...
We get transfer calls Saturday and I already think I'm gonna throw up.
Everyone thinks I'm leaving and the ward doesn't want me to leave and
I don't want to leave and ugh life. I love these people with my whole
heart. Fratello Bazan (ward mission leader) told the stake president
to ask President Allen NOT to let me leave Rimini. Help.
Blands and I taught Serata Familiare last night and we talked about
building a sturdy foundation on Jesus Christ. I just wanted to share a
quote that we read and discussed last night with the ward and Sofia
and Raff!! :)
"Like the designers and builders of our time, our loving and kind
Father in Heaven and His Son have prepared plans, tools, and other
resources for our use so that we can build and frame our lives to be
sure and unshaken. The plan is the plan of salvation, the great plan
of happiness. The plan lays out for us a clear picture and
understanding of the beginning and the end and the essential steps,
including ordinances, which are necessary for each of Father’s
children to be able to return to His presence and dwell with Him
forever.
Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring
to the end are part of the “blueprints” of life. They help to form the
appropriate building blocks that will anchor our lives to the
Atonement of Christ. These shape and frame the supporting structure of
a person’s life. Then, just as temple plans have specifications that
give detailed instructions about how to form and integrate essential
components, praying, reading the scriptures, partaking of the
sacrament, and receiving essential priesthood ordinances become the
“specifications” that help integrate and bind together the structure
of life." (A Sure Foundation)
I know that when we build our faith, our testimonies, our lives on
Jesus Christ, that nothing will ever be able to knock us down. That is
a promise from our Father in Heaven written in Helaman 5:12 that we
will not fall. Ever. Not if we build our foundation on Christ aka the
Rock of our Salvation.
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
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