Buon Giorno a Tutti!
Oh my goodness...what an awesome week! Last week I had only been here for a day
when I wrote home and it feels like its been so long since then. I have learned
a ton--Italian and Gospel-wise and I wish I could tell you all everything but
here is just a sliver of what happened over the course of this past week! So
last week, my first few days were a little bit of a blur and I remember thinking
"what exactly did I learn in the MTC again?". Sicilian is a different language
and there are a bunch of different dialects that Ive just learned to get used to
not knowing what some people are saying. Some of the most basic phrases I would
forget how to say because I was trying so hard to understand them that when it
got to the point of me needing to talk, I would ramble off something totally
random...for example, I was asked how many brothers and sisters were in my
family and I told the lady I had three children. I also said that I liked a
ladys leg because its just like mine...really long. I meant to say skirt instead
of leg though. haha. Oh the joys of learning a language. I did teach my first
lesson this past week and it was an awesome experience and bore my testimony on
Sunday at Sacrament meeting. At least I can speak about the gospel in Italian,
right?
Everyday is a new adventure here in Ragusa and I love it because its never the
same schedule. Im trying to think of my favorite thing that happened this past
week and Ive had so many good experiences, I just cant explain them all. I guess
to start off, we are writing today because yesterday we had a multi zone
conference in Catania with all of the missionaries in Sicily and Malta--so the
missionaries up in Italy werent there. It was amazing though...Zone conference
is just one big all afternoon missionary "pow wow" I guess you could say. haha.
We had some area authorities come to speak to us and President and Sorella
Toronto also spoke to us. It reminded me of the feeling of unity at the MTC or
like a really awesome day at EFY...its nice to know there are 60 other
misionaries in Sicily doing this same thing that I am doing and to get ideas for
our investigators here.
Sorella Robb and I are back in Ragusa today though and this morning we taught
our "bambini" English at the preschool which constantly reminds me of my work
days at primavera preschool--just with a bunch of cute little Italian 3 year
olds running around, speaking better Italian than me. haha. We are learning
together. The Italian is really coming though...I am learning 10 times as fast
just being here and being surrounded by it. I have had some wonderful
experiences teaching this week. I love how curious and nice Sicilians are...I
still am shocked when we get stopped on the street and are asked why we are
wearing a tag with Gesu Cristo on it and people listen. The people here are very
passionate with the way they think so its good and bad at the same time. Its
amazing to me how much the gospel has to offer to every single person. Sorella
Robb has been good at reminding me to personalize each lesson we teach and it
has been so fun. One of my favorite lessons we planned was for a 26 year old
lady named Emanuela who works at a Photography gallery. We planned a lesson on
faith and compared it to the process of developing a roll of film. Like film,
faith is a process. It doesnt come all at once,(although at times I think that
would be nice)faith is a gradual thing that can grow or diminish depending on
our desires. We must first have hope and expose ourselves to light (like when we
take a picture) and then let that light reach the film strip. Faith doesnt stop
there though...we must then "hope for things which are not seen" but that are
there and can develop into something beautiful. So, we must take that hope and
develop it(and then we will liken it to the film developing process). We havent
taught this lesson yet because she only had a few minutes when we visited her
yesterday but we gave her a sneek preview and she was excited. I love this
gospel and the happiness it brings to me so that I can share it with others in
their lives. I am so grateful for this opportunity to help others--especially
the Lord in His work. Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
p.s."Happiness is something we gain from loving and helping others"
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
il mio primo giorno
Salve la mia famiglia e i miei amici!
I made it to Italy and I am as happy as can be! I got in yesterday afternoon and had quite the adventure coming over here by myself but it was great to finally get here. I feel bad that Anziano Coxs visa didnt come but its okay...hopefully itll be here soon and he will be over in italy this next week. I made a few friends on the flight over from New York to Rome. I was surrounded by Italians who were very curious about the tag I was wearing and so I explained to them I would be in Italy teaching the gospel for a year and a half. One of them whoàs name was Gino is an Italian teacher and he taught me some great Italian phrases and pronunciation as I helped him with English. It was great. When I got to Catania, I was so tired that I walked right past the baggage pick up and forgot to pick it up. It gets better...so I tried going back in but I had to go back through security to get my bags. I finally got to my bags and only one came, the other was left in Rome. At this point, I was so exhausted and I saw Sorella Taranto (the mission presidents wife) and just wanted to go so I filed a baggage claim form and President and Sorella Taranto brought me to the mission home. I met my companion, Sorella Robb, who is so fun. We then had dinner and I was able to take a little nap. In the meantime, the airport called and said they had my luggage so we packed everything up and left for the airport. I had to go back through security and when I finally received my luggage, the security people (who did not speak any english) xrayed my bag and started talking really fast to me in Italian and I picked up that they thought I had a gun in my bag. I told them I hoped that was not the case because I did not place it there. So they had me open my bag and it was my blowdryer! ahh. it was quite the event...they then were not so mad at me and started laughing. Then President sent Sorella Robb and I off and we are in Ragusa now! Ragusa is a beautiful, cute little Italian city about an hour and a half bus ride. I love it! When you think of the pastel colored homes on top of a hill with narrow streets, that is what Ragusa is like. There are beautiful catholic cathedrals everywhere--I mustve seen about 5 today. Today is Pday so we went with the Anziani exploring a city close by. Ive met a lot of people in the past couple days and its all a blur right now. The work here is going well. Ive noticed how much the Italian people just LOVE to talk so its not super hard to spark up a conversation. I already love the people here. My favorite thing is to hear little kids speak in Italian...a teacher at the mtc told me to listen to them speak and it is just the cutest thing. We teach a preschool class English tomorrow which Im super excited about and then tomorrow night is our adult English class. Everyone calls me sorellina which means little sister because they think Im so young. One lady thought I was 16. haha. Sorella Robb is friends with just about everyone in this city too so just about everywhere we went, she knew someone and introduced me. Yesterday at the bus stop, I taught my first lesson to a man named Giuseppe. It was really neat although I wasnt able to say a ton. Today we found a lot of people as we were going places and the members are very involved in the missionary work here. As we stopped for some Gelato today, we met the owner, Giovanna, and we started to talk to her. She is going to be in Florida soon and so she asked if I would make some reservations for her at some hotels over the phone because she couldnt speak English very well and then we started talking about the gospel. She knows a few members of the church--one of which just happened to walk in during our conversation so it was awesome. We have an appointment set up with her on Monday. I love it here already---its so good to finally be here. Ive got to go but I hope everyones doing well! Vi voglio bene!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
I made it to Italy and I am as happy as can be! I got in yesterday afternoon and had quite the adventure coming over here by myself but it was great to finally get here. I feel bad that Anziano Coxs visa didnt come but its okay...hopefully itll be here soon and he will be over in italy this next week. I made a few friends on the flight over from New York to Rome. I was surrounded by Italians who were very curious about the tag I was wearing and so I explained to them I would be in Italy teaching the gospel for a year and a half. One of them whoàs name was Gino is an Italian teacher and he taught me some great Italian phrases and pronunciation as I helped him with English. It was great. When I got to Catania, I was so tired that I walked right past the baggage pick up and forgot to pick it up. It gets better...so I tried going back in but I had to go back through security to get my bags. I finally got to my bags and only one came, the other was left in Rome. At this point, I was so exhausted and I saw Sorella Taranto (the mission presidents wife) and just wanted to go so I filed a baggage claim form and President and Sorella Taranto brought me to the mission home. I met my companion, Sorella Robb, who is so fun. We then had dinner and I was able to take a little nap. In the meantime, the airport called and said they had my luggage so we packed everything up and left for the airport. I had to go back through security and when I finally received my luggage, the security people (who did not speak any english) xrayed my bag and started talking really fast to me in Italian and I picked up that they thought I had a gun in my bag. I told them I hoped that was not the case because I did not place it there. So they had me open my bag and it was my blowdryer! ahh. it was quite the event...they then were not so mad at me and started laughing. Then President sent Sorella Robb and I off and we are in Ragusa now! Ragusa is a beautiful, cute little Italian city about an hour and a half bus ride. I love it! When you think of the pastel colored homes on top of a hill with narrow streets, that is what Ragusa is like. There are beautiful catholic cathedrals everywhere--I mustve seen about 5 today. Today is Pday so we went with the Anziani exploring a city close by. Ive met a lot of people in the past couple days and its all a blur right now. The work here is going well. Ive noticed how much the Italian people just LOVE to talk so its not super hard to spark up a conversation. I already love the people here. My favorite thing is to hear little kids speak in Italian...a teacher at the mtc told me to listen to them speak and it is just the cutest thing. We teach a preschool class English tomorrow which Im super excited about and then tomorrow night is our adult English class. Everyone calls me sorellina which means little sister because they think Im so young. One lady thought I was 16. haha. Sorella Robb is friends with just about everyone in this city too so just about everywhere we went, she knew someone and introduced me. Yesterday at the bus stop, I taught my first lesson to a man named Giuseppe. It was really neat although I wasnt able to say a ton. Today we found a lot of people as we were going places and the members are very involved in the missionary work here. As we stopped for some Gelato today, we met the owner, Giovanna, and we started to talk to her. She is going to be in Florida soon and so she asked if I would make some reservations for her at some hotels over the phone because she couldnt speak English very well and then we started talking about the gospel. She knows a few members of the church--one of which just happened to walk in during our conversation so it was awesome. We have an appointment set up with her on Monday. I love it here already---its so good to finally be here. Ive got to go but I hope everyones doing well! Vi voglio bene!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
Sono Partando!
Ciao a Tutti!
How is everyone this week? I've been great! So, last week, I printed off some of
my emails I've sent and have realized that pretty much every email starts off
with..."What a wonderful week!" or something to that effect. Sorry if that's the
same everyweek but it's true. Every week is so good because of the work I am
doing. This past week has been another great week. I have exciting news! I got
my travel plans!!! So, Anziano Cox and I are leaving this next Monday, the 18th.
I am so excited and nervous and anxious and probably every other emotion in the
book but that's just how I get right before anything new (especially moving to a
new place) so it's normal. The MTC has been great. I've enjoyed every minute of
learning here. Here's the update from week:
I taught my last lesson at the TRC which was SSOOO much better than last week. I
was able to say everything that I needed to and the language is really starting
to click. Key word: STARTING. haha. Next week I might have a different story.
haha. I was talking with one of the teachers who just came back from her mission
in Catania and she taught me, Anziano Cox and Sorella Pickett (all of us are
going to Catania) a little bit of the Sicilian dialect. There are different
phrases and words they use in Southern Italy and I LOVE her accent so I can't
wait to hear how real Southern Italians speak. I've also been talking with some
of the missionaries that are from Italy and going to English speaking missions.
One of them came in a week after me and knew barely any English and I knew
barely any Italian so there was definitely a language barrier, but it's been fun
to talk to them now that I know a little more Italian. He told me about a
"Castello del Mar" which is in Southern Italy where he lives. I first thought it
was a figure of speech because that means a castle of the sea so I was like, oh
ya, he's probably just telling me how beautiful Italy is by saying Sicily is a
castle in the sea but I guess there really is a castle in southern Italy called
that that I'll be able to go visit. It's been fun practicing Italian with a
native. So, every sunday, during Sacrament meeting, there are 2 or 3
missionaries that are called up to give a short talk in their mission language
and guess who got called on this week? Me! It went suprisingly well. I'm feeling
more and more confident as I speak the language although I am no where near
perfect at it. I've had some wonderful experiences as I've shared my testimony
this week. If there's nothing else I can do in Italian, I can atleast bear my
testimony which is the most important thing anyways. I am not a public speaker
kind of person but sharing my testimony in Italian is something that I have been
blessed with being comfortable at. I can't wait to help the Italian people come
closer to Christ through my simple testimony. I can't wait! Have a great week!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
How is everyone this week? I've been great! So, last week, I printed off some of
my emails I've sent and have realized that pretty much every email starts off
with..."What a wonderful week!" or something to that effect. Sorry if that's the
same everyweek but it's true. Every week is so good because of the work I am
doing. This past week has been another great week. I have exciting news! I got
my travel plans!!! So, Anziano Cox and I are leaving this next Monday, the 18th.
I am so excited and nervous and anxious and probably every other emotion in the
book but that's just how I get right before anything new (especially moving to a
new place) so it's normal. The MTC has been great. I've enjoyed every minute of
learning here. Here's the update from week:
I taught my last lesson at the TRC which was SSOOO much better than last week. I
was able to say everything that I needed to and the language is really starting
to click. Key word: STARTING. haha. Next week I might have a different story.
haha. I was talking with one of the teachers who just came back from her mission
in Catania and she taught me, Anziano Cox and Sorella Pickett (all of us are
going to Catania) a little bit of the Sicilian dialect. There are different
phrases and words they use in Southern Italy and I LOVE her accent so I can't
wait to hear how real Southern Italians speak. I've also been talking with some
of the missionaries that are from Italy and going to English speaking missions.
One of them came in a week after me and knew barely any English and I knew
barely any Italian so there was definitely a language barrier, but it's been fun
to talk to them now that I know a little more Italian. He told me about a
"Castello del Mar" which is in Southern Italy where he lives. I first thought it
was a figure of speech because that means a castle of the sea so I was like, oh
ya, he's probably just telling me how beautiful Italy is by saying Sicily is a
castle in the sea but I guess there really is a castle in southern Italy called
that that I'll be able to go visit. It's been fun practicing Italian with a
native. So, every sunday, during Sacrament meeting, there are 2 or 3
missionaries that are called up to give a short talk in their mission language
and guess who got called on this week? Me! It went suprisingly well. I'm feeling
more and more confident as I speak the language although I am no where near
perfect at it. I've had some wonderful experiences as I've shared my testimony
this week. If there's nothing else I can do in Italian, I can atleast bear my
testimony which is the most important thing anyways. I am not a public speaker
kind of person but sharing my testimony in Italian is something that I have been
blessed with being comfortable at. I can't wait to help the Italian people come
closer to Christ through my simple testimony. I can't wait! Have a great week!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
Boun Anno Nuovo
Hello Everyone!
It's Pday again and I'm shocked at how fast this week has gone by! It's been a wonderful week for me. I can't believe that in two weeks, I'll be on my way to Italy...weird. Learning Italian is making me realize how much I take everyday communication for granted. I'm so used to saying whatever I want but for once in my life, I HAVE to think before I say anything. Remember mom, when you would get mad at me for not thinking before I said something?! haha. Anyways, I'm learning a ton. A lot about the gospel and a lot about Italy and the language. Learning a new language really makes you stick to the basics which is nice in my situation because the gospel is so simple anyways. I think I learned that the hard way this past week as Anziano Cox and I taught the Plan of Salvation in Italian to a couple of people. The lesson went well but it could've been so much simpler and less confusing if we had just stuck to keeping it simple. There's definitely always room for improvement! I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life and even more excited to bring it to others lives. Sorella Pickett is the new sister that came in last week so she is my new companion...my fifth one! I'm loving getting to know so many people. She is so excited to be here. Some of you asked how my new years went. Let's just say, we rang in the new years with all of you--at 10 pm Mountain Standard Time! It was great though. All of the Italian Sorelle had a fun little "festa" that consisted of junk food and Martinelli's and we shared some new years resolutions. I hope everyone is having a great week! Vi Voglio Bene!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
"God won't call you to something you can't handle...but you can't do it by yourself" -Ross Quigley
It's Pday again and I'm shocked at how fast this week has gone by! It's been a wonderful week for me. I can't believe that in two weeks, I'll be on my way to Italy...weird. Learning Italian is making me realize how much I take everyday communication for granted. I'm so used to saying whatever I want but for once in my life, I HAVE to think before I say anything. Remember mom, when you would get mad at me for not thinking before I said something?! haha. Anyways, I'm learning a ton. A lot about the gospel and a lot about Italy and the language. Learning a new language really makes you stick to the basics which is nice in my situation because the gospel is so simple anyways. I think I learned that the hard way this past week as Anziano Cox and I taught the Plan of Salvation in Italian to a couple of people. The lesson went well but it could've been so much simpler and less confusing if we had just stuck to keeping it simple. There's definitely always room for improvement! I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life and even more excited to bring it to others lives. Sorella Pickett is the new sister that came in last week so she is my new companion...my fifth one! I'm loving getting to know so many people. She is so excited to be here. Some of you asked how my new years went. Let's just say, we rang in the new years with all of you--at 10 pm Mountain Standard Time! It was great though. All of the Italian Sorelle had a fun little "festa" that consisted of junk food and Martinelli's and we shared some new years resolutions. I hope everyone is having a great week! Vi Voglio Bene!
Love,
Sorella Hashey
"God won't call you to something you can't handle...but you can't do it by yourself" -Ross Quigley
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