Never mess with a Sicilian when death is on the line!!! HAHA

Ciao tutti!!!!!

Can i just tell you all how much God loves his children..... God loves us. Punto.

This week we had a mission tour with Elder Kearon from the 70 (Justin and I got to meet him in the same week haha) Anyway lets start off with the beginning of this week. Tuesday we went down to Bari to do a switch with the Sorelle up there because Sorella Stephens (the other Sister Training Leader) were going to Catania and the other two were going to Rome (for the conference). So Tuesday we do the switch and that night we had English course in Bari and we taught this CRAZY guy named Steve… Anyway, then the next day we DROVE TO SICILIA!!!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GREAT!!!!! it was me, Sorella Stephens, Anziano Wolzl and Anziano Perry (the zone leaders). So we got to drive down through Puglia and into CALABRIA!!! I was literally dying!! Calabria was soooo beautiful. Ahh. I just felt like crying!! We drove through Cosenza which I've been dying to see since I found out I was going to Italy.... well since I found out that's where our family is from. hahah. It's in the mountains and just to die for beautiful!!! ahh. I'm still just dying that I got to drive through it!!! As we drove through we had Les Miserables and Tangled (in German thanks to Anziano Wolzl) playing in the car so that was sweet!!!!!!!!!! We dove for about six hours nella machina and then we got to the sea where we took a ferry across to Sicily. It was just sooo beautiful!!! Sicily is such a pretty island soo zoo so so pretty!!! All the flowers were blooming and the sun was shining!!! We drove past the city where the God Father was filmed. It got dark and we were still driving and suddenly  BAMM there is Mt. Etna!!!!!!! (It's a very active volcano in the middle of Sicily) It had gone off during the day so as we drove past it there was all this lava all over the mountain. Since it was dark it looked SO COOL!!! So then we got to CATANIA.

Catania was awesome!! We got to the church that night and waited for other missionaries to arrive (the missionaries from Sicily and then all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders in the mission) It was the best night of my WHOLE mission. First off Sorella Panchieri shoes up (served with her in Roma) then SORELLA MIKESELL!!!! We just ran to each other and cried!!! ahhh it was so great!!!! Aorella Andersen showed up LOVED it!! and then best moment... When we got to the hotel we were staying at, SORELLA ROSSELL showed up!!!!!! and the cute thing is that it was on our one year anniversary of being on the mission!!!!! Sorella Mikesell, and Sorella Rossell and I just sat on the couch and hugged until it was time to go to bed!!! GOD LOVES US!! 

So the next day we had the conference and it was gooood!!! That man is just filled with the spirit!!!! Then that night I went finding with Sorella Stephens and Sorella Mistura (Italian from sardegna that I served with over there) and we met this really nice couple who bought us Sicilian Dolci!!!! So that was an unforgettable experience!!

The next day we went to Capi conference (for the zone leaders and sister training leaders) and that was way good!!! then after that I kissed Sorella Mikesell goodbye and we headed back to the Continent (what we call italy if your on a island) 

This week was really good for me.. I really needed to just get away and have a really uplifting spiritual week with the people I just LOVE!!! So that is why I know god loves us! He ALWAYS answers our prayers!!!!!

Anyways, I don't have much time today. Not a lot happened with our work since we didn't get home until late Saturday night. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sorella Felice 

 pics all sorts of fun with these cool cats

For all of you wondering… this is Sorella Stephens, not Paula. I know… it is a total Paula face. We all thought it was Paula until we noticed the badge. 

These are all students from Olympus High, all the way across the world. There is even one more but he is serving in Milan

Paula most favorite!!! 

Fish are always scary… 

I'm Exhausted!!

Ciao tutti!!!

Well this week might have been the hardest week ever!!!! We worked our butts off and everything just seemed to go down the drain!! First off last Monday we had a appointment set up and right when we got there we got a no show. So then we had all night to figure out what to do... So we went and found a less active member in her store. We went in and she just yelled at us in front of all the people there. So we quickly left then we went to a grill/bar because we had to use a restroom and it was the closest place. Anyway we get in and we decide to get a hot chocolate. so we sat down and we are drinking our hot chocolate and some of our members walk in and order drinks and coffee..... It was so awkward when they turned around and saw us there. Ahhhh I was just devastated. These were ACTIVE MEMBERS! blah!

We had a WAY cool lesson with our 13 year old investigator. She needs to get permission from her Dad to get baptized and she had been putting it off for weeks now! So we did a lesson about Queen Esther and how she risked her life to go talk to the King to save her people. Then we compared it to her situation and told her that her Dad wasn't going to kill her and that she needed to have courage! So that was a way cool lesson. She asked her dad this Saturday but unfortunately he said no no no. So we are having to just trust in the lord that everything will work out.

Also we have this investigator who is just AWESOME! Her name is Concetta. She just wants to be baptized soooooooooo bad!! We did the law of chastity with her this week and she was like "oh no, what do i do. Roberto and I live together we have a daughter and we aren't married!!! I need to get married to Roberto before the 31st so I can be baptized!" Talk about faith! So she is awesome!! However she talked/proposed to Roberto and he said "no" that he wasn't ready. So she can't get baptized on the 31st anymore. We are teaching him though too. He actually has been coming to church longer then she has. We found him before Concetta. Anyway so hopefully everything goes well.

SO BIGGEST MIRACLE!!! This whole transfer i've been sleeping on a broken bed and every morning I wake up (if i even sleep at all) and I feel like someone has beaten me with a bat! So i've been having tons of back problems. Plus not sleeping and running around like crazy! I've just been literally EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!! Well, this week the assistants called us and they were like "hey we are going to IKEA and we wanted to know if you needed any furniture for your apartment like desks, mattresses...etc." I almost broke into tears. All I could think was how much God loved me and the one thing that would help me get through this week was getting a new bed!!! I'm just soooo happy!!

Well anyway thats about all for this week. I love you all so much and miss you like crazy!! thanks everyone for writing me all the time. It means so much to me. Remember how much God loves each and everyone of us!!!!

Sorella Felice 

pics

me and the daughter of concetta (simp) 

young womens!!! learning how to do modest makeup!! (lets be honest italians dont know how to do "modest makeup") the YW president put on hot pink eye shawdow. 

this is a meat shop hahaah 

and then we were doing casa and casa and we found one of these and i decided to take a pic. they are everywhere but it says "jehovas witnesses dont ring our door bell WE ARE CATHOLIC" Hahah we rang it. howver they werent home

FESTA DELLA DONNA

Ciao tutti!!!

Well this week was good. We had zone conference so we went down to Bari for that. It was way cool... at the end we were all singing the mission hymn (we sing it at the end of every zone conference. Best song ever) (It's about finishing the work that Paul started when he came to Rome!). At the end of the song, some guy knocks on the door. We answered and he said "hey I saw the church was open and I just would like to learn more about it!!!" hahah, he walked into a room of 20 missionaries and said that!! 

We had a carnivale party at church that was really fun and super crazy!!!! (Carnivale isnt just a day its like a season!!!) Everyone dresses up. So Sorella Baker and I dressed up as the Anziani!! hahah

I need to tell you all about Concetta!!!! She is one of our investigators!! We just barley started teaching her when I got here. My first lesson with her was the plan of salvation and it went well but this week we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was SO GOOD!!!! We asked her to be baptized and she was SOOOOO EXCITED!!! she was was so excited that she got to choose her own date!!! So she picked a date and asked how she gets baptized and if she needs to bring anythinig....etc!!! It was SOOOOO CUTE!!! She has a little girl and she told us the other night she had a ear ache and she asked if her if they could pray to Heavenly Father to make it better. Then she told us how she was so happy and how she felt like such a great mom for taking her daughter for church!!! Then on Sunday she shows up and was says "WHERE IS THE BAPTISM FONT? I WANT TO SEE THE FONT!!!! So that was just soooo exciting!!! Plus, she told her boyfriend and he was said "I WANT TO GET BAPTIZED TOO!!!" So now we are teaching the both of them!!!!! 

lets see what else happend... We did  A LOT OF FINDING this week.

Sorella Baker and I this week made this thing called the Bari Bomba (bomb of bari) and for district meeting and it was SOOO yummy!!! It's like cookies,nutella and cream!! hahah I didn't eat that much but it was LITERALLY THE BOMB!!!  

OHHHH this week was LA FESTA DELLA DONNA!!!! which means the "Women's Day"!!! haha So they have Fathers Day and Mothers Day and then they have Women's Day! It was great!! Everyone kept telling us congrats all day for being women. Then when we got home one of our members had come and dropped off roses for us for being women! hahah LOVED IT!! We should have Women's Day in America!!!! 

Oh they have the BEST pizza here by the way!

 

Sunday was good! We had ward conference. However for ward conference the bishop didn't want our investigators in the meeting because it was only for members. So we went into the archive and watched the Joseph Smith movie with Concetta, and her boyfriend Roberto. At the end we asked Roberto to pray about it and he was willing! He said a prayer right there and asked if this was the right church and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet?! it was the most beautiful prayer i've ever heard!!! (plus it was in Italian so obviously it was good). Then we went to a members after for pranzo which was nice because we were fasting for one of our other investigators for her Dad to give permission for her to get baptized!! So we ate the BEST PASTA in the WORLD!!!! Then we had salad and meatballs and then fruit and dessert!!! So good!!! We did weekly planning, then after we had a CES fireside that we went to. That was our Sunday!!! But it was awesome because we had 3 investigators at church!!!!

Well thats about all I think... love you all so much!!! you're the best and I miss you all so much!!! Remember to be awesome member missionaries!!!! MWAHAHA

Sorella Felice 

  

me and my friend christian at carnivale... he shot me

anziano rassumsen almost getting hit instead of the pinyota.. (how the crap do you spell that word)

me and my simp miriana 

all the missionaries at carnivale 

me and sorella stevens 

bari bomba

I FOUND THE BASEBALL FIELD 

Me learning how to tie a tie

me on festa della donna 

I Spy With My Little Eye……. a Nun

Ciao tutti!!!!!!!!

Before I forget, so my last week in Sassari I got purposed to and forgot to write about it!!! hahah. So,  this guy comes up to me and he is like "hello beautiful...complements to you!!" and I was like "oh no" and we were walking to the church and he was walking the same direction... so we couldn't get rid of him and then he said "have I told you, you just have the most beautiful eyes!!" and Sorella Knudsen is standing behind me laughing and then he reaches over and touches my cheek and is like "your blushing!!" SO DISGUSTING!!!!! ( not to mention this guy is wearing pink genie pants with a bun on top of his head!!! Awesome) So then we keep walking and he stops me and is like  "si sposerà franco..... sono franco" (will you marry franco... i am franco!) hahah so funny! I just kindly said no and then a bus came right in time!!!!! anyway that's my first story for you

My second is that two days ago I got kissed!!! ahhhhhhh MAN PROBLEMS!!! We were finding and I stopped and ask this homeless man how he was doing and he was telling me all his problems. I said "can I read you a scripture about the atonement" and he said "yes.. lets walk and talk cause its cold" (by the way we were in some gardens for a castle... yeah that's just where I'm serving my mission) So then we get up to walk with him and he grabs my arm like he is escorting me and he is holding on TIGHT!!!! So I said to Sorella Baker "we need to get out of this!!!" Then he reaches over and grabs my face and goes for it!! So, I'm like "crap" and I just drop to the ground to get out of it and he goes down with ma! hahah but in the end he only got the top of my head.. haha ( i think he kissed one of my bumps on my head hahah) so I'm not talking to men anymore....

Lets see... So in my new area we go to this little city a lot called Lucera so we are on trains a lot but this little city reminds me just of Sassari so i LOVE IT!!! (however that is where the homeless guy tried to kiss me) There used to be a branch there but they all went inactive so it closed. But, they want us to go there often and try to get the missionaries back in the city! 

oh so another story... while we were in Lucera we went to a birthday party for one of the young women (she got baptized two weeks ago). We were walking up the stairs and I had a thing of biscottis and I tripped and fell down the stairs.... so crushed cookies and a bruised Sorella Felice is what arrived at the party :( 

Another story... yesterday after church there was this huge noise on the street and we went out and a Ferrari had been trying race someone and he hit a dumpster. Sad part is there was an old man in front of the dumpster that he hit and when we came out there was blood all over the street. He was already being taken to the hospital) The Ferrari had hit the middle section and then flew across the street!!!!!! So, some idiot crashed his Ferrari and hit an old sweet man :( So sad! 

Last night we went over to a members house and she was talking about how there are angels all around us. She told us this story about how she was getting ready for church and how she couldn't find her teeth and she was in a panic because her ride was there. She couldn't find her teeth and she kept praying and she searched and searched and then she prayed that an angel would find her teeth. Then she found them on her bed where she had looked before… anyways I thought it was a cool story but inside was just dying because all I could imagine was this old lady running around her house looking for her teeth for church!!! hahah loved it!!!!  I LOVE ITALIANS!!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow she is having us over to learn how to make parmigiano so I'm way excited for that!!!!!!!! 

ummm well that's about all.... sorry its all stories and not any spiritual stuff.... I'm still getting to know all my investigators and the area... anyway I love the mission so much and I wouldn't trade it for anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all so much!!!!! 

mwahhhh

Sorella Felice

the pics are me at a castle 

a sign that says ask me if im happy....

and us eating real nap town pizza... pizza from napoli (where pizza was invented) 

Fuggi Da Foggia

Ciao tutti!!! 

So… I'm in foggia!! It's very different from Sassari and I miss Sassari A TON!!!!! Im just going to square my shoulders and work my butt off here in Foggia though!!! Also I got it wrong, Foggia is on the adriatic sea and its like the ankle, not the heel. hahah. So first, on Wednesday morning our district distretto dropped us off at the train station and we said goodbye to everyone then Elder Birberg his companion and Sister Knudsen and I traveled four hours down to Cagliari where Elder Birberg took a boat and all my luggage to Rome and the next day I took a plane... BY MYSELF!!! It was so weird being all alone!!! Then I got to rome and saw all the new kids going up to Sassai!!! So jealous!!! Then I went with the assistants to the mission office... This is just an apostate day all around so be prepared... so first off flew by myself.. did a tj scambi with the assistants .... when you do a scambi with an elder or sister.. then after the office they sent me and Birberg down to Foggia on a train so we were companions for the whole day?? hahahah! We had lots of fun though…we did origami and played games... Then we got to Foggia. My new companion is Sorella Baker. She is from Idaho Falls, she has a really cute family. We are the same age in the mission and we are also both 20. Ummm... she is awesome. 

Foggia is huge. Twice as big or even three times as big as Sassari. It doesn't really look like Italy because during world war 2 Foggia was actually bombed and so it destroyed the oldness of the city. So everything is like from the 40s. Our apartment is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! like GINORMOUS!!!!! Seriously though, it's HUGE!!! we have a bedroom, a kitchen, a study room, a hall way and a nice little entrance room. On top of that we have this HUGE spare bedroom and it has balconies... its just huge!!! However it is SUPER old!!! There are ugly chandeliers and gross wallpaper.. oh and cockroaches. Also they didn't have any sheets and I left mine in Sassari so.... I'm really hoping to go to a chinese store and get some. 

The ward is awesome and huge!!! The work seems to be really good here. I already love some of the members and investigators, but its hard knowing that the same thing is going to happen to me like Sassari and one day i'll just have to say goodbye to all the people I love.... ma la missione cosi. Thats the mission though. 

Our bishop is awesome!!! He met his wife and she converted him... they are in there early 30s i'd guess.. super young and super cute, way awesome. 

Also mom I got the Valentines package you sent and I was soooooooo happy!!!!! I love the pictures!!!! Thats probably the best package ever!! Just to get a bunch of pics!!! Also, I finally finished off all the turkish delight you sent me!! Elder Birberg and I ate it on our train. 

well thats about it.... I'm still super sad, this week has definitely been filled with tears and I'm still trying to move on. 

I love you all so much and I want you all to know how much I love our Lord Gesu Christ. I'm so thankful for everything he has done for us so that we can overcome anything in this life. I'm thankful for his example of love so that we can learn how to love others. I'm just.... AHHH SO THANKFUL!!! I'm sorry I can never really express myself well. All I can say is... I LOVE JESUS and THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! 

con tutto il mio cuore 

Sorella Felice 

photos 

last district photo

me at the airport saying good bye to knudsen... oh by the way we got there and the airport didnt have my ticket bookes so i had to buy my ticket with my own money and then after i did that they found it!!! but they gave me my money back which was good.

and then me and sorella baker and a member