Mineer & Meags M&M

Treviso

pics - Treviso

this is the start of something new - HS Musical

quote of the week: “our hitchhiking attempts have been 100% unsuccessful, which is probably a blessing.” -sorella mineer while hitchhiking, because we missed bus #81983930 of the week

this is what our “opening a city” has consisted of so far...

⁃ not having a phone and not being able to contact anyone and not knowing the area

⁃ missing a bus and walking half way of the 57 min walk to the station 

⁃ not having heat or hot water in our apartment

⁃ eating homemade pizzette and lots and lots of pasta

⁃ leaving our apartment keys and having to run around like a crazy person getting them from the special needs place where we were doing service

⁃ missing 97/98 buses we had this week and having to walk and “l’auto stop” a.k.a. hitchhike (btw it doesn’t work in italy)

⁃ getting scared by our german shepard neighbor every. day.

⁃ meeting and becoming friends with lots of people at the bus stop and on the bus because we’re asking for directions 

so, as was mentioned last week, i am opening up treviso sorelle with sorella mineer (who was trained by sorella spader, another girl in my group. love you, spades.) and she is freaking awesome. i love her so much and we’ve had such a blast up here in treviso.

⁃ the dialect here is like the italian version of what puerto rican’s do to spanish i.e. they cut off the ends of all the words 

⁃ and their accent sounds like a scottish person speaking italian . it’s actually very entertaining and so easy to tell if someone is a native

⁃ the initials for treviso are TV

⁃ the branch here is super tiny and super awesome and we’ve met almost all of them in our first week 

⁃ we are giving talks this sunday and singing in the choir and we’re in charge of bringing dolci to a ward activity this saturday woo woo 

friday, we went to gerini’s house and oh my gosh. i love him so much. he’s 93 and mostly deaf and has been making the same meal for the missionaries for over 30 years because his wife always did it. and he’s just carrying on the tradition. he’s so cute.

on saturday, the relief society had an activity at the branch president’s house and she planned a surprise for everyone. so we hid in the garage for 20 minutes waiting for everyone to show up. finally when everyone was in the living room, she called us out of the garage and everyone was so shocked and excited that they had their “own sister missionaries”. it was way cute.

then sunday, we sister missionary’d and we threw a mini party for anziani simkim’s because it was his birthday. we made a cake and had candles and put up a banner and everyone came in and we sang to him. then that night, we all went to fabio’s house and his fiancé had made pancake stacks with nutella for anziano simkins, so we lit a candle and sang again. we made homemade pizzette and it felt like home. i love that family so much already. 

monday morning, we went and did service at a special needs place and that was way awesome and hilarious and i look forward to going there every week.

we also went to a couple other members houses and saw some rivers and some walls and bought some foods and enjoyed life and the mission. also, i gave my dying testimony in district meeting and that was weird. i’m not even dying. i don’t know what anyone is talking about.

the end.

much love,

m&m

a.k.a.

meager and mineer

i am sending a million pics cause i haven’t sent any for awhile

this is written by Sorella Montgomery

This week y’all are getting a new perspective on the life of Sorella Rachel Meager because she is somewhat biased and probably doesn’t explain how awesome she is in her weekly emails. Anyways this week was packed with goodbyes and sadness because she is going to TREVISO to open up a companionship of sorelle for her LAST TRANSFER! Of course her roommates and companion were devastated to find that she would not remain in Bologna, but they are finally beginning to cope with the news. They also realize that if anyone could open up a city successfully, it’s Meags. 

She went on scambio with the Reggio sorelle Friday and Saturday, and arrived at Corticella (a small city outside of Bologna) for a sports night with Friday, his family, Magdalene, Samuel, and Grace (the African crew). Also the other Bologna sorelle and the anziani. That night was great and she might have kicked a soccer ball into a child’s face but it was all in good fun, and he forgave her:) we played every sport imaginable, and were even joined by some Russians wearing very short shorts who wanted to learn about American football. 

Sunday was fantastic, church was solid. Meags gave a heartfelt testimony which reminded everyone of her strong love for this gospel and her desire to serve. We were also fortunate to attend a broadcast with Gary Sabin and Elder Ballard, which took place in Germany. They spoke about stuff which I wrote down but don’t recall off the top of my head.

Monday was full of FHE and who knows what else because I’m not her companion. She shared a scripture from the scriptures and I don’t remember what it was, but it was good.

Tuesday we had district meeting and had an American lunch, consisting of fried chicken, gravy, biscuits, and mashed potatoes. It was SICK because food is life. We invited a member named Tanya, and an investigator that she’s passing to the anziani named Giuseppe. 

Basically nothing else from this week was noteworthy. SORELLA MEAGER IS THE BEST BYE

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Michael Buble'

I've been hyped for Christmas since August so I've been playing Christmas music for about 3 weeks straight now. So I'm getting in the Christmas mood and everything makes me excited for Christmas, apparently. Because I was reading the Book of Mormon in personal study the other morning and I was in Helaman 8 and in verse 22 it says,

"...also almost all of our fathers, even down to this time; yea, they have testified of the coming of Christ, and have looked forward, and have rejoiced in his day which is to come."

Yes, please!!! I'm finally not the only one that's super stoked for Christmas this year. The prophets and people in Jerusalem and Ancient America had been testifying of the birth of Christ for hundreds of years before it happened. They had been preparing for generations for the coming of Jesus Christ. Obviously, it was a little more real with them because Jesus Christ was actually been born and coming to the earth, but when we celebrate Christmas every year, we can re-celebrate His miraculous coming to the earth.

So yeah, I'm super stoked for Christmas.

Just when I thought life couldn't get any weirder... It does. Anziano Cuthbert has come to be zone leader in bologna. For those of y'all that remember my emails from transfer 3 in Rimini, he was born in my district and he is my "mission brother". He has followed me my whole mission and at the end of my mission, we'll have served 3 weeks shy of a YEAR together in the mission. I'd say that's a record for siblings to serve together. 

Bring it on.

Weekly miracle:

Blands purse got stolen and I got 5 hours of sleep and then at the questura, we met a girl Ilaria and gave her a bom and then GUESS WHAT? A woman called saying she found her purse in her bushes so she got her purse and everything back (except the iPad) # miracle

Now to end with some funnies:

1. I played live fruit ninja on the balcony with a kitchen knife and montgomery throwing fruit at me

2. Montgomery and I slapped each other with pancakes in the face

3. Also tortillas

4. We played sand volleyball last week and today in a park full of bunnies, roosters, and people smoking weed 🏼lol they were far away from us

5. I went slacklining for my first time and I didn't fall off 

Also, I'm sure y'all saw my video on Facebook about the Book of Mormon. I invite y'all to share with YOUR friends and family the joy and happiness that comes from reading the bom. The book is true, people. Read it. Pray about it. Try it out. God will answer your questions and prayers. That's my testimony.

I love y'all so much

Sorella Meager