February 24, 2014 "That ain't the language they taught me at the MTC..."

Mia famiglia!

Ciao! How is everyone?? Thanks so much for all of your picutres and e-mails, it sounds like you all had a great week! Happy Birthday to Emerson and Finlay! I can't believe you are both 7! I hope you guys both had a great day, your parties sounded awesome! Also, Tisha your haircut is super cute! Love it.

As for me I officially made it to ITALIA! Woot woot! I've got lots to catch you up on, so let's start at the very beginning! (A very good place to start).

So we left the MTC at o'dark thirty and headed to the airport. Everything with the flights worked out great. We didn't run into any problems with luggage or anything like that. I was even able to sneak on the bag of goodies that Mike Casey gave me, so that was fantastic. If you get the chance tell him thank you for me again! They were greatly appreciated on the flight from Atlanta to Rome. As were the caramel brownies from mom and the V-chocolates from dad. You all are too good to me! Anyway, we landed in Rome then went to go meet the Waddoups! They are so great, I already love them. We got all our bags packed up then headed straight for...the TEMPLE! I was so stoked on life. It is going to be absolutely beatiful! They were done with most of the exterior when I saw it. The assistants said that it should be done within a year, or at least while I am still out here on my mission. But no one really knows for sure. So keep hoping and praying for that one!

After we saw the temple site we headed back to the Mission president's home which is called the villa. It was absolutely beautiful. Also, I have no idea why but it smelled like grandmother and granfathers house. So that was neat. Once we got to the villa the Waddoups were really nice and let us all take a nap for a little bit. Then we got to go on a little drive around Rome! When we got back from that we ate dinner and had interviews with President Waddoups. Then that evening we opened up our "golden envelopes" which told us where we would be serving and who our trainers would be. It was like opening up a mission call all over again. So exciting though! I opened mine up and it said that my first area would be Palermo (which I horribly mispronounced) and that my trainer would be Sorella Nef!

Palermo is in Sicily, so the next day I was headed on a 12 hour train ride down south. It took just about the whole day to get here. Luckily I had another sister traveling with me, her name is Sorella Jackson. Everything on the train went just fine, but we got into a little bit of trouble once we got to Palermo. We got to the train station and couldn't find our companions anywhere. We walked around for a while but they were nowhere to be seen. One of the workers ended up letting us use his phone to call the assistants, who eventually got a hold of them to let them know that they were there. Turns out they had been told that we wouldn't be coming until the next day. So the came and picked us up and it all worked out fine! I'm just grateful I had Sorella Jackson with me. She has been serving for about 6 months so she speaks very well. I would have been in a lot of trouble if it was just me.

Things in Palermo are great though! I absolutely love it here. My trainer is super great. Her name is Sorella Nef and she is from California. She was super nice and let us take it easy these first few days so that I could get used to the schedule and not over do it. We live in an apartment with two other sisters, Sorella Jackson and Sorella Mikesell. They are a lot of fun. We all get along really well. Our apartment I am told is one of the nicest in the mission, so that's a bonus. We even have heated floors. Who would have thought.

The first few days out in the field have been great! So the first day we were out tracting a really neat thing happened. So here they have english course where the missionaries teach english for free. It's a really great finding tool. So we were out passing out cards for it when Sorella Nef stopped one lady and asked her if she would be interested. She said that she wasn't interested in learning english, but that she wanted to know more about our church. Which NEVER happens. So we stayed and talked to her for a little bit, and turns out her name is Paula and she has been going through a hard time these past few years and was looking for comfort. She said that she felt like that was something we could give her. So we exchanged numbers and are hoping to set up an appoitment with her this week! So that is super exciting. Sorella Nef called it greenie magic, but I feel like that can't be right because I actually didn't say anything. But I'm glad I got to be a part of it!

The next day we had a ward activity so I got to meet a lot of the members. It was a festival party, so all the kids dressed up and we danced and ate treats. It was super fun! I love the members here. The next day at church I had to bear my testimony. It was probably the equivalent of about a two year old's, but I did it! They were all really nice about it. I definitely have a long way to go with the language, but it is coming! I can understand most of what everyone is saying, it's just the talking back that gets kinda rough. Slowly but surely I'll get there!

Okay just an FYI about mail\packages. I talked to Sorella Nef and she said that they haven't had any problems getting letters at our apartment. So that is usually a safe bet. For packages it is usually best to send those to the office and have them bring them to us at zone conferences. So there you have it!

Well I think that's about it from me! Thanks everyone for all of your love and support. Can't wait to hear from you all next week!

Sorella Marsh

Rome temple!

 Sorella Vickers and I on the Ferry over to Sicily!

 My very first Gelato! You know that was on the priority list. This is gelato on a sweet roll - SO GOOD.

 Sorella Nef and I at the botanical gardens for P-Day! They were absolutely stunning. It made me feel like I was back on my study abroad.

 Sorella Jackson and I at the gardens

 Just my home for the next few months! No big deal.

She made it to Italy!

Tuesday, February 18th Steph was scheduled to leave for Italy!  Our neighbor, Mike Casey, works for Delta and he was so nice and took Steph a package from us and a ton of treats for Steph and her group for their long flights.  Here is a great picture he took at the gate.  We also had a nice chance to talk on the phone while she waited to board her plane!!!!

President and Sister Waddoups and Sorella Marsh in Rome!  She made it safe and sound and is ready for Rome!  

Leaving for Italy tomorrow!

Ciao tutti!

Can you believe it...I go to Italy TOMORROW. What in the world?! Is this even real life?? Still just seems so crazy to me. I'm definitely feeling a little anxious about leaving, but I am also so excited. If you ever run out of things to pray for, pray for my trainer...she is in for a real treat. Haha but thank you all so much for sending your testimonies about the Atonement. I absolutely loved reading them, and they gave me the exact comfort and encouragement that I needed. So thank you! I feel so blessed to have the friends and family that I do!

On that note, thanks again for all the e-mails and letters! If any of you sent dear Elders the past few days I wasn't able to get them because of the weekend and the holiday today. So sorry about that! Also, mom, because the mail room is closed that means that I didn't get the package with the shoes. We talked to some of the workers and I think they said that they would just get shipped back to you. Thank you for the thought though! I'm sure they were adorable. I did get my Valentines day package though! Thank you SO SO much! I definitely felt like a very loved missionary on that day. Dad, I got the new debit card and everything seems to be working. Everything in the package was perfect, but I especially loved those smart cookies :) I had another not so flattering reaction when I saw those in there - not as bad as the caramel brownies, but close. While I was opening them Sorella Vickers turned to me and said "Sorella Marsh, how are you not 400 pounds?!" Wouldn't we all like to know. Also, while we're talking about Valentines day, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to miss Allyson Jones for the awesome package she sent! Thank you so much to everyone who helped out with that. I was so touched by all of your pictures and kind notes. I am definitely one incredibly blessed missionary :)

With that I'll try my best to give you guys some quick highlights from the week!

So we hosted again this week. Don't worry, it went MUCH better than last time. No tears were shed, and no one got lost. All in all it was a great experience. Also on that day Sorella Sorensen and I had the opportunity to participate in the demonstrate teaching activity for the new missionaries. Basically what that means is that on the day the new missionaries come they all gather in a big group and teach a volunteer investigator here at the MTC. Sorella Sorensen and I were just there to kinda get things started, so we would do the door approach and get the discussion going. Basically we were just there to demonstrate how to begin teaching. It was actually terrifying, but also a really great experience. We have taught a lot of lessons with our "investigators" these past few weeks at the MTC, but this experience definitely felt a lot more real. It was such a great experience though, and I learned a lot from it. Now I get to go do it all for reals, but in Italian!

Since it was our last week in the MTC we got to do things a little differently. On Friday we had something called in-field orientation. Basically we spent the whole day going to different workshops and classes to help us get ready to go into the field. We talked a lot about working with members, how to find people, and other things like that. I loved the whole thing and had such a great experience, but I just wanted to share one thing with you that I learned. So one of the things we talked about at in field orientation was increasing our own faith, which was definitely something I needed to hear. Basically what I learned was this - that everything I have been teaching my investigators is also true for me. That when I tell them that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them, that is also true for me. That if He has a plan for them He also has a plan for me. Part of that plan wouldn't have been serving a mission in Italy if He didn't know that I could do it. That I have no need to doubt myself because my Heavenly Father doesn't doubt me. That was such a comforting thing for me to hear. I know it is true for all of you as well! Heavenly Father wouldn't give us something we couldn't handle. He knows us perfectly! He knows our weaknesses and our inadequacies, but He also knows our strengths and what we are capable of. Even if we can't always see that ourselves.

We also had a great day yesterday, the perfect way to finish of the MTC. So the speaker in Relief Society was Bonnie Oscarson, and she shared with us some of the things returned missionaries said that we should focus on during our mission. It was a really great message and gave me some ideas of goals that I want to set for myself as a missionary. Then that night for devotional the speaker was Matthew Holland, and Elder and Sister Holland also came with him. He spoke about the prophet Joseph Smith. It was such an incredible meeting, and it made me so excited to go share the message of the Restoration. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the restored gospel.

Thanks everyone again for all of you love, support, and prayers! Pappy, thanks for checking up on my flight for me! You're so thoughtful to always be looking out for me. Mom, thanks for your spiritual thought this week, and for all the packages and dear elders you have sent while I've been at the MTC. I am so grateful for you! Ricky and Tisha I hope all is well! Doug and Kim I loved that video of Wendy playing if you're happy and you know it! How has she gotten so big?! Kim, nice work on the blog! New it would be a hit :) any way you could work on creating a healthy diet based on carbs and gelato? Dantzel and Oliver I hope you had a great trip in California! Allie and Mike I hope you had fun with Sonn and Mom! Thanks for all the pics, the temple looks beautiful! Sonn, ATTA GIRL on the anatomy midterm! So proud of you!

Well I think that about sums it up for me this week! I can't wait to talk to you guys tomorrow! I think I can call from both airports, but we'll just have to see how it goes with all the other missionaries. There are quite a few of us going out that day. We leave Provo at about 4:30, but our flight leaves from Salt Lake at 8:30. I'll try not to call too early from Salt Lake! Then maybe we can make some more plans for Georgia. Love you all so much! Talk to you next week....from ITALY!

Arrivederci!

Sorella Marsh

These first 3 pictures are from Rachel.  These 2 cousins have had a remarkable experience in the MTC.  Rachel returned from the Rome, Italy mission in April 2013 and has been Steph's teacher at the MTC.  Steph left today for the Rome, Italy mission!  So, SO neat!  There have been many times when I (Laurie) have felt that Grandmother was right there with those 2 darling missionaries loving them and cheering them on.   Love you Sorella Miles.  
Thanks for taking such great care of Sorella Marsh!

 hosting round 2

One of my hostee's -Sister Cherr!

This picture is actually from the Sister in the sweater.  She is the one that has been texting me pictures of Steph throughout her MTC stay.  What a nice Sister!  I sure love her!!

Sorella Knight! She is from Arizona and also knows Allyson Jones. She is also who I will be sitting next to on the plane. Thanks for the inside info papps :)

 

Sorella Sorensen and I with our Branch President, President Willis, and First counselor, Brother Whiting. (it was a very blustery day)

 A few sisters in my zone! These sisters will all be serving in Milan...but we just don't think about that.

 My district! District D, the greatest ever. 
Seriously SO grateful for each one of these Elders and Sisters!

 ITALIA!

MTC week #5

Ciao mia famiglia!

Ahh I have so much to tell you guys from this week! I apologize in advance for the scattered mess that will be this e-mail. Andiamo!

As always, I have to start off by saying thank you to everyone for all the emails, pictures, dear elders, and packages! I love seeing all the pictures and videos of everyone. I was DYING at the video of Moo face trying to kiss Madden...literally laughing out loud in the computer lab. So great! All the pictures were so cute too! You know I love to see my little ones, so thanks everyone :) Mom, the package this week was perfect! Thank you thank you. I got the credit card but I haven't been able to try it out yet. I think it should work though. Thank you for the little cards you included, I absolutely love them. And needless to say I loved the cookies. Nothin beats 'em. Funny story actually - so we have been trying for the past 5 weeks to get Sorella Gluck (the Sorella from Germany) to like American sweets. We tried everything. The brownies, the BYU ice-cream, the cake. Nothing has done the trick. But after eating one of mom's cookies she said "normally I think Germany has the better sweets...but for these homemade cookies, I make an exception." So there you have it. Living proof that mom's cookies have the power to convert nations :) Also, I was thrilled when I got my very first edition of the Nelson News! So thanks for that one too.

This morning we had such a special experience at the temple. So one of the sisters in my district, Sorella Vickers, is incredible and has done literally hundreds of family names for the temple. And it gets better, her family is from Italy! So this morning we were able to do some of those names for her. The 6 sisters in my district got to do the initiatory and endowment session for 6 of those names who were sisters. I hope that makes sense. Gosh it was incredible. There really is such a special experience when you do temple work with family names. And it was so powerful to do all those names together, and to know that we were helping those sisters to be able to live together as a family forever. It just made me so grateful for my sisters and for the knowledge  I have that we get to be sealed together forever. I love you guys!

That actually goes along perfectly with what our Devotional speaker talked to us about on Tuesday night. He focused his whole talk on the family, and how we need to be prepared to defend the family and teach the doctrines about it. Again, I was just filled with so much love and gratitude for each one of you. I honestly feel so blessed to have you guys! Thank you so much for your righteous examples. I look up to each one of you so much, and I am so grateful that I have the knowledge that we get to be together forever. 

Speaking of devotionals, I actually got to participate in the fireside last night! I was part of the musical number. It was Sorella Sorensen and I, and two other Elders. One elder sang, one played the piano, Sorella Sorensen played the violin, and I...turned the pages. Key role, I know. Haha the Elder who played the piano even insisted that I was announced on the program and everything. So I was the first official page turner to ever be announced at the MTC. Then for the rest of the night as everyone saw Sorella Sorensen and I they would all say "oh my gosh...you're the sister who played the violin! and you turned the pages! Oh it was beautiful!" Haha the song they performed was Savior, Redeemer of my Soul. It was beautiful.

This week I learned a lot about teaching by the Spirit. To sum up, the key thing that I have learned is that in order to teach by the Spirit I need to be focused on the investigator and their needs. Sometimes when I teach lessons I tend to get nervous and anxious about what I am going to say. I want to be lead by the Spirit, so I focus on my thoughts and my feelings to try and listen to what the Spirit is trying to tell me. But the only problem with that is that my focus is on the completely wrong person! If I am going to be able to help people I need to forget about myself and just focus on them, and the Spirit will tell me what I need to say. I have already gained such a strong testimony of this here at the MTC. 

Also, craziest thing happened this week. Drum roll please...we received our travel plans! Everything is all set. On February 19th at 8:10 AM I will officially be in Italy! What in the world?! I'll be honest, I'm a little bit nervous to be heading out. I still just feel like I have so much to learn! But I am excited to get to work in Italy. But I do have a confession. So this is our general flight itinerary - February 18th at 8:30 leave SLC. 2:15 arrive in Atlanta, GA. 4:36 leave Atlanta,  February 19th at 8:10 arrive in Rome. And what was my first thought when I saw this? "Wait...we're leaving at 8:30?! How am I gonna get Cafe Rio??" Haha haven't changed a bit. But I do get to call from the airport! I need to buy the calling cards here at the MTC so let me know if people want to/are able to do that so I will be able to get them before I go!

Since this is my last week here at the MTC, I decided that I really wanted to focus my studies on the Atonement. I have told you guys before that my whole purpose in being a missionary is to invite others to come to Christ, but I can't convert anyone past my own conversion. So this last week here I want to strengthen my relationship with my Savior. I am also hoping that through learning more about the Atonement I will be better able to rely on it in my life, and that I will be able to feel a little less anxious about going to Italy. So, I would like to ask everyone to help me out. If you find something new/interesting about the Atonement in any of your studies this week could you send it to me? I would really appreciate it :)

Thank you all so much for everything that you do! I love you so much.

Arrivederci!

Sorella Marsh

our musical number group!

MTC week 4

Ciao everyone!

I'm glad to hear that everyone at home is doing well! Thanks for all the dear elders, e-mails, and letters! I loved hearing from all of you! Also, shout out to mom and Madie for the package! Thank you so much, I absolutely loved it. I'll spare my dignity and wont describe my reaction when I saw the caramel brownies...but needless to say I was excited. So thank you!

The family party looked and sounded like it was a hit! Mom, the Frozen theme...too cute! I was dying. Looks like it was so much fun! Don't worry, Rachie and I had our own little Italian family party here in the MTC :)

This week was another good one here in the life of a missionary! Lots of studying, learning, and growing each day. We didn't get any new investigators, we have just been teaching the same three. It has been a neat experience to kind of get an idea of what it feels like to have a progressing investigator. Seriously just can't even believe that in just about 2 weeks I will be in Italy and they won't be pretending anymore...what in the world.

Quick highlight from the week - get ready for it. So in class we have kinda small desks, so my stuff is always falling off and into Anziano Tanner's pile. One day this week my pen fell of my desk so I bent down to pick it up, but when I went to stand back up my skirt got caught on my foot and I just heard the most awful tearing noise that could only mean one thing....I looked down and sure enough I had ripped my skirt. I had an instant panic attack and my first reaction was just to shout "AHH! ANZIANI CLOSE YOUR EYES!" But no worries, its just a minor tear in the back. Nothing 50 cents and a quick trip to alterations wont fix. So that was great.

We had another fun experience this week where we got to do hosting. Our Anziani thought they were just signing themselves up, but turns out that when you sign up you sign up as a district. So next thing we knew we were all going to be hosting the new missionaries! The thing about it is just that I was actually the worst one ever. Turns out that if I have to watch girls say goodbye to their families I will just sit and cry with them. Then get us all lost. Haha also my arms just about fell off from carrying all the luggage. So needless to say it was an adventurous day. Luckily the girls I was hosting were nice and we all made it through the day together!

This week was also great because yesterday was fast Sunday! I'll admit, I had a minor freak out when I discovered that we were going to be fasting for 24 hours. Not my best moment. Also I was a little sad when I found out that the Mission conference would replace Relief Society and Music and the Spoken Word. But I ended up loving the whole day! I learned so much at the mission conference, and I felt so much closer to my Heavenly Father throughout the whole fast Sunday. Needless to say it ended up being a great experience. 

All in all, this week I feel like I have learned so much about how much our Heavenly Father loves us. That was something that our devotional speaker talked to us about last night. Throughout this whole week I have just felt that love so strongly. I won't go into telling all the stories, or we would be here all day. But just to sum up, I think I have prayed more in these 4 weeks as a missionary than I have in my whole life. Between district, companionship, and personal prayers we spend a good amount of the day on our knees. I want you guys to know that I know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I know that He lives and that He loves us. We are so blessed to have that knowledge! And I am so grateful that I get to go to Italy to share that message with all the people who don't know it.

Thanks everyone again for all the letters! Pappy I hope you aren't too stressed with church and work! Mom, don't worry I am getting plenty to eat. I've mastered the MTC cafeteria. And thanks for the spiritual messages you send each week, they are always a highlight :) Ricky and Tisha thanks for the email from Merrick! I hope that all is well with you guys. I'm excited that Allie gets to come visit! Take lots of pics for me! Doug and Kim I got to watch the video of Wendy! She is quite the chatterbox, cutest thing! Kim, good luck with your blog! I am so excited for you. Dantzel and Oliver good luck with the new house! I hope everything worked out with that. Allie and Mike thanks for all the pics of Madden! His new hat...seriously?! I hope that all is going well with school and that you are lovin that Arizona sun! Sonn...you rebel you. Haha love you bum. 

Love you everyone! Until next week!

Sorella Marsh

meet the anziani in my zone. the one on the very end on the right is anziano tanner. the one who isnt in the air is anziano finnerty. they are in my district. they are SO great. i am 99% sure they based the character fix it felix off of anziano tanner. and anziano finnerty is dating one of the girls from my study abroad! so that is fun for us to talk about.

 funny story behind this girl. so one time we were leaving dinner, and this sister tried about 12 times to catch the door for me so she could keep it open. but she missed every time. and i was horrible and i just laughed at her. but now we are friends and it is great!

 remember this face?! this is my roommate madison from freshman year! she works as a security guard here at the mtc so i get to see her from time to time.