June 30, 2014

Hey everyone!

Well, I officially made it to Pozzuoli! This past week was a little bit crazy with all of the traveling but I am all settled in and excited to get things going here!

So the beginning of this week was mostly filled with Palermo goodbyes. We didn't get to see everyone, but I was at least able to visit Sorella Albamonte and Erika so I was really grateful for that. I ended up leaving on Wednesday, which was a crazy day. We had district meeting in the morning then I spent the afternoon finishing up packing my things. I had to take a bus to Catania then from there a train to Pozzuoli, so we headed down to the station with just enough time to get one last arancina, then next thing I knew my bags were loaded up and I was ready to go! John, Riccardo, and Susy made it to the bus stop literally seconds before my bus left, so I was able to say goodbye to them really quick before I left. I was really grateful for that too. So it was a bit hectic but all and all it was a smooth exit out of Palermo and into Pozzuoli!

So far things are going great here! I got to Pozzuoli and just absolutely fell in love with it. It is BEAUTIFUL here. We are right along the coast so all of the views are incredible, plus there is a nice breeze which helps out a lot with the heat. My companion here is Sorella Baker and she is fantastic. She is from Idaho Falls and is just about to finish her mission. I knew I would love her from the second I saw here because she was waiting for me at the train station with a Napoli pizza in her arms, ready for me to eat. Haha but seriously, she is an absolute machine. I have never seen someone who works harder. So far we get along really well and I am super excited to be working with her. 

The work here is going really well! We have a lot to be doing and are definitely busy. I have a confession though...I still don't know everyone's names so I might have you give you guys the specifics about everything next week. Haha but for this week I can tell you more about the ward and all that stuff! So we actually have a branch here with about 60 members. Whats really interesting about it though is that the members are about 1/3 italian, 1/3 african, and 1/3 american. There is an american naval base close by so that is were all the americans come from. So needless to say there is a lot of diversity around here. And a lot of different languages. Basically our roles as missionaries during church is to be translators. I'm a little bit nervous about that but I'm hoping it will help me pick the language up a bit more. We've got some really great people here though. I haven't been able to meet everyone, but so far they have all been extremely loving and welcoming.  

Another highlight about the branch here in Pozzuoli is our ward mission leader, his name is Brother Bonner. He works on the American Naval base as an engineer, but chose to come work here in Italy so he could help build up the church here. He doesn't speak much Italian, but he is an awesome mission leader. He gives us trainings each week on how we can be doing our missionary work and I already feel like I have learned a lot from him. So I am excited about that as well!

All and all I am thrilled to be serving here in Pozzuoli! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. Sometimes I still just can't even believe how much I am learning and growing each day. Thank you all so much for your love and support! I am so grateful for each of your emails, pictures, and most of all your prayers. Love you all so much!

Sorella Marsh

 (Editors note on this next picture: Sorry, I have tried and tried and can't get this next picture to turn!) 

June 23, 2014

Hey everyone!

As always, so great to hear from you all this week! It's so fun to hear all about the trip in Spain! And it's comforting to think that I've got mom, dad, and madie over here on this side of the pond with me for a few weeks :) how lucky that sonn gets to take a little preview of her mission! Coolest ever. I hope you guys are having the time of your lives! I'm glad that everyone else is doing well too. Thanks for all the pictures and videos! I'm sure I make a fool of myself at the internet point for my reactions...but needless to say, I love them!

Well, I guess we'll start off with the big news for the week! We recieved our transfer calls on Saturday and I will be leaving Palermo. I will be traveling up north to go serve in the Napoli zone in Pozzuoli! So lot's of really neat things about that. First, Napoli zone which means napoli pizza. Can't wait for that one. Second, I will be serving with one of Sorella Mitsvotai's old companions, Sorella Baker. And third, you guys will never guess who is coming to take my spot...my MTC companion Sorella Sorensen! So lots of neat little connections all around :)

I will admit I have had a lot of mixed feelings about leaving Palermo. I am excited to get started in a new city and I really do feel like it is where the Lord needs me to be. But that definitely doesn't make saying goodbye to these people here any easier. Yesterday was actually a really special day in church. It was my last sunday, so normally I would just go up to give my parting testimony, but it just so happened that earlier this week the bishop had called me and asked me to give a talk. So on my last sunday not only did I get to speak, but I got to speak with John and Susy! Two of my favorite Palermo people :) We all spoke about missionary work and it was a really great meeting. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that the talk is over. Haha stressed over that one for DAYS. 

It will also be really  hard to leave the people we are teaching, but I am so grateful to know that Sorella Mitsvotai and Sorella Sorensen will be here for them. They are both missionaries that I know and love and trust and I know they will do such great work here. Such a tender mercy from the Lord. But even more than that, I know that the Lord is looking out for the people here. That was something I was reminded of in my scipture study today in Alma 26:6,7. This is His work and the people here are in His hands. I am just lucky enough to get to be part of the process. So all in all I know that these people here will be okay. 

Anyway, it has definitely been a new experience going through my first transfer with all sorts of emotions. Overall I have absolutely loved serving here in Palermo. It is hard to go, but at least I can go knowing that I am leaving Palermo better than I found it. Which is really comforting.

I know this isn't exactly the best time for a story like this...but I wasn't quite sure where to squeeze it in and it needs to be told. So earlier this week Sorella Mitsvotai and I were walking home from church with John. We were almost home when all of the sudden this waterfall came down from the balcony above us. Seriously just centimeters from our faces. If we would have been there one second sooner sorella mitsvotai would have been drenched. We all stepped back and walked around it, and john was like "it must be water from the plants...but...it's warm...." and that is when we turn around and saw our neighbors dog. peeing. yup, that is real life folks. I got peed on by a dog this week. Luckily it was just a few drips, but I'll take being pooped on by Merrick over that any day.

Anyway, there's your comic relief for the week! Haha can't wait to tell you all what life is like from POZZUOLI! Love you all so much! Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers :)

sorella marsh

June 16, 2014

Ciao Tutti :)

What in the world how is it already monday again?! This past week flew by! It was definitely an incredible one and I have lots to tell you guys about, but first of course we have to start with a fathers day shout out to dad! I don't know how I ever got so lucky to get him as my dad but I am so grateful I did. I hope you know that I was thinking about you over here pappy. In church we had a lesson about the priesthood during relief society, and I was just overcome with gratitude for being raised in a home with a righteous priesthood leader. Then in gospel principles we talked about obbedience, and again i was reminded of what a great example dad is. Tithing in specific came to my mind. If there is one thing I will always remember about dad it is his faithfulness in paying tithing, and humility in always recognizing that our many blessings come from the lord. And as if that wasn't enough, he's also hard working, selfless, and a pretty funny guy too. All in all, I couldn't be more grateful that I get to have him as my dad! Sure love you papps, I hope you had a great day :)

Speaking of our awesome family...I GOT ALL OF YOUR PACKAGES!! Thank you SO SO SO much! Sorella Nef came down to Palermo to get her permesso so she brought down the mail from the office with her. It was like Christmas in June. Everything was absolutely perfect! I got the one from mom, the one from dad, and the one from Sonn. You guys are all the greatest. I love all of it :)

Okay, on to this week! This one was an incredible one for us, filled with all sorts of miracles. I wish I could tell you about it all but I'll try my best to get in the highlights! So to start off we got new investigators this week! The first one is Nancy. She was actually a referral from the Anziani, but we had our first lesson with her this week. She is a single mom with the cutest little boy. She has been going to different churches for a few years now searching for the truth. We taught her the plan of salvation and once we finished she said "wow...I really like this. It just makes sense." Coolest ever. We are really excited to teach her again this week. Next is Anne Marie. Sorella Mitsvotai and I met her on the street one day while we were out doing finding. The great thing about Anne Marie is that she is from America, which means we teach her in English! When we met her she said she wants to find God more in her life, so we told her we could definitely help her with that. We are really excited to start working with her. 

I can't remember if I have already told you about Maria Scalisci, but she is another investigator that we started working with this week. We also met her on the street. She was watering some flowers on a tree so we stopped and asked her what it was. Turns out that it was a gravesite for her son that had just passed away a few months ago. She and her family are having a really hard time adjusting to the loss. My heart was broken for her as I saw the pain that they are going through, but I was so thrilled that I had the opportunity to bear testimony of our Heavenly Father's plan for us and to tell her that she would be able to see her son again. It was such an incredible experience, one that I will never forget. 

We also had a really great experience this week with the less active member we are working with. Her name is Sorella Albamonte. We started working with her back when sorella nef is here, so it has been a while. We visit her at least once a week, but we havent really been seeing much progress with her. The deal with her is that she doesn't want to come back to church until she feels spritually ready. She doesn't want to do it just to make someone happy. Which is important, but she is a stubborn on that point. Haha anyway, it was her birthday this week so Sorella Mitsvotai and I decided last minute to make her some cookies and bring her flowers. We had to run to the store a few time because I kept forgetting ingredients (mission brain, its a serious problem) but we finally got them all ready. So we headed over to her studio but turns out she was super busy with work. She wasn't able really to talk to us so we just had to leave the cookies and flowers and go. So we were a bit bummed about that. Then just when it seemed like our efforts were totally wasted, we got a call from her the next day saying that she is gluten intolerant and can't even eat cookies. WOOF. haha I just about died. So we were trying to plan a time to go see her again when she said that maybe she would come to church! Then I really just about died. Haha the fact that we even got a "maybe I will come" is a miracle. So what do ya know the cookies that she couldn't even eat did the trick. Charity never fails. 

honestly though, charity is something that I have learned a lot on my mission, especially from the Italians. I have never met so many people who are so big hearted and willing to love you from the moment they meet you. I love it. For example this week on the street I met a woman at the bus stop. I wanted to start talking to her so I told her that I liked her necklace. Next thing I know she was taking it off her neck and putting it around mine. Or for example this week we had a lesson with Lili (which was incredible) and she pulled out some cookies for us to munch on, then left us with the whole bag. It's just little things like that. They are always looking for ways that they can give and serve and be helpful and I absolutley love it.

I hope all is well at home! Thank you all so much for your love, support, and prayers. I dont think I could ever put into words how much it means to me. You are all the best and I can't believe how blessed I am. Love you!

Until next week!

Sorella Marsh

Mt. Pelligrino!

 Surprise birthday party for Sorella Anderson

 Reunited with Sorella Nef!

 Broke down and bought a fan this week.  Turns out it's not so easy to assemble when the instructions are all in Italian.

 This is Ape.  Funniest little cart things that the people drive around.

 This is Irene Aiello.  She is a ward missionary, and works in the Strasburgo zone 

with Sorella Mitsvotai and I.

 Yay for new clothes!  The elastic waistband works wonders :) Thanks again!

June 9, 2014

Hey everyone!

I'm so sorry but we are running short on time today so it is going to have to be a short one. The senior couple who is serving here had some family in town so we took them up to Mt. Pelligrino today but we had some bad luck with the busses and it took us a bit longer than we thought that it would. So I don't have much time but I'll do my best to get everything in here!

This week was SUCH  a great one! It was zone conference and stake conference for us, so we got a double spiritual boost. We'll start first with zone conference. This week for zone conference we talked again about finding. Our zone leaders gave us the challenge of always keeping our purpose in mind, and being forever finding missionaries. Sorella Mitsvotai also spoke for a little while because she is the STL of our zone, and she did a follow up on "being the message" that elder kerin talked about at mission conference a few months ago. Then President Waddoups spoke to us about family history and using it as a finding tool. All in all it was a great conference. It is always the perfect motivation to get us out and back to work. There was one down side though - unfortunately, I didn't get my package. I think they have it at the office, there just wasn't room to bring it down. So hopefully I'll be getting that soon! I'm sure I will love it :) But more importantly I learned a lot from the conference and got some new ideas of how Sorella Mitsvotai and I can get to work here in Palermo!

On to stake conference! So our stake is the entire island of sicily, so for the saturday session of stake conference everyone just meets in the middle, which is Enna. So we got to take a little missionary field trip! For stake conference there was a womens meeting and a general meeting. I'll be honest, for the general meeting we were sitting in the back and it was really hard to hear, so I didn't understand much. But I absolutely loved the womens conference. The stake primary, young womens, and relief society presidents all spoke and their messages all involved member missionary work in some way or another. But what really hit me was that they all also emphasized the importance of raising righteous youth. It just made me so grateful for the home and the circumstances that I grew up in. If there is one thing I have learned being out here on my mission it is that I have been so incredibly blessed. There are so many people here who have to work so hard to have so many of the things that I took for granted my whole life. Thank you all so much for your righteous examples and influence in my life. I seriously could not be more grateful. For the sunday sesson of stake conference we watched the broadcast from Switzerland, where President Uchtdorf and Elder Andersen were speaking. But little did I know I also got to see two other familiar faces -  Brenda and Dick! That was a great surprise for me :) all and all the conference was a great success.

Okay one more other quick story from this week. So this week was a little bit of a downer for Sorella Mitsvotai and I. We weren't able to see any of our investigators and we were just getting cancelled appointments left and right. One of those days we were supposed to have an apointment with Pasqualino. So we headed to the church and waited for him to come. After about 15 minutes we were started to lose hope. Haha we called him a few times but never got a response, so we just decided to go out and do finding. Right as we were about to walk down the stairs a woman comes in the church, asking about information for english course. We started talking to her about it, then offered to give her a tour of the church. Next thing you know we were talking about the Book of Mormon, when she agreed to sit down and read a little bit with us. We read the introduction and she agreed to continue reading and talk about it with us again this week! Her name is Lili and she is incredible. We have only met her one time but you can already tell that she had an amazing amount of faith. The whole experience was just such a tender mercy from the Lord, and such a testimony to me that He is aware of us in each and every moment. In our moment of trial He literally placed a new investigator in our hands. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I am so grateful for that. In the end His ways and His ideas are always better than ours.

Thanks everyone for all the love and support. Sorry I didn't have time to respond individually to everyone this week, but I am so grateful for all of the pictures, videos and e-mails. You guys are the best.

Until next week!

Sorella Marsh

These pictures were from the Zone Conference and were taken by Steph's mission president/wife.  (Yes, I am that kind of mom that took them off their blog.)

 1 set of Sorella, Sister Waddoups, Steph's companion and darling Steph!

 Ever wonder what Steph really eats?

June 2, 2014

Ciao Tutti!

I know I start every letter off this way, but I just have to say thanks again for all of your e-mails this week! Just when I think you guys couldn't be any greater somehow I am still amazed every week at how lucky I am to have you guys rooting for me back home. Thanks for all of your love and support, seriously it means the world. 

It was another great week here in Palermo! I wish I had time to write about everything, but for now I want to tell you guys a little bit more about our investigators we are working with right now. So first there is Vincenzo and Lila. I know I told you guys a little bit about them last week but I'll try to give you a little more details.So Lila has two sisters that are less active members of the church. What is really neat about that is that she remembers a lot about the church. When we first met her she was like "hey I know you! You have a golden bible that was hidden under the ground!" You don't get that response as a missionary very often. Haha anyway, she remembers a lot about the church so she is a lot of fun to work with. What is really cool is that she heard these things over 20 years ago, and still remembers so much. Obviously a lot of this stuff really struck her, so it's been so awesome to see her rediscover a lot of the things she heard her sisters being taught about. Vincenzo is also really great. He doesn't have as much faith as Lila, but he is much more open to the idea of the Restoration. All in all they are an awesome couple. We had a great lesson with them this week about the Book of Mormon and they both agreed to read it and pray to know if it was true! So we are really excited to be working with them.

Next is Pasqualino. I dont remember exactly what I already said about him, but we found him one day doing finding on the street. Basically he had to main questions - why god allowed bad things to happen in the world and what made our church different than other ones. We have only been able to meet with him once so we haven't gotten to talk much about his questions, but we did leave him with a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet and he said he has been reading both! Unfortunately he is moving right now so he doesn't have a lot of time to meet with us, but hopefully this next week will be better!

The last person we are working with right now is Erika. As I'm sure you guys remember we have been working with her for a while but she is starting to make some progress again! We went over to visit her earlier this week and she had the Book of Mormon up on display in her house. Turns out she's been trying to get her family to read it. Coolest, right?! She also wants us to start teaching some of her friends about her church. She seriously is so great. The only problem is we still just have to keep working on that baptism thing. She has so much potential, and Sorella Mitsvotai and I both feel that she is so close. Earlier this week we were all in the church a little before FHE. Sorella Mitsvotai and I were talking to Erika when Suzy came in (Suzy is the new convert who just got baptized about 3 months ago). Next thing we know we are talking about Suzy's conversion story. Then John and Riccardo come in, 2 other youth who are recent converts. They bore their testimonies about the truthfulness of the gospel and the blessings of baptism as well. The Spirit was so strong, it was such a great experience. Erika felt it too. She is such a great girl and has such a strong desire to do what is right. I know the gospel would bless her life so much. This seriously is the craziest thing for me...I have never wanted something for someone else as badly as I want Erika to accept the gospel. Please keep us and her in your prayers this week. 

So all in all we have a lot going on over here! The work is going forward and I am so grateful for the chance I have to be a part of it. Sorella Mitsvotai and I have been working hard and keeping busy. In fact we have literally been running from appointment to appointment. Haha and I absolutely love it! It is so crazy to me how much I love this work. Never in a million years would I have ever thought that I would spend all day everyday going out and trying to meet new people and actually be happy doing it. Another miracle of the gospel! Thank you all so much for your love and support. I am so grateful that I have such an incredible family supporting me back home. How did I ever get so lucky?! Keep up all the good work at home! You guys are the greatest.

Until next week!

Sorella Marsh.

this little guy has stolen my heart. He calls me sorella sorridente, which means smiley sister. cutest ever.

 Sorella Mitsvotai and I at chefalu!

 Meet alessandra! she is an investigator of the other sorelle.

 playing the minute to win it oreo game for FHE :)