Serving An 18 Month LDS Mission

In the LDS church, when a girl turns 21 she has the opportunity to choose to serve an 18 month, self-funded mission. I have wanted to go on a mission since I was a little girl. My parents both served a mission in Rome in the 1970's. In 2001-2002, my sister Letty served as a missionary in Hong Kong and my brother Algot in the Philippines. As soon as I turned 21 I submitted my papers. The Prophet and 12 Apostles determine through inspiration which of the more than 300 missions worldwide each missionary will be assigned. I was overjoyed when I opened my mission call and discovered that I was called to Rome, Italy! I feel immensely blessed and I feel that God has been preparing me to serve the Italian people. Each week, while I am on my mission, I will send my sister Letty an email and pictures to post on the blog. I won't see this blog till I come home, so I will be unable to directly respond to your comments until then. However, the sidebar will always have a current street address for me, and I promise I will respond to your letters! If you would rather write via email, just email your letter to my sister and she will print it out and send it me with her weekly snail mail!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Letter #5 from Catania, Italy

I hope everyone is doing well, I love you all so much!
Mom and Dad, I am glad that your house is everything you ever dreamed of and more! I will pray Mom that you get that job working with the special needs boy. The thought never occurred to me that you could overqualify for a job! You are going to have to explain this concept to me when I get home. I will ask the Oziers if I can send it (the contacts) to them. But they do not live on base. Maybe they will know a member who would let you mail them a package for me. I would prefer to ask in person so I will tell you relatively soon.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Letter #4 and Pictures from Catania, Italy

Dear Family,

I am very happy that Mom and Dad were able to move. I was so happy to hear of all the members who helped. They are all so amazing and very dear friends!


My week has been wonderful. We have been trying to help Salvatore quit smoking. We introduced him to the "quit smoking program" that the church has. He is very excited. He and his girlfriend have a baptism date for the 1st of June. So we are just trying to help him quit smoking and then they need to get married and all is well. We have taught most of the lessons. And they understand it, especially Salvatore. They already have tons of member friends, because our ward is AWESOME.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Letter #3 and Pictures from Catania, Italy

Hello Everyone,

Sicily is still amazing. This week has been crazy, but in a good way. We were preparing everything for General Conference, and I was getting over my virus :) General Conference was amazing, but more about that later.
 This is us this morning in the car. We went to the fiera (Market) and bought presents and fun things :)

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Letter #2 and Pictures from Catania, Italy

Hello Everyone,
This week was Easter (Pasqua -pronounced paskwa) and we celebrated it Italian style (Pictures to follow)

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Letter #1 and Pictures from Catania, Italy

Hello Everyone,
I love you all so much. I arrived safely in Catania My new address is :
Via Nizzeti, 54
95030 Tremestieri Etneo (Catania)
Italia
It was soo much to travel here. I surprisingly did not have any problem leaving Bari. I was just excited and ready to go. I said goodbye to everyone.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Letter #22 from Bari, Italy TRANSFER NEWS!!

FANFARE !!!! - I am being TRANSFERED TOO ...... CATANIA :) The Land of Cannolli, Arancini (A fried rice ball filled with Ragu and meat the size of a softball ball) and Mount ETNA!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Letter #21 and Pictures from Bari, Italy

This week has been wonderful. We had many great miracles. One of the biggest was when we passed by a simpatizzante that we were thinking of dropping. They were home (most of the family is investigators) and we were able to teach the first lesson. The spirit was there and now they are progressing. We saw them the next day and we will see them Friday. Also, the daughter Adriana, and the Mother, Angela, are going to try to come to church on Sunday!!! I am very excited for them all.