Last P-day in June...What?!

Buooooooooooooongiorno!!!!!!!!!

It is the last week of June. June 27th is today. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!?!? I was just barely coming to terms with the fact that it's 2012, and now you're telling me the year is HALF OVER??? Mamma mia. It also means that Sor Walton is going home in like two weeks. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

We had a leadership training meeting on Monday which meant that I finally got all my mail that got sent to Savona. Yeah, there were WAY more that got sent to Savona than got sent to Milano!!! Also, I got a present in zone mail that I think came from the RS president in Savona (there was no name on it) - a hand-made, fabric notebook cover with my initials and birthdate stitched on it! I also got something crazy like 25 letters in zone mail. All the Anziani were freaking out "dang! That's so many letters!" poor things. SO. Shout outs for this week!!!!!!! (ahem): Wendi Lucchesi, Aretha Whaley, the Beckwiths, Jennifer Davis, Sue (foleysfriend), Marfy!, the Kruegers, the Buskirks, Ginger Burke, the Benders, Donna Gabriel, Sis Cherie Scott, Debbie Hall, Auntie Kim, Jenny Lando, Mary Ellen May, Jessica Schumauch, Penny Wadham, the Curds, the Sparks, the Faggiolis, Bishop and Sis Stevens, Jo Kaufman (mamajo), Nurse Jady, Alexis Redmond, the McKeens, the Trevinos, the Baileys, Lu from NC, Stacey Lokovic, the Moultons, Christy Riggs, Brenda Molina, Memaw2wm aka Cheryl, Di aka HIDI1234, the Thompsons, Nana and Opa, Audrey (my only remaining friend from BYU, apparently) and last but not least, Mama and Papa Walton (and family)!!!!!! WHEW!!! Thanks everyone from writing to me and sending me birthday cards!!! You all are crazy and I love it! Thank you so much! You definitely helped brighten this missionary's day :) You are the BEST!!!!

Our leadership training on Monday was really good. It was just the Milano and Como zones (not Torino). And for some reason the sisters from Rimini were there, so I got to see my fellow hapa haole sister, Sorella Arume! Maybe one day we'll actually get to be real friends...although she only has one transfer left after this one (which ends in two weeks). We learned about this contacting approach called "Teach to Find". Basically we just learned how to cut out everything we say to people that has nothing to do with the message of the restored gospel (i.e. "hey, where are you from?", "boy, it sure is hot out here!") and just jump straight into teaching gospel truths so that the Spirit can testify to the person from the first second that you talk to them. It's crazy. But it works! Here's an example of what goes down: We walk up to someone walking their dog and I say "Hi! God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. Have you ever seen the hand of God in your life?". Then they either say no/turn us away/ignore us OR answer and we keep saying short statements of doctrine (truths), bearing testimony and asking questions. Then we maybe flash the Book of Mormon at them and try to set up an appointment to give them a copy. The goal is that we can immediately invite the Spirit to testify of the truth, and therefore get them to remember who they are as children of God and that they accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ long before they ever came to the earth. But yeah. It's kinda awkward. Okay, kinda really awkward. But let's be real, missionaries ARE awkward. "Missionary" is like a euphemism for "awkward". But I'm here to talk to people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, so might as well just cut to the chase.

I had a thought the other day about fanny packs, and I'd just like to say to all those people who say that they want to bring back the fanny pack: you've clearly never been to Italy. You can't bring back what has never been gone. Sorry to crush your dreams of impacting the fashion world/pop culture, but you're gonna have to be a little bit more creative than a fanny pack. Just so ya know.

Oh, mini shout out to Sorella Williams! I got your letter this week and I really liked that devo you sent. I plan on writing you today. But by all means, keep on stalkin'! :)

Milano is such an incredible, dynamic city. The people seem to be much more friendly here than they were in Torino, but I think part of that is because 1) it's not winter and 2) there's a lot more diversity here because it's such a big city. When I got here, my companion told me that there are 400 inactive members of our ward. FOUR HUNDRED. In one ward!!!!!!!!!!!! That's NUTZ!!! What's really crazy is that we've actually ended up contacting a few less active members on the Metro. We ask "have you ever seen missionaries like us before?" and they say "yeah...I'm actually a member of your church..." and then we freak out and ask for their number and if we can go visit them. It's actually only happened twice - once with a woman who is a member and another time with a woman whose husband is a member. Totally crazy. 

I think I'm getting slower at typing because my time is up and I feel like I've hardly written anything. Oh well. I love you all. Thank you for the birthday cards and thank you even more for the prayers. There are some days when I honestly don't understand how in the world my feet keep moving me forward, because, of my own strength, I am completely incapable of taking another step. But somehow I always find that I've gotten to where we're headed, and I know that it's because of the sustaining hand of the Lord in my life thanks to the "prayers of the faithful". So thank you. Thank you so much. I love you!!!

Tons and tons of AMORE from MILANO,

Sorella Soh aka the really tall, new sister missionary in Milano 2nd Ward 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changessss

Salve a tutti!

It is sooooooo hotttttttttttt hereeeeeeeeeeee. Okay, it really wouldn't be that bad, except for the fact that we have no A.C. in our apartment or anything. That little travel alarm clock that you sent me (mom and dad) read 86°F this morning. It's sitting on my desk. 86°F IN THE HOUSE. Right now there's a clock in the internet place that reads 89°F. And EVERYONE we've talked to has told us that the heat hasn't even arrived yet. I keep thinking "you mean it gets WORSE???" But oh well. It's not like there's anything anyone can do. I've already consigned myself to being in an endless state of sweating until...probably forever. At least I can wear my hair in a higher ponytail here. I couldn't in Torino or Savona because it would always get in the way of my bike helmet. Ick.

A few quick notes I jotted down for my email this week: 

What is the name of the woman who's the CEO of Kraft?? Meg C-something...Compton? Crawford? I can't remember. It's not important at all, but it's driving me NUTS that I can't remember.

I liked the cute Pixar stamps on your letters this week mom and dad!

I would probably give you some thoughts on your lesson for RS, mom, but guess who STILL hasn't heard/read conference from the Sunday afternoon session? Right. Me. I'm dying! Hopefully we'll get our conference Liahonas on Monday at our Training Meeting, but I don't know for sure. 

Dad, my Italian accent is getting pretty good. Lots of people have commented on it. They always say "parli bene l'italiano! / you speak Italian really well!", even in Torino they said that. It's because I mimic how italians speak instead of just speaking English with Italian words. It's just that now I'm speaking faster and not stumbling over grammar as much. And I'm learning a ton of vocabulary that's not missionary related because if I want to talk to my companion about the mosquito bites on my arm, it's kind of important to know the word for "mosquito bite" instead of just pointing to the bit welts on my arm every time.

My mother is dying!!!! Translation: Sorella Walton, my trainer, is going home at the end of this transfer! I can't believe it! She started training me in her 6th transfer, which is the transfer I'm in now. And now she's about to go home. I'm freaking out! The time is FLYING by!

Happy Belated Father's Day, dad!

I've discovered the secret to becoming inactive. It's so easy. Just stop reading the Book of Mormon. Seriously, I'm learning more and more every day how vital the Book of Mormon is in our conversion. If an investigator doesn't read the BoM, they'll NEVER progress towards baptism. If a member doesn't read the BoM, they're on the road to inactivation. Don't ever let yourself stop reading the Book of Mormon. DON'T. EVER. STOP. That's where the fullness of the Gospel is. That's where the peace is. That's where the hope is. That's where the truth is. Don't let that go. Yes, read the Bible and the Ensign and all that other stuff, too, but don't ever stop reading the BoM. Just don't do it. Don't do it.

There's a Hawaiian sister in the ward!!! She didn't actually tell me her name, or where in Hawaii she's from...but she has a Hawaiian accent and she looks Hawaiian, so I'll just have to take her word for it ;). She's older and has lived in Milan for a long time because she married an Italian. One of the young adults told me that she looked like she could be my mom. It's those Polynesian traits! Also because this sister is also pretty tall. Guess I need to get a picture with her! Then you can maybe see how brown I'm getting because we're out in the dang sun all the time.

I guess you all want to hear about my birthday! Well, it came and went. No one even knew about it, really. Although, I told my district leader the night before because he asked if there was anything he could do for us and I said "you could make me a birthday cake tomorrow" haha. But then he texted our whole district the next day and so our zone leaders called and sang "Feliz Navidad" to me (I wanna wish you a Happy Birthday...) and then the sisters in the Milano 1st ward called and sang to me, too. Sorella Silva and I bought gelato...twice. Once on Friday and once on Saturday because the gelato we had on Friday wasn't that good. The first time I had pistachio, nutella and biscotti gelato and the second time I had pineapple, passion fruit and papaya gelato. The second one was really good. Good thing that gelateria is really close by our house! I also tried to make a box of brownies, but our oven is kinda whack - there are no numbers on it! So basically the oven was way too hot and I burned the edges of the brownies while the inside was still uncooked. I scooped out the batter from the burnt edges and tried to salvage what I could. They came out okay, but at least now I know what NOT to do with our dang oven! And then today I arranged with all the Milano Sorelle to get gelato again, so today we are all going to meet up at the Duomo and eat lunch and get gelato. Three companionships of sisters! Don't worry, I've got my camera. 

Well, out of time again this week. Thank you all so so so so much for the birthday wishes/cards and all that. I'm 23!! Yikies! I'm so happy to be a missionary and to be able to spend this time in Italy learning and growing and changing. It's unlike anything I could've ever imagined! Hope you all still recognize me when I get home :)

Love and love and more love from MILANO!!!

Sorella Soh

A.C. Milano - no, the "A.C." does NOT stand for "Air Conditioning"*

Hellooooooooooooooo all you lovely people!

I was going to do shout outs this week, but that was before I got the mail yesterday...SIXTEEN letters!!! And one had come the day before and two more came this morning. You people are crazy! And I love it! Thanks for the birthday wishes! I'm pretty sure it's going to be my favorite 23rd birthday ever! (Except the fact that seeing "23" just now almost gave me a heart attack). And speaking of heart attacks, I'm pretty sure the postman was about to have one yesterday, too, seeing all those letters for me! Good thing he has a Vespa scooter to deliver the mail! But thank you all so much! (Oh, mini shout out to the Kruegers - you have to tell me where Emily gets called!!!! If she's lucky she'll come to Milan and then I can train her! :) )

Well, Milano has welcomed me with rain just like Torino and Savona did. That's a good thing, though, because it's cooled things off. The sidewalks here are full of holes because it gets so hot in the summertime that things start sinking in the asphalt - Vespa bike stands, café table and chair legs, and even ladies' high heels! NOT looking forward to that kind of heat AT ALL. And another thing, apparently there was some kind of announcement of my arrival here at the most recent Milano Mosquito Convention because they have come a'calling! I have HUGE mosquito bites all over my arms, at least 8 on each arm about the size of a nickel, and swollen to about the size of a half-dollar. I've also gotten bitten on my hip (aka through my clothes), on my left big toe, on the side of my pinky finger, and even on my lip. I don't know how they do it! Surprisingly, though, I don't have any bites on my legs, which is really weird. Soon enough, though, I suppose. And don't worry, one of our investigators is a mom, and as soon as she saw my arms she whipped out some anti-itch cream and rubbed it on each bite. Ha. I'm like a dermatologist's science fair project!

I LOVE MILANO!!! I love doing work in big cities like this. It's so exciting! We take the Metro everywhere - I even have my own little Metro pass. We were walking around yesterday by the Duomo because we were looking for a bus or tram back to our house and I remembered that Milano is kind of a big deal. I'm also reminded of that when I see all of the super fashionable ladies that walk around in super high heels (pee ess Sarah you would LOVE Milano).

We had Stake Conference on Sunday, so I haven't met my ward yet, really. It was a satellite broadcast from Salt Lake, and Elder Nelson spoke. And sure enough, he gave a shout out to his granddaughter, Sor Miles, who I was in the MTC with! I love her! It also meant that there were other missionaries in our building that aren't usually there, and so I also got to see Anziano Moh! He is serving in Piacenza right now. I haven't seen him since December or so, and it was good to see him again.

Dangit, I just accidentally rubbed one of my skeeto bites and now it's really itchy. Also, I don't know how this happened, but I'm out of time! I love you all very much. Thanks again for the birthday cards! Have a great week!

Love from MILANO,

Sorella Soh

p.s. still trying to figure out how to send pictures...

SURPRISE!!!

CIAO EVERYONE!!!

Guess what??? I have a big surprise for you all!

I'VE BEEN TRANSFERRED TO MILANO! And NO! I am NOT kidding! President
called us on Sunday night and told us he wasn't done with transfers
and that he was transferring me to Milano 2nd Ward. Yeah! I know!!! I
can't believe it either! Sorella Jones is still in Savona and is now
with Sor Baker (who came from Genova), and Sor Maciel (who was in Mil
2) is now with Sor McFadden in Genova. Which means that I am here in
Mil 2 with Sorella Silva! She is NOT an American, but from Peru! Well,
Peru via Rome, because she's lived in Rome for the past ten years.
She's also about that much older than me (10 yrs). And no, she does
not speak English. SO. I feel like my Italian speaking skills are
going to definitely get a workout this transfer because I won't be
speaking hardly any English most of the time. YIKIES!!!!

But really, I'm serious about being in Milano. It's a BIG city. So
big. There are three wards here! We got the call on Sunday night and
then Tuesday morning we were off to the train station. It's been
crazy! Here I was, resolved to stay in Savona and getting all excited
about the upcoming transfer and then boom, nope, sorry, you're off to
Milano. Crazy, right?? I still don't know what to think. And since I
got transferred not with everyone else (we call it a space transfer),
I'm pretty sure no one really knows about it. I mean, some people in
the mission know, but Sor Walton and Bunker have no idea! I've been
thinking a lot about Sor W, too, because she served in Milano 1 and
lived in the same apartment we're in now. There's even a poster thing
up on the wall that says "flooding the earth" (with the BoM) and I can
tell that it's her handwriting. So weird.

I didn't really get a chance to tell the branch in Savona about me
getting transferred, and I'm sure they'll probably freak out on Sunday
when the see Sor Jones with Sor Baker and not with me. Especially
since last Sunday in church the RS president announced in RS that my
birthday is coming up! So much for it being a secret! They were all
excited about it - they were even planning a birthday party for me and
our ward mission leader, who's birthday is also the 15th. So much for
that plan! But at least that means I've got a fresh start in this ward
and I'll be able to pass my birthday in anonymity just how I like it!

I could hardly sleep on Sunday night after President called because it
was so unexpected. In fact, I kept waking up in the night just to
think "you're going to Milano" and then I'd fall back asleep. And then
a horrible, terrible thought came to me "You're going to be in Milano
in the SUMMER. It's going to be SOOOO HOT!!!!!" Here in Milano it's
already 5-10 degrees hotter than it is in Savona. I was SO looking
forward to being by the sea in the summer in Savona so that there'd
always be a breeze and a large mass of water to balance out the
temperature. No such luck. However, I think that will be the only bad
thing about serving in Milano. I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Milano is not a biking city, which means there is going to be a lot of
walking going on! Already last night I was tired and kinda hurty from
walking, even though I didn't get here until about 1pm. However, I
think that can also be due to the fact that I had to lug all of my
bags all over the train stations in Savona, Genova and finally Milano,
and boy were they HEAVY. Sheesh.

Anyway, that's the exciting news I have for you this week! I'm excited
to be in Milano and excited to get to work in a new city with a new
companion. Be waiting to hear about all the miracles we're going to
see in this city!

Love love and more love,
Sorella Soh

Birthday "Card Shower" for Sorella Soh!

Greetings to all readers of Katie's blog!  Her birthday (the only one that she will celebrate while serving her mission) is on Friday, June 15th.  I would love to "shower" her with birthday cards from everyone she knows.

If you are willing to participate, please email me for her direct address (the one posted on the blog is to the mission home - it's where packages have to go) which I've been asked not to post online.

Postage to Italy is $1.05 and cards need to be mailed the week of June 4-9 to get there in time.

nicolesoh (at) yahoo.com

The end of transfer 5?!?!?!

(Note from Nicole - sorry this is a couple days late, we were out of town)

Helloooooooooo bellissima gente!

Well, transfers are tomorrow and guess who is getting transferred?!?! That's right! Sorella Bunker! My little bambina is leaving Torino and headed to Reggio Emilia! I'm so excited for her! As for the news here in Savona, we're staying the same! And by doing so, I have broken the Sorella Jones tradition of having a different companion every transfer (I'm her 10th companion!). We are excited to keep working in Savona together, especially since there's so much to do and we're already waist deep in the work here! Although it does freak me out a little bit to know that 1) this next transfer ends in JULY 2) tomorrow marks NINE MONTHS since I entered the MTC and 3) this will be my SIXTH transfer. WHAT?!?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??? Yikies!!! 

About the earthquakes, I haven't heard much about them, but to my understanding the most damage was in Emilia-Romagna, which is pretty far from where we are. I guess it happened at about 4am our time and I was out like a ROCK right about then. I think there was another one, or an aftershock or something, yesterday or the day before at about 8:30am and both Sor J and I felt it. But as far as we go, here in Liguria we are totally fine and all of the missionaries in that zone are okay. In reality, you all probably know much more than I do about the earthquakes (terremoti, in Italian) because I know next to nothing.

Shout out this week to the Buskirks who sent me a guilt-inspired letter! I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em! I particularly liked Kate's Italian flag, Ella's leaning tower of Pisa (I think), Sarah's letter that contained a secret squashed ant (must've crawled in before it got put in the envelope) and Leah's "it's a volcano!" masterpiece. Bravissime!

Happy belated Memorial Day! Should I feel bad that I didn't remember that it was Memorial Day until after it was already almost over? Eh. It does seem a little backwards, though. You know, not remembering Memorial Day...

That's okay. I didn't laugh about it, either.

I hope you all had fun at Disney! Tell Ben I say hi back. But only to Ben, not to Bethy, because she didn't say hi to me. I hope to hear, Dad, if you managed to max out Buzz Lightyear this go-round! I'm sure you'll tell me all about it in your next letters :) Oh, and mom, could you activate my new debit card? That's not something I am really permitted to do. Thanks!

I had a thought this week about your Hawaii trip - you can make it up to me if you manage to do some kind of family history work for me!!! Ask Grampa everything that he knows about our family and use the dang voice memo app on your snazzy new phones to record him saying it! And ANYTHING you can find out about Grandma Kahala would be worth more than all of the li hing sour patch kids and manapua and spam musubi money could buy. (Man, I'm getting hungry!) Put that Spirit of Elijah to work! 

Well I guess now I can tell you all about what's been going on in Savona this past week, but to be honest, if you're not a missionary you probably wouldn't be all that interested. I know I wouldn't be! Let's talk about Stanley. He is so cool. He just says things that are so...I don't even know how to describe them. Like how he was wondering why he was standing "inside this big bowl of water" at his baptism and was afraid but then he "heard a voice like saying in [his] ear 'don't be afraid, you're doing the right thing' " and how he is so excited to be able to hold the priesthood and how he hopes one day that he'll be able to serve the Lord and hold a calling. Once I figure out a way to upload pictures without having my dang connector cable I'll send a picture of Stanley because it's so much better to be able to put a face to the name.

Well I'm out of time. The weather is warming up and boy am I glad to be right here by the sea! That sea breeze is such a tender mercy! I keep getting that "big ships sailing on the ocean" song stuck in my head any time I see big ships out on the water. I can't believe so much time has passed since I entered the MTC. I feel like a completely different person than I was then, but at the same time I'm always still me. It's such an amazing, crazy thing that I get to be here and be a part of this work. Sheesh. I love you all and hope that everyone is happy! And if not happy, at least learning. Happy transfers!

LOVEEEE,

Sorella Soh